Laura Vanderkam: An interview by Bob Morris

A New York City-based journalist, Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, published by Portfolio/Penguin Group (2010). She is also the author of Grindhopping: Build a Rewarding Career without Paying Your Dues (McGraw-Hill, 2007), which the New York Post selected as one of four notable career books of 2007. She is a member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, Scientific American, Reader’s Digest, Reason, and other publications. She specializes in translating complex economic, policy or scientific ideas into readable prose, and making people say “I never thought of it that way before.” A 2001 graduate of Princeton, she enjoys writing fiction, running, and singing soprano with the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, an organization for which she served until recently as president, and which specializes in commissioning new music from composers under age 35. She lives in the city with her husband and their two young sons.

Here is an excerpt from my interview of her. To read the complete interview, please click here.

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Morris: Before discussing any of your books, a few general questions. First, please share your thoughts about achieving and then sustaining an appropriate balance of what is most important in one’s life.

Vanderkam: I think we have to look at what we do best and others cannot do for us. For most of us, this is nurturing our careers, nurturing our families, and nurturing ourselves (by which I mean getting enough sleep, exercising, and focusing on personal passions like volunteering). When you devote most of your hours to these priorities, life feels pretty good.

Morris: Given your response to the previous question, in your own life as well as what you have observed in others’ lives, what seem to be the most serious challenges to such balance? How best to avoid or overcome them?

Vanderkam: Many of us make ourselves busy with things that don’t matter. We volunteer for projects that we don’t care about, we spend time on housework or errands that don’t need to be done or don’t need to be done to the standard we’re doing them, or we spend time at work on things that aren’t advancing our careers or our organizations. We also watch a lot of TV.

Morris: As I read several of your articles for various publications, I was struck by the range and especially by the diversity of your interests. You seem to have an almost insatiable curiosity about so many subjects. Is that a fair assessment?

Vanderkam: It is true that I love to learn about new topics. Sometimes that makes my professional life harder, as I don’t achieve economies of scale in my writing, but on the plus side, I don’t get bored. Today I’ve been researching the Korean-American community in New York, environmental issues in lawn care, and the Ramona Quimby series of children’s books. How random is that?

Morris: To what extent has your formal education (e.g. Princeton) had a significant impact on your career thus far?

Vanderkam: I am very grateful for my Princeton education, and I learned a lot in college. I studied with some excellent writing teachers including John McPhee, and I took classes such as art history, and the Bible in Western cultural tradition, which had me reading great works of literature. But, of course, the most useful aspect of my education now is the network. For instance, the executive at Portfolio who facilitated their acquisition of 168 Hours is a Princeton grad.

Morris: Here’s a subject on which opinions are sharply divided. Given the emergence of various electronic reading devices, do you think the bound volume is an endangered species?

Vanderkam: I hope not! I own a Kindle and love how quickly I can get a title and start reading, but I love the feel of turning pages, too, and I like to mark up my books. I like seeing them on my bookshelves, just as I like holding a physical newspaper as I drink my coffee. I think there will be many ways to enjoy books in the future.

Morris: To what does the title of your first book, Grindhopping, refer?

Vanderkam: I made up the word “Grindhopping” to mean those who hop out of the corporate grind to do their own thing. Broadly, the book is about the rise of self-employment among young people.

Morris: The subtitle, Build a Rewarding Career Without Paying Your Dues, certainly caught my eye. Are you suggesting that success (however defined) can be achieved without paying any dues (however defined)? In fact, how do you define “dues”?

Vanderkam: By paying your dues, I mean climbing the corporate ladder to finally get to a place where you can do interesting, creative work. That’s one approach, or you can just start doing interesting, creative work on your own, see if you can get people to pay you for it, and build your career that way instead. That’s what I’ve done. I have nothing against working hard – in fact, I’m all for it! But if you’re going to work hard, why not make sure you reap the rewards of it?

