Tag: Business

Categories
Career motivation

What can I contribute?

group of people doing an environmental cleanup
Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

When it comes to jobs, very few come to a workplace asking, “What can I contribute?” Alas, we are more likely to ask, “What’s in it for me?”

"To ask, 'What can I contribute?' is to look for the unused potential in the job." Peter Drucker

But Peter Drucker’s quote reminds me when we are inwardly focused, we miss out. What if we see a job as an opportunity to contribute something only we can give?

Some would call that servant leadership.

Cartoon of a dog and cat about servant leadership

Each of us is unique in our talents, experiences, and personalities. We have skills that no one else has. Perhaps that is exactly why we are in the position we are today for a very specific purpose.

Instead of asking, “What can I get out of this?” Perhaps the better question is, “What can I do today that adds value to my organization?”

Categories
creativity motivation

Getting Our Ducks in a Row

There is a time to ad-lib and go with the flow. And there is a time to get our ducks in a row.

The closest I have ever seen ducks get in a row

At libbing is fine for creativity. But getting everything organized and in its place is better for productivity. That’s a hard lesson for a creative like me who wants the muse to lead me wherever she wants to go.

Ducks are hard to get lined up. They scatter if you approach them. My creative mind likes to do the same thing. Thankfully, I’ve discovered there is a time for the muse to lead and a time to get productive. Know when to get your ducks in a row.

Categories
Business motivation

Habitually Practicing Effectiveness

group of people in art exhibit
Photo by 祝 鹤槐 on Pexels.com

Too often, we believe that to be effective at anything is a natural gift. And while it’s true some of us are gifted in administration, visionary leadership, or charisma, it still takes effective practice to get anything done.

"Effectiveness, in other words, is a habit; that is, a complex of practices. And pratices can always be learned" Peter Drucker in "The Essential Drucker"

What do you mean we have to practice being effective? Peter Drucker addresses this in the book. He equates it to the musician playing scales. It’s getting to the basics and doing the hard work.

Manual workers need only to be efficient. Knowledge workers can only be effective if they are efficient at the right things.

For me, that leads me to consider what is effective communication in the information age. And what does it look like to effectively communicate to internal and external audiences.

As I start the work week, I am asking myself, “How can I be most effective to my organiztion?” Perhaps, I should ask that at each start of the week.

So how about you? How are you habitually practiving effectiveness?

Categories
Business Quotes

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Quote by Peter Drucker: "It is not necessary of a business to grow bigger; but it is necessary that it constantly grow better." from "The Essential Drucker: The best of Sixty years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management

We see annoying billboards touting that size matters. Various businesses try to convince us that only a massive dinosaur of a company can provide the service or product we deserve. They will have us assume that bigger firms are always better.

It’s the measure of success. We admire industry titans like John D. Rockefeller, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk. The size of the companies they founded is almost as important as the profits they produced.

But anyone who has ever tried to contact a live person at a massive, unresponsive business or organization knows that isn’t the case. At the beginning of The Essential Drucker, Peter Drucker asks us to consider that bigger isn’t always better.

Bigger isn't always better: a quote by Peter Drucker: "It is not necessary of a business to grow bigger; but it is necessary that it constantly grow better." from "The Essential Drucker: The best of Sixty years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management
Continue reading “Bigger Isn’t Always Better”
Categories
Leadership

Does Consensus Kill Courage?

Cartoon of man selling idea to skeptical businessmen asking does consensus kill courage

Carey Nieuwhof had a great post entitled, 5 Signs Bad Governance Is Stifling Your Church’s Growth and Mission. In a previous post that he no longer has posted, Niewshof had some great points on how committees can knock the wind out of good ideas. In his post, he said,

When it comes to courageous change, here are four things that are true:

Committees kill vision

Individuals are almost always more courageous than teams

The more people you seek to please up front, the less inspiring your idea will become

Leaders don’t always walk alone, but sometimes they have to start alone.

Carey Nieuwhof
Continue reading “Does Consensus Kill Courage?”