Rothacker Reviews

A Sense of Place

While strolling through the meadow this morning I noticed a spectacular flower.  It took my breath away.  I paused for a moment, inhaled the country air and wondered...should I cut this artwork of nature and take it home?  Then I thought, how cruel would that be?  If I were to cut it down then no one else could enjoy it.  But I really wanted to enjoy it.  What should I do?

I sat down in the meadow and allowed all of my senses out to play.  The green grass, the azure sky, the red rose; The smell of sweet grass, the scent of pines, the smell of country air; The chirping of birds, the swirling wind, the rushing river.  I thought about my family, I thought about my life and I thought about my love of writing, design, thinking and reading.  I thought about today and brought my senses back inside. I asked them to associate today with these thoughts --and the flower.

I walked away satisfied.  I will always remember that flower.  Actually, I did take a picture of it because I wanted to show it to you.  Would you like to see one of the most beautiful flowers in the world, would you like to see one of the most beautiful descriptions of A Sense of Place?

You would?  Cool.  Look here.

How Dave Got His Groove Back

Dave's life philosophy was Oz is the Yellow Brick Road.  But Dave wasn't living his life creed very well.  As he traveled the Road he continuously looked ahead.  Maybe once he got up around the next bend his ship would be there.  You see, at fifty-one years old, Dave didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up.

Since 1977 with the exception of one year, Dave has had a manager title at work.  Early on, when his enthusiasm and energy was high, Dave was more busy trying to get work done than to get work done through his people.  The light bulb went off in 1988.  Dave threw himself into the study of business and management.  By 1997 he was ready to mount his steed and lead the troops.  The problem was his immediate boss who was also the company owner.  This gentleman's agenda stymied deployment of the personal development of anyone who worked for him.  Dave had an unbelievably talented and progressive staff.  For them to utilize their talents, he would have to provide cover.  Though rewarding, it was a massive drain on Dave's mind and body.  Eventually he left the company.

From that time on, Dave checked his spirit at the door as he punched the clock.  Personal satisfaction came from sharing knowledge with like-minded people online.  Author David Weinberger captured the essence of Dave's world with one simple sentence, "However much we long for the Web is how much we hate our job."  Dave yearned and longed for the Web all day long! 

Two years ago, Dave hooked on with a company that was different from any other he worked at.  This was an international company with around thirty state-side offices.  What really rocked Dave's world was that no matter what level the people were at, they were just plain nice people.  Perhaps he would be allowed to be a real manager and not one that was forced to strafe management's ignorance from five thousand feet so that his people could find true meaning in their work.

Hey Coach: Shouldn't we be running suicides?

Carla Rothacker:  "Hey coach, if girls were late last year Coach P made us all run suicides."

Vickie started playing softball in 1986.  Since then Rosemary and I have gone through twenty-two years of coaches with the girls.  They both played softball and basketball.  (Carla is a sophomore playing basketball for a Hillsborough county high school).  Last year she played for Coach P., who is in our top three of best all time coaches.  Coach P took over a troubled girl's basketball program.  He was tough love.  He left the program to pursue other scholastic athletic endeavors in the State of Florida.  We miss him dearly.

Carla's coach this year is well intentioned.  He wants to win and he wants the girls to do well.  I believe that this is his first year at the high school level.  He displays a public temper and lacks discipline amongst the troupes.  His temper is obvious.  That he lacks discipline comes from Carla's comment about the fact that she misses running suicides if girls are late.  Carla's remarks pierced my nearly thirty years of management experience like a hot knife cutting through soft butter.  My dear friend Rosa Say, from her book Managing With Aloha:

When a leader is respected, he will find that others want to be guided, and he's the one they choose to lead the way for them; he's the one that others are naturally compelled to follow.

Our young basketball coach will eventually learn this.  But his adventures cause me to look inside.  Is the grip that I have upon the helm of my own ship firm enough?  Honestly?  It hasn't been.  I've let the excuse of my health and nagging self doubt allow my grip to slip.

