June 2019 - Meaning2Work

Most Plans Lack One Crucial Ingredient: Humility

You’ve gotta have a plan.

Plans are essential, are they not? Without a plan, your weekend jaunt to the Carribean can, thanks to a tropical storm, turn into a hotel room Netflix marathon. Without a budget, you may unknowingly forego your next home repair for an extra round of drinks. In short, if you had clean underwear and gas in your tank this morning, you have planning to thank.

Without a doubt, we need to have plans and not just for practical reasons like the ones discussed. Thinking ahead makes us FEEL better too. Theoretically, without the worries of tomorrow we are free to enjoy today. Not only that, a solid plan can make us feel just a little superior to others, like those poor souls who didn’t use call ahead seating at the restaurant.

It makes no sense to fight city hall (or the Future).

Despite their enumerable benefits, our best laid plans inevitably come under scrutiny. If you’ve ever done a major addition to your house, you’ve probably had to submit building plans for approval from a Zoning Board or Commissioner before beginning construction. In response to your submission, you typically get one of three responses: an approval, a denial, or an approval contingent on changes. In short, the process is not as simple as picking up a hammer and swinging.

Unfortunately, even outside of the construction world, life’s response to our planning efforts can be similarly uncontrollable. It’s as if a Future Commissioner hands down judgements of our plans. However, unlike the Zoning Commissioner, the Future Commissioner requires us to enact our plan before she decrees one of the same three answers, a denial, an approval, or a conditional approval.

Humility – the missing link to most plans.

Can you imagine cooking multiple meals for guests and allowing them to sample and pick their desired main course? In essence, we never truly know the right course of action in any given situation until we take action. And, however well-researched or thought-out, our plans can still be toppled as easily as a child’s tower of blocks. To acknowledge this fact we must be humble.

What if we somehow could see the future? No, I don’t mean in a prophetic way like a character in The Matrix. Instead, we can use an ability we’ve had since childhood – our imagination. Most conventional planning wisdom regards failure as something to be planned against, not accepted. What if, instead of fearing the worst we made peace with it? Wouldn’t we then be more capable to respond when things go bad?

It’s one of the most commonly misunderstood facts about planning. Failure is not an option, it’s an outcome. Success is also an outcome. Neither is a choice. If a Boeing MAX 8 lands on your car during your commute, anything else you planned to do that day will technically be a failure. True humility involves a surrender to fate.

Even if failure is not an option, it’s still a possibility.

At this point, you might claim your secret to success is denying the possibility of failure. In essence, you use pressure to motivate yourself. While stress has been shown to produce a short term boost in productivity, it’s also been proven to reduce creativity and drain our energy. Doesn’t this seem like a steep price to pay for the luxury of temporarily fooling oneself

Humility – the best insurance policy.

When it’s time to face the truth, humility can free us from the feeling of loss. The humble person knows they were never entitled to a good outcome in the first place. Our hard work was a prerequisite not a guarantee. The good news? It’s impossible to lose something we never had in the first place. We didn’t lose anything and, instead may have gained valuable experience.

I propose the key to better planning is a better perspective on planning. It’s a valuable tool to move us toward better outcomes – no more, no less. It’s time to acknowledge that we can never fully control what happens as a result of our efforts. Just as we have plans for the future, the future will inevitably have it’s own plans for us. We can only learn, adapt, and respond.

Sincerely,

Chris Pawar

Meaning2work.com

Pride: What Ben Franklin Knew About It (and You)

Aside from Electricity, bifocals, the pros and cons list, and numerous other discoveries, there’s one idea Benjamin Franklin is credited for which you may not be aware. It affects you on a daily basis and has to do with your pride. Consider the following story.

According to his autobiograhpy, Ben Franklin once deliberately asked to borrow a valuable book from one of his political opponents. The rival obliged and, thereafter, treated Ben with a greater level of generosity and respect. In fact, they later became friends. This human desire for consistency was later labeled the “Ben Franklin Effect” and, most recently, was classified by psychologists as Cognitive Dissonance.

