#12 - Amy Winehouse, a unique individual!

RIP Amy!

I have not always been a big fan of Amy Winehouse but respected her musical talent, quirky identity, and pursuit of individualism. Since her untimely death, I have to feel and see a bit of a kindred spirit within her and others who have tried to break out. Amy Winehouse had a special gift that she wanted so desperately to share through her incredible voice and personal perspective; yet she was unwilling to change her identity to "fit in." Her famous song Rehab reiterates this desire.

As is the nature of the entertainment industry, it is wrought with it's critiques - those who don't particularly like or agree with what a unique talent is doing. One has to be really brave to try to break into this elitist and often degrading industry since ones bones will be picked dry by vultures called paparazzi, tabloids, industry big wigs, promoters, PR agents, and an abundant list of others who look to sponge off  talented individuals and their business naivete. And to think, people are clamoring to break into the entertainment industry in just about any way possible; no thanks, I'll pass.

From my perspective this is a very common phenomenon within any industry where someone looks to break out (or into) and do things differently or create fundamental change. Change is feared and unique individualism is scrutinized. It's one of the reasons I think that America is economically "stuck" - any new ideas are squelched by cronyism. While technology is running along at breakneck speed (because by golly - too many people are making money at it), America remains rooted to very out-dated and staid thinking.

Take for example public education - walk into any school in this country (except for maybe a few charter schools) and each one will replicate the same pedagogical model: sit at your desk and listen to your teacher. But it doesn't work any more - kids are dropping out, failing, or just not learning enough to advance to the next phase of growth, e.g. dynamic problem solving and creative thinking are stilted and squashed resulting in social and economic inertia!

We could learn from this travesty of Amy and others - those who look to break out usually break down.

WM #11 - Virtual Insanity

"Virtual Insanity"


(Partial Lyrics taken from Jamiroquai)


"Futures made of virtual insanity now
Always seem to, be govern'd by this love we have
For useless, twisting, our new technology
Oh, now there is no sound - for we all live underground"


On my walk this morning I was listening to this song. The lyrics seem so appropriate for an introduction to this blog. 


As a management scholar I get to look at others research mind boggling reveals some interesting insights about technology which many of us realize but don't seem to do anything about. While technologies like the Internet, Facebook, MS SharePoint, Blackboard and a inexplicable number of other software platforms are being developed, there are NOT enough qualified workers to maintain, secure, and administrate them. 


A good friend ('sup Charles) is preparing a study to explore this as it relates to Information Assurance (essentially computer network security) and his insights are facinating. What he has discovered is network security doesn't have enough people with experiential learning to equip them for this type of work. The current workforce for this field and often organizational spending is focused on technology rather than human resources. Those who do have the training and experience command such high salaries that only MAJOR corporations can afford to hire.


So what is going on  here? Why don't we spend more time helping people learn technology instead of just piling on more technology? This is what I think:


1. Organizational leaders love new gadgets (blame it on the Geeks from Wired Magazine).
2. Organizational leaders think technology can replace the work of two people (but need to be maintained by support desk "Betty" in India at $70/hr).
3. Organizational leaders think new technologies will eliminate or catch up with competitors (really - worry about the customers!).
4. Organizational leaders don't revisit their SWOT analysis and ask do we have the skill set within the organization to handle this new technology?


Stop the Virtual Insanity people - workers are having a hard enough time checking our three email accounts, linking our phones to our Outlook accounts, and programming our VCRs or DVRs to record reruns of Friends or M.A.S.H. Don't keep piling on new technologies on your employees in hopes that they will adapt - it needs to go the other way around!


Check out the Virtual Insanity Video - AWESOME!

WM #10 : Either you run the day or the day runs you.

I read this quote today: 
Either you run the day or the day runs you.
~Jim Rohn


As managers, leaders, teachers, students, parents, ... human being, we are often directed by everyone but ourselves. The proverbial 'fires' that sprout up every few minutes and demand our attention versus the other way around. Today - being Monday - this quote from famous life strategist Jim Rohn really resonated with me.  


During adolescents our schedules are dictated to us versus the other way around - and this is for a reason - because you know that children and students are often not yet disciplined enough to make their own schedules (I think I'll schedule Microbiology at 8:00 a.m. on Monday because I will never party the previous weekend and need to have late classes on Monday!). When I was an undergraduate at Washington State University, my 8:00 a.m. class every Tuesday and Thursday was Philosophy 101. WHY DIDN'T I drop that class! Probably because it was a pre-requisite for Abnormal Psychology and I had no other course choices - I was a victim of someone else's schedule. I did poorly in that class.