Note to dave in the future:  davie,  at this time you are working with the most passionate, hungry-to-learn group of people that have ever been under your tutelage.  You got your head out of your ass and recognized this.  You grabbed hold of the wheel...with conviction.  Your people loved that you would tell them to run suicides if you needed to!

On Managing and The Decline of Newspapers

For factual and analytical information on the decline of newspapers and the present state of this industry, please visit the smartest folks in the universe of journalism:  Poynter Online.  I love this site!  It just oozes smart, professional and passionate writers.

If however, you'd like to hear from an average Joe who is an above average newspaper reader, online and off, tighten up the circle, throw another log on the fire and listen up.

Once upon a time, about two days ago, I was reading Napoleon Hill's chapter on Initiative in his book, Napoleon Hill's First Edition.  Napoleon tells the story about the time he took Tom Edison's Questionnaire.   He only got five percent of the questions right.  Then he took the list of questions to the library and in thirty minutes he correctly answered ninety-five percent of the questions.  Next, he contacted two sources by telephone and within an additional fifteen minutes, had correctly answered the remaining five percent.

My mind began to wander back to a time when I was in tenth grade Woodshop. (Time frame hint: Roberta Flack had the number one hit that year, Whenever I Saw Your Face)  We were given half of the school year to complete a project.  I was the least talented woodworker in that class.  And while a quarter of the students did not complete making their nightstand, I did.  Looking back now, I realize this was my first successful experience in managing.  I was able to get work done through other people and resources.  If I was unsure of a procedure I asked other students.  I was unsure of every procedure.  Looking back now, I realize this was also my first experience in failure as a manager.  While I was obtaining help from others, I detracted them from their own projects, thereby not allowing them to succeed.

Napoleon made me think of this in his tale about Edison's questionnaire.  You don't have to know all the facts in the world, you just have to know where to find them.  In his article which was written in 1921, Napoleon mentioned three most excellent sources for obtaining information.  The public library, any modern university and any modern daily metropolitan newspaper.  Here is what he said about newspapers:

Most of the big daily newspapers have on file the pictures of most of the leading men of affairs of the world, and these can be seen or even borrowed by responsible people, as a part of the service the great newspapers are rendering the public.

How often have personal Web site writers been chastised by professional journalists?  We are not credible, we do not follow standards and the big one, our sources are unreliable and not factual.   I so however,  appreciate their point of view.  They spent the time and money to become educated.  They abide by strict standards and ethics.  Their fact checking and sourcing must pass rigorous testing.  And they must bring all of this together to meet deadlines. 

Perhaps, instead of, like the music industry, worrying how everyone is trying to take a piece of their turf, they should invent new turf.  Perhaps they should listen to Napoleon.  Perhaps they should get into the service business by providing all of that triple-checked information - for free or use a combination of advertising and nominal annual subscription. 

The following is my perception.  It is not based upon factual evidence.  It is however, what motivates me at this time to not utilize online newspapers for information.  Their search engines suck.  And when I find anything at all, it is more than seven days old and a fee is required to access it. 

Instead of trying to paddle upstream, the newspaper industry should turn the canoe around and put wings on it.  Open up their vaults of information, partner with Google and get back into the service business.

The Readership Institute seems to speak of going in this direction, kind of.

Rosa Say: The VOKR

The VOKR propels us to a heretofore deeper and richer level of understanding and connection.

World adventurer Joe Slow owns the baseball that Babe Ruth hit for his 714th home run.  One day on a visit to a remote village in the Amazon, Joe decides out of the blue, to sell the ball to the chief of a local tribe.  The chief didn't speak English, had never heard of baseball and wouldn't know if the planet was flat or round.

Pete's grandfather was at the game where Babe Ruth hit his 714th home run.  Pete's father worked his entire life in Yankee Stadium.  Pete has held Yankee season tickets for thirty years.  One day,  Pete ran into Joe Slow.  Joe offered to sell Pete the Babe's 714th home run ball.

