As promised, for 50 weeks during 2017, I’ll bring some of the best minds and most fascinating people in the world to the program. They will share their insights, stories, and recommendations about effective collaboration, leadership, accountability, vulnerability, and much more. We’ll talk about what’s next and look at how, together, we can prepare for a future most of us can barely imagine.
It all starts on January 12th with Charlene Li, and I’ll invite guests to the program from all walks of life each and every week throughout the Year of the Peer. If there’s a guest you’d like me to invite to the show, I welcome your suggestions! For both the cause and the podcast to be a success, it will take all of us, so I encourage you to share this post with your peers and get involved!
Subscribe today and don’t miss a single episode! Here’s our lineup for Q1:
January 12th, Charlene Li, CEO of the Altimeter Group and Best-Selling Author
January 19th, Rich Karlgaard, Publisher and Global Futurist for Forbes
January 26th, Lewis Schiff, Founder & Executive Director, The Business Owners Council
February 2th, JJ Ramberg, Host of Your Business (MSNBC) and Business Owner
February 9th, Jim Kouzes, Coauthor of The Leadership Challenge and former CEO
February 16th, Vitaly Golomb, Investor & Global Startup Evangelist, HP Tech Ventures
February 23rd, Rahfeal Gordon, Inspirational Speaker/Author
March 2nd, Etienne & Beverly Wenger-Trayner, Scholars/Authors/Consultants
March 9th, Laura Goodrich, Co-Founder, GWT Next and author of Seeing Red Cars
March 16th, Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Education
March 23rd, Leon Shapiro, Coauthor of The Power of Peers and former CEO
March 30th, Bri Seeley & Thais Sky, co-founders of The Amplify Collective
Who you surround yourself with matters! Who’s surrounding you? See you in 2017! #yearofthepeer
I got a jump-start on the Year of the Peer today (the day after Christmas), as I participated in my CEO World online group meeting, where we reflected on 2016 and talked about our goals for 2017. Sharing my goals out loud with a group of my peers helps me hold myself accountable to what I want to achieve in life. Rather than make a New Year’s resolution I’m likely to break, I make a promise to myself that I’m far more inclined to keep, not only because I expressed it to my peers, but also because these are the people who will be there for me next year and who will help me do what I said I want to do. And I’ll be there for them as well.
During our group meeting, I was asked, “What did you learn last year?” I immediately thought about what Rahfeal Gordon said to me when we recorded his podcast last week (which will post February 23rd). Rahfeal said that he lives his life by living up to high standards as opposed measuring success or failure against his or others’ lofty expectations. I feel as if I’ve approached my work on peer advantage and the Year of the Peer with that in mind – in part because I’m not sure what to expect! 😉 Yet, I couldn’t help appreciate the manner in which Rahfeal articulated it for me in such a powerful and simple way. He taught me how to express this idea more clearly to others.
If there’s anything the audiences at events, readers of this blog, or listeners to my podcast can do for the cause (and me) next year, other than to spread the word, lend a helping hand to your peers, and contribute your own thoughts and ideas to the dialogue, it’s to hold me to a high standard of delivering peer-to-peer value. With that, I would appreciate anything you have to share with me on that front, and I promise you that I’ll work to be better each and every day. (There, I said it out loud!)
With a great deal of help, I hope that, together, we can inspire a new consciousness about what peer advantage can mean for all of us if we just put our minds to it. If we embrace the concept “who you surround yourself with matters” just a little more tightly, I think we’re in for a prosperous 2017.
In 2017, I’m convinced that, together, we will inspire a positive change in the way we engage one another in business and in life. If you contribute to the Year of the Peer in just one small way, you’ll see how effective the power of peers, the power of “us”, can truly be.
Add LinkedIn to the List!
The good news is that contributing is easy: 1) Be on the lookout for positive stories and examples of the amazing peer-to-peer interactions that are happening all around us each and every day – in our schools, businesses, communities, social media, peer advisory groups, etc. They are not getting the attention they deserve, so let’s shine a brighter light on them. 2) Take the lessons from those examples and bring them into your own life and to those closest to you. 3) When you encounter something worth telling the world about, or you have a story of your own that could inspire someone else, see to it that it’s captured for all of us on your favorite social media platform using (hashtag) #yearofthepeer.
As I write this, the voice of Ryan Foland is ringing in my head, asking me to answer the question, “What problem are we trying to solve for?” It’s a fair question, and I hope my response creates a sense of urgency as to why it matters so much, especially now.
What problem are we trying to solve for?
We’re coming off the most divisive presidential election in modern U.S. history. As a society, we’ve come to debate more than dialogue, talk more than listen, and judge rather than learn. Trust in our institutions is low and the political climate for compromise has never been more toxic. It’s classic boiling frog syndrome. It’s become a big problem and we’re paying a high price.
Consider this sobering example, the 1948 “Do Nothing (80th) Congress,” as labeled by Harry Truman, passed more public laws (906) than the 112th, 113th and current 114th Congress combined (as of October 2016). Apparently, it’s become more acceptable for our respective representatives to be intractable and come home empty-handed, than to accomplish something that would actually benefit the American people.
