Ralph’s has a superstore within 50 yards of our front door. The employees are hairy, sweaty, and the men are worse. Kidding aside, the place is so disengaged that customers feel like intrusions. Most of the cashiers don’t give eye contact to customers and many of them talk with other employees while practicing the mindless frenzy of entering barcodes into the system. The disengagement at the front of the store is matched by the back. The worst of it is bringing home meat, poultry, and produce that gets rotten in 24 hours.

We typically visit the store with “ingredient emergencies.” You know, guests are coming and we forgot to buy coffee. For every dollar we spend at the store next door, we spend ten dollars with the competition. We willingly drive a few miles just to find people who work with pride. Gelson’s and Whole Foods are far better. But, the best? Trader Joe’s.

But, for every dollar we spend there, we give another ten dollars towards Gelson’s, Whole Foods, or Trader Joe’s. Rather than walking 50 yards, we usually drive a few miles. Next door, asking for help is typically greeted with a blank stare, disinterest, or irritations. It is the only store where meat, poultry, and produce often get rotten in 24 hours.

At all of these locations, there is only one person responsible for the encounter:

The CEO or the business owner.

When a CEO or business owner places shareholder value and C-level income above the interest of customers and employees, mediocrity always prevails. The trance of disengagement begins at the top. But, as a neighbor and a consumer, grocery stores are special. The quality of these stores helps define our neighborhoods. A couple of months ago, I wrote a letter to the Chair of Yucaipa Companies, which owns Ralph’s as well as a number of other large chains. In the midst of writing this letter, it dawned on me that over the course of 30 years, I have not had one bad buying experience at Trader Joe’s. Here is a store that provides low prices, high-quality products and employees who treat customers as precious assets.

Joe Coulombe, the founder of Trader Joe’s, worked his way through Stanford by holding a part-time job at Rexall. After his graduation, Joe opened up a small chain of convenience stores. But, as the market changed, he saw an opportunity to build a business with unique value. His concept centered around two game-changers:

• Don’t sell other people’s stuff. Control the quality and profit through private labels.
• Develop the best talent in the grocery industry.

Today, Trader Joe’s is more than profitable, it is a cult brand with the kind of fanbase that brings in new members of the tribe every-single-day.

One the employee side, how successfully did Joe Coulombe meet the target?

Did you know the average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier is 19 years?

While I was writing The Workplace Engagement Solution, one of my advisors gave me this figure and it boggled my mind. But Joe built a talent philosophy that many stunted CEOs can’t seem to comprehend. The philosophy is common-sense. If you want to retain good workers give everyone a wage that allows them to meet the most basic living standards of the communities they live in. Even as the business grows, stay connected to them. For years, Joe visited every store and asked what they wanted and needed to be their best. Then, he gave it to them. Even the Hawaiian shirts came out of a conversation where employees brought up the notion of wearing fun and comfortable clothes.

I read quite a few stories about what it is like to work at Traders. But none of them summarized the culture better than one of our favorite cashiers, Jessica in Westwood. She’s always recognized us and called out to us by name. I told her about the book and asked how the company has produced such long-term loyalty. She flashed a radiant smile and said,

“19 years is for new people. I’ve been here for 24 years.”

I asked, “What do you attribute it to?”

The smile grew.

“The leadership of Trader Joe’s is amazing. Many of us call it a democracy because everyone is respected. No one pulls rank. Here’s an example. The other day, I was the second person who showed up before the doors opened. Our General Manager was already here. He was in the bathrooms mopping the floors and taking out the trash. We are a family! Everyone is expected to be generous. If I had been the first one in the door, I would have been scrubbing toilets.”

As I studied the Trader Joe’s culture, one of the words that kept coming up was generosity.

Since Joe retired, he has been succeeded by Theo Albrecht, Marc Benioff, and their current CEO, Dan Bane. Each has mirrored Joe’s ethics and values about employees and customers. There is a recent story about Dan with his decision to stop selling bananas in bunches and simply charge $.19 for one banana. They used to weigh the bananas by the pound and then package them at the warehouse. Dan watched an elderly woman walk around a pile of the bananas looking at most every package. But, she walked away without buying anything. He ran after her and asked,

“Why did you not buy any bananas?”

She said, “I’m so old I might not live long enough to eat the fifth banana.”

Trader Joe’s culture of generosity includes a story of one young man that was going through a particularly rough time in his personal life. The stress was beginning to show up at work. The manager walked up an aisle and asked that he join him behind the store. Of course, the guy assumed he was about to be reprimanded, perhaps even fired. But, the manager handed him two cartons of eggs and instructed him to throw eggs against the wall until he felt better. Every day when he worked, that manager greeted him with empathy and provided a safe place for him to live through his challenges.

I came across an article from Katherine Baker from Spoon University. She earned a graduate degree in behavioral science, found a good job in the field only to discover it made her feel stressed out and emotional all of the time. She felt she had lost the game with the “adulting thing.” She took a part-time job at Trader Joe’s to help catch up on student debt. Soon it was a full-time gig. One night, her sister asked if she liked her job at Traders. Surprisingly, she responded, “I think I do.” Katherine continued, “I found myself while mopping floors, preparing hummus samples, and putting jars of cookie butter on the shelf. I remembered who I was, got in touch with what I wanted in life, and learned how effing important it is to follow your dreams – or at the very least, find the things in life that make you happy and unapologetically pursue them.”

The most engaged workers are drawn to employers just like this. Our country’s greatest talent doesn’t take jobs where they have to smother their light just to walk through the front door. There isn’t anything elitist about giving every single worker and customer generosity.

As I finished the letter to the Chair of Yucaipa Companies, I thought of how he might respond. Within a few days, the manager of the local store called me. Panic was in her voice. She begged us to come back and gave us a gift certificate for $50.00. I asked what was she going to do to make the store a better experience. As she responded, it was clear she was not telling the truth. Perhaps she didn’t even realize that the promises coming out of her mouth were what she was supposed to tell us.

I thought of the last time I had any kind of a problem with Trader Joe’s. The only one was a problem of my own making. I have this pair of high-end sunglasses. Over the years, I’ve spent a small fortune in replacing expensive sunglasses that got lost or destroyed. I had waited until I felt I had the emotional stability to get a nice pair of glasses and keep them. One day, I left them somewhere in the Trader Joe’s store and ran to the manager’s station. They had not been turned in.

As I drove home, the phone rang. It was the manager. He said, “Mr. Harder, we just found your sunglasses! Please come back and I’ll give them to you personally.”

I laughed and said I had such low expectations at stores but that Trader Joe’s has become a special place for us.

He laughed and said, “We’re here to make everyone happy. Thank you for being such a valued customer.”

So, just what is the point?

Among my clients, there are a number of senior human capital executives. In many cases, my role is to help them find great opportunities and avoid the misery that comes from a bad fit. The two most common and vital questions include:

Who is the boss?

Does the CEO lead the culture?

If the CEO assigns culture to human resources, I suggest they either turn down the position or take it and keep their bags packed. Every single day, human capital executives are shown the door because the CEO didn’t want to be bothered with people. How can you possibly build an engaged workplace if the CEO is disengaged?

How does that work?

