Filed under: Career Success
Last week, I attended Chick-Fil-A’s Leadercast virtual conference. Like most of the current buffet-style conferences, there were a few dishes I loved and wanted more of, a few I liked, and a few I scraped off my plate. Marcus Buckingham was one of which I wanted more, please.
I’ve seen Buckingham a few times, and he never disappoints. I assigned his landmark book Now Discover Your Strengths as a text in several classes I taught. His new work, StandOut, is equally excellent.
Buckingham tells us how we tick, and enables us to use it to succeed at work. Not “us” as in “all of us,” but me and you personally. His work goes beyond personality descriptions, which I have found interesting but not particularly useful. This is useful info specific to you. Knowing how you or I differ from the mass of humanity enables us to work right at the sharp edge of our capabilities. When you work on the sharpest edge, things cut more easily, meaning that you do an excellent job of your work, and your work becomes a joy.
Most of us find our way to something we both love and at which we excel by wandering through several jobs we hate and at which we are simply awful. I had to sell vacuum cleaners, work at a convenience store, wait tables, sell insurance (online no less), and become a college administrator to find out what I’m terrible at. Along the way–a couple decades–I also learned what I excel at, which is what I do now.
I had help from people that loved me but did not have the foggiest idea what I’d be great at (it wasn’t banking, but thanks for the nudge). The most helpful tool I found besides prayer remains the thick job finder’s “bible” What Color is Your Parachute. I have bought dozens of copies for young people dazed by the choices of what to do with their lives. Now I get to spend many more thousands of dollars on StandOut–it’s that good.
The book is very brief–two hours gets you through it. It’s less than $13, and that’s an entertaining return if you ask me. The system is set up so that buying the book gives one a single-use key to the online assessment. The book without the key is rather useless, so just buy your own and mark it up. It took me a half-hour to read the front material, another 20 minutes to take the assessment, and maybe another hour to make sense of the results and read the concluding material on what to do with them. I enjoyed it so much, and was so pleasantly surprised by the results, that I bought my wife the Kindle version and handed it to her. Two hours later, she was equally pleased.
The end results are fun to know, but what might one do with the newfound insight? I’m planning to tell my boss, and see if there’s a way that he and I can get me in more situations where I am the sharpest knife working on a problem. I have a strong sense that doing so will bring more success to me and to our company. I also wonder if people that are good at hiring and managing others might develop a profile of which characteristics are common to the most effective managers. To me, it makes sense that some traits would be more common than others, don’t you agree? I think that’s one of the things I remember Buckingham mentioning in his Leadercast talk. If so, imagine how much more helpful it would be to men and women stuck in management positions for which they are ill-equipped and that they hate to know that they need to move (but also where to move). It seems the more ethical course of action, yes? Should we measure traits of top-producing people and then hire and promote in line with those traits? That’s a big question, and one that interests me on many levels.
You notice a manager watching one of the younger, female employees. You assume he is observing her behavior, but he makes a comment about her “beautiful eyes.” Her eyes are, in fact, unusually attractive, so you agree and think nothing of it.
Later, however, you notice the same manager watching another female employee. This time, he comments about her figure saying, “Wow, since she lost weight, she looks awesome.”
Two days later, you observe him watching a customer. You mention it, and he says, “A man sees a fire, he has to look, right?”
You respond . . . how, exactly?
Do you recognize a pattern in his behavior?
Does it matter that he is married with two children?
I found an interesting sidebar coming out of the current trouble between the New Orleans Saints and the NFL commissioner. The trouble involves a bounty program whereby Saints players targeted star players on opposing teams to injure them, or at least sideline them for a few plays. Getting paid to hurt the other guy is frowned upon by the NFL and has resulted in heavy fines against coaches and the Saints organization.
The sidebar involves the impending fines against Saints players and the moral lesson you and I may take from it. To determine punishment, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is consulting with the NFL Players Association. Such a consult makes sense–one rightly secures the opinions of stakeholders when making important decisions unless he or she wants rebellion down the line. The full article, “Cold Front,” is found in the April 9 issue of Sports Illustrated.
The author states that league officials formerly offered the NFLPA a look at their investigative findings before holding a press conference. Goodell went another direction. He consulted NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith after making his investigation public. Smith is upset. Should he be?
Goodell’s benefit, had he told Smith first, is to negotiate punishment against players behind closed doors, and then present a decision backed by all the governing parties. On the other hand, Goodell’s method clearly establishes who, at least in this case, wears the pants, tight as they may be.
An ethical dilemma concerns informing stakeholders as a use of power. Is one obligated to give partners inside information before informing the media, or is it more ethical to tell everyone at the same time? Does it cement or undermine one’s power to withhold information from stakeholders? Are there exceptions?
Perhaps you formed a quick response. How does it affect your thoughts knowing that Jesus told those closest to him what was going on before he told those not so close? What if, instead of a business partnership, this was a family matter–when does one “tell the children”? Or the parents?!
Welcome to Resurrection life. Happy Easter!
Lest any of us think he or she is immune to a crash, Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino offers a lesson. His team is favored to win the National Championship. Last time the Hogs did that was 1964.
Last week, Bobby ran his motorcycle into a ditch. Injuries followed as you might imagine. Oh, but it gets better. He had a lovely blonde passenger, not his wife. ESPN’s account of his little scandal is found here.
I doubt Arkansas will fire Petrino (he’s winning). I do not doubt that they’ll fire the girl (this is how things work in the real world). I also doubt that Bobby’s wife and children consider him a winner right now. Nor do I think they will appreciate the media attention and that their man is now sermon fodder.
It’s Easter week–Good Friday actually. A time when most of us think of flowers, bunnies, and happiness. The Christians shout “Jesus is Risen,” and others ask for more chocolate. We forget that today marks the celebration of the darkest and most important three day run in human history. Good Friday is the day that the most prideful, worst being (Satan) was hammered into submission by the most best and smartest man in the world (Jesus). The pride of the devil goes on–it continues to destroy lives. And the humility and kindness of Jesus continues to offer a better way. We do not have to be destroyed by our hubris.
Years ago, I heard a formerly famous guy talk about his fall from a high place (he had an affair with a younger model as well). When asked what caused it, he said, “Pride.” He said that three things happened to ditch his happy life.
1. No real friends. He got lonely at the top, and his fake friends did not hold him to the high standards that real friends require. Good time buddies will not hold you to high standards.
2. He quit reading the Bible and praying. He quit spending time with God, which is self-explanatory, don’t you agree?
3. He focused on his pleasure. The next ride. The next party. The pretty girl that held his gaze. You get the idea.
I sincerely hope that Mr. Petrino and his wife can find God’s grace and reconcile their marriage. Resurrection happens. Moreover, I hope that the young woman finds Christ and faith and that she learns to make sense of her desires. It will also be great if the University of Arkansas shows moral fiber. Institutions with high integrity do not tolerate poor judgment–they hold the standards high as an example to the young people under their care.
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Truer words were never spoken.
It has been my experience that people often fool themselves into thinking all is well when it surely is not. The farther south from age 45 one is, the more likely, though age is no predictor of wisdom in our dumbed down era.
Companies – research proves – have a worse and more terminal problem with self-aggrandizement. But, oh my, churches, missionary agencies, and para-church organizations are the worst. (I once heard a high level manager of a well-funded missionary enterprise tell a group of his subordinates that he did not want to hear any bad news.)
God loves faith and faith is a form of positive thinking. Faith, however, bases its claims on past experience and the testimony of trusted advisors such as the writers of the Bible and mentors known for making good decisions over time. Faith is a building that sits on a foundation of truth. God loves positive thinking, but He is not interested in head-in-the-sand ignorance of reality.
I recommend Mr. Metzger’s post.
Filed under: Career Success, Giving Back/Community Impact, Life Choices, Spiritual Grounding
A friend sent me this article on the key to happiness at work. I think it’s worth the five minutes it takes to read, but here’s a summary in case your food is coming. “To be happy, accept life as it is.”
It’s really not a bad article and I agree with many of the author’s ideas, and also those of the author she quotes (there are a lot of threads in this little garment). What I don’t like is the reliance on Eastern mysticism that claims happiness is found at the end of a road that’s moved a long way from caring.
Acceptance sounds great unless you unpack it. Where does all that acceptance lead?
“Accept the world as it is, and go about your day,” says that to be happy, one should distance himself or herself from the realities of the world. Let go of caring and embrace the junk. The writer calls the junk lemons, but he doesn’t mean lemons. He means junk. See the junk? Accept it. Stop caring and happiness is yours.
But wait, doesn’t caring lead to loving and isn’t love all about caring deeply? If God is distant from the cares of the world, then God does not love…me….or you! Taken to its logical conclusion, this author’s idea warns us off from loving anyone. That makes me unhappy, and I am sure you agree.
Moreover, what would change if no one cared? Nothing would change. We’d still be afraid of our children getting polio.
I wonder how that “accept what you see” idea sells in places like the Mathare slum in Nairobi? For that matter, how’s it sell to that burger cashier who is thinking it’s worth her time stay in school and to persevere toward her dream of advancing in the world? Should she just accept her $10 per hour and leave it at that or do you hope she achieves more? Yeah, me too.
Perhaps a better way to be happy is to look for what needs changing and realize that God is with us in the struggle? Most of what needs changing starts with me. And most of me that needs changing is my attitude! (Haven’t we heard this somewhere before?)
