Though nothing is ever really finished...

At long last, I have a completed product. You can see the link to the project on Lulu at the right of the page.  I do have to give a plug to Lulu for the ease and convenience of their website, the speed and accuracy of printing and delivery.  What a great thing to have access to.  10 years ago, aspiring authors would have to have put up a much more substantial investment to ever self-publish anything.  The world turns quickly these days.

Additionally, I saw an interview with the CEO of Netflix the other day, Reed Hastings.  He was talking about employee performance and Netflix philosophy on those things.  He said that in most companies, an average employee gets an average raise.  At Netflix, an average employee gets generous severance.  At first glance this may seem a little draconian.  But, if you'll take the time to think about it, you might find that it is the most effective HR policy out there.  Too bad most companies can't or won't afford such a policy.  Here's the result...

An employee doesn't fit (for whatever reason) in the organization and is doing average work.  The employer has a responsibility to the other employees to do something about it.  S/He can either ignore the problem or s/he can deal with it.  Dealing with it means one of two things...the performance has to be elevated or the employee has to move on to a place where his performance is effective.  I assume that the first plan of attack is to help a person find their place where the performance can be elevated.  But, if that plan doesn't work...the Netflix policy allows a manager to provide a bridge to the next place of employment.  This treats the employee more than fairly and it provides the employer with the ability to make changes necessary to increase the collective performance of the organization.

Another belief I hold is that there is a place where each person can and will excel.  If they are mired too long in a job that (for whatever reason) does not bring out the best in them...then the ultimate waste of a career is found therein.  I applaud a policy that would direct someone to take the steps to find their sweet spot. 

Individual Marginal Benefit

Periodically I make an effort to calculate the margin my employer enjoys for employing me.  It is difficult to do because my company is a large ship and would get along just fine without me.

However, someone needs to do my job and if someone had to choose regularly who would do it...I would like to be the one that is repeatedly chosen.

As a somewhat related aside...kids at a recess in their schools have much better feedback mechanisms than we tend to have in our jobs.  Think about how touch football teams are selected on every elementary school playground in America...the best performers are chosen first and the poorest contributors, last.  Additionally, these teams are re-selected with great frequency...which provides each participant's value to be re-assessed each game.  Significant improvement or degradation will quickly be reflected in the order one is selected the next time around.

Because I don't have as effective a mechanism to provide feedback on my performance (or on the perception of my performance) I must do it myself - which I do according to the following guideline;

1. Does it take me less time or effort to do the same work this week than it did last week?
2. Have I actively learned something this week that is not explicitly required of me?
3. Are my co-workers, supervisors and customers better for having associated with me?

If I answer no to any one of these questions for very long, it is clear to me that I'm starting to stagnate in my place and I need to make a change to something or else I run the risk of becoming a break-even player.  Or, worse yet, a marginal loss.

And everyone knows when the kid who accidentally makes a touchdown for the opposing team will get picked the next time teams are chosen.

Remaining qualified

I had a conversation last evening with a gentleman who manages an office for his company.  He employs people in an industry in flux.  They are able to do well because they have adapted technologies that allow them to work better, smarter and faster than they were able to 5 years ago or even last year.  Like all, they are required to do more with less.

Our discussion touched on his concern for his employees who do well for the company, but some are unable or unwilling to keep up with the technology that makes them successful as an organization.  He pleads with them to not ever have to tell them that they are no longer qualified to do their job.

On the way home from work today, I heard an investor in California talking about clean industry as the place to put money right now.  As his analogy he made the point that the 1920s in New York City would have been a terrible time to have invested in blacksmith shops and buggy whip manufacturing.

What does it take to move past the blacksmith shops we're comfortable with and do what is necessary to stay qualified for our own jobs?  When will we learn that the fungibility of resources is increasing and no longer will the country on our passport hold the key to prosperity?  And, what can we do to prepare for it?

If we will start to view ourselves in light of our marginal benefit, I believe it would make a big difference in how we provide value as well as how we articulate our personal value statement.

Benjamin

The principle of fair trade

I'm pretty sure I've never worked in or even heard of the place where the general consensus by the employees was that they were overpaid for the work they put in.  In fact, it is quite common the opposite is the case, that the prevailing belief is wages should be higher for the work given.  Furthermore, I have found that it is easy to talk oneself into believing that the 'market' for one's wages is higher and that going anywhere else would result in a significant increase in compensation and benefits.