Has it ever worked?

Sure, I realize that is the norm.

But, how does it work?

If you have any doubts, go talk to a cashier at Trader Joe’s.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Why Do Trader Joe’s Cashiers Stay for 19 Years? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Well, we are doing it in a trance. The numbers around employee engagement are so bad that odds are high many CEOs are also disengaged. People’s rank has absolutely nothing to do with whether they have succumbed to a trance. We witness the trance in executives who lazily cut expenses by laying people off or tell HR to “fix the engagement problem” and walk away.

What do we have to learn from CEOs running magnificent and magnetic cultures? While preparing my new book “The Workplace Engagement Solution,” I studied them. When we explore great cultures such as Southwest Airlines, Google, HBO and Trader Joe’s, we find CEOs that embrace many of the values that represent an “Engagement CEO.” When an executive goes about the business of building a category leader, talent moves to the front of the line in terms of the necessary characteristics within the CEO. Board members and investors would do well to find CEOs with these traits.

If you are considering joining an organization where you want to thrive, it is also smart to evaluate the CEO or business owner.

 An Engagement CEO

• Takes charge of the culture personally
• Develops a strong leadership brand as evidenced by their consistent behavior and message
• Walks the talk, leads by example and leans toward democracy over elitism in any form
• Expresses continuous, genuine and worthy praise to their employees
• Constantly seeks ways to keep their talent current and relevant
• Treats employees as the organization’s greatest asset instead of a potential liability
• Packages engagement as a profit source rather than an expense
• Effectively manages and educates all stakeholders in the need for effective people initiatives
• Moves the vision from short-term financial performance to long-term value, brand strength, and reputation
• Tells themselves and others the truth, especially about change
• Is resolutely and directly connected to the front line
• Is transparent and expects transparency throughout their organization
• Shows respect towards all employees and learns from all of them

Many will treat engagement as a sidebar activity, a perk provided to the employees. However, the purpose of engagement is far more rigorous than simply making employees feel better. Engagement is about being awake, interested, alert, invested and present. Real engagement moves an organization beyond the business targets.

Making the decision to lead business culture is one of the few competitive advances that are in control of the CEO. Alas, this basic truth doesn’t even cross the mind of many leaders who block the thought with, “I don’t have enough time” or, “Profit margins are too slim to give this attention.”

There are no shortcuts to success. We learn nothing of value through the study of dysfunction. Any CEO engaged in category leadership knows this. In the end, the quality of our talent is going to determine if we lead the market or continually run to keep up.

As I studied engagement CEOs, it also became clear they lead engagement for a series of business payoffs:

• A fully engaged culture and a superior employer brand.
• The best possible products and services, and excellence in everyone’s behavior.
• The organization makes the world a better place.
• The organization makes every attempt to fully engage with every customer.
• Recognizes there is simply no substitute for human decency, compassion, understanding, and pursuit for “the high road.”

On a practical level, here is one example:

We live next door to a huge Ralph’s Grocery Store. It is literally 100 yards from our front door to the store. And yet, we spend most of our shopping dollars elsewhere. The majority of employees are sullen, don’t look people in the eye. In the morning aisles are blocked because they are stocking shelves after the doors open. Disengagement isn’t limited to the customer experience, it also potentially impacts our health. We have had to either throw out or return spoiled produce and contaminated chicken.

I’ve often praised Trader Joe’s for its remarkable culture where the average tenure of cashiers is 19 years. There is a cashier that calls out our names. I asked her about the stories of the longevity and loyalty of their employees. She said, “Nineteen years? Those are the kids. I’ve been here for 26 years.” I asked her why. She responded, “We’re a family! Here’s an example. There have been many times when I come to work before the store opens. If the general manager is here first, I find him scrubbing and cleaning the bathrooms. No one pulls rank, we work together.”

The two organizations offer a remarkable contrast regarding CEO behavior. At Trader Joe’s, everyone knows their CEO, Dan Bane, because he regularly appears at the stores. As we returned rotten food to Ralph’s, I asked if they knew the name of their CEO. They didn’t know who he was. I also asked a couple of them if they knew anything about Yucaipa Companies. The response was, “Who are they?” Yucaipa owns Ralph’s.

One company has a CEO who visits, asks questions, listens, and strives to make Trader’s a better place to work.

The other one is a commodity. Everything feels and looks cheap. The employees give the consumer little attention.

Which company will be the first to convert to robotics and virtual check-outs?

There is the rub. Technology will not replace accountability, emotional interest, and problem-solving on behalf of their customers.

Dan Bane made it very clear that employees are the lynchpin for customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In the other company, employees don’t even know the CEO’s name.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post What is An Engagement CEO? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The message was simple:

“If you are mentally or emotionally unwell, you ought to see a therapist. But, if you are intention is to become more successful, than you will realize far more value by seeing a coach.”

There are many great Psychology departments in our universities. These schools provide remarkable education in the techniques of facilitating emotional, physical, and behavioral breakthroughs. But, they offer nothing in teaching therapists and psychologists how to make a good living from the endeavor. Right now, the coaching industry is doing a far better job of teaching them life skills that build an affluent practice.

Years ago, I was asked to become a founding board member of the Professional Coaches and Mentors Association. In that environment, I became troubled by the fact that most coaches take a quick course and then develop their skills on the job. A psychologist is required to develop comprehensive technical skills before they connect with a client. On the other hand, the schools fall flat in helping graduates understand the world of commerce, of making a living or starting a business. This is why so many healthcare professionals partner with our company. But, their schools offered nothing to speak of in becoming proficient with sales, business development, digital marketing, and branding.

At Inspired Work, while I participated in the coaching industry, I have never viewed myself as a coach. Much of my education emerged from leading thousands of people through dynamic group programs. Many of our graduates have come back to us with the desire to help launch their first business, provide successful career marketing campaigns, and become more effective with their existing job or business.

I have never viewed myself as a coach. My role is as an orchestrator. Our two-day program moves clients into results that could take months in a one-on-one coaching process. Instead of spending gobs of time to define their ideal role, they have clarity in all they want to accomplish. In other words, rather than continuing with any form of aimlessness, they are directive, perhaps even bossy. As a result, we can go straight to designing a business plan, build necessary skills, make introductions to key hiring managers, or engage in marketing their career. Every client is a blank canvas that has been painted with their aspirations, needs, expectations, and shortcomings. Many coaches would find that too directive.

Today, I believe the coaching and psychology professions would have a great deal to gain by studying each other. Instead of spending so much time addressing each other’s shortcomings, consider their success. Psychologists tend to have far more comprehensive skills in dealing with emotional wounds, behavior, and self-actualization. But, they are given a minimal understanding of how to build a productive career, deal with a transition, or launch a new business. Our graduate schools offer nothing in terms of building the skills that can make us wealthy, nothing in how to construct a business platform that enhances our personal lives, and nothing in developing and marketing a brand.

On the other hand, the coaching profession could use a big dose of understanding of how to capture the complexities of human development. When there is a deficit in this area, a critical turning point can be missed by directly not paying attention. In the absence of an answer, how many tell the client, they don’t have an answer but will get one?

