Perspectives are helpful when facing a big, life decision with multiple aspects at play. Often we find ourselves stuck with lists of pros and cons and still can’t arrive at a decision. There’s a Co-active coaching exercise where you divide the floor into 8 sections with tape. You view the choice or topic at being in the center. Then, each section is a metaphor for a perspective that you put yourself into. Now, ask your self how would xxx see this/do about this…?
Goldilocks and the Six Chairs Perspectives
I have altered the Co-Active model a bit to ask clients if they have a conference or dining table with 6-8 chairs.
Then I have them take stickies and put the topic in the center and a perspective at each chair. Often, they like some suggestions for perspectives; so, I offer a few and them them choose some others.
Write the names of 6-8 such metaphors for perspectives on each sticky in front of each chair. Sit in each chair and consider the topic, the perspective is more relevant or resonates better for this topic. You can also switch back and forth between chairs to consider the different angles. Once you’ve found the most meaningful seat/perspective, stay with that for a while. This may help you get unstuck.
Perspectives that have Resonated
In doing this exercise, I have discovered a few perspectives that seem to resonate well with different people.
OJ: Old Joe – you at 95 sitting happily at a bungalow looking at the waves, chuckling as you look back. What would the 95-year-old you say to you right now?
You @ 21: the young college student/adult – full of optimism and ambition (or cynicism and doubt?). What would that perhaps naive or not-yet-jaded youngster suggest to you now?
A Passed Confidant: a particularly close parent or grandparent perhaps no longer with us. When we ask ourselves, we’ll usually discover we know exactly what they’d say.
A Former Teacher, Mentor or Coach: a past , mentor or coach that may have previously helped you see things you overlooked or didn’t give due consideration.
The Critical 13-Year-Old: If you’ve ever one, you know this hyper-critical perspective…
Favorite Pet: what would a long-time companion pet say if they could speak?
Spirit Guide: a spirit guide or animal or shaman.
Hero(ine): Wonder Woman. Spider Man, RBG, MLK …
Your Car: our car represents certain meaning to us and there are reasons we own it.
Identical Twin: it’s easier to give a sibling or close friend advice than to make a decision. What would you say to them?
Eagle: a bird’s eye where you lift off to heights above the walls, trees, mountains or seas that surround you. You distance yourself from the immediate obstacles you’re confronting to gain perspective and a bigger picture.
Your Table and Chairs as a Wheel of Life
Another tool leveraged in Co-Active Coaching is the Wheel of Life. It helps assess where you are regarding various aspects of your life. You can then choose which aspects you are potentially feeling a need to change. However, you can leverage each aspect when confronted with a life impacting decision. Instead of using such a wheel to assess your dilemma, imagine each of these perspectives as names tags of guests. Then, sit in each seat. Now, consider how each aspect of your life would be impacted by each option you have to choose from.
Imagine a choice between staying in your current job A, or jobs offers B and C. How would you image each of these aspects of your life to be impacted by each possibility?
Below are different representations of this aspects/perspectives on your life that might be affected as a result of a choice you’re feeling yourself confronted with:
Discover Wellness Within of Ontario leverages a wellness wheel to help you assess your current “health” level in each area, but it could also help you consider how each of these aspects may be impacted with each of your choices:
Ikigai – Another Mechanism to Transform Your Outlook On Life And Business
Determining your Ikigai is another mechanism that can help transform your priorities, outlook on life and business. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ikigai as “a motivating force; something or someone that gives a person a sense of purpose or a reason for living”. More generally it may refer to something that brings pleasure or fulfillment.
Many cultures around the world have concepts similar to Ikigai, reflecting the universal human quest for meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in life. Here are a few examples:
Dharma (India): In Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, Dharma is a key concept that refers to the moral and ethical duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues, and the right way of living. It’s often interpreted as one’s rightful duty or a path of righteousness, based on the individual’s position in life. Dharma is closely tied to the idea of living in accordance with one’s innate nature and fulfilling one’s existential role.
Hygge (Denmark): While not a direct parallel to Ikigai, Hygge is a Danish concept that centers around comfort, contentment, and well-being. It emphasizes finding joy in the simple pleasures of life and creating a warm, cozy, and positive environment.
Ubuntu (Southern Africa): Ubuntu is a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity.” It is often translated as “I am because we are,” or “humanity towards others.” It’s a philosophy that considers the success of the group above that of the individual.
Philotimo (Greece): A Greek concept that is considered to be the highest of virtues. It encompasses honor, dignity, pride, sacrifice, respect, and love for others. It’s about living life with a sense of duty and respect towards the society and the community.
Sisu (Finland): This Finnish concept is about stoic determination, resilience, courage, and resolve. It represents the spirit of perseverance in the face of adversity and is considered a guiding principle in life.
Jugaad (India): Jugaad is a practice of finding innovative solutions or hacks using limited resources. It reflects a mindset of resilience and resourcefulness, often in challenging situations.
Minga (Ecuador): A concept from the Andean indigenous community, Minga refers to a community gathering to achieve a common goal for the betterment of the community. It emphasizes collective work and community spirit.
In Michael Ventura’s Applied Empathy he introduces seven “Archetypes of Empathy” (hey’re embellished with some characters here that you might imagine seating around a table to help embody that perspective). Ventura suggests you try out each perspective to see which perspective/questions resonates the strongest with you for self reflection …
After riding the dot com wave as VP, Engineering for the fastest growing software company on NASDAQ, I decided to embrace the challenge to give back by getting my teaching credentials at San Jose State. I walked by this statue commemorating Tommie Smith and John Carlos’ brave protest at the 1968 Olympics on my way to classes every day. I wondered about the empty 2nd place podium and years later came upon this writeup: Peter Norman, the White Man in That Photo. My first teaching assignment also found me as the lone white person in the room.
My first assignment was to help a teacher with a class of students with “learning issues“. When I showed up, the principal informed me the teacher had quit. He asked if I’d be willing to still lead the class. I also learned these were 8th graders that other teachers had given up on. The students came from very tough backgrounds and were hard to manage. My students all later confided in me that everyone of them was in a gang. They said they’d be lucky to live to the age of 18. Hence, education wasn’t a big priority for them – and education beyond high school was beyond their wildest dreams. They saw no reason to embrace the challenges of getting a good education.
It was a school district where the kids spoke 56 different languages at home. The police told me they would connect with a language identifier before requesting a translator. It was imply too hard for them to engage with the community otherwise. When I showed up, my students definitely did not see me as being like them or being able to relate to them. I relied on my premise whenever starting with a new group: Start with Trust.
Embrace the Challenge – Growing Roses from Concrete
Leveraging a mentor’s tip helped me embrace the challenges. I remembered a book a professor had suggested that she used when she taught at juvenile hall. It was Tupac Shakur‘s book of poetry The Rose That Grew From Concrete.
I bought enough used copies of the book so each student could have one to keep as their own. The students were surprised that I even knew who Tupac was and that I knew lots of his material, but they were really surprised that I had bought them this book for them to keep. They didn’t know that Pac wrote poetry, they had really not expected me to be showing them something from Pac they hadn’t know about. When I next saw them, most of these 8th graders told me it was the first book they ever read. They were proud to carry it around with them, and they had selected their favorite poem. Some had also been inspired to write their first poem after reading it. I could not read any of their poems without tears coming to my eyes – pretty amazing stuff.
Some pointed out that this was cool, and the only other reading of poetry some previous teachers had tried to foist on them was some junk by Shakespeare. I pointed out that Shakespeare grew up in a different time, in another country and on another type of “concrete”. That tweaked their curiosity, and now a door was open to expand their horizons and awareness.
Knowing your audience and finding a connection provides context to start any dialog. Recognize that everyone is naturally creative, resourceful and whole. Help them recognize that as well in themselves and each other. Embrace the challenge, help where you can and enjoy watching roses grow from concrete.
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.
Being a fan disrupting old ways of doing things and empowering underdogs, I decided to join Prosper Marketplace to provide access to capital for individual. After helping tens of thousands of customers not default on loans during Covid, I decided to join Hum Capital. Most startups receive funding through connections to the bi-coastal venture community. Also, most startups now manage their finances through online systems. Live connected data shows how a company is doing over time. By quickly bringing financial help to companies based on financial performance, Hum helps companies and their employees to sprout up as roses when they may have otherwise struggled. My brief time with CARE in Tanzania taught me helping people in need revolves around, Education, Health and access to funding (e.g. microloans). There are many roses in concrete out there that have the potential to thrive with just some sunlight and a little water.
I devised this Orange Observations exercise in my efforts to inspire my students to be observant. It’s a fun exercise for science, art and writing classes. I’d place a box of organic oranges on my desk and ask each student to come and take one. Then I asked them to take out a pencil or pen and two pieces of paper. On one paper, I’d have them write a description of their orange. On the other paper, I’d have them make a sketch of their orange. When done, I’d have them return their orange to the box. Then I’d mix the oranges in the box. Next, I’d asked them to exchange the description with one student and their sketch with another. Then, I’d ask them to come up and select the exact oranges depicted in the two papers they had received. They would typically look at me quite dumbfounded.
I’d then offer “let’s do this again”. Low and behold they were able to see, describe and capture in sketch unique things in their particular orange. They were able to capture details they had overlooked before. It wasn’t hard to do this enough to later be able to distinguish that orange from others. Learning to dig deeper, look closer allows us to capture what is unique. This allows us to more deeply consider and relay our experiences and the impact something or someone has on us.
Orange Observations in an Interview
In an interview, you could ask the candidate to give you the orange when they’re done. You can then mix it up with other oranges; ask them to use their own notes or sketch to find their orange. Or, even more fun can be to interview multiple candidates at once. I’ve had them ask each other interview questions as well. You can learn a lot about a candidate when then end up in an interview situation they weren’t expecting. The amazing candidate can pick out the other’s orange from the bunch without seeing their sketch or notes. It is a rare find to meet someone that can recall distinctive markings in another’s orange in this situation.
As a variant, you could have them choose a fruit from two boxes. One box with tangerines and one with clementines. Have them write a description of what they taste. and then have someone else see if they can determine if that description better fits a fruit from the box of clementines or the box of tangerine. Next, try that with smell instead of taste. With this you could open day one of training sommeliers 😉
Spin-up or Group Intro
This can also be a great way to spin-up a group of new-hires with fun activity. Another one is the Broken Squares Exercise.
The Orange Lesson Applied to Humans
As leaders or peers to other humans, if we overlook the subtle differences in each human, we miss opportunities to have more meaningful and deeper relationships and engagements. Likewise, if we don’t recognize the difference is our customers, we may end up providing least common denominator solutions, products and content. Avoiding the latter was the whole premise behind BroadVision’s 1-to-1 products as originally described in the book One-to-One Marketing and now implemented widely across multiple experiences.
Powerful Questions and Active Listening enable more meaningful, effective and mindful one-on-one conversations, these basic tools that come in the form of questions to open or deepen a conversation. There are also some useful techniques to being an Active Listener which will allow thew other person to feel more valued and encourage/enable them to more effectively communicate what’s on their mind. These are core tools in a Talent Whisperer
Some basic powerful question pointers
Active Listening
Receive Appreciate Summarize Ask
Before you respond in a conversation, take a breath. Not an enormous, loud, obvious breath that screams out “I am trying a new technique for better listening!” No, just a normal, simple, ordinary breath. That’s it. The whole technique, right there.
Mindful listening then is about being fully present when interacting with others.
Remember to allow others to finish their thoughts before starting (or even collecting) your own; notice non-verbal clues, whether they are tone of voice or body language; and encourage the speaker, through positive questions, eye contact, and focus.
Key points to remember with powerful questions
Pay Attention – be sure you’re completely engaged in hearing what’s being said. Maintain eye contact, be present but relaxed. Commit this time to this meeting regardless of what else may have happened or needs to happen on this day. Avoid distractions. Be fully present.
Withhold Judgement – don’t start thinking about what’s being said while it’s being said – keep an open mind. Don’t interrupt right away.
Create silent moments – either after they’ve said something or you’ve asked a question to create a void that you’re hoping they will fill.
Mirror – reflect back what you believe you heard,
Clarify – ask clarifying questions to ensure you understand the full message (optometrist metaphor)
Listen for what isn’t being said – Often this may prove to be the most important thing. What are they feeling? How are they saying it? What are the excited about vs eager to skip over? Are the avoiding eye contact, fidgeting, what their tone of voice, …?
Bottom line – try to provide the tldr; / the executive summary.
Share – introduce your ideas, thoughts, similar experiences, etc
Acknowledge – listen for, appreciate and genuinely acknowledge meaningful accomplishments or insights.
Nonverbal cues which show understanding such as nodding, eye contact, and leaning forward.
Brief verbal affirmations like “I see,” “I know,” “Sure,” “Thank you,” or “I understand.”
Asking open-ended questions.
Asking specific questions to seek clarification.
Waiting to disclose your opinion.
Disclosing similar experiences to show understanding.
The “Pregnant Pause” Technique
The technique of asking a question and then intentionally allowing a moment of silence after the respondent’s answer, often referred to as a “pregnant pause,” is a powerful active listening strategy. This deliberate pause serves multiple purposes: it gives the speaker time to reflect on what they’ve just shared and consider if there’s more they wish to add, often leading to deeper insights or more authentic expressions. Moreover, it signals to the speaker that the listener is genuinely interested in what they have to say, enhancing the feeling of being valued and heard.
