I’ve managed people for more than 20 years, and if the people I’ve managed are to be believed, I’m apparently quite good at it. There are a few concepts I adhere to that I think make for a better work environment. One of those is defining and eradicating workplace cancer. When I inherit or build a team, one thing I establish early is that it is in everyone’s job description to be honest and forthcoming about what they’re observing in our work and in the workplace. They are getting paid to help this company be successful on every front,…
Close the gap
It’s a simple idea, but one I think could significantly improve heavy traffic. Close the gap. In all situations. If you’re driving, and there’s a massive space between you and the car in front of you, close the gap. Catch up. This enables everyone behind you to pick up the pace, as well. I know, there’s this notion of two car lengths. But that’s only necessary because it rightly assumes most people are not paying attention so can’t react fast enough. But if you’re focused on the task at hand: driving, you won’t get caught trying to put your…
Baby Boomers: the first generation to not want to leave the world a better place for the next generation
Rarely will I make a post that is a simple share of a video. But as I pointed out two days ago, rarely do I watch video. And if I do, rarely does it so succinctly capture an otherwise complex topic so quickly. From the time Baby Boomers were teenagers to now, they’re the first generation to take and take without giving a thing. Always focused on themselves, they are the first generation to focus on themselves and never stop to consider the ramifications of their actions. The death of thoughtful. The death of courtesy. The death of consideration….
Did Donald Trump invent being offensive?
You’d think Donald Trump was the first politician (or activist) to say something controversial in the public sphere. People react to Donald Trump like they’ve never heard such horrible things coming from a public figure before. (And I don’t just mean leftists… many Republicans also rush to show their outrage.) But if you’re a conservative, you’ve been listening to liberals and left-leaning politicians, pundits, and celebrities make outrageous, racist, sexist, ridiculous, and inflammatory statements for years. Look at how much outrage there was when people heard President Trump on video talking about how you can grab women “…by the…
Will the decline of society be captured on video?
I’ll admit it. The video revolution is leaving me behind, and I’m OK with that. Not everyone wants to watch video. I don’t spend any time watching video. At all. It’s probably accurate to say I’ve not spent one minute watching a video meme or newsletter this year. Video is too time consuming. If you watch a video, you are bound by their pacing and time. You’re at the mercy of however long it takes the video to give you the information you want. And it’s that much more disappointing to find out at the end that you wasted…
Reliable deplaning metrics
After years of flying experience, I think I’ve devised a solid metric people can follow to determine if they’re deplaning efficiently. It’s simple. There should always be someone in the aisle walking toward the door to leave the plane. Period. That’s it. It’s tougher at first, because there’s so little room between those first rows that are getting off the plane. But as you get into the fourth, fifth, and sixth rows, it should be easier to maintain that kind of flow. When a plane gets to the gate, usually the people in the aisle shoot right up and…
Weaponization of the CEO
It happens. Especially in smaller companies, where the CEO tends to be, or can be, more involved in the day-to-day. When people have an agenda, or an idea they want to pursue… or perhaps they don’t like the direction the team is going, they can happen upon the CEO. I’ve seen it too many times. The CEO is a friendly and engaged person. They care about what’s going on in the business, but they also care about empowering their employees. So the person who’s not getting their way finds themselves in a position where they have a seemingly innocent…
Fences: Real and imagined
On the coasts of this country, it’s not difficult to find neighborhoods in which the majority of houses have fences around their yards. It makes everything seem more compact, and even a little claustrophobic. In the Midwest, it’s the opposite. One yard runs into another, and even the neighborhoods look like a bunch of houses sprinkled onto an otherwise abandoned field. Meanwhile, the residents of the coasts are known more for being standoffish, defensive, and a little skeptical of anyone who just starts speaking with them. The Midwest is known for being a far more welcoming and friendly place….
*ucking autocorrect
Being annoyed with autocorrect is not a new phenomena. And I don’t try to write about things that have been well-covered in other arenas. But given where we are, as a society, on our tech journey, I’m dumbfounded at how poor and irritating the autocorrect experience remains. Last week, I started keeping loose track of how often autocorrect either changes the words that I wrote as intended or leaves an errant spelling uncorrected, and my estimate is around 25% of my text sessions. I generally hate texting, in general. Especially texting conversations. I’m not sure how our society transitioned…
The evolution of airplane culture
About two years ago or so, I noticed a shift in airplane norms. It used to be you’d walk on a plane and all of the windows were open. As people got seated, a few would close their windows, but most would be left open during the flight. Fast forward, and now whenever I walk into a plane, all of the windows are closed. And most people, as was the case when they were open, don’t pay much attention or venture to change them by opening them. So now, where we used to be able to have the context…