Friction Free
June 9, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
An underlying technology of the machine tool industry I was involved with was tribology, concerned with friction, lubrication and wear. Round and cylindrical parts last longer when the hardness and smoothness is improved and continually lubricated. The need for tribology grew when tolerance for friction decreased as engines became smaller (example: compact cars) and applications became more critical (example: artificial hip joints).
Without tribology applications, anything from grit to human antibodies will abrade, erode and eventually destroy surface finish.
Its a good metaphor for how to respond to the changes and uncertainty resulting from an increasingly smaller and connected globe, lack of tolerance for bad systems and replacement of worn-out structures.
Worry, doubt, ego, hubris and what Julia Cameron beautifully describes as giving in to “the temptation of despair” will just as quickly erode individual and collective human potential as a speck of dirt will destroy a bearing. Self-aware people and organizations are vigilant about thinking, assumptions and expectations. The result is a mirror-finish belief system or culture that deflects what’s not wanted and functions smoothly, regardless of circumstances.
Relationships, networks and social capital provide the lubricant.
Stress Test
April 22, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
There’s no longer any doubt about the negative effects of stress on health and quality of life. But what most stress-relief advice fails to address is, its not what’s happening causing stress, its thoughts about what’s happening (or what’s happened) causing stress.
Many techniques, like meditation, exercise, yoga, massage, deep breathing and diet will temporarily relax the body and mind, and stop thought. They’re all great. But long-term stress and trauma relief require a full audit of the hidden toxic assets (beliefs) lingering on the personal balance sheet. Like executives of troubled banks, we can’t release them, write them off so to speak, because we’re still unconsciously identified with an earlier promised or perceived return on whatever deal we made with life to get what we needed. It makes perfect sense then, that we’d resist anything that changes or threatens the deal.
But more than any other time in our lives, for most of us anyway, the shifts we’re experiencing are impervious to any of our attempts to force events to go one way or another. We’re just piling on the stress. And universal law endlessly proves, that force of will gets in the way of letting happen what needs to happen for a greater, albeit different, life experience than the one we bargained for back when the world was a different world.
Unlike the bank execs, there’s no guilt, blame or shame involved in bringing our hidden toxic assets into consciousness, wiping them off our balance sheet because they no longer serve us and moving forward lighter and in alignment with the winds of change.
the zorba
April 15, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
Sometimes you need a big idea, one that might make you feel uncomfortable. If you’re never queasy about your work, you’re too conventional and must take more risk. Hopefully, this post provides inspiration. I got mine from Seth’s post about naming that unique “thing” you invented. Not your business or practice, its the thing you, and only you, do. I knew immediately that my thing is “the zorba” but I had to get past the gulp.
The zorba counter-balances thinking and concepts. The story’s narrator and main character, Basil, represents the barely alive life we succumb to when we’re so absorbed in our thinking that we lose our connection to nature, to our deep human roots, to our sensual experiences and to our robust, creature-based appetites.
“I still said nothing. I knew Zorba was right, I knew it, but I did not dare. My life had got on the wrong track, and my contract with men had become now a mere soliloquy. I had fallen so low that, if I had had to choose between falling in love with a woman and reading a book about love, I should have chosen the book.” Basil/Narrator
The zorba is a joyful re-connection with our creaturehood and its attendant instinctual responses, sensual desires and natural aggression.
The zorba is a wake-up call, jolting us out of knowledge and control.
“Why! Why!” he exclaimed with disdain. “Cant a man do anything without a why? Just like that, for the hell of it?
Zorba
The zorba is alignment and identification with a greater power, non-resistance to what’s happening and amazement of the mysteries of the world.
He interrogates himself with the same amazement when he sees a man, a tree in blossom, a glass of cold water. Zorba sees everything every day as if for the first time. Basil/Narrator
The zorba is the conviction that the only path, the right way, is the one in front of us.
But I believe in Zorba because he’s the only being I have in my power, the only one I know. All the rest are ghots. I see with these eyes, I hear with these ears, I digest with these guts. All the rest are ghosts, I tell you. When I die, everything’ll die. The whole Zorbatic world will go to the bottom! Zorba
The zorba is the instinct and ability to sense change before it happens.