This technique is a practice commonly used in coaching, counseling, and therapeutic settings. It is rooted in the broader concept of ‘minimal encouragers’ in active listening, where the listener uses subtle cues to encourage the speaker to continue. The theory behind this technique is grounded in the idea that silence can be as communicative as speech, creating a space for introspection and additional thoughts that might not surface in a rapid-fire exchange. This approach aligns with the principles of empathetic listening and person-centered therapy, emphasizing the importance of creating a supportive environment that encourages self-exploration and personal growth.
“Minimal Encouragers”
“Minimal encouragers” are subtle communication signals that indicate to the speaker that the listener is engaged and interested in the conversation without interrupting the flow of dialogue. These encouragers can be verbal or non-verbal and serve to prompt the speaker to continue sharing their thoughts. Here are some common examples:
Verbal Encouragers:
Affirmative Words: Simple acknowledgments like “Yes,” “I see,” “Uh-huh,” or “Go on” that show you are following along.
Reflective Phrases: Repeating or rephrasing what the speaker has said in a questioning tone, encouraging them to elaborate. For instance, “So, you felt overwhelmed?”
Prompting Words: Using short prompts like “And?” or “Then?” to urge further detail without leading the conversation.
Clarification Requests: Gently asking for more information to clarify points, such as “Could you explain more about that?”
Non-Verbal Encouragers:
Nodding: A simple nod can convey that you are attentive and encourage the speaker to continue.
Eye Contact: Maintaining appropriate eye contact shows interest and engagement.
Leaning In: Slightly leaning towards the speaker indicates that you are fully focused on what they are saying.
Facial Expressions: Expressions of concern, surprise, or understanding can validate the speaker’s feelings and encourage them to share more.
Open Body Language: Adopting a posture that is open and directed towards the speaker signals receptiveness and attention.
These “minimal encouragers” are essential tools in active listening, helping to create a supportive environment where the speaker feels understood and valued, thus facilitating more open and in-depth communication.
Powerful Question examples
What do you want?
Can you tell me more?
Why does that matter to you?
What other ideas/thoughts/ feelings do you have about it?
How does this influence your choices at work?
What else?
What are the vectors in your life/job that matter (most)?
Learning/mastering?
Scope of responsibility?
Business impact?
Who you work with?
Why does it matter?
What is the biggest obstacle?
What is your biggest fear?
What would the 95 year old say to you about this looking back to where you are today?
What’s next for you?
What will you do before we meet next?
What’s the first, easiest step you can take?
Will you…?
How will I know?
What happened since we last met?
What’s good about what happened?
What could’ve been better?
What was the lesson?
Who else will benefit?
How can we ensure we retain what we learned?
If you could change one thing, what it be?
What do you NOT want me to ask you?
Powerful Conversations in the Age of Video Conferencing
In the era of widespread video conferencing, several unique considerations come into play to enhance the depth and meaning of conversations. The shift from in-person to virtual meetings requires an adaptation of traditional communication cues to maintain engagement and connection. Here are some key factors:
Eye Contact
Achieving the semblance of eye contact in video calls can be challenging since looking directly at the camera rather than the screen is what conveys direct engagement to the other party. Placing the camera at eye level and occasionally looking into the camera lens can help simulate eye contact, making the conversation feel more personal and connected.
Video Framing
How you frame yourself within the video plays a significant role. Ideally, you should be centered with your face and part of your upper body visible, mimicking the perspective one would have in a face-to-face conversation. This helps maintain a sense of presence and engagement.
Background and Lighting
A cluttered or distracting background can detract from the conversation. Using a simple, professional background or a virtual backdrop can keep the focus on the discussion. Good lighting is equally important, with the main light source in front of you to illuminate your face clearly, avoiding shadows or backlighting that can obscure your expressions.
Audio Quality
Clear audio is crucial in video conferencing. Using a good quality microphone and minimizing background noise ensure that your voice is heard clearly without distractions. Features like noise cancellation can be beneficial in maintaining audio clarity.
Non-Verbal Cues and Gestures
Since a significant portion of communication is non-verbal, it’s important to consciously use gestures and expressions that can be easily perceived through the camera. Nodding, smiling, and using hand gestures can convey engagement and understanding, compensating for the lack of physical presence.
Active Engagement
Demonstrating active listening through verbal affirmations (“I understand,” “Interesting point,” etc.) becomes even more crucial in video calls to compensate for the physical distance. Short verbal nods also reassure the speaker that the audio is transmitting correctly and that they are being heard.
Screen Sharing and Visual Aids
Leveraging the tools provided by video conferencing platforms, such as screen sharing or virtual whiteboards, can add depth to the conversation, allowing for a more interactive and engaging exchange of ideas.
Managing Turn-Taking
In video calls, it’s easy to accidentally talk over each other due to slight delays or audio lags. Being mindful of taking turns and using features like raising hands or chat functions to indicate the desire to speak can help manage the flow of conversation more smoothly.
Check-ins and Breaks
Recognizing the potential for “Zoom fatigue,” it’s important to check in with participants, especially in longer meetings, and offer short breaks to maintain energy and engagement levels.
By being mindful of these aspects, video conferencing can become a more effective and meaningful platform for communication, bridging the gap created by physical distance.
The Optometrist’s Approach
Once, while doing remote coaching, I came up with a technique that helped us both ensure we weren’t missing anything by being remote. This helped ensure we were getting a clearer vision of what was at the core of an issue. In the debrief, the coachee described it being like visiting an optometrist to find what would help them see most clearly.
The technique of echoing back what you heard with two slightly different interpretations, akin to an optometrist trying on different glasses to find the right prescription, is a nuanced method in active listening and communication. Just as an optometrist presents a series of lenses, asking, “Is this clearer, or is this?” to finely tune the vision correction needed, this conversational technique involves reflecting back the speaker’s message in a couple of varied formulations to gain deeper clarity and understanding.
In practice, after listening to someone express their thoughts or feelings, you might respond with, “So, is what you’re saying more like ABC, or would it be more accurate to say it’s like XYZ?” This approach not only shows that you are actively engaged and seeking to understand their perspective fully but also provides the speaker with an opportunity to consider their own words from different angles. It’s a way of adjusting the ‘focus’ of the conversation, ensuring that the listener’s understanding is as clear and accurate as possible.
This method respects the complexity of human communication, acknowledging that thoughts and feelings can be multifaceted and that the first attempt at expressing them might not fully capture their entirety. By offering alternative interpretations, you invite the speaker to refine their message, leading to a more precise understanding, much like how the optometrist’s process results in the optimal prescription for clear vision.
See Also:
Powerful Questions
Powerful Questions for Coaches and Leaders: A resource on PositivePsychology.com discusses the significance of asking the right questions to unlock potential and drive personal and professional growth. For instance, questions like “What do you already know about what you were made to do?” and “What roles or responsibilities do you enjoy?” can help individuals explore their purpose and strengths. Similarly, for leaders, questions such as “What’s on your mind?” and “What do you want?” can facilitate more effective coaching and leadership by encouraging self-exploration and clarity in team members.
Perspectives – in any dialog, don’t forget that each person is carrying their recent and past experiences with them.
Active Listening Techniques: Another section on PositivePsychology.com delves into active listening, emphasizing the importance of understanding the speaker’s feelings and reflecting them back to show comprehension and empathy. Techniques include accurately receiving voice and body messages, using paraphrasing to demonstrate understanding, and being aware of contextual differences that affect communication. These skills are not only crucial in therapeutic settings but also in everyday conversations, helping to manage resistances and deepen connections.
Telling someone that they are amazing, naturally creative, resourceful and whole with unbounded potential is NOT an acknowledgement.
A few years ago, a senior leader said he observed that members of my team loved me and would do just about anything for me. He wanted to know how that came to be. My initial inclination was to tell him that it needs to start with letting them know and trust that their growth and success is very important to you.
However, luckily, I realized that statement would have been wrong.
Instead, I recognized and said, it starts with it actually being truly important to you that they grow and succeed. To his credit, he was honest enough to say that he had never seen that as an aspect of leadership. Your team will not believe you care unless you actually do. Once they recognize you care for them and their success, they will care more for themselves and their own success.
So, back to my original statement:
Telling someone that they are amazing, naturally creative, resourceful and whole with unbounded potential is NOT an acknowledgement.
You yourself recognizing, truly believing and internalizing that they are amazing, naturally creative, resourceful and whole with unbounded potential is the actual acknowledgement. Telling them that they are amazing is a statement of acknowledgement. Without first appreciating it, the statement is hollow with little impact.
Nonetheless, the magic doesn’t really happen until they themselves recognize, acknowledge and truly believe in their own ability to grow, achieve and succeed without bound. When you truly recognize another person’s magnificence, they are much more likely to also see it themselves.
Acknowledgement in the Classroom
When teaching, especially 8th graders, if you want to have any hope of reaching your students, you need their trust. Start with first acknowledging yourself that they are fully capable individuals. This is a necessary foundation for establishing genuine trust. It’s hard to make progress in the classroom if there isn’t a connection established. I remember a school event where parents where dumbfounded that their 8th graders were asking me to be in selfies with them. If you can have that kind of connection with 8th graders, you can also help them appreciate that your objective is to enable them to discover they are ready for life. Now you can begin evoking the transformation to help them learn how to learn.
The way you do anything is the way you do everything
When we look closely at another or their actions, we get a window into the whole person. Everything the say or do in some way sheds more light. The values driving small actions and choices are the same as those driving small and large decisions in other parts of their life. As the saying goes “the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.“
When we look deeply into another’s eyes we may see their soul; when we look at, understand, appreciate and acknowledge small achievements we may have just opened a window into what lies inside waiting to venture out. The Zulu greeting Sawubona means “I see you, you are important to me and I value you.” It’s a way to make the other person visible and to accept them as they are with their virtues, nuances, and flaws. In my experience if you truly see and accept someone, it opens the door for them to become visible to themselves.
When we observe others and acknowledge and appreciate their potential and allow them to recognize what we truly see in them, they may come to recognize their own potential. By truly seeing them, you enable them to evoke transformation in themselves. See them.
When I stood face to face with the Dalai Lama many years ago and he looked into my eyes, he certainly evoked transformation in me with that look, an acknowledging smile and nod.
– I see you – CD
Sawubona – I see you
Heart Rate Meditation
written by CD | May 22, 2022
There are advantages for mind, body and soul to being calm oneself to be more present and aware. Much of the guidance on meditation starts with focusing on the breath. I found it to be more effective to practice Heart Rate Meditation by focusing via direct feedback. Also, a key to consciously changing your heart rate is to adjust your breathing.
In 2006. the Pacific drove me into the sand breaking 5 vertebrae, one shoulder, one collar bone and one rib. There was little for me to do other than lie in the hospital bed and try not to move. On the nightstand I could see the SpO2 monitor which showed me my heart rate and oxygen. I remembered my Tai Chi / Qi Gong Master, Lee Holden, had talked about consciously lowering one’s heart rate. So, I worked on keeping the oxygen above 90% while lowering my heart rate to 40. This also proved to be a great way for me to remove myself from the pain.
Since then, I have leveraged this Heart Rate Meditation to settle my breathing and heart-rate. It brings me into a state of tremendous inner peace and tranquility. Simulataneously, it also seeming to open me to a greater awareness – strange as that may sound. The direct feedback loop of an SpO2 meter helps in learning to influence your heart rate and breathing.
Another Brush with Death
Years after learning to control my heart rate, I experienced what felt like a heart attack. I drove to urgent care, where they determine it wasn’t a heart attack. They ran a d-dimer test which came back way off the scale. An ambulance took me the ER while the pain in my chest increased, and it became harder to breathe. While waiting in the ER, I decided it best to slow my breath and heart rate. My meditative state didn’t convey a sense of urgency, and it took some time before they did a CT scan. The doctor then arrived with the scan and held it up to the light box. Turning white, he looked at me saying “I can’t believe you’re alive!” They injected me with heparin to help the blood flow in my lungs again.
The doctor explained I had had a “massive, bi-lateral pulmonary embolism” basically a blot clot breaks off into little pieces which move through your heart and into your lungs where they clog the alveoli and inhibit the blood-oxygen exchange. The doctor said people tend to panic when their heart hurts and they can’t breathe. I asked if panicking wouldn’t be a bad idea under those conditions. His response was well yes it would only make matters worse. I had seemed more prudent to me to remain calm and lower my breath and heart rate. While sitting on the precipice of death waiting for the doctor in a deep meditative state, I felt myself letting go of all that was in the ER with my brother standing next to me, and doctors and nurses milling about other patients while I was fading to the edge of consciousness and yet quite serene. The doctor felt that my keeping my heart rate low and everything else at ease may well have been what saved my life.
“Psychology’s recognition of the body’s influence on the mind coincides with a recent focus on the role of the heart in our social psychology. It turns out that the heart is not only critical for survival, but also for how people related to one another. In particular, heart rate variability (HRV), variation in the heart’s beat-to-beat interval, plays a key role in social behaviors ranging from decision-making, regulating one’s emotions, coping with stress, and even academic engagement. Decreased HRV appears to be related to depression and autism and may be linked to thinking about information deliberately. Increased HRV, on the other hand, is associated with greater social skills such as recognizing other people’s emotions and helps people cope with socially stressful situations, such as thinking about giving a public speech or being evaluated by someone of another race.”
