Millennials have a tendency to get a bad rap as a collective group. There’s a lot of people who write articles on the Millennial generation, often times I find the information within those articles to be a bit brash, at times lacking hands on experience, as the information comes from a survey or a study. It seems as though there are a fair amount of people who came before the Millennial generation who have a hard time understanding and interacting with Millennials in general.
As a result they label an entire generation as ‘difficult to manage’, ‘entitled’, ‘impatient’ and ‘socially incompetent if it wasn’t for their smart phones’. Ouch! Back in the day them be fighting words. I may not be a Millennial but I do believe there’s a lot more to this group of people than meets the eye. By the by, older generations have been throwing haymakers at younger generations for decades, so perhaps the Millennials getting a bad rap is nothing new. Each time a new generation becomes of adult age and starts entering the workforce, the generations that have to deal with them always have the same song and dance. Perfect example is what happened with The Beatles. When The Beatles hit the US for the first time in 1964 the Silent Generation (parents at this time) almost keeled over thinking their kids (Baby Boomer generation) were going off the deep end. Why? Because the kids of that day were listening to the musical sounds of long haired, sex-centric, young men who wore weird flashy military clothes and sang of love and peace. Last time I checked The Beatles are about as bad for you as the broccoli I reluctantly ate last night. I have a different outtake on our Millennial cohorts. After the better part of a decade of leading and working side by side with them, I believe, and have experienced firsthand, that the Millennial generation stands to make one of the biggest positive contributions to society we’ve seen in several generations. Big words, I know, but allow me to share with you why I believe this. #1 Fearlessness Millennial are fearless. They grew up in a world where dear ole Mom and Dad told their young techies that they could do and accomplish anything. They were born winners. (regardless if that was true or not) As a result, the Millennial are fearless and act accordingly in the workplace. They would rather up and leave a stale job to start something new, even if that meant completely starting over. They’re built to be entrepreneurs. Perhaps some of that can lead to entitlement, but I believe it gives them an edge that allows them to overcome barriers to entry that would otherwise keep out those of us that are less optimistic or daring. There are some great case studies out there right now which highlight the fearlessness within the Millennial generation. Learn about anyone of these people and you’ll see what I’m talking about: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Evan Spiegel/ Bobby Murphy (Snap Chat), Palmer Luckey (VR Oculus), Adam D’Angelo (Quora) and John & Patrick Collison (Stripe). #2 Expectations of Grandeur Unlike delusions of grandeur, Millennials are used to things working well and improving consistently. Back in the day people settled for mediocre technology and products, because well that’s all we had. Millennials are quite different. They expect companies to produce great results. When they don’t, the companies hear about it before the products even hit the shelves through a barrage of tech talks, social media outpouring, etc. This cause and effect keeps companies, especially consumer electronics manufacturers on their feet, which is good for everyone. Millennials are also used to change, even expect it. Unlike The Silent generation who would be with the same company for their entire career, Millennials don’t have a problem switching things up if they don’t like something. Again, this causes employers and managers to have to be on their toes providing quality places to work. If they don’t, Millennials just won’t work there, or for long. Change is part of life, some deal with it well, others not so much. Millennials embrace it and encourage it. There are three things in life that are certain…death, taxes and change. Millennials have at least a leg up on us on the third one. #3 Technology Whizzes This number tends to be all over the place, however most signs point to a Millennial being someone who was born between 1983 – 2004. It’s the technology generation. Internet not only changed the world at large but it changed this generation. By the time Millennials where in high school they had internet access to assist with research papers, fact finding, even websites providing information on their teachers sharing who was worthy and who not. (I would have loved information like that when I was in school as I felt like some of my teachers were Mrs. Krabappel from the Simpsons) Obviously the internet has made a huge impact on society at large. So too has the iPod with music, the personal computer, social media and gaming, to name a few. All of these have revolutionized the way we live and interact with others, yet these things are second nature to those in the Millennial generation. They were born with a joystick in their hand or a TV on in the background and it’s become a central part of their life. As a result their ability to use and create technology often surpasses other generations. Lastly, they enjoy having technology