Today’s "Ricoism": Observe, Adapt & Execute Observe:This step is all about analyzing the situation and environment so you can logically assess the advantages and areas of adjustment. To do so ask yourself these questions:· What is similar to my past environment or the environment you were comfortable in?· What is different? This way you can see the contrast and really determine Is it really that big of a difference?· Who is like your client’s staff? Adapt:Now that you have the information for your initial observation you are ready to Adapt. Ask:· What current skills do I possess that fit well, or even provide an advantage to this new environment?· How does my previous experience add value? · How do I make the uncomfortable comfortable?Execute:And the final key is execute. To do this you need to know:· How am I a unique solution to those who are comfortable in this environment?· What are the key areas of issues I can bring value to?· Why do they need my contribution?· What are they looking for that you see that they can't see?· And then what is my advantage over others who could provide something similar? Once you have answers to all this question you will find that you have everything you need to determine your advantage.Episode: TranscribedOpening: On this episode of the power to adapt we take a deep dive into the three key secret’s sharks can teach us to overcome uncertainty and own any environment that we find ourselves in. So let's dive right in. I am willing to bet that many of you who know that sound just had a terrible memory right about now. I think that sound from the Jaws movie released in 1974 directed by Steven Spielberg is possibly the primary reason for why many people who saw the movie choose not to learned how to swim or swore they would never get into the water at the beach again. Even today, and I am one of those people, that movie scarred me for life. So what do sharks have anything to do with adapting to any disruption in your environment. My inspiration for this episode was show called Shark Week, and how the scientist on the show was talking about different sharks they were tracking and how each shark adapts to their different environments, they discussed how their instincts adjust intuitively to where they're at, and not necessarily because of the environment. But more importantly, because they're looking for a way to take their abilities and their skills and to be able to reach a higher level of success in hunting prey, their instincts are to hunt, they're amazing predators, and their instincts drive them to these places. So they tracked them from Australia, Africa, Mexico, and yes, Florida, and for some reason, the scientists were ecstatic that the shark population was growing in Florida, and they observed them on how they adapted to these different environments. Now in Mexico, the water seems bottomless, and if you've seen those pictures of the great white sharks doing a Polaris breach. They explode out of the water, making these acrobatic moves in the air as they go after seals. That was their tactic; they recognize that the way to sneak up on your prey was to adapt to the environment of going deep and going straight up underneath your target, this is used in Guadalupe Island Mexico and Cape Town Africa, in Australia Typically, they attack at dawn and at dusk when the sun is at the low position. However, there is a pattern to be noted i.e. the sun is always behind the shark during the hunt. it allows the shark to spot its prey with ease because the eyes of the shark are not affected if the sun stays behind and not ahead of it; that it lights up the specific portion of the prey and the shark can easily detect it; the shark is camouflaged behind the sunlight because if it approaches from the sun’s direction, the reflection of the sun’s rays as they bounce off glitters the surface of water, making it almost impossible for the surface-swimming seals to spot the underwater shark coming toward them. In Florida, it was different. They still used the sun bit also took advantages of these caves, tall grasses and shallow water, the sharks, adapted their approach to fit the environment. They utilize the caves, the tall grass in the shadows to approach their prey slowly. They adapted their skillsets to the current surroundings, and in doing so, their percentage of success would increase. It doesn't mean that the lessons they learned, whether in Mexico, Africa, Florida, or Australia, go away. On the contrary, it sharpens their ability and skill. Because Sharks are of a singular focus as to why they are there, their instinct to survive drives the speed of adapting. So they didn't forget those skills just because they were in a different environment; they adapted their skills to take advantage of the new environment; why I bring this up, and I bring sharks, for this particular conversation is, I've been speaking to leaders, and executives who are clients of mine who have decided to start their own business as consultants. In my conversations with them, they're sharing concerns, apprehension, and frustrations that sound like they have forgotten their experience and wisdom accumulated from all of the years of trial and error that made them successful in their position. The new environment's uncertainty has moved them from their employee mindset to an entrepreneurial one requiring a different way of seeing things. It is an environment that now requires them to have to deal with everything themselves. And in that new environment, they feel lost. When we are no longer in a predictable arena where we have control because of our experience, we feel lost. And my advice to them is that you haven't lost your knowledge or skills; you need to take a step back and observe that new environment and find your natural fit for your unique skill set. How can you leverage that environment and adapt to that environment so that your skill, your experiences? The uniqueness you bring to that particular scenario works in your favor, where you have a higher percentage of success because of that skill. But let's be realistic when we find ourselves under pressure or stress, or you know Murphy comes knocking on the door and hits it on the side of the head, we're not thinking about that; what I want to bring to this particular episode is, what can we learn from sharks to help us be successful and in control and our own the environment that we're in? The first step that I recommend to the leaders I am consulting right now is to pause and take a step back and observe the environment you're going in and have a strategy;· what are you seeing? · What's the same?