Archive for September, 2011
I’ve worked for people who were crazy, had quirky interpersonal skills and who spoke only in cryptic analogies. It may sound trite, but I’ve learned something from every boss– the under educated, lacking in experience and emotionally volatile. All of them were good – at something.
My second boss did not have the education or experience to do the job for which he was hired. I was a trainer and there was nothing he could teach me about training. But he was really good politically, and I was really bad. Not only did I not play the game, I didn’t even know which game we were playing. I learned how to navigate a corporate environment from him, and it’s something I write and teach about today. He made me a more savvy careerist. And I taught him a thing or two about training.
My next boss had weird interpersonal skills. He typically had a Cheshire-Cat-like-grin plastered on his face that made all of his direct reports question his authenticity and decide he was downright odd. But he really knew how to package and present information. He told me I was all substance and no sizzle. I actually thought it was a compliment – all meat and no fluff, until I didn’t get a raise one year because I didn’t promote my accomplishments well enough. The Cheshire Cat taught me how to package and present information so I could sell my ideas and in turn get resources to create change.
Make every situation work –for you. You may not get what you want or were expecting from your boss, but she is sure to have something you need. Look for what she does effectively. Watch her in meetings. See the reports she produces. Watch what she is able to sell and how she works with difficult people.
I assure you the day will come that you will need that skill and will be grateful that your worst boss, with little education and poor interpersonal skills was a good example… of something.
Every year on September 11th I appreciate being alive and wonder why I’m not dead. I worked in the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001. Tower Two. I was out of town that day. I easily could have been there, but was not. And each year I ask myself the same questions.
How is the world different because I lived on September 11th when others died? What have I done in the last 12 months to make the world smaller and to build community each time I get on a plane, walk in a store, meet someone new and have a conversation? Where have I played small? Said yes when I meant no? Said no when I wanted to say yes? Or didn’t say anything at all?
The further we get from September 11th the more it impacts me. I’m struck by the people who died and didn’t finish what they started. I’m struck by human being’s continued approach to solving problems with violence. And each year I debate how to mark the day.
I think about marking the day privately, in my own way. But I always feel compelled to reach out. For me September 11th is the outcome of a lack of community and thus it is a public conversation.
Each year I reach out to my friends and colleagues at OppenheimerFunds who shared the days after September 11th. I let them know I’m grateful for them and I’m happy they’re alive. I remember my mother’s panicked call needing to confirm that I was indeed out of town on September 11th, and what it must be like for a parent to fear her child is in harm’s way. And then I reflect on my year.
Perhaps September 11th is my day of atonement. It is the day every year on which I reflect on my contribution to the world and how the world is or is not different because I am in it. What difference have I made, will I make? What am I doing that I love and who am I doing it with?
I will leave you with this. What are you doing that’s important to you, today? What are you doing that’s not? How did you make the world smaller, today?
I didn’t know that MeetUp groups were created as response to September 11th. I received this message by the Founder of Meet Ups and thought you might find it interesting.
Fellow Meetuppers,
I don’t write to our whole community often, but this week is special because it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many people don’t know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.
Let me tell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles from the Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought local community doesn’t matter much if we’ve got the internet and tv. The only time I thought about my neighbors was when I hoped they wouldn’t bother me.
When the towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors in the days after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to neighbors (next-door and across the city) who they’d normally ignore. People were looking after each other, helping each other, and meeting up with each other. You know, being neighborly.
A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet — and grow local communities?
We didn’t know if it would work. Most people thought it was a crazy idea — especially because terrorism is designed to make people distrust one another.
A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months after 9/11.
Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it’s working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups, Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups… a wild variety of 100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common — except one thing.
Every Meetup starts with people simply saying hello to neighbors. And what often happens next is still amazing to me.
They grow businesses and bands together, they teach and motivate each other, they babysit each other’s kids and find other ways to work together. They have fun and find solace together. They make friends and form powerful community. It’s powerful stuff.
It’s a wonderful revolution in local community, and it’s thanks to everyone who shows up.
Meetups aren’t about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it weren’t for 9/11.
9/11 didn’t make us too scared to go outside or talk to strangers. 9/11 didn’t rip us apart. No, we’re building new community together!!!!
The towers fell, but we rise up. And we’re just getting started with these Meetups.
Scott Heiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ) Co-Founder & CEO, Meetup New York City September 2011
Posted under
Managing People on September 5, 2011 by Shari Harley. Comments
Last week one of my clients called to talk about one of her employees whose work contained errors and thus appeared to be done quickly and carelessly. The employee works in the Marketing Department and posted a few items to the company’s website with commas in the wrong place, without periods at the ends of sentences and with incorrect links. The manager told me, “Her work was reliable until about two weeks ago.” And then the manager began to question herself saying, “Are my complaints valid? Maybe I’m being too picky.”
Regardless of how picky or precise our requests are, we want what we want. And trying to talk ourselves into wanting something different is a futile exercise. If you’re at an ice cream parlor and you want a double scoop of rocky road ice cream loaded with chocolate and marshmallows but decide to ‘be good’ and get lemon sorbet instead, you most likely won’t be satisfied and will probably be hunting through your kitchen cabinets at 11 p.m. at night looking for anything dipped in chocolate.
Get what you want. Don’t apologize for what you want or question if you expectations are reasonable or valid. Find someone who you think will meet your expectations, and communicate EXACTLY what you’re looking for when they begin working with you, rather than after you are disappointed.
