You Hurry.
‘He’s dying,’ the caller tells you.
So you hurry to get to him.
You hurry.
Even though you’ve got the rest of your life.
Systems Thinking.
Removing a single olive from passenger's meals saved American Airlines $40,000 in fuel a year. - Rob Crandall
Someone at American Airlines had to be thinking about saving money.
Someone had to be tracking olive purchases and handling costs.
Someone had to be tracking olives left on the plates of first class passengers.
Someone had to be tracking the effects on customer satisfaction of removing olives - and how many.
Someone had to have oversight over all this tracking and thinking to join the dots.
Someone had to make the decision on whether to remove the olive.
Someone had to track the consequences of the decision - e.g. customer complaints, cabin crew feedback, logistics chain.
Whose Needs?
An excellent way of breaking a right-versus-right decision impasse is to step back (always step back) and ask:
“Whose needs are being met?”
Ask yourself.
Ask anyone else involved in the decision.
Ask the person who’s demanding your time and attention.
There’s an underperforming teacher who is facing the axe and who has a family and has been in the job for many years.
Dozens of student conscripts are subjected to the teacher’s poor teaching each day.
Whose needs?
Whose needs were being met when the teacher was employed without a thorough check on why they left their last job?
The hard conversation is still hard - but you honour the person by prioritising the needs.
The Great Truth of the Powerful.
Here’s the great truth of the powerful:
I’m powerful and right.
The Proof of my assertion is that you will never publicly hear any correction of me by anyone of merit.
Because I’m powerful and right.
Insubordinate.
Benjamin Ferencz was recruited by chief prosecutor Telford Taylor to join the US team at the Nuremberg trials established by the victorious Allied powers. Taylor noted his army files said he was "occasionally insubordinate", to which Ferencz replied: "That’s not correct, sir. I am usually insubordinate. I don't take orders that I know are stupid or illegal."
Our entire system of justice, fairness, kindness, and freedom to love - depends on courageous insubordinates like Ben Ferencz.
He discharged from the United States Army with the rank of Sergeant.
Consistency.
We don't look for consistency in decisions.
We look for consistency in decision making.
We don’t look for consistency in outcomes.
We look for consistency in growth from those outcomes.
The Best for Continuous Improvement.
I’ve worked in stand alone organisations that rely on information being passed up the hierarchy and some external to continuously improve.
I’ve worked in command and control organisations that rely on information being passed up from subordinate units whose members must overcome fear of criticism, embarrassment, or career disadvantage to feed consequences from the centralised decision making to continuously improve.
The best systems with continuous improvement are those where multiple independent organisations voluntarily sign up to be part of a larger association.
One of the member organisations innovates, notifies the association, which then checks and then shares that innovation with other members or in the form of better policies and procedures.
25%.
My teacher returned my first essay of the year that I was sure would score high marks.
It was covered in red pen and he had scrawled ‘25%’ at the bottom of the page.
I protested - explaining that my work was superior to others’ essays I’d read and had he’d marked much higher.
‘I will mark you at the percentage of whatever I think you’re capable of writing,’ he responded.
He did that for two years.
I finished high in the state in the final exam.
The older I get, the more I appreciate the wisdom of his philosophy to assessing me.
First, it meant he needed to see and now me and what I was capable of achieving.
Second, it meant I was competing against myself - not other students or some vague benchmark.
Third, it kept me accountable to myself, not other students and their level of study or intelligence.
My heart sank when I learned that my teacher was coincidentally one of the two paired markers of my final exam, as I thought my result may have been the result of his bias.
My reaction proved that he had taught me that an excellent achievement was meaningless it wasn’t a rating of my potential.
‘On the contrary,’ he responded when I asked him. ‘I marked you much lower. The paired marker was the one who insisted your work was much better, and lifted your mark.’
I’ve forgotten much of what was taught to me at school.
But I’ve not forgotten this lesson.
Emerging.
The cult of Leadership has Emerging Leaders.
What a horrible title.
All the expectations of Leadership without the money shot.
Forever running laps.
In the weights room.
Endless beep tests.
Skin fold measurements.
Never taking the field.
Worse - coached by someone who thought Emerging Leaders is a good idea.
Save us.
Made for Humans.
“Humans are made for progress, not arrival.’ - Dr Arthur Brooks
The five steps to good decision making is made for humans.
Break Step.
In the Australian military, a body of troops marches at 116 paces per minute, with each pace being 75cm.
Not 118 or 114 paces per minute.
116.
Not 80 or 70cm pace length.
75.
Left, right, left.
Unless they come upon a bridge they must cross.
Then the command will be given ‘Break … STEP!’
The troops will cease marching in step and each begins walking at whatever pace and length of step they choose.
Anarchy.
This prevents the rhythmic impact of synchronised footsteps, which could create vibrations that might compromise the structural integrity of the bridge.
Sometimes - to cross a bridge - you must break step with everyone else.
When a Student Sits a Test.
When a student sits a test then so does their teacher who taught them the content.
And the principal who hired and mentored the teacher.
And all the teachers and principals who taught and hired and mentored the student’s teachers up until now.
And the governing body that appointed the princpal.
And the university that trained and assessed the teachers as being good enough to teach.
And the parents who chose the school and fed and clothed and loved the child.
When a student fails a test…
Are We There Yet?
Here is how a leader communicates:
Where we are.
Where we are going.
Why are we going there.
How will we get there.
How things will be better when we get there.
What are the obstacles between here and there.
What’s in it for you.
Bonus points: What to do if you don’t want to come.
How far we have come since we started.
This Job Next Job.
Use this job to train for the next one.
Get this boss to pay you to get your next boss.
Never Well.
All is well.
All is well.
All is well.
All is well because nothing goes wrong.
Something goes wrong.
All was never well.