If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show, ni hao and all that good stuff.  Today we are talking about the future of education, and so we dedicate this episode to Alexander Semyonovich Feklisov who ran the spy network out of New York after the second world war.  Training adults is hard enough, imagine when it’s literally life and death. Also, he got less than his reward for political reasons, a lesson for us all.

4:55 The quote of the week is from Denis Diderot. 200 years ago he worried there were too many books to find the good stuff in…. imagine how he’d feel with the internet.

5:45 Welcome Professor Ken Starkey to the show. We spoke on the old Working Week podcast (click the link to hear that discussion). What is the mood in business schools today? Sounds like a lot of navel gazing and analysis is going on ….except when they think they can go back to business as usual. Did the way MBAs are taught lead to some of the economic crisis and bad behavior?

8:47 Is business necessarily “red of tooth and claw?” What’s the alternative? It seems the information was limited to formulas and data, not to leadership and ethics.

11:10 Is this an Anglo-Saxon mindset that got us in trouble? Genghis Khan and the Medicis weren’t WASPS. Certainly the US and UK caused most of the damage and other cultures have weathered the storm better.

13:07 there are three schools of thought as to the direction of business education: 1) B School is a servant of business and is the way it’s been the last 30 years, 2) Bschool has to face the implications of the crisis and deal with leadership, ethics and values and 3) somewhere in the middle. Is part of the problem with the way it’s been is treating business as education, rather than a “soft science”?

18:43 Does the cost of an MBA impact how people react to it and what they do with it? Is there a change coming in the need for an MBA or even what’s covered so that it won’t be as expensive?

21:00 If Ken had the magic wand, what would he envision the graduate education experience focus on? He’d add philosophy, sustainability and law. Lots of law. Is the function of business to be the agent of shareholders? Art and design would also be part of the curriculum. What should you look for in a B School?

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. No dedication today because i’m pressed for time. I’m also scared because i step inside the classroom today as a learner for the first time since about 1982. Yes, I’m trying to learn Mandarin for no other reason than I’ve always wanted to learn it and it’s time I did something for my brain.

3:48 The quote of the week is from Eugene S Wilson. Education is both a quest and a requirement. The quest part is infinitely more intriguing.

4:15 Welcome McKinsey Director Claudio Feser to the show. He’s the author of “Serial Innovators- Firms That Change The World”. Innovation is a crucial part of business, but most businesses don’t do it very well. In fact, the average life cycle of a firm is only 15 years. why?

9:45 How do best practices and systems become rigid and kill innovation? How can so many smart people do such dumb things?

13:41 Hierarchies aren’t bad in and of themselves, but some are better than others. It turns out that product or niche teams work better than functional silos.

17:12 So what about our personal rigidity? Why aren’t people better innovators? Some of it is our mental models and biases (the dreaded paradigm word). Some of the problem is a lack of “self-efficacy” or confidence. Why do smart people freeze in their tracks when trying something new?

24:03 Becoming a role model for confidence and innovation isn’t easy. It requires giving and receiving constant feedback and recognition. Nobody said this would be easy. There’s also some brain science behind this, and you know how this show loves brain science.

27:35 The main thing people have to do to innovate is to take our mind, heart and guts to work. It’s amazing what people can do when they actually care about more than their personal execution.

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Something a little different today. You’ll hear Byron the cockatiel in the background which leads to an assignment. Serious question for you: do people have different expectation of people who work from home than those in the office? Post to the blog, drop me an email or tweet me with your response.

5:45 From Eugene Delacroix-   what makes people geniuses isn’t necessarily saying something new, just trying to make what’s been said before make sense…..

6:45 Welcome Marshall Goldsmith back to the show. He was recently named to the Thinkers 50 as one of the top business thinkers in the world.  Modesty aside, he’s a pretty big deal in the field. What’s the connection between leadership and business? At the end of the day it’s about people and people are just people.

9:35  What was the idea of leadership when he entered the business and how did he get into coaching the most important people in the world? Oh, he gives a shoutout to Jim Kouzes who has been on this show before, most recently here.

12:15 Many of us think of “military leaders” but we don’t understand how the military really works. There’s a difference between the military and combat. The talk then turns to Peter Drucker. Do you know enough to tell your people what to do? Then wy do we do it?

14:30 Ever wonder how Marshall go to be “executive coach to the stars”? Here’s the story…And once again he explains why he’s not as surprised at their lunacy as the rest of us seem to be. He also explains why business does what business does and we ought to just get over it.

20:20 If people are going to be good leaders they need internal motivation, then they need a structure and process. We discuss what use training really is. This is worth a listen.

24:35 What’s the most useful structure or process we need to get ourselves in line? Marshall recommends just asking yourself active questions, instead of passive ones. this is also why Employee Engagement consulting is largely flawed and I agree wholeheartedly.

29:45 Shameless plug time. If you haven’t checked out his library of free resources do so . His Buddhism is a gift to you. He also says some very kind things about me and this show. Watch for this quote somewhere soon….

Resources

The Marshall Goldsmith Library

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Happy 2012 to you all and welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager Show. Today we’re going to take a look at re-energizing your leadership efforts and learning to love what you do again. To that end we dedicate the show to Luigi Aloyicis Lilius who proves that if he can create a calendar, so can you.

6:28 The quote of the week is from Alfred Lord Tennyson, and it’s a sappy but well-intentioned reminder that it’s all about starting fresh….on any day of the year. Seriously.

7:05 Welcome Steve Farber back to the show. Are you limping across the finish line? Let’s try to Re-Energize our attitudes. We need to occasionally take stock of where we are and what our real goals are. Just to remind you, LEAP stands for Love, Energy, Audacity and Proof.

11:05 Finding the love? Really? This blog post reminds us of how to find out, and remember, what we love about our jobs and our roles as leaders. No mushiness, just facts. Sometimes leading can be exhausting, but energy comes from within. Do you still have passion for your work and love for those you work with?

19:09 Try listing every aspect of your work…what do you like? What do you hate? Usually we’ll find one side outweighs the other. Steve puts on his Cranky hat and asks “can you be successful and still hate your job and what you do?” The answer is yes…. but it sucks.

22:00 Why are so many people fighting for the title of leader if they do it badly and aren’t happy doing it? There’s a difference between positional authority and leadership.

25:00 It might seem silly, but you might want to sign the Commitment to Extreme Leadership. And yes, I’ve signed it.  You can take control. Can you control the culture where you work? It’s a decision. Not an easy one, but a decision.

29:00 Steve is doing some interesting things to help the education system, particularly in the US. Do these principles apply only to business, or does it have implications in other areas as well? For every copy of the book that sells, a free copy will go to someone in education. So please buy a book.

Steve’s Resources

His Blog

The book

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes:

0:00 Today we’re talking presence- getting noticed so that you can actually get things done. To that end, no dedication, but I share with you a story that happened when I was 8… one that leads directly to this show.  Work on your dinosaur names, is all I can tell you here.

3:52 The quote of the week is from Albert Einstein. Short but sweet. The quote….not Einstein…..

4:15 Welcome Kristi Hedges to the show. Today we’re talking about presence…. why do some people have it and why don’t others have it? And what is it? Why does it matter at work?

7:00 Why is this so important? It’s all about influence… if you’re not noticed it’s hard to get anything done.

9:44 Is there a correlation between presence and being a natural extrovert? Can introverts learn to have an “executive presence”?

13:45 You can build your presence by being Intentional, Individual and Inspirational. Are you aware of what you’re doing or thinking at any given time? The thoughts and doubts we carry show up on our face and are obvious to others. What’s your attitude going in? What’s your “swing thought”?

16:00 Trust is key to building relationships. We form trust through crediblity, reliability, intimacy and self-0rientation. And then there’s being inspirational. Does that mean you have to be the shiny object at the front of the parade? Some of it is the language you use. Kristi gives us a great example.

19:25 Let’s face it, good looking people have an advantage in creating a positive presence. Seems patently unfair to me. Still, let’s work with what we have. Are you a Mitt Romney or a Ron Paul?

23:00 Can you establish presence when you’re not even presence? How can you establish an online presence? She gives some very concrete examples. Take notes.

Kristi’s Resources.

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we talk to someone who used to be one of my biggest competitors when I was gainfully employed at Communispond, but he’s a very smart guy. Ben Decker puts out an annual list of the best and worst communicators of the year. To that end we dedicate this episode to Alexander the Great who managed to convince his soldiers to keep going, long past the time they should have headed home.

4:45 The quote of the week is from Francois de la Rochefoucauld, who we’ve discussed before here. The untrained speaker with passion will still beat the slick guy without it. Just saying.

5:45 If you want a list of The Best and Worst Communicators of 2011, you can get it here.  The top of the list is Steve Jobs, less for his style (which many try to copy, few successfully) but for his passion and ability to tell a story.

10:54 Another person on the list is Chris Anderson, the brains behind Ted Talks. Also included is Virginia Rometty, CEO of IBM for her ability to use her “SHARPS” (Stories,Humor, Analogies, References, Pictures).

14:34 Why do communication and presentation skills matter so much when we do less formal presenting. What if you never speak at a conference or to senior execs? And don’t tick Ben off …..

17:20 I reveal one of Ben’s secrets…. he’s flailing around as he talks to us. Oh, and lighten up while you’re at it.

19:15 What do the worst communicators on the list have in common? It has nothing to do with “presentation skills”, it has a lot to do with authenticity and trust. No matter how slick you are, do you believe what you’re saying? Why should we believe you?

23:40 Do you play defense when you present? Are you more worried about the possible response than you are about communicating your vision? Ben has some advice….

Ben’s Resources

The Decker Communications Blog

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the TheConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00  Welcome to the show. Today we are talking about something that very few people outside of the training world talk about. I am talking , of course, about the training world which gets no love until someone needs them or they ask for things like budgets.  To this end we dedicate our show to someone who understood the thankless task, Nicolaus of Damascus. Being the tutor for Cleopatra’s kids must have been a pain in the asp. Yes I said it. Deal.

5:00 The quote of the week is from John Churton Collins. We all know it’s better to give than to receive but I’m not sure that applies to learning and advice.

5:50 Welcome back Ajay Pangarkar to the show. He’s the CEO of CentralKnowledge and someone who has been with us before. (Hear an earlier conversation here).  He’s asking some hard questions about how the effectiveness of training is measured. How is ROI measured as a rule? Warning…we geek out on financial terms but stick with us. It matters because it comes out of someone’s budget. Nothing good comes when you ask for a part of  someone’s budget.

9:33 How come you can invest in machinery and get a tax break but you can’t invest in people without getting arrested? The accounting gets real ugly, real quick. Training works the same way as marketing.

12:45 Training and HR people know this but we introduce you to Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels of Evaluation.  Now you’ll know what the nice lady in HR is talking about….. you’re welcome. The point is, you can’t show dollar value as much as you can show alignment with your company’s strategy.

17:50 Here’s how to have a real conversation between line managers and training. Start with the end in mind instead of the name of a program. Maybe it’s time you knew some of the pressures training people are under. Be nice to them. Also, get out your calculators for some formulas.

26:00 Ajay and I will both be speaking at the ASTD TechKnowledge 2012 conference in Las Vegas in January. Will you be there? Let us know!

Ajay’s resources

Ajay’s blog

Order his books from Wiley.com and save 15% by using the code  TMW11

&

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Hello and welcome to the 305th Cranky Middle Manager show. Scott Ginsberg’s new book is The Nametag Principle, Today we are talking with someone who took a silly gimmick and made it his life’s work. This might sound strange but have you ever done anything weird just to make a point? And THAT leads us to Lady Godiva. Trust me, it makes sense.

