JMReid Group Blog

Wallace stated, “The point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” While his speech was initially intended to inspire the individual college graduate, I believe we can take the concept of “what is water” and apply it to organizational culture. The three fish could easily be three co-workers, the more experienced worker says, “We have some cultural issues here,” and the others say, “What are cultural issues?”

2020 has been a year for the books. Leaders across disciplines were challenged in ways they never thought possible. Many had to reach deep down for what got them to their position and hang on tight to their beliefs, and sanity, as the rollercoaster of a year continued.

Most adults love to learn something new while paradoxically over-valuing and over-relying on what they already know. The Wicked Learning Environment requires us to spend more time exploring, which is a critical concession since few of us know as much as we think we do.

Turns out, you lie to yourself all the time. Don’t worry, it’s completely natural – an  evolutionary fail safe installed in our brains since consciousness evolved. However, these lies are rarely in your best interest. Developing the discipline to identify these lies is key in life and in business.

When we think about classroom learning, and now online learning, we often think of people sitting at their desks looking forward at their computer or lined up facing forward and attentive to the person at the head of the class.

At JMReid Group, we know that while we may learn, or take in information, in rows, the real growth happens when we are engaged with others. In a circle, if you will.

In sales, and with many other things in life, you should begin with the end in mind. But exactly what is the end when thinking about sales? When it comes to the prospecting phase, the end appears to be getting that initial conversation – the first call, if you will. This focus by sales organizations on the first call tends to either be about what they want to “tell” the customer about their value or an attempt to qualify for the next phase.

Whether this novel Coronavirus is regarded as a cause of, a culmination of or a catalyst to the disruption it has brought to our lives, it is remarkable in many ways. First, it has highlighted how interconnected we truly are—to a point that is almost impossible to disentangle. From the wildfire-like spread from a small market in Wuhan to the re-emergence in New Zealand, we can no longer act like our communities are isolated from global events. Second, it’s placed a floodlight on leadership. The reaction and interaction of our leaders at every level will be scrutinized for years to come—and no single blog could do the analysis justice. One thing that is clear, however, is that egos in a crisis are destructive. But the silver lining, and the focus of this blog, is the undeniable human ability to “pivot”—to change our outputs, structures and processes to meet the needs of a new challenge.

We don’t actually know if your CEO hates you, but we do what frustrates CEOs. CEOs know that In business, you either get reasons, or you get results. A culture of good reasons quickly becomes a culture of low accountability.

Good cooking is like good learning in that both are a journey of simple-complex-simple. That’s part of our philosophy and the philosophy behind New York Times best-selling author and celebrated chef Samin Nosrat’s culinary approach. “Whether you’ve never picked up a knife or you’re an accomplished chef, there are only four basic factors that determine how good your food will taste,” Nosrat explains. “Salt, which enhances flavor; fat, which amplifies flavor and makes appealing textures possible; acid, which brightens and balances; and heat, which ultimately determines the texture of food.” 

One of the most common things I hear from leaders working on ways they can be more effective is, “The problem is, the levels above me don’t work in this way. It’s very hard to implement these behaviors when the leaders at the top aren’t behaving this way.”