You are not for everyone
Moments before a slow-motion boardroom food fight

You are not for everyone

Several times in the past fortnight, I’ve asked leaders and their close teams to quickly answer ‘Who are you for?’ and ‘Who are you not for?’ - the latter is usually easier for people to get into, though ‘we’re for everyone’ is a regular default.

With a brief scratch under the surface, we quickly realise that you, I, and my clients are not for ‘everyone’ in any way.

This past fortnight they’ve included:

  • Transport industry groups aligning with the renewable transition
  • Business owners with $1-20M in revenue who want to grow rapidly with support
  • Faith-based investors seeking growth in alignment with their civic duty
  • Leading philanthropists who believe in increasing private funding for Universities
  • Women financially backing those who champion gender equity in climate policy
  • Institutional Foreign Direct Investors allocating to alts and infrastructure

When someone tells me they are for ‘everyone’ (which is a reasonable answer) if we’re improving the world in whatever takes our fancy, sure, we’re for everyone.

However, I’m asking this so we can identify those you need to call upon to create the change you seek and value.

As a prompt, I then jump into my own two examples.

This is the pleasant, easily understandable version;

I’m for Leaders, CEOs and Board Members

Mmmm.. that’s a statement of fact, sure, though it lacks grit.

I’m for humans who are, in one way or another, sick of putting up with the shit of the status quo that has led to massive levels of inequality and vested interests controlling industrial systems that are killing humanity and the planet and have the resources and the guts to do something about it.

That feels better; that’s who I’m for.

Question: Who are you for?

15% of Farmers produce 80% of Australia’s output

These farmers tend to be private family businesses outside the public domain, and their technology and scale are phenomenal; how do you convey that as an investment proposition?


Click the image above or here for two minutes of insight into how Kim Morison, the Chief Investment Officer of Argyle Water Partners, and I have been working together over recent years to answer that question.

Likely, you also have a very unique, complex story that is potentially geographically isolated from those you are seeking to communicate with.

Question: Do the people you are for, ‘get’ what you do?

Hint: You can tell from the level of sophistication in the questions you’re repeatedly asked: Are they basic and obvious, or do they show buyers on a journey of consideration?


The gap between process and perfection

My network chiropractor came bounding up to me yesterday excitedly saying, ‘We’ve got someone who’s perfect; the video worked so well, instantly we could tell!’.

Interestingly, ‘outcomes over process’ is another question I list as part of the six I usually include in foundation work with clients (it goes under ‘what do I stand for’).

That doesn’t mean ignoring the process; the process is critical.

In this instance, his old hiring process included wanting a hand-written cover letter, and he struggled with new hires truly understanding the culture and workload.

So, in an hour, we put together a short introduction to the workplace, explained the culture, interviewed an existing team member to include her perspective, and, rather than ask for a handwritten cover letter, asked applicants to record a short video of themselves and include it, telling us what they liked and how they aligned with the introduction video we made.

Lastly, I suggested in the Seek advert that we ask every application to begin the first line with a statement about the weather outside their window.

140 applications, 70 of them didn’t open with the weather.. straight in the bin!

Out of the rest, it was easy for my client to get a feel for the applicants and they are progressing happily with their recruitment.

Was the old hiring process ‘wrong’? No. It just didn’t utilise today’s available technology to efficiently get a highly aligned outcome.

Question: What processes do you rely on to deliver critical outcomes, and when were they last reviewed?

Thank you for joining me for another Smarter Impact.

This week, keep your eyes and ears out for the processes you are part of or do on auto-pilot and see how you feel about the outcomes you’re getting.

Let me know what you find!

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