The Symphonic Blog

Symphonic Decisions

I believe that far too many people fail to reach their full potential because of numerous, small decisions that are made in the moment without a full understanding of their future implications.

As you might imagine, an orchestra can not function without a conductor or, at least, without a set of guiding principles that govern and inform the myriad decisions made in the moment. I want to help you make symphonic decisions™—strategic choices that have a positive and cascading effect on your environment, ultimately making it easier for you to accomplish your goal.

My symphonic approach is based on strategic decision-making in the context of future opportunities. I use a set of decision-making principles that help people prioritize among competing challenges, which ultimately allow them to make better-leveraged decisions that accelerate their ability to capitalize on opportunity. While values typically remain stable, attitudes and behaviors often fluctuate over time. Decisions based on short-term concerns or pure self-interest often seem favorable today, but they may close doors for you tomorrow. My approach helps you make decisions that build upon themselves in ways that create a steady progression in a positive direction.

Symphonic Decision-Making Process

Consider employing what I call a symphonic decision-making process. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What information do I need to have in order to see this particular challenge from a 360-degree perspective?
2. How has this challenge presented itself to others and how have they approached solving it?
3. What principles can I apply today to prevent this particular challenge from surfacing again in the future?
4. How does my decision today get me closer toward realizing tomorrow's objective(s)?

What information do I need to have in order to see this particular challenge from a 360-degree perspective? Answering this question forces you to view your situation holistically. This means placing yourself in the shoes of the people around you who are touched by or influenced by your decision. By identifying those who also have a "stake" in your decision you can begin to see the situation from a more comprehensive, or what I call, holistic vantage point. Do you know how your decision is likely to impact those around you? Do you know what chain of events your decision is likely to initiate for those around you? Do you know how those around you are likely to react once you make a decision? How will the type of decision you make influence their reactions? These are just a few of the holistic questions that help you see your decision in a 360-degree context.

How has this challenge presented itself to others and how have they approached solving it? This question is designed to help you avoid reinventing the wheel. Often, a challenge or a decision may seem new to us, but that does not make it new in the broader scheme of things. I often tell people "just because it's new to you doesn't make it new." Take a moment to consider others who may have faced the same or similar decision moment and think about what they eventually decided to do. Now, looking to history for guidance does not mean that you have to be wedded to history. Let it instruct and inform you. Then, be prepared to move on your own terms. If you can pick up some insight from how others have approached the same or similar decisions, why not take the time to do so.

What principles can I apply today to prevent this particular challenge from surfacing again in the future? This is, yet, another question that forces you to see beyond the current moment. Answering this question requires an ability to look beyond the constraints that you feel exist today; the constraints that may be forcing you to make a decision. In some cases, there is nothing that could have been done to avoid the decision. In other situations, however, there are a series of smaller choices and mini-moves that led to the current moment. Understanding the path that led you to the present can sometimes help to inform the decision you need to make. I often say that poor decisions usually bring about a host of bad choices. But, good decisions normally open you up to positive choices. If you are on a negative path that has led you to a series of poor choices, try to make decisions that get you back on the positive path and moving in the direction of positive choices.

How does my decision today get me closer toward realizing tomorrow's objective(s)? This is the final question I encourage you to ask yourself. It forces you to see both the future in the context of today. Often, we make decisions based on short-term desires. We want to avoid pain today, even if that means deferring it until tomorrow. We want to minimize loss today, even if that means suffering a bigger loss in the future.

What you want to do is to develop a personal and professional tool kit that enables you to prioritize among competing challenges, ultimately allowing you to make better-informed decisions that accelerate your ability to capitalize on opportunity.

Challenge yourself to see the cascading nature of your decisions. Every decision that we make today either gets us closer or pushes us farther away from our goals and objectives. Decisions ripple in a 360-degree direction and impact people all around us. Our decisions today are often the product of decisions we made yesterday. Every decision has a series of steps that lead up to it and those steps are often ignored and unexamined.

Try a more holistic, more thoughtful, more strategic...and more symphonic approach to decision making. You won't be disappointed!

 

Pho and the flavors of improvisation

In a recent Washington Post article, author Tim Carman writes this about pho, the classic Asian soup: "One of the many attractions of pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup, is its open-endedness, its willingness to let slurpers customize their bowls however they please."

Carman's article struck a chord with me.

