Are the White Collar Forgotten in a Recession

This post can be found at the new location for my construction blog. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Please click the link to see the post. Thanks.

Are the White Collar Forgotten in a Recession

Sorry Kid, Construction is a Cyclical Business

This post can be found on my new construction blog on wordpress. I'm trying to switch from blogger to wordpress and I'm afraid I'm going to lose all my readers. Technology is a b*tch.

Sorry Kid, Construction is a Cyclical Business

Sometimes it's Just Better To Tell the Truth

Telling a little fib often seems like a convenient way to get yourself out of a jam. Or better yet, just lead somebody to believe one thing without actually telling the fib. In that case you can have your cake and eat it too - you get someone believing what isn't the case which of course works to your advantage, and you can also deny ever lying, didn't you didn't, sort of. When you can do this consistently, you have reached BSing nirvana and you can enjoy eternal enlightenment in liar's purgatory.

I know people who can lead someone to believe a pelican will swoop down and pick them out of mid-air if they jump off the nearest skyscraper. This is of course without mentioning anything about a skyscraper or a pelican. This is also of course an example of how human intelligence has manifested itself in devious and destructive ways - take that Alfred Binet.

I was working for a company about two years ago (when people actually had jobs) and right at the point where I was trying to decide if this was a company for whom I'd like to work for a while. We were getting to the end of a massive project and thoughts were flying through my mind about what this company was going to do with the Spartan army they hired for this job alone. I didn't have a whole lot of confidence that I was going to be one of the survivors, but I wasn't persona non grada either.

Then came rumblings from the heavens. Word got out that the chief operating officer who was hired to bring the company to the promise land and manage the slew of new hires and never before seen projects was leaving the company. Oh dear, what do we do now.

Construction companies are kind of weird because the majority of the people working are out on remote jobsites and the higherups in the mothership push buttons, turn knobs, and stroke their cat from the home office and nobody really gets to see what is going on.

To me, it looked like he quit because nobody would let him have his way and run things as he thought they should. This was my immediate impression and for some reason that's what I believed without any verification of it being true. I also starting thinking that perhaps there is turmoil and financial problems up above and the folks from the mothership were going to grab the gold and head for the hills. I doubt I would have been invited along.

I ended up quitting for a laundry list of reasons but uncertainty of the stability of the company was certainly one of them. I found out several months later that the COO was fired, and I wish I knew this. I'm not saying I would have stayed with the company and I would be employed with 2.3 kids at the moment, but I would have had much more respect for them if they came out and told us exactly what was going on. And between you, me, and cyberspace, I didn't really like the guy too much anyway.

So I guess this brings up an interesting question about how much information should be leaked to the little people down in the village, but I know that I personally perfer the truth. And this was an example where the truth could have ended up with me staying at the company which would have probably been much more beneficial for everyone. Probably.

Sometimes it's Just Better To Tell the Truth

Where "Good to Great" just isn't quite right

"Good to Great" is one of the highest selling business books of all-time with millions of copies sold and still about 300,000 each year. I will be the first to say that I like the book, and I am in particular agreement with author, Jim Collins' description of what he calls a Level 5 leader. However, there is portion of this book that I'm not too thrilled with, and whether you like it or not, I'm going to tell you why.

Let's first briefly describe what Collins' does in "Good to Great". Basically, Collins and a team of whiz kid graduate students from the University of Colorado determined a group of companies whose stock price outperformed the general stock market by at least 4 times over a fifteen year period.

Regardless of the fact that two (that I know of) of the "Good to Great" companies (Fannie Mae and Circuit City) have collapsed miserably with stock declines of about 80% for each, Collins and company made some useful observations about these companies that were successful for a sustainable period. However, I have a bit of a problem with their little people on the bus philosophy.

One of the biggest action items coming from this book was that you need to get the right people on the bus and if you don't have the right people on the bus, get rid of them. We have to remember that people are lazy, and if they read, skim, or just browse this book, they want to leave with items in their head to take back to the conference room. If the image in their mind is of a bus with a bunch of people that they like sitting quietly in their seats, well, that is what you are going to get.

While Collin's doesn't explain exactly what he means by getting the right people on the bus, I do know that there are going to be plenty of managers that think this means they need to break out the guillotine and get to work. Isn't that what managers do? If they ain't hirin', then they better be firin' or new career opportunities they'll be inquirin'.

I don't think this is what Collins' meant. I think he meant that great companies hire great people that are aligned with the core values of the company. And while this is excellent advice, it is not a remarkable discovery.

What I'm trying to say is that just because a manager doesn't like someone (for personal or professional reasons) or they are not the typical type of employee the company would hire, it doesn't mean that they should be kicked off the bus. The bus is full of a diverse group of skills, talents, and personalities. I don't think Collins should suggest that we get the right people on the bus, but rather, work toward figuring out the right mix of people to have on the bus.

I think the "Get the Right People on the Bus" mentality that people may walk away with from this book encourages autonomy and biased hiring and firing choices. I like what Collins has to say about Level 5 leadership, but this bus stuff is just a little bit off.

Where "Good to Great" just isn't quite right

Blown Budget

Blown Budget

The Great Recession Ain't Bad for Everyone

Sure unemployment is at a staggering 10.2% in the US and while this seems like a horrifically high number (and it is), there are in fact 89.8% (give or take) of the people in this country that have jobs and while they feel sorry for the pour souls trying to live on unemployment checks, they aren't doing too bad at all.

I just read a CNN.com article about how after a tough year in 2008, banker bonuses will be up 40% in 2009. Thank God! Of course this includes banks that received tax-payer funded bailouts in 2008 and were largely responsible for the economic collapse that is affecting 10.2% of the population much more than the other 89.8.

The reality of the situation is that during recessions companies run very lean and cut costs wherever possible. They also may be paying less on financing, credit, and goods and services that they need to run their business. All of this can actually lead to a net increase in profits with workers putting in extra time and working more productively for fear of losing their jobs.

If you are one of those folks who is lucky enough to have a job right now, this recession could be the greatest thing that ever happened to you. Never owned a home? Go buy one and get an $8000 tax credit from the government. Hell, even if you own a house you can get a new one and rake in a $6500 credit. But if you don't have income, you don't get mortgage. If you don't get mortgage, you don't buy house. If you don't buy house, you throw your money away to landlord.

And by the way, the folks that have jobs and are buying houses right now are buying in one of the most beaten down real estate markets ever. So while first time home buyers are pulling in an $8000 credit, they are also buying a house that is 20-30% below its highest value. Not a bad deal.

And you know what is better than having a job right now? That's right - owning a company. Owning a company is like being the captain of a sinking ship - you just bail water or throw people out of the boat to keep it above water. And if you're not floating high enough above the waves, just throw more people off. I'm not sure what the numbers are, and I really don't feel like doing research on it because I'm scared of what I may find, but I'm sure there are plenty of organizations that are actually more profitable during the recession because they have plenty of excuses to cut costs. Isn't this a beautiful country?

I will concede that there have been more than a fair share of banks and other organizations that have gone belly up during this whole thing, and I doubt they walked with very much money (although perhaps they did). But if your organization was strong enough to survive and you were strong enough and had enough connections to keep your job, then The Great Recession could be a very financially advantageous time. So I guess you should take full advantage.

However, if you are in the minority of folks that is burning through savings, racking up credit card debt, and throwing money away to landlords, The Great Recession frickin' sucks.

The Great Recession Ain't Bad for Everyone

How to Manage Your Manager

The relationship between employee and boss is a touchy and at times complicated relationship to negotiate in the workplace. Like any relationship, it takes work, time, and effort by all parties involved in order to make it successful. While conventional wisdom may tell us that the manager should take the lead in fostering a better relationship with their employees, the reality is that leadership without authority is required in order to produce better relations among the manager and managed.

In order to fully understand what is going on in the mind of a manager we must put ourselves into their high priced dress shoes. We have to realize that they are under pressure for the performance of their team. The manager is the single point of responsibility for the team beneath them. So while they may come off like a ruthless thug, this is most likely a result of pressure put on them from above. However, in my experience, most managers want to be "cool". Meaning, they don't want to be a heartless, micro-managing, clock-watching, tyrant that blows up at the smallest of mistakes. This is a balancing act that goes on in the minds of managers that, honestly, takes a lot of education, experience, and talent to master.

I have seen one major point of consistency among managers that I have had through my career and can't quite explain why this is. But managers really don't like to define your role or explain exactly what it is that they expect out you. I'm not sure why this is, but I think it would take a thorough exploration into the psyche of managers to figure it out. I suspect that is has something to do with consistency. The manager wants you to work hard, and this will at times require work outside of your job description. But if there is no job description, perhaps, managers think that this is the best way to get the most out of employees. In my opinion, this is the worst, and this is where employees need to take the lead, and manage your manager.

Managers hate to confront an employee with performance issues, it's a very uncomfortable conversation and most people will avoid this confrontation like a cat avoids a room full of occupied rocking chairs. To help your manager out, you can strike up casual conversation about performance in an effort to better understand expectations. Ask them if this or that worked, or how we may be able to perform better on this in the future. Try to make it constructive and demonstrate an interest in improvement of the team. This takes a huge load off the mind of the manager because they don't have to think about how to confront these very difficult topics and chances are, you don't have a manager that is talented enough to do it well.

Another absolute necessity in cultivating a strong manager-employee relationship is the employee review. This is another one that is avoided like the swing flu section of the emergency room. The employee must again take the lead. My first suggestion is to get an employee review written into your offer letter upon hiring. If this doesn't happen, which is typically the case, you need to ask for one. Present it as a discussion of performance of the team and don't be afraid to give constructive suggestions of how you and your manager can work better and improve your relationship.

Should managers be better at bringing up expectations and performance issues? Yes, absolutely. But just as John Lennon said, we get by with a little help from our friends.

How to Manage Your Manager