Working It - (C) Q+e - 2013

Working It: The Rules Have Changed!
WORKING IT:
THE RULES HAVE
CHANGED!

A Field Guide To Today’s
‘New Normal’ of
Work, Careers, And Jobs

By Greg Hutchins
800.COMPETE
GregH@QualityPlusEngineering.com

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2
© 2013 by Greg Hutchins – 1.0

Paradigms -‐ People -‐ Principles -‐ Practices -‐ Products -‐ Processes -‐ Projects is
a registered trademark of Quality Plus Engineering. 7P is a trademark of
Quality Plus Engineering.

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All brand names, trademarks and intellectual property belong to their re-‐
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is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application
of any of the contents of this book.

Finally, I dedicate this book to the millions of people who wonder how to get
a job, wonder what’s going on at work, and wonder what they can do about
it. As well, dozens of people patiently reviewed The Rules Have Changed.
None walked away unscathed. Many liked it. Others had very strong feel-‐
ings and comments on the future of jobs, work, and careers. Thank you all.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Working It ‘Look and Feel’
Who is this Guy?
Just the Truth!
Hutchins’s ‘Wheel of Work’

Paradigms – Abrupt Change Happens
It’s a VUCA World
Creative Destruction
What’s a Pair-‐a-‐Dime?
End of Business As We Know It!
Changing Work and Business Rules
The Wake Up Call
Fewer US Companies – just Successful Ones
The Gut Question
Personal Tools: Your Next Steps

People -‐ -‐ Leadership /Management Changes
Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way
Who Are Today’s Leaders?
Leadership: You Know It When You See It
Jesus, Sitting Bull, and Lao Tsu
Women as Leaders
No More Homesteading
What Does Management Look Like Today?
It’s All About Execution
Making Your Numbers
What Got You Here – Won’t Get You There!
Management Career Killers
Charm School for Executives

4
Dilbert is Alive and Well


People – Work/Career/Job Rules
Philip McGraw’s Laws of Life
Bill Gates’s Rules of Work Life
Hutchins’s Rules of Life and Work
Career Warfare
Your Career Metaphor
Career Rules
Promoteability Rules
Do You Have The Right Stuff
Only The Paranoid Survive
Condition of Business
Running Faster With No Place To Go
Be Nice To A Geek – You May Work For One Soon
Keeping Up
Your Risk Profile
End of Entitlement
Once You Think You ‘Got It’, Then …

People – Job Rules, Tips, & Tools
What Does Your Company Value?
People – Our Greatest Asset
The Dead Lone Ranger
Killer Attitude Over Aptitude
Value of a Pretty Face or Sparkly Personality
Self Managed Teams
What? – I Don’t Have an Office
Less is More
Small is Beautiful
‘Live to Work’ or ‘Work to Live’
The Give Back
5
What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Margaux’s Competition
Reacting vs. Responding
One Trial Learning
Work for Value!

Principles – Finding Your True North
Your True North
Doing Meaningful Work
Culture is Everything!
Finding Meaning At Work
What Is Your Mission?
Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron?
Steven Covey’s 7 Habits
Going with the Flow
Your Value Proposition
Your Calling
Toxic Work
Getting a Life
What Drives You?
Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

Practices – Personal Competencies
Good Practices Matter
Stakeholder Management
Time Management
Communications Management
Risk Management
Technology Management
Self Management
Stress Management

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Knowledge and Innovation Management

Sustainability Management
Execution Management
Emotional Management

Products: The Brand You®
Free Agent Nation
The Individual as the Fundamental Business Unit
Enhancing Your Personal Brand Value
The Brand You
Your Brand You Associations
Are You Offended by the Brand You Concept
The Brand You Driver
Brand You – Learning Person
Half Life of Knowledge
Managing Your Career Lifecycle
Try, Try, Try Until You Get It Right
Pritchett’s Rules for Job Success
Innovate or Be Obliterated
New Mantra: Monetize
Adding Value
Your Value Add: Ideas and Innovation
Your Value Add: Execution

Process: Core Work
Work is Structure
Today’s Work Rules
Today’s Organizational Paradigms
Drive to Flatten Organizations
Charles Handy’s Work Model
Know Your Customer’s or Employer’s Work Model
But, the Handy Model is So Bleak!!
7
The Top Three Rule of Big Business

The Rule of Three
Orchestra as Organizational Metaphor
Tribal Knowledge and Mushy Work Rules
Value Chain
Virtual Work
Middle Manager as Process Owner and Coach
Your Elevator Pitch
Transforming Processes
Luddites and Web 2.0
Itinerant Professionals

Project – On Budget & On Schedule
Project and Best Practices
Egyptians, Greeks and Romans Did It
Controlling Chaos and Uncertainty
Each Person Is a PM
‘Death March’ Projects
Why Projects Fail?
Orchestra Conductor = Project Manager
Project Hopping
Project Manager Replaces Middle Manager
Project Manager, Leader, Coach or Juggler
Carpe Diem
CEO’s in Training
Virtual Teaming
Prepare for the Ups and Downs of Project Work Life
Project Leadership Skills
Do It Your Way!
Consulting
Project Consultant

8
INTRODUCTION
&
CONTEXT
&
TOOLS

9
WORKING IT ‘LOOK AND FEEL’

I’m a Gutenberg person. What do I mean? Well, I process information; in
this case the written word, in a left-‐to-‐right, linear narrative. Each sentence
has a thought that builds into the next sentence, paragraph, section, and
chapter. The process builds on itself leading to insights, conclusions, and
recommendations. Most of our communications and decision-‐making are
based on this linear model.

Most of us are evolving into digital peo-‐
ple. Let me explain. The people growing
up today, including many in their twen-‐
ties, seem to process information in al-‐
most a non-‐linear fashion. Several ex-‐
amples may clarify this. You’ve seen a
music video? Powerful, kinetic images
and language are flashed to us every
several seconds. The Gutenbergs among
us exclaim: “say what?” The younger
folks say “cool.” Digital information is
conveyed and processed differently al-‐
most experientially. The Gutenbergs Reading the future of work is
sometimes miss the video experience like staring at a crystal ball!
because the images and lyrics don’t seem
to be connected and make little sense.

Another example may help. All of us surf the Web. The process is pretty
simple. We click on a topic and it links us to another one. The connections
between topics can be strong or loose. A hyperlink can even connect us to
something purely random. The point is that many of us now learn this way.
We develop an overall perspective of a topic and if we want more detail we
drill down into the topic.

Why did I use the title Working It: The Rules Have Changed? Good question.
10
Think about the Reset button on some electronics you may own. What do
you do? You punch a button and the machine goes back to its original state.
This is how executives are looking at their companies and the new competi-‐
tive marketplace. All competitive and business assumptions have been The
Rules Have Changed and being reexamined.

In Working It: The Rules Have Changed, I’ve tried to blend a linear narrative
with a non-‐linear approach. Each story is a block of information, a stand-‐
alone thought-‐bite about work, your career, or your job, that is distilled into
a Hard Lesson Learned. The thought-‐bite is connected to the chapter but
may not be a linear jump from the previous story. This was done intention-‐
ally. Why? You, the reader, can read this book from beginning-‐to-‐end
(Gutenberg approach) or can dip into it as required to pick up thought-‐bites,
noodle them, and then revisit them later on (digital approach).

Caveat: This book is about work decisions, career agility, and job hard les-‐
sons learned. The lessons learned illustrate considerations that may influ-‐
ence your decisions. These assumptions, their impacts, and how one learns
from them may be valid for some readers and not for others. We want to
state there is no guarantee that the lessons learned will still be relevant next
month or for all readers.
11
WHO IS THIS GUY?

Change the things that can be changed, accept those that cannot, and
have the wisdom to know the difference.
Serenity Prayer

This book is my story and in many ways may become the story of your work,
career, and job. So, pay heed. Understand the conventional rules and chal-‐
lenge/hack the rules in Working It: The Rules Have Changed.

I started out of high school doing manual work. My first job was as an ordi-‐
nary seaman in the merchant marine. I worked on rust buckets on and off
for 5 years. This manual work was very hard and frankly not suited to my
style, abilities, temperament, and life direction.

Hard Lesson Learned: This was my first big work lesson: Do what you love
and develop an aptitude to do it well

I then got a liberal arts degree in political science. Great! But, what was I
going to do with a degree that pointed me to politics. Me -‐ a libertarian. Go
figure!

Hard Lesson Learned: Have a vocation and an avocation. Your vocation is
your portable meal ticket and your avocation is something you love to do but
doesn’t necessarily pay the rent. And, if you can blend your avocation with
your vocation, you’ve been blessed.

Since I needed a vocation I migrated into engineering in my mid twenties. I
became a licensed mechanical engineer. Great decision! Had loads of fun as
an engineer building things: oil terminals, high-‐pressure pipelines, and proc-‐
ess facilities. Until the oil bust. Then, I couldn’t get a job for my life. This
was my third big lesson.

Hard Lesson Learned: Things change so be prepared.

12
I stayed in engineering but reengineered my career horizontally. I became

proficient in mechanical, manufacturing, quality, software, cyber security,
and industrial engineering. I even started writing books on these subjects.
These geeky tomes were full of multisyllabic words that were the identifying
trademarks of engineering professionals. I learned I had the ability to glue
words together.

Hard Lesson Learned: Messages about inherent abilities come from unex-‐
pected quarters. So, listen carefully.

During this period of my portable career, I worked for a number of ‘my way
or the highway’ bosses. This management style clanged with me. So I left
big business to become an entrepreneur for which I was totally unprepared.
I had been trained, nurtured, promoted, and reinforced for geek abilities. I
mostly had had a safe corporate home.

Hard Lesson Learned: Degeek. Well, what do I mean? Entrepreneurship
requires new skills. Technical abilities whether accounting, law, or engineer-‐
ing get a job done, but don’t necessarily support entrepreneurship in terms
of running a business, making payroll, or making a profit. I had to learn how
to sell and schmooze -‐ in others words I had to grow horizontally again and
become a people-‐person.

So, now I’ve written about ten books. Some bombed. Some floated. And,
one or two actually earned out. I’ve also founded a number of businesses
including Greg’s Outrageous Cookie Company, a publishing business, and
loads of others that did OK.

Hard Lesson Learned: Do, do, and do again. Learn from your mistakes then
do things differently until the magic is discovered.

13
JUST THE TRUTH!

New ideas ... are not born in a conforming environment.
Roger von Oech, Writer

I really can’t stand the lack of truth and candor from our political and busi-‐
ness leaders. I don’t know if they are lying (commission) or simply deceiving
(omission).

My goal in Working It: The Rules Have Changed is tell you the truth – or at
least my sense of the truth – about work, your career, and your job. You
may disagree with what I say and how I say it. But, you’ll be hearing about
the real world of work from how company executives see it and how your
boss sees it. And, how I see the world of careers and jobs going. I’ve been
there and done that in terms of walking in their moccasins.

Question often arises? “Why won’t executives tell you the truth?” Well, it’s
spelled ‘litigation.’ They don’t want to go to court. They don’t want to
breach any laws. They don’t want to be fired prematurely. Let’s call it their
due diligence to keep their jobs. In addition, if you’re really that good, they
don’t want you to leave. Is this deception? Maybe. Most executives and
managers in a candid, but not attributable moment will say its self-‐
preservation.

Some humanist reviewers felt that this book was a little brutal. What about
following your life’s bliss or calling? Do what you love! This is great if you
can make it happen. I believe that we are moving to a risk based, control
focused, and evidence driven work. It is more head, than heart. It is more
Dr. Phil and less Oprah. In a few years, the pendulum will swing again to
Oprah, but we are now in a Dr. Phil economy.

Hard Lesson Learned: The truth can hurt. However, I hope and pray my
sense of the truth can set you free. Enjoy. If you want to contact me, email
me at GregH@QualityPlusEngineering.com.
14
HUTCHINS’S ‘WHEEL OF WORK™’

Work is structure.
Anonymous

A full treatment of work, careers, and jobs is beyond the scope of this book
and frankly beyond my abilities. Working It: The Rules Have Changed offers
a unique structure, my thoughts about how you’ll work due to the recent
financial catastrophe and how you’ll progress in your career.

Working It: The Rules Have Changed offers a structure for understanding
and a framework for looking at work, careers, and jobs. Working It: The
Rules Have Changed is not the total answer. Hopefully, it offers glimpses of
what’s occurring around us whether we work for someone or for ourselves.

One of the powerful analytical tools in management theory is the systems
approach that explains complex relationships in simple terms. Working It:
The Rules Have Changed presents a systems approach to work. Elements of
a system can be parts of a machine, actors in a play, or people at work.

In this book, our 7P system of work consists of Paradigms, People, Principles,
Practices, Products, Processes, and Projects . Why did I use the 7Ps struc-‐
®
ture? It’s lucky seven. Yes, I know that’s a shallow answer. It’s mnemonic.
It also explains many work changes and how our careers will develop.

Work and careers follow a cycle. The numbers are stunning. What does US
Department of Labor say? We will have more than 5/6/7 careers in our life-‐
time. That’s phenomenal. The average job tenure is going to be 2/3 years.
That means that each 2/3 years, we will move on to a new career that may
be an extension of the present one or a complete new career opportunity.
What drives each cycle? Globalization. Recessions. New business para-‐
digms. Technology drivers. Outsourcing. Offshoring. Financial cataclysms.
Federal bailouts. Double dip recession.

When there is a major, systemic change in the economy or in one’s vertical
15
(industry sector), a person may lose his/her job and look for a new one again.
Alternatively, the change may be driven by personal circumstances or per-‐
sonal decisions. However, every time a person goes through one of these
changes, the cycle or wheel starts again. The cycle means that a person has
to understand the paradigms changing work, review the people element
(how will the loss of work or a new job can impact a family, etc.), understand
how one’s principles and those of the company match, learn new practices,
develop one’s brand (Product), learn new processes, and so on. In each
chapter of this book, you’ll discover the following:

PARADIGMS
The financial meltdown, double dip recession, globalism, off shoring, out-‐
sourcing, competitiveness, and technology will create new work, career, and
job paradigms. What will organizations and work look like? The challenge is
that predictions are made on quicksand because once they’re made, things
change again. In Working It: The Rules Have Changed, we’ll introduce the
significant shifting work paradigms.

PEOPLE
Remember it’s all about people! Sometimes, it’s forgotten that people make
an organization. People make critical buy and sell decisions. People develop
new products. People service other people. People consume products and
services. Without people, there are no customers, no consumers, no organi-‐
zations, and no reason for work.

PRINCIPLES
What’s your employer’s vision and mission. What’s your personal vision and
purpose? Is your employer’s mission and yours aligned. Let’s first start with
your employer. Should a business steward its resources for the benefit of
future generations, share them with its employees, or maximize immediate
financial returns for its shareholders?

And, what’s your fundamental purpose for working? Should your passions
16
and principles be aligned with those of your employer, partners, and others?
What should you do if there’s little alignment? Or, what should you do when
the thrill is gone from a job or career? Accept the conditions, move on, or
start a business? These are all-‐important questions that we’ll discuss.

PRACTICES
There are a number of practices that spell success in your work, career, and
job? We all have to manage customer, time, quality, communications, risk,
technology, and performance commitments, which are critical work prac-‐
tices.

Let’s look at one practice. Technology is both the biggest driver and facilita-‐
tor of workplace change. Technology created the boundaryless corporation,
which resulted in flat hierarchies and boundaryless careers. Where a career
was once a vertical progression in a company, it’s now the accumulation and
implementation of value added practices, information, and knowledge
gained through diverse work experiences.

PRODUCTS
While it may sound callous, we are all products or brands that offer value to
a buyer. Each of us needs to develop and distill our value-‐added differentia-‐
tors. We’re hearing more buzz about the concept of Me-‐Inc. or Brand You,
where each one of us either as a full time employee or independent contrac-‐
tor is essentially a value-‐adding small business with products and services.

PROCESSES
A company’s core processes are how it conducts its business or in other
words, how it works day in and day out. These core processes are the basic
building blocks and value adding activities of any business. They may be
‘world class’ activities, policies, systems, people, etc. They differentiate a
company from its competition. They provide high customer satisfaction and
generate income opportunities.

17
In much the same way, each of us has a bundle of value-‐adding knowledge,
skills, and competencies. These core proficiencies are what organizations
want to develop and monetize.

PROJECTS
More work is now organized around core processes and projects. Project
management is evolving into a critical personal asset to ensure the right
work is done right on time. These activities must be accomplished quickly,
effectively, and efficiently. A project may involve typing a letter, responding
to a customer request, or developing a superior product.

Some believe that 70% or more of the work in an organization may be pro-‐
ject oriented. Some organizations are going as far as projectizing all their
activities including their core processes. Most consulting, engineering, and
medicine are already 100% projectized. When customer expectations are
sky high and competition is deadly, the conventional wisdom is that projec-‐
tized teams differentiate winners from losers.
18
PARADIGMS
ABRUPT CHANGE HAPPENS

19
IT’S A VUCA WORLD!

We live in a VUCA world. VUCA stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity,
and ambiguity. Not too sure what this means? Take a look at any news
broadcast or front page of any national newspaper. Most of the articles deal
with VUCA. Let’s look at each element of VUCA:

 Volatility: The unexpected or even 100-‐year events seem to be oc-‐
curring much more frequently and have unexpected consequences.
For example, the nature and speed of the Japanese tsunami sur-‐
prised companies with the nature, change, and impact on very tight
lean supply chains.
 Uncertainty: Lean six sigma and many new business tools are based
on controlling process variation and designing stable (in control)
processes. One problem is that one event can disrupt stable proc-‐
esses that weren’t designed for the unexpected event. The Japanese
tsunami resulted in cascading events such as the widespread devas-‐
tation and nuclear plant impacts.
 Complexity: New systems, processes, and products are more com-‐
plex. In some cases, computer and controls systems are so complex,
that solutions to problems can’t be found. For example, the Japa-‐
nese earthquake caused the tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima
nuclear plant and closed manufacturing plants.
 Ambiguity: In the new business normal, business rules are unclear
and business processes are unstable. We call this today’s ‘fog of
business.’
Hard Lesson Learned: The fog of business makes business problem solving
and decision making much more difficult. There is a higher potential of mis-‐
reads due to lack of good information and too much VUCA. Business deci-‐
sions should be based on a clear cause and effect relationship in decision-‐
making, but today there seems to less correlation between cause and effect.
All of this results in business and work confusion.
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CREATIVE DESTRUCTION

The Wall Street meltdown is an extreme example of economic creative de-‐
struction. The challenge is this once in a generation event is now occurring
frequently and in almost all businesses, professions, and jobs.

Think about it! Your employer with tens or even hundreds of thousands of
people may not exist in 15 years. Moreover, this is more pronounced in
Europe. The life expectancy of a typical European and Japanese company is
less than 13 years.

Competition, as a creative destroyer, hopefully results in nimble, dynamic
organizations. They must adapt and prosper or they soon die. Most compa-‐
nies have a lifecycle. Companies are conceived, prosper and die. The num-‐
bers are stunning. The life expectancy of a typical multinational is between
40 to 50 years.

Let’s look a few industries that have changed. The Swiss watch, buggy whip,
automotive manufacturing, Yellow Book publishing, high tech manufactur-‐
ing, banking, real estate, and other industries often illustrate dramatic com-‐
petitive and business paradigm shifts. The buggy whip industry totally dis-‐
appeared, as the automobile became the favored method for moving peo-‐
ple. Now, it’s happening to all forms of education, government agencies,
and many others.

What does this have to do with you? It’s critical that you understand how
your company and its senior executives think about their business risks and
the competitive landscape. Do you work or do you consult for a company
that has a buggy whip technology, process, product, or attitude?

Hard Lesson Learned: If you work for a company with obsolescent ideas,
processes, and products, it’s time for a little personal risk analysis. Ask your-‐
self: “What are the likelihood and consequences of your company or client
losing its competitive position and becoming a buggy whip company?”
21
WHAT‘s A PAIR-‐A-‐DIME?
Paradigm: Provides us a language, a common set of assumptions, and a
common set of expectations of what may occur in the future.
Joel Barker

Creative destruction results in new paradigms such as our recent financial
meltdown. The Wall Street financial catastrophe in engineering language is
called a singularity or a Black Swan risk event that is low probability and high
impact. What is a paradigm (pronounced pair-‐a-‐dime)? Joel Barker in Para-‐
digms: The Business of Discovering the Future defines a paradigm as:

… “set of rules and regulations (written or unwritten) that does two
things: 1. It establishes or defines boundaries; and 2. It tells you
how to behave inside the boundaries in order to be successful.”

The root of paradigm comes from the Greek and means a pattern, model, or
rule. A paradigm is the way or pattern we perceive our world. It can mean a
world of difference. Fish perceive their world through water. We perceive
our world through air. We perceive our value through work.

Paradigm shifts foreshadow larger changes in work rules. What was the right
thing to do before may now be wrong. What was the pathway to career suc-‐
cess may now be different. What was expressly forbidden may now be ac-‐
ceptable workplace behavior. These shifts are difficult for people who were
hired, taught, recognized, promoted, and reinforced for a set of behaviors
and skills that are now either unacceptable, or have radically changed.

I believe the recent financial meltdown is a once-‐in-‐a-‐lifetime paradigm shift
that will infect our work, career, and jobs for at least the next ten years and
maybe even longer. Am I kidding? No!!!

Hard Lesson Learned: Start understanding the paradigm shifts that can affect
your profession, work, career, and job. All work is changing. Many of my
friends are finding opportunities in Asia.
22
END OF BUSINESS AS WE KNOW IT!

The NY Times headlined a piece a few years ago: “End of Banking as We
Know It.” Great lead! Gretchen Morgenson said: “The money business as
we have come to know it over the last two decades – with its lush salaries,
big-‐swinging risk-‐takers, and ultrathin capital cushions – is a goner. Got
that? Toast. Toe-‐tagged.”1

I got it. I agree. I would go one step further. I would say: “The end of busi-‐
ness, management, work, jobs, and careers as we know it.” All careers are
going through epochal changes. The Wall Street financial meltdown is a
paradigm shift – something we haven’t seen in almost 80 years. The econ-‐
omy slogs along with high unemployment. One of the critical things I’ve
seen is that when there’s a paradigm shift, work, career, and job rules
change over night.

New paradigms destroy the existing rules and create a new order or set of
rules. Today’s killer idea is often tomorrow’s has been. The old idea, princi-‐
ple, process, system, or product is trashed because it’s too difficult to im-‐
plement, it costs too much to implement, people don’t understand it, or for
a host of other reasons. Our perception of success, worth, and confidence of
who we are, what we do, and how we work changes.

Change is inherent in all paradigm shifts. Change distorts our perceptions of
our life and work. Change can distort our reality -‐ the ‘is’ of what is happen-‐
ing around us. Change is distressing. We then react according to our false
perceptions of the ‘is’, which if distorted by old assumptions or rules and
how we respond to our work, career, and job. This results in a vicious cycle.

Hard Lesson Learned: Acknowledge your old ‘is’ has changed and now you
need to deal with the ‘as is’ or what ‘can be’ of your new work, career, and
job realities. Even things that were iron-‐clad promises such as promotions,
work, and even pensions may disappear.
23
CHANGING WORK AND BUSINESS RULES

There is no finish line.
Nike Corporation motto

One of the striking consequences of the Wall Street financial debacle is that
the companies that we work for as employees or contractors will have to
become more competitive.

In the last recession, many companies gave this lip service. OK, they said
we’re going to be competitive by outsourcing or cutting head count. These
were easy fixes. Now, things are for real. Stupid risk/loss decisions were
made. Imperial bosses flouted governance and transparency rules. Now,
fundamental business models are being scrutinized.

The logic for most companies including ours goes like this: We need to be
profitable and competitive. We are in an era of hyper-‐competition where
short term gains and share price gains rule. Our revenues will grow if we can
develop new products, develop new revenue streams, and control costs. We
need people to develop and commercialize products. Along the same line,
we need to reduce headcount so the company can reduce fixed costs. This
is the conundrum of all companies.

What does this have to do with us? We need to understand how our serv-‐
ices and products make life easier or better for our customers and client-‐
companies. If we can’t say how we add value, then we may be without a job
if we’re an employee or a client if we’re a contractor.

Hard Lesson Learned: Start understanding the paradigms that affect your
company or clients. If you want to stay employed, know what drives your
company or client and know what keeps executives up at night. I’m sur-‐
prised how many employees and contractors don’t know their company’s or
client’s business models. I often ask in our workshop: “Who knows your
company’s business model?” I’m usually shocked. About 10% do. Not good!
24
THE WAKE UP CALL

All organizations do change when put under sufficient pressure. This pressure must
be either external to the organization or the result of very strong leadership.
Bruce Henderson, CEO Boston Consulting Group

To prosper, all companies are searching for the next killer product or idea.
There’s simply not enough products in the pipeline to accommodate new
customer demands.

Many companies learned this lesson the hard way. When products go stale,
stagnation and revenue loss are not far behind. The auto industry learned
this when it lost touch with US auto buyers. Or, the wake-‐up call to change
the existing product paradigm may come from a competitor. In the auto in-‐
dustry, it was cheap Japanese imports in the 1970s. In the coffee business, it
was Starbucks. In the beverage industry, Snapple alerted Coca-‐Cola and
Pepsi that teas were hot products.

