Cubicle Brain

Finish this sentence: In my current job I am…

If you could choose between getting a Raise, a Title Change, your Own Office or a more Flexible Schedule this next year, what would you choose?

Their title and status make up their professional self-equity in the eyes of those around them; that is why we human beings add on little letters like “Dr.”, “PHD” and “MD” to our names.  Well why not right?  We’ve earned those little letters, plus they symbolize a great deal of work and perseverance that we can be proud of.

This is where I get confused… If these titles are so important to us professionally, why is it that 67% of people finished the sentence, “In my current job I am…”, with a feeling (i.e. happy, bored, etc.)?  I mean we pass out business card after business card packed with titles and prestigious letters, we end every single email with “Blah Blah Blah, PHD; Director of Yaddy-Yadda”, and yet when we think of who we are professionally we answer with “Happy”.  WHAT!?

The next question may have resolved the age-old question of, “Can money buy happiness?”  And YOUR answer was YES!  When asked which you would rather have: a raise, a title change, your own/better office, or a more flexible work schedule; more than half of you chose a raise.

Yup, 55% of you just want more money, followed by Better Work Schedule @ 22% and Title Change @ 16%.  Sure boss, call me what you want, stick me in a tiny corner in the basement, and don’t forget to make me work 16 hours a day; as long as I get my 4% raise this year, I’m good!  Can you blame us though? When push comes to shove, we still have to put food on our tables no matter what our titles and work spaces are like.

It was also interesting to me that we answer who we are professionally, not with our titles, but with our feelings; yet 51% of you said that your title is either Very Important or Important to you.  Only 4% of you stated that your title is Not Important – my guess is that they own their own business, but that’s just me.

So what, right?
Well here are some good Business Take-A-Ways:

1. Titles are important to almost everyone, but they are not necessarily the most important factor in a person’s work-life.

2. Increase in pay is a strong motivator and the most sought-after work-life benefit by most people, but that doesn’t mean that it is the ONLY motivator.  That said, Zappos does a pretty good job of keeping their people happy but just taking the pay issue off the table… food for thought Mr. CEO.

3. A man’s career is much less emotionally connected than that of a woman’s.  Only 59% of men, compared to 81% of women, finished the job sentence with a feeling. Just a little something to keep in mind HR.

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It’s one of the first lessons we learn as we are growing up… It’s one of the first phrases we are taught to say and expected to use regularly… It’s even said to be perhaps the most powerful phrase in the world!

So why is it that these super-human words, “Thank You”, are so rarely sincerely spoken and even more rarely sincerely meant within many of today’s corporations?  Why is it that the first lesson we learn as children – Being a Decent/Respectful Human Being 101 – is too often disregarded in so many of our businesses?  And why is it such a WOWing surprise that Zappos’ “business” model is so effective and inspiring??

The Problem: Thomas Hobbes & Adam Smith

There is a thought that infects the minds of corporate management today.  A thought that is fed by Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and intensified by “classic” business books like Leviathan and The Wealth of Nations.  A thought that, until recently, was esteemed as an “unchangeable fact”; an ugly gene rooted deep within all of us.  Yes, that widespread conviction that we as human beings are inherently selfish, who will sacrifice the good of the whole, for the benefit of the individual.

That’s why you see so much carrot and stick management mentality within today’s corporations.  How do you motivate people who are all completely selfish??  Higher salaries, big bonuses, etc. right?  Sure, but the irony of that is that “in fact, systems based on self-interest, such as material rewards and punishment, often lead to less productivity than an approach oriented toward our social motivations.” (HBR, July-August 2011 – The Unselfish Gene)

The Caveat: Lee Ross, Wikipedia & Yelp

So, what happens if the Selfishness Theory isn’t true for the majority of today’s workforce?  What happens if we AREN’T inherently selfish beasts tearing at each other’s wellbeing in order to survive?  How do we motivate then?

Let me ask you another question… what are Wikipedia, Yelp and other social infomediary sites so successful if we are selfish ruffians who only respond to rewards and punishments?  These types of social communities, providing information and reviews with no expectation or promise of reward, fly in the face of Theory X, Leviathan, & The Wealth of Nations.  The age-old understanding that human beings are lazy, selfish creatures is no longer “fact”.

To further prove this point, Lee Ross and his colleges performed a social experiment with American college students and Israeli fighter pilots.  Both groups were split into A group & B group, and everyone was given the exact same directions.  The only difference between the groups was that A group was told they were playing the “Community Game” and B group was playing the “Wall Street Game”.