5:00 The quote of the week is actually from the Gospel of St Thomas…. which you may or may not have heard of… but have you ever written a report that didn’t make the final version? Do you bring forth what’s inside you? Can you help others bring forth what’s inside them? Just askin’

6:10 Welcome “Nametag” Scott Ginsberg to the program. What started as a desperate attempt to meet girls in college has turned into a decade-long social experiment. What can managers learn from some schlub wearing a nametag all day? Approachability matters.

8:13 Why are managers often seen as unapproachable even though we’re good human beings? It’s all in what people see and perceive and so much to do with the messages (tacit and explicit) that we send. What’s the first word out of your mouth?

11:32 Does being approachable mean you have to be available 24/7 and never get your own work done? How to set boundaries without cutting people off completely.

13:42 What’s the role of humor in being approachable? Why do so many of us fear being lighthearted about serious work? We also discuss Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy.Never say you don’t learn anything on this show.

15:46 Part of being an approachable leader is leaving people better than they were before they communicated with you. Do they feel smarter? More appreciated? Relieved? Beaten to a bloody pulp? Do you leave them disturbed? That might actually be a good thing.

18:44 It sounds like we’re doing all the giving. What do managers need to stop doing? We need to stop making people feel important, we need to make them feel essential. The difference matters. We also discuss the difference between empathy and owning other people’s feelings.

22:44 How do you help your team approach each other on meetings and at work? Why do you always hear from the same people, and how can you help your introverts and polite types get their point across? Why are the ones coming to you are the ones you least want to hear from?

25:10 The key to approachability is to be proactive, and it’s hard. What ritual can you build into your routine?

26:10 Believe it or not, the book, The Nametag Principle- 366 Daily Practices to Make Your Brand More Engaged, More Joinable, More Human and More Approachable is your COMPLETELY FREE. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EBOOK AT NO COST TO YOU

Scott also suggests you check out Rajesh Setty’s blog

You can also check out Rajesh Setty on The Cranky Middle Manager

Show 200- staying upbeat

Show 44 Personal Branding

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 No matter how you say hello, howdy.Today we’re talking about being plugged in, which is more about human connections than technology. To that end we dedicate the show to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, warlord and spymaster, but not a samurai. He reminds us that every job that doesn’t end in voluntary retirement ends in firing or death. Just saying.

4:12 The quote of the week is from John Locke (who you can read about in my first book, A Philistine’s Journal). A tough read but a very smart guy. Who are you plugged into? Does it make you smarter?

5:02 Welcome Terri Griffith, author of “The Plugged-In Manager: Get in Tune With Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive”. Aren’t we already over-connected and too plugged in? Connection and plugging in isn’t about technology alone.

8:09 How do you plug in to the organization? How can managers be properly connected to their employers?What about companies that don’t make it easy to connect to it?

13:20 The three practices of the plugged-in manager are: Stop- look- listen, Mixing, and Sharing. First of all, you have to take stock of where you, your company, your employees and your customers actually are. Be a little reflective before buying the latest toys. What are you trying to do, and what do you have at your disposal?

18:26 Most of us do a pretty bad job of gathering and sharing information. It’s not that we’re not willing to share, we just don’t do it proactively. Terri uses the concept of “thinking out loud”, and finding ways to share those thoughts. Terri shares the idea of the Management Innovation Exchange. Click here to learn more.

22:34 I learn about the concept of the “Hackathon”. The trick is that it uses technology but requires really good human facilitation. How are your skills in that area?

27:34  Terri’s Resources

Her blog www.thepluggedinmanager.com

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show notes:

0:00 Welcome to the show. I have to apologize for mangling the pronunciation of Yael’s name. It’s kind of a metaphor for the kind of thing that happens in this cross cultural, international, remote workplace so let’s make lemonade out of lemons and learn something.

3:12 The quote of the week is from Henri Poincare who was so smart it was just basically showing off. Doubt and belief are both a problem, especially when you’re remote from the evidence.

4:00 Forgive the mispronunciation. First, let’s start with.. how did we get so far down the road to virtual teams with organizations doing such a lousy job of preparing managers to work that way.

8:22 What are some of the challenges for managers? Much of it involves creating and defining context. It is also very difficult to establish trust and accountability.

11:00 Email is the least effective form of communication, and yet it’s the way we communicate most. What’s the alternative? Try actually , you know, talking. There’s also the whole “virtual-in-person” approach like web conferencing and video.

15:37 What do you do when team members don’t deal with each other well? They often connect to the manager but don’t work together. The role of the leader is not to do everything for everyone. You have to get the team to work for each other.

19:09 Asynchronous sharing is a great idea, but what do you do when you can’t get people to use the tools? Help the team set up protocols that they will build together. That helps build accountability and social interaction. These types of interactions don’t happen organically. You have to build it consciously. Don’t underestimate the power of birthdays.

25:34 What about conflict? How does working remotely impact conflict resolution? There are 4 different types of conflicts: performance conflict, identity conflict, data conflict, and social conflict. You need to understand what you’re dealing with in order to turn lemons into lemonade.

Yael’s Resources

Her blog is a great start

She’s also on Twitter and Facebook

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today has me thinking all about all the wailing and gnashing of teeth we see when it comes to young people in the workforce. Do they have a different work ethic than we do? Whose fault is that? Forgive the lack of a dedication, but I’ve been doing some serious navel-gazing this week on this topic.

5:01 The quote of the week is from President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. Yes, hard work is rewarding, but is that idea driven entirely within ourselves? Are there external factors, and regardless of what the new hire looks like coming through the door, it’s our job to teach them.

6:10 Welcome Eric Chester to the show. What is he finding in the workplace that is so different from what we experienced entering the workforce?  How is this any different than every generation complaining about “those darned kids”? Here’s a question I should have asked and didn’t: maybe they just can’t be bothered training them properly- huh?

10:10 So what is it about the new workers that drives employers crazy? Time, appearance and professional behavior (whatever that is to you) lead the list. Here’s a typical example…if they call in sick, are they really sick or just can’t be bothered?

14:05 Here’s a great definition of “work ethic”: knowing what you’re supposed to do and doing it. There are 7 things that he calls “sandbox values” that are universal: Smile and be polite, be prompt, look your best, do your best, tell the truth, obey the rules, say please and thank you.

17:27 Okay, so we’ve inherited these people. What do we do now? As managers and leaders, what can we do to help develop these habits?  Anger is based on disappointed expectations. What do you expect? Do they know that?

21:00 It’s up to us to help teach, not just skills, but attitudes and behaviors.  Let’s just say (if you’re anal-retentive like me) promptness is a key virtue.  Chewing them out is not the best option. Help them understand why this attribute matters. Set the expectation and explain why it matters. It starts with the job interview.

25:20 I reveal my one shining moment in parenting on this topic. Ask your kid if they know why people are interested in hiring them? I can only hope Her Serene Highness believes me. Sometimes it takes more than that, though. Drat.

28:30 Don’t have time to go into them, but Eric has 5 strategies to help get the message across: 1) find your style 2) develop trust 3) value tact and timing 4) tell stories and 5) cast a vision. And the greatest of these is developing trust…

Eric’s Resources

Revivingworkethic.com

The book is available for Pre-Order at RevivingWorkEthic.com

Jim Collins site

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to another episode of The Cranky Middle Manager. Today we are talking about the need to make sure we’re okay in the midst of all the craziness. Today we come dangerously close to the old fashioned motivational speech. No dedication today, I go on a small rant about motivational speakers, and tell the very common story that actually motivates me, embarrassing as it is. Here’s hoping you can find a pony in the pile of….. piled stuff.

5:55  The quote of the week is from Peter Drucker…. yes, it sounds cliche but attitude is everything, because the facts remain the same. It’s all in how you adjust to it.

6:35 Thanks to last week’s guest, Bob Burg, we got a chance to interview one of the really big shots in the professional speaking world, Mark Sanborn. He’s the author of “Up, Down and Sideways- How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad, or in Between”.  After years of experience, there’s one question people ask that usually fires him up: “What are the 3-4 things he does every day to ensure his success?”  This is probably something we need to talk about since it’s so weird out there.

9:46 You can’t tell if you’re successful unless you keep score, but who’s score card do you use. We talk about the “4 Rs” that most people use: Results, Rewards, Recreation and Relationships. And the greatest of these is ……

18:10 Is there a pony in your pile ? (See,this is why I told the story) How can you build optimism? It turns out there’s a great deal of neuroscience around this. Oh, and optimism is NOT denial. It’s being informed AND inspired.

21:45 If you’re listening to this, you probably are a firm believer in the “Learner’s Leverage”.  Are you learning all the time? And then, of course do you actually take action on what you’ve learned?

23:45 Do you know your value? Value is not just what you do but what it actually means to someone, whether it’s your boss or your spouse? Have you ever really asked?

Mark’s Resources

www.marksanborn.com

www.sallyhogshead.com

www.JoeCalloway.com

www.larrywinget.com

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the 300th edition of the show. If you can’t find something to like in 150 hours of interviews, well we’re both doing something wrong. Today we dedicate the show to Pandora. Despite delivering all manner of evil to the world, there’s always hope. Somewhere in there is a metaphor, people.

5:44 The quote of the week is from Oscar Wilde, who said it in a much snippier, snootier way than I do. Selfishness isn’t doing what you want….it’s assuming everyone else wants what you want. Did we mention it’s not about you?

6:30 Welcome Bob Burg back to the show. If you’re the boss, and you want to get stuff done, it’s about you….. or is it? This is not to say that you have to be a martyr or doormat. Putting others first is a good way to build relationships and hit your goals. Of course, you have to actually care.

9:40 We all have to persuade people, and being right has nothing to do with out arguing the other person and being right means nothing. What we’re talking about here is influencing skills.You need to make your reason, their reason.

11:14  The first thing to do is respond, rather than react. Then understand their motivation. Why do they think what they think? Why don’t they just get on board? You have to walk in their shoes.

13:03 We attribute people’s resistance to things and attitudes that might not be true. (Warning, use of paradigm occurs here).   This doesn’t mean you agree with them, only that you’ve heard them and respect their opinion.

16:00 Do you really know what you have to offer? Why should they do what you want? The overused acronym is WIIFM, What’s in it for me? Of course, what do you do when the only thing in it is “be glad you have a job”?

18:41  Bob’s five keys for legendary leadership:

• Hold the vision
• Build your people
• Do the work
• Stand for something
• Share the mantle

Bob’s resources

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome one and all. Today we’re talking about a book that uses piloting aircraft as its central metaphor. For that reason we salute Chesley Sullenberger. He’s the pilot that landed in the Hudson river. What’s so amazing is that everyone is so amazed by what he did….and he’s not. Nor should he be, and there’s a lesson there for all of us. When did competence and leadership become something besides our default position?

5:15  The quote of the week is from the over-rated but often right Antoine de Sainte-Exupery. Are you assigning tasks or painting a vision for your team?

6:00 Welcome Betty Shotton to the show. Pilot, entrepeneur, and author of “Liftoff Leadership, 10 Principles For Exceptional Leadership“.  Leaders have a significant influence on the lives of the people they lead. Feeling the pressure yet? Isn’t it enough to just get the work done?

12:00 There are a number of questions we have to ask ourselves before we can get on with the job of leading others. Who are you? What gives meaning to your work, your life and your actions? If you don’t know this, you have no basis for your actions going forward.

16:00 Betty has listed 10 components of leadership (as all consultants do), but the one that stands out is courage. Betty talks about why courage matters, but more importantly, how you can build and strengthen it. This is a new look.

18:20 Leading is fine, but what do you do when someone doesn’t want to follow? Courage is a big part. Betty is also a big believer in at some point telliing them to get on board or letting them go if they can’t.

