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Archive for October, 2017

Ducks in a Row: About Rules

Tuesday, October 31st, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdsmith1021/6802592257

Ironic, isn’t it. Right on top of yesterday’s post about ethics, comes this.

Most people even slightly in touch with the tech scene have heard about the Apple engineer who was fired for allowing his daughter to show off features of the new iPhone X in a YouTube video.

The engineer who was fired, Peterson’s father Ken Bauer, is seen in the video using Apple Pay on the iPhone X. He hands the phone to his daughter, and she walks through various features.

The daughter posted a follow-up video saying,

“Apple let him go. At the end of the day, when you work for Apple, it doesn’t matter how good of a person you are. If you break a rule, they just have no tolerance.”

How ‘bout that.

Dad knew he shouldn’t do it, but did it anyway.

Daughter takes no responsibility and says Apple is the bad guy.

What is wrong with this scenario?

Companies don’t make rules for the fun of it.

Rules are there to ensure certain actions are or are not taken.

Rules are not there to break.

Most companies (all?) would consider giving public exposure to a yet-to-be released product a firing offense.

Hopefully Bauer learned his lesson and won’t do the same thing at his next company; however, his actions will give pause and make many hiring managers skittish.

Cynic that I am, I wonder what, if anything, his daughter will learn from this experience. She doesn’t look all that young, so you have to wonder what her actions will be when she starts working.

Image credit: Joshua Smith

Golden Oldies: More Ethical? Not That Simple

Monday, October 30th, 2017

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.

This post was written in 2009, but could just as well have been written yesterday based on currents events. There’s no question that whether it’s in business, politics, religion, or our personal relationships people in the US and the rest of the world are suffering from a major shortage of ethics.

However, what’s missing and what’s needed to correct the problems depends on your point of view. (And perhaps the image should be updated to read ’22nd Century’.)

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Last Friday I wrote that ‘right’ and wrong’ were moving targets.

With the large number of companies that have been destroyed or severely damaged by behavior ranging from stupid through unethical to downright illegal there is a call for more ethics to be taught at ever level.

Everywhere you turn you hear people saying that we need more ethics, but ‘ethics’ have never been clear cut.
Actually, I think they’ve always been situational, fluid and simultaneously contradictory. Look at the definitions from dictionary.com

  1. (used with a singular or plural verb) a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture.
  2. the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics.
  3. moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence.
  4. (usually used with a singular verb ) that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

All of the descriptions use words with no absolute concrete meaning; sticking to my usual example, murder has always been considered wrong, but the definition of murder, even today, keeps changing and often isn’t agreed upon even within the same society, e.g., the pro-choice/anti-abortion war.

Now look at the first four definitions for moral, the usual synonym,

  1. of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.
  2. expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work; moralizing: a moral novel.
  3. founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations.
  4. capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being.

Same thing, there are no absolute terms with which to define it.

Perhaps, then, ethics should be defined by current law, but that certainly hasn’t worked. It’s far too easy to adhere to the letter of the law and totally ignore the spirit of it. That keeps you out of jail, but certainly doesn’t make you ethical.

As a friend said the other day, “An ethical man knows it’s wrong to cheat on his wife; a moral man doesn’t cheat.”

Further, there can be conflicts between personal ethics and law, where adhering to one violates the other. Should law prevail or personal ethics? Whichever you choose, it’s because you agree on a subjective level.

People say that those decisions should be made for “the greater good.” Again, by whose definitions? I’m sure that Hitler believed his actions in “purifying the races” were for the greater good—as he saw it—however I, and a large number of other people, don’t agree.

But even though this example seems so black and white, you’ll find people who still agree with Hitler’s reasoning and work to carry it forward.

In 2007 research from Harvard Business School showed the wide gap between what we think/say and what we actually do.

In that light “more ethics” becomes somewhat problematical.

What do you think the answer to being “more ethical” is?

