Why Every Racoon Needs an Architect

Welcome to the new, fresh, relaunched version of?Rolling Bottlenecks Downhill, the newsletter of Clarke Ching, the self-proclaimed "Bottleneck Guy".

This email is actually brought to you by two people - me, Clarke, and NJ, my assistant, who (for reasons you’re about to see) is the person who made sure this thing actually gets published.

It spoke even more to my wife.

And now, forevermore - because it’s scientific fact that a raccoon can’t change its spots - I am known, in our house, as “The Racoon”.

Question: Which are you?

Don’t tell my wife this, but I’ve chosen to wear the “Racoon” label with pride.

I’ve spent decades finding and then nurturing my inner racoonishness.

It is my quirky superpower.?

I’m quirky. I’m creative. I’m messy.?

I’m successful, too.

My wiring helps me solve problems that others can’t.

Maybe you’re similar; maybe not.

But being a racoon comes with (a load of) downsides.??

I won’t list them.

Why not? Because - you know what? - you and me, we know them:

Read This ?

Every Raccoon needs an architect. (And vice versa)

And that’s why I’ve hired an assistant.

Her name is Nolijoy or NJ, and if you contact me for work purposes, it’s likely she will reply.?

NJ is my metaphorical architect.

And, here at Oddsocks Consulting, our?“Chief Racoon Wrangler”

NJ is the reason you’re reading this.?

Yes, you are reading my ideas and my writing, and I was the person who, last week, said, “I want to start sending out newsletter emails more often.”

But it was NJ who said, “Okay. Next Wednesday?”

And - not recognizing the trap - I was the one who said, “Sure.”

And then on Monday, after NJ sent me a gentle message reminding me of my commitment - my commitment! -?and added time in my diary to write this, I did as I was told.

And, since you’re reading this now, her wrangling worked.?

And since I’m feeling all fired up and enthusiastic, I’m about to make a commitment to you.

Commitment

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to take the humorous (but truthful) Racoon v.s. Architecture tweet and turn it into a burst of surprisingly useful coaching / mentoring / consulting tips.

Quirky-but-useful stuff that you won't read in text books.

I use the metaphor in my mentoring work, especially when I’m helping super-busy managers debottleneck themselves (and their teams). I’ve turned it into a tiny, incomplete framework that my clients find refreshingly useful. At first, it seems lightweight, but it does a load of heavy lifting. I will show you the framework and, more importantly, the clever little process I used to create it.

Want to help me??Leave a comment:

• Are you an architect or a racoon?
• and, (if you feel comfortable doing so) share?some good things?about the people in your life who live in the opposite camp.?

The folk who read the email* version of this newsletter replied with a bunch of interesting insights I'd not considered before.

Finally,

That's all for now; see you next week, and in the meantime, I’m off to restack our dishwasher …

What could possibly go wrong?

Clarke

* This is the linkedin version of this newsletter. It lags behind the email by a couple of weeks. Prefer the email letter? You can?sign up here.