Category: Leadership

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The Journey So Far

Been talking about work and life. Wanted to present some stages for how this worked for me.

College -> Worked full time while schooling full time. Worked flexible jobs so I could do school. I felt busy (laughable now). Developed several skills for post college career. Helped start a non-profit during this time that I worked in alongside my career for the next 12 years. Got my first 8-5 job 3 days after graduation due to work I was already doing and relationships I had formed.

First 5 years -> Wanted a different career. Was paid low, worked long hours but was non-exempt with an unlimited overtime due to my role. Had to consistently be on-site and thought working remotely was what I wanted. Got next job because of a particular skill and someone I knew.

Next 6 years -> New job, first year I thought this was a stop gap. Turned out I loved the team and stayed for 6 years. Was empowered to help build teams. Was paid better because of the first 5 years pushing myself into expertise in key job functions. Started managing others and realized that leading, coaching, and building teams was a skillset I enjoyed. I also had to be in the office most days and was still learning to love what I was doing. Really enjoying my work kicked in the last few years here. Left here to go work in a global non-profit because of the non-profit work I mentioned back at college stage.

Next 3 years -> Worked at a non-profit overseeing global technology and some security functions around that. I was able to come and go. No requirement of office hours specifically. I realized I liked having an office to go to and also liked the flexibility of not having to go there. Most days I was there and found that was easier. I thought this was my dream job. Turns out getting your dream job in your early 30’s is a bad idea. 2 friends bought 2 businesses and asked me to help merge the thing together. I left to go do that.

Next 5 years -> Worked for some friends helping build out an MSP by integrating 2 together. Learned more skills on business functions and found I like working on the overall operations to make something healthy. Went through my first sell side transaction with a PE backed firm. Stayed on for a few years to help move towards integration and learned about negotiation in a larger org.

Last 2 years -> First job, that didn’t immediately form from a pre-existing relationship. Moved to another PE backed technology firm. Used lessons from the past 2 decades to help grow the firm. Began work to redesign our Professional Services Automation system. Helped with the integration efforts of 4 acquisitions in the first 6 months. Began to learn about building a true 24/7 operating team. Said yes to some things I regret saying yes to. Said no to some things I should have said yes to. Have learned much in the past year.

3 points:
1) Everything you do is training for the next thing you will do.
2) Relationships are key to your growth.
3) It’s a wild ride. Enjoy it.

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Work Life Integration

I’ve stopped thinking about how to balance work and life. In terms of work and life there is a transaction cost to what you want your life to look like. I think more of work life integration. Your work agreement with your employer can be viewed as a mix of compensation and incentives that help empower or detract from the life you want.

First principles:
The thought is that “I have problems to solve and people pay for my attention into solving those problems. Financial transaction enables other parts of my life.” Each job does this and in a free market, your compensation is commensurate with the difficulty of the problem you are solving. Some problems simply cost more time and energy.

Practical Outworking at Ground Level:
One example is teams that work on shift. I have a team like this. Part of the problem they’re solving is coverage of a service with a time bound function. So they don’t have the flexibility in the time they can be on or off work. To the point that we put hard boundaries around calling them outside of their shift hours. The other transaction mechanism is if they’re working overnight (11:30pm – 8:30am) that’s a harder problem to solve compared to someone working days(8:00am – 5:00pm). The overnight shift has a 10% stipend over their base salary. What each shift gets back out of the transaction is a very clear stop and start point to work. Some people want or need that in life for a myriad of reasons.

Transacting Back Incentives in Compensation:
That team is paid less than me and it’s a reasonable expectation given their job is limited in scope and clearly defined. I have a larger scope and I’m looking at problems with a longer reach and impact. I also, don’t generally get the same lines of off/on time. I work remotely from a laptop. So long as I do my job I have the ability to be mobile, I can work from where I want, and I can come and go as I please related to work. That IS a great benefit and that IS a double edged sword. If things are healthy I get to “leave on time”, if things aren’t healthy I get 10pm and 2am calls. My time back is part of my compensation, so i’m very incentivized to make things healthy.

