‘What are we doing about this?’

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Jay Morris

Stop sending notes to your staff that require a crystal ball to decipher. Engage them in dialogue instead. Drawing by M.C. Escher.

Have you ever received an e-mail or note from a boss or board member—usually with an article attached—that simply says, “What are we doing about this?” There is no other explanation, no instruction, no suggestion that “we should meet to discuss.”

Having received my share of these and possibly been the originator of a few myself, I can tell you they are generally greeted with a groan and not with any degree of enthusiasm.

That’s because the articles sent often demonstrate the sender is uninformed about what staff has been doing for the last six months. These missives can also be viewed as downright accusatory, resulting in the recipient getting pretty defensive. It’s as if the sender is saying, “Look what you missed, dummy.” Or, “Look at what our competitors are doing. Why can’t you do that?” A negative tone or hint of superciliousness can send the reader into a tailspin.

Worst of all, there is no clue as to what the sender actually wants done. Is this an “FYI” or a call to action? And if too many of these types of notes are sent, the sender starts to get the same reputation as your crazy Uncle Bob. A nuisance not to be taken very seriously.

Sending “what are we doing about this?” notes is frankly not a good way to manage. If it is rampant in your organization, you need to nip it in the bud and channel it into more thoughtful, productive dialogue.

If you’re a boss or board member, the next time you feel the urge to send off the latest article or opinion piece you’ve read, stop and reflect on the key points that apply to your organization. Instead of scribbling “what are we doing about this?” at the top, write a note that summarizes your concerns and frames them in the context of your organization’s goals and objectives. Then you can ask the recipient what, if anything, your organization is doing (or should do) to address your concerns. Offer to meet, discuss and bring in others in your organization to brainstorm solutions.

Employees, the next time you receive a “did you see this?” note, understand that the sender must have a reason for sending it, regardless of how cryptic or crazy it seems to you. Use it as an opportunity to visit with your boss or put it on the board’s agenda for discussion.

In general, think about what your organization is doing to foster open communication across departments, between staff and board, and between the CEO and staff. Show me someone who consistently sends “what are we doing?” notes, and I’ll show you someone who is out of the communication loop. Put them in the loop, take the time to brief them, and they will (hopefully) stop pestering you. In fact, just a couple “here’s what we’re doing” phone calls or e-mails might stop a dozen “did you see this?” notes.

Posted in Leadership | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

6 lessons we can learn from U.Va.’s leadership crisis

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Jay Morris

U.Va.’s famous Rotunda designed by its founder, Thomas Jefferson.

Most of the time I’m proud of my alma mater, the University of Virginia. But when it was in the news so much last month, I cringed with each new report of trouble at Mr. Jefferson’s University. You may recall U.Va.’s president, Teresa Sullivan, was forced to resign, and then after a huge backlash and threats from Virginia’s governor to fire all of the university’s board members, the board reinstated Sullivan. It was a very strange two weeks and not a drama that we U.Va. alums are accustomed to.

Aside from the obvious PR blunders that we witnessed almost daily, what leadership lessons might we draw from what happened in Charlottesville?

