Think for a second about what sliced bread did for humanity.

Seriously.

Why else would all new products or innovations be compared to it since it was first sold in 1928?   It was just another consumer convenience,  allowing us to make our sandwiches faster.

But because it made it that much easier,  it launched the sandwich into a whole new level of popularity.  And much time was saved, particularly in the morning.  So we were able to sleep longer.  Thus, sliced bread brought us the ultimate in convenience, AND a more rested society.  Not bad.

Now let’s consider Social Media.  It too has a “sliced bread” quality, in that it too delivered a quicker and more efficient way to “consume” something.

That something is conversation.   And boy oh boy, can it do that.  Everybody that has dramatically expanded their conversation universe well beyond what you ever believed you could 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, please raise your hand {sound of my hand quickly going into the air}

Just like sliced bread, Social Media has made something much easier, and gave us an incredible side benefit: Many more people to converse with.

And there’s my case that SM is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

All good, right?  Wrong.

Unfortunately, I can also make a case that Social Media isn’t the greatest thing since sliced bread.

The evidence?  Allow me to present Exhibit A:

Me.

While this marvelous thing has opened up so many doors,  like one of those drug commercials on the nightly news (yes, I’m in that demographic that still watches the nightly news) it has a couple of not-so-good side effects, both of which I have experienced.

Number one,  it has eroded my focus on too many occasions – I call this the “Under Toad”.   The Toad pulls me away from the here and now – and can lead to some dangerous things.    Like Tweeting while driving.  I only did that once, but that was one time too many.   Or being distracted by the flashing Blackberry light, or worse yet,  multitasking while trying to personally visit with someone, face to face or on the phone.

Second, it can spread you too thin – and can therefore erode your productivity as well  (It’s no coincidence that I just wrote a whole piece on productivity – that message was for myself too).

Having experienced these side effects firsthand, it then becomes difficult to conclude, on this level, that Social Media is the greatest thing since sliced bread.    Sliced bread has its weaknesses, to be sure, but they are not like this. And I can’t imagine I’m the only one in this boat.

So what’s the bottom line here – are we ready for a new era where the new saying is “the greatest thing since Social Media“?

Based on the evidence pro and con, I’d offer that we are not.

Yet.

Those side effects need to be worked out- by all of us who use it.

But once they are - look out sliced bread!!!

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You set a goal, and with a lot of hard work, you hit it.  You’ve achieved success.   Now what?

That’s the critical question in sustaining a long and fruitful career, or keeping a business at the heights of profitability.

Answering that question really boils down to this: Do you choose to go forward, or backward?

You may have noticed that “status quo” isn’t an option here.  That’s because there’s no such thing in this context.  Standing still is akin to going backwards.

And that puts you in the position of being a victim of your own success.

Coming to that realization is very important, because there are natural forces at work that put the status quo option in play.   Even the term “success” has a sense of finality to it that works against you.

For example, say you finally got that big promotion that you coveted for years.  It’s a logical feeling to put yourself on the very top of a mountain that you’ve painstakingly climbed, and want to stay there, enjoying the view with great contentment and satisfaction.

I can vividly remember my own first experience with the big title, and the big desk, and the personal assistant.    It came way too early for me, and the gravitational pull towards inertia was very strong.  I thought, “how could I do any better than this?”  So while I certainly was learning some valuable lessons in that position, I really wasn’t trying to propel my career forward.

I failed to do one simple thing – move the mountain higher, and start climbing again.   I finally did come to that realization years later, but not before some self-inflicted (and terribly unsatisfactory) stagnation.

Let’s look at a business example, like hitting an important business metric that has eluded a company for years.     Once again, because of the effort necessary to achieve the milestone, there’s a strong temptation to ease off the accelerator (especially from the rank and file, who have toiled the most), at least for a short period.

Leaders must resist that temptation.  I have learned that once milestones are hit, the mountain must be raised, as soon as possible.  The company must keep climbing.   In my personal experience, I’ve raised targets 3 and even 4 times during the course of a year, because of my hard-learned resistance to inertia.

