Mechanically minded or not?

I have always been mechanically minded. What does this mean? Simply the ability to understand how things work and how they work together to equal a result. When I was little and had a go cart I remember I wanted to go faster. (This is before the days of internet) So removing the governor, more fuel, more air and away we go. What used to go 30 could now go 60 (Down hill) and how do I know? The repurposed bike speedometer.

I see that Caden has this ability and Carsen does not. Caden will figure it out if you give him the parts. Carsen needs a class, diagram and the math behind it. Both skills are helpful. Carsen does well at school. Following directions, step by step instruction where Caden will take things and make them work. The interesting thing is how they both struggle with the others ability to just understand it.

What is the lesson here? Neither is smarter than the other rather it is my ability to teach them in a way they understand. (Plus work to their individual strengths) (like that saying "You can't judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree")

Difference Between a Good Tip and a Bad One

We were at the dinner table this week and I am not real sure how the topic came up, but Caden, my oldest son, asked the question “when a server at a restaurant asks you “how is everything”, you wouldn’t say bad would you?” To which my wife stated, “sure I would” (and for that matter she does!) Why would you pay for a meal that was overcooked, undercooked or just wrong?
The fact that my son found it almost shocking that you would return a meal was very eye opening to me.
When you think about it, we all do things every day, if not hourly, like not returning the meal. We work with people that turn in assignments that might be “undercooked”, yet, instead of sending it back, we simply throw it on our pile of things to cook our way later. Meanwhile, the person that turned in the work believes they delivered something to our expectations.
Now, obviously if the person turned in that work with the knowledge or intent it was poor, you would deal with that differently. Intent matters.
There have been many times when I received work that was not up to specification and I took it and did it myself, but worse, I would then either internally or sometimes externally tell others about the poor quality of work produced. It was pointed out to me recently through a book I am reading, Radical Candor, that I am just as responsible for the poor performance as the person who actually completed the work. I was not direct enough to tell them. My mentor, Hardin Byars, says “Unexpressed expectations lead to resentment”.
In the book Radical Candor, there are a bunch of real world examples and processes you can use every day to become a better leader. The book's statement is simple “Radical Candor is the ability to Challenge Directly and show you Care Personally at the same time“.
Going back to the restaurant, it has been my experience that when you give the server the chance to make it right, many times this is when your expectations are exceeded. You get that steak cooked to perfection and they get a better tip. Everybody wins.

Developing future leaders. Where do you start?

I believe this post is all about my opinion and speculation. I will say that I have been blessed to work with more than one great leader and have been part of their development. So lets just day I have a view from the cheap seats?

Developing leader must start with authentic, humble and vulnerable communication. I know for me it is speaking about my failures. Hey, I am an expert in my own failures. Where did I go wrong, what were the key moments and how could it could have been avoided. It is a bit painful reliving to others some of your biggest failures for sure.

An example of this might be when I was working on another leader and they took advantage of the situation. How do you get past that and trust others and develop them.

Not confident but not Cocky (Where is the balance?)

Recently it feels like I have been between these bumpers. One being Cocky and the other not being confident!

I made a decision because I was positive I knew the right direction only to find out later I did not know what I needed to make the decision. So then I ended up making a wrong decision to get more details when I already knew the answer and that punished the team.

Finding the balance is still a struggle and pretty sure it will be for the rest of my career.

iPhone 11 Pro Max and comparison to 7 Plus

It has been exactly two weeks since I upgraded to the iPhone 11. I have to be honest, it was less of an upgrade then I would have expected over three years. Maybe my expectations were out of line and I just had high hopes? Things that I thought might be more impactful?
Speed - Sure it is faster but honestly not a huge difference
Screen resolution - I was expecting that the higher end and higher resolution would be very noticeable. Not sure I have noticed at all. I did early on realize that the screen is longer (Top to bottom and it was a bit distracting but only for a day)
Screen to the edge and no home button - Screen to edge really didn't make a difference other than the notch at the top. At first it was distracting and now I don't notice. For the first week the lack of a home button was really hard to get use to. Now I really like the facial ID thing. This is a great upgrade.

Here is where the positives start.

The biggest thing is battery. This is not a small thing. For sure a three year old battery is going to be struggling (Since it is used every day) On the 7 Plus if it lasted all day under strong use (But not heavy) The 11 Pro Max is amazing battery wise. I charged it over night last Friday and took it off the charger Saturday morning. Let it go off charge till Tuesday at work and was still on 38%. Dang!

Wireless charging is great. Like just being able to sit it down on the charger and pick it up later. No plugging and such. I have a charger in the car that is wireless charging also. Super cool.

The way iPhones now move the data from one to another when you get a new phone is super cool.

Honestly haven't used the camera's so we will see.

Yep, that is it! Wish I could say more. Would I do the upgrade again? Definite yes mostly due to the old one being 3 years old and the new battery. The level of innovation is not that amazing for three years.

Knowing that you don't know is a strength?

Maybe the opposite is a know-it-all? I recently was working with an individual that felt they knew it better. Dismissing that I had 20 years experience, detailed how I knew it and the impact decisions had on business. Yet they continually were pointing out that it should be a different way. There are two things that probably should happen.

1. They should let it go. We (Yes WE) mad a decision. Back it.
2. At least have an understanding of the fact that others may know more.

The other side of this is being able to hear others side (From my perspective that is). Lately I have felt that I have leaned too far to others when I did know better. Ugh, self awareness is tough.

Being comfortable finally?

You spend the first 3 to 8 years trying to figure “It” all out. What is “It”? I think that varies for sure. For me it was all the things I did poorly. Financials, HR, data acquisition and more. To be clear, not that I didn’t know these things, it was about integrating them into business.

Recently while at a conference it became clear to me that most around were trying to impress. How important they are, how much they know or how many people they have reporting to them.

Many times when you see these people they should be spending more time listening and learning rather than trying to show everyone how important they are.

I can probably relate more since the more I learn, the more I realize that I am not the important one, the team I support is.