25:52 One thing Betty wants you to take away is that who you are as a leader has great impact on those who follow you. People are watching and using you as an example..be aware of what they’re seeing.

Betty’s Resources

www.liftoffleadership.com

Marshall Goldsmith’s blog

John Maxwell’s blog

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

If you manage remote teams, don’t forget to check out the ConnectedManager.com blog. New content twice a week!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show.  Today we are talking about the notion that the much-sought-after “worklife balance” is, in fact, a big honkin’ hoax. But if it doesn’t exist, what takes its place? For that we dedicate this episode to Abraham Lincoln  and his cottage. He understood that getting away is sometimes necessary, even if circumstances don’t work out so well in the long run.

3:36 the quote of the week is from DH Lawrence, who knew a thing or two about passion.

4:15 Jon Gordon is the author of The Seed, Finding Purpose and Happiness in Life and Work. We all seek work-life balance, but Jon claims it’s a myth. What’s that about? Turns out what you need is rhythm. There are times when you need to be flat-out involved in work, but there are seasons when things slow down and you need to grab those.

8:30 Okay, when you’re a farmer the seasons are pretty clearly defined. What about the modern workplace where there are no such things as “off-seasons”. How realistic is this?

11:15 The secret to being energized at work are passion and purpose. Without those, it just becomes a drain. With it, you can recognize the meaningful in the mundane.What’s your “why?”.  Do you sell mortgages or save marriages?

13:32 How does the move from individual contributor to manager impact your purpose and passion?

18:15 Why do managers, especially in North America, get trapped into not taking advantage of our vacation and down time. Do you stay out of guilt? Out of fear?

21:50 When you are passionate and purposeful about your work, you’ll actually enjoy the hard work. Do you put that much effort and passion into the non-work time? You’ll hear how Dancing With the Stars is a small sacrifice to keep my marriage alive.

Jon’s Resources

visit his blog at www.jongordon.com

Guy Kawasaki’s blog

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.

Show notes

0:00 Today we attempt to answer the question: What’s going on in the brains of those who are often hardest to lead- the SLUGs. Psychological testing isn’t new, just ask our dedicatee Gideon.

4:02 The quote of the week is from John Milton. Reality is a construct, and we can choose to make it , fake it or break it.

4:46 Welcome my buddy Dr Ellen Weber back to the show. It’s hard sometimes to manage by the book when the other people haven’t read the same book. We often wonder what’s going on in the brains of those we struggle to work well with. These are the SLUGs…. and that stands for something very specific: Slow to change, Lack vision, Unaware of others and Gridlocked due to bad tone.

8:49 Today’s important term: Basal Ganglia. It’s where we store all our “baggage” and it doesn’t like things that don’t fit their view of the world. It’s why “best practices” can be  a vicious trap.

11:39 Now we’re looking at our Working Memory. Dopamine plays a big part in using this to drive change.

14:57 Getting specific examples can be a bit of work, but we talk about getting people to engage and help drive change in the Academic world.The trick seems to be identify what they hate about the status quo, and get them to change that one thing.  She also tells a story about a union shop that was full of tension.

19:56 “What the hell are you thinking?” shouldn’t be a rhetorical question. Serotonin plays a big part in forgiveness. Can you work differently with someone if you can’t forgive them? We talk mind-guiding.

22:20 The conversation takes an unexpected turn. Ellen discusses the suicide of social media guru Trey Pennington, and how depression impacts our brains and the way we work. Are you aware of what’s going on with your people?

24:35 Here’s the takeaway. Serotonin can be created and manipulated. As Milton said earlier in the show, the reality is what you make of it and help others create for themselves. Cynics relate cortisol which can be bad news.

27:09 How does working remotely impact our ability to create these positive relationships. Do you “speak and feel heard”? We also go back to Pennington’s death and question the ability to pick up signals remotely. You don’t have to be remote to be ignorant of what’s happening?

Ellen’s resources

Her past Cranky appearance

Brain Leaders and Learners Blog

Follow her on Twitter @ellenfweber

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.

Show notes

0:00  Welcome to the show. No dedication this week, just too much going on. Still, if the way we normally get paid doesn’t work very well, what should replace it? Could the sales weasels actually be onto something? No answers, just lots of good questions this week.

4:12 The quote of the week is from Aristotle, a guy with maybe the most bulletproof resume ever. Are the rewards you’re earning reflective of your quality??? Well, chew on that for a while.

5:15 There’s a lot of talk these days about “pay for performance” (well, mostly from finance people). Why is it such a hot topic? Dave Wentworth from  I4CP.com is the author of a new report (you can download it here) on what works and what doesn’t. How is it different from Commissions or Profit Sharing?

7:55 The old models don’t work, but is pay for performance any better? The dance gets old and we’re just going through the motions of performance review and management.  A good pay for performance strategy gives people something to work for throughout the year.

11:00 The secret to a good pay for performance model is the metrics. What’s valuable to your company? How do you prove you can do it?

16:45 Many pay for performance schemes aren’t perfect, and some go horribly wrong. Are the goals even achievable? Are they within your control? If you can’t control it, can you be held accountable?

18:46 There are benefits if you can get this right. Engagement goes up, overall performance goes up and stays up. In high performing organizations, it’s seen as a reward and recognition effort. In low performing organizations, it’s seen as a financial measure. There’s a big difference.

21:00 What’s the line manager’s role in pay for performance vs traditional cultures? We are the key, I’m afraid.

26:00 How do you go about having the internal conversation about moving to a pay for performance model? It all starts with having your numbers ready. What are the metrics, outcomes and financials that make your case?

Dave’s Resources

Institute for Corporate Productivity (I4CP.com and I pronounced it wrong on the show, it’s an I not a number 1)

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.

Show notes

0:00 Welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager Show, one and all. Today we dedicate this episode to Sir John Barrow who knew a thing or two about exploring new territory, managing projects and managing without WebEx. Also we look at a Greek stoic and why managing managers is a whole new ball game.

4:01 Our quote of the week is from Epictetus. I love this guy, I wrote about him in my first book A Philistine’s Journal-an Average Guy Tackles the Classics. Anyway, not specific to today’s topic, but if you’re so darned smart, why bother learning and growing?

5:00 Why don’t they hand you a better manual when you start a new gig? They’re real good at telling you about badge security, but not so much about being a leader. When leaders start, they tend to be a bit more confused than we like to cop to.

7:48 Most leaders get a honeymoon period, but how do you make the most of it? A great reason is to avoid jumping straight into the work and introduce yourself around to your peers, colleagues and employees. Don’t wait for a crisis to connect to the people you’ll depend on.

12:04 You often need to introduce yourself….or often RE-introduce yourself. Now’s the time to create your reputation before others do it for you. Oh, and we almost cause a stock market crisis.

14:06 How do you get started in a new role? What are the things we should do to get some quick wins? You need to find out the expectations of your team. What’s your group’s real earned reputation? Odds are it’s not what you were told during the interview.

17:55 We often inherit old metrics for new situations. How do you create a set of metrics that let you actually measure what’s important? What are the things you all agree on that are good signals to watch out for?

21:35 Without getting all paranoid, do you really understand the risks involved in this job? We are not talking obsessing, we are talking risk management.

24:54  As you get past your first project management or supervisor job, you start to manage managers. This is a different gig entirely. How do you measure and coach vaporware? Avoid “surrogate metrics” like activities and participation in meetings. You need to check on whether they set direction, take action and hit the mark. You want them doing leadership, not the actual individual contributor’s work.

Pam’s Resources

www.ideashape.com (her website)

Harvard Business Review
S+B Magazine

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00  Today we dedicate this show to Kemankes Mustafa Pasha who knew a thing or two about building trust…and how hard that is to transfer to the next boss. If you’ve ever had absolute trust from one manager and none at all from the next you can identify. And even your worst boss hasn’t had you beheaded (yet).

4:07 The quote of the week is from Isaac Watts, a hymn writer who knew a thing or two about how hard it was to trust.  It ain’t easy, but according to today’s guest it can be done.

5:00 Welcome David Horsager to the show. He’s the author of “The Trust Edge-How top Leaders Gain Faster Results, Deeper Relationships, and a Stronger Bottom Line”   So what is trust, exactly? Maybe it’s not as soft and mushy as we thought.  Does the bottom line matter as much to managers as the human relationships do?

8:45 According to Horsager, there are 8 pillars of trust (and we won’t get to all of them)

1. Clarity
2. Competency
3. Compassion
4. Connection
5. Commitment
6. Contribution
7. Character
8. Consistency

12:37 Trust is measured by time and depth…it’s hard to get deep trust without exposure over time. He gives some great examples.

15:32 Are you a naturally trusting person or not? I’ve got scars to show it ain’t always the smart move, but says something good about me. I hope.

17:18 When you take over a new team, the first step to building trust is to be really clear about what you want, what people can expect and what you expect from them. Do you really know?

19:14 Working remotely hasn’t made trust any easier. How do we go about making that work better? (You can read more on www.theconnectedmanager.com).  In person still works best…. get the finance weasels to spring for it. You need to communicate even more than usual. This sometimes bumps up against our natural tendencies. Innocent actions can be misconstrued, just ask some of the people who used to work for me.

24:15 How do you rebuild trust once it’s broken? You’ll never rebuild trust unless you can make and keep a commitment.

David’s Resources

His blog

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me a line for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking about doing the best you can with the people you have on your team. As exhibit A, we present Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the OK Corral. Let’s face it, if you were staring down the most dangerous people in town, would you choose your brothers and an alcoholic dentist with tuberculosis as backup? Probably not, but we make the most of the hand we’re dealt. That’s what being a manager is.

4:30 The Quote of the Week is from Marcus Aurelius.… you can be stoic, or you can recognize the reality of the situation. it seems like asking for both is a bit of an overreach.

5:43 Welcome Sean O’Neil to the show.  Why isn’t this a standard, politically correct , very polite management book? Because real life doesn’t work that way all the time.

8:15  The world is not a Harvard Business Review case study. We have to play the hand we’re dealt. Many managers don’t realize going in that not everyone has the same work ethic or skillset you did when you had that job.

11:24 We are told that if we did all the good employee engagement “stuff”, all will be well with the world. The reality is sometimes colder than that.

13:28 One of the heresies in the book is the idea that blanket one-size-fits-all rules just don’t work all that well.

16:00 When dealing with Superstars, it’s important that they understand everything you do for them. This is an interesting notion. The Badass might be a superstar or not…. they certainly act like one.

20:00  Every team has the “Steady Eddie”….not superstars, not problems, they just show up and get the work done. You have to realize what they bring to the party and use them as a stalking horse. The problem is that they aren’t spectacular and often get ignored.

22:00 I am an “ADHD Butterfly”…. Sean explains how he’d manage the likes of me. We also discuss how your personal style impacts your ability to work with others.

Sean’s Resources

The Bare Knuckle Blog

www.theconnectedmanager.com

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me aline for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to today’s show. Asking for what we want is complicated and messy. Sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t and sometimes we get it but it’s way more trouble than it should be, which is why we dedicate this to the awful, spiteful Glinda the Good Witch of the North from the Wizard of Oz. Ahhhh, if only Dorothy had been clear about what she wanted.

2:46 Today is the launch of our new blog, www.theconnectedmanager.com. This continues the work we were doing over at BNET on managing remote teams, using technology to communicate and working virtually. Please take a read, subscribe and share it with your team and colleagues. Thanks to www.management-issues.com for giving us our new home.

3:59 Today’s quote of the week is from Mahatma Gandhi (who says we don’t have a higher calling here?). Ask for what you want and odds are the universe will be more cooperative than IT in granting it.

