I stumbled across an interesting article in a recent European issue of Fortune that explores the dollar-value of corporate virtue and, in particular, trust.  Perhaps you'll find it interesting, too.

Like ants in a mound, we all sense the vibrations of impending change.

In particular, I am feeling in my bones, perhaps for the first time ever, bona fide (sorry for the pun) traction in the Green Movement.  Similarly, I also sense the early tremors of a tectonic shift in Workplace Expectations in smaller, more nimble organizations.

The minority of "crackpots" are now becoming the mainstream, and with them... the trains are beginning to steam-up, rumble, and leave their respective stations.  The 'get on board' or 'get left behind' decision-point is now becoming less theoretical and more tangible.

On the topic of the green movement, the media is dripping with books like The World Without Us, The Earth After Us, and The Last Human and 'thought-experiment-documentaries' like Life After People are springing up through the cracks of every sidewalk.  Long overdue regulatory emissions and fuel economy standards have just passed, and now more and more grocery stores are charging a tax for consumers who use paper or plastic sacks at checkout.  (Even Michael Moore has joined the proverbial greenpeace parade, with his latest entreaty on what should be created in the wake of GM's bankruptcy.  GoodbyeGM,MichaelMoore.pdf (15.29 kb))

On the topic of shifting workplace expectations, there is a trove of research -- two decades old now -- that has tracked and highlighted and forecasted all the varying expectations between 'generations' in the workplace.  Given the recession and an average 40% loss in wealth among those with retirement plans, the 'social contract' between employees and employers is under assault and will result in a renegotiation of what truly matters.

I am running into more and more people, often in their sixties and seventies, who spent some fifty years away from their families to create a nest egg which barely remains.  "Why?" is pretty much all they can ask.  The 'deal' they made with the devil was a house of cards and, as the economy melts down, much of their 'earthly treasure' has become tragically diluted.

For all the parents who worked tirelessly, barely seeing their spouse or children in the mornings or evenings or on weekends, "why?" indeed.  The then-logical, selfless, and sacrificial decision by these millions to create income as a means to secure financial and familial stability has been wholly undermined by a few reckless risk-takers in the most opulent buildings in NYC.

As a result of coming to terms with 'the casino sets the rules,' more and more employees are accepting that 'the house always wins.'  And so, as Wall Street lands on featherbeds of bailout dollars and safety nets while Main Street shutters its windows and closes too many doors, individuals are taking stock and starting to reclaim what they can -- their lives -- for the benefit of their families and the sake of their own sanity.

I witnessed it just last night on Charlie Rose as he interviewed Claire Shipman and Katty Kay about their new book, Womenomics: Write Your Own Rules for Success.  In it, many startling admissions that, hitherto, would have been blasphemous.  But in the harsh sunlight of 2009, many people will say, "Of course."  Read it and decide for yourself, but I predict it will be one of a raft of such books to follow in coming months.  Books about owning reality, speaking truth, and reclaiming one's life on her or his own terms.

I am also hearing and reading more and more about such things as ROWE, Results-Only Work Environment as espoused by CultureRx and embraced by clients like BestBuy.  This is a trend I have seen coming for years, and it goes hand-in-hand with expectations held by many Generation X-ers, Y-ers, and Millennials (20-somethings).  Few within these generations will agree to be chained to a desk, tracked or monitored to within an inch of their life, or to serve as a cog within a large, cold machine.  Most of them will commit to accomplish results and be accountable, but not in exchange for balance, community, or altruism.  And most of them studied George Orwell's 1984 as required reading somewhere in high school. 

With all implosions and explosions, there is debris and fallout.  And following forest fires, be they accidental or prescribed, there is regeneration and new life.  New growth is the 'creative' that follows 'destruction.'  What will the Recession of 2009+ yield?  Only time will tell, but if the hairs on my arm are any indication, Bob Dylan's line was spot-on: the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.  People are questioning. 

As is the case every hundred years or so, this will likely prove to be a season, nothing more.  In time, the pendulum has a tendency to swing back.

But it is also possible that rather than a Season, we are dealing with a Genie or Pandora.  And they, once out of the bottle, lamp, or box, prefer to stay out.

