Yesterday I shared my love of crossing stuff off lists because of the sense of accomplishment it brings, but that kind of stuff is small potatoes; it lifts me up and helps me move forward, but it isn’t a substitute for hitting the goals that move my life.
I just hit the biggest one on my list and want to share it with you.
For the last several years we’ve been working to turn a consulting approach for allocating incentive stock in private companies based on the company’s values and culture into a web-based subscription service (SaaS)—and it’s finally a reality!
Not only that, but because I hate the way traditional Help works, I conceived a brand new, user friendly type of Help that our programmers implemented brilliantly—you’ll love it.
It’s a soft launch, but Option Sanity™ has its second beta client (I’m looking for three more) and is looking good.
But it feels strange; for so long the focus and the goal has been to produce the software and the website. That meant working with the programmers, tons of writing and editing, working with the guy who originated the math and mechanics of Option Sanity™ and who was primary tester and developing my own skills as a user.
Now that it’s done I keep waiting for a massive feeling of accomplishment and although it’s there it’s dwarfed by what needs to be done now—marketing, identifying and closing multiple sales channels, supporting new users, developing a FAQ based on their questions, creating a user community—the list seems endless.
With all that starting me in the face I thought I’d ask for some help.
It would be terrific if you would to www.optionsanity.com, read about the product and click Take the Tour. Unfortunately the tour isn’t done, but on that page you’ll find a link to the full app demo.
Check it out and then leave your comments on the review page. Forward the information to anyone you think would be interested
I know it will take a few minutes, but I would be eternally grateful.
I’ve worked with startups for many years, first as a headhunter and later as a coach. My company is in the process of launching Option Sanity™, an incentive stock allocation system based on founder/company values.
People join startups for many reasons and one is the possibility of substantial financial rewards; they take a sizable risk that only pays off if the company is acquired or goes public.
But what of the gigantic payouts public companies are giving execs who took no real risk and whose actions aren’t actualy responsible for the stock price.
Stock granted when the market is down, as it is in any recession, goes up no matter what management does or does not do. Yes, management skill can drive it higher, but, as the old saying goes, a rising market lifts all boats and that is whether the skipper has a clue or not.
This recession is no different; in fact the payouts are going to dwarf anything seen previously. They may not equal the obscene bonuses paid by Wall Street, but they are pretty obscene in their own right.
An Associated Press analysis of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shows that 85 percent of the stock options given to CEOs last year are now worth more than they were on the day they were granted. For some the value jumped by a factor of 10 or more. An Associated Press analysis of companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index shows that 85 percent of the stock options given to CEOs last year are now worth more than they were on the day they were granted. For some the value jumped by a factor of 10 or more.
I’ve never met workers who thought they should earn what their bosses earned, but they do what they hear in the news to make sense when measured against the company’s success.
I doubt anyone inside or outside of Apple has ever questioned Steve Jobs’ value when they hear about his compensation.
Carol Bartz received $47.2 million in 2009, 90% from stock options that went up primarily because the market did.
I wonder how motivated Yahoo employees are knowing that.
Trends come and go. In its Innovation special Business Week takes a look at leading trends in the business community. Last year was all about execution, but that was then… (While you’re there be sure to check out the Special Reports.)
This year’s emphasis on strategic thinking suggests that, like an individual recovering from a personal upheaval, businesses today are taking stock: reviewing their options, rethinking their strategies, considering new opportunities and innovations.
Another trend is the questioning of CEO compensation, once strictly the province of the board of directors and a few consultants, today it’s everyman’s topic of conversation. Do you think today’s CEO compensation, not just on Wall Street, but in general, is fair and appropriate? Do the incentives work? Do they focus too much on risk taking or do they encourage excessive caution? Read this interview for some excellent insights.
Speaking of fortunes, what do the elder statesmen of Wall Street, guys like George Soros, Nicholas F. Brady, John S. Reed, William H. Donaldson and John C. Bogle have in common with you and me? Surprise, surprise, they all believe that Wall Street needs to be reigned in.
They grew quite wealthy in finance, typically making their fortunes in the ’70s and ’80s when banks and securities firms were considerably more regulated. And now, parting company with the current chieftains, they want more rules.
