Shampoo and Condition

When you shampoo your hair, the primary chemical agent at work is called a surfactant. The tail of the molecule attracts oil, while the head attracts water. When you lather, the tail binds to any unwanted oils and dirt from your scalp. When you condition it you coat the hair, protecting the good stuff.

This process - stripping away the bad stuff, and strengthening the good stuff - is almost alchemical when applied to organizations. 

To shampoo is to begin with a process early Christian theologians called via negativa. You decide what to keep by deciding what to cut. As a fundraiser, this means everyone in your portfolio is on the chopping block. No sacred cows. Act as if every member of your portfolio is cut, and then add back in the ones who are adding value. In neuroscience (and gardening) this is called “pruning” - it’s the way you sever synaptic connections you don’t need.

Systems learn by removing parts, so remove everything you possibly can. Strip everything that isn’t serving your objectives. Every appointment on your calendar, every app on your phone, every ornate flourish in your marketing material. Email newsletters, social media sites, quarterly planning meetings, cut them all down to the bone. 

If you are in a supervisory position, this includes your employees. If you are a business owner, this includes suppliers and clients. 

And now, with this step complete, you can condition your hair. 

Pressure test everything until it fails, strengthen the first part that failed, and pressure test again. Inject a little chaos into your system to see how the pieces respond. If you’re completely overwhelmed with work, go on vacation with very little notice. Ask impertinent questions about cost or quality. Solicit the most brutal feedback you can find - from inside or outside of your organization. 

You are human, so you understand the errors humans make. Plan for them. Plan for greed, for stupidity, for impulsivity, for fear, for people who default to consensus, for people who can’t think too far ahead, for identity politics. Shield yourself against the most obvious threats. 

The more effort you put towards fortifying yourself against bad outcomes, the more fear you generate, and the more likely it is that those bad outcomes appear. Relax your grip. It’s the system - shampoo and condition, shampoo and condition, that will shield you against the things you fear the most. 

Once you start becoming aware of this shampoo and condition pattern, you can see it everywhere. I hope you are able to make use of it.