Once in a great while, experience teaches us a lesson that that can only be described as an axiom or a truism. It just is. You can try to understand its origins or debate its basis in theory, but if you ask me, that’s just a waste of time. You’re better off just taking it for what it is - an empirical observation - and benefiting from its implications.
Now, I know some of this stuff straddles philosophy and psychology, but there’s a good reason for that. While they are indeed “real world” observations, they were perceived through a subjective filter - my brain - which, for better or worse, includes all kinds of strange and diverse influences.
So, while you will find elements of Taoism, Freudian theory, Ayn Rand, and What They Don’t Teach You At Harvard Business School, make no mistake: they’re all practical lessons that can help your career … or even change your life:
1. If you don’t know, say so. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, stop talking.
2. Whether negotiation is strong or weak depends entirely on your goals.
3. Don’t jump ship before you hit the iceberg.
4. Anger is never about what you think you’re angry about.
5. Confidence comes from success, knowledge comes from failure.
6. A**hole is a subjective noun.
7. If you are miserable, quit and do something else. If you’re still miserable, it’s you.
8. Success is based on current behavior, not past performance.
9. If you protect your domain or CYA, that’s all you’ll accomplish.
10. Thin-skinned people are actually thick-headed.
11. People won’t perform for those they don’t respect.
12. If you’re not passionate about what you’re doing, you won’t be successful at it.
13. When you have problems with others, look inside yourself for answers.
14. The workplace is about business, not you.
15. Conflict is healthy; anger is not. Get some help for that.
16. No matter how smart you are, wisdom only comes from experience.
17. Whine and complain all you want; nobody gives a crap.
18. You can BS others but you really can’t BS yourself.
19. The boss isn’t always right, but she’s still the boss.
20. The customer isn’t always right, but he’s still the customer.
If any of this comes across as sort of preachy, just so you know, that’s not my intent. I’m not interested in indoctrinating anyone, just helping you to navigate a complex and challenging working world.
Come to think of it, while I think their meanings should be self-evident - at least after some reflection - I’m probably not the best judge of that. So if you don’t get it, ask and I’ll provide additional color in the comment section. By Steve Tobak
Monday, December 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Open Book Management
In 1992, when The Great Game of Business was originally published, only a few hundred companies practiced open-book management (OBM). Today thousands do. The word has spread. CEOs have seen the payoffs. OBM is now considered an essential alternative to the conventional, top-down way of running a company.
Advice: Just plunge in, ignore the tired management myths and discover the truth for yourself.
Myth: Don’t tell people the truth about the financials.
Truth: If you open the books, your leadership team has to establish credibility. You do that by telling the truth. You just can’t operate well unless people believe their managers and peers. And what’s the downside if your numbers land in the wrong hands? Competitors could never replicate your best practices, corporate spirit or the collective know-how of your employees.
Myth: Managers are paid to figure out all the answers.
Truth: First, no one has all the answers. Second, we need new job descriptions for managers in open-book workplaces. Managers teach, coach and give pep talks. When they ask team members for solutions they create a shared learning experience. That way everyone learns faster. Managers also have to learn to cope with failure. That’s where contingency planning comes in.
Myth: It’s a bad idea to promote people too quickly.
Truth: Employees should prove themselves, sure. But it’s smart to get your best people moving around so they don’t get stale or develop tunnel vision. New, exciting challenges and some cross-training expands their horizons. Suddenly, they appreciate the needs and goals of a larger chunk of the organization. And what happens next? Walls come down, communication improves, things start happening.
Myth: Never mind the big picture, just do your job.
Truth: The big picture is all about motivation, giving employees a common purpose. The broader the picture you paint, the fewer obstacles they see. If people have big goals, they blow right by the little obstacles. But those obstacles can seem huge if you don’t move people beyond the daily grind or appeal to something they really want to do. Show them the fact and figures. Explain the challenges and opportunities. When you share the big picture, you define winning. greatgame.com
Advice: Just plunge in, ignore the tired management myths and discover the truth for yourself.
Myth: Don’t tell people the truth about the financials.
Truth: If you open the books, your leadership team has to establish credibility. You do that by telling the truth. You just can’t operate well unless people believe their managers and peers. And what’s the downside if your numbers land in the wrong hands? Competitors could never replicate your best practices, corporate spirit or the collective know-how of your employees.
Myth: Managers are paid to figure out all the answers.
Truth: First, no one has all the answers. Second, we need new job descriptions for managers in open-book workplaces. Managers teach, coach and give pep talks. When they ask team members for solutions they create a shared learning experience. That way everyone learns faster. Managers also have to learn to cope with failure. That’s where contingency planning comes in.
Myth: It’s a bad idea to promote people too quickly.
Truth: Employees should prove themselves, sure. But it’s smart to get your best people moving around so they don’t get stale or develop tunnel vision. New, exciting challenges and some cross-training expands their horizons. Suddenly, they appreciate the needs and goals of a larger chunk of the organization. And what happens next? Walls come down, communication improves, things start happening.
Myth: Never mind the big picture, just do your job.
Truth: The big picture is all about motivation, giving employees a common purpose. The broader the picture you paint, the fewer obstacles they see. If people have big goals, they blow right by the little obstacles. But those obstacles can seem huge if you don’t move people beyond the daily grind or appeal to something they really want to do. Show them the fact and figures. Explain the challenges and opportunities. When you share the big picture, you define winning. greatgame.com
The rest is all details ...
Friday, November 12, 2010
How to Hone Your BS Detecting Skills
Succeeding in business is all about accurately analyzing information and then making smart decisions. Falling for BS is antithetical to both. But with the world awash in half-truths, partial distortions, aggrandizing exaggerations and out-and-out lies you’ll have plenty of opportunities to fall prey to other people’s bull. How can you protect yourself from being led astray by their nonsense?
Washington, DC based venture capitalist Don Rainey has penned a post for Business Insider’s War Room offering six suggestions to help you hone you BS detecting abilities. The piece is well worth a read in its entirety, but the basic suggestions are as follows:
1. Determine what serves the speaker’s self-interest. Whenever someone is presenting a point of view, you owe it to yourself to consider how their opinion might correlate to their own self-interest. After all, there must be some reason they have to make the argument to you in the first place. And that reason more likely correlates with their own self-interest than with yours.
2. Question the data. We live in a world of pseudo science, skewed sample sets and anonymous experts. Don’t accept anything as an important truth without first examining the source.
3. Watch for truth qualifying statements. “To tell you the truth” or “Let’s be frank” or “I have to be honest…” are all statements that beg the question – “Are we starting to be honest just now?”
4. Listen for name dropping. Credibility should always be derived from the strength of the argument, known facts and/or the reputation of the person present. If absent prominent people are the backbone of an argument, you should be suspect.
5. Notice confusion in response to logical counterpoints. This type of response is meant to undermine your confidence in the soundness of your counter argument without seeking to specifically or factually oppose the point itself. Watch out for confusion when there should be none.
6. Beware of the obvious. If a conversation provides you with one obvious thought after another, wait for the end of the train of thoughts as it is typically an illogical conclusion. After getting into a “yes…yes… yes…” rhythm, you may easily accept a well placed random conclusion or mistruth. by Jessica Stillman
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ten New Rules for Project Managers
"An amazing thing, the human brain. Capable of understanding incredibly complex and intricate concepts. Yet at times unable to recognize the obvious and simple." Jay Abraham
These ten ideas will dramatically improve your projects. Are these ten rules the top ten … You decide.
But don't take too long … Share these rules with your team …Your team members are sure to help you carry them out!
Adopt practices for exploring a variety of perspectives. We think we see what we see, but we don't. We really see what we think. Remember the blind men and the elephant. Make it your habit to inquire what others see. You'll see more together.
Stay close to your customer. Clients' concerns evolve over the life of a project. Take advantage of that to over-deliver. Stay in a conversation with your client to adjust what you are doing.
Take care of your project team. We've come to accept that the customer comes first…the customer is always right. We can't take care of the customer if we first aren't taking care of our project team. It's a challenge. While there are some things we can do for the whole team, it comes down to taking care of each team member as the individual that he or she is. And to make it more difficult, then we must bring their various interests into coherence.
Keep your eye on the overall project promises. Project work can be difficult. It is easy to loose sight of what we are doing and why we are doing it. Remind your team and yourself of the overall promises and how you are doing fulfilling those promises.
Build relationships intentionally. Project teams come together as strangers. To do great work…innovation, learning, and collaboration…all take people who like and care for each other.
Don't leave that to chance. Start your projects by building relationships among team members.
Tightly couple learning with action. Projects are wonderful opportunities to learn. Don't put that off for the after project lessons learned. Make it your habit to incorporate learning loops in all your project activities. Your team will appreciate it. Your customer will benefit from it. And best of all, it will make your job easier.
Coordinate meticulously. A project is an ever-evolving network of commitment. Keep that network activated by tending to the critical conversations. See that people are making clear requests, promises that have completion dates, and share opinions that advance the purposes of the project. Without attention to those critical conversations the project will drift.
Collaborate. Really collaborate. Make it your rule to plan with those people who will be the performers of the plan. Don't wait 'til the project has gone south to get their help. Start out that way. Continue collaborating as the usual way you work through the project.
Listen generously. People are able to say what they can in the moment. For the most part, people are well-intended. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Take the time to listen. Ask questions. Seek others' opinions. And while you're at it, don't be so harsh on yourself.
Embrace uncertainty. Expect the unexpected. There is far more that we don't know and can't know than what we can anticipate. Be resilient to what life throws at you. Anticipate that your team will learn something along the way that can and should change what you have promised and how you can deliver on your promises. And when you take a set-back — we all do sometime or another — review the other nine rules for how you can work your way out of it. © 2004 Hal Macomber. Reforming Project Management
Good luck ...
These ten ideas will dramatically improve your projects. Are these ten rules the top ten … You decide.
But don't take too long … Share these rules with your team …Your team members are sure to help you carry them out!
Adopt practices for exploring a variety of perspectives. We think we see what we see, but we don't. We really see what we think. Remember the blind men and the elephant. Make it your habit to inquire what others see. You'll see more together.
Stay close to your customer. Clients' concerns evolve over the life of a project. Take advantage of that to over-deliver. Stay in a conversation with your client to adjust what you are doing.
Take care of your project team. We've come to accept that the customer comes first…the customer is always right. We can't take care of the customer if we first aren't taking care of our project team. It's a challenge. While there are some things we can do for the whole team, it comes down to taking care of each team member as the individual that he or she is. And to make it more difficult, then we must bring their various interests into coherence.
Keep your eye on the overall project promises. Project work can be difficult. It is easy to loose sight of what we are doing and why we are doing it. Remind your team and yourself of the overall promises and how you are doing fulfilling those promises.
Build relationships intentionally. Project teams come together as strangers. To do great work…innovation, learning, and collaboration…all take people who like and care for each other.
Don't leave that to chance. Start your projects by building relationships among team members.
Tightly couple learning with action. Projects are wonderful opportunities to learn. Don't put that off for the after project lessons learned. Make it your habit to incorporate learning loops in all your project activities. Your team will appreciate it. Your customer will benefit from it. And best of all, it will make your job easier.
Coordinate meticulously. A project is an ever-evolving network of commitment. Keep that network activated by tending to the critical conversations. See that people are making clear requests, promises that have completion dates, and share opinions that advance the purposes of the project. Without attention to those critical conversations the project will drift.
Collaborate. Really collaborate. Make it your rule to plan with those people who will be the performers of the plan. Don't wait 'til the project has gone south to get their help. Start out that way. Continue collaborating as the usual way you work through the project.
Listen generously. People are able to say what they can in the moment. For the most part, people are well-intended. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Take the time to listen. Ask questions. Seek others' opinions. And while you're at it, don't be so harsh on yourself.
Embrace uncertainty. Expect the unexpected. There is far more that we don't know and can't know than what we can anticipate. Be resilient to what life throws at you. Anticipate that your team will learn something along the way that can and should change what you have promised and how you can deliver on your promises. And when you take a set-back — we all do sometime or another — review the other nine rules for how you can work your way out of it. © 2004 Hal Macomber. Reforming Project Management
Good luck ...
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Beyond Techniques ...
I am a big fan of the book The Art of War and Taoism ... I truly believe that there is alot of excellent philosophical ideas within both concepts.
I recently came across the a post from the The Tao of Project Management blog which I thought was excellent and bore repeating.
Beyond Techniques
People who blindly follow PRINCE, PM-BOK or any other technique or methodology to the letter are not usually wise project managers. The wise project manager needs no guidelines or methodology to do the right things and steer the project successfully towards completion. Those guidelines and methodologies exist to teach and instruct the less experienced, for whom they were intended. However the good project manager should also set an example and therefore should be seen to follow those guidelines and methodologies where they are appropriate.
The Way
The poor project manager may recognise that he needs members of the team to do the work on the project but he fails to recognise that he also need to serve these people. If there is no mutual need and mutual respect he is missing the whole point and will not see how things happen.
The wise project manager has an awareness of everything that needs taking care of on the project; he misses nothing. In return the members of the project team need the project manager to steer them in the right direction and facilitate their work. I know this for this is the way of the project manager.
The Tao
Lao Tsu tells us:
A good walker leaves no tracks;
A good speaker makes no slips;
A good reckoner needs no tally.
A good door needs no lock,
Yet no one can open it.
Good binding requires no knots,
Yet no one can loosen it.
Therefore the sage takes care of all men
And abandons no one.
He takes care of all things
And abandons nothing.
This is called “following the light.”
What is a good man?
A teacher of a bad man.
What is a bad man?
A good man’s charge.
If the teacher is not respected,
And the student not cared for,
Confusion will arise, however clever one is.
This is the crux of mystery.
I hope it is helpful ...
I recently came across the a post from the The Tao of Project Management blog which I thought was excellent and bore repeating.
Beyond Techniques
People who blindly follow PRINCE, PM-BOK or any other technique or methodology to the letter are not usually wise project managers. The wise project manager needs no guidelines or methodology to do the right things and steer the project successfully towards completion. Those guidelines and methodologies exist to teach and instruct the less experienced, for whom they were intended. However the good project manager should also set an example and therefore should be seen to follow those guidelines and methodologies where they are appropriate.
The Way
The poor project manager may recognise that he needs members of the team to do the work on the project but he fails to recognise that he also need to serve these people. If there is no mutual need and mutual respect he is missing the whole point and will not see how things happen.
The wise project manager has an awareness of everything that needs taking care of on the project; he misses nothing. In return the members of the project team need the project manager to steer them in the right direction and facilitate their work. I know this for this is the way of the project manager.
The Tao
Lao Tsu tells us:
A good walker leaves no tracks;
A good speaker makes no slips;
A good reckoner needs no tally.
A good door needs no lock,
Yet no one can open it.
Good binding requires no knots,
Yet no one can loosen it.
Therefore the sage takes care of all men
And abandons no one.
He takes care of all things
And abandons nothing.
This is called “following the light.”
What is a good man?
A teacher of a bad man.
What is a bad man?
A good man’s charge.
If the teacher is not respected,
And the student not cared for,
Confusion will arise, however clever one is.
This is the crux of mystery.
I hope it is helpful ...
Friday, July 23, 2010
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