Now another edition of Business Haiku. Below are 10 Business Haiku poems that can nudge you (and your team) through the corporate week. These were fun to ink. Enjoy!
10.
Cheer leader leaders?
It’s nothing to cheer about.
Steer clear and beware.
High producers want the truth. So don’t be afraid to give it to them — even when the news is hard. Just don’t turn leadership into cheer leadership.
9.
Don’t care? They won’t share.
No emotion? No motion.
No feel? Then no deal.
We make most of our decisions on emotion — only to justify them later with logic. Put in the hard work to inject passion, excitement, warmth, soul or intensity. Adjectives are your friends. Less head. More heart.
8.
Dollars matter some.
The currency of business?
“Belief” we bank on.
Money matters. Just as important as compensation? Working on an invested team of people who believe. When we believe, anything is possible — even the once thought impossible (See: SpaceX).
7.
A good boss protects.
A gross boss promotes himself.
A great boss praises.
Servant mentality always wins. If you haven’t read “The Go Giver”, pick it up.
6.
What must die today?
For something new to bloom forth?
Bang! Bang! status quo.
Safe is unsafe. Status quo is public enemy #1. Create a contingency budget to run a few progressive experiments. In Return On Courage, I share the importance of creating an Experimental Task Force (ETF) — a small team comprised of your staff who can experiment on bold, new ideas. Let them report back on what’s working (and what isn’t). Fail fast. Fail forward. Mistake it til you make it.
5.
Train me and I leave?
Do not train me and I stay?
Dilemma Du Jour?
Always train people when you can. Give them the gift of progress. Even if someone leaves your company, what doesn’t leave them is how they feel about their experience with you. Reputation is forever.
4.
Nothing is something.
Inaction is an action.
Disaster beckons.
As President Roosevelt once reminded us, “the best decision you can make is the right decision. The next best decision is the wrong decision. They third best is no decision.” Being bold is not enough. Act bold.
3.
Change will never change.
Change just never stays the same.
Change takes no days off.
You drive change or change drives you. It’s happening whether you like change or not. Would you rather be driving the car or stuck in the darkness of the trunk?
2.
Your Cultures Vulture?
“That’s how we’ve always done it”
Relevance bird feed.
Just because something worked in the past does not mean you can assume it’ll work in the future. Time changes all and the context of life changes with it.
1.
Courage breeds courage.
And fear? Breeds then feeds on fear.
Which will you decide?
Choose courage. It’s a contagious muscle that needs lifting. When you do, and you see success, it will make it easier for you to be courageous again. Think of it like a snowball — build it up, grow it and refuse to let it melt. This is how one builds an avalanche of a culture that’s bigger than any sole person.
Stay Courageous,
Ryan
