08:03 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Work/Life: Hey, Robert Downey, Jr...Wanna Play "Irony Man?"

• Okay, Mr. Downey, Jr., it’s clear that after the boffo box office on Iron Man that you have just landed yourself a sweet role in an ongoing franchise.  Well, this is America, bud, and you can’t have too much of a good thing, I always say.  Like every other unfulfilled sad sack in the business world, I have a screenplay languishing under the collection of dried-out stamp pads in the third drawer down on the right hand side of my office desk.  And, if I may be so bold, Robert, this one has your name on it.  It’s entitled “Irony Man.” 
• It’s the story of a wealthy industrialist who designs his own high-tech weaponry; a position which, as you might guess, keeps him both impossibly busy and emotionally unavailable to those who love him most.  Now, if you are sitting down, Bob, comes the irony so subtly implied by the film’s title: you see, every time our protagonist is put on the spot by his wife and children who feel the relationship slipping away because of his unhealthy obsession with financial success, he shoots back, “but why do you think I work so hard?  I do it for all of you!”  
• This is the engine of irony that drives the entire movie.  And it would be a good change of pace for you.  The big action sequences in this picture are about the actions of the human heart.  (Not literally.  No shots of a pumping heart or anything.  It’s a metaphor.  You’re an artist, Rob.  You “get” what I’m talking about, right?)  In the same vein, this is a film where the chase scenes are about a man trying to catch up to his own inner pain: the deep psychic wound that occurred in his childhood and has left him someone incapable of true feeling, siphoning all of his passion into his work.  I leave it up to you, as you “prepare” for the role, to decide exactly what the nature of that psychic wounding was for our protagonist.  However,  if you would like any guidance from me I would say (just off the top of my head of course) that you might think about what it was like to be raised by a domineering, hugely successful CEO who did not have enough insight into his driven nature to see how it was impacting his family, while at the same time being indulged by an over-protective mother against whom he could do no wrong, leaving him a hopeless bipolar mess with no internal guidance system to help him operate in the world.  Just a direction you might go, that’s all. 
• Mr. Downey, Jr., I’m sure you can relate to how many men out there would, if pressed, have to admit to being an “Irony Man.”  Taking on this role in my long-unproduced (and, yes, a bit overlong right now but I’m dong some judicious editing) screenplay would show the world that what’s important to you goes deeper than a titanium alloy suit and more distracting special effects than the Democratic primaries.  When you’re ready, call my agent.  Actually, if you could call someone who might be able to get me an agent, that would help, too.   Well, gotta go.  The extra time it has taken me to compose this letter has, ironically, further alienated me from my family.  

12:24 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Work/Life: It's The Hot New Computer Game - Grand Theft Quality Time IV

• Not surprisingly, the latest edition of Grand Theft Auto, the reprehensible yet popular (what, something in America is popular even thought it’s tasteless?) video game has arrived with its share of controversy.  Well, such dust-ups will be nothing compared to the outcry that will accompany the upcoming release of the new interactive extravaganza from Stern Enterprises, “Grand Theft Quality Time IV.”  In much the same way as GTA gives its users vicarious cheap thrills by allowing them to indulge in unpleasant car-related behavior in which they don’t usually indulge, GTQT lets people who are trying to be good little work/life balance practitioners run an obstacle course of ill-advised offerings.  Here are just a few of the highlights of this exciting new game: 

1. The storyline follows Werk A. Holic, an unrepentant mover and shaker as he navigates through the seamy underbelly of a rain-soaked metropolis called TimeSuck. 
2. Players assuming the role of Werk must attempt to veer off into the city of TimeSuck’s many distractions, including the deadly presence of readily available wi-fi, and office buildings that have their own food courts, while taking calls from family members whom they assure they will be right home.  
3. Deep in the bowels of TimeSuck lies the village of iPhone.  Here, the challenge is to avoid being decapitated by a variety of passing hazards (glass panel trucks, pedestrians who happen to be strolling by with rotary saws, etc.) while walking around you’re your head down because you are constantly interacting only with your iPhone.   Bonus work/life destruction points awarded for making it to the other side of iPhone village with your head still attached. 
4. Celebrity cameos include the likenesses of Tony Robbins and Suze Orman, who, while inspiring you to even further achievement-related success, also happen to be naked.  (The game company made me put that in.) 
5. Finally, Emotion Alley provides the most terrifying set piece in all of GTQT.  It uses a built-in tool that allows the player to insert the heads of family members and loved ones, even the family dog, onto the bodies of oncoming “affection-seekers.”  These affection- seekers stumble toward you like zombies, crying out for an evening in, a weekend away, your appearance at a school play or any number of things that put demands on your non-work time.  To survive Emotion Alley you have to run as fast as you can past these pitiful pleas for human (or animal) contact, and then punctuate your ignoring of their needs by attending a different Power Point presentation on morale for every loved one you neglect.  If you’re playing the game right, this particular portal should culminate in your being institutionalized.    