The feedback loop enabled by an SpO2 meter helps in training yourself to control your heart rate meditation. You will discover a keep part of that is slow, steady, deep breathing. Neuroscientists have identified how exactly a deep breath changes your mind speaks to how breathing impact brain function…
“Simply put, changes in breathing—for example, breathing at different paces or paying careful attention to the breaths—were shown to engage different parts of the brain… ..The findings provide neural support for advice individuals have been given for millennia: during times of stress, or when heightened concentration is needed, focusing on one’s breathing or doing breathing exercises can indeed change the brain. This has potential application to individuals in a variety of professions that require extreme focus and agility.”
The Benefits of Meditation
Live and Dare: “There are over 3,000 scientific studies on the benefits of meditation,” what will happen if you start meditating today?
On January 22nd 2006, mindfulness and performance expert George Mumford told Kobe Bryant not to try to score, but just be in the moment and let the game happen. That night he scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.
In his book The Culture Code – The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, Daniel Coyle refers to a competition at Stanford where business students in university squared off against kindergartners. The four-person teams had to beat the clock and build a tower using uncooked spaghetti, tape and string with a marshmallow on top. You would think that obviously, the group of MBA student would easily outperform a group of kindergartners. It turns out it’s good to act like a bunch of 5-year-olds – well, at least when it comes to working in a groups. The kindergartners do better than the business school students.
He further mentions a “sociometer” which can measure the energy level of an interaction, and use it to determine levels of engagement. Most important, it can combine its data with email and social media to form detailed maps that reveal the inner workings of a team, company, or classroom. There are lots of interesting insights he derives from that.
However, you may not wish to invest in a spaghetti tower competition or a sociometer, but you might try an exercise that’s worked for me in putting teams of four to compete against each other. It’s a fun exercise I learned on the path to my teaching credentials was Broken Squares (see various links below). You pit the groups of four against each other where each group, without speaking must complete making four squares from four envelopes of pieces give to each participant. You only win when all four squares are completed. The sets of four envelopes are grouped such that only one holds all the pieces to make a square. The others can’t successfully complete their squares unless they get pieces from the other participants including the one who had a complete set. As you observe the competing teams, you’ll often see someone compete their square and get frustrated that his or her teammates aren’t doing their part. The team that collaborates by giving up pieces (you can give but not take and no talking) of their, possibly already completed square, to allow their teammates to all complete their squares is the one that gets all four squares.
Observing the group dynamics and then talking them through can be quite insightful – you might even choose to make the envelopes with a complete set to the people that tend to be leaders to help them discover how effectively and collaboratively they lead.
In The Culture Code – The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, Daniel Coyle goes into the various aspects of how teams function effectively. After doing a broken squares exercise, this might be a good book to suggest to your leaders.
Inspiration, curiosity and drive for someone with a growth mindset can be sparked or fed by role models. Here are just a few of the many role models that inspired me
If we consider the possibility that the potential lies within each of us to be a Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai if we were willing to assert ourselves, one might think that could be tremendously inspiring.
However, I believe it can also be depressing and disheartening to think we are making impacts such as those role models, simply because we don’t have the conviction and stamina to do it. It’s much luck saying “Happiness is a Choice.”
If it’s truly that simple, then what’s holding us back? If you embrace the possibility, it’s also very daunting; where do 10xers draw the courage to try? Why then do some get up, why do they actually enjoy the challenge, what allows them to believe that is the only sure way to break through to the next level?
I would argue it’s because these people have all somewhere in their lives had someone that role modeled that it’s possible, that helped them find the way, a mentor, advocate, coach, teacher, parent, manager, partner, supportive friend, etc.
Role Models I Met or Worked with
Another person that inspired me by the shear impact of a brief personal encounter with him is the Dalai Lama whom I crossed paths with as a student. Though I’d not heard of him when we met, the impact of that encounter remains fresh in my memory as a reminder of how powerful a simple encounter can be.
One person that inspired me in business is Brad Smith, the CEO of Intuit (currently at an over $50B). Brad was also mentored by Bill Campbell (aka Trillion Dollar Coach) who Intuit’s Chairman of the Board at thhe time. For quite some time, I had the privilege of meeting with Brad weekly as he reviewed the internal start-up I was running at Intuit named SB-Connect. Where did Brad find his inspiration? It could his amazing Alma-mater football team that rose from the ashes – the We Are Marshall! Where did they find their inspiration, perhaps it was their coach… Or, did Brad also find inspiration from the former CEO of Intuit Steve Bennet who re-energized Intuit before him and who was Brad’s Mentor. Where did Steve find his inspiration? Perhaps it was getting inspired by Jack Welch during whose tenure at GE, the company’s value rose 4,000% .
Other inspirations in business came from the five women who were VPs of Engineering that I reported to in my career.
One person who really opened my eyes to various theories on how we learn and how we can help others learn has been Patty Swanson, Chair of Teacher Eduction at San Jose State whom I was lucky to have as a professor as I was working toward my teaching credentials. Among the things Patty introduced me to in 2002-2003 was work of her former colleague’s at Stanford – Carol Dweck‘s notion of Fixed and Growth Mindsets which she published in her book a few years later.
Family Role Models
Another source of my inspiration came from my father who was a physicist known by some as the father of atmospheric electricity. I was fourth generation physicist with a history of changing the world. My father was also inspired by his father’s colleague, Albert Einstein – my father remembered Einstein coming to dinner at their house. Certainly I was also inspired by my mother who also has a tremendous history to be proud of – on her side of the family, I’m fifth generation teacher.
I’ve also had the rare privilege of my career in software engineering to have reported into five different women as my VPs of Engineering. Each of them had to persevere in this field to make it to that level. I suspect they all had some mentors, role models and/or advocates in their lives that inspired them.
I also had a tremendous collection of teachers throughout my schooling at Groveton High School in Virginia. However, the person that has consistently inspired me the most is someone I believe to be the most talented, curious and fascinating engineer I’ve met in my 35+ years in software engineering. She was one of the first engineers in the field of Artificial Intelligence in the mid-80s at Intellicorp. She is also one of the most self-driven athletes I know. I’m lucky to have her as my partner, even though I often feel like an imposter that needs to pinch myself that I could be so lucky.
It’s also important in thinking about motivating others that we consider in Inspiring The Future to Redraw The Balance (a great short video to watch) so that those among us we may discount due to cultural or historical biases, not get get unduly discounted. One of our inspiring board members, Anita Sands, gave a great talk on finding not only mentors but also advocates. I believe in taking that a step further to also being a mentor and an advocate.
So, if it’s the people in our lives that inspire us to do more, then is it not true that some of us are luckier than other for those that we have in our lives? I believe their is some truth to that.
Level 5 Leading
written by CD | May 22, 2022
I like to framing styles of leadership as I see them in the fish story. I’m adding a level 5 here that is not as easy to grasp as the others:
Level 1 leading – The Micromanager – tells them what to do – gives them a fish. There are some leaders that can be surprisingly effective in this mode if they happen to be experts at what they do, fast on their feet and full of energy. I’ve seen successful VPs operate at this level.
Level 2 leading – The Instructor – shows them how to do it – teaches them to fish. Now they can repeat the task themselves.
Level 3 guiding – The Eye-Opener – bestows the grit, confidence and experiences, insight and tools allowing them to solve whatever may come – teaches them to learn so they might obtain various forms of food.
Level 4 guiding – The Leader of Leaders – enables/teaches others to become level 2. 3 and 4 leaders.
Level 5 guiding – The Master Whisperer – starts by operating at levels 3 and 4 with increasing subtly that the recipient often doesn’t notice they are being guided. A level 1 or 2 leader may also not recognize when there’s a level 5 leader on their team. Ideally, everyone ends up wanting to do what needs to get done because their goals and desires align with the mission. They don’t need to be “told” what to do, they simply want to do it and are motivated to figure out what that is. A more direct introduction of Level 5 guiding is to take a client/employee you’ve been meeting for a while and on the next meeting/session, ask them to think about what they’d like to discuss (either new topic or a continuation of a past interaction) and keep it to themselves. Then ask them to close their eyes and listen. Ask them if they feel they know you by know. Then tell them to keep their eyes closed and image the conversation as they know it would unfold – assure them they know you well enough so that they can predict what you will ask, how they will respond, what you’ll say next … Let them do this for 5-10 minutes. When they seem done, ask them if they feel they got a fair amount of it figured out. Then ask them to think a little more deeply about what they were unsure about and reassure them, they’ll figure it out. With this, you can demonstrate how they can consciously and eventually subconsciously channel the coaching and mentoring you would have done and thereby channel you. If far enough along, they can master this skill themselves – if you’ve been helping them along well, they will know that all the answers to their questions can be found within themselves (perhaps with the help of looking at them from perspectives other their own, but nonetheless ones they know. I have thus also helped people channel parents, partners and good friends they’ve lost whom they liked to go to for meaningful conversations. If they were close to the person, they know what that person would say and ask. They consistently discover that the person they lost is actually very much still with them – there to be called upon any time. The Level 5 Master leaves others with the ability to leverage them as their guide even long after they are gone.
Level 3 and above leadership empowers, inspires, grows and scales teams and organizations.
Level 1 and 2 leadership often leads to under-utilize or diminish the potential of members of their team.
Often people have a hard time imagining Level 5 guiding. Below is one illustration of how this can be done in the Room Where it Happens:
To operate at Level 5, consider having a form or questionnaire to offer at the end of one meeting and to be completed prior to meeting along the lines of:
What happened since we last met?
What worked?
What didn’t work?
– Did anything happen related to what was discussed last time?
What worked?
What didn’t work?
What do you want to talk about?
What do you hope to get into / work on after the upcoming meeting?
Now, at the meeting time, let them know that for the first five minutes you’d like them to close there eyes so they don’t get any visual queues from you. Let them know that for that time you’re not going say a word or make a sound and they should remain silent as well. Then inform them after those five minutes, you’re going to ask them what you would have just discussed if their had been a dialog.
When that look of disbelief and confusion comes back, help them. Help them realize they know what happened since the last meeting, they know what worked and what didn’t, they know what lies ahead that they want to work on. Remind them that they know you, you know them and they know themselves. Now ask them to close their eyes and mentally go through the conversation and interaction as they know would unfold in that room if it were a dialog.
When the five minutes have passed, ask them to open their eyes. Ask them if they believe they may have mostly gotten it right. If/when they agree, ask them if they could also imagine there was something they missed. If/when they agree, ask them to tell you what they forgot to tell you or what they weren’t clear on how you would respond. Have them tell you what they overlooked and/or what they actually know about how you would respond, what questions you would ask, what action you would ask them to take. If you have built the connection and relationship well, they will also be able to answer those questions.
Now, ask them if they could do this exercise if you happened not to be in the room. Could it still happen in that room if you weren’t present? Ask them if it might be possible that at at time where it would help and/or at a prescribed time/interval they could create a room where it happens in their minds and close their eyes to “sit” in that room and have the conversation in their mind. Mind you, as a leader, it’s important to help them appreciate you’re not abdicating responsibility, but rather delegating it which could open the door to richer conversations with you to explore new avenues of growth and development for them.
Can you build a connection that allows them to create the notion of a virtual captain to guide their vessel that they could call upon at will? This can help remove a dependence, empower them and free you to move onto to do some work with another vessel.
If you work with them to together create their own captain, they can hear what their captain whispers in the room where it happens even when they are alone and physically somewhere else. It might help them to step outside of the physical space they are in, close their eyes and listen to the whispers.
Radical Candor in the Mirror
written by CD | May 22, 2022
Radical Candor in the Mirror is about not being delusional or self-destructive. Instead, it’s about recognizing opportunities for continuous growth within ourselves. It’s about positive self-reflection.
When we think of looking in the mirror, we often think of Narcissism. This is Delusional Self-Love and seeing ourselves as far better and above all others with no need or room for growth. However, we also know we can beat ourselves up. We create images of not being good enough, not believing in ourselves, seeing how everyone else is better. This lacking of hope, giving up and seeing no way out is Self-Destructive Minimalization of who we are and what we’re capable of. Sometimes, we experience the temptation to pump ourselves up and remind ourselves of how wonderful and great we are. We may feel we are protecting ourselves and lifting ourselves up through self-empathy in what is often Ruinous, Self-Loving Denial.
There is an alternative to all of these. We can choose an Opportunity Embracing Growth-Mindset. We allow ourselves to look into the mirror seeking areas of improvement while recognizing we have within ourselves the ability to continuously and incrementally improve on our journey of Human Transformation. Framing this in Kim Scott’s Radical Candor 2×2 allows us to leverage Scott’s insights. We can be radically candid in giving feedback to others in service of the recipients. However, also in being radically candid with ourselves in service of ourselves by fostering a Growth Mindset within ourselves.
After writing this post on Radical Candor in the Mirror, I discovered some related posts by Tara Well in Psychology Today and other sources. Dr. Tara Well is an associate professor of psychology at Barnard College of Columbia University where she developed the mirror-based meditation called “a revelation” in the New York Times.
