Archive | March, 2005

JetBlue’s Cultivation of a Soulful Workplace

by on March 31, 2005 in Work

At the Worthwhile Magazine blog, David Batstone writes about David Neeleman, the CEO and founder of JetBlue, and the company culture he is creating. Because of his church community service experience in the slums of Brazil back when he was a college student, Neeleman believes in building a company that is egalitarian and cares for its customers and employees in equal measure. I’ve yet to personally fly with JetBlue, but this is all because they only fly to Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, and California out of my preferred airport of Washington Dulles. You can bet that once I need to get to one of these destinations, it’ll be JetBlue getting the business.

I love David’s question that he poses at the end. What he’s getting at is the essence of fostering a Soulful Workplace:

Why is it so hard to take the wisdom that we gain from our most
meaningful personal experiences and translate them into good practice
at the workplace? Most of the time we accept that is just the way the
world of work operates. As a result, the company culture sputters along
with its impersonal systems.

I challenge individuals to think differently. Personal lessons do
not have to stay within our private borders. In fact, they are a
fountain out of which flows our public creativity.

It’s why I encourage folks to live full lives that are not one-dimensional, but integrate work, personal time, community service, passionate hobbies, and anything else that adds to the complete experience that is life. This is the wellspring of creativity and spirit that drives our existence. To segment all of this and leave it at the front door of the office is doing a disservice to the world and ourselves.

I honestly believe that our customers want to know who we are as people. They want to know that actual human beings with minds and hearts exist behind that corporate name. Knowing that David Neeleman’s business philosophy is guided by his experiences serving the poor makes me MORE likely to fly his airline than United or American (frankly, I have no idea who runs either of these companies) and far more dedicated to helping this company maintain it’s mission. That’s the choice I make as a consumer.

So all you company executives, I’m going to issue a second challenge to David Batstone’s above: come out from behind your company’s name and brand and tell us who you are and how your experiences contribute to creating a Soulful Workplace. You just might find a new passionate customer is waiting.

Trying Out This Carnival Of The Capitalists

by on March 30, 2005 in Media, Work

I’ve had a few fellow bloggers suggest that I submit a post to the Carnival of the Capitalists to spread the Alchemy love. So with a free weekend I decided to nominate a post and see what happened. By the way, if you’re coming from CotC, this is the post that I actually submitted.
Boy, I picked a wild time to start getting involved with CotC. This week it’s being hosted by a fella named Russell Buckley at The Mobile Technology Weblog and he’s getting acquainted with a bit of  controversy.

Here’s the TWO posts (normally, just one post – hence, the reason for all the hullabaloo) for this week’s collection:
Carnival of the Capitalists – Part One (Monday)
Carnival of the Capitalists – Part Two (Wednesday)
PS. You’ll find me halfway down the page in Part Two.

I must admit that I’m a little green to the whole Carnival scene and it’s been interesting to be involved in the process. This whole episode also has been an intriguing example of change: how it is implemented and how it is accepted. Tell me if this little case study doesn’t resemble how change is sometimes created in organizations.

The decision to implement Change usually comes from good intentions. Good intentions don’t always make it the right decision, though. For Russell, his intention was to alleviate reader fatigue created by having to wade through numerous entries (this week had 50 posts). It was also done with the blogger in mind since he believes that a post listed in the first 10 or so entries attracts many more readers than a subsequent one. There are a couple of other more cynical rationalizations for the decision, but I choose to believe that Russell did have good intentions.

Communicating how Change will occur is vital. Who likes to wake up in the morning to find that ESPN SportsCenter has suddenly altered its format or discover that a favorite alternative rock station has mysteriously switched to a Spanish-language pop station? Nobody really likes to be caught by surprise and so it was probably a little shocking to find that CotC was going to deviate from its normal method of delivering its weekly roundup. It also didn’t help that the change was made "unilaterally" and without prior input from those invested in the process. Russell could probably have saved himself from some of the vitriolic responses had he noted his intentions up-front and made his case.

