People Matter ∴ Do Good

Lead a vivid life that does good

Category: Business Startups NZ (Page 1 of 4)

Living with slightly embarrassing

24 September 2017 /

Should we kill perfectionism?We no longer live in a world where everyone feels the need to always strive for perfection.

As a leader and self-diagnosed perfectionist this poses some big challenges.

  • There are no perfect decisions; more time, does not equal more right. In fact, the sooner you decide, the sooner you move forward and learn.
  • There is no perfect design; as everyone has different tastes and opinions.
  • There is no perfect strategy; as all plans change as they encounter the real issues in the marketplace.

In the startup and knowledge economy I’ve come to understand that perfect is the enemy of speed. Which is why at coHired, our company-wide number one priority includes the phrase “deliver a slightly embarrassing product”.

Slightly embarrassing means that we collectively kill perfectionism, knowing that the best path to perfect is by delivering the imperfect and learning from it.

∴

If you’re a struggling perfectionist like me, here’s a tip:

I’m learning to break my perfectionist tendency by giving the work I would normally try to ‘perfect’ to someone else. It’s almost guaranteed they won’t do it the way I would, which means it won’t be my kind of ‘perfect’, but it almost always is great enough to move forward.

Re-framing Failure

20 July 2017 /

What have you learnt from the gift of failure this week

“I hate the word failure and wish it never existed,” I stated as strongly as I could as we reflected on some past experiences.

I shared that the problem with failure is its opposite seems to be pass.

The problem with pass is it has a strong mental connection to school or uni, where you pass or fail.

If you didn’t pass.

You failed.

You were a failure.

Nowadays, particularly in start-ups, ‘failing often’ or ‘failing fast’ is seen as a badge of honour. Because you can learn so much from failure.

Which is why I love how schools are trying their hardest to re-frame the word failure.

My friend who I was sharing all this with said that each Friday, his daughter is asked at her primary school, “What have you learnt from the gift of failure this week?”

Isn’t that a great question! Take another look.

What have you learnt from the gift of failure this week?

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I realised in that conversation that I need to intentionally re-frame the word ‘failure’. To stop hating on it.

It should no longer be linked to pass or fail. Rather it should be linked to all the successes I have had as a result of learning from my failure.

Failure can be a gift.

If you learn from it.

 

What have you learnt from the gift of failure this week?

[pause]

[reflect]

Have you learnt anything?

Because if you haven’t, maybe your stuck in your comfort zone again.

Letting Go

7 April 2017 /

If you want people to grow - you have to let go“You don’t understand,” I said partly in jest, “It has nothing to do with their fear of change. It’s ALL my own insecurities.” As soon as I heard the words leave my mouth, even though I was meaning them to bring humour, I knew they were true.

I was trying to work out what my role should be in Agoge, the social business I founded and own. Hearing these words changed everything. I realised that so much of my identity and status and self-esteem was tied to being the leader.

And allowing my insecurities to win, would eventually lead us to lose.

This week Jim Grafas, was promoted to CEO of Agoge. I couldn’t be more excited to see a person who I trust and who is an amazing friend take the role. More importantly he is a phenomenal leader who people love to work with, who deeply cares for people, and who passionately believes in Agoge’s vision of People Matter ∴ Do Good.

I will tell you something else about Jim. He doesn’t yet know everything he needs to know to be CEO, which means he will make mistakes. Which is exactly how he will grow.

If I allowed my insecurities to stop me stepping out of the way. Then I not only stop myself growing, I stop Jim, and the amazing team beneath him from growing as well.

If you want people to grow, you have to let go.

∴

Since having the insight about my own insecurities, it’s amazing how often I have heard it in others. So many leaders and managers and even parents are holding great people back, purely because they won’t let go.

Our role is to help people grow into the best possible version of themselves.

We don’t do that by holding on.

We do it by letting go.

If you want people to grow, you have to let go.

