The Lydian King Croesus had had Miltiades much in this thoughts so when he learned his capture, he sent a command to the people of Lampsacus to set him at liberty; if they refused, he was determined, he added, to “cut them down like a pine-tree”. The people of the town were baffled by Croesus’ threat, and at a loss to understand what being cut down like a pine-tree might mean until at last the true significance of the phrase dawned upon a certain elderly man: the pine, he explained, was the only kind of tree which sent up no new shoots after being felled – cut down a pine and it will die off completely. The explanation made the Lampsacens so frightened of Croesus that they let Miltiatdes go. THE HISTORIES, HERODOTUS 484-432 B.C.
Sometimes it is a wise strategy to underpromise the organization and Boss, then over-deliver – this will build credibility
Start-up and accelerated growth
- A situation that helps the case for new systems and structures
- Support for getting investment to fuel growth at the right rate in the right ways
- Guidance at strategic break points
- Clear measurable goals – Help to get more resources
- Identify the Untouchables – Boss’s personal history
- Search for sensitivity – what / why?
- The product – If uncertain, float an idea gently as a smooth balloon, and observe the Boss’s reaction
For some time I have never said what I believed and never believed what I said, and if I do sometimes happen to say what I think, I always hide it among so many lies that it is hard to recover it. NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, letter to Francesco Guicciardini (1521)
That Same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: ” A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.Other seeds fell upon throns, and the thorns gew up and chocked them. a hundered-fold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” – MATTHEW 13:1-15
Expectations Conversation
- Matching to the situation – Critical how the boss will measure success
- Pinpoint Boss’s priorities – Aim for early wins – what does he care about the most?
- Educate the Boss – Must work hard to make both views converge
- The immediate task is to shape the Boss’s perception of what you can and should do
- Clarify and align the expectations about the future
- Agree on short-term and medium-term goals and timing
- Ambiguity about goals and expectations is dangerous – It must clarify
- Situation diagnosis / Expectations / Resources / Style conversation / Personal development
- If we succeed, then what’s next?
Then the disciples came and said to Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” And he answered them, “To you, it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but for him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is the way I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: ” You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.” MATTHEW 13:1-15