Your Transformation Station - 54. Here is Something New "How to" Elevate Simon Trevarthen w/ Favazza
Episode Date: August 31, 2021"How can you create a transformation in others if there's no transformation in yourself?" (Greg Favazza), Creator and Host of "Your Transformation Station", interviews (Simon Trevarthen), Founder of "...Elevate Your Greatness", a premiere speaker on resilience, inspiration and innovation and a podcast host. Simon believes that our commodity skills are not who we are, and what we are driven by is more of an accurate identifier. Support the showPODCAST INFO:Podcast website: https://ytspod.comApple Podcasts: https://ytspod.com/appleSpotify: https://ytspod.com/spotifyRSS: https://ytspod.com/rssYouTube: https://ytspod.com/youtubeSUPPORT & CONNECT:- Check out the sponsors below, it's the best way to support this podcast- Outgrow: https://www.ytspod.com/outgrow- Quillbot Flow: https://ytspod.com/quilbot - LearnWorlds: https://ytspod.com/learnworlds- Facebook: https://ytspod.com/facebook- Instagram: https://ytspod.com/instagram- TikTok: https://ytspod.com/tiktok- Twitter: https://ytspod.com/x Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
I mean, here's just one way I would say maybe bring these themes together.
And maybe it goes back to some we mentioned at the very beginning, which is telling your story.
Yes.
That question, who are you?
It's the classic thing at a party.
Who are you?
Most people define themselves as a role.
And most people define themselves, as we said, as a skill.
A little bit more sophisticated people talk about their experience.
Maybe they talk about a key experience.
All I was to do is suggest is to shift that and talk about what drives you.
We're tapping in to surpassing expectations from the most successful people in the modern day
and honing in a new foresight, methodologies, and clairvoyance you never knew.
This is your transformation station with your host, Greg Favaza.
Hey, Simon.
with you. I'm doing all right yourself.
Good. Let me just suggest something.
Sure. I apologize.
My Zoom had crashed on me, so I had to reset my computer.
No worries. Sorry about that. I was a bit late joining too. My camera was playing up.
Yeah, it's usually some sort of audio issue that occurs.
Yeah, absolutely. How are you doing today?
Fabulous.
Good. How can I help you on your?
your transformation station?
So I reached out to you, really, I've done a lot of work.
I'm a speaker, and basically what I do is I help people transform their lives.
One of my key pieces is around finding your magic 2%.
Magic 2%.
What do you mean by that?
So it's really about finding what is unique to you and what is the unique magic in terms of
your creativity, what is your unique value that you bring to others, and what is your unique
drivers? Okay. I like that. And so, and so essentially what I've done, I've done this with
people from whole hosts of different professions, from lawyers to doctors, to all of these
kind of professions, to business people, which is we often define ourselves as a basket of skills,
right? You often ask people, who are you? And they say there are a project.
manager, an engineer.
Well, that's really a skill.
And those, if you refine them to a craft, that's amazing.
But ultimately, they're a commodity.
Any skill has a price tag.
And what you're basically saying about yourself is that you're a shopping cart.
Okay.
So what you're saying, I'm interpreting as when you ask them, who are you?
And they say that they are a project manager, I'm assuming internally,
that they really don't have an identity
and the only identity they created
was through their own profession.
And I would just add to that,
sometimes those are impositioned.
It's what people think they should say.
Did I see a butterfly go by your...
No, I don't think so.
I saw something go by.
I'm like, what was that?
He looked like a butterfly.
So, I mean, that's...
I mean, so essentially,
it's about finding that magic 2%.
What is unique to you?
What personally drives you?
and like, you know, and the interesting thing about what drives you is often you don't need experience in that field.
It can be a personal drive.
It can be an ambition.
And the interest, when you actually talk about what drives people, it automatically inspires others.
Even if you meet someone at a, let's say, gathering a party and someone says, I'm driven by X, Y, and Z, you may not agree with them, but you're actually inspired by their charisma.
Yes.
So the art of story.
Yeah, it's the heart of story.
It's the heart of what is your story and what is unique to you.
And so many of our educational experiences often turn us into those commodities.
Okay.
It adds to our commodity set.
And then a lot of what I do with clients and coach them through is say, well, what is the unique value you bring to others?
As an entrepreneur, as a business person, as a leader.
What is the unique value?
You bring to others an organization or show of customers.
I mean, one way to explain it is, you know the four seasons, the hotel chain?
Yes.
They're a cut above the other five-star hotels.
And when they thought they actually asked their guests, their customers, why.
And they thought it would be about their customer service, which is exceptional.
They thought it would be about their concert.
edge, which is exceptional. When they actually asked people, it was the humblest things that made
the difference. For instance, they allow you to select your pillow. Okay. So it's a little
tiny thing that has a huge impact, because if you're a business traveling and flown
halfway across the world, what do you care about? Good night's sleep. Precisely. But it's those
magic little two percent that, you know, separate you from the average. Okay.
I'm collecting what you're putting down, and I can almost relate it to a book that I've read
through James Clear.
It's the atomic habits, and he talks about the 1%.
So I see where you're relating this.
Now, if I said, hey, what can you teach my audience?
What would you do?
What would you say to them?
So, I mean, the next kind of piece to that is how do you then accumulate that?
how do you define who you are your experience and so a lot of that is actually then the opposite
which is what actually we can go through is a simple exercise and focus on your negatives so here's a
simple exercise that we can do on the show which is basically your your value statement your
your vision statement for yourself and imagine getting a piece of paper drawing a line down the
middle and on the left hand side imagine going for the interview you most want to go for the job
the miracle job you want to go for.
And then imagine describing yourself how you absolutely suck.
The worst way you could be totally besieged.
I mean, literally, and literally the worst way, rude, ignorant, stupid, you name it.
Make that list on one side.
And then give people to, because we're very good at our self-criticism,
how we could be deceived at the worst.
And then ask people to flip that.
And for every word, think of the polar opposite.
Okay.
I can relate this because I'm a full-time student and going for organizational leadership.
And when you look at an appreciative inquiry, you want to, you're utilized.
I want to say it's the sore context, looking at the positives on what you can refine to go further rather than
looking at the negatives because of the negatives that will be the uh it's that four little box model
that we all i can't remember what that's called oh that's going to drive me nuts but that focuses on
the negatives with the sore context you want to focus on the positives and how you can refine it because
soar meaning skyrocketing up you're soaring and i see where you're going with that i like that
that's that's what i'm transitioning to is looking at the organizational
leadership, trying to build organizational connectivity on how people in charge running an organization
or people in a leadership position, and also just people that want to be a leader themselves,
but don't know how to develop that criteria for their new identity. So if you can relate
this information for those three types of individuals and then get, you.
give us a step-by-step instructions, key points where people can understand.
Like, if you were to show it, teach me it, as in I don't know a damn thing, I'm stupid.
