The Contented Cow Blog

Building Workplaces That Work

For better than a decade, business partner Richard Hadden and I have written about leadership and employment issues, offering what we hope is helpful advice to those who are known by others as “the boss.”

Last night, my wife and I celebrated her birthday at Nashville’s Sommet Center, enjoying a rocking performance by another guy known as, “The Boss.” Together with his E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen performed all the oldies and goodies for an enthusiastic audience that included Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, Amy Grant, Martina McBride, and Kim Carnes. Totally aware of his surroundings, the Boss nearly brought the house down with an Elvis-inspired version of “Good Rocking Tonight,” followed by a soulful rendition of Johny Cash’s, “I Walk the Line.”

Notwithstanding the fact that Springsteen’s music is about as good as it ever was, I came away dutifully impressed by his and the band’s willingness to  give it up for an appreciative mid-week audience. After starting the customary 45 minutes late (I still don’t get that part), they performed nonstop for three hours, doing at least twenty minutes of encore to a standing ovation. Those in the vicinity of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Milwaukee would do well to go see them before the “Magic Tour” calls it quits.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

Another of the excellent speakers we heard at the National Speakers Association convention in New York last week was Bill Strickland, President and CEO of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center, Inc.

Talk about someone who does meaningful work! His story is much too long to detail in this blog, and I certainly can’t do him justice. Besides, he’s been written about in Inc, Fast Company, and tons of other publications, and you can read about him there.

In a nutshell, Bill Strickland is a social innovator who runs a company to train and give substantive (not empty) hope to poor inner-city kids, welfare mothers, and others in the Manchester area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He’s taking his highly successful model, which educates people in the visual, culinary, and other arts, and replicating it across the country now.

Here’s just a little of what Strickland said, that stuck in my mind:

• “The only difference between rich people and poor people is that poor people don’t have any money.”
• “People’s behavior is a function of how they’re treated.” (Where have we heard that before?)
• “We have fresh flowers all over the center, because these people deserve to see fresh flowers.”
• When he had his center designed in Pittsburgh, he wanted it to be flooded with light. The people who learn there have lots of darkness in their lives. Strickland knew that light would change their outlook, and their behavior. It has.
• The walls of his center are covered in valuable art. Skeptics told him the art would be trashed within a month. In the 22 years since he started the practice, there’s never been an act of vandalism at the center. Reminds me of a point made by John Houseman in the classic training film, Brain Power, by Karl Albrecht, in which Houseman reminds us, “We get what we expect to get. What are you expecting?”

We heard lots of polished, eloquent speakers at the NSA convention. Bill Strickland was not one of them. It was, instead, his message, not his delivery, that blew me away.

Thanks, Bill Strickland, for being an Extra-Miler.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

In the May 12 issue of Fortune Magazine (OK, I’m a little behind on my reading), PepsiCo Chairman and CEO, Indra Nooyi credited her father with the best piece of advice she ever got. “From him, I learned to always assume positive intent. Whatever anybody says or does, assume positive intent. You will be amazed at how your whole approach to a person or problem becomes very different.” The rest of what Ms. Nooyi had to say also makes a lot of sense, as do the ‘advice nuggets’ of other business leaders. Check it out.

In short, what I hear Ms. Nooyi saying is, be an optimist. You will get further in life, and far greater measure of a person’s best effort when you expect the best, rather than the worst.

I was reminded of the whole optimism thing this past weekend, while watching tributes to former Fox News editor and White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow. In a video clip now permanently seared into my memory, while at the White House lectern, Snow, knowing that he had colon cancer remarked, “Not everybody will survive cancer, but you’ve got the gift of life - make the most of it.”

Jasmine Lawrence, the teenaged CEO of EDEN BodyWorks, was featured this week on NBC’s Today Show. (This is the same enlightened network that so creatively edited Richard Engel’s recent interview with President George W. Bush that the question Bush was shown to answer was not actually the question that elicited that particular response. But that’s OK. The show’s only 4 hours long and that doesn’t leave much time for accuracy.)

Ms. Lawrence is clearly a remarkable woman, 16 years old, a junior in high school, who excels academically, and runs a highly successful corporation. After highlighting all of her superlatives, her accomplishments, her success, and her wealth, the reporter, Bob Dotson, asked her “So how do you explain all this to your boyfriends?”

