Dispatches from the New World of Work

100 Ways to Succeed #148:

Now Is the Perfect Moment to Get Truly Community-minded!
Don't Let Tomorrow's Sun Set without an Effort to Move Forward, "Full Speed Ahead," on Community Involvement!

Your candidate (at any level) may have lost, but if you did campaign work you discovered (1) that there were many kindred, local "activist" spirits working for the public good and (2) that you can make an insta-difference, as you saw through canvassing or driving for get-out-the-vote or whatever. Maybe you fell short on General Election Day. But there are 729 days to go until the next General Election. So what are you going to do for the community during those 729 days?

For starters, perhaps: Get together with some of "your activists"—and, yes, "their activists" and talk over some of the local, typically non-contentious, important community ventures in which you might get involved. And lay out a couple of next steps in the next week.

Damn few of us, age 16, 26, 36 or 66, are entirely happy with our efforts to "give back" and help our communities. Don't lose the current Momentum of Civic Virtue! Let's get going on that "next local step"—more or less right this minute!

(The behavioral sciences are clear: If you don't follow up on something, like a useful seminar, with concrete actions in a matter of hours or a couple of days at most, you never will follow up. Hence, every minute is critical: Follow up on your newfound, if it's so, community-mindedness ASAP!)

100 Ways to Succeed #146:

Obsess On The Basics!
Now, More Than Ever!

As I said, now, more than ever. I suggest, for example, that you devote most of your "morning meeting" or "weekly phone call" to the "little" things—from clean restrooms to deliveries made or missed to thank-you calls to a customer for her business after an order ships.

Keep on each other over those basics—and be liberal with the kudos for those who go an extra millimeter to do a "trivial" job especially well.

100 Ways to Succeed #147:

Master the "Art Of Milestoneing"

Become a "milestone activist." Use milestoneing as a matter of routine, but do so with the greatest care, as only partially explained above—that is, become a Milestone Professional as well as a Milestone Activist.

NB: "Milestoneing" is a group endeavor, not a top-down activity.
NB: The Art of Milestone Celebration is also worthy of your study and application.
NB: This is a Big Deal.

100 Ways to Succeed #143:

Put Prospective Employee Evaluation Practices Where They Belong—
At Or Near The Top Of Your Strategic Priority List

As stated above, there is good reason to believe that our attention to prospective employee evaluation is woefully wanting—and of astonishing strategic importance. (Likely more important, as the authors of Who argue, than the business's strategy per se.)

I am not asking you to "buy the act." I am asking you to give this a great deal of thought, do a little casual research, perhaps buy and read the book, chat with others—and then devise a "strategic" game plan to address this strategic issue.

100 Ways to Succeed #144:

Focus-Obsess On the "Big Three"

I hereby assert that the three most important strategic factors* [*or, at least, three of the tippy tippy topmost important strategic ...] affecting enterprise success are:

(1) Recruiting-evaluating-hiring
(2) The 1st-line supervisor promotion decision
(3) Promotion decisions in general

If my threefold assertion is even close to true [and it is, at the very least, worth examining], are its implications directly reflected in your calendar and business practices in general? If they are not so reflected, what—precisely—are you prepared to do about it?

100 Ways to Succeed #145:

How You Gonna Make "It" Special?
Please Have A Good Answer!

How are you going to get past the "wishitweres," and make the next meeting, the next 15 minutes special, fully participate therein? (PLEASE ASK YOURSELF THAT QUESTION. RIGHT NOW.)

Yeah, I know, for example, "another damn meeting." Well, much of your professional life will consist of one "damn meeting" after another "damn meeting." Do you really want to bitch them all away? I just read something somewhere about someone of import (??) who turned meetings of every shape and flavor into gold mines—opportunities to learn from others, to help herself grow, to help others grow, to learn how to surface submerged conflict and benefit therefrom, etc, etc.*

I repeat: How are you going to make the next meeting, the next 15 minutes special, fully participate therein? (Ask yourself this question as a matter of routine.)

*Reference material par excellence: Crucial Conversations—Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler; Crucial Confrontations—Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

100 Ways to Succeed #142:

"We Are Thoughtful In All We Do."

