by Adam L Stanley | May 18, 2012 | Leadership, Teamwork
Top Traits: Defining the perfect employees
Yikes – It has been a while since I blogged and I have an excuse. We are working on some amazing things at Aviva and as part of that I have spent the past few weeks in meetings. Yes, being in meetings can sometimes be a royal P.I.T.A., especially if they are pointless. HOWEVER, I have been in FANTASTIC meetings. About dreaming, creatively thinking of new ways of engaging with clients, driving change, building new systems and tools, and SHARING. So, its been tiring but GOOD. Enough with the CAPITALIZ(S)ATION, right? Smile.
So, while I’ve been “away” from the blogosphere, I’ve been observing teams, learning about my new teams here and observing vendors, consultants, baristas at my favorite coffee spots, bartenders and servers at nice restaurants, my dry cleaner, the folks that work for London Transport, and the owner of the flat I lease. And, as I observe, I’ve noted things I like about these various employees and team members. As importantly, I’m refocusing on what I as a leader can do to enable the behaviours I like and discourage other behaviors. In my next series of blog posts, I will share my OPINIONS. I am NOT speaking for any company, nor am I speaking for Cafe Nero, Fino, etc. Just me.
… Trait # 1 – Hard working AND talented
Maybe you’ve had this guy on your team: The fact is he is simply brilliant. He knows so much about every relevant topic and can think beyond any analyst you have ever hired. Give him any problem to solve and, with focus, he can solve the most complex of them within minutes. Yet, when you compare his output and the value created from his efforts to the rest of your team, he falls short. Why? Because he is LAZY. In some ways, there is nothing worse than a LAZY smart person. Like a perfectly grilled prime rib being placed in front of a vegan, a USELESS waste. Offensive even!
Or perhaps you’ve seen more of this guy: Every night as you leave the office you say goodnight to this guy. He is in every meeting, takes copious notes, has severe frown lines from constantly working, thinking and pushing himself. He rarely takes vacations and always goes that extra mile. And yet, again, output is severely lacking. Deadlines are missed and errors are made. This person, while in my humble opinion much more acceptable than the lazy genius, still falls short. These guys are great to have on the team and can be highly valuable. They have the passion but not all of the skills… Which brings me to my first trait of the perfect employee…
Hard Working AND Talented
What I like
People who work hard and think hard are the foundation of a good team. And it is these people with whom I most like working. I don’t need geniuses actually, though the occasional rocket scientist does bring a uniquely different perspective to the team. I need people who are clear about what they know, comfortable researching or asking elsewhere about things of which they know little, and passionate about continuing to improve their knowledge base. But I also need them to want to work hard, push themselves, and execute. Brilliant strategy without effective delivery is … well, what many consultants produce. (And before I get the hate mail, I can say that because I am a former consultant. And of course not all consultants produce paperweights….)
I’m looking for people who have a strong base of talent on which to build, and the industriousness to see their base as a foundation and not a ceiling. Vision to dream about going further, learning more, and gaining even more knowledge as they execute and deliver. I had an architect at a prior company (confession: I hired/poached him from a consulting firm) that was not only the most knowledgeable person about Notes to Exchange migrations, he was also truly hard working. And he was humble; which I will discuss in a future blog. I could get more out of this one person than five others more polished, more educated, and higher paid. But he had a passion for solving problems and thinking harder about ways of working. And he never stopped learning.
I need people who think and push. Who work hard and study hard. Who bring a unique skillset to the table, share it with others, and in so doing make the entire team better.
What I need to do as a manager to enable
EMPLOY. ENGAGE. EMPOWER.
- EMPLOY. I need to find these people and bring them in to my teams. Typical HR processes seem to focus on assessing skills or fit. I need to assess ability to work hard, continue to learn and dream big. My goal will always be to find people smarter than I am, that work as hard or harder than I do, and give them the opportunity to shine.
- ENGAGE. I must actively seek to connect with these high performing high value generating team members, making clear how much they are valued. Too often, the smartest guy that does little work but knows when to speak up is rewarded first. As a leader, I must continuously look to find the hard working and talented and ensure they get the recognition they deserve.
