A breath of fresh air Podcast

The farm is a buzz of activity - each day we synch first thing in the morning and discuss the priorities for the day. There are a variety of streams of effort and often there is an overriding priority.

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Today’s mission-critical deliverable? Harvesting asparagus—first of the season. It turns out asparagus doesn’t care about my Q2 roadmap; it demands to be picked first thing in the morning or evening time, before the midday heat turns the field into a humid hellscape and the mosquitoes start treating us like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Asparagus being washed and prepared for sale

Eisenhower in Overalls

Figuring out the priorities is on urgency then importance. Even on the farm I think like Eisenhower/Covey’s framework for prioritizing. What are the key strategic projects, and what is the level of urgency by task?

Given we are still in planting mode and most of the greenhouse and planting bed preparation has been complete - aside from asparagus, the second top priority was taking an inventory of what we have planted and what, if any, seedlings have come up. Taking an inventory of seedlings to check the germination rate is basically running a performance review on seeds: “Look, I know you’re trying to find yourself, but you’ve been in the soil for ten days. I need to see some upward mobility, or you’re off the menu.” This tells me our germination rate and what still may be missing from this year’s menu.

The Trap of the Minutiae

Several clients showed up this week with the same question - how do I know what to focus on, what the priority is, and how to make the right decisions. On the farm it seems easier, although some times I also need a good ear to talk through this or that and why. It helps me clear my head and sound it out.

It is in the minutia of decisions where I sometimes get tripped up - and so do many of you I think?

Take our latest dilemma: try and find a $30 heating mat for the seedlings we’ve got going that will go into our prepped open hoop house, or work in the open hoop house to finish preparing the beds. I spent twenty minutes applying a cost-benefit analysis to finding a missing heating mat. Do I spend two hours tearing apart the barn to find this $30 piece of plastic, or do I just buy a new one and use that time to finish preparing the hoop house? In the moment, this felt like a decision crisis of epic proportions. I was mathematically calculating the ROI of my own frustration.

It came down to - the cost of labour to work on the open hoop house vs applied to trying to find what would cost less to replace and is useful if we have more than we did before. Easy enough, but in the moment feels completely muddled without the clarity of a quick chat and a clear mind to find the ‘true answer’.

The Leadership Cheat Sheet

Here are the frameworks I gave the leaders I spoke with this week to help clear that exact kind of mental fog:

* The Eisenhower/Covey Matrix: Use this to choose between options of focus by ruthlessly separating the truly important strategic pillars from the loud, urgent distractions.

* The P.I.E. (Performance, Image, Exposure) Framework: Created by Harvey Coleman, use this to consider how much context you need to prepare with (aka how much to read in advance) and which communication forums or meetings to attend.

While I don’t like the framing of this framework (not that career advancement is bad, but the %’s he offers I would not use as a singular approach to everything), I find it useful to prioritize effort and focus in terms of communication forums and the value of the decisions being communicated.

If the decision has a high degree of value (a key strategic pillar for example) then you want to ensure you have reviewed the work being presented by you or your team in depth. Prioritize attending meetings that offer a communications forum that will give you greater context and/or proximity to key stakeholders.

The Eisenhower or Covey prioritization matrix to choose between options of focus:

P.I.E. (Performance, Image, Exposure) framework to consider how much context you need to prepare with (aka how much to read in advance) and which communication forums or meetings to attend.

Thanks for reading Mic Berman's Newsletter: 'ye old Leadership Almanac'! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

👋 Hi, it’s Mic. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on creating leadership practices that will accelerate your impact, ensure consistent high performance from your teams and ultimately foster cultures that enable you and your people to thrive!.

🧑‍🌾 If you’re looking to transform your impact and build a set of leadership practices for life read on.

Self imposed pressure is an influential driver of outcomes and procrastination. Some of the time, self imposed pressure, is very useful and sets us up for great success. We stick to a plan, discipline and focused effort which invariably accomplishes something. Success, only partially within our control.

