“20 to 30 Job & Career Changes In A Life”

You should have heard the gasp from the audience of parents at Virginia Tech’s orientation weekend when this was said. When the Dean of the School of Agriculture was sharing insights into the Class of 2017 and the work world they will live in.  That this class will see the world in different ways than their parents and their parents parents. They will only know a world where the cell phone and the Internet have always existed.  That these young adults are the most connected generation ever thanks to twitter, texting, Facebook and more. That they see themselves as a “tribe” and if they are forced to disconnect from their network they become frustrate.

She also shared something all college professors check out each year, the Mindset List: Worth reading and thinking about.

While we went from session to session, listening to all the new things our first time college bound daughter Carolyn will be getting to do, experience and live at Virginia Tech (Mom and Dad were a bit lost at times and trying to remember the ancient days when we went to college pre-PC, pre-Fax machine, pre-Internet) I was amazed at all we learned of this generation. She has an interest in engineering, in agriculture, in math, chemistry. The Professors and Administrators shared that within their time the cure for cancer, the ability to feed the world and explore the depths of space (even living on Mars), the merging of people and machines will happen, these and so much more were all within their reality and reach. That boundaries of distance, background and culture are coming down and the search for what next for humanity was all around them.

So in the middle of  all this activity (they split the kids from the parents at the start of everyday) I look over and there is my Carolyn on her smart phone texting her circle of Thomas Jefferson High School friends. They were all at other colleges at orientations doing the same back with her and the others. So I took a picture and posted it on Facebook. Then I adjusted my view and realized there was a sea of kids, boys/girls all doing the same thing. At that moment I got a ping from a friend with  with his son at his new university – and it was almost the same picture of his son doing the same. Wow the Dean was right.

On the 4 plus hour drive home I began to think, what could this mean for Carolyn and her friends? Ideas popped into my head, like:

1. Associations could grow in importance – many jobs and companies and a trusted few associations: Since who they work for will change so often or shift, it will be more about what you are working on – projects, efforts, results. Staying connected to your industry, having a third party grounding of what you have accomplished and also to always be networking towards the next project or opportunity will be key.
2.  Always learning, improving and exploring – the world is always changing and so should we: The questions will never stop, the desire to stay current and valuable will go on beyond undergraduate, beyond master or PhD programs. There will be an never-ending need to stay up to date and in the current stream of industry knowledge.  Degrees are less important than accumulating knowledge and experience.
3.  Technology will become unseen and fully integrated into all we do: Without trying to be too Gene Roddenberry–ish technology is and will only continue to become second nature, part of being human. Not this stand alone, WOW look at that – just expected and anticipated. I remember standing around and looking at the Macintosh and being amazed that we could type a document ourselves AND bold the heading. 

Businesses, governments, industries need to think differently about what career means and how we open up to this more fluid stream of potential. Locked in 1930’s business models and management will go the way of buggy whips and butter churners.  As one way ends un-explored new ways will come forward.

My Dad Charlie Carrithers 1950 with
those "neat follows at General Electric"

Recently I was going through a box of old papers and came across my Dad’s writings and letters. In the mix were two things that jumped out. One was a letter he wrote in 1950 to his Mom telling her about a job he had just interviewed for at General Electric. In it he said “these fellows seem like really neat guys and I would love to work with them on this new X-ray technology…” My Dad’s world was vacuum tubes and mechanical calculators and X-ray was beginning to be used in new applications, was safer and was a new industry. This excitement coming from a kid from Brooklyn who had been a radar technician in the US Navy (another new technology) in WW2. Dad hired on with GE and was there for almost 20 years.

The other was a letter my Dad sent me while I was in college. He said in many words and thoughts that life is about exploration and finding what we are meant to do and bring to the world. It could be business, it could be teaching, or it could be creation of new ideas. That he, Charlie Carrithers at 56 was still not sure what he was going to be when he grew up, but that I should keep my eyes on this thing called computers and where it is going.

