History’s Experiments
One of the great books I am reading right now is The Epigenetics Revolution by Nessa Carey. As an animal science guy, I have been fascinated with epigenetics for a long time. In fact, when I was teaching I had a grant project with Purdue University that included epigenetics. One of the lines in the book that really jumped out at me was, “History creates experiments.” This is so true. The book talked about research using birthweight, growth, and maturity patterns following a famine. Other fascinating research is also cited in the book. I just can’t get past this thought, however, of history creating experiments. That is really what history is.
This is why one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Caro told us that we should be reading biographies in order to learn from others. In many ways, what others have done before us were experiments. In fact my own country of the United States is often referred to as an experiment. It is so important to look at all aspects of our history in order to learn for the future.
Another one of my favorite authors, good friend, and just great person, Dr. Joseph Michelli used how leaders led during the onset of the global pandemic as a way to learn about leading in a crisis. His outstanding book, Stronger Through Adversity: World-Class Leaders Share Pandemic-Tested Lessons On Thriving During The Toughest Challenges is in the running for my top non fiction book of the year. Really, all of his books are about history’s experiments in entrepreneurial leadership. You should check out his work – I love it! His work always reminds me how important it is for us to come together as a global community and be learning from each other.
I wonder how many experiments history has created that we have not taken the time or even thought to do the research on. It’s really about using that outer loop in double loop learning – evaluating the learning, creating and sharing the knowledge, and building capacity. Thanks Nessa, Robert, and Joseph for reminding us that “history creates experiments” and the data set to learn from.
Only The Wearer Knows
I love the work of Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans. In the sixth edition of Love ‘Em Or Lose ‘Em they taught us to “Ask so you don’t have to guess.” I quote them on this in my leadership development work all the time. I had a participant in one of my programs this week say, “Byron, that is one of the simplest, yet extremely profound things you have shared.” She went on, “Now, anytime I catch myself even beginning to guess, I just ask.” This and other things going on right now, particularly in the world of our teachers, makes me worried we just aren’t doing the simple things.
I had another teacher say, “Byron it was huge that you put your hand on my shoulder and said, “How are you really doing?” She continued, “It was huge to be asked that by someone who I knew really did care what the answer was and would try to help if he could.” Then she finished with, “Ive not been asked anything like that in over two years.” Wow! Once again, we need to make sure we are doing the simple things. But really these are not simple things they are huge things that don’t cost anything to do. But (another but here) we have to be willing to act on what we hear.
We need to be asking because as Robert A. Heinlein wrote in Stranger In A Strange Land, “Only the wearer knows where the shoe pinches.” We need to remember to ask because sometimes all we have is cognitive empathy – we only have the ability to understand another person’s perspective. If we’ve not been directly afflicted by the same source of pain or unhappiness we can’t truly truly understand the needs of the person experiencing it. Therefore, we need to ask what the person needs, not guess. Why? Because only the person involved in something can identify the source of some trouble or associated stress.
I know that sometimes it is hard for us to ask or for the affected person to tell us, but this brings up the linchpin to all of this – relationships. It’s amazing that in every discussion about great leaders and those that have had a profound influence on is that relationship building always comes up. If we have the relationship we can then ask like T.C. did to Rick in the latest episode of Magnum P.I. when he said, “Can I ask how you’re doing?” That shows a real desire to understand where the wearer’s shoe is pinching.
SLIPPERIER
An analogy can make a complex problem seem simpler by comparing it to a similar situation. Giving an analogy is to claim that two distinct things are alike or similar in some respect. I was reminded this week while reading Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein, that arguments based on analogies have certain inherent weaknesses. As Heinlein wrote in this great novel, “Analogy is even slipperier than logic.” We can’t always assume that because two things are similar, that everything that is true about one is true about the other. For a guy that lives my metaphor and analogy this was an important reminder.
Analogical arguments or arguments by analogy as they are called rely on analogies, but we need to remember that any two things we can talk about usually have things that are similar and things that are not. Therefore, we must remember to make certain where the object of the analogy and the object being used as the analogy are similar. Then we can proceed to discussing whether these similarities do indeed support the conclusion being made.
This was all pretty good stuff to think about because I know I have heard some pretty wild analogies made in discussions before. And…I’m pretty sure I have made a few wild ones myself. So let’s work not to be “slipperier than logic.”