Group A, “70% started out playing cooperatively and continued to do so throughout the experiment.”  Group B, “70% of the players didn’t cooperate with one another.  Thirty percent started out playing cooperatively, but stopped when the others didn’t respond.” (HBR, July-August 2011 – The Unselfish Gene)

The Result: New Age Corporate Cultures

Two different points came from Lee’s study:

1. Not everyone has the same level of unselfishness.
2. Context can greatly influence our level of selfishness.

So what does this mean for employers?

• Stop the ineffective managerial blanket approach of promised rewards/punishments.
• Constantly seek to understand your workforce and their needs, desires & motivations.
• Build in fun systems that push engagement, communication, and a sense of common purpose and identity. (i.e. Zappos 10 Core Values)
• Respect, trust and – most of all – truly thank your workforce for their positive efforts and accomplishments regularly.

Resources:

HBR Article: The Unselfish Gene
Zappos 10 Core Values
Theory X & Y
Leviathan
The Wealth of Nations

How do you stay positive at work or at home when everyone around you seems to be a Debby-Downer & John-Junky-Attitude – well they can’t ALL be as clever as “Debby-Downer”?  But really! It’s tough to be up-beat and happy when most of what you hear each day sounds like dirty exhaust puttering out of a broken down Chevy (no offense to all you Chevy lovers, it was just the first car that came to mind ).

So what do you do?  Seclude yourself; cut yourself off from their conversations, comments or perhaps even reality?  Ignorance is bliss right??  Or you can successfully annoy everyone around you by taking the “Joy-bot” approach.  You know the Joy-bots… superficially happy; no matter the circumstance… their emotions are robotic and unreasonably positive in every situation; lacking reality…

Personally, I don’t recommend either, but here are 3 things that you CAN do, that won’t make everyone think you are an awkward recluse or unemotional Joy-bot:

1.   Embrace the Reality of Change

“If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.” – Swami Vivekananda quotes

Life is going to change, it’s inevitable.  Some of that change is going to be awesome and just what you wanted!  But much of that change is going to be unexpected and possibly even frustrating.  So what can you do?

Embrace it! Look at your frustrating situation and while you will (and should) recognize the difficulties, do not forget to find the positives in the situation.  No matter how small they may be, train your mind to discover the good and work to build achievable goals around those positive aspects.  By setting actionable and achievable goals around the positive points of a difficult situation, you will build much more meaning into your day to day achievements and find yourself much more motivated embrace those challenging changes.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

2. Rename It

OK, this is a great, simple way to spice up your day and laugh a little, just “Rename It”.  That’s no longer a stapler and your desk… oh no, it’s a new and improved “Paper Piercer”!  You think that’s lotion in your hand?? Wrong! What you have there is a big bottle of “Liquid Youth”!

Give it a try. Release your inner creativity and tap into that goofy gene. Share them with your friends and coworkers, they’ll love it; and you’ll find yourself smiling and enjoying life more and more with each new name!

“For myself, I am an optimist – it does not seem to be much use being anything else” – Winston Churchill

3. You Are What You Choose

 “A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi

At first glance, this sounds a little too much like “The Secret” for me, but I assure you that it’s much less super-natural than that.  It’s a simple equation really… Seek to surround yourself with great activities and achievements, fill your mind with the positive, share your happiness with all you can; and you will find real, powerful joy!

If you’ve read the book “Tribal Leadership” by Dave Logan, you know that each of us can be categorized into 5 different categories:

1. Life Sucks
2. My Life Sucks
3. I’m Great
4. We’re Great
5. Life is Great

At some point in our lives, we have most definitely spent a little time in each of those stages; the question is “Where do we spend the majority of our time??”  Happiness is a choice; each of us is solely responsible for our reaction to each situation. We determine how we view life and how we think about our current circumstances, and WE can choose to spend our time believing that life is great!

 “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl (Austrian psychiatrist and psychotherapist. 1905-1997)

I received the following comment on my last post, 3 Types of Learners, and I thought I’d base my next post on it.  Enjoy!

“This blog was AWESOME. Having read Delivering Happiness, I definitely agree that Tony is a submerged learner. One thing that came up while I was reading the blog, however, was the fact that I probably took on each type of learner depending upon the class/subject/etc. For example, when I was in philosophy during college, I was definitely a submerged learner (and am now that way when it comes to business). Change that subject to economics or organic chemistry, and my level of interest in the actual subject was different – I viewed it as a “means to an end” versus an inherently interesting subject or intellectual curiosity. Do we all embody the three types of learners depending upon the subject?” @ Ad Carpenter

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Thanks for that awesome comment!  I know what you mean about being selective about which subjects you endeavor to submerge yourself into.  When it comes to business, leadership, culture change (oh and  of course San Jose Sharks hockey); I dive right in and submerge myself as much as I can.  However, I find it difficult to spend a couple hours studying for the GMAT.