We all can recall looking forward to the ultimate freedom of creating our own schedules; when and where we want to be and do. Huh!? Does it really work that way? Sick kids, disorganized bosses, urgent phone calls, doctors/dentists office hours, etc.... Life is too complicated and it is filled with other human beings who fail to heed schedules or those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who do and force us to use them. We are a product of our environment and it is drilled into our brain since birth - when to eat, sleep, sit, study, and play. Then BOOM - you are on your own baby!


If this is your struggle, as it is for me, do the following right now: list all tasks that are important for you to accomplish during the course of this month (starting today). Example: an article that needs to be written, schedule car tune-up, a budget completed, talk with poor performer on your, a presentation that needs to be outlined. Everything that is a must do but is easy to put off - write them all down and prioritize one through ten or whatever length of your list. (If you have a list of over twenty things - OK - quit micromanaging and delegate - shesh!)


Now, give yourself a deadline for each of these items. In school we have forced deadlines (mid terms, finals, advisor office hours). Force yourself to do this - realistic or not, you may not know because of others that are involved (the source of our fires) but this will force you to keep it on your radar. For example this is my list: 

1. Practice Dissertation Proposal conference call with Accountability Partner - July 11 (Mon)
2. Finish Writing WM #10 - July 11 (Mon)
3. Finish reading "Taming the Abrasive Manager" (for possible course text) - July 13 (Weds)
4. Download NVivo9 Software onto laptop - July 15 (Fri)
5. Email "hello" to French students - July 16 (Sat)
6. Finish outline short story (Invisible Fence) - July 22 (Fri)
7. Pack for AoM in San Antonio - July 28 (Thur)

Notice that each of these are actionable and not ambiguous. This is key to ensure that there is something you are able to actually do versus something that is rather vague and non actionable. For example 'Email "hello!" to French Students' is precisely what I need to do versus "Contact students" which could have all sorts of meanings (phone, email, which students, etc.). Giving yourself very direct instructions for your list will increase the likelihood that you will DO it! 


Now, think how long will it take to complete each of these tasks? Finish outline of short story could take me one to eight hours depending upon how far I want to take it so I may consider breaking this up into pieces putting it into my schedule incrementally but I don't work that way - once I start it I have to finish it with no interruptions. Same with writing a blog - I lose the flow if I'm interrupted. So know your style of dealing with these things. Don't let others dictate it.


As managers we are often caught up in the ad hoc role of firefighter versus productive and proactive leader, organizer, and planner. If you heed this advice, you'll likely be the one forcing others to move to your schedule versus the other way around!


So why is this weird management - because few of us actually do this and accomplish it consistently thus making it a extraordinary phenomenon. Ask a few colleagues - "How many fires did you have to put out today?" Their response will be 'enlightening!'

WM #9.5: Planning ahead (The Critical Path)

(I had promised to keep these Blogs short, which my spouse so purposefully pointed out to me after the last one; it was a tad overkill creating a glazed-over look on his face - so I cut it in half. This is probably "Blog suicide" but since I'm trying to keep this an active post for students taking my Fundamentals of Management courseI decided I'd better edit this particular post - my apologies to those who have been reading and are confused by this recent edit.)

WM #9.5: How to avoid a train wreck - Plan Ahead!

Through the identification of "critical path" (often with the use of a Gantt chart), a manager defines one sequence of events that take the longest and cannot easily be reduced in size, speed, or time. In other words, what ensures that the project is accomplished safely, correctly and with the least amount of risk if things go wrong. An easy example to illustrate this process is envision constructing a skyscraper; the main structure or foundation must be completed first before any of the plumbing, dry wall, or windows can be installed, hung, or inserted. Henry L. Gantt was the first to develop this very simplistic idea in the form of a bar chart that lists activities and dates enabling projects to be accomplished by visualizing the project activity duration.

Understanding what takes precedence in a project to ensure that other's activities can take place either concurrently or right after one is accomplished.

In a complex society where work is accomplished not just by one person but many, this type of planning is paramount to project delivery and meeting business objectives while ensuring safety to the humans performing and receiving the new service or project. Especially in contemporary society where everything seems to be done YESTERDAY! Time is literally money in every aspect of business life and often corners are cut for the sake of reducing the amount of time to save on costs. This is wrong but often done in many instances of human economic development and a topic for another blog.

Why did this train drive through a tornado (see previous post)? Probably because they didn't consider the consequences (assessed risk) and maybe had never done it before (Train Engineer says, "We're heavy with umpteen cars weighing 15 tons apiece - a tornado won't be a problem"). I bet they'll never do that again! Now I gotta go change my shirt - I spilled grape koolaide (again, refer to last post)!

