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There are four measures you can use to face your business future with confidence. Combine these measures with several commonly associated challenges and you will take away proactive ideas about where to put your resources to navigate disruption.
You will experience disruption in your business within the next 12 months. While grit and vulnerability matter, your confidence is what will help navigate downsizing, recessions, and disruption, along with day-to-day challenges. By using the four measures, you will increase your capacity to respond.
You will learn about how to increase your capacity through leadership, execution, strategic vision, and innovation. This information will lend support as you prepare for the worst case scenario, and then navigate through what actually shows up. You’ve got this!
Jess Dewell shares the importance of having measures — outside of processes and programs — to increase your ability to optimally respond to any and all challenges that arise for your business.
Host: Jess Dewell
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Transcript
ANNOUNCER 00:03
Welcome. This is the Bold Business Podcast. Your business has many directions it can travel. The one true direction of your company creates the journey for you to move toward a new, exciting level. We call this the Red Direction. In today’s program, we delve into one idea. The idea will support you as you work on ever present situations, including how to stay competitive in a changing market, how to break through the business plateau, and how to anticipate the changing expectations of your stakeholders. Jess Dewell is your guide. Jess brings you a 20 year track record of business excellence, where strategy and operations overlap. Your Path comes from consistently working from the special place. Your unique True North. Now, here’s Jess.
Jess Dewell 00:51
Hi. Welcome to the Bold Business Podcast. And here we’re talking about, Well, you never really know what we’re going to talk about except that it will be around being bold in business, Bold Business Podcast. That’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to learn from each other, we’re here to understand delve into and question and be curious about the path of other people so that if we know we’re going down the path, maybe some information that would be useful to us, so that we can avoid the mistakes of others. So that we can consciously be looking at what we are working on in our strategic work in our path forward in the way we’re showing up to this crazy times in these crazy times of change, and how we want to be, and listening to others having this conversation is a great way to do that. So today, today’s Bold Business Podcast is a live stream. And this live stream is going to be about the measures that we need. Because more than ever before, we need confidence, we need confidence because the next 12 months, you will experience change in your business to a magnitude that you haven’t before or in a while, maybe years, maybe decades. And that’s okay. Because we have the ways forward, we know we already have information within us. And there are resources like our podcast where we’re having these conversations with your peers on a regular basis, to get that information out, to get it to you to be able to be curious about it, think about it strategically, understand what would work for you and use it as a spark of creation to solve your most critical issues to solve your biggest goals. And that’s what we’re doing today. Right, Scott? And you know, Scott, I talk abo ut him a lot.
Scott Scowcroft 02:48
And you talked about change.
Jess Dewell 02:50
Change. Oh, and here’s the thing, okay, in researching this, in putting this together, we know we’re going to need more confidence than ever before, and we’re going to hear more about grit, we’re gonna hear more about empathy. We’re gonna hear more about problem solving and decision making, and how to do this. And the way to do that. And what do we do about this? And are we recession proof, and that list goes on and on and on. And here’s the thing. The thing is, there are big things we care about cash flow, we care about our liquidity short term, we care about our burn rate and our runways, we care about making sure that we can make it through. And we don’t necessarily understand what that actually means. And so in the disruption we will face in the economic, the political, the local, the big the lifestyle, the needs, the costs of things, all of that is changing, which means you will be impacted in some way, if not today, within 12 months. And we want you to be ready. The Bold Business Podcast me at resurrection, we want you to be ready. And that’s actually one of the reasons that this podcast exists is so that you have the ability to be ready because it is the tortoise and the hare a little bit. It is not what I learned. Just this last week, it is not being an ostrich and with a head in the sand. To avoid Scott, I learned this was a myth.
