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January 31, 2008
Leadership: Old Habits Die Hard
If they’re no longer working and continue to not work, replace them. What am I talking about? Old habits. Why in the world would you want to hang onto something that doesn't work for you when you have a choice?
Not only do individuals get buried in the past but when organizational culture enables this, the organization as a whole buries itself in the past and struggles to rise past it.
To combat this we need leaders who will look at human capital, not only financial bottom line, so people evolve and are well managed. It’s not only about the mechanics of how an organization works and leading them through an organizational change; it’s all about the people who run and work within it.
There are so many maverick thinkers in this world and if they’re not well managed and given a framework within which they can thrive and grow (in an organizational context), they will end up doing things their own way and pushing the buttons of everyone around them.
Leaders might manage process, as that’s how an organization’s nuts and bolts work, but they also have to lead their people within that framework. That way their amazing talents can be harnessed and benefit everyone concerned.
There is way too much energy spent on the bottom line, or cutting organizational overhead costs, support systems and human based components. Where a great deal of energy has to be spent so an organization can evolve and grow is in growing its people; paying attention to their uniqueness. Maverick thinkers or not, once you harness their passion and energy and show them the way forward, and that frameworks aren't something to fear but in fact a vehicle to success, they can leave the old habits by the wayside and create new ones that fit a future of their own design, not one of habit.
I’m not sure why old habits are hard to change (I don’t much like the ‘break’ term) especially when those habits no longer serve them. What I do know is there’s something very enticing to holding onto history, forgetting all the stuff that didn’t work and remembering only what did. Selective memory.
Toss those old habits and design those you want to adopt for the future and you’ll see a shift beyond anything you ever imagined.
Donna Karlin • Executive and Political Shadow Coach™ • Ottawa, Canada • •www.abetterperspective.com
Posted by Donna Karlin at 8:05 PM
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3 Comments
The Leading Edge - "You gotta love the bastards!"
Sean Brawley is an "ego less" coach. That means it's much more important to him that his clients succeed than that he be right. I could learn a thing or two from him in that area.
Anyway, we were recently speaking and I was telling him how when I coach leaders to be the best that they can be, that my "non-negotiable" goal is for the people who have worked under them look back at the end of their careers and say that the best time in their career was when they worked for that leader.
My models for such a leader are Pete Carroll of USC and John Wooden of UCLA, whose players have not only said the best years of their career were when they were coached by these great men, but who on occasion have even forgone an early entry into the NFL after capturing a Heisman Trophy (think Matt Leinart) to play another year.
Coincidently, Pete Carroll wrote the forward to The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey, the methodology Sean uses in his coaching (find out more about The Inner Game Coaching Conference).
Sean shared an anecdote about another such coach, Red Auerbach, who coached the Boston Celtics to 9 NBA championships, who when asked the secret to being a great coach said chomping on his ever present cigar: "You gotta' love the bastards!"
And how do you know whether you are that kind of coach? Auebach offered perhaps the best criteria: "You know it when many years later your players keep calling you back to tell you about their families, their careers and their lives."
Auerbach was right. I am honored to have Warren Bennis mentor me and that is exactly what I continue to do with him. As Warren is now a bit older, the line forms to the rear of others doing the same thing.
How many of the people that have worked for you do that? What do you need to do differently so that they will? Maybe YOU just gotta' love the bastards!
Posted by Mark Goulston at 4:55 PM
Leadership: Ignorant Expertise
Last weekend I purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder. It came with the usual manual and quick-start setup guide. I’m not a techie, but I’m no slouch; I know how to follow directions. Well after 2 hours of following the instructions to the letter, I couldn’t make it work. There was a help-line phone number so I called and got instructions from the rep and within 15 minutes had the machine fully integrated with my other devices and working perfectly. So why weren’t the written and graphic instructions any good and why did they not reflect the setup sequence and connections the phone rep had in her hands?
Back in December, there was a fascinating article in the New York Times that discussed the issue of expertise and how the more expert we become, the harder it is to imagine not knowing what we do and the less we can imagine others not having the knowledge we have. I struggle with it constantly when I speak to or train new groups of people. I’ve been doing what I do so long and my knowledge is so deep, it’s hard for me to imagine they don’t already know it.
Continue reading "Leadership: Ignorant Expertise"Posted by Ruth Sherman at 1:11 PM
Dell Hell Revisited and Personal Branding
Remember “Dell Hell.” That’s when Dell learned – or should have learned – the power of consumer anger. Blogger Jeff Jarvis reamed Dell for its shabby customer service and the story was amplified into a “blame Dell” crusade across the ‘Net.
Well, now it is a few years later and you would have thought the computer behemoth would have learned about the power of word of mouth and personal branding. I’m here to report that Dell has moved up one notch, but only a notch, and now qualifies for purgatory.
I recently had a significant problem with my Dell desktop (still under warranty) and warily called Dell customer service. After spending about 15 minutes between being on hold and providing information to a rep, I was told that Dell’s system was down. No one could help me until the system was back up and I should call back later. I have no clue why I wasn’t immediately told that the system was down.
Believing that system down or not, I was still entitled to help, I decided to exercise Consumer Rights Principle Number One: Seek out a higher authority -- and asked for a supervisor. The supervisor explained that Dell was actually being helpful by not helping me because the system’s being down meant that the company couldn’t confirm my identify. When I reminded him about Dell’s inglorious past and mentioned that I planned to blog about the company, he offered to have someone call me back as soon as the system was back up.
A rep in fact called me back within a half hour and proceeded to spend an hour on the phone with me without fixing my system. I don’t blame the rep but the fact that computer diagnostics by phone is sort of like witch doctoring. The rep usually doesn’t have a clue what the cause of the problem is and goes through the usually incantations. What I was left with was a choice between two evils: replace the hard drive or the operating system though for all I know neither is the problem. Any computer experts out there want to make a house call?
Meanwhile, all of this reinforces the need to realize that every customer’s opinion counts in building both a consumer and a personal brand.
Love to hear your thoughts and experiences?