The real trick here is to not diminish the significance of our (and our business) achievements – of course the efforts should be acknowledged and celebrated.   We just need to convince ourselves, and then our teammates, that the climbs are ultimately more enjoyable than the summits.

Sir Winston Churchill said it best: “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb”

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It’s not the “doing”.

It’s not how fast,  or how well.

Nope, it’s none of these.

The secret to a lifetime of productivity is simply this:  Making the best selection of WHAT to do at any given moment.

(Although it certainly doesn’t hurt to do things fast and well – as long as they’re the RIGHT things)

In any day there are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of actions you can take.   Which ones you choose are critical to living a productive life, or being the most productive person at the office.

It’s the art of constant prioritization – a mental “to do” list that goes through a special kind of algorithm, a kind that only a properly focused  human brain can pull off.

And that’s the rub: a focused brain.  If we all had the time to sit down and write out all of the things we needed to do, and then painstakingly arrange them in order of priority, the world would certainly be a much more productive place.

But we can’t do that.

So we must develop an intuitive process to make these split-second assessments on the fly.  How can we help our brains with this task?

I’ve found that there are 5 things we can consciously do to pave the way:

• Turn off the yes reflex. Your brain doesn’t have a chance to react and process  if  “yes I can” is the first thing out of your mouth.  Over committing is the cardinal sin of productivity.   Try  “Let me think about it” or “I’ll get back to you“  – or just “no” (once you get better at the intuitive stuff)
• Reduce the multitasking - severely.  Think about how hard it is to have a meaningful phone conversation while you are answering e-mail or Tweeting at the same time.  Now add the critical task of prioritization on top of that. Tilt!! Our minds are a marvel of nature, but there not that good!
• Come up with a daily “Top 5″. While writing down everything is impossible,  you can certainly sit down and focus for 5 minutes every morning and at least put to paper the 5 most important things you need to do that day.  That’s it, just 5.  Your brain will thank you for the assistance  (I do this as often as I can, and it works very well).
• Learn how to take the  “Big Picture”.  Don’t get lost in the weeds – take that step back before moving forward.  Taking a “big picture” perspective can only be enabled by your ability to pause, breathe, rise up a few thousand allegorical feet, and “see” the situation from a better place before making a decision.
• Cut your losses on bad decisions. Don’t waste time carrying through on something that is clearly failing or not working. We humans are proud lot, and sometimes our “refuse to lose” attitudes can put us down dead-end roads that keep us away from more fruitful pursuits.  That pride needs to be swallowed every now and then.

Do these 5 things consistently, and you’ll get the focus you need to make better and better decisions.

And productivity will certainly follow.

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The last thing a CEO (or any other high level executive) needs in pushing goals, objectives  and action plans all the way through the ranks of a company is to literally “feel”  the skepticism as the messages are delivered – that collective vibe from the other team members that they really aren’t believing much of what the leader says.

It’s nearly impossible for someone to really move the dial when mistrust of leadership is so high, because it is such a powerful destructive force in the workplace.

To successfully overcome this force, high-level executives need to build what I call a “Fortress of Credibility”, one that can easily withstand any future attempts to tear it down, taking into account all the differing reasons why mistrust occurs in the first place.

This Fortress is made of 6 “building blocks”:

1) Make sure they know you

2) Make sure you know them

3) Be seen as a “Doer”, not a “Talker”

4) Over-communicate (use Terry’s Rule)

5) Keep your promises (or don’t make them if you can’t keep them)

6) Be a truth-teller

First, your teammates simply need to know who you are.  Now I know that sounds painfully obvious, but have you been watching this new reality show “Undercover Boss”?   How can leaders build any credibility if the rank and file doesn’t even know their names, or what they look like?  What’s more, you can’t assume they know you just because your picture is on your company’s web site.   Credibility is never nameless.

