Poking through 11+ years of posts I find information that’s as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies is a collection of the most relevant and timeless posts during that time.

A comment left on this post said the Navy’s version is “Ship, Shipmate, Self” and I’m sure the sentiment can be found embedded in the cultures of many organizations.

Unfortunately, embedding doesn’t mean complying, especially in these days of overly robust egos

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Ever noticed how some things stay with you? Many years ago, while working as a recruiter, a client VP said,

“Great managers make their decisions first for the sake of their company, second for the sake of their group and third for the sake of themselves.”

That comment comes back every time I read about another business leader whose decisions and choices were made in the opposite order, but presented as being for the good of the company.

Many of them are in jail, but many more either got off or weren’t caught in the first place; they just moved on to another role and are likely still making their decisions the same way.

Most interesting is that many managers who in reality reversed the decision order (3-2-1) see themselves as making them 1-2-3. This ties back to previously cited research showing that most of us aren’t the best evaluators of our own actions.

Basically, the question is how you evaluate your decisions before you make them. What kind of internal yardstick can you create that will assure the most 1-2-3 decisions?

Based on feedback from dozens of 1-2-3 decision-makers the common thread seems to be strong EQ and empathy, combined a high degree of objectivity and self-awareness. So how do you become self-aware and objective?

Let’s start by defining awareness. The modern definition of awareness is “having knowledge,” but the archaic definition of “vigilant” and “watchful” is more applicable.

Raising your awareness is probably most difficult because it requires you to become more objective about yourself and your actions, i.e., learning to see yourself in the third person instead of the first (seeing yourself as others see you).

Most people have some objectivity, e.g., they are able to look at a thing—clothes, jewelry, painting, furniture, house, etc.—and appreciate its beauty without wanting to own it or even actually like it.

Self-awareness is the result of cultivating that kind of third person objectivity and then focusing it on your thoughts, feelings and decisions.

A good way to build your awareness is to start with things. The next time someone asks you if you like their new whatever, stop and think about what you’re really thinking.

Most people subconsciously think about whether they like, are ambivalent or hate it. But the person asking doesn’t want to know if you want to own/wear it, they’re asking about it in terms of themself, so think about it in terms of that person, instead of in terms of yourself—in other words, think about it objectively.

Consciously listen to yourself, hear what you say from the outside, instead absorbing the content from your thoughts. Hear what others say in the context of themselves, rather than your own context.

Be sure to develop your objective side without losing the subjective one and, most importantly, be aware of which is which.

The ability to listen objectively to your own thinking is awareness and it acts as an unconscious warning system, only kicking into action when needed, not editing every comment, every move, all the time.

Image credit: Preston Rhea

I read two articles yesterday. They both focus on how the long-term thinking of Jeff Bezos and  Marc Benioff inform their decision making and are well worth your reading.

Bezos is famous for ignoring Wall Street for Amazon’s first two decades.

When it comes to making the most important and the most long-term decisions, Bezos has a simple rule that’s quite useful: “Focus [your vision] on the things that won’t change.”

At Amazon, this means that everything is built around their value of customer obsession.

Benioff has a different approach to making decisions, but still based on the long-term vision he embedded in Salesforce’s culture from the day of founding.

I came back with a clear vision of what the future of the internet was going to be in regards to software-as-a-service and cloud computing. I also had a much deeper sense of my spiritual self. So I said, “When I start a company, I will integrate culture with service.”

When I started Salesforce, on March 8, 1999, I said we’re going to put one percent of our equity, product and time into a foundation and create a culture of service within our company. We’ll be creating new technology, the cloud; we’ll be creating a new business model, subscription services; and we’ll create a culture built on philanthropy.

Last month Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and a legion of executives came out publicly against Wall Street’s short-term focus.

The emphasis on quarterly earnings, and the importance of beating estimates, is warping American business and the economy, argue almost 200 CEOs who belong to the Business Roundtable, a lobbying organization. Short-term thinking leads corporations to choke back on hiring, and to starve research and development of the spending the fuels long-term growth. The pressure of quarterly earnings is one reason fewer companies are interested in going pubic, preferring the slower growth that comes with being private than the scrutiny that comes with being listed.

Wall Street’s short-term thinking never got a toe-hold at either Salesforce or Amazon, but the reasons it didn’t created significantly different cultures.

While Benioff’s obsession culminates in giving back, Bezos’ obsession comes at a substantial cost to Amazon warehouse workers, the environment and even society.

Image credit: Scott Ellis

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over more than a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written.

Golden Oldies are a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

I wrote this post four years ago; the problem wasn’t new then and its gotten progressively worse since.