Yep.
I would like to learn.
So please tell me how I can be better and how I can prove my vision.
Yeah.
I mean, that's great, that's great, Greg.
I mean, what it comes to is then how you supersize that into a business context or product.
So by going negative and flipping it, you're not, people are not hold the holden to those words because they don't represent them.
But the other thing that is actually opens their aperture to be more creative.
So an example of that is they've done this in product development for heaven's sake, where they ask teams come up with the worst product you could imagine.
And this was in consumer products, the worst products.
And one team came up with garlic soap.
I kid you not, garlic soap.
And they said, and they got the prize kind of at this kind of annual meeting.
They came up with garlic soap.
And so you wash with it, you stink a garlic.
But then they flip that and say, well, what are some attributes about that which are actually positive?
I would say the health benefits of garlic.
Bingo.
The problem with garlic is it smells.
I'm Italian, so I don't mind the smell of garlic.
So what they did was said, they said, okay, that's really interesting.
How could we find ingredients that we could put into shampoos and soaps that actually have health benefits,
but also obviously have positive smells and scents?
So from that, you know, hundreds of million dollars of industry was created from an exercise around garlic soap.
So often you can do that within yourself because you're not limited and you don't feel
prepossessed by that negative.
Another piece is this is really around changing the mindset as well and actually think about
your idea capture and having a strategy around idea capture.
So one of the things I like to talk to audiences about is what is your daily ideas quota?
So Thomas Edison very famously when he died had 5,000 patents.
So it was a massive innovator.
But when he died, they found 38,000 notebooks of ideas.
38,000 notebooks of ideas.
And essentially, he wrote down everything, every idea he ever had.
And the reality is some are good, some were bad and some are just downright ugly.
But every month, he would basically do a filter and see which of these ideas is worth carrying on to the next month.
And so getting people to understand an ideas quota because often people have great ideas and they just float away, literally like the butterfly you said.
So getting people to think about that idea's quota and you can do this for your teams helps people generate, you know, and open the aperture of possibilities.
Okay. I wanted to just grasp us so I kind of looked it up as you were explaining that. That actually, I like that because one, you're training our mind. We're utilizing the malability aspect and our nervous system to conjure up innovation, but also to, one, to keep account of it. Because usually we'll have, I believe it's around 1,500 to 3,000.
thousand thoughts per day. I'm not sure if the majority happens in the shower or when you're
walking, but that's the average that I came across. But how many of those thoughts do we remember?
Right. But what you're suggesting is almost like keeping a journal of these crazy but interesting
thoughts. I have a lot of those. And I, some of them I write down, I text myself, but the majority I wish I did write down more.
more like specific rather than something like just, oh, this statement.
And it's like, what does that even mean?
You know, I just texted that real quick.
But I see what you're saying.
This is actually good.
Do you have more insight that goes along with this?
Yeah, I mean, the key thing with any idea is, is think of it as a spark.
It's just a spark.
And so, again, think of the Edison experience.
It's about building a constellation.
If you actually want to develop something, you have to think of a consolation.
of stars, right? So then the next kind of piece to that is once you got into the process of
kind of having a daily quota, and it could be 10, could be five. And by the way, this is fabulous
for your teams, is then saying, well, what is that idea in itself? Is it about me, my personal
development? Is it about the team and the people I work with? Or is it bigger than that in terms
of the products, the services, and the experiences I'm trying to develop? And then you start actually saying,
What do I do with this idea? Do I supersize it? Right? Am I thinking too small?
We always are thinking too small because that's where the soft depth comes in.
Is this an idea that is specific to me or is it to a group or a society or a market?
What you're explaining is universal specificity, correction, universal standard that can be transferred over into cultural specificity in relation to
your life and your specific situation.
I think that's interesting, yeah.
And then the next piece is,
so if you've done that supersizing,
you see what is the scope of this,
be it people,
be it,
then say,
is it solving a problem?
Is the idea actually solving a problem?
Because ultimately,
innovation is about solving people's problems.
So is this idea in itself solving a problem?
And then you could say,
well,
that's an observation question.
if I think there's a problem being solved there, let's go out and see if people have these problems, right?
Solving a problem, right?
Airbnb solved the problem of hotels and the restrictions and rates because people wanted more choice.
So is it solving a problem?
And then how do I refine that idea?
Now we know the scope.
We know the problem.
And how do I refine it into a solution?
If you frame it that way as far as the innovation,
it's solving a problem, at what point can somebody say, how do I expand?
I thought I expand through innovation, solving a problem, meaning everybody's problem,
my problem, or can you go a little bit more into that?
Sure.
I mean, I think when you think about innovation, it's important to understand innovation is about
creativity.
We've talked about that, right?
but innovation is about turning ideas and translating them into something of value.
And the question of value, because we all see kind of devices which are useless and really don't have my application,
we have to understand the concept of value. Value is what people perceive something to be.
Can I see it solves my problem? I have an issue. It solves my problem. Am I willing to buy that solution?
Right? Is there an extreme?
of value. And it's not necessarily a purchase in terms of money, but it could be in terms of time,
effort, resources, right? So do I see it solves a problem? Do I see it has value that I'm willing to
exchange? And finally, when you think about the value exchange and seeing it solves a problem,
can I, do I need it now? Is it, there's an urgency piece? So that then helps you refine
because not all products, not our solutions, not all innovations are for every.
everybody. They can be niche. Yeah. Or they can be very broad. So the question is through that
process, you can now refine what your innovation is and what its value is. And then the next
question is, is it worth it? Is it worth pursuing? Go back to the Edison. Is it worth pursuing?
And again, is it big enough? Can I, do I need to glue other things together? So the next
question I would always ask people in that kind of approach is what other ideas need to be
tied together.
Let me look at this.
With the innovation, I like this.
And I'm, I'm going to challenge you on.
I want to make sure.
Yeah, go ahead.
Yes.
What if we compare that versus the emerging market changes in the market, the situation,
how will they approach that?
Also, is their organization, a learning organization?
Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Sure.
I mean, so, I mean, how can you to the emerging market?
Well, if you actually think about most of the large, successful digital-type companies,
what they've done, the solution they've actually created,
because they're not actually, in most cases, content producers or creators.
Airbnb doesn't own a single hotel.
Right.
It doesn't own in taxis.
What they have done is basically enabled a marketplace,
like an old-fashioned marketplace where people want to sell something
and people have something to sell come together.
They're ecosystems, right?
So that's one example of how you can think about that
because it's then the questions of scaling.
The opposite, though, is then thinking about then the niche products,
which is important because when you think about what makes niche,
it is often the perspective of quality, go back to how people perceive value.
And quality is the consistent application of a high standard.
So I don't know if that's true at this moment.
I mean, we have this I want it now mentality.
So is efficiency versus quality, or I would say having it now versus quality better?
