It’s a new site dedicated to the premise that not all CEOs are bad guys.
So grab yourself some coffee, or a beer if it’s that time, and take a look at what some of the thousands of good CEOs are doing to have fun and/or give back.
A second innovation commentary comes from consultant Peter Bregman who offers up and interesting perspective on why it’s better to be David in this economy than Goliath.
Finally, what’s happening in compensation these days aside from Wall Street bankers with dubious bonuses?
Today is all about opening your mouth, what happens and what should happen when you do. Although the most of the links are directed at CEOs the information and lessens apply to all levels in or out of management.
Communicating is everyone’s responsibility.
First is a post by Steve Roseler at All Things Workplace who cites four critical reasons to open your mouth and speak instead of wondering if you should. Here they are,
Never assume that anyone knows anything.
The larger the group, the more attention needs to be given to communicating.
When left in the dark, people will fantasize their own reality. Do you want their fantasy to trump your reality?
Effective leaders are obsessed with accurate, frequent communication.
Next, Mike Chitty weighs in on what’s changed in communication and why changing from “being told” to “finding out” stimulates a wide range of good stuff.
Third is a light look considering whether voice mail is going the way of the dodo bird; the shift seems to be along generational lines…
Finally, phenomenal advice from readers to a question asked by Jim Haskett, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. The question was “How Frank or Deceptive Should Leaders Be?” I’m not a big believer that leadership is just the function of the guy at the top and honestly believe that although most of the responses refer to the actions of positional leaders it’s just as applicable to anyone who ever has or will take the initiative to make something happen.
Happy reading and try and remember that real communicating requires more than your thumbs—in fact, that’s why you have a mouth.
Alexander Kjerulf over at Chief Happiness Officer shared a fascinating write-up (one of the case studies for his new book) about Wim Roelandts, CEO of Xilinx, managing through his eighth recession. During 2000 recession Wim decided there was a better way than the standard Silicon Valley of repetitive rounds of layoffs—and he proved there was. He called his strategy “Share the pain;” it was completely voluntary and2799 out of 2800 employees opted to take the graduated pay cuts. He held fast in spite of opposition from both his Board and Wall Street analysts and it worked.
Last but certainly not least are two takes on Tony “A company’s culture and a company’s brand are just two sides of the same coin” Hsieh, the guy who built a billion dollar company on its culture. Both are takes on his keynote talk at SXSW 2009, but bring out different points. The one from Fast Company includes seven steps to incorporate Zappos core values into your company; the other is The Onion’s Baratunde Thurston via CNET.
Tons of downer news these days and many managers have faced/are facing the trauma of laying off members of the team that they’ve worked so hard to build, so I thought some upbeat advice/information and stories to help you do your job better managing would lighten your weekend.
Business Week was kind enough to offer up a trove of stuff worth reading.
Some of the smartest ideas came from readers such as Autumn Parrott at Frist Center for the Visual Arts.
“We had a 25% budget cut. To help people understand the budgeting process, we formed a committee comprising only people who are not senior managers. It started conversations between departments and created a greater understanding of how our money is spent. People serve for a year. Each department gives recommendations like ‘we’re spending $70,000 a year on cleaning, so now everyone should clean their own offices and only use a cleaner once a week.’ One benefit of bringing in a variety of people is you don’t come up with the same ideas over and over again.”
This is a real winner. Sharing financial information below executive level is anathema to most bosses, but doing so increases employees’ sense of ownership which usually unleashes a barrage of cost-saving ideas.
There’s a great piece on trickle-up innovation where low-cost products developed for emerging countries are being tweaked for sale to affluent ones—the opposite of typical development.
There’s a lot more, but one in particular I’d like your opinion about before I say anything.
Next up is a real treat and useful, too. I’ll bet that not even all my tech savvy readers know about some of these Google goodies; have fun, but don’t waste the entire weekend fooling with them.
Last up is a bit of laughter—or at least a few snickers. I hate 99% of the ads companies stick us with (I am so sick of being pitched illnesses and drugs) unlike the rest of the world who’s ads actually qualify as entertainment. But there is the other 1%, so that now and then we actually get a good commercial. The Layoff and the other four videosare definitely funny if you need a quick laugh. This isn’t an endorsement of the company—I have no knowledge of their products just their sense of humor.