Consider the idea of: "We are thoughtful in all we do."
What does it mean?
How does one practice it?
Talk about it with peers, pals, vendors, customers, etc, etc.
Talk about thoughtfulness—"dogmatic thoughtfulness"?—as a powerful and pragmatic business value. (And especially in traumatic times.)
Keep debating.
Consider adding "thoughtfulness in all we do," maybe "dogmatic thoughtfulness in all we do," to your formal values proclamation—or otherwise vigorously promoting the idea.

(NB: You must come to agreement on the "bottom line" pragmatism of this idea before formally proceeding—it may well make you better persons, but it is not in any way a "mushy" idea.)

100 Ways to Succeed #141:

Pursue The Enormous Potential "Diversity Advantage"
Through Awareness And Study And Practice

There is an enormous diversity advantage—but it doesn't grow on trees. Working to achieve diversity comes first—but putting that diversity to work is just as important.

Study.
Train.
Practice.

Apply one transaction-exchange at a time.
Always.

This advice applies to men.
This advice applies to women.

This is a strategic opportunity!

100 Ways to Succeed #139:

Work the Damn Phones!
Treble Your MBWA!

One of my favorite quotes, from Carolyn Lamb* (*can't quite figure out who she is, even with Google's brain as helper), goes like this: "A year from now you may wish you had started today."

Yes, today many of us wish we had "wildly" "over"invested in those employee-vendor-client-community relationships when the market was heading North and there was a little slack in the system. Well, perhaps we didn't, but, and I'm not "doing a Tony Robbins" here, it really is never too late. That is:

Work the damn phones.
Keep working the damn phones.

Show up.
Keep showing up.

Call clients and suppliers, ask them how things are going, and how you can help. This is not about sales (directly), but about "showing up"—taking time from your busy affairs to offer assistance of any sort. (E.g., offer up your network: "Well, Dave [one of your key suppliers], I know Ed Simpson, over there at [one of Dave's problem clients]; his daughter and mine are co-captains of the [name of school] soccer team; I can give him a call for you if you'd like." Etc.)

This is even more important with our employees.** "Over"inform—the rumors are invariably worse than reality. "Over"do your MBWA—managing by wandering around. Keep your enthusiasm up if it kills you—not in a dopey grin, "all is well" way, but by exhibiting energy and masking any internal doom & gloom expressions that may, in fact, be just beneath the surface. [**I use the formal word "employees" here, a word I ordinarily dislike. But the point is that you do have a formal hierarchical relationship with those on your payroll, and thence a formal as well as an abiding moral obligation concerning their and their families' well-being.]

100 Ways to Succeed #140:

Stand In Front of the Damn Mirror And Practice Your Confident Look—Until You Get It Right!

As one sage (who he?) put it, "Bosses are not allowed to have bad days—especially on bad days."

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Joe Montana era—that is, when Joe led the now wobbly SF 49ers to four Super Bowl wins in four tries. A lot of Mr. Montana's excellence, it was said, emanated from his near-miraculous ability to make his teammates believe that the impossible was not only possible, but inevitable, right now, and regardless of how dire the straits were. Sure, he had a good coach, a good team, and terrific athletic skills—but that, as his coach, the late Bill Walsh, once told me, was only part of the story. Bill was a master of drafting attitude-and-character-over-raw-skills; and that's why he had drafted Montana in the first place. And that's what Montana delivered with matchless regularity.

You are not Joe Montana. And neither am I. And perhaps, like my wife, you actually hate football. No matter, I'm sure you get my point. If you don't, let me spell it out: At this professionally precarious time, you'd better practice your Joe Montana-Rudy Giuliani 9/11 act. That is, no matter what your fears and qualms are, you have to exude character and confidence—not confidence that we can bring 3,000 people in the Towers back to life, but that we can soldier on, that we can attack the day with vigor and determination, and perhaps even see some good that may well emerge from the bad.

Ms./Mr. Boss, listen up: You are finally doing what you've been paid to do for the last umpteen years—you are called upon to lead in a time of crisis, financial crisis, yes, but also-mostly human crisis.

