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Archive for November, 2017

Miki’s Rules To Live By: Two For The Holidays

Wednesday, November 29th, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/litratcher/7509338638/

Here are two little attitude tweaks that can make a very large difference in your holidays.

The first is a minor mind tweak that I can tell you from personal experience works extremely well.

Don’t let your mind play second fiddle to your assumptions.

And this from Michael Jackson (and others throughout time).

If you want to make the world a better place look inside yourself and make a change.

Of course, both require a level of self-knowledge and self-discipline that many of today’s connected, distracted humans don’t have.

Image credit: Wendy Cope

Ducks in a Row: A Crisis For Leadership

Tuesday, November 28th, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/edvinajh/5710373433/Jim Stroup (@jimstroup) used to write a blog called Managing Leadership; the blog is gone, but his book of the same name is still available.

Jim understood the myth of leadership.

“…the cult of the superlative individual leader as the cure for our current difficulties,” but Jim also pointed out that those same cult members caused many of the problems.

“We will take the position here at the outset, then, that the family of definitions of leadership that we are discussing is that which incorporates the idea of ineffably sensed forward motion – profound vision, unfathomable wisdom or judgment, courageous decisiveness, a charismatic ability to attract followers, and the like.

After all, it is this type of leadership that we are being told we must place our faith in, so that its exemplars can grasp the reins firmly in their hands, and with reassuring sure-footedness steer we poor, benighted masses out of our barely perceived and dimly comprehended peril. Into which, let it be said again, those exalted exemplars’ predecessors led us.”

Wally Bock has often pointed out that leadership, in common with the emperor, has no clothes and that leadership “wisdom” fails dismally to live up to its name.

Today’s post is short, because it is linked to an important article that KG recently sent as a result of our comparing notes on the subject.

It’s important, because it takes a different, more realistic, look at leadership, as opposed to the traditional view as espoused by the leadership industry. (Yes, “leadership” is an entire industry as is accounting and law.)

The article highlights, as did Jim and Wally, the dangers of our obsession with leadership and those who claim its mantle.

Take the time to read it and, more importantly, think about it, share it, and make it a subject for discussion among your friends.

Image credit: Edvin J.

Golden Oldies Two-fer: Hate, Intolerance And Responsibility and Two Kinds Of Followers

Monday, November 27th, 2017

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

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

Today is a two-fer, because, when discussing leadership, commentary on followers should be required.

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since these two posts, 5 years on the first and 10 years on the other, were written and the world has changed drastically. It is far more complex and moves much faster than ever before. What hasn’t changed — contrary to the impression you get from both traditional and new media, whether mainstream or on the fringes — is how much influence so-called leaders actually exert on their followers.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Hate, Intolerance and Responsibility

Anyone reading the news—local, national or global—knows that hate and intolerance are increasing at an alarming rate everywhere.

Also, because there have been/will be so many elections around the world this year ‘leadership’ is in the news even more so than usual.

What responsibility do leaders—business, political, religious, community—bear in fostering hate and intolerance?

Not just the age old race and gender intolerance, but the I’m/we’re-RIGHT-so-you-should-do/think-our-way-or-else.

The ‘we’re right/you’re wrong’ attitude is as old as humanity and probably won’t ever change, but it’s the ‘do-it-our-way-or-else’ that shows the intolerance for what it really is.

And leaders aren’t helping; in fact, they are making it worse.

During my adult life (I missed being a Boomer by a hair) I’ve watched as hate and intolerance spread across the country masked by religion, a façade of political correctness or a mea culpa that is supposed to make everything OK, but doesn’t.

Various business, political, religious and community leaders give passionate, fiery talks to their followers and then express surprise and dismay when some of those same followers steal trade secrets, plant bombs, and kill individuals—whose only error was following their own beliefs.

We are no longer entitled to the pursuit of happiness if our happiness offends someone next door, the other end of the country, or the far side of the globe.

I remember Ann Rand saying in an interview that she believed that she had the right to be totally selfish, where upon the interviewer said that would give her freedom to kill.

Rand said absolutely not, in fact the reverse was true, since her selfishness couldn’t impinge anyone else’s right to be selfish.

Leaders aren’t responsible; we are because we go along with it—as did the Germans when Hitler led them down the hate and intolerance path.

That about sums up my attitude

What’s yours?

Image credit: Street Sign Generator

Two kinds of followers

In general, followers fall into two categories—thinking and unthinking. All of us have issue-specific litmus tests and look for a general comfort level with other followers.

Thinking followers usually have a broader definition of comfort, critically evaluate individual ideas and attitudes, as opposed to blind across-the-board acceptance, and are more willing to consider compromises. They often challenge their leader offering additional considerations, thoughts, suggestions, as well as open disagreement.

