The Stud Finder of Carpe Factum

As I set up my new office at Drake, I'm hanging some pictures and shelves to give it a little "homier" feel.  Of course, hanging anything with some weight to it on a wall requires that I find the studs behind the wall to ensure that it stays secure and doesn't wind up crashing to the floor.  To accomplish this feat, I've used a stud finder to locate the vertical beams hidden behind the sterile white drywall.  Sometimes, it's important to find the support that is hidden to the naked eye.

That applies in our professional lives also, doesn't it?  I once had a student ask me who the most important people were to "suck up to" in the office to get ahead.  I'm sure he was wondering if he should brown-nose the CFO or the CIO before tackling the CEO.  My answer left him sitting there with his jaw open and utterly speechless (I love it when that happens).  If you feel compelled to suck up to anyone in the office, use your "professional stud finder" to locate the hidden support that will keep you from crashing to the ground:

• Secretaries, Administrative Assistants, and Executive Assistants - these people should be at the top of your list.  They are the gate-keepers for the individuals who can make or break your projects, your accomplishments, and your career.  You may have the best ideas, the best clothes, the best concepts, and the fattest paycheck, but if you anger an administrative professional, you do so at your own risk.  My cousin is an executive assistant, and I'm sure she's a darn good one (imagine a brick wall mixed with a bulldozer with pitbull on the side, all covered with a demure nature and a sweet smile and you have an idea how effective she is at protecting her boss... I can say this about her... we've known each other for decades).  This post pretty much drives the point home.
• Tech Support and Help Desk - you needn't suck up to each and every person, but make nice with a few critical people who are influencers of workload and quality in this department.  When you have a problem with your computer, phone, or PDA, it helps to have one or two "go to people" who can get you turned around quickly.  When I'm at a new client, I make sure I'm really nice to this crowd, and it has always served me well.
• Custodial and Security Staff - I think I may have told this story before, but once I was on a very highly political project which required long hours late into the night.  One of the custodial staff who came through around 10:00 each night loved to whistle.  I could have let it annoy me, but instead I started whistling along with him - very nice harmony, I might add.  By the way, did I mention that custodial staff sometimes go through your garbage when they empty it?  You'd be surprised some of the pieces of information that landed on my desk that helped me out.  Custodians and security guards know a lot more about what is going on than you might now.

These people are the studs of Carpe Factum, the often hidden supports that hold everything else up.  If you can use your intuitive stud finder to locate them, you'll be surprised how much you can accomplish.

Lighten Up Already

"All my life through, all the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child." -Marie Curie

"Do not take life too seriously.  You will never get out of it alive." -Elbert Hubbard

"Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can." -Else Maxwell

"All animals, except man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it." -Samuel Butler

It just seems like I've been hitting some hard and intense subjects recently.  In the interest of balance and well-being, think about these profundities for a while.  And smile already.  Sheesh.

Maybe He Should Have Added Seth Godin To The List

OK, this one was just too good to pass up.  We've all been hit by the CC Monster on email, as well as his little henchman, Reply All.  I found an amusing blog post by Shark Bait (where do they come up with these names?) who came up with a fun solution.  I'm not sure if it served its intended purpose, but at least it made me laugh.

I've got a user in a remote office who cc's everyone in his office, as well as the president of the company, whenever he has any problem. So when I get his email this morning that the internet seemed a little slow, and I saw that once again, the company pres was on the list, I thought it was time to take action.

When I answered that I would check into it, I hit reply-all, but added czar@ourdomain.com, comandante@ourdomain.com, and god@ourdomain.com. I knew full well that he'd reply-all again (which he did) without looking at the new list, and can only picture his face when he gets the bounces from czar, comandante, and god!

Maybe he'll get the idea!

To all of you email vigilantes out there, enjoy the moment.  It's great to see somebody tackle office politics of this sort with a sense of humor.

I Think; Therefore, I Blog

April Groves, the Southern Belle of Real Estate (and one darn smart and witty lady and a true renaissance thinker if there ever was one), has bestowed upon me the honor of the The Thinking Blogger award.  In her words,

Timothy Johnson makes my brain hurt (those who know me know that I mean that as a great compliment.)  He strips away the rhetorical mumbo jumbo of management and is applicable as a result - not to mention I learn a new word almost every time I visit.

