Last night on Leno, Scott Brown bantered like a pro with the king of late night TV.  He had Leno at “hello” when he reminded Jay that his dad, an insurance agent, used to call on the Leno family-apparently making such an impression that Leno’s dad named the family dog him. 

If Brown started out a little nervous, he more than overcame the jitters with some great one liners and a self-effacing demeanor.  He owned-up to getting caught by the law stealing records when he was 12; the judge brought him into chambers, asked Brown if he was a good basketball player, if his family loved him, and how they’d feel seeing him play basketball in Jail.  “I haven’t done anything like that since,” he said.

Downtown Scott Brown (a nickname he earned as a high school basketball star)  was cool as a cucumber when Leno Leno showed the 30 year old photo of him posing nude for COSMO.   Brown joked if he might do it again, but it would have to be for AARP magazine.   

Scott Brown is all business on policy matters, but when it comes to himself; he’s seriously funny, which is why so many voters have fallen for him.  How many of our political elite would admit their favorite movie is Rocky, or blush without apology after announcing their daughters were “available.”  A fresh breeze is blowing into Washington and I predict others will try (though few will succeed) to emulate Brown’s patented confident, sincere, authentic persona.  He’s just so real.

Look, a lot of people are gaga - talking about Scott Brown for president.  I have no idea whether he has the right stuff.  But the guy has spent some time figuring himself out.  His truck odometer has clocked 202,000 miles and along the way Scott Brown has discovered who he is.

I hope that every leader will take note of how the new Senator from Massachusetts has connected with voters by sharing some of himself.  It has created a strong, instant bond.  Over the years, as I’ve coached executives and written books, I’ve tried to convey the power of authenticity.  It always stops you in your tracks when you actually see it in action.

This morning, while reviewing the appendix of my first book, Speak Like a CEO, I counted 24 separate references to authenticity and the authenticity gap.  A lot of words on paper and honestly I don’t think it makes it any easier for most people to embrace.  Without authenticity, there is a disconnect between a leader and the audience, and most people would agree the gap is wide in Washington. People don’t like or trust people who they don’t believe to be genuine. 

The simple way to build trust is to be yourself.  It doesn’t hurt to travel a few hundred thousand miles alone in a truck, but it isn’t necessary either.  Don’t be afraid to be you.  Like Dorothy, we’re all longing to meet the real Oz; that guy (or gal) behind the velvet curtain.  As for the who was willing to take it all off - well I guess he can’t have much to hide.

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As I was scanning the dial for news coverage this morning of Mr. Obama’s speech, I must admit feeling some sympathy for Harry Reid.  Somehow, during that a one-hour ten minute speech, the longest of Obama’s presidency, the television cameras caught Reid in the precise 4 second span when he simply couldn’t stifle a yawn.  I had watched the speech in bed, with my husband asleep, and without our usual banter, I too nodded off a few times.  Why don’t they start this thing at 7 or 8? 

In spite of that, I think he gave a good speech.  I’d give it a B-.   If you read today’s analysis, you probably saw little agreement about how well he made his case.  Who knows whether his new found enthusiasm for jobs and small business will ever translate into policy.  At this point, I don’t know how he’s going to regain his footing or make anyone happy.

Just a sample of the widely varied reaction:

The Washington Post says he reframed his agenda around a single, central mission.  The Associated Press said he “checked every box.” Reuters says he needed to dig out from a political hole and “reassurt his leadership.” Politico says he “tacked to the right.”  CNN’s instapoll found 48% of speech watchers had a positive reaction.” However, that is down 20% from the 68% who felt the same way about his prime time address January 24th, 2009 to the joint session of Congress. 

By the way all this is a synopsis of a longer version “roundup” from The Washington Post.

The lesson for all leaders is that no matter how hard you try, your message will be interpreted through a thousand different lenses.  The challenge that remains for Obama is that he has failed to do what  he said he would do, disappointing friend and foe.  The credibility gap remains, and he’ll close it when he starts matching action with rhetoric.

I will say I think Obama certainly commanded the room last night.  After falling victim to teleprompter-itis lately, often mechanically “reading” his speeches, last night he came across as energized and engaged.  There really aren’t many political leaders who have can handle the podium like he can, when he is on his game.