· What is similar to where you came from? If you were a specialist in a particular field, what seems similar to you in the new environment? It could be the type of customer, the kind of work, even the environment's pace, the structure by which the deal is processed. By contrast, what is different? And how different is it? Now that you're on the other side of the table, especially if you want to be a consultant. · How does the client perceive you?· How are you presenting yourself?· What makes what you're offering different?· What makes your perspective unique? And when you take the time to ask these questions and adapt your skill and ability to observe, be patient, and develop a strategy, you have a greater opportunity to succeed and thrive in this new environment. Now you can determine where does the environment give you an advantage? If you're in sales, it is not just looking at the solution your customers are looking for, but what are some areas that you see due to your expertise, they're not thinking about? what are some challenges and issues they're not considering that you can see, because of your unique skillset and years of experience, that's how you adapt to that environment. The other recommendation I have for those looking to move from the corporate world into the consulting world that reduces the level of anxiety is that you also look at all of the requirements you've never had to think about in starting in your own business. The administrative, marketing, sales, creating an LLC, your collateral products, documents website, accounting, all the things that make a business, a business. What are you good at and what are you not? And if you do not outsource it what you are not good at, it'll cost you. It cost significantly less money to have someone good at what they do to accomplish those areas. For example, I am horrible at accounting, and every time I started doing QuickBooks, I would spend three to five hours trying to get it right. That is 3 to 5 hours. I was not doing what I am good at and brought money into the business. When I hired a bookkeeper, I took them 30 minutes because that's where they're an expert. So as you look into crossing over and starting your own business, take a lesson from the sharks. Be confident in your skills and how to adapt them to utilize the new environment to your advantage. That's why you know you can be a successful consultant but take a moment to observe to be patient to understand the environment you're going in to. Here's the scary part, no matter how good we are, how talented we are in our environment, our human nature that tends to create uncertainty in the unknown, which brings us back to the jaws score. Why does the jaws score create such a powerful reaction that last? Because It leaves the listener guessing what's next or what is it?. John Williams was the composer for the Jaws score. When he created it, he only used two notes, yet the sound of those notes triggers a profoundly ingrained and instinctive response in our mammalian brain that our young are being threatened. So if you remember the movie, most of the first half of the movie, you don't see Jaws, you just hear the music hinting at potential danger, and you feel anxious looking for the source of trouble. The only source of information you are provided is the sound of those two notes. Later in the movie, they play the sound and then reveal Jaws. It provided the missing piece of information about the sound, the feeling of anxiety, and the source, Jaws. When we feel anxiety, our minds need information to decide, especially when you sense something is out of place. The greater the stress and the less information we get, the greater the sense of anxiety we feel, and the higher our sense of feeling unsafe rises. This is where our survival instincts of fight, flight, or freeze comes in, So consider this if you're going from a comfortable environment, your previous source of employment, into an unknown environment, your new business endeavor, Could that create anxiety? And because it's a new environment and you're still trying to learn different things, could that feel like the Jaws theme playing in your head? Of course. Why does the jaws score create such a reaction? It leaves the listener guessing what's next or unsure of what's next. John Williams was the composer for the Jaws score. When he created it, he only used two notes, yet the sound of those two notes triggers a profoundly ingrained and instinctive response in our mammalian brain that our young are being threatened. If you remember in the movie in the first half of the movie, you don't see Jaws, you just hear the music hinting at potential danger, leaving you with a sense of anxiety looking for the source of trouble. The only source of information you are provided is the sound of those two notes. Later in the movie, they play the sound and then reveal Jaws. It provided the missing piece of information about the sound, the feeling of anxiety, and the source, Jaws. When we feel anxiety, our minds need information to decide, especially when you sense something is out of place. The greater the stress and the less information we get during that moment, the greater the sense of anxiety we feel, and the higher our sense of feeling unsafe rises. This is where our survival instincts of fight, flight, or freeze come in, So consider this, if you're going from a comfortable environment, your previous source of employment, into an unknown environment, your