at the forefront of their daily life, which definitely isn’t the same with other generations. Call it a dependency, call it whatever you want, however the outcome is that Millennials are superior as it relates to their understanding and use of technology which in turn gives them an edge for the future when we’ll all be living like the Jetsons. #4 Creative Expression More and more Millennials are venturing outside the norm and creating their own path as it relates to the workplace and social interactions. Why is this? Well, because they have too. In a world where so much has already been done, the Millennial generation has to be creative in order to compete. Millennials also make up for the largest group of people in the world who write blogs, build websites and upload audio & video files for information sharing. They also have a keen eye for design and art as they were born and brought up with products where form & fit was just as important as function. Don’t believe me? The proof is in the pudding with the fact that websites like Deviant Art are in the top 50 most trafficked sites on the net. By now my hope is that some of you reading this have given some new thought to the Millennial generation. Sure, there may be some bad apples out there that rep the Millennial generation, as there are with all generations, but the larger number of people have a lot to offer. When you take the attributes of the Millennial generation and place them side by side one another (fearless, high expectations, technology experts, creative) you’ve got a recipe for a group of people who can and WILL do great things in their lifetime. They have all the ingredients necessary to lead us into the next frontier. It just might take some time as they’ve barely been in the workplace a full decade. So let’s be patient and see what happens. As a token of my appreciation to the Millennials I’ve had the chance to partner with, learn from and lead, I am forever thankful to you for the opportunity to work side-by-side with you all. Your fearlessness has become my driving force in all I do.
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What if Peter Drucker himself had an opportunity to review your leadership work, what do you think he would say? Would he say you're an effective leader?
If by chance you are new to the philosophies, teachings and writings of Peter Drucker I highly suggest taking some time to familiarize yourself with him. Short and sweet – Drucker is the Godfather of Business Leadership (let’s just go by GBL moving forward) and is responsible for much of what we know today in how effective leaders work and operate. What makes for an effective leader? I just finished reading a fantastic, classic leadership book by GBL himself, ‘The Effective Executive’, originally published in 1967. As noted on the front cover of the book, ‘The Effective Executive’ provides a straight forward, simplistic guide to “getting the right things done” for people in a leadership capacity. What I found amazing about this book is how relevant and simplistic Drucker’s advice is, even for todays’ purposes in a business world that is far different from when these thoughts were put to paper some 48 years ago. So, what is it then that makes for an effective executive [leader]? All too often I find people enjoy making the topic of leadership how-to’s overly complicated. Maybe they do that to sell more books, or justify their new and insightful leadership methodology. For me, I’ve found that the more simplistic something is the better chance I have in understanding it, implementing it and continuing to act on it as a new habit. Watch Out Now – just because something is simple doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to do, or consistently for that matter. Drucker’s approach to leadership success and effectiveness is simplicity at its best. He identifies the following five core competencies successful leaders should have as a part of the fabric that guides them through their daily work:
“Intelligence, imagination and knowledge are essential resources [for a leader], but only effectiveness converts them into results.” - Peter DruckerWhile this list may seem incredibly simple, I can tell you from personal experience it’s anything but that. Often times the most simplistic things in life can be the most difficult to master. Why? Because it takes discipline. Though these concepts may be easy to understand, the difficultly comes in the form of holding oneself accountable to doing it above all other things. That’s the tough part! Being disciplined to doing the right thing at the right time is certainly easier said than done. So much so that Drucker identifies that "the number one reason for leadership failure is the inability or willingness to change with the demands and expectations of the new job".So therein lies the secret! Thank you, GBL! The leaders’ who are willing to change and adapt while being disciplined to doing the right things at the right time are the ones that will be the most effective. “He’s a micro manager!” Ever heard those words before? Perhaps you’ve said them yourself about someone else. It’s a damning label to give to someone, but is it accurate? Maybe it’s time we rethink how we use this phrase…