Image credit: Samuel Mann

If The Shoe Fits: The Challenge Of Literalists

Friday, October 27th, 2017

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

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mWhen I was young there was a riddle making the rounds (it probably still is) that went like this.

Railroad crossing look out for the cars, can you spell it without any rs?

You could spend a lifetime puzzling over how to spell ‘railroad crossing’ without an r.

Or you could spend just a few seconds focusing and thinking about what was actually said (or rereading it if written), instead of reacting to the overall idea.

There is constant chatter about how fast you must go to keep up with today’s world, so who has time to focus/think?

Of course, if you listen mindfully, instead of multitasking, or read carefully, instead of scanning, you wouldn’t have to go back and do it over.

The people who have no trouble with riddles like this one are literalists.

They respond to exactly what they hear/see because you can’t be a literalist without being mindful. The two go hand-in-hand.

Why should this matter to you?

Because your your instructions need to work for both, as the following two examples, one conversational and one written, graphically show.

and

Hat tip to KG Charles-Harris for sharing these examples.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Ryan’s Journal: Is Loyalty Enough?

Thursday, October 26th, 2017

3658873057_013b7ed338_m http://www.flickr.com/photos/fsse-info/3658873057/Technically I am a millennial, but on the older side of the generation. One thing I read a lot about my generation is the fact that we job hop and are never content.

I think this is a simplified observation by others as there are a lot of factors at play when deciding on leaving a company. This can range from the simple event where a better opportunity presented itself to the those leaving because the company is toxic.

I have been in the situation where I have started looking around, but also hold back out of loyalty to the current role. I am often curious though, is loyalty enough?

I think loyalty is an admirable quality when used in the right cases. Obviously you want to be loyal to a partner or family. Being loyal to friends is also welcomed.

In some cases loyalty can burn you. We all have that friend who drags us down that we stay loyal too. Jobs can do that as well. We feel guilt for looking elsewhere.

I often wonder why that is.

In my personal life I try to remain truthful to myself and my career regardless of the circumstances. When I am viewing other roles I remind myself that I still have a job to do and I want to do my best.

However, guilt remains.

I have thought about it I have reached the conclusion that, for myself, I try to keep people happy. As a result I hate to let people down and know that happens when people quit.

What are your motivations when leaving or job hunting?

I doubt it is as simple as people make it seem from the outside.

Are You A Leader?

Wednesday, October 25th, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/59632563@N04/6460461969/

Yesterday I shared a post from Wally Bock about the importance of trust — and its fragility. At the end Wally said, “Trust is one of the most valuable things you have as a leader.”

Obviously, trust is crucial in any kind of relationship, in or out of the workplace, but today I want to focus on the last word on that sentence — leader.

I’m asked all the time how to become a leader.

Degrees — MBA, PhD, MD, LLB, etc.— won’t make you a leader.

There is an entire industry — classes, coaches, books, pundits of all kinds — expounding on how to become a leader.

Many people think leadership is defined by a person’s position; after all, you hear all the time that someone was “promoted (elected/assigned) to a position of leadership.”

All well and good, but that doesn’t make them a leader.

According to the late Bill Campbell, who established a reputation as the “coach” of Silicon Valley, only one thing determines whether or not you’re a leader: the opinions of those you’re supposed to be leading.

Even having your team do what you tell them doesn’t make you a leader.

Intuit CEO Brad Smith, one of many who learned that from Campbell, says it best.

“Basically, how you make that happen is if you believe that leadership is not about putting greatness into people, leadership is about recognizing that there’s a greatness in everyone and your job is to create an environment where that greatness can emerge.”

So go ahead, term yourself a leader and even brag about your leadership skills, but at the end of the day it’s what your people say about you to their family/friends/colleagues that will confirm you as a leader — or not.

Image credit: Vic

Guest Post: Leadership: Trust and Trees

Tuesday, October 24th, 2017

Today’s and tomorrow’s posts are follow-ups to last Monday’s, before the site was hacked.