That said, blaming our political leaders is not a solution, nor is it entirely their fault. It’s bigger than that. Collaboration and compromise breed casualties across all sectors – winners and losers, leaders who “caved to the other side.” As long as everything remains a zero-sum game and those who collaborate to reach sensible compromise continue to be marginalized by the media (and the public, by the way), we’ll all be the biggest loser.
Neither collaboration nor compromise are four-letter words. This is where CEOs have an opportunity to lead by example. Consider that in 2013, a study conducted at Stanford Graduate School of Business concluded that nearly two-thirds of CEOs don’t receive outside leadership advice. Seeking the help and assistance of others is a sign of strength, not weakness, no matter what position you hold in an organization.
Together, we have the power to send a message to every sector of our society that it’s time for a change, because somehow, somewhere along the line, we stopped listening to what our elementary school teachers taught us all those years ago: We’re simply not working and playing well with others nearly as well as we could. This is the problem we’re trying to solve for, and if we don’t start now, it’s only going to get worse to our detriment.
A Positive Example of What’s Possible
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from two decades of watching the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team and studying their program (4 consecutive national championships and currently riding an 84-game winning streak) is that being a good teammate is more important than the individual stats or accomplishments of any one player. That’s why in 2015, Nate Silver dubbed it the most dominant basketball program on the planet. We need to borrow a page from UConn’s playbook. What if all of us just committed ourselves to being better teammates?
What’s Next…
In addition to speaking and writing, let me talk about another small contribution to the larger cause. For 50 weeks during 2017, I’ll bring some of the best minds in the world together to share their insights, stories, and recommendations about how we can work together more effectively – how to seek common ground and see one another for our gifts rather than our differences. Guests appearing on my podcast: Year of the Peer with Leo Bottary during Q1 will include Altimeter Group CEO, Charlene Li; Forbes publisher and global futurist, Rich Karlgaard; Founder and Executive Director of the Business Owners Council, Lewis Schiff; Host of MSNBC’s Your Business, JJ Ramberg; Inspirational speaker, Rahfeal Gordon; global start-up evangelist, Vitaly Golomb; and best-selling coauthor of more than 30 leadership books, including The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes, among others.
My hope is that you’ll subscribe to the free podcast and invite your friends and colleagues to do so as well. Of course the podcast is just one small part of a larger movement. If you see this opportunity before us in 2017 as I do, I also invite you to read these two blog posts to get you ready for the Year of the Peer and, in turn, for you to share your ideas and stories with all of us during the coming 12 months.
This fast changing, complex world is going to ask more of us than ever before. We’ll have to rely on one another to meet the challenges of a future most of us can barely imagine. Going it alone isn’t going to cut it. Who you surround yourself with matters. Remember to use (hashtag) #yearofthepeer, share this post with your friends and colleagues, and join us on January 12th for our first podcast with guest Charlene Li! Thanks for reading!
It was Christmas ten years ago that YOU were named TIME’s Person of the Year! My guess is that most of you never noted it on your resume or added it to your LinkedIn profile. I’m just wondering, “Why not?”
For all these years, you probably believed that “you” wasn’t specific to you; it was more of an “us” thing. You may have thought that because you didn’t earn this distinction entirely on your own, including it among your list of honors and awards would have been considered a stretch, so to speak. That’s understandable. So let me invite you to think of it this way instead: No other human who has ever been named TIME’s Person of the Year did it entirely on their own either. (Check out the list). They had help – lots of it. Here are a few excerpts from Lev Grossman’s 2006 piece, You — Yes, You — Are TIME’s Person of the Year, just to put what you did in perspective:
“The ‘Great Man’ theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that ‘the history of the world is but the biography of great men.’ He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year. To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006…
“But look at 2006 through a different lens and you’ll see another story, one that isn’t about conflict or great men. It’s a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It’s about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people’s network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It’s about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.”
I encourage you to read the entire article, but here was the kicker for me:
“But that’s what makes all this interesting. Web 2.0 is a massive social experiment, and like any experiment worth trying, it could fail. There’s no road map for how an organism that’s not a bacterium lives and works together on this planet in numbers in excess of 6 billion. But 2006 gave us some ideas. This is an opportunity to build a new kind of international understanding, not politician to politician, great man to great man, but citizen to citizen, person to person. It’s a chance for people to look at a computer screen and really, genuinely wonder who’s out there looking back at them. Go on. Tell us you’re not just a little bit curious.”
Fast-forward a decade. In my first Year of the Peer podcast, to be released January 12th, Charlene Li suggests that despite the fact that we have more ways of connecting with one another than ever, real conversation has given way to the Bully Pulpit. I agree with her assessment. There’s too much talking, not enough listening, and not nearly enough dialogue. If that’s the case, we’re not maximizing our potential as a society when it comes to building international understanding – citizen to citizen, person to person. We’re just not.
I don’t think we’re failing at what Grossman described as a “massive social experiment,” but I do believe we’ve gotten sidetracked. My hope is that if, together, we embrace the Year of the Peer – or at least the sentiment behind it – that we can realize our global collaborative potential. With any luck, we’ll be named TIME’s Person of the Year for a second time. And when that happens, whether it’s 2017 or 2018, you can add another Person of the Year honor to your resume!
