Motivation, Innovation, and Leadership

Week 9

This weeks blog review revolves around the FLIP Manifesto - 16 Counterintuitive Ideas About Motivation, Innovation, and Leadership.

MOTIVATION
1. Start doubting yourself.
2. Pay people too much.
3. Increase sales by eliminating sales com-
missions.
4. Take as much vacation as you want when-
ever you want it.
5. Give up trying to find your passion. 
6. Keep a To-Don’t list.

INNOVATION
7. Do the reverse of whatever you’re doing now.
8. Pass your problem to someone else.
9. Repeat after me: BO-GOA.
10. Carve out time for non-commissioned
work.

LEADERSHIP
11. Establish a Department of Why.
12. Scrap performance reviews.
13. For Godsakes, talk like a human being. 14. Stop trying to maximize shareholder value. 15. Take the “E” test.
16. Talk less, listen more.

When Should You Pull the Plug on an Innovation Project?

This blog post aligns with the FLIP manifesto counterintuitive idea number 16: talk less, listen more. When an innovation project isn't going to work out how do you know when to call quits? Here are the major red flag indicators they called out:

Your team doesn’t care.
You’re missing growth targets.
Your users aren’t impressed.
You’ve lost internal support.

These four indicators all come down to one thing, and that is listening. Being aware of what is going on around you. Having tunnel vision on a goal can be easy when you are passionate and dedicated to it. But take a look around, is anyone else? By listening to your team, results, consumers, and mentors, you are given the answers. This is an area where emotional intelligence would come into play. I can't image a team member having the nerve to flat out tell their direct report that they are completely put off by a project. Picking up on social cues as well as direct feedback will give you the answer you need when deciding whether or not to pull the plug.

Why Leadership Skills Could Be Better Than Charity

The Flip Manifesto idea 1: "Start doubting yourself" is interesting in the way that it challenges what most goal attainment processes will teach you, i.e., if you say YOU CAN do it then you will. However, their research shows astonishingly better results when a person approaches an obstacle with a "CAN I do this?" attitude. This falls into what they are talking about in the "Why Leadership Skills Could Be Better Than Charity" post. By giving people, in this case, young women the tools to become leaders instead of supporting them with charity they overcome their "CAN I do this?" attitude to become transformed leaders.

Executives in search of their purpose

This blog post, slightly contrasting with the Flip manifesto idea 5: "Give up trying to find your passion", both note how desperate we all are to find our "true calling", whatever that means. 

FLIP: When we find ourselves in the midst of a career change or feel a dull sense that what we're doing now isn't what we should be doing forever, our friends and families—along with every mentor, advisor, and consultant— will smile knowingly, lean in tenderly, and pose this question: Tell me, what's your passion?
The idea is that if we simply acknowledge what fires our soul, if we just pull out our metaphysical arthroscope and examine our hearts, the path will reveal itself.
So—with a voice that quavers in expectation and an inflection that italicizes the final word—they ask us again, "What's your passion?"
Ladies and gentlemen, I detest that question.

BLOG: The first question is: “What am I really passionate about?” To work this out, executives have to ask themselves what they would happily spend their days doing, even without being paid. A question as significant as this can take six to 12 months to figure out, and in the process, many executives rediscover passions they had in their youth that they then pursue with a great surge of energy.

As the Flip mentions stop searching for that one thing and just work towards what attracts you; then eventually the slash career names will turn into a singular. Ultimately, I think you should continually strive to like doing exactly what you are, in that moment.