tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75755682024-03-07T04:53:31.403-05:00DiligentiaLinks (and commentary) to the best management theories and practices to help you manage your career, you project, your team, your boss or your company dispatched from the front lines of the cubicle wars.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-43657581020067351582007-11-10T22:29:00.001-05:002007-11-10T22:30:52.725-05:00!!!! We're Moving!!!!!<span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-size:180%;" >I am going to stop posting here.<br /><br />I am moving the blog to <a href="http://mikelally.typepad.com/">mikelally.typepad.com</a><br /><br />Go there.<br /><br />Now.<br /><br />I will tell you why.</span>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-33767015564516211652007-10-16T11:12:00.000-04:002007-10-16T11:26:11.584-04:00In the Beginning...There Was Tom PetersLots of things going on. I just accepted a new position with another company. Big changes. Before I get into that (in another post), I want to revisit <a href="http://tompeters.com/">Tom Peters</a> and his book, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brand-You-Transform-Distinction-Commitment/dp/0375407723/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-8327581-7508766?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192547688&sr=8-1">The Brand You 50</a></em>. This is where it all began. Taking control of your life and your career. Breaking free of the shackles of being a drone and letting your career happen TO you.<br /><br />Published in 1999, 8 years ago!, this has been one of Tom's raging mantras.<br /><br /><strong>The New Job Security</strong>:<br /><br />- Craft (your marketable skill)<br /><br />- Distinction (memorable achievements)<br /><br />- Networking Skills (word of mouth collegial support)<br /><br /><strong>Brand You's Lead!</strong><br /><br /><em><strong>They take charge of their own lives.</strong></em> They know that they are:<br /><br />- Skills dependent<br /><br />- Distinction dependent<br /><br />- Network/Rolodex dependent (Linkedin/Facebook dependent!)<br /><br />- Project (WOW! Projects) dependent<br /><br />- Growth dependent<br /><br />- Leaders!<br /><br />As I have mentioned in other posts, I think I am <em>just</em> starting to really get this - "grok" it. I've taken a new job. It will help me further develop my skills. It will engage me in a different industry. It will engage me in a different part of a client's business (organizational development). There is plenty of opportunity for achievement (launching a new practice inside an established firm). I will expand my network. I will grow. I will continue to lead. I have taken charge.<br /><br />I've done a lot of these things in the past. I've lead. I have grown my tool set. I have built a great network. But this move is a big move for me. I have taken the wheel. I am not letting my career happen to me - I am making my career happen.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-51726646351593144282007-09-26T11:29:00.000-04:002007-09-26T12:24:34.545-04:00More on Facebook and LinkedInFollowing on yesterday's post about setting up a profile on LinkedIn...I opened the latest issue of Money magazine this morning and saw an article by Dan Kadlec.<br /><br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/pf/boomer_facebook_october.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007092411">You Ought To Be In Facebook</a> covers the same points that Neil Patel made. He comes at it from the perspective of the baby boomer generation - stating that networking gets more critical as you age. <br /><br />I don't necessarily agree with that. Networking is important at any age - both professional and personal networks. The care and feeding of your network intensifies the longer you wait. But, Money is geared towards Boomers and they have to play to their audience.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-45930419010875165112007-09-25T09:11:00.000-04:002007-09-25T09:27:06.410-04:00Facebook the New LinkedIn?Oy. Now I need a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/home.php?">Facebook</a> profile? According to <a href="http://www.quicksprout.com/about/">Neil Patel</a>, yes. I caught the <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/networking/use-facebook-as-a-marketing-tool-302638.php">Use Facebook as a Marketing Tool</a> link from <a href="http://lifehacker.com/">Lifehacker</a>. This took me to Patel's <a href="http://www.quicksprout.com/">Quick Sprout</a> blog and the full post: <a href="http://www.quicksprout.com/2007/09/19/build-a-facebook-profile-you-can-be-proud-of/">Build a Facebook Profile You Can Be Proud Of.</a><br /><br />Facebook has opened itself up to the masses. Now anyone can have a Facebook page. Previously, you could only get in if you had a college email address. (Which doesn't make sense but I read it on the webbernet so it must be true.) The principal is essentially the same as building out your LinkedIn profile.<br /><br />The name of the game, ultimately, is personal branding. The number 1 marketing method for building your brand in your Google page rank. If Facebook is uber-popular and will help move me ahead of Mike Lally, the actor, I am all for it. Patel gives some helpful hints: Build your profile...the more complete the profile, the more chances you have getting connected to others with similar interests/backgrounds. <br /><br />Next, you need to interact. Just like LinkedIn. You have to work it! Search for people you know. Find the connections. Grow your network organically. I AM against just random linkages. GENUINELY get to know people BEFORE you add them. <br /><br />Lastly, and again, just like LinkedIn and your resume, keep your profile up to date. Know your accomplishments and PUBLISH THEM FOR ALL THE WORLD TO SEE!<br /><br />So....here it is...<a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=667798896">my Facebook page</a>.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-67019454688973747292007-09-22T11:35:00.001-04:002007-09-22T12:04:56.417-04:0048 Days to the Work You LoveMore on personal branding. I mentioned in my last post that I was deconstructing myself. I pick up this book to help.<br /><br />There is a quote from Tom Peters somewhere that if he gets one idea out of a $20 book, the ROI is incredible.<br /><br />This is one of those books. This book is H-E-A-V-Y on the religious overtones. I don't judge and those parts are easy to skip over.<br /><br />This book looks at goal-setting and life balancing. It asks you to look inward and "know thyself". It provides some decent tips along the way.<br /><br />The author, Dan Miller, lays out 7 Areas For Achievement in your life. They are:<br /><br /><ol><li>Financial</li><li>Physical</li><li>Personal Development</li><li>Family</li><li>Spiritual</li><li>Social</li><li>Career</li></ol>For more on this I really suggest you look at <a href="http://www.soarwitheagles.com/">Rick Houcek</a>. I met him a few years ago. He talks about the same thing...balance and goal-setting. He's an intense guy.<br /><br />Digression - in the Social section, Miller provides a list of 6 Ways to make people like you - that he lifts from Dale Carnegie. (I don't know about "making" people like you, but these couldn't hurt):<br /><br /><blockquote><ol><li>Become genuinely interested in other people.</li><li>Smile.</li><li>Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.</li><li>Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.