What is your strategy for dealing with constant interruptions to your thought process? Have you been interrupted by a phone call, important email, Facebook post, tweet, colleague within the past one day that has made you lose your creative flow ? If you answered yes to all of the above, you are not alone. Here's what I think: I used to view those things as being disruptive and to be avoided. I changed my mind. Today each time I am being "interrupted", I thrive to turn the moment into a rewarding opportunity. Here's why. -By Philippe Mora (@philippemora) San Francisco, 04/02/14 - Being interrupted by others is a golden opportunity to listen and to strengthen your relationships as well as leadership. It is important to help others, especially when they are ostensibly seeking your help: it is your opportunity to own the issue or question at hand, and your advice and mentorship's value will only increase as your answers and perceived (or actual) wisdom are helping others to move forward. As a matter of fact, in the creative and knowledge world, the more questions you are asked, the more valued you are. So next time someone asks you a question, think twice before you send a quick "I am very sorry, things are hectic here, working on a big project for a client", because your credibility as a leader is on the line, and you'll miss a mentoring opportunity that will not come back to you anytime soon. Modern life, particularly work life, has become increasingly hectic. There are relentless demands from meetings, emails, text messages, questions to answer, problems to solve, fires to put out. It can begin to feel like there is never any time to get “real work” done. If you feel overwhelmed by endless interruptions at work, you are not alone. One of the most powerful lessons I have learned in my over thirty five years of leadership experience is that these thousands of little interruptions aren’t keeping you from the work, they are the work. When you look at it this way, a whole world of opportunities opens up. Think about it. Every single interaction is rife with the potential to become the high point or the low point in someone’s day. Every “interruption” offers an opportunity to lead impactfully, to set expectations, bring clarity to an issue, or infuse a problem with energy and insight. To reframe these moments in an empowering way, I call them “touchpoints.” If we choose with purpose to see these moments not as distractions from our work, but as the work, then we can begin to lead more meaningfully in each and every moment. So, how do we do this? How do we begin to change our approach towards these interruptions? Where do we start? If we’re to treat each interaction as spring-loaded with possibilities, then we must prepare to engage within these moments in the most effective way possible. One way to train ourselves to do this is to identify the key components in each exchange. It is helpful to consider the three variables of every touchpoint. Is the issue itself something important, such as a question, a problem, or decision that affects the performance of individuals, teams, or the whole organization? Remember, importance is in the eyes of the beholder, so it is critical that one be alert to the perspectives of everyone in the interaction. This could be how to address an employee complaint, replace a key team member, or how to make a project come to fruition in the face of budget cuts. In each interaction it is necessary to assess if the issue is “yours,” “theirs,” or “ours.” David, a former plant manager for P&G, has a visceral appreciation for the importance of this component. During his tenure, he made it a habit to walk through his plant every single day with the goal of addressing 10 of his own to-dos. David would carry his list of 10 pressing issues on a slip of paper as he roamed throughout the plant. They could range from getting an update on a safety issue to spreading the news about an award the company had won. Although he would embark on his walk with just these 10 items in mind, something wonderful happened again and again. David was interrupted. People would notice him walking the premises and take the opportunity to raise their own ideas, problems, and questions. Rather than avoiding these interactions, David would embrace each and every one. He would listen carefully to swiftly assess who owned the issue, consider all the other people who might be involved, and help to bring clarity and energy to resolve each new concern he encountered. All while simultaneously moving through his own to-do list. Pretty efficient. With this approach, he achieved infinitely more in a single minute than he could sitting isolated at his desk, sending emails for an hour. Whatever you say or do in a touchpoint may be quickly transmitted exponentially throughout the other people involved – and then relayed again and again. Remember, organizations are living systems in which people are connecting all the time: individuals who report to you directly, colleagues, and anyone with whom you have a straight or dotted reporting line. Consider that every single person with whom you interact is embedded in complex webs of relationships. It is crucial to think about all of the people who will be affected by your words and actions, even those who are not present in a particular interaction. Who is the leader in the interaction? Who is bringing clarity and focus to the issue? It doesn’t have to be the person with the most seniority or the most impressive title; behavior dictates leadership. You are the leader in the touchpoint if you listen intently, help frame the issue, and spread infectious positive energy exponentially throughout the organization. To see how these come together and take it a step further, consider the example of George, head of a 500 person R&D department. He was involved in a tense meeting with senior executives. A very specific and narrow point was being heatedly debated. After listening intently, George realized the issue was being framed too narrowly. Although he was not the most senior person in the room, he felt he needed to speak up. In this case, he knew he might have to disrupt the flow of the meeting to make a productive point. He chimed in, initiating a touchpoint. George boldly articulated a broader strategic view that allowed his R&D team more decision making power. It was a lonely view, but he advocated it passionately. Later that day, he ran into a colleague from the legal department who had heard about his argument. He was surprised. How did