Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

perspective

Questions

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What is the core business? Who are the support teams? Who holds accountability, and how are they influenced?

How are the complainers dealt with? The over-analyzers? Does seniority count the same as impact?

How often is appreciation shared, and why? Are decisions justified with pragmatism? Are they justified at all?

Does your degree matter more than your impact? Does your degree matter at all?

Are there rewards to be had? If so, which types of behaviors and results need to be exhibited to get them? If those behaviors don’t align with your values, are you prepared to leave?

Is your work part of your identity? If so, how sure are you that you define it? Do you want to relinquish the definition of any part of your identity to someone else?

These are good questions to ask yourself, right after you ask this one:

What am I doing, and why?

The ceiling and the walls

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Most people know about the ceiling, but whether you realize it or not, the walls are there too.

We don’t hear much about the walls because we’re often looking up, hoping for height, when perhaps a little breadth might do the trick.

The ceiling may be high, and the walls are harder to move. But hard isn’t impossible, and the walls can still close in on you.

The first thing to keep in mind is that you can design your room however you choose – after all a beautiful space that people appreciate will do more for you than one smeared in frantic, haphazard colors of protest.

But if your ceiling is low, and your walls are close, and then someone starts to critique your design, the second thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to live in someone else’s house, you can build your own.