Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Is Business Travel a Blessing or a Curse?

It’s fun to travel with colleagues.  No, really.  Back when I worked at CA, my whole team traveled from New York City to Las Vegas once a year for our company’s annual trade show.  After the highs and lows only a harried week of work in Vegas can provide, I really bonded with these people.  Many years later, I still keep in touch with many of them.  And I still love Vegas.

Traveling with co-workers, however, involves a set of informal rules of which it’s helpful to be aware.  Here are a few that I’ve learned over time.

1. Don’t insist on sitting together on the plane.

Plane etiquette is tricky.  Some people don’t mind gabbing away the whole time, while others would like nothing more than sit silently with their iPad and relish the calm before their trip’s storm.  Because it can be difficult to ascertain your co-worker’s camp and awkward if you get it wrong, sit apart unless you can’t avoid it.  You can probably use the quiet time yourself.

2. Do use the trip as an opportunity.

During a trip, you will probably have more chances to converse with your colleagues than usual.  Use the time to get to know them as human beings.  Express curiosity about their family and hobbies and be open in answering their questions about your lifestyle.  The closer you become when you travel, the stronger your relationship will be back at the office.

3. Don’t let your guard down too far.

Of course, there is a such thing as getting too close.  Always look presentable and avoid inappropriate conversation topics such as sex, drugs, current personal struggles, mean-spirited gossip, and anything you’d be embarrassed about if your boss found out.  Never use a business trip to launch a physical or sexual relationship with a colleague.  Even if you are both single, this is not the time or the place.

For more dos and don'ts for traveling with colleagues, check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog.

5 Work Habits to Break Today

Okay, it's honesty time.  I do some of these - what about you?

Being 10 minutes late for everything

You may run late in all aspects of your life, or maybe you just do it at work because you’ve over-scheduled your time.  Either way, stop being the person who’s always holding things up.  Being punctual will endear you to your colleagues and protect you in case your manager happens to be a clock-watcher.

Spending too much time on personal stuff

We’ve all been there.  Things are a little slow at the office, so the work hours between 10AM-12PM are spent shopping on Amazon, checking Facebook, and reading gossip sites.  As much as you can, strive to curb this behavior.  If you need something to do, volunteer to help a colleague or invest in your professional development.

Complaining

The business world isn’t always an easy place to be, but whining about negative circumstances or annoying people only makes your situation worse.  Try to be the solution-oriented person on your team who is always looking for ways to turn a bad scenario into a more positive one.

For a few more bad habits to watch out for, have a look at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

In the Workplace, Appearance Still Counts for A Lot

In June of 2012, the University of Virginia announced the resignation of its president, Teresa Sullivan.  Faculty members received an e-mail indicating that the dismissal was due to a “philosophical difference of opinion” with the institution’s governing board.  Sullivan had been with the university just two years, and in the opinion of some, had been let go for little or no reason.

College presidents are chief executives too

In the New York Times Magazine, Sullivan’s allies suggested that she didn’t fit the governing board’s image of a chief executive.  Sullivan’s fashion sense, which was typically academic, had apparently offended the higher-ups.  During Sullivan’s performance review, she received comments that her dress was too informal. “I don’t know what the unprofessional dress was,” Sullivan told the Times. “I do live here at the university, so when I’m working out or doing something else here, people will see me.”

Would the same criticism be given to a man? Here what I think over at Intuit's Fast Track blog.

Are You Promotion Material?

According to a study from the Center for Talent Innovation, 268 senior executives cited executive presence, or being perceived as leadership material, as an essential component to getting ahead.  In fact, executive presence accounted for, on average, 25 percent of what it takes to get promoted.  Co-sponsored by Marie Claire, the research initiative was led by my colleague Sylvia Hewlett, who often studies the barriers faced by women in achieving workplace equality.

Executive presence: the two magic words

Apparently, the desire for work/life balance and other oft-cited female challenges are not actually the reasons so few women make it to the C suite.  The principal factor women are neglecting is executive presence.  The majority of female executives don’t understand it and don’t know how to display it effectively.

According to the study, the three areas that comprise executive presence are:

• Gravitas:  The ability to project confidence, poise under pressure, and decisiveness.  Sixty-seven percent of senior executives surveyed cited gravitas as the core characteristic of executive presence.
• Communication: includes excellent speaking skills, assertiveness, and the ability to read an audience or situation.  Twenty-eight percent of surveyed executives felt that good communication telegraphs that you’re leadership material.
• Appearance:  While how you look and dress does affect your executive presence, it’s not nearly as critical as the first two factors.  Only 5 percent of the executives thought appearance was the #1 consideration in the decision to promote.

In addition to having a strong executive presence, sounding educated is essential if you want to ascend to the next level.  Nearly sixty percent of executives felt that unprofessional, uninformed speech detracts from executive presence.

Check out the full post on Intuit's Fast Track blog for more on how to learn executive presence.

How to Avoid Self-Destructing on Foreign Soil

On April 20, 2010, the oil rigger Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, causing the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.  After the explosion killed or injured 28 workers and released 4.9 million barrels of crude oil, the gushing wellhead was finally capped. British Petroleum (BP), the multi-billion dollar oil and gas company, was indisputably responsible.

Instead of expressing true remorse and compassion for the disaster, then CEO Tony Hayward committed a series of cultural gaffes that enraged U.S. citizens and lawmakers. For instance, well before the Gulf crisis was resolved, Hayward proclaimed that he “wanted his life back.” Then, as efforts to plug the leak continued feverishly in the U.S., he casually took in a sailing race with his son off the Isle of Wight in the UK.