  1. Know your board. I was surprised that Sullivan said she was unaware that she had a problem with her board. Having worked with many boards over the years and seen some master politicians ply their craft, I would say knowing your board is an absolute “must” for CEO job security. I have watched CEOs woo their boards like Nixon in China, but I have also seen CEOs go down in flames because of vanity and colossal misjudgments. I do not think that Sullivan is vain or prone to missteps, more that she just wasn’t paying attention. I doubt if that will happen again.
  2. Honor your stakeholders. Public universities have many stakeholders—faculty, students, parents, donors, employees, the state legislature and governor, and the media, to name a few.  The board members forgot that. In fact, they totally botched the way they handled Sullivan’s resignation. We’ll never know if the outcome would have been different if it were handled better, but one has to wonder. It’s amazing that there was no vote by the board, no discussion, even, before Helen Dragas, the university’s rector and board chair, privately notified Sullivan that she (Dragas) had the votes to fire Sullivan and forced her to resign. All of the university’s key stakeholders were caught by surprise. No wonder there was a backlash.
  3. Respect the values of your organization. The board was certainly empowered to fire the university’s president, but the way it was handled was not in keeping with U.Va.’s tradition of civility, mutual respect and openness. U.Va. is one of the few public universities with an honor code. Honesty and integrity mean something to U.Va. graduates. Dragas went to U.Va. and should have known better. Her moves may have been appropriate in the rough-and-tumble corporate world, but at U.Va. it seemed clumsy, power-driven and out of place.
  4. Anticipate the consequences of your actions. As it turns out, Sullivan was an incredibly popular president, and students and faculty rode to her rescue with organized protests and calls for reinstatement. The board seemed paralyzed by what was transpiring and failed to act quickly to exert control. It got to the point where the governor had to write a tersely worded letter to the board: Fix this, or I’ll replace all of you. Talk about holding feet to the fire.
  5. Cool heads can solve difficult problems. Happy endings are possible when cooler heads prevail. Sixteen days after the turmoil began, Dragas and Sullivan walked side-by-side into a special open board meeting called to resolve the crisis. There were statements of reconciliation and then a unanimous vote to reinstate Sullivan, plus keep Dragas as rector. Now that doesn’t happen every day in America. But it shows that even strong-willed people can change their minds and work together for the sake of an institution larger than themselves. Let’s hope the honeymoon lasts.
  6. Out of crisis comes change. Stepping away from the precipice doesn’t mean things go back to the way they were. Crises often accelerate change and open the door for new opportunities. Just this week, U.Va. announced a major step forward in online education, joining several other top-tier schools in offering Internet courses through a start-up called Coursera. Lack of movement in online education was one of the criticisms Dragas cited for seeking Sullivan’s resignation. It seems the crisis was a catalyst to forge ahead on this crucial issue, something that may or may not have happened otherwise.
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Are you adding value to your organization?

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Jay Morris

“Make yourself indispensable” is one of those career bromides you often hear when you’re first starting out, but how many people really do make themselves indispensable to their organization? It may sound trite, but indispensable people usually don’t get sacked, and departments that add value rarely get cut.

Take a hard look at what you do at work. If your day consists of doing things by rote, the same way over and over, your days may be numbered. If you’ve become an order taker, what makes you think you won’t get replaced by another faster, cheaper order taker? If you constantly rely on others to do the hard thinking that goes into creating value for your organization, what good are you?

It’s sad when I see senior employees acting like new-hires—just as clueless about the organization’s business model and goals as when they first arrived on the scene. They may “know” more about their specific job, but unfortunately they know very little about the organization that is signing their paycheck.

Being in the PR business, I am often told, “It’s your job to get us publicity.” Actually, it’s not. My job is to understand the organization’s value proposition, determine how its stakeholders perceive that value and recommend strategies for improving it. Value that can be translated into greater customer engagement and ultimately sales, memberships or lobbying victories.

Years ago, I hired a media company to place articles and radio spots for us all around the country. I was able to show that we had been read and listened to by millions of people. Only one problem—the key stakeholders in the organization never heard any of the spots we did or saw our newspaper articles. We soon abandoned the effort and started to focus more on engagements tailored to specific markets. While we had fewer placements, I would say they were of higher quality and certainly more prominent in the markets that mattered to us. And surprise, the value was greater for the organization.

So how can you add value—and at the same time ensure job security and maybe even a promotion?

If you have gotten into an “I-just-do-my-job” rut, then you’ve got to get out of that first. Morale may be low, but you need to rise above it and adopt a solutions-based approach to work. Step outside your silo and see what’s going on. Prove that you can be a team player, but also demonstrate that you’ve got good, practical ideas that address real problems.

One thing you can do is ask the leaders of your organization some penetrating questions that indicate that you’ve got some gray matter upstairs. Then follow through.

What keeps you up at night?

What are our competitors doing that we’re not?