As always I welcome your comments.

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What does Mr. Obama need to do in his State of the Union address tonight? With sinking poll numbers and a widening credibility gap with the American voter, he certainly needs to speak like a leader. Yet, my wish for tonight’s speech is much simpler. Mr. President, why don’t you stop talking about yourself?

The president campaign ended more than a year ago, yet the Presidents speeches and interviews always have a first-person focus. In a speech delivered January 22, 2010, Breitbart TV reports Obama referred to himself 132 times in one speech. No kidding. Click here to watch the video. The number of times he mentioned tax cuts? Two. Remarkably, midway through the speech, he tells the crowd, “This is not about me.”

Really?

If Americans have developed the impression that this president lacks humility, he’s done nothing to dissuade them of that notion. It’s one thing to refer to yourself on the campaign trail. Once you’re in the Oval Office? Time for some inclusive language. What about “Our” country? “Our” hopes? “Our” dreams?” “Our nation?” “Our” taxes?” “Our” way of life?

Some of the blame belongs to his speechwriters, who appear equally clueless. A great speechwriter knows it’s always about the audience. You capture a leader’s best ideas and craft powerful messages that connect with the voter. One of the best books ever written on this topic is the great Peggy Noonan’s “On Speaking Well.” Someday, pick it up and read about how she crafted the speech after the Challenger disaster. Masterful.

Mr. Obama is definitely dependent upon his speechwriters. Or at least we know he is tied at the hip to his Teleprompter. If it were me, I’d fire them all and find a Peggy Noonan. But don’t let the speechwriters take the fall. The “I” word is just as prevalent when the President is “off script” during media interviews. Read the recent transcript of his interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC News and count the number of first person references. His favorites: “Here’s what I said,” “I think,” or “I said,” “I would,” “As I’ve said,” and “One thing I’m clear about.” The only one that didn’t pop up was an old favorite crutch, “As I’ve said before.”

It’s probably too late to rewrite the speech but it isn’t too late to rewrite the script the Obama presidency. The American people are longing to see a President who can mix a dash of humility with all that hubris.

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On Sunday the Obama team fanned out to deliver their talking points - and you have to wonder whether they’d had their coffee- or even glanced at the weekend ”talking points.”  On the topic of jobs “saved or created” (which in and of itself is a ludicrous concept, impossible to prove or substantiate) they simply didn’t have their stories straight.  The Keystone cops look like a well-oiled tactical team by comparison.

By mid day Sunday, the three White House advisers had appeared on the Sunday news programs with three vastly different estimates of how many jobs could be credited to President Obama’s Recovery Act.

Valerie Jarrett: “The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs.” (playing it safe)

Robert Gibbs: It…“saved or created 1.5 million jobs.” (the middle guy)

David Axelrod:  It has…”created more than – or saved more than 2 million jobs.” (swinging for the fences)

Read the full scripts of their comments on Politico by clicking here. 

What Went Wrong?

Not only did the three amigos fail to sync up their fairytales and agree on a manufactured number, they further eroded their credibility with the spin.  Is there an American not in a coma who isn’t aware that the “real” unemployment rate is about 15% right now?   Even Obama’s ardent base of supporters must be wondering which planet these folks are living on.  I took this statement off of the Bureau of Labor statistics web site:

“In December, both the number of unemployed persons, at 15.3 million, and the unemployment rate, at 10.0 percent, were unchanged. At the start of the re-cession in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons was 7.7 million, and the unemployment rate was 5.0 percent.”  

The Obama gang is also losing ground trying to persuade Americans that jobs are suddenly ”job one” for the administration.  Two weeks earlier, prior to the seismic shift in politics called Scott Brown, was there any question that health care was “job one.”   Confused?  Or just seeing right through the rhetoric?

Business Leaders Are Also Acting Stupidly

If you read my blog regularly you know that I don’t often comment on politics.  However, there are so many lessons for business that I simply cannot ignore what’s happening now. 

