End of the World V2

I made 2 versions of this post. One, if the world did end, and one if it didn't. This is the version for when the world did not end.

If you have been too busy closing all those deals needed to achieve year-end and a decent bonus and have therefore shunned all human contact except for those clients with last-minute unallocated budget, here is a small backgrounder.

We have come to the end of the Mayan Long Calendar at the conclusion of the 13th Baktun. Each Baktun lasts 5,125 years. For some, this denotes the end of the world. For some others, including the Mayans, it does not - tending to suggest there is a strong likelihood we have all survived long enough to read this.

Now the danger has passed, you can go back to closing the quarter. But that potential tactic about offering a "Buy now. Pay later" deal and then closing by reminding the client they won't have to pay at all because the world is ending will have to be consigned to the "desperate pitch archive".

I was struck by some of the ceremonies that were happening around the world in which those who believed it was all about to end were involved in all manner of rituals. If I were a believer, I would of course be tempted to put my things in order and prepare myself for the final whatever comes next.

I did find it strange though to see some of the celebrants taking photographs. Who did they think was going to enjoy them?

Good to see too that at least there were two places where one could be safe. The first was at Bugarach in France and the second was Sirince in Turkey. Sadly according to Wiki, Sirince does not exist. Maybe it got to the calendar's end a little ahead of time. As for Bugarach, there was a rumour that M. Hollande was proposing a purely temporary hike in sales tax on "fin d'humanite" souvenirs (now that's a true contradiction in terms) to help out the nation's finances. For both places though and many more sites in Mexico, the end of the world has brought a welcome boom in tourism during these tough economic times.

An ill cosmic wind obviously blows someone some good.

But the end of an era that lasts five thousand years (but then didn't bring about the end of the world at all) does surely deserve some form of recognition. So here is something to empathise with those who aren't able to celebrate the world's end, and make them feel a little better. (From Mika).

I wish all those I know a happy start to the beginning of the 14th Mayan Baktun.

And to those who believe, all my best wishes for a peaceful Christmas with those you love.

Walking Straight in Circles

Have you ever felt that you were walking in circles? I have recently discovered that you probably are. It is not possible to walk consistently in a straight line without help. Walking without support will mean you inevitably go in circles.

Don't take my word for it. You can try it yourself. Find a big open space and start walking. The Sahara seems a decent place to try it out, else a forest on a cloudy night. Alternatively, I have 2 excellent sources. The first is a German study of a few years ago, led by a chap called Jan Souman from the Planck Institute. The second is a scene from Flight of the Phoenix (1965), where Capt. Harris (played by Peter Finch) and Sgt. Watson (played by Ronald Fraser), leave their companions in the desert to walk to summon help. They go round in circles and fail heroically.

Bottom line, if you don't have reference points, you end more or less back where you began. Career choices are a bit like that. I recall even comparitively recently being asked (or more often asking a candidate) where they saw themselves in the future - demanding purpose and clarity. These days, I am less sure this need for certainty equips people to make the most of what's out there.

Having too sure a path is as dangerous as having no path at all. Having a path where you walk in the well-trodden footsteps of others or even re-tread those paths you yourself have worn, provides surety but no adventure. No chance to fall victim to serendipity.

Finding new roles has seldom been tougher. It is so very tempting to go back to what and who you know. For many, this can be the right path. For some though I am increasingly sure that understanding how experience and know-how can cross boundaries opens up the door to success. To places that would never have been explored and bluntly to roles in organisations and industries that are very different.

I claim no specific insight here. The world is full of resources on how to amass and recognise transferrable knowledge. I am reading a decent one myself. Much of this is pretty simple stuff, if only I'd taken time before to consider it. "Common Sense" even - and if there was ever a word that described something that was not "common" at all!

So, take great care in transition to know what signs to follow. Be sure we do need signs but do not always look to the familiar. Other constellations are as valid as those that have served you well before. Strangers can indeed be friends you have just not yet met.

Takes me back full circle to Flight of the Phoenix - those lost in the desert eventually flew to safety in a full-sized plane made by a man who designed "toy" planes. That's a story about transferable skills too!

Yesterday, I learned my old boss had sailed the Atlantic in seventeen days. The romantic me wants to think that he did it in his own boat, and not on a cruise ship!  "... a tall ship and a star to steer her by." (Sea Fever - Masefield) come to mind.

Sharing - Taking Stock

I had a good couple of sessions with my wardrobe (French cabinet) this week. We concentrated on looking back to look forward. I suppose making use of what was good and bad in the past to set a course for the  future voyage. I am not going to entertain (or bore) you with the details but, like so many before me I now find that when you take the proper time to reflect you do gain valuable insights.

Naturally, so much of professional life is about analysis and judgements made on largely objective criteria. It has to be that way. Keep the unknown variables to a minimum. Recognise the business situation in which you find yourself and act accordingly. And certainly do that as you transition role. Remember the STARS model from Michael D. Watkins in The First 90 Days? No book holds all the answers but so many tell similar stories.  