</li><li>Talk in terms of the other person's interests.</li><li>Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.<br /></li></ol></blockquote>Then he gets into understanding your personal brand. In order to understand your brand you need to understand three areas: your personality traits, your values, dreams, and passions, and skills and abilities. You need to take a very hard and detailed personal inventory to understand you values/dreams/passions and your skills/abilities. There are plenty of personality tests out there (more on those in a later post).<br /><br />Miller takes a pretty common point about your plain-old-looks-like-everyone-else's resume and tweaks it in a way that bears repeating:<br /><blockquote>Your resume is your sales tool for where you want to go. Don't let it be just a snapshot of where you have been.</blockquote>Where you want to GO. I like that.<br /><br />He continues...<br /><blockquote>If you want to redirect your career path, you can begin the process with a well-designed resume. Remember, if your resume is just a chronological history of what you've done, it will pigeonhole you into continuing to do what you've always done. You can redirect in major ways by identifying 'area of competence' that would have applications in new companies, industries, and professions.</blockquote>Along with goal-setting and branding, Miller provides interviewing tips. I liked his section on the always tough "Tell me a little about yourself" question. I think I am a pretty good interviewee. I hate this question. Miller helps and it really goes hand in hand with your branding. If you really lock in on your brand, this question will answer itself. He advises:<br /><blockquote>Remember, your answer to any question should be no more than 2 minutes in length. On this particular one, you might spend 15 seconds on your personal background, 1 minute on your career highlights, a few seconds on your strongest professional achievements, and then conclude by explaining why you are looking for a new opportunity.</blockquote>I recommend video-taping yourself. It is BRUTAL. But it is effective. Get yourself a timer. Script out your answer, record it, time it. Edit it as needed. Pay attention to your body language as you speak. I don't know about the 2 minute rule either.<br /><br />You need your elevator-speech (we really need a new term for that) and this will come as you come to understand your brand. Take the 2 minute version and chop it to 1 minute. Then to 30 seconds. It is OK to have multiple versions - long, medium, short.<br /><br />Maybe I was unfair in the beginning of this post. There is a good amount of value in this book. I was really turned off by all the "Bibleing". Miller tosses around Scripture like - I don't know, I can't think of a good metaphor. But all in all, this is a good starting point for someone looking to know themselves better.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-60981599287868154922007-09-20T18:19:00.000-04:002007-09-20T19:01:44.793-04:00More on Branding YourselfIt has been ten years since Tom Peters first interjected the concept of personal branding into the workplace lexicon. Very few people get it. I think I am just beginning to get it. I keep learning. I evolve. Someday I too will be a beautiful and unique snowflake.<br /><br />Today has been a day of convergence around Personal Branding. I read a great article from Joe Calloway at <a href="http://refresher.com/ceo.html">The CEO Refresher </a>called <a href="http://refresher.com/ajocbrand.html">Your Brand is Everything</a>. Calloway does a good job of cutting through the marketing-speak and laying out what a brand really IS:<br /><blockquote>Your brand is owned by your customers, the people you work with, and anyone else who has an impression of you. Your brand is other people's perception of what it is like to do business with you, work with you, or be with you.</blockquote>Take a minute and let that sink in.<br /><br />You create your brand with every breath, every action, every decision and how all of those elements drive your customer's experience. Calloway advises that the way to build a strong brand is simple: <span style="font-style: italic;">keep your promises and create great experiences for others.</span><br /><br />Then, the mind-blower: you don't have just one brand. You have MULTIPLE brands. "You literally have as many brands as you have customers and people who have an impression of you." Holy cow. How many people did you talk to today? How many did you email? IM? All of them walked away with a perception of YOU - your BRAND.<br /><br />The customer gets to decide your brand. He then goes on to talk about customer experiences. One I particularly LOVE:<br /><blockquote>Everyone at the dry cleaners knows my name. I spend about thirty dollars a week with them. My company spends tens of thousands of dollars every year with you and yet I feel like you have no idea who I am.</blockquote>I LOVE THAT STATEMENT. And it is TRUE.<br /><br />Tomorrow I will drop off my own dry cleaning and be greeted by a "Good morning, Mr. Lally!" And it is genuine. I've been going there for years. It is not because they HAVE to do it. It is a part of them. As soon as I get to the office, I have a meeting with a technology vendor who is coming to talk about a migration plan to a new platform. I've been chasing them all week on a problem we are having with the existing platform. The sales person doesn't know that I am going to be managing the relationship going forward. And I am not a happy camper.<br /><br />Flip over to Penelope Trunk's <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Brazen Careerist</a> blog. She has a great post today on <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/print/expert/article/careerist/45655">Three Steps to Building Your Brand</a>. I've really enjoyed this blog. The link is to the full Yahoo Finance article. She points to a definition by Dan Schwabel (who has actually commented on Diligentia!) in his <a href="http://personalbrandingwiki.pbwiki.com/FrontPage">Personal Branding Wiki.</a><br /><br />The wiki definition of a personal brand is labeled a PROCESS of <span style="font-style: italic;">"identifying and articulating their unique value proposition...and leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal."</span><br /><br />But where to begin? Penelope and Dan provide some tips. Dan says to begin with an "inventory of personal core competencies, natural constituencies, expertise and demonstrated abilities." Good but I am just a simple farmer. That is a bit too wordy for me. I like Penelope's version better:<br /><ol><li>Know what you are good at.</li><li>Know what people think of you.</li><li>Meet the right people.</li></ol><blockquote>One of the big tricks to career success is to find out what you do better than almost everyone else, and then let people know that's what you do.</blockquote>Knowing what people think of you is a tough one. Getting honest feedback is not easy. She points to a great article from The Prometheus Institute on <a href="http://www.prometheusinstitute.net/opinion/jh92006.htm">Five Tips to Increase Your Likeability</a>. I would also point you to Marshall Goldsmith's book - <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Got-Here-Wont-There/dp/1401301304/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-1783464-2286338?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187525785&sr=8-1">What Got You Here Won't Get You There.