Scott Scowcroft 04:19
I’m shocked because we understand the world through these metaphors or the stories that were told. So you came up with what
Jess Dewell 04:28
I learned that of course an ostrich sticks its head in the sand because we all know it. That’s where the metaphor came from. But the reason is wrong. One or two that will stick their head in the sand isn’t to hide it is to get more information. It’s the other side of the coin. They are using how their head is shaped to have sensory input to how far away a threat might be, what sounds and what direction and what do those sounds mean. So actually when an ostriches putting its head in the sand it is getting information that others can’t get when we’re talking about the way that we must show up in this world to navigate what’s coming our way, because we know what’s going to happen. And if we stick our head in the sand, we’re actually probably going to be drinking from the firehose, instead of avoiding it, or trying to hibernate and wait for it to go by. So be careful what you wish for when you do something like that, it could have the opposite effect. We’re solving a particular problem though, we’re and we inadvertently know what to do. And we’re not ready for what comes at us. And this is the thing, we must increase our capacity as an individual, as a team, as a leadership team, as a, as a functional unit within a company, as a group of people working together to create the ecosystem of having business that can be done. That concept of increasing your capacity is what allows you to be more prepared to respond to what’s happening right now, with an eye on what’s happening and what I want to have happen and where I want us to be going in the future. And that’s only one of the things I mean, if I think about this, there are tons of there are tons of business issues that happen year after year after year, that that are the same, and this is one of them. And by the way, cash flow is a part of it. burn rate and runway are a part of it. Short term liquidity is a part of it, can I make payroll week to week is a part of what I must respond to. And so what I’ve done in the past is a great starting point, what others have done in the past, the purpose of our podcast here at the Bold Business Podcast, is an avenue with which to gather that info. But I need to know for myself, which means you need to know for yourself, how do I know that the information I’ve got will actually get me through? And this is the do we face our fears and stick our head in the sand because ostrich is due to get way more information than we ever knew. Or then this one right here Jessica ever knew. Because here’s the thing, people talk about worst case scenario planning or I don’t want to think about the worst case. And we do fire drills. We do planning in the event of a hurricane, if we live in a place where there are hurricanes, if we must dis if we must not be in person at our office, can we actually do our business? If something were to happen, and we can’t do our business at out of the office or at the office? What can we do? We have these types of drills and practices. My challenge to you today and setting up this topic really is be careful what you wish for and be careful of the actions that you take. Because you will have the ability to respond. And provided you have the four measures that we’re going to now get into for leading your business with confidence. And facing the unknown. And the crazy and the unexpected. With some semblance of, I really don’t know what’s gonna happen. And it’s scary. But here I go. That’s what we’re in for today. Because a path steps one through 10, or a path mile marker, this two mile marker that those are great. And we need that framework yet, getting from the first step to the second step is where we can get hung up. We think that because we know the steps, we know the path and it’s going to be a straight line, it’s going to be like looking through a telescope. And reality says though, every time we start taking that first step, we have more information that informs us. And we find out that that telescope, even though that that’s our vision for where we’re going, it’s not necessarily going to help us in the short term, we might actually be looking, you know, through a blurry pair of binoculars or a kaleidoscope where everything is fuzzy, we’ve taken the next step to get a little clearer, we’ve taken the next step to get a little clearer to reach that next milestone. And that’s what these four elements, these four measures can help you create within your company, for yourself to make these decisions and be able to remove the fatigue of I don’t know how to respond here because you may not and that’s okay. But you will have information to take a little step forward and make a little decision so that things can get a little clearer and clearer and clearer. And we’re able to take that firehose of information that is coming our way, accidentally or on purpose and use it to the best of our ability with the best intention in mind. And so, every direction, one of the things that we talk about is we talk about the forecast terminal directions, north, south, east and west. And each one of them has an has an element. And each one of them has a, a focus. And so we’re going to be talking about them in no particular order. I just am sharing with you that because in my mind, you’ll see me look east and west and south. And it’s because in my mind, I’m visualizing that our internal working documents, as I’m talking to you about this. So this first measure is all about communication and leadership. Oh, I will tell you this, the measures are presented today in the way that can help you have the most confidence to show up with the decisions that you must make and respond to the way you must respond to make it through the toughest times that you have already faced, or are in the middle of facing or might yet face because we’ll be thinking about it, which will help us respond well in that moment. So they’re presented in the order of increasing that confidence, taking the steps forward to face your business future, and be all in about it. So the first measure is all about communication and leadership. Communication and Leadership is about empathy, trust, but it’s also about the depth of data, can we take the patterns that we see on the surface for immediate optimization. And at the same time, can we imagine or sense or can consider, stick your head in the sand, get more information that other people can’t see until because they don’t have the same, they’re not looking at it the same way about other patterns that may become useful, that will indicate disruption that will indicate immediate change that will indicate there’s some other action for you to be aware of that you might need to put that buffer up, put a little bit of a buffer to get through. Because here’s the thing, one of the things that we’re really good at, and it’s one of the first things that goes sweats, number one in our measures, is to listen and learn from others when we’re under fire. When we’re under pressure. When we don’t understand what’s going on, we are less likely to pause and ask questions, we are less likely to want to actually understand and seek to understand what others have to teach us and to share with us that might be useful in our in what we’re working with. So we need to recognize when do we start closing down our willingness to listen, because that is a measure that we can go, I turn that down, I’ve got to turn it back up, I may be more discerning, I need to really focus on the questions and how I’m going to ask the questions or what how do I shape the information I’m receiving? Can I continue to listen amidst all of the other stuff that’s going to start coming at me or is already coming at me. Because when we pause to listen, we keep that team dynamic, which is where Scott I think maybe part of us we were talking about before with the group of ostriches or the The Murder of Crows or the pack of lions or the pack of wolves, right, whatever, whatever’s out there, the team of people, the high specialized performance teams within organizations, that those happen because they’re willing to stay open and listen to each other, even under the highest pressure times. So what is possible, versus what really is is a key here to that leadership. What is possible and what is really actually there the reality, because when we know what’s possible, versus what really is, we have a gap with which we can acknowledge, we understand the dimensions needed. And we can use that creativity, that conversation, those questions being asked that slowing down. To understand more about how, what, when where something must occur.
