The Effective “Agile” Executive

Most of us have read at least one of Peter Drucker’s more than 35 books. If you haven’t, you should know that Drucker’s writings are considered landmarks of the managerial profession. A long-time professor at Claremont Graduate University, he is credited with defining management as a distinct profession, and coining the term “gold-collar” and “knowledge workers.”

One of his most popular books, The Effective Executive, was published in 2004. Reading it now, almost two decades later, it’s easy to see why so many of Drucker’s insights have had such an enormous impact on the shaping of the modern corporation.

As an Agilist, I was gratified to see that the core principles of an strong, well-functioning Agile practice are the same disciplines Drucker outlines in the Effective Executive. If you and your organization are looking to become more Agile, here are two key take-aways from Drucker’s, The Effective Executive.

Know Thy Time

When I meet with clients who are dealing with failed projects, high turn-over, missed deadlines, spotty delivery, and assorted other maladies, my first question is this: How does the team track it’s time? The answer always is: They don’t.

My next question is: Do YOU track your time? The answer: I’m an “executive.” (In other words: No.) This is generally followed by an agitated, if not terse, lecture about why they are too busy to track time, or how time is not why their projects are over budget and behind schedule, and then I’m dismissed with: “Everyone is working hard…”

Consider the above, only now replace the word time with money. Were I to ask any executive or portfolio manager, “How do you track your money?” I would be treated to a barrage of spreadsheets, dashboards, and death by PowerPoint. I certainly would not hear, “We’re too busy to track money….”

Time IS money! If you don’t track it, you’ll never have any control over it.

Sure, people show up. People work hard, okay. But if you’re telling me that your Corkscrew Upgrade Project is your #1 priority, and I see that only 40% of your team is allocated to that project (and 60% of that team’s time is spent on website enhancements), then the Corkscrew Upgrade Project is NOT your #1 priority. (That’s assuming you actually have priorities because if you have more than three, you have none.)

People who sell time – attorneys, consultants, physicians – have a keen understanding the value of their time. They understand billable hours, and “The Thousand-Dollar Meeting.” Unfortunately, this intuitive understanding of time is not reflected in many of the steady-paycheck-white-collar Americans I’ve encountered. It’s even worse in the executive ranks, many of whom see time their subordinates’ time as endless (and free).

Executives are salaried; and, for the most part, they come and go as they please. I have yet to meet a single one didn’t think s/he worked hard, but I’ve never met a single one who tracked his/her time with any accuracy. Truly a missed opportunity.

If no one – including you – is tracking company paid time against tasks or goals, then you truly have no idea where time is spent until it’s gone. You don’t know the real duration of anything (there’s no roadmap for future efforts), nor do you have any data to determine whether or not the time expended in these activities was a good value compared with other tasks.

Tracking time is not about punching in and out. I’m not questioning your work ethic, I’m questioning the value of the work produced. Those are two different things.

Tracking time allows you to see exactly how projects are advanced (or hindered) by activities. It’s about metrics, priorities, difficult choices, saying no. By tracking time, you will learn exactly how much of your time, AND your team’s time is consumed in churn, or consumed producing low-value work. Keep in mind, low-value work is not the same as poor quality! A perfect widget only has value if someone wants to buy it!

The inability to assess the value of activities as it relates to time expended is why projects fail and, frankly, why people fail.

Tracking time and tasks is not difficult. It requires a little discipline, but it is one of the easier things to fix. In some organizations, though, this is akin to stepping on a scale. You know you’re overweight and not running a healthy show, but you’re just too afraid to see the actual number! What happens when people start tracking tasks and time? Just like your money (or your food!) you realize that you’re spending a lot of it on things that bring no joy and offer little long-term value.

What am I Contributing?

The mindset of an Agile executive is the humble acceptance that the higher-up the food chain you are, the more removed you are from the actual work, and the less likely it is that you are effectively contributing to the success of effort. You might have a bigger title, make more money, or sit in an office with a big window, that doesn’t make you valuable to the project.

Executives need to ask themselves: What, exactly, am I contributing? Does this team need my expertise to direct their work? Is my participation improving output? If so, how am I measuring that improvement? How much time is this taking from my other priorities? What, exactly, is my role? Role is not the same as title.

Effective Agile Executives don’t just report up to their managers, they are also responsible for owning the relationships with their peers, and even more importantly they need to meet their “downward” obligations to their teams. Scaled Agile Executives insure alignment, negotiate with peers and stakeholders, communicate strategy. They don’t dictate the manner and methods by which the work is completed.

Drucker and Agile agree: Executives accustomed to hierarchy who now support Agile teams must resist the temptation to pull rank, second guess the Team. If your organization is making an Agile transformation, understand that if you want to be an effective executive, you must change your work habits and your leadership approach.

How to Become an Effective Agile Executive

The first step toward becoming an effective Agile executive is understanding that hierarchy – as an organizational model – is a relic of the industrial age, and it is poorly suited to managing knowledge workers and knowledge projects.

Traditionally, to be a “boss” implied that you were an excellent individual contributor. Being made “boss” was a reward for your hard work. The thought behind this structure of hierarchy was that the boss, as an all-star worker – would impart his wisdom and best practices to others. The result of his supervision and management would be subordinates who produce the same excellent results as the boss did.

In theory, this sounds perfectly reasonable, but in practice, we all know, it is a failed model. While being a good individual contributor offers some advantages when you’re the boss, now, it is commonly accepted that management – in itself – is a profession that requires special skills and aptitudes.

