Begin with the End in Mind: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
When you start with the end in mind, you can optimize the journey. In this episode, join Rob and Traci as they discuss the difference between management and leadership and following your North Star by beginning with the end in mind, the second of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
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Announcer:
Welcome to the Overly Human Podcast, where we discuss all things human in the workplace. Because it's not just business—it's personal too.
Rob:
Hey, Traci.
I was reading the second chapter in the book that we're going through, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and reading about starting with the end in mind. As I was reading this, it really made me think about your story and how that you've had really two careers is the way you talk about it.
And I was curious what changed for you? What new end in mind did you come up with while you were doing the stuff at HGTV?
Traci:
Yeah. It was an interesting journey, I will say. Reading this chapter also made me think about that, especially when he was talking about how things happen in our lives, either by design or by default. And I think if I look at my two careers, I feel like the HGTV portion of my life—which I was there for almost two decades of my life, and I took the job when I was 24, and it was like this super exciting entrepreneurial endeavor—that it didn't exist when I took the job then it came into being, and it turned into this wonderful thing. But I didn't see that.
Like every kid graduating from college, I knew I needed to find a job. I knew I wanted a job. I knew I wanted a job in television. And that was the extent probably of my vision for my life at that time. Then call it luck, call it hard work, call it a combination of both, I was able to enjoy a really successful career.
But I did come to this crossroads where I was like, "Okay, do I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life? Or do I want to try something new? Do I need a break? How do I figure that out? How do I actually come up with a design for the second part of my life? And is that even an option? Am I even allowed to do that?"
And so, yeah, I left in an endeavor to design a new adventure. I thought about that a lot when I was reading this chapter, beginning with the end of mind. I can't say that I had it all figured out, that I left and I had this perfect plan and I knew exactly what I was going to do. I just had that discontent, that feeling you get when there's something more and you want to figure it out and you're ready to take a leap and do something new.
I have to say there are probably better ways, which I help executives do now and figuring it out before you take the leap, and I think that's been part of my journey is like, "Okay, I took the leap without much of a safety net. Can I help people take that leap with a safety net?” Like with more of what Stephen Covey's talking about, more of a design and more of an envisioned destination and more a bit being rooted in things that will give you the confidence and compass to get there? And so, that's been a big part of my journey, is designing that and just through the discovery of that journey myself, but very much aligned and coming out of some of the principles he's talking about in this chapter.
He calls it a habit of personal leadership of taking ownership and leading our personal lives, which I know you're familiar with leading a business, and it's like the same types of principles and leading your life, creating a vision for your life, no matter what stage you're at.
Rob:
Yeah. I think that that's a really good segue into talking about what leadership is. I think that one of the things that I fell in love with as I was rereading—or listening to my case—this chapter was his definition of the difference between management and leadership, and the one sentence that really I thought really summed it up nicely is, "Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things." And how important that is to make sure that we know where we're going, and we know what that North Star is that we are going to make decisions with.
Traci:
Yeah. I think it's interesting cause he takes those statements. He references Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis and it's like those two men are the management guru and the leadership guru and thinking about those philosophies and boiling them down into the statement that you just read. It's like leadership is that creation of the vision, it's the design, it's envisioning where you want to go. And management is executing that.
And so, when leaders can figure that out and they understand that whole concept, it's such a better way to lead your team and lead your life to say, "We're not going to just jump into this head first without any pause to understand where we're going and just try to manage our way out of this situation, or manage our way into success. We want to actually design a vision and execute that and manage that vision in the right way and design a more impactful path and journey to get there.
Rob:
Yeah. I think the other thing that I kept thinking about this whole thing is how management can be about efficiency and figuring things out, a repeatable pattern and habits to do things to get consistent results. But leadership and figuring out what the right things are is a creative endeavor that requires waste for it to be able to happen, and that there's beauty in that difference.
I think that when we talk about how to do these things in our own businesses or even our own life, we have to allow for that waste to be present and for wrong thoughts and ideas and things to even be chasing when coming up with that end in mind vision for ourselves. It's not you're going to sit down for an hour and figure out where you're supposed to be going and what your core values are and what you believe and where you want to go. It is so much more of a, "Well, I'm going to start here and enumerate on this, and then tweak it and then change it." And there's going to be a whole lot of things left on the cutting room floor at the end.
