adaptable

How Can We Be Committed to Principles, But Not Attached to Positions?

newsletter / /

An amazing thing occurred in the recent French elections. After the first round of voting, the third-place centrist-left candidates dropped out and asked “their” voters to support the other centrist-left candidate. That’s how the center-left overwhelmed the far-right candidates. Yes, the third-place people stayed committed to their principles but did not stay attached to their positions. […]

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How Can We Avoid Confusing the Hard Parts (People) with the Easy Parts (Tools)?

question of the week / /

We all live through various hype cycles, personally and professionally. (Hype cycles look a lot like the Satir Change model, the image in this post.)  Right now, in 2024, “generative” AI is having its moment. But AI is not generating anything, certainly not new insights. Instead, the engines have ingested (without paying creators) lots of

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When Do You Choose Between Getting Something “Perfect” vs. Finishing It?

question of the week / /

I practice my writing by writing a lot. (I also read a lot about writing, but no one becomes a better writer by reading. Writers become better by writing.) In addition, I take classes to stretch my skills. That means I’m not going to “succeed” or write something “perfect” all the time. But I do

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How Can We Move from Craving Simple Direct Solutions to Adapting with Experiments?

question of the week / /

As a consultant, I work with people who have plenty of problems. (No one calls a consultant when things are going well.) Many of these nice people feel as if they should be able to find a simple and direct solution to their problems. Simple and direct solutions assume we know enough about the risks

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How Can We Postpone Old (Age) Thinking and Create New Ideas?

newsletter / /

I could tell when my parents had overdosed on their favorite news channel. They said things like, “Kids these days…” Because I’m a bad, bad daughter, I used to ask, “Which kids? Can you name two or three? Do you mean our children?” (Their grandchildren.) “No, not our children,” they said. Their next favorite saying

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What Makes You Feel Smart and What Makes You Feel Less Smart?

question of the week / /

I was working on visualizations of cycle time for my other blog (how long each item of work takes over time). That’s when I realized I needed to create a conditional formula in my spreadsheet. Conditional formulas are if statements. With my software background, I think in if statements. (If then, else other.) So, I

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How Many Lenses Can You Access to See Problems and Solutions?

question of the week / /

So many of us see just one problem, and therefore one solution. Sometimes, our mental models or filters prevent us from seeing alternative solutions. But sometimes, I think it’s literally how we see the problem that limits our mental models. If we can’t see the problem in all its glory, how can we possibly offer

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When and How Should We Build Community to Connect With Each Other?

newsletter / /

When my younger daughter was in high school, her principal continually invited us to events. He thought we would “build community” with “meaningful connections” that way. But I already went to high school. And the last thing I wanted—maybe not the very last, but close to it—was to return to high school. My daughter could

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