The VIEW Framework: Mindsets and Tactics to Achieve Success Amidst Transformation

As our ecosystems transform to adapt and thrive, we must too.

Originally published on November 7, 2023

I’ve spent my 20 year career working with companies to drive and manage disruption through massive transformations. The automation of work. The digitization of commerce. The rise of platforms. The evolution of ecosystems. The explosion of data. Now, the emergence of AI.

All along, I’ve anchored to humans. Managing change for employees. Understanding the impact and interests of the customer. Shaping the culture of organizations. Disruption requires transformation. Not just for business, but for us as real, actual, human people living in these times. As our ecosystems (our personal and professional communities) transform to adapt and thrive, we must too.

Introducing The VIEW Framework

Over the past two months, I’ve published essays on four topics: Value, Insight, Empowerment and Wisdom. Today’s newsletter ties them together, I am excited to introduce you to The VIEW Framework.

This introduction of this framework is the first step in sharing my thought leadership and practices on how to succeed amidst uncertainty and ambiguity. VIEW is made of four pillars that I use as the foundation of my approach to strategically transform lives to achieve success while so much around us seems to be changing at the same time.

What is The VIEW Framework?

The VIEW Framework is built on the belief that to achieve our success, we need to acknowledge the systems around us. We also must acknowledge that we have the knowledge, ability and fortitude inherently within ourselves to navigate these systems. VIEW helps us move from idea to action to outcome to learning and back again.

V: Value | What we bring to the world in which we operate

In my Value post, I reflect on my experiences working on Value Based Deals (VBDs) in consulting, highlighting the CAT principles of Clarity, Autonomy, and Trust as essential for achieving success in high-pressure engagements. It outlines an approach for success based on these principles, offering insights into why and how to deliver tangible value in the work we do.

I: Insight | How we use external signals to navigate toward our goals

My Insight post explains the significance of gaining insight to navigate the path toward achieving one's goals, comparing goal pursuit to a journey up a mountain. This post introduces two sources of insight, data and perspectives, and discusses the importance of being open to data, evaluating perspectives, and taking a bias for action to make informed progress towards one's goals.

E: Empowerment | Building the momentum to reach our goals

In the two-part Empowerment series, I discuss the need for self-empowerment in the face of uncertainty and change, providing a structure to find and grow our power in challenging times. This structure is comprised of four key elements: Intuition (knowing and trusting oneself), Strength (preparing and training for personal power), Advocacy (finding and using one's voice for self and others), and Expansion (connecting with and nurturing a community). Empowerment is recognizing personal goals, building the strength and confidence to pursue them, advocating for oneself and others, and expanding one's network and connections to support and amplify these goals.

W: Wisdom | The learnings we uncover and share along the way

My Wisdom post discusses the concept of wisdom and its importance in making life decisions. I reflect on the role of both internal and external wisdom in guiding our choices. Internal wisdom is gained through personal experiences and helps shape our decision-making processes. External wisdom comes from learning from the experiences of others, such as mentors and family members. We can grow our wisdom by connecting with our own experiences, being open to different viewpoints, and sharing our decision-making processes. We seek wisdom when learning from our mentors’ experiences as we face important decisions in life. Ultimately, wisdom, combined with data and facts, empowers us to make informed choices and grow as individuals.

The VIEW Mindset

VIEW is a framework and a mindset. It is a way to self-navigate amidst disruption and uncertainty; to steady ourselves amidst ambiguity and change. It creates a foundation for increasing our confidence, even when the path is unclear. It helps maintain sure footing when options are out of sight, or so open that the possibilities for decisions overwhelm us.

VIEW enables us to visualize what we want to achieve and figure out how to get it. It helps us see the network we have in place and the access we have readily available. It allows us to realize the benefits of community, collaboration and openness. When we are faced with an uncertain path and crossroads to navigate, VIEW helps us make the big and small decisions along the way.

We need this more than ever right now, when the speed of change and disruption is unprecedented. When a culture of comparison and competition is more visible than ever. VIEW is a framework to move past indecision and transform ourselves amidst large-scale transformations.

The VIEW Ahead

Going forward, I will be reflecting on our world through the lens of The VIEW Framework. I will be refining and simplifying, testing and expanding these ideas.

• Understanding Experiences: I’ll be analyzing current events, philosophies, and decisions surrounding and impacting us. I’ll be referencing actual examples - personal, professional, celebrated, little-known - from pop culture, history, my friends and myself.
• Deconstructing Forces: I’ll be exploring the forces impacting us - those that help propel us forward along our paths, as well as those that are trying their damndest to derail or stop our progress.
• Exploring Ecosystems: I’ll be defining what I’m calling our ecosystems - the varied, discrete, overlapping (at times) systems in which we operate as humans. How do changes in each system within our ecosystem help or hinder our progress? How do we change the systems we are in? Can we change them? What happens when we do?
• Recognizing Diversity: I’ll be reflecting on our own complexities and nuance - how our identities are multifaceted. Our intersectionality is an asset, and at times a target. How can VIEW help us navigate these systems and help us recognize that we contain multitudes?

I’ll be doing all this from my point of view as a Strategist. The VIEW Framework was developed through observations and learnings through my career in corporate strategy and operations across the tech, consumer product, communications, media and defense industries. I’ve led and advised organizations through transformations using strategic frameworks, toolkits and tactics.

Now, I’m bringing what leading organizations have been using to reinvent their cultures and operations and applying these approaches to real, actual humans (you!). My goal is to help change the systems we all exist within and live our best damn lives, however we want them to be!

I am so excited to unveil what I’ve been cooking up - the stories are endless and the passion is real. If you have ideas for angles to explore, and questions to address, please let me know! Thanks for being a part of this journey. Buckle up, we’re hitting the road.