dispatches from the new world of work

New Audio Read by Tom

Tom read The Little BIG Things for the audio version. We are posting one section at a time of audio files on our book page. Today's section is "Others," which follows "Self" in the text. In other words, first Tom gave ideas for working on yourself to improve your own business performance, and next he gave ideas for how to treat others to the same end. I think the titles of the entries in the "Others" section tell a great deal of the story, but you might want to listen to the audio items to get more of it.

#27. Kindness Is Free!
#28. Civil! Civil! Civil!
#29. Listen to Ann—and "Act Accordingly."
#30. "Being There." (Or: How I Learned First Principles from My Grandfather's Last Rites.)
#31. Appreciating the Great Battle: A Case for Consideration.
#32. Thoughtfulness Is Free (or Close Thereto).

Cathy Mosca posted this on 04/30/10.

Comments

In my humble opinion, this is the best section in the book.

Posted by tom peters at May 3, 2010 8:33 AM

Appreciating the Great Battle: A Case for Consideration is exceptional! I work in an area where turnover is ridiculously high. The root cause of the problem isn't folks getting walked for performance, it's attendance. We have a point system that cares not the reason why your butt isn't in the seat at the alloted time, it simply assigns a point value to the fact it isn't. Doesn't matter if you're ill, car breaks down, childcare issues...reach x number of points and you're gone. Rigid inflexibility at it's finest. Problem is, demographics have changed significantly over the past decades where many in the work force are single parents, two working parents or employees caring for elderly parents. Points accrue because paid time off has to be scheduled in advance and slots are limited each day. If the day is "closed", ones options aren't good. It is amazing how folks think they can judge the character and work ethic of others based on their total attendance points! I am using this as an example to "remind" our managers that all those points have a story. It might tell the story of a person not interested in working or of a person taking points because their child had two have two surgeries and they were new enough to not have any paid time off to use. The other leading cause of points...folks having to leave unexcused for job interviews when the days are "full". Those points tell a much more serious but accurate story about how poor leadership can impact the performance, productivity and results of any organization!

Posted by Dave Wheeler at May 4, 2010 12:32 AM

Amazing, that is very helpful info, thanks.

Posted by Rudy Bodner at May 5, 2010 8:58 AM