A young man once had his portrait painted.
It captured him as he was then; ambitious, impatient, certain of himself.
Years passed.
He travelled, failed, learned, listened, and changed. He became a respected teacher, known for his patience and wisdom.
Yet whenever the villagers spoke about him, they still pointed to the old portrait.
“He is ambitious,” one would say. “Impatient,” said another. “Too certain of himself,” added a third.
One day, now an old man, he stood before the portrait with a group of villagers.
“Why,” he asked, “do you keep looking at the painting when I am standing right in front of you?”
The villagers were silent. The old man smiled.
“I, like many others before me, have spent much time becoming a different man; and not enough time helping you see the person I am still becoming.”
Enjoy your July news2use, and I wish you a restful and reflective summer break.
Dan
“Relevant & pragmatic ideas, tools and insights to play at your best.”
For You
You may have changed. Your reputation may not have.
This is especially common with high-quality talent who have been “in house” for years. People hold on to old first impressions long after you have outgrown them. Meanwhile, outsiders arrive with a polished CV, and nobody yet knows what is really under the hood.
If you are suffering from reputation lag, don’t tell people you have changed. Create enough consistent, visible evidence that they revise the story themselves.
Make the change visible in moments that matter. Senior stakeholders do not see your intentions; they see a handful of moments. Do you ask for another view before giving your own? Publicly recognize someone’s contribution? Build on an idea rather than immediately correcting it?
Give people a reason to update their picture of you. Ask a few people you respect: “You have known me for some time. Where do you see progress, and where do you still see the old me showing up?” You make your intention visible, invite honest feedback, and give them permission to look for evidence of change.
Become known for what you create in others. You will not fundamentally change your reputation by simply being warmer or more collaborative. Change it by becoming the leader others can point to and say: “That person became better because they worked with you.”
So ask yourself; What do I want people to believe about me a year from now, and what evidence am I creating today that will cause them to change their minds?
For You & Your Team
Many organizations have well-developed processes and clearly defined functional roles; and still disappoint their customers.
Why? Because the gaps between functions keep growing.
When something falls between them, “That’s not my job” may preserve functional clarity, but it does nothing for the customer. Customers do not buy functions.
They buy solutions.
There are three levels of customer project ownership:
Functional Excellence → Heroic Leadership → Heroic Systems
If you are regularly celebrating a few people for stepping across boundaries and rescuing the customer, you may be celebrating the wrong heroes. The goal is not to make the individual heroic. It is to make the system heroic.
The best organizations understand this. Toyota focuses on the value stream. Amazon starts with the customer outcome. At Four Seasons, a guest problem becomes my problem—the guest never hears, “That belongs to another department.” Ownership transfers seamlessly.
Stop asking “How do we improve our handoffs? and instead ask “Where and when does my responsibility end?”
Responsibility ends at the boundary of a role. Accountability extends beyond the role. Ownership extends all the way to the customer outcome.
Find one important customer journey that crosses several functions. Follow it from the customer’s perspective, not your organization chart. Identify where ownership becomes unclear, where the customer is expected to absorb the gap, and where heroic individuals are compensating for a weak system. Then close the gap.
Customers buy solutions. Organizations invest in functions. And when leadership closes the gap? That’s an example of executive ownershift.
For You, Your Team & Your Business
The guiding principles you set, and how you practice them; can dramatically change the atmosphere and outcomes of a leadership off-site.
Too often, they encourage politeness. Stay respectful. Give others space. Listen carefully.
All sensible. And all potentially dangerous if they keep the team away from the deep dives, difficult truths, and white elephants that matter most.
Before a recent leadership off-site, I challenged the team:
Over the next three days, we are going to discuss strategy, growth, customers, execution, AI, and transformation. All of that matters. But the real test is whether we leave thinking more broadly, engaging more honestly, and taking greater ownership than when we arrived.
We used three principles: E – C – O
Think Enterprise
Put the success of the whole above the interests of your function.
What is best for the business, not just my function?
Engage Courageously
Speak openly, listen deeply, and challenge constructively.
What needs to be said that may not otherwise be said?
Own the Outcome
Leave with clear actions and a personal commitment to execution.
What will I do differently as a result of this conversation?
The power is not in putting these words on a slide. It is in repeatedly using them to challenge how the team is thinking, engaging, and owning throughout the session.
Before your next leadership meeting or off-site, ask yourself, Are your guiding principles helping your team behave well; or helping your team do its best work?
Think Enterprise. Engage Courageously. Own the Outcome.
People, Places & Technology
Having worked in both the U.S. and China, and quite a few places in between; I found Dan Wang’s new book, Breakneck, particularly thought-provoking.
The book draws sharp contrasts between Chinese and American approaches to business, technology, and getting things done. You may not agree with every conclusion, but the comparisons will challenge some of your assumptions about how progress happens.
Regardless of where you work, Breakneck has something for you.
Thought for the Day
“Simple can be harder than complex.
You have to work hard to get your
thinking clean to make it simple.
But it’s worth it in the end
because once you get there,
you can move mountains.”
-Steve Jobs