When the wake-‐up sounds, it often results in panic. Why? Well, killer ideas
are copied quickly. Legal protection lasts only so long before someone cop-‐
ies or enhances an existing product or service. In information intensive
companies such as consultancies, the greatest ideas can be replicated in
months. Today’s hot idea is tomorrow’s fad and the next day’s has-‐been.

Hard Lesson Learned: Every company has a wake up call. in much he same
way, every employee and contractor has a work/career/job wake up call.
When it comes, what are you going to do? Are you going to be prepared?
How are you going to react or respond?

25
FEWER US COMPANIES – JUST SUCCESSFUL ONES

There are no German or US companies, only successful ones.
The Wall Street Journal

The world is flat and spiky. We are a global economy. We are highly inter-‐
connected. There are fewer US companies. There are more global compa-‐
nies. This fundamentally changes how global managers perceive the U.S.
market.

Senior managers in many companies believe in open markets; global compe-‐
tition where customers are accessible; products move seamlessly across
borders; technology is universally accessible; and logic dictates business de-‐
cisions. These seem to be shared values among senior executives whether
they’re from Lloyds, Daimler-‐Benz, IBM, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble,
Coca-‐Cola, or Toyota.

What does this mean for you and me? As we become more of a global
economy, this affects us in ways we probably don’t like. Companies don’t
have a local focus, identity, or loyalties. Offshore markets, market share,
margins, and revenue growth are more important than local considerations.
Executive decisions are often made through detailed analytics. Head trumps
heart and gut. So, the company decides a plant shuts down. Supply base is
cut. Company downsizes.

Bottom Line: Companies may not care what happens locally. It’s not per-‐
sonal. It’s just business. It’s a risk-‐revenue decision. They are going to in-‐
vest in jobs and capital equipment, where there’s relatively low risk and
higher returns.

Hard Lesson Learned: Understand what makes your company competitive.
Understand what drives its business decisions. Most importantly, under-‐
stand what you offer can help the company enhance its competitiveness.
This is a first critical step in identifying your unique value proposition.
26
THE GUT QUESTION!

There is one question that all companies that outsource ask? Wonder what
question? Read on …

The thinking for outsourcing goes something like this. We are in the business
of making widgets so why should we spend our time focusing on running our
own telephone company, information technology department, or training
organization. The company wants to spend its time on things that will make
a real difference to the bottom line and leverage its core competencies.

Sometimes, companies go to extremes. One virtual computer company
hired contractors to design and build all its computers, answer repair ques-‐
tions, invoice bills, and ship product. The only thing it does now is sell and
maintain its remaining core competency – its brand.

The gut question being asked of suppliers or individual contractors: “What
value are you giving me that I can’t get from an offshore vendor.” Every
company is considering outsourcing non-‐core and even core activities. The
key question becomes: “Should we outsource to China or some place in Asia
because of cost competitiveness and high quality.” This applies to widgets
and professional services. Even high value added services, such as architec-‐
tural, medical and other professional services can be procured offshore.

Globalization, outsourcing, and off shoring are realities. The questions and
the concessions being asked of employees and suppliers are incredible and
tough. The US is broke. Concessions will be asked of everyone.

Hard Lesson Learned: Do you work for a company whose products and serv-‐
ices can become obsolescent or can be outsourced? Do you offer profes-‐
sional or personal services that can be outsourced or offshored? If you an-‐
swer ‘yes’ to either question, what is hindering the company from
outsourcing your job and you? Do you see this challenge as a risk opportu-‐
nity (upside risk) or a threat (downside risk)?
27
PERSONAL TOOLS: YOUR NEXT STEPS

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter
his life by altering his attitude.
William James, writer

So, you’ve spent your valuable time reading Working It. Great! But, what
are you going to do about it. What are your next steps? There is no road-‐
map for what the right things to do to be more employable. The best I can
do is to present the facts, ask that you internalize them, and hope that you
act upon the information.

Think through each of these questions and develop as much specifics as you
can. Here are some things to think about:

 Do you understand the competitive and innovation pressures facing
your company or client?
 Is your organization or client going through a paradigm shift? And if
so, from what to what?
 Do you know what the company’s Plan B or Plan C are to respond to
the paradigm shift?
 Do you know your company’s or client’s business model?
 Is the business model resilient and how does the company intend to
maintain is competitive posture and maintain margin?
 Do you know and can you articulate simply your organization’s new
work rules?
 How do you see these paradigm shifts impacting you?
 What do you think of the idea that it’s the ‘End of Business as We
Know It?”
 Are you on the revenue side or the expense side in your organiza-‐
tion? Do you see this as securing or enhancing your value in the or-‐
ganization?
 Is your company outsourcing or moving more work offshore?
 Is your job outsourceable?
 If you’re a consultant, what value added differentiator do you offer?
28
PEOPLE
LEADERSHIP
&
MANAGEMENT RULES

29
LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

The company with the second best organization ends up second place in the market.
D. Wayne Calloway, CEO PepsiCo.

Leaders do make a difference according to research based on facts. Leader-‐
ship often surfaces in a battle or fiscal emergency, where the consequences
of poor judgment are fatal. But, can an extraordinary person make a differ-‐
ence in a business organization or a team?

Studies continue to indicate that leadership is often exemplified in teams
and small organizations. For example, small product development teams
have developed breathtaking products, project teams have constructed
wonders of the world, and small combat teams have changed the outcome
of battles and even wars. In all these instances, the leader’s personality had
a dramatic impact on organizational performance.

A simple business example also illustrates the power of leadership. The cap-‐
tain of a fishing vessel can be a leader who makes a noticeable difference. A
fishing vessel is a unique environment. It’s a mobile small business whose
success is determined by its catch of fish. It’s isolated from many influences.
It’s self-‐contained and can be studied. One study found that 40% of the
variation in the herring catch among boats in the country’s fishing fleet de-‐
pended on the personality of the captain. A similar survey of top US and Ca-‐
nadian companies concluded that 15 to 25% of the variation in a company’s
profitability was directly due to their chief executives.

A huge issue is being discussed these days. The difference between what a
CEO makes and what’s the average salary of its employees make has been
increasing. At what point do you think the leader makes too much?

Hard Lesson Learned: Most people don’t work to monetize their efforts and
their company. What would you have to do additionally to make a demon-‐
strable value added or monetizing difference in your organization?

30
WHO ARE TODAY’S LEADERS?

I’ve always had a burning question: “What’s better, being a leader or a man-‐
ager?” I’ve observed first level supervisors, managers, and executive work
their magic. I still don’t know what makes a great leader or a highly effective
manager. However, here are some things I’ve observed and learned:

Leaders are flexible. They try to find the right balance between leadership
and management. Some practice situational leadership or management
which involves assuming different roles as the situation or context requires.
Some practice one role predominantly, such as participatory or directive
management.

Leadership is still a difficult topic to explain. Increasingly, leaders are seen as
people who can guide himself or herself or a group to do what needs to be
done as well as reach ever-‐higher goals. In general, these are normal people
who possess high energy, are committed to a cause, can share responsibility,
have high values, and are highly credible. Leadership can also be defined by
circumstances. When a critical situation arises, a leader will arise. So today,
we’re seeing leaders in all areas of an organization arising from the force of
financial exigency, corporate restructuring, information explosion, outsourc-‐
ing, or simply the necessity to get the job done. Leaders on the other hand
inspire, engage, dare, dialogue, and challenge people. Who’s a leader? It
may be one of these things that you know it when you see it.

Let’s look at an orchestra conductor. A great conductor inspires, causes
musicians to reach inside themselves, and creates a performance that is
greater than the whole. An average conductor gets the job done. I will take
an imperfect performance that is inspired and passionate over an uninspired
technically perfect performance.

Hard Lesson Learned: On a personal level, do you emulate good things you
see in others? Do you practice personal continuous improvement? The dif-‐
ference between a good manager and great leader is now more noticeable.
31
LEADERSHIP: YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT

Here’s a huge irony. Most managers I know think that they are leaders.
When we’ve interviewed the direct reports of the ‘leader,’ we found that
folks thought their bosses were administrators or information shufflers not
leaders or frankly not even good managers.

The question: ‘What makes a leader?’ is becoming more critical in this uncer-‐
tain economy. Other questions arise as well: ‘Is a leader made, nurtured, or
self selected?’ ‘Do leaders have to be in charge of massive organizations?’
‘Can leadership be learned and shared?’ Lots of questions -‐ few definitive
answers.

We can reach several conclusions. Critical circumstances are often the cruci-‐
ble of leadership. Leadership is something special. When we see it, we
know it. Leadership is an exemplary element of good management. Leader-‐
ship is an art. Leadership is flexible and resilient. Depending on market re-‐
quirements, organizational culture, and people’s abilities, leadership may
integrate ‘command and control’ elements to ‘coaching and mentoring.’

Leaders also have the common touch and are often hands-‐on. Leaders are
closely involved with employees, suggesting, and demonstrating as opposed
to directing or managing.

Leaders seem to be self-‐selecting. A person sees an unfulfilled opportunity,
need, or requirement. Nature, organizations, and the marketplace hate a
vacuum. Someone will fill it. This someone is often called the leader. So,
leadership is more often seen as a personal issue -‐ a desire to commit, in-‐
spire, share, and improve. This can happen on the customer service desk,
the production floor, or the boardroom.

Hard Lesson Learned: We seem to have a leadership vacuum. So, where
have all the business leaders gone? Maybe, we need new definitions of
leadership and new leaders to emulate.
32
JESUS, SITTING BULL, AND LAO TSU

We’re finding more business leaders are using the Golden Rule approach in
business, ‘treat others as you want to be treated.’ Spiritual values is a pow-‐
erful idea in a world that many see as Darwinian and ruthless especially
those who have been displaced through outsourcing, reengineering, or a ter-‐
rible economy.

Can the source of spiritual values be found in Jesus, Sitting Bull, or Lao Tsu?
There have been business books that say ‘yes.’ However, it’s hard to imagine
recasting Jesus Christ as a management consultants or Attila the Hun as a
spiritual advisor. Even putting the two together in a sentence jangles. How-‐
ever, this is what’s being done. There are a number of best selling manage-‐
ment books about historical and recent heroes who embodied value based
leadership including Lao Tzu, Sitting Bull, and Jesus.

Other books have focused on recent leaders, managers or investors as the
metaphor for success, including Warren Buffet, the investor and Jack Welch
of former leader of GE. For example, one of the books, the Genius of Sitting
Bull draws parallels between Sitting Bull’s leadership abilities and contempo-‐
rary management. The author compares the healthcare industry to the dis-‐
parate, disorganized tribes that Sitting Bull united into a cohesive fighting
and working unit.

Some say leadership is more transcendental than situational. The argument
goes like this. When change is constant, customers must be pleased and or-‐
ganizational transformations become commonplace. Charismatic and value
based leadership can inspire people to accept change, consistently operate
above expectations, and push the boundaries of performance.

Hard Lesson Learned: Business, work, and life success and effectiveness may
come down to a few simple things like treat others like you’d want to be
treated. Nice people finish first – I hope!
33
WOMEN AS LEADERS

How am I doing as a leader? When you’re confused about how you’re doing as a
leader, find out how the people you lead are doing? You’ll know the answer.
Lawrence Bossidy, CEO Allied Signal

Have you ever worked for a woman manager? Most of my female bosses,
I’ve found a pleasure to work for. Why? They communicated better and
definitely had high people skills. They were inspirational and collaborative.

But, I’ve got friends who had a hard time working for a woman manager.
Not good! Men who resist or resent women bosses do so to their detriment.
Not good! Women are entering executive and senior management in un-‐
precedented numbers not through affirmative action but through excelling,
producing, and monetizing at work.

Let’s look at a myth. A common myth about women executives was they
excelled chiefly as nurturers and team players, while male executives ex-‐
celled because they were proficient at problem solving and other logic based
activities.

Whoa…! This myth is being explored and exploded. Women scored higher
than men did in the following key performance indicators: problem solving,
planning, controlling, managing relationships, leading and communications in
a study by the Foundation of Future Leadership. Men scored higher in man-‐
aging themselves. Other myth-‐shattering conclusions were that women are
more task-‐oriented, analytical, and controlled in organizing work, maintain
high performance, and make things happen.

Hard Lesson Learned: Talk about breaking stereotypes! If you work for a
woman, for a manager much younger than you, or an older manager, get rid
of your stereotypes, biases, and preconceptions. We live in a diverse and
global world. If you don’t, you won’t survive. Period!

34
NO MORE LEADERHSHIP HOMESTEADING

Leadership is the capability to translate vision into reality.
Warren Bennis, Professor

Not too many years ago, I knew executives, who thought they could home-‐
stead a job until retirement. The executives felt they were entitled. They
had significant career successes. They had steady promotions throughout
their careers. Then, it became important for this person to make his or her
numbers. If he/she didn’t, no problemo. There was always next quarter.

Well, the rules changed again. Executive performance is scrutinized. Execu-‐
tive compensation is being capped. If the executive doesn’t make the num-‐
bers in three consecutive quarters, there is a high probability that he or she
would be moved to a dead end job (corporate Siberia) or would be dis-‐
missed.

What’s interesting is that now directors and second level managers are given
the mandate to make their objectives or suffer similar consequences as the
execs. With the collapsing financial market and a slow economy, more com-‐
panies are cutting non-‐performers.

How things are cascading? A few years ago, it was the senior executive, who
had the cold sweats in the middle of the night wondering if he or she was the
next person to be rightsized. Now, senior and lower level managers are
sweating to meet revenue, sales and other performance objectives.

Hard Lesson Learned: Ask yourself the following: Do you know what num-‐
bers your boss and your boss’s boss have to make? Do you know their plans
on making their numbers? Do you know their plans in integrating you into
the process?
35
WHAT DOES MANAGEMENT LOOK LIKE TODAY?

My job is to disturb the system. I give people new ways to think. It’s more a matter
of offering people different perspectives and influencing their thinking than trying to
drive them.
Chris Turner, Xerox Business Systems

Years ago, I was running a project. The project was over budget and over
schedule. Not good! I did a lessons learned on the project, when it was
done. A lessons learned is a post mortem – what went right, what went
wrong, and what could be improved.

One of the folks compared me to one of those Dilbert clueless managers. I’d
thought I’d done a pretty good job. So, I wondered what made a good man-‐
ager and where did management come from. A few years ago, I did a little
research to understand the background of management.

The root of the word ‘management’ comes from the Latin manus, meaning
‘hand,’ ‘power,’ or ‘jurisdiction. Interesting! It fits. So if you’re a hired hand
such as an itinerant professional, you’re the manager of your destiny. It fits
the derivation of the word ‘management’. Other popular parallels seemed
to emerge. A popular sustainability concept today is to call managers the
stewards of a company’s resources. In the medieval English contract, prop-‐
erty stewards administered large landed estates and were required to
deliver receipts or revenues ‘by hand’ to the property owner. The stewards
were required to know every element of the business under their control. In
England, the term ‘manager’ was adopted widely around the 16th Century
and is even referenced in Shakespeare’s plays. In the next 300 years, man-‐
agement became a part of every business activity.

Hard Lesson Learned: Who are the managers in your organization? What
makes them successful? Do you know the rules of management in your
company? If you’re a supervisor/manager, do you know what’s expected of
you in this new business environment? If you’re an individual contributor,
do you want to be a supervisor or manager? Why or why not?
36
IT’S ALL ABOUT EXECUTION

My job is to disturb the system. I give people new ways to think. It’s more a matter
of offering people different perspectives and influencing their thinking
than trying to drive them.
Chris Turner, Xerox Business Systems

I heard an executive give a talk at a conference recently. Every other word
seemed to be ‘execution.’ It wasn’t good enough to come up with a killer
idea, it had to be monetized. How? Through smart execution.

The economy is in deep recession. The big questions are: how long and how
deep? We do know that it is global.

Execution is probably the most important word in business these days. This
simple word distills work these days, work either as an employee or contrac-‐
tor. What does execute mean? Execute means ‘to carry out or to do.’ We
can probably add to do: ‘on time, within budget, and with high quality.’

This is the upside of the definition that most of us associate with the word.
But, there is also the downside of execute, which we normally associate with
capital punishment. The downside deals with accountability of not executing
according to plan.

Hard Lesson Learned: Execution is all about risk management. Risk has up-‐
side opportunity and downside consequences. Recognize both so you can
take advantage of the upside when things get better and learn how to miti-‐
gate the downside when things get tough.
37
“MAKING YOUR NUMBERS”

The achievement of excellence can occur only if the organization promotes a culture
of creative dissatisfaction.
Lawrence Miller, Business person

I’ve found that senior executives don’t understand and can’t articulate to-‐
day’s business paradigm shifts. They know things have fundamentally
changed. They know their competitive rules are different. But, do they
know what they’re going to do, besides reducing head-‐count?

Ask them to explain how they’re going respond? There’s the 1000-‐yard stare
or the BS canned answer. I simply believe they don’t know how to make
their numbers, which may be their financial targets, because of marketplace
changes, customer concerns, and organizational transformations. Again,
their business rules and competitive context have changed so quickly and
radically. Company executives are usually very smart people, who have sur-‐
vived and excelled in numerous business wars. Now, they seem confused
and too often rudderless.

Traditionally, senior management, at the vice presidential or business unit
level, would operate autonomously to make their numbers. I think one rea-‐
son why they’re confused it now the solutions are going to be more interdis-‐
ciplinary, more global, and require innovative processes.

‘Making your numbers’ is simply another way for saying performance man-‐
agement and accountability management is a critical personal attribute.
“Do as you say and say as you do” Even senior executives are confused as
how to lead, manage, and ‘make their numbers.’ If they don’t make their
numbers, then the fear is that they too may be expendable. Harsh truths in
a harsh economy.

Hard Lesson Learned: Know what you need to do to ‘make your numbers.’
Your job will depend on it.
38
WHAT GOT YOU HERE – WON’T GET YOU THERE!

I like books that ‘tell it like it is.’ No sugar coating. If I want business place-‐
bos or palliatives, I can get them from our employees or contractors.

Marshall Goldsmith – the consummate executive coach – came up with the
20 habits that stop us from getting here to there.

 Habit #1: Winning too much.
 Habit #2: Adding too much value.
 Habit #3: Passing judgment.
 Habit #4: Making destructive comments.
 Habit #5: Starting with ‘No,’ ‘But,’ or ‘However.’
 Habit #6: Telling the world how smart we are.
 Habit #7: Speaking when angry.
 Habit #8: Negativity, or ‘Let me explain why that won’t work.’
 Habit #9: Withholding information.
 Habit #10: Failing to give proper recognition.
 Habit #11: Claiming credit that we don’t deserve.
 Habit #12: Making excuses.
 Habit #13: Clinging to the past.
 Habit #14: Playing favorites.
 Habit #15: Refusing to express regret.
 Habit #16: Not listening.
 Habit #17: Failing to express gratitude.
 Habit #18: Punishing the messenger.
 Habit #19: Passing the buck.
 Habit #20: An excessive need to be me.

Hard Lesson Learned: Buy, read, underline, and apply Goldsmith’s book:
What Got You Here -‐ Won’t Get You There. Then, ask your best friend and
harshest critic – your wife -‐ to rate you on each of the above habits. It’ll be
eye opening! There are going to be lots of personal lessons learned. Have I
done it with my wife. Yes. Did I like it? No!
39
MANAGEMENT CAREER KILLERS

I know lots of technical wizards in healthcare, accounting, finance, and engi-‐
neering. Only one problem! Many managers don’t have people skills. These
nice folks went into professions thinking they could solve problems or help
clients one-‐on-‐one.

These are capable and good professionals. However, they reach a social ceil-‐
ing in their work and career. Much like the glass ceiling that thwarted
women’s career progression, the social ceiling is the internal inability for so-‐
cially challenged and inarticulate professionals to progress in their careers,
work, or jobs.

There are lots of examples of this. Physicians don’t communicate well with
patients or as commonly heard, the doc’s bedside manner could be im-‐
proved. Accountants (CPAs) in Big 4 firms rise up the technical track to be-‐
come partners, but can’t handle the people side or the selling side. Lawyers,
who make partner through great litigation, but can’t shake the money tree
to get new clients. Engineers, who are so introverted and introspective,
can’t work as part of the development team. All of these are career killers.

Probably, one-‐quarter to one-‐half of the executives are in deep trouble due
to poor people or poor communication skills. In recent times, the executive
could be handled and messages spun. However, the current fiscal exigency
and bailouts are forcing executives to provide testimony or communicate
recovery plans. And, it’s pathetic. Most executives are inarticulate. At lower
organizational levels, an immature outburst, harassment, or project team
rebellion will put a career in jeopardy. These are career killers.

Hard Lesson Learned: Read Marshall Goldsmith’s book What Got You Here
Won’t Get You There. The bottom line is your professional skills that got you
to your present level of success probably won’t get you to the next level.
Look at our next story to check Goldsmith’s career killers.
40
CHARM SCHOOL FOR EXECUTIVES

In the future, it will become increasingly obvious that your competitors are
just as clueless as you are.
Scott Adams, Dilbert creator

So, you want to be a leader at school, work, ball team, or church? Do you
have the right stuff? More and more, the ‘right stuff’ is getting in touch with
your inner child. This is called sensitivity training and it’s even being done for
first line supervisors to senior executives to even generals.

The US Army is doing a great job developing sensitive leaders (even though
this sounds like an oxymoron). Army sensitivity training for wanna-‐be gener-‐
als means getting in touch with their ‘inner jerks’ and is mandatory boot
camp for today’s military leaders.

Army generals must now attend charm school where they learn leadership
principles and practices. This includes understanding and losing the ugly side
of their personalities. The days are gone when a general could command his
subordinates without considering the military’s many stakeholders from
congressmen to journalists. If male generals are not sensitive to the issues of
‘booze, broads, golf, money, and airplanes,’ then they’re told ‘you will adapt
or you will perish.’

On-‐the-‐job sex has especially become a critical issue for these generals.
Keep the zipper zipped the generals are warned. If you get into trouble,
don’t think that 25 years of service entitles you to anything, the generals are
warned. ‘The Army owes you absolutely nothing: zero, zip, nothing.’

Hard Lesson Learned: Pay attention. This story applies to CEO’s, all profes-‐
sionals, and first line supervisors. The above story applies to all of us. This is
today’s irony. We have to make the numbers, but do it nicely. If you’re
clueless on values and how to do the right things right, find a mentor. Get a
career coach. If they have it in your organization, go to ‘charm school.’
41
DILBERT IS ALIVE AND WELL

Over the last several years, your employer may have downsized, restruc-‐
tured, rightsized, transformed, teamed, and refocused itself. This may mean
different things to you. You’ve been asked to do more with less. Your
friends have been fired. You’re working longer hours. Your bosses are mak-‐
ing stupid decisions. You’re getting paid less per hour than last year and
even three years ago. You’re having trouble balancing life and family com-‐
mitments. You may be disappointed or feel betrayed. You lost your pension.
You’ve been Dilbertized!

Messages are inconsistent or simply the wrong messages are being sent to
people. Reinforcers don’t match the messages. More of us are disappointed
and feel betrayed. The basic assumptions that attracted you to the company
and encouraged loyalty are now gone. There’s now a whole new set of work
rules and expected behaviors that often aren’t understood and not properly
communicated. The frustration in your workplace may now be palpable –
the workplace is toxic, more work is being asked of you, hours are longer, job
security is lost, and loyalty doesn’t count. And, there’s more… Your em-‐
ployer or that amorphous customer may want even more from you.

Good management is difficult to define. However, the question of identify-‐
ing bad management is much easier. W. Edwards Deming, the great quality
innovator, said that 85% of an organization’s problems are management de-‐
rived. Bad management is often a personal issue as well. When you hear of
people complaining about their jobs, some supervisor or manager pops up
into the conversation. When you look at your life and missed opportunities,
a supervisory individual may have caused your dissatisfaction. This person
stifled your ideas, hindered advancement, or was overly negative.

Hard Lesson Learned: Management is a personal issue. If it’s good, we work
harder. If it’s lousy, we want out. What major changes are occurring in your
workplace? And how are you responding?

42

 Do you know who are the critical leaders and role models in your or-‐
ganization?
 What makes them effective and efficient? Or not?
 Do your managers know the present game (competitive) rules? And,
do they communicate them to you?
 Do you want to go into management?
 Do you know the rules (wants, needs and expectations) of the man-‐
agement game in your organization?
 What do you need to do to get from ‘here to there’?
 What are your numbers and what do you do to make them?

43
PEOPLE
WORK/CAREER/JOB RULES
44
PHILIP MCGRAW’S LAWS OF LIFE

I like work, career, and job lists. They distill experience. They are a quick
read. There is the ‘ah ha’ moment with things that move us. I can refer to
them. Also, they’ve been vetted and filtered through someone’s life experi-‐
ences.

Philip McGraw’s ‘Ten Laws of Life’ struck me as right on. Go over each one
of these and see which ones fit you.

1. Either you get it or you don’t.
2. You create your own experience.
3. People do what works.
4. You cannot change what you do not acknowledge.
5. Life rewards action.
6. There is no reality, only perception.
7. Life is managed, not cured.
8. We teach people how to treat us.
9. There is power in forgiveness.
10. You have to name it before you can claim it.1

Hard Lesson Learned: ‘It is what it is.’ If you don’t understand something,
find out why. If you don’t like something, ‘adopt and adapt.’