Hayward’s American Disconnect

This behavior was consistent with Hayward’s work/life balance philosophy.  He once said publicly that he didn’t work weekends and took all of his holidays no matter what.  What the British Hayward failed to realize was that most Americans don’t necessarily agree with this point of view. It is the American way to take responsibility for one’s mistakes and do everything you can to remedy a bad situation. Until the problem is solved, free time does not exist. Since Americans were affected most when Deepwater Horizon exploded, many wanted to see Tony Hayward on a boat participating in the clean-up.

Although much of his business is conducted in the U.S., Hayward did not demonstrate strong global competence. His lack of understanding regarding how the crisis would be received in the U.S. led to a backward slide of goodwill and a plunging stock price for BP. That summer, it would also cost him his job.

To find out how you can avoid a Tony Hayward-like PR catastrophe, read my advice over at the AMEX Open Forum.

 

Are You Putting Off Your New Hires?

I received this e-mail from a reader:

“Dear Alexandra, I started a new job last week and unfortunately, I’m already regretting my decision. I accepted the job based on the company’s strong reputation in the community, and the fact that I felt so much at home during my interview. But based on my first few days, I’m wondering if my initial great feelings were wrong. Maybe this is not the right place for me.” 

After a lengthy hiring process, this is not a good situation for either the company or the new hire. It’s too bad, because I’m willing to bet that the company is a decent fit for my reader. But what goes on during the first several days of employment leaves a powerful impression, and obviously the culture my reader was prepared to love was absent from that impression. Now he might leave as a result. What should the company have done differently?

It is challenging enough to establish and sustain an organizational culture of which you are proud, and then to communicate that culture effectively throughout the hiring process. You don’t want to waste all that effort by dropping the ball once the offer letter is sent. In my Culture Beat column at the AMEX Open Forum, we explore helpful ways to introduce and/or reinforce a terrific culture to those just coming on board.

Too Much Honesty Can Come Back to Haunt You

Olivia had been working in what she termed “offensive” corporate environments for over 10 years, and she was at her wits end.  While working for one consumer healthcare giant in particular, Olivia was criticized for wearing clothing to cover a disability and pulled out of a major client account because her boss wanted it for himself.

Since the company’s HR department spent a lot of time and money developing a new employee survey, Olivia decided to be honest when she received it.  The intention seemed earnest enough, after all, and Olivia thought her feedback would help the company reach its goal of increased employee engagement.

In the comments section of the survey, Olivia noted the lack of empowerment among junior staff as well as the overly critical eye of management.  She cited examples of inconsistent expectations and unkept promises.

Although the survey was not anonymous, Olivia never imagined she would be called out for being insubordinate.  She received a “talking to” from her boss as well as her Group Head and was treated like a naughty child until the situation was so intolerable Olivia felt she had to leave.

The Truth?  You Can’t Handle the Truth!

It’s tempting to use company evaluations, your own performance reviews, or others’ performance reviews to express your true opinions about the organization or its people.  I urge you to use discretion, because blatant honest comments – especially when your feedback is negative – can wreck havoc on your career if they fall into the wrong hands.

For guidance on how to avoid getting in trouble due to too much honesty, have a look at my post on the Fast Track blog.

Stop Being a Victim of the Re-Org

I was at a meeting in which a c-suite executive proclaimed that her organization had experienced too much tumult lately.  This organization had decided on a new policy: managers in new positions would now have to wait a full year before changing absolutely anything.

Halleluyah.

It is well known that in the business world, people starting a new job will try to make their mark immediately, and this inevitably involves many transitions that may or may not be in the best interest of everyone involved.  Since human beings are not big fans of change, this often causes quite an uproar.

A Fact of Life

It’s good news, of course, that senior leaders are becoming more enlightened, but this does not mean that re-organizations and management upheavals are going to go away.  They are a fact of life.  And how you conduct yourself in the midst of a transition says a lot about you as an employee.  If you think about it, you have two choices: 1) you can leave the company, or 2) you can stay and add value through the transition.

If you choose the latter option, it’s critical that you are perceived as flexible, capable, and supportive of the company’s direction.  For guidance on how to do this effectively, check out my post at the Fast Track blog.

Happy Election Day: Worst Political Gaffes

Reuters journalist and ShortFormBlog contributor Matthew Keys compiled a hugely entertaining list of the worst political gaffes recently made on the job, which incredibly, did not include anything from Obama OR Romney:

Rick Perry’s Brain Freeze at CNBC’s Republican National Debate

“It’s three agencies of government, when I get (to the White House), that are gone: Commerce, Education and the — what’s the third one there? … I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Oops.”  Uttered in November 2011, this line became the hallmark for the rest of Perry’s presidential nominee campaign.

Joe Biden’s Foot in Mouth Moment with the Affordable Care Act

As Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, the vice president dropped an F bomb on live television, enthusiastically stating that the passage of the bill was a “big f-ing deal.”  It was, of course, the line heard round the world.

For others, please check out the full post on the Fast Track blog.

Is Self-Plagiarism Okay?

I know a very young and successful business book author named Jonah Lehrer.  Lehrer has written two bestselling books and is frequently in the news, but last month it was not for a positive reason.

Slate – among other outlets – recently reported that Lehrer had been caught stealing…from himself.

“Media watcher Jim Romenesko claimed that Jonah, a newly minted New Yorker staff writer, copied his blog post “Why Smart People Are Stupid” from a 2011 Wall Street Journal story “The Science of Irrationality.” A few hours later, New York’s Joe Coscarelli and writer Jacob Silverman discovered a bunch more instances in which Lehrer reheated his leftovers.”

Is there a problem here?

Since I originally published my full post on Fast Track, other evidence has come out against Lehrer.  But my original question about self-plagiarism still stands, and I want to know what you think.  Is this okay, or not okay?