Category: little=big

leadership dot #4760: tools

October 14, 2025October 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In the Olympics, there is a speaker in each lane of the track, allowing runners to simultaneously hear the starting pistol. You wouldn’t think that it would make a difference, but it takes sound .008 seconds to travel from lane 4 to lane 7. The runner in lane 7 (Noah Lyles) won by .005 seconds over the second-place finisher who started in lane 4. Without the addition of speakers to make the race equitable, Lyles would have lost.

We often think that we have provided our volunteers or employees with the tools they need to do their jobs, but I wonder if we consider what they really need to be successful. Are there equivalents to block speakers that would make a difference in their output? Have we given each member what they need to achieve their best?

Ask your people what tools would help them become more successful, and create ways for others to share what works for them. The difference in the Olympics is minuscule, but in the office, variances can be great.

leadership dot #4727: credit card

September 11, 2025September 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Today is the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I remember them like it was yesterday, perhaps because I visited the 9/11 site while it was still smoldering, have been to the 9/11 Museum, and last summer, visited the memorial site at Shanksville, PA. All the images and artifacts sear into your brain and make the horror very real.

Shanksville played an important role in the investigation because it was a contained and unfiltered site. Unlike in New York or DC, where remains of the plane and its contents were mingled with thousands of other items from the buildings, the plane in Pennsylvania went down in an isolated field, allowing the FBI to know that everything they found was from the plane or a passenger.

And amid that pulverized debris, in the ashes of what was left from a jetliner crashing, upside down, at 550 miles an hour — was a credit card. Somehow, the card was sucked out of the plane’s cockpit before it exploded, and it fell to the ground mostly unscathed. That card happened to belong to a Mr. Ziad Jarrah, one of the hijackers. This discovery was a key piece of evidence that allowed investigators to follow the money and track the source of the heinous act.

Never forget 9/11 — or that little things can have a big impact.

leadership dot #4724: trailer

September 8, 2025September 5, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In a small town about an hour’s drive from major big-box retailers, an entrepreneur recognized a gap in the availability of pet supplies. The city probably couldn’t support a full store, so she opened a retail space in a permanent trailer that offers residents an ample selection of food, toys, and accessories. Judging by the traffic when we were there, the idea is a hit.

It’s a reminder that there is a large space between all or nothing. You can make progress in small increments, testing out a concept before you go all in, or by offering a reduced version of the grandiose plan. The key is to try something and refine from there.

The dogs of Three Oaks are very glad the trailer is there. What audience is waiting for you to take the next step?

leadership dot #4690: annoyance

July 29, 2025July 28, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

During the night, I was bitten by a mosquito. I heard it, then I felt it, and once that happened, I could concentrate on nothing else. That stupid little itch kept me awake for too long before I lumbered out of my cozy bed to apply anti-itch spray. I would have been better off getting up right away, but I foolishly thought I could ignore it. Of course, the more I tried to do that, the more annoying it became.

And it’s not just mosquito bites that are like this. The keyboard key that sticks makes us growl every time. The squeak on the door causes us to grimace each time we open it. The overflowing file drawer never fails to create frustration when we try to cram one more document into it. The list goes on.

Instead of letting minor annoyances dominate our thoughts, it’s better to address them right away, even when they seem like small matters. Most of the time, annoyances continue to annoy.

leadership dot #4669: scoot

July 8, 2025July 7, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis is undergoing a “paint investigation,” where conservators are testing painted-over areas to reveal the original work. “Although previous restorations were sensitive to the original decorating scheme, each iteration deviated further from historic precedent,” they wrote.

This gradual variation occurs with more than paint. It reminded me of Danny Meyer’s salt shaker analogy (dot #92), where the salt shaker is set at a precise location at each of his restaurant tables, but eventually “scoots” to another place after time. He recommends utilizing “constant, gentle pressure” to keep the item as close to the original placement as possible.

I’ve used this analogy countless times when talking about supervision. You need to identify the expectations and then address it when behavior “scoots” from that desired state. Each transgression is an iteration that moves further from the center, and you don’t want to wait and have many layers of deviations.

A slight variation in paint color, a few minutes late to work, and a little bit of slacking all seem harmless until the pattern accumulates. Conduct your own “investigation” and identify the ideal, then be vigilant in monitoring the small movements away from that point.

leadership dot #2a: don’t let the ants ruin your picnic

June 25, 2025June 22, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I came home last night to what looked like a brown magazine blowing in my driveway. In reality, it was a colony of ants — a billion of them by conservative estimate — all feverishly working together toward some unknown common purpose. I was creeped out, and I promptly set about extinguishing them all.

I had seen ants around, but did not pay attention to them. I didn’t even act on the ant hill I found when weeding. After all, ants are harmless little things and not worthy of action.

But any little thing can turn into a big thing if there are enough of them. Organizational cultures are taken down not by elephants, but by ants. Leaders do not meet their demise because of one big thing; rather, it is more likely to be a series of small actions that add up to a problem. Enough little things start to accumulate, and it feels like the earth is moving, even if it’s not.

Pay attention to the small comments, the seemingly insignificant decisions, the shift in policy, the unanswered questions, the shutting of doors, and wiggle words that appear in conversations — they are sure signs that the ants are mobilizing to crash your picnic.

Originally published in modified form on June 3, 2012

leadership dot #4659: touches

June 21, 2025June 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Maybe I’m just more aware of the little things when I’m on vacation, but in downtown Denver, I saw many examples of intentional, special touches to make the life of a tourist a bit easier.

Three examples:

When the elevator doors opened in the hotel, there was a giant number of the floor, also color-coded to help visitors instantly recognize their floor
The buses had small containers with slips of paper listing the bus number. If you wanted to lodge a complaint or compliment, or needed to reference a specific bus for any reason, you could grab the number instead of trying to remember it
The hotel breakfast bar provided small bags, making it easy for guests to take fruit or other items to go

None of these enhancements were monumental, but they were all nice gestures of hospitality. Is there a small convenience that you could provide to make it a bit easier for guests or clients? Pay attention to what other venues provide for you and consider replicating the little touches in your organization.

leadership dot #4602: output

April 25, 2025April 24, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

My career in student activities taught me that it is usually better to focus on impact instead of inputs.

Having fewer well-attended events is preferable to many events with low attendance
Curating active student organizations beats having many groups with inactive rosters
Holding trainings for the engaged few is more productive than requiring a roomful who tune out

That mantra has stayed with me and made me keen to notice when others focus on quantity instead of quality, something that unfortunately happens with regularity.

The conference organizers schedule a multitude of simultaneous workshops and diffuse the attendance
Restaurants have such extensive menus that they lose their distinctiveness
Weddings turn into week-long extravaganzas that overshadow the actual ceremony
People have so many collectibles or decorations that it becomes impossible for the best ones to stand out

It’s ingrained in our capitalistic society that more is better. Try to disabuse yourself of that notion. More isn’t better. Better is better, and oftentimes that means doing less. Focus on impact, not input.

leadership dot #4557: ownership

March 11, 2025March 10, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

One of the first things I talk about with a coaching client is their calendar. You’ve got to take control of your time in order to be successful, and too many cede that control to others because they don’t manage their calendar proactively. If you have a block open, chances are that someone will fill it with a meeting or task. I encourage people to get in the habit of routinely scheduling time in ways that allow them to sanely accomplish the responsibilities of their job which often means claiming blocks (or slivers) that allow you to be in your office instead of meetings.

Examples:

Blocking out time for vacations months (a year) in advance when the time is still free and not full of other obligations that are hard to reschedule
Scheduling a half-day after being out of the office (for vacation, conferences, etc.) in order to catch up on administrative duties
Holding meetings you control for only 25 or 50 minutes so you can do follow-up (or use the restroom!) in the minutes before the next one
Scheduling blocks for administrative tasks rather than letting your whole day become subsumed by meetings (aka other people’s priorities)
Blocking time for a real lunch break instead of lunch-a-la-vending-machine
Including ample travel time to and from appointments, even if it’s walking time
Holding deep dive days when you know major obligations are nearing (budget submission, board meetings, EOY reconciliations, etc.)

In some organizations, people won’t respect “administrative time” if they see it on your calendar and will instead double-book you. Circumvent this by giving your time blocks more creative names, like “Meeting with Mable” to cause people to think twice before they ignore your hold.

It’s soooooo much easier to schedule time months ahead than to find an open block in the near term. Leverage that to your advantage and create a schedule that is more productive — and humane — by taking ownership of your time and managing your calendar wisely.

leadership dot #4555: disorder

March 9, 2025March 7, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In his book The Tipping Point, author Malcolm Gladwell writes about the “Broken Windows” theory developed by criminologists James Wilson and George Wilson: “Crime is the inevitable result of disorder. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, people walking by will conclude that no one cares and no one is in charge. Soon, more windows will be broken, and the sense of anarchy will spread from the building to the street on which it faces, sending a signal that anything goes.”

I saw the theory in action at a rest stop in Illinois. It appears that someone (for reasons that fail understanding) scraped a few of the vinyl letters off a sign in the restroom. Instead of fixing it, IDOT replaced them with handwriting. This led to more letters being scraped off and more handwriting until the final result remained a disgrace. I wonder if the second part of the theory holds in that the defacement spreads to other areas of the facility.

Make it a priority to fix your “broken windows” for damage prevention as well as pride. Even when funds are tight, it does no good to allow such front-facing sloppiness to exist.

Source: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, 2002, p. 141