A good friend recently suggested I should actually write a book called “How Stupid Can You Be.”  The more I think about it, the more I like it.  This book could write itself. 

Who can forget the image of the CEOs of the major automakers flying in on private jets, and then putting their hands out for a taxpayer bail out?  

And, what about the four most powerful bankers telling a congressional committee that they were “victims of circumstance”  unable to anticipate the near collapse of our financial system and therefore should not be held responsible for their role in upending the global economy.  I’m not saying there isn’t plenty of blame to go around but these types of answers make your brain hurt.

 . 

So the Obama administration has certainly not cornered the market on stupid pet tricks.  Businesses  make the these mistakes all the time.  And I believe the root of it is that some people are just arrogant enough to think people aren’t paying attention, or don’t care.

 How to Avoid this Stupidity:

• Do what’s important first
• Acknowledge contradictions
• Protect your integrity
• Give an honest analysis
• Don’t make up the facts
• Don’t be tone deaf
• Stop treating people like idiots 

As always, I welcome your thoughts…

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“Be in charge of your own destiny or some one else will.”

-Jack Welch

Your destiny is determined each day by the path you choose.  But just having a goal and putting one step in front of the other each day isn’t enough.  You also need to let other people know what you’re doing.   That means communicating up, around, sideways and down the middle.

Let me give you an example.   A story about guy who had his eyes on the prize, but forgot to let his boss in on it. 

He told the story right before I got up to speak last night in Rye Brook New York to a group of IT leaders.  He had read chapter one of Motivate Like a CEO, realized where dropped the ball, and wanted to share it with everybody.

Turns out he and his technology team had worked feverishly to bring a project in on time and on budget.  He was proud of the fact that he’d been communicating exceptionally well with his team.  They were engaged in the work; in spite of some challenges they were excited and firing on all cylinders.  Trouble was- he forgot to tell the folks upstairs.   

He was so busy making sure those cylinders were firing that he failed to tell the executive team they were taking a trip. When he finally looped them back in, it became clear they didn’t understand what he’d been up to.  “Why are you spending so much time and energy on it?” they asked.  What a shame – a great effort without the applause.  Phase II?  Who knows if it will even happen?

What Went Wrong?

This story must have a familiar ring; I hear it all the time.  Your team loves you, they work hard for you, but somehow you and they aren’t getting the credit or the recognition you deserve.  Nine times out of ten it isn’t because you work for a boss who is a jerk.  It’s because of a simple failure to communicate up.

Communicating “up” is one of the most strategic aspects of the job.  You have to do it - for yourself - for your team - for your organization.  When you don’t, precious time, resources and effort are wasted. 

Ask yourself, this - in an ever changing world, where priorities are shifting, how can you possibly know that your activities are aligned today’s goals?  The only way to know is to have a robust dialogue going with the top of the organization.  

Remember This, When Briefing Top Executives

·         When you go in to give a briefing, be prepared, and be flexible.  Things may have changed.  Week to week, organizations are juggling a host of priorities and business realities.  Sure, in an ideal world, the company sets its sights on a target and focuses like a laser beam.  But we all know how difficult that is in this ultra volatile economy. 

·         That’s why you need to keep people in the loop - formally and informally.  Pick up the phone, send an email, schedule a meeting - be available - and don’t assume they know.

·         Be sure to ask questions and listen between the lines.  You may see heads nodding while the tone is less than enthusiastic.  That’s a signal.  Pay attention.  

·         You can still champion your project or idea if you believe in it.  Just be sure you can make a rock solid case for how it aligns with the company’s priorities.

·         Come in well prepared with facts and information that helps them see it the way you see it.  Your job as a leader is to communicate not just what, but why.

It isn’t Just Up - It’s Around, Sideways, and Down the Middle

I have a client who is living a nightmare right now - after six months of hard work a major project has been scuttled.  She and her team spent months planning, preparing and discussing with the top leaders of the company, only to have the rug pulled out from under them at the 11^th hour. Chaos has ensued.

Her team is not only deflated and demoralized; planned promotions will not take place; people will be moving to other parts of the organization; some may leave the company.  Perhaps most ruinous- it was a pretty good plan- so the benefits to the organization will be lost.

