May 22, 2011 by Ken Goldstein - 7 Comments

This You Must Do

Say What You Are Going To Do, Then Do It
by Ken Goldstein
Ninth in a Series of Ten

Of all the many lessons I have learned over the years in watching the difference between success and failure, this tiny bit of advice is the most basic concept, the easiest to understand, the most consistently impactful, and the most abused and violated. It comes down to this — all we have is our word. Credibility, trust, betting on talent, in the final analysis, it just does not get any more understandable than this:

Winners say what they are going to do, and then they do it.

Successful people don’t mince words, they are clear. They know themselves what matters, and they share that information with utter transparency to all with whom they come in contact. Then, having made a statement of purpose or declaration of intent, they put action behind their words. Successful people do not do this from time to time, they do it all the time. They do not differentiate claims and actions by tiers, they are predictably consistent. When you know someone believes what they are saying, and then will do what they say, you will follow them, you will invest in them, you will believe in them, and you will stick by them.

How hard or easy is this to pull off? Let’s start with the easiest of all possible promises. You bump into someone at a party, the mall, or a sporting event. You haven’t seen them in a while. You talk briefly but you are in a hurry. In departing, you say, “I will call you for lunch.” Contrary to the Los Angeles standard exported lexicon, “I will call you for lunch” is not the same thing as saying, “Goodbye, I have to go now.” If “Goodbye, I have to go now” is what you mean, then say that, not a problem. It’s honest, it’s true, and it comes with no attachment. How many people have told me they will call me for lunch and then don’t? Too many. Would I do business with them? Probably not. If they can’t follow-up on a suggested lunch, how can I expect they will follow-up on anything more important?

Now let’s step it up. In order to get back to a task you think is more important than the one your boss is asking you about, you say to your anxious boss, “I will get you a report on that before the end of the week.” You have escaped, and perhaps you believe your boss will forget you said that. Your boss will not forget that, and the end of the week is Friday or Saturday, not Monday or Tuesday or never. Do you reinforce what you promised by doing it, or do you let it slide? If you really, really get jammed up, do you call or see your boss before the end of the week and ask forbearance, reminding your boss that you made a promise but suggesting that you have some other critical matters at hand and would like to re-prioritize this if possible before the deadline comes. How many people get this right? I promise you, not enough.

Here’s another step up. In a team meeting everyone agrees on a set of tasks. The engineers will write program code to execute a set of features, the marketing managers will develop collateral to evangelize that set of features, the sales representatives will tell their customers that this set of features is coming and when. Meeting adjourned, break huddle. A week later, the engineers got a better idea and developed a different set of features that are much more cool, the marketing managers created an online brochure and email campaign that described a set of features they always wanted but were never discussed, and the sales representatives secretly always hated the entire concept so they just never told any of the customers anything at all. How are we doing there? Some teamwork, huh? No alignment, no success path. Happens every day.

Let’s step it up again. You are the CEO or CFO, you give earnings guidance to the street of $0.26 per share. On the earnings call you report $0.13, some unexpected problems emerged subsequent to your guidance. What do your shareholders think now? They think you missed your own guidance. You would have been better off not giving any guidance than giving poor guidance. In fact, saying “We don’t give guidance” is a strategy that many companies utilize, because they don’t want to be in a position of creating lack of faith in their understanding or leadership. So they say what they are going to do, not give guidance, and they do that. It may not be satisfying to everyone who follows the company, but it is honest and consistent, much better than being wrong by a factor of 50%.

What is the through line in all four of these cases? Dependability. It does not matter if it’s a promise for lunch, a promise to deliver a report, a promise to own a subset of a team’s tasks, or a promise on corporate performance to shareholders. The winning case is the one that builds trust and confidence, however simple or complex. I had the privilege to work for one of the most successful corporate CEOs of all time, and when he said he was going to do something, he did it, without a reminder, regardless of the circumstances under which he made the commitment, however casual. If he could do that with his schedule, how could I not be expected to do the same? It was a cultural mandate, and it built a bond I hold to this day.

How many people get this right? So few I could make you cry. A student tells me they are going to send me their resume and they forget. A colleague tells me they are going to have a friend they know look at our product proposal for feedback and they don’t. An employee tells me the current approach we are taking is wrong and I invite them to submit a better idea, never hear from them again.

Want to leap ahead of the pack? Save this point, glue it to your forehead, make it religion. Just by saying what you are going to do and then doing it — right or wrong, good or bad — you are leaping to the front of the line. You may think I am kidding and I am not. Other tasks are hard, this one really is that easy. Yes, Just Do It.

