Preserving greatness

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe." - John Muir, 1911

When John Muir explored the majestic Yosemite Valley, he was not only struck by its breathtaking beauty but also compelled to celebrate and preserve it. His activism eventually led Abraham Lincoln to sign an Act of Congress to safeguard the land for public use ... an action that paved the way for the establishment of our National Parks.

Thanks to Muir's environmental activism, my recent visit to the Yosemite Valley, was, indeed, awe inspiring and uplifting. His personal quest leads me to wonder if we are celebrating and seeking to maintain the beautiful and great things in our lives, organizations and world. Yes, there is a need to be nimble, to react quickly and effectively to change, to not hold on too tightly to things that keep us from moving forward. But on the reverse, there is a need to capture, protect and continuously rejoice over the amazing and awe-inspiring elements of our organizations. Does our inaction allow it to slip away? Perhaps in the name of progress or in response to global market shifts?

Moreover, Muir was keen to realize that simply protecting only the places of greatest beauty or majesty would not be sufficient for maintaining greatness. Without a complex ecosystem in place surrounding the Yosemite Valley, the picturesque sights would deteriorate. In our organizations, do we realize how little changes affect our cultures? Is our greatness slipping away, not because of big changes, but due to little ones? How can we build and maintain a healthy ecosystem, where our employees and our customers can be continuously motivated and inspired?

I am thankful that John Muir went to great lengths, even dedicated his life, to preserving the greatness of creation. Let his efforts inspire us as we stumble upon greatness in our worlds.

Metaphor on marriage

Was reading about the power of a metaphor and was inspired to create one of my own. Tyler and I celebrated our anniversary today - the day of our first date six years ago - because we were apart for our wedding anniversary. As part of my gift to him, took a stab at composing a metaphor (well, a simile really) that summed up my thoughts, feelings and emotions on our marriage.

"Our marriage is like a therapeutic massage ... there may be a few 'ouch' moments, but as we work through them it leaves me feeling delightfully warm, tingly and content."

Yet another reason half-right is the new perfect

Freedom. That's what I felt when I read today's HBR article, "How to Escape Perfectionism". Not only is perfectionism as a consultant a hindrance to organizational effectiveness, but this article reveals it's a hindrance to your own productivity. Iceland, as a culture that does not stigmatize failure,  is ranked the happiest place on earth and is one of the most productive - with more artists per capita than any other country. If Icelanders pursue activities they're not initially good at, failure doesn't hinder them from moving forward and building competence.

Reflecting on my upbringing in the States, this leaves me wondering how often I hold back because I know I won't be perfect. How often the fear of being laughed at inhibits me. What experiences have I missed out on because I was too afraid to try?

And it also leads me to think about what attitudes we're encouraging in the workplaces. Is your company culture one that leads to fear-avoidance -- where it's easier for employees to just do nothing than to risk failure. Are your numerous assessment tools, e.g. performance reviews, 360 evaluations, personality assessment, etc., that point out performance weaknesses balanced with rewards for taking on new projects to build competencies. Is failure embraced as part of the learning and growing process or is it means for removal?

In his book Management Rewired, Charles Jacobs relates the latest findings in neuroscience research to the leadership/management field. One key message is that critical performance feedback typically serves to undermine performance improvement. At best, employees will dismiss it. At worst, they will become disengaged. I suspect that this is not so much attributed to the fact that people think they're already perfect, but that they're put off by the connotation of failure implicit in critical feedback.   Jacobs argues that allowing employees to own their own development plans, to self-assess their improvements and competencies and to take charge of their own learning will produce much better results. And the folks in Iceland are proof that it works!

Embracing the far from perfect

The quest for perfection ... it's a journey I've often been on. Perhaps it's rooted in my print journalism background, where one character out of place was the greatest of all sins. Hence, my eyes have been trained to notice the details. Or perhaps it's related to my need to please. In work, I've always wanted to delight clients, bosses and colleagues with extraordinary work. To disappoint would have been utter failure.

But HBR's Why Doing Things Half Right Gives You the Best Results offers freedom for those of us who have been trapped in perfectionism. The author, Peter Bregman, relates lessons he's learned in creating organizational solutions and leading change. What he found is that if he creates things that are imperfect and then asks stakeholders "Why won't this work for you?", obstacle after obstacle is unearthed. When he follows up with "How can you change it so it will work?", the ideas for improvement start flowing. 

To pursue a "perfect" result assumes that we think we have all the answers. It may be our version of perfect, but it may not be the most effective for everyone else. Moreover, a near-perfect prototype shuts out other stakeholders from providing valuable input. Flaws are not as noticeable, and stakeholders may be more hesitant to contradict what has clearly taken significant time to create. The less our goal is to "wow" others with our ideas but rather to do what is best for the organization, the more willing we'll be to let go of our quest for perfection.

So, as I move forward in pursuing a career in talent management consulting, I think a new tactic is in order. It's clear that perfectionism won't work for me any longer. As I create human capital solutions for workplace performance, I'm aiming for half-right. 

