Sal's Corner

Monday Morning Quarterbacking?

Every single one of us is a great analyst? What do I mean by that? When we watch a sports game, at the end we have a long list of things that the team or coach could have done better, when something happens in a country, we also know that certain things should have done and the disaster could have been minimized.  Yesterday I watched in amusement along with my son as the Mexican Soccer team lost against Honduras.  The Mexican Soccer Federation considers this as a major failure, and the coach (which many tag as being extremely arrogant) could not say otherwise.  The truth of the matter is that Mexico lost, no if, or buts, no excuses.  If one is to succeed in life, we need to stop coming up with excuses if something does not go our way, we need to learn that everything that happens to us is our responsibility.  Remember that it is not what happens to you, but what you do about it.  One more thing that I want to remind people about is that the “stars” of each individual team, do not make the best National team.  Do you remember the “dream team” from the US, that could not beat a seemingly inferior basketball team from the former communist block in the Olympic games?  The best National team will always be comprised of individuals that work together and are able to put the goals of the team above their personal egos.  I was born and raised in Mexico and know the Mexican culture quite well, and it is obvious to me that in the players minds they think they are the greatest thing since slice bread, the 8th wonder of the world, and that the team does not deserve them.  It is a very deeply rooted problem that afflicts Mexico and many other Latin countries, if we see someone else succeeding, we try to minimize his/her efforts at best, and try to pull him down at worst, it is a fact, there is no arguing about it. 

In looking forward to the next game, I see a very troubled Mexican team, that may have the talent to win against Panama, but unfortunately do not seem to have the heart.  I do believe that they will play a very good game out of pride and ego, and Panama will have a tough time against them, unfortunately I cannot say with certainty that they will beat Panama, my guess for this Wednesdays game is a tie with Mexico leaving the tournament. 
As an aside comment, I asked my son that if in a hypothetical case, the US were to face Mexico, who would he root for?  He remained quiet, thinking that he had not heard my question I repeated the question, and he shyly said: “I don’t know.”  I prodded him further by asking why?  He started explaining that the decision is difficult, he lives in the US and the US is his country, but on the other hand all of his cousins and family live in Mexico.  I reassured him by saying that rooting for the US is fine, I told him to follow his heart, if his gut tells him to do something, more than likely is the right thing, remember that in every enterprise, if the Why? Is big enough, the What? usually takes care of itself.

Laws of Positive Leadership

I will keep today's blog short, however I wanted to shear with you something that I read on a magazine yesterday, they are 10 rules to become a more effective people.  Napoleon, used to say that people will follow you only as far as they trust you. 

1. Give more than you expect others to give.-  You cannot command respect if you are not willing to do what you are asking from others.
2. Combine Optimism and Perseverance.-  Others who observe your conduct will not only feel inspired, but will act the same way.
3. See everyone as a diamond in the rough.-  Every single one of your employees or peers is a diamond waiting to be discovered, making judgments, stereotypes or assumptions is the worst thing you can do.
4. Express Appreciation; accept responsibility.-  Praise loudly, blame softly.  Give credit and be thankful, on the other hand do not use other people as a shield for your mistakes.
5. Remain Balanced.-  Keep things in perspective, you job is only a job, and no matter how much you work, it will never make up for the important things in life.  An anecdote: Two men were in a funeral from a mutual friend, and as they are talking, one asks the other: "How much did he leave?" (they both knew he was wealthy and a workaholic as well).  The second man replies: "He left every thing."
6. Show Respect for People Around You.-  Every single human being was created equal, and society has found a way to differentiate and group people according to class, race, income, etc.  Forget about this, treat people as you would like to be treated.
7. Treat Everyone as Family.-  If you want to gain the respect of other people, there is no better way to do it than this.
8. Be a Source of Inspiration.-  Share your tid bits of wisdom and insight with younger people.  Challenge them to become better, to be more than they thought they could.
9. Stress Cooperation, not Competition.-  Stress the fact that the better they get along, the better the company will do.
10. Maintain a Sense of Humor.-  No one likes to be around a person that ALWAYS takes life too seriously.  If you want to build stronger bonds with your employees and gain their full trust, humor will go a long way.  Make even fun of yourself when the occasion presents.

I hope you enjoyed these 10 tips, have a great day.

He Ain't Vince Young

Before I go into the main topic of today's blog, I just wanted to share that yesterday I started my coaching career, I'm coaching a soccer team of 6 year olds where my son happens to play by the way.  We had a good showing and came up with the victory, I'm proud of my boys, they played their hearts out, and behaved with the highest level of sportsmanship.  It has been a lot of fun as you learn about the minds and hearts of 6 year olds, and I feel a great deal of responsibility as it is me the one who needs to teach them how to play and how to keep their minds in the fundamentals and not only in the score.  I also have to instill in them good values and character, so wish me good luck with my team "Go Green Gators!!!"

