A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

In 1739 the Scottish skeptic David Hume wrote “Treatise of Human Nature” in which he argued that the only difference between a virtue and a vice is the impression it makes, i.e., the subjective way it is perceived and internalized.

Subjective vision is the norm, possibly even more so now than in the past, which means you need to constantly be on the alert for how your words and actions are perceived by your team.

People are an amalgamation of their upbringing, education and, especially, their experiences, so no two are exactly the same.

As a result, each perceives what comes their way differently.

It is your responsibility to keep everyone not just on the same page, but on the same line.

Image credit: HikingArtist

An AlwaysOn post explaining How to Get Yelled AT caught my attention and should catch yours.

Verbally it had the typical male orientation, but there is plenty for women who are just as likely to be alpha males as guys, so ignore the gender stuff.

Supposedly, those who yell in the military and sports do so because they care, which is true only when the words yelled aren’t abusive (as they so recently have been).

Outside of those two areas, with the caveat mentioned, I don’t believe there is any reason to yell, since yelling rarely accomplishes anything positive.

This is especially true when bosses are yelling at staff (or parents at kids).

Often when I call startup bosses for yelling at their people they respond by saying something to the effect that if it was good enough for Steve Jobs it’s good enough for them—forgetting that from a management prospective Jobs is a lousy role model.

Generally, yelling is the fastest way to make sure that folks tune out and disengage.

So what do you do when something happens and you are justifiably angry?

Use the process I described way back in 2006; a lot may have changed, but it still works.

Flickr image credit: AlishaV

How much management/coaching is too much?

I hear that question a lot.

Most managers want to do a good job and are looking for ways to improve.

But, as one commented recently, if you do everything recommended by the experts you would use so much of each person’s time that productivity would tumble and even the best coaching would have a negative impact.

Which is why I say that management and coffee are similar.

In the right amount coffee is good for your brain and may help you live longer.

The right amount of management/coaching is good for the brain in that it provides challenges that foster growth; it also lowers frustration and stress, which enhances mental and physical health.

According to the research, the “right” amount of coffee is around 20 ounces a day, i.e., one venti-size Starbucks.

That equates to the most effective management/coaching, which provides all the information needed to do the job at one time (not more nor less) and then gets out of the way while staying accessible if needed.

Many of the coffee-fueled are more likely to drink three to five ventis a day, which is detrimental to health and longevity.

A comparable amount of management/coaching is detrimental to health, productivity and retention.

Flickr image credit: Kurtis Garbutt

Mortgage originators are rarely great places to be, whichever side of the desk you are on.

The exception is Quicken Loans.

Quicken Loans was rated highest in customer satisfaction among mortgage originators in 2010, 2011 and 2012, according to J. D. Power & Associates. The company has also been ranked in the top 30 of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 10 consecutive years.

What makes Quicken different?

Founder Dan Gilbert’s and CEO Bill Emerson’s focus on intentional culture—emphasis on ‘intentional’.

“If you don’t create a culture at your company, a culture will create itself,” Mr. Emerson said in a phone interview. “And it won’t be good. I sometimes hear people say ‘We don’t have a culture at our company.’ They have one. But if it hasn’t been nurtured, if no one has spent on any time on it, you can assume it’s the wrong culture.”

Call it Intentional Culture.

Of course, intentional culture comes in two flavors—positive (good) and negative (bad).

Tony Hsieh at Zappos is a master of good culture; Bob Nardelli is a master of the opposite.

If you aren’t sure how (or if) your own culture is intentional you should ask yourself the following questions.

1. What are the primary features of my group’s culture?
2. How did it happen, i.e., who originated it?
3. Does it reflect values in which I believe?
4. Does it drive the actions and attitude I want from my team?
5. Are new people coached in the culture and current people reminded, so it permeates our business every day?

Then ask yourself what you can do to enhance the best parts and realign/correct any parts that have gone astray.

Flickr image credit: Rodney Campbell

Customer service is a major topic these days (more on the tomorrow); as is employee retention, but do they really have anything in common?

Absolutely.

Every manager, from team leader to CEO, is also a customer service manager, because your people are your customers.

That’s right, customers.

More accurately, that makes you an ESM—employee service manager.

Why do you service your people? To

• help them achieve their full potential;
• assure high productivity;
• lower turnover; and
• create an environment that’s a talent magnet.