WM #9 : Plan AHEAD!

My kids always tease me that I can't keep a white shirt clean because of my preponderance to dribble whatever I eat or drink right on the front of it. It's called a shelf people! And for a buxom broad like me, well, it's an inevitable problem. My biggest (no pun intended) problem is being somewhere that I don't have a way to cover up, clean, or replace the offending shirt that has been the recipient of a recent DQ chocolate dip cone dribble or a dollop of mustard that has escaped from my Nathan's hot dog! So planning is everything and whoever invented those Tide Clean Stix should receive the Nobel Prize for invention and innovation! Whenever I go somewhere that requires some semblance of professionalism, I always plan to bring a sweater, jacket or - even better - a scarf; versatile, easily tucked away, and so many styles and designs to match a multitude of outfits. I KNOW that I will be needing something to cover any "oops" dribble if there is any beverage or food consumption in my future!

So you may be asking yourself, "what's this got to do with management?" Planning people! I repeatedly discuss this concept with students and how often managers are caught ill-prepared for difficult situations. While we cannot possibly plan for every contingency it is important to have every possible problem or mishap planned for with the hopes that it will NEVER happen. The above video illustrates a situation that likely many train engineers had hoped that they would never have to be confronted with but unfortunately, did! A tornado struck this train quickly and with incredible fierceness that serves as great YouTube fodder but think what the cost was to the train company and town for clean-up, recovery of equipment, loss of life and limb, and the logistics required to get the train track passable again. With all of the recent catastrophic weather conditions around the country (fires in SW, tornado in Springfield MA, flooding along the Mississippi) businesses must be prepared for every possible catastrophic scenario to keep their business afloat.

While working on a large project management assignment as a consultant, I was struck by the planning required to launch a complex, multi-layered, global information technology project. Included in this  project was a vast number of human resources who worked to analyze, define, develop, test, and communicate a project of this size. Hundreds of people worked on their individual piece of the project puzzle while ONE incredible woman - the program manager and my boss - kept it moving. Her job was to orchestrate the entire process. I learned a lot from her and realized that while technology is a wonderful and powerful tool to accomplish the most mundane and tedious tasks, the number of people involved to ensure that it works correctly for the end-user (like you and me) is daunting! We consumers nearly subconsciously use technology to pay our taxes, purchase shoes, or check savings account balance.

With all this technological development, contingency factors of risk must be considered. What does that mean you may ask? The "what if" scenario. "What if" the organizational network fails or is not adequately stress tested for the deluge of users on April 14th and while uploading your taxes the US Government server crashes - Yikes! What if you find the perfect Agatha Ruiz de la Prada toddler shoes at half price (regularly $85.50) for your daughter on Zappos and the server fails to upload your credit card information? Not quite a catastrophe but seriously irritating! And all of the sudden you are seeing a sudden spike in your bank credit card balance but unable to confirm it through your bank's help line because they aren't able to track down where the transactions took place because their server is down? Lack of planning and foresight on the part of the business and it's developers is what has happened. While it may not seem a train wreck, it can make or break a business.

See the next blog WM #9.5: Planning ahead (The Critical Path)

WM #8 - Pain leads to wisdom

My daughter just gave birth to my first grand child - Gavyn Lochlan. I had promised myself that when I started this blog that I would write weekly to ensure a sense of flow and responsibility to any readers. But life gets in the way and especially when you have kids - priorities lie with them. I was in the delivery room when my daughter gave birth to Gavyn and it was probably one of the most difficult experiences of my life. To be so helpless during a time of untold pain and excitement of childbirth. While my daughter had an epidural to alleviate the significant pain of the child birth (a medical miracle and we should all revere this procedure developed by John Bonica, MD the founding father of Pain Management!), she had been in labor for 18+ hours and was exhausted. All I wanted to do was take over this burden for her. As a mother who is both nurturing and authoritative - I often take over and this one instance I was completely helpless. While I could wipe her brow and give her encouraging words I was still helpless to her child-birth struggles. It was agony.

I realized after what seemed like a decade of pushing (probably only about 30 minutes) that I was NOT helping her. She needed someone to come in and take over a more objective and less invested role to coach her through these last few contractions to get this baby out! I was too nurturing with every cell in my body screaming "I'll take over!" It was time for a more "Quit your whining and get this baby OUT!" approach. My US Navy Chief husband is good at that but he wasn't there to take over (although I think he might have been traumatized watching his little girl push a baby OUT of her ... well you know).