Thanks, April.  Most of the time when I'm giving people a headache, it is generally not a compliment, so this is very high praise.  One of the great things about this award is that I am allowed to award it to five other blogs that really make me think.  (I like peer-based award systems.)  I've not had time to see if these blogs have already received this award, but here are the bloggers whose writing excites my gray matter every time I log in.  Each of these bloggers is brilliant in his/her subject matter, and I'm purposely withholding specific information about them to appeal to your own curious nature.  See if you dare to have your mind expanded.

• Tom Haskins
• Patti Digh
• Franke James
• Hunter Arnold
• Iowabiz.com (hey, nobody said that we couldn't award this to ensemble groups, and outside of yours truly, there are some outstanding writers here)

These are truly deserving people whose thoughts and whose blogospheric writings converge in the most delightful ways imaginable!!!

(And, like April, I had a hard time narrowing it to just five.  Everyone on my blog roll really triggers my thinking, challenges my thoughts, and inspires my actions.)

Thanks, April, for your kind words.  Thanks Tom, Patti, Hunter, Franke, and the Iowabiz writers for making me a better person just by being you.

Who Wrote That Autobiography, Anyway?

One of the benefits of being married to a high school teacher is that I get to be on the front line for the "teenagers say the darnedest things" recap at the end of the day.  My all-time favorite story was when my wife was teaching a unit on the Renaissance period in preparation of starting Romeo and Juliet.  Her students were assigned to do a presentation on some aspect of the period... the food, the fashion, the art, the science.  Two freshmen girls were doing their presentation on Renaissance art, sharing various works on their PowerPoint, the artist, when they were created, and any other contextual information.  They arrived at a specific slide in their presentation and delivered the following quote:  "This is a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci.  We don't know who painted it because the book didn't say."

Um... yeah....

I tell my clients and my students alike that it's generally equally important for them to know HOW to find the answers as it is to answer.  Maybe it's the Zen in me, but I've always to believed the journey to be on the same plane as the destination.  This applies to project management, to office politics, to leadership, to creativity... you name it.  It doesn't surprise me that students do worse on open-book exams; they don't think about how to think.  They don't care about looking for answers before the test, because they assume they can think about the search when they're under the gun.  And then they realize it doesn't work that way... all too late.  I relished a recent post by blogger Stephen Simmonds:

I really appreciate being able to find answers.  I find before me niggling little questions all the time, in all aspects of life and knowledge.  But on another level, it's about integration - of knowledge, of facts, and understanding.  For the first time in my life, I can find out most of what I want to know; I can fill in all the little gaps that have been outstanding for ages.

Beautifully put, Stephen.  In the quest to Carpe Factum, we sometimes forget to think.  We don't find the answers because the "book didn't say."  There are a alot of times when we're called upon to SEARCH for the answers.  When the book doesn't say what the answers are, that's the time to close the book and look everywhere else... including inside ourselves.  And as Stephen points out, it goes beyond just looking for answers, life is about integrating all of the questions into something that makes sense for us. 

Where can you shift the emphasis from the answers themselves to the search for the answers?

The Inner View of Interviews

A friend of mine was interviewing for a position at a well-known national company.  He thought the position was perfect for him, and he was excited about the possibilities.  He made it through his first interviews... and waited... and was finally called back for second interviews... and waited... and eventually was called back for a third round of interviews... and waited... and waited.

I asked him how much he valued decisiveness and decision-making ability within an employer, and he confirmed that it was very important to him.  I asked him why he was tolerating indecisiveness and waffling during the interviewing process.  After all, this was beyond the normal HR screening.  "If they are this slow in deciding to hire you, how fast do you think they will be in making critical project decisions?"

While he thought about that, a smaller organization who was coveting his skills offered him a job.  It was less pay than the "big box employer" but he's a lot happier than he would have been.  Statistics indicate a lot of people are considering job searches or are actively engaged in a job search.  Candidates:  pay attention to how you are treated during the recruiting process... it's probably a good indicator of how you will be treated as an employee.

