The whole blogging crew is heading to New York City today. Book Expo America, the annual booksellers convention, is taking place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
If we see or hear something interesting, we will drop a post here. Otherwise, expect some reflections from each of us next week.
Richard Florida of Rise of the Creative Class and Flight of the Creative Class is looking for some help on the title for his next book. Some of the ideas include:
I suggest in the comments that they keep working on it. I don’t think they have found the right title yet.
The author of Motivating The “What’s In It For Me?” Workforce, Cam Marston, offered us the essay below for our web site.
(It reminds me of this essay by Anna Quindlen and this blog entry by our very own Kate.)
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Retaining Youth
You’ve hired them. Now how can you keep them around?
By Cam Marston
Author of Motivating the “What’s in it For Me?” Workforce
Things aren’t always what they seem. If I could give you one bit of advice on dealing with the latest generation of employees to come under your management, it would be to remember those words…things aren’t always what they seem.
If you are like most business leaders, you’ve no doubt noticed a trend in the way employees behave in recent years. Most likely you consider it a negative trend – too much entitlement, not enough loyalty, no work ethic, only interested in themselves, and on and on. But I challenge you to consider that perhaps these are not negative trends, just different ones. Things aren’t always what they seem.
To better understand who your employees are and what drives them to succeed, perhaps it’s easiest to understand who they are not. You. That’s right. They may even be your offspring but in the workplace they bear little resemblance to the “you” of yesteryear. Gen Xers (born 1965-1979) and Millenials (born after 1980) are operating in this world with a completely different perspective. Their definitions of loyalty, time and success are often quite different from yours. Rest assured they do recognize all of these concepts and value them in very important ways. The key to your organization’s future success is understanding how the Millenials view the world and using that knowledge to motivate them in a way that works. Here’s a hint: meet them where they are and they will achieve your underlying goals; try to force them to fit your definitions and they will run for the door every time.
So let’s take a look at some of the pervasive myths about our youngest generation in the workforce and discuss why these changes are happening and how you can tailor your workplace to meet the needs of you, your employees and the company.
I had the pleasure of talking with Susan RoAne last week. There is a new edition of her classic How To Work a Room that Collins has just put out in paperback. Susan has updated alot of the antecdotes and adding a chapter on working the “virtual” room.
The interview last about 30 minutes. We cover the fear people have with mingling in social settings, the skills can we learn to be better in these situations, and some specific hints for specific settings like trade shows and reunions.
[podcast]http://www.800ceoread.com/blog/audio/howtoworkaroom.mp3[/podcast]
Storytelling is an art. It entertains, teaches and shares. From the time we’re told the tale of the boy who cried wolf to the stories in newspapers and magazines, our lives are inundated with stories.
Research supports storytelling. People tend to remember facts more accurately if they encounter them in a story rather than in a list, studies find.
Storytelling helps authors write. It helps businesses communicate ideas. It helps parents teach children lessons.
One storyteller, who has been around since he was 19, is none other than the famed Mr. Ira Glass; now he has 1.7 million people listening to his show, This American Life. I ran into this link a few weeks ago and finally had a chance to watch it. It was worth my time. In four YouTube videos, Ira talks about his art:
(1) On the Basics
Use anecdotes. Raise questions from the beginning; build that tension (or as Dan and Chip would say, build that curiosity gap).
(2) On Finding Stories
It’d be great if every story ended up working. Chances are, they won’t. Ira and his expert story-seeking team spend half the week looking for stories. In the end, they kill a half to a third of the stories they find. By killing it you will make something even better live.
(3) On Good Taste
Put in that extra effort; your stories will reflect it.
(4) Two Common Pitfalls
Faking it and a poor personality can both detract from a good story. Ira encourages you to be yourself. No one else can be you.
If you have a half hour, check out Ira on storytelling. If you run across other good storytellers, drop me a comment. And enjoy your long weekend!
Robert Allen Zimmerman AKA Bob Dylan is 66 today. All the best and Happy Birthday!
We really are lucky to have lived during his lifetime. At least, I feel lucky
Doane’s Blog tells us that with Stephen Covey’s help Chick-fil-A is educating their youngest diners about being highly effective people. Covey’s 7 Habits were split into 7 kids’ books to round out Chick-fil-A’s kids’ menu. Find them at a Chick-fil-A near you.
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p.s. Check out Doane’s paper; it’s grid + lined paper. Free downloads here (if you feel so inclined, there is a place for donations, too.).
