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Let me clrify something. A reader wrote to me to comment on my dilemma of not knowing what I want to be when I grow up, pointing out that many people don't know and never figure it out, and that stories like Adi Dasser's are usually dramatized and basically lies (I am putting a lot of words in the reader's email here).
I know. I know that most people don't know. I know that the stories I read in a Adidas marketing book are probably not true. I don't really "hate" my life as I said yesterday (I like to exaggerate). However...
Just because most people don't know what they want, doesn't mean I should be content to not know. I am basically in a state of chronic discontent and unsatisfaction. Even though I know in my logical brain that I have really great life, I am afraid to be content with it. It is a rule of mine that "Thou shalt not be satisfied". I don't like this rule, and wish I could be satisfied, but that's the rule.
So, I am unsatisfied by the fact that I don't have a passion like a small percent of people are fortunate enough to have... I am glad however that I don't have a passion when I see people who have petty passions. People who are content to go out to Karaoke with friends, never doing anything to grow. As much as I am glad I don't have a passion for Karaoke, which is so easy to fulfill, I am also very jealous of people I see who seem so totally content just to go to the hash 3 times a week.
What I am trying to say I guess, is that I know that I have a great life, I know that not knowing exactly what I want to do is not a problem. I know that what I am after is really only a movie story. But I still want it, and I am good enough to get it if I examine things enough, and the minute I become satisfied to just go to my pretty good job and use my salary to hang out and sing karaoke, and go to the hash 3 times a week... the minute I stop wanting something better I will be doomed to mediocrity and I am better than that.
The reader I mentioned above also sent me a link to a page about being a boss because I mentioned an NPR program about bad bosses a couple days ago. At the top of the page they have the ABC's of Leadership.
Now, I am not an official boss at my company, but with only 9 people, and not even one manager... (I mean ZERO people in my company managing!). I try to do what I can if I happen to have time to even think about anything other than the responsibilities of the 4 jobs I have. I am interested to see how I do with these ABC's...
1. Trust your subordinates. You can't expect them to go all out for you if they think you don't believe in them.
2. Develop a vision. People want to follow someone who knows where he or she is going.
3. Keep your cool. The best leaders show their mettle under fire.
4. Encourage risk. Nothing demoralizes the troops like knowing that the slightest failure could jeopardize their entire career.
5. Be an expert. From boardroom to mailroom, everyone had better understand that you know what you are talking about.
6. Invite dissent. Your people aren't giving their best... if they are afraid to speak up.
7. Simplicity - you need to see the big picture in order to see the course, communicate it, and maintain it.
1. I try to trust the other people, and I constantly allow them opportunities to not loose my trust... I trust them first and if I don't trust them now it is because they have let me down... of course I do know now what I can trust them with and what I can't... so yeah, I you can say I trust them. That has nothing to do with them going all out though. I have seen very few cases of people going all out, but having talked to business owner and manager friends, his seems to be a Japanese thing. I find it hard to believe, and really don't want to believe that the reason people see, so complacent about their job, and don't strive for greatness is that they are Japanese, but basicly that is what everyone I know (Japanese included) attribute it to. It is so nice of all the American management gurus to write books about how to change this... especially since they are obviously writing thiese books for a Japanese audiance... everyone knows American people don't have that problem.
2. I try to have a vision, and I have a huge influence on the direction the company takes. Mostly this is because I am the only one who does what I want as opposed to what I am told to do (and as a result no one tells me to do anything). Unfortunately, any vision I have, regarding a direction that I think the company should and can be effective at pursuing too often gets trumped by the seemingly goal-less sales strategy of the company which is basically, "We will do anything that people pay for, even if it has nothing to do with the business we are in"
3. I wish I could get excited, it might make me better. Unfortunately nothing really seems so important to me. I have never come across a situation that I felt I had to go crazy about. Even if the server goes down, that's life... I can't get excited (excited does not equal stressed).
4. I don't discourage risk, but I can't say I encourage it. It doesn't really come up since no one has been known to take a risk or want to take a risk... Again, this is often attributed to being Japanese, and in some way I think it could be true. In large companies the president is usually the person who made the least mistakes, so it makes sense to keep your head down and never go out on a limb... but at my company I don't think anyone has their eyes set on being the president, so I don't know why no one wants to takes risks.
5. I'm the default expert in the company now, the problem I see is that I know so very little that having an expert that has more than 2 years of experience would benefit everyone greatly.
6. Sounds like number 4. We don't have the "problem" of people even wanting to speak up.
7. My entire discontent, with my job now, and everything I complained about above could be solved (in my view) if there was a big picture. If we had a course, we could follow it and get better at what we do and maybe people would try t take more risks if they knew that any effort they put forth will not be meaningless in a month because the entire strategy of the company has changed. I want to be able to control that. And that is why I am sure that I will never be satisfied unless I am running my own company... or perhaps had my own division someplace free from constantly changing whims and interests of anyone other than the market and the client. And when the client's whim goes outside of that vision and big picture, I have the authority to say "sorry, we can do that, but we have a vision, and we are trying be this type of a company, and that just doesn't fit in. Let me help you find someone competent who does do that kind of work though..."
What a treat for me living in the land of no (good) comedians that there are two middle-eastern comedians on Fresh Air talking about their lives and acts after Sept 11. One of the things I never get to do here is laugh... I just don't have any funny friends or anyone who can understand my humor... it felt good to laugh at these guys jokes, and it was also interesting getting their perspective.
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