Kelly Vohs

Just sharing parts of my internal dialogue on work, life, and the journey to leave people better than we found them. Maybe you might find something helpful. @kellyvohs

If you look at your time, do you spend most of it consuming or producing?

Let’s consider why that is important.

Production is the act of creating output, good, or service which has value to others.

Consumption is the act of satisfying one’s needs.

The decision is how you want to spend your time. Both are relatively easy today.

Satisfying your needs or creating something that may help others.

I won’t claim to be getting this right. Just something I’m thinking about…and trying to fix.

Worry is you misusing your imagination.

Regret is you imagining you should be somewhere else doing something else.

Show up. Be present. Do things that matter today.

A couple of quotes I like right now.

There is nothing wrong with being a wandering generality instead of a meaningful specific but don’t expect to make the change you seek. ~Seth Godin

If you are not in the process of becoming the person you want to be, you are automatically engaged in becoming the person you don’t want to be. ~Dale Carnegie

Four components of your ‘job’ that matter:

Relationships - Do you like the people you work with and do you find the relationships nourishing?

Good Work - Do you like the work and is it work that matters?

Learning & Growing - Does the work challenge you and allow you to grow?

Compensation - Do you feel valued and respected for the work you do for the organization?

Using the stool analogy, if each one of these is a leg of a stool and one is missing, then it falls over.

Each one of us, particularly leaders, play a role in helping our teammates achieve this balance.

We all want to do good work, with good people. Let’s be good to each other.

Wondering lately what makes something really great.

Great comes when a person decides that the effort is personal. They are going to commit to making/doing something that is great. They care about the details. Every nuance. It is a reflection of them, their ability, their vision, and their promise to whoever is going to consume that something. And they have the guts to do it right and the humility to ask for help.

I’ve also been thinking about why is it so hard for large organizations to make good software. Not all large organizations, but definitely some.

This likely applies to any product or service, not just software.

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I was asked this recently and I’d thought I’d share my response.

Maybe it is just where my head is these days but I’ve been giving a great deal of consideration to choices. You may recall I wrote a bit about that recently with the concept of Be. Just Be. If you missed that you can read it here.

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Their history, their beliefs, their hopes, their dreams, their struggles, and their perspective.

Every day we earn our place in the lives of others.

They say leaders shouldn’t play favorites. Sometimes I find myself playing favorites.

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Leadership starts when the path is not clear.

It just takes courage and a willingness to take responsibility. You aren’t responsible for all of the answers, just all of the decisions.

#leadership #courage

When you decide to check your ego at the door two things will happen.

  1. You will be happier.

  2. Everyone else will be too.