This boss-helper model is the foundation for factory management where work is repetitive and “neck down.” In knowledge industries, such as tech, this model is just not scalable. Why, because these industries are dependent upon high-skilled, highly-specialized “gold-collar workers.” Moreover, The Standish Group in Boston annual report shows, through data analysis, that traditional top-down management actually has a negative impact on an organization’s ability to deliver consistent value in cognitive and creative work like, IT, marketing, and sales.

Unfortunately, despite the overwhelming evidence of its lethargic ineffectiveness, top-down leadership is still practiced and greatly loved – by those at the top. Decisions are made, late or ad hoc, good or bad, thoughtful or capricious, and everyone jumps. It’s awesome. Having people do what you say, when you say it, without argument or push-back is kind of sweet. As time goes on, hierarchical organizations develop cultures that value compliance, over disruption. Inevitably, they become stale, risk adverse, old. No one ever gets fired for the bold decision that they never made.

Drucker correctly predicted that “Gold Collar” knowledge workers would ultimately elevate the role of labor and demolish hierarchy in future organizations, and it looks like he was right on trend. In 2020, Gartner predicted that AI would replace as much as 70% of a traditional manager’s workload. This shift will change the executive’s role to that of coach, not commander.

The relationships and mindset essential for a strong, successful, progressive, and high-performing Agile organization are the the exact same qualities Drucker encourages in The Effective Executive,

Executives are not paid to tell people what to do. They are paid to ensure that the right things are done, and that the money and the time expended return a value to the organization. The best way to support a meaningful value stream in a modern organization is to move from top-down boss-helper to bottom-up team-roles where the effective executive functions as a coach and advocate, not as a boss and commander.

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For a more nuanced view on change in mature organization, view this outstanding Ted Talk from Martin Danoesatro, What are you willing to give up to change the way we work? (15 min)

Turn the Ship Around, a video of one of L. David Marquet’s outstanding Talks at Google. In this session Capt. Marquet discusses common myths of leadership and how to become a more effective “flat org” leader in a large organization. (45 min)

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Three Things I’ve Learned from My Garden

I have a lot of hobbies; gardening is the most serious. I was introduced to the wonders of plants as a child. Like all hobbies, my garden has grown along with my knowledge and income.

There are few things in life more satisfying than your own garden. The never-ending metaphor for life – a garden offers more than beauty – it offers insight. Here’s a few things I’ve learned from mine:

Anyone Can Change the World

When I was a kid, we lived in a very small apartment. The path from the alley to the back porch was filled with rocks and gravel. It was litter-free, and most renters would have left it alone, but not my Mom and Grandmother. We bought seeds and as soon as Spring would allow, we filled discarded egg cartons with dirt and germinated our crops in the sunny basement windows. Once hardened, my brothers and I dutifully transplanted our seedlings into their assigned places. Over the summer, the Marigolds grew, the Sunflowers blossomed, the Morning Glories climbed through the chain link. We learned to weed and mulch and water. It didn’t matter that I was five, and poor, and lived in a horrible place in a sketch area of town: We made the world a better place, and everyone around us knew it, too.

Gardening is the most egalitarian of hobbies, which is why I love it so. Gardening taught me not to accept my circumstance: I could always make things better for me and for others. Rich or poor, young or old, gifted or dull: Anyone can grow a beautiful sunflower.

Life is Filled With Death and Failure

Over my lifetime, I’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars on all kinds of (expensive) plants that — despite my best efforts — have died. Even more annoying are those that linger and never thrive. Despite 50 years of gardening and my amazing green thumb, I am not immune from disappointment and failure. Not everyone can grow everything well.

Talking about death and failure is something we just don’t do anymore, and I wish we would. Whether painful or shameful, it’s these dark moments that make us change our course. Only from death and failure do we learn and grow.

Don’t envy beautiful gardens. Gardens aren’t born, they evolve. Failure is part of the evolution. The garden has taught me to accept it, learn from it, even plan for it, but most importantly, to let it go. Failure forces you to look for causes, patterns, alternatives. If it weren’t for those dead petunias, I would have never found succulents. Today, I have a collection that horticulturalists envy.

Laziness is Sweet; but it’s Consequences are Cruel

Voltaire (also a fan of the garden), is correct in his observation. Mother nature is an impatient mistress, and she’s not going to wait around for you to “feel” motivated.

Consistent effort is required to achieve anything in life of real value: Good relationships, successful careers, continued health. They all require consistent effort.

My garden has taught me that procrastinating unpleasant tasks can make them more daunting than they really are. By using the one-hour rule, which is do <whatever work you’re avoiding> for just one hour, I’ve found I almost always able to accomplish more than I originally thought.

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Like affection, effort is never wasted. An hour to till even the smallest garden can lift and inspire others. And, isn’t that what life is all about?

Stupid Essay Questions

Below is a sample of the ridiculous essay questions I’ve been asked to provide answers to as part of my program/project management applications (all 100% real!):

How do you balance Agile principles with the need to meet business deadlines and stakeholder expectations?
What Agile metrics do you find most valuable for tracking delivery performance, and how do you use them to drive improvements?
How to you handle cross functional dependencies and coordination in an agile environment?
What does a healthy Agile culture look like to you?
Please briefly describe how you keep projects on track?
What is the most significant challenge to scaling a business, and how did you overcome this challenge in your prior position(s)?
Can you provide an example of a workflow automation or API integration project you have led?
How have you handled risk mitigation and problem-solving in past projects, particularly in data conversion or integration scenarios?
How has good project governance helped you to ensure a project stays on track?
Describe your approach to leadership
Describe your approach to clearing blockers for technical personnel on your agile team.
Can you provide a specific example of how you implemented service management discipline within a project or organization? What were the measurable results?
Provide a detailed overview of your experience managing B2B commerce projects. Please include the platforms used, the types of customers (industry/business), the total project scope, and your role as PM.
How do you ensure stakeholders are engaged and supportive of new processes and tools? Can you share a successful change management strategy you implemented.
How would you approach understanding the current project landscape and identifying the most pressing needs?

