Online at 30,000 Feet? Welcome to the World Wide Mile High Club

Posted on January 12, 2009 by TheManager

Delta-a-GoGo: Wi-Fi in the Sky – Good, Bad, Right, Wrong? It’s Here

When I first read about Delta’s plans to add wi-fi networking on some flights I was appalled. Under no circumstances did I want this one last bastion of freedom from emails to escape my personal dead zone. I truly enjoyed my twice-weekly vacation from the Internet, and I’ve always used this time wisely. Generally, I read, listen to music, read and listen to music, or work on various documents offline (and listen to music).

Today, at 9:14 AM I boarded a Tampa-bound flight in Atlanta and heard the terrifying announcement that Delta was launching a new service on this flight, GoGo (or is it Gogo?): a wireless Internet service for flyers. No way was I falling for this invasion of privacy. I’m too strong; too focused.

My Transition to the Dark Side: A Timeline

9:42:08 AM EST – The lead Delta Flight Attendant announces that Delta is proud to offer wireless Internet access on today’s flight. I find myself offended by the very thought and I decide that there is no price low enough to temp me to interrupt my Internet-free time with a Mile High Web Surf. I decide to stand firm: No Sky-High Wi-Fi for me.

9:42:25 AM EST – The lead Delta Flight Attendant further explains that there is a forty percent discount available for anyone wanting to try the GoGo (or is it go-go?) Wi-Fi today. While I despise the idea of working online at 30,000 feet, I hate the idea of missing a discount even more. (To learn why I hate missing discounts, read Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely – the third to the last book I read on a plane before this latest attempt to ensure I occupy 100% of my time on the Internet.)

9:42:26 AM EST – 40% off? I’m sold; let’s give this whole Web 2.0 a run for its money.

9:51 AM EST – After an excruciatingly long nine minutes since hearing of the forty percent discount offer, the plane is finally above 10,000 feet and we are free to use our approved electronic devices. A list of approved electronic devices can be found in the Delta Sky magazine located in the seat pocket in front of me. I release my laptop from its case in record time.

9:51:12 AM EST – I wonder why it takes so long to boot up my laptop. Could it be the altitude?

9:54 AM EST – After a brief enrollment in GoGo (or is it gogo?) that included offering up my Amex number, I am off and surfing.

9:55 AM EST – First, I attack Outlook and feverishly drive through the thirty or so emails that have accumulated in the forty-nine minutes since I last shut down.

9:56 AM EST – Hey, there’s the receipt from GoGo (or is it GOGO?) in my inbox.

10:03 AM EST – I click through on a balance reminder email from American Express and spend the next couple of minutes verifying my charges for the last week. Did I really spend $238.62 at CostCo on Saturday? How many four-gallon cans of pork ‘n beans can one family eat?

10:09 AM EST – I’m on Digg.com reading, Digging, and re-Shouting a Digg “Shout” for a blog post from a great sales writer, Skip Anderson. (The post is titled Selling Yourself for Success and it deserves your attention.) I wonder to myself if Skip has a clue that someone is reading his post five and a half miles above Florida.

10:14 AM EST – I’ve run through my original inbox messages and now find myself replying to the replies of those messages. I am in Internet Heaven: I have discovered approximately one hundred fifty-two minutes each week during which I previously had no Internet access.

10:17 AM EST – An instant message pops in from a coworker using Yahoo! Messenger. Weird – it feels like they’re invading my personal space; like they’re standing in my bedroom or something. After a brief hesitation, I answer uncomfortably. I feel a little ashamed that I’m online at 30,000 feet, so I don’t bother to tell them.

10:26 AM EST – I’m reading Google News. It seems the Golden Globes were televised last night. Hmm, I wasn’t aware. Not sure I missed much, to be honest.

10:31 AM EST – The markets have been open for more than an hour, so I check my stock positions at CNBC.com. Even though my portfolio has not recovered in the forty-two minutes since we departed the gate, this Internet-in-the-air is starting to feel really, really good.

10:34 AM EST – Back to email. My inbox seems to fill quickest when I’m out of the office.

10:41 AM EST – I’m looking at my blog, AskTheManager.com, and admiring the cool post I wrote on New Year’s Eve. (I’ve had two drinks, and I think I’m feeling a little too good about my writing.)

10:43 AM EST – Back to email. Don’t these crazy @$#&?!s know I’m on an airplane?

10:49:03 AM EST – Are you kidding me? We’re landing already? Just thirty seconds more and then I’ll shut down, okay?

10:49:22 AM EST – Oh, you’re serious? I have to shut down now? The flight attendant is explaining some crazy rule about 10,000 feet or something.

10:50:12 AM EST – After learning about the possible Federal penalties that can be assessed on someone who disobeys the instructions of a member of the flight crew (flight attendants are members of the flight crew?); I decide it’s best to shut down the laptop and the accompanying wi-fi Internet access.

I’m In – Count Me Among the Mile High Club of Web Access

Sold. Charge me whatever you want, GoGo (or is it gOgO?), and I’ll pay it. I want my Internet access 24/7, and I was only fooling myself when I assumed I was happiest on a plane, insulated from the online world.

More Leadership Lessons from the Airline Industry – Delta Stubs Their Toe (Again)

Posted on December 27, 2008 by TheManager

More Leadership Lessons from Delta Airlines

In a recent post, we admonished Delta Airlines for the ill-conceived, confusing Delta Breezeway enacted in late 2007. It seemed that even months after its introduction, most Delta gate agents and Delta frequent fliers still had no idea how to use them.

