Business Development, Personal, Social Media, Marketing & Privacy

From Inbox Zero to Inbox Infinity? Or, Why I Learned to Stop Stressing About My Unread Message Count

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The last three days have been focused, to remarkable degree, on communicating. Mostly catch-up stuff. Monday and Tuesday were spent, 10 hours each day, just responding to accumulated messages. Whilst munching dinner yesterday, I came across an interesting article in The Atlantic by Taylor Lorenz titled “Don’t Reply to Your Emails: The Case for Inbox Infinity” that triggered some introspection about all of this effort.
Lorenz’s argument, in essence, is that one ought not waste the time trying to keep abreast on communication because it’s a never-ending fight that offers relatively little return on investment. In fact, responsiveness invites additional unnecessary correspondence that adds to the load, in a never-ending spiral of slavery to inboxes and social dashboards. The more responsive you are, the more people send to you, thus the more you have to deal with. Thus, choosing to not read and respond to messages is a healthy life choice and a savvy business strategy: Embrace Inbox Infinity.
I get it. But the Midwestern Nice guy in me thinks that a one-sided screw-you policy borders on the sociopathic.
So I crunched some numbers:

  • On any given day, I receive anywhere from 300 to 500 emails. Of those, about one-third are personalized-yet-unsolicited messages that don’t get caught by spam filters, one-third are notifications of some sort that I inspect and then (usually) delete, and one-third incur some sort of response — a reply, a forward, a follow-up task. So I must engage in some way with anywhere between 100 and 150 emails daily. And that’s across four actively trafficked email accounts and an additional five lightly trafficked ones. I’ve occasionally kept an Inbox Zero-like state for a week or two. Consistently, I need to spend 90 minutes per day in Outlook to make that happen, and just for email.
  • On average, I receive roughly 100 social notifications each day, across Facebook (personal), Facebook Messenger, six Facebook Pages I administer, two Facebook Groups I administer, eight Twitter accounts I singly or jointly own, my personal LinkedIn account, two LinkedIn company accounts I administer, my Instagram account, two Instagram company accounts, and one mostly dormant Tumblr account.
  • I receive between zero and 50 text messages per day.
  • For Caffeinated Press, Write616, and Vice Lounge Online, we’ve deployed a ticketing system, so those websites incur additional messages (between zero and a dozen, each day) that almost always require non-trivial follow-up. Some of the CafPress tickets are editorial queries, which on average take 15 minutes each to resolve for the easy ones and 30 minutes for the hard ones. In addition, both CafPress and Write616 provide community forums that include segments with more-or-less active communication. For the CafPress forums alone, over 2018, I lodged more than 300 new messages. And probably 12 of the last 20 hours I’ve spent cleaning up comms has occurred in the CafPress ticketing system, where I’ve personally touched or closed roughly 120 tickets over the last three solar cycles.
  • For Caffeinated Press, Write616 and Gillikin & Associates, all of which use the Zoho One platform, we use Zoho Projects, and most project-related correspondence happens in the context of per-project forums or discussion threads.
  • Some of the editorial consulting work I do relies on a private Slack channel — not high traffic, though, which is good.
  • Telephony? I can be reached (“reached,” he jokes) over 10 different possible phone numbers associated with three physical telephones and five voicemail boxes.

