Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Playing to Your Strengths

I had my annual performance review with my company's CEO last Friday. On Tuesday, I received a copy of the "review" to prepare for the meeting.

Our CEO's style is direct and open, and that style carried through to my review. My review was about a page and a half, summarizing major accomplishments from the last year, a few paragraphs summarizing some of the "360 feedback" he'd asked for from folks I worked with (mostly positive), and a couple of lines about an area where I can improve. And, there were no surprises in the review.

When we got started in the discussion, his conversation mapped pretty closely to those proportions: lots of time spent on accomplishments and positive feedback, but only a few minutes on things that didn't go so well.

I mentioned that I'd like to spend some more time talking about the areas where I'd had challenges or failures during the past year, so I could learn from them.

His reply really struck me. Here's what he said:

"Sure, we can discuss what you've learned from those challenges, but I don't want to spend too much time on that.

"One of the things I've learned in my career is that we all have areas of strength and areas of weakness. A 10% improvement in a strength can make a huge difference; a 10% improvement in an area of weakness probably won't have nearly as much of an impact.

"Let's focus on how to make the most of your strengths and make them even stronger."

I think this is good food for thought for anyone. When I think about the times I felt really proud of my results, it was when I was using my strengths.

You only have so much time and energy. Where will you invest your 10%? Always strive to make choices that put you in situations where your strengths can make a real difference.

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When are you at your best?

As you may know from my writing here, I am something of an explorer - always looking for new things, new data, new connections, and new meanings in the world around me. Part of my energy is spent on self-examination. I'd like to share a few of my experiences here in hopes they may help you, should you find yourself in a similar "questing" state of mind.

Introspection is good

A while back, I wrote about Dick Richards' wonderful book, "Is Your Genius At Work?" and described how I was trying to home in on what my genius is, but still hadn't nailed it. Well, I still can't name it but the process heas helped me on my journey. This book has some powerful exercises to guide the curious soul.

In addition to Dick's book, I've found some strong insights through spending time with Phil Gerbyshak's book, "10 Ways to Make It Great!" (also reviewed recently). In Phil's book, there is a strong, focusing thread of, "What is it that you want to be known for, and what can you do every day to increase the odds that it'll come true?"

Seek others' input

It's easy to navel-gaze forever, but I'm also finding tremendously fertile ground in conversations I've been having with my friends and coworkers. At the recommendation of a mentor of mine I've been interviewing people I work with and asking them four simple questions, developed with help from my office mate Gene. The questions are simple and humbling (the parentheses represent what I usually say when people ask, "What do you mean by that question"):

  1. In your opinion, what am I good at?
    • (What activities are the best fit for my skills, as you see them?)
  2. What am I not good at?
    • (What activities are not a good fit for my skills, or seem particularly challenging to me, from your perspective)
  3. What is the highest value I provide to you or the organization?
    • (If I stopped working here, what would be the hardest thing to do without or replace?)
  4. How could I double or triple my value to you or the organization?

Obviously, I picked people I trust (to be honest, to keep my best interest in mind, etc.) but it's still difficult to have these conversations with people you admire or respect. Trust me - it's worth it to power through the anxiety.

One thing that can be challenging is to simply listen during these sessions. Fight your impulse to dispute what you hear, or play it down, or even lead your interviewee down a different path. Try to limit your commentary responses to, "Thank you," or, "I didn't realize that," and make liberal use of phrases like, "Tell me more...," and, "What do you mean by that?"

More perspectives lead to more clarity

My conversations validated a lot of my own perceptions about what I'm good at, and what I'm not good at. But I heard some things I never realized I even did, so I certainly never considered them to be strengths. And I found that increasing my value to others was generally not about doing more things (my tendency) - it was more about doing more of a few things. This is helping me cut out things that don't add tangible value to myself or others, which is a very good thing.

If you try this out, let me know how it works for you.

By the way - if you can't find enough people you trust to have these kinds of conversations, that's something to think about. I can think of times in the past when that's been true for me, and I'm glad that's not the case any more - that's no way to live.

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Get Focused

Dave Cheong has a great write up in his latest post, 18 Ways to Stay Focused at Work. He's created a nice blend of how to deal with physical and virtual distractions in the workplace.

The one I have trouble with is the first one, write out a daily task list and plan your day. To be more precise, my problem is sticking to the task list. The downside of my curiosity is my ability to quickly become enamored by a new idea, concept, fun project, etc.

Do you have this "distracted by shiny objects" tendency, too? If so, I'd love to hear your secrets for dealing with this challenge.

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Good listening

I have been re-stocking my collection of audiobooks, preparing for some reading via my iPod on my upcoming trips. HeadphonelookingIf, like me, you're fond of blending audiobooks into your reading list, I've got a great resource for you.

I just found a great list of business audiobooks on John Richardson's Success Begins Today blog. I've read or heard about half of the stuff on John's list, so I'm thinking he and I have compatible reading interests - so I've just bought & downloaded a few new ones. John has been doing a lot of audiobook listening as part of his cool "MBA On The Run" program that I wrote about a while back (Manage by running around, 28 April, 2006).

Incidentally, if you decide to get your audio fix via Audible.com, I recommend either the Audible Gold or Platinum subscription plan that they offer - it's very cost-effective if you listen to books regularly, because they include book credits. You can use a credit to get any book they offer, and if you choose expensive titles you'll easily make up for the cost of your subscription. For example, I buy a lot of new or recent releases through Audible and the monthly subscription cost is cheaper than buying the hard copy of the book, and much cheaper than the audio version of the book.

Also, don't forget the tip I shared previously about how to speed up your audiobooks on iPods.

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An Environment for Learning

"We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinion, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins."

-- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (Act I)

I just read Rosa Say's latest post on Talking Story, "Learning Needs a Cool Factor." Boy, did she nail it. Rosa observed from interacting with her kids' friends (college-aged), it's apparent that learning is not percieved as a cool thing. And I agree with Rosa that we've got to help kids find the Cool Factor in learning.

I've seen the same dynamic with my son and his friends. He wants to keep secrets about most of the character-building things he does. He's active in Scouting, and takes Tae Kwon Do - but doesn't want his friends at school or around the neighborhood to know. At 13, he was invited to take the SAT early because he showed academic promise. He participates in community service projects. And he doesn't want other kids to know about any of this because some of them make fun of him when they find out. Not all of his friends would make fun of him, of course, but what 13 year old wants to take the chance to find out which ones are which?

I'm very proud of my son, and I'm sad that he can't show pride in the good things he does because of the reactions of some of his friends. I'm sure Rosa and I aren't the only parents that see this sort of dynamic. No matter what support we try to provide at home, the pressure to "fit in" out in the real world can be hard to overcome. Unless you're excellent in a team sport, it can seem like it's not OK to stand out.

When I was growing up, the background message was: "Reading Is Fundamental," "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," Bookmobiles, and even those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. Where's that learning drumbeat now?

Maybe this is a generational thing. Maybe it's a U.S. thing. But how are we raising a generation that places so little value on learning? Will they change their attitudes as they get older?

Maybe we're so caught up in honoring diversity that we've lost sight of honoring excellence. I hope not - that wouldn't bode well for the "knowledge-based economy."

On the bright side, "corporate America" is doing some things that will help.

But I don't think this is enough to hit the mainstream and make learning cool. What do you think? Dare I hope for a tipping point to make learning a cool thing for our youth?

Join in the discussion - here, or in the comments over at Rosa's place.

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