The zorba challenges us on the constraints of linear time, fear of change and taking huge risks.
The head’s a careful little shopkeeper; it never risks all it has, always keeps something in reserve. It never breaks the string. Ah no! It hangs on tight to it, the bastard! Zorba
The zorba is the courage to live up to our innate entrepreneurial, creative and innovative abilities and the refusal to ignore those desires to follow a more conventional path, even as it saps our soul and betrays us.
Awakening in me was the soul of the first men on earth, such as it was before it became totally detached from the universe, when it still felt the truth directly, without the distorting influence of reason. Basil/Narrator
The zorba is the persistence to not give in to failures or be diminished by them.
The zorba is the return to innocence and uncertainty, seeing what seemed intolerable as the greatest gift and point of power.
The zorba laughs, eats, drinks, loves and laughs…even through failure.
Damn it Boss, I like you too much not to say it. You’ve got everything except one thing: madness! A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free. Zorba
Getting People To Use Sharepoint
March 4, 2009 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
When I was putting together the accompanying slides, a Seth Godin post kept popping into mind. This blog post was about email marketing, with and without permission. What stuck with me was his analogy that without permission, a marketer interrupts him at his email, which is where he lives, all day.
A powerful image. 
What must it feel like, I thought, for an employee who will need to change to a system like Sharepoint, that bypasses not just email, but also the personalized explorer and file storage system relied upon for years, or longer. It could feel much worse than being interrupted at home, and more like a home invasion.
That could a good place to start if you’re failing in your efforts to get more people using Sharepoint. Resistant peoples’ responses to change will be different, including: protectiveness, skepticism and abject fear. But those who are resistant will need time, space and your leadership skills and natural influence to get from where they are (home!) to where you want and need them to be. And that is the place of willingness.
Differentiate Your Professional Service Practice
December 4, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Leave a Comment
Photo credit: Wessex Archaeology's photostream (coastal and marine set) on Flickr
I get asked over and over by some people about what kind of coaching and consulting I do. They seem to have a preconceived notion, or perception of it and then attempt to reconcile my explanation to somehow fit their worldview. Sometimes I can’t figure out if they’re curious and trying and wanting to understand, or just not listening.
But now I’m realizing that people are pulled out of their comfort level when they’re in the depths, and the depths is my space.
I work with people at the level of often hidden assumptions, expectations and beliefs. In organizations, its collections of those – the culture. I use metaphysical metaphors to support the change facilitation process. I shouldn’t be surprised that people want to stick their toe in the water many times before they risk getting a touch of the bends.
I’m blogging this because I’m getting a sense that there’s a growing desire, or movement, or response to series of crises, to go deeper: in life, business and self-awareness. I think its a great sign that people and businesses are showing willingness and readiness to move beyond the surface of their experience, and with a leap in faith, take the plunge into what’s deep and unknown…that with which we identify but which contradicts what we want and where we want to go.
I don’t believe that “going deep” is only within the realm of professionals who focus on “people” issues. Accountants, consultants, health professionals, lawyers, technology professionals, etc, can practice recognizing opportunities to serve clients at a deeper level. It starts with allowing more space for conversation and sharing, being present without an agenda, and being willing to think differently about everything we and our clients think we know.
Uncertainty is the new reality for our clients. We can help them make it their pivot point of power from which they can create and direct their change and growth, if we dare to be different.
Solo Professional Service Providers: What Business Are You In?
October 14, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Leave a Comment
We’re in a financial crisis and possibly an economic downturn which means there’s even more advice being given, targeting independent professionals, than in more stable times. Most of it’s marketing related: being seen and heard, getting blog traffic and comments, building links, viral methods, etc. Its easy to get swept up in the speed, urgency and sheer volume of what you “should” do to succeed .
I suggest checking in with yourself and going the other way: slow down, be still and narrow your focus.
Early in 2008 I was deeply moved reading Suzanne Pleshette’s obituary and her philosophy about the entertainment industry and I blogged about it back then. I believe her philosophy is even more significant now:
“I’m an actress, and that’s why I’m still here,” she said in a 1999 interview. “Anybody who has the illusion that you can have a career as long as I have and be a star is kidding themselves.”
