Just Plain Bill

Remembering Dunkirk, and other benefits from getting old

I faintly remember my mom mentioning Dunkirk during a family conversation when I was a very little boy. The name hasn’t really meant anything to me until just recently, when the trailers from the movie “Dunkirk” starting coming out.

The mention of Dunkirk has also triggered the memory of my family listening to short wave radio reporting on the English military, and their responses to attacks by Germany. Many of my mother’s relatives were living in England and were experiencing the effects of the bombings that often caused them to take shelter in the underground – the subways throughout London. (This period also brings discussion about my Uncle Tom, who was attacked with mustard gas in the First World War. He survived, but died at a relatively young age.)

Writing about aging and getting old often gives short shrifts to the benefits of having lived through special times, experiencing first hand, events of historical significance that can only be imagined or referred to as events to be read about in history books.

I spent most of my youth in Oakland, California, a center of the war effort. Preparing for the possibility of being attacked, maintaining the war effort, and the shameful treatment of the Japanese were topics of ongoing discussion, pervading so many conversations.

All of this didn’t interrupt my youthful routine, except for “black outs,” when lights were turned off at night (except for the flashlight in the bathtub) in case enemy planes might fly over, or the presence of air raid wardens walking the neighborhood, or scrap drives collecting tin foil, rags, rubber bands, and cooking grease for use in war preparation, or the resulting rationing of food and gasoline – all just a part of a little boy growing up.

There is often the temptation to respond to today’s complaints with “When I was your age” comments, which have absolutely no impact on behavior or attitude except with the common retort, “Boy, are you old.”

As I approach my 80s, there are so many changes to reference: I’m so old, I actually paid $6 a night at Motel 6. Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon. No FM radio or TV. Elevator operators were real people. There were only about six brands of cereal and soda pop. Boys on bicycles delivered morning and afternoon newspapers. No ball point pens. Only three brands of sneakers. No private phone lines. And on and on...

One of many articles focusing on “When I was your age” talks about the benefits of “intergenerational knowledge”, a subject near and dear to my heart as I’ve returned to teaching children in our public schools. I hope to enrich the curriculum by having “lived” many of the changes the books talk about – able to provide an invaluable perspective not to be found elsewhere.

Just Plain Bill

Arrogance, the 8^th Deadly Sin

Once in a while, I’m reminded of the seven deadly sins – wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony – when considering the news of the day. The seven deadly sins, according to Wikepedia, “is a grouping and classification of vices…”

Arrogance is what I’d consider the 8^th deadly sin.

Now some might associate arrogance with one of the existing sins, greed, (silent, but deadly, in my opinion), but I feel arrogance can often be masked by bombastic expressions of “bragging” and persistent expressions of superiority.

What gives rise to this interest is the example of arrogance found in the leadership of one of the world’s largest financial institutions – Wells Fargo. In a recent conference on Good Corporate Governance, Wells’ CEO praised his board as “exceptional”, and the San Francisco Chronicle reporter Thomas Lee opened his column with the following: "Give this to Wells Fargo CEO Timothy Sloan: It takes a lot of guts to speak at a conference dedicated to good corporate governance when the bank you lead has confessed to employees creating up to two million fraudulent accounts in customers’ names. What takes even more guts is openly gushing about said company’s board of directors, the very people who failed to prevent that massive fraud. It’s a strange kind of courage, but not the type Wells Fargo requires right now." (6/28/17, S.F. Chronicle, page C1.)

I hesitate to paint the whole organization with a broad brush, as I personally know several Wells professionals who are outstanding leaders with unquestionable integrity, but as a whole, too many of Wells’ top decision makers demonstrated either a lack of awareness or disinterest as the Wells’ culture fostered an acute sense of poor judgment.   

Some may say that’s an extreme viewpoint, and that I shouldn’t be focusing on just one organization, but I used to work at Wells. I experienced a healthy environment in my business line, while knowing several friends who did, and still do good work at Wells. But there’s one critical and relatively overlooked area that’s been victimized by Wells’ arrogance: the Wells’ employees who refused, or were not able to the meet the unreasonable and unethical standards of sales performance goals and were not only fired, but were labeled or branded as unfit for working in financial services. This made it difficult, if not impossible for these branch employees to gain further employment in their chosen profession. What a crime!

I could provide other unfortunate examples of the victims who have suffered through no fault of their own, due to this arrogance, the “8^th deadly sin”, but…

Enough said!