What would you like to change about our business culture, and how can I help you do that?

What key values about our company need to be known to our customers and the public? Can I help communicate those?

Sometimes just taking initiative can pay dividends. That can range from volunteering to do something that you’ve never done before to making a suggestion that might not be popular or seems counter-intuitive. But if you’ve researched your suggestion, what’s the harm? Risk-taking is part of the equation.

In the PR world, the better practitioners are those who take a keen interest in their client’s business strategy. They want to understand the client’s vision and help drive business in that direction. They are less tacticians and more leaders.

And, after all, isn’t exhibiting leadership what “being indispensable” is all about?

Light bulb image from http://www.chaplaintotheoutdoorsmen.com.
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Good-bye Resources, hello 50 posts

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Jay Morris

Last Thursday marked my 50th post on The Wayward Journey. Hooray! It also was when I decided to finally pull the plug on my much-underutilized Resources page. I had such high hopes for that section of the blog when I launched it. I invited readers to suggest links, books, articles and other resources that had helped them along their own journey. We would all share resources. But alas, no one ever submitted anything. So I decided to take it down.

I also said good-bye to VodPod, a cool video app that WordPress is no longer able to offer bloggers. It just disappeared from my widgets dashboard one day, along with all of the videos I had tagged. So that was another reason I pulled the plug on my Resources page—those videos constituted the sum total of my “resources.” Seems that VodPod has been acquired by Lockerz, and I’m not sure we’ll ever see VodPod again. Such are the vagaries of using free blogging software.

But I digress. The real news is that I was able to reach the “nifty-fifty” milestone, giving me more longevity than many bloggers who try this medium for a few months and then tire of it. Of course, I recently took a month-long break myself, so I know how tenuous blogging can be. I count myself fortunate to have lasted as long as I have and to have received a great deal of encouragement from friends and fellow bloggers. Thanks for your support, and here’s to 50 more!

Image from http://www.planetminecraft.com/blog.
Posted in Goal setting, Happiness | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The value of a written plan

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Jay Morris

Image from entrepreneursystems.com.

It’s been said that we spend more time planning vacations and weddings than we do our careers, finances or business. Not only are we poor planners (and I’m the worst), but we never seem to commit to paper the plans we do have.

How many times have you resolved to write a business plan, career plan or financial plan?

If you’re like me, you just never get around to it—at least the writing-down part. “I’ve got it all upstairs,” you say.

I recently came across an interesting survey from the Certified Financial Planner Board. The CFP Board is the group that grants financial planners the CFP designation, and it periodically does consumer attitude surveys on money topics.

The CFP Board found that almost all Americans believe it’s important to have a financial plan. And most (79%) say they do have a plan. But here’s the funny part: About half say their plan is only in their head, and another 11% say they just have some ideas. I laughed when I read that, but then a voice inside my own little head said, “What are you laughing at, bonehead? Where’s your plan?”

Ah, well, yes.

According to the CFP Board, consumers with written financial plans are more positive about their financial future and feel less uncertain in tough economic times. They are also more likely to know if they are on track to meet their goals than those without a written plan.

A 2010 study of small business owners and entrepreneurs found that those who had taken the time to write a business plan were more successful than those who had not.

In reporting the study, smallbiztrends.com said, “Regardless of the type of company, the growth stage of the company and the intent for the business plan, Ding and Hursey’s analysis found that writing a business plan correlated with increased success in every one of the business goals included in the study. These were: obtaining a loan, getting investment capital, making a major purchase, recruiting a new team member, thinking more strategically and growing the company.”

Okay, I see where this is going.

Michael Hyatt, the author of “Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World” and a blogger on intentional leadership, is a big proponent of life plans and believes it is especially important for leaders to create a written plan for themselves. (Incidentally, he noted that he spoke to a group of financial planners, and even most of them didn’t have written plans.)

