25 Things I've Learned About Work

Last week, I read Jeremy Waite’s "46 Things I've Learned About Work" post and I was inspired to create my own list so here it goes. The 25 things that I’ve learnt from over two decades in business. I only hope it reads half as well as Jeremy’s piece - reassuringly there are many areas we agree on:

 1.         Be relentless but don’t take things too seriously. Anxiety achieves nothing other than polluting your ability to make decisions.

 2.         Your EQ journey is never complete. It’s a range of muscles that can be developed. Just like your muscles in the gym, your leadership skills need to be exercised regularly to improve. Follow Catherine de La Poer for great insights on the importance of EQ.

3.         Done is better than Perfect, unless it comes to a legal contract of course and even then there are shortcuts to be exercised that speed things up. There are some great tips on scaling fast in UpScale from European entrepreneurs who have been there and done it.

4.         Tough empathy. My first and best coach Maria Fay taught me that you can be highly empathetic with someone for not delivering and still dissatisfied with the outcome and make your feelings clear.

 5.         People won’t remember you for the presentations you gave or the deals you made, but for how you made them feel and what they learnt from you.

 6.          “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far go together.” (African Proverb) Over-investing in frameworks that foster and encourage collaboration and a one-team approach always pay back, they just take some patience.

 7.         Leadership is not about dominating the conversation but listening and creating a safe space for others to speak. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

 8.         Meetings are as much about bringing people together and creating the right behaviours, as much as they are about ticking everything off an agenda.

 9.         Work is not a race. Moving at 120mph is great in certain situations but be careful to look in your wing mirrors once in a while to check your teammates are still keeping up.

 10.      Less is almost always more. Write shorter emails. Have fewer agenda points. Say less. (TBH I’m still working on this one ! :<))

 11.      Culture always eats strategy for breakfast... and lunch and dinner. There are some great tips in The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.

 12.      If you want to be a thought leader, be prolific with your personal brand across multiple platforms and engage with your audience much more than you think you should. Your personal brand reflects why you do what you do and is an outward expression of that.

 13.      Leadership has almost nothing to do with age. Follow Jack Parsons and Big Youth Group to understand more.

 14.      When your brain activity is keeping you awake, sit up, scribble what’s on your mind on to a piece of paper and then close your eyes and get that much needed shut eye.

 15.      Inspiration comes in many forms. It can of course be brainpower, but it can also be vulnerability, generosity or curiosity.

 16.      Decisions are better made fast than avoided. Progress doesn’t happen unless quick decisions are made in business. If you haven’t read it, get a copy of Malcom Gladwell’s book Blink which encourages you to believe in your gut instinct.

 17.      Don’t re-invent the wheel. Somewhere in your business your new strategy has likely been aired before but just not well executed. Find out why and what before doing anything.

 18.      Presenting in front of a lot of people is only about confidence which takes different forms for different people. My technique is to write out the structure of what I’m going to say, read it through, cast aside, rehearse the first few lines and not stress about rest.

 19.      There is rarely a need for more than THREE points on a slide or THREE pillars to a strategy. The best slides/frameworks work with 3 concepts and no more.

 20.      Every new person you meet will at some point be of value to you, so maintain and harvest your network. There’s a way to get time with everyone and anyone if you do your research and make yourself relevant to that individual by being thoughtful.

 21.      You evolve as a leader in other people’s eyes when you take on extra-curricular initiatives that address cross-industry inequalities- e.g diversity, mental health, equal pay etc

 22.      All companies suck at following up on actions. Combine different techniques to address this like using Slack with running through actions at speed at the beginning of any leadership meeting.

 23.      People bring their baggage to work. Unless you help them move beyond that and find fulfilment through work, both you and they will be disappointed. Bruce Daisley's excellent new book The Joy Of Work gives lots of insight & tips on this subject.

 24.      Creating a customer advisory board is one of the most powerful things you can do. You make your priority customers feel special whilst simultaneously accessing candid feedback that no NPS survey will compete with.

 25.      Know the port that you are sailing for in the distance or else your weekly and monthly decisions will be flawed. You can tack and change course as long as you stay true to your end destination.

In doing this, I reminded myself of some things I had forgotten or neglected so it was a good discipline. Perhaps, you want to share your own tips ?

 #WhatI’veLearnedAboutWork