dare to dream

HBR Blog: Procrastination is Essential to Innovation

Yep, you heard me right.

Just don't tell your children...

Here's my latest post from HBR.

Do you find that procrastination leads to anxiety which becomes the combustible that drives you to innovate?  What does that look like?  Or, if it isn't the case, under what circumstances do you find yourself coming up with new ideas or ways of doing things?

***

And yes, my book is just 60+ days away. I am going to start sending out updates in the next 1-2 weeks.  Many of you are on my list, but if you definitely want to be updated, will you let me know either by leaving a comment, or face-booking, or tweeting?  Or telling me IRL -- which would be even better.

Here's another blurb sneak peek from Liz Strauss who I admire greatly!

This book belongs in every success toolkit. Business leader and master storyteller, Whitney Johnson shows how remarkable things happen when we dare to claim our strengths, own our dreams, and do what we're meant to do.  A fabulous guide for business and for life. -- Liz Strauss, international business strategist and author of Successful-Blog.com 

HBR Post: Are You Stuck in a Girls' Club?

Here's my latest post over at HBR.

One additional thought after you read this post.  If you are a big consumer of social media, have you ever considered who you typically retweet?  Men?  Women?  And qualitatitvely what does it look like?  Women as experts?  Men to chat?  Or the reverse? 

I'm quite curious to hear your thoughts.

HBR Blog: Get the Mentoring Equation Right

I've got a new post up at HBR, co-authored with Bob Moesta.  It is the outline for my talk at the Women in Business Conference on October 29.

Mentoring is a big and timely topic, one that I'm wrestling with because I feel like I'm not mentoring as well as I used to -- or would like to.

One thing that was interesting as I wrote this post with Bob was that he has a formal process for accepting mentors versus my very haphazard, willy-nilly approach.  He went so far as to provide a template for what he would say when approached, if he were me.  Because it was eye-opening, I want to share it with you.    

Note of caution:  

You may squirm as you read this.  You may feel that if you were to put this in front of someone that you were big-timing them.  That's normal - remember Anna Fels' work, we are only considered feminine when we are giving something to someone else?   Will you set that impulse aside for a moment, and consider the following:  

1. When you mentor you are giving something of value.  Because no money changes hands, it's important to get this equation right so that the relationship can remain intact;
2. Sometimes we need to have others help us realize how much value we create -- and I'm NOT just talking about in the workplace. (For example, a parent helping their child with homework -- good tutors can cost $100 plus).  What if someone were to write out a contract like this for you, whether in a business, civic or personal context?
3. Even when we don't charge money for what we do, affixing a dollar value, makes what we do more concrete, and I think changes our perception of the task.

***

Here's what Bob suggested:

Dear Prospective Mentee and Friend --

I take mentoring very seriously and I am not sure we all have the same definition so before we take a step down that path,  I want to clarify what you are asking for and what I am able to do, and the terms in which I am willing to help.

For me, my mentoring process starts with an application and assessment.  To be clear, If you are chosen I will do this for free, but you need to agree to my terms. I choose only one person a month to mentor.  If you are not chosen, you can re-apply in 60 days or you can pay for my mentoring services upfront (which are at $7500).

I have a systematic process for mentoring that is very structured. It lasts 60 days consisting of 8 assignments that will take you 40-50 hours of your own hard work to complete. We will talk on the phone for 8 x 30 minute sessions that will be pre-scheduled. Once you miss call, you are out. Each assignment must be completed 2 days prior to our call and posted. One missed assignment and you are out. At the end of the 60 days I will have passed to you everything I can to help you get to the next level as defined by you. Our mentoring relationship will have evolved into one of peers. To be clear, this is not for every one and it is hard.

I have this process for three reasons:  1) I have dozens of requests per month to mentor, and I only want to work with those who are ready to make the commitment and really want to make a difference in the world.  2)  My time is the most important resource I have.  I am in high demand with investors & companies from around the world, my family and my church, so my time is at a premium as is yours; 3) The mentoring is shaped by me but driven by you.  You make the choice, you make the effort, you make the progress.  I get the satisfaction of seeing you grow and and then help others.

If you are accepted, there will be three requirements: 

1. Write, document, video your 60 day experience to share with others on dare to dream; 
2. When you complete the 60 days, you will agree to mentor another person in the next 12 months using the same process. 
3. Our mentoring agreement will expire on the 61st day and any further or ongoing relationship will be framed as an advisory relationship (not mentoring)  and can be contracted only if we BOTH choose and for a retainer for no less than $10,000/month with a 6 month minimum commitment.

