i-TFTD #189: Thank You, Readers of i-TFTD

The greatest gift you can give someone is your time because when you are giving someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you will never get back.

-Rick Warren, in The Purpose-Driven Life

i-TFTD was born with an email titled, “Bless You My Friends” to fellow participants of a leadership programme on 31-Jan-2005 followed by a few Thoughts for the Day on 2-Feb-2005. Arun Wakhlu and Kuku Singh (who at least once a year praises the continuity of i-TFTD) inspired me on the day that R Raghavendran expressed a desire that someone should send a few nice quotes by email periodically. What a simple thought! What a great idea!

If you have something to do that is worthwhile doing, don't talk about it, but do it. After you have done it, your friends and enemies will talk about it.

-George W. Blount

I sincerely thank each of you, too numerous to list here, for the kind words you have periodically sent that fueled my enthusiasm in ensuring that i-TFTD has continued without a break for over 212 weeks except during my annual vacation. Many have contributed to the kitty of inspiring quotes and articles. Some names deserve mention on this 300th (or 4th) anniversary of the original series of i-TFTD (new ones were started to share the same ones to those who subscribed later and the blog had not started where one could refer).

Thanks HVS, Mohan-ji, Shibu, Gopi and Santos(h) for generous and repeated praise in the initial days in 2005 that enthused me to keep this up at least once a week amidst long and hectic work days. V Shankar among others used the quotes and actively encouraged new subscribers.

Our heads are round so that thoughts can change direction.

-Francis Picabia, painter and poet (1879-1953)

Some thoughtful queries and brief mail discussions with people who had interesting interpretations enriched me. Thanks to some names I can recall: Anushtup Sett, Vinod Govindan, Goosie Srinivasan, Pranav Parikh, Loganathan Damodaran, Vivek Sathe, Amitabh Roy Chowdhury, Vijay Desai, S Ketharaman, Amol H Joshi, Ramanan Jagannathan, Uday Agashe, K Shailesh, Shekhar Parpattedar, Bhavana Mallesh, Shuja Rahman, Paresh Madani, Sheenam Ohrie, S P Aditya and Venkatesh Chetlur. Thanks to all others I may not have recalled. Thanks to Nitin Sharma and Aditya Ghanti who persuaded me to blog these.

We can't see eye to eye, but at least we can feel heart to heart.

-Anon

Quite a few individuals (who shall remain unnamed) sent touching mails about a particular quote somehow helping them with a problem situation they were facing. Such (undeserved) gratitude used to surprise me but I have come to understand it to some extent as described in i-TFTD #165 20-Apr-2007: Instant Learning also available online here. I am also grateful to the  few former colleagues who said that i-TFTD had become a habit, that it was an energizer they expected on some mornings a week, requesting to send it to their personal email IDs.

We probably wouldn't worry about what people think of us if we could know how seldom they do.

-Olin Miller

Cherry picking from a multitude of possibilities, filtering only what I find thought-provoking, guessing what might appeal to a few known and a large number of diverse, unknown colleagues, spontaneously typing a couple of top-of-the-mind comments… this is one of the few things in life that I have persisted doing more or less the same way for 4 years—and pray to be able to continue…

I wish you success in identifying your innate talents and goodness, and putting your strengths to create a better world for yourself,

RG

i-TFTD #188: Say Yes to Gen Y Yearnings

Don't Let the Economy Alter Your Gen Y Strategy

by Leah Reynolds

Excerpted from http://www.talentmgt.com/newsletters/talent_management_perspectives/2009/February/876/index.php

Generation Y, whose members are 14 to 27 years old, often is portrayed as being self-entitled and spoiled by the baby boomers. In the workplace, they have a reputation as being overly ambitious dreamers who want higher salaries and more time off without paying their dues.

Deloitte's latest snapshot on Gen Yers already in the workforce presents a different picture. Gen Yers are a hidden powerhouse of employee potential: They are future-oriented, ready to contribute now and opportunity-driven. And they may just be a key asset for your business in tough times.

Gen Yers are driven less by rewards and more by opportunity. Career enhancement is more important than salary or a more secure job. When ranking factors in their decision to join their current employers, 63.5 percent cited development opportunities, while 49.8 percent mentioned salary and benefits.

They are adept at collaboration and teamwork. The chance to partner with older, more experienced workers is welcomed, and they are full of fresh insight on how to reach their peers in the consumer market. When asked what encourages them to initiate new ideas or participate in innovative efforts, their top two responses were opportunities to work with senior staff and executives (53.5 percent) and a culture that embraces contributions from all levels (52.9 percent).

