Talk About Teamwork

I usually post on business and leadership related topics, and maybe this is a bit of a stretch, but when you think about it, the ability of the rider and horse to communicate team up with each other as they clearly do here speaks volumes about the power of communication and the building of trust. When those two things come together, excellence results.

As business leaders I think each of us knows on an intellectual level the degree to which it takes commitment and discipline to get to and achieve our goals. We also know how important it is for us to be able to communicate both plan and execution to our teams. And when we are able to accomplish this well, we all have a vision of what the outcome will look and feel like.

When a friend sent me this video it made me think that this was as good a way to visualize the result of teamwork as anything I had seen in a long time.

To be honest, I really don't know what the name of this sort of competition is, but the fact that the announcers are Brits suggests that it is certainly something that is popular in the UK and probably in Europe as well, but whatever it's called, it's impressive to say the least.

Check it out:

Where Have You Gone Joe DiMaggio?

I guess with the title of this post I am showing my age, but what the heck, if you didn't see the movie (i.e. The Graduate for those who might not recognize the line) , it's well worth it no matter what your age.

I picked the line from the Simon and Garfunkel song because it is a line that laments the loss of ideals and values and seeks guideance from a "leader." Even in the context of the movie, it isn't that much of a stretch to translate the message to the corporate and/or political arena and the headlines we unfortunately see all too often.

If you asked around our office here at ExecuNet, anyone will tell you that I am not a Yankee fan, but when our days become as filled with Bear Stearns and Spitizer as they have recently, it is understandable that there are indeed lots of folks who are wondering where Joe D went.

With all that in mind, maybe that is part of the reason I was so struck by a quote attributed to Jeff Immelt of GE that I have had tacked up on my bulletin board ever since I found it.

When I see it, especially after hearing about some other CEO taking a "perp" walk, it helps to remind me that as disappointing as all that stuff is, there are far more leaders who understand what Immelt is saying and do all they can to build organizations where what he suggests represents the cultures they believe in.

If you have not seen this quote before, if it resonates with your value system, maybe you'll find a spot for it on your bulletin board too.

Manage by setting boundaries with freedom in the middle.

“The boundaries are commitment, passion, trust and teamwork. Within those guidelines, there’s plenty of freedom. But no one can cross those four boundaries.”
Jeff Immelt, CEO, General Electric

Realizing an Organization's Potential

One of the most gratifying things for me in being a part of ExecuNet is the chance I have every day to learn from other members. You can say what you want to about "senior managers" but the fact is that experience is indeed the best teacher and when you get a lot of people willing to share those experiences with their peers, it can be very powerful stuff. It is not only intellectually very stimulating, but on a practical level "learnings" that we all can use as we manage on a day to day basis.

We get these "learnings" from members in a number of different ways but one of the most potent is the online roundtable discussion groups. In the past week or two, we have had a fascinating discussion going on amongt our General Management group on the subject of what one can do to help an organization realize its potential. Pretty important topic since that is usually the charge when management changes are made.

Andy Kankula is one of our members who has been participating in this discussion and in adding his two cents he shared a list of 12 "learnings" that he felt were the keys his succeding. In his case, it was in turning around a major business unit in South America.

If you were looking for a one page list of how to go about managing the kind of change it takes to move an organizaiton forward, what you see below is as good a list as I had seen for a long time. I asked Andy if I could share it here, and I hope that readers here will be as grateful to him as I am for his willingness to let me use it. In doing so, he was quick to point out that his list was not original to him but rather his summary of things that he "learned" from others over the years, all of which just makes me all the more gratified to be part of a group where helping each other is what the roundtable groups are all about in the first place.

Andy's List

1. Brutal honesty and identification of the problems and why the problem exists. This needs to be done without blaming anyone.

2. Simple messages that create a vision and path forward. These messages should define the discipline and should be easy for people to remember.

3. Consistent metrics that relate to tasks that need to be achieved and the goals of the business.

4. Continual feedback about performance expectations.

5. As a leader be confident in your direction and your communication of expectations.

6. Recoginize where and what your peoples capabilities are; define their strengths and exploit them, identify their weaknesses and minimize them. Develop and improve competencies right down to the production floor.

7. Understand your customer and why they buy from you; position your products and services to maximize profitability.

8. Keep asking questions about why we do things the way we do until you get to the point no one can give you a good logical answer. It is at this time people are ready to ask the question " what's the best way to do this...?"

