“The thing about working at Pixar is that everyone around you is smarter and funnier and cleverer than you and they all think the same about everyone else. It’s a nice problem to have.” – Andrew Stanton

Authors Bill Capodagli & Lynn Jackson, in their book “Innovate the Pixar Way: Business Lessons from the World’s Most Creative Corporate Playground,” suggest that Pixar is a “playground” that will inspire you to:

– Dream like a child.
– Believe in your playmates.
– Dare to jump in the water and make waves.
– Do unleash your childlike potential

I don’t know about you, but I want to work in a playground like that!

One other Pixar secret is that they pay both the creative and technical people the same money.  They realize they are BOTH important to their success.  The greatest story you come up with isn’t going to do much if it isn’t translated through the technology.  Think programming and IT, or programming and engineering.

Everyone at your organization has a place and purpose, and if they don’t you need to get rid of them.  True leaders will understand the value of all, not just one.

“Employers have gone away from the idea that an employee is a long-term asset to the company, someone to be nurtured and developed, to a new notion that they are disposable.” – Barbara Ehrenreich

When you talk to a lot of people everyday, you can see things through different eyes.  Sometimes I wind up in conversations where someone is complaining…a lot…about distrust of the people they work for. It seems like there’s a return to the thinking of the past where employees are just cogs who are expected to unthinkingly follow directions. Remember the grey people from the Apple TV spot named “1984?”

But the new twist on this is that you must distrust them, and always make sure they aren’t taking advantage and are working hard enough. There’s even a business rationale for this – increased efficiency. The “do more with less” strategy.

Somewhere someone decided to write a business book about efficiency, taking the perspective people are lazy and could do more than they were. That concept was sufficiently simplistic and shallow enough that it became an instant “quick fix” success. Cutting the workforce by 40% became a badge of honor.

This has all but destroyed growth in radio. First PD’s were cut, and one was in charge of 3-4 stations. Then high paying talent that wouldn’t take a 50% cut. Then “unnecessary” executives, and finally, salespeople. So many of the top executives have replaced long-term concern for the industry with their own short-term financial goals. Leadership has been replaced with dictatorship, so naturally the answer to self-inflicted problems is to blame those shiftless employees.

We’ve divided into three types of organizations, (1) those who really don’t care about people, (2) those who distrust people, and (3) those who see a time like this as one to build great, people-oriented organizations that produce crazy good return.  Think Zappos.

The people I work with are amazing, dedicated, hard-working and even fun to be around.  We ALL know that we are all working toward the same end.  I don’t have a good guy/bad guy mentality.  If someone isn’t hardworking or dedicated, then it calls for some tough conversations and action.  I won’t subject my people to a cancer of dissatisfaction.

If you really think about the future, like Jefferson did, while acting in the day, you understand the value of talent, good leaders, and hard workers as an asset of the organization.  Not a liability, not a line item expense, an asset.  Spreadsheets don’t make organizations strong or innovative or valuable…or even failures.  It’s your people.

“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.” ~Warren Bennis

It was over 15 years ago when I sat in the GM’s office for a performance evaluation.  I thought this one would be a breeze because I’d just brought a station to number one 25-54, and then number one 12+, and we had a graduated bonus plan – the better you do the more you make.

But when we got to that point he quoted a figure that was way off from what it should have been.  When I asked him about it, he told me if he followed his own bonus agreement it would be too much money.  So I got 60% of what I should have.

I was gone from that station in 6 months.  I could no longer trust the GM in  everything going forward.

Trust is a mandatory issue when you’re working with your “boss.”  If it isn’t there you’ll question everything he or she says.  You’ll think suspiciously of everything coming from that person.

You’ve probably been in those circumstances at one time or another.  It’s an unfortunate ailment of many.  But, have you ever wondered if you’re one  of them?

Many times I see people in charge who don’t want to address an issue, especially a “people issue.”  They’ll tell a little white lie like, “You’re doing fine,” when asked about performance.  Or they may avoid talking to someone about a problem, hoping it’ll go away.  Or there are the people in charge who just don’t respect their own people.

That may seen different than the guy who looked me in the eye and said, “Too bad, this is what you’re getting,” but those little things can erode trust just as much.

A lack of integrity is a lack of integrity, no matter how small.

“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs

I’ll never forget being at a Wings concert in Seattle when someone referred to the Beatles as Paul McCartney’s first backup band.  For someone who grew up listening to the early Beatles, it was astonishing.  They thought McCartney was the “front man” for the Beatles.

