Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom

Qualities of Good Presidents and Good Employees

I love this post from Michael McKinney at Leading Blog.  It’s based on a new book from Alvin Felzenberg, The Leaders We Deserved (and a Few We Didn't): Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game.  Felzenberg devised six criteria to best describe various U.S. presidents’ contribution to history.  Based on this exercise, he presents a list of what we should look for in presidential candidates.

Sense of Purpose.  Nearly all presidents who earned a rating of great or near great articulated specific goals that they wanted to achieve as president.

Adversity.  All of the great and near great presidents emerged from conflicts and disappointments they encountered stronger and more resilient ten they had before. This is what made their previous ordeals transformative. All regarded these adversities as learning experiences, however painful. None emerged from such setbacks regarding themselves as victims. None were known to complain or whine—at least out loud or in public—about their private misfortunes.

Broad Life Experiences.  Most great and near great presidents had multiple occupations, not all of them in politics, before coming president. Through the depth and breadth of their experiences, successful presidents learned how to relate to people in all walks of life.

Natural Curiosity.  Great of near great presidents remained curious all their lives about the world around them and about the cause of the problems they were called upon to solve.

Well-Developed Sense of Integrity.  Look for honesty (doing what one said he would do, or explaining why unforeseen circumstances necessitated a different course), courage (meeting adversity head-on, often at political or personal risk), and integrity (placing the interests of one’s office and one’s country ahead of personal convenience or interests, or those of one’s associates).

Humility.  Although confident in their abilities, successful presidents held their egos in check. All great and near great presidents understood that they would receive the credit for the achievements of their subordinates. For this reason they strove to find outstanding ones…including on occasion, former rivals and members of the opposition party.

 I’m including this on Water Cooler Wisdom because I think these characteristics are appropriate for good leaders in all types of organizations, and, for that matter, employees at all levels.

Career Lessons from Bill Gates

So Bill Gates is preparing to retire as CEO of Microsoft. Gates and his childhood friend Paul Allen founded Microsoft on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to make and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, an early computer that was sold to hobbyists. Gates dropped out of Harvard University in his third year to focus on Microsoft, and the rest, as they say, his history.  For a new Forbes article, I was asked to consider lessons that can be learned from Gates’ amazing career, and here are a few I came up with:

• Gates had a vision of the future that he genuinely believed in (i.e. the potential of computers) and was prepared to take major personal and professional risks to pursue that vision.  He is a man who has never particularly cared what people thought, and so he was able to do things that went against the grain, such as dropping out of Harvard and alienating those who cried antitrust.   We can note, looking at Gates, that those who aren't overly concerned with society's expectations actually have a better shot of transforming that society for the better.

• Even though he was successful at a young age, Gates never sat back and reveled in it.  He continually strove for higher levels of achievement.  His management style was hands-on so that he could firmly control the direction of Microsoft and its products.  He is not a leader who has relied on others to make important decisions on product strategy and other facets of the business, which cuts both ways.  On the one hand, he can count himself personally responsible for Microsoft's many successes, but on the other, he likely suffered a great deal of burnout, which may be part of the reason he's retiring so early.  We should ultimately strive for a working life that allows for some measure of control while leveraging the contributions and talents their of team members.

• Gates was not afraid of failure.  He was never apposed to without trying various tactics to see what would work for Microsoft  – and what wouldn’t.  In his speeches and articles, he has been known to tell of the significant investment in time and dollars that went into failed projects like the Omega database and a joint operating system with IBM.  But if it weren’t for Omega, we wouldn’t have Microsoft Access, and if it weren’t for the discontinued IBM effort, Windows would not have progressed to its current super-product status.  We can learn from Gates that temporary setbacks do not equal total failure but are rather a means to an end. 
  

• Whether through a natural ability or one he honed over time, Gates knows himself and what's meaningful to him.  He let Ballmer take over in 2000 so that he could focus on the areas of the business that intrigued him most, and it's widely recognized how much time and money he devotes to his philanthropic endeavors of global health and education.  It's even said that he's an excellent father.  We should look at Gates as someone who has been successful as a total human being, not just as a businessman.  This is, admittedly, a new definition for success, but one that's becoming increasingly important as the boundaries between the personal and the professional continue to blur.
  

Easing Commuter Shock: The New In-Demand Perk?

I was recently interviewed for Yahoo! Hot Jobs for a story on how the continuing upward pressure on gas prices is forcing many workers to change how they get to their jobs and to seek added benefits that offset commuting costs.  In a recent survey by the staffing firm Robert Half International (RHI), almost half of U.S. professionals (44%) said higher gas prices are affecting their commutes, up from 34% two years ago. The top three changes cited by the group are increased carpooling, driving a more fuel-efficient car, and telecommuting more frequently.  Three in 10 respondents said they are looking for a new job closer to home.  Some advice for commuters that I and other experts offered included:

Check with Human Resources. Ask your HR rep if there are existing [commuter assistance] policies, because there may well be, even if they aren't widely recognized," I said.  “Your request may also prompt HR to take action, as the business case for such incentives is strong.

