Category: K.E.E.N. skills

Open leadership – practical leadership of the Fourth Revolution

I highly recommend ‘Open Leadership’ by Charlene Li. The book is about how social technology transforms leadership in organizations.

open leadership, by Charlene Li
open leadership, by Charlene Li

She tackles many issues we have already discussed in this blog, and she provides a number of practical examples that are really enlightening. What’s really good about the book, actually, is how practical it is, and how she shows the struggles of executives with a more open leadership style.

She also provides practical way forward, showing how social network strategy needs to be aligned with the organization’s strategy. It is possible to embrace social networks within pre-defined limits. She shows how to define and enforce these limits, and how to take advantage of the value of the Fourth Revolution while minimizing risk – personal, and for the organization.

We will discuss some striking ideas particularly in some following posts. Today let’s reflect on this quote

“Open leadership is how leaders must let go to succeed”

That’s real. It is about how to let go old-fashioned control to influence the organization at a higher level. Letting go is hard. Let’s help our leaders understand that they have to let go. Or they will get run over by the Fourth Revolution’s speeding train.

When do you let go of your old all-controlling-closed leadership style?

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You can only be flexible if you have choices: multiply your possible choices!

“You can only be flexible if you have choices“. That’s a simple and deep thruth.

the choice of roads
which road do you choose?

And we know, through the law of requisite variety, that flexibility and adaptability means success.

So it all hangs on our choices. Sounds easy?

The point is, having choices or no is always subjective.

We often feel stuck, without choices, constrained.

That’s just a perception, a cognitive bias. More and more, choices are there, around us, multiple. They have been multiplied through the Fourth Revolution: for example, stay-at-home moms can create thriving businesses from their home through the internet!

We often can’t see our choices. But they are there. Do the exercise. Think out of the box, find 5 choices for your life you did not think about.

PS: on the photo, which way do you go? Myself, I won’t go left or right. Maybe straight in the middle. Or turn at a right angle from the trodden path. See. There are more choices than it seems!

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Avoid no, but, however – and change your life

One of the greatest piece of advice I found lately comes from Marshall Goldsmith, in his book “what got you here won’t get you there“. I have tried to apply it consistently and it makes a very significant difference in my relationship with people.

Marshall Goldsmith
Marshall Goldsmith

His advice is the following; ban “no”, “but”, and “however” from your language.

Why? Because everytime you use “no”, “but”, and “however”, you’re just basically saying to somebody else that what they just expressed was stupid. That’s put a bit blunt, but that’s reality.

And face it: like everybody, you LOVE using “no”, “but”, and “however”, in fact you probably use it much more often than you think.

So, change to “yes”, “and”, “while”, and be collaborative, for once.

That will change your life.

Try it. Today.

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The thrill of publishing

The picture was taken in Kuala Lumpur International Airport at the end of August by a colleague (I went to check a few days later as I went through the airport, it was real!).

The Fourth Revolution Book in a bookshop
The Fourth Revolution Book in a bookshop

WOW. The Fourth Revolution in a bookshop almost next to ‘The Black Swan’ and other well known books.

I’m waiting to see the sales, but already I know that’s a great step forward. It now really feels like the book is in the public domain. Of course, it has been already for more than two months, but seeing it like that when stepping into the bookshop gives a thrill! It is visible to all the travelers in the airport, and I look forward to see people frankly outside my network reading it.

Deep inside, I know that publishing and distributing the book is just the start, but that’s quite a noticeable step in the right direction.

Why are we so thrilled by publishing? Probably because we let unknown people discover our deep inner thoughts, sharing quality time, intimate time with them. And this reflection of ourselves is probably the most potent personal change factor.

Publishing is a great way to start influencing the world. That’s just what the K.E.E.N. needs to practice doing. Publish to the world in whatever format – blog, comments on other’s blogs, books, interactive e-books or else. Do it, change the world. And change yourself, deeply.

 

(image credit: Hugh Irvine)

 

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Quiz: why is hourly analysis of social network effectiveness fundamentally flawed?

Referring to the graph shown in the previous post about the hourly re-tweeting, such an analysis is fundamentally flawed, just because of the fundamental assumptions of the Fourth Revolution.

Faithful follower of the Fourth Revolution blog, I give out one guest post in the blog for you – yes, you get to write a post yourself – if you find the right answer withing the next week!