The issue really wasn’t just communicating up.  It appeared the top folks were on board.  Behind the scenes, however, some powerful forces who didn’t like it prevailed.  It all went down in about three hours.  This is what I like to call unpredictably predictable.  The post-mortem will show that the failure was in building alliances around the organization, going sideways and down the middle.

Maybe it would have happened anyway.  We’ll never know.

How To Avoid This Fate

• When you’re working on a major project, I recommend that you create a communications plan. 
• This document should live side by side with the project plan, or better still, inside of it.  
• Make a list of every single individual or group who can influence, touch, derail, question, wonder, doubt or decide something related to the plan. 
• Make a plan to circle around, ask questions,
• Listen between the lines, and be sure that you address head on not only the merits of an idea but the impact on others

As always, leave a reply if you’d like to contribute to these ideas on communicating up, around, sideways and down the middle.

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“Unless commitments are made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans”

-Peter Drucker

Yesterday a client canceled an appointment.  Big deal?  Depends.  Emergencies happen.  But I can predict with 100% accuracy whether a client is floundering or flourishing simply by whether he or she keeps these commitments. 

The flounderers do not call me directly, they have their assistants do it; the conversation usually goes something like this: ”So sorry, something’s come up with Mr. Flounder, we didn’t anticipate it.  I really apologize for the inconvenience.  Can we reschedule?”

When you’re having trouble meeting your commitments there are three reasons: 

1.  Failure to set priorities. 

2.  Activities not aligned with those priorities.

3.  An issue with commitment.

If any of the above sound familiar, read on. 

Failure to Set Priorities

If your issue is setting priorities, then it’s time to get real about what really matters to you.  The quality of your questions determines the quality of your answers.  Questions you might ask yourself are:

• What are my top priorities, really? 
• How will I accomplish these this year? 
• What will be the impact when I’m finished? 
• And how do I know that this is what I should be doing?”

Activities Not Aligned with Priorities

If you suspect that the issue is not priorities, but alignment, then it is time for tough love with your calendar.  Everything should be related to one of your priorities.  Take 10 minutes to spin through the next two months and see whether this is the case.  If not, it explains why you’re getting to the end of your days feeling frustrated.  

If it’s important enough to do, then it is important enough to put on your calendar.  Write in each activity related to a priority. Leave white space for meetings, calls, and emergencies (there will be plenty of those) and don’t allow yourself to fill it up with “nice to do” stuff.  If you aren’t sure, put it in as tentative, and don’t commit.   And, don’t allow anyone access to your calendar unless they are completely apprised of your priorities and you are absolutely assured they will run interference and guard your time like gold bars at Fort Knox.

An Issue with Commitment

If the issue is inability to commit, well, that’s a horse of a different color.  Short of taking up space on a therapists couch for a few years, what can you do to address commitment issues?  Remember there is a difference between interest and commitment.  I’m interested in learning to play golf, and what that means is I will probably do it when circumstances permit- when I’m traveling to a conference at a beautiful resort in Arizona I’ll set up a lesson with a pro.  However, I am committed to writing a third book.  I had a call with my publisher, McGraw Hill two weeks ago.  Last week I scheduled time to brainstorm book outlines and wrote three of them during that two hour period, and I will share those with my agent when we meet on Friday from 2 to 4 pm.  You get the idea.  As the saying goes, when you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, just results.

I’m interested in hearing from you about the challenges of meeting commitments.  It isn’t getting any easier - our companies have fewer resources, the time pressures are greater than ever, and the Blackberry vampires are sucking our time dry.  Hit leave a reply to offer real ideas about meeting commitments.

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I’ve been scanning the internet for 2010 workplace predictions and it’s got me thinking about how all these trends are going to change the way we communicate.  It’s my birthday - and I remember when you needed a carbon copier between two sheets of paper in a typewriter to make two copies of my television scripts.  Since I’m going out on a limb with predictions I’ll expect someone to haul these out next year and see whether I was right. 

