A New Adventure

Pssssst... guess what?

No, really... GUESS!

OK, OK... I'll tell you.

There's a new resource online for small businesses in Iowa.  It's called Iowabiz.com, and it launches on May 1st.  They have pulled together twelve resources in the following areas:

• Accounting and Finance with Joe Kristan
• Business Law with Rush Nigut
• Company Culture and ESOP with Victor Aspergren
• Customer Service with Tom Vander Well
• Insurance with Brian Honnold
• Intellectual Property with Brett Trout
• Leadership and HR with Shirley Poertner
• Life/Work Balance with Mitch Matthews
• Marketing and Branding with Drew McLellan
• Networking and Collaboration with Adam Steen
• Project Management with yours truly
• Web Strategy with Mike Sansone

What an exciting opportunity to add value to the small business community in Iowa (and beyond).  I'm excited, honored, humbled, and pumped to have been asked to participate with this esteemed group.  Some of them I've known for a few months; some of them I'm in the process of meeting; and some are strangers (for now at least).  However, we all share a passion to help small businesses become successful.  We all share a vision to see small businesses progress forward.

Carpe Factum!!!

Simon Says "Moo"

Today I watched an interesting phenomenon:  my daughters played the game Simon Says.  My two-year-old was allowed to be Simon.  She started out:

"Simon Says 'Spin around.'"

"Simon Says 'Clap your hands.'"

"Jump."

And then...

Well, if you've ever been around a toddler long enough, they lose interest very quickly.  Abby found something else to grab her attention, leaving my seven-year-old spinning and clapping.  Lauren is a rather focused and very competitive young lady.  Hence, she was not about to lose the game under any circumstances.  She was so busy spinning and clapping that she didn't notice that Abby had left the room until she was about to collapse from dizziness.  (Yeah, I could have stopped her earlier, but then what fun would I have had?)

As a consultant, I deal with a lot of sacred cows.  Simon made a company start mooing 5, 10, 20 years ago and nobody came along and told them to stop.  I guess companies just have to get dizzy enough before they realize that Simon has left the room.  We hope they realize it before they lose consciousness.  Before you bring in a consultant to solve your problems, maybe you should simply try saying, "Simon says, 'Stop Mooing.'"  The dizzy cows will thank you.

Favor for Farber

As many of you know, Steve Farber is one of my all time favorite business authors.  If you've read either of his first two books, Radical Leap or Radical Edge, it is not hard to see why.

Steve is working on his third book, and he has asked for input on the outline he has posted on his blog.  Follow the link to read what he has out there.  While it is not necessary to have read his first two books to understand the goals and premise of the third, it is helpful.

For those of you who are fans of Steve's writing and his leadership philosophy, this is an awesome investment of your time, and it's an opportunity to become "greater than yourself."

GUST Has Guts

A couple of updates:

• FINALLY, Amazon has GUST in stock.  For those waiting for the 4-6 week back order to go away, Amazon is finally deciding to "play nice."  Now go order your copy.
• The book signing today was a blast.  It was great to see so many friends and acquaintances show up.  Selling a few books didn't hurt either.  Thanks to those of you who dropped by or emailed your encouragement.  And John at the The Book Store is a great guy!

Have a great weekend - some really exciting stuff happening next week (but I can't tell you what just yet)!!

The Road Less Raveled

Recently, I was asked to provide feedback on somebody's performance.  To be honest, I've really been struggling with the issue of how brutally candid I want to be with my answers.  I generally tend to avoid out-and-out malice when providing feedback; after all, the word "feedback" implies that there is some mental or emotional nourishment to the recipient.  So... why the hesitancy?

