My Riffs

I feel like in general, collaboration > working in a silo. I have to wonder, if Edison had collaborated a bit more, would it have taken him 1000 tries to invent the light bulb? You would have to think he would have reached his end goal a lot more efficiently with collaboration. Collaborate. Ask questions. Take advice. Investigate.  Have sounding boards. Draft and review. Update and review. Test. Ask. Produce. Refine.

There are a lot of people who think about doing great things. There are far fewer people who actually go do great things.  The only difference is getting up and doing it. 

Sometimes all you need is to know someone else understands.

Creativity flourishes in open, free environments better than closed, suppressive environments. I think there is a reason we have seen so much created in the United States over the past 100 years or so. The USA has been instrumental in creating culturally, artistically, religiously and technologically. Worldwide pop culture is largely originating from the USA. Flights and car transportation originated from the USA. Something that has changed the world possibly more than anything prior, the internet, was created in the USA... The USA has largely been responsible for changing our world in the last 100 years (or so). The same amount of creativity probably could not have happened in a closed environment. Largely because their culture is more closed, you see a place like China manufacturing crazy amounts of products, but little innovation happening. Due to their creativity the USA has typically and arguably still continues to be an extremely influential force in the world. Creativity has s...

Again, knowing the difference is key. Extricate yourself from the bad busy tasks.  Immerse yourself into the good busy tasks. Is this task or activity moving you in the direction of your goals? Evaluate, and spend your time resource accordingly. 

There is good compromise and bad compromise. Knowing the difference is key. Compromise has received a bad stigma, unfairly though. Compromise is a necessary tool for successful relationship. Good compromise: deferring to someone elses' preference over yours. Bad compromise: deferring to something that runs against your core values. There are times where compromise is the best course of action. There are times when compromise is the worst course of action. Figure out now what your core values are. Figure out what is important and what is not. Then when faced with a decision to compromise, the decision will already be made and should be a no-brainer. People who know how and when to compromise (and when not to) are usually successful in relationships and are often more influential friends/acquaintances/leaders.

Communication is not synonymous with speaking. I think we often feel like once we have spoken, we have communicated. However, communication involves more than just speaking. The other, less glamorous part of communication, is listening. In my observation, it seems listening is often the more important skill and unfortunately there is a huge deficit of good listeners. This is something I am trying to improve. Monologue is only partial communication. Dialogue can be full communication. Communication involves receiving information just as much as giving information. The most effective communication requires input and output.  Communication also requires honesty. You can have conversations, but without honesty, true communication will not happen. Furthermore, communication sometimes is not even verbal. It can be written, signed, or though body language. When communicating, your body language can speak louder than your words. Effective communicators are aware of th...

I have been thinking a lot recently about honesty. More specifically, I have been thinking about intellectual honesty. I wonder if often we are more honest with others than we are with ourselves. A wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectual_honesty) has defined Intellectual Honesty as: Intellectual honesty  is an applied method of  problem solving , characterized by an unbiased, honest attitude, which can be demonstrated in a number of different ways: One's personal beliefs do not interfere with the pursuit of truth; Relevant facts and information are not purposefully omitted even when such things may contradict one's  hypothesis ; Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted to give misleading impressions or to support one view over another; References, or earlier work, are acknowledged where possible, and  plagiarism  is avoided. I think we often "problem solve" and base our opinions from a place of defending wha...

"stay hungry, stay foolish" - Steve Jobs in his Stanford address (2005). Do not rest on your past accomplishments (or failures). Keep pushing for better. Do not accept the status quo (unless there's a good reason). Do not accept being told "you can't". Push. Believe the impossible. Full video of his speech here:  http://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Some bad things will happen to you and for you. Some things will not work out as planned or hoped. Some things will end up bad that started out good. There will be unfair circumstances. Unfair accusations. Missed targets. Etc. Etc. None of the above are valid excuses for a bad or negative attitude. To the degree of the bad situation, respond with an equal degree of positive attitude. 

I recently saw a quote outside a business that said, "Don't find fault, find a remedy". Finding fault is easy. Unfortunately finding fault is too often second nature. Finding a remedy is difficult. Sometimes the remedy is to change ourselves when we cannot change the problem. That is extremely difficult. We cannot remedy every situation to our complete satisfaction. One thing we do have full control of is our attitude and perspective. If there is a fault/problem you have identified, consider changing your perspective to remedy it. It may not change the fault/problem, but it changes you.

To disagree. Disagree, but maintain a good attitude. The other position has equal right to be asserted.

What blood is to the human body, communication is to relationships and organizations. Communication carries the life giving essentials from one part of the organization to the other. In a relationship, communication carries the life giving essentials from one member to another. Relationship without effective communication is doomed to failure. Organizations without effective communication are doomed to failure. Communication is essential to the vitality and viability of life in almost all contexts.

