Author: Mitch Plys

The Playbook

I build coloring books for executives.

That used to be the line I would say when people asked me what I do.

Saying this was a lighthearted way to put management consulting (MC), but a more energizing description might be to change the word “coloring” with “play.”

At the end of the day, the majority of the MC work I do is related to strategy and building out these playbooks.

Just as coaches look to their players, so do executives/managers look to their employees to get the job done.

Often while the game of business is being played, the players/employees will step off to the sidelines and ask “what’s next.” The coach then pulls out his playbook to decide the upcoming course of action. Sometimes its in defensive mode (playing to respond to competition), other times on offense (playing to differentiate/innovate in the marketplace). And sometimes he decides to throw out the playbook and call an audible.

But at the end of the day, every coach has a playbook. Even if he doesn’t know it. And you do too.

Digging Feet in the Sand

Stay in your lane usually has a negative connotation, but I find it to be incredibly helpful at times.

Yes, its important to get out of your comfort zone, listen to feedback, and grow.

But there is something powerful and profound when someone says: “This is what I believe, and I’m willing to die for it.”

Once we make our claim and dig our feet into the sand, it seems the waves of life hit extra hard, and the ground is swept from under our feet.

Yet, slowly over time, the tides change.

The sand that was moving away from you and rocking your stance is now coming back, and building a wall of support and help around your (once) crazy ideas.

The world likes to laugh at new ideas, the problems we recognize that the general population haven’t noticed, the solutions we develop that aren’t needed.

Until one day, maybe a few years from now, those same crazy, rejected ideas become “common sense.”

Just Stupid Enough

Came across a short video of an upcoming artist who magically went viral with a song he wrote in two hours. (As always the case, I’m sure he has been beating on his craft for multiple years before that new song took off.)

When asked why he got lucky, his answer was, I think I was “just stupid enough” to think I had a chance.

This really struck a cord (pun intended) with me.

Yes, we need to work hard in life to not be an idiot. Yet there is something to having some naivety – to be foolish enough to think it could work out.

If we play the odds and look at the statistics, we can get distracted and overwhelmed. That negative mindset could change our life’s narrative and give us reasons to never release that song, write the business plan, or ask that girl out.

On the other hand, having ignorance to statistics and facts of life can give us a chance to do the impossible with our passions.

Maybe our unique stupidity is “just enough” for the world to relate.

Companies –> Houses

I’ve had the good fortune of living with some awesome people over the years. Whenever we move in together, whether it be a dorm, an apartment, or a house, there is the knowledge that its temporary. This knowledge does not change the fact that each of us want the place to be as fun and exciting as possible. From the day we move in, to the day we move out, we want to challenge and grow with each other to become better versions of ourselves.

This is how I think companies should act. Companies are houses for individuals that they can join and grow. Yes, money is needed, (How can you pay for the mortgage, new volleyball net, or team trip to the beach without it?) but it should not be the primary purpose. The growth of the individuals should be the primary focus, for when the house/room mates are growing, the overall place/company is as well.

Just as living situations and roommates are temporary, so should companies understand that employees will not stay forever. And that is ok. When roommates have moved out, there is no question of loyalty. They are on to bigger and better things, and so are you. You may reconnect with them at the old or a new house, but then again you may not. Overall, you know that you/them are better off having lived together in that house, for that particular time in your life.

If we start treating companies similarly to our houses, we may find that employees turn into friends, and those friends will end up making more money for the company (during their stay at the house) than any normal employee would.

Blank Pages

A blank page is a scary thing for a writer.

You can’t be a entrepreneur without a product/service.

You can’t make music without playing an instrument.

So you need to start.

Begin writing. Build that prototype. Play a chord.

Soon that first paragraph turns into pages, pages into chapters, chapters into books.

With every book, product design, and song, you will get better.

That’s the power of compounding interest.

First Moment of Applause

Reading Stephen King’s “On Writing,” one thing that particularly stands out to me is how he started his writing as a child and the encouragement from his mother the first time he shared a story with her. “I remember an immense feeling of possibility at the idea, as if I had ushered into a vast building filled with closed doors and had been given leave to open any I liked.” After his mother mentioned to him that his story was good enough to be a book, Steve said “nothing anyone has said to me since has made me feel happier.” His mother went out to buy his first series of 4 books for a total of $1.

Something happens when you try something new for the first time in front of someone. When you are willing to be vulnerable. Even more, something profound happens the first time you “wow” or impress someone. When you show something that causes an impression, appreciation, or applause. When someone is willing to buy what you created. That reaction you receive changes something within you. You then realize that life doesn’t just happen to you. You can poke at life, and something else can pop out of it.

First dance move I learned was the pin drop. I’ll always remember the reaction from my soccer team, some of the kids asking: “how did you do that?”

First time I played guitar in front of my parents, and they realized I learned to put together chords. My Dad let me bring the guitar to college because of it.

First time I sold products through Amazon or my dropshipping business. I gained the belief that I didn’t just need a job to create income. That with a enough work, I could create my own future.

All these little “wins” or moments of appreciation have driven me from just a kid trying something new to becoming a passion and part of my everyday life.

I’m curious – would Stephen King have ever sold 350 million copies of his books without his mother buying the first 4 books for $1?

Longboarding

One of Jordan Peterson’s Rules for Life is to “Don’t Bother Children When They Are Skateboarding.”

I quite frankly agree. Just got a long board myself for the first time, and boy is it scary jumping on that device for the first time. I like my feet on the ground. I like having something stable and comforting. All humans do, but its those who are willing to keep jumping onto skateboards, longboards, businesses, new jobs, new cities/states, that are the most happy. We need to lose our balance, get scraped knees, and go through pain/frustration to learn new tricks.

What good looks like

Before starting a project or assignment, its incredibly important to understand “what good looks like.” I remember studying for “case interviews” before going into management consulting, and one of the first question they train you to ask is: “What constitutes success?” In school, the first question kids ask is typically around the teacher’s scoring for tests. We all want to know what a “good job,” looks like. Yet, one of the things I am realizing now that I have been in the workforce, is that there are a lot of times where no one has the answer. Its in these moments where we need to trust our gut, go off pattern recognition, and use common sense. Because common sense is no longer common, we also need to be able to zone out on our own, and come up with our own vision for “what good looks like.” This vision can be an iterative one, changing based on the latest information received and new questions that arise. But its vital to still develop one. Nobody ever solved a large puzzle without looking off the box picture.

Move fast

In a world of instant gratification, the man who is patient will win. But being patient is not enough. We cant just wait for things to happen. In the micro, we need to be focused on speed. We need to be not afraid to “move fast and break things.” Because its only in breaking things that we will eventually come up with something new, something “big.” This “big thing” will not be an individual moment, but all the series of moments that led up to it. There is no such thing as a overnight success, just a series of days and nights after years of perpetually beating on our craft and ourselves.

“But will it scale?”

One of the most overused words/questions in business: “But will it scale?” “How do we scale this?”

Don’t get me wrong, its an important question. Big businesses thrive off of economies of scale, how to do bigger things for cheaper, how to grow products/services in a quick and seamless way.

However, in my own life, I feel like it was those things that don’t scale that made the biggest difference. It’s the one off conversations with an alumni which can lead to an internship, a personalized cold email to get to meet a CEO/world leader.

In following the “nontraditional” paths that are not supposed to typically work, or cannot in a grand scale, we have the ability to introduce personalization, expand our creativity, and potentially find new solutions that others will never see.