Morris: As I read the book, I was reminded of Teresa Amabile’s admonition, expressed in a Harvard Business Review article almost 20 years ago, that people should do what they love and love what they do.

Vanderkam: That’s great advice. You will have more energy for the rest of your life working 50 hours a week in a job you love than 30 in a job you hate

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To read the complete interview, please click here.

You are cordially invited to check out the resources at her website by clicking here.

Emily Bennington asks, “Who says it’s a man’s world?”

Emily Bennington is holding her breath. Well, not literally, but with a new book coming out this month, she’s certainly feeling the “excited energy” as she calls it. Good thing she knows how to thrive under pressure. Actually, Emily’s latest book, Who Says It’s a Man’s World: The Girls’ Guide to Corporate Domination (AMACOM 2013), is all about showing women how to thrive in the pressure-cooker environment of business today.

Here is an excerpt from an interview conducted by Elizabeth Willse during which Emily discusses her idea of business success, why “goals make us crazy,” and the most challenging part of being an author.

To read the complete interview, please click here.

Photo by KD Lett

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What are some of the most important points you want to make in Who Says It’s a Man’s World?

My intention with Who Says It’s a Man’s World is to shift the reader’s perspective on everything we’ve been taught about success. How’s that for a modest aim? But seriously, the core idea of the book is to define success based on who you want to be first and what you want to do second. This approach – anchored in mindfulness and being present in the moment at work – is very different from most business books that are honed-in on what I call “checking boxes.” While I encourage readers to have goals, I remind them that tomorrow’s success only comes from being present in the work of today.

But how can you be “in the moment” and goal-driven at the same time? Those things seem on different ends of the spectrum.

Exactly – and that’s the point. I’m guessing most women reading career books would classify themselves as “goal-oriented,” but the problem with goals is they constantly keep us focused on a future outcome. When your ability to feel successful is wrapped in goals, you inevitably spend the bulk of your mental energy wanting things you don’t yet have. The dream job…the higher salary…the better body…you name it. So when you want something but don’t have it – what are you supposed to do? Well, you can go to business books, all of which seem to tell us to “create a plan and work harder.” Or you can go to self-help books which tell us to “be grateful for what we have already.” There’s nothing wrong with these approaches except for the fact that neither one by itself is 100% satisfying. I’d like to introduce readers to a new way – one where you can still rapidly ascend the career ladder, but enjoy the journey too.

How does the book itself balance both of those promises?

The book is divided into five skill sections that build on one another – self-awareness, social skills, personal effectiveness, team building, and leadership. At the end of each section, readers have an opportunity to choose from a list of selected activities and create their own individualized career plan. Each activity has a point value assigned to it allowing them to tally their points and assess their own “promotability.” There is also a toolbox section with worksheets and templates readers can use to apply what they’ve learned to their own lives, but this isn’t planning for things down the road, this is planning for the person you want to be right now. So while the book is a practical career guide, it definitely has a strong thread of mindfulness throughout the text that addresses both achievement and fulfillment.

What kind of reader did you have in mind as you were writing? Who do you most want to reach with this book?

I had two kinds of readers in mind, actually. The first is ambitious career women transitioning – or aspiring to transition – into executive management roles. In my head I pictured the countless women I’ve met on the road who want to take over the world, but they’re just not quite as successful as they’d like to be yet. My hope is that the book challenges them to take a deeper look at how their own beliefs and actions are propelling them forward or holding them back.

The book is also a fit for my core audience of college students looking for answers as they make the leap from classroom to boardroom. I know these women particularly well from my first book, Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job. They have been absolutely bombarded with information over the years, but what they really need is answers. They don’t need the “why” they need the “how” and so I wanted to provide it for them in very specific action steps.