They take on tough challenges and work toward ambitious goals.

...managers can tap this hidden powerhouse of employee potential, especially in this time of tight budgets and economic uncertainty. It can be a difficult challenge, but these ideas can help:

-Cut with a scalpel, not an axe: The current economic situation may require staff cuts, a process stacked against Gen Yers, who lack seniority and may not be top performers in traditional ways. Stick to a longer-term Gen Y strategy by expanding elimination-decision criteria to include competencies such as innovative prowess, technical savvy and willingness to take risks.

-Don't be afraid to ruffle feathers: Older workers may not be happy that young upstarts are getting great opportunities, but do what's right for the business. Try assigning older workers as mentors for younger staff, and change traditional reward structures to encourage participation. Older workers will feel valued and respected, while younger workers' desire to rocket up the learning curve will be satisfied.

-Acknowledge the challenge: Today's young workers have different expectations, and this isn't likely to change. Find ways to meet their needs by adjusting the strategic workforce plan, organization models, rewards, recognition and development programs - or another company will.

Gen Y is the future. Companies won't survive without them, so figuring out how to harness their capabilities is good business. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll see the benefits, and a bigger lead you'll have over your competition.

____

To my Gen Y readers: more and more of the management gurus are saying good things about you. I believe them and I believe in you. Feel good and do good. Make the world better.

To my non-Gen Y readers: We have no choice but to accept the inevitable but when we do it willingly and with understanding we become a part of the change, and we are able to influence it subtly. Don’t overvalue age or experience or knowledge, this century is all about the fresh use of knowledge, new perspectives and innovation. We not only don’t have any advantage over the upcoming generation, our so-called wisdom can be a barrier. True wisdom is constantly working to keep ourselves adaptable in all aspects of our lives.

I remember more than a few occasions during my childhood when I was irritated to hear elders lament along the lines of, “These days kids don’t know this,” or “This generation does not appreciate that.” One thing I swore to myself on one such occasion was I would not fall in this particular trap; when I am older, I will not deride the inexperience of youngsters. It’s not been easy but I have stuck to this promise made decades ago. All it takes is spending more time with younger folk and keeping the child in all of us alive – perhaps by being a little naughtier, a tad humbler, and above all, willing to laugh at oneself.

i-TFTD #187

#187-1. People cannot be managed. Inventories can be managed, but people must be led.

-H. Ross Perot

#187-2. We are not donkeys, and some of us do not eat carrots and we don't like sticks.

-Peter Block

#187-3. The finest leadership advice in the world: ask questions and listen!

-James Lundy

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Even in this day and age the simplistic carrot-stick approach is widely mentioned, necessitating the plethora of books and seminars on inspirational leadership.

The third sounds simple, but do we ask the right questions to the right people often enough? And to ask and then listen... no wonder true leaders are so few.

i-TFTD #186

#186-1. Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, and most fools do.

-Benjamin Franklin

#186-2. The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.

-Winston Churchill

#186-3. Action is the antidote to despair.

-Joan Baez

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Criticism is constructive if its aim is to solve/improve and it is accordingly presented, preferably with suggested solutions wherever possible. Sometimes a criticism is countered with, "Why don't you try doing it?" but that is not a valid answer in all cases.

In a lighter vein, I would like to say, "Even Churchill is right sometimes!"

The third is good to remember in any "stuck" situation when further pondering is not useful. That is probably why Nike's tagline has endured so long: Just Do It.

i-TFTD #185

Slightly different tone of i-TFTDs today, the last one explains why.

#185-1. You can make buffalo go anywhere, just so long as they want to go there.
-Gerald Weinberg

#185-2. It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
-Jerome K. Jerome

#185-3. I can trick you into learning with a laugh;
Oh winnow all my folly and you'll find
A grain or two of truth among the chaff.
-W.S. Gilbert

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Jerry Weinberg is a pioneer of the psychology of software development and has written many interesting books. His quote above is an antidote to any illusions we may have about motivating others.

The second one is so true. Our enjoyment of a thing is sometimes relative/conditional in a negative way.

