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Ducks in a Row: Don’t Be an A**hole

Tuesday, February 19th, 2019

https://www.flickr.com/photos/95561244@N02/8717898389/

Receiver Larry Fitzgerald, entering his 15th season, said this is the advice he’d like to give rookies.

God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk. You learn a lot more when you’re listening.

Wally Bock quoted the same thing in a recent post.

Describing a manager who made a major hiring error that went uncorrected, I commented , that he couldn’t hear and wouldn’t have listened anyway.

Of course, it’s easier to talk than listen.

And you can’t really listen if you are looking at your phone.

Or doing anything on your computer.

Or thinking about where to go to lunch or what to make for dinner.

Or thinking about what you want to say as soon as the other person shuts up.

In other words, you can’t listen, really listen if you’re multitasking.

I might end this post with Wally’s high-level, positive summing up.

Listening is a critical leadership skill you can master. It will help you learn about the people you work with, demonstrate you think they’re important, and help you make better decisions.

But my take is low-level simple.

Knowing and practicing good listening is a great way to avoid being the lead character in Bob Sutten’s book The No Asshole Rule.

Image credit: Alan Goudy

Golden Oldies: Launch Or Destroy—It’s Your Choice

Monday, January 29th, 2018

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.

The Peter Principle was published in 1969, but the principle was just as true in 3000 BC as it is in 2018 and all the time in-between. It’s a lucky team that has a boss wise enough to keep the principle firmly in mind.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, recently wrote a 40th anniversary tribute called The Peter Principle Lives.

For those of you too young to remember, the Peter Principle states that “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

“Dr. Peter argued, “When people do their jobs well, society can’t leave well enough alone. We ask for more and more until we ask too much. Then these individuals—promoted to positions in which they are doomed to fail—start using a bag of tricks to mask their incompetence. They distract us from their crummy work with giant desks, replace action with incomprehensible acronyms, blame others for failure, cheat to create the illusion of progress.”

Well put and oh, so, ironic.

The very supermen who performed such extraordinary feats of financial legerdemain were actually at the peak of their Peter Principle.

Sutton writes, “If Dr. Peter were alive today, he’d find that a new lust for superhuman accomplishments has helped create an almost unprecedented level of incompetence. The message has been this: Perform extraordinary feats, or consider yourself a loser.”

What do you ask of your people?

Do you ask for competency; for them to do the best they are capable of at that point in time? Do you give them the tools, training, support and opportunities to grow and develop?

Or do you promote your people before any of these happen, tossing them into the deep end of the pool to swim—or drown.

As a manager at any level you hold your people’s future in your hands. At any point you have the choice of helping them on their path to success, slowing them down or destroying them.

What do you choose?

Image credit: Barnes and Noble

If the Shoe Fits: The Lean Startup’s Office Optional Conference

Friday, April 25th, 2014

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

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mYet again Sarah Milstein and her crew at Lean Startup have knocked it out of the ball park.  The first time I experienced it was at their Lean Startup Conference last year.  With the new Office Optional Conference, they have tapped into a motherload of issues that affect the Future of Knowledge Work and Workers.  Companies both large and small are struggling with attracting, growing, retaining and managing distributed teams, just like an increasing portion of the workforce is enticed by the ability to work from home (or anywhere).

I attended with Galina Landes who leads our engineering team, and one of the great experiences was to see how differently she and I experienced distributed work and strategies for improving what we’re doing.   But then, engineers have always had a more logical approach to most things than those of us working in management or other functions in a company.  Combining our perspectives and discussing strategies was interesting and very productive.

This conference on distributed teams dealt with collaboration, communication and the tools necessary for achieving goals as a team and creating a positive work environment.  I’ve personally struggled with this in my previous company and now as we are building a new one.   Our small team is fully distributed, although several of us are in the San Francisco Bay Area and can meet face to face when necessary.  But it’s still challenging to build a company culture, have good communication and trust without which we can’t achieve our strategic goals. 

Personally, I got a lot of ideas for tools and strategies to enhance our collaboration and communication.  In addition, many of the speakers spoke about the need to create an environment where “water cooler talk” and informal communication (and interruptions) was acceptable.  Just like in a normal office environment.  After all, we human beings are (mostly) social creatures and need to create bonds and trust with those with whom we work to achieve goals.

It was a pleasure to see that so many people from large organizations such as GE to small startups like EMANIO, and everything in-between, dealing with the issues around an increasingly distributed workforce.  In interacting with fellow participants, it was clear that we were all neophytes in the area and even those organizations that successfully had deployed a distributed model were still learning and adjusting their strategies and methods.  Office Optional was a great learning experience and I’d exhort anyone dealing with these issues to participate next time they put it on.  It was invaluable for us.

My only negative feedback would be that toward the latter part, the speakers became a bit repetitive.  However, for a first conference small issues like this should be expected and judging from my prior experience with the Lean Startup team the next one will excellent.

The day ended with a conversation between Eric Ries, who wrote The Lean Startup, and Stanford’s Bob Sutton, who penned the No Asshole Rule, and more recently, Scaling Up Excellence.  Though the conference would have been very good on its own, this was the crowning part of my experience.  Professor Sutton is an engaged and charismatic speaker with deep knowledge of how organizations work.  Excellence is what we’re all striving for and he provided a captivating roadmap for how to achieve it.