Yesterday night I took some time off to watch the college football game between Texas and Ohio State.  Ohio State came up on top, but what caught my attention was the fact that as I suspected from the beginning, Texas was a One Man Team.  Vince Young was it!  Do not get me wrong, I still think Texas has a very good team, but not a great one.  The thing about Vince Young is that he had the fire to win games, he knew that no matter what the score was, he was going to pull the win.  The new kid playing quarterback for Texas (Mcloy I believe) is fine, but he ain't Vince Young, he is beatable, very beatable.  I know I may be wrong, but to me he will go down as another Chris Simms, he will be a god quarterback, but he will never be great.  He lacks the leadership that Vince Young provided.  When you are under the wings of someone that has absolute conviction that things will get done, the rest of the team plays with the same degree of confidence.  Las night Texas did not have that.  My forecast has changed, I now believe Oklahoma has a good chance against them, and many other teams will at least play close games against Texas.  Heck! even the Aggies have a shot!

Leading or Managing

This afternoon I was visiting my old friend from Kraton, while there I learned of a few personnel changes taking place.  It turns out my old boss is going back to Ohio, while his place is being taken by a good friend and peer (CS).  All I can say is that my former group will have in him a class act.  It is hard to be a manager, and try to be a leader in a company where leadership and employee recognition are not the order of the day, however, I'm quite confident CS will do an excellent job at listening to people and trying to address those needs.  I wish him the best, and I'm sure he will put his best effort to leave the group better than he's finding it.  I hope he's not trying to straighten chairs in the Titanic. 

Since we are talking about this topic, I wanted to explain the difference between leadership and management.  Imagine you are in a deep and thick jungle, there you have managers.  The managers day in and day out are making sure the machetes stay sharp and people remain clearing the way, he makes sure people does not get distracted, and they keep swinging those machetes to make their way to riches.  One of his duties is to feed the workers the best food, and make sure the workers rest and exercise so they keep in shape.  But you also have a leader, the person that starts climbing the tallest tree, and when he's all the way up and can see the horizon, yells: "Wrong Jungle!!!!"  Knowing CS I'm positive he will bring plenty of positive energy and a very meaningful insight to the group, I'm sure he will resemble the person climbing the tree.  Congratulations on your new position and if you ever need any help from me, let me know.

Visionary Leaders

Are you a leader? of course you are, we all are leaders in one way or another, you may be leading your family, or you may be leading a little league soccer team, or you may be leading a group or division at work, but we all have leadership roles within our society.  I do not know if I have mentioned it in my blog, but I'm a member of Toastmasters International (www.Toastmasters.org).  Toastmasters is dedicated to improving your public speaking and leadership skills.  Currently I'm the Vice President of public relations for my local chapter, and I do enjoy a lot the club.  Yesterday at our meeting BW presented a speech about "The Visionary Leader," having vision is something that we could all use.  To me the greatest example of having a vision is Walt Disney, I do not know how he came up with the idea, but his vision went beyond what I could imagine.  Have you ever dreamed about something? Well, that could be your vision, now, it is not only about dreaming, if it was just dreaming, we would have quite a few Bill Gates in this world.  Besides having vision, you have to have also a mission, the way to understand it is this: the vision is the what, the mission is the how.  In other words, you vision is you passion, the vision is the star in the horizon that keeps telling you where you need to go, and you will achieve that by having a mission. 

Remember also that you will get only as far as your thoughts will allow you, so dare to dream, dare to set goals and have a mission, do not let your practicality stop you from achieving great things.

How Can Two Companies Go In Opposite Directions?

I have been in my new job for 9 days, and today we had a meeting with the leadership team from my facility.  It was a really good experience and shows me that our leaders care.  It was such a different experience from what I went through at Kraton, so how could Kraton go so different?  After all they used to be the same company.  In my new job I find meaning and also a purpose, but not only that, there is actually leadership and people that actually cares about recruiting and retaining people.  We were given an overview about what demographics will cause in the work force.  In the years ahead there will be plenty of opportunities, it was an eye opening experience to see the demographics within my company.  Baby boomers will start retiring soon and they will leave a vacuum that will be hard to fill.  No matter what industry you are in, you will see this effect all across.  The opportunities will be many, and the patient one will be the one that will benefit from this trend.

