When is failure an option?

Quite a tough guy, this Gene Kranz, and undoubtedly his determination helped much bring the astronauts back on earth that time.

But then today we know that we should fail often to progress, at least limited failures. So, when is failure an option? And when is it not an option?

When should one persevere, against all odds, and when should one not?

One of the few references on this topic is a little book by Seth Godin called “the Dip“. It discusses how all ventures always go through a dip between the initial excitement and the possible future development. How can we recognize whether that’s a temporary dip or a slide toward failure? How can we recognize whether we need to persevere? How can we recognize that in that case, failure is not an option?

When Apollo 13 encountered its issues, the purpose of the team was clear: bringing the people back to Earth. They did not know how but the purpose was set, compelling, tangible, emotional, generous. They would do whatever it took to reach it. And they did.

Failure is not an option when the purpose is so compelling that it will move you to do anything to reach it. Don’t get stuck on the way you thought you would take, though; you’ll need to find the way, and it won’t be obvious. And you will find the way, because you will have small failures along the journey, overcoming and learning from them to get closer to your goal.

Failure is not an option for your life purpose. It is certainly an option for helping you find the way to reach it. This is quite a vital distinction.

Test what you identified as your life purpose: is failure is an option?

Breaking Constraints: Kung Fu Master in Action

Like the Kung Fu Master, the successful project leader can practice for hours, days, months and years the disciplines of project leadership. He can focus intensively for hours on a subject, silent and patient, and strike like lightning, suddenly breaking the seemingly unbreakable obstacle with the focused stroke of his bare hands on its rough surface.

Discipline is a key attribute of the successful project leader. It means relentlessly practicing the fundamental disciplines of project management, making sure the underlying processes deliver with the most limited variance possible, week after week, month after month.

Focus is another key tool of the project leader. Success is the result of the project leader focusing intently her attention on the very few important things that drive the project.

Project Soft Power: The Kung Fu Master Role

One outstanding issue for the Project Leader is to identify the few constraints that drive the effective delivery of the project, and concentrate on them attention and effort. A project will be driven by a very limited number of constraints, which are often resources or deliverables for critical convergence points. The key role of the successful project leader is to identify them and focus on overcoming them. Only by overcoming the project constraints through relentless focus will the project be delivered successfully

Discipline and focus of the Kung Fu Master are key to outstanding execution. Relentless discipline of running the basic project management processes. Relentless focus of choosing priorities and effectively stick to them.

Are you a Kung Fu Master? How can you improve your discipline and focus?

Coming soon…

did your school education make you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Did you remark the funniest thing in this graph? School makes people much more interested in entrepreneurship in China (CN, at the bottom) than in most European countries, and even than in the US!

Isn’t there something wrong here?

Embracing fear

Right now as I happen to be pushing myself more often out of my comfort zone, I often face fear. It grasps me in the guts and I have really wrenching days where I feel stressed and miserable.

Fear is there to prevent us from doing really dangerous things. Recently it has mainly come up when I was trying new things. Honestly, seen from the rational perspective, the possible consequences could not have been so bad. I know I would do much more if I was not afraid – or at least it would not be such a struggle.

People say you can become accustomed to fear when confronting it often. I still think it is useful to feel it somehow, but you need to be able to tame it enough that it does not prevent you from doing great things. I am still not there. Sometimes fear literally almost paralyzes me, with no objective reason. I’m working on it – still work-in-progress!.

And you, what would you do if you were not afraid?

Project Soft Power: the Spider role

Like the spider, the successful Project Leader patiently weaves its network, the cobweb. Like the spider, the general idea is to capture efficiently anything that comes close to the project and could influence its outcome – stakeholders in particular -, and manage them appropriately.

Having an effective, functional network is a primordial tool for the Project Leader. We are not speaking here of the social professional network that is recommended for career advancement and other mundane tasks. We are targeting a specific network that has to be setup specifically for the execution of the project.

Let’s face it: the most challenging projects (and the most rewarding, if they are successful) will have to deal with a lot of opposition, and the project leader’s job is to address this adequately to allow for the project to proceed.