Another area in which both professions could use improvements is in expressing the actual value of their work. Far too many coaching professionals and therapists gloss over the return on investment. Here is an example. One of my close friends has been recognized as one of the best executive development coaches in the world. This masterful coach earns well over a million dollars per year. She accepts about eight clients per year. She is paid because of the results. When a client organization promotes a new executive into taking a significant role, they call her. If the net profits in that group are 40 million, by the end of that year, the gains are 2 or even 3 times that amount.

One of our clients recently encountered a big staffing challenge. One of the business units had almost 40 openings. We designed a solution for the executive, and each role was filled within 30 days. This saved over $300 in external fees and helped retain existing employees.

To summarize, the therapeutic profession needs to develop what we call “courage skills.” Conversely, many business people dismissively call them “soft skills.” These include learning how to sell one’s services, developing strong consultative sales abilities, being able to make effective presentations, and, most importantly learn how to improve the kinds of support systems that generate your business, intellectual growth, and standing in the community.

As for the coaching world, there really are no shortcuts to becoming a master. If you want to work with organizations, get mentors who are hugely successful in this area. Find coaches that can help you understand how to access and speak to the needs and expectations of an organization’s buying influences. Instead of focusing on making an individual feel better, help them understand how to build their self worth by hitting and even sailing past the business targets.

In all cases, the consumers must follow their gut and look for professionals with the skills and the emotional sobriety to help them achieve what they want and need. My most prominent personal bias in this area is that I will not work with a therapist on my long and beautiful, soon-to-be-married relationship if she or he is not in a successful marriage as well. I will not work with someone who is struggling with money to advise us on how to generate more revenue.

We learn nothing of value by studying dysfunction. Study the best.

Perhaps 20 years ago, a highly respected industrial psychologist came through our Inspired Work Program. As a result, he launched an executive and entrepreneur coaching business. Through the grapevine, I heard that he had become rather wealthy. This news irritated me. So, I took him out for a lovely dinner. Both of us are hard workers who don’t cut corners. I told him how irritated I was with the news that his economic worth was in the stratosphere and asked if he could tell me how to do that. He had become an instructor in a highly regarded business school where he worked with budding entrepreneurs. Whenever he worked with a start-up that he believed would become successful, he offered to replace monetary compensation for stock. Three of those businesses snowballed and became successful publicly traded companies.

From my vantage point, the number one reason people fail is through isolation. That is an outcome of fear. So many of us are frightened of getting attention because it might hurt us. At the very least, that hurt in history. Many coaches could become more effective in helping their clients learn from their past. But, an equally large number of therapists could look to coaches as a resource for looking into the future.

Personally, I believe it is time for the coaching industry to be subject to the same type of licensing that takes place with healthcare providers. To enter someone’s life and influence their minds and their outcomes is a sacred contract. But, I also believe that it is time for therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists to become far more versed in helping high-functioning, educated, and successful people attain even greater success and fulfillment.

Active learning, curious, joyful curiosity about becoming part of the cutting edge pushes away mediocrity. I don’t pay much attention to all of the vilifying directed towards 1%. Sure, there are some true pieholes in the wealth sector. But, there are just as many struggling to get by. Pay attention to the people that are changing the world. Learn from those who are growing every single day. Watch the people who are happy and effective, whether they are with their children at home or are standing in front of a board of directors.

I’ve been in the game of helping people love their work for almost 30 years. There have been countless times when someone asks if I can help them. My usual answer is an enthusiastic “yes.” But, there have been times where I’m clueless about how that will occur outside of the fact that when some of us say we will do it, we are willing to do whatever it takes to make it work.

Before launching our first program, I met with people who wanted to change their careers and their lives. One night, a young man came to my door. He looked a bit exhausted and scared. I asked what he wanted to accomplish. “I am dying from AIDS. I don’t want to stay home alone, waiting for the end. A friend of mine suggested that you might be able to help me get the most out of every day that I have left. Will you help me?”

I instantly responded, “Yes.” I was terrified. He died five months later. But, we worked together in helping him give to others and live with his definition of fulfillment. He told me of looking in the mirror at night only to realize he was not defeated. His demeanor surprised him because he was using all that was left to honor himself and others.

When he passed, his parents whisked away with his remains. When we met, he felt betrayed by their shame. Instead, we worked together in identifying what he most wanted to accomplish. I never saw him again, but he gave me the awareness of just how precious life is.

In a recent appearance on Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler did a piece as the owner of Romano Travel, telling the audience of their beautiful tours of Europe. But, he warned the viewer, “If you are miserable where you are today, you will probably be miserable when we take you to these beautiful places, filled with art and culture. You will probably be miserable when you sit down to a magnificent meal in Roma. So, if you are miserable, please stay home.”

The world today is filled with choices for all of us. The world is also changing so quickly that we need everyone with capabilities to help the rest of us learn how to change and become active contributors to the future.

Whether you are a coach or a therapist, a banker or investor, a billionaire or someone homeless, every single day offers a choice for us to use our time to become the best that we can be. Generously give yourself to others and the results might outstrip your wildest ambitions.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Coach or Therapist? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

The importance of American labor could be summarized in how we won World War II. Late to the fight, our workers played just as much of a role as soldiers by producing unprecedented quantities of ships, guns, planes, and vehicles. As the war concluded, workers had indeed, earned our deep respect.

In the 50s, we shifted our manufacturing capabilities by building the best cars and products in the world. We gave Veterans “first-in-line” access to jobs, and we created millions of homes at ridiculously low price-points. Through the sheer value of America’s talent, we became the world’s superpower.

In 1976, two famed economists at Harvard published a paper that would change virtually every aspect of running a public company. It is our collective illiteracy about this event that causes so many people to blame others without actually knowing how we got here. Michael Jensen and William Meckling published the now-legendary paper,

“Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure.”

In it, they argued that corporations needed to align the interests of manage­ment and shareholders. To put this bluntly, they proposed the sole purpose of a corporation is to deliver and grow shareholder value.

For CEOs and shareholders, this was as healthy as leaving a ton of biscuits in a room with two dogs. For corporate executives, stock-based com­pensation became the alignment mechanism of choice. Consequently, their incomes skyrocketed. In the 1970s, CEOs of large, publicly traded companies earned less than $1 million in today’s dollars. Today, that average has grown to $11.4 million. The new model motivates CEOs to incessantly focus on stock value rather than enhancing the real, longer-term performance of the company.

During the past 40+ years, the entire investment market shifted from long-term investment in building organizations and markets to realizing as much out of stock value as possible and to reach that in the shortest period of time. Investment banking turned into a multi-trillion-dollar industry. CEOs and hedge fund leaders became the foundation for how we dealt with workers in large organizations. With stock value becoming the number-one pursuit, American businesses and CEOs traded the long view for volatility, thus shifting the dynamic interests between capital and labor. As providers of capital push CEOs for greater and quicker returns, cutting back on labor is now the easiest way to signal they are ad­dressing corporate financial performance.

Many workers were quite supportive of the American dream. But during the last 40 years, the average income has stagnated while hourly compensation dropped. Workers witness venture capitalists taking advantage of financial deregulation to buy companies, take out loans on the assets, and pay huge dividends to themselves. Many of these ac­quisitions went bankrupt as employees lost their jobs, health insurance, and pensions. These financial barons are often celebrated and admired, but it has also resulted in mass income inequality at an alarming trend. Was this done intentionally? I believe it was done blindly.