I was very pleased with my initial impression about our leaders, and unlike Kraton, they do seem to care and empathize with their employees. 

Management Behaving Badly, It's Time for Me to Say Adios!

I have great news to break, today I turned in my resignation, this closes another chapter in my life.  Although I will miss all of my friends at my current company, I'm excited to move on.  It is time for me to keep growing and learn from a new environment, I just feel that the working environment I'm currently in, is poisoned by low morale, bad attitude, and mixed in with a pinch (or a whole bunch) of average management.  They say that leaders are not born, they are made, well let me tell you that my company is not making any efforts to develop any kind of leadership.  I have been taken aback by a few recent developments where I have not been impressed one bit with the managers making decisions and leading people to the next step.  So, is there any glimpse of hope for my co-workers staying in the company? I believe so, I strongly believe that you make your luck and you are the only one responsible for what happens to you, sometimes life puts you in uncomfortable or just plain bad situations, but it is up to every single one of us to show our character and determination to succeed.  I'm not trying to downplay or simplify any particular situation, but if you feel you deserve better, then you do.  Remember that the size our our thinking will determine our success.  And the ability to assimilate and screen the good from the bad even in set backs will determine how long we remain down.

I cannot completely blame management, after all, we are the ones that bring them to life.  One thing I do feel sorry for, is that we are not putting more emphasis in our values, and in our character.  In the short term this may no be noticed, but in the long term, this will come to haunt us.

I do not regret one bit leaving my current position, and I am looking forward to a new beginning at my new company, where I will start work in a few more weeks.  It's been a hell of a ride, and I certainly thank every single one of my peers for putting in me a little bit of their wisdom and energy (and also sarcasm), but more than anything, for letting me into their lives and dreams, and trusting me.  Thanks for the laughs (at the expense of management most of the time), thanks DL and BM and everybody else for pitching in with great breakfasts and lunches (I'm leaving a few pounds heavier, but also happier).  Thanks also to PM for his friendship and many conversations we had about the stock market and the like, we fixed the world many times around.  Thanks to BD and JG for sharing with me part of their lives and allowing me to advise them in very important matters to them.  I have no question that JG will realize his dream, and may be he will share with me how he did it.  I'm proud of BD for his courage and determination to go back to school, he's already very successful, and I wish him the best in any future endeavors.  JMG, keep pounding at your dream and never give up, even though you are young, do not let any setbacks get to you, learn from the experiences and move on, I remind you of one of Winston Churchill's quotes: "Never, never, never, never give up." 

I will miss the coffee breaks at the EDF (from broke back mountain to Michael Savage), and especially SJW, there's not a person in the EDF that does not have appreciation for you humble and honest personality.  I hope you find what you are looking for, although with the family you have, that will just be the icing on the cake, you should be very proud at the job you have done as a parent (you will need all of your skills in the years to come).

I was also very lucky to come across guys like JB or DL, although not very outspoken, they are both worth their weight in gold (and for DL that's a lot of gold, just kidding).  JB helped me realize how stupid I am for not finding the ground fault control in my garage, sorry for wasting your time, and DL taught me to be less selfish and more caring.

I will not close without acknowledging CS and HA, both are true gentlemen and mentors, thanks for all of the advice and putting up with this rookie and sometimes naive engineer.  I do not need to wish you luck, as I know that you two are making your luck happen.

Through each and every single one of my peers and co-workers I have learned many things, and I can say confidently that I've truly won through this job by getting to know them and making friends with each one of you, now I understand when they say that "the joy is in the journey", for all that:

Thank you very much, and best wishes!

It's Not the Money, Stupid

If you were to visit the company I work for, you would realize that even though the company gave away very decent bonuses, the employee morale is still quite low.  We just went through that time of the year when they give you the results of last year's appraisal.  Talking to people on the hallways and through water cooler conversations, I get the impression that this company is made out of a bunch of average Joe's (myself included).  At least I'm average (management tells me so), other very good employees were not as fortunate, and got a "below average" ranking (unjustified I must say). 

So how does a company manage to give money to its employees and still get them upset? Just ask the top management in my organization and they could give you a clue or two.  I'm currently listening to "integrity" by John Cloud, I learned that in 2003 during an employee survey at Dell, they found that 50% or more people would have left the company if given the opportunity.  If I was a manager in my company I would be afraid to ask that question.  The main reason people at Dell was upset is because they perceived Michael Dell to be to impersonal and not caring.  This may seem like something you would hear out of a Marriage Counseling session, but that is exactly how they felt, and it is how millions of workers at different companies feel about their managers.

