Rocks Are Hard

Say What You Mean To Say

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

Wohn Wohn Wohn wohn wuannnnn

I mean really.

Say what you mean, mean what you say, and we'll all get to the story much faster.

I've been reading press releases all morning and I still don't understand what half of them are about.You know anyone can be the leader of something if you define the pond small enough. Really. What if companies just said what they do? with REAL, descriptive language? So that my 10 year old could understand it?

Cut it out. Cut all the gobbly-gook out.

Say what you mean. And you will be heard.

Think Big

We need to think big. By Big I mean -- what's the best outcome possible? What would we want to do if money were no object? What's the most impactful result possible?

Too often I think we consider only the incremental steps or builds instead of the exponential possibilities.  What if everything was a springboard to the next level? What if we thought about 10-fold impact instead of just one-to-one. What if we dropped a big rock into the pond to create strong big waves, instead of a tiny pebble that only makes a ripple?

Think Exponentially. Think Big Waves. Think to the x.

Then scale back if you have to. At least you started at a big place and narrowed, instead of trying to take  narrow idea and make it huge.

Thinking to the X will get you a more positive result than thinking incrementally ever will -- regardless of your resources or how you execute.

The Filter

People always ask -- what business/industry does Double Forte specialize in?

HA!

Well -- we specialize in each of our clients' businesses ... really.  We weren't coffee experts before we worked with Peet's, energy bars before CLIF, nano-technology before Nano-Tex, soap and cleaning agents before Woodward -- you get the idea. (The only thing that is not true is that are experts in videogames and ecommerce and toys.)

Here's what all of our clients have in common.

1. Their business is interesting to us.  Really. This is the first level of discernment when we evaluate new business opportunities.  Is this interesting? Will a team here be able to sink their teeth into the situation? Do we have passion for the opportunity.

2.  We can help them.  If we can't help them -- no matter how lucrative, no matter how sexy -- we need to walk away. Sometimes that means we don't have the right skill set. Sometimes that means they aren't helpable -- they won't listen or change their behaviors to change their outcomes.  Either way -- if we can't help them, we don't take their money.

3.  Are they solvent/Do they pay their bills on time.  Yes. Because we like to eat.

4.  Are they good people...or the corallary...Are they Assholes?  We only want to work with good people.  People who have high standards and expectations and who are fair. (OK truth be told, lower expectations would be nice.) People who always tell us the truth. People who treat us with the respect that we have for them.  Life if too short.  We're not saving the world from terrorists, or discovering the cure for cancer (and even if we were, we'd probably have the same rules), so it's not worth it to us to have to live with "bad" people -- or people who act bad. 

Part of having a career inside a life is articulating how that career will manifest itself -- and who will be in it with you.

So we're experts in a lot.  We know how to help good people we're interested in who we can help and can pay their bills communicate to drive their businesses.....

it just doesn't sound good as a tagline.

 

Focus in Our Friend

How to say no. The holy grail in any execution -- not trying to do everything, or be everything to all people -- saying no to interesting ideas that don't get you to your goal.

Of course the first art here is discernment of the goal.  What do you want to achieve? How will you know you achieved it? What is required to create the conditions for success?

The best Big Bangs (I guess beyond the first one if you believe that creation story) are carefully laid plans that build support and capacity for the effect you wish to achieve.  Where EVERY action lays more of a foundation towards supporting the goal. This is FOCUS.  It is your Friend. It helps you get where you want to arrive.

Call your friend into the room before you say yes, before you greenlight a project, before you commit.  Call your friend in EARLY in the process! (Do NOT wait until all the deck chairs are arranged to call Focus in discern that the ship should not sail!)

Focus is your friend. Keep it close and it will treat you well forever.

Tell Me More

Listening.

Actually, listening for intent. And being able to differentiate between what is being said and what is meant.

One of the hardest won skills for any professional -- and particularly for consulting professionals.

It's easy to respond to the question "what do we do?" before asking the question "what do you want to achieve?"

It's "faster" to respond to "I want what so-and-so has" (either with the affirmative or the negative) instead of asking first for the person to tell you what he/she sees as the opportunity.

It's easy to negate a request because the conditions aren't perfect to achieve what the other person says he or she wants.

Stop.

Stop and channel my old boss and mentor Marijean Lauzier.  Sit -- get eye contact -- and say "Tell Me More."

S/He will.

And if you listen to hear, the answer will come.