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strategicpause · 5 days

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1st Principles Approach = More "Luck"

If you consistently simplify situations down to their 1st principles and then align to your objectives, you will come across more and more “happy coincidences”. Luck plays a smaller role than you think. You are just seeing the benefit of building a system.

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 1 month

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Strategy is more “How” than “What”

What is your definition of strategy? How do you put strategy in place? The “how” is at least as important as the “what”.

“What” is Not Enough

People stress about strategy. If their team or company does not have a vivid picture of what the future looks like and how their team or company is part of it, they are uncomfortable. But, how many teams and companies have such a pointed strategy? Very few.

The technical landscape of the business world is changing faster than ever before. And the change continues to accelerate. As a result, who can really have a clear picture of what the future looks like? If they do, how long will that picture hold? Not long.

In the startup world, it has become common knowledge that being able to pivot is often more important than the big idea you started with. Startups that survive and ultimately thrive have a finger on the pulse of the market and make changes when they sense that a signal may become a trend. If they adapt faster than the competition, they get an advantage…and increase the probability they will survive. How many companies are still working the same exact strategy they started with? A small number…probably none.

This does mean that the “what” (goals, objectives) of your strategy is not important? No. Having vivid objectives is critical. It is the common direction that the team works together to move towards. But, it is only part of strategy.

“How” and “What”

I have believed for a long time that the “how” is at least important as the “what”. I am fond of saying that strategy is 10% objectives and 90% initiatives and execution. When I say that, I am drawing a distinction between a futurist and a strategic leader. The futurist is focused on envisioning the future and articulating where a company can play and win. This is the “what”. But, a vivid description is just words if it is not acted upon. The strategic leader is the one who builds the plan/system that takes the team from where they are towards that future. This is the “how”. The “how” makes the “what” real. Even further, the “how” is the difference between results and sustainable results. It is why I am keen on operating models, which I also call “strategic management”. Given the right vivid objectives, everything in this paragraph is critical to success. But, I have come to believe there is a gap. How do you integrate my earlier point about startups and pivoting? The answer is to align at least a portion of your operating model to it.

3 Horizons & Your Operating Model

As a strategic leader, your operating model should have three horizons:

Manage: This is delivering on your promises. This is meeting and exceeding your current commitments to your clients. This is “delivery” and “account management”. There’s lots of important blocking and tackling here. Success here is maintaining your revenue.

Incremental: If you nail “manage”, you deepen your credibility, and the probability that you land adjacent opportunities is high. This is opening up new lines of business or selling new offerings. Success here is growing your revenue by up to 10%.

Transformational: This is developing new offerings or opening new markets that could result in you having a creative monopoly. A creative monopoly is when you are dominant. You have little competition. New business is coming to you versus pursuing it. Success here is revenue growth way beyond 10%.

Adding routines focused on the transformational horizon is how you adapt to the changing future. It is the main point of this article.

Risk Tolerance

If you dedicate resources to the manage horizon, you will improve efficiency and quality. If you dedicate resources to the incremental horizon, you will deepen your go-to-market, sharpen the skills of your client-facing team, and drive modest growth. Much of these two horizons is simply solid management. If you are playing in a growing marketspace, the risk of failure is fairly low. The transformational horizon is different.

The transformational horizon is placing bets that you know have a low probability of coming through. Again, that is very different from the manage and incremental horizons. Given the lower chances of success, a proper strategy places multiple transformational bets. If the average probability of your transformational bets is 20%, you need to place at least 5. If you do not, you may be putting yourself in a “bet the company” situation. Sometimes that is the right path depending on your ability to invest or the upside of the experiment.

Your company’s market position helps to determine what percentage of your resources you dedicate to the transformational horizon. If you are a stable company, my gut says that 10-20% is probably the right investment.

Whirlwind Risk

If your company is bureaucratic or political, it can detract from your focus on the transformational horizon. All your resources might get consumed “keeping the trains running on time”. Your executive leadership might treat transformational bets like incremental efforts. They might overestimate the chances of success. When the transformational bet does not come through, they view it like a failure on the manage or incremental horizons. Failure there is bad. It results in revenue loss or stagnant growth. Failure on the transformational horizon just means the experiment did not work. But, if you did it right, you probably learned a great deal in the process. That new intelligence can be fed into the next experiment and increase its chances of success. The mindset required to lead on the transformational horizon is much different than the manage and incremental horizons. Risk tolerance, continuous learning, and dedication to experimentation are critical.