 

———————————
Finally in case you’re interested. I haven’t retired. I’m now the MD of Agoge and still passionate and emotionally invested in its future. I’ve also teamed up with Vivek to co-found a new social business, that aims to have the same ethos and purpose that Agoge does, but solve a different problem.

Its never the right time.

8 March 2016 /

1000 reasons not to startOver the last couple of years I have met quite a number of incredibly intelligent uni students who want to make a positive dent in the world. Many are passionate about social enterprise and using business to change the world.

As their degrees come to an end and it’s time for them to move to the next thing, almost all of them choose grad programmes at big corporates. They reason that they can make some money, pay off their student loans and then once they have everything all together they will start to change the world.

What they miss of course is the fact that it is never the right time to start something new.

There are always loans that need to be paid off, and in the future families that need to be supported.

The reality is that now is as good a time as ever.

In fact, now is the right time.

If you are brave enough.

∴

Note to self. Now is the right time. In fact there has never been a better time to start something new.

Stop hiding behind a thousand reasons not to, and start.

Are you heading for a dead-end?

2 July 2014 /

SignNot far from where I live is this sign. It’s a weird sign because it curves to the right with a big arrow showing that the main road heads that way, and off to the left is a little side road.

I know it is only a warning sign; however the interesting thing about the sign is that the main road, the big arrow, if you were to keep following it, actually ends up at a dead-end. Off to the left, is the best way to exit.

I thought about how funny that is, and how often our decisions are like that sign. We follow the big road because it’s the easy path, without realising that it may end up at a dead-end. We get so fixated on following that path that we miss the opportunity to take the exit and try a new path, one with all the uncertainty that leads us someplace new.

And so we stay on the beaten track, and hope beyond hope that it won’t be disrupted.

We know though, that great leaders are defined by great decisions.

And great decision-making is generally not a massive fork in the road where it’s a choice of one or the other. Rather, it’s a series of small decisions to venture off and try something new.

Something courageous.

Something that changes the course of your life, or business, for the better.

∴

What decisions are you not making at the moment?

What paths are you following purely because you haven’t stop to review your options?

Is it possible that you’re heading for a dead-end?

Maybe today, it’s time to take the lead and head off somewhere new.

Stuck! – Do you really know the next step?

24 June 2014 /

Next StepIt was a bleak, grey morning, and my 14-year-old daughter sat on the couch in her pyjamas, really struggling to get started on a massive homework project that she had. It was as though the burden of the project hung over her as dark as the clouds outside. The project seemed daunting and unachievable.

After some cajoling, I managed to get her to get dressed and we headed off to a cafe down the road. And that’s when I started to teach her (as best a dad can) to work out what the next step was. I asked her to break down the next step … then break it down further … and then break it down even more, until we got to the real simple achievable next step.

The problem a lot of us have when we’re faced with a big task, or with an assignment or with a massive project, is that we keep thinking about the outcome, and we fail to break it down to the next step.

What is the very next thing that I need to do?

In the case of my daughter’s protest poetry, she had to first narrow down who it was she was going to protest about. She had to find two or three people, or causes, that she could protest about. Once she had those, she had to decide on one! That was the next step.

And then once she had that, she had to break that down and learn something about the cause that she was protesting for. Then brainstorm the verses of the poem. Then she was away.

Easy … or at least easier.

∴

When you’re faced with a challenge, or a project or an assignment, how can you break it down further?

How can you look for that next step?

What might that next step be? One that you could complete in a few minutes that would move you forward.

Once you are moving it’s surprising how momentum follows.

Often ‘Being the Best’ first requires failure

3 June 2014 /

Audit ReportRecently, one of our business divisions was audited by an external auditor, and the comment was made that a particular process is the best that she’s seen in the industry. The irony is that these processes came about because we failed, and by that I mean failed significantly, three or four years ago.

This got me thinking about what it takes to be the best, and whether being the best, at some point, requires massive failure.

Is it possible that failure causes us to reflect, to learn, to change? Is it possible that failure causes us to radically change things so that you can actually strive to become the best?