In other words, I get a ton of correspondence stretching over nine email accounts, five social platforms, five voicemail boxes, three ticketing systems, three project-management platforms, two community forums, a slack channel and iMessages. And a partridge in a pear tree.
I understand that I’m an unusual use case. I lead two small businesses, run a freelance editorial gig off the side of my desk, co-host a long-running podcast with a vibrant listener base, volunteer on a non-profit working board and have my own hobbies and personal writing endeavors. And believe me, I’m not complaining. I’ve made my choices and even though I’m scheduled (really) from 7a to 11:30p Sunday through Saturday, I’m doing what I want to do, and I own the trade-offs I’ve incurred to split my time in so many diverse ways. “Living your best life,” or whatever the kids these days hashtag.
So, even though I’m inundated with communication, it’s not like I’m a victim of it. Yet to keep abreast of everything and to be highly responsive in the short term, across all communications channels, I’d have to dedicate 2.5 to 3.5 hours, 7 days a week, to do nothing but communicate. Not to work. Just to communicate. Assuming that the prompt engagment wouldn’t generate additional engagement that opens that window even wider.
So in most cases, I elect to not spend that much time managing communications, and instead pursue work that can lead to better financial outcomes for me and for the initiatives I support. There’s always a balance, of course, and I don’t always get that balance perfect, but if given the chance to do something of value, or to talk about doing something of value, I’ll prefer the former to the latter.
And that’s the rub.
I think people who have invested their time differently — e.g., folks who work one day job and reserve evenings and weekends for friends, family and a hobby or two — mosey up to the communications table with a very different set of expectations. When they send emails, they expect responses within a day or two. When they leave a voicemail, they expect a call back. When they reach out on social media, they expect acknowledgement. For them, timely reciprocal engagement is a default framework for viewing interpersonal communications.
Which, you know, ain’t exactly unreasonable.
Yet it’s not terribly unusual for me to incur read-and-respond lags of 90 days or more. Some of my pending tickets are nine months old. None of this delay is a function of me hating the sender or deciding that my needs are more important or not caring a whit about others’ good-faith reach-outs. It’s a function of being swamped. Having decided that 2.5 to 3.5 hours every day managing inboxes and dashboards isn’t in the cards, then every day I fail to keep up accumulates a debt that swells and swells and swells, interest compounding relentlessly until eventually — and I do this two or three times per year — I take a day or two off, decamp to coffee shops, and do nothing but play communication catch-up, triaging what I can, deleting what I can’t, and moving forward as best as I can.
So what’s the solution? How does one bridge the gap deep cultural gap between timely reciprocal engagement and inbox infinity?
Some attentive blog readers may have picked up, over the last year or so, on this theme of me writing about the tyranny of the inbox. I went astray, I think, in originally trying to be omnicompetent. So I set expectations that, as they slipped, didn’t help. I recognize that others have legitimate needs to which I should respond, so I’ve been working hard over the last year to erect a bridge that crosses that gap while minimizing (never, alas, eliminating) the attendant friction for both sides. In some ways, it’s like learning a different language or navigating a foreign culture.
I think — I hope! — I’m making some progress, though:

  1. I’m focusing more and more on getting people out of my email inbox. The use of ticketing systems and project-management tools means that others can swoop in as needed. (I’m still working on getting the “others” to actually swoop in, which is a conversation for a different day.) It’s easier for me to schedule time to view a project’s notification history or a ticket queue than to pick apart disparate emails amidst a sea of email noise and then magically plot the projects in my head.
  2. I’ve been much more aggressive lately in telling new-to-me people that (a) I don’t do status reports, and (b) expect long delays in routine correspondence. Most people understand and offer the attendant grace. A few people don’t seem to believe me when I tell them as much, so I’m continuing to refine the message so that expectations are set up-front.
  3. I’m going to start being more aggressive in redirecting communication to the right channel. For example, I cannot conduct business conversations on my personal social-media channels. Not because I’m trying to be a dick about it, but because Facebook and Twitter aren’t part of a task-based, discoverable workflow.
  4. I’m committing in 2019 to hold more frequent and available open office hours. If something is so important that it requires immediate attention, the door is open to an in-person conversation. If it’s not important enough for a direct chat, then the priority clarifies itself.
  5. I’ll continue to ignore the bullies who hector, cajole, demean and dismiss in their escalating attempts to get attention. This phenomenon happens more often than it ought with authors, who (despite early level-setting) nevertheless have persuaded themselves that I’m at their beck-and-call then become angry when their beck isn’t called. I will never justify myself or give in to digital bullies. Ever.
  6. I accept that some things that might warrant a response, in the abstract, don’t rise to a return-on-investment level in the real world. Therefore, I won’t beat myself up if I can’t attend to everything.

I used to get stressed about falling behind on communications. (I don’t talk about my mental health on my blog, but if people understood what havoc Caffeinated Press hath wrought, emotionally —.) I don’t stress anymore. I suppose I’ve embraced the Serenity Prayer. Part of the “doing many things” lifestyle is that I accept that not everything that should be done, can be done. At least, not by one person. And scaling back — to only do those things where you can guarantee you can get 100 percent done on a highly predictable schedule — presents its own set of risks, mostly financial; the more tongs you pull out of the fire, the more dependent you are on just a few investments, and if any of those dwindling investments dry up, the result is catastrophic.
I’ll admit, though. For a while, I really did toy with saying, “Damn the torpedoes! Full Inbox Infinity ahead!” But I just couldn’t. I might not be perfect, but I do try to not be an asshole.
Yet as I continue to stumble on, doing the best I can, I’ll at least take some solace in not feeling as bad about myself as I used to.

Personal

Cars and Offices and Books — Oh, My!

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It’s Sunday night. Tomorrow marks a return to the day job, after Facilities tore down half the cubes last week to install smaller workstations and our I.T. department upgraded Office and Windows for everyone. In other words: Tomorrow should be interesting. Apart from a five-minute drop-in today, I haven’t been at the Waters Circle office since Tuesday.

But the last week has been quite an adventure:

  1. I bought a new car. Jimmy 2.0 — a 2000 GMC Jimmy — suffered another infirmity a while back. Fixable? Sure. But other problems loom. It’s an old vehicle and after the drama in January of a persistently misaligned belt, other failures are inevitable. So on Tuesday morning I picked up a 2013 Chevrolet Cruze. It’s small, but nimble, and relatively inexpensive. Great on fuel. And this summer I think I can rehab Jimmy 2.0 enough to keep it, and its solid 4×4 performance, for the worst of a Michigan winter. There’s something to be said for having two cars, even if the insurance is a pain.

    cruze
    2013 Chevy Cruze. New wheels.
  2. We moved into our new office at Caffeinated Press. After much drama with Office Depot, I finally got all the desk stuff I ordered, as well as a sweet deal on furniture in storage from PeopleDesign (thank you, John). Looking good. My part of the office is mostly done. The main gathering space has tables, chairs, a café table, a futon, a huge white board, rolling bookshelves, coffee/tea makers, a microwave … the essentials, basically, and it too is largely complete. The editor room in the middle is, however, a bit under-loved for now. We’re working on it.

    office
    A view of my part of the Caffeinated Press office.
  3. Anthology edits galore! I’m running through author notifications for Brewed Awakenings 2. Lots of work — much of Friday and Saturday, and into Sunday, was spent doing detail reviews (again) with an eye toward compiling the final list of included stories. I’ve run through maybe 50 or so of the nearly 70 submissions and have accepted nearly 110k words over 11 (I think) contributions.
  4. … Profiles galore, too! Have you checked out the current issue of Grand Rapids Magazine? Caffeinated Press has a brief write-up. And we were profiled last week in Awesome Mitten, too.  As John remarked a few days ago: It’s starting to feel real.

The coming week should be peaceful: Priority Health will be mostly routine work, with just a handful of interviews for two of my open analyst positions. Wrap up the anthology notifications and then begin contracting. Work on our photo book, provisionally titled EN72. A meeting of the editorial board for The 3288 Review.

The summer may prove a bit more peaceful than the late winter and early spring. Next weekend, we have a board meeting and a visit to Indiana for a family picnic. Podcasting the weekend after. August should be quiet(ish), with maybe a brief Vegas trip on the horizon. September and October will be busy with book releases. Then, November for NaNoWriMo. But despite the stuff to do, things feel calmer. A big part of it is actually the new CafPress office, I think. I find it hard to work from home because Cats; there are, however, no cats in the publishing office to thwart my concentration or my productivity. So there’s that.

Personal

Bells, Bells, Bells

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Bell #1: Wedding.  Today I was privileged to attend the wedding of Brian and Liz at a lovely church in Holland, Mich. The ceremony began at 11 and started auspiciously: The couple rickrolled their guests by having the string quartet intersperse a few Astley measures after the canonical opening of The Wedding March.  Adam leaned forward and said, “Dude, were we just rickrolled?” Yes, Adam. Yes we were.

The pastor was also the bride’s father, which provided both emotional contrast and occasional bouts of levity (like when he ostentatiously switched places with himself to give the bride away). In any case, the ceremony was lovely, Liz’s dress was gorgeous and Brian comported himself well. The post-wedding luncheon included some games, a gorgeous performance of Songbird by Cassidy and excellent sweet tea. (Seriously. As many times as I’ve been served tea at various functions, no one has prepared it as well as the caterer for this wedding.)

Several members of our writer’s group attended the ceremony; the “other” Jason, Mel, Cassidy, Tabby/Richard, Jen, Adam/Ashley, Brittany/Steve and Lianne/person.

