- Last year I talked with your for 25 minutes. I’m sure you went home and did everything I said, right?
- Husband/photographer just finished book on Cuba. The person we stay with is named Marcos. Hot water heater went out. Marcos installed an electric shower. 😮 Isn’t that dangerous? No. The current is broken by the drops. Colloquial name for this device is known as a widow maker.
- Why would I step into an electrified shower? People were casual about it.
- Companies are drowning in reports, papers, etc. doing unnecessary stuff. The casualness at work is killing us.
- We want to talk about a true culture of simplicity.
- The future of work is going to be simpler. It has to be.
- 500 companies: technology, reorg, Lean 6 Sigma. They are all bricks into building the house of simplicity. They are missing the mortar that holds it all together.
- Three different behavioral mindsets that people fall into: conformity, compulsivity, control.
- Conformity.
- Selective inertia. Nobody changes until everyone changes and no one changes.
- Candid camera: Elevator facing the back.
- The WhiteSpace 50/50 Rule: Anything that bothers you at work is 50% your fault until you ask about it.
- Solomon Asher: 1 person going against conformity can reduce by 80%
- One small, safe, contrary action.
- Compulsivity (in communication)
- In the old days, women would get together and talk and talk and there would be a quilt.
- Women: find a girlfriend where you can drain the well.
- Unneccessary communication will be reined in.
- 2D content is simple: yes/no. 3D content is deep, nuanced. 2D methods is text, email, etc. 3D mediums are conversation, etc.
- The Yellow List: a document you keep with each person you work with. Does it need to be sent or asked right now? If not, put it on the yellow list. When it builds up, you ask for some time.
- Control
- Breakout session: Control Freak, Let Go. I prefer term Control Aficionado.
- Control people will get better if they watch other people do things wrong and do nothing.
- Last year at Christmas at my mother’s house. My mother and brother never fail to make me look competent. They were trying to get scissors out of packaging. It took forever… and it was freeing. I would wander through airports and grocery stores looking for people doing things wrong so that I could not be helpful to them.
- It’s not hard to do once you start.
- Hands off. Hands off. Hands off.
- Second-tier delegation. First tier: people you trust and you do not control. Second tier: you don’t give the same amount of respect, control. You have to delegate to the second tier. It allows them to grow into first tier.
- Compliance.
- Everyone says yes because noone knows how to say no.
- Take home tool: Whitespace Refusal Strategies
- Juliet’s favorite Candid Camera bit: Phone Frustration
- Memory is a funny thing. There will be a point where the only thing that will be left about you and your organization is what people remember. It’s called a legacy. It’s still to be written and you hold the pen.
This is very helpful! Thanks for sharing.