Reason to live like the locals

In my years in China, I came across many types of lao wai (foreigners). There were the tour groups congregated together, gaping and pointing as they traversed the city, like spectators watching a show. There were the business travelers, always on the move to their next meeting, always trying to make the next buck in the China market. There were the unabashed expats, living in their foreign communities, eating Western food, looking down on the locals and living life just as they would have back home. And then there were lao wai who seemed sincerely interested in all things China. Those who embraced the culture, who saw the locals as equals and as friends, and who adapted their lives based on cultural expectations.

I've always been biased toward the latter, thinking that that lifestyle reaps the most benefits. It increases your global awareness and interpersonal sensitivity, and it's just one heck of an adventure. Now recent research shows there's one more benefit to add to the mix: creativity. That's a pretty darn good selling point. (I mean, who doesn't want to be more creative?!)

I spotted news of a recent study conducted by Northwestern's Alan Galinsky and INSEAD's William Maddox that found that prolonged periods of time immersed in a foreign culture increased individuals' creative problem solving skills. The more time individuals spent overseas and the more they adapted to the local culture, the better they performed in a series of experiments requiring the use of creative problem solving. (For a more in-depth look, you can read the findings published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology here.)

These findings are not surprising, given what we know about creative thinking. While some individuals may be born with a gift for creativity, it is also a competency that can be learned, fostered and refined over time. At it's core, creativity is about making cognitive connections between concepts and experiences to come up with innovative ideas and solutions. (Tangent: For an interesting look into building creative processes in organizations, read Sticky Wisdom brought to us by the folks at ?What If! Innovation.) It stands to reason that an overseas immersion experience greatly deepens our exposure to new experiences, concepts and even patterns of thought, enabling us to "think differently" when faced with problems or challenges.

Interesting to note, however, is that this study found that simply travelling overseas was not enough to significantly increase creative problem solving.   This suggests that it's not only the quantity but also the quality of new experiences that builds creativity. Depth is as, if not more, important than breadth.

I speculate that this relates to my July posting, Geography of Thought. There, we saw that deep descrepincies in patterns of thought exist between varying cultures. While short trips overseas enable us to gain a surface-level understanding of different cultures, extended immersion facilitates the acquisition of new patterns of thought. This then allows us to view challenges from entirely new perspectives as we integrate our old world-view with the new.

Empowering a global workforce

Featuring insights from Hewitt Associate's Chief Diversity Officer, Andres Tapia, Incorporating Global Diversity into Learning in the latest issue of Chief Learning Officer offers some nuggets of wisdom to consider when designing global or cross-cultural learning initiatives. While it doesn't go deep, the article offers a variety of ideas and approaches that are worth a quick read.

Geography of Thought

When I first went to China my first year out of college, I had a goal. As I spent the year teaching English at a University in Shanghai, I wanted to "become more and more Chinese". So, in my quest to become more Chinese, I did what I saw Chinese people do:

• I ate street food habitually
• I tasted strange foods like octopus, sea cucumber, turtle, and snake
• I rode on the backs of bicycles and had people balance on the back of mine
• I played Chinese card games, like 80 points
• I sang karaoke in Mandarin

It was a great year. Fabulous. Which is why I eventually returned to Shanghai. But did those activities make me more Chinese? As I opened my mind to these new activities, perhaps they they did shift my thinking. Overall, my thought processes remained grounded in Western philiosophy.

These cultural differences I attempted to imitate were tangible. They were easy to recognize and learn. But cultural differences stretch far beyond these customs and preferences. Differences are found in not just not just what we think about, e.g. beliefs and values, or how we act, but, more deeply, in how we think and perceive the world. At our very core, our patterns of thought are shaped dramatically by the cultures in which we were raised. The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbett is a fascinating account of some of these differences that were identified between Western and Eastern cultures through psych studies conducted at the University of Michigan. Nisbett ties these results together in an engaging story that leads readers to see the value in thought patterns that may not be their own.

Take the below image. In one study, American and Japanese subjects were asked to report what they see. Take a minute to think about this. How would you describe the picture?

The findings revealed that while Americans focused primarily the dominant objects, Japanese subjects took more holistic perspectives. For example, Americans typically began their account by describing the large fish in the foreground, while Japanese began by referencing the background elements, e.g. the lake or the pond. Moreover, Japanese participants offered 70% more statements about background elements and 100% more statements about relationships between the objects in the picture. This is a reflection of how they see the world.

I realize now that while my adventures did serve to make me more open to other cultures, there were (and are) still things about life in China that baffle me. Their logic isn't always my own. But rather than say it is illogical, I believe that it's just a different type of reason and thinking ... one that even six years in China and a Chinese spouse haven't enabled me to fully understand. (Though, undoubtedly, I have begun to be shaped by Chinese thinking.) Reading Nisbett's Geography of Thought has allowed me to put some structure around these differences and to more fully appreciate the way they play our in my work life, my friendships and my marriage.