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OS!M alone may not be enough!

When talking about Extreme Leadership, Steve Farber, as late has been emphasizing the OS!M moment. It is the at the core focus of his new Audio set "Extreme: Leadership: In Pursuit of the OS!M" I must admit that pursuit of OS!M will get you to places you never thought you could go. I know that from firsthand experience. But it is only a means, and I have discovered more recently it is not always a means that gets you to your ends.

The floundering leadership project:

My "leadership project" as it would be called in the CTI world is the www.ExtremeStandardization.org initiative. Now I have been working on this idea in some form or another since 2005. I also know that I have taken a break from it for February and March of 2008. I was cranking up some great OS!M in January 2008 and things looked promising. Then work stopped. Why?

It became apparent to me that I was OS!Ming without the desired results. A typical OS!M activity to support Extreme Standardization was intended to build a network of allies. I would then make my sales pitch encouraging them to join the project. The concrete goal was to establishing a board of directors. I would try to get some commitment of support as an ally to make the project vision come to life. My response almost always was "that’s great Dave", "neat idea", or "let me know how it works out."

A relationship between Proof and Credible:

I recently read “MADE to STICK” by Chip and Dan Heath. I specifically chose this book because I knew my message was not going through. In the book they outlined the six criteria for a sticky idea. They are:

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Stories

When I examined this list it became apparent to me that the one criterion that I was completely missing was Credible. I was using my OS!M to get to meet people that could really make this project effective. I was getting polite reception of the idea. Yet it is apparent, that I am not a seen as a credible individual to pull off such a project. I lacked one of the key ingredients in the Extreme Leadership model – Proof.

I have no credibility because there is no proof that my idea will ever catch on and work. Since I realized that I was missing one of the key pieces to the LEAP model (Proof), I decided to re-examine where I was with relationship to the entire LEAP model. What I found was since my January sprint I had lost Energy in the entire project. Why?

Moving your stake and the Energy drain:

In the CTI world we talk a lot about establishing a stake that you or your project stands for and sticking to that stake. As I was networking in January of 2008 I was getting a lot of great practical advice. I was not getting much in the way of Audacious advice. I was starting to apply more of this practical advice to the project. In many ways the project was becoming more appealing as a sale to an investor. That was great! The only problem was, I was not as interested in the project in its new slick form. For me the project was always about working from the grass roots up. I recently realized that the stake had moved. The movement was sight, but just enough to move it out of the center of my Energy field.

Leadership leanings:

That acting on OS!M is not enough. You must embrace the entire Extreme Leadership model and stay true to the LEAP principles. Without the Proof, you will not achieve your goals.

Chip and Dan Heath discuss that it is possible to create your own credibility. In future article I will discuss how I intend to create credibility and proof to support the Extreme Standardization Project.

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Will Corley (72.209.6.xxx) 2008-04-17 16:35:10

Reading your blog struck me at how moving things forward such as your project
takes more than the great idea. I am reading this book whose title seems
appropriate to this discussion. The book is called "Crossing the Chasm"
and basically it is about how you move from the early stage start up with the
great vision and visionaries supporting the enterprise to leap beyond the chasm
where sits the larger market filled what he calls pragmatist and conservatives.

Anyway I thought of your OS!M and how it might feel for a leader like they were
crossing a chasm with out the kind of credibility and commitment you need to
create.
And it also struck me that we often have to shadow box with ourselves
when we start to lose momentum and the troops to support what we are doing or
those people we need to motivate. It feels like a great challenge.

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