Many of America’s workers have watched their job, and financial security goes up in smoke. Anger, contempt, and cynicism turned into raging fires as they read stories of greedy CEOs backdating stock options and pushing the envelope to unethical, and sometimes illegal, degrees. But perhaps it was amorality that angered them the most. In many organi­zations, the underlying message was that when needed, workers mat­tered. However, the cycles of hiring and laying people off reached such dizzying heights that we now have a labor force that views work as a temporary assignment.

The single-minded pursuit of building shareholder value has weakened the strength of our country. There was a time when shareholders, employees, product quality, and customer satisfaction were equal. Sadly, by making shareholders primary winners of an organization’s profits, we now produce large quantities of cheap stuff. We often treat customers by examining how much irritation they will put up with before moving on.

As a post-war country, Cadillac was the “Standard of the World.” But after the Theory was embraced, GM began pulling every dime that could be turned over to management and shareholders. Materials infamously got cheaper. Instead of innovation, Cadillac built the Seville on a Chevy Nova frame and charged as much as an E-class Mercedes. Lee Iacocca famously revived Chrysler with the “K” car while his Pinto turned out to be more threatening than a hitman.

Everything became cheaper. The results can be experienced by sitting in any Cadillac model and then moving over to an Audi, BMW, Lexus or Mercedes. The late Lee Iacocca celebrated the fixation on shareholder value by building such notable products as the “K” car and the Pinto.

Today, our country faces a variety of significant challenges. Underemployment impacts half of our workers. Accelerating change is kicking far too many people to the curb. In the last 2 years, we have witnessed California’s utility companies cutting expenses so close to the bone that hundreds of people have lost their lives to fires. Even in the face of bankruptcy, they have paid their shareholders fortunes and kept millions in bonuses for themselves. The state’s governor Gavin Newsom is courting Warren Buffet to buy the land rights to our utilities. Perhaps this is a good time to understand that Warren never takes shortcuts. He rigorously upholds bringing integrity to every aspect of organizational practice.

I do not believe that change will come from anyone who is benefiting from the Theory. We will also not break out of the current state if most people don’t understand how we got here. Instead, But, I have great faith in our children and young people because they will not put up with this crap.

A few years ago, I flew into Calgary to deliver a keynote on employee engagement. My time in the flight was invested in reading the biographies of the CEOs and business owners attending the event. The vast majority of them were in petroleum. At the time, delays in the Keystone Pipeline and a downturn in the global market had turned Calgary into something of a ghost town.

At the beginning of my presentation, I said, “While flying into your beautiful city, I studied your backgrounds and your organizations. Since many of you are laying off thousands of employees, perhaps we could discuss self-change rather than employee engagement.”

The response was enthusiastic. Later, during Q & A, I suggested the possibility that many of the leaders in that conference would do well by investing in the future rather than waiting for the past to spring back to life. For example, we have many energy firms making that shift because they take the future seriously. But the room turned a bit dark when I said, If we don’t progress, our children will do it. Because they will not put up with this.”

Isn’t it time to declare Theory of the Firm a failure?

In terms of excellence, it has turned into a shortcut for reaching mediocrity.

Ironically, most of the people upholding and protecting the Theory of the Firm are in their 60s to 80s.

Perhaps our children actually are here to save the world.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post How Shareholder Fixation Built a Culture of Mediocrity appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Isn’t it ironic that the skills we always needed to be successful have been given this rather dismissive term called, “Soft Skills?” These are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people.

For years, many people have run away from learning how to sell, influence others, build support systems, effectively pay attention to other people, and skillfully draw attention to themselves.

Why are these skills so important today? Many people only had to deal with networking and selling themselves just a few times in their careers. But, as change continues to accelerate, the cycles of having to sell ourselves also grow. As the world undergoes this huge restructuring of work, connectivity will determine who works at their full potential and who becomes part of the growing ranks of the underemployed.

For example, today’s average college graduate is going to change careers, not jobs, 4-6 times. But our schools are not giving them the skills to deal with such change. With half of our nation’s workforce in a state of underemployment, of course, we are going to have turmoil. Far too many workers are being kicked to the curb by change because we never taught them how to change! College graduates tend to be haunted by underemployment for about 10 years.

As the world speeds up, thriving literally depends on our building courage skills and the ability to connect far more effectively with the very people who can give us great jobs or projects, the mentors who can give us a clue, and the champions who can hold us accountable for waking up. Honestly, it would be far more straightforward to change the words soft skills to courage skills. This is because many of us have run away from developing these skills because of the discomfort of drawing attention to ourselves.

Many of us have this inside dialogue that if we draw attention to ourselves, someone is going to hurt us. And, the probability of getting hurt does grow when more people see us. But, the probability of starving grows as we become less visible. As a result, many of us draw just enough attention to ourselves to survive but not enough to thrive. Wouldn’t it be more healthy to not only learn how to draw healthy attention to ourselves as well as develop the skills to deal with the consequences of visibility?

What are courage skills?

Sales

Selling is a multi-fold skill. It includes the ability to make a quick pitch, one that captures the value of what we are selling and speaks to the needs and expectations of the buyer.

Consultative selling is the ability to ask the kinds of questions that prompt the buyer to tell us what they want and need. It can include questions that help the buyer define their needs for the first time. This is the most important form of selling and is far more comfortable than relying solely on pitches.

Influence

Here, we are so clearly connected to our gifts that our words, actions, and interests create understanding in the people we encounter. Real influence is rooted in our ability to pay attention, to listen to someone’s every word, to notice their facial expressions and body language, and to be interested.

Customized Support Systems

Many people don’t get what they want because they don’t define what they really want. Many people don’t define what they want because they believe, on some profound level, that the right people will not help them realize their vision. If this is the case, why bother defining a mission, vision, and purpose?

But, once we define exactly what we want, our success is almost purely based on our abilities to create a support system, perhaps even a community that brings our mission, vision, and purpose to life.

Social networking offers the greatest potential to build these support systems with mind-bending speed. But, usually, that potential isn’t realized because social media platforms are not teaching the ideal ways to connect with others. Sending out connection generic and bloodless connection requests do little to build communities. We have been teaching people how to use social media in ways that actually develop engaged relationships. It is how we rebuilt our organization after the great recession.

Presentation Skills

Anyone with the ability to make a presentation to a group or in public immediately gives themselves a 60% pay hike over people who don’t. But, the need to effectively present oneself is growing. Let’s be clear, presentation skills include connecting with people virtually, face-to-face in the flesh, and once in a while, on stage.

The National Speaker’s Association once conducted a poll which defines that over 80% of Americans would rather and literally die rather than make a presentation. That would indicate that developing courage could help them move forward. It doesn’t have to be earth-shaking? Anyone can walk down the block to a Toastmasters meeting and find other people who are equally afraid.

Summary

As the transactions around work speed up, connectivity becomes far more important. As task work falls away, developing courage skills gives us the option of pursuing the work that will bring happiness and freedom into our lives. The skills make it easier to select a job or business. as our work platform.

