August, 2018 | Lorne Rubis

Questions I’ve Been Asking Myself While Weeding the Garden

Story: I’ve had a few days just letting go post retirement. Our farm property has a very large garden, so there is always work to do, especially pulling friggin’ weeds. I’ve found myself reflecting on a few things while yanking out those stubborn lawn terrorists. Here are some random questions/thoughts at the end of my spade:

Why do most people drive to work? Every metroplex I know is currently staggering with traffic issues. For six years at the last company I worked for, the leadership made it totally okay to work where you needed to do your best work. Today, the technology with productivity tools like the iPad, Chromebook, Google Suite, MICROSOFT 360, etc., along with fabulous networks, are so robust that most people do NOT have to go to the office everyday. So why do people clog up our transportation system to show up somewhere at 8:30 a.m., when if we looked at it honestly, people just don’t need to. Think of the contribution to everyone’s well being/public benefit if people who could, just went to their office 50 percent of the time. I believe there would be a massive increase in productivity. We need public and private leadership to make this so.
Why do organizations still try and keep people with “golden handcuffs?” Do you really want someone hanging around when they would rather go? How arcane. If you’ve earned money, you should get it now and not after some vesting period. If you want to leave, the formula should be worked out and both the employee and employer should be able to pull the trigger without elaborate explanations. Walk in anytime, for whatever reason: Two weeks severance for every year worked, all benefits, remaining holidays paid out. No negotiations required. Both the employee and employer would have full skin-in-the-game to focus on the real motivators: A meaningful purpose, great work, and continuous learning/personal equity.
Why do organizations still ask leaders to give people ratings on an annual basis? I guess if you had a job on the kill floor in the slaughterhouse, and killed more cows than the next guy, you could be rated as a higher performer. Of course, it would not take long before the inequities would be surfaced: Better bolt gun, less stubborn Holsteins that sit down and cry before they get put down, better ramp, etc. Sorry to use the crassness of this analogy to make a point, I just find bosses giving an annual rating to people so dehumanizing and flat out stupid. On the other hand, if feedback was more continuous, honest, human and robust from a statistically significant data source, that would be meaningful. Even a rating might be meaningful in that context. Most of us have a desire to genuinely and continuously get better.

Key Point: Everyone can benefit from doing a little weeding. Pulling out the crazy or outlived things we do in the workplace is no exception. I’m going to continue weeding through August. I hope removing a few will make the garden much more healthy. And occasionally, I may mistake a flower for a weed. Oops. I hope I challenge some of your assumptions too. Maybe we can weed together?

Personal Leadership Moves:

Why not free people up and give them the autonomy to work from where and when they need to? Only one rule: No results = no job.
Why not challenge the way you motivate people to stay, and make it easier to leave if people want out?
Focus on developing versus rating others. You might be surprised how much performance really improves.

Weeding in Personal Leadership,

Lorne

One Millennial View: The philosopher Voltaire has a memorable saying that boils down to “tend your own garden.” The premise is, whatever chaos might be going on around you, no one can take how you treat your own garden away from you. Of course, your “garden” can be a metaphor for anything in your control. It’s a wonderful reminder that pulling your own weeds can make your whole landscape a lot prettier.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

I Hate Sameness and Just 10 Percent Better!

Abundance Accountability Respect

Story: This is from last Sunday’s NYT travel section: “The Prisoner Wine Company, a label that’s a favorite of wine collectors… Is expected to open a new winery in September in St. Helena. The San Francisco architect Matt Hollis designed the 40,000 square-foot contemporary building to have an industrial aesthetic, with high ceilings and a mix of metal and reclaimed woods in its construction. Besides a large tasting room, the building has an area called The Makery, which has five studios where local artisans from a variety of creative fields will serve three-month residencies and interact with guests. The initial batch of artisans includes a soap maker, jelly maker and ceramist. The idea is that you should come here and stay for a few hours,” she said. ‘We want to be a place where you spend time and make memories…’ The winery is free to visit, but tastings are by appointment and start at $40 a person…

Promontory, in Oakville, owned by Will Harlan, son of the famed winemaker Bill Harlan, is among the lot of these new wave of wineries, too. Its concrete, steel and glass building, designed by American architect Howard Backen, is perched on a hill overlooking Napa Valley.
Visitors, who must make an appointment, are greeted by a private host who will lead them through a tasting of one older and one current vintage. All tastings take place in small rooms scattered throughout the building, and Mr. Harlan said that guests are unlikely to see any other visitors during their time at Promontory.”

