I’m four years into this experiment of being a small business owner. I expected things to be different.
I’m struggling to know how Second Wave Dive and Chief Design Officer School fit with you and me.
While the materials and programs are finally where I hoped they would be, you’ve changed, I’ve changed, and everything seems to have changed.
- We’re 3+ years into a global pandemic.
- The climate crisis is stomping all over us.
- Wars continue to do the terrible things that wars do.
- Fascists and racists continue to terrorize.
- The tech industry isn’t so human after all.
- So many people are out of work at no fault of their own.
I mean, adulting is always hard, but everything everywhere seems to be happening at once.
In the middle of it all, I'm supposed to be running this little company. I'm supposed to tell you how awesome it is. But right now? I have little confidence that I’m doing it right.
I have been asking myself a lot of questions:
- Is this how I should be showing up?
- Am I actually helping?
- Am I just making people feel worse?
- If talk about this stuff, am I screwing myself and my family from being financially secure?
I feel this way because I’m constantly bombarded with rhetoric reminding me I'm could be doing it better.
Emails remind me I could be a better business owner. LinkedIn posts let me know I could be a better leader. TikToks about better parenting. Podcasts about being a better spouse.
The content I come across is good, but not great. Fine and terrible, but consistent. And it's filled with contradictions.
"Charge your worth, but also make it affordable!"
"Let your kids express themselves, and also keep good boundaries!"
"Lead by stepping back, but make sure you're make the right decisions!"
"Actively listen to your spouse, and never split the difference"
"Measure with quant to show impact, but focus on qual because it’s the only thing that truly matters"
It’s all a bit too much.
Despite being surrounded by all these posts, ads, or videos offering courses, best practices, downloads, communities, and coaching, none of them are helping me talk about what I do in a way that feels meaningful to you and me.
And this is a very familiar feeling.
Everything I’m going through now reminds me of how I felt as a manager, director, and executive. It reminds me of how, despite the abundance of advice, none of it seemed to help me with the specific challenges and feelings I was facing while trying to be good at the leadership stuff while being good at the management stuff.
So, rather than tell you that you could be doing things better, you should know you're doing good enough!
I hate everything about marketing and selling the value of what I do. While I’m still figuring out how to talk about it, I just want to let you know you don't have to figure out management on your own.
I teach because I like to. I have a lot of hands-on experience with managing design teams/practices/orgs and I'm good at it.
That I feel confident in.
