Failure is an option?

I would like to revisit a post on the fear of failure from a while back.  While I do state that there are times where you just need to act to get the ball rolling, it does not mean that it should continue to be the route that you stick to.  I find it a little disconcerting to see all these blog posts of startup companies that fail and placed in the light that it was a good thing.  These serial entrepreneur failures need to be evaluated closer after the second failure.  If it’s seen that there are no lessons learned for a third attempt, some level setting and new expectations need to be set.  Not everyone is geared to run a business even though their education is seen as a ticket that they ‘should’ be.

An entrepreneur should always be fearful of failure even when times are good.  They need to be aware of all things happening around them instead of looking down from the high hill that they are on and gloating.  Someone is probably always making the charge up the hill to take over your market.  Having this view will allow for a pivot of the business plan to fit with the changing needs of it’s customers and it’s market.  I can’t think of any disruptive technology that got it right on their first try.  It always took several quick iterations and constant feedback to perfect the model before true traction took hold.

So to wrap up, I would say that I have no issues taking a calculated risk to test the market, but after a certain period, evaluation needs to be done to see if there is a future to the path taken.  Don’t proceed just because you need to provide ROI to backers if there are no good options left to explore.  Stop, look back, examine, see if it can be recovered.  But always be prepared to let go if it’s a losing battle.  If you really need to part with your money that badly, donate it to charity.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Do what you love

The image above was produced by a friend of mine who loves what he does.  Check out his work at www.itsalllove.net (Lovelost Photography).

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In this time of transition I have had the opportunity to network with many new people and catch up with friends.  One of two things happen when we start talking about work.  They either light up or are more likely responding with an unenthusiastic “Meh”.

There is a funny meme that I came across recently.

“It’s not Mondays that suck.  It’s your job”

I think this is true for most people.  As with all activities, if there is no fulfillment, it’s work.  Otherwise, it’s a hobby.  Let me illustrate.  A friend of mine loves cycling.  She once cycled over two hours to meet up with us.  That’s insane!!!  I would never do that.  There is so much effort and in my case risk of heart failure (yes I’m exaggerating) to accomplish that.  But, in her mind, it was not a problem as it is what she loves.

It is unfortunate that people take jobs for the sake of living.  It would be better if people lived to do the job they love.  I have been fortunate to find my calling early in life.  I love to teach, work with teams and ultimately produce something that we can all be proud of.   Working up to 80 hours a week was common for me.  I had a team counting on me and I was producing products that benefited society.  I had a purpose that fed my soul.  But, it was not always clear skies.   There are many times when my job became work.  Most of the time this manifested when my job conflicted with my family life.  Other times, it was when I was working on something that I didn’t believe in or saw no value in doing.  These are the moments that draw you down.

Giving to others will also provide fulfillment for your soul.  Ironically I am volunteering as a career mentor in my time of transition.  One of my mentees asked me, “Brian.  Why are you doing this and how do you find the time and energy?”  Realistically I could be spending all of my time landing my next job.  This is a lot of work.  Giving my time and advice to others and seeing the sparks of enlightenment gives me pleasure.  I know that I’m making a difference.  It’s not that I’m spending energy to help others, it is that helping others are giving ME more energy.  If you have not volunteered before, give it a try.  You will understand yourself better and provide a greater sense of purpose to your life.

As I’ve learned from many successful people.  Loving your job gives you vitality.   You will have the drive to do more and nothing will slow you down.   This is the ideal and is not where most people are.  If you’re currently stuck in your situation, here are some suggestions to help you to that happy place.

1.  Define your purpose.

Find out within yourself why you’re doing the job.  Are you there to provide a stable platform for your family?  Do you believe in the product or company?  Is this a stepping stone to advance your career?

Remember this purpose when you encounter those rough situations.  It will lead you through those challenges.

2.  Challenge yourself

Especially for monotonous work, play a little game with yourself to stimulate your brain.  One of the causes of fatigue is boredom.  Set a benchmark and next time try and beat that benchmark.  This personal game will provide a little extra stimulation and help you focus on the task at hand.

3.  Take breaks before you need a break

This seems counter-intuitive.  Consider this.  Your body feels tired as a fight or flight response.  When you already are feeling this, your body is already stressed.  If you rest and let your body recover before this stage you will have more stamina both mentally and physically.

