I lead teams at the intersection of strategy and design. Autodidact. Polymath. Barbecue acolyte. I start fires (the good kind).
The empire, in other words, gradually destroyed the distinctive structures of government that had brought it into existence in the first place, paving the way for one-man rule. The empire created the emperors, not the other way around.
Mary Beard in Emperor of Rome
Marcus Junius Brutus, who emerges as an honourable patriot from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, was probably one of the most self-interested of the lot. He had an appalling record of exploiting people in Rome’s empire. Notoriously, he lent money to a city in Cyprus at a 48 per cent rate of interest, four times the legal maximum, and he had his agents blockade the local council chamber to recover what was owed, starving five councillors to death in the process. And within a couple of years of Caesar’s assassination, despite his opposition to monarchy, he had his own head depicted on the coins that he minted to pay his troops.
Mary Beard in Emperor of Rome
“You know why playing a game is fun? Because it has rules, and you have a way to win. Picture a bunch of people showing up at an athletic field with random equipment and no rules. Someone is going to get hurt. You don’t know how to play, you don’t know how to score, and you don’t know how to win.” It’s critical for companies and teams to establish the playing field on which everyone participates and marks progress.
Claire Hughes Johnson in Scaling People
Another practice to consider is having a team snippets document that every team member completes each week. This way, you don’t have to take up meeting time with updates, but everyone has information about what the rest of the team is up to and the status of important work. If you lead a larger team or division, consider a weekly or monthly cadence of updates that you share with everyone on the team. Use this time to reinforce goals and priorities, celebrate wins, discuss challenges, and ask for ideas. Above all, use it to keep the team connected to you as their leader. Don’t be afraid to share personal anecdotes or photos.
Claire Hughes Johnson in Scaling People
“What I think you’ve taught me most is how important it is to state the obvious.” Yes, it felt like a backhanded compliment. But what I think she meant is that I strive to make implicit structures and beliefs explicit. Making those elements clear to everyone allows a group of people to become a true team and a company to scale.
Claire Hughes Johnson in Scaling People
Purpose is where performance differences start. Nothing else is more important to the survival and success of a firm than why it exists, and what otherwise unmet needs it intends to fill. It is the first and most important question a strategist must answer. Every concept of strategy that has entered the conversation of business managers—sustainable competitive advantage, positioning, differentiation, added value, even the firm effect—flows from purpose.
Cynthia Montgomery in The Strategist