Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

1919

Abstract

aerial display on defense. Blocked shots weren’t tracked during his career but historians think he would be right near the top of the all-time blocks list if they had been tracked.Like Bill Russell, we need to always be asking, “is there a better way?”<h2 id="3f2b">Look through a different lens</h2>Sometimes it’s not so easy to know where to start in your quest for improvement. About five years ago, I saw an article about Kat Cole, then president of Focus Brands, the group that owns Cinnabon and a basket of other name-brand food chains. In the article, she shared one of her go-to strategies called the “hot-shot rule.”Essentially, you need to think of someone in your field at the very top of their game who you respect and admire as a professional and then imagine that they have taken your job and it is their first day on the job.What is the first thing they would do differently?By looking through someone else’s eyes, you are sure to find a better way of doing something. I’ve done this multiple times now in my current role and each time I step back, I see something different that can be done better.This isn’t just something I do professionally. There are great husbands and fathers who I respect and admire who I’ve used in this thought exercise. I have endless room for improvement in those roles and it’s good for me to step back and find a better way.<h2 id="40df">Better ≄ Easier, More Popular, More Fun</h2>Better is many things, but it is not always more popular, easier, or more fun. Better means change. And people hate change–even good change.We like things to remain as they are (even when that isn’t ideal). Newton knew this. His first law of motion is: “objects at rest will stay at rest and objects in motion will stay in motion unless acte

Options

d on by an external force.”We see this when recurring meetings are no longer needed but are still conducted.We need an external force to sometimes shake us loose. We can be our own external force if we’re willing to step away from things just long enough to be our own third party. Or we can enlist the help of others. This is one reason I love 360 reviews. The people I work most closely with providing me with actionable ways I need to improve and now I have been acted on by an external force compelling me to change.<h2 id="6672">Better is always evolving</h2>When I was in school, memorization was the name of the game. The more things you could remember the better off you were. It was all about flashcards and practice tests. I did that so I could prove to universities I was prepared to memorize more facts and take more tests. I did that at university so I could prove to a company that I could be a valuable contributor in any possible way except for memorizing facts and taking tests. Weird, right?Memorizing facts and taking tests is no longer seen as the best way to prepare for university and a meaningful career. Schools are finding new and better ways to help students develop skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity — you know, the things you actually use in the real world.And multiple choice tests just aren’t the best way to do that. And who knows, maybe in another 20 years, we will find a better way. We may find that we continue to find better ways over time if we’re willing to stay open to finding them.Think about something you do regularly and ask yourself—” is there a better way?” and see what comes up. You may find that even in the most mundane pieces of life, there are better ways. But you’ll never know if you never ask.</article></body>

Photo by christos sakellaridis on Unsplash

When the Game Changes, You Need to Change the Way You Play

How Bill Russell changed the game of basketball and Kat Cole took Cinnabon to the moon…

The University of San Francisco is not a name that comes to mind when you think of a collegiate basketball powerhouse.

But from 1954 to 1956, the Dons secured two national championships and enjoyed a 55-game winning streak at one point. They did this with the help of a relatively unknown young man by the name of Bill Russell, the future 11-time NBA champion, and hall of fame player and coach.

Before he became a legend, radio broadcaster Cat Wooden said, “USF is simply a one-man team and that man — Bill Russell — is not tremendous.”

At the time, basketball was formulaic. There was a prescribed way for doing everything.

“Don’t leave your feet should your opponent set himself for an outside shot,” declared one contemporary basketball manual. “Your opponent may fake the shot and drive in for a basket. Furthermore, a guard who has leaped into the air will be in no position to turn to help on the defensive rebounding if the drive-in shot has been missed.”

Don’t leave your feet on defense? Can you imagine basketball without defenders leaving their feet to block shots?

Russell saw a better way and became known (and feared) for his aerial display on defense. Blocked shots weren’t tracked during his career but historians think he would be right near the top of the all-time blocks list if they had been tracked.

Like Bill Russell, we need to always be asking, “is there a better way?”

Look through a different lens

Sometimes it’s not so easy to know where to start in your quest for improvement. About five years ago, I saw an article about Kat Cole, then president of Focus Brands, the group that owns Cinnabon and a basket of other name-brand food chains. In the article, she shared one of her go-to strategies called the “hot-shot rule.”

Essentially, you need to think of someone in your field at the very top of their game who you respect and admire as a professional and then imagine that they have taken your job and it is their first day on the job.

What is the first thing they would do differently?

By looking through someone else’s eyes, you are sure to find a better way of doing something. I’ve done this multiple times now in my current role and each time I step back, I see something different that can be done better.

This isn’t just something I do professionally. There are great husbands and fathers who I respect and admire who I’ve used in this thought exercise. I have endless room for improvement in those roles and it’s good for me to step back and find a better way.

Better ≄ Easier, More Popular, More Fun

Better is many things, but it is not always more popular, easier, or more fun. Better means change. And people hate change–even good change.

We like things to remain as they are (even when that isn’t ideal). Newton knew this. His first law of motion is: “objects at rest will stay at rest and objects in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by an external force.”

We see this when recurring meetings are no longer needed but are still conducted.

We need an external force to sometimes shake us loose. We can be our own external force if we’re willing to step away from things just long enough to be our own third party. Or we can enlist the help of others. This is one reason I love 360 reviews. The people I work most closely with providing me with actionable ways I need to improve and now I have been acted on by an external force compelling me to change.

Better is always evolving

When I was in school, memorization was the name of the game. The more things you could remember the better off you were. It was all about flashcards and practice tests. I did that so I could prove to universities I was prepared to memorize more facts and take more tests. I did that at university so I could prove to a company that I could be a valuable contributor in any possible way except for memorizing facts and taking tests. Weird, right?

Memorizing facts and taking tests is no longer seen as the best way to prepare for university and a meaningful career. Schools are finding new and better ways to help students develop skills like critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity — you know, the things you actually use in the real world.

And multiple choice tests just aren’t the best way to do that. And who knows, maybe in another 20 years, we will find a better way. We may find that we continue to find better ways over time if we’re willing to stay open to finding them.

Think about something you do regularly and ask yourself—” is there a better way?” and see what comes up. You may find that even in the most mundane pieces of life, there are better ways. But you’ll never know if you never ask.