Monday Mornings with Madison

Category Archives:
Personal-Professional Well-Being

March 7, 2016

A Business Bucket List

Issue #417

According to a report investigating 41 countries published by the Bank of Korea in 2008, there were 5,586 companies in existence that were older than 200 years. Of those, 3,146 were located in Japan, 837 in Germany, 222 in the Netherlands and 196 in France. And in the U.S., there are currently only 72 companies operating for more than 200 years. That makes sense given that the U.S. is a much younger nation that those in Asia or Europe. Still, it is a tough pill to swallow that most businesses eventually perish. While no one wishes for their business to go belly-up any time soon, the facts are indisputable. The average life expectancy of a Fortune 500 company today is between 40 and 50 years. And the average life span of a family-owned business in the U.S. is only 24 years.

When people get around to thinking about their own mortality, they often create a “Bucket List” , which helps one pinpoint what matters most and focus on making those things happen. It is a useful, personal exercise. But what about a business? Should a company have a “Bucket List” of things to achieve? If so, what should that Bucket List include? Continue reading →

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February 29, 2016

Spring Cleaning As Springboard for Creativity and Ingenuity

Issue #416

Oprah Winfrey recently announced that she will be doing Spring Cleaning at her old Harpo Studios in Chicago. On March 1st, she will be selling over 200 clothing items and 20 pairs of shoes on eBay! This exercise is not designed to enrich Ms. Winfrey’s bank account as clearly she does not need the money and all proceeds will be donated to the school for girls she established in South Africa. She said her reason for the spring cleaning auction was “to create a space that gives me access to the stuff that helps me.” She wanted to de-clutter to make room for what matters and create space to be productive and creative.

While it’s hard to think about Spring Cleaning while Jack Frost is still nipping on most toes across the country, Spring is just a few weeks away. To some, Spring Cleaning is nothing more than tedious drudgery to be avoided or delegated to cleaning staff. However, a different way to look at Spring Cleaning is as a therapeutic, energizing exercise. Indeed, a thorough scrubbing, scouring, polishing and organizing of home or office can be more beneficial than just making a space fresh and germ-free. It also helps to make room for things that matter, serve as a catalyst for creativity, and stimulate the imagination. A meticulous cleansing and tidying can not only serve to organize the physical world but the mental one as well. 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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February 8, 2016

Money and Motivation

Issue #412

Every business owner grapples with the question of how best to motivate employees. And for good reason. Motivated employees are more productive. Motivated employees also have a better attitude about their work and a better attitude toward others. And motivated employees are more reliable, punctual, and loyal. Motivated employees are also less likely to leave their job and go elsewhere. In short, motivated employees are satisfied employees. And lots of research has shown the relationship between employee satisfaction and a company’s success.

So what motivates employees most? The average person would say “money.” People work to earn a living. So, more money should result in a more satisfied and motivated employee. Right? It depends. Money can be a huge motivator in certain situations. And it can also have little or no effect at all in other situations. A lot of research has been done by industrial psychologists and scientists about motivation, money and employee satisfaction. What is the relationship between compensation, employee satisfaction and company success? Continue reading →

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February 1, 2016

Understanding Multiple Intelligences, Part 2

Issue #412

Multiple Intelligence Theory, first proposed by Professor Howard Gardner in his book Frames of Mind (1983), stated that people learn, remember, perform, and understand things in different ways. That didn’t sound like a revolutionary concept until he referred to these differences as “intelligences.” But Gardner wasn’t talking about a person’s level of intelligence, like IQ. Rather, he was talking about types of intelligence. Gardner put forth that there are eight types of intelligence, namely: language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, an understanding of ourselves, and an understanding of the natural world. Each person has different intelligences, and the ways in which those intelligences are used and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains also differs from person to person.

If Gardner’s theory is correct, then it stands to reason that aligning each employee’s individual intelligences with a job that most uses those competencies could help an organization increase productivity, service, profitability and staff satisfaction. For example, logical-mathematical analysis intelligence would be vital to a job as an Accountant or Statistician. While almost every career uses a blend of several intelligences, clearly some intelligences are more critical to performing certain jobs than others. The key would be to hire people whose key intelligences best fit the job. It would ensure that each employee was ‘made’ to do the job they had. Gardner called this “the clearest path to efficiency and engagement in the workplace.” In practical terms, how does a company do that? Continue reading →

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January 25, 2016

Understanding Multiple Intelligences, Part 1

Issue #411

Most any employer can give countless examples of employees who are highly productive in the workplace but who would likely perform poorly on an IQ test. The average entrepreneur himself might be an example of how IQ scores are ineffective indicators of workplace performance and success. It is no wonder, then, that most workplaces pay little attention to “intelligence” as a factor in staff hiring. Virtually no employer asks for a person’s IQ score to determine if the person is qualified for a job. Perhaps that would be different, though, if what was considered intelligence in oneself and others was redefined to recognize that there are many different kinds of intelligence.

In 1983, Multiple Intelligence Theory was first proposed by Professor Howard Gardner in his ground breaking book, Frames of Mind. His work broadened the understanding of human intelligence. According to Gardner, the Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, people possess different kinds of minds and therefore learn, remember, perform, and understand in different ways. He referred to these as the “intelligences” we possess in order to know the world. According to Gardner’s original list, there were seven intelligences including: language, logical-mathematical analysis, spatial representation, musical thinking, use of the body to solve problems or to make things, an understanding of other individuals, and an understanding of ourselves. Since then, an additional intelligence – naturalist – was added to the list. Gardner indicated that the strength of each intelligence and the ways in which intelligences are invoked and combined to carry out different tasks, solve diverse problems, and progress in various domains differs from person to person.