45
BILL GATES’S RULES OF WORK LIFE

Rule 1 Life is not fair -‐-‐ get used to it!
Rule 2 The world won't care about your self-‐esteem. The world will ex-‐
pect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about
yourself.
Rule 3 You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You
won't be a vice-‐president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4 If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5 Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents
had a different word for burger flipping -‐-‐ they called it opportu-‐
nity.
Rule 6 If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about
your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7 Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are
now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your
clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you
were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of
your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own
room.
Rule 8 Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life
HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and
they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right an-‐
swer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING
in real life.
Rule 9 Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and
very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF.
Do that on your own time.
Rule 10 Television is NOT real life. In real life, people actually have to
leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11 Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Hard Lesson Learned: The above rules were for high school kids. But, there
are takeaways for all of us and for our employees.
46
HUTCHINS’S RULES OF LIFE AND WORK

I like these rules of work and life because they are personal.

 Risks create opportunities in your life and work.
 Know your risk appetite and how you make decisions.
 Have a plan and direction before you start.
 Action spurs more activity from which you can learn.
 If the direction you’re taking doesn’t work for you, then change di-‐
rection.
 Do what you hate, first.
 Focus on the end first and work backwards.
 When in doubt, talk with your wife or best friend about it.
 80% of life and work involves just showing up.
 Find the value in what you’re doing?
 Finding the meaning in what you’re doing, because without it, there
is no commitment.
 Pain of changing must be less than the pain of staying the same.
 Most people need structure and focus.
 80% of what worries you will never happen.

I’ve borrowed shamelessly. Some of the above rules and tips are from oth-‐
ers. I don’t remember who came up with them, but obviously I’ve internal-‐
ized them and share them with you.

Now do I follow these consistently? I try. I have them in the back of my
mind all the time.

Take a look at the first rule. I’m a great worrier. Why? I’m a risk manage-‐
ment guru. I see the downside in too many things as I do my ‘what if’ analy-‐
ses.

Hard Lesson Learned: You know most of the above, but how many do you
follow consistently?
47
CAREER WARFARE
Business is war!
Jack Tramiel, CEO

The big change I’ve seen in the last few years is that more executives look at
careers and jobs more as war these days. David D’Allessandro wrote a book
Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand and
Fighting to Keep It! Mr. D’Allessandro was a CEO of John Hancock Financial
Services.

The book title pretty much says it all. CEO’s say it is tough and often Darwin-‐
ian in today’s global marketplace. Let’s look at the examples of ‘up or out’ or
‘just in time’ work – both of which are tenets of today’s business landscape.

An executive is normally a person with a VP title. This person spent many
years excelling at project assignments and climbing the corporate ladder.
The executive may have survived the outsourcing challenges, price wars, off
shoring, and many other battles. At that level, there is an ‘up or out’ mental-‐
ity. Many executive have seen their colleagues get laid off. They’re scared.
They ask themselves: “Will I be next?”

‘Just in time’ work is the unpopular human resource management philoso-‐
phy that says treat employees like inventory – when times are good, hire
project workers and when times are bad, downsize surgically. This philoso-‐
phy promotes organizational flexibility, facilitates rapid change, and lowers
costs but has high human and social costs.

Hard Lesson Learned: See how your boss looks at his career or her job.
Does he or she ascribe to career warfare? If so, what are the rules of en-‐
gagement? Most importantly, do you understand the rules of engagement?

48
YOUR CAREER METAPHOR

Metaphors offer visuals, insights and lessons. Metaphors provide us a vision
of what to expect from work. The career ladder is a great visual metaphor.
A person started at the bottom and with the right effort climbed each rung.
The career ladder told us what the organization, its work, and expectations
were for each of us. The career ladder is pretty much dead. A career more
often follows a zig-‐zag journey of knowledge acquisition and personal fulfill-‐
ment. However, the ladder metaphor was
inspirational because it implied there was
always an opportunity for a promotion and
a place to go.

One commonly heard metaphor is we’re
becoming actors in the theater of work.
We’ll move from job to job, project to pro-‐
ject much like actors move from play to
play, production to production on TV, ra-‐
dio, movies, and Broadway. Some roles
are starring -‐ most are supporting.
Or, career moves are described in terms of
horizontal or lateral progression in a
Career Ladder is Dead!
webbed organization. We start at the
middle and move outwards on one of the
strands. Sometimes, we detour on a lateral strand to start a new career, job,
or even a business. This is happening already.

Or, is your career a patchwork quilt? You develop value-‐adding skills and
move around a chessboard or patchwork quilt. While these metaphors are
not as powerful and inspirational as the career ladder, one will arise that
most of us will accept. Career ladder is dead!

Hard Lesson Learned: What’s your career metaphor? What does that mean
for your work, career, and job?
49
CAREER RULES

A number of years ago, I got a degree in math and political science. Big prob-‐
lem. We were going through a recession and I couldn’t get a job. So, I went
back to school and got a mechanical engineering degree. During my years as
an engineer, I’ve done mechanical, electrical power, quality, software, en-‐
ergy, civil, and software engineering.

It’s not uncommon to see someone 35 having had five or more jobs, many of
which were voluntary moves. Even as recently as five years ago, job-‐hopping
was a sign of instability and poor work habits. Now, more employers and
employees look at lateral job movement as a means to develop marketable
and value-‐adding skills. Traditional long-‐term employees can be perceived as
homesteaders, protectors of the status quo, stagnant, or risk averse.

The traditional full-‐time job is also rapidly declining in Europe. In Spain, most
of all new jobs are temporary contracts that don’t lead to full-‐time employ-‐
ment. Many European countries have a two-‐tier economy -‐ older employees
have lifetime jobs while younger workers are itinerant workers trekking
from job to job that usually last less than a year.

Your work life is going to be long. You’re going to find new interests and new
opportunities. What you are doing now may change next year or in five
years. Never say ‘never’ and be open to new opportunities.

Hard Lesson Learned: Your success at work and prosperity through life will
be due to your inventiveness, flexibility, and desire to renew and reinvent
yourself yearly if not daily. Remember it’s your life, your work, your career,
and your decisions. Take control -‐ now. Your boss, your employer, or your
client won’t.
50
PROMOTEABILITY RULES
Manage the opportunities change offers.
Advertisement

Where do people go when they’re promoted? Is there even such a thing as a
promotional ladder in your company? What do I mean?

At a recent tradeshow, I was checking people’s cards and was stunned by the
change in job descriptions. More job titles were team, project, or process
oriented instead of traditional professional, functional, or departmental ti-‐
tles. One title I saw on a card was ‘geek.’ So, what is this person’s boss title:
‘head geek.’ This got me thinking. Where do people go when they’re pro-‐
moted? This is especially critical if we believe that the career ladder is dead!

One of the most dramatic changes is the loss of our cherished work meta-‐
phors. Gurus are now searching for the right workplace metaphors, illustra-‐
tions, or examples. What are common work metaphors? The pyramid de-‐
scribes an organizational structure. The ladder characterizes career growth
and stability. A stream describes process flow. A vertical or pyramidal struc-‐
ture implies longevity and stability. I hearing more often the cliff metaphor
as in controlling the downside by not falling off the cliff.

The organizational structure was also a symbol of loyalty, strength, and insti-‐
tutionalization. If you review each of these words, you’ll understand how
much they go against today’s recessionist grain. Competitive companies are
virtual, flexible, and loose. Institutionalization and stability are negative.
Loyalty has largely changed.

Hard Lesson Learned: Managing your career is based on understanding your
work context and your company’s promoteability model. Your
work/career/job metaphor will be the basis for your decision making about
work. If you work in a lattice organization and you want to work in a ladder
organization, then sooner than later, you’ll reach a career impasse and be
ready to move on.
51
DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF?

Many fresh MBAs want to go into management thinking that’s the way to
power, perks, and bucks. I don’t want to seem like a Cassandra, but ….

There are lots of changes occurring in management. This is great if you’ve
got the right emotional maturity and ‘right stuff.’ There are other ways to
getting these, including being a highly paid individual contributor.

Several years ago, two articles graced the front page of the Wall Street Jour-‐
nal on the wisdom of becoming a manager. Their challenging titles say it all:
“Off the Ladder: Want to be a Manager? Many People Say No! Calling Job
Miserable” and “Who’s the Boss? A Software Engineer Becomes a Manager,
With Many Regrets.”

A new ailment is running through organizations: management phobia. Many
don’t want to be managers and existing managers want to jump off the
track. The reasons vary. ‘I want freedom.’ ‘I don’t want to attend so many
#@% meetings!’ ‘I want a life.’ ‘I want time with my kids.’ ‘I don’t want the
pressure.’

Management is much tougher than it was even 1 year ago due to globaliza-‐
tion, outsourcing, off shoring, flat growth, pressures on cost margins, and
recession. In addition, management authority has diminished. Salary com-‐
pression results in fewer financial benefits for the manager?

Hard Lesson Learned: Ask yourself, do you have the right stuff to be a good
manager? Do you want or are you aware of the sacrifices you may have to
make? And, is this the right track for you?
52
ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE

Our firm – Quality + Engineering – does risk management. I always seem to
asking ‘what if?’ My wife thinks that I’m always looking at the down side and
even I’m a little paranoid. I tell her I’m a realist and I’ve not medicated and
I’ve never been clinically diagnosed as ‘paranoid.’ So, I put on my happy
face until I see another hazard or another ‘what if.’

Some think that even a strong dose of healthy paranoia is good. I’m not talk-‐
ing about clinical or medicated paranoia. I’m talking about the risk-‐sensitive
paranoia of looking at downside risks and planning on how to mitigate them.

Andy Grove of Intel and Bill Gates of Microsoft are the major voices of high-‐
tech success and paranoia. Both believe that fear of complacency and stag-‐
nation is good for business and good for people. Fear provides the mecha-‐
nisms for overcoming inertia and for stimulating forward movement.
Grove’s ideas are heresy in the politically charged world, which says that fear
is bad, tension kills, fear causes dysfunctionality, and it makes people go bal-‐
listic.

Grove said in Only the Paranoid Survive that fear is critical for creating and
sustaining the passion and energy to win in the marketplace. Fear is good
for the organization, teams, and people. Fear can be harnessed and chan-‐
neled to try harder, to do better, and to take intelligent risks.

Hard Lesson Learned: A friend of mine once said: “If you’re not paranoid,
you don’t know what’s going on in this market.” He probably picked this up
from the Only The Paranoid Survive book, but it sure applies today.

53
CONDITION OF BUSINESS

A competitive world has two possibilities for you. You can lose.
Or, if you want to win, you can change.
Lester Therow, Management Professor

I recently had a client come to me and say: “You do great business. You are
very responsive. But …”

The but was the client wanted a 20% discount on our professional rates. I
was horrified because we hadn’t raised our consulting rates in 5 years. So,
the client was asking for a reduction in professional fees. I hate these tough
conversations.

What would you do? Walk. Tell them to stuff it. Accept the new conditions.
This is one of those pivotal conversations you’ll have. What do you do? Re-‐
act. Respond. Or???

Well, my kneejerk reaction was: “stuff it.” Rational thought prevailed. I re-‐
sponded with: “OK.”

The reality was this particular part of our business had become commodi-‐
tized. Lower client value. More competition. Lower billables were the re-‐
sult.

We changed our business model from low-‐volume and high margin to high
volume and lower margin. That’s a reality for repetitive, low value added,
and ultimately outsourceable work.

Hard Lesson Learned: Respond. Don’t react to these requests. Think out-‐
side the situation. Frame your answer after proper deliberation about the
business opportunity.

54
RUNNING FASTER WITH NO PLACE TO GO

Don’t confuse running for direction. Don’t confuse process for outcomes.
I’ve noticed that a lot of professionals are running faster these days. But,
they don’t seem to have a direction. Ask about this and the response is that
they’ll get there faster. My silent
thought is you don’t know where you’re
going, no path will take your there.

Almost all work even from the recep-‐
tionist to the CEO is now knowledge
and information based. We, individu-‐
ally or as part of a team, may create a
new product, offer a unique suggestion,
or provide value-‐added services. We
have to use our best judgment, tools,
methods, and knowledge in our work.

Since the risks of poor attitudes, skills,
and performance are now too high, We're all running faster
each person is considered a profes-‐ these days!
sional. In an employee involved atmos-‐
phere, employees and teams have more
responsibility and authority to control their work and ultimately their des-‐
tiny. Work responsibility rests with each employee. Implicit is that we use
our best judgment to do the right things right.

Hard Lesson Learned: There is no finish line. We’ll all be working later in life
and learning to have a solid direction in the fast flowing stream.

55
BE NICE TO A GEEK -‐ YOU MAY WORK FOR ONE SOON

I am a geek-‐engineer. I believe that the geeks won.

Geeks were once marginalized. They now seem to run the world. Why? The
term geeks has a negative connotation. So, the media is now calling them
quants – shorthand for quantitatives. Another best selling book calls them
the ‘numerati.’ Regardless of the term, we live in a global technology and
quantitative economic world and quants/geeks are on the rise. They develop
new products, innovate, and create value.

Commercials, ads, rock bands, books, TV soaps, and TV sit-‐coms are making
techno-‐geeks cool. Look at the number of TV stories that have a stereotypi-‐
cal geek landing the big-‐job, working killer hours and making billions on an
IPO, or running off into the sunset with the leading lady. Great! The loser,
pocket protector image has disappeared. One publisher has a series catchily
called Geek Power.

Even in this recession, the dream of many is to be an entrepreneur not toil-‐
ing in a corporate dungeon. These wanna-‐be entrepreneurs want to identify
a market need and kick a little market ass with the killer product. Phil Knight
of Nike, Bill Gates of Microsoft, or Scott Adams of Dilbert are credentialed
geek-‐heroes. They saw a market opportunity, commercialized a killer idea,
and then captured market share. In the mean time, they made billions of
bucks and had a lot of fun along the way.

Hard Lesson Learned: Be nice to geeks. You’ll be working for one much
sooner than later.

56
KEEPING UP
If you don’t know where you’re going, no path will take you there.
Anonymous

Work is often described in terms of a set of changing 1. Work rules; 2.
Boundary conditions; 3. Tools, and 4. Expectations. Let’s look at each:

Most of us knew our work rules, because they were presented to us in a pol-‐
icy manual, workshops and personal one-‐on-‐ones. These instructions
worked for us. We knew what was expected and we learned how to do what
was expected. Do you know your present work, career, and job rules?

Until a few years ago, the boundary conditions for almost all businesses were
the four walls in which work was conducted. It may have been the office,
factory, restaurant, or some other workplace. With the virtual office, the
workplace may be corporate headquarters, your home, or even an automo-‐
bile anywhere in the world. Are your willing and ready to work virtually or
even move to find the right employment?

The tools of the workplace not too many years ago were pencils, pens, and
mechanical devices. Now, workplace tools are electronic including cell
phones, laptops, Web 2.0, Facebook, RSS feeds, etc. Are you current with all
the tools and techniques of your profession?

A person entering the workplace twenty or even ten years ago assumed life-‐
time loyalty was rewarded with lifetime work. No longer! Employers now
make us responsible for our employability to develop value-‐adding skills. Do
you know your client’s or boss’s expectations?

Hard Lesson Learned: Start noodling answers to the above questions. Do
you know what’s expected of you at work and do you know how to meet and
exceed these expectations?
57
YOUR RISK PROFILE

Starting a company is like going to war.
Audrey MacLean Venture Capitalist

We all have risk tolerances. We can be risk taking, risk tolerant, or risk
averse. These also can change depending on the specific circumstance or
objective. For example, I can be risk taking at work but in all family affairs, I
am risk averse.

People often go into a profession based on their risk profile. For example,
many engineers fear change. Most engineers self select into the profession
because they are risk averse. Other professionals seek the thrill of the chase
of money are risk taking. Others are somewhere in between and are risk
sensitive.

I’m seeing many more people saying: “Enough is enough." “I don’t want to
work for commercial companies or small business. I want job stability.” This
person’s personal risk appetite had changed from risk taking to risk averse
especially when he factored in his age.

How did you make choices on your work/career/jobs? Were they random
choices, you fell into work because work was available? Was it situational
because it was the path of least resistance? Was it tactical because you like
to solve problems and engineering was the optimal profession for you?

Hard Lesson Learned: I believe that career management should be based on
making smart choices. Are you: 1. Risk taking; 2. Risk sensitive; or 3. Risk
averse? Each of these color your vision of life, work, career, and job. One is
not better than another. It is what it is.

58
END OF ENTITLEMENT

The future of work consists of learning a living.
Marshall McLuhan, Futurist

I paid my dues! I worked 60 hours last week! I bailed out my team! My
company, church, school, government owes me. How many TV shows can
we watch that glorifies the victim mentality? For the last two decades, the
entitlement and victimization mentalities drove many. So and so owes me
because I’ve been stressed, paid my dues, etc. The entitlement mentality is
slowly eroding as we assume responsibility for our present and future em-‐
ployment.

The old entitlement mentality was the company owed me for any number of
reasons. The new entitlement mentality is ‘I owe myself’ because if there’s
an economic blip I know my organization will look out for itself instead of me
to stay competitive. I may be out the door. So, it’s a two way street. I’ll look
out for myself as much as I’ll look out for the company.

I thought most folks got this. But, I’m hearing the recessionary whining.
Companies, executives, and people got their hand out for their bail out. This
is not right. Folks failed. Folks made bad and even stupid decisions. Bad
things happened and will continue to happen. Get real. Move on. Gut it out.

There seems to be large segments of the population, such as union mem-‐
bers, professionals from all functional areas, managers, and even executives.
They feel they are entitled. The big E word I thought had disappeared.

But, you say: ”I’ve vested” or “I’ve invested 20 years in the company.” The
truth is usually painful. Functional areas are outsourced. Professional serv-‐
ices are shopped for highest value. Union contracts are being voided.

Life Lesson Learned: Your company or your client does not owe you any-‐
thing. Period. You are responsible for your career. Your boss isn’t responsi-‐
ble. Your company or employer isn’t.
59
ONCE YOU THINK YOU ‘GOT IT’, THEN …

Change can come with breathtaking speed, leaving a company on the defensive and
in financial trouble when it’s forced to catch up.
Gary Goldstick, Business person

Several years ago, there was an ad for Putnam Investments: “You think you
understand the situation, but what you don’t understand is that the situation
just changed.” Amen! When I think I’ve just got it, ‘got’ and ‘it’ both change.
And, it’s scary!

When there’s a change most of us find a job
or career book to find answers and encour-‐
agement. Most old-‐school job books pro-‐
vide life, career, or job road maps. Follow
these steps and you’ll get to where you want
to be. If you believe these principles and
follow these practices, you’ll find a satisfying
job and enjoy a substantial salary with guar-‐
anteed yearly increases. Get real!
Where's the safety net?
George Bernard Shaw said that the world is
populated by three kinds of people: 1. Those who make things happen; 2.
Those to whom it happens; and 3. Those who wonder what happened?

Hard Lesson Learned: If there’s one thing I want you to walk away from The
Rules Have Changed is that it’s much better to be clued in rather than being
clueless. And, I want you to be in the first Shaw category: 1. Those who
make things happen.

60
PERSONAL TOOLS : YOUR NEXT STEPS

 What work rules have changed for you?
 What’s your career metaphor?
 Do you have a career roadmap?
 What’s important to you about work?
 Are you secure with your work/career/job?
 Where would you like to be with your work/career/job?
 Are you a risk-‐taker or risk averse?
 Are you happy with your work, career, or job?
 And if not, what are you going to do about it?
 What are you good at?
 What will people pay for?
 What is your value differentiator?
 What is your unique selling proposition?
 What’s happening in your profession?
 How should you close the gap working by yourself or a career/life
coach?

61
PEOPLE
JOB RULES, TIPS, & TOOLS

62
WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY VALUE?

No kid I know ever dreamed that ‘I want to be a middle manager.’ Middle man-‐
agers were traditionally the organizational backbone. They collected and com-‐
municated organizational memory, protocols, policies, and culture. There’s less
interest and value in the past. Now, the focus is on the future. Technology is
driving much of this. There’s no resting anymore.

The cost is high for everyone. People must retread themselves continuously.
The company won’t guarantee a job and responsibility for retreading rests with
each employee. Everyone must constantly reinvent himself or herself, develop
new skills, master new technologies, learn new protocols, and adopt new atti-‐
tudes.

More often, we’re induced to learn and develop competencies. Pay-‐for-‐learning
may mean we’re rotated through different assignments in a work area or in the
organization. Or, it may mean that we’re paid to increase our skills and knowl-‐
edge. The advantages include improved performance, increased abilities, flexi-‐
ble workforce, and increased morale.

With all these changes going on around us, it’s important to know who you’re
going to work for and why you’re going to work for them. What do they expect
from you? And, what do they value?

Hard Lesson Learned: About 80 -‐ 90 percent of the learning that produces a
successful manager, professional or employee comes from work itself, rather
than from direct education or training. This makes it important to consider
what type of company, process, culture, and opportunities are available when
you work for a company. If an organization is publicly committed to learning,
there’s a much higher chance you’ll be challenged as well as stay professionally
current.
63
PEOPLE -‐ OUR GREATEST ASSET

You’ve heard this from your employer: ‘People are our greatest asset!’ OK.

What happens to employees or contractors, when there’s market turmoil and
uncertainty? What happens when companies treat employees like LIFO inven-‐
tory -‐ last in, first out? We become cynical.

So, the question that will confront many companies is: ‘Do we want happy em-‐
ployees and do they really matter in our business?’ I truly hope that they do. I
hope that they believe that employees are the organization’s most important
asset. But…

People being a company’s most important asset seems to be forgotten by com-‐
panies in the drive for bottom-‐line efficiency and effectiveness. Some say orga-‐
nizations are now dysfunctional. Senior management wants employees to be
enthusiastic, inspirational, and high performing. Unfortunately, the opposite
sometimes occurs. More people feel disempowered and disenfranchised, espe-‐
cially after rounds of continual change. Companies want their employees to
engage, anticipate, manage, and develop an appetite for change. This is difficult
when we were hired, trained, remunerated, promoted, and nurtured to be obe-‐
dient and risk averse.

The interests of employees and employers seem to be more divergent than at
any time is the last 50 years. Each has self interests. The company wants to
maximize profits. You and I want a solid, dependable, and livable income. What
to do?

Hard Lesson Learned: Unfortunately, the interests of the company and the in-‐
dividual are less aligned than ever. The bigger the difference, the harder time
you’ll have coping. If you’re a contractor, you can make the decision with your
feet. You can leave. But, what does the long-‐term employee do?

64
THE DEAD LONE RANGER

I’m an introvert. I became an engineer because I love solving problems. In most
cases, this involved working alone to solve problems. Only one problem: silo
thinking and doing is more often a career-‐ending problem. Unless you’re a certi-‐
fied genius, who’s made loads of money, pay attention to these caveats:

First, what’s a silo? Think of a corn field silo. It stands alone storing all the grain
in a region. Well, people, teams, departments, and plants can do the same
thing. They don’t participate, cooperate, or work with others. They protect turf
and use special information to devalue others.

The lone ranger is also dead in many organizations -‐ the lone engineer develop-‐
ing killer software, the lone salesperson selling million dollar systems, or the
lone CEO visioning the future of a billion-‐dollar company. No one person has
the skills to do, inspire, and know all things. There is too much diversity and
access to resources and information. No one person is as smart as a group.

To destroy silos, companies are saying to all loner geeks to learn teaming in
what my cynical friends call kum-‐ba-‐ya camps.

It’s happening in the office, on the manufacturing floor, and in creative services.
Teams come in many forms. Team members in one company are called ‘associ-‐
ates’ and are real process stakeholders. They participate in decisions that tradi-‐
tionally were the purview of middle management such as deciding whether to
buy a major piece of equipment.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you don't like working with people and being part of a
team, then: 1. Get a mentor; 2. Listen to your wife; 3. Go to charm school; 4. Get
a career coach; 5. Find a new way to make a living if all else fails; or 6. Move to
Siberia.

65
KILLER ATTITUDE OVER APTITUDE

What does it take to be employable over the long term? We know it’s impor-‐
tant to develop marketable skills, which can be learned. What’s becoming in-‐
creasingly important is what I call survival skills and attitudes, those that last for
a lifetime. These personal life and work attitudes may be a sense of humor,
adaptability, kindness, honesty, integrity, fairness, risk sensitivity, and goal ori-‐
entation. We called these EQ, the emotional quotient.

What do you do if you don’t have the skills an employer or customer wants?
We’re seeing more companies hire for attitude and train for skills. More often, I
see the best companies hire smart, confident, affirmative, risk taking, sharing,
and happy people. These smart organizations have arrived at the same answer:
‘What people know is less important than who they are.’

This is more common for entry-‐level positions but this attitude is migrating to
technical and mid-‐level professional as well. For example, Southwest Airlines is
famous for its customer service fixation. Southwest Airlines looks for people
with the optimum blend of energy, humor, team spirit and self-‐confidence.