The Design Of The Pencil
Another great line from Amor Towles’ incredible book The Lincoln Highway, was about the design of the pencil: “One end is for saying something, the other for taking it back.” At first I thought about how it is too bad we’re not designed like a pencil, but then I decided that would probably not be a good idea. That would be too easy. We could say anything and then just take it back. Then we would not need to think about what we were going to say at all – not cool!
As it is now, our words matter. We don’t get to take them back or erase them. It’s kind of like when an attorney says something in a courtroom and then withdraws it or the judge asks the jury to disregard it. That’s really impossible – you can’t un-hear something. Even disregarding something you’ve heard is downright impossible. So, choosing what we say wisely is very important. We can’t just erase it.
Also, we can’t erase, subtract, or undo decisions, but we can make new ones. So many times we try to erase the past – we need to just take we learn and go on to new decisions. Remember, we were not designed to be a pencil.
Plum Crazy Leadership
What would happen in our busy corporate world if we had more opportunities to allow wisdom to emerge instead of either believing we have to already know everything and convince others we do, or controlling the atmosphere of our corporate cultures so we can be more productive? We can do this! In a recount of his journey through corporate life at Hallmark, Gordon McKenzie introduced a timeless analogy about plum trees and pyramids. The book is Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace.
He reminded us that most organizational charts look like a pyramid. He also reminded us that the pyramids are tombs. That’s a pretty huge reminder. Important people at the top and the not so important at the bottom. A reminder of this is when organizations say they want leadership from everyone and then create “leadership teams.” I thought everyone was a leader and the whole organization was a team. These types also always want to call themselves a family when really… People don’t stay in these organizations very long because they don’t want to get crushed and entombed by the pyramid.
MacKenzie argued that great organizations were like plum trees. Great metaphor because for one thing, a plum tree is a living thing. The plums are the products or services and the branches are all the teams. The leaves (I added this part) are the people who make it all happen and keep the organization thriving and alive – just like leaves do photosynthesis. Then, the trunk supports the whole tree. Novel idea, right? Actual it’s a plum great idea! See what I did there?
MacKenzie also taught us to practice what he called “compassionate emptiness”. Compassionate emptiness is a state of nonjudgmental listening and receiving of others’ ideas, thoughts, opinions, burdens, and worries. I’ve only met a few who were truly masters at this. Fortunately, I got to work for one of the few very early in my teaching career and I believe it helped to shape me into who I am today. To practice compassionate emptiness takes courage. There are boundaries to cross, impasse to acknowledge, and the admission of idiocy.
Unlike the pyramid, the plum tree is a living organism. It is flexible and can adjust with the times. In the plum tree, the service providers, talent, and product producers make up the top of the tree. They have sunshine, they have air, and they can see from their vantage point. They produce the fruit (cash crop). The plum tree can create opportunity through support of those that are closer to the solutions. Note this is intent based leadership – those closest to where the data is created should be making the decisions. So, it’s not plum crazy to wonder why more organizations don’t operate more like a plum tree.
Tending To Your Experience
Yesterday my son and I spent the day on Kentucky Lake fishing. It was incredible to be on the lake together enjoying this beautiful part of the world. We were very successful catching 16 Crappie, a Blue Gill, and a Yellow Bass. I was then multi-species angler of the team. Besides the multitude of subjects we discussed on this brisk and sunny day, it was when we were cleaning the fish that we got into a deep philosophical discussion. We were watching a little girl throw bread crumbs to the seagulls. The birds were so busy competing and paying attention to what each other was getting, that they were missing bread. Sound familiar?
Heath and I discussed how we can get so caught up in paying attention to what others have, the contracts others are getting, or what others are doing that we miss out on great opportunities (bread crumbs) right in front of us. Hopefully you caught the metaphor thing I did right there. William James argued, “My experience is what I agree to attend to.” He wrote this in 1890 in The Principles of Psychology, Vol.1. Think about it: what we pay attention to determines the experiences we have, and those experiences determine the success and significance in the life we live.
Now I am not suggesting that we bury our head in the sand. I am a huge believer in having a competitive advantage, but we must stay focused on our own experience. What are the bread crumbs available others are missing? Where are the bread crumbs we want? We need to beware of going after the bread crumbs others already have. Don’t worry about what brand of vehicle someone else drives, or what label is sewn on their purse (you ever thought about how stupid that is?), or the billion other things we use to compete. Those are all vanity.