I’m the type of person who would…

Cognitive Dissonance is the tension we feel when we act in a way contrary to our past. Ben knew if he could get his opponent to do him one favor, he’d be more likely to continue doing them. For example, the moment you order steak at the seafood restaurant, you’ve just increased the liklihood you do the same on you next visit.

Ironically, Ben used Cognitive Dissonance to change someone’s behavior when, by definition, it’s more often used as a reason NOT to change. In my sales career, resisting change has been mostly detrimental. Early on, I was the type of guy not to ask for the sale. Therefore, I lost business. Later, I was the type of guy not to speak up at a meeting. Therefore, I remained unhappy and disengaged with my job for long periods of time. Whoever we are, we usually want to stay that way.

The Ben Franklin Effect = Cognitive Dissonance = Pride

I believe the issue truly at hand is pride and what puzzles me is the following paradox: pride in a possession entails care and periodic improvement. When we take pride in our house we tend to the lawn and replace things like shingles and gutters. Pride in ourselves, however, largely means being unwavering and resistant to change. A proud person holds fast to core beliefs knowing themselves and the truth.

Why the dichotomy in our definitions of pride? I attribute it to fear of being alone. In a literal sense, anyone who doesn’t know themself is forced to uncomfortably spend their every waking minute with a stranger. Therefore, we feel we must act in ways WE can predict. Besides, the alternative is a very traumatizing condition known as Amnesia. In comparison, we can easily see in our possessions (and our relatives and friends) the constant need for improvement.

Photo by Samuel Zeller via Unsplash.com.

Can I take pride in who I want to be?

Still, can’t we pride ourselves, not by the past, but by what we want to be in the future? Perhaps, like the car enthusiast toiling for hours on a heap of metal, envision what we plan to be and take pride in that.

Our biggest obstacle is how we understand and use power. A landscaper has the ability to dig, trim, and plant with their own hands. She can therefore make what she envisions come into reality. Many of our dreams involve money or accolades coming from others. And, try as we may, we don’t control others, we can only influence and observe. As we wait for the compliments, Facebook likes, and glowing performance reports to come in, we relinquish the power to cultivate and shape ourselves.

Is change mandatory?

Yes (gasp), at least in a scientific sense. Our bodies replace most of their cells over a period of seven years. Therefore, it would be impossible for us to physically stay the same, even if we wanted to!

One could argue that, in a mental sense, change is mandatory as well. After all, the people and situations around us are in constant flux. Some degree of change is mandatory just to adjust. That said, the way we change needn’t be dictated by someone else. We can certainly act as our own catlyst.

Again, that darn pride issue pops up! We look down on people who change to please others and, at the same time, yearn for people to like us for who we are! Pride without the willingness to change is essentially a lie. It’s like someone proudly showing you their rusting car, citing how sexy it was when they drove it off the lot. Who we are is fluid. We don’t have to live in the past.

Who’s in charge here?

To those of us, myself included, who desire too much to be perfect, the very suggestion of change can be an insult. Who are they to tell us how to change? You know you’re defensive when you can’t even question yourself! This is when we have to give up and resolve to no longer defend who we were in the past and instead plan what actions we can take in the future.

Of course, not all advice is good and much of it, however well-intentioned, should NOT be followed. Still, we shouldn’t dismiss criticism based solely on the source. That would again give up our own power to choose. Rest assured, when we think for ourselves, the choice to take advice is never weak. It’s probably the only way we can excercise true pride – the kind that improves who we are and doesn’t cling to the past.

Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

Leadership Lessons from Chernobyl

Over the years, thanks to HBO, I’ve learned quite a bit about dragons, Wight Walkers, and Valyrian steel. This year, before I routinely cancelled my subscription, I gave into the hype and watched Chernobyl. After doing so, I couldn’t help but draw some lessons applicable to today’s business world. Before reading any further, please be advised I’ve included a nuclear disaster’s worth of spoilers below.

