Giant Leap

“You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.” This, from James Clear in his excellent book Atomic Habits. We agree. James encourages us to focus on systems and processes that enhance our personal productivity and growth. He argues that by focusing on the habits and routines that lead to progress, we will achieve our goals. Is it any wonder that so many entrepreneurs burn out because the only tool in the toolbox they reach for is brute force – put in more hours, work harder, and throw people and money at the problem? That raises the question: what systems and processes? Which are most important to have in place first? Which will have the biggest impact? As a way to answer those questions, we created the free Business Inventory tool over the last 20 years with the help of our members. It’s a quick look at your company's organization set up in the areas of strategy, management, finance and administration, people and culture, sales and marketing, and operations. It has 50 questions, and in 15 minutes, provides a fresh perspective on your business. We invite you to take the Business Inventory now: https://buff.ly/3QUtfF7 #BusinessInsights #LeadershipReflection #BusinessTransformation #GrowthMindset

Ever wondered how your organization's set up compares to others? It's one of the most common questions we get asked in peer mentoring and 1-1 consulting. We understand that investing time and resources in processes is rarely enticing. And not a lot is needed at first: when a company is small, a few people can wear a lot of hats, and communication is direct and personal. But as the business grows, and roles become more specialized, you create separate departments, an org chart, and a management team. You put in place regular meetings, and start to delegate responsibility for different areas of the business. Without these investments, growth will eventually stall, and decreasing profits are likely to follow. But where do you start? By taking our free Business Inventory, you’ll get to self-assess your business’s strategy, management, finance and administration, people and culture, sales and marketing, and operations. Read more about the Business Inventory in our blog: https://buff.ly/47wjhzg #BusinessGrowth #OrganizationalEvolution #LeadershipJourney #BusinessSuccess

Jonathan Haidt calls out how smart phones are experience blockers that get in the way of us connecting with other people and the world around us. This is why our group meetings are no-phone-zones, so we can focus on each other rather than getting distracted by the tech. #smartphones #socialmedia #techaddiction #mentalhealth

Almost every entrepreneur we work with asks regularly, “What should we focus on first?” The Eisenhower Matrix (aka the Urgent/Important Matrix) is a powerful tool to help figure that out. As a leader, your time is best spent doing things that are important but not urgent (Quadrant 2 in the matrix). Another powerful tool is the free Giant Leap Business Inventory, which will help you home in on what areas of your organization need the most attention. It has 50 questions and takes 15 minutes. Find out more about the Business Inventory: https://buff.ly/3QUtfF7 #BusinessProcesses #GrowthStrategies #LeadershipDevelopment #BusinessSuccess

Aaron Schmookler believes that great culture is about fundamentals. Eight of them, to be precise. He calls the first of those fundamentals, “Yay for failing.” When he does experiential training, he puts each team through an exercise designed to have them fail publicly and repeatedly, about 60 or 70 times in an hour. And every time somebody fails, everyone raises their right hand, and chants together, ‘Yay for failing.’” “We talk about what it means to fail. What it means to fail fast. What it means to fail forward,” he says. “An example that I often use comes from Simon Sinek's book, Leaders Eat Last. There was a hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, where more than once, somebody went in for something like cardiac surgery and had their left leg amputated. And I'm not exaggerating about how wrong the surgery was that was conducted. And the thing that killed me in reading this story was that even though the surgeon thought he was doing the correct thing, the nurses all knew it was the incorrect surgery for this person. So this was not a ‘Yay for failing’ environment.” “You could think of the nurses as being derelict. But really, they were terrified and neurochemically handcuffed. Their fear of ridicule and being lambasted by the surgeon who is god in this environment created such fear that they could not speak up. They were neurochemically prohibited from speaking up.” “In a ‘Yay for failing’ environment, they’d have been able to say, ‘Hey doc, you're in the wrong room. I know you, you're an orthopedist, and this is a cardiac patient.’ That's a ‘Yay for failing’ moment that can be made possible in a ‘Yay for failing’ environment.” He says fear of failure and fear of embarrassment are fear of death. “If my social status lowers far enough, then I'm going to be kicked out of the tribe, and I'm going to starve to death.’ That's what our brains are doing.” Aaron Schmookler is a culture engineer. For nearly 30 years, he has “helped leaders build structures, habits, and mindsets that support an enduring high-performance culture, so both their profits and their people thrive.” Aaron leads two Giant Leap peer mentoring groups in the Seattle area. You can find out more about his groups via the link below. https://buff.ly/3WJ8uxS #GiantLeap #entrepreneurlifestyle #lifegoals #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills

Tyler Parris thinks a lot about the many roles we play in our lives, and how they overlap. As someone who spent years as a chief of staff, and then a coach to chiefs of staff, much of his work is about optimizing the way different roles work together. To him, Shakespeare can unlock a big piece in how roles work best. “I was an English major, so I think of Shakespeare, and ‘Sonnet 138’” he says. “On the surface, it seems like a poem between lovers. But what it’s really about is appearances and pretense and self-awareness.” “To me, the point of the sonnet is that we aren’t simply who we say we are. Most of us have a lot of roles that we play in our lives; we are parts of a system. And at work, we have many roles: sometimes they overlap, and sometimes they’re in conflict, and sometimes there are even parts of our roles that we don't realize we're playing.” “How do you see yourself in relation to your coworkers? What are the parts that are unknown to you? What are the parts that are unknown to other people that you haven't communicated to others? You know, it can be really interesting to try and function in an organizational context if we're not self-aware and not aware again of the dynamics with other people.” Tyler Parris has not only been a corporate chief of staff, but has spent the past 12 years coaching people in chief of staff roles. He leads Giant Leap’s peer mentoring group for executives, based in the Seattle area. You can find out more about his group here. https://buff.ly/4cTTLWX #GiantLeap #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills #peermentoring #changemanagement

Richard Wilson practices resilience consciously. He needs to. He is the president of a small wood products company, which is in an industry that changes rapidly and constantly. He has a few different tools. One is to look to others who have gone through change. For that, he often thinks of a quote by Ernest Hemingway: “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” A friend in the industry gave him another prompt. ‘‘Richard, do you remember the time when…’ and he gave me an example. I had forgotten about it. He said, ‘Yeah, that's how long everything lasts. Nobody remembers. Just get through it, and keep charging on.’ He also uses what he calls ‘muscle memory’ when the company is having difficulties or disappointments. He asks himself what the worst and best case scenarios are, then puts budgets behind them. ‘And often what I find is that it's nowhere near the situation that I'm dreaming up in my head. And that is really comforting.’ And another is to bring his team into it. ‘Too often as a sole entrepreneur, I sit in my study thinking of all the solutions alone. And inevitably, when I invite my team in, they will either call me on stuff, or they'll confirm that I'm on the right track. And in a lot of cases, they will bring up better ideas.’ Richard Wilson is the president of Craftsman Specialty Products, which produces custom wood component manufacturing. They are based in Vancouver. #GiantLeap #entrepreneurlifestyle #lifegoals #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills

In our recent peer group discussion, we explored the challenging reality of hiring: that even with thorough processes, some hires don't work out. One member joked that they experienced "a spectacular fail" after what they thought had been a rigorous hiring process. "You never know until you are actually working with someone, despite involving several people in multiple rounds of interviews and careful reference checks." Another shared a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde situation they had encountered, wondering whether any amount of testing, interviewing, and background checking can get beneath the surface enough to uncover that dynamic. After an animated discussion, the group agreed: hiring is difficult. "We all make mistakes. The important question is: do we admit them early, or spend a year trying to make it work when we know fairly early on that it won't?” Key takeaways: 1) Accept imperfection: no hiring process is foolproof. 2) Learn from failures: each unsuccessful hire offers valuable lessons. 3) Act decisively: when a hire isn't working, address it promptly and professionally. What's your experience with hiring challenges? #GiantLeap #LeadershipCoaching #PeerMentoring #ProfessionalDevelopment #HiringStrategies #LeadershipLessons

How do we best create change? Tyler Parris, a long term chief of staff and coach to chiefs of staff, spent years learning the hard way.” “I did not meet with success in my chief of staff role or any of my other roles by just transferring what I know about change to other people, like, ‘Hey, here are the three easy steps to change management.’” he says. “I didn't just share my experience even and hope that it helped others — or at least, I tried that, and learned that didn’t yield the results I was looking for.” “And I certainly didn't just implement change, and hope everyone would get on board, or see the brilliance of the change. Well, okay, I probably did that too. But again, I ended up learning the hard way that it doesn't really work.” “What I had to do was understand the context, not just of where I was coming from, but where my team was coming from, the shifts they were making, and the potential costs of those shifts to them, in order to craft solutions and communications that work for their world.” Tyler Parris has not only been a corporate chief of staff, but has spent the past 12 years coaching people in chief of staff roles. He leads Giant Leap’s peer mentoring group for executives, based in the Seattle area. You can find out more about his group here. https://buff.ly/4cTTLWX #GiantLeap #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills #peermentoring #changemanagement

Richard Wilson is used to change. He runs a small, custom wood products company. While the equipment might be more or less the same, and some customers have been with them for 30 years, “the markets that we service, the types of products, and the level of quality that we do have all changed dramatically.” In fact, his experience is that there has been a full paradigm shift every five to six years. Something that is “scary for some people and exciting for others.” How does he approach it? “One of the things I realized very early in my manufacturing career was that I’d better get used to change. I’d better get really good at it. And I better be able to lead the team through change.” Richard Wilson is the president of Craftsman Specialty Products, which produces custom wood component manufacturing. They are based in Vancouver. #GiantLeap #entrepreneurlifestyle #lifegoals #LeadershipSkills #ManagementSkills