Highlight the upside for the company. "You should put a positive spin on your request to the boss or to HR," said Liz Bywater, president of the Bywater Consulting Group, which helps improve organizational performance. "Companies that offer such incentives may be seen as environmentally conscious and employee-friendly."

Check with your city. Local agencies may offer transportation incentive programs that employers can tap, according to Terry Pile, president of Career Advisors and author of Working in Your Slippers: Is Telecommuting Right for You?  “Some cities require large employers to reduce the number of cars on their campuses by a certain percentage and provide them with assistance in putting together an alternative commuting program," she says.

Make a proposal. "You could put together a cost analysis in support of telecommuting one or two days a week," Pile said, adding that studies have shown that telecommuting saves employers on parking and office space, productivity, and absentee costs. "If the employer can see a positive impact on the bottom line, you'll get better reception for a telecommuting program."

Control what you can. Even if your employer is not receptive to changing, find ways to increase your savings and efficiency. "Look at how you might save on gas outside of work by planning your errands efficiently, and walking or taking public transit when you can," said Pile.  "You must find a way to live with the situation without anxiety," I added. "If you're strapped for cash, balance things out by taking away one expense you can tolerate -- such as dining out one meal per week. The increase in fuel costs is a hardship, no doubt, but it's not the same dire scenario as being unemployed or facing bankruptcy."

5 Ways to Make HR Love You

Admittedly, staying on HR’s good side is probably not at the top of your list of managerial priorities, but HR has the power to make your life easier…or very difficult.  Over at HR Capitalist, Kris Dunn has five great tips for how managers can make HR love them.

You clearly communicate expectations.  Your employees understand their objectives, and they also understand performance you consider to be not meeting, meeting and exceeding your expectations in each micro area.  Not a lot of surprises in your group when it comes to performance management. 

Talent is important to you, but you are a realist.  You want the best talent, but you seem to have a knack regarding what type of talent you can get for your open slot.  With that in mind, you'll hold out for a better candidate, but you know when to cut to the chase and close the deal. 

You have a sense of urgency in Employee Relations issues.  You know if you let employee relations issues fester in your group, it's only going to get worse.  With that in mind, you're proactive, and always looking to talk about where you need to go with a certain situation to ensure it doesn't blow up.

You have a situation-specific sense of humor.  Face it, we talk about a lot of sticky stuff, including your own plight, and you mix humor with seriousness like a champ.  Thanks for understanding we're going to work through it and laughing with me/at me.

You have the ability to anticipate outcomes and reactions to your actions.  You see the game.  If you are thinking about taking a specific action, you proactively talk about what that will mean to others, how others will perceive it, the political landscape, etc.

Kris claims that he didn’t put anything administrative in the list, like “you get the forms to me”, or “your reviews are always done on time”.   Those things are apparently easily fixable, whereas if a manager doesn’t do the things above, all the administrative excellence in the world won’t matter.  Thanks, Kris!

Boost Your Earning Power with the Power of Language

Did you know that the most accurate predictor of earning power is literacy?  Literacy does not just mean being able to read, but also refers to your command of written language. I recently read an article by Steve Kaufmann at LingQ, a company that provides web-based language tutoring, you can improve your skills by copying a sample page from a source or article that interests you and pasting it into Google Documents.  You can find several readability indicators under File/Word Count, including the Automated Reader Index, which indicates the number of years of schooling required to understand a text.  Keep challenging yourself with harder and harder material until you are comfortable with content that is at an index of 12 or 15 or higher.

You should also measure the richness of your vocabulary.  Cut and paste a sample article into a web-based Vocabulary Profiler.  Using such a tool, you can see how many of the piece’s words are within the first 1000 most frequent words, how many are "academic" (AWL), and how many are “off-list.” Kaufmann recommends getting to the point where you are comfortable reading material that has 10 percent or more words in the AWL and the off-list categories. And don’t forget that you can use online dictionaries and word learning programs to increase your vocabulary.  When you come across a word that you don’t know, get into the habit of looking it up immediately.  I was doing this for a while, but then I got lazy.  Thanks to Kaufman’s article, though, I think I’ll try to pick it up again!

New Episode: 30/20 Vision

Just wanted to let everyone know that my co-hosts Lindsey Pollak (Getting from College to Career) and Christine Hassler (20 Something Manifesto) and I will be taping the June episode of our radio show and podcast, 30/20 Vision, this Monday, June 23rd at 6PM ET.  We'll be discussing the power of thought - and how the way you view the world impacts your life on a daily basis.  Please join us live or listen to the recording.

What Defines Success?

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about success at work, and how it means different things to different people.  When I first graduated college, I thought success was setting and then achieving a goal to reach a certain level.  But for someone who is naturally ambitious, this doesn’t really work.  Because once you reach that level, you want to go higher.  Eventually, you will rise as high as it’s reasonable to expect, and then what?  Do you feel like a failure because you aren’t at the tippy, tippy top?  Making success about being the best in your field is bound to lead to disappointment, because even if you’re the president of your country, there will be another world leader who is more accomplished and more popular with the people. 