The term micro manager has turned into a phrase all too commonly used incorrectly in today’s business world. As a result, we have a battalion of leaders out there that are scared to performance manage their people because they don’t want to be labeled as a micro manager. As a result, everyone involved suffers: the employee, the leader, the surrounding employees, the company and even the customer. Performance management (or micro managing as some of us are fond of calling it) is a crucial part to successfully running any business, operation or department. When it’s done correctly it establishes a level of expectation and excellence that goes from the front line employee all the way to the customer. Fact #1 - Leaders who are engaged, focusing on their employees strengths while providing communication and feedback on their performance have employees that are 67% more likely to produce more with better results, stay with the company longer and are more engaged themselves. (courtesy of Gallop’s 2015 report on U.S. workforce engagement) So what’s the difference between being a micro manager and a leader who can successfully performance manage? What if I told you the difference is NOTHING! They are one in the same. It’s just a matter of how we as leaders go about it. For the full article click here. Zip It Up & Become an Exceptional Leader5/20/2016 Zip it up! Not the fly on your knickers. (then again, if your fly is down please do zip it up)
Zip it, your mouth that is! Our mouths enjoy writing checks our bodies can’t cash and it’s going to catch up with us in a hurry, if it already hasn’t. Are you getting a bit agitated that someone would tell you to close your mouth and listen? Don’t worry, I struggle with this as well, along with the large majority of leaders in business, politics, sports…you name it. I’m writing this with a bit of tongue-in-cheek on purpose, but I promise my brazen efforts are only to share with you a great truth about leadership. That truth is the art of listening. As in, not speaking and allowing others to talk, a foreign concept for many of us. Why is listening an important habit to develop to be a good leader? Those who possess the ability to listen earnestly experience deeper relationships, advanced awareness of how they show up and how others are impacted by them (EQ), are genuine in their care for others and are touted as being “leaders people would run through a wall for”. To become an exceptional leader, you must develop your ability to listen. You may be thinking, “Well, that’s not very profound. I listen all the time.” But, do you really listen? Let’s see how good of a listener you are. If you’ve done one of the following in the last week you’ll want to continue reading this article:
Why is it we don’t listen? Short answer – our egos get in the way of allowing someone else the stage to talk. The long answer – Perhaps you’re the exception as your listening skills are top notch. For everyone else out there, which I’ll gladly throw myself into this boat, as leaders we struggle with listening. We tell ourselves that others are wrong; only we know the truth; “I don’t have time for this”; I can multi-task while we’re talking; my point makes more sense; they’re idiots; they must not see the big picture (love that one); they have to hear my side before we can move on, etc. With so much going on in the world today it’s easy to fall into the trap that you don’t have time to have a conversation, especially if that conversation isn’t of grave importance. Leaders – read closely here. The success of your job depends on your ability to listen. Forbes writer Glenn Llopis says that when “leaders judge, they expose their immaturity and inability to embrace differences.” Did you know that your act of not listening actually sent such a strong communication to the person on the other end? Imagine how it made them feel! How can we fix this? Short answer – zip it (our mouths that is) and focus on the person in front of you. Long answer – put away your phone, your work at hand, close your computer screen or turn it off, close your door for that matter and stop mulling over that rerun episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians you watched for the sixth time last night. Do whatever you need to in order to give the person on the other side of the table your complete and undivided attention. WHY should we focus on being better listeners? If you haven’t come to the conclusion by now, we may need to get some backup in here asap. Let me get to the point then. Your job and career as a leader depends on it. People follow and support leaders who live a servants’ mentality which means when their people have an idea, a question, a problem, or a wild haired suggestion, they listen as if listening is going out of style. Being a servant doesn’t mean a leader is weak, it means their people and company come first, before themselves. Conversation is the gateway to a persons’ mind, body and soul. Its best we listen or we’ll run the chance of missing out on some truly incredible moments. Which Are You - The Apple or The Seed?5/20/2016 Last week I had an opportunity to do lunch with a long term client and friend, a lunch I always look forward too. My lunch comrade, we’ll call him ‘Johnny Appleseed’ for the sake of this article, is an engineer by trade and currently in a management role overseeing a technical design team comprised of a diverse group of folks with a variety of skill levels, career tenures, abilities and attitudes. Let’s put it this way, he’s one smart bloke.
