“Goodbye, Manhattan” is a ‘diary entry’ that appeared in the “Metropolitan Diary” section of the New York Times on February 13, 2013.  In case you want to read my diary entry, here’s the link http://nyti.ms/ZacdnZ.  I recommend that you also read the Comments.

A former student of mine, who took my “Supercharge Your Career” workshop, sent me an e-mail that he had read the ‘lovely’ letter but  asked “…where are you headed?”  Where I headed was three thousand miles west of Manhattan to Sonora, California.  I am enjoying living in the area, especially since Sonora is in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and about 1.5 or 2 hours from Yosemite National Park.

The cover of the “Martha Washington – Exclusively for Women” brochure is a memento that I still have in my own diary from that time.  After you read “Goodbye, Manhattan” you’ll understand the importance of my first stop at the Martha Washington and how I started working to be a leader.

Verne Harnish, CEO of Gazelles Inc., an executive education firm, has the answer in his article “Five Ways to Keep Employees Excited” in the December 3, 2012 issue of Fortune.  Using the word invested with employees is also a way to motivate your staff members.

Below is a list of Harnish’s five ways to inspire employees:

1.  Give them a voice.

2.  Clear the roadblocks.

3.  Grow better bosses.

4.  Take a break from austerity.

5.  Make their dreams real.

“Take a break from austerity” goes a step further than setting up in-house or local retreats, stopping demotivating employees, giving an employee a new boss rather than a raise, and fulfilling one wish for each employee.  The break at the Inspira Marketing Groupbased in Connecticut includes taking 27 employees who have met their sales goals to an island in the Caribbean every year.  The author quoted VP Kim Lawton as saying that the trip “is a huge part of our culture.”

The returns from investing in a trip to the Caribbean or offering an employee a new boss are valid ways to excite staff members.  Try out some of the approaches and see what you and your company get as your returns.

Instigating real experiences is part of my repertoire of approaches to help leaders understand the importance of staying motivated in their role and to stimulate and inspire motivation in their employees.  However, motivation is part of an individual’s daily life.  Instead of procrastinating or delaying an activity, find a way to motivate yourself for what you are thinking of doing.

For instance, I got a call on Saturday evening in early December from my close New York friend Linda O’Connor who was staying in San Jose, California, with her sister Maureen and her niece Brittany.  We were both eager to see each other since my move to California in August, so Linda asked me if I would drive to San Jose for a Sunday brunch, a drive of about three hours from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains where I now live.  I told Linda that it was raining very hard in a windy Sonora and that the rain might be even more of a downpour on Sunday.  We agreed to talk with each other the next morning.

Thinking about the long drive, I felt motivated to see my friend and her family members but hesitant to drive in the rain.  However, I made the decision that joining my friends for brunch was worth the drive.

As I thought on Sunday morning, the rain came down in sheets and the windshield wipers on my SUV went non-stop.  However, even then it was hard to see the road at times because of the gusts of winds that bent limbs off of trees and powered sage brush dancing over the road.  I drove at the limit of 50 mph, slower than usual since the road on the first 45 minutes of the trip was a one lane road each way.  This meant that I had a long line of cars behind me waiting for a chance to pass me and go 65+ mph.

To help me be relaxed, I right away put in CDs of the greatest hits of Aretha Franklin and Marvin Gaye plus listen to some John Legend and Eric Clapton — all of which I sang along on the top of my voice while ‘dancing’ holding the steering wheel.  I saved the return trip for Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Wrecking Ball.”  I am certain that the drivers who passed me up on the highways smiled at my solo performances.

During the drive, I stopped to pick up something for my home at Target and in a matter of minutes, the rain had stopped and there was blue sky emerging from the clouds.  That was a great feeling.  But driving on multi-lane highways later, I saw a car that was in a gully of the grassy highway medium, three cars at the side of the road waiting for the tow trucks, and one car that was left by the side of the road motivating me to stay focused on my driving.

I did know my way to San Jose so I turned off the multi-lane crowded main highway and drove on a road through an area of beautiful green rolling hills.  I was a little lost when once in the city and was confused when I drove down Santana Row, a very nice area with hotels, cinemas, shops, restaurants, etc.  However, Linda found me and we went to Village Bristo for a wonderful brunch with Maureen and Brittany, exchanged Christmas gifts with Linda, get to know Maureen better, and offer to be someone Brittany can call once she graduates and starts a new job in the area.

