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Friday, August 31, 2012
Astronology - Attracting and Retaining Organizational Keepers
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The History of the Power Lunch
The earliest power lunches likely took place in the 1830s at Delmonico’s, whose culinary wizardry (Lobster Newburg, Baked Alaska) and prime location in the financial district made it popular with well-heeled suits. Apart from the occasional visit from such authors as Charles Dickens or Mark Twain, Delmonico’s remained largely populated by business and finance moguls. Other powerful groups gathered at different locales over the years: playwrights and actors descended upon Sardi’s in the theater district in the forties, while wealthy socialites clustered at Le Cirque, Le Pavillion, and La Grenouille in the fifties and sixties, earning the not-entirely-flattering nickname “ladies who lunched.”Awesome. Just awesome
For literary types, the lunch venue of choice was the Algonquin Hotel on West 44th Street. What would later come to be known as the Algonquin Round Table (or, as its members preferred, “The Vicious Circle,”) began in June of 1919, when Vanity Fair writers Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Robert E. Sherwood joined like-minded pals for a midday soiree to welcome back famously sharp-penned New York Times drama critic Alexander Wollcott from a stint as a World War I correspondent overseas. Theater agent John Peter Toohey had organized the lunch as a practical joke, ostensibly as a welcome home, but instead used the opportunity to roast Wollcott for failing to include one of his clients in a column. Legend has it that all attendees—Wollcott included—enjoyed the gathering so much they decided to do it again the next day, and the next, and the one after that.
Dining upon free popovers and celery sticks, or, in flush times, chicken hash with pancakes, the aforementioned writers—along with an ever-evolving cast that included playwrights George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, columnist Heywood Broun, and author Edna Ferber—bantered and gossiped, played endless games of cribbage and poker, and devised elaborate practical jokes to deceive one another. Conversation was fast, clever and biting—hence the “vicious” nickname, though the Round Table moniker was widely used after a Brooklyn Eagle caricature depicted the group draped in armor around a circular table. (Not all were fans of the club: Groucho Marx, whose brother Harpo occasionally joined the group, distanced himself from the table, claiming “the price of admission is a serpent’s tongue and a half-concealed stiletto.”)
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Quit the Yapping
But if you're running a company, don't you need to hear about anything that may have gone wrong? "There's a big difference between bringing your attention to something that's awry and a complaint," Blake says. "Typically, people who are complaining don't want a solution; they just want you to join in the indignity of the whole thing. You can almost hear brains clink when six people get together and start saying, 'Isn't it terrible?' This will damage your brain even if you're just passively listening. And if you try to change their behavior, you'll become the target of the complaint."The article doesn't stop there as it goes to give some advice on how to handle the Negative Nancies, including getting some distance and putting your shields up. My favorite piece of advice, though, was one that they describe as letting the complainer fix the problem:
"Try to get the person who's complaining to take responsibility for a solution," Blake says. "I typically respond to a complaint with, 'What are you going to do about it?'" Many complainers walk away huffily at that point, because he hasn't given them what they wanted, Blake reports. But some may actually try to solve the problem.I like it because it doesn't avoid the problem, but, instead, goes head on on how to fix it. The goal isn't to ignore what's going wrong, it's finding a way to fix it. And sometimes the best fixer of issues is the person who yaps the most. So while it's bad for your health to listen to them, find a way to make it a productive yapping.
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Astronology - Business Coaching and Mentoring: Are They Worth the Effort?
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Thursday, August 16, 2012
Dealing with Yelling and Not Yelling at Work
Indeed, the yelling boss appears to be quietly disappearing from the workplace. The new consensus among managers is that yelling alarms people, drives them away rather than inspiring them, and hurts the quality of their work. Some bosses also fear triggering a harassment lawsuit or winding up as the star of a co-worker's cellphone videotape gone viral. While underlings may work hard for difficult bosses, hoping for a shred of praise, few employees do their best work amid yelling.But the article doesn't stop there--it goes on to say that while actual yelling doesn't go on as often, what's taken its place when all that aggression is swept under the rug may actually be worse:
Verbal aggression tends to impair victims' working memory, reducing their ability to understand instructions and perform such basic tasks as operating a computer, according to several studies of cellphone-company employees and engineering students published earlier this year in the Journal of Applied Psychology.
