Tradition and Change

Are you keeping up with change? I find myself sobbing just a little every time my mobile phone wants to install an update. How do I know it'll be better? Can't I just wait a little while? What if I like things the way that they are?

High performance leaders are in the business of change. We rock the boat for a living. As Tom Peters once said "if it ain't broke, break it." That quote is more than twenty years old and we've been rocking the boat constantly since then.

What about the people who fall off of the boat? What about the details that are tried and true and tradition? Is there a place for tradition in today's rapidly changing world?

Yes, there is. Tradition is more than the way things used-to-be. Tradition is more than old habits. Tradition is a topic worthy of a book, but for now here are a few things tradition means.

Tradition is honoring the past and the people who built that past. That past got us to here, so they must have done something right. Tradition is a way of walking on hallowed ground with respect and dignity. Remember respect and dignity? All too often missing from today's world, respect and dignity add a sense of honor and health to our present, facilitated by a time-tested set of traditions.

Tradition is recognizing that no matter how amazing our accomplishments are, none of them are possible without the hard work of people who were here before us.

Tradition is recognizing that not all facts are instant. Tradition is knowing that wisdom takes time.

Yes, as leaders we must bring about change. It's also true that...

There's no need to trash tradition to build a better future.

When we trash everything, including tradition, we lose our foothold on the present. Let's stand solid. Let's live with dignity and respect. Let's both drive change and honor tradition.

-- doug smith

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A Warning About Tradition

Are you bumping up against tradition? As leaders we are often breaking barriers. We're constantly knocking down walls. Sometimes, we're stepping on toes. We change things because that's what leaders do but it does matter how we change. Are we graceful, or clumsy? Are we considerate, or brutal? Are we deliberate, or chaotic? Change is necessary because it's where growth happens. Doing that change we can forget about or even demolish tradition. "If it mattered we'd keep it," right? It matters. How we handle tradition tells our team how we will eventually handle each and every one of them. What has been placed there before us has been trusted to us. We can improve it, always. Must we ever destroy it? Seldom. Ignore tradition and you'll lose stability. Lost stability and there's no telling where you'll end up. We can drive change and still honor tradition. That means learning more about both. -- doug smith

Are We Really All In Sales?

How many people have tried to sell you stuff today? Six? Sixteen? Sixty-six? It's a lot, isn't it? Some days it feels as if everything is a sales pitch. Buy this, try that, sign-up for freemium but get ready to pay. It's good for you, it's what you need, it will bring you friends and fun. I know, I know, I know. We're all in sales. I sell stuff, too. I do better if people sign up for my courses. I make more money when customers supplement their learning by buying materials from me. I sell, I sell, so who am I to tell? I get so weary of people trying to sell me things that I almost stop selling things myself. But, I do find myself selling less these days. I'm not criticizing sales. I have a son who is an absolute ace at selling insurance and he does very well, and well -- people DO need insurance. It meets a need. But, we don't think about it, we don't address the need, unless someone tells us about it. Unless someone sells us something. How do we make pe

Who Are You Today?

How far afield have you ever gotten distracted? Have you ever gotten so far distracted that you forgot who you are? Not literally who you are, but rather who you are supposed to be in your work. Your role, your vision, your mission -- your PURPOSE for working. Presumably who you ARE is safely lit in your heart. It's in our work that we can get confused. At least, that's true for me. I've at times taken assorted bunny trails down jobs that were not suited for my purpose. I did them, whether it was as a favor, or out of a desire to serve, or to simply earn some money -- but I could always feel, in those times, a gentle tug telling me "hey, this isn't you..." Like a small cat patting me on the head when I shouldn't be sleeping. Like a small puppy tugging on my pants leg when I should be outside, moving around...that gentle but irritating feeling that there is better work ahead, but what I'm doing is getting in the way. It's easy to do. Life will l

Start With A Goal

Have you ever solved a problem and then been disappointed by the result? I sure have. The problem was bad, the solution was worse. We need to narrow down our target. We need a focus that allows for surprises and yet creates a solution based on something we really want. After all, it's not the END of something we're working on, it's the existence of something better. High performance leaders create better situations. Be careful about solving a problem until you know what you really want. Start with your goal. -- doug smith

Problems Spark Collaboration

Is it annoying when someone brings you a problem? Sometimes they catch us by surprise. Usually, it's in the middle of something else that's already important. There it is, a problem. We could resist. We could avoid. Or, we could engage. It's up to us. Think of someone who brings you a problem as a new collaborator. -- doug smith

Keep Digging

Bigger problems have more than one cause. Keep digging. -- doug smith

Wherever we are...

During a webinar that I was facilitating, one of my participants, David Palmore, quoted a former boss of his and it makes so much sense I just have to share it here: It's a supervisor's job to remove obstacles and excuses. -- Mark Howard It's so easy to find excuses - "they won't listen anyway," "it's above my pay grade," "I'm not good enough for that..." and yet what do excuses ever give you? You don't have to think too long on that because the answer is nothing. Maybe less than nothing because excuses take away opportunity. We're not always fully equipped to do the job we need to do. We often lack resources needed to achieve our biggest goals. People push back and give us second thoughts. There are walls everywhere. But we can climb those walls. We can dig under those walls. We can go around those walls. And, when we need to we can pound thru those walls. No wall is worthy of an excuse, and no excuse is as tough as a wall

Proving It

Do you like tests? I'm not wild about them. I'd rather write a paper than take a test. I'd rather read ten extra books than take a test. I just don't like tests. But...we do need some kind of test to prove that we've learned something. It could be demonstrating the skill, the way that a fire fighter has to be able to demonstrate connecting the hose to the fireplug. The way that a carpenter might have to demonstrate cutting the proper length of wood. It might be the way a pianist must perform a recital after hours and hours of practice. You might think you know something completely, but it's not as valuable as it is when people can see the results. You probably haven't truly learned something until someone else sees you do it. Are you learning? Are you practicing? Are you putting that practice to use? -- doug smith

What It Means

Find meaning in this moment. That's where the meaning is. -- doug smith

Shake It Up

Do you believe everything that you believe? Every once in a while it's useful to question what we believe. When we take all of our beliefs for granted, they can outlive their usefulness. Not the core beliefs -- but the seemingly insignificant ones that stand in your way, beliefs like "luck is for the lucky," and " it's too late to make a difference now," and "if I can't convince someone I have to just go ahead and do it anyway..." Our heads are filled with stories we've heard over and over, we've told ourselves over and over, so many times that they rattle around on auto-pilot taking us to places we don't want to go anymore. We've inherited many stories that do us no good. It's OK to let them go, -- doug smith

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