Author: Alexis

Based on a recent recommendation, I read Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book was already on my reading list, as I really enjoyed his previous books.

In reality, I listened to the enhanced audiobook on audible. Enhanced means that you have real interviews, and others played dialogues along with the narration by the author.

The book is excellent. It is about our (in)ability to grasp what strangers are up to because of three aspects:

• We default to the truth: we think people are telling the truth, and it serves us well because people usually are telling the truth. But, it is not always the case.
• We believe in transparency: we think we are pretty good at reading people. We believe the behavior we observed is aligned with what people think and say. But, it is not always the case.
• We don’t believe in coupling. In reality, location or context dictates the behavior of people. Their behavior is not defined by who they are.

The combination of the two first aspects makes us easy to be fooled. By adding the third aspect, we turn it into a society problem. The book is a must-read. And, by the way, the part on Alcohol is a must-read.

Go for it and tell me what you think!

Understanding A3 Thinking: A Critical Component of Toyota’s PDCA Management System is a book by Durward Sobek and Art Smalley enabling you to understand A3 thinking.

The A3 report is a key tool used by Toyota in support of problem resolution. The approach enable them to solve the root causes of the problem and not only to find paliative temporary fixes.

To learn more and before reading the book, I invite you to watch the excellent presentation by Claudio Perrone (@agilesensei). A3 & Kaizen: Here’s How from Claudio Perrone

This post is a translation of my original French post from 2012.

This is that time of the year when we think it is a good idea to take “good resolution.” Last year, I already discussed in the article How to keep up with your 2019 resolutions, how the willpower effect will come into play when we say we will do something, and we are not.

Blaming ourselves will not help. It is even the opposite, as guilt will damage our willpower even more.

It is as if we started with a certain amount of willpower, our initial capital, and that our actions would affect our capital. Using our willpower would increase the amount of willpower we have because now, we know we can do it, we are happy because we did it… and so on…

On the contrary, not using our willpower will damage our capital, as we tend to build a belief that we will NEVER be able to do ANYTHING…

Willpower is really like a “melting” currency. I know the term is used in French and not in English, so I need to tell you a little bit more about that so you can get the analogy. Silvio Gesell proposed demurrage fees as a way to foster economic activity. When you don’t use your money, you pay a fee that will decrease your capital. If the fee is high enough, you cannot earn money just by possession, you have to use your money.

Back to our willpower: if you want to increase your capital, you have to use it, even if it is just a little. Let’s say that the goal is to feel more energetic. Exercise is a good way to achieve that goal, but before committing to go to the gym, maybe you can start small and do a 30-day plank challenge. It does not require any specific equipment and will take you only 2 or 3 minutes a day.

Ready to grow your willpower capital?

Stick the 30-day calendar on the fridge and tick each day when you are done!

Enjoy the new year!

I had the great pleasure of giving four keynote speeches this fall. I already told you about the keynote I gave in Bordeaux for AgileTour in this post. The three others are really special to me. We did those addresses with my wife.

Comment ça? Certaines de nos croyances peuvent brider notre potentiel? #ATTls19 @isabelmonville @alexismonville pic.twitter.com/q8Shc4CyiJ

— Benjamin Cabanne (@plopMaker) October 24, 2019

Last year, I was invited to speak about Changing Your Team From The Inside in Grenoble and Rennes. After the conferences, Isabel and I had a great dinner with Aurelien, Celine, Chris, Nelson, Benji, and Jerome. All of them happen to be conference organizers. And they asked us if we were giving talks together. Even if we worked together for quite some time when we had our management and organization consulting and coaching firm, but we never gave talks together.

One of them said that if we were to prepare something, it would be probably worth a keynote. And as all the others were enthusiastic about the idea, we decided to give it a try.

Of course, we went through our ups and downs in preparing the keynotes. But in the end, we were happy with the result! The feedback was way above what we were hoping for! Thank you!

We did AgileTour Lille and AgileTour Toulouse in October, and Agile Grenoble, the biggest Agile event in France, in November.

An amaZinG Great session at #ATTls19 by TheMonvilleStones Merci ! « Les interactions entre les personnes » @isabelmonville @alexismonville pic.twitter.com/NP5rrxoFnM

— Jυlιεи Fαllεт (@jfallet) October 24, 2019

The three keynotes were, of course, each a little bit different. This was influenced by a lot of factors like the location (being in a real theater in Toulouse was much better for us, for example) and, of course, by our own experience, you know the drill, the more you practice, the luckier you are.

Thank you so much @TotherAlistair for your positive feedback after our keynote at #agiletourlille : precious !! pic.twitter.com/K50l5ebXkh

— Isabel Monville (@isabelmonville) October 13, 2019

The talk, about Individuals and their interactions, is structured in three acts and a conclusion. Each act is composed of a role-play of a situation, followed by a debrief to consolidate what we learn from the story.

Here is the recording of the last one we gave in Grenoble!

One of my colleagues noticed that I take all my notes graphically and asked me for resources on how to start. I am far from being an expert, and I am not doing as beautiful drawings as the experts will do, even if I am taking notes this way for more than ten years.

Having a beautiful result is, of course, something that I would like to have, but this is not the most important benefit I see with the practice. Among those benefits: the connection of ideas with each other, the ability to have a whole meeting on one page, see when people are tempted to go back to a previous agenda item (it could be a sign that the topic was not closed properly and there are still things to be discussed)…

How to start?

First, you have to be comfortable with your tools and be satisfied with an imperfect result.

I started by using just sheets of paper. I think I was not comfortable to waste a page in my notebook, speaking of being satisfied with an imperfect result… I then moved to a small notebook, and then a large-high-quality notebook. I loved the feeling of the pen gliding on the paper on those notebooks! Then I switched to a reMarkable tablet which gives me the ability to have topics dedicated notebooks. Really useful to have the ability to go back one page to have a look at the notes of the previous meeting on that topic.

Once you have tools, you are ready to start. To make sure I am clear, a pen and paper, and you are ready to start!

Have a look at how a mindmap works. The mindmap approach will give you one way to use the space until you invent your own way.

Then you have to increase your graphic vocabulary.

My preferred book for that is Bikablo. Those other books are also useful (ranked in order of preference):

• The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking
  by Mike Rohde
• Visual Meetings: How Graphics, Sticky Notes & Idea Mapping Can Transform Group Productivity
  by David Sibbet
• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
  by Dan Roam

In the end, there is no magic, and you have to practice! Every day!

One way to get started is to draw TED Talks. TED Talks are very well structured talks, so you will be able to get clues on how to use the space early in the speech. Furthermore, you can start with the shorter ones.

One of my preferred short talks is 8 Secrets of Sucess by Richard St. John.

Ready to start?

Please enjoy the process of learning!

If you have other tips or resources, please use the comments to share (or drop me a note).

Share with me your first results, and we can discuss ideas of improvements!

In the documentary, I Am Not Your Guru, released in 2016, Performance coach Tony Robbins proposes an interesting exercise. Imagine your life in the near future. If everything goes well in three years, how much will you make a year?

Don’t read further until you have the figures.

When you get the amount, multiply it by three and imagine what you are doing to deserve such compensation?

Inspiring?

No, it’s not all about money. Money is a by-product of our actions, and if money is not what you want to visualize, pick something meaningful to you.

I would be happy to hear what you think of the exercise!