The Cranky Middle Manager 121- Working Undercover with Alex Frankel
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #121 (MP3 12.8MB 28:43 Min)
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Greetings everyone, welcome to the show. A really good interview and a sneak peek at a CMM WORLD-WIDE LIVE EVENT!
The webinar is called Managing Remote Employees, Using Webmeetings To Keep Them Engaged and it’s free to attend. Details in the show and more on the blog next week.
First dibs go to subscribers of the newsletter. Sign up by emailing me and putting Subscribe in the subject line. Also let me know if you’re interested.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to an undercover edition of The Cranky Middle Manager Show. I first read about today’s guest in Fast Company (here are some links to the story) . This kind of well-meaning subterfuge got me thinking about Austria’s Black Chamber, and Baron Ignaz de Koch…. managing spies has GOT to be tough.
2:50 The quote of the week is from Nathaniel Hawthorne… hiding who you really are has never been easy. I’m amazed Alex got away with it.
4:50 Welcome Alex Frankel, author of Punching In- the Unauthorized Adventures of a Front Line Employee. Basically he went to work for UPS, The Apple Store, The Gap, Enterprise Rental Car and Starbucks, then documented his experience. It’s like 21 Jump Street, where Johnny Depp was too old to go back to high school but no one noticed.
Apparently the secret to not getting people like Alex is on-line screening. Apparently it works better than people at keeping the spies out.
9:15 Even though he was undercover, he did identify with the companies. The story of Starbucks on a holiday Saturday is a big aha. What creates esprit de corps?
12:00 What tells you you’re in a job that’s a good fit? It helps to care about what the company does before you even apply. Do you want to hang with the people you work for? Alex talks about which company he didn’t enjoy working for quite so much…but he was a bad hire. Something for all managers to learn here. He also talks about one assistant manager he worked for at Starbucks. Erica, if you read this we’d LOVE to talk to you.
19:30 Consistency does not always mean plastic, totally conformist or robotic. Alec tells his story about the people he worked with.
22:40 The biggest take-away for Alex? If everyone is on the same team it works… sense of mission is critical.
24:50 If Alex goes to hell, he’ll spend the rest of his life folding sweaters. You heard it here first….
Resources: Alex recommends Made To Stick- by the Heath Brothers.
Watch for details on the Webinar next week, and don’t let the weasels get you down.