I believe that much of the great advice out there is for those who aim for stardom and not for actors. Solo psf’s are actors (although some are both). Know the business you’re in. You see, clients don’t care about stars. Clients are the most selfish species on the planet and they only care about themselves and what you’ll do for them. And rightfully so – its what they pay for and trust in! If you identify with the business of being a star, clients will quickly pick up on the vibe that its about you first, not them.
I’m not saying to ignore or discount great advice and information but rather that you filter it through a solo professional firm’s lens and follow and adopt it from a “client first” perspective. Remind yourself daily about the business that you’re in and commit to it for the long term.
Resilience Earned
April 24, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
I spent time yesterday with Joe, a long-time friend, colleague and mentor. Joe’s is a terrific professional service firm story; its probably been 20 years since he started a boutique consulting and systems integration business serving the mid-market. That’s decades of PSF and entrepreneurial stories and learning, and I soak it up like a sponge.
So much is written and studied about large organizational leadership; but in my opinion the case studies pale in comparison to a day, or year, or decade in the life of a professional services entrepreneur with staff. You’ll read a lot about the resilient entrepreneur, as if its an innate character quality specific to the species, or as if its something you can arbitrarily decide to add to your persona and resume. But yesterday, catching up with Joe, it struck me that resilience is earned; its all merit.
I also took away:
- Be really clear about and true to the 1 or 2 things you do really good and make it the foundation for everything that follows because everything but those 1 or 2 things changes..often and with little warning.
- Don’t beat a dead market segment; find a new one knowing that it will take at least two years to get traction.
- When you get burned by really lousy people, become a better person yourself for the experience.
- Family drama does not hold a candle to staff drama in terms of the time and effort required to manage it and the impact it will have on your life.
- There are no failures, just learning.
- Don’t fire people, find them new jobs.
- Have a great spouse.
One thing we agreed to continue to discuss and work on together, is an approach to marketing that communicates to potential clients and employees, the value of "merited" resilience and small business leadership like Joe’s, as a point of differentiation and added value. Because, to quote Jerry Garcia, "You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who can do what you do."
And that’s always earned.
Technorati Tags:
leadership, marketing , self-knowledge, solo professional service firm
Are you a star or an actor?
January 31, 2008 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off
As solo psf’s, when we get caught up in the race to market ourselves and get ahead, we can sometimes lose sight of: “what business am I in?”.
I thought of this when reading the obituary of actress Suzanne Pleshette, who was a favorite, and even a role model of mine. She always stood out to me as down to earth, authentic, intelligent, sophisticated, witty, beautiful, ageless and a bit of a rebel. She knew who she was and the business she was in.
Time magazine film critic Richard Corliss wrote Sunday that she never achieved quite the stardom she deserved because she came along after Hollywood stopped making movies for the types of sophisticated female characters that she was born to play.
“I prefer to think of her as one of those stars who got away _ away from stardom, when the old dream factory forgot how to manufacture domestic glamour,” he wrote. “She had the goods, but at the wrong time.”
But to Pleshette, being a working actress with a long career was more important than being a star.
“I’m an actress, and that’s why I’m still here,” she said in a 1999 interview. “Anybody who has the illusion that you can have a career as long as I have and be a star is kidding themselves.”
A lot of the advice we seek out and accept as gospel, comes from high-visibility experts: popular bloggers, authors, academics etc. They’re the stars, and sometimes when we think of what success looks like, well, it looks like what the stars have: huge traffic to their sites, keynote speaking opportunities, darlings of the publishers and the press, sought out by the Fortune 50 clients. Its not a bad thing; who wouldn’t want that for themselves and their business?
The point is to not lose sight of what you do have right in front of you: unlimited opportunities to develop your practice by helping people and by affecting positive change; and doing so through your outstanding professional services that you provide to one client at a time. If you don’t have a client, do it anyway; use yourself as a case study. Its about being the great actor with the long career; if stardom follows, it will be icing on the cake.
Technorati Tags:
marketing , solo professional service firm
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