4:39 We’re talking to John Baker, creator of The Asking Formula. Yes, a formula…because we don’t do this very well when left to our own devices.  Why not? Turns out we’re human….who knew? Because we can’t rely on the brute force of threats to get what we want, discretionary mindshare is the key now. Influence over demands.

7:19 When does communication become information overload? Very often we give people information and assume they understand the call to action. It ain’t true. We need to keep it short and focused. Maybe we’re just playing defense. Don’t leave clues, give them answers.

11:55 When we fear rejection, our brains freak out. Learn the biology here.

14:02 You know that you have to ask for what you want. As a manager this is doubly true. So why don’t we just ask and why do we do it so badly? There is a three step formula for making requests.

• Define your goal or your “ask”. What one thing do you really want?
• Ask for it. Clearly, up front, just come out and ask for it. Start the conversation with the words, “I am asking for…”
• Understand their point of view and give them the three best reasons they should give you what they want.

18:32 Here’s a tricky part. Once you’ve told them what you want, end the sentence with a period, not a question mark. Then give them 3 reasons from their point of view. Quote them verbatim if possible. 3 is kind of a magic number.

23:40 You’ve asked for what you want, you’ve given people 3 reasons, now shut up! Stop talking and wait for their response.

24:50 So what if you ask and the answer’s no?

John’s resources

Theaskingformula.com blog and site.

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me aline for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to a different kind of Cranky show. All my listeners are competent terrific people, but we all have or will screw things up royally at some point. Does it have to be the end of your career? Not always. You can take heart…or forever despair depending on your attitude from the lesson of Sir Douglas Haig, leader of British forces in WWI and the Battle of Passchendaele. To this day this makes me furious but there are statues of Haig still standing which should kind of make the point of this show.

4:45  Join  us starting August 8 for our new blog, www.theconnectedmanager.com which will be twice a week hints, new and tips for managing remote teams, presenting online and keeping connected to your people no matter where they are in the world.

5:30The quote of the week is from silent screen actress Mary Pickford, so although she said it, odds are good you have never heard it. Failure is not in doing something wrong, it’s what happens afterwards that counts.

6:35 Welcome Larry Kelley to the show. He’s an advertising professor when he’s not listening to this show and this will be an honest and slightly uncomfortable conversation, to be sure.  There aren’t a lot of books out there that talk about how to recover from a horrible mess. It’s all about self preservation. Not terribly honorable, perhaps, but true nonetheless.

10:45 Is there a difference between an honest mistake and a screwup? It’s mostly a matter of scale and it’s your fault.

12:40 If you do mess up, either deny it or don’t. Vehemence may not be honorable but does buy you some time to get your feet back under you. Congressman Anthony Weiner is a great example of this. But can you deny something you know you did? Do you want to feel good about yourself or do you want to survive? That’s not a rhetorical question.

16:40 Weasels get a bad rap on this show, but they do serve a purpose. Deadlines and budgets are always unreasonable, make that work for you.

17:30 Let’s face it, the best thing to do is to come clean. This may be the first time in podcast  history that Richard Nixon has been used as a child-raising tool. Horrifying but true.

19:30 How would Larry deal with a mistake of biblical proportion? Listen and learn. We also discuss the difference between blame and responsibility? Sometimes just helping people learn who to blame (you!) is the most helpful thing you can do.

22:19 So how do you move forward? How do you tell your next employer that you messed up? We also discuss the options between sticking it out and taking the Japanese face-saving option. Odds are the sun will, in fact, rise.

27:50 What about the morning after? How do you rebuild trust in you? You screwed up, you are NOT a screwup. (Although you will forever be known as that guy).

Don’t forget our new The Connected Manager Blog starting August 8th!

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me aline for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome everyone to the show. Today we talk about why HR hates managers. What do we do that drive these nice people crazy? A lot of it has to do with unintended consequences which brings us to Lieutenant General Henry Shrapnel. Sometimes you solve one problem only to create another. Kind of like what HR does….

3:12 Watch for our new TheConnectedManager blog which will replace our BNET column starting next month. Please follow it and tell your friends.

5:29 Every once in a while you need a little Friedrich Nietzsche in your life. Madness is rare in individuals..but inlarge organizations it’s the rule. Live with it. Maybe even get a little evil.

6:15 Okay, why does HR hate us? Suzanne Lucas is better known to many as The Evil HR Lady.  Everyone talks about why we hate HR, but in the dark night of their souls, why does HR seem to hate managers?  Are you just a lawsuit waiting to happen?

10:10 Managers often make poor decisions that reflect on the company. We hear a couple of horror stories, including a pregant sales person whose main defense was: someone else is worse. Does it feel like everything you want to do seem to violate some other rule? Suzanne never wants to work in California, but then nobody works in California these days…

13:03 For international companies, HR is a swirling nightmare of regulations.

14:45 One of the big challenges for managers is hiring the right person. We make decisions that take 30 seconds and then suffer the consequences for years. Hell, if not for bad snap judgments I’d have never been hired. We talk hiring.

20:00  Okay, let’s get down to performance reviews and why they are painful for all involved. Suzanne defends them as the only way some managers (not you of course) give any kind of documented feedback. Beware of “malicious compliance”.

25:00 What about training and developing your people and yourselves? Companies tend to perform task experts to management jobs. Communication and coaching skills are critical. Can you actually create SMART objectives? How’s your project management skills?

29:20 How does remote working change how we think about management? Results Oriented Work Environments (ROWE) are the answer in her mind.

Suzanne’s Links

Her BNET Blog, The Evil HR Lady

Jon Hyman  Ohioemployerslawblog.com

Donna Ballman at screwyouguysimgoinghome

Allison Green Askamanager.org

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Cranky listeners get a 10% discount on this webinar workshop: “How to Lead Effective Virtual Meetings”, September 29th. Register on the site or drop me aline for discounts and details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking information overload, something every one of us suffers from. We dedicate this episode to someone who knew how to get his arms around all that information (Emperor Constantine 1 and the Council of Nicaea) as well as some of the unfortunate results of compromising on solutions (quick, when’s Easter?).

5:00 TS Eliot is our quote of the week, and he sums up the problem exactly. Too much information and not enough knowledge.

5:45 Do you know anyone who isn’t suffering from information overload?  Maybe it’s too much of a good thing, but it takes up to 25% of our day and costs companies in the US 997 Billion Dollars a year. If you can’t figure out what’s really in front of you, you can’t make decision or take good actions.

9:09 What are the kinds of things that result from overload? Wasted search time, interruptions, correcting mistakes, rework….the list is long and would be too much information.

11:30 The problem isn’t not enough information, it’s too much and no way to tell good from bad. How do you sort information effectively? We get tips for getting better search results.

16:50 People resort to some crazy solutions to handle the overload. One company actually removed the “reply all” button from its email…..

20:50 how the heck do we actually regain our ability to focus? We only leave ourselves 5% of our day to think and reflect.

23:00 What are some of the tips for overcoming information overload? Get a handle on your email and you’ll go a long way to getting some of your life back. Value your colleague’s time and think before sending anything.

27:35 If you want to contribute your own stories and tips, visit Jonathan at OverloadStories.com.

Try reading something that has nothing to do with work for once.

Watch a trailer for the book on YouTube

The Information Overload Research Group (which includes Dave Crenshaw.You can hear his cranky show here)

Do you like the quote of the week? Buy this book and support the show!

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to episode 288. Today we’re going to tackle an uncomfortable subject–why being the best at something doesn’t guarantee success. It takes a lot of work and things other than great execution. As proof we offer our dedication this week to Nikola Tesla. Being right and having the best product or solution doesn’t mean you’ll win. Edison won, even if it took executing kittens to do so.

4:45 Today’s quote is from the Roman poet Horace. We’re not saying excellent performance isn’t important, it’s just not the only thing. You still have to be kind of good at what you do.

5:15 Welcome Colin Price to the show. He and Scott Keller have written a book that says plenty of companies are good at what they do and still crash and burn. What’ probably more important is “organizational wellness” which includes things like Alignment, Execution (speed) and Renewal.

10:05 A good example of a company that was doing really well is Atari. Remember them?

11:23 Alignment is really tough. The problem , it would appear, is human beings.  Ask the people in your company the company’s 10 top priorities. The results might be enlightening….and terrifying.

13:22 When we talk about company “mindset”, exactly what the heck are we talking about. Some people call it belief, paradigms, culture. It’s just the way stuff works in your organization. They are both liberating and dangerous.

15:45 The 4 “levers” to adjust company mindset are: a compelling story, consistent systems and processes, skills and capabilities, and the behavior of the leaders.

19:45 It turns out that of those 4, the role modeling of desired behaviors has the strongest correlation to results. In other words, leaders have to walk the talk. If you do that, you’re well on your way. 3 times more likely to succeed in fact.

22:27 This might sound self-serving, but learning, development and training really matters to organizational success. Colin breaks it into two parts: “training” and things you learn on the job itself. On the job training and does it allow you to get smarter as you go has twice the impact of sitting in a classroom. Do both and you are 6X more likely to succeed.

25:24 This is a fascinating discussion about how organization health reflects stock price and long-term success.

Colin’s resources

Gary Hamel

Bob Sutton (you can hear his Cranky interview here)

If you’re going to use WebEx, GoToMeeting or any of those tools, don’t you want to use them well? At GreatWebMeetings.com we teach you the skills to present, sell, train or manage your team using web presentation tools. We offer programs in How to Create and Manage Remote Teams, Web Presentation Basics and Leading Effective Virtual Meetings. Drop us a line for pricing and more information.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome back after a brief hiatus! Thank you to everyone who responded to our survey about the show. Turns out you pretty much like us as we are. Here’s my challenge to you, tell someone! Our goal is to  listenership 50% by the end ofthe year. Looking for 30,000 downloads a month.

3:43 The quote of the week is on the topic of change,chaos and order.  Douglas Hofstadter tells us all about it.

4:55 Welcome Richard Bevan to the show.  He’s the author of Changemaking. Whenever we talk about managing change we tend to put a negative spin on it, but people aren’t naturally change resistant… they resist change they don’t understand, don’t like and haven’t been involved with.So what are some of the behaviors that tip you off when things aren’t going as well as they should.

8:05 We walk through a change on the team level. What’s the ideal way to communicate the change. There’s a 3-part framework  for successful change: clarity, engagement and communication. Clarity is important because ifyou don’t state things clearly, people will make stuff up, and it’s never the best case scenario.

11:15 The next step is engagement. People will adapt a change they’re part of, and resist one that’s imposed. You have to engage them to get input on how it should be done, and to understand the issues and questions in advance.

15:16 How do you manage a change that’s a fait a complit. Can you engage people and get buy in? People have to know what’s negotiable on what’s not.

18:00 Communication is critical (duh) but it’s a process, not a one-time event.  There needs to be interaction

21:30 As managers, we often have to communicate changes that we don’t understand or support ourselves. We talk pretty honestly about what happens when managers aren’t dialed in early.

27:15

Richard’s Resources

visit Changemakingthebook.com for tools and worksheets.

Meanwhile check out these upcoming webinar workshops. PDUs are available for PMI Members

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams June 24th

Web Presentation Basics June 27 and 29

Show Notes

0:00 This is not a drill! I need your help. We’ve been doing this show for 5 years and I need some feedback (As managers you know that, right?). I have 4 questions for you. Please answer them as fully as you can and you can either post them to this blog site or drop me an email.

Here are the questions:

1. What do you like about the show? Please be specific (guests, dedications, quotes, links to resources….basically why do you hang around listening to me?)
2. What do you NOT like about the program. Be as specific as you can. You can’t hurt my feelings.
3. What is your favorite episode or Cranky memory?
4. What can we do to make the show better? Do we need to change the format?  Guests and topics you’d like to hear? Should we change the format?

