Trajectory of thought

Want an easy to execute hack that you can implement today which will make you more strategic?

Grab a cue and learn to play a better game of pool.

Huh? That’s right, pool.

I learnt to play a better game of pool during my high school years with a bloke who was a wiz with a cue. He would wipe the floor with me over and over. I always put his skill down to being a hell of a math student in trig and geometry but one day he just shook his head and said “You’re always two shots behind Wade”

I quizzed him over the comment and he remarked, through ironic laughter, I was losing not due to my shot play but due to my inability to see the big picture and play a sequence of shots.

I had always thought myself as someone who could see a trajectory, hell’s I could read a baseball off the bat or the bounce of an AFL football but here, clearly, I had overlooked the holistic game in lieu just trying to sink a ball.

How is this relevant?

How many times do you hear someone blurt out a potentially great idea and see it shot down as the individual can’t back the thought bubble up with a solid business case or implementation approach. Life around a leaders table or in the workplace isn’t easy and we are all adverse to making changes, instead opting for the safety of the status quo.

So if you have a great thought or an epiphany strikes you, keep it to yourself. Sounds counter intuitive right? Just don’t let it out till you have bounced it off a few people on private and convinced yourself that it will work. For if you aren’t willing to stake personal capital and conviction it will make a difference how will you convince others.

For leaders, if you do have this happen in your presence, resist the urge to downplay the idea or throw your own two cents in. Acknowledge the thought, the owner and allow them the time to go away and develop to repitch at a later date. Guarantee that you will get ownership, autonomy and driven individuals if your help them curate their own ideas through to fruition.