I remember an interview I had when I was finishing my undergrad career.  It was with one of the elite high-end consulting firms out of Chicago, and the recruiter was caustic and rude.  Midway through the interview, my 22-year-old mind realized quickly that no job was worth this kind of abuse, so I decided to "throw the interview" by mirroring her bad behavior.  I figured that chapter was closed at the end of the disastrous exchange, and then I received a call from their home office recruiter the next week.  He was excited to bring me in for the next round of interviews, and he told me I received very high marks from my initial interview, and they KNEW I would be perfect for their culture.  Hmmmmmm.  I politely declined, and thanked him for the "positive feedback."

What are your experiences in the job interviewing arena?  How have you observed this relationship between interviewing and internal culture?

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead!

OK, so Leona Helmsley, the "Queen of Mean," is now going to be pushing up daisies... er... um... ok... maybe just weeds and occasional prickly thorn bushes.  Many of you remember the stories that surfaced about her savage abuse of her employees during her years as a powerful hotel maven.

The fact remains, though:  she's dead.  She can't yell at anyone, hit anyone, or abuse anyone from the grave.

So it is with bullies.  Dealing with them is a temporary state... or at least it should be.  I'm always surprised by people who put up with bullies for years... or even decades.  I learned about handling bullies early in my career.  I worked for a couple of Leona Helmsleys in my day, and it wasn't fun.  But eventually, I learned how to either fight back or move on.  Fight or flight is a natural human response, but too often we throw up our hands in despair.

Are you dealing with a bully right now?  Do you feel powerless to stop the abuse?  Here are a couple of pointers/action steps that I've suggested to others that you can begin doing right now:

1. Update your resume.  Even if you have no intention of leaving at the moment, the mere act of doing this can be very empowering.  It forces you to take inventory of your experience and the value you bring to an employer (albeit not your current one).  You probably need a cheerleader at this point, even if it is yourself.
2. Document the abuse.  If possible, covertly record it (digital recorders are dirt cheap and can be hidden strategically).  Put down dates, times, witnesses, what was said, the context, etc.  Create a log of the abuse and maintain multiple copies of it at work and at home.  After 1-2 months, consider visiting with an attorney.  Then visit your HR department and show them the COPIES of your documentation (don't let them have the originals).  HR departments are wising up to the fact that if you present them with evidence of abuse and they fail to act, they put the entire company at risk for a lawsuit.
3. Take some sick days.  Even if this will get you dinged on your next performance review, call a time out for your own sanity.  Get away from the situation and take objective stock of what is going on.  Daily abuse will only make matters worse.
4. Enlist Others.  Chances are good that you are not the only target of the bully.  There is, after all, safety in numbers.  The more of you that stand up to the bully, the better your chances of de-throning them.

Each of these strategies is intended for the short-term solution only.  A bully should never be allowed into your head... or worse yet, your heart.  Taking some of the above steps should help insulate you and also empower you to take action.

Kevin Eikenberry Has Some Problems

Kevin Eikenberry has poor timing.

And he cuts in line.

And, oh yeah, he makes you think.

This may sound like a really odd way to start a book review, especially a very positive one.  I received Kevin's book, Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One Skill At a Time, late last week.  I wish he'd been a little earlier.  I would have changed my reading list for the new leadership class I'm teaching this fall (hence, the poor timing).

He's also going to annoy some other authors and publicists whose books have been waiting in my queue for a review... some for weeks or months... because somehow his book floated to the very top of the list.  It's all his fault for writing something so darn useful and interesting.  I picked it up just to thumb through it and couldn't put it back down (ergo, the cutting in line comment).

Writing about leadership... and doing it really, really well... is truly where art collides with science.  We talk a lot in my MBA classes about what it takes to make a great leader.  Kevin does more than talk about it.  He demonstrates it.  The pages of his book just leap with relevant anecdotes (both personal and third person).  Rather than simply recapping some key points at the end of each chapter, Kevin wedges in application throughout the book by giving his readers "Now Steps" (i.e. "Here's what you can do right now to...") and "Remarkable Principles."  He sends his readers elsewhere for even more resources that wouldn't fit into the book with his "Bonus Bytes" and "Remarkable Resources."