Next, a leader must get out of the ivory tower and into the places where the business gets done – that kind of visibility is critical.  I realize as the companies get larger it gets harder and harder to meet teammates, but getting to know as many of them as possible at least can create good word of mouth (the “wow, at least this person goes out into the field” vibe can get around very fast).

It’s also very effective to get a reputation as a “doer”, rather than someone who just talks at people.   The best complement I ever overheard from someone after I made a field visit was “I like him – he gets things done”.

And then there’s hearsay.   Many a credibility reputation has been harmed by third and fourth-hand information being distorted and mangled. The antidote is over communicating – that’s why I came up with “Terry’s Rule”, which is communicating the same thing at least 15 times to make sure it is properly understood.

Lastly, there are the obvious building blocks, but ones that absolutely, positively can’t be ignored -  honesty,  transparency, and keeping promises.    Or more importantly, showing restraint when you’re tempted to throw out a bunch of promises as temporary “band-aids” for morale issues, while at the same time knowing that you can’t possibly keep all of them.

If you can build this Fortress of Credibility successfully with these 6 blocks, then the next time you deliver your goals and objectives, the vibe will be far different.   The audience will be with you inside the fortress, fending off any attempts to knock it down by any lingering disbelievers.    The message will be well received, and understood.  You and your team now have the proper momentum to execute.

Go for it!

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(This is a true story. Mostly.)

I started out in Wisconsin wanting to be a Piano Man. Don’t Ask Me Why, but I just thought that it would be a pretty glamorous life. Before long I was Movin’ Out to Texas and those dreams faded in favor of being a Big Shot in the business world.  I graduated from college with an accounting degree and a desire for a long-term window into the River of Dreams.

But for The Longest Time, I couldn’t figure it out.  There was a girlfriend, an Uptown Girl of sorts. I tried to Tell Her About It. She’d say in reply, “You’re Only Human, you’ll just have to see what happens”. Eventually I moved to LA in hot pursuit of a big management opportunity, filled with much Pressure.  I was a fish out of water, and I got some valuable experience, so a couple of years later it was time to Say Goodbye to Hollywood and move east.

I landed in DC, and lived a sporting life, and worked for Captain Jack – or should I say, King Jack.  Unfortunately, things turned sour, and I felt like The Stranger in my own office.  I needed to do something different – something more like me.   I asked my friends for advice, and they’d say that new employers should “take you Just The Way You Are”.

King Jack eventually took the decision out of my hands – my release was surreal, like Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, with sotto voce voices over wine and white tablecloths.  “Now This Is The Time I need to make the right change”, I thought.

Meantime I launched a singing career. I was The Entertainer, singing show tunes at coffeehouses while I tried to figure out what to do.  I was 34, it was My Life, and I had to make the most of it.  Soon I was in a New York State Of Mind and found a job there in the suburbs (I figured it was better than a steel mill in Allentown).

This job was much better – in fact, it was exactly what I wanted.  I later spoke to that girlfriend from years back. “You May Be Right about that advice”, I said to her. “I did have to wait to see what happened” (Yes, She’s Always A Woman to me, even if it was a bad breakup).

And So It Goes……in that great job I cultivated all those qualities that make a good leader, like Honesty and integrity.  After all, it’s A Matter of Trust.   It’s all about Keeping the Faith.  It’s  All About Soul.  While I know they say Only The Good Die Young – they’re wrong.  Good hearted leaders can lead for a long, long time (as this man of 50 can attest).

Keep in mind that We Didn’t Start The Fire – other great leaders have paved the way before all of us, teaching us lessons that keep the flame of excellence burning bright.

I know, sometimes I Go To Extremes with all this, and yes, some of it is downright Shameless, but oh yes, through all this, the learning, the disappointments, the victories, the accomplishments– everything, there’s one thing that still holds true.  Something  more powerful than even a simple Lullabye.

It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me!

(with grateful thanks to Billy Joel for guiding me through the track list of life)

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My first executive leadership opportunity came very early for me – at age 27.

