Make things work!

Today, I stumbled (in Chris Wedding 's Impact Newsletter) on a quote that made me think:
- "Pessimists sound smart, but optimists make money" - Nat Friedman.

I would actually say that "optimists change the world" rather than "make money", but the bottom lane stays the same. It's usually easier just to see how things won't work and say it loud, but the true value is to make things work out and make a positive impact.

Encontros com Futuro

Great start of the week in "Encontros com Futuro", an ESG dedicated talks series promoted by REN . Four good takeouts from these days:
- Companies tend to measure their ESG efforts - and not the impact from their initiatives;
- Ultimately it will be people that will make a difference on ESG implementation, both as decision makers and as consumers (thank you Luis Amado), highlighting the importance of emotional engagement at all levels;
- Profit is an important component of a sustainability strategy, or the strategy will dry out pretty quickly (Nuno Moreira da Cruz - who also added that a sustainability strategy is actually THE strategy nowadays);
- And last but not least, a study from Deloitte highlighting that mental health fringe benefits actually have a 5x ROI (and this reminded me of Kindology - be kind to all kinds and their great take on this problem).

Budgeting for innovation

There are two universal truths about innovation budgeting. Everybody thinks this is really important and everyone believes they aren’t spending enough. To put it simple, the effort of daily running a company and its operations (everything that needs to be done to simply “keep the lights on”) consumes a substantial part of the company’s available resources (around 85 to 90% according to a HBS study – 92 to 95% according to what I have seen in some realities) and not much is then available for innovation.

But the opportunity lies exactly in taming the daily operational turbulence. Systematize, create routines in your operations that free resources. Do less, track less, prioritize what is important from all the superfluous stuff so that you can free more resources. End zombie initiatives that are leading you nowhere so you can free more resources. And don’t manage the symptoms of a problem but zero-in on its’ root cause so that… you can free more resources.

I am 100% sure you need more resources for innovation (everybody does… - unless you are someone from Apple or Google, and maybe even so…). If they can’t appear out of nowhere, you need to create them from your current operational budget – the “how” needs a ruthless and focused approach that delivers results and allows for your customer focused innovation (be it a product, a sales channel or a very disruptive approach to the market) to shine through.

Can you reach Net Zero by 2050?

"Can you reach net zero by 2050? See if you can save the Planet from the worst effects of climate change!"

That's the challenge the Financial Times puts in their Climate Change game (https://lnkd.in/di9vsW6W

). You will have to take decisions to keep the rising global temperatures under +1.5Cs (the Paris Agreement threshold).

The 3rd of July was the warmest day on record globally. So, this seems to be the right time to take this challenge - do you have what it takes?

P.S- Thank you Andreea Sapunaru for bringing this game to my attention.

Patient Persistance

 There is a thing about change one should always remember - "Change takes patient persistence".

Sometimes, you might feel things are taking too long but in many cases that is just part of the process - small changes add up to a bigger one in the long run.

Take one for the team

 Sometimes, you need to take one for the team. To raise your hand at a difficult question and to say "I'll do it!" even though you know you are not the right person - but there is no one else. And to try your best at something you were not really built for.

So, a huge shout out for Jolien Boumkwo, a Belgium shotput athlete that volunteered to replace an injured athlete and... run a 100m hurdles race at the European Games. She finished last - and still won!

Psychological safety

A quick word on leading a team? Let me actually share two - "psychological safety".

"Psychological safety is the individual perception of the consequences of taking an interpersonal risk". According to a (very cool) research from Google , that's actually the main factor that determines a team's effectiveness.

And it makes sense. In harsh words, "psychological safety" means an individual believes it's safe to take risks within their team and speak up without being labeled as incompetent, negative or disruptive.

On teams with high psychological safety, there is a higher diversity of opinions, opener and richer discussions, conversations that are both more natural and assertive - leading to better solutions. It's your responsibility as a team leader to foster it.