The trip to San Jose was like a job or a project.  There were many reasons why I wanted to drive for a total of six hours and some reasons not to go.  My motivation, however, powered me to enjoy a lovely brunch with wonderful people.

“Want That Promotion?  Practice Your Job” was the title of a Wall Street Journal Tweet on Twitter that led me to go to their website to read the article.  Cal Newport, an assistant professor of computer science at Georgetown University, describes how in the span of two years intern Mike J. moved up to being a principal venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.  How did he do it?  He kept track of every hour of his workday on an Excel spreadsheet.

Is keeping track of your hours something you would do?  If you are eager to advance in your career, it would be a good idea to do so.  The reason is that time during the day at work isn’t really work.  “Not all work is equal” the author of the article included this phrase and it is true.

Work described by Mike J. is based on “doing things that force you to stretch and improve your skills.”  In other words, after the introduction and training in your new position, you need to use your valuable time to “intentionally improve your performance.”  According to the article, Mike J. spends “around 60% of his time pushing himself, performing difficult, and ultimately crucial training tasks such as calling potential investors or polishing due diligence reports.”

The key to including Mike J.’s strategy into a workday is based around the use of a term by K. Anders Ericsson, a noted psychology professor:  deliberate practice.  Deliberate practice requires clarity to set stretch goals.  Deliberate practice requires feedback from peers or higher ups to confirm that you are going in the right direction so you can continue to improve.  Deliberate practice is unpleasant but those who want to advance can “force himself to engage in unpleasant, though ultimately rewarding work.”

An employee working to be a leader can find recording every hour of their workday on an Excel spreadsheet a good practice to develop real, rare, and valuable skills.  Good luck!

Often in my “Organizational Behavior” college courses, I would ask my students to finish this simile: “A manager is like a…..”  One student wrote “Being a manager is like being an actor because others look up to you and every move you make is being watched.  When you are put in difficult situations as a manager, you must take on different roles depending on the tone of your conversation with an employee.”

Have you thought about what a manager is like for you and your position?  Try that out so that you can see the similarities and how you may be able to improve in your position.

For me, being a manager is like being a Pilates Instructor because the adults who are starting as beginners in my classes need guidance to learn how to do and refine exercise positions.  Although I am still busy with my ‘real’ business of coaching, training, speaking, writing, and other areas, I am now enjoying teaching what Joseph Pilates created and shared in a series of positions that are based around flexibility, length, strength, and balance.

A manager has ongoing challenges and so do I.  During a 45-minute Pilates class, my ongoing challenge is to duplicate the essence of positions doing classical Pilates.  There are many ways to teach Pilates but I am someone who prefers to introduce students and clients to the classical way that is closest to the work of Joseph Pilates.

Once in front of a class of those who have never taken Pilates previously, I feel like I am looking at new employees who need to learn how to fulfill their work.  To help my students, I go slowly offering a history of Pilates, share why Pilates has been so important to me, and then demonstrating and breaking down the elements of six basic movements.  I encourage my students to take home an article on how to perform and practice those movements so that I can gradually introduce more positions as time goes on and I see individual progress.

Like a manager, I need to continue to feed my students with more information about basic terms of anatomy, more movements for beginners, and more requests on how they can perfect a position.  The students I am teaching now are very eager to learn and master individual postures.  Of course, not anyone has perfect bodies so we need to take time to adjust moves for individuals.  Similar to a manager, I see the individual and not just the whole group.

The students I’ve been working with over the last three months have made great progress.  Like a manager, I acknowledge the individuals in my classes — offering applause at times for someone who has met a milestone in their exercise routine or doing a position when they thought they never could do it.

As you are working to be a leader, you might take time to write a simile on a manager, a leader, a vice president, etc. and how that is like what you are doing now.  Please post a comment that summarizes your simile!

Happy New Year!  Hope that the business of your life in 2013 brings you prosperity and happiness!

