Month: February 2022

leadership dot #3535: overcorrection

February 18, 2022February 17, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

There was a fatal accident in town — a situation where the vehicle went off onto the shoulder and the driver overcorrected, causing him to cross lanes and hit the other driver head-on. It’s a natural impulse to jerk left after you’ve gone far right, and while it is fortunately not always fatal, overcorrection is almost always undesirable.

Overcorrection can look like this:

If you give up meat and become an evangelist for vegetarian living
If you champion one view on a topic and can no longer listen to different perspectives
If you establish a savings goal and become a selfish miser
If you earn a new degree or promotion and lord it over people
If you commit to lose weight and become obsessive about fitness training
If you master the use of Teams or Slack and no longer communicate face to face

Many cars today have lane-keeping-assist systems that alert you when you’re heading off the road onto the shoulders. Implore your trusted advisors to serve in that capacity and give you warnings when you are at risk of veering to the extremes. A slight modification is easier to recover from than a drastic overcorrection.

leadership dot #3534: unconventional path

February 17, 2022February 16, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

There is one shoe repair place in town — a service that the craftsman does part-time. Curious, he shadowed his cousin’s business, found he liked it enough to learn it, and then took over upon his cousin’s retirement. What does he do for the other half of his work? He’s a chiropractor.

It has always seemed funny to me to combine shoe repair with a chiropractic practice, but both offer a fair amount of autonomy in scheduling the work. Whereas the repair shop has no competition, there are dozens of chiropractors in the area and an exclusive side niche is probably a good business model.

I thought of this when I had lunch with a friend who was discussing her son’s lack of career clarity. I doubt that any assessment tool generated a cobbler/chiropractor combination as a viable career option — yet here he is, thriving.

If you don’t love your job, maybe you don’t have to leave it. Maybe instead you can do the work you love as a hobby or shadow someone out of curiosity then see where it leads. Finding an unorthodox combination might be more to your liking than a conventional path.

leadership dot #3533: social

February 16, 2022February 15, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

It was a cold and dreary day so I curled up with a new book and was cozy in my reading cocoon when it was time to go volunteer usher at the performing arts center. I really did not want to go.

But as is the case with so many things, I didn’t want to go but I was glad when I was there.

Dan Pink shared that the best way to persuade someone to do something is not to try to persuade them — it is to make it easy for them to do it. If you get people to act, they will likely change their minds and come to agree with what they are doing. It was easy for me to sign up in advance to usher and once I got there I thought it was a great way to spend the evening.

Take your leisure scheduling as seriously as you do your professional appointments. Instead of just doing things when you “feel like it” put some of the activities you love on the calendar in advance– cultural events, outdoor sports, vacations, or meals with friends — making it easy to know when and where you’re socializing. You may not feel like going in the moment, but once you’re there it’s likely to be wonderful.

clear drinking glasses on table — Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

leadership dot #3532: Wordle

February 15, 2022February 14, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I’m not a quitter. This can be good but, as with all things, a strength can also be a challenge. I know myself well enough to know that I don’t like to stop doing something (ahem, 3532 blogs, for instance) so I pay special attention to what I start. This is why I have not joined the Wordle craze that fills my social media feed.

But I can learn from it.

More brilliant than creating the game itself was the inventor’s decision to make it easy to share results without revealing the answers. Wordle would not be Wordle without that feature. We are social creatures and like to have common experiences.

We’re also short on time. Wordle takes only a few minutes a day to play (or so I’m told).

Also, people get six chances so it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition. Wordle is reasonable enough that many people are able to successfully complete the challenge, providing a dose of dopamine to help them start the day feeling like a winner. And then by sharing it, their friends know they are brilliant as well!

Three key components: it’s quick, it makes you a winner, and it’s sharable. No wonder the New York Times paid seven figures for ownership rights.

Take a lesson from the latest craze to incorporate some of Wordle’s elements into your organization. Gamification can be a S M A R T way to engage others in your efforts.

leadership dot #3531: match

February 14, 2022February 13, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

They say that there is “someone for everyone” and that is true whether you are a human, a zebra, or a gazelle. While people use dating apps to find their future valentines, wild animals have matching services of their own through the use of a Studbook.

Zoos record demographic and parentage information about each animal and share it through a Studbook registry. A Population Manager uses this data to serve as a matchmaker for each species and determine which animals should be paired, ensuring that genetics are optimized and mates are not related. International collaboration and management of endangered animal breedings are possible because of Studbook record keeping and sharing.

Maybe your organization could benefit from creating a similar registry of its own — not for mating, of course, but a list of talents that could be matched with needs on a temporary basis or for long-term promotion. For example, you may benefit from knowing that LaShondra in accounting also has sales experience, or Juan previously facilitated training before he moved into marketing. Or maybe your registry matches interns with alumni from their school or keeps track of people in remote locations who have experience in different types of projects or software.