We've all heard of the phrase "shoot the messenger," and it conjures the image of the Vesuvius manager waiting to erupt at the first sign of bad news.  However, like the game of Clue, there are multiple ways to injure a messenger of feedback, which in turn shuts him or her down.  See if any of these sound familiar:

• Naked Emperor - This person can see no wrong in him/herself, so if you see it, you must be an inferior being.  If the Naked Emperor wants feedback, she or he is asking for ego strokes in disguise.
• Excuses, Excuses - This person begins coming up with all of the reasons why he or she is to be exonerated for the negative feedback.  The root cause of the problem is a lack of accountability; the excuse-monger may want feedback about everyone and everything else.
• Forty Lashes - When hearing any negative feedback about himself, this person automatically starts telling you everything that you've done wrong.  Similar to the Excuses person above, the negativity is directed at you as the deliverer of feedback.  Lashing out at the messenger completely changes the scope of the feedback session.
• Passive Aggression - Similar to the Lasher above, this person will smile and nod while you are providing the feedback, only to lash out at you... later... in unpleasant ways... when you least expect it.
• Apathy - These peoplen may not even care what you have to say.  It may be due to their perception of you, or it may be that they just don't think that changing is a high priority on their list.
• Shields Up, Captain - This person becomes defensive at the first sign of negative feedback and will shut you down.  The reasons may relate to any of the other five, but it tends to be a general shutdown of receiving feedback.  Behaviors include a glazed expression or multi-tasking so they don't have to listen.

So, what do you do when you are asked to provide feedback to somebody or feel compelled to provide feedback?  There are a couple of tricks and tips:

• Determine the receptiveness - has this person historically been receptive of feedback?  If not, then anything you say or do might fall on deaf ears or get you in greater trouble
• Is the timing good - if this person is having a bad day, kicking the horse out from under them while they already have the noose around their neck is generally not a good strategy
• Fitness for use - if they've asked you for feedback, ask them why and what your feedback will be used for.  I've occasionally asked how candid they want me to be with my feedback in a humorous way:  "Do you want to be lightly toasted or extra crispy when I'm done with you?"
• Document, Document, Document - have your feedback in writing while you are delivering it to them.  Follow up with an email to recap.  When it comes to feedback, sometimes no good deed goes unpunished.

On my recent situation, I chose to pass on providing completely candid feedback.  I also chose my words very carefully, so I wasn't lying to the person, but I also wasn't being as candid as I would have liked.  The person asking me for feedback has a solid reputation as a passive aggressive naked emperor; hence, anything negative would have hurt me in the long run more than anything.

I'll happily give feedback to people when I know they will use it.  I've had to deliver very difficult messages to individuals, telling executives that their projects are failing, that they have a poor reputation among their staff, and that they are just generally heading down an incorrect path.  However, delivering those difficult messages is easier knowing the person operates with a healthy ego intact, and that the feedback will be used for good rather than evil.

NOTE:  My apologies to Robert Frost fans for the post title.  Please don't provide me feedback.  :)

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

The past several days have been great on many levels:

I was the keynote for the local ISACA (International Systems Audit and Control Association) chapter last Tuesday.  They were a fun and attentive group, and it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to present to them.

My first radio interview was last Wednesday evening on 98.3 FM WOW with Jim Goodman's Iowa Business Hour.  It went pretty well, and I didn't get too nervous.  The eleven people who heard the interview all had good things to say.  The full interview will eventually be uploaded to the site, so check back.

On Thursday of last week, Mike Sansone addressed the Central Iowa Chapter of the Project Management Institute, sharing a lot of his insight about blogging and the value of social media.  I had the honor of introducing Mike, and I had a little bit of fun with it.  His presentation was amazing, and it's a message that every company and organization needs to hear.

Tomorrow is my first book signing for GUST - The "Tale" Wind of Office Politics.  I will be at The Book Store from noon-1.  It is located in the Equitable Building in Downtown Des Moines (606 Locust).  If you're in the neighborhood, stop by.  And if you walk away with one or two (or fifty) signed copies of GUST, all the better.

Vote Early and Often

The Bloggers' Choice Award Nominees have been announced.  While this doesn't exactly have the same fanfare as the Oscar's, I think there are a couple of nominees to point out:

One of them is Mike Sansone of Converstations.  For those who know Mike, he should be voted one of this decade's most influential people for his promotion of social media.  He's been nominated for Best Blog about Blogging.

