Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Playing to Your Strengths

I had my annual performance review with my company's CEO last Friday. On Tuesday, I received a copy of the "review" to prepare for the meeting.

Our CEO's style is direct and open, and that style carried through to my review. My review was about a page and a half, summarizing major accomplishments from the last year, a few paragraphs summarizing some of the "360 feedback" he'd asked for from folks I worked with (mostly positive), and a couple of lines about an area where I can improve. And, there were no surprises in the review.

When we got started in the discussion, his conversation mapped pretty closely to those proportions: lots of time spent on accomplishments and positive feedback, but only a few minutes on things that didn't go so well.

I mentioned that I'd like to spend some more time talking about the areas where I'd had challenges or failures during the past year, so I could learn from them.

His reply really struck me. Here's what he said:

"Sure, we can discuss what you've learned from those challenges, but I don't want to spend too much time on that.

"One of the things I've learned in my career is that we all have areas of strength and areas of weakness. A 10% improvement in a strength can make a huge difference; a 10% improvement in an area of weakness probably won't have nearly as much of an impact.

"Let's focus on how to make the most of your strengths and make them even stronger."

I think this is good food for thought for anyone. When I think about the times I felt really proud of my results, it was when I was using my strengths.

You only have so much time and energy. Where will you invest your 10%? Always strive to make choices that put you in situations where your strengths can make a real difference.

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Get Focused

Dave Cheong has a great write up in his latest post, 18 Ways to Stay Focused at Work. He's created a nice blend of how to deal with physical and virtual distractions in the workplace.

The one I have trouble with is the first one, write out a daily task list and plan your day. To be more precise, my problem is sticking to the task list. The downside of my curiosity is my ability to quickly become enamored by a new idea, concept, fun project, etc.

Do you have this "distracted by shiny objects" tendency, too? If so, I'd love to hear your secrets for dealing with this challenge.

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An Environment for Learning

"We live in an atmosphere of shame. We are ashamed of everything that is real about us; ashamed of ourselves, of our relatives, of our incomes, of our accents, of our opinion, of our experience, just as we are ashamed of our naked skins."

-- George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (Act I)

I just read Rosa Say's latest post on Talking Story, "Learning Needs a Cool Factor." Boy, did she nail it. Rosa observed from interacting with her kids' friends (college-aged), it's apparent that learning is not percieved as a cool thing. And I agree with Rosa that we've got to help kids find the Cool Factor in learning.

I've seen the same dynamic with my son and his friends. He wants to keep secrets about most of the character-building things he does. He's active in Scouting, and takes Tae Kwon Do - but doesn't want his friends at school or around the neighborhood to know. At 13, he was invited to take the SAT early because he showed academic promise. He participates in community service projects. And he doesn't want other kids to know about any of this because some of them make fun of him when they find out. Not all of his friends would make fun of him, of course, but what 13 year old wants to take the chance to find out which ones are which?

I'm very proud of my son, and I'm sad that he can't show pride in the good things he does because of the reactions of some of his friends. I'm sure Rosa and I aren't the only parents that see this sort of dynamic. No matter what support we try to provide at home, the pressure to "fit in" out in the real world can be hard to overcome. Unless you're excellent in a team sport, it can seem like it's not OK to stand out.

When I was growing up, the background message was: "Reading Is Fundamental," "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," Bookmobiles, and even those Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. Where's that learning drumbeat now?

Maybe this is a generational thing. Maybe it's a U.S. thing. But how are we raising a generation that places so little value on learning? Will they change their attitudes as they get older?

Maybe we're so caught up in honoring diversity that we've lost sight of honoring excellence. I hope not - that wouldn't bode well for the "knowledge-based economy."

On the bright side, "corporate America" is doing some things that will help.

But I don't think this is enough to hit the mainstream and make learning cool. What do you think? Dare I hope for a tipping point to make learning a cool thing for our youth?

Join in the discussion - here, or in the comments over at Rosa's place.

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My pod's afire

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Lisa Haneberg about focus, energy, and getting employees engaged. She recorded it (yes, I knew she had a tape rolling) and has it posted on Management Craft as a podcast. We talked about some effective (and ineffective) corporate "focusing" exercises I've encountered.

If you'd like to give it a listen, head on over and hear the fireside chat.

This, of course, is part of an ongoing series of podcasts she's running in conjunction with the release of her new book Focus Like A Laser Beam, which I reviewed a little while ago (see the full take here).

Keep the fire burning, Lisa.

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Great new resource

While I was off enjoying the great outdoors last week, the ever-industrious Rajesh Setty (see my review of his book "Beyond Code") was busy working with his team to launch a fantastic resource for all of us.

It's a web site called Suggestica, and it has a noble purpose. In their words:

Suggestica aims to bring the best suggestions (books, audio, video etc.) from the "Trusted Authorities" in their disciplines. Our goal is to create a new kind of web with less clutter and less noise. We are starting with books but will soon expand to other categories.

As I've come to know Raj over the past few months, I've developed a tremendous appreciation for his giving spirit, and his willingness to share what he learns. This site (and its companion blog, Suggestica Notes) are prime examples of this. Go have a look.

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