new business endeavor, Could that create anxiety? And because it's a new environment and you're still trying to learn different things, could that feel like the Jaws theme playing in your head? Of course. the higher the anxiety, the less information, the bigger the threat we perceive. And we act accordingly. This is why, for those leaders that I was coaching and speaking to, it seems like they forgot all of those years of experience they had, because of the fear of the unknown, very similar to that jaws score that creates that natural instinctive response of not wanting to get in the water. So it's true when you walk into a new environment, or something new is thrown into the environment that you're comfortable with. So next time you find yourself in a situation where you start to feel like that shark theme is playing on the back of your mind, ask yourself, why do I feel uncomfortable? According to the author, Danessa Knapp in her recent book, “naked at work,” she provides a great explanation as to why is, she says “ When we eliminate uncertainty the safer we feel, yet safety is not about certainty. Thigs can feel predictable and then change. Too often we equate uncertainty with unsafe” So ask, am I naturally uncomfortable with things change? And if so, then does that mean it is unsafe f? If you're being truthful with yourself, think about the last time you felt extremely uncertain because there wasn't enough information that we make the problem bigger or the potential issue bigger. Like corona virus… talk about a big piece of uncertainty we had to deal with. And when we actually found the information or received enough information and discovered that it was not as bad as we thought, Well, why did we think that way? Why did we feel frozen or why did we concern ourselves? Because our subconscious brain, our survival mechanism, wants to make sure we're prepared for the worst-case scenario. And when we don't have control of that, if we're not willing to adapt to that, then is when we find ourselves uncomfortable in uncertain situations and I subconsciously assume it's unsafe. In short just because things are uncertain, and doesn't mean that they're unsafe, too often, we equate uncertainty with unsafe. And if you can divorce the two, you're one step closer to growth. Moreover, just because you cognitively understand this does not mean you all of a sudden have mastered it. Just like a muscle, it takes practice, being effective in an uncertain situation and not feeling unsafe. Think about when you were younger learning to ride a bike or tying your shoelace or learning how to swing a baseball bat or catching a ball or even driving car. We had to start in a parking lot before we could get into the roads and then the highways, trial and error was how we learned. Trouble is as we got older, we became more comfortable, with predictability, reliability, because we now had responsibilities, we gave more wight to what society considered what was right or what was wrong, making our that muscle that is comfortable adapting to change weaker, and pushing it to your subconscious intuition. It only comes out during extreme situations. Like starting a new business, a pandemic, presidential election or going into a new work environment, losing a job and having to start over. All of those situations is your adapting muscle that you haven't used for a while now having to be flexed and not feeling comfortable doing so. I remember in 2008 as I lost everything and I had to find a new job, I had to figure out how to create a resume.I hadn't worked for anyone for a very long time. And the only skill I could fall back on was my skills as a chef that the last time I used in a kitchen was in high school 1987.So having to go to a local restaurant and apply and interview to get a job, I was scared out of my mind. I didn't know what I was doing. I felt so uncomfortable during that interview I was paralyzed, and every potential bad scenario played in my head at the time. And the more uncomfortable I felt the smaller I my confidence shrunk. And the uncertainty came from the fear that if I didn't get this job, I wouldn't make any money. And I wasn't sure how I was going to save our home or paying the bills we were so far behind on. But then it hit me, this fear could either be a motivator, or it can be a prison cell, the choice is up to you in the moment, as to what you will allow that level of uncertainty to be for you. The key was to focus on what can I do with what I know to turn this environment into an advantage. I knew, my communication, negotiation and sales skills, all applied in that moment so I used them to position me as an experienced business owner that could help the management team keep order, and training in line and cost low. I used everything I was speaking on and I’m sure you can guess what happened next… yes I got the job. The trick is to recognize it, and start to having a plan for it, And this sense that we're hope everything goes back to normal, it's not going back to normal, everything's already has changed. How do we adapt to that change? Which brings us back to the sharks, every new environment, they take a explore and take in, they analyze the environment, they now their skill set, they are very clear of their end goal. And see how can the environment help them achieve their goal with their current set of skills? do I adapt my skills to the environment? When you're able to control that sense of fear, because of uncertainty, you're now able to logically, look, this is what I bring to the table. This is where I'm good at, I may have to adapt here. But my experience gives me the opportunity to thrive in this environment. That is what adapting is all about the willingness and understanding that there's a clear end goal and that your skills can get you there. And you have to adapt to the environment, using your existing skills and ability in order to achieve that end goal. if you are a leader, and you have a team who's feeling uncertain, it's also how do you help bring that...