Unthinking followers are more emotional, rarely disagree or argue and may opt out of all thought and consideration following blindly and allowing the leader think for them. At their worst, unthinking followers are fodder for cults.

Most of us would classify ourselves as thinking followers, but are we? I know that politically I have one litmus test that is absolute and a couple of others that have high priority without being locked into specifics. Beyond that, I’ve always considered myself pretty open.

However, as extremists have polarized various issues I find myself becoming more adamant in my own feelings and less open to listening to those who believe that their views represent truth with a capital T — but I still want to live in a country where they have the right to say it.

I’ve lived a long time and I never thought I’d say this, but the rise of social media, with its ability to say anything anonymously sans responsibility, has seriously compromised my belief in free speech.

If The Shoe Fits: The Failure Of Silicon Valley Culture

Friday, November 24th, 2017

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

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mNot all techies are “brilliant assholes” or even aspiring to that label.

Further, there plenty of brilliant nice folks and plodding assholes to be found amid the majority of people that populate techdom.

Unfortunately, that loud, vocal, arrogant, in-your-face minority often becomes the standard by which all participants are judged — think Gen X (slackers) and Millennials (entitled).

Worse, their MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) tends to rub off on others and permeate the group culture, as it did on Wall Street, to the point where those who don’t fit the mold are ashamed to admit their involvement.

“MBA jerks used to go and work for Wall Street, now wealthy white geeks go to Stanford and then waltz into a VC or tech firm.”

Patrick Connelly, founder of health-tech startup Corevity, also sees the Wall Street parallels.

“The focus of Silicon Valley used to be innovation with the wonderful bonus of money on the side of that, but those two things seem to have switched – just as the pencil-pushing mentality of finance in the 70s became the champagne lifestyle in the 2000s, People have come to have too much swagger and not enough insights.”

Like Wall Street banks in 2008, Big Tech is in no hurry to take responsibility for its actions, as shown in the recent congressional hearings — no CEOs or executives showed, instead they sent their company lawyers.

Big Tech sold the world and its employees on the idea that, unlike Wall Street and other dominant corporate entities, tech was focused on changing the world for the better and would do no evil.

But, like most concepts, evil has a fluid meaning (like murder) and money is a change agent — nothing that drives revenue is evil. That includes Russian ads, hate, bigotry, and trolling.

Industry leaders espoused values that anyone could embrace: sharing, connection, community, openness, expression. The language they spoke was the language of a universal humanism….

These concepts might have sounded vague, but they produced concrete political outcomes. They convinced politicians to privatise public goods – starting with the internet itself. In the 1990s, a network created largely by government researchers and public money was delivered into private hands and protected from regulation. Built on this enclosed ground, a company like Facebook could turn formerly non-economic activities – chatting with a friend, or showing her a picture of your kid or crush – into a source of seemingly endless profit. Not by chance, the values that these companies touted as intrinsic goods – openness, connectivity, deregulation – were also the operating principles that made their owners rich.

That said, not everybody has drunk the kool-aid. There’s a small, but growing, cadre of techies working to change things from the inside out.

While tech has outsourced many roles, software development is, and probably always will be, handled internally.

Even if (when) AI reaches the point of being able to automate some coding, it will take far longer for it to take on the roles of creation, architecture or design.

And that will concentrate even more power in the hands of the engineers able to handle that work.

One can only hope they use it more wisely than their bosses.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Ryan’s Journal: The Art Of Thanks

Thursday, November 23rd, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/anjanettew/16148577365/Tomorrow can be a day of thanks for a lot of people. It gives us time to pause and share good times with friends and family.

There are a lot of things I truly appreciate about the holiday.

I live pretty far from family, so it’s nice to come home, catch up and relax.

It can also be a time to remind myself of why I work and what I am grateful for.

I have been thinking about this concept of thanks for a while now as I try to further it within my life, both professionally and personally.

I work in sales and my life is directly affected by the actions of my clients. As a result there is much to be thankful for. My challenge now is how to convey that. I am also realizing the benefits of giving thanks.

As I consider the topic I find that when I give thanks it not only edifies me, it enhances the person being thanked as well.

It’s essentially a power source that keeps going and building. Have you ever been thanked for something in a genuine way? How did they make you feel? How hard would it be to do the same for another?

Meditation can be helpful and when I meditate I consider those I am thankful for and it immediately rejuvenates me. I feel more compassion, joy, and energy.

So as we head into the holiday, maybe look around and see where you can impact in a positive way.

It would be a nice change from the grind of the world… at least for one day.

Image credit: anjanettew

Hate Then And Now

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/purpleslog/2855246975/Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Fortunately, the folks with whom I usually spend it are out of town. I say ‘fortunately’, because in my current mood I would be hard-pressed to cover my true feelings.

While the narrowest definition of “my world” keeps chugging along, with nothing causing woe, my full world is, as the saying goes, going to hell in a hand-basket.