After 5 years, it’s time to do some navel gazing. I appreciate your wisdom.

5:45 The quote of the week is from Confucius. Change is part of both wisdom and happiness. Seriously.

7:17 Welcome Jeffrey Cohn to the show. He’s one of the authors of “Why Are We Bad at Picking Good Leaders”. Do we pick leaders? Aren’t they there and we just follow them? I love a book with a clear title, which apparently the publisher didn’t.

9:30 How can we pick leaders unless we look at past behavior? Here’s the paradox of the book… the past is NOT prologue. Just look at recent headlines to see the truth in this. Why are we so disappointed?

14:06 Why are so surprised at bad behavior, especially by those claiming to be so moral? Turns out it’s not moral we’re looking for, it’s integrity. The 7 qualities of leadership are: integrity, empathy, emotional intelligence,vision, judgment, courage and passion.

17:45 Emotional Intelligence is what derails most people when they reach general management. Discipline mastery isn’t as important as the ability to know yourself and others. Yes, you can be booksmart AND emotionally intelligent. You can also be a genius and an emotional moron.

21:45 Does vision mean you have to be the “visionary”or is it enough to help set the vision that others come up with.

24:50 How much does style matter in a leader? Barack Obama is a great example of a polarizing style…what does Jeff think? Turns out, not as much as you’d think.

28:20 Okay so what kind of changes do we followers have to make so we pick better leaders? Using the 7 attributes of leaders is a good start.

29:59

Visit pickingbetterleaders.com

Meanwhile check out these upcoming webinar workshops. PDUs are available for PMI Members

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams June 24th

Web Presentation Basics June 27 and 29

Show Notes:

0:00 Welcome back Stanley Bing to the show. In his honor we dedicate the show to Hori the Scribe, the first business satirist and author of the Papyrus Anastasi. A long and proud tradition we try to uphold.

4:25 The quote of the week is from George Bernard Shaw. If you’re going to tell people the truth,make them laugh or they’ll kill you.

5:30 Welcome Stanley Bing back to the show along with his alter-alter-ego Bingsop. His latest book is “Bingsop’s Fables: Little Morals For Big Business”. We look at the original Aesop and discuss if being funny in the workplace has its hazards. He talks about the day he was “outed” as Stanley Bing at work and whether it worked for him or against him.

10:34 Can you do good work and still be willing to make fun of corporate society? Does Stanley love or hate what’s known collectively as “Corporate America”? Turns out the answer is yes.  Here’s the important lesson: people are crazy whether at work or not.

13:36 Stanley and I share something of our backgrounds, so entering corporate America was a bit of a shock. Does he believe in corporate conspiracy theories? Nope, it requires excellence of execution that just ain’t there.

16:13 Many of his morals are obvious but no less amusing. Remember to always invite the finance guy to dinner as they tend to approve their own expense accounts. There’s also a reason some people make it to the top and others don’t and it’s Darwinian at best. Crazy, mean people are destined for greatness as well as ignominy.

21:00 Is Stanley Bing basically an optimist or a pessimist about human beings? It’s a bit of both. That being said, don’t discount paranoia as a world view. We discuss the difference between skepticism and cynicism. We discuss our mutual disrespect for Ayn Rand and the civilizing effect of society.

24:00 Here’s a discussion we’ve never had on this show: how the TV show Mad Men does or doesn’t reflect the real world. Alcohol and workplace affairs sounds like a pretty good day at work to him. Here’s another question: does booze in the workplace get a bad rap?

Check out StanleyBing.com

Meanwhile check out these upcoming webinar workshops. PDUs are available for PMI Members

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams June 24th

Web Presentation Basics June 27 and 29

And let me know if you will be at ASTD2011 May 23 and 24 in Orlando, FL. I’d love to meet you there!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we are talking conflict, so we dedicate this show to King Solomon. Not only did he know a thing or two about resolving disputes, he was a badass negotiator at budget time.

3:45 The quote of the week is from Benjamin  Franklin, who knew a thing or two, despite the goofy hair. There’s always a reason for conflict….how good it is, well that’s an open question.

4:25 Welcome Susan Shearouse of Frameworksforagreement.com to the show.  The book was inspired by her work with so many managers who were great technically, and no one told them about the people part. Sound like any audiences we know? Conflict doesn’t always have to be negative, but that’s often our first thought.

7:44 Eliminating the problem doesn’t always solve the conflict.  she introduces the idea of the “Satisfaction Triangle”. It has 3 sides: Engagement, Explanation and Expectation clarity.

14:00 It’s all fine and good to say “listen with respect”, but what does that behavior actually look like? A big part is to be curious and appear curious to the other person. Ask lots of questions. Also think about how that person came to be there. He or she must be good at SOMETHING, right?

16:35 We’ve all heard the phrase, “forgive and forget”. Can you really do either? Depends on how you define it. Lily Tomlin offers some guidance here. Think about forgiveness as “refocusing”.

19:48 Apologies are something we’re universally bad at. Has anyone ever taught you the components of an apology? That’s what we’re here for.

22:49 Soft skills are hard to process map. It’s easy to say “don’t bear a grudge”, but how do you act if you’re not carrying a grudge? Sometimes you have to have an “after action” review.

25:25 Conflict is inevitable, it’s how you handle it that matters.

Susan’s resources

Are you looking to help your team run better Virtual Meetings? Want to plan, present and get results from online get-togethers? Check out our newest training program “Leading Effective Virtual Meetings”  from GreatWebMeetings.com.

Meanwhile check out these upcoming webinar workshops. PDUs are available for PMI Members

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams May 27th

Web Presentation Basics June 27 and 29

And let me know if you will be at ASTD2011 May 23 and 24 in Orlando, FL. I’d love to meet you there!

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking pressure, and how to handle it like a champ. You think you have pressure in your job? Try being Priam, the King of Troy. That, my friends, is pressure.

4:20 The quote of the week is from Bertrand Russell. Idiots aren’t better at their work than you are. They just think they are and don’t stress about it. Take comfort from that if you can or will.

5:00 Welcome Justin Menkes to the show. He does great research into how CEOs think and today we’re talking about why some leaders crack under pressure while others don’t.  What do CEOs wish we knew about their job that we might not? Turns out that they aren’t as numb to what’s going on around them as we like to think. I’m not sure that’s a comfort.

7:55 There are 3 catalysts for leadership: realistic optimism, subservience to purpose and finding order out of chaos. How is Realistic Optimism different from just wearing rose-colored glasses? It’s being optimistic while being perfectly aware of how bad things are.

9:00 Realistic optimism is the only real way to get buy-in and discretionary effort from your people. And there’s a case study. Be careful what you ask for, people.

11:52 Subservience to purpose is critical because how else do you know what’s really important or how to model the values of the organization? You have to have a “sense of agency”.  How is that different from a sense of urgency? It’s all about the feeling of being in control of the situation. Are you in charge of circumstances or are you its victim?

16:15 The third catalyst is the ability to find order in chaos. The world ain’t getting simpler,which may be the greatest understatement anyone has used on this show. There’s a good story about Proctor and Gamble’s CEO and soap bubbles. Take a listen.

19:00 Do CEOs always want to be leaders or is there an AHA moment? Turns out that most of them morphed into leaders, it  wasn’t necessarily an aspiration. That doesn’t mean they don’t fall prey to power once they have it. We talk the “dangers of grandiosity”.

22:00 What we don’t know about CEOs are the number of sacrifices that they make to achieve that level.

Resources

Don’t forget our world-class webinar workshops. Discounts available for Cranky Listeners.

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams May 27

Web Presentation Basics May 16 and 18

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes:

0:00 Welcome to the show, gang. Today we’re taking a look at change. Personally, I like it for a number of dysfunctional reasons….most people don’t. One guy who understood change, Daniel Burnham who helped rebuild Chicago. He also understood that sometimes you gotta burn something to the ground to make the change happen.

3:30 Are you or someone from your organization going to the ASTD2011 Show in Orlando in May? I’ll be there May 23 and 24, speaking on the 24th about my book, 10 Steps to Successful Virtual Presentations, then hanging with Kevin Eikenberry the rest of the day in his booth.

5:24 the quote of the week is from Washington Irving, who understood that sometimes change feels good only to take bruises someplace new. Yeah, it’s setting the bar pretty low, but what are you gonna do?

6:00 Welcome Andy Stefanovich to the show. The book is “Look at More”. What’s the individual manager’s role in innovation? Isn’t that someone else’s problem? Basically, we’re responsible for doing stuff and that makes us important.

7:43 Corporate America is decidedly unprepared to deal with failure, which kills innovation. It’s hard to take a leap if you have to be responsible for quarterly earnings. How do you make sure that it’s controlled chaos? There are 5 Ms…

1. Mood
2. Mindset
3. Mechanisms
4. Measurement
5. Momentum

10:26 I hate acronyms, and there’s few worse than “LAMSTAIH” but it really means just Look at more stuff, Think about it harder.

12:30 Everything starts with the mood of the organization. Is there a climate and attitude that encourages creativity or is it all about maintaining order and reducing mistakes?

14:20 Mindset is basically the way individuals process information in your organization. What’s your risk tolerance? How much passion do you have for what you’re doing? Those two things will drive your mindset.What’s your tolerance for the grey?w

17:10 Mechanisms are important but how do you not put processes in place like Six Sigma that actually kill innovation. Without action, though, there is no real change.

20:00 How do you stop measurement from killing ideas? Measurement is almost always the way to drive change. Are you measuring the right things?

23:00 If there is only one thing to take away, it’s to appreciate the idea that inspiration is the fuel that drives change and it comes from CONSCIOUSLY looking at things with discipline.

Visit his blog and website at www.prophet.com

Monocle Magazine

Check out the BNET Connected Manager

Don’t forget our world-class webinar workshops. Discounts available for Cranky Listeners.

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams May 27

Web Presentation Basics May 16 and 18

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show for the 281st time. Today we’re talking why perfectly good, seemingly happy employees up and quit on us. For that reason we salute St Francis of Assisi.... seemed perfectly happy spending daddy’s money, fighting and whoring in France. Why did he quit to become a friar.?…and he wound up in management anyway. Sometimes there’s no escaping your fate.

3:50 The quote of the week is from Ralph Waldo Emerson.… when one thing changes, something else has to give. That applies to careers as well.

4:33 Welcome MaryAnn Masarech to the show. She’s at BlessingWhite. Why are we still talking engagement? Because it matters. But what is it? It’s not just employee satisfaction and it’s not just commitment. Are you coming to work enthused, proud of your work, and contributing to the max?

7:45 Why are the engagement numbers so different in different cultures? We look at India vs. China, for example. What explains the difference?

9:28 Is a 100% engaged workforce even realistic? It seems like if 1/3 are really into it that’s about what you can expect but i’m a cynic. It’s the actively disengaged that you need to worry about.

13:50 Her research shows that we’ve always thought managers were the biggest reason people stayed or left an organization, but it turns out that there’s something else at work….and it’s the work. If people dig it, they’ll stay. If they’re bored or looking to do something else they’re at risk.

17:05 How does this play out in a world where so many people are short-term or contract employees? What role does the manager play in getting them on board?

20:17 How do you create personal relationships without getting too personal? It’s amazing how many people think personal info has no place at all at work and get really freaked out about it. What are the concrete things a manager needs to do to ensure priorities are in alignment?

25:00 Have you actually checked in with your people about their priorities? Odds are you’re not on the same page.

27:02 If the future is so important to your employees, do you have the foggiest idea what they want? Just asking.

