Rothacker Reviews

Acting up Brings Everyone Down

Acting up Brings Everyone Down by Nick McCormick.

You love your family more than anything in the world. But did you ever have one of those weekends where your kids' fighting made you long for Monday morning? Me neither. Let's pretend we did though. So we race off to work and more often than not, we're racing into more fighting and arguing.

Until I read Acting up Brings Everyone Down, I never thought about how similar children's behavior is to the workplace behavior of managers and their employees. Fortunately Nick McCormick did. Nick calls on Joe and Wanda, the hero and heroin of his last book Lead Well and Prosper, to help illustrate the type of workplace behaviour that sucks the life out of morale and stifles productivity.

In a typical chapter, Nick sets the stage with a Joe and Wanda exchange that demonstrates childish behaviour at work. In Give 'Em an Inch, They'll Take a Mile!, Joe tests his bosses by violating the company dress code while Wanda calls him on the carpet. Nick contrasts Joe's actions with the child who will not make his bed and offers up an excuse to his mother. The analogy gives the reader a clear look into just how detrimental this type of behaviour can be. Nick recaps each chapter with suggestions on which behaviors to Do and which to not do - Don'ts.

Sort of like a free prize inside, Nick provides a Planning Your Week tutorial in the book's appendix along with a summary of all the book's Do's and Don'ts.

I like the fact that Nick not only schools employees but managers as well. This is a great method for each side to catch a glimpse into the other's world. While this is clearly a business book with succinct business lessons, I do believe there is a bonus for the reader who is also a parent: the opportunity to sneak up on your subconscious with parenting wisdom.

As you read the book you'll quickly identify with the various workplace behaviors that Nick talks about. It's the references to children's behaviour however,that will cause you to reflect on your own parenting skills. And that's a good thing. Pick Nick's book up today!

Nick provided me with a PDF doc for this review.

 

The Clown Manager

Jim was a clown. After graduating from college, he got a job as a professional clown. It was meant to stoke his passion, to make others laugh and as a temporary way to earn money until he landed a job in accounting. Jim never landed that job in accounting.

One year after becoming a clown, Jim was promoted to clown manager. He was doing such a good job making customers laugh, he got promoted to manage people. Seems logical. As the years began to mount, Jim became more entrenched in his management position. But Jim wasn't happy. He didn't have the patience to deal with clowns who didn't want to grow and develop as professional clowns. And it seemed as the old timers retired, most clowns wanted to just put in their time and get the hell out of Dodge.

Jim dreamed of becoming a scout. He dreamed of flying to the edge of the universe, meeting innovative people and learning about what they were working on. He dreamed of finding an organization that would appreciate his insatiable curiosity and hunger to relay these coordinates back for others to learn about and use. Due to his present financial responsibilities and the fact that he had no experience as a scout, Jim felt trapped.

One day however, the corporate bureaucracy came to a head. Jim's bosses distilled the entire operation down to numbers. Cut, cut, cut. No long term vision to develop the organization (that was why he never could have created that scout position at this circus). Jim walked up to the head corporate Clown and quit.

Jim began to look for a new career. Although he was an experienced clown, to hook up with another circus would be no different than the one he just left. Nine months into his search he began to have doubts. Bills piled up and they were about to lose their house. Jim's wife's salary was not enough to keep them afloat. Should he give up the dream and go back to being a clown manager? Or should he burn the bridge and forge into new territories?

In a last ditch effort, as his world began to cave in around him, Jim reached out and grabbed hold of the stork's neck. He had to figure out a way to proclaim to the world that he would never, ever become a clown manager again. So he decided to blow the bridge to smithereens and write about it on his blog. He wrote...

Dear World (and those who will Google me), I have the utmost respect in the world for clown managers. I am in awe of the great patience it requires to navigate between their clown managers and the clown employees who punch into work and punch out their minds. I don't have the ability to work with clowns who don't care about their growth and professional development. I cannot be a clown manager!

Jim turned and looked toward the river. He bent down on one knee over the detonation device. He let out one huge breath and pushed down. KABOOM!!!

Suddenly the stork let out a great cough and he fell to the ground. Freedom! And you know,freedom tastes of reality...

Jim

 Photo image - mrMark

Passionate Employees

If you get a chance, watch the Smithsonian Channel TV show: Concorde: Flying Supersonic.

Of particular interest to this little boy, past the magic of flying supersonic, is the passion, heart and emotion displayed by those employees who were involved with the Concorde. Actually, when looked at through the employees eyes, this is a very sad story (and even if you don't, it's darn sad). When you see people crying because the company and job they love so much is no longer, you know that they've been part of something very special.