If these don’t work to make your job more bearable, maybe it’s time to identify what is gratifying to you and go after it.

Take care,

Brian

Stop wasting time and make a decision.

Decision making and management go hand in hand.  This is easy to do when you are surrounded by data.  But what do you do when there is little to no bread crumb trail to follow?

The worst thing a manager could do at a critical fork in the road is not decide and chase down more data.

Let me explain.

A manager needs to see the big picture of everything going on around the team.  This will allow the team to focus on completing the tasks at hand.  In cases where a decision needs to be made with the lack of data, the manager must polarize the decision to the best of their knowledge.  The decision must be black or white when presented to the team.  Any grey (yes I’m Canadian) area will lead to confusion and slow the process down.

You are probably thinking to yourself that there is something missing here.  You are correct.  The key piece to making the gut decision or even a rational one is opening up the decision for discussion amongst the team.  Let the team openly discuss and even counter the decision with their own data.  The team as a whole will come at the issue from many vantage points.  Harness the energy, gather the data and then proceed down the brightest path.

Could you be wrong?  Absolutely.  But it is better to proceed down a path and learn along the way then to be locked in decision paralysis.  If the decision is still unsure, see if there are common tasks that are shared between decision points and work on those first while gathering more data.  Otherwise, take the most ‘educational’ path.  In the case the new data presents itself and a course change is needed, at least the effort is not wasted.

“But we’re almost done!  What do you mean we need to do something different?”

There will come times when data will come late and hint that the direction chosen may be incorrect.  A manager now needs to make the tough decision to continue or to stop and regroup.  Some risk factors need to be considered.

• “Can we release this as an experiment and gather data?”
• “Is this going to impact the brand?”
• “Will this frustrate our customer?”

These are not easy questions to answer but there are only 3 solutions:

1.  It’s good enough.  Proceed to completion and gather user metrics on release.  Move on to next task while waiting for data.  Design v2 as needed.

2.  It’s good enough.  Proceed to completion, gather user data, continue developing new solution and release as a version upgrade.  Accept impact to schedule.  Adjust roadmap if needed.

3.  It’s totally the wrong decision.  Stop, regroup, redevelop, adjust roadmap.

Involve your team in the risk analysis.  There may be some quick fixes that can bridge the gap between solutions while the ‘perfect’ solution is worked on.  In the case where work needs to be stopped;  Will the team be mad?  Absolutely.  They are going to be as frustrated as you are.  But there are two things to always strive for as a leader.

1. To be liked

2. If 1 can’t happen.  Be respected.

If either of these cases aren’t in play, the team not engage and will suffer.  There will never be the case that you as a manager will always be liked.  You will need to force through work that the team does not want to do.  That’s ok.  As long as you have open and transparent communication with your team, they will understand that you are making the hard decisions in the best interest of the team and company and respect you for it.

Last point to note.  If things go awry and fecal matter is hitting the cooling device, take it for the team.  You ultimately lead them there.  Shield them from the political storm, provide guidance and let them focus on finding a way out of it.  They will find a way.  But for sure it will happen slower if they are worried about things other than fixing the issue at hand.  A team that rises out of these situations becomes stronger, more confident, more effective and trust their leaders.  This is the happy place you want to be.

Image courtesy of jscreationzs at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

FEAR and it’s limitations

FEAR is a very powerful and limiting emotion.  It is what allows simple thoughts to spiral into dramatic images of events that will statistically never occur.  It was once a daily survival instinct but now is mostly not needed.  Pictured above is a photo taken of my daughter and I (right) on Leviathan, Canada’s tallest and fastest roller coaster.  Would this have happened last year?  Heck no!  I was deathly afraid of mechanical failure and ultimately injury.  Is this statistically warranted?  No, it isn’t.

While in transition I purchased seasons passes to Canada’s Wonderland to spend time with my daughter.  She shared the same fear of roller coasters as me.  Luckily, she didn’t know that I shared it.  I had been on some of the rides before with a lot of prodding because of my fear.  It was now up to me to get my daughter on her first big roller coaster by explaining the safety gear and the safety record of the ride and the entire park.  We conquered our first BIG roller coaster “Wilde Beast”.  At the end of the ride, my daughter wanted to go on again.  She would not however go on any other rides.