9. Once the discipline is established stick to it and do not waiver unless someone can demonstrate logically why we should detour.

10. At every milestone poor on the praise for the successes and identify what we could have done differently for future revision. And always keep the expectations high.

11. Create good succession plans so that people understand the possible rewards for good performance and development of their capabilities.

12. Plan your own departure to give those that have contributed to the success the opportunity to lead in the future.

Andy closed out his remarks to the other members of the roundtable with this:

After reading all the excellent input its appears very easy to write what makes each of us successful in our own situations. Living it and fighting your doubts and or the doubts of others as they wait for the results of your efforts is the hard part. You always have to ask yourself " am I doing all the right things for the right reasons?..." I think that if you can answer yes to that question you can trust your own direction through many Shakespearean "dark nights".

Any executive knows exactly what he means!

I Care Therefore I Am?

I have noticed over the past few weeks that Kent Blumberg has started to post more frequently after pausing for a bit as he ramped up his coaching practice. Glad to see it.

Last week he had an entry titled: Teasing out core values in an interview in which he cited Phil Gerbyshak who co-authors a blog called Slacker Manager and Steve Roesler who blogs at All Things Workplace. As Kent said, and I would certainly agree, both are URLs well worth putting on your list of favorites.

In any case, this most recent post caught my attention because it was focused on one of the most if not the most significant challenge facing every hiring manager - how to really try and identify what an individual's value system is all about.

How important is value system when it comes to bringing someone into your organization? In my mind, the word critical only scratches the surface. Skills as they say can be taught, attitude can't, and attitude is driven by value systems instilled in us all by our parents with life experience added for good measure.

So how does one ferret out values? Read Kent’s post and I think you'll pick up a couple of good hints based on the insights that Kent has pulled together.

No time? Okay, then the one word answer is passion. If I am passionate about something the argument is that the passion is tied to my values.

Works for me. Does it work for you?

Organizational Potential: Real or Imagined?

One of my favorite parts of the day is when I get my summary of what discussions are taking place in our member executive roundtables. The roundtables were set up to provide with members another channel to exchange ideas and information on business issues and challenges and get to know each other better in the process. In reading over the exchanges, not only do I always learn something, but I am also reminded of just how powerful the sharing of ideas and experience really is.

Over the past week or so, there has been a fascinating discussion going on started by George Bradt, founder of Prime Genesis and author of The New Leaders 100-Day Action Plan. He began by saying:

My working premise is that transformational leadership is about inspiring and enabling people to do their absolute best, together, to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose...So, how have you done that? What advice do you have for others seeking to turn their organization's potential into something meaningful and rewarding?

George clearly touched a nerve as the responses poured in from all points of the compass and as you might expect with observations and comments ranging across a broad spectrum. One of those who put in his two cents was member Kerry Bensman. I thought what he had to say was not just powerful, but powerfully put, so I asked him if I could pass it along and he generously said I could. For the sake of space, here are a couple of the highlights from Kerry's post:

Your question presupposes a couple of basic assumptions. One is that the organization has unrealized potential. Another which is more important is that it has the ability, experience, and expertise to embrace a vision and drive towards it. (Of course, how often have any of us listened to the newest twist on a vision statement only to have the organization driven in a different direction.)

Working harder and smarter is not always the answer. In the computer business, we had this saying: "It always works well in Powerpoint"

There is real buy-in and there is "fake" buy-in. Your top performers know the difference and they also know where the weak links are. Unless the organization believes you are being realistic and is not being set up for failure,the entire effort is DOA.

I worked for a general manager who had an interesting philosophy. He set the goals so we could over achieve. Why, I queried? "We all feel better being 102% of goal rather than 98% of goal. Does wonders for everybody." he responded.

I have never forgotten that. No one likes to feel they are pulling an oar they are chained to in the galley along with Ben Hur.

Both George and Kerry are right of course, but I was particularly struck and with Kerry's reminder that what "works well in PowerPoint" really doesn't matter unless those who are tasked with making the vision come alive are committed to and led by leaders who understand that while words can inspire, they need to come with the investment in the training and tools to really make it happen.

