Project Exponential

Process

A dinner party could change everything.

  • The best opportunities

    Most really talented people are never discovered. Most will never make it onto the Best Sellers list, won’t speak at TED, won’t be contacted by NPR.

    Chances are you may never find yourself on the big screen. That manuscript? It might end up in more trash cans than hands. And your promising business venture? You’ll be lucky if you get funded within the first ten pitches.

    So you have a choice: you can sit back and wait to be called upon…

    Or you can claim ownership of your own success.

    Don’t wait for the best opportunities to find you. Create them.

    Steps can you take to build your tribe, ship your art, design a viable solution — today:

    • Start a blog and schedule a regular publishing calendar.
    • Organize monthly roundtables with speakers of varied and interesting content.
    • Record a series of podcasts on subjects you’d like to learn more about.
    • Make sure your plan doesn’t include a stroke of luck or a winning lotto ticket.
    • Pitch your mentor, pitch your friend, practice your pitch on the stranger in the elevator.
    • Plan a film festival in a friend’s backyard (or rooftop).
    • Set a recurring alarm and write for twenty minutes each day.
    • Gather three friends and meet every other week to discuss challenges and progress.

    Note: This blog post may sound harsh, but I want you to realize this is your life, your career, your dreams, your goals. No one else will take responsibility for them.

  • 5 steps to great team dynamics

    Set up a ping pong table and buy as many board games as you like — positive rapport doesn’t happen overnight. Employees naturally travel through phases of exploration, challenge, acceptance, and performance. Recognize that all teams move through stages of development, and some individuals require more time to assert their skills and integrate into preexisting units.

    1. Encourage interdepartmental collaboration.

    The opportunity to work together can significantly contribute to an employee’s ability to relate to others and feel a sense of loyalty to their team. Introduce colleagues thoughtfully. Generate new ideas and unexpected outcomes by pooling together individuals who don’t typically share projects. The best solutions arise from a variety of sources and inspiration.

    2. Provide leadership opportunities for all.

    All employees should be given a chance to shine, regardless of role and level within the company. Create environments in which everyone’s feedback is respected and make training available to all members of the group. By shaking up responsibilities and expected performance, you’ll give employees the opportunity to appreciate their colleagues’ talents.

    3. Creatively encourage relationship building.

    The best connections rarely form inside of the office. Bring employees together in unique environments; schedule company outings, host dinners in your home, arrange group trips, encourage brown bag lunches at the nearby park. Promote a culture that provides opportunities for individuals to create and bond outside of daily tasks, enabling deeper feelings of satisfaction and connectedness.

    4. Shared experiences unite teams.

    Challenges can serve as teaching moments and unite individuals within a given project. Ushering teams through trying times will reinforce competence and trust among each team member. Alternatively, working towards a shared goal and focusing on mutual success can help keep your team’s energy positive. Celebrate triumphs together.

    5. Model constructive communication.

    The best way to encourage positive communication is to demonstrate and conduct the types of interactions you’d like to see. Effective communication and empathic listening doesn’t come easily for everyone. Your verbal and non-verbal cues will be imitated by staff. Be aware that your clarity and expectations regarding communication, trust, respect, and honor are an integral component of determining the communication patterns of your team.

    It’s up to you to create the time and space for employees to connect meaningfully. Equip your team with what it needs to succeed: support, clear objectives, effective means of communication, strong leadership. When the right roles and responsibilities mix with a carefully selected group of individuals, great team dynamics will follow.

  • 11 ways to “pick yourself”

    Seth Godin encourages us to stop waiting for that call, the publisher, that big chance, the label. We’re at a place in history where opportunities to put ourselves into the game abound. We simply must choose to play.

    But let’s get real. It isn’t always easy to find a straight line from Point A to Point B. The journey is often a winding one, filled with ups and downs, frustration and enthusiasm, celebrations of triumph and moments of despair. We see the Amanda Palmers and the Jerry Weintraubs and place them in a category separate from ourselves. They have more talent. I couldn’t do what she did. I have a family to support. He has all the right connections. She had nothing to lose. We come up with excuses upon excuses, ultimately scaring ourselves away from plausible outcomes. It’s easier to toe the mark, be complacent, play it safe.