At this point, a pact was made.  Every time we visited the park we would tackle a new roller coaster.  It took some effort to pick a new coaster on the next couple of visits.  Then the unthinkable happened…my daughter chose to tackle 3 new roller coasters in one day.  I think I instantly soaked the back of my shirt when she first told me.  But…it was all for the best.  My fear is gone and I now truly enjoy roller coasters.  We’re making plans to visit some parks in the States.  I have my eye on the Superman ride at Six Flags or Darien Lake.

Fear allows our minds to wander to the worst case scenario.  We need to embrace this.  To paraphrase Dale Carnegie from his book Stop worrying & start living “Once we can accept the worse case scenario that statistically won’t happen, it makes tackling the task that much easier.”

There are two takeaways that allow me to face my fears.

1. Lay out the worst case scenario, accept it, then go do it.

2. Tackle it as soon as possible.  Don’t let your mind wander.

I have many unwarranted fears inside me that I need to tackle.  I have a list that currently totals about 60 items with already 20 crossed off.  I will not share this list with anyone but I have a commitment that I will tackle at least one of them per week.

My list is now a third complete and I’m sure that I will revisit it over time and add more items.  I can’t explain to you the freedom that crossing off a line item gives me.  You will just have to try it for yourself.  It is one of the best feelings in the world.

To Lead or Manage?

I’m sure everyone was taught that to be a good manager you need to lead.  I find that directing people usually falls into two categories.  Leaders and managers.

Managers know what needs to be done and drives the team to do it.  They are focused on the tasks at hand and how to get to the end goal.  They have a workstream and they stick to it.

Leaders are more abstract.  They know the end game and provide the vision but rely on their teams to get them there.  The path is undefined and their goal is to work towards the best solution and remove roadblocks as they encounter them.

Is one better than the other?  I don’t think so.  Managers are great in defined environments such as manufacturing.  Leaders are great in environments where there are many unknowns such as marketing or development.  

The key to great direction is to know when to shift between being a manager and a leader.  I lean toward being a leader.  But, I do know that in times of crisis, I need to be a manager.  At these critical checkpoints I will directly involve myself in my teams work, micromanage and ask for constant feedback.  My task assignment is very detailed and specific in what and when it is expected.  There is no time for extensive discussion in times of crisis, only action.

A manager with a set workstream and metrics to uphold needs to also be receptive of change.  Optimizations can come from anywhere.  Their leadership and openness to change will allow them to realize it is for the overall benefit of their teams.  There is no doubt that a change to routine is difficult.  But to effect change, they will provide leadership to teach, train and mentor their teams through the transition and encourage future growth.

These are just some of my thoughts and categorizations that go through my mind.  Do you agree?

 

Image courtesy of sheelamohan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Mentoring and parenting

I had an epiphany today.  It has always been in my nature to mentor.  Advice freely flows from me to help others out.  There is no advantage that I seek and no reason to hold back the life lessons that I have learned over the years.  I always keep my cool and don’t see any reason to panic over over react.  If things are falling apart, I will help pick up the pieces, gather additional data and then help to quickly put things back together.  Failure is not always a bad thing.  But not learning from your failures or not trying because of the fear of failure is tragic.  I help to bring others out of their shells to accomplish things that they never thought were possible.  It brings me joy to see others develop and succeed.

This all said…I don’t know what the heck happens when the same situations occur with my daughter.  I jump down her throat, raise my voice and basically become a bully.

The revelation came to me after I read “Father Forgets” by W. Livingston Larned.  In this letter to his son he relates all the things that happened during the day and how he overreacted.  At the end of the day his son creeps up to him and after snippy “What is it you want?” from the father gets a good night kiss from his son as he then runs off the bed.

This hit me like a rock.  I am that Dad.  My daughter is 10 and she unconditionally loves me even though I put her through hell at times coaching…no…drilling life lessons into her.  I will not measure you against the woman you ought to be but the wonderful child that you are.  I have reconnected with you over the past couple of months that I have been off from work and I am not losing this.  I will not condemn but will be your guide through the rough times.  You are still a child for a little while longer.  I want to see the wondrous things with you through your eyes and share your enthusiasm for exploring the unknown.  I will teach you things that are simple to me but new and challenging and exciting to you.  Everything changes today on July 19, 2013.  I hope that I can be the mentor that a parent should be.  This is my commitment.