Advice: Stand in front of the mirror, or whatever, and practice your Joe (or Jane***) Montana demeanor! Until you get it right!

(***As to "Joe" and "Jane," I am fully aware of gender differences. "Steely look of determination" sounds, in retrospect, "very guy" to me. The way in which women-Janes will exude confidence and practice MBWA and tend to relationships is likely to be far different than the typical male-Joe approach. No matter. The leadership necessity is the same—regardless of the way in which it is expressed. Incidentally, or not so incidentally, at times of stress gender differences are likely to be particularly pronounced—and hence the possibility of botched communication particularly high. There is, I repeat, no reason whatsoever to believe that either men or women are better at dealing with tough times—there is every reason to believe that styles will differ.)

100 Ways to Succeed #138:

A Good Formula

From the above we can learn a lot about dealing with crises in general. While not the complete story, I take these gleanings:

(1) Concoct an authoritarian control group that numbers three. [Yes, I like this number per se.]
(2) "Over"-communicate.
(3) Drop all pretense of formality.
(4) Park egos at the door.
(5) Ensure that the group is diverse. [The Post points out that the current troika consists of a Wall Street titan, an academic, and a career civil servant.]
(6) Each member should have towering competence.
(7) Each member must have widespread credibility.
(8) Also "over"-communicate beyond the group.

100 Ways to Succeed #137:

Civil!

Civil!
Civil!
Civil!

(Always.)
(Only losers badmouth.)
(This is very very important.)

The more pissed off you are, the more you reach out to be civil.
Period.

(This is one helluva winning, practical strategy.)

100 Ways to Succeed #136:

Ultimate & Perhaps Only "Sure-fire" Winning Formula

S.A.V.*

*Screw Around Vigorously

100 Ways to Succeed #134:

Never Give Up.

Odds are zero.
Illogical.
Quixotic.

Screw "them."
Go visit the Lincoln Memorial.
Never give up!

100 Ways to Succeed #135:

Hiring criteria.

Are there enough people on your payroll who "lack common sense"?
Think about it.

100 Ways to Succeed #133:

Excellence in Manuals

Check every bit of instructional material in the joint—internal as well as that with which customers and vendors interact:

Clear?
Beautiful?
Simple? (Yet complete?)
Practice opportunities (à la EpiPen)?
Etc?
EXCELLENCE?

Odds are VERY high that you don't put in enough effort on internal and external material.

Work on it as a group. Test it with strangers. Test it with your spouse. Test it with your kids. Test it with the guy at the auto body shop. Etc.

Be like the Golden Gate bridge painters who never stop—finish one painting then immediately start over. Likewise, pick off some single instructional material and evaluate it—continue on a measured basis forever.

This is a very big deal. Here I go again with more bureaucracy: You need a very senior person, perhaps a VP and Chief Userfriendly Instructional Design of Bloody Everything—she should be independent of the prettify designers.

(User friendliness and clarity and simplicity are at least as important to Apple as is its gorgeous external design.)

100 Ways to Succeed #132:

The Boss's 6Ps

Passion!
Persistence!
Partners!
Performance!
Painstaking!
Presence!

(Passion: Energy! Enthusiasm! Very visibly giving 1000%!)
(Persistence: Good years, bad years, lotsa years. Keep at it!)
(Partners: Bruce makes the E Street Band. The E Street Band makes Bruce!)
(Partners: Bruce "partners" with his audience—we are active participants in the show.)
(Performance: Good stuff! A brilliantly produced show per se!)
(Painstaking: A thousand details doth a great performance make!)
(Presence: In the age of ubiquitous downloads, etc., live performance matters!)

100 Ways to Succeed #131:

Cherish the "Pain in the Ass."

Reward the "last two-percenter/s" as if she/they were the Ultimate Gift from The Gods! They are!

100 Ways to Succeed #130:

Bad Times?
Become Top Line Hypermanic!

Cutting, cutting, cutting is typically Recession Obsession-Preoccupation #1. Cutting may well be necessary, but don't let it get in the way of, in reality or psychologically,* becoming born-again Sales Hounds. With whatever tools you can dream up, re-double your time and effort aimed at increasing your business with existing top customers.

