Connecting dots

It’s often said our vision in hindsight is 20/20. It’s easy connecting the dots when things already happened. We can discover the cause and effect which wasn’t clear then. Sometimes people wish they could have done differently knowing what they know now.

❓How can you detect/sense the connection before things happen?
❓How can you develop the ability of “hindsight” from the future looking at now?
❓How can you know now what you might know in the future?
❓…
Taking time answering these questions will help you get closer to connecting the dots that are happening or yet to happen. It gets you closer to be visionary.

Are you actively listening?

How often do you say "me too!" when someone shares something with you? On the surface, it feels that we are making connections because we share similar experiences. In reality, it diminishes the power of the other person and the focus of the conversation is moved away from that person to you.

Let's play this:

Amy: "I am so tired today as i didn't have a good night sleep last night."
Bob: "Me too! I didn't sleep well either! My toddler woke me up in the middle of the night..."
Sounds familiar? Because that's the common listening style of many.

If you are actively listening, you might hear
1. Amy is tired now, a rest/break might be beneficial
2. Amy didn't sleep well last night. There might be something bothering her; Or maybe the AC is down; or her neighbor played loud music at a late night party.
3. What can I do to support Amy?
...
How can you find out any of these might be true or not? Ask Amy! Try this, you will be amazed at how other people might appreciate you that you care. This isn't about you!....at least not yet.

#activelistening #buildconnections #communication

Regret Not

- How often do you feel regretful? The feeling of “should have”, “could have”, “would have” …
- What do you regret for?
- What do you do when you feel that way?

https://lnkd.in/giGg-Q56

Do not leave until you leave

You are in a race, you saw the finish line, you are only a few steps away…you decided it’s time to stop and relax. Sounds unbelievable, right?

Many people do exactly that when they leave a job. They may feel it’s not their responsibility anymore…”I am leaving anyways…”. I trust you know the answer how to…cross the finish line with full speed.

What does AI mean to you?

Most people, especially technologists, would immediately think of Artificial Intelligence. However, it could also mean “Appreciative Inquiry”. How to use AI to have a SOAR conversation and implementation? It is important and critical to apply AI into any conversation to have a more meaningful and impactful outcome. The energy we deployed into the conversation can either support or break the communication.

Thanks to Jackie Stavros for her great research and insights on this topic.

Career MAP

On May 8th, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger gave the OSU commencement speech. He shared a lot of life lessons and career wisdom. His career MAP is a great summary. Of course, there are so many success factors at work and in life, each person will need to create their own map.

M - Mentors, find them and listen to them

A - Audicious Goals, ruthlessly prioritize your time against your mission and goals

P - Passion, find something you are good at that you love doing and do it with people that you enjoy doing.

What is your audicious goal(s)?

Starts with hiring

People ask me how I build high performing team. It starts with hiring. I look for the following characteristics in a new hire:
- self driven, have passion to make a difference
- team player
- continuous learner
- relevant skills: this isn’t the most important thing, because with the above, people can learn new skills and technology.

What do you look for in a new hire?

Grow old

I was catching up with a leader I admire deeply. Our kids went to visit the same college campus on the same day several years ago and now they graduated/graduating from college. I joked that “the good thing is they are getting old and we are still YOUNG! “. He reminded me the following quote from Bernard Shaw.

“We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”

If you don’t want to grow old, keep playing, stay curious and continue learning.
#continuouslearning

Attitude

If you are a leader, do you care for Skills or Attitude? Check out what Seth Godin says below. iPEC energy leadership index assessment is the only assessment available that assess your attitude.

Expertise vs Attitude 

The typical online job site lists millions of jobs. And just about every one of them is a cry for expertise.

From the title to the requirements, companies hire for expertise.

Logic helps us understand that only one out of ten people are in the top 10% when it comes to expertise. And that means that most companies are settling for good enough. If the organization needs people with expertise in the top decile, they’re going to have to pay far more and work far harder to find and retain that sort of skill.

So most companies don’t try. They create jobs that can be done pretty well by people with a typical amount of expertise.

That means that the actual differentiator in just about every job is attitude. From plumbers to carpenters to radiologists to pharmacists, someone with extraordinary soft skills (honesty, commitment, compassion, resilience, enrollment in the journey, empathy, willingness to be coached… the real skills that we actually care about) is going to outperform.

If this is so obviously true, then why don’t organizations hire for attitude and train for expertise?

Do something that scares you

Recently I skied a difficult trail (Imperial Bowl) at peak 8 in Breckinridge. It looked scary at the top, but I used the same techniques as those when skiing on easy trails - one ski at a time. What seemed impossible became a reality.

When was the last time you did something that scares you at work or in life?