Proceed Until Apprehended

Look around. Are you on a conveyor belt?

I’ve been in a number of meetings where each plan and action coming out of the mouths of my colleagues is faultless. Despite this fact, I’m left with a feeling that we’re going backwards. What is it?

I think it’s that they’re on a conveyor belt. It’s going south, we’re trying to go north. We can agree on the direction, we can even agree on the destination, but in that very moment, the discussion about footsteps (the tactical), not the route (strategic choices we’re making). For most people, most days, the essential component is to put in the right directional effort. The results are secondary. As a result, there’s plenty of faultless effort, but minimal ground is gained. We need to do a better job of acknowledging that we’re on a shifting foundation.

Step one: Stop. Look around you. Are you on solid ground? Are you doing the right things or are you just doing things right?

Step two: Communicate your (new) reality to others. It’s your obligation. I say ”obligation” because it may not be pleasant. You will likely get chastised because your comments will be counter-productive to the immediate conveyor belt march. Your colleagues are trying to keep up and you’re a distraction. That’s to be expected. Just be ready.

Step three: Be very observant and engage with those that give you sidelong glances and pleading looks. They want to get off, too. They just need some help in the courage department.

This is a shift that’s been going on for a while, but it’s time I call it out on my blog. You can be nice, do generous things for others and you can operate with an abundance mentality and you get more in return than ever before. I watched Conan O’Brien’s farewell speech on the Tonight Show. I was impressed, and I think he will be rewarded handsomely in the future for his authentic class and heartfelt honesty. I think there’s a few things going on that make this a new game for the Nice:

• It’s easier than ever to see and celebrate good things done by individuals
• It no longer requires large investments or big distribution to connect with individuals
• Those who want to protect the status quo have little to no control when you choose a different, more individual path
• These paths allow people to be authentic and, surprise surprise, when not going through bureaucratic filter, most people are nice

All of this is resulting in people that just get to be themselves and still create a following. Conan now has a legion of fans that will give him attention, credibility and yes, money. He won’t need a big network. If he just starts doing something, people can connect directly.

I want to follow and connect with people that are open, selfless and giving. The old system used to squeeze that out and more often than not produce closed and selfish. Now that this option is reality, it’s clear I wasn’t alone in my desire. Examples abound of success through giving. Just check my blogroll.

With a hat tip to Dan McCarthy, here’s a transcript of Conan’s speech:

“Before we bring this rodeo to a close, I think a couple things should be said.
There’s been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC.
And this isn’t a joke.
To set the record straight, and this is true, tonight I’m allowed to say anything I want.
(Man laughs)
Um, and no it’s not a joke, but thanks sir. Tonight I really am allowed to say whatever I want and what I want to say is this.
Between my time at “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late Night Show,” and my brief run here on “The Tonight Show,” I’ve worked with NBC for over 20 years.
Yes, we have our differences right now, yes we’re going our separate ways, but this company has been my home for most of my adult life.
I am enormously proud of the work we’ve done together. And I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.
I really do.
(Audience applauds)
A lot of people have been asking me about my state of mind and I’ll be honest with you, walking away from “The Tonight Show” is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
Um, making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world.
I absolutely love doing it and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium.
I will fight anybody who says I don’t, but no one would.
But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian…every comedian dreams of hosting “The Tonight Show” and for seven months, I got to do it.
And I did it my way with people I love. I do not regret one second of anything that we’ve done here.
(Audience applause)
And yeah.
And I encounter people when I walk on the street now who are just uh who give me sort of a sad look.
I have had more fortune than anybody I know.
And if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-Eleven Parking lot we will find a way to make it fine. We really will.
I have no problems. And, I don’t want to do it on a 7-Eleven parking lot.
(Audience laughs)
But whatever, uh, finally I have something to say to our fans.
This massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming for me.
The rallies, the signs, all the goofy outrageous creativity on the Internet uh, the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain.
(Audience cheers)
It’s pouring! It’s been pouring for days and they’re camping out to be in our audience.
Really, you…Here’s what all of you have done.
You’ve made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.
So to all the people watching I can never ever thank you enough for the kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life.
And all I ask is one thing…and this is…I’m asking this particularly of young people that watch…please do not be cynical.
I hate cynicism. For the record, it’s my least favorite quality.
It doesn’t lead anywhere.
Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get.
But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen. I’m telling you. Amazing things will happen. (Audience claps) I’m telling you.
It’s just true.
As proof, let’s make something amazing happen right now. (Intro Will Ferrell)

Chris commented on my about page. As my response kept getting longer, I decided it needed it’s own post.

Thanks Chris,
It’s an interesting question. How does one get into this?

I think the start is mostly curiosity. You end up asking questions like, “Does it really have to be this way?” or “Why are things this inefficient/ineffective left this way?” Part of that examination for me was, “Do I really want to make a killing in business and be known for all the money I made?”

I know you see a better way. There is a better way. Let’s take that as a given.

With this knowledge and the need to do something with it, I’ve created sort of a self-imposed life crisis. Rather than wait until mid-life, I work myself up and get really anxious about the limited results I’ll have if I abide by the (artificial) rules of the game. I recognize, on a theoretical level, that moving outside of my comfort zone will create some positive results, either in what I learn or what I accomplish.

What you’re seeing on this blog is the result of me pushing my comfort zone and putting the theory into practice. I’ve also practiced it in how I conduct my employment search, how I speak truth to my friends and colleagues and even how I ride my bike, among other things. Each of these practices teaches me a little something about myself and the social boundaries around us. I’m constantly on the prowl for the next way I’m going to challenge my assumptions and I have ideas that are giving me heart palpitations right now. I should say though, that it is getting easier.

I’m sometimes accused of being fearless, but I’m far from it. This is a deliberate effort to discover who I really want to be. I’m acknowledging my fear, asking if it’s a rational belief and often discovering that it isn’t.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris has some great exercises to build your comfort with, well, discomfort. I’d say try his exercises. His blog is here. He’s a fascinating guy who essentially applies this practice to everything in his life. 

Another way to start down the path is to find something you’re not doing because you think you’ll get fired and ask yourself, really? Will they fire me over that? The answer is likely no. Think of it as civil disobedience. You’re not explicitly fighting, you’re just not following the rules. They won’t fire you for that. It’s not in their rulebook. Worst-case scenario, you may be humiliated, demoted or snickered at, but you’ll still get your paycheque. The things you learn, however, will be priceless. That’s how I started. Literally, I said, “Well, they’ll give me a few warnings before they can me, so I’ll try it.” Still waiting for the first warning, FYI.

Here’s one last thought. If you (or any reader) wants to find me and make a plan or talk about this over coffee, lunch or over the phone, that’s an excellent use of my time. Just contact me.

This images is from typcut, found via Thank Goodness it’s Monday.

Love it.

I played rugby for a couple years in university. It was a great experience and I look back on the friendships and the competition with great fondness.

The social aspects of rugby can really suck a university-age guy in, but I also fell in love with the sport. It looks like a battle of brutish violence, but there’s much more to it. There’s a lot of nuance and complexity to the game. There’s strategies and techniques that compel entire nations to be gripped by the sport.

One of the things I really like about it is how it requires so many different skills and strengths. Young or old, fast or slow, slight or stocky, there’s a role for you.

As a rugby newbie, I think my path was pretty typical. All of the complexity escaped me. I couldn’t read plays, I wasn’t in position and I exerted tons of energy. In that moment, I was giving it my all. In retrospect, I was sure working hard, but I wasn’t being very effective. As time wore on and I gained experience and started to see the patterns of the game. I transitioned from blind exertion to a more targeted effort that created greater results.

It’s a pretty good analogy for choices we get to make in life, of course. We can blindly exert our energy or we can play with our heads up.