The TA process is broken, but expecting applicants to provide you written answers to make “the job easier,” isn’t going to bring talent into your organization.

Applicants: Take a hard pass on anyone asking you for free work. Your intelligence and experience is what you sell. If you are foolish enough to answer questions like this, be assured that every answer, every insight will be stolen, re-used, and shared with another candidate. One who is cheaper, or off-shore, or a nephew of the hiring manager. After that, it will be processed by a LLM. The payout for for all your work: Zero.

Employers: This isn’t Costco. Stop asking for free samples.

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April 2, 2025 0

Quickest Way to Fix the Hiring Process: The Rejected Candidate Survey

I think CEOs and BODs and would be stunned by the damage done to their company’s reputation and brand as a result of a poor hiring managers. In my previous post, I make the argument to remove hiring managers from the hiring process. But, if you really want to know what your hiring managers are doing to your company’s brand and reputation, send a “Rejected Candidate Survey” to every candidate who interviews with anyone who represents your company.

Hiring managers seem to be the only role in a company completely protected from “feedback.” That needs to change.

I’d recommend the following questions (Strongly Disagree <-> Strongly Agree)

The interviewers were prepared and engaged.
I had adequate time to present my skills and experience.
I understood the job’s responsibilities, goals, and how my work fit into the department/organization.
The interviewer(s) represented the company and brand in a professional and positive manner.
The recruiter/interviewers communicated with me throughout the entire recruitment process.
My time was respected.
I left with a positive view of the company, brand, and culture.
The on-line application process was user friendly.
I would consider other employment opportunities at the company.
I would recommend my friends or other associates to seek employment at the company.

Stop wasting your IT talent with stupid pop-ups in the middle of an on-line app, and annoying notifications asking me to evaluate your application’s web page! I’m not your QA ! Log on, parse some resumes, and do it yourself! Better yet, Mr. Hiring Manager, Executive VP, CEO, and HR director — log into your application site and (try to) apply. That’ll tell you everything you need to know about the application experience. What you don’t have is metrics on the interview experience – and that is a serious problem.

Your Brand and Reputation

Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing and branding. They host lavish sales conferences, publish brand guidelines, train and supervise sales staff during client interactions, and monitor external correspondence all to ensure that the company is on point, on message, and being represented in the best possible light.

However, these same companies allow anyone to interview!! What is overlooked in this external touchpoint is the irreparable damage that “hiring managers” can do to a company’s image, brand, and reputation.

According to a recently LinkedIn Poll, approximately 64% of all job applicants have encountered rude, distracted, or disrespectful hiring managers during their job interviews.

If you are hiring, you need to remember this: YOU represent the brand, the company, the culture. Every interaction, every touchpoint is a chance to build or damage the brand. In many cases, YOU are the only person that applicant will ever meet from that company. S/he will walk away from that interview with an impression of the company that is inextricably intertwined with their impression of YOU.

If CEOs, BODs and executives knew how hiring managers were KILLING their company’s reputation and brand, they’d end the practice of 1:1 hiring manager interviews immediately.

The idea that anyone at any time can represent themselves as an agent of the company to external resources and vendors with absolutely zero oversight or feedback is absurd! The only reason this ridiculousness has gone on for as long as it has is because “that’s the way it’s always been….”

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March 25, 2025 0

It’s Time to Remove “Hiring Managers” from the Hiring Process

The recruitment and hiring process is broken. Ask any applicant, any recruiter, and any company looking for talent. If you asked any one of those folks what the major problem was in the talent acquisition process, they all would quickly agree: “hiring managers.”

The only reason a hiring (or direct) manager is even involved in the modern hiring process is because “that’s the way it’s always been.” Well, times have changed, the nature of business has changed, and the way we hire needs to change, too.

Hiring managers need to be removed from the hiring process. Here’s why:

Hiring Managers Hire for Themselves, Not the Company

Back in the day, the HR representative actually had a say in who was hired for the company. The idea was that HR was partnered with the long-term strategic view of the company’s needs, and they had developed a “resource strategy” to enable the company to achieve those goals. HR was also there to protect the company from cronies and unqualified nephews.

Ask anyone in HR today, and they’ll tell you that might be what’s on Earnings Call PowerPoint slide, but in reality, HR is there for paperwork. The “hiring manager” is all powerful, and he will hire whomever he wants. And, if he can’t hire who he wants, he’ll just leave the job open, or rewrite the JD/SOW to exclude everyone except exactly who he wants to hire.

That’s how the game is played. Don’t hate the player….

Hiring Managers Tolerate and Foster Other Bad Managers

I’ve lost count of the number of interview prep sessions I’ve sat in on where the core competency of the applicant needed to be his ability to “Put up with <FirstName>’s shit….” I’d submit that is not a business case to spend $150K per year, plus benefits. Has anyone considered that we might get rid of <FirstName> and her shit….??

Hiring Managers Do NOT Hire “Threats”

If you have more education, credentials, and experience than the hiring manager, you can pretty much write off getting that gig. It’s not you, it’s them. They don’t want to hire someone “overqualified.” In other words: Don’t outshine the master….

Only in corporate America does this overqualified BS make any sense. Could you imagine saying, “Yeah, we passed on that neurosurgeon because he came from a top tier school, has multiple awards, and has been in practice for 20 years. I don’t need someone so overqualified cutting open my skull.”

Hiring Managers have ZERO Expertise in Hiring

There are three things we don’t have in this world: Bad Lovers. Bad Drivers. And, bad judges of character.

I’ve asked interviewers and hiring managers over the years if the company provided any guidelines or training on hiring (maybe a checklist, but not much more). I also ask how they prepared to on-board talent. Did they take any classes, webinars, read a book, blog, watch any videos on interviewing and recruitment? This is waved off with a “Naah, I’m a r-e-a-l-l-y good judge of character….” (Says the twice divorced, estranged-from-his-three-children manager with the 2.8 Glassdoor rating :/) Yeah, that’s the man who should be representing your brand and interviewing all prospective analysts….

Hiring Managers are TERRIBLE Brand Ambassadors

According to a recently LinkedIn Poll, approximately 64% of all job applicants have encountered rude, distracted, or disrespectful hiring managers during their job interviews.

I’ve been around long enough to know that one person in a global enterprise might not represent the entire culture; however, you can see why talented people walk away from a rude, distracted, disrespectful hiring manager thinking, “<CompanyName>! What a bunch of aholes!”

Worse, people are likely to retell their interview horror story to friends and family; Maybe even post about it on Glassdoor or Reddit or LinkedIn or X.

Hiring Managers aren’t-thinking about how their behavior and interactions with prospective talent might be damaging the company’s reputation and brand. CEOs need to start thinking about it…

Rude hiring managers are looking for fear, trembling, and complacency, and as long as they’re permitted to interview and hire unsupervised, they will continue to churn and burn through talent. Glassdoor ratings tumble, followed by the fake reviews posted by Finsta employees, and before you know it, everyone in the industry knows it’s a shit place to work, and the investors can’t understand why you can’t make your deadlines and can’t close on talent.

If you are hiring, you need to remember this: YOU represent the brand, the company, the culture. Every interaction, every touchpoint is a chance to build or damage your brand. In many cases, YOU are the only person that applicant will ever meet from that company. S/he will walk away from that interview with an impression of the company that is inextricably intertwined with their impression of YOU.

If CEOs, BODs and executives knew how hiring managers were KILLING their company’s reputation and brand, they’d end the practice of 1:1 hiring manager interviews immediately.

Hiring Managers Have Little/No Knowledge about the Job Itself

This is not as uncommon as you might think….

Consider the idea of the hiring manager is a hold-over from the by-gone manufacturing and trade-based economy. In this context, a shop steward or tradesman had a certain knowledge, expertise, and could evaluate the skill of the applicant’s expertise. That’s just not the case in corporate and service industries.

It’s not uncommon to encounter hiring managers who know nothing about the work I’m going to do, nor any of the projects I’ll be working on, nor little about the team or client. I’ve lost count of the number of hiring managers I’ve asked specific questions to about the work, tools, team, budget, and they cannot answer a single one!!

No one who is serious about his career is going to accept a job when his boss cannot tell him a single thing about the work! (That’s provided the hiring manager has even given you time to ask about the work. For some, your questions are superfluous because your buy-in is simply not required.)

Candidates consistently complain of long interview cycles, and “culture” fit interviews with people who know nothing about interviewing, the work, the group, or the project — it’s a waste of everyone’s time. If you cannot speak to the work, the tools, the projects or the goals, you shouldn’t be interviewing anyone.

Hiring Managers are Easily Bribed, Kickbacks are Not Uncommon

The potential for abuse is greatest with 3P managed service providers. In these situations, we have mid-level managers, many of whom don’t have the authority to pick up the tab for lunch without prior approval, “supervising” hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in CapEx 3P consultants and vendors. The entire structure is a recipe for corruption. No wonder so many companies see a marked decline in quality and customer satisfaction when managed service providers take over.

Consulting companies sell bodies; they need to keep that T&M SOW funded, that H1b employed, and that project in their pipeline. Engagement managers are going to do whatever it takes to seal the deal. Hookers, drugs, off-the-radar personal “assistants.” I’ve seen hiring managers dump their entire workload on to 3P contractor (unbeknownst to their managers). This allows them to spend more time on important things: Like travel with their mistresses…

How to Fix It – Implement a Hiring Committee

Yep, I said it. A hiring manager puts in a request to Central Casting, and it’s fulfilled. That person meets both the requirements, and the company’s needs. Now, m-a-n-a-g-e them….

The hiring team model is popular in organizations serious about talent. Hiring committees are used at Amazon, IBM, and a myriad of other organizations, big and small. Why? It protects the company from bad hires, nepotism, and cronies. It ensures a transparent and quality recruitment process. It protects the company’s reputation and brand and ensures the company is well represented in all external touchpoints.

BTW, managers aren’t just stuck with whomever is given to them; they have the ability to ask for a change or request termination. But, you can’t cherry pick resources, hire someone you want to have a beer with, or abuse your H1b contractors. Your turnover is tracked, quantified, and duly noted. As it should be…..

Eliminate 1:1 Interviews

If you don’t feel like you can get behind a committee, you should prohibit any 1:1 interviews until the Hiring Manager is fully trained and vetted. That means you actually need to have an interview training policy. In all cases, hiring managers should never be left on their own to interview prospective staff without the supervision of an HR professional.