Radiant energy fills me each time I think back to 1979 – my first year at U.Va. I remember walking between classes and turning the corner onto the lawn and being face to face with this fellow. The uplifting peace I felt as he paused, and we looked deep into each others’ eyes remains with me. It was surely a very brief look, but it somehow felt like much time passed in that look. We then both smiled and nodded and moved on. It felt like we were recognizing each other as old friends as we peered into each other’s souls.
It even seemed like we could see past each other’s childhoods to past lives. I had never really considered the possibility of past lives. I remember that moving experience as though it was yesterday. Each day I am thankful that I have been blessed by encountering and recognizing so many kindred spirits. It serves as an inspiration to touch those I encounter such that I might leave them with a bit more light to share further.
I only discovered the next day that I encountered the Dalai Lama when I saw the image below. That brief yet profound connection inspired me to begin a journey of connection and radiant energy. Over time, I learned what a tremendous person this was that I had experienced. Some 30 years later I attended a limited fund-raiser where he was present again. While his laugh was still there and the positive energy radiated strongly, I also perceived a weight of sadness that had perhaps come through the decades of seeing things.
My first early childhood education exercise was to go to a pre-school where a teacher was having particular trouble with three very disruptive boys she could not get under control. She hoped just to get a day of relief by having me take them for the day. I approached the boys and told them that I hoped to be a teacher some day and that they could help me. They were surprised to hear that from me. I asked them to tell me what made a good teacher and a bad teacher. They said they didn’t like their teacher because she had all these stupid rules. I acted very surprised and asked for an example. They said, like no playing ball inside the classroom. In shock, I asked why on earth would a teacher tell them that? Playing ball is fun!!! I probed further to get them to tell me why a teacher might have such a stupid rule. After some thought, they suggested the ball might break something. I said, oh wow, yeah, that might make some sense. One by one, I had them give me rationale as to why any teacher would have any of the rules that their teacher was imposing on them. They came up with some great reasons.
The next week I heard back from the teacher who wasn’t sure if she should ask what I had said to the boys because they had somehow become the best behaved children in her class. Later I learned that one approach to establishing rules that students would adhere to is to have them come up with their own rules. It would take longer to arrive at a good set than it would if the teacher dictated them; however, the students observed would consistently adhere to the rules they came up with far more than those a teacher dictated.
When interviewing engineering manager candidates, I like to ask them: “If you had to choose just one tenant of Agile Software Development Methodology to be “religious” about, what would it be?” I get some interesting responses, but the one I tell them I am religious about is to not be religious about anything. Every situation is slightly different and the most effective process is adapted to the situation. More on that in another post. My next favorite answer is to have Retrospectives where the team analyzes how the last sprint went and determines what to repeat, what to improve and what to not do again. In essence coming up with their own rules for how to best development software.
The Path to Enlightenment
written by CD | May 22, 2022
The path to enlightenment lies not in the footsteps of another. – CD
In developing talent, it is important to help them learn to find their own path that not only resonates with them, but that is also appropriate for the unique experiences they will come upon in their path. When I interview someone who has “Agile” on their resume, I ask them: “If you had to be religious about just one thing about the agile development methodology, what would it be?” It’s a bit of a trick question as the answer I seek is: “To be religious about nothing at all.” I say this because every project and every team is unique and what works well in one situation may not in another.
Kanban may be well suited for green-field projects dealing with technologies and/or languages the team hasn’t used before. Similarly, the use of Story Point Poker may apply well to a well understood technology, language and project.
Likewise, when it comes to be a teacher, manager, coach or colleague, there is most likely not one specific approach that will work in all similar situations. Even the exact same situation involving the exact same people may have different outcomes on any given day as circumstances may have altered. Prior to coming to work, school or the field, one individual may have lost a loved one, or another may have had a fight with their partner…
So too, it is unlikely that any advice dispensed will always be applicable and resulting in predictable outcomes. As a horse whisperer, it is good to understand how to interact with a horse and how to recognize certain signs, but it tends to be most effective and safe to adjust the approach to what works in a specific moment and interaction. So too with humans or a business, there is no one answer or approach that will always work. I have been at early, mid and late stage companies operating in existing and emerging markets, I have seen there are many different paths to success that apply even within the same company and business as it matures.
To go back to the question about Agile, my next favorite answer is the Retrospective – this is where a team looks back at the last sprint to decide what worked, what didn’t what to keep, abandon or adjust from the last sprint. So too, the Post Mortem after an outage or the debrief after a game present wonderful opportunities to learn from that experience what might work better that previous approaches. As a coach, teacher or mentor, I’m always careful with dispensing advice for the are always many vectors of force at play and many may not be readily visible to me. Hence, I’m also careful to closely follow what I learn from others and how I arrived at the view that the path to enlightenment lies not in the footsteps of another. We may observe and learn from others, but I believe we should each find our own path and see what lies in front of us with a beginner’s mind.
In Relentless – From Good to Great to Unstoppable, personal trainer Tim Grover explains what he has learned from coaching athletes like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade. Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable, keep going when everyone else is giving up, to thrive under pressure, to never let your emotions make you weak. He talks about the drive of a “Cleaner” who relentlessly pushes themselves to the edge of exhaustion and then keeps going. Grover asks for complete commitment to train as he dictates In describing losing 20 pounds in three weeks, he talks about athletes that don’t have the stamina to go without food. In training to compete at national and world championships, I know what it’s like to drop 20 in 21 or voluntarily get past day 4 without food or to drop a few more seconds off each run or ride or to consistently get over 1,000 reps in 10 minutes or keep playing despite broken bones, … Being able to hit your limits, push through them and set new limits only to push through them again can be an incredibly powerful experience in discovering just what one can be capable of. Discovering that you are continuously capable of going further than you thought possible can also help you persevere when you’re down and think you can’t get back on your feet. I believe that helped me push past the pain to get back to the surface after the Pacific had broken 5 vertebrae, one should, one collarbone, one rib and lots of neck injuries only to get pushed under again by the next way. We are capable of way more than we believe.
That being said, what feels more fascinating than achieving amazing things with all the parts that make up our body is the ability to achieve great things with teams of individuals. Daniel Coyle in Culture Code points out that Greg Popovich became of of the NBA’s best coaches by building a culture of trust on the Spurs team. Popovich forges connections with the players off the filed over meals or in locker room discussions of folks less fortunate in third world countries. He also points to research from the Harvard Business School that shows companies with strong cultures outperformed those with average cultures by a factor of seven over a 10-year period.
Unconscious Bias and Privilege are things that are easy to claim we don’t have. Hence, unconscious is they key word in calling out things we are likely in denial of. Some time ago, I came up with two city bus metaphors that help us wake up. They seem to resonate with most people. This distinction has again become more impactful as a result of Covid-19 – See update below.
Unconscious Bias and Privilege exist whether we deny it or not. As leaders and role models, we can help course correct towards creating spaces, or through denial perpetuate these societal obstacles to empowering everyone to have a more balanced opportunity to achieve their potential.
Bronx bus from CityLimits.org – 2016.09.07
Unconscious Bias
Imagine you are getting on a city bus and you discover every open seat is next to a passenger that boarded earlier. If the passengers are a diverse mix, how likely is it that you will choose next to someone similar to you?
Privilege
Now imagine you are sitting in the window seat of a city bus with an empty seat next to you. Imagine further all seats taken by a diverse set of passengers. Now, imagine another passenger similar to you gets on the bus. The same emotional, possibly subconscious thought process occurs as it did for you in the scenario above. They might be inclined to choose a seat next to someone similar to them. In what other situations might I or others be unconsciously inclined to sit next to, work with, select someone more similar to ourselves?
Now consider:
The 116th congress is 75% white and 77% male.
Fortune 500 boards seats are 77.5% male and 16.1% minorities.
The top 100 films worldwide last year were produced by 99% male directors, mostly white.
There are many, many more similar stats on imbalance in positions of power…
If any of these people are looking to hire someone they will work with/sit next to, are they too not slightly inclined towards people similar to themselves?
Born able-bodied, and able to see, hear and vocalize
Someone with two parents with college education
A sis-gender heterosexual
None of these things required any effort on my part. They make it very hard to appreciate or comprehend what it’s like to live without these personal traits. I would argue that each of the above gives me some advantage in our society over anyone that is missing even one of these things. This includes better odds of being chosen by someone with a similar background. All my life I’ve been aware through reminders from my parents and from just observing the realities we live in, that I have what feels like a very unfair advantage over the starting point for most other humans on this planet. Despite my being aware of it and feeling it’s not fair, it still comes to my advantage simply because that’s how our society operates. I don’t have to consciously take advantage of this for it to be of advantage to me.
Sidewalk Chicken
The next time you walk down a crowded sidewalk, pay attention who makes room for you and for whom you make room. “Sidewalk chicken” is something that has fascinated me from the first time I was in a crowded city as a child.
Unconscious bias and privilege plays out billions of times throughout crowded sidewalks all around the world. This summer in a crowded pedestrian zone in Barcelona, Our 13-year-old followed me as I walked into a sea of oncoming pedestrians where I demonstrated how I could alter the course of on-comers long before they reached me without ever making eye contact. People course-corrected to avoid a collision. They unconsciously changed course due to my trajectory and focus.
Sidewalk ninjaing through crowds has fascinated me since I was a small child. One interaction after another with often less than a second between them. There may have been a billion such interactions in my life that I walked into consciously to see what I could learn within a split second. When our youngest tried it, it didn’t go so well for her. Adults, especially men, were caught off guard by a girl that wasn’t getting out of their way. This made me appreciate that my saying you just need to be strong, assertive and move with direction and conviction comes from an ignorance of overlooking the advantage I have of being a white, able-bodied, male. Sure, there are bigger, younger, stronger white males out there, but I believe my years of practice in this game were also facilitated by my unfair advantage.
Unconscious Bias starts early
Below is a great example of unconscious gender bias present at an early age. We shouldn’t forget that Drs. Mamie and Kenneth Clark demonstrated a an early presence of racial bias by leveraging their famous “Doll Test” that may sadly still play out the similarly today.
Whether choosing whom to sit next to on a bus or make room for on a sidewalk, power dynamics are always at play. Acting on bias, manipulating, bullying, psychologically or physically abusing and being racist are all mechanisms which , conscious or not, establish or maintain an imbalance of power. If we don’t recognize that we all live somewhere along that spectrum, then we haven’t opened our eyes yet.
Covid-19 Update
Since first writing this last year, the world has seen an outbreak of Covid-19 play out disproportionately in favor of white, male privilege. The jobs the privileged find themselves in are more likely to be suitable to work from home. Those jobs are also more likely to provide an income that allows one to weather a storm, have a stockpile of necessities (rather than venturing out to buy them as needed). This can also result in being less likely to find ourselves on a crowded subway or bus like the one above. Privilege can also enable buying expensive masks and sanitizers. The privileged are also much more likely to have comprehensive health insurance. As a result, in the U.S. we see the pandemic very disproportionately impacting the underprivileged while the privileged minority set the rules, laws and guidelines we all are to adhere to.
After having experienced the dynamics of sidewalk chicken, Google led me to various things written about it in the context of bias. References to that are below. Later, I also came across and interesting write-up about choosing whom to sit next to: NCBI – Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience:
Introduction: Imagine stepping onto a crowded subway car, shopping bags in each hand, and finding two seats left, each next to a similarly dressed man: one white, the other black. Where would you sit? If you are white, choosing to sit next to the white passenger raises the concern that you will be seen as biased, while choosing to sit next to the black passenger raises the concern that you will be seen as—perhaps disingenuously—bowing to political correctness.
The bird’s-eye view of myself in the world below came early for me. At age five, I had surgery on both eyes. So, I learned to navigate the hospital without the use of my eyes. I can still remember breathing to calm myself before first venturing out on my own. I also remember in my mind’s eye seeing the hospital floor below me, observing myself leaving the room to visit other kids who weren’t able to get out of their beds.
40+ years later I heard an interview with Dr Lera Boroditsky visiting the Kuuk Thaayorre people of Queensland, Australia.
One day, I was walking along, and I was just staring at the ground. All of a sudden, I noticed that there was a new window that had popped up in my mind, and it was like a little bird’s-eye view of the landscape that I was walking through, and I was a little red dot that was moving across the landscape.
When I turned, this little window stayed locked on the landscape, but it turned in my mind’s eye. And as soon as I saw that happen, I thought, oh, this makes it so much easier. Now I can stay oriented. Sheepishly, I confessed this to someone there. I said, you know, this weird thing happened. I saw this bird’s-eye view, and I was this little red dot. And they said, well, of course. How else would you do it? Of course that’s how you…”
The bird’s-eye view of ourselves in the world below became a recurring theme in my life. Often it’s related to mindful breathing. It hadn’t occurred to me that it might not be as familiar a perspective to others.
Bird’s-Eye View of a Pool
To qualify as a lifeguard at our community pool, you had to swim a full length without breathing. Being a 12-year-old up for a challenge, I wanted to see if I could go two lengths. This breathwork became another early “out of body experience” though I didn’t hear of that term until decades later.
