Tag: On Corporate Life and Leadership

“Realize that it is not how you feel that determines how you act, but rather how you act that determines how you feel.”

 

If you haven’t any doubts that the above is true, take note of how you feel emotionally when you are in the midst of an exciting and enjoyable vacation.  No matter how much running around you do, no matter how much physical exertion may be involved, no matter how many hours you spend wandering the labyrinthine hallways of a mouldy old museum, if you’re excited about what you’re doing and where you are, you will feel emotionally fulfilled.  You will feel emotionally charged.  You won’t feel emotionally drained.  You won’t feel dead inside.  For each and every one of us, there is a time and place of maximum emotional energy.

 

You need more of that in your life. 

 

I need more of that in my life.

 

To say, “I just don’t have the energy for that right now,” is to offer an excuse and obscure the real cause for your behaviour.  And what’s the real cause?  I don’t know; only you can know.  I can give insight into what is really ailing me, but for you…the best I can do is encourage you on your journey and offer hints or ideas about where you can look next for your answers.  The dusty, sweaty work of excavation and study is yours.  Dig up the artifacts and figure out what they mean within the context of your life, of your experience.  The interpretation is up to the individual.  Remember: your perception is your reality.

 

That said, I think there’s a universal truth involved, and that truth is that we tend to believe that energy is external to us and that recharging is a passive activity.  In other words, some other force of the Universe is going to fill us up.  It’s a mistaken belief that the responsibility lies outside of ourselves.  While there may be truth in the idea that other people and other powers can give us a boost, the ultimate job of keeping the energy store at a maximum is ours.  You have to consume food to stay alive, and in order to consume, you have to acquire.  The same goes for energy of the spirit: you have to look for it and consciously imbibe it.  Without the action, there can be no reaction, no benefit.

 

This is the key to the idea that it is how you act that determines how you feel.  Acting is action.  Taking action invigorates.  At times, the desire to remain still simply overpowers the desire to move.  It is at these times that we must remember that it is action and not lack of action that will have the greatest positive effect on our emotional state.  Those splendid, rejuvenating vacations…they are filled with action, with conscious effort to engage in activities that will bring us peace and enjoyment.  Even sitting by the pool, reading a book is conscious action if it’s what you really want to do and really need in the moment.  Ditto the rock-climbing adventure. 

 

Can sitting at a desk be the same as that climb up the vertical face of a mountain?  Sure!  Why not?  If you make the choice to be engaged, to actively seek the energizing path, then your desk job can be a source of great fulfilment.  It’s about how you act, remember?  How you feel will follow.  If sitting at the desk sucks the very happiness out of your soul like some Dilbertian Dementor, then it’s up to you to make the shift…the monumental, Earth-moving shift to stop letting how you feel determine how you act and start taking action to determine a new feeling. 

 

What should you do if you act your butt off and the feelings towards work don’t change?  Then take more massive and decisive action.  In the words of the disembodied voice from the movie “The Amityville Horror”:

 

“GET. OUT.”

Because life is not all about rules and lists and formulas and 19th Century ideas about work.

It is about knowledge.

It is about feelings.

It is about beliefs.

It is about soul.

It is about art.

And it is about leadership.  If you are not leading, then you are not taking the chances and facing the risks that can ultimately lead you to a richer, more fulfilling life.  To learn to lead we must first learn to follow.  To follow we must first learn to submit.  To submit we must first learn to trust.  To trust we must first learn to love.  To love we must first look outside of ourselves and acknowledge the living beings around us.

Love is the essence of leadership.

There really is no need to do things on your own.  I mean, it’s satisfying some times, but most of the time, it’s OK to ask for help, to seek assistance, to desire the presence of another in your endeavors.  In fact, one could make the argument that seeking and giving assistance are the two main components of the glue that holds societies together.  They are more important than any of the laws that a legislative body might create.

Yet, in the end, we are completely and utterly alone.  We can share moments with others.  We can have a common experience.  We can even participate in the collective conscious/unconscious of humanity.  But those slivers of time end.  When the lights go out and the darkness enfolds us, we are left all alone.  The body next to you is the illusion of companionship.  The heartbeats down the hall cannot be heard.  Every friend and loved one, every colleague and acquaintance, every other citizen of your country of residence…exists outside of you.  You are, in the end, completely and utterly alone.

“Of course this is happening in your head.  But just because it’s happening in your head doesn’t mean that it isn’t real.”

Our aloness is the source of stillness.  It is the seat of wisdom.  It is where true knowledge and understanding come to us.  It is the space inside that is filled up with the presence of the Universe.  Aloness is where and when and how we come to know our true nature and understand our place in the scheme of the cosmos.

