The Genius of the &

“The test of a first-rate intel­li­gence is the abil­i­ty to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the abil­i­ty to func­tion.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald

I love the “&” sign!

In his book Built to Last, Jim Collins talks about the genius of the ​“and” over the tyran­ny of the ​“or”, and hav­ing to choose one or the oth­er. But you don’t have to choose just one.

When I changed the name of the firm to Lawrence & Co, we real­ly thought about that sign and its mean­ing for me.

Our firm’s phi­los­o­phy for more than 25 years, has been about cre­at­ing an excit­ing, endur­ing, amaz­ing busi­ness in our careers, & liv­ing a great life. Too many suc­cess­ful high per­form­ers are not excit­ed about their lives, so the genius of the & is to tru­ly bring two chal­leng­ing things together.

It has always had been about inclu­sion ver­sus exclusion.

I thought about this at brunch recent­ly when I saw three spec­tac­u­lar-look­ing Eggs Bene­dict options on the menu. It was hard to decide, but since I like to share my part­ner ordered one, and I the oth­er. Such a sim­ple strat­e­gy to get the genius of ​“and” ver­sus ​“or”! We got to enjoy both with­out eat­ing too much.

In busi­ness, we have many sit­u­a­tions where we think we have to choose between speed and qual­i­ty or cost, or between pur­pose and prof­it, or between engag­ing employ­ees or expect­ing high­er output.

That’s often lim­it­ed or unso­phis­ti­cat­ed think­ing. If you put the ener­gy in, as think­ing and brain­storm­ing takes time, you can often have epipha­nies of very sim­ple solu­tions to bring two chal­leng­ing and oppos­ing things together.

A lit­tle more com­pli­cat­ed than shar­ing Eggs Bene­dict, but you get the idea.

The Chal­lenge

• Look at a deci­sion you need to make when you’re try­ing to choose between two variables.
• Talk to your team. Sit and brain­storm to bring your ideas together.
• Focus on a solu­tion to how can you make it an & — a choice that includes the two variables.

For more about this, lis­ten to Episode 75 of The Growth Whisperers.

Lawrence & Co’s work focus­es on sus­tain­able and enhanced growth for you and your busi­ness. Our diverse and expe­ri­enced group of advi­sors can help your lead­ers and exec­u­tive teams stay com­pet­i­tive through the use of var­i­ous learn­ing tools includ­ing work­shops, webi­na­rs, exec­u­tive retreats, or one-to-one coaching.

We help high-achiev­ing lead­ers to have it all – a great busi­ness and a reward­ing life. Con­tact us for sim­ple and impact­ful advice. No BS. No fluff.