If you aren't walking your talk, you can't expect to lead with integrity.
Let's talk values. I keep reading about the importance of Psychological Safety. And I want to do a major 'eye-roll' 🙄. Well, actually I do. Here's why...
In 2012, Google launched a two-year research project. It was called Project Aristotle. The objective was to determine what makes teams effective. It was called Project Aristotle, as this ancient Greek philosopher wrote: "the whole is better than the sum of its parts." The study revealed that how a team interacts matters more than the individual intelligence or talent of its members.
The five keys to team success turn out to be:
Psychological Safety: Team members feel safe taking risks, voicing opinions, and admitting mistakes without fear of embarrassment or punishment.
Dependability: Teammates deliver quality work on time and reliably count on each other.
Structure and clarity: Individual roles, plans and group goals are clearly defined.
Meaning: The work holds personal, individual importance to the people doing it.
Impact: Members believe that their work matters and creates change.
Let me reiterate. This study concluded in 2014. Let me make it obvious. That was twelve years ago. And we are talking about it now? What we should be talking about is why it isn't entrenched in every organisation. Why doesn't the essence of Psychological Safety have a role in vision, mission and/or values?
Here are the values we operate by at UtopiaX. And how we put them into action. Why am I writing this? Because if you aren't walking your talk, you can't expect to lead with integrity. So here we go...
Failure is proof of ambition, not proof of error; we take calculated risks so your vision gets built, not just believed in.
I have written a book on failure. I have failed multiple times in my business and in my life. Failure has been my greatest teacher. I got over my fear of failure and the shame that I thought it brought quite some time ago. Here is what I ask teams to consider in workshops. When was the last time you observed someone really stuff up? What was your reaction? How long after the event did you think about the stuff-up?
Their answers are: traditionally, it's hard to remember someone stuffing up; their reaction is usually sympathy, and they barely gave it another thought.
If you want to succeed, elevate your failure rate. Because #failureisthecurriculum. It's not just a great hashtag.
2. The status quo was never the finish line; we challenge what everyone else has accepted as normal.
Especially when it comes to creating the 'perfect, future-proofing playbook'. Because there isn't one. And anyone who tries to sell you differently is not being honest. The 'future-proofing' skill you need is curiosity. And a desire for continuous learning.
If you want to stand out, stand up! Be a thought leader, not a thought follower. That goes for individuals as well as organisations. If you want a 'normal' job or career, please beware. Normal is not in the future we are facing. Normal is not an ambition. You were each given a gift that is at the core of who you are. Use it.
3. Impossible is not in our curriculum; we Humannovate, putting the human first in every idea.
This is big for me. I run Moonshot workshops. Before I was involved with Singularity University, I called them Pie in the Sky Workshops. I once called them Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Too many people kept singing songs from The Wizard of Oz! The concept is the same. Imagine beyond what you can. Imagine the wildest scene in your favourite sci-fi movie or series that you want to create in this reality. And reverse-engineer.
And... make sure you consider the first- and second-order consequences as you create it. And...ensure that Humanity (yours and everyone else's) is at the centre of the Moonshot.
4. Transform Today, Impact Tomorrow; if it doesn't transform, we don't do it!
And that goes for workshops, keynotes, immersions and everything else that we create and curate.
I was asked why I do the work I do. I actually couldn't answer right away. The question caught me by surprise. Over a couple of days, I had an awakening. Actually, it was more like a "Derrrrr" moment. I do this because I have had three major and impactful transformational experiences in my life. And many transformational moments, I might add.
You have to be open to having them. You have to give more to the experience than you get. You have to go all in. And a healthy dose of wanting to peel back your own layers certainly helps. As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was more than ready. And then, when the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear. This was the confronting part. The part where the most failures turned into the best learnings. Where I realised that everything was indeed invented, so I may as well write the story that I wanted to be a character in.
So we create and curate programs that transform. And to do that, there is an alignment with experiences for the body, mind, heart and soul.
5. Ideation without execution is hallucination; we design it with you, uniquely for you.
If you are simply going to talk about it, not do anything about it, you may as well save the oxygen. And your time. If you are serious about an Innovation Strategy, a Failure Strategy, or Transformation, and don't want to "fit the mould", then you need an action plan. You need resources. You need to lead. And take a risk. And learn through failure. So you can find success.
And in designing what this looks like, and capturing the vision and the actions required to create the reality, you are granted the permission to have a go. And you have a team behind you.
And to end this full circle back to Aristotle, you need to be all in. If your heart isn't in it, you won't find what you are seeking. No matter how hard you look.
Full disclosure: this week I used Grammarly. If you have no idea why I wrote that, please read last week's post. This week, if you see any mistakes, please still let me know!
Celebrating Success One Failure at a Time is now available as a book, an audiobook, and an online course. You can bring this conversation to your organisation as a keynote, workshop, or leadership programme.
If you aren't walking your talk, you can't expect to lead with integrity.
If you aren't walking your talk, you can't expect to lead with integrity.
