Professional and Personal Passions
Those of you who know me personally/professionally may already have heard, but today is my last day at my current job. Starting Monday, I will be moving on to a bigger and better opportunity for myself. I hope this allows for me to continue to bring fresh ideas to the blog and share some of my experiences as I migrate into a different corporate landscape.
Figured I’d give you all a heads up in case you see less (or more?) activity from me over the next few weeks.
Til Next Time,
Michael
“I’m more of a Missouri guy; y’know, Show Me”.
I love this because I’m from Missouri. Also love it because it was said in perfect context since it’s the “Show Me” state. I randomly overheard this in reference to fact-checking an operational readiness team on their smoke testing procedures. Since those tests always seem to come back “clear” when in reality the production release sees issues.
Figured I’d share; my boss almost lost her coffee we were laughing so hard.
Til Next Time,
Michael
Today is National Administrative Professionals Day. Make sure you go find your local support staff, secretaries, or admins to thank them for all that they do. You would truly be lost without them. They always put up with your issues and help you out in times of dire need. And, if you’re not a total grinch, get them something thoughtful (flowers, spa certificate, afternoon off) to show them how much you appreciate them.
Til Next Time,
Michael
They were right. Unlike wine, it does not get better with age. One of my recent frustrations with industry leaders and colleagues (internally and externally) is the seeming inability to share or receive bad news. It seems like everyone has gotten trigger shy and is fearful for their jobs if they so much as mumble one piece of less than stellar news.
Some of the most successful companies embrace failure as a means to innovation. Only by failing do they really succeed on the grandest level and reach the next evolution of their product. While I think that’s a bit extreme to employ in corporate America, I do think we could all take a partial lesson and start to de-criminalize bad news.
Personally, I expect bad news. It’s a fact of life. It all goes back to that quote I posted a while back about the pessimist, the optimist, and the realist. Maybe that’s why I wrote this post – my overwhelming sense of realism. I understand that most things in life have some flaw and nothing is usually ever as good as advertised. It’s how we accept the shortcomings, inconsistencies, or bad news that really makes us stronger and separates us from the pack.
So I can’t implore you enough – stop shying away from bad news. Shedding light on it is the only way to move forward. And, the biggest rewards go to the people who figure out how to fix the bad news. Keep that in mind too.
In a future post, I’ll provide my solution to managing bad news and fostering leadership alignment and awareness even in times of unfortunate news. Until then, what are your thoughts or tactics to peel back the curtain on bad news?
Til Next Time,
Michael
Everyone deserves sleep. I will not debate that. And, if you happen to be on a plane, I don’t want to prevent you from having the opportunity to catch some shut-eye. But it should be a common courtesy that you don’t doze off onto another passenger, creating awkward physical contact for the duration of a multi-hour flight.
I myself am largely unable to sleep on planes. So I guess it’s easy for me to cast these stones. And stones I shall cast. Because it’s not fair for me to spend my time on this really expensive flight being your pillow (even if I was traveling for work and didn’t technically pay for it).
P.S. If I ever do need/want to try to sleep – I grab the window so I can prop my head against it. That should be a given, no?
Til Next Time,
Michael
Happy Tax Day! Hope you got your taxes filed on time… The IRS is the absolute last agency on planet Earth I want on my bad side. Well, maybe besides the Fed or local law enforcement agencies. Either way though, they’re up there.
Til Next Time,
Michael
As working on the weekend goes, I’m not here to be a proponent or opponent of it. Some people choose to do a couple hours of work over the weekend so they can have an easier Monday/return back to their working week. That’s totally fine. To each their own. I sometimes worry, though, that the choice some people make to work on their “off” days has a substantive impact on their colleagues. It creates a culture where the lines blur on what “work life balance” (buzzword alert) means. At the end of the day, I’m OK with you working the weekends. I really am.
But don’t rub it in my face. Because it may very well be that you wouldn’t have to work the weekend if you were optimally productive during the week. It’s a slippery slope for sure, but everyone’s independent ability to manage their own time should never force someone else to abide by those same working hours. Similarly, “working the weekend” shouldn’t be a badge of honor or something that necessarily puts someone else’s achievement above mine.
Just be careful when you work the weekend (or make judgments about those people who do). You have to really assess the situation to tell what’s real, what’s fake, and what it all means.
Til Next Time,
Michael
I think common sense has taken a back seat recently in Corporate America. It has been replaced with process, compliance, and a general circus of activities that promote anything but working off gut instincts. And I’m really scared about that.
Listen, I get that ground rules are always good to have around and that in the void of some form of reinforced direction from the top, the inmates could take over the asylum. However, I feel like our culture has overcorrected too much and turned into an over-forgiving workplace where everyone gets a mulligan whenever they need it “just because” with no repercussions, coaching, or corrective action plans.
The other day, I caught myself attempting to explain to my wider team how to react in a given situation if they were presented with a colleague or business partner who wasn’t providing quite the level of detail that may be needed from our team’s standpoint in order to properly track program progress or keep a careful eye out for collisions, risks, or issues. Or, worse, if the partner wasn’t providing accurate responses because they didn’t think it through all the way. After the fact, I realize how crass it sounded (apologies in advance – and I also apologized to my team) – but I simply said “Use your brain”. It seems so simple, but I think some of us get jaded or sidetracked by the operational reality or the whirlwind and lose sight of our gut in the most critical of times.
Every organization should more proactively teach and coach how to solicit details and feedback from their colleagues (internally and externally). My boss says it best – “when there’s smoke, there’s fire”. If your coworker has told you that there “shouldn’t be any impact”, it is your choice whether you believe them. But I typically expect the best and prepare for the worst. Because apparently common sense isn’t as common as we used to believe.
Til Next Time,
Michael
Have you ever been casually sorting through email during the workday only to get slightly irritated by something about a certain message from one of your colleagues? Believe me, you’re not the first. In fact, there are quite a few functions in Outlook that irritate many of the fine citizens of Corporate America.
Without going in to too much detail on specific functionality housed within the friendly confines of Microsoft’s heralded email utility, I will offer a brief reflection on each that you may (or may not) agree with:
There are many more functions that can be quite irritable to cube monkeys across the landscape of Corporate America, but I figured I’d share a few of my favorites with you at my buddy’s request.
Shameless plug for optimism: at the end of the day, most of the functions of Outlook are useful and good. In proper doses. At proper times. So please be careful next time you leverage some of the “advanced” capabilities within Outlook. They can be dangerous and received the wrong way.
Til Next Time,
Michael
Earlier this week I stumbled upon a really good response in a Comic Con Interview last year of all places from Wil Wheaton. I felt compelled to share with you all because I think Will gives some great advice for anyone that chooses to pursue something that may buck the trend or not fit the norm (i.e. kids that like Math and Science when they’re younger). I was that kid in school, and while I didn’t necessarily take any major criticism or get bullied for it, I am still extremely passionate about letting children choose education tracks that align with Math and Science. Preach on, Will!
Regardless, here is is; hope you enjoy it!
Til Next Time,
Michael