* * *

Emily Bennington specializes in two distinct forms of career transition: women leaders entering executive management and college students entering the workforce. She challenges executives to choose mindful, values-centered action. In addition to Who Says It’s a Man’s World, Emily is also the co-author of Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job, a book she wrote with her first boss and mentor, Skip Lineberg. Emily has led training programs for numerous Fortune 50 companies and has been featured in press ranging from CNN, ABC, and Fox to the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Glamour magazine. She is also a contributing writer for Monster.com and a featured blogger for Forbes Woman.

Blogging on Business Update from Bob Morris (Week of 12/17/12)

 

I hope that at least a few of these recent posts will be of interest to you:

BOOK REVIEWS

Into the Storm: Lessons in Teamwork from the Treacherous Sydney to Hobart Race
Dennis N.T. Perkins with Jillian B. Murphy

The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow
Michael Macoby

Metaskills: Five Talents for the Robotic Age
Marty Neumeier

INTERVIEWS

Karl Heiselman (Wolff Olins) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times

Charles R. Morris
Bob Morris

Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind
Bob Morris

David Horsager
Bob Morris

Robert J. Murray (iProspect) in “The Corner Office”
Adam Bryant
The New York Times

COMMENTARIES

“Albert Einstein on just about everything that really matters”
BOB

“Cognitive Science: Fifteen Perspectives”
TED

“Two Rules for Keeping Employees Happy and Engaged”
Management Tip of the Day
HBR

“The 50 Best Companies to Work For”: 2012
Glassdoor

“How can our organization eliminate waste?”
Bob Morris

“The Top 100 Speeches throughout United States history”
American Rhetoric

“Social Media as Change Catalyst”
Elizabeth S. Choo, Walter Gossage and Trinity Martin
Talent Management

“Voltaire on the human race”
BOB

“Searing business insights”
Richard Tedlow
Giants of Enterprise

“Leon Leonwood Bean’s Integrity”
Anna Bernasek
The Economics of Integrity

“Nine Ways Successful People Defeat Stress”
Heidi Grant Halvorson
HBR

“The Dark Side of Charisma”
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
HBR

“Who is Theodore Dalrymple and why is he important?”
Anthony (A.M.) Daniels
Wall Street Journal

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To check out these resources and other content, please click here.

To subscribe via RSS Reader, please click here.

Erika Andersen: An interview by Bob Morris

Erika Andersen is the founding partner of Proteus, a coaching, consulting and training firm that focuses on leader readiness. She and her colleagues at Proteus support leaders at all levels to get ready and stay ready to meet whatever the future might bring.

Much of Erika’s recent work has focused on organizational visioning and strategy, executive coaching, and management and leadership development. She serves as consultant and advisor to the CEOs and top executives of a number of corporations, including NBC Universal, Gannett Corporation, Rockwell Automation, Turner Broadcasting, GE, Union Square Hospitality Group, and PwC.

She also shares her insights about managing people and creating successful businesses by speaking to corporations, non-profit groups and national associations. Her books and learning guides have been translated into Spanish, Turkish, German, French, Russian and Chinese, and she has been quoted in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Fortune and The New York Times. Erika is one of the most popular business bloggers at Forbes.com. She is the author of Leading So People Will Follow (Jossey-Bass, 2012),Being Strategic: Plan for Success; Outthink Your Competitors; Stay Ahead of Change (St. Martin’s Press, May 2009), and Growing Great Employees: Turning Ordinary People into Extraordinary Performers (Portfolio/The Penguin Group, 2006), and the author and host of Being Strategic with Erika Andersen on Public Television.

Here is an excerpt from my interview of her. To read the complete interview, please click here.

* * *

Morris: Who has had the greatest impact on your professional development? How so?

Andersen: I think my dad was and is my greatest professional influence. He was a lawyer – a labor negotiations counsel – and he loved it. He had wanted to be a lawyer since he was a young teenager; he went to law school on the GI bill after WWII, passed the bar, joined a firm and practiced till the day he died. I always knew he felt grateful and fortunate to do work he enjoyed and was good at doing. It was a great model for me – both about being able to accomplish your dreams and being able to find a career that’s satisfying and challenging.