Given this, it stands to reason that cultivating a more intelligent workforce could increase an organization’s productivity, service, profitability and staff satisfaction. After all, if a person’s intelligences have such a profound impact in how the person remembers, performs and understands tasks, it stands to reason that people with certain intelligences would be more suited for occupations that require those intelligences. While almost every career uses a blend of several intelligences, some intelligences are more important than others depending on the job. The idea then would be to hire people whose key intelligences best fit the job. So what are the eight intelligences and what occupations best align with each? Continue reading →

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January 18, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 3

Issue #410

If you think bad writing is only a problem for recent immigrants (for whom English is a second language) and grade school children, think again. A parking lot sign read: “Customer Parking Only. All Others Will Be Toad.” (It should read Towed.) Another neon sign at a car dealership read: “We Bye Used Cars.” (Well, if business is good, perhaps do they say ‘bye’ to a lot of cars. But the sign probably should read: “Buy”.) And a Days Inn roadside sign advertised “Free Wife Available”. It should say “Wifi”. (Hopefully, they aren’t giving away free wives.) While amusing, consider that companies paid money to have these signs professionally printed. No one at the company or at the sign printer caught the mistakes. Many people surely read these signs and yet the signs weren’t removed or corrected, which suggests that perhaps no one caught these mistakes. These signs point to the trouble many people have writing well. Social media, newspapers, signage, advertisements, email solicitations and other written and published works are littered with examples of bad writing.

Why are such writing mistakes so common? One reason words or phrases are mixed up is because they sound eerily similar. Other times, the word is being mispronounced, misspelled or misused. Libary instead of Library. Granite instead of granted. Pacifically instead of specifically. Strickly instead of strictly. Supposably instead of supposedly. Some even quote expressions or common phrases incorrectly, such as “for all intensive purposes” instead of “for all intents and purposes.” Sometimes, it is not a case of mistaking one word for the other, but rather not knowing when to use each, such as in who versus whom. (More about that later.)

The real problem is that, when words are misused or mixed-up, it completely changes the meaning of what is being expressed. Communication depends on vocabulary. The larger a person’s vocabulary, the better that person is able to express a precise thought. It’s not enough to have heard a word. The word must be used in the correct context. Here are some of the most commonly misused, abused and confused words in English.
Continue reading →

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January 11, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 2

Issue #409

For most people, writing is not easy. Converting one’s thoughts to writing is hard, in part, because we don’t speak the way we are supposed to write and we’re not always entirely clear about what we want to say or the best way to say it. That is true in any language.
Writing the English language has even more challenges. For every rule there are always exceptions. Words often have multiple meanings, spellings and sounds. Nevertheless, writing is a skill used daily by most people in their personal and professional lives. While no one expects the average person to be a master writer, it’s important to at least be a proficient one.
Thankfully, technology can help, to some extent. Correct spelling is the easiest part to get right. Spell check on most computers and devices automatically eliminates the most common spelling errors, but it doesn’t catch mistakes that involve homophones, homonyms, homographs or heteronyms. Those are words in the English language have the same sounds, spelling or meanings. These are the cause of many of the mistakes people make in writing. To make it a bit easier, here’s a little “cheat sheet” to keep at your desk for future reference. This can help avoid some of the most common mistakes. Continue reading →

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January 4, 2016

Be a Better Writer in 2016 – Part 1

Issue #408

Despite the recurring diatribes about the decline of the written word, in truth, people write more now than ever. While few pen long letters on scented stationary anymore, people were pouring emails into the digital abyss at an estimated eye-popping rate of about 200 Billion per day in 2015. We also send text messages, tweets, and instant messages and write blog posts and comments, and otherwise fire off words at one another in a near-constant flow of communication. Written communication is a required skill for most any job or profession today. Whether it is composing a memo, preparing a letter, drafting a report, taking notes in a meeting, crafting a business plan, or just pounding out a quick text message, written communication is part and parcel of practically every occupation on a regular basis. People write PowerPoint presentations, business requirement documents, speeches, mission statements, position papers, standard operating procedures, manuals, brochures, package copy, press releases, and dozens of other specialized types of documents. Even salespeople and accountants – occupations often thought to be sans writing — must write reports and sales agreements.
Not everyone, however, is a good writer. The English language has many rules and just as many exceptions to those rules. It is a beautiful but challenging language to master. Nevertheless, business people in English-speaking countries are expected to write clearly, cohesively and concisely. Despite the growing use of slang, abbreviations and urban words, most professionals are still expected to be able to write in complete sentences. Spelling, grammar and punctuation do matter. Using the right words with their correct meanings is also important. Although there is an abundant supply of resources available online – such as dictionaries, thesauri, writing guides, blogs for writers, and the like – writing mistakes persist. Although anyone can make an occasional mistake, common or abundant errors can taint how a person is perceived. Poor grammar or spelling can even call into question a person’s professional expertise. To maintain a reputation as a professional, it’s important to write well. Here are some tips to improve one’s ability to write well in English. Continue reading →

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