As I have talked with others regarding this exact question, I come to find that everyone has a little of each kind of learner within them; even Tony Hsieh.   Remember in his book, Delivering Happiness, when Tony was working at Oracle?  He was showing signs of a complete Surface Learner.  He would do the very minimum to keep his job, while focusing the rest of his attention on his “real” interests. Then you compare that to his attitude and learning style while working at Zappos… WOW! The difference is huge!  No surprises right, if you are interested in something, you’ll be more focused and more passionate about it.

But how do we learn to submerge ourselves in topics that we aren’t as passionate about or don’t yet have a lot of interest in???  Here’s a tips that might help:

Make A Link

Evaluate why you are passionate about certain topics and seek to find similar aspects within the more boring subjects.  When you encounter a project or topic that you aren’t very passionate about, evaluate the aspects and characteristics of the project.  Then find a piece of the project that can relate or “link” back to something you’re passionate about.

Here’s a really basic example, if I am doing some work for a Minor League baseball team (sorry, I’m just not much of a baseball fan), I’ll break it down by asking some questions: what is baseball? What kinds of people play baseball? Who watches baseball?  I can then start to make links, like: Baseball is a sport and hockey is a sport… Looking at baseball the same way I look at hockey, I can then work to transfer the emotion and passion that I feel towards hockey to my baseball project.

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If companies cultivate submerged learning cultures (such as Google requiring 20% of employee time to be spent on topic of choice OR  Zappos with their enormous library and development programs), their people will become much more valuable and effective team members.  Often, you’ll find that when an employee has been given an opportunity to learn, grow and develop within a submerged learning culture, they develop a loyalty and respect for the company and strive to give back to the company as much as they can.

Turnover is decreased, productivity is increased and happiness and job satisfaction is a consistent result! We need to expand our minds and expand our horizons by working harder to develop Submerged Learner attitudes and abilities!

Today I’d like to discuss 3 different types of learners:

1. Surface
2. Strategic
3. Submerged

Though all learning is worth our time and attention, the first two types of learning are less effective than being “Submerged”.  Here’s why:

Surface Learners:

Example: Unmotivated college student just looking for that “C”, so that they can get on to the bigger-and-better things of life.

• View learning in a short-term perspective
• Feel learning is a tedious waste of their valuable personal time
• Learn only to suffice an immediate need (i.e. test or interview)
• Do not value education or wisdom, unless it appeals to an immediate ROI of their time
• They lack the understanding of the immense joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from building a deep web of knowledge

Strategic Learners

Example: An aspiring manager who learns only what is necessary to crush his competition, both inside and outside his own company.

• They have personal agendas and are very goal oriented
• However, they usually only use their knowledge for their own wellbeing
• They retain knowledge as long as it is pertinent to their current objective or goal
• Very “Me” focused (and usually unaware of it)
• Obtain and build knowledge in order to build superiority within their social system

Submerged Learners

Example: Tony Hsieh, Dave Logan, James Allred, TED Speakers… Need I say more?

• They are ALWAYS learning; asking questions & looking for answers
• Developing “learned talents” is a high motivator in their lives
• They have all passed through & overcome the stages of Surface & Strategic Learning
• They understand that although the journey of Submerged Learning is not always enjoyable, the process and rewards of learning are well worth their time & efforts

These individuals seem to have gone through this similar path to becoming a Submerged Learner:

1. Intense curiosity lead them to build a deep interest
2. Positive growth within their interest lead to deeper development & understanding
3. That growing understanding was strengthened by their drive to succeed & improve
4. Eventually this developed knowledge began to shape their way of life

So I guess my question for you is, “What type of learner are you?”

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Many thanks to all those that help me work through these 3 different types of learning; and a special thanks to James Allred from Medialink – one of the truest Submerged Learners that I’ve had the privilege of meeting personally – for his great Submerged Learner perspective and input.

**Please feel free to follow me on Twitter at @DJ_Caldwell and if you liked this post please click here to “Like” Cubiclebrain.com on Facebook!

Ever wonder how big your Twitter network has become?

Want to know how you stack up against your competitors or colleagues?