Morris: Here are several of my favorite quotations to which I ask you to respond. First, from Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching:

“Learn from the people
Plan with the people
Begin with what they have
Build on what they know
Of the best leaders
When the task is accomplished
The people will remark
We have done it ourselves”

Andersen: I love the Tao Te Ching; it was my constant companion in college. I’ve always been especially fond of this particular quote – even as a teenager it resonated for me. And the core idea – that great leaders are deeply collaborative and empowering – has shown itself to be true again and again. The best leaders I know catalyze a sense of personal accomplishment in their folks.

Morris: And then, from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.”

Andersen: I’m a big fan of Oscar Wilde (anyone whose last words were supposedly “either that wallpaper goes or I go” has got my vote). And I agree 1000% with him: authenticity is the starting point of any kind of greatness. So many people spend huge amounts of time figuring out how to be what they think they should be, or what they think others want them to be…imagine what would happen if that energy was freed to figure out how to be the best possible version of themselves: their unique gifts and strengths taken to the highest potential.

Morris: In your opinion, why do so many C-level executives seem to have such a difficult time delegating work to others?

Andersen: I think it’s a combination skill and mindset problem. Many managers (C-level or otherwise) don’t have good delegation skills: they don’t know to consistently and effectively transfer a responsibility to another person. And some people have the skills but their mindset doesn’t support delegation: they assume they have the only right way to do things, or that no one will ever come up to their standards, or that if they delegate key responsibilities, they will no longer be indispensible. Quite often when we coach executives, we end up both teaching them delegation skills (using the model in Growing Great Employees) and helping them clear up their mindset.

Morris: The greatest leaders throughout history (with rare exception) were great storytellers. What do you make of that?

Andersen: Stories are central to our evolution as human beings. Think about it: until a couple of hundred years ago, very few people could read. All the information that needed to be passed along was passed along verbally. Stories are the easiest and best way to share important information: they’re memorable and replicable. So: we’ve been telling stories for tens of thousands of years, and the people who were best at telling stories about the most important things were valuable. Fast forward to today: we still find great story-telling valuable in our leaders!

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To read the complete interview, please click here.

Erika cordially invites you to check out the resources at these websites:

Proteus International home page

Erika’s blog

Her Forbes blog

Her Amazon page

 

CitySquare’s Larry James Presents at December 7 FFBS

I am so happy that Larry James, CEO and President of CitySquare, will be our guest presenter at the December 7 First Friday Book Synopsis. 

Larry has most graciously agreed to substitute for me while I attend the annual communication of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Texas, in my capacity as a member of the Education and Service Committee.

Many of you will remember his stunning presentation of Rudolph Guiliani’s book entitled Leadership several years ago.

This time, he will present Jon Gordon’s best-seller, The Energy Bus.   This book was written in 2007, but continues to appear on business best-seller lists.  It has had a 12-week run on the Wall Street Journal list.  You will enjoy the practical advice that Gordon shares in this book, and perhaps even more, the presentation and spin you will hear from Larry James.

We have an exciting bonus program for you following the synopsis.  Randy Mayeux will present a synopsis of a best-seller about poverty, and CitySquare officials, including Larry James, will participate in a discussion with you afterwards.  All of the proceeds from this program will go directly to CitySquare.  I am so impressed with what they do, and I am thrilled to have them as one of our charities that we support annually. 

The organization’s website touts the fact that it goes after the root cause of hunger, not a quick-fix.  It says:  “We don’t fight poverty for the poor—we fight poverty with the poor. Our 24-year commitment to addressing the root causes of poverty, both on an individual and systemic level, combined with our unyielding commitment to stewardship (over 92 cents of each dollar goes directly to services for those in need) makes CitySquare a proven leader in our community and beyond.”  You can read more about this amazing organization at:  http://citysq.org/

I appreciate your attendance and contribution to the bonus program.  It will be well worth your time.  If you cannot stay, can you contribute?  We will take your tax-deductible donations at the registration desk that day.

