Author: Curt Conklin

Is your organization ready for change?

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Almost every CEO has a moment where he points down at something in his company and asks, “why is that task there so damned difficult?” The answer to that “why” is almost always that he and his predecessors allowed it to happen.

But knowing something isn’t right is not enough to change it. Many of us have been part of failed technology implementations, watched change agents enthusiastically enter and then unceremoniously depart, and experienced consulting firms make a ton of noise while operational managers roll their eyes and do things the same old way.

Why is change so hard? Well, it is important to understand how dysfunction permeates in the first place. When a company is small, people just do things and everyone is cool. As companies grow, inefficient ad hoc systems develop around tasks that may allow them to be completed, but without design, consistency, or concern for efficiency. As a result, getting a ball from point A to point B in one department can be harder or just different in another department.  So, employees rely on something inherently human – interpersonal relationships. We engage our coworkers by seeking and doing favors. We build and spend personal capital. Work flows easily between friends and finds friction with everyone else. This naturally leads to cliques and departmentalism. This is a natural dynamic for people in groups and can work in a company as long as the place is stable.

But, oi, does it become a problem when a company is in growth or evolution mode. When new employees come in and want to make an impact, when the competition is taking advantage of a just out-of-reach opportunity, when clients are asking to have that week-long process reduced to an hour, the clamor for change can be distracting.

I think we all understand that enterprise solutions require effort from many disparate parts of the company (duh, it’s in the name), and that these changes often incur costs in one area that pay benefits in another.  Fixing things will likely require implementation of technology and automation, layoffs or hiring, new training, a focus on strict procedures when once there were none or conversely new authority for lower-level employees who previously had none, reduction of margins or product offerings. And even the firing of some clients. These things hurt, can cause disruption, and can send the wheels right off the train – if the foundation for change is not in place.

So, when is a company ready for change? Well, after 20 years of transformation management, dozens of successful transformations, and a few fails, I have devised a quick test to determine if a company is ready.  Simply put, successful change requires two of three criteria for foundational change. What are they? Ready? Here we go!

ONE – A solid transformational manager

This person will agnostically look at the problem, determine the possible solutions, and then be able to pick the one that will bring the most value to the Company. Of course, I am simplifying the design process, but that’s not the point of today’s post. This person will also work across the departments to make sure that everyone who is being asked to change their behavior understands and appreciates the changes before they are required. Again, I am simplifying the project management process, but this individual or team must be good at communicating shared common goals, and be willing to work, sleeves rolled up, with everyone in the company as a peer. I know l lot about this role, because this is what I do for a living.

TWO – Onboard VPs

The VP level department team is not dysfunctional. They respect and support the other managers at their level, they understand that things aren’t as good as they could be, they wish for improvement, they expect to be held accountable, and they accept that company-wide changes only work when managed independent of the associated departments. They also understand that increasing efficiency has a time and discomfort cost that each department – their department – will pay up front in return for benefits down the road. Ideally, these folks will not be territorial, but a little departmental pride is fine and unavoidable. What is important is that each one understands that the changes their group is making will benefit the whole company. It’s not the size of the slice; it’s the size of the pie that matters. A bigger pie means that ultimately everyone has more pizza. I really love that metaphor.

THREE – Executive Leadership

A CEO that is aligned and really wants to see his/her company run more efficiently. Transformation is disruptive. That is going to put strain on the executive. He/she will have to deal with interdepartmental friction, face tough revenue and expense choices, write unwanted checks, and get involved with project management in ways that he/she hasn’t been at their level. This is an important point. The transformation team may involve people from IT, accounting, and operations, but the project ownership must be independent of each department, else departmental loyalties will skew the outcome and ultimately derail the success of the project. Transformational projects must belong above the departments – and generally that means they belong to the CEO and C-Suite.

As I said, you need two of the above three. If you have a great transformation manager and an executive that wants this done, the CEO can force the middle managers to play ball and replace them if necessary. If the CEO and the VPs all agree that it needs to be done, they can make up for a poor transformation manager by assisting with design and buy in. And if the CEO hates change (multigenerational family-owned businesses), but the department heads know that something has to change, they can act as a buffer between the executive and the necessary disruption.

