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Archive for the ‘Work Life’ Category

Looking for a Bigger Piece of the Pie?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

I recently caught up with Greg Lippert, CEO of Mazzio’s Italian Eatery, the Tulsa-based restaurant company with 170 locations in 10 states. From his days as a college soccer player to positions with heavyweights like Proctor and Gamble and Philip Morris, Greg came up through the ranks in typical Type A fashion eventually holding several executive positions in the fast casual dining sector before returning to Mazzio’s as CEO.

As we were kicking around the latest and greatest happenings in our worlds, I took the opportunity to ask Greg to share his advice for those Type A’s who are looking to move into executive leadership.

Here’s Greg’s advice on how to get a bigger piece of the pie.

1. You must know how to manage your time and your mind.

“As CEO, the toughest choice is knowing how to best manage your time and your mind. As you get higher and higher on the ladder, you give up more and more of your time and your mind to issues that you may not have previously considered. You must be constantly thinking about the results of others… the morale of employees, how the company is advancing, whether or not the business plan is accomplishing the company’s goals. It’s no longer about your own results. You have less and less brain space to focus on yourself or your family. If you can’t manage your time and your mind, you’re not going to be successful.”

2. Understand the financial impact of your decisions across the board.

“You are only as good as your bottom line. More and more often pay is being tied to performance. And it’s not just your performance but the entire company’s performance. The company’s financial responsibility is shared responsibility.”

3. Explore your career and lifestyle options early in your career.

“Use your education years and the time in your 20’s to explore opportunities in lifestyle and career that you believe will help you feel fulfilled today and into the future. Don’t make a commitment too early. Find a career or industry that you will still enjoy years later. And develop a secondary interest, such as a hobby or volunteer work, so you don’t become too job focused.”

4. Learn project management skills.

“The biggest gap we have between our experienced baby boomer leadership team and the next generation is strong project management skills. No one is being taught project management. Someone who has great project management skills will be invaluable to growing companies.”

Posted in Meaningful Work, Work Life, career, leadership, passion | No Comments »

Master the Rules Before You Break’em

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Admit it. Rules can feel like a ball and chain around your neck.

In the minds of many turbocharged Type A’s, RULES get in the way of RESULTS. The more successful Type A’s become, the more likely they are to rebel against rules in a short-sighted manner and send their companies or their careers down the stinker.

Pay attention if you’ve got any of these red flags waving in your head.

“If they would just get out of my way, then I could really get the big things done.”

“These damn rules are ridiculous! They just slow me down and put up silly barriers to getting things done.”

“I’m a bigger producer than anyone else, so I shouldn’t have to play by the rules.”

“Rules are for losers.”

“I’m smarter (faster, more talented, more successful, etc…) than the people who made the rules, so why should I follow them?!”

Here’s the dark side to this Type A trap. If you break the rules before you master them, you look disrespectful, rude, insubordinate, rash, arrogant… fill in the blank with a whole host of other unpleasant, stinky descriptors.

However, here’s what’s cool about rules. If you master the rules and then break’em (in a constructive manner, of course), you look courageous, visionary and innovative.

What kind of Rule Wrangler are you?

As you ponder your answer, turn up your speakers and join me in singing The Type A Anthem…

Posted in Decision-Making, Problem Employees, Work Life, leadership | No Comments »

Buried Alive

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

When we keep doing the same things over and over again – or thinking the same things over and over again – we dig ourselves into a Type A rut. What’s really tragic is that we rarely notice the walls closing in on us. We are so busy, so stressed and so driven to accomplish the big goals that we can’t see what we are doing to ourselves. That’s how Type A superstars get buried alive.

As the novelist Ellen Glasgow observed, “The only difference between a rut and a grave are the dimensions.”

What are you digging for yourself?

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Managing High Performers, Meaningful Work, Work Life | No Comments »

Digging Deep for Black Gold

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

A big congratulations to Mark Bronston, CEO of Legends Exploration LP located in Houston, TX. Mark, along with a team of fellow scientists, received the prestigious 2009 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s Thayer Lindsley Award for the discovery of the Donlin Creek gold deposit, considered to be one of the largest umined pure gold deposits in the world.

During a recent conversation with Mark, I asked this award-winning geophysicist what are the toughest decisions he has to make as CEO. Mark replied, “The toughest decisions are the people-related issues ranging from dealing with regulatory agencies to negotiating with landowners to keeping everyone motivated, enthusiastic and collegial. It never goes away.”

In Mark’s opinion, the oil and gas exploration business attracts a certain kind of people – “Type A people on steriods” – who, at the end of the day, can handle a big failure with nothing to show for their efforts but a dry hole.

Mark offered some advice for high potential Type A’s who have their eyes on the top job.

1. Be absolutely sure you love what you are doing. Don’t let money be your driver.

2. Early in your career seek out the programs and learning opportunities that may not be the most glamorous but will help you create a strong foundation that will set you apart from your peers. Don’t shy away from the blocking and tackling positions.