Should be a brief pit stop, not somewhere to dwell for any length of time.

Is a extremely difficult thing to overcome. I would think most successful people have to a degree overcome procrastination. The fix is simple, take care of what needs to be done today, not tomorrow. However, that is a lot harder to do than it sounds.

For a lot of things. There are many people doing without the basic things I take for granted.

What did you learn yesterday? What are you going to do different or better today?

I have heard a lot of great descriptions of what leadership is. All of them are true. Leadership can be a complex thing to truly define and describe. However, I wonder if one of the simplest ways to describe leadership is simply, "doing the right thing". Every action we take sets a precedent and has an effect. So simply doing the right thing may be the most pure description of leadership. Doing the right thing sets a precedent not only for ourselves but for others. Doing the right thing sets a course. Doing the right thing helps establish the right thing as the norm. I think everyone who simply does the right thing is being a leader.

The status quo may be what it is for good reason, or it may not. Challenge the status quo, it may be in place for reasons that have changed or it became the status quo unintentionally. Status quo is not inherently bad, but if we do not understand the status quo, it is unwise.

You cannot know everything. So ask questions. Ask books, ask credible websites, ask friends, ask mentors, ask specialists, ask the elderly, ask your parents... The important thing is, it is okay to ask questions. It is okay and actually important. Your quality of work and life will improve as you add the wisdom and knowledge from others. Others have insights that are impossible for you to gather yourself. Use their insights, they are essentially free for you, paid for by the individual giving them. The other important thing is, ask questions of those who can listen as well as they speak. A valuable source has a well rounded and informed base of information gained from asking questions and listening themselves.

One of the greatest gifts you can give someone, if not the greatest, is your time. Material gifts often end up forgotten or in the disposal. But giving someone your time can be a lasting gift that actually changes them. Giving your time to something means, this (or you) are important to me in a way that a material gift cannot. This isn't to denounce material gifts by any means. There is a time and place for material gifts for sure. Give the people who are important to you the gift of your listening, empathy, laughter, smiles, tears, counsel, support, ideas and sometimes even constructive criticism.

I firmly believe one can accomplish anything they put their mind to. That is why one of my very least favourite phrases are, "I can't...". I can't, simply isn't true. Maybe the more accurate phase would be "I am scared to" or "I don't want to" or "I don't know how". But saying I can't just isn't acceptable. The only thing that can hold us back, is us. Do not speak fallacies into existence such as "I can't do [insert task here]".

Sometimes it's the smallest things that change us most fundamentally. A few months ago on the internet I came across a picture of a saying on a whiteboard. The saying simply said, " Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be Kind. Always. " Reading that shook me for some reason and I can say this phrase has changed me. It doesn't mean I have been perfect, but I'm getting better. The dividends of sowing kindness are so much higher than harshness.

The words we don't speak sometimes make as strong of statement as the words we do speak. Be careful both for what you speak and what you do not speak. Both can be used to communicate.

Work is changing. What you know is becoming less important. Knowledge has become equally accessible for most of the world, so just knowing something isn't enough. You have to add value beyond knowledge. Some value add skillsets are communication, creativity, independent thinking yet collaborative working, EQ over IQ, openness, agility, flexibility and efficiency, character, attitude. These are some of the things that are becoming equally or more important than base knowledge. Get school and training, but work just as hard at soft skills like the ones mentioned above.

For some reason that none of us have actually agreed upon... It seems that changing ones mind is not okay. I think changing ones mind is okay and actually is important. As we follow our journey through life, we learn and have wider bases of reasoning and understanding. If new information and experiences cannot shape our thinking, there is a problem. Some things don't change. Some things do. Have an open, discerning mind to critically and analytically be open to positive change.

Always. In every situation. No matter what.

Do a lot of little things right in your life and some major things will start working in your favour. This isn't to refute the saying and book "don't sweat the small stuff". That very much holds true. However, it is often the small and simple things in life that bring the most joy. A conversation with a friend, a cup of coffee/tea, a sunset... Take care of all the little things that sometimes don't feel overly significant. Be on time, dress deliberately, smile, be grateful, say thank you... Work, study and prepare diligently. Take care of your entire person (emotionally, spiritually, physically). Rest. Give. Love. Get all these small items right and the big things will fall into place.

Fear is a bad decision driver in most cases. Not doing something because of an expected negative outcome is fine. Not doing it because of fear isn't fine. The funny thing about fear is, it usually is wrong. The things we fear rarely happen. Yet we often cater to our fears. Fear can hold you back from your greatest potential. Put no stock in fear, instead put it in your creativity and your confidence. Overcoming fear and self doubt is attainable, and the right thing to do.