The Lasts

I was listening closely as two senior executives were discussing their career trajectories, when one said to the other, "This is my last job".  The other looked forward in a thoughtful stare into space and said, "This might be my last one too". The exchange could have been between two long term soldiers, or two veteran professional athletes, who were coming to grips with the influence of age and time over their livelihoods.  The thought that anything might be our "last" is not an easy one for us to fathom, in either business or life.  We always expect, "another" and that is the way that our culture and society has been conditioned.  

But, there is the other side of always looking for one more.  There can be a certainty and confidence in knowing that this is the last time of trying to relearn, or the last time having to build equity or confidence from others, or this is the last time that we have to prove anything to anyone else, other than ourselves.  

Being able to say, "This is the last" can also cement an identity and attitude.  I know that I now hold the last email address and the last cell phone number I will ever have.  So, likely do you.  But, we don't bemoan those do we?  How can we take that same feeling of stability with us into our business and professional careers?  

We don't have to always feel like we are chasing the next and can be content in the "lasts".

(To see my further faith-based application of this bolt of thinking you can go to:http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/2013/06/day-1162-lasts.html)

Age of Business

I was having a conversation with friends this past week who are both senior HR Executives.  We were discussing the pros and cons of different types of away-from-work policies.  Being from different sized companies and from companies of vastly different ages (one over 100 years old, the other around 30 years old), it was not surprising that the older company had just recently adapted to a more "modern" view of comprehensive Paid Time Off (PTO) versus the segregation of vacation time and sick days.  I popped in and mentioned that many of the newest start-ups have abandoned both approaches and just allow the employee to come and go as they need, without counting any days away.  I don't believe, like in many areas, there is any right answer, but it is obvious to me that, like chronological age, that it becomes harder to try the new and/or change the older we get.  How to keep our old company youthful, is the same challenge that we get to overcome in life.


To see my further faith-based application of this bolt of thinking you can go to: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com

Working From Where?

Yesterday's TechCrunch covered the new irobot and Cisco In-the-office-out-of-the office-work-from-home-telepresence-robot-thing. We've seen these things in the GE ads where the robot-thing can allow the sick children to attend school, even though they are home or hospital bound.  But, this puts a whole new spin on things. Are we getting closer and closer to the autonomous worker?  My friend Fred says, "You must be present to win".  Is this being present?  What will Marissa Mayer do with this?  What is clear is that our ability to be where we are, even when we are not, is getting more and more technologically advanced.  We need to monitor, experiment and see what works in our environment, and then judge.  But, one thing is for certain, we must try what is new and not ignore the future as it rolls through our front door.  The generation behind us is watching to see where we will land as it relates to where and how they will work.

                                                           (picture courtesy of TechCrunch)

To see my further faith-based application of this bolt of thinking you can go to: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com

The iCar

I see that Apple is working hard to secure all of the streaming music rights so that they can launch iRadio.  While I applaud them for moving into streaming, they are late to the game (Pandora, Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody, imeem, and the list goes on and on). I also find it curious as this is not a business with a ton of upside, so let's hope they have something else up their sleeve that we don't know about.

That said, iRadio would be a lot cooler if it had an iCar to go with it!

Why is Apple not buying Tesla?  Some will immediately answer, why would Apple want to be in the car business? I respond with, "The last time I looked a Tesla was a battery operated consumer product."  Tesla is the new Apple.  Look at the product design.  Marvel at the innovation. Wonder at what Elon Musk has on his mind next.  Apple buys Tesla, gets Elon Musk to join the team (maybe leads Apple in the future), licenses the autonomous car technology from Google and moves into a future that few can imagine.


Apple has the cash.  They need innovation. They need to make a Steve Jobs bold move. 

The iCar is waiting!

New Paint Job

Yesterday, Patti and I flew from SFO to JFK on American Airlines.  The airline is right now in transition to what they are calling the "New American" (#newamerican).  As we sat on the runway at SFO we could see the transition happening right in front of us with many of the new planes with the new paint schemes.  I thought about what it feels like to get a "new paint job" as a company.  It's exciting, but at the same time a time of anxiety.  There are new costs, higher expectations and a far amount of circumspection from the cynics. Will they make it?  Have they overspent? When will we see the real outputs?  It's all part of the dance, but once committed to change, then sticking with it and having the courage to not turn back is a large part of success.  All it would take now to derail the change would be someone in the Boardroom of American to say something like, "I don't know if I really like the way that new tail paint design looks after all."  While it's easy to say, "We can always paint over what we don't like", with organizational change and new beginnings, the commitment to changes are way more critical than just the new paint job!

