It's been a year now since I have been publishing ManagementPro's monthly report Take It From Terry. Thanks to those who take the time to let me know how the information is valuable to you. This feedback is tremendously gratifying.
I invite and welcome your comments on how to make this report more useful. What parts do you read and like? What is missing that you'd like to see covered?
I'm always looking for interesting guest and client examples for the Project of the Month. If you have an idea for a 2-5 page feature article that offers value to a wide professional audience, or a Logical Framework project design you can share, I'd love for you to be my guest.
This month's Project of the Month covers a large Navy project, and the guest article is a fable called "The Ant and The Cicada." Ariana Neri's story provides timely and timeless principles about how we can live our lives in any era.
Turn Frustration into Fame: United Breaks Guitars
It's delightful when a big company which acts shamefully and gets its cummupins! Dave Carroll, my latest hero, refused the runaround United Airlines gave him after they admittedly broke his $3500 guitar. After nine months of endess frustration trying to get reimbursed but getting the runaround, he decided to put his complaint into song form.
In the spring of 2008, his band Sons of Maxwell was traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and his Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. He discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn't deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people he communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate him for the loss. Carroll promised the last person to finally say "no" to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that he would write and produce three songs about his experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first and is rocketing up the YouTube charts; United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. I'll bet there are plenty of red faces at United but they deserve the shame for not doing the right thing in the first place.
Enjoy this brilliant song which will catapult Carroll into the fame he deserves.
This month's guest article offers a modern version of an ancient classic, and seems appropriate for our times.
The Ant and The Cicada
By Arianna Neri
Once there was the ant, who was a saver and thoughtful. She was able to look forward, calculating expenses, saving seeds and tiny pieces of whatever for the cold cold winter. I need to save, I need to have, she'd stress.
The cicada, shallow and shopaholic, jigging about through hot and shiny summers, wouldn't bother with savings and other $ issues. Whatever, she'd hum, strolling back into her condo hideout, skinny arms full of nothing but joy.
Then the seed crisis came. A windy, stormy, unpredictable tragedy, whose effects no one was able to imagine.
The ant, who had spent years accumulating all her goods into a private storage, smartly located just a few blocks from her tiny, modest studio, rushed to collect her things back.
"Sorry, we are closed. No withdraw today," said a note on the storage's main entrance.
She didn't lose control and went back the day after.
"Sorry, we are still closed. No withdraw today. Nor tomorrow," another note informed.
The ant felt a little weird discomfort tapping at the bottom of her stomach.
The fourth day, she literally ran to finally get all her thingy things back.
"Sorry, we are officially closed. For good."
She was surrounded by a wide crowd of nervous ants, knocking with arms and legs at the door of the storage.. And we all know that ants do have power. Eventually, they managed to dismantle the reinforced concrete door. Once inside, they couldn't repress their shock at the view of the inescapable emptiness of the space.
This is a scam! It's all gone. Oh my god. How are we going to survive? Please call an ambulance, I am fainting.. The drama lasted for hours and the media couldn't help reporting the breaking news.
"Ants' lifetime savings are gone, for good."
And what about the cicada? You might wonder
The cicada is out, having dinner with her friends, dressed up with her newest shopping-spree acquisition. Her fridge is empty today and she thought it'd be a good idea to have a bite out. She just got back from a weekend with her boyfriend, which was great "in spite of the new hotel we chose. You know, not that great. But we need to be a little careful, with this crisis!"
Nothing changed in her life and nothing will, as long as she has a job and she keeps buying and eating her seeds. She won't stop spending, wasting, shopping, consuming. She loves it and that's all that matters.
The crisis taught all of us a great lesson. The cicada and the ant were both right, doing what they were doing and behaving like they did. But..a few details have to be kept in mind.
It's OK to save..although you'd better be sure where you store your goods.
It's OK to live. Why cut out from our lives the few pleasures we have?
It's even better to save while living. The crisis is made of people and we need to help each other.
If you still have a job, enjoy your free time and keep paying for certain services.. (Women: manicure, pedicure, hairdresser, basic clothing needs, the yoga course, a special present from time to time, a dinner out with friends..c'mon! Men: vitamins and proteins for the muscles, clothes for the office/sport, the gym membership, a drink with mates, the latest videogame, that fancy watch strap you saw in the jewelry store, I saw you staring at it!)
There is no point in modifying our habits dramatically, altering our mood and the ones of those around us.. All in all, we still have our greatest presents with us: Ourselves living life on earth.