Communication: The Key to Everything

Traits I have always admired: Intelligence and a sense of humor. Maybe the reason is because I don't exactly lead the pack when it comes to either, I don't know.

What I do know is that the Editor-in-Chief of our Growing Business Link partnership with The Economist and resident consumer electronics groupie Robyn Greenspan has both in abundance, and since I am guessing she bought neither of these things online like she does almost everything else in her life, they must come from the Greenspan genes. Lucky her.

Anyway, Robyn does a lot to make not only me smile on a daily basis, but most of us in the office benefit from both her intellectual insights as well as her sense of humor all the time. Today's example I thought would be fun to share here.

She tells me that her mom sent her this stellar example of the importance of effective communications. Where her mother found it we know not, but I'm glad she did and that Robyn knew I would love it.

Career Flak Jacket

For those of us who are career management junkies, the name Peter Clayton is very well known. Peter is the force behind Total Picture Radio which he morphed from his original venture called Landed.fm. His tag line now is "The Voice of Career Leadership" and if you explore the information and interviews that you'll find at TPR, I think you will agree, it is a very apt description.

One of Peter's recent interviews was with Kirk Nemer who heads up a website called CareerProtection.com which provides legal and HR consulting services. Given some of the horror stories many of us have heard (or worse still experienced) over the years, it is a site and service whose time has come if not overdue.

Anyway, Nemer's company conducts a survey each year that forecasts layoffs and the forecast for this year is certainly not encouraging. Bottom line, the forecast is for a 37% increase.

Time, of course, will tell if the economic sky is really falling, but whether it really is falling or is just cloudy, Peter's interview with Nemer is very much worth a listen not so much for the reading of the economic tea leaves, but for his insights into the issues facing those who might see the writing on the wall.

In my experience, one of the strategic mistakes that I think many of us make when it comes to trying to protect ourselves in these situations is that rather than following the old axiom of "the best defense is a good offense" people choose to hunker down hoping that the bullets will pass overhead.

We have told our members for years that like it or not, no one cares about you more than you, and when it comes to managing your career, proactive is always better than reactive.

Another way of looking at this sort of thing is to understand that the degree to which you give yourself more time, the higher the probability that you will have more options available to you. Hardly a surprise.

What still surprises me, however, is how many people still don't act but continue to keep their heads down and wait for the world to happen to them. It sad to say, but over the years I have talked to more people than I can count who have said to me in one form or another "I just can't believe that I didn't do something about this sooner."

Nice Way to Start the Weekend

I come from a generation where it was a major "no no" to blow your own horn. That said,however, I would by lying if I didn't own up to the fact that when others blow it for you that it doesn't feel good because as we all know, it does. So when I opened my email today and found the announcement that ExecuNet was once again a winner of the WEDDLE's User's Choice Award it was a nice feeling to say the least.

It isn't that we haven't had our share of recognition over the years, including all the cards and letters I got recently from members, colleagues, and friends offering their good wishes on our 20th anniversary this year, but when the kudos come outside one's circle of friends, it can't help but bring on a smile.

Addiing to the warm feelings was when I read more of the background information such as, the awards are, to quote the press release, "...the only recognition in the $6+ billion global online employment services industry where actual users-job seekers, employers and recruiters-get to pick the winners."

In addition, the release also went on to say "... that there are now over 40,000 employment-related sites operating in the U.S. alone and an equal number operating elsewhere around the world."

My math skills ended in the 8th grade, so I stopped there, but knowing that there are just 30 sites on such a big list, it was a nice way to start the weekend.

The Straight Poop

When you ask leaders where they actually learned their leadership style, a typical response is “from other leaders.” We have been taught to emulate the qualities and styles of those we wish to resemble. If that is called role modeling, I'm on board with that, but I think sometimes many of us stop there rather than realizing that other input is pretty important too. To that end, in recent times, attention is turning toward employees as individuals from which leaders can learn a lot.

I recently read an article in The Wall Street Journal that suggested that leaders turn to their organizations’ lower-level employees — or followers — for guidance. The article notes how such a strategy has worked for well-known businesses as Best Buy, United Parcel Service and Hewlett-Packard. It also cites two recent books on this subject: Followership by Barbara Kellerman and The Starfish and the Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom.

The authors suggest that companies turn to these employees and listen to their ideas to create new ways to drive growth and continued organizational success. They should know what’s happening within the company and be allowed to make solid contributions.