How do you service your people? By

• cultivating the kind of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) that truly values people and understands how important it is to manifest that;
• offering high-grade professional challenges to all your people and making sure that they have the resources and all the information necessary to achieve success;
• fostering fairness so that people know they are evaluated on their merits and favoritism plays no part; and
• always walking your talk and living up to your commitments.

What’s in it for you?

• Better reviews, promotions and raises;
• increased professional development;
• less turnover and easier staffing; and
• what goes around comes around—everything that you give your people will come back to you ten-fold!

Flickr image credit: Angela Archer

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

A couple of weeks ago we took a look at Jim Heskett’s HBS discussion about why servant leadership isn’t very prevalent, considering how effective it is; this week he sums those reasons up.

Servant leadership is experienced so rarely because of trends in the leadership environment, the scarcity of human qualities required, demands that the practice places on the practitioner, and the very nature of the practice itself.

It’s easy to spot the major traits that get in the way.

“Ego (that) makes it difficult to ‘want to serve'” (Randy Hoekstra), “greed” (Madeleine York), and “An unhealthy desire to control” (Judesther Marc).

There is more; ake a moment and read the summation, it’s short.

Next look at yourself in light of the expressed reasons preventing the spread of servant leadership.

Then look at your company’s culture and how well that culture fosters and recognizes those who practice servant leadership.

Now fix yourself, so you can become a model of servant leadership, and then fix whatever needs fixing in your culture so that that kind of leadership will naturally rise to the top of your organization.

A few thousand years ago a gentleman named Lao Tzu said it all quite elegantly in just 45 words.

As for the best leaders,
the people do not notice their existence.
The next best,
the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate—
When the best leader’s work is done,
the people say, “We did it ourselves!”

I can’t think of a better mantra to build your management around.

Image credit: HikingArtist

When an entrepreneur spent millions on his wedding during the original dot com boom a very cynical friend of mine commented, “If the wedding costs that much what do you think the divorce will cost?”

While there are still a lot of over-the-top multimillion dollar weddings being staged by the current crop of entrepreneurs (more money than brains IMO), there are plenty of others who aren’t jumping on the lavish bandwagon.

Those of you who think it’s no big deal to indulge yourself after striking it rich might want to consider the case of Halsey Minor, founder of CNET.

Minor was 38 when he started CNET and sold it to CBS for $1.8 billion when he was 42.

But that wasn’t all.

He then started and sold two more companies, Vignette Software and Snap/NBCi, and was a major investor and one of the largest shareholders in salesforce.com.

He just filed for personal bankruptcy.

That’s a hell of a lot of money to burn through in five short years.

Halsey still has $50 million in assets, but that doesn’t go far when you owe $100 million.

For some, it’s wine, women and song; for Minor it was houses, hotels, horses and art.

Perhaps startup founders and employees, along with lottery winners, should adopt caveat emptor as their default before cashing that check.

Flickr image credit: magerleagues

Looking back in my life, I can honestly say there is only one thing I truly want to change.

I can think of two more if I was granted the proverbial three wishes, but only one serious regret.

I couldn’t find a link, but according to my notes this Rule tracks back to Barbara Kerbel and in the San Francisco Chronicle in 1996.

What can’t be undone
shouldn’t leave you unstrung.

Good advice, considering how short life is.

Flickr image credit: TheeErin

A reader asked me why I posted the full Carnival. He asked if I really expected people to read 30 different posts.

I think he was a bit surprised when I said I didn’t. What I expected was for people to scan the list and choose which to read based on the short descriptions.

Because those descriptions are written by the authors, not the host, you get a pretty good idea of the author’s MAP and the subject.

Then you decide whether you want to read it or not.

It’s always your choice.

Dana Theus from InPower Women presents Iron Man vs. Athena for CEO – Leadership Battle of the Sexes. “Looking at new research on what global citizens have to say about the qualities we want in our leaders, it’s at 180 degrees in orientation from what our summer blockbuster movies tell us about what makes a good leader.”

Julie Winkle Giulioni from juliewinklegiulioni.com presents Want to Kill Young Workers’ Motivation and Drive? Utter These 4 Words. “Four small words are all it takes to extinguish motivation, choke off possibilities, discourage, demoralize and drive young workers away. At all costs, avoid “You’re too young to…””

Mary Jo Asmus from Mary Jo Asmus presents When are you ready for an executive coach? “There is an optimal time for you to hire an executive coach, and this post outlines how to tell when the time is right for you.”