It was also the beginning of my journey of breath-work. I heard hyperventilating could help hold your breath longer filling your lung with a higher concentration of oxygen. To extract the most oxygen from the air in my lungs I simulated breathing underwater by alternating expanding and contracting my stomach. Yeah, OK, I wasn’t a “normal” kid. Noticing the urge to surface grew the longer I stayed under, I reached the point where my lungs were hurting. I tried to stay calm and not panic. I discovered this odd experience of floating in the air above the pool and looking down at myself swimming. While observing myself wanting and needing air I somehow removed myself to a place of observer. I distanced myself from the pain and consciousness of desperately needing air. Perhaps that was also a side affect of the risky skirting with cerebral hypoxia that can lead to hallucination.
Nonetheless, my consciousness had lifted from the perspective of the fish without gills to a bird’s-eye view.
Bird’s-Eye View and Near Death
30 years later, I noticed that the waves I was riding were getting bigger. Ducking an exceptionally large wave, I rode the next one in. The big wave was coming back to undercut the wave I was on. It slammed me head-first into the sand. The impact broke five vertebrae, one rib, one collarbone, one shoulder and wrangled my neck. The pain was intense as I was being tossed around under water. The Chasing Mavericks movie quote flashed through my head. “Fear is good, panic is bad“. I managed to collect myself and get my head over water long enough to gasp some air. Again I was swept under in the next wave. The churning ripped a shock wave of pain through my injured body.
Pain and lack of air brought about another out of body experience over the waves seeing at myself below. The intense pain shifted to perhaps the most serene, peaceful moment of my life looking down at my body about to meet its end. The pain and noise and darkness of being thrashed in the waves all disappeared. It became quiet and light. I perceived my unaware parents on the beach about to lose their youngest son. An upcoming hike with my future wife flashed by. It felt like there was more to do in life, and now wasn’t my time. I wasn’t ready to go yet. I fought to get to get my head above water and wave. It was seen both by an off-duty EMT and my friend who was holding her newborn. To this day she remembers seeing the pain in my eyes from the beach. Handing her son to a man she hoped she could trust, she rushed in to help pull me out.
Recovery
The EMT’s colleagues from the local Fire Department slid a board under me and off I went to the ER. When I went back to thank them a year later, they were surprised I was able to walk again. At the hospital, they put me on morphine and Oxycontin and something to keep me from vomiting up the opioids. I lay in bed with little entertainment and too out of it to have conversations or watch TV. Despite the drugs, even breathing hurt. I decided to entertain myself by watching my SpO2 meter, trying to see how low I could get my pulse keeping my oxygen level at 98%. That required calming myself with slow breaths. If my mind ever slipped out of being at peace, the pulse meter would quickly tell me.
With days on end, I could work on this new found way of learning to meditate. I got my pulse down to 40 (later to 36). Again, I felt I’d left my body floating above the bed looking down at my broken, pained and drugged body. I rediscovered the advantages of lifting myself to the perspective of a bird’s-eye view. It was interesting later reading about out of body experiences (OBEs) that they are described similar to that. I hadn’t knowingly heard of them before. After some time, I underwent a very long ambulance ride to Stanford Hospital. After weeks of lying flat there, a physical therapist came to ask me to sit up. That was the last thing I wanted to do. She did eventually get me to sit up, get my feet on the ground. Then she slowly helped me learn how to walk again.
Bird’s-Eye View Meditating
vulture lifting off next to my favorite meditation spot.
I’d long been a fan of Jack Kornfield after listening to Roots of Buddhist Psychology. Living in Northern California, I decided to visit his Spirit Rock Insight Meditation Center. I remember sitting inside among a large group of attendees at the 411 acres retreat . It’s set in a serene oak woodlands in the secluded hills of West Marin County, California. We were given a moment to meditate. I found myself a bit annoyed sitting so closely to other inside, when it was so beautiful outside.
I closed my eyes and began to calm my breathing and letting go of my immediate surroundings. It felt like I lifted out of the building and away from the others. Then it was like going back in time to before when there were building and people there. There was nothing but plants, animals, winds and shadows of clouds passing over the ground. Serenity was achieved and I have found this lifting out of myself, humanity, structures and present time has remained a wonderful way to meditate.
Bird’s-Eye View Whispering
Working with horses also taught me about breathing among flight, herd animals. Having been prey for generations, the whole herd notices when one in the herd becomes apprehensive. Other animals pick up on that to avoid falling prey to a predator. Horse whisperers learn that horses are very much in tune with your own state. Breathing more heavily when you’re nervous makes them nervous. Looking straight at them causes them subconsciously to wonder if they are your target. They can smell when you break a sweat. Horses hear apprehension in your voice, they see it in your gait, and they notice how you hold your hands. They sense your state of being at peace or not. To arrive at a place of harmony, you become one with the horse or the herd. You discover that by simple, slight movements of your shoulders or eyes, you can move the horse.
Riding bare-back, horses seem to know where you want to go. A slight turn of the head, shoulders, torso can lead to a slight increase in pressure in one knee and decrease in the other. You’ve just communicated the way you want to go. A horse is at peace with you tends to be happy going that way. There are books and videos about horse whispering that can teach you all these things, but each horse and each situation is slightly different. If you’re in tune with the animal, these things come as instinct. Being with my horse in an arena, I remember feeling like we had become one mind and one body. Here too I recall seeing us from the bird’s-eve view above the arena in synchronous dance-like movement.
Other Encounters
More of the awareness is still present in grown humans than we typically realize; it’s just typically buried in the subconscious. If we learn to access our intuition, we still know whom to trust and when to be wary. Others know that of us as well.
Being at peace and being one with nature seems to have always come easily to me. I’ve noticed that animals and young children seem to recognize that in me. I’ve also noticed a sense of harmony with elderly that have become aware that death is approaching.
Occasionally, I’ll sense that connection with an adult human as was the case during my first year at U.Va., I always remember walking between classes and turning the corner onto the lawn towards Old Cabell Hall and being face to face with this fellow. I will always remember the peace I felt as he looked into my eyes, smiled and nodded. It was as though as we looked into each others eyes, he could see my soul and my entire life and lives I’d lead before just as I could see his. This was very strange to me as I’d never given credence or much thought to reincarnation, and I’d never heard of the Dalai Lama. It wasn’t until I recognized his picture the next day in the student paper that I realize whom I had encountered on that path.
Bird’s-Eye View Coaching
After reading Google’s Project Oxygen report where they list the number one characteristic of a good leader is to be a coach, I decided to get trained as a coach. I did some research, and decided on The Co-Active Training Institute formed in 1992, and perhaps now the largest and most recognized coaching organization. Perhaps what intrigued me most was their notion of Coaching by “listening” (observing) from the third of three levels of listening:
Internal Listening — Listening to your inner voice,
Focused Listening — Listening intently to another person,
Global Listening — Listening to others in the context of their entire surroundings.
Having learned this, I again find myself coaching and seeing it all from a Bird’s-eye view. The dance of the interaction between the coachee and myself and the dance they have with the people and things in their work and life. I had the benefit of some amazing instructors at CTI that helped me learn how to ask open-ended questions, explore, follow my intuition and help the person I’m with see their world, and their potential within it from a new perspective.
As a Talent Whisperer, a higher awareness is achieved when both parties in the dance can see themselves and each other from above. They attain a bird’s eye view as removed from, or at least aware of the biases and baggage each brought to the dance and is hoping to lift away from.
The Co-Active Leadership Dance from a Bird’s Eye View
Which Hill to Climb?
Thomas Merton said “People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.” And, Stephen R. Covey paraphrased: “If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.” Often, when we’re eager to climb a ladder to success or feel the need to know which hill to climb when lost in a metaphorical desert, it isn’t clear which direction, wall or hill is the right one. Here too a bird’s perspective may help us in our choice.
Meta-View in Co-Active Coaching
Meta-View
Get in the imaginary helicopter with the coachee, take it up to about 10,000 feet, and look down on the coachee’s life. This is the coaching skill of meta-view. It is especially useful when the coachee is in a rut and can only see six feet of dirt on each side. Meta-view presents the big picture and opens up room for perspective. The coach might ask: “What do you see from up here? What’s the truth you can see from this vantage point that you couldn’t see down there?” The meta-view reconnects coachees to their vision of themselves and a fulfilling life. When they’re struggling at the foot of the mountain, looking up at the daunting work to be done, meta-view allows them to float above it and get a fresh perspective.
Another way to look at the meta-view is to see it as an elevated platform-a high place where coaches can stand to survey the coachee’s life with all its circumstances and issues. The coach can see more than the coachee can from this vantage point. In fact, that is the coach’s job: to maintain clarity of perspective and hold the big picture. This platform allows the coach to speak from outside the details of the immediate conversation.
In Jim Collin’s book Great by Choice, he refers to a practice I’ve employed many times in business. That is what Peter Drucker refers to as “zooming out.” Sometimes, when we are in the midst of a storm, it helps to zoom out from the storm to calming, more clearly see the big picture to discover patterns in the chaos.
“We’re continually hit by a blizzard of situations, opportunities, problems, incidents—all of which seem to demand decisions. Yes. No. Go. No-go. Buy. Sell. Attack. Retreat. Accept. Reject. Reply. Ignore. Invest. Harvest. Hire. It can feel like chaos, but the most effective people find the patterns within the chaos. In Drucker’s view, we rarely face truly unique, one-off decisions. And there is an overhead cost to any good decision: it requires argument and debate, time for reflection and concentration, and energy expended to ensure superb execution. So, given this overhead cost, it’s far better to Zoom Out and make a few big generic decisions that can apply to a large number of specific situations, to find a pattern within—in short, to go from chaos to concept.“
Sometimes, where we encounter an immediate obstacle, we may be daunted by how difficult it is to overcome it. Thinking about our ultimate objective can put this obstacle into perspective in our longer journey to success. Zooming out may lead us to discover that though there is one obstacle, there may be many pathways around it. Likewise, there may be many possible actions to overcome that obstacle. We know what they say about trying the same approach twice and expecting a different outcome. There is more than one way to reach a destination.
Zooming out allows us to embrace complexity through systems thinking giving us the bigger picture.
Focused Frogs and Visionary Birds
The metaphor of a bird’s-eye view has been around a while, even in the field of mathematics. In his book Range, David Epstein quote a speech Dyson gave in which he propounded the need for both focused frogs and visionary birds working together on complex problems. Frogs are down in the mud where they “delight in the details of particular objects, and they solve problems one at a time,” he said. Birds soar above and “delight in concepts that unify our thinking and bring together diverse problems from different parts of the landscape.” We need both, Dyson insisted. The world is broad and deep, and “we need birds and frogs working together to explore it.”The problem, he said, is that we’re frequently telling everyone to become frogs, and that limits our vision and our ability to adapt quickly in a changing world.
I would argue the idea is to be a frog that can fly – focused in one moment and visionary in another. It helps to both zoom out for the big picture at times, while zooming in at others, to see the nuances.
Videographic Memory, Transcending Samskara
I noticed early on that when I looked back at past experiences, it would seem I could and would step into the memory and not only see images, but fluid visual impressions along with sounds, smells, tastes, tactile impressions as well as emotional impact. It was like a lucid dream perspective into a past experience. As a kid, I’d use it to find things in the room that I had overlooked when I was there without needing to go back to the room. As an adult, I learned to go back and observe the fears, apprehensions, stress, anxiety, longings, graspings that I had also overlooked in the moment . Sometimes those experiences left emotional scars that had become trigger-points for me – Samskara that I’d carry with me.
The bird’s-eye view can serve to lift away from physical pain but also other stressors. Being in the moment is great, but sometimes we’re more impacted by things than we realize. Lifting ourselves to a bird’s eye can help recognize those impacts, what we’ve carried with us, and what triggers those scars we carry.
It can be a great experience to help others process various things impacting them. To jointly detach/untether and lift above/transcend the fog of being too close to the moment is bringing them to that metaview. Helping them process the samskara they carry with them can often be aided by metaphor. Going with them to an imaginary house or cave that represents what’s going on with them, can help them become unattached and recognize things they don’t consciously process in the moment. It feels a bit like a joint, hypnotic journey.
Bird’s-eye view of you and the Grizzly
Imagine a raven soaring overhead as you hike alone at dusk through Yellowstone. Only the raven sees you on a collision course with the Grizzly. Your senses are alert, you feel anxiety about sighting signs of a Grizzly. The raven circles freely above. You come across Grizzly scat – suddenly, you’re not afraid of seeing signs of a Grizzly – that’s already happened. Now you worry you’ll see the bear. The raven knows what lies across the meadow you’re about to reach. You come to the clearing, on the other side is the Grizzly. You’re no longer worried about seeing the Grizzly. You’re worried he’ll see you. He turns and looks right at you. Your fear of being seen is replaced by fear he’ll come towards you. He does. You’re not worried about his coming, you’re now worried what’s next.
So, what about the raven? The raven clearly isn’t experiencing the same level of anxiety as you are throughout all this. Maybe he’ll get some scraps out of this maybe he won’t. Your level of anxiety and stress in all this once you sighted bear scat allowed you to overlooked the log cabin down a side trail as you reached the meadow. Now the raven wonders if you did take it in and will double back to shelter from the bear or whether your anxiety will get in the way of remembering it and knowing it’s your best option. Alas, achieving that bird’s-eye view can be hard when you’re worried about your life.