- EMPOWER. The worst thing a manager can do with any top talent is to relegate them to worker bee status when they should be empowered to make decisions. These are your leaders and should be allowed to lead. These folks should be encouraged to ask forgiveness rather than permission.
For those interested, I found another blogger that commented on this topic and grouped people into four blocks instead of three. Where I cover smart and lazy, smart and hard working, and not so smart but hard working, this person also addresses stupid and lazy. I of course ignored that group because I would not even consider keeping someone in that bucket on my team. As Donald Trump says, “you’re fired!” Here is the other blog.
I also found a humorous take on choosing one or the other when you only have smart/lazy or dumb/hard working as your options.
From a “real world” perspective, it is FAR better to be smart and lazy than dumb and hardworking. You see, if a dumb person does a lot of work, chances are they’re going to do a lot of it wrong since they don’t know what they’re doing. Then the smart people are the ones who have to fix everything; and they spend all their time cleaning things up instead of being productive with their smartness.
I guess that is certainly one way of looking at things. As for me, I will continue to seek out the perfect ones, while also recognizing it takes all kinds to make a great team. Most importantly, I will continue to strive to find balance in life and work toward doing the right thing. I like what Teddy says on this topic.
Let me know what you think. What do you view as top employee traits? How do you build the best teams around different types of team members? Are you working hard on something worth doing?
Be sure to view all of the Top Traits:
Trait 1: Hard working AND talented
Trait 2: Pride in work product
Trait 3: Fun to work with
Be well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
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by Adam L Stanley | Mar 19, 2012 | Life, Relationships
Revisiting “Who Do You Love?
There is within each one of us a potential for goodness beyond our imagining; for giving which seeks no reward; for listening without judgment; for loving unconditionally.
Elisabeth Kabler-Ross
I recently wrote a blog on loving people of all types, just because. I asked the question: If we assume that everyone is flawed in someway, don’t we all at least equally deserve love? So I created a list of all kinds of ways people are described everyday and urged folks to just go ahead and love all of them!
A former colleague of mine, Gary, introduced me to , a cool online tool and I had to try it out. So I used their online tool to turn my blog laundry list into a graphic. Thanks for the introduction Gary and, to my readers, thanks for humouring me!
Here it is:
And here is the link to the original blog post.
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam Stanley
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
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by Adam L Stanley | Feb 7, 2012 | Relationships, Teamwork, Technology, Vendors and Partners
This week, I had a very unique opportunity to be “on-boarded” twice. My new role is based in the UK however I have a base in Chicago and, at the end of the day, a US contract. Thus, my first day was in Chicago and my second day was here in London. As I reflected on my first two days, something struck me that I thought was worthy of mentioning here. Both days, my first significant contact was with Technology team members. Not the strategy or planning sessions, or beginning the challenging work with which I have been tasked. Those start tomorrow. Specifically, I am referring to the service desk and support guys that actually helped get me setup with my “kit”.
Think about it: the last job you started likely involved use of some end user technology, be it a phone, laptop, iPad, or otherwise. Before you began to work your first deal, draft your first work plan, or respond to your first company email, you were likely setup by someone in Technology at your company. And that experience may very well have established your impression of technology at your firm overall. Regardless of how small a portion of the technology budget is actually spent on end user support, this is sometimes the only part of IT to which the majority of your teams are exposed. And I have seen AWFUL on-boarding and support processes, including from large outsourcing vendors that claim to have expertise.
And as I reflected on this fact, I also considered the age old question of whether business and technology have an effective relationship and whether technology can actually drive and influence decision making. And I say “absolutely”. And, frankly, it starts Day 1. And thus, service desk and support teams everywhere must take note: you matter much more than you may ever think. Yes, you deal with some of THOSE clients whose major problem is that shortly after they learned to pose their thumbs they were given a computer with a plug and no instructions. But you also deal with the closet techies that yearned to be the next Bill Gates or Steve Jobs before becoming actuaries. The one that built a program in DOS years ago before she decided to go back to law school. She was so proud of that program! The HR leader who admits to not knowing much about technology that simply begs for it to be as easy and user friendly as possible so she can help her clients recruit, train and retain talent so critical for the success of the firm. And yes, also that Finance major and banking strategist that spent 10 years in consulting before taking technology leadership roles and finding out how much he loved working with tech teams. For all of these users, you have the opportunity to frame their experience from day 1. And what a difference you can make!
