Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Category: Discipline makes Daring possible

The tragedy of markets
September 25, 2023

The tragedy of markets

“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” Adam Smith 1776

Smith thought the ‘invisible hand’ of the market would prevent this in the future.

He was wrong.

Perhaps its time to re-embrace the idea of ‘the commons’?

A resource, owned by no-one, managed by a rolling team to ensure its benefits can be enjoyed by everyone, including non-human communities, present and future.

What if you made your business a commons?

A resource, owned by employees (including you), managed by those employees for the benefit of present and future customers and employees?

It’s not as hard as you might think.  And once you’ve commoned your business who knows where you might go commoning next?

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

Promises, promises
September 22, 2023

Promises, promises

We all make promises, all the time.   And more often than we would like, we break them.

Life happens.  The unexpected happens.  Sometimes they were promises we should never have made.  However painful, those breaks can be understood and accepted.

To make a promise you have no intention of even trying to keep is unforgivable.

Connecting the Dots
September 20, 2023

Connecting the Dots

Tomorrow, my friend and instigator of Connect the Carbon Dots, Anna Cosentino will be presenting our tool as part of the Carbon Newbie Summit in New York – part of New York Climate Week.

As well as contributors to the Carbon Almanac like Anna, there will be speakers and panelists from:

  • United Nations
  • Environmental Defense Fund
  • World Economic Forum
  • Upstream
  • New York Passive House
  • Amalgamated Bank (a bank that’s fully divested from the fossil fuel industry)
  • Mastercard
  • Allbirds
  • NBA
  • GreenPortfolio
  • Earth Finance

The whole summit will be live-streamed from 9:30am ET (2:30pm BST), and you can follow along on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Or use the same link to access the recording to watch at your leisure.

If you don’t know much about the climate crisis, or you’re worried that all the effort you’ve put into reducing your personal carbon footprint might just have been a con to keep things as they are, this summit and our tool will help you find more ways to make a positive impact.

Enjoy!

Radical simplicity
September 19, 2023

Radical simplicity

“Good design is as little design as possible”.  Dieter Rams.

The point is not just to keep it simple, but to keep it radically simple for the user.

That takes radical empathy.

And that means radical focus.

It took me 6 months to work out how to get back to the home screen on my ipad.  Not because I’m stupid, but because I’d grown up with Microsoft, and it wasn’t designed for me.

You can’t do radical empathy for everyone.

So…

Save it for the people who really, really need what you can do for them.

Then blow their minds with how easy it is to buy and use.

 

Discpline makes Daring possible

Ask me how.

9 bad reasons why you might want to disappear from your business
September 18, 2023

9 bad reasons why you might want to disappear from your business

Here are 9 negative reasons why you might want to disappear from your business:

– You fall ill.

– Your partner falls ill.

– Another family member falls ill.

– You get run over by a bus.

– Your partner gets run over by a bus.

– You burn out.

– Your parents need care.

– You have to move house.

– You have to move country.

 

And here are 3 very positive reasons why you should disappear before you need to:

– You want your business to make a bigger impact now. Serve more customers, better, support more people working in it, and make that work more meaningful and fulfilling for them.

– You want your business to become an asset, not a job. The source of your pension, an income for your family, an income stream for your next venture. To sell it for more money.

– You want your business to take on a life of its own. To become your legacy, continuing to make an impact long after you’ve gone.

Bonus:

– You are still able to do whatever you need to do.

– Your business can continue to support you while you’re away.

– You have a business to come back to if you wish.

A modest amount of Discipline when you’re a team of 3 to 9 people, makes all this Daring possible. More quickly than you think.

Whispering out loud
September 15, 2023

Whispering out loud

Today I will mostly be standing in line.

I’m joining the Queue for Climate and Nature, organised by Business Declares and Business Stand Up.

I’m not brave enough to glue myself to a road, or throw baked beans at a painting, but I can queue quietly and amicably with hundreds of other business people like me, to sign a book.

A thousand people whispering at once can make quite a bit of noise.

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Never be afraid to write down the OurScore for your business.
September 14, 2023

Never be afraid to write down the OurScore for your business.

