The Cranky Middle Manager Show #316 The Final Cranky Show and the Future of Work with John Blackwell
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #234 Embrace Failure Erik Van Slyke
Posted on 15. Apr, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Wayne Turmel knows a thing or two about failure, but that doesn’t mean he likes it. So why is Erik Van Slyke telling managers to embrace it? Because that’s where innovation and invention come from. We don’t have to like it but we do have to get used to it, it would seem. Also the last king of Jerusalem and a Romantic Poet share what they know about the topic.
Erik Van Slyke of the Solleva Group joins us to talk about failure. So why is he smiling?
Don’t forget April’s How to Create and Manage Remote Teams webinar workshop. Click here to learn more and register.
May’s workshop will be How to Create and Manage Remote Project Teams. Find out more here
As always, use the discount code cranky to save 10%!
Also, check out our new BNET blog on Managing Remote and Virtual Teams.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show and the ultimate irony- you’re here to succeed, so why are we insisting you learn how to fail??? That’s today’s topic and we dedicate this show to Guy de Lusignan who succeeded in failing spectacularly yet wound up with not a bad gig. Something for us all to learn from.
3:35 The quote of the week is from John Keats…. romantics dig failure, even the successful ones.
4:30 Welcome Erik Van Slyke to the show to discuss the F word. Well not THE F word, but just about as shocking. Why should we enjoy failure? Because we’re so good at it.
7:00 An important semantic difference: accepting failure isn’t the same as expecting it and coping. Expecting failure is a key component of project management. If you don’t think about what can go wrong, you’re not planning properly.
11:50 How can we get comfortable with failure when so many other people are connected and counting on us? Organizations are so complex we’re doomed to fail somewhere. It’s not being perfect, it’s being in the process of perfection.
14:20 Where is the line between striving for excellence and driving yourself crazy? Again, it’s in the process.You have to be collaboratvie- really collaborative.
16:24 Erik claims to have an actual case study where people do this without getting fired. Listen up.
19:23 A lot of people who live in the PMI world are amazed when projects go wrong. The problem isn’t planning, it’s communicating during the plan. How can we create an environment where people are comfortable talking about failure and getting into trouble? Make it safe for your team to screw up.
22:36 How do we communicate our teams’ failure to our bosses in constructive way. The trick is to admit to the problem but also offer a solution. Don’t just say “00ps”.
25:20 There is a relationship between innovation and failure. You can’t innovate without stuff going wrong. The quest for perfection will kill real creativity.
Erik’s Resources
The Cranky Middle Manager Show # 233 Lords of Strategy Walter Kiechel
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Wayne in Podcast
Today Wayne Turmel looks at the consulting industry: who are they, where’d they come from and why do they torture us? Author Walter Kiechel III, author of “The Lords of Strategy- A Secret Intellectual History of The New Corporate World” joins us. We also talk Ottoman outsourcing and the triumphant return of Francis Bacon.
Walter Kiechel III talks to us about The Lords of Strategy and makes it so even I understand it.
Don’t forget April’s How to Create and Manage Remote Teams webinar workshop. Click here to learn more and register.
May’s workshop will be How to Create and Manage Remote Project Teams. Find out more here
As always, use the discount code cranky to save 10%!
Also, check out our new BNET blog on Managing Remote and Virtual Teams.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show middle managers- even if you refuse to accept the title. We all know what you are. Today’s show is dedicated to the Ottoman sultan Murad Bey who understood both outsourcing and the power of independent advice.
5:30 The quote of the week is from my boy Francis Bacon who knew a thing or two about being a consultant. Advice and example is what we’re looking for…and it helps if you have a cool model.
6:03 Welcome Walter Kiechel who will explain where consultants came from and what they’ve done to the business world- and it’s not all bad. Really. Actually, you wouldn’t think strategy is new, but it’s only been around since the mid 1960s.
9:00 With no track record to run on, why were the big consulting companies so successful? The power of a practical tool like the Growth Share Matrix. What has it wrought on us? Are we now driven only by stock performance?
14:00 Let’s be fair, the advantage of a consultant is the ability to offer objective insight…when it is objective.
15:45 One of the first consulting models that really took off was BCG’s Experience Curve.
18:15 What has been the impact on business overall of all this consulting? Walter maintains it’s an overall healthier competitive landscape. Competitive advantage only lasts 6 months if you don’t watch it.
20:35 Besides making sure you keep your job, what’s the best way to work with consultants? Volunteer for one thing to make sure you’re heard, and this is not the time to be shy. A great tip- ask to present with them instead of having them tell the story on your behalf.
23:21 Not that I want to kill new ideas, but there are consulting fads so as a service to you the new ones are “analytics” and innovation.