If you're an employer and wish to cultivate this cult-like attitude, a good place to start is with the exclusiveness of your product or service. When the Concorde flew, was there anything like it in the world? Is there anything in the world like a Harley Davidson motorcycle? Is there anything in the world like Apple?

Photo credit - Smithsonian Channel

How Bad do You Want to Work There?

I'm thinking about high school and college age students here...

I recently had a conversation with the store manager of a large grocery store. He told me that he gets about twenty-five job applications per week. He has visibility into these applications for one month and then they slip from his radar. One of the major things he looks for is availability. Is the person applying to work available to work?

Duh, dave. Why would someone apply to work and not be available?

Well, let's say that we have two high school students applying for a cashier position in the store. One student's extra curricular activities allow her to be available on Thursday between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. and one weekend day per week. The other is available all weeknights and weekends. She will work her homework and study time around the job.

Which student do you suppose our manager friend will choose?

What about the time frame in which the manager has access to the resumes dave?

I would reapply each month. I would also try and figure out a way in which I could differentiate myself from the other applicants. I'd contact my parent's friends who shop in the store and ask them to write a very brief note of recommendation for me and identify themselves as a customer of the store. I'd then drop by the store, hand them to the store manager and let him know that I recently applied and would very much like to work there.

Photo Credit, 姒儿喵喵

If You Can't Run With The Big Dogs Don't Read Seth Godin's Book Linchpin

This is about my Web site The Technician Shop, its roots, undercover espionage personal branding and the Linchpin.

Seth describes a linchpin as a person who is indispensable - someone who cannot be replaced. In terms of technicians, a linchpin would be the technician who is so valuable to his employer, he cannot easily be replaced.

Seth contrasts the linchpin to the factory worker, and this classification includes white collar workers and those in the service industry. Factory workers show up, work hard, listen to the boss, do what their told, be a part of the system and for the most part leave their brains at the door as they punch in for work.

I've worked closely with technicians for twenty-five years. The passionate technician, who cares about his family, personal development, coworkers, education, work, tools and customers, who diagnoses and repairs technically complicated systems while calming the nerves of irate customers and educating them along the way, has always been a fascination point for me. His or her work is pure art.

I had been in a position to influence technicians and direct them toward the linchpin role. Because in my mind I could so clearly see what it took for a technician to become indispensable, I decided to write a book about it. The title was to be No Porches: If you can't run with the big dogs stay on the porch.That was in 2004. A new job and a new city quickly took the wind from my sails.

Fast forward to early 2009. After losing my job I decided to resurrect the No Porches project. I fired up a Web site to work through my thoughts and called it The Technician Shop. Tom Peter's The Brand Called You, Fast Company article and the concept of personal branding were my primary sources of influence. 

I avoid using terminology like personal branding and other corporate gobbldy-gook because to the technician it's excessive noise - hence the undercover espionage personal branding tactic. After reading Seth's book I realize that it will be mandatory reading to any technician interested in professional development. It is the very essence of what I am trying to convey.

I could recommend that technicians read Linchpin and totally shelve my effort except for one thing (person) - their manager. 99% of the managers in the profession are factory managers. Of this percentage, 10% wouldn't be except for their managers or company owners. These managers and owners are higher level factory managers.

There is a direct correlation to a manager's control. The more he tries to control his coworker, the less likely that coworker will ever become a true linchpin. The other problem is that managers are trying to go in so many different directions at the same time, they do not have the ability to recognize a true linchpin or one in the making.

Although I do not use Linchpin terminology, a primary concern in my message is for the technician to find an employer who recognizes and accepts the value of a linchpin. Because these companies are so rare, my focus is for the technician to take control of their own development, education and work and make themselves well, indispensable. 

Due to the whole fibromyalgia thing I haven't been working on The Technician Shop. I guess I was just so excited about Seth's book and how it ties so well into what I was trying to accomplish at The Technician Shop, I had to blab it out here.

Cynicism and Success

My manager is a moe-ron. Why else would someone agree to be a human fire hydrant every single day? His manager, the crew, staff and customers circle the hydrant, all jockeying for a clear shot.

The people who I work with are moe-rons. They punch in, punch their minds out and hang on by their fingernails to the day's end. They could care less about the company and customers. They care even less about themselves. Professional development? Huh, that's about a pro ball player going from the minors to the bigs. It has nothing to do with them.

The people who own this company are moe-rons. There's no connection between them and their employees. Reality has left the house. Customers? Oh yeah, they buy our stuff. The owners treat them like farm animals - give em some feed and box up the milk and eggs.

This guy sure has a distorted point of view, doesn't he? A cynical sot, isn't he. Sure not like us, is he?

