I share anecdotes from my own voyage through the leadership labyrinth to demonstrate that the heart of effective teamwork and impactful leadership truly lies in the ethical and moral compass one brings to the table. Our discussion is not just a back-and-forth on theoretical ideals; it's a robust challenge to you, our esteemed listeners, to peel back the layers of doubt and discover the profound influence these values wield when put into practice in the trenches of real-world business.
I share anecdotes from my own voyage through the leadership labyrinth to demonstrate that the heart of effective teamwork and impactful leadership truly lies in the ethical and moral compass one brings to the table. Our discussion is not just a back-and-forth on theoretical ideals; it's a robust challenge to you, our esteemed listeners, to peel back the layers of doubt and discover the profound influence these values wield when put into practice in the trenches of real-world business.
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Speaker 1:
I. This is unleashing leadership and I'm your host, travis Moss, and welcome to arguments against Simon cynics work. This is a first of its kind type of episode. We are going to get into what I found on the internet. Basically, just by Googling arguments against Simon's work, I found a bunch of Arguments, basically a bunch of people out there writing because it is a book. So you get book reports and stuff like that, people saying it's a waste of time and stuff like that, and so I thought that that be very interesting to dig into, because it's you kind of get into the point of the work itself and whether or not people are really Getting it. And remember we talk all the time about you can read all the books, visit, you know all the conferences that you want. That kind of stuff is what you do with the knowledge that matters. It's what you do with an idea that matters. So in some ways, the idea is just to cattle us and the question is is do you allow it to propel you? So we're going to get into some of these arguments. It's going to be a little bit spicy. I'm gonna have a little bit of fun.
Speaker 1:
I was trying to do it all as one episode. It's way too long, so we're gonna break it down into three smaller episodes of three quick hairs on three different sources of Descension I guess for lack of a better word and we talked at the end of our Intro episode about being careful who you take advice from. There's talkers out there, there's writers out there. There's lots of people who want to give you advice, but remember we got to focus on the ones who actually do things. Don't take somebody who takes an overly Simple approach with fancy words and tries to dress up a complex issue as if they have the answers. Remember, complex from team of teams, complicated versus complex. We're talking about business, we're talking about life. That's complex. Don't put it in a box and say it's simple and then you get the answers Right. So we're gonna get into that a little bit and we're gonna have a little bit of fun with that as we set up this this entire season. Basically, and as we go through Simon, the challenges, assignments, work, I'm gonna stay grounded because I'm only gonna talk from experience. You may have a different experience of me. That's good, that's fine man, that that makes life richer, but I'm gonna talk from my experience. So when I see somebody again pointing the fingers and using fancy words. I'll look at that and go that way. That's contrary to real life experience. That's interesting, you know. We're gonna have it out a little bit here, enjoy, all right.
Speaker 1:
So argument number one, and this is from an online blog. We're gonna leave out who wrote the blog, because that doesn't really matter. What matters, this stuff is out in the world and people are taking in and and possibly Missing out on Simon's work because this stuff is out there and it's like, hey, it's a waste of your time. So let's, let's dig into some quotes from this. I have read the entire blog, so I'm not trying to take anything out of context, but quote number one from the blog.
Speaker 1:
He is a random platitude generator. His work is an endless stream of warm sounding nothingness. That's a fun sentence. I gotta. I gotta give the author credit there. That is a cool-looking sentence.
Speaker 1:
There's some nice words. Their platitude generator warm-sandy nothingness. You know, the word platitude actually means a remark or statement, especially one with moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful. Sit on that for just a quick second. I A remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful. Words are what you get out of them. Man, we find value in what others say because of our own personal values.
Speaker 1:
If you hear that you should have a cause that goes beyond yourself and beyond money, that you should strive to make a difference that lasts beyond your mortal existence, and that you shouldn't be self-centered, that you should not sacrifice the long term for the short term gratification that seems to plague so many people, if you hear these messages and you think nothingness or you are annoyed, that's a you problem. You got problems you do. In the world that I live in, working with clients and employees trying to improve people's lives every day, I am 100% convinced that we could all benefit from being constantly reminded. It's not all about me Everybody's not out to get me. It's not all about money it's not about whether or not I have and you don't that we get more by working together. Not sure that message is a platitude. Here's another quote from it.
