What's Your Filter (Part 2)

On an earlier post I asked the question "What's Your Filter?"

All of us have a kind of filter for how we see the world.  How we choose what to interpret as beautiful or healthy or good.  Good has a tendency to hide everywhere.  It hides in science and philosophy.  It hides in different and conflicting models of government and political theory and (occasionally) conflicting political parties.  It even hides in different religions.

There is something beautiful in every faith tradition-- in Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Scientology, Judaism, Humanism and other isms not yet labeled by Humanity-- all have elements of beauty and potential abuses by the same Humanity that labels them.

But no matter what your perspective on conflicting political parties, scientific theory or religion, everybody has a filter that shapes what our views on good and evil are and everyone's filter is shaped by something. 

So when my friend Michael asked me what my filter was I gave my answer.  The filter I try to use-- as best I can in my own clumsy way-- when it comes to searching for Good; the tuning fork I use to find my resonance with beauty; the water stick I use to find pools of compassion, intelligence and life...

...is this troublesome, 1st century, middle-eastern rabbi by the name of Yeshua.  It may sound narrow or obscure, but as best as I can tell the way he saw the world-- the way he lived and related to other people-- was captivating, compassionate, provocative, and often-times uncomfortably honest.  He was counter-intuitive and is-- to me-- strangely attractive.  He compels me the way Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi does.  And yet these titans of humanity were strangely attracted to this Yeshua as well.

I don't always get it right (less than I probably think).  I've got a long way to go (I can't wait).  But Jesus (Yeshua) is my filter.

And he finds good in the strangest of places.

Quote of the Day - Henry David Thoreau

I got A Civil Disobedience for free on Kindle a few weeks ago...so what else am I going to read in Kansas City after everyone else has gone to bed?

Here's a quote that kept my mind awake when my body wanted to sleep:

"A very few-- as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men-- serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as enemies by it." 

Second Opinion vs Team of Opinions

I read recently this fascinating story about how Ted Kennedy worked with doctors to treat his brain tumor in a way that kept him alive longer than anyone thought possible.

For most of us when we get really sick we go to a doctor.  They give us a prognosis and then we go to another doctor to get the famed, "Second Opinion."

This is not what Kennedy did.  Ted actually put a group of doctors who all disagreed with each other in a room and had them battle it out.  A doctor would make a claim or state an opinion and Ted would stop the conversation, look at another doctor and say, "Okay-- so what do you think about that?"

Kennedy believed that this made a huge difference in the treatments and care he received and that it led to his longer struggle with his illness.

Kennedy liked a "Team of Opinions" rather than a "Second Opinion."

What struck me was how brilliant that was, how rarely I practice that same principle in my own relationships and how rarely I hear of that principle on leadership teams.

For me, I tend to go from person to person asking for second or third opinions.  Mostly because it's hard to get people in the room together.  But how often to I try to get all the opinions to interact with each other?

An ancient proverb says, "For lack of guidance a nation falls.  But many advisers make victory sure."  I can't help but think this happens when the advisers get to interact with each other, not just with you.

So what would it look like to have teams of opinions in your life and leadership, and not just second opinions?

What's Your Problem?

This approach is even better than pitching an idea (versus pitching ideas).

My least favorite conversations are when someone either:

A)  Gives me the solution to a problem that hasn't been defined.
B)  Gives me the problem and then gives me a solution and asks me to only give feedback on the solution.

You can't solve problems until you agree on the problem.  And few people want to be brought in to give feedback on something if you've already decided what you're going to do.  I call this "stamp of approval" brainstorming.  It's not brainstorming-- it's just agreeing with what someone else came up with.

So when you want someone's advice or if you're leading a team, don't pitch ideas.  Pitch problems.  You have to sell problems just as passionately as selling ideas.

Say, "I think this is a problem with X" and then ask, "What do you think?" 

Once you agree about the problem, ask, "What do you think we should do?"  If they can't think of anything, that's when you pitch an idea.  If you follow this process you help people get in a creative mindset versus a passive mindset and they will better engage with the problem solving process.

This conversation will lead to truly genuine problem solving and ownership of both the problem and the solution.

Don't Pitch Ideas

Pitching ideas is different than pitching an idea.

Pitching an idea is saying, "what if we made a digital music device?"

Pitching ideas is saying, "What if we made a digital music device that had a screen and a round clicker and you could plug it into your laptop and download and upload music onto it?"

The first option-- pitching an idea-- leaves lots of room for the imagination to get on at an entry level.  You say "digital music device" and there's lots of space in your mind to run around with lots of different possibilities.  You pitch the ideas of the second sentence and, with every idea, you narrow other people's opportunity to contribute to the conversation.

Most of the time when you want to bounce an idea off of someone, you're really wanting to bounce ideas off someone.  Recognize that and simplify your ideas into the most basic idea.  That gives people more room to play.  Sometimes they'll go right where your ideas are-- which is great because now you're on the same page.  Often times people will surprise you with something better.  Either way, you'll both own an idea that you got to build together, rather than expecting them to jump onto ideas you're already running with.

By the way, I don't do this very well.  But every time I do everyone is better off for it.

So when you can, don't pitch ideas (even if they're AMAZING).  Scale it back and just pitch an idea, and then watch something amazing happen in front of you.