Every five minutes you have with a CFO, you have the opportunity to represent your technology organization to an extent few others will ever have with that leader. You can listen to complaints and offer solutions. You can share their excitement talking about a new technology then work with the rest of the Tech org in finding ways to leverage that excitement for new solutions and services. You can make executives “happy” enough that perhaps the day we have a major sev 1 outage, they are stressed and concerned but not on the warpath. Because they know we care and that we realize the roll technology plays in generating revenue and sustaining profitability. You might just get them smiling right before they go to that special funding review meeting!
Like police officers in many urban centers, you don’t always get the glory. You are typically understaffed and insufficiently empowered. You get yelled at more than you get praised, and sometimes it may just seem that you have the most thankless job in Technology. But, goodness, YOU MATTER! And for me personally, you mattered this week. To Carey, Neel and Tom, a hearty thanks. You made my two days of on boarding easy and I can be productive from day 1 thanks to your help. You may never know just what that added productivity enabled for me, or for others. But you should know that it made a difference. You made a difference. And every call you take, every desk you visit, whether your clients say it or not, you continue to make a difference. And for those who do not, I say thanks.
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam L. Stanley | ALSWharton Connections
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by Adam L Stanley | Jan 23, 2012 | Life, Relationships
Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you.
William P. Young, The Shack
Do you have friends that seem great at tearing you down but never seem to build you up? Even worse, are you such a friend? I will admit there are a couple of people in my life that I am convinced accept me solely because of my corporate success or other temporal aspects of being. I sometimes get the sense that if I were homeless, had children out of wedlock, were exceptionally unattractive based on their criteria, or otherwise against their standards for who to love and appreciate, I would be a side thought. So, I spent the weekend thinking about who I love and who deserves to be loved. The answer is: EVERYONE AND NOONE. If we used the standard of truly deserving to be loved, perfectly living God-fearing saints, there would be ZERO people that should be loved. However, if we assume that everyone is flawed, don’t we all at least equally deserve love?
So, who do you love? Here is my list.
unresponsive, overdramatic
Predictable, blond
Grumpy,
determined
Passionate, judgmental, introverted
angry, short
restless
distracted
Hindu
Bald, chubby
complicated, idealistic, dissatisfied, anxious
Brunette, nosy, knowledgeable
trustworthy
polite, picky
cheerful, beautiful
observant
Fit
insecure, doubtful, tall
cheeky, single
grateful
Nervous, handsome
Fashionable
encouraging
simple, Buddhist
dependent, rude
awkward, Christian
naïve, divorced
Obese, plain, scruffy
self-conscious
pessimistic, Latino,
hot!
incompetent, conservative
inflexible, straight, Chinese
cowardly
Unkempt
Stupid, bitchy, liberal
Widowed, vulgar
selfish, unhappy
cynical, gay, married
needy, feminine
Kind, frumpy
Hairy, suave, healthy
Irrational
Sexy
childish, passive
calculating
Lesbian
fussy, camp
quixotic, Caucasian
Irritating, nice, sweet, helpful
understanding
sympathetic
smart, black
friendly
Vegan
indecisive, redhead
anal, diplomatic, sentimental
Addicted
Organized
Fat
dependable, long hair
Masculine, tolerant
modest, short
romantic
reflective, clean
Meat and potatoes only
confident
TOTAL ASSHOLE
Bipolar
logical
Australian, British, Kiwi
sensible
engaging
cute, aware
Self-righteous
dedicated
loving, queeny
impatient, stubborn, critical
talkative
reciprocating, meticulous, short hair
Tall, naughty
patient
loyal, compassionate
forgiving
admiring, silly, faithful, caring
considerate, skinny
apologetic
Dirty
Flawed
I’m sure I’ve missed some traits or groups but I think you get the picture. Imagine if everyone person to whom you showed love resulted in another person loving you? The person you dismiss because of their speaking style, their clothing, their job or lack thereof, their race or religion …. May just be the person that changes your life one day. And perhaps, by showing love to that one stranger, you just might change theirs.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7 (TNIV)
“The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Mitch Albom
“Selfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either.” Erich Fromm
Love BIG. Lead on.
