The Cranky Middle Manager Show #316 The Final Cranky Show and the Future of Work with John Blackwell
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #199 Thrive in Tough Times with Mike Cook
Posted on 12. Jul, 2009 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Cranky Middle Manager Wayne Turmel looks at how managers need to examine their attitudes in these weird times. We talk to Mike Cook about how to thrive or at least survive. We also look at management as first aid and a poet gives us trite advice that holds up. Sounds like another typical show doesn’t it?
Mike Cook, author of Thrive: Standing on Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World.
Don’t forget to vist CrankyMiddleManager.com to register for our email newsletter, buy a book or have me speak to your company or organization!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the 199th episode of the show. We are in the middle of a series that asks you to examine how you’re doing and where you’re going. Do you feel like you’ve got post-traumatic shakes? That’s why we dedicate this episode to Sir Robert Peat. Oh and you learn more than you ever wanted to know about really delivering mouth-to- mouth resucitation.
3:26 The quote of the week is from Anne Bradstreet, who knew a thing or two about adversity. Yes, the advice is trite. It’s also true and many of us need to hear it.
4:35 Welcome Mike Cook, author of Thrive: Stand on Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World. It’s time to reexamine our relationship to work. Becoming independent and understanding your personal value is critical to working relationships. In a century we’ve gone from mostly self-employed to employed and heading back to self-employment with an education system that teaches us to shut up and do as we’re told.
10:03 Being a follower is based on the faulty logic that those we’re following know what they are doing. How do you take grown people who have been well trained to look at security first and turn them into self-starters?
16:00 Are you dependent on your evil overlords? You need to understand your personal value proposition. What is it YOU bring to the job that no one else does and why should they care? How do you bring it to their attention?
21:30 One of the challenges is that entrepeneurial thinking is so foreign and scary it’s hard to do. Have we been domesticated like cattle?
26:00 If Mike were to grab you by the lapels, here’s the one thing he’d tell you to do: Stop, look 5 years down the road and tell me if the story has a happy ending. If the answer isn’t fast and positive, you’d better change what you’re doing.
Mike’s Resources
Francis Fukuyama Trust
Authentic Conversations
Don’t forget you can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #198 Hip and Sage with Lisa Haneberg
Posted on 04. Jul, 2009 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel talks with Management Craft’s Lisa Haneberg about her new book, Hip and Sage. We also give a little love to Ning and King George the III. Let’s see how many Google/Bing searches have those two words in the same sentence. Always breaking new ground here…..
Lisa Haneberg retruns for yet more good conversation and laughs.
Don’t forget to get a copy of the Cranky Middle Manager book of quotes for your team or the manager who needs a laugh!
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show, gang. This is the show if you ever feel like you used to be good at the job and were once the smartest and/or youngest person in the room. Lisa Haneberg has a book for what ails you. Also, we dedicate the show to King George III of England. Give him a little love this July 4th.
3:06 The quote of the week is from Voltaire. Are you wiser, or just too old and tired to scandalize anyone?
4:50 You can join the Cranky Middle Manager family any number of ways. The word for this kind of contact by the way is tweetfacelinkblogging. It’s a verb. Look it up. Here’s how to reach me on ,Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, by the way.
5:30 Welcome back Lisa Haneberg, author of Hip and Sage: Staying Smart, Cool and Competitive in the Workplace. Ever feel like everyone knows stuff you don’t? You’re not alone. Getting old isn’t great, but there’s only one alternative and let’s assume that’s not an option. The biggest thing most of us have to deal with is how we communicate. Do we need to train the kids to communicate and tolerate meetings like us or do we have to think about what and how we talk to them?
8:47 What is hip? What is sage? Hip is being open to the possibilities of the new. Sage is the wisdom as a leader and how we use all that stuff we try. Here’s the good news, not everyone needs to Twitter. You all need to know what the heck it is. That’s the difference. Here’s my take on Twitter: watching what was going on with Iran was cool. There are also morons who don’t deserve to be part of the conversation.
12:57 Is texting and the rest dumbing down the language or evolving it? Should we complain about the bad spelling or concentrate on the content and speed? Should we teach people to endure bad meetings or quit holding useless meetings?
16:04 You can worry so much about not “wasting time” that we lose the human connections that make relationships work. One of the things that helps is sites like Ning. Two Ning sites you should check out:
The Employee Engagement Network
Seriously, check them out and learn the potential. If the company won’t pay for collaboration tools, these are free and they work.
Lisa says to ignore the IT department. She said it. I don’t want the lawsuits.
22:10 I wouldn’t admit it to Lisa but she’s my hero on this stuff. She tells us about a couple of other tools including RSS feeds and a cool site called Wetpaint.
Resources
Check out Tavis Smiley for his ability to ask great questions.
My New BNET Column on Managing Remotely
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by Wayne in General
I’m very excited to announce that today launched the first in my new monthly series of columns on BNET (okay, BNET UK).
The topic of remote management is becoming more and more prevalent, and i believe that it will be the number one new challenge (the old challenges haven’t changed since Adam and Eve met “did not meet expectations” on their first performance reviews) for managers.
Please check out the article here. I’d appreciate comments on the post, but more importantly let me know what topics you’d like to read about. What are YOUR challenges? What tools do you like? I’d especially like to know, what are the problems you see that your company just doesn’t seem to get but will bite them in the tush if they don’t get a grip on it?
Is interest in Webmeetings picking up? Here’s hoping…
Posted on 01. Jul, 2009 by Wayne in General
It’s been a crazy week already, and I’m amazed that in two days, two cool pieces of web-press have showcased the work we do at Greatwebmeetings.com
The first is from my buddy and Cranky Middle Manager guest Vince Thompson (hear his interview here) who interviewed me for the cool business site Smart Planet. (Click here to read the Cranky/Greatwebmeetings interview). Thanks Vince, and you have a great blog, although Pure Genius might be a tad overboard. I mean, if it’s about me it’s wildly inaccurate and if it’s about you, well seems a tad immodest, but what do I know?
The second is a recommendation on the Web Conferencing Council blog, where my book, 6 Weeks to a Great Webinar was named Book of the Month. Much thanks!