Monday Mornings with Madison

Category Archives:
People skills

July 11, 2016

10 Invaluable Qualities in Employees that require Zero Talent – Part 1

Issue #433

In the search for top talent, employers typically cite the most difficult, technical skills needed to do the job. For instance, a current ad on LinkedIn for a CFO seeks a candidate with: “Extensive experience in financial analysis, identification of month end financial drivers, and forecasting.” The ad adds that the right candidate will “drive growth through product diversification and geographic expansion, and provide leadership and vision for all finance-related activities in the market, including developing and monitoring progress against Annual Operating Plan.” This ad is designed to filter out the unqualified and underqualified. But what the ad doesn’t address are the soft skills and qualities that ensure the candidate fits well with the organization. Those are either touched on during the interview process briefly or are not addressed at all. And while the inability to do the job does account for why some people fail at their jobs, most people are fired or laid off from jobs due either to personality traits or work habits that don’t fit with the employer.
The truth is that some of the most invaluable qualities that employees need to have and employers want from their workers require zero talent. These qualities are related to a person’s EQ (emotional quotient) and SQ (social quotient) rather than their IQ (intelligence quotient). The next time your company is screening to hire an employee – from an entry level clerk to a top C-Suite exec – they should make sure that the person brings a high level of these 10 invaluable qualities. Continue reading →

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May 9, 2016

Enthusiasm: The Best Workplace Contagion

Issue #425

In the book entitled Be Yourself – Discover the Life You Were Meant to Live, author John Mason writes that “Every great and commanding movement in the history of the world incorporated enthusiasm. Nothing great was or will be achieved without it.” The poet and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson agreed, saying “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” Mason added that, “In a survey, two hundred national leaders were asked what makes a person successful. Eighty percent (of the respondents) listed enthusiasm as the most important quality. Some pursue happiness – others create it. A person who is enthusiastic soon has enthusiastic followers.”

Indeed, enthusiasm is the rocket fuel propelling achievement. Thus, it is an especially important quality in the workplace and critically important to leadership. Although many employers value and are impressed by confidence in their employees, enthusiasm is probably more valuable. Unlike confidence which is inwardly focused, enthusiasm is outwardly focused. While confidence speaks to certainty – perhaps even false certainty – enthusiasm speaks to creativity and joy. While confidence can come across to others as arrogance, enthusiasm is usually seen as enjoyment. What’s more, unlike confidence, enthusiasm is highly infectious. Confidence fuels an individual but enthusiasm fuels a team. So why isn’t enthusiasm valued more highly? Why doesn’t every job description start with “Looking for an enthusiastic candidate to….” And how can a company reward and encourage enthusiasm in the workplace? Continue reading →

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May 2, 2016

Pride In One’s Work

Issue #424

Pride is often thought of as a flaw or sin. “Being prideful” is considered synonymous with being conceited, haughty or egotistical. It is the opposite of humility. There are few personality traits more distasteful than a person who is prideful or boastful. “Pridefulness” is seen as a shortcoming or failing of character. However, there is another kind of pride. “Taking pride” in one’s work is actually a virtue or quality. It is one that employers should seek in new hires, and it is a trait that every employee should embrace and emulate.

What does it actually mean to take pride in one’s work? Abraham Lincoln once said that “whatever you are, be a good one.” At the core of his message was the concept of taking pride in one’s work. And that is no small thing. A job well done is a meaningful accomplishment. In theory, this is a valuable quality in any person. In reality, it may be hard to distinguish between someone who takes genuine pride in what they do and someone who does the bare minimum except when the boss is watching. What does “pride in one’s work” look like in practice? Continue reading →

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April 18, 2016

Meeting Infinite Sales Demands with Finite Marketing Resources

Issue #423

There is a silent (or sometimes not-so-silent) battle waged between what the sales department wants and what the marketing department can and should deliver. Business leaders may only be vaguely aware of this tug-of-war but it exists in most organizations. There are two reasons for this. First, salespeople are always under great pressure (internal and external) to make sales. Not only does the company want them to sell more, but they themselves want to earn more. But selling requires a lot of time and effort. To ease the burden, they look to marketing for help. Second, salespeople are bombarded by other companies’ impressive marketing efforts. Newsletters. Email drip campaigns. Remarketing Campaigns. Seminars. Blogs. Billboards. Ads. Videos. Tradeshow exhibits. Competitor marketing is particularly irksome. Logically, salespeople believe that if they do the same marketing, they too will succeed. This is the business equivalent of “keeping up with the Joneses.”