I think they're different things for different kinds of environments, right?
So if you think about what is customer service, think about it in three chunks.
Okay.
The first one, what you're talking about is transactional effectiveness, right?
So Amazon is brilliant at three things.
Process innovation.
That's what they're really the heart and soul of them.
And it's completeness, accuracy, and timeiness.
What about what the corporation as far as what have you done for me lately?
And what are you accomplishing now?
So that again goes back to those metrics.
Most metrics start with the efficiency, timely, accuracy, and completeness.
Okay.
If you don't get those things right, if it's the wrong book that arrives on your doorstep,
you get angry with Amazon.
The middle piece, and I think this is where it becomes more of a human perspective,
less efficiency, more of a human high touch kind of perspective, is when you talk about behaviors.
Can you codify behaviors?
And if you think of codifying your behaviors, you come up with an experience design.
So every time you interact with this company, you get the same kind of high quality experience.
You feel respected, all those good things.
And this could think of everything from healthcare.
They can get you the right operation on time, etc.
But your experience was miserable.
So how do you replicate that and get it disintegrate, not disintegrate, get it delegated down to the lowest level?
Great question.
So I think that is then the question of actually thinking about what essentially are those behaviors.
So that means you pull apart the assures, the behaviors, the norms of how we do things.
and then looked beyond your sector to who does it really well.
We can all know of companies that just seem to treat us better.
Is it their product is better or is it actually the experience of dealing with them as better?
And dealing with whom?
So Disney, in its theme parks, isn't designed for the adults, it's designed for the kids.
But they think about all of the behaviors and they literally walk, if you think, design the experience as a walk,
through and think about all of those touch points.
And then you can say that then becomes how, that is the basis of your culture.
If this is how we treat our customers, this is how we treat our customers.
I see what you're saying.
Podify those behaviors.
And if we really want to supersize it and go up to the real highest level, again, quality
is the consistent application of high standards.
Think about your customer experiences.
The next and highest level is when the.
customer feels they are in the decision-making seat. They get options. Right? So it isn't,
you know, just the transactional. It isn't just that people give you great customer service,
but you sense that somehow you're the decision-maker. You get to tailor the solution to
your unique needs. That's based off the, I would say, the perception of each individual within the
organization in order for them to apply this mindset or adapt this identity, they have to believe in it.
So then how do you reinforce it?
Okay.
So that's a great question.
I think that that really speaks to the culture of the organization.
Do you actually walk and talk the values, the behaviors, and the norms, right?
Do you actually have you codified how you treat people inside?
Value proposition.
Value proposition, but more than just the value proposition.
culture and values is what you do when no one's watching.
Yes.
It's not what you do when everybody is observing you.
It's what you do when no one's watching.
So if you truly believe in customer excellence, you try to solve the customer's problem.
What about under pressure?
Yeah.
I mean, again, but that's a question of how, then think about under pressure, what that means.
Just unpack that for a second.
is it under pressure because the workload is too high?
Or have you not thought about the work?
Many times in many organizations,
there's a flow of work up and down.
Yes.
And so the question is then, I mean,
think about what drives people.
We know this from Daniel Pink, etc.
People get driven by a sense of purpose,
a sense of autonomy, right?
They can make a decision, right?
They've been given a set of values
and based on those values, they can make a decision
of good call for the customer, right?
And they give a sense of ownership, pride.
And if you've instilled those kinds of values
and you have a sense of how you're going to treat your ideal customer,
then it will be even under pressure.
People will default to those positives rather than negatives.
And then go underneath this flow state
because it's what they believe in,
because that's what you've instilled.
So how can you teach that to people who don't understand the basics of business and human behavior?
That's a great question.
I think one way to unpack that is what problem do your customers want solved?
Okay, that's as simple as that.
What is the problem they really want?
salt, not the superficial, but the deeper one. So give an example of this, and speaking very humbly,
you've probably never wanted to buy a computer, a smartphone, or any of these devices in your life.
What you wanted was what those devices can do, right? Watch video, access content, speak to friends.
That's what you want, right? If you could email from an orange, you would buy an orange.
It's that's what you want.
It's not the device.
So if you remember years and years ago when the IMAC,
the first kind of IMA, the colored one,
the little that came out,
what was revolutionary about that computer,
apart from this gorgeous design,
was that you could take it out of the box
and press on.
And it just worked.
You could be emailing in two minutes.
Prior to that, every time you bought a computer,
you literally had to buy the computer, download software, put on software.
Sometimes you spend a week end literally trying to get the computer to work.
People don't want a computer.
They want what a computer can do.
And so I think part of them packing that is asking what is your customer really want.
Not the superficial.
What do they really want?
So if you're running, let's say, a hospitality, does your customer really want a room or do they want a stress-free vacation?
Because if it's a stress-free vacation, you can design an experience that makes it a stress-free vacation.
Now, with that question, is that a universal question that can be applied to different scenarios?
Let me go into that.
So just your initial customer, that's the question.
For the example you use, do they want a stress-free vacation?
Yes.
What if something went wrong and the customer's pissed off?
Do you still have that mindset or do you want to alter that mindset to they just want to be heard?
So that's a great question.
I mean, but let's unpack why the customer is pissed off.
Is it something that your service has done?
Or is it just they're angry because they've had a fender bender outside?
Okay. So then that speaks to me is how you can actually train that. And there is a psychology around that.
You know, Mr. Smith, you seem really annoyed at the moment and agitated. What's happened?
So what you can do is train people to empathize.
Yeah, you know what? I was just out there and someone did a nasty sign to me when I was parking my car.
Yeah, I hate it when that happens. So you're actually, it's not about the service.
If it is about the service, then the question is getting to the root of the problem
and actually understanding what is the root of the problem and how can we solve that?
And so you know, you're angry about the, let's say the hotel service, right?
Okay, well, what aspect of that?
Okay, so it seems this didn't happen.
How can I address that?
And more importantly, remedy and go back to our values, because we believe in A, B and C,
in order for you to get, because honestly, what I want from this, Gregory, is you to have a stress-free
vacation. I don't want you to have this problem, so let me take care of that for you.
Thank you. I would like my room comp, and I want a free meal tonight.
Okay. So again, do you have the autonomy to do that? Good question. Is it a proportionate?
You know what? I'll see what I can do. I can probably get the meal comp for you.
And that's displayed through the very top, which is through empathy.
It's empathy, but it's, you know, it's about, you know.
Or emotional intelligence.
It is emotional intelligence.
But think about the customer experiences that really great at you.
It's when you're treated as a number.
Right?
You're not treated as a human being.
You're treated as number 612, account 612.
And they really couldn't give a damn about you.
So again, you've got to get the transactional correct, accuracy, completeness, timeliness.
Then you can think about your behaviors and how you codified those behaviors in culture,
but then you can actually then go to the supersize,
which is enabling the customer to have those kinds of decisions.
