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Have you established a written Code of Conduct in your organization?Our prescriptions for acceptable behavior are too vague. Get started now to spell it out more clearly to avoid that potentially colossal screwup.
Have you heard this phrase before?
“Conduct unbecoming”
You may have heard this phrase from the clenched teeth of a military JAG officer about the same time you learned that “Crystal” is a perfectly apt response to “Are we clear?”
Throughout my service as a U.S. Army officer, this phrase was constantly refreshed as the highest standard to apply to the official actions of military officers.
If you want to poison the well where you work, allow a Certified Jerk to roam free.Mollycoddling is a pernicious and infectious organism you need to expel from your organization.
It’s easy to figure out how to deal with the Certified Jerk
That phrase is powerful in so many ways.
Smart people can often be prima donnas – I may have heard those accusations myself … the smart people part, of course, not the second (and when it has been used, it’s often disguised in less elegant terms) … but the brilliance of some people is often more blinding than enlightening.
Fortune magazine once asked Dr. Mehmet Oz about the best leadership advice he had ever received.
There’s nothing more important … or more challenging … than the need to balance short-term results with long-range plans.H ow is your organization focused? Are you encouraging long-range thinking or only what happens this week?
When was the last time you pulled out that blank sheet of paper to THINK, you know, that old-fashioned approach to problem solving and the creative process?
Resourcefulness has nothing to do with access to resources.W e have more resources than ever before. That’s not what makes us resourceful.
Early this morning, I headed to a favorite place just down the street to bring home a couple of lattes for my wife and me.
I think Jefferson or Franklin … or maybe all of our forefathers … was looking down at that moment, shaking their heads in wonder.
I’m pretty sure they looked a little disgusted at our (my?) lack of self-sufficiency.
Would You Work This Hard for a Cup of Coffee?
Our ancestors would have awakened in woolen underwear, stepped onto a cold wooden or dirt floor, and would have gone outside to chop some wood to start a fire in the cook stove or build a campfire with a few nearby rocks.
It would be easy to make technology our enemy and blame it for all of the distractions that keep us from getting things done.N ice try, but this is an age-old problem that’s on us, not on the technology that surrounds us.
Screaming about distractions and the lack of productivity didn’t help them in ancient Rome, either.
For me, I’m hooked on the “deep work” concept these days, blocking certain parts of my day when I’m ONLY going to do one thing at a time, like writing this blog post. No distractions but a dedicated effort to “eat the elephant” and accomplish what’s most important today … and each day.
I’m not going to wonder what’s happened in my email inbox or in my social media accounts since the last time I checked.
ACTION ITEM: Something that works well for me is to turn off all notifications. Instead, establish and follow a strict schedule to check your email and social media accounts 3-4 times/day, less if possible. Otherwise, ignore them. They will be there when you’re ready. Remember: Your inbox is someone else’s to do list FOR YOU. Use your own.
In fact, I’m closing down e-mail right now. I’m ignoring all of my social media connections, putting on a little Norman Brown and Ahmad Jamal jazz in the background, a fresh cup of Philz’ Jacob’s Wonderbar dark roast coffee. Life is good … isn’t it?
If I could only focus ….
Oh, if it were only that simple, and I could keep blocking out all those pesky little distractions.
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