3. Save yourself some heartache. When you get angry or affronted, hold your breath and count to ten. Consider that email you want to send before you send it. Act professionally regardless of how you feel.

Great advice from a modern day prospector.

Posted in Work Life, career, leadership | No Comments »

Type A’s You Can’t Trust

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

“I just can’t trust her (or him).”

One of the most common problems I help clients solve is how to work with The Type A You Can’t Trust. The culprit might be the conniving chairwoman, the slick salesperson or the backstabbing boss. Usually, these “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” Type A’s are found in positions of influence and power. They show their ‘good’ face in public and bring out the snarling monster in private.

Here’s the secret to dealing with The Type A You Can’t Trust.

Their game is using inconsistent, destructive behavior to keep you off balance. Don’t get sucked into their game. Expect them to be CONSISTENTLY inconsistent. Plan for their shenanigans. When you react in a way they don’t expect, THEY will be thrown off balance. The power shifts to you.

Tags: Trust
Posted in Managing High Performers, Problem Employees, Work Life | No Comments »

Exploiting The Theory of Complaints

Friday, May 8th, 2009

What are you complaining about?

Maybe it was your rant yesterday during the Board meeting or the mumbling and muttering you did on the way into work this morning…. but I KNOW you are complaining about something… even if it’s only in the privacy of your mind.

What is it?

Not enough time to get everything done? Your wife’s nagging? Unrealistic shareholder expectations? Your teenage daughter’s weird friends? The nose dive your stock portfolio took over the past several months? The irritating co-worker that takes credit for your ideas?

What are you complaining about?

Complaining is common. You probably think you know all about complaining.

But did you know that complaining is the missing link between success and satisfaction? Success doesn’t buy satisfaction. It’s one thing to be successful and another thing entirely to be SATISFIED.

Yep, that’s right. Your complaints hold the secret to turning success into satisfaction. The MBA in me likes to call it Exploiting the Theory of Complaints.

To understand my Theory of Complaints, let’s take a quick look at well known biz school favorite, The Theory of Constraints.

The Theory of Constraints suggests that what stands between you and achieving your goals are the bottlenecks – or constraints – in your process. Simply put, by identifying these bottlenecks and permanently removing them, you achieve greater success more quickly. If you want to learn more about it, google business guru Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. There are oodles of info on this management philosophy.

Back to Cannon’s Theory of Complaints…

My Theory of Complaints says that what stands between success and satisfaction are complaints. Stands to reason, doesn’t it? Regardless of your success, it’s pretty darn near impossible to be truly satisfied if you are complaining.

Consider this. Complaining is a signal that something is not right. A complaint arises because some need is not being met. You’ve got an itch that is not being scratched.

No matter how successful you are, you are not going to be truly satisfied if you, your life or your business are being held hostage by an unmet need(s).

The unmet need creates tension in your experience which, in turn, leads you to vent, kvetch or bellyache to relieve the tension. Unfortunately, the relief is temporary at best unless you identify the underlying unmet need and take action to fill it permanently. Think about it like having a cavity in your tooth. Until you fill it permanently, the little monster is going to keep bothering you and getting bigger… even if the rest of the world only sees your sparkling pearly whites.

And, just like pesky cavities, unmet needs can be hard to see unless you have x-ray vision, one of those odd little dental mirrors or the keen vision of someone else. The quickest way to find the unmet need and create a strategy to fix it, is to enlist the help of a trusted advisor, mentor or coach.

Bottom line: Remove your constraints to be successful and resolve your complaints to be satisfied.

There’s no sweeter spot than being successful AND being truly satisfied.

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Meaningful Work, Positive Attitude, Positive Living, Work Life, career, leadership | No Comments »

What’s really capturing your attention?

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Did you see the article in the New York Times, Ear Plugs to Lasers: The Science of Concentration? In the book, Rapt, author Winifred Gallagher, reminds us of two well known concepts:

What we pay attention to determines what kind of experience we create.
Our brains work best when we concentrate and focus on one thing at time… multi-tasking is not good for us.

Gallagher goes on to make the point that we have the choice to focus our attention on the negative things or the positive things. Not surprisingly, she points out that shifting your attention to and focusing on the positive things in life are the secrets to creating a more satisfying life.

I’m not going to disagree with that, but I do think it’s a black or white approach… especially for high level leaders who get paid to solve problems and achieve results in a technicolor world.

Here’s two more things to think about.

First, events are rarely all positive or all negative. They are usually a bitter sweet mixture of both. Wisdom comes from being able to see and appreciate both the good and the bad. Remember the old saw… Learning from your mistakes?

Secondly, your unconscious mindsets have an enormous impact on how you see the world and what captures your attention. Shifting your conscious attention without first uncovering your underlying unconscious mindsets is a little like whacking off dandelion leaves. It’s just a matter of time before your unconscious mindset sends up another flower of frustration. Just look at Kristie Alley’s failed weight loss…

Here’s my advice:

1. Focus your attention on the whole experience. Step outside of your judgment of good or bad. Look at things from both sides at once. Find the wisdom in the experience. The great thing about wisdom is that you can take it with you whereever you go.

2. Cultivate your consciousness. Dig out your unconscious mindsets so you get rid of the weeds once and for all. That leaves plenty of room and nutrients for creativity. And with creativity comes inspired problem solving and new perspectives.

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Positive Attitude, Work Life, career, leadership | No Comments »

You can’t escape who you are.

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

It happened again this week. I was talking with a fellow I had just met when he suddenly observed, “You’re like a lightning bolt!”.

Yes, that me. A lightning bolt. I can’t help myself. It’s in my DNA.

In my first ‘real’ job, I got sick of listening to my co-workers sit around and whine about how overworked and underpaid we were, so I petitioned our employer – the city government – to raise our wages.

The suits on the city council were shocked and appalled that a 21-year old, fresh-out-of-college female would have such audacity to question the status quo. They called my boss and demanded to meet “the militant troublemaker”. I found it all quite amusing.

A few months and one whopper of a pay raise later, a co-worker presented me with lightning bolt earrings and a lightning bolt t-shirt. Giggling, she said, “Cannon, those guys never knew what hit them!”

Four years later, emboldened by success, I zapped, scorched and incinerated my way to record setting profits in my first big leadership role. Determined to succeed regardless of the cost, I left a trail of charred and smoldering souls in my wake. Intoxicated with my own power, I had morphed into a lightning bolt bully.

Then one day I went up in my own flames. My mother’s childhood admonishments echoed through my head, “You shouldn’t play with fire! Someone’s going to get hurt.”

It was only then that I realized the full responsibility of being a lightning bolt.

Over time I mastered the fine art of tossing lightning bolts to illuminate instead of decimate and to catalyze instead of paralyze. In the darkest and most menacing of storms, a friendly lightning bolt is a flashlight for the soul. It shows you where it’s safe to step and helps you see your way to the desired destination.

With some work, I transformed myself from a lightning bolt bully to a lightning bolt leader.

It’s true. You can’t escape who you are… but you can master the fine art of who you are.

Thirty years later, I still can’t stand whiners… I still have the audacity to question the status quo and… I still occasionally get called a ‘militant troublemaker’ because I refuse to play the ‘good enough game’. And I’m still a lightning bolt… in a more artful and masterful way.

Have you mastered the fine art of who you are?

Posted in Decision-Making, Happiness, Meaningful Work, Work Life, career, leadership, passion | No Comments »

To Give or Not to Give? What Do You Think?

Monday, February 9th, 2009

I've been talking to pink slip professionals - talented, highly motivated people who are now searching for a job. Sprinkled throughout our discussions on job search strategies and survival how-to's, these exasperated and bored professionals frequently exclaim: "I would work for free just to get out of the house and feel like I'm contributing."

That got me to thinking about the enormous amount of unemployed intellectual capital gathering dust and the power of free samples.

What if pink slip professionals adopted the pink spoon strategy made famous by Baskin-Robbins and gave away small, tasty samples of their expertise and talent to organizations and businesses who needed that particular expertise and talent?

It's no secret that many independent professionals give away small samples of their expertise as a key part of their marketing strategy (like complementary coaching sessions, free special reports or no cost teleconferences). Giving away a sample the pink slip professional gets a break from the monotony and frustration of job hunting, enjoys the satisfaction of engaging in tangible work, escapes from the house, demonstrates the value of their work to potential employers and expands their network to help in the search for a paycheck. On the other side, the receiving organization gets important work done and meets a new resource and potential employee.

It sounded pretty good to me... Then I tossed the pink spoon idea out to a self-employed IT professional and he disagreed.

"Giving away services (even in a recession) is never a good idea."

Hmmm... What do you think?

Is it a good idea or not a good idea to give away services?"

Has anyone out there ever gotten a big gig or a plump paycheck after giving away a sample of your expertise?

Posted in Decision-Making, Job Search Strategies, Meaningful Work, Work Life, career | No Comments »

Talking out of both sides of Microsoft’s Mouth

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Microsoft’s new ad campaign, People Ready, is now trumpeting what most of us have known for years – the old mantra…’It’s not personal, it’s just business’…. is a bunch of malarkey. In what first appears to be an editorial filled with typical CEO mumbo jumbo, Microsoft uses a red highlighter to cut through the BS leaving just a few words that emphasize Microsoft’s new marketing message…’Because it’s everybody’s business’.

Interesting that this marketing campaign coincides with Microsoft’s announcement they are laying off 1400 people today and 5000 over the next 18 months. Now that’s what I call personal.

Guess it’s only ‘everybody’s business’ at Microsoft when sales are strong.

Posted in Decision-Making, Uncategorized, Work Life | No Comments »