#145: When success happens
When do most mountain climbing accidents happen? Going up or coming down? Here are three clues:
(1) Be specific about your measures of success. State the exact outcome you want and be clear about how you will know when it has been achieved. (2) Celebrate at the end, not before. If you celebrate before a goal has been fully accomplished, then mistakes will happen as you struggle to get your people to focus on the loose ends. (3) Wait out the credits. We know that some funny movie out-takes might appear after the credits. The same applies in business. Don’t laugh on the way to the bank; laugh once the money is in the bank.
In mountaineering, success does not mean reaching the top. It means getting down safely. If you forget that and you celebrate too soon, you might not be laughing when you finally reach the bottom.I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#144: You cannot own ideas
You cannot own ideas. You simply do not know where an idea came from nor where it is going next.
Ideas are creations set free by thinking. Once you’ve had an idea it is ‘out there’ beyond your control. Mystics and quantum physics blame this on the interconnectedness of all things.Nor do I believe that you should lock up your ideas. The more you share ideas, the more they come back to you, much improved. Like love, ideas are not diminished when given away.Is this nonsense? Consider this. My radio topics came to me from people past and present. I cannot say with certainty who said or wrote something which triggered an idea in me. How can I then claim it as mine?Sharing thoughts on the radio is my way of sending ideas ‘out there’ knowing that they will come back to me, much improved. For that I thank you this Thanksgiving holiday.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#143: Going for broke
How does one go broke? The only accurate answer I have ever heard was given by a character in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises”. He said “gradually, and then suddenly.”
Exactly! That’s how it happens: gradually and then suddenly.A better question would be to ask “why did you go broke?”. Again, there is only one accurate answer: I kept on spending more than I earned.There is no magic to it what so ever. Whether a company or an individual, if you spend more than you make, you go broke.But how does it happen suddenly? This happens when you keep feeding an inefficient system. By its very nature, an inefficient system is already losing money. If you feed more money into it, you will end up losing more money, faster. This is a mistake that both companies and individuals make.So, if you want to regenerate your own system, then first make it efficient.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#142: Reverse sexual harassment
Heard the one about the bus driver who asked his female passenger to move or get off his bus? She had on a very low cut blouse and was sitting right in the sight-line of his rear-view mirror. He complained that she was distracting him from doing his job safely.
A form of sexual harassment, no doubt. But who was harassing whom?I have witnessed many similar examples of what I call ‘reverse’ sexual harassment at work. Don’t get me wrong – sexual harassment deservedly gets a lot of attention in personnel policy booklets and on posters on company walls. But, equally, we should not ignore sexual harassment in the form of inappropriate dress for the work environment. Boy or girl.Many companies have a casual dress code. But please, casual dress does not mean dress-down or half-dressed. Dress appropriately and you will be treated appropriately by your superiors, by your colleagues and even by your customers.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#141: Are you losing your memory?
If your organization is losing people, chances are that it is also losing its memory. Is this good or bad?
Corporate memory is the collective body of knowledge that remembers how we do what we do. It is the collection of corporate know-how acquired over years in business.There are two points to note about corporate memory: Too much reliance on corporate memory could inhibit new thinkers with new ideas; and not enough corporate memory could have you reinventing the wheel.When good people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them. No doubt, this could lead to lower productivity and poor performance. But it could also create the opportunity for new people to bring new ideas.The trick, whether people stay or leave, is the make sure that your corporate memory never becomes 'but we've always done it this way', for then you have stopped learning. And then what you remember will soon be out of date.I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
#140: Where the good people are
Here’s a question for you: Does your organization struggle to find and attract good people? If it does, it could be your own fault.
When we can’t find suitable people, we are often too quick to blame the economy, the skills shortage, the work ethic, even the man in the moon. And yet, organizations that are recognized by “good people” as being “good” places to work, never seem to have a shortage of applicants. Makes you think, doesn’t it?Here’s another question for you: Is your organization losing good people? If so, what are you blaming that on?Here’s a clue for you. Good people might join good organizations, but good people stay because of good bosses. In other words, good people don’t leave organizations, they leave bad bosses.Let us now restate the problem: The problem is not a shortage of good people. The problem is a shortage of good bosses.
I’m james@nonsenseatwork.comCopyright: 2007 James Henry McIntosh
James can be heard on Public Radio, 88.9 FM WCVE, Richmond VA.
Monday - 7:19am and Saturday - 8:19am
