Asking for Help

I had a great chat last week with a good friend. She said I wasn’t being open enough here on my website and I wasn’t putting enough skin in the game for you to understand my point of view and share more of me. She made some great points.

Then this week, I had one of those life conversations with my best friend. We’ve known each other since high school. It’s a rich relationship. No topic is off-limits. We talk about careers and relationships, music and cars, dreams and wishes, and we have been there for each other through the ups and downs over 35 years.

We’re often asked how we became friends because we are so different. He is analytical and I am emotional. He is a math guy and I’m a creative guy. But we find common ground and enjoy the differences each bring to the friendship.

Upon Reflection

Both conversations were actually about me and I didn’t realize it until a few days later. I am in the process of reviewing my entire career, my life, my relationships, and my work. I have been through the most transformative year of my life. Both know me well and in their own way outlined that I wasn’t believing in myself as much as others do or as much as I believe in others!

Then I had a call yesterday with a colleague in Seattle I met on the social web. We don’t know each other that well but it was a fantastic conversation about where each of us is and where we want to be in our lives. We became fast friends a couple of years ago and though we don’t talk often, it’s one of those relationships that you can go months without talking then pick it up like it was yesterday.

Two-Way Street

The real takeaway from all three conversations was that I enjoy helping others but have a terrible time asking for help. She asked how she could help me write stronger posts. My best friend offered to introduce me to two new clients and told me he will help anyway he can. And my Seattle friend ended the call with a genuine; “Let me know what you need from me”.

I finally slowed down for five seconds and realized three people who were offering to help me. We are told that a stiff upper lip, smile on our face, and shoulders back is the way to go. We aren’t allowed to be unsure or ask a friend for advice or guidance. And frankly, that’s a bunch of crap! Offer help and ask for help.

Your relationships and your life will be richer for it!
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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

Culture vs Revenue

Like change, good culture sounds great in theory but is not easy to execute. Culture is defined as the manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. It has also been described as the conditions suitable for growth. This goes well beyond dress code and office accouterments.

The number one reason people leave a company is because of how they are treated by their immediate direct report. Strategy is key to any successful business but so is healthy culture. Which do you think wins in a street fight? Which seeps into every crevice of a company? Which is the more critical to the bottom line?

Your Internal Supply Chain

In a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled Are You Creating Disgruntled Employees?, Joseph Folkman outlines six key elements which will help you improve the culture in your company. Those are; encourage me, trust me, take an interest in me, keep me in the loop, be honest with me, and connect with me.

Poor culture kills companies but hides in full view as leadership point to other issues as culprits. If you want more revenue and market share, why not try encouragement, trust, interest, openness, honesty or connection?

Yeah, that'd be great.

Kneale Mann

office space

Be Unpopular

It was May 2010. I was in a room full of smart people wondering how I snuck by security. I sat quietly to learn. At some point during the first morning, someone asked a pointed question that was quick and sharp. Erika Napoletano was funny, strong, and smart. I had a chat with her weeks later and my suspicions were confirmed.

Leadership isn't about being popular, it's about being fair and balanced and inclusive and having the ability to stand for something others can believe in. If that makes you popular, that's fine but if popularity is your only goal there will be trouble.

Now watch how Erika reminds us being popular shouldn't be the goal. There are some bad words in her TEDxBoulder Talk. You may be offended and she may not care.


Kneale Mann

TEDxBoulder | Erika Napoletano

How Can Leaders Use Comedy?

Crisp and clever writing can take a lifetime to master. Writing comedy can be the most difficult form of communication. It can create a viral explosion or fall on its face.

Chris Bliss writes and studies communication through translation and comedy. He may give you some ideas of how to create better lines of dialogue for your work, your leadership journey and other aspects of your life.


Kneale Mann

TED | Chris Bliss

Five Things: To Run A Business

Ideas are everywhere.

This one is as simple as they come and is the result of a conversation with a colleague.

Five is a tidy number, it's an amount that is manageable and something we'll investigate once a week.

A Strategic Plan
A realistic and executable road map for your business and your career.


Honesty With Yourself
Know your strengths, be aware of areas to work on, no one knows it all.

Honesty From Others
Find a group of 5-10 trusted advocates who will provide clear insight and feedback.

Honesty With Others
Others can see right through dishonest business practices.

Constant Education
Learning is a lifelong endeavor.

Agree? Disagree?
What are your five things?

@knealemann
Helping you integrate all you do with all you do.

photo credit: therulesofwealth

Fine Print And Full Disclosure

Are you honest with your customers? Really?