she know about it? It turns out his team members were proud he had taken a strong stand, felt energized by his advocacy, and had spread the word throughout the organization. His message had spread exponentially and invigorated his people! What if he had stayed silent? An opportunity would have been lost. The role of the leader extends beyond embracing interruptions as opportunities for touchpoints. It also involves initiatingtouchpoints when your instincts and experience signal to you that a re-framing of the issue is necessary to advance the agenda. When executed correctly, word gets out. This is the power of embodying the role of the Leader in any particular touchpoint. Using this structure to reflect on the variables in each touchpoint, you can begin to unlock the full potential of each interaction. I encourage you to treat every interruption as a golden opportunity to contribute meaningfully. You’ll become more fully present in your leadership. Each moment will become a chance to inspire a sense of possibilities and stimulate the desire for betterment throughout the entire organization. [Read More: "Turn your next interruption into an opportunity" Thank You HBR 03.26.14]
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Everybody who has spent at least an hour in any coffee shop in the south market district of San Francisco, and who is old enough to remember the first dot.com bubble of the end of the 90s will totally feel the eery similarities. Find out what is going on and why it's really not a big deal. -By Philippe Mora (@philippemora) San Francisco, 04/01/14 - In recent experiences with e-la-carte and Lark by some executive friends of mine, reporting clueless 20-something management with no business model, no idea on how to run a business, no real product and no understanding of basic cash flow management, but with the oh! so cool backing from a few venture capitalist firms and awash with millions of dollars to burn - we (the down-to-earth, get-things-done, been-there-done that experienced startup exec crowd), are left with interesting thoughts that mix disdain with humor, looking at that display of arrogance and incompetence that only failure will tame: what the F is going on here ?In a recent article published in The New Republic, the authors argue that the rampant ageism in Silicon Valley is all due to Venture Capitalists, who are looking for returns in the 100x or 1000x, and are literally betting on a pile of crap to find out the unique black sheep that will give them what they need: lots of dough. To do so, there is no need to utilize seasoned and talented 30- and 40- somethings with proven success track records. It's actually much less trouble to use 20-something, know-nothing, bro-types and throw money at them in order to totally inflate their egos to the max and make them compliant. If they fail, it's really a big whatever, but if something sticks, then, yes, we'll bring the 30- and 40- somethings in to baby sit them and actually turn this into a viable business. Thing is .... we've been there, done that - and the only people making money in 2002 were bankruptcy lawyers and u-haul. Let the good times begin! [Read More Here > Thank You Harvard Business School 03/05/14] The recent purchase of WhatsApp by Facebook for a reported price equaling $345 million per employee prompts me to ask the question above. It also brings back vivid memories of the last bubble, seen from the inside. In the spring of 2000, signs of the end of a dot.com bubble were all around us. As a director of an Internet-based startup, PlanetFeedback.com, I met with our board in the only meeting room for that purpose at Flatiron Partners in New York. Companies in which Flatiron had invested scheduled the room, one after another, for their board meetings. In our case, we had moved our meeting to New York to discuss growth and the next round of financing for the company. Our leadership, alumni from Procter & Gamble's online operation, carefully laid out plans in which they estimated they would need a next round financing of $30 million. The representative from Flatiron indicated his partners would like to see a proposal. When our CEO replied that he could have something in a couple of weeks, our host shot back, "A couple of weeks! Put something down on a sheet of paper and give to me before you leave today." We received the money in early June, just as the entire high-tech bubble was popping, pulling much of the stock market down with it. In true P&G fashion, our management nursed the money through the worst of the downturn. The story doesn't end there. On our way out we were introduced to the management and directors of the startup that had the room reserved after us, kozmo.com. Their average age was in the early twenties. Kozmo.com took orders over the Internet and promised one-hour delivery of a wide range of products, including an entire evening's complement of food and videos, with no delivery fee and at a price roughly equal to what one would pay at retail. As it turned out, the business model was really selling $10 bills for $5. But kozmo.com also got its money (including $60 million from Amazon) and managed to run through $250 million of venture capital before shutting its doors just 14 months later. The next time I met the CEO was as a student in my MBA classroom. During my visits to Silicon Valley before the last high-tech bubble, the yardstick for acquisition price was also price per employee. The use of the measure seemed to subside when investment activity once again focused around startups rather than M&A. But now that the most wildly successful of those startups have accumulated a lot of cash themselves, acquisitions and the price paid per employee are once again fueling headlines. (A better yardstick might be price per user, which in the case of WhatsApp was about $40 for a service with no advertising and a revenue stream of $1 per year from those users not getting it free.) How will we know when we are near the end of the next high tech bubble? When the Nasdaq finally makes it back to the highs it registered in 2000, perhaps this year? When investors stop cheering acquisitions like that of Facebook's? (They actually bid the price higher the day after the announcement.) When the website kozmo.com announces that it will relaunch soon (which, according to Wikipedia, it did last September)? When will the next dot.com bubble burst? (Or does even the use of the term, dot.com, date me?) What do you think?
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