In the popular vernacular, the expression “mea culpa” is an admission of having made a mistake by one’s own fault (one that could have been avoided if the person had been more diligent).

Mea culpa are two of the most powerful words any manager can say—as long as they are authentic.

Creating a culture where mea culpa is not just tolerated, but applauded is the mark of the best ‘leadagers’ (Leader + Manager discussion).

They offer no value if they are uttered insincerely or as a means to an end.

Publicly taking responsibility for an error, let alone a real screw-up, is the mark of a good leader, a great manager and a true mensch.

How often have you said ‘mea culpa’ and meant it?

Flickr image credit: ZedBee | Zoë Power

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

Do you lie?

When you hire you assume that what you see is what you get.

In other words, you expect the person who reports to work to be the same person, with the same attitude and interests, which you interviewed and hired—a reasonable expectation.

It holds true on the other side, too.

Candidates expect you, your team and your company to be the same people and culture they learned about during the interview.

• If you presented yourself as a motivator, innovator, team-builder, mentor-type during the interview, but in reality are a micromanager without an original thought who screams at your team you lied.
• If you presented a cohesive team that supports each other and shares knowledge, but in fact it is filled with backbiting and out-of-control egos you lied.
• If you presented a culture that’s about fairness and merit, but promote your friends and play favorites you lied.
• If you shaded anything to be more appealing to that candidate you lied.
• If you used words such as ‘trust’, ‘transparency’ and ‘authenticity’ to close the candidate you lied.

Those three words are cultural touchstones that are sacrosanct. Once broken they are nearly impossible to mend.

Lies don’t just break them, lies shatter them.

Do you lie?

Option Sanity™ protects cultural touchstones

Come visit Option Sanity for an easy-to-understand, simple-to-implement stock process.  It’s so easy a CEO can do it.

Warning.

Do not attempt to use Option Sanity™ without a strong commitment to business planning, financial controls, honesty, ethics, and “doing the right thing.” Use only as directed.

Users of Option Sanity may experience sudden increases in team cohesion and worker satisfaction. In cases where team productivity, retention and company success is greater than typical, expect media interest and invitations as keynote speaker.

Image credit: kevinspencer

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

Team and culture are a startup’s bedrock for success, but culture takes priority because it is culture that attracts a great team.

Founders talk constantly about ‘the team’ and those listening, investors, media and employees, assume that “team” refers to all the company’s employees—not just a select few.

However, some founders have two teams, the one about which they talk and the team that exists covertly in their minds.

Mental teams consist of direct reports and pets, who are often close personal friends; public teams encompass everyone.

But it’s the mental team that takes priority and stays front and center in all decisions.

Having two teams is akin to having two sets of books—one reflecting reality, the other for show and tell—and, like a second set of books, mental teams trash cultural touchstones such as transparency, authenticity and trust.

Over the years an entire vocabulary has developed to talk about teams. When it’s used by founders who buy it, own it and mean it that language is enormously empowering; for the others it is pap—good for keeping all those not on the ‘real’ team in line.

One would think that trashing those touchstones would wreak more havoc with younger workers, who are considered more demanding, but in actuality older workers are just as turned off.

The exceptions, of course, being those who don’t see a problem, since they do the same thing.

Option Sanity™ supports transparency

Come visit Option Sanity for an easy-to-understand, simple-to-implement stock process.  It’s so easy a CEO can do it.

Warning.

Do not attempt to use Option Sanity™ without a strong commitment to business planning, financial controls, honesty, ethics, and “doing the right thing.” Use only as directed.

Users of Option Sanity may experience sudden increases in team cohesion and worker satisfaction. In cases where team productivity, retention and company success is greater than typical, expect media interest and invitations as keynote speaker.

Image Credit: Bun in a Can

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Whenever culture is discussed it often is in terms of perks.

Google’s free meals, concierge services, etc.; when Apple was new and hot interviewees were told about the in-complex swimming pool and Friday beer blasts.

SAS, which is number one on Fortune’s Best Places to Work list for the second straight year, offers on-site healthcare, $400/month childcare, a beauty salon, 66,000-square-foot gym and more.

All are lauded for their cultures, but is it the perks or is something else going on?

“People stay at SAS in large part because they are happy, but to dig a little deeper, I would argue that people don’t leave SAS because they feel regarded — seen, attended to and cared for. I have stayed for that reason, and love what I do for that reason.” SAS manager

Sure, the perks are important, but they aren’t the basis of great culture.

Employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers… More than anything else, you want to create an environment where people are respected—and treated like they’ll make a difference…Jim Goodnight, founder and CEO.

Make a difference; that’s the key phrase and the key action.

That’s how talented managers in companies with mediocre perks or none at all build and motivate great teams. It’s also the reason why people who are stars at one company may not perform as well at another.

Popular wisdom agrees that people leave managers, not companies, and they leave them in spite of perks, benefits, stock and seniority.

Fabulous perks get lots of press and may attract candidates, but they can’t motivate or retain people if they feel used and unvalued.

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An excellent article called Saying No to the Boss (definitely worth reading) that highlights yet again the importance of fostering a culture that never kills the messenger, because it recognizes the importance of getting bad news soonest.

Jay Grinney, who replaced Richard Scushy as CEO of HealthSouth, made his first priority changing the culture.

“That culture was characterized by fear, intimidation, favoritism, a very ego-centric CEO.”

He confirms what everyone on the receiving end of culture knows, but often ignores when on the initiating end.

“I don’t think there’s any single formula for proving your intent. It has to be demonstrated in every single thing that I do and has to be reflected in the people I surround myself with.”

There are two very important thoughts in that comment, but the second often gets lost or falls victim to expediency.

The first is simple and obvious—actions speak louder than words; better known as talk is cheap.

The second requires more tenacity, because it often means passing on a candidate with great skills, but not a good cultural match.

If the CEO goes ahead and hires that person it does more than send a message that the new direction is a lie; it guarantees the wrong culture will be propagated, since that person will hire people true to her cultural vision, not the company’s.

Finally, Grinney points out the one of the worst errors any boss can make and it’s one that has had a higher profile in the last decade than ever before.

“One of the pitfalls of being the CEO is you can start believing your own press. The business world is full of examples of hubris taking over.”

In other words, don’t drink your own Kool-Aid.

From CEO to team leader, you have the ability to foster a culture of openness and safety or one of fear and intimidation.

As always, it’s your choice; make it consciously.

Fickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

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By now you all know that I am a digital dinosaur, no cell phone, no iAnything, and a careful participant online.

I would rather brand my company, RampUp Solutions, and product, Option Sanity™, than brand myself.

I probably qualify for residency in the privacy nut house.

However, I read with interest an opinion piece by Richard H. Thaler, an economics professor, who makes a great point.

If a business collects data on consumers electronically, it should provide them with a version of that data that is easy to download and export to another Web site. Think of it this way: you have lent the company your data, and you’d like a copy for your own use.

He goes on to offer specific examples of ways in which people would gain significantly from having access to that data if it was in a user-friendly form.

(His comments reminded me of the legal fight by people whose genomes were added to data bases without their consent.)

Senators John Kerry and John McCain (wow, that is an odd couple) have co-authored a bill called the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights, which is good (if it passes), but Thaler says it only addresses privacy and security issues, not useable access.

Both sound like a good idea.

The UK already has both.

US marketers claim that any kind of privacy or data control will affect the economy adversely; I even heard some say that any kind of limitations on the use of data in the US could impair the global recovery.

Pu-leeeze!

If, as Thaler demonstrates, giving useable access to collected data would allow consumers to better evaluate pricing to find the best deal the result would be less smoke and mirrors and (slightly) more authenticity.

It seems to me that would benefit the recovery—at least for those companies that aren’t playing games.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/4478876573/

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“Joe” called me today. He said he was thinking of leaving his company not because he wanted to, but because everyone thought he should.

He explained that everyone who knew him kept showing him articles and telling him that he was a born entrepreneur and should start his own company.

Joe said he had worked for everything from large companies to startups and as long as he had a good manager and liked the culture he was happy. He worked hard and felt he was fairly compensated.

Joe said he had discussed it with his family and they said he should do what made him happy and they would support that decision.

However, he didn’t want to end up looking like a loser because he didn’t do it.

Boiled down, here is my response.

• Contrary to current media coverage people who work for companies are not losers and entrepreneurs are not the be all and end all of success.
• Few, if any, knowledge workers at any level work 8-hour days, disconnect and go home.
• In the current recession, entrepreneurs are to the 21^st Century what consultants were to the recessions of the 20^th Century.
• Having entrepreneurial MAP does not mean you want or have to be an entrepreneur.

