Hey, everybody. John here. I want to introduce the concept of the LDI iceberg. Let me start with a question: Are you a finished product as a human being, or are you a work in progress? Over my 40-50 years of asking this question worldwide, the answer is always the same: “I’m still a work in progress.” So, where do you do your progressing and development? LDI focuses on using daily experiences as developmental input, turning your work and life into personal growth opportunities. Let’s dive into the LDI iceberg and explore how improving relationships and emotional intelligence can be transformative.
Transcription
Hey, everybody. John here. I want to introduce this concept of the LDI iceberg. Let me start with a question. Are you a finished product as a human being, as a leader, as a manager, as a parent, as a friend, as a lover, whatever? Are you a finished product? Or are you a work in progress? Now, I’ve asked this question, I don’t know, for 40 or 50 years and probably on every continent, if you count New Zealand as a continent, every continent on the earth. And I always get the same answer: “Oh, I’m still a work in progress.” Okay, so where do you do your progressing? Where do you do your development? So LDI is all about that. LDI is about how can I use what happens to me during the day as developmental input? How can I use what happens to turn my work, turn my life into some kind of development for myself? So let’s get started. Let me share the screen. We’ll go here. And here is the first slide for the personal developmental iceberg.
I remember years ago, I first ran into a guy named Ken Einbender in 1980-something, and when he said this quote, it just went bang, just went right into me: “All power to accomplish flows through relationship.” And if you think about it, of course, I mean, your name may be in a box on an org chart somewhere. Okay, congratulations. But if another name went in that box, the music coming out of that piano would be different.
You can’t really get anything done if you’re trying to accomplish something. It all happens through relationships, either with an idea, a person, a group of people, or yourself. So LDI is all about improving the way you relate to the world, to ideas, to other people, and to yourself. So let’s get started here. This is the iceberg. This is the LDI developmental iceberg, and up there above that waterline, there’s what I like to call the work content or job skills. By the way, this model came out of a conversation years ago in the 1970s with Dick Bowles, Richard Bowles, who wrote the book “What Color is Your Parachute?” So, shout out to you, Dick, for this really lovely initial concept. So this is how you get hired. You get hired because you know how to do a particular type of work. You have this job, and these are skills that would be required. Like if you’re going to be in IT, you have to understand programming and all that stuff. And then what if you got transferred to marketing or sales? A lot of what you had to be really good at to be successful in one job doesn’t necessarily transfer to another job, but there’s some other skills just below that waterline called transferable skills. And these are things you could take anywhere, no matter whose name is on the logo, no matter what industry you’re in, no matter whether it’s at work, at home, with your kids, or with your friends.
What are some of the transferable skills? Well, all the people skills, communication, conflict resolution, problem-solving, knowing how to run meetings. If you think about it, all the stuff you need to know—Excel, spreadsheet, PowerPoint, whatever—all the stuff that you’re going to take anywhere you go in your life. But there’s another level even below that. And this is a level where very, very few people have a chance to go. Actually, this is what my coach, Jan Smith, called the adaptive level, how you learn to adapt when you were young to life. This is where EQ, emotional intelligence, is down here. I think EQ is more than just skills. It’s like, why do I do what I do? What am I about? For instance, if you want to be a good carpenter, one of the work content or job skills, maybe transferable, is how to use a hammer. Well, at this other level, at the adaptive level, what do you want to do with that hammer? Who’s the person behind the position? Carpenter. Your name is in a box. Who’s the person behind that position? That’s what this is about. Why? Because you may know a lot about stuff. You may be able to do stuff. This is important.
You have to know stuff. You have to be able to do stuff. But this other layer down here is who you are. And this is the force multiplier down here. This is where the LDI focuses. You’re definitely going to learn some skills you’re going to be able to use anywhere in your life. But the major, major impact is going to be here. And this is the force multiplier of the LDI, because everything that you know, everything you can do gets translated through who you are. How many people do you know who are really good at their job, but nobody wants to work with them? You know why? And it’s not just people skills. Maybe they went to a workshop, maybe they went to a program, and they learned some techniques for communication, stuff like that. But you have a feeling that they’re just running a number on you, right? There’s something else going on here. Who are they as a person? And sometimes, instinctively, people just don’t feel safe. They don’t trust them. They don’t respect them. Something like that. So LDI is going to focus here. I think you’re in for a fabulous ride, and I wish you luck. And thank you so much for letting me spend this time with you. Take care. Great to be with you.