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Traci:
Yeah, because it's a process. I mean, I love that you're bringing up that it is a creative process because it's one of the things I love talking to leaders about, is that leadership is a skill that you have to hone and grow in, But it is a creative skill, because we are talking about creation of vision, creation of mission, envisioning your values and principles. And those are all very innovative, creative visualization type of activities. And you do have to like step outside yourself a bit to cast vision and to be a creator, right? This is all about creating before you get into the nuts and bolts of executing upon those management steps.
He calls it the two creations. It's the two-step process. First, the creation happens in our mind. Then the second, creation is the physical form. And he uses, of course, the examples so many people use, which is building a house. You envision the house, you have the blueprints, you talk to the architect, you envision what the design will be and all the bits and pieces in your mind, and it's all just this visualization process. And then come the contractors and the workers and the lumber and the windows, and then you bring it into this physical form.
That's what we're talking about here when we're talking about leadership and the workplace. It's like first, the leader must envision and have the blueprint and understand before they start to impose processes and all of the things that come in that physical form of bringing it to life.
Rob:
Yeah. Something you said there is interesting. The leader must have this. And I think it's true, but one of the other things he talks about a lot is this from a business perspective is, how do we come up with these as a team? How do we have this shared vision, shared mission statement for our companies that we can do things together that we've talked to from everybody on the team that we've got this, that we really believe these things that it infects all of our decision making, right?
Traci:
Yeah. And like you know that this is what we do with teams all the time. Just taking a day out to bring your leadership team —or your whole team, depending on the size of your company—bringing people together, I think it's just such a fun, amazing process, but the fruit that you get out of that process, I mean, oh my gosh, it's amazing to be able to tap into everybody's creativity, everybody's belief systems, everybody's vision for the company. And then people walk out of that room with this shared mission, this shared vision, and they feel like they have purpose and they have a stake in the game and they understand the role they play and they're just energized and excited, and then they're more committed to the management part to bringing it into creation, to bring it into being and collectively doing that and collectively ownership of it, and that takes the weight off the owner of the company or the CEO or COO of the company to know that they're not alone. They've got this entire team that's just as jazzed and energized as they are with this shared thing, that shared vision that you've created.
Rob:
And a shared rubric to make decisions.
Traci:
Yes.
Rob:
When we're talking about this from a business perspective, I don't think there's anything more valuable than having a shared understanding of the mission and vision and core values, because that enables everyone on your team and your organization to make decisions that the organization won't have regrets over. If you really believe those things, decisions can be made where there's comparative advantage, where the people really close to the work, who have the best information, who are closest to the thing can actually decide what the right course of action is, because there is a shared belief that go up and down the chain.
Traci:
Yeah, and I call it a filter, it's your filter. And if you have to make a decision, you need to run it through the filter of your mission and vision and values. And if it doesn't jive or feel right, then that's your answer, because otherwise you're guessing if this is a no or yes, or if we should do this or not do this, or you chase the squirrel, because the squirrel looks shiny and happy and you want to go after that squirrel, but it doesn't align with your vision. And so, you've completely derailed the company or the team to go after the shiny thing.
But sometimes we need to go after the shiny object, because that's the gold mind or the entrepreneurial vision that we need to go after, but you have to make sure that aligns with your vision. If it does then yeah, go for it. Then you're going for it with more confidence and more direction than just chasing any old things. So yeah, it's a filter.
The other interesting thing that he talks about in the book and that I talk about with teams so often is the difference between vision and core values. So he calls them principles or internal factors. The way I like to look at it with teams is if you've designed that vision, you're going towards that vision, you want to go towards that vision. Your core values or your principles are how you operate on the way to get there. They're that guiding compass. And so, when you identify those values and you root yourself into those values, as you're heading towards your vision, then you're doing it the right way.
Rob:
Yeah. That gets down to the incremental decisions, what you believe about those things and really about... We always talk about it in a way that's like, this is what we believe about the work. This is what we believe about what we believe almost, like let's put some meat on this so that we can explain it so that there's clarity and understanding, and we can have unity on these principles. Because like otherwise, and I like some of the things he talks about, you end up with platitudes, and those don't help anybody, because those can't be put into action.