Send the Rejected Candidates a Survey

Interesting how hiring managers are only people in a company protected from “feedback.” That needs to change. If you really want to know what your recruitment process is like, hire a third-party to send any candidate who interviewed, but was rejected, a “Candidate Survey.”

I’d recommend the following questions (Strongly Disagree <-> Strongly Agree)

The interviewers were prepared and engaged.
I had adequate time to present my skills and experience.
I understood the job’s responsibilities, goals, and how my work fit into the department/organization.
The interviewer(s) represented the company and brand in a professional and positive manner.
The recruiter/interviewers communicated with me throughout the entire recruitment process.
My time was respected.
I left with a positive view of the company, brand, and culture.
The on-line application process was user friendly.
I would consider other employment opportunities at the company.
I would recommend my friends or other associates to seek employment at the company.

The fact that organizations have zero feedback or metrics on the interview experience speaks to the issue.

Final Thoughts…

Companies spend millions of dollars on marketing and branding. They host sales conferences, publish brand guidelines, train and supervise sales staff during client interactions, and monitor external correspondence all to ensure that the company is on point, on message, and being represented in the best possible light.

However, these same companies allow anyone to interview. What is overlooked in this external touchpoint is the irreparable damage that “hiring managers” can do to a company’s image, brand, and reputation.

Many CEOs and BODs and would be stunned at the damage done to their company’s reputation as a result of a poor hiring process.

When you interview prospective talent, YOU are the company. Your manners, your questions, your professionalism ….they represent the company and its culture. Your culture IS your brand; and, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

If you see your company in this essay, make changes while you still can. Once your reputation is gone, you’re not going to get it back.

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March 23, 2025 1

Your Applicant Wants to Record the Interview?(!)

Imagine, meeting a job applicant IRL. Perhaps at your office, maybe at a coffee shop. You sit down, introduce yourself, and then the applicant pulls out a tri-pod, sets up the phone, and says, “I hope you don’t mind if I record this…..”

What would you say?

I’m sure you would be shocked by the audacity.

You might respond with something like, “Ohh, err, I’m not comfortable with that….” or even “I don’t consent to being recorded,” to which the applicant responds…

“This is very common now. And, it’s really for YOUR benefit. In this way, I can focus on you, and our discussion, and not on taking notes! Plus, I’ll be able to review your questions and answers at my leisure, and then I’ll be able to share this video with my advisors, that way, we can all better understand the role and your company.”

Would you shrug, agree, and continue? I don’t think so…..

Stop asking people for one-way video interviews. Stop recording them. Stop bullying them into surrendering their words, image, and ideas to a 3P LLM just for the privilege of applying for a job.

If you found yourself offended by the audacity of an applicant taping you and your interview, be assured the applicant feels EXACTLY the same way! If you’re serious about bringing talent into your organization, offending applicants is not the way to do it.

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March 17, 2025 0

Eight Things I Hope NOT to See on LinkedIn this Year

I’m hopeful that LinkedIn users will resolve to NOT do the following in 2025:

Bitching about Ghosting

“Don’t call us, we’ll call you…” has been around since the 1900s. Ghosting isn’t going away no matter how many annoyed applicants end their posts with “do better.”

#livinginthepast

“Fear” Adverts from “Career” Coaches and Outplacement Firms

The only thing more obnoxious than a 28-year-old wanna-be influencer touting her three years of insight and experience on how to navigate today’s “incredibly challenging” job market is a 32-year old bro touting his superior networking skills. (Daddy and/or your frat bro hooking you up with a gig isn’t the flex you think it is.)

#nepobaby

Sycophants

Your off-site was productive? Great. You’ve got a new CEO? Congrat’s. Your BFF was promoted? Nice. LinkedIn doesn’t need another obsequious corporate sycophant tearfully proclaiming how they “couldn’t be more proud to be associated with such an outstanding group of individuals.”

Unless your ass-kissing is one of your KPIs, spare us.

#embarrassed4U

CEOs, Recruiters, Founders, et al “humble brags”

You’re fully remote? Good for you! You hired someone who had a 2-year gap in his/her resume? I’m sure they were eminently qualified. You hired a fresher/woman/minority/disabled individual who didn’t have the perfect resume, but you…with your tremendous leadership and magnanimous character … saw their potential?

Stop sniffing for public praise and accolades for the most basic levels of decency.

#needy

Open to Work Banner

Si o No? Stop writing about it!

#NoOneCares

Age Discrimination

You’re a white, Anglo-Saxon male, over 50, and now, for the first time in your ENTIRE life, you’re finding that you’re not in the preferred demographic? WOW, what must that feel like!?! Tell me more about how unfair corporate life is! Twenty-five years in tech, I’m sure I don’t know what it’s like to be passed over in favor of some crony C-Student bro or a cheap H1b…

PS: Maybe it isn’t age discrimination? Maybe the field has leveled, and you really aren’t all that? Try working “twice as hard,” like the rest of the underachievers you used to look down upon!

#whiner

WFH v. RTO

If you don’t want to work on site, don’t. If you want to go into an office, go. Stop trying to convert the heathens. You’re as likely to convince a MAGA supporter that tariffs are inflationary.

#snore

“Behold” my Achievement

Unless you just won the Nobel Prize, no one is interested in your Udemy, Coursera or company-training certs. Add them to your profile.