The reason I enjoy our conversations is because we talk as real people. Titles and experiences are set aside. There’s no fluff, no PC, just straight talk, feedback, challenge and of course light hearted banter. During lunch Johnny Appleseed inquired about how our business has been coming along. As I shared with him the great experience and opportunity I’ve had with the business we found ourselves weaving into a topic that really caught my interest. Mainly, Johnny Appleseed’s response to the topic. Which are you – the Apple or the Seed? I shared with good ole Johnny Appleseed that the consulting and coaching business has broadened my horizons on business leadership, strategy, operations and a plethora of other titillating things. Some of which I’d rather not deal with but, hey, that life. 95% of it has been great so I’m happy to deal with the other 5%. I then brought up a situation to collect my good friend Johnny Appleseed’s thoughts. Have you ever noticed there are people out there that say, “What I wouldn’t give for an opportunity to do that. I’d jump at it in a moments’ notice. When can we begin?” ‘That’ references a new opportunity, a calculated risk, a chance to step outside the box and do something spectacular. In our conversation ‘that’ referred to the number of conversations I’ve had with people throughout the years, especially recently, where they initially talk a big game, but as time goes on reality sets in and the same person who was so excited at first doesn’t follow through on their word, or even respond at all. Heck – maybe the underlying factor is me? Certainly room for debate there. Which are you – the Apple or the Seed? Johnny Appleseed gave me a delightful smirk and laughed as I shared this with him. We both knew what I was sharing with him was nothing new. People all over the world say one thing and do another all the time. I’m certainly not experiencing anything new as I’m sure you all have experienced this for yourselves at one point or another. Yet – this was and still is different. As I shared more, I told Johnny Appleseed that these people I’m engaged with come to me first, more times than not. They ask for my advice, suggestions or ideas on how to get to the next level, make a career leap, overcome a challenge, etc. When I share with them my advice they respond with cheers, high fives and knee slides, often times wanting to act immediately with great enthusiasm. Yet as time goes on their inspiration eventually goes by the waste side. Months go by and they’re still in the same rut they were in before. Same rut, same agonizing complaints and issues. Which brings us back to the original question. Which are you – the Apple or the Seed? Johnny Appleseed politely stopped me during my rant and said the following: “Travis, it’s the classic example of the Apple vs. the Seed. People initially look at the apple and think, ‘I know apples, they taste good, make great pies, etc. Sure, I’d like an apple, matter of fact, a whole truck load of apples. Give me whatever you’ve got.’ You could give them a bunch of apples but that will only hold them over for a limited amount of time.” Here’s where the brilliance of Mr. Johnny Appleseed comes in… He continues, “what if we gave them a sack of apple seeds instead? They could eat apples the rest of their life, not have to worry about running out and even make their own business out of selling apples and apple related products. Sure, it will take some back breaking work to get the apple seeds planted, the trees fully developed into a thriving orchard, and so on. The end result is you’ve accomplished something great. By taking an opportunity, you’ve then managed to build an apple empire and it was a direct result of your sweat equity – which is what you asked for originally.” (By the by, Stemilt Growers, LLC ranked the largest apple produce company in the US and has an estimated $667 million in total revenue annually, predominantly off the sale and distribution of apples. That’s a lot of Pink Lady’s!) As the conversation continued we both had a good laugh at the absurdity of the analogy, yet we both knew we couldn’t ignore the basic truth that came of it. If you truly want to be great you can’t be the apple. The apple is already grown and on its decline to death in your belly or back to the ground where it will dissolve and be never more. The apple represents the hard work and determination of another person who patiently nurtured those apples so they could grow up to be great and delicious. That persons’ dedication, love and care is what brought about those apple and they’ve now sold it to you at a minor cost. You bought that apple because you knew what was in store – a tasty little treat. But that treat only gives you a moment of gratification. The seed on the other hand represents opportunity. It represents what is possible with some hard work and good ole fashion belief that you can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. The seed represents far more opportunity than the fully grown apple ever could amount too. All too often I see people talk as if they are going to be the next great thing however once they find out