Think about how you can intentionally facilitate connections to bring together resources that benefit from the pairing. Effective matching doesn’t happen by accident — whether for love, breeding, or work optimization.

leadership dot #3530: opposite

February 13, 2022February 14, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Valentine’s Day is a day for love — except for those who have been scorned. An exotic animal rescue in Pennsylvania is trying to tap into this disenchanted audience by selling the ability to “toss your ex to the wolves.” For $5, they will write your nemesis’ name on a treat and feed it to their rescued wolves — all in the name of raising funds to support the animals.

It’s a creative spin that should get your mind thinking of how you can distinguish yourself or your organization on future holidays. When everyone is marketing “love,” can you find a niche in those without it? For St. Patrick’s Day, instead of the green everything, focus on the authentic few who aren’t pretending to be Irish for the day. For today’s Super Bowl, you could have created a “Wait Until Next Year” club for all the fans whose teams aren’t playing.

To paraphrase Robert Frost, sometimes the holiday less traveled makes all the difference.

leadership dot #3529: endorsements

February 12, 2022February 11, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I recently came across two celebrity endorsements that got me thinking about personal branding. The first was a new line of eyeglasses sponsored by Elton John. The singer is known for his expressive eyewear — probably more flamboyant than the average patient would purchase, but Elton John + glasses is an aligned product endorsement.

Then I saw Dolly Parton’s partnership with Duncan Hines for baking kits. Maybe I don’t enough about her, but l think of Dolly as an amazing philanthropist and performer, but I don’t think of Dolly + baking — or homemaking or food or anything to do with Duncan Hines. To me, this is an off-brand use of Dolly’s image and she would be much more authentic endorsing makeup, wigs, or fashion.

While your organization may not feature celebrities, everything you offer is either in alignment or out of it. Before you extend your services into a new arena or venture into a new partnership, consider whether it is truly “you.”

leadership dot #3528: uniforms

February 11, 2022February 10, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

When I was in high school, we had a uniform skirt but could wear any top with it to express ourselves. At the time, we all thought it was incredibly boring to have to wear the same skirt every day and wished for more flexibility. I laughed at the memory because now I find myself wearing a uniform by choice — jeans and a white t-shirt — followed by a colorful scarf or sweater to break the monotony and add some personality.

For some, such a uniform would be as restrictive as it was in high school, but fashion has never mattered to me. Some might want to devote their energy to cooking, while others are content with a grab ‘n go sustenance. There are people who spend hours on their home and holiday decor, contrasted with others who are satisfied with a minimalist approach.

For a year, author Ann Patchett gave up purchasing anything you couldn’t buy in a grocery store or bookstore. “Not shopping saves an astonishing amount of time,” she wrote in her book These Precious Days. She recounts a conversation with her friend: “I realized I had too many decisions to make that were actually important, Elissa said. “There were people to help, things to do. Not shopping frees up a lot of space in your brain.”

As does not crafting unique outfits every day. Figure out what’s important to you — whether that be clothes, shopping, cooking, or decor — and don’t invest your time or decision-making on the rest.

leadership dot #3527: range

February 10, 2022February 9, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Too often, people strive for perfectionism to do “exactly” what another person wants, whether that be a partner, boss, colleague, or friend. They create angst and spend unnecessary time trying to figure out — then hit — a precise target in an effort to please someone else.

In reality, more often than not, the other person doesn’t have an ultra-specific outcome they are trying to attain; it’s more of a range of acceptable results. It reminded me of a graph I saw long ago to depict graduation rates. The boxes all show a range of graduation rates for reference group schools, and the red X shows where the example school’s rates are. You can see that they are within the range for all the sub-groups except for one.

I think the image is a good one to keep in mind when you’re trying to make decisions. There is an acceptable range of responses and your goal should be to stay within that box, rather than trying to hit an elusive bullseye. Ask your boss or colleague what the box parameters are, then use your good judgment to take action and move on. Unless precision is truly warranted, it’s a waste of energy to try and attain it.

leadership dot #3526: idea tree

February 9, 2022February 9, 2022by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Malcolm Gladwell spoke with fellow author Dan Pink about how to get good ideas. Gladwell’s advice: good ideas lead to more good ideas. He described it as a “family tree of ideas” where one is connected to another with the goal of having an old tree with a million branches instead of the struggle caused by starting a new tree.

One way to get more branches on that “tree” is through what Pink calls idea socialization. Contrary to the fear that sharing will lead to someone stealing your thoughts, Pink’s experience is that sharing will instead lead to more ideas as others build on your concept and take it further. It’s the classic stepping stone concept where one idea triggers an adjacent thought which spurs another, etc. Soon, your “tree” is blooming with more ideas than you could have generated on your own.

The authors referenced Tom Schelling’s quote: “No one, even the smartest man, can make a list of the things that haven’t occurred to him.” And so it is with ideas — many ways to enhance your concept are outside of your experiences. You need others to water your seed and help it grow. Don’t be shy with sharing.