culled from:switchandshift.com
Many organizations seek to be bigger, to go farther than the competition, and do it faster. But there’s a heavy price to pay unless you redefine those three words to match today’s reality with what we look for in our work. Consider this new manifesto:
Bigger is not the lumbering, bloated behemoth collection of firms we see around us in the world of mergers without meaning. It is not a company so huge it practically suffocates with committees and unconnected strategies, with too many people who never see each other, don’t know each other and who feel adrift from the core.
Bigger is more about depth and width. It’s about expanding capacity. It’s about finding out, connecting with, valuing deeply and using often the diverse talents we each bring into the marketplace.
Bigger is about going deep and wide with clients, customers and partners, expanding capacity to serve their full world and not just solve the pain or stretch mark that brought us to the table.
It’s about expanding capacity. It’s about finding out, connecting with, valuing deeply and using often the diverse talents we each bring into the marketplace.
Bigger is about extending beyond our individual areas of expertise to bring more than our singular skills into play. Yes, play! If we can’t have fun with each other while we’re in the sandbox, who needs it?
Farther is not the long-distance heart-palpitating run created by fear-racked organizations that want to stay ahead of the pack while leaving exhausted bodies in their wake.
Farther is about organically, intrinsically moving out front because we dream bigger than we do today.
Farther is all about thinking long-term, seven generations of long-term. Farther is all about doing good work with good people so that we get great results because we find purpose for our existence on this inter-connected plant.
It’s about organically, intrinsically moving out front because we dream bigger than we do today.
Faster is not about that hyper-speed, hypertensive race to cram 48 hours of work into 24 hours of day. If we lose at life and home, what good is work anyway? Slipshod results and bleary-eyed associates result from unnecessary overdrive.
Faster is action orientation because we are not burdened by layers and procedures that have long lost their meanings, egos that need to be stroked and decision power held by a few.
Faster is the result of clearly spoken values, goals and calculated risks.
It guides new thoughts, brave conversations and bolder decisions.
Bigger, farther, faster is a more evolved state of mind. It guides new thoughts, brave conversations and bolder decisions. We make it possible by sharing stories about what happens when bigger, farther, faster ways are alive within us. Bigger, farther, faster is a process, not a one-time event.
And it is big thinking—really big thinking. Few have tried it. It will not happen overnight. But it can happen with ups and downs, sideways and backwards.
Bigger, farther faster is an opportunity to link arms and jump into the future to make that long-term difference.
Yes. It’s a leap of faith. But at least it is a bigger, farther, faster one.