The argument of course is because these individuals typically work in the trenches, they can be more knowledgeable about day-to-day operations. They likely know much more about customers since they have more direct contact. They probably also know what the competition is doing. I sign up for that too, and have to say that this has been my experience as well.

I have always thought it important to gain a fresh perspective, especially when faced with a challenge.

When you are faced with a need for answers, where do you turn?

From Worst to First?

I just got back from a wonderful trip to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. We saw and experienced any number of amazing things, not to mention food that just seemed to get better and better.

One of the more amazing things was to experience the traffic in Saigon now known as Ho Chi Min city. The attached video with thanks to YouTube tells the story better than I could ever put it into words.

As you might imagine, the pollution that results from the literally millions of 90cc motorbikes is beyond belief as well as the fact that somehow they don't kill too many people a day, at least in town. They also have recently mandated that helmets are mandatory, so that will help some as well.

The point of all this other than amusement for this American tourist? In 2001 I was in Bankok, a city of similar size to Ho Chi Min city. Had I a video camera with me, I can assure you it would have looked very much like what you see here, pollution included. Everyone wore masks.

Stopping there on the way home on this trip, I was very much struck by the fact that the number of motorbikes appeared to have been reduced by what I would estimate to be 85% maybe more and the pollution along with it.

I never would have thought it could be done, but somehow the Thai government got it done.

There may be some hope yet.

Growing Business Link

Over the years many executives I have talked with have told me that the most valuable advice and counsel they have received has come from the chance to discuss the challenges they face with their peers. Thinking back on my own experiences, I would have to say that I agree with them.

I don't know why this has been the case except that I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I feel comfortable that many of us have the same concerns facing us be they issues having to do with our own product or service, or how we feel about the issues confronting us all as global business citizens. All I know is that we all have opinions and our personal and business experiences have done much to form those opinions.

It is with that in mind that I thought I would make those who are interested aware of another resource that I think would add to your ability to share ideas and information with your peers.

The name of the resource is Growing Business Link and in the interest of full disclosure is a collaboration between The Economist and ExecuNet. If you are interested in learning more about this new community you will find the About Us link on the site useful.

Like everything on the net the site is organic and most importantly, everyone has the opportunity to both participate and add to its knowledge, richness, and exchange of ideas. Cost? Nothing. The only investment required is your inquiring mind and willingness to share a point of view.

The following are some of the features you'll find:

Expert market insight and analysis

Direct access to business leaders and entrepreneurs worldwide who can help you tackle issues that are top-of-mind in high-growth, entrepreneurial organizations, in such areas as finance and operations; sales and marketing; technology; global security and mobility; and human capital management

Entry to by-invitation-only events for top business leaders in the international business community

Quarterly market intelligence surveys and top-line trend summaries of the results

The inside scoop on the hottest job markets for business leaders, and much more

Clearly the more who participate the richer the experience, so feel free to pass the information along.

Arlington At Christmas

Pat Haly who has for a number of years and continues to facilitate our networking meetings in Atlanta sent this photo along to me (and many of his other friends) with the following information explaining what brings this all about. He suggested that I might want to share it with others, and it struck me as something very much worth sharing. Many readers may have also seen it reported on some of the nightly newscasts.

Since I will be away for the next month, this seemed like a fitting image to remain until I return. Among other things, for me, it also served as yet another reminder that "actions speak louder than words."

Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harring ton , Maine . The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

Oxymoron #36 Passive Candidate

I am a sucker for "bumper stickers" like the one that I recently saw for the holidays that said "It's a Jingle Out There." Okay, if you didn't like that one, how about "Ho. Greetings from the Society for the Prevention of Redundancy." Okay, I'll move on, just don't throw anything.

The site where I find these is called Internet Bumper Stickers and there are several categories on the site one of which is Oxymorans and there you will find stickers like Oxymoron #3: "Microsoft Works" or #7: "Government Accountability." Okay, I'll move on from these too, but before I do, I want to try and add what I have arbitrarily labeled Oxymoron #36: Passive Candidate.

