Weekly Bookmarks
63rd Edition – April 19, 2020
Profit isn’t a purpose, it’s a result. To have purpose means the things we do are of real value to others.
Simon Sinek
1. Burning Out vs. Rusting Out
Many of the men and women working in emergency rooms across the globe are potentially on the verge of burning out due to long hours and exhaustion. Many of us have been there.
Early in my career, I was ready to give up when I was working in public accounting. Part of the blame rested on me as I was bringing home working papers so that I could study them in order to improve – 10-hour days quickly became 14-plus hour days. Additionally, I had a young family who probably wondered why dad worked so many hours.
However, as I observe professionals in financial positions today, I’m not necessarily finding burnout as an issue, but something far different.
2. Burnout is When Resources and Capabilities < Time or Deadlines
Sixth.Sense has posted a great article regarding both burnout and rusting out. In short –
- Burnout – occurs when there are few resources with many challenges (think emergency room doctors and nurses)
- Rusting Out – occurs when there are many resources with few challenges (think long-time CFO who is no longer challenged)
My observation is that rusting out is more prevalent than burnout for most financial professionals.
3. ABL – Always Be Learning
One of the terms I use in my numerous consulting frameworks is ABL which stands for always be learning.
One way to overcome rusting out is to think like a rookie instead of a veteran who might be living in a comfort zone. Liz Wiseman is the author of Rookie Smarts where she addresses 5 modes and mindsets of rookies –
Backpacker – Unencumbered
Hunter-Gatherer – Alert and Seeking
Firewalker – Cautious and Quick
Pioneer – Hungry and Relentless
Perhaps I need to start using the term ABR – always be a rookie.
4. Are You in the Learning Zone?
Who doesn’t love an assessment that tells us something about ourselves that we could never express in words on our own? Accordingly, the author has a learning assessment posted on her website which only takes a few minutes to complete.
Incidentally, Liz Wiseman is the gifted writer who brought us the book, Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (4.6 average rating).
5. A New Term – Price’s Law
This week, I was watching an excerpt from a Jordan Peterson lecture where he mentions Price’s Law. The square root of the number of people in a domain or an organization does 50% of the work. That means if you work in a company of 100 people, then 10 people are doing 50% of the work. Try wrapping your head around that one.
Recent Bookmarks – 62 | 61 | 60
Thank You For Reading
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Take care and stay confident and strong this week. Always be learning and growing in times of hardship.
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