Corporate Communism

In the miniseries’ pivotal moment, main character, and nuclear physicist Valero Legasov, surprises the scientific community when he not only testifies to operator negligence at the plant but also a host of bad decisions made by the Soviet Government and their subsequent cover up. In response, the KGB isolates him from his colleagues and takes away all his professional achievements. There was no need to kill him because his exposure to nuclear contamination would, in a few years, do the job for them.

Costly Corners Cut

Inspired by our news shows, we may fight tooth and nail to preserve a free and open marketplace. How else can we foster innovation and healthy competition? Remarkably, inside our corporations, we permit a version of communist rule. By this I refer not to the “we’re all equal” ideal but instead the “never question the state” reality of most communist governments. We therefore resolve to keep our praise public and our complaints private.

The nuclear reactors throughout the Soviet Union at the time we built in such a way that a disaster was bound to happen. They each had the same emergency shutoff feature that used rods of an element called Boron. When the reactor produced too much nuclear energy, the rods were moved close to the nuclear elements to slow down or stop the reaction.

To save money, the Soviet government made the tips that secured the rods out of graphite. Graphite, under extreme conditions like those at Chernobyl, doesn’t slow nuclear energy production, but enhances it. It was like throwing gas on a flame. As a result, the reactor exploded and began steadily throwing more radiation into the atmosphere per day than 48 Hiroshima bombs.

I suspect most of us are thankful not to work in such dangerous environments! The average American is much more likely to die of heart disease or Cancer than a nuclear explosion. Yet, somehow, the growth of insurance deductibles, premiums, and co-pays always seem to far out-pace wages. Yes, healthcare costs in our country are out of control but is that the fault of employees themselves? In the name of pleasing investors we shift the health cost burden to employees.

We All Sacrifice More Than We Think

Although many of the workers who worked at the plant or responded to the disaster died, not all knew the risks. They accepted, in some cases, large promised payouts without knowing they’d never be around to collect them. Many of them endured painful deaths over weeks as nuclear contamination melted their bodies at a cellular level.

Few us will ever have to make that kind of sacrifice. Yet, it’s not unheard of to spend 1/4 to 1/3 of our lives at work. If that sounds low, remember we also have to sleep. Does the time we spend at work adequately support the rest of our lives? That’s a question everyone must answer for themselves. That requires us, however, to take the time to think about the true meaning and value of the work we do.

Will our sad state of affairs every change? Not if we don’t. Instead of complaining, we can challenge our employers, current and prospective, to prove they value employees more than their competitors. After all, isn’t that what a free market is for?

Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

You’re Only an Investment – Until You Decide Otherwise

You and I are an investment.

Hey no offense, when you were hired, your manager took a risk. He or she made a bet that you’d bring more in revenue to the company than you took away. As salespeople, we have the luxury (or curse) of being able to approximate, fairly accurately, our own return on investment. By definition, we bring in sales, which are easily quantified.

Make no mistake, however, we’re not the only people who are measured. Everyone else, from upper management to the assembly line, is as well. We all have a price tag and are expected to add more than what we subtract from the bottom line.

Methods to Pursue Value Can Differ

Whether she’s a supportive friend or an unrelenting driver, your boss will always need you to produce. Did I say produce? I meant produce MORE – more than you did last year or even last quarter. And, management styles can vary wildly. Whether she uses motivational sugar or spice, it’s your numbers in the end, that had better be nice.

Sadly, no matter how much they liked you and vice versa, your favorite boss still needed you to produce. Maybe it was your sales results that allowed them to treat you with such care and respect. This is not to say it didn’t matter. Some “leaders”can be so self-focused as to consider praise of a subordinate as weakness.

Resistance to ROI is Futile

Face it. It’s ingrained in the way we think about work. When we come home, we’re individuals and when we arrive at work, we’re part of the machine. To make a profit, a firm’s income MUST be higher than it’s expenses. And, it’s the existence of profit that attracts investors. Stock prices rise based on the anticipated value of the stock. Nobody invests with the goal to lose!

Consequently none of us are allowed to lose which begs the question, who is to blame? Your sales goals don’t start with your manager. Instead, look to upper management and investors themselves. However, before you condemn them, understand even they are just guessing. After all, what is a revenue forecast other than a highly-researched guess? Also, consider that without a rosy forecast, the share price of a company tends to go down, losing money for all invested.