But where I was truly impressed is that Kevin created a succinct yet complete 360 degree review of the topic.  He meets readers where they are on the concept of leadership... fears... myths... concerns... misconceptions (including the "I don't have time for this stuff - I have a job to do" complaint) and he guides them through almost every topic imaginable:

• Continual learning
• Championing change
• Devloping others
• Innovative thinking and acting
• Problem solving
• Project management (wow... does he win my heart on this chapter)

...among other issues like communication, adding value, customer focus, accountability and responsibility.  Kevin and I exchanged a few emails prior to his book arriving, and he struck me as very genuine, humble, and passionate just through the tone of those few brief communications.  Reading his book reinforced that.  He's not preachy; he's conversational.  You can read with a certainty that the same words, the same ideas, and the same stories would be coming out of his mouth if he were sitting across from you.  He's very clearly a systems thinker, with a strong sense of cause-and-effect.

The emphasis of his book really is about setting the reader apart as a remarkable leader.  If you don't want to reach for being the best leader (or the best human) possible, don't bother with this book.  Kevin has woven a masterful synthesis within these covers that will leave you with a burning challenge at the pit of your gut.  Yeah, he's too late to make it into my fall reading list for my students, but you can bet I'll be referencing his book a lot throughout the semester.

Speaking of being remarkable, Kevin wants his book to unseat Harry Potter's domination of the literary genre.  Now that's what I call a great goal (and I'm a HUGE Harry Potter fan, too).

P.S.  You know that I like to read multiple books simultaneously or in close proximity.  I'd recommend completing the self assessment in Tom Rath's Strengths Finder 2.0 prior to diving into Kevin's book.  I think you'll find it a very enriching experience to do so, as having a strong sense of your existing strengths will heighten the context of leadership tremendously.

Back To School... Carpe Factum Style

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."  -Albert Einstein

Today I begin new employee orientation at Drake.  (Yeah, the irony of having been there for over seven years already is not lost on me.)  I'm excited about this year, though.  Much of my course load will be the same with the exception of one new course on Leadership and Human Capital Development; still, there's a sense of newness about the whole experience.  I really almost feel like I am a first year teacher, and that's exciting to regain that spirit again.

A lot of educational institutions are getting back into the swing of things over the next couple of weeks.  But let's not think of them as "educational institutions" any more.  I'd rather think of them as idea incubators... or discovery centers... or life labs.  I'd like to challenge my fellow educators no longer to think of themselves as "just teachers" ... we're safari leaders ... we're artists ... we're conductors (music or railroad... you pick your metaphor).

There are a lot of young minds out there depending on our perceptions... of them... of ourselves... of our profession.

Now Carpe Factum!

Meme And My Shadow

For those who don't know what a "meme" is, it's sort of like playing a game of tag with bloggers.  Somebody comes up with an idea or a question and then tags a few bloggers, generally 3-7, to answer the question and tag some of their friends.  I've responded to a few memes in my almost 18 months of business blogging, and I've learned a lot about my fellow bloggers, just as they've learned a few things about me.

So I started thinking about a topic this week... something I was really curious about:  if I could shadow another blogger for a day, who would it be?  Phil Gerbyshak?  He'd be very interesting, but he'd wear me out in the first five minutes.  Starbucker?  He gets a lot of travel and is able to devour tons of books, but I think I'd miss my family too much.  Adam Steen?  The man is an uber-networking animal; I randomly run into so much that there are times it already feels like we shadow each other.  Drew McLellan might be fun... appealing to my inner-marketer.  I already know what Delaney Kirk does... all too well... and I like it anyway!  I'd love to watch Patti Digh do one of her workshops, but as a participant rather than a shadow.  Hmmm... this is tougher than I thought.  Of course, I've idolized Steve Farber for years and it's just a dream come true to get to chat with him on occasion.  I bet watching Liz Strauss in action would be a riot... kind of like being in the splash zone of a blogospheric Seaworld.  I'm sure that Derrick Sorles and Michael Snell, with their many different business directions, would be great to observe for the day.  But I suppose if I could narrow it to one blogger for one day, watching Tom Clifford in action would be awesome; corporate film-making is a fascination of mine.