I picked up the article because I, too, like pho soup. But as I read the article, I started to see a connection to my work with leaders and organizations.

Pho offers us the ability to improvise, to build upon a solid foundation by adding our choice of ingredients that fit the moment. Carman describes some of the many options available to pho enthusiasts: "hoisin for sweetness, Sriracha for kick, bean sprouts for crunch, limes for tang, jalapenos for heat and Thai basil for an element of anise. You, the eater, become the flavor agent in the house of pho."

In culinary circles, letting an individual diner take control over the final dining experience is controversial. Some chefs want to control how their dishes are presented, restricing diners' ability to alter the composition of the dish. Other chefs embrace a more flexible posture and recognize the individuality of the diner. Whatever your dining preference, pho speaks volumes about the tension within our organizations between cultures that allow an individual to bring his or her unique flavor to the mix and those cultures that are built on presenting a single face to the world.

The question is not which one is better. The question is whether your organization has the agility to adapt its culture to fit the moment. Do you know when it's time to add a little hoisin, or some Sriracha, or a few leaves of basil?

The culture within your organization is like the broth from a bowl of soup. Some cultures are hot and marked by frenzy and a pace that would challenge even a Type A personality. Other cultures are silky and soothing, offering employees a comforting environment with little heat or spice. There are plenty that fall somewhere in the middle.

What is most important for us as leaders to remember is that cultures ought not remain static and fixed. Cultures should live and they should breathe, adjusting to fit the moment. Agile cultures allow individuals to customize the "broth" in ways that are conducive to extraordinary performances.

As a leader, it is within your power to discern when it is appropriate for your employees to bring their selves to the table and when it is time for them to accept the moment for what it is, without alteration and customization.

Unfortunately, I have found that many leaders have one approach, no matter what the situation.

Challenge yourself as a leader. Do you have what it takes to create an environment where individuals in your organization can become "flavor agents," bringing their unique assets and ingredients to the table? Can you create an environment where everyone is working in the same way at the same time? Better yet, can you identify those moments when one approach is better than another at cultivating a symphonic performance?

 

The Secret Language of Elephants

Can elephants talk?

What a silly question, right? That sounds like a question one of my children might ask.

But, it is actually a question that researchers have been asking for quite some time now. In fact, 60 Minutes recently ran a segment that touched on this very question.

"Elephants communicate in a complicated, sophisticated language," CBS correspondent Bob Simon says in his opening remarks, and "scientists are trying to decipher and compile [it] into the world's first elephant dictionary."

In the segment, Simon interviews Dr. Andrea Turkalo, an expert on elephant behavior. Turkalo describes the process of compiling the tones that elephants make--both heard and unheard--in an attempt to decipher their emotional world.

By matching elephant sounds with elephant behavior, researchers like Turkalo are able to learn a lot about a complicated and sophisticated world; a world where tone matters.

"It turns out these [elephant] vocalizations are just a small fraction of the sounds elephants make," Simon states. "Until a few years ago, scientists had no idea that most of what elephants are saying can't be heard by the human ear."

This piqued my interest. It appears that elephants can tell us a lot about leading and transforming our organizations, our communities, and our lives.

In the course of leadership, every leader has to find a voice, to strike a tone, that "moves the crowd." Let me offer two principles to consider.

First, as a leader you must develop the ability to communicate using a variety of tones that meet the moment. Different situations require different tones; some high, others low; some seen, others unseen. Unfortunately, far too many leaders have only one speed, or one tone, and they are often unable to mobilize others when it matters most.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• What kind of tones are you striking in your organization, in your family, or in your community?
• Better yet, what kinds of tones are you capable of striking?
• Is your repertoire limited, or can you dial it up and dial it down when necessary?

The second principle follows directly from the first. Being able to communicate in the right tone at the right moment requires an ability to read your audience.

As a leader, it is important for you to be able to pick up on the tones coming from those around you. Many times you can discern the mood of the group by looking to both verbal and non-verbal clues. Facial gestures are just as important as the emphasis we place on certain words. Unfortunately, I've seen many leaders who are just tone deaf. They can't hear what's being said because they are not in sync with the tones that are inaudible.

Just like elephants, organizations give off tones that provide clues about the degree of harmony and the emotional state within. You can ignore these tones, but you do so at your peril.

