Lead with your Inside Knee

The Fine Art of Advising

I spent a few days skiing at Mont Tremblant last week. The snow was perfect and the company excellent.  One of our group is a solid intermediate skier and always trying to improve. Unfortunately for him, the other three of us are all experienced ski instructors and only too keen to offer advice.  It seems that each of us had been quietly suggesting things to do. 

And therein lies the problem. 

While each of us had been suggesting excellent ways to improve he was being overwhelmed with advice. 

The bookshelf to my left is full of business books. All of them contain great business advice on leadership, strategy, sales, mindset, financial management, and so on. They each contain dozens of nuggets that are applicable and useful. En masse, however, it becomes a roaring cacophony. 

As with my friend, too much advice becomes useless. 

If you are getting your advice from a book, write down the one or two things you are going to implement this month. Be cautious though, some people rush into new ideas when they don’t fully understand their applicability.  If you are working with an advisor, be sure you agree on your objectives and your context (our clients want us to know about their core purpose and goals before asking for advice). 

My friend wanted to ski faster and retain control at high speed on hard surfaces. My advice, based on what he was already able to do: "lead with your inside knee". Simple. Implementable. Effective. 

What one thing are you going to implement this quarter to move you towards your objective? 

See you next time, 

Andrew