TRANSKRIPT 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.199
Hi, change agents.
00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:03.040
I was told you like stories.
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.240
So here's one.
00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:08.240
I once dated a guy who told me he really liked me.
00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:14.080
And then he told me he needed me to know up front that he also really liked the Philadelphia Eagles.
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.239
Perhaps to all of our surprise, that guy is now my husband.
00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.440
And the Philadelphia Eagles are now my football team.
00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:27.120
That is especially surprising given that I grew up in Germany where football is played with your foot.
00:00:27.359 --> 00:00:31.679
I had zero understanding of or interest in American football.
00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:34.560
But my future husband was very clever.
00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.640
He reeled me into the game of football one small step at a time.
00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:41.280
Every season he gave me a rookie to follow.
00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:48.240
For my inquiring fellow Eagles fans, my very first rookie was Brian Westbrook, followed later by Trent Cole and Brandon Graham.
00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:52.640
And so I went from bringing a book to Sunday football.
00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:04.480
The horror of me doing so may actually have inspired the rookie gifting idea to being interested in watching because I had a foot in, something to follow and care about.
00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:09.120
Every time my rookie was on the field, I was excited, I was invested.
00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.760
I had one player whose story I cared about, and that was enough to want to watch the game.
00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:18.959
And once I watched the game, I started asking questions, and then I started learning more.
00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:25.200
And because I loved getting my new rookie, I actually even started looking forward to football season.
00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:32.560
Now, I'll be honest, football where you're allowed to touch the ball with your hands is still really not my thing.
00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:35.280
But I like it enough to cheer when needed.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:43.200
I know the Eagles fight song, and I can follow the American football metaphors that somehow become part of the language of corporate strategy.
00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:52.640
Although I do sometimes throw in a cricket metaphor thanks to my India team, partly to remind us what it feels like when everyone else seems to understand the reference and you don't.
00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.959
I might still need a rooked cricketer or two to get them really sharp.
00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.519
So, why did the rookie thing work?
00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.480
My husband didn't try to teach me the whole game of football.
00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:10.159
He gave me one person to care about, one step that was small enough to take and meaningful enough that I wanted to take the next one.
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:27.120
The only thing moving faster than change right now might be my relentless curiosity about the possibilities it creates, the new world it opens, what to watch out for, and how we get more comfortable with discomfort and uncertainty.
00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:31.280
I'm Gabrielle Kohlmeyer, and this is Technically Joyful.
00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:44.560
A space for us to build change capacity in the AI era, explore hard questions, find unexpected connections, useful ideas, and create the energy to shape what comes next.
00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:47.840
Let's get Technically Joyful.
00:02:48.800 --> 00:03:02.800
Well change agents, our recent guests, the transformation work I'm doing, and a lot of conversations I've been having have my mind on momentum, the first step, and then all of the next steps.
00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:10.400
How do you break through inertia and take a step when the thing in front of you is still unclear, or shifting, or feels enormous?
00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:13.840
And how do you know what you're actually moving toward?
00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:23.840
Before we go further, consider sending this episode to the person making you watch sports with them or refusing to watch sports with you or anyone else that comes to mind.
00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:31.599
Follow the show, leave a quick review if it's been useful, and keep sending me your fun, surprising, tragically awful, or other AI attempts.
00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:36.960
I've got a share episode with a special guest coming up, and I would love to share yours.
00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:38.719
Back to the next step.
00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:42.400
It turns out the rookie wasn't just a football thing.
00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:46.879
It's how I've approached many of the hardest, most overwhelming things.
00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:57.520
As a systems thinker who can't stop seeing interconnections and dependencies, second, third, fourth order effects, the threat of overwhelm is real.
00:03:57.919 --> 00:04:05.919
And let's be honest, even trying to tackle several kids' sports and school schedules can make a grown parent cry.
00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:15.120
Sometimes even more so than managing bet the company cases or global organizations with moving objectives, budgets, targets, geopolitical risks.
00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:21.040
Anyway, over time I've gotten better at choosing a first step and building from there.
00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:25.279
But I have to tell you, it starts with a lot of humility and grace.
00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:30.639
Humility because a first step often means admitting what you don't know yet.
00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:36.879
When I started as Market General Counsel, I inherited a team, a lot of acronyms, and a lot of meetings.
00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:47.759
In my first week, I jumped on a call while I was still trying to figure out what the acronym stood for and what the meeting was even about, only to find out it was my meeting.
00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:54.160
The next step on that one, leading with
Load full transcript
vulnerability and asking, so why are we here?
00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:57.839
And what is ACP, if not attorney client privilege?
00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:01.199
Apparently, it was about affordable connectivity programs.
