Organizational Values: Live Them and They — the Talent — Will Come

“For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on Earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.”

This was part of the missive that Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, sent his employees after the big jury verdict that Apple won against Samsung.

As I read through this statement, a big smile came to my face. It’s more important than patents or money — it’s about values. And if you ever wondered why Apple is valued at more than any other company, re-read that line.

Values = Culture

Career Portfolio? It’s How Everyone Shows Their Organizational Value

“Can we speak later? I have a big interview next week and I have some thoughts that I want to run by you.”

My response was that I would be more than glad to hear what is on her mind. When we spoke later that afternoon, she told me about the value that she wanted to bring to the interview. She wanted to leave behind a career portfolio of some of her work.

The amazing part about this story is not that her background was not creative, which is a staple of any interview. It was the fact that she is just 23 years old, only three years out of college, successful in both jobs so far, and about to land that coveted position that she has dreamed of.

Yes, that’s right — a Gen Y-er talking about value.

Like a lot of you, I mentor a lot of this generation. Sometimes when I get in at night, I have two or three calls to follow up on, and I find that I’m left with an interesting perspective from this generation on work, career, and life. We could all learn a lot if we opened up.

Leadership: Good or Bad, It’s All About the Communication

All eyes turned towards the manager as she gave her opinion of a strategy that was being discussed.

This was part of the strategic meeting with the leadership team, with the C-Level executive sitting at the head of the table. As she walked through her reasoning, everyone was nodding their head in agreement. She was always seen as one of the thinkers, a person who always brought something to the table.

Here’s the problem with this scenario: the C-Level executive looked her in the eye as the manager gave her thoughts. When she finished, the executive turned, glanced around the room, and quickly moved to another topic.

As they say in the movie business — CUT.

An astonishing story

Improving Performance: It’s All About Paying the Price to Get Better

“I don’t like average.”

During a recent webinar, that statement was made by the CEO of a major company. When I heard it, my thought was that I know of so many people that appear to LOVE average.

Like a lot of you, I watched the London Olympics this week and I am just intrigued not by the sport but by the commitment and sacrifices the athletes make to be the best, or shall we say, above average. Their training routine will basically kill off the vast majority of us.

But how about being that committed at such a young age? Any way you slice it, you have to take your hat off to them. Even the ones that did not win medals still went through that grueling routine, all in the quest to get better.

Do you have a plan?

Managing Up: How Do You Build a Relationship With Your Manager?

“I need to talk to you about an employee that I am having trouble with.”

Like a lot of you, I get calls all the time with people that want to bounce things off of me. I also volunteer my HR services to non-profits. This statement came from a founding member of the non-profit that I have been working with for the past year.

The executive director/founder had hired a direct report. The interview went well, and references checked out — that is, until this person started work. It seemed that as time went on, the new hire became disconnected from the executive.

Building a relationship

Paying Your Dues: Are You Willing to Do What It Takes to Get There?

To be successful, you have to pay your dues!!

That is a favorite phrase to all the people I know that complain to me about their journey. That journey could be attaining success in any endeavor. One thing that I have noticed is that you listen to any successful person, one thread always comes through: this is what I had to do to get there.

Whether it is long hours, weekends or insurmountable odds, they persevered.

They hung in there. They did the jobs that they despised. They did the jobs that were thankless and no one else wanted. They for the most part did without and endured all in search for that desired destination.

My daughter has been pulling lots of long hours lately and leaving just as early in the morning to get in. This is her second job out of college and she works in the advertising business. She has moved up the food chain and is now directing and leading projects.

We rode together into work the other day, and as soon as she got on the bus, she keeled over and went to sleep for the 50-minute ride.

You have to pay your dues

Once Upon a Time: Remember When We Could Tell a Story Without Slides?

“Once upon a time …”

You say those words to any child and they visually go into a trance. These were the words that were always used to tell a story. When my children were small, my wife would give them their bath and I was the story teller.

I would come into the room, with our book for tonight. And as you might know, sometimes it was the same book each night because they loved the story so much. I would love to look into their eyes as I said those magic words. They would almost fall into a hypnotic state.

When I was small, my grandmother would not do the “once upon a time,” but when she would motion me over, that was the signal that it was story time. She would tell me stories about her growing up, things she did as a child. I would sit rapt, listening to her. She was a great storyteller. 

Fired For Being in the Moment – What We Can Learn From a Young Lifeguard

His answer was simple: Thanks, but no thanks.

“They are trying to fix the wrong that they did. On a personal level, I just don’t want to work for that company anymore,” said Tomas Lopez, 21, of Davie, Florida. “It’s not out of spite against the company. I really just want to move on and get another job.”

The company began an investigation soon after news of the incident began to spread worldwide.

These were the responses from a group of lifeguards in Floridathat were fired when one of them saved a person’s life, and then the others supported his action (and also got fired for doing so). The reason the first lifeguard was fired was because he saw someone out of his zone struggling in the water, his lifeguard instinct kicked in, and away he went.

The gratitude for this was for management is to say “you’re fired!” Management’s reason was that the lifeguard was out of his “zone.” Never mind that he saved someone’s life. That did not matter; he broke the rule, so he’s out.

The reason they were offered their jobs back was that when this news hit the Internet, management relented.

Just shut up and listen sometimes

Why I’ll Be Happy When “First Ever” Recognition Is a Thing of the Past

“Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Long-Time COO, Becomes First Woman On Its Board Of Directors.”

That was the breathless announcement coming from CNBC this week.

As my daughter always says, “Really”?

Here we are in 2012 and to make mention of the fact that she will be the only WOMAN to me just sounds so dated. For that matter, any publicly traded company you would think would have a representative board with women.

Lack of female access to Board seats