As the 60 Minutes segment draws to a close, Simon remarks: "As night falls over her clearing and fisherman float gently down the Tsanga, you can hear the crickets. What you can't hear are the elephants. But that doesn't mean they aren't talking."

 

To view the segment within the 60 Minutes episode click on the link below:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7186356n&tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea.8

 

 

 

Redefining the American Dream

An Appeal to America (Let’s Redefine the American Dream)

Originally posted in 2009

By A.J. Robinson

 

I’ve been struggling for months now, trying to translate what I’m feeling into words.

It’s been a struggle because I’ve never been here before. I’ve never felt that sense of helplessness that I know so many others feel, and have felt, on a daily basis.

 

That might surprise you because I’m an African American male. I didn’t grow up rich. I grew up in the working middle class section of Silicon Valley. But I’ve got an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a doctorate from Harvard. I have a supportive wife, three beautiful kids, a nice home, and I own my own company. I thought all of that would give me a sense of control over my own future.

 

Yet, I am increasingly starting to feel that none of that entitles me to a sense of control in this global drama that is unfolding.

 

I know what you’re thinking—“welcome to the club!”

I have to tell you, now that I’m part of the club, I really don’t like it.

 

The “We’re not in control” club

As I look around, there seem to be a whole lot of people in this club. Unfortunately, there is a lot of pain too and I sense it everywhere. People are really suffering and, this time, no one seems spared. Education, class, race, gender, family connections—none of it seems to matter. Membership has swollen, and there are more people lined up around the block who may not know it yet, but they’re about to join the club too.

 

So, how did I get into this club?

 

More importantly, how can I get out of here—and fast? That’s my question.

 

By now, we all know the cast of characters in this story—the unscrupulous mortgage lenders; the greedy Wall Street financiers; the Ponzi schemers. The list goes on and on. But at some point, if we look hard enough, we’ll find our names written down there too.

 

We got here because of a series of decisions that we all had a role in. If we weren’t making bad decisions, we were supporting them. If we weren’t supporting bad decisions, we were ignoring them. We got here because we lost sight of the real essence of the American Dream. We got here because too many of us got caught up in “microwave moments,” moments where we believed we could have everything we wanted and we could get it all instantly overnight.

 

If you leave something in the microwave too long, it’s going to explode.

E Pluribus Unum

 It’s easy to understand some of the ways Americans got here.

 

We’ve run into our biggest problems by misappropriating one of the signature American narratives: E pluribus unum. Out of many, one.

 

Although there’s some debate about its origins, that phrase has come to embody the grand American narrative that out of many peoples and colonies and regions there emerged a great and unified nation with a common purpose—freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

 

But the first problem has been our mistaken sense of “common purpose” and our twisted collective pursuit of what has become a distorted definition of happiness. Out of many, we’ve been encouraged to follow one American Dream--but that dream has drifted away from welcoming the world’s tired, poor, huddled masses to a vision of liberty and justice for all, and instead has been redefined in increasingly shallow, materialistic terms.

 

The American ideal of prosperity has been taken to extremes, as our society has become a steady stream of cultural messages telling us to spend more, eat more, and watch more television. It’s at the heart of a consumer mentality that makes you feel like you are not “part of the many” if you aren’t driving a fancy car, trying to move into a bigger house, or striving to keep up with P Diddy--or that tells Americans that our economy is driven by consumption, so we’re adding to its problems if we’re not consuming as much as we can. A vision of quiet abundance has spiraled into a cesspool of excess.

 

And there’s a second problem with the notion “out of many, one”—and it’s that we’ve come to believe that out of many, there’s going to be one big winner. Becoming that one has now evolved into another piece of the American Dream. Everyone wants to win the lottery, be the Idol, the Survivor—and for many of us, we don’t just want that, we believe it’s part of our destiny. In our personal lives, that dream of being the biggest winner—with winning defined in materialistic terms--fueled the overconsumption described above. As a foreign policy, the vision of American exceptionalism—and the commitment to America standing above the many as the world’s one big winner—has threatened to be just as disastrous. It’s been abused by those who tell us American power comes from our military might, so we ought to find more ways to kill. It’s been abused by those who tell us that our “way of life” is predicated on our ability to take pre-emptive strikes to destroy both existing and future threats—no matter how circular the argument. It’s left us with the caricature of America as a brash cowboy that’s tested the respect of people who should be our friends and strengthened the disgust of people who’ve become our enemies.

