There’s an important prevention I sometimes use when facilitating critical group meetings. It’s a ground rule I call ‘No Me-Too Stories’. You’ve probably all experienced it. Someone tells a story in a group meeting. The story helps make the person’s point. Next thing you know, another person chimes in with their story. Then another. Rarely do the subsequent stories add much value—not adding much new perspective or insight. It’s just people expressing themselves—in the form of ‘me-too’ stories—that largely serve the storytellers own personal needs. The intentions behind the stories may be good and it may make the person telling the story feel good, but rarely does it help the group advance its objectives.Continue reading
Whose Money Is It?
Paraphrasing the renowned economist Milton Friedman, “people become especially generous with other people’s money.” Politicians do it, business people do it too!
From my point-of-view, professionals don’t play fast and loose with other people’s money – especially when they’re in a position to benefit personally from it.
Consider the employee who lives high-on-the-hog on the company dime. For example, choosing the Conde’ Nast featured restaurant with the $75 steaks while on a business trip. Or the consultant staying at the big-name Four-Star hotel with the 1,000 thread-count sheets? Would they make the same generous choices if it were their own money?…or would they make a different choice?
I realize that there are many instances in which the more generous choice (as a practical matter) makes great business sense—especially when it involves clients. Management is sometimes even couraging of such generosity. Sometimes it’s a way to reward employees. And sometimes there really isn’t a great (or appropriate) alternative to a more expensive option. Yet, these instances are far more the exception than the rule.
How many times have you heard someone boasting of staying at a prestigious Four Star Hotel while on business when the hotels they stayed at for their own vacation (and paid for with their own money) was consistently Three Stars (or less)? Inconsistencies of this type can be precursors to having others lose confidence in us.
Organizations expect people to act responsibly. It’s a sign of maturity and professionalism to treat other’s money like our own. It builds trustworthiness and one’s own self-esteem at the same time. Granted, some may consider this example insignificant, but it’s one that can portent bigger, even more important, things.
Silicon Valley Leader’s TPOP Megaphone
Readers:
I’m sharing an e-mail that was sent to me from a senior leader in the Silicon Valley that I thought you’d appreciate. This senior leader is communicating with his people – through the lens of the seven mind-sets in The Power of Professionalism (TPOP).
The leader is a very successful start-up guy…a real peach of a guy. He’s the top guy in his company.
He’s familiar with my work–having previously read The Big AHA!
He agreed I could share his e-mail as long I extracted the company’s name – which I have. I have substituted in its place the fictitious name Walnutians. Continue reading
Mind-Sets Trump Skill-Sets – New Evidence, If You Needed Any
In the Power of Professionalism we advocate that skill-sets, as important as they are, were less important than one’s mind-set in the discharge of a professional’s responsibilities. Employers overwhelmingly agree. According to Harvard lecturer Dr. Paul Stoltz, 98% of employers would pick the prospective candidate with the ideal mind-set (and lacking the desired skill-sets) over the person with the ideal skill-sets (and lacking the desired mind-set). The same principle applied to employee retention. When deciding who to retain—someone with ideal mind-sets or someone with ideal skill-sets— 90 plus percent of employers would retain the employee with ideal mind-set. These results were based on a recently released five year study with thousands of top employers from all over the world.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Think of the important initiatives your organization has attempted: the implementation of new (and critical) operating processes, the all-important new product launch, the execution of a critical strategy, the delicate integration necessitated by a merger or acquisition. Think of the difficulties, the exasperation involved—sometimes even to the point of the initiative failing. Chances are the difficulties weren’t a skill-set problem. More likely, the difficulties were a mind-set problem. Is it any wonder employers are so attracted to those with desirable mind-sets?