Where are you?

Does your company’s management model take into account all three horizons? Are different expectations placed on the manage and incremental horizons versus the transformational horizon? If not, is there an opportunity to model the way within your team and management system?

Thank you for reading my leadership blog post. I hope you found it interesting and thought provoking.

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Check out “Strategic Pause” on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter (@DonThinks).

#strategy #leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 2 months

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The Only 2x2 You Need?

In my last leadership blog post (“5 Things Widening the Leadership Gap”), I shared my concern about the widening leadership gap and five of the root causes. I also shared that the first step in bridging the gap is self-leadership.

Self-leadership

Before you can strive to lead others, you have to be able to lead yourself. What does this mean? Self-leadership is:

Being in control of yourself. It is basing your decisions on reason versus emotion. Remember that composure, controlling one’s emotions, is foundational to leadership. This is situation management.

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses. By knowing them you can more explicitly leverage your strengths and/or avoid or remediate your weaknesses. This is empowerment.

Have and pursue objectives. It is setting a destination and using situation management and empowerment to make progress.

If you read my first leadership book (Strategic Pause: Stop. Think. Lead.), this is familiar. Let’s go deeper.

Leadership Evolution and Beyond

If you practice self-leadership, you will evolve. You will be more productive. You will be more effective and efficient. Further, self-leadership applies if you are pursuing traditional leadership of teams or striving to grow as an individual…a member of a team. Going even deeper, self-leadership’s context goes beyond your career. Self-leadership helps you achieve non-work goals. It helps you grow personally not just professionally.

How do you assess the evolution of your self-leadership? I have been using a new 2x2 for this purpose. It has resonated every time I have presented it, so I wanted to share it more broadly.

Independent & Internalized

“Self-leadership Evolution” does not feel quite right as a name, so I have been calling the 2x2 by the desired stage of evolution, “Independent & Internalized”.

The x-axis is your give-and-take balance with the world. The low end is “dependent”. This means that you take more than you give. The high end is “independent”. This means you give more than you take. I am not suggesting that the goal is to live “off the grid”. I am asking you to sum up your interactions with other people and the world. How are you doing? There will be situations where you are taking more than you give and other situations where you give more than you take. The goal should be to live in the latter versus the former.

The y-axis is whether you are living by your code or someone else’s. The low end is “externalized”. This means that you govern your behavior by factors outside of yourself. You are delegating your well-being to others. You are giving them control. The high end is “internalized”. This means you are governing your behavior based on your personal leadership model. You are living by your life code. There are lots of ways to express this: personal leadership model, life code, values and beliefs, credo, personal motto, your way, …

Here is the “Independent & Internalized” 2x2:

Let’s walk through the quadrants.

Dependent & Externalized = Unevolved: The lower left quadrant. This means you do not support yourself and are governing your behavior by whatever situation you are presented with. I am calling this “Unevolved” but it can also be called “Child”. If you are here, you have effectively not started your self-leadership evolution.

Independent & Internalized = Self-actualized: The upper right quadrant. This means you give more than you take and you live by your articulated values and beliefs. This could also be called “Evolved”, but we need to remember that evolution is a process not a destination. “Self-actualized” is also at the top of the Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”. Everyone should strive to get to and spend most of their time in this quadrant. If you are here, you are in control of your life and making clear progress.

Independent & Externalized = Pinball: The lower right quadrant. This means you support yourself, but you are trying to live via others’ direction. You strive to reduce unnecessary external needs but, it often feels like it takes more work than it should. You have to assess every new situation to determine what you think and what you should do. Thus, you bounce from situation to situation hoping you end up in a good place. That’s why I call this quadrant “Pinball”. If you allow broad causes or headlines to negatively impact your day, you are here. Personally, I think 50-66% of people are here.

Dependent & Internalized = Coattailer: The upper left quadrant. This means you take more than you give and you are doing it on purpose. That does not sound good. I often refer to this quadrant as “Parasite”. If you are here, you might just be trying to survive a difficult situation. If you stay here, there are gaps or errors in your moral code. You are someone who is focused on “getting theirs” and are not concerned with the impact on others. If you think you might be here, get out of here as soon as you can. This reputation is difficult to overcome once established.