So, you could say that it’s the most important time in your work day…this…this time when we are alone.  It is when you learn.  It is when you plan.  It is when you decide how it is that you are going to accomplish that which you wish to accomplish.  Unfortunately, it’s also the time we tend to ignore.  We bottle up the results of our nightly calculations, computations, and flights of fancy.  We take our dreams and put them back in their neat little boxes.  Then we make the conscious choice to live unconsciously and play the part of the automaton…or we make the conscious choice to live consciously and play the part that we actively write for ourselves.

What happens in our minds is not real, but what happens in our hearts, in our souls…these things are real.  At least we have the power to make them real.  The act of creating reality from dreams is the power we are given as human beings.  When you wake up tomorrow and prepare to face your work day, leave just one dream out.  Don’t box it up.  Leave it out and listen to it.  Choose to pursue it.  Choose to find a way to make that one dream into a piece of your reality at work.  You’ll be surprised at just how easy it is.

 

The results of an IT hiring study referred to as the “Tech Talent Crunch” of 2011 were posted on Dice.com.  You can find them here:http://marketing.dice.com/pdf/Dice_TechTalentCrunch.pdf

 

Here’s the interesting thing about the study.  It showed that there are more IT jobs out there than there are qualified candidates.  To be more accurate, many states on the United States are experiencing a shortfall of talent.  Among several keys areas, the study highlights the ten states with the highest job surplus (meaning more jobs than talent).  They are some pretty big states, and I have personal experience with at least three of them.  So, it got me thinking…

 

Something ugly is on the horizon for companies that haven’t been too kind to their employees during this last recession.  After the tech bubble burst, IT professionals took a nice slap to the face.  There were more people than there were jobs, and IT pros felt the pain in the market.  Salaries were “compared to market” and adjusted to bring tech compensation more “in line” with other salaries.  IT was knocked off it’s pedestal, so to speak.  Then the housing bubble burst and the economy went into a more profound tailspin.  IT budgets were slashed again, this time in an effort to cut costs.  Companies were heading towards a crash and jettisoned what they could in order to save the proverbial plane from a fiery end.

 

These things happen.  They come in cycles.  They’ve happened before.  They will happen again.

 

The problem isn’t that they happen.  The problem is what we do when they happen.  My father always told me that it’s not only about what you do but also about how you did it.  The how, I think, is where the problems are going to come from.

 

If you’ve focused on everything but your productive, hard-working, midnight-oil-burning, brilliant IT staff, you stand a very good chance of losing the best and the brightest among them.  These are the people who acquired new skills and worked more hours while people looking to slash created working environments filled with insecurity, fear, and non-stop stress.  They did more with less, just like they were asked to do.  They innovated.  They found ways to economize.  They delivered results despite everything that was thrown at them.  They kept working when they were disrespected as human beings.  You can only do that to someone for so long…

 

Now, the IT jobs are coming back.  The people who were abused…they’re going to leave.  They are going to take those skills and go elsewhere.  Normally, they’ll leave for bigger salaries.  A bunch, though, are going to leave for less, and they’ll do so gladly knowing that they are going somewhere where the work they do is valued and in demand.

 

Sure, it may seem like the grass is greener on the other side…but some of the time it really is greener.

In some industries, companies lament the death of customer loyalty.  In others, they recognize that loyalty is a tricky concept.  

Loyalty needs to be navigated carefully.  Consumers have choices, and the jump from one brand to another is often a simple matter of price.  Yet, some brands are almost legendary for the fierce customer loyalty that they elicit.  People will pay a premium for value adn quality, but they will also pay a premium when the company producing the brand focuses on things like employee welfare or nurturing the relationship they have with their customers.  These are things that people care about, and, all things being equal, trump the fads and price wars that can cause a customer to jump ship.

I love Land’s End.  They have my size.  Their clothes last a long time.  Once, I replaced two pairs of pants earlier than normal.  They both faded rather quickly.  I was disappointed, but, you know, it’s Land’s End, so I bought two more pair.  When I ordered the pants via their customer service number, I happened to mention that I was replacing my pants because they didn’t last as long.  The woman on the phone told me to send my pants back after I received the new ones.  She didn’t charge me for the replacements.  “Material performance.”  That was the reason she gave for sending me the replacements.  I love Land’s End.

If customer loyalty is important, why isn’t employee loyalty?  Why do companies waste time and money desperately pursuing customer loyalty while, at the same time, slashing budgets and utilizing lay-offs as a means to maximize profit?  That’s business, I suppose.  I obviously pissed away the money I spent on that MBA of mine.  I am naive, I know.  All this time, and I still don’t get it.  I don’t learn.  I guess I’m just one of those people, stuck in the rut, reliving the same year over and over again.  What was that quote?  Something about not having 10 years of SQL experience but, rather, having the same year of experience 10 times over?  

Or maybe I “get it” more than they think.  Maybe I see the mistakes that they are making.  Maybe the answer isn’t more of the same but something radically different instead.  Maybe, just maybe, the answer to the question “The customer or the employee?” isn’t as simple as they think it is.

