Here are three ways to begin—three starting strategies.
1. Fly to the easiest spot
2. Face the toughest part head-on
3. Chunk the whale into parts

The first strategy is best applied when you face a new domain or task that may seem difficult at first. This strategy is useful in the following cases:
1. Crossword puzzles
2. Exams
3. Networking a room full of strangers
4. A visit to a new country
5. Tidying up a messy house
The first strategy is to find the easiest entry or starting point. Identify the least challenging entry point and quickly move towards it. It will help you warm up and relax into doing the rest. As you warm up, you begin to flow. New doors open up once you begin to engage. Next steps reveal themselves as you ease into action. The system’s intelligence begins to surrender to you and guide your next moves. The wisdom of this strategy is that it doesn’t matter where you begin, as long as you do.

The second strategy is to address the greatest challenge head-on. You apply this strategy when dealing with matters of life and death, when it is critical to address the greatest threat and danger without delay. This works when the most urgent relates to the most important and you must face it head-on. There are other situations, where beginning with the toughest challenge is the way to go, even if a time factor is not involved.  Resolving a conflict is an example. The toughest thing in the world may be to get the two parties involved together in the same room. And that is exactly what you need to do. Faced with a communication breakdown, you begin at the toughest point.

For example, you could say: “look, I know you hate me, you might even want to kill me but we’ve got to be able to talk.” It can be difficult or scary to say but you present the other person with a choice: they can say: “I don’t hate you at all.” Or they can say: “It’s true; I hate you for what you’ve done” or they may say, “Don’t be ridiculous, I would not dream of hurting you in a million years.” Once you have said the worst, the toughest thing that can be said, it is not so difficult anymore. Plus, you are now talking. When two people are talking and listening to each other, hate and anger begin to melt.

The third strategy is used for large and complex projects where you can’t just begin right away because it is simply impossible to swallow the whole whale in one go or you can’t even see how big the whale is. Your approach then is to develop a plan, in which the big project is broken down into smaller projects and these are then broken out into more manageable tasks that can be planned as a series of activities on a time line. This approach is used for designing and building a house, for a large engineering project like building a bridge or an airplane and you may choose this approach for writing a book. If you need to plant a forest of trees, plant them one tree at a time.

The criterion to choosing your starting strategy is to find the point of greatest leverage. In certain situations the greatest leverage is the third strategy: Plan your work and then work your plan. In others, the greatest leverage is in addressing the toughest issue and facing head-on the biggest threat. And in some circumstances, your best leverage is the first strategy of finding the easiest entry point.
Reflect on what you have recently started. What strategy did you employ? Share with us your starting strategies and successes and what worked well for you.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.09.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Strategy :: No Comments »

In good times and in tough times, the surest and safest tactic is to become the best value generator you can be.

Here are ten things you can do to generate and bring great value to your stakeholders.

1. Be clear about the most important - the vital things.
2. Identify the key people you serve.
3. Learn their concerns, needs and issues.
4. Don’t let not knowing inhibit you – ask questions to better understand until you feel you do understand.
5. Develop versatility in your communication. Over-communicate.
6. Practice situational awareness – What makes the people around you excel? What are their data-processing preferences? What are their decision-making styles? What will offer the best help?
7. Think and reason for yourself. Develop and express a viewpoint.
8. Take initiatives. Stake a position. You learn more and are more engaged once you have staked out a position. You learn most by helping others.
9. Seek feedback. Never take criticism or rejection personally. Continue to improve and optimize.
10. Find a mentor or a coach.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Nov.06.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth, Tough Times :: No Comments »

Excerpt from the Fourth Emerald Key: Radical growth - the Learn-ability leverage
Kaleidoscoping is the practice and capacity to recognize relationships and patterns. You practice active inquiry that seeks to understand the core principles that are the basis of all systems. Kaleidoscoping is the ability to compare and correlate seemingly unrelated fields and apply concepts from one to the other. For example, using the terminology and anatomy of weather systems in organizational behavior and the season’s cycle in the market place.  You discover that building an investment and building trusting relationships are similar – they follow the same principle, both need ongoing deposits.  You observe the infrastructure and activity of a beehive to learn about promoting a culture of efficiency and excellence in execution. Kaleidoscoping is the practice of increasing your capacity to handle complexity, such as in the now 24/7 interconnectedness of the web 2.0 conversation. You kaleidoscope to discover meaning in new combinations and connections and learn to anticipate what is newly emerging. You connect the dots to see constellations where others see stars.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Aug.26.2008 :: Emerald Keys, Entrepreneur, Future, Innovation :: 2 Comments »

I agree with 93% of what Marshal Goldsmith tells us in his “Advice for the young that transcends age” in BusinessWeek.

