I’m back with the rest of my Interview with Michael Port. To listen to the entire live interview go into the free members only section and click on show # 051806.
MP (Michael Port): The rules that I am talking about all take place in an environment of trust. The only way to build trust is to talk about trust. That is a big part of the equation. The 3rd rule is a very interesting rule, and it’s going to surprise you…work with others!
MYD (Michelle Yozzo Drake): Gasp! In a conference on collaboration, I am shocked!
MP: So work with others if you want to produce a REMARKable project. If you look at the majority of projects that are REMARKable they are brought by more than one person. Let’s look at some obvious examples like, Microsoft. Bill Gates did not do it all by himself, he had Paul Allen with him. You look at Elton John, he is a solo artist but he had Bernie..what is Bernie’s last name…you don’t even know who Bernie is but he could not do it without him…he is the collaborator. One does the music and one does the words. Without each other Elton John’s music does not exist. Some of our greatest artists and business professionals our greatest inventions have been brought together by more than one person.
MYD: There is always a team behind it!
MP: The 4th rule is to have clear intentions.
MYD: Know what you want…or is it more than that?
MP: I think it’s this idea that we are navigating towards results. So we know our goal is to produce this kind of result, we don’t know exactly where we are gonna get but this is what we are working towards. Sometimes if we get too wrapped up in this idea that it has to come out exactly in this way because this is what I want then we actually may limit the creative process.
MYD: It becomes rigid.
MP: Yes, but intentions are different. It is my intention is to go in this direction. My intention is to trust others, my intention is to collaborate with others, my intention is to let other people shine, my intention is to show up in this way. So if we get clear in what our intentions are and we communicate that with the other people we are working with we are going to produce better results. The 5th rule is to develop habits of commitment making fulfillment.
MYD: That’s a big one.
MP: Huge.
MYD: And as a society, we’re not so great at it.
MP: Right.
MYD: I know when I tell people…this summer I will be married twenty years…they are…20 YEARS…WOW! And I’ve been in business with my husband for 6 of those years! They are shocked, but I think that commitment is one of those things that in our society is getting rare…and it’s sad.
MP: Let me give you an example, there are many of us that don’t make a lot of commitments, right. And if you don’t make a lot of commitments, not a lot happens. There are others of us that make a lot of commitments, but don’t follow thru and fulfill those commitments and again not a lot happens. And your reputation does not build, right.
MYD: Or it builds in a way you don’t want it to.
MP: Exactly! It’s interesting, there was a book by the name of a guy, Barry Schwartz, who is a professor of social action and social theory at Swathmore College. And the book is called paradox of choice. One of the things I found remarkable about the book is the theory he puts forth actually seems a bit counter intuitive. One of the things he offers based on his research is that people who make non-reversible decisions are generally more satisfied than people who make reversible decisions. Meaning, I am going to make this now but if I want out I get out. You brought up marriage…it is a good example. If I get married and I feel…I could get out tomorrow. Then you don’t psychologically commit in the same way.
MYD: As you would in “’Til death do you part”
MP: Big difference.
MYD: Big difference. You have to be brave. You have to be brave enough on both accounts. Brave enough to make the commitment, but brave enough to know if the commitment is killing you, it’s got to go…or killing your business.
MP: I know I sound like I am saying two things at once, however, if we start with that non-reversible commitment a lot of the trivial petty things that may have gotten in our way before become less relevant.
MYD: Right, because those are short term pieces, one of the correlations that I make is that when you get caught up in the petty you are getting caught up in the short term. Today it might feel like I am doing more of the work but if you are looking at long range…in the end if the project is successful and lucrative…we put good work out into the community…the client benefits, both collaborative partners benefit, everything is good. But when you are short sighted and you are worried about it’s 6:30 and I’m still here and where is my partner…it’s easy to get caught in that short term thinking.
MP: Next is Rule 6 Learning in Action.
MYD: Which is so important. If you are learning, while you are working, you are constantly getting better, refining yourself. You business and your life is a regenerative, iterative process. It absolutely doesn’t have to be perfect.
MP: That’s what most people do, they wait for perfection to go out in the world…so what we want to do is learn in action. What we learn on Tuesday we take into action on Wednesday. What did not work we leave. What we learn on Wednesday we take into action on Thursday again. This is a major part of doing anything remarkable and it’s also what changes the scope of the project as we go. Because you might learn that the direction that we are going is not really what our customers want. Because we have been talking to them, yea, and collaborating with them and they are sending us in a different direction…alright guys… we learned something let’s sit down and refocus because this is not going to take us in the direction we want to go…We are using these tools for navigating to results. Not for determining results. Because a result can’t be determined and the future is uncertain.
MP: The 7th rule is a big one…have a compelling story for your project. Because, as we said at the beginning…passion is a requisite for doing anything remarkable…right? But if you can’t get other people involved, enlisted, enrolled…excited by what you are working on it’s not going to go anywhere. So we have to have a story that is compelling. Again, another great book, by Seth Godin called All Marketers are Liars…
MYD: Yep, excellent.
MP: Great book, funny title probably one of the best titles of the decade. The first thing that he tells you in the book is that the first lie is that the title is a lie. All marketers are not liars, but great marketers tell great authentic stories. So anybody that does anything big in the world, is a great marketer even if they have never “never marketed” anything before. Right. An athlete who is on a team who gets his team inspired to go and do bigger and better things than they have ever done before is a great marketer. He is selling the idea of what it would be like to win and win together to the rest of his team. The coach or manager who screams at them in the locker room, gets them so fired up that they go out and win the game is a great marketer because they are telling a compelling story that the people they are working with are getting behind. So we want to be sure that we have a story to articulate and rearticulate so that we can get other people to start talking about what we are doing, both inside and outside the project. Remember that in the beginning we said this is the 7 simple rules for creating REMARKable projects. Other people remark on them if you have a compelling story that other people will retell for you. And that is when it becomes remarkable.
MYD: Absolutely. And we all have stories. That’s the great part about this, most small business owners are terrified at the thought of marketing, and if marketing is just telling stories…everybody had stories! Everybody can be a marketer. Everybody has the potential to be able to engage their clients and potential clients.
MP: Look, the thing is, I have a new book that just came out, Book Yourself Solid, a couple days after it’s release it was the #2 best selling book on amazon. And it’s for people who hate the idea of marketing and selling, but they love to connect with other people, they love to serve other people. And really fundamentally that is what you are doing, you are telling stories. So, the calling that I have is to bring hope to people who want to do big things in the world but don’t connect with the idea of pushing forcing , manipulating anything but they really want to make connections with other people. And they are great at eliciting excitement and they can continue to work on that even more and more. And that’s it…those are the 7 simple rules for producing remarkable projects.
1. Bring Your Passion to Your Project
2. Use Your Talents
3. Work With Others
4. Have Clear Intentions
5. Develop Habits of Commitment Making Fulfillment
6. Learn in Action
7. Have a Compelling Story for Your Project
Posted on Sep 20th 06 by Michelle Drake.
Michelle hosts a weekly talk-radio show focused on business solutions and is President of The Cove Group, Inc. (a management consulting firm). She has coached scientists to professional athletes and entrepreneurs to artists on how to improve their communication in the workplace and at home resulting in advancement of careers, improved leadership skills, more effective teams and deeper relationships. http://michelleydrake.com
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