More on Being Good to Yourself

Well, I have once again learned something. By that I mean not only that I have learned another new thing, but that I have learned again something that I have previously known, but apparently not known well.

A commenter on this blog asked if I were familiar with the work of Ken Wilber. The truthful answer was, “Not on my best day!” Of course I had to find out who this person is and why I might have triggered a thought about him. So, I searched, I found, and I rejoiced. His work is not an easy read, but it smacks of truth more than anything I have seen in my memory.

I think that I have been urged by my education and “professional” status to view myself as a psychologist (read scientist) first and a philosopher second, but I continue to have a nagging feeling that the difference between the two is more artificial than actual. Wilber tells me that the difference is unimportant except at a level of detail that is meaningless for most questions. So, I get to be both and that eases my mind a bit. It also reminded me of a saying that I read many years ago that posits a similar sentiment:

“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity, will neither have good plumbing nor good philosophy.”

I think though that many folks today would consider science the exalted activity and philosophy not worth much consideration in the “real world.” Anyway, I want to be both and choose to ignore any requirement to be dualistic about it.

I have only read a little of Wilber’s writing at this point but I am taken by his apparent understanding that thought is a behavior and that it has substance and power in life. It is also damned hard to manage without a great deal of effort and practice. When my friend told me to be good to myself, he was really saying that if I was to be happy and fulfilled I would have to learn to manage ALL of my behavior. For example, it was not enough to follow Woody Allen’s advice and show up. I had to show up with all of my equipment ready to operate. In my past there were many times when I failed to show up at all and many, many more when I only brought the physical body and left the rest of the toolbox at home – or wherever such things are when not in use. Most certainly the results that I produced reflected this spotty preparation. My performance tended to bounce between brilliant and just plain terrible, and more often the latter than the former.

Now that brilliance is well in my past, I am pleased to find that I can be competent nearly all of the time if I bring the whole toolbox – you know the big one on rollers with lots of drawers that represent all of my education and experience. Competence is good. Brilliance is overrated. Being good to yourself is first of all about showing up. More to come.

The other day I was at a business luncheon, and I had to listen to the owner of a chain of franchise restaurants complain how difficult it is to get employees (teenagers) to say “Thank You” to customers. This man was outraged that his minimum wage employees were more concerned about texting their friends than contributing to America’s obesity epidemic. The conversation was centered around improving the quality of the customer experience and creating a culture that inspires customer enthusiasm. Now, given that culture is an extremely difficult concept to define in the first place, and that even the people who make a living studying it can’t really define it (take that, Med school!), I have no idea how a room full of business people expected to make progress of any sort on the topic over a lunch meeting. Nevertheless, in the tradtion of the light brigade (or maybe Don Quixote) this group determinedly plowed forward. The conversation covered the full gamut of business school solutions; “you have to stay on top of your employees”, “you need good policies and procedures in place”, “there’s no substitute for a good supervisor”, “recognize that in this industry, you’re not going to get the best out of your employees, so you’re going to have to beat them.” Alright, I exaggerated that last one… somewhat.

Now, having been born and raised in America, (a fact for which I will always be deeply grateful) I am willing to admit that I have known a few of the “self absorbed little thieves” that this franchisee was speaking about. I’ve even stayed in contact with one or two, since my days in high school. Hopefully, as you’re reading this, you’re sitting down, because I have some shocking news: the same friends that I used to “goof-off” with when they were at minimum wage jobs, have now become responsible, successful, and hard-working adults. I didn’t have the heart to interrupt the franchise owner in the middle of his call to action, and the conversation moved on. I must admit, though, I was only listening with half an ear. The problem is this: whenever managers have the conversation about when people become employees, they let out a great sigh of resignation, and come to the conclusion that the problem is intractable. The conversation ends with some comment like, “you can’t teach character”, or even more vaguely, “what are you gonna do?”

Now, despite the obvious desire for electroshock collars, and drug-assisted social de-programming for new hires (particularly among the loss prevention crowd), I’m going to make a rather rude statement: your employees aren’t the problem, you are. Here’s why: you’ve idiot-proofed everything. You’ve made the job so simple a monkey could do it. Yet, you’re complaining because the monkeys are flinging poop. Why don’t we try a better way?

First off, let’s agree that your company and career are a big reflection of who you are. You, the successful business owner, or skilled professional, have worked hard to get where you are, no matter where you started out, and you deserve credit for that. You took risks, struggled, maybe you got lucky, and it got you to where you are today. You are doing more than just dodging monkey feces, you are keeping people and families employed, thinking strategically, and trying to avoid all the new penalties the government is determined to throw at you. So what do you do when good old Uncle Sam starts drinking/ wanting to win an election and comes up with new regulations/ beats one of the other kids, while Aunt insurance company freaks out? You formulate a policy to tell your employees how to behave. Nobody wants it, but it’s for their own good, and it keeps both the insurers and the government happy. The only problem is, the government’s never happy (and insurance never gets cheaper). Uncle Sam just keeps on coming up with new regulations, and the next thing you know, running a business is about as complicated as the tax code. Not only that, but work becomes as much fun as doing your taxes, unless you’re a CPA, and I think we can agree that you CPA’s are sick people.

So how do we do it? How do we keep people interested in a grind that’s about as much fun as doing taxes? How do we inspire them to take the risks, and have the passion, that we have? How do we get them to care? It’s simple really; you let them take risks, like you used to.

