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 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.

The consequences of running businesses with this mentality are on full display in retail where lowered standards around the customer experience and employee value fueled a seismic shift driven by Amazon.

In the airline industry, employees are often treated with such disdain that flight attendants will ask the pilots to raise the cabin temperature so passengers become more lethargic. Pilots often delay flights on purpose, just to get a bit more overtime.

In a market filled with lowered expectations, Herb Kelleher turned Southwest Airlines into a cult hit. Even though the company offered some of the lowest fares, they treated employees and customers with respect and an initiative to make travel as fun as humanly possible. They hired upbeat people. They provided an environment that kept employees upbeat. Over the years, Kelleher eliminated unvalued services and introduced a variety of innovations that made travel far more efficient for the entire industry. A culture grew where employees took their jobs seriously and themselves not seriously at all. This past January, Mr. Kelleher passed away and many in the airline industry view him as one of their greatest leaders.

All business and talent strategies must grow if they are to remain fresh. When Gary Kelly took over Southwest in 2013, he introduced a new set of aspirations to all of their employees. He asked everyone to support a vision of becoming the most loved, most flown and most profitable airline in the world.

What did he do to grow the culture of the company?

He suggested that people who fly carry interesting and profound stories in their travels. He suggested that employees become part of their stories, to listen in why they were traveling. He suggested that listening was not only a wonderful way to elevate the passenger experience, it would also raise the tone of working at the company. As I researched the specifics, there were many anecdotes about family travel, important business journeys, and more. Over the last few years, there is a growing and living body of work that not only bonds employees to each other but to the passenger as well.

One story stood out in an unforgettable manner. A woman named Nancy sent the following letter to Mr. Kelly:

“Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.”

Her husband had to get to his daughter as quickly as possible. He was on a business trip. In Los Angeles, the crowds were so backed up that he was going to miss the plane. TSA could have cared less. But, a flight attendant from the first leg of his journey had already called ahead to the pilot of the last plane. He ran to the gate expecting to see everyone gone.

The pilot of his plane and the ticketing agent were waiting for him.

They both said,

“Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”

Today’s greatest CEOs represent far more than a positive balance sheet. They build cultures that matter. They are never too busy to demonstrate heart. They instruct their employees to think and feel rather than yelling, “hurry!”

Lowering prices doesn’t equate to lowering interest and care. At a time when we witness passengers being dragged from planes and stories of routine misery, the companies that wait by the gate and listen regardless of whether the passengers story seems trivial, funny or profoundly sad, these are the organizations that we ought to study and emulate.

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 Southwest Airlines Continues to Fly High appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

Someone once asked me, “Of all the industries you’ve worked with, which one has the worst employment practices?”

We did a great of work with media and entertainment. But, I responded, “Universities.” Higher education has shocking chaste systems that can perpetuate extreme delusions of power or powerlessness. Also, they thrive on lack of transparency and secrets. For example, I’ve worked with universities that have upwards of 20 separate human resource departments. Take a moment to let that sink in.

What happened yesterday is a very good thing.

Higher education is facing far bigger challenges than corruption in the admissions system. As high-quality education emerges on the Internet without charge, branded universities will have to offer a whole new form of value.

I believe the only way higher education as we have known it can survive is to develop full transparency. When I studied at USC, we were in awe of all that potentially existed behind the doors. Now, we have 44,000 reporters roaming the campus every single day.

Yes, it is time to wake-up.

To all chancellors and university presidents:

Clear out the secrets, throw open the doors and live with absolutely nothing to hide.

The post Stop Hiding. appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

As I shared in a recent article, Social Entrepreneurs are becoming the single most impactful and positive change in the future of work. These are people who insist that changing our world for the better can be very profitable. There is also a growing group of workers, especially younger generations, that insist on working for such organizations.

Social entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes. This month, I encourage everyone to look at Marshall Medoff, an 81 year-old-business owner who left his business and personal life to come up with a way to produce high-yield, non-polluting fuel from cellulose. Billions have been spent in trying to find a way to do this. Medoff isn’t a scientist. But, he took global warming seriously and literally dropped out of society to focus on the problem full-time.

Instead of going down the same path as scientist, Marshall used common sense to access the sugar in plant life. The resulting fuel has stunned the scientific community. The sugar fuel that result from his process:

• Powers internal combustion engines with a drop of over 80% in pollutants.
• Provides a sugar for food that doesn’t rot our teeth.
• Can be used immediately.