Click here to get the Employee Engagement report Mary ann is talking about

Check out the ContentedCows blog

Check out my new book #PresentationTweet01

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How to Create and Manage Remote Teams April 29

Web Presentation Basics April 25 and 27

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show notes

0:00 Welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager Show. Today we dedicate this episode to General  Leslie Groves, the project head on the Manhattan Project. If you think you have some picky stakeholders……

4:30 The quote of the week is from Winnie the Pooh (okay, AA Milne). The obvious is sometimes important to pay attention to.

5:21 Welcome Rich Maltzman and David Shirley to the show. We’re going to examine 5 tips to green project management but first, what is Green PM and why should we care? It’s actually about sustainability and the “triple bottom line” more than just do-gooderism.

8:44 The first tip is to accept that you are a change agent. Yes, you. Projects inherently change things, so you can do whatever you need to do.

11:08 tip 2 is to link your company’s environmental goals and policies to your project. Of course,that presumes your organization has one. You can find ideas at www.climatechallenge.org

15:55 Thing 3 is thinking beyond the scope of the project. But aren’t we supposed to limit scope???? Dave gives us a great example of Green Mountain Coffee and their single serve plans. Whooops.

20:00 Understanding the project sponsors is critical. Who is the real sponsor and what’s our responsibility? Isn’t our job to do as we’re asked?

22:55 The jargon can fly pretty thick. “Greenality” is one such word, although swapping it for “sustainability” sometimes makes it more palatable depending where you are on the Hummer vs Hugger debate.

26:49 How can one become certified in green project management? ISIS-PM is one such body . It helps to be politically correct by accident.

Resources

Don’t forget our world-class webinar workshops. Discounts available for Cranky Listeners.

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams April 29

Web Presentation Basics April 25 and 27

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show notes

0:00 Welcome to the show everyone. A long show today so no dedication. As you know, there are 4 competencies on this show. We call them the 4 Disciplines of Highly Effective, Leadership Exhibiting, Project Nailing, Cheese Moving Managers.

Too often,though, we are so busy doing the job we don’t stopand think about where we are going and why. That’s why today’s show is all about you and your career.

2:00 The quote of the week is from Mark Twain. The great want you to be great as well. The weasels want you to fail. Screw’em.

4:17 Welcome Patty Azzarello to the show and we ask the question: why doesn’t our work speak for itself? Shouldn’t it? Hardly seems fair. Still, nobody cares about your career but you.

7:32 She breaks her career advice into 3 categories: Do better, look better and connect better. Let’s start with the difference between working really hard and getting ahead? You have to decide where you burn up your time. How much value do you really add? You have to understand the business to get ahead in it. All those tasks you’re asked to do…do you know WHY they want you to do them?

12:00 Being knowledgable about your job is not the major thing in life. Every time you step up a level, you become knowingly less expert. Deal with it.

14:12 Looking better shouldn’t matter should it? I confess to having learned some very hard lessons in this department. The important thing is to be visible without being annoying. Where is the line between authenticity and fitting in?

20:45 Yes, I was once taken aside and chastised about how I dressed. What should it matter? It doesn’t make me any better or smarter than I ever was…. it was a hard lesson to learn.

23:45 Do eccentricities help or hurt you? As long as they don’t distract people from your message, they’re fine and sometimes add value. Does a beard really mean you can’t do a job?

26:30 Successful people know how to get help when they need it. You don’t have to do it all yourself, and frankly you shouldn’t try. Patty gives us her personal secrets. Just remember that networking has 2 parts: meet new people and reaching out to the people you already know. There’s a deep dark secret that Patty shares. It sounds simple, but it works. Our gift to you….

Visit Patty at AzzarelloGroup.com

Don’t forget our world-class webinar workshops. Discounts available for Cranky Listeners.

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams April 29

Web Presentation Basics April 25 and 27

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Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome everyone. Today we’re talking waking up one morning and finding yourself a middle manager. No, you can’t sue your guidance counselor for malpractice. We dedicate this episode to King George VI. For you Americans, that’s the guy Colin Firth played in The King’s Speech. A fine role model for all of us.

3:30 The quote of the week is from Samuel Johnson (allegedly, but we’ve had that discussion before). He basically said that you have to expect mistakes, and don’t assume that mistakes mean someone’s useless. Forgive yourself. Heck, forgive YOUR manager while you’re at it.

4:00 Welcome Hank Gilman to the show. He’s a bigshot at Fortune Magazine. Like so many of us, he was an Accidental Manager.

6:00 Writing is like coding and a lot of other jobs. The job is solitary and you’re pretty much left alone. Now you’re the boss and NOONE leaves you alone. Hank talks about managing his friends.

8:45 There’s a moment when we all appreciate our bosses more when we have the job ourselves. As hank points out, it helps when you aren’t too much of a jerk to start with.

11:18 What about the first time you have to fire someone…especially a former colleague? It’s important and unavoidable.

14:00 Does working at a business magazine attract a different type of writer and culture?

16:25 How does coaching work in a highly creative situation like a high-profile magazine? It’s mostly about putting the right people in the right position.

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams March 25

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams April 29

Web Presentation Basics April 25 and 27

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show, gang. Today we’re talking stress. For that reason we take a step over to the serious side of town and dedicate this show to the Fukishima 50. If you ever needed some perspective about the relative stress of your job, here’s that dose of reality you needed.

4:00 Today’s quote of the week is from Leonardo da Vinci. You can’t find someone smarter to listen to than that.

4:45 Welcome Sylvia Lafair to the show. No job is without stress, but what is it? There’s only so much we can take, despite what we tell ourselves.

6:45 Since the stress keeps on coming, we get to determine how to deal with it and how much to take. How we handled it as kids is pretty much how we handle it now. Do you stamp your feet? Go away and pout? Basically you head for Zombieland or Freakoutville.

10:38 What’s actually going on when we’re under stress? How do we make ourselves stop and see what’s going on with us? Small physical changes like standing up or moving seats actually help more than you’d think. It’s all neuroscience and stuff.

13:45 Okay, so stress happens. Once you give yourself permission to just pause and understand what’s going on, the next step is to consciously choose your next action. You can trick your brain… for some of us that’s easier than others. As long as you don’t “awfulize” things. Oh and I go into therapy for a few minutes.

19:41 The phrase “failure is not an option” is not helping. It’s always an option, just not the one you want. According to Sylvia, failure is just feedback from the universe.

24:00 When is venting healthy and when are you just perpetuating the cycle?

29:00 One of the reasons we struggle is because we don’t think emotions have anything to do with the workplace. They don’t belong there. Yeah, how’s that working for ya?

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams March 25

Web Presentation Basics March 28 and 30

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes:

0:00 Welcome to the show, gang. Today we are talking gutsy leadership. Not ballsy- that term has always confused me. We dedicate this episode to King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. Fending off Saladin, internal weasels and leprosy all at once takes some serious guts.

3:45 Are you interested in being part of a pilot webinar course on How to Run Great Virtual Meetings? If so, drop me a line and let me know you’re interested. No date’s been set yet.

4:05 The quote of the week is from Robert Louis Stevenson....why do I love hack Edwardian writers so? Anyway, he told us how to suck it up.

5:00 Welcome Bob Herbold to the show. His new book is all about gutsy leadership. Is this all some kind of crazy, macho nonsense? It’s not so much brave stands as on a daily basis not dodging tough questions and decisions. So why do we so often not make the gutsy decision?

6:50 When is conflict avoidance the right thing to do and when are you just being a whuss? The trick is not to pose tough issues as problems to be solved. Bob gives us specific language to use.

9:21 Let’s be honest, a lot of managers get pretty high in the organization by protecting turf and avoiding conflict. It’s not that you’d be like that, but your boss and colleagues might be and that, my friends, is a drag. Is there a process for deciding which hills to die on?

11:33 Bob has 10 steps to prove courage,but the first is to Confront Reality. Having a plan helps. Leadership is not a style issue, it’s a behavior issue.

14:45 Ahhh, managing our managers is one ofthe biggest challenges we face. When bringing something to them you need to explain the situation, why they should care and what you think they should do…. get a reading on their mood before going too far.

16:30 Courage is also something you want to develop in your people. You have to set expectations about proactivity, behavior, quality and all that good stuff. Just don’t forget that because you’re the boss your people have a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of fear about dealing with you. You need to model the skills and reach out to them.

19:50 Can you hire for guts? You have to look at their history, even as far back as high school. Really.He also tells a story about Bill Gates and a gutsy move.

Bob’s Resources

BobHerbold.com

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams March 25

Web Presentation Basics March 28 and 30

Are you a PMI Certified PMP looking for PDUs? Check this out.

Download our new white paper, 3 Reasons Virtual Teams Fail, and how to see it coming….

Show Notes:

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we talk virtual teams and how distance makes a difference in how we work…or doe sit make as much difference as we think? As evidence we dedicate this show to Abram Petrovich Gannibal. Even distant, he was closer to Tsar Peter that Great than Peter’s own kid. What can we learn from that?

4:45 The quote of the week from Victor Hugo. Distance isn’t bad in and of itself… it has its  charms and its drawbacks, but we have to learn to cope with it.

5:20 Welcome Dr. Karen Sobel Lojeski to the show. She’s obsessed with what she calls “virtual distance” which can even happen when you’re at the next cubicle to someone. Always good to know there’s an actual term for something you know exists but didn’t know what to call it. Virtual Distance is a perception of remoteness due to reliance on electronic communication.

9:52 What is the impact of virtual distance on people and businesses?  You want numbers? She’s got your numbers…. Innovation suffers the most from virtual distance… a 90% drop. Don’t even get her started on project delivery

14:05 What are the components of “Virtual Distance”? It’s made up of 3 things: physical distance, operational distance and affinity distance.  The last 2 are the big problems because they create lack of context.

16:26 If you don’t have context, you make it up and we seldom make up the best case scenario. There’s a word for it- “same as me bias”. Never let it be said you don’t learn anything here, folks.

19:15 There are plenty of tools to help overcome physical distance, which leaves us up to the operational distance…which is using the right tools in the right way…. but also the affinity distance which is only overcome by trying really, really hard. Managers have to pay attention to the mix of technology they use.

26:01 There are plenty of unintended things that impact affinity distance. Time zone fatigue, for example, or feeling like you don’t matter because you’re not at home office is a great example. There’s a chilling example from the United Nations…. is any conference call worth taking a bullet for? Try asking THAT before scheduling.

29:21 Visit her website to see how you can measure Virtual Distance.

Karen’s Resources

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams March 25

Web Presentation Basics March 28 and 30

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking about the obvious, but often overlooked fact, that while “collaboration”  is one word there are plenty of ways to go about doing it. 8 of them, to be specific. As evidence, we offer Achaemenes, founder of the Persian Empire. When you don’t have Aliens helping you like the Egyptians, you have to forge your own path.

4:05 The quote of the week is from Antoine de Saint Exupery who said that regardless of individual talents or failings, it’s when everyone comes together good things happen. Of course, he said it in French and much better than I just did….

4:58 Mehrdad Baghai and James Quigley have written a very heft, gorgeous and impressive book called “As One: Individual Action, Collective Power”. How do you get an entire team or organization to pull in the same direction? How do you get them to behave “as one”?

6:33 What does it even mean when they’re working as one? Does it mean mindless lockstep? It really contains three elements: Who are they? What are they trying to do? What processes are in place to help them get there and how do they work together? Turns out there are about 8 ways to do that.

8:18 One group that they use as an example are the Dabbawalas,or lunch delivery people of Mumbai. A much cooler example than SouthWest airlines for the 300th time. They have a shared identity, a shared purpose and a real sense of pride in what they do.