So, remember it’s about substance over form. In our society today it is very easy to become focused on appearances both physical and attitudinal, because we are constantly subjected to the temptation of developing a public persona stoked by vanity. Remember, to have a competitive advantage we need to be aware of the competition, but not obsessed. I compare all the people on social media like a flock of seagulls all so focused on the bread crumb that the other seagull has they miss the one right in front of them. Find your bread crumb and go after it; don’t let anyone else distract you from getting it. It is your experience, no one else’s.
Being Thankful AND Proud
Showing our children we are proud of them is very important. Additionally, teaching them to be humble and modest about accomplishment is critical to their development as well. This is a really difficult dichotomy in philosophy. Character trait development gets tricky. I’m not here saying I know the perfect balance and right approach to appropriate praise and appropriate expressions of pride in a child’s efforts and accomplishments, but I’m here saying that we have an obligation to do it and learn to do it right.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to do some practicing. We started a new chapter in how to spend Thanksgiving. My son couldn’t make it home from college due to responsibilities there and so we made the trip down to Murray, Kentucky (he goes to Murray State University) on Wednesday. Then yesterday morning the other hour and a half to Jackson, Tennessee and spent the day with his girlfriend’s (we still call them girlfriends, right?) family. It was an incredible day and I could make that a tradition each year, but let’s not get in a rut yet. It may just be the excitement that in an hour my son and I will be on Kentucky Lake fishing. You all can have your shopping today – we’ll be fishing.
Anyway, one of the things Heath’s girlfriend’s family does before Thanksgiving lunch/dinner (2:00pm CT) was go around and tell one thing you are proud of your kids for. Genius! Mine: I love that Heath has been able to become a part of another family so easily and fit in. He brings his own cultural pieces to the puzzle but has been able to learn and understand his girlfriend’s family cultural puzzle and made his own pieces fit by understanding and respecting theirs. That’s how we raised him to be – global. We might just have got that accomplished. And, with Heath in the world it’s going to be a little bit better place. We’re proud of him!
So, don’t just be thankful, be proud. And, do the balancing act to show it!
Thankful For The Multitude Of Ways To Connect & Learn
I usually write a reflective post each year on Thanksgiving Day and this year will be no different. As I reviewed some past years’ works to post on Twitter and LinkedIn I became really reflective as I read through “I Count You Twice!”. I wrote that post in 2016, but I am amazed at how much of those thoughts apply even more today. I talked about making sure we were making lots of opportunities for learning available in and out of the classrooms for our young scholars. The last couple of years have proven just how important this is.
As I ponder all I’m thankful for, I think about all the ways we can access learning. For example I just started a writing class (The Source Code of Storytelling) with Rob Hart. His latest book, The Warehouse, sold in more than 20 countries and was optioned for film by Ron Howard. How cool is it that I can learn from this very talented and accomplished writer to better tell stories or maybe tell better stories. Is there a difference? In fact, overnight, I received my first feedback from Rob on my reactions and questions related to his first lecture.
Additionally, I love that the lectures are written. Of course, I highlighted and inserted notes all over the PDF of the lecture I made. In my reflection I even said, “First of all, as an education guy I loved that I was reading a written lecture about, well, writing. How cool is that?” The point here is that I’m learning from, interacting with, and receiving actionable feedback from a great writer! And, as Rob pointed out in his lecture, “Every genre—every book—can offer you something you didn’t know.” As a believer in intersectional learning, I believe these next four weeks are going to be a wild ride of learning. There are already things I have picked up that will enable me to improve my practices that have nothing to do with writing or storytelling.
So, today on Thanksgiving, I give thanks that we have the multitude of ways to connect with and learn from people with the experience/expertise of a Rob Hart. Would I love to personally be sitting down with him and having coffee, yes. But, we know that isn’t always going to be possible (Maybe someday, Rob – and I’ll buy- see I was paying attention!). This way, anyone, from anywhere on planet earth can have access to his treasures.
I am also thankful we continue to make sure these kind of opportunities are available to ALL our young scholars in our schools. I know Rob does great work in the arts, literacy, and education. I want to continue to dream about a world where every child could/would learn from Rob Hart or the likes of a Rob Hart. The more diverse the experiences and people we can have students interacting with the better.