But, we recently had an experience that personifies just how much our country and our culture needs a seismic shift in what we emphasize in learning.

My colleague, Dr. Mary Campbell and I spoke to a large community organization about the need to teach these skills in all of our schools and within our families. The organization sponsors one of the country’s most successful charter schools. Right after our presentation, they gave out the “student of the month” award to a junior from the school. She was so afraid of the attention that she refused to walk up to the podium to accept her award!

How many parents are in the same boat?

As change in the workplace continues to accelerate, the need to interact effectively and harmoniously with others will continue to grow. Anyone who wants to have the options to do the work they most want to do ought to be elevating the need to learn the courage skills. And, just what is courage? It is the commitment to take the right action whether or not we are frightened.

Remember, that in today’s world, the single biggest reason for failure is isolation.

Building these skills requires commitment. Humans have long demonstrated that we first must instill a vision in why we are going through the discomfort. I always suggest picking the work that you would most love. Perhaps opt to become a better role model for your children. Afterward, invest in the training that will fulfill your vision. Find mentors who can help. Go home and tell your children, “You know what? I have been a lousy example of drawing attention from myself. I’ve been responding to the very idea with fear as if some boogie man is going to jump out from the shadows. Don’t do what I do, because, in the years ahead, your ability to make a living and be happy depends on learning the skills that allow you to effectively connect with others.

For all of us:

• Rather than putting up with that job you cannot stand in an industry that is shrinking, go have lunch at Toastmasters.
• Practice contrary action. Instead of putting down social networking, learn how to use the medium to build strongly engaged relationships.
• Set new expectations with your spouses, business colleagues, and friends. Make a commitment to learning how to draw attention to your work at a whole new level. It requires courage and you need their support in getting back on that horse until you ride comfortably and joyfully.
• Don’t discuss your challenges with anyone who is committed to hiding. They will quickly talk you out of the venture. In other words, hang out with people who succeed.
• When people notice you, thank them and praise them. When we praise someone and they respond, “Oh it was nothing,” we are actually telling them to not notice, evaluate and judge us.

In closing, the more skilled we become with courage skills, the more we connect with the world and the more we connect with ourselves.

Courage skills will help turn life into a grand adventure.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post What Are “Courage Skills?”​ appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Caitlin Flanagan – The Problem with HR – The Atlantic – July 2019

In the early 90s, the graduates of our programs quickly became our greatest business development team. In just a few months after our launch, we were introduced to a human resource group at one of the largest companies in Los Angeles.

They were going through difficult times. A faulty business plan had badly damaged the organization. They were laying-off people by the thousands. We had the privilege of taking them through our program. Many of these employees made dramatic life changes and the high volume gave us a big opportunity to learn and improve the program.

An HR executive from the troubled company became our internal partner. Before sending employees, she asked to experience the program herself. Even though this example was published before, we are making slight changes to avoid identifying the organization.

At one point, she told us of her professional experiences from the past 2 years. There had been an industrial accident at their headquarters. She was put in charge of dealing with injured workers and moving about 3,000 people to another location. The experience was deeply stressful for her. But, just as that situation was resolved, she received an order to lay off about 800 workers. This was quickly followed by a much bigger layoff. At the company holiday party, everyone was asked to bring a gift. They were all given lottery numbers. Her gift turned out to be a cheese wheel and a hatchet.

Someone at the table said, “Isn’t that appropriate.”

I asked her, “Did anyone once ask how you were doing?”

She responded, “No. Most people felt I should be happy to have a job.” Throughout that first day, she kept coming back to all that she was asked to deliver without meaningful support.

76% of our country’s human resources managers are women. They step into roles that have been characterized as “below the line.” They are an expense. There is a tremendous difference in organizational behavior towards employees who generate revenue and those who don’t.

A human resources professional’s primary responsibility is to solve problems. As they become more skilled the quantity and quality of the problems grow. It is rare for the organization to grow the support team accordingly. Eventually, many are losing their life to competency.

This is because they are treated as an expense.

Based on the numbers, 3 out of 4 human resource executives are women who have had to protect the company from women who have been victimized by sexual predators. While more and more cases are resulting in the exit of a predator, it isn’t because human resource executives wield more power, it is an outcome from the revolution in transparency. The explosive sexual harassment claims of the past few years have been an outcome of social media-fueled by millions of electronic journalists. Many of the brightest and best women that I know are chief human resource officers and labor attorneys who have had to sit through hours of disturbing narratives, sitting in hotel rooms reviewing porn sites, and gathering all the information they can to protect the company rather than the victim.

This is because HR continues to be an expense. The pervasive internal fear of losing one’s job has insulted the values of quite a few people that I know and care about.

Time and time again, organizations looked at short-term profits and systematically worked to smother the problem rather than pull it into the light. In hindsight, how willing would NBC be today in having a do-over on the Matt Lauer case? But, human resources has not been given the power to make that decision. In a profit-centric world, they ought to have the power to analyze how much damage keeping him for one more day could represent in stock value, the ability to attract premium talent, and the loss goodwill with their viewers. Instead, they were directed to make one payout after another.

I have a fairly large cadre of clients, chief human resource officers who came to one of our programs and decided to make big changes.

I often tell them, “If the CEO asks you to take charge of employee engagement, keep your bags packed.”

Why?

The only sustainably great cultures are ones that are led by the CEO. If you are not given the power to tell the CEO that, you could become collateral damage. Unfortunately, too many CEOs don’t want to be bothered by people. They are busy satisfying shareholders and revenue generation. Many of these not so enlightened executives walk into human resources with the message, “Fix the employee engagement problem.” By the time the CEOs have hit the door, they are disengaged from the engagement program!

Next, the human resource executive announces a new engagement initiative. The employees look past her shoulder to the CEO. They see business as usual and they shrug.

An employee engagement survey is sent out. The results only make management feel more inadequate. They are sent through a leadership program. They return enthused to their teams who respond, “So what.” The human resource executive is shown the door for not fixing the problem.

Human resource professionals, like virtually every profession in the world, are undergoing the biggest restructuring of work since the printing revolution. HR began as police and paperwork units centered on keeping workstations filled and liability at a minimum. Over the years, the profession has become far more sophisticated. But, at its core, by treating human resources as overhead, we are not giving the function the freedom to reach its highest good.

The human capital profession bears equal responsibility in reinventing its professional mindset. I cannot count the number of people who tell me they want to become strategic leaders who addictively describe their value in terms of activity rather than results. I cannot count the number of human resource professionals who refuse to develop presentation and consultative sales skills, or routinely build solid professional support systems to fuel their career aspirations. Accelerating change is turning these vital skills into the real change skills of the modern workplace. We call them courage skills. As activity is taken over by cheap outsourcing and technology, the need for a transformed mindset becomes more urgent every day.

I believe one of the shortest paths to the reinvention of human resources into strategic human capital leadership is to change the model to one based on profits.

I believe the shortest path towards a change in mindset can happen when someone comes to a program such as ours where each participant experiences the beliefs and behaviors that no longer work. Then, they redesign their professional life around what they truly want. Sure, some will pack their bags and leave. But, it is far better to have someone recognize what they want to do with their lives rather than hanging out because they are afraid to take action. In truth, technology is offering all of us freedom.

