Why am I so critical of people who are trying to make an impact?

We live in a very strange time in human history. Collectively, we've started doing this thing where we criticize people who are trying to make an impact for not making enough of an impact. Or sometimes we just don't like they way they are making an impact.

Instead of supporting those contributors or even contributing ourselves, we've created a finger pointing, cancel culture that is skeptical of every move.

We look at Bill Gates and say he's not doing enough. He's one of the greatest philanthropists the world has ever seen and his foundation is saving millions of lives. He could be doing more we might say.

It's not just Bill Gates. He was the hot topic last week.

Dave Chappelle gets put through the grinder for telling jokes that point out racism, sexism, and hypocrisy because they can be offensive. Elon Musk is driving innovation in rocketry, solar energy and automobiles, but he smoked weed on a podcast. Greta Thunberg has hate and criticism thrown at her from every direction and she just keeps doing her thing. They could be doing more.

And here's the thing. I'm not finger pointing at the finger pointers. I get why they write and think those things. I do it myself. All the damn time. I see a non-profit or public benefit company, and my immediate reaction is to judge them. How effectively are they using their funds? Are they really interested in making a difference or just doing it for marketing purposes, I might ask on a rather feisty day.

I'm not saying that we can't be critical of people, ideas and methodologies that don't align with us. Critical thinking is how we get better innovation. Challenge the old way to make room for the new. But...

The step before critical can always be curious.

Instead of judging how non-profits might hypothetically use their funds or if a company is "mission driven" for marketing purposes, I can look it up and find actual answers. If I don't like what I find, I can ask a trusted friend if they see what I see. Curious first. Critical second.

Even if someone doesn't live up to our definition of perfect, which of course they never will, we can still be grateful that are making positive contributions to our society in their own unique way.

After getting curious about what is not being seen, if you still don't like the way they do it, great, go out and do it better.

Why is simplicity so damn sexy?

One of my self-described super powers is bringing simplicity to the complex, and yet I continue to find opportunities to simplify my own life and environment.

My personal website was one of those areas that wasn't so simple. I had a hero video with the tech stack from The Avengers (it was dope), artistically photoshopped images, beautiful backgrounds and color patterns. And as much fun as it was to create it, it felt like too much. If people didn't see how creative my website could be, am I still creative?!

My website wasn’t inspiring me to write more, it felt stale, and it felt forced.

So I spent some time recently redesigning it down to the essentials. It's easier for me to write and publish more. There's no fluff or theatrics. No proving. Just an outlet for my Thoughts and an easy format for people to follow along.

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Spending two years in San Francisco, I've built relationships with some amazing visionaries and futurists.

They would share these beautiful ideas of where we are going and what's possible, and it's incredibly inspiring. Almost without fail, the more forward thinking they are, the more difficult it is for them to express what was going on inside their head. 30 minutes into the conversation and I would finally start to get it.

All of that complexity makes it next to impossible to get started. It's too far out in the future. Where do we even begin?

We as Creators and leaders have to do our best to simplify. Bring things back to the present moment in tasks, ideas and bite-sized chunks that can be manageable. The complex, future visions are important, but the beauty is in the simplicity.

I would often use the "my nephew" test with people. He's 8 years old. If he can't understand what you're talking about or figure out how to use your app or what problem you are solving, then there's opportunity to simplify. When he was 3 years old, he opened up snapchat and figured out how to post a snap. That's an admirable benchmark for ease of use.

Keep it simple. It is more effective, better for engagement, better for retention, and easier to build, iterate and improve.

We have to fight the urge to believe that more features, more complexity, bigger words and jargon make us look smarter and more sophisticated. The only one we are trying to prove that to is ourselves. Let it go.

Simple works. Be comfortable and confident in the simplicity and the results will speak for themselves.

How was it received?

One of my favorite follow-up questions when a leader tells me about a difficult conversation that they've had is:

"How was it received?"

When having difficult conversations with people we care about, it can be challenging to just say what we want to say. We become completely focused on the content of the message.

The next level beyond that the content is understanding how it was received.

It is our job as leaders to be present to how we are being received. We have the opportunity to tailor our message and delivery so that the recipient can absorb our message, understand our position, integrate any feedback, continue an open dialogue, not feel attacked, and actually deepen the relationship.

When we first make a choice to have difficult conversations, we tend to focus all of our energy on getting our points out. As we become more experieced in having these conversations, it becomes important to understand how that message will be received and optimize for that.

How can I have more impact?

We took a small group of top performing salespeople and entrepreneurs into the Tenderloin in San Francisco to give out food and supplies to homeless people. Most of these people were from out of town and had no idea what we were in for. None of us did really.

We arranged to have someone lead our group who works with the community to supervise and keep us safe. At the last second, our safety guide had cancelled on us. After some scramble, they said that they found someone to come out with us.

It’s hard to put words to what we all experienced that day. It was powerful on so many levels, and yet the biggest take away for me personally had nothing to do with serving the homeless.

The woman who came to our rescue had been on disability. She had been working and volunteering until they made her stop. When she heard about our story and what we were doing, she knew she had to answer the call. By the end of the day, she was crying, we were crying and we were all left with this feeling -- how can we do more.

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I listen to entrepreneurs and brands with these noble visions about how they are going to change the world and create massive social impact. I’m grateful for their commitment and dedication to improving the planet for all of us.

But… there’s a but.

If we want to have more impact, we have to take care of ourselves first.

I know this may seem counterintuitive or even selfish, so stay with me here. Our ability to give more is directly proportional to how well we are doing individually, to our own energy, to have our personal needs met.

This woman was on disability, and she wanted nothing more than to be out there doing more for the community. She had to focus on herself and her healing first though because she literally had nothing left to give. Such is the case with so many who put service ahead of their own needs.

Some of these companies and brands with these ambitious charitable goals are unfortunately going to have to learn this lesson the hard way. They have to create massive value and create a profitable, sustainable business first so that they can be around long enough to make the contribution and impact they envision.

I have so much love and respect for these companies with these bold, impact-driven mission statements just as I did for the woman who lead our group in the Tenderloin on that rainy Saturday afternoon.

If we want to have more impact, focus internally first and make sure our own house in order. And while that process may not be as fast or as easy as we'd like, it is absolutely necessary if we want our impact to ripple throughout the universe.