00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:13.519
Although the acronym search I did beforehand had suggested American College of Physicians, Airspace Control Plan, Aluminum Composite Panel were all solid, likely topics.
00:05:13.839 --> 00:05:19.920
For me, asking the first question is often the first step to building the right momentum.
00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:29.680
Early in my career as a newly minted law firm associate, I got the impression, probably based on all of the accounting 101 sessions we were being given.
00:05:29.839 --> 00:05:35.759
I'm really good at reading between the lines, that I should understand the basics of accounting.
00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:37.120
I wanted to.
00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:46.959
I wanted to be able to read a business through its numbers, profit and loss statements, balance sheets, financial reports, financial calculations, derivatives.
00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:49.120
But it was just not sticking.
00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:55.759
Even after my fourth or fifth accounting 101 session, it was just too much.
00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:11.839
Fast forward a few years when I started in-house in a company with new businesses, new acquisitions, and I wanted to understand really why we had acquired them, what the financials were telling us, to understand the real story.
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:18.639
So I confessed my accounting woes to a mentor of mine who suggested I get myself a finance friend.
00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:22.079
And she introduced me to just the right person.
00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:23.439
So I did.
00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:25.519
I got myself a finance friend.
00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:27.120
Her name is Sandra.
00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.800
We met every week for the next five years.
00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:36.160
I learned about finance, but I also learned about a part of the business I needed to understand.
00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.600
And I built a relationship with someone who was interested in understanding my part of the organization too.
00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:52.240
I would bring her real questions, the ones that came up in my work about unit economics and accounting, and she would ask me about policy and legal and the bigger questions on her side.
00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.759
Those conversations became strategy conversations.
00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:58.079
And that's what finally made it stick.
00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:06.560
The accounting had something to hold on to, and it was anchored in strategy and in the decisions we were actually talking about understanding making.
00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:10.000
It even led me to take the non-financial accounting exam.
00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.680
My next step wasn't to understand all of finance.
00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:16.560
It was to find someone I could start learning with.
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:19.199
And it wasn't a magic step that solved everything.
00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:21.519
It was a step that built momentum.
00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:28.879
That momentum became a practice over years and relationship and then substantive depth over time.
00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:34.720
And the best part was I didn't have to become self-sufficient before I could become capable.
00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.439
Eventually I worked with a finance director.
00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:44.959
Shout out to Susan Kim, who is a number whisperer and turns data into stories like no one I've ever met.
00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:52.480
She could look at a store's results and a zip code and understand that a neighborhood needed more Portuguese-speaking employees.
00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.439
The numbers told her a story about people.
00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:00.240
And suddenly accounting wasn't this abstract subject anymore.
00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:03.920
It was another way of understanding people and the business.
00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:05.759
And I couldn't have started there.
00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:07.600
I needed Sandra first.
00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:16.079
Sandra and Susan then took me from that first step to jogging through PLs at a respectable clip.
00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:17.920
So what's the pattern here?
00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.759
And why does it matter for anything big you're facing right now?
00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:26.160
Well, for me, sometimes I'm overwhelmed because I don't know what to do.
00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:31.839
And sometimes I'm overwhelmed because my brain sees so many things that need doing.
00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.720
The picture is clear, it's just enormous.
00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:36.080
You know the old question.
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:37.600
How do you eat an elephant?
00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:38.960
One bite at a time.
00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:46.879
I do take that to heart in much of my life, from organizing our house one room at a time, to building an organization.
00:08:47.279 --> 00:08:51.360
Be thoughtful about the pieces and then pick one and just do the one thing.
00:08:51.519 --> 00:08:58.559
But what I've learned is that the step that works is one that's manageable and meaningful, even if it's tiny.
00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:04.559
For me, meaningful usually runs through a person in their story, a rookie, a finance friend.
00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:08.559
So it's worth asking yourself, what brings things to life for you?
00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:10.480
That's probably your way in.
00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:15.519
And then when I can, I tried to pick the story that leads to the step after that.
00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:23.279
When I was deploying AI across our legals or organization at Verizon, I had great ambitions to do all of it at once.
00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:34.720
And I scaled back to what was manageable and would have the highest immediate impact: focused messaging, a real focus on people, including who would carry the
message and compound its impact.
00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:43.600
Steps that would give us data to make the next steps smarter and that would earn enough recognition to keep the funding and keep people's energy.
00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:45.360
So here's my point.
00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:48.480
My rookie didn't just teach me one thing about football.
00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:53.360
Caring about one player made me watch, which made me ask questions, which taught me the game.
00:09:53.600 --> 00:09:55.360
Sandra didn't just teach me accounting.
00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:00.159
She gave me a relationship and context where accounting started to make sense.
00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:01.840
And she learned from me too.
00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.960
And those first AI steps weren't just a smaller version of the big plan.
