Category: Corporate Games

Seth Godin has a great post
on planning a retreat.

Writers have writers retreats
ALL the time.
The reason for that
is because writing can be very isolating
and because it is a creative process,
benefiting from brainstorming.

‘Cause really… that’s what a retreat is.
It is a great place to brainstorm.
If I want to learn a skill,
I’ll hook up with a mentor.
If I want to learn assorted information about a topic,
I’ll take a seminar.
But if I want a whole lot of different ideas,
I’ll go to a retreat and brainstorm.

The best retreats I’ve been to
have been small,
less than ten people.
Those ten people are similar
in where they are in their careers and abilities
but they are different people
doing/writing different things.

We usually send out our problem areas
(i.e. the plot issues we’d like to brainstorm)
before we arrive at the retreat.
We also go somewhere cut off
from the rest of our normal world.

And we work
HARD.
We have set goals for the retreat
and we accomplish them
because accomplishing these goals
justifies the next retreat.

If you need to brainstorm a problem or product,
consider a retreat.

When I absolutely have to get somewhere,
I fly out on the first flight
of the day.
There are usually less people
on that flight,
the lines for security are shorter,
and the flight is less likely
to be delayed
or canceled.

Glen Stansberry feels that way
about other appointments,
stating that early morning appointments
save time.

“Schedule doctor, haircut,
dentist appointments
for first thing in the morning.
The earlier the appointment,
the less likely it will be delayed.”

The early bird DOES get the worm
or,
in this case,
saves time and hassle.
Take those first flights/appointments.

A publisher sent out an email
asking authors to tell them
when their books were releasing
and what the titles were.

WTF?

That is information
that a publisher SHOULD know.
Publishers make release date decisions,
not authors.

Sounds silly, right?
We wouldn’t ever make that mistake, right?

I’ll fess up.
I’ve made that mistake before.

While talking to a customer
I’ve asked them how units of so-and-so product are selling
when I SHOULD already know this information
by their re-order numbers.

I’ve asked them what their top selling products were
when a simple scan of grocery shelf facings
would have told me the same information.

I’ve asked
and I’ve looked like a dumbass
and my credibility has slipped.

Asking intelligent questions is very good.
Asking dumbass questions isn’t.
Think before you ask.

Once upon a time,
if you took a year
or six months
or less/more
off work,
you were unemployable.

Those days are now happily gone.

I have huge gaps in my resume.
I get asked about them
but I don’t get punished for them.

Why?

Because I’ve done stuff,
I’ve achieved things,
during that time.
I’ve written novels
(non-work related).
Friends have traveled
or done volunteer work
or tried and failed at business start ups.

I have yet to hear of anyone
getting punished
job search-wise
because they took time off
the corporate fast track
to do something different.

I HAVE heard of people
getting punished
because they took time off
to do absolutely nothing.
That shows lack of ambition
and it makes employers suspect
it wasn’t a conscious choice.

Employment gaps aren’t bad
but do have a good story
to explain them.
You WILL get asked.

When I start a new contract,
for the first month,
I work like hell
and keep my big mouth shut.
I watch the office dynamics.
I figure out who the players are,
and who I can trust.

THEN I ease into conversations
and decision making.

Gil Schwartz in
September’s Men’s Health
advises a similar strategy.
“Sometimes anxiety in the workplace
leads to blabitis.
Nobody ever landed in trouble
for being too thoughtful and reserved
at an open meeting.
For the most part,
everyone respects a man
who projects a willingness
to learn the ropes in attentive silence.
You need to speak
when it’s appropriate to do so,
of course.
But stifle your tendency
to blather intelligently,
even if you think it makes you sound good.
That’s dangerous.”

When in doubt,
keep the mouth shut.

Yesterday, the business gig
I was involved in
ended and ended abruptly.
It was not a good ending
and that is regretful.

You see…
endings are as or more
important than beginnings.
Endings may be your last contact
with a person or company
for a long time.
It will be the impression you leave
and how people will remember you.

That is why
when hosting a dinner,
I never skip on the desserts I offer.
That is why
I bring in donuts on my last day
at a contract gig
(normally – not yesterday).
That is why
I put extra care in the last chapters
of my novels.

If you end anything,
try to end it well.
It’ll benefit you in the long run.

An executive rallied the troops
for an ’emergency.’
He told us
this situation was top priority.
We were to drop everything
and focus on it.

So we did.
Then we needed his approval
for one of the actions.

He was told of that need.
He was in the office.
He had time.

He didn’t respond.

We felt like idiots
because we made his top priority
our top priority
only to discover
that it wasn’t his top priority.

We’re smart people.
We aren’t going to drop everything
the next time
he calls an emergency.

When you call an emergency,
ensure that you have the same immediate response time
as you’re expecting from your staff.

If you’ve played the game long enough,
you know how to say
the politically correct thing.
You know how to be kind
AND truthful at the same time.
You know that everyone ALWAYS kills the messenger
so you don’t volunteer bad news.

So when you play at a certain level,
you listen more for what ISN’T said,
rather than what IS said.

I’m currently in the midst
of a business disaster.
The person I am working with
is usually upbeat.
We’ve been through sticky situations before.
During them,
he often says things like
“Don’t worry, K.
We can handle this.”

That ISN’T being said
with this current disaster.
Why?
Because he doesn’t feel that way.

He won’t come out
and say “You’re f**ked”
but I got the message quite clearly
from what he hasn’t said.

Silence is often more telling
than a stream of words.
Listen for what isn’t said.

Today is Remembrance Day
in Commonwealth countries.
It is
Veterans Day in the U.S.

There are debates waging
over whether or not we should celebrate war.
I think these individuals miss the point.

What I think about today
isn’t war.
I think about
belief and sacrifice and passion.

These veterans BELIEVED in something.
They believed so strongly in that something,
they were willing
to make the ultimate sacrifice
and die for that belief.
They were so passionate about that belief,
they spent days, weeks, months,
away from loved ones,
fighting in muddy trenches.

When I complain about lack of sleep
during an editing binge
(like now)
or tight deadlines
or how I haven’t seen my loved ones in days,
I think of these veterans.

I told someone
that I didn’t have the experience
to do a job yesterday.

He didn’t believe me.
He asked if I was giving up too early,
like I’d magically get the experience
by staying longer.

When I was a junior jammer,
I would take jobs I couldn’t possibly do
and I’d stay silent about my lack of qualifications.
My vanity wouldn’t allow me
to admit that I couldn’t do something.
These jobs usually ended in disaster
with everyone unhappy.

Now, I swallow my pride
and speak up.
If the person still wants me on the job,
I might or might not blunder along
depending on the opportunity.
Hey, if they want to pay me to gain experience,
who am I to argue?

It is very hard for a professional
to admit that she doesn’t know something.
If she says she can’t do a job,
save your money and believe her.