Key Point: The idea of going to a shuffle in/shuffle out wine tasting is getting very tired. And if you think bringing in a celebrity chef is going to be a differentiator, well, not anymore. Yes, you have to make great wine, deliver exceptional service, and perhaps have a fabulous kitchen. However, that’s table stakes. If you want people to be “wowed,” and come in droves, wineries are going to have to reinvent the entire experience. The examples above are hints of the experience revolution emerging.

This is the common theme for all business. Reinvent now, or die a slow, then very fast death. Why should anyone line up at your establishment? And if it’s the same, or slightly better than your competition, you will be just that: Mediocre. How many more plastic wine tasting menus, semi-interested people behind the counters barely tolerating explaining the vintage’s hint of cherry, boldness, and blah blah are you going to line up for?

Personal Leadership Moves:

Part of my retirement is giving myself the white space (or wine space, haha) to dramatically reinvent my offerings in the area of leadership and culture. I refuse to follow sameness. I also need to reinvent with meaningful value, and not to just be different.
This edgy need to continuously define purpose, reinvent our personal and organization business model is invigorating! Unless plastic sameness is ok with you?

Excited to continuously reinvent in personal leadership,

Lorne

P.S. Happy 4th birthday, granddaughter Emilia! You are indeed a perfect mermaid! Love, Gramps.

One Millennial View: It seems like only some established, classic restaurants, or maybe some dive bars flourish because they don’t change. Nostalgia is a business for few. I can’t think of one business or service I’ve continuously consumed that hasn’t dramatically evolved, changed, improved and shifted gears every few months. It’s true, it seems tasting rooms can lose their flavor faster than ever before.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

The Paradox of Becoming Both Full and Empty

Abundance Contribution Purpose

Story: On a cold, misty morning in late Oct. 2017, after 11 previous attempts, Brad Gobright and Jim Reynolds broke the standing speed record for climbing the Nose of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park – with an unbelievable new time of two hours, 19 minutes, and 44 seconds. According to Wikipedia, The Nose is one of the original technical climbing routes up El Capitan. Once considered impossible to climb, El Capitan is now the standard for big-wall climbing. In 1958, it took a team more than 15 days to climb it the first time. Then, three guys who looked like a hippy rock-n-roll band, were the first to climb it in one day in 1975. Today, for the fittest of climbers, the ascent still takes two to four days. Could you imagine in 1958, telling the first group (who were treated with much fanfare for their feat), “well, 60 years from now, two guys will do it in a couple of hours.” WOW!

Key Point: I’m writing this while lying in my hammock, under the shade of a motherly maple tree. It is about 34 degrees Celsius (93 F), with a soft breeze. Emotional yum! I am feeling totally full of gratitude after wrapping up a wonderful climb of my own over the last few years, and also surprisingly empty. It’s a rather satisfying kind of “empty” though, as in: Spent, depleted, and ready to be rinsed out too. Perhaps for a refuel? Refill?

What I wonder about, drifting aimlessly during my lazy afternoon hammock swish, is what it would be like to live in a world where one billion people truly loved their work. The prevailing data is that most people hate or are ambivalent about their jobs. Could thousands of organizations adopt a common set of powerful guiding principles, and still uniquely apply them to create phenomenal organization cultures everywhere? Why not? Someone had to ask: “How can you climb El Capitan in less than 2.5 hours?” and then did it! So, I guess that’s why we need to get to empty? So we can ask ourselves what the refill or refuel could be? Right now, I’m just enjoying snoozing, dreaming and letting “wouldn’t it be cool if?” questions drift into that warm lake breeze. Hmm.

Personal Leadership Moves:

We know that people cannot stay in the performance zone continuously. One has to intentionally rest, refuel, and perhaps even refill differently. Getting to full and empty is important. Staying at empty for too long is unhealthy. Recognize that with us humans, feeling totally full might also mean we may be close to empty. A peculiar paradox. Where are you?
I’ve had this hammock for years. I’ve put it up every summer, and never once laid in it for more than 10 minutes. Now, I’m wondering why? This weekend, promise yourself you will put up a hammock or do something similar. Maybe it’s as simple as an afternoon snooze. Everything will be ok without you for 30 minutes. Refuel. Refill. Even a little. You’re worth it! You might even dream BIG!

Full and Empty in Personal Leadership,

Lorne

One Millennial View: My initial thought is that I truly don’t know anyone who sincerely “hates” what they do for a living. But, maybe that’s me being naive. After all, it’s a common enough study, and perpetuated by mainstream music and media. In real life though, who would want to admit that? It is worth some reflection, and perhaps some refueling and refilling on a Saturday to ask yourself why what you do on Monday is truly what you want to get out of your metaphorical hammock for. It couldn’t possibly be harder to answer than climbing The Nose, and if it is, maybe that should hit you on the nose.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis