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.

For centuries ‘customers’ were the people who bought a company’s products or services. A few decades ago that started to change and not just. Governments started recognizing that taxpayers were, in fact, customers, as did schools and universities, with regards to their students. Hospitals and doctors embraced, or were forced to, the idea of patients as customers.

Through most of that time customer service was mostly a function of caveat emptor. Even before the web and social media made both complaining and complimenting easy ‘ before that, gossip and message boards spread the word. The change is most easily seen in the medical world where Medicare/Medicaid and insurance companies, paying based on outcome, as opposed to fee-for-service, have forced radical change in patient care.

It was during this period that management academics and gurus put forth the idea that workers were customers and customer service was the responsibility of their direct boss—not HR.

Read other Golden Oldies here.

Customer service is a major topic these days (more on that tomorrow); as is employee retention, but do they really have anything in common?

Absolutely.

Every manager, from team leader to CEO, is also a customer service manager, because your people are your customers.

That’s right, customers.

More accurately, that makes you an ESM—employee service manager.

Why do you service your people? To

• help them achieve their full potential;
• assure high productivity;
• lower turnover; and
• create an environment that’s a talent magnet.

How do you service your people? By

• cultivating the kind of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) that truly values people and understands how important it is to manifest that;
• offering high-grade professional challenges to all your people and making sure that they have the resources and all the information necessary to achieve success;
• fostering fairness so that people know they are evaluated on their merits and favoritism plays no part; and
• always walking your talk and living up to your commitments.

What’s in it for you?

• Better reviews, promotions and raises;
• increased professional development;
• less turnover and easier staffing; and
• what goes around comes around—everything that you give your people will come back to you ten-fold!

Flickr image credit: Angela Archer

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

It’s almost impossible to find a company, let alone a startup, that doesn’t swear by agile product development.

But what about applying agile for to other areas, especially other human areas? Specifically, bosses.

We’ve all heard bosses at all levels blather on about creating an agile organization and being an agile leader, but seen little proof they are accomplishing it.

Ever wonder why?

To embrace agile bosses themselves often need to change.

So, while the answer is simple, implementation is not.

As Steve Denning said in 2016, Agile Is A Mindset, Not A Methodology; a few months later he did an excellent job explaining agile beyond its roots.

Consider the basic tenets of agile

• Openness. Be receptive to feedback on your own behavior and activities.
• Trust. Feel comfortable that not everything will be planned; let trial and error show the right direction.
• Collaboration. Go for the greater good of the company, which is not necessarily good for a particular unit.
• No Ego. Have everyone speak with one voice—as an organization.
• Transparency. Call out those unwilling to change or to reflect the “new world.”
• Accountability. Hold one another accountable.

Bosses whose preferred management style runs to command and control, ignore it and hide, benign neglect, or combinations thereof dictated by events are not only uncomfortable with agile, but downright resistant to it.

No one is saying that agile is perfect, but refuting the standard objections is pretty easy.

All of this is just more proof of the accuracy of my company’s tagline: To change what they do change how you think.

Image credit: HikingArtist

I’m assuming you’ve read the anti-diversity manifesto, or articles about it, from the Google engineer decrying his company’s diversity efforts and harking back to the ancient reasoning that women are biologically incapable of being good coders, cops and firemen, among other incapables.

(It’s always sad to see this level of scientific ignorance in a technical person. Of course, it’s not easier in a (supposedly) educated politician.)

There are dozens of responses, but Yonatan Zunger’s is the best I’ve seen (hat tip to KG for sending it).

Zunger is a 14 year Google veteran, who left last week to join a startup. He not only refutes it, but analyzes why the damage goes well beyond the obvious. If you haven’t seen it, it is well worth the few minutes it will take to read.

Ayori Selassie’s is shorter and I’ve reproduced it in full below.

The penis doesn’t write code, the brain does.

Women also have a brain therefore they write code too.

There, I fixed your #GoogleManifesto.

The one thing in the manifesto I do agree with is that freedom of speech should mean that anyone can speak their mind without fear of shaming or harassment.

However, the tactics he describes that are commonly used in liberal bastions on those espousing right and alt-right attitudes are exactly the same tactics used on progressives and liberals in conservative strongholds.

It boils down to the age-old us / them attitude.

Join me tomorrow for a look at the skills that will power your career now and in the future — and have nothing to do with STEM.

Image credit: Yahoo

Do you invite strangers into your home and let them to listen to your most personal conversations or view your most intimate moments?

Would you leave them alone with your kids to say what they pleased using unquotable language?

Would you stand by while they rummaged through your files copying what they pleased, leaving chaos behind and demanding payment so you could clean up the mess?

No?

Chances are you already do.

You invite them in with every connected device you buy.

Even vaunted Apple isn’t immune.

Security hasn’t been a high priority for companies around the globe, especially those running startups.

Consider the saga of a doll called Cayla from Genesis Toys; banned in Germany and under investigation in the US.

Cayla and a similar toy, i-Que, made by the same company are Internet-connected and talk and interact with children by recording their conversations.

CloudPets are stuffed animals made by Spiral Toys, which didn’t even bother to secure their database.

