Who are you, and who do you need

I’m more of a thinky/creative type.  I like to think about how awesome things are gonna be when they unfold. I get really excited about a big new shiny object, and I can’t wait to see how fantastic it’s going to make things.

There’s a problem with this.  Sometimes I end up with these: http://budurl.com/gmja

There’s a great example of a company, Optical Distortion Inc (ODI) who came up with a cheap process that would no longer require chickens to be de-beaked, a horrifying and painful process used by chicken farmers.

These guys realized that if they could distort the vision of the chickens, they wouldn’t see each other, so they wouldn’t fight each other.  A creative and simple strategy to solve a problem.

What ODI lacked was the details guy or gal.  The person who steps up and says, “hey, y’all are crazy! You expect contact lenses to stay in chicken eyes?!”

Yep. They tried to sell chicken contact lenses to farmers.  Epic fail.

I have found that success in the real world is the result of mixing people that chase a shiny ball around the room with people who like to calculate the coefficient of friction that is causing the ball to slow down.

The world needs (and has) both types of people. We all just need to take a step back, think about which one of those people we are, and be the best we can be at which ever side we land on.  And if you’re smart (and lucky) you’ll pair up with the other side.

Risk Free Method to Make You Better

Need a strategy to help your career?  Well, this is a simple one, with little downside:


    Work really hard, and be nice to people.


It’s something I try to implement. I’m not perfect with it, but I keep trying.


We face a lot of frustrating situations on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s easier to give up or mail it in, and other times it’s easy to spit out some snide remark to someone, or worse still, through them under the bus.


It’s much more difficult to double down and plow through something no one expects you to, or to react with ‘niceness’ when someone piles on. But that’s just the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Take it.


You can certainly do one with out the other, but combining these two tactics is what will make you exceptional.  Or, as Seth Godin might say, a “Linchpin.”


Hard work is rewarded, and nice people get the chance to do more hard work.

(Note: This also works in your real life too.  Think about it next time you are driving, or needing to shovel the snow.)