Freedom requires that all of us raise the standards of how we work. For example, loving our work seems to be the most reliable fuel to change ourselves and develop the courage to grow.

For example,

• How much does an 8 or 36% improvement in employee engagement contribute to the bottom line?

• If highly motivated talent joins the organization because its green initiative or philanthropic involvement is real, what is that worth?

• How much is it worth to fly half-way around the world and bring back a scientist who will bring in 1.5 billion dollars in investment capital?

We work with several high-flying organizations that raise money to cure disease or bring innovation into the world that changes the way we live, communicate and view our lives. Their biggest challenge isn’t raising money. It is finding game-changing talent. It is no longer enough to throw cash and prizes towards the recruits. If they have the talent, they want a breathtakingly good employer culture, they want more than a boss, they want mentors. These organizations need the kind of human capital leaders with the power and mindset to convince the leaders to become Engagement CEOs. We need the kind of human capital power to walk into a room and tell the venture capitalists if they don’t manage human capital during a merger, they will not meet the targets in their new business plan.

Until we shift the vision from keeping human resources cheap to making more money, I don’t believe much will change at all.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Why is It Time to Turn Human Resources Into Profit Centers? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Think about it. If people are unable to think about something else for only 15-seconds, sales pitches don’t work and ordering people around will never produce employee engagement.

We are motivated by one outcome: Fulfilled Expectations.

When we become skilled in accessing the needs and expectations of our stakeholders, we are more able to help them succeed. When stakeholders candidly talk about our strengths and weaknesses, we are more able to change. In a rapidly changing workplace, the ability to connect with others skyrockets. When we are able to motivate our teams in genuine ways, that investment pays off.

We designed our first leadership program for one of the world’s biggest media companies. When I ran that curriculum past our internal partners, they had strong reactions.

“If our managers ask these questions directly, someone is going to get hurt.”

I came back with, “Why on earth would you want a manager who is averse to hearing the truth?”

Prior to designing customized interviews, we invest a great deal of time learning details about each significant stakeholder relationship and business issues. We probe interpersonal relationships. We look for current and desired future states. This information helps us develop strikingly specific and brilliantly good questions. For the executives, the immersive experience of asking these questions and respectfully listening to the answers tends to be a life-altering experience.

Why is masterful inquiry such an important skillset?

Asking and listening was always preferable behavior than giving people orders. Stakeholders are far more driven when we connect with the needs and expectations. Socrates believed that we get the truth by asking the right questions.

Connectivity, this ability to fluidly find the truth of our stakeholders becomes especially important during accelerating change. Today’s leaders have to make changes more frequently and often with significant disruption. Hanging on to the old motivation chestnuts such as, “Do this or else” or “You should be happy to have a job,” destroy productivity and buy-in. Far greater success takes place if our language speaks to their expectations. In other words, finding ways to honor our expectations as well as theirs produces far better results.

We ask our leadership clients to tell us when their executives are receiving their packages from Inspired Work. There are always a few calls that begin with, “You can’t be serious. You want me to ask these questions?” Our reply is always the same. “Yes. Please note that all of them have received letters telling them what to expect, to be candid, and if there is any kind of retaliation to call us. We have yet to receive such a call.

It has been said, “the truth will set us free but first, it will piss us off.”

Consider the impact of just two questions:

“What do I do that motivates or demotivates you?”

“What can I do to become a more effective leader?”

My interpretation of humility is simply to be open. Albert Einstein once said, “I want to know the thoughts of God. The rest are details.” We often confuse humility with humiliation. The smartest leaders that I know are always humble, open to suggestions, eager to improve, asking for help, and acutely listening to others.

The most impressive leaders that I know are absolutely clear on their mission, vision, and purpose. But, they demonstrate real humility and skill in making it safe, even compelling, to tell the truth, find the truth and live in the truth.

This is the kind of leader that connects and improves employee engagement.

This is the leader that lives in transparency. Why is this so important? Everywhere that we look, we find organizations and leaders being toppled by the transparency revolution. Technology has taken our culture to a place where nothing is private, very little can be hidden, and if we attempt to do just that, the results can be spectacularly awful.

There are many organizations and individuals that have been totally caught off guard by the new reality. The payoff from full transparency will be spectacularly good. In alignment with the value of truth, transparency will force us to change for the better.

Consider the lost opportunity and the missing truth when we send out a consultant to conduct 360s or we have employees go online and participate in a “confidential” 360. As the landscape around us continues to speed up, the truth becomes of our most valuable assets.

Transparency will force us to work with nothing to hide and run our organizations with nothing to hide.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Just Why Do Leaders Need Truth? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

• United Airlines or Southwest Airlines?

• Google or Yahoo?

• Vons/Safeway or Trader Joe’s?

Odds are high that you have identified the better employer with each example simply through word-of-mouth or direct customer experience. Or, you might be seriously interested in working for one of these organizations and have read employee feedback at Glass Door and Indeed.

The war for talent is back but it bears little resemblance to the war employers were having just 12 years ago. According to Gallup’s latest global engagement survey, only 13% of the world’s workers are engaged. Today’s costliest and yet game-changing segment to recruit is the engaged worker. You know them. They are the ones who are awake, present, interested, actively learning, and able to change with the times.

Successfully reaching them requires a new mindset, especially around the weight and importance we give to brands.

• Consumer brands determine what we promise to our customers.

• Employer brands define what we become.

Here’s the rub. if we skimp on the second, the consumer brand becomes a lie.

True employer brands are not sanitized pitches. The best capture the very essence of a unique tribe with its mission, rituals, with expectations so clear that it is easy to define whether someone is a fit or not.

Here are a couple of examples:

During a leadership program at The Walt Disney Company, someone asked me to describe what I thought the company’s employer brand might be. I responded, “To produce magic at great profit in the midst of chaos.”

Disney has given far more thought to this topic. However, I have observed that if someone loves making magic at great profit in the midst of chaos at Disney, they will be there for decades. When someone isn’t cut out for that tribe, they will exit quickly and possibly become part of the naysayers towards the Disney culture. In any culture, there will be hires that don’t fit. A great employer brand helps identify that mistake quickly.

Make no mistake. The CEO must be in charge of the culture. All too many CEOs walk down the hall to human resources and tell the CHRO to, “fix the engagement problem” or “redefine the culture.” It does not work! Human resources executives tell people they are fixing the culture. Immediately, the tribe looks to the CEO and witnesses business as usual. They take an employer survey. All this accomplishes is to make the managers feel even more inadequate. Managers are sent to retreat centers. They come back enthused and the employees think, “So what.” Then, they start over.

I have a wide variety of individual clients who are human capital executives. Some are launching their own businesses, others are working towards stronger performance, and many are looking for new roles. I tell all of them, “If the CEO isn’t leading the culture, keep your bags packed.”

When a CEO leads the employer brand, we remove confusion from the tribe. In cultures that are led by a visionary and balanced CEO, the results can be spectacular.

