Avi Charkham

Blog

In-abiliy

When we feel inability, our mindset is usually focused on our circle of concerns, in the things that are outside our influence. The funny thing is that the answer to overcoming the sense of inability is hidden right in front of our eyes, in the ...
In-abiliy
January 23, 20235 min read

Why should anything change next quarter?

As Albert Einstein noted, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Yet as we plan our next quarter, we tend to ask, “What should we do differently this quarter?” instead of asking, “How should we be thi...
Why should anything change next quarter?
September 18, 20223 min read

Do we really know our co-founders?

Though I coach co-founders as a team, my primary tool is 1x1 coaching which gives me a unique perspective into who they really ARE. Realizing the gaps between founders’ values and belief systems makes me sometimes amazed teams function. These...
Do we really know our co-founders?
December 22, 20215 min read

May you “have a birth today”

When I was a teenager I was a volunteer medic at MDA, Israel’s national rescue organization. We used to accompany the ambulance team to all kinds of medical emergencies. Like any job we had cases we were excited to attend and others we l...
May you “have a birth today”
November 21, 20213 min read

Alignment is the “API” of empowerment

When we read the definition of alignment in the dictionary we get the sense of how it feels to work in a command & control mindset: Cogs in a machine, expected to align in a straight line and travel a predefined course… And most of all to ag...
Alignment is the “API” of empowerment
July 2, 20212 min read

No Pause Button

I lost my voice this today. A coach without a voice? :-( I started losing my voice during the weekend but when the week started I kept coaching. I couldn’t make myself pause. Today it reached a point that it was impossible for me to go on. I canc...
No Pause Button
June 21, 20213 min read

GPS Question

How do I know I’m going in the right direction? One of the questions I find myself asking repeatedly is “What would you ask yourself at the end of each week, before the weekend arrives, to know that you did a great job this week?” The question...
GPS Question
June 21, 20212 min read

! → ?

If language is magic then the question mark is the magician’s wand. It is the one character that makes everything possible. Don’t believe me? Try it… Think of 3 things that you deeply believe are impossible… Then at the end of every statement ...
! → ?
June 10, 20213 min read

Reset

Teams, like individuals, tend to get caught in their self-perception and narrative of who they think they are. It’s a huge blocker of growth. In people, these self-narratives tend to develop in the early formative years of the company and are ve...
Reset
June 2, 20212 min read

What’s your insight?

Every change we create, every growth we drive, starts with a change in our perception and beliefs. We first have an in-sight (an updated internal image of a possible reality) and it is that internal image that drives our action as we pursue to c...
What’s your insight?
April 28, 20212 min read

Goals that reach the eyes

Too often it feels like goals are “fed” to people. When they describe their goals they feel like an external force that drives them instead of a fire that fuels them from within. The difference between the two can be seen in the eyes of the people w...
Goals that reach the eyes
April 25, 20212 min read

The craft

My first job out of college was as an apprentice to a picture framer. It was 25 years ago and in many ways, it has shaped who I am as a professional to this day. When I got my bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1996 I wanted to frame a few of my w...
The craft
March 12, 20216 min read

OKR ourselves first

OKRs (or any other focus framework) are treated by leaders like tools instead of the “mindset interfaces” they are. Leaders are looking at the integration of OKRs as an implementation challenge when in fact it is a mindset shift challenge that, like...
OKR ourselves first
March 4, 20213 min read

Recalculate route

We all want a sense of confidence that we know exactly where we’re going. But if there is one thing I painfully learned in more than 20 years of PMing is that we product people don’t really know :-( This need for a sence of confidence in our dire...
Recalculate route
February 7, 20212 min read

12–1

So… 1st 2021 month out of 12 has passed. How many times during Jan did your team manage to impact the goal they’re driving? How many times during Jan were your teams able to point at a release that drove your company metrics? What’s your predi...
12–1
February 5, 20211 min read

The knowing zone vs. the doubting zone

I found that doubt, or the absence of it, is great leading indicator of personal and company growth. When I wake up and my doubts are “not there” or I realise they haven’t been there for a while I know I drifted into my “knowing zone”. The zo...
The knowing zone vs. the doubting zone
November 16, 20204 min read

Care Bears

Startup founders are expected to create something new and original in this world that often requires a new way of thinking, sometimes a complete human paradigm shift. They are funded to think differently. To be different. The irony is that th...
Care Bears
October 20, 20205 min read

Praise vs. Encouragement

Without belief, no change can happen. This is what makes encouraging such an important coaching/leading/parenting skill. But there is a huge difference between praising and encouraging that is overlooked. As a result in many cases, we end up prai...
Praise vs. Encouragement
September 1, 20205 min read

We don’t really understand each other

One of the things that amazed me as I started coaching was the realization of how subjective we humans are. Before I coached I used to be much less curious and humble in the sense that I assumed I know what people meant. So if someone said a sent...
We don’t really understand each other
July 15, 20205 min read

Separating the road from the map

As the rate of change in the world is growing, there is a growing need for truly autonomous teams that can move faster and scale our organization’s “change-velocity”. Autonomous teams need to be led and less managed. They require a direction ...
Separating the road from the map
July 1, 20206 min read
Showing 1-20 of 48 posts