You can read these in more detail on his blog, but here are his seven reasons for having a written life plan:

  1. A life plan will help you clarify your most important priorities.
  2. A life plan will enable you to maintain balance.
  3. A life plan will provide a filter by which you can say “no” to lesser things.
  4. A life plan will empower you to identify and address your current realities.
  5. A life plan will equip you to envision a better future.
  6. A life plan will serve as a road map for accomplishing what matters most.
  7. A life plan will ensure that you don’t finish life with regrets.

So, my friend, are you going to drift aimlessly through life, with no clear destination in mind? Or are you going to sit down (finally) and write out your goals and how to achieve them?

Unfortunately, most of us know what the answer should be, but we fail to take that first, crucial step. Shame on us when there is evidence we could be leading fuller, more successful lives.

Posted in Careers, Entrepreneurship, Goal setting, Leadership, Purpose | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

I’m back…

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Jay Morris

Image from twomangoes.com.

I honestly did not intend to go “dark” for a whole month when I last posted on June 7. But one thing led to another, and so today I am ending a longer-than-expected hiatus. Did you miss me?

The second week of June brought a “perfect storm”of deadlines for my budding solo PR practice; and since JMC brings home the bacon, I reluctantly put aside blogging that week. I had two big projects due at the same time, plus I was beginning work with a new client. Such is the nature of this business.

In the third week of June, more work and then a trip to Greensville Correctional Center with my Kairos prison ministry team.

I then spent almost a week working on a proposal. Another fun aspect of my independent life. I finished work on that opus just as the real perfect storm, the so-called derecho, hit the D.C. area on June 29 and knocked out power to 1.5 million households and businesses.

Rereading my last post before I vanished, I see my topic that day was prescient. I wrote about “Facebook fatigue” and complained that a social media malaise had come over me.

In reality, I think I needed a break from blogging, and work seemed like a pretty good reason to lay down my blogging pen.

So what lessons have I learned from my summer break?

It’s okay to let go. I did not miss the blog that much once I got over the initial tinge of guilt from not posting. It was good to let go for a while and not worry about feeding the monster I had created. In the week that I had so much work, I realized that I had been spending way too much time on my posts, to the point that it took me half a day or longer to research, write and post one. Do that twice a week, and it adds up to some real time.

You can’t be perfect. A blog is a blog, so why obsess over it? But, of course, that’s exactly what I had been doing. I’d think about topics. Whether what I was writing was original. What people would think about it. Which photos to use, even what size they should be. So I have vowed to be more relaxed and less consumed by my blogging. (Now how long will that last?)

Understand your priorities. My blog is not a paying gig, but my clients are. Even when I do pro bono work, I must meet real deadlines. You can’t exactly put those on hold while you write a blog post. Ditto with your family, friends and volunteer commitments. Be careful what you sacrifice when you “fit” blogging into your schedule.

All things in moderation. When I’ve tried for the 20th time to get something to look right in WordPress, I need to take a little chill break. Go out and smell the roses…and remind myself that it’s okay to do that.

You gotta have willpower. Blogging is like exercising, dieting or any other endeavor that requires willpower and determination to succeed. It’s easy to lose your motivation, to get “flabby” and just stop doing it. No one is making you blog. But like anything worth doing, sooner or later you need to get back to it. I realized if I didn’t start blogging again—and soon—I might not ever get back in the ring, and I didn’t like that prospect.

So I’m back…

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Facebook fatigue…and remembering Ray Bradbury

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Jay Morris

From the Anti-Facebook Logo Collection at logo-s-collection.blogspot.com.

Friends, do you suffer from Facebook fatigue? LinkedIn lassitude? Twitter torpor? No longer gaga for Google+? Lost your infatuation for foursquare? Does social media seem mundane? Dare I say it, moribund?

Then I’ve got the cure for you. Try reading a book! Yes, those rectangular-shaped things with the thin sheets of printed paper.

The French have many words for the weariness I have felt of late for social media, and tedium and ennui are two that come to mind. Tedium is when you get bored because you keep doing the same thing over and over, the monotony of repetition. Ennui is listlessness and dissatisfaction from lack of excitement, a kind of world-weariness.