So, if your company is thinking about fixing all that is wrong, ask yourself if you have a CEO willing to lead the project, a team of departmental heads willing to share the friction even when the benefits are not even, and a transformation manager that will design the right solutions and work to ensure that everyone being asked to change believes they own that change.

As I have pointed out a few times above, this is a wild simplification, but the framework holds. If you have all three criteria, you are in great shape. If you have two, you stand a good chance of success, but if you only have one, you are better off spending that money on pizza.

#opentowork #transformation #chieftransformationofficer #businesstransformation #gethired #jobs#opentowork #transformation #chieftransformationofficer #businesstransformation #gethired #jobsearch #jobsearching #jobseekers #pizza #organizationalexcellenceearch #jobsearching #jobseekers #pizza #organizationalexcellence

End that interview STRONG with great final questions

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Most of you reading this know that I am #opentowork after an illness. This is my fifth (or so) post sharing the challenges, lessons in positivity, and best practices that I have discovered along the way. In today’s article, I will offer some specific end-of-interview questions that will ensure candidates are remembered in the best possible light.

I think this is a common story. The end of a solid interview approaches. You did your research, built rapport, told appropriate stories, and demonstrated knowledge of the organization. All lights look green. But then, the interviewer asks, “So. What other questions can I answer before we wrap up?” And… you got nothing.

This question seems a natural one to ask, but it is waaay problematic (recruiters, please take note), because there is no obvious correct response. This is the conversation’s denouement, and the candidate wants it to be stellar, but the meat of the interview has already happened. There is not time to bring up a new topic, and if the interviewer has done a good job, the next steps are already known. So, slightly trapped, lowly candidates stumble forward with a perfunctory question about corporate culture or even worse, something like, “no, I think I am good.” Did the lights in here just get dimmer?

With respect to corporate culture questions, let me say simply, this is not the time. Your job in an interview – especially during the early stages – is to convince this decision maker that you kick ass and should be introduced to the next decision maker. The last 30 seconds of an interview is not the time to start a conversation about pajama pants as a business casual alternative, your appreciation of afternoon naps, or the importance of dog kibble in the break room! What you value in culture and what the company offers is a longer discussion and needs to be withheld until an offer is close. Besides, a picture will take shape as you meet and get to know the different managers along the way.

But “Nope” is not a winning strategy either. It’s the baseball equivalent to striking out shopping. It’s a fastball down the middle, and you aren’t even swinging! This is your chance to turn the tables, impress, and end the interview strongly. Be prepared. Swing the bat. Come on, swing the bat!

Having put a lot of thought into this, I have come up with two interesting and successful reponses. The first will take an already great interview to the next level but should be avoided if the tenor is unclear. The second one – well the second one is just money. Many times they can be used together.

Question number one is “how did I do?” Yup, it’s that easy. This is a winner for a couple of reasons. Assuming you already know the answer is “great!” (again, don’t ask it if you are not sure) the interviewer will likely toss you an attaboy (yay!), BUT (and here is where the hidden gems lie) they may also point out pink flags that, in your enthusiasm, you missed. Here is an example. One interviewer recently told me that she paused when I said it is important to understand the situation before pressing for change. She didn’t disagree – just paused. That is valuable nuance and showed me that the company culture embraced moving fast over excessive caution. I adjusted and emphasized my comfort with risk taking in the interviews that followed. Super useful.

The second reason I love this question is it displays vulnerability in a confident way. If you have been reading my posts, you know I preach vulnerability as power – and this one puts you out there at the end of the limb proudly unafraid of falling. People are attracted to confidence.

Question number two is simply “what did you like?” or put less succinctly, “What answer did I provide today that you think will resonate with the people with whom I speak next?”

Awkward number of prepositions aside, this is a great question. So great in fact, that the recruiter may stop the discussion to tell you – that is such a great question! It encourages them to replay the interview in their head and identify their favorite things. Then they put your best ideas into their own words – cementing them as the interview closes. It’s also likely the thought to be shared with the first person who asks, “say, how did that candidate interview go today?”

And there you are. Now you are always prepared for that dreaded final question.  Experiment, make them your own, deliver them with a smile in your voice, and signal you are prepared for an honest answer. Finally, stay frickin’ positive and remember that you are awesome. Looking for a job is your job. It’s kind of a shitty job, but it pays well if you remember that time is money. Invest that time in yourself and your family. Get healthy. Read more books. Do your chores. Love your kids. And remember that displaying vulnerability encourages people to invest in you.

#opentowork #projectmanager #seniorprojectmanager #projectmanagement #buinesstransformation #chieftransformationofficer #jobinterviews #hiringandpromotion #gethired #jobsearch #jobsearching #jobseekers #corporateculture #leadership

Online, Schmonline. Best practices for finding a job IRL! (5/5)

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In my last post – which readers enjoyed to my delight – I offered pointers for leveraging online sources during your job search. LinkedIn is great but those submitted applications aren’t going anywhere unless a real person-to-person connection exists. Today I am going to offer best practices on how you can use THE REAL WORLD to build those relationships. Ok, lets go!

Number 1 – Own it! Your job is looking for a job. Take pride in your job and make sure everyone who cares about you knows you are good at it. This may not be easy. It is natural to want to hide your “unemployment.” It can be embarrassing, but you need to get over it. And you will. Do you know why? Because you are taking this sh*t seriously. The situation is as it is for reasons mostly out of your control, and those that were in your control have taught you a lesson. You are a better person today than you were a month ago. You are a better employee now than you were in your last job. You are a f*cking rockstar looking for a stage.

Number 2 – Stay disciplined. Disciplined people with good habits are better employees than those without. Heck, disciplined people with good habits are generally better people. Get out of bed early. Do your chores. Make your bed. This applies to your search too. Keep a notebook (I use a word doc). Write down every conversation you have, with whom, when, what was discussed, whether it was email or in person, and what are the follow ups. Return to this list every week and reach out with deliverables, reminders, and warm wishes. Be strategic and polite, but don’t fear sending a bump up. Even people who love you will forget occasionally. Discipline will keep you in their thoughts. And if you should accidentally over do it, they’ll let you know and you’ll be a little smarter.

Number 3 – Be prepared. As you meet new people, you will be sharing your story. But no one other than a recruiter or hiring manager wants to sift through your too-long resume. Have a list of 5-10 short bullets that sum up your story and can be inserted into every email that its appropriate. Next, print (and carry!) personal business cards. Sure, we don’t officially need them in the smart phone era, but a card placed in a new connection’s hand is a physical reminder of the conversation and may lead to a slot on their to-do list. Finally, understand that different audiences have different needs and prepare multiple versions of your resume. An internal recruiter may want to see that you are an expert in specific platforms, but his or her hiring manager will likely prefer that you can manage teams irrespective of platform.

Number 4 – Say yes. You never know where you will meet the person who is going to lead you to the next opportunity. But you do know that you won’t meet anyone while hiding. Learn to say yes to every invitation you receive. Go to that wine night at your gym, the social gathering at the kid’s school, or enroll in a boot camp (get fit and meet new people). Do you have old friends with whom you mean to connect but never do? Well, this is the time. Can you do one new thing a week? Great, now do lots more. Set a goal of five events each week where you can have a conversation and build your audience. This is your job. Are you good at your job? Yes. Yes, you are.

Number 5 – Seek connections with people you admire. Look within your network and find the people who work for firms you like, are good at building audience, or lead exemplary careers. Pay attention to them. Learn how they succeed, but also how you can get their attention. Reach out, tell your story, be vulnerable. Ask for help. I once read that a young JFK discovered that asking for favors achieved better support than doing favors. Get people you admire to invest in you. While you are doing this, don’t forget to look under rocks. Some of the most valuable relationships you build are with those in the same boat. Seek out other searchers. Share ideas and experiences. Show them love.

Number 6 – Use your time. It may feel like you lose a lot when you lose a job. It may feel like you don’t have much when you are unemployed. But you know what? You have been given something wonderful. Time. Now make the best of it. You have the luxury now to go to the gym more, lose weight, spend more time at your children’s school, read more books – a lot more books. If you aren’t using the extra time in ways that make you fantastically better, then you need to figure out why. Maybe you can use this extra time in therapy.

And finally, stay frickin’ positive. People are attracted to enthusiasm. Looking for work isn’t a pleasant job, but if you can find a way to love it, take advantage of the perks it offers, and use the opportunity to make yourself better, then the people who can help you will want you in their orbit. Remember, your job is audience – not applications. Applications almost never lead anywhere. Audience is filled with opportunity.

My best LinkedIn job-search secrets! (4/5)

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I started my new career search in earnest seven months ago. I have learned that opportunities for senior managers are hard to find – even for terrific ones like me! But that’s not the only thing I have learned. Today, I am going to drop some of that wisdom with my best practices for using LinkedIn as a job search tool. Ready? OK, let’s go.

Best Practice 1) Only apply for positions within firms where you have a first level connection. As easy as it is, searching for open positions that match your title and salary needs will not work. Instead, start with your first level connections and look for openings in their companies OR find companies you like and see if you have there a first level-connection – or a second level connection that can be promoted to first level.

Note: For LinkedIn beginners, here are some definitions. A first level connection is a direct contact, such as a friend or colleague. They are your main supporters. You may not know a second level connection, but your first level connection does—ask for introductions to expand your network. A hiring manager has an open position they need to fill and makes the final decision. An internal recruiter works with the hiring manager and decides who gets interviewed. These are the gatekeepers. An external recruiter … that is a subject for a whole other post!

Best Practice 1.1) At the risk of redundancy, don’t waste time submitting applications if you don’t have a first level connection. I’m not kidding! Assume that no one is going to look at your application (see my last couple posts for an explanation). Submitting applications blindly makes internal recruiters’ jobs harder, wastes your time, and – most importantly – will whittle away at your morale. I want to make sure you never think that someone looked at your application and decided you weren’t good enough. That’s not what happened. No one looked at your application. You are still awesome.

Best Practice 2) Convert your first level connections from allies into champions. Engage them with InMails (do these still exist?), messages, emails and – best of all – phone calls and face to face meetings. Discuss the company and open position. Polish and practice your case. Convince them you are a fit. Once they are 100% team YOU, ask them to forward your resume to the internal recruiter. Only then should you hit the APPLY button. Remember, if you get hired, your champion may get a referral bonus! People like bonuses.

Protip: When applying through LinkedIn, you may need to upload a resume. This process can sometimes distort the resume format, requiring manual correction of each field, particularly in the work history section. To simplify this, use a plain text version of your resume for easy copy and paste.

Best Practice 3) Post on LinkedIn. You can write about whatever you want but I recommend writing about your job search. My favorite Einstein quote (and I am not looking it up to make sure I get it right) is “If you can’t explain something simply, you don’t know it well enough.” You will get better at job searching when you can write about it in a logical and meaningful way. But again, you can write about whatever you want if the reminder that you are searching for a job is clear.

Note: You can post on LinkedIn as either a post or an article. Posts are short, have word limits, and eventually disappear. Articles are lengthy, include a title and header image, and remain on your profile. Use posts for quick thoughts, and articles for detailed content.

Best Practice 4) Post regularly. LinkedIn is quick to tell you that people are more likely to read your posts when they show up weekly. I’m not that good. I try to post every other week … ish. But I have found that having a common theme that I can return to makes it easy to write and engaging to read (hopefully?). This is my fourth post on the things I have learned about job searching during a career pivot. I’d be thrilled if you already knew that!

Best Practice 5) Post with the #OpenToWork hashtag. For whatever reason, #OpenToWork posts generate more impressions, and will elicit better responses from your network than ones without this tag. Add other tags too. Lots.

Best Practice 6) Ignore most of the responses you get from people you don’t know. There are a lot of resume-rewrite trolls out there, and they will send a nice note to everyone who uses the #OpenToWork tag. They don’t add value. There is always a downside. It’s small. Let’s move on.

Best Practice 7) When you post, be humble and demonstrate vulnerability. These things resonate with people who care about you. It may be hard to do this at first, but you will find that vulnerability is power. Let me say that again – VULNERABILITY IS POWER. Everyone has been there and when people see you turning lemons into lemonade, they get a sense of how you would handle difficult work situations.

Best Practice 8) Stay frickin’ positive! If you have read my last few posts, the inclusion of this best practice here will not be a surprise. Looking for work is a hard job, but it is your job. Do it to a level to which you can be proud and never take it personally.

