“Is There an Ecological Unconscious?” by Daniel B. Smith (New York Times Sunday Magazine, 27 January 2010). The majority of this blog is devoted to the more technical if not clinical aspects of life in the business world. But as they say, “All work and no play makes Mark a dull boy.” Speaking from personal experience I have no doubt that there is a positive and necessary connection between my mind, body & soul and my ability to maintain a healthy connection to the world around me.
Yes, Wired’s pro-technology approach – “How Twitter and Facebook Make Us More Productive” by Brendan I. Koerner, 22 February 2010 – makes some sense. That is, humans are wired such that we need to take breaks from the immediate task at hand. However, maybe the true productivity advantages come not from dialing up a browser and Facebooking but from stepping away from the desk and taking a quite moment outside? Maybe there really is an advantage to having a corner office with a view?
Furthermore, if you subscribe to the ecological unconscious ideals then it would seem that they might also explain the increase prevalence of human disconnect (e.g., the need for anti-depressants) in our society. Are we building a world that more and more of us are not fit to live in? Is a (short term looking) productive work environment the same thing as an ongoing healthy human living environment?
“It’s a Wonderful, Horrible Feeling” by Shaun White as told to Alyssa Roenigk (ESPN, 22 Feb 2010). Better knows as the Flying Tomato, Mr. White (age 21) is considered to be one of the best snowboarders in the world. He is certainly the most recognizable.
It’s not often someone of such a young age shares an idea such as:
You know how I said that everyone assumes this is easy for me? Well, I probably downplay the one easy part: I cut out a lot of prep time by visualizing complicated tricks. But I still have to practice, and it still gets gnarly and terrifying. I slam my back against the ice all day just like anyone else. And there are still times when I show up at the mountain and think, I hate this. I don’t want to be here. The halfpipe is terrible. It’s cold. Then I look over at the next guy, and he hates it. And the next guy, he hates it too. Then I get this amazing feeling. Great. Everybody hates it. Their spirits are down. I am going to rip this halfpipe. The best riders shine through in bad weather. I’m probably the most prepared of anyone.
To me, it’s simple. If you really want to do something you can figure it out. If you hurt your hand and you have to write with the other, you figure it out. You adapt. I am a big fan of doing what you are really bad at. A lot.
There you have it boys & girls, this gold winner’s four keys to being world-class:
1) Visualize success
2) Suck it up in order to rise above the rest
3) Perseverance and adaptation
4) Get out of your comfort zone and force yourself to do what you’re bad at
Sound just like a day at the office sometimes, eh? Simple and brilliant at the same time.
“Bill Gates Sets Out His Global Charitable Goals” (NPR.org, 25 January 2010). As a supplement to yesterday’s post, here is a link to Mr. Gates being interviewed on National Public Radio’s (NPR) Talk of the Nation.
For the most part Mr. Gates’ perspective is global. He does however mention during the inteview that s in the United States the two biggest issue his foundation is addressing are helping teachers and online learning. Contrast this with the fact that Uncle Sam’s approach has lead to a system where only 60% of the students who start high school actually graduate. The irony comes when one considers how many massive corporations jump through tax loopholes to avoid paying into the system and then those same outfits also expect to have a well educated work force available so they can be even more profitable.
Is the system just dented and bent, or broken and in need of a complete makeover?
“2010 Annual Letter from Bill Gates” by Bill Gates (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 25 Janueary 2010). While certainly not an oracle, Mr. Gates, former Microsoft head honcho, is well established and well connected and needless to say very very wealthy. If you’re curious about what’s ahead then invest some time in Mr. Gates’ thoughts. In short, good economy, bad economy or New Economy, we have a lot of work to do.
In the event you don’t make it to the last page, Bill says:
I have decided to take the notes I make after taking a trip, reading a book, or meeting with someone interesting and pull them together on a web site called www.gatesnotes.com. This will let me share thoughts on foundation-related topics and other areas on a regular basis. I expect to write about tuberculosis, U.S. state budgets, creative capitalism, and philanthropy in Asia, among other things.
What is interesting is that many of The Gates’ concerns are resource and/or “head count” driven. Yet, there is little mention of population and population control as a means to helping solve some of these problems. We’d all agree that technolgy can be a wonderful tool, but let’s not forget about (changing) good ol’ fashion human behavior as a means to a better ends.
1) Consider these as leadership qualities that are universal, not just for IT.