Filed under: Career Success, Life Choices, Networking, Relationships, Wellness
I’m doing another 30 Day Challenge in January, but with a twist. This time, @ginisays is joining me to teach our sharpest team members how to do a challenge and challenging them to join us. Holler at @knmanagement to get on board!
At its core, the 30 Day Challenge is about happiness. I know you want more happiness, and I know that you don’t know how to get more (if you did, you’da already got it).
Perhaps, something that you have not much considered: your attitude affects your happiness. Yes, yes, yes it does!
We all know FISH! Philosophy. We work with many people with great attitudes, and a few with not-so-great attitudes. We’ve seen the former promoted and the latter invited to work for somebody else. We’ve seen attitudes overcome big problems, and bust up marriages. Attitudes determine more than income, education or which side of the tracks you’re from. Attitudes are big.
Your attitude about the 30 Day Challenge determines, imho, 90% of the happiness you find as a result. Pickle-faced about change? Ok, but don’t complain when your doctor frowns at your jelly rolls, anxiety robs your sleep-time, or the other guy gets the promotion; just blame your methane attitude.
You already know what needs to change. Blue Bell habit, toxic relationships, anger, disrespecting God, apathetic work habits, watching inane shows, trying to outdo others, we all do stuff that we know drains our happiness. Start thinking of yourself as the person you want to be, and get busy doing what he or she does. And, please stop complaining about making the list.
Making the list should be a pain in the … a pain. Stay with it. Use the life balance categories as guides. Write down your personal happiness gains and drains in each category, then cull the list down to a few manageable choices. The idea is not to have an item in every category, but to have a few better choices to start making.
A couple examples:
- A manager feels that it would increase his career success if he regularly feeds his team members encouraging messages. His list might say, “Set up a twitter account, invite tm’s to follow me, and post one positive tweet per day for 30 days.”
- Another team member think she will make better relationship decisions if she has God’s help–wonder where she got that idea (smile). Her new habit is to: “Read The One Year Bible every day.”
So far, I’ve spent about two hours on my list. I’ve thought through church (gain), the kind of people I need less of (drain), more vegetables (gain), less flour (drain), more dinner parties (gain), less saying yes to every community impact opportunity (drain), and some other stuff I’m keeping to myself.
I doubt all those items will be on my final list, but they might. I schedule time with myself every evening to write a fresh list from scratch. After about ten of those, I’ll look for patterns. I expect to find some really important gains to increase and drains to close, and I expect to be even happier in 2012.
If you’re interested in starting with Twitter, this will help.
If you’re unsure about the value of Twitter, read this.
If you want to watch an inspiring challenge video, go here.
Let me know if you need personalized help with your list.
100,000 blessings, Jack
Filed under: Career Success, Giving Back/Community Impact, Life Choices, Relationships, Spiritual Grounding, Wellness
I have a friend that runs a 10K every Thanksgiving (jerk). Another who only brings “healthy food” to the overloaded holiday potluck (spoil sport). Still one more that – you’ll not believe this – gives gifts to the poor instead of her wealthy family and friends (grinch). One more (this is depressing) who re-institutes prohibition for his holiday party-going (party-pooper).
We are nearing The Time of Too Much - my label for the season that runs about now through January 1. It is a season I love. But it comes with lethargy and an extra 10 pounds, and then there’s the depressed cashbox. Sigh.
For the next 60 days, white hot temptation begs us to eat, drink, sit, watch, travel, and spend way too much. Delayed gratification seems totally irrelevant and I risk friendships even bringing this up at such an otherwise festive time. That it is my job is not one bit relevant. That I care about your wellness, and ultimately your success is received as busy-body harping.
Filed under: Career Success
I’m always hunting for examples of businesses that understand their best strategy, which is to delight the people that trade them money for stuff. A restaurant’s job is not to make great food. It’s to delight guests. An airline’s job is not to deliver people to a destination. It’s to delight them. (This has not happened to me in a LONG time.) A lawn service does not become successful by cutting grass but by delighting lawn owners.
This picture was taken at my favorite pizza place: Home Slice in Austin. That kid and his mom are delighted with a wad of dough straight out of the kitchen. Every kid gets a fat wad of dough to play with. They would’ve given me some too if I’d really wanted it.
Home Slice serves real pizza so it takes a while to get to the table. The owners understand that hungry kids soon morph into antsy, whiny kids, and their parents soon catalyze into frustrated, annoyed, griping low-tippers. Parents pay money to avoid these discomforts. Lots of it. (That’s how Disney & McDonald’s got big.) Home Slice may not get any bigger, but they will continue to get my dough. And my kids are past the play-dough stage.
