ÜBER DIESE EPISODE
Your team isn't stuck because of bad ideas. It's stuck because everyone is waiting for permission.
Taking action and making mistakes is OK. Being idle is not. In episode 135, I break down WE 4 from Kyle McDowell's Begin With We, and I'll be honest: this is the one I struggle with most.
You can set great standards. You can lead by example and keep every commitment. If nobody on your team is willing to move, try or risk, everything you've built is a well-organized parking lot. Ideas, strategies and plans, parked and going nowhere.
McDowell tells a story about a leader named Bob. Bob heard a talk on culture, loved it and wanted to bring it to his team. First, he said, he'd need to ask permission. Permission to talk culture with his own team.
Who's stopping you? Nobody.
Bob is in every company, at every level. Senior leaders waiting for permission to do the very thing they were hired to do.
In this episode:
- Why being idle feels like caution and prudence, and why it's really a choice
- The question Jesse Itzler asks his kids every night at dinner: "What did you fail at today?"
- The best restaurant in the world, and the man in the back of the room who said, "That looks exhausting"
- What happens to people when you ask them to do less than they're capable of
- Why nobody pays for average
- Why "we've always done it that way" should be considered profane, and what Northwestern basketball teaches about losing cultures
- The one question to ask about every process on your team: would I keep doing this if I owned the company?
Your move this week:
1. Name one thing you've been waiting on permission to address. A process that makes no sense. A conversation you keep putting off. An initiative sitting in the parking lot. Get it done. You are the leadership.
2. Have one conversation with your team that gives them permission to act. Not a policy. Not a memo. Tell them: if you see something to improve, go do it.
"Taking action and making mistakes is OK. Being idle is not." — Kyle McDowell
Chapters
00:00 WE 4 of the Begin With We series
03:10 Why this is the WE I struggle with most
04:22 Taking action is OK, being idle is not
04:48 Ben Newman and stacking days
06:30 Recap: WE 1, WE 2 and WE 3
08:23 A well-organized parking lot
08:56 Books, people and the risks you take
13:26 The enemy of action is being idle
14:09 Shawshank and asking permission
15:19 Who's stopping you?
17:04 Bob is everywhere
21:55 Mistakes are inevitable
22:45 What did you fail at today?
24:39 Write this down
25:15 Being idle is a choice
27:09 "That looks exhausting"
29:25 Asked to do less than they're capable of
30:31 Nobody pays for average
32:35 The status quo sandwich
33:45 "We've always done it that way" should be profane
34:21 Northwestern basketball and a losing culture
39:22 If I owned this company
42:57 Two actions for this week
45:13 The parking lot's full
Mentioned in this episode:
- Begin With We by Kyle McDowell
- The Standard by Ben Newman
- Mindset by Carol Dweck
- 2 Second Lean by Paul Akers
- Don Meyer, Jesse Itzler and Ed Mylett
This is WE 4 of 10 in the Begin With We series. Catch up with episode 132 (We Do What Is Right, Always), episode 133 (Who Sets the Temperature on Your Team?) and episode 134 (Built or Destroyed One Commitment at a Time).
If this one hit, send it to the leader on your team who's still waiting for permission.
Find out where your team stands. Take the free 30-question SDE assessment and download the SDE Playbook at https://deadthreecoaching.com/sde-assessment
