How do you go from Start to Success?

You pass by strategic quitting.

"Almost everything worth doing in life is controlled by the Dip." [Seth Godin]

The kinds of decisions you make as you start something will determine whether you will be successful or not. Starting is easy; it's knowing how to pull through the rough times that will bring you success. You've heard it before: someone who becomes famous all of a sudden, except it was several years in the making. It is not easy to identify a course of action, and to know the difference between what to pursue and what to let go.

We often end up getting used to pushing in the wrong direction. What happens when we apply too much force against something? An equal amount of force pushes back in our direction. As I'm reading The Dip by Seth Godin, I am visualizing several examples of how using the strategies outlined in the book served me in my career, and life.

Joining Fast Company magazine readers' network as a volunteer coordinator was sexy in the beginning of the year 2000. Enthusiasm among other readers had us on cloud number nine. Everyone was eager to discuss the articles in the magazine, get together with like-minded people, and in general borrow from a successful brand. It would have been dangerous to think that things would remain that way.

Instead, we planned to create a way that would allow us to slug through when the volunteers disappeared, and the demands on my time would increase. Because I chose to commit to this group, I had nothing to lose. In 2000, this was not even on anyone's radar -- it did not exist as a legitimate network. After 8-9 months we grew the team designing events to 5 people, and a little later to 9 diverse professionals.

We got together on a regular basis to invent how we would become the "go to" place for learning and launching deeper connections. Afer 3 solid years of work, we gathered some momentum. But success is always fragile when it borrows from a formula. Soon many on the design team, some of whom in transition at the time, began new jobs and were able to dedicate less time to our venture.

It would have been easy to substitute the people with others. Other professional organizations have done that for years: replace the director of programming, recruit a new person in charge of membership. Except for we had set out to be unlike any other professional association with a paying membership base and some of the usual programming. We wanted to strive to be different. We wanted to be the alternative to a regular business group: engaged, supportive, in it for the long run, *and* ahead of the times.

The business climate had also changed, and we had to deal with that as well. It would have been easy to quit that then. Interest seemed to be fading, people did not seem to want to volunteer for the group anymore. The thing is: the Dip is flexible. When something you're doing is not working, don't do more of it, do something else. That was my lesson in strategic quitting.

Instead of trying to recruit others to help me, I set out to figure out how to recruit myself to help others. Think about this for a moment as you look at your organization. Is the current structure the right one to take you to the next step? As it turns out, changing the way I looked at my problem, taught me a great deal about re-inventing the network. What did I quit strategically? The thinking I had grown attached to.

This is the part where we recommit to our vision -- mine was to set aside a noncompetitive space where we could make learning and connections happen over time -- and find another way to get through to the other side. There were professionals within the group who had joined to network and ultimately get help finding a new job opportunity. Although we were a support mechanism to them, our events were not targeted to assist directly both in topic and intent.

My only requirement was a commitment to own the project. This led to a proposal that would see the birth of a fantastic subgroup to assist people in career transition. Bart Ruff, the leader in charge of this project, partnered with another group that had an existing forum to help job seekers. Theresa-Hummel Krallinger from the American Society for Training and Development, and a long time member agreed to join forces. The result: a highly focused and incredibly well-attended monthly series of events. Bart and I see the world very differently, and that is very good for me, and for him.

I could have thought of this as a challenge to my power. It would be easy to see it that way. Yet, the more I supported this new initiative, the better our group did overall. In fact, I sought and found another way to get new blood in. Jen Lim, a young and up and coming professional communicator, contacted me to inquire about having Seth Godin facilitate a conversation with us in Philadelphia.

The reason why she was asking: she had just launched a Purple Cow Brainstorming Circle to help people flesh out ideas and figure out ways to execute them. Instead of diluting myself and trying to pursue that angle, as well as the large events I love organizing, I suggested that we bring the group within. Did this new initiative challenge my status? You bet. But we cannot take a short view of work if we want to grow -- we need to learn to be flexible and gain a sense of timing.

As it turns out, the timing was perfect for Jen to help us re-energize our language and people mix. Her connections are younger, and richer with new ideas. Just what we wanted more of. I'm learning to work with a new context where I am the curator of the group and not the sole coordinator. These initiatives required some adjusting for all of us. Instead of a pyramid where I am at the top, we have a peer model, where the vision is shared by many, *and* we all pull differently in the same direction.

How do you go from start to success? Through sustained commitment and strategic quitting. Take a look at your organization and think about it as an organic and living system where the people are part of the answer. Do you need to revisit departments to align with the new demands in the marketplace? Does your day to day focus need to be recalibrated? Who is not on your team and needs to be there?

Comments

[mvellandi]

Buona sera Valeria,
Great points on thinking in terms of the team. Although I have various skillsets, I have to remind myself of the following: What are my core competencies now? What are those of the people I know and partner with? How can I leverage the two to do better work or offer a better service? With this in mind, what kind of role/position do I want to grow into? I want to be an excellent project manager in all my undertakings.

I like strategic pruning in a timely fashion. It feels so good to the psyche to consciously say 'no' with intent based on insight and understanding. It's so much healthier than a passive acceptance that 'things didn't work out' because 'I got busy' or some other excuse.

[Richie]

Great article Valeria,

It's always easy to make great decisions in retrospect! The difficult thing is making a decision now with the information you have at hand.

Society and culture tends to lead us to believe that successful people were always that way.

The reality is closer to what you mention at the beginning of your column--success often comes after many failures, and many years of hard work.

[Lewis Green]

Valeria,

"When something you're doing is not working, don't do more of it, do something else." If we marketing consultants could convince clients of the above lesson, we would provide a great service.

[Jen]

Ciao Bella Valeria,

You speak of organizations as living and organic. How timely because I just revisited "Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World" by Margaret Wheatley. She delves into organizations as whole systems, and speaks of fractals:

"All fractal patterns are created as individuals exercise both freedom and responsibility to a few simple rules. Complex structures emerge over time from simple elements and rules, and autonomous interactions."

Fluid relationships and shared meaning are the lifeblood of such open-source, fractal network communities.

This is why I'm so excited about Philadelphia CoF and the way in which it is deepening/expanding.

Moo,
Jen

[Valeria Maltoni]

Mario -- yes, the pruning analogy works well in the spring. You do sound very Italian by name, are you? Sometimes looking at things from a slightly different angle makes an enormous difference in the contribution we can make.

Richie -- this is such a treat to have you back in this forum, and in rare form. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, I think the most difficult action step for me is taking no action. At least not how I envisioned it.

Lewis -- that one sentence saved me more time and effort over the years than anything else I could be writing in this blog.

Jen -- so glad you could stop by. You have been a fantastic gift to the network and to me personally. Thank you. I like the autonomous interactions piece. Often we feel the need to control interactions as the only way in which they may be meaningful. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

[Joe Raasch]

Valeria,

You nailed the key to success in just about any endeavor that involves other people:

"Instead of trying to recruit others to help me, I set out to figure out how to recruit myself to help others."

It is with a servant's heart that we can reach our goals.

There may be situations that require leading from the front. These are typically short-term and situation-specific to a milestone towards a long-term goal. Leading through others versus feeding the ego to have to lead from the front is engaging, successful, freeing, and more fun!

[Jen]

Joe, that line deeply inspires me as well.

Cultivating the servant heart is a spiritually purifying experience. When one leads from this space, control becomes unnecessary and remarkable / miraculous outcomes unfold.

Valeria, torchbearer and servant heart -- I am elevated by your energy and presence. Philadelphia CoF holds a special place in my heart because it is a community of connections rather than transactions. A rare gem...