Not Knowing.

A good boss, like a good person, notices.

They notice because they are aware.

They are aware because they know they don’t know.

Not knowing makes us good bosses and good people.

A Good Lawyer.

A good lawyer says:

‘Here is the boundary line defining what the community has decided what’s in and what’s out.’

‘Here are the rules.’

Now … play!’

It Only Takes One.

“It takes a year to build an aircraft. it takes two hundred. years to build a military tradition where you don’t leave anybody behind. You take the aircraft trade any day.” - Gen Frank McKenzie, a former commander of US Central Command,

Organisations devote money, time, and resources towards convincing people of their virtuous culture.

Only to have it all undone by workers witnessing the one bad boss.

Transformative.

There are few things as transformative as the gift of undeserved kindness.

For the giver and the receiver.

Three Things.

You only need three things to make a good decision:

A Widget.

A Process.

Energy.

Love the Process.

But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences. - Ayn Rand

Good decision making is a deliberate process of inquiry that advances you towards where you want to be.

Love the process, not the destination.

The Confounder of Truth.

In the Second World War, allied aircraft approaching targets dropped thousands of small strips of aluminium code named ‘Window’ to confuse enemy radar as to their location.

The unreasonable person does the same through their erratic and irrational behaviour.

Unpredictability is the confounder of Truth.

Being Right.

The best way to be right is to eliminate all sources of information that you may be wrong.

Like Barnacles on the Titanic.

There are some organisations where people’s behaviour is so stuck, fixed, and unchangeable, that no amount of ‘off sites’, professional development, facilitation, motivation, incentive schemes, or leadership will budge them.

Somewhere in the organisations’ history, someone did what is being asked of the staff, and they were publicly humiliated, executed, and their scalp speared into a pike and hoisted high above the public square where it remained for months - if not years.

At least that’s how the staff remember it.

So they turn up to the latest pep talk, listen politely, then return to their desks and unlock their computers and go back to typing.

Like barnacles on the Titanic.

The Radical Act.

The radical act isn’t protest or tossing a Molotov cocktail or storming the steps of the palace.

It’s understanding the seriousness and solemnity -

Then cracking a good joke.

Here and Where.

Here’s what I think.

What do you think?

Here’s where I am.

Where are you?

I Don’t Know.

“What makes a decision great is not that it has a great outcome. A great decision is the result of a good process, and that process must include an attempt to accurately represent our own state of knowledge. That state of knowledge, in turn, some variation of “I'm not sure”.” - Annie Duke

You will rarely hear a bad boss say ‘I don’t know.’

Call Meetings.

A great way for a bad boss to flush out, identify, and weed out dissenters is to call meetings.

The bad boss presides, pontificates, and scans the room for who’s nodding and who’s sitting cross armed.

The sycophants and drones get promoted or at least keep their jobs.

So they can call meetings, and flush.

Sinners.

Virtuous organisations attract sinners who skulk about, relying on the misguided virtuous members not to dob them in.

Gratitude.

‘Show gratitude’ is a self-help staple.

Keep a Gratitude Journal, Reflect on Things to be Grateful For, Write Gratitude Notes.

All are suggestions for someone looking to improve their lot.

Being grateful is more than a magical mantra or meditative chant.

When we acknowledge things to be grateful for, we remind ourselves of the external forces - good and bad - and even the luck - good and bad - that get a vote in how our decisions turn out.

We recognise the importance of harnessing multiple voices and considerations beyond our own positional power or self-absorption that can contribute to our decision making.

Step 1: Step Back.

In our brokenness, invite gratitude to give us hope.

Not Our Own.

We are here to facilitate someone else’s outcome, not our own.

Virtue.

It is when one’s true character aligns with Virtue that greatness appears with ease.

Only then can we do good while being ourselves.

Change Is Easy.

Changing our life is as easy as our next decision.

Threat.

Our biggest threat is from people who don’t care.

Stability.

The value of Stability is highly underestimated.

Until you don’t have it.

‘Stability’ is not inconsistent with Innovation, Change, or Run Fast and Break Things.

The most amazing human physical achievements are only possible because of the stability of Gravity.

If you’re going to challenge the status quo, then do so on the Stability of a process, a rule, a boss that will give you top-cover, a resolution of a governing body.

In the absence of any of those things -

You’ve got your Widget.