Either way, I'm sure the questions and changes are welcome.  The way we worked throughout the Industrial Revolution is neither sustainable nor compatible with what is coming. 

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, with new and fervent questions come better answers.  And this, in the words of the "venerable" Martha Stewart, is a good thing. 

"The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them."

                                                                                                - Albert Einstein

Workplaces are grapevines; that's just the way it is.  Sadly, there are too few exceptions to the hypothesis that, "Where there are three, there gossip be."

Turn on practically any TV channel or Radio station: innuendo, rumor, speculation, gossip.

See countless Websites...

Countless News programs...

Countless 'Reality' programs...

My feeble Blog entry for today won't do one iota to stop gossip from metastasizing, but if it underscores the importance of not gossiping, abiding gossip, or feeding the gossip machine for even 'one day,' all the better.  A chain only works when each link does its part.  By refusing to engage or tolerate gossip in your workplace, you not only differentiate what IS and IS NOT appropriate, productive, and right, but you sometimes preserve a person's reputation.

And THAT is something which, once tarnished, dented, or broken, suffers from Humpty Dumpty Syndrome:

In Doubt, the haunting play and film by John Patrick Shanley, there is a wonderful sermon delivered by the character Father Flynn.  I will close with it, as it so powerfully captures the viral and infectious nature of gossip:

A woman was gossiping with a friend about a man she hardly knew - I know none of you have ever done this - that night she had a dream. A great hand appeared over her and pointed down at her. She was immediately seized with an overwhelming sense of guilt. The next day she went to confession. She got the old parish priest, Father O’Rourke, and she told him the whole thing.

‘Is gossiping a sin?’ she asked the old man. ‘Was that the hand of God Almighty pointing a finger at me? Should I be asking your absolution? Father, tell me, have I done something wrong?’

(Irish Brogue)
‘Yes!’ Father O’Rourke answered her. ‘Yes! You have borne false witness against your neighbor, you have played fast and loose with his reputation, and you should be heartily ashamed!’

So the woman said she was sorry and asked for forgiveness.

‘Not so fast!’ says O’Rourke. ‘I want you to go home, take a pillow up on your roof, cut it open with a knife, and return here to me!’

So the woman went home, took a pillow off her bed, a knife from the drawer, went up the fire escape to the roof, and stabbed the pillow. Then she went back to the old parish priest as instructed.

‘Did you gut the pillow with the knife?’ he says.

‘Yes, Father.’

‘And what was the result?’

‘Feathers,’ she said.

‘Feathers?’ he repeated.

‘Feathers everywhere, Father!’

‘Now I want you to go back and gather up every last feather that flew out on the wind!’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘it can’t be done. I don’t know where they went. The wind took them all over.’

‘And that,’ said Father O’Rourke, ‘is GOSSIP!’

What a difference seven months make.

In October, as the unwinding of our world's economy became crystal clear, so many perceived it as 'temporary.'  "The prey must make its way through the python, then all will be well in the end," they seemed to say.

And perhaps that is entirely true.  2010, 2011, 2012... I suppose things could return to 'normal' by then.

But I think not.

I think what's done is done, what was was, and we've entered a New World Order.  I believe the 'unwinding' was, in fact, a re-calibrating. 

I believe the waterline of the former market was, for all intents and purposes... former.  And we may not see Dow Jones at 14,000+ for another generation.  Call me a heretic, an idiot, or a doomsday-sourpuss-naysayer; I've been called worse.  But I believe the snake oil salesmen who are selling fiction disguised as hope are unrealistically optimistic or altogether deceptive. (I see the difference as their 'knowledge' x their 'intent.')

I attended an economic conference several weeks ago, and ALL the economists were prophesying, "This will blow over in a few months.  Q3 2009 will see a return to business as usual," guess-hypothesis-theory-lie.  I'm sorry; I just don't buy it.  While I fully understand FDR's lamentations about 'fear itself' and the need for positive psychology to lead the market, I believe it's time to come to terms with reality and adapt rather than hope for stable sand castles found primarily in Utopia. 

I imagine the market as we knew it before -- with easy loans, bottomless debt, and raging home sales -- is a thing of the past. 

