Worth a Listen, Look or Read #7 — What's Important Now?

Can you spell “priority”?

Jeff Ikler here for Kirsten Richert with our weekly “Getting Unstuck” mini feature: “Worth a Listen, Look or Read.” Here in about five minutes, we extend the main idea of the week through a new way of thinking, unique content, or critical skills to help leaders at any level get unstuck.

Deb’s school’s flywheel looked like what you see here.

The idea

This week we enjoyed getting an update from previous guest, Dr. Deb Gustafson. https://bit.ly/2TFofJD Deb first appeared on our show back in December 2019 and wowed us with her explanation of how, as a principal, she had put Good to Great author Jim Collins’ principle of the flywheel to work in her elementary school. https://bit.ly/3dMyTVM

The flywheel is a team or organization’s collection and intentional ordering of five to six key repeated actions taken to achieve its desired outcomes and impact. Deb’s school’s desired outcome is seen in the center of the illustration. Critical to success is the idea that each action is dependent on the one before it.

Extending the idea

The beauty of the flywheel is that it constrains thinking to what is essential to bring about desired results. Instead of wild brainstorming that results in “We could do this and this, and this,” the flywheel demands discipline: “If we do these few things really well, we’ll increase the likelihood of success.”

But imposing that limitation is really challenging for lots of organizations. Author of the essential read, Essentialism, Greg McKeown argues for a relentless pursuit of "less, but better.” One of the biggest mistakes he notes is to dilute what is important by having “priorities.” Here he explains the surprising history of the word priority and how its meaning has shifted over time:

The word “priority” came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple "first" things.

Putting the idea to work

Podcast hosts of “Taking Control: The ADHD Podcast,” Nikki Kinzer & Pete Wright, dig into the idea of “priority” in an April 2016 episode. I know: 2016. Hey, it’s evergreen content, so give it a listen. They offer some solid ideas on how to ween yourself or your organization from setting – cough – priorities, and in the process become more productive.

One of the strategies that I really liked from McKeown’s book is the idea of W.I.N. : asking yourself “What’s Important Now?” Yes, it’s a very mindful question because it helps us from sliding back into the unresolved past or ruminating about the yet-to-be-seen future. As McKeown concludes “It is mind-bending to consider that in practical terms, we only ever have now.”

And W.I.N.? is a flexible question in that it can be asked relative to the macro level of life where we’re constantly trying to bring work, play, family into harmony and flow. (Note, I don’t say “balance” because there ain’t such a thing, is there?) And it can be asked at the micro level regarding all those discrete work or home projects staring us in the face.

So…push yourself a bit, and ask “What’s Important Now?” For inspiration, you can always watch the famous clip from the movie City Slickers, which never fails to get the juices flowing.

Also “Worth a Listen, Look or Read”

Joe Kwon, “The Connection Counselor,” is hosting a brand new podcast called “Executive Presence Morsels.” Each episode will run just 5 to 10 minutes and contain insights on why and how to authentically and meaningfully advance your executive presence. Get all the details here and the episodes here.