Move It, Buddy!
When travelling in New York to visit some of you last week, I was surrounded constantly by the sound of car horns, morning, noon, and night. Elsewhere, drivers honk to warn others or to express annoyance with someone’s poor driving. In the Big Apple, they also let out a blast when the light is red or there’s an accident ahead or the sun is too bright. I heard more dissonant chords during a two-day sojourn than in an entire Charles Ives symphony.
But all this din does have a lesson for us, as Squadron member Nick pointed out on the forum. It may not be easy on the ears, but a driver leaning on the centre column is inviting conflict and offering to resolve it instantly, by one vehicle or the other giving way. Information travels through the traffic jam at the speed of sound, rather than waiting for changing lights or a negotiation via ambiguous gestures and mouthed epithets.
I suspect the streets unclog more quickly in New York when there’s an obstruction than in London, where British “reserve” and politeness get in the way of rapid resolution. To get similar results, I tell coaching clients to create “information radiators” like glidepath indicators and Geckoboard dashboards, so everyone knows right away when the production system is down or a key project is delayed. And Jeffrey and I wrote about Elizabeth Ayer’s “radiating intent” in Agile Conversations as a way of quickly either creating productive conflict or emergent consensus—or both!
This first appeared in my weekly Insanely Profitable Tech Newsletter which is received as part of the Squirrel Squadron every Monday, and was originally posted on 18th November 2024. To get my provocative thoughts and tips direct to your inbox first, sign up here: https://squirrelsquadron.com/
