Do you get distracted by pre-worry, parallel-worry, or post-worry? It gets in the way of crystal clear communication. Executives often call me to prepare for a tough board meeting or a challenging discussion with one of their peers. One executive last week after our conversation, kicked off a potentially explosive meeting with “I know this project isn’t going to plan, I want to understand what is not working, what has caused it and how we can turn it around.” It went from being a potential circular discussion to immediately focusing on diagnosis and solutions.
Listen to me sharing more to an audience in Chicago, or if you prefer to read, the transcript is below.
Transcript:
You know on cartoons you get the speech bubble, the thought bubble and then you get the thing at the bottom that really tells you what is going on? This happens a lot and it happens every time you are interacting with your executives. They’re telling you something but they're thinking something else.
You're thinking right now, “Well how do I know what is unique and who says I'm unique?" And “How do I even know what I should be doing?” All these thought bubbles are going on. It’s this noise, this buzzing that goes on in your head and sucks your energy. You can have pre-worry, parallel worry and post worry.
You may be parallel worrying now, “What on earth is Val going to do to me right now in front of all these people I don't know?" And then afterward, in the break, you may think “Oh I should have said that,” or "I can’t believe I said this.” Or this morning while you’re driving you thought “What is this conference going to be like? Is this really a good investment of my time?”
Pre, parallel and post worry. It's one of these energy suckers that as a thoughtfully ruthless executive, as a thoughtfully ruthless leader, you’ve got to set free and it's going to give you back hours and hours of your life and the freedom to allow you to do what you need to do.
Val
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The Power Of Soundbites
In this extract of my recent talk in Chicago I discuss the power of soundbites. If you hate watching videos, the transcript is below.
What are your soundbites and do they represent your leadership voice? Find out how to create them here.
Transcript:
A soundbite is a catchphrase. It's something that you're known for. It's something that when you leave and go from one business to another or one project and another, they'll say, "Hey, Mayson?"
"Mayson always says, 'Forget the big picture, the details matter." That's his catchphrase. I just made that up. But it's how you're remembered.
Now, some people when they find out what their soundbites are do not like them. In my corporate life, you know, I went to this executive leaving party and someone had made a t-shirt with all of his catchphrases on and some of them weren't pretty. But it's important to know what soundbites you're leaving, because it's like a footprint in the sand as you leave your organization. It's what's left.
So pay attention to what your soundbites are.
Val
P.S. I hope you enjoyed this week's VAL-uable Insights, sign up here to get them in your inbox each Monday morning: http://valwrightconsulting.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Why Your Weekend And Evening Email Is Selfish
Does your phone have an endless stream of notifications and messages all day every day? I’ve noticed how easy it is for executives to fall into bad habits because of a desire to prove to be responsive or to try and chase that elusive inbox-zero goal.
Don’t send weekend or evening email unless it is mission critical. Save it in your drafts, and send it in regular business hours or auto-schedule it for sensible hours. Off-hours email generates more off-hours email. Same applies to your slack/skype/FB/Twitter/IG/LI threads that you have happening with your work colleagues. Others may feel obliged to respond, and you will develop expectations that you are always on and available. Chapter six of my two-time award-winning book Thoughtfully Ruthless is full of tips on how to proactively manage your inbox and calendar, you can download a free chapter here.
Whether intentionally or not, you have set a pattern of behavior with your team around responsiveness. Ask yourself this: is it realistic? Do you have clear lines of escalation and support in case of emergency issues? What guidelines can you put in place today that will improve the “always online” demands for your team?
Your team will thank you for it.
Val