Now, you said this with treating people like a number.
We are now working from home.
Everything is digital.
I feel like this is a huge emerging problem that's only going to get worse.
How do you make it appeal to people that are working at home that will inspire them to take much more into account than what is being said through the virtual channel?
Wonderful question.
I think of that the heart of that is two or three pieces.
human connection is the primary way we build trust.
Why do you shake someone's hand and look them straight in the eye and sit down and have a coffee with them?
Because human connection builds trust.
And these technologies are wonderful as substitutes as proxies, but they do lack that emotional connection,
particularly when you have not just one person but a dozen people, right?
you can read a room much more effectively than read a Zoom room, right?
Yeah.
So I think what it pushes you to as a leader is to be very attuned to that piece around connection,
that piece around trust building, that piece around resiliency.
And so part of that, I think, is really just acknowledging at the beginning how tough it's being for people.
to get that sense of synergy.
I mean, I know people who've joined entirely new companies
and have worked for them almost for a year
and has never met anyone in person.
Right?
So this is a real challenge.
So acknowledge those challenges firstly
because that clears the air.
And I think one next piece you can do
is actually just ask people,
how are you holding up?
How is this working for you?
What can we do as an organization
and me as a leader
in helping you sustain and boost your,
your resilience. Then the next thing is really acceptance. I think part of this, as I personally
don't think we're going back to last February. I think the future will be a hybrid of what we've
learned on this journey. So if you think about acceptance, it's not surrendering to fate.
It is saying accepting the reality and finding the points of control. What are the small
points of control that I can influence and leverage. Then, knowing those points of control,
I can adapt and then act. What would you say those points of control are?
So I think it's about, if you think about it, I mean, think about what, because this has been
an opportunity and a negative too, is what are the points of control? I think you can allow for space
for people to communicate their anguish, their frustrations,
the chaos, but also the opportunities, what's worked for them.
I think the points of control, and many companies are wrestling with this right now,
is how do we actually end up with hybrid models of work, office work and remote work as an opportunity?
Points of control can also be around how you appear as a leader in your organization working remotely.
Do you have one-on-ones with people to check in about how they're doing?
So what are those points of controls?
Again, to adjust behaviors, to build that resilience.
So what I'm gathering is not just people, organizations, everybody that has already developed a vision statement, it's almost, it is a refinement, a refining, refining your vision statement to meet what's happening now.
because I know people are still using the same one they created
and thinking it still meets the situation when it doesn't.
Yeah. I mean, I think vision statements can be very powerful
if they're powerful.
And what I mean by that is there's an awful lot of vision statements out there
which look at cookie cutter.
We want to be the world's best XYZ.
Yeah.
And literally they're in the hallway on a sticker,
everybody walks by, no one believes it.
So I think vision statements only matter if you've really, you know, they've been digested
into the values of an organisation, how we act, how we make decisions, and the way in which
we treat people is an expression of our values.
You can have two hospitals with equally qualified people, but one is a lousy hospital,
and one's an exceptional hospital.
Is it the qualifications that make a difference?
Maybe.
Or is it how they treat their patients, their bedside manner and the values they hold?
So I think the vision statements is powerful, but it has to be done, it has to kind of like be absorbed into the values.
The other piece I think particularly this time, which is that timeless is, and I've seen this a lot of work I've done with companies around strategy, is they've shrunk their strategic horizon.
They're not thinking five years out.
they're thinking the next six months, 12 months, 18 months.
That's their planning horizons.
Because there's so many variables in their world,
it's almost to say five years hence,
we don't even know what that's going to look like.
Okay, let's go into this.
I hear too much about everybody trying to shoot for the five-year mark.
Now I'm hearing that you should be shooting
for 20 years as far as where do you want to end up?
What is your ideal position that you want to be?
How do you want this organization to be identified as?
What do you want your social capital?
You want your financial, your technology.
You want all of that for the next 20 years.
But then you're saying next six months because of the variables, why is that better?
So I'm not suggesting it's better.
I mean, you should have an idea of, let's say, on a personal level, where you want your life to be.
But you have to roll back the carpet.
And so much is up in the air at this time.
There's such volatility.
I mean, when we got into this into COVID, most of us thought it would be a one-month wonder.
Yeah.
And we're now a year and a half in.
And, you know, it's a bit like children in the back of the station wagon.
Are we there yet?
Right?
I'm not sure that anybody can say that it's another six months.
or 12 months. And so if you're working at business and you've got high volatility in prices,
high volatility in your supply chains, high volatility in your customer base, high volatility and
shifting customer needs, high volatility in staffing, government regulation, could there be
not a lockdown, closures, etc. Right? So there's so much volatility that you actually need to think about
six, 12, 18 months as a kind of a horizon.
You telescope down your strategies to those kind of parameters.
One thing I would say, though, is to have them in three buckets.
There's always things, say three things you must do.
These are things that keep your lights on that enable you to,
they're absolutely mission criticals, the musts.
And then you should have two things maybe you would kind of should do,
to build future capabilities.
And then one thing you would like to do,
which will help you get past this 18 months
and come out the other end as a better company.
So the must, the shoulds and the likes
help you stretch your kind of strategic framework
beyond the mission criticals
to actually building future capabilities.
So a priority of precedence.
Probably, but it's also
about often we get caught in the immediate without saying, well, how do we ensure that we are
putting 20% of our time into future products and innovation and future capabilities to
enable them? So it's like Stephen Covey with the four boxes, quadrants. Similar to that, yes.
Okay. So then how can can you put it in a formula that people can apply?
that's for an organization or for a person.
Sure.
Three, two, one.
Simple as that.
Find three things you must do in the next three months, must do.
Two things you should do.
And one thing you would like to do,
which will actually transform you as a person, as a professional,
in the next 12 to 18 months.
See, that's going to be.
hard to persuade. Like, I feel like, I want you to persuade me to do that because I am the person
that wants to refine myself, better myself every day. If I'm not doing something, if I don't feel like
I accomplished something today, I feel like I did nothing with my life. So you're telling me to do
three in a 18-month span just for that. Three things you must do. Okay. So, and you're going to
do these consecutively, right? So you have three things you must do. And that could be a
around your health, right? And how you break that out is, is fitness journey, nutrition,
whatever you want to call, hydration. The second must you might have is new income sources.
I must get new income sources or a new job or those kinds of things. Another must might be,
could be in terms of places to live or relationships. Those are musts. Yes. The shoulds are things
that might take six months to build.
So is that I should develop a new skill.
I should rethink how I'm positioning myself on the market and actively do that.
I should network.
Networking is not going to happen immediately, but I should do it.
The like to could be an entirely new different skill.
It could be attending a college or getting a new qualification.
It could be getting a different entire skill.
said, but it's the like to which will be transformative.