Being the best is not just a decision you make when things are going well, being the best is something that is refined through the dark patches, risks taken and failed, and through lessons learned the hard way.

∴

What will you do to be the best?

Is that the challenge at work, or failure, or relationship issue, that you’re going through right now could actually hold the key to being the best?

Maybe it’s time you took some massive steps to change.

Then quite possibly, in the future, someone will notice that you are the best!

Why Accountability is more like Renting than Owning.

27 May 2014 /

For RentOften, as I’m walking or running along the streets, I will notice rental properties. Not because they have a sign on them saying they are rental, but because of the way that the lawns are kept and the gardens are over grown. The residents just seem to park their cars wherever they might like, be it, on the driveway or on the grass.

Sometimes rental properties seem to be treated differently than properties that are owned by people. An owner seems to take more care and responsibility for their property, if things need fixing they get fixed, whereas a renter generally contacts the landlord to get it fixed. It’s the owner’s problem.

In business, we have a word that has almost become the business version of Renter, it’s the word ‘accountable’. It’s not that being accountable is wrong, just as renting is not wrong. People that are accountable (give an account) for their own actions, but if something needs fixing, or something really needs owning, they will often speak up and they will pass it on to somebody else.

It’s funny I say this because at Agoge accountability is one of our behavioural values, however we also have a tagline that says “See it. Own it. Fix it.” If you see a problem, it’s one thing to be accountable, to see a problem and flag it up to somebody, and then effectively wash your hands of it. Accountability for us requires that you see the problem. And own it. And work with the rest of the team until it gets fixed.

Accountability means, you aren’t just a renter. You are an owner.

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There is a difference between how most organisations view accountability and ownership. Just as there is a difference between renting and an owning.

People who take real ownership are invaluable!

Today, will you take ownership for something, or will you merely be accountable for it?

Which will you be, a renter, or an owner?

4 ways to succeed after when you feel like you have failed.

6 May 2014 /

Innes 48 hour startupI heard the disappointment in their voices. I saw it in their body language.  Black Gold had taken the prize that they just poured 48 hours of their lives in to winning. They hadn’t won and I completely understand their frustration … I too hate losing.

Last night I had the privilege of crashing the Innes 48 hour start-up challenge run by Soda Inc in Hamilton.  I say it was a privilege because I come away energised and inspired by the start-up community. There were some incredible participants who will go on to disrupt entire industries.

As I reflected on the evening I was reminded that the decision to win is not in the hands of judges. The decision to succeed as individuals, not so much as businesses, broadly requires us to…

1)      Commit: Are you in? Are you prepared to throw everything behind it? Are you prepared to risk? Without making the decision to commit you will struggle to get the traction.

2)      Focus: Stay focused on what is wildly important. Don’t get distracted. Know your customers, know your issues, pivot if necessary, but focus. Don’t lose sight of the end goal.

3)      Start: You can’t finish if you don’t start. Each big project is just a series of small tasks. Constantly ask what is the very next step you need to take? Now take it.

4)      Repeat: Everyday.

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I also came away challenged.

What will I do?

Am I prepared to cause huge disruption?

It’s time for me to Commit. Focus. And START.

Maybe it’s time for you to do the same.

Are you dressing for success?

28 April 2014 /

Dress for SuccessYou wouldn’t wear Pajamas to an interview or shorts to a formal dinner. That’s because we know that how we dress impacts how people see us, and we like them to see us at our best.

The truth is, what we wear has more impact on us, than it does on those around us.

What we wear can significantly change our mood and attitude and activity.

What we wear is a powerful trigger for our minds, which help us make things happen.

And, what you wear next will determine how successful you will be.

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Know you should go exercise but can’t be bothered; get dress for exercise, put your shoes on, and off you will go.

Need to be creative at work; flag the business clothes and wear smart casual.

Had a hard day at work; get changed into comfortable relaxing clothes as soon as you get home.

I’ve found using clothes to shift my mood or attitude or activity really does make a huge difference.

What you wear will as well…

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