On Finding a Shared Language

Poor Johnnie's Almanack #2

Photo of the week: Hunter’s Rest, just outside Rustenburg in the North-West of South Africa.

Hey everyone!

Last month I attended a Bosberaad (Afrikaans for “bush meeting”) with the leadership team of one of my insurance clients. It was an intense three days where we mapped out their strategy for the next 3-5 years. Luckily there was also time to relax, go for hikes and connect.

It was great to be part of this. The actual exercises, which I write about below, were insightful, but what I enjoyed even more was observing how the team galvanized around a common goal by the end of the week.

Here are some notes and observations from the week:

• Defining your playing field,

• Setting a BHAG, and

• Finding a common language.

Also – if you missed the previous edition and/or you’re interested in more lessons on business and life, have a look at Poor Johnnie’s Almanack (#1), which covers leaving ego at the door (no sacred cows), reframing bad experiences (dead leaves nurture the ground) and staying calm (not panicking).

Let’s dive into this week’s segment.

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1. Defining your playing field

One of the exercises that stood out to me at the Bosberaad was defining the company’s playing field.

In football (soccer for my US friends), there are certain rules to the game. You can’t play outside the four lines of the field. You can’t pass to a player who is in front of all the opposition players, you can’t handle the ball with your hands etc.

The company was in the habit of playing outside its metaphorical four lines. Its entrepreneurial nature had helped it grow, but it also chased any shiny new opportunity that came its way. As the host of the workshop rightly pointed out – this approach leads to distraction and misalignment among employees.

It’s important to define where you want to play and what your no-go zones are. For a company focused on the African market, it doesn’t make sense to jump on a new deal with a client in Asia. This helps to keep the team focused. By defining its playing field, the company can say yes to opportunities that fit its purpose and no to opportunities that are outside its area of focus and expertise.

This immediately made me consider what the four lines in my life are and reminded me of Matthew McConaughey’s “3 As and 5 Bs” rule which I wrote about previously.

It’s better to prioritize 3 things and do them well instead of chasing 5 things and executing them poorly. Or, stated differently, some opportunities are within my playing field, while some rabbit holes are better left not going down.

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2. Setting a BHAG

Another exercise we did was setting a BHAG – a big, hairy, audacious goal.

A stretch goal. Something that seems almost impossible, but can be achieved with enough focus and energy.

Projecting forward and looking at their total addressable market, the team came up with ambitious sales and growth targets over the next 3 years.

They came up with their BHAG.

The next part of the exercise was figuring out how to get there. It’s one thing to have a pie in the sky to aim at, but what does this mean at a practical level? What does each team need to do to achieve the shared company goal? What does each individual need to do to help their team? Do they need to increase their resources, do they need to up-skill, can they continue as is?

It was fascinating to observe the effect this had on the team:

• It generated alignment - this shared vision is top of mind in all the team meetings and all their KPIs (key performance indicators).

• It created harmony - they are working together towards something bigger than their individual ambitions. If someone needs a hand, it makes sense to help them because this benefits the team as a whole.

• It fostered responsibility - everyone has a role to play. You don’t want to drop the team so you are going to do your part.

Sitting there, I realized how setting a BHAG could be useful in a personal context too. I can either pursue something big and scary (and risk falling short) or continue coasting along in my comfort zone (without putting anything on the line).

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3. Finding a common language

Apart from the bold new strategy the company came up with, what intrigued me most was how the team found a shared language by doing the exercises together.

They were all in the room debating and constructing the way forward. They all had buy-in in the decisions that were being made. The host of the workshop wouldn’t end a session without everyone stating their case.

Apart from the playing field and BHAG exercises, they also defined their “magic” (what is core to the business that can’t be outsourced), set their vision and purpose (who they want to serve and how they want to serve them) and figured out the personality of the company (whether it’s altruistic and relationship-based or focused on production and numbers). (More on this in a later edition.)

The sense of ownership together with the shared terminology was particularly powerful.

In the meetings following the Bosberaad, you would often hear things like “Oh no, I don’t think that product really fits into our playing field” or “Yes, this is an opportunity to show our magic” or “Bingo - that fits in with where we want to go for our BHAG.”

While someone listening in from the outside won’t have a clue what they’re talking about, everyone on the team immediately realizes what’s going on when these terms are used.

The words (the named concepts) hold a lot of context. “Magic”, “playing field”, and “BHAG”, the words found on retreat in the bush, all have a meaning now.

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My favourites

💬 Quote. Few people can capture philosophical concepts (in this case the illusion of free will) in story form (as a Western no less) as well as Cormac McCarthy did:

“I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous.

The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person's path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.” — No Country for Old Men

📚 Book of the week. Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis (1989). Thoroughly enjoyed this eye-opening (often hilarious) insider’s account of Wall Street in the 80s. Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball and The Big Short, started his career as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers – the biggest trading firm on Wall Street at the time. He chronicles the events leading to the firm’s boom and eventual demise – the rise of the bond market, the larger-than-life personalities chasing bigger and bigger profits, and the eventual listing of Salomon. What I found interesting about the book was that he wasn’t singing the praises of investment banking. If anything, he encourages people to look into other career paths - he specifically points out how poorly analysts are treated. What happened subsequently (and what Lewis came to realize) is that the book didn’t dissuade people from investment banking, but attracted more people to it. Not surprising since he was earning $250k per year as a 24-year-old. Favourite quote about the interview process:

“It’s taboo,” he said. “When they ask you why you want to be an investment banker, you’re supposed to talk about the challenges, and the thrill of doing deals, and the excitement of working with such high-calibre people, but never, ever mention money.”

🗂️ Resource. If you’re looking for a free collection of some of the greatest classics ever written, click through to Standard Ebooks – “free and liberated books, carefully produced for the true book lover.”

If you don’t want to go downloading them all at once (like I almost did), here are my top 3 recommendations:

• Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace (1880). This had a profound impact on me and deserves a longer review.

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (1868) – one of my top 30 books describing the life and times of Russians (of all classes and backgrounds) during the Napoleonic invasion.

• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866) – another Russian classic set in the 1800s and a good introduction to Dostoevsky’s work. 

Pro tip: download the normal .epub versions for best compatibility with Kindle.

Thanks to

Steven Foster

for the recommendation. Steven writes some excellent book reviews and contemplative pieces over on Siesta in the Storm. Worth checking out.

✍️ Essay. We see with our eyes. We recognize with our hearts by

James Bailey

. A story of loss, forgiveness and redemption. It describes the murder of American student and volunteer, Amy Biehl, in South Africa during the early 90s, a particularly unstable time when the country was transitioning from Apartheid to democracy. I’m grateful I read this. Despite growing up in SA, I had no idea about the story and the subsequent reconciliation between Amy’s family and her killers, who ended up running her foundation. 

Two people who gave Amy her life and two who took it away freed themselves from the weight of the past and came together to change lives and transform a country.

Until next time - happy creating!

— John

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