I was trying to put myself in a bottle...

On June 13 I wrote about Randy Pausch and his last lecture. Unlike many colleagues who gave lectures "as if" it were their last, for Randy his last lecture was his last for real. He was expected to die with pancreatic cancer within a couple of weeks. Though you would never have guessed it judging by his humor and vitality.

Well, weeks have passed and the inevitable has happened. Randy died on July 25. He was 47. He is survived by his wife and three children.

He wrote in his book, "I was trying to put myself in a bottle that would one day wash up on the beach for my children", as a way of helping us understand and appreciate his extraordinary courage, vitality, and passion for life.

One person can and does make a difference. He was an inspiring example of being a conversation for possibility.

What are you scared about?

Every now and again an “out of context question”, when asked of us, can reveal some interesting insights into the way we think and the way we behave – if we feel safe enough to answer honestly, at least to ourselves.

For example, you are in a safe environment, with friends, people you respect and trust, and one of them asks, out of context, “what are you most scared about?” You just know that this is not the time, or the place, or the group to attempt a superficial answer. And so you speak about what it is that scares you.

Every one of us at some point in our lives, with some set of people, has realized it is possible to be completely open, vulnerable and truthful – and survive. The outcome in invariably a deeper sense of intimacy and relationship with the group we are open with, and a greater sense of personal freedom – telling the truth about our hopes and fears really is freeing.

Counter-Factual Thinking

I was very strongly indoctrinated in the value and importance of fact-based management. That thinking was so part of the culture of the early years of my career. Even explanations or proposals that wandered into speculations or conjecture were pulled back on track with interjections like, "just the facts please" or "just stick to the facts".

Later in my career as I became the-man-in-charge with the accountability to profitably grow the business I began to see relying solely on the facts for decision-making pretty much meant we were consigned to stay inside the current thinking or paradigm. If facts didn't support a particular course then it was speculative. We were unwittingly operating in an incremental improvement model, and extension of the past model, more of what we knew to do - but better. That's all that facts could justify.

So we decided to augment fact-based management with counter-factual thinking and decision-making. Thinking and decision-making that was driven by vision, intention, the future, our aspiration - all expressed as a desired future that could not be validated by any supporting facts, or forecasts.

As we made out decisions and engaged in the actions that were needed to realize the outcomes the decisions were intended to bring about, we were clear that one of two possibilities would emerge:
We would fail. We would realize that what we intended was not going to happen. If we did not forget the possibility of failing we would catch ourselves early on and either change course or abandon this particular line of explorations. If we forgot that failure was a high probability we missed early warning signals and the cost of eventual failure was much higher - and usually more embarrassing.
The second possibility - the one we intended, wanted even - was a breakthrough, a new discovery, a new and exciting set of outcomes that we could not have achieved by sticking to what was predictable.
So a possibility I encourage managers to work inside of is the possibility of failing. Flirt with that possibility. Know all the signs and signals and what the emotional experience of failing is.
Some failure is inevitable unless you live so cautiously as to be of no value as a leader or manager. Much as a rock climber would know the signs and signals of missteps - not to be deterred but to be more aware.

What would it be like if...?

What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath, as a work of art in progress? Imagine that you are a Masterpiece unfolding every second of every day, a work of art taking form with every breath.

Turning conflict into powerful relationships
And stress into health and vitality
Turning pressure into peak performance
As you develop the art of centered leadership

Thomas Crum

What Wisdom Would We Impart to the World if This Was Our Last Chance?

Several Universities have established a practice of asking some of their professors to give a lecture - as if it were their last. "What would you want to say to your students?" is the context for the lecture. For Carnegie Mellon computer science professor Randy Pausch this was no academic, hypothetical exercise. Randy is 47 years old and expects to die with pancreatic cancer in a couple of weeks.

In this video clip he delivers a hopeful and inspiring lecture, watch Randy Pausch's last lecture

Loyalty or Commitment?

The way we think about the possibility of work, employment, being part of an organization... has changed over the years. Employees over 50, for example, will remember the relationship that existed between most companies and their employees and most employees and their companies.

If you were fortunate enough to work for IBM, HP, GE, J&J, P&G,... a few things were taken for granted:

• You had a job for life
• You would get trained - you were working in a business academy after all
• The organization would take care of you and would be managing your career, readying you for your next move and the one after that
• You would be expected to be loyal to the organization, do a good job
• You would be expected to embrace the culture, fit in, and follow the rules.
  

Things started to change when "employment for life" was no longer a realistic expectation. When companies started laying employees off the implicit contract between employee and employer changed. Attempts to soften or obscure the reality by calling sackings, right-sizing, downsizing, workforce adjustments,... were temporary. People quickly got the message, "you are expendable", "you are a variable cost", "you can be let go when we choose".

Little by little the question was asked by employees, "why should I be loyal to the organization when they are not loyal to me?" At the same time it was becoming clear for everyone that career progression was not something you could rely on - even by doing a good job. Companies were even training their employees to be responsible for their own careers, to keep developing skills, to keep themselves marketable... One could argue that one of the intended outcomes of this, "your career is in your own hands" strategy was not just a reduction in the cost of investing in people, it was a way to lessen the conscience at layoff time about putting people out of work.