But let’s get past that ill-advised perspective of musical history to look at Steve Job’s idea that they were his business model.

John wrote the rock music, Paul wrote the pop music, George wrote the “deep thinking” music and Ringo just wrote fun music.  Ultimately they went their way as solo acts, but in their most creative and influential time together, they worked to each other’s strengths and controlled each other’s weakness.  Everyone got at least a track or two on the albums, and in concert they played each other’s songs.  More importantly, they seemed to respect each other’s strengths. They were a team, and the four together were larger than their individual careers.

Above all, they respected the differences in each other, and shared in each other’s strengths.

Unfortunately some of today’s key executives think they wrote all the songs of their organization’s music, and everyone else is part of the backup band. Everyone else in the executive band is some sort of problem.  If they’re Steve Jobs fans they selectively pick the ones that are egotistical, and ignore all the times he talked about a team.

It seems to me the Beatles not only accomplished more in their team era than their solo era, but also that they were happier.  That’s reflected in their movies “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!” Too bad some execs just aren’t team players.

What does it look like at your organization?  Is the executive team from the Beatles era or the Wings/Plastic Ono Band era?

“Juggling is an illusion… In reality, the balls are being independently caught and thrown in rapid succession… It is actually task switching. – Gary Keller

Your computer can multi-task, because technology allows it to process several things at once.  Your mind, however, can’t.  I know I’ll get some arguments from the people who think they’re multi-tasking,  but science is stacked against it.  Psychology today says, “Much recent neuroscience research tells us that the brain doesn’t really do tasks simultaneously, as we thought (hoped) it might. In fact, we just switch tasks quickly. Each time we move from hearing music to writing a text or talking to someone, there is a stop/start process that goes on in the brain.”

Worse yet Hewlett-Packard was involved in a study that found, “Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.”  Technology hasn’t helped, because it allows us to never be “off,” and become a distraction in itself.  Computers, tablets and smart phones are tools to help you get more done, but not simultaneously.

So the key talent may be to switch tasks quickly without driving yourself, and those around you, crazy.  I always have several projects going at the same time, but I work on them one at a time.  In fact, I find if I really want to get something done, I get rid of all the distractions and interruptions, and focus on that one thing.

So, I wonder, is multi-tasking the dream of a leader or a characteristic of a manager?

One of the things I’m sure of is that you can’t multi-task relationships.  If you don’t focus all your attention on the person you’re talking to, you’ll lose on two fronts.  People will feel slighted and what you’re working on will suffer inattention.

Leaders will focus on the relationship, and managers will focus on the tasks.  I suggest that true leaders are more apt to give something full attention, understanding that the inspiration of the other person is more important than making them feel you’re not paying attention to them.

“Men are respectable only as they respect.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

No, not the Aretha song, the other r-e-s-p-e-c-t you’ve heard about so much.

Some friends and I were talking the other day about respect at work, and about how so many people seem to think it comes with a title or position.  You can be a Director, a VP, a Chief or a CEO, but people don’t really respect the position, they respect the person. And their actions.

You earn respect by what you do , how you do it, and how you treat others.  The only way you earn true respect is by showing respect to others first.  Oh yeah, and when you’re promoted or go somewhere else, you have to earn that respect all over again.  It’s not about your reputation, what you did at your last job, your resume or your new promotion.

As I’m fond of telling people, “You can’t save people from themselves.  Some will always struggle with respect, thinking that others don’t give them enough of it.  They’ll never be happy, because they never learned to give respect before getting it in return.

As the dictionary says, Respect: 1. a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.

“The most significant changes to our world are going on as we speak and will continue as millennials become our future leaders.” – Forbes Magazine

The Millenials are coming!  The Millenials are coming!

The loud voices of nervous Paul Revere like baby boomers can be heard throughout the media landscape.  Unfortunately Pew research says they’re already here.  2015 is the year Millennials will surpass Boomers as the largest living generation.

Obviously this is going to have an earth shaking impact on media.  Which has divided radio people into camps. The first thinks Millennials will become like their parents at a given age, so there’s no problem at all. Radio will continue just as strong as always.

The second group thinks it’s helpless, and radio is dead. It’s inevitable.

There is a third, smaller, quieter camp that follows the future so they can understand how to integrate radio with the media palate of the future. Those are the people to listen to. They know the coming wave can’t be ignored.