00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:11.360
They gave us data, credibility, funding, and people's energy.
00:10:11.519 --> 00:10:13.840
And that made our next choices better.
00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:21.519
Sometimes the point of the next step isn't just that it gets you somewhere, it changes what you can see from that new place.
00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:27.600
You know more, you've met people you didn't know before, you've built a little capacity, maybe you've earned some trust.
00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:33.120
And now you can make a decision you weren't equipped to make from the starting line.
00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:37.679
So you don't need a perfect map of the steps one through 20.
00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.559
Step one may give you information that changes what step two should be.
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:49.919
Executive change leader Caroline Keeley has a phrase for leading this way that I love: be a compass, not a roadmap.
00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.840
The compass gives you direction.
00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:54.720
Each step fills in more of the map.
00:10:54.879 --> 00:10:57.200
And a step is better than no step.
00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:04.960
Brad Stolberg, who writes about performance and well-being, puts it simply: motion precedes motivation.
00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:11.759
The more you move, the more capacity and energy you build, and the more strategic your next steps can become.
00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.480
Without that momentum, you don't get to the place where you can be strategic at all.
00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.879
And there isn't one right next step.
00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.320
There are lots of them.
00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:25.600
So take one, learn from it, then decide what you can see from there.
00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:30.399
And maybe this is why those early steps can feel so disproportionately hard.
00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:34.240
You're doing a lot of work before you have much evidence that it's working.
00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:40.639
Whitney Johnson, who wrote the book Disrupt Yourself, which I love, has a picture for this that really helped me.
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:42.799
She calls it the personal S curve.
00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:45.759
At the bottom
of the curve, growth is slow.
00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.279
You're putting in effort and it can feel like nothing is happening.
00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:51.759
That's where all of our first steps live.
00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:57.360
If you keep going, you hit the steep part of the curve where everything starts to accelerate.
00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:59.519
And that part feels amazing.
00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.279
Eventually, it flattens out as you reach mastery.
00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:07.440
And if you want to keep growing, you have to find your next curve.
00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:17.200
Whitney Johnson worked closely with Clayton Christensen, who initially saw that same S curve in how organizations and technologies grow.
00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:23.600
And in both people and organizations and technology, the top of the curve is where it gets interesting.
00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:30.960
Starting a new curve can be even harder than the first one because we liked that feeling of being good at the thing.
00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:32.960
Now we have to begin again.
00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.000
Another humbling, slower first step.
00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.360
So be kind to yourself about those first steps.
00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:46.159
Give yourself grace and honestly give yourself some praise because the first steps are the hardest.
00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.000
Crawl, walk, run.
00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:55.120
I think remembering that matters so much for all of us, especially as leaders of ourselves or others.
00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:06.080
When we get comfortable at the bottom of our own curves, we're becoming more patient, more aware, and more strategic when we're leading our teams and organizations through change.
00:13:06.320 --> 00:13:09.679
We remember what the bottom of that curve feels like.
00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:13.600
So let me ask you, what's your current rookie with AI?
00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:24.240
You don't have to learn the whole AI game or even the whole new models that are coming out or some new technology that is incorporating all kinds of AI.
00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.600
Just find your rookie.
00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:33.759
Pick one thing you actually want to understand or try, maybe because it connects to people or work or something else you already care about.
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:37.519
And then take one step and then the next one.
00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:48.240
So our transformation gym rep this week comes from something I've learned a lot about through accessibility and neurodivergence work with colleagues and family.
00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:53.039
Sometimes the hardest part of a big task is simply initiating it.
00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:55.679
So we're going to find our step zero.
00:13:55.919 --> 00:14:02.960
Open whatever AI tool you already use, give it the thing that feels too big, and ask, what's my step zero?
00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:07.519
Give me one physical action I can take, no additional planning required.
00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.399
And once you've got it, ask one more question.
00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:17.360
What might I know, have, or be able to do after I take this step that I can't do right now?
00:14:17.600 --> 00:14:24.240
Not because every tiny step has to be strategic, but because taking it might change what you can see next.
00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:31.840
And if breaking something down into manageable pieces is particularly hard for you, there's a tool I love called Goblin Tools.
00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.639
It was created with neurodivergent people in mind.
00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.639
And it has this magic to do that does exactly this.
00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:43.600
You give it something overwhelming and it magically breaks it into smaller pieces.
00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.519
It even has this chili pepper slider for how much breaking down you need.
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:51.120
So one pepper means you get two, three, four steps.
00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:54.159
Five peppers means you might get 30.
00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.000
Whatever it works for you to make this feel doable.
00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:04.720
So this week, find your rookie, take step zero, and give yourself credit for taking it.
00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.879
And that change agent is technically joyful.