Well I recently came across a great tool called Followerwonk from Wil Reynolds’ blog post at Seer Interactive. Follwerwonk is an awesome tool to use in order to find out who is following who.  Here’s how to use it:
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First, go to followerwonk.com, that will take you to their home page:
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This page has a search bar that allows you to search for terms that can show up within Twitter bios, I searched for “SEO”.  As you can see, this search brought up a huge list of individuals who have “SEO” either in their twitter handle or their bio.  This is a great tool for finding and building relevant connections!

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Next, click on the “Compare Twitter users” tab:
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This is a really cool feature!  This tab allows you to compare 3 different Twitter users, simply enter their twitter handles into the available fields and then click “Compare these users”.

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This will take you to the following page:
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It starts you off on the “Who They Follow” tab, which you can find out the following:

1. Days on Twitter – How long have they had that specific twitter account running?
2. Average new followers per day
3. Number of tweets – This is the total number of tweets ever tweeted by that person.
4. Average tweets per week
5. Unique or Shared Users – What connections are unique to one user and which are shared?

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Click on any of the friends filters:
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I clicked on friends “shared by DJ_Caldwell and lukealley only” – this shows all the people that Luke and I are both connected to.  Play around with the filters to find other relevant connection or to see how you stack up against others in your similar field.

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Next you can select the “Their Followers” tab:
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This tab functions just like the previous tab, but it measures “followers” and not who individuals are “following”.  Also as you drill down into the “unique” users, you are able to see a list of each filtered option; I have selected “unique to DJ_Caldwell”.  I also really like that it breaks it down into a pie chart that the breakdown of DJ_Caldwell’s friends!

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Followerwonk.com is a really great tool for finding and analyzing Twitter connections. This is just a basic explanation of some of its uses; I hope that as you use it you will find other cool uses for it.  Feel free to share your found uses or other feedback with me through twitter.

Follow me on twitter: @DJ_Caldwell or you can connect with me on Linkedin: Darrin Caldwell.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Lately you hear lots of talk and read oodles of articles about the “soft” CEO or the “involved” management of the future; where owners and leadership work alongside their people, in a grand Kumbaya-corporate environment. This is great, right?

Well, what happens when the big-wigs upstairs get a little TOO involved? Or as my associate put it, “What happens when the non-$#*& shovelers try to shovel $#*&?”  Most of the time, you might just say that the “$#*& hits the fan!”

See, I had a very humorous – yet disturbing – business call this morning that got me thinking more about this very situation.  It was humorous in a very Dilbert sort of way, but disturbing because I think it happens WAY too often in business today.

I received a financial document that needed to be processed; the only problem was that there was no indication of whom it belonged to.  After a while of searching, my coworker came across a business name down in the fine-print that I recognized.  I called up the mystery company to ask whether this was indeed their invoice, and what happened next was just too good (by “good” I mean “bad”) not to share.

Our conversation went as follows, and I quote:

REP:  “Hi Darrin how are you?”
ME:  “Good, I received an invoice in the mail and I…”
REP:  “It doesn’t have our company identification at the top, right?”
ME:   “Right.  So this is yours?”
REP: “Yes, we had a few of those go out.  We let our owner get involved and we’re still trying to track these down…”

I couldn’t help myself from laughing out-loud while still on the phone. The tone of his voice and the way he said it screamed REGRET!  I’m sure the “owner” meant well, but in the end his efforts resulted in even more, um… “work” for his people to shovel.

So how can leadership avoid these embarrassing, trust-rotting, frustration-breeding experiences?  Here are 3 useful rules to incorporate into your management style:

1. Just Let Go

This is especially relevant for small businesses and start-ups.  While attending the Harvard Entrepreneurship Case Study course at BYU-I, one of the most prevalent problems that growing start-ups and small businesses faced was that the CEO or Owner refused to let go of their baby.

In order for businesses to grow effectively and efficiently, upper-management MUST relinquish control of the day-to-day operations and tasks.  Managers, Assistant Managers and Team Leaders are part of the business organization for that type of direction, utilize them!

2. “Soft Touch” Does Not Mean “Touch Everything”

I agree that the upper-management should know their people and talk with them regularly.  The new-age “soft touch” management style is about developing personal relationships with your PEOPLE not their tasks and operations.

If your corporate culture frowns upon company events, team building exercises, after or during-work get-togethers, department lunch outings, etc.; you, as management, may want to reassess your relationship with your people.  Touch lives, not tasks!