The CEO reputation isn’t exactly in the ascendancy these days, in fact, as a group it’s pretty well tanked. So it’s sad to see them, again as a group with exceptions, strolling down another truly stupid path—no time for talent worries. “It’s no surprise that global leaders raked financial pressures to cut costs (82.95%) and rapid market decline (54.36%) as their toughest business challenges. Unfortunately, “Loss of leaders in key areas or insufficient talent to quickly adapt to change” (5.30%) fell to the bottom of the list.” Dan McCarthy at Great Leadership spells out the details, including a link to the survey. Whoo hoo, short term thinking at it’s best.
Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership eloquently discusses the stupidity (my word) of inspiring emotional connections in ‘followers’.
“That’s what the modern individual leader wants: uncritical commitment, steadfast devotion, unquestioning obedience. There is little room in contemporary leadership theory for qualified, deliberative followership; extended, modified, or rescinded at the initiative of the follower.”Scary attitude!
Finally, to add a little levity to a day dedicated to stupidity, past and future, here’s a quick explanation of the banking crisis for those of you who still don’t understand the MAP that got us into this mess. It’s a little story that’s making the rounds on the Net. Hat tip to KG Charles-Harris who sent it to me.
Young Stern moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.
The next day he drove up and said, ‘Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.’
Stern replied, ‘Well, then just give me my money back.’ The farmer said, ‘Can’t do that. I went and spent it already.’
Stern said, ‘OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.’
The farmer asked, ‘What a ya gonna do with him? Stern said, ‘I’m going to raffle him off.’
The farmer said ‘You can’t raffle off a dead donkey!’ Stern said, ‘Sure I can. Watch me. I just won’t tell anybody he’s dead.’
A month later, the farmer met up with Stern and asked, ‘What happened with that dead
donkey?’
Stern said, ‘I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.00.’
The farmer said, ‘Didn’t anyone complain?’ Stern said, ‘Just the guy who won. So I gave him back his two dollars.’
Stern now works for Goldman Sachs.
Or did until he was laid off.
There, do you feel better now that you know the truth?
A slightly odd combination today, but one I hope will prove of use to you.
A thought-provoking commentary from Rakesh Khurana, a professor at Harvard Business School and Andy Zelleke, co-director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, discussing why a cap on CEO pay will have little to no affect of the rampant greed so pervasive these days in the corporate suite.
This CNET post last year regarding the legal implications of employee blogging is a must read. Granted it’s not an in-depth study, but it does give you a heads up on some of the concerns and legal implications.
Here’s an interesting item for those of you in companies of 50 or less employees. I’m a long way from knowledgeable so you need to talk to your experts, but I do know that insurance is a very tough road for small companies, especially in the current economy.
“Section 125 plans let companies and their workers pay for health insurance premiums with pretax dollars. Businesses and employees save 7.65% in FICA and Medicare tax, and workers save on taxes by lowering their taxable income.”
Today is Valentine’s Day, but I think you’ll get enough of the love angle elsewhere. Anyway, I’m not really into that stuff, but I do like the oddball aspects of business.
Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Yet another white collar crook caught with his alleged pants down; it’s old news these days. But here’s one with a twist. Involved in a $100 million mortgage fraud, Christopher J. Warren was picked up with $70,000 stuffed in his shoes, along with a few other goodies worth over a million dollars. We can only hope that it happens to more of them.
How ’bout a recommendation that strange is good when it comes to employees? Seriously. Daniel M. Cable, management professor at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School recently published Change to Strange
in which he makes the case that employers who move out of their comfort zone when hiring and move beyond typical corporate policy have a stronger competitive edge.
And here’s my favorite. Managers’ idiosyncrasies when hiring are legion, but it’s their idiotsyncrasies that furnish the most amusement, not to mention frustration, to anyone involved in the process. But what happens when one of those idiotsyncrasies, that blood type determines personality, is an accepted part of the country’s culture?
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,
It’s a new site dedicated to the premise that not all CEOs are bad guys.
Who’s innovating? Why is it important to stay focused on innovation? How are companies doing it in today’s economy?
looks like a great read. Enjoy!
Tons of downer news these days and many managers have faced/are facing the trauma of laying off members of the team that they’ve worked so hard to build, so I thought some upbeat advice/information and stories to help you do your job better managing would lighten your weekend.
Do you like puzzles? Author Michael Brooks shows you 
