 What do you say? Yes? No? This statement screamed from an ad in the September issue of Fast Company (www.fastcompany.com). I ripped it out (love ripping and tearing) and marked it with a “B” (code for a blog topic). (The pages of my books are peppered with these breadcrumbs as I follow my interests in “V” for values, “L” for leadership, “R” for relationship, “M” for measures, etc. Got codes?)
The company asking “Is not saying something a lie?” is a bank, the Ally Bank. I am not plugging them. I am plugging the question they ask. Great questions lead to great thinking. Answers often limit it.
Want to see TV’s answer? Go to http://www.fox.com/lietome. Want mine? Continue reading » »
 I take it all back. Well, some of it, anyway. In my last blog (“Millennials are Not Younger Boomers”), I made the case that what Millennials value, think important and can’t do without, is different from what Boomers cherish. Next day, I receive another intelligence report from HBR (http://harvardbusiness.org; July-Aug 09), How Gen Y & Boomers Will Reshape Your Agenda, with the tag line: Your oldest and youngest talent cohorts demand many of the same things in a workplace.
What? We like the same things? Shut-Up! (OK, this expression of surprise still sounds odd to me.) Sure, I felt younger by the minute as I read about how much I had in common with the younger-something’s. I felt older by the word as I, once again (and not for the last time), had to rethink yesterday’s well-reasoned view. [Sidebar: Rethinking is the new pink in 2009, replacing the know-it-all orange of 2008. The Good News Tip for 2010 and beyond: Thinking will not go out of style, like color. More about rethinking in future blogs, for now, it’s back to the shared bed.]
As it turns out, both the Millennials and I like flexible work arrangements and the opportunity to give …
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 What’s ur carbon date? U know ur old when your dentist doesn’t know what carbon paper is. U know ur old when you say ‘true dat’ to the 20-something you are trying to impress and they get a nostalgic look in their eye and say “wow, I haven’t heard that in years!” U know ur old when your audience doesn’t laugh at a promise to “mimeograph that to all staff on Monday.”
I am a card-carrying Boomer and proud of it. If I get too proud, however, and blinded by my own sage light, the Millennials will move on and I’ll be left in my own dust, having not connected or been respected. A Boomer Bummer, big time.
We boomers need to get over ourselves and get on with partnering with the Millennials. Why? Start the list. #1: We need their new thinking and world view to solve problems we’ve created in our environments – the environment within our corporations and the one on the planet. This may be on the only item we need on the list.
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 As talent professionals adapt to the changing business environment and prepare for a “new kind of employee,” they’re considering how to completely transform their strategies around recruitment, retention, compensation, performance, training and pretty much every other people-related aspect within their organizations.
Their obsession with change might be justified. After all, the incoming group of employees is far more diverse, demanding and technically savvy than any that preceded it, and few question the need to somehow adjust to this dynamic generation’s needs.
And yet, there’s the issue of execution:
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 Disclaimer: I wanted one, badly, but I have none. As I started this blog, I spent an hour writing a caveat that would protect me from you and your potentially challenging points of view. After all, once the blog is out there, it is fair game and so am I. My draft disclaimer started out “I may change my mind at any moment, but for now, I think…” and then I continued with some mumbo-gumbo, blah-blah. How nuts is that? How un-blog like! How un-leaderly!
Seeing the folly of my ways, I led myself out of my self-induced blog-fog. I looked at my concerns (being rejected, not seen as being smart enough), then called up my commitments (to connect and learn), then I chose. I chose to act from my commitments, let my concerns embolden my actions, rather than stop them. Thus, the title and theme of my blogs is (until I change it, which I could do at any moment, just so you know): lead yourself first.
Eggshells and Jell-O: The Un-breakfast of Champions
Leadership isn’t timid-ship.
If you are walking on eggshells with someone, afraid to raise an issue, give it up. If you’re hoping that she (let’s call her Sally) gets your wobbly-as-jello hints and changes her behavior, give it up. If you don’t (and you do have free will), you are giving up your ship, your leadership. Continue reading » »
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