Wrapping up, remember that the goal is audience, not applications. Audience leads to opportunities, ideas, and introductions. Your job is not to apply for a million jobs. Your job is to tell your story to everyone who is receptive to hearing it. This distinction will make you more successful and your path clearer. Do it for 3-5 hours every day. Don’t get upset when you don’t hear back. Make your bed. Love your kids. Smell good. Be your best you.

Next post – best practices OUTSIDE of LinkedIn! Stay tuned.

When Blind applications work (blind applications never work) (3/5)

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In my last well-read post talked about how LinkedIn makes it easy to find and apply for open positions, sharpen resumes, and remain competitive. It may have sounded like an advertisement for LinkedIn. It was not. It was only half the story and these tools, for all their strengths and importance, will not lead to an interview or land a job. In today’s post I will describe the situation from the other side of the table – that of the recruiting manager.

Those same tools that make it easier for a searcher to pursue opportunities make it harder for an internal recruiter to do their job. A decade ago, a gate keeper would receive a few dozen (tops!) resumes for every open position. Some would be better than others, and the best ones would likely include a recommendation from a trusted colleague. Now recruiters are receiving hundreds of applications, most containing the right skills, industry experience, and polished wordsmithery. They are all good and kind of the same. As a result, many or most applications are never viewed by human eyes.

I am applying for senior manager positions and am a competitive candidate. I have great schools, interesting job experience, and a well written CV (if you disagree, please tell me!). When I first started my search, I blindly applied for hundreds of LI positions without a single request for a phone interview. Most never even merited a “no thanks.”

Note: I am using the term “blind application” to refer to an application sent through LinkedIn without a personal connection to the hiring manager or internal recruiter. In other words, I followed the “Apply Now” path to its completion and did not take addional steps to engage the company.

So what happened? Was it ageism? Tight purse strings? A system gamed against candidates? I tested these ideas by mixing things up. I tried loosening my salary expectations and metaphorically changing my hair color. I tried customizing my resume and writing cover letters. The results were the same. The evidence is not that bias is at play, but that recruiters are not looking at or responding to individual applications.

My frustrated peers recount similar stories. The market for senior managers with technology backgrounds is tough right now, and applying for unearthed positions on LinkedIn can feel like spinning tires. This is not the fault of hiring companies. They understand the cost for senior people and do not post roles for senior managers hoping to fill them with cheaper juniors. Nor is it the fault of hiring managers. With so many strong and similar applicants, they can’t look at individual applications and must rely on other methods for selecting differentiated candidates. And finally, it is not the fault of LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides great tools for both parties – even if those tools can further complicate the process.

In my next post, I will discuss strategies for leveraging these drawbacks to get past the gate keepers. In the meantime, keep working hard and don’t take any of this personally. To bastardize the words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues, “Let’s stay positive out there.”

Find opps & apply easily with LinkedIn – the rest is up to you (2/5)

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As I am learning first-hand, the market for senior managers is tough right now. But am also learning what search tools work and don’t. In this post I will talk about the ways LinkedIn makes identifying and applying for positions easy – even though landing an interview is as tough as it ever was.

Note: The following is based on only my own experience. I have not verified my explanations with anyone at LinkedIn. I’m a blogger, not a journalist. We are held to very low standards. ;’ )

LinkedIn is great for helping find open positions. There are literally thousands of job postings for any search. Furthermore, if you want a job in a specific area, at a certain level, or within a salary range – there is a filter for that. And LinkedIn knows that the same job may have different titles at different companies. I am looking for chief of staff roles, and am shown senior program manager, transformation officer, and strategist roles.

LinkedIn also allows job searchers to see how they compare for a position. Click the “Am I a good fit?” button and learn if your skills match those required for the role. Then LinkedIn will guide you to add them. It will even suggest solutions when your industry isn’t a perfect match. Once you make the changes, click the button again and – boom – you have what it takes! And I expect that this is the same algorithm used by hiring managers. If LinkedIn says you are a good fit, the company will be told the same – at least from a skills and industry perspective.

LinkedIn even makes it easy to write a professional sounding resume. Take a stab at what you want to say and then ask their AI to rewrite it. This smart tool will make your resume succinct, polish the language, and eliminate any chance of typos – hopefully putting out of business the resume building trolls who comb the site looking for searching suckers.

