Sacrificing Sacred Cows

One of the simplest examples of a Sacred Cow can be found when you write blogs because there’s a small number of words in play. Occasionally, you write a sentence that you like very, very much but as you continue to build your thoughts and as the page expands, you start to realize that the sentence just isn’t appropriate anymore. You refuse to edit it out and actively rationalize why it needs to stay. No matter how much it is not working you want to keep it — “It’s such a fantastic sentence and it just has to be used.”

This thinking regarding sentences can easily be transferred to operating mechanisms and processes, where you focus your efforts, roles and responsibilities, strategies and tactics — anything that has worked very well in the past but for many reasons doesn’t work anymore.

The pithy term Sacrificing Sacred Cows is used when something revered isn’t working anymore and has to be removed or changed — it’s a course correction needed to bring an idea to life or sustain continued success. Something works until it doesn’t, and the glitter of the Sacred Cow can blind the recognition that there is problem, and what has worked in the past, isn’t anymore. They can be hard to sacrifice, these Sacred Cows — disbelief they’ve become a problem or suboptimal, aspects of being human and our strategies*, the perception of sunken costs or one of the seven deadly sins; they all keep sacred cows alive and well.

It is easy to sacrifice a sentence in blog when it doesn’t work and much, much easier than shifting a company strategy or a blowing up a process tied to revenue. In the end though, if you don’t, the result will be the same — a poor product that over time becomes obsolete. Adapt or die is the harsh reality of business, life and even humble blogging and the result of sacred cows not dealt with appropriately. How they are dealt with can range from the subtle to the dramatic but first they need to be recognized.

And sometimes that is hard — we’re only human after all.

iamgpe

*The Nash Equilibrium — The Nash equilibrium is a decision-making theorem within game theory that states a player can achieve the desired outcome by not deviating from their initial strategy. Yes, he is the one in the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind”.

The words that have redefined me after my death...

It’s one of those books that is dense with information — not hard to comprehend but contains so much that every page has you thinking, has you marking up the margins and folding corners to the point that each page looks the same. I can see why it’s on every list of books that business leaders must read; I had seen it many times myself but only just picked it up a while back —I can’t help but wonder if this is one of those books that finds you. I was halfway into the book when I figuratively crashed into three sentences that had me re-reading the words, highlighting them with even more stars, and setting them to memory.

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what is left and live it properly.”

As I look back on my life I feel no regret, and although many things could have been done differently, I have to say everything worked out quite nicely. I will miss myself but like everyone else I will move on — I still have things to do after all.

A couple of days after my timely death I shared my experience and the profound impact of the quote with a confidant. After much enthusiasm on my part, I ended the conversation with, “I’m not sure what live it properly means” — the words just hung there. It did force the realization that a comparison was needed between this new life and one before I died. If I wasn’t going to move forward doing things differently (or properly) why did I go through the hassle of being dead in the first place? A reasonable question in my mind and one I suspect the author intended when he wrote it.

It’s a bold endeavour to set down on paper how to live a life properly but with the time I have left I’m embracing the opportunity to do just that — this is what I have come up with:

Approach everything with a critical eye for understanding — Understanding determines action; the better you understand a situation the better your decisions will be. Good critical understanding forces different points of view, inclusion of different voices and different ways of thinking (The author discusses this a lot, and it’s one of the reasons many circles classify it as a business book).

Attempt to control only yourself — The only thing you have any control over is how you react to the world; believing you can control anything else is an illusion. Control yourself with courage and face everything that comes your way with integrity, determination and kindness. Leave everything else to the logic of the universe.

Simple is better than complex — For no other reason than simple is less exhausting, and unlike many things that are over engineered, simple doesn’t break down as much.

Strive to be extremely healthy — I’m talking physically health here (I believe the above with look after mind and soul). Exercise much more, sit much less, move much more, eat much less and wander into nature much more. This is how you “take what is left” and get the most out of it — for as long as possible.

Do what you enjoy — maybe worth re-evaluating once in a while.

I think this defines a life lived properly quite nicely and will be a big help as I make my way for the second time.

iamgpe

PS — Sure I could have mentioned the book and the author but as I say, I think this is a book that finds you. Plus there is always the internet.

PPS — Boop if you happen to read this, send me an address and a copy will find you.

A moment in time...

As the languishing effects of COVID -19 continue, one of the habits I had fallen into was not blogging on a regular basis. The excuses, and there are many, would come easily but none would serve any real purpose if I wanted to change the situation. So my plan is to go into my file of half finished blogs and thoughts, figuratively dust them off, and change the habit from not blogging to blogging. I found this start to a blog from October 2020

Well here we are — Halloween. Or was that a month ago.

And then just a push to the middle of November, and as they say it will be a hop skip and a jump to Christmas; then ringing in the New Year — 2021. Spring is just a heart beat away (crocuses in the lawn); I believe it’s then the celebration of the Queen’s birthday* and couple of birthdays to celebrate the formation of sovereign states. And then, wait for it… tic toc… wait for it…. the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine — a logistical nightmare unto itself; but everything is then, finally back to normal.

Tic toc; tic toc.

I look back on what I do and it’s been months since I have written anything for myself — buried in work is my excuse and of course a pandemic; damn that SARS-CoV-2. A convenient excuse I suppose. What I call the sameness of the COVID-19. Was that yesterday or last month?

…

Six months later I still remember starting this commentary on COVID-19 and why I abandoned it. I was concerned that my previous blogs had been on the same topic and I was moving away from the tenets that ground what I write about. It is also quite possible I never meant to publish this and it was simply cathartic writing to help on my journey through the pandemic (although in the end it doesn’t really matter). I don’t have any interest in unpacking what I thought six months ago. What’s important to realize at this point is that, although we are far from having this pandemic under control, we do have vaccines, effective treatments and a global community that continues to work hard to put this behind us.

Tic toc; tic toc

This pandemic will come to an end, and if you listen to the pundits, there will be an over zealous desire to celebrate like they did in the roaring 20’s. Whether you raise a glass or review the history books, this pandemic will be a moment in time to seriously reflect on and ask yourself what you learned and what you would have done differently. Everything is a learning opportunity and knowledge does make everything a little easier — particularly in the tough times.

I’m not sure if this has satisfied anything other than me being able to say I wrote a blog (which is definitely better than saying I did not write a blog). What it has reinforced though is that action is better than non-action, and that definitely satisfies one of my tenets.

Because remember, and COVID has confused this concept, there is only so much time to get things done.

Tic toc; tic toc

iamgpe

*in Canada on May 24th we celebrate Queen Victoria’s Birthday (most likely pandemic style)