10:43 Even though there are three components, there are 8 different organizing structures for teams. Each has a name, certain characteristics and behaviors that work (and don’t). When you know what you’re doing and how to make it work, you can all get on the same page.

12:50 While we studiously avoid the idea of sports as metaphor for business in general, actually “Captain and team” is a legitimate model for some teams. As are military models, or the idea of the conductor and orchestra. They all work under certain circumstances and certain types of work. They won’t apply universally.

16:58 People are surprised to find out that people on the same team might have different collaboration styles. You have to have one and work it.

20:45 When is like-mindedness a good thing and when do you want active dissent? Some teams, like “Producer/Creative Team” can’t survive without it. Other types require unity more than other traits. Of course, that assumes that you’re the right type of team in the right kind of culture. Maybe YOU’RE the one who needs to change or at least adapt your style.

28:13 At the core of it all, leaders have to ask what we’re doing that works and doesn’t. Do you understand the identity people need to have? Do you understand what people should actually commit to?

Resources

AsOne.org

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams February 25

March 25

Web Presentation Basics (2 parts) February 21 and 23

March 28 and 30

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we are joined by Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick who have been wtih us before. Since we’re talking teams that change things, we dedicate this episode to Lawrence of Arabia and his march on Aqaba. Unintended consequences aside, it was pretty amazing. Hopefully your team efforts don’t result in 75 years of bloodshed and confusion, but who can tell with some projects?

2:56 The quote of the week is also from TE Lawrence: do you just dream at night like everyone else or do you dream during the waking hours, which makes you more dangerous (and possibly delusional, but I’m not a shrink).

3:43 Welcome Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick to the show. Click the links to hear their previous visits. They’ve been here before but this time they’re together, which befits a show on teamwork. The show is based on some great research, so they share the origins with us.

7:10 What separates the teams and organizations that think they’re pretty good from those that actually are? Turns out it’s engagement driven by a noble cause.  Don’t laugh, it matters and it’s not easy to identify.

12:05 Can you dictate or enforce a culture? Engagement has to come from the bottom up and most of us have no idea how to inspire that. They sure don’t teach it in B School. Oh and we resort to SuperB owl references, especially the famous coach Vince Lombardi’s philosophy.

14:30 We make up for that with reference to the Australian Navy’s HMAS Descaineux brush with disaster.

15:34 Sometimes your best efforts at recognition and reward meet with disaster. American Express learned this the hard way. Gumby doesn’t always make the grade.

17:55 What about remote teams? How can you create that team spirit when you’re not together? They don’t even have to be on the other side of the world.  You need to build a sense of community and belonging. A simple thing like actually picking up the phone takes on more importance. Is a phone call “too intimate”? Social media can help as well but it doesn’t always happen spontaneously, managers need to noodge it.

24:26 Resources and stuff

Visit their blog

Carrots.com

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams February 25

Web Presentation Basics (2 parts) February 21 and 23

Show Notes

0:00 Hello faithful listeners and newbies (and there will be some). Today we talk about moving from “Bud to Boss”.. that moment when you leave your friends and competence behind to become management. We talked about this with Guy Harris earlier (listen to show 247 here). It’s a big deal. Therefore we dedicate this show to someone who had to pull off this transition like no one before them, John Tyler, 10th president of the United States.

4:47 The quote of the week is from Henri Bergson, who won a Nobel prize so he must be smarter than me. We do agree on growing and maturing, however.

5:29 My buddy Kevin Eikenberry joins us to talk about “From Bud to Boss: Secrets to a Successful Transition to Remarkable Leadership”. Everyone had that first moment when you woke up and realized the world had changed forever. How do you lead people that you had friendly, peer relationships with?

7:40 There are a number of challenges to making this change. The primary one is that the relationships you’ve depended on change. Also there are a number of new skills to learn. There is also the issue that many of us got promoted because we were good at something that we’re no longer allowed to do. Letting go is maybe the hardest part. Perspective changes.

9:50 Okay, let’s start with the first things you need to look at. What do you do on Day 1? You have to have honest conversations with everyone… including your friends and anyone who wanted the job that you still have to work with.

12:23 The worst nightmare for a lot of new leaders: someone you know…maybe even trained you…needs to have performance addressed. You have to step up. Here’s how. We also digress into “but” vs. “and” and other trite but true axioms.

18:40 What is it about the word “boss” that makes people crazy? It’s a loaded term but has a lot of emotional baggage. The fact is, no matter how enlightened you are you ARE their boss. Forget it at your peril.

23:00 One of the hardest changes is that you now have to hang with other managers and you’re not allowed to hang out with the people you used to be friends with. My wife is dealing with this. There’s a reason the army has a no-fraternization rule. Learn to love your new peers.

Kevin’s Resources

Kevin Eikenberry’s blog

He weasels out of naming names but you can find a lot of them at…..

The Bud to Boss community site

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams    February 25

Web Presentation Basics (2 parts) February 21 and 23

Welcome to the show….

Show Notes

0:00 Today we’re talking reading, and that leads us to our dedication, Demetrius of Phalerum who helped build the great library of Alexandria. Having the books is great, but do you read them? Books are awfully decorative, don’t you think?

3:50 The quote of the week is from Abraham Lincoln- who was a voracious reader and a pretty smart guy. Amazing that other people think like you, isn’t it?

4:24 Welcome back Todd Sattersten to the show. You can hear his last appearance with Jack Covert here.

Todd’s now out on his own at  www.bizzbooklab.com What did he think of last year’s crop of business books? If you want to read about the economic collapse,there are some good ones out there. There also was a focus on intrinsic motivation…because if we don’t motivate ourselves, nothing else will do it.

9:27 What does Todd look for in a business book? 3 things: accessibility, unexpectedness (enough with Southwest, Starbucks  and Zappos, already!) and utility.

13:31 Todd has a list of his top ten books. You can see his post here.

Todd has a lot to say about The Mesh.  We take a deep, geeky dive here.We also get into how Craigslist is changing the business world.


21:25 So what’s going on that business books aren’t telling us? The entrepeneurial approach to work is not accurately reflecting the way we work. You’ll be shocked to hear I have my own take on this

Todd has a couple of ebooks available on his site, or you can just drop him a line.

Don’t forget great webinar workshops available from GreatWebMeetings.com each month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams    February 25

Web Presentation Basics (2 parts) February 21 and 23

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome, everyone to the latest show. We dedicate this episode on crisis communication to a Canadian Heroine. Yes you’ll have to look it up so here’s the link to Laura Secord. Learn something about crisis communication, how everyone has to step up and the difference between Canadian heroes and US  heroes.

3:23 The quote of the week is from Winnie the Pooh. Really. Oh quit hugging me already.

4:45 Welcome Neil Chapman of AlphaVoice Communications. His humility aside, he was an important cog in BP’s machine during the Deep Water Horizon oil spill. Much to learn here today. What was it like in the belly of that beast?

7:05 What was that crisis like when the phone rang and he had to spring into action? He sounds so darned calm and sane but it had to be madness. Preparation helps and you need to be flexible and adapt. That’s where leadership comes in. He walks us through the logistics.

12:15 We know how this impacts the company, but what is the human cost of a long-term crisis? People can amaze you.

15:00 What happens when the corporate message meets values meets reality? You get the feeling Neil loved his team deeply.

23:00 Just when you think things are under control, the big bosses do something stupid. How do you keep your own team intact and positive?

25:30 What should managers be doing right now to prepare their team for a possible emergency?

28:02 As a manager you need to know the strengths of your people.Tasks need to go to the right people.

29:45 How much control can you have over people’s social media. Can you just let them tweetfacelinkblog at will?

Neil’s Resources

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams on January 28

Web Presentation Basics January 24

Also a FREE white paper: Beating the Hype Cycle- how to get people to use web presentation tools you’ve already paid for!”

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking remote teams or virtual teams. A great example of someone who didn’t have the benefit of this show is Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca,who had to administer the Spanish Empire. Of course, he was a priest so taking orders without ever meeting the boss was nothing new for him…..

4:50 The quote of the week is from Francois de Rochefoucauld. Does absence from your team strengthen or extinguish your flame? Just asking….

5:30 Welcome Darleen DeRosa to the show. Her research shows that many companies throw virtual teams together without planning for their success. Harvard says 80% of remote teams don’t work? Why not?

9:00 Companies do this to save the visible costs, but what’s the cost of lost productivity or high turnover?  Most companies don’t – or can’t- prove the ROI here.  Do the same practices of co-located teams work? If you don’t invest in technology, how can people get the work done?

11:20 The four most common pitfalls of virtual teams are: lack of clear goals, conflicting priorities, lack of trust and lack of engagement.  One huge problem is divided management or matrixed organizations. Very often people don’t even know everyone on their team! This is particularly true for managers who tend to be on a bunch of committees or task forces on top of their “real” jobs.

14:24 The one thing that comes up all the time for me is that the manager and theindividual may be fine, but it’s getting team members to know, trust and reach out to each other. The cost of this not working is high. Trust is the top quality of high performing teams. Focusing on tasks alone sometimes ignores people problems that can derail your team.

17:28 It’s simple but not easy to get your remote team on task. Good (short) virtual meetings are critical. Prework will often shorten andfocus the meetings. Choose a team-building exercise that might have people meeting up front. Some real good ideas here, grab a pen. Fun is highly underrated.

20:00 You need to use all the technology at your disposal to create a “virtual water cooler”. Answering each others’ questions or offering assistance is a great way to build trust and teams. The big question is: how do you get people to use them? You need to be specific and offer training. Oh, and model it yourself. Suck it up and do it, managers. (check out the white paper we mentioned earlier for good advice on this!)

23:00 Watch out for performance peaks- very often teams come together well but performance starts to slip. You need to monitor the team as you go, don’t wait for the crisis.  What does a virtual leader do? The leader organizes the team, reports back to senior management and have to be great influencers andconflict managers. You have to help overcome the silos.

26:00 What are some of the signs that a virtual team might be in trouble? Quality slipping, increased conflict, or people just skipping meetings and making lame excuses.

Check out OnPoint consulting’s site.

Also check out Netage.com.

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams on January 28

Web Presentation Basics January 24

Also a FREE white paper: Beating the Hype Cycle- how to get people to use web presentation tools you’ve already paid for.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. Today we’re talking about starting a company with values in mind, which puts in mind the RCMP and its founder, George Arthur French. Standards and style either get determined on purpose or they happen in spite of you.

4:25 The quote of the week is from Henry David Thoreau- not one of my favorites but occasionally said something worth hanging onto and he’s a more impressive credit than quoting me….

5:10 Welcome Ann Rhoades to the show. She’s going to talk about building a company on values…but since she helped start Jet Blue she knows a bit about the topic. I’m a bit jaded on the topic so why should we care?

7:15 Ann left SouthWest and helped start JetBlue.How do you go about blue printing your values and the behaviors that exemplify them?

11:00 Hotels and airlines lead the league in complaints and bad experiences so how do you incorporate values into the business plan? Admittedly it doesn’t take much to exceed expectations but you have to try. What do you do when someone just doesn’t fit in?

14:45 What do you do as a manager with something like “safety” as a value. How do you manage to it? It’s all about identifying behaviors then keeping people accountable for it.

18:30 There are real bottom-line results to this theory…. and they’re impressive. What do you do when something bad happens to test the values? Can you recover? Here’s a case study you might not be familiar with but should be.

24:10 How do you identify people who will fit with your values during the interview process instead of getting surprised? It’s all about behavioral interviewing rather than skills interviewing. A players have skills, but that’s not how they get to be A Players.