What energized me to lobby for this addition? My friend Pete Weddle, as he has on a number of other occasions, prompted me to start pounding away on my keyboard. Pete recently published an article in one of his newsletters which he called Why Recruit Passives? In it, Pete makes, as he always does, a number of very cogent arguments about why "passives" are better than "actives." One of the points he made was this:

... Are active job seekers also qualified? Of course. But passive prospects are passive largely because they are already employed and, therefore, presumably making an acceptable or better contribution to their employers. Data collected by the Yahoo! survey tend to support this view. It found that the average experience level of passive prospects was 18.4 years, with over half reporting more than 20 years in the workplace. The average for active job seekers, in contrast, was 14.9 years of experience, with slightly more than a third reporting more than 20 years on-the-job. In addition, if pay is a measure of a person's perceived value to an enterprise, then passive job seekers are viewed as significantly greater contributors. The average annual salary for passive prospects is $66,100, while the average for active job seekers is over 10% lower at $54,583.

Okay, I admit I have not gone back and looked at the Yahoo survey that Pete has referenced, so maybe it defines some of this stuff in more detail, but at least based on what I read in all this, I just don't buy it.

I don't buy the exerience level as much of a criteria for a number of reasons, not the least of which is just because someone has "hung in there" for 20 years or so doesn't mean they aren't "active." I know an awful lot of folks with 20 years in same gig who may not be "actively" looking but that doesn't mean that they are happy campers (we have lots of data from our own surveys that says they aren't) or that they aren't staying where they are because they are afraid on a lot of levels.

There is an old saying that there are two things that cause people to act; one is inspiration and the other is desperation. Point being just because they aren't out there pounding the pavement doesn't mean they wouldn't like to be "active" and certainly doesn't mean that they would be a better or more productive employee than someone who is "active" be they driven by either inspiration of desperation.

I also don't quite get the compensation as a criteria etiher. Compensation is, as we all know, dictated by any number of veriables, such as industry, geography, seniority (and I am not talking about bargaining unit seniority), etc.

That there has been and continues to be a strong bias in this country against people who are "at liberty" as they used to say back in the day versus someone who is "...presumably making an acceptable or better contribution to their employers" is hardly a military secret.

I would submit that at this stage of the downsizing game in our country that there are at least as many folks out there working like hell to find meaningful employment who are every bit as capable if not more so at making "acceptable or better contributions to their employees" as those who are still "presumably" still doing so.

I just don't think there is such a thing as a "passive candidate" in the sense that someone who is currently employed is the definition of 'passive' and someone who isn't employed is the definition of "active."

As far as those who are working being passive or active is concerned, I think that depends on how things went at the office on any given day.

Work-Life Balance

Pete Weddle is a name that has been around the cyber staffing space since it became a "space." For those who try to follow what's cooking in the staffing arena, being on the Weddle's newsletter mailing list is not just a "want to" it is a "must do." It is also free by the way.

In a piece that he wrote for the December 6th issue called Rethinking Work-Life Balance Pete did what he usually does, he got me to thinking about what he had to say both on a macro level as well as a personal level.

I am not going to try and summarize the point Pete made in the article. It would take up too much space and more importantly, he has already said it far better than I could.

When I finished reading the piece, however, the quote "Happiness is different things to different people" came to mind.

Maybe it's because it is the holiday season that makes one nostalgic or maybe it's the fact that ExecuNet is only a matter of days away from marking our 20th anniversary or something in between, but whatever it is is, when I think about my own work-life balance at this stage of my life, I can't help but feel how very fortunate I am on both sides of all this.

When it comes to "work", I can't help how very proud I am to be a part of an enterprise where we hear "thanks for your help" as much as we do, and and to come to work every day with people whose skills I not only respect but who are so much fun to be around.

And when it comes to "life" and for all our faults and flaws, how fortunate I feel to live in this country.

Feedback from the Real World

There are a couple of ways you can gather the data you need to support your professional or personal interests. The insular way is to stay in your office and evaluate the feedback that comes in on a minute-by-minute basis and bounce that off of what you glean from the Internet.

The other way, of course, is to actually attend conferences, seminars, and workshops that are taking place around and about topics of interest in your area of interest and/or supposed expertise.

For good or for ill, my work-life balance in this regard is badly skewed to the office-bound variety of trying to get a handle of what's hot and what's not.

It was therefore with considerable anticipation that I looked forward to attending Kennedy Information's Recruiting Conference & Expo in Orlando recently. I wasn't disappointed.

