The 30:40:30 rule

I’ve got a funny relationship with optimism and pessimism. After working in corporate PR for decades I’m pretty jaded. When a senior leader makes a stupid decision with painful consequences, I’m not surprised or indignant. I just shrug. Of course that’s what happened . . . And now let’s go clean it up.

When I was starting my career, so much of the job was FUN. But by the time I got into senior management and was running a messy, dynamic, global PR team, fun was a distant memory. I always asked my senior peeps, “Are we OK at this five minutes in time?” Because I knew that there’d be a catastrophe at minute six. We all knew it. We stared reality in the face, smiled, and gutted our way through whatever came.

I started to view my whole career through the lens of the 30:40:30 rule, which came to me in a flash one tedious day at work. Here it is:

Expect the bottom 30% of your senior job to be hideous – intractable problems, overwhelming pressure, unbearable dysfunction. This part of the job is endured as you remind yourself that this is why they give you money to show up every day.
Realize that a lot of your job – the middle 40% – is mundane, ordinary stuff like conference calls, weekly meetings, your inbox. Not offensive, not stimulating either.
Hope for the top 30% of your job to be rewarding – the pleasure of watching your team grow and thrive, working on an engaging creative project, meeting and working with great teams around the world.

The 30:40:30 rule helps me set my own expectations. But this is a newsletter about communication, so why am I talking about expectations?

Because you have to put on your own oxygen mask first. When you cast aside denial, despair, and crushed expectations, you can lead your team through the obstacles you’re facing. The words you say can become their lifeline.

You can tell the truth about grim realities and communicate your strategy for navigating through them. You can share your stories of strength and inspiration. You can recognize your team’s remarkable stamina and strength as they follow you through Mordor. When you have the right expectations, you can say the right things. You can support everyone through the bottom 30% and lead them toward the top 30%.

Not sure how to crush your next presentation? Persuade that difficult customer or team member? Navigate tough questions from regulators, press, your boss? How about some pragmatic, actionable communications advice?

If you are a startup founder, an intrapreneur at a company, or a leader looking to grow, consider Office Hours with Lisa, a great way to get bite-sized, personalized communications coaching. Because your business must scale and you must scale with it. Because it’s the great communicators who create change!