</a><br /><br />How to be likeable:<br /><ol><li>Be positive. As my mother-in-law says: "Quit your crab-applin'." She's right. Attitude is everything.</li><li>Control your insecurities. Breathe. Accept who you are and if you don't like it, change it. Or sit down and be quiet.</li><li>Provide Value. Get in the game. Get some social skills. You may be brilliant but if you can't stand to be around other humans, no one is going to care. Learn how to fake it if you must.<br /></li><li>Eliminate all judgements. This means "treating everyone with the respect you would give to a 120-year-old man and the understanding you would give toward your sever-year-old cousin."</li><li>Become a person of conviction. As the song says....respect yourself.<br /></li></ol>Be a hammer. "Specialists have the best careers."<br /><br />As I mentioned, I have been working on this. I have been going through a process of deconstructing myself. Stripping ME down and putting myself back together again starting at the core.<br /><br />I will start posting about my efforts to develop the Brand Me.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-66318969278131359062007-08-30T10:02:00.000-04:002007-08-30T10:05:42.964-04:00My Go Bag<a href="http://lifehacker.com/">Lifehacker</a>, my favorite website has been running a series called Show Us Your Go Bag.<br /><br />Last weekend, I emptied out the contents of mine, took a picture and submitted. Click here to see my bag! (And a description of its contents).Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-47298528873366598792007-08-27T12:56:00.000-04:002007-08-27T13:23:21.403-04:00Rethinking the Off-Shore ModelI was talking with a colleague the other day. We got into a discussion on outsourcing. We did not get into a heavy debate on the socio-economic-political ramifications. The discussion centered on cost to the outsourcer and the outsourcee.<br /><br />The discussion turned to India. "How can you compete?" my colleague asked. I think it is getting easier to compete. This article from <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4218">http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4218</a>(you have to register) talks to the changing economic situations in India.<br /><br />The rupee is beginning to appreciate against the dollar. The author thinks the rupee can reach 15 to the dollar in the next 20 years. For the life of me I can't find where the rupee is trading today. Trust me, it is a lot more than 15:1.<br /><br />If your business model has you competing on cost - suddenly you are finding that the cost difference is not such a slam-dunk as it has been for the last 5-7 years. As costs rise because of the stronger rupee, you become less profitable. Your competitive advantage erodes.<br /><br />The author points India to the Japanese of the 1980's when the yen strengthened against the dollar:<br /><br /><blockquote>For product lines where they made the highest margins, such as the Lexus, they continued production in Japan. However, for lower-priced models -- where their profit margins were lower and would have been eroded further by the rising yen<br />-- they moved production to the U.S. They protected their margins on non-premium products by moving production -- and therefore shifting costs -- into dollar-denominated areas.</blockquote>Indian outsourcers will be forced to raise their prices to meet their costs. They will also have to look for other areas of competitive advantage. They will have to "change the mix of activities carried out in India versus other countries."<br /><br />The author also feels that the Indian companies will further evolve and become <em>global</em> companies that are just based in India.<br /><br />You have to compete on value.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-52303992796386044152007-08-27T12:48:00.000-04:002007-08-27T13:24:02.040-04:00MBA In a PageRead <a href="http://blog.guykawasaki.com/">Guy Kawasaki's blog </a>today and read this post.<br /><br />I thought I had linked to the Management Methods Management Models Management Theories page from <a href="http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/">valuebasedmanagement.net </a>in my link bar. Apparently, I have not. I have corrected.<br /><br />I do LOVE the quote from Kawasaki in regard to this site:<br /><br /><blockquote>You can use the page as a test: Anyone who knows all these theories is someone you shouldn’t hire.</blockquote>Love it! You should probably set a percentage though. Although I am SURE there are people out there that could rattle off every single item on this page. Freaks. We should set the bar at +/- 25% - 30%?<br /><br />It IS a handy reference tool.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-20344281247919859502007-08-18T08:33:00.000-04:002007-08-19T08:15:36.031-04:00Good Manners is Good ManagementI came across this book while reading a <span style="font-style: italic;">Knowledge @ Wharton</span> <a href="http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1771&CFID=32819700&amp;amp;CFTOKEN=93922838&jsessionid=9a3075b215d27672b2a1#">article/review</a>. I highly recommend reading the article. If you are like me, it will make you run out and buy the book.<br /><br />The author of the book, Marshall Goldsmith, is a veteran executive coach. He is ranked highly by <span style="font-style: italic;">Forbes</span> and the <span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span> for his work as a coach. His book is a best seller on multiple charts.<br /><br />This book is elegant in its simplicity. There is no cheese moving here. The K@W review makes a comparison to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Who Moved My Cheese</span> phenomenon. (I remember walking into a staffing agency one day. They were trying to land me as a client. They had a whole area devoted to that book. Banners, inflatable cheese. Sigh.)<br /><br />As the article says:<br /><blockquote>...at a certain professional level, neither intelligence nor skill accounts for the fact that some people continue to advance while others plateau. What differentiates the one from the other...has nothing to do with one's abilities, experience and training - and everything to do with behavior.</blockquote>The focus is on emotional intelligence. It might even be more basic than that. It is about basic etiquette. Miss Manners for corporate executives. Goldsmith lists 20 habits that hold us back from the top. He then dives into methods and techniques for going about how to improve. Goldsmith calls the 20 - "transactional flaws". They are:<br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Winning too much:</span> The need to win at all costs and in all situations - when it matters, when it doesn't, and when it's totally beside the point.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. Adding too much value:</span> The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Passing judgement:</span> The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Making destructive comments:</span> The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. Starting with "No," "But," or "However":</span> The overuse of these negative qualifiers which secretly say to everyone, "I'm right. You're wrong."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. Telling the world how smart we are:</span> The need to show people we're smarter than they think we are.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">7. Speaking when angry:</span> Using emotional volatility as a management tool.