Jess Dewell 14:18
And it also allows us to shape that communication so that we who see it have taken the time to do it can bring our team along and let them ask questions and create that reciprocity, and build that communication, that empathy, trust and the depth of the data that we’re actually using, instead of leaving what we have at the surface.
Scott Scowcroft 14:40
Because the ostrich doesn’t just stick its head in the sand and gather intelligence. It then takes its head out of the sand and somehow communicates it to everyone else so that they they know something they didn’t before and something that was maybe even critical for their survival.
Jess Dewell 15:01
And so now we’re gonna go into the second measure. The second measure is about innovation and development. And we we can face our business future with, with confidence, when we understand that we can rely on an almost allow our second nature to kick in when we’re talking about problem solving. And because there’s going to be a point in there with all this other information, and we’re thinking about all of the other details that might be coming our way that would be useful, we have this realm of problem solving that doesn’t change the foundations with way, the way we do our work doesn’t change. What changes is our ability to shift our thinking to better utilize those foundations and the problem solving process that we have. Because it’s going to be in the execution piece, reaching the end of an initiative and making sure more than ever before we actually have ends of initiatives, we have a goalpost that we get to to get that goal. And when we get there, we stop and we evaluate, we reset, we go again. It doesn’t go on and on and on and on. And I think that’s a really important piece to understand here. When we’re talking about this second measure of innovation and development related to our business future and our confidence showing up to that future. We’re talking more about deep listening, we’re talking, we’re thinking more about what you want, we’re thinking more about what else is now pressing, and taking up space, in the people’s brains on our team and in our company. Because if and not if when it’s when we understand what is on the hearts and in the minds, it’s taking up space, we also understand that lens with which we show up to problem solving with which the way we do business, what’s good enough, or what is the baseline starts to be tested. And that’s where when we’re talking about increasing our capacity, we’re recognizing to increase our capacity, we have to recognize when everybody else has other stuff on their head, in their minds in their hearts, that is taking away from their ability, and of what they would normally bring to do what they do with you. Those are subtle clues that we need to be able to sense as were the vision holders to recognize here’s another level of capacity. This is Oh, to thrive, to stay out of survival. What are the clues that my people and the people that I work with, and the people that I report to? feeling and experiencing? And how is that changing the way they are able to show up the way they are able to engage. And here’s the thing with this. Sometimes, and you can experience this when we don’t feel good, when we don’t feel good, we wake up and we have a headache, or we might have congestion, or we might have a sore throat. But we don’t have anything that’s going to keep us down. It’s an all of us, it’ll be different. But we reckon we could wake up and just go off, something’s off today. I didn’t sleep good last night. I’m a little huh. We’re not at 100%. But we still go to our appointments, we still show up to our we still show up to the things that we have committed to. And we give the 100% that we have, even when that 100% might be 70%. And in some cases, depending on what is else is going on, it could be as much as I only have 20% to give you today. And this is the lever when we’re facing problems when we’re when we’re seeing that testing of the way that we do our work here. How do we shift our thinking to allow not only that to be maintained, but also the space and grace with which to recognize whoever is here is all in the thing is there all in may not be there 100% In that time and place. And this is where I think we get stuck in terms of shifting our thinking is we get stuck in do it more to the process, work hard and face it. Just Just go go go go go because we know we can get through if we just put in the effort. And there is a truth to that. There is also a truth that that drains our talent, which leads to turnover that drains our talent, which leads to the inability to keep the people that we want that match our culture. It also impacts our ability to sustain a something over time. If we’re pushing through when we don’t have any energy or resources. We do go into survival mode and there’s a higher chance that we all reach burnout.