I just wanted to share what I mean by using the word "proper". I see the word largely as a synonym for "appropriate", but of course curious, I discover other roots. Back to Latin about "belonging to itself", in old French being "suited to a purpose" and in modern French about being "clean". Of course, it's in colloquial English, as an adjective meaning "rather good" e.g. "That's a proper wicked pair of shoes, man". I do not recall hearing that a lot in the Brussels' corridors of power but there are certainly some very fine pairs of shoes on show!

Back to my appropriate message. The first wardrobe exercise was simple. Map out your career to date and set a barometer of how fulfilled/happy/glad to be there/impacting (pick the words that suit you best) you felt during each role. Try to find adjectives that describe the good and bad about what was going on. Maybe simple just means simplistic?

As in many things, you feel the importance to get on with the exercise quickly. I remember a saying by Rolf Harris about "destroying the white" on an empty canvas. Get something on it and then see where it goes. The good thing is my wardrobe has a talking mirror and that's where "proper" comes into play. Take the time. Measure the words and feelings. Is that first memory the true memory? Is that whole time overshadowed by one or two bad (or good) events? Was that a result of you or your surroundings, friends or perceived enemies?

I went back and looked at my efforts afterwards. And took the quiet and proper time to think a little more deeply. What struck me was the gut's feeling about a situation often held up to my deeper, second level analysis, but crucially a couple did not.

I would guess few of us take time even to do this simple exercise. I have been gifted the time to do it now. I do begin to wonder, if things might have been different had I taken "proper" time to do it before. That sounds melancholic but it is not. It just demonstrates the importance of placing self in the career management process.

Leaving Some Headroom

Celebration and recognition are important in all sorts of ways. Whether it is a birthday, a special occasion or a team or company that does something extraordinary, there should always be a way to mark an occasion. But how far do you go and how quickly?

I am just back from a trip to buy Christmas cards for close family and friends. Most of them still live in England and the cards are in English too. Living in Belgium somewhat restricts choice but there are a few outlets. Today was the day I chose to be brave and venture forth.

I have been struck by the language of celebration this year. Everyone who might be sent a card has been elevated to the position of being close to god-like. My brother is "fantastic". My sisters are "brilliant and wonderful". My mother and father-in-law are "perfect" and my wife and children are, well I guess you get the picture.

That's only on the outside of the cards on offer because, once you venture inside, they are lauded even more highly - all the things they are; all the things they do and all the joy they bring to those around them throughout the year. When my grandmother wanted to burst my bubble, she used to say I was just too clever for this world. With such mutual admiration going on, she would be very busy popping egos were she still alive.

Understand, I do love my family but all that stuff simply does not ring true. Like everyone else, we can drive each other to distraction. We need a little less hyperbole and a little more sincerity.

That got me thinking about how in our professional lives we are also maybe going too far and too fast in creating and rewarding heroes (and I suppose) villains. Overnight success is often very hard won and should perhaps be lauded not for its apparent sudden notoriety but for the energy and perseverance that it so often takes.

Twitter was close to ten years in the making and it took four generations for the iPod to become an overnight sensation. Success needs many ingredients but stamina does so often seem to needed to be combined with good timing. Even in these tough times - Try often. Fail sometimes. Learn always. Never give up.

With all this in mind, I am going to brave another shop and see if I can find cards that are more to my liking. Then , probably have to make my own that are closer to what I really want to say. Thank you for being you. I care about you. Enjoy Christmas and I wish you all good things for the year to come.

Now there's an idea - even a new business venture perhaps?

New Cathedrals

I have spent some of the last few days in discussions with what one could call "railway types" - those responsible for building and delivering the rail networks we take for granted. Absolutely fascinating. I have travelled a lot by train and even been involved in projects to bring high-speed communications track-side. Trains provide a place of relative calm where plans get made and problems sometimes get solved.

I had never appreciated those in the industry being akin to the cathedral builders of the middle-ages. Now I do. Listening to the idea that the current project of a young enthusiast was likely to be so long that it might be their last job was strange. To hear they were happy about it, was truly extraordinary.

Built to the greater glory of a Christian God, cathedrals were clearly mammoth undertakings. Taking as long as 600 years to finish (Cologne) or thrown-up in just a couple of generations (the rest). Why so long? I guess there was the usual issue of money and then the added complication of unforeseen circumstances, like encountering local opposition (a.k.a. war or revolution). It seems that this latter element was mostly to blame for delays. Then again, with a project the scale of a cathedral and the methods of construction used, I suppose that planning was by its nature long term! Agile development techniques were in their infancy.

Imagine, designing a building in the knowledge you would never see it finished. Just being content in setting the ball rolling and playing your part as best you can. Putting your skills in the mix. Just knowing that you were involved in something big and worthwhile. That's where I believe the analogy of comparing those who build our railways to those who built our inspiring cathedrals does resonate. Built through the present and there for the future.