The last is a favourite theme of mine. Just because something seems fun or funny does not make it less useful or less profound. Learning is especially aided by humour.

i-TFTD #184: The Gift of Risk (What Would Your Life Look Like If)

Two excellent snippets from fastcompany.com on taking risks (highlights mine). After reading them, think about your own behaviour. Remember that this need not apply only to major decisions but it could even be applied when hesitating in simple situations like asking help or raising a query to clarify a doubt.

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Leading Ideas: The Gift of Risk
By Doug Sundheim

"Do you think the people who were trying to reach the top of Everest were not full of doubts? For a hundred years, people tried and lost their lives. Not even their dead bodies came back. But still, more people tried... risking... knowing that they may never come back. Why? Because it was worth it. Because in the very risk something is born inside you: the center. It is born only in the risk. That's the beauty of risk, the gift of risk."
-Paraphrased from Osho

Six years ago, while coaching a client, I stumbled upon a very important question. We were talking about the idea of living with "no regrets" when I asked him, "When in your life did you feel most alive?" He reflected for a moment and told me about the summer he overcame his fear of water and learned to sail. When he finished he was grinning ear-to-ear. Subsequently, I have asked hundreds of people the same question and have been struck by the similarity of their answers. In particular I've noticed 3 themes. (1) Nearly everyone describes a scenario in which they pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and took risks. (2) The OUTCOME of taking the risk is rarely the main thrust of the story - it's usually the process of taking them that they remember most fondly. (3) When people finish their story, they've often got a big smile on their face.

Consider This:

The gift of risk-taking doesn't lie in what you achieve by risking -- it lies in who you become as a result of the process. Confident. Engaged. Alive. Furthermore, it isn't something you do once in a while -- it's an approach to life. Open. Exploratory. Daring. You know it when you let it slip out of your life. You feel stagnant, lethargic, bored. Risks have no shelf life -- yesterday's risks are today's ego trip. Today is new. RE-ENGAGE. RE-RISK.

Try This:

1. Ask yourself the same question, "When in your life did you feel most alive?"
2. What were you doing? Why did it feel so good? Which of your core values were you living?
3. It's likely you were taking some risks at the time.
4. If you've haven't felt that alive in a while, what could you do to re-engage, to push past your comfort zone?
5. Remember, the gift of risk lies not in what you achieve, but in who you become by taking them.

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What Would Your Life Look Like If?
By Donna Karlin

When reading Doug Sundheim’s excellent post on "The Gift of Risk" I was looking at the other half of the equation as how we inspire someone to take that leap of faith outside their comfort zone and attempt taking that risk.

Often, when working with clients, we'll go to the future and work backwards. Some would call it doing a visualization, however this is different... subtle, but different. It takes what you might visualize as far as an experience or place to be in life and looking at the impact it would have in your life. So the question I ask clients is "What would your life look like if... ?" and end the question with what would complete a lifelong goal for them. For example "What would your life look like if you got that promotion? What would your life look like if you started your own company rather than work for someone else? What would your life look like if you gave up your current lifestyle as you know it and jumped into a new career with both feet?"

For some it spurs them on to push themselves just that little bit more and to take that chance or risk, and for others, once they can see it, taste it, and feel it, they decide not to go ahead as that's not the lifestyle they want for themselves. Either way it's a reality check and alters their lives in a profound way.

The same goes for leaders who are taking the organization through unknown territory. "What would the state of the organization look like if...?"

It's jumping into the deep end of each day.

i-TFTD #183

#183-1. The void created by the failure to communicate is soon filled with poison, drivel, and misrepresentation.

-C. Northcote Parkinson

#183-2. The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight,

but they, while their companions slept

were toiling upward in the night.

-Henry W. Longfellow

#183-3. The real question is, once you know the right thing, do you have the discipline to do the right thing, and, equally important, to stop doing the wrong things?

-Jim Collins, author of Good To Great

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Any communication is an attempt to influence beliefs and consequent action. We should remember the risk of not trying to do it, whether it is at home or at work. Parkinson is famous for his Parkinson’s Law (work expands to fill the time available for its creation) and wrote many books. In India he co-authored, with MK Rustomji,  many short books on management illustrated with cartoons.

Significant achievements require the sacrifice of comfort and rest, plus consistency and perseverance.

His research on enduring companies and their management styles has been summarized in two bestselling management books by Jim Collins, “Built to Last” and “Good to Great”. In the corporate environment whenever anyone (typically someone new to the organization) points out some deficiency, a typical response is, “That’s the way it is. What could anybody do?” Even at an individual level most of us know most of the right things we must do or wrong things that we must stop doing.