People today, not just Millennials and not all Millenials, don’t communicate well. People at all ages and levels, including CEOs are poor commicators — and if you doubt that, take a look at Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s speech at the town hall meeting after the Amazon acquisition. Written communications aren’t much of an improvement, even ignoring grammar and spelling errors, they often have little clarity, flow, or even coherence.

Texting has resulted in still worse writing, especially as people disperse with details like capital letters that can totally change the meaning.

“Capitalization is the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse and helping your uncle jack off a horse.”

And thanks to the overall focus on STEM education you can expect it to get even worse.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Do you groan at the thought of having to hire and manage new-to-the-workforce people?

Do you wonder what’s wrong with today’s college graduates?

If so, remember two things.

1. The problems are not a product of your imagination.
2. You are not alone.

Multiple studies find the same problems I hear first-hand from managers.

“When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving.”  –special report by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace

“Problems with collaboration, interpersonal skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity, flexibility and professionalism.” –Mara Swan, the executive vice president of global strategy and talent at Manpower Group

What’s changed?

Helicopter parents, crowdsourced decisions, me/my world focus, and the constant noise that prevents thinking.

The result is that many new hires require remedial actions from already overloaded mangers that go well beyond the professional growth coaching that typifies the best managers.

Flickr image credit: evoo73

Public image for both companies and people has always been important and even more so with the availability of information at our disposal. But even with these tools we are still dealing with asymmetrical information when making decisions and establishing culture.

I spoke to a friend over dinner the other night who travels overseas for work quite a bit. As a result he is not up to speed on current US events and was unaware of the string of crisis that have impacted Uber.

He was shocked to learn that they were involved in lawsuits, scandals and more. It was actually a bit like hearing it for the first time myself as I had a chance to see his emotions as he learned the news.

His opinion of Uber was shaped on asymmetrical information.

I had mentioned in a previous post that some local companies that tout their high employee reviews are not as shiny from the inside. Again, asymmetrical information.

The director of the FBI has been fired, we as the public are dealing with asymmetrical information for the reasons behind it.

I state all of this to say that we must constantly strive to learn, ingest and understand as much as we can when making decisions about the companies we deal with and people we hire.

I recently took part in a process where a new employee was terminated. It was unfortunate but they were not a good fit for the role, exaggerated a bit during the interview process and then didn’t make up for it after being hired.

This person is someone that I wouldn’t mind being friends with, but they were not suited for the role they were in. The hire was a result of asymmetrical information.

I have looked back on my own life at times when I made foolish mistakes due to my lack of information. Rash decisions that cost me time and money. How do we learn from them?

Here are a few ways I have dealt with this moving forward.

• Have trusted friends or mentors to bounce ideas off of.
• Take a day or two when making big decisions.
• Try to remove emotion from the decisions to ensure you’re not swayed.

These all may be basic (I am not as lofty as I would like), but they can make an impact for the positive.

Image credit: Steve Corey

Hard to believe, but my first post was March 2, 2006.

10 years, more than 3000 posts, along with the 800+ written over seven years for b5 Media’s Leadership Turn.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since I started.

Now I’m trying to decide if I want to keep going.

I know from my analytics and subscriptions that I have readers.

Maybe not thousands, because I’m not social and don’t promote.

And I know they are busy people who don’t have a lot of time to comment.

But.

You would think that occasionally something I wrote would resonate enough, whether positive or not, that they would want to add/disagree/tell me I’m nuts/whatever.

But they don’t.

They are you.

So as part of my decision-making process, I’m asking you to take a minute or two and share your thoughts and opinions.

Does MAPping Company Success provide value to you?

Do the ads on the left and bottom annoy you?

Are there subjects you would like me to address?

What would make it better?

Or am I addressing an empty auditorium?

Flickr image credit: Dark Dwarf

The end of the year is always a time for reflection. I can only hope that you take all these words and concepts to heart.

You will be a better person and have a better 2016 if you do.

From Jessica Herrin, founder/CEO of Stella & Dot

Making decisions: What/which has the greater upside? What’s the downside, and is it worth the risk?”

Learning: I had that typical early-entrepreneur hero complex, where it was about how well I did versus how well I helped other people do the work. Then a mentor told me that if I ever want to run a large company, I should go work at one. So I got a job as a middle manager at Dell, and I had to develop skills as a leader. I also got pregnant with my first child, and I was always sick and tired, so I had to become far more focused in how I was spending my time. I learned to focus on what really matters.

Stella & Dot: Our revenue is around $300 million, and we have over 400 people in the home office and about 50,000 independent business owners in six countries.