Start within the ... hour!

(*The "cutting psychology" is deadly—most everyone goes into a defensive shell when "cutting-is-all" becomes the odor of the place.)

100 Ways to Succeed #127:

Send Flowers! Today! X10!

Send 10—TEN!!—people flowers. Today. As "Thank yous" for good things "small"—or even large—done in the last two weeks.

100 Ways to Succeed #128:

And You [Me]?

I wish you a long life, but if tragedy were to have struck you yesterday, what do you think "they" would say at your memorial service? This maudlin question is not to be dwelt on "24/7," but it is worth considering on an irregularly regular basis.

100 Ways to Succeed #129:

Language Patrol!

Don't let the "enemy" rule your life. Try your damnedest to follow the exact advice of Mr McCue above: "Literally don't think about them."

Easier said than done, no doubt, but awareness is a start. That is, direct conversations away from "What is Microsoft doing?" ("What is the accountancy across the road doing?") And focus instead on, What new and cool things are we doing for our customers? (And, perhaps, see above, send a few good customers flowers today to thank 'em for their biz.)

100 Ways to Succeed #125:

Any Job Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Poorly!

Of course I don't mean it (quite) the way it sounds—hey, I'm an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist.

But consider, relative to a big/big-ish project, not investing your energy in finishing up your current sub-project, then moving rote-like to the next step. Instead, start, in a half-assed way, two or three or four other tasks/sub-projects just to see how the overall thing feels and where it might go that's unexpected based on three or four or five tasks in motion at the same time. In other words, just keep doin' stuff—and see what the stuff you've done "feels like" on the whole. (There will be time for polish later.)

(For me, in working on a book, it can mean plunging into the next chapter before I even have a decent rough draft of the current chapter—when I have 4 or 5 or 8 or 9 half-assed chapter drafts in process I can begin to figure out what the book as a whole is actually about—or what it might be about that I hadn't imagined.)

100 Ways to Succeed #126:

Show Up!

Show up!

(E.g., the next time you email someone to say you can't do something, right before pushing the Send button, stop and push the Delete button—and do the thing.)

100 Ways to Succeed #124:

Get Serious ...

Please.
Do me a (personal) favor.

Consider ...
That's all ... "consider" ...

Consider an all-out fully professional-sustained attack on your presentation skills.

All out.
Fully professional.
Attack.

(With at least, for heaven's sake, the tenaciousness you'd evince if you were seriously taking up golf or tennis or fly fishing or gardening or chess or calligraphy or flower arranging.)

I'll look forward to the engraved invitation to your Inaugural Ball ...

100 Ways to Succeed #120:

Pleasant. Caring. Engaged.

There have been lots of thoughtful Comments to my last post [I'll Miss You! (I Already Do.)]. One, from Todd Reed, speaking of Zingerman's (see Bo Burlingham's Small Giants), parallels my point: "They don't say the interviewee/employee has to be a ball of fire, just pleasant, caring, and engaged in the moment."

Fact is, the work place to a great extent is "where we live." We need star accountants. Boffo saleswomen. Over-the-top creatives in marketing and new product development. And so on. But, since we're effectively talking about "where we live," good sense and good business and "good" engagement throughout the "supply chain," from vendor's vendor to customer's customer, we would benefit mightily—including on the P & L—if we insisted (!) on: "Pleasant." "Caring." "Engaged."

So, let's put it in the hiring practices manual (would-be peer assessment will be front and center). Let's put it in every evaluation. Let's feature it in promotion decisions.

For everyone.*
Starting now.

(*If we look for "it" in accounting as much as, say, sales, we'll have gone a long way toward making all-important cross-functional coordination more or less automatic.)

100 Ways to Succeed #121:

Make Friends!
(Take This Seriously!)

Manager of an 11-person project team? Members from four functions—and two or three companies? Guess what: You are a full-bore, no-bull "coalition commander"!

Success Key #1: Make friends. Pointedly—that is, consciously—"invest" in this, big time.

Macro-success Key: In hiring, promoting, incenting, pay (close) attention to friend-making proclivity-skills.

100 Ways to Succeed #122:

M.T.M.O.T.

