Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
The secret to be trusted and respected
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In July 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were descending towards the Moon. Then their computer started displaying alarms. 1202 An excellent moment to discover that a number means absolutely nothing to you. Imagine being in Mission Control. Two men approaching the lunar surface. An alarming computer. And someone asking whether they should continue. Perhaps you could open with: “Thank you. That’s a very interesting question.” Fortunately, NASA had Jack Garman supporting guidance officer Steve Bales. Garman had prepared a list of the computer alarms. He recognised the problem: the guidance computer was temporarily overloaded. The landing could continue. That assessment reached the astronauts. They landed. Preparation had become a clear answer at the moment somebody needed one. Now. Your next Board meeting probably won’t involve landing on the Moon. But, someone will ask. “Can we sign this?” And you know the subject. You’ve done the work. You’ve found the problem. Then you start talking. “Well… there are several considerations…” Or… “Obviously, it depends…” By the time you reach your recommendation, someone else has offered one. Louder. Simpler. Congratulations. You did the analysis. They got the authority. This is one of the more irritating features of professional life. Your expertise needs to survive the journey from your brain to the meeting table… Look. If this is familiar to you, I recommend you to click below. In THE ROOM: Confidence Creates Credibility in High Stakes Meetings, I explore a skill that matters when your advice needs to carry weight. You’ll also find this lesson, along with many others, inside The Room. Because knowing the answer is useful. Getting the room to understand and trust it is rather important too. Use this information at your own risk. P.S. If your recommendation requires seventeen slides before anyone can find it, put it on slide one. You can still keep the other sixteen. I know you’re attached to them. PD 1: If you liked this email, don't keep it in secret and forward it to a friend. They will thank you enormously one day. PD 2: If somebody has sent you this email and you want to receive emails like this yourself, visit vicentevalencia.com PD 3: If you want unsubscribe, click the link below. |
Vicente Valencia
Weekly insights on how to perform when it matters | High-stakes decisions. Real situations. No BS. | 👇JOIN +2k readers 👇
In 1628, Sweden launched a magnificent warship. The Vasa. Built to impress. Which it did. Then it sank. Which was less impressive. Before the maiden voyage, thirty men had been asked to run backwards and forwards across the upper deck to test its stability. XXI sophistication… No joke… Today, we pute trucks full of rocks on new bridges… Well… The ship rolled so badly that the test had to be stopped. You would think this may… have triggered a discussion. At least something like: Let’s not...
The government wanted fewer rats. So it paid people to kill them. People started breeding them. Unattended consequences are called today. Or wrong clauses and incentives, as it should be. Hanoi. 1902. The French colonial authorities had a rat problem. And a solution that looked perfectly sensible. Pay a bounty. Require proof. Count the results. Lovely. But… There was just one small detail. The proof was a tail. Not a dead rat. Apparently, nobody thought that distinction would become...
He won the tender. Sixty-six days later, he was eliminated… I mean… dead. Which is a fairly aggressive way to terminate a contract. Rome. AD 193. Escalation did not have several levels of governance apparently… or they were just efficient too… Anyway. The Praetorian Guard murdered Emperor Pertinax. An awkward development. Especially considering their job was to protect him. Like Lenders… when you do need them… The fact is that the guys spotted a commercial opportunity. A vacant throne. Two...