1.  Email Overload Revolt - Email inboxes are cluttered, messages are unreadable and email etiquette absolutely unruly.  Last week I received responses from busy executives- two months after I wrote to them.  Our kids “get” brevity because they text.  Boomers must get with the program.  There will be a ”tea party” over email - people will simply stop responding if you don’t send a message that’s brief, clear and actionable. 

2.  Global Communication Mutiny - More managers than ever have dark circles under their eyes as they try to manage global teams.  Workplaces need new practices and policies.  Overdosing on caffeine for extended periods is a recipe for burned out talent.  Companies need to figure out real time communication without killing their best people.   

3.  Remote Access Leaders - Forty-three percent of employers say that in their organizations there will be less business travel in 2010 than in 2009.  By my calculations, that means 57% will do the same or more. Leaders will certainly hit the road more in 2010 as the economy improves to visit customers and do deals that can’t be done with Cisco technology.  Barring another terrorist scare, long distance leadership will remain challenging - you may like working 24/7 but your team will be ducking for cover.

4.  Social Media Manic Depression- The social media world will continue to befuddle most people as they try to figure out the best way to network, market and talk to each other. Should Facebook be for personal use?   Is anybody reading your tweets?  What about your blog?  Look for more experimentation but no less uncertainty about where it’s all going for another couple of years.

5.  Social Networking Hits the Teen Years- CIO.com reports that as the economy plummeted in 2009, Linked In’s  popularity skyrocketed growing to more than 53 million members.  Social networking is moving into the “teen years” meaning people will be hanging out with “groups” llike you did in high school.  You might feel good having 3 million links but it won’t make you homecoming king or queen.     

6. It’s What your Dad Said about the Job Search- Our firm posted an ad for a job and within 15 minutes had 80 applicants.  It’s insane.  Companies are still demanding you apply on line with no promise you’ll hear back one way or another.  Time for a “Back to the Future” approach - call your friends, colleagues, and old boyfriends and girlfriends and find out what’s shaking in their industry.

7.  Communication Breakdowns with Freelancers and Contract Workers- Career-builder.com says 3 in 10 employers anticipate hiring freelancers or contractors in 2010, up slightly from 28 percent in 2009.  This will fill in some gaps in the lean workforce but challenge managers and leaders to bring people on board and make sure they are in the loop.  Note to boss: you’ll need to spend more time, not less, communicating and directing their activities.

8.  E-Readers in the Sky - Consumer Electronics Association predicts 5 million e-reading devices will be shipped this year, up from 2.2 million last year.  Touch navigation, video chat and lower prices will “hook” not just early adopters but people who love packing a library in their briefcase.  Still the trend will mostly “live” in the skies - and book lovers will keep arguing they prefer the feel of the printed page. 

9.  Dialogue is Destiny- Social media isn’t just a scalable publishing boon, it’s transformed broadcasst media monologue into social dialogue (many to many).  Having a dialogue with customers and prospects will be the differentiator - understand what they want, why they buy (or don’t) is empowering consumers and creating mega-expectations so you have to get hip. 

10.  Pay-Up for Your News Fix- Traditional media social media sites won’t survive or certainly thrive if they don’t start charging for news.  Mashable predicts ads on your Twitter page and ”Journalism” bought and paid for.  Look for your favorite outlets to experiment with everything.  Online advertising is predicted to eclipse newspaper ads by 2015 - I think it will be sooner.  News junkies want their stuff free so it will be interesting to watch who wins this epic struggle.

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“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” –Vince Lombardi

I’ve talked with a few clients recently about whether it was “worthwhile” to invest in  their people.  One CEO said he wouldn’t put ANY of his direct reports through further  training.  An SVP decided to postpone coaching because he couldn’t decide whether to look “outside” for all new leadership talent.  ”Right now,” he said, “none of them have what it takes to get to the next level.” 

It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when you can’t imagine anyone in the cubicles being ready for a big job in a year or two.  Today, there are more leadership assessment tools than ever, yet paradoxically, your succession planning meetings leave people feeling worse not better about the next generation. Is it just that hiring has been so bad? Or could something else be going on?  Are you afraid to say,  “Let’s invest in this person first, and see what happens?”  