Best wishes to Brian and Liz as they begin their life together as husband and wife.

Bell #2: Casino Winnings.  Last weekend Tony and I spent two nights at Caesar’s Windsor on a comp; ostensibly, we did our “Best Year Yet” planning but we also found time to enjoy a few authentic Cuban cigars (over-rated), imbibe adult beverages (too expensive for too little alcohol) and enjoy delicious food (Nero’s steakhouse is fantastic). In addition, we managed to run about $10k through on my card one night, at a total net loss of only maybe $60. So it turned out really well. We left on Friday, with a pit stop in Okemos to grab a few Davidoff Maduros from The Corona and a reduced-cost hour-long table massage for me. The trip to Windsor was routine. The Caesar’s Windsor complex is nice — it’d be an upper-middle tier property on the Strip, I think — and the Canadians were unfailingly polite. Mix perfect weather, cigars along the Detroit river, tasty food and some productive work, and the three-day weekend was time well spent.

Bell #3: Workplace Chinese Firedrill.  Two weeks ago, my department was unceremoniously dissolved; the nine of us have been scattered to the four winds. ‘Tis a time of great uncertainty, requiring some deep thought about one’s options.

Personal

Misk-uh-LANE-us Observations

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It’s been a while since I’ve done some general-purpose updates, so here you go:

  1. Life on the home front is progressing smoothly. I’ve added a few extra things to the apartment, including a pair of lovely oak bookcases from my mother and a self-built chalkboard with magnetic primer in my office. Not bad, although I may sand the chalkboard and repaint it just to smooth it out a bit more.
  2. Two recent neighborhood additions: A new person in Apt. 3 — a “mid-20s guy” as my landlord put it — and a 1-year-old German Shepherd puppy. The latter belongs to my neighbor, a police officer, who has now joined the K9 unit with his new little bundle of black furry yipping. Which isn’t bad, actually, and I give Todd credit for bringing me cigars to defray the dog’s occasional noise. He’s more bothered by it than I am, I think.
  3. The writing group seems to be flowing well. They’re a fun(ky) bunch and although we don’t do a whole lot of writing, we do socialize and pass witticisms in lieu of generating work product. So it works out in the end. Plus there’s pizza.
  4. Time flies. It wasn’t that long ago that I sat down and thought out what I wanted to accomplish in the spring/summer seasons … and now we’re in mid-May. I won’t hit a few goals as soon as I had planned, but others are actually ahead of schedule. For example, in a few weeks I’m heading to Kalamazoo for FCC amateur radio license testing.
  5. Saw The Avengers yesterday, in 3D. It was a fun movie. The brief scene with Hulk and Loki at Stark Tower was, all by itself, worth the admission price. From a cast perspective, I have cautious optimism that Chris Hemsworth could be more than just another brainless beefcake actor and I rejoice that Robert Downey Jr. found his way again after a rough spot a decade ago.
  6. Last week I met my old college friend Matt for cigars at Grand River Cigar, but because the smoke shop was hosting a Xicar event the place was packed with more than 30 people, including a local priest, a biker with a home humidor the size of my office and several upstanding citizens engaged in local GOP politics. I lingered for more than four hours and had a couple of cigars, a few drams of Dalwhinnie and so much great conversation that I ended up a bit hoarse.
  7. A few weeks ago I attended a fun and oh-so-nerdy game night in DeWitt with a group of guys. Picture it: Three rounds of a game focused on the Constitutional Convention, with three lawyers and me. Woohoo.
  8. In a week or so Rob is hosting the next cigar night; we’ll have grilled steaks and Brad is tentatively scheduled to bring his homebrew. Should be a grand old time.
  9. Work has been crazy — I’ve had so much contract stuff crossing my desk that it’s a challenge keeping up. Nice problem to have.
  10. So … Barack Obama was outed by Joe Biden. Cute.
  11. The Vegas trip is coming up. I’m excited. We’ll start the week on the Strip and end up downtown — on Freemont Street, I hope, instead of the hoosegow.
  12. It’s still not clear where I’ll be in early August — I’ve been invited to an Italy trip with my church choir, but I’m also required to chair a session at this year’s Joint Statistical Meetings in San Diego. Of course, the two events overlap. I thought I might be able to get out of the JSM commitment, but now it appears I will be presenting a new Web strategery for our section at the executive committee meeting, so … ugh.