Notwithstanding the changes to the implicit and explicit employment contracts employers still expected loyalty to the organization, and even loyalty to the boss.

Employees on the other hand, especially younger employees who have no experience of the "employee for life" era, don't buy into the "loyalty to the organization" expectation. Their loyalties, for the most part, are to their careers, their personal values, their friends, their social networks, and so on.

Does this mean they are less reliable, or less engaged employees? No, on the contrary. How come? Because instead of loyalty as their primary operating principle they have commitment. Commitment to their job, to their project, to their results, to developing their skills and to staying marketable.

While some may regret that loyalty is not longer a primary organizing principle, its replacement - a commitment to doing a good job, to delivering on accountabilities and living the organization's values is a better business model - for everyone.

Conversation for No Possibility Abound

Anyone who starts to speak a new possibility needs to be aware that they are, most likely, threatening the status quo. In all likelihood they will set in motion an interesting response among many of their listeners - usually prefaced with yeabut:

• Yeabut we tried that before - won't work
• Yeabut you'll never get "them" to go for it
• Yeabut...
  

When all else fails for the yeabutters, it is time to bring in the "experts" whose conversation for no possibility is listened to by virtue of their position, status, reputation, or simply the aura of authority they have created for themselves.

My recommendation, be informed by "experts" listen to their perspective respectfully, thoughtfully, and then be shaped by your vision, commitments and intentions, not their opinions.

Why? Because "experts" opinions are often just plain wrong. Here are some famous (among my favorite) examples:

1. Grover Cleveland, 1905. "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote."
2. Robert Millikan, 1923, Nobel prize winner in physics. "Man will never tap the power of the atom."
3. Harry M. Warner, 1924, President of Warner Brothers. "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk."
4. Charles H. Duell, 1899, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents. "Everything that can be invented has been invented."
5. Lord Kelvin, 1895, President of The Royal Society, London. "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
6. Tris Speeker, 1924, Baseball Hall of Fame. "Babe Ruth made a big mistake when he gave up pitching."
7. In 1878 Western Union rejected the rights to the telephone with the statement, "What use could the company make of an electrical toy?"
8. Rutherford B. Hayes, U.S. President 1877-1881. About the telephone ... "An amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one?"
9. In Columbus's time, the advisory committee to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain wrote, "So many centuries after the Creation, it is unlikely that anyone could find hitherto unknown lands of any value."
10. In a 1902 article in Harper's Weekly proclaimed, "The actual building of roads devoted to motor cars is not for the near future in spite of many rumors to that effect."
11. A letter to Paul Klee dated November 21, 1910, gently complained, "Your works have been on show at our gallery since November 15. We are obliged to note, however, that the great majority of visitors expressed very unfavorable opinions about your works, and several well-known, respected personalities asked us to stop displaying them."
12. In 1945 Vannevar Bush, a presidential advisor, warned, "The bomb will never go off, and I speak as an expert in explosives."
13. In 1958 British astronomer Royal Dr. R. Wooley pronounced, "Space travel is utter bilge."
14. "The phonograph ... is not of any commercial value." Thomas Edison remarking on his own invention to his assistant Sam Insull, 1880.
15. "Flight by machines heavier than air is impractical and insignificant, if not utterly impossible." Simon Newcomb, an astronomer of some note, 1902.
16. "It is an idle dream to imagine that ... automobiles will take the place of railways in the long distance movement of ... passengers." American Road Congress, 1913.
17. "I think there is a world market for about five computers." Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943.
18. "The odds are that the United States will not be able to honor the 1970 manned-lunar-landing date set by Mr. Kennedy." New Scientist, April 30, 1964.
19. "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home." Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977.
20. "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." Popular Mechanics, forecasting advance of science, 1949.
21. "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
22. "But what...is it good for?" Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, commenting on the microchip, 1968.
23. “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Western Union memo, 1876.
24. “The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” David Sarnoff’s associates, in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920’s.
25. “A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say that America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” Responses to Debbie Field’s idea of starting the Mrs Fields Cookies business.
26. “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Company rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
27. “If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.” Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesive for 3M “Post-it” Notepads.
28. “So we went to Atari and said, ‘we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts and what do you think about funding us?’ Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come and work for you.’ They said, ‘No.’ Then we went to Hewlett Packard; they said, ‘we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet’.” Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.
29. “Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil, 1859.
30. “Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau.” Irving Fisher, Economics professor, Yale University, 1929.
31. “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
32. “Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.” Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.
33. “The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.” Sir John Eric Ericksen, British Surgeon, appointed Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.
34. “640K ought to be enough for anybody.” Bill Gates of Microsoft, 1981.
35. “The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a “C” the idea must be feasible.” A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
36. “You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all muscles? It can’t be done. It’s just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training.” Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the “unsolvable” problem by inventing Nautilus.
37. "Cable & Wireless (a UK telecoms company) was founded over 125 years ago to link London with its colonies, laying the first submarine cable to Honk Kong; this it did despite warnings from some scientists that water pressure at oceanic depths would squeeze the electrons out of the wire." Fortune August 5, 1995. P.18.
    

For even more “expert” opinions read The Expert Speaks: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation, Christopher Cerf.

Collected by The London Perret Roche Group LLC