Another definition says that you are successful if lots of other people think and/or tell you that you are.  Except how do you decide whose opinion counts, and whose doesn’t?  Are the people in your life really equipped to make an objective judgment about such things?  Plus, it’s always dangerous to base your self-esteem on what other people think.  Then there’s the people who say that you’re successful if you’ve gotten rich doing what you do.  This makes a degree of sense, although if your windfall was mostly luck or being in the right place at the right time, of if your wealthy in laws loaned you the money to get a leg up, how successful are you really?

For me, I think success is enjoying your work enough so that you’re energized at the start of each business day.  It’s having the respect and admiration of your colleagues.  It’s earning enough so that you’re in a position to pursue the lifestyle you want, with enough time to spend with the people who are most important to you.  It’s making a contribution to society so that you know in your heart that the world is a better place with you in it. 

What do you think?

Go Home with Some of the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs

Have you ever wondered how super-successful business owners with millions of customers get started?  Surprisingly, many don’t spend years toiling in Fortune 500 brand powerhouses, some had no money or no connections going in, and some weren’t even trained in marketing. NYU marketing professor David Vinjamuri, in his new book Accidental Branding, set out to explore what makes these founders of "accidental brands" tick and came out with a wonderfully engaging portrait of well-known entrepreneurs like Gary Erickson, creator of the Clif Bar, Craig Newmark of the online classifieds powerhouse Craig’s List, Roxanne Quimby, creator of the Burt’s Bees product line, and Myriam Zaoui and Eric Malka, founders of The Art of Shaving line. 

Vinjamuri illustrates how his accidental branders personally experienced a problem that the new brand in turn solved.  For example, long-distance cyclist Erickson was disgusted with foul-tasting energy bars,  Newmark needed a way to quickly and easily communicate the latest San Francisco happenings to his friends, and Malka was plagued by terrible razor burn.  Vinjamuri, who had the unique opportunity to go into these individuals’ homes and places of business and get to know them one-on-one, brings the success stories to life and renders his characters so appealing and believable that you’d want to go out and have a beer with each and every one of them.

While the book reads more like an extended human interest story rather than a nuts and bolts business tutorial, Vinjamuri does offer insights on common characteristics of accidental branders – like obsessive attention to detail, being your own customer, and building a memorable brand myth, and tutors the reader on how his subjects’ decisions led to their eventual outcomes.  What inspired me the most was the fact that these now-icons were once ordinary people who all experienced setbacks and hardships along the path to their dreams.  Because that’s what the American dream is all about.

Employees Sent to the Parking Lot?

I heard a preposterous story about a CEO who arrived at his new company – a medium-sized business with about 100 people in his location – and proceeded to order all of the employees into the parking lot. 

“You all are to stay out here until further notice,” he said.  “If I or senior management needs you for something, we will summon you inside.  A few weeks may go by, and if you’re still out here, it means your contribution to the organization is not readily apparent, and you should go elsewhere.”

This is no doubt harsh, and yes, I doubt its truthfulness.  But if looked at as a metaphor, it emphasizes a point that I like to reiterate in all of my university, corporate, and conference talks.  Your career will not go anywhere if the powers that be don’t understand what you bring to the table.  This means, especially if you’re at the junior level, that you must always keep your bosses informed about what you’re working on, and subtly assert your achievements and the hard-core business results that go along with them. 

At least one senior manager should have you on speed dial because she knows you can be counted on to provide specialized expertise or knowledge, and are someone who gets things done.  While it’s true that no one is irreplaceable, you want them to think that life would be uncomfortable for a few weeks or months if you didn’t show up for work one day.  That’s how you know that you’re truly adding value.

At the End of the Day, You Have to Be Yourself

Last week, I gave a talk on twenty-first century recruitment and retention at the American Society of Training and Development’s annual conference in San Diego.  While I was there, I attended a few “train the trainer” sessions on improving your technique for delivering educational content in the workplace.  The guys (they were all men) have been doing this for more years than many of you have been alive, and they’ve accumulated some noteworthy wisdom.  For example, in order to get participants engaged immediately, you should open with an activity that has them talking to each other AND is relevant to the session.  You should organize your content into easily digestible, 20 minute chunks, and have them celebrate their own learning at the end. 

I did take issue, however, with the advice that corporate training is “theater” and that every facilitator must act accordingly.  It’s not in every person’s nature to run back and forth from the front of the room to the back, waving your arms as you keep the audience on edge with a dramatic story that may or may not have actually happened to you.  This entertainment-driven approach obviously works for these guys – they all performed to standing-room only crowds.  But I think that no matter what job you have, in communicating with others you have to play to your strengths.  I, for example, relate to my twenty-something audiences by talking to them as if they were my friends.  I give them honest examples of my failures and my successes, and I don’t knock them over the head with my delivery.  If I did this, given my naturally low-key demeanor, I would look foolish.  

A theatrical style may motivate people to listen to you, but sincerity and relatability motivates them to take what you say to heart.