I'm not a lazy person - I work hard - but I aspire to laziness. I have a vision of how easy things can be. My soul knows this and keeps prodding me; I fantasise about the easiest way to achieve things... the highest leverage way.
I've always loved the idea of leverage. The lever is a beautiful idea, using the laws of the universe to move a bigger object with minimum effort. The bicycle is a great example - a perfect machine - you really get something for nothing, mainly out of sheer human cleverness. The wheel itself also is a lever, even cleverer in its simplicity.
This is why I was drawn to finance at the beginning of my career - minimum effort, maximum impact! (I was literally in a Leveraged Buy Out fund). It's why a lot of people are drawn to finance. And it's why I do leadership work now.
Leadership, for obvious reasons, is even higher leverage than finance - not just because working with leaders is high impact, especially if they are leaders in finance (etc) but because mindset is the biggest, cleverest lever of them all.
Donella Meadows, one of the inventors of systems thinking, wrote a big, clever article about leverage. In it she said -
"People care deeply about parameters and fight fierce battles over them. But they RARELY CHANGE BEHAVIOR (her caps). If the system is chronically stagnant, parameter changes rarely kick-start it. If it’s wildly variable, they don’t usually stabilize it. If it’s growing out of control, they don’t brake it.”
Which means that if you raise taxes to solve inequality or you give someone a pay raise to increase their motivation, you’re basically rearranging the deck chairs. To get anything done, you have to be skilful about getting to root causes.
Meadows did an even greater service for laziness and offered us a map for doing this, by ranking the different kinds of levers you can use in any human system (in reverse order of effectiveness):
9. Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards).
8. Regulating negative feedback loops.
7. Driving positive feedback loops.
6. Material flows and nodes of material intersection.
5. Information flows.
4. The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).
3. The distribution of power over the rules of the system.
2. The goals of the system.
1. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, power structure, rules, its culture — arises.
Notice the most powerful leverage point is the last one we normally consider: How we think changes everything - the language itself, the ground on which we debate and decide anything, and of course the action we take.
But it’s also the most invisible.
Taking her analysis even higher up the clever and lazy ladder, Meadows then argued that there was an even more powerful lever than mindset, which she called "the power to transcend paradigms" - the ability to sit outside of belief systems and optimise for whatever you envision from there.
That idea appeals to the non-dualist in me who wants to rise above everything in this dirty, confused world. Used in that way, the concept could be dangerous - an excuse to bypass real world decisions. But looked at practically, it really is a technical tip: Remember the source of leverage.
In most real life situations the lever needed to unlock flow lies lower down the hierarchy. Often there’s a simple decision or action, itself easily overlooked or avoided, that can create the biggest change.
But notice - regardless of where you start trying to be clever about getting things done - how quickly you move up the ladder of leverage.
For example: Delegating is an example of a powerful lever; empowering the right person to help you do something you otherwise couldn’t have achieved on your own. But to do this effectively you need to motivate, direct and inspire someone else.
And:
To achieve that you need to be clear in yourself what you are leading for;
This clarity needs to be preceded by a moment of insight;
Which arises from having space for reflection or silence;
Which requires a mindset that can hold stress and pressure at bay.
Eventually, you arrive at the highest rung of the ladder.
Or in my life, the lever of silence.
The only way I’ve ever been able to change my mindset is by stopping, stepping out of my normal neural pathways and having a good old think. You can’t just will your mind to change. You have to let go of fighting your corner for a minute so that something outside of yourself can come in.
In other words, getting creative - or whatever you do to get into that open, receptive zone of new thinking. This is my version of ‘transcending’ paradigms.
You’d be amazed at how many leaders I work with simply do not think.
Bringing it all together...
Many of us work in businesses that depend on applying these levers, at the right moment, in the right way. Whether we lead organisations or just ourselves - as leaders all of us, climbing up higher is absolutely the most important work we can do.
So, a question 🤔:
As part of my lazy calling in life, I like helping people get to the next simple step in their situation that will make the most difference - the highest leverage step.
When you think about the challenges facing you, what is the most common lever you apply to create forward movement? If you consider other possible levers available to you, how might you move them higher up the ladder of leverage?
Your chosen lever might not be zen or grandiose; it could be an action, a decision or a person rather than a mindset - but if you were to make time each day to do this work (to be lazy and clever and look for the biggest lever you can find before doing anything), how much might change?
As always, it's the thought that counts.
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Later this month I’m starting an online journey based on the individual coaching I do with leaders. It’s called The Gift and it’s designed to support inspired practitioners in consulting or advisory work to clarify their proposition, build their confidence and go into exciting action to bring their gift to the world.
(Naturally, one of the byproducts of the course is a grasp on your most powerful levers and next steps for action).
If you want me to keep you posted on this and to enjoy access to early bird rates and other founder benefits, let me know by email / reply. I’ll be co-creating this in as collaborative a way as a control freak ex strategy consultant can.
See you soon!