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">8. Negativity, or "Let me explain why that won't work":</span> The need to share our negative thoughts even when we weren't asked.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">9. Withholding information:</span> The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">10. Failing to give proper recognition:</span> The inability to praise and reward.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">11. Claiming credit that we don't deserve:</span> The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">12. Making excuses:</span> The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">13. Clinging to the past:</span> The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">14. Playing favorites: </span>Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">15. Refusing to express regret:</span> The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we're wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">16. Not listening:</span> The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for our colleagues.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">17. Failing to express gratitude:</span> The most basic form of bad manners.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">18. Punishing the messenger:</span> The misguided need to attack the innocent who are usually only trying to help us.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">19. Passing the buck:</span> The need to blame everyone but ourselves.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">20. An excessive need to be "me":</span> Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they're who we are.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bonus 21: Goal Obsession:</span> The force at play when we get so wrapped up in achieving our goal that we do it at the expense of a larger mission.</blockquote>I just went through leadership training at work. This book would have been an excellent take away. The training really focused on the practice of "mindfulness". Being aware of yourself and your environment. Not getting caught up. The book has helped me in a couple of ways - and I expect it to continue to be valuable to me throughout my career.<br /><br />First, it is helping me be more mindful of how I act and present myself to my teams. Second, it is helping me continue to define what I am looking for out of my "path". Lastly, I find Goldsmith completely compelling. I WANT to change. I WANT to improve myself. I WANT to do better.<br /><br />I will close with a quote from the K@W article:<br /><br /><blockquote>The beauty of Goldsmith's approach lies not just in the simplicity of his insights, but also in the clarity of his advice. Because it is our behavior that holds us back, he argues, we can change our future by changing how we act. The key to a better future comes from learning to listen to what others have to tell us about our behavior.</blockquote>You DID learn everything you need to know in kindergarten. So true. So true.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-84315198902845749012007-07-25T18:36:00.000-04:002007-07-25T18:52:16.369-04:00More on Being a HammerFrom Penelope Trunk's <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Brazen Careerist</a> comes another post on being better at self-promotion. She also dives into why it is important to be an expert in whatever it is that you do. Differentiate yourself. Own a niche.<br /><br />Back in November, she had a great post about <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/11/29/take-the-risk-and-specialize-in-order-to-stand-out/">taking the risk of specializing</a>. She talked about being a typecast Hollywood actor. Are you the guy in the PG movie that everyone is rooting for to get the girl? Or are you the guy in the rated R movie that no one is quite sure about yet? (Sorry, reminded me of one of my favorite movies.)<br /><br />I've been debating this subject with myself since October 2005. My friend Harry Joiner from <a href="http://www.marketingheadhunter.com/">Marketing Headhunter</a> gave me the save advice. <a href="http://diligentia.blogspot.com/2005/10/be-hammer.html">Be a hammer.</a> Specialize. I've been slow to adopt. For the longest time I have held on to the idea that I LIKE being a jack of all trades. I LIKE being good (just "good") at a variety of things.<br /><br />I am starting to see where being the utility infielder is not such a good thing. It is hard to find a roster spot for the utility player. Especially towards the end of the season. If you are going into the playoffs, you will know what your weaknesses are and will trade to bolster them.<br /><br />I'm in this jack of all trades role now. I don't have a job description. The position on the piece of paper they handed me during the interview process quickly dissolved as the goals of the business rapidly changed. The business had new needs. My manager had different goals and needs. I could fill those. Start up a new call center? You bet. Been there. Done it. I'm your man. Then the business needs shifted again. Need someone that can teach themselves how to run a next-generation switch from Aspect? I'm in. Send me to a training class for a week, give me the manuals and let me at it. Then...manage a telemarketing vendor? Hey! I WAS a telemarketing vendor.<br /><br />Now...like I said, I am beginning to understand Harry and Penelope. Be a hammer. Specialize. Make sure people know the ONE THING you are good at - too many options CONFUSE people. They get to a place where they don't know exactly how to fit you - the round peg - into their square box. I'm learning.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-83236633866701512542007-07-14T17:01:00.000-04:002007-07-14T17:07:46.662-04:00I Finally Write a Review for Meg's Book - "Confessions of an Introvert"First off, I have to apologize to Meg. I had promised her MONTHS ago that I would write a review for her book: <b style="font-style: italic;" class="sans">Confessions of an Introvert: The Shy Girl's Guide to Career, Networking and Getting the Most Out of Life. </b><span class="sans">The funny thing is that I don't know why I didn't write the review. I took NOTES! I had several index cards full of thoughts and referencing quotes.<br /><br />She asked me last week (oh the shame!) if I could post something to Amazon. I had one of those moments where I just KNEW I had already done it. I looked through the posts here and found a couple of references to Meg and her book. But no actual review.<br /><br />So click the link above and check it out.<br /></span>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-87477811582531601482007-07-06T13:12:00.000-04:002007-07-08T06:03:46.841-04:00Eight Tips for Perpetual Career ManagementAnother post from TheLadders.com. This also come via e-newsletter. The link doesn't capture the piece from the newsletter. Follow the link above and it will take you to the authors' website. In the meantime, they offer some solid advice on managing your personal brand (Thanks Mr. Peters!) Brand management is a full-time gig. It is not something you do when you need to start looking for a new job.<br /><br />1. Document your accomplishments. You should be doing this ALL OF THE TIME. I tell my direct reports that they need to do this because I am NOT going to remember all of it. And while I do a pretty good job of noting when the kick butt on something, I am human. I don't catch everything. If you want a raise or a new job, show me this document. And use the C-A-R approach. (See my last post.)