Company A / Company B (Part 2)

When I recently wrote about Company A / Company B — a how-to, which you can find here — I promised to offer a couple tales about how it worked for others.

(If you are not on Net Cotton Content, you can find the original post here: https://artieisaac.com/blog/2018/04/company-a-company-b/).

Since the original post a couple weeks ago, several readers of Net Cotton Content have already put it to work. They see it's little more than a one-page change management plan, easy enough for an English major to understand and implement.

Here are some of the examples I've heard during the past few years.

With Burgers And Beers

One CEO called me the day after a presentation in which I described Company A / Company B to say:

This really works. It has already changed everything.

After yesterday’s meeting, I took a couple of my top executives to a pub for burgers and beer. I put the one-page, super easy worksheet [available here] on the table and we worked through it: thirty minutes of deep, candid conversation. We found the words to describe how we do business today and what we aspire to become.

This morning, we came to work, presented the results of our dinner conversation, and invited feedback and correction. This changed everything: everyone knows who we are and what we are — at the same time — becoming.

The Basketball Team

Another CEO, the day after hearing about Company A / Company B, called to say:

I coach an eighth grade basketball team. At yesterday's practice, I gave each player a worksheet and asked them to think of us as Team A: how do we practice, how do we compete, who are we as individual athletes, and who are we as a team? And, then, we moved to Team B: who do we want to be and how do we want to play together? I told them that it’s their choice. And I could see them immediately make better choices -- to become Team B.

With CEOs and Key Executives

Some Vistage members play Leader A / Leader B. They ask themselves: “Who am I as a leader and who do I want to become for my team?”

Then they invite their Vistage peers to hold them accountable by asking, “Which leader are you being now, A or B?”

Here At Home

Sometimes, I think of myself as becoming a better spouse. Whether better or not, people change and — during 30 years of marriage — spouses change.

It’s easy for me to think of myself as Spouse A, becoming Spouse B. But I need to be respectful. Spouse B might not be an improvement.

And doesn’t Alisa get a vote on whether I become Spouse B — and what Spouse B is?

After all, Alisa married Spouse A.

Please share this post and my tools freely. Reuse encouraged. No permission needed.

Invite friends to subscribe to Net Cotton Content at  artieisaac.com/subscribe.

Thank you!