Building and nurturing an effective project network includes identifying key stakeholders, engaging them, allowing 2-way communication, and nurturing the network on a continuous manner. The internal network inside the project team and on the project sites should not be forgotten. And disbanding the network at the end of the project needs to be considered with attention as people often remember the end more vividly.

The SPIDER role, weaving the Project Leader’s network, is an essential practice. It needs to be made effective by developing and nurturing a specifically targeted network related to the project. Going in the field or meeting stakeholders across hierarchy and roles is key to develop the most effective network. This activity requires proper planning and the successful Project Leader’s personal attention and time, so as to develop strong personal connections with the relevant persons.

So, are you an effective SPIDER?

Coming soon…

Amanda Palmer and the future of creation

Most of the funding happens to be for the creative arts. Yes, because crowdfunding redefines the future of all creative arts. Before, government subsidies were the only way to get funded when the big companies that controlled the market did not want to hear about you. Today, ordinary citizens vote with their feet.

Check out the example of the video of Amanda Palmer, a musician. As of early May she had already gathered more than 500K$, thanks to some viral diffusion by Seth Godin and others. The computation is simply awesome: 10,000 backers put on average 50$ to help her get her album out. And it’s not finished!!

Crowdfunding is changing the world. It redefines the economics and the possibility of Creation for millions or artists. And if you don’t believe it, just listen and watch the excitement of the creators. Go on Kickstarter.  And enjoy the video below!

“Have patience with all things. But, first of all with yourself” – Saint Francis de Sales

“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all” – Michelangelo

“Seek patience and passion in equal amounts. Patience alone will not build the temple. Passion alone will destroy its walls“- Maya Angelou

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones” – Chinese Proverb

Segovia Aqueduct, one of the most elegant stone structures

I’d like to modify the last one. Watching inspiring structures that have been built and are there for us all to enjoy, like the incredibly elegant aqueduct of Segovia built by the Romans two millennia ago, which still inspires awe and admiration, I have created my motto regarding patience:

“The man who build an enduring monument for all to enjoy begins by carrying small stones”

What do you think?

In the Collaborative Age, beyond the Fourth Revolution, organizations will be open and fluid. They will be organized around temporary projects. Yet, we don’t have today a consistent framework that allows a reliable project delivery, in particular when it comes to complex projects (those projects that involve many inter-related participants that all have different aims and interests). Although much progress has been done in the past decades to formalize specific tools around project management, the percentage of projects that fail outright or that does not deliver the expected value is staggering (depending on the sources, between 60 to 80% of projects). And research shows that it does not significantly improve through the careful use of processes described in thick manuals, and the increasing number of certified professionals in the use of these processes.

What is then the difference that makes project delivery a more reliable endeavour? I believe it is ‘Project Soft Power’, or the application of personal and inter-personal skills to project management. Project Soft Power is deeply rooted in emotional work, and is closely related to some of the key skills of the Collaborative Age K.E.E.N.

First of all, the “project manager” should not manage; she should lead. An unknown situation cannot be managed; we can only lead through it. Thus we have have decided from now on to use ‘Project Leader’ instead of ‘Project Manager’. In the Collaborative Age, the manager, a concept from the Industrial Age, will be obsolete anyway.

Project Soft Power characters

We have identified 5 main Project Soft Power skills that correspond to the following roles:

• the SPIDER (weaving its network)
• the KUNG FU MASTER (executing through focus and discipline)
• the ENTREPRENEUR (able to invest upfront and defer instant gratification to reap later returns)
• the TEAM COACH (building an effective team)
• the PEOPLE CATALYST (unleashing the talents of the individuals)

In the next weeks I will publish on a weekly basis a description of each of these roles. Get ready for a mind-changing description of success factors in the Collaborative Age!

Coming soon…

So, do you have a work or a job?

This of course caught my attention by the implied, controversial meaning (and because it looks cool to have a work as it is implied!).

So what’s the difference between a work and a job? After some thoughts I’ll try a definition.

At the first level of course, what makes the difference between a work and a job is the level of passion and of personal implication.

A job is some activity in a large organization that implies that you’re being told what to do and that you limit your implication to a given framework of obligations (including in particular, specific times and situations).