Image credit: HikingArtist

If the Shoe Fits: Does Vulnerability Spark Innovation?

Friday, November 1st, 2013

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

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mThe last founder who asked me how to build a stronger creative culture seemed to find it naïve and hilarious when I suggested he admit his errors, show some vulnerability and stop trying to convince his team and investors that he was infallible.

And it’s not the first time I’ve gotten that reaction.

So in the interests of helping founders who prefer to act invulnerable and stand on their dignity I thought I’d share the comments of Neil Blumenthal, co-chief executive of Warby Parker.

It’s through vulnerability that human beings create connections. The more vulnerable we can be with one another, the more that we’ll trust one another and the more we’ll be able to collaborate effectively.

How do you create a culture of innovation? The first way is actually asking for innovation. A lot of companies don’t expect or ask their team members to come up with ideas, but we demand it. It’s just everybody’s responsibility.

One other thing comment from Blumenthal that’s worth remembering…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexander_johmann/7296288020/

I think that covers everything and from a source with unarguable credibility.

Flickr image credit: Hiking Artist and Alexander Johnmann

David Beckham and Your Brand

Monday, June 3rd, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gowestphoto/3921758575/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

Entrepreneurs: Older is Better

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moonlightbulb/4871952762/

Yet another study validates what many of us who work around entrepreneurs believe, i.e., startups aren’t just the province of the young.

That’s right; experience matters.

The best entrepreneurs are ones who work in their field first, gaining valuable real-world knowledge and experience for a decade or more. (We heard exactly the same thing from Google’s startup acquisition guy).

Every year of life improves an entrepreneur’s chances up until 40, but they don’t diminish thereafter.

What else is needed?

You need to be open-minded, flexible, able to pivot in a heartbeat. You need to be agreeable… You don’t need IQ as it is traditionally measured; you do need the ability to recognize patterns.

And only enough ego to avoid being trampled.

Older entrepreneurs have an advantage because they’ve

  • know they are entitled to nothing;
  • failed and lived through it;
  • seen a variety of economies up, down and around;
  • recognize that great ideas come from all types and all levels;
  • can recognize and a**hole from a mile away;
  • won’t sacrifice the culture no matter how good s/he is; and, finally,
  • they know that good or bad this, too, will pass.

Hat tip to EMANIO‘s KG Charles-Harris for sending me the link.

Flickr image credit: Selena N. B. H.

Quotable Quotes: Bob Sutton

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

bob-suttonBob Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford and a Professor of Organizational Behavior, by courtesy, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, but he is best known to the majority of people as the author of The No Asshole Rule.

He is also a genuinely nice guy, has a prominent email link on his blog and actually responds when you write him.

The blog is called Work Matters and it’s one of those ‘if you read nothing else…’ things. In the left column Bob has listed “15 things I believe” and my favorites form today’s quotes along with links for context.

Which ones would you choose?

Getting a little power can turn you into an insensitive self-centered jerk.

The best test of a person’s character is how he or she treats those with less power.

The best single question for testing an organization’s character is: What happens when people make mistakes?

Saying smart things and giving smart answers are important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.

Image credit: Stanford Report

Launch Or Destroy—It’s Your Choice

Monday, April 13th, 2009

Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, recently wrote a 40th anniversary tribute called The Peter Principle Lives.

For those of you too young to remember, the Peter Principle states that “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”

“Dr. Peter argued, “When people do their jobs well, society can’t leave well enough alone. We ask for more and more until we ask too much. Then these individuals—promoted to positions in which they are doomed to fail—start using a bag of tricks to mask their incompetence. They distract us from their crummy work with giant desks, replace action with incomprehensible acronyms, blame others for failure, cheat to create the illusion of progress.”

Well put and oh, so, ironic.

The very supermen who performed such extraordinary feats of financial legerdemain were actually at the peak of their Peter Principle.

Sutton writes, “If Dr. Peter were alive today, he’d find that a new lust for superhuman accomplishments has helped create an almost unprecedented level of incompetence. The message has been this: Perform extraordinary feats, or consider yourself a loser.”

What do you ask of your people?

Do you ask for competency; for them to do the best they are capable of at that point in time? Do you give them the tools, training, support and opportunities to grow and develop?

Or do you promote your people before any of these happen, tossing them into the deep end of the pool to swim—or drown.

As a manager at any level you hold your people’s future in your hands. At any point you have the choice of helping them on their path to success, slowing them down or destroying them.

What do you choose?

Image credit: Barnes and Noble

Meeting by design

Thursday, May 1st, 2008

Image credit: Nammer

Few people put much thought into organizing meetings, whether company-wide, department or team. The best create an agenda, but little beyond that.

If this sounds familiar, you need to think again.

The idea that meetings need to be consciously designed as does any successful, productive business process is addressed by Business Week Innovation.

More new age voodoo?

According to Debra Dunn, a 22-year veteran of Hewlett-Packard, “Meetings have tremendous symbolic power.”

Robert Sutton, an expert in organizational behavior and author of, most recently, The No Asshole Rule, says, “If you destroy the culture, then you destroy the company.” (Both teach at Standford University.)

Read the story and the Playbook and compare your attitude, approach and most importantly results to the case study presented.

How do your meetings measure up?

What changes would make them more productive?

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