Let’s be thankful, but also let’s continue to push forward making the world an even better place so that in 2022 on this day we are thankful for even more!
Don’t Always Saticfice
Nobel Prize winning economist Herbert Simon coined a term that for me is somewhat paradoxical. The term is “saticficing.” He described it as a blend of satisfying and sufficient.He used the word to describe our tendency to leave things at “good enough.” Now, on first blush this can be a good thing – and is. For example those tasks on your to do list this morning that if you spend the time to go beyond “good enough” there will be no value added. Or, another example would be to drive around looking for the best brand of gas for my car. At some point I need to settle on “good enough,” otherwise I am wasting time.
Our brains actually do this optimizing for us so we don’t overload. This is because we have cognitive limits. In our earlier example of tackling our to do list this morning, I like putting a majority of our energy toward a project believed to be more important or needing the making good better.
Saticficing might keep us from wasting time, but let’s also not forget that not taking a little extra time might keep us from considering “subtraction.” In his great book Subtract: The Untapped Science Of Less, Leidy Klotz taught us that sometimes we need to resist the tendency to satisfice and do more by subtracting. This book is a must read, by the way. An example he gave would include the Strider bike invented by Ryan McFarland, which goes beyond good enough. This is an awesome example of taking the extra effort to subtract. While pedals and training wheels work well for kids, it seems that subtracting the pedals and training wheels works even better for kids to balance. Who’d a thought it?
The other example Klotz gave in the book was Edward Tufte. He works in information design and coined the term “chartjunk.” I so love people who invent words! Kind of like me inventing the word “Leadery” that is in my company name, Leadery Global. Anyway, chartjunk is all that extra crap that ends up on graphics representing data. This really resonated with me because I have worked with the people who will use every software option available when doing a graphic or spreadsheet. Really, all we need is the data, not a show that you know how to use all that crap. Sorry, touchy issue with me. But, I love Tufte because he shows us how removing chartjunk (or what I call crap) can add clarity.
So, the moral of this post is that sometimes saticficing keeps us efficient, but other times we need to take the extra time/effort to edit and subtract. Think about that the next time you’re ready to hit send on the world’s longest email or busiest graphic in history.
Choosing To Go
I spent this past Saturday at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. Having been born in 1963 with John F. Kennedy as my President and him having made the iconic “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade…” speech, it was overwhelming to reflect on all that has happened in my now almost six decades. The Space Race and the fact that the Soviets were winning that race were what really prompted this audacious goal of President Kennedy’s. We rose to the challenge. In fact, we took that goal that so much farther than just placing “a banner of freedom and peace” on the moon.
But what does it mean to have had all of these experiences? Each decade brings new opportunity to become the best at something. If we want to live a life full of significance, we must recognise the strengths and opportunities each decade brings us. In fact, while doing a lit review of this, I found that in our 50s and 60s our emotional intelligence becomes a superpower. It seems our cognitive abilities rise and fall asynchronously during our lifespan. This is why it is so important for me and all the rest of us to stay significant. As someone now with decades of life experience, I realize I can understand the world better than most.
As I took a walk back in time on Saturday with my NASA friends, I realized I can relate to the needs and passions of many. I also, most of the time, can make sound decisions, listen, resolve conflicts, and communicate clearly. This developed skillset makes me the perfect mentor/coach when it comes to ideas, products and services, organizational strategy, and new policies. The fifth and sixth decades are the age of being visionary. And, there is even more to look forward to in my seventh decade. According to Igor Grossmann, et al., our ability to reason gets stronger in our sixties and seventies. This research showed that as we age we use higher-order reasoning schemes that emphasize the need for multiple perspectives, allow for compromise, and recognize the limits of knowledge. This humility and desire for deeper learning really jumped out at me. It is important for me to practice intellectual humility. We should all hone our ability to admit what we don’t know.
I realize that the space program was in existence before I was born, but just two years before I was born President Kennedy solidified that each decade would bring new adventures, discoveries, challenges, and uniquely wonderful moments. So, no matter what decade of your life you are in, embrace the expansive growth and wisdom that each year brings. And, make sure you are seeking that next mountain to climb. Where will you choose to go?
Byron's Babbles 
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