You Don't Get What You Deserve

Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. - Mark Twain

Sometimes you have days where you exclaim what a friend of mine puts succinctly as "thank goodness I didn't get what I deserved." Two events reminded that today was one of those days.

First, I had brunch (yes, brunch.. don't judge) with a great friend and former professor who had made a large contribution in functionally saving my life a few years ago when I was (hopefully) a much different person dealing with the consequences of making much worse decisions than I do now.

Though we don't get together as frequently now (my fault), some portion of the conversation are dedicated to updating him on what I am up to. Because these conversations act as snapshots of my current life, we both reflected on where I was when our friendship began and the path to where I am now. I was humbled and reminded of the fact that there were a lot of people from '08-'09 willing to see beyond the scared, angry kid I was and instead focus on my potential and help me move from the former to the latter.

The funny thing about memory is how much of the total situation falls away to the point where you recall only a few fragments (usually the ones that cause the smallest amount of emotional upset). The other funny thing is how all the details come rearing back in vivid detail simply through conversation with the people that were there.

As we wrapped up our conversation and departed from the restaurant, I took stock of where my life is now and what it was just a few years ago. All of my relationships are fantastic (at least they are for me), I am awash with more opportunities than someone my age should be getting and have made enough progress as a human such that there are slightly more people who have nice things to say about me behind my back than those who feel inclined to say otherwise. Considering all the selfish, hurtful things I've done in the past, I am thankful that I have not gotten the full brunt of what I deserve.

This is what I was thinking about when I stumbled upon this:


That's right, a free skateboard with about 8 skateboard decks underneath sitting right in front of my apartment building. Double. Winning.

Life has a funny way placing things into motion such that your life works out the way it does. Sometimes you miss a deadline by a few seconds or make a wrong turn or you decide to have some agency and overcome that fear of making a connection with someone. All the little inches in life put you in place to give you the hand you have today. Everything that didn't work out (both good and bad) is giving you everything that is working out (again, both good and bad). The free skateboard I got today after brunch is a function of a desperate email I sent in November 2008. I didn't deserve it, but I'll took it anyway.

Some people may say that Karma is a bitch but I think that she's a pretty decent gal. I'm sure that if we look over our lives we'll realize that we a got a decent amount of good stuff and avoided at least 10x of the bad stuff we deserved through the same channel: serendipity ...or fate, if you are so inclined.

In either case, be thankful. Life is short. Continuously performing gap-analysis and complaining about how things "should" be is not good stewardship of your life. But if you must do it, then at least acknowledge the negative consequences that could have very well played out to make the life you have now a blessing.

Regarding Discipline and Precision Execution

Right discipline consists, not in external combustion, but in the habits of mind which lead spontaneously to desirable rather than undesirable activities. -Bertrand Russell

Whenever someone asks what skills I bring to the table I do not return with something that is broad and craft-based. I don't say that I have sales or marketing skeelz. Nor do I try to inflate any position held to somehow convey leadership, management or operations expertise. I think that all of that stuff is important and I harbor deep respect for the titans of these various disciplines, but I view expertise in a particular field as the product of task-dependent learning.

Colin Camerer's seminal 2005 paper on how neuroscience can inform economics included an A/B comparison of brain activity images taken when a subject was playing tetris (Gameboy, natch). In the paper, one image shows a large portion of the brain lit up when first playing the game while the other image shows little activity after weeks of playing the game. The (admittedly) simplistic heuristic here is that when you spend enough time in a space that you start understanding and mastering all the nuances and not-so-obvious *why* behind many of the quirky behaviors. It's the 30,000 ft perspective of what we know about how humans learn and it drives a lot of what we do - whether we do it consciously, subconsciously or unconsciously.

While I don't make any claims towards field-specific expertise (marketing, sales or operations), I do attempt to convey that I know something about executing. It's a *small* something, but still a something. I think that it's the fundamental difference from anything that works versus anything that doesn't work. I personally believe that precision execution is the source of any forward progress. It applies to any industry, any business discipline and at all stages of the venture, government and military process.

Truth be told, I totally lucked into this. Learning to execute with precision is a fundamental core Principle (with a capital P) taught at the Foundry and I happen to have been around when it got started. Ergo, I got imprinted (for better or for worse) with the nuances of precision execution. Nevertheless, it's power and efficacy supercedes the needs for resources, permanent space and mentors. It is the refining fire that transforms cookie-dough diaper babies (like me) into capable and effective individuals who know something about the difference between motion and progress.

We don't need software, fancy flowcharts, books or consulting services to help augment the Precision Execution Principle - it's so hardwired into the architectural and cultural design of the program that the participants hardly notice it... except for the discomfort you feel when you subtly (or not) realize that you aren't as good of a manager as you thought. I personally remember what it felt like to realize that I wasn't as disciplined as I pretended to be. Getting present to the reality that I had much difficulty accomplishing a meaningful chunk of the things I committed to doing sucks and it's not fun. But focusing on just completing the things that I said I would do turned out to be the very thing that started churning out businesses or helping me realize (quickly) when to kill one.

