marginally subversive

i am an artist, you are an artist, we are all artists

It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.

Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the soul of the artist.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

someone in your office could very well be an artist.

she may not know how to draw - but she can do magic with spreadsheets and make them easy to use.

he may not be able to carry a tune - but he may be able to deliver presentations that make people listen.

she may be from the finance and accounting department.

he may be working at the reception area.

it doesn't matter.

they are artists.

and perhaps, in all of us - when we do what we do and imbue it with our perspiration (and sometimes, tears) - there resides an artist.

and sometimes, it may not be beholden by others - and others may see it too different, too weird, too... human.

but what they say or do or how they react do not detract to the work we've done.

i am an artist.

you are an artist.

we are all artists.

To Be The Best, Study The Best

I often get asked for advice by students and young people in the industry who are curious about breaking into strategy/planning. One of the things I nearly always say to them is to study great ideas and learn what makes them great. Over the past few weeks, I've come across two interviews which touch upon this thought.

The first, and furthest back, was a segment on ESPN with LaDainian Tomlinson. The interview centered on his admiration and respect for Vince Lombardi. In explaining his interest in Lombardi, Tomlinson said:

Immediately this statement struck me for both its truth and simplicity. To be the best at something, you have to work at it. Part of that work includes studying what has made others great in this same area.

via paulisakson.typepad.com

Fitting equations...

I am fairly sure that if one tries hard enough, one can describe a set of seemingly random data points using an equation or a set of equations.

What I am not sure of is if one can explain WHY such an equation or systems of equations hold or should be true.

Things we don't say often enough...

I am sorry.
I don't know.
Thank you.
Really, how are you?
You're welcome.
Great job!
I believe in you.
I honestly don't know - but I'll find out.
What do you think?
Enough about me - how about you?
You're beautiful.
I love you.
No.
Yes.
Why?
Why not?

 

craftmanship

Just because it's not in a crafts fair doesn't mean it didn't demand craft.

via sethgodin.typepad.com

I probably have delivered several hundreds of presentations and written the same number of reports.

But I probably have thousands of rejected presentations and reports.

They contained ideas that didn't come to fruition because...

... it's been done before
... it's not going to work
... it's never been done before
... it's too weird
... it's not weird enough
... it's crazy
... it's too normal
... it's a political timebomb
... it doesn't make a stand
... it's not nice
... it's nice
... i don't understand it
... my young daughter doesn't understand it
... my boss won't understand it
... i don't get it
... i get it - but (pick a relevant reason above)
... you suck
... i don't like you
... you're not the same color as my skin

And honestly, others were because...

... i didn't think it through enough
... i didn't do enough justice to the idea
... i just thought about it whilst in the shower
... i didn't communicate it well enough
... i used too much charts or too much numbers or too little of either
... i didn't command enough respect
... i didn't "connect" fully with the audience
... i didn't see where they were coming from
... i didn't know what the real issue was
... i wasn't aware of the real political issues were
... i was too nice
... i was not nice
... i was too young or too old

Regardless, I am still proud of my craft - and the results that I have produced.

 

HTC innovation for you

via www.youtube.com

I use an HTC Hero. It's one of the older models without the Android2.2 OS.

But still, I have had no problems with it.

When I decide to get a new phone, the likelihood of me getting an HTC is very high.

I don't need the bells and whistles of other phones. I just want a phone that works and that capitalizes on the technologies that are available to me whilst on the move.

your boss and your colleagues are NOT your clients - they are your PARTNERS...

Treating your boss and your colleagues as if they are clients accomplishes two important things: i) it shows your team that you respect them — enough to treat them with the same level of care and handling you treat other VIPs; ii) as with Michael Phelps's swimming, it gives you great practice so you're uber-prepared for the real thing — when you are speaking to your client or customer. You know the drill, you've done this before.

via Your Boss is Your Client (& Your Colleagues Are Too) by Jodi Glickman at Harvard Business Review's blogs.hbr.org

In a former company I worked for, we lived on the idea that "clients are always right" - because "customers are always right", right?

That eventually (and I hope, unintentionally) evolved to "clients are gods - if not God!".

Through the course of my career, the clients that were easiest to work with and the most effective in delivering value to their organizations in the form of revenues and profits were those who treated their 'suppliers' (e.g., creative agencies, media companies, consultants, research providers) as partners, and who encouraged these 'suppliers' to treat them as 'partners'.

These clients I worked with who produced results, who treated us as partners, who encouraged us to treat them as partners shared a set of similar characteristics:

1. Respect for each other. In setting meetings, in respecting one another's time, in phone calls, in asking for favors, in setting deadlines, in negotiating for fees...

2. A sense of gratitude and appreciation. A box of chocolates, a bottle of white or red wine, a surprise delivery from a pizza chain, or free premiums from a promo that didn't take off, or a simple hand written note of thanks...