Is the bottom near?  Perhaps, though I agree with Warren Buffett's sentiment that we probably won't experience it until the Government stops reaching in and tweaking the knobs.  At some point, probably where 'rescue' and 'reality' intersect, we will indeed experience a legitimate transition, but I don't think 'bottoming, leveling out, and climbing' are synomymous with 'back to business as usual.'  (At least, not for everyone.  One of the great ironies of this current economy is the disparity between the haves and have-nots.  While many people and clients and states I interact with are STARVING, many others are THRIVING.  On the one extreme I hear, "The sky is falling!" while on the other extreme I hear, "Crisis, what crisis?  We have so much money we don't know where to spend it all!")

Some might argue that I am sounding a bit like Chicken Little, but I believe that history and conventional wisdom will reveal that I am among an unintentional chorus of Shepherd Boys who would rather be wrong.  And by unintentional, I mean to say, "non-economic types" who wind up being in the majority and on the side of right, not because of knowledge, but because of intuition. 

I believe we're entering an era of Business as Unusual or, said another way, The 'New' Economy is The Economy.

2,600 years ago, the Greek slave, Aesop, wrote well over 200 brief fables, and many of them specifically for children (though they apply to most everyone).  Among them is The Shepherd Boy & the Wolf, more commonly remembered as The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  The theme of the story is best recalled in the final line of the fable:  "Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed.  The liar will lie once, twice, and then perish when he tells the truth."

Only time will reveal whether the 'renowned and expert economists' are right (and Q3 2009 will reveal a miraculous, magical, and unheralded 'market bounce' that eventually leads us back to earlier Dow Jones health, employment, and worldwide productivity as before) or if those who said once and twice (without knowing why), "the world is changed for a generation" will be deemed right.

Again, I would prefer to be wrong.

At this point in life, most of us have endured one sort of surgery or another.  I equate today's Shepherd Boys as those who scratch at our scar tissue.  What was once sensitive and irritated (October 2008) is slowly becoming thick and numb (May 2009).  The 'jump' in our step has faded a bit, we've ignored the alarms for too long, and many are awakening and coming to grips with a potentially new reality.  A sense of, "Okay.  Um.  So, this REALLY isn't going away next month?  It wasn't just a drill?  All righty then, let's see... what shall I do now?"

History has an enviable way of efficiently and accurately sorting the misfits and malcontents from the rest.  I know most of us would LOVE to see a return to a pre-9/11 or pre-2009 economic world order, but the hairs on the back of my neck just don't sense that coming anytime soon.  Do yours?   

Meanwhile, whether it's only a few years or an entire generation plus, I suppose we should return to our work, reprioritize, rebalance, and find ways to survive through and thrive within a minor economic winter.  There is plenty of work to be done, there are many fields still lacking qualified applicants, and as Nature reminds us, life is binary.  It's either 'find a way to Grow' time, or 'embrace the slumber that has no end' (e.g., die). 

I elect to fight, as I'm sure you do, too.  It's buckle-down time.  Not for an illusory and fabled 'comeback' of lore, but in pursuit of creating a more sustainable future for our children, our customers, our constituents, and all those we hope will follow.

Onward.  Perge.  Semper fidelis.  It's on.  Let's roll.  Bring it.  Go time.  All that jazz.

In recent months, the ‘noise’ regarding the eroding viability and the non-future of Newspapers has reached an all-time-high decibel level.  The crescendo is now practically deafening.  

And yet there are no accordant answers. 

A lifelong friend and colleague of mine (who resides vocationally at the nexus between “what was” and “what may be”) forwarded this absolutely salient blog entry by Clay Shirky, who shares his prognostications on the matter.  Like my friend, Clay has also been thinking about the internet since before the internet.

Though arguably a bit long for today's microwave-mentality, I am certain you will find his perspectives fascinating and hope you will read to the end. 

http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/

"Morality, when vigorously alive, sees farther than intellect and provides unconsciously for intellectual difficulties."

                                                                                              J.A. Froude

Earlier today, I spoke with a man in Westford, Vermont.  "It's damn cold here," he shared.

Cold.  Yes, I remember that feeling.