Manage To Moments Of Truth/Managing To Moments Of Truth. Start by finding "them." Defining them. Mapping them. Testing them. Measuring them. Incenting them. Etc.

Most important, I'd urge you to "use it"—that is, the term Moments Of Truth. (Okay, Carlzon invented M.O.T. 20-odd years ago—fact is, the issue-idea never ages.)

Most important (II), pass every (E-V-E-R-Y) decision through the "M.O.T. Filter"—how does this system, this hiring practice, whatever, affect the M.O.T.s? If an issue on, say, a weekly operations meeting agenda is not related to improving M.O.T., ask why the issue is on the agenda or how it can be made relevant to M.O.T.s. If an issue under discussion does or may negatively affect M.O.T.s, reconsider it or reconfigure it. (Relative to the latter—negative impact—one CEO (name-company slips my mind) is adamant that positive M.O.T.s are far more important, not less important, in a downturn, when every customer counts double. Hence, for example, beware mindless cost-cutting that pisses off remaining customers!)

100 Ways to Succeed #123:

Reading Assignment

Considering the above, I urge you to ingest the following:

The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies—Steve Harrison
Respect—Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
Hostmanship: The Art of Making People Feel Welcome—Jan Gunnarsson & Olle Blohm (leader as host to his-her employees)
The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything—Stephen M.R. Covey
The Dream Manager—Matthew Kelly
The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch 'Em Kick Butt— Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters (no relation)
Crucial Conversations—Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Crucial Confrontations—Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler
Influence: Science and Practice—Robert Cialdini
Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ—Daniel Goleman

100 Ways to Succeed #118:

Read It! Damn It!

The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

100 Ways to Succeed #119:

Consider Resilience?

Perhaps I'm onto something with this "resilience notion." Or not. In any event, consider the Black Swan. Consider what the arrival of one might mean to you-your organization.

There is no way for me to underscore how much this idea resonates with me—and, hence, how important I think it is to you. And how far beyond "contingency planning" it goes.

Success Tips at DailyLit

We're excited to announce that Tom's Success Tips are now available at DailyLit.com. What's DailyLit? It's a service that delivers short digital installments of books via email or RSS. The founders write: "We created DailyLit because we spent hours each day on email but could not find the time to read a book. Now the books come to us by email. Problem solved." I realize that for some of you this may be anathema, but I think it's fun and useful. In addition to (re)reading Success Tips, I'm currently receiving a daily dose of Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus. Each morning I get a short burst (800-1000 words?) of the book that I read with my other email. Each installment of this book is a lesson in how to create radical change in the world.

As for Success Tips, it's free, as are many other books at the site. We hope to feature Pursuit of WOW!, Brand You50, and other Tom books in the near future. Access to those titles will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of US $5. Still a bargain!

We all hope you enjoy reading Tom in this new format. If you don't, comments are open. (Of course we wouldn't mind hearing from people who love the service, either.)

100 Ways to Succeed #117:

Job One: Cherish and Excite the People Who Have the Opportunity to Cherish and Excite the Customer and Induce Her-Him to Recommend Us to Others Which Is the Premier Path to Growth and Profitability. Forever and Ever, Amen.

Axiom: Only excited people can excite customers over the long haul—i.e., again & again.
Corollary: To cause our colleagues to be excited we must put—and keep—the maintenance of their well-being and their opportunity structure at the top of our agenda.

100 Ways to Succeed #116:

Boomers! Geezers! Now!

Before the week [day?] ends, somehow or other begin a serious conversation about your attitude toward and approach to the Boomer-Geezer market.

(Like race in the world of politics, try to examine your implicit biases—eventually with the help of an outside facilitator.)

If at all applicable, consider Very Radical Alternatives—e.g., re-aligning strategy around Boomers-Geezers.

Big idea/s:

    (1) It is a big idea.
    (2) Stir the pot. Now.
    (3) The opportunities are enormous; the response so far is pitiful.
    (4) Don't be an idiot.

100 Ways to Succeed #115:

What the Hell!

At some point today (today!), despite "overload" ... just say, "what the hell" and go for it in some way or other.