Hard Lesson Learned: Knowing what value you add to your employer or cus-‐
tomer is probably the most important thing you can know about your work and
career. In an operational sense, adding value means having the appropriate ap-‐
titude and aptitude to develop and deliver cost-‐effective products or services.
But, the value-‐added concept also includes personal principles and values.

66
VALUE OF A PRETTY FACE OR SPARKLY PERSONALITY

You’ve heard the dizzy blonde jokes. Yes, I know they are sexist if they only re-‐
lated to women. But, let’s see how they work for men and women

Well, do you wonder why so many pretty people -‐ blondes and brunettes -‐ excel
in life even with low IQ’s? Well read on …

“What does smart mean in the late 20th century, when a handsome face or pret-‐
ty voice earns its owner hundreds of times more money and renown than the
country’s most distinguished historians, judges, theologians, and scholars?”
asked the Wall Street Journal in a front page article. That says it all. Let the
market judge your worth. A jock can earn millions driving a ball further, higher,
faster, or straighter.

So, what’s intelligence and how should it be measured? Intelligence obviously
involves other practices including creativity, persistence, sense of humor, and
leadership -‐ not all of which can be measured by a test but we know it when we
see it.

Likeability and emotional quotient (EQ) are as important in life as knowledge.
Likeability can be used to implement information and data that can add a lot of
value.

Hard Lesson Learned: Don’t minimize or underestimate the blonde. He or she
may have special gifts, you don’t understand or see. Success in life is attribut-‐
able to a number of factors, such as intelligence, but also a pretty face and a
sparkling personality.
67
SELF MANAGED TEAMS

The productivity of a work group seems to depend on how the group members see their
own goals in relation to the goals of the organization.
Paul Hersey, Professor

One of the effects of having fewer bosses is that more of us are self-‐managed or
are part of self-‐managing teams. These are confusing and bring many wrinkles
into a job.

Chances are you may be in one or several. Self managed teams are also com-‐
posed of self directed individuals who accept responsibility for developing
schedules, managing quality, controlling costs, upgrading worker skills, assigning
work, improving process performance, focusing on results, and ensuring stake-‐
holders are satisfied. Many job classifications are replaced by one work classifi-‐
cation. The work environment is open and friendly. Time clocks are eliminated.
Compensation is based on pay-‐for-‐knowledge so people are paid based on
training, experience, knowledge, and value-‐addition.

Some organizations are now structured in self-‐managed teams. In self-‐managed
teams, members constructively participate in finding answers to problems that
directly affect them. No one knows better how to improve product or service
quality than people directly involved with the activity. Self-‐managed teams al-‐
low people to control their jobs.

Team members may interview, hire, review, correct, and train you. Peer group
support, approval, and pressure can be immense. Why? You don’t want to let
your friends and team members down.

Hard Lesson Learned: Teaming is not for everyone. In lots of workplaces, the
team is your boss. With the delaying of organizations, you may have to get used
to it.

68
WHAT? … I DON’T HAVE AN OFFICE!

I spend more and more time at home or in my car doing business.

Now the workplace can be at home or in an automobile. Duties change depend-‐
ing on customer requirements of the moment.

Work is no longer constrained by time and place. For example, work geography
is changing dramatically and quickly. Your workplace was once the office tower
or plant site. Physical and legal limits defined business, team, and plant
boundaries. Most communication was face-‐to-‐face. In just a few years, the
workplace has become global and virtual.

Many corporate environments such as operations, maintenance, security, and
information services never sleep. Microsoft employees, commonly work 60 or
more hours a week and work 90 or more hours a week prior to a software
launch. People are always available to handle customer concerns, not what
we’d think are life or death situations.

Nevertheless, how would you feel if you came to work and discovered you no
longer had the same office, cubicle, or even desk? In some companies, no office
and no desk means you’ve been outsourced or whatever is the current euphe-‐
mism for being fired.

Hard Lesson Learned: Your office is not your job. Your job is not your career.
Your career is not your work. Your work is not your calling.

69
LESS IS MORE

We’re in a global financial crisis. The pundits think it’ll last for 20 years. What
happened? Conspicuous consumption. If you couldn’t afford it, just take an
equity loan on your appreciating house. Well, we all know this life model.

Madison Avenue’s messages over the last ten-‐year’s stressed the virtue of ac-‐
cumulating stuff. How many flashy clothes do you need and fast cars can you
afford? How many gadgets do you need?

Professionals used to speak about the forty-‐hour week. One company gave its
engineers and managers an option. You can retire. Alternatively, you can work
4 days a week and still get your normal job done. Well, this means that folks
just got a 20% cut in their salaries. And, what does this person do, when he or
she was working 50 hours or more a week just to get stuff off her desk?

Things are not as they seem. You think you can downshift. You’ve paid your
work and life dues. I’m entitled. I’ve got a guaranteed pension. I’ve got a 401
(K). I’m set. Watch out. Things just changed – 401 (K)s are diluted, pensions
even guaranteed can evaporate, houses have depreciated, and you are about
half as solvent as you were this time last year.

I think that the ‘less is more’ ethic is becoming more important. Experiences,
travel, creativity, free time, balance, control, values, and family will today’s be-‐
come status symbols. More people are leaning to a simpler life.

Hard Lesson Learned: So, what should you do? It’s simple. Learn to live within
your means. Start saving. Develop a less is more attitude. Start thinking of
family and personal sustainability. Lower your blood pressure. Plan on working
longer. Plan of living longer.

70
SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Your work should
be an extended hobby.
Richard Saul Wurman, writer and thinker

I like Wurman’s quote. It distills my vision of work. But, things have changed.

Schumacher about 30 years ago wrote a simple and paradigm-‐busting book
called Small is Beautiful. This was a breakthrough book when the business
world was thinking big is better. Today, small means entrepreneurial, start-‐up,
paradigm busting, vibrant, customer-‐driven, free, sustainable and profitable.
Big, slow, hindering, plodding, and corporate are dead.

Entrepreneurship, ‘doing it your way’, is in. The American dream is alive and
well as attested by the many who want to emigrate to the US. A new meritoc-‐
racy is found inside and outside companies. We’re more often rewarded for our
ideas, initiative, perseverance, performance, and results. Organizational entre-‐
preneurs are seen as future leaders. Small business entrepreneurs are seen as
job-‐creators, adders of value, and business icons.

Many of my friends think that their work ideal is working at home. Think again.
I work at home a lot. The problem is that there are family, kid, and all types of
non-‐work interruptions.

Hard Lesson Learned: Small is truly beautiful. Look at the many big companies
at the federal trough begging for stimulus monies. I’m now a huge believer on
making my way as a small business owner and being the master of my destiny.
71
‘LIVE TO WORK’ OR ‘WORK TO LIVE’

I’ve always been intrigued what people do for work and more importantly ‘why
do they do what they do?’ Do they live to work or work to live? I think this
question may be the defining question for many of us? Why? Just a few years
ago, a lot of us were ‘living to work’. Now, more of us are ‘working to live’ as a
result of the economy.

If you’re working to live like many more of us it’s critical that you find additional
reasons to value your work. Some things you may want to think about are:

 Work becomes a person’s identity. How do you the question: ‘What
do you do?’ Work for some becomes their main identity and organizing
event in life. We work for Intel or Microsoft. We are part of the best
and brightest.
 Work imposes self-‐discipline. Work structures our life. We have some-‐
where to go and to do -‐ adding value to our employer in exchange for a
salary.
 Work forms family cohesion. Work establishes and communicates val-‐
ues to our family. Through work, we may develop a greater meaning to
life, relationships, and family.
 Work is a higher calling. Work for some is a higher calling and a service
to others. We may view work as an expression of who we are. Work
provides a way for making a difference. Work may point us to a higher
mission such as providing for the needy, disabled, or disenfranchised.
 Work as contributing to society, having a purpose, making life better,
doing meaningful work, benefiting others, and doing social good are the
drivers of progress. They are as great of motivators as status and
money. Societal values and institutions that establish, communicate,
and reinforce those values determine how society functions.

Hard Lesson Learned: So, do you live to work? Or, do you work to live? How
does the current economy change how you see work? Understand deeply what
drives you to do what you do?
72

‘THE GIVE BACK!’

Sooner or later you’re going to face this new workplace reality – the give back.
It goes something like this:

Your boss or client says: “You’ve been doing great work., but… Times are
tough. Margins have shrunk or disappeared. We can’t bill you out and make
our desired profit margin based on our fixed costs, such as your salary. Would
you consider: 1. Taking a pay cut and paying for your benefits; 2. Working fewer
hours but doing the same amount of work; 3. Or, what do you propose?”

The company has several options if this conversation does not move forward: 1.
Reducing hours; 2. Laying you off; 3. Outsourcing the work; 4. Off shoring the
work; and 5. Other options.

You think and feel: “This isn’t fair.” “This isn’t right.” “This contravenes explicit
and/or implicit promises made to our company.” However, this is real both for
your company and for yourself. This is a very tough conversation for your cli-‐
ent/boss and for you. But, you’ll be hearing much more over the next five
years.

Hard Lesson Learned: I’ve had a customer do it to me. “We want a $20/hr. re-‐
duction in your fees and oh-‐by-‐the-‐way do the same quality work.” Is this iso-‐
lated? Not at all. Be ready for this question and have your value-‐proposition
down rock solid.

73
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

So, you’ve done a great job. But the client thinks or even asks: “what have you
done for me lately?” You expect a promotion or a higher base salary! Guess
again!

There’s a good chance you’re going to be rewarded through recognition, a one-‐
time bonus, time off, or another special project. Another special project you
say, when you’ve been busting your buns 70 hours a week on a ‘death march’
project. This isn’t too far-‐fetched! At least, you have a project to go to.

Many of us entered the workforce thinking that big is better -‐ work in a huge
organization, have a bigger office, have a bigger title, and have more people
working for us. All of which provided a bigger paycheck, higher bonuses, more
authority, more respect, more options and higher self-‐esteem.

This promoteability model has largely disappeared. A few years ago, according
to one estimate, only 1 manager in 50 will be promoted compared to 1 in 20 in
1987. Technology is the reason. Technological advances have made informa-‐
tion more accessible, which has made layers of management superfluous.

Life Lesson Learned: Memories are short. The memories of your value added
contributions are even shorter. Get in front of your boss and boss’s boss to
communicate your value contributions.

74
MARGAUX’S COMPETITION

Our friends call us tiger parents or even worse. What do they mean?

Our daughter Margaux is 12. She went to a Montessori school that didn’t be-‐
lieve in homework. Well, my wife and I believe in homework.

Margaux says it’s unfair because none of the other kids are doing it. Well, we
say: “you are not competing against kids in the US, your competition is the kid in
Mumbai, India or Hong Kong, China.” Welcome to globalization and our idea of
competition for our 12 year old.

How do you keep your self competitive? Learn something new that someone
wants to buy. According to surveys, flexibility and the ability to learn are critical
competencies for life and career success. We all have to anticipate changes,
discern trends, and predict customer needs. We then must make shrewd career
moves that will keep us ahead of the change curve and position ourselves for
professional opportunities.

Shared responsibility is the current belief about employment. You provide skills,
ideas, and value while the company or customer provides you employment.
The employer provides the opportunity for self-‐improvement as long as your
skills add value to the business. More employers promote continuous learning,
provide training opportunities, and provide work experiences in exchange for
your ideas and value adding work. Only one problem: while all companies pro-‐
mote continuous learning, fewer will pay for it.

Hard Lesson Learned: In your client’s eyes, you are not competing with other
US consultants, you are competing for value against your equivalent in Vietnam,
China, or India. If your personal contribution is not compelling, your client will
quickly realize that he/she can save money by outsourcing your work. Are you
keeping up even if it’s on our own ticket?

75
REACTING VS. RESPONDING

It is better to bend than to break.
Aesop, Greek writer

I want to say that I respond to change. The reality is that I react to change. This
is a major point that may alter your life and may even extend it by lowering our
blood pressure.

I have certain hot buttons, such as lack of character, fairness, honesty, and au-‐
thenticity. If a person lies to me or is unfair, then I react. What do I do? My
wife says that I power pout. Or, I may say something harsh or untactful. I can
feel my rising blood pressure. Not good!

The difference between reacting and responding is critical. Reacting is a knee
jerk reaction. Reacting implies emotional, rooted in past experience, and
counter productive. Often we react with anger or bitterness based on past
experiences.

Responding implies making a smart choice in terms of how we feel instead of
reacting out of habit or circumstances. Responding is empowering. Responding
entails understanding; correcting and preventing counter productive past be-‐
haviors.

Hard Lesson Learned: Uncertainty and change are facts of life. They are unset-‐
tling. They are painful. Learn to go with the flow. Learn to respond, not to re-‐
act. Your life’s on the line.

76
ONE TRIAL LEARNING

You’ve heard the expression: ’What’s the definition of idiocy?’ It’s doing the
same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Duh!!!

This expression has a number of takeaways. First doing the same thing over
again is a career killer. The old joke is that a person had 20 years of work, but
only one year of work experience. Yes, the person had one year of work value,
doing the same thing for 20 years.

Doing the same thing over and over again is called n-‐trial learning. You want to
be a one trial learner. A friend of mine calls a one-‐trial learner having the at-‐
tribute of a genius. This person learns after one-‐trial that something didn’t work
and tries something new. Most of us try the same thing time after time expect-‐
ing a different response. This is a human reaction. We take the path of least
resistance. We do what we know and have succeeded in the past.

What you want to do is to recognize what you are doing is not working. It’s not
working for a number of reasons. So, what should you do? Try something new.
Try a new behavior. Frame the issue differently. Look at the process and the
outputs differently. There are a number of things you can do.

Hard Lesson Learned: Be a one-‐trial learner. If something is not working for
you, do something new. You may be surprised by your success.
77
WORK FOR VALUE!

You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't
someone else surely will.
Joel Barker

A number of years ago, I worked for a company and as long as I kept my nose
clean, I was ensured employment as long as I wanted it. My first employer
viewed ‘womb to tomb’ employment as its major employee benefit.

There’s a new employment and social contract in the workplace. Recently, this
employer rescinded the original offer and now advocates ‘work for value.’ Cor-‐
porate paternalism is changing to value added employability.

Some folks accept the new work model. Others, say I want out and move to
more conducive areas, such as the public sector. In addition, the Gen Y’s and
millennial’s seem to accept the ‘work for value’ proposition better than older
workers do.

Another by-‐product of ‘work for value’ includes the rationale of outsourcing.
Some companies claim that off-‐shore workers are not only cheaper, but also
work harder and are more committed. I don’t know about this, but it will be a
huge issue as America focuses on improving its competitiveness and maybe be-‐
comes protectionist.

Just as entitlement thinking is slowing disappearing, job homesteading is disap-‐
pearing even in the public sector. I’m surprised that folks in the public sector
say: “I’ve got mine. It’s guaranteed.” Whoa. Retirement systems are under-‐
funded, taxpayers have no more money, and retirement systems can go broke.

Hard Lesson Learned: So, take nothing for granted.

78

 Do you want to be a manager?
 What leadership abilities do you have or want to have?
 Can you change workplace roles, as a manager, leader or coach?
 What makes you change roles?
 Do you react or respond to change?
 What’s your value proposition at work?
 What do you think could be your ‘value proposition’?
 How do you know that it’s valuable to your employer or customer?
 Where would you like to be and what do you have to do to get there?

79
PRINCIPLES
FINDING YOUR TRUE NORTH

80
YOUR TRUE NORTH

Principles: A basic truth, law, or assumption; a basic source.
American Heritage Dictionary

Work should be meaningful for us. Many of my friends want to work on sus-‐
tainability and green issues. Only a few years ago, I would have said that a lot of
companies had principles that were mainly motherhoods and meaningless slo-‐
gans.

I’m finding that companies are paying a lot more attention to core principles
and values, such as transparency, social responsibility, sustainability, and human
rights. Companies are also addressing gut issues like child labor laws, carbon
emissions, and other issues.

However, things changed for companies in the last decade. Outsourcing and off
shoring created a global and integrated economy. Child labor infractions with
an offshore supplier could result in reputation loss and subsequent equity loss.
Carbon emissions accelerated environmental degradation. And, these gut is-‐
sues mattered to governments, to customers and to people.

Work can give us money to provide the freedom to do other things. On a per-‐
sonal level, values and principles are critical and in some cases sacred. Work is
frankly boring unless it has personal meaning or purpose. Work should touch us
somewhere. It can be in the pocketbook, in the heart, in the soul, in the gut, or
in the head. Work can make the world a better place to live. Work can be chal-‐
lenging and puzzling. Work can get us closer to God. Work can feel just right.
Work can be our life's purpose. Work provides meaning, which drives progress,
creativity, and progress.

Hard Lesson Learned: More employers are trying to respect individual values
and concerns. What drives you to do the work you do? Are your principles
aligned with your employer’s?

81
DOING MEANINGFUL WORK

Meaningful work emerges from the relationship you have with the work you do.
If you go to work just to make money, chances are that you will reach saturation
point relatively quickly and then you will need to find other rewards from the
work you do.

Meaningful work is a mutual benefit to you and your employer. Your employer
wants to capture your engagement, ideas, and energy. You want work to be
more than simply a paycheck. Work can be fun, social, or even cool. Work can
also have meaning. If your employer can help you find meaning at work, it is a
mutually beneficial relationship – you win and your employer wins.

Gallup survey data shows that emotional engagement of employees and cus-‐
tomers is the key to growth and profits. If you are actively engaged with the
outcome of what you do, then there is a higher chance that you will be engaged
and find your work meaningful. It’s critical to know that the meaning of work is
in the relationship between what you do, how you do it, and the outcomes you
obtain.

Many companies toss around feel-‐good buzzwords like, ‘family friendly,’ ‘em-‐
powered employees,’ and ‘respecting the dignity of others.’ However, are these
buzzwords reality based? It’s important you check it out. Unfortunately, there
doesn’t seem to be much value alignment within organizations. The problem is
that the values described by senior management were very different from those
practiced by the rest of the company according to one survey.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you aren’t engaged in what you do and can’t see any
relationship between what you do and the outcome, there is a higher probabil-‐
ity that you won’t find meaning in your work, ultimately be dissatisfied and
move on.

82
CULTURE IS EVERYTHING!

Understand the culture of the new company (with which you are joining or negotiating)
and its standards of what is reasonable.
James Nunan, Business person

I spend a lot of time talking about ‘getting it.’ ‘Getting it’ often means under-‐
standing your organization’s or customer’s culture and work rules. I’m an engi-‐
neer, who often simply didn’t ‘get it’ for many years. Maybe, it’s a ‘left brain’ or
‘right brain’ thing. Maybe, it’s a ‘IQ (intelligent quotient) or ‘EQ (emotional quo-‐
tient) thing. I don’t know. What I do know after many years of trying to ‘get it’
and trying different things, I can say that culture is real and those who seem to
flow with it do much better than those who don’t.

Organizational culture is a matter of attitude. It may be a commitment to lis-‐
tening to customers, designing robust products, manufacturing quality products,
or delivering cheerful service. A strong organizational culture also develops its
own belief systems and language. A culture creates a sense of identity and
makes people feel special. Everyone pulling together in the same direction to
achieve a common goal engenders organizational unity and strength.

Organizational culture and personal values should be aligned. Personal values
and morals are the foundations by which organizations and people make choic-‐
es -‐ where we work, what jobs we do, how we balance family and work, and so
on. As values become more important, organizations recognize they must listen
to these concerns or lose valuable employees, the source of new ideas.

Hard Lesson Learned: Pay attention to the actions of those who you work with
more than their words. If the organizational culture jangles you, then deal with
it or it’ll kill your career. For example, if a culture is ‘dog-‐eat-‐dog’ competitive
and your style is collaborative, you’ll become frustrated and eventually leave
the organization. Cultural alignment can make or break a career. Learn, adapt,
and adopt the culture of your organization. If you don’t , it’ll kill your job and
maybe sideline your career.
83
FINDING MEANING AT WORK!

Guiding principles are important to those who work at Microsoft or Nike be-‐
cause they communicate pride and enthusiasm. Employees know their compa-‐
nies represent excellence, the best companies in their industry.

Finding meaning, spirit, and the soul of the workplace is not pure altruism. It’s
largely a reaction to toxic workplaces, lack of job security, and the changing em-‐
ployer-‐employee contract. Also, many of us want more out of life than a pay-‐
check. We want freedom, a balanced life, or meaningful work. Is this the latest
fad at work or is a lasting phenomenon? Well, it’s estimated that 80% of em-‐
ployees engage in some form of workplace contemplation or spiritual practice.
Walk around some of the cubes at work and look closely at what people have on
their desks, pictures of loved ones and maybe a religious symbol.

Values, culture, principles and ethics are now organizational and individual core
competencies for success. Core values include respecting individual dignity, in-‐
tegrity, and honesty. Core values become ingrained in the way we act and
think. Values and principles then guide us in the right course of action, establish
direction, define challenges, and suggest preferred responses.

One of the keys to maintaining work sanity is to understand your employer’s
culture or customer’s values. An organizational culture can empower or kill a
career. If you understand and reinforce your customer’s or employer’s culture,
then there’s a much higher chance you’ll excel.

Hard Lesson Learned: Know what you like and don’t like to do. Understand
your employer’s or prospective employer’s values. Determine if there’s a gap
between your values and your employer’s. If there’s a conflict with your values
with those of your employee, deal with it or leave. It’s fairly that simple.
Can you live with the difference? If not, do you want to leave? Decide if leaving
is worth it.

84
WHAT IS YOUR MISSION?

I have a personal mission statement: “Be Happy. Be Authentic. Be Honest. Be
of service.”

I always thought mission statements were what mega companies did. Do you
remember that Ford Motor Company had ‘Quality is Job 1.’ The problem is that
most mission and vision statements sound like platitudes: God, apple pie, and
the environment. Then when we checked out a company with a lofty mission
statement, we sometimes there was a huge delta between what they said and
what they did. Not good!

Why do organizations write up mission statements? Several reasons come to
mind. Organizational mission statements are especially important in flattened,
downsized, decentralized, and global organizations. When there are fewer mid-‐
dle managers and supervisors to tell us what is right and wrong or which way to
go, vision and mission statements become signposts providing direction, mean-‐
ing, and the foundation for surviving and prospering through major changes.
They also ensure we’re speaking the same language, doing the right things right,
and going in the same direction.

In much the same way, personal mission statements define who we are and
what we do. Some folks believe that mission statements are character defining.
This is what I do. This is what I won’t do. This is my true north.

Hard Lesson Learned: What’s your true north? What do you believe in? What
do you stand for? What’s your personal mission statement?

85
IS BUSINESS ETHICS AN OXYMORON?

Those entrusted with leadership -‐ whatever their field -‐ bear a special responsibility to
uphold the highest standards of moral and ethical conduct, both publicly and privately.
Billy Graham, evangelist

The line between right and wrong seems to have become blurry. Ethics is basi-‐
cally doing the right thing. We all believe in this motherhood. The problem is
that ethics and integrity are sometimes perceived as something apart from
business. Business for many is ‘dog eat dog’ or Darwinian. While this may be
true, the risks and exposure from ethical lapses can be huge.

Expediency for the last few years seems to have become the rule of business.
However, the risk of an ethical lapse is much higher. Ethical lapses such as sex-‐
ual harassment, pollution, or product defects may cost a company millions of
dollars. Governance and transparence risks can result in reputational loss.

Business logic (the head) is sometimes at war with organizational values (the
heart). Logic should dictate that things get done right on time. Values should
show us how the right things should get done right. The problem is that doing
the right thing may take longer and cost more. Time and cost risks must balance
against ethical risks.

Should a leader be held accountable to a higher standard of moral and ethical
conduct than their employees should? This is a compelling question that is rais-‐
ing suspicion, fear, and hackles of many in the workplace and in government.
The courts have said the same thing in terms of sexual harassment and bias. No
one should be immune.

Hard Lesson Learned: Work is now more than a meal ticket. For many of us,
it’s becoming a calling, a higher form of endeavor. As a result, more of us want
to align our personal principles with whom we work. Work becomes more of an
extension of our lives involving rewards, relationships, spiritual values, and yes
even a surrogate family.
86
STEPHEN COVEY’S 7 HABITS

Practice what you preach.
Plautus, Roman Playwright

I like wisdom distilled into a small number of doable takeaways, like what Ste-‐
phen Covey did with his 7 Habits.

Stephen R. Covey is probably the most prominent writer promoting the impor-‐
tance of individual values and clarifying the meaning of work. Covey believes
that leadership involves creating a culture of shared values based on people-‐
centered principles.

Take a look at his 7 habits and see how they still resonate today:

1. Be proactive. Don’t stand still. Take the initiative and be responsible.
2. Begin with the end in mind. Start any activity, a meeting, run, day, or
life, with an end in mind. Work to that end and make sure your values
are aligned with your goals.
3. Put first things first. Prioritize your life so you’re working on the impor-‐
tant stuff.
4. Think win/win. This is pretty obvious. You get what you put in.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Listen to emphasize,
obtain information, and understand the other person’s point of view.
6. Synergize. Work to create outcomes that are greater than the individ-‐
ual parts.
7. Sharpen the saw. Cultivate the essential elements of your character:
physical, mental, social/emotional, and spiritual.