Posted by Wendy Marx at 9:36 AM
Innovation: What Your Customer Communication Style SAYS About You
As there are may types of customers, there are as many ways companies and businesses choose to communicate with them. How and when you talk with your customers depends on your disposition towards them and shows up in your bottom line results.
When you’re well disposed and in listening mode, your customers will respond to your stance accordingly. If your focus is to provide value to them at every touch point, when you choose customers over what is convenient to you, then you will probably hear some positive comments and some suggestions to do better. You will hear them because your are listening. And that content will fuel your marketing intelligence for future action.
Continue reading "Innovation: What Your Customer Communication Style SAYS About You"Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 6:45 AM
January 30, 2008
Birthday Pinging
Everybody likes to be remembered on their birthdays and that's why they are a pinging staple. I have birthdays logged at the top of my Outlook schedule so I can call or email that day when I have a few moments. Birthdays are a great time to let people know that you care about their success. Here's an email I sent one of my best employees on his birthday:
Take a deep breath today and really ask what you want to feel like one year from now. What do you want to be doing, etc. Then, make a commitment to get there and tap into the resources who care about you like me and others in the office and outside and those you know. The point is let's make this year one when you breathe easier and spring out of bed in the am. to do what you do! Happy Birthday.
Posted by Keith Ferrazzi at 1:35 PM
Is the Design Revolution Here? Can Designers get to the top of a publicly traded company?
In the past months I’ve read several articles and blogs about the possibility that Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple, could succeed Steve Jobs as CEO. As far as I can tell this is only a rumor, but it prompts the questions: Is corporate America ready for the design revolution? Can designers be CEOs? I can only imagine how much fun that would be, not only for the people working in these companies but for the consumers, finally getting products and services that go beyond their expectations. And imagine what that would do to the stock price.
Although to many, designers as CEOs, may sound like a crazy idea. I believe designers could do very well as top executives. Designers have a unique set of skills that combined with traditional management knowledge could create a new kind of leader, more in tune with today’s needs. Why? Because they know how to explore possibilities, connect the dots, simplify complex information down to a relevant summary and remind of us of context and humanity. They know how to work closely with engineers, marketers and outside manufacturing contractors. Rather than being simple stylists, they're leading innovators in the use of new materials and production processes.
With this I am not advocating that any designer can be a good CEO, but a few have a unique set of skills that are more relevant to today’s and tomorrow’s competitive markets. Where almost everything is commoditized and differentiation can only come from thoughtful products and services, companies must go farther than just talking about design and begin using it.
Design is a powerful tool that is just being discovered and mildly used by most companies and strategically implemented by a few. I wonder how long it will take for most board of directors to understand the value of design and make bold moves to utilizing it?
manuel
manuel@manuelsaez.com
Posted by Manuel Saez at 11:53 AM
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Leadership: Crouching Competition, Rising Tiger
“I’ve got holes in my game.” That’s one of the first things Tiger Woods told the media after his first victory of the 2008 PGA season in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse” was also part of his reflective soliloquy on his play in his first tourney of the year in which he nearly lapped the field, winning by eight strokes.
So is Tiger playing mind games with us? Is he indulging in the de rigueur self-deprecation that we like to see in good athletes? Or was he giving us a peek inside his psyche, a glimpse at what makes him so great? I opt for the later. Quite simply, at 32 years old with $76 million in winnings and 62 PGA titles, including 13 Majors, he is the very best golfer of his time and perhaps and very likely the best there has ever been.
The media drools over Tiger’s prowess typically falling over themselves to come up with new superlatives to define his performance. Hyperbole, sure! But it doesn’t make the compliments less true. Despite the drooling from an admiring broadcast crew, Tiger isn’t buying it. Golf is a fickle game; and humbling one, but one perfectly suited for a man who knows himself, his strengths and his weaknesses, and his desire to dominate. What accounts for Tiger’s ability is not his swing, which for the record does produce errant shots. It is his tenacity, his desire, his resilience, and quite simply his dream to get better and better. So what can we learn from Tiger’s dominance?
Posted by John Baldoni at 8:00 AM
January 29, 2008
Innovation: Old Often Becomes New
Originality is overrated. Engineers are often told in engineering schools that a good design typically consists of 45% duplication, 45% slight modification and 10% originality. Those who follow this principle benefit from the experience of their predecessors. Their designs tend to work. That is the way it should be.
We think the 10% originality might be a little too high. Engineering tends to be expensive and slow. For many manufacturers, the engineering efforts involved in bringing something to market often become the bottleneck in the process. This is the case whether in designing the product or the process to produce it cost-effectively. Sales people often go out and pick up orders for something, having to later tell the customer that the engineers haven’t yet worked everything out.
Let’s take the example of the compressed air car. In the highly competitive car industry, it is being touted by many as the next big thing in car manufacturing. India’s largest carmaker, Tata Motors Ltd., is preparing to roll out a line of compressed air cars in 2008. These cars are expected to go about 100 km on a charge of air that costs about 1 euro or $1.50 and takes 2 to 3 minutes to fill up. You’d have a hard time buying a hot dog or a cup of coffee at that price.
Posted by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Roosen at 4:03 PM
Work/Life: Policy is a dirty word
Customer evangelism tip: if you want to bring your customers closer to you, don't use the p-word, at least not to their face.
Don't say "Our policy is …" because they don't want to hear about your freaking policy. They want to hear how you can help them. You've been there, right?
Moreover, beware of how your business partners are using the p-word, because while you're merrily trying to build beautiful relationships with customers, your partners' efforts could be throwing a pickle in the cheesecake, so to speak.
Posted by Lynette Chiang at 2:58 PM
Work/Life: Bill and Hillary, Sittin' in a Tree
CEO Dad’s Tuesday Tirade….
I talked to a fellow at a party this past weekend that was disproportionately indignant about the way Bill Clinton is out there stumping for his wife. I say “disproportionately” because there are a lot of things wrong with the world worth getting angry about (like when you pull up too far away from the drive-thru window, that’s pretty infuriating, for one), and it makes me wonder why the idea of a man wanting his wife to succeed is so irritating to so many people. Sure, Bill’s anti-Obama comments were misplaced, but nothing along the lines of some of the ignorant things that came out of people’s mouths about Heath Ledger’s passing. And try as we might to hang our theories about Bill’s motivations out there (he’s trying to make up for his past, he can’t stay out of the spotlight, he wants to be able to sleep with another president), it’s futile to try and get inside someone else’s head. Start down that slippery slope, and you’ll go crazy trying to figure out what motivates people to appear on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
So, stripping away any personal feelings one may have about Bill and/or Hillary, is it really that upsetting that a person should get behind the ambitions of their spouse? All the male candidates trot out their devoted wives for photo ops along the campaign trail, and willing or unwilling, those spouses are clearly doing everything they can to make sure their hubbies give them a shot at one day eating a short stack off of a piece of White House china. Perhaps Bill’s championing can be seen as an abuse of his elevated stature, but there isn’t very much he can do about that. He believes in his wife, and he’s backing her run for President, just like we assume he would even if he had never progressed beyond the rank of alderman. And I know a few people who would say that he never really did. But, like I say, there are other things worth getting angry about (such as when that hourglass icon just sits there forever on your computer screen), and channeling everything that’s wrong in one’s life into the Clintons is getting old.
If my wife was running for office, I’d be out there with her. How could I not want to demonstrate how proud I would be of her? And something tells me I probably wouldn’t get through her campaign without calling one or other of her opponents some variant of “cheese head” just to spice things up. Of course, if she were to start a campaign, we would need to raise at least a million dollars. With that in mind, if both of the people reading this blog would only give 500 thousand each, we’d get there in no time. No matter what, when it comes to politics and politicians, always remember that it isn’t worth the stress to get angry about it all. Save your rage for some real injustice. (Like the fact that Amy Winehouse is up for so many Grammys.)
Posted by Tom Stern at 8:22 AM
January 28, 2008
Careers: Assessing fit
We hear it all the time from colleagues: “At the end of the day, it’s about fit.” “If you were stuck in an airport, would you want to be stuck with that person…blah blah blah.“ Full disclosure—I’m not a big fan of “the airport test” (was it obvious?) mainly because the phrase is so overused by recruiters. But, all kidding aside, as interviewers, it is our job to assess the dynamic fit for each candidate. And, I think we’d all agree that there’s no single “best way” to evaluate it. With that being said, here are a few key indicators I’ve used in the past to consider the fit of a candidate.
Personality. This is something you can usually determine within the first few minutes (sometimes seconds) of the interview. I think we’d all agree that if there’s one indicator of who would pass that always popular airport test, it would have to be personality. Do you find yourself easily building rapport with the candidate right off the bat? Or are you painfully watching the seconds on the clock tick by as you anxiously wait for the interview to end?
Work style. Some companies are looking for in-your-face go getters with a “take no prisoners” mentality. Others are looking for something much different. To what degree is your organization looking for collaborative team players versus those who prefer to work independently to deliver results? During the interview, ask for examples of projects they’ve worked on and their roles. Did they seek input from others or work unilaterally? And how does that fit with your culture?
What motivates them. Recognition? Achievement? Social prestige? Look for rewards that motivated them in previous roles and determine whether or not those same rewards exist at your company. If recognition is their thing, but recognition at your firm only goes to senior management, there’s a good chance he or she isn’t going to work out.
The team dynamic. How would this person fit with your team? Do they have the right skill set, personality, and work style for the group? Try to imagine this person as a member of a team presentation, or participating in a team meeting. If your scenario yields an ugly picture, that might be a good time to cut the interview short.
Things get a little bit trickier when you’re hiring someone for a specific office; offices in different cities often have their own unique “personality.” You have to walk a thin line between finding someone who is a great fit with the overall organization and also with a specific office and a specific group of people.
What are some of the criteria you’ve used to assess fit? Post a comment.
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
Posted by Shawn Graham at 4:04 PM
Leading Ideas: Challenges Drive Creativity
""The things we fear most in organizations -- fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances -- are the primary sources of creativity." -- Margaret J. Wheatley (author, organizational consultant)
Consider This:
One of the most misunderstood gifts that life gives a person or organization is a set of challenges. While rarely welcome, they serve the invaluable purpose of throwing you off of your game - usually when you need it most. They force you to stop - reflect - dig down - and get creative in order survive and thrive. You need challenges. They are the seeds of your greatest ideas.
The biggest mistake you can make when you come face-to-face with a challenge is to resist it. To beat yourself up for having gotten into the situation in the first place. When you do, you're putting your energy in the wrong place. Instead, get curious about how you got there. See it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Talk it out with others. Don't stay in your own head. Challenges themselves don't determine your quality of life - your relationship to them does.
Try This:
1. Think about something you're feeling bad about right now.
2. When you think about this situation, what are you most afraid of?
3. Find someone to share your fears with. Make it someone you trust and who you can be honest with (This is an important step as your fears have a way of dissipating when they hit the light of day).
4. As you move past the fear, what do you see on the other side? (hint, your creative mind will re-engage and you'll begin to see possibilities that the fear was hiding).
5. Pursue those creative possibilities.
6. Repeat frequently as new challenges arise.
Doug Sundheim • Executive Coach & Consultant • New York, NY • www.dougsundheim.com
Posted by Doug Sundheim at 7:13 AM
January 26, 2008
The Leading Edge - Real Men Don't Eat Quiche or Like Hillary
What is Hillary's Man Problem?
There is a lot written about her not being tough enough for men plus a variety of other reasons. I think there is something else possibly going on. Men -- and there are lots of them -- whose swagger is fueled by bravado, ego and bullsh*t don't like it when a women sees through it all and sees them for the immature fools that they sometimes are.
This may explain why so many men do not take their wives to functions where they are worried that she might roll her eyes to the ceiling every time he is acting boorish, pontificating or in other ways embarrassing himself that he is not aware of, or if he is doesn't seem to care.
Perhaps men, Republicans and "good old boys" who are used to bullsh*ting each other or posturing with each other and where the unspoken contract is to not call each other on it are very uncomfortable with a woman who can see through it.
Even if she doesn't say anything judgmental, they will believe that she is thinking those things and this can inhibit them in their "boys will be boys" play...and many men do not take kindly to being so inhibited.
