I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately, and found my head bobbing uncontrollably while reading this Fast Company article on perfection. We spend a lot of time at work, at home, and online focused on an image of ourselves, one that is picture perfect. Yet let’s be honest – many of us have had the I Don’t Know How She Does It moment where we forgot about the treats for our kid’s school event because we were on a business trip. It’s all part of this crazy thing called life. So why do we make ourselves crazy making life look perfect? Let’s picture a shift from perfection to a focus on imagination, inspiration, and ideation.
“Logic will take you from A to Z. Imagination will take you everywhere.” Albert Einstein. Think about a key project you have at work. I am guessing you have created a project plan, researched best practices, and analyzed competitor/industry information. This information can take you down a safe, relatively predictable path and will likely make you look good. But what if success means more than that? Imagine zooming out and meeting with someone who can push you to see this from different view point. Or spending a least one meeting storyboarding your project from the end user’s point of view. Yes it takes longer. Yes you can’t control the outcome if you expand your approach. But while logic is helpful to set guardrails for us, the path will be limited unless we bring imagination into view.
“Success isn’t just about what you accomplish. It’s about what you inspire others to do.” – Anonymous. We spend a lot of time worrying about how what we do makes us look. Will that project be seen favorably? Does this role put me on the fast track? Let’s adjust our focus from posturing to passion. The best leaders step out of the limelight and coach their team from the sidelines. They build individuals’ confidence and competence by asking questions, lending support, and expecting the team to have a point of view. This does add complexity. It does change team dynamics. It also unleashes all the awesome potential of your team and opens the lens of possibility.
“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.” Linus Pauling. When we are under stress and overworked we tend to turn into the Little Red Hen and think the best solution is to “do it myself.” We delude ourselves into believing that our unique perspective is critical or that our past experience gives us some special optics. As a result, we are overworked and micromanage the details instead of focusing on the big picture. As a leader our role is to open the aperture and expand the light we let in. Brainstorming is a great way to do this. It breaks down assumptions and brings diverse ideas to the table. When teams co-create it creates trust and engagement. And no surprise when we ask the people closes to the work what might work, it changes the depth of field and our focus.
Let’s let go of the illusion of perfection and embrace the crazy and unpredictable moments in our lives. Let’s share our mistakes and learnings gained by focusing on imagination, inspiration, and ideation. Together can shift our narrow focus from picture to a broader and more personalized picture of success.
The Business of Talent 