His story aried on 60-Minutes last night and after watch it, I felt it should have been the headline feature for the night.

Here is a link:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marshall-medoff-the-unlikely-eccentric-inventor-turning-inedible-plant-life-into-fuel-60-minutes/

Here is a copy of “Work’s Single Most Important Revolution:”

https://www.linkedin.com/post/edit/works-single-most-important-revolution-david-harder

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 Social Entrepreneur of the Month! He provides a miracle that science has chased for years. 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.

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

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

The post The Truth Behind Mary Barra’s Debacle appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

In 1990, I launched Inspired Work out of my condo in Malibu. I was excited, scared, proud, and resolute. Right after getting my corporation papers, I took off for my branch at First Interstate Bank. I remember walking through the door holding those papers as if they were first prize in a contest for personal change. The representative gave the paperwork a glance and with a dismissive sweep of her hands said I was missing a document and to come back. A few days later I did come back to shut down my accounts. In the next few years, First Interstate was swallowed up by Wells Fargo. I left because I didn’t want to be with a vendor that viewed me as just another task.

My accountant referred me into City National Bank and I have been there ever since. For consumers as well as employees, there couldn’t be a more stark contrast between the two.

This past week, Wells Fargo admitted that it improperly foreclosed on 40% more borrowers than first reported. But, to put the latest scandal into sharp focus, let’s review the organization’s behavior over the last two years:

2016

• Regulators fine Wells Fargo $185 for creating as many as 2 million fake accounts to juice the bank’s books. The bank dismisses 5,300 employees who were acting under the orders of the divisional head. None of the transcripts reveal who was pressuring such a large number of workers to commit fraud.

2017

• It is revealed that Wells Fargo retaliated against workers who tried to blow the whistle on the fake account practice.
• New allegations are lodged that the bank modified thousand of home mortgages without getting authorizations from the customers.
• The bank admits it charged 570,000 customers for auto insurance they did not need.
• A class-actions lawsuit is filed in behalf of small business owners for overcharges on credit card transactions.
• The year closes with a new scandel. Thousands of mortgage holders were fined for missing deadlines. And yet, the notices were purposely delayed to orchestrate even more income.

2018

The Federal Reserve makes an announcement that Wells Fargo will not be allowed to grow its assets until it cleans up its act.

Consider the pact with the devil that employees of Wells Fargo have had to embrace in order to work there. Perhaps the single biggest blow to the shareholders of this organization is that premium talent will no longer consider Wells Fargo as a premium employer.

The Contrast

The first time I became aware of City National Bank was in reading about the kidnapping of Frank Sintra, Jr. The criminals contacted his father and refused to return the young man unless he brought them $240,000. The bank’s first CEO got out of bed and personally counted out the money in their headquarter’s vault.

I’ve been with the bank for 28 years and have never had a hiccup. Everyone that I know who is with City National has this kind of fierce loyalty and I can only wonder, why do banks such as Wells Fargo even have clients?

The entire ethos of City National Bank’s consumer and employer brands is reflected in one employee. I was her favorite customer.

For years, Jennifer was A.J. Kroener’s assistant at the Century City Office. Whenever I walked in the door, she would call out, “David, how are you?” She always made it clear that if I had any problem, she would take care of it. Trust me, I was not their wealthiest client. But, she treated me as if all valuables in their vaults were in my name. After years of hard work, I was able to order a new BMW convertible. Jennifer took care of all the paperwork. At the time, I was single and spending a lot of time on the road. Jennifer became the person that actually celebrated the purchase. The day it was delivered, I dropped by the bank to make a deposit. I remember walking in the door and Jennifer yelled out, “Did you get it? Is it here? Take me on a ride.”

She took a break and walked out to the garage. I put down the roof, cranked up the stereo and took off. Her hair was flying as she held her hands in the hair yelling, “Woo hoo!” I thanked her for being so kind in helping me get the car. She laughed, “Help? You’re my favorite customer.”

A few days later, I walked in the door and Jennifer wasn’t there. The energy was off and I asked what was going on. Jennifer had a heart attack and passed away.

Hundreds of people showed up to her funeral.

Most of us were customers. Some of us walked up to the podium and declared we were her best customer.

The thing is, many of the customers and employers are still there and we recount how her enthusiasm and kindness changed our lives.