It was a fun time because I got the chance to catch up with many industry colleagues I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was also a time for some significant "learnings" when I had the chance over the two days to hear what thought leaders in the HR and Staffing world had to say on a wide variety of topics. I even had the opportunity to contribute a bit myself as part of a panel headed up by Pete Weddle who moderated a discussion on looking ahead at what recruiting in 2017 might look like. Long story short, there was a lot going on.

Of course, one of the dilemmas that anyone attending a conference like this faces are the hard choices you have to make when you have concurrent tracks going. To try and help people overcome this habitual hurdle, the folks at Kennedy asked us to field some "reporters" so that we could pull together a summary that participants could use and have the "learnings" and headlines in one place.

Spearheaded by our intrepid Senior Contributing Editor and industry guru Joe McCool, we tried to accomplish all this by doing a live wrap-up session at the close of the conference and then using the notes of our "reporters" to create a summary report for the attendees.

While there were around 500+ attendees at the conference, there were obviously lots of people who were not able to go but who might have an interest in some or all of the topics on the agenda. Kennedy has posted copies of the PowerPoint presentations on their site as well as a PDF copy of the report that ExecuNet put together called ROI Recruiting: Select and Retain the Best.

While certainly it is not the same as "being there" it still seems to me a nice gesture on the part of Kennedy to make these materials available, so by extension, I thought I would make them available here as well.

Learnings From The Way We Treat People

Maybe it is because it is now officially December or the fact that as this is written the wind is blowing at about 40+ mph, the sky is crystal clear and the blue has a freshness and crispness to it that somehow doesn't seem to show itself at any other time of year, and the whitecaps blowing across Narragansett Bay don't seem to bother the swans, ducks, or gulls at all. It also might be because the few trees with their deep brown, red, and gold leaves are putting up such a fight against the wind in trying to hang on to what they have left before giving up their grip on fall.

Whatever it is, I was sitting in my home office working on stuff that I thought was super important and up pops an email from my wife (sitting at her PC not 100' away) which in turn had been forwarded to her by a friend.

When it is from your wife of course, you read it right away even though I have to admit I was also intrigued by the title: Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people.

I "googled" it after I had read it and found that it has apparently been around for quite a while and that its author is unknown. Maybe that fact alone makes its impact even more powerful? I also have no idea if some of the vignettes in the piece are true (e.g. the story about Mrs. Nat King Cole) or not, but the messages certainly resonated, at least for me.

I share it here for those who might come to this blog and who are not familiar with it hoping that if it turns out to be "new" to them, that they will pass it along to others.

Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people.

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor
gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student
and had breezed through the questions until I read
the last one:

"What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?"
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the
cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
dark-haired and in her 50's, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question
blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if
the e last question would count toward our quiz grade.

"Absolutely,” said the professor. "In your careers,
you will meet many people. All are significant. They
deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
is smile and say "hello."

I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her
name was Dorothy.

2. - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American
woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.
A young white man stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man
took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a
giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A
special note was attached.

It read:
"Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
husband's bedside just before he passed away... God
bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving
others."

Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those
who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in
front of him.

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.
"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and
studied the coins in it.

"Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?" he inquired.

By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient.

"Thirty-five cents," she brusquely replied.

The little boy again counted his coins.

"I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
the table and walked away The boy finished the ice
cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn't have the sundae, because he had
to have e enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson. - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the
king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of t he way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve
our condition.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts...

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only
chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to combat the
illness. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would
be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a
deep breath and saying, "Yes I'll do it if it will save
her." As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed
next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing
the color returning to her cheek. Then his face
grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, "Will I start to die right away".

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Now you have 2 choices.

1 Delete this email, or
2. Forward it other people.
I hope that you will choose No. 2 and remember.

Most importantly.... "Work like you
don't need the money, love like you've never been
hurt, and dance like you do when nobody's watching."

Discretionary Energy

I just recently returned from Kennedy Information's 2007 Conference and Expo in Orlando. Not bad duty for lots of reasons such as Florida in November, a chance to catch up with lots of folks in the recruiting space who I had not seen for quite while, lots of great food and drink and two days of insights and "learnings" from some very knowledgeable presenters.

As is true in most cases when you have been away from your own office and find yourself out in the "real world" it is always interesting to reflect back on the experience. For me, that usually takes place on the plane ride home as you review your notes and try and remember what you heard.