2) You don’t have to be at the top of the org chart to be a leader. This is especially true if you want to get to the top of the org chart.
3) In many cases, these criteria also apply to brands, not just individuals. How well does your brand lead? Or not?
4) Finally, instead of “were chosen” substitute “will be chosen” and adjust your resolutions for the year ahead as you see fit.
Which of these dozen or so characteristics do you value most in a leader? What characteristics did Ms. Fanning and Ms. Keefe miss? Who is your leadership hero?
“The future is a gimmick” by David Weinberger (KM World, 1 Jan 1 2010). The parties are over and it’s back to reality – cold, non-stop reality. But let’s not be foolish and try to break into a full sprint from a dead stop. It’s always smart to loosen up a bit. As you sip your coffee and gear up for 2010, consider this article toe touches and jumping jacks. Enjoy!
Another buzz service that maybe you’re familiar with is Google Voice. In short, it’s a free phone number with it’s own outgoing message. No more using your personal number for business. Or maybe you just need a special (temporary) number for a special project. Skye, Yahoo! and others do provide free numbers but more often than not they don’t allow for your own personalize outgoing message. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Intriguing, eh? From here be sure to consume “How To: Totally Overhaul Your Phones With Google Voice” by John Herrman (Gizmodo.com, 12 December 2009). That should get you started. Much like Google Wave, Voice is in limited beta. It’s invite only for the moment. But the turn around is approximately two weeks — http://www.google.com/voice.
What’s hard to say, but certain to be interesting, is how Google eventually integrates Wave with Voice. For those who have thus far underestimated Wave, the ball is still bouncing so keep your eye on it.
A colleague and I were fortunate to witness this first hand a couple weeks ago. Considering that this was part of the Web 2.0 Expo’s free seminars, is simply amazing. Rushkoff alone was worth the time and the cost of the train multiplied by a few thousand, at least. Cheers to O’Reilly for bringing that event together and having Rushkoff expand our minds. Challenging, brilliant and not to be missed.
“Work for Change” by Alexander Stein (Fortune Small Business, November 2009). It’s always interesting how the title of an article sometimes changes from the print version to the web version. In this case, the web version is actually, “Break bad habits, make more money.” Look out Spiderman, here comes SEOman. I digress.
Change and innovation continue to be the buzz words of the moment. Add in the fact that the New Year’s resolution ritual is just around the corner and this article becomes a great way to kickoff your post-Thanksgiving week.
As we so often like to do, let’s bait you with a pull quote teaser:
There’s no simple prescription for change. But here are the first crucial steps:
Recognize that your personal history plays a central role in shaping your behavior.
Revise any prejudice against emotional inquiry. Accept the fact that fear, rigidity and avoidance are corrosive — and that reaching an understanding about yourself can reap rewards.
Admire psychological complexity; don’t let it intimidate you. Decode your mind to harness its natural ingenuity.
Respect the gargantuan force of your emotional life. Emotions can propel you to success. They can also impede and even straitjacket you. No matter what, you can’t ignore your emotions and still hope to prosper in business or in life.
Keep in mind, we’re about to enter the second decade of the 21st century. What 20th century habits and approaches do you hope to leave behind already? What do think it’s going to take to make those changes happen? Who or what — aside from yourself — is stopping you? Where else do find sources of inspiration that work for you?
“Developing Strong Work Relationships” by Kerry Patterson (BaselineMag.com, 13 November 2009).This one is as much about the who as it is about the what. “Kerry Patterson is the co-author of three best-sellers: Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations and Influencer. He is also a speaker and consultant, and co-founder of VitalSmarts, which focuses on corporate training and organizational performance.” Influencer has been mentioned here before, and is recommended reading. The other two are on the hopefully sooner of later list. In the meantime these short article will have to fill the gap.
As is often the case, Kerry’s expertise doesn’t reinvent the wheel as much as it serves as another friendly reminder on how not to be that guy/gal. The bonus here is that once you invest the time to consume these tips/article at work, you’ll be able to take them home as well.
— If you want better relationships, never air your dirty laundry in public.
— If you want better relationships, seek face time with your colleagues.
— If you want better relationships, learn to listen and then speak respectfully when conversations become crucial.
Relentless attention to getting the customer experience right will yield increased customer equity. When customers are satisfied, companies may reap opportunities to cross-sell products and services, adding to their bottom lines. If approached correctly, the customer experience can also aid the acquisition of new customers, as they determine where they’d like to purchase products and services.
