Prompt Engineering
In recent editions of this sporadic weekly I’ve been highlighting instances of short simple phrases or questions that help us move forward or try something new.
For example, Christopher Nolan giving Gary Oldman the feedback that, “There’s more at stake.” in the scene he was attempting. A simple cue that led to a different outcome. Or Simon Sarris pausing to ask, “how do we advance the plot here?,” tapping into the idea of the giant story arch we are all living as main characters (if we choose to) that can also write the script through its actions.
In my recent years of designing and delivering masterclasses, one of the exercises I’ve come across is the “How would you re-design your business from scratch, knowing what you know now?”.
It’s very “blank canvas” energy to tap into visioning a pathway forward.
My friend this morning at the cafe flipped it on its head.
“How would you re-design your business to be more dysfunctional and complicated than it is today?”
I have a hunch the latter question may instigate behaviour change more effectively than the blank canvas version.
My hunch stems from patterns or signals that aren’t doing damage today, may scale into something uncontrollable later.
We Still Want Fun
(See the original We Want Fun piece here).
If you look at everything with curiosity, and wonder, and love, and hope, you can overcome a lot of things. And I think that's what people don't realize is that it takes a lot of bravery to be optimistic. It's easy to be pessimistic. It's easy to say that things won't work. It's easy to say, I'm not going to do that because you don't have to muster up the willpower.
What a listen. And I am still not finished the episode.
I had shared it with a friend. They replied, “It’s one for the ages.”
Lately, I have been a bit underwhelmed by podcasts, so have been returning to classic episodes that, like a good movie, leave you with something extra each time you watch or listen.
How about this?
“When I came out of the hospital after having my stroke, I fell to my knees because of the air.
When the air hit my lungs and I was like, whoa, what if I never got to breathe that again, how magnificent.
And the sun was on my face, and I was like, how splendid. That's what truly matters in the world.”
Wow. This part of the pod almost moved me to tears while I was in the grocery store last night. Having had my own extended stay in a hospital once upon a time, this felt very close to home.
Full episode with Cyan Bannister on Invest Like The Best.
Ps. The value in my life that podcast has given me is incredible. And still bewilders me that it’s free. Thank you Patrick O'Shaughnessy!
What PlayBook Are You Running?
Recently was introduced to someone who had experience leading a function in a software business on it’s Series A to IPO journey. This is where the person continues to work and create value for other businesses on a similar journey.
Most people don’t shift contexts so much and by context I mean cultures and disciplines. Software to Software, Ad Agency to Ad Agency, Telco to Telco, Bank to Bank. Consultancy to Consultancy.
Maybe this isn’t a universal rule but seems present around me.
Some of us do switch contexts though. But what playbook do they run?
Forget which Seth Godin episode it’s in, but I always remember, that no matter how hard you try you are more likely to become similar to the culture you are joining, then the culture becoming more like you. Something like that.
One thing to be a contributor in a new culture, but it’s another to be a leader appointed, with the added expectation to transform the fortunes of a business or the health of its culture.
Revenue and profit are the name of the game of course, but how to get there can vary..
I remember painting the picture of a struggling context I was working on to a friend who works as a trustee sometimes for distressed businesses. I was probably over complicating things and providing too much information, but, they shared rather quickly….
“Typically in that case they are either taking too much time to produce the goods/service they sell, or are not charging enough for them”.
I know from my experience, I can over intellectualize business challenges or observations, but I have also found myself in situations where I have also observed that someone’s playbook just doesn’t work.
Not at a final conclusion with this thought so expect a Part 2 in some way exploring this playbook x culture x context space.
Thanks for reading,
Jamie
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