The numbing of anxiety avoidance
It can be very similar with chronic physical pain. If you’re apprehensive of the severe pain that is about to come, you may tense up and enter a viscous cycle that will make that tense pain inevitable. I know, I’ve been down that path. On the other hand, if you know you can escape that pain through distancing yourself from it, you can enter a virtuous cycle that allows you to avoid it. If you’re not conscious of that alternative, you may go back to the opioid as the doctor had predicted I would do. Sometimes in life, it can be very tempting to avoid the vicious cycle by numbing ourselves.
In the Zone
I have found myself “in the zone” “or being in flow,” competing in national and world championships for Ultimate in the 80s. There I also found myself benefiting from being conscious of my breath and pushing past pain to persevere. I’ll sometimes find myself seeing the field from above with everything unfolding below. Each pair of offense and defensive player in their own dance of evasion and pursuit unfolding within a larger pattern, and I see plays unfolding before they happen and know how the disc will travel from player to player down the field before the first pass is thrown.
At those times, the game seems to unfold below me where everything appears as a choreographed and predictable dance of 14 competitors all responding to the unfolding movements of everyone and the disc on the field. This bird’s-eye perspective can reveal patterns within group dynamics we’d easily overlook if we’re too attached to what’s unfolding immediately in front of us.
Phil Jackson who, along with George Mumford, introduced Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant to Mindfulness and Mediation says he’s had the team practice in silence or near darkness to help them experience the game in a state where they are both somewhat removed from the game and intensely engaged in it.
On January 22nd 2006, mindfulness and performance expert George Mumford told Kobe Bryant not to try to score, but just be in the moment and let the game happen. That night he scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors.
Another Brush with Death
Years after learning to control my heart rate, I experienced what felt like a heart attack. I drove to urgent care, where they determine it wasn’t a heart attack. They ran a d-dimer test which came back way off the scale. An ambulance took me the ER while the pain in my chest increased, and it became harder to breathe. While waiting in the ER, I decided it best to slow my breath and heart rate. I once again felt myself lifting from my body and seeing myself sitting there calmly. Again the pain disappeared and serenity and peace set it. My quiet, meditative state apparently didn’t convey a sense of urgency, and it took some time before they did a CT scan. The doctor then arrived with the scan and held it up to the light box. Turning white, he looked at me saying “I can’t believe you’re alive!” They injected me with heparin to help the blood flow in my lungs again.
A massive, bi-lateral pulmonary embolism
The doctor explained I had had a “massive, bi-lateral pulmonary embolism” basically a blot clot breaks off into little pieces which move through your heart and into your lungs where they clog the alveoli and inhibit the blood-oxygen exchange. The doctor said people tend to panic when their heart hurts and they can’t breathe. My heart definitely hurt all the way up to my shoulder and over the back. I also felt I couldn’t breath – a bit reminiscent to when the Pacific’s waves took me under years earlier. I asked if panicking wouldn’t be a bad idea under those conditions. His response was well yes it would only make matters worse. I had seemed more prudent to me to remain calm and lower my breath and heart rate. That seemed either as I felt myself leave that body that couldn’t breath behind. While sitting on the precipice of death waiting for the doctor in a deep meditative state, I felt myself looking down on the ER with my brother standing next to me, and doctors and nurses milling about other patients while I was fading to the edge of consciousness and life. And yet it was again one of the most serene and peaceful moments of my life.
Beyond the Eyes
“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”
Charlemagne
English being my third language and having lived in two countries/cultures integrated into both cultures, the above quote resonates with me. Some might say the difference between the East and West coasts of the U.S. might also qualify as two distinct worlds.
I have always suggested to younger folk that there is much to be learned to live in and immerse themselves in another culture for at least two year. My theory and experience being that in the first year, new-comers question why everything is done differently/wrong. In the second year, they appreciate that the culture new to them may have its advantages. The blessing and curse I ascribe to that experience is that you will have less clarity on what is “wrong” and what is “right.” You will now be freer to form you own perspectives.
I hadn’t thought of it as finding a second soul, though I can see what he means. I’d seen it as enabling you to better be able to find your own true soul.
Above the Birds
One perspective I’m reluctant to write about because it’s hard to explain in a rational, believable manner are my experiences with seeing things from further above. Since early childhood, I’ve had several experiences of seeming to know someone was going to die in the night before they died or waking in the middle of the night believing someone had passed thousands of miles away only to find out the next day that they had passed.
I can rationally explain being an empath and picking up on things in my presence, but I have yet to find a rational explanation why I perceive things about people I haven’t seen or heard of directly or indirectly on the day of their passing. So, I only decided to include this in case others have experienced this and help me find some light through the fog.
A New Perspective
Stanislav Grof, M.D. in The Transpersonal Vision: Abraham a Sancta Clara, a seventeenth-century Austrian Augustinian monk, is said to have remarked, ”The man who dies before he dies, does not die when he dies.” And if you can change your attitude toward death, it also changes your way of living in the world.
These experiences have provided me with a greater appreciation of life and being able to walk and breathe and experience each day and each new interaction with living things with an even greater appreciation than I had had before. If you’ve been at death’s door live each day like it were your last or bonus points beyond the original plan, the thought of death is less scary.
Evoking Human Transformation
Evoking Human Transformation in the rapidly evolving age of Digital Transformation also benefits from allowing people to reform their mental maps by seeing things from above in a landscape that transforms while we are in the midst of navigating through it. We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.
Arriving in a time of continuous transformation and navigating according to old paradigms is like trying to find your way through Oz using a map of Kansas.
Above it all
There are now times where it seems I can observe myself from above as being one with nature, not separate from it at the same time as being an observer separate from it all. I do still enjoy meditating above the waves. One of my favorite states is to be observing everything from a bird’s-eye view. Detached from everything while at the same time feeling one with everything.
A favorite place to lift off to a bird’s-eye view in meditation is in the winds on the cliffs with the sounds of waves below.Something I wrote in the ’90s – a bird’s-eye view may become a view of the soul when we learn to not be so tied to the surface level perceptions of our senses.
Cost-Cutting Lessons learned through the dot com crash and other downturns.
I’ve been involved in cost-cutting/layoff decision making at four companies in four different times. As described below, I’ve learned that it can be done in ways that the company comes out stronger and morale can go up. In challenging times of change, layoffs and cost-cutting may be unavoidable. Employee morale, engagement and trust in leadership takes a big hit with a layoff. How do we turn that into a win? Below I provide 9 Cost-Cutting Choices to Maintain Motivation and Impact. There are also lots of references to related articles.
When it comes to cutting costs, especially when teams are already lean and down to critical mass, there are alternatives, including cutting pay, to layoffs that we employed at Prosper Marketplace and Hum Capital that I describe below as well. In both cases, the productivity and motivation of employees went up after pay-cuts. However, this required the right context and leadership.
When is comes to layoffs, especially multiple rounds, leadership is under stress to make significant changes quickly. Without prior experience of doing so successfully, or some guidance, the odds of success are slim. Having enacted layoffs in the past, I’ve seen it can be done to ultimately lift employee engagement and business impact. Below are some tips and considerations
Letting people you’ve worked with for years go, especially when times are tough, is never an easy task. I have led engineering teams at four startups through cost-cutting and layoffs. In two of these, we also reduced salaries. All four companies survived. Two that experienced both layoffs and salary cuts saw improvements in employee morale, engagement, and business impact.
Some insightful quotes about layoffs
Ben Horowitz: “The way you handle layoffs can have a profound impact on the morale and productivity of your remaining employees.”
“Layoffs break trust, especially with the people who survive the layoff. They interacted and had relationships with people who you’re going to have to let go. They care about how you treat them.” – Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
“When you lay people off, you’re not just firing employees. You’re also firing their friends, their families, and their dreams.” – Ben Horowitz
“The way you handle layoffs can have a profound impact on the morale and productivity of your remaining employees.” – Ben Horowitz
“If you don’t handle layoffs well, you can create a culture of fear and distrust that will make it difficult to move forward as a company.” – Ben Horowitz
“The best way to handle layoffs is to be honest, transparent, and respectful. Be clear about the reasons for the layoffs, and be as generous as possible with severance packages and outplacement services.” – Ben Horowitz
“If you handle layoffs in a way that preserves psychological safety, you can actually emerge from the experience stronger than before.”
“The key is to be open, honest, and transparent about the reasons for the layoffs, and to treat affected employees with respect and compassion.”
“When employees feel that they have been treated fairly and with respect, they are more likely to remain loyal to the company and to be supportive of future initiatives.”
9 Cost-Cutting Choices to Maintain Motivation and Impact
1. Be Fair
At a time where you’re impacting the lives and livelihoods of people that have worked closely together for years, it’s very important to be fair.
Don’t keep under-performers: It’s very important that you have addressed any dead weight or low performers before a layoff or in a layoff. If you keep poor performers, there will be resentment – especially if you cut pay or stop raises and promotions. Also, be careful about keeping folks that aren’t willing to do whatever it takes. After the layoff, that will matter, and people know who will be willing to roll up their sleeves.
Graduated Impact: If employees with higher salaries and bonuses are impacted more than those worried about paying their rent, there is a greater sense of fairness. This can mean (bigger) pay cuts for executives, or a moratorium on bonuses. In a recent layoff at LinkedIn, the percentage of managers let go was notably higher than that of individual contributors. Other companies had very little impact to management, and resentment was evident among the employees.
Consider perspectives of those remaining: How will the remaining team feel about the decisions? Will they think it was fair who was let go and who was kept? Do you expect them to agree it was best to keep more people at reduced pay both because we are a team and because it leaves us with more people to turn things around? Will leadership have adequately with the right balance of humility and confidence have communicated the rationale for the decisions in a manner the engenders buy-in and support? Ask them in 1-on1s; this can be a good litmus test.
2. Transparent Communication
Be open and honest about the reasons for layoffs, avoiding sugar-coating or vagueness. Clear communication helps in maintaining trust.
Avoid the beginning of the end
A layoff, or a second or third layoff, is an opportunity to lose the hearts, minds, souls and engagement of employees. It can also be a time to bond with common goals in service of the greater good. Being transparent that the company is at a cross-roads that we’re all in together.
Why did the layoff happen? How did we get here?
If employees don’t know the reasons for the layoffs and don’t have transparency to company financials going forward, they will be wary if there’s anything they can do to avoid being impacted. It important for leadership to own up to some mistakes even if it’s simply not foreseeing market shifts or having prepared enough.
How will we get to a better place? How can I help?
Without transparency, they won’t know how the company is doing. They won’t understand if it will happen again and if it might impact them. They may feel helpless without seeing a plan for to get to a better place that they are a part of making happen. It won’t feel like we’re all in this together.
Be clear and honest about the market
If there are challenging times outside the company wall in the market, be honest that it will be tough to succeed. Also, be honest about it being hard to find jobs for those laid off. Layoffs impacting only one company are different than layoffs of greater impact. If it only impacts your company, how you do the layoff will also impact employee retention of those that can easily find other jobs in a good market.
Be transparent in AMA’s, but …
A culture of AMA (Ask me Anything) is very healthy in terms of transparency. However, it can lead to hasty responses. This could result in less than ideal solutions, or discovering the off-the-cuff answer wasn’t the best and needing to make changes. This can erode trust. It’s often advisable to take questions and respond with “Great question! We will get back to you on that. However, you should follow the meeting up with the list of questions and respond quickly. Otherwise, you also erode trust. That being said, sometimes the best answer is better-done-than perfect. So, delaying a decision may be the wrong choice as well. Here a strong leadership can have one leader challenge the other if they see a downside to a quick response. This can more quickly get to a more optimal solution. It also models good collaboration.
3. Empathy and Respect
Handle layoffs with empathy, respecting the dignity of departing employees. This demonstrates your company’s values and commitment to fair treatment. If you don’t show empathy towards those that you let go, those that remain may question how leadership feels about them. It won’t feel like we’re all in this together.
Support for Departing Employees: This includes offering support like severance packages, job placement services, or counseling. This shows care for employees’ well-being beyond their tenure at the company.
Taking ownership: If, as a leader, you don’t genuinely feel bad about needing to let people go that were performing well, people will know. If, as a leader, you don’t demonstrate some ownership for being in a tough situation requiring a layoff, it will be hard for employees to feel empathy for you. While needing to speak with confidence about the path forward, it is also good to call out risks and past mistakes. Speaking with conviction and clarity while also being humble and fallible as a leader makes you more human and believable.
4. Involvement in Decision-Making
Involve remaining employees in decision-making processes where appropriate, to increase their sense of control and ownership.
Transparency: There needs to be transparency on the state of the company and where the challenges are.
Empowerment: Without empowerment, the employees will feel like they are not in control of their own destiny.
Focus on the Future: Shift the focus towards future goals and visions, helping employees to see a path forward and a purpose in their work.
5. Recognition and Appreciation
Acknowledge the hard work and contributions of the remaining employees. Recognizing their efforts can boost morale.
The impact of their work: Showing a direct connection between what one or more employees has done to help get the company to a better place will create a virtuous cycle.
Growth without raises of promotions: A clear careen ladder with rubrics for each level allows employees to progress on their career. This gives them opportunity for personal growth by finding opportunities do meaningful things to improve their skills at times when they know there is little hope of promotion or raise. See also: WorkInstitute: Lack ofCareer Development is the Top Reason for Leaving a Job
Professional Development Opportunities: Offer training and development opportunities to the remaining employees where fiscally possible. If you can’t do this, help by mentoring them or allowing for cross-training. This can help them feel valued and invested in their growth.