Scott Scowcroft 19:54
Yeah, what you’re describing is not being sensitive to your environment.
Jess Dewell 19:58
And letting the environment Do the informing of the best way to solve this problem, which foundational pieces to lean into. So we’re almost halfway through here. And I want to pause and say, so we’ve talked about two of the four measures. The first measure is all about communication and leadership, our ability to be empathetic, to trust, and to use the information, the data that we have, and go deep into that data to find the patterns that are yes, on the surface, also, underneath waiting to be found, and here’s the thing, communication and leadership does come with some obstacles. And we’ve mentioned those. So we know what our goal is empathy, trust and the depth of data. Here are the obstacles that might tell you here is the measure that I should lean into or spend time with this communication and leadership so I can change my response to things. And that could be my resources are spread too thin. That could be I don’t have time to get the right work done. And neither does my team. That could be there’s an inconsistent approach to a process or a system. So there, there is no ability to have any sort of prediction and consistency with which to work with. And then the fourth one would be, I gotta start something new. And I’ve got to do this thing. But I’m overwhelmed and I don’t know where to start. And so those are the those are the obstacles that you can, if you’re facing those right now lean into this slowdown, what can I listen to? How can I use my data more? Am I truly trusting what has been built? Or am I going into protection? Or am I turning down my listening to just get the actions done? That’s measure one, measure two is innovation and development. This focuses on the ability to problem solve the the adaption and the expansion and contraction of the foundations with which we do our business. This could also be innovation and adopting new processes, and the ways that we are shifting our thinking to show up to situations and the obstacles when you want to lean into the second, the second measure innovation and development, what you can do and what you’re listening for and yourself is my top talent is leaving, I can’t keep for some reason people aren’t I shouldn’t say I can’t that’s that’s not right, that’s this is a team thing. People are leaving, people are burning out, I am unable and my team is unable to keep the roles in our company failed. Okay, that’s obstacle that’s an obstacle. Another one is we’re in survival, and we’re only working on the tasks to ensure we survive. So we’ve gotten into a holding pattern at a low energy level. And another obstacle around this particular measure would be I have an inconsistent flow of incoming revenue, my pipeline is weak. And another obstacle here would be we’re really good at starting, we’re not really good at ending. Because if we don’t end we end up piling up all of our starts. And we don’t have enough resources to actually do the things that help us in this innovation and development measure. One of the things that I also think is really apropos and poignant about this concept of visualizing an ostrich and whatever our traditional thoughts are about them. And hearing that, at least Jessica Smith about this has been broken in one way. Here’s another one. Because they don’t fly, they’ve had to adapt. They’ve had to find other alternatives to be a bird and not fly. And that is an interesting. That’s, that’s an that’s an interesting trait. It’s not something I didn’t know but it’s not something I would have been like, ooh, that’s kind of a cool thing about an ostrich it’s not that they do they are spunky Scott was telling me that you don’t want to get on their bad side, either. And I was like, Oh, that’s interesting. You’re right. We don’t we want them to we want the people around us to like us. We understand how we’re pressing those buttons. Apparently ostriches have buttons too, is what I’m learning. And these lean into our, our third and fourth measure. So quick recap. Measure one, leadership and communication. Measure two is innovation and development. Now going into measure three, we’re talking about strategy and execution. This is the skill sets. What you’re embodying what you are seeking out is an understanding the ability to focus and refocus and how much data you have coming in, across and the other one was deep this is across how much data do you have, that you can use to find similarities and bring back to your organization from other places, other companies going through disruption, other industries going through disruption, things that are that you’re working on that are in your goal set, and you hear in a totally different place, about the story and how they went through it and overcame it, that it and that you can bring that back and