Walter’s Resources
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #232 Resilient Managers with Adam Alexander
Posted on 29. Mar, 2010 by Wayne in General, Podcast
Today’s managers need to be more resilient than ever, just to keep the weasels at bay. Join host Wayne Turmel and his special guest Adam Alexander of Masteryworks as we look at resilience and how to develop it. Also we look at Greek drama and Chinese quotations. Another cosmopolitan show. Of course, a Cosmopolitan might make dealing with the junk at work a little easier too….
adamalexander
Today’s guest Adam Alexander.
Don’t forget April’s How to Create and Manage Remote Teams webinar workshop. Click here to learn more and register.
May’s workshop will be How to Create and Manage Remote Project Teams. Find out more here
As always, use the discount code cranky to save 10%!
Also, check out our new BNET blog on Managing Remote and Virtual Teams.
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. Hopefully you’ve had the resilience to go to work yet another day. Today we dedicate the show to the Greek poet and playwright Sophocles and his two plays Ajax and Philocthetes. Some folks make it through the day, some fall on their swords.
4:27 The quote of the week is from Confucius, or so I’m told. How often do you get back up after getting knocked down?
5:03 Welcome Adam Alexander of Masteryworks. Resiliency is a combination of adaptability, flexibility and strength of purpose. No one said this was going to be easy.
7:47 It’s really hard to look at the busy work and drudgery as strength of purpose. How does your contribution fit into the big picture?
9:08 Resiliency comes from confidence- which is great if you have confidence to start with. What’s the difference between bravado and true internal confidence.
11:21 Confidence can be impacted by how old you are and what gender you are. Women are less confident than men but more resilient…which makes sense because they have to put up with men.
15:00 How can a manager tell who is truly resilient and who is just putting on a good show? They are usually less productive and really resistant to change.
17:49 Often we try to delegate to develop people and it backfires because they don’t succeed. You build resilience through failure and the ability to navigate that as well. You have to delegate effectively and let people know where to get help.
20:04 Finding help is more than just mentor/mentee. In fact reverse mentoring might help bridge gaps between generations as well.
Adam’s Resources
Follow us on Twitter as well
Join us at Greatwebmeetings.com
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #231 Do More Great Work – Michael Bungay Stanier
Posted on 18. Mar, 2010 by Wayne in General
Today Wayne Turmel talks to Michael Bungay Stanier about his book “Do More Great Work” which is not about doing more work so relax. We also talk about poets, writing emails with goose feathers and Aristotle drags his dusty carcass back to harass us.
Michael Bungay Stanier stops by to talk about doing More Great Work
Don’t forget our How to Create and Manage Remote Teams webinar workshops. For March 22nd, click here to learn more and register
April 26th, Click here to learn more and register
Check out my new BNET column on Remote Team Management
Show Notes
0:00 Welcome to the show. We dedicate this show about doing great work to someone who created a Great Work (even if I hated it) John Milton. Creating a magnum opus with a quill requires a lot more work and thought than most of us can even dream of, but there’d be a lot less horrendous email if we had to do with with a goose feather.
3:47 The quote of the week is from Aristotle. Excellence is a habit and it’s not something you have it’s something you do- and do- and do. Wish I could tell you it was easy.
4:26 Welcome Michael Bungay Stanier to the show. He’s going to tell us how to do more great work and stop the busy work. Of course, we’re both Canadians with different accents, living in different countries and still clinging to Canuckness. Work falls into 3 categories: Bad Work, Good Work and Great Work. Where do you spend your time?
6:24 We can’t avoid Bad Work entirely. Sometimes it’s just gotta be done, but how can you tell the difference and how much effort do you want to put into Bad Work? Good Work is never ending and we could spend all our working life here and never get to the end of it. Who has time for Great Work?
8:28 Sometimes it seems like we either have way too much work, or we’re unemployed. How do you find the middle ground? You need 3 things: Focus, Courage and Resilience . Focus isn’t an easy thing to achieve and most of us don’t do it very well and your brain isn’t designed for it. Oh good.
12:37 There’s a really important point to be made here: We’re not just talking about doing our work great, we’re talking about doing Great Work. We are capable of delivering drivel at a very high standard. Great Work may not be done quite as well. Irony, thy name is middle management. Oh, and most of what we do needs to be done well but not perfectly. Deal with it.
16:36 Michael spends a lot of his time helping people be creative, because that’s where Great Work comes from. He gives us a couple of tips including a great question- “and what else?”.
21:14 It takes courage to do Great Work and keep going. Too many of us are too timid in the work that we do. Being beaten about the head and ears psychically will do that to you.
23:54 One of the contributors to Michael’s book is Tim Hurson and he share some great tips.
Michael’s Resources
TED.com a collection of 18 minute talks from brilliant people