(Likewise, worry if it's been more than a week or so since you said to yourself, "what the hell.")

100 Ways to Succeed #113:

Nothing Is Irrelevant

Stop.
Right now.

Check the reception desk.
Check the reception area.
Check the bathroom.
Check your last Client email.
Check etc.
Check etc.

Check 10 "little things."
Right now.

Is each one stunningly, amazingly excellent?
Does each one confirm & extend & broadcast your "brand promise"?
You, personally?
Your training department?
Your 3-person accountancy on Main Street?
Your BigCo division?

Repeat.
Daily.

(Remember: You are in control. There are things you cannot make happen, to be sure; but you can project Brand Excellence on a thousand "atmospherics" that determine Client-Employee perception.)

100 Ways to Succeed #114:

The "3X" Theorem

Communicate!
Communicate!
Communicate!

Over-communicate!
Over-communicate!
Over-communicate!

Whatever amounts to "sensible communication," triple it!

Immediate "command":

Play back the last 24 or 48 hours. Is there an instance where you have failed to Fully Inform a client, or other stakeholder, of a delay (wee or grand) or glitch (wee or grand)? If your answer is "nope, all is well"—you are a liar. (Sorry, it just slipped out of the keyboard.)

Fix it.
Now.
Make the call.
(And if you have, in fact, good for you, let someone know about a glitch ... call 'em again to update the status of the fix, or relay the sad but honest news that the fix is more complex than first imagined.)

100 Ways to Succeed #112:

Ombudsman for Common Sense

As suggested above, a lot of the giant financial-economic mess we're in is courtesy a failure of common sense—sometimes, often actually, by the so-called bestest of the best and brightest. We are all "insiders" in our own worlds—and we all lose touch with reality to a lesser or greater extent.

There are a host of things one can do to deal with this, but in this instance I want only to suggest routinely running proposals or budgets, or whatever, minor as well as major, by a "common sense ombudsman." Said ombudsman, singular or plural, formal or informal, could be a spouse or a neighbor who owns a restaurant or the guy who runs the distribution center in South Podunk who you ran into at the management meeting in Orlando last year.

Napoleon captured the spirit of this idea, ever so long ago:

"The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever." (from Napoleon on Project Management by Jerry Manas)

100 Ways to Succeed #111:

Get Out And About!

Get out! [Of your office.]
Get out!
Get out!
Get out!
Now! [Within the ... hour!]
Now!
Now!
Now!

[Attached, as a reminder, is a link to our "'Top 50' 'Have Yous,'" PDF or PPT, posted earlier.]

100 Ways to Succeed #109:

The Clean Team!

"Everything in existence tends to deteriorate."—Norberto Odebrecht

Computer terminals at Commerce Bank have a red button on the keyboard. When you (teller) run into a self (bank)-created roadblock to serving the customer, you push the red button. The impediment you discover will be addressed—and if action is taken, and it usually is, you'll get a financial reward for discovering Grunge that had gotten between the customer and an excellent service experience. Commerce calls itself "Yes bank," because it will go to great lengths to be able to say "yes" to damn near any customer request. The bank and its profits have grown like Topsy in a decidedly non-blue ocean—and has so far kept saying "yes" and kept the Grunge to a minimum. As is the case 100% of the time ... the jury is still—and always—out.

My point-suggestion here is that you invent your flavor of Red Buttons for your 3-person department, your 9-person temporary project team, your 17-table restaurant, or your 235-person division. That is, formal tools for identifying Grunge and removing it and getting Everyone in on the GGG—Great Grunge [Removal] Game.

I, in fact, suggest going further. I suggest defining an entire, formal Grunge Removal Process or even "Culture"—that is, in effect, an anti-process process. One needs nothing less than a formal infrastructure to try and keep the "inevitable deterioration" in check—and maybe even reverse it. A host of possibilities are there for the taking (including some gems from the Lane-Welch book reluctantly cited above): an anti-grunge Pledge of Allegiance every morning—and an anti-grunge item on every meeting agenda. A C-level anti-grunge exec: CGRO, Chief Grunge Removal Officer. Rewards for Grunge Removers at all levels, punishments for Grunge Growers at all levels. Devices to continually purge systems and procedures and processes of complexity creep. And Red Buttons for one and all.