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“Mass advertising can help build brands, but authenticity is what makes them last. If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to the brand.” – Howard Schultz

John Moore, one of the authors of The Passion Conversation, shared some interesting thoughts about what he calls “Talkable Brands.”  Those are the brands with so much passion in their fans that they talk about them…a lot.

Here are three things he suggests every talkable brand has:

Talkable brands are Original
The more obvious you are, the more talkable you become. Being obvious is about expressing a company’s unique personality, not just for one day, but every day a business is in business.

Talkable brands are Informational
For word of mouth to happen, someone needs to gain some knowledge from either personal experience, or through conversations, or directly from the brand. The best way to deliver word of mouth information is through stories. Three enduring stories that you can use to spark word of mouth are: (1) Improve a Life, (2) Right a Wrong, and (3) Make Good Better.

Talkable brands are Cultural
Company culture starts with your people. It’s people who will make your brand talkable. Competitors can replicate your product, your programs, your services, but they can never replicate your people delivering your product, programs and services.

Your fans are your best avenue to more listeners.  Give them the motivation of compelling, relevant content, and they’ll tell everyone they know.  The biggest challenge isn’t the fans, it’s your understanding of compelling, relevant content.

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“What am I doing wrong?  Why am I not communicating well?”

I’m in a meeting talking about a group of people who are having a hard time coming to a decision.  One of my best people and I are debating back and forth about whether we should let the group come to their own conclusion, or just tell them what’s happening.  I feel like I’m speaking in German while he’s talking French.  We have to reach a conclusion about this issue, and he’s framing it as a choice between telling them what to do or letting them make their own choice.

If you’re a boss, supervisor, manager or leader, you’ve probably been in a similar position.  You try to get your message across, but you’re just not communicating.  It’s one of the biggest frustrations we can have.

Suddenly, with a blinding flash of the obvious, I realized the problem.  We’re debating about an either/or choice, when there’s another option.  Being an expressive person who occasionally has no safety valve between brain and mouth, I blurted out, “Leaders gotta lead.”

This is one of the most difficult principles of leadership. You’re there, not to boss people around and tell them what to do, but to lead.  That means making the hard decisions, and yes, even pissing people off occasionally.

I guess the real skill is in knowing when to make the tough decision and when to keep quiet.  I’m not sure I’ve mastered that skill.

A leader realizes  there are always other options, and it’s rarely an either/or option.   Being a leader means focusing on doing the right thing rather than doing things right.  Either/or is a case of trying to do things right, and that my not be the issue at all.

Leaders must lead.

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel.  If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton

 Mel Cooper is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met.  I was doing some work for one of his stations in the Vancouver, BC area, and flew up to meet him.  When he took me on a tour of the station he introduced me to everyone around, and had something good to say about each individual.  He passed along compliments, and gave credit to most of them.  Not only that, but he is just plain fun to be around.  When we finally got around to talking business, he quickly painted a vision of what he was looking for in a new station he hoped to launch.

Mel understood one of the unspoken laws of leadership: If you’re a leader, people follow you because they want to, not because they have to.

People throw the word “leader” around like it’s a title that comes with a certain job.  Every CEO or GM isn’t a leader.  It’s the ones that care about their people instead of looking at them as assets for improving shareholder value that are the true leaders.  The ones with a vision for the future and an understanding that being a leader is something you earn, not something you’re given.

I’m fortunate enough to have known several true leaders in my career.  Every one of them was someone I wanted to be around, and would have walked through fire for.  Every one of them inspired their people to do more than the others.  Every one of them was like a graduate degree for me.  Oddly enough, every one of them was different in style, unique to themselves.

Another unspoken secret of leadership is that you don’t have to have a title to be a leader.  There are often people at a station who don’t have a grand title, but are the ones people go to for advice, or gravitate to naturally.  They’re often as important to the success of an organization as the CEO.

I talk a lot about leadership because I believe it to be one of the key factors for success in the future.  It doesn’t matter how many stations you have or what kind of return you bring, it’s not going to help when media fragments more and more.  Leadership, however, especially visionary leadership, will.

Sam Walton has it right.  Mel Cooper has it right.  If you make the people around you believe they can do anything, and accomplish great things, they will.  I’ve never understood why more people who want to lead don’t understand that.  It’s free, and you just have to practice, practice, practice.  Start recognizing the contributions of those around you, and let them know you recognize it.  Just start with telling one person a day what their value is to your organization.  Soon you’ll be doing it naturally…and you’re down the road to becoming a leader.