So, Here's My Story...

Just Say… THAT What could parenting anger possibly have to do with business? This week on So Here’s My Story, Eliot and Jodi talk hard conversations and, somehow, Sam Shepard (except, she REALLY meant Sam Elliott!!). Why is that important for business? You know those moments where something happens that makes you mad, but you know there is no satisfying outcome? It can be so hard to walk away, like you are giving a victory to the other side. How do you just STOP being angry? Whether it’s about your kids or about your work, it can be hard. But sometimes the value of these conversations isn’t a solution; sometimes it is simply about being heard, and seeking to understand. There might not be a satisfying outcome, but it may still have value. There is a lot lost when you try to play out all the versions of a conversation, and then decide to not have the conversation for all of those imagined reasons. The temptation is to make it a binary choice- either I swallow this, and I carry this brick, or I hurl it with let

This week, Jodi and Eliot talk about how motivation and routine are linked, and what filing cabinets and pit stops on a race track have to do with business. Why is routine important for business? When we are especially busy or stressed, it is easy to forget to do, or convince ourselves we don’t have time to do, the very things that keep us centered. And it is only in returning to those routines that we find ourselves able to navigate the work effectively again. Even though absolutely nothing might change, the way you see those things in your business or life changes. Interestingly, the things we tend to skip when we are busy are literally the things that help our brain to work its best – down time, sleep, exercise and good eating. These are critical for your work, yet the things that you often cut first. It is also crucial to “be around people who remind you where the spark is”. This spark is the beginning to becoming centered and returning to a comfortable head space. You have to be able to step outside

Christmas in July… We know – Christmas is a weird topic in the middle of the summer. But this week, Jodi and Eliot explore what Christmas traditions share with business structure, and what to do when neither are making magic any more. Why is that important for business? As kids, it feels like anything can happen during the holidays – it is a magical time. As adults, we often try to recreate those feelings by doing the same things over and over again. We end up creating the opposite of “anything can happen” magic in our effort to recreate it. It got me to thinking - where is structure and tradition valuable, and where is spontaneity and improvisation valuable? This balance comes up all of the time in business. If you are going to have rules, make sure they are your rules. You have to figure out what metric you actually judge great work by. Make sure they help you move towards the company you want to be and the service you want to have. Where is there space for you to re-organize or re-structure the rules so th

How could a couples' massage possibly leave you cranky...?  What do couples’ massages and unfulfilled expectations have in common? Probably not what you think! This week, and Jodi and Eliot talk about how a clear process can be just as important as a clear promise.   Why is that important for business? Sometimes, no matter how good the product or service is, disappointment can still overshadow the experience when expectations aren’t met. Often, this is an issue of operations knowing what marketing is doing. And sometimes it isn’t a communications issue, it is a clarity issue.  It can be even more of a challenge to get in front of expectations that you don’t even know to expect. What is clear is that there is something refreshing about setting authentic expectations – you don’t need to fluff up your promises like Ginsu knives for the promise to be compelling. If you know where people might be extra hopeful, or scared, or not know, then you can think about how you can address that before it happens. So often we

When Leadership = Looking Dumb?  “Are we weird?” is the topic at hand this week, and Jodi and Eliot talk about how a lot of business people feel that they should have the answers to all of the business questions that pop up.    Why is that important for business?   Because leadership is this wild vat of uncertainty, and almost every day, people want to know if their problems are weird.  But here’s the thing: leadership doesn’t look like knowing the answers. Knowing all of the answers is usually about wanting to look good; it takes courage to ask the questions.   Jodi quotes Julio Olalla from one of her favorite videos (http://bit.ly/2s9kehH) as saying “knowledge is a love affair of answers. Wisdom is a love affair with the questions…”    You earn the right to give direction by not having the answers and asking the questions.   The reason that people and companies need leadership is that there are nuanced complexities that have to be navigated, and you can’t see them until you ask the questions.

Rule #1 What do a parking ticket and a cashier’s cheque have to do with business? This week, Eliot and Jodi talk about the importance of not making things complicated for your customers, and the difference between process and outcome. Why is that important for business? The confused mind says no. Having a catalog of options is great, but it still needs to be easy for your customers to choose. Sometimes, in an effort to make it so each individual in your marketplace finds that custom fit, you make every individual in your marketplace paralyzed with indecision. There is a certain complexity that comes with being out of touch with what the end user is going to need and want; that complexity is often the result of being too close to your offering. Great ideas tend not to survive their first encounter with the market because of this. And sometimes, the problem comes with creating global rules to one instance of a challenge; strapping a solution on a problem without thinking about the unintended consequences. Think

Pee my WHAT? What does peeing your pants have to do with better business? This week, Jodi and Eliot talk about the importance of sharing those vulnerable stories that businesses need to tell. Why is that important for business? There’s this weird counterintuitive perception that people don’t want to share those stories. And peeing your pants might not be the story that you are going to lead with the first time you meet someone (in theory). And yet what is also true is that given a moment where someone else is sharing their story, suddenly other people want to share. That is at the core of what we are getting at with this podcast. That safe space, where people can share their worst stories, can be created by the fact that the first person shared their own. There is safety in numbers. People are dying to tell these stories, and creating that safe space doesn’t take a lot of work, it isn’t magic. Our acknowledged shared humanity in sharing goofy embarrassing stories made even more vulnerable things easier to tal