3. If You Build Trust, They Will Come

I think that some individuals in leadership roles are afraid that their people are going to run amuck and leave them out of the loop.  This is because they are insecure about their abilities as a leader, and they do not have the self-confidence necessary to trust their people to do their jobs. They feel that in order to prove their position they must manage each situation that their people encounter.

However, effective leadership (like Zappos‘ CEO, Tony Hsieh – I love that guy!) is confident in their abilities to lead and trust their people to be accountable for their own work.  They don’t feel that they must be intimately involved in every little decision in order to prove their superiority.  Great executives understand that every individual is vital in the overall success of the company.  There is no posturing of roles because their workforce likes them, looks up to them and wants to follow their lead.

By respecting their people and expecting them to do what they were hired to do, trust builds throughout the entire corporate culture.  Individuals feel empowered and more readily approach leadership with issues, questions and accomplishments.

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Utilize your lower-management and team leaders!

Touch people’s lives, not their day-to-day tasks!

Build trust through trusting!

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Related Post: Networking – Building Meaningful Relationships

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Let me know what you think about these 3 tips.  Do you agree?

Take the NEW POLL:  Which of These Leadership Blunders Do You See the Most?

Free… Now there’s a four letter word to get excited about. But unlike some of its four lettered cousins, this little doozy is usually surrounded by excitement, smiling, hugging, laughing and overall… SATISFACTION!

Here are my 3 fantastically FREE campaigns – that were very effective:

1. Tropicana – Brighter Mornings

On January 8^th of this year, Tropicana visited Inuvik, Canada in the dead of the dark arctic winter. That area can have up to 6 months without hardly any sunlight. It’s cold, dark and can be downright depressing.

So what did Tropicana do? They set up a huge light ball in the middle of a town and gave the residence a taste of “sunshine”. People ran out into the streets, out of classrooms and businesses to see this shining miracle! Then as people congregated around this artificial sun – some with jaws dropped others just smiling in excitement – Tropicana handed out FREE bottles of fresh Tropicana orange juice!

The residence of Inuvik didn’t ask for it… they didn’t have to sign up for it… but as they basked in the rays of Tropicana light, they completely enjoyed it. However, the reason it was REALLY SUCCESSFUL is because you can be sure that many years from now, the people of Inuvik will absolutely REMEMBER IT!

2. Coca Cola – Happiness Truck

The day starts like any other… people going about their usual business, unaware that today a little red truck would completely change how their day ends.

Coca-Cola transformed a delivery into a vending machine that delivers happiness. On the back of the delivery truck there is a big red button that says, “PUSH”. Coke then silently parked in highly populated areas and then just waited for the curious to approach. As people pushed the button, individuals within the truck would hand out FREE Coca-Cola bottles, soccer balls, toys, shirts and more!

One by one, happy children and giddy adults lined up behind this joy-providing anomaly, and with huge smiles on their faces, pushed the big red button in hope of receiving a FREE gift. One lucky young man was even handed a new, full-sized surfboard!

Think that those individuals will ever forget that little delivery truck and its big red button? Nah, I think not.

3. Kleenex – Send a Free Pack

Does your friend or family member have the sniffles? Well Kleenex came up with a really spectacular campaign that helps you help them.

Kleenex created an online form where you can input a family member’s or friend’s name and address and they will send the individual a FREE box of Kleenex! Through this innovative program, Kleenex turned their consumers into gift-giving, brand activists.

With each box delivered by Kleenex, there was a stamp of approval and a promise of quality – no not physically, but because it was endorsed by a fellow friend or family member, that’s exactly what most recipients felt when they received their box.

This campaign alone raise Kleenex’s market share over 3%! That’s Incredible!

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So why were these FREE campaigns so effective? Because there were NO stings attached, there was NO fine print and there was NO catch. Just a few companies giving back to society by helping sad noses and creating big smiles. Going back to what I’ve said before, it’s not about what’s in it for us… It’s about what’s in it for THEM!

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Which of these campaigns is your favorite? Vote Here: “FREE” POLL

Find these campaign videos and other great Marketing/Advertising materials at the Brainiac’s Library!

We all enjoy funny, captivating commercials that may exaggerate situations or certain aspects of a product or service; stretching the boundaries of reality at times.  Today, we have some very talented advertising agencies (like Wieden & Kennedy and Sub Rosa) and companies that are producing amazing articles, campaigns, commercials, videos, webcasts, etc.

But what happens when they go a little too far?   How can you make sure that you’re within the bounds of LAW?

Click on this link for a really good AdvertisingAge article that points out “Nine Things You Can’t Do in Advertising”.

Is your agency in trouble?