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Social network’s data analysis is overrated

When you start to be interested about social media, you are suddenly overwhelmed by gurus and service providers that provide you with heaps of data. And also promises to enhance dramatically traffic on your site and earn big money!

best time of day for posting
best time of day for posting (over-analysis)

When should one post a blog to optimize its impact? What words should be used to optimize visibility? At what time in the day (!) should something get published? Where should which field be on the front page, in which color, to increase the probability of a click?. And there they go in huge graphical analysis and lengthy discussions.

Funny thing is, most of the examples of outstanding successes of books, blogs or social network references did not start doing all this. They just started delivering great contents and engaged tightly with a group of followers. They continued delivering consistently, over time. Eventually sometime they became mainstream, as the group of followers increased.

Can one really manipulate success? Short term maybe. If you want to build a long term brand, should it be your own or your organization’s, dont’ really bother. Your site, blog needs to be good, not crappy, but do not spend time and energy trying to over-optimize it. Spend instead time delivering great contents and value. Engage emotionally with your followers, give them value.

Change their lives.

It does not matter if you blog at 2am to achieve that.

 

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Remember that a critic is a dreamer gone scared

I read this sentence in one of the long lists of principles sent by Robin Sharma from time to time. I’m not a great fan of Robin Sharma (in particular of his marketing strategy and the way he puts himself in the spotlight), but for once one of his sentences stuck.

Let’s read it once more:

Remember that a critic is a dreamer gone scared

When you think about it, this is so true. Often critics are people who would not dare to do what you are doing (or attempting). People who have been scared so many times, or had bad experiences trying to do things out of the box.

Nasty critics are those who have grown frustrated so much that their entire life is just filled with frustration and bitterness.

I don’t want to end up like a nasty critic of others. So, the best way is to overcome fear and do unconventional things. And understand what it takes.

Because be certain that fear will be there as soon as you try to deviate from the well-worn path of normality. Deep, moving, gut-wrenching fear.

What’s the solution? Ask yourself the question: What is the worst that could happen to me if it goes wrong?

Often, the risk is minimal (beyond the risk to appear ridiculous to others). Leaning into the fear, overcoming fear can be practiced. Lean into the fear and jump!

Wait – we can also help the nasty critics. Should they have the occasion to overcome their fear, once, to do something that matters, their life could be transformed. Ask them: What is the worst thing that could happen to you if you follow your dreams? And help them to follow through. That would be the greatest gift for them. And the world.

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10 tactics to overcome ‘Resistance’

Here are my 10 current tactics to overcome my ‘Resistance’ to really do the Creative Work (if you have not read my blog post on “the War of Art” by Steven Pressfield, follow the link)

First, I have identified my potentially main time wasting activities which ‘Resistance’ is too happy to entertain:

  • aimless internet surfing (‘Resistance’ likes so much losing time following all the interesting hyperlinks without purpose)
  • aimless television – and watching movies on airplanes just for the sake of passing the time
  • social networks usage, which includes online chatting, and email

So my tactics are:

  1. limit those potentially time wasting activities to a predefined duration or context so that they are useful to my goals – plan the day accordingly;
  2. spend dedicated time looking for ideas, purposefully reading, watching or surfing what I have chosen (yes, chosen) to read, watch or surf on. Creativity feeds into other’s ideas so it’s important to watch and listen, but to be effective in doing that;
  3. switch off voluntarily internet, television and social networks when doing the Creative Work (and also the nasty email notifications!);
  4. rest well and exercise regularly to foster creativity, dynamism and balance – makes it easier to recognize Creative Work as the most important thing to do;
  5. make at least a 2 hours span of uninterrupted time for Creative Work – often in my hotel room at night when I travel, or after the children are in bed at home. When ‘Resistance’ makes me realize that less time is available, it generally wins;
  6. put on some music to isolate from the outside during Creative Work (don’t ask me what I have been listening though!);
  7. always have something to note thoughts and ideas on, in particular just after Creative Work when ideas still pour in (I now use Evernote to centralize all my ideas on the Cloud and have them available from anywhere)
  8. when doing Creative Work, focus on one piece of Creative Work at a time (for example, a set of blog posts, or writing my book). Got it? ‘Resistance’ wants you to switch, so that the flow of Creativity stops and has to be started again; focus instead!
  9. when doing Creative Work, ‘Resistance’ would like us to abandon, thinking what we are doing is crap. Don’t get bothered about the quality of the newly created material, and wait for at least one night to review what has been done, to bring perspective. Just go on creating;
  10. when you find Creating hard, when the blank sheet or screen is watching, resist the urge to switch to something else. Stay concentrated. Start writing. Once you open the flow of Creativity, it will not stop.