A brilliant (but oh so eccentric) entrepreneur who had already amassed a large fortune was looking for more, and tapped me to oversee the operations of his latest acquisition.

He liked hiring young accountants (I happened to be a CPA at a large firm at the time) because of their bottom-line savvy and buttoned-down approach to looking at a business.    People that could match his style of leadership:  autocratic and one-way, with a large helping of fear.

Being such a fish out of water, to please this man I earnestly attempted to emulate his style.   I vividly remember the first time I tried.  Soon after I started it was budget season, and our field staff spent days and days and hours and hours preparing the best, and most realistic, budget they could.  I presented it to my new boss and he summarily rejected it. Not good enough.   So I tried the same approach with my team.   They protested.  Finally, rather than discuss it openly, I did the autocratic thing – I simply changed the numbers myself and pushed it down to them as final.

What happened certainly pleased my boss, but it thoroughly frustrated my staff.  Did we hit that budget?  Of course not.  That initial display of hubris cost me months of goodwill, and ultimately the effort and sacrifice necessary to generate superior performance.

I learned a couple of very valuable lessons – autocratic/fear management wasn’t going to work over the long-term, and I should never pretend to be something that I’m not.

Because, even though I was an accountant, I was also a human – and a sensitive and feeling one at that.   Yeah, I’d even say I’m a “touchy-feely” type.

I knew that the minute I pushed down that budget 23 years ago – I felt really, really bad for those people I had steamrolled.

Today, I lead using both my head and my heart – and it works very, very well.   I wear my Touchy-Feely tag like a badge of honor.   Those who still cling to the autocratic “my way or the highway” model like to use that term as a dagger, to belittle my gall to actually CARE about the feelings and opinions of my fellow teammates.  So be it.

The good news these days is that there are louder (and more well known) voices out there, proving the case that Touchy-Feely is not only “good humanity”, but very good business.

I recently read Patrick Lencioni’s excellent latest book, “Getting Naked” (affiliate link – proceeds to National Park Foundation), and it was all about how showing vulnerability and transparency can work to your advantage.  In his words, “being completely open and honest with no sense of pretense or cover“  is the best approach to building loyalty, whether it’s with teammates, peers, customers, or clients.

Lencioni correctly identifies the biggest barriers to really getting Touchy-Feely:  fear and insecurity.

Autocrats can’t be wrong. They can’t be embarrassed.  They can’t ask dumb questions.    That’s a lot of pressure!  I have to say it felt very good to be relieved of that burden when I made my choice.

It’s that “freedom to be human” that will set you apart  – and earn you a loyal and enthusiastic team that will follow you to the top of any mountain, no matter how high.

Go ahead, get touchy!

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The supervisor is frustrated – in his mind, he has done everything right to manage his team to a successful outcome.  He carefully explained the task at hand and its deadline for completion, how it was supposed to get done (and by whom), and outlined the expected results.

He has monitored the resulting team activity and provided useful feedback.

And yet, the outcome was less than what he expected.   What went wrong?

It’s one of those situations that can drive leaders crazy. I know, because it’s happened to me.

There’s a missing element here, and it’s about a question that needs to be answered – even before anybody asks.

Look again at my example above. The supervisor had answered four questions for his team – “What?”, “When?“, “How?”, and “Who?”

What was missing was the answer to “Why?”

Put another way, it’s placing the desired result in the proper context for each team member, as well as explaining the importance of each person’s role in achieving that result.

In my experience I have found that it is well worth your time to sit down with your team and get those “Why” answers on the table, and make sure they are understood.   You cannot assume that they know these answers – even if they don’t ask the questions.

Granted, this can be a time consuming exercise, especially when there are tight deadlines.   There’s typically a strong temptation to just step on the accelerator and get the bus moving.  But successful leaders must resist that temptation.

It’s really a matter of giving meaning to the work that each person does, which leads to happier, more motivated, and more productive teammates.

