Book buying motivations

If you like to read a lot, you have several options. Here’s some:

• Find a good local independent bookstore and buy a lot of books.

• Buy a kindle and download everything from Amazon.

• Live across the road from the Library

All of these achieve the same end result: Access to a lot of books to read. But you probably have a preference. Because how they get you there, and what it feels like, and what it means, is different.

It might be about status: Showing you are able to afford a large library; showing how well read you are; showing you support local business.

It might be about functionality: You travel often; you read multiple books at a time; you read a lot of out of print and reference books.

It might be about the aesthetic: You like the look and feel of real books; you hate clutter; you are in a particular profession and ‘should’ have a library.

Status vs Functionality vs Aesthetics

What other decisions are like this?

• The car you drive?

• The clothes you wear?

• The house you buy?

• The fence you build?

• The job (title) you have?

Dine in or takeaway?

Do you prefer to dine in, or takeaway? The answer is probably: It depends.

So, what does it depend on?

Let’s make it simpler and see if we can narrow it down:

If you are at a cafe and just getting coffee, do you prefer to dine in, or takeaway?

If it depends, what does it depend on?

• How rushed you are?

• If you’re with someone?

• If it’s the weekend?

• If you’re at work?

• How busy the cafe is?

• If you brought your keep cup?

If it doesn’t depend on anything, what basis has fixed your decision?

• You don’t use takeaway coffee cups for environmental reasons?

• You only drink coffee when you have time to sit down?

• You only buy coffee from a hole-in-the-wall which only does takeaway?

• You only get coffee from a place which only does dine-in?

• You get your coffee in a takeaway cup regardless because you like the taste?

Contextual decision making vs pre-decision making is an interesting contrast in approach.

Jeans shopping is like house buying

It's unusual to enjoy shopping for jeans. Unless you have a go-to staple style and never change size, or you have a model-esque body and excessive amounts of money, jeans shopping is an exercise in patience and persistence.

Ultimately though, when you've tried on the eleventh pair in the fourth shop for the third time, the questions of size, cut, colour, zip vs button fly, pockets or not, boil down to one questions:

"Do they fit me?" 

This could be phrased as: Are we a good match? Do I feel comfortable? Will I enjoy wearing these jeans?"

Buying a house might be exciting, but for most people it's a long series of difficult decisions. Especially if you're doing it for the first time.

And at the end of the day, the real question is the same as for jeans shopping: "Do this house fit me?"

Is it a good match? Do I feel comfortable here? Will I enjoy spending time in this house?"

How do we know what we really need?

Ever overdone something? Too much to eat. Ran too far. Stayed up too late. Took on too much work. Spent too much money.

We're not very good at knowing what we need.

We know what we want, and we know how we've got it in the past.
We know what we're supposed to have, and how other people have got it before.
We know what someone else has, and we've assumed we need it too.

It sounds like this:

"We need to move out of this two-bedroom apartment into a three bedroom house because we're having our second baby"

"We need to buy a house in this area because the school is better"

"I need to get my own place, because I'm nearly 30"

Notice how we often use the word 'need' when we really mean 'want'.

Really, really, really wanting something to the point where not having it is painful, still isn't a need.

Do we really need an extra bedroom? A second ensuite?

Do we really need to live in that neighbourhood? On that street?

Do we really need to live with those people? Or without them?

Do we really need a double garage?

Try going without, and see what happens.

Organising for good, better.

There are many ways to work together. McKinsey & Company identified four organisational 'recipes'. Interestingly, their research found that focussing on a single recipe was more likely to be successful than attempting to delivery on multiple fronts.

If we wanted to build a system together that delivered better outcomes for all people through property, which recipe would we pick?

I suspect one of the following two could be a valid approach, and aligns with an emphasis on people working together to solve wicked problems.

The "Leadership Factory".

This approach would rely on developing leaders, entrusting them to do work, and wrapping them in support systems to sustain and grow their leadership and impact. Leadership is necessary when we're trying to move in a new direction, and a coordinated group of embedded, aligned and supported leaders could move us all a long way.

The "Continuous Improvement Engine".

We'd embed and maintain systems that promote continuous learning, knowledge sharing, diverse involvement and high engagement among every person involved. As we're trying to solve and unsolved problem, we know we'll need to learn as we go along. "Build it as we fly it" as the saying goes. And we also know that the more diverse the group of people involved in the learning, sharing and design process, the better the outcomes.

Perhaps, if I may, I'll deviate from McKinsey's conclusion that success requires focus on a single approach and theorise on a hybrid model:

Continually Improving Leaders who Continuously Improve the World

What would happen if we developed leaders who lead in a manner that promotes continuous learning, and who themselves are embedded in a leadership network that encourages knowledge sharing and learning around getting the most from others.

We could solve some wicked problems. Together.

The beauty of preparation and planning

There are few baseline fundamentals when it comes to making the world a better place. Here's a couple:

1. It works better when we work together.
2. You never know what is coming.

Planning and preparation are key to both of these.

Prepare together. Align your thinking. Uncover your strengths and weaknesses. Learn to communicate. Resolve conflict. Agree on principles.

And then when an unexpected decision-making moment arrives: Check in on each other, check alignment, check strength, and act decisively.

Crucial moments rarely allow time to think everything through. So have 80% of the conversation before the moment arrives. And develop the skills to nail the last 20%. 

Cover off the basics of the decision using pre-established principles, and discuss the details that arrive in the decisive moment.

* This is more about life than about property, but I suspect you could apply a similar logic to a house project.