Your kids? #facebook

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January 8, 2025 0

Three (Easy) New Year’s Resolutions

If you’re resolving to lose weight, save money or pay off debt, there are other blog posts to read. If you’re thinking you need more achievable goals, here’s a couple for you…..

Torn, Ripped, Stained, Chipped? It’s Outta Here!

Several decades ago, I promised myself that I would not keep anything – no matter how dear — that was torn, ripped, stained or chipped. Even if it meant that I had one plate, one fork, and one shirt, I wanted everything I owned to be something I loved, and in perfect condition.

Turns out that was not only a good psychological move, but a good financial one as well. As I look around my home now, I’m a woman who has everything and needs nothing. Why? Every single thing I own is in perfect condition. I love every item. Nothing is a tattered placeholder until I could afford something better. Nothing is in storage or “saved for nice.” I use and enjoy every single nice thing I own. Nice is now.

I use and enjoy every single thing I own. Nice is now.

We all hesitate to toss things. We have a thrifty inner voice that says “But, I paid so much for this, it’s not so bad,” or “I love this <item>, it’s only a few stains…..” Worse: “I can <fix> this , and then I could make a lot of money….” We end up surrounded by junk, that keeps us stuck both physically and mentally.

Things wear out. Glasses break. Tee Shirts rip. Get rid of them when they do. Don’t surround yourself with old, broken, or stained items. If it’s worth keeping, housing, and air-conditioning, it should be in perfect condition. If it’s not, throw it out.

If It Doesn’t Fit (You MUST Git’Rit!)

Conventional advice says that if you haven’t worn it in a year, get rid of it. This advice is outdated. Why? My clothing is more than just a couple pairs of shorts, it’s an investment. While I don’t wear a suit everyday, I still need one or two. I don’t have occasion to wear an evening gown or cocktail dress every year, but I’m not going to throw out my elegant black dress because I haven’t worn it in a year. Another example: I don’t go hiking every weekend, I still want (and need), the appropriate footwear and gear.

Occasion and investment clothing notwithstanding: If your closet is stuffed with clothing in a variety of sizes, do yourself a favor and get rid of everything that doesn’t fit you perfectly, and then get rid of everything that you don’t feel fabulous in. And, I mean everything. If you’ve lost weight, get rid of your fat clothes. If you’ve gained weight, get rid of those clothes you’re “going to fit into” when you (finally) lose weight. PS: When you do lose weight, your body isn’t going back to what it was, it will be different. Buy clothes that fit your new body.

“It doesn’t matter how rich you are, how accomplished you are, or how many people love you. None of that matters if you get up in the morning and none of your clothes fit!”

Nothing will make your life easier and your day happier than knowing that every, single thing in your closet fits you – perfectly. If it doesn’t, give it to a friend, sell it on Ebay or donate. In that order…

Hit Unsubscribe

We’re all inundated with newsletters, coupons, and on-line sale notifications. Worse: If you’re looking for a job, or car, or anything that asks for an email, your address is immediately sold to some on-line newsletter organization who will hit you with hundreds of emails a week.

While many of these go to Spam, take the time to cull the notifications you want to see from those you could do without. Yes, I did buy some jewelry from QVC, but no, I don’t want an email from them everyday.

I know what QVC is and what they sell. If I’m shopping, I’ll hit them up then. I don’t need an email every day.

Instead of hitting delete, take three seconds more and hit unsubscribe. Very quickly you’ll see that those three seconds add up to saving real time when you cull through your mailbox, and time is the most valuable thing we have (except for health!).

Out with the old, in with the new! Happy New Year!

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December 29, 2024 0

I Don’t Consent to Having this Interview Recorded (and You Shouldn’t Either!)

Virtual meetings and their respective recordings have been around for about a decade, but now there is a notable uptick in recruiters requesting to record one-way and two-way interviews. Why the change? In two letters: AI.

Never, EVER Allow Your Job Interview to Be Recorded

The main reason to opt out of recording is that you do not know how your intellectual property (IP) is going to used, how it will be shared, where it will be stored, nor who will have access to it. In all cases, you permanently forfeit your rights to your words and image – they are now the exclusive property of the recruiter, the 3P service provider, and/or the potential employer.

Consider this all-too-common scenario:

Hiring manager wants to hire his cousin, Vinny, as his new Customer Service Manager. Here’s the problem: Vinny isn’t qualified. Hiring Manager contacts a staffing firm, provides screening questions, and requests video recordings of all the top applicants – even if they’re out of his price range. He snips the best answers and insights from a dozen or so highly-qualified experts, and then wraps them into a script for cousin Vinny. Vinny watches the interviews, preps his answers, records his interview, and voila’ is magically the best candidate.

Sprinkle in a little high-tech corruption and H1b seat-selling, and you see the problem.

Never, EVER Consent to a One-Way Video Interview

One-way interviews are the epitome of employment catfish. These are bogus companies or troubled companies, and your one-way interview is sold to a third party for AI ML training, and/or to prep others (see above). In many cases, the JD posted is a bogus ghost job; that great salary is bogus, and you never seem to actually meet a bonafide client or even a person IRL.

Never, EVER Write Essays

Similar to video interviews, essay responses are used for AI training or to coach other applicants on the “right” answers.

If writing skills are essential for the position to which you are applying, it is better to provide links to samples or a blog. Filling out custom questionnaires, documenting an approach to technical solutions, outlining your methodology to solving complex business practices… Nope. Here’s a link to a White Paper, which is part of my personal portfolio and copyrighted publications. I’ll solve your problems for money, not for free…..

