Red, Right, Returning...

Red, Right, Returning – when returning from the sea, make sure the red buoys are on the starboard (right) side to stay in the channel.  This phrase was drilled into my head as a kid when I learned to sail, leaving the secure confines of our harbor for the big wild sea.

Every business, organization, entrepreneur, C-suiter, yes, humans need ballast - guiding principles, missions and core values to help navigate the big wild sea.  

Herein lies a fundamental paradox: the importance of getting outside one’s comfort zone, exploring, discovering, lens-shifting and living at the edge based on a foundation of values providing guidance and ballast – like the bell buoy at the harbor entrance.

What’s your Red, Right, Returning?

• For businesses and organizations, it’s your mission and purpose – the reason the organization exists, the way you benefit your customers, employees and stakeholders, the way you create powerful outcomes that others can’t;
• For entrepreneurs, C-suiters and humans, it’s your personal values you won’t compromise, your integrity, character, the impact on those that work for and with you and the impact on those around you – family, friends, acquaintances.

The photo is of the Pemaquid Point Gong Buoy #2 at the entrance to the Johns River and Pemaquid Harbor.  It is my favorite bell buoy gifting a sound that gives me comfort, rest and peace.  A sound I return to over and over – after a long day of excitement, stress, hectivity, whatever (yes, I have it on my iPhone).  

As you approach the end of summer, before the fall arrives, what is your Red, Right, Returning? What is your ballast? Defining, refining, communicating that is not a ‘nice to have’, it’s not something that ‘can wait til later.’  It’s something that is critical to your organization and business, to your customers, your employees, your stakeholders and yourself.  Please spend some time to reflect, rediscover and then launch out to sea, knowing that buoy is always there.

The Art of the Dumb Question

When I was a child, my parents always answered a question with an answer that led to another question. So early on, I learned to just keep asking questions.

It drove my teachers nuts (don’t get me started on education!) and drives my husband nuts (like that’s the only reason!).  Just to bug my husband further, I’ve taught our kids to do the same thing!  Despite this annoying habit, it’s served me pretty well in my career, learning a lot (much of which I can’t remember) along the way.

This leads me to propose that the transformation of the 20th century into the 21st be the Age of Answers to the Age of Questions.

While answers are important, it’s more important to know what questions to ask to get to the answers. The lack of questioning is part of what got us into the mess of the last three (or more) years. We learn by asking and using that knowledge to ask a different question.

Which is why I offer you the Art of the Dumb Question.

I’ve been told one of my “gifts” is the ability to ask very dumb questions! I’m honored, seriously, and owe my parents a debt of gratitude. Dumb questions are very important, especially for innovation.

Why? (no pun intended) Because dumb questions challenge the status quo.

• Dumb questions test basic, tacit assumptions.

• Dumb questions make us stop and think about fundamental truths.

• Dumb questions get to the core.

• Dumb questions can make the AND vs either/or possible.

Last week, I was with a client for their annual global businesses’ growth strategies to ask dumb questions. They are wise in recognizing that they are too close, too knowledgeable, too ingrained in their industries and environments to be able to step back and ask dumb questions. Even when I was starting my own carve-outs and businesses, I always asked someone to come alongside and ask me the dumb questions.

As your organization pursues the innovation journey, who do you have to ask you the dumb questions? Who is your Dumb Questioner (DQ)?  And, as you think about it, to who can you be a DQ? Who can you serve and help by asking dumb questions?  Don’t worry, it’s not hard to do, and it’s very rewarding!