Category: Career in the Collaborative Age

Why You Should Focus on Your Life’s ‘Body of Work’

Pamela Slim, the author of Escape From Cubicle Nation, just released an other book, Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together.

BODY of WORK by Pamela SlimShe takes an interesting view on the fact that we actually create a Body of Work in our lifetimes, that ties together all our experiences – even if they do not seem connected. In hindsight, the sum of our experiences will make sense. Why not reinforce this meaning voluntarily from now on?

Pamela writes: “Viewing your life as a body of work is not a short-term game. You want to focus on meaning, skill development, professional network development, craft and mastery. There is no one right answer for everyone.”

The book is full of examples of people that change radically their careers and lives and still find a way to bring everything back into their body of work – and expand it further, meaningfully, by opening themselves to new encounters and experiences.

You are in charge of creating your Body of Work. Take this responsibility and create this incredible story you will be able to tie up together in hindsight. Like we already mentioned in this blog, Life is Not about Finding Yourself, Life is about Creating Yourself!

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How to Overcome the Greatest Problem in Communication

“The greatest problem in communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished” – George Bernard Shaw.

Poor communicationI can observe every day in my consulting practice how this old quote is so true, in particular in large organizations. Top management often confuses the act of communicating with actual communication.

It takes a lot of effort and caring to ensure proper communication. That means actual, down-to-earth leadership, and consistency through time.

I like to think that this issue can be solve through enough caring: what is communication if you don’t care about how well the message has been received and understood? It is about acknowledging the emotional component and be emphatic to the actual reception.

Be open and listen actively to assess the result of your communication. Don’t just deliver a message: observe its effect and ensure ‘after-sales’ service in the form of emphatic listening!

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What is Perfectionism and How to Overcome It

Some would say I am a recovering perfectionist (while I do not really feel that way). I can certainly be very detailed-oriented but can now also let go and ship to the world even if I know it is not perfect. What maybe I did not understand well was the mechanism of perfectionism.

Brene Brown on PerfectionismI found a great summary of this issue in an excellent book I read recently. “Perfectionism is a self-destructive and addictive belief system that fuels this primary thought: If I look perfect, live perfectly, and do everything perfectly, I can avoid or minimize the painful feelings of shame, judgment, and blame. Perfectionism is self-destructive simply because there is no such thing as perfect” – so writes Brene Brown in the Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are (she is an academic researcher on blame and became a best-selling author on the topic of becoming what we really are).

What she points out is that perfectionism is in fact an addiction that aims to protect us from the outside world – and thus could be compared to alcohol or drugs somehow. Overcoming perfectionism also requires the same tools and habit-forming activities than other addictions, and possibly external help as well.

Being careful in what you are doing is fine. But if you overextend it because you fear what people might think of you, and then you don’t come out to the world, you might suffer from an addiction to perfectionism. Heal yourself!

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Why Quantity is not Quality for Reports and Presentations

I often experience that a thick-looking report, or presentation, benefits from a positive first impression, in particular in traditional corporate settings – notwithstanding the quality of its contents. This is wrong!

large, thick paper filePamela Slim in her latest book ‘Body of Work‘ mentions that “There is a conspiracy cooked up by marketing wonks, consultants, and executives to pay for words by the pound, and to question the intelligence of a corporate “professional” who does not create complex and obtuse presentations. They are wrong. Your instinct to keep things clean and simple is right.” She quotes an experience where she sat for a few hours through a powerpoint presentation in a corporate setting without being able to understand what it actually was about.

Sometimes, providing a long presentation is also a way to hide from the fear of having a real candid conversation about the issue at hand, making sure that the allocated time is spent looking at a content that has been carefully polished, and avoiding questions and debate.

While substantial evidence backups might need to be gathered separately (as an appendix), I believe that the presentation or report message needs to be clear and crisp and should ideally be delivered in less than 25% of time allocated for that particular discussion – or at the minimum leave time to elicit proper discussion while the material is presented.

The value lies in the confrontation of ideas and in the discussion. The quality of the presentation or the report is to act as a sound trigger for that discussion. Never judge the quality of their content separately from the discussion – and possibly the decision – that it will trigger.

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Why You Should Become Better at Change… by Practicing Change

“Getting good at change (big, small, tiny – every day) means getting good at life” writes James Altucher in this excellent post.

LifeChangeWe certainly all need to become better at taking change as an opportunity rather than a threat. Change is actually always quite good in terms of excitement and learning. “When you change you go from a flattening learning curve (your old situation) to a steep learning curve (the new situation). Steep learning curves feel good. Like the feeling of new love.”

Of course, changes are not always ignited by us; they can be the result of external forces we don’t control. Sometimes one reason we suffer too much is because we’ve become rusty at change, because we don’t practice enough; we have become too sedentary in our habits. One key secret is probably to exercise at change by changing often. By becoming a nomad of sorts when it comes to our habits. We can exercise this very well by travelling; by relocating elsewhere; and by trying to change our habits and activities often.

A final word from James Altucher: “[Change] without expectation. Wish for nothing. Care for everything. Happiness will be in between“.

Go for it!

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How to Achieve Success

To achieve success, don’t aim at success!

missed targetThat is essentially what Viktor Frankl (author of  ‘Man’s Search for Meaning‘) advises. Achieve success by not thinking about success but putting in the hard work, dedication and commitment that is necessary to achieve great things.

“Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it“.

And it is very true in my personal experience: every time I have been very successful, it was when I was concentrating on doing my best work independently of any thought about success and how people would judge me.

