Hey, 

I hope you are doing well and looking forward to the week ahead. 

I’ve been quiet on social media and the blog as I’ve been working a lot, and also trying to launch a fun little project with my sons (well, two of them). We've been building the foundations this last week!

My eldest is looking to study advertising and marketing at University and my youngest (11) is an entrepreneur at heart (always looking for new business ideas (and making money)). My middle kid….well, he’s not sure what he wants to do just yet. 

After realising (sadly) that my youngest’s Lemonade stand business would require a permit and health certification, he asked if he could join me and my eldest with our project. 

As such, the three of us are embarking on a creative (and business) adventure. My eldest is looking to own the marketing and advertising, whilst my youngest has taken on the self nominated label of “Creative Director”. 

I'm not sure what role he thinks he will be playing but we'll all just get stuck in to build it up. Last night he was designing t-shirts..... not sure how many people will buy a t-shirt with the words "my big brother is a poo" written on it...but you never know.

I’ll share more next week on what the project is, where to find it and how to follow along (if you’re interested). It should be fun, we’ll aim to actually make some money, and it will be a great lesson in running an internet business, marketing products, finding an audience and creating value. 

They want to learn through doing the work itself and proximity to me, rather than just reading some books.

And that leads me on to today’s newsletter topic which is proximity. 

For those new to the Meeting Notes newsletter, welcome, I’m Rob, Chief Side Hustle Officer at Cultivated Management. This newsletter is about mastering the art of communication and creativity - and cultivating a bright future of work. 

Proximity

In our world of work we have no shortage of training.

When I first started out in work, I had limited access to online training, the internet was pretty new still and we had to fight REALLY hard just to get some training within the company. 

Things have changed for the better but I’m not convinced the results are where they need to be.

We have a plethora (you know I love that word) of training. I’ve worked in companies where people can take unlimited training and certification courses. 

I work with people everyday who have WAY more qualifications than I do. In a straight CV comparison on training and certifications alone, they would be head and shoulders above me for sure. 

However, to paraphrase Neil Gamen, there are plenty of qualified people who don’t know what they’re doing. 

There is often a significant gap between knowing and doing.

Being able to do the work is way more powerful than knowing how to do it, but not doing it. 

Proximity to good people is the key to knowing how to do great work (that, and doing the work itself). Proximity to people who are great at what they do is far more effective than a lesson. 

Watching someone who is an expert in what they do, is more powerful than reading a book about how to do the work.

No lessons or certifications are needed to study an expert. 

What they do, what they say, how they say it, the way they carry themselves and the work they create are all behaviours. And, if we’re astute, we can see these behaviours in actions.

We can copy, mimic, study, observe and weave in what we see into our own behaviours. To do this we need proximity - we need to be with them or near them. 

The best way to become a great manager is to be close to a great manager.

Ideally they’ll be your boss. They will expect high standards from you but be kind when you don’t always meet them. They will exhibit a high bar of behaviours. They will provide hope and clarity and a future worth chasing. They will give you feedback to help you grow. They will demonstrate, through their very fabric of being them, what it means to be a good manager. 

Good communicators, leaders, creators, artists, carpenters, negotiators, coders - they’re all available as a model, as a yardstick to measure up to. We just need to be near them. 

This doesn’t just mean physically near. We can learn from seeing them in video, or watching talks they do. 

Jim Rohn said that we are the average of the people we hang around with. That’s true. It’s also true in work. 

Try to surround yourself with excellent role models, people with strong characters and people who you admire. Try to work with people who are excellent at what they do. Find people who are a joy to work with and are visibly passionate about their work. 

We can’t always do this - we’re sometimes surrounded by people we don’t enjoy working with - and don’t want to become. But where else could you look?

Communities are everywhere and they are packed with great role models. Conferences are a good shout too. There is always someone, somewhere, in a workplace who is to be admired and emulated. 

When you have proximity to good people, study them, observe them, watch what they do. It's often in the fine details that you understand why they are good at what they do.

Apply an astute eye for observation on your part.

If you do this you'll find way more value in simply observing and deconstructing someone's behaviours, than any lesson or course can teach. I've written about why nothing worth knowing can be taught.

Sure, we sometimes must get certified, but don’t let that replace being close to someone who is an expert. 

On the job training is invaluable, surrounding yourself with high quality people is essential and shifting your own behaviours based on what you see from these people, is the path to becoming better at what you do. 

Proximity beats a lesson anytime. 

Support Cultivated Management

This newsletter is a labour of love and will always be free, but it's not free to create it - if you’d like to support my work please consider:

  1. Sharing this content with others you feel would get value from it.
  2. Downloading the free ebook 10 Behaviours of effective employees.
  3. Buying a copy of Zero to Keynote
  4. Sitting the online Communication Super Power Workshop to develop your super power in work

It means a lot. Thank you.

Until next time. Have a great week.

Rob..

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