So... besides the people I've mentioned (I'm going for the "cast of thousands" tag here), I'd be curious who Jane Greer, Josh Nankivel, Mike Sansone, Sandy Renshaw, and Claire Celsi would choose to shadow for a day.  (If I didn't mention your name, don't worry, I will bet you'll get tagged eventually.)  Remember to trackback and/or link back to this post so I know who's playing.  I'll attempt to do a summary post in a couple of weeks to show who wants to shadow whom.

Bonus question:  would your answer be different if you could actually trade places with that blogger for a day?

Flickr Image by Amphone_Alice

Camouflage + Subterfuge = ... Camterfluge?

Tonight I delivered my first keynote on office politics... the "maiden voyage" of the presentation entitled "What do you mean, 'I started it'?"  It was well received, and I enjoyed presenting to this group of professionals.

During the presentation, I was talking about a part of the GUST process where the players need to strategize an approach for handling their office politics.  At some point, you need to decide how overt or covert you're going to be with the other players.  Do you want to be open and let them know that you are attempting to get your way, or do you use the sneak attack?  There's really no right answer.

I started thinking about camouflage.  Back in the day, there used to be only one kind of camouflage:  woodland camos with green, black, and brown.  Now, there are numerous kinds of camoflage to wear and to use to hide things:  urban camo, digital camo, ACUs, tiger stripe, desert.  The type of camo selected depends on the environment in which it will be used.  So it goes with office politics:  the type of approach and the level of cloak-and-dagger depends on the situation, the players, and what is at stake.

So, I'm curious... when you're playing office politics, how do you decide how much to share with others and how much to keep to yourself?  Intuition?  Trust level?  Seriously, I want to know how you generally approach your office politics strategies.

Thoreau It Out

It's been interesting around our house this summer.  My wife, the English teacher, began her break by asking where her annotated copy of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, was located.  I didn't know and hadn't remembered seeing it in ages.

I've suspected this since we were first married, but I believe my wife to be part bloodhound.  This summer provided further evidence as she began systematically going through the house room by room hunting for her beloved and much needed book.  However, rather than simply searching, she began ridding and organizing.  Garbage bag after garbage bag was filled and disposed... boxes upon boxes of stuff were donated to charity... our neighbors are soon holding a garage sale, of which we are key donors.  And you know what?  It's felt pretty darn good to get rid of stuff.  As we were reaching for the last box on the final shelf of the store room, what should be at the bottom of the box?  That's right... the annotated copy of Walden.

The really humorous and ironic part of our summer break exercise is that Thoreau and his peer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, were both proponents of keeping things simple, of ridding unnecessary junk.  I think Thoreau must have been speaking to us from beyond the grave, and I'm not about to argue with a transcendentalist ghost.  I challenged my Iowa Biz readers to de-clutter their projects a few weeks ago.  But it's more than just streamlining your projects... or cleaning a store room... it's about simplifying your life.  It seems that we've become a society that is ruled by stuff.  Granted, there are certain objects I enjoy and I use regularly around the house, but those things tucked away in crevices and boxes that are there as some kind of security blanket... well, my wife and I have made a pact to simplify, reduce, recycle, eliminate, and downsize.

What about you?  What can you get rid of?  What can you throw out?  How would it feel if you had less "stuff" to think about?

Team Spirit And Office Politics Do Mix

I've shared a lot about my writing on Office-Politics, and I have to admit that it's one of my favorite online publishing engagements.  Franke James, a blogospheric gem in her own right, does an amazing job of attracting meaningful and challenging letters from professionals all over the globe.  She's done an even more amazing job of assembling some outstanding thought leaders to answer those letters.  I'm in awe when I look at the company I'm keeping on that site, and it's an honor to think of them as peers.  And lucky for you, many of them are bloggers.  I'd like to give some of them a brief introduction, because I think it would be worth your time to go and visit their sites.

Erika Andersen is the newest member of the OP team, and I'm already wowed by her gentleness and professionalism.  She writes for The Simplest Thing That Works blog, and has published a book entitled Growing Great Employees.  She has a down-to-earth sensibility that will just draw you in.