If you asked someone to define the word peer, or to describe a peer, he/she might respond by saying, “Someone like me.” While that’s partly true, it doesn’t mean you can’t have peers who are very different from you as well. When you think of the word peer in this way, you can start to consider the implicit value of peer diversity.
The very notion of peer diversity may feel like a contradiction, but by broadening your definition of peer, it allows you to consider the value of engaging people from different backgrounds and various walks of life. When I interviewed iHeartMedia Chairman & CEO, Bob Pittman for The Power of Peers, he told me:
“I go to Burning Man every year. I go there because it’s the most radical departure from the life that I lead in business that I could imagine. It’s great for me because, for a week, I’m seeing the world completely differently. I like to travel to exotic places and countries. I like to go to Bhutan, where they have “Gross National Happiness” instead of gross national product, and spend a week there just to sort of sense, okay, how can I change my perspective? I think everyone in this company is looking to my leadership to be open-minded. They’re looking to me to find a new path, to help find the pivots, to help find the transformations. Anything that can guide me on that is the most important thing.”
Peer diversity is not an oxymoron. As you prepare for the new year (the Year of the Peer, if you will), think about spending time with people outside your social circle or vertical industry sector. Step out of your comfort zone. Hang out with people whose experiences and backgrounds are different from your own and who likely know things you don’t. When they espouse an opinion that’s different from yours, rather jump to making a judgment about it (as many of us often do), ask questions in the hope you can discover where they are coming from and how they formed their opinion – even if you ultimately don’t agree with it. This is how we learn and how we keep that open mind Bob Pittman talked about.
Consider this quote from Seth Godin: “A fundamentalist considers whether a fact is acceptable to their faith before they explore it. A curious person explores first and then considers whether they want to accept the ramifications.”
As you prepare for the upcoming year, rather than make a lofty new year’s resolution, make yourself a promise instead: engage more people unlike yourself and stay curious.
…just don’t tell the little ones! It appears that Santa(s) got a jump-start on the Year of the Peer today at the annual Crested ButteSanta Ski and Crawl (Pub Crawl, that is). The featured image was taken at last year’s event. I caught up with a few Santas at today’s spectacle (see below) who I could hear sharing all kinds of info that only Santas would truly understand, yet could benefit us all. Unless you’ve sat in Santa’s Chair, with kids sitting on your lap asking you for stuff all day long, you can’t empathize, but you can learn something.
While part of the allure is setting the world record* for the number of skiing Santas, I got the sense that they just really like spending time together, talking Santa to Santa, if you will. It was snowing up on the mountain today, and while the conditions may have deterred some people, the Santas weren’t even fazed – as you might imagine. This was nothing for them. I felt a little guilty eavesdropping, but I learned so much! Everything from how to groom one’s beard in the off-season to what to wear on Christmas eve so that you can stay warm in Minnesota and still be comfortable in South Florida.
If you have friends or colleagues that you would love to give a present to this holiday season, but you really don’t want to spend any money on them (or you want to add to what you’re already giving them), sign them up to receive the weekly Year of the Peer Podcast – it’s free and it will be the gift that keeps on giving in 2017! Just tell them Santa(s) recommended it!
*As for whether there was a world record set today or not, I’ll get back to you!
Listed in alphabetical order by the author’s last name, you’ll find twelve “must reads” for the Year of the Peer. Read one a month starting in January. If you’ve read one or more of them already, offer your reviews or add a title of your own you may not see here! If you’re so inclined, any one of these books would be a wonderful holiday gift for a friend or colleague!
While it would be amazing if I were talking about age and how 50 is really the new 24 in terms of our health, fitness, appearance, etc., I have some other news to share. As Randy Cantrell and I have been reaching out to top business leaders, scholars, and authors to appear on our 2017 Year of the Peer Podcast series starting January 12th, we quickly realized, based on the positive responses we’ve received and the breadth of the topic, that 24 shows wasn’t going to cut it.
Our original plan was to release the show on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month in the hope we could attract that many guests and that the conversations would provide enough diversity for our audience. It’s become apparent now that we underestimated the potential of this podcast series on both fronts. The good news is that we figured it out now.
So we’re pleased to announce that every Thursday from January 12th thru December 21st (50 shows), you’ll be able listen and/or view a new podcast featuring some amazing people. As promised, some you may know, others you may not (but you will soon), as all of them are amazing at what they do and will have some incredible stories and wisdom to share about what the power of peers means to them and what it can mean for you and your organization.
They will share their insights, stories, and recommendations about effective collaboration, leadership, accountability, vulnerability, and much more. We’ll talk about what’s next and look at how, together, we can prepare for a future most of us can barely imagine.
“The ‘Great Man’ theory of history is usually attributed to the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who wrote that ‘the history of the world is but the biography of great men.’ He believed that it is the few, the powerful and the famous who shape our collective destiny as a species. That theory took a serious beating this year. To be sure, there are individuals we could blame for the many painful and disturbing things that happened in 2006…
