The Cranky Middle Manager Show #316 The Final Cranky Show and the Future of Work with John Blackwell
A Kevin Eikenberry Teleseminar….
Posted on 16. Dec, 2008 by Wayne in General
Want Your Next 12 Months to be Your Best 12 Months Ever?
Who wouldn’t?
As we look at starting yet another year in Middle Management Land you might want some inspiration. Join my friend, colleague and best selling author Kevin Eikenberry on December 18th for one of his two free Start Today! Make Your Next 12 Months Your Best 12 Months teleseminars. Kevin is the author of Remarkable Leadership and has been on this show…. You can hear him on episode 129. After hearing that conversation you’ll want to join the call.
Go to http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=2748045 to get the details, register and lock it into your calendar.
It could be the most valuable 75 minutes you spend on your future.
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #171 Managing in Rough Times Wally Bock
Posted on 13. Dec, 2008 by Wayne in Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel discusses the role of middle managers when times get rocky. His guest is Wally Bock of Threestar Leadership. OH, and we talk about mutiny, gay captains and Roman survivors. The usual madness that is our show.
Wally Bock, Dinosaur Egg Stomper
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show folks.. Tough times call for tough managers and that’s why we’re here. Yes, it’s layoff season…first they came for the hourly folks..then the sales weasels….then there was no one left to help us…such is the lot of middle management. This episode is dedicated to Henry Hudson, maybe the worst captain to ever also be a famous explorer. Oh, and for pure schadenfreude, try A Brief History of Mutiny. I guarantee you’ll feel better about yourself.
3:12 The quote of the week is from Horace... dying of natural causes was unique among famous Romans- the man new from survival.
Don’t forget to support the show by stopping by the CMM Store or supporting the TPN Pledge drive and help keep us on the air!
4:20 Welcome Wally Bock back to the show (hear his first visit with us here….) Wally knows his stuff, as evidenced by his blog where you can get his report on Managing in a Downturn which you can download here. Why is this downturn different than most? Because when you lay people off you’re getting rid of the people who know stuff. People are not interchangeable anymore, if they ever were. And it’s all about cash.
10:33 The idea of people as costs is outdated. We’re not an assembly line world any more. And we usually misjudge how many people we should have let go in the first place. So now you have fewer people AND they’re not working at top form because of survivor guilt, fear and stress.
14:26 Wally has no sympathy for leaders who aren’t willing to take the same hit as the workers, as he put in this blog post. He talks about the Automakers who came to Congress to beg for money as leading examples.
17:26 Wally looked at companies that have never laid people off and talks about some of the possibilities- things like reassigning, work sharing and (gasp) starting the sacrifice at the top.
20:20 As managers, how do you manage the news and process of layoffs and other bad news. This is why they call us MIDDLE managers, kids. Don’t keep secrets if possible. Let them know what you know.Rumor will kill you.
26:48 Now it’s Monday morning and it’s time to get back to work with whoever’s left. Survivor guilt is normal and completely unproductive. You need to examine the work that needs to be done and find ways to reassign the work. Get your team involved. Morale and productivity are linked.
31:37 You probably have your own survivor guilt but your job, long as you have it, is to be the manager. That’s why we make the moderate bucks. Suck it up, gang.
33:27 Don’t forget to request his report on Managing in a Downturn and a bunch of our guests have contributed.
All the Leadership You Can Ask For…..
Posted on 07. Dec, 2008 by Wayne in General
if you love reading about leadership (and if you’re here I’m guessing that’s you), then you can do a lot worse than read the Great Leadership Blog by Dan McCarthy. He does a monthly “Carnival of Leadership” where he scours the blogosphere for the best leadership writing. Lots of folks you’ll recognize and new writers for you to learn from. I’m honored to be a featured post for our interview with Don (have to quit calling him Dan) Schmincke. Check out this month’s Carnival
So many great people out there and I’ll do my darnedest to turn you on to the ones that matter!
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #170 Best Books of 2008 The 800 CEO Read Guys
Posted on 06. Dec, 2008 by Wayne in Podcast
Wayne Turmel talks management and business books with Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten of 800 CEO Read. What were the best books of 2008? Even 125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels gets a mention…..
Couple of quick announcements: The Cranky Middle Manager Meetup will be Monday, December 15th at Shoeless Joe’s Sports Bar in Rosemont, IL at 7 PM. Listeners and past guests from the Chicago area are invited!
The first Cranky Middle Manager co-branded training event is December 15 and 16. “Management 2.0: Becoming the kind of leader you’d follow” is a coproduction of CMM and The Technical Management Institute. Click here for more details. Or drop me an email and I’ll give you all the details.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome Jack and Todd from 800 Ceo Read I love this show, we’ve done it 3 times now and I get to geek out on books. Today’s “death is not an option” question: Which is worse, not having a share of the company you work for or having stock in it?
2:22 The quote of the week is from Maxim Gorky. Books are just books….. but they’re kinda cool, right?
3:24 Todd and Jack tell us their faves. Todd goes first cause he’s the newbie.
Tribes by Seth Godin Yes, I know I kid Seth but i’m actually going to try and get him on the show this year, if only to kick his ass for Purple Cow and longtime listeners know why.
The Breakthrough Imperative It ain’t an airplane read
7:13 Their blog has the books of the year, and Jack’s specialty is Biography.
The Orange Code- How ING Direct Succeeded in Being a Rebel With a Cause.
The “Inside ____ Brain” series from Portfolio
9:13 It keeps coming back, but Purpose from Nikos Mourkogiannis may be the best book I’ve read since I started the show. It’s also one of the best interviews and it changed my life and career. Listen to the interview here. Hard to believe it’s almost 100 shows ago!
And of course Made to Stick by the Heath Brothers over The Tipping Point
12:03 Was it a great year for books? Not really…. Strengths Finder 2.0 continues to sell as well as Now Discover Your Strengths still sells insane numbers of books.
The 4 Hour Workweek was a monster too. We learn a bit about how publishers work.
17:19 Lesser known books are shining a bit, like High Altitude Leadership. We spoke to Don (not Dan, sorry) Schmincke. You can hear that interview here. Another little book was The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Dan Pink.
22:20 We go into a big discussion on Inside Drucker’s Brain… by Jeffrey Krames. This is the one I’m ordering soon as I’m done here. Todd really digs the “Memo to the CEO Series”. PREVIEW: Steve Kerr’s Reward Systems is coming up in about 2-3 shows.
25:20 Jack put his credibility on the line to say something nice about 125 Quotes for Whacking Weasels- Centuries of Wisdom, Motivation and Snappy Comebacks From the Cranky Middle Manager Show. (the link goes to my website….. i’m allowed). But I can bet it won’t be in their list of the 100 Best Business Books of All Time, coming out February 4th.
Check out the archives and visit Crankymiddlemanager.com and subscribe to the newsletter.
Don't let the weasels get you down!