Graph You

Objectively, where are you on the 2x2? Graph it. Graph you. Do you strive to carry your own weight? Do you govern your behavior by articulated rules you believe in? The Yes/No answer to those two questions determine where you sit.

Like many things, it is more of a spectrum than binary. Grade yourself on a 5-point or 10-point scale.

How independent are you? 0 = Not at all. 10 = You never rely on others.

How internalized are you? 0 = You let the situations you are faced with determine your day. 10 = You have a personal leadership model that is your guardrails.

It sure seems like a 5 or 10 question survey would be helpful here. Hmm.

Plot You

Similar to graphing yourself on a range, where you sit is also situational. When you are being trained to take on a new task, you are dependent. But, if you are always trying to get to the upper right quadrant (Independent & Internalized) you will be dependent for the minimum amount of time necessary. If you are doing the training, you are already in the upper right quadrant.

Graph you over time. Plot it. Plot you. Where are you generally? Where are you trending?

Avoid Extremes

The goal is not to be generally be a 10 for independence and a 10 for internalized. Like many things, the extremes can quickly have a negative impact. If you are a 10 for independence, then you are likely never asking for help. You could probably move more quickly with some help from an expert to start. If you are a 10 for internalized, you could be insular. You are likely not open to information (feedback) that would help you evolve your personal leadership model. I think the goal should be to be 7-8 on each dimension.

Thank you for reading my leadership blog post. I hope you found it interesting and thought provoking.

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Check out “Strategic Pause” on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter (@DonThinks).

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 3 months

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5 Things Widening the Leadership Gap

I see a growing trend and I am concerned.

The Leadership Gap

Change is accelerating. I am not talking about lowercase ‘c’ change. I am talking about uppercase ‘C’, all caps, and bolded CHANGE. Transformational change.

I will spare you the “change is good”, “change is evolution”, and “change enables growth” talking points. We all know those. My concern is that I believe leadership is falling behind. Yes, there are all sorts of books about leading through change. I am going to provide my POV on that, but that is the subject of future (and historical) leadership blog posts. What I am discussing here is the widening leadership gap and that it is resulting in fewer of us choosing leadership as a path. There are significant and growing forces pushing against leadership development. And, it is happening in a time when we need leadership more than ever.

5 Leadership Challenges

So far in my study of this topic, I have identified more than 10 sources of the widening leadership gap. In the spirit of being concise, I am going to share the top 5:

Remote Work: This includes the “distributed workforce”, “global teams”, and “hybrid work”. This one is kind of a “duh”. If you are not regularly in person with your team, leadership is harder. In these circumstances, you, the leader, tends to lean on developing and reinforcing the alignment and importance of your operating model. That is good. But, the connection with your team is just not as deep. You are missing the subtle communication that can only be picked up in person.

Gig Economy: This is “remote work” to the Nth degree. If your organization utilizes contractors and/or temporary staff, you are less likely to be a complete leader. You will learn how to set project objectives, align resources, and hold the doers accountable. But, you are far less likely to focus on the professional growth of your team. And, your “team” is much less likely to be open to feedback from you along those lines. The contractor-project leader relationship is very different than the associate-manager relationship.

Corporatism: There are lots of names for this. “Bureaucracy”, “matrix organizations”, and the term I like to use, the “borg”. This happens primarily in big companies. There is a lot here, but I will summarize. There are often misaligned goals and incentives. Two teams or departments that work together could have goals that are in serious conflict like “grow revenue” and “increase margin”. Tough to drive those two at the same time. If you try, you likely end up with neither. In functional matrices, the manager is usually not directly plugged into the actual work the associate is doing. It is tough to be a credible leader when the associate knows their end of year review is based entirely on secondhand feedback. In big companies, too often, leadership becomes political. It is more about leveraging relationships (at best managing up) than working with your team to deliver value. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Leaders in big companies have larger spans of control yet their environment discourages true leadership development.

Distraction: More information is hitting each of us than ever before. If you are in leadership, your larger than an individual contributor level of responsibilities means you are exposed to more information. This information overload also applies to your personal life in the form of social media and messaging. The personal information deluge seeps into your work life and vice versa. Making it worse, few companies explicitly try to improve the associate experience. They generally just keep piling it on. Each new initiative makes sense when considered alone but not when weighed against everything else you are asking of your associates. This means that a larger portion of your mental capacity is occupied processing all the information and less mental capacity is available to deliver your work, which includes striving to lead. So, the information overload means you are less likely to be fully present in moments when you should be focused on your team and striving to lead.