Here's Hillary's dilemma. If she acts as if those things don't bother her (when we know from biographies of some private spats with Bill when he demonstrated those qualities) when it appears that they do, then she is lying. On the other hand, if she does admit to those things bothering her, than she is being a controlling, judgmental bitch raining on a man's parade.
This dilemma may not just cost her with men, but also with women who want to know who the real Hillary is.
Some of those "real" moments came out during the New Hampshire primary (which I believe were authentic vs. scripted) and her victory there may have been a vote for her being authentic, because when it appeared she was, voters -- male and female -- were able to temporarily dropped their guard, their distrust and when they did that, she won.
So perhaps the best advice for her might be: "Come out, come out whoever you are, because if you do, you will probably turn out to be not as bad as people are worried you are and not as good as people hope you are, but you just might turn out to be real enough to get elected.
Posted by Mark Goulston at 8:59 PM
| 6 Comments
Game Changers
A perfect storm is about to change the game on our energy future and, therefore, our environment and economy. The unprecedented confluence of elements in this case? Climate change; fossil fuel shortages; and epic world-wide competition for energy. So what technologies will allow us to weather this storm, indeed to bring home the big catch from tempest-tossed seas? Here are my top 3 (I’ll give you two more next week):
LED lights. Using less energy and lasting longer than most of us alive today, LEDs will revolutionize the way we light our homes, businesses, streets, and game consoles (to name a few). LED lighting is not only more efficient and durable than anything on the market today, it can be programmed in a breathtaking variety of ways to deliver every color of the rainbow from each “bulb”, finally putting the “image” into “imagination” big time. Look at LED Effects, the designer of the ball that dropped on Times Square this past New Years Eve. It’s not just the LED “bulb” itself - - it’s how you program it to deliver light and images that will change the world of lighting as we know it.
Continue reading "Game Changers"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 2:10 PM
| 1 Comment
January 25, 2008
Study: Do Social Networks Improve Your Life?
Ever wonder what those millions of other people joining social networks plan to do once they're there?
Beyond throwing sheep on Facebook or becoming a fan of hip-hop stars on MySpace, many people join social networks to better manage and expand their circle of personal and professional relationships. Some people hope to find a date or search for lost friends. Others join just to see what the buzz is all about.
As a journalist & researcher I want to know: Do social networks help you both personally and professionally? Can they help advance your career? Are they more entertaining than video games? Are they a better match for you than dating sites?
I'm pleased to invite you to participate in a comprehensive study called the State of Social Networking 2008. The survey is free, fast (about 10 minutes) and confidential. No one will sell you anything. And the study makes it easy to rate the social networking sites you use most often for business or pleasure.
Completing the survey enters you in a drawing for an Apple iPhone (or equivalent value prize) from an Apple Store.
I look forward to studying the data and sharing it with you. For research wonks: the recruitment drive behind this study is limited to social media such as blogs, community forums, StumbleUpon and social networks. Please feel free to spread the word to your social network contacts about this study - your participation is greatly appreciated! To complete the survey, please visit http://s-kf7uz-25818.sgizmo.com/.
Rusty Weston, My Global Career • San Francisco, Ca • http://www.myglobalcareer.com/ •
Posted by Rusty Weston at 7:37 PM
Work/Life: Next Flight: Talking or No?
One of the last places on the planet to which you can still escape the Internet is in flight. That's about to change.
As Jason Fry reports in The Wall Street Journal, the Internet is coming to airplanes. It was inevitable.
The big question is, can cellphones be far behind?
Picture this: The gate agent checks you in and then asks if prefer the Talking or No Talking section.
Hmmm. My initial reaction to the idea of inflight cellphones was, Great, Wonderful. Taking or making calls in the air will definitely help me juggle a hectic schedule and it sure can't hurt my productivity.
Then the reality hit me.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Next Flight: Talking or No?"Posted by Owen Wild at 2:16 PM
The Sudden Return of the Rational Consumer
It had to happen. For years now, we’ve been blathering about Starbucks, the $3 cup of coffee, and the mass-marketing of upscale luxury in small, accessible sips.
I’ve been in dozens of meeting where the Seattle caffeine pusher has been held up as the Holy Grail of an experiential brand that understands how to get consumers to pay a whopping premium for perceived value.
Here’s how the meta-argument goes, whether it applies to Starbucks or Apple or Target:
Posted by Adam Hanft at 1:54 PM
| 1 Comment
Work/Life: How Many Grams of Fat Are In That Attitude?
Here’s one that slipped under the radar while the Republicans were bashing Hillary and Hillary was bashing Obama and Obama was bashing Hillary and Amy Winehouse was bashing herself.
Starting March 31, New York City fast-food chains (“chain” defined as an establishment that maintains fifteen or more outlets) will be required to post the fat content of their food on their menu boards. If I were Mickey D’s, I would be vanilla shaking in my boots.
But it does bring to mind that lots of things should carry posted information about how many grams of certain qualities they contain. Here a few tags I would enjoy seeing out there in the world:
CO-WORKER
Toxicity 1500 mg
Uncooperativeness 750mg
Incompetence 300g
RETAIL EMPLOYEE
Disaffectedness 2500mg
Unhelpfulness 130g
Sense of Entitlement 400mg
CONSULTANT
Authoritative 4300g
Paranoia-Inducing 120g
Billable Hours 45000873200008654g
SPOUSE
Thought Enough of You to Marry You 400mg
Calls You On Your Crap 1500mg
Thinks You Should Know What’s Wrong Without Having to Ask 300mg
Unconditional Love In Spite of How You Are 5200g
CHILD
Obstinacy 3000mg
Whining 375g
Manic Energy 1200mg
Worth It 5200g
Oh, and there is one more thing happening this weekend that should carry its own warning label: the new Rambo movie. Anyway, feel free to contribute other informational labels that should accompany real life.
Posted by Tom Stern at 9:17 AM
January 24, 2008
Work/Life: NYC Versus Kentucky—One Resists Flexibility, the Other Embraces It. Who Wins?