• So, whaddaya say…you game?  

07:28 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

"Why Are Business Traveler-Unfriendly Rules Back in Vogue at Some Carriers?"

Lower earnings among major U.S. airlines have led some carriers to
resurrect revenue-generating strategies — I call them "segmentation
tactics" — that essentially penalize business travelers more than other
travelers.

Among these strategies is, as Joe Sharkey at The New York Times
describes it, "the Saturday night stay," which requires an overnight on
Saturday evening in order to score a cheap airline fare.

These flights are the kind populated by business travelers, who hate
rules that, in effect, force them to spend the whole weekend on the
road.

These "minimum stay requirements" are meant, Sharkey explains, "to discourage business travelers from buying the cheaper fares."

How widespread is it?

Well, according an article at Bloomberg.com,
"United is requiring Saturday-night stays in about 65 percent of
markets it serves ... That means higher fares for business travelers
who don't spend weekends on the road."

In the bad old days, The Times' Sharkey notes, "back when major
airlines did not worry much about low-cost carriers, unrestricted
business fares could cost three times or four times an advance-purchase
leisure fare."

Not long ago this business traveler-unfriendly policy had come back
from the dead among the major U.S. carriers, at least on some
less-competitive, secondary routes.

Now it seems this secondary-route strategy is becoming more of a
mainstream strategy among the majors as the rising cost of fuel
squeezes airline profits. The Wall Street Journal reports that Delta Air Lines is taking buyback, layoff, and selloff steps to deal with its rise in operating costs.

In fact, segmentation tactics that apply Saturday stay and three-day
stay restrictions seem to be becoming common in certain network
carriers' fare structures. Needless to say, it's one element in a
revenue management effort by those airlines to segment markets,
flights, and customer types to a much greater extent than ever before.

One of these tactics embraces ticketing restrictions that increase the
penalty charges for travelers who make changes to airline tickets.
Naturally, business travelers are the ones whose travel plans fluctuate
the most.

Normally, a business traveler would weigh the tradeoff between
penalties that would be charged if they have to change their ticket vs.
buying a higher-priced, less-restrictive ticket right up front.

An example of the new ticketing restrictions: United Airlines
recently announced that it was increasing its penalties from $100 to
$150 for ticket changes. This would not only generate more revenue if a
business traveler has to make changes to his itinerary, but would also
make him re-think or consider buying the less-restrictive (but
higher-priced) ticket from the get-go.

Overall, airlines are unbundling their fares and fare choices and transitioning in a hurry to an à la carte business philosophy that restores choice to travelers.

The upside is that travelers won't have to pay for what they don't want.

The downside is that things which used to be "free" will be
pay-for-play, including many services popular with business travelers:
* Access to airport lounges
* On-board food and meals
* Premium seating locations, including seats with extra legroom, in the front of the plane, and with powerport access

US Airways Group Inc.
on April 16 said it will begin charging $5 or more to fliers who prefer
to ensure they get a window or aisle seat in the first several rows of
coach.

Add to these restrictions the fact that business travelers will have to
reckon with fewer flights as a result of rising fuel prices and
potential airline mergers.

Jet fuel prices have risen 80 percent in the last year, so I guess it's
no surprise that U.S. airlines have been adding fees, boosting fares,
and cutting capacity to cope.

Unfortunately, the road warrior is bearing the brunt of those coping tactics, like the Saturday night stay.

Are you worried about road warrior unfriendly-rules trickling back in?

What do you think it all means for the business traveler?

Road Warrior • Miami • www.amadeus.com

06:01 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Work/Life: Can You Help Me? Big Business Opportunity!