Bad Role Models: Where did all the good role models go? They are still there, but our view has been clouded with gray. Our media is filled with bad news and people in power doing questionable things. Are politicians, athletes, and social influencers good leadership role models? They can be, but we see more bad than good. We are being desensitized to bad behavior and poor leadership. It takes far too much work to isolate good examples. And, even when we do, the world seems bent on trying to find fault with anything good. The downside is two-fold. Solid leadership role models make up a smaller part of our vision. And, if you do strive to lead, you may hesitate because you suspect you will be attacked because you stick out.

I think you get the point. The forces working against leadership development are growing. The leadership gap is widening. But, there is good news. If you aspire to leadership, the landscape is filled with leadership opportunities if you look close enough!

Start with Self-Leadership

If you want to take advantage of the abundant opportunities to lead and bridge the leadership gap, what do you do?

It starts with you. Before you can strive to lead others, you have to lead yourself. How does one counter the five leadership challenges above? I believe one answer comes in the form of a 2x2 matrix. This conceptual model is the subject of my leadership blog post next month.

What Do You Think?

What did I get right? What other leader gap wideners should I have included? What am I missing? What do you think?

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Thank you for reading my leadership blog post.

Check out “Strategic Pause” on Amazon. Follow me on Twitter (@DonThinks).

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 3 months

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Under Pressure, Slow is Fast

When the pressure is high, there is a tendency to speed up and add as much information as possible. However, the best response is more often to slow down and isolate the information that is most important.

#composure #leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 5 months

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“Strategic Pause” was released 3 years ago today!

“Strategic Pause” was released 3 years ago today! To celebrate, I have dropped the price of the paperback and eBook 30%. If you need more reason to buy it, how about this 5-star Amazon review:

“Graumann has created a leadership masterpiece. The leadership tools he presents in this book are equivalent to a hammer and screwdriver for a handyman. Graumann not only presents the tools, but he puts them into a framework that is straight-forward, logical, and helps create guardrails to keep any leader on track. I've read hundreds of leadership books throughout my career; none have been as positively impactful as Strategic Pause.”

“Strategic Pause” on Amazon

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 5 months

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When it hits the fan and the outlook is challenging, what is your approach? Do you go into survival mode? We all start there, but if you strive to lead, you will see it as an opportunity. Can you define the next step? Can you bring order?

#composure #leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 6 months

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Just a reminder that "Strategic Pause" got to second in "Business Management" when it was released.

Have you read it yet? Get it here.

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strategicpause · 6 months

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What is your fuel?

What is your personal fuel? Do you understand what truly motivates you? Do you put yourself in the right positions to get that fuel?

#motivation #empowerment #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 7 months

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Remember but Don't Keep Score

Remember the past but don't keep score. Remember it so you can assess, learn, and evolve. Don't keep score so you don't get caught up in the externalized comparison game and the associated negative energy.

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strategicpause · 7 months

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Leadership as NOT Leading

Sometimes leadership is NOT explicitly leading. It is leaving a gap for your team to step up. It is OK if they need a nudge.

#leadership #empowerment #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 8 months

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Distraction = Doing things twice

What % of your interactions do you have to revisit because you were multitasking and not focused during the initial interaction?

#productivity #leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 8 months

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Close the Gap between Are and Want

Who are you? Who do you want to be?

Striving to close the gap between those questions is a fulfilling path. It can apply to your career and life.

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 9 months

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Are you looking at the problem from the outside or the inside?

From the outside, problems often look simple and easy to fix. From the inside, problems usually look complicated and difficult to fix. Know which side you are coming from and strive to understand the other before fixing the problem.

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 9 months

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Do you run scenarios?

If your top performer left, how would you backfill? If 5x more new business landed than expected, how would you scale? If regulation rendered 50% of your business moot, how would you pivot? Running scenarios is core to being ready which is core to leadership.

#leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 10 months

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Help Now, Not at your Convenience

When people really need help, it is rarely going to be at your convenience. Be a servant leader. Accept the situation. Help.

#empowerment #leadership #StrategicPause

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strategicpause · 11 months

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Don't be a bottleneck

One basic goal for all managers is trying to minimize the time being a bottleneck for the team. This means reassessing which decisions truly need to pass through them and which can be cascaded and handled by the team.

#productivity #leadership #StrategicPause

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