It's been said time and again that money does not constitute a big portion to employee satisfaction, do not get me wrong, I'm not suggesting we work for free.  But besides the money, people work to fulfill a greater need, a need to feel important, a need to feel useful. So what happens when the company tells the majority of the employees that they are no better than average? and not only that but they treat employees as if they were white, blue, red and yellow balls that need to be put in different boxes?  What you get is a few happy employees, and a great majority of unhappy and dissatisfied employees.  So after all, "It's not the money, stupid."

The problem at my company is not the money, the bonus amount was more than OK in most cases (we had a very good year), the problem is the whole ranking system.  Lets admit it, nobody wants to be "just average," I was appalled when I learned about some of my co-workers that got low grades.  In their effort to save money, or make it more competitive, or many other reasons, they have managed to make it so impersonal that it's not even funny.  So what exactly is missing? I think our management is not connecting with the people, and a lot of the employees do not really trust our management when it comes to watching after us.  Being profitable should not be the only or most important goal of an organization or company, but yet it is.  The goal of any organization or company should be to serve its employees and society and do it in a profitable way.  I hope for the sake of the people that decides to stay, that my company reforms their appraisal system and do it in a way that makes the employees feel that management truly cares about them. 

Do Managers Really Get It?

Very often I wonder if managers really get it?  The short answer is no, but of course a short answer would leave me with nothing else to write for my blog, so here's the long answer.  As I think back and reflect on my former bosses and teachers, the great ones are few and I would consider that the one quality that makes them great more than anything else is that they have the ability to connect or empathize with their staff. 

No matter how sharp you are, or how results driven go getter, make things happen you are, if you are not able to empathize with people and see their problems and worries, dreams and aspirations as if they were your own, you will end up manipulating people for your own sake or the sake of the company, but you will not gain their trust.  How many managers or CEO's have you been around that when asked a question, they have the answer and they explain to you or others how "that is not a problem because..."  It may not be a problem, but they completely miss the fact that it is a concern to you, in other words, they do not empathize with you.  Now you may ask, what if they do not have your trust? they can still get things done.  True, just as you can force your kids not to hang around certain friends instead of trying to understand what is it that "those friends" bring to their hearts that you can't.  Trust me on this one, if your followers do not trust you, you will only be able to get so far.

If you want to be a better leader in whatever fashion this takes (parent, boss, husband, etc) try practicing more empathy, put yourselves in the other person's shoes and react accordingly.

So What's the Purpose Anyway?

As a request of my brother I will try to expand on a book I recently read "It's your Ship: Management Lessons from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy."  The first chapter focuses on communicating purpose and meaning. If you read the biographies of great leaders, there is one theme in common, they all have a purpose.  Great leaders have a purpose and a passion for what they do.  Having a purpose changes things around, take as an example, the woman that founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers).  Before founding this organization, this woman had not interest of speaking in public, much less stand in front of the senate to champion her cause, that was until her son got killed by a drunk driver.  She found her purpose in life afterwards.  If you are to succeed at anything, you will have to find the purpose on whatever you are doing, once you have a purpose, everything else will flow.  Purpose is the guiding star for whatever endeavor you pursue, when you have purpose you never achieve your destination, you just reach milestones or rest stops.

Recently my company kicked off a campaign to come up with a better safety recognition system.  They want to be able to encourage safe behavior by recognizing it.  This is all fine and dandy, the only problem (and it's a big one by the way) is that their motives do not back up their actions.  If you want someone to be safe, you must want that because of the individual, not because of the better economic performance your company will have by having less incidents.  The difference between manipulation and motivation is that in manipulation we persuade someone to do something that will bring us a benefit, while in motivation, we persuade the person to do something because of his or her own good, and because we really care about them, and whether we benefit or not from the actions should be irrelevant.  Until the upper management in my company changes the way they see this program, it will not have the success that they foresee.  I'm reminded of a quote by Napoleon Bonaparte: "You can lead people only as far as they trust you to take them."  In this case I have the funny feeling that most employees do not trust our management's motives.

As a leader, one needs to be able to communicate a clear purpose and a meaning to the organization or the company.  The purpose should be to better the individuals and the society it exists in, and along the way it should be profitable while doing this.  This brings me to another book I read last summer "Joy at Work," by Dennis Bakke.  If you are in charge of leading a company or an organization, and want to get better at it, this is another must read.

So to summarize, a leader needs to be able to communicate the vision or purpose of the enterprise and do so in such a clear way that every employee feels a part of it.  I will finish the blog by quoting Steve Covey form "The 8th Habit,"

"Leadership is communicating people's worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it themselves."

by Stephen Covey