June 16, 2009

Ever since Bernie Madoff ceased being the Philanthropic Saint and became Bernie Made-off-With-My-Money, I’ve been thinking about why so many of us gleefully race…to be conned.

There are, of course, many reasons for our eager plunge into stupidity.  Arguably, the most obvious was immortalized by Willie Sutton who, when asked, Why do you rob banks?, succinctly replied, Because that’s where the money is (stupid).  Why do we plunge into scams?  Because we think that’s where the money is.

But sometimes “money” isn’t money.  Our friend Mr. Made-Off added a deliciously malicious ingredient to his particular stew:  snobbery.  He made taking your money a privilege given only (supposedly) to a favored few.  His genius was creating the illusion that because he allowed you to “invest” with him you had become a member of an exquisitely elite club. 

What’s particularly interesting in the Madoff case is the great majority of those who ended up scammed and damned were already very rich and well connected.  Why, then, were they still so eager to join Bernie’s Insider clique? Oh, dear…there’s always someone who has more money, more status, more influence...So Bernie’s club came to be seen...

That something is published does not make it true.

April 22, 2009

I’m not on anyone’s list to receive emails or blogs or even solicitations for money from extremely right wing, politically conservative organizations or their counterparts, organizations whose members hold equally passionate liberal views. But a few of my friends are very partisan and actively involved in politics. Lately several of these friends have sent me extremely conservative blogs.

It’s important to acknowledge that (1) I would expect the same aggressive tone that I found in the very conservative blogs to be in extremely liberal ones and (2) the kinds of unsubstantiated assertions seen in these blogs are probably most often... 

March 10, 2009

The bad news keeps raining down, drowning us in unrelenting pessimism.  In this, the winter of many discontents we have not seen the sun for far too long and there’s no relief in sight. 

How does that make people feel?  The answer is depressed, anxious and fearful.  These are not the ingredients of an economic recovery or of courage and resilience for individuals and organizations.  Instead, the overall mood is one of hopelessness fueled by the overriding feeling we don’t have any control over what is happening to us.

February 26, 2008

This blog is for people wanting and needing to work who see only dim possibilities to earn money doing the work they had been doing.  Some people will have the delightful surprise of landing just that opportunity but most probably won’t.  For the latter group I’d like to say things are probably not as bad as you think…especially if you are willing to change.

February 10, 2009

Like all Americans, I wish you the very best of outcomes as you create strategies and programs to solve the economic crises which define our country at this moment.

In that light I would like to suggest that an understanding of psychology might be at least as important as a mastery of economic theory.  The basic assumption in economics that self-interest creates a market that is rational and based on facts is, to put it politely, absurd.  People’s decisions and goals about money, status, power, success and failure…are driven by very strong feelings of greed or fear, compassion or envy.  On these issues feelings far outweigh facts.

Create Change

December 18, 2008

When I speak to employees who are not executives they always relate to these facts and ideas.  I am, after all, describing what they’ve experienced and how most of them feel. 

So it is not surprising that they always ask, Have you talked with our executives and upper level managers?  If you have, what was their reaction?  Are they even aware of what’s going on?  Are they concerned enough to do anything different now that they know how people feel?  What can I do to make change happen? 

Create Awareness

December 12, 2008

It’s very strange:  In the roughly four years that I’ve been speaking to  management about the hundreds of studies that clearly demonstrate that high levels of employee commitment and engagement predict financial success, I’ve consistently found that virtually no one in the audience had ever heard of these facts. 

Here is a small sample of data supporting the idea that when employees feel very positively about the place where they work and the work they do, tangible success is achieved as measured by financial results:

November 26, 2008

After many years of consulting I’ve become a stalwart supporter of keeping things simple which means really focused and very brief.  That view puts me among a really small minority of experts and consultants because organizational processes keep getting more and more complicated, inclusive and difficult.

September 28, 2008

Some expectations are like untethered helium balloons; they’re never grounded.  Unlike those that are born out of our actual experiences, these reflect desire and imagined possibilities.  Unlike the Psychological Recession which leads people to ignore the positive and fixate on the negative, these expectations are more often optimistic and reflect people’s hopes.

Despite disappointment after disappointment, one of my friends always began each new job with exuberance, convinced that all the employees she’d just met were “wonderful human beings,” and the job was “a wonderful opportunity.”  But over time the inevitable happened:  parts of the job became routine and uninteresting and people acted like people.  From my friend’s romanticized perspective that meant the job and the people were terribly flawed.

September 19, 2008

Heartfelt thanks to Kirsten Hansen, who is, like me, a member of the Employee Engagement website.  On September 5, 2008 Kirsten wrote to say we need to talk about people’s expectations because Unrealistic expectations of others can lead to much dissatisfaction both in person and professional situations. 

Personally, I think we don’t think much about expectations; we just have them.  I once was invited on a VIP Cruise aboard the USS Champlain, a Navy cruiser. The Navy takes both precautions and ceremonies seriously.  I was really impressed by the welcoming speech by the admiral and by the really serious precautions we practiced before we boarded the helicopter that flew us to the ship.  It all made me feel like a VIP. 

As the helicopter landed on the deck of the cruiser I saw about 15 or 20 people, all in different costumes, running toward us.  My first thought was, What a great welcome!  Thank goodness I didn’t say anything.  The people racing toward us were the safety crew in case of an accident and their “costumes” were their specialized protective gear.

Fortunately, sometimes wrong expectations are fairly harmless.