Small financial recognition: If you cut pay and benefits and are able to give some back when the company starts doing better, employees get to experience what happens along a path of improvement. If you didn’t cut pay, a spot bonus can also serve this purpose. Reason for hope feeds the conviction that there is a way to a better place that they are a part of.
In the eyes of the beholder: Think about each individual carefully and find opportunities and ways to frame the changes as an “opportunity” for either their career growth, position within the company, or both. Convince yourself that the opportunity is real before attempting to describe it to the team member. If you’re not convinced, it will be hard for you to convince others. If it doesn’t feel real, what can you do to make it a real opportunity?
6. Maintain Regular Check-ins
Keep communication channels open. Regular check-ins with employees can help identify concerns and address them promptly.
Updates on Finances: Knowing if the company is doing better or even appreciating it isn’t there yet lets everyone feel they aren’t in the dark waiting for another surprise.
Win/loss updates: Knowing what’s working and what isn’t with some root cause analysis help course correct towards the most impactful path.
7. Provide Reassurance & Encourage Team Bonding
Offer realistic reassurance about job security for the remaining employees, if possible. Uncertainty is a major demotivator. If you say everything’s great and then do another layoff, the trust will be lost. Being confident in a better future as a leader is important, but it’s also to be honest that there will be challenges in getting there.
Strengthen team dynamics through team-building activities or informal get-togethers. A strong team can better cope with changes.
Be budget Conscious. Much as a bonding event can help, extravagant, expensive events can back-fire, especially when you’ve been transparent about finances.
Bond in 1-on1s: Be sure to ask people how they’re doing in private so you understand the stress they may be under. To help with motivation and engagement, it can also talk to them how their personal priorities and purpose (or ikigai) might align with company objectives. Helping them evolve their career in alignment with a levels and skills rubric/matrix can help even in ties where raises and promotions are unlikely. There will likely be overlap in them advancing their skills and career with business needs. With a reduced work force, this could very well create opportunities to take on new challenges and learn new skills.
8. Servant Leadership in tough times
Having empathy and solving for employees is important in tough times; however, being a decisive and confident leader solving for all is also vital.
Rebuild Trust
Employees need to trust you have their best interest at heart, that starts with you actually having their best interest at heart. Ensure your team that you still very much have their best interest at heart. We’re all in this together. Making it win-win in everyone’s experience is vital to turning things around. Find a way to communicate you have their best interest at heart in whichever ways resonate most given the circumstances and individual. Trust is going to be lost regardless, so finding ways to immediately start building it back is important. It’s important to underscore that as a leader you have the struggle of solving for each person individually as well as solving for all. If you claim to have their best interest as your #1 priority, they might ask if you didn’t also say that to someone you ended up letting go.
Don’t be a servant
True leaders are simply not the servants of those they lead, nor should employees feel like servants to the leaders. Leaders should do things in service of the employees in a symbiotic relationship while solving for all employees. This also means keeping the business that pays their salaries moving in the right direction. Hence, you need to be in service of their collective good (which is fostered by the health of the company, but/and the health of the company will not be served well if you are not acting in service of the employees).
Doing what you love vs loving what you do
Tough times leave little room for accommodations that aren’t solving for employees. At a recent engineering conference, I heard a CTO say: “they should be happy they have a job“. I approached her after the talk and suggested the difference between allowing people to do whatever they love and enabling them to love what they do by showing a clear vision to where the company needs to go and clearing the path the enables them to help get there. Being in service of your engineers can mean enabling them to find love in what they do.
Love is a verb
The story: A man goes to an elder and expresses that he no longer loves his wife. He is contemplating ending the marriage. The elder responds: “Love her.” The man is confused and reiterates that he no longer loves his wife, to which the elder explains that he should see love as a verb. It is something we do. He further explains that love as a noun is the feeling that can come as the result of acting out the verb.
Likewise, if you love your job and want to be the best at it, then you will want to master your craft. You will find beauty in simple, elegant solutions that will stand the tests of time in terms of changing conditions, changing usages, changes in scale, etc. while still serving its purpose. Finding solutions for customers in tough and changing times can be seen as a challenge that demotivates you or as one that inspires you to find solutions others have missed. There is the potential for both a death-spiral and a virtuous-cycle. As an effective leader in tough times, you will inspire and enable your team to love what they do and find joy in the impact they were enabled and empowered to have.
However, an occasional win is needed for any employee. Expecting people to find joy in work when they haven’t any rewarding/enjoyable moment can also drain their moral. If a rescue dog finds several dead people in a row, workers will sometimes bury a volunteer to allow the dog to find a survivor. Otherwise, dogs will disengage and not search. Note, this is in part because it’s sad for them; however, as pack animals, they will also pick up on the sadness in the humans around them.
9. Build Wisely
Beyond team morale, though it also ultimately also impacts team morale, lie the questions of how you build and organize. As a smaller team with a tight budget, focus is key and rework and shoddy work is killer. By helping the team with transparency and a voice, they can be led and empowered to build things that not only address the current challenges, but are extensible enough to what we can expect to be a fast follow. The work should also be reliable so as not to bog the team done with debugging and addressing issues. This may seem obvious in good times and bad, but the benefits become existentially deterministic in tough times.
If you start with a focus on building a limited scope online bookstore but build it in a way that it could also sell CD’s, then it might lay the foundations for what might grow to an everything store that could even sell web services. Hiring or keeping the right team to do this, empowering and enabling them to do so, is also critical. Much can be said and written about the fundamentals of doing this, but times of prosperity can lead us to lose sight of the importance. In tough times, you need small teams to turn things around quickly, but if they do things sloppily in haste, then recovery will stall out.
Return to Office
There is a growing trend by employers to ask employees to return to office in the post-COVID era. While COVID is still present, there has been a return to “normalcy” in general. When asked, I’m hearing from employers that they are looking to bring people back into the office because they feel they can’t trust that employees are fully engaged in the work at home. In the office, they feel with supervision, this can be managed. These considerations are particularly relevant in a post-layoff context where trust and morale will already be under strain.
There is a hypothesis, often debated in the business and psychology communities, that employers may distrust the engagement and productivity of employees working from home, which could be a driving force behind the push for a return to office work. This hypothesis, however, might not align with the actual outcomes of remote work, as several studies and surveys have indicated.
Employer Distrust of Remote Work
Some employers hold the belief that employees are less productive and engaged when working remotely. This perception could be rooted in traditional views of work environments where physical presence is equated with productivity. Such employers may feel that they cannot adequately monitor or trust their employees’ work ethic and engagement without in-person supervision.
There is evidence that “quiet quitting” is more prevalent among remote workers. Key contributor to quiet quitting are stress and burn-out – both of which increase before, during and after layoffs. “The least engaged workers are remote workers with 12% reporting putting in less effort now. For hybrid workers, 8% reduced their efforts as have 10% of on-site workers.“
Several factors contribute to quiet quitting, such as job dissatisfaction, burnout, and work-related stress. These can be amplified in a post-layoff world. Also, in a tight job market, quiet quitting may be more prevalent than actual quitting. This all underscores the importance of these factors at a time where there are many other areas needing attention.
Contrary to this belief, several studies have shown that remote work can actually increase productivity and employee satisfaction. Remote work offers flexibility, reduces commuting time, and can lead to a better work-life balance, all of which can enhance employee engagement and productivity. The insistence on returning to the office, despite these benefits, can potentially lead to lower morale, decreased job satisfaction, and even increased turnover, especially among employees who have adapted to and prefer remote work.
The Need for Trust and Flexibility
The emerging understanding in modern work culture emphasizes the importance of trust and flexibility. Employers who recognize and adapt to the changing dynamics of work, including the benefits of remote work, tend to see better engagement and productivity. Trusting employees to manage their work effectively, regardless of location, is becoming an important aspect of modern management.
There’s also a discussion around how cognitive biases like the status quo bias and functional fixedness can influence employer decisions. These biases can make some leaders cling to traditional office-based models, even when evidence suggests that flexible work arrangements can be more effective. Overcoming these biases is crucial for adapting to the evolving nature of work and maximizing employee potential.
In summary, while some employers may believe that employees are less engaged when working remotely, leading to a push for a return to the office, this belief may not align with the evidence showing the benefits of remote work. A flexible approach that trusts employees and leverages the advantages of both remote and in-office work is suggested to maximize engagement and productivity.
Forbes: The Surprising Reason For The Return To Office “The results from a recent poll of over 150 U.S. CEOs by Chief Executive reveals a startling reason for why many companies are enforcing a return to office. The study indicates that many organizations are struggling to foster strong communication, collaboration, and team bonding in these environments.”
There is evidence suggesting that the concerns associated with returning to work, particularly after a layoff or reduction in force, can indeed be amplified, affecting employee morale and overall workplace dynamics.
Long-Lasting Impact on Morale
Research indicates that mass layoffs can have a lasting negative impact on the morale of the remaining employees. For instance, the Glassdoor 2024 Workplace Trends report noted sharp drops in employee satisfaction among companies that experienced significant layoffs in 2023. This suggests that the effects of layoffs on the morale of existing employees are profound and persistent
A study reviewed by Washington State University, which analyzed 137 previous studies, found that layoffs, offshoring, and other cost-cutting measures affected employee morale longer than most companies realized. For at least two years after such events, workers reported reduced job satisfaction and less loyalty toward the organization. This had implications for the firms’ productivity and employee turnover.
Employees who survive a layoff, often termed ‘Survivors’, exhibit negative post-layoff behaviors and feelings like stress and declining morale. The extent of these behaviors depends on various factors, including how management communicates and implements the downsizing process. Clear, honest communication can mitigate these negative reactions to some extent
Effective management strategies during layoffs can play a significant role in mitigating negative impacts. It’s important for managers to prioritize tasks, re-engineer processes, and focus on essential work. Providing counseling and support for surviving employees, including addressing survivor’s guilt and stress, is also crucial.
These findings underscore the importance of thoughtful and transparent management practices during layoffs and the return to work process. They highlight the need for companies to consider the psychological and emotional impact of such events on their employees and to take proactive steps to support and re-engage their workforce during these challenging times.
Benefits of Working Together / In-Person
Working together in the same space, even part of the time, can have significant positive effects on teamwork and productivity. Key benefits include:
Team Synergy
Synergy in teams is fostered by diverse skills and perspectives, clear goals and objectives, effective communication, strong leadership, and a supportive culture. This synergy enhances the team’s effectiveness and performance, leading to better problem-solving and innovation.
Teams can be more collaborative when they are in the same space. Creating a culture that values collaboration, establishing communication conventions, and inviting co-creation can significantly boost team collaboration. These strategies help build a collaborative company culture, leading to improved project outcomes.
Cross-team collaboration, or cross-functional collaboration, involves different departments working together towards a common goal. This collaboration can create synergy and efficiency in projects, ensuring faster progress and better outcomes. Communication is key in these setups to make sure all team members are aligned and working towards the same objectives.
Effective collaboration in the workplace involves setting collaborative goals, promoting open communication, and inviting co-creation among team members. Solving problems as a group and being flexible are also crucial aspects. These approaches can help teams synergize more effectively, leading to improved project outcomes and team satisfaction.
Collaboration workspaces, like huddle rooms and executive conference spaces, are designed to strengthen team engagement, improve meeting efficiency, and increase collaborative productivity. They provide the necessary technological support for effective and efficient collaboration, both in-person and remotely.
In conclusion, the collectiveness, contentedness, collaboration, synergy, and bonding that result from employees working together in the same space, even if only for part of the time, are substantial. These benefits contribute to a more engaged, productive, and innovative workforce.
Lessons Learned from my Experiences
Cooperative Solutions, Inc. – Closing down California Operations
Cooperative Solutions was the most funded startup in Silicon Valley at its time. A competitor investing more in marketing and sales creating a significant challenge. We were acquired by Bachman Information Systems.
During the acquisition, an exec from the parent came out, interviewed all 60 employees and had them rank all the employees. He then decided to put me in charge. I was left with five months of work that had been planned for 60, but was told I needed to complete it with 16. I needed to decide who to cut, who to keep and then drive the remaining people to complete the work. At the end of that, they’d have the option to move east or be out of a job.
I decided the best way to decide was to pull everyone together and ask if we could and should attempt this. The immediate question was “Why would we even consider?” My response was “exactly, lets figure out what would make this reasonable for us. That included treating the people that weren’t staying well, and ensuring the remaining 16 we in it to the end with also something at the end. There was some negotiation until I’d closed all the loopholes. We completed the work of 60 with 16 in less time than planned. No bugs were found, and everyone walked away happy.
Involving the team in key decisions impacting them was key to making the right decisions and being able to deliver. Ultimately, the parent company was holding me responsible and that was the right thing to do.
BroadVision, Inc. – Lessons from the Dot Com Crash
Early on, BroadVision stumbled with the initial product offering of personalized video on demand (like an early Netflix). Dot com and the world went through a paradigm shift. We could have folded; however, how we built the product and the organization allowed us to pivot without having to cut costs or heads.
BroadVision became the fastest growing software company on Nasdaq during dot com achieving a $25B valuation. We had made major investments for growth, including building a new office complex just as everything crashed. We had to go through several rounds of layoffs.