Hard Lesson Learned: I think all of Stephen Covey’s habits are great. Let’s look
at just one: ‘Sharpen the saw.’ When I’m conducting an interview, one of the
questions I ask is: “What book have you read recently?” If the interviewee
doesn’t have an answer, then a switch flips in my head. This person doesn’t
keep current or sharpen his/her saw. In technology with the half-‐life of knowl-‐
edge, not keeping up is the equivalent of professional unemployability.
87
GOING WITH THE FLOW

When you’re working, ‘are you in the flow?’ This is the same idea of ‘being in
the zone’ in sports. The answer to this seeming simple question can make the
difference between having fun and dreading your work. Read on…

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says that work happiness and job satisfaction is all
about flow. Happiness results when you are totally absorbed in what you are
doing. You don’t achieve happiness directly by pursuing it. Happiness results
when you forget time and are one with what
you are doing. In athletics, this is called the
peak experience. Players are asked: “What
happened? How did you do that?” More
often than not, the player says: “I was in the
zone.” The athlete feels extraordinarily pow-‐
erful, relaxed, and potent.

If athletes can do it, why can’t you do it as
well? Csikszentmihalyi interviewed thou-‐
sands of people and discovered the more
time we spent in our special flow, the hap-‐
pier we were. Flow experience consists of
three components:

 Clear and doable goals or challenges along with instant feedback on
how you are doing.
 Total involvement in the activity that can take you away from your daily
worries and frustrations.
 Total concentration or what gives you pleasure without making you self-‐
conscious.

Hard Lesson Learned: Check the above bullets. See how many of them apply to
you. Are you in the flow or in the zone when you work or in your job?
88
YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION

Do you know your personal value proposition? If you don’t, sooner than later
you’ll have a career wake up call. Your abilities, career direction, or work are
not aligned with your employer’s business strategies or customer’s market re-‐
quirements. You may have less authority, new boss, new position, marginal per-‐
formance review, or even a job loss. Your employer may want to outsource.
Your employer sees employees and contractors as expendable. Your employer
may see employee as an expense, not an asset. These result in stress.

Each of these is a stimulus to examine what you do right, what should be differ-‐
ent, and to conduct a career gap analysis. This is hard because you may have to
stare at the mirror and conduct an objective analysis. I call this the ‘career
ledger sheet.’ What are your career assets and liabilities? You want to enhance
your assets and minimize your liabilities. It isn’t an easy process to assume new
roles, establish new relationships, establish new directions, offer new ideas, be
proactive, learn new behaviors, or work more effectively. This requires time,
effort, resources, and resiliency. All of which take time away from other activi-‐
ties. But, it’s your life and career resiliency!

For example, Mary Lynn Pulley in Losing Your Job – Reclaiming Your Soul calls
the ability to bounce back from adversity, ‘work resilience.’ We all have an in-‐
ner life force to bounce back and carry on. We become resilient by developing
and nourishing positive relationships. Also, you may reach the stage in your
career when options are fewer, career choices are limited and you don’t know
where to go or what to do. This is a time for reflection, for repositioning your-‐
self if necessary and for learning resilience.

Hard Lesson Learned: Address these important life questions: Where are you
going? How are you going to get there? Will the journey or the destination
make you happy? What are the tradeoffs along the way and are you willing to
make the required sacrifices? What do you need to learn to get where you
want?
89
YOUR CALLING

Is your career or job your calling? I’m intrigued by what makes a calling.
There’s a world of difference. A job can simply be a meal ticket or a place to go
so other things get done. On the other hand, a calling is almost spiritual work.

Two things are required for a calling. First, we must have the God given ability
to do a job and derive full enjoyment from it. A calling is unique to each of us,
perhaps a match of career, attitude, and aptitude that’s made in heaven while
tempered on earth. A calling reinvigorates and renews our energies and our
perspectives. Finding what we’re interested in is often the first step to develop-‐
ing a passion for work. With passion comes interest and a willingness to go the
extra step for our family, a customer, or the destitute.

I’ve known folks whose work was a calling. They enjoyed what they did. They
went to work with a smile on their faces. They solved problems. They felt they
felt others. What did these folks do? One was a actor, another a policeman,
and another was a quality manager.

The words they used and how they described their work reveals what makes
work a calling. They shared the belief that their work and careers ‘made a dif-‐
ference.’ While money was important, the process of their work and the folks
they worked with was critical. In a few cases, the successful outcome was
money. They describes what they do as going to ‘home,’ their work partners as
‘family,’ and workplace as a second home.

Other revelations: They ply a craft, not show up for work. Passion is the driver
of their work. The learned and matured at the work they did. They were recog-‐
nized for their best efforts. Regardless of the role, they always gave it their
best.

Hard Lesson Learned: Can you say that about your job? What tradeoffs or sacri-‐
fices would you have to make to find your true calling?

90
TOXIC WORK
The only management practice that’s now constant is the practice of constantly accom-‐
modating to change.
William McGowan, MCI Chairman

I admit I’ve been a workaholic. I was addicted to my work. I thought I was a
peak performer, but I wasn’t. My creative work and energy were all consuming.
I thrived on it. The very long hours were challenging and happy hours. Fear of
failure largely motivated me. Unfortunately, my work became toxic when it af-‐
fected my personal relationships. I’d forgotten how to have fun and lighten up.

We’re learning that too much work
can be toxic, counter-‐productive, and
just plain sickening. What makes a
productive manager? It varies. But
in one study, highly effective manag-‐
ers worked an average of 52 hours a
week while less productive managers
averaged 70 hours of work a week.

The interesting fact is less productive,
longer hour working managers suf-‐
fered from ‘significantly greater de-‐
pression and anxiety.’ They reported Worker Inducement:
twice the level of stress-‐related prob-‐ “Show Me Da Options!”
lems such as headaches, lower back
pain, and stomach ailments. So, the
bottom line cure seems to be: have fun, work hard but work smart.

Hard Lesson Learned: The 40-‐hour workweek is long gone for many of us and
50 or more hours is all too common. ‘Finding balance’ and ‘getting a life’ have
become life enhancing and life prolonging skills.

91
GETTING A LIFE!

Work-‐life conflict is impacting business. People are quitting their jobs, grudg-‐
ingly working overtime, and losing the necessary inspiration to contribute ideas.
It’s not simply a working-‐parent issue. Many folks struggle with work-‐life con-‐
flict at least weekly and many are looking for other work opportunities because
of it. The hierarchy of work-‐life needs that if unmet result in workplace tension,
work dissatisfaction, and marital conflict. The most basic work life need is indi-‐
vidual respect followed by balancing
time on and off the job, and work flexi-‐
bility.

Successful work-‐family strategies have
become a contentious issue in some or-‐
ganizations that try to balance the de-‐
sires of single people and parents.
When a person with children leaves
early or can't attend a meeting often the
burden to get the work done falls upon Life's a Balancing Act!
those without similar obligations such as
single people . This causes turmoil.
What can make a company family friendly? It may involve flex scheduling, job
sharing, and stress management counseling.

Companies are simultaneously transforming and want to be ‘family friendly.’
These two trends sometimes seem incompatible. Each year, more companies
are competing to be a poster company for Working Mother Magazine’s ‘Best
Companies for Working Mothers.’ We want more flexibility to balance work
and family. However, companies want the banner that lists them in the top 100
family friendly companies while the reality is that competitive pressures are in-‐
creasing.

Hard Lesson Learned: Work-‐life balance is a high stress situation.
92
WHAT DRIVES YOU?

Times change and we change with them.
Latin proverb

If you think that you know what’s happening with work, careers, and job, write a
book. It’ll be a best seller if you’re close to right. That’s the reason I wrote The
Rules Have Changed.

I’m addicted to work, career, and job books. I want to know the latest thinking
and figure out what I’m missing. Tom Peters, Joel Barker, William Bridges, David
D’Allessandro, Richard Bolles, and a few
other have written job books. All have
done very well. Why did they write the
books?

Usually, writers have three reasons for
writing: 1. They are passionate about the
topic; 2. They have something to say and
want to get it out and 3. They want to
make money. Let’s look at the third
point. Authors and consultants have dis-‐
covered there is a linear relationship be-‐
tween: book visibility, credibility, market-‐
ability, brandability, and billability. It all Gee... I wonder what's the
starts with a best seller. problem!
Hard Lesson Learned: Most or all the

work, career, and jobs books don’t reflect today’s economy. They may have
made sense ten or 20 years ago, but are different now.

93
IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?

Times change and we change with them.
Latin proverb

Here’s a test? When you look at a work, job, or career opportunity, do you see
calamity or opportunity. Is the glass half full or half empty for you?

Whether you ‘work to live’ or ‘live to work’, it’s a critical life issue. Those of us
tied to the old order or old paradigms may certainly feel confused, uncertain,
and even pain.

How you react is up to you! You can clutch at the old paradigm or flow with the
new one. It’s not a matter of seeing the glass as half full or half empty. Both are
static, ‘so what’ choices.

Hard Lesson Learned: The smart option is to see the glass needing more water
so it can be filled. This risk-‐taking choice is proactive, opportunistic, and entre-‐
preneurial. It’s the same with your career. Seize career and work opportunities,
take risks, and fill the glass.

94

 Do you know your organization’s culture, vision, mission, or values?
 How do you feel about your organization’s culture and values?
 Are your organization’s or customer’s values aligned with yours?
 Can you live with them if they aren’t?
 What accommodations regarding values do you make at work?
 Can you live with the accommodations?
 Can your employer/customer/stakeholders live with your accommoda-‐
tions?
 Is your work a calling?
 Are you in the ‘flow’ at work?
 Do you have a personal vision/mission statement? What is it?
 Is your life, work, and family time balanced?
 If not what can you do about this?
 Do you live your values – do you practice what you believe?

95
PRACTICES
PERSONAL COMPETENCIES

96
GOOD PRACTICES MATTER

There are 10 to 1 differences in productivity between companies
within the same industries.
Steve McConnell, Software Developer

Let’s look at paradigms again. Paradigms are defined in terms of a game. A
game has a set of rules, which participants must follow. The game often has
boundaries such as a racquetball court, baseball park, or tennis court.

The game also requires specific skills to compete. A professional baseball player
runs bases; hits a curveball, fastball,
slider, and fields a ball. Players keep
score. The game score defines win-‐
ners and losers.

This is the challenge: work, career, and
job success requires new personal
practices to succeed because the com-‐
plexity of business has increased.
If your individual practices are out of

date, then sooner or later you’re going
to lose your marketability. As business
and life become more complex, all of us Complexity of Business
are losing our ability to keep up. The
growing distance between the complexity of work and our present work prac-‐
tices results in tension, dysfunction, and sometimes fear. If your present prac-‐
tices diverge too much from what’s going on around you, it will eventually affect
your happiness and even your sanity.

Hard Lesson Learned: You need to reinvent yourself yearly. You need to invent
new ways of working and develop new practices. To succeed, you must manage
your customer, time, quality, communications, risk, technology, and perform-‐
ance commitments. And, the challenge is you have to do this on your own time.
97
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Be everywhere, do everything, and never fail to astonish the customer.
Margaret Getchell

The competitive argument goes something like this: time is of the essence.
Time to market is getting shorter. Sometimes, products are obsolete by the
time they’re developed. Stakeholder or customer requirements are increasing.

When I get poor quality service, it’s personal. It’s one-‐on-‐one between the
server and me. Unpleasant words may be exchanged. The whole experience
becomes unpleasant. And, I retell the bad service experience many times as I
relive the experience. So, now multiply this many times as the internet buzz
takes over.

Why do you like a specific company? You can often blow off a defective prod-‐
uct. It’s a thing that can be fixed or replaced. But what about the clueless serv-‐
ice rep, the rude sales person, the ‘it’s your fault’ repairman, or the endless
phone wait at the tech help desk?

Company after company is using the need for customer satisfaction as the driver
and rationale for inducing change. The company is changing business processes,
systems, the content of thousands of jobs, and creating jobs that never existed
before. On the other hand, the company eliminated thousands of jobs as it tries
to reinvent itself to please customers more efficiently and effectively.

Companies (and Me Inc.) are differentiating themselves from the competition
by being more responsive.

Hard Lesson Learned: Find out what you company’s ultimate customer needs,
wants, and expects. Figure out who are your internal stakeholders are what
they need, want, and expect. Then be responsive and deliver. This is your value
add.
98
TIME MANAGEMENT
The first person gets the oyster; the second person gets the shell.
Andrew Carnegie, business person

Forbes Magazine calls time or specifically the lack of it “the biggest issue of our
age.” More work is conducted in Internet time. Fast, seamless, and almost in-‐
stantaneous. Response times are squeezed to seize business opportunities or
surpass competitors.

Hyper global competition is the new normal. Competition done well results in
high valued employment. Competition done poorly results in a race to the bot-‐
tom.

Time management is a business as well as a
personal issue. Time management is fun-‐
damentally about life, family, and work
management. Without sufficient time, one
of these suffers. Ultra busy mothers, sole
proprietors, and executives have many con-‐
flicting signals and constraints. In addition,
as working parents, we worry about child-‐
care, relationships, work concerns, individ-‐
ual desires, and many other time require-‐ Time marches on …
ments.

In real estate, it’s all about location … location … location. In life and in work, it
‘s all about timing …timing…timing. It’s about your choices – how you decide to
use your limited time, resources, and money. You can’t be all things to all peo-‐
ple. Time or specifically the lack of it is increasing overall anxiety.

Hard Lesson Learned: It’s all about focusing on what matters, on the important
principles that direct your life and the important practices that simplify your life.
It all comes down to making the right choices and controlling time to get the
right things done right so critical stakeholders are satisfied.
99
COMMUNICATIONS MANAGEMENT
How well we communicate is determined not by how well we say things but by how well
we are understood.
Andrew Grove, CEO Intel

Communications are vital to all work and career decision-‐making. If vision, mis-‐
sion, values, culture, goals, plans, policies, and procedures are not uniformly
understood, then they won’t be followed. It all comes down to understandable
communications. It’s that simple. Poor decisions are made. Processes won’t
work. Projects aren’t completed. Deficient products are produced. And, ulti-‐
mately unhappy customers won’t purchase products or services.

Good communications starts with good listening. The problem is we’re talking
more and listening less. No wonder communication, or the lack of it, hampers
our work effectiveness and even relationship happiness. Many of us have read
John Gray’s Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. The solution to
all relationships comes down to good communication, particularly listening.

We may remember as little as 25% of what we heard in the last two days. Poor
listening is also risky! Poor listening resulted in the 1977 runway collision at
Tenerife Airport in the Canary Islands, resulting in 583 deaths. Poor listening
results in the wrong coffee order, poor quality instructions, and even incorrect
medical procedures. Can you imagine being scheduled for an appendix removal
and lose your lung instead? That would make for a bad appendix day. Such
strange things do happen and have resulted in massive medical liability awards.
All because of poor communication!

What separates leaders from managers? What separates million dollar a year
professionals and consultants from commodity professionals. Strong communi-‐
cations.

Hard Lesson Learned: Look at the professionals who are at the top tier of your
profession. They are usually authors and public speakers. They are great
communicators.
100
RISK MANAGEMENT
All business proceeds on beliefs or judgments of probabilities,
and not on certainties.
Charles Eliot, President Harvard University

By consciously or unconsciously calculating probabilities, we make intelligent
decisions and take control of our lives. We don’t make a conscious risk analysis
but intuitively look at alternatives at how we live day-‐to-‐day. When we’re con-‐
fident of an outcome, we decide to do something. Rightness to do something
comes when there’s congruence with our heart, head, and gut.

The dictionary defines risk as the “potential for the realization of unwanted
negative consequences of an event.” Therefore, Murphy is alive and well -‐ if
something can happen, it will. We can try to understand and mitigate Murphies
or they can victimize us. The choice is ours. Risk management is the process by
which we try to control Murphies from crossing a street to starting a business.
Why do we bother looking both ways when we cross a street? We look for pos-‐
sible sources of risk like a truck pancaking us as we cross the street.

The one-‐world concept is reality now. When a satellite recently suffered a com-‐
puter failure and rotated out of orbit, The Wall Street Journal declared: “it sev-‐
ered a lifeline in American business and society that most people never knew
existed.” What happened? Eight of the nation’s 10 biggest paging companies
were unable to supply service to hospitals and police departments. Drivers at
Chevron gas stations couldn’t use pumps at thousands of service stations.

As the world is becoming globally interconnected, more Murphies are just wait-‐
ing to occur. Understand risk management. Add it to your professional tool kit.

Hard Lesson Learned: Read risk books: Black Swan and Against the Gods: The
Remarkable Story of Risk. In the latter book, the author says the mastery of
risk is the foundation of modern life and is what divides modern from ancient
times.

101
TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
One of the only ways to compete is with technology.
John Beakes, Industrialist

I’m surprised how many folks are techno-‐phobes in a techno-‐economy.

Wonder why? When you hear the following words, what do you think about?
Faster. Better. Killer. Cheaper. Smaller. Technology and specifically the com-‐
puter are usually at the heart of the change. Change is the major thread run-‐
ning through this book. Technology both drives and facilitates this change. Fu-‐
turist Alvin Toffler called this shift to an information or knowledge-‐based society
the Third Wave.

How fast is this occurring? Computer power keeps increasing as the cost of
computation falls. We can see these phenomena with computers and cell
phones that double their capacity, performance, or capability every two years or
cost half as much. This is called Moore’s Law. Moore’s law has become the
cornerstone of electronic goods as they've become cheaper, faster, and better.

Technology has done much good. But, many of us haven’t adapted well. Amer-‐
icans are more overwhelmed at work than two years ago. The reasons vary.
Stakeholder and customer expectations are increasing. Technology is speeding
up work. Managers and supervisors use technology to monitor and control
work output. Technology drives organizational transformations. Technology is
difficult to keep up with.

Technology is much more critical with Web 2.0. Management leverages tech-‐
nology to coordinate the overall direction of teams, ensure there’s alignment
with the overall strategic direction, balance corporate resources, and ensure
stakeholder requirements are understood and satisfied.

Hard Lesson Learned: Learn to love technology. There is no escaping using
technology at work and in our life. Also, technophobia is the fastest way to en-‐
sure your professional obsolescence and even unemployment.
102
SELF MANAGEMENT

A friend of mine said: “The most important thing in an employee is character.”
OK. Later on I heard the expression: “Character is destiny.” As I got a little old-‐
er, I got it. A few stories may illustrate this.

I did a favor for a person. It was not a big deal for me. It was a much bigger
deal for the recipient of the favor. I expected a simple "Thank You." Didn’t get
it. Do you think I’ll ever do this again? Yeah!

Why is this important? Consistent acts of courtesy are the social lubricant for
getting things done at work and through life. We are going into a five to ten
year economic tailspin. Employers are going to have the upper hand. Employ-‐
ers are going to be looking for employees who have high principles, demon-‐
strate common courtesies, are ethical, and have good character.

If you don’t demonstrate it, you’ll be tagged as a high maintenance or worse
unethical employee. This is career killer. The company can always get someone
who knows right from wrong and has the common touch.

I’m surprised how many people don’t show common courtesy or have the
common touch. What do you call this? So, I put this down as ‘Self Manage-‐
ment.’ Or, how well we manage ourselves with good ethics and good principles.

Hard Lesson Learned: Self management is a character issue. Your clients and
boss pay attention to how you present yourself daily and how you deliver on
your promises. Clean up your reputation and You Tube trailers. Your job de-‐
pends on it.

103
STRESS MANAGEMENT

‘Stress kills’ often times sounds like a platitude. It’s heard so often that it seems
meaningless. You say: “OK. I got it, but that’s the state of work and state of life
these days.”

Well, I work for a company that does homeland security audits, specifically Criti-‐
cal Infrastructure Protection: Forensics, Assurance, Analytics. Talking about ten-‐
sion, I live it daily. And, I’ve got high blood pressure. I pay a lot of attention
these days to work and job stressors. I think you should too.

Pay attention to the following risk indicators:

 Are you finding yourself restless and can’t relax?
 Do your wife, friends, or significant other worry about you?
 Do you get angry easily?
 Do you get tired or frustrated easily?
 Do you have difficulty concentrating?
 Are you putting on or losing a lot of weight?
 Have you lost interest in your usual recreational activities?
 Are you worried about things that you can’t control?
 Are you having trouble concentrating?
 Do you work long hours?
 Are you sleeping longer, almost escaping things that you have to do?
 Are you smoking or drinking more?
 Do you feel that you are out of control?
 Do you have destructive conversations with your boss, wife, kids, and
other important folks in your life?
 Are you on meds?

Hard Lesson Learned: Stress Kills. Period. Recognize it. Ask yourself the above
questions? If you answered yes to 4 or more of the above questions, discuss the
issues with your physician, partner, or counselor. Something is going on and it’s
critical that you address the issues. Do it now!
104
KNOWLEDGE AND INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

We’re in the age of the idea. The organizations that can develop a culture of creativity
and idea generation will be the winners.
Kevin Roberts, CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi

I think that knowledge management is the key to career survivability and suc-‐
cess over the next ten years because of the half-‐life of knowledge. Half-‐life is
the length of time knowledge, information, or data doubles in a profession. The
half-‐life of knowledge in electrical engineering or computer science may be 3 or
4 years. In specialties such as medicine, it may even be shorter. For example,
professionals who don’t update their knowledge, skills, and abilities are prone
to professional obsolescence.

We are all knowledge workers. “Knowledge workers have high degrees of exper-‐
tise, education, or experience, and the primary purpose of their jobs involves
the creation, distribution, or application of knowledge,” according to Thomas
Davenport, author of Thinking for a Living.

How many of us are knowledge workers? It is estimated that a quarter to half
of all workers in North America are knowledge workers, who develop and ma-‐
nipulate information. These workers provide the economic value and are the
most critical workers to a company. Also, companies with the most knowledge
workers usually have the highest market capitalization.

Applied knowledge becomes the great business differentiator and value adder
inside companies. Knowledge management may mean identifying and internal-‐
izing best practices; correcting and preventing discrepancies; fault proofing the
organization; and commercializing new ideas. This asset while not on the finan-‐
cial books is critical to profitability especially as companies want to accelerate
product development and profits from new products.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you’re a professional who does not keep current with
your professional or specialty, then you’re going to functionally illiterate and
maybe unemployable. Think ‘Moore’s Law’ for professionals.
105
SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT
If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it and it won’t happen.
Anonymous

Sustainability? Green technology? Carbon Emissions? These are paradigm
busters.

You may be a green believer or even an evangelist. Or, you may be a heretic. It
really doesn’t matter. We are in a heating global environmental and in a chang-‐
ing political environment. Pay attention to sustainability.

I was a green skeptic until I saw first hand major environmental changes occur-‐
ring over a few years. I fish for salmon on the Columbia River in Oregon. Beau-‐
tiful and pristine environment. The problem is that over the last 20 years, salm-‐
on fishing has changed. Fewer fish. Smaller fish. Not good.

I’ve also been a disbeliever in carbon emissions? As an engineer, I thought that
we were going through a macro weather cycle from warm to cold. It now seems
that the cause of global warming is irrefutable in terms of human CO2 emis-‐
sions.

So, what does this have to do with your career and job? As traditional industries
adapt to the changing environment, you may consider working in emerging
green businesses or working in the traditional business sectors that are going
green, such as automotive, plastics, chemicals, etc.

Hard Lessons Learned: In the greening of America and the world, understand
the drivers to green and learn to adapt accordingly.
106
EXECUTION MANAGEMENT

I personally don’t like the word ‘execute.’ It is negative. It implies a very unfor-‐
giving downside. However, get used to it. You’ll be hearing it much more often.

A little story may help explain the term. Most consultants, managers, and ex-‐
ecutives are fond of planning. Planning is high level and strategic. Planning is
antiseptic. Planning is theoretical and hypothetical. Planning is removed from
operations. Planning is removed from people. Planning is fun.

In contrast, execution is almost the opposite. Execution is ground level and tac-‐
tical. Execution is real and often tied directly to cost reduction and profitability.
Execution is operational. Execution is emotional. Execution is through people
and is very personal. Execution can be dirty and not so fun. What do you think
is more valuable to executive management: planning or execution? Duh? Plan-‐
ning is a cost center. Execution is a profit center.

Managing, organizing, and commercializing knowledge is key to competitive-‐
ness. It’s all about execution and creating value and wealth. In our digital
world, new ideas and knowledge dominate the value adding product design,
process improvement, and project completion mix. And, commercializing and
monetizing the innovation through flawless execution is the new paradigm.

The flip side of execution management is knowledge management. Ariel de
Geus, a management strategist, once said “the ability to learn faster than your
competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.” Information
and knowledge add value. Knowledge allows the smartest organization to de-‐
liver products and services faster and better than its competitors do.

Hard Lesson Learned: ‘Do what you say and say what you do’ is now a man-‐
agement and workplace mantra. What are the critical success factors or prac-‐
tices that make you successful, enhance your personal brand and enhance your
productivity? Chances are your productivity is based on how you manage cus-‐
tomer, time, quality, communications, risk, and performance commitments.
107
EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT

What do you think is more important to career success -‐ people skills or techni-‐
cal skills.

Recent Bell Lab studies indicate your emotional quotient, the EQ, is now as im-‐
portant to your long-‐term success as your IQ. IQ, the intelligence quotient, was
once thought to be the key to career success.