Trust is the most important component in company culture. Without trust the culture is hollow — a sham that people will quickly see through. Trust has nothing to do with words, whether spoken or printed on a poster and hung on the wall. Wally Bock wrote what I consider the most insightful explanation of trust I’ve read, so I thought I’d share it with you. (And I highly recommend Wally’s e-book; there’s a link at the end.)

It’s also good to remember that trust doesn’t just apply to individuals, but also to entire companies. As Google is learning, losing customer trust is even more devastating and can morph into long-term consequences very quickly. 

The Burlington Industries building used to stand on a large plot of ground near where I lived in Greensboro, NC. The campus was adorned with wonderful oak trees whose thick trunks attested to how long they had been there.

But the company came on hard times. First the building was emptied. It sat on the beautiful campus until demolition company explosions brought it down while rattling windows all around and setting the local dogs to barking.

Work crews moved in immediately. They hauled away the remains of the building. They bulldozed the area flat. And, finally, they took the trees.

One day as I drove home, I noticed that it seemed much lighter than usual. Then I realized why. In the place of old oak trees with thick trunks there were only stumps.

While many alumni of Burlington Industries loved the building, it was just an artifact. The trees were living things and when the chain saws took them, the entire area changed.

Leaders build trust slowly, through good times and bad, the way a tree grows. It happens gradually, almost imperceptibly.

But the trust built over years and decades can disappear in an instant. The chainsaws of betrayal or selfishness or greed can destroy what it took ages to grow.

Like trees, the trust your people have in you grows slowly. Despite the common phrase, you don’t build trust at all, you grow it. And you grow it slowly.

Trust grows from kept promises, from actions that demonstrate concern for your people as well as the mission, and from fairness and from consistency.

Like trees, trust is more fragile in the beginning. It takes time for the trunk to grow thick and the roots to go deep so the tree can weather big storms. But even big trees can be brought down, like those wonderful oaks on the Burlington Industries campus in Greensboro. When that happens, everything changes.

Trust is one of the most valuable things you have as a leader. Make the effort and take the time to grow it. Be wary of anything that can bring it down.

Resource        

The 347 tips in my ebook can help you Become a Better Boss One Tip at a Time.

I would add that trust is one of the most valuable things you have as a human in any role.

Image credit: Wally Bock

For The Love Of Wikipedia

Monday, October 23rd, 2017

If you’re online it’s likely you use Wikipedia.

Hopefully, you haven’t bought into the myth that stuff on the internet is free; that if it doesn’t have ads it doesn’t cost anything to present.

Everything on the internet costs: from the hardware to the software to the content — even when much of the effort is volunteer there is still stuff that costs money and always will.

For that reason I’m sharing my annual letter from Wikipedia’s parent, Wikimedia.

I may not be able to donate to as many places as I once did, but Wikimedia is always on my list. I hope you will put it on yours.

Excerpt from the email I received.

Dear Miki,

It’s a little awkward to talk about this, but the reality is that if enough people don’t pitch in every year, Wikipedia wouldn’t survive. The only alternative, then, would be to solicit advertising partners and sponsorships. Sell Wikipedia to the highest bidder. But then it wouldn’t be Wikipedia.
As the Internet is increasingly sold to the highest bidder through paywalls and advertisers, Wikipedia remains independent. We are proud of our status as a non-profit and are grateful to readers like you for maintaining our independence over the years. Let’s not change that. Please give today.
Wikipedia is possible because of a powerful idea: that people, like you and me, can participate in building the world’s knowledge and making it freely available to everyone, everywhere.

Today, thanks to the support of millions of volunteer contributors and supporters, you can wander Wikipedia for hours. With more than 40 million Wikipedia articles and 35 million freely licensed images, Wikipedia can answer almost any question, and take you places you’ve never been.

Your donation supports the creation and sharing of free knowledge in real, practical ways. It helps us make Wikipedia fast, secure, and accessible to everyone in the world. It helps us bring free access to Wikipedia in places where high mobile data costs prevent people from going online. It helps us support people who are digitizing knowledge currently locked away in analog archives. It protects Wikipedia from the constant threats to free knowledge and the open internet.