Anns Resources

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams on January 28

Web Presentation Basics January 24

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the 267th show. After this many shows and this many years I’m a bit skeptical about using the term Radical to describe management theory. Then it dawned on me that it’s not the theory that’s radical, it’s the notion that someone can actually pull it off. For that reason we dedicate this show to Alexander Kerensky, the poor SOB who tried to initiate radical change in Russia without changing the way he went about it. When you can tick off both Left and Right you’re not radical, but you’re probably on the right track.

4:27 The quote of the week is from Mark Twain. Today’s radical is tomorrow’s conservative…true in work as well as politics.

6:00 Welcome Steve Denning to the show.  What’s so radical about his ideas?  Management as it’s practiced, particularly in the Fortune 500, doesn’t work so well.  Rate of return on assets is about 1/4 of what it was and the average life span of a company is under 15 years. 4 out of 5 people aren’t engaged in their work. So what can we do and isn’t this a natural evolution?

9:50 All of this means huge (dare we say radical?) shiftsin the balance of power. The 7 principles of his book are:

1. Focus work on delighting the client
2. Do work through self-organizing teams
3. Do work in client-driven iterations
4. Deliver value to clients with each iteration
5. Be totally open about impediments to improvement
6. Create a context for continuous self-improvement within the team
7. Communicate interactively with stories, questions and conversations

12:18 What does “delighting the client” really mean? How delighted are people really expected to be? You need direct line of sight to the customers.

14:30 What does working in “client-driven iterations” really mean? It means short bursts of change and constant feedback as you go. The bigger the project the less line of sight you deliver and the easier it is to go horribly wrong.

18:53 How do you have the conversation with your boss about changing the metrics? The whole discussion needs to focus on the impact on the customer. Illustratrive stories are the best way to tell your side of the situation.

22:00 One of the deceptively simple ideas in the book is the concept of pointing out the barriers to improvement. He tells us a story about what happened at the World Bank(which didn’t go too well) as well as with Ford Motor Company (with much better results).

26:28 What does he mean by “creating context” that allows us to do good things AND stay on track with the organization?  It’s all about having clear goals and being able to tell the story.  What’s the velocity of your team?

Steve’s Resources

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams on January 28

Web Presentation Basics January 24

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the last show of 2010. We’re talking childishness and so we salute the Chinese philosopher Liu Xiang, not to be confused with the hurdler of the same name. Raising children is tough, but the parallels in the workplace are many and disturbing.

2:55 The quote of the week is from George Bernard Shaw. Are you a role model or a warning. Really? Try again.

4:27 Welcome Nick McCormick back to the show. He’s been with us before. His new book is all about childish behavior in the workplace. Why do grownups act like kids at work and what’s a manager to do?

9:00 One childish behavior you see all the time can best be described as “lalalallala I’m not listening to you”. Why is listening so difficult?

12:54 The thing that drives me crazy is outright lying. You’ve heard people say “I didn’t know….” It makes me CRAZY. You need to probe without calling them a liar.

17:00 When this goes on for a long time it’s hard to address. You need to get proactive and not put up with it from the start.

19:38 Nick and I share our most childish behaviors. I’m a bragger, Nick tends to want to win at all costs. What’s yours?

22:38 Sometimes childish behavior is a sign of a real problem.  There’s also a difference between childish and child-like.

Nick’s Resources

The Carnival of Leadership is a rotating blog roundup of the best stuff out there. You have to Google to find the latest, though.

Wally Bock’s 3 Start Leadership

Phil Gerbyshak

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams on January 28

Web Presentation Basics January 24

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome back for the 265th time. Today we talk employee engagement, a topic the world never seems to tire of (if occasionally I do). We dedicate this episode to someone who understood that a small group of dedicated, passionate folks beats a big army of slackers. We’re talking about Gideon. Forget the fleece, it’s the engagement piece I find interesting. And putting dew on the fleece is not a euphemism for anything dirty… although it sure could be.

3:18 Yes, engagement comes from the heart but you have to let the brain drive. Our quote of the week is from Benjamin Franklin.

4:15 Welcome Bob Kelleher to the show. I like practical tips and getting results is what this is all about so this is a bit different than a lot of what’s out there.  Bob doesn’t care if the employees are satisfied if they’re under performing. Engagement is not necessary to success.. .It’s a mutual agreement. There’s a quid pro quo. If you take someone’s money, you owe them something in return and vice versa.

7:15 Here’s a definition of engagement you haven’t heard before:  the unlocking of your employees’ potential to drive results.  You need engaged people AND results for everyone to win.

9:34 The step that’s perhaps most important to Bob is to communicate the vision. That means make sure the employees understand not only what they’ll do but the expectations of the employee. It’s all about creating “line of sight” between the employee and the goals of the company. If you can’t see how what you do impacts the company, why should you care?

14:04 According to Bob, good managers engage through the use of the acronym BEST: Behavior, Education, Skills, Traits. Behaviors are what you want them to DO. Traits are the internal components that make it likely they’ll do it. He shares a good example from Timberland.

19:55 90% of the time, engagement and performance depend less on skill than on motivation. You can train for skills, you can’t teach caring.

22:45 Step 6 is to create a motivational culture. Your job is not to motivate….it’s the culture’s job. One of the keys is the three circles: what are you really good at? What do you really love to do? What really needs to get done. If there’s overlap, you’ll have an engaged employee. If you don’t, people want to do something they’re not doing or they’re doing something that doesn’t help the company.

Bob’s Resources

Don’t forget two great workshops this month!

How to Create and Manage Remote Teams Dec 17 and again on January 28

Web Presentation Basics Dec 20th and January 24

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show all of you who were once good at something and now get to watch everyone else do it while you’re on conference calls. We dedicate this episode to John Loud and the invention of the ball point pen- a great hack if ever there was one.

3:13 the quote of the week is from Nikola Tesla, a very smart guy. Nothing feels better than coming up with and implementing a great new idea. Well, maybe if you’re a Serbian engineer…..

4:48 Welcome Bill Jensen to the show.  I spoke to him for a BNET article that caused all kinds of trouble. What is hacking work? It’s like hacking code or anything else- finding the short cuts in spite of the rules.  But are you a white hat hacker or a black hat hacker?

8:49 Believe it or not every rule was created to solve another problem… so how do you know what rules to break and which rules to follow?  Here’s the question: is it respectful of your time? Is it as beneficial to you as to the organization?

12:05 Okay, IT people, take a breath. We talk about common hacks to get around the fire wall. Whether you like it or not, people are doing it. How are you going to handle it?

16:16 There are 2 causes of work complexity:  infrastructure and poor communication. Information doubles atthe rate of 100% per year….we need to change our beliefs. We also talk about my conversation with The Lazy Project Manager on show 213.

21:49 How do you roll out an idea once you’ve discovered a hack that works. It ain’t always easy but it starts with proof of concept and the ability to point to the end result. Do it underground  and post it….anonymously. Some interesting issues here.

26:45 Bill’s favorite hack- a young guy who reworked his own performance review…… this is kinda cool.

Bill’s Resources

TED.com and TED Talks

Ignite.Oreilly.com

Timemanagementninja.com

Don’t forget to visit www.GreatWebMeetings.com for free downloadable resources and the best webinar-based training. We offer two workshops How to Create and Manage Remote Teams Dec 17 and Web Presentation Basics on December 20th. Act now and get 2 for 1 registration! Contact us for more details.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show. My daughter graduates high school in less than 4 weeks, impossible as that seems so today we dedicate this show to young leaders including King Tut. You need to accept advice while having your own vision and THAT brings us to today’s guest, Aaron Levie, CEO of Box.net.

3:29 The quote of the week is from Friedrich Nietszche who warns against teaching young people to idolize conformists. What’s the difference between best practice and the same old stuff? I’m probably too old to ask.

Project Managers: get those precious PDUs by checking out The PDUCast.

4:36 Welcome Aaron Levie to the show. You’ve probably seen Box.net on someone’s LinkedIn page. He tells us  about how he manages and how he learned his lessons. We spoke earlier on BNET (read the article here).

6:50 Aaron tells us how he started Box.net and how the company came together. How does a kid develop into a CEO? Starting the company helps. At some point this turns into a real grownup company. How does the hotshot turn into a manager?

9:47 How did he feel about becoming a manager? The hard part is about implementing good systems is realizing you won’t have all the information all the time. What is called bureaucracy is often just layers of information.

13:22 What happens when someone that young has to bring in older workers? How did the employees respond andhow did Aaron address it. In Silicon Valley this is less unusual than it might be in your world. Making it a true meritocracy is the only goal that works there.

15:30 Okay, here’s the question we have to ask: a new generation comes along every 30 years or so but there’s always drama. Are there really that many differences?  The biggest difference is expectations around access to information- which is often confused with ADD. Wanting to share information requires an open, electronically connected, speed driven environment.

17:47 My biggest complaint is about appearing not to pay attention, especially in meetings or on the phone. What’s the line between efficiency and rudeness?  Assume good intentions until proven otherwise.

20:15 What does Aaron feel are the “best practices” at Box.net?  People are not afraid to be critical and the information flows fast and freely. Chaos is not a bad thing. Ask questions til they scream.

22:45 One of the big battles in business is consumer grade software vs. enterprise and big IT? It’s an ongoing battle to enable individuals and groups while having consistency and economies of scale.

Aaron’s Resources

Blogs

Tech Crunch

Harvard Business Review

The Connected Manager on BNET

Hey, the new GreatWebMeetings.com website is finally complete! Check us out and see the dozens of free resources, easy to use event  registration and a code for 2 for 1 webinar registration through the end of March if you act now.

Show Notes

0:00 Welcome to the show, gang. Today we are talking about self-confidence and how critical and fragile it is. A great example is Saint Benedict of Nursia, whose self confidence was such he couldn’t get away and escape his followers as much as he tried.

3:56 The quote of the week is from Buckminster Fuller, the very picture of self confidence. Are others trying to “degenius” you? Don’t let them!

6:35 Welcome Tony Richards to the show. He’s the author of Self Confidence For Managing People At Work among other books and a real self-made success story. We become managers because we have self confidence but we often getit beaten out of us. Basically it’s trust in, respect for, and reliance on your own judgment and abilities. Sounds simple, right?

7:55 What’s the difference between self confidence (which is good) and arrogance (which is bad, at least in everyone but yourself)? Arrogance is “a demonstration with disdain of a supposed superiority”. It doesn’t show respect for others and undermines your own.

10:25 The very act of becoming a manager can shoot your self confidence down because you’re no longer doing the very thing you were so good at. Tony uses his own story as an example. The streets and mines of Australia are a long way from business school.

14:00 Tony combined his own innate abilities with actual training (mostly job related and relevant it should be noted, not formal “education”).

16:20 Do some people have self confidence innately and how do you develop it? Instinctive growth from achievement is what builds confidence in ourselves. We all learned some things instinctively so we all have achievements to build from. There’s a difference between internal and external providers of confidence. External providers are fleeting and out of our control. 3 killers of self confidence are: 1)  Conflict of conscience, 2) Guilt and 3)Arrogance

19:00 There are 5 principles to developing selfconfidence:

1. Define what and who you are
2. Identify the principles of how you work and what you do
3. Be faithful to your conscience and character
4. Develop instinctive achievements
5. Those achievements confirm your self confidence

23:00 What do you do when you the feedback you get doesn’t reinforce the good things you do? Some people handle that better than others.

25:00 The 5 critical steps to developing selfconfidence are:

1. Recognize and embrace your uniqueness
2. Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements
3. Write a life contract with yourself- give yourself direction and plan. Do  you have a personal policy statement?
4. Set goals using those policy guidelines
5. Apply it to your life

Tony’s Resources

A lot of Tony’s favorite development training comes from DDI