I look forward to reviewing your application (can be done on on google forms) and hope you are ready for the time of your life.

Sincerely,

xxxx

***
Richard Saul Wurman, the founder of TED wrote, "I am terrified and confident all the time."  That pretty much captures how I felt when I read this.

What do you think?

HBR Blog: Keep Listening, but Start Talking

Here's my latest.

I sometimes wonder if speaking up is a generational thing, or temperament -- e.g. is my experience anomalous?  I'll be interested to hear your thoughts.  

In the meantime, if you'd like to encourage the young girls in your life to speak up, you may want to check out Lisa Bloom's Huffington Post article How to Talk to Little Girls.

My birthday post: Disrupt Yourself

On August 22, I published a piece on Harvard Business Review titled Disrupt Yourself.  I purposely published that date because it was my birthday; this piece was a personal manifesto, a birthday present to me.

Source:  istockphoto

It turned out to be a fine present, in part because I got to hear many others' disrupt yourself stories, including this one from blogger Joanne Wilson titled Disruptive, Disruptiveness, Disruptively. Before telling her personal story of disruption, here's what she wrote:

women define disruptive.  we continue to change our goals, our jobs, our direction as we charge down the path of life.  men's careers tend to look like a growth chart starting at the bottom and slowly moving upward over the course of their careers.  women's charts tend to look a little more erratic as they go up and down depending on where they are in their life mostly because of children and also because as a group we have a bigger bandwidth of interests that might play out over time.  

Women are instinctively disruptors -- it's how we live our lives.  And in the context of this blog, when you dare to dream, aren't you really daring to disrupt your status quo?

Thoughts? 

What present will you give to you on your next birthday? 

How have you disrupted yourself?

HBR Blog: What Job Does Social Media Do For You?

Here's the latest: What Job Does Social Media Do For You?

Specifically, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+?  And what did you fire when you hired them?

Or you wanting to do something, and then you aren't doing it, Bob Moesta's Equation of Progress is helpful in diagnosing why.

Thoughts? 

HBR Blog: Collaboration is Risky. Now, Get on With It.

Here's my latest HBR blog.

After you read the piece, I'd love for you to weigh in, here or there.

In the meantime, it occurrs to me there are other reasons we choose to work alone.  Someone approaches us, our children, for example.  Why do we often opt out? 

Thoughts?

***

P.S.  The following paragraph ended up in the delete bin.  I think it does hamper the flow, but I do like it.  It comes right after the first paragraph ending with "child's play."

We praise championship teams such as Barcelona’s Football Club (Barca) and applaud bi-partisan legislation, holding up these models of teamwork like tween girls waving posters of Justin Bieber, hoping if we make it look easy enough, we’ll tilt the global zeitgeist from one of conflict to cooperation.   And yet, when collaboration is essential to get something done in our sphere of influence, more often than not, rather than behaving like world champion soccer players, we approach the task at hand like children in the sandbox tussling over who gets the shovel.

HBR Blog: The Best Investment You'll Ever Make

Here's my latest HBR blog -- for those of you who haven't read Not a Track Star; Rebecca Menzie's story is a perfect example of "investing" in people.

***

You may also find these posts interesting:

Three Reasons Why You Must Guard Your Heart  (Not sure why this is relevant, but it just feels like it is.  Any connections you'd make?)

Fear Means Go -- (This was written by @Ellen Galinsky author of Mind in the Making -- especially liked her paragraph on microbehaviors)

Women are not "Guys" (This is a hard one, for me at least, but I think important in encouraging the girls in our lives to dream.)

 

 

 

HBR Blog: Building a Network that Works

I've just posted over at HBR.

This post was especially fun because I got to write about a topic that I find endlessly fascinating:  how we connect with people, build a community or network.

It was also fun to draw on the research of Monica Mullick Stallings who I worked with briefly at Merrill Lynch: and with whom I have multiplex ties.  (You'll know what I mean after you read the piece.)

If you are at all inclined, I'd love to have you click through to the HBR blog and share your thoughts -- I'm really curious to hear your take.

HBR Blog: Investing in Start-ups: For Love and Money

You may remember my post on Katie Couric; this post continues in a similar vein, but focuses on investing.  I would certainly put the "I am doing this because it's my dream" in the emotional job-to-be-done category.

I'll be interested in your take -- here or over at HBR.