The other nominee is Carpe Factum for Best Blog Design.  However, this isn't about me tooting my own horn.  Many of you may have noticed the MAJOR face lift that Carpe Factum received a week ago.  This is due to a very, VERY special lady named Sandy Renshaw of Purple Wren Designs.  If Carpe Factum wins in this category, the accolades all go to Sandy, and she deserves every ounce of bragging rights for her awesome work (and her patience with me).

The Bloggers' Choice Awards do require you to register, but the process is relatively painless (I think they just ask for an email address).  So get out there and cast your vote for Mike and Sandy.

The Insanity Which Is Amazon

For those who have emailed and asked about Amazon's constant message about GUST's being backlogged 4-6 weeks, do not fear.  There is a huge shipment headed their way, which should arrive today or tomorrow.  So feel free to order books... they will be getting there quickly.

To put things in context, Amazon will not accept shipments of books unless they have requested them (i.e., there is a packing slip requesting the exact amount of books).  And... for whatever reason, they were not sending those messages requesting books to my publisher.  So finally... after a lot of back-and-forth... we were able to get them to put in an order for enough books to cover those people who were obviously ordering books and being forced to wait on them.

For those of you out there in my readership who have suppliers, keep this in mind.  Your suppliers are also your customers.  They have products that they want you to buy and, in turn, sell to your customers.  Are your systems and infrastructure in place to help them?

NOTE:  I realize that in Amazon's eyes, my books are "small potatoes."  However, in talking to other authors, it sounds like Amazon has the same customer service mindset as Henry Ford did when he told customers that "They can have any color of Model T they want as long as it's black."  In this day and age where the market players can change quickly, I hope Amazon takes note that when the competition does arise... well, you can figure out the rest.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Lend Me Your Rears

It's a scary thing to hold a project kick-off meeting.  You have a lot to accomplish in a very short period of time.  You have to introduce team members, make people aware of the scope and purpose of the project, and build enthusiasm.  Jeff Lash of Good Product Manager says that this meeting is the differentiator between good project managers and bad project managers, and I wholeheartedly agree.  There's a reason why the "kickoff" analogy from football is used.  Imagine the ref tossing the ol' pigskin in the middle of 22 guys and simply saying "Have at it, boys!"  (I think it was tried once; the XFL lasted only one season before cancellation.)

However, the scariest part of the kick-off is when your executive stands up to speak.  As a project manager, I know that these few words are a make-or-break moment.  This executive has to express his or her knowledge of the project, why it is important for success, level of enthusiasm, and why everyone's butts are on the line... and generate enough of an attitude adjustment in the meeting participants to get the project off on the right foot.  (Oh yeah, and it has to be a believable performance.)  That's one tall order.  After all, think of the damage Marc Antony accomplished by his word choice at Julius Caesar's funeral (a la Shakespeare, of course)... and he technically was following Brutus' orders to the letter of the law.

How can you pull off an executive state-of-the-project speech that will have them laughing and crying and cheering (all at the right times)?  For starters, you had better make sure that the kickoff (or right before) is not your FIRST interaction with your executive sponsor.  If it is, you may want to have the resume updated.  Sponsorship is not a role that can be "phoned in."  Assuming that your executive is already engaged in the project and communicating with you, here are some things to think about before you hand them the microphone and brace yourself for an evening at the Improv:

1. Interrogate Them For Knowledge - Can your executive tell you what the project is about, at least in laymen's terms?  Make sure your sponsor understands the scope and the purpose of the project and can explain it to other executives in an elevator trip or restroom break.
2. Test Them for Buy-In - Make sure your sponsor not only knows what the project is about and why it's important; they need to believe it.  They need to be "shouting from the rooftops" excited about this project (or scared to death if it doesn't happen).  I want to see their skin in the game, too.
3. Quiz Them for Understanding - Do they know who their stakeholders are and why each one has a part in the project?  Do they understand the office politics surrounding this project?  If they poo-poo the politics, that is a big red flag for you.
4. Rehearse - If this is a big enough project, then the sponsor is not allowed to "just wing it" at the kick-off meeting.  Do a dry run with him or her one-on-one.  Bring in a "trusted somebody" who generally sees things differently than you do to ensure that the message will be embraced across the board.  Inserting the appropriate story can do wonders to build credibility, if it is delivered well and is relevant to the cause.