S. Chris Edmonds from Driving Results Through Culture presents Great Bosses Ensure Accountability. “This post/podcast is the fourth in a five-part series outlining the best practices of GREAT bosses. This entry describes how great bosses hold themselves and all staff accountable for both performance and for values.”

Sharlyn Lauby from HR Bartender presents High Performing Organizations Manage Change Well.

John Hunter from Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog presents Executive Leadership. “When the senior executives are not leading improvement of the management system they inevitably undermine the efforts of others because they don’t understand the impact of their actions.”

Jesse Lyn Stoner from Jesse Lyn Stoner presents Go For the Gold! 8 Tips to Create the Future You Desire. “Over the years, studying vision and helping leaders in a variety of settings I learned that the real power comes when you focus on what you desire. Proactively focus on what you want, not reactively on your problems. While you might remove a specific problem, you are likely to discover another problem awaits, and you will move from one crisis to another. Instead of focusing on problems, picture the results you desire.”

Bernd Geropp from More Leadership presents Three dirty little secrets about being an entrepreneur and running a start-up business. “In this post I’ll share 3 misconceptions entrepreneurs and business leaders should be aware when starting a company but also when starting a bigger project. When I started my businesses I would have wanted to know these – but I didn’t!”

Karin Hurt from letsgrowleaders.com presents Orchestra Without a Conductor

How are your managerial manners? Jennifer V. Miller of The People Equation shares five ways to serve up respect to your team in Daily Ways to be a Mannerly Manager.

Jon Mertz from Thin Difference presents Millennial Leaders: Welcome to the Arena.
“Millennial leaders or Gen Y leaders have received a lot of attention, good and bad. The important lesson is to lead from within the arena and lead well.”

Miki Saxon from MAPping Company Success presents Entrepreneurs: Laughing at Yourself. “A rarely talked about component of success, whether at work or life in general, is the ability to laugh at oneself, seems to be dwindling.”

Chris Young from Human Capital Strategy Blog presents Building an Effective Teams Using the Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Wally Bock from Three Star Leadership presents A Force for Good. “The work you do as a boss isn’t just about business results. It’s also about your effect on people’s lives.”

Mary Ila Ward from The Point: Sound Advice for Career and Leadership Development presents Are your employees on the border of ‘boredom and anxiety’? “This post outlines 5 questions that leaders need to ask themselves if they want to create ideal workplaces by establishing flow for employees.”

Bill Matthies from Business Wisdom presents Standing Still Is Not An Option. “The message is, change will happen but what that change will be can be partially up to you. Take action, plan for it.”

David M. Dye from Lead Change Group presents Why Your Employee Survey is a Waste of Time.

In these days of social media too many people put more time and effort into building their brand and raising their Klout score than they do raising their kids or supporting their team.

Many personal brands rest on nothing than the person’s ability to manipulate social media (especially true about Klout).

But what really fuels my dislike is the arrogance and ego in which the same folks like to indulge, saying if it’s good enough for Larry Ellison, Donald Trump, LeBron James or Alec Baldwin it’s good enough for them.

There are many ways in which to build your brand, but no matter how you do it the result should reflect your values.

It also helps to have a role model who reflects similar values, so if your goal is to be admired, appreciated and just plain liked you may want to consider David Beckham.

Beckham was not merely an athlete; he was an international brand that smartly fused a handsomeness that bordered on beauty with athleticism, marketing savvy and an eager embrace of the role of pop idol.

Beckham just announced his retirement from MLS, but that’s unlikely to diminish his brand.

Unlike many athletes, Beckham’s brand isn’t tied to his sport, nor did he set out to build it. He had a dream of playing soccer and played his best for every team he was on, no holds barred.

And unlike many stars, Beckham never acted like, and probably didn’t think, that he did it alone.

The difference is that instead of buying into the frenzy surrounding his looks, talent and skill he stayed a nice guy; one that everybody liked.

Stefan Szymanski, British co-author of the book Soccernomics and a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, says, “Beckham is like that [the Queen Mother]. He never puts his foot wrong. He’s nice to everyone. You could never fault him for not giving his all. He doesn’t have enemies. It’s hard to dislike him unless you’re deliberately perverse.”

Beckham is proof that you can pursue your dreams and win big without being, or turning into, a jerk.

Flickr image credit: tpower1978