Just the other day, I reviewed one of the early documents that Dr. Robert Wuebker wrote in the early days of the Foundry. The document (coupled with the Foundry experience) will likely serve as the most influential touch points in my professional career. Here's an excerpt:

Foundry management practices teach you precision execution—the capability (forged through practice and reflection) of individuals, teams and companies to predictably achieve the outcomes they want. Curiously, if your company can begin to deliver predictably, we have found that this capability also happens to enable breakthrough outcomes for teams. Thus discipline, incremental learning, and breakthrough innovation are a part of one continuous “management strategy” that full participation at the Foundry teaches you.

So if I believe that much in the power of the Foundry process and its core principles then why do we have nearly 50% wash out in the first six weeks? I'm not sure but I have a few conjectures:

• It's not fun giving up the perspective of being "right", "having it all figured out" and being an "expert."
  
• People choose to engage with the Foundry like do with most of their life: at half speed.
• They simply do not understand that becoming resourceful is more powerful than having resources handed to them.
  
• It's really REALLY uncomfortable to thrash about in front of your peers.
• Fill in the ________________.
  

Foundry is not for everyone. We are just as selective as other "elite" programs, we just don't know who will select out and who will double-down. I've seen entrepreneurs come in with companies pulling in 7-figure revenues opt out within two weeks. I've also seen dopey, non-business-type kids with super simple, non-"high growth" businesses take on the notion of "Full Participation" and will breakthrough after breakthrough into existence.

I personally struggled (and still struggle, if I'm not cognizant) with all of the above bullet points. Every participant faces it. Some push through to the other side. Some don't. But the irrefutable observable that Foundry demonstrates is that anyone starting any business, regardless of socioeconomic status, background or expertise who participates fully and musters the necessary discipline to do what they say they will do (even if they have no idea where to start) WILL discover a durable business hardwired with operational rigor and integrity OR they will quickly kill one that will not work. It's irrefutable because we've been measuring outcomes since day one.

For the 30%-50% who stick around I am lucky to be considered part of the small (and slowly growing) community of individuals who are imprinted with the natural inclination to contribute to others and the capability to coalesce the disparate and ambiguous into increasingly predictable (and scalable) results. It's a growing crew of quiet professionals... and I'll take them over anyone else any day of the week.

If any of this sounds interesting to you or you are an entrepreneur that has no idea where to begin and are looking for a community to help see you through. Drop me a line and we'll talk about how to get you plugged in.

Respect Thy Path.

A few weeks ago, I read a post that my friend, Lisa (from Synergy Impressions Photography) wrote on her blog (which you can read here, I recommend you follow it). I'll share one of my (many) favorite parts from the post:

Yesterday, I witnessed a long standing goal of mine suddenly become a tangible reality as I unlocked the photo studio yesterday. I sat for a quiet moment and thought about how much work, time, fear, challenges, growth, learning curves, technical purchases, new information and continued inspiration the last few years have afforded me... I smiled. "I reject your reality and substitute my own."

It was one of those things that I could relate to only in my own, seemingly trivial moments: when I held my first Dash & Cooper shirt. Seeing all the core Foundry guys present at the U of U Board of Trustees annual meeting. The post-presentation dinner at Winter Strategy Conference.

To understand the full meaning of aforementioned moments, you'd have to walk a few months or years in my shoes. I think that everyone, on some level, can point to a few experiences in their life and say that is was then - for a brief moment - that they had arrived.

I don't mean "arrived" in the sense that Corporate America's proverbial marketing department has convinced most consumers of their arrival (hint: involves some combination of the following: zip code, location of bank account, tax bracket, vehicle, any membership that has the name "elite", "premier", "gold" or "platinum").

I'm talking about the people that have decided to, as Lisa put it "reject the idea of walking in the grass next to the path most are travelling."

The whole of society makes it easier to buy one's way out of a problem or discomfort - that includes taking a job where you work within tightly defined guardrails. In fact the academic literature has shown that the self-employed, on average, make less than their corporate counterparts. Given that your income is higher and you are largely hedged against the downside risk of making your own decisions it's not hard to understand why that path Lisa talks about is so well worn.

It also helps explain why the seemingly trivial (getting keys to a photography co-op, holding a shirt), means a lot to those who walk in the grass: getting that stuff done is really hard work. The learning curve is steep and long. It involves more sacrifice than you usually think you can make. It affects your personal relationships, your financial situation and requires you to dig ever more deeper for energy, creative intelligence and emotional fortitude.

It's easy to scoff about how easy it is to run a cafe until you actually attempt to do it. It's easy to complain about the price and quality of something purchased by a non-mulinational company until you've actually attempted to deliver it better and cheaper.

Which is why I respect anyone who continually gets up and goes to the whiteboard after a failed business venture: they are doubling-down on their decision to walk in the grass. I may not understand the space you are operating in but I respect thy path. Because once you've tasted the infrequent, punctuated upside of making your own decisions and the constant feeling fear and ambiguity become normal, you can never return to the well-trodden path with guardrails.

There is no stronger drug than pointing to something and saying "I made that." It's a reality that no one can refute or take away from you.

As for having a sense of "arrived", I've defined it as any time that I am able to notice the length of grass beneath my feet and the distance between my and the path that most are traveling. For I too reject the reality society so readily spoon feeds the masses and substitute my own.