The average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier is 18 years. The company boasts some of the most enviable customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and profit figures in the industry. The late and great founder Joe Coulombe established a culture of democracy and equality. Successors uphold that culture. Dan Bane, the company’s current CEO continues to visit stores and actually take action on feedback. Recently, I asked a cashier of 26 years why she is so loyal to the company.

She responded,

“It’s like this. A couple of weeks ago, I was the second person in the door. The General Manager had arrived early. He was in the bathrooms scrubbing floors and taking out the trash. She didn’t come over and ask me to step in. No one pulls rank here. I have always felt respected. I have always looked forward to coming to work.”

Today’s strongest employer brands are built on:

Transparency

Technology has produced a revolution in transparency. It is no longer enough to make up a story to recruit people when it isn’t true and the company either doesn’t or can’t live up to the brand. Glass Door and many other platforms pulled the covers off employers. Today, a savvy candidate can learn more about a hiring manager than many direct reports.

Don’t make things up! Build a strong employer brand that is based on the truth. If the truth isn’t so hot, fix your culture. The Transparency Revolution has impacted our culture with such force, most organizations are only beginning to come to terms with the fact that we can no longer hide anything.

Consider how transparency is impacting wrongdoing in organizations that paid off victims of sexual assault. Many of them have become cultures where the most skilled and self-confident talent won’t even consider working there. Because, everyone is a journalist and everyone has access. Candidates can find out whether your culture is a dead end, a place to launch a new career, an environment that is fair, a place where realizing potential is greeted with career growth. Many will know if the green initiative is the real deal or just lip service. They will go onto social networking sites and gather information about virtually everyone working in a department.

Don’t like this development? It doesn’t matter. Whatever your employer brand is, it ought to hold up to all scrutiny. In other words, it is far easier to live with nothing to hide.

Equality

I’m not suggesting what most people are thinking.

In the 70s, American business was seduced into an ideology that made shareholders the king of business. The new model actually led to CEOs becoming softer rather than stronger. They no longer had to give equal attention to customers and employees. With businesses viewed as commodities, the organization began factoring in how much irritation a customer would absorb in return for low prices. Employees became assets during good times and liabilities the moment there was a downturn.

We have paid dearly for that blind turn. If we want optimum performance in all settings, we have to respect all segments of the business. Strong employer brands give customers, shareholders and employees equal importance.

We need more CEOs who apply this kind of vigor to their own roles.

A Defined Tribe

The CEO or owner must define the tribe because any other attempts will become corrupt with differences and turf.

Virtually every great employer brand contained in this article produces images of the type of people who work there and what it feels like to be there. The brand tells a story so clearly that the morals, values, ethics are clear. The contract between employee and customer is effortlessly envisioned. For example, if you have ever had to call Apple for service, you have probably encountered someone who is accountable, personable, interested, and committed to solving your problem. Try that with a big box cable company. Many of us would view Apple as an abusive environment simpy as an extension of Steve Jobs personality. But, Jobs expected the same performance standards that he practiced on a personal level. Warts and all, he wasn’t one of those CEOs who promised the masses perfection without the necessary action to fulfill that vision.

In an era where morality is becoming more precious every day, an employer brand states clearly, how it handles issues of gender equality, diversity, solving its internal problems, and how it responds to crisis.

A great employer brand defines how to build strong relationships with other workers, which becomes the glue, it seems, within our best employer brands.

There is much more about employer branding and the CEO’s role in building a culture in my latest book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press).

In the interim, I welcome your comments.

The post Why the Employer Brand is the Most Important Brand of All appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

• United Airlines or Southwest Airlines?
• Google or Yahoo?
• Vons/Safeway or Trader Joe’s?

Odds are high that you have identified the better employer with each example simply through word-of-mouth or direct customer experience. Or, you might be seriously interested in working for one of these organizations and have read employee feedback at Glass Door or Indeed.

The war for talent is back but it bears little resemblance to the war employers were having 12 years ago. According to Gallup’s latest global engagement survey, only 13% of the world’s workers are engaged. The real war is focused on attracting the 13%. Unfortunately, the world is also filled with disengaged CEOs who believe if their company provides a commodity, in other words, low prices, customer satisfaction and employee morale are the expected casualties. How much irritation will an airline customer absorb in order to get a cheap ticket? If a grocer is the only game for the next 3 miles, of course customers will put up with expired dates on food and Yelp reviews that include, “The employees need to be put on suicide watch.”

For every CEO that makes excuses for rotten cultures and irritated customers, we find another company occupying the same niche that makes the employee & customer experiences their #1 foundation for success. Time and time again, we can examine Southwest, Trader Joe’s or Google and find unique employer brands that clearly spell out the characteristics of the tribe, the people who will fit into that tribe, and the expectations in how the tribe responds to the customer’s needs and expectations. Great employer brands can be clearly articulated and followed. The best establish consistent behavior which leads to faith for the employees and the customers.

In the late 90s, an administrator in our company insisted that we convert from Apple to PC. Tears fell as she pulled my old Mac out of my trembling hands. For the first time, we had software crashses and viruses. But, the turning point happened when I reached out to customer service at Microsoft and tried to solve a problem so I could work through the weekend. Three hours and ten minutes later, I gave up. During that time, I had been transferred over and over. I was talked down to, instructed to go through the same ineffective procedures repetitively and questioned if I was following their directions.

Today, we are an Apple proud company. The hardware works almost all of the time. But, when there is a problem, I have faith that a smart, humble, respectful, and above all, effective employer will help us.

Why are employer brands more important than consumer brands?

Because employees fulfill the promise of the consumer brand. If a customer’s actual experience differs from the consumer brand’s promise, they will leave because the organization has lied to them. A few years ago, we reached a tipping point with transparency. Every single consumer is a journalist and judge. Every employee has the option of revealing the truth around their employment experience. In fact, a savvy candidate can learn more about the hiring manager than many of the people reporting to her or to him.

Once the word gets out, the premium talent runs when they hear your name. As CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, in a now legendary act of desperation, spent over a billion dollars acquiring smart start-ups. But, she wasn’t pursuing unique technology or access to new markets. She couldn’t get the premium talent required to turn Yahoo around. Think of it. When Stanford’s best graduates hit the market they might be thinking, “Google, Apple, or entrepreneurship?” But Yahoo? Some of the world’s better candidates would view a stint at Yahoo as a career killer. They envision a tribe of stagnant stakeholders that torpedo change and go out of their way to fly under the radar. One client indicated getting anything done there was a bit like trying to get fresh bread in Russia.

For Yahoo as well as other employers, the employer brand determines what an organization becomes.

Getting personal, there is a supermarket within 300 yards of our home in Pacific Palisades. We only visit it when we have an emergency, such as needing an ingredient to finish a meal. Yelp reviews give feedback like, “The employees in this store ought to be placed on suicide watch.” We have encountered cashiers that hold conversations with other cashiers without ever looking a customer in the eye! As a result, for every dollar we spend at this store, we spend 20 at another store, which is five miles away and is a bit more expensive.

