Leadership

Want the truth? Think like …

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Source: VisualHunt

False news! Fake news! Opinion! Celebrity as expert! Forget science! Here’s the latest conspiracy news! Journalists lie! Politicians lie! “I read it on the internet!” “That’s just spin!” China (or Russia) (or Iran) is hacking our news and …….

Yowzah! Finding the truth used to be easy.

“Back in the day” we had Walter Cronkite, the “most trusted man in America.”  Later, we thought the internet would make it easy to find the truth because so many people could “fact check.” Wow were we wrong! Seeking truth is harder than ever before because so many people / organizations / governments want to mislead us.

So, for the sake of public welfare I’d like to offer some suggestions to make your work easier. Or, if not easier, maybe a bit more organized.

Maybe you should think like …

Let’s get out of the world of brainiacs and into the world of real people doing practical things to find “the truth.” I suggest that we can learn truth-seeking from some of the following people.

You might want to think like …..

  • A research librarian and find primary sources. Retweets and opinion pieces are always filtered news. Believe them at your peril. If you want the truth you will have to work and dig deeper. Otherwise, you will find yourself living in an echo chamber. Think of how you developed your personal stance on global warming. Do you know the facts or are your repeating someone’s filtered view?
  • A criminal detective and look for the motive behind what has been presented. A given set of facts will certainly be spun differently by Fox News and CNN. Who has the truth? Probably neither because they have worked to make facts fit their agenda. You need multiple points of view before you can be sure of the real story. Are tariffs good or bad? The answer is “it depends.” The truth is not simple.
  • An historian and consider the context within which the “news” is happening. If you don’t consider the larger context you will be subject to your own biases (and all of us have biases). Sorry, but social media almost never provide the big picture. You have to find it yourself. We’ve had troops in Afghanistan for a long time and we won’t know the real impact for decades to come. The history is ongoing.
  • A medical diagnostician and prepare a differential diagnosis to consider how facts fit within different potential causes. Few things are as simple as they seem. To quote a phrase from decades ago “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” You will find truth in the causes triggering the events. White nationalism is abhorrent, so why is it on the rise (or is it)? 
  • An art detective and look for the “style and brushstrokes” of the facts being presented and decide if you are dealing with the truth or not.  (This is actually pretty hard because you have to have a level of expertise to even know what to look for.) For example, what do you really know about socialism in the United States in the 21st century? It’s an emotional-laden word. Can you explain it to a ten-year old?

OK, your turn

I’d appreciate your input on how you go about finding the truth in today’s confusing and misleading world. Responses are needed. Thanks.

You Salute the Uniform Not the Person in It

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Rank Has Meaning in An Organization and Should Be Respected, But A Jerk in A Position Is Still a Jerk.

McFerrin was a tough old military nurse.  She was the supervising nurse at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital where my father worked for a time as an orderly. She expected everyone in her charge to work.

That was not a problem for Dad. He was accustomed to work and believed he owed his employer a full day’s work for a day’s pay.

At a point, the VA sent down a dictum that its employees were to dress in a military fashion on the job. To Dad that meant spit and polish and a crisp white uniform. To that end, he polished his shoes and belt regularly and wore fresh clothes every day.

One summer day, in the then non-air-conditioned wing of the hospital, he was cleaning out bathtubs. The place was hot, especially in the humidity of the bathing area.

As Dad told it, he was standing on his head cleaning a tub, was wringing wet with sweat, and was thinking about the way Mrs. McFerrin had, in his opinion, mistreated a coworker earlier in the day.

Sweat had soaked Dad’s shirt and run down across his belt, leaving black streaks on his white pants. Mrs. McFerrin happened to walk up behind him and began to “dress him down” for the condition of his uniform.

Dad took the assault without comment until Mrs. McFerrin came to a pause. Then he asked, “Are you finished, Ma’am?”

She snapped, “Yes.”

“Then, as of right now you have my two-week notice.” He said.

Two weeks later over protestations from hospital personnel, including Mrs. McFerrin, Dad was done with that job.

He never failed when talking about that to emphasize to me that when you do your job to best of your ability and follow organizational rules, you do not need to, in fact should not, allow yourself to be mistreated by anyone in the organization.

More than 20 years later, I found myself in a situation at work that harkened back to that lesson. I worked for a publishing company when the company moved one of its editorial operations from Boston, MA to Iowa City, IA. The move created several openings when people chose to leave the company rather than move to what they perceived as nowhere in the middle of the country.

I transferred from a regional office to a Senior Editor position. Ed, who would be my direct supervisor, was the only transferee from Boston. The new Department Director was from Iowa City and brought a lineup of his cronies into the newly formed department.

I had a pretty good time in the editorial job for a couple of years, got some great experience hiring and working with professional staff, and in working with a variety of high-powered authors.

There were a number of things that transpired over that couple of years, though, that made me happy to have Ed between the Director and me.

Then there came a December day, when I was called into the Director’s office along with Ed, to discuss a performance review I had given for a relatively new editor that reported to me. I had been very pleased with her productivity and with the accuracy of her work; and I had rated her relatively highly.

In the meeting, the Director told me he didn’t want to have ratings go in that were “too high” and he wanted me to change my rating of the editor.

I suggested that I had followed the personnel review directive from headquarters and was not inclined to change my evaluation.

As the discussion continued, Ed suggested that we submit two evaluations, one that represented my assessment and another that represented the Director’s. That solution was not acceptable to the Director and he said he was going to alter my evaluation before submitting it to headquarters.

The meeting ended under those terms and as we walked back to the suite of offices we shared, I asked Ed, “If I resign today will I get my bonus for the year?” His answer was that I would have to be employed at the end of the year to qualify. I said, “Then, I will wait until after the holidays.”  When I returned to work on January 3rd, I presented Ed with my resignation letter, giving 30-days notice.