Change must be guided not commanded*. I’m putting an asterisk on this one because there comes a time when everyone has to be on-board with the change process. Yet, by the time the commanding part comes, it should be toward the end of the change curve.

Okay, I’ve lost my momentum. Check out the two CotC posts (particularly the first one for many of the comments). While I don’t agree with Russell on a number of points (particularly his belief that the contributors are a secondary concern to the readers – without the contributors, there is no CotC in the first place) and in his decision-making process, I have to hand it to him for being gutsy enough to spark the passionate response. I’m eagerly awaiting how the folks over at Law & Entrepreneurship News, who are next up in the CotC hosting queue, handle next week’s roundup.

Buddha’s Got Some Good Career Advice

by on March 25, 2005 in Career

Here’s a great post from Alchemy reader, Steven Kempton of The Asia Pacific Headhunter. Steven’s post is titled Buddha’s Four Noble Truths on Job Hunting and it’s soulful, provocative, and absolutely right on when it comes to taking control of your own career. Take in his Third Noble Truth:

Give up needing a job. Powerful stuff this so I will repeat, give up needing a job. One more time, give up needing a job.
Start thinking and acting on having a career. No matter what your "job"
is at the time. Think about how you (you, the one reading this, not
your boss, or your company, or your companies HR team) are developing
yourself, your career, your attitude and your skills whether you are
working now or not. The best time to start is during your current job.

It kind of works in tandem with my post yesterday at Talking Story on the need to reinvent professional development. If your organization isn’t doing enough to provide it for you, then go out and get it yourself (or work for a company that supports the concept of livelihood learning).

Visit Steven and find out what the three other Noble Truths are.

Guest Blogger Today At Talking Story

by on March 24, 2005 in Creative, Life, Work

I talked about reinvention earlier this week. Well, today’s my day to add more to the conversation at Rosa Say’s Talking Story. The title of my post is Let’s Reinvent Professional Development in Our Organizations. Based on my experience, professional development is treated like a job perk, rather
than as a systemic part of the organization’s greater purpose of
growing its business and its people. In my post, I advocate for a new way of thinking and put out a new term to consider.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and visit Talking Story.

If you’ve never been to Talking Story, take some time to explore Rosa’s blog and discover some wonderful ways to reinvent the relationship between manager and employee. Then do yourself a big favor and buy her book, Managing with Aloha. You’ll not find a more soulful and passionate advocate for artful management out there. Mahalo nui Rosa for your friendship and mentoring.

Being “In The Zone”

by on March 23, 2005 in Creative

Lately, I’ve been in high interview mode. Anyone who has been through an interview knows about the amount of time it takes to properly research and prepare for the meeting. In my case, I had a "performance interview" on Monday, which automatically increases the prep time exponentially. For this performance interview for a corporate trainer position, I had to facilitate a mock technical training in front of five people within the company. It was one of the most fun, relaxed, and personally powerful interviews I’ve ever experienced.

As I was debriefing with my wife afterward, I realized that what made it go so well was that I felt like I was "in the zone." My first time hearing that phrase was in a college class on Taoism and Creativity. We talked about how to enter that place and work there. All I could think was that it seemed very mystical, like an out-of-body experience.

However, I’ve come to different perspective since those college days. Why was I able to achieve that place in the zone? For me, it was about the hard work I’ve done in the past months (and years really) getting to know who I am and in what I’m particularly skilled and talented. You know, Michael Jordan didn’t wake up one day to find he could hit a clutch three point basket. He had to work long and hard at developing the proper technique and mindset. Then, he had to understand that the true power came when he relaxed and trusted his abilities. It’s the same for all of us who find the zone.

There’s plenty of work that has to be done in order to achieve mastery of a subject or action. It’s only after this hard work that the mystical can flow through us. Any experiences with being in the zone you’d like to share?