apply it to what you’re working on your most important initiatives. That is what we’re talking about here? How can you use different data points to bring to bring something back to spark that curiosity to ask those questions to come up with the ideas to keep you moving forward, forward. Now, to do that, requires fortitude. It also requires patience, we recognize that. And by the way, I am not I am, I am totally part of this camp of what I’m gonna say next. Even though we know it takes a lot to do something and get a result. Once we hit the go button, we want it to be done instantly and have great results. We want it to be the vision to be realized in the snap of a finger. And all of us know it doesn’t happen. It doesn’t prevent us from actually wishing it and wanting it and desiring it. And so the biggest the biggest thing to keep in track of here, when we’re talking about facing our business future with confidence, specifically related to strategy and execution, is this is the long game. Now, Ostriches are fast. So I’m gonna just gonna throw in another story of the tortoise and the hare. We want to be the tortoise when it comes to our strategy. We want to be able to stop it actually, we want to know that we can stick our heads in the sand like an ostrich to get more information. It’s to take a pause and to see what else might not be seen. In the obvious throughout the day to day conversations, what other questions How can we be curious here. And so that fortitude, in that patients become really necessary. And I know that’s something I struggle with, just as part of my personality. So this one, this one really hits home, for me in a lot of ways. The, you know, when you think about a compass, and I had mentioned the cardinal directions at the beginning, the red pointer never points at North, unless you turn your body so that the magnetic north and the North on your compass are aligned. And that’s something that we forget, we just are like, there’s where we’re going. And that’s it, we forget to stop and recognize, oh, well, the direction we decided it could be West, it could be South it could be east, in addition to North is no longer where the red point on our compasses pointing. And that is something that as long as we’re checking in on a regular basis, just that cadence of that check in will allow us to focus and refocus and recognize where do I need more? What might we be missing? Can we actually get to where we’re going with what we have today. And if we are not doing that, all of the work we do on executing and all of the week work we do to understand and have a strategy that we’re working toward over this long period of time. It just goes, it gets left behind, it becomes waste in a way. And your effort really does have meaning your effort to get to this vision that you have created is so important to then hold on to that strategy to not only execute it but to continue to adapt based off of what keeps showing up. And the obstacles here that do I need to work on my do I need to put attention on my strategy and execution? Here’s what you might be saying to yourself or experiencing in some variation. I am unable to have time, without interruption to look at our priorities and assess them and make any changes that need to be made. Another one is I am impacted by the constant change. And it’s taking. It’s taking my attention off of our key metrics, like profitability, like cash flow. I don’t have time to do the right work.
Jess Dewell 29:41
Which by the way could be the first thing I don’t have protected time. And the last obstacle that I know I hear most often that I’ve lumped into this category as a as something to really focus on the seeking understanding focus and refocus is about no matter what we do, we might In a result, the needle is not moving. And that’s actually what we planned for. We plan to move the needle but moved it not enough. So that lackluster result pieces. Well, those are the obstacles that are that will be showing up that are indicative of saying, Hey, here’s a measure of where you can focus right now, where you can put your attention right now into strategy and execution. Cool. punctuate. That’s exactly right. Yeah. This one’s a little, I mean, everybody, we talk about strategy a lot. So I was trying to keep this one really succinct, since it’s a lot of what we talked about in the grand scheme of things. But it’s kind of interesting how it’s a dance. And all none of these things are, when you do 123, you get where you want to go, or is it?
Scott Scowcroft 30:47
No, it’s not. So it’s one to know about strategy and execution. If you’re unaware of what the obstacles are, then you’ll be blindsided. No, I think you’re saying is, you know, be aware of what the obstacles are. And there are strategies that you can employ to overcome these obstacles. Is that a first summation statement? Yep. Cool.