Now before you start telling me that I, “should go to a place that’s run that way, just don’t order their “special sauce””, backup and read that last sentence. Get them to take risks like you used to. You waited until you saw the bigger picture, and then you tried something you’de been hearing about. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it really worked. Either way, it made life better and easier for you.

The people that you are trying to sheild from the government are going to one day be your managers and executives, your doctors and your engineers. If you don’t start listening to them now, you’re going to wind up defrauded out of your business, laying in a hospital bed, with your house in ruins, within the next 12 years. You’re a business person, not a bodygaurd, so quit trying to protect people. Build a relationship with them, instead. Just because you’ve hit the point that you’re ready to be in charge, and don’t need a mentor anymore, doesn’t mean you know everything. It means that you don’t need just one person giving you guidance, you need a company full of them. Having a relationship with every member of your company, or at least one more than you did yesterday, is the only way to get those guides. It’s not easy, and it’s not simple, but those relationships are the only way for you to find out exactly what you’re doing wrong and right. If you think it will feel good to have your employee put down a cellphone to tell you how great you are, imagine how it will feel to realize that they put it down because they have an idea that could double size of the business. Now imagine having that much work for them to do, and to have them be worth more than you’re paying them. Give them the info, and see where it takes you. Maybe the extra push that converts a friend who’s being texted into a customer who’s being talked to, is you.

The Corporate Physical: Understanding the risks of your company may be easier (and more important) than you think

“Good Health” can be measured in a variety of ways. Some choose to count calories, others count weight – both their own and that of the gym equipment they push, pull, lift, and pedal. By engaging in healthy behavior, the logic goes, one will be healthy.

The other method of measurement is to be proactive in finding and eliminating the risk of “Bad Health,” in monitoring conditions that may be harmful. In other words, monitoring one’s health and reducing the impact of the highest risks will lead to good health. Fortunately, this trend is gaining ground. Doctors are encouraging patients to check themselves regularly for cancerous tumors, sphygmomanometers (devices used for measuring arterial blood pressure) are popping up in local pharmacies and malls, and the yearly physical is gaining popularity. There is also the new phenomenon of Executive or Presidential Physicals (so named because it is the same given to the President of the United States semi-annually) which are designed to give a comprehensive look at all aspects of the patient’s health. Identifying and attempting to mitigate the risks of poor health before the sickness comes is an effective method for staying healthy. Corporations should use this strategy as well.

Granted, corporations are not the same as people. Only a cartoonist can naturally portray a corporation on an elliptical with monitoring devices clipped to its fingers or waiting patiently at the doctor’s office. But the analogy rings strangely true. Like a person, a large corporation is comprised of a multitude of smaller parts: the sales force (the feet), production (the hands), Public Relations (the mouth), and of course management (the brain). Also like a person, the management team “brain” is unable to be consciously aware of the health of all its parts on its own. While individuals have and use physicals so that experts can identify their health risks, corporations have a multitude of tools. Of these tools one is surprisingly underutilized: the Business Impact Analysis.

A well executed Business Impact Analysis (BIA) is the first step in performing a “Corporate Physical.” The BIA is a component of a Business Continuity Program which identifies a company’s processes, the resources needed to perform them, and the interdependencies between them. Once all processes are identified, they are prioritized in terms of criticality to operation of the business. This provides an excellent macro view of the business and answers questions such as: How long can I shut down manufacturing without affecting operations? What products should I begin producing first, in case of an extended shut down? How long can I go without paying employees? The end result is that management will have a clear picture of what processes are most critical and therefore most important to shield from risk.

A well-developed BIA will tie all process criticality back to the organization’s Core Value Chain, which will segment processes by their value to providing for the customer: Create (Marketing and R&D), Produce (Production), and Distribute (Logistics). Like the circulatory, musculoskeletal, and nervous systems each is vital and interdependent.

In this sense, the BIA provides a picture on what the organization looks like. Executives, especially if they are new to the business or consider themselves out of touch, can benefit immensely from this x-ray of their organization.

A Risk Assessment (RA) is the second part of the Corporate Physical and is usually included as part of the BIA. This critical report identifies significant risks to the business. This includes top exposures (for example, socio-economic risks if in a 3^rd world country, regulatory risks if in a heavily regulated industry, and physical risks such as if located on a fault line or in hurricane areas). The RA will also identify the impact of the loss of certain key aspects to the business such as locations, personnel, suppliers, and technology. Single Points of Failures (SPFs) will be identified and if properly written, recommendations for improving redundancy of SPFs are included. The end result is a picture of what is most at risk in the organization.

The Business Impact Analysis / Risk Assessment is a valuable tool because it provides a comprehensive view of the organization’s ability to recover from an event and how well it may mitigate the event in the first place. Findings and Observations (which MLC & Associates Inc. and other companies provide in their BIAs) provide a roadmap for achieving better health by further mitigating risk and identifying potential areas of weakness in terms of recoverability. When an organization’s C-level executives are presented with the BIA; they are oftentimes shocked by the breadth of coverage. Each and every aspect of a corporation can be organized in terms of the impact its disruption would have on operations.

Leaders have a multitude of tools and metrics available for checking the pulse of their organization. They should not only look at the ubiquitous share price, profits, and market cap for measures on how much money they have, but consider the incredible value of a Business Impact Analysis. In any case, a more complete picture is the best. As the old adage goes, “your health is your wealth.”