Many are finding that IQ is not a measure of life or work success. Many moti-‐
vated average or less than average IQ people have excelled in life and work
through single focused desire and drive.

What does success have to do with smarts? I know middling intelligent people
who’ve made it big. Some wrote best-‐selling mystery books, designed killer
products, or sold real estate. Some of these folks seemed like they belonged in
Densa not Mensa, the genius organization.

A critical theme throughout this book is the emphasis on execution over ideas.
While breakthrough ideas that can be monetized are important, the deployment
of the ideas along with monetization are critical in business.

What’s critical to life and work success? Each of us has one or multiple core
competencies or practices. Smart people in life learn to identify, develop, and
capitalize on them.

Hard Lesson Learned: What does success mean to you? Success is more than
intelligence. Understand what it takes to excel in your field or profession.

108

 Who are your direct customers and stakeholders?
 How do you satisfy your stakeholders?
 Is your work value adding?
 How is your value measured?
 Do they know or see the value of your contributions?
 How does your customer or boss value your contributions?
 What are your time constraints?
 How do you manage your time around these constraints?
 What does quality mean to you and your stakeholders?
 Are you a good communicator?
 How do you manage work/career risk?
 How do you keep up with technology?

109
PRODUCTS
THE BRAND YOU

110
FREE AGENT NATION

When you look for a job, you are looking for something that is fading from the socio-‐
economic picture because it is past its evolutionary prime.
William Bridges

Work, careers, and jobs now shift like quicksand. The destruction of traditional
jobs, the emergence of new careers, the role of new work rules, and the funda-‐
mental changes of work can’t be ignored or dismissed. It’s happening! It’s real!
In addition, it’s scary! The US economy is losing millions of jobs as some new
jobs are being created. However, many of the new jobs are fundamentally dif-‐
ferent from what many of us were trained or expected to do.

The assumption of lifetime employment implied we’d have a stable wage that
would predictably increase and if we performed well, we’d receive a bonus.
Otherwise, our wage grew based on performance, attitude, and cost of living.
Now ,lifetime security and employment are myths because of marketplace
changes. Free agency is coming to all professions and to all of us.

William Bridges, a profound thinker of work, calls this in Job Shift ‘de-‐jobbing.’
He makes the critical distinction between a job and work. A job was something
a person did for life. Jobs to be filled will disappear over the long term while
work will always need to be done.

Hard Lesson Learned: How do you feel about the concept of ‘free agent na-‐
tion?’ Are your resentful? Do you feel entitled? It’s important to explore these
feelings and understand how they may hinder your job search and job success.

111

THE INDIVIDUAL AS THE FUNDAMENTAL BUSINESS UNIT

Even Harvard Business Review, the bible of corporate business, had an article
that said:

“The fundamental unit of such an economy is not the corporation but
the individual. Tasks aren’t assigned and controlled through a stable
chain of management but
rather are carried out
autonomously by independent
contractors. These electroni-‐
cally connected freelancers –
e-‐lancers – join together into
fluid and temporary networks
to produce and sell goods and
services. When a job is done -‐
after a day, a month, and a
year – the network dissolves,
and its members become in-‐
dependent agents again, circu-‐ It's all about building Brand You
lating through the economy, value!
seeking the next assignment.”

Whether you are employee or contractor, you have to understand how senior
executives think and act. They think in terms of value. Value can be designing a
product or delivering an essential service. They view you as a resource that
must be able to add value their efforts.

Hard Lesson Learned: As the fundamental business unit, you are a product.
You are a Brand – also called the Brand You. This is one of the toughest things
for people to understand and to accept.
112
ENHANCING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND VALUE

As the marketplace, customers, and companies change, what communicates
core values or a sense of who you are? The answer is personal branding or re-‐
putational equity. A personal brand tells people who you are, what you can do,
and what they can count on from you. It becomes part of your character and
personality.

Can you become a recognizable brand? You bet. It’s a matter of creating your
personal buzz and interest. This may mean managing signature projects, writing
best selling books, or simply talking at professional meetings. With the Web
and Internet, it’s easier than ever to create personal buzz.

There are many studies that identify the attributes of product success. What
makes a product a success can also make you successful. Once a customer or
stakeholder is identified, then you can enhance your worth or value by:

 Developing abilities not available from competitors
 Providing good or higher value for money
 Finding a better way of meeting customer requirements and needs
 Providing excellent quality relative to competitor’s products
 Offering better price performance characteristics than a competitor’s
products or services.

Hard Lesson Learned: I ‘got it’ about personal branding from Martha Stewart –
a convicted felon. Martha has branded herself and is universally accepted as the
‘Taste Goddess.’ When she was incarcerated, I though she was toast. Well, she
was resuscitated her brand. She has books, magazines, videos, Web site, soft-‐
ware, etc. You name it she has used it to extend her brand following incarcera-‐
tion.

113
THE BRAND YOU

We’re seeing more migration to temporary work. A recent study indicated that
up to one-‐third of the companies reported using professional temporaries as
managerial, professional, and technical specialists.

Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, predicted recently that “in the future, the
balance of employment power will change. We’ll witness the revenge of the
downsized.”1 Well, guess what? In today’s hi-‐tech companies, it’s not unusual
to find 30 or 40% of the employees are high paid temps or contractors. Tempo-‐
raries with specialized knowledge and skills can earn a lot of money.

Reengineering forced companies to institutionalize the notion that organiza-‐
tional processes must be flexible and periodically must be transformed. Much
in the same way, we all must assess our work choices and if necessary
reengineer our careers. Just as any business, we must understand our present
core proficiencies, understand what’s valued in the marketplace, and if neces-‐
sary tweak our existing competencies or develop new ones.

Tom Peters, the guru’s guru, knows a good thing when he sees one. He picked
up on the theme that we’re all going to be self-‐employed professionals and
trademarked the expression: ‘The Brand Called You.’TM Great idea and great
timing! Peters said it succinctly: “We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc.
To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the
Brand called You.”2

Hard Lesson Learned: What do you need to do to develop The Brand You? De-‐
liver on special projects. Satisfy diverse customer requirements. Develop self-‐
discipline. Be resilient. Be able to balance peaks in work activity.

114
YOUR BRAND YOU ASSOCIATIONS

A major theme through this book is that we’re all leaders of our destinies as Me
Inc., Brand-‐You or CEO of your career. In other words, we are all portable pro-‐
ducers of value. As a product, we may offer a courteous phone response, engi-‐
neering consulting services, gentle dentistry, or milling a machine part. All these
services and activities add real and perceived customer value.

So, what does this product discussion have to do with you? Everything!
If most of us are going to be itinerant professionals then we need to think about
how we can differentiate ourselves in the marketplace. The Brand You is the
method. Let us first start with the definition of a brand. A brand is a name,
term, or reputation that identifies unique goods and services.

Can a person be a brand? You bet. Think Michael Jordan, Oprah, and Lebron
James. What do they have in common? They are well-‐known names that im-‐
part real and perceived value. Each person is a brand – a Brand You. These
folks have established name franchises that offer known value. In today’s econ-‐
omy, the difference is not between competing workers, but it is between people
who have a reputation and enhanced personal brand that conveys value.

So, what does your name convey to people, to employers, and to the world in
general? What do they associate with your work products? Is it high quality?
Do you manage highly visible projects so they are on budget, on schedule and
within scope? All of these are part of your Brand You.

You many be offended by the thought that you are a product. If people, cus-‐
tomers or employers do not know who you are, you are simply perceived as an
interchangeable product – a commodity. They only see your resume. They
don’t really know or frankly care who you are. They have to infer from your re-‐
sume what value your can offer them and the firm.

Hard Lesson Learned: Can you think of the associations or attributes that your
Brand You conveys?
115

ARE YOU OFFENDED BY THE BRAND YOU CONCEPT
You are your first product, so positioning yourself in the market, as an individual is
extremely important.
Portia Isaacson, Founder Future Computing

It’s not only about why and how companies add value and innovate. It’s about
how suppliers, contractors, employees, and ultimately all of us must do the
same thing. We all have to add value.

A person must continually invest in themselves to increase their skills and
knowledge, create, maintain, and grow relationships, and expose themselves to
new ideas in their field and other fields.

A person has natural abilities, skills and talents that they need to build upon – they need
to find the right fit for themselves. It is a rare employer that tries to find the right fit for
an employee. In today’s buyer’s market employers find it easier to replace an employee
that doesn’t meet expectations.

A person must continually invest in themselves to increase their skills and knowledge,
create, maintain, and grow relationships, and expose themselves to new ideas in their
field and other fields.

Specifically, you are a product with value. A product is a value-‐added good or
service that someone buys. It may be a solution to a problem, a thing meeting a
need, a profitable idea, or an effective method to do something. Just about
everything you’ve read about products in this chapter, you can apply to your-‐
self.

Hard Lesson Learned: Be ethical at all times. Learn and implement the ‘Prac-‐
tices’ listed in this book. Be totally objective. Know your technical, subject mat-‐
ter very well. Be a generalist, but also a specialist in several areas. Know at
least one industry sector well.

116
BRAND YOU MANAGEMENT

In the de-‐jobbed world, a worker without a product is like a company without a product:
full of potential resources, perhaps, but competitively not even in the game.
William Bridges, Career Strategist

As a worker, it is critical that you start now to define your Band U and reputa-‐
tion. Most workers today offer interchangeable services. It is very difficult to
establish service value. How do people see, feel, or know your value add?
Starting now, to establish your Brand You may be the only way to ensure con-‐
tinued high value added employability throughout your work life.

Brand You reputation is what you carry
through out your life. Building the Brand You
is difficult today for a number of reasons:

 Globalization, outsourcing, and off
shoring are rapidly commoditizing
professions.
 Self-‐promotion is perceivably nega-‐
tively.
 Much higher work and job competi-‐
tion.
 Difficulty to establish a highly
differentiable value add. You’re going to spend
 Globalization creates more Brand You
more time managing your
competition from Chinese and Indian
workers. personal Brand.
 Strong downward price pressures.

Hard Lesson Learned: What does this mean for you? If you are a Commoditiza-‐
tion U, then your work and contributions will not be properly valued by cus-‐
tomer or employers. The result is that your work will be perceived as commod-‐
ity work that can be standardized and ultimately outsourced to China or India.
Remember, perceptions are everything.
117
BRAND YOU EQUITY AND VALUE ADD

What is your Brand You equity? Never heard the concept before? The Brand
You equity consists of all your personal attributes, ethics, reputation, and pro-‐
fessional associations around your work, career, and job.

Think how companies use brands to differentiate themselves from their compe-‐
tition. How do you use your reputation or name to enhance your business?
What does your name evoke in terms of accomplishments, abilities, trust, or
contacts? Does your reputation confer trust? Do people ask you to be part of a
special project team? Do customers purchase your services based on your repu-‐
tation and do they pay a premium for this assurance. What do you consistently
deliver to your friends, family, customers, and stakeholders? When people
come to you, what do they want? What are they looking for?

What is in it for you to enhance your Brand You equity?

 Create greater loyalty.
 Less vulnerability to outsourcing.
 Create more opportunities as customer seek your ideas, enthusiasm,
and skills.
 Earn more money than your competitors do.
 Create a higher perceived value add to customer and to employers be-‐
cause of your carefully crafted and nurtured Brand You.
 Manage high visibility and high potential projects.
 Increase your likeability and choices in life.

Hard Lesson Learned: What are your demonstrable stories and value add?
How is your brand equity demonstrated?
118
THE BRAND YOU DRIVER

Project workers are on rise! More companies are hiring project workers to work
on specific deliverables. Project workers can be internal employees or contrac-‐
tors. In many companies, they are interchangeable.

According to Charles Handy, an organization’s middle ring is composed of port-‐
folio or project people who have specific skills the organization needs for special
projects. Handy viewed portfolio people literally in terms of independent con-‐
sultants putting different bits
of work into folders which
are sold to the highest bid-‐
der, much like engineers,
writers, architects or journal-‐
ists already do.

These folders reflect our best
project accomplishments.
We’ll promote and sell our
portfolios from employer to
employer and from project to
project. Well in many organi-‐ Handy Work Model
zations, project people are in
the ascendancy as they move
from job to job accumulating and applying knowledge, which translate, to
higher wages.

Hard Lesson Learned: The Handy model is the major driver of the Brand You.

119

THE BRAND YOU – THE LEARNING PERSON
The secret of business success is not who you know. It’s what you know.
The Wall Street Journal Advertisement

Core process competencies are what differentiate one company from another.
Organizational core competence is the same as an individual core competence
or proficiency. We all have assorted abilities and skills -‐ individual core compe-‐
tencies. Many are current and value adding while others are obsolescent and
need to be updated. Our core competencies or proficiencies differentiate us
from one another and add value in the marketplace much in the same way a
company’s competencies do.

The organizational challenge is to communicate rewards and risks for us to
maintain and update skills that reinforce the organizational mission and strat-‐
egy. A new agreement is thus established between the organization and the
employee. The organization communicates its present and future work re-‐
quirements and offers us the opportunity to update our skills. If our skills add
very high value or if the market doesn’t have skills that we offer, then we are
offered incentives or we can sell our knowledge to the highest bidder.

Remember, there are a number of ways to develop personal competencies and
be successful. It’s more than brainpower. More psychologists and others say
that IQ is only one and may be the least important characteristic of success.
Robert Sternberg, a Yale psychologist, believes that intelligence consists of three
factors: 1. Analytical skills ensure high standardized scores such as on IQ tests; 2.
Practical abilities or street smarts ensure that a person can adapt to new cir-‐
cumstances; and 3. Creative talent implies the ability to develop and innovate
new products. Success becomes a matter of taking smart risks, thinking outside
of the box, seeing opportunities around change, exploring alternatives, thinking
non-‐linearly, and seeing new ways to solve problems.

Hard Lesson Learned: Success in today’s markets is much more than technical
or industry knowledge. It’s all about a person’s emotional quotient.
120
HALF LIFE OF KNOWLEDGE

Self-‐development replaces corporate career management or guaranteed em-‐
ployment. Traditionally companies told us what’s necessary to perform a task
or job satisfactorily. The company then provided resources, training, and incen-‐
tives to ensure the task was performed according to company policies, proce-‐
dures, and expectations. This has now changed as more companies move to-‐
wards a system of developing employee potential through self-‐development.
Through self-‐development, we’re encouraged to enhance our skills, knowledge,
and capabilities. A company can tell us what needs to be done to meet its stra-‐
tegic goals but we’re ultimately responsible for ensuring we have the skills to do
our jobs.

There are several major assumptions in self-‐development. First, our employers
or customers rely on us to determine what’s the best method to do a job and to
develop the right career path to get there. As well, our employer says that ac-‐
countability for success is now shared between the company and us. We as-‐
sume more responsibility for our work. We must show initiative, seek opportu-‐
nities, be resourceful, and get the job done. In other words, entrepreneurial
value must be added.

What’s in it for us? The employer will offer education, training, and learning
opportunities, which may lead to new projects, a lateral transfer, or even a pro-‐
motion. Since lifetime employment is less of an option, we avail ourselves of
training for self-‐development and for self-‐renewal. As more job postings detail
specific requirements, we know what needs to be done to get the next promo-‐
tion, job transfer, or even start our own business.

Hard Lesson Learned: I think that I’ve paid my dues. I have experience. I have
the right knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job. Now, my boss wants me
to have another ticket punched. I resist. Not smart. Gotta keep up. Whatever
occurs, we’ll all evolve into itinerant professionals.

121
MANAGING YOUR CAREER LIFECYCLE

Your career or job has a lifecycle. It starts, grows, matures, and declines like any
product lifecycle. The trick is to understand where you are in the lifecycle. At
the start of the cycle, you learn a job, identify your stakeholders, understand
their expectations, and develop skills to satisfy these expectations. As the job
grows, perhaps with more responsibility and authority, you develop managerial
skills. As the job changes and you mature, you expand the job’s scope by taking
on more responsibilities or enhance your employability by developing new skills.

You’re going to spend more time managing your reputation -‐ your brand!
As the job becomes repetitive and boring, you may investigate alternate career
paths and explore new options either inside or more often outside the organiza-‐
tion. Remember, work mobility is accepted more often as a way to gain key
work knowledge and experience.

If you are career obsolescent, you can learn new value-‐adding skills or develop a
new career. You’ll have 5 or more different careers during your lifetime. De-‐
veloping a new product is more interesting than tweaking or modifying an exist-‐
ing product in order to extend its useful life.

Hard Lesson Learned: Maybe, you’re burned out. Or, maybe you want to do
something new. Finding a new career is more difficult and time consuming than
finding a new job or tweaking our skill set for a new promotion or lateral posi-‐
tion with our present employer.

122
TRY, TRY, TRY UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT

The smartest folks in college and business seemed to gravitate to big companies
because of the money, perks, and potential. Now, we’re seeing another trend.
Smart folks straight out of college or B-‐school go into a big business to learn
product development, sales, purchasing, supplier management, customer serv-‐
ice and general management. Then, they start their own businesses and do it
again and again. It’s in the blood, almost a gambler’s high.

Another group is the ‘best and brightest’ business professionals who’ve already
been there and done that. They’re portfolio professionals. They’re top-‐notch
people who work for a start-‐up or a small company with below-‐market salaries
but with the right stock incentives. If the company goes through an Initial Public
Offering (IPO), these stock options suddenly multiply and they’re instant mil-‐
lionaires or even instant billionaires. High-‐risk -‐ very high returns.

People work for a big company usually because of its strength, security, bene-‐
fits, and stability. All of which are not found in a small company. As well, big
companies offer challenges and resources to do things small company employ-‐
ees can only dream of. In big organizations, there is often a well-‐defined career
path. Big projects are funded and there are sufficient resources to complete
them.

Big companies are different from small companies and sometimes radically so.
What ensures success in one is often a death wish in the other. For example,
corporations often reward obedience, conformity, risk aversion, backslapping,
and policy conformance. On the other hand, traditional entrepreneurial
strengths include independence, risk taking, nonconformity, and a ‘breaking the
rules’ mentality.

Hard Lesson Learned: Try different things throughout your career to see what
works for you. If you’re a mature worker, still keeping trying new things. Your
work life is going to be longer than expected.
123
PRITCHETT’S RULES FOR JOB SUCCESS

Here’s another top 12 list. Pritchett’s list is nuanced a little differently.

 Become a quick-‐change artist.
 Commit fully to your job.
 Speed up.
 Accept ambiguity and uncertainty.
 Behave like you’re in business for yourself.
 Stay in school.
 Hold yourself accountable for outcomes.
 Add value.
 See yourself as a service center.
 Practice kaizen (continuous improvement).
 Be a fixer, not a finger-‐pointer.
 Alter your expectations.3

Both the executive or the person going after the first job can use Prichett’s list
of job success.

Hard Lesson Learned: Several things jump out from the list. Pritchett ‘gets it.’
What was acceptable work and job performance pre Wall Street meltdown is
not acceptable any more. More work is expected to be done with the same re-‐
sources. Folks who step up are going to be rewarded.

I also like his emphasis on outcomes. It’s surprising how many managers and
workers still think that process and action are similar to outcomes. Wrong!!!
There is much more emphasis on outcomes these days

124
INNOVATE OR BE OBLITERATED

FISH: First in. Still Here.
Anonymous

Most executives I know are frankly scared these days. Competitive and business
rules have changed too quickly. They don’t understand their competitive land-‐
scape and its new rules. Why? There’s too much uncertainty and unknown
risks. They can’t forecast based on historically, stable, and straight-‐line assump-‐
tions.

Executives need to generate revenue and cut costs. We’re seeing massive head-‐
count reductions to reduce costs. But, when the company is cutting to the
bone, innovation is a better way to generate new sources of revenue. Compa-‐
nies at looking to innovate constantly and rapidly to sustain profitability during
this recession.

Executives face the challenge that the history of technology is full of neat ideas
that just didn’t cut it. Sometimes, the customer had unrealistic expectations.
Sometimes, the development team was clueless of what the customer really
wanted. Sometimes, the techno-‐turkey product or service simply didn’t connect
with the end user.

And, there are time and cost pressures. Companies now develop a new genera-‐
tion of products yearly or even quarterly. Competition is Darwinian. Although
some 13,000 new products hit the market each year, only 40% will be around 5
years later. The time-‐to-‐market math becomes pretty simple.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you’re innovative and have experience commercializing
products, then you’re going to be well positioned over the next 10 years. If
you’re fundamentally not innovative, then find ways to support innovation, to
commercialize it, or to monetize it. As much as possible, you want to be on the
innovation and revenue side of equation, not the expense side.
125
NEW MANTRA: MONETIZE

In the future, more people will work for themselves, creating a huge market
for bizarre products.
Scott Adams, ‘Dilbert’ creator

Monetize is all about how to make money – turning lemons into killer lemonade
on a 105 degree day or even better on a 32 degree day. The challenge is that
product and service innovation is part art and part technology. What worked
before may not work in the future. Product extensions, brand extensions, and
new features or functionality may not cut it. In addition, all companies are try-‐
ing to do the same thing.

Designing a reliable and aesthetically pleasing product is difficult because of re-‐
duced product lifecycles. A 10-‐year product lifecycle may now be compressed
into 2 years or even 1 year. There’s little time to adapt or modify the product.
The right product must be delivered to the customer at the right time. If it’s
not, the customer will shop around until he/she is satisfied.

Examples of rapid product innovation can be found all over. Hewlett-‐Packard
wants 80% of its revenues to come from products that are less than 3 years old.
Fashion designs change quarterly. Software is enhanced yearly. Twice as fast
computer chips are introduced every two years. Even in the automotive indus-‐
try, General Motors wants to halve product development time from the current
40 months to 24 months.

Consumers are also getting smarter. They’ll shop for the best buy, will pay for
only what they really want, and will switch products or services in a heartbeat.
What does this mean for companies, you, and me? Companies start thinking
about just-‐in-‐time employment. People are hired for specific projects and when
the project ends, people are placed in a new project pool.

Hard Lesson Learned: Do you know how to monetize products or services?
Think of the new competitive landscape as an opportunity to distinguish your-‐
self from the competition.
126
ADDING VALUE
The real issue is value, not price.
Robert Lindgren, Business person

Customers are demanding aesthetically pleasing, just in time, high quality, value
priced products. Examples can be found all over. Proctor & Gamble in 1992
killed its marginal brands, cut product lines, and shaved product prices thus sav-‐
ing consumers about $2 billion by lowering its overall prices by 6%. This how-‐
ever was not done without the pain of radically transforming the organization
and dramatic cost cutting.

To stay competitive, companies are shaving costs, killing marginal product
brands, cutting product lines, reengineering processes, outsourcing non-‐core
processes, projectizing work, and reducing suppliers. Products and services that
routinely increased in price each year are now stabilizing as competitive pres-‐
sures and customer resistance cap price increases.

This is also occurring in services. Professional firms, such as law, engineering,
architecture, and medical offices, were once immune to marketplace pressures.
No more! Consumers can shop for the best prices and services. Since service
quality and price are uniformly high, what differentiates your services from oth-‐
ers? It's all about adding value!

Hard Lesson Learned: So, what value do you add? Start connecting the dots in
your life. Do what works. Drop what doesn’t. Focus on adding value. Pushing
your boundaries and try to see what's coming up the horizon.

127
YOUR VALUE ADD: IDEAS AND INNOVATION

If you’re a dreamer and idea person, you’re going to be in big demand if you can
dream, develop, market, commercialize, and finally monetize the ideas. The
critical point here is that coming up with the ideas is not good enough, the idea
has to be commercial and also deployable.

With all this change, your employer’s or customer’s thinking goes something like
this. Customers want a new product or an enhanced existing product. Who’s
got the ideas, knows our core competencies, and has the abilities to exploit
them? Answer: our employees – namely you.

So, the next frontier of new ideas is from us – people, employees, or contrac-‐
tors. Management consultants have coined a new term, ‘knowledge engineer-‐
ing’, to describe how organizations want to capture our inspiration, innovation,
and invention. This may be another trend or fad -‐ we’ll see in 2 years.

Companies are caught in a quandary. The company spent years satisfying one
set of stakeholders, creditors and shareholders, to make the organization more
efficient and productive. However, it was done at a huge cost, the loss of em-‐
ployee commitment. The company may have downsized, merged, changed
working rules, developed new employer-‐employee contracts, or raised per-‐
formance expectations.

Your employer or customer now wants to develop new disruptive products but
needs your commitment, inspiration, and loyalty. Many of us already feel
crunched having to do more with less. We’re now asked to commit and con-‐
tribute to an organization that may have fired our best friend. No more! There’s
a point of diminishing and finally no return when transformational survivors say
‘go figure’ when they’re asked to contribute their hearts and souls to an enter-‐
prise with ever changing rules and expectations.

Hard Lesson Learned: Figure out what’s doable and right for your company, but
focus and look out for #1.
128
YOUR VALUE ADD: EXECUTION

Successful big corporations should devolve into becoming
‘confederations of entrepreneurs.’
Norman McCrae, Editor

Here’s a chicken and egg question. What’s more important: an original idea or
the ability to execute the idea? Well in 1982, 80% of the Inc. Magazine’s 500
CEOs thought their company’s killer idea,
product, or service lead to success. By
the 1990’s, most CEOs thought it was su-‐
perior execution -‐ process management
and project management -‐ that led to
success.