So six things total.
Three is a consecutive daily application.
And then two is how do I go about that one?
So I think the best way to conceptualize that is if you think about what can be done in, say, six months that can begin building new capabilities, new capacities.
learning something new, applying a new technology, learning a new application, whatever it may be, a skill.
And then the like is something which is going to take a while to actually put it together.
So what I want to do just by hearing this is I want to, I want that one, the like two,
to be the very thing that will be my transformation.
but then the two will be the credentials or that I need to make that one.
And then the three should be the various efforts that I'm applying that will get me those two
to make that one come true.
Yeah.
So let's say that you think having a think piece book is going to be transformational for your
life.
We can tie them all together.
Sure.
And that's going to take approximately 12 to 18 months to actually happen.
that's the like right what is the three must you must do in order to make that happen well probably
writing every day probably maybe getting a writing coach or a group of people who can mentor you
and edit you around your work and it could be feedback from people and it also could be you know
could be actually doing some real deep work in terms of improving your writing style reading every
day learning from the greats right that's the immediates the the bit in the middle can we pause the
middle i want to i want to address the medians i want to relate real uh responses to this statement
because we all can get on the mic and we can say you do this your life will be better i think i agree
i've done it i was that person that was nothing to doing something every day for five and a half
you're straight to now I'm I have to get back to that very person I was when I was in the
military because I was forced to do it and then I just was able to hone it from there life gets in
the way when you're a parent when you're a full-time student when you just have an outside life
what if I can't make it consecutive then I feel like I fucked up and I need to start over
it's like I how do I know that doing how do I know it's a delayed outcome
Beautiful question.
The reality is life is messy and some people's lives are more complicated than others.
And I think for for anyone, if you have one of those ambitions, the question always is time.
We all have the same number of days and hours in the day.
So for me, if I'm going to have a fitness goal, I have found unless I exercise before seven o'clock, the whole day, it'll never happen.
Family happens, life happens, those kinds of things.
So then that's a learning for me of going to the gym or whatever it may be before that window.
So that means there needs to be contextuals put in place before you go out and just say,
I'm going to start reading this and this.
I mean, one, you can't just start three things consecutively if it's difficult because one,
you're not going to, it's like a crash diet.
You just try to just stop eating for like, I'm not going to eat for two weeks.
it's not going to work.
And then you're going to overeat
and then you're even in a worse place
than you were two weeks ago.
So then what questions do I need to ask myself
so I can make sure that this is going to be
a successful transformation?
So go back to something I said earlier,
which is quality is a consistent application
of a high standard.
And the keyword is consistent.
You don't grow, you know,
the amazing body for one time at the gym.
but the question is always it's humble beginnings right every time you go to the gym you're
making a deposit in the account sometimes you might not do it as well sometimes it doesn't matter
you have to give yourself that slack but it is if you look at the you know the greatest writers
they had their own rhythm they would wake up and they would write from five in the morning till
eight o'clock and then put it aside and they found their rhythm to achieve their goals so i think
Part of that is finding your rhythm.
And yes, there are many other things that can distract us,
and we live in a world of distraction.
But it is about protecting that time
as someone who's creative trying to change,
protecting your time to enable you to accomplish the skulls.
I don't think you should kick yourself in the teeth
because you missed a day.
The best thing is to go the next day
and make sure you go and get back on the horse, right?
The reality is life can be accomplished.
It is fluid.
But as much as you can,
corral time to enable you to achieve your goal.
It's a penny that builds into a dollar.
And that's what those immediate pieces are.
And it could be very humble.
So if your thing is to reach out to other writers and network,
then you could set yourself a quota.
I'm going to reach out to 10 people this week, two a day.
Right?
So how do I appreciate that process?
and what you see mean by appreciate
I know once you start
I know how it works with the
building a habit
and developing yourself
like for me
the very first day of starting
something that I'm going to do
consecutively and consistently
it's a nail biter
I don't want to do it but right after
I do it I'm satisfied
and I can't wait to do it tomorrow
so how do we get people
to just get them to jump off the ledge,
but not in a suicidal way.
Yeah, I think the reality is
you can leap and jump and experience something new.
We don't grow until we stretch.
I think the real issue is not necessarily jumping in and trying.
We all know that because when something is new,
it's exciting and different and it sparkles with enthusiasm and inspiration.
The lull is, you know, day two, three, and four, or month two, three, and four.
That's the grind piece.
And I think it's important to understand that there is that excitement, the initial excitement, then you have the lull.
Because you're not, let's say you're not seeing the changes you wanted to see.
But pushing through that dip enables you to come out the other side.
Because there is that initial excitement.
And if it's true of all change, personal, professional, organizational, there's excitement, there's, you know, curiosity, you see initial gains. But then that's that low, what you know is going to happen. And that's where, you know, your stamina and enthusiasm, resilience is critical. But then if you can get through that lull, it does become the habit that 90 days wonder. But it also then you start seeing the results that you're trying to accomplish.
Now, for those that have started it, I know what we're sharing isn't new, and people have tried this process and they have failed and they have tried again and they have failed.
What can you tell them that will make them want to try again?
Well, it's interesting how you frame that is they've tried many times but failed.
Maybe they're not found the correct way that really kept them at the activity.
Yes. The right motivation. And it could be external accountability could be key for that. Having friends or family members who hold you accountable or a mentor or coach can be really helpful in those kind of environments to give you that kind of external push. Listen, we've all gone to the gym and sat there and said, I don't feel like it today. And peer pressure can be a positive and a negative. So being in a group environment, a peer environment,
you succeed. That's why learning, we talked about early about remote versus basically be in person.
When you're in a peer environment, let's say a school or college, you do work because your peers are working to a certain standard.
So peer is important. And that's why if you wanted to become a writer, getting into a peer group of writers could be helpful, learning their practices behind the scenes to help you improve.
And if we don't have access to that, because again, I want to relate it towards schooling, online schooling, we're not interacting with everybody as much as we could see inside a classroom versus outside the classroom. Now it's all based on our own intuition, our own discipline to maintain what is expected in order to pass. How do I conjure?
up the ability to do it even when my life is in chaos.
It's a great question.
You know what?
I don't think mentors or peers necessarily have to be beside you.
You can look to people from history and biographies and understand the inner story of how they became who they became.
When we look at truly great people, I mean, this is true.
We just had the Olympics, right?
what we're seeing is the person on the podium.
What we're not seeing is the 20,000 hours of work they did
in order to get the 10,000 hours of work they did to get to the podium.
So I think unpacking the internal stories helps motivate you.
Others have done it.
And it can be, that could be a source as a peer group, a mentor group,
that other people have achieved these goals.
Okay. I like where this, that's good.
I like that.
I mean, the exercise,
a real simple exercise you can do
is literally get a picture
of a park bench.
Just print one off the internet.
