Science, art and granite: Three habits for success in business

There are three habits I’ve seen over thet years that contribute to business success more than any others. Like all good advice, they’re easy to state but hard to follow.

(1) Constantly seek to understand the the world around you

How does it go wrong? People make decisions based on surveys and reports and things that were true when they were in the field five years ago. They don’t get out into the world and see it with their own eyes. 

Why is it not common? It’s time-consuming to meet people and explore and ask questions. And it’s frightening to engage with the real complexity of the real world. Much easier to deal with the apparent simplicity of a model of it. 

How to actually live it: Make the effort to meet a few people a month with no agenda other than information sharing. Internally, try and find people who can benefit from what you know while you also benefit from what they know. If you find a little spark of mutual trust and understanding, nurture the relationship. Not only is it good for your soul, it will help you learn things that are not yet circulating through official channels; see next section below. Externally, meet customers and partners and competitors and anyone else you can, but here remember your duty to represent your company in the best possible light. 

Veteran move: Be interested in the world of your business for its own sake. People will quickly figure out if you’re just pumping them for information to advance your own interests. And if you’re not actually interested in your own business, well… start there.

(2) Understand that business is a game of science and art

What happens? In business (and in life) there is always a game and a meta-game, a formal world and an informal one. For example, when a company goes through a restructure, there are strategic factors about revenue, competitors, Wall Street and so on. These are encapsulated in spreadsheets and docs and the formal process. But there are also informal factors. Which executives are rising, and which are falling? Who has the ear of the board? Which managers are beloved of their teams, and which ones would be quietly murdered if their reports could get away with it? These factors are just as important as the formal factors, or sometimes more important. 

Why is it not common? A lot of people want to believe - even to themselves - that they are rational creatures making data-driven decisions, and that the systems we have set up to handle promotions and acquisitions and so on make sense and are scientific. It’s easier to deal with the apparent solidity of a PowerPoint slide rather than the raging political chaos that went into its creation. And also, we need to have an agreed narrative of what we’re doing and what our company is doing - we can’t just throw up our hands and say, ‘Well this is all just too complex to make any decisions.’ We need the science and the art to make imperfect progress. 

How to actually live it: For everything you see in the corporate world, ask yourself why is this happening officially, and why is this happening actually. Sometimes those things align pretty well. Sometimes they don’t align at all, and the poor manager in charge of announcing the new change has to go through painful linguistic hoops. Sometimes there are multiple layers of meaning, and you may not have enough context to untangle them. The parallel worlds affect decisions from the lowest level (who gets assigned to what tasks) to the highest (what markets to enter, what companies to acquire). All decisions are a mixture of science and art. 

Veteran move: The informal world of business by its nature is not found in official reports and HR presentations. The only way to understand it is by talking to people and actively working to develop your own picture of who’s who and what’s what. 

(3) If you say you’ll do something, be relentlessly consistent in doing it

How does it go wrong? People find themselves over-committed, juggling some deadlines and hoping others will just go away. They often genuinely want to help, but there’s just too much stuff. And if everyone behaves this way, it leads to all sorts of late night crunch time unpleasantness. 

Why is it not common? The only way to be absolutely ironclad about doing what you say you’ll do is to be very careful about what you say you’ll do. That means committing fully to a low number of things, and saying ‘no’ to everything else. Which is scary. 

How to actually live it? Choose your priorities wisely - work on a small number of things that really matter. Second, say ‘no’ nicely. In the moment of being asked to help, try and suggest something positive. ‘I’d love to, but with my current priorities, I just can’t. Have you talked to Anne / read this paper / looked at the code?’ 

Veteran move: When you promise to do something, you don’t need to exceed expectations every time. In fact, that’s the hallmark of an enthusiastic new person. Instead, set the correct expectations to begin with - figure out what really matters, describe your contribution accurately, and then do it.