First, let’s establish that the horses have been let out of the “flexibility barn.” Whether we like it or not, flexibility is fundamentally reshaping how and where we live and work. Yet, while some communities are choosing to embrace and leverage this new flexible reality to fuel growth, others are surprisingly resistant. Case in point would be the contrast between New York City and Kentucky.
According to the New York Times, New York double taxes non-residents with jobs in New York City, but who work from home in other states. This is common since people can live in New Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania and still work in New York.
Posted by Cali Williams Yost at 12:24 PM
| 3 Comments
Technology: Free Market Flying
I guess I shouldn't be surprised the airlines have been fighting tooth and nail over proposals to charge them higher runway fees during rush hours. The idea, called "congestion pricing," is to apply free market incentives that would lead carriers to spread flights throughout the day.
Continue reading "Technology: Free Market Flying"Posted by Robert Buckman at 12:04 PM
Leadership: Treat Your Customers Well
Just before Christmas, my Canon mini-dv camcorder broke. Not great timing, obviously, but what could I do but try to get it fixed? I knew I wouldn’t have it on the holiday itself and I was under no illusions that I would be able to have it repaired (if it was even fixable) during the 10-day period the family was relaxing and having fun together.
I needn’t have worried. I quickly found Canon online and was able to navigate easily on their superb support pages. At one point, I needed to call them. They were busy but instead of making me hold, the recording asked if I wanted someone to call me back as soon as the next available representative was free. I said yes and 10 minutes later, the phone rang.
Continue reading "Leadership: Treat Your Customers Well"Posted by Ruth Sherman at 10:30 AM
Personal Branding and the Candidates
As a self-professed political junkie, this campaign season has been a bountiful cornucopia of riches not to mention a national stage for personal branding. Spending gobs of money on advertising and image building, the presidential candidates can tell us a lot about what to do --- and not do about branding ourselves. There’s a fascinating article in this week’s New Yorker by George Packer about the different visions for the country of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama: Clinton as executive, Obama as visionary. Ultimately, it’s a choice of leadership styles: hands-on vs. inspirational. Or in the candidates’ lingo, “experience” vs. “change.”
Like a tagline in a branding campaign, these descriptions of the candidates resonate deeply and become symbols of their personalities. Fairly or not, one official quoted in the article says about each,
“When I’m with her, I feel she wants to impress me. When I’m with him, I feel he wants to know what I have to offer him.”
Like it or not, perception and image are reality in a political campaign – and for that matter in our professional lives. In private life, Clinton’s personality is said to be very different from her “all business” public persona. Tellingly, a Simon & Shuster editor says about Clinton, :Clinton’s personality is refreshingly sharp and clear – but she can’t show it.”
Clinton despite all her years in public service is still something of an enigma. “In her personal life, she’s always seemed like she had something to hide,” the article quotes Dee Dee Myers, a former White House press secretary under Bill Clinton, saying of Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, Packer presents Obama as more comfortable with himself and consequently more open. He suggests that Hillary hasn’t quite connected her heart with her head in her public pronouncements.
As we work to brand ourselves, there’s an important lesson here in the importance of integrating our personal brands with our sense of self so we come across as authentic. Otherwise, there’s a disconnect in our presentation and our words remain cold facts that could be uttered by anyone.
How do we connect our passions with our beliefs and knowledge? I’d love to hear from you.
Posted by Wendy Marx at 9:44 AM
Innovation: Customers Speak the Language of ADVERTISING. Do You?
Advertising is our culture. In Twenty Ads that Shook The World, James Twitchell states that consumers today are more familiar with the language of advertising than that of history. You don’t believe me? Take the test. Here are a few words you ought to know about from your school curriculum. See if you recognize them and know their reference:
vector
biochemical pathways
complex sentence
Herman Melville
federalism
ampersand
Hoover Dam
Neville Chamberlain
Reign of Terror
paradox
installment buying
Ferdinand Magellan
Posted by Valeria Maltoni at 7:05 AM
| 4 Comments
The Leading Edge - Heath Ledger, Your Children and You
As I recently wrote on my peoplejam.com blog:
If you haven't got time for your child's pain,
make the time;
You can pay (attention) now,
or you can pay (the consequences) later.
Heath Ledger dead at 28. We have no idea if Heath Ledger's death involved drugs at all, but because of the early speculation, it has given me pause to think of what I am going to say below.
If it does in fact turn out to be drug related, perhaps we should be surprised that even more young adults and adults do not fall prey to drugs. In all likelihood, many more are under their spell, but they don't quite go over the edge or are not famous enough to be "newsworthy."
What is the real appeal of heroin and cocaine, or their lesser evil counterparts, alcohol/marijuana and amphetamines/speed? Are they a way for teens and young adults to escape or merely cope their lives or is there something else going on?
When young children and pre-teens step out into the world and fall on their face, they look back to their parents to be comforted by a mom and pumped up by a dad. If the connection is done in the right way that is neither too overprotective/indulgent, critical/abusive, nor absent/neglectful, but rather is guiding/supportive, that child will internalize that response from what psychologists refer to as a "caring surround" and call upon it when they hit a wall later on in life.
If that child didn't have a supportive/guiding relationship with their mom and dad and instead had either the overprotective/indulgent, critical/abusive or absent/neglectful one because their parents were divorced, self-involved, or so in need of the comforting and pumping up themselves, the child has nothing to internalize to buttress its ego against the slings and arrows and raging hormones of everyday life as an adolescent.
What if you're an adolescent or even a pre-adolescent stepping out into the world without an internalized protective screen? (Think of it as analogous to going out into a blazing hot sun without sunblock). What if in the midst of your uncertainty you discover uppers like cocaine or prescribed stimulants that you can borrow from friends that make you feel stronger and more confident than you actually feel? And what if like Icarus you're flying too close to the sun on those uppers and your wax wings begin to melt throwing you into a free falling panic and you discover downers like heroin, alcohol, marijuana or prescribed downers like Xanax to ease the fall?
