The Manager - Edition 102 - Business enriches lives
THE MANAGER - BY ROB LAMBERT
Hi,
I hope you are doing well and you are safe.
It's been busy here at Lambert Towers.
We've had a short glamping holiday, which was lovely - a chance to recharge and spend time with my family.
I've also launch my side project - Parent Brain - a project that has been calling me and pulling me towards it for about 9 years now. Finally time to do it.
Like most things in my world - I feel I have to try things. If they fail, so be it. At least I can say I tried.
Someone the other day asked me why I produce YouTube videos and the Parent Brain podcast.
Truth be told, the answer is two fold:
The content is designed to offer as much advice as possible, for free, to those who need it, want it or like it.
The content is a legacy for my three boys. Whatever happens in my life, good or bad, those videos and the podcasts will hopefully last for a long time.
We are all creating a legacy and the sentimental old fool that I am, hopes that my kids can learn from the content, take a peek in to my life and escapades, but more importantly, know that I tried, even if I failed.
So I'm going to keep going, for as long as I have the money and time and health to do so. A legacy.
But more importantly, and a core theme of Cultivated Management, is that the legacy is nothing if my day to day actions aren't congruent with it. I'd rather they remember the times they spent with me, than simply videos and podcasts.
And the same is true in our business world. Our character is what people want to see and work alongside. Our character is what we will be remembered by.
It's important that each day we're building ourselves in to who we need and want to be. And showing the world. Being congruent with what we believe and who we want to become.
And that's why it's important we realise that business isn't about profits, sales, exits, latest tech nor any other aspect that the mainstream media focus on.
These things are important and needed, and they help sustain careers. These things help the business make enough money to keep going.
But I think more importantly, and maybe this is from a personal perspective, a businesses should enrich the lives of all who work in them.
Businesses should enhance the lives of all who work in them - including yours.
A good business becomes part of you, and you become part of it.
The business YOU succeed in, is a business that feels like it's part of you.
But be careful. Sometimes a business has to make drastic decisions - and when they do, it can feel like you've lost part of yourself.
Those that know me, know I spent 10 years growing a tech team in a startup. Going from small investments through to £100million. The business then got sold. But in order for me to leave that business it felt like I needed to destroy and detach part of me to do it. Many others who left felt the same way.
We'd become the business. The business had become us.
It was painful when it came time to leave and go off on my own. But the years in the business felt real, felt right, felt good. I was enriched and enhanced.
If you don't feel that way about the business you are in, will you give it your best effort?
If you don't feel that way about the business you are in, are you in the right business?
The acid test is this; is the business enriching and enhancing your life? Or is it doing the opposite?
What can you do about it?
Until next time - take care.
Rob..
FOOD FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT BRAIN
1. How to do email the right way - https://www.nirandfar.com/email-management/
2. 6 Ways great managers champion their employees. https://lattice.com/library/6-ways-great-managers-champion-their-employees
3. 7 questions to ask if you're thinking of changing careers - https://www.themuse.com/advice/questions-to-ask-before-making-career-change-coronavirus
4. Stages of the creative process - https://www.skillshare.com/blog/learn/stages-of-the-creative-process
5. Inspiration from the second best newsletter on the internet (1st place is obviously this one) - https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/august-20-2020
6. How to get in to the "flow" to let your creativity thrive - https://medium.com/the-ascent/3-hours-of-creative-flow-every-day-is-all-you-need-to-change-your-life-4afa8df5eec
7. Using Zoom? (Or equivalent tool) - set some agreements - https://seths.blog/2020/08/toward-a-zoom-agreement/
8. Learning to conquer life's crises - https://www.wsj.com/articles/learning-to-conquer-lifes-crises-11594393476
Thanks for reading this week's edition of The Manager.
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Thanks
Rob..