    For those wanting to “pick yourself,” it can be challenging to know where to begin. Leaping from a set job description with specific duties to a blank slate in which you create your own career path seems daunting to even the most entrepreneurial among us. (Hint: running your own show rarely happens over night.)

    You may be clocking hours at a 9am-5pm and fantasizing of a life in which your product/service/offering/business/time/art/talent is all your own. Give your dreams a chance. Here are 11 simple ideas to help you move in the direction of picking yourself.

    1. Write. Set aside time to ask questions, dream, think big. Put your phone on silent and set an alarm twenty minutes out.
    2. Find a mentor. Schedule a fifteen minute phone call with someone you admire. Ask about their daily schedule, where they find inspiration, what keeps them motivated. Thank them for their time.
    3. Walk. I call them Creative Walks. Go outside for forty minutes. Do not bring your phone, but do bring paper and a pen. Let your mind wander. The best ideas rarely happen when you’re sitting at a desk.
    4. Become an impresario. Organize an after-work meetup or a social gathering. Invite speakers who can add value to your project and excite your team. Orchestrate a potluck and recruit guests to moderate discussion.
    5. Contribute. Challenge yourself to speak up in your next meeting. Pose a provocative question or make an unnoticed observation. Actively participate.
    6. Be an intrapreneur. Look for a project within your company. Has no one addressed company culture? Is there an unmet need? An open opportunity?
    7. Pitch yourself. That thing you’ve always wanted to start/produce/make? Sell yourself on it.
    8. Lunch and learn. Have lunch with a colleague you don’t know very well. Seek to understand their work and job functions. Find out which projects excite them.
    9. Surprise someone. A colleague, a partner, a parent. Call them out of the blue for no particular reason, leave a card for them to discover, gift them with something thoughtful. Add unexpected meaning to their day.
    10. Book a vacation. You don’t have to spend a fortune. Go away for the weekend. Plan a day trip. Take a tent to the mountains. Break from your day-to-day and surround yourself with something different.
    11. Write a letter to your hero. Compose a letter to your role model, the person whose life you most admire. You don’t have to send it; use it as an exercise to more clearly define your wants and desires. Or send it and see what happens.

  • 10 questions to the best version of yourself

    1. Are you surrounded by people who encourage you to step up your game?
    2. Does your work excite you?
    3. Do your daily priorities align with your grander visions and dreams?
    4. What do you gravitate towards during unscheduled time?
    5. Have you set subgoals that tee you up for greater success?
    6. Do you schedule time each day to recharge and create?
    7. Have you written your dream list?
    8. Do you actively step outside of your comfort zone and seek adventure?
    9. Do you scare yourself regularly?
    10. Are you proud of the story you tell? (Is it positive or discouraging?)

  • Find people better than you.

    He always makes the deal. She finds coveted inside information. He lands top meetings and befriends the opposition. Her comments catalyze progress that proceeds company-wide change. These folks are not your competition. Their work, their composure, their grace under fire, their successes are not your threats. In fact, these people are your greatest allies.

    People better than you offer a tremendous opportunity. They are resources to help you up your game. Their excellence can challenge you to learn the tools and techniques you need. Their greatness can inspire you to ask difficult questions. Their wins spur self-assessment. Their honesty can remind you that little steps and a slow start is what is needed until answers become clear. Their bravery and fearlessness can spark your own leap into the unknown.

    Extraordinary individuals provide an outside window into your own work. If bridged properly, these relationships will lead you to goals you have yet to dream of.

    Forget comparisons. Use the gifts of others as a personal springboard, and align yourself with those you admire as you continue to polish your own story. Delight in the company of those who push you.

  • The power of weakness

    In moments of confusion, doubt, insecurity and despair, we feel least like connecting. It becomes tempting to create distance, sit in the corner, and focus inward when feeling less than. We convince ourselves that failures and struggles are better left unspoken.

    Yet these moments often proceed sparks of brilliance and unstoppable action.

    Too often we rob ourselves of the full spectrum of human connection. An empathic word or kind touch can help us identify the right direction and move closer towards greatness. Genuine communication has the ability to convert despair into hope.

    Challenge yourself to trade feelings of unworthiness for opportunities to authentically connect. Embrace moments of weakness and maximize every facet of the human experience. Hiding seldom heals.