March 2011
42 posts
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“While you were away, we recorded this message from: “Aloha! This is David...”
– Automated voice mail on the offensive, and telemarketing which has gotten even uglier as the new work-around to actually talking to your customer personally.
If you are using this so-called efficiency, PLEASE stop. I am hanging up on you the moment I hear “while you were away” for I...
February 2011
73 posts
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Don’t BE Great, DO Great! →
A well crafted posting by @JesseLynStoner. She shares a teachable story about Abraham Lincoln while making a good distinction for us, asking us to defer to action.
“Being” is often connected to the Aloha rootstock of Managing with Aloha, as we “look to the source” of our Sense of Place and Nānā i ke kumu, and those reminders are good in a self-grounding way. However...
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Annual Appraisals & Performance Reviews: There’s a... →
I fear this will be perceived as a boring subject next to all the other web links you’ll be offered on this Monday-before-March, but I guarantee you this: It’s critically important to all your employees!
If you’re in corporate life you probably know the drill: Performance reviews are conducted annually in one-on-one manager/employee appraisal meetings (and mandated), and managers are required...
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“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people,...”
– Agha Hasan Abedi via Marcus Buckingham
Completely agree!
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Breakthrough-your-business Word for the Day:...
Love this alternative from @lukegwilliams for we get stuck in empathy shortfalls when thinking about solving a problem for customers (or for employees) comprehensively: There are too many individual variables. Creative, disruptive thinking is also a lot more fun than problem solving.
So, what was the problem that the solution addressed? Well, there wasn’t any problem, and that’s exactly the...
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Tactics Are the New Strategy →
Article teaser from Inc.: Strategic management can be a huge time drain for managers. Why not just ditch the conventional wisdom and go with your intuition in order to innovate once in a while?
Not just for innovation, but to get moving, period. I’m all for more intuition, and less analysis-paralysis! And any forecasting based on history (still done with way too many business budgets) is...
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Discovering the Best Business Ideas with Idea... →
This interview on Inc. is proving meal-worthy:
The Idea Hunter sounds like a book which will affirm many of the talk stories we have had about valuing ideas and collective thinking [most recently: Brainstorming 2.0: Making Ideas That Really Happen]:
Great leaders are great idea hunters. They bring ideas into an organization. They bring ideas into a team. They move things forward through the...
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Curiosity tears down walls →
Curiosity is such a strong and compelling force.
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Michael Port: 4 Simple Steps To Building Your... →
Back in January I shared a podcast link with you, wherein @michaelport was interviewed by Michael Bungay Stanier (@boxofcrayons) for his Great Work Interview series.
This one goes to the Huffington Post blog, and is for those who are audio-challenged and prefer to read about it (trust me, I can relate).
I loved Port’s suggestion that we cultivate a List of 20 and a Network of 90…...
Christchurch earthquake | The Big Picture →
Photo essay at The Boston Globe.
Sending much Aloha to the good people of New Zealand: Tragedies like this affect the whole country in some way.
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Brainstorming 2.0: Making Ideas That Really Happen →
“I wish I were a big idea person, but I’m not.”
…is a common refrain I’ll hear from managers. There are two answers I offer them:
Actually, you are. I suspect you simply need to groom a better habit of capturing your ideas when you get them. Let’s learn to value them better.
Managers needn’t have all the ‘big ideas’ as much as facilitate...
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Advice to Wisconsin protesters (and everyone... →
A post similar to one I’ve been thinking about writing (getting my income tax returns done has trumped everything else the past few days), and I’m glad Penelope Trunk beat me to it, for she gets way more comments than I do: Up to 232 as I write this… fascinating. So many good points made.
the issue in Wisconsin is more fundamental than pro-labor or anti-labor. The issue is...
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Bidding farewell to the Many →
Heather Seal wraps up her internship at Made by Many.
I think of internships broadly versus conventionally, that they are that first job transition after our expected schooling is done, where we’ll move from learning academically, to learning-by-doing (hopefully, as professionally+personally as possible… as the value of Ho‘ohana coaches us) and without the pain of the Lost...
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Book Review: The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman |... →
Oh my. As an author of a business book, and a hopeful evangelist of what “truly good business books” can be, when they inspire us to study them, this is a book review to drool over.
The Personal MBA is definitely going on my hardcover shopping list: Seah introduces it to me here as the kind of book I don’t kindle; the kind of book destined to be a new filing cabinet for me.