When adolescents who may not have the optimal connections with parents discover that they can medicate themselves and create those "parent-like" connections with drugs to pump them up at one end and soothe them at the other, they have suddenly created the emotional family they never had. Initially they feel they get to control those connections squeezing out dollops of false confidence and false comfort from those drugs upon demand, not unlike what they were able to do in the womb when their physiological wish was their mother's command as she satisfied those needs across her placenta.
One reason the drug problem is so difficult to solve is because children who have discovered this new "family" where drugs take the place of real comfort and encouragement and where they get to feel "whole" are reluctant to go back to feeling like the emotional orphan they were when their pain was never responded to. Their lives feel complete as long as their drugs are available. And when they can't get those drugs they go into withdrawal and go from complete to brittle in the blink of an eye.
How can we break the powerful attachment between teens and drugs? That fit between distress and the drug that takes it away are very strong. It's an uphill struggle fraught with frustration on both sides. The one thing we can offer that drugs cannot is understanding the pain our children feel and a willingness to feel it with them so they don't feel so alone in it. We may not be able to remove the intimidation of an overwhelming world, but we can reduce their aloneness in it.
To these emotional orphans who have substituted drugs for the caring they never had, we can offer understanding and hope. In order to do this, we need to create the feeling in each addicted child's mind that someone really cares. That there is real love and deep concern for them from another human being.
This will not be easy. Often what teens need most, they want least. We as parents need to persevere and realize that "teens doth protest" too much when it comes to receiving guidance from us. Parents need to pick those moments when teens seek their input—and they will—rather than forcing unsolicited advice down their throats when they least want it. A caveat to keep in mind, the more you offer unsolicited advice to pre-teens and teenagers, the less they will seek input from you when they really need it. It's less important what you tell your children then what they tell you. And they won't tell you anything if they experience you as everprimed to push unwanted input on them.
Patience and perseverance are not easy to find in a too-busy-to-listen world, but the more parents can summon it up in interacting with their children, the greater the protective benefit later on.
And the benefit? One night when that child needs comforting or boosting, maybe they'll call you or turn inside and hear your comforting and encouraging voice instead of calling their drug dealer.
Posted by Mark Goulston at 1:59 AM
| 1 Comments
January 23, 2008
Leadership: Combined Forces of Ego and Emotion
In a group dialogue a ways back someone posed the question “Why do so few managers and companies face and use the facts?”
There are many answers to that question and I know we’ll only touch the surface on this. One of the reasons why I think they don’t face and use facts is because of the filters that they put in place. Through those filters they process and apply facts, thereby coloring them to some extent. Most people have some kind of hidden agenda when they move forward.
Filters can be everything from over-inflated egos to cultural tethers. Facts are interpreted by people through emotion, through what their talents and strengths are (so would it be in their comfort zone or not), and everything in-between. It's through those filters or interpretations that might make one wonder whether or not organizational leaders are facing or using the facts as they stand at all. Add in the next layer of filters, such as assumptions, expectations etc, and even though they might be using expert advice compiled over time, that data or evidence is so watered down and filtered based on the people utilizing it, it no longer resembles the original information. Then, add the equation of multiple personalities putting those benchmarks to use and the facts are so altered, they might no longer be relevant.
Evidence based practice may be a starting point, however we need to figure out how to utilize it in the best way then go that level deeper. To use a medical analogy, it's the difference between X-rays and MRIs. X-rays look at the surface of a problem and its face value and MRIs go a lot deeper; the difference between assessing, and the basic assessment information with discernment as to its applicability within a unique organization. That is a key factor in my methodology of Shadow Coaching™. We have to take into account the uniqueness with regards to people, dynamics, resources, target clients/customers and all the other variables that apply.
Is seeking and applying a generic common factor using data in its true factual form (such as a rigid organizational model) or maintaining an organization's uniqueness that determines whether or not its leadership is successful and sustainable? Or is there some other combination that might ensure the desired results? I’d love to hear your three cents (or more).
Donna Karlin • Executive and Political Shadow Coach™ • Ottawa, Canada • •www.abetterperspective.com
Posted by Donna Karlin at 1:23 PM
| 2 Comments
Adjust Your Rear View Mirror Before Launching a Product
When engineering, product development and marketing & sales people get together and do a great job in successfully pushing a new product into the market to rave reviews, things can still fall apart. There can still be important blind spots in the system to watch out for. Big companies are not immune to this problem.
We discovered a hole in Fujitsu’s warranty programs after we went out and bought their latest Scansnap S510 office scanner a few weeks ago. We learned about the product from others, mainly online, who were successfully using these to help convert their offices to paperless environments. We bought one.
Continue reading "Adjust Your Rear View Mirror Before Launching a Product"Posted by Tatsuya Nakagawa and Peter Roosen at 11:14 AM
Leadership: Fresh Eyes Approach
Some time ago I listened to a national sales manager exhorting his sales team to take critical look at the appearance of facilities within their franchise network. While some facilities were in tip-top shape; others were sub-par. Getting the franchisees to upgrade, or at least, maintain their facilities properly was the job of the sales team. In talking to his team, the national sales manager urged his people to take a “fresh-eyes” approach to examining franchise facilities. The executive was asking his folks to adopt the mindset of customers. That is, if you were a customer would you do business in a place that was run-down, shabby, and in need of paint? Probably not, especially if you could go elsewhere and find a similar product in a better facility!
Adopting the customer perspective means adopting the mindset of someone who needs to be persuaded. To be persuaded you need to believe that what you are hearing or seeing is credible. Sales people work on credibility by making certain they understand their customers as well as linking their offerings features and benefits to customer explicit and perceived needs. Good sales people in fact adopt the customer viewpoint in their sales process; they see what the customer sees.
Adopting the customer perspective applies not only to sales people; it applies to management. For example, if you walked into a restaurant and saw a mouse run across the floor, you might think twice about sitting down and ordering. On the other hand, if you were in a lumber yard and saw a mouse, you might not think twice. You eat food, but you don’t eat wood. The customer perspective enables you to see things as they are rather than as you wish them to be. Easy to say, but hard to implement. So here are some suggestions
Continue reading "Leadership: Fresh Eyes Approach"Posted by John Baldoni at 10:17 AM
January 22, 2008
Work/Life: Wait! Come back! There's a part of my Facebook you haven't stepped on yet!*
A customer wrote to me today, very excited about this new 'Facebook thing' - he wanted to start a Facebook profile for our Bike Friday community.
