Some businesses have two problems they are trying to solve, rather than one.  Solving one problem can be hard enough; solving two is crazy hard…particularly for entrepreneurs trying to get their idea off the ground.

Whether you are starting a new company, leading a new initiative or just planning an event, it is critical to consider the problem(s) you are solving for each of your stakeholders.

Bystander Problems
Consider your idea: list out who benefits from your concept and why. It won’t surprise me if you realize you are addressing a lot of issues for a lot of people.  Businesses also fulfill a lot of needs that bystanders have.  For instance—a new coffee shop may revitalize a corner or provide people with jobs.  Certainly these are valuable bystander effects of the coffee shop’s core reason for existence: selling coffee.

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Have you ever been hanging out with a friend who eagerly launched into a story that you’ve heard before? Your gut reaction is to stop them, “Yeah yeah, you told me the other day…”.  And you’re in the right – it can be frustrating to hear a story twice, but maybe just sometimes you should let your friend charge forward.

Sometimes it’s appropriate to stop someone; for instance, maybe they are simply telling you a quick anecdote in order to jog your memory.  If that’s the case, then you should definitely interrupt them when you get it.  In other instances, your friend may just be telling you a story again for the sake of it, and it’s not that important to them so you can put a stop to it.

The key is that you make a thoughtful evaluation before interrupting someone. Take note of how eager your friend is to share their story.  Even if they told you the story once before, it may be a story that they love to re-tell.  We all know that in part, telling a story lets you relive the moment.

Take the split second to guess whether the retell will be more annoying to you than it will be special to your friend.  If you think it will be a good moment for them, then be a good friend and suffer through a good story for the second time.

How many times have you read a book twice? Watched the same movie more than once?  What about a TV show? Or a musical? Stories are told and retold, just go with it, especially if it matters to someone else.

~ Bryan

In May I wrote about Pressure Gaugers: people who act as support beams before anyone realizes that support is needed.  Today, I’d like reframe the same concept in a different light.  The core principle at play is anticipation –  the concept that one should be continuously aware of what might happen next.

While anticipating someone’s deeper needs is important, it can also go a long way to help people with basic conveniences.

Think about it – in a round-about-way there is real economic ‘value’ that you are providing just by being a good friend.   The difference between nice hotels, restaurants and gyms and their respective lower quality counter parts is that nice costs A LOT more mostly because it includes much better service (and a staff that anticipates client’s needs).

Just by going the extra way for your friends, you’re building a relationship that is based on kindnesses and gifts…gifts that are easy to give and that mean a lot to receive.   I’m talking about really easy stuff here — like passing the remote when you stop watching TV, or thinking to bring a glass of water when you’re coming back from the kitchen because you noticed your friend just sat down to eat but doesn’t have a drink.

The most impressive & meaningful part is if you can truly anticipate and think of your friend’s needs before they do.

Anticipate and address your brother’s needs and wants before they realize what they need or want.

~Amjad

The little things matter more than you think.  Try doing it for one friend for one week.

~ Bryan

Teachers do not get the respect that they deserve.  In fact, the act of teaching isn’t given the attention it should.

In 17 years of formal schooling, not once did someone teach me how to teach others.  Yet, teaching others is what society is all about.

Early physicians taught others about the fundamental laws of our universe, and that in turn inspired others to learn more and teach their insights to others as well.  Knowledge and skills progress because as a society we take time to teach each other.   However, a society is large enough that not everyone needs to pay attention to teaching in order for the society to progress. Read more »

Whether it was tee-ball in elementary school, or your latest group at work, we all have some experience with the concept of teamwork.

In theory, teams work together toward a shared objective. Earlier this year, the TV show Frozen Planet featured killer whales working in conjunction to hunt seals.   Five or so whales swim side by side underneath ice blocks and use their tails to create massive waves that knock their prey into the water, making them easy victims.  A lone whale wouldn’t have the strength to create such a wave.

In the same way, if you and your team plan to make a big splash, you need to find a way to work together and collaborate.

The problem with teams is that it is quite possible to lose sight of the one shared goal.  It seems pretty crazy that this would happen, but sometimes we forget that we are collaborating to ‘win’ and instead we prioritize our own individual responsibilities.

The difference is so subtle that it’s hard to realize the team has become dysfunctional, especially for the players themselves.  Each team has a playbook–a set of guidelines for how to interact; the breakdown happens when the players keep following the playbook even after the context has changed.

The result is a series of players working to achieve their own objective rather than keeping sight of the team’s objective.  Everyone thinks they are working for the team, but in fact they are working for themselves.

Instead of holding meetings to help push the team closer to its objective, we start holding meetings to push our own individual agendas forward.  It feels like teamwork, but it’s not.

A dynamic team can adjust to shifting priorities and realities as time goes by.  Collaboration occurs when every touch point and interaction between people is helping both parties move the team closer to it’s goal.

Look back on your recent interactions with your teammates–did you both get something out of the meeting and did it push you closer to your goals?  If not, tread carefully–wasted time is often disguised as ‘collaboration’.

Trust your team & work in conjunction.

~ Bryan