Yes, sure, it’s tempting to think especially in this economy that there’s a big pool of “talent” out there.  But it’s false comfort.  Maybe you can waive a magic wand and bring in a shiny new team that will have it all.  But what if you feel the same way about them a year or two from now?    

Let’s return to ”Vince Lombardi’s philosophy that leaders are “made.” 

One way to look at this s to review your own career path.  Ten years ago, would everyone have predicted you would be where you are today?  I can promise you that most of my friends would not have said, “Wow, ten years from now I can really see Suzanne as CEO of her our own successful business.”  Entrepreneurship didn’t look like the most likely next path for a TV news reporter and anchor.  My one and only memorable brush with finance had been laboring over a P and L statement on my accounting final at the University of Illinois. 

The point is that most of our crystal balls are foggy.  It’s hard to know whether someone has potential until you actually invest in them.  Of course you don’t want to throw good money after bad.  But you have to give decent people a chance to learn before you cast them aside.

Making an investment in your people is a powerful statement of faith.  You’re saying, “I believe in you enough to spend money on you.” As a coach, I’ve seen it time and time again.  Reasonably talented people are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to work with a coach or attend leadership courses.  They make the most of it and become better leaders because of it.

It only takes one influential person in your life to stir the embers. When I started my business, I’ll never forget what my attorney and now dear friend Eleanor Uddo said to me.  After our first meeting, she shook my hand and said, “You’re going to be wildly successful.”  She said it with such conviction that I believed her.  I really did.  I’ve never forgotten it. 

Here are five strategies for applying the Vince Lombardi philosophy:

1. Keep an open mind.  I don’t mean to look at everyone with the same, rose colored glasses. Just leave a little space in that judgmental brain of yours that allows for a pleasant surprise.  I am often amazed at the tremendous progress our coaching clients make, sometimes after a few weeks.

2. Avoid the temptation to say, ”there’s no talent out there.”  Word always gets around.  Whether you believe you have talent or not it’s true.  Or rather, it’s self-fulfilling prophesy.  

3.  Put it into the budget.  Leadership development doesn’t work when it is an afterthought.  It’s vital to the future of your company.  Get a number on paper at the beginning of the budget cycle and honor the commitment. 

4.  Look at your best people as a work in progress.  We all have miles to go, and we know it.  Success is about lifelong learning.  Your best people know they aren’t there yet, but they don’t always know where to go.  It’s up to you to help them get access to the right resources.    

5.  Don’t expect people to learn everything “by osmosis.”  Talented young leaders will pick up a lot as they go, but to develop high level skills like communicating, influencing and motivating others they need coaching and mentoring.  

As always, I welcome your thoughts.  Feel free to hit “leave a reply.”

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Last night on WGBH TV’s Greater Boston with Emily Rooney I was invited to be on a panel discussing a new survey that shows record numbers of people are unhappy with their jobs.  The Conference Board’s poll, widely reported yesterday in every major publication, concludes that “Americans of all ages and income brackets continue to grow increasingly unhappy at work.”

The survey is based on the responses of 2,900 American workers asked to rate how satisfied they are at work, on a scale of 1 to 5.  45% say they are satisfied with their jobs, and according to the Conference Board, that’s a trend -in 1987, 61% said they were satisfied. The decline spanned all age groups, although young people under 25 were the least satisfied.

Do you buy it?  Here’s something interesting - it turns out this data is in complete conflict with Gallup Polls taken every August from 1989 to 2009, in which 85 to 94 percent of people say they are completely or somewhat satisfied with their jobs.  As Mark Twain once said, “There are lies, there are damn lies, and then, there are statistics.” 

Certainly, a lot of people complain about their jobs.  But that’s always been the case.  Recently, other surveys have shown that people are more satisfied because they’re grateful to HAVE a job in this economy.   So I guess it all depends on how you ask the questions, doesn’t it?

The bigger question isn’t whether AMERICANS are satisfied, but whether YOU are satisfied.  You deserve to be engaged in work that you find rewarding, interesting and meaningful.  Work is the way most of us express our purpose and passion.  If you aren’t inspired, it’s time to figure out why.  Work is like marriage - you can fall in love again.  Or, you can move on.  But do you real want to stay stuck?  Or do you want to get up and look forward to your day?

I think this is a two-pronged issue.  It’s about both employees and employers.  Take responsibility for your own happiness.  And then, seek out an employer that creates an environment where everyone in the organization knows that what they are doing matters.  Employers do need to understand what motivates people.  They need to communicate the importance of even routine work to the overall goals.  And they  need to appreciate people for contributing their talent and energy. 

In the meantime, get in touch with what you love to do and tell your boss.  You can’t possibly expect him or her to read your mind.  Understand the overall goals and priorities so that you can seize opportunities to get involved in projects that will move the organization forward.  There’s no better way to get recognized and rewarded, and be satisfied in your work.  

The Conference Board survey, by the way, blames lower job satisfaction not so much on employees but employers.  They say it correlates with the fact that companies have dropped or cut pension benefits and asked employees to contribute more to health care. In addition, they point out that wage growth has been relatively stagnant.  Again, I believe that these are factors, but other surveys show that if people feel their needs are being met, the real determinants of satisfaction are other factors like flexibility to do the job your way.

Ironically, the two-decade decline in happiness has coincided with substantial increases in worker productivity. Gains in the tech sector have ensured that even as workers become more unhappy, they have become more productive.  This is another reason I think you need to take all this with a grain of salt.  How much of productivity is related to employee engagement, and how much to technological advances that make it simpler to get a job done in one hour instead of eight?  Who’s knows?

I’m interested in your thoughts - just click Leave a Reply.

Still it’s a fascinating topic.  Thanks to Emily for inviting me on the show.  Here’s a link to the segment on WGBH TV: http://www.wgbh.org/programs/programDetail.cfm?programid=11

Here’s a link to the Washington Post article that discusses the conflicting results of polls on job satisfaction. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/05/AR2010010503977.html

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Here comes week two of 2010.  The New Year is no longer all that “new.” Your schedule is starting to look a little scary, meetings are appearing, deadlines already looming. Perhaps you’re wondering, “How can I make this year diffferent, and better?” 

As January comes into focus, a good question to ask yourself is how can I be sure that I’m not sacrificing the important for the urgent?  

For example, if you’ve decided you need to invest some energy in yourself and your career, when will you do that? How can you be sure another year doesn’t go by? So that you look back on December 2010 without regret?

One way to do it is to create a powerful picture of what the year should look like.  When our team came  back to work after the holidays, we imagined it was December 2010 and wrote down “what we had already accomplished.”  We also drew pictures with crayons of our perfect day in December 2010.  Everybody got into it, in fact there was some cutthroat competition over who could use the most colors in the crayon box. It was fun.  More important, you wouldn’t believe the cool visions people have for their years.  I bet if you walked down our hallway this morning you’d see those drawings taped to their walls. 

A personal vision for the future is a powerful and constant reminder.  Ten years ago when I launched my business I sat in a session where we did this silly crayon exercise, and darned if my business didn’t turn out to look just like that picture. 

So what is your picture of December 2010?  

Get that picture out of your head, on paper, and then clear the way to make it happen.  

Clear the way by doing this:

1. Look back, not forward.  Imagine it’s already December 2010.  what do you see?  Write it down.  Then write down how you accomplished it.  Look back and “recall” the steps to Keep your goals visible.  Tape the picture to the wall.  Type a little list of goals and keep it on your desk.  What you see is what you do.  Create a visual reminder of how you want to live this year so it hits you in the face every day.

2. Manage priorities not time.  Sure, time is all you have.  But the clock keeps ticking.  So the only appropriate strategy is to do what is important first.  If you do what’s important the rest will take care of itself.

3. Get control of your calendar.  The calendar reflects your priorities.  Whether you keep your own schedule or someone does it for you, don’t allow anything, and I mean anything that isn’t important to get scheduled without thinking it through or approving it.

4. Get organized.  On the first day of the New Year, we have “office clean up day.”  That’s just what it sounds like.  We haul everything off the shelves, toss what we don’t need, polish and wax and prepare our desks, and then our calendars for week two and beyond.  It’s incredibly empowering.

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