On the other hand, an employee may
want to commercialize the idea on his or
her own. The personal question is even
more intriguing: ‘if I have the knowledge,
why should I share it with my employer
and why not commercialize it myself?’

A huge problem is many companies is
while the sharing of information is en-‐
couraged, individual contributors with

special knowledge are rewarded. Indi-‐
Professionals wear
vidual excellers in many organizations
seem to keep their jobs or expand their many hats.
influence. Team players get congeniality
awards. Moreover, sharers get pink slipped.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you work for an organization that encourages sharing,
but rewards individual achievement, keep your ideas to yourself and check out
other jobs.

129
PRODUCTS PERSONAL TOOLS

 Do you see yourself as a service provider and if so in what ways?
 Alternatively, are you offended by this idea? And if you are in what
ways?
 Can a career, even yours perhaps, be managed like a product brand?
 What has been your career and work lifecycle?
 What products or services have you developed or significantly partici-‐
pated in developing or delivering in the last:
o Month?
o 6 months?
o 1 year?
 Who values your contributions?
 How and why do they value your contributions?
 How would you personally brand yourself, specifically what would you
do?

130
PROCESS
CORE WORK

131
WORK IS STRUCTURE

If we have had a formula for growth it has been; start with the best; learn from the best,
expand slowly and solidify our position; then horizontally diversify our expertise.
Mark McCormick, business person

All companies, even global corporations, have discovered they can’t be all things
to all people. As companies attempted to please different customers with a
large variety of products, problems arose. Resources were spread too thin so a
company could only do certain things moderately well. The wise decision was
to focus and develop ‘world class’, core process competencies. There’s a good
business reason for this.

Process orientation involves a change of mindset, a change in how we perceive
and approach our work. A process orientation is a paradigm shift away from the
functional and hierarchal to a horizontal model of business. A process orienta-‐
tion involves these interrelated factors:

 Structure. A core process is smooth, balanced, structured, seamless,
value adding, replicable, efficient, effective, and economic. The process
has a beginning and an end. It consists of a number of value-‐adding
steps, each of which has a customer and a supplier.
 Layout. A process orientation is a horizontal, end-‐to-‐end view of work.
A process may cut across an organization into the supplier base and
even to the final customer. A process can span different functions,
plants, and departments throughout the organization. Process orienta-‐
tion seems to work well in matrixed organizations.
 Accountability. A project team or self-‐managed individual is responsi-‐
ble for a process step or even for the entire process from beginning to
end. In process language, this accountability is called process owner-‐
ship.

Hard Lesson Learned: The closer an employee or consultant can align with a
company’s core process, the easier it is to demonstrate long term value.

132
TODAY’S WORK RULES

Process is a particular course of action intended to achieve a result.
Dictionary

Work consists special projects and core processes. Thomas Davenport, author
of Thinking for a Living said:

“To treat something as a process is to impose a formal structure on it –
to identify its beginning, end, and intermediate steps, to clarify who the
customer is for it, to measure it, to take stock of how well it is currently
being performed, and ultimately to improve it.”

Work rules are guidelines, tips and tools along with the right attitude can lead to
success. They follow a series of steps. They are generalized statements that
describe what is true in most or cases. There will always be exceptions.

To work and be successful today, it is critical to know work rules. Every organi-‐
zation or work place has rules. Some of these are prescribed and some are im-‐
plicit.

Hard Lesson Learned: Discover the underlying processes to your work, career,
and job. Ask the right questions of your work, career, and job. Work hard to
find the answers. It’s critical to know them if you’re going to be successful and
happy.

133
TODAY’S ORGANIZATIONAL PARADIGMS

The traditional organizational structure was a pyramid with the Chief Executive
Officer at the top. Now, organizational shapes span the entire spectrum from
pyramid, matrix, clusters, and virtual, including:

 Core process. A common business wisdom is to focus on core processes
and competencies or in other words, stick to your knitting. In this way,
key process, team, and individual skills are developed that differentiate
one company from another.
 Project. More companies are organized around projects or activities.
Highly focused teams do a specific job and when the project is finished,
the team disbands.
 Organism. The organic organization is the current hot idea. Michael
Rothschild in Bionomics: Economy as Ecosystem and others describe
teams, organizations, industries, and even Gaia earth as organisms. The
Internet is a commonly cited example of an organic organization. What
characterizes these organizational organisms? The organism merges,
melds, and morphs to fit external requirements.
 Federalist structure. Charles Handy describes a structure of separate
companies or individuals loosely clustered into a federation. The com-‐
panies are grouped and matrixed around businesses, functions, regions
or customers instead of the hierarchal pyramid.
 Ever changing organization. The Newtonian business model doesn’t fit
well in today’s chaotic marketplace. It’s being questioned as change oc-‐
curs so fast that organizations don’t have time to react to reestablish
stability. The stable state is evolving to the current norm -‐ the chaotic
state. This has become the rationale for continual organizational trans-‐
formations.

Hard Lesson Learned: Companies are trying to figure out what’s the best struc-‐
ture for them. Is there one best structure? No. The key is a flexible structure.
The most effective organizational structure is one that satisfies multiple
stakeholders using the fewest resources.
134
DRIVE TO FLATTEN ORGANIZATIONS

While the hierarchal business organization still predominates, it’s also changing.
Now, the hierarchal model is flatter and amorphous. Innovative organizational
models are often based on interlocking groups, virtual partnerships, strategic
alliances, and matrix organizations.

In the horizontal organization, hierarchal levels disappear, work is simplified,
and information is universally available. Responsibility, authority, resources,
information, and decision-‐making are downloaded to the lowest organizational
level. Hierarchal-‐ functional em-‐
ployees evolve into process owners.
Work is done simultaneously or
concurrently by self-‐managed proc-‐
ess or project teams. Specifications
are jointly developed so everyone is
familiar with them. Processes are
stabilized, documented, and capa-‐
ble. If there are process deficien-‐
cies, the team has the skills to solve
Projectized-Matrix Organization
them.

Core activities are designed around end-‐to-‐end processes while special activities
are project managed. However, new problems can arise. To illustrate a recent
challenge in a flattened organization, a manager had three direct reports to
manage 90 people. Three front-‐line supervisors don’t exist anymore and this
person now manages 90 people. What’s the most effective way to do this?
Ninety direct reports are too wide a span of control. Thus, the rise of self-‐
managed project teams and self directed individuals in a matrix organization.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you’re a contractor and employee in today’s flattened
organization, you’ve got to learn to self manage your work and manage your
boss. If you can’t, you’re going to be labeled as ‘high maintenance.’ This is to-‐
day’s kiss of death.
135
CHARLES HANDY’S WORK MODEL

Reorganization is the permanent condition of a vigorous organization.
Roy Ash

Charles Handy, probably the smartest workplace guru, said more than ten years
ago that work is fundamentally changing. He coined the notion of ½ by 2 by 3
rule of corporate fitness. This workplace is characterized by half as many people
on the payroll, paid twice as much, producing three times as much. Hand’s
work model consists of 3 circles:

 Inner ring. The inner ring, the or-‐
ganizational core, is composed of
corporate insiders, managers, and
professionals. They are the glue
that holds the organization to-‐
gether and grows it.
 Middle ring. Portfolio or project
workers inhabit the middle ring
according to Handy. These people
are contractors or temporary
workers. These people offer marketable, transferable skills, knowledge,
and abilities that add organizational value. These skills are portable and
can be sold to the highest bidder. A person may become an itinerant
professional selling his or her skills from employer to employer.
 Outer ring. The outer ring is composed of largely interchangeable and
disposable workers. These workers are often less skilled service em-‐
ployees. Many are marginal workers who service the repetitive needs
of the organization such as food service, administrative chores, or travel
services.

Hard Lesson Learned: The Handy model is a process model of work. It’s critical
to know if you are core, project or an exchangeable employee as far as your
company or client is concerned.
136
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER’S OR EMPLOYER’S WORK MODEL

I give lots of professional talks. I normally ask attendees: “how many of you
know your company’s business model?” Less then 10% do. People can tell me
what they do and what department they’re in. But, they don’t know the com-‐
pany’s business model. That’s shocking. Moreover, I can pretty much say that
these are the Handy workers who are expendable if there’s an economic blip.

So, do you know your customer’s or employer’s work model? It may follow the
Handy model or be some variant.

Critical questions to ask your employer or customer are: Are you or your process
part of your organization’s inner, middle, or outer rings. If your process is not
part of the organizational core, then what’s the chance that it will be outsour-‐
ced? If you’re a middle manager, what does the organization want to do with
your department or activities? If you’re a middle ring person, a project consult-‐
ant, what’s critical to your customer? What skills are critical to your customer
and what’s it willing to pay for them?

Hard Lesson Learned: What do this critical question have to do with you? Eve-‐
rything! If you don’t know your company’s business model, you don’t know
how to add value to the core. If you don’t know how to add value, you’re ulti-‐
mately expendable. Sorry, about the bad news. However, that’s the way it is.

137
BUT, THE HANDY MODEL IS SO BLEAK!!!

I’ve introduced the Handy Work Model to thousands of people in workshops
and seminars. The common refrain I hear is: “it’s so bleak and negative.”

Good point. It is what it is. This is what’s happening in the competitive market
and the competitive workplace. And, it’s getting more ferocious as the econ-‐
omy implodes.

When Handy first proposed his bleak vision of the corporate workplace more
than ten years ago, it was considered too radical. Middle managers were con-‐
sidered indispensable. Quality, information systems, accounting, training, in-‐
dustrial engineering, and human resource professionals were considered neces-‐
sary to sustain the organization. But, things changed, many core functions
moved to the middle ring and were considered outsourceable.

Many middle management functions were downloaded to first level supervision
and self-‐directed teams. Managerial and technical professionals became part of
Handy’s middle ring and were retained as long as they added value, otherwise
the functions are downsized and the services outsourced to middle or outer ring
employees.

The middle ring continues to evolve. Middle ring people work on projects that
complement or supplement the organization’s core processes. For example, a
company may want to develop a complex new product. The company doesn’t
have the resources internally so it’ll hire contractors to complement its existing
core team with specialized skills. Or, if a fast-‐food restaurant anticipates a
spring or summer rush of business, it’ll hire temps to ensure there are sufficient
people to prepare food and service customers.

Hard Lesson Learned: Handy model is one of the work models that all compa-‐
nies – global, big and small business – are adopting. Live with it! Figure out
how to add value within the model.

138
THE ‘TOP THREE’ RULE OF BIG BUSINESS!

Many large companies are following the ‘top three’ rule of business.

There have been lots of mergers in the last year in telecommunications, auto,
banking, and healthcare industries. What are the signals for a merger or a rapid
change? Well there is the ‘top three’ rule. In competitive, mature markets, the
rule says there is room for only three major players along with several niche
players. Some industries even have a similar ‘top two’ rule. This can be seen in
beer, rental cars, cereals, tires, insurance, pizza chains and many more indus-‐
tries.

If a company, division, or plant is not in the top 2 or 3 in its business, then senior
management will look closely to see if it can be or management will explore
business alternatives. Jack Welch, GE’s CEO, is well know for instilling the ‘fix-‐it,
sell-‐it, or close-‐it’ mentality in its management.

Hard Lesson Learned: The ‘top three’ is a business model that more businesses
are adopting. Every business has a business model. Know it. Understand how
your company or customer positions itself in the marketplace. What products
or services does it offer? What are its margins? Finally, what does this mean to
you?

139
THE ‘RULE OF THREE’

I find the ‘rule of three’ is used a lot in business and life. For example if I’m pro-‐
posing options to a client, I’ve learn the hard way to just propose 3 alternatives.
The person really just can’t handle more and has retained us to make the front
end smart eliminations.

The rule of three is also used as a leadership model as in the Marine Corps. The
Marine Corps is a well-‐respected mobile fighting unit that gets its mission done.
Part of the Marine Corps leadership model is the ‘rule-‐of-‐three.’

The thinking goes like this. A person should limit his or her attention to three
tasks or goals. It’s pretty simple. There are infinite possibilities in any situation,
which can short circuit decision-‐making. The rule-‐of-‐three says cut down the
options to three alternative courses of action.

Otherwise, a marine or anyone becomes overextended and confused especially
in stressful situations such as in a fire-‐fight. A corporal has a three-‐person fire
team; a sergeant has a squad of three fire teams; a lieutenant has three squads;
and so on. Since everyone is taught to be an effective decision-‐maker, authority
is pushed to the lowest level.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you’re in doubt in terms of how much information or
options you should offer in a proposal, remember the ‘rule of three.’

140
ORCHESTRA AS ORGANIZATIONAL METAPHOR

We are looking for the right organizational metaphor in this terribly competitive
climate. What’s the best structure and process for getting work done? It may
be an orchestra.

An orchestra is used as a metaphor for organizational and project process excel-‐
lence. The orchestra is a group of individuals, each of whom is gifted, has a
unique talent, and a distinct way of delivering music to satisfied customers.
Usually, each player is a superstar in his or her right. Each musician adds value
and pleasure to the theater goer. Each orchestra musician is chosen because of
unique abilities and talents. The musician must pass an audition based on talent
and ability. Once chosen, the musician must rehearse and continue to build
upon his or her abilities.

The orchestra is composed of different instruments and sections. This is very
similar to any office or factory with its functional groups, professionals, proc-‐
esses, and teams. The goal of each musical section, whether it’s woodwinds,
strings, or brass is to consistently blend with other musical sections. Each pro-‐
fessional may also add his or her own interpretation to the music.

Hard Lesson Learned: Hollywood or the orchestra is a hybrid process and pro-‐
ject model used by many organizations. Would this work in your present orga-‐
nization? What would you have to do to propose a pilot using this model?

141
TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE AND MUSHY WORK RULES

When I started working, I thought that most work rules are defined in policies,
procedures, and work instructions. They are often found in a manual are more
often than not are used as a doorstop.

So, how do work place develop rules for work. Implicit rules are important as
the rules that are written down.

 Process rules are how work gets done in a company. Process rules out-‐
line the flow of work, resources, ideas, monies, and other mission criti-‐
cal assets. Process rules are usually horizontal cutting across vertical si-‐
los.

 Functional rules are the rules of the work silos of the organization. The-‐
se rules can be functionally, service, or location based. For example,
engineering, accounting, finance, are each a vertical that may have its
own rules.

 Implicit rules are the unwritten rules of work. They can be as common
sensical as, demonstrating good etiquette and politeness at work. The
list of implicit rules is vast and can’t be complete lists in an organization.
As well, implicit rules can change from employer to employer and from
function to function even within an organization.

Hard Lesson Learned: The real world of work has mushy and ambiguous rules.
As much as possible, try to decipher and learn them. If you’re new to the orga-‐
nization, find a mentor.

142
THE VALUE CHAIN

Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor, coined the term ‘value
chain’ in the 1980’s. The concept and term took off. The value chain is one of
the must-‐know business concepts for everyone. Every organization performs a
sequence of activities to produce a product or offer a service. These activities
add value to customers who continue purchasing the company’s products and
services. These value-‐adding activities provide income to satisfy shareholders,
provide employment, and ensure the company continues to be viable.

According from Wikipedia:

Products pass through all activities of the chain in order, and at each
activity the product gains some value. The chain of activities gives the
products more added value than the sum of the independent activity's
value.

Finding the right organizational structure or process has become difficult and is
a major soul searching activity. Several years ago, Fortune Magazine said: “get-‐
ting from here (the vertical, functional organization) to there (the horizontal,
process-‐based one) is quite possibly the greatest management challenge of our
times.”

Hard Lesson Learned: Outsourcing and off shoring are part of the value chain
conundrum. What should a company do internally and what should the com-‐
pany outsource? Determine where and how your work process and outputs
support the value chain. This is a critical part of your value add.
143
VIRTUAL WORK

Quality + Engineering – our company – is a virtual organization. What do I
mean? We pull professionals together to do different jobs. We pull engineers to
together to work on a project with a firm beginning and hard ending. We’re
seeing more virtual organizations and you’ll be working for one soon.

What is a virtual organization? The virtual organization is an amorphous entity
that delivers products or services to customers with the external appearance of
a single company. A core group usually originates the idea and pulls resources
together to actualize the idea. Examples of virtual organizations include special
project teams, supplier partnerships, global consulting organizations, franchis-‐
ing, start-‐ups, joint ventures, rock bands on the road, small businesses, and tele-‐
commuting.

In a virtual team, everyone is an expert. Value-‐added capabilities are brought
in. Synergies arise. The output is greater than the sum of the parts. Each per-‐
son evolves into a consultant with marketable skills that are contracted to the
virtual entity.

What pulls the virtual organization together is synergy -‐ the awareness that the
sum of skills and knowledge is greater than the individual parts. To make the
virtual organization work, a person brings something of value to the table. It
may be money, contacts, special knowledge, or other resources. When the pro-‐
ject is over, the virtual group may attempt another project or it may disband.
Virtual organization benefits include improved flexibility and lower overhead.

Virtual organizations and teams are somewhat new but will become more prev-‐
alent as small companies, and yes even individuals, develop state of the art,
‘world class’ technologies, skills, capabilities, information, or other resources.

Hard Lesson Learned: Be ready to work in a virtual organization or virtual team.

144
MIDDLE MANAGER AS PROCESS OWNER AND COACH

I’ve been searching for the meaning of management and specifically middle
management.

Some consultant gurus believe that management, specifically functional middle
management, must fundamentally change. They’re not talking about around
the edges change. They mean dramatic, breakthrough change, not incremental
change. Managerial jobs will require three skills, which don’t have much to do
with traditional management. Managers will evolve into process owners,
coaches-‐teachers, and leaders.

The basic purpose and value of middle management no longer seems to apply.
Middle managers commonly supervised workers or managed information. Now,
self-‐managed teams perform many tasks done by middle managers. As well,
networked computer systems allow everyone to access information.

So, where’s the value of today’s middle managers? I don’t think middle manag-‐
ers will totally disappear. Their roles and responsibilities will fundamentally
change.

Hard Lesson Learned: If you’re a middle manager, pay close attention to the
questions in this book. Your job is going through many changes and will con-‐
tinue.

145
YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH?

Your elevator pitch is a concise description of your value offering or proposition.
The joke about the elevator is that you can pitch it to an executive you meet in
an elevator.

Each of us needs a compelling ‘elevator pitch’ for time of transformation. Our
‘hard money’ business is Critical Infrastructure Protection: Forensics, Assurance,
Analytics. Our elevator pitch goes something like this: “Quality + Engineering
provide peace of mind. How? We help our clients to be Proactive; Preventive;
Predictive; and Preemptive.”

What’s yours?

Hard Lessons Learned: The value of an elevator pitch is that it forces you to
distill your value add in a succinct sentence.

146
TRANSFORMING PROCESSES

The external customer in varying degrees is usually the driver of either a trans-‐
formational or an incremental process change.

A radical transformation may ensue if the customer is very unhappy with a
product and may litigate because of health, safety, or environmental concerns.
Or, the customer is simply unhappy with performance or product quality. Or, a
company doesn’t stand out from its competition. In all these cases, a company
has to change the way it does business. It’s estimated that 90% of big busi-‐
nesses have transformed some or all of their processes.

Only several years ago, there had to be a compelling reason or driver to trans-‐
form an organization. Well, a critical message of The Rules Have Changed is
that continual adaptation has been institutionalized and has become part of the
competitive landscape. Companies are continuously evaluating operations and
readjusting them to add value, cut waste, lower costs, and improve quality. It
may involve continuous, incremental improvement or a radical transformation.

Hard Lesson Learned: Surviving and prospering in organizational transforma-‐
tions is or will be one of the toughest things you’ll ever do in the workplace.
Present yourself as a problem solver, not part of the problem. Be part of the
solution, not part of the problem. Be forward looking.

147
LUDDITES AND WEB 2.0

Luddites were British textile workers in the early 19th Century, who protested
the changes and even destroyed the mechanical looms that threatened their
livelihoods.

Some of the brightest soothsayers say the e-‐world including the Internet will
change the fundamental ways we work and live much like he Industrial Revolu-‐
tion changed work in the 19th century. I first thought this was mega-‐hype by
some fanatical digerati.

The Internet will change the relationship between consumers and producers in
ways more profound than we can yet imagine. The Internet is not just another
marketing channel; it’s not just another advertising medium; it’s not just a way
to speed up transactions. The Internet is the foundation for a new industrial
order.

For example, the new e-‐commerce is changing the balance of power between
customer and manufacturer. Information, ideas, and opinions (whether right or
wrong) will be immediately accessible by anyone anywhere.

Hard Lesson Learned: The web is the backbone of how we work. It's amazing
how many older workers don't know how to use the web to find a job or to use
it to find work. This is a career or work inhibitor. Stay current.

148
ITINERANT PROFESSIONALS

The lifelong project career path is evolving inside and outside organizations. We
may be professionals, specialists, or craftspeople. What characterizes us is we
have portable and marketable skills. We are becoming itinerant professionals.
A software engineer learns new software languages and goes where the market
is. A lawyer with special skills, such as environmental law, may move around
the country or even the world working on environmental litigation cases.

Can you see a CEO being an itinerant professional? Well guess what? More
CEO’s are taking their bags and moving from company to company.

CEOs are also becoming itinerant professionals as more hopscotch across indus-‐
try boundaries. A banker may run an electric utility and vice versa. According to
studies, more than a third of the CEOs parachute in from outside the company.
What do these portable CEOs have in common? They may not know the guts of
the product but they have the guts to make (manage) the hard decisions and
transform (lead) an organization. They have the right management and leader-‐
ship stuff.

Career success for all of us depends on developing core competencies and then
displaying them in projects. These projects preferably are on your customer’s or
employer’s critical growth and profit path.

Hard Lesson Learned: The career, work, and job changes described in this book
are real. They are not going away. All of us are impacted.
149
PROCESS PERSONAL TOOLS: YOUR NEXT STEPS

 Are you a core process worker or do you support them (think of Handy’s
model)?
 Do you agree with Handy’s ½ x 2 x 3 rule of corporate fitness?
 Are you in the inner, middle or outer ring of the Handy model?
 Are there any middle ring consultants who are paid a premium in your
organization? What do they do?
 What are your organization’s or customer’s core processes?
 What are your core competencies – or what do you do best?
 Are you using your skills or core competencies in your work now?
 Are your core competencies aligned with your organization’s or cus-‐
tomer’s core processes?
 Have you gone through an organizational transformation or reengineer-‐
ing?
 What happened to you and how did you feel about what happened?
 Have you recently transformed or reengineered your career or skills?
 What would you do if you had to develop marketable skills in six
months?
 Have you ever thought of developing a new career or finding a new job?
 What would be your next steps if you wanted to explore the above op-‐
tions?
150
PROJECTS
ON BUDGET & ON SCHEDULE

151
PROJECT BEST PRACTICES

If we believe work is project related then the earliest homo sapiens had a pro-‐
ject approach to gathering food, hunting for food, building shelter, and propa-‐
gating their clan. Each of these activities had a beginning and end with a spe-‐
cific life-‐driven purpose. Sounds like a project to me.

Managing by projects is not new. Architectural, accounting, legal, engineering,
consulting, and other highly creative professional service organizations have
been doing projects for years. Let’s look at what defines a project:

 Specific objective. The result, objective, or deliverable may be reducing
nonconformances by 50%, building a bridge, making 10 cold calls a day,
taking the kids to the zoo, designing an ad, or planning a party. Meet-‐
ing objectives is performance management.
 Satisfy stakeholders. The completion of a project is often not good
enough. It must be completed on time, on budget, and satisfy many
stakeholders. Satisfying stakeholders is customer management.
 Specific start date. The project starts at an agreed upon time. ‘Do as
you say and say as you do’ is an example of self-‐management.
 Defined date. The project may end when the goal has been achieved or
when all resources have been consumed. Or, a project may become an
ongoing process of continuous improvement. Finishing the project on
time and on budget is an example of risk management.
 Resources. Resources, such as equipment and monies, are required to
complete the project. Managing project resources efficiently and effec-‐
tively is execution management.
 Skills. People or teams must have the skills to complete the project
successfully. Ensuring project team member have the requisite knowl-‐
edge, skills, and abilities is knowledge management.

Hard Lesson Learned: All critical project elements map one-‐to-‐one to Working
It critical practices. Why? Companies want to get things done faster, better,
and cheaper.
152
EGYPTIANS, GREEKS, AND ROMANS DID IT

We’ve all seen pictures of pyramids. How did they get built? I’m sure that a
bunch of folks didn’t get together and swap stories. There was some form of
organization that erected these monuments.

Project management was a geek tool until the last five years or so. Why? Espe-‐
cially, now much more has to be done faster with fewer resources. However,
times have changed! Now, all organizations from the Girl Scouts to the Depart-‐
ment of Defense must get things done on time and on budget while satisfying
diverse stakeholders.

I think that the first engineering projects

probably can be traced to Egyptian or Meso-‐
potamian pyramids then to Greek and Roman
engineering marvels. Many ancient monu-‐
ments are similar to what we do today in scale
and complexity. Think how these ancient pro-‐
jects incorporated the same features of to-‐
day’s projects. These ancient architects used
thousands of often slave laborers to conceive,
develop, implement and close out the con-‐
struction of the project.