I...
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How To Make Data Actionable →
The 99%:
In the olden days, the ability to collect, organize, and analyze massive amounts of data was largely the province of scientists working in academia, government, or private industries like pharma or biotech. Not so in the 21st century. Data collection and analysis is now a key competitive advantage for online companies from social networks to consumer shopping sites. It’s not just...
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Mike Stilkey's Whimsical Book Art →
“Nobody buys books anymore, so I save them.” - Mike Stilkey
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The Art of Mental Judo →
Love this. Conversation coaching from JD Meier at Sources of Insight.
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Seth's Blog: On pricing power →
Good complement to Noble Consumerism:
If you’re not getting paid what you’re worth, there are only two possible reasons: 1. People don’t know what you’re worth, or 2. You’re not (currently) worth as much as you believe
The first situation can’t happen unless you permit it to. Far more likely, though, is the second problem.
The goal, no matter what you sell, is to be seen as irreplaceable,...
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Be a Noble Consumer, and Pay →
There’s this coaching we’ve always used in Managing with Aloha workplaces connected to the One Minute Manager concept of catching people doing something right:
Reward the behavior you want repeated. Correct everything else, with Aloha.
Business models are yet another example of the wisdom in that coaching. Good business models are aligned with good values, and they add value to our...
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Consistency makes me crazy… consistently |... →
Rich shares his reaction to my post yesterday: You can’t “Be fair.” Be consistent.
Discretion is the difference between a good manager and a great manager. Any manager-by-binder can treat every employee the same in the name of consistency.
I was amazed to see Rosa over at Talking Story putting on the Consistency is King bugbear costume. And not doing it ironically either, she appeared to...
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You can’t “Be fair.” Be consistent. →
Striving for fairness when you’re managing can really be a losing battle.
You can’t accurately define fairness unless the people in a squabble are operating with exactly the same set of values —and the same hierarchy of value driving relevance.
Chances are, your team is a jumble of competing personal values: Diversity makes a workplace rich and interesting. However it also means that...
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Don’t Just Add, Replace. Own the 100% →
You may be underestimating your influence.
The reality of most organizations, is that pleasing the boss, in handling directives both old and new, contributes to the significant, and rampant proliferation of auto-pilot, sacred cows, stressful overload, and productivity slowdowns. Like it or not, and whether you want to admit it or not, when you are the boss, people are very selective about...
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The Most Radical Thing You Can Do | Rebecca Solnit... →
Please give yourself a moment of peace when you click on this link: Close any other computer windows you have open, and turn down the music (or pull the earbuds out) so that you can read Solnit’s essay quietly, deeply, and with the focus required to really think about what she says… don’t skim it.
Make the connections: Her words evoke the ‘Imi ola and Mālama coachings of...
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6 Ways to Love Your Community « New Urban Habitat →
An increasing number of people are starting to talk about resilience rather than sustainability, about investing locally and learning (or relearning) the skills that will help us succeed in a different kind of economy and a different climate. Humans have the ability to get through tough times. We’ve done it before. And it only works when we do it together.
Too Much Miscommunication at Work? A Simple Fix |... →
This is one of the problems that the Daily Five Minutes can solve for you!
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A Valentine of Aloha →
Love can be a hard concept to wrap your arms around at work, but respect isn’t.
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…just the custodian. « I am Scott Hodge →
Great story of how a business supports a community.
From the Fast Company story Scott pulls from:
“I had a dream to make the life of my employees more dignified.”
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WatchTED Talk: How to make work life balance work (10 min.)
Make small investments in the right places:
“If you don’t design your life, someone else will design it for you, and you may not like their idea of balance… we have to be responsible for setting and enforcing the boundaries that we want in our life.” — Nigel Marsh
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WatchGo find your inspiration, a video via Alisa Burke
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Defining my Why with RSS Reading
In 2 words, it’s my worldview relevance.
Clicked open the “Explore” part of my Google Reader this morning, and saw my own trends for the first time… just never clicked that part before:
From your 164 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 566 items, clicked 78 items, starred 6 items, shared 0 items, and emailed 0 items.
*As a bit of explanation: I don’t...
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University of Oregon's new hashtag: #buildshit |... →
Edward Boches:
I return from a week of lecturing, teaching and learning at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication invigorated and confident about the future. The students I spent time with already embrace the concept of design thinking. They naturally conceive networked solutions. They work even more collaboratively than we do in most advertising agencies.