What a bozo! I had really hoped that as a society we had evolved beyond that. A lot of us have, but apparently not Mr. Dotson and his producers at The Today Show. No wonder some women say they aren’t taken seriously in business. How long is it going to take before these tired, useless notions finally get washed out of the media, and the workplace?

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Memorial Day in the United States is, technically, the day set aside to honor those who gave their lives in military service. I’m also thinking a lot today about my father, Louie Hadden, and my father-in-law, Jim Prentice, who served in World War II, and, thankfully, survived into their 80’s.

My dad was a Motor Machinist Mate on a couple of supply ships in the South Pacific. Born in 1926, he was only 15 when the US entered World War II, but a year later, he fudged his age on the application, and joined the Navy. After the war, with the help of the mechanical training he received in the Navy, he became a typewriter repairman, and later ran his own office machine company until he retired.

My wife’s father was a Sergeant Major in the Gordon Highlanders, a Scottish regiment of the British Army. He was a tank commander, and fought for more than three years on the ground in Burma, the present-day Myanmar that we’ve heard so much about in recent weeks, since the May 2 cyclone devastated much of the country.

These are just two of the millions of people worldwide, who have served freedom-loving countries in modern times. Some of these were drafted, but their service is no less heroic or appreciated. Others, like my dad and Jim, volunteered, went above and beyond what was required, because they wanted to serve.

These two - the sailor and the soldier - are rarely out of my mind. I see and hear reminders of them all around me. But today, especially, I remember them, for what they chose to do in service of their respective countries. Take a minute and remember, and be thankful for, someone you know who’s done the same.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

If you need a little encouragement about today’s youth, read on…

Yesterday I attended a scholarship luncheon for the Meninak Club, a local service organization to which I belong. Each year, the Meninaks award a $5,000 scholarship to each of 5 of deserving area students. Before this year’s recipients were recognized, a previous award winner addressed the group to thank them for the opportunity they had given her a number of years ago. The day before, she had graduated with her doctorate in pharmacy, and would soon begin a job with a prestigious medical center, after spending the summer volunteering her services in South Africa.

As each honoree took the podium to deliver his or her acceptance speech, my spirit soared with hope for yet another generation of young people. There were no slackers among the group. Each student had a history of going above and beyond, in academics, some in athletics, all in community service. It was great to see their Extra Mile attitudes being recognized and rewarded.

On the other hand, I was saddened last week to hear of four middle schoolers, expelled from their private school in our city for illegal drug trade and use. These kids were granted enormous opportunities, and they each chose to squander their gifts and to take a path toward self-destruction.

I can only hope that this latter group will learn from this experience, and will be able to recover. A realistic view tells me that if they do, they’ll have to work mighty hard to overcome what they’ve brought on themselves.

Back to the first group. Congratulations to them. And thanks, for showing a sometimes cynical older generation that values, hard work, and a focus on others, not just self, are still alive and well.

Five thousand dollars won’t cover the cost of these kids’ higher education, but it’s a great start, and as the new Pharm.D. pointed out, it can be the seed that leads to a brilliant future.

It’s interesting that, just as in the workplace, those who go the Extra Mile, who volunteer their Discretionary Effort, and who do more than is required, are often the very ones who reap the most in return. I know it doesn’t always work out that way, but I’m heartened when it does, and it certainly did in the case of these five outstanding young people I met yesterday.

If we leave the world to people like these 5 scholars, we’re going to be just fine.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Working our way through Europe, we spent a couple of terrific days in the beautiful city of Luzern, Switzerland. My mom, who’s with us for the trip, has harbored a desire since childhood to visit Switzerland. Although my Scottish wife had been there before, none of the rest of had, and I, along with the rest, found it totally enchanting. The snowfall, just enough to be pretty, but not so much to be a pain, was the icing on the cake (pun completely intended.)

We stayed in the 3-star Hotel De La Paix, in the heart of the city. We were checked in by a friendly (but not overly so) woman of about 40, named Natalie. She spoke better English than many Americans I know, and couldn’t have been more helpful.

I awoke early the next morning, as I often do on vacation, and went down to the closet-sized lobby to soak up some of the free wireless internet signal to get some work done. Yes, I know this is supposed to be vacation, but in our business, neither Bill nor I can be 100% untethered for very long. That’s OK - let me get an hour’s work done, with a good internet signal, and I’m good for the rest of the day.

When the breakfast room opened at 7, my family was still upstairs groggy in our tiny room, but my coffee addiction was speaking to me in clear tones. Natalie, who had been on duty when we had checked in at 2 the day before, was once again, at her post at 7am. I asked if it might be possible for me to go into the breakfast room and bring a cup of coffee to the lobby to drink while I was working on my laptop.

“I’ll go and get it for you,” she offered.

I would never have dreamed of asking her to stop what she was doing, leave the reception desk, and go to the restaurant to get me some coffee. But she insisted. Two minutes later, she returned with a hot cup of coffee, in stylish china, with 2 packets each of sugar, and artificial sweetener, a small pitcher of milk, and a chocolate biscuit on the side.

Expectations exceeded.

The next morning, I repeated my part of the ritual. Natalie was behind the desk, attending to some kind of recordkeeping. “Guten morgen,” she said, knowing that her English was far better than my German, but somehow sensing that she should humor me. At about a quarter to seven (15 minutes before breakfast officially started), she disappeared from behind the counter, and again, 2 minutes later, returned, unbidden, with a duplicate of the previous morning’s coffee and biscuits.

I didn’t have a chance to spend much time talking with Natalie. If I had, I would like to have asked her what it is that causes her, on a routine basis (as I observed she did with other guests as well) to do more than is expected.

I suspect that somewhere, at the Hotel De La Paix, is an owner, proprietor, or manager, who lets Natalie know, on a routine basis, that what she does, and how she does it, matters. And tells her, with words as clear as I hope my words were to her, that they notice, and appreciate her going the extra mile, er, kilometer.

Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and his co-author and business partner Bill Catlette, are the authors of the new book Contented Cows MOOve Faster, as well as the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

This past Friday, my family and I embarked on a 10-day vacation to Europe. For this post, I’m going to make an observation, and it deals with the subject of effort – which, of course, happens to be the subject (specifically Discretionary Effort) of our most recent book.

But before I express this observation, let me issue a disclaimer. First, I’m not complaining. We’re having a wonderful time, and I fully realize how very fortunate I am to be able to make such a trip. Second, please don’t interpret this observation as a criticism, or a generalization of Europe, Europeans, or all things non-American.

Now – here’s what I’ve observed, on this, and come to think of it, every trip I’ve made to Europe.

Compared to life in the United States, many things in Europe seem to require a great deal of effort. And it’s not just because I’m unaccustomed to being here. Here’s but one example.

Our flight arrived on Saturday at Milan’s Malpensa Airport. We got off the plane, and onto a bus, rode to Terminal 2, went through immigration, collected our bags, went through customs, then had to get on yet another bus to go to Terminal 1, more than 2 miles away, to pick up our rental car. After the bus dropped us in the general vicinity of Terminal 1, we walked about 500 yards to the car rental desks, and alighted at the Hertz counter. When in the US, as a Hertz #1 Gold member, I’m often driving off in my rental car within 15 minutes of having left the plane, with zero paperwork to fill out. Here I waited for a very nice Italian woman to print out roughly the same number of forms as for my home mortgage. She explained them all in very good English, and I signed them. She gave me the key, and then we walked back the 500 yards to where the bus had dropped us off, and then yet another 300 yards to the car.

Next chapter – same topic: effort.

I awoke the next morning (Easter Sunday) in our three-and-a-half-star hotel to a stunning view over the lakes of Varese, with a light snow falling. We paid roughly what we would have paid for a nice full-service Marriott in the center of a major US city, or near a major airport. But, as is often the case in European hotels, the price included breakfast. In my experience, that’s usually a nice roll, maybe some yogurt, cheese, and cereal. Instead, in this case, we entered the breakfast room and were overwhelmed by a huge table loaded with more than 50 different items (yes, I counted). Croissants, Danish, eggs, bacon, fresh fruit (chopped and sliced), cereal, musli, yogurt, cheese, ham, cakes, tarts, juices of orange, grapefruit, and papaya. At 7:00 in the morning, we were the only ones having breakfast. Indeed, for some reason, there were only a handful of guests in the hotel. And yet, someone had obviously risen early that morning, made it to work in the snow, and baked, scrambled, fried, peeled, sliced, chopped, and otherwise prepared this remarkable feast, and displayed it as though it were ready for a photo shoot for a gourmet food magazine.

It was quite possibly the very best breakfast I have ever had in a restaurant or hotel. Ever. And with my family around the table in this elegant, and for us, private, dining room, with the snow softly falling over the lakes of Varese, Italy, on Easter morning, I was very thankful that someone – undoubtedly several someones had gone to a great deal of effort.

Several years ago, while conducting a series of wilderness-based leader and team development workshops in the wilds of southwestern Colorado, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a lady we called Mrs. Mac, who, despite being well into her sixties, was still going to work every day as manager of a child daycare center. She didn’t just go to work - her energy, enthusiasm, personal pride, and will to learn and be relevant lapped that of many who were considered to be her peers. One day upon walking into the classroom, I was a bit startled to find Mrs. Mac seated in the middle of the room, on the floor, despite the presence of lots of empty chairs. Though I should have known better after traipsing through the woods with her for a few days, I somewhat worriedly asked why she was sitting on the floor. Her reply, accompanied by an ever-present grin… “because I can.” Participating fully and enthusiastically in a program that was both physically and mentally demanding for people half her age, this lady gave new meaning to the term, “extra miler,” and was an inspiration to all of us that week.

Along with a long list of other admirers, I was equally impressed to learn this week that Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, has spent the last ten weeks serving as a forward air controller in a British combat regiment in Afghanistan. Clearly, in this case, his service in a front line unit came because he insisted on it, rather than it being required of him. Not unlike Mrs. Mac, he did it because he could. Bravo for Harry, and his older brother, William, who will likely serve at some point in the future aboard a British naval vessel. It’s sad that the Prince’s tour of duty in Afghanistan was cut short by virtue of being outed by the Drudge Report, ostensibly because… they could.

During lunch with a friend on Friday, we wound up ruminating on some of the things we perceive to be amiss in American society today. We focused for a bit on the fact that too often, we do things not because they are necessary, or the right thing to do, but because we can. As a case in point, we talked about the reflexive choice of too many members of our society to file a lawsuit whenever something doesn’t go their way. Witness the fact that it is almost expected that anyone involved in an automobile accident, medical mistake, or employment termination is going to lawyer up and go after the other party. Sadly, the downside is that, aside from filling one more damned law school, dramatically increasing the costs of driving, medical procedures and the like, it makes us far less productive as individuals and a nation. Moreover, we create an entitlement mindset where any time we have a boo-boo, someone else is expected to pay. I’m not sure that’s healthy for us in the long run, and I am quite sure that the Mrs. Macs of the world don’t get where they are by constantly being on the lookout for ways to game the system. No, they choose to take the same high road that is available to all of us, because they can. So can we.

A thought leader in the areas of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

My partner Richard doesn’t often brag about his kids, but he could. In his younger days he was obviously listening when his mom was passing along valuable lessons about modesty and the downfalls of gloating. I, on the other hand am not similarly encumbered, so I will.

I recently attended the ceremony in which Richard and Christine’s son, Alec was awarded the earned Eagle Scout rank. For the uninitiated, making Eagle Scout is a big deal… a really big deal. In Alec’s case, we’re talking nine (9) years of effort in which one has to attain various preparatory Scout ranks, earn a minimum of twenty-one merit badges indicating successful completion of courses of study in things like First Aid, Family Life, Citizenship in the Nation, et. al., (Alec earned 55), and completion of a significant community service project.

Tougher perhaps than doing all that work is sticking with the program for that long. Let’s face it, teenagers aren’t exactly wanting for distractions. Indeed as pointed out by family friend, Tommy Walter in a speech lauding Alec, the sticking-with-it part is even tougher because, if you haven’t noticed, Scouting isn’t as cool today as it once was. Sadly, in many neighborhoods, we probably have more kids participating in gang initiation than earning merit badges.

Aside from saying a few well-deserved words about a fine young man, there’s a lesson here for the rest of us. Richard and I are regularly barraged with questions from managers about where to find great workers - people who are honest, reliable, willing to work, and will stick around for a while. If you ask me, you may want to include a Boy or Girl Scout troop on your next recruiting trip. While you’re there, say thank you to the men and women who are doing the important and unheralded work of helping these kids grow up right.

Godspeed!

A thought leader in the areas of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, motivated, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard, and their work, please visit their website at www.ContentedCows.com.