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Some of the best relationships in

the world are made up of


individuals who are the yin to the
others Yang you're either the
person who Stacks the dishwasher
with creative Reckless abandon or
you're the one who correctly thinks
of it as a very competitive game of
Tetris and rather than what might
be a series of expletives as you
restack the plates it's the tetris St
ER coming to some appreciation
for the halfhazard where the
tension breaks and that's a
beautiful thing and you might even
get a few extra clean plates out of
it this scenario isn't just true in our
personal relationships it's true in
relationships across institutions and
organizations of all types bridging
this tension I believe that that is the
key to organizations continuing to
build grow and make new and
different different things this is the
story of two different kinds of
people coming together 0 to1
humans and their onet to end
counterparts 0o to1 humans they're
dreamers I love this about them
they're founders of companies
creative inventors they thrive in the
fogginess of problems looking for
nonlinear Solutions and to their
counterparts they often seem
untethered to reality which is true
and also how they find new
opportunities it's why I think
they're really good at what they do
but it is a core tension with those
around them one to end humans
these are the doers they build
companies and ensure their success
over long periods of time they're
the glue that keeps it together i've
been a dreamer but i've also been a
doer at varing points along my own
career journey and in my day job I
help organizations see and harness
the value of both kinds of people to
build new things how the zero to1
dreamers can be just spiky enough
that the organization doesn't reject
that entrepreneurial talent and how
the onet to-end doers can support
their move fast and break things
counterparts being their guides to
the ins and outs of the organization
finding a way to bridge this tension
that's the key to organizations
being able to both keep on keeping
on while building and capturing
New Growth one of the easiest
ways to bridge this tension it's to
get byy in not with gestures or
words but with cold Hard Cash I
was talking to my friend Alex she
and Jordana they're dreamers they
co-founded Lola a feminine Health
reproductive company company
and when they launched as a direct
to Consumer they just had a single
product tampons and everything
they did those first few years was
focused on that developing a
product packaging marketing
pricing distribution building a site
a community getting investors
hiring an incredible team of startup
talent and they did that all to build
a product that was safer for women
to put inside her body they got
great traction they found those
incredible investors also some
endorsers influencers who all
really liked them women really
liked them somewhere along the
way they realized that in order to
have the level of impact that they
wanted in the world they couldn't
just be a single product after all
direct to Consumer it's a channel
not a business they had to figure
out how to crack retail how to get
that box of tampons onto the
physical and virtual shelves at
Amazon Walmart Target and
despite having this incredible team
of startup Talent they did not have
Decades of lived retail sales
experience they had to hire in those
people the doers from outside and
they definitely did not come from
the startup world but they
absolutely knew how to get that
product into that retail store you
can probably see where this is
going so maybe to save you a little
bit of anxiety it didn't blow up in
their faces because Alex and
Jordana well they're pretty smart
they did all the things that you and
I both know to manage that kind of
change in tension building respect
Learning and Development internal
communication but the thing that
made it all work right away
between the dreamers and the
doers money they tied the
compensation in this case in the
form of shares and stock options of
that new retail sales team not just
to their ability to put product in
retail stores but to the full
performance of the business DSC
and Retail and vice versa and that
made all the other things building
relationships cross business line
sharing internal Communications
happen just at a much more rapid
rate so make sure to get Buy in and
use money I'm also a fan of a
corporate Mosh Pit zero to1
humans the dreamers they tend to
move a little bit more quickly than
those around them and it's often
implicit that they are there to break
existing Norms processes and
paths to previous success but I've
seen organizations forget that on
the other side of those Norms
processes and paths are humans the
doers they tweak existing products
they probably train whole parts of
your organizations in new service
protocols building a corporate
Mosh Pit well it requires
acknowledging those who are
explicitly not like you be they
doers or dreamers each has vast
knowledge and deep expertise as
well as a commitment to the
organization's success just from a
different starting point I love how
Marriott has done this Marriott has
a zero to one dreamer team and
they think about not just what's
next but what's 5 to 10 years ahead
and as they're coming up with
these experiences they build them
in physical prototypes to tweak
what works figure out what
definitely doesn't work understand
how much of course it's going to
cost how roles might change and as
a result what training they might
need and as they're building these
prototypes before they are finished
but explicitly before they are final
I've seen them invite in the doers
for Marriott that's franchisees and
Frontline staff who come in to
poke and prod and put their mark
on changes that will ultimately
have a not small impact on their
role in the business if you're a zero
to1 team of dreamers I want you to
go first to your doers and invite
them in to your work raid their
brains and hook their hearts to
what you're doing shift it from a
happening to me to a happening
with me build your own corporate
Mosh Pit it's not the only building
you should do though I think you
might want to make a few speed
bumps along the way and here's
why your 0o to1 dreamers well I
hate to tell you but I think they
probably missed the memo about
your corporate processes because
honestly it never occurred to them
that there are corporate processes
they should be concerned with and
to their doer counterparts at best
this seems disrespectful and at
worst like they are intentionally
dodging the rules how each group
does the work probably makes the
other quite uncomfortable that's not
how we do things here that's
definitely not how you get to
Market first on one side the
process is foggy and on the other
too rigid or prescriptive building
speed bumps well that makes
explicit A Cadence or process to an
individual or a team and I believe
that that creates better alignment
among the humans around you but
one caution if you build speed
bumps one after another and you're
really in a rush to get to your
destination well you're definitely
not going to get there on time zero
to1 humans it's not that they don't
want to abide by your corporate
protocols it's that they literally and
I've seen this firsthand they
literally cannot do the job you've
tasked them with building
something net new if they slow
down for each and every speed
bump along the way I'll never
forget how one team tasked with
new innovation and growth at a
very large consumer Products
company was also asked to meet
with her Innovation board on a
monthly Cadence now if you're a
doer that probably doesn't seem
like a big deal but here's how it
played out in practice during the
first week they made the deck the
second week they took that deck
they shopped it around walked the
Halls aligned their stakeholders the
third week that was the meeting
then they had to take the feedback
incorporate it in and change their
plans which left just one week one
week a month to do the work work
so build speed bumps just don't
build too many and one more thing
it's so easy to celebrate what seems
new and shiny in an organization
and trust me your zero to one
teams when they're successful it
will seem shinier and newer
worthy of confetti maybe a little
champagne but I like to step back
and remember that all wins
dreamer wins and doers but most
certainly the wins that are the
results of both teams coming
together those absolutely deserve
confetti and it doesn't take your
boss to make a party you are there
stand up celebrate acknowledge the
humans around you be they doers
or dreamers for the work that they
did to meet you in the middle to
stack that dishwasher with a little
bit more joy so get out your pom
poms because everyone needs a
cheerleader thank [Applause] you.

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