20.49 Feeling Lucky

This week, I was fortunate to learn the story of La Malinche, the 16th century indigenous women who is often credited with being the key to Cortes’s defeat of the Aztecs. Born into minor royalty, she was sold into slavery by her mother at a young age and then traded a few times before being given to the Spanish conquistadors by the Mayans as tribute for their victory. Her ability to speak multiple indigenous languages brought her to the attention of Cortes who made her his interpreter. Turns out she was more than an interpreter, she was also a master negotiator, strategist, and politician. While Cortes only mentions her twice in his writing (he took all the credit for his victories) there is no doubt that she was a major factor in either the defeat of the Aztecs, saving them from a massacre, or preventing their defeat, depending on your point of view. 

A 16th century indigenous female slave. It’s hard to imagine a less advantaged position than that. That she was able to rise above that station and become a legendary figure is astonishing and it got me to thinking - how many La Malinche’s are there in the world? What enabled her to succeed when so many around her were left behind. I suspect it was a having the right super power at the right time and place. And having someone who needed that super power recognize her value and put it to use, overlooking the dirt and seeing the diamond. 

I think a lot about how certain talents have greater and lesser value depending on time and circumstances. If you were born with amazing programming skills and the ability to understand how people could connect using technology in the early part of the 20th century, you would not be as rewarded as at the beginning of the 21st century. Or if you are born with those skills in Uganda, they would not be as easily discovered as in Palo Alto. 

No matter how matter how talented or hard working we are, it is important to remember that context, timing, circumstances, are the overwhelming contributors to our success. Keeping that in mind helps us stay grounded and humble, and perhaps inspires us to strive to help those less fortunate. If you can do you job remotely - you are lucky. If you do not have an underlying risk factor - you are lucky. If you are not worried about being evicted - you are lucky. And if you are lucky… well, you know what to do. 

Week 2 of 52 weeks of Giving: Kiva

On December 7, 2007 I was in my first semester of my eMBA program at NYU Stern with a group of amazing teammates who were just forming the class of A09. I still love these guys. At the end of the first semester, we wanted to do something to recognize one of our great professors (it might have been Aaron Tennebein) and so we got together and set up a small fund on Kiva. Kiva, founded in 2005, makes it easy to make crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care. We loved that we could participate in the micro-lending movement and make a difference in people’s lives putting the money to work over and over again. I am doubly proud to say that Premal Shah, who co-founded and led Kiva, is a member of 100 Coaches. So for my 2nd week of giving, I have chosen Kiva and I urge you to check it out at www.kiva.org

Check out Rita McGrath who is launching Thought Sparks!

A series of articles designed to, well, spark some thinking, create insights and otherwise get people's brains engaged. You'll find thought sparks on my blog, of course, and an abridged version in my monthly mailing. But a brand-new place to catch up with them is on Medium. This first article offers a simple, but powerful, way to think about steering your organization toward your goals by lining up critical elements. It's as easy - and as tricky - as flying a kite! https://rgmcgrath.medium.com/thought-spark-bdf0cfe0ea52

This week's Excited by Success Podcast is with Denise Pirrotti Hummel of RevWork Founder and Chief Executive Officer of RevWork, Inc., Denise’s company was recently accepted into Microsoft for Start-Ups and Microsoft Co-Sell. The enterprise SaaS platform she developed to sustain inclusion behaviors is now being used by enterprise to create and sustain organizational transformation at scale. New use cases include succeeding in a remote working environment, sales enablement, and a variety of other leadership behavior transformation initiatives.

We will be talking about how Leadership development, teamwork, and culture transformation are all nuanced pillars that become more vital to business success with every passing day. As we continue to study the nuances that go into these pillars, we continue to arrive at the conclusion that success in these areas is defined by behavior change that occurs daily in our workplaces. But sustained behavior change is very difficult, and the disruptions of 2020 have made it harder for coaches to coach, for leaders to lead, and for teams to connect and innovate. Technology and AI are providing new opportunities to conquer both of these ongoing challenges with seemingly unlimited potential for future growth and impact for businesses, coaches, and people alike.

Get ready for the Ministry of Common Sense!

Aren’t you tired of all the BS…?! The #MinistryOfCommonsense is (almost) here and I can’t wait to share it with you all. It’s time to restore common sense at work, and enjoy the benefits that come with it! Pre-order before Dec. 15 and gain access to 4 exclusive webinars. Head to https://lnkd.in/gTFv66F to learn more!

From our friend, Dan Roth Editor at Large Weekend movie recommendation: "Bending the Arc" on Netflix. It's a fascinating documentary about the founding of Partners In Health and how these young medical professionals fought (and then coopted) the medical establishment by doing what conventional wisdom said was impossible: bringing life-saving treatment to the developing world. Yesterday, Marshall Goldsmith asked me to moderate a conversation with PiH co-founder Jim Yong Kim, along with Marshall, Pooneh Mohajer and Mark Thompson. You can click here to see the talk below if you didn't catch it live.

And, as always, thank you, Marshall, for making all of this possible

With love and gratitude

Scott