While there will always be the "loose cannon" sponsor, the goal is to leverage an already healthy relationship to ensure that the first formal message is delivered on target.

Do You Feel Lucky?

It's Friday the 13th...  Do you feel lucky?  If you are the "victim" of office politics, I would guess that your answer is "no, not really."  Do you want to make this your lucky day?  GUST - The "Tale" Wind of Office Politics is now available for sale.  In it, you will learn:

• Three key things people manipulate and fight over in organizations
• Three kinds of politicians, and how to handle each
• Six core motivations of political behavior
• Uses (and misuses) of influence in an organization
• Importance of strategizing an appropriate response to YOUR political situation
• Considerations of timing, passion, and support into your political actions
• Executives' roles in influencing (and correcting) office politics
• Assessments for determining how political your organization really is

Invest one hour in an entertaining story and you could be the luckiest person in your office by Monday.  Have a great weekend.

NOTE:  In light of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the image of "Dirty Harry" sporting his gun seemed in poor taste for this post, so I opted for a black cat.  If I've offended cat lovers, well... you'll just have to deal with it.

Oh What A Tangled Web

On the eve of my own book's release, it seems only fitting to "share the love" and review another book.  It's long overdue, and I thank the author for his patience.  Normally, I shy away from technical books, but this one actually held my interest from cover to cover.  It's called Internet Laws Affecting Your Company by Brett Trout, a Des Moines patent attorney.

With so many of our projects dealing with the internet or having some kind of web interface or impact, it's great that somebody took the time to distill the LEGAL aspects of e-commerce into a USABLE guide.  I highly recommend this book for any project team that has any web component to their project.  From email usage to copyright laws, from freedom of speech to ADA impacts, Brett covers it all.  And he masterfully does it without coming down heavily on the side of legal speak or techie-talk.

The best part about this book is it's structure.  Every topic is easy to locate.  The reader can handle it all in one sitting (budget a couple of hours) or can dice it up into whatever is relevant.  There is a comprehensive glossary and index in the back, as well as many other useful appendices.

This is relevant stuff, if your project entails any kind of web activity (and let's face it, what project doesn't have something to do with the internet these days?) then you should have your technical and legal subject matter experts reading this book.

Plus, I've met Brett... he's a no-nonsense kind of guy... an attorney who has some heart and passion about him.  He knows his stuff... and he's willing to share it with you.

It's Getting Breezy

Just a few updates on the release of GUST - The "Tale" Wind of Office Politics:

• The first book review has come out, thanks to Drew McLellan and The Des Moines Business Record.  According to Drew, "One of the greatest insights in the book is that office politics are not inherently bad. Every business is filled with human beings, and in some ways the book is as much a personality and psychological study as it is a business book. Being able to step back and objectively see the game being played is the first step to understanding what's creating the problems at hand. The book also examines the power of influence within an organization and all the different ways people exercise that influence."  Thanks for the kind words
• My great appreciation to The Bookstore and to Beaverdale Books for continuing to be my enthusiastic local distributors.  The Bookstore has scheduled my first book signing for April 27 (more details to come).
• Special thanks to Borders Books for carrying both titles.  I'm excited that my books are on your shelves.
• Also, I have my first ever radio interview Wednesday night, April 18, with Jim Goodman on the Iowa Business Hour.

A lot of exciting things happening in the near future.  Stay tuned for more details.

The Things We Do To Promote Education

OK, we can file this under the category of "lost all professional credibility."  Last night's assignment for my Creativity for Business students was to come dressed in costume.  As I mentioned earlier, I've structured the class around Roger von Oech's four roles of creativity:  The Explorer, Artist, Judge, and Warrior.  The students had to pick a costume and present to the class how it fit with one of the four roles.  Besides a fun way to jar them out of their comfort zone, each student resonates well with one role better than the others, and this exercise forces them to internalize that role.  My students were pretty darn creative and (I might add) really good sports.  And, since I'm an instructor who would never put my students through something I wouldn't do myself, I also came in costume.  If you want to know the significance of the pink bunny costume, ask Drew McLellan.  Bunny out, dude.

