I don’t know about you, but this year has started like off like a sprint!
I’m not complaining.
Compared to last year which started off at a snail’s pace, I’m grateful to have so many exciting plates to spin.
It’s been so busy I keep pushing back my end of year reflection post that I’ve been meaning to do since December but haven’t had the headspace to pull it together. I’m looking across all of OverTime Leader’s projects in 2023 to bring out themes, patterns and insights across the different sectors. So far, there’s some fascinating stuff (IMO) and I commit to getting that out in next week’s post (hold me accountable!)
For this week, I’m bring you behind the scenes and into my mind, which has been inspired by:
3x VC dinners
1x future of supply chain conference
1x annual company kick-off offsite
Multiple annual planning sessions with leadership teams
Trying to help leaders keep new habits
Reading ‘The Fund’ an insight intro Ray Dalio’s management approach to building Bridgewater ← this has lead to many of this week’s reflections.
Here is what’s been on my mind:
Let’s start with Ray. I don’t want to give too much away in case you are reading it but Ray essentially creates a culture of dissonance. If you are given the chance to disagree with him, you will see yourself on the other side of the building. It definitely giving ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ and it’s made me wonder, does he (and leaders like him) actually believe the hype? Or are there moments, like in the shower, when he wonders if the opposite can be true. I find this fascinating.
I’m equally fascinated by why very smart, capable and successful people work for leaders like Ray. I’ve seen it in my own work with Founders, we all saw it in Fyre Festival (referencing Andy King here). I find the level of actual abuse and self-depresciation they are willing to accept for the ‘greater good’ of the business (or leader) looks and feels a lot like cult leadership. If I were to go back to school, this would be my thesis, for now, I promise a deeper post on this soon!
Still on the subject of Ray, I shared a perspective on LinkedIn on how far war analogies should and can go, but also how feedback is often not delivered due to worry how the impact and how that’s AS toxic as the culture we tend to publcly take down. I’d actually argue it’s more toxic cause it’s invisible. I’d rather know where I stand then have to spend time guessing. Anyways, the comment section of the post is hopping, so I invite you to jump in and share your perspective!
Moving on from Ray, I have a public service announcement I’d like to shout out. If you’ve been laid off, please know: IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT OR A REFLECTION OF YOUR CONTRIBUTION. Have spoken to a few folks on the job search after being blindsided and scarred by redundancy and it’s killing my soul when I hear them say they are feeling ashamed that they’ve been affected. Know this, a re-org’s primary goal is how to cut as many people (costs/resources) as possible, whilst keeping the risk of a lawsuit to a minimum. There isn’t an inkling of personalisation involved (trust me I was left off of one). There’s no names just ‘heads’. Even if they wanted to keep a valued member of the team they can as it exposes the risk if they pull someone out. It’s not personal. Also - most people I know that have been let go always better-off on the other side.
The discomfort of not doing. So, in last week’s post I shared the leadership behaviours wheel where you look at behaviours you need to shift in order to achieve your strategy. We often look at doing something new as ‘stretch’ or 'discomfort’ HOWEVER not doing a thing can be just as uncomfortable. When driving conscious change, there’s probaly a combination of doing things you haven’t been doing very well AND not doing things you have been doing well. As a leader, this might be something like: problem solving before the team have had a chance to think it through, or, jumping in with an opinion instead of asking a question. As a coach, the ability for my to hold back my opinion and instead ask a series of questions to give space for the client to come up with their own is not something that is natural, and trust me, is a learned skill. So, reflect where can you dial-down a behaviour that would be uncomfortable for you?
That’s enough for this week. I’ve been keeping a week notes folder where I’ve been trying to add ideas / reflections as they come. There’s a load more for this week but I can’t actually decipher them, so note to self, make clearer week notes.
I’ll leave you with this quandary I got thrown yesterday.
An ambitious, mid-level partner has a toxic boss. The culture he’s created is toxic but he’s institutionalised (i.e. he’s been there for ever and has industry cache). They came to me asking for advice on how to get him to take on coaching, to try and attempt to change his approach and the culture.
Question for you:
Can you change you boss?
See you next week.
You got this.
G