Another rich guy is John Thain, a trend of his own. Fired from his CEO aerie he has landed on his golden feet at CIT. The man who didn’t see anything wrong with spending $1.2 million renovating his office in 2008 is now responsible for the company that provides financing for SMB, as well as being the third-largest railcar-leasing and aircraft-financing firm in the U.S. In his hands rests much of our future—at least he’s not planning to redecorate.
“This is a company that’s over 100 years old and its core business is lending to small- and medium-sized companies,” Thain said yesterday in an interview. “If we’re going to get the U.S. economy to continue to grow, if we’re going to create jobs, then we need to have this kind of a company do well.”
Our final trend comes from Forbes, famous for the way it slices and dices lists of wealthy people. Its newest look offers yet another one—billionaires under age 40.
Of the current eight, four are from China, three are from the U.S. and one is from Japan.
Investment bankers in the US have begun using equity derivatives to convert restricted shares paid as bonuses into cash, side-stepping new guidelines on remuneration which were designed to prevent bankers cashing out for at least three years, according to a headhunter.
Popular wisdom wants us to believe that leaders ‘do the right thing’, but when it comes to those on Wall Street it’s strictly the right thing for themselves.
It is reality that bloggers, coaches, academics, and other gurus write about how to engage the workforce, build cultures, develop leaders, motivate, and increase retention; companies pay substantial amounts to coaches and consultants to develop and implement programs; management agonizes on how to increase productivity through better use of its human resources.
It is reality that many companies are moving to “just in time” workforces; using temps and contractors at all levels with no health insurance, no vacation, no benefits—hire when you need them and dump when the project is done.
Business Week offers a comprehensive overview of this trend in a cover story entitled The Disposable Worker.
The forecast for the next five to 10 years: more of the same, with paltry pay gains, worsening working conditions, and little job security. Right on up to the C-suite, more jobs will be freelance and temporary, and even seemingly permanent positions will be at greater risk.
Obviously, there are people, especially at more senior levels, who have no problem with this approach; they relish the movement, change and challenge.
But they are the minority.
Everything described in the first paragraph is geared for companies that actually hire their workforce.
Typically, it’s a different set of experts who advise companies on outsourcing and temp workforces.
I ask you:
What will motivate workers to contribute at the level needed in today’s competitive global enviornment when they have nothing vested in the company?
Why should people who may not be there tomorrow put forth the initiative that underlays all leadership today?
How do you engage people when they have no idea how long they’ll be around?
In short, how do you get people to care when they know without a doubt that the company doesn’t care about them?
I think if I read one more op-ed piece saying the path to improving US education is paved with better teachers I’ll scream.
I’m not saying that good teachers aren’t important, but I don’t believe that teachers are the root of the problems.
Before I start with examples, let me ask you this: how well would you perform if you were
terminated for insisting that projects not only be done, but done on time;
poorly compensated in comparison to most people with similar education and experience, but in other industries;
subject to pressure, tirades, insults and having people constantly go over your head to change your decisions; and
shown little respect by your direct reports, indirect reports and management.
Does that sound like an environment that would encourage you to do your utmost? I actually find it surprising that there are as many good, dedicated teachers as there are.
Staying with the current analogy, direct reports = students, indirect reports = parents and management = administrators.
Teaching is like any other form of work—it thrives in a good culture, sags, wilts and gives up in a bad one.
The Dallas Independent School System is a good example of what is happening. DISD is where the teacher was fired at the instigation of parents for being too tough and giving homework—the fact that the kids scored well on tests didn’t count.
It’s DISD that hired new teachers in 2007 with no way to pay them leading to a $64,000,000 budget shortfall that grew to about $84,000,000 in 2008. Their solution was to layoff the teachers—no damage to the administration idiots—maybe they all took math from teachers who passed them rather than lose their jobs.
Her rise in DISD in a span of three years has been frowned upon by some observers. She was making $87,000 as a division manager in 2006 and ended her career grossing around $140,000.
Some DISD trustees had questioned an organizational chart change that left her husband overseeing the department that she worked in. Her boss was reporting to her husband.
Ya think?
And then there is the saga of Taylor Pugh, AKA Tater Tot, who was growing his hair so he could donate it to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients—but his suburban Dallas school saw it as reason for in-school suspension for violating the district dress code.