“There were boisterously spiced empanadas, tamely flavoured empanadas, tightly crimped and crisp empanadas and loosely folded, sloppy empanadas. The standardised recipe couldn’t overrule the uniqueness of each cook, their personality, and experiences, which they inevitably infused into their cooking.”*

This is why you should never be afraid to produce an OurScore for your customer experience.  Like a musical score, it looks prescriptive, but each and every performance of it will be unique.

This is also why you should never automate more than the admin parts of it.  Only humans can humanise an experience.

 

 

*from Kevin Vaughn, writing for Vittles Magazine today.

10 good reasons to disappear from your business
September 12, 2023

10 good reasons to disappear from your business

Here are 10 positive reasons why you might want to disappear from your business:

– You want to spend more time with your family.

– You want to start a family.

– You want to write a book.

– You want to go into politics.

– You want to start another business.

– You want to follow a passion.

– You want to start a charity.

– You want to take a sabbatical.

– You want to retire.

– You want to sell your business.

And here are 3 very positive reasons why you should do it before you need to:

– You want your business to make a bigger impact now. Serve more customers, better, support more people working in it, and make that work more meaningful and fulfilling for them.

– You want your business to become an asset, not a job. The source of your pension, an income for your family, an income stream for your next venture. To sell it for more money.

– You want your business to take on a life of its own. To become your legacy, continuing to make an impact long after you’ve gone.

Bonus:

– You still get to do whatever you want to do.

– You can still enjoy working in your business if you want to.

A modest amount of Discipline when you’re a team of 3 to 5 people, makes all this Daring possible. More quickly than you think.

Ask me how.

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The Monster’s view.
September 11, 2023

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The Monster’s view.

I am not a monster.

I’m a gap.

The gap between what you, Founder, have in your mind’s eye, and what you Team, have in yours.

Between you, you fill that gap with a monster. With your assumptions and presumptions, your takings for granted and second-guessings of motivation.

You make everyone owls when they want to be flowers.

You make everyone Hydes when they want to be Jekylls.

You make fog where there should be clarity and purpose.

You make mediocrity where there should be excellence.

You make a straitjacket where there should be a springboard.

You build a pin-factory where there should be an orchestra.

You make noise where there should be be music.

You focus on me when you should be focusing on the people and the world, you serve.

You, Founder, you, Team, between you, you make me a monster.

But you can unmake me.

 

All you have to do is share with each other.

Founder, share your system for making and keeping promises with the team. Team, share your ideas for doing it better with the Founder.

Everyone, share the work of doing it. Not just the concrete tasks, but the emotional labour, the feelings.  Not just the technicalities, but the customer experience, the bit that wows..

Make everyone a Boss, and watch your floor become a springboard, owned by everyone. With enough give to support different people, enough resistance to help them really take off. Watch that pin-factory morph into an orchestra, delivering customer-delighting performances that have people coming back for more.

That thing you all call ‘The Boss’.

It’s not a monster.

It’s just a gap.

When you close it, ‘the Boss’ will disappear.

And everyone will be free.

 

Discipline makes Daring possible.

Ask me how.

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The team’s view.
September 8, 2023

What is this thing we call ‘The Boss’? The team’s view.

‘The Boss’ is a monster.

It makes us Hyde when we want to be Jekyll.

It makes us owls when we want to be flowers.

It makes us angry and resentful when we want to please.

It makes us defensive when we want to improve.

It makes us sullen when we want to co-operate.

It makes us passive when we want to be proactive.

It makes us jobsworth’s when we want to take responsibility.

It makes us dot i’s and cross t’s when we want to be making a dent in the world. A dent that matters.

We can’t ignore ‘The Boss’. We spend all day watching it, second-guessing how it feels, how it will react, covering our backs by passing jobs up. It feels like we care more about ‘The Boss’ than we do about our clients.

It’s everything we hate about being employees – the workflows, the time-sheets, the endless check-ins, the inability to fix things we know are wrong, never getting to see the big picture – everything that gets in the way of doing a great job. Everything that stops us focussing on what really matters – the client.

No wonder we can’t wait to get away of an evening.

‘The Boss’ is a monster.

 

We know exactly who it is.  And we don’t care who knows it.

 

It’s not a monster.

It’s just a gap.

When you close it, ‘The Boss’ will disappear.

And everyone will be free.

 

Discipline makes Daring possible.