The Atlas

Sometimes the language we grew up learning is inadequate to the task of communicating complexities that matter. This is where new mental models and specialized lexicon can really come in handy. For me three of the most useful in my life have been Gallup, Brene Brown and Game Theory.

One of the things that I really love about Simon Sinek's new book, "The Infinite Game" is also a big part of what I love about The 10 Guideposts for Wholehearted Living that Brene Brown discussed in "The Gifts of Imperfection," which is a fundamental view of life as a process and not a series of results. In each book, both authors talk about their core principles being "practices" that require lifelong diligence.

As a compulsive planner (in quasi-recovery), my normal solution to disappointment is normally to fixate on a new plan. That I can build up in my head as the end-all-be-all, and then go through all the same steps again. Rinse. Repeat. I truly love the idea of not having expectations, but I fall radically short when it comes to reality.

Two of my favorite authors -- Brene Brown and Simon Sinek -- have several fundamental principles in common. Today, I discuss Simon's latest book, "The Infinite Game" and how it ties to Brene's points on Culture of Scarcity, and what happens if we change our focus from the destination to the journey.

Trust and cooperation are not standard in our organizations and yet we know they should be. There are two attributes that every single leader has the opportunity to possess that will help them create the types of organizations we would be proud to call our own. Those two attributes are EMPATHY & PERSPECTIVE.

I spend a lot of time talking about the empowerment of teams, and the value of coaching your people and giving them room to make mistakes and learn from them. The truth is, however, this assumes a few key elements are in place to make that work: skill, will and judgement.

If you are going to change from full-time to self-employed (freelance), what are some key things you need to address to make the leap?

Last Thursday my former business unit was all but shut down. Almost all that remained of the team I loved beyond measure was laid off. And the small handful who were not laid off were put in the horrible position of being the 'last man standing' to deal with clients, a complicated transition and more work that is realistic for such a tiny number of people. My phone started exploding around 7:00 a.m. and went on well into the night.