Jess Dewell 31:09
Yeah, very fair. And so that goes, that brings us to our fourth measure, vision and foresight. This is all about educated guesses. What is the right thing to do right now, not what the right thing to do is in the future, what’s the right thing to do right now timing, and acknowledging our assumptions, when we’re making decisions. This is incredibly important. Because when we feel pressure, when we need to move fast, when we need to respond quickly, we rely on our auto pilots, we rely on what second nature, we rely on all of the skills that we have. And we we put all of our belief in that they are at the level we want them to be. Not sure about you. But that in itself is an assumption that I face. And you might be an outlier, I what I find is not only me as in the work that I do, and the leading that I do, the companies that we are working with also run into this once in a while, times get tight, we have to make quick decisions, we feel like we have to make decisions, what happens is we we expect that everything that we have is at its best. Well, if I did 100 Push Ups once doesn’t mean I can do them again, three months from now, if I’m not doing push ups every single day, I may or may not be able to do 100 Push Ups a month from now. And so this is the repetition and the practice of the skills and incorporating those, um, those those skills for competency and capacity, because we are talking a lot about increasing capacity today that are necessary, so that when we do go in to high pressure situations or quick responses are needed, we have some concept of what truly actually is the assumption we will be making. And where we will go to autopilot where we will lean into the repetition of the past. And if we don’t have the repetition, we’re going to inadvertently make more work and more problem. So this is this is a thing. Everything in business typically is about the brain between our ears, our head brain, right, this one, bringing in our a little bit more about our heart and our gut. So feeling awareness and instinctual awareness, add depth to the vision, they allow us to recognize those assumptions quicker. And we can also recognize when we’re being a little too linear, and we could pause from changing our and shifting a little bit. So when we know our biases, when we know where we default to in times of in tough times, then we recognize what the actual time it will take to navigate through the thing whatever that thing is, and still keep hold of the priorities, deal with the uncertainty face the fear recognize disruption is coming. And you can know you might know not know exactly when you might not know exactly how these four measures will indicate to you the time is closer than you think. Oh Scott that just reminded me this side of which I don’t remember which side of the car it’s on but one of our mirrors says Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. This is actually a perfect thing you know something is there you may or may not be able to see it it could be in your blind spot. You know it’s there. You don’t necessarily know how close because the because all of the information that’s there is only able to give you a sense but what you You would that sense is the most important.
Scott Scowcroft 35:04
Well, you know, the, the metaphor of the mirror is perfect because when when you’re driving, you’re constantly monitoring, aren’t you, you’re the environment that you’re at, there’s a car that’s coming up, there’s a car that’s receiving, maybe if it’s a two lane, two lane highway, there’s one that’s going to be passing you, but there’s a blind spot. But you know that there’s something in the blind, a, you know, there’s something in the blind spot, because you’ve been monitoring it and you, you know that it’s been coming up towards you. Or, you know, that, if you haven’t been monitoring that there might be something in the blind spot, you just don’t know. And you’re certainly not going to make a particular move until you turn your head just to confirm, okay, it’s safe. And now I can go. So it’s all awareness.
Jess Dewell 35:52
All awareness. You know, that made me think I don’t know if ostriches have blind spots, but. But what I was recognizing was, it doesn’t prevent us from going on autopilot. I’ll bet every single person who drives and maybe those of you who don’t who have regular walking paths that you’re taking, you do a thing so much you go out and you end up someplace you did not expect. There are times, I’ve gotten in the car to go to an entrainment with my chiropractor, and I ended up at a restaurant. Apparently, I was hungry. I was on autopilot. Because they’re in similar place, I let they I leaned into the automatic. And just because I said it didn’t mean it showed up just because I said it didn’t mean the actions happened to make it occur. So this is kind of an interesting thing. The other thing is, which probably more people will relate to is you get in the car and you’re driving and you get to where you’re going and you don’t remember the drive. That’s probably that’s probably when people are will will be like, Oh, Jess, I don’t know about you. But I resonate with this latter one more. And when we don’t, when we get to that destination, and we really we go, oh, who knew that 15 minutes had already gone by? Wow, I don’t even remember what I saw on the road? Or how many red lights or stop lights or stop signs there were? Or did I see a blue car? You can’t remember any of that stuff. And that’s a place where in our day to day life, we also are relying on the rote. What What have we always been able to lean into. And we have assumptions about that we had that we had an assumption that we were gonna get to where we were gonna go safely because of the thing. And the majority of the time. It works out that way. We’ll remember it if something comes out of nowhere and surprises us. We’ll be like, Oh, no, I guess I didn’t. I’m here right now, because we’ve got to address this right now. And that’s what we’re talking about. Right? We’re talking about Don’t be blindsided. When we become so good at something. We actually create neural pathways that make it hard for us to be good at other things, our our, our skill sets, lack transference. So I’m reading a book called range. I’ll put it in