We are proud to say that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Delta gate agents suddenly began using the Delta Breezeway consistently across the seven different airports we used. (This is a record, to be sure, as any Delta gate outside of Atlanta or Cincinnati employed a different set of rules when using the Breezeway for the first ten months following its inception.)

Congratulations Delta for finally making sense of something so simple – of course, we still believe you could have rolled this out more intelligently; employing proper project management principles coupled with better education and training.

Delta Airlines – Not Sweating the Small Stuff

The debacle that was the Delta Breezeway reveals a lackadaisical attitude in the Delta boardroom for truly serving the customer. Delta simply doesn’t sweat the small stuff. In any normal leadership situation the ability to not sweat the small stuff is an admirable quality. Given the razor thin margins of the airline industry, it’s almost required that you sweat everything – especially the small stuff that impacts your customers.

Southwest Airlines (SWA) gets it. The SWA leadership has always been known as a group that plans everything from boarsding a plane to their overall business health. SWA gets it; and they generally get it right the first time.

As a disclaimer, it’s important to note that none of the AskTheManager editors enjoys flying on Southwest. Their cattle call style of assigning seats and loading planes might make logistical sense – and families with kids seem to be okay with it – but it is terrible for business fliers who travel for a living. That said, SWA is the healthiest airline in America and deserves to be studied by those who are struggling. (Hint for the other airlines: look at SWA’s leadership, and how the company tests and measures before they implement wholesale changes.)

You Cannot Test Ideas in the Boardroom

Southwest’s style of loading planes, as we wrote, has been a nuisance for business travelers – especially those who like to lounge before they fly. We must know we will have the aisle seat in the exit row and we don’t want to have to fight for it.

In the airline industry, unloading and loading planes quickly – faster than your rivals – earns you a competitive advantage. SWA gets this. They’ve made a conscience choice to forego most business travelers in return for better margins. That is their choice.

It’s old news, but Southwest experimented with assigned seating for about a year only to decide to slightly modify their 36-year old cattle drive in favor of a more orderly numbered seating system. (To read more about this decision, here’s a news story from September 2007.) No assigned seats, but with less of a cattle call. The leadership lesson for Delta is not that they should switch to a numbered system for assigning seats, rather that they should alter the way they enact changes at their struggling airline.

Last month – just days after Delta completed its merger with Northwest and proclaimed that there would be no immediate changes – Delta made an enormous change to the way everyone, including frequent fliers, gains access to premium seats (exit rows, most aisle seats and coach seats near the front of the aircraft). They adopted, without warning or testing, a system that we’ve been told was in place at Northwest. They wanted everyone to pay extra for those seats.

While we’re are certainly not opposed to Delta raising revenue in creative ways, we were absolutely shocked to learn that as frequent fliers we didn’t even have access to those seats until check-in. You see, Delta wanted to sell those seats at a premium to regular fliers, so they blocked frequent fliers from gaining access to those seats.

They clearly tested this concept only in the boardroom, and it passed with flying colors.

Oops, Time to Reverse another Bad Delta Decision

To their credit, Delta only made their coveted Platinum and Gold members suffer for a few weeks before they reversed this idiotic and untested change. We can only imagine the emails that flooded Delta.com complaining of this policy (we know of a few sent by us that were not pleasant).

The moral of this story for all businesses is to follow the Southwest example. Even when the world was telling them for decades that their system for assigning seats should be altered, they resisted the temptation to enact wholesale changes and tested (for months, in controlled situations at just a few select locations) a new system before determining a course of action.

This is why Southwest has fared better than Delta and the other large airlines. The Delta leadership could learn a thing or two from Southwest.

Young Managers Can Learn from Old Sayings

Posted on November 23, 2008 by TheManager

Old Sayings are Often Gold Sayings

Yes, that hackneyed phrase was as hard to type as it is to read, but I used it to illustrate a point: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; you do reap what you sow; and actions do speak louder than words.

Is it just me, or do we reject old sayings out of hand until we become old ourselves?

While none of these three sayings originated in the workplace, they all can and do apply to situations managers face everyday. Moreover, as most every business in the world is facing a tough road ahead, these and many other old sayings are proving more true by the minute.

A lesser known and less mature old saying – you either change the people or you change the people – should become so ingrained in every manager’s brain that they begin to say it in their sleep.

Tough Times Call for Bold Action

The single worst trait most young managers possess is the desire to be liked. Because of this, they are often reluctant to make hard decisions (or take bold action) – even in tough times.

They work very hard to change the people, but fail miserably to change the people if they cannot change the people. When faced with adversity in business, leaders must either change the people or change the people.

There are no exceptions to this rule… and this is where most first-time managers fail.

Whether due to an overdose of compassion or a fear of disapproval, young managers have trouble pulling the trigger on underperformers. They will stall, capitulate or even accept poor performance from a handful of their charges if it means avoiding confrontation and endangering their popularity.

Leadership is not a Popularity Contest

Leadership, in fact, is often quite lonely. For those of you who are afraid of making the tough decisions right now, take a few minutes and complete a brief exercise.

Jot down your goals, your company’s goals and a few of the interim steps you and your company will take before you realize all of the goals.
Scenario One: Imagine that the economic downturn has already bottomed and that we are on our way up. Imagine it is six months from now and unemployment is at 5%, the Dow is firmly above 11,000, and credit is flowing freely.
Scenario Two: Imagine it is six months from now and unemployment sits at 15%, the Dow rests at 6,300, credit tightens to the extent that your company cannot borrow, and you are forced to