<br /><br />2. Google yourself. Figure out what you need to do to boost your profile. It's not easy. (Yes, yes. I should be posting more. I know. But I am also competing with an actor/poet with the same name.)<br /><br />3. When you are updating your accomplishment document, update your resume and your linkedin profile.<br /><br />4. (I skipped one) - Work the social networking sites. You need to be on linkedin. If you're not. You're doomed. Unless you are amazingly connected. Talk to people. Don't reach out after you just got booted out the door. Figure out ways to help people in your network. We all need good karma.<br /><br />5. Join professional associations. Take on leadership roles. See number 4 above.<br /><br />6. Always be refining. See steps 1 through 5 above.<br /><br />I know the article listed 8 tips. I pulled the best 6.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-6607876508737966762007-07-06T13:03:00.001-04:002007-07-07T08:00:52.704-04:00Show Me Your C-A-R!I subscribe to the e-newsletter from The Ladders.com This week they had two stories which i have passed on to friends and thought I should share.<br /><a href="http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Resume/Do+You+Have+a+Good+CAR%3F"><br />Do You Have a Good CAR?</a> by Abby Locke provides useful advice on how to present your accomplishments on your resume or LinkedIn profile. She recommends using the C-A-R format. Challenge. Action Steps. Result. Don't just list the result. In order for a hiring manager to take notice you have to help them.<br /><br />You have to provide context. Growing revenue 15% last year doesn't mean anything. What if the year before revenue was up 60%. That would mean you are a slacker. Go with something like:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Generated 3% revenue increase on a stalled $15mm lead generation program in 2006. Trending to a 19% increase in 2007. Defined processes, improved marketing collateral, and implemented technology improvements to the lead management system.</span><br /><br />I am sure the author would have me tighten that up a bit, but it accomplishes what she recommends. It provides context. The lead gen program was stalled in 2005. I achieved a modest bump in 2006 and have really turned on the gas in 2007. (Cross your fingers that the trend holds - which it should.)Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-24223618277540908552007-07-05T14:43:00.000-04:002007-07-06T13:01:02.887-04:00Focus on the Customer<div>I know it has been a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted. I will try to do better. I lost focus. I am trying to correct that. </div><br /><div> </div><br /><div><a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=2021&l2=13&l3=13&srid=17&gp=0">"Focusing on the Customer..."</a> is the latest interview from the <a href="http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/home.aspx"><em>McKinsey Quarterly</em></a>. You need to register to view the article. The piece focuses on Merrill Lynch (where I landed my first job that didn't involve delivering newspapers or replenishing gallon jugs of milk) and their efforts to drive quality of service by combining IT and customer operations.</div><br /><div> </div>I like this approach. I like it a lot. I am not a technology zealot. I do not think that technology is the answer to all problems. If anything, I am on the opposite side of that fence. I am not a Luddite, don't get me wrong. But technology can do more harm than good. Especially when the stakeholders put all of their bets on it.<br /><br /><div>Merrill has combined these two business units under one leader, Diane Schueneman. She seems to have her eyes on the prize...she understands that the customer does not care about whatever product the suits put together. The customer cares about quality of service and the overall customer experience.<br /><br /><blockquote>So the whole reason to combine technology and operations rests on the customer's needs. And to deliver against those needs requires the best operational processes and the best technology. But you can't start with one and graft on the other.</blockquote>I've seen this happen many times in my career. The technology investment was so overwhelmingly great at one point that fear of change sets in - no one has the courage to stand up and admit that the best course of action is to stop what we're doing and start over. Instead, we patch. We duct tape. We MacGuyver. We make it work. But is that the best thing for the customer?<br /><br />Schueneman goes on to identify what her team found:<br /><br /><blockquote>...if you really want to satisfy customers, let's make sure that human beings aren't touching processes and slowing them down.</blockquote>I love it. Technology should help. Not be a hindrance. Ponder that for a minute. Maybe a couple of minutes.<br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-67662377144400185412007-01-09T18:41:00.000-05:002007-01-09T21:37:19.734-05:00Review of 3-D Negotiation PublishedI just had my third book review published in <a href="http://refresher.com/ceo.html">The CEO Refresher</a>! I was hoping to be on a more prolific pace. Hopefully in 2007, I will increase my once-per-year pace. I reviewed <a href="http://www.amazon.com/3-d-Negotiation-Powerful-Change-Important/dp/1591397995/sr=8-1/qid=1168396273/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1259056-4666533?ie=UTF8&s=books">3-D Negotiation</a> by David Lax and James Sebenius.<br /><br />Loved the book. I referred to it as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Art of War</span> for negotiation. I love <span style="font-style: italic;">The Art of War</span>. It is a book that I go back to periodically. I thumb through it. I open to a random page and read. I expect I will be doing the same with <span style="font-style: italic;">3-D Negotiation</span>.<br /><br />I have had the opportunity to use some of the approaches detailed in the book. I can attest that they work. It is a "game-changing" approach to negotiation. It takes everything you know about negotiation theory and turns it on its ear. I <span style="font-style: italic;">highly</span> recommend this book if you are involved in buying, selling, trading or bartering anything.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1164385060146159792006-11-24T10:04:00.000-05:002006-11-24T11:31:53.390-05:00Tips for Sales Managers from Marketing HeadhunterI'm catching up on my reading during this Holiday week here in the States. Harry talks about understanding the difference between revenue and profit. He provides some very specific tips on how to boost your bottom line profit numbers.<br /><blockquote>If you are a sales manager who is looking for new career opportunities, please take a look at your accomplishments in light of these suggestions. <ul><li>To what extent have you improved your employer's profitability by helping it get its arms around its costs?</li><li>Have you developed and implemented any systems to track revenues, costs per sale, and net profits?</li><li>Have you partnered with your customers to lean-up the value chain?</li></ul></blockquote>When I joined my current employer, I took over a $16mm piece of business. We tracked revenue. That was it. Since taking over, and fighting though and around a development group that has bigger priorities we have laid in some new and knowledge-generating reporting. We look at conversion rate now. The first thing we learned is that there is a lot of "spray and pray". Lots of random, unqualified leads. We begun an immediate continuous improvement effort on that.