In addition to storing the customer databases in a publicly accessible location, Spiral Toys also used an Amazon-hosted service with no authorization required to store the recordings, customer profile pictures, children’s names, and their relationships to parents, relatives, and friends.

Samsung’s smart refrigerator was hacked yielding up G-mail logins, which, in turn, can yield up your whole on-line life.

Besides the fridge, the hackers also found 25 vulnerabilities in 14 allegedly smart devices, including scales, coffee makers, wireless cameras, locks, home automation hubs, and fingerprint readers.  

Pretty lame, considering that in January 2014 security was ranked as the top spending priority for CIOs and 75% said it would increase in 2015.

Makes you wonder what it was spent on.

European countries, such as Germany and Denmark, have strong privacy laws and simply ban these products, but I doubt our government will do more than hold hearings and wring their hands.

So it’s up to you.

Your major protection is very simple.

1. Don‘t buy connected devices unless you really can’t live without them.

For those you do buy don’t expect anything from the manufacturer.

2. Learn how to reset the passwords and choose strong ones.
3. Don’t use all-purpose logins, such as those from Facebook or Google — no matter how convenient they are.

It’s called “personal responsibility.”

If you’re not familiar with the idea ask your parents — or, more likely, your grandparents.

Image credit: cea +

It’s amazing to me, but looking back over nearly a decade of writing I find posts that still impress, with information that is as useful now as when it was written. Golden Oldies is a collection of what I consider some of the best posts during that time.

The effort to flatten management has been going on for awhile culminating in the idea of totally eliminating it and culminating in holacracy . I’m not impressed. Read other Golden Oldies here

How flat should an organization be?

How well do “self-starters” manage themselves?

Crucial questions for startups and small businesses, since how they are addressed can make or break the company.

Often the most important hires made when a company wants to grow are in sales.

Founders and owners often have technical, marketing or business backgrounds and many have a tendency to shrug when it comes to sales.

They see hiring salespeople as no big deal—there is an assumption that as long as they have a good track record in their previous sales position and understand the new product they can manage themselves.

If this sounds off base to you, you’re right, it’s not that simple. To use a real-life example, I had a client who thought that way.

The CEO hired “Jack” (before my time), a salesman with a fantastic record selling a parallel product to the same market.

The CEO personally taught Jack the product line and explained what the company was working to accomplish and then pretty much gave him free reign.

In the year Jack was with them he sold only two accounts, spent a good deal of his time on marketing and managed one large client; commissions totaled only $15K.

When he left he went to work in a field completely unrelated to anything he’d done before and in a market about which he knew nothing. In his first year at the new company he earned over 125K in commissions.

The difference was management.

Based on his track record both the CEO and Jack assumed that he could manage himself.

However, Jack didn’t have, and didn’t create for himself, the structure, accountability, etc., necessary to be successful.

During his exit interview he admitted that although he had no knowledge or training in marketing, he spent substantially more time than he should have because it was new and exciting.

After the CEO and I had fully analyzed what happened he concluded that the failure was 80-20, with the 80% his responsibility.

Hind sight is 20/20 and my client believes that if he had taken the time to do what was needed, instead of expecting Jack to completely manage himself, that he would still be with the company and doing a spectacular job.

The important lesson here is that “self-starter” does not mean “self-managed.” Even the best will need direction, structure, and accountability in order to perform brilliantly.

I’ve read multiple articles on holacracy, including Tony Hsieh actions at Zappos, but I believe that most people enjoy working for good managers and that they excel more and grow faster.

Of course, the operative word is “good”.

Image credit: iamwahid

Over the years, certain posts I’ve written I seem to require reposting, because the subject keeps coming up; not investing management time in your self-starters is one of them.

Self-starter Does Not Mean Self-managed

When your company is new just how flat can the organization be? How well do “self-starters” manage themselves? These are crucial questions for startups and small businesses since how they are addressed can make or damage your company.

One of the first important outside hires made when a company is ready to grow is in sales. Today, founders are often technical with a biz type who handles sales and marketing. Unfortunately, technical people often have a tendency to think that non-tech jobs are no big deal, especially in sales and marketing.

They believe that hiring salespeople is no big deal—that as long as they have a good track record in their previous sales position and understand the product they can manage themselves.

If this sounds off base to you, you’re right, it’s not that simple. To use a real-life example, I had a client who thought that way.

Previous to hiring me this CEO hired a salesman, we’ll call him ‘Jack’, with a fantastic sales record selling to the same market.

The CEO personally taught Jack the product line and explained what the company was working to accomplish and then pretty much gave him free reign.

In the year Jack was with them he sold only two accounts, spent a good deal of his time on marketing and managed one large client.

In that year Jack’s commissions totaled only $15K.

When he left he went to work in a field completely unrelated to anything he’d sold before and in a market about which he knew nothing. In his first year at the new company he earned over 125K in commissions.

What was the difference? Management.

Based on his track record both the CEO and Jack assumed that he could manage himself. However, Jack didn’t have, and didn’t create for himself, the structure, accountability, etc., necessary to be successful.