Why Recording?

People who request recordings use two reasons.

1) They’re doing this for YOU!! “I would prefer to focus on YOU – not taking notes!” This isn’t a Tinder date, this is work. I don’t need you to focus on me. I need you to extract the information you need to pass me to the next round. If you lack the skill to take notes during a meeting or an interview, you shouldn’t be a recruiter.

2) It’s not them, it’s the client! The client is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo busy that the only way for you to “get in front of the hiring manager” is to be recorded. This is usually followed by a “….this is a very competitive position (or the hiring manager is a very-important-person), I would hate for you to lose this opportunity – EVERYONE is doing this now….”

Boundaries aren’t really a thing for most recruiters and staffing agencies, and who cares what someone’s made-up title is? My response is no response. Don’t take the bait, don’t argue your point. If you asked them not to record, and they are pushing back, they’re only interested in data mining.

What to do?

By law, you are required to be informed if you are being recorded. That notification is automatically displayed in most video conferencing applications, some more clearly than others. If someone clicks record (with a breezy “I hope you don’t mind if I record….”) stop the interviewer and say that you would prefer not to be recorded.

If you receive ANY pushback, exit the call.

If you catch an attitude, or get ANY pushback, politely exit the call. Pushback is a clear indication that they are data mining for a third party or collecting IP for other candidates. There’s no job for YOU.

Recording is NOT the Norm!

Legitimate, desirable employers are NOT the ones asking for recordings. They’re smart enough to understand the implications of collecting, sharing, and storing these data. These requests primarily come from lazy recruiters, and off-shore ghost firms – who come and go like fruit flies. Many aren’t even in the staffing business. They are using the staffing firm as a “front” for their data collection and other fraudulent activities.

Too often I see applicants say that they participate in these practices because they’ve been unemployed a while and “have no choice.” What these applicants are not understanding is that there is no job there. This whole thing is a ruse.

I Don’t Care What They Said: Don’t Expect Ethics from Anyone

Unethical and fraudulent hiring practices have been around for decades, but the tremendous amount of data that can be collected from a person via the application process has introduced a nasty side hustle for unscrupulous businesses. Most of us know that certain demographic information, such as age, marital status, and the like cannot be requested, there are no laws that protect your image, voice, and IP/PI from being usurped and distributed, and that information is far more valuable.

Moreover, unsuspecting and naïve, applicants are easy prey. Most people are absolutely clueless about IP/PI collection, which is why these grifters can successful run different scams ranging from pretending to hire you (in order to collect identity and financial information) to tricking people into providing credit card and banking information for equipment “deposit,” training, and it goes on and on….

Opt-out. You’ll be glad you did….

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November 21, 2024 0

The “Toxic” Red Flag

Recruiter: “How do you manage difficult stakeholders?”

Applicant: “I don’t. Their functional manager has that responsibility. If stakeholders are difficult, unreasonable, unresponsive, and that behavior isn’t actively being addressed by leadership, I will quit.”

Ohhhh, was that not the answer you thought you were going to get?

Did you expect me to expound upon what great a facilitator I am? “Building bridges,” finding common ground, using my powers of empathy, remembering the servant in servant-leader?

Nope, not doing any of that…

What I AM doing is immediately thanking the interviewer and taking a hard pass.

Stop asking applicants how they deal with difficult people, and start asking why management is jeopardizing the company’s brand and future by keeping well-known PITAs around. A revolving door of talent isn’t going to fix your toxic culture…

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October 23, 2024 0

An Ode to Effort

This time of year we set goals. I have goals – but, just like everyone – they change. They get bigger, smaller, or their priority shifts. But, like the Buddha, I have returned from the holiday forest and my mantra for this year is not about goals – it’s about Effort.

Goals are important, but they are secondary – the real value is not in achieving the goal, but in the effort.

Too many dismiss effort. That’s easy to do when there’s money or beauty or natural talent, but these are false idols. What we really admire is the effort. A good job, good home, good relationships, good health, good food, good body, good sex…they aren’t a finish-line goal. They require effort.

Too often we ignore making the effort, especially when it’s small, because we are blinded by getting or having that big goal.

Too often we excuse ourselves, “I know I should make more of an effort….” Or worse, if our satisfaction is not immediate, or our effort isn’t recognized and lauded, we lament, “I’m tired of making the effort.”

We all have goals unaccomplished because of effort. That crowded storage space. Relationships you can’t get out of (or into). The stagnant career. Those extra 20 lbs., that are leaning into 30 now. Effort.

Sometimes it’s easy; sometimes it’s hard, but easy or hard, effort is about time management and consistency. This is where we need to embrace the notion that effort is both a means and an end. Like honor or integrity…it’s a gift you give to yourself.

Effort, like love, is not a zero-sum game. Effort is never about reciprocity because we never run out of effort, and, like love, we can easily manifest more of it whenever we desire.

So, for 2024, my focus is less on achieving, having, or getting, and more on consistently making an effort.

Happy New Year!

January 3, 2024 1

Three Post-Covid Reasons Your Project is Failing

Projects fail for all kinds of reasons – here’s a few things that are different after Covid…..

You’re Trying to Manage a Team on Chat

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not anti-IM. Chat, and its appropriately named cousin, Slack, are fine for a QQ to an individual or small group. What it doesn’t take the place of is a well-run meeting, goals, action items, workflow tools, documented requirements, baseline reporting, status, deliverables – ya know – the “work.”