“Fake it till you make it”

It has been brought up in a couple seminars and conversations during my job search to “fake it till you make it”.  Personally, I don’t believe in it.  I do however believe that displaying confidence in yourself will help you get ahead.  It takes a confident person to know their capabilities and when faced with a challenge ask for help.  Being genuine is the other piece of the puzzle that is often missing.  I have in the past put on the corporate face when meeting people for the first time.  It was only when I let my guard down and became genuine that business negotiations and long term relationships were solidified.  It was easier to find common ground when you genuinely listen for what the other party wants.

This is not prevalent in corporate culture today.  Everyone seems to be playing their own game to get ahead or to look better than the next guy.  This aggravates me.

If everyone were to genuinely help and listen to each other as a team, multiple minds will be at work examining a much bigger picture than just a single mind.  It’s almost guaranteed that the result will be better.  Even if it is a single mind that presents the idea, the other minds can validate, mold and shape it on the spot to reduce the risk or effort needed for execution.  My teams have always worked better when the team believed in this and leaves their egos at the door.

I can understand that traditionally this is how an ‘individual’ will need to conduct themselves to climb the corporate ladder.  They will need to become a ‘yes man’ to make those alliances to advance.   I see this environment only leading to a narrow view of the world where those on top dictate but are so high up that they can’t possibly see what needs to be done on the ground.  Worse yet is that when a ‘subordinate’ suggests data or alternatives they are ignored or dismissed on behalf of rank.  Effective leaders listen to all views and ideas.  The validity of the view or idea should be considered, not it’s origin.

What I am suggesting is that we retool the corporate ladder to be a massive cherry picker so that the whole team is lifted up by the wins and when problems arise mitigates failures together.

My two cents.  (Or a nickel as I’m Canadian and pennies don’t exist anymore)

Back to work. Literally and figuratively

It amazes me that in just about 2 weeks my thumb is back together and I think I might get through this without a scar.  Since the incident I’ve completed the last renovation project and finally the foundation is all patched up and watertight.  YAY!  Thanks goes to my backyard neighbor Ryan who basically did all the work while my thumb was out of commission.

So, now that the last major project is out of the way it’s time to switch from dipping my feet in the lake to diving headfirst into the job hunt.  I was inspired and rewrote my resume.  I can probably say that it’s unconventional but I think it will work.  Here is a copy of the first half page that I hope will snag me some interviews.  For those of you that know me, once I am able to speak to someone, that is where I shine.  Here goes…

Summary

A highly adaptive team manager with a broad background in high stress development, customer service and management environments. Quick to learn, teach and mentor. Process oriented with proven skills to handle difficult situations both in-house and sales settings.

Philosophies

• Knowing and working with everyone’s unofficial roles and capabilities will motivate and open opportunities for the impossible to happen.
• Panic and stress ensues when there is no functional plan. Don’t panic.
• If you don’t know, ask for help, otherwise you are just wasting your energy.

Core Professional Strengths

• Innovation catalyst: Present impossible ideas to allow others to ‘step out of the box’
• Chaos management: Flexible and adaptable to quickly research and adapt plans and processes in high stress environments to maintain the focus of the team.
• Influence: Identify needs, direct goals and resolve issues in the eyes of my ‘customer’ while still aligning with business deliverables
• Master storyteller: Convey vision and concepts in relatable terms to ensure understanding of deliverables and expectations.
• Lead and direct: Keep calm and communicate to focus teams and obtain desired outcomes
• Read minds: Personify and relate to the mindset of others; critical to resolving conflicts and refining user experience

Please let me know what you think!  Anyone hiring a Product Manager?

You can find more information from my LinkedIn profile or contact me directly.  Have a great day!

http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/brian-teng/b/4a6/294

Opposable thumbs? More than just convenient.

Yesterday I managed to slice a chunk of thumb loose while grafting new branches to my apple trees.  Good thing it was not on my dominant hand as it’s already becoming very inconvenient to perform menial tasks like getting dressed in the morning.  

Anyways, 3 more branches and 1 more opposable thumb to go.  Stay tuned!

Listen to that little voice inside your head.

So…here are the before and after shots of the aftermath of grafting new branches onto my apple trees.  That little voice inside my head was saying, you should probably be cutting away from yourself.  The big man voice said…nah, this is easier…what could happen?  Well…there you have it.  Stupidity in motion.

Also, many thanks to my wife and the many Canadian healthcare workers that helped me out tonight.  You are awesome!  Thumbs up!