Yet, at the same time we believe all these ideas, we do something that flies in the face of these beliefs - which is, we hang on to the job we have as if it were the last one we could ever get.  As I contemplate this behavior, I consider that it has one of two causes.  Either I truly am overcompensated and the next best option is worse for me and I had better hold on to the current situation for dear life, or I don't understand my personal value in the marketplace - making it difficult for me to understand where and how I create value for my employer and also difficult for me to translate what I do into another company or department or location.

As a cure for both of these situations I recommend a good thorough resume rewrite.  An exercise in writing a resume as if I had to apply for a job tomorrow can help me inspect not only my skills and abilities, but also the areas where maybe I could use some enhancement in my skillset.  This is healthy introspection which can guide me to begin thinking of myself as a value creator, rather than a commodity performing a needed function for my employer. 

When I start to think this way, I can begin to have the tough conversation with myself that forces me to answer the question...if I were the one doing the paying, would I hire myself?

I never thought I'd need that!!

I was reading an article in the Wall Street Journal Online from August 9th that was discussing the long-term unemployed.  Specifically the article was discussing an individual in the Phoenix area who had been laid off from his job after 23 years of accounting and finance roles of increasing responsibility.  The article states:
 
"Mr. Hansen suspects his lack of a Certified Public Accountant credential hurt him with prospective employers. Promotions within Hensley, the only place he had ever worked as an adult, gave him a false sense of security that he would never need the CPA, he says." - Online WSJ 8/9/10.

I read this with interest because he has worked hard since his layoff to find work, he hasn't been sitting waiting for work to find him.  He was effective in his previous employment and, as a result, was promoted and was potentially caught off guard when he was let go. 

I certainly don't think that people should live in fear of the layoff, but I do believe it is worthwhile considering all the things that one can do to sharpen, hone and set oneself apart from average while it doesn't seem that important.  When a solid differentiation is needed, it is a little late to be trying to acquire one.

Book Selection Now Posted

Finally closing in on the draft of the book and have posted in the Downloads section a selection from the first few pages of the book.  Take a look and let me know your thoughts.  Any ideas or critiques are always welcome at entropy.feedback@gmail.com

A theme of the book, and an important reminder to me personally, is the concept of entitlement.  It isn't explicitly treated in the pages of the book, but it is an overarching theme and one that I spend a lot of time thinking about.  This economy is drawing out renewed debates over entitlements.  Decisions of the past are having an affect on our current reality.  The ability for an able body to provide for his/her family is hampered and often it seems that there is no answer, much less an advocate.  My only answer to this dilemma provides no solace in the present...but presses me to stress to everyone I talk with that preparation for the future has to start now (though yesterday would have been preferable).  The enemy of long-term, sustainable peace of mind is short-term excess - let's not fool ourselves about that.

Name selection

The first full draft of the book has been completed.  What a relief to be to this point.  I finished the story in time for Christmas so I could deliver a few copies of the work to my family.  They knew I was working on it and they thought I was crazy.  Now at least they have evidence.

Now for some explanation on the selection for the name of this blog.

As I considered one day how to put the jumbled pile of thoughts that were roaming in my head down for someone to utilize (hopefully) to their benefit, I began to think of an analogy that I could use.  My mind returned to a plant physiology course I had in college where I first became familiar with cascading thermodynamics.

Now, I don't even know if that is a technical term, but it has always been intriguing to me.  The point being that energy starts high and as it does work, some becomes productive, some turns to heat and eventually it is all utilized.  In plants, that activity begins with the sun's rays splitting water through photosynthesis.  The resultant hydrogen ions drive the power turbines of the plant as they try to re-combine with oxygen in an effort to return to stable water molecules.

To extrapolate that to human experience (and my observations in the world of employment) I began to consider thermodynamics and the tendency of energy to equalize or cascade to lower-energy planes where the work-producing capacity is reduced.  The terminology for energy equalization - made popular by the second law of thermodynamics, is entropy.

Entropy describes the productive energy in a system and when everything is equal in a system and productive energy has dissipated, entropy is at its peak.  The question, then, is...

How do we maintain low entropy in our lives - and keep productive work flowing??