Here is what I propose. If you are a business leader and you are trying to develop a strategy for making real money, compare the two stories.

Which one would you emulate?

The post Does Your Bank Love You or View You as an Easy Mark? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

A consumer brand tells the world why you exist.

An employer brand is who are actually are.

In our country, entire tribes of CEOs perpetuate an idea that in order to offer low-prices customers are willing to have a mediocre buying experience. There was a time in our history, where they could work. However, technology is evening the playing field. For example, when we can order just about anything without leaving home and have it delivered in hours, why go to the mall and deal with irritated employees?

Let’s take a look at two comparisons. Each demonstrates the power of solid employer branding:

• Von’s Pavilions and Trader Joes
• United Airlines and Southwest

We live next door to a Von’s Pavilions located at the beach. Online critiques of the store include statements such as, “The store’s employees ought to be on suicide watch.” Von’s nationwide has one of the lowest customer service scores amongst all of the largest grocers.

Vons is owned by Albertsons. The company posted its first profit in years on February 24.

On the other hand, mention Trader Joes and people’s faces light up. The average tenure of a Trader Joe’s cashier. While many CEOs will be dismissive of the comparison, Trader Joe’s prices are even lower than Von’s. And yet, Trader Joe’s isn’t a commodity, it is a carefully orchestrated consumer experience. This is a company that controls costs through tight inventory strategies and portrays a family to its customers. The average tenure of a Trader’s cashier is 18 years.

Trader’s doesn’t release its net profit figures. However, the company sells $1,734 per square foot per year while Whole Foods, the runner-up, sells $930 per square foot. Most Trader Joe’s customers smiling and kind staff as well as unique food values to be a winning combination.

Bring up United Airlines and what images come to mind? People being tasered and dragged off of planes, dogs dying in the cargo hold, and employees with absolutely no sense of enthusiasm.

On the other hand, Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of low rates, workers with humor, courtesy and playfulness.

Southwest Airlines is famous for its culture of workers who demonstrate fun, courtesy, and playfulness and now they have added a profound dose to the employee as well as customer experience. Those characteristics had already made Southwest the most loved airline based in America. Commercial pilots hold up Southwest and FedEx as the gold standard for a positive work experience. A couple of years ago, CEO Gary Kelly, decided it was time to create renewed energy in their culture. He introduced a new set of aspirations for all of their employees. He asked everyone to support a vision of being the most loved, flown and profitable airline in the world.

Kelly suggested that one of the ways they would deepen their culture come from telling stories of how they improved the lives of the customers they touch. He said, “We exist to connect people to what’s important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost travel.” He asked everyone to develop the art of storytelling and to become involved with the story’s behind each passenger’s travels and to find ways to elevate their lives.”

The heart behind this commitment is profound. It can be gut-wrenching. As I researched their stories, I found a letter from a woman named Nancy:

“Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.”

Her husband had to get his daughter as quickly as possible. He was on a business trip. In Los Angeles, the crowds were so backed up that he was going to miss the plane. TSA could have cared less. But, a flight attendant from the first leg of his journey had already called ahead to the pilot of the last plane. He ran to the gate expecting to see everyone gone.

The pilot and the ticketing agent were waiting for him. One of them asked, “Are you Mark?” The other added, “We held the plane for you and we are so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”

True employee engagement develops cultures that matter and businesses that we love with fierce loyalty. Because, all of them have heart. But, the greatest heart of all is an employer brand that orchestrates outcomes that are as rich as this story because heart cannot be faked.

Sure, consumer brands are good. But, employer brands determine what our businesses become.

The post Why Have Employer Brands Become More Important Than Consumer Brands? appeared first on Inspired Work Services.

However, once we define what we want to accomplish, our success is purely based on the quality of the people we get to help us.

People from all walks of life come through our programs because a Socratic (question-driven) curriculum that produces life-changing and unique outcomes for everyone.

I cannot count the number of entrepreneurs that have come through our programs who have reached a point in their success only to hit a wall that requires they surrender the behavior and outlook that got them to that point-in-time. The turning point usually requires bringing in new support systems and finding talent that will elevate the business as well as their lives. This is one of the most frightening moments within early entrepreneurial success because it means surrendering the behavior that worked really well…to a point.