Finally, LinkedIn makes it incredibly easy to apply for jobs. After clicking the apply now button, you will upload your actual (PDF or Word) resume and make sure everything imports correctly. Once that’s done, all you have to do is agree to terms and conditions and answer some required demographic questions. If that’s too much work, look for the positions offering “easy apply” where you the application process is just clicking one button. Can you imagine the inboxes of those hiring managers? oi!

If any of this sounds complicated, reach out and I will step you through. Maybe I’ll even make a tutorial video. With a little know-how and some practice, you can apply for a dozen positions a week, 50 a month, literally hundreds in the course of a year.

But how effective is this? In my next few posts, I will talk about the challenges associated with LinkedIn’s application process and how you can work it to your advantage.

Not written with AI!

My #1 tip for finding the next great job (1/5)

Curt Conklin1 Comment

Read my #1 tip for finding the next great job! This time without AI

Last week I created a post about staying positive during your job search. Upon completion, LinkedIn suggested I rewrite it with AI. The result was polished, positive, and a little bland, and I went ahead and published it. Since then, I have read several boring posts on LinkedIn that had a similar polished, positive, banal AI tone. I do not like to be boring, so today, I am publishing the original version without AI, and in the dreaded second person voice. Sorry, not sorry. …

My best advice for job seekers

When the world is collapsing around you, when it seems that nothing is in your control, stop. There are things in your control. They may seem meaningless and small but find them. Control them. Master them.

Being out of work and looking for a senior level job can feel like a world collapsing. Former colleagues don’t have openings and are too busy for a meeting. Dozens of LinkedIn applications have elicited zero responses. Even your best friends seem uninterested in making introductions. Fear piles up, insecurity grows, and the danger of paralysis is at hand.

But there are still things in your control. What you eat, how you exercise, your journaling, your family, your living surroundings, and even your closet. Take a hold of all these things and make them the best they can be.

And the most important thing – also the most powerful tool in your job-seeking toolbelt – is your attitude. Keep it positive! Looking for work is hard, and luck may find others first, but none of it is personal. LinkedIn has its challenges, but it’s not their fault. It’s not the hiring managers’ fault. And yes, there is unconscious bias, but that is your cross to bear. None of these things reflect on you. Remember that.

You have value and finding the person who wants to hear it *and* has the open opportunity is going to be a lot of work, but you will do it. Wake up every day, make your bed, love your kids, go to the gym, eat healthy, reach out to five friendly people, and be the best f*cking job seeker you can be. Control what you can, and the rest will follow.

I finished my last project in May. I am currently looking for a project or FTE work. If you have ideas for me, or just want to talk to a positive person who has been through the wringer and came out clean, please reach out!

Original AI post here: https://lnkd.in/gM4BRQYG

Why are car dealerships closed on Sunday?

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Why are car dealerships closed on Sunday in Illinois?

Many assume that this has been the case forever and is an old blue law related to the vice of technology or the preservation of horse drawn buggies. In fact, Illinois automobile dealerships were open on Sunday until it was outlawed in 1984. It was outlawed for reasons of cost cutting, but not one that was good for competition, the industry, or buyers.

The Big Three new (Chrysler, GM, and Ford) were looking to cut costs at a time of bad car sales (and bad American cars – look up “’80s Malaise”). Noting that most Sunday shoppers were tire-kicking families, they devised a plan to drop to 6 days/week and cut dealership costs by more than 10%. However, fearing that they would lose business to scrappy 7-day-a-week, used & foreign dealerships, they enacted a plan to force all dealerships to close on Sunday. They lobbied car-loving politicians (with strategic donations, discounts, free loaners, and who knows what else) to pass a law ensuring that no dealer would be able to take advantage of their desire to cut costs.

In the end, Ford, GM, and Chrysler got what they wanted and spent all the money they saved on building better and more competitive cars. Oh wait, no they didn’t.

Bonus question. How many car models do those big three produce today? Answer. Combined, you can count them on two hands.

I read in colors …

Curt Conklin2 Comments

I am a synesthete, and I read in colors. There are many different types of synesthetes, all processing language through different parts of the brain. I process words through the color portion of my brain, specifically called grapheme–color synesthesia. For me every consonant has a different and unique color. Vowels do not have color, and are on the black/white spectrum instead – with the exception of U and Y which are almond and yellow respectively.