Or, more accurately, on a well-greased slide made of hate.

I understand hate up close and personal, as opposed to an intellectual or conversational concept.

Over the years I’ve built up layers of armor starting around age 5

So it’s difficult to believe I was naïve enough to agree with a friend, whose email detailing the problems inherent in political correctness became a post in 2015.

Being a black man, I prefer a racist that’s honest about who he is and what he is. I prefer working for such a person because I know what to expect. I presume it would be the same for you as a woman regarding sexists. These days no one is a racist, we just have “unconscious biases” that prevent us from taking unpopular positions and that ensure that the powerful can continue to exclude the less powerful.

Politically correct environments rob me of information, choice, and the ability to navigate astutely to attain my objectives.

What a difference two years and one election makes.

Kevin no longer wonders who is a racist — it’s very obvious.

And I get to end my life amidst the same hate I grew up with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More technical problems made this post very late. My apologies.

Be sure to ready Ryan’s post tomorrow; he’s far more upbeat than I.

Have a wonderful turkey day and I’ll see you all Friday.

Image credit: Purple Slog

Ducks in a Row: “Do The Right Thing” Circa 2017

Tuesday, November 21st, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurt-b/5401822493/

“Do the right thing” used to be an accepted mantra, as well as a point of pride.

That’s changed; think Volkswagen’s “defeat device” to Nissam’s 20+ years of using untrained inspectors (due to a “shortage”) to Uber’s Greyball, and others too numerous to list.

The companies involved only fixed/changed/stopped because they were caught.

These days, the mantra is “do the right thing if

  • caught doing the wrong thing;
  • it doesn’t interfere with revenue;
  • it removes the spotlight from a scandal;
  • it generates good press; or
  • it counteracts bad press,

In other words, do the right thing as a sop to the masses until they forget and then it’s business as usual.

And why not?

The same attitude has worked well for politicians, religious leaders, and business executives for decades, if not centuries, so why change a formula that works so well?

The same attitude is in play for individuals, especially these days when personal convenience and comfort are paramount and ethics, morals, integrity, decency and responsibility play second fiddle to expediency.

Like companies, people go their merry way lying, cheating, and stealing their way to the top.

And if they happen to walk into/over/stomp on someone they will look around and, if caught, do the right thing by helping them up and apologizing.

Maybe.

But whether enterprise or individual, permanent change is unlikely.

Image credit: Kurt Bauschardt

Golden Oldies: Blog Action Day: Human Rights

Sunday, November 19th, 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 some of the best posts during that time.

We haven’t participated in Blog Action Day for a couple of years; we were somehow deleted from their mailing list and I didn’t check, because I just plain forgot.

Today’s Golden Oldie is KG’s post from 2013. What he said was important then and still is, if not more so. Things have gotten worse, not better. (Check out the previous comments.)

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Human Rights – something that is often talked about but little is done to define or uphold.

What is human rights?  It seems so right yet appears such a fable.   Most of the time we hear about human rights from some government official speaking about how some other government is negligent.  Yet it is never defined.

Is it privacy rights?  The right to use the internet without being monitored?  Is it the right to healthcare and education?  Is it having food, shelter, safety from violence?  Or is it to uphold human dignity?

We never quite know since it is never defined properly, or has so many definitions as to become worthless.  Is it the right for poor African Americans to be treated fairly under the law?  Male African Americans?  Why does the US with ¼ of the population of China have more than three times the amount of persons incarcerated?  Mostly black and Latino males?  Is this human rights?

Confusion is maybe the name of the game – as long as we don’t know what it is, it is a useful tool for controlling our thoughts and actions.  Who is it that want to make us act without thinking?  Who is it that defines another human being as an enemy and want us to take hostile action towards him/her?

Are there universal human desires?  For such things as food, safety, love, nurture, communion?  If there are, why are they not fulfilled?  Why do we allow ourselves to be derailed from attaining these and passing them on to others?  Is there any doubt that today we can easily feed the world and no one needs to go hungry?  Or that we can eradicate most of the common diseases that kill children?

We choose not to.

Isn’t there a gift in giving?  Why does it suit us to hoard “things” – money, land, items and safety?  If we recognize the universal desires and needs of our fellow humans, why don’t we work to get and give?  What is it that prevents us?

Ultimately, we want to receive from others, but need to be aware that giving is also receiving.  Can we reasonably expect to receive without being generous?  What is the origin of our selfishness?  Don’t we know better?

Neglecting to provide food to the hungry, clothing to the naked and safety to the threatened is antisocial behavior and lack of empathy.  Which of us have any remorse about this behavior?

