Tahl Raz, co-author of Never Eat Alone, interviewed Fast Company
co-founder and entrepreneur Bill Taylor about his acclaimed book Practically
Radical. In this intriguing Social Capitalist interview, Taylor shared his
insights about the best ways to compete, innovate and succeed – and how being
comfortable might not be as safe as you think.
It’s very easy, particularly in these kinds of
fast-changing, risky times, to get comfortable operating in the middle of the
road. That’s what feels safe and secure, and that’s, in theory, where all the
action is. So you say, “Okay, I'm in the hospital business, I'm in the airline
business or I'm in the banking business. I know there’s a conventional playbook
for how to be in that particular business as a company and a conventional
playbook for what an executive or leader in that industry looks like, so that’s
what I'll follow. Then I'll just try to be 3 percent smarter or 5 percent
faster, and I’ll chip away at the margins.”
The trouble is that everybody wants to be “in the
middle of the road,” but today, when there’s so much change, so much pressure
and so many new ways to do just about everything, the middle of the road really
has become the road to nowhere. Instead, I urge organizations and individuals to
say, “It’s not good enough anymore to be pretty good at everything.” You really
have to become “the most …” at something. It could be the most elegant, the most
simple, the most exclusive, the most affordable, the most brash and colorful, or
the most easily accessible. You've all got to make your own choices.
A “funny-but-true,” homey piece of Texas
wisdom is the idea that the only things in the middle of the road are “yellow
lines and dead armadillos.” I think that’s true on a Texas highway, and it’s
also true for all of us as leaders, innovators and individuals. You've got to
figure out, “Why am I interesting and compelling to people? Why should people
want to hurry up, get energized and figure out how to help me succeed at
whatever endeavor I'm trying to do? How do I conduct myself as the kind of smart
person that other smart people want to rally around, support and contribute to?”
Seeking the answers to these questions requires you, at some level, to be “the
most” of something in whatever environment you're in.
I'm suggesting that everybody we encounter in
life, from our direct colleagues at work, partners in our business, friends,
neighbors or people we know in church, have a million different activities,
projects, opportunities and people vying for their attention. They could choose
to pay attention to you or not. It depends if you believe that your value as a
person, as a leader and as a successful learner is a function of how many people
voluntarily choose to engage with you, to share their ideas with you and support
you. Are you the type of person who – if they hear about what you're working on
and then they’re driving when something occurs to them – they’re actually going
to take the time to send you an email or give you a call saying, “You know, I
was thinking about that project; here’s a thought that might help you on the
way”?
People have to actively choose to do that, and
they’re only going to choose to do that with people that conduct themselves in
ways that they find appealing, interesting and worth affiliating with.
Many years ago, we had this notion that we're all
personal brands and we're all supposed to be fabulous and flamboyant, and to
conduct ourselves in ways that are impossible for people to ignore. But to be
someone worth affiliating with doesn’t mean you should conduct yourself like a
human billboard or think of yourself as a personal brand or an art project. It
may well mean doing lots of small things that come naturally: You might make
small gestures and acts of generosity and human kindness, which, in this world
being reshaped by technology, really resonate with people who are the recipients
of those acts. This might persuade them, in return, to go out of their way to
help you succeed, help you do things better, help you learn faster. I think
that’s how I would explore that circle.
If you want to hear (or read) the rest of the
interview with Bill, click here for the full recording and
transcript.
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