Might one assume then, that the concept of value is different to different people?

I have been reading and interacting with Rosa Say on her Web site since November of 2004.  Had I not, this essay would mean as much to me as Joe's baseball did to the Amazon chief.  Not to say that a first time reader couldn't derive value from reading this, but the deep and rich meaning that I take away can be had in no other fashion.

This is piercing testimony to the value of not only staying connected to a person and her writing, but also of interacting on her Web site over a period of time.  This is something that wouldn't have been possible a few years back.  This is a fresh, new and exciting world into which we venture.  This is the value of knowing Rosa.

Independents Hall: Co-working and Beyond

Here is a link to one of the best About pages I've ever seen.  Alex Hillman explains what co-working is, what  Independents Hall is, how it originated, who is involved, where they are going and what has inspired them.  Masterfully succinct.

My first reaction to Independents Hall was, "young, hip, freelance-type-computer-dudes gathered together in a cave grooving with a pict."  For the sake of accurate disclosure, that truly was my very first thought, but only for a second.  Then I thought this is a brilliant idea and fruits of the cross pollinating type of atmosphere have yet to even be imagined. 

Then, at the fifteen second interval of my thinking, I thought of my dad...

My dad is seventy-seven years old and has been a Wally-Mart Greeter for twelve years.  Prior to that he spent forty years in large grocery store management and worked in that business for over fifty years.  He is a gold mine of retail store management.  Early on at Wally-Mart he tried to offer advice but got the what-does-that-old-man know vibes.  So he shut it down and did something for the very first time in his life.  He punched in and he punched out - with no value given in between other than to hand out carts and to be friendly.

How many folks are out there in our workforce today like my dad?  Walking gold mines just waiting to be harvested.

So, at the forty-second interval I thought, wouldn't it be cool if some old dudes could hang out with some young dudes at places like Independents Hall?

I've had this story in the stable for over a month.  After reading Lost Knowledge by Dave Simanoff of the Tampa Tribune I had to open the barn door and let it out.

A Fine Line

Terry Starbucker stops me dead in my tracks with two essays.

 

• One

• Two

On one hand:  "...but this is my job.  It's not my life.  I don't define myself by this."
On the other:  "That target of teammate job satisfaction has only increased in importance to me as my career has progressed, because I have seen time and time again what it produces - real business success.   This has been a great learning experience for me.  And this difference making is personally rewarding, because I simply love what I do and I would like nothing more to have all my teammates feel the same way."

Can a person separate the two?  Can a person feel so much passion at work and have it not carry over to the life outside?

For twelve years I've been crawling, scratching and inching across the desert in search of a tall, cold glass of iced tea...in search of being able to say, "I simply love what I do!!!"  A partial definition of that position would have me writing about it on my Web site.  Another part would have me encountering some other being within the course of a work day who I could talk to about Gen X & Yers', marketing, social networking, design, personal development, emotional intelligence, writing, etc.

So in my mind, success would seem to have me melding work more with life.  Presently, the twelve foot thick steel door shuts, closing work off from my life.  Except when it doesn't.  (Thanks Ted!)

I was so severely burned and scarred years ago when I made the mistake of talking about my online life at work (which was about work but not my company) that I vowed to never do it again.  The degree of severity can be understood when, if you were to combine how I write here with a finite focus to help individuals within my industry develop, learn and grow.  It was all good.  No line crossing, no giving away company information.  Heck I only mentioned the company's name once, on the last day of our site's existence.

But Terry has caused me to open that door a wee bit with his Smiles essay...

So, I've had the word manager in my title for nearly thirty years, twenty-three of those in my present industry.   Here is what causes each corner of my mouth to reach out and grab hold of my ears.

I work with technicians.  They work on complicated machinery and controls.  If this equipment is not working properly companies can lose millions of dollars, by the hour.  If this equipment is not working properly people's lives can be critically affected. 