Speaker 1:
But here's where the harm comes in, or at least the expensive waste of time. You, the manager, take these cynicisms and quote them to your staff like it's a treasure map, a solid goat, success, and they're thinking, uh, shut the fuck up and stop wasting our time. We have work to do. All right, these are more fun sentences. Somebody knows how to write here. This is some good writing. I do like the writing. It is fun writing.
Speaker 1:
However, what is an expensive waste of time? You know, you make time for the things that are important to you. If it's important to you to focus yourself and try to focus those around you on the fact that they're not the center of the universe and that we can do good for others, is that really a waste of time? Are there enough? When you turn on the TV and you turn on the news or you go on social media, are there really that many people out there talking about the good things in life that people are doing? The people really get the opposite I don't even know what the opposite is, but the opposite of depression when they're watching the news and social media anymore, or when they go to work, you know, or whatever they're dealing with. Is that really a waste of time?
Speaker 1:
And this idea that time is expensive? Time is always expensive, man, because it's limited. You got to choose what you want to spend your time on. Right, it's the type of currency you can't make anymore of. You can't print anymore of it. You get what you get. It's always expensive, but what do you want to fill it up with? What do you want to spend it on? What type of feelings do you want to create with the time that you have? Is it really harmful Because he says here's where the harm comes in?
Speaker 1:
Is it really harmful to hear these, as they are referred to as platitudes, to hear these platitudes? How does that, those messages, how do those messages hurt you? Do we need a safe place? Because Simon says get your head out of your ass. Is that what the problem is? And that hurts you, that hurts your feelings? Is that we're so inwardly focused sometimes that our head so far up our rear ends that all we can see is the darkness of our own butts? Is that what the problem is here? That's why we're upset. That's why this is harmful. That's harmful for somebody to tell us it's about other people and not just ourselves. It's about others and not just money.
Speaker 1:
So I'm going to take these cynicisms. I like the way that he made that word. That's neat. I like that Because in our company that we always pick on, I mean that's a travestism. So I'm going to take these cynicisms and I'm going to translate them and I'm going to do everybody a favor. I'm going to take them to my staff and I'm going to share them with my staff and I'm going to pretend they're a treasure map of sell-goat success and then I'm going to tell you what happens. I'm going to show you what the difference is, because I've been doing it for a while now. I think I can do it better. That was my point in the first intro episode. I think I can do this actually better. So you can sit there and you can say these are platitudes and they're not going to lead you anywhere. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Fine, that's for you. I think it's been my time where I think it's most valuable. I want to spend my time looking at helping people. Notice, I said translate. I'm going to take the cynicisms and I'm going to translate them.
Speaker 1:
Simon is attempting to inspire a concept. This is where we have to understand how to read into things, how to actually take things and make them our own and implement them. Stop reading 100 or 100. Yeah, there's people out there reading, I guess, a thousand, two thousand words a minute. Slow down a little bit. You read 100 words a minute and think. Stop listening to time. Speed or three times speed in your audible, start using the lump on your shoulders.
Speaker 1:
He is describing an idea. What to do with an idea is up to you. If you think the idea is junk, that's on you. Man, if you could take any idea and say, hmm, how could I apply a little bit of that to something I have, that's also on you. But when you take an idea from somebody and you implement it to your team, you have to own it. It becomes a travesty Because any good leader if I'm any good at what I do my team is going to buy into whatever I buy into.
Speaker 1:
The final part of this quote shut the fuck up, stop wasting our time. We have work to do. Really I'm going to emphasize really you are implying, I mean, this is a miserable way to look at the world. You are implying that everyone worked for someone who is a horrible leader in a horrible culture. And maybe that's true. Maybe the vast majority of people are in that situation. I don't know. I think a lot of people are in that situation. The funny thing about people who are in situations like this though they don't even know it, they perpetuate it.
Speaker 1:
I had dinner one time with someone who was working at a local hospital. She was explaining all the things that were horrible about the job, how miserable she was, why she hated to go into work, why all her friends hated to go into work, and I told her I said well, that's bad culture and it's created by bad leadership. And then we got into an argument. She said no, it's just the industry. Everybody at where I work, they're great leaders and it's great culture. It's just the industry sucks. Yeah, a year or two later you know where she is Working for a competitor, where she's recruited all her friends to and they absolutely love where they work. She finally realized how bad that culture was and that it's not just the industry. It was actually where she worked. That was the problem. It was the leadership where she worked that was the problem. She may not know it, but bad culture comes from bad leadership. The shut the fuck up statement lives in bad culture and it's a product of bad leadership.