Why everyone needs to Stop, Ask, and Listen

From CSCMP's Supply Chain Quarterly:

http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/columns/201202careerladder/

Lunch for your Mind

I wrote a Career Ladder article “Why You Should Never Graduate” that was published in January about how learning is a lifelong pursuit.  Soon afterward I read an article on Brian Grazer in the Wall Street Journal Magazine that comes with the Saturday edition.  Mr. Grazer is a man arguably full of obsessions and compulsions, but what captured my attention was his lunch-time ritual.  Every day, he would invite an expert in some field to walk with him for half an hour and talk.  His guest would basically “download” their knowledge into Mr. Grazer.   

Here is a man at the top of his field.  He is a successful producer who has nothing to prove to anyone.  Yet, he spends his lunch walking around the block with scientists and artists.  He constantly feeds his interest in learning.  Granted, he does it in a way that is not attainable for the average person.  Jonas Salk is not going to schedule me in for a one-on-one chat as he did for Mr. Grazer. 

The point is less about getting the information in person from the best and brightest, but more about getting the learning at all.  I clipped an article from a 2010 Fortune magazine about Bill Gates’ favorite teacher.  Salman “Sal” Kahn produces You Tube tutorials on a huge variety of topics (over 1700) including algebra and biology.  They are free and they take only a short lunch break to watch. 

I bring up learning at lunch because it is hard to do your job while eating.  However, even if you are downing a sandwich at your desk, you can watch a 10 to 15 minute tutorial on your computer.  Or read a magazine.  Not one that is for your job, but one that contains information about other things in the world.  Some of my favorites include Discover, National Geographic, Mental Floss and The Economist.  One article will take only a few minutes to read. 

So give yourself something to chew on at lunch besides your sandwich.  

Energy Consumers: Beware the Office Vampire

I am a big believer that having a firm command of your own physical, intellectual and emotional energy is imperative for everyone’s success.  As a leader, you need to make certain your team has positive emotional energy.  With that in mind, I thought I would share something interesting from April 9th’s Chicago Tribune.  I read Rex Huppke’s always amusing column “I Just Work Here”.  The column’s focus is the book Emotional Vampires by Al Bernstein, a Portland, Oregon-based clinical psychologist.  The book came out in 2000, but it is timeless – just like vampires. 

The premise of the book is there are people in the workplace whose actions and emotions suck the life out of fellow workers.  Instead of creating emotional energy, they are voracious consumers of it.  Bernstein sorts them into the following “vampire” types:

•  Anti-social vampires:  the rules are for suckers (no pun intended), not them.
•  Histrionic vampires:  no amount of unnecessary drama is too much.
•  Narcissistic vampires:  it is all about them, even when it is not.
•  Obsessive-compulsive vampires:  perfectionist who cannot see the forest for the trees.
•  Paranoid vampires:  positive they are right and everyone else is wrong.

These archetypes are exaggerations to make a point.  However, the negative effect they can have is not exaggerated at all.  Al Bernstein provides an “antidote” for each, but these are to be used by co-workers.  As the leader, your role is different. 

You need to maintain your leadership brand.  It must be consistent.  Your role is to keep returning everyone’s focus to the goal in a way that energizes you and the team.  To this end, be sure to praise in public and critique in private—it keeps the team cohesive.

I will be covering Team Dynamics more in the coming blogs.  Watch this space.