Saturday was met with a cool chilling breeze. The mind doesn’t always comprehend things properly mere moments after lifting from a deep slumber. It was February and the furnace was broken.

Stumble and Bundle

My first move was to play the part of furnace repairman. This consisted of turning a couple of switches on and off, a breaker back and forth, removal of the furnace panel door, a look inside to a collection of wires and switches and a motor, re-installation of said panel door and a call to furnace repair weekend helpline.

The guy on the line was friendly, he told me that service calls on Saturdays were $150/hour plus parts but if I could wait until Monday that drops down to a paltry $98/hour. He gave me a couple of things to try, none worked so a Monday appointment was booked.

How Much You Got?

He arrived Monday to discover a doohickey needed replacing and the thingamajig on the other thing was corroded. The furnace was fixed, that is all I cared about.

He then disappeared outside into his truck to calculate the bill. Fifteen minutes later he came back and the amount at the bottom of the page was $212.82 which included one hour fifteen minutes labor, $80 in parts, and tax. Hang on, one hour and fifteen minutes?!?

Clock Keeps Ticking

I paid $98/hour from the second he left his last repair to the moment he handed me the bill. Yes, that’s $98/hour to have him sit in his truck and tally the damage. That’s ninety-eight bucks an hour for him to drive from his last repair, grab a coffee or lunch or something on his way and then fix my furnace. And the kicker, I have no way of proving how long it took him between stops so I pay some imaginary trip fee. Not the point, it's a rip off.

This is clearly a company policy they don’t go out of their way to state ahead of time. My mechanic charges less per hour and doesn't ding me for his trip to work as well. I'm happy my furnace is working but I just spent about a hundred bucks for him to sit in his truck. That’s quite a scam!

Your Choices Are Few

In the case of doctors, dentists and I guess furnace repairmen; there isn’t much choice in the service charges you have to pay.

Companies are doing this every single minute of every single day, but perhaps that is how you can differentiate yourself? Actually be honest with your customers, actually be accountable and actually deliver great service to them. It may be worth a shot.

Caveat Emptor

Ask a lot of questions and run the other way if it feels like a scam. We all want great service, but few of us expect it. And even fewer of us do anything about bad service.

As a customer, how important is customer service to you?
As a provider, how important is it to your customers?

@knealemann

getentrepreneurial.com

Putting On A Brave Face

A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.
Eric Hoffer

A few years ago, I was having lunch with a friend who was experiencing a stalled career and some trouble in his marriage. We met at a packed food court at a mall – not the most private of locales for such conversation – but it gave me the chance to make a vivid comparison.

I asked him to look around the busy food court and find people who were late on their credit card payments, those who were deep in debt, the ones who were having trouble with their relationships or jobs. He saw a group of people who all seemed to have it figured out.

Stiff Upper Lip
The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

We all seem to have it figured out. We keep a smile on for the masses and our best foot forward. I was not suggesting we all walk around with our head in our hands, but I was pointing out that everyone goes through tough stuff.

Possible Good News
A people that values privileges above principles soon loses both.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

If there is a silver lining in the world economic crisis, it would be that we are now allowed to be honest and there is a desire for others to reciprocate. History tells us that we will turn this around. History also teaches us that unless we learn from this experience, it will repeat.

The solution to the crisis is not for us to throw our hands in the air or run through the streets crying, but a little honesty wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

Never Let Them See You Sweat
Journalism is literature in a hurry.
Matthew Arnold

I’ve been in the media, writing, entertainment, marketing and promotion industries my entire career. We have to work hard so it seems we haven’t made an effort.

If you've ever been inside a radio station or been on a film set, you may have an idea of how much panic may go on behind-the-scenes so the final product is right.

Not All The Kids Like Honesty
Honesty is the rarest wealth anyone can possess, and yet all the honesty in the world ain't lawful tender for a loaf of bread.
Josh Billings

There was a scary report on Dateline NBC last night featuring Elizabeth Warren. She is a law professor at Harvard and has been hired by President Obama as the head of the congressional oversight panel for the U.S. government bailout program.

When asked how the government has been tracking the money, she said that before she was hired, the Bush Administration had not been tracking it at all. Companies have been receiving lumps of cash and haven’t been forced to account for where it goes past the front door. That is idiotic and dangerous. But don't look too deep for a soul inside the CEO of a company that was just given several billion in government handouts.

Some have taken the brave face a little too far and honesty not far enough.

Could we benefit from a little more honesty?

km

despair.com