<
Back to our analogy. How engaged, productive and innovative would you be working for a company where management performed similarly?
Dallas isn’t alone; it has plenty of company across the country.
So before ranting and blaming the dismal state of US education on teachers, check out your district and state administrations—and then look in the mirror.
When you’ve coached or written a blog for years you can find yourself answering the same questions over and over, but that’s OK. I’d rather have you drop me a line or use the chat box in the right frame than search for something and become frustrated.
And that’s what happened last night about 10:30.
“Ken” pinged me and asked if I remembered a post that talked about compensation and used a stool as an analogy for the company. He said he’d read it a few years ago and wanted it as part of a presentation for his boss.
No Problem. I’ve used that analogy with clients for years and in posts three times. After I gave Ken the URL he said I should post it again.
I agreed, but added a bit to cover the current situation.
Success is like a 3-legged stool—
Customers / equity-holders / employees
If one leg becomes too long, the stool tips over!
Taking care of the first two is a given, whereas taking care of employees seems to be based on the labor market.
If the market is hot, people are showered with money and perks, as the market cools, so does employee care.
Yes, you can buy people and you can replace people, but it’s very expensive.
In the kind of tough economic times we’re going through people understand when there are no raises and even when their compensation is cut to avoid a layoff.
But if that treatment extends only to workers and lower management, while executive compensation and perks continue, you can count on a steady exodus as business improves.
When the market is tight and companies are throwing cash, stock and perks right and left it’s the wise manager who remembers that people who join for money/stock/perks will leave for more money/stock/perks.
2010 is not only a new year it’s a new decade; are you looking forward to big changes in your life? I am.
I thought I’d take today to tell you about mine and you can use comments to talk about yours.
Fortunately it’s not just good things that end, but also the not-so-good and the downright rotten. That includes 2009 and converting a consulting service into easily useable software and creating a new form of “Help” that is actually useful and useable.
The biggest change on my horizon is (finally) the release Q1 of Option Sanity™, a SAAS (software as a service) product that’s been a bear to develop.
Another change stems from the demise of Leadership Turn, the blog I’ve written for b5 Media for the last two-and-a-half years.
Many of my regular readers from LT are joining our community and that will increase our interaction, i.e., more comments, discussions and requests to address topics of interest to you.
I’m incorporating 3 of Leadership Turn’s weekly features
Tuesday’s Ducks in a Row: offering what-to’s, why-to’s and how-to’s about culture, managing and motivation;
Thursday’s Leadership’s Future: musings and commentary on topics that affect where we go in the future, such as education, attitudes, etc.;
Sunday’s Quotable Quotes which will run in addition to the mY generation comic
Saturday’s article links will be under the new category of Expand Your Mind;
More of my own take on ‘leadership’—why initiative equates to leadership and how it should be a core competency and not just a vision by the person out front;
By the end of the month all my content from Leadership Turn (there were other authors previously) will be posted here and searchable from the main search box (we’re working out the technicalities now).
I have other major changes in the works, either too personal or too boring to share, but since those I’ve mentioned account for 85% of my focus you aren’t missing anything—suffice it to say I’m one of those dinosaurs who chooses not to live my private life online.
Yesterday I shared my love of crossing stuff off lists because of the sense of accomplishment it brings, but that kind of stuff is small potatoes; it lifts me up and helps me move forward, but it isn’t a substitute for hitting the goals that move my life.
I’ve worked with startups for many years, first as a headhunter and later as a coach. My company is in the process of launching 
I doubt there are any Wall Street bankers who don’t consider themselves leaders and they exist in a world where innovation never stops.
It is reality that bloggers, coaches, academics, and other gurus write about how to engage the workforce, build cultures, develop leaders, motivate, and increase retention; companies pay substantial amounts to coaches and consultants to develop and implement programs; management agonizes on how to increase productivity through better use of its human resources.
When you’ve coached or written a blog for years you can find yourself answering the same questions over and over, but that’s OK. I’d rather have you drop me a line or use the chat box in the right frame than search for something and become frustrated.
2010 is not only a new year it’s a new decade; are you looking forward to big changes in your life? I am.
Subscribe to MAPping Company Success 