A work is a dedication to a purpose, to create a body of work in the sense that it has for an artist. It can’t be stopped by external rules such as limited times for work or for rest; its implication are broader than just an organization. It creates dedication through passion.

So, do you have a work or a job? Think about it for a while. If you have just a job, it might be time to change!

It is necessary to be patient when it comes to building the company’s infrastructure and products, as it will take time; when one waits for prospects to respond to proposals. It is important not to look overly hurried and in need when it comes to negotiating contracts.

Yet it is also important to be pushy and in a hurry when it comes to produce the company’s infrastructure, develop products and tools that will be the basis of the company’s future success, or when it comes to respond to inquiries from potential future clients.

How patient are you?

There is a significant contradiction here, that we need to be managed on a daily basis. Ultimately, success will not happen by itself. It is important to be moved by a feeling of urgency, do things, try things, fail, and start again. And, at the same time, we need to be patient so as to let the world time to adapt to the change we are introducing.

How long do we have to wait? How long is too long, and we need to move on? With how much urgency do we need to act today for a possible, uncertain future result? These are all questions that we encounter on a daily basis. These are questions that are even more present when we start a large project, like a company.

There is only one solution. Passion. Because only passion will give us the energy to devote large amounts of time today on things that might or not give rise to results tomorrow. Because we know that whatever happens we will have enjoyed ourselves on the way, and what we will have learnt will be useful some day.

What prevents you from spending more time on what you enjoy doing?

Wait a minute. And what about the way you receive feedback? How much can you learn from it, beyond the contents of the feedback itself? Do you reject feedback outright and forever? Do you get through a dip and get stronger, seeing why this feedback was there? Do you take feedback with enthusiasm like in the wordcloud below?

is that how you take feedback generally?

Actually you might learn even more about yourself observing how you take tough feedback than in the actual contents of the feedback itself.

Reflect on how you much you can learn about you just by the way you react to a real tough feedback. That’s interesting!

“Feedback doesn’t tell you about you; it tells you about them”.

When I first read it, I found this quote by Eric Ries very questionable. Feedback does tell you about you! Otherwise that’s not feedback, right?

Eric Ries (author of “the Lean Startup”) mentions this particularly regarding customer feedback. Here’s the full quote, though:

“The key to getting over the fear of customer feedback: feedback doesn’t tell you about you, it tells you about them. Haters are the best sources of great feedback, your fans won’t go into the details”.

Now I can agree with him in that context; and in particular, that it is important as an entrepreneur to identify and listen to the detractors, because they will often have a point. And to listen to those that take the time to give you feedback. You might or not listen to them or follow their suggestion. Still it is important to listen to contradicting views. Eric Ries even goes further in the book to give a method to decide when and when not to listen to feedback on a product.

What can we learn about those who give feedback?

And yes, of course, feedback definitely tells you something about the person who gives it to you. Some even draw cartoons around that!

Getting real tough feedback is not nice, but it’s a gift. And let’s recognize that it is a rare gift, because giving feedback is quite difficult emotionally and so most people avoid it. So it tells you something about strong the person who gave it to you. Actually some of the people that gave me the toughest feedback became some of my best friends.

Why? Because passed the first impact, I managed to take the feedback as it was meant, positively. And I knew these people cared enough to take the risk of giving feedback.

Think about it: aren’t the people closest to you those that give more consistently tougher feedback?

It is a concept I have been struggling with, somehow. Do I really know what it means to fail?  Probably not. I don’t feel I have gone through utter, dismal failure. I’ve been pretty successful, and lucky, so far I believe. Of course I have done things that did not really work out, said the wrong thing at the wrong time sometimes, got some nasty feedback, invested time and effort into things that did not take off, not always got my priorities right. Nothing however on the level of questioning my physical integrity or putting in question fundamentally my family or my lifestyle. Quite a straightforward life. Nothing to write a juicy biography to have people cry. I have even faced my fears more than once and do stretch my comfort zone often.

Do I really know what it really means to fail then? Probably not.

Do I really need to know? Is it important? Some people say that it’s a pre-requisite for success, for finding oneself. I am not really sure. Failure is a mindset that I want to avoid.

