Thoughtful leadership and marketing

You don't need to tell me twice.

So my friend and his co-workers are listening to their Fortune 500 company president do the quarterly earnings report to investors and the president proudly announces that there will be even more cost savings as the company intends to transfer more jobs overseas from guess where?  That's right.  My friend's job is going overseas.  How is that for a punch to the midsection?

While the president hyped the earnings report to analysts with the cost cutting announcement, which in turn edged the stock to record highs, I can't believe the president did much for long term company morale at his own business.  And is that the best way to tell employees who have worked at your company for 30 years that their job is going away?  Does that have a long term negative effect on the quality of work and the workers that remain?  Or are people more robotic than I give them credit for?  They'll still dig deep, and go the extra mile for you, even if you treat them poorly. 

Call me overly sensitive, but when I had to eliminate someone's job, and it happens sooner or later to most all leaders, I tried to tell the employee first.  It brings a semblance of dignity to one of the worst assignments in the world. And why not tell the employee first?  Is there an advantage in announcing it to the financial press first?  Isn't a one on one with the employee that is going to be terminated a higher road?

But enough about the weak leadership from the president.  He will probably never change.  My friend needs to move into immediate action.  If it is your job being eliminated you do not have time to go through the usual steps of denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.  Move right to acceptance and do it today.   Get your resume together immediately and spend your spare time searching for a new job.  It is much easier to find a job when you have a job. When you are unemployed you are dealing from a position of weakness.  On average you'll receive less pay compared to the person who negotiates while employed.  HR types will look at you with more skepticism when you are unemployed. 

First and foremost be positive.  Put all bitterness toward your current employer up on a very high shelf and leave it there.  It does you no good.  

Tell your new prospective employer the truth if you choose, "My job has been targeted for transfer overseas."  Or spin it a bit and tell them, " I love my current job but I felt the time was right to try something new and exciting, and that is why I am here today because your company appears new and exciting to me.  And I love a challenge. And by the way, I'm a great listener.  You don't need to tell me something twice."

Helicopter parents are an embarrassment to all.

Last weekend I was providing the race commentary for a criterium bike race in my hometown.  It is a challenging job as packs of 20 to 70 racers go hurdling past the announcing platform at speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour with their race numbers on the "back" of their jerseys.  Getting it all right and timely is fun and difficult at the same time. 

Five minutes before the start of each race they give me a list of all of the racers and their corresponding numbers.  So I'm determined to try my best to give the racers their moment in the sun and call out the leaders' names and as many other names as I can.  Of course I have no idea how to pronounce their names but the author of Celebrating Failure is fearless about making mistakes and mispronunciations. 

In the Juniors race division there is a young kid named Stephan and he is momentarily in the lead and I mispronounce his name as (Steve-EN) when it is supposed to be pronounced (Stef-EN) or maybe it is the other way around. Please understand I'm still not losing any sleep over it.  I have always believed the time to worry about your name is when they stop talking about you.  Otherwise it's all good.

So little Stephan's mother comes running over to the announcer stand yelling, "No, no, no!  His name is pronounced Stef-EN and he is very sensitive about it."  Little Stephan got passed on the next lap and I'm pleased to report his name never passed my lips again.  I'm not normally a vengeful person so I'm not saying what I would have done if he would have remained in the lead.  I probably would have announced his name as I felt sorry for the kid with the helicopter mother.

Why does my generation continue to do such a lousy job raising children?  I tried to picture my mom or dad running over to the announcer platform saying, "No, no, no!  He is very sensitive about his name...It's Rolf not Ralf.  And don't make 'Ralphing' jokes, he hates that!"  That would happen right after hell froze over.  More likely, after the race, my dad would have asked me why I gave up the lead.  

Today's parents are not doing their kids any favors by butting into their lives and trying to shelter them from the cold, harsh reality of the real world.  If little Stephan is sensitive about the pronunciation of his name, how is he going to react when he is part of a group that just lost a million dollar new business pitch? 

How did we ever get to a place that has helicopter parents?