So now I look ay my beloved Carolyn and think of what could be for her and all her classmates. What an amazing time to be alive and entering the world of possibilities. I see a spark in her eyes and a drive in her exploration. I feel confident and positive about her time to come. While their will always be issues in the world, it feels like the human potential, the what next is right around the corner. It’s all good.

Impossible, Nightmare, Take Over, Rescue MBA

The three things I’ve learned from watching Gordon Ramsey, Robert Irvine, Jon Taffer, Tabatha Coffey and Anthony Melchiorri about business – no matter the industry. I love these shows, it is like watching a train wreck turn into something new and possible. While the personalities of the celebrities are way different and so are their backgrounds, in the end there are a few things that jump out at me with each and everyone of them, and the same formula works for the turn around.

1. It's the Food Stupid (or room or drink or hair cut or whatever business you are delivering) – So many of the owners in these shows seem lost or full of their own ballyhoo / woo is me that they miss the simple truth. People go to restaurants for good food and good service; people go to hotels for clean rooms and good service; people go to bars for a fun time and fast good drinks, and so on. This first and basic truth is the most obvious thing in almost 100% of these problem businesses.  When asked what the issues is – they answer “the market” or “the recession” or “the competition” – meanwhile there is rotting food in the refrigerator, or roaches crawling on the bar, or a bathroom reeking of urine – there is more at play – something is deeply wrong and the owners are in denial. 

What can be applied to any business is the point – are you delivering on what you say you are? Do you have client complaints? Long lines? Unhappy staff? Are you living a lie of what the business was/should be vs. what it really is? Many years ago I had a client that I met with at lunch and after a review of the business and the idea they were developing (which was all great) I asked to meet them at their offices. They got a bit weird but said OK. When I showed up I came to realize that what they shaded on paper was no were near what they were. The offices were a mess, the employees were not interested in doing anything to help them grow and they were living in a PowerPoint dream.

2. It’s the leadership, or the lack of it. What I have come to realize is that the issues in the business are stemming from the business owners ability to lead, manage, direct the business. About 90% of the time in these shows the issue is all in the head or worse yet heart of the owner. They have gotten lost somehow. A family member has died, a partner hurt them, employees were caught stealing or worse yet they are in business with their spouse and are fighting to the point their marriage is on the rocks. Across the board, the show host and turn around person is focused on first fixing the leader and what is going on in their head. All the bad in the business is just a symptom of something deeper. 

What can we apply to business from this? Many times the leadership will say one thing and exhibit something different. I always like to meet with the owner first and them spend time with the team, one on one. Many times the leader thinks that the things they are doing are not noticed – not realizing they are sending unspoken direction. This goes through an organization like ripples on a pond. If a leader is distracted, worried, off focus or not engaged the organization will follow their lead. 

3. It’s about right now, the last meal, the last haircut, etc. So many of the businesses that were once great but now are a mess keep thinking and focusing on what was. Seeing a bar that 20 years earlier was the first of its kind to now be locked in a time warp and a total mess is sad. It is so hard for the founder to realize what was means very, very little if you are not living and performing in the here and now.

What this means to business is simple. What made you great in the past will most likely not make you great in the future. You need to live by the last whatever it is you serve/ do. The last meal served, the last product shipped, the last service call made. History in someway can be a burden of expectations – meaning you need to over perform, over serve to even meet the basic level of expectations. 

I love these shows, almost to an obsession. I see so much of human nature at play, so many of the things that make use great as a person also are the same weakness that can make us fall. Each show is like a case history, like a mini-text book on what we all need to do in business. We can’t all have a Gordon, Robert, Anthony, Jon or Tabatha in our business lives – but we can ask these three questions:

• Is what we are selling/ offering really quality, are the customers really happy?
• Are we in the business, engaged, truly here and in the here and now, if no why not?
• What is today like, about, seen? Have we exceeded our past history and expectations or are we swimming in a stagnant pool of past success? 

