Crazy Big Goals.

They say if your goals don’t scare you a little, they aren’t big enough.

When President John Kennedy spoke of putting a man on the moon, it was unthinkable. And then it happened. It was one of those moments that everyone stopped and turned on the television to watch. We watched it because it was achieved. It was 1969 and I clearly remember the setting and people in the room when that happened and we watched. Something that was unthinkable was achieved. We watched, knowing if this is possible, what else is possible?

What’s your “man in the moon” goal for your career? For the team? For the company? For your industry? For mankind? Why not you?

What “man in the moon” goals have you achieved? I was the first in my family to graduate from college. That was my Dad’s “man in the moon” goal. Okay it might have been mine too with my GPA. All the technology that we use today without thought (unless they aren’t fast enough) or entertainment or new biochemistry that heals what used to be a death sentence are all someone’s dream of changing the world and “man in the moon” projects.

When you go to work today, take a few minutes and think about what changes would make the process more efficient, effective, profitable, safer or generally more pleasant or better.

Back to your goals… What goal would you like to go after, but it seems too big? What skills would you need to learn, practice or develop? What behaviors do you exhibit that are getting in the way of those crazy big goals? What support do you need to get started?

To know if you’re really interested in that goal, ask yourself the series of whys from the LEAN thought process. This series of asking “Why did this happen?” five times until you get to the root cause works with values, too. But the why question is a little different. You need to ask yourself “Why is this important to me?”

This might require a little quiet time. You may need to have someone you trust ask the series of whys to hold you to answering them. In the process you’ll find the heart of what’s really important to you. Is it connected to your goal? Is your core value contraindicative to your goal? If not, then move on to what’s really important.

In fact, when you realize what’s really important, do a little self-assessment about how close your team or career are aligned with those values. Then create some freaky big goals.

By the way, those ideas not only make the world around you better, they then move your career forward.

Let me know if you would like additional resources to make goal setting successful to you!

Cost of Silence

Yesterday, I found myself hanging up the phone with a client wondering if I should have said more.

As you know, my job is to engage, observe and state those insights to guide clients toward the goal. This time, I wasn’t sure of the goal. There is always an undercurrent, but the client may or may not be ready to fully accept that undercurrent. The enthusiasm and focus on her new product line was infectious. In this case, the client is talking about heading to New York to present to VC about funding for her new business idea.

The marketer in me has a lot of opinions. The coach in me has a lot of questions. The human being in me has some judgment and compassion. Now as a professional coach, I have enough experience to bring each of those aspects to the table but I must be hyper aware of all three. Since I don’t really know the technology she’s proposing or the market her product will disrupt or the people she is meeting in New York, I watch for the reveal.

If you know the story of the “Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Anderson, you know the Emperor is very interested in the way he looks. He creates reasons to wear his new clothes. He has a new suit for each hour of each day. Now I would call that focus and determination. But in this story, the Emperor surrounded himself with people who were financially dependent on him. They didn’t ask questions. They didn’t voice judgment. If they had opinions that were positive, they voiced them and if they were negative, they were silent. And ultimately, the very insecure emperor was left with his environment (that he created) all following the pressure of needing to maintain the status quo and not telling the emperor the truth about his new suit. In fact, they told him they saw the suit and it was spectacular. The reveal happened with innocence and a small child called out the missing garments as the Emperor was parading through town without clothes.

This time, the reveal only embarrassed the Emperor. This time, it only cost the Emperor money and a little too much exposure. Not one person around him held his best interest above their own interest, which was being the most interestingly dressed person in town.

Now this is a shallow example of the cost of silence. But a long time ago, the pact was to concur with silence. What reveal are you possibly holding? What reveal have you seen cost your company? What reveal have you experienced that cost your career?

So back to my client. I sent an email with the nagging thought I should have said more. We talked about what was missing. In truth, I couldn’t put my finger on it. But when I decided to tell her that I felt something in her pitch was missing, I opened a dialogue. That dialogue discovered (and I could put language to it), I didn’t get the ‘so what’ of her product. If I had simply said, after her pitch, ‘so what,’ it would have been difficult to hear. It was difficult for me to say. Now she can put into words the nature of her product. She has a better chance of getting the funding because I decided to honor that nagging feeling and have the courage to say it.

What do you need to say? What do the people who work for you need to say? How will you build trust in the people around you to allow the questions, observations, insights to reveal before the cost is too high?

Mid-life Crisis: Diverted.