The technician's work results in either keeping a piece of equipment in a fine tuned condition or restoring one to this condition.  In either case, the result is pure art. 

Although I have never been a technician, I have the ability to recognize and appreciate a finely tuned piece of equipment.  I also have the ability to appreciate and acknowledge the level of pride that a technician has in his work, in his art.  You wanna talk about seein' some big ole smiles!

So as a manager, that is what brings smiles to my face.  It is not the bottom line, not customer service (though there is great satisfaction in pleasing one), and it is not awards.

In no way does this change anything, but after reading what brings delight to Terry, it feels pretty good to tell you what brings delight to me.

 

Management: My View

I have been employed, as in contributing to social security, for thirty-four years.  Approximately twenty-nine of those years have been spent in management.  I've often said my official position has been that of fire hydrant...as in those above me use it and those I manage use it...as a dog uses it.  But this is the glass half empty view of management.  When looking at the position through the lens of it's all good, it can be so much more.

Out of sheer necessity, the largest portion of my career* has been spent providing air cover for those who report to me.  While the thrill of seeing an associate excel and succeed at something because you've isolated him from upper management danger is exhilerating, it isn't what I enjoy the most about management.  For me, the best part of this position has been the outcome of connecting an associate with resources, channeling their strengths toward the appropriate role and customer and then allowing them to do their work.  That outcome?  An evangelistic customer! 

To be sure, one can provide resources, channel strengths and get out of the way and not create evangelistic customers.  I believe a manager must first get the right people on the bus.  It has been my experience that once the team understands what you are doing, it has a tendency to shed members not going in this direction.  My analogy to this involves pirana, the fish.  Your team is a school of pirana.  New members are an animal carcass.  Dip the carcass into the pirana.  If it comes back devoid of meat, toss the bones and go find another carcass.

Creating an evanglistic customer with engaged associates - that's it for me.  Nothing less complicated.  Nothing more complicated.

* I presently have the good fortune, the most excellent fortune, of working for a company that doesn't require my skill as a pilot.

Cluetrain: Toni Howard

Toni Howard is a Workplace Aloha Coach for Say Leadership Coaching.  Toni writes Its an Obsession , a passionate, most excellent essay on incorporating the Hawaiian value of Ha'aha"a (humility) into the process of learning, while painting a rainbow portrait of the preeminent student - teacher relationship.

As I read Toni's piece, I kept dwelling on the power of her intellectual curiousity.  And this notion couldn't but help to build a perfect bridge to a comment that Christopher Locke, (one of the four Cluetrain Manifesto authors), made in the book.

"Imagine a world where everyone was constantly learning, a world where what you wondered was more interesting than what you knew, and curiousity counted for more than certain knowledge.  Imagine a world where what you gave away was more valuable than what you held back, where joy was not a dirty word, where play was not forbidden after your eleventh birthday."

The inspiration and impact of Toni's article is witnessed by the amount of conversation at Talking Story that it stimulates.  Awesome!

Strengths Revolution

Do you remember that TV slogan ?  "When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen."  Well I felt the same way this morning when I opened up an e-mail advertising brief from Marcus Buckingham.   Marcus has huge credibility following his career at the Gallup Organization and his run of top selling business books.  I do not mind being marketed to from MB.

Marcus' mission is to bring a strengths revolution to the world of business.  This simply means that there needs to be more of us utilizing our strengths at work.  If one needs to hitch their wagon up to a revolution, and I do believe that all of us do at one time in our lives, the strengths revolution is the way to go.

Marcus' latest effort is a short film titled, Trombone Player Wanted.   The film is actually a collection of six, fifteen minute DVD films designed to help us put our strengths to work.

In his last book, The One Thing You Need to Know, MB states that he is not a very good manager.  Here is a cat that has arguably written the best book on management ever stating that he is not a good manager.  But that is precisely where the beauty lies in searching out our strengths.  And, although I haven't seen the film, I believe that it will help us to discover our strengths and put them to work.