Any time we add speed and flexibility there is a simultaneous introduction of new fragility. When we think we’re safe do to all our advancements, it’s helpful to keep this in mind.
Leaving your bad taste doesn’t help others
A few businesses ago I had an interaction with someone who was new to an organization. They had joined to replace another person that exited (who I also happened to know). One of the things that came up in the conversation was a specific vendor. In this instance I happened to also know the vendor and the details around how both sides negotiated and setup their agreement. I’m not attached to either directly as an employee, but know both as a third party and like both organizations.
The previous person wasn’t happy with the agreement they signed. There are many reasons for this, but my primary assessment is buyer’s clarity and remorse. Almost immediately after signing there were questions about the vendor not doing what they agreed to, even though the expectations were clearly being met based on the outlined agreement. Without going into details here, there is also an argument to be made that the issue was wrong fit. More was expected than what was being paid for and there were significant budgetary constraints on the client end compared to the service they desired.
The thing that was interesting about this conversation was that the new person happened to be questioning this vendor’s utility without having ever had a meeting with the other organization. It makes sense. When the previous person left they gave the incoming staff a list of their frustrations about the other organization. So now the new person can’t walk into a meeting with a new relationship and a truly objective view. I gave the new person some counsel about places where I saw misalignment and some things to look at on the agreement and how to possibly reposition for greater alignment to organization needs and value creation.
What I know in these situations is that the best thing for everyone is to find places for alignment and value creation. The previous person seemed to close to it to be able to do that and might have even caused the incoming staff to live with the same issue while they exited. There’s a thing about putting people in a box like that in your mind. It’s in your mind and you’re the only person who can release them. If you never do that work, then eventually you’ll work to help other people see them in the same box. This greatly reduces the opportunity for greater service to others and greater value creation for all. Tending the mental garden so bitter roots don’t spring up is the only way you can get to a place of true service to others.
How are you doing with the other orgs you work with? Need to take a step back today and reset or are you crushing this? I want advice on both sides.
Make Vendors Partners, For Your Sake
How do you communicate with your vendors?
A few years ago I had a new account manager from a vendor call me. Initially he called because he didn’t have my email address. SMH. How do you not have my email address in your system? I didn’t want to give him the time of day. Especially after that. At one point I told him “If you guys didn’t have the best product on the market for this, I would have kicked you to the curb a long time ago.”
What happened next? I asked him to do a few things, and he did them. Then he called back a few weeks later for a check-in. I didn’t want to give him the time of day again. Still he got through, we talked, he responded well and actioned some things, and a month later he reengaged. He grew on me. This AM ended up getting a promotion that was well deserved. I was sad that we were losing him as our primary contact for this vendor. By the time he left it the relationship was better though and that was due to his efforts way more than mine.
He was actually a solid guy who really wanted to help customers. When we first interacted I wasn’t upset at him, I was just unengaged with the vendor, but I directed that at him. I didn’t treat a people like a people. Not good.
I’m trying something new now. The golden rule. If I wouldn’t talk to a personal relationship this way, why would I talk to a team member in this way? If I wouldn’t talk to a team member in this way, why would I talk to a vendor in this way? My experience would tell me that most people are really just trying to do good work and we don’t have to make their jobs harder to get what we need.
How do you feel when you’re clients are more engaged with you? Even in the tough conversations, if a client is engaged it makes a big deal on how easy it is to dig in on the response to the client’s request. Strong relationships make for easier work and value creation. At the end of the day, even for organizations external to us, are just made of people. Engagement with those people will get you further than standing off and being ambiguous to your posture about them. You are trading money for work, don’t reduce it to that though. It’s about value creation not, money transaction.
Words are important, so I started this post referring to external orgs as vendors, but I generally have shifted to referring to them as partners. It’s helped me adjust my thinking of vendors as partners. They’re a part of our team. I also look at them that way. Where do you visualize them on the org chart? That partner is the most expensive employee you have, you should have a monthly checkin at least and probably a quarterly “employee review”.
Quick pointers on how to live this out:
-Weight your perspective to co-creating value.
-Partner meeting cadence
-Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.”
-Add a layer to your org chart with partner orgs to see how it works
-Kind and nice are different. Mostly be nice, always be kind.
Learn DNS. It’ll help you.
I try to avoid technical posts these days in lui of financial posts. Not because I don’t understand the tech. Honestly, it’s because I understand it to the point of boredom, cash flow and financials are much more interesting and so my goal has shifted to be able to help translate the technical things in light of overall business context. This is where true value is added. That said, Warning. Geek Post:
One truth I’ve discovered over years.
Anyone who thinks they understand DNS, probably doesn’t understand DNS. This function is a foundational layer of the internet. Even if you aren’t a technical person, your business depends on this to work right. If it doesn’t, then your apps don’t work and your email doesn’t send. At this stage in the game understanding the concept of it just a little below the surface will help you tremendously when your email is broken and the tech guy is throwing a bunch of jargon at you.
Please read a few articles on this. 👇
This should help:
https://jonahdevs.com/youre-closer-than-you-think-the-only-6-dns-concepts-you-really-need
Humanlike Beings
I rewatched the video demo of the Figure robot the other day that prompted a thought. The question that arose was less about robots but rather the person interacting with them. Go to the very end of the video and you see an interaction where the conversation isn’t quite finished, but the person interacting with the robot begins to walk away. In any normal interaction, this would be considered a bit rude. Not so to a robot who does not consider things in that way.
The question with any technology is not only “How does this change our world?”, but also “How does interacting with something in this way change us?” What normalizing that type of behavior will do to our other, non-automaton relationships. Whatever we want our more meaningful interactions to look like should inform our lower level interactions.
As AI and robotics gain ground, everyone should do the work to consider what it means to interact with humanlike beings on use.
Good Counsel
“For Lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.” -Proverbs 11:14
I wrote something a few weeks ago and at the end asked anyone who read it who they had around them. The thing I’ve found over time is that wise counsel critical in managing towards better outcomes. If you don’t have this you’re no only increasing your risk, you’re decreasing your chance of good outcomes.
Anyone else find this true?
Assets – Private, Public, and Otherwise
Let’s talk about private equity for a minute. Full disclosure, i’m not an accredited investor. Still, through a myriad of circumstances I’ve been able to hold private assets with other parties as a Limited Partner. There are some times that being an LP or telling someone you’re an LP sounds good. Reality wise, it’s not all that nice most times. It’s an investment vehicle and that’s all it should be considered.
Someone was asking me about one of these related to a robotics venture and if they should invest. There is a lot of nuance to that question and for this person I discouraged it. Not because I think it was bad for me, but more because the experience of an LP is distinct in your inability to control outcomes. Even when I was working IN the actual business where I was also listed as an LP I didn’t have access to many of the levers that would deliver better outcomes to me as a shareholder.
General Partners have a much better viewpoint, but also have the privilege of personal liability against the asset. So i’m not saying their situation is any better. It’s simply different.
What do I do then?
Well for the person I was speaking with about the robot stuff, I told them the S&P 500 has a better feel. For them that was equally true because of their runway. For me, I have a longer timeline so i’m ok. But in general many (social media, news, advertising) will try to convince you that being an LP in something is SUPER great with a pot of gold at the end. It CAN be true, but it is NOT necessarily true. Also, private assets are harder to remove your position in where public assets are simple. As a litmus test to this, think about selling a stock on your fidelity account vs selling your house. See what I mean?
So i’m not giving advice on how you invest. We’re all adults here with our own versions of what we need and why we do things. That said, I do believe you should be aware of what you’re getting into and if you have the opportunity to own a private asset it’s worth careful consideration and wisdom from some trusted folks around you. That’s the point, don’t buy the line that there are riches at the end of this rainbow. There’s a safety net in a multitude of perspectives and experience
Who are your people that you trust to give you wisdom in these decisions?
Financial Measures and Levers
There are two primary levers that you have in your life for financial measures.
1) Income
2) Expense
In choosing the assets you own, you need to consider these levers.
Expenses usually come from the assets you own. If you’re most Americans, your house and cars are the largest expense buckets and most of your wealth is tied up in your home. Anything else is probably in stocks somewhere. That’s fine, and those are also not cash generating assets in the truest sense.
Increasing your income can happen through raises and job changes, but the fastest way to do this is by owning more cash generating assets. Have you thought about this?
Two questions to ask yourself:
1) What is your wealth target?
2) What is your wealth generation strategy?
Vehicles for Growth
Everyone has a wall they hit with growth. The question is what to do once you get there? I’ve found these tools help me a ton as I look for ways to grow.
- Books —> Reading is helpful beyond the information. Training your brain to intake deeper and longer form information is an activity that our society has lost much of, but it’s incredibly necessary.
- Print —> If there are a lot a charts
- Audio —> If it’s a story form
- Podcasts—> Honestly on this, just do it. Too much entertaining content with a low effort bar on the consumption. Even if it’s outside of your normal scope of thought, I’ve never found it harmful to know a little bit about a lot of things. That said, here are the three areas I tend to live in:
- Business —> Generally, but not always, finance. It’s always helpful to understand how finances impact organizational decisions so the more understanding you can get here the better.
- Leadership —> Things like EntreLeadership or WorkLife are very helpful in thinking through how to lead teams.
- Edutainment —> Basically, tons in this area so it’s hard to recommend one in particular. Lately, because of a cyber security interest I’ve been listening to DarkNet Diarires.
- Videos —> YouTube has so much on there. Beyond that, find 3 good movies about something you’re interested in from history. Don’t watch just for entertainment though. See what the diverse perspectives of others can do with the same story.
- Relationships —> The most growth I’ve experienced is from sticking in long term friendships where the other person had enough context to call me when I was lying to myself.
Who is in your orbit that you can trust to challenge you in a safe way?
Can you challenge each other?
Do it!
What are some other vehicles of growth that I’m missing?
High Performers and Self-Feeding
I had a conversation about growth with one of my staff the other day about the fact that he is incredibly smart, talented, and hardworking. That sounds like a good thing and in a vacuum it is. Here’s the thing though, he has currently refused to read books, listen to podcasts, or find other ways to grow outside of picking up things from those in his immediate orbit. I had also struggled with how to communicate the reality of what damage not growing through other mechanisms that aren’t direct experience would cause. Finally, I had the thought. The challenge I presented to him is that at some point he hits his ceiling and then he’ll need to find a way to push past the barrier of his immediate vicinity.
When you get to your capacity there are very few choices of how to grow and at some point you become the ceiling for your team. What do you do in those moments to continue growth? How do you find other people and places that will challenge you with where you’re at? I can say after years of self-feeding I’ve learned to do this for myself. My current challenge is helping others learn this for themselves. How about you? Do you actively or passively pursue growth?