But last week I was in Hawaii, this week I'm in Texas, and next week I'll be in California, which I'm sure will be glorious.

Several years ago, I attended a workshop in Montpelier, Vermont.  It was colder-than-cold.  (I don't fare too well in the cold.  Some people thrive, but my blood's so thick that I sputter and shake.  It's as if my fluids turn to sludge and the 'ol body just sorta seizes up.)  But wow, Montpelier was gorgeous, and it wasn't even Spring yet.  I'd love to go back some day.

I've spent my fair share of time in the cold around the world... scraping windshields, trudging through snowdrifts, fighting to open doors in the howling wind, wishing I had galoshes or waterproof socks, and sitting on miserable airplanes after midnight -- waiting for the de-icing machine to make its third pass.

But today, my observation is one about Weeds -- the sort that have been recently exposed across the blanket of our lawn as Spring hits our region.

Texas weeds are world-class.  Enormous, like the State they occupy.  And my, oh my, have we got some weeds in our yard.  As I gingerly wandered around our yard this past Sunday, I found weeds of all sorts and stripes. 

Broad, squatty weeds... the kind that hug the ground and hide too low to be whacked by the mower.

Circular, spindly weeds... the kind that run and shoot and trail off in countless directions like an octopus.

Bright, flowery weeds... the kind my daughter plucks and mistakes for flowers.

Tall, milky weeds... the kind that catch on your armpit as you wade through what might as well be a cornfield.

And dandelions... the kind of weed that reproduces so amply that rabbits and the octomom herself are shamed.

Meanwhile, in Vermont, it's cold.  And weeds will not be seen for weeks.  (This may be one instance where the grass really is greener somewhere else.  Or perhaps not.  The weeds certainly are.)

I think this contrast of Vermont v. Texas is a good reminder for us all.

Everything is seasonal.

Things grow, things die.  What came, went.  What is not, will be.

For many, it's still Winter.  For some, it's Spring.

And with Spring come Weeds.

As the tide turns with our economy (and it will, one day), the greener pastures we've been longing for all winter will be accompanied by weeds.

Some of us will greet the green with open arms like Puxtahawney Phil, eager to crawl out from the dark lair of winter.

But some will greet the green with derision, turning their noses up at imperfections and commenting snootily (as the critic Anton Ego in Ratatouille, played brilliantly by Peter O'Toole), "Oh.  Weeds."

I understand this.  This is human nature.  It is captured by turn in the notions of Selective Perception, Broken Windows Theory, Boiled Frog Phenomenon, The Pygmalion Effect, Target Fixation, and Chevreul's Pendulum.  Some people are simply inclined to see the smudge on the Rembrandt. 

No matter; it is what it is and they are who they are.

But alas, for you and me -- however frustrated we might be when Spring is accompanied by those buggery, parasitic Weeds -- let us revel in the fact that Winter has gone and Summer is but a couple months away. 

The world is full of people who only see the weeds in the meadow.  So be it.  Though they themselves might very well be weeds in our own organizations, everything and everyone has a purpose.  With the toil that is required to remove or tame whatever challenges lie in our path comes the appreciation of all we have and the joy its beauty brings.

In these days when our respective governments are taking actions to curtail, quarantine, and repair our ravaged economies, I cannot help but equate their work with plastic surgeons.  Plastic surgery seems to be one of those very delicate pursuits.  With just the right nip or tuck, ducklings might become swans.  But too many surgeries, or too radical... and we have a Michael Jackson problem of disfiguration.

There are no panaceas for the ills that have befallen us.  What is required is transformative, systemic, holistic change that will take years of exercise and diet to manifest fully into a healthier global economy.  This is perfectly representative of one situation in which morality must indeed see farther than intellect, because there is no chance that everything that will be tried will work right out of the chute. 

There will be foibles and mis-steps, errors and blunders.  Such is the case with governing, with public policy, and with complex issues that span countries, cultures, and currencies.

But as the gardeners demonstrate, with a little patience and pruning, together we can plant and nurture a healthy and lush field everyone can enjoy.

Years ago, I heard the phrase 'Organizational Intimacy' from a colleague, Michael Kroth.  I did a double-take; perhaps you did too.