"It'll be as big as Google!" he enthused.
I thanked him for being a champ – who needs a customer evangelist when you've got disciples like that?
And what harm could Facebook do, other than allow people you've safely disowned from your bad hair days to hunt you down like a Star Wars homing beacon?
Ah, Beacon.
As a FYI, I pointed him to the NYT article which described how Facebook's "23 year old CEO" did the equivalent of "suck on this" to its 58 million members.
Continue reading "Work/Life: Wait! Come back! There's a part of my Facebook you haven't stepped on yet!*"Posted by Lynette Chiang at 9:35 PM
Careers: The New Leader Honeymoon Period
I was meeting with a colleague recently to help him prepare for an upcoming interview. As I pulled together questions, I wanted to make sure I asked him about how he would approach his first 30 days on the job. When being considered for leadership positions, being able to effectively answer that question will not only help you get through the interview process, but it can also determine whether you hit the ground running or just end up hitting the ground. Although the answer will vary slightly by industry and company, there are generally a few key ingredients to a successful plan.
During the first month, assess performance of the business and your team. Seems simple enough, but without that baseline information, you could end up just chasing your tail. Determine what’s working and what isn’t. Assess whether the performance measures in place are adequate or if they need to be refined. Once you know this information, building metrics will be a whole lot easier.
Meet with key players. Well, first you have to identify who the key players are but that’s generally not hard to do if you just look around. They’re usually dressed the nicest (the fancier the cuff links, the better) and they usually have a window office. Assess their expectations. Get a feel for where they’re headed and where they think the organization is headed. Armed with that insight, look for opportunities to work together.
Make sure employee roles are clearly defined and that you are all on the same page with expectations. If you need to realign staff responsibilities to put them in a better position to be successful, talk it through with them and get their input and buy in before making any final decisions. While you’re at it, make sure everyone has established, and is pursuing, a personal development plan.
Finally, schedule a strategic planning session with your staff. This will give you a chance to work together as a team to chart the direction of the business for the near term. Plus, the session will give you a chance to get everyone involved and that will almost always help to open dialogue and secure buy-in from the team. And, I don’t know about you, but in my opinion nothing says strategic planning like a little SWOT analysis amongst friends.
Once you pass the first 30 days, your focus is implementation. During the strategic planning process, you will have identified some number of improvement projects. Work with your team to execute those projects. Establish year end goals with staff input. Keep track of all ongoing projects and establish periodic check points to discuss how they’re going. During that discussion, it’s also a good idea to talk about how individual projects are feeding into the overall strategy as it’s often easy to lose the big picture perspective when you’re running 100 miles an hour with your head down on a project or goal.
Are you a new kid on the block? What are some strategies/best practices you’ve employed during your first few months on the job?
Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (courtingyourcareer.wordpress.com).
Posted by Shawn Graham at 5:30 PM
Work/Life: Some Legitimate Expenses I'd Like To Claim
CEO Dad's Tuesday Tirade....
In Croatia, Damir Matkovic, a popular TV journalist known for a dashing smile much-appreciated by his viewers, persuaded his employers to shell out 26 grand on oral surgery to prevent the spread of his periodontitis. They went for it, succumbing to the logic that if the guy’s teeth started falling out, they would lose a substantial audience who had come to grow rather fond of their favorite reporter’s pearly whites.
Of course, my mind went spinning out into all the arguments I could make for a host of legitimate expenses I would like to claim. Coffee, for one, as no productive activities can even hope to happen without it. My tennis club fee should also be paid by my employers, since all the aggression I get to take out on the court prevents me from randomly whacking them on the head with my racket during business meetings. In fact, now that I work from home, I think my clients should shell out for a percentage of my mortgage. (Indulge me on that one; I’m still trying to figure out how to make that work.)
All of this leads to another subject, which is: let’s get going on some financial incentives for work/life harmony. Here are just a few expenses that I believe businesses should start paying on behalf of the employees who sacrifice so much of their emotional lives to help them turn a profit every quarter:
1) NETFLIX – The small monthly fee it would cost your company to give you this service would provide a year-long opportunity to relax and watch a movie with your significant other one or two nights a week. The benefits are three-fold: your better-adjusted relationship will create a more congenial work environment the next day; inter-employee camaraderie with increase as water-cooler discussions about movies will become commonplace, and you can rent Rob Schneider movies anonymously through the mail without having to face the derisive glares of the video store clerk.
2) $100 PER WALK – Everyone knows walking is great exercise and increases mental capacity. So, for every day you agree not to come back from lunch drowsy after consuming fat and salt at a restaurant, or not to sit congealing in the break room, the company kicks in a hundred bucks to your cause. In return, you come back from your walk to the workplace energized, and ready to generate new ideas. Of course, you will also probably have indigestion, since you will likely have to scarf some pre-prepared food from your Tupperware before hiking for an hour, but a cool hundred is worth you delivering increased productivity along with a little acid reflux.
3) THE TELLING OFF THE CLIENT ALLOWANCE – No financial reward here, but perhaps one that is far more priceless in terms of managing stress and instilling good faith between you and those who hired you. Simply put, you are allowed two opportunities per month to tell an irritating client where they can stick it, and both times with your company’s blessing. Never has slamming down the phone been so satisfying…or so fully-sanctioned. The only downside is people will soon be pressing to do this far more than two times a month. Be prepared to vary your company policy.
I’m sure everyone has some helpful activities they would like to see underwritten. Fire away.
Posted by Tom Stern at 7:34 AM
| 1 Comment
MagicJack- It’s Magically Delicious
I have tried it all. Skype, Vonage, even VoIP from my ISP. Still, none were as easy as promised. Skype required me to purchase a expensive USB headset, Vonage required their equipment and my ISP had too many contracts. All I have wanted is true plug and play VoIP with my own telephone.