Here’s a specific example.   A few years ago my company started tracking a customer service metric, based on specific customer feedback.  When we first started we more or less just “put it out there”, explaining the mechanics of the metric, the way it was compiled and scored,  and setting a company goal.

The metric performed reasonably well, but hit a plateau short of the goal.  We eventually determined that the way to push it past this barrier was to spend a lot more time with our customer facing staff explaining the “whys”; why this measurement was important to the success of the company, and why their specific actions could make a difference in moving the number higher.   We had these sessions multiple times over the course of a year.

Since that time, and with these “why” answers more clearly understood, our scores eventually exceeded our goal, and they continue to rise to greater heights to this day.  And our employee satisfaction scores have also gone up.

So remember, don’t forget the “why” – and keep your sanity.

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Remember this famous quote?

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it” – George Santayana

I’ve heard this one time and time again in my years in the business world.   And it’s a very powerful message about learning from the past.  However, I would offer that this quote should be amended to truly reflect using history to a leader’s advantage:

“Those who learn best from wisely selected history are destined to greatness”

Note the phrase “wisely selected“.   When it comes to history, great leaders essentially have selective memory.   Because not all of what has taken place in the past should be remembered.  In fact, there is a clear danger in many instances from being too acutely aware of history.

There are three levels of selective memory at work here:

General Outcomes

Bad outcomes can easily create paralysis, due to the fear they can conjure up when all the grisly details are remembered.  But great leaders can absorb the lessons and “forget”  most of those details, so when the time comes and those lessons must be applied,  anxiety won’t get in the way.

On the other hand, especially good outcomes can create complacency (the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality).   Great leaders can “remember” past success by looking beyond the objective results and putting a fresh eye on the people, process and policy that achieved them.    Otherwise, it’s hard to raise the bar when history is supposedly telling you you’ve already nailed it.

Day-to-day Management

Effective leadership selective memory also works well on a smaller scale- for example, in assessing the overall potential and performance of teammates, or effectively dealing with negative feedback.

In the case of performance, it’s the ability to sort out non-representative or inconsequential actions in making a correct assessment.  As for feedback, it’s the knack of “erasing” the tone or delivery that might of upset you, and looking instead at the substance of the critique.  Of course, there could also be times where the critique itself should be forgotten.

Immediate Forgetfulness

Lastly, there are those times where you should forget what may have  happened 10 seconds ago -  those heated exchanges that can sometimes put you in a funk for hours or days.   I’m sure you know what I’m talking about here – just think how many times you’ve even unconsciously applied it be telling someone  “forget about it” after you’ve calmed down.

All in all, it’s that innate ability, on all three of these levels,  to sort through your history and simply take with you what you need to succeed – a critical separator between “just good” and “really great” leadership.

So “select” well, and be great!

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(February 26, 2010 UPDATE:  The “Blog It, Earn It” discount has been extended to April 1, 2010. See the instructions below on how to get $250 off a ticket to SOBCon2010!)

Suppose you could take a weekend retreat away from the noise of the Internet …

• to focus entirely on your business
• to work with the support of a mastermind team
• to get quality time to interact with the top people in social media
• to get the best information AND time to discuss how you’ll apply it
• to work with sponsors who are doing the same thing
• in a room limited to 150 people — all focused in the same direction
• without worry because the food and the wireless are outstanding.

Imagine a weekend work retreat with these people totally invested.

Would you write a blog post to get a chance to win a FREE SOBCon Weekend?

An All-Expense Paid Ticket!! AND the Return of The “Blog It, Earn It”  Discount

As a co-founder of SOBCon (now in our fourth year), I’m delighted to announce with my partner Liz Strauss this great offer …

We had such fun last year with the SOBCon “Blog It, Earn It” discount. We’re bringing it back again. Again this year, we’d like to hear from you — this time about what “The Virtual Meets the Concrete” means to you. We want to celebrate how our relationships online help our lives and businesses online and off.