The rest of the time self-imposed pressure comes with PROCRASTINATION, the all caps being as loud as it sounds and feels in our head. Ultimately a source of fear. I will fail at this thing so I may as well avoid the icky feelings associated with it and do other things.

The truth is that icky feeling, the ‘swamp on the path through the enchanted forest’, is something we must blow through. Were it a real physical experience we would muscle through the icky swamp to get back on path.

I deploy the Pomodoros method. Take 25 minutes of focused effort in the direction of the thing I am avoiding, and no matter what I will achieve progress that is likely good enough to get through the swamp to the other side. Each time I practice this, it’s a win. I’m rewiring my brain around the ‘ick’ the fear and getting closer to my goals. Win.

The other win is what we learn about ourselves so its easier to recognize the next time.

What I notice is a voice that sounds like my Dad’s demand for excellence - and it sound harsh, nothing is good enough. So I notice and I thank him, and then I can see how much he’s helped me achieve excellence in so many ways: academic, build a great career, run an organic farm, build a life filled with love and gratitude. Now I can view that pressure as an invitation and with greater ease rise to the occasion …and use the Pomodoros method again and again.

Thanks Dad and to all of you for reading and especially my clients who inspire my writing - I hope this is helpful to you reader

I work with tech leaders on: getting to the next level, creating the conditions for consistent high performance for themselves and their teams. If you’re interested in how I can support you or your team, learn more about my coaching or book a free coffee here.

Scaling a business and maintaining your culture is no easy feat. How do they keep all the good parts and demonstrate that some fundamental shifts are required. ‘What got us here won’t get us there’ - to quote Marshall Goldsmith.

Your shared mission - making explicit the why that joins you all in the choice to pursue your work, is the foundation to co-creating the processes that will enable you to scale.

Does Wren ask the Apple tree for the safe space to build her nest? I believe so, it is a symbiotic relationship. There is unspoken permission centuries old and we gain from the beauty they display in sharing their sacred safe spaces.

Whom do you share sacred space with?

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” – Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Walking in another’s footsteps is a choice of perspective, empathy, and imagination.

There was only one bumble bee at the autumn olive. One is not enough, and there were no bees.

An entrepreneur I am working with has one investor that’s interested, it’s a big investor and right in the space she needs to be. But one is not enough she needs to find a few more to validate what she has, and to validate the deal she might do.

Another founder has launched a new service. They have one customer. It’s a good customer and the customer is highly satisfied but it’s only one, they want to get at least two to five more to determine if the service is viable and their market engine is working.

One is not enough one bumblebee for an entire bush even two is not enough to pollinate, and no bees is concerning. We’ve been concerned about the bees for a while their numbers are dwindling, many environmental factors are affecting them (GMO pesticides, mites, etc).

How many is enough for you and what will you do about it?

Perspective is a powerful tool. What we choose informs how we might act. Our emotions influence our view. Anger, sadness, understanding or empathy. Be mindful of the range we can explore before we take action is critical to effective leadership.

How will you make enough room to scout it out?

Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” ― Lao Tzu

Just like that the Spring season has started - we’ve waited so long for this to happen. Through a cold winter, a tumultuous time and just like that everything has changed.

What’s your ‘just like that?’

How are you incorporating rest into your work? In seeing the shore of your mind's eye and struggling with all your might to get there - can you rest for just a moment to regain the energy needed to reach that shore?

What is your mindset?

These are difficult times and the perspective we take to our work, the people in our lives and how we approach our own support each day is really important to sustain and face whatever is to come.

These are two stories from different clients about their approach to these times.

Here is the journal prompt to ponder: What do you stand upon to serve uour actions?

Feeling lost in the weeds - look up, look around to the big parts that offer clarity, that reground you in the Vision that started you on this quest.

Ask - What is clear and unclear to you? then persevere