Just Plain Bill

OJT (On-the-job training)

Have you ever been waited on by someone being trained on the job to do the job? If you’re like me, you’re somewhat ambivalent about being patient, or even tolerant, especially while the trainee struggles with important payment processing tasks, usually adding time to complete my transaction.

Even with the advances in technology that allow for scanning of bar codes, calculating exact change on cash purchases, and even the calculations for any credits or discounts, the process can be overwhelming to the trainee.

Beyond the jobs involving customer contact, new employees throughout organizations are often treated as if they don’t know “anything”, are assumed to know “nothing” about work, and are expected to interpret often less-than helpful verbal and printed directions.

All too often, I’ve observed someone being told what to do, while the “teller” pushes the keys or performs the task themselves, assuming the “new person” will easily pick up on what the veteran employee is doing. 

One might ask what the alternative might be: How are new employees to learn how to do their job? Over the years I’ve witnessed that we all learn in different ways, ranging from reading a manual, observation, being “told”, “faking it until you make it”, blundering through, using a job aid, or some combination of all of the above.

When I was teaching lending professionals and loan applicants about a different and somewhat complex type of mortgage, I always started by asking what the learner and customer already knew. Confidence was gained. Rapport was established. Trust was built. The learner felt good about what they already knew and they felt valued. It’s a great starting point for the blueprint to build on from there. 

It’s been said, “People don’t like to be told what they already know”, which relates to this subject. I’ve found this to be a valuable approach, which helps those in the OJT role minimize frustration or failure, and get them “up to speed” and contributing as expeditiously as possible. 

Just Plain Bill

Collaboration – valued but elusive

Several years ago, back when Yahoo! was still viable (and Marissa Mayer was fairly new as its CEO), the company made the decision to eliminate all work-from-home employees. The rationale for this change of policy was to encourage “collaboration” that would supposedly result from working face-to-face.

When this policy change took place over four years ago, I wrote a satirical post entitled “Thank you, Melissa Mayer”, for assuming just because employees work in close proximity to their colleagues that collaboration would result. Mayer stated, “We need to be One Yahoo! and that starts with physically being together." Not that this one policy change led to Yahoo’s demise, but I’m sure it didn’t help with workplace morale. It’s been a well-accepted tradition for engineers to work remotely, and it was projected that a majority of Yahoo’s engineers would look for work elsewhere since the majority of them were working more than two hours away from the Yahoo! facility.

Collaboration is a desired dynamic in the workplace, with many proven benefits from the synergy resulting from collective contributions. But collaboration does not occur just because employees work in close proximity. Especially with the technology tools available to us today, collaboration can just as easily result from a viable group of workers whose temperament, or preference, is to work alone, but as individual contributors to shared goals and achievements.

In my experience, a manager should not assume all employees work in the same way, or try to treat all workers the same. Knowing the tendencies, strengths, and skillsets of all employees is one of the hallmarks of a successful manager. Numerous scholars have supported this challenging concept, that to do anything less is a formula for ignoring the contributions of all employees.

What do you think? Have you been a meaningful collaborator who was allowed to work remotely?  

Let’s collaborate.  

Just Plain Bill

Leader vs. Manager

A recent headline has informed us of yet another resignation or termination by a leader of a successful and relatively new company. Uber, the immensely popular alternative transportation option, is just the latest example of when a great idea becomes a less-than successful company, due, in great part, to questionable management practices and a hostile, even toxic work environment.

Many studies of organizational effectiveness focus on the differences between “management”, and “leadership.” The work of James Kouzes and Barry Posner, authors of the best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, helps us understand the critical differences between management and leadership. It’s been said that managers talk, while leaders listen.

A Harvard Business Review article (08/02/13), Three Difference

Between Managers and Leaders, by Vineet Nayar, identifies the

following differences:

•    -   Counting value vs. Creating value

•     -   Circles of influence vs. Circles of power

•        Leading people vs. Managing work

This excellent article goes on to provide a concise summary and comparison of the differences.

Upon reading their findings, the question arises whether one can be both a manager and leader at the same time.

Returning to the current headlines, I feel that problems will continue to arise as long as these differences are not recognized. Add to this conundrum the role ego plays, mixed with a fair share of arrogance, and you have the recipe for failure.

Not sure what can be done to break this cycle that often leads to failure, but perhaps the actions taken by Uber’s investors can serve as a fail-safe option.

It appears money “talks” when reason fails.