Long story short, researchers and writers (from William Bridges and Steve Buchholz and Richard Leider to many others) have long-written about the importance of 'fulfillment' and 'meaningfulness' at work; the importance of purpose, and so on.

"Finding one's music," as Buchholz describes it.

I love that.

Finding my music...

Anyway, I've noticed an interesting trend these last few months.  Many employees who used to groan about their employer are now moaning their praises.  Occupational Intimacy indeed. 

In preparation for several upcoming presentations, our team has conducted a number of phone interviews in recent weeks, and the pattern is undeniable.  Here are some common quotes:

"I used to HATE it around here.  Now, I'm THRILLED to be employed."

"Sure, we could improve, but heck -- I'm just happy to have a job!"

"Oh, the grass used to be greener on the other side, but I'm delighted to be where I am.  THIS SIDE pays the bills, the checks don't bounce, and I sleep well at night knowing my industry is practically recession-proof."

"I've received more thank you letters in the last month than I have my entire career.  People are singing our praises and saying, 'Thank you for this place.'  They're simply joyous to be gainfully employed right now."

Yes they are.

From government to healthcare employees, many individuals are indeed THRILLED to be employed these days.

And oh, what a change this is.  Several years ago -- at the peak of our Economically Caligulan Era (or, the ECE... the 'easy' era one might say) -- when unemployment hovered around 4.6%, anyone who wanted a job could have his/her pick of the litter, executive salaries were obscenely high, materialism reigned, and 30-somethings were surfing the dot-com bubble and everyone presumed he would be driving a Lamborghini by 35 -- no employer could 'do right enough' and many bosses were written off as dullards.  Now, most bosses are luminaries.  After all, their organization remains, they are the boss, and employees still exist... so someone must be doing something right!

Last night I attended a presentation and the speaker described his hand-me-down grandfather's desk.  "I love that desk.  I've been around it my whole life, from the early visits to my grandfather's home to today, where it sits in my office.  As a boy, I'd crawl all over it and under it.  I remember pretending to do important things behind it, pretending to write checks and sign important documents.  But most people, when they walk into my office and see that desk now, they just see all that's wrong with it.  The wood's cracking and peeling, there are cigarette burns here and there, one of the legs wobbles.  'That's pitiful,' they'll observe.  'You need to get a new desk, man!'  But I never notice these things, because to me -- that desk is INVALUABLE; it represents my history, my childhood, my youth, my grandfather, and all the things I loved about him.  I'll never get rid of that desk, and hopefully my boys won't either."

For many, this desk is representative of their employer.  For too long, they only saw what was wrong.  Broken.  Peeling.  From the rattly fax machine stand or squeaky chair to the curling carpet by the water fountain.

But perhaps these days, we're starting to think of our employer like Grandpa's Desk.  Sure, it could use some restoring.  But I value it, love it as it is, and frankly, consider myself privileged to sit behind it and do important things.

Today, I encourage you to send that email.  Deliver that handwritten note.  Or personally look your employer in the eyes and say, "Thank you.  It's my honor to be here; what more can I do to support this organization?"

Cuz cigarette burns or not, all good desks need caretakers, and you might just be surprised how much fulfillment and meaning will result from your appreciation and engagement. 

This comes from a dear friend, who asked me to share it with others.

www.iamsecond.com

Happy Holidays.

This past week I was in Savannah, GA.

While eating at The Gryphon Tea Room, I observed an interesting exchange between a waiter and a hostess.  The hostess asked the waiter, "Would you please serve the table against the window?"  To which the waiter replied exceedingly ironically, "Sure.  I have nothing else to do right now.  Are YOU working today?"

Harumphhhh.

And then, a day later, as I waddled through the security checkpoint at the quaint Savannah "International" Airport, I witnessed a very 'put out' TSA agent harumph behind the x-ray machine (carrying more than his fair share of 'curious items') shouting, "Man Working Here!  Step aside, step aside!"  He was bellowing, not at me mind you, but at his co-workers.

I found it interesting that within a twenty-four hour timespan, I had witnessed two very put-out employees 'harumphing' about their colleagues!

You know, times are tough.  I get that.  We all get that.  We are that.

