2 dangerous things in business
There are 2 dangerous things in a world of fit-ins (besides being standard/average/best-practice): → Fit in Imagine this: you’re a square and have to mold yourself to fit in a circle shape, because everyone else is a circle. In the end, you’re still a square, only now hiding your edge. → Blend in Picture yourself as a color. You’re a color (choose your fave one) and get into a blender with other colors. You get blended in dissolving and dissipating your hue and intensity. You get an average…
Fits
Fit in. Fit with. Fit. You’re supposed to find a product-market fit, a customer-product fit, a product-channel fit (omnichannel, right?), so that your business thrives. Which means you need to look like the others —or VERY similar at least. And becoming something like the others turns your offering into average. That’s why it fits. Now think of this: if you’re supposed to fit in (your market, customers’, channels), how are you supposed to stand out?
Diving and business
They’re both about leading, and it will… frustrate you. stretch you. for sure scare the shit out of you. When you go diving, you go see what’s below the surface. When you go in business, to best help your customers, you go below the surface. Business feels like diving because it involves the unknown. It involves risk. And it involves facing your fears. Dealing with the unknown → How to be prepared on different (and sometimes unexpected) scenarios. Involves risks → How real, realistic and…
What it takes to see under the surface
Understanding. Yeah, that simple. Understanding of principles, of the conditions, of the stakes themselves. Diving is a different kind of fun (from snorkeling), you can explore for longer what’s underwater. Even prepare to study things in their own environment. And understanding comes from getting prepared, do the thing and increase the level of difficulty / complexity. You need trained skills to get oriented. To look for different landmarks: the coral reef, a slope, the boat’s shadow, the…
Below the surface
To go below the surface, you need special gear —more than just a snorkel and fins. And the stakes also get higher. What do you think it takes to see under?
Snorkeling and business
For snorkeling, you: don’t need quite a lot of equipment: usually just a snorkel, a vest to float and fins. stay on the surface, need lots of sun protection, the risk on it is VERY minimal. have fun, yet, you can’t really explore for longer then what your lungs can hold to see below (a starfish, an angel fish, coral…) have a simpler sense of orientation: you stick your face off the water and figure out where you are. On the other side, you also experience more resistance: sun, wind,…
A truthbomb
Friend of the list, daily emailer and author, Shweta dropped this post on thought leadership —and on thought leadershit, too. “No one can create thought leadership content for you, except you. You have to have worked in your “field of expertise” long enough and deeply enough to have your own unique ideas/angles. That’s what thought leadership is.I, or any other writer, can help you polish the piece, but the core thought must come from the “leader” themselves.” The core thought has to come…
DIscomfort
To lead, you need to feel discomfort. And to be cool with it. More than feeling comfortable in discomfort, it’s about feeling discomfort and still going through it. It’ll frustrate you. It’ll stretch you. It’ll for sure scare the shit out of you. And that’s awesome. It means you’re trying things that are not guaranteed. You get creative. You get to see different alternatives. Even new ones you never thought of before. The practice and getting used to seeing thigs through that lens is what…
What’s your prompt?
Justin Welsh wrote this post and it just hit home. Some time ago, I asked friend of the list and data scientist, Dr. Genevieve Hayes: – If, let’s say, 10 people in different parts of the world give the same prompt to chatgpt, would they all have the same answer?- Interesting question. My thinking is that unless the prompt is very simple and specific (e.g. what is 1 + 1?) then the 10 people will get different answers, even if they only differ by a few words. You can see this for yourself by…
Retirement
You get old, to a certain age and you retire, so that you can enjoy of savings —or at least not having to work. Retirement frames work as a chore —as something you’re not supposed to enjoy. At least not when you’re 65+. But what if what you do doesn’t need to feel like work? What if it’s about producing and feeling productive, disregarding of how much effort you put into that work? Here’s a confession: i wish i won’t retire. How about you?
