If You Didn't Share on Social Media Did It Really Happen?

There is an old riddle about a tree falling in a forest and whether or not it makes a sound if no one is around to hear it. Lately I have been wondering if the same applies to our obsession with social media. #picturesoritdidnthappen

It occurred to me over the holidays while out with our three daughters on our very first family hike. I had many "Instagram twitches" where I saw shots that would be perfect for posting on Instagram, I was even thinking whether Facebook Live would work for when we got to our waterfall destination in the San Gabriel mountains. I was suffering from Immediacy Obsession. Instead, I took a few quick photos, I kept my phone in my pocket, and explored our hike through the eyes of our six and eight year old daughters as they found sticks, dug for treasure, and leapt across streams. 

Our expectations have changed, it is easy to get obsessed with having to achieve something right now, and sharing it with the world. We have forgotten how to wait. Wait for weekly installments of our favorite tv show, wait for our next trip to the book store, wait to finish the reel in our camera and send it off for processing and wait for the prints to arrive on our door step two weeks later. 

While speed in business is essential to stay competitive, not everything has to be rushed. Speed can be exhausting.  

Instead of immediately trying to find that perfect shot or that funny hashtag, stop and look at tree for yourself, the world can wait and see it later.

Do You Create Whiplash for Your Team?

As we crawl through the early morning traffic at 7am in San Jose it is like my driver has a block of cement strapped to his foot.

He is jolting the car between full acceleration and slamming on the brakes when we are travelling at best at 30mph on the 101 into Palo Alto.

He has no idea he is giving me whiplash and the feeling of being on a never ending roller coaster. His eyes can't be more than six feet ahead of him and every brake light or opening in the road ahead seems a complete surprise to him.

Where are you looking in your business? Just days ahead of yourself or are you looking to your future horizon?

When I hear about frantic email exchanges on Sundays, scrambles to prepare for executive reviews, or unnecessary delays of decisions it is caused by the leader behind the steering wheel.

Don't make your team nauseous with your inconsistent speed. Shift your eyes to the horizon.

You can find out how to focus on the right spot here.

Why You Need More Than One Choice

I was due to be meeting the happiness guru, Dan Gilbert this week. Alan Weiss was hosting his seventh annual Thought Results Leadership Conference at the Four Seasons, Palm Beach and the author of Stumbling On Happiness was set to join us. 

I hadn't paid much attention to the Hurricane Matthew warnings until the welcome cocktail reception on Tuesday evening where those who, unlike me, had experienced a hurricane before were rapidly booking flights out of there the next morning. 

I remained quite relaxed and the information wasn't clear if Matthew would be hitting Palm Beach but when my colleague, Phil Symchych said "it's all about likelihood and severity Val" I started to change my mind. Phil's advice stuck with me: "Even if the likelihood is low, the severity is high so you make your decisions on that basis."

I still wasn't sure, so I immediately booked a one way refundable flight so I had an early escape plan if I needed it. I gave myself choices.

I see this demonstrated with the most successful leaders I work with. Those who give themselves choices are better prepared and can  weather their own virtual or real storms. For example:

• Be ready with more than one option for who your successor could be, then an unexpected resignation won't have such a detrimental impact. 
• Have a multitude of sponsors for your projects so when you need support you can rely on multiple people to back you up. 
• Avoid tunnel vision when targeting acquisitions. Having multiple targets you are evaluating will allow you to make comparisons rather than all or nothing decisions which may hamper your judgement. 

My back up travel plans allowed me to escape before the post-evacuation scramble, got me on a reasonable flight home, and gave me the gift of two bonus days at home to use as I choose. Without realizing it I had Stumbled on Happiness more than once this week.

How can you give yourself greater choices where it matters most?