Isn’t it more important to take action? Do harder? Actions will not always lead to the desired result, but something will happen, unexpected, different. To some people it will be failure; to some others it will be opportunity.

I’m pretty comfortable expanding my comfort zone while managing my risk and ensuring the comfort of my family, not taking unnecessary chances. I’ve jumped out of a plane with a parachute in free fall to stretch my comfort zone but I won’t base jump or bungee jump – not enough margins for error.

To me, one ultimate failure is to stay immobile. You can’t fail harder. You can only try harder, reach out to the world more.

The second ultimate failure is also not to weight the consequences of your acts and not managing your risk. If you’re running too close to the edge you might lose everything – and so will the world.

Avoid the two sides of failure – avoid doing nothing and avoid doing things inconsiderate. There is ample ground to stretch your comfort zone in the middle. Much larger than you might think. Actually it is amazing how much you can stretch yourself almost without any risk outside your own psychological resistance.

What will you do today to stretch your comfort zone, safely?

“What would you do if you knew you cannot fail?”

This sentence is from Anthony Robbins. Sounds similar, but actually quite different from the other usual challenge: “what would you do if you were not afraid?“.

Of course, the fear of failure is part of it. Fear of failure as a social fear (that other see that we fail) and a personal one (an ego wrangling risk).

Still, this sentence also adds the idea of purpose, of our final goal. If we believe, if we know we can’t fail to reach our purpose or whatever it is we wish in our lives then maybe we won’t be afraid of the obstacles between us and our purpose. Even if these obstacles seem daunting at first.

And it leads naturally us to that fundamental question: can we really fail? What does failure really mean? Many successful people have gone through moments and situations of utter failure from a social or personal point of view and still managed somehow to overcome them and become successful.

Is it possible to have a no-failure mindset? That whatever experience happens, however difficult and cruel, can be seen positively?

I believe that it is possible. That we can always chose to decide to respond in a constructive manner. And move on.

Live through experiences, but never fail.

What do you think?

That form of crowdfunding is almost quite close to a a cooperative approach (investment upfront in exchange for cheaper products later), but it works and can serve to produce win-win solutions locally! What’s interesting is that people got involved into the project after they had been touched via social networks, as the bakery project did not have any storefront at the beginning.

So, social networks and crowdfunding can work at different scales, from the local to the regional to the global. How can we leverage these different scales?

Dull office corridor

Long, dull corridors. Light grey walls and dark grey carpets. People each in an individual office with standard furniture, padding away at their keyboard, eyes stuck on their screen. Silence. Few interactions save the weekly shared breakfast. Don’t know who my neighbour is.

Discussing about the next possible pay raise, about the pay grade, moaning about the work conditions and the boss. Moaning a lot.

Stuck in a box, doing the work from 8 to 5. Gone Friday at 1, exactly.

Bureaucracy as soon as I ask for something out of the ordinary (why on earth would you want two colors of post-its?).

I felt like I suddenly was in another world. I was so used to dynamic project open spaces with people moving around, discussing freely, interacting constantly!… Used to people working hard and passionately, where time flies!

Ouch! The worst is, the office I just described is normal to a majority of people. That’s normal to a large number of organizations. Actually it is the norm, anything different is looked at suspisciously.

Hey, there is another life out there! And as I was discussing with the senior management what to do to make the organization more dynamic, it was obvious: break the walls. Put in some color. Do everything you can to increase interaction. Get project teams to sit together instead of having its members sit in their respective departments at the other end of the building. Is that so complicated? No. Is that scary? Yes. That’s probably why I was served the argument of the budget as an apology not to change.

Release the potential of your people. Just create a conducive environment, and you’ll see the change. And above all, don’t be scared!

But that is quite a good, short manifesto to get you moving in the world of the Fourth Revolution.

Read “a brief guide to world domination: how to live a remarkable life in a conventional world” by Chris Guillebeau

Here is a quote from the book introduction

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to
experience the world in the way they have been told to” - Alan Keightley

Tell me about what you’re going to do to get your way in the world.

A world that, thanks to the Fourth Revolution, is opening so many opportunities for us all!