And do a stick person.
And what you need to think about
is draw a picture in like 30 seconds
of someone you really,
really admire from history.
They can be alive or dead.
It doesn't matter.
Someone you really admire
that you would love to have a conversation with on our park bench.
And it doesn't matter what your drawing is.
Because then the question is why.
Who did you pick and why?
And people have picked,
I've done this with people,
Einstein because of he was just an incredible mind
and he's thought about the world and galaxy and nuclear things, right?
And then it could be Nelson Mandela
because his resilience after 20 years in prison.
It could be Martin Luther King.
It could be JFK.
and whoever you've chosen, write down why.
And here's the interesting thing.
Why you chose that person and their attributes,
because why you chose them is their attributes,
is actually a reflection of what you believe are your values,
something you wish to aspire to be.
So you see yourself reflected in that individual.
It doesn't mean you're Einstein,
but there's certain attributes that you would like to incorporate into your life and discover or enrich.
And it's an exercise really to help you understand your values now.
And the only thing I think I would say to that is values change over time.
We are not static creatures.
You know as well as I do.
Our entire body changes every cell in it every seven years.
But if the clothes don't fit you today, you can be the new tailor.
our values at 20 might be different at 30, 40, 50, whatever it may be.
Or you could have a major event in your life,
which means you have to rethink and readjust who you are in your values.
So I think, think about tailoring it for today.
Do that exercise.
What are the attributes of those people that I truly admire
that I would like to incorporate in my life today?
Okay.
Tell me about the two, the skill sets that I need.
need to develop that will help me make to the transformation.
Jeff.
And I think if, again, let's think about that if it was a personal transformation, the six
months.
And that's when I think you're really talking about learning.
One of those kids must be around learning, learning something new, getting a more in-depth
knowledge.
And it could be acquiring an in-depth knowledge.
If you're into physical fitness, it could be learning about physical fitness and what it
really means, because the first time you do anything, you kind of stumble.
through it, but you're refining your goals.
It could be that.
If you're talking about writing a book,
it could be maybe taking a creative writing course
and really understanding how to write.
The next kind of skill building
could be in terms of, let's say, the book idea,
how do I actually think about marketing books?
How does the book industry really work?
How does that work?
And those are skills that might take six months to achieve.
But they're not going to happen in an instant,
but they are going to build up.
up to something, a block of knowledge, as it were. And if you're a company, that could be new
capabilities, you're learning something new. You're hiring new people with new capabilities
to take your company online. That could take six months. And so those things, I think, is more
about the transformation that can happen by learning something new and building new capabilities
and knowledge. I would, for me, I would use, I would say self-experation and communication.
I mean, those are the two things that for, if somebody new is trying this, that's the two things that they should go for is they're trying to develop themselves and transform themselves.
One, they need to know who they are, what they believe in.
In order to do that, they have to go through everything about everything.
And the communication aspect, I mean, you're not going to be successful if you can't communicate.
both verbally and in writing.
Totally true.
I mean, think about that is the more meditative piece too.
There can be a self-reflection.
You can start your journey today with some humble steps,
but if you're thinking about who you are deeply,
that may take some time.
Why does therapy,
therapy isn't one session, one counseling session.
It's a process.
And so that middle piece is the process of becoming someone new.
And then the,
end once you that's the expected that's the that's the compound effect of all of your effort right
to some degree it is but again i i think and this is true i think of all lives is rarely is it a
precise GPS location we all know i mean we've all gone past the wrong the street and it
reroutes you so i think it is the aspiration it's
the vision, but it is something you want to accomplish. But I bet you if you asked any writer,
the book they thought they were going to write, and the book as it ended up, is wildly
different. Yes. So the aspirational like to, new capability, it probably is a positive,
regardless, because you've done all those other things. But the clear piece here is that
it's not a precise location. On Tuesday, 20, 23, I would have done X.
maybe, but maybe that you'll get rerouted on route and you'll find some really beautiful
scenery on the way. I like that. Yeah. Yeah, this is supposed to be a 15 minute and I felt the
connection happening and I didn't really want to stop it. It's want to keep flowing it. So with you,
Simon, tell me a little bit about yourself. Sure. So I'm basically, I'm a speaker and I'm a consultant
and advisor, what I do is help leaders and organizations help transform themselves through
innovation, creativity, and change. So I help through coaching, speaking, but also advice about
how to actually basically personal, professional, and organizational change journeys.
So if I were to ask you, hey, I need to scale my business from a startup to something huge.
I have a big vision.
I'm passionate.
I'm driven.
I will work my ass off every day.
How do I monetize and scale?
Good question.
Beautiful question.
But here's the key to thinking about that scale.
It is not a linear path.
There are kind of levels of complexity.
So when you think about that path,
and this is often what companies have gone,
it's a big difference from going from 50 people to 150 people
and it's a different problem going 150 to 500 people or 5,000 people
so what is your level of complexity in your scaling those are the critical node
points in terms of how you think to scale how would I
hiring your first five people or the first 50 people the key one I think in
that scaling question and this is really critical is a
150. Why is it 150 people? If you just think in terms of people, it's because we know 150 people. You know their names. Beyond that, people become roles, responsibilities, and somebody who works in HR. I think, I mean, I think you've got a background in the military. And there's a reason why militaries since the Romans are roughly the same size in terms of their
as they go up.
There's a reason why the Romans had centurions
and modern-day militaries
have something of a similar kind of size.
A centurion would know every single Roman under them.
And that's the tight bond, right?
Then you've got the platoon and the unit, right?
Four or five people, whatever it may be.
There's a reason why, because we know 150 people.
Intimately, you know their names, know the experiences,
their weaknesses, their strengths.
But once you get beyond that,
it becomes, as a leader,
you're operating pieces.
So now you're defaulting even more
to the importance of culture.
And who we are matters more.
Because when we're only 150 people,
I know you, I trust you,
based on past experiences of my interactions with you.
When it's 5,000 people,
I don't know, 3,000 people,
a regiment size or a division size,
I don't probably, my interactions might be every couple years with you.
Therefore, we default to the culture, not to our personal trust and relationships.
So when you do that in the company experience, that pivot point is past 150.
That's when the culture can either become more bureaucratic or when you really need to import it,
how you extend the culture out and actually imbibe those valleys that we spoke about earlier.
spot on like that's good i mean it's fascinating when you think about it you know all of these
structures it doesn't matter what the technology is we know this from even human development
most villages which by the way most human history was in villages right why was there probably
very little crime is because everybody knows everybody yes and if you did something everybody in the
community knew it and that was probably the what kept people in in play in a more anonymous society
we default to other structures to give us that sense of order and trust nobody nobody has a
contract in a village everybody has a contract in the city i like that and that's another way of
framing it with putting down these these values these the
the identity that you want to illustrate to your employees, your workforce, or to yourself,
it's almost like a social contract that people can see and automatically take in for themselves.