BroadVision is a great example of what to do when times are good. While other companies were hiring and spending like crazy, BroadVision drove for profitability early. And we achieved it. We were also prudent in our hiring practices. The teams were five to ten engineers building applications that competed with companies that had hundreds of engineers. We built things on a scalable and extensible platform that we did rewrite once early one as we saw better ways to be extensible and scalable.
The company did crash as the market crashed. Business dropped drastically and we had four rounds of layoffs in field engineering teams before we looked a reducing core engineering. This was feasible as the business was shrinking, but I also remember at the fourth round, the head of field engineering suggesting that some of the engineers left might be stronger than some of the core engineers. After some interviews, we determined that wasn’t the case. By growing slowing and methodically, we didn’t over extend ourselves. This really helped when times suddenly became tough. The company did take a big hit, but still lives on today.
Prosper Marketplace, Inc. – Surviving the Impacts of Covid
One year before Covid hit, our risk manager decided we should emulate a global pandemic to see if and how we could sustain it – including having everyone work from home one day to the next. So, when it hit, we knew it would be bad.
The Prosper experience certainly includes one of laying a solid foundation in good times. The team responsible for “keeping the lights on” had been pretty much 100% occupied by doing so. However, with a shift in focus and some root cause analysis was greatly able to reduce recurring issues. This created bandwidth that allowed for flexibility. We had also hired a few solid players and let go some of the weak links.
When Covid Hit
When Covid hit, the original discussion was to start with a 20% cut immediately with an expectation that more were likely to follow. With quite a bit of persuasion, that was changed to a 20% pay cut across the board. People below a certain base pay weren’t impacted and execs took the biggest hits. The argument against this was that instead of upsetting a few employees that we let go we’d upset everyone. However, with the messaging that in tough times we wanted to pull together and not impact everyone while also having a full team to pivot to address the changes, it was met with enthusiasm instead.
Thousands of borrowers reached out to say they couldn’t make payments and would need to default on the loans. Simultaneously, pretty much all lenders stopped investing money.
What we did for customers
Though good customer management and quick code changes, we were able to allow customers to take pauses in their payments or reduce payment amounts. Of those that said they needed to default, we were able to save more than 99%. The lenders saw this and came back.
What we did for employees
Everyone was shifted to working from home. Pay was cut quickly. We put together a plan that would allow us to monitor revenue and bring pay back up slowly if/when things got better. Things got better and pay went for 80% to 85%, to 90%, to 95%, to 100% to restoring all perks and benefits. There were regular all-hands to update how things were going and field ask-me-anything questions.
What was the result?
What had been forecast as the worst year for the business in 15 years ended up being the best. It had been predicted as a huge hit in employee moral saw a record boost. We did extensive, consistent employee moral surveys at the end of every year. We saw the first double digit jump (upwards) in moral to the highest level ever achieved. In 2021, Prosper filed for IPO – that’s still pending for a variety of reasons, but that seems like a pretty impressive outcome for something that had been fearer as a potential company killer.
Hum Capital, Inc. – Adjusting for Unexpected Changes in Funding and Market
Hum was set up for growth with a funding rounds in the making when the lead investor got into trouble and pulled out. This coincided with a sustained downturn in the market.
We had to cut costs. Initially, this meant reduction in team size after having grown perhaps too hastily. We then turned to graduated pay reductions to keep critical mass while reducing costs. A lot more was done in terms of transparency on finances and how the business runs. Paths back to full pay were laid out that included financial targets and hypotheses for achieving these. Team morale naturally took a hit, but there was approval within the team that we didn’t let further people go in tough times. With increased focus, a better understanding of the business and more focused execution, the team has been able to deliver value more reliability and effectively. The company achieved profitability and pay has started to move back. The morale is good, the team is much more cohesive across departments and the promise of success for the business has become evident again.
“New data reveals that most executives (66 percent) have accepted a pay cut in the past six months, with the overwhelming majority of those (94 percent) saying the move was to prevent or reduce layoffs, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. executives at companies with more than 100 employees from ResumeBuilder.”
Many workers facing a layoff would accept a 25% pay cut to keep their jobs—but 97% of bosses don’t even ask. Even the researchers are stumped why.
A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that a surprising 60% of workers facing a layoff would accept a 5% pay cut to keep their jobs. This number jumps to a staggering 97% when the pay cut is increased to 25%. Despite this willingness to accept lower wages, employers rarely offer pay cuts as an alternative to layoffs. The researchers behind the study are puzzled by this disconnect and offer several possible explanations.
One possibility is that employers are hesitant to cede control of personnel decisions to employees. Layoffs give employers the ability to select which workers to let go, while pay cuts would require buy-in from all employees. Additionally, employers may fear that offering pay cuts would damage morale and lead to the loss of top talent.
Another possibility is that employers simply don’t know that many workers would be willing to accept a pay cut. The study’s findings suggest that many laid-off workers are unaware of the financial difficulties their companies are facing and believe that layoffs are an inevitable consequence. This lack of understanding may prevent workers from volunteering for pay cuts.
Whatever the reason, the study’s findings highlight a missed opportunity for employers. By offering pay cuts, companies could potentially avoid layoffs altogether, saving money and preserving the morale and productivity of their workforce. However, more research is needed to understand why employers so rarely consider this option.
What Motivates Us?
Pink identifies three core elements: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose – We can enable all three in service of the employee and the business
Keeping teams motivated and engaged is key in a post-layoff period where raises and promotions are unlikely. In his book “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” Daniel H. Pink explores the underlying factors that truly drive human motivation, particularly in the context of work and business. He identifies three core elements:
Autonomy: The desire to direct our own lives. Pink argues that people are more motivated when they have control over their work and environment. This autonomy can relate to task (what they do), time (when they do it), team (who they work with), and technique (how they do it).
Mastery: The urge to get better at something that matters. Pink emphasizes that the process of mastering a skill or subject is inherently satisfying. People are motivated by the desire to improve, to overcome challenges, and to grow their expertise.
Purpose: The need to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. According to Pink, motivation is heavily driven by the desire to be part of a greater cause or to contribute to something that has significance beyond personal gain.
These tenets are presented as a shift away from traditional ‘carrot and stick’ extrinsic motivators (like monetary incentives) towards more intrinsic motivators, which Pink argues are more effective in fostering creative and cognitive task engagement. The book posits that these intrinsic motivators are key to success and satisfaction in the modern, increasingly automated and purpose-driven workplace.
This book offers real-world insights and practical advice from a veteran Silicon Valley VC and entrepreneur on tough decisions like layoffs, navigating downturns, and building a strong company culture.
Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean by Kim Scott
This book emphasizes the importance of clear and direct communication, even when delivering difficult news like layoffs. It provides tools and frameworks for having constructive conversations and building trust within a team during challenging times.
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Block True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
This book dives into the culture and practices of Pixar, focusing on fostering creativity and innovation even in the face of constraints. While not directly addressing layoffs, it offers valuable insights on building a resilient and adaptable team amidst change.
“Only the Paranoid Survive,” by Andrew S. Grove, the former CEO of Intel, is a guide on navigating the challenges and opportunities in the rapidly changing world of business. Grove emphasizes the importance of recognizing and responding to ‘strategic inflection points,’ significant shifts in a business environment that force a company to change its strategy fundamentally. While the book does not focus specifically on layoffs, it addresses the broader theme of adapting to drastic changes in the business landscape, which can include workforce adjustments as part of a strategic response to maintain competitiveness and ensure company survival.
This article criticizes traditional cost-cutting methods during downturns that prioritize short-term savings over long-term well-being. It proposes a framework emphasizing transparency, fairness, and humanity in layoffs, advocating for open communication, objective selection criteria, generous severance packages, and outplacement services. This approach aims to minimize harm to employees, maintain morale among remaining staff, and protect the company’s reputation, ultimately leading to a smoother transition and faster recovery.
This article provides a step-by-step guide for CEOs on approaching layoffs in a humane and responsible manner, minimizing negative impact on employees and the company’s reputation.
This article emphasizes the importance of transparency, communication, and severance packages when executing layoffs, offering practical tips for startups.
In the ever-evolving landscape of business, startups often find themselves facing a unique set of challenges. Uncertain times, marked by economic downturns, global crises, and rapidly changing markets, can be particularly daunting.
The Stanford Business School article criticizes the prevalent trend of tech layoffs, highlighting their ineffectiveness and the overlooked evidence suggesting more beneficial alternatives to handling economic challenges.
The article by Skye Schooley explores strategies for businesses facing economic hardships, suggesting salary reductions as an alternative to layoffs. It outlines the legal considerations, potential impacts on employee morale, and the importance of a fair and transparent approach in implementing pay cuts.
This article, while arguing that layoffs were more prevalent in 2008, highlights that some businesses did try to implement pay cuts during the financial crisis.
This article leads with “General Motors and the United Auto Workers union agreed last week on a new wage structure that works out to a 20 percent wage cut for GM employees,” and explores why when demand is down, the price for work — wages — should be down, too. But wages have a tendency to flat-line, not fall, in recessions.
This article discusses the negative effects of layoffs on companies and employees. It also offers a better approach to workforce transitions. Companies should avoid layoffs whenever possible. Instead, they should focus on retraining and redeployment. If layoffs are necessary, they should be handled fairly and with a clear plan.
This article discusses the negative effects of layoffs on companies. Layoffs can hurt a company’s reputation, lead to knowledge loss, and decrease employee morale. In the long run, layoffs can cost companies more money than they save. The article also mentions some recent examples of companies that have laid off employees.
From 2020, the article opens with “It’s been widely reported that about 40 million Americans have lost their jobs over the last few months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. There’s a growing trend, however, that’s not garnering as much attention. A large number of companies have elected to cut the pay of some—or all—of their workers instead of enacting massive layoffs and furloughs. These corporations run the gamut, spanning many different sizes and all across industry sectors, including HCA Healthcare, Aon, ESPN, Tesla, the Chicago Cubs, Vice Media, BuzzFeed and others.“
The article explores the complexities and challenges of offering pay cuts instead of layoffs in today’s workforce. Explore the insights and considerations from a recent study and employee compensation expert on why this strategy remains rare.
This is an NPR article discussing layoffs versus pay cuts during a recession. In the past, layoffs were more common, but in the pandemic recession, many companies prefer pay cuts. This is because the pandemic is seen as a shared experience, and there’s hope for a quick economic recovery, allowing pay cuts to be temporary.
Generally, employers can reduce your work hours without notice, unless it’s a large company reducing hours by more than half. Exceptions apply to exempt vs non-exempt employees. Consult an employment lawyer for details.
Pichai reflects on the difficult decision to lay off 6% of Google’s workforce in 2022 (around 12,000 employees). The article likely stems from a leaked audio recording from a recent Google all-hands meeting where Pichai discussed the layoffs. The context surrounding the article is important, as it highlights the broader challenges faced by tech companies in a changing economic climate and the difficult choices leaders must make.
This article provides insights on how to conduct layoffs in a way that minimizes damage to the company. “research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost savings are overshadowed by bad publicity, loss of knowledge, weakened engagement, higher voluntary turnover, and lower innovation, which hurt profits in the long run.“
Hiring back is neither free or easy
Letting people go or losing them is a bigger hit to the business than many people realize. Finding and hiring replacements is not easy and it’s only the beginning. Employees need to come up to speed before they are fully contributing…
Weathering Storms (CD) – Weathering storms is a critical ingredient to a startup’s success. Every startup I’ve worked at and most of the famously successful ones came close to failing at least at once.
Sozialverträglicher Personalabbau – Das Konzept der doppelten Freiwilligkeit – The article discusses a humane approach to workforce reduction called “the concept of double voluntariness” which involves avoiding compulsory redundancies through a voluntary program. This program is part of a social plan that includes offering employees the option to transition into a transfer company, incentivized by a bonus for early departure. The process is structured into phases: voluntary phase, direct approach, social selection, and compulsory redundancy, prioritizing voluntary departures and preserving essential staff. This method aims to achieve over 90% voluntary exits, ensuring a socially responsible and legally secure reduction of staff.
10x Engineers (CD) – what I’ve learned about how to find them, motivate them and retain them.
How to spin up new hires (CD) – effectively without impacting progress – especially important offshore.
Becoming a manager(CD) – Who to promote to managers and how as an aspect of rebuilding
Layoff done Wisely by Patrick Lencioni: We’ve all heard stories about the mistakes leaders make when conducting layoffs, but how can we carry them out well? This week, Pat, Cody and Beau discuss how to preserve our employees’ dignity and strengthen our organizations by conducting layoffs with courage and clarity.
There are 
To go back to the question about Agile, my next favorite answer is the Retrospective – this is where a team looks back at the last sprint to decide what worked, what didn’t what to keep, abandon or adjust from the last sprint. So too, the Post Mortem after an outage or the debrief after a game present wonderful opportunities to learn from that experience what might work better that previous approaches. As a coach, teacher or mentor, I’m always careful with dispensing advice for the are always many vectors of force at play and many may not be readily visible to me. Hence, I’m also careful to closely follow what I learn from others and how I arrived at the view that the path to enlightenment lies not in the footsteps of another. We may observe and learn from others, but I believe we should each find our own path and see what lies in front of us with a beginner’s mind.