A Request And A Rah-Rah

Hey all, some of my students are doing a short survey for their final project in the Managing Office Politics Class that I'm teaching.  It sounds like fun:  they are assessing generational/diversity impacts on office politics.  If you would, USE THIS LINK HERE to take a very quick (i.e., less than 2 minute) survey to help them out.  I can't wait to find out the results.  It's all multiple choice.

Secondly, major kudos to Zach Johnson, Drake Grad and native Iowan, on his big golf win at The Masters Golf Tournament today, holding off Tiger Woods for a tight yet decisive final round victory.  Listening to his interview when he was presented the coveted Green Jacket, this guy is a class act.  Way to go, Zach!  We were cheering for you all afternoon!

Just goes to show:  There's no "bull" in these Bulldogs... Carpe Factum!!!

Confusement Park

I've become desensitized and cynical in my "old age" so I'm always amused when a news story can grab my attention and rattle me up a little bit.  It seems there is an amusement park in Sacramento that has opened a new ride called The Screamer.  Here's the kicker:  the neighbors complained about the screams from those riding it, so the park owners have imposed a scream ban on the riders.  If you let out a peep, you get kicked off the ride.  No.  Seriously.  You can read Aaron Davis' article for yourself here.

Here's the other irony:  the neighbors' complaints and the ensuing publicity have created such a buzz about the ride that the amusement park is doing better than ever.

OK, don't laugh out loud or I'll make you get off the blog.  This is a tremendous backfire on so many levels.  Who has ever heard of building an amusement park ride called the Screamer and not allowing people to scream?  How silly the neighbors must feel that their complaints about the neighborhood menace have made that same nuisance a celebrity.

Of course, who ever heard of providing employees with motivational trinkets that only served to demoralize them?  Who ever heard of implementing a policy to bring order to a department which only created more chaos?  Who ever heard of setting up customer service guidelines which drove customers to the competition because they were so mad?  Gee... those things NEVER happen (please note the intense sarcasm in that last sentence; it's intentional).

Our projects.  Our processes.  Our people.  Our products.  They all operate on simple laws of cause-and-effect.  The outcomes (behaviors, customer satisfaction, deadlines, deliverables) are driven by the inputs.  When professionals learn how to make decisions and implement accomplishments with an eye beyond the bottom line, that's when we go beyond simply getting things done to true Carpe Factum.

Now everybody all together... just for those great folks in Sacramento... repeat after me:

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

The Next Big Thing?

OK, the ink isn't even dry on GUST and the release date is still a week off, and people are asking me about my next writing project.  To be honest, I don't want to think about a next writing project; however, an author must always stay "fresh" and "on top of his readers' requests." To accommodate these inquiries and requests, I've prototyped the cover for what I think is the end-all-be-all book that won't even stay on the shelves:

Can you tell I'm feeling a little squirrelly today?

Lending A Hand To Your Fellow Blogger

As I've been blogging over the past several months, I try not to lose sight of the fact that my bottom line purpose to blog is to promote my business.  I'm a writer and speaker, and the goal is to get the word out about those products and services.

There's a greater "social value" bottom line to blogging:  seeing that I'm not the only one on this journey with that goal.  There are numerous bloggers out there who have given me a "leg up" in the last year... I've mentioned a lot of them when kudos and call-outs are earned.  The other part of this equation is knowing when I can help other bloggers.

As many of you know, I also teach a few MBA classes at Drake University.  If my students only walk away with theory, I'm not really adding value to their education.  Part of Drake's mission is to bring the world into the classroom and the classroom into the world.  So while I am teaching my Creativity for Business class, I want to provide my students with the opportunity to use their creative skills to help real businesses succeed.  And what better targets are there than my own fellow Central Iowa Bloggers?  The past couple of weeks have been exciting, as four bloggers have shared their business challenges with my students, and in a couple of weeks, they will return to hear the recommendations that my students have come up with for them.  I'm very appreciative that these very busy people took the time to participate in this exercise with my students.  The goal is a win-win, and we're well on our way there.

