This is not an advertisement for Microsoft

However, if you are reading this, and happen to work there... enjoy the complimentary exposure.

Please note: This post is going to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

Being the nut I am about business, and how it can become a great thing if you want, and try, to make it great, I can't help but love (gag) the new Microsoft Office commercials...with the tag line "Great moments at work".

So, yes.. you guessed it, yesterday, I had a great moment at work. It was amazing.. we had a major initiative that had to be out the door by the end of the day, and a team of us rallied together to pull it off. Needless to say, we spun our notebooks on the ground, slid along the terrazo floors hooting and hollering just like in the commercial. What a sense of accomplishment. What a moment of pride. What a lousy reminder that it had been a while since we felt that way. Sure, we do incredible things everyday... we just make it seem easy.

Therefore, on my way into the office today, I decided to have that remarkable feeling at the end of every day. I will raise the bar, I will rally the troops. I will outperform.. Sure it's extra energy, but as you will see next week (yes it's newsletter time again, and if you want it flip me an email iwantthenewsletter@thebeacongroup.ca ) passion is a major factor in successful Organizational Development.

I'm disappointed in myself for not realizing sooner that we could be even better than we usually are. In fact, I'm mad as hell.

Tammy, Tammy, Tammy...

I know gag, gag, gag,... The Apprentice. This is not a fan site, however, I am a fan. If you really want my view on why this is the best case study for business today, flip me an email.

Poor Tammy, no EQ, she got creamed. Yes, I will go on the record that Emotional Intelligence is so important that Tammy got turfed. "Welcome to the real world, she said to me.. Condescendingly...". In my opinion (Kyle's opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Beacon Group, but it does in this case) well rounded people are better equipped to deal with the business world.

So, on to my real point...

Throughout the season, Tammy (what, did you think I was finished discussing The Apprentice?) had a bit of trouble keeping her mouth closed. Tammy had very little tact, and opened her mouth many times without thinking. Thankfully she seemed to only hurt herself, not the 'team' she was on.

My point is, every employee of your organization represents your organization everyday, everywhere. Tammy's predisposition to talk should have been addressed by the team. Yes, before you inundate me with calls and emails... I know, they're competing with each other. However, I can certainly assure you that right now, there is someone at your organization that needs some tactful coaching. They represent what you stand for. Mould them, guide them. Help them help themselves. Don't let the Tammy's hurt your credibility.

It's 11 oclock.. do you know where your employees are?

Sorry for the late post, I just got back from meeting with one of your employees. Don't worry, they don't want to work for us, they want to do work for us. On your time? I'm not sure. I am sure that this has nothing to do with what your company does, but will help our company tremendously.

Want your cut? Too late... you weren't interested... you didn't ask what they do in their 'free' time. So, another missed opportunity for you. Not for us. We ask.

So, moral of the story..

If you have the nerve to expect people to provide 'extra-curricular' interests on their resumes when they apply to work for YOU, check back into them. Your key employees might have a parallel skill that can help your company (as much as it's going to help ours). Don't go around asking, you already have the information. It's just as easy as opening your drawer.

Look for the hidden talent, it's all around you.

Elections and Leadership

I confess. I am a terrible "news junkie". The sad fact of the matter is, CNN has become one of my very best friends. I find it hard to turn off the TV when Larry, Aaron, Jeff or Wolf are talking. It just seems so rude!

So, tonight, I sit in frozen Toronto totally fixated by the fact a wealthy American from New England has won two more primaries for the Democratic Party in states so far south that the people there would be horrified not only by the three feet of snow piled on my front lawn but by the igloo the kids have built to serve as a winter fort in minus 10 degree weather.

It all got me thinking about democracy and business and what would happen if we actually elected our business leaders. How many current leaders would make it through the primary process? What would the candidate debates look like? How many babies would they have to kiss? How many promises would they make?

You see, running for elected office is a pretty good test of overall fitness. Just ask Howard Dean or Joe Lieberman. Sure, ideas count and character matters but what gets you elected is;

1. The ability to influence your peers and subordinates

2. The bravery to offer a bold new plan (vision)

3. The skill to build a solid coalition

So, what do you think, how many business leaders would get elected based on this simple test?

I don't know. Maybe democracy is not such a good thing after all. I think I will just go back upstairs and revert to being a cable TV voyeur.

Planning to attend your reunion?

Nope, not that one... your business reunion.

So there I am on the subway, and I bump into someone from highschool... I draw a blank...I know the face, just not the name. She knows my name.. and I apologize that it's been a decade since I graduated from highschool, and that I couldn't recall her name...

Not my point, but somewhat appropriate considering my train of thought today. Does your company have an Alumni Association? Yes, the company that you work for now, or have worked for in the past. What a great concept (I'm not claiming to have invented it, but I am an advocate)!! Who better to use as an inexpensive, objective third party to gain feedback on upcoming initiatives. Or who better to contact when you are re-hiring en masse! People who already know a significant amount about your business, and its culture.

Don't burn bridges, build them. Get the contact information for as many of your ex-employees as you can. Contact them, keep them in your circle of friends. Plan a reunion.

I wrote this because you wanted me to.

So there I am staring on the platform.. reading a Starbucks ad. Point no. 1 - Starbucks has recently started advertising. Point no. 2 - they use the word customized in their new slogan. Yikes.

First of all, if you (your organization) is not AT LEAST customizing your product for your customers... you are in trouble. Customization has been added to the minimal level of entry to to business, just like quality. You have to make your product customizable.. because whatever your product is, it's not perfect for everyone.. unless you make water.... well I guess you can work with temperature, bubbles....etc.. See.. even water is customizable... is your product?

I wrote long ago of the expectations of anticipating the needs of your customer... so, I wrote this.

Higher Education

I’m often told that I’m far to convinced that the world is expanding technologically... However here I sit on the subway across from 3 grad students, the 'intellectuals' of the next generation talking about OVERHEADS!! Now don't get me wrong we have all seen overheads, but honestly, who uses overheads. I am writing this entry on an hand held computer.. and they’re talking about overheads.

Technology is here… use it – any way you can.

Making new footprints ...

We do a lot of work with a Myers-Briggs type personality profiling tool called "Insights" which, at its broadest interpretation, puts people in four categories - the Reds (Drivers), the Yellows (Influencers), the Greens (Stabilizers) and the Blues (Conformers). There is a great message to the "greens" of the world (the calm, caring, compassionate, value-driven, slow to change types) in the popular book "Under the Tuscan Sun", even though the author, Frances Mayes, wouldn't have thought of it this way. She says, "I keep remembering that anytime I've stepped in my own footprints again, I haven't felt renewed. Though I'm susceptible to the pull of the known, I'm just slightly more susceptible to surprise". In the rapidly changing, chaotic, bar-rising world in which we live, manage people and lead change it is important to remember that many people are "susceptible to the pull of the known" and always strive to find in them the part that is "just slightly more susceptible to surprise".