This is what he's doing.
And that's what I need to do.
That's something that's perceptively, intuitively taken upon the individual that is trying to be influenced.
Yeah.
And, you know, people can spot, I think it's really something like a moth in here.
You know, so people can spot a lie very quickly.
If the leader talks about work-life balance and everybody's working 90 hours a week and they do too, don't talk about work-life balance.
It's a fiction.
But people will work for 90 hours if they believe passionately in the goal you're accomplishing.
But like a candle, you can't burn it from both ends.
A tank has to be refueled.
So eventually people will burn out.
You talked about the remote work.
People are burning out emotionally as much as from the work itself,
doing all the Zoom parameters.
Again, because a human connection and emotional connection
is very difficult within the virtual world.
Also, caveat with that,
but I wanted to point something out that's, I've noticed,
is with people who are doing remote work, they are taking less accountability in themselves
before even starting work.
What I mean by that is they're doing their work in their pajamas.
Like, why aren't you waking up shaving?
Why aren't you waking up brushing your teeth?
Why are you hopping on the computer in the clothes you slept in the night before?
Why is that okay?
I feel like that's going to hinder them in their growth to receiving the values that I'm
trying to pass down. I think it depends also in terms of how the work is perceived, right? Why is it
certain professions, I mean, if I understand what you think, why does it certain professions have
uniforms, right? It's because when you put on the uniform, you're putting on the persona of the
values of that organization, a police officer, a fireman, whatever it may be. You're putting on the
values of that organization. And people speak to you as a member of the organization, not as
necessary as an individual. So I think in some context, the uniform means something, right? It means a set
of values. I think what you're talking about, though, is, again, the fluidity around work,
there is truth. The reality is there is lots and lots of, you could say, transactional or administrative work,
which really you don't need oversight over,
only that it's been done and done effectively.
I think this is the challenge.
The reason why people with the 9 to 5 model worked
and still probably worked so efficiently
is people want to see you are doing work.
So there is ways of actually understanding
whether people are doing their work
without actually seeing them do the work.
And if you think about most roles,
probably 70% is administrative,
maybe 20% is really value-added work, and 10% or less sometimes is actually creating new value,
future value.
Can you give me an example of those roles that you're describing for those percentages?
Sure.
I mean, but think of like most office work.
A lot of it is just moving paper along a chain.
A lot of it is just like doing the things we always do.
Okay.
I mean, having been a recovering executive, I can tell you the meetings I've been
to meetings about meetings, about meetings, about meetings, preparing for a meeting,
preparing for a meeting, preparing for a meeting, I don't know, finally a board meeting,
that never happens.
There's a enormous paper to just feed that process.
So again, when you think about, particularly if you think about innovation, is how much time
are we truly allowing us to think of future value, creating current value, and actually doing
amiss trivia.
I think it was Deloitte,
the big consulting firm,
that realized, and this is an example of this,
that they were spending
a fortune.
I can't remember the exact number,
hundreds of millions of dollars,
doing performance reviews,
because it was part of the policy
that everybody had to have a performance review
and had to be adjudicated,
and it was how people got rewarded in benefits.
And they realized they were spending a fortune,
both in time, effort and money doing performance reviews.
And they flipped that on their head and said,
I think it was three questions.
Would you recommend this person for another project?
How would you rate their performance?
And what value did they bring to the project?
And so there's a way you can actually take some of that
a minute, minis trivia and find a better,
more effective solution that truly adds value.
Okay.
Yeah.
You've hit home right here.
with this construct.
I don't know where else to take it.
I mean, here's just one way, I would say,
maybe bring these themes together.
And maybe it goes back to some we mentioned
at the very beginning, which is telling your story.
Yes.
That question, who are you?
It's the classic thing at a party.
Who are you?
Most people define themselves as a role.
And most people define themselves, as we said,
as a skill.
A little bit more sophisticated.
sophisticated people talk about their experience. Maybe they talk about a key experience. All I was to do is suggest is to shift that and talk about what drives you. I'm personally driven by A, B, and C. Interesting. And I believe I give the greatest value to others when I do A, B, and C. What drives me and when do I give the greatest value?
And it's just a way of reframing your story and your transformation.
And it's a way of reframing because let's be honest, great leaders know what they give to others, not what they take from others.
We've all been in environments where there's leaders who take recognition for other people's work or efforts, all of those things.
If you're a taker, take her as a leader, probably a poor leader.
You know what you give to others.
latitude, autonomy, inspiration, motivation, dedication, clarity, whatever it is.
You know what you give to others, the unique contribution you give to others.
If you can clarify that story, you have a better understanding of the unique contribution,
that magic 2% you give to an organization, your community, or even your family.
Now, for those that are currently doing that, how can they refine it?
You know what? I think you refine it by refining it and write it down and say, do those words really speak to me today, today? Not yesterday, but today. Does it really represent who I am today? Does it really represent my aspirations today? Because that is a movable feast.
and, you know, very similar to our examples earlier around the GPS, right, in the rerouting.
Yeah.
The fact is life is about rerouting.
It's not a highway.
Anyone thinks that life is a highway is misguided.
It's more like a series of country lanes without a map.
So I think the key thing is the refinement is saying, do the clothes fit me today?
No, that's very good.
I have a couple more questions before we end this is.
What is some good advice that you can prescribe to somebody that wants to better themselves today, right here and now?
What are some action steps that they can implement right now?
Beautiful question.
I think be honest with yourself.
And what I mean by that is be clear about your failures.
Don't own your failures, but don't be bound by your failures.
Being a human means you fail all the time.
But the key thing is to be learned from your failures.
Write them down.
What have I not succeeded in?
And why?
Be honest with yourself.
It's a conversation with yourself.
Be honest about your failures.
But then what can I do to flip the coin and say,
what can I do differently next time?
if I'm wanting to transform myself for my nutrition, what can I do the thing?
If you're going to that crash diet, it was probably because it was horrible food and you didn't like the food.
So how can you, if the problem then is nice food, but healthy food, how can you change that delta?
So own your failures.
Don't be bound by them.
Flip them to the positive.
Two, you can't eat a pizza by eating the entire pizza in one go.
cut some slices
cut three slices
and if you really want to cut three
slices of the pizza maybe it's
your mind mindset
your body and
something you want to learn
cut some
and then last day I'd say
at a real humble thing is
you know there's that great Chinese
problem you know every great journey
begins with a single step
just do something today
humble
right humble
we all
know this. You know, the reality is you don't become a champion overnight. Just go for a walk or do
something small that is just something that makes you feel buoyant, buoyance your enthusiasm,
your motivation, you've done something and give yourself credit. I remember seeing this thing that
someone actually, I thought it was brilliant. And they were, wanted to become fit. And literally,
they couldn't do a single pull-up.