He was me. He was so tired of the passion-less, focused-less, caring-less business world around him that he sank to cynicism. In the beginning he thought Dilbert was for losers. In the end he worshiped Dilbert. The system and the drones who ran it and those who trudged through it wore him down. His inability to escape from it brought illness to his body.

You Can't Touch Him

Some say he lives on the edge. One more step and he would leave the world of conventionalism, the world of status-quo, the world of 9 to 5, which in reality is 6 to 6. But although he does live in this world, his heart and mind do not. As the great poet MC Hammer once said, "you can't touch this!"

Oh but they do try. With mind-numbing policies designed to break the will and spirit of his and the other middle managers along with his company's general inability to attract and keep hungry and passionate coworkers, they try to penetrate his psyche, strangle desire and render hope useless. 

By light of his coworker's eyes and body movement, they have succeeded. Knowledge and decision work have been reduced to placing a widget in the next box as it comes down the belt. 6 to 6 robots and it takes 6 drinks after 6 to uncover their humanness.

But not him...

He places them, his company, in a tiny compartment and labels the door fuel. Their mindless mission and its incessant hunger to take other people's money, fuels his life. It fuels his children's education, his new Dodge Challenger and his wife's Beemer, his photography and writing habits and his wife's gym membership. It even fuels the pet's boarding house fees when he takes time off and they go away on vacation.

There is no meaning and fulfillment to be found at work. And that's okay because he isn't looking to find any there. He figures that that's his coworkers' main problem.

There was only one Babe Ruth and it is possible to punch out one's mind and heart at the door as one punches in to work. But the incredible power that it takes to keep the hounds at bay while at the same time sacrificing twelve hours of one's day, twelve hours devoid of meaning and fulfillment, is not worth it.

It is true, the Man cannot touch him. But are those twelve hours worth the price of freedom?

Recently Lost Your Job?

What does a creative person do when they lose their job? Why make lemonade, of course! As I am still experimenting with a concoction that I can live with, you can bet I will take glassfills of inspiration from these guys!

Lemonade Movie Site

Berrett-Koehler: Baby Boomers & Life Transitions

Hey you got a second? Here, get on your knee and place your ear on the ground. Can you feel that vibration? Sure you can, you can almost hear it. You know what that is? It's the Baby Boomer generation coming...on a new trajectory. A couple years back that rumble was on a fast track toward retirement. While they are still on a life-transition course, retirement is no longer at the finish line. And you know what? That might not be a bad thing.

Every time that I visit Berrett-Koehler's (BK) Website, I discover a different nugget of gold. Here are a few words that I extracted out of their identity brochure:

A major theme of our publications is “Opening Up New
Space.” Our books challenge conventional thinking,
introduce new ideas, and foster positive change. Their
common quest is changing the underlying beliefs, mindsets,
institutions, and structures that keep generating
the same cycles of problems, no matter who our leaders
are or what improvement programs we adopt.

Opening Up New Space...how could one possibly cobble together four more pertinent words as to what Baby Boomers need to do on their road to life transitions? If you keep this theme in mind while you peruse BK's categories of Currents, Life and Business, you'll find a world of guidance and direction.

If I wanted a couple of guys to talk about the ins and outs of hitting a baseball, I'd recommend Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. If I wanted a couple of guys to talk about Baby Boomers and life transitions, I'd recommend Richard Bolles and Richard Leider. BK however, has already hooked up with them. Check it out:

Is Management Broken?

Is management broken?  Management author Rosa Say loves this question.  For it implies that what is broken can be fixed.  Can managers learn?  And can they take that knowledge and effect enhanced performance from their coworkers?  Quite frankly, I am not so optimistic.

To be sure, we cannot throw all managers into this soup of incompetence.  Many are not broken.  Many achieve enviable performance from an engaged workforce.  Engaged because coworker's strengths are utilized, two-way communication is in order, expectations are made clear, frequent feedback is given, resources are made available, the whole (mind, body, heart, spirit) coworker recognized, achievements are noted and rewarded and respect is afforded.

Is it possible for the coworker to teach the manager to be a better manager?

Let's ask Ronald McDonald.  Do you suppose that parents buy their kids Happy Meals because of advertising that is directed towards them?  Or do you suppose that parents buy Happy Meals because their kids want them to buy them?

So we can offer managers a myriad of educational opportunities and encourage them to participate.  Most likely the book gets shelved, the DVD gets put away, notes are lost - and it's back to work on Monday.  I really like that new management idea.  And I'll implement it the first moment that I am not so busy.

Bob, I wanna Happy Meal, errrr, Bob, I need to sit down with you and make sure that you and I are on the same page with what you expect from me.

So, can we get managers to buy Happy Meals?  Tune into The Technician Shop and lets give it a try!