Get on with this today—begin by making Grunge Awareness and Grunge Removal a belated New Year's Resolution. (For us "older" folks it starts with bodily Grunge Removal—a Life or Death commitment to diet and exercise and learning to say "no" to stupid requests. I.e., this really is the ultimate Big Deal in both our personal and professional lives.)

(Attached you'll find a "beautiful systems" PPT extracted from our Master Presentation—sorry, but I didn't have time to annotate it, which I will do in a few days.)

100 Ways to Succeed #110:

Bag that "Small Win #1"!
Hurry!

Happy Monday!

It's the 14th of January. Gut check time. Are your New Year's Resolutions still intact? Have you made some tiny start on the Big Thing you promised yourself, personally or professionally, in '08? Have you bagged that All-important Small Win #1 in these first two weeks of the New Year, that All-important Small Win #1 that keeps your Main Promise alive—and advances the odds of long-term success immeasurably?

It's not too late. Yet.

100 Ways to Succeed #108:

Do Me The Honor of a "PSF" Discussion!

At least, try "the PSF idea" on for size:

What is a "PSF"?
Are we (department?) a "PSF"?
Do we ("department"?) truly do WWPF—Work Worth Paying For?
Do we have ...

To spur discussion you'll find two attached documents. First is the core, bare-bones "50 List" from my 1999 book, The Professional Service Firm50: Fifty Ways to Transform Your "Department" into a Professional Service Firm Whose Trademarks Are Passion and Innovation.

You will also find my "PSF35" list from Part 3 of the current Master Presentation.

100 Ways to Succeed #103:

Friends/Network Several Levels "Down"

Among the 33 ideas-tactics just presented, this one, after careful examination, comes in #1 on the importance list.

Remember Gust Avrakotos from Charlie Wilson's War: "He had become something of a legend with these people who manned the underbelly of the Agency [CIA]." (Gust helped these unempowered folk with many problems way beyond their typical reach.) When I was a junior in the Pentagon, I discovered a link to the E-3 (very junior enlisted rank) English major from Brown University who was the letter-speech writer for The Secretary of the Navy, John Chafee (from Rhode Island, home to Brown). I shamelessly used my own Ivy League/Cornell link to him, which he got a kick out of—and was able to get a few favors (not too many or too extreme!) which allowed me to do some stuff that made no sense for a junior officer (O-3) to pull off.

Hence: Invest heavily and continuously in those several levels down in the organization, particularly executive assistants, who hold the keys to access and working with ease through convoluted processes.

Remember another piece of advice: C(I) > C(E). Internal customers are perhaps more important than the "bottom line" external customers; engaged internal customers will help you get an unfair share of internal attention which in turn allows you to perform miracles of implementation for your external customers.

100 Ways to Succeed #104:

Shut Up!

Referring to the protagonist, Paul Christopher, a CIA field officer (again—and very consistent with Charlie Wilson's War) in Christopher's Ghosts, author Charles McCarry, says: "He [Christopher] had learned when he was very young that if he kept quiet, the other person would fill the silence." McCarry also tells us at one point that Christopher's key to a debriefing is to shut up and not interrupt—Christopher claims that "everyone has a story to tell, if only you have the patience to wait for it and not get in the way of it."

So: Shut up!

I'm practicing (a 2008 resolution) keeping quiet, and waiting for the story to emerge. (Fat chance, my colleagues would say—screw them.)

100 Ways to Succeed #105:

Master of Internal Processes

(More from the Charlie Wilson post.)

Become a Master of Internal Processes. Recall, from the Charlie Wilson post the reference to Tom DeLay who effectively controlled the House of Representatives by grabbing control of internal processes. This requires heavy investment (again) (what doesn't?) and a passion for details. This one, too, is open to junior folks.

Addenda: If you are boss of a project team, no matter how small, include a Master of Process, preferably with corporate staff experience, for your team. Also bring on someone who likes to "do lunch" with those in the "underbelly" (Gust Avrakotos—CIA) of the organization; this, Ms Project Manager, is your job, too—personally. Incidentally (not so incidentally, actually) "Ms" is likely to be far more effective at this than "Mr."

