Why "uplevel"? I spent a good amount of time typing out words that I thought were central to my philosophy. I then grouped those words until I landed on a handful of theme words, words that sufficiently summed up a bunch of the other words. This got me to the "Humanize | Energize | Optimize" triad that is my tagline. But there was one more theme word that didn't fit with these other three: "Uplevel". So, instead, I kept the triad as it was and added the "always seek to elevate the conversation" line to my tagline. This line came from my own notes taken during training on Microsoft's Leadership Principles.
Here's the original blog post I had written for this line, posted the 2nd to the last week of my MS career (2024.01.25):
Elevate the Conversation
A colleague of mine recently got promoted to Principal (at Microsoft, the engineering levels are I, II, Senior, Principal, Partner, …) . In a conversation with me he said, "More is expected of me now that I'm a Principal. What are good examples of what I need to do more of?"
I responded, "Increase your Level of Thought, not your Number of Thoughts."
It's easiest to think about upgrading your role by increasing the volume of your output. But more impact comes not from an increase in volume but rather from an increase in altitude. So uplevel your approach. Survey the situation from a higher vantage point to take in more of the broader picture. "Earning your paycheck" requires different work at higher levels, not more work at the same level. In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey cited this Albert Einstein gem: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." (bolding mine)
So how can you uplevel your thinking? Keep asking "why" until you discover TheRightQuestionTM 1. In my notes from the Leadership Principles training, here were my notes scribbled for the 2nd leadership principle:
Synthesize the complex ("don't propagate the noise … propagate the signal")
Always seek to elevate the conversation (Pop the stack: why does this matter?)
Choose your focus
Vision (highest level of construal)
Planning
Detail
Problem
Drama (lowest level of construal)
I have ingrained these "levels of construal" in my brain and leverage them regularly when I'm in Observer mode. I feel like each "why?" question moves me up a level. Daniel Pink has a series in the new MasterClass @Work. In a segment on the topic of "Clarity", he introduces his "5 whys" approach: "Act like a 4 year old and keep asking why … The 5 why's get you closer to the root problem. 'but why?' and on the last why, solve that problem."
Get yourself out of the "drama" and into the "vision". Always seek to elevate the conversation.
Uplevel Pro
"Elevate" is fine in the context of that whole line, but on its own is too generic. Uplevel is probably the more fitting word to use in that line, and also stands alone nicely.
I have internalized and practiced this to the point that upleveling is second nature to me. So when my GoDaddy search for website names revealed that ".pro" was a possible extension, it made "uplevel.pro" the obvious name.
With that name in place, I got to work on the tag line for Uplevel Pro. Here's how that came together.
➡️Live Deliberately⬅️
Fifty-one weeks out of the year I am a father, husband, sibling, friend, coach, etc. One week out of the year, I am just me. My retreat is my annual Think Week2 (kudos to Bill Gates for modeling this at Microsoft). I have been doing this since 2001. I didn't do a very good job of selling this to my family and friends in the early years, and it led to a lot of confusion, and "is Jeff okay?" questions. But now folks around me see that I come back a better person than how I left. Stephen Covey talks about the need to regularly "Sharpen the Saw". This is one regular and intense sharpening I do. One week out of 52. Less than 2% of the year. It’s a very small investment with a huge long term payoff … for me and for everyone I interact with.
I start each retreat by reciting Thoreau: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came time to die, discover that I had not lived.” Recently, I was reminded that this quote also served as the opening of every Dead Poets Society meeting3. How fitting, given that DPS tops my Top 10 Movies list.
This quote deeply resonates with me, and I consider myself on a quest to Live Deliberately.
Live ➡️More⬅️ Deliberately
And it is a quest. I don't like the phrase "practice makes perfect." I prefer "practice makes better." And when it comes to living deliberately, it is a forever work in progress. So better than "live deliberately" is "live more deliberately". I want to be aware of where I am on my quest, and I want to celebrate that. And then, I want to push it further. Because, thus far, the return on investment of each of my auto-pilot to deliberate pivots has been great.
Live More ➡️and More⬅️ Deliberately
Kaizen is the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement. It's not about some big earthquake of a change that knocks you off your feet. It's about improvement through continuous small tweaks. Awareness begets more awareness. And as you notice opportunities, look for your next microadjustment. Then measure. Then repeat.
I didn't go on one retreat, up end my life, and never reassess. I took a first step in 2001. And then a second adjustment in 2002. And so on, year after year.
➡️How to⬅️ Live More and More Deliberately
In my coaching, I balance the theory with the practice. So "how to" is a great finishing touch to this tagline. When I think "how to" I think of "step by step". For every concept I discuss with someone, the proof of that concept's viability comes in the concrete progression for how you can explore it and develop it.
At Microsoft, probably my most popular instructional course was a five part "Productivity Workout." It was about bringing a workout mentality into your work environment to increasingly hone your overall productivity. For Uplevel Pro, I envision constructing a broader equivalent: an "Intentionality Workout" series.
This post completes my introduction of Uplevel Pro. Now it's time for us to get to work on the upleveling, starting this Thursday (the return to my 2 posts / week rhythm). You ready?
Notes
I wanted to pull links out of the content to lessen distraction and the urge to click. Does this make it easier to take my post in as one complete thought, and then dive in on the references? Let me know.
TheRightQuestionTM: That, detective, is the right question
Think Week: CNBC: Bill Gates' Think Week
Dead Poets Society opening recitation: Henry David Thoreau scene
I like having the links at the end so you can stay focused on your post, and not be tempted to click away. So the way this one is formatted works great for me!