<br /><br />Secondly, we now look at the aging of the leads. Guess what...if a lead is open past 90 days, it ain't gonna close. Ever. More effeciencies gained there. No more effort wasted in trying to contact people. And then we tie it back to conversion rate.<br /><br />Next up for us is churn. My revenue number gets adjusted month to month. But it is difficult to get at a good churn number. These measures (and a few others that we have implemented helped to "lean up the value chain". After that: cost per lead and cost per sale. We are building a nice name for ourselves. This group was once the convenient whipping-boy between marketing and the field. No longer. We are advocates for both groups.<br /><br />After a half-year of operations center closings and announcements for more, we are at break-even from 2005. I'll take it. Since the second quarter, we were struggling. We turned it around by managing it.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1164137768207651942006-11-21T14:33:00.000-05:002006-11-21T14:36:08.226-05:00What Great Managers Do<p class="MsoNormal">I am just getting around to writing about an article from the March 2005 issue of the Harvard Business Review by Marcus Buckingham. It is adapted from his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-Thing-You-Need-Know/dp/0743261658/sr=8-1/qid=1164137186/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1259056-4666533?ie=UTF8&s=books">The One Thing You Need to Know</a> which is on my reading list. This article hits on a number of areas that I have been involved with over the last few months.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been reflecting on managing people lately. I’ve been involved in a startup call center in Flordia. We are also deploying a new phone switch which allows us to make outbound “telemarketing” calls. I’ve been “managing” that whole process. It is similar to herding cats. I’ve spent time working, hands-on with the agents, trying to teach them how to “sell”. I’ve been working with the supervisors, trying to show them what they should be looking for and how to correct it once they find it. I’ve been working with upper management, trying to educate them on outbound dialing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Great managers find that thing that makes each person a unique and beautiful snowflake…and then exploits it. (In the nicest sense of the word.) This is the opposite of what leaders do: they find the common thread between everyone/thing…and exploit it. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Managers capitalize on each person’s uniqueness. This is critical to success for three reasons. </p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="">It saves time. Divvying up tasks to those that have special talents is much better than everyone breaking rocks. Someone needs to haul them away. Someone WANTS to haul them away versus breaking the rocks. Find that person.</li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">Once you show yourself to be the best rock-breaker, you have a reputation to uphold. Production lifts. There is no going back. We did this with the startup. The team of a dozen people was averaging 5 sales per night. I spent a week with them, on the floor, in their faces (nicely). When I left, they were averaging 35-40 sales per night. Collectively, as they were devouring the pizza I bought them on my last night, they realized what they had done: they had set the bar for themselves. </li><li class="MsoNormal" style="">It builds a sense of team. The rock-breaker and the rock-hauler <i style="">have</i> to work together or the breaker (who loves breaking rocks) will end up having to haul her own rocks (which she hates).</li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal">Buckingham provides a few tips for identifying strengths in your team members. He advises two simple questions: first, what was the best day you’ve had in the last 3 months? Second, what was the worst? Get at the root cause of both. Understand the driving factors behind each of the answers.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Buckingham quotes Albert Bandura (“the father of social learning theory”) on some insights into motivation indicators:</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><blockquote>…self-assurance (labeled “self-efficacy” by cognitive psychologists), not self awareness, is the strongest predictor of a person’s ability to set high goals, to persist in the face of obstacles, to bounce back when reversals occur, and, ultimately, to achieve the goals they set. By contrast, self-awareness has not been shown to be a predictor of any of these outcomes, and in some cases, it appears to retard them.</blockquote></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Buckingham then talks about how to trigger good performance. Recognition. Ah yes, the simplest thing of all, yet always the most difficult. The simple act of saying, “nice job” is consistently viewed as a Herculean task. But even “thank you” is not enough. The author urges us to get deeper. How you recognize an employee? To whom you recognize an employee? Both are critical to keep encouraging high-level performance. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Back to my outbound team. A simple act to build a team dynamic that I use is the simple ringing of a bell. A simple, bell that you would find in a dry-cleaner or motel. Get a sale, ring the bell in front of your peers. Its one of those common denominator things. The team does not sit together for several reasons. But most of them are in the same general area. One night, I noticed a woman had 5 sales. She wasn’t getting up to walk across the center to ring the bell. She was a seasoned pro and didn’t need me high five-ing her when I heard her do something well. I did make it a point to walk by her though and hold up five fingers with a big smile. Apparently, her son works on the team as well. He came up to me the next day and told me how excited his mother was that I recognized her. He said he hadn’t seen her like that in a long time. I recognized her. But just to <i style="">her</i>. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Finally, the author talks briefly about adult learning styles. There are 3 styles of adult learning: analyzing (pulling it apart, examining it, and piecing it back together), doing (simple trial and error) and watching (needing to see it in action and assimilate it). I spent some time crafting a short training class for these folks. They were all new (6 weeks) to our company, our products, our territories. They were new to the concept of “sales”. They were scared of the term “telemarketing”. (Which is a term I hate to use anyway…we’re calling customers whose contracts have expired or will expire).</p> <p class="MsoNormal">I took what I knew and slapped together a powerpoint deck. It took me two one-hour classes to realize that maybe one in ten were actually extracting any value from my training. Half-way through the second class, I had them go out on the floor, take their seats and begin dialing. Then we watched. Those that were panicking, we pulled and had them sit with someone. The buddy system. Those that needed time to digest we’re given it. It worked a lot better. I gave the third class my handout and left them at their seats. They caught on the quickest.