Traci:
Our values and principles, having those align the team and how we behave with each other, but also how we behave with our clients, I mean, it's just gives everything, the journey we're on so much more meaning. And to be able to say to each other, "Well, does this decision align with our core values? Are we just being a little self-centered here? We're not really being empathetic. Are we doing the right thing? Are we just chasing this for the money?” To be able to weigh things up against our values and our principles brings us back to our center and brings us back to a proper lens to look at these things through.
There's a lot in this chapter against looking at the different centers of your life and how are those centers controlling your life and which one do you give more credit to? Is it money? Is it family? Is it work? Then he talks about these kinds of factors, these life support factors, whether it's security and guidance and wisdom and power. So there's a lot baked in here that he tries to pull apart to help us look a little deeper into our own internal drivers. Like what's driving us and to help keep us...
I'm thinking his meaning behind this is to keep us balanced and focused on the right thing, which I think in the business world, it can be hard, because you're trying to keep the lights on and you're dealing with contracts and money and people. And so it's hard to you lose the forest for the trees—or however the saying goes—and these are the factors that he's reminding us of to shake us out of the whirlwind and to recenter ourselves when we're on this journey.
Rob:
Yeah. I think that so much of that, there are so many complicated things that come up when running a business or living a life that having your principles defined and understood allows you to remove some of the gray and some of the influence, because it's so easy to look at a situation without understanding why you believe what you believe, what's your principles are, what's your core values are, depending on the context and say like, "Well, this is the thing we're going to do." And not being able to stand up to why. You know?
Traci:
Right, and it's that internal versus external push. If you make a decision business-wise just based on money or bottom line and not checking in with your principles or your core values, at some point you're going to make a pretty big mistake, or you're going to jeopardize your reputation and not even realizing it.
Principles and core values are part of self-awareness, it's this thing that keeps us awake while we're doing business and helps us realize, "Okay, we might lose this one, or I might have to eat a bit of this budget, but I'm doing the right thing. And so, I'm going to have faith that it's keeping me on the right trajectory to where I need to go, ultimately." Which I think when he's talking about beginning with the end in mind, that's part of the beauty of having a vision, part of the beauty of having a future goal is you can see things long-term, so you can take those short-term hits, because you know you have a long-term goal.
When you don't set a long-term goal for yourself, everything seems short-term, everything seems immediate, everything seems necessary and a priority, and that's not true. If you can push out and see the horizon further out ahead of you, then that makes it easier to pivot in the short-term situations and to make better clearer decisions.
Also, I think it gives leaders calmness. The leaders that I work with that have really clear visions, and they've come up with the team, there's a peace about them. There's like a calmness about them. They don't seem as panicked. And they seem like they're taking more things in stride because they've done the planning, they've done the work, they've taken the pause, they've got it all lined out. That doesn't mean you don't pivot in the midst of it or the vision doesn't alter or shift, but they're confident, and they're resting in that destination ahead of them.
Rob:
From just a practical standpoint, it allows for transparency to happen, because if you don't have a clear way and rubric, you're going to make decisions, then you’re going to really struggle to explain the decisions that are made to your team and have them understand why they're made and not write their own stories. That's one of the biggest dangers we all have when we're leading teams of diverse groups is we're all bringing our own core values or our own perspective, our own default, in some cases, to problem-solving. And it's really, really difficult to stand up in front of a group of people and explain a hard decision if you can't relate it back to things that we've said that we are going to use and agree on to make decisions.
I hate to boil it down to say like, "No, this is the easier path," but it actually is. Transparency and trust is the foundations of so much of what we can do in leadership, in our businesses and our organizations that we have to optimize to make that easier and do allow people to participate, and we can't do that without clarity in the ability to describe where we're going and why we're going to get there.
Announcer:
The Overly Human Podcast is brought to you by Navigate the Journey. Navigate the Journey comes alongside entrepreneurial companies, allowing them to get what they want from their business, their team, and their leaders. Learn more at navigatethejourney.com.