I have had a great half-career where the notion of having a long term plan has become less and less fashionable. I began with helping to write 5 year tomes. They shrank to 3 year plans and then withered to rolling forecasts that worked in trendy horizons of anything from a quarter to a half-year. Contrast that with some cultures that work in true horizons. I still remember a celebration I attended of a Chinese company, where the Chairman talked of the success of the first 15 years and the promise of the next 50!

Pressure from involved stakeholders or just the Street? What matters most - getting there or the journey? When does the line needing appropriate visibility get crossed to become an unduly heavy interest? Should a crisis of confidence across an industry lead to the end of good risk taking and management? Then innovation surely dies and progress stalls.

Imagine the then Pope holding a planning session with Michelangelo... "Listen Mikey, how's that ceiling going? Looks to me like you're fallin' a bit behind. Can you show me the get well plan by Wednesday, else I'll call Leo?"

Railways will likely be the last industry we will see building cathedrals. Magnificent, great and green iron roads that allow time for people to dream.

Off to book a Thalys ticket.

The Computer Says "No" - Stockdale to the Rescue

There was once a comedy program when whatever the request the tag line was always that the computer said "No". I am experiencing that same computer - now alive and thriving in French officialdom. It deserves a name.

I need to sign for my apartment but need an insurance to be put in place to guarantee the owners that they will receive their rent. Fair enough but I am now categorised as sans-emploi - not SDF or sans-papiers, just sans-emploi. My ambiguous status gives the system a problem.

I am considered solvent. I have offered letters of commendation to attest to my good character. I have offered a bank guarantee, even offered to pay all my rent upfront. But so far to no avail.

"It's nothing personal M. Mottram, just that rules is rules".

No great shakes and I am sure I will somehow overcome but what a waste of energy.

Large organisations - commercial and statutory - need form and function. Ambiguity is to be avoided. All cogs need their seat. Machinery needs to be robust and dependable. People in the chain need to know where they fit and what is expected - Chaplin's Modern Times.

More sophisticated organisms add accountability to the mix and a good measure of freedom and latitude. Treat every transaction and interaction as if it had a customer and put that client at the centre of the desired outcome.

I am reminded of the Luddite movement in the English Industrial Revolution where workers, threatened by the introduction of new technology, sought to destroy it.

Just had a thought of a 21st century opportunity to begin a movement where customers refuse to be enslaved by processes and systems that have somehow "forgotten" why they were created. Some might call this a first step on the dangerous road to anarchy and chaos. Others might see it as the road to transformation.

Whatever I do next, it will be about this transformation - away from a status quo that has outlived its usefullness, inhabited by teams who are lost in the machine and who just know there is more to be achieved..

What do you say when it's over?

Today, I begin a time of independence. Some call it unemployment - what an ugly word - and the irony is that I am currently very employed indeed. Of course, I do need to find that next consuming thing. Of course, the bills need paying and Belgian air can become a little too thick. But, when you fall off a horse, it's not necessarily always the best thing just to jump right back on. Riding is not for everyone. There is that thing about the Stockdale Paradox (MP3 Download) too. Face up to any dark reality, knowing that somehow you will prevail.

I am lucky to have been given time to consider and a "cabinet" to help (not yet proven to be a wooden thing that stands dumb in a corner but that delightful French term for a consultancy firm). In the coming weeks, I will share elements of my time in the furniture business. Therapy is often best practised in groups. I'm not at all sure how entertaining this will end up but writing some of it down might help someone. There are a lot of us about.

This first foray into the ether, is to say hello and share a problem. What do you say to a lover you are leaving after 20 years? My company has been somewhat like a lover to me so I don't feel embarrassed to use the analogy. We have had great times, shared hardships too, had blazing rows, brought some offspring to maturity and buried others prematurely. But the spark has gone. It's better we all move on and find someone else.

To begin, I wanted to be very fashionable and have a party. I thought just a drink wouldn't be enough. After all, I had a lot of friends to invite and years to celebrate. Remember the fashion of holding a divorce event? I even made a guest list. Then, decided that many of the professional friends I had would be unlikely to have been my friends outside the office and the best of them wouldn't feel like celebrating anyway. So no party then.

Then, came the obligatory farewell mail. But what do you say? One of the few new resolutions I take to my new life is brutal honesty. I have read so many of "those mails" before. I could not write what would have been expected of me. It's not that I have not had a great and fulfilling time in so much of what I did. I have fantastic memories of events and personalities, of triumphs and lessons learned. But on reflection, these need to be treasured like a box of memories and not paraded to a long list of people, for most of whom they hold little interest or power to inspire. So the mail hit the dust too.

So where have I finally settled? I have decided to blog. Folks can come, read and share should they wish and not if they don't. The ultimate opt-in. I get to write stuff and those who want to care and stay in touch get to hear what's the story. And this story has a way to run yet.

And here's the first reward. Just a song that captures how I think I feel and the city in which I felt it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQl3WQQoQ0