You can register for this event at:  www.firstfridaybooksynopsis.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

John A. Daly: An interview by Bob Morris

Daly is the Liddell Professor of Communication and TCB Professor of Management at The University of Texas at Austin. While at the university, he has won every major Daly is the Liddell Professor of Communication and TCB Professor of Management at The University of Texas at Austin. While at the university, he has won every major award given on campus for undergraduate teaching. John has been the president of the National Communication Association, and served on the Board of Directors of both the International Customer Service Association and the International Communication Association. He is one of fewer than 70 scholars in the world who is a Fellow of the International Communication Association. Fellows are recognized for their major scholarly contributions.

He has published numerous research articles in scholarly periodicals and produced eight books. John’s latest book is Advocacy: Championing Ideas and Influencing Others. His work has also appeared in any number of popular outlets including Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, and New York Times. He has also worked with many organizations on topics related to communication, advocacy and leadership. These include such major firms as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Merck, Pfizer, USAA, Union Pacific, Kraft, Apple, IBM, Shell, ExxonMobil, Texas Instruments, 3M and Dell. In addition, he worked at the White House some years ago.

Here is an excerpt from my interview of him. To read the complete interview, please click here.

* * *

Morris: Before discussing Advocacy, a few general questions. First, who has had the greatest influence on your personal growth? How so?

Daly: Honestly, my wife. She is far wiser than anyone else I know.

Morris: The greatest impact on your professional development? How so?

Daly: My students who ask brilliant questions on a regular basis.

Morris: Years ago, was there a turning point (if not an epiphany) that set you on the career course you continue to follow? Please explain.

Daly: In terms of my work on advocacy, the turning point was when I was working with a company and one brilliant employee complained he didn’t get the credit he deserved for his ideas. He was right. This prompted me to start exploring what it takes for people, like this scientist, to get their ideas adopted.

Morris: To what extent has your formal education been invaluable to what you have accomplished in life thus far?

Daly: All of it has mattered. I was at different stages of personal growth at different points in my career. My undergraduate years were lots of fun and thanks to some splendid faculty I pursued graduate school. And graduate school offered me brilliant mentors and the opportunity to do what I like the most—research and teach.

Morris: What do you know now about business world that you wish you knew when you when to work full-time for the first time? Why?

Daly: The politics are very real. It isn’t your accomplishment that matter alone; it is your ability to market those accomplishments that often make the real difference. There is a politics to ideas.

Morris: Of all the films that you have seen, which – in your opinion – best dramatizes important business principles? Please explain.

Daly: An old movie — Twelve o’Clock High comes to mind…it is about leadership, teamwork, delegation.

Morris: From which non-business book have you learned the most valuable lessons about business? Please explain.

Daly: Two answers For general knowledge — biographies; for my interest in advocacy — Machiavelli’s The Prince.

* * *

To read the complete interview, please click here.

John cordially invites you to check out the resources at these websites:

His faculty page.

Communication Studies page.

McCombs School of Business page.

John’s Amazon page.

Opting Out of the “Rug Rat Race”

Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Paul Tough and featured in The Wall Street Journal (September 8, 2012). There continues to be so much bloviating BLAH BLAH BLAH about the importance of education at all levels (K through post-graduate) and yet all indications from reliable sources suggest that the quality of education in the U.S. falls further behind the quality of education in other developed nations. This is a “must read” article, adapted from a “must read” book just published.

 *     *     *

We are living through a particularly anxious moment in the history of American parenting. In the nation’s big cities these days, the competition among affluent parents over slots in favored preschools verges on the gladiatorial. A pair of economists from the University of California recently dubbed this contest for early academic achievement the “Rug Rat Race,” and each year, the race seems to be starting earlier and growing more intense.At the root of this parental anxiety is an idea you might call the cognitive hypothesis. It is the belief, rarely spoken aloud but commonly held nonetheless, that success in the U.S. today depends more than anything else on cognitive skill—the kind of intelligence that gets measured on IQ tests—and that the best way to develop those skills is to practice them as much as possible, beginning as early as possible.