100 Ways to Succeed #106:

Assignment in the Finance Department

(More from the Charlie Wilson post.)

Follow the money!
Follow the money!
Follow the money!

A CIO, who was remarkably successful in a huge organization, declares that the key was a five-year stint in the corporate Finance Department as a mid-level guy—he had many friends and many "favors due" in finance, which allowed him to acquire assets, exceptions to rules, etc.

Hence: Seek out, by hook or by crook, a tour of duty in Finance—early on.

100 Ways to Succeed #107:

Fifty. Period.

Returning to my 1231.07 Post (FLASH! FOR IMMEDIATE ACTION!) DURING THE Christmas-New Year's period make the damn 50 calls.

Period.
No baloney.

100 (Or So) Ways to Succeed #101:

"Investment" Plan/
New Year's Resolution

During his days as Goldman Sachs boss, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson had an invariant habit. He would call "60 CEOs in the first week [of the year] to wish them happy New Year." During my brief White House stint in the mid-seventies, I spent eight or nine straight hours one New Year's Eve on my office phone. I called close to 100 people I worked with—in agencies all over Washington and in embassies around the world—to thank them for their help in the prior year. In addition to enjoying the chats, which I did (I suspect Paulson did, too), I admit that I was purposefully engaging in an ADRE ... Act of Deliberate Relationship Enhancement.

While I fully buy "If you aren't sincere, it won't work," I nonetheless urge you to develop some similar ritual. Moreover, I urge you to do it in the next couple of weeks!

Think ADRE. Twelve months a year!

100 (Or So) Ways to Succeed #102:

Purposefully Practice Listening
(And "Hearing")

I'm dealing with a thorny problem. Even thought of calling my shrink—he's my "life coach" as much as my esteemed mental health advisor.

In the end I didn't call him. And you can thank crosstown Manhattan Christmas traffic for that.

I inveterately chat with cabbies—about life, not the weather. This driver-advisor-to-be had been around the circuit a couple of times, as, indeed, I have as well. I laid out my issue pretty damn directly. All issues are the same—in the end, relationship issues (see above). His thoughts were "obvious" (all useful thoughts are, in retrospect) and really turned my thinking on its ear.

On the one hand, I was making idle chatter, as I am wont to do; on the other hand, I really wanted to get his reaction. His take on human interaction is likely to be more profound than mine—given his natural laboratory. I'm almost loath to admit it, though I don't know why, but I actually jotted a couple of notes on my Amtrak ticket stub while he was talking. I gave him a healthy Christmas tip, but the fact is that his advice was priceless— or at least a lot cheaper than my psychiatrist's invoice.

In the last couple of weeks, I've talked about Dave Isay's book, Listening Is an Act of Love, and cool friend Matthew Kelly's The Dream Manager. Both are books about stories and listening and hearing. As is my little "Manhattan Cabbie's Tale." If relationships are "everything" (they are), then listening-hearing-story collecting is Tool #1. Stephen Covey and others are wonderful instructors on this topic. I will not attempt to copy them. My suggestion is simpler: During this holiday season, you'll likely go to cocktail parties, open presents, attend family dinners. While not aiming to spoil your spontaneity, I'd suggest that each of these occasions is an opportunity to purposefully practice listening-hearing-story collecting. I have no tricks, except to say tune deliberately into the process. If you want to give yourself an exam, at the end of the party or whatever, review what you heard-learned that was new about an old friend; I learn new stuff about 20-year friends when I really work on my listening-hearing. And keep in mind, as lodestar, the words from Dale Carnegie: "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

100 Ways to Succeed #99:

Reward "DNK" When You DNK

Of course you don't want to reward "I didn't bother to ..." laziness, but you do want to reward—Big Time—truth-telling. Hence, cheer publicly the person who admits, in front of a boss, that he or she "does not know" the facts here, or the answer to this or that. In fact, per the above, make a game (serious game!) out of identifying the "DNKs" regarding any analysis or proposed action. Frankly, good inventories of DNKs may be far more important to success than inventories of DKs.