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Two weeks later, I am getting questions via email about things in my presentation. They have had time to pull it apart. They have had time to assimilate it. Now they are reading for the advanced class. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">This article served as a great reminder. Everyone is different. Everyone responds differently. Everyone is motivated differently. Everyone learns differently. I don’t know about unique and beautiful snowflakes (I used that line from “Fight Club” on one of my team members who is an excellent performer but has issues with authority. She will tell you the sky is green just to argue with you.) though.</p>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1163339915505151882006-11-12T08:46:00.000-05:002006-11-12T08:58:35.516-05:00The 10 Best (and 10 Worst) Companies for Customer ServiceI love a good year-end list. This one comes from <a href="http://www.crmlowdown.com">crmlowdown</a>. (I feel I have to confess that I did not find this article on my own. They had to send it to me.)<br /><br />I would put Home Depot at the top of the Worst list. I cannot wait for the Lowe's to open a couple of miles away. We just remodeled our downstairs bathroom. (In some places, this is called a "powder room".) Not tub or shower, just sink or toilet.<br /><br />Mrs. Diligentia decided that it was time to move away from the 1977 harvest gold sink and toilet; the vinyl floor with the suspicious smell; and the country wall-paper. Off to Home Depot. Ceramic tile, cement backer board, tools, grout, thinset, vanity-sink combo, mirror, medicine cabinet, toilet (that will let you flush a bucket of golf balls), moulding, paint (two kinds) and assorted nails, screws etc. (We got the new light fixture at Lowe's).<br /><br />As we are purchasing, they hand us a coupon good for a substantial amount of money off our combined purchase. We don't see the coupon until the next morning. (We closed the HD on a Friday night). Back to the store to redeem the coupon. Receipts in hand. They tell us we have to bring all the stuff BACK.<br /><br />Less than 12 hours had gone by and some of the same employees were there. This is service? I am counting the days until the Lowe's opens. I stare at the brick around my fireplace, flush with my new ability to install ceramic tile, waiting patiently. I stand in the middle of my basement, thinking that we should tear out the carpet and put bamboo down in time for my kid to start having friends over.<br /><br />Sorry, Home Depot, you blew it.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1160146026810617442006-10-06T10:38:00.000-04:002006-10-06T10:47:06.830-04:00Shaking Hands for DummiesLifehacker struck a nerve with me yesterday. Great post and commentary thread on the customer of shaking hands [<a href="http://www.lifehacker.com/software/communication/give-a-good-handshake-205300.php"><em>Give a Good Handshake</em></a>]. I was motivated to post a <a href="http://www.lifehacker.com/commenter/mikelally/">comment</a>! I have been a long-time reader/fan of Lifehacker but this was the first topic that got me riled up enough to post.<br /><br />I commented about the "look-away" when shaking hands with someone. I HATE (and you should never say "hate") the look-away.<br /><br />Hate it.<br /><br />Hate.<br /><br />When you shake someone's hand: LOOK.....AT.....THEM!<br /><br />Even if you have to pretend that you are even remotely interested in them. DO IT! It will make you a better person. People will think better of you. And follow the other tips commented in the post. Clean hand. DRY hand. Strong/confident/firm hand. ONE hand. No homie-brauheim. No limp duchess-style. And be an equal-opportunity hand-shaker. Women get the same grip. And women, I'm not telling you to shake hands like a man. But all the same rules apply to YOU as well.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1156896671890450072006-08-29T19:10:00.000-04:002006-08-29T20:11:12.186-04:00Are Leadership/Management Skills Portable?The May 2006 issue of the Harvard Business Review has an article titled <em>Are Leaders Portable?</em> by Groysberg, McLean and Nohria. They studied a bunch of ex-GE trained/indoctrinated (I'm not saying that in a bad way) managers and their ability to produce results once they moved on to fairer hunting grounds.<br /><br />They break the managers' skills and experiences down to what they refer to as the Model of Human Capital. It is the HBR, they can't just call them "skills". There are five of them:<br /><br /><ol><li>General management skills</li><li>Strategic skills</li><li>Industry skills/experience</li><li>Relationship skills</li><li>Company-specific skills/experience</li></ol><p>General management skills involve the ability to find and use financial, technical and people resouces. It also includes basic leadership and decision making ability. These are all portable according to the authors but new skills must be acquired when the manager moves into a more senior role.</p><p>Strategic skills (cutting costs, driving growth, etc), gained from situational experience are highly portable but ONLY to companies experiencing similar situations. Cost cutters will do well cutting costs in other organizations.</p><p>Industry skills are defined as the "technical, regulatory, customer or supplier knowledge unique to an industry." These skills are portable within an industry. But performance will wane if say, a telecom manager tries to run a company in the medical industry. Makes sense.</p><p>Relationship skills are key. Managers in their survey, that could bring colleagues along with them, did much better. If you can't bring your people with you, make sure you can build relationships and social capital in a hurry.</p><p>Company-specific capital includes knowledge of the ways a particular company does business. Its culture. Its processes. Its mores. Etc. This is the least portable of the five but "CEOs...are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this knowledge by implementing familiar systems and processes."</p><p>This article has allowed me to reflect on my own career path. When I look at my own experience and the skills I have developed along the path, I see the insights from this article. I have always had a common thread of "customer service" and I have been fortunate to translate that across three industries: financial services, high tech and telecom. I have had the ability to bring along people that I trust and am familiar with in prior work situations. I expect that to happen again in my current role. It is just easier to bring in people that you know. Know their work ethic. Know their abilities. And can tell what they will do. </p><p>I have also been fortunate to develop strategic skills as well. I am good in a turnaround. I am good in a startup. Both are very similar yet different in many ways as well. I have gone from startup to turnaround to startup to a hybrid in my current role. Launching a new 500 seat site is more like a startup than business as usual.</p>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1156810901057272842006-08-28T20:04:00.000-04:002006-08-28T20:21:41.093-04:00Hiring for the Customer Experience<p>I am sitting in a hotel room in Brentwood, TN (outside of Nashville). I am in town for some training. It gives me a break from bringing up a 500+ seat customer contact center in DeLand, FL that has me commuting 3 out of every 4 weeks to Daytona Beach.