It was pointed out to me that I should probably give a introduction on the blog. Why am I writing this, why now and who is it for? What’s with the contradictory name? Fair enough.

To start, why did I not start with an explanation or stated goal for this project? The simple truth is that while I have some ideas about what I would like to communicate, I don’t have any well mapped out long term designs for this project. What is also true is I have had a number of posts written for over a year and a half and the domain purchased for several months. Instead of waiting for the perfect introduction, it was just more important for me to get started, otherwise I would’ve caught myself in a loop and never have launched this. It’s the fundamental tension of managing opportunity cost. Trading the concern of not having a perfect introduction with never actually creating anything. When presented with two distinct options, there is almost always a third that we often forget which is that doing nothing (or delaying) often comes with its own set of risks and consequences as well. While I generally think professionals are proficient at selecting the best of binary options, we tend to assume something is binary when it’s not and struggle especially so with time-based conceptualization. This has been informed by a career in predictive analysis that has required development and usage of time phased documentation so the teams I’ve been a part of can be reasonably effective at meeting the objectives of the functions. Further fueling that has been what I see as a lack of those tools across other functions, but we will come back to that.

The name came from an exploration into the dialectic, as well as some inspiration from my wife and a few recent managers and directors I’ve had the pleasure of reporting to. For a quick primer, Hegelian dialectic method attempts to reconcile seemingly conflicting ideas into a framework that helps to explain why both ideas can work, sometimes at the same time despite the conflict. This concept goes deep, and I am by no means an expert on it, just someone who is intrigued by it. When I first started writing these posts, my wife and I were on our 15-year anniversary trip in Europe. Having the time away from work gave me the opportunity to navigate through some concepts that I don’t get to discuss with people day to day. At one point I was expressing my admiration for my manager and director at the time, Joe Armock and Andrew Sawhill and their ability to navigate challenging conversations. It occurred to me that my wife Mikaela is in fact also very good at it. My instinct is to call something like it is. Not in an unkind way, but in this regard, it does take more of my patience and energy to start with the nuance rather than immediately arriving at the conclusion. You would think that my undergrad degree in Creative Writing would have kept effective story telling at front of mind. You know what they say if you don’t use it you lose it. When I asked her about why she didn’t just call it like it is she said, “I call things as they are nuanced.” It was so meta, funny and profound to me, that I documented the quote and date it in my notes on my phone. The fact that you don’t always have to be so unabashedly honest all the time because there is in fact no arbiter of the things you say in day-to-day business. I don’t remember the specific issue that was creating this for me, and outside of expressing my admiration, I am much more interested in calling in vs calling out in these posts. Generally, I’m not planning on name dropping at all, but I want to give those I have mentioned in here their flowers. What I do know is that I was struggling with explaining an idea with a yes but. My current friends in marketing will be very familiar with this and while I always want to give a definitive answer, the situation rarely exists without the nuance. My commitment to this is to try and lean more into yes and, which is a commitment to nuance. Hence the name Nuance or Nothing. And while the plan right now is to have more of a focus on what I know professionally, I would hate to limit any future opportunities.

As far as who this is for, besides me, I suppose it is for anyone who can use it. I’m going to do my best to not get too technical. I think there are several people and organizations out there that already do the technical side better than I ever could. I am much more interested in trying to bridge the gap and bring understanding to the various functions. It can be helpful to gut check if what you are hearing in your organization feels right, or if there is room to explore it more. Or maybe this helps you ask a question in a different way. Back to the conceptualized time-phased tools for other functions, it is my hope to provide some outlines, particularly as resources for small and midsized organizations. I am an unabashed supporter and believer of “small” business as the backbone of the economy and want to do my part to support that. Most resources are geared towards enterprise software solutions or consulting. My take is that there are options to leverage these techniques in ways that don’t require long term expensive investment. 

As for what I get out of it, I get to write out and explore concepts that I otherwise don’t have the time to in my day-to-day work. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to better articulate some of these challenges on the spot having previously worked through them. Also, because I currently work for a large organization, there isn’t much of a need for me to explore the options for smaller enterprises, this allows me to continue to scratch that itch. Especially if you reach out to me and ask questions. My inbox is open. 

My only ask is that if you think something I write will help someone, please share the word. Deep in our hearts, I think we only want to prove ourselves valuable. Thanks for reading and helping!

Until next time,

Blake