American children, especially those who grow up in relative comfort, are being shielded from failure as never before.There is something undeniably compelling about the cognitive hypothesis. The world it describes is so reassuringly linear, such a clear case of inputs here leading to outputs there. Fewer books in the home means less reading ability; fewer words spoken by your parents means a smaller vocabulary; more math work sheets for your 3-year-old means better math scores in elementary school. But in the past decade, and especially in the past few years, a disparate group of economists, educators, psychologists and neuroscientists has begun to produce evidence that calls into question many of the assumptions behind the cognitive hypothesis.What matters most in a child’s development, they say, is not how much information we can stuff into her brain in the first few years of life.

What matters, instead, is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us often think of them as character.If there is one person at the hub of this new interdisciplinary network, it is James Heckman, an economist at the University of Chicago who in 2000 won the Nobel Prize in economics. In recent years, Mr. Heckman has been convening regular invitation-only conferences of economists and psychologists, all engaged in one form or another with the same questions: Which skills and traits lead to success? How do they develop in childhood? And what kind of interventions might help children do better?

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To read the complete article, please click here.

It is adapted from Paul Tough’s How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character which has just been published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. A version of this article appeared September 8, 2012, on page C3 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: “Opting Out of the ‘Rug Rat Race.”

Marcus Buckingham on “How to Give Every Employee Customized Leadership Advice”

Here is an excerpt from an article written by Marcus Buckingham for the Harvard Business Review blog. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, and sign up for a subscription to HBR email alerts, please click here.

*     *     *

Virtually every corporate and academic leadership development program is founded on the same model — we call it the formulaic model. It tries to collect all the various approaches to leadership, shaves off the weird outliers, and packages the rest into a formula. The notion behind all this is simple: The right way to lead is out there. A best-practice model exists. Once we discover it and turn it into a formula, development is just a matter of bringing you in line with that formula.

We need a new model — one that is scalable but accommodates the uniqueness of each leader’s techniques; one that is stable enough to permit the training of hundreds of leaders at once but dynamic enough to incorporate and distribute new practices and other innovations in real time

But is that possible? The answer is yes. Over the past couple of years, many organizations have begun doing just that. The effort at Hilton Worldwide’s focused-service brands — Hampton, Homewood Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, and Home2 Suites — is a good example. My company worked with Phil Cordell, the head of those brands, to create an algorithmic model of leadership development and an app that sustains personalized learning.

We started by creating a tool for identifying each person’s leadership type. That type then became the filter through which some, though not all, leadership development content is delivered. We designed an algorithm within StandOut, our online strengths-assessment tool. StandOut is a situational judgment test, meaning that people indicate their likeliest response to a series of situations. By focusing on behaviors, this type of test captures how people come across to others better than assessments that ask respondents to rate themselves on a variety of traits.

Then, we gave the assessment to the company’s best leaders. Our analysis showed that the range of behaviors seen across those thousands of people could be divided into nine categories, which we call strength roles. These represent the most common ways specific strengths cluster and combine in individual leaders. Next, we interviewed a cross section of leaders to discover their leadership techniques.

This is where the algorithm comes in. You can use an algorithm to target techniques to the right people. Companies should assess all developing leaders and feed each one practices derived from excellent leaders who have the same leadership type.

Our algorithm draws on a constantly growing database of concepts, innovations, and practices and pushes them out to leaders as a series of techniques they might try. Because the suggestions reflect only what has worked for others who “look like” the recipients, they accelerate creativity without eroding authenticity.

*     *      *

To read the complete article, please click here.

To check out the wealth of resources at Marcus’s website, please click here.