I later accepted an extension, agreeing to work until the end of February. Some 26 years later that same company rehired me and gave me employment credit for those early years, much to the inconvenience of the personnel manager who dug through long-warehoused paper documents to verify that employment, but that is another story.

The Point of this Story.

It is easy for some people to take on the role of being trapped in a job. When a person in a position of authority abuses that position, fails to give you reasonable respect or demonstrates that they are not worthy of your respect, you need to think about what you will do.

Feeling that you have no alternative but to stand there and take it, is detrimental to your need to do first, what is right. That, in turn, is detrimental to the organization in which you go to work dispirited, and to the potential organization you would better contribute, but where you don’t work.

How T.J., Our Pragmatic Strategist, Avoids Failure

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Last week we mentioned seven strategic behaviors we see in our friend T.J. Here are four more more. The final behavior is the one that keeps her from failure.

The Pragmatic Strategist

T.J., like all Pragmatic Strategists, exhibits most of the behaviors we have already mentioned. However, her success in the “eleventh behavior” is the one that prevent failure. She ……

  • Can list and is willing to vet the assumptions she’s working under. >>> If not, she is likely to be unpleasantly surprised.
  • Is willing to make decisions within her sphere of control and influences others to provide changes needed for her to succeed. >>> If not, her “strategic thinking” is merely a mental exercise and nothing will improve.
  • Evaluates alternative options for needed changes and knows how to sell her ideas to her stakeholders. >>> If not, she will be frustrated in her efforts.
  • Can write and implement a plan that aligns her unit with the vision, values, and goals of the organization in the evolving ecosystem. This plan identifies the specific, needed changes and the timeline, milestones and resources required to implement the changes. >>> If not, she will fail.

The eleventh behavior, the ability to plan and implement projects, is fundamental to the success of any strategy. Unfortunately, this skill set is underdeveloped in most managers and their organizations. (Why do I say this? Because I’ve been involved with projects for over fifty years and have NEVER come across an organization that brags their projects are always on-time, within budget, and deliver full scope outcomes. Never. What about your organization?)

Behaviors and the Upcoming Course Pilot

If you want a summary checklist of the eleven behaviors and some commentary, please click HERE . I’ll send you a summary. I will also send you information about the upcoming Pragmatic Strategist pilot. Don’t worry, you’re not committing to anything and I’m not going to sell your email address. I’m just going to send you some information.

The Pragmatic Strategist – Think Bigger. T.J. Does

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T.J. demonstrates many of the behaviors we see in managers who are realistic about their role in their company’s strategy and how they build a supporting strategy for their unit. Yesterday we mentioned two behaviors we see in T.J. Here are three more. The final behaviors will be described on Monday, including the one behavior that keeps her from failure.

The Pragmatic Strategist

T.J., like all Pragmatic Strategists, knows she has to think about context and “think bigger.” She ……

  • Uses the organization’s vision, values, and goals to vet needed changes to her unit. >>> If not, her unit will not be aligned with the larger organization.
  • Can define the changes needed in other units if her plan is to succeed and then influences other managers and individuals to bring about these changes. >>> If not, she will be dealing with fluff. (Or alternatively, will find future barriers and stumbling blocks to her unit’s execution of plans.)
  • Evaluates problems and opportunities and their potential resolutions from multiple points of view. >>> If not, she will have a strategy based on hope alone.

There are four more behaviors we see in T.J.’s planning and action. I’ll send them along on Monday. We hope you enjoy your weekend.

Upcoming Course Pilot

Want to learn more about The Pragmatic Strategist and the upcoming pilot? Click HERE to learn more. I’m facilitating the pilot with a maximum of fifteen participants. Don’t worry, you’re not committing to anything and I’m not going to sell your email. I’m just going to send you some information.

The Pragmatic Strategist: Be Like T.J. – 2

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T.J. demonstrates many of the behaviors we see in managers who are realistic about their role in their company’s strategy and how they build a supporting strategy for their unit. Yesterday we mentioned two behaviors we see in T.J. Here are two more.

The Pragmatic Strategist

T.J., like all Pragmatic Strategists, does not just think about today’s challenges. She ……

  • Dedicates time to identify events and emerging trends that will affect the organization and/or her unit. >>> If not, she and they will be surprised.
  • Anticipates needed changes to her unit’s role in the business. >>> If not, she and they will become irrelevant.

Upcoming Course Pilot

Want to learn more about The Pragmatic Strategist and the upcoming pilot? Click HERE to learn more. I’m facilitating the pilot with a maximum of fifteen participants. Don’t worry, you’re not committing to anything and I’m not going to sell your email. I’m just going to send you some information.

The Pragmatic Strategist: Be Like T.J.

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T.J. demonstrates many of the behaviors we see in managers who are realistic about their role in their company’s strategy and how they build a supporting strategy for their unit. Here are two behaviors we see in T.J. More will follow in the coming days.

The Pragmatic Strategist

T.J., like all Pragmatic Strategists, has good business acumen. She certainly knows how to run her department. And, she also knows how her department fits into the bigger picture. She ……

  • Understands the organization’s strategy well enough to explain its intent to her team, in terms they understand. >>> If not, they are just “flying blind.”
  • Can describe the organization’s basic business model (i.e., how it makes and uses money). >>> If not, she can’t plan for the proper use of scarce resources. 

Upcoming Course Pilot

Want to learn more about The Pragmatic Strategist and the upcoming pilot? Click HERE to learn more. I’m facilitating the pilot (Wow, that’s a big deal!) with a maximum of fifteen participants. Don’t worry, you’re not committing to anything and I’m not going to sell your email. I’m just going to send you some information.

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