Traci:
Yeah, and it's like mission and vision, your why and your where, that's it. And you know as a parent, what are the only questions your children ask. They're like, "Why, why, why? Are we there yet? Where are we going? Are we there yet?" I mean, they ask the most simplistic questions, and when you can give them answers, you see them calm down and get with the program. It's the same thing when we're leading teams at work. If the team knows why and they know where they're going, they tend to just relax into the process. Because when we keep them in the dark—like you're saying—if we're not transparent or bringing them into the process of these things, they start to imagine the worst, they feel like they've been slighted, they don't understand why you're doing these things, they get all cynical and disgruntled because they're... And it's so easily solved.
It's like, okay, we bring them in the process. We tell them where we're going. We tell them why we're going there. And we help them to breathe life into those processes. And then they have ownership and they have calm and they have peace, they have purpose and they have direction. And that transparency just really unites and aligns the team, and it helps to get rid of all that cynicism and questioning.
Because they don't just want to know, they deserve to know. You've hired these people, they're part of the team, and they deserve to be brought in to the why and the where.
Rob:
Yeah. I think that when we talk about starting with the end in mind, the other thing that keeps coming up for me is we start with the end in mind so that we can optimize the journey. It's not about that destination. It may not even be someplace you ever actually get, but that North Star, that bearing is what allows you to iterate, make decisions and optimize for the journey to wherever you end up.
I think that the story you started with, and even my own career, I've had many different ends in mind as I've gone along. And they're flexible, but the thing that he continues to talk about, and I think that comes through in all of that is the intention behind them is what makes the difference, is if I start with this intention, it can then filter into the little decisions that get me to where I said I wanted to be, but I always have the ability to stop reanalyze, grow, change, become a new human and decide that there's a different end in mind and then integrate towards that.
Traci:
Yeah, exactly. I have to just say it, but that's exactly why we named our company Navigate the Journey, because as opposed to just get to your destination, for us, it was we focus on companies and teams and individual leaders and our goal is to help you properly, intentionally, navigate the journey to get to where you want to go and to enjoy that journey and to be successful in that journey, and to also be significant in that journey, to have a positive impact as you're going through all of these visions that you've created for yourself and getting from goal to goal.
To your point, that's what it's about. We may never get to that end destination that we've envisioned. I hope we do, and many people do get there. But if we can say we did well on the journey, that we lived well, we related well, we were empathetic, we united, we were principled on that journey, I think that's really what matters the most, and you have to enter into a mindset, a personal leadership and professional leadership in order to be able to say that this intentionality and this personally and professionally, I think, is where the reward lies.
Rob:
What's the application for this week, Traci?
Traci:
For this week, I think that if you're listening to this and you're inspired, that you need to sit down. You need to sit down and envision where you want to be in the next five years, where do you want to be in the next 10 years? Then once you have that vision in mind, personally and professionally, then you need to think about what's that going to take over the next year? So it's September 2021, where are you going to be September 2022? And what are the goals you need to set for your team in order to get there?
Rob:
Yeah, I like that. I mean, it reminds me of the whole idea of humans often underestimate what they can do in a year, but overestimate what they can do in a day. How do we strike that balance, right?
Traci:
Yeah.
Rob:
And there is this whole idea of things that are going to happen, right? We are existing in an environment, and there are things outside of our control, but how we respond is all of ours.
I think that what I would encourage this week is, just to stop, think about what you're about and where you see yourself. Because that gives you the ability to shape your responses in a way that allow you to make progress towards that. And it's about the journey, not the destination. I think that we would all be happier, healthier humans if we focused on what the next step in the journey was, or how do I do the next best thing for my end in mind, not find the shortcut to get to the destination.
Traci:
Absolutely. Good stuff.
Rob:
Yeah.
Traci:
Good stuff. All right. I'm going to hang up and start doing some sketching, some designing.
Rob:
Designing. Intentional design.
Traci:
Intentional design. I like it.
Rob:
Thanks, Traci.
Traci:
Well, thanks. This was fun.
Rob:
Yeah.
Traci:
Till next time.
Announcer:
The Overly Human Podcast is brought to you by Navigate the Journey and Sparkbox. For more information on this podcast, or to get in touch with Traci or Rob, go to overlyhuman.com. If you like what you've heard, subscribe and tell your friends to listen. Thanks.