Are you concentrating on doing your best work instead of thinking how to achieve success?

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Why Procrastination is Useful (Sometimes)

In this blog we have written often about the concept of Resistance and how to overcome it. Overcoming resistance is beating procrastination. But maybe procrastination is not such a bad thing, after all, at least sometimes.

Now vs LaterThat’s at least what James Altucher suggests in his book ‘Choose Yourself‘: “Procrastination is your body telling you that you need to back off a bit and think more about what you are doing“.

After reflection, I believe this is true in some instances, in particular when it comes to a creative endeavor. Sometimes we procrastinate because the meaning or the objective of what we intend to do is unclear, and then, in that case, it might be worth thinking twice before undertaking our project. When we are fully motivated, procrastination never appears.

Remains the issue of chores and those things we need to do but are not particularly pleasant. In that case, procrastination is obviously an issue.

It is important to distinguish between chores and creative endeavors. If on a creative endeavor, procrastination appears, ask yourself if what you are doing is the right thing to do!

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Why You Should Seek Rejection

“Without rejection there is no frontier, there is no passion, and there is no magic” – James Altucher, in ‘Choose Yourself‘.

Your Rejection is Your DirectionThis is quite an unconventional thought. People fear rejection. Some do manage rejection in a defensive manner so as to achieve certain goals (for example, salespeople). Many people believe that rejection certainly shows that what we try to do is not the right thing, and pushes us to try new directions.

Should we go further, be fully contrarian, and embrace rejection as a welcome hint that we are on the right way? That is exactly what James Altucher suggests.

On the same level as suggesting that we should push beyond our comfort zone, getting rejection requires that we have done something and that it is not conventional. It is a great result – although maybe a bit discouraging – that shows that we are passionately on the path of magic and creation. It just shows that we need to be persistent in our efforts, that we are creating something new.

Seek rejection with passion as you seek to go beyond your comfort zone. Eventually you’ll be recognized for what you are doing. Rejection shows you are on the right path.

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How Joint Teamwork is Key to Success on the Long Term

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” – Michael Jordan. The star basketball player certainly experienced what he talks about.

winning-JordanOn the long term, team work and collective intelligence is the key to success. Even if on the short term, sheer talent or luck can decide the individual day.

I confirm this observation as well in large project teams. Effective teamwork, lack of a blame culture when there is an inevitable setback, that is what makes victory possible on the long term.

Even when there is a setback, concentrate on teamwork and getting clever about the situation. Let yourself not be beaten by bad luck or insufficient talent. You can still win on the long term, if you rely on the joint effort of the brains of your team.

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How to Change Your Life: Change Your Story

I got inspired by the following sentence: “We all become the stories we tell ourselves” – Tom Asacker in the Business of Belief.

personal story and lifeIt is so true that there is a direct linkage between the story we create for ourselves and our actual life.

Change the story you tell yourself and change. Or, if you want to change, you first need to change the story you tell yourself.

In the end, we become the legend we create for ourselves. To change, we need to create a new legend. That is how we will express ourselves to the world.

If you want to change you life, change your legend, your story first. Change the way you talk about yourself and your life. Promote yourself into the role you dream for yourself. Do it, now. You are worth it.

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How to Thrive Personally through the Upcoming Societal Changes

‘Middle class’ disappears as a result of the Fourth Revolution. We have also described the society issues we are facing with  the disappearance of ‘middle class’ and how we can resolve them. In this post we will examine the consequences of this event from an individual perspective.

Middle class becomes poorer

While society needs to find solutions to deal with the increased inequality which will necessarily happen as a result of the Fourth Revolution, what should an individual do to be more certain to be part of the people who will benefit from the change?

“Choose to commoditize your labor or choose yourself to be a creator, an innovator, an artist, an investor, a marketer, and an entrepreneur. I say “and” rather than “or” because you have to be all of the above. Not just one” says James Altucher in his book ‘Choose Yourself‘.

Choose to be creative. It is a skill that can be trained and developed, and you should start now. On the long term, developing your creativity and being able to show it to the world is the key to your success in the Collaborative Age.

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Why the Disappearance of ‘Middle Class’ is Linked to the Fourth Revolution

There are more and more converging papers, posts and books about the disappearance of the ‘middle class’. The ‘middle class’ actually is quite a specific concept linked to the Industrial Age – it did not exist before: employees of corporations with a significant buying power and certainty in future revenue and position, that could hence spend in a number of consumption goods and invest in property, own their own house…

The income of the median population is significantly shrinkingIt seems quite visible from the available statistics that in effect, the wealth of the ‘middle class’ is diminishing; that less and less people can be described as being part of this group (as shown by the graph above); and that the very characteristics that described it – job security, relatively good buying power etc – seem to be disappearing.

As many authors today, I believe it is a structural change brought about by the Fourth Revolution – and not just the result of increased inequality that would be due by globalization (low salaries elsewhere…). It is due by a shift in value creation. The relatively repetitive and often bureaucratic work of the middle class is increasingly being taken up by automatic systems and soon by robots. Value concentrates in the creative work that gives life to these systems and tools.

This will pose a number of problems to our societies:

  • the consumption economy is in great part based on the buying power of the middle class
  • value creation will concentrate on a smaller percentage of the people, which will require a revamp of the redistribution policies to maintain social harmony.

This shift is probably the most critical societal shift created by the Fourth Revolution. Are you ready for it?

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