If it is about loyalty, then maybe the customer will follow your lead.  Restore loyalty to your workforce and the miracle you’re waiting for might just happen.

I feel like I have stumbled upon a great and secret key to unlocking the mystery of existence. Well, I actually found it on the web. The key is this simple concept: true love is love that is given without attachment. No need for reciprocation. No thoughts about the outcome. No desire for something in return. Even to love a dear friend or spouse or sibling because of their special relationship to you is short of true love. True love electrifies our spirits and the spirits of others because it is love without attachment. Love others because they are fellow humans, living beings with the right to transcend suffering and achieve enlightenment just like you. Love all things, and love them without attachment. Supposedly, that kind of would keep me from getting irritated with my kids when they interrupt me or getting pissed at my wife when she…well…pisses me off. That sounds like a good deal to me and an even better deal for them, so I strive… This is a new labor for me, a vision of great clarity that pervades my thinking these days. My mantra when I become troubled, when ego steps in, when distraction threatens to overtake me is simply “Be here without attachment.” Now I see that this is the essence of impactful leadership. I cannot anticipate the outcome. I cannot impose my desires. I cannot seek to control. I can plan but must plan with others. I can envision but must share in the visioning. I can set direction but must take directions in the process. In every situation, what I lead is not my own. It does not belong to me. If it did, then there would be no one to lead, no need for my leadership. There would just be me and my desires. This is not leadership. Leadership is love for the vision that is co-created and shared with others. Leadership is love for the work without attachment to the work. Work that is free from attachment can become whatever the empty space needs for it to be. Only free people doing work that is free can fill the void. This is leadership without attachment.

When you choose to follow and not lead you spend the night at home. Spending the night at home isn’t a bad thing, of course, but it’s not a good thing when you could have and should have been somewhere else. I should have been somewhere else tonight, but I chose to follow and not lead. Because, you know, somebody else will always step in to lead.The problem with that logic is that sometimes nobody else chooses to lead. And then you just have to go home.Most of the time….most of the time nobody else chooses to lead.As I write this, Linchpins are enjoying the company of other Linchpins. As I write this, Linchpins in other time zones are looking forward to enjoying the company of other Linchpins later on tonight. In each of these situations, there was a Linchpin or two who decided to lead. They decided to organize. They decided to take charge. Thanks to them, great things will happen tonight. Deals will be made. Friendships will be born. Ideas will be shared.And then there are the rest of us who waited for someone else to lead. We’re at home watching reruns of “Friends.”When you choose to follow and not lead you take whatever programming somebody else came up with. When you choose to lead and not follow you get to decide. Period.

Organizational trust is a function of the relationships between the individuals that comprise it.  The stronger the individual bonds, the greater the likelihood that trust will flourish.  That’s just common sense.  What we tend to overlook is that the number of bonds is just as important as the strength of each individual bond.  This is where the network you build becomes important.  The more connections you make and broker, the stronger the foundation for trust within the organization becomes. 

 

Reach out and nourish the connections in your network.  It might take some extra work, but the relationships you create will serve not only the organization but you, as well.  That’s a rant for another day, though.  Today, focus on making new connections to widen your circle of influence.  Be the person who can bring others together, the strong link that holds the chain together.  The future of your organization may very well depend on it.

 

 

I have a friend who is very adamant that measurement is, to quote, “everything”. Bold that and italicize it.

And here’s the problem that we both agree (and have reaffirmed to one another many times over the years) comes up over and over again: what we do measure isn’t what we SHOULD measure. And that’s a huge problem.

Here’s why: humans make decisions based on data, and we like seemingly objective data best of all. “Objective” is an interesting word. It implies a certain degree of trustworthiness, of impartiality towards an outcome based on the best information possible. However, objective data can be junk, too, and when it is, helps you arrive at solutions no better than those based on pure, irrational emotion. In fact, I’ll take my gut over junk data any day of the week, thank you very much.

The key, then, isn’t to identify objective data so much as it is to identify the RIGHT data. This is true in business as much as it is in art or science or any aspect of our personal lives. The solution is best designed with a clear understanding of the problem. “No duh!” right? Then why do we see so much “duh” around us?

It’s far better to spend less time on the charts and graphs and assumptions and more time answering the question, “What to measure? What to measure…?”

I’ve recently read that the only way to truly change is to make your commitment to change public.  Well, at least it’s one of the steps.  So, I’ll put this out there and see what comes back to me in thirty days…

In the next thirty days, I have to begin to learn how to manage my new team like a business.  I have to learn their business model.  I have to learn the financial levers.  I have to learn how to use the tools and leverage the processes to get me the information I need to run this team.

That might be an ambitious goal, but it’s what I’m setting out to do.

In the next thirty days, I also have to begin leading my team like my business.  My business is not the business of insurance or project management.  My business is the business of people and their goals for their lives. 

That might be an ambitious goal, too, but it’s what I’m setting out to do.

Meeting both goals will make a difference.