Managers spend about 25% of their time resolving conflicts, research shows. The "not-so-good part" of the no-yelling trend "is that people are pushing things under the carpet," causing frustrations to seep out in other ways, says Jack Lampl, president of the A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems in Rainier, Wash. One favorite way of venting, angry email, "serves as a relief valve, but tends to inflame conflict. It takes a very corrosive role in the workplace, for gossiping and undermining others," he says.The way to solve all this behavior, according to The Journal is to have some sort of mediated discussion and air your grievances (in a better way than Festivus, hopefully). Hopefully this allows the two parties to come to a civil understanding which can serve better than angry e-mails, stone-cold stares and that embarrassing yelling that left me cowering in a cubicle years ago.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Astronology - 2012 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition Recap
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Astronology - Learning from Mistakes
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Friday, July 20, 2012
The Generous CEO
Yuanqing....received a sizable $3 million bonus for actually being good at his job. The additional bonus was a reward for steering the company to record shipments and profits despite a weakening PC market. And what did Mr. Yuanqing do with that money? He gave it back to his employees. That second bonus was broken down into 10,000 discrete chunks and dispersed to line workers, assistants and other lower-level employees.
Going back to the original CNN article, you can see that each employee got $314, which, while looking small to us, goes a long way for some of these junior-level employees--especially to show them that the corporate tone starts at the top and that their value is seen in the job done by the company.
This is not to say that every CEO should go around giving out their money to their employees (Yuanqing made $14 million according to the article so it's not like he will be lining up at the soup kitchen after giving away $3 million), but it does show that some executives in this world are not the greedy SOBs that the news makes them out to be--and those that aren't should always be rewarded with good press like this.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Keep the Message Simple and Consistent
The issue is that the business world is driven by the "what have you done for me lately" mentality and when you have a board and shareholders to answer to, you need to have a clear and consistent answer to that question. The issue is that everytime you change your message, and change a lever, you confuse and frustrate your employee-base. Like on the TV show, The Office, when the fictional paper company, Dunder Mifflin, started selling printersor when the real-life company, Netflix, decided they were going to split into two companies--until they weren't. Companies tell employees to focus on the top line but then if the bottom line suffers, they tell employees to start focusing on that.
The goal is not to stay stagnant--it's to stay consistent in your message and your being. And if you do decide to change, make sure everyone is bought in and on board. Because if your employees are confused, then how are you and those employees supposed to convince your customers that you are a worthwhile company to do business with. Stay clear and stay consistent.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Guest Post: College Kid to Young Professional—Making the Transition
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Making the transition from the college campus to the "real world" is challenging for many different reasons. Not only are brand new college grads today faced with the challenges of a difficult job market and astonishing student loan debt, new graduates are also faced with the more traditional challenges of entering the working world. College graduation is a period of transition in many different areas of life. For many young adults, this is the first time that they have truly lived on their own and without the support of their parents. Students are faced with new financial responsibilities and the always-exhausting process of applying for jobs, updating resumes, and writing cover letters.
Once you have landed your first real time job in the professional world, there are some aspects of professional life in the office you will have to adjust to. Keep these three things in mind when making the transition from the college classroom to the professional office.
Learn the Company Culture
While many people will tell you that you have to entirely change your wardrobe and interactions when you transition from college to the workplace, that isn't always necessarily true. Yes, you will likely have to put together your appearance differently than you did in the dorm room and on campus, but that doesn't mean you should buy tons of suits and pencil skirts. Dress and act professionally (of course), but also try to get to know and understand the company culture. Each workplace is different in feel, demeanor, and formalness.Try to get a solid feel for the company culture after you start in an office. Your goal should be to understand the company culture and blend into it without compromising your own professional goals. Learn the differences in your workplace between policy and politics. Be observant. Pay attention to those around you and gain an understanding of how they perform. This can be very similar to gaining an understanding of the culture of a college classroom. Look to the top performers in the office (as you did in the classroom) and see what they dress, how they communicate ideas, how they interact with others, and how they behave in meetings. Integrating yourself into the company culture smoothly will make for a more successful day-to-day performance and overall growth.
Establish Professional Relationships
Establishing relationships in the workplace can be one of the most difficult and differing aspects of the professional world from the collegiate one. In college, you are led to believe that every student, professor, and otherwise is your friend and supporter. You all have the same goal and you will work together to meet it. In the world of business, this camaraderie isn't quite as clear-cut. In the professional world, you want to make a strong impression at a personal level as well as a professional one. Understand that where the line is between friend and co-worker when you are first entering the "real world" workplace. You want to be friendly, but you do not want to be too person so as to be unprofessional. Sure, eventually you will likely form friendships with co-workers, but to start try to learn the boundaries.To go along with professional relationships, it is essential that new graduates in the working world forge professional relationships for the sake of networking. Most of us do not land the position we ultimately want to do right out of college. Try to forge some important networking connections with that first job you get. Talk to people in positions that you are interested in one day having, so as to have connections in the field.
Remain a Student of Your Trade
One of the last things that new graduates think of when entering the professional world is going back to school or learning more. But, to be a truly successful professional competitor, you should never stop learning. Become a student of your trade. New graduates especially should always consider and try to foster their professional development. Investigate the possibility of in-house training, educational travel, continuing academic education, and memberships in professional associations. These steps can give new graduates an even greater ploy in the professional world and can truly aid their future success.Astronology - 6 Months on Capitol Hill
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