Your support means that you can find the information you need now, wherever you may be—to settle a bet with a friend at a dinner party, or to understand the world around us.

Donating to Wikipedia makes you the champion of a powerful idea.

Wikipedia will continue to evolve, grow, and meet new challenges. We’re excited and eager to meet these and more. Your donation will help us get there.

Katherine Maher
Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation

Many employers will generously match employee contributions: please check with your employer to see if they have a corporate matching gift program.

Image credit: Wikimedia Foundation

Ryan’s Journal: #Metoo in the workplace

Friday, October 20th, 2017

violet

As many of you are aware the news this week has been dominated by the allegations against Harvey Weinstein and his sexual harassment and assaults on a variety of women.

As we learn more about what has occurred a new movement has started, #metoo. Women who have been harassed, assaulted, or worse are speaking up. Some for the first time.

As I have read through some of the posts of my personal friends and spoken to my wife, I am realizing this is much more rampant than I thought.

It has lead to some interesting discussions at work with my colleagues that I never imagined I would have. Most of the women I have spoken with have a story. Perhaps it was flirting that went beyond welcomed attention, an off-hand comment and in one case full-on assault.

It was heartbreaking to hear, as well as enlightening.

One thing I learned today, though, is the other ways women in the workplace have to cope.

In two separate conversations today I learned how my female colleagues have had to deal with aggressive men, misogamy or simple brush offs.

I am in the IT sector and the women in the technical roles have dealt with from not being taken seriously to not being trusted simply because of their gender.

I write all of this as a testament of how we as a society must do better.

I am still amazed that we can pick out the differences amongst each other, differences that we have zero control over, and tear one another down.

The fact that we allow gender to dictate how we should treat one another is shocking.

I am not naive enough to think that we can all just get along, however if we claim to be enlightened, then perhaps we should act like it.

Image credit: @UltraViolet

We’re Back!

Thursday, October 19th, 2017

Hi there,

Just wanted you to know that our sites have been down all week, because they were badly hacked.

Thanks to Vladimir, our highly skilled admin, everything is up and working.

Regular posts will resume tomorrow, with this week’s Ryan’s Journal.

Thank you all for your patience!

Golden Oldies: If the Shoe Fits: Fairness, Trust and Authenticity

Monday, October 16th, 2017

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.

Expediency seems to be the lens through which everything is viewed these days. Not that that’s new; this post dates to 2011 and it wasn’t new then. Flexibility is a great trait, but there are things it doesn’t enhance — such as company values. In fact, it destroys credibility, as described below.

Join me tomorrow for a great take on trust from the inimitable Wally Bock.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

3829103264_9cb64b9c62_m Kevin Spencer http://www.flickr.com/photos/vek/3829103264/Do clichés annoy you? There’s a good reason some of the tired, old clichés stay around—namely, they work. They say what needs to be said in a way that isn’t left open to interpretation, like ‘walk your talk’ as opposed to ‘authenticity’.

I was reminded of this after listening recently to an entrepreneur.

Here are the salient points of the conversation,

  • he had built a culture based on fairness, trust and authenticity;
  • he worked hard to hire the smartest people available;
  • salary and stock options were based on necessity, i.e., he did what he had to do to land the best candidates.

I asked him what would happen when people learned of the discrepancies between their package and a peer’s; that the approach seemed to fly in the face of his “fairness, trust and authenticity” statements.

He replied that

  • people trusted him to do what was best for the company;
  • he was fair to each person based on their individual expectations;
  • any effort to implement a uniform compensation (salary and/or stock) policy would hobble his ability to hire stars; and
  • it was a non-event because nobody knew anyone else’s package.

I have to admit, the naiveté of his final point cracked me up (I managed to control my hilarity).

Basically, he seems to believe that fairness, trust and authenticity have flexible meanings and that expediency trumps them all.

What do you believe?

Image credit: kevinspencer

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