Our conduct is very similar to the definition of psychopathy – “a personality trait or disorder characterized partly by enduring antisocial behavior, a diminished capacity for empathy or remorse, and poor behavioral controls” (Wikipedia).  All wealthy people and governments have the possibility to address the needs of human rights.  I define almost all of us living in North America and Europe as relatively wealthy, as well as large, affluent, segments of the developing world.

For whatever reason, we choose to exhibit this behavior.

Is there such a thing as human rights?

To psychopaths?

KG Charles-Harris is CEO of Emanio and a special contributor to MAPping Company Success.

If The Shoe Fits: Founder Compensation

Friday, November 17th, 2017

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

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mKG Charles-Harris, who has written here in the past, shared a Medium post from Brandon Evans explaining how/why startups are mostly minimum wage (or less) jobs.

For instance, 50% of founders are making less than $6 an hour.

After raising $15 million Evans company reached a million in revenue the first year and tripled that each of the next three, but when Evans wasn’t interested in raising another $20 million he was fired.

Our investors are great guys and were doing their job. But that job is to maximize the returns for their investors. Homan Yuen in his VC Math post clearly shows why VCs are almost exclusively focused on unicorns (or those rare $1B+ exits). For them to generate an acceptable financial return, they typically require 2 to 3 of them per fund. “Small” $50 million or $100 million dollar exits do little for keeping their investors happy.

What those “small” companies do do is drive the economy and create jobs, obviously a goal of little-to-no interest to VCs and those who invest in their funds — despite their talk to the contrary.

Even an IPO isn’t a guarantee for enormous founder wealth, as shown in the recent SendGrid IPO.

On the other hand, two of the three cofounders no longer own as much as 5% of the company: Tim Jenkins, and Jose Lopez. Both are still listed on the company’s website as engineers who work there. The biggest winner in this IPO among the three cofounders is Isaac Saldana. He still owns 4% of the company and, at $18, his stake is worth $33 million.

Not that $33 million is anything to sneeze at, but Foundry Group was the big winner walking away with $171 million.

It’s interesting to note that SendGrid seems to have put as much effort into its culture, via its four pillars, known as the four H’s: honest, hungry, humble and happy, as its growth.

“We’re so ridiculously over the top with it, it would absolutely scare you away. If these things didn’t resonate with you, you wouldn’t come to SendGrid because you’re like, ‘OK, these guys are like a cult with those four values. That’s not for me, I’m out,” CEO Sameer Dholakia said.

“I’ve been in software and high-tech for 22 years. I know a lot of absurdly talented professionals who would hate SendGrid. It would literally be their seventh Hell because there is nothing humble about them,” he said. “And that’s OK. They’re absurdly talented and in other cultures they can thrive where it’s a star-centered culture. Great! But they would hate us.”

Any one of those values, let alone all of them together, seem to be in short supply at most of the recently headlined unicorns.

And contrary to many in the startup world, values do scale if the focus goes all the way to the top. This is how you do it, according to Sameer Dholakia, SendGrid CEO

  • Keep values simple so employees will remember.
  • Make them distinctive to attract people who support them. Not everyone will or should fit.
  • Be conscious of behaviors that impact the values and reinforce them.

The second is where most founders fail, because they aren’t willing to walk away from stars, AKA brilliant jerks.

Of course, many founders are members in good standing of the brilliant jerks club, but SendGrid is proof that you neither have to hire them  nor be one.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Ryan’s Journal: Live From New York

Thursday, November 16th, 2017

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ironypoisoning/17929997596

I was in New York this week to visit some clients, but also to conduct some formal sales training.

The client visits are always great because you get to uncover new insights and align with the common goals to achieve desired outcomes.

The same could probably be said of the training as well. You learn, ingest, and hope you improve to a desired outcome. Throughout the week, though, I was struck by the similarities between client visits and training.

The training we conducted was based on the challenger sales concept. Within that book the writers uncover certain traits that enable some sales reps to achieve greater results.

The key takeaway is to understand your client and be in a position to teach them rather than approaching them with a lot of questions. That’s a simplistic view, but even at that level it is a cultural shift for the company.

Sales reps are used to arriving, asking a bunch of questions and hoping some stick with the client. The usual result is a lot of wasted time for the client and lost revenue for the company.

Instead we need to approach it as a consultant who understands a broad set of issues affecting the industry in question and is able to deliver insights. This doesn’t happen overnight and it requires the whole organization to commit to the results.

What I learned through this process was the fact that you cannot just say you provide value. You must demonstrate and deliver it. The same can be said about life as with clients. You lose whenever you cannot be an asset to the organization.

Imagine if we showed up to life like that everyday? We would be crushing it regardless of what our job was. We would ensure success for ourselves, our family and friends.

I realize this week it seems to be a recap, but it’s been busy and there are a lot of moving parts. However I can fully appreciate the fact that with a little preparation we can make our lives easier.

Image credit: Connie

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