It’s amazing how many people think nothing of constantly interrupting their highly-paid resources to insist they participate in circuitous Chat threads. Pre-Covid, no one would have ever said to their boss or co-workers, “Follow me around today and listen to all my conversations. That way, you’ll know what I’m doing.” How is constantly being interrupted by chat any different?

Talk is cheap, and the cheapest of all talk is chat.

I recently attended a meeting with a client’s finance team. They were proposing changes to their enterprise Rev Req process. Flow chart? Business Rules? Requirements? SOW? Nope, the guy pulls up a chat from three days ago, and proceeds to add people to the thread – really?

Talk is cheap, and the cheapest of all talk is chat. If you want to be 100% sure that your project will run over budget, over schedule, and your team will be lost in the chum and churn of incomplete direction, “manage” your projects via Chat.

Drug Problems

Maybe you heard: The United States has a drug problem, and that drug problem definitely has gotten worse since Covid. I’ve spent more than a decade working as a Fixer, and I can tell you that the root cause of more than one project / business failure is a key individual (or several individuals) with a drinking or drug problem.

It’s important to keep in mind that just because someone isn’t shit faced drunk at work doesn’t mean they don’t have a drinking problem. “Functional” drunks will insist that they’re not drinking during work hours; ergo, they don’t have a drinking “problem.” However, the effects of their drinking are evident. They’re chronic no-shows. They’re constantly sick, late, a million doctor, dentist, and food poisoning excuses for not showing up. Forget about a morning meeting. They can’t get out of bed. They’re unreliable. They can’t complete anything. When confronted, they will push their work (and blame) on to others. They vacillate between belligerent, and a professional victim, which makes you want to avoid them and assign their tasks to others, which is exactly what they want. #enabler

Another Post-Covid change is the ubiquity of Adderall and its many cousins. Unlike the drunk – who can’t accomplish anything – the Adderall Overachiever thinks they’re super-super productive! They have no problem calling you at 10 PM (spinning like a dreidel) because they really, really need your help with the font for tomorrow’s PowerPoint presentation. (Hint: NOT Comic Sans)

About 10 years ago, I had the great misfortune to work with a man who had a serious Meth problem. I was green in my career, and a deer in the headlights; I didn’t know what I was dealing with then. Now, I know the signs. And, when I see people sniffing, unfocused, babbling, spinning, and looking exhausted, I don’t think they’re “high energy” or insomnia, or allergies – I know they have an amphetamine problem.

I work in a business that is complicated, difficult, and dense, and the last thing I need is someone so jacked-up they cannot follow even the most basic conversation.

Since Covid, I’ve seen a rise in upper use in two groups: Women (trying to do it all) and new grads, many of whom are just not used to working 8-10 hours a day, day-after-day, week-after-week. Both of these groups are trying to “cram” their lives, loves, and responsibilities into too-few hours. And, much like Lucy in the Chocolate Factory, they are failing.

If you find yourself in a situation where you have a client or (god forbid) a boss with a drug problem, start looking for a job immediately. Forget about HR, or confronting anyone. This situation is NOT win-able. There’s nothing you are going to do, nothing you are going to say that will make that person change. Nothing. Not anger. Not sympathy. Nothing.

Life isn’t an “Afterschool Special.” It’s more like “Intervention.” It will take you about 2-3 months to figure out what going on. Once you do, create space between you and Adderall Annie, or Day-Drinkin’-Dan, and funnel ALL your energy into your exit plan. If you don’t, this person will eventually “Nurse Jackie” you. You’ll be fired, blamed for everything, and they will continue on as they have before.

You’re Still in Crisis Mode

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since the advent of Covid. When it hit, all business rules were thrown aside, and “Crisis Mode,” took the place of planning. Business pivoted their e-com sites to accommodate a flood of delivery methods, “Essential” workers were defined, money was quickly appropriated (no business case needed), to mission-critical efforts – every fiber of our corporate being was in crisis management mode.

Here’s the problem: Humans are creatures of habit, and crisis mode has become our new habit.

During Covid, workers capitulated to excessive demands for overtime. Now? Quite quitting and labor strikes are in the news. And, it’s not just workers who are setting boundaries. Check signers are waking up as well. During the past two years no one paid any attention to ROI, cost-benefit, roadmapping, priorities – who had time for that mammsy-pammsy stuff? We’re in a crisis!

Covid was like a big fire; no one questioned thousands of people carrying buckets of water. Now, the smoke has cleared, and we realize that if we had better equipment, we wouldn’t need as many people with buckets.

You’ve surely heard corporate leaders feigning apologies as they layoff “over-hired” water bearers. All companies are evaluating their staffing, their roadmaps, and even their missions. But, what corporate leadership is not saying is that in just two years, they’ve actually become a bit rusty (and a little too comfortable with Slacking-in direction). Many have fallen out of the practice of truly managing a business. Now, we’re starting to hear again questions like: What, exactly, are your metrics? Where’s the market research? Where’s the business case for the $1.3 system upgrade? What’s the ROI? Where’s the depreciation schedule? Projects that cannot answer these questions are being axed, and the bucket brigade is being axed with ’em…

Final Thoughts…

Complacency is frequent companion of hubris, and even though making it through the past few years is an accomplishment, don’t think that it’s a vaccination against failure. The world has changed, but the purpose of business has not. The goal of running a business is to make a profit, not just have a high stock price.

The next couple years are going to be rough. Regardless of your press, your followers, or your brand: If you’re not running your business well, running your projects well, and making a profit, you won’t be here much longer.

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February 3, 2023 0