Elon Musk is possibly in the biggest crisis of his life. Tesla has revolutionized the world. His vision has moved his company to a certain level of success. His hard work has created advances in electrical infrastructure and battery technology that has set the stage for a quantum leap with electric-based transportation. However, manufacturing challenges in quality control, speed, efficiency and production costs have turned into a nightmare for the founder. By extension, Tesla is facing its biggest crisis even without its production challenges. Because, Volkswagen Group, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, GM, and Jaguar are all releasing entire lines of electrically propelled transportation. Most of them have superb commitments to quality with the resources to deliver it.

Before continuing with Elon, an anecdote from our own graduate base can crystallize the challenge. Everyone signs confidentiality agreements in our programs and when we share an anecdote, it is with their permission. This one included the caveat that we would not share her name.

We were leading a large Inspired Work Program at LAX. Our meeting room looked out on planes taking off and landing. Regardless of the number of people, they tend to go inward quickly and they craft their own ideal vision, mission, and purpose. The curriculum gently leads them into recognizing the life skills they need to become successful with that vision. Let’s be candid, there is almost always a certain degree of discomfort about looking at obstacles.

We had a well-known entrepreneur in the room. She was a spectacular leader in her industry. At the first break, she navigated her way over to me and said, “This has been wonderful. You have exceeded all of my expectations and I’m going to go home now.” I’ve found that the more uncomfortable someone becomes, the bigger the breakthrough. I managed to get her to stay. By the second day, some of us were envisioning her taking a chair, breaking a window, dropping a rope down the side of the building and making a run for it. Then, it happened. She became distraught and started a disclosure. Her father was the single most influential role model in her life. He taught her that if you want to get something done right, do it yourself. This outlook had worked at first, but now her success had become a trap. She was working late into the night, hadn’t taken a vacation in years and was constantly exhausted.

Sound familiar?

After this insight, she cleaned up and customized her entire support system. I ran into her a few years later and asked how she was doing. She smiled and said, “Surrendered.” Not long afterward, the business was sold for a bloody fortune.

Elon Musk is, by all accounts, encountering an emergency riddled with the theme of someone who is, in the end, fully human. Trapped in the all too common notion that only he can solve the problem is potentially killing him as well as the extraordinary innovation he has introduced to the world.

In strikingly rapid progression, Elon interviewed with the New York Times and told the world he is in the most difficult and painful year of his life. He revealed he sleeps at the company and is taking large doses of Ambien in an attempt to control his sleep. Not long after that interview, he typed out a shocking Tweet, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

A few days later, he appeared on a podcast with one of my favorite comics, Joe Rogan. I love Joe and have seen him live many, many times. But, Elon Musk, CEO of a public company and Joe? They smoke dope together on a podcast.

In less than one month after it all began, the SEC is ready to file charges against him for securities fraud.

If I was his advisor, here is what I would do:

• Have the Board and the Chief People Officer create a task force that manages Mr. Musk for the time being. Pull him out of the public eye and help him sort through this rather dreadful pothole. He is one of the world’s great innovators and yet he is human and has a very human crisis.
• Hire one of the best reputation management firms to take charge of his messaging.
• Get Elon off of all forms of sleep medication. Do I know of what I speak? In my internist’s office, there is a file. On the cover, in large block felt-tipped letters are the words, “If David Harder asks for sleep medication, shoot him.” Unfortunately, the body quickly habituates to sleep medication requiring larger doses just to sleep for short periods of time. When it reaches this state, we have no way of knowing if he even remembers sending that crazy Tweet.
• Take contrary action to his statement that he is, “Trying to recruit Sheryl Sandberg” to fix his production challenges. That one statement revealed the weakness of his talent plan. Offer a “too big to resist” bounty to recruit a production chief from a leading German or Japanese auto manufacturer.
• Call a Board Meeting to perform the intervention. I’m serious. With personality types such as his, the ones with the delusion they can fix everything, can and will bring down the company.

I am a big, big fan of Elon Musk. But I am painfully familiar with the signs of a meltdown that can kill off a company or an individual. The guy deserves every chance in the book. But, right now, he needs a new support system customized to help him with his health, to objectively solve Tesla’s production challenges, and help him learn that the right people will help him, if he asks or if he allows it.

The question is just how will his ego make room for that?

The answer will be more critical than anyone can imagine.

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

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

(C) Copyright, 2018, Inspired Work, Inc. – (All Rights Reserved)

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