More recently, project management matured Selling cookies is a project!
with the Manhattan Project team developing
the atom bomb during the Second World War
and more recently NASA’s Apollo project put-‐
ting a man on the moon. Construction, engineering, and architectural firms
then quickly adopted project management as their tool of choice.

Hard Lesson Learned: Buy the Project Management Institute (PMI) project
management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) standard from Barnes and Noble.
Read it. Learn it. Apply it.
153
CONTROLLING RISK AND UNCERTAINTY

Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together.
Robert Redford, Actor and Entrepreneur

Managing by work projects is hot -‐ blistering hot! The idea behind projectizing
is to treat most work as integrated projects that can be completed on time and
on budget while satisfying multiple stakeholders.

Traditional management hierarchies and functional silos still predominate orga-‐
nizations. However, projectizing work has been growing steadily, some would
say exponentially, during the last several years. Why? People from different
parts of the organization or country must work effectively and efficiently. As
well, many people now work virtually.

Is there one right type of structure or organization for a company? No one
knows what’s best. There’s a lot of speculation. Peter Drucker, the eminent
management expert, said: “every organization in the developed countries will
have to be designed for a specific task, time, and place.” In other words, work
and organizations will be projectized along lines that reflect their purpose and
function of what needs to be done.

See if the following makes sense? Life and work are more chaotic! More people
want more things faster and better. This ‘work entropy’ results in the unravel-‐
ing of our cherished principles, practices, understandings, energy, and commit-‐
ment. Our usual response is to deal with a situation when it reaches a crisis
stage and then we panic and jump. We transform processes, downsize people
indiscriminately, or change organizational cultures. Fire fighting or crisis man-‐
agement doesn’t work over the long term.

Hard Lesson Learned: Is there a better way to control our work and life in an
increasingly complex, chaotic, entropic world? And, is there a simpler way to
make sense and structure of our work and our lives so things get done on time?
Yes, it’s through project management.

154
EACH PERSON IS A PM!

I must not rust.
Clara Barton, Founder -‐ American Red Cross

In a projectized organization, work is organized into project teams that form and
disband when work is finished. Each person evolves into a project professional
responsible for getting work done on time, on budget while satisfying
stakeholders. Often there are no permanent job titles or permanent job as-‐
signments. There are few bosses and job titles. Teams and individuals self
manage their work.

This work environment is not for everyone. The atmosphere is intense with
tight deadlines. The flat hierarchy places a premium on people with ideas who
can implement and commercialize them. Status and salary are earned and
based on real value added contributions.

Special projects are also critical for your professional development. They offer
you the opportunity to do and learn new things. They become your organiza-‐
tional learning laboratory. They offer you access to higher management where
you can reveal your value proposition or help you develop a higher value propo-‐
sition.

We’re all going to be PM’s for these reasons:

 Customers want more, faster, cheaper, and better.
 Product life cycles are halved and shrinking further.
 People must do more, faster, with less.
 Cross-‐functional virtual project teams do more work.
 Work is core-‐processed or projectized.
 Project manager replaces middle manager.
 Work is chunked into projects and sub-‐projects.

Hard Lesson Learned: Join the Project Management Institute. Get certified as a
Project Management Professional.
155
‘DEATH MARCH’ PROJECT

I push in just one direction, not in every direction.
Rita Levi-‐Montalcini, Scientist

Some day, you’ll be the PM or a team member on a death march project. You
have my sympathies. And, here are some thoughts on surviving.

Ed Yourdon, writer and software guru, came up with the expression of the
‘death march’ software development project.

This is not the project you want to be on. Nevertheless, sooner than later you’ll
find yourself on one. This is what you’ll find in a ‘death march’ project:

 Mission impossible project has a low chance of success and a low de-‐
gree of satisfaction.
 High impact project has a high chance of success but everyone feels
miserable.
 Kamikaze project where everybody knows the project will fail but team
members feel good about it.
 Suicide project, where everyone knows it’ll fail, but they gotta march on
because no one has the guts to kill it.

Here’s the irony. What makes ‘death march’ projects so useless is that almost
every knows the project was over scoped, over promised, under resourced, and
under budgeted, but no one is ready to pull the plug. Why? Politics is usually
the answer.

Hard Lesson Learned: ‘Death March’ projects are becoming the norm. Recog-‐
nize the signs and the traps. If you’re a team member or support the team,
rescope your piece of the engagement so it is doable or develop a Plan B to
leave the project. Life’s too short.

156
DEATH MARCH PROJECTS!

What does your boss want, need, require, and expect of you? Each of these is a
little different. Know the difference.

When I tell people that on ‘death march’ projects, I’ve worked 80 hour weeks,
they’ll say ‘oh yeah.’ Impossible! You’re kidding!

Well I wondered if I’m a minority. I talked with many people, self-‐employed
professionals, small business owners, members of special projects, senior man-‐
agers, and software programmers. Some customers or employers expect these
horrible hours and tradeoffs. Many creative, self-‐employed people put in very
long and hard hours as a norm to get work done. Employees are also working
long and hard to get their jobs done.

So, the project fails for any number of reasons. Schedules were missed. Stake-‐
holders were really pissed. Quality sucks. Budgets went through the roof. Not
good! There will be a price to pay.

Hard Lesson Learned: Know what your employer wants and expects from you
before you take a new job. Know what’s expected of you before you sign on for
a new project. Oh by the way, get this in writing.

157
WHY PROJECTS FAIL?

I’ve project managed $100M projects. I’ve had some jobs come in on budget, in
scope, and on schedule. I’ve also had a project fail miserably. I’ve had to kill
projects. There are few things I’ve learned on why projects fail. I think I’ve
made almost every project mistake. Here are some of them:

 Wrong project manager or team members on the wrong job.
 Prima donna or maverick team members.
 ‘Hole in the wall’ offices and facilities.
 Death march project mentality.
 Reinvent the universe project objectives.
 ‘Throw more people’ at the project attitude.
 ‘We’re all behind you’ attitude by stakeholders.
 Project creep and more creep.
 Gold plating requirements.
 Wish lists and more product goodies.
 I wanted it yesterday attitude.
 Fuzzy understandings -‐ fuzzy everything.
 ‘It’s their job’ attitude.
 ‘Plan is a 4-‐letter word’ attitude.
 ‘Silver-‐bullet’ attitude.
 Too many surprises and gotcha’s.
 No or few controls.
 ‘I know it all’ attitude.

I’ve been on both sides of most of the above mistakes – perpetrator or victim.
Quick takeaway: it’s better to be the perpetrator. You get to fight another day.
However, if you find yourself on the victim side of the equation, start thinking of
your Plan B.

Hard Lesson Learned: Read some good books: Career Survival, Machiavelli’s
The Prince, and Lao Tzu’s Art of War. You’ll get a different perspective on the
project game.
158
ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR = PROJECT MANAGER

I read a lot on project management and on leadership. I like new ideas and
even try them on in our work. I like the model of today’s project manager being
an orchestra conductor.

The orchestra conductor is more often a project team leader and coach than an
authoritarian manager. The conductor leads a group of professionals who are
proficient with their instruments and know their individual capabilities. The
modern conductor interprets the musical score and shapes the orchestra’s
sound so it pleases the audience. The conductor then leads by interpretation,
example, and strength of personality rather than by edict.

What about the ass-‐hole project manager of a death march project? This per-‐
son is Theory X authoritarian. My way or the highway boss. Yes, there are folks
like this. They are often very good in getting project getting done on budget
and on schedule.

Hard Lesson Learned: Being a project manager these days is a tough job. Few
do it well. If you develop this skill, it’ll be some that you can use all your life.
159
PROJECT HOPPING

My way or the highway’ bosses are becoming an endangered species.

Scott Adams, the Dilbert creator, calls project work ‘free agent work’ or ‘boss
diversification.’ Adams says: “the worst risk you can face is to have one boss,
somebody who can make your life miserable and then decide when it is time for
you to go.” By diversifying work, we lower
the risk of working for a horrific boss. “The
more customers and clients you have, the
safer you are. People are going to gravi-‐
tate to what is safest,” he continues.

Do you wonder why more of us don’t want
to be a boss? Especially in a horrible
economy, the power of a supervisor or
manager has diminished. If a person offers
value, more people are selling their serv-‐
ices to the highest bidder. And, many
companies, are having a harder time re-‐
taining key workers.

Project hopping is good when the econ-‐
omy is strong and there’s a lot of demand
for specialized skills that companies are
willing to pay for. When time are tough,
it’s better to home stead and wait out the
hard times.

Hard Lesson Learned: The project life puts a person in the middle or outer ring
of Charles Handy’s work model.

160
PROJECT MANAGER REPLACES THE MIDDLE MANAGER

I find the great thing in this world is, not where we stand, as in what direction we are
moving.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Writer

I don’t know if the middle manager will disappear as many work gurus predict.
But, I do know that things are changing for these folks.

Someone or some group has to monitor and control workflow. In the hierarchal
and function driven organization, we knew it was the middle manager. How-‐
ever, if work becomes core processed and projectized then we need another
person to assign, monitor, lead, and tweak processes and projects. This person
in a matrixed organization may be the manager who ensures an organization’s
core process improves but also project manages non-‐core special projects.

The project manager as middle manager makes sense. The virtual organization
is composed of executives, professionals, administrative personnel, cross-‐
functional professional teams, and self-‐managed line teams. Some groups must
link and align the corporate vision and the direction of multiple teams, resolve
conflicts among stakeholders, smooth end-‐to-‐end processes, coordinate special
projects, and consolidate internal/external organizational systems. Without
functional middle managers, project leaders or managers serve as the linkages
in the matrixed organization. Or in another words, the project leader evolves
into managing an organization’s white spaces.

Hard Lesson Learned: Everyone should in their career should take on several
critical tasks: 1. Become a project manager and 2. Run a profit/loss shop. Both
experiences mature a person and ensure they add more value.

161
PROJECT MANAGER, LEADER, COACH, OR JUGGLER

In this new work environment, what’s the title and role of the person who
brings all the resources together in the project team? Is the person a project
manager, leader, coach, facilitator, or some other term?

Project leadership is abstract, touchie-‐feely, and frankly difficult for many of us.
The projectized organization looks and feels a lot different than the managerial,
hierarchal work model. In the hierarchal model, work got done through one
person telling another what to do and how to do it. Even the term ‘project
manager’ evokes images of one person dictating to thousands of ready minions
the direction of something grandiose, such as moving mountains, building air-‐
ports, or dredging rivers. Manager still implies a hierarchal relationship where
the boss is responsible for all planning, organizing, staffing, and controlling all
project activities. Decisions are based on power and position.

In the projectized model, work gets done differently. A project is still organized
around a lead person, who may be called project leader instead of manager.
The project leader facilitates more than manages the project. While a project
may have started with one person who had the vision and authority to push
onwards, one-‐person management has been replaced by team driven, project
leadership. The project leader may not have sufficient resources or authority to
tell someone to do something. The leader must rely on influence, web of preex-‐
isting relationships, and goodwill established through prior work.

Each project allows you to gain more experience and exposure to a company’s
operations, processes, and products. You’re a team leader or sometimes a vir-‐
tual team participant. You’re adding value to the organization, team, and finally
to your career portfolio.

Hard Lesson Learned: PM work is squishy – lots of opportunity, little authority,
lots of responsibility.
162
CARPE DIEM

Have you noticed how functional and technical specialties have project manager
in their titles? Why? A few years ago, Fortune Magazine called project man-‐
agement the ‘number one career choice’ of professionals.

If you go through the classified section in the paper, project manager positions
may be the most popular job. You see project management titles in construc-‐
tion, product development, law, performing arts production, movies, telecom-‐
munications, bioengineering, small business, and most start-‐ups. Tom Peters,
the guru’s guru, declares that if you don’t spend up to 70% of your time on pro-‐
jects, you’re sushi. Pretty tough words.

The up side? Projects give you visibility, wide experience, opportunities. Tom
Peters capitalized on the trend that we’ll all be itinerant free agents. He’s
trademarked the phrase, ‘The Power of You.’TM Smart. Real smart. So, If each
of us is evolving into a self-‐directed project manager in a virtual team or projec-‐
tized organization, what will our work future look like?

The down side? While project management is hot, there are downsides:

 Little administrative support.
 Possibility of changing priorities.
 Multiple work flow paths.
 Simultaneous and conflicting projects.
 Control and power conflicts.
 High overhead due to parallel costs.
 Additional organizational layers.
 Group think, excessive management, or decision making by consensus.
 Focus on process, instead of products and customer requirements.
 Multiple and maybe conflicting policies and procedures.
 Communication and coordination conflicts.

Hard Lesson Learned: A number are called to serve as a PM but few excel.
163
CEO’S IN TRAINING

One person recently quipped that project leaders are CEOs in training. Think
about it! Within the scope of the project, the leader is responsible for facilitat-‐
ing all project activities that a CEO would have in a company. Let’s look at a
copy areas where the PM must excel.

The formation of a team involves both process and outcome. The process of
team building includes chartering the team, selecting team members, building
consensus, negotiating team rules, resolving conflicts, encouraging involvement,
ensuring fairness, monitoring progress, providing direction, and reinforcing pro-‐
gress.

The product of a team is its deliverables, its results. The team may have to solve
an intractable problem, implement systems, or gain ISO 9000 registration. The
list goes on. Bottom line: the team has a measurable, deliverable objective.

The PM leads through influence and example. Only a few people may report
directly to the project manager who may have no formal position power or
authority. This person knows how to negotiate, resolve conflicts, create coali-‐
tions, understand/satisfy individual needs, and be the consummate political
player.

Hard Lesson Learned: A PM learns how to lead and manage must like a CEO.

164
VIRTUAL TEAMING

The virtual team is a solution to the rapidly changing marketplace, organiza-‐
tional environment, and technological change. A virtual team is a group of
highly talented people who work together as long as the project is being pur-‐
sued. A virtual team may be in one workplace, be composed of telecommuters,
or be worldwide linking many stakeholders.

There’s a misconception that the only way to create a virtual organization is to
provide employees a laptop, e-‐mail, and instructions while corporate offices are
sublet or disappear. Wrong! Organizations run on a set of rules, principles, and
practices. Businesses and organizations are based on a culture, face-‐to-‐face
contacts, synergies, and shared goals that can’t be replaced by a set of elec-‐
tronic tools.

Instant communication and transfer of information allow people to work as part
of a team. Electronic communication through cell phones, email, computers,
groupware, and video-‐conferencing link teams as if they were in the same build-‐
ing.

Virtual teaming sidestep matrix and hierarchal organizations. They’re confusing
because of unknown relationships and new expectations.

Virtual teaming is still new with many questions, such as the following: What are
behavioral protocols or rules among virtual teams? Who does what, where, and
when? Who conducts the work? Who authorizes resources and how is it done?
Where does responsibility and authority lie? These are confusing and change
the fundamental relationships within an organization. Answers often depend
on who is on the team and what does each person brings to the team.

Hard Lesson Learned: Virtual teaming requires new technical, social, and global
skills. Volunteer for a virtual team, preferably global. You’ll learn a lot.

165
PREPARE FOR THE UPS AND DOWNS OF PROJECT WORK LIFE
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
Gary Player

Project or itinerant work life is not for the faint hearted.

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that forty percent of us have in-‐
comes that rise or fall dramatically. The ‘feast and famine’ itinerant profes-‐
sional earns large sums of money when the economy is strong but when the
economy falters income can drop precipi-‐
tously unless we plan. This results in more
wage inequality between those who have
full time, core jobs and those contractors
who can be laid off.

Increased merit remuneration, perform-‐
ance based pay, and frequent job switching
also increase income variation. While this
work pattern was thought to occur mainly
in peak retail and tourist seasons, this now
occurs in consulting, with suppliers, and in
many professional firms.
Pleasures of working at home.
Hard Lesson Learned: As the economy has
collapsed, more of us are going to be Itin-‐
erant professionals. You’re going to have to more flexible and may have to take
jobs in locations that you may not want.

166
PROJECT LEADERSHIP SKILLS

I’m been a project manager for more than 20 years. What I was doing and what
I knew 20 years ago has changed dramatically. Project management is a whole
new ball game.

Project management has always been associated with work tools and tech-‐
niques such as scheduling and network planning. However, project leadership is
more of a philosophy and structure of doing business that is being adopted by
self managed teams, rapid product development groups, and hi-‐tech start-‐ups.
More has to be done faster, better, more effectively, and cheaper -‐ all the while
satisfying many stakeholders.

Success today requires new project leadership skills, aptitudes, and attitudes.
Several years ago, a successful project manager needed good technical skills
such as planning, scheduling, financial controls, and monitoring skills. Today’s
successful team leaders are stakeholder focused, quality driven, risk sensitive
and politically adept. The project mission has also evolved from getting the pro-‐
ject done on time and on budget to managing customers, time, quality, commu-‐
nications, risk, technology, and performance -‐ the elements discussed in the
‘Practices’ chapter of this book.

Project and people leadership doesn’t come easy. Too many project managers
know project techniques and technology but are people challenged. Lack of
people abilities is the major stumbling block and some would say major career
killer of senior project managers because most spend more than half their time
dealing with interpersonal issues. You can be the best project technician in the
world but if your team doesn’t trust you, you’re toast.

Hard Lesson Learned: Get the people side down. It’s relatively easy doing the
technology, but people skills take longer to develop and mature.

167
DO IT YOUR WAY!

I’m a risk taker. I’m a rush junkie. If I’ve got a great commercial idea, I don’t
want to share it. What about you? Entrepreneurship is all about project man-‐
agement.

What is your risk sensitivity? Are you risk taking, risk sensitive, or risk averse? If
you like to take risks, one option is go out on your own. If you have a good track
record, chances are you’ll attract investment like flowers attract bees.

What percentage of American households includes someone who has started,
tried to start, or helped fund a small business? One percent, five, or even ten
percent? Well guess again! Thirty-‐seven percent, more than one-‐third, of
American households are involved with some form of entrepreneurship. Entre-‐
preneurs were once considered folks who couldn’t work in a big company be-‐
cause they were seen as business misfits, even a little disreputable.

Well, how things have changed! Many start-‐ups are now big companies who are
dusting old, in-‐bred organizations. Small business people morphed into entre-‐
preneurs, the makers of companies, the adders of value, the employers of peo-‐
ple, and the actualizers of dreams. They’re now our business icons.

Small business is not for the weak of heart. Up to half of small businesses don’t
make it past two years. Joseph Schumpeter, the economist called the process
‘creative destruction.’ Ideas for new products and services develop, companies
form, they grow, products are altered or new products are developed, and the
company morphs again.

Hard Lesson Learned: I’ve started a number of small businesses. Some tanked,
others broke even, and one or two actually made money. This is after years of
very hard work -‐ many 80-‐hour weeks and little pay. Would I do it again? You
bet, in a heartbeat -‐ no in a nanosecond! Why? It’s in my DNA. I’m a risk taker.
I love the freedom to fail or succeed. I love the rush of doing my own thing.
168
CONSULTING

What’s a consultant? ‘Someone who takes your watch to tell you the time.’ Or,
‘someone 50 miles from home.’ We’ve all heard these jokes. The reality is
there are many more of us telling time and being more than 50 miles from
home working as consultants.

Why are there these jokes? Most consulting is project work providing a cus-‐
tomer with a vague product based on trust. Consultants take advantage of
changes in technology and complexity, which result in client confusion and un-‐
certainty. These cause fear which consultants can assuage for a certain price.
Consultants can offer ‘peace of mind’ because they have special knowledge,
know-‐how, objectivity, and independence.

In consulting, there is the serendipity as well. Your career success is based on
your abilities and attitude. But, there is also the X factor – the serendipity fac-‐
tor. You’ve planned, executed and are prepared. You’ve exposed yourself to
new people, knowledge, processes, and projects. You may be ahead or behind
the market curve. But, things recycle. When the timing is right for your new
skills or ideas, then they’ll pop. Or, you may end up with a successful, accidental
career.

Hard Lesson Learned: You’ll learn that you do have options and that choice is
empowering. You can develop new career objectives. It’s frightening that jobs
and work are becoming so fluid. However, it’s more important than ever to ex-‐
plore options, push your personal boundaries, take risks, and make moves. The
answers are not easy. You may have to push beyond your comfort zone and
take risks to find those enriching opportunities. And then, there is the serendip-‐
ity factor. But things come to those who are prepared.

169
PROJECT CONSULTANT

I’ve been a consultant for more than 20 years. Here are my final top 6 tips:

 Know your value proposition. What separates you from the rest of the
consulting herd? Then price your services accordingly. I differentiate
consultants into 4 categories: 1. How; 2. What; 3. Why; and 4. Who
consultants. How consultants ($100/hr) know how to do something
right. What consultants ($200/hr) know what to do right? Why con-‐
sultants ($300/hr) can distill why the right things must be done. Who
consultants ($400/hr) know who pays for doing the right things right.
 Add real and perceived value. Commodity consulting goes for about
$50/hour. Move up the how, what, why, and who consulting curve to
offer more customer value. How consultants are skilled technicians.
What consultants are skilled managers? Why consultants are skilled
communicators. Who consultants are skilled leaders and politicians.
Who consultants offer clients peace of mind in today’s time challenged
and anxiety driven world.
 Differentiate yourself. How do you differentiate yourself from the rest
of the consulting herd? The differentiator is what makes you different
or adds value. This is your ‘value proposition.’
 Reinvent yourself. I used to reinvent myself every 7 years. Now, that’s
too long. I do it every two to three years. I try to stay ahead of the
knowledge curve.
 Update your Brand You. Personal brand management is what consult-‐
ing is all about these days. As we’ve discussed, it’s called Me Inc or You
Inc. The ideas are pretty similar. Look out for #1. Your employer won’t.
You can update your brand, skills, contacts, knowledge, etc.
 Develop a killer new process or product and write a book about it.
Another thing I’ve learned about consulting is that there is a linear cor-‐
relation between visibility > credibility > marketability > billability. It’s
pretty simple. Visibility through a column, books, or a clever methodol-‐
ogy leads to adoption and credibility.
170

 Do you work in a projectized organization?
 Do you believe that we’ll project manage our work life?
 Do you volunteer or are selected for highly visible new projects?
 Why or why not are you selected?
 Do you believe that project managers will replace middle managers?
 What types of project tools do you use?
 Have you done a career gap analysis?
 What are your next steps?
 Have you ever thought of starting a small business and being your own
boss?

171

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Working It: The Rules Have Changed!

How to Order:

© 2013 by Greg Hutchins – 1.0

Dilbert is Alive and Well

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Knowledge and Innovation Management

The Top Three Rule of Big Business

WORKING IT ‘LOOK AND FEEL’

WHO IS THIS GUY?

I stayed in engineering but reengineered my career horizontally. I became

JUST THE TRUTH!

HUTCHINS’S ‘WHEEL OF WORK™’

ABRUPT CHANGE HAPPENS

IT’S A VUCA WORLD!

END OF BUSINESS AS WE KNOW IT!

CHANGING WORK AND BUSINESS RULES

THE WAKE UP CALL

FEWER US COMPANIES – JUST SUCCESSFUL ONES

THE GUT QUESTION!

PERSONAL TOOLS: YOUR NEXT STEPS

LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

WHO ARE TODAY’S LEADERS?

LEADERSHIP: YOU KNOW IT WHEN YOU SEE IT

JESUS, SITTING BULL, AND LAO TSU

WOMEN AS LEADERS

NO MORE LEADERHSHIP HOMESTEADING

WHAT DOES MANAGEMENT LOOK LIKE TODAY?

IT’S ALL ABOUT EXECUTION

“MAKING YOUR NUMBERS”

WHAT GOT YOU HERE – WON’T GET YOU THERE!

MANAGEMENT CAREER KILLERS

CHARM SCHOOL FOR EXECUTIVES

DILBERT IS ALIVE AND WELL

PERSONAL TOOLS: YOUR NEXT STEPS

PHILIP MCGRAW’S LAWS OF LIFE

BILL GATES’S RULES OF WORK LIFE

HUTCHINS’S RULES OF LIFE AND WORK

YOUR CAREER METAPHOR

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT STUFF?

ONLY THE PARANOID SURVIVE

CONDITION OF BUSINESS

RUNNING FASTER WITH NO PLACE TO GO

YOUR RISK PROFILE

END OF ENTITLEMENT

ONCE YOU THINK YOU ‘GOT IT’, THEN …

PERSONAL TOOLS : YOUR NEXT STEPS

JOB RULES, TIPS, & TOOLS

WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY VALUE?

PEOPLE -­‐ OUR GREATEST ASSET

THE DEAD LONE RANGER

KILLER ATTITUDE OVER APTITUDE

VALUE OF A PRETTY FACE OR SPARKLY PERSONALITY

SELF MANAGED TEAMS

WHAT? … I DON’T HAVE AN OFFICE!

LESS IS MORE

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

‘LIVE TO WORK’ OR ‘WORK TO LIVE’

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY?

REACTING VS. RESPONDING

ONE TRIAL LEARNING

WORK FOR VALUE!

PERSONAL TOOLS: YOUR NEXT STEPS

FINDING YOUR TRUE NORTH

PEOPLE -‐ OUR GREATEST ASSET