Isolation is the best way to create a culture that doesn’t work, whether the isolation is directed or benign.

It can be group isolation or individual, but the result is the same—silos.

I discussed some of this a few years ago when I talked about smashing silos, but the need to remind people keeps popping up.

If you believe your culture is enough to prevent isolation because you have talked about it and said it was bad then I guarantee your reality check, assuming you do one, will bounce higher than a kite.

Talking isn’t enough; it’s akin to telling your cat/dog to stay off the sofa while you’re at work.

Beating isolation in all its evil forms requires constant and active vigilance.

Flickr image credit: Glen Bowman

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In 1739 the Scottish skeptic David Hume wrote “Treatise of Human Nature” in which he argued that the only difference between a virtue and a vice is the impression it makes, i.e., the subjective way it is perceived and internalized.

Subjective vision is the norm, possibly even more so now than in the past, which means you need to constantly be on the alert for how your words and actions are perceived by your team.

People are an amalgamation of their upbringing, education and, especially, their experiences, so no two are exactly the same.

As a result, each perceives what comes their way differently.

It is your responsibility to keep everyone not just on the same page, but on the same line.

Image credit: HikingArtist

After the 2010 debut of the film “The Social Network,” which made Mark Zuckerberg and his band of Facebook friends famous: the public became enthralled with technology geeks much as it was with movie stars.

Two years before The Social Network Jesse Draper, great granddaughter of California’s first venture capitalist, created and hosts the Silicon Valley Internet talk show “The Valley Girl Show” where entrepreneurs do stupid stuff in the name of “taking themselves less seriously.”

Considering the media focus on entrepreneurs can a reality show be far behind?

No, but don’t look for substance over form.

Among those is Randi Zuckerberg, Mark’s colorful sister who left Facebook last summer and recently signed on to be an executive producer of a Bravo reality show that will chronicle the hard-partying life of 20-something entrepreneurs.

Many in the Valley aren’t enamored with the idea and with good reason.

Watching anyone think and work on a computer is boring, but creative editing should effectively eliminate the thought, work and effort leaving only the stuff that will cause viewers to shake their heads and adequately feed the media hype machine.

It’s also every inaccurate, since most successful entrepreneurs are not twenty-somethings.

Vivek Wadhwa’s, a Duke University researcher who worked with the Kauffman Foundation, survey of over 500 startups operating in “high-growth industries” showed that the average founder of a successful company launched his or her venture at the surprisingly high age of 40. The study also found that people over 55 are almost twice as likely to launch high-growth startups than those aged 20 to 34.

And gray entrepreneurs outpacing green ones isn’t an isolated trend that’s only occurred in the past few years. “In every single year from 1996 to 2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34,” says Dane Stangler, a research manager at Kauffman.

Of course, young, good looking, single, articulate folks in their twenties who can talk a great story about their world-changing app over drinks at a cool bar are better TV material than those who labor and then go home to spouse, family and mortgage.

My guess is the show will offer about as much reality as does the Real Housewives franchise.

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Did you know that there is no “real” reality?

That’s because the reality we each live in is perceived through our own MAP and that perception is reality.

We filter our mental, emotional and physical surroundings through our MAP and, like snowflakes, no two people have identical MAP, so no two people perceive identically.

I can’t live in your mind any more than you can live in mine, so no matter how close our worldviews seem, they will never be identical.

Does perception influence corporate culture? Absolutely.

Look at Google, since it’s one of the most discussed corporate cultures it’s easy to compare perceptions. Outsiders usually mention the stock options, food, concierge services and in-house massages first, while insiders hottest buttons are the 20% time to work on their own ideas, how well they are heard, opportunity to make a difference, and respect shown at all levels.

Consider the manager, whether CEO or team leader, who describes his organization’s culture as flexible, open, fair and motivated, while the workers see it as inflexible and regimented.

Aside from bosses who don’t walk their talk, the difference is often perception, i.e., what is a tight ship to the manager is micromanaging to the staff.

Although culture is a product of MAP, everyone needs to be on the same page. That requires the culture-setters/enablers to listen to the perceptions of all those in their organization—especially when what they hear is uncomfortable.

Once heard, they need to act; they need to do what it takes so their people’s cultural perception is the same as their cultural vision.

Flickr image credit: Foxtongue

Are kids learning anything from the economic meltdown?

Parents seem to be doing everything possible to avoid exposing their little darlings to a dose of reality.

Quotes in a December post highlighted parental efforts to fill Christmas wish lists and shelter their kids from the tanking economy.

A letter to Malcolm Berko asking for financial advice is another example of the lengths to which parents are willing to go, here is the key part.

“…Our son will graduate high school this May and we don’t have the savings to send him to the University of Florida, his chosen school where his two best buddies attend. Our combined 401(k) savings plans are worth $67,000 and they too took a big hit in the market. So we are thinking either of taking a mortgage on our home (we built it without borrowing money), cosigning a note at the credit union or cashing in our 401(k) plans for his college money. Or I could take a part-time consulting job…”

Berko doesn’t suffer fools gladly and has no compunction about saying what he thinks (I highly recommend his column). I’ve shortened his response, but it’s worth reading the whole thing.

“I’d be more concerned about adding money to your retirement savings plan than helping your son pay for frat parties, beer, sex and drugs at the University of Florida…I suspect he really wants to party with his buddies, and UF is a great party school.

Here’s my advice: Tell your son to join the armed services where he’ll mature in a hurry…Or your kid can live at home, attend a community college…and take a part-time job at McDonald’s. If he does well in community college, he can easily find the financial support to earn a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.”

One reason the Great Depression made a great impression was that kids weren’t sheltered from its effects. And although this isn’t a depression the principle is the same.

Saddest of all, preventing kids from experiencing and dealing with reality now cripples them in the future. They have a

• harder time in college;
• more difficulties when they start working and
• more problems in relationships and marriage.

Succeeding in life requires knowing what to do and how to deal with things when they don’t go your way and are outside of your control.

But as long as parents keep shielding kids from the ups and downs of reality and are available to intervene and make [whatever] better then there’s no reason for kids to learn how to do it themselves, which will be a big disadvantage for them in the future.

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