the show notes. Because this is absolutely positively amazing. It came across my radar from Ryan Ryan says, Hey, I’m reading this book, and he was telling me about it. And finally he goes, I’m telling you about it, you’re still going to read it. This is one this is one. We’re not going to just talk about, you’re going to read this one alongside me because we usually read different books and talk about them in our household. And so this what comes up what comes to mind right now is related to the easiest one well and it’s because my favorite Vivaldi is my favorite composer. I play the flute and his his flute music is absolutely amazing. It’s always been fun and challenging. And you can always get these different levels. Turns out, there were a group of people who were orphans in Italy, and their role was to sing and play music at churches to earn their living because they were not going to be able to be a regular part of everyday society for whatever reason. And when they learned more than those that only learned one thing did not do as well as those who learned to play five or six or 10 instruments and Vivaldi actually was reading, writing pieces of music for individuals that would challenge them and utilize their great specialty across not only one instrument but many instruments. So his he was able to take people with this great breadth of knowledge of playing instruments, and actually be more creative ative across the board and create lasting pieces of music literature, from these people from these women, they were all women from these women who could play all of these instruments. And so that brings up the point of, we’re taught 10,000 hours, were taught, go be a specialist. And there’s value in that. And it’s very necessary. One thing that we’re not, or that is lacking these days is the ability to is the ability to go, oh, this thing is broken, even though I don’t know about it. I know about that. And I can bring some of the ideas from that to this to see if I can figure out how to fix this thing that is broken. These measures are like that. You have systems and processes and structures in your business today, that are probably great, that have served you really well. And that can continue to serve you into the future. It’s just what is showing up today will require a different viewpoint. And by the way, that’s actually something where all of our products and services become useful, because we’re helping do that we’re helping tie into how do you think differently? How are you leading? What is the leadership and communication looking like today? How on each of those measures, these are the things that we’re focusing on. So we’re saying, you’ve done really great work here. And at the same time, what we need to do is, we need to look at it differently, so that you can carry forward and lean into the strengths that you actually have, without assumption to navigate through. We talk about business here. And yes, we can help a lot of people and we don’t have to help a lot of people. But we want to because they want to be helped. And they recognize that there’s an opportunity for, for improvement for applying these four measures for building confidence to have adaptability and most importantly, capacity, so that we aren’t the so that we are the outlier that makes it through the tough times. Because here’s the deal, whether you’re a mother, whether you’re an aunt, who whether you are a business person, whether you’re a partner, whether you’re a spouse, whether you are old or young, or whatever, whatever labels you have, you are going to face challenges, and somebody will say, here are the steps to do that. My gift, my gift to you are these measures so that you can take those and you can take what works. And then you can do what’s next for you. To shift your thinking and expand for you on your path. That is my one thing. My one thing is this, this is my gift to you grow, adapt, get more capacity, because all of us are seeking more happiness. And that really just does mean slow down. Understand these four measures, apply them to whatever your biggest priorities are. I’m specifically though in general, the Bold Business Podcast are for business leaders, owners, founders, teams, boards of directors that are looking for that outside set of eyes for how do I use these measures to create capacity over time. But I can do it in my day to day life to with my family, with my extended family, with the people who live under my roof with the people who I see at the grocery store every day, or walk by on the street. It’s all about connection. And that’s what this will also help us do create more intentional connection for us in our world.
Scott Scowcroft 43:34
So people who are listening or watching what’s the next step?
Jess Dewell 43:38
Oh, that was cute, Scott, thanks. Got it queued. All right. So you’re here, you’ve got the four measures of how to face your business future with confidence. You’ve got the ideas and the obstacles that you might be facing to know which one of those actually would be useful to you. And you’ve got the what it does. So you can go back to your processes. So you can go back to your experience. So you can go back to what you’ve always done, and test your assumptions and seek more information and decide do I use more data here? Do I go deeper into the data that I have? Am I fatigued? Am I able to show up to the situation? What is the reality? And how can I do my best? And how can I be the best for those who I’m holding space for to come do the work we’re doing to solve the problems we’re solving and serve those that we’re solving problems for? Red direction.com And if you’re interested, find out more at Red direction.com about the Fast Track Your Business program.
44:43
The Bold Business Podcast is brought to you by Red Direction. Jess Dewell dug into one idea in this program. Her goal is to ignite your creativity and spark different thinking with the presented material. How you apply this to your current priorities is up to you. Jess Dewell can bring the missing voice back into your company. With you, Jess will solidify your company’s TrueNorth. Your unique Red Direction.
Provided you are ready to work with Jess, email her at [email protected]
Special thanks to The SCOTT Treatment for technical production.