The Three Fundamental Challenges [chris trimble]

Leaders of strategic experiments face three fundamental challenges:

1) The forgetting challenge > To succeed, the new business (NewCo) must forget some of the core businesses (CoreCo's) deeply ingrained success formula.

2) The borrowing challenge > The strongest advantage that NewCo has is access to CoreCo's vast resources. To forget, NewCo needs some separation from CoreCo. But to borrow, NewCo must also be linked to CoreCo.

3) The learning challenge > NewCo must recognize that its initial plans and forecasts are most likely wrong. NewCo is a business experiment. It must expediently learn and adapt. Unfortunately, planning practices that prove extremely effective in a mature business setting are detrimental to learning. The alternative approach is theory-focused planning.

From: http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pages/faculty/chris.trimble/leadership.html

Tips from people working with mentors

1) Know Your Goals:
“Think about your goals and what you want to achieve before you seek out a mentor” Conforti advises. “I gave some thought to my goals and how a mentor can help.             
2) Put Structure in Place:
Have a schedule and an agenda. “That way, both people take it seriously.” Conforti also suggests focusing the relationship on your development goals.             
3) Select the Right Mentor:
“Whom we pick for a mentor is as important as having a mentor,” Shannon emphasizes. “Take time to assess who would be a good person to guide you.” In selecting a mentor, Conforti says the person “needs to be a great role model and someone you want to emulate.”            
4) Practice open and honest communication:
Conforti says this is “key to any mentoring relationship. Sarah was comfortable telling me what I do well and what I need to work on.” Shannon appreciates her mentor’s honesty. “I’m stunned by his candor,” she says, pointing out that Vanderhoef is very honest about his mistakes in his work experience so Shannon can learn from them.

The Ford and NicholsTaxonomy of Human Goals

The Taxonomy of Human Goals includes six different types of goals. Task goals represent desired outcomes of interactions with primarily non-social aspects of the environment. Social relationship goals represent desired outcomes associated with the ways we relate to other people. Some of those outcomes are primarily self-enhancing (self-assertive goals) and some are primarily other-enhancing (integrative goals).

The other three types of goals included in the Taxonomy focus on internal psychological states. Affective goals represent emotional and feeling states we might like to experience. Cognitive goals represent desired outcomes associated with perceiving and thinking. Finally, subjective organization goals represent psychological states that people may seek to experience involving a complex pattern of thoughts and feelings.

** Task Goals

Mastery > Meeting a challenging standard of achievement or improvement; avoiding incompetence, mediocrity, or decrements in performance.

Task Creativity > Engaging in activities involving artistic expression or creativity; avoiding tasks that do not provide opportunities for creative action.

Management > Maintaining order, organization, or productivity in daily life tasks; avoiding sloppiness, inefficiency, or disorganization.

Material Gain > Increasing the amount of money or tangible goods one has; avoiding the loss of money or material possessions.

Safety > Being unharmed, physically secure, and free from risk; avoiding threatening, depriving, or harmful circumstances.

** Self-Assertive Social Relationship Goals

Individuality > Feeling unique, special, or different; avoiding similarity or conformity.

Self-Determination > Experiencing a sense of freedom to act or make choices; avoiding the feeling of being pressured, constrained, or coerced.
 

Superiority > Comparing favorably to others in terms of winning, status, or success; avoiding unfavorable comparisons with others.

Resource Acquisition > Obtaining approval, support, assistance, advice, or validation from others; avoiding social disapproval or rejection.

** Integrative Social Relationship Goals

Belongingness > Building or maintaining attachments, friendships, intimacy, or a sense of community; avoiding feelings of social isolation or separateness

Social Responsibility > Keeping interpersonal commitments, meeting social role obligations, and conforming to social and moral rules; avoiding social transgressions and unethical or illegal conduct

Equity > Promoting fairness, justice, or equality; avoiding unfair actions.

Resource Provision > Giving approval, support, assistance, advice, or validation to others; avoiding selfish or uncaring behavior.

** Cognitive Goals

Curiosity > Satisfying one’s curiosity about personally meaningful events; avoiding a sense of being uninformed or not knowing what’s going on.

Understanding > Gaining knowledge or making sense out of something; avoiding misconceptions, erroneous beliefs, or feelings of confusion.

Intellectual Creativity > Engaging in activities involving original thinking or novel or interesting ideas; avoiding mindless or familiar ways of thinking.

Positive Self-Evaluations > Maintaining a sense of self-confidence, pride, or self-worth; avoiding feelings of failure, guilt, or incompetence.


** Affective Goals
Excitement > Experiencing excitement or heightened arousal; avoiding boredom or stressful inactivity.

Tranquility > Feeling relaxed and at ease; avoiding stressful overarousal.

Happiness > Experiencing feelings of joy, satisfaction, or well-being; avoiding feelings of emotional distress or dissatisfaction.

Bodily Sensations > Experiencing pleasure associated with physical sensations, physical movement, or bodily contact; avoiding unpleasant or uncomfortable bodily sensations.

Physical Well-Being > Feeling healthy, energetic, or physically robust; avoiding feelings of lethargy, weakness, or ill health.

** Subjective Organization Goals

Unity > Experiencing a profound or spiritual sense of connectedness, harmony, or oneness with people, nature, or a greater power; avoiding feelings of psychological disunity or disorganization.

Transcendence > Experiencing optimal or extraordinary states of functioning; avoiding feeling trapped within the boundaries of ordinary experience

Copyright 1988, 2004 by Martin E. Ford. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission of Martin E. Ford. For information about use of this taxonomy, contact Mind Garden, inc. info@mindgarden.com

self-respect, self-rule

"Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself."
- Abraham Joshua Heschel

"I am, indeed, a king, because I know how to rule myself."
- Pietro Aretino