In rugby and in life, it’s easy to attain the feeling that you’re making tremendous strides. I mean, you’re sweating so much, right? It’s maybe a little easier in rugby, though, to see what actually puts points on the board.

Peter Drucker famously, brilliantly said “Management is doing things right; Leadership is doing the right things.”

We get immersed worrying about being productive and efficient, but rarely do we acknowledge if we’re doing the right task to meet our purpose. It’s safe to just focus on your task. It’s scary to say that things need to change.

This video reminded me of the lesson. Here’s someone who has become as efficient as possible on a particular task. She’s doing things right. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s the world’s fastest.

The question, then, is it the right thing?

There is someone that can get through this book even faster. It’s the person that realizes it’s not about fast hands. It’s about process. It doesn’t matter how fast you can stamp when someone realizes you can change the policy to make the stamp unnecessary.

Perhaps we can say, “Management is stamping as fast as humanly possible; Leadership is asking why we need to stamp.” Which one are you doing?

First, let’s accept that risk is required. It’s required to cross the street, make a phone call, buy a product, sell a product, start a program, end a program, quit a job, start a job, continue in the job the same way you did yesterday… the list goes on. I think you get the picture. Any one of those things could have negative implications.

Each one of these examples also has a Worst Case Scenario that we could have all sorts of fun with. For example, as you cross the street, the city’s electrical system goes haywire and the intersection’s light changes color. A businessperson that’s on their cell phone at the light, complaining about the $1,000,000 they just lost that morning goes from seeing red to seeing green. In an instinctual response, they step on the gas a little too aggressively just as you put your right foot (the better of your two feet, in your opinion) in the path of their SUV. Squish, snap, hospital.

Is that an acceptable risk? Was it really worth getting to the other side? Let me assure you, you’ll forever regret choosing that particular restaurant for lunch.

The reason we choose to accept that risk, however, is that there’s a big difference between the magnitude of the implications and the probability of it happening. We choose to cross the street because the benefit significantly outweighs the real risk.

In reality, we don’t work with possible risk. We work with probable.

At work, however, our judgement changes. Why, all of a sudden, is the 1% probability up for discussion? It’s actually even more than just a discussion. That improbable event weighs heavier in the deliberation than realistic issues. We invest in low percentage concerns at too high a rate. Everything I’ve been reading lately says, “Start, then steer to correct.” Most days, I’m invited to “Steer, steer, steer, correct, steer, then maybe, just maybe, start.”

It’s a simple solution, I suppose, and one that starts with you and me. If we want to absolve ourselves of the risk, we identify the improbable to our boss or coworker. That makes them responsible. Instead, as an experiment, choose to accept some improbable risk and skip that step. Just proceed. What do you think will happen?

Here’s a hint:  The magic of Proceed Until Apprehended is that the Apprehended part rarely happens.

I recommend you watch The Matrix again. I just watched it for the first time in years, and I CAN’T BELIEVE how simply and accurately The Matrix serves as a metaphor for the world we live in, the conventions we ascribe to and the blissful ignorance we live with each day… except for when it’s not blissful. If it wasn’t for the Hollywood-style violence, I’d say this movie is as important to school curriculum as the classics of English class. It probably is anyway.

I went and found a good description of the metaphor between the Matrix and our life. As the article suggests, The Matrix offers us the ability to examine our world with exceptional clarity.

This got me thinking, though. I saw all of this ten years ago. I think I “got it” then. At that time, why did I go back to my job on Monday and keep working in my own Matrix? Or, the real mind-bender, how different is it this time?

Before Neo becomes Neo, he’s Thomas Anderson. Don’t you think Thomas Anderson got to go to a movie on a Friday night and watch something like The Matrix? Did he step out into the cool evening air and realize he was inside an artificial construct? Apparently not. The human mind doesn’t seem to have that kind of sudden-insight capacity. It wasn’t until he took a red pill from Morpheus and physically got some distance that he understood the limitations of what he was thinking and seeing.

