Henry Ford figured it out in 1914 when he doubled his workers’ daily wage. He did so on the assumption that they would spend the additional money on stuff beyond subsistence needs and he was right — they bought Fords.
Companies today still haven’t learned that lesson and continue to treat workers as disposable, fighting the idea of a living wage and crying that the cost will destroy them.
Merriam Webster defines a “maxim” as “a well-known phrase that expresses a general truth about life or a rule about behavior.” Minims are different.
Minims aren’t well known. They don’t express a general rule about life. They’re not big important truths, just little things that will help you do a better job as a boss. Each minim is a one or two sentence distillation of a tip in my forthcoming ebook, Become a Better Boss One Tip at a Time. Here are a dozen.
The best way to “empower” competent and willing team members is to get out of their way.
Power isn’t something you bestow. It’s something you unleash.
Mistakes are the price you pay for better performance in the future.
Most performance issues are not self-healing. If you leave them alone, they will usually go from bad to worse.
Sugar-coating legitimate criticism robs it of nutritional value.
Creativity lives in those cracks in your schedule.
The example you set determines the behavior you get.
When you’re silent, you can listen and when you listen you can learn.
Distrust the abstract.
Most of your team members, most of the time, only need suggestions and informal direction.
If you mess up, fess up and fix it.
Great ideas are everywhere and the best way to find out if they work is to try them out.
As I said, clear, pithy, doable advice and, if you take a step back, solid common sense.
A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read allIf the Shoe Fits posts here
I admit to a long-time and deep fascination with innovation, startups and the people who drive them
Although many of the new apps and services provide no value to me personally, in most case I can understand their allure to those of a different mindset.
But now and then I read/hear about an idea I consider the height of stupidity, but that doesn’t mean it won’t succeed.
Live-work spaces aren’t new. HP started in a garage. Two decades ago they were a major force in the creation of what became SOMA in San Francisco. And home offices are everywhere.
But co-working spaces as envisioned by startups like WeWork are not only stupid, they are dangerous.
Crystal City WeLive location [Washington DC], the company will ultimately be renting out 360-square-foot “micro apartments,” which sit on top of WeWork’s co-working spaces. WeWork will offer more than 250 micro-apartments at that location, along with amenities like bike parking, an herb garden, and a library.
The idea is to eliminate the need to go outside your immediate environment.
It’s Silicon Valley efficiency taken to the extreme: you give up a normal work-life balance to eliminate your commute and live with all the amenities you need nearby. If you already hire people to take care of your other chores for you — you use Uber to drive you around and Wash.io to do your laundry — why not take it a step further and take care of your living arrangements through a startup too?
Residents not only give up any kind of work-life balance, they give up much of their connection to the real world and, more importantly, to their customers. They will work/live/relax/socialize with people like themselves.
While losing contact with the extended world is bad, the potential for personal damage is catastrophic.
The only people who aren’t aware of the importance of culture in today’s working world must have been living off planet for the last few decades.
“…a toxic culture can trigger actions that ultimately lead to business failure. When money is viewed as the singular motivator, leaders will not be able to engage the hearts and minds and to get the best out of their people.”
Further, they are aware of what research shows people feel is most important.
For most people what really counts (apart from fair compensation) is respect, recognition, a sense of accomplishment, a sense of belonging, and a feeling of purpose.
Manfred Kets De Vries, the Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development & Organizational Change at INSEAD has an simple, one-word solution.
The first and most basic thing is to respect people who work in the organisation. As gratitude evokes cooperative responses, so too it creates mutually supportive relationships, helps neutralise conflict, generates positive energy and fosters a collective “we’re in this together” mentality. It gives people due recognition, fair treatment, a sense of belonging, and a voice.
If gratitude, as displayed in authentic thanks from bosses at whatever levels works, why are there still so many toxic cultures around?
The answer to that is also found in one simple word.
Ego.
Your take-away is also simple.
If you have trouble walking gratitude, as opposed to just talking it, the it’s time to have a real heart-to-heart with the person in your mirror.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Henry Ford figured it out in 1914 when he doubled his workers’ daily wage. He did so on the assumption that they would spend the additional money on stuff beyond subsistence needs and he was right — they bought Fords.
I admit to a long-time and deep fascination with innovation, startups and the people who drive them