Tell us why online and offline relationships and strategies matter.

Here’s how to qualify for the discount and enter to win:

1. Write a blog post about a person (or people) online who has (or have) made a difference in your life. Celebrate how they have made your life easier, better, smarter, more productive, more meaningful.

2. Then let us know by tagging your post #SOBCon2010 and leaving a comment on this post. Include a working e-mail with your comment and as a thank you for sharing your story, we’ll send you a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate - that’s over a 25% savings! (We won’t use your email to spam you.)

We’ll also tweet your blog post so that we can celebrate the folks we all think make us stronger.

Get your posts up before Noon EST on February 14th, 2010, and noon EST pm the next day (February 15th), to kick off a special SOBCobn2010 Webinar with Chris Garrett,  Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund and Liz Strauss (details coming soon), we’ll put all of the entries in a random drawing and choose one lucky winner who will receive:

1. a free ticket to SOBCon2010 – $895.00 value
2. airfare and three nights at Hotel 71 – up to $1105 in hotel and airfare

A total package value worth as much as $2000 – nontransferable, nonrefundable.

Blog your thoughts, share it, link it back to this post, and broadcast it on Twitter (hash #blogitearnit). We’ll also encourage you to link to the SOBCon blog for others to see and learn. And remember as a thank you for sharing your story, we’ll send you a special code to take $250 off the $895 FULL conference rate - that’s over a 25% savings!

Or, if you can’t make to SOBCon2010, you could “pay it forward” and pass the discount on to one of your friends — or offer it back to us as a gift for us to pass on for you.

We’re doing everything we can to bring you all the value, the experts and expertise, and the time to work and network that you need to make your business outstanding and extremely profitable in 2010.

What could you do with a weekend of the time, expertise, and support you need to focus your business?

We’re all coming for the same reasons.

Update 2/15: And the winner is…….Hollie Pollard, of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  (@commoncentsmom on Twitter).  She submitted a great post entitled “They Don’t Even Know“.  Congratulations Hollie, and see you in Chicago!

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As the big stack on my desk attests, I love to read books that expand my knowledge and offer new insights on topics that interest me.   My reading list over the past several years can be found on my Amazon page (and if you do buy a book that way, all my commissions go to the National Park Foundation), and yes, they are skewed heavily toward business books.

This interest stems from the simple premise that you just never know when a book, or a page, or just a paragraph, might alter your way of thinking forever, and push you to a personal breakthrough.

So it’s with great pleasure that I share with you 3 recent books that are quite capable of doing just that.

“7 Lessons For Leading In Crisis“ – Bill George

I recently had the good fortune of seeing Bill George speak at the World Economic Forum in NYC; he’s an ex-big company CEO who spoke about leading in crisis, and turning crisis into opportunities. I likened his message to “sitting tall in the saddle“, and was impressed by his practical lessons.  These lessons are summarized in this book – it’s a quick, no-nonsense read that I bet will leave you as impressed as I was.

“B-A-M!  Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World” – Barry Moltz and Mary Jane Grinstead

Barry & Mary Jane bravely and directly take on 20 myths of good customer service, and counter them with some excellent ideas of their own.   What I really like about this book is Barry’s absolute and total commitment to the idea of good customer service- it’s evident by the great personal stories that he shares throughout the lessons, and the fact that he wears a button that says “just give me good customer service and nobody gets hurt“.  You go, my man!

“SWAT – Seize The Accomplishment” – Timothy L. Johnson

Timothy is a self described “process guy”, who absolutely loves to analyze how best a company (0r a person) can get from Point A to Point B.  In most circles they call this “systems thinking“, but I call it simply “doing“.  The fact is, there aren’t a lot of people willing to really dig into this and teach us something, much less tell it in such an interesting and entertaining way (in the form of a “fable”), so we are blessed that Timothy has taken this on.  Practicalities abound, and he even makes flow charting less frightening.  Dominate, dude!

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