But I'm ceaselessly flabbergasted when employees vent and harumph in front of customers.  The very, ahem, customers they are meant to be serving.

I remember, several years ago, working with an airline to help it restore its reputation.  (Long story short: the airline remains its own worst enemy.)  As my colleagues and I flew dozens and dozens of trips to ride jumpseat and observe Flight Attendants in the air, we were literally dumbfounded by the negative, disruptive chatter that consumed them and which was all overheard by paying customers within earshot.  When we reported our findings, the airline acted somewhat SURPRISED.  Surprised?  Are you kidding me?  Who's not paying attention here?

As leaders and co-workers, let's remember the Golden Rule of Customer Service: "Keep your miseries to yourself."

Customers are paying for a service, not for the sidebars that distract and diminish what could otherwise be an acceptable or stellar experience.    

p.s. If you are ever in Savannah, be sure to visit The Gryphon Tea Room.  Despite my dismay at the single blip I described above, the food is phenomenal and the experience is worth the wait.

With Gladwell's third book, he is officially "2 for 3" in my book.

I give Outliers a solid, solid A.

With the exception of the Chapter Five and the Epilogue, which comprise the least engaging sections in the book, Outliers is one of the most remarkable books I've read in the past six months.

Gladwell's first published book, The Tipping Point, was simply outstanding.  Blink, however, was a real snooze.  (My own personal opinion is that he was rushing to cash-in on the success of The Tipping Point, but there was hardly a kernel worth writing about in Blink.  "Thin-slicing?"  Come on... much ado about nothing.  Thin-slicing, indeed.)

But this latest contribution, Outliers, is a real treat.  Candy for the brain.  It reminds me of all the great, wonderful, intriguing ideas that led me to study the human and social sciences in the first place.  To learn more about Outliers from Gladwell himself, check out http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html.  But the reasons I enjoyed it can be captured in the following representative list of topics that reminded me of undergraduate coursework in psychology, anthropology, and sociology that spurred me to continue studying and reading until... well... this very day:

1. patterns

2. selection, streaming, and differentiated experience

3. accumulative advantage

4. the 10,000 hour rule

5. divergent vs. convergent intelligence

6. general and practical intelligence

7. concerted cultivation vs. accomplishment of natural growth

8. the culture of honor

9. mitigated speech

10. the ubiquitous and unparalleled work of Geert Hofstede

So, why don't I give Gladwell an A+?  Well, setting aside Chapter Five and the Epilogue, my greatest concern is more substantive, of course, and it has to do with "too much cultural determinism."  By Gladwell's way of thinking, we achieve what we achieve, in large part -- in fact, practically predominantly -- because of the culture in which we are raised.  He strives to prove this through a series of stories and examples that are, indeed, fascinating.  But they are not quite enough to fully convince.

In the particulate, his anecdotes are super.  But in the aggregate, they border on stereotypical and ring somewhat hollow in today's increasingly 'post-racial and post-cultural' world.  Indeed, differences remain among and between people of various backgrounds, but as a dear friend of mine from Portugal once said, "We are not all that different.  There is TOO MUCH STEREOTYPING and GENERALIZING."

As Morris Massey articulated in his infamous, What You Are Is Where You Were When, some mild generalizations can be helpful, but they are inadequate.  Indeed, with any taxonomy or typology, generalizations give us what Robert Cialdini (Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion) would describe as 'a shorthand way of interacting with each other,' but beyond that... generalizations and stereotypes can be dangerous and altogether misleading.

I am certain, as are countless others, that MANY individuals achieve a great deal on their own, as well as overcome and transcend the shackles of their culture, background, history, and surroundings.  I know that Gladwell does not believe, 100%, that who we are and what we accomplish is solely because of those around us, but he works himself into a corner of sorts by arguing so strongly that we do.

But, my goodness, out of 309 pages (all of which you will, indeed, read in a B-L-I-N-K)... if this is my only concern, then color me IMPRESSED and DELIGHTED and AMONG HIS BIGGEST ADVOCATES.

This book will prove to be enormously successful, and millions of people will soak it up like a sponge. 

Here's hoping they do... and wishing Tom Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded could have achieved the stickiness of Outliers.