- Plan Well, Then Hope for Some Luck – Every leader needs a plan, not everyone needs a vision. We all hope for luck, but with some planning and the right team, luck becomes less important. Innovation is about a napkin plan not carving a vision to be repainted by your team.
“Victory awaits those who have everything in order?
– People call that luck.
Defeat is certain for those who have forgotten to take the necessary precautions in time?
– That is called bad luck.”
Ronald Amundson 14 December 1911
- Lead Your Teams Everyday with Integrity in Hand – Your teams are watching you. Your organization is watching you. Set the example of integrity in everything you do. No matter the cost, hold that dear. You owe it to your team, your organization, and everyone that believes in you. Integrity is everything. If you don’t, you’ll be a leader of none.
“No matter how important a man at sea may consider himself, unless he is fundamentally worthy the sea will someday find him out.”
Felix Riesenberg
- Embrace Innovation – Change requires explorers to believe it can be better. Your team wants to improve the customer experience. When they present ideas, remember even if you don’t believe the idea will work, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is they believed tomorrow can be better – that is what matters.
“There never was a great man yet who spent all his life inland.”
Herman Melville
- Get Your Team Curious – Curiosity can spill the milk from the refrigerator when you are 5 years-old, or discover the next Uber. Provide time, for your teams to be curious. Teams involved are accountable.
The sooner we learn to be jointly responsible, the easier the sailing will be.
Ella Maillart
- Sailing for Fun, or sailing to a destination – Know the Difference – Exploring is encouraged. However, if you have a destination, when your team is shifting focus and doing only activities that are fun, keep moving the boat forward.
“To reach a port we must set sail –
Sail, not tie at anchor
Sail, not drift.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Point 5.1 – Be Productively Paranoid – In Jim Collin’s book, “Great by Choice” he stresses productive paranoia. Have a plan A…and B…and C. Be comfortable with change and assume that plan B has a 50/50 chance of quickly becoming the plan A.
“Just because I am paranoid does not mean that someone is not out to get me”
― Don Darkes, 6692 Pisces the Sailfish
Point 5.2 – Minimally Required – Define what’s minimally required for success. Whether you’re leading an organization, a team, program or project, understanding ‘done’ is essential. After that’s defined you can tackle done+1, if needed.
At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much.
– Robin Lee Graham
References
Bluewater Sailing. (2015). Nautical Quotations. Retrieved August 15, 2015, from http://www.bluewatersailing.com/quotes.php