Hard work got you to this point in your career. Your ethic – the attitude of “give-me-any-job-and-I’ll-deliver-no-matter-what” – has been an engine that’s powered you through any obstacle you’ve ever faced.
But you’re up against something bigger now: The colossal forces of complexity. Your do-whatever-it-takes work ethic isn’t enough anymore. Which means only one thing: You’ve reached the limits of your worth.
Or maybe not. Perhaps, this is when you become bigger than the circumstances you face and adopt a simplicity ethic.
A simplicity ethic is an attitude. It’s a mindset of knowing that:
- Simple doesn’t mean easy. It’s the product of labor given to mastery.
- Clarity of 1) vision, 2) purpose and 3) how you measure success are the master guides in all decisions.
- Your choices have long tails: One decision you make turns into hundreds (even thousands) of choices others will have to make as a consequence.
- Deciding to do something is a different skill than knowing how to successfully operationalize that decision.
- Accounting for how your decisions coordinate with the choices your peers are making isn’t just required for success – it’s a matter of survival. (Team members operating out of alignment or isolation destroy value.)
Your work ethic is no longer a differentiator. It doesn’t make anyone special. Today, the ethic of simplicity is your advantage.
Does your team have the ethic required for success today?
P.S. Lack of simplicity causes employee burnout and increases waste. We’re going to take the topic head on in our next activation session, June 16 at 11:00 Eastern. (It’s quick and free.) Hope you can join us.
