The television network has killed the best show on television, Eli Stone. Please sign the petition to save it.
Check out A Visual Guide to the Financial Crisis. Do you understand all the connections?
Staying on that theme, check out this video (long). It’s a cross between Mulder and… I’ll go with “Dragon’s Lair.” But there’s some scary stuff in there about the growth of the money supply. Almost everyone has something to learn from this.
Some of you have been wondering when I’m going to drop some science again. Here we go: this year’s Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Paul Krugman, wrote a paper in 1978 entitled The Theory of Interstellar Trade. The abstract says it all:
This paper extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest rates on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer traveling with the goods than to a stationary observer. A solution is derived from economic theory, and two useless but true theorems are proved.
The best part of this abstract is the assumption that there’s a body of economic work surrounding interplanetary trade that needs to be extended.
Those of you who follow me on Twitter may know that I’m not a fan of the Toyota “Saved By Zero” commercials. (Full disclosure: I drive a Toyota Corolla.) Now there’s proof: these commercials can kill.
Finally, if you haven’t checked it out yet, www.change.gov, chronicling the Obama-Biden transition.
The next time you take stock in your career, the next time you think about what it will take to get that promotion or not next job, start with integrity.
Without personal integrity, it ain’t happening.
Some people hold the perspective that everyone you deal with professionally is a client to your personal brand. How well you serve your colleagues, your bosses, your subordinates, your team members. When there is no question from anyone who knows you that your every action flows from a set of high standards, when you have integrity, then you are lowering a barrier. You’re making it easier for the people who will make decisions regarding your career.
One of the easiest ways to lose integrity is by not being sensitive with information.
You can be the most competent person in the company at whatever you do. You can show you company that you’d be excellent at a job with more responsibilities and more accountibility. But if you can’t be trusted to keep information contained to the right audience, none of this matters. Once you make this mistake, even once, then you have a long road ahead to prove your integrity and win back trust:
- You have to acknowledge to your leaders that you made an error in judgment.
- You have to wait until your leadership decides to allow you to have sensitive information again.
- You have to demonstrate, probably for a long time, that you can use that information in appropriate ways.
Talking “out of school” is a bell that’s bery hard to unring. It’s also easy and fun to do. Who doesn’t want to create the secret information club. “Guess who is moving to another team?” “Guess who’s on the short list to get fired?”
You will hit your personal career ceiling hard without perserving your integrity with sensitive information.
Sensitivity to information isn’t the only measure of personal integrity. Have any other advice to share about maintaining integrity in the office, and in life? Please share your comments with us.
If you aspire to lead teams of people as a boss or as a cross-functional team leader, you have got to communicate well, so well that you set the example for your team…no matter what happens.
Some times, this is very hard to do. Which of these examples have happened to you recently?
- Someone is having problems accomplishing a task, and you learn about it three days after you needed to know.
- Someone you are counting on to lead fails to communicate the status of ongoing problems to you.
- A team that you don’t lead is notoriously bad at communicating updates that affect you.
Each of these can be frustrating. An inexperienced leader will:
- feel frustrated and let that frustration show. This is a self-defeating behavior – when you act this way, the message you’re sending is it’s best to avoid being the bearer of bad news.
- complain to a colleague. This can feel good, but you’re just avoiding the problem.
- complain to the boss. Don’t bring problems to the boss…bring solutions. Get the next job by excelling at the job you have.
The best thing you can do is to look into the mirror.
Lead your team and your colleagues by example. Show them what open and honest communication is like. Ask them to be open and honest with you. Show them that there are no consequences for delivering bad news. Admit to your own mistakes and talk about how you’re going to do better – then follow through.
It’s far easier for us to blame others than it is to hold the mirror up to ourselves. So if you want to create change in the world around you, start by changing yourself. The people who follow you will be inspired to change themselves too. This may take time – and this is where the patience comes in.
The more self-aware you become, the more you understand where others are on the same journey. This isn’t bad or good – it just is. Some will be receptive to your attitude immediately, and others will take more time to break away from the fear of change.
I find my patience by remembering that there were times when I was just as fearful. I needed some help and guidance… I still do!
As you encounter issues involving open communication with your team, set the example of good communications, look in the mirror for reasons why your team has difficulty, and have patience as your realize that the people you lead are all on their own path of self-discovery.
How do you act when your team has communications problems? Any good advice for aspiring leaders? Be sure to leave a comment!