Compass No.32
The courageous decision, leadership language for the modern era, and the importance of humor
Thought provoking quote
In his audiobook, What to Remember When Waking, poet David Whyte speaks about the “conversational nature of reality” which is his term for the reality that we will not get everything we ask for out of life, but that life, and the expectations of the world unfolding around us, will also not get everything they want out of us. The conversation is the meeting place in the middle between what we want out of life and what life is demanding of us.
He argues that the “courageous conversation” is the conversation that we don’t want to have. That is, the conversation that requires us to acknowledge the unknown and to face both the possibilities and the difficulties that define the season of life we are in.
When we are confronted with a dilemma or choice between questions, paths, or versions of ourselves, Whyte invites us to ask ourselves the following questions:
What is the courageous decision? What is the courageous step? Which of the options asks me to be heartfelt?
Insights from the current book on my desk
I recently finished L.David Marquet’s book, Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say and What You Don’t. In the book, Marquet argues that the organizational language we have inherited from the Industrial Age of manufacturing is proving insufficient for allowing leaders and organizations to move between the thinking and doing work that is necessary to stay relevant in an increasingly complex and fast changing world. Marquet asserts:
“Factory work needs to be as consistent as possible to achieve consistent results. So the language patterns developed in ways that naturally reduced variability. Finally, since we were trying to squeeze in more pieces of work per unit of time, there was always a sense of ‘obeying the clock,’ resulting in a performance mindset. Now, that is all changed. For organizations to survive, the doers must also be the deciders. We need the same people who used to view variability as the enemy to periodically view variability as an ally. We need the same people who used to have only a performance mindset to periodically have an improving mindset.”
In the book, Marquet contends that the key to adaptability and organizational resilience is finding ways to seamlessly shift between what he calls bluework and redwork writing, “The problem is that the language we use is only about doing, not thinking. It reduces variability by default. As a result, we don’t shift from redwork to bluework often enough, and when we do shift to thinking mode, our reduced language variability impairs our efforts.”
bluework = “thinking” work, decision making, reflection. Work that benefits from embracing variability.
redwork = “doing” work, execution. Work that focuses on reducing variability.
Marquet’s solution is introducing six new leadership “plays” that enable shifting back and forth. Rather than recounting them all here, I’ll leave you with his suggestion for starting small in making the shift.
“Start really, really small – and start with yourself. Maybe start by avoiding binary questions; instead of setting people up to give you a ‘yes or no’ answer, ask them a ‘what?’or ‘how?’ question.”
Note: I’ve recently written about Marquet’s first book, Turn the Ship Around!, in Compass No.26.
Question inspired by a recent interview
Last week I published an interview with brothers and Wiseacre Brewing Company cofounders, Kellan and Davin Bartosch. In the interview we talked about the importance of humor in dealing with the tough and uncertain moments of the entrepreneurial journey. Davin had this to say:
“I think our job is to take beer really seriously, but not really take ourselves seriously. We want to win medals, and we want to make the best beer on the earth, but I think there's a lot of danger in taking all of this too seriously. I think we're on earth for the experience and the fun, and I think if you get rid of those things, it makes for a pretty lame existence.”
Where might you have an opportunity to take work, a current situation, or problem less seriously?