33 pearls from the Educated Change notebook #WednesdayWisdom

While there's no escaping the commercial imperative, we are committed ultimately to a much larger mission. Helping wonderful, dynamic people share their light with others is a terrific responsibility and great honor especially with the Butterfly Effect in mind.

We celebrated exceeding 100 clients not long ago - seems like yesterday! - coining the slogan 'Change100'. That we were helping that many global senior leaders spread their insights of change and transformation is heady stuff. That the ripples extend to literally millions of people is all the more exciting.

And, the same is true with our team. If we can help them become the best versions of themselves, the possibilities for them, our clients, and our company are immense.

Shortly before the pandemic rudely introduced itself to the world, we began a regular meeting segment we call 'Wednesday Wisdom', borrowing the weekly hashtag that became popular on Twitter. In ten minutes we attempt to share a little light, sometimes work-related, perhaps more often life-related. Something to ponder, if not something to put into immediate practice.

Loosely in order of appearance, here is a summary of some of the more memorable topics we touched on in 2021:

Learning from your client: You have a unique opportunity to learn from your clients - some of the smartest and most influential leaders in the world. Treat every client call as if you're going to your favorite class. Learn the language of your clients.

Challenging Clients: What have you learned from your most challenging client? - challenging clients can represent the biggest learning opportunities.

Importance of 'Better Questions' - borrowed from one of our clients (guess which one!). So much learning, progress, and understanding follows great questions: 'Where am I going?', 'What matters most to my client?', 'What does success look like?', 'What's the most important KPI for measuring success?', 'Who are the people who matter most in your professional life?' and so on.

Data without context is not helpful. Avoid the habit of sharing data without context, e.g., 'You have grown your network to 5,000', 'why is that good? How does that compare to others in my sector? What should my goal be?'

All content should be written/shared with the people who matter in mind. There are many topics that have been done to death, while they may be important, people tire of the same stuff, e.g., 'We support more inclusion in the workplace'. What are new angles and insights on the topic? And, remember that a social media post will be read by people who engage with 'different brains' - heart, head, and gut. Some are more touchy-feely, others more data-driven. Mix it up.

The keys to selling. Adapted from a longer piece on sales (from an unknown source):

• Keep it simple
• It's about people and problem-solving
• People buy one of 4 things: Time, money, sex, approval/peace of mind - if you try to sell something else, you will fail
• People buy aspirin always, occasionally vitamins. Sell aspirin.
• People tend to buy from friends. Make a lot of friends
• Help people, consistently, and authentically and you will be successful
• No one cares about your quota, payroll, burn rate, etc. They care about the problem you are helping them solve.

The crucial importance of non-attachment. Change is constant, don't become too attached to an idea or a mode. Prosecute your well-considered point of view with enthusiasm BUT always remember you could be wrong. Experience shows us how many deeply held views are moderated with time and perspective. And so, hold dear the corollary: Honor those with different opinions, they may be right!

On courage -'Brave Space vs Safe Space' - Nurture your brave space. From Carolyn Buck Luce (Imaginal Labs):

On learning and personal growth - Rob Evans (Imaginal Labs - husband of Carolyn Buck Luce) - 'Read weirdly and widely' - read from a wide variety of topics, disciplines, and sources.

The importance of voice-to-voice and face-to-face communication, even in the digital context, don't get stuck on written communication, pick up the phone (or the equivalent!). Easy to get trapped in the habit of emailing or DM-ing. Don't neglect the power of a face, voice, eyes, and ears. It can also save time, avoid the long email or chat messaging when a quick call can potentially save so much time.

Our Values: The core EC Values (more to come in a later blog on these core values):

1. Delighted Customers
2. Curiosity
3. Collaboration
4. Diversity and Inclusion in all its dimensions
5. Growth - personal, customer, business
6. Digital fluency and practice
7. Time Management - Time is our and our customers' most valuable resource, manage it thoughtfully.
8. Agility

Be fully present on Video calls - be still when listening, look interested. Ask questions and use words that show that you have been listening. Pay attention to screen 'geography' - where and how close you appear on the screen (learn to lean-in when making an important point, for example), be animated when speaking - use movement.

The importance of being the first in - Don't wait for others to volunteer on projects and special assignments.

The importance of reaching out to new hires and otherwise reaching out in 360°.

Data/Insight - what story does it tell? Tell the story like a real story, with a beginning (why we captured the data), middle (data highlights), and end (what it means or suggests).

Social media writing is superb training for business communication. At its best it could be called corporate haiku, using the least amount of words to communicate engaging ideas and insights with the most impact.

Be sure of your facts before speaking with the client - From Ross Perot: Measure twice, cut once.

Power, in our organization, is situational. Establish how decisions will be made at the outset, consensus, committee, or single person.

Be careful of creating a culture within a culture, the risk of multi-office, distributed organizations.

The account owner is the most important viewer of their social media profile. Like looking in the virtual mirror every day. Do you like what you see? Do you walk taller or smaller afterward?

'It ain’t as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.?Leaving the office at night with a winning attitude affects more than you alone; it also conveys that attitude to your followers'. Taken verbatim from Colin Powell's '13 important rules for how to lead' from his book It worked for me: In Life and Leadership.