The hard life of an investment. — Photo by John Salvino via Unsplash.com

It’s A Hard Life – As An Investment

What a cold, heartless, and vicious cycle being measured and evaluated like shares of stock! Hell, we even do it to our kids with their grades and sports. Everyone, in the end, must prove their own worth, right?

People who ascribe to this belief tend to believe they can control others. The idea that we can determine the value other people assign to us is a comfortable fiction. It protects us from randomness. In reality, we can ride the crest of stellar sales performance one quarter and be thrown against the rocks in the next – all with the same or greater level of effort.

Therefore, are we doomed to watch our own value tick up and down like the price of a pork belly? Not if we refuse view ourselves as a commodity.

We Can Stop the ROI Cycle – If We Choose To

To stop the ROI cycle you must decide who you are and what you do has a value that cannot be quantified. Your paycheck and your annual review, they’re still going to have numbers on them. Read them, learn from them, and move on.

Ironically, we also put some pressure on ourselves in the way we invest. As we complain about our goals, we contribute to their increase by buying our own company’s stock and expecting to profit. Whether or not to continue is your call.

The real hope lies in the way we evaluate ourselves. I suggest, when you start each day, resolve to be the one person to whom you don’t have to prove yourself. You’re not the investment, you’re the return. The purpose of your job is to support you, not vice versa. So go ahead, quantify everything you do, just not who you are.

Sincerely,

Meaning2work.com

The Non-Traditional Salesperson

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel via Unsplash.com

Writing this blog, for over a year now, has caused me to wonder how I compare vs. the ideal salesperson. Was I meant to be in this profession? Would I have been happier in another career? As a result, I’ve come to the following conclusion: I’m a non-traditional salesperson. Surely some customers have liked me because of it while some hiring managers have passed me over for it.

How am I different? Let me count the ways:

Sports – I watch them but only care for the outcome when my team is doing well. Yep, I said it, I am band-wagon, fair-weather fan.
Money – Like everyone else, I want more of it and I don’t want loose what I have. Yet, aside when I feel I’m getting underpaid vs. my peers, I don’t really care. I’m thankful for the commission checks and, at the same time, know they don’t bring lasting happiness.
Achievement – I like winning awards but aren’t really motivated by them. Why not? Read on.
Sales Numbers – I am skilled and I work hard. Without me, my territory would suffer. That said, I believe sales results, mine and yours, are due to the combination of hard work and generous amount of luck.
Competitiveness – I like winning, but for the reasons provided, I believe sales contests are games of chance. In the grand scheme, someone else’s achievement doesn’t subtract from mine. Therefore, I’m usually willing to talk about my successes and failures and give my peers praise.
Attitude – For my own benefit, I try to maintain a slightly positive outlook on the future. When I think too negatively, I fail to notice important opportunities and when I’m too optimistic, I fail to plan effectively.
Demeanor – Occasionally, by high-strung, type A, sales managers I’m considered too calm. To reserved and pensive customers, I can be an annoying chatterbox. Take your pick.
Nerdiness – Most salespeople consider reading or sitting through a class a painful waste of time. I’m the opposite. My brain abhors boredom and craves new ideas. Why else would I keep writing this stuff? 😂

Why share all of this? Am I saying that you need to be like me? Absolutely not. In fact, many times I’ve wished I wasn’t this way! However, my greatest failures came when I wasn’t true to myself – when I couldn’t pull off being a hard-charging, dominant closer or the beloved relationship rep. Ironically, I’ve gotten a lot more done being myself. Maybe there isn’t one ideal personality type for this job and maybe we should allow people to be themselves.

My only advice is to think of your own picture as a salesperson. What is your style? What makes you unique? Despite all the books and articles preaching ‘best practices”, it could be your success is due not to what makes you ideal, but what makes you different.

Maybe it’s not so bad to be a non-traditional salesperson. Lord knows, it’s the only kind I can be!

Sincerely,

Chris Pawar

Meaning2work.com