Marcus Buckingham is the founder of TMBC, a company that builds strengths-based tools and training for managers. He is the author of several WSJ and NYT bestsellers, including his latest book and accompanying strengths assessment, StandOut: Find your Edge, Win at Work.

The best commencement address yet to be delivered: “Students Don’t Know Much About History”

In an interview conducted by Brian Bolduc, featured in the Wall Street Journal (June 18, 2011), the award-winning historian, David McCullough, says textbooks have become “so politically correct as to be comic.” Meanwhile, the likes of Thomas Edison get little attention.

*     *     *

“We’re raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate,” David McCullough tells me on a recent afternoon in a quiet meeting room at the Boston Public Library. Having lectured at more than 100 colleges and universities over the past 25 years, he says, “I know how much these young people—even at the most esteemed institutions of higher learning—don’t know.” Slowly, he shakes his head in dismay. “It’s shocking.”

He’s right. This week, the Department of Education released the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which found that only 12% of high-school seniors have a firm grasp of our nation’s history. And consider: Just 2% of those students understand the significance of Brown v. Board of Education.

Mr. McCullough began worrying about the history gap some 20 years ago, when a college sophomore approached him after an appearance at “a very good university in the Midwest.” She thanked him for coming and admitted, “Until I heard your talk this morning, I never realized the original 13 colonies were all on the East Coast.” Remembering the incident, Mr. McCullough’s snow-white eyebrows curl in pain. “I thought, ‘What have we been doing so wrong that this obviously bright young woman could get this far and not know that?’”

To read the complete article, please click here.

*     *     *

My guess is that many (most?) school and college graduates have few employable skills in terms of (a) what they know and (b) what they can do.

David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback. His other widely praised books are 1776, Brave Companions, The Great Bridge, and The Johnstown Flood. He has been honored with the National Book Foundation Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award, the National Humanities Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton: An interview by Bob Morris

Internationally recognized workplace experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton are partners in the consulting firm The Culture Works.

Adrian Gostick

Adrian Gostick is the author of several best-selling books on corporate culture, including the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestsellers The Carrot Principle and All In. His research has been called a “must read for modern-day managers” by Larry King of CNN, “fascinating,” by Fortune magazine and “admirable and startling” by the Wall Street Journal. As a leadership expert, he has appeared on numerous television programs including NBC’s Today Show and has been quoted in dozens of business publications and magazines.

 

 

 

Chester Elton

Chester Elton has been called the “apostle of appreciation,” by the Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest newspaper, and “creative and refreshing” by the New York Times. The co-author of All In, The Carrot Principle and The Orange Revolution, his books have sold more than a million copies worldwide. Chester has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Fast Company magazine, and New York Times, and he appears in a weekly segment on CBS News Radio.

Here is a brief excerpt from my interview of Adrian and Chester.

To read the complete interview, please click here.

*     *     *

Morris: Before discussing All In, a few general questions. First, who has had the greatest influence on your personal and professional growth? How so?

Gostick: We’ve talked about this often. Our parents were our first bosses—they gave us our moral compass, goals, and our first recognition. My dad worked 25 years for Rolls Royce in England. He taught me the value of working someplace where you can make a difference—not chasing money but doing work that you found purposeful.

Morris: Years ago, was there a turning point (if not an epiphany) that set you on the career course you continue to follow? Please explain.

Elton: About 15 years ago now I was working as a consultant with some large organizations in the Northeast. We were working at the time on employee recognition ideas and we were doing some really innovative things. I realized no one had ever written the definitive work on recognition. There were these 101 ways books. Most managers had one on their shelf, but no one ever read them. Just then my firm hired Adrian as its head of communication. We collaborated on our first book in the Carrot line and it really took off. Finally Simon & Schuster contacted us to do a big research book on the subject and that became The Carrot Principle. That book has now been translated in 25 languages and is sold around the world.