Maybe not as easy to bring home to the wife and the kids but the idea of The Experience having to stick does seem to be universal. What do you think?
“Apple The Outlier” by Rich Karlgaard (Forbes.com, 21 October 2009). In response to Mr. Kalgaard’s blog post the following comment (below) was submitted. Maybe you’ll find it entertaining, so it’s also being shared here.
While I didn’t read every comment in detail, with all due respect, I think the essential point has been missed… When it has been more successful, Apple has been the tortoise. There are plenty of cases of Apple and/or Jobs falling on their face. How many of you are using a Next computer :)
On the other hand, where Apple has done really well, is when it slows down while others rush in. The ipod and the iphone both being great examples. Neither were new ideas. What they were were still developing ideas done a bit better and more importantly, rolled out *after* “the tipping point”. Apple doesn’t feel the need to be first to market, they’d rather get it more right their first time. They’ve come to realize the value in learning from others’ mistakes. If there is an irony, it’s that Apple really isn’t a technolgy company (i.e., technology for technology’s sake). They understand that they are a solutions and services company, and that’s what they focus on providing.
When they get it right, Apple doesn’t waste resources trying to get to the tipping point, they let others do their bidding. In the meantime they’re using their resources (time and people) to build a better mouse trap as well as come up with the marketing spin to make it look new and exciting. I am not trying to belittle the iphone, I am only suggesting it is not the cure for cancer.
There is no doubt, Apple is a great outfit. But the reasons for that success are too often wrong and/or overstated. They have a great formula – look how their growth and market share has nudged up year by year (i.e., like a tortoise) – and at the moment it’s working quite well for them. But a smart competitor could duplicate their formula quite easily. Provided that competitor isn’t blinded by the hype, or fearful of a beast that isn’t even there.
Obviously, it’s not new but that is no reason to discount its value. What’s appealing is that these Seven vectors take AU’s holistic approach and brings it all the way back to the individual. Or as Collins would probably say, back to the wellness of the right people on the bus. In other words, a healthy business starts with healthy people – both employees and maybe even clients/customers.
True, Jasmine’s context is within the sports/fitness club industry. If you’re not in that industry then try imagining your company or organization as a club and consider that employees are not just productivity tools but are first are foremost human beings. They need to be well 24/7, not just from 9 to 5.
Btw, clubs have guests too, right? So if you need it, here’s another vote for being guest-centric.
“Dynamic Duos” by Stephanie Overby (CIO Magazine, 15 October 2009). Further proof that the myth of the individual as victor is just that, a myth. Regardless of how many successes (and failures) are painted, in nearly 100% of the cases there is actually a team behind the individual being attributed with the accomplishment. For example, believe it or not, Tiger Woods has a caddy and he has a coach. Yes, he is obviously very talented but he can not do what he does on his 0wn.
Here are a couple choice pull quotes:
“Isolation is quite literally unhealthy—as bad for you as smoking or lack of exercise,” explains Rodd Wagner who, with fellow Gallup executive Gale Muller, coauthored the book Power of 2: How to Make the Most of Your Partnerships at Work and in Life. “The more we collaborate, the more we accomplish.”
“We have a culture that emphasizes being the all-around hero, even though research is quite clear that each of us is a mixture of strengths and weaknesses. It’s a real blind spot in business strategy,” says Wagner. To forge good partnerships, “you have to recognize both that you need help and that you are also the help someone else needs.”
The irony is, while many individuals become self-absorbed in their quest (and in turn come up short), the smart money pulls up a bus and focuses on getting the right people on board. Believe that myth all you want, but the truth is that realizing success — whether you’re on the clock, or after hours — does in fact take a village.
“Mixed Signals” by Sam Gosling (Psychology Today, October 2009). True, this might be a bit heavy weight for a Friday afternoon post. On the other hand, it has the potential to supply you with some provocative pondering over the weekend. What makes this one special is that in functions on so many levels. The insights can be applied to your personal persona, your business persona, your online persona, and even to your company/brand. It’s like a personification of, “it’s not what you say, it’s what they hear.” In this case it even applies to what you say to yourself.
Needless to say, you already know how much we like to push forward truths that can be followed across the multiple vectors life. “Mixed Signals” fulfills that quest.
“Retail Mentor’s Roundtable” by Dan Bolton (Specialty-Coffee.com, September 2009). Someone please put a star next to Mr. Bolton’s name for this one. This is pure genius!