On the...
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When following the rules is boring, do something...
Mahalo to @starbucker for pointing me to this: The Best Cover Letter Ever
Attached please find the resume that you have requested. While adhering to the “rule” of a one page resume, I had to exclude most of my secondary school and university year’s employment. I would be bummed if I didn’t get the chance to mention that in addition to the professional experience I have been lucky enough ...
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Valentine cards- a new twist on an old classic →
Alisa Burke continues to live up to her tagline: Redefine your creativity too! Here is her timely inspiration for the coming weekend.
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Can you fail with The Daily Five Minutes? →
Embracing my natural resistance with doing so, if I were challenged to present The Daily Five Minutes to you with a warning label, this posting would be my draft with it.
Thus the short version of my warning label is this: There will very likely be a price to pay for the good the D5M eventually will deliver. As I see it, that price is a bargain in the grand scheme of things.
Do you want...
“Now that I am back in the saddle and leading a group, the daily five minutes is...”
– Steve’s 2 Cents: Tilting at windmills
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Brett Kelly: My Facebook Exodus →
I still get the occasional question about Facebook, for I have an account “parked” there, created in a moment of weakness and frustration: I wanted the “ok, you’re signed up already” computer cookie to follow others’ links. I have 2 friends, my son and my daughter, just so I could check out how the thing actually worked. I rarely-to-never look at it anymore....
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The Domino Project →
Seth Godin rolls out the news of his work with a team at Amazon.com to “fundamentally change many of the rules of publishing trade non-fiction.”
I’m late to this, but good-late since I can catch up with all on the blog he has set up for his newest “tribe” (and so can you)… like watching your favorite tv series on DVR or by buying the season CD instead of...
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Your People are Your Daily →
They aren’t “a project.”
I must start this posting by saying that I greatly admire the gentleman I’m going to quote shortly. I’ve read all his books, and have implemented several of the suggestions he makes within his expertise of GTD productivity, blogging about them extensively in past years. However this beginning to his recent newsletter sent up such a red flag with me:
I’ve got...
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The Difficulty of Discovery (Where Have All The... →
Fascinating article by Jonah Lehrer:
I think this research helps explain why the era of the lone genius is coming to an end. If our current lists of global thinkers seem paltry, it’s because the best thinkers no longer exist by themselves, toiling away in a vacuum. Instead, they require the constant feedback and knowledge of others. We live in a world of such complexity that our problems...
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I am not a brewer →
Leo Babauta tells us about the Westvleteren Brewery:
It’s a Belgium beer brewed by monks who absolutely fascinate me. They brew the best beer in the world and yet seem to care nothing about business. As their beer has gained fame they refuse to raise production to meet demand. They refuse to market their beers and have no label on their bottles. They do no advertising and don’t allow...
Our Priorities Reveal our Values →
Simon Sinek:
It has been said that values are the standards by which we set our priorities. This means we can understand the values of a person or an organization by examining their priorities.
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Prepping for Ho‘ohana with Financial Literacy →
Have you heard this before? “Do what you love, and the money will follow.”
Well, I don’t buy it. It would be great if the world really worked that way, but I think it’s bad advice without a common sense plan to back it up.
Are you living within your means, and are you confident you can sustain it?
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Are You Unknowingly Devaluing Yourself? →
This question packs considerable punch.
I used to be a people pleaser. I suppose in many ways I still am. I like for people to like me and I also like when people need me for things.
It wasn’t uncommon for me, when I was in the workforce, to drop everything and help someone out when they asked.
This posting by Sherri Kruger, while thoughtful and craving some balance in its view (depending on...
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“We’re all thinkers, but a “creative person” actually creates.”
– Comment conversation: There’s no refrigerator space for inspiration
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“A little kindness from person to person is better than a vast love for all of...”
– Richard Dehmel with a good Aloha thought for the day.
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6 Ways Managers Can End Workplace Censorship →
Censorship? Is there really such a thing in our brave new world of blogging, tablogs, podcasting, smartphone apps and fearless social media? How about at work, and in your workplace?
While ‘censorship’ may not be the word we specifically hear, if there are feelings that our freedom of speech and expression are in any way suppressed or squelched it pretty amounts to the same thing. So might ...
