FieldNotes
Our daily Field Notes email is just the kind of jumpstart you need. A fast read. Maybe less than a minute. Because sometimes it just takes one insight to change the trajectory of the day.
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Genius Simplifies the Complex
Harvey Penick was a teacher many of whose students went on to achieve great things in the game of golf. Penick’s “Little Red Book” is the best-selling sports book of all time for one reason: He simplified the complex. Let me tell you an academic secret: Anyone can make something more complex, but it takes
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Hold Yourself Accountable First
Once you explore your choices and actions, you are in the best position to examine others and find the root causes of whatever is raising concern. Great leadership requires this honesty. Leadership starts with you.
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Make Less of a Critical Question
Good leaders could learn a thing or two from a fictional TV homicide detective named Lt. Columbo. A true staple, the program ran on American network television for more than 30 years. In every episode, the show’s writers include an interview technique which has become Columbo’s trademark. As you might recall, the disheveled and clumsy
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Admire the Problem
When the solution to a problem seems particularly troublesome, or the impact of an unaddressed problem causes havoc, the best leaders take the time to “admire the problem” before they attempt to wrestle it to the ground. Admiring a problem requires us to understand it more deeply: why it has proven difficult to get a
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‘Tuck Your Shirts In’
Basketball legend James Harden, one of the game’s most prolific scorers and eventual nine-time All-Star, was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2012. He showed up without much street cred and without knowing much about the organization, the coach or his new teammates. In his very first practice, he took notice of something that bothered
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Don’t Get Fooled By Resulting
We often learn the wrong lessons when good things happen. This is especially true when it comes to making decisions. We too often fool ourselves into thinking our decisions always produce the outcomes we experience. As the physicist Richard Feynman wrote, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the
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Do Common Things Uncommonly Well
For leaders who strive to achieve excellence, doing simple things well is critically important. Excellence in anything requires us to do common things uncommonly well. As one writer suggests, “Only those who have the patience to do the simple things perfectly will acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.”
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Always Expression Not Possession
One of the great myths of leadership is the belief that leadership resides in power, status, titles, and authority. Leadership resides in actions, messages, decisions, behaviors, and choices.
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Small Changes Create Momentum
When your goal is to reach 25 pushups, the smart path is to start with doing just two. When your goal is to organize your closet, the best path is to start with just your pants. When your goal is to change your team meetings, it is a good idea to begin by first changing
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The Gray Way to Better Decisions
Black and white thinking can appear decisive but often results in poor decisions and choices. Thinking in gray allows leaders to explore all the options and the implications and unintended consequences associated with a decision. As anthropologist Ruth Benedict wisely pointed out, “The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer, it’s that there