Not one.
So they made themselves a plaque, right?
Like a little, you know, the kind of thing to print off a cheap printer.
And they gave themselves a plaque when they did one.
And they gave themselves a plaque when they did five.
I kid you not.
They gave themselves a plaque when they did five.
And then they gave themselves a plaque when they did 10.
And then they gave themselves a plaque when they did 25.
and they gave themselves a plaque when they did 50.
And I think they had one of a hundred.
Everybody lasts at the plaque for one,
but how many people,
men or women,
could do 100 pull-ups?
Probably not that many.
But the point there is incremental success.
I like that.
No, I think I can do 30.
It's been a while, though.
I probably maybe can do 15 at this point,
but when I was really refined, it was definitely, it was 30 plus for 100% sure.
I got to put that in there.
Otherwise, now I look like the asshole because I'm laughing.
But you called it like it is.
I like that.
What is some bad advice to avoid?
Bad advice to avoid.
I think it's important to understand there are naysayers, there are critics,
and there are energy themes.
And naysayers can be often your loved ones,
your peer group,
who are actually trying to deflate your ambition.
They probably are trying to deflate your ambition
because they're scared you'll get hurt, rejected.
So they might be coming from a good place, right?
But they're actually just trying to protect you in some ways
from disappointment or failure.
So the interesting thing about naysayers,
is they can, if you demonstrate that you're actually making progress, humble or huge,
they can actually become your greatest fans.
And actually you, like a train, you can pull them along to their own journeys.
I think when it comes to critics, critics are a little bit different in the fact that they actually want to pull you down.
And mostly it's a reflection of their own limitations being.
projected onto you because they can't do it, they won't do it, they want to stop
youthdom doing it.
And the reality is nobody paints a Michelangelo first time.
No one paints a Michelangelo first time, but we live in an ecosystem where throwing
stones, particularly electronically, is really easy.
There's no cost.
So I think you need to put on the body armor and immune yourself to critics.
Every great person who's ever accomplished any change has critics.
they're out there.
And actually,
there are proof that you're actually making a difference.
The more critics.
I think the people to really avoid is the energy themes.
There are people who were deliberately,
not only trying to pull you down,
but suck the energy out of you.
And so I think anybody,
the time you come across someone
who is deliberately trying to deflate you
and pull you down,
beyond just a kind of a flippant critic,
oh, that'll never work.
you're useless, but someone who's deliberately trying to kind of almost sabotage you is someone
to avoid in your life.
How do we identify those people?
I think the naysays says is pretty easy, is ask people why they think that.
And if you ask those kind of dig down further, you're realizing that they're coming from a good
place that they're trying to actually protect you from harm, danger or things.
But then it's a question of reinforcing them.
you know what,
I need to do this to stretch myself.
I need to do this to grow.
And they're probably going to say,
you know what,
go for it.
If it fails,
it fails.
But the reality is,
you can do it again
and again to get you a goal.
I think with critics,
they are by nature very negative.
They're actually,
you can look by their comments,
it's extremely negative.
They're trying to pull you down,
say that you,
you know,
it's very negative based.
And,
you know,
when you ask them, so what advice would you give me? Very rarely are they problem solvers, right?
I mean, you ask them, so what advice would you give me? And they would say, they'll, they have none.
And that's a critic. So how could I improve this? How could I do this better? And they have no advice to give.
I think with energy thieves, they can be quite toxic. And I just think they can be avoided by just
understanding that often people have their own demons they're trying to work through.
And really what they're expressing is their negativity, is their own demons.
And so I think the opportunity with negative people is, you know, you can help them if
you're a loved one and they're dealing with their own demons.
But I think with people who are truly negative, we've all worked in work environments where
there are these people, right?
The energy, I call them the oxygen thieves, right?
They suck the oxygen out of a room.
They're always negative.
they're always, it'll never work, you know, this kind of stuff, right?
The best corralled and put to the corner.
Because if, and honestly, if they're your boss, which can be a real challenge,
you might have to keep your change secret until it's mature enough to be released into the open air.
Yeah.
I had a boss like that, and the way I did it was I would put out there my aspirations.
It was a false aspiration
When I'm working internally on something completely different
So when they would try to derail me because they always did
They would expect me to be going this route
When I've been going this route
And at that point, that's when I was able to
surpass them
It was very, very helpful
And I think the key there is
There is such a thing as great feedback
And differentiating criticism from feedback.
And differentiating criticism from feedback
is really important.
If someone is knowledgeable and is helping you refine your approach,
whatever you're trying to accomplish,
that's a critical piece in your jigsaw puzzle of change.
So I think there's a piece,
and it goes to that question I asked earlier,
so what would your advice be?
How could I improve this?
And if they actually have something positive to add,
then be open to that creative feedback,
because it will sharpen your saw
and actually help you maybe get to the place quicker,
be more effective or achieve your goal.
And a good book for people that are listening
is the art of war that goes more into depth
with the feedback that Simon provided on energy thieves.
Yeah, totally.
I mean, we all know them.
We've all come across them.
I mean, if, and the interesting one,
I'll just leave this as my final kind of point
is if you in the other the opposite is the opposite is when those energy thieves those no i like to
think them as problem givers there are people who love to give away problems particularly if they
if they report to you and your staff right we've all had them and they come into your office
and they basically regurgitate a problem you know you've seen how penguins feed they're young
they go bleh and throw it up on your desk and they walk away giving you the problem to deal with right
They literally regurgitate the problem.
And they're happy now because they've walked away.
The flip of that is to say is make them accountable for their own problem.
So, John, you've brought up this.
What do you think the solution will be?
Oh, you're the boss.
You're meant to solve the problems.
I understand that, but what would your solution be?
And then do that three or four times.
And invariably, they will come up with a solution.
Particularly if you remain silent, they will come up with a solution.
People don't like silence.
And then say, we'll try that out.
I like that.
Simon, how can our listeners get in touch if you, they want to learn more?
Yeah, the best way, I'm like I'm Simon Travathan.
I'm on most social media, so it's there.
But the best way to get in touch with me is my website.
It's Elevate Your Greatness.com, which is where we talk about innovation, change, and resilience.
So for those that want to seek you out, they want to know exactly.
what can you provide people, what would you tell them?
So basically my company, what it does, it does keynotes, consultation, and coaching
around change, resiliency, and transformation, around innovation.
How do you transform yourself, your profession, and your organization to be more creative,
more dynamic and agile?
I like that.
All righty.
Simon, that's all for today.
I really do appreciate you coming on the show.
Thank you very much. It's been listening to your transformation station.
Rediscovering your true identity and purpose on this planet.
We hope you enjoyed the show, and we hope you've gotten some useful and practical information.
In the meantime, connect with us on Facebook and Instagram at YTS The Podcast.
We'll be back soon. Until then, this is your transformation station.
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