Arianna Neri lives with her cat, Nietzsche, and some friends in sunny Barcelona. Life brought her to live in New York, Barcelona and who knows what is next. She considers herself a wannabe writer in spite of her moody relationship with her unpublished novel. She can be reached via her website http://tickledbylife.com
This month's project design focuses on a large system improvement issue in the US Navy. The Navy has over 1000 facilities worldwide of all types, at a value of $200 billion. How does the Navy manage the complex job of assessing the condition of the facilities and prioritizing maintenance so that they are properly maintained?
The Logical Framework approach to strategic project management (the key tool in my book STRATEGIC PROJECT MANAGEMENT MADE SIMPLE) provides an organizing framework to tackle complex problems. Here is how management consultant Robert St. Charles and a consulting team worked with the Navy on this issue.
Motivating Yourself and Others to Action
Think of the most successful people you know. They quickly bounce back from setbacks and recover their enthusiasm. They also have the tenacity to stick to a project and see it through. Other folks naturally are drawn to their go-go attitude. Colleagues find them inspiring; clients trust that they'll get the job done. They are masters of self-motivation and are able to jump-start positive attitudes and help others do the same.
Being self-motivated means you can use your emotions to propel yourself into action for a desired purpose-even when you don't really want to do it. This is not easy, as even the most successful people at times can feel unmotivated to tackle the next challenge. There are a variety of techniques and strategies that motivate in different ways.
To maximize your ability to self-motivate, tap into the four primary sources of motivation:
- Yourself. Put yourself into top gear by managing your emotional operating system-your own thoughts, physiological arousal and emotions. (Last month's Self-Mastery article explained how your emotional operating system operates).
- Friends and Family. Supportive friends, family and colleagues may offer an encouraging word or much needed push at times.
- Emotional mentors. Your emotional mentors can be real or imagined, living or dead, heroes or ordinary people you know and admire. Choose some inspirational heroes and mentors to be on your team and help ignite your enthusiasm.
- Your surroundings. Set up your environment for maximum motivation with photos, inspirational quotes on 3x5 cards, posters or screen savers, and objects of great personal meaning to help you power-up.
When you and/or others are in an especially challenging time, mind over matter is necessary to focus and move beyond self-limiting thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are counter to motivation. Try these simple motivational strategies:
Construct Motivational Self-Statements
First take notice of any unhelpful inner conversation that gets in the way ("I'll never get this report done"). Now, consciously choose more empowering and realistic motivational self-statements. ("I know this material inside out. No one understands it better than I do. I'll finish the report today, and I'll do a great job.")
Give yourself a motivational pep talk each morning. Choose phrases which get your juices going, such as
- Every day in every way, I'm getting better and better.
- Nothing can stop me when I try.
- Now is my tine and I'm ready!
- I can do anything I set my mind to do!
With practice, you can bring these thoughts to mind the moment you awake, and roll out of bed with a positive frame of mind. Reinforce these power thoughts throughout the day as needed, until cheerleading your own excellence becomes natural.
Motivate through Chunking Goals Down
When you have a big meaningful goal-doubling your business within two years, for example-break it down into smaller chunks. Then set sub goals, such as increasing business by 10 percent over the same quarter last year. Keep the chunks big enough to challenge and yet small enough to make them believable in your mind. Reaching each milestone shows you are indeed progressing toward your ultimate objective and this positive movement can spur you to keep pushing ahead. You become more confident and optimistic. Measurable chunks let you track the progress you make en route to your final destination.
Visualize to Motivate and Energize
You can rev up your engine with mental arousal. With a little practice, you can intentionally and consistently use your thoughts to mobilize your motivation. It's the old power-of-positive thinking philosophy, updated for these up tempo times.
Begin your visualization by closing your eyes and taking a few long, deep breaths to relax. As an example, lets say you have been chosen to give a keynote presentation, and you are neither motivated nor confident about the task.
Invoking your full senses, imagine that you are giving that speech, and that you are feeling great and the crowd is responding. In your mind's eye, look at the smiling faces of audience members. Feel with pride the sense of accomplishment and contribution you are feeling. As your presentation comes to a close, bask in the thunderous applause as the attendees crowd around you, asking for a picture with you. You are the hero, you did it, bask in the glory and feel good about hitting a home run. Know that you can pull it off with confidence and competence.
All great athletes will tell you that their success equation includes mental rehearsal.
Such mental rehearsals carry over into real-life performance. The explanation is simple: The exercise helps you see a seemingly insurmountable task as manageable after all. By visualizing yourself through it step by step, you increase your confidence that you are up to the challenge. This, in turn, may spur you to tackle the task in reality. What lingering projects can you apply those ideas to?
Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
By Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, Curtis W. Johnson
The book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns will interest those concerned with the future of education. The authors Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson provide the necessary disruptive model to align education with innovations in the world. Up to this point, education has welcomed computers as an additional tool rather than using the tool to restructure and redefine how students learn.
Christensen and his team researched and analyzed the problems in education through the lens of Christensen's model of Disruptive Innovation-which, in a nutshell, is when an innovation disrupts a market and provides its customers with a new product and/or service to perform a job already needed in a space where there is no competition.
The book begins by summarizing the following aspirations of the schools as being to:
- Maximize human potential.
- Facilitate a vibrant, participative democracy in which we have an informed electorate that is capable of not being "spun" by self-interested leaders.
- Hone the skills, capabilities, and attitudes that will help our economy remain prosperous and economically competitive.
- Nurture the understanding that people can see things differently-and that those differences merit respect rather than persecution.
Related to these aspirations is what the authors describe as the job of education:
Job 1: Preserve the Democracy and Inculcate Democratic Values
Job 2: Provide Something for Every Student
Job 3: Keep America Competitive
Job 4: Eliminate Poverty
The authors identify the typical reasons given why schools struggle to improve, which include: (1) lack of money; (2) lack of computers; (3) students unmotivated/parents unsupportive; (4) U.S. teaching model; (5) teachers' unions; (6) way school is measured; and (7) blame teachers and administrators because they do not want to improve. The authors mention that none of these typical reasons given is solely responsible for why schools struggle; and that in fact schools actually have improved, yet there have been additional tasks assigned to schools and goalposts change thereby masking the improvements. They also admit that these various reasons each play a part in the reasons schools struggle. However, they identify the root of the problem as being connected to the monolithic structure and style of schools versus the needed change towards a student-centric style of learning.
The authors argue that the innovative disruption of student-centric technology will first take root where there is no competition-in home schools, independent study programs, and charter schools. Gradually, it will become a sustaining innovation-one that is sustained in those educational environments and also becomes adopted by the mainstream education.
Disruption is a two-stage process and rarely happens immediately. It first surfaces and competes against nonconsumption. Then, it transitions towards substitution. In adopting student-centric innovative technology as a central platform for learning, the various interdependencies in schools-temporal, lateral, physical and hierarchical-each need to be considered.
Some of the factors that the authors identify will usher in this substitution are: (1) the computer-based learning continual improvements; (2) "the ability for students, teachers, and parents to select a learning pathway through each body of material that fits each of the types of learners-the transition from computer-based to student-centric technology"; (3) the upcoming teacher shortage; and (4) the costs falling significantly as the market improves.
Christensen and his team emphasize the importance of motivation in order to have the drive to work consistently to achieve success. The authors discuss how motivation stems from either (or even both) intrinsic (internal) and extrinsic (external) rewards. They assert: "Schooling can and should be an intrinsically motivating experience. The questions are why this often has not been the case, and how to resolve these problems. Explaining why and how is the purpose of this book."
Part of the lack of motivation, particularly in studying tedious subjects such as mathematics and science, is due to prosperity as it diminishes the extrinsic pressures to succeed in these fields.
By applying Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences to technological innovations, customized student-centric learning will restructure education. Students will intrinsically become more motivated as they are enabled to learn in ways that make sense to them and at a pace that is comfortable for them. Teachers will still play a vital role in education, but it would be more of a supportive role than a central role.
Technological innovations have become modular and provide the opportunity for customized learning software to adjust to a child's learning style and different intelligence style. Student-centric technology to tailor to student's learning styles. Computers have been in the current structure rather than disrupting it and changing from restructured manner that supports how students actually learn and changing how schools operate to facilitate this shift.
Often times, teams in education have been created to address types of problems that are beyond the scope of their capabilities. The book lays the groundwork for innovation and provides a managerial toolkit of goals and methods for teachers, leaders and administrators to use in ushering in and sustaining the innovation.
Wal-Mart Job Application
This is a job application that a 75 - year - old senior submitted to Wal-Mart and they hired him because he was so honest and funny!
NAME: George Martin
SEX: Not yet. Still waiting for the right person (or one who'll cooperate).
DESIRED POSITION: Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place
DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSITION HELD: Target for middle management hostility.
SALARY: A lot less than I'm worth.
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post - it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: It sucked.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30 - 3:30 p. m. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS? : Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER? : If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 Lbs: Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR? : I think the more appropriate question here would be "Do you have a car that runs?"
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION? : I may already be a winner of the Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS? : Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde supermodel who thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to be doing that now.
DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE? : Yes. Absolutely.
SIGN HERE: Sagittarius