Building From The Dust
My daughter is curled up next to me on the bed this evening as we shop online for a new outfit she needs. It’s nothing special. But it’s a good moment, especially as I project forward to her looming teenage years. I make a mental note to remember it, and mention how happy I am being with her, hoping perhaps she’ll remember it, too.
We spend a lot of time trying to accomplish things, to make memories — at work and play. Our focus is usually on the big moments — the big vacation, the big meeting, the big event, the big deal, the big launch. In between, however, are small steps, little grievances, tiny victories.
There’s an old saying, “Keep two pieces of paper in your pocket at all times. On one write, ‘I am a speck of dust.’ On the other, ‘The world was created for me.’” This is often interpreted as a wake-up call to people to balance their humility and confidence. While that’s healthy to ponder, the saying speaks also to the importance of recognizing big and small — the seemingly important and insignificant — and the relationship between the two.
For example, when people are asked why they stay or leave companies, they don’t cite the annual company party or their yearly performance review — in fact lots of companies are doing away with those for precisely this and other reasons. More often than not, employees reference the little things over big moments — day-to-day meetings and how they’re run, interactions with colleagues and managers, continuous feedback and learning opportunities, implicit and explicit decision-making processes, all of which (hopefully) lead to each “big success.”
As a member of Google’s IPO team 2004, we intentionally downplayed the IPO’s significance. That day became just another in what we hoped was a long company lifecycle. As with any startup who enjoys “overnight success,” it had taken a lot of people many micro-moments to get us there. Facebook and other publicly successful companies have also followed this strategy, as much as outsiders may focus on the drama, the conflict, or the news of a particular milestone.
Similarly, brand managers don’t focus solely on the big campaign or quit after they’ve created a catchy name and brand identity. A brand, technically defined, is a consumer’s day-to-day relationship with a product. It’s consistency, or lack thereof. Superbowl ads can be fun, big moments for brands — depending on the content, of course — but the brand hinges more on the day-to-day experience of its users.
As managers and leaders — and as human beings — we are measured by collections of data points, each grouped together into indicators. Why then, do we focus so much on the big events? Usually there isn’t a seminal moment when things went right or things went wrong. Even if we could pinpoint that big moment — the strategic decision, the response to a crisis, the big launch — we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t recognize that each of those is created from collections of small decisions leading us down that particular path.
“Speck of dust” thinking takes more discipline and focus, but is more rewarding over time. Professionally, when we measure ourselves in the day-to-day — facilitating high functioning teams, evolving and articulating a resonant vision, and building authentic value for each and every stakeholder — we reinforce good habits and create low-risk experiments to correct errors and spur improvements. Personally, we connect, we support, and we learn from each other.
So here’s to all of us “specks of dust.” Our break room conversations. Our card games. Our Sunday morning pancakes. Our coffees. Our meeting jokes. Our hugs. Our open minds. And with each, our dedicated preparation for our big moments, when we’ll enjoy the successes of a world “made for us.”