That’s it! Also, what works for me is that it is difficult to get into creative mode, but after a few minutes I dive into the real, concentrated creation work. After 15-20 mins I am in the flow, I don’t see the time passing. What’s tough is to get in Creative Mode and start.

I still have a lot of progress to do to tame my ‘Resistance’, who still win too often, but I am on my way. As is my second book, and a number of other things I want to create. And you, what are your tactics?

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How “The War of Art” changed me

This summer I read “The War of Art“, a tiny book by Steven Pressfield.

War of Art cover
War of Art by Steven Pressfield

Tiny, short, but really powerful.

I read a lot, that’s one of the few books that get you thinking, WOWed, increase tremendously your self-awareness, and… change you.

In essence, Steven Pressfield explains how something called the ‘Resistance’ is within us, trying to stop us from performing any kind of creative activity.

The subtitle explains it: “Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles”.

Creating something is hard, tough. Our ‘Resistance’ does all it can to avoid us doing it. Steven describes all sorts of costumes the ‘Resistance’ cloaks itself with. Luckily ‘Resistance’ can be overcome, it takes discipline and perseverance, and overcoming one’s ego.

What did this book change for me? I have now a name to put on all the more or less conscious attempts to avoid doing real work, to procrastinate. I have now developed tactics to have more quality time sitting at my computer, writing creatively, with no disturbances. I travel a lot and have a lot of activities; I can’t have a daily regular discipline like the one Steven describes for himself; putting a name on ‘Resistance’ has dramatically increased my productivity and creativity. And my self-awareness of when I win and of when I lose the battle with my ‘Resistance’

“The War of Art“, a tiny book by Steven Pressfield. It’s worth much more than its price or the time you’ll spend reading it. Read it! today!

… and don’t listen to your ‘Resistance’ who just told you you had other things to do! They are not so important!

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How simple is it to get positive emotions?

Reactions from the readers of the last blog post: so, to get creative and open minded, one just needs to have positive emotions. But my emotional state is what it is, what can I do about it?

Well if you have read the book you know the answer – but never mind let’s reveal here one of the most important secrets.

We all know that emotions have effect on our body posture, our tone of voice… The secret is that the reverse is true. Our posture, our movements, our actions, influence our emotions.

You don’t believe it?

For yourself to smile in front of your computer.

Don’t bother, nobody is looking. Just force yourself to smile.

Hold the smile for 30 seconds no less.

…

How do you feel now? My guess is: happier, more positive, right?

Laughing club in India
Laughing club in India

The ultimate is to practice a healthy daily dose of laughter like these laughing clubs in India meeting every morning to start the day in the most positive manner. Try it. Force yourself to laugh. You’ll see how positive you’ll get.

So, next time you feel down, consciously change your posture, force yourself to smile, laugh even. Your positive mood will be back. And with it your open, creative mind.

Smile again. Hold the smile. You’re part of the Fourth Revolution. You are practicing the holistic practice, involving body and mind. You see, it’s that simple.

Welcome.

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What’s the use of feeling more positive?

I stumbled the other day upon a very interesting question: what are positive emotions for?

The use of negative emotions, and how they change our physiology, is quite well known. Fear mobilizes our main muscles for running, anger brings blood to our arms for fight etc. But what are the physiological changes brought by positive emotions, apart from a nice warm smile?

Interestingly enough, not a lot of people seemed to be interested by the question until the Fourth Revolution was upon us!

open one's mind
open one's mind

Barbara Frederickson, a distinguished psychologist, proposed an explanation in a 1998 article: what good are positive emotions? The paper is a bit long and dry. Though, the basic thesis is quite simple: positive emotions promote an open-mind!

Negative emotions close our mind, so that we focus on the object of the hazard and concentrate on our (survival reaction). Positive emotions and relaxation promote games, learning new things, creativity.

So, if you want to be more creative and open-minded, a key to success in the collaborative age, one simple solution: think positive more often! When do you start?

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