Culture: I wanted to hire missionaries, not mercenaries. The challenge, especially when you’re growing fast, is to be incredibly fierce about your hiring filters. You have to commit to caring for the culture more than the quarter.

From Jon Olinto, co-founder of b. good restaurants

Goal: to build a community around the idea of “real fast food”—made by people, not factories—and the team felt like one big family, all working toward that goal.

Sustainability: You just have to look for and seize every opportunity to make your people feel valued and purposeful in their work.

Engagement: we incorporated features to reflect our family culture [on new mobile app], the app has also boosted staff engagement in a way we never even expected.

Finally, life advice from teen Jake Baily.

Jake Bailey found out he had Burkitt Lymphoma just one week before he was due to speak at a prize giving ceremony at his school. As senior monitor, it was his duty to represent the class. In the midst of intensive chemotherapy, Jake was permitted to leave the hospital for a brief period to deliver his speech. 

Conscious decisions made as the result of real conversations lead to better outcomes.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a boss and worker, colleagues, friends, parent and child, romantic liaison, or a marriage.

Relationships are the result of two people interacting together.

Relationships can be over in an instant or last a lifetime, but those that last longest have one thing in common.

Communication.

Decisions are founded on the ability to communicate

Call it the difference between just happening and intentional decisions.

New research shows that how thoughtfully couples make decisions can have a lasting effect on the quality of their romantic relationships. (…) “Making decisions and talking things through with partners is important,” said Galena K. Rhoades, a relationship researcher at the University of Denver and co-author of the report. “When you make an intentional decision, you are more likely to follow through on that.”

Although the research described in the article is focused on marriages, it can be applied just as well to the workplace.

In short, creating strong relationships, at work or away, requires the kind of good communications that lead to intentional decisions.

And it all starts by knowing yourself.

“At the individual level, know who you are and what you are about, and make decisions when it counts rather than letting things slide,” Dr. Stanley said. “Once you are a couple, do the same thing in terms of how you approach major transitions in your relationship.”

Try it; I believe you’ll find that the results make it worth the time and effort.

Flickr image credit: Katy Ereira

Do you groan at the thought of having to hire and manage new-to-the-workforce people?

Do you wonder what’s wrong with today’s college graduates?

If so, remember two things.

1. The problems are not a product of your imagination.
2. You are not alone.

Multiple studies find the same problems I hear first-hand from managers.

“When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving.”  –special report by The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media’s Marketplace

“Problems with collaboration, interpersonal skills, the ability to deal with ambiguity, flexibility and professionalism.” –Mara Swan, the executive vice president of global strategy and talent at Manpower Group

What’s changed?

Helicopter parents, crowdsourced decisions, me/my world focus, and the constant noise that prevents thinking.

The result is that many new hires require remedial actions from already overloaded mangers that go well beyond the professional growth coaching that typifies the best managers.

Flickr image credit: evoo73

This Rule has two parts. They come from different sources, but taken together they will change your life.

The first half is from Alan Kay.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

The second is from Anonymous.

One good wish changes nothing; one good decision changes everything.

Well, what are you waiting for?

Flickr image credit: evan p. cordes

Every so often I read something that seems to fly in the face of accepted practice or is contrary to previous expert information.

For example

According to the media it’s a given that the young, college educated, both students and recent alumni, are focused on following their passions, but, as the saying goes, it ain’t necessarily so.

…91 percent of college students and 95 percent of Millennials (here referring to college graduates between ages of 21 and 32) said that being financially secure was either essential or very important to them.

New research from HBS has reinstated the idea that unconscious thinking has great value (as long as you take decision fatigue into account).

Our conscious mind is pretty good at following rules, but our unconscious mind—our ability to “think without attention”—can handle a larger amount of information.

Do you think that guilt is an indicator of leadership? If you say no you’re not up on the latest research.

“Guilt-prone people tend to carry a strong sense of responsibility to others, and that responsibility makes other people see them as leaders,” says Becky Schaumberg, a doctoral candidate in organizational behavior who conducted the research with Francis Flynn, the Paul E. Holden Professor of Organizational Behavior.

If you were publishing something you wanted people to remember would you choose a simple font or a fancy one that was more difficult to read? If you said ‘simple’ you’d be wrong.

Fancy fonts might be harder to read, but the messages they convey are easier to recall, according to boffins at Princeton and Indiana Universities.

Speaking of publishing; does freedom of speech mean you can use any words you want on the Net with impunity? Maybe, but words like ‘leak’, ‘flu’ and ‘gas’ could put you on a watch list.

The Department of Homeland Security has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.

Flickr image credit: pedroelcarvalho