Best,
Adam
Adam L. Stanley
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“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill
by Adam L Stanley | Jan 16, 2012 | Life, Quotes and Inspiration
Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. by Living, Learning, and Loving
Martin Luther King Jr
Those of you who follow me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or at least occasionally read this blog likely have gotten a sense of what is most important to me.
1) Living, an easy word so misunderstood by most, is a major focus. I mean truly living. Enjoying your days and nights, doing things that excite you, finding balance between various areas of your life so that each minute is more valuable and your regrets later in life are minimized. Make that call you have been putting off. Take that vacation you dreamed of. You don’t have to declare “email bankruptcy” but you can find balance by just cutting an hour off the time you spend each night on email or staring at your smart phone.
2) Learning – travelling, meeting new people, listening to elders, studying, reading, writing …. doing whatever I can to become a better person and to help others become better people. They say a person learns the most before they are 7 years old. But you don’t have to STOP learning then, as it seems so many people have done. It thrills me every time I meet someone different than me. Sitting with my grandmother in her last days was fantastic as I was able to glean from her almost 90 years of living. Never stop learning.
3) Loving– LOVE BIG, even at the risk of being hurt. Give those around you your best. Hug a lot, and not just those “pat on the back” hugs. I mean those hugs like my grandpa used to give me that made me think I was going to suffocate but man, did I feel the love. Hug BIG! Say thank you often and do little things that can mean so much at the right time. FORGIVE!!! Think of someone you love right now. If you love big, you should be smiling! Because no matter their faults or crimes, people you love should matter. Always. And finally, LOVE even those you do not know. There are so many people out there that have no family. They need you to show LOVE by giving and reaching out.
Martin Luther King Quotes
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I want to share my favorite quotes from the man that was flawed as we all are but did his part to advance the conversation. His words serve as inspiration to me in some ways, and admonishment in others. He spoke often of living, loving and learning and quotes around these topics have tended to be my favorites!
Living
Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
Learning
I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
Loving
The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.
Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.
There are so many more quotes I could include but these are some of my favorites. What are yours? What does this day mean to you? Share below, and please share this blog.
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
AdamLStanley.com
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“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give.”— Winston Churchill
by Adam L Stanley | Jan 1, 2012 | Life, Relationships
Decide what truly matters to you and LIVE
Do YOU have balance? Do you live to work or work so that you may LIVE? That’s an interesting question for many, and several people that THINK they have balance may be surprised by what they hear when close friends and family members are asked. I was such a neglectful friend and still am sometimes. I now commit to and strive to find balance between all of the things that should matter to me. Not simply work. Perhaps the best quote on balance came from James Patterson in his book “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas”.
“Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day, you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls are family, health, friends, integrity are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.
And once you truly understand the lesson of the five balls, you will have beginnings of balance in your life.”
James Patterson, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas
Finding Balance in Life
Ball #1: Family
I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, “Identity Crisis,” M*A*S*H
I do most of my writing, reading, and remote working in my library at home. I have comfortable brown leather chairs, and am surrounding by hundreds of books I have read over the years, dozens of magazines and lots of photos of the people in my life that matter most. My family means the world to me, and I would do just about anything for them. Yet, as many corporate folks tend to do, I have found myself in utter neglect of them from time to time. Travelling for work, staying up at all hours on my PC yet not picking up the phone to call, and being only semi-present when I am actually with them are just some of the ways I have risked damaging this “ball”.
The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to. ~Dodie Smith
Have you neglected those people most strongly in your corner, your family? I reaffirm today my commitment to family, and to always remind those that work for or with me that “family comes first”.
Ball #2: Health
A man too busy to take care of his health is like a mechanic too busy to take care of his tools. Spanish Proverb
And how!! It took gaining 20 pounds, seeing my blood pressure steadily rise, and waking up a few too many times with unexplained headaches, body aches, or other manner of ailments to realize I had to slow down.