At this time of year, I, like millions of others, make a list of New Year’s Resolutions.  When I was making my list, I realized that something was missing:  what I wanted didn’t take into consideration how I would fulfill my resolution.

For instance, #1 for me is “Improve Health”.  It’s a good resolution but I didn’t sketch out the real improvement that I need to identify.  For instance, to stay healthy and fit, I commit walking outdoors six miles and exercising six hours in a gym or my home each week.  When I added up my progress in a little book I kept during 2012, I found that I did hit my goal of six miles of walking each week.  However, my average is just 4 hours of exercise.  This tells me that I need to find ways to add in a few sessions for an exercise workout like Pilates.  Being specific helps me know what I need to do to meet my goals and improve my health.

When making your list of Real Improvement 2013, I suggest you write out your authentic needs.  Dig down and think about what you really want to do that you haven’t been doing — like going to the gym regularly in the morning before work.  But is the resolution authentic?  You can put on your real improvement list “Lose Weight”.  Then you can be specific and identify how much you weigh, how much you want to weigh in a particular period of time, and then list out what you need to do to reach your goal.

What about a real improvement at work?  For instance, you are a manager now in a thriving company and are interested in climbing the corporate ladder in 2013.  A real improvement item would include reflection on how you previously earned the position as a manager and how you can gain more traction within the corporate culture.  Be very specific about what you want to do that can help your advancement like taking an evening college course in organizational behavior to hone how you interact with employees at all levels.  Or be direct and ask the head of your department how you could rise to being a vice president in a specific area.  Seek out mentors, champions, and a coach if that is in your budget (contact me at Leigh@LTR-NYC.com if you would like a free introduction coaching session).

Another real improvement can be relationships.  “I’m going to do better and create stronger relationships,” you might write down on your list.   That’s a good resolution but how will you improve (or remove) what you are doing currently?  Will you set out a goal to call your parents, your sister, and your nephews once a week?  Can you schedule lunches with business friends and put “Meal and a Movie” with good friends on your calendar?  A relationship is not just a name in your Contacts or on Facebook.  It is an authentic connection with the life of another person.  To maintain that relationship you need to continuously make a real improvement getting to know the real person.

Good luck with your Real Improvement 2013.  I hope all the items on your list will bring you what you seek during the next twelve months!

Happy New Year!

Are you going to the holiday office party?  Celebrating the season at a gathering of a friend’s business colleagues?  Holding your own merrymaking event of a variety of friends and colleagues?  Be prepared to network!

December is a good time to meet others at events. The last month of the year is also a good time to network in order to find a job, make a transition to a new position, etc.  Many times in December when I was in search for a job or a consulting engagement, I found good leads, jobs, and assignments.

How do you network at parties?  Below are ways you can network at a business event.

1 – Listen attentively to the person you approached or who approached you.

2 – Establish a mental objective of what your takeaway will be.

3 – Be succinct when speaking about yourself so you can learn the background and history of the person you are engaging.

4 – Be ready to tell your appropriate work story.

5 – If the conversation was a positive one, before you each move on to others to network with think about what you want from the encounter.  If the person opposite you didn’t offer what you need, ask for a follow-up or a next step in establishing a collegial relationship, an informational interview, or even possibly the name of the Human Resources Recruiter where you could send your resume, and other opportunities.

6 – When the time seems appropriate after the meeting, follow-up with an e-mail.

You might not get a job the next day in December given the many holidays, but being positive and following-up on your networking conversations can give you a running start to career success in the New Year!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

My previous post on Sandy’s Impact on a College Student was focused on the recovery process of Dennis Ramdawah, one of my former students at the Zicklin School of Business.  Dennis sent me seven photographs of Sandy’s destruction with captions to illustrate the challenges he and others in the region are facing.  Below the images are captions by Dennis.

This pic will give you an idea of the amount of water that entered the home.  Note the water line.

This pic gives a better account of the water line. That fence is about 6′ high.

This is one of the only pics I have of inside my home.
All the furniture plus stove and fridge are gone.

This is where the gangway used to be attached. Hope it makes sense now.

The long skinny ramp is the gangway that used to be attached from the top of the deck in the backyard.
It is the piece lying next to the dock.

That thing propped up against the boat is my floating dock, what’s left of it. The boat survived.