March 31, 2011 by Ken Goldstein - 0 comments

Bosses Can’t Know Everything Because No One Tells Them Anything

From Character Counts — March 21, 2011

“Seven Truths for Bosses” by Michael Josephson

Michael Josephson is a wonderful commentator who focuses on ethics through his Josephson Institute in Los Angeles. He offers short radio blasts each day which you will see me quote from time to time. I don’t agree with everything he says, but his heart is always in the right place, and with these snippets, he does a good job of bringing complex concepts down to one minute sermons.

Here he is talking as much to the managed as the manager, creating empathy for the manager’s dilemma while keeping the manager on point with some stark statements you might call clichés, but you can’t ignore their truth. Without hitting all seven (which you should read in the link), here’s my takeaway:

* Good communication in the workplace is harder than you think it is; without it, there is no alignment.

* The boss rarely gets the whole truth, and that is everyone’s problem, not just the boss’s nightmare.

* You can teach job skills, but you can’t teach character.

* Hiring is everything; think Casting.

* Values have to be alive and well in the workplace; lead by example and remember, it’s a marathon, not a series of sprints.

Always remember, jobs are short, relationships are long… or not. Trust and information exchange have to go both ways, or no one wins.

In April I will be covering a series of my own snippets, hard learned bits that I originally cobbled together for some aspiring high school entrepreneurs last year.

March 18, 2011 by Ken Goldstein - 3 Comments

Character, Competency, Compatibility

The Three Cs of a Gig That Fits

Experience has taught me there are largely three things that matter in getting to yes on a hire. Anything less and both sides are settling. Settling is a precursor to the inevitable. Get all three, or don’t make/take the offer.

Character in my mind is a priori. If someone is not of solid character, nothing else matters because the first time something goes wrong—likely less than fifteen minutes after they fill out the forms in HR—they will be faced with a decision: cop to the wrong and seek help in righting it, or bury it deep in the corporate sewer. I read once where a smart boss told a new hire, “If you blow it and you tell me, we have a problem; if you blow it and don’t tell me, you have a problem.” If both human beings are of sound Character, a visible shared problem is always better than a hidden solo problem. Character is honesty, integrity, the whole shooting match. Fail that test, don’t turn the page.

Competency closely follows Character, a good deal less ethereal but equally measurable. Do you have the experience and learning to at least approach the tasks you will need to handle? If the job involves math, you must know what an equation is. If the job requires sales in a language other than your own, you probably should speak that language (unless you are specifically advised otherwise, in which case you probably should speak it anyway to rise above the pack). If someone asks you how you did this or that in your last job, you must be able to tell them, with specifics. A forensic accountant is not a nuclear engineer—you just can’t fake either one of those. Don’t try.

Compatibility (sometimes known as Chemistry) is the human connection. This is the one you can’t measure, validate or pre-sell. It’s a gut check. You know it usually within seconds of meeting the person on the other side of the desk. At the highest levels, it is a bridge of trust, where two people decide on a first impression that they possibly can work together, and then in subsequent meetings commit to the notion that they probably can work together. There is mutual respect at the levels of Character and Competency which allows Compatibility to be possible, and it most often expresses itself in easy conversation, unforced give and take, and with some luck a common sense of humor. Compatibility is the bond that lasts through the greatest of hardships, pulling leadership teams together in hard times and allowing the grandest of celebrations in good times.

Let’s presume at almost any late stage of hiring you are going to be out of the running if you haven’t met the Character and Competency hurdles. How important is Compatibility? It’s everything.

You simply aren’t likely to get anywhere near a final decision without Character and Competency, and in the final rounds, presume that this has become a level playing field, because it probably has. All final candidates are likely good candidates. Now the hirer and candidate both have to decide if a finalist is going to fly. That decision in almost all circumstances will be based on Compatibility.

Why do I share this? Because increasingly I am sourced as a reference for senior level candidates, but I can only help a recruiter or hiring manager and the candidate with the first two items, Character and Competency. Honestly, by the time they get to me, everyone involved has pretty much figured that out. References checks are not entirely perfunctory, but they aren’t far off. Sure, if you lied a reference can serve you up, but then you shouldn’t be a final candidate anyway. The real challenge is Compatibility, and that is entirely up to you. Don’t downplay it, don’t dismiss it as vapid politics. Acknowledge that human beings want to put themselves in the best of all possible situations knowing that the worst of all possible situations will emerge on a moment’s notice. If you have to fight a war, you want the people on your side to be on your side. The interview process is where you find out if that is possible. Be aware of it, accept it, prepare for conversation that addresses it. Compatibility is the determining factor in a hire; that is something you just can’t fake, certainly not in the long run. You want pain, try being in any hierarchy without compatibility.

Remember, most people don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. Get this right at the hiring stage and everyone will be a lot happier and more productive, creating opportunities that are Built To Last.