Gostick: Over the years since that release our work has taken us to the characteristics of the world’s best teams and now on to culture—something that we are hearing more and more from our clients. They want to know how to build not only a great corporate culture, but effective cultures in each of their smaller teams.

Morris: To what extent has your formal education been invaluable to what you have accomplished in life thus far?

Gostick: I was able to study 50 years of leadership theory and practicum in my master’s program at Seton Hall, and it has provided the backbone of the knowledge we use every day. My undergraduate work was in journalism, and my early work as a newspaper reporter taught me how to research, write, and rewrite.

Morris: To what extent (if any) does All In in final form differ significantly from what you originally envisioned?

Elton: We originally handed in the manuscript for All In to Simon & Schuster in the late summer of 2011. Four months later it went to press. Those four months were some of the hardest in our lives as our editor threw out half the book and demanded entire new chapters. While we had explained our findings well, we think, she pushed us to make the takeaways relevant for real business leaders. We spent so much time on explaining what a great culture looks like, we had neglected to tell readers “how” to do it. So many business books fall into that trap, and we are so grateful to Emily Loose, our editor, for pushing us to answer that paramount question: “I do what?”

Morris: Recent research studies by highly reputable firms such as Gallup and Towers Watson indicate that in a U.S. workforce, on average, fewer than 30% of the employees are actively and positively engaged; as for the others, they are either passively engaged (“mailing it in”) or actively disengaged. How specifically can business leaders increase the percentage of actively and positively engaged employees within their organizations?

Gostick: First, managers should understand there are some simple things they can do tomorrow that will make a big difference in their culture, but so few managers do them. For instance, the great leaders in our study treated their people like partners in the organization. That meant they created for their people a sense of connection by teaching them how their jobs impact the larger organization. And they showed them growth opportunities, how they can grow and develop with the company.

Next, these leaders also created a culture of rooting for each other with much greater levels of recognition and rewards. And finally, managers learned to create a share everything culture, where they honest and openly discussed issues.

Elton: Simple things really, but powerful. It comes down to opportunity, recognition and communication. Three things you can do right way to see results.

Morris: Given your response to the previous question, to what extent will those initiatives also help to retain valued employees who might otherwise leave?

Elton: The number one and number two reasons key performers leave an organization: one—I don’t feel in on things, and two—I don’t feel appreciated. It’s not money, it’s not job growth, people most often leave for things that are absolutely in our control as managers.

Morris: What do you know now about the business world that you wish you knew when you began your first full-time job? Please explain.

Gostick: When I first became a manager, I didn’t realize that there were people who did a good job but who were toxic to the culture. I waited much too long to get rid of those people.

Morris: Here’s a hypothetical question. If there were a monument honoring business leaders comparable with the one honoring U.S. Presidents on Mount Rushmore, sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, which four would you select? Please explain each choice.

Elton: I’ll give you one. One of our favorite leaders is someone most people have never heard of: Scott O’Neal. He’s president of Madison Square Garden Sports, and he’s the best leader we have ever met. One thing Scott does with every new hire: He asks them where they want to be in five years, and then he commits to help them get there if they promise to give 100 percent to him every day. And people do it, and in turn he’s helped business leaders all over the sports world achieve their dreams. He lives up to his promise.

Gostick: Here’s another one: Doria Camaraza. We feature her in chapter three of All In. Doria is the general manager of American Express’ 3,000-person call center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She is simply amazing. She seems to know every one of her employees, and spends her days making people included and recognized and wonderful. Her call center has employee turnover that is one fifth the national average and has the best efficiency and productivity numbers in the call center industry. My favorite thing she does is called Tribute, where she gathers all her employees together once a month and the leaders come out dancing to Lady Gaga or Aerosmith and then she recognizes a dozen people for living the core values of American Express. It’s really powerful and there are a lot of tears.

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To read the complete interview, please click here.

Adrian and Chester cordially invite you to check out the resources at these websites:

The Culture Works

Amazon.com