how much work and dedication it really takes to get there they have a tendency to relinquish their dreams and settle for their current realities. It’s a damn shame. The moral of the story, thanks to my good friend Johnny Appleseed, is if you want to be great in your career, you have to take a leap of faith and create your apple farm, orchard, what have you. Simply taking an apple (someone else’s hard work) won’t get you to the promise land. Dreams can come true. That’s what this country was founded on and I believe that DNA still exists in the very fabric of who we are today. Each of us has that fabric woven deeply within us. Let’s leave behind all the excuses, entitlements and ‘what-ifs’ and go out there and create our own apple farms. It’s perfectly okay to still buy other people’s apples but don’t expect to become great off of someone else’s hard work. I humbly thank Mr. Johnny Appleseed for the lesson and great reminder on what it takes to be great in this world – you’ve got to be the seed! “Leadership is easy!” said no one ever.
Why is it that leadership is so difficult and hard to master? Well, for starters it’s a role that is largely trial and error, skill learning in the moment on the job. That means a lot of what we know and learn over time about being a leader comes from mistakes and blunders people have made before us. My career with leadership was no different. At the age of 23 I found myself in my first ‘management’ role and was scared out of my mind. Notice I used the word ‘management’, not leadership. There’s a big difference in the two. The spark of a great leader is someone who acknowledges and accepts they don’t know it all and asks for help. Simple, yet incredibly difficult to put into practice. As the years went by and my leadership prowess developed, I began to grow more and more confidence in my ability to lead others, influence and develop those around me. Though my confidence grew, I found as time went on the challenges I was faced with grew in size and significance. Confidence, or an inflated level of confidence, can be a big black eye for managers as it can cause people to overlook basic ways of leading that should never go unattended. My father has always told me, “You come from the school of hard knocks, it’s in our family, so don’t fight it, just learn from it.” And learn I did… Looking back on my earlier years in leadership there were three incidences I encountered that go down as the biggest mistakes of my career. While they were indeed mistakes on my part, the learning lessons that came of these situations were priceless to my overall learning and education in the art of leadership. Mistake #1 - Hiring the Wrong People I was a couple years into my leadership role overseeing a technical division. We were growing and seeing some good success and needed to hire people to keep the growth curve climbing north. After interviewing a variety of candidates I became inpatient (a lifelong battle of mine) in that I had not found the ideal person to join our mob squad of high performers. Throughout the interview process there was one person, we’ll call him Negative Norm, who had most of the characteristics I was looking for however it was plain as day to see that he had a hug ego and it was all about what Negative Norm was going to get from us, not what he was going to bring to the team. With my lack of leadership experience leading my decision making I hired Negative Norm and did the ole ‘cross your fingers and hope for the best’ routine. Dang it! What a dumb mistake that was. I still cringe about that experience today even though it’s been many moons since it happened. Not only did Negative Norm come in and create all sorts of disruption to the great culture we had worked so hard to develop on the team over the years but he also soured one of my best employees. We end up firing Negative Norm six months into him joining our team, which probably cost our company a boat load of money in tangible and intangible costs, as well as gave me a disenfranchised team and culture. I then had to deal with a declining all-star on our team who had become transfixed with the notion, thanks to Negative Norm, that he was working too hard and didn’t feel like this was the right place for him. Prior to disruptive Negative Norm entering our team this all-star employee was the quintessential idea of what a great employee should be. Lesson #1 as a Result of Mistake #1 – if you can’t find the RIGHT person, don’t make a hiring decision at all. You’re better off waiting and being patient to find the right person rather than settle for someone who could really make a mess of what you’ve worked so hard to build. For the full article click here Leading Beyond The Office5/20/2016 The past 10 years in leadership has taught me many things, mainly that I still have much to learn. As the saying goes, ‘you learn something new every day’, I find this to ring true especially as I dive further into my career. The lessons I’ve taken in over the years, whether it was through the school of hard knocks or via someone who cared enough to help me, have all prepared me for an experience which is coming quickly.