I’ve been reading a really rather unexpectedly snarly book about English use and abuse, but the contents leave me scratching my head. In all my years in West Michigan, for example, I can’t recall ever hearing miscellaneous enunciated as misk-uh-LANE-us.

All for now.

Personal, Writing, Editing & Journalism

Update: Early August Edition

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The last few weeks have been more interesting than usual.

  • Last weekend, I purchased a Ford Ranger XLT from a guy in Grandville. The truck runs great and is in excellent condition (although it could use a new paint job). I am quite pleased with it, and since I paid cash I now own it outright with no ugly monthly payments except for insurance and fuel. And it gets excellent gas mileage — roughly 25 mpg for combined city/highway driving.
  • On the social scene: Friday before last, I had a lovely dinner and drinks with Charlie at the Red Jet Cafe on Plainfield … this past Monday, I had dinner with Duane at the Woodland Mall food court … Tuesday I brought dinner to Ryan … Friday I enjoyed the seventh annual Evening of Fine Cinema, hosted by Sondra and Aaron at Sondra/Rick’s condo — the theme of the three movies was “Bad Romance” and the event was quite well executed … Saturday I went to Lansing for a lovely seafood dinner and adult beverages with Tony, Jen, Jon and Emilie; it was nice seeing them all again and I SWEAR it will not be two years before I see my favorite Novi couple again. I simply cannot bear PPQ’s ongoing disapproval.
  • On the work scene: Things are rolling along. We are making decent progress at the hospital on Informatics development, which is good. And I’ve been doing a bit more writing than usual — a fair number of my recent articles (about 50 so far over the last two months, at $20 per article) are now live at the Small Business section of the Houston Chronicle’s chron.com site.  Here’s an example piece: Advantages & Disadvantages of a Divisional Organization Structure.
  • On the physical scene: Weight continues to sloooooly come down. This week, I will start making regular trips to the gym again to run. The extra calorie burn from the aerobics will help, in addition to the slow decrease from diet alone. If I can get back into my 2005-2007 routine, I will be back at the 160-165 range I was at through most of 2006, by the end of December. That’s the goal; vitamin D may have kicked my ass, but my ass need not remain flabby now that the vitamin deficiency has been corrected.

All for now.

Business Development

How to Succeed in Business Without Selling What’s Left of Your Soul

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Graduation season is upon us once again, and as myriad starry-eyed new grads eagerly leap into the bog that is today’s job market, this tired old man shall shower upon them a few choice words of advice on achieving lasting workplace success.

I assume, of course, that as you enter the workforce, you took sufficient advantage of your years of schooling to obtain a certain depth and breadth of experience in a number of economic pursuits that are a wee bit more substantial than “burger flipper,” right?  You did internships, you volunteered (yes, you can include that on a resume!), you worked jobs that provided experience in your industry while demonstrating that you are capable of discharging responsibilities effectively.  Right?  Please tell me you aren’t going to an interview for a $50,000-per-year job with “cashier” or “short-order cook” or “A&F model” as your main selling point.

And in terms of job search:  Do you have a well-done resume, prepared by someone who understands how to sell you to a prospective employer?  Do you have customized cover letters?  A suit for interviewing, and a stylist to cut off those dreads and pull out all those facial piercings?  Have you sat down with someone in your chosen industry to think through your answers to common interviewing questions?

Anyway, enough of the prep.  Here are some tips for surviving in the workplace after you complete your first day of orientation.

  1. Never miss a deadline. Ever.  Even if you have to stay in the office until 11 p.m.  If you commit to delivering something, then deliver it when you say you will. On those occasions when an external factor affects your ability to achieve a deadline (e.g., a re-prioritization of tasks from your supervisor), make sure that you quickly communicate the delay, with reasons, to your affected customers, with a revised due date; don’t make them track you down after the fact.  Missed deadlines — especially when there’s no good reason for it — erode credibility more quickly than any other workplace bad behavior.
  2. Be self-sufficient. The only person responsible for your success is you, so don’t harass the departmental secretary with mundane tasks or seek validation from a superior at every turn.  Take ownership of your contribution to the company, and carry your own weight on projects and in group efforts.
  3. Don’t make excuses.  Failures are always your fault, even when they aren’t. If you messed up, admit it quickly and apologize. Don’t struggle to find reasons why the failure wasn’t really your fault.  Even if you could fairly parcel chunks of responsibility to others, don’t.  You will get more respect in the long run if you take your lumps and move on with your head held high, than if you scurry about like the last rat off the sinking ship.
  4. Avoid office gossip and keep confidences. Gossip is the lubrication that keeps the social wheel turning. You can’t avoid it — but try not to get caught up in it. Walking the high road, keeping confidences and squelching rumors goes a long way to improving a person’s social standing in the office.
  5. Learn how to confront others in a respectful way. Cubicle neighbor plays his music too loud? Have a team member who consistently fails to perform?  Take the time to learn how to have serious conversations with others that touch on tough subjects. Many people don’t like conflict, but avoidance is not a success strategy. There are several different approaches to having a “crucial conversation” with someone — time invested in learning this skill will pay handsome dividends.
  6. Be humble.  No one likes a know-it-all. Even if you know the right answer to a problem, you will do better to engage and persuade than in laying out your own solution.  People like to feel consulted with, so swallow your pride and structure a conversation so that your ideas feel like everyone’s ideas. And when it comes time for credit — take your fair share of the blame, but don’t hog more than your fair share of the credit.  Recognize those who contributed to your success.
  7. Don’t commit to what you can’t deliver.  It’s tempting to promise the world on the basis of a dream, but people-pleasers end up pleasing no one.  Be honest about what you can and cannot do, and if you can’t do something, volunteer to help find a solution by another means.
  8. Exceed expectations. Always go one step farther than someone expects. For example, if you own the schedule for a conference room and someone asks if it’s free, instead of saying, “No, it’s booked,” take the time to research an alternative and then say, “I’m sorry, the room is booked, but I took the liberty of reserving this other room for you instead — is that OK?”  Delighting your customers by demonstrating superior service is always a career-enhancing strategy.
  9. Keep your work and home lives separate.  Don’t argue with your significant other on the phone all day. Don’t bring confidential documents home. Avoid littering your work space with large amounts of personal memorabilia. It’s best to keep a wall of separation between office and living room.
  10. Watch your Web browsing.  Office computers are great — but use them only for the office.  More and more companies are monitoring everything that employees do on company hardware, so it makes sense to completely avoid using company resources for personal or non-work activities. Want to read news sites during lunch?  Great — bring your own laptop.
  11. Dress the part.  Each industry and office setting has its own unique culture, but in general, dress a half-step more formally than your peer group.  In a general office setting, this might mean wearing ties when everyone else is “business casual.”  In an art studio, it means making sure your jeans aren’t ripped and stained like everyone else’s. Better to be at the upper end of proper than the lower end.
  12. Follow policies and procedures.  Even when others cut corners, always follow a documented process flow. If something goes wrong, your adherence to policy will be a saving grace. A policy doesn’t exist to irritate you, it exists to fill a need — if a policy seems problematic, then seek changes to it.  Don’t merely ignore it.
  13. Ask questions properly. When in doubt, ask.  Seek assistance.  If something doesn’t make sense, obtain clarification.  That said, avoid using questions as a way of being Mr. Smartypants.  Don’t pass judgments when asking questions.
  14. Be entrepreneurial.  Look for ways to improve processes. Pitch new project ideas. Pursue professional certifications in your off hours.   This sends the message that you care enough about your job to do more than just react to incoming work requests.
  15. Stay organized. If you master nothing else, learn how to maintain an effective filing system and a seamless task-management environment. Your files should be clearly labeled and comprehensible. You should be able to convert notes and assignments into a workflow that reduces the odds you will forget something important.  If your boss wants to know what you are doing, you should be able to turn around a complete inventory of assignments within three minutes. Don’t be that guy who agrees to do something in a meeting, writes it on the top of the agenda, puts the agenda on a stack, and never looks at it again.
  16. Don’t be the Lone Ranger.  Even if you work independently, consistently obtain the advice of people affected by your work product. Don’t give naysayers a reason to torpedo a major project simply because you failed to communicate with them. Involve as many stakeholders as is needed in your work so that (as much as is practicable) you are known for delivering consensus-driven work product, and not “mad genius” work product that people resent because they had no hand in shaping its development. Many a brilliant project was shelved because some of the affected customers felt like they weren’t engaged in the planning process.
  17. Be accessible — within reason.  During working hours, people should be able to reach you. Return email and voice mail promptly, and avoid the temptation to wander to strange places to work “in peace.”  People will notice your absence, and generally not in a good way.  However, think carefully about just how accessible you are during non-work hours. 24×7 availability can set you apart, but it can also create unrealistic expectations and lead to early burn-out.
  18. Keep a tidy desk.  Silly?  Maybe.  But how many CEOs have cluttered desks, compared to the mailroom clerks?  A clean desk is a public statement that you are on top of things and well prepared.  Perhaps this is more illusion than truth, but in the end, people can only interpret what they can see.
  19. Generate polished work product.  Fact: People are more likely to believe the printed word than the spoken word, and people are more likely to trust a document that is aesthetically pleasing compared to one that isn’t. Always take the time to make sure your work product is visually pleasing with solid content.
  20. Don’t game the system. If the office has flexibility about when you come and go, don’t abuse it by consistently coming in significantly later than everyone else, or leaving earlier. Match the standard set by the most-respected member of the department. And you really don’t want to be the person who ruins a good thing for everyone else by taking it to its absurd conclusion.