Thanks to the following blogging businesses for taking part in this exercise:

Sherry Borzo at dsmBUZZ - an exciting and passionate membership movement to build community through buying local.  I can think of a lot of local small businesses who should get in on the ground floor of this.

Barb Rasko at Make Mine Wine magazine - Barb is putting the Midwest Wine industry on the map through her very professional and relevant lifestyle magazine.  I don't even drink wine, and I was enthralled by the useful information I found in the issues.

Nathan and Matt Owen at US Rodeo Supply - As if sitting on a bull for 8 seconds isn't exhilerating enough, listen to these guys tell their story.  OK, so maybe Professional Bull Riding isn't your thing, but many of my MBA students are experienced in "bull" so it should be a good fit.

Mitch Matthews of Do You Q? - Blogging is about conversation.  For those who love face-to-face conversations but fear they have nothing to say, Mitch is your high-energy man.  I don't think there's anybody alive that he couldn't draw into an engaging conversation with his games Q-Friends and Q-Dating.

Each of these organizations is doing something great to improve our communities and add value to their customers.  It's an honor and a pleasure to help them reach the next level.  I'm sure each of them will be adding their own input and commentary to this experience.

April Fools

Today is the day when we're supposedly given license to try and "pull one over" on each other.  Taken in the right context, it can be fun to pull somebody else's chain on occasion.  Heaven knows that there are days I view the world as my personal plaything, and as such, I enjoy the opportunity to pull a fast one.  However, both victim and perpetrator alike quickly know the nature of the beast, and the misinformation is called for what it is.

There are times when it can be fun to do this, especially when you're a dad.  When driving to my in-laws, my daughter asked what the Mississippi was as we were driving across the mighty river.  I informed her that it was the wife of her sippy cup (Mrs. Sippy).  When we were at the zoo and she saw the dolphins on the monitors overhead and asked why those dolphins were on TV, I simply replied that their "big screen career didn't pan out."  Of course, those are the moments when pain is inflicted from my better half, so I'm slowly learning.

But what about the more nefarious type of misinformation?  What happens when somebody deliberately sets out to mislead you?  How can you tell whether the information you're being told is honest and reliable?  Recently, Drew McClellan asked a great "what if" question on his blog.  On the blogosphere, there's no honesty filter.  Unfortunately, that applies across the board to all other kinds of communication as well.  The more snake-like office politicians rely heavily on misinformation.  We have to rely on some other things to help ourselves hone our BS-o-meter (3 C's and 3 M's):

• Consistency - Is the message consistent with what you know to be true, or with other trusted sources of information?
• Character - Is the person sharing the message known for his or her character?  Would he or she knowingly lie about a topic?
• Channel - How is the message being shared?  I've found that there's a direct correlation between the integrity of the message and the openness of the channel.  Misinformation tends to travel more by word of mouth, and it tends to rely more heavily on one-on-one communication.
• Malice - Is the information being shared meant to hurt somebody?  A lot of misinformation is shared on purpose out of emotional spite.
• Motive - Is the information consistent with the intent behind it.  Ask yourself (and then ask the source):  "Why is this information being shared with me?"
• Message - What is the basic content of the message?  How outlandish or realistic is it?  Does it make you cringe to hear it?

Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon had an interesting blog post recently.  While I don't agree with her general political and social views on the topic, I'm able to be objective enough to see that she stated a very profound truth about the dangers of lying and misinformation which can be applied to either side of an emotionally charged issue:

The great insight from 1984 was how the routine nature of misinformation stripped people of their free will. If you step back and think about it, it makes perfect sense. Choices are never made in a vaccum. People draw on what they know and then make their choices accordingly. If what they “know” has been deliberately skewed by lies, then that will change the choices. Lying is almost always an attempt to coerce someone else’s choices by manipulating their knowledge base.

So, while we're playing our games with each other today, let's keep the bigger picture in mind.  We all have to go back to work tomorrow, and that's where the real games occur.  We probably need to figure out how to manage office politics better by managing the information flow.