Do The Opposite & Win.
The Jolt List Of Anti-Shortcuts.
We live in a world of shortcuts, hacks & work-arounds.
Give me a report became give me a page, give me a page became give me a sentence, and then give me a sentence became…oh FFS, just send me an emoji that sums it all up 🤢.
I don’t believe attention spans have got shorter, even though the average length of time people spend reading information on a device has gone from 2.5 minutes in 2015, to 47 seconds today.
What has changed, is volume. We can’t keep up with what’s thrown at us. It’s maniacal in its pace.
When was the last time you perused something?
Here you are, spending hours and days hammering a strategic thesis into one single slide and the end result is more confusing than ever, because there’s no set-up, no context, no grounding, stakes or drama.
Imagine if my old company, Disney, released a 10 second movie that was sent round as a tweet;
Parents die. Young orphan animal has trials and tribulations. All happy at end.
You get the point.
So if everyone is at it, summarizing and short-cutting like they’re trying to find a nuclear fueled path through the Google Map of life, you can stand out by doing the total opposite.
Do the stuff that NEVER fails to work.
The stuff that takes time and effort, because time and effort wins people and gets results.
So here’s our rapid Jolts of 10 things to think about before you hit the big red short-cut button that everyone around you is telling you to do* (*but wish they had the time & energy to do differently).
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Resolving conflict is always better spoken than through email.
In-person delivers better outcomes than video calls.
A written thank you note is like giving a gold bar of trust.
Empathy always wins, especially with decisions around people.
A one-to-one apology can be a miracle cure for mistakes.
Do your research before any meeting. Read the documents.
Hold the door open for someone, especially when it turns out to be your new CFO.
Take time to give someone positive feedback after a presentation.
Pop your head into an office to simply say Hi.
Send someone a topic you’re grappling with and ask them for their opinion.
Yes, they take time and effort - but if we’re honest, most of these only take a smidgin more time and effort, and the rewards are 10x.
Be smidgin.