I agree that in an era of uncertainty, we all need to think like entrepreneurs. Second I agree that it is tough out there, and it’s only going to get tougher. Third I agree that you better forget about security.
And fourth I agree that it is a fairer and better world when millions of people from around the world are and will be getting the chance their parents never had.

Here is what I disagree with:

1. I disagree that you should “strive to survive”. I believe you are better off striving for much more than survival. Unless you strive to make a meaningful impact, to unlock your opportunities and to make the most of them, you begin to die even while you survive. How about striving for greatness, for meaning, for purpose, for a meaningful contribution?

2. I disagree that you should “forget about taking a year off.” If you have an opportunity for a learning adventure, a year off the trodden path and breaking away from the rat race might be the best move you can make to help your career development and opportunities. You can make this not a “year off” but rather a “year on” about life, living and learning.

3. I disagree that you should not be finding yourself during your adult years. You can “find yourself” inside anything you do. The first creativity is in re-creating you. Beyond the great surge of the globalized economy and consumerism, we are about to see a great surge in people’s desire for connection, meaning, true impact, beauty, inspiration and for simply being able to create a peace of mind. The next two decades are about to unleash a new wave in this globalization surge – the resurgence of art and culture and integral development, with new scientific breakthroughs and innovation on all fronts to facilitate these higher human needs. Do not give up on these essentials. The price of giving up is too high. You will be thriving but dead.

Investing in what you are about, in what you believe in, and in your growth and development is the best way to invest your time and money in your future. The future is not a repetition of the past. Subscribing to the mindset that helped our grandparents to survive the Depression is not the best approach. Instead, try to glean what the future is bringing and what mindsets are useful to have now to be able to live and flourish in a global ecology, not just survive it.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Aug.23.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth :: 1 Comment »

Every important decision has to be made three times. If you act on an important decision without a complete journey through the three yeses, your decision and action may not be as intact and strong as it can be.

Let’s take the buying of your house for example. First you had the instinctive ‘yes, I like this house’, on your first visit.

This first decision is a gut decision. Does it feel right or not?

Then, you asked yourself on the following morning – ‘do I still feel positive about this house?’ The subconscious mind is slower than your gut instinct. It brings forward its concerns the following morning. That’s why people say, ‘I need to sleep on it’. It’s a way of saying ‘I need to get to my second yes.’ This is the second decision point. In the case of the house, possibly you have gone to see the house for the second time, to find out what the neighborhood looks like at a different time of the day.

The second decision, your second yes is when you earnestly engage in the conversation.

You are then at the point of making an offer. Your offer is contingent on an inspection. The purpose of the inspection is to see all the things that you cannot see, to flag all the possible problems.  This brings you to the third decision point.  The third yes is reached by the elimination of all objections and possible stoppers. This is the yes found by completing your due diligence.

The first decision is at the point. The ‘first yes’ is instinctive and quick.
The second decision is upon reflecting the following morning, or after a couple of days. The ‘second yes’ is a little slower and takes a while to find.
The third decision is after having completed your due diligence. This ‘third yes’ is the slowest. It takes as long as it takes to remove doubts and find the assurance about the positive long term prospect of the decision.

Do not bring analysis-paralysis to the third yes. Due diligence is assessing and evaluating all the known factors and then quantifying the unknowables and guestimating their risk-reward ratio. Once you found the third yes, learn to take action and move forward without looking back.

Now you can use this insight in your internal dialogue and conversation with others. On important matters, ask yourself: “Have I completed my three yeses?”

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Aug.05.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth, Strategy :: 1 Comment »

If you are to make yourself attractive to new learning and insight you have to dare to step into unknown situations, and to do that you must:
1. be fascinated with life and living.
2. be comfortable in not knowing.
3. love learning, truth and growth more than you love your ego.
4. be excited about new possibilities more than you love your need for security.
5. be ready for learning and insight to come through anyone regardless of their position, seniority or age.
6. have a sense of humor.
7. be mentally agile and alert.
8. be intensely present and treat each conversation as though it’s the most important thing in the world.
9. trust your capacity to turn every setback into valuable learning.
10. have a sixth sense for the invisible dimensions of things.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Jun.17.2008 :: Consultant Journal, Entrepreneur :: No Comments »

What’s better than making decisions?

What is more fun, more powerful and more creative than getting up in the morning and thinking that what you’ve got to do today is to make decisions?

Making decisions is great but even more fun, more energizing and more creative is to have the mindset that today you don’t need to make decisions – that today your endeavor is to GENERATE OPTIONS.

What’s my point? Decision making is overrated. The bigger art in business and in living is to generate options. Great leadership and smart strategy is generating options. When you create options and clarify your vision, your values and your principles, you really don’t need to make many decisions. Instead of you having to make each decision, you let the decision present itself and come to you. I don’t mean which brand of toothpaste to get; the industry has done a very good job in that area and we are presented with many (some might say, too many) options. Therefore, which toothpaste to use is indeed a tough decision. What I am talking about are the bigger, more important directional things in life.

I asked our son who is now in his third year in college, what he wanted to do after he graduates. His reply was, “Right now I am creating options for myself. The best thing I can do at this time, is to do well both academically and in everything else I am involved in whether at school or personally. By excelling in what I do I create more options for me.” Here is his self briefing:

1. Do what I do well.
2. Discover what I am succeeding at.
3. Discover what I am interested in, what energizes me.
4. Meet interesting people and have interesting conversations.
5. The four points above will bring the widest range and best options.

This is a smart mindset.

You don’t see the tree in the forest needing to make decisions. It grows in all possible directions. The roots find the best path to deepen and the branches follow the optimal path for sunlight exposure, depending on the competition and density in the forest canopy.

How about this as a mindset? How about growing in all directions? How about generating a wide range of options? How about letting the environment tell you which are the best options?

Decision then is a confirmation of the obvious. A “yes” to what presents itself as the best option. I agree, sometimes you need to make tough decisions but a good seven or eight out of ten decisions need not be more than confirming the obvious best option. You can then get on with generating options up the path you are pursuing. It’s a different way of thinking. A more energizing way to live. A smarter strategy and a better way to run your business.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Apr.23.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Personal Growth :: No Comments »

Here are a few quotes from a Harvard Business Review conversation with Twyla Tharp. These sweat beads of wisdom go beyond art. She captures the essentials of any dedicated endeavor.

“…everyone can be creative, but you have to prepare for it with routine. There’s no other way around it. It’s an absolute mistake to think that art is not practical—or that business cannot be creative. The best artists are extraordinarily practical”

“…The best creativity is the result of habit and hard work. And luck, of course.”

“Fundamental change is an endeavor, it’s a real enterprise, it’s not something that just happens. You make a choice to keep evolving and keep growing.”

To deliver a great performance be it in art, sport, business, teaching or any other field, you have to do much of what is viewed by some as the unnecessary work. Lance Armstrong built a depth of strength during his winter practices up the Tour De France mountain picks when most other cyclers were resting.

It’s the invisible work you put in when no one sees that later shines in your performance. By doing the extra work you make yourself an instrument and a home for the essence of your endeavor and it cannot help but shine through you. Tharp’s message is that it’s the same with creativity. You don’t just wait for a muse or inspiration. You build a practice of showing up and working at it. It is then that inspiration finds you and that you have built the muscle for what it then needs to do.

Here is another interview with Tharp where she explains that it’s about making the dance, and about what failure and success mean.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Apr.18.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Innovation :: No Comments »

The greatest pragmatism in the world is to have a dream you work toward realizing. To say, “I don’t dream. I deal in reality.” is to negate your power and to deny your ability to transform reality. Your ability to work and to realize your purpose and dream is the most real thing in the world. It is reality.

Put differently, without idealism, a “realistic” and “pragmatic” approach does not mean much. Idealism is about having a dream, a passionate purpose. Realism is about what is. Pragmatism is about what works, what gets results. It turns out that what is and what works is to take action towards a purpose, a vision, a dream you feel strongly about. Small, consistent, focused actions towards your dream are the real path forward. It is pragmatic idealism. The greatest pragmatism in the world.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Apr.03.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Happiness, Personal Growth :: No Comments »

After returning from discovering America Columbus was honored in a series of celebrations. At one such party he was criticized by a gentleman who said: “What’s the big deal, anyone sailing west could have found America”. Columbus went and fetched a cooked egg and challenged all those present to balance the egg on its sharp end. One after the other they tried but they all failed. The egg would not balance and would not stand on the pointed end. Finally Columbus picked the egg and smashed the pointing end on the table just enough for it to balance the egg. To the amazement of all the egg stood balanced. Columbus looked around and proclaimed. “Anyone of you could have done it but I found the way!”

What are the lessons from Columbus’ workshop on exploration and innovation?

1. Discoveries and innovations often look obvious after the fact. After a truth has been articulated, after a discovery has been made known, after a development has been tested and refined, they often look simple and easily accomplished. But they were not obvious before someone articulated, discovered, tested and put them in front of people.
2. The bigger part of innovation is not what you do but how you do it.
3. Think outside the egg.
4. It’s not enough to discover America; you need to also sell it, or to sell your ability to discover the next America. Whether you come up with a technological idea, a service, a solution, a new process, a scientific breakthrough, a business model or a new creative design – It’s not enough that it is promising; you’ve got to be able to communicate it and deliver the good.
5. Be always ready to show what you know.

© Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar :: Mar.24.2008 :: Entrepreneur, Innovation :: No Comments »