To see my further faith-based application of this bolt of thinking you can go to: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/2013/06/day-1155-new-paint-job.html

Thinking Hat

How many times have we said to ourselves, "If I only had some time to think!". We get so caught up in our day to day activities and the pressures of the urgent that we don't find time to sit and think, plan and be strategic. The grind of trying to stay on top of all of the emails, phone calls, meetings and project work doesn't leave much time for any of us to sit down with a clear mind and think about the future or the the things we have in front of us that need deep and long thoughts. There was a book that came out a few years ago about the it being an art to be able to think and conceptualize the long view of the future. But even like any art, there are foundational disciplines below the art form that are required before one can do anything well. A painter who doesn't understand color, a writer with poor grammar, a songwriter who can't play an instrument, or a business leader who can't find the time to think, are all efforts that are undermined by not having the fundamentals understood and perfected before trying to layer on the next level of creativity. Finding and carving out the time to wear your thinking hat is a fundamental part of finding success in business.

To see my further faith-based application of this bolt of thinking you can go to: http://purposedworking.blogspot.com/2013/06/day-1154-thinking-hat.html

Let's Talk Pay!

If you missed page B1 of  WSJ today, check out my tips on how to talk to peers and boss about pay!   http://t.co/3eHKvVDivs

The Career Derailers

Wonder what will derail your career?  Think about these:

H - Halving the truth; even the little white lies will catch up with you - did you really return that email?
U - Unpreparedness causes a loss of confidence from everyone who is counting on you
B - Bad language - no matter how rough everyone else speaks someone is expecting better of you
R - Rolling in late or leaving early...those few minutes either way can create the wrong impression
I -  Insensitivity to others will lose you friends and your job - there are expectations for how you work, act, dress and talk. If you are out of touch on these -watch out!
S - Self-promotion that goes too far helps you out the door

And of course, too much "Hubris"!  (learn from Ron Johnson and JC Penney)

Healthcare Costs - A Little Transparency Could Go A Long Way

I had to have an MRI on my left knee for unidentified pain.  I was written a prescription for a partial MRI.  Because my doctor was at Stanford, of course the MRI was written to be done in the Stanford Radiology Department. I didn't think anything of it really. I came back a week later and the MRI went great.  What they found were Baker's cysts, which I later got successfully drained.  There was no pain until last week.  Last week I got the bill for the MRI!  $3000.00 for the partial MRI on my knee.  Now I didn't know at the time if this was expensive or not until Patti compared a full MRI that she had done at Mills-Peninsula.  For her full body MRI, it was $1300.  Now, that seemed like a big difference.

I did send a note to my doctor at Stanford who appreciated my speaking up as a patient (who according to him carries more clout when it comes to pricing decisions than what the doctors think).

What would have have worked though, saved me money, saved the insurance company, and contributed positively to the overall health care cost dilemma we face, would have been a little transparency.

Imagine that at the bottom of the prescription - actually for any prescription we were to get- would be the price of the procedure, or pills, etc. Since the healthcare provider already knows what insurance plan we are on (as they go to great effort to ensure we are all insured), it would be a no-brainer to actually quote the gross cost of the procedure/prescription and what the net, out of pocket cost that we will experience.

This can't be that hard so why doesn't it happen already?

Could it be that we aren't supposed to know that much information, because if I saw the difference between $3000 and $1300 (or less because my MRI was a partial procedure) that I might have left Stanford and gone to Mills?

Hmmm.

I suspect this level of transparency will be hard to garner without regulations and rules to make it so.

I am not advocating greater government intervention, but any form of influence that would force greater transparency into healthcare costs should not be fought.Without external forces we know from our own experiences to date that the system isn't set up for consumerism. 

I support full transparency here.  What would it take to just be able to see what we are going to be charged before we purchase? 

Until this happens, let's each have the courage to ask the question before we act.  It's a simple set of questions; "How much will this cost me?", "Are there other lower cost alternatives that are just as effective?"
If we don't ask, we won't be told.

Telecommuting Policy Change

This week there is a big hullabaloo about Yahoo!'s CEO, Marissa Mayer, calling back into the office all of the people who have been telecommuting.  There are people on both sides of this decision.  Some think it way to draconian and a take-away from the benefits that people have earned at Yahoo!.  Others, myself included, understand the decision and expect that this is a season that the company will go through and if the goals are met, then working from home could be restored.  There are many schools of thought as to why Mayer made this decision.  I suspect that in the turnaround mode the company is now in and the fact that Yahoo! long ago lost the edge in innovation that she is bringing people back together to find some sparks and see what can happen if ideas begin to flow more quickly and fluidly across Yahoo!'s employees.  I also think that when new in the CEO seat that one attempts to establish a work ethic, performance standard and achievement bar.  It may well be that she will sort the wheat from the chaff just by seeing who decides to comply and who decides to leave.  Lastly, I do think there will be turnover from the decision and for Yahoo! that is probably okay. Voluntary attrition is always better than forced layoffs and if they were already considering having to pare the workforce, this is a good way to do so.  It will be a big decision for many people.  Good news for the telecommuters who can't change is that the employment market is hot and there are plenty of other companies who need skilled talent that could care less where or when you work, as long as the job gets done.