<br /><br />It's giving me some time to catch up on reading. I am not in the thick of the battle. I miss it to be honest. It is hard for me to sit for 7 hours in a room while someone talks at me. Made even harder because I am hooked on the rush of 13 hour go! go! go! days.<br /><br />But I just finished reading an article in the lastest Fast Company about Danny Meyer, who owns 4 of the top 20 restaurants in NYC. He talks about hospitality versus service. Which is a theme for this edition of the magazine. No links because it is not online yet.<br /><br />You must NAIL service before you can even start thinking about the customer experience. This is something I am heavily interested in...we are at a turning point in the 100+ year history of the company I work for...we are opening a new call center. We have the opportunity to build it RIGHT from the ground up.<br /><br />Meyer talks about what he looks for in new hires. There are, of course, the technical skills. But then he talks about emotional skill sets. And he breaks them down into 5 areas:</p><br /><ol><li>A natural warmth and optimism. (You either feel it from someone or you don't.)</li> <li>Intelligence and curiosity. Passion about <em>something</em>.</li><li>Work ethic. ("You would be surprised at how many people show up late for an interview, or don't shave.")</li><li>Empathy. </li><li>Integrity and self-awareness. ("...somebody who is thoughtful about who they are and where things fit into their lives. If they are not accountable to themselves, it's unlikely they'll be accountable to the people they are working with.")</li></ol><p>I've probably interviewed at least 200 people in the last couple of months. I am not surprised about people showing up late for interviews, or in flip flops, or with thongs showing, etc. I am not surprised about integrity. Who accepts a job offer and then doesn't show up on the first day? (We have a 20% no show rate. We haven't cracked the code yet on how to identify this type of person. We use a testing suite that gets at attitudes toward work. We keep setting the criteria higher. )</p>Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1155033408281886122006-08-08T06:28:00.000-04:002006-08-10T14:08:59.233-04:00Push Play to PolkaSeth Godin's latest <a href="http://www.changethis.com/25.01.PolkasPyro">ChangeThis</a> manifesto is an attack on the status quo. I hate the status quo so Godin works for me. He has a section about products and quality. He demands MORE! $18 CDs are ridiculous!<br /><br />He recommends we lose the shackles and attempt greatness. He asks us to make some assumptions:<br /><br /><blockquote>1. Hard drive space is free.<br />2. WiFi-like connections are everywhere.<br />3. Connection speeds are ten to one hundred times faster.<br />4. Everyone has a digital camera.<br />5. Everyone carries a device that is sort of like a laptop, but cheap and tiny.<br />6. The number of new products introduced everyday is five times greater than it is now.<br />7. Wal-Mart's sales are three times as big.<br />8. Any manufactured product more than five years old in design sells at commodity pricing.<br />9. The retirement age is five years higher than it is now.<br />10. Your current profession is either obsolete or totally different.</blockquote><br /><br />Now what?Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1155032880125832612006-08-08T05:58:00.000-04:002006-08-08T06:28:00.143-04:00Welcome to the MachineI've been crazy-go-nuts with work. I'm sitting in a hotel room in Daytona Beach, FL at the moment. We are bringing up a new center in a nearby community. I am on the Monday through Friday commuting plan. I'm not finding a lot of time to read/research/etc career/management/leadership related material. I'm either pre-gaming on the flight down, reading something for fun to try to clear my brain of the cobwebs, or post-gaming on the way home. <br /><br />Seth Godin has a new manifesto posted at <a href="http://www.changethis.com">ChangeThis</a>. Two pieces jump out at me. He talks about "cogs".<br /><br /><blockquote>Since you were five, schools and society have been teaching you to be a cog in the machine of our economy. To do what you're told, to sit in straight lines, and to get the work done.</blockquote><br /><br />Seth joins the Thomas Friedman train. He is also on the path of Rajesh Setty who tells us we need to be distinguishing ourselves. Friedman tells us [see <a href="http://diligentia.blogspot.com/2006/01/world-is-flat.html">commentary</a>]that we need to be constantly improving/increasing our skill sets. We need to be "special", or "specialized", or "anchored" or just super-adaptable. Otherwise...we are just cogs in the giant machine.<br /><br />Godin goes on to define cogs further:<br /><br /><blockquote>1. Cog labor is a lowest-common-denominator activity.<br />2. If cog labor gets expensive, companies now automate it.<br />3. If a company can't afford to automate, they move the work somewhere where it's cheaper.<br />4. If the competition moves, companies figure out how to measure and semi-automate their cog labor to make it cheaper still. </blockquote><br /><br />And then here is something to ponder. Read it, let it sink in, process it, put it in your brain as you drift off to sleep and when you are good and terrified...start doing something about it...<br /><br /><blockquote>The end result is that it's essentially impossible to become successful or well-off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else.</blockquote><br /><br />Sleep tight.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7575568.post-1150897903692868172006-06-21T09:14:00.000-04:002006-06-21T14:09:34.906-04:00Dungeons and Dragons and Self AwarenessRead a post on <a href="http://lifehack.org">Lifehack.org</a> yesterday that resonated with me. I must confess that I am a gamer. I have been a gamer since I can remember. I will be a gamer when I die. All kinds of games. Role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, strategic games like Risk, card games like Crazy-8s that I play with my 5-year old. I had an Atari. I play computer games. I have a modded PS2 where I log hours playing Madden. I find games immensely cathartic. They are a way to clear my head. They are a way to help me process the big stuff in the background while I decide to blitz with the outside linebacker on 3rd down or go on a magic item hunt in Diablo 2.<br /><br />I also find that games help me stay creative. I find myself dipping into my old dungeon mastering skill set when I am trying to come up with a new story for my aforementioned 5-year old. Creativity is a critical skill to possess in today's world. Sometimes you need that +5 Godly sword to tackle a particularly tricky business situation.<br /><br />The lifehack post takes a quick look at applying role-playing game methodology to understanding your own skill sets and determining what you need to develop.<br /><blockquote>How would you characterize your capabilities? ...What kind of character are you? How do you stack up against other people in the same game? What capabilities, skills, or equipment could you further develop to build your success rate with your current game?</blockquote><br />Think about who and where you are. Determine where you want to go. Build your skills and find the equipment to help you get there.Mike L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/07348649460989288596noreply@blogger.com0