Answers to these two questions neatly sum up the situation:
— Do you believe the retail coffee business is harder now than it was two years ago?
— Do you believe it is going to get any better in the next two years?
Whether you were asked these questions last year (when times were bad) or this year (as times got worse) or next (as things improve), the answer is the same. “Yes, it’s getting harder. No, it’s not going to get any easier.”
So here’s another question: If the coffee business is not going to get any better in the next couple of years, then who has to get better? The answer: “You.”
“Decoding Leadership” by Norm Smallwood (HarvardBusiness.org, 15 September 15, 2009). And where do you stand? Where do you wish to stand? Better yet, where do you need to stand? Something to ponder this weekend as you indulge in some downtime, eh?
Design matters. Why? Because it is one of the first things to effect The Guest Experience. It establishes the tone of the on going relationship. Whether it’s your store, your club, your restaurant or your web site, these impressions matter. If you have any doubts about the value of investing in good design, and thus The Guest Experience, these two articles should help reorient your compass.
When you spend on your club’s environment, you are spending on marketing. Think about having an environment that is so exciting, fun and stimulating that people actually love being there, and it makes them want to tell their friends about it.
No matter the size or demographics of your bar, creating and sustaining a successful vibe requires tuning (and sometimes retuning) the sensory experience and physical layout to match your clientele’s expectations and, above all, affording each customer personal and professional service.
The key is empathy. Stop thinking about what you see, or what you think you see. Now look at your company from the outside in. What do they, The Guest, see? And what impression(s) does that make on their experience?
“Influence Others To Take Action” by Stacey Hanke (Business XPansion Journal, September 2009). Another page from the School of When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Revist, Refine & Re-Attack. If things are slower today than you’d like use that time wisely, use it to invest in the future. Even if tomorrow isn’t that much better than today at least you and your company will be. Relatively, that will translate into better times.
While we’re on the subject of influence… “Influencer – The Power to Change Anything” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, David Maxfield, Ron McMillian & Al Switzler (McGraw Hill) raises some interesting points. I won’t say I’m thrilled with the quality of the writing itself (i.e., how well the ideas are presented) — just stick to the ideas / concepts. If you believe what they say then there’s the potential for some simple game changing lessons. Worth a go if you’re looking for something to stir the gray matter a bit.
Profit: What are you encouraging people to do in these uncertain times?
Gardner: One of the things I’ve encouraged people to do is to just turn the TV off. Use it for entertainment purposes only. All of the smart-guy pundits you see on television are saying, “The feds should do this. The Treasury should do that. Credit markets need to do this.” The truth is nobody really knows. Too many of us allow what we do to define who we are. If you’ve been laid off, fired, downsized, outsourced, or pushed out of a job, you really need to ask yourself, “Who am I?” It’s important not to confuse your self-worth with your net worth. Net worth is going to fluctuate, because that’s what markets do. They go up, and they go down. Your self-worth, who you are as a person, what’s important to you, and what you care about, those are the things in life that won’t fluctuate.
The entire interview will take you about 90 seconds to read. But you must invest the time to get the payback.
“6 ways to train your employees on the cheap” by Mary K. Pratt (Computer World, 10 August 2009). It’s official — common sense is finally back in style. The best stuff here might come from the sidebar (on the first page) titled “3 ways workers can get their own free training.” Let’s be honest, if you’re not going to make an effort to keep yourself sharp then it’s not really fair to complain when management is neglectful and your skills become dated or even obsolete. There is one person in charge of your career and that person is you.
On the plus it’s nice to know that there are some outfits who are trying to push forward in spite of the economy. There are however a handful of AU caveats:
— Why cheap? Shouldn’t the emphasis be on cost effective? Cheaper isn’t better if it yields third rate results. Regardless of economic conditions the focus should be on ROI.
— Fact: Nothing like this comes to life and stays alive without full and proper commitment from management. If management sees training and growth as not worth the investment then it’s not going to happen. If that’s the case either update your resume and move on or go into DIY mode, or both.
— The other side of the coin is that employees have to want to learn. If someone wants to coast then they should expect to be run down from behind. Don’t be that guy / gal. You shouldn’t ever assume that someone else knows what’s best for you and your career.
The bottom line… If things are slowing then use that time wisely to improve, because if you or your company doesn’t then someone else cetainly will.