Dear Internet Friend:  

• I need urgently your help right up at this minute.  And there is promising to you many hundreds and thousands of dollars for the return to you if you can only contribution to my cause.  
• I come from a country with many challenging troubles.  The fuel that allows the vehicles we drive to run on the roads has gone so big in price that even the people who work at their jobs cannot begin to pay for it.  There is right now such a big dividing in one of our major political parties that people wanting to hold a big important office are hateful toward each other, and so busy hurting one and the other that how to get us better jobs and have our health and hospital paid for does not matter; only what matters is sniper fire and pins made out of a flag.  Things here getting so mighty terrible that our biggest nation leader goes on television to the quiz shows and talent shows and is silly.  And then, the government gives big rich companies money so they will not die, but can only come up with six hundred dollars per person for the rest of us who struggle.   
• As you can see, my life is living hell.  My own family does not see me anymore for I work and work and cannot remember even the color of their hair or eyes.  I biggest fear is that my place where I live is going downward in the tubes and that me and my friends allowed it to happen by giving to China all of our manufacturing.  So you may be feared yourself and understand how I am desperation now and pleading with you.   My good friend who has the job at Exxon/Mobil reports to me that profits hit all time high during this very bad time for everyone else!  So now is time for you to send me all you can afford and let me invested it for you in this company so that I can stop myself killing myself work so hard for so little investing return.  My friend makes big promise to me that you will see so much more in money back!  If you give one hundred thousand dollars American, I will guarantee times three you are getting with this opportunity of the lifetime!  And, think of this, friend, what you will be doing is rescuing me from the hopeless and the doom of this very frightening place where so much has gone screwy.  
• I know you care about me here and how badly I am doing.  I know you will help me.  One hundred thousand American good, good, good for me and make you feel better, too, for stopping one man like me from going downward in the tubes.   You will get it all back in week, two week, no more than that.  Thank you, dear friend, for loving me so with generous generosity.  I wait for your cash.  

Yours faithfully, Tom Stern.

02:50 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Franchise-ification

I don’t know what it is, but I’m a sucker for finding the unique mom and pop shops and restaurants that make one city different from the next. I was in Philadelphia on a business trip when it hit me. I was leaving the hotel when I asked the bellhop if there were any non-franchise restaurants within walking distance. He rubbed his chin as if in deep thought. If memory serves me correctly, it took him a good half minute before finally responding “Hmmmmmm….there’s Magiano’s across the street.” Unfortunately, as un-franchised as it might look, that Magiano’s is identical to the one that’s five minutes from my house in Durham, North Carolina. Much to the chagrin of my arteries, I eventually found Jim’s Steaks on South Street.  

I don’t know about you, but when I’m traveling, I definitely don’t want to frequent the same national chains I can visit in my home town. I look forward to finding those off-the-beaten path corner stores that sell stuff that’s unique to that area. But they’re getting harder and harder to find. 

Don’t get me wrong. I definitely appreciate the benefits of knowing I’ll get pretty much the same customer experience whether I visit a Home Depot in California or Florida. It just seems like businesses are losing their individuality. I mean, the big box home improvement stores do mix it up…some have the lighting on the right hand side of the building while others have it on the left. But come on, do we really want everything to be a franchise?  

Case in point—there’s a bar/restaurant in my home town that was started in a rundown old gas station. Over time, they slowly started to franchise. As they did they hired outside consultants (in my experience, always chocked full of great ideas…right) to help them grow the business. I made it back home not too long ago only to find they had taken away all of the little things that made them “not Applebee’s.”  They even changed their menu to the standard T.G.I. Friday’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s look and feel. Just what they needed. 

The same thing holds true with new home developments. I appreciate having a consistent look and feel and cutting down costs by making things more standardized, but have you noticed all of the new houses and condos look identical? If you’re not paying attention, you could accidently end up pulling into your neighbor’s garage—ohhhh the embarrassment. 

Maybe I’ll just blame it on the automobile or fast food industries as they seemed to spearhead the move to a mass produced, one size fits all mentality. All I know is we’re losing what used to make businesses, and our experiences as customers, unique. 

Shawn Graham is an Associate Director with the MBA Career Management Center at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School and author of Courting Your Career: Match Yourself with the Perfect Job (www.courtingyourcareer.com).

09:04 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment

Work+Life Flex as a Retention-Retirement Strategy? Yes, Say More Retirees and Companies

Recently, I was brainstorming with the CFO of a client about how to more accurately reflect the cost of regretted turnover in the operating numbers of individual business units.  His industry as a whole is experiencing intense competition for talent, so he wanted to figure out how to make the loss of a valued employee felt more directly by his line leaders.
 

As we spoke, he kept his focus on younger employees.  Then I suggested, “What about including regretted retirements in that calculation?”  He stopped and thought about it, “You know that’s something we might want to consider.”  This organization already has used flexibility to stay connected with employees who had “retired”--some were consultants, others worked part-time.  And now the CFO was thinking about the loss of a professional who retires in terms of regretted turnover calculation.