There.  Twenty solid tips.  Enjoy!

Business Development

How to Succeed in Business Without Selling What's Left of Your Soul

No Comments

Graduation season is upon us once again, and as myriad starry-eyed new grads eagerly leap into the bog that is today’s job market, this tired old man shall shower upon them a few choice words of advice on achieving lasting workplace success.
I assume, of course, that as you enter the workforce, you took sufficient advantage of your years of schooling to obtain a certain depth and breadth of experience in a number of economic pursuits that are a wee bit more substantial than “burger flipper,” right?  You did internships, you volunteered (yes, you can include that on a resume!), you worked jobs that provided experience in your industry while demonstrating that you are capable of discharging responsibilities effectively.  Right?  Please tell me you aren’t going to an interview for a $50,000-per-year job with “cashier” or “short-order cook” or “A&F model” as your main selling point.
And in terms of job search:  Do you have a well-done resume, prepared by someone who understands how to sell you to a prospective employer?  Do you have customized cover letters?  A suit for interviewing, and a stylist to cut off those dreads and pull out all those facial piercings?  Have you sat down with someone in your chosen industry to think through your answers to common interviewing questions?
Anyway, enough of the prep.  Here are some tips for surviving in the workplace after you complete your first day of orientation.

  1. Never miss a deadline. Ever.  Even if you have to stay in the office until 11 p.m.  If you commit to delivering something, then deliver it when you say you will. On those occasions when an external factor affects your ability to achieve a deadline (e.g., a re-prioritization of tasks from your supervisor), make sure that you quickly communicate the delay, with reasons, to your affected customers, with a revised due date; don’t make them track you down after the fact.  Missed deadlines — especially when there’s no good reason for it — erode credibility more quickly than any other workplace bad behavior.
  2. Be self-sufficient. The only person responsible for your success is you, so don’t harass the departmental secretary with mundane tasks or seek validation from a superior at every turn.  Take ownership of your contribution to the company, and carry your own weight on projects and in group efforts.
  3. Don’t make excuses.  Failures are always your fault, even when they aren’t. If you messed up, admit it quickly and apologize. Don’t struggle to find reasons why the failure wasn’t really your fault.  Even if you could fairly parcel chunks of responsibility to others, don’t.  You will get more respect in the long run if you take your lumps and move on with your head held high, than if you scurry about like the last rat off the sinking ship.
  4. Avoid office gossip and keep confidences. Gossip is the lubrication that keeps the social wheel turning. You can’t avoid it — but try not to get caught up in it. Walking the high road, keeping confidences and squelching rumors goes a long way to improving a person’s social standing in the office.
  5. Learn how to confront others in a respectful way. Cubicle neighbor plays his music too loud? Have a team member who consistently fails to perform?  Take the time to learn how to have serious conversations with others that touch on tough subjects. Many people don’t like conflict, but avoidance is not a success strategy. There are several different approaches to having a “crucial conversation” with someone — time invested in learning this skill will pay handsome dividends.
  6. Be humble.  No one likes a know-it-all. Even if you know the right answer to a problem, you will do better to engage and persuade than in laying out your own solution.  People like to feel consulted with, so swallow your pride and structure a conversation so that your ideas feel like everyone’s ideas. And when it comes time for credit — take your fair share of the blame, but don’t hog more than your fair share of the credit.  Recognize those who contributed to your success.
  7. Don’t commit to what you can’t deliver.  It’s tempting to promise the world on the basis of a dream, but people-pleasers end up pleasing no one.  Be honest about what you can and cannot do, and if you can’t do something, volunteer to help find a solution by another means.
  8. Exceed expectations. Always go one step farther than someone expects. For example, if you own the schedule for a conference room and someone asks if it’s free, instead of saying, “No, it’s booked,” take the time to research an alternative and then say, “I’m sorry, the room is booked, but I took the liberty of reserving this other room for you instead — is that OK?”  Delighting your customers by demonstrating superior service is always a career-enhancing strategy.
  9. Keep your work and home lives separate.  Don’t argue with your significant other on the phone all day. Don’t bring confidential documents home. Avoid littering your work space with large amounts of personal memorabilia. It’s best to keep a wall of separation between office and living room.
  10. Watch your Web browsing.  Office computers are great — but use them only for the office.  More and more companies are monitoring everything that employees do on company hardware, so it makes sense to completely avoid using company resources for personal or non-work activities. Want to read news sites during lunch?  Great — bring your own laptop.
  11. Dress the part.  Each industry and office setting has its own unique culture, but in general, dress a half-step more formally than your peer group.  In a general office setting, this might mean wearing ties when everyone else is “business casual.”  In an art studio, it means making sure your jeans aren’t ripped and stained like everyone else’s. Better to be at the upper end of proper than the lower end.
  12. Follow policies and procedures.  Even when others cut corners, always follow a documented process flow. If something goes wrong, your adherence to policy will be a saving grace. A policy doesn’t exist to irritate you, it exists to fill a need — if a policy seems problematic, then seek changes to it.  Don’t merely ignore it.
  13. Ask questions properly. When in doubt, ask.  Seek assistance.  If something doesn’t make sense, obtain clarification.  That said, avoid using questions as a way of being Mr. Smartypants.  Don’t pass judgments when asking questions.
  14. Be entrepreneurial.  Look for ways to improve processes. Pitch new project ideas. Pursue professional certifications in your off hours.   This sends the message that you care enough about your job to do more than just react to incoming work requests.
  15. Stay organized. If you master nothing else, learn how to maintain an effective filing system and a seamless task-management environment. Your files should be clearly labeled and comprehensible. You should be able to convert notes and assignments into a workflow that reduces the odds you will forget something important.  If your boss wants to know what you are doing, you should be able to turn around a complete inventory of assignments within three minutes. Don’t be that guy who agrees to do something in a meeting, writes it on the top of the agenda, puts the agenda on a stack, and never looks at it again.
  16. Don’t be the Lone Ranger.  Even if you work independently, consistently obtain the advice of people affected by your work product. Don’t give naysayers a reason to torpedo a major project simply because you failed to communicate with them. Involve as many stakeholders as is needed in your work so that (as much as is practicable) you are known for delivering consensus-driven work product, and not “mad genius” work product that people resent because they had no hand in shaping its development. Many a brilliant project was shelved because some of the affected customers felt like they weren’t engaged in the planning process.
  17. Be accessible — within reason.  During working hours, people should be able to reach you. Return email and voice mail promptly, and avoid the temptation to wander to strange places to work “in peace.”  People will notice your absence, and generally not in a good way.  However, think carefully about just how accessible you are during non-work hours. 24×7 availability can set you apart, but it can also create unrealistic expectations and lead to early burn-out.
  18. Keep a tidy desk.  Silly?  Maybe.  But how many CEOs have cluttered desks, compared to the mailroom clerks?  A clean desk is a public statement that you are on top of things and well prepared.  Perhaps this is more illusion than truth, but in the end, people can only interpret what they can see.
  19. Generate polished work product.  Fact: People are more likely to believe the printed word than the spoken word, and people are more likely to trust a document that is aesthetically pleasing compared to one that isn’t. Always take the time to make sure your work product is visually pleasing with solid content.
  20. Don’t game the system. If the office has flexibility about when you come and go, don’t abuse it by consistently coming in significantly later than everyone else, or leaving earlier. Match the standard set by the most-respected member of the department. And you really don’t want to be the person who ruins a good thing for everyone else by taking it to its absurd conclusion.

There.  Twenty solid tips.  Enjoy!