Very practical schedule:
I hold to a schedule. It keeps me productive and consistent for my team. I usually end up starting a little before 8am, and working until around 6pm. Then I drop out and jump back online for another hour sometime that evening to wrap up a few things. (The time I get back on is reducing as the kids get older.) Because of my role with FaithTech I sometimes need to work from another city. So I leave early (depending on the city as early as 4:30am) and start work from a cafe somewhere in that city at 8am. I’ve worked from my travel trailer a few times and many times someone asked me to lunch or afternoon coffee or beer around 3pm. I’ve had the ability to say yes and have done so.

What about you? Like if you’ve nailed the work/life integration and comment to share how or ask for help.

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Engineer Your Path from the End First.

I took some time off this past week. What basically added up to a long weekend, but it was needed. Made me think about work/life balance. I hear many people talking about the freedom they want with work. I don’t really think that’s the point though.

If you’re expectation is that you can gain now, what you want your life to look like in the future without any understanding of the journey and cost required to get there, then you might have set yourself up for failure, disappointment, or both. I’ve become more and more convinced that money is simply a tool to allow for transaction back in terms of personal time use. If you don’t have a real need for more money, do what you want. Everyone else, is beholden to a rule of constraints.

If you’re just starting out from school at whatever level, don’t try to gain the job you want to have in 20 years and for which the requirement to add value in that position will be 20 years of setting your hands to a task. You either, don’t add enough value back to the business for that transaction to make sense on the other side or you’ll be overpaid and the first to be released during the bad days.

“Well, I’ll just start my own business.” is the other response I think I’m going to hear. I hope you do, also that’s not just sunshine and rainbows. If you’re starting that for the right reason, which is to truly solve a problem, then it’s still a 20 year journey to build a business.

Even if you get that dream job in your early 20’s, it’s not your dream job. Been there. Landed my dream job after a decade of work and was out 3 years later because it wasn’t that after all. Your life is more than work and work is a significant part of your life. Learn to enjoy the journey of that more than an end that you’ll never catch.

That does not mean, don’t think about what you want your life to look like in 20 years. Start with the end in mind and engineer your path accordingly.

Interested what the rest of you think. Like if you agree, comment if you differ in thought. Will post more about work/life integration and how that might work. In the meantime, here’s a pic of a sunset from this weekend.

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Money and Other Stuff

Last week I mentioned some conversations I had last week. One of them was a situation where a friend had a decision to make about two separate positions at different companies. In terms of comp package they were the same. My response?

“Well now that money isn’t the issue you have to decide why you would want to do one or the other.” Many aren’t as fortunate as my friend to be thrown into turmoil because suddenly the decision isn’t about income. If you ever have a moment like that, it’s odd in it’s ability to cause turmoil rather than peace. That’s usually because most of us aren’t clear on why we’re working beyond the paycheck. It’s healthy to have that level of clarity though. It’s actually what will produce your best work.

What is your why and how did you get clarity about that?

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Wants, Relationships, Work

I had 4 separate conversations this past week with different individuals where the subject of clarifying your wants so that you can state them in a clear way came up as a subject of conversation.

1 was with an employee and 3 were through personal relationships
1 was on the subject of a personal desire and 3 were related to career drivers

The mix of the foundational why for my relationship with each person as it relates to the subject matter we were discussing was certainly not a direct correlation towards a hard lined stance of work and personal life.

The issue is that compartmentalizing your work and personal life isn’t clean and if you work to make it extremely clean it might not be healthy or useful. It’s not that they’re the same thing, it’s that they draw a tension for you to manage when deciding your use of time and activities.
e.g. If I use my angry work voice with a staff member they’re going to carry that home to their families and if a staff member’s 2 year old cries in their ear all night they’re going to com into work tired the next morning.

It helps me to be aware that those around me have other things happening beyond what I can see. I have a note in front of me at my desk to remind me of this. I’m curious how others keep this reality in front of them. What have you done as your reminder? I’m curious to learn.

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In and Out of The Box with Others

I keep finding this common thought as I interact with growing organizations. Everyone feels dumped on by other teams. It’s not necessarily a true thought. In fact, 99% of the time I find it’s not true at all after asking a few more questions on the subject. It’s generally a lot of hardworking smart people, with limited visibility, who are trying to do the right thing.

The trick is to have empathy and ask good questions from a generally curious posture. When you assume the best in others it’s easier to do this. That is what gets you to the point of understanding why something is happening. You can walk away with understanding and possibly even have knowledge about how to change the situation and add value for, not only your team, but also other teams.

A few quick principles here:
-When there’s a gap from someone’s actions, assume the best
-Stay curious and ask questions
-Sharing your perspective if it helps the other person or increases the other person’s view

How’s this going? Anyone else need a reset about those around them after feeling dumped on?

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July 5th

Happy 5th! I didn’t post yesterday since everyone else seemed to and I enjoyed simply spending time with my people.
Started the day with a run though and it gave me some thoughts. There are plenty of places where simply being able to go about my day in peace like that isn’t possible. All the technical advancements that enabled that run (moisture wicking clothes, lighter shoes, Strava) would arguably not be here if it weren’t for the advent of our nation and the attitude we carry around pioneering, innovation, and work.

There are trade-offs/costs to it and there are plenty who will rave about other parts of the world’s choice towards less work days, social needs outweighing our own individualist tendencies, etc. There’s truth to that, we get to choose what to opt in and out of and the value that gives us. I will say that those models of living are also not the ones that gave us the benefits we have today.

So here’s to July 5th. The day after the celebration. The day we get to go back to what we celebrated and are priviledged to participate in. The day we get to go back, innovate, push further towards a preferred future.

Let’s go!

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Don’t Overreact

“I’m just being honest” I’ve heard this too often as an excuse when someone is a jerk.
The goal is not simply to be Authentic. Be Intentional and that takes restraint.

It will help us all, including me, if you have internalized these thoughts for stopping yourself when you are offended:
-I represent more than me and not everybody would want me to respond this way.
-Other people could be damaged in their income and reputation by the words that I say. I need to let this one go for them.
-This could cost you personally and you need to mend relationships and not burn bridges.

Finally, what if they’re right?

I was listening to a discussion about this from Donald Miller and he gave a quote from someone he knows who works for a state governor. “Most of us overreact as quickly as possible.”

Let’s not. Take a point today and slow down

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Friday Post! Take a Break.

It’s Friday! What are you doing this weekend? Taking some time to rest, or intending to work through because you can get just that little bit further ahead?

Any human on the planet can work incredibly hard and be protected from burn out so long as they take at solid 24 hour period of time off in a consistent way every week.
E.G. I stop working when I turn everything down on Friday night (or early Saturday morning) and don’t start again until Sunday afternoon. So a little over 24 hours, but it’s the same every week.

This past Saturday I was tempted to dive into something later in the evening and opted not to. Waited until Sunday afternoon and found I had much more energy for it.

This isn’t purely a physical rest requirement. It’s mental, emotional, and spiritual. Burnout, every time i’ve encountered it, isn’t physical. There can be physical aspects, but it’s primarily mental, emotional, spiritual.

You have more value than what you produce. The discipline of stopping is a thing that frustrates you into simultaneously believing and experiencing this as a truth of your life.

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Increase Performance…Intentionally

There’s a common complaint i’ve heard about moving the needle on a person. If it’s unintentionally done, then I can see how this would be terrible for moral and lead to reduced performance over time. Countering that, the action isn’t inherently bad.

How do you run a longer distanced race than one you’ve previously run? You increase the distance goal.

How do you earn more money? You set a target and work backwards for what you need to do to get there.

As you grow and change your goals will also need to do that. As an organization grows the changing of the goals is necessitated.

Moving the needle isn’t bad. Doing so without context is terrible. Doing so because of a stated mission is life giving to the entire organization.

What is your organizations stated mission and where do you need to “move the needle” to get to a preferred future?