So when I experience a word, or more interestingly a name, I visualize a Pantone palette – a series of uniform shapes each with its own color side-by-side. But because the visualization is momentary, the color is blended into a single spectral entity, very much like many letters forming a single word.

For example, my name, C U R T, corresponds to red, almond, purple, orange, and visualizes like a campfire. I met a woman this morning named Jenna, whose name visualizes like a flowery meadow on a dry summer day: goldenrod, light gray, granny smith green, granny smith green, white. The colors don’t really have names in my brain, but for the sake of this explanation, I am using the familiar names from the Crayola 64 box that most people understand.

My name is a campfire. Message me if you want to know what yours is.

Now both CURT and JENNA would appear differently in the mind of another color synesthete. I see a C as red and J as goldenrod, but someone else with the same condition would have developed different patterns and might see a C as purple and J as green – or any other combination. Furthermore, I have yet to find documentation that anyone else breaks the nouns off the color wheel like I do.

But why?

A search of my memory offers few clues. I remember that it was important to me as a child. It probably goes back as far as my first words or exposure to Sesame Street (weren’t the letters on Sesame Street always colored?). It wasn’t something that I talked about with my teachers or that I assumed I did differently than my peers. It was just the color of the letters. Duh.

I can only speculate. I was a very good drawer as a child and would prefer crayons and Legos over a ball or a squirt gun. Maybe a connection? Or perhaps, I suffered from some sort of dyslexia, and this was my learning mind’s method of compensation (I am inexplicably incapable of telling my right from my left). But whatever the reason, I am now aware that this is the way I learned, and it does make me unique.

As the years passed, and I became a strong reader, this was no longer needed and forgotten. It wasn’t until I was at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management in the early 2000s that I told someone about it for the first time. I remember we were socializing, probably over beers. I brought it up as something mildly interesting that I had lost from my childhood.

The next time we were together, one of the women from that conversation, pulled me aside and said, “dude, that’s a thing!” I was stunned that it was documented and even had a name. I had never had a conversation with anyone about it. But as soon as it returned to my consciousness, all those colors started to light up again. Today, they are as bright and consistent as they were when I was in grammar school. It’s also a great party trick!

But still why?

My takeaway is that for all the ways we can imagine our fellow humans are similar, there are even more ways that we are different including some that we have yet to imagine. I keep this in mind as I ask my teammates to learn new things. Each has the potential to get there even if they all take their own unique path.

If you would like to know what your name looks like to me, send me a message with your first name and I will get back to you.

When Water Cooler Chat goes Wrong

Curt ConklinLeave a comment

Complaining is not the same as being productive

One message I have always been careful to deliver to my employees is that complaining about work is not the same as being productive at work. One might find, with a group of like-minded colleagues, a willing audience to discuss things that could be improved. We have all worked someplace where we have encountered bureaucratic headaches, difficult team-members, unfulfilling career paths, and perceived lack of executive vision. Talking about these things can feel encouraging and allow one to walk away feeling like something has gotten done. But it is important to remember that in truth, nothing has been done. The discussion may feel good, but it is not the same as implementing a solution, increasing revenue, or decreasing costs. 

Worse yet, when employees feel that this behavior is productive, they tend to do it more and encourage it in others. This increases the amount of complaining, decreases the amount of work accomplished, and results in a downward spiral of productivity and ultimately morale.

 It is a manager’s job to prevent this from happening. The first thing one can do is promote an open-door policy. That is to say that the door is always open to criticism, ideas for improvement, and career concerns. Transparency is always a positive thing, and very often ideas are spot on and come with justifications that can help raise them up the flagpole. Secondly, it is important to remind employees that complaining about things to other employees before they have been elevated to those who can act upon them is not only unproductive, but it is unacceptable. This may sound harsh, but it is not. Every company has the responsibility to control its own culture. Organizations have the same right to forbid employer-focused complaining as they do to prevent sexually harassing speech.

But that authority does not have to lead to an authoritarian relationship. When employees know that the things that bug them, the things they want to improve, and their ideas for a better workplace are landing on the welcome ears of an interested manager, the need to complain at the water cooler will be naturally mitigated.