The experience of being a parent. Leadership doesn’t just exist in the workplace. There are many people around us who view leadership as a constant part of who they are, something they do at work, at home and even when no one is watching. My experiences with leadership have predominantly been focused in the office space up until recent when I got the opportunity to marry an amazing woman in 2014. Thanks to this new experience, I’ve learned much about myself and how I interact with others as a result of the perspective I’ve gained through being married. My leadership insights and abilities have also changed as a result thanks to the caring support my wife has shown me. Fast forward to the start of 2016, my wife and I are now several weeks out from welcoming our first child, a girl, into the world. For those of you who are parents I’m sure you have all sorts of stories, memories and ‘watch out now’ warnings for my soon to be first time experience as a parent. I’m getting a lot of advice right now from those of you who have been there and done that, most of which has been helpful and much appreciated. Some of which has opened my eyes to a lot of things I hadn’t thought about before. My wife and I are excited to welcome our daughter to our family, Miss Ava Rose Smith. Ava’s not even here yet and she’s already taught me so much, I can only imagine what I’ll learn once she’s actually here. Which brings me to the reason I wrote this article. Leadership, in my opinion, isn’t something that is turned on as you drive to work, then turned off once you walk out your office door. Leadership, good leadership for that matter, is a combination of a healthy state of mind, willingness to act and a care for others that goes beyond ourselves. Strange, those very attributes are what I’ve been told are required to be a great parent. I’ve had the better part of the last year to think long and hard about the type of parent I want to be. Similar to being a leader in an office setting, I’ve waxed on for some time now contemplating how I’m going to handle this new experience called parenting. Will I be able to rise to the occasion and help lead our family into the future? I certainly believe I’m fit for the challenge but must admit I’m a bit nervous. Nervous in a good way. Some of the things I’ve found myself tossing and turning on are:
If my soon to be daughter Ava could understand me now, I would tell her this: Sweetheart, as your father my sole purpose in life is to do whatever I can to ensure you grow up with everything you’ll need to live happily, experience the many great things life has to offer and one day become a wild success of your own. When the day comes for you to start thinking about your own career or family I know I will have succeeded as a father if you know these five truths:
As one of the two leaders of our household I hope that by declaring my intentions I’ll be able to hold myself accountable to doing them consistently, even when times may be tough. I know it won’t be perfect but it’s a start. I learned this little trick when I was coming up in a leadership role at work. It’s one thing to write it down on paper but if you openly speak it to an audience, proclaiming your intentions, it has a very different level of accountability and often times results. I look forward to being a parent for all the typical reasons people say they like being parents, but I also look forward to it because I view being a parent as an honor, something I’m humbly thankful to have the experience to do soon. I believe I’ll be a successful parent because interestingly enough, that’s also how I have viewed my leadership opportunities in my career. I didn’t always have this mindset. To give credit where it’s due I owe my parents more than what is possible to offer in this world for helping to instill this in me. I’m forever grateful for these life lessons and have tried my darnedest to implement them in my life, while sharing them with others as often as possible. I’ve been told by many that parenting is a great experience but you must be ready for the inevitable ups and downs, moments of triumph and setbacks, but in the end if you believe in your family you will prevail. This advice has served me well in the professional setting as it’s important to know no one is perfect, mistakes will happen, but in the long run with the right attitude, care and determination we all can and will succeed. As for my ability to parent, only time will tell what the outcome will be. My hope is that parenting is similar to leading professionally where you choose to care first about those you lead then help guide them to where they want to be, no matter the cost. “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents [their leaders].” - Jane D. Hull With the start of 2016 we’re moving into the time of year in which the largest percentage of career changes take place. This also means many of us and our colleagues are faced with tough decisions which can have a significant impact on their careers. Those decisions come in the form of…