Then I found MagicJack. MagicJack is a small USB dongle (looks like a thumb drive) that any regular land based phone and a high speed internet connection. Plug the RJ11 line into the phone and into the MagicJack. That is the longest and most complicated part of this whole process. After that, it takes about 2 minutes to setup.
The Magicjack has excellent voice quality that's almost indistinguishable from a land line, and a cost of about $20 (A one time $20 fee for the MagicJack and a $20 a year charge for service)a year for unlimited nationwide service to any land line or cell. Even my Skype after adding a incoming line and voice mail was more expensive.
If this is your first time using the device, you'll have to run through a registration process and choose from a poll of numbers based on area codes. You can even pick an area code from a state or city other then where you live if you like.. You either request a new number or ask to have your existing number ported (there is a $10 surcharge for porting.). Set up your 911 service and your done.
What’s included? Everything most people need. Caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, three way calling, free local and long distance to US and Canada, and voice mail that will works even if you're not online.
It works with Windows and Macs and international calling credits will be available in Feb.
For those with home business trying to keep the cost down or with kids in college, this one is a new brainer.
Check out MagicJack here
Posted by Stephen L Rose at 12:23 AM
January 21, 2008
Building Strong Networks: Part Three
This is the final segment of my three part interview with Mike Dulworth, author of The Connect Effect: Building Strong Personal, Professional, and Virtual Networks. Mike is CEO of Executive Networks, Inc. The powerful premise of Mike’s excellent book is that having a strong network is critical to success for leaders today. In parts one and two we covered these questions:
--What prompted Mike to write the book
--Why he thinks networking is so important today
--What he means by the “Connect Effect”
--What people who are really good at networking do that others don’t
--How to know if you are good at networking and if you have a good network
--Mike’s advice for leaders about using networks to improve their effectiveness
Here in part three I ask Mike about the concept of a personal board of directors and what he sees as the future of networking:
Jim: In the book, you mention the idea of having a personal board of directors, how does that work?
Mike: A PBOD mirrors a company board of directors in its composition and intent. The idea is to select from your network a small number (5-10) of diverse people that you turn to for important advice, counsel, coaching and mentoring. My PBOD includes my father, my best friend, a business colleague, a member of my company’s board, a cousin, my wife, an old boss and my college roommate. The members of your personal board care about you and are willing to help you with difficult personal problems, job and career challenges, etc. and provide sage advice and guidance.
Jim: What do you see when you think about the future of networking?
Mike: I asked this question to the over 30 people I interviewed for the book. They said that networking would become increasingly important in a VUCA world (a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity). They said that reciprocity (the quid pro quo of networking) is the key to successful networking (whether face-to-face or virtual). They said that technology (mainly the Web and mobile devices) is going to transform networking in ways that we can’t imagine today. They said that the younger generations are going to change the world and solve many of mankind’s major dilemmas because of the networks they can form and leverage. As the management guru Peter Drucker said, “The leader of the past knew how to tell; the leader of the future knows how to ask.”
Jim Bolt*jbolt@executivedevelopment.com*www.executivedevelopment.com
January 20, 2008
The Leading Edge - A Regret Free Career and Life
Regret is what happens
when you’re busy making plans…
that you never follow through on.
(with appreciation and regrets to John Lennon)
Ah…a life with no regrets. Is it possible? Yes, if you utilize Macro Strategic Planning, a 6 step process created by entrepreneur and wealth advisor, Bruce Wright, founder and owner of MacroStrategicDesign.
Step 1: Vision – clearly see the life you want to be living vs. merely wanting to feel happy without any vision for creating it
Step 2: Commitment – primed to take action, which you will do when your vision is compelling and convincing to you over a period of time without continually jumping to other ideas
Step 3: Goals – milestones on the way to that vision you will reach 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years down the road
Step 4: Strategies – plans you will follow to reach those goals
Step 5: Tactics – actions you will take to make those strategies effective
Step 6: Tools – items that will give you the opportunity to execute your strategy
After I learned it, I realized that I achieved all of my major accomplishments in life by adhering to these 6 steps without being conscious of them. Had I known about this template for turning dreams into reality, it would have saved me a lot of time…and hassle.
If this topic speaks to you, catch my video interview on creating “A Regret Free Life" on Karen Salmansohn’s Sirius radio show, “Be Happy, Dammit."
Posted by Mark Goulston at 1:00 PM
| 1 Comment
January 18, 2008
But What If We HAVE To Do It?
Record heat waves, melting glaciers, epic droughts - - the climate is changing faster than we once thought possible, which means our response will have to be much more creative and comprehensive than we may have imagined. Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to suggest slashing greenhouse gases in half by 2020, but what if we have to do it? Does the technology exist? Is there enough money and political will power on earth to commercialize those technologies fast enough?
I’ll let you in on two secrets that could be very profitable for smart entrepreneurs and investors. We could end our fossil fuel addiction within 20 years - - and make a lot of money in the process - - with two basic strategies.
Continue reading "But What If We HAVE To Do It?"Posted by Terry Tamminen at 1:00 PM
| 6 Comments
Leadership: Directors of First Impressions
A couple of months ago, I was a visitor at the New York headquarters of a big international law firm. When I walked into the firm’s beautiful offices, I was greeted by an impressive woman of years. I handed her my pass, which had my name on it and she smiled and welcomed me by name. She then offered to take my coat and showed me to a comfortable chair in the reception area. She asked if I wanted to visit the rest room. I did and when I returned, she welcomed me back.
I took my seat and picked up something to read. The receptionist came out from behind the large reception desk and walked over to me. Speaking softly, she told me my appointment was running about 15 minutes late and would I like something to drink while I waited? Did I have enough reading material? I felt very relaxed and content sitting and waiting for my appointment. My impression of the law firm? A classy place with, I was sure, classy people. On the way out, I told the receptionist that I thought she was the best I had ever seen.
Continue reading "Leadership: Directors of First Impressions"Posted by Ruth Sherman at 9:13 AM
| 5 Comments
Technology: A Dream Deferred
With 52 airlines awaiting a total of 762 787s, word that delivery of Boeing's much-ballyhooed Dreamliner would be deferred was unwelcome news indeed.
Continue reading "Technology: A Dream Deferred"