Our neighbor had to rent a crane to remove three boats that were lodged in his backyard. The boats were not his.

“How are you?” was the first sentence in an e-mail to me from Dennis Ramdawah, a former college student of mine in the Management Department at the Zicklin School of Business within Baruch College.  I was fine but Dennis was not.

Dennis was a stellar student in my fall 2011 Organizational Behavior evening class who was working full-time and supporting his family.  On October 24, I received an e-mail from Dennis stating that he would like to meet with me to connect some dots in his career.  On October 30, I wrote him back to offer a phone conversation since I had relocated to California and hoped “’Sandy’ is long gone and that the recovery of electricity and transportation is speedy. And that your home is intact.”  By November 27, I hadn’t heard from Dennis so I sent him another e-mail that generated a response the next day.

“My response has been delayed because I was unfortunate this time around.”  This was his second sentence and I knew what he meant:  last year his home had been damaged during Hurricane Irene.

Hurricane Sandy wasn’t as gentle.  Below is the rest of a long e-mail that I received from Dennis which offers and an insight into the committed student whose life has been disrupted.

The storm crippled the entire first floor of the home. Everything was lost: clothes, pictures, valuables and all. It has been a long hard four weeks and much to process. The insurance companies have us waiting and there is not much we can do.

We had to find a rental after spending many days in hotels, sleeping in our car and then some. The rental is ok. I am fortunate to have found it. We are on month to month with the landlord.

We received some financial assistance including an award from the college.  President Wallerstein and Dr. Corpus were absolutely amazing in getting relief to us. Not to mention all the donated food and clothing from work and students. It really has been bitter sweet.

However, I still continue to finish up the semester. Yes. I have come too far to take the incomplete. The professors have been so helpful with satellite assignments to keep me from failing.

I have not returned to work just yet.  Maybe next week.  I spend most of my days meeting with contractors and engineers to provide professional opinions on structural issues. There are quite a few to deal with.

Can you imagine our Thanksgiving? It will be one remembered for many years.

I will touch base with you as developments occur. Will send you some pictures. Warning, some are worse than others.

Will keep in touch.

Best,

Dennis Ramdawah

Yesterday, I went to see “Flight” starring Denzel Washington.  To me, the movie was good not great, a little too long but strong scenes, and an older Washington than the one I had last seen in a movie.  Overall, however, the movie is a good reason to go to the cinema.  What I did take away from the performances and plot was the captain’s self-deception behavior.

Self-deception in organizations or personal relationships is about seeing others as objects instead of individuals with feelings.  A friend of mine thought I would like reading Leadership and Self-Deception:  Getting Out of the Box from The Arbinger Institute and he was right; this is a good book.  The late Stephen R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, wrote on the back cover that, “This is a profound book, with deep and sweeping implications.  It is engaging, fresh, easy to read, and packed with insights.  I couldn’t recommend it more highly.”  You can read a sample of the book at the download area of the Arbinger Institute website.

Washington’s performance from the opening scenes of the movie was about self-deception.  His drinking and doing drugs was the core of his self-betrayal and eventual self-destruction.  The experienced pilot knew how to fly a plane.  During extremely rough weather on a short hop, the captain navigated with confidence to safely land his plane in a field near a church with only a small number of deaths.  However, later the co-pilot told the captain from his hospital bed, “I could smell your breath when you entered the cockpit.”  The narcissistic captain treated his passengers, crew, and church goers as objects not lives who he was risking by being inebriated.

Another aspect of self-deception is self-betrayal.  According to the author of Leadership and Self-Deception, some self-betrayal is “1) An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is called an act of ‘self-betrayal’; 2) When I betray myself, I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal”; and the list goes on.  There is a choice, a choice to use your power to change and not betray yourself.  Dramatic scenes of the captain emptying vodka and other spirits, numerous cans and bottles of beer, and other beverages depicted his betraying the steadfastness to be sober when he testified in front of the National Transportation Safety Board.

There is more about how this movie illustrates and explains self-deception and other behaviors that can keep someone from being real.  I strongly recommend that while working to be a real leader, you read Leadership and Self-Deception and, if you have the time, see “Flight.”