Call it languor, lethargy, apathy or any other (origin: Old French) word you can think of, but social media just doesn’t do it for me these days. Maybe it’s the nice weather. I’d rather be out pulling weeds in my garden, yes pulling weeds, than worrying about whether someone has tagged me in a photo, retweeted my tweet or “checked in” to a local restaurant or movie theater.

I guess it was just a matter of time before I discovered that if you are not very social to begin with, social media isn’t going to change you. I’ve valiantly tweeted, added LinkedIn connections and “liked” Facebook posts, but it never seems I am tweeting, linking or posting enough.

I’d like to see a study (maybe one has been done) of how much time introverts spend on Facebook or Twitter compared to extroverts. From what I have observed, the same people who are extroverts in “real life” are extroverts on social media. They are the ones constantly tweeting and posting and building a war chest of connections. Does anyone remember the Rolodex? The same people who had two fat Rolodexes on their desk are the same people who have 500+ LinkedIn connections.

Now blogging, that’s a different story. A blog appeals to me because it is (or can be) intensely personal yet at the same time social. I don’t tire of blogging like I do with other social media. It’s more like journaling. More authentic? For me, yes.

Okay, I am not done with social media yet, just taking a short rant break. After all, I am a PR guy, and social media is a powerful communications channel that can’t be ignored. Call it a summer swoon. Maybe that’s what happened to Facebook’s IPO, too. So in the near future I will write a more positive post: “Five ways to recover from Facebook fatigue.” I promise.

Remembering Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury: 1920-2012

And speaking of reading a book, you can’t go wrong with one of Ray Bradbury’s classic novels or collections of short stories. News of his death brought back memories of my boyhood when I would voraciously read Bradbury, Asimov, Heinlein, Vonnegut and any book I could get my hands on about science. Much has been written about Bradbury’s dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451,” but I was always fond of his short stories.

Pegged as a science-fiction writer, Bradbury was more than anything a master storyteller of the strange and wonderful. “The Martian Chronicles” may have been set on Mars, but the stories were fundamentally about the human condition. “The Illustrated Man,” “Something Wicked This Way Comes”—I couldn’t get enough of this guy.

My favorite was “Dandelion Wine,” his vignettes about a 12-year-old boy growing up in a small town. I highly recommend it as an antidote to your Facebook fatigue!

Posted in Happiness, Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Passion and integrity from Alan122 of Detroit

Posted on June 5, 2012 by Jay Morris

DetroitI have become a fan of “Shouting from the Rooftop,” a blog by Alan122. From what little I know, Alan122 hails from Detroit and purports to write about “just marketing ideas.” But his posts cover all kinds of ground—far beyond marketing. They’re nuggets of truth that leave you thinking.

Here are few recent “shouts” from Alan122 that I liked. I hope you like them, too.

Decide on Something

What’s worse than making a bad decision? Making no decision.

The idea sounds great! Heck, you are even gaga about the idea and ready to go with the exciting idea, until you hear an opposing view – and then you abandon the thought…sigh, you lose your excitement.  And then…you hear another view that supports your original idea, now you are gaga again!  Only to be brought down by…

Get off the roller coaster.

No plan is perfect, no idea is without its drawbacks, but in execution of the plan you will learn, adjust, and make even better decisions in the future.

Gather information, seek counsel, contemplate, pray and do what you have to do to come to a decision.  But whatever you do, be decisive, be bold, and be firm!

By ALAN122 on June 3, 2012

Big ‘Buts’ Get No Respect

I really messed up this time.

I should have listened, but decided to do it on my own.

I acted hastily.

I got caught up in the emotions of the moment and was not rational.

I pulled the trigger on the assignment when I clearly should not have.

There were other people in the organization far more qualified than me to do this, but I let pride get in the way.

It’s my fault.

Wait…here it comes…the big BUT…

I messed up, but you should have told me.  I should have listened, but they knew better.  I acted hastily, but I had to do something.