Before being introduced to Arnie Herz, I thought that Brett Trout and Rush Nigut were the only blogospheric lawyers worth conversation.  Arnie is also cream of the crop in the legal profession, and his Legal Sanity blog is evidence of that.  And this guy could give Phil Gerbyshak a race on the link love, as Arnie is constantly giving nods to other great resources.  He's a must read!

How would you like to be known as "The Frasier of the Cubicles"?  Dr. Greg Ketchum appears to have rightly earned the title (with all of the wit and a lot less emotional maintenance than his Kelsey Grammer counterpart) when you read his emphathetic advice to letter writers.  His Talent Planet blog shares some interesting insights, and it's been a pleasure exchanging emails with him on occasion.

There are many other great resources on the Office Politics site, and I hope to get the chance to introduce them to you as well in the near future.  I wanted to highlight a few who contribute in numerous ways to making the blogosphere a better place to visit.

Our State Fair Is A Great State Fair...

Come on... sing along... you know the words!

OK, Janet over at DMWebLife tagged a bunch of us to share our favorite things about the Iowa State Fair.

Hmmm... that's tough.  I wrote about the State Fair last year while talking about project dependencies, and it's pretty obvious that I love the food there.  If it's deep fried and/or on a stick, then it's fair game to be eaten (pun intended).  So what if my annual physical (and subsequent cholesterol test) are scheduled for next week... it's all about living on the wild side, right?

But there are so many quirky little things about the fair that I couldn't even begin to describe them all.  You'd just have to experience them to believe they exist.  How about tractor square dancing?  (I had heard they originally wanted to try tractor ballet, but none of the John Deere's could fit into those tiny little tutus.)  There are all of the rides and attractions on the midway, of course (or as I call it, mankind's monuments to unsafe practices).  A trip through the Varied Industries Building yields some fascinating displays of Iowa's economy, and we do have many different types of businesses thriving in this state.  One can't really say he's been to the fair until he's seen the famous Butter Cow, as well as whatever featured statue is made out of butter each year (this year, it's a butter Harry Potter... nice likeness, too).  Of course, this is Iowa, so you must take in the livestock displays and some of the agricultural items... just to appreciate our heritage.

But let's face facts.  It is not rocket science to find my absolutely favorite thing:  people watching.  The variety is amazing and amusing.  The Iowa State Fair is like my own little anthropological study, set up for entertainment and fascination and study.  As long as I write about topics like office politics and project management and creativity, people watching will be at the top of my list no matter where I am.

Thanks, Janet, for the challenge.  It was a fun trip this year.

Home Court Disadvantage

We've all been there.  Somebody schedules a meeting for us to

1. Solve a problem
2. Come up with a creative new idea through brainstorming
3. Share status
4. Build requirements
5. Set direction through strategy or mission/vision statements

Then they schedule the meeting in Conference Room 302 in Building Z.  And everyone shows up to the same gray-beige room with the same laminate wood table and the same cushioned chairs and the same white board... and they come up with the same ideas as before.

Ugh.

Penina Finger of Fantastic Machine has an amazing post that addresses this very issue.  In it, she shares how somebody she admired scheduled meetings in Conference Room C, which was code for a cafe outside the office.  She realizes that when you put people in the same environment, they're going to come up with the same solutions, regardless of how you exhort them to "think outside the box."

Here is Des Moines, I've been made aware of some really creative meeting places I didn't even know existed.  For example, the local Harley-Davidson shop has a conference room (based on availability).  What genius!  In almost every meeting, there's going to be some testosterone-driven male who will be drooling over the merchandise (of course, not to be sexist here, I'm meeting more and more women who lust after the vroom-vroom of a motorcycle every bit as well as their male counterparts).  Another place that has conference facilities is a local horse stable.  Again, jarring people out of their current locations is a great approach.  One of the favorite classes of my Drake creativity students is not even in a classroom, and I'm not actively involved.  I send them on a scavenger hunt.  That one night teaches them many more lessons in many creative ways.  I think I've mentioned this before, but when I was writing GUST, I hit a nasty wall of writer's block.  I stepped back and gave some hard diagnosis to the problem.  Then I terminated my contract with my current client because I realized it was draining my spirit.  After a week of "client detox" I went to the mall and did some people watching for an evening.  I came back and wrote the last four chapters and the epilogue in one week.  All from a change of scenery.

So... are your meetings generating the "same old stuff"?  See what moving them to a different location does for you.

Authorities Baffled By Conversation Serial Killer

[Blog Wire Press] - Local authorities are baffled by a series of killed conversations.  Unfortunately, these untimely deaths are providing few clues to police, who arrive in time to find the corpse of a conversation lying dormant on the ground with no witnesses in sight.

"We're baffled.  The killer is showing no distinct patterns," stated an investigator who asked that his name not be used.  The most recent victim was found on a sidewalk near an abandoned garage.  Victims have been found in all parts of town, some in very prominent and well-trafficked areas.  None have survived to identify the perpetrator(s).

Many citizens are becoming more and more concerned about the safety of their conversations, and are taking them online, where they are perceived to be safe.  However, this may or may not be the best solution, depending on one's prowess with social media.  The killers may exist on-line, but may just take on different appearances to suit their needs.

Investigators are researching past "crimes against communication" (CAC) division files.  An essay by John Carey revealed some clues:

And cell phones, fortunately, are everywhere; allowing us to multiplex our minds and our lives. Cell phoning while driving. Cell phoning while eating. Talking on the cell phone at a wedding. I’ve even recently observed fast food restaurant guests talking to each other across the table on their cell phones. Do we really need to communicate this much? Are we discussing Plato or the meaning of life? Not usually. We are often scheduling more work, explaining why we are late, or just wasting time and space on the frequency band.

Meanwhile, police have rounded up some of the usual suspects of crimes of this magnitude, although not one was positively identified in a series of police line-ups.  Detectives are considering contacting conversational forensics experts, Mike Sansone or Valeria Maltoni, to consult on the case.  Meanwhile, security is being beefed up around communications gurus like Connie Reece and Lisa Gates, just as a precaution.

These recent violent acts against communication come as authorities are still reeling from the Morale Marauder, who remains at large after a scandalous spree of kidnapping team morale for ransom.  Authorities have few leads on this case after more than a year of investigation.

If you have any leads on either of these cases, or if you observe suspicious acts toward or near active conversations, you are encouraged to contact the appropriate authorities.

Plotty Training

One of the interesting transitions with having a toddler in the house is going through that phase known as "potty training."  (I personally think the term "house-breaking" fits, given the general disposition of a toddler, but my wife has banned me from using that phrase in reference to our daughter.)  Nowhere in the annals of human behavior do the issues of power, motivation, communication, reward and punishment, and leadership collide so wrecklessly as they do when teaching a child the right way to (...ahem...) "download."

I was doing my periodic round of "blog trolling" and ran across an excellent post by Linda Zdanowicz, a dental practice management professional, in which she applies Dick Richards' three principles of change to a shift in her own responsibilities, among other dental management issues.  The three principles are:

1.  In the realm of human activity, things change only after they are accepted for what they are. For my daughter, she has to come to the realization that she's not yet "attained toilet competencies" before she will push herself to want to change.  For my clients, they have to admit there's a problem before they will be motivated to seek a solution.

2.  Change occurs as a function of distress, vision, capacity for change, and achievable first steps.  I shouldn't even have to go here on the kid front (so I won't).  For my clients, one of the first questions I ask any client is "Why did you call me?"  I want to know the pain catalyst that caused the desire to change.  Pain is a very strong motivator for individuals and organizations alike.  The business world seems to have very little use for proactive thinkers; react at the right time, though, and you're a hero.  (The same applies for potty training, too.)

3.  People are more likely to act on their own conclusions than on someone else's. We have read books to my daughter on the topic.  My wife and older daughter have done "demonstrations."  We have cute little stickers to reward positive behavior.  In the end, it all comes down to the "Ya gotta wanna" principle.  Yesterday, without assistance, questioning, or prodding of any sort, my daughter chose to follow correct procedure.  Her conclusion.  She owned it.  It was her Carpe Factum moment.  When I work with my clients, I inform them that my skills as a speaker, trainer, mentor, or coach are irrelevent if, when the time comes, they are not prepared to act on their own accord.  They will have just wasted a lot of good consulting budget dollars.

And so it goes.  A lot of my areas of expertise (project management, organizational culture, office politics, creativity) all center around behavioral change.  I liked Mr. Richards' simple yet powerful approach to change, but I revelled in Ms. Zdanowicz's applications.  What are you going to do to flush some of your old behaviors?   How will you use these principles to help those around you?

Speaking Candidly

August and September are shaping up to be some very busy months for me, yet still very exciting at the same time.

First there are three speaking engagaements this month, in case you would like to attend.  If your schedule allows, I'd love to meet you in person:

• August 7 - Project Management Institute - Quad Cities Chapter
• August 14 - Project Management Institute - Eastern Iowa Chapter
• August 16 - Project Management Institute - Minnesota Chapter

The response for the new Carpe Factum Workshops has been very favorable.  There are still openings for the September workshops.  I had previously neglected to mention that there is a cap on the number of attendees for each workshop to better enhance the learning and communication environment.  This information is being updated today.  If you don't get in for September, there are openings in October through December, and the 2008 schedule will be released in October.

A special call-out is due to Valeria Maltoni for her great review on GUST - The "Tale" Wind of Office Politics.  I'm always fascinated by the personal nuggets that other people glean from reading this book.  It seems that each reader comes away with one specific message that fits him or her personally.  I think that is awesome, as the book was never intended as a "one size fits all."  Each of the reviews has personalized the book in some way, and since office politics are very personal, that's rewarding to see that the book is adding value across a diverse cross-section of professionals.

Finally, because my new blog buddy, April Groves, has shared her news about returning to school as a full-time student (way to go, April!), I thought I'd share a little education-related news of my own.  Because of Delaney Kirk's decision that Florida hurricanes were preferred over Iowa winters, her departure from Drake University (sniff, sniff) left a huge gaping hole in the department (in many ways).  One of those ways was a teaching position.  Earlier this summer, Drake offered and I accepted a one-year full-time visiting professorship in the College of Business and Public Administration.  In addition to all of the other current courses I'm teaching, I'll be developing and delivering a new MBA course in Leadership and Human Capital Development.  I'm very excited about the opportunity and thrilled to get to know my colleagues better.  Because the classes are all evening and weekend in format, I do not anticipate this interfering with my day-to-day consulting activities.

That's about it for a Monday morning.  Have an amazing week, and I hope you all are able to Carpe Factum!

Pleasantly Surprised

Every year around the end of July/beginning of August, something miraculous happens in our back yard.  In one small corner of the yard, flowers shoot up out of nowhere (seemingly overnight), their stalks ranging from 18 inches to 2 feet in height.  They are called "surprise lilies," and the name fits.  We've been in this house for 11 years, and each and every year, I've been surprised.  Maybe I'm just too caught up in the day-to-day management of life, so when I find time to walk around the back yard, these flowers time their arrival perfectly, kind of like friends jumping out from behind the furniture to wish me a happy birthday.  For about a week, they grace our lawn as the most beautiful plant on the entire property.  Then... they're gone... just as suddenly... but leaving very pleasant visual memories in their wake.

When one spends his time researching, coaching, training, and writing about office politics, it can be very easy to focus on negative behaviors.  So, instead, let's all think of one way in which you can pleasantly surprise another individual today.  A casual compliment?  A card?  A cup of coffee or a soda?  A thank you?  My dad always quoted the old adage, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar."  I'm positive it works in office settings as well.  Whom can you pleasantly surprise today?  How will  you do it?

The Loss of a Bridge

My sincerest sympathies go out to the residents of the Twin Cities, who are reeling tonight from the collapse of the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi River just north of downtown Minneapolis.  I've been glued to the television since getting home from class at Drake tonight.  People will be spending the next few days grieving and trying to figure out why this tragedy happened.

I talk a lot about the destruction and damage of metaphorical bridges on this website.  The loss of the physical structure drives home a lot of feelings, especially since my family and I were visiting the Twin Cities last weekend.  Fear, vulnerability, and sadness lead the list.  Bridges are supposed to safely connect... despite one failure, let us remember that they still do.

To the people in Minneapolis, you are in my thoughts and prayers tonight and in the coming days.  May God help you through this traumatic period and the healing to follow.