So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. A. J. Reb Materi
I worked so many hours, traveled, stared at my PC, responded to BlackBerry messages and texts, and was basically connected to work 20 hours a day at least. And I was slowly reducing my lifespan. Period. This summer, for the first time since I was 15, I took a sabbatical of sorts.
I became a Vegan. Yep. Cold turkey, I stopped eating meat, dairy, and anything that did not come from the ground. I posted tons of food photos of my daily meals (Flikr followers can see them) and enjoyed feeling better than I had for years. I became the foursquare “Mayor” of my gym, believe it or not, and targeted averaging 7-8 hours of sleep per night instead of 4-5. And I lost about 15 pounds, almost all of them “fat pounds”.
My change was somewhat drastic and I will admit, cooking three meals a day is not easy when working full-time. But, imagine if you do a little bit every day to better manage your health. Try not to get to the point where you have a medical emergency. Will you pledge to proactively write YOUR health story?
“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease. Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
Ball #3: Friends
A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. — Fr. Jerome Cummings
I often think of all of the amazing things my parents taught me over the years. How to be a responsible man, work hard, and respect people. They taught me how to build things and fend for myself. And they taught me the types of people I should avoid because they were bad influences or trouble makers. In many ways, they helped me get better at finding friends. Strangely, what they could not really teach me, and it takes years to get good at, was actually BEING a friend. When you find someone who is good at being a friend, you’ve really been blessed.
Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure. — Jewish Saying
My friends know me, not just corporate me, religious me, or party me. They know all of me. My true friends know the good and the bad and they accept all of it (not necessarily liking all of it, but loving me all the same). At the end of a tough day at work, a call or text from a friend that simply says “Thinking of you and hoping you are being good to YOU” means the world.
In my blog post on Thoughts on Relationships from The Shack, I noted that life is full of relationship and the more you embrace people for both who they are and what they uniquely bring to you (and you to them), the richer you will be. THAT is what friends do for you. True friends. Each relationship is uniquely different, and like investments, the more you put into these relationships, the more you can get from them.
Do YOUR friends know how much they mean to you? Commit to calling more even though FaceBook is more convenient. Send a personal note to let someone know what they mean to you. Keep this ball strong, beautiful and intact. When at the end of the road, you may not finish everything you set out to finish career wise, but you’ll only regret the times you missed with friends.
Ball #4: Integrity
“If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.” Moliere [Jean Baptiste Poquelin] Tartuffe, V, i (1622-1673)
My reputation is incredibly important to me and whether people think me brilliant or not does not matter as much as whether they think I have integrity. I want people to trust me. And because of this, in everything I do, I strive to take the high road, opting for integrity over any element of success that might otherwise come my way. Always knowing that Trust is like an eraser, it gets smaller and smaller after every mistake.
“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no persuasion move thee, to do anything which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollity; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.” Benjamin Franklin
At the end of the day, I love pushing hard to be successful in my career. And I am proud of my career accomplishments to date. As I continue to grow, I am learning about balance and finding that truly I can be even more successful. I am certain now that I truly understand the lesson of the five balls, now I must ensure I live and learn from the lesson.
So, I ask you, do you in fact “have beginnings of balance in your life”? Or are you still trying so hard to keep that rubber ball of work bouncing that you shatter the relationships you have while damaging your health and integrity? FIND BALANCE TODAY!
Be Well. Lead On.
Adam
Adam Stanley
Adam L. Stanley Connections Blog
Technology. Leadership. Food. Life.
AdamLStanley.com
Follow me on Twitter | Connect with me on Linked In
, a cool online tool and I had to try it out. So I used their online tool to turn my blog laundry list into a graphic. Thanks for the introduction Gary and, to my readers, thanks for humouring me!
“Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day, you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls are family, health, friends, integrity are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.
The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to. ~Dodie Smith
I became a Vegan. Yep. Cold turkey, I stopped eating meat, dairy, and anything that did not come from the ground. I posted tons of food photos of my daily meals (Flikr followers can see them) and enjoyed feeling better than I had for years. I became the foursquare “Mayor” of my gym, believe it or not, and targeted averaging 7-8 hours of sleep per night instead of 4-5. And I lost about 15 pounds, almost all of them “fat pounds”.
Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure. — Jewish Saying