When you can shoulder the blame and there is no “but,” there is no “however,” there are no extenuating circumstances, you earn that respect for which you have been searching.  And you will no doubt, learn from your mistake because you have accepted that it is you, not them who is to blame.

It was me. It was not you. It was not the committee.  No buts, big or small.

By ALAN122 on May 30, 2012

Passion and Integrity

Are you passionate about the sale or the product?  Is your eye on the close or the customer?

I’ve attended plenty of sales classes and I get it; find the pain…close the deal.  And truthfully, I intensely dislike lingering opportunities.  So, yes close the deal with a yes or no!

My point is – believe in what you are selling…passionately.  The sales happen when that passion comes through; your fervent belief helps convert the prospect into a believer and eventually a buyer.  If the product or service isn’t a match – you lose credibility when you start using “sales techniques” to close regardless of your ability to genuinely help them.

Sell with passion.  Sell with integrity…and always remember everyone is in sales.

By ALAN122 on May 3, 2012
Posted in Leadership, Purpose | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Burger King delivers…and the world’s biggest bride

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Jay Morris

Yes, it’s a strange juxtaposition, but as Dave Barry would say, “I am not making this up.” I recently received a postcard in the mail from Burger King advertising its new home-delivery service. About the same time, I heard talk about an 800-lb. bride-to-be named Susanne Eman whose goal (I kid you not) is to eventually weigh 1,600 lbs.—far exceeding the Guinness Book record for the world’s heaviest woman at 1,200 lbs.

But is that a world record you really want to beat?

Eman has a skinny-as-a-rail fiancé who happens to be a chef and prepares most of the 20,000 to 30,000 calories she eats daily. One run to a Carl’s Jr. for a snack cost her $50.

So do I blame Burger King and other fast-food chains for our nation’s sorry state of obesity? To Burger King’s credit, the front of the postcard I received looks like something from Whole Foods. In the foreground is a tasty- and nutritious-looking salad, flanked by two tall fruit smoothies. In the background are some chicken strips. No Whopper or fries in sight.

The flip side of the postcard tells a different story, though. Those smoothies aren’t available yet (hey, FTC, isn’t that deceptive advertising?). According to the card, they are “coming soon.” Hmm. Looking over the menu, as you might imagine, it’s heavy on burgers and chicken. But, okay, there are more salads and wraps than I would expect from a fast-food franchise.

Burger King says the D.C. area is a test market. Apparently Burger King already delivers in its Asian markets, so here in the States we’re just now getting this latest “convenience.”

Back to our 800-lb. bride—there may be a happy ending. Turns out she weighs a mere 541 lbs. Dr. Phil had her on his show last week and challenged her to weigh in (yes, your intrepid reporter subjected himself to this spectacle via the Internet, but only to ensure the veracity of his reporting). Eman was shocked (or feigned it) to discover that she was nowhere near her goal. Aw shucks.

Actually, it saddens me to see a morbidly obese person working hard to gain more weight. It’s all about choices. You don’t have to order Burger King take-out; or if you do, you can order a salad. You don’t have to smoke, take drugs or hang out with people you don’t think are a good influence. You don’t have to spend yourself into debt. You don’t have to stay in a dead-end job. You don’t have to chase someone else’s dreams.

I know, easier said than done. We’ve all made choices that we later regret. That’s part of growing up. The question is whether we have the maturity and courage to make better choices over time rather than repeating the same bad ones over and over.

Some people, like Eman, feel trapped in the cycle of choices they’ve made. That’s a hard rut to get out of.

I thought Dr. Phil said it well at the end of the episode when he called on Eman to end her quest to become the world’s largest woman and start losing weight: “You’re not defined by how much tissue you’re carrying around on your frame…Believe in yourself enough to know that everyone’s going to love you and value you if you’re not infamous. Do this for you; do this for the people who love you.”

Not everyone has her own pop psychologist, but we all have people—family, friends, co-workers—who can lend an ear. Or who can lend a hand. Sometimes asking for help is the first step to better choices.

Posted in Goal setting, Purpose, Staying motivated | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments