Success in 12 letters

I’ve been banging around the world of work for a very long time and have had and seen all kinds of jobs. Some are cool (is that still used with Gen-Z?), some not-so-cool. Some are dangerous and some are boring. Some pay too much, and some pay not enough.

But they all have some essential traits in common for people who want to excel. These traits can be explained with 12 letters. People who want to excel in their job need to remember:

Let me explain.

FWB = Fix What’s Broken

We are all faced with problems, things that are “broken” and get in the way of our success. Some of our problems are simple and we know what to do to fix them. We just have to do it. For example, if your favorite #2 pencil has a broken tip, go sharpen it.

Some of our problems are complicated and we don’t know how to fix them. Go find a person with the right skills and knowledge. For example, if your vintage 1978 MGB won’t start, you may need a good (old) mechanic.

Some of our problems are complex and we can’t handle them alone because they are “too big.” Get a team to help you find the root causes and work on them one by one. For example, Kennedy had the problem of getting people to the moon before the Soviet Union. We did it with a massive team.

Bottom line = learn how to solve life’s problems. It’s a skill that can be improved.

CTB = Copy the Best

You and your organization may be great, but I’ll bet that there are people and organizations who do run their business better than you. Study them and learn. Or, to use the consulting lingo from decades past, “benchmark them.”

Is your trucking operation better than UPS? I doubt it. Is your fast-food operation as efficient as a McDonald’s kitchen? I doubt it. Is my on-line training business as successful as Mirasee’s. No way.

Bottom line – no matter how good you are, you can learn from someone else and get better.

DTD = Do Things Differently

You don’t have to change your business, but you may want to run it differently.

 Need some famous examples? Amazon started as a bookstore without stores. Uber is a taxi company without taxis. Airbnb is a hotel service without rooms. Kindle books are books without paper. Post-It-Notes uses an adhesive that doesn’t stick (well).

The key here is to use the imagination of that six-year-old kid hiding in the back of your mind. You did all kinds of things “differently” when you were young. A corrugated box became a fort. Games didn’t have to make sense because you determined the rules. The lot down the street WAS a forest and you were an explorer.

Bottom line = Give yourself permission to imagine.

DDT = Do Different Things

“Different” is once again the key word here. But it’s used in a larger sense. It’s a bit closer to “invent,” but I don’t want to take it to the extreme of the mad scientist in a tube-filled lab. It’s more akin to the concept underlying the real meaning of entrepreneur.

For example, Door Dash is a “third way” for people to get food. We used to have the option of going to the restaurant or calling-in an order to pick-up. And some restaurants offered delivery, but they were few and far between because they didn’t want that additional workforce.

Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple are “fin tech” companies that are trying to reinvent banking using cryptocurrencies without being a bank and without all the banking regulations.

Bottom line = imagination plus a willingness to accept a lot of downside if you fail.