The last thing is, sometimes we all need tough love. The yelling, the rubbing in their faces, the Look – Look are you seeing this!!!! Is about waking the business owner up to the reality. When we are willing to accept change, be awake and willing then the change will start. 

Ron Johnson & J.C. Penney

While past performance is a strong indicator of future performance there are a few small variables to take into account.

1. Is it the same field/industry/product line or even close? 

2. What is the starting point – complete clean slate or existing baggage? 

3. What is the support structure and team surrounding some one – weak, new, worn out?

4. How much time and flexibility do they have?

There are very few people that can do the same amazing things in one area/sport/business and then show the same level of skill in another. Finding a Jim Thorpe in business is rare and without knowing the starting field and unseen issues it is easy to miss the point with Johnson and J.C. Penny.

In all business there is risk. That risk can be so great that the chances of success are almost nil. The question should be, is JCPenny’s able to evolve and become relevant once again or has the world so changed and the brand has not that no matter who steps in there is almost not chance? Was this a DOA business turn around? Its one thing to launch the Apple store concept, it is a completely different thing to take something from the 1890’s and make it “a new!”

Maybe it is less about trying to bring in someone to create a change or even someone to try and bring back once was. Is it time for J.C. Penny’s, Sear’s, Kmart and other turn of the past century retailers to merge and become something new, something different? 

3 Reasons Email Is Damaging Your Business RIGHT NOW!

While dating myself, I remember the days before email in business. Communications was as tough then as now. There was the misuse of voice mail, the inter office mail pouches with little strings to hold closed. Orange pouches for rush memo’s (within 24 hours delivery) – I can share a funny story on how one company added Rush Red envelopes that guaranteed delivery within one hour and ended up having 90% of all internal mail go this way; I still laugh thinking of all the golf carts they bought and people they hired to do this on a campus of 15,000 employees and in 3 months killed the whole idea because everything was Rush Red critical.

I can share horror stories of how in the olden times of the early 1980’s in business the challenge was to not have so many face to face meetings, or phone conferences that would go for hour after hour; staff meetings with the single goal for everyone to share how busy they were.  I get the chills thinking of a stack of those little pink call back notes that would be clipped outside my door after lunch.

All of these and many other past examples pale in comparison to the danger that is sitting in front of almost 100% of every employee in the country today – email. It is a business killer like nothing before.

1. Not A Relationship Builder – It happens all the time. People have an emotion, an issue, want to make people aware of something and what do they do? Give someone a five-minute call? Walk down the hall and say, “hey I noticed XYZ and wanted to talk with you…” Schedule a meeting to talk it over. No they craft an email and shoot it off thinking “there now I have done my job!” (off my plate and now stuck in some else’s windpipe.) Best yet when they copy a whole department of people – now I’m cooking I showed everyone.

Wrong.

Maybe it is the sense that email is electronic, 100% controlled by the sender and not forever paper, but I have seen some emails in my time that are just so off base, personally attacking and well not accomplishing anything beyond making the person writing the email feel in the right and taking fake action. I know some people would never put pen to paper and write what they would in an email if they stopped and thought “oh my this letter will go in a file/document my message/ get posted to a wall somewhere.”

E-mail is so, so dangerous not just internally to team building and moral, but most importantly to clients and partners. Every email sent can tear down a client relationship in nano seconds. Email is great at documentation, great at project clarification, super to confirm or ask a question, but it is NOT a relationship tool. If there are issues in a project, an account, a relationship – something is wrong – do not use email to try and fix, address or even clarify. It will only worsen the situation.

Encourage your team members to schedule time to talk face to face or if that can’t happen there is this great thing called a phone they can use. Yes, the harder the conversation is or on the more likely email is not the right approach or tool. It makes the one sending the message feel good, accomplished, done – but whoever is getting it well that is where the trouble starts.  

Imagine getting an email “Subject: Your Life – first sentence, I wanted to inform you that you have cancer and are going to die. While we feel horrible about this, please be aware there is nothing we can do.”  Well people contact clients on mortal issues to their accounts everyday via email. Same with team members critical to the success of a business.

Email is not a conversation – it is a one way messaging tool that breeds a false sense of relationship and care.

2. Creates Misunderstandings Instantly – “Can you tell John to stop yelling at me?” Excuse me? “Well his emails are all in capital letters and I am not sure why he is yelling at me and I am about to just call it quits and walk from this job…”

This was a real conversation between an employee and me. They were very upset and felt belittled, angry, hurt. So I took the person and we walked (yes walked) 47 steps to John’s office and I asked, “are you mad at Russ?” John (57 years old) – No, why? “Well you keep sending him emails with all the words capital. “ He started laughing and was like “no man, I can’t see the letters if I don’t and what the heck if I was mad I’d walk down and have a face to face conversation. “

Yes, this really happens everyday. People get an email and they take it in many different ways. People look for meaning in any and everything. Even spelling someone’s name wrong or get the wrong title can trigger this “end of days” emotion and reaction.

I tell people all the time to have thicker skin when reading/dealing with email. To pick up the phone or walk over and say, “hey, what are you trying to say, do, get across???” and have a conversation. Really share. Really listen. Really hold a conversation. 

Years ago I was assigned to an account to be a copy writer/ project manager. So I wrote some copy for a new reward program and sent it to the president of the client division I was working with (via fax, this was pre-email) to review. He wrote across the top of the copy page and faxed back “THIS SUCKS!” I laughed and told my boss at the time. He freaked out with a whole “we need to hold an emergency meeting and review the client relationship and strategy. This maybe them sending us a message that they are leaving us…” I said, “Wait, can’t I simply call the client and talk with him?”

When I called I said, “Hi, I’m David and I just want to find out what Sucks? The whole thing? Me? Us?” The client started laughing and said – “no I hated the headline everything else was great...”  

In the world of email imagine I had responded with an email that was more in line with my bosses feelings “we have spent years developing our skills and ability, we take great offense to being told we suck, no it is you who sucks…” Actually the way it went we ended up with a better relationship and the program grew.

Email is not good for sharing intent, emotion or clear understanding. It really is a muddy pool with much of the picture of the sender missing from the story.

3. Gives A False Sense Of Doing Your Job – How many times have you heard the old “wow I’m busy I have like 300 emails to get through…” Email is not a result, it is not a business, and it is not revenue. It is also this false sense that people are “getting things done” and in many ways it’s like yelling to the wind that makes people forget what their business is really about - results.

Email is not a job, it is not even a requirement, right or qualification of a job. It's a tool – and like someone running around the office with an Ax would be a concern so should people using email to be his or her job or weapon of choice. 

When teammates start to use email to bash others or bring issues to light in a group you need to stop them and get to the root issues. I find that when a business team uses email to address a problem (either a person or a situation) I feel like they are chicken, just not that committed, want to play at being a professional but not do the heavy lifting. It is so easy to craft a painful email vs. hold a painful face-to-face conversation. Which helps more? For me it's the conversation, because that is a human-to-human interaction vs. human to computer to human one.

Our careers are based on relationships, experiences and who we are as a person. Email is not a good way to show this depth, this trust, this care from who you are and what value you bring. You can't see peoples eyes of see their body language. 

Email is so easy, so fast - but it has long term impact when the topic is tough or the emotion is deep.  

So think about the person, think about the impact, think and about what the email could do to your relationship. If there is any doubt – stop and don’t send it. If there is real need than make the hard call, set up the time to talk. Because if that will not work then why the heck do you think an email would? Remember you want a result not a "there I sent the email now I'm done.." 

Now lets talk about this twitter thing...