Awesomeness and Conversation

“There's nothing you can really do to prepare to rock. Do you prepare to eat a delicious meal? Are you hungry? Then you're gonna eat it.”  [Jack Black]

If I were to give anyone a gift, it would be that of awareness - the ability to uncover and pursue what they can do best. What's your drive? How does that scale in organizations? What does that look like in the marketplace? Has the definition of value changed?

Jim Collins talked about the three circles, the intersection of what you are passionate about, what you do really well, and what people will pay you for. Marcus Buckingham has been telling us about finding our strongest life. The power resides in motivation. You want motivation because, as Umair Haque says, the challenge of the 21st century is creative - learning to create fundamentally better stuff in the first place.

With motivation, it's important to define where you're coming from, what's your ultimate drive. Collins uses business as the data set for interesting questions, for example. It's also important to remember that sometimes we need to ask better questions - of ourselves first, and in the context of work with others.

The concept of awesomeness and conversation is a bit broader than say a customer community, or an advocacy program, or a branding effort for a business or career development. It doesn't identify with agreement, yet it doesn't need dissent to justify its fairness.

Opportunities - digging deeper, looking for what you respond to positively

Challenges - getting stuck on the control issue, inability to move away from status quo, "me too" complex

Your power resides in motivation, you control that.

The 4 pillar of awesomeness, according to Haque (in bold) and in my version for conversation are:

1. Ethical production - are you transparent about your motivations? 
   
2. Insanely great stuff - how creative are you in the pursuit of your passion?
   
3. Love - do you love the process of creation?
   
4. Thick value - how is what you contribute making people authentically better off?
   

Balance is bunk in the same way that a conversation built for the sole purpose of hearing yourself talk is moot. Today at #kaizenblog chat we will discuss the four pillars of awesomeness with examples from your story. Join us there at 12 EST and participate here.

Haque's basics are true. But they're just the basics. What makes awesome is passion. It begins LONG before the conversation.

Jack Black is right. You don't plan to enjoy a great meal - if you're hungry, you just DO.

You don't plan to be awesome. You just ARE. Now - are your customers hungry?

Dinner is served.

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I wrote a post about the power of language and the lost art of letter writing a long time ago, that you might enjoy. It probably won't change your mind, but it will change your brain.