The nearest Trader Joes is 10 miles from our home. We drive in once-a-month to get supplies. The average tenure of the company’s cashiers is twenty-one years. While their prices compete with commodity oriented stores, the customer experience is as good as any luxury brand. A few months ago, I misplaced a pair of sunglasses at the store. I visited the manager’s desk who greeted me warmly and asked for my number. That afternoon, he called rather joyously. “We have your sunglasses Mr. Harder.” In thanking him, I brought up how wonderful every single employee I’ve ever met at Trader’s is a world-class person. He responded, “Thank you. We love our people and we love our customers.”

If you can’t attract the best talent in your industry, you will never achieve category leadership. Your employees will actively or passively practice disengagement. Customers will have lower rather than higher expectations.

Today’s savvy CEOs will not tell human resources to “fix the engagement problem” or “improve the quality of candidates.” They will answer basic questions like, “Who do we want to be?” “When people think of our employees, what comes to mind?” “If we want to attract the best talent in this category, what kind of culture do we need to build?” Ultimately, they will do whatever it takes to attract and grow the best talent.

I’ve seen the patterns so many times that when a human resource client discusses a job offer, my first question is, “Has the CEO taken ownership of the culture?” If not, they probably ought to keep their bags packed. Why? The usual pattern is the CEO will tell human resources to fix the culture. The CHRO starts telling employees everything is about to improve. The workers look past his or her shoulder to the CEO and see business as usual. They shrug. An employee survey is issued. The results make the managers feel more inadequate than ever. They are sent to a leadership and come back filled with enthusiasm. The employees respond, “So what?” The human capital executive is shown the door for failing the culture. How many of you have witnessed this sacrificial ritual?

Employer brands are not perfect. However, they are honest. For years, The Walt Disney Company generated mixed feedback in the talent market. When we designed new leadership programs for the company, I had the privilege of working with some of their best and brightest from all over the world. In the midst of a program, one executive asked, “What do you believe is Disney’s employer brand?” I thought about it for a moment and responded, “The employer brand is to attract the talent that creates magic at great profit in the midst of chaos.”

The room went silent for a moment, followed by a few gasps of recognition and then broke out into laughter. For someone who loves creating magic at great profit in chaos, they will fall in love with Disney and stay for years. If they don’t, they will find the environment insufferable.

This past year, United Airlines reminded millions of consumers of the cynicism and contempt that permeates their culture. Lost and dead pets, customers dragged out of their planes, unruly environments, and damaged baggage. Today, many travelers will only board a UA flight is there is no alternative. The company doesn’t have an equipment problem, it has a talent problem. But, one CEO after another places cost-cutting ahead of customer experience and employer brand. The results speak for themselves. Flight attendants ask pilots to raise the temperature in the cabin so more people will pass-out. Pilots purposely delay landings in order to get a bit of overtime without hitting the mark that produces a report with the FAA.

Uber might have been one of the country’s most successful start-ups in many years. But, their contempt towards female employees and drivers has led to perhaps the first time in business history where consumers are mindfully selecting Lyft because its spiritual and moral principles are superior. That said, Uber appears to be in a tremendous and costly drive to build a culture of high performance and integrity.

Bottom-line? There are no shortcuts in building a great organization. In the end, people will sustain your success. The best talent will make you a category leader.

Why has the employer brand become more important than the consumer brand?

• The consumer brand is what we sell.
• The employer brand is what we become.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

Schedule 15-Minutes to Discuss Your Workplace or Career with David (Here)

(C) Copyright, 2019, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post Why the Employer Brand Became More Important Than the Consumer Brand appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Let’s start with the good news. Barra has made bold moves towards the future by investing in self-driving cars, electric vehicles and ride-sharing networks. In 2016, GM purchased Cruise Automation for $1billion, a start-up that has become one of the leading technology houses for autonomous cars. Today, that unit is valued at $14.6billion.

Mary Barra has led the company into the black posting profits of $4.6billion in the first half of 2018. Stock value was stronger, especially in comparison to Ford. But, compared to overseas competition, General Motors continues to carry forward the shortcomings that have blunted the American car industry. In terms of developing aspirational consumer or employer brands, Mary reveals her utter lack of imagination. Business journalists are applauding the company’s improvements in profit performance, but compared to what? Daimler Benz, Toyota, and BMW continue to outperform GM by wide margins.

In my book, The Workplace Engagement Solution (Career Press), research strongly indicates the vast differences in philosophy between the CEOs that develop category leadership and the CEOs running cultures of mediocrity. This is where Mary Barra’s lack of imagination is leading to more of the same from American car companies.

America almost lost its car manufacturing industry during the recession. In the years since, many of us have treated their comeback as a success story. However, those of us who read car magazines know that nothing has really changed in terms of producing cars that people aspire to own. Much of the problem emerges from a lack of commitment to brand as well as people. Quite simply, if it isn’t working out, throw out the garbage.

Most of us can instantly envision a Porsche 911, a Mercedes S class, a Toyota Camry or a BMW 3 series. That is because of the kind of pride that can only happen from continuous improvement. Auto journalists continue to rank GM products as deeply inferior to the overseas competition. Interiors are bean counted into mediocrity. And, if people are not buying the brand, simply get rid of it. For example, the Impala used to be a legendary name until Chevrolet demonstrated its lack of commitment by periodically plastering that name on cars that offered little pride at all. At times, the name was abandoned for years only to be thrown onto a car because of its poor market performance. This cynical view of the consumer is demonstrated the moment they open the door and sit in the car.

Mary Barra’s biggest failure of all is in GM’s commitment to employer brand. My greatest concern for America isn’t about lowering unemployment; it is about rapidly growing underemployment. Upwards of 48% of our country’s workers characterize themselves as underemployed. This means that about half of our workers are getting kicked to the curb by change.

But, in countries such as Germany, underemployment is a non-issue. As we blame technology for the loss of jobs, German auto manufacturers lead the world in the use of robotics. But, they don’t lay workers off, they train them to do new and more interesting work. The German government is an active partner to the auto industry. Government subsidies are provided for apprenticeship programs. BMW and Mercedes consistently rank amongst the best employers in the world while GM continually brings up the rear.

Many business journalists are applauding Mary Barra’s decision to ax cars and people as a commitment to the future. Let us be clear. Her strategy demonstrates her commitment to trucks. How will GM ever compete in the war for the world’s best talent? In our research, we cannot find one iota of information that it has even crossed her mind.

There-in lies the rub. GM will no longer make mediocre cars, it will provide big sports utilities and trucks, a place where consumers tend to be more forgiving on quality issues.

The most predominant aspect of GM’s employer brand is mediocrity as well. We see the results in the company’s disloyalty. But, the real failure is in pride. How would the world’s greatest designers and engineers aspire to become part of a culture where talent isn’t developed and employees are treated as a commodity on par with the cars? It is a bit like a top graduate student from Stanford trying to choose employment between Apple and Yahoo.

We learn nothing of value by studying dysfunction. General Motors ought to be emulating what is happening with the most profitable automobile manufacturers in the world. They could become enlightened about how to build better cars as well as more profitable cars. All the possibilities of why she wouldn’t study success have uneasy answers.

It has been said that “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

Unfortunately, yesterday’s debacle didn’t offer up the courage, to tell the truth, and make a commitment towards excellence.

Brought to you by David Harder, President – Inspired Work, Inc.

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