As I went through this ritual on my flight back to Providence I kept wondering why I was feeling a bit depressed (or maybe it was cynical?) as the thought kept going through my mind that I had been attending conferences, seminars, and workshops of one flavor or another for more than 45 years! I guess that would be enough to make you feel depressed and cynical all by itself, but that really was not the driver.

What kept running through my mind was that the issues which we were discussing and exchanging ideas and opinions about were challenges that have been around for any and all of those 45 years and for which answers were still being sought. Now I knew why I was feeling the way I was.

For sure many of the technology tools available to employers that can be applied to both recruiting and/or retention are very cool, and when my cynical side kicks in I think "yes indeed it is, and it is now absolutely easier than ever to track your turnover." Point being, however, I don't want to have cool systems for tracking turnover, what I want, to the extent that I can, is to reduce turnover, all of which is a long way of getting to the point of all this - people sometimes will stay because they feel they have to, but what we all strive for is to have them stay because they want to.

Hardly a revolutionary thought, and it's not like we all don't understand this notion at least on an intellectual level. Creating and caring for a culture that fosters what one speaker, Alan Guarino summed up as 3 "E's" and a P. If you are curious in terms of not only what these are but want to know more about how he suggests they be applied in depth, you might want to pick u a copy of his book Smart Is Not Enough!: The South Pole Strategy and Other Powerful Talent Management Secrets.

If, however, you can't stand the wait, here is the cliff version:

Energy, Engagement, Empowerment and Pride. Not a new formula, but certainly one that if applied consistently (and therein lies the challenge) ought to buy an organization some profs for trying.

Unfortunately, I have not been clever enough to come up with such a neat acronym as Alan's three E's and a P, all I have ever come up with is thinking about what meant a lot to me when I was working my way through a career, and in that regard, I have to believe that I am not all that different than the next guy.

The bottom line was whenever I felt that the organization valued me and did things to make me feel I was really part of the enterprise, that's is when I was motivated to expend what Alan kept referring to as "discretionary energy."

I don't know if Alan coined the phrase or borrowed it from someone else, but it was a new one to me, and for sure I am going to remember it because as we all know, that is the ultimate driver of real productivity and commitment. It is that feeling that fills be gap between "have to" and "want to."

Thanks Alan, well said.

The Zig Zag Networking Trail

We have a special feature in our CareerSmart Advisor newsletter which we call Learnings From Landings. As you can probably guess, it is an opportunity for us to share those things that various members tell us which they feel would be helpful to others who are interested in making a career change.

When I first started to share these stories almost twenty years ago now, I didn't realize just how valuable these "learnings" were. It did not take too long, however, to recognize that most of us (if we're lucky) don't go through changing jobs all that often, and given the pace of change in today's world, most of us, if we go through that door again, it is hard to recognize what we find on the other side.

Recently, I got a note from Patrick Cotter. I recognized his name instantly because some months before he had written to me to let me know that he had accepted a senior level executive position in China about which he was understandably excited. Just over a year later, this is what he had to say:

My message is basically one of not giving up even when nothing is coming to a close and there is nothing promising on the horizon.

Last year through ExecuNet I had secured a senior management position in China. However this job became short lived when the Chinese Chairman took off with about $ 100 million at XMas. The company went into receivership and I came back to CT to mull things over. I am 57, overeducated and overqualified in a dozen fields and scare most directors, so my prospects were dim as to whether or not I would ever find that "last Big Job".

I reactivated my contacts and did a few networking meetings with not much happening. I picked up on the side however some occasional consulting jobs where due to the complexity of the issues surrounding global logistics and related support systems, I could charge $1000 a day with nobody complaining. So that covered the bills but still no Big Job.

Last month while networking ( i.e shooting the breeze) with an investment banker about buying a small company in Fairfield, he asked me if I could recommend a prep school with a high degree of security for the Chinese son of one of his clients. I told him I knew just such a school in Vermont which handled kids from very high profile parents. For example in May President Putin's son had graduated from there ( under an assumed name until G-day). I followed up that request for lack of anything better to do that day and got the boy admitted after a few calls and promises of (hopefully) much endowment funds.

Lo and behold two weeks later Chairman A. and son plus retinue show up on my doorstep on the way to Vermont to give thanks. We start talking a bit about my Chinese retail experience as I know he has about 650 stores covering over 100 million SF of space and growing at about 30% per annum. All I'm hoping for is maybe a consulting job out of it.

A week later I get an email from China asking me when I could come over to visit some operations in Shenzhen and Shanghai with the Chairman. So off I went 10 days ago with a consulting deal in mind. I ended up spending 6 days (and nights) with the Chairman and his retinue at the conclusion of which I gave him a short list of priorities needed for his organization to survive its growth rate. He stared 30 seconds at the list turned to the translator to make sure I had not misunderstood that he wanted me as his COO, not as a consultant. I accepted on the spot.

So far I had run a faultless course bypassing 4 killer issues but had one final one where no US business rules would apply and that was: How much do you want?? My mind froze for a minute as I knew the going US rate, but this guy was a Buddhist who thought radically differently about values than I did. After all he could buy anything in the world, yet all he had brought back from the States was a small(tree)plant for his garden....So I low balled a base and waited.

I knew that was the right answer because he then immediately came back with a 7 figure bonus and stock package plus car, driver and housing. If I had gone full market rate (like in the US) I probably would not have benefited year one from the Chairman's discretionary bonus pool money. When the dust settled later that evening and I was ruminating why I had low-balled. It came to mind that the salary question had been the final test and what the old man wanted to see was passion and a deep understanding of the business more so than the ol' MOB. He knew I had low balled him . That had pleased him and in return it amused him to throw lots of money at me...and I wasn't complaining.

I'll be moving back to China in 2 weeks. I just need to find my my book on "Mandarin for Dummies" in 10 easy lessons !!.

Bottom line, even when you think you've hit the end of the road professionally it pays to keep networking. You just never know what can pop up.

When I finished reading Patrick's email, it served to remind me of a couple of things:

1. Given the business world in which we all find ourselves, it is very understandable why the biggest change I have seen in our membership since we began way back in 1988 is that 70%+ of our membership is made up of senior executives who are currently employed and who consider their membership a form of career insurance, and

2. At the end of the day, effective career management is about perserverence and linkages (aka networking). You just never know where the links will begin or where they will eventually lead.

The Personal Branding Beat Goes On

Seems like the buzz word of the week if not the month or year might well be "personal branding." I think in my generation they used to call it "reputation management" or something like that.

In any case, on the off chance that you have not seen some of the information on the Personal Branding Summit that airs tomorrow; I thought I would post the information here as well.

The idea is to mark the 10th anniversary of personal branding by offering 24 free teleseminars with experts in the field of personal branding. If you are one of those who follows blogs and articles on this topic then you will readily recognize many of both the speakers as well as those who have helped to organize this event.

So if you are interested, obviously all you need is a phone and to cherry pick the times you would like to listen in. If you want to check out the schedule, just click here, or if you just can't deal with such things without being able to talk to real person, I have no doubt that Jason Alba at Jibber Jobber (one of the event organizers) would take your call in a heartbeat.

And the Answer Is?

I would guess that anyone and everyone who watches or plays in the world of recruiting and/or talent management is aware that Kennedy Information is hosting their annual Recruiting Conference & Expo in Orlando the week after next. Even if you are not a staffing space watcher, it is always an interesting event to attend.

I am looking forward to being there for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it gets me to Florida so I can stay the weekend and see my grandson - always a nice fringe benefit.

I am also flattered and looking forward to being part of a panel moderated by Pete Weddle, CEO of Weddles and the Executive Director of IAEWS on The Future of Online Talent Acquisition. Also on the panel will be Don Ramer,CEO & Founder, Arbita, Rob McGovern, Chairman and CEO of Jobfox and Jenny Floren, CEO of Experience.

While we certainly expect a lively discussion as well as questions from the audience, Pete asked all of us to think about a couple of questions beforehand, and while certainly I am thinking about them, I also thought it might be fun to post them here and see what, if anything, others might have by way of an opinion. So if you are of a mind, what might be your thoughts on the following:

1. How will the online behaviors and preferences of the Baby Boomers who will still be in the workforce for the next 10 to 15 years influence the way online recruiting will be conducted at that time and

2. What aspect of online recruiting today might we all look back on 10 or 20 years from now and consider as charmingly quaint, horribly misguided, or just plain dumb?

I'm all ears!