The last point is especially important.

I saw yet another list of 10 traits entrepreneurs and I had to chuckle. Here it is

1. They Are Not Stopped by Fear
2. They Know When to Ask for Help
3. They Are Persistent
4. They Are Passionate About Their Businesses
5. They Are Willing to Market and Sell
6. They Know Their Numbers
7. They’re Disciplined
8. They Have Integrity
9. They’re Great Communicators
10. They Think Long-Term

I chuckled because these are the same traits that all good people have when adjusted for their position and experience.

They are also the traits that the best managers look for when they are hiring. There are, however, many mangers too insecure to appreciate them.

Many years ago I read an article about the guy who invented the tiles used on the Challenger spacecraft to protect it when it reentered the atmosphere. He wasn’t an entrepreneur, he was a Lockheed engineer. He didn’t get a bonus for his work, it was his job. He didn’t care; he was happy at his company, was proud of what he did and liked being part of something larger. He was a winner.

The lesson here is that great people work for existing companies and great people start companies and both win.

Joe is a winner.

The losers are those who disparage other people’s choice.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chokingsun/3473500703/

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I get a kick out of reading interviews with Andrew Mason, Groupon’s 29 year old CEO. I find him refreshing; he seems to be missing the ego usually so obvious among entrepreneur superstars.

Most people are uncomfortable talking about themselves, which is why they dislike writing resumes and interviewing, but when they are highly successful they rarely admit it. Mason, on the other hand, has no such hesitation, “I’m just not used to talking that much about myself. It feels strange,”

Entrepreneurs, and those who write about them, love to tell how they always wanted to be an entrepreneur and started as a kid by selling whatever to their neighbors. Mason is an exception, “I never thought of myself as an entrepreneur before this,” he has often said, “and I still really don’t. I just like to build things and do things.”

As to planning out his career, “I never really planned my life more than one month in advance. I try to chase whatever I think is the most interesting thing to do at the moment, and if it becomes less interesting, I find something else to do.”

But he must have planned Groupon, right? Wrong. It was actually started as a side effort to support a different social enterprise. “There was a kind of freedom that came with not caring if it failed, and caring primarily that it was something we could be proud of.”

Mason also doesn’t see Groupon mainly as a technology function, “Really, it’s a way to get out of the house, to explore the city—an expensive city—and to spend more time with your friends or loved ones.”

Mason is young and many wonder how he will avoid being a shooting star instead of a major light in the online firmament as has happened to far more experienced CEOs, but I think he has the perfect approach, “I’m hopeful that as long as we continue to think that we suck and try to be better every day than we were the day before, then we can avoid a similar fate.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if more CEOs channeled Andrew Mason?

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/techcrunch/5036271875/

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There is much written about the importance of authenticity and trust when it comes to engaging employees and developing culture.

Enough, in fact, that you could spend years trying to digest it all.

So I thought it would be useful to offer up some very basic advice (often attributed to Frank Outlaw, the Josephson Institute can find no proof of him as the author).

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

This common wisdom is the kind of thing you can print out and keep as a mantra.

Best of all, it applies equally to individuals, companies and other organizations.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

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“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” –Dr. Seuss

Many years ago when I was a recruiter a third-level manager I was good friends with was laid off. One day, over lunch, Roy said that another recruiter had called him about a position, but said that he would have a better chance if he shaved his beard and he wanted to know what I thought.

Roy’s wife didn’t like the idea; he’d had a beard since college days. When I asked him if he thought he would regrow it after getting hired he said definitely.

In that case, there was no question that Roy should keep the beard for the interview. If the company didn’t hire him because of the beard they would feel conned when it came out that he only shaved for the interview.

There are many ways to break trust, but one of the fastest is to be someone other than your real self at the interview and the real Roy had a beard. (He didn’t shave and still got the job.)

This is just as true for a hiring manger. If something is done a certain way and you present a different scenario in order to land the candidate don’t be surprised when your new hire walks after getting a taste of the actual reality.

Whether manager, company or candidate, trust starts before the first conversation.

It starts with a street rep. Not what they say about themselves, but with what others say about them.

Remember “what goes around comes around?” These days it not only comes around with a vengeance, but thanks to social media it never goes away.

Being yourself makes you authentic; being authentic makes you trustworthy; being trustworthy makes your street rep great.

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