taking new jobs, quitting old jobs, and moving into new opportunities, …to name a few. Regardless of what group you may fall into at the beginning of this year making a decision that impacts your career and life is never an easy thing to do. In December we covered a three part mini-series on the 13 easy to implement steps for making a successful transition into leadership and doing so with wild success. If you are considering taking a leap of faith into your first leadership role this year you’ll want to heed these words as it’s crucial to your success to have a well thought out plan which starts you off on the right footing. Let’s imagine you have already made the decision to take that new leadership role. Following these 13 steps for transitioning into leadership will aide you in moving into the job with a clear head, focus and a plan for you future success. You can click on the links below to view each series in further detail. Part 1: Self Discovery
6. Schedule 1:1 (One-on-One) with Your Team 7. Create Performance and Professional Development Plans 8. Develop Time Management Structure 9. Develop Relationships With Other Leadership Part 3: Priorities 10. Create A Department Game Plan 11. Present Game Plan To Your Team 12. Create Systematic Communications & Follow Ups 13. Plan A Team Event It is my belief that anyone CAN be successful in leadership so long as they have the right attitude, mindset and care for others. This is the foundation for which you need to be successful in leadership. Having a leadership game plan along the way merely keeps you on track, increasing your chances for success and happiness, providing you the best opportunity to serve those lead. “Where there is no vision, there is no hope.” – George Washington Carver My Misery Thanks To Poor Leadership5/20/2016 Ever been in a situation where you witnessed something go from bad to worse and all you could do was stand and watch? Maybe it was bad enough where you had to avert your eyes, turn away and pretend like it wasn’t happening. Watching from a far you might have even said to yourself in the moment, “what are they doing?!” followed by a couple choice expletives.
If you’ve experienced this before then you know EXACTLY how I felt this past weekend watching my Cincinnati Bengals lose the first round wildcard playoff game on Saturday against our arch rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bear with me here as I am going to do my best not to drone on and on about the awful showing my team put up the other evening as there’s actually a great learning lesson that came from it which is incredibly applicable to our professional lives. Applicable indeed, especially if you are in a leadership position or hope to be in a leadership role at some point in the near future. Poor leadership impacts everyone around it, everyone being you, me, the company, the customer, in this case the fans, etc. In business this typically shows up in the form of poor communication, discipline issues, bad decision making, people working in silos, losing one’s ‘cool’ and under performing in key situations. As for myself, I’ve done a couple of these in my leadership tenure and learned a lot from it so I can share first hand that these are some of the biggest leadership killers out there. Ironically, those characteristics of poor business leadership I just shared are also the things we witnessed in Saturdays NFL playoff game when the Bengals single handedly gave away their win to the Pittsburgh Steelers. First, let me say that if you’re reading this and you happen to be a Steelers fan…congrats on the win, well played. You all deserve to keep your season alive. Now that I feel better about myself for playing nice and being a good loser I’ll continue my rant on Cincinnati’s poor leadership. Before we move into the meat of things, it’s important I set the stage with some background info in the event you’re not up to date on your Cincinnati Bengals trivia. Heading into Saturdays game against the Steelers, my Bengals came to the table with some stats which certainly point in the direction of this game being incredibly important. Here’s the bottom line on the boys in orange and black:
Needless to say, it’s tough being a fan of Cincinnati at the moment. Regardless of your thoughts and feelings on the NFL, the stats above tell a very clear and frustrating story. It seems as if the executive team and owners of the Bengals franchise overlook these statistics of poor leadership performance, while as a fan looking from the outside in its plain as day to see the issues and how to resolve it. The Cincinnati Bengals (like many businesses we’ve all worked at) struggle to realize that their inability to be successful is a direct result of their leadership. A lack of good leadership makes it difficult for even the best and brightest talent to perform at a high level. Back to Saturday’s game. Cincinnati’s loss will go down in the books as a complete and utter meltdown. Let’s examine the last two minutes of the game so we know what happened and why the Bengals lost:
The last two minutes of that game came down to a team being able to perform under pressure (Steelers) and a team imploding from their own lack of discipline and selfishness. (Bengals) Since the game, commentators have cited the players as the issue as the reason why the Bengals lost. I happen to have a different perspective. When teams win or businesses succeed, the best leaders are always quick to give praise to their team indicating the group effort and high performance as the reason for the success. However when good leaders are faced with unfortunate circumstances rather than cast that blame on the team they shoulder responsibility for themselves. That’s what good leaders do…they give praise for a job well done and take blame when things go bad. When it comes down to it leading is more than just a title and a seat up on top. To be good in leadership you first have to care about those around you, then build a platform for people to be wildly successful. Excuses, mediocrity, bad attitudes, a lack of accountability, what have you, have no place in this world for those who want to be successful. To be great you must think and act for others first, yourself always second. While I never would wish bad things to happen to another individual, such as Marvin Lewis the Head Coach of the Bengals, my hope is that ownership wakes up before the beginning of next season and makes some changes. Without those changes we’ll continue to be a mediocre team falling short of what could be a great program for years to come. As they say, “There’s always next year”. How does 2016 look for you so far? If you’re like 62% of the businesses out there you have plans to hire at some point this year. Based on recent global studies LinkedIn’s reported that this hiring growth is expected to be an increase from 2015.
Growth in hiring is typically a good thing. Hiring itself is another matter altogether. Successful hiring can make or break the performance of a company. Unsuccessful hiring on the other hand can create all sorts of fun challenges for folks like you and me. In fact, Harvard Business Review recently published information indicating that 80% of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions. What does this mean? First, let’s look at the potential tangible repercussions. According to Dice, one of the larger online job boards, a poor hiring decision for a candidate earning $100,000 per year could cost, on average, $250,000, and that expense comes right off the bottom line. That’s scary stuff! Basically, if the hiring decision you make to ends poorly you can expect that mistake to represent 2.5 x the cost of whatever the salary is of the person you are hired. Now let’s look at the intangible costs. Turnover has a nasty habit of sullying a company’s culture. It also can damper the spirits of those that stick around while creating a poor company image within the eyes of the local market. Long and short, your ability to make the right hiring decisions this year will be crucial to the success of your business, your fellow employees, your newly hired employee and your own career. Rather than fearing the hiring process and potential consequences, let’s look at hiring as an opportunity to WIN by making the ‘process of interviewing’ say UNCLE! Going into hiring with an open mind, a plan and clear direction will enable you to succeed more often than not. These 15 tips can help you improve your chances of making better decisions for yourself and your company (for the full article and descriptions of each of these 15 tips click here): 1. Why Would Someone Pick You/ Your Company? 2. Character Over Competency 3. Behavioral Based Interviewing 4. Know What You Want Before You Interview 5. Consult Others 6. Make Sure You Know And Understand Your Vision 7. Best Foot Forward 8. Tell Them Your Leadership Philosophy 9. Interview Tests 10. The Reference Trick 11. Put Yourself In Their Shoes 12. Overqualified For The Job 13. Know Your Non-Negotiables 14. Challenge Your Own Mindset 15. Don’t Hire If It Isn’t What You Want Do you have your own tips for making a successful hire? If so, feel free to share in the comments section of this article. About the AuthorTravis Smith is the founder and managing director of Square-1 Engineering, a medical device consulting firm, providing end to end engineering and compliance services. He successfully served the life sciences marketplace in SoCal for over 15 years and has been recognized as a ‘40 Under 40’ honoree by the Greater Irvine Chamber of Commerce as a top leader in Orange County, CA. Categories
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