3. A sense of "we are equals". Puts others at ease specially in challenging times. Never elicits fear.

4. A willingness to hear the bad news if there are.

5. A willingness to own up to the bad results if there are - and the courage to move on and do better.

6. A willingness to share the glory in successes - and the courage to move on and do better.

7. A willingness to be told "I think you may have misunderstood it" (read: "You're wrong")

8. A willingness to say "I'm sorry" - and a willingness to accept apologies.

Bosses and colleagues ought to operate in the same manner. And no, a client-agent relationship is not the ideal kind of relationship that should exist in an organization.

PARTNERSHIP!

when you ask a favor... or someone helps you out...

Don't leave someone hanging after they help you out, wondering about the outcome. It's rude, it looks bad, and it actually has the potential to create negative consequences.

via Jodi Glickman at blogs.hbr.org

"Thank you" sometimes suffices.

Letting the other know how it went adds some more - if it resulted to a good thing, then thank some more. If not, say thanks anyway - and don't blame them. Suggest ways to improve next time - without sounding like "I told you so".

Just saying, you know...

on detaching one's self from work

 

a friend of mine who works in the finance field - he is one of those who comes up with those complicated equations and stuff so his company can sell them (I think it's called "securitization"?) - kept on telling me that "YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB! YOU ARE NOT YOUR SALARY! YOU ARE NOT YOUR HOUSE! YOU WILL NOT BE YOUR CAR!" (since I still don't have a car).

apparently, he's learned it the hard way when the market collapsed.  he saw his colleagues lose their sense of self (selves?) as the financial crisis took hold of their industry.

i asked him, "how did you survive?" (with survive being used loosely as he lost his job during that really blackhole of a period).

he answered, "because i am not my job nor my career nor the letters after my last name nor my car".

immediately after he was laid off, he sold off his Peugeot and downgraded to a more manageable car.  he willingly rediscovered the value of public transportation. and eating at really, really cheap places.  he also took the time to stock up on books and read.

i am sure that not all of us can do what he did - specially that "taking-a-break-from-corporate-world".  but there's merit i think in what he constantly said to me: "YOU ARE NOT YOUR JOB, YOU ARE NOT YOUR CAREER."

this blog from HBR.Org could have captured his entire viewpoints.  i really wouldn't know - i have yet to speak with him.  he's currently in some remote island in some archipelago somewhere reading books he's never had the chance to read whilst working.

-----------

Detach Yourself from Your Work
by Gill Corkindale 

 

1. Be honest about how much time you spend at work and why. Is it really necessary to work long, extra hours to accomplish your tasks and objectives, or are you regularly staying late for other reasons? To impress your boss and your peers, or simply because you are not managing your time well during the day?

2. Manage your energy, not your time. The excellent HBR article on this subject will help you identify how to monitor and use your energy well. Check your energy levels throughout the day and week. Leave work early one evening a week — say Wednesday — so you can maintain momentum. What is your energy right now and how can you maintain and boost it?

3. Identify and banish time-stealers. These can be in the form of demanding people, routine or unnecessary meetings or tasks, or even your own bad habits. Seek out the critical time-stealers, develop a plan to deal with them and consign them to the past. This should help you feel more in charge of your agenda. What are your time-stealers?

4. Find a buddy or mentor at work. Rather than burdening your partner with work-related issues, find a colleague for a regular downloading session. One friend of mine meets a colleague weekly and they are each allowed a half an hour to rant and rave about issues and seek advice. They find this acts as a great pressure valve for them. Who could be your buddy or partner?

5. Treat time outside work as sacrosanct and refresh yourself. Protect your time outside work as much as you can. You need to be able to switch off from work for your own health and sanity and that of your friends and family. Find a way to refresh and replenish yourself after a week's work. What do you do to support yourself each week? The gym, long walks, visits with friends, a favourite art gallery or restaurant? What is your weekly source of replenishment?

6. Remind yourself that you are much more than your job. However much you love your job, it is a mistake to define yourself too closely to your work. Take time to reflect on what you want to achieve in life and think about your definition of personal success. This should help you during those times when work gets difficult and the pressure becomes unbearable. What is your definition of life success?

via blogs.hbr.org

random thoughts: on giving advice and help

my mom used to say "never give advice nor help to anyone who doesn't want it - you only waste your time".

in the course of my career, i have found this advice to be timeless.  

i am, by nature, opinionated.  (my mom, by the way, is a very opinionated woman - and so was my grandmom, her mom.)  when i have an opinion, i let others know of it.  sometimes it helps, sometimes it falls on deaf ears.

other times, it becomes a source of discord and 'issues' and 'territorial disputes'.

it's sad.  not because i have 'gems' of opinions or of advice - sometimes, my opinions are probably pointless or not helpful.  

it's sad because it is an indication of a closed mind - one that has congealed and refuses to admit that "there are still things unknown out there that are worth knowing about".

i think no amount of education can ever replace the value of curiosity.

that willingness to consider something so different from the status quo.

that willingness to consider that "i could be wrong".

that willingness to say "i don't really know - what do you think?"

that willingness to be challenged.