So, as I see this movie for the second time, I think I have some physical distance from my artificial construct, and I’m trying to get more. The first time I saw this movie, it was sort of a description of what was going on, while I was in it. I was like an early Neo, hearing the whisper of “Matrix” in the corners of a dark room. There was a more fulsome theory of what was real and what was artificial that needed to be poked and prodded, but I couldn’t see it. As Morpheus says, “Unfortunatley, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.”

Fast forward ten years, I’ve made some pretty significant leaps outside the conventional lines of my Matrix. I’ve chosen in places not to follow the rules of social expectation. I’ve shed some of the consumer/recipient role. I’m no longer a dispassionate observer saying, “wow, what if that were real?” I’m a participant, receiving motivation and inspiration that I’m not alone in believing our current world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be, or has to be.

If my quasi-rambling post isn’t making sense, let me put something on the record. I don’t think machines are putting artificial constructs in my mind. I think the systems and conventions we’ve built up over generations are.

The movie also reminds me that I chose the red pill. I have an obligation to do something with what I’ve seen and learned.

Morpheus: “Neo, sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, that there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path.”

I’ve found it quite frustrating to see up close some organizational attempts at improving culture. We seem to make piecemeal attempts. At one moment, senior leadership may set out a new vision or a new set of expectations but there’s no resources for follow-up. At another time, there may be a change in processes or compensation that is intended to influence the culture of the organization, but they compete against incentives supporting stasis. Next, an initiative is unveiled that promises you autonomy and the ability to make decisions… but no-one tells your boss. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a pretty rare circumstance where we see an all-hands-on-deck effort to address organizational culture. When an organization does, they’re an anomaly, they’re newsworthy and they might just get bought out for $847 million.

Culture, it seems to me, is a pretty static, identifiable thing. If only someone had studied the essential elements of culture… which brings me to my post title. Isn’t anthropology ALL ABOUT understanding culture? Well, not quite. Google tells me there’s more to it than that: define: anthropology – the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings

On Wikipedia, I learned that E.B. Tylor is one of the grandfathers of anthropology. He described culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

There’s a start! If we’re trying to address culture, this definition provides some assistance. First, we can acknowledge that culture is “complex.” Perhaps with that knowledge we can forever disavow the use of uni-dimensional solutions that barely scrape the surface of addressing culture. Second, what a helpful list: knowledge, belief, art, morals, laws and customs. Maybe this needs a little tinkering for the contemporary organization, but we see all of these in the workplace:

• knowledge in, well, knowledge, and how we transfer it, share it and use it
• belief in our paradigms, like “senior staff always knows best” and “mistakes are bad”
• art – well, this one’s a stretch. There’s not much expression at work. Our lack of expression – the corporate language and the way we communicate is our “art,” I think, and it is significant in defining our culture.
• morals like putting in lots of hours, being available 24/7, producing just what the boss asked for… you know, the required societal behaviours to earn promotion
• custom – customs are things we just do because everyone else does, right? Like taking our shoes off at the door, shaking hands when we meet and defending our program even though the critic has a point.

This isn’t just a fun comparison, though. We could use this list. If we really want to address culture, this list is a great place to start. Tom, you create some solutions to improve how we write our documents. Sally, please put together a team to identify and question the customs we’re just doing.

I’d be pretty excited to work in an organization that said, “Culture is necessary for our success. Let’s put our energy into getting it right for the long haul.”

A recent Bad Astronomy post helps put some perspective around a pretty fascinating Hubble telescope image.

It’s clear that we’re an infinitessimal speck in this universe. BA’s blogger Phil Plait points out that this zoom shot is a really narrow sliver of the night sky. There are 30 million more possible pictures like this one, and you can bet they’re  just as full of galaxies.

If pondering the size of the universe doesn’t do it for you, visit this Nick Vujicic video.

With a timely and more than adequate perspective smack, I now go back to my day.