I leaned close to her prior to next push and said, "Kels, I'm going to have the nurse come in and help you." At this point, I think she didn't really care who was there but I knew this was going to be hard for her to get over if I didn't tell her exactly what I was doing. I motioned for one of the other nurses to replace me at my daughter's bed side to encourage her through the next contraction. Her boyfriend was on her right side doing a phenomenal job of not trying to push and breath with her like I was. My empathy was at an all-time high and it was time to back off for the sake of my daughter's pleading, scared eyes. I know what you must be thinking: "How could you just leave her!?" Well I was doing more harm than good. Because as a mom I bring popsicles home during a bad case of the flu, lie on the bed after a nightmare, or come charging to the rescue after a minor fender bender; this was the one time I couldn't really help.

How often do we put outselves into a position of taking over when we really shouldn't. When instead we should and MUST step back and let others work through the pain. As parents we are programmed to pick up and comfort our kids after a semi-serious bicycle accident or a fall off the teeter totter but there will be moments when help is a hinderance, when they have to learn that we won't be there all the time to dust them off and kiss their pain away. This particular situation of my daughters first child birth experience may seem extreme as an example of management but it holds true for many of those "micromanagers" out there (and you KNOW who you are!) who feel they need to do EVERYTHING much to the chagrin of their subordinates! WE CANNOT GROW UNLESS WE EXPERIENCE PAIN!

Someone wrote or said, "Wisdom is nothing more than healed pain." And maybe that is why we try to take over when someone is trying to work out a problem or make a tough presentation that we authoritative and "can-do" managers accomplish in a manner of minutes because we know from past experiences the 'best' way to do things (ya right!). But what do others learn from us taking over and how do they grow if we don't allow them to experience some pain? Nothing except we'll take over - running ourselves ragged, running out of time to get our own work done, and resenting them in the end! So next time you get the urge to "push" for your subordinates in getting something done - don't! Let them experience and learn from the pain!

This blog is dedicated to my beautiful daughter Kelsey and her new baby boy!

WM #7: "Here kitty, kitty!"

Wierd Management #7

I have a great friend who works as a Director of Security for a large East coast retail distribution center. She's worked for this company for many years and is a wonderful storyteller relating illustrative and "weird" analogies to share with her staff. She oversees a mostly male security guards staff with the stressful management obligation of security of a vast variety of merchandise ordered, delivered, and distributed through this huge-a-mongous warehouse. Located in bucolic mid-western Connecticut, you'd think this job would be relatively non-drama but alas - it is NOT! Often she forgivingly hires individuals who are either just-recovered drug addicts, prostitutes, convicts along with laid-off executives, retired military, and college students. It's a mixture of drama and intrigue that should be made into a movie! I often call her during my commute home from work knowing that she will be doing the same to get the latest on her trials and tribulations while on the job that day. It's always entertaining!

This weekend, while visiting for a girls weekend, she shared with me the most recent drama between two security guards who regularly worked together - one male and one female. They became 'deeply involved' and then proceeded to break up shortly there after creating a very uncomfortable work environment not lost on ALL of the employees that make this very busy distribution center roll. The young man caught in the drama with the love-thwarted female guard attempted to avoid her at all cost but my friend knew he had to learn this hard lesson of on-the-job love affair gone wrong and she was going to make sure of it. While he was in her office there was some problem reported over the radio requiring a security guard to go check and help as needed. This young buck knew he'd be asked to go but since he knew the person who was reporting trouble was the broken-hearted, ex-girl friend he wanted to get out of it. He pleaded with my friend to get someone else to go. Nothin' doin' thought my friend! This was a perfect opportunity to share a metaphorical analogy as well as ensure that he thought before he leaped into his next work-place romance.

My friend situated herself comfortably in her director chair and begun to wax poetic toward the young fella.

Cute Kitty!

"You know what happens when a cute stray kitty comes around?"

"Ya?"

"What do you do?"

"Feed it."

"And what does it do after you have fed it?"

"It keeps coming back to get fed."

"So what happens if you stop feeding it?"

"It gets mad and bites you."

"Thats right - so what should you do?"

"Keep feeding it?"

"Well you could but then you are stuck with a cat that you don't really want - right?"

"Right - but I don't want to get bit either!"

"So this is what you do at the very beginning - you sprinkle pepper all around the parameter of your house to keep those cute kitties away! Then you'll never have a problem!"

"Oh - right - Wow! Ok so what do I do now?"

"I don't care what you do but right now, you gotta do what I say - get out there and find out what the problem is."

BAD KITTY!