The idea of using flexibility to strategically retain talent that would otherwise walk out of the door in retirement, was the focus of an excellent segment on NPR by Judy Martin, entitled “Workers, Employers Adjust to Phased Retirement.”  Martin interviewed an IBM employee who reduced her schedule instead of retiring fully, and uses her extra time to play in a band!   Last week, The New York Times ran a number of stories discussing “working” flexibly in retirement. 

Clearly, there’s an awareness building that work+life flexibility is a strategy we all need to use, but it still isn’t a natural part of how we think about work and retirement.  We tend to make it about moms or younger employees, and in the process overlook a very important use of flex. 
 

One of my faithful readers, forwarded a posting from the Time Goes By blog entitled “This New Land of Old Age,” a new book by Dr. Robert Butler called The Longevity Revolution—The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life, that looks at “the historically unprecedented shift in age distribution…” and challenges us to rethink many of our core attitudes and assumptions about aging.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The stereotype equates aging workers with nonproductive drains on society, but, ironically, older workers who remain productively employed are most likely to remain healthy and able to contribute to society than those who retire..."

It’s easy to focus the work+life fit debate primarily on attracting and retaining “young people.”  And, yes, that is one very important objective.  But we need to keep pulling back the lens.  We need to remind ourselves that this is a strategic imperative for attracting and retaining all talent, including employees at the other end of the demographic scale—soon to retire Baby Boomers.

What do you think?  How do think Baby Boomers will redefine retirement, and what will that look like for all of us in terms of how we think of flexibility in the workplace? 

(To learn more about some of the financial considerations of working in retirement, check out the Wall Street Journal article by Toddi Gutner, "Pitfalls of Working in Retirement")

08:43 pm | 1 recommendation | Be the first to comment

Invitation to a Party

Many of my colleagues recently attended the Web2.0Expo in San Francisco. From over 2K miles away I followed those twittering the fine details, longing for a way to easily get to the West Coast. This expo captivated my attention because the world live web, by its very nature, invites each of us to learn.

Watching party2.0 unfold from afar reminded me of work on invitation leadership from William Purkey, Betty Siegel and John Novak who identify four ways people attend to life.

No Party People

Some people go through life telling anyone who listens, "There is no party." At work they say things like, "I know how this will play out. Why bother?" At home they nod in agreement to the awfulizing spewed on around-the-clock newsTV. They brighten a room when they leave it. Their words and actions intentionally disinvite others, implying people are irresponsible and incapable, while demeaning, diminishing, and devalueing the human spirit. In a live web world, they are static pages without even a contact_us link.

Parties Not For Me

A second group of people mope, "There is a party, but I can tell I'm not invited." While often hard on themselves, they are frequently harder on others: obsessed with policies and unaware of people's feelings, disorganized, boring, and busy. At work they spend more time on us than them. At home the neighborhood Jones' are eternally out of reach. In tech-terms, they're frenetic mailinglists you didn't sign on to receive.

Not Going to the Party

A third group announces, "There's a party, I'm invited, and I'm not going." They think, "I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not interesting enough to go the party." Although it may seem counterintuitive, I know several charismatic leaders (and parents) who can only unintentionally invite others. Underneath their confident demeanors, they're uncertain and afraid because when whatever accounts for their success fails them, they don't know how to proceed. If they were software they'd be promising fantastical upgrade flops.

Party Time

The fourth group of people know, "There's a party and I'm invited, and I'm going. I may not be good enough but I might, I may not be with-it enough but I might, I may not be smart enough, but I might." People who intentionally invite themselves and others risk going to life's party. They are the ones who show up time and again; persistent, imaginative, resourceful, and courageous even when the going get tough. They are firm, flexible, and friendly, deliberately choosing fairness over equality and mindfully working toward the big picture rather than swatting at this moment's gnats. At home they are raising adults, not children. At work they appreciate relationships and value divergent perspective. Think social networks at their best.

Leading and learning in this evolving world requires us to personally invite ourselves, personality invite others, professionally invite ourselves, and professionally invite others. We do that through optimism, respect, trust, care, and intentionality.

From this will emerge a fifth group: those who see, "There's a party I can't attend physically, yet people will participate with me as if I were these." Let the cognitive surplus party commence.

----------

Marcia Conner >> www.marciaconner.com

11:24 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Work/Life: What If They Paid Us To Be Less Busy?

• So Delta and Northwest merge, and Arby’s is buying Wendy’s.  JPMorgan bails out Bear Stearns and a Brazilian sugar company has purchased ExxonMobil.   It’s hard to say what the advantages to the consumer will be.  In the first case, perhaps more leg room in the waiting area (which is where we spend most of our time during flying now anyway), in the second, maybe chili with roast beef gravy.  But the main point here is that one group of people, having seen another group of people failing and troubled, swallows up that other group of people in the hopes that, together, they can operate more efficiently.  Well, if this doesn’t point up a missed opportunity to the American family, I don’t know what does.  It is time for Life to finally step up and merge aggressively with Work.  A hostile takeover, if need be. 
• Money is a language the work-obsessed understand.  Raising enough for Life to overthrow Work will not happen overnight, but look at how much Obama generated off his Website.  There is nothing that can match the determination of those who are fed up with the workaholic in their lives and are willing to plunk down a few bucks to make it stop.  So, let’s say millions of concerned citizens eventually raise 100 million dollars for their hostile Life/Work takeover.  Initially, it would have to be parsed out among those families determined to be the most deserving (a variety of criteria for these first test subjects will apply; everything from hours spent holding dinner to amount of times the overworked person in their life has had to rely on name tags to remember the names of their own family).  Each family will be given 500 thousand dollars to essentially “buy back” their never-present loved one for a one-year period. 
• No longer will excuses such as “but I only work this hard for you” be able to fly.  It can hardly be a valid reason not to spend time with one’s family if, indeed, it is now the family themselves who are paying the salary.   Overtime, dinner meetings and business trips will take on a whole new meaning, as each will now apply to the person’s new job—that of being around, enjoying and appreciating his or her loved ones. 
• Basically, the person who works too much becomes the equivalent of the struggling company that is increasingly irrelevant and can no longer gain the proper foothold in their chosen field. The family, then, acts as the benevolent bailer-outer, ushering in a new era of success for both parties.  Life operates more efficiently because it has taken the best qualities of the company it has acquired and used them to increase its own efficiency.  And Work is happy because it is being paid to labor toward something more important and meaningful.  
• I think it is time to start fundraising for this revolutionary idea.  How much you got on ya? 

06:28 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment

Work/Life: Stuck in the Elevator Shaft of Our Lives

• The latest YouTube sensation is a long-suppressed video from 1999, showing edited highlights of a man going slowly bonkers while being trapped in an elevator for nearly two days. At one point, the poor guy, stuck in an office building on a weekend, attempts to literally climb the walls. I don’t claim that I would have behaved any differently if I was in his shoes at the time, but I believe his ordeal has provided a cautionary tale for the rest of us, and a reminder that in every supposedly negative turn of events there exists a lesson for the next time.
• So, if any of you overachieving, stressed-out businessmen and women ever find yourselves in the same predicament as this latest Internet star, don’t view it at as an invitation to chew your fingernails to the nubs or pound your fist against the imitation wood grain. No. This is just another aspect of the successful business person’s tendency to rail and fight against anything they cannot control. Looked at in another light, being stuck in an elevator could very well be nature’s way of imposing down time on you. Claustrophobic, psyche-busting down time to be sure, but down time nonetheless.
• Do some breathing exercises. Think about how you might structure that Great American Novel you’ve always had inside you. Try to sing the entire soundtrack to “West Side Story” from memory. Try to recite the play-by-play from the historic 1984 National League game five playoff between the Cubs and the Padres, also from memory. If you have your briefcase with you, write a love letter to your spouse. Write letters to your kids. By the time you’re through exploring the ways you have been forced to relax, you’ll forget to check and see if you can get cell phone reception in an elevator shaft. But, if you do, and you’re lucky enough to be stuck in the elevator on a Saturday and Sunday like the guy on YouTube was, it’s free weekend minutes! Maybe you can call a few long-lost friends; you know, the ones who somehow got the work/life balance you’ve always wanted and whom you have secretly always envied for their seemingly effortless happiness. Their soothing tones will remind you of what you can still achieve if you’d only take things a little more slowly.
• The possibilities for constructive use of your new-found quiet time are endless. Sure, the whole no-food-or-water thing could get old fast, but if you really are the type-A personality everyone says you are, this is but a trifle. Not that I wish the fate of being trapped in an elevator on anyone. I’m just saying, see it as an opportunity and not a setback. A way of discovering that circumstances have handed you something that will ultimately be healthier for you, despite the first rush of disappointment you feel at the news. Kind of like when Starbucks is out of pastries.