To Rock ‘n Roll in Biz is to Fly in the Face of Convention

“I don’t have to do it that way!”

“That is 1000% correct, you don’t.”

This simple exchange was the magic of a lightbulb moment two nights ago: I wish I could have captured it with a camera! The woman who said that first sentence to me (I said the second one) said it as a statement of dawning realization; it was not a question. She was charged up, excited, and ready to Rock ‘n Roll.

This posting is about Flying in the Face of Convention, something that may initially sound brash and un-humility-like to you. Not at all, and I hope you’ll read on!

Managing with Aloha has given me the most incredible gifts

When people ask me, “Should I write a book?” my instinctive answer, the one I want to blurt out immediately, is “Oh yes, do! Absolutely!” simply because I am drawing on my own experience, and deep down, I sincerely do believe anyone can do what I have done. The answer that does get spoken is more cautious (and is usually in the form of me asking them more questions), because there is a lot of work that goes with that decision, and handling the aftermath, both when it is good and not so good, is a big part of it. The answer depends on why you want to write the book and what part it will play in your life; perhaps we’ll look at that in a future Sunday Mālama. (Sidebar: You already know my punch line to it, I am not keeping you in suspense: Would the work of it be Ho‘ohana work for you?)

This all comes to mind for me because of the immediate ‘afterglow effect’ we experienced after the presentation I gave recently, ‘we’ being both me and my audience. I love speaking, and my perfect audience size is one kept under about 60, for with smaller groups I don’t need a mic or to be on a riser, and I can get right in the middle of the group and get them to interact with me and with each other. The group is also small enough not to be intimidated by each other, and they will seize more opportunities to engage. Just as we bloggers can say the goodness is in the comments, the goodness for all of my presentations is often in the audience.

Now I do have to be the one who gets the show rolling, however give me an audience of small business people ready to break some rules and fly unfettered in the face of convention, and I am truly in my element. These are among the special gifts that Managing with Aloha has given me: My book has turned out to be the best business card I could have for getting me invitations to speak, but with the right groups of people; I’m not for everyone, and I realize that. What MWA does, is give me opportunities to meet people who are ready to rock and roll their world.

Rock and roll music gets played by the small and independent

Small business people in particular (and that includes you out there who are self-employed freelancers, consultants and coaches) can be doing so much more rockin’ and rollin’ than they normally are doing. They get stuck in patterning themselves after the norms of traditional big business with all its trappings and plodding, especially after they actually start to make some decent money, and they don’t seize what I think is their biggest advantage in being smaller and independent: the freedom they have to;

• choose their perfect customers,
• be nimble and quick, and
• keep their humility in their pocket as they
• break some rules,
• let ignorance be bliss, and
• ask for forgiveness, not permission as they get the job done.

The job is whatever their ho‘ohana (purposeful, intentional, in-love-with) mission may be.

When I say keep their humility in their pocket I mean close at hand and quickly accessible, not that it’s hidden away and disregarded. Let’s review for a moment what humility does for us, using the post just before this one alone; you want to be using it!

A quick Fiver: Humility can help you…

1. Be more Generous:
Make room for others to share in the credits of achieved successes. Be the champion of your team.
2. Delegate Better:
In the process, give others the opportunity to grow, and assume more responsibility. Step into the role of coach, and not star player.
3. Convert Busyness to Accomplishment:
Get things done, and then move on. Don’t dwell within what is over and done with; resist any urge to rest on your laurels.
4. Embrace Change:
Then model it; “be that change you wish to see in the world.” Be a trend-setter with a shining new example.
5. Learn to Lead:
Learn to inspire, shape and better develop ideas, and possibly create a new vision.

Problem is we are usually seeking approval and checking on all the existing rules for things —‘things’ done in the conventional, plodding way— instead of just doing them. Now, I’m not talking about breaking the law and otherwise being stupidly reckless, I’m saying that we erroneously equate small and independent with unconnected and not in-the-know, and that is not necessarily true. In fact, it is often not true at all.

Back to the model please!

Okay. Let’s go back to those bullet points, and I’ll qualify them a bit more. When I speak to small business people about our MWA ‘Ohana in Business model, I am encouraging them to;

• Choose their perfect customers;
  Choose those whose needs you will fulfill with exceptional value and an aloha-filled relationship you can both thrive on.

• Be nimble and quick;
  Stop waiting, and Ho‘ohana: To ho‘o is to make things happen by being the proactive cause of the effect you desire, that effect being your mission and vision.

• Keep their humility in their pocket; As we said in the Fiver above, harness it!

• Break some rules;
  Rules are not laws, they are ‘rigid guidelines’ someone else came up with in another business model, one which may not be your best business model! You have to think of someone else’s rules as stop lights that are keeping you parked within inaction.
  (Unless they are mine :)
  

• Let ignorance be bliss;
  Ignorance is an ‘Ike loa prompting, a trigger for asking yourself what you can learn about something, and ‘business learning’ in the OIB/MWA model is sequential and consequential, it moves forward toward innovation, not backwards to a rule.

• Ask for forgiveness, not permission as they get the job done;
  If you do mess up, ask for forgiveness by apologizing sincerely and doing whatever it takes to make things right. See it as a coaching opportunity, and ask for that coaching. (Asking for coaching is an almost foolproof way to get someone who was upset with you to forgive you immediately.)

If you have the humility (Ha‘aha‘a) and integrity to always do this, correcting your glitches in the right way (Pono), well, asking for permission or approval before you’ve taken any action in the first place is actually irrelevant, a yellow light, and potentially a red one.

When you have done your homework on your Ho‘ohana projects, seeking someone else’s approval or permission just slows you down. Further, chances are they are not as close to it as you are, not as well-informed, and thus will naturally be more cautious and reticent. What happens then? They quickly turn into a naysayer and put a damper on your idea and a leash on you.

So turn up the volume! Let me hear you!

No leashes for Rock ‘n Rollers. Turn on the music and rock and roll the way your business will sing its best-selling, chart-topping best release yet. The release is actually you, your aloha spirit and your Ho‘ohana inspired mission.

My mission is Managing with Aloha, and I’ve learned to follow my own rules. What’s your mission? Tell us about it in the comments, and enroll us in your vision! Then ask yourself, has anyone else’s rule been holding you back?

Let’s talk story about this; we Ho‘ohana together!
—Rosa

[Photo credits: Rosita by schaaflicht, and Bedford Grove Live by Fillmore Photography, both found on Flickr.]

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Comments

[tim]

Rosa:

I love the permission you give here to ask for forgiveness before asking for permission. I used to get stuck in the trap of coming up with a good idea, then bouncing it off some people to see if it was worthwhile to pursue. What ended up happening is that people started giving me all the reasons why it wouldn't work.

So I've changed my strategy...I seek to produce the work first, implement the idea, make the design...and then I start to invite others into the process. I ask them to help me hone it...which is different than hindering it.

Rock & Roll is here to stay!

[Rosa Say]

Precisely Tim! That is fabulous!

This conversation comes up a lot in my in-person talk-stories, particularly with those who are in non-profits because they can get so hand-cuffed by their Board, all of whom are usually successful businesspeople in their own right and putting up the "expert persona" which is actually more of a know-it-all syndrome. One of my most rewarding consulting contracts is one in which I am teaching a non-profit Board how they can be better coaches in the MWA value-alignment model. They are doing so magnificently, and it is also rewarding for me in that I love knowing about the ripple effect it is having in their own businesses individually as well.