Now we know that freak events are really those that shape our world. Events that come in unpredictably, with a strength which we had underestimated, and change forever the lives of millions of people. They shape society much more powerfully than any progressive change.

These are times of crisis, where the previous equilibrium is pushed out of balance, outside its naturally stabilizing protections. During some time that particular part of the world struggles to retrieve balance, finally reaching a different equilibrium, start of another period of relative stability.

As our world inter-connectivity grows, the impact of a freak event happening somewhere in the world spreads.

Global impact of local freak events: cars flooded in Thailand's manufacturing plant

Last year the IT, automotive industries got struck worldwide by freak floods in Thailand; and many industries got struck by the Japanese tsunami – the nuclear industry worldwide, for example, will never be the same again. Are those events more frequent? Probably not. But their impact on the economy and on people around the world is now much greater.

How can the successful K.E.E.N. thrive in such a world? Yes, more surely than most people that try to keep the previous established order of things. A few principles apply, at first some basic defensive principles (risk management):

• Never believe the situation you’re in is stable. Don’t lower your guard. Freak events will happen, and they will surprise you. The future is not an extrapolation of the past. Be prepared for them, have some emergency reserves and keep safety margins;
• Diversify your income sources and try to minimize the possibility of common causes of failure;
• Don’t believe the world will be the same after a freak event.
• A well developed, worldwide network is a necessary asset that will protect the K.E.E.N. from excessive consequences; and the nomadic lifestyle of the K.E.E.N. will make it easy for him to change his activity elsewhere, where most of the opportunities lie.

More importantly the K.E.E.N. sees opportunities in these times of crisis:

• Changes are much more easy to make during the crisis than in stable periods. What could you do that produces tremendous value for the people? What could you do that brings you closer to your purpose?
• Crisis time will cleanup the economy from those organizations that were just surviving from past economic models; or that were decidedly too weak. What opportunities does this void create for you?

The successful K.E.E.N. knows that freak events will happen, and when they happen, he looks at them with the mindset of opportunity. The mindset makes all the difference. Even if almost wiped-out himself by the event, the K.E.E.N. will rebounce.

Welcome to the new complex world where taking the opportunity of freak events will be the driver of your success. Welcome to the Fourth Revolution!

What opportunities do you see in the current crisis and will you see in the next freak event that will touch you? Is your network and your lifestyle ready to take these opportunities?

change your mind, change the world

Most changes need to start with a mindset change. Many failures are caused by the failure to change one’s mindset. Of course you can change your environment, your processes, your organization. But if you don’t change your mindset, or rather more precisely, your mind perspective, change will not be successful. You will fail, and slowly become sour, frustrated and angry.

Only by changing your mind first, by changing your identity, your view of the world, will you be able to really change your life, and to change the world.

So, how do we change our mind perspective? It requires both openness and deep introspection.

• Openness so as to apprehend the reality of what surrounds us without all the filters that we usually impose to our perception
• Deep introspection to find the right way to change – our own way, the way that excites us deeply and fits with our inner self

It is an intensely personal quest, and it can be made difficult by how our environment might tend to push us back into our previous mind perspective. It requires solitude and mindfulness. Yet going through this exercise is a necessary preliminary. All the rest of the change is just a consequence of the mindset change: see the world differently, you will act differently.

It is amazing how this is applicable both for individuals but also for organizations: organization’s culture and mindset needs first to change for the organization to really change. Change programs that do not consider this as a preliminary will fail.

So, when do you start stopping for while, open your mind and seek your passion?

BASF success story in adopting social media

There start to be numerous stories of large companies being very successful at engaging their employees into internal social networks. Dion Hinchcliffe is writing a series of short case studies: see the case studies for BASF, Yum! brands, Alcatel-Lucent, Cemex. You’ll note it is not just companies at the cutting edge of IT technology but real brick-and-mortar companies. In each case, after due preparation, the engagement of employees has been noticeable. These companies are still to experience fully employee’s self-organization and initiative, but they are becoming close. How will they react when employees will take significant initiatives? Time will tell. For sure, they are well in advance compared to others and that should give them a significant competitive advantage.

And what’s the status in your company? Have you already setup and spread your internal social network? What are you waiting for?