In most companies, this ‘sales-marketing tug-of-war’ plays out with sales making infinite demands for marketing support with little understanding of the budget or resources required for implementing those ideas, or if those strategies fit in with or duplicate existing efforts. Sales teams claim that they either cannot meet their sales goals or they can be exponentially more successful if their specific marketing ideas are implemented. Unlimited sales demands are thus made on marketing departments that have limited resources. What is the company’s leadership to do? To handle infinite sales demands with finite marketing resources, leaders should implement this three-step process. Continue reading →

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April 4, 2016

Honesty and Integrity in Business

Issue #421

If there is one single quality that every business should seek in its employees, colleagues, vendors and even customers, it is honesty. But not only should businesses want to see that quality in its people, honesty should also be the bedrock principle upon which all organizations function. Indeed, Harvey S. Firestone, inventor and founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, one of the first global makers of automobile tires, said “I believe fundamental honesty is the keystone of business.” Likewise, Ed MacMahon, the late singer, comedian, program host and announcer, once said “Honesty is the single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product.” General wisdom dictates that honesty is one of the most important qualities that a person or company can demonstrate.

Yet, it may seem that honesty is becoming something of a scarce commodity in today’s business world. At ostensibly every turn, there are examples of “the end justifies the means” behavior in corporate America. Job applicants exaggerate on resumes with the goal of landing a job. Quarterly reports overstate projected earnings to elevate stock values. Business owners overstate their pro formas to get the highest valuation possible from investors. Real estate owners overstate a property’s value in order to negotiate the highest price in a deal. Customer service representatives cover up mistakes for fear of losing clients. Is dishonesty on the rise? Has honesty and integrity all but disappeared in business? Continue reading →

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March 28, 2016

The Inconsistency of Being Consistent

Issue #420

A 2014 survey by specialist journal IRS Employment Review found that while the attitudes of employees can make or break a company, bad management was a far bigger drag on a company’s productivity and performance. Bosses must provide sound leadership in order for their direct reports to perform and achieve peak productivity. Of course, no one is perfect and – like all employees — bosses have weaknesses as well as strengths. What is interesting is that managers tend to share the same flaws. The most commonly reported characteristics that employees dislike about superiors include favoritism, lack of communication, micromanagement, incompetence and ruthlessness.

Notwithstanding the myriad of frustrating and off-putting traits workers dislike in their supervisors, there is one characteristic that is consistently disliked most. That is inconsistency. Apparently, even the most odious managers and overbearing bosses are preferred over a supervisor who is inconsistent. Why is inconsistency so reviled? And why is consistency such a valuable element of management? Continue reading →

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March 21, 2016

The Evolution of Business Role Models – Part 2

Issue #419

Certain people rise above regular folks to become so successful, well-known and admired in their field of expertise that they become a household name. They become icons. This is true in every area from aeronautics to haute cuisine. There are few who don’t now the names of the great aviators Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earheart. And most everyone knows the names of chefs Julia Child, Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsey and Emeril Lagassi. These individuals possess certain qualities, talents and skills that catapulted them into a stardom of sorts. They are the doers, movers and shakers and innovators of the times. We draw inspiration from these icons.

However, even icons change. Today’s leaders have evolved from the strong, authoritarian traditionalists and business tycoons of the 20th century – think Henry Ford, John P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Walt Disney — into the innovative mavericks and mavens of the 21st century. We are mesmerized by edgy leaders such as Elon Musk, Founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX, Tony Hseih, Founder of Zappos, Fred Smith, Founder of Federal Express, and Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways. So what sets these icons apart from past business role models and what can we learn from them? Continue reading →

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March 14, 2016

The Evolution of Business Role Models – Part 1

Issue #418

Practically every industry these days has icons. It is no longer just about actors and musicians. From inventors to scientists and from business leaders to politicians, every field has its share of celebrities, living and gone. In the world of science, they include Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Jane Goodall, Alfred Nobel, Edwin Hubble and Stephen Hawking. Technology has heroes of its own including Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), Sergei Brinn, Larry Page, Dave Packard, Bill Hewett, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Even the world of real estate has icons including Donald Bren, Stephen Ross, Jerry Speyer, Sam Zell, Steve Schwartzman, and, of course, Presidential candidate Donald Trump. And in the category of “captains of industry” are some of the most respected names in business including Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Rupert Murdoch, Jack Welch, Michael Eisner, Lloyd Blankfein, and Mark Zuckerberg, to name just a few.

To some extent, these idols share many traits and talents that propelled them into prominence. But, in recent years, there has been a fundamental shift in the makeup of these renowned individuals, particularly in the world of business. Qualities and skills once considered exemplary have become passé. Corporate tycoons like Rupert Murdoch and Lloyd Blankfein are giving way to new titans of industry such as Brad Smith, Chairman of the Board of Intuit.  Why?
Continue reading →

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February 22, 2016

It’s About Time

Issue #415

Even though time gives the impression of being endless, it is actually the most finite of all resources. Unlike money, which can be saved or lost, time cannot be saved; only lost. It cannot be stretched, stopped, hidden or paused. There is no back-up for lost time. Wasted time is lost forever. Even though the clock’s hands start its daily trek around the dial anew each day, making it seem like we have unlimited time, in truth time that has passed will never return. This is news to no one, and certainly not to any business owner. Most companies are hyper vigilant of employee time to ensure it is not squandered. Rules for the proper use of time take the form of warnings against the various ways in which staff are tempted to waste time. Office socializing. Texting friends. Posting or surfing social media. Tardiness.

However, that’s not how time is lost or wasted the most in business. The biggest source of time waste at companies is when employees are assigned to do work that is not the “best use of their time.” The concept of “best use of your time” is hardly given any consideration by most companies. Employees are often hired and managed with only a murky outline of what they are to do. Certainly no job description can capture every single aspect of what an employee does or how every minute of his time will be spent. A job description only gives a cursory understanding of the major tasks that an employee will handle, not the minutiae, and typically does not determine what percentage of time (throughout a day, week or month) should be spent on each task. And the higher the position, the truer it is. Instead of ensuring staff time is spent on the most beneficial activities to the company, employees – from entry level to top management – dribble time away on tasks that are either best handled by someone else or should be eliminated altogether. That is the ultimate waste of time. So how does a company ensure that all employees are spending the majority of their time doing the things that are “the best use of their time”? Continue reading →

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February 15, 2016

EQ, IQ and SQ: The Leadership Trifecta

Issue #414

John Quincy Adams once said that “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” But the question of what makes a good leader has been dissected for centuries if not millennia. So much has been written about what it takes to be a great leader and how to spot leadership potential in others. Business owners and managers all want to possess and provide the kind of visionary leadership that makes an organization grow and thrive. Much has been said about the intelligence, skills and the emotional traits needed for great leadership.

Initially, leadership qualities were basically divided into two areas: IQ (intelligence quotient) which describes the person’s level of intellect or mental ability; and EQ (emotional quotient) which describes the individual’s degree of emotional maturity and strength. More recently, another silo of qualities has also come to be seen as essential to leadership. This is called SQ or Spiritual Quotient. A person’s spiritual quotient is not related at all to the person’s religion or religious beliefs. The Spiritual Quotient looks at a person’s ability to be creative, insightful, courageous, wise, authentic, compassionate, and peaceful, among a host of other traits.

It is believed that the most successful leaders are those who possess a high degree of IQ, EQ and SQ combined. In the search for visionary leaders, businesses should look for the IQ-EQ-SQ trifecta. So exactly what are the elements of IQ, EQ and SQ and can a person improve their IQ, EQ and SQ? Continue reading →

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