When Jack left he admitted that although he had no knowledge or training in marketing, he spent substantially more time than he should have on it — but he had no choice.

After the CEO and I had fully analyzed what happened he concluded that the failure was 80-20, with the 80% his responsibility.

Hind sight is 20/20, and my client believes that if he had taken the time to do what was needed instead of expecting Jack to completely manage himself, that he would still be with the company and doing a spectacular job.

So remember when you hire that “self-starter” does not mean self-managed. Even the best will need direction, structure, and accountability in order to perform brilliantly.

Beyond that, tomorrow I’ll be sharing information Friday on the biggest sales error made by many startups and small companies.

Join me tomorrow to learn about the other major sales error made by many startups and small companies.

Image credit: iamwahid

It’s the same whether in business or athletics.

Call it habit or tradition, when a new boss takes over she’s likely to bring in her own team.

This is especially true when the new boss is there to turn things around.

Common wisdom says the boss needs people who are loyal and know how she works.

But when Urban Meyer was brought in as head coach to turn Ohio State around he changed the standard game—and he’d started long before he got the offer.

Meyer figured he would eventually coach again, and he knew that his next head coaching job, his fourth, would be different. His staff would not be stocked with loyal assistants who understood the Meyer Way and its demands. (…) He wanted coaches with local ties, who understood the tradition at Ohio State. He also paid attention to the coaches’ wives. He had seen others “create conflict in our programs.”

Instead, he worked on a list and identified the people he wanted for his new team—relative unknowns as opposed to highly paid stars—and it worked.

To that end, he hurriedly assembled a group of relative strangers when he took over at Ohio State and then kept the group intact for a second season. Together, they have won 19 straight games, their next challenge coming Saturday against Penn State.

I hope you take time to read the story about this boss who brought in disparate people with disparate backgrounds, shared his vision and approach in detail, worked especially hard on strengthening the culture and avoiding previous mistakes.

Because, so far, all the stakeholders are winning.

Flickr image credit: Nina Matthews

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

If you are looking for the worst advice on which to build your company culture, be sure to add this piece of un-wisdom from Ashok Kushwaha (whoever that may be).

“I am responsible for what I say, not for what you understand.”

The first half of the sentence is true, you are responsible for what you say, as well as the way you say it.

It’s the second half that will royally screw you up and contribute to your company’s destruction.

It is your responsibility to be sure you are understood, whether it’s working with your team or explaining your vision and market to investors.

And it’s not just when you’re the boss.

The same holds true as a friend, volunteer, parent or the grown child to your parents.

In fact, the second part relegates the whole to one of the stupidest sentences I’ve heard/read in my lifetime.

However, it does fit the current attitude that eschews personal responsibility and believes that any word/action/behavior is justified/excused as long as there’s a reason.

That said, the possibility of success should be reason enough to make sure that whoever your audience is has a clear understanding of what you mean, since not understanding provides a clear path to failure.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Customer service is a major topic these days (more on the tomorrow); as is employee retention, but do they really have anything in common?

Absolutely.

Every manager, from team leader to CEO, is also a customer service manager, because your people are your customers.

That’s right, customers.

More accurately, that makes you an ESM—employee service manager.

Why do you service your people? To

• help them achieve their full potential;
• assure high productivity;
• lower turnover; and
• create an environment that’s a talent magnet.

How do you service your people? By

• cultivating the kind of MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) that truly values people and understands how important it is to manifest that;
• offering high-grade professional challenges to all your people and making sure that they have the resources and all the information necessary to achieve success;
• fostering fairness so that people know they are evaluated on their merits and favoritism plays no part; and
• always walking your talk and living up to your commitments.

What’s in it for you?

• Better reviews, promotions and raises;
• increased professional development;
• less turnover and easier staffing; and
• what goes around comes around—everything that you give your people will come back to you ten-fold!

Flickr image credit: Angela Archer

I managed over 12,000 people at Groupon, most under the age of 25. One thing that surprised me was that many would arrive at orientation with minimal understanding of basic business wisdom. “Haven’t you read any business books? Good to Great? Winning? The One Minute Manager?” I’d ask. “Business books? Not really our thing,” was the typical response. I came to realize that there was a real need to present business wisdom in a format that is more accessible to the younger generation. Andrew Mason

While “most under the age of 25. (…) arrive at orientation with minimal understanding of basic business wisdom”  surprised ousted Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, it probably doesn’t surprise most seasoned managers.

Managers have always assumed there was a general business learning curve when hiring new grads, but what has changed is how steep it’s become.

One exasperated manager described it as “remedial orientation”—from showing up on time every day looking presentable, being ready to work and paying attention during meetings to not wearing an iPod/checking Facebook/playing Angry Birds in front of customers—much of what used to come under the heading of ‘common courtesy’ and ‘basic living skills’.

Mason’s solution is recording a “seven-song album of motivational business music.”

Reading business books has never been high on the list of most 22-year-olds, so what has changed?

My own view is that most of the time the need for remedial orientation can be traced back to parents and how they chose to raise their kids.

Flickr image credit: Keith Laverack