 

E pluribus unum has come to define American interest, and in it, the interests of Americans. It’s a beautiful concept, but it’s been badly abused.

Rewriting the Narrative

Here’s a ray of hope: The current economic crisis gives us all an opportunity to take a step back and start to reject the ideas and narratives that have encouraged opportunistic, self-destructive, herd-like behavior. It’s a chance to redefine the American dream. We can start by rewriting the grand narrative of e pluribus unum into ex uno plura—the new version: out of one, many.

 

One person’s success can elevate the collective hope and aspirations of many.

 

And here’s a great secret: for once, Black Americans have a head start here, because for us ex uno plura is much more than simply a rhetorical play on words. It is a mindset that is deeply ingrained in the souls of Black folks. In Black America, we’ve always held on to the notion that out of the success of one, many may rise—or, in other words, when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. Sometimes, we’ve taken that literally: after Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland to freedom in the North, she went back nineteen times over the next ten years for her mother, father, sister, brother, and more than 300 others she’d left behind. But Blacks have also always embraced the metaphorical idea of collective success.   When Joe Louis stepped into the boxing ring, we all stepped out with a victory. When Jackie Robinson was up to bat, we all hit a home run. When Marian Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial, she made us all sound good. In the 1980s, when I was growing up, it was still an event for us to gather around the TV and see Black quarterback Doug Williams win a Super Bowl or Black figure skater Debi Thomas win an Olympic medal.   And when President Obama was elected, Black people celebrated from here to Kenya. 

 

For so many generations of Black Americans, success has been a form of social and political protest. Any one person’s success has been a success for all of us. As the visionary Black educator Anna Julia Cooper said in 1892 of her position as a Black woman:   “When and where I enter…then and there the whole race enters with me.” And if you remember the old idea of race uplift, adding to our collective success and progress was always seen as an individual responsibility. Not everyone could be the first Black astronaut or the first Black Supreme Court Justice, but if you dressed well, spoke well, were an elder in the church, held down a respectable job, made it to college—any one of these things could be doing your part.  

 

Here’s how this could work today: DO YOUR PART. If each person decides to change the way he or she lives, we all can regain a sense of control. If each person decides to spend a little less, save a little more, cheat a little less, and trust a little more….if each person chooses to worship celebrities a little less and empower the poor a little more….if each person thinks of himself a little less and walks in the shoes of her neighbor a little more….out of each individual positive decision, we can uplift many.

 

The American dream has always been that hard work and perseverance can improve the life chances of many who are voiceless.

 

So, here’s my appeal to America: “Ex uno plura.”

 

Let’s redefine happiness.

 

Let’s redefine our common sense of purpose. Perhaps there’s hope that my appeal to America can one day become an American appeal to the world.

 

We have to succeed, not for our own sake. We have to succeed for those who came before us and for those yet to come. 

Are you moving from good to great?

Broken organizations are the by-product of broken people and dysfunctional relationships.

From our marriages to our families—immediate and extended—to the many social clubs and associational groups to which we belong, our organizations are collective representations of the people within.

What my work has shown me is that working with passionate, committed, socially-oriented organizations requires sensitivity toward the psychology and the sociology of collective behavior.

Organizations are comprised of numerous social networks. The breadth and strength of these social networks can change on a dime, with the loss of a staff person or the addition of another.

What I do, and what my company does (Symphonic Strategies), is to help leaders and organizations transform the environment around them in ways that make spectacular outcomes possible.

What we end up facing are the limitations of the organizations themselves and their inability to transform themselves internally in ways that are necessary to truly change the external environment in ways they desire.

We have decided that we can’t afford to continue to ignore this challenge. Good people can’t truly produce great results if they continue to operate in organizations that are just “good.”

We all know the best-selling book published by Jim Collins, Good to Great.

Well, good to great is not a static endpoint. It is a process, and, as such, has its highs and lows. Whether you are good or great depends on the moment of measurement.

Life is about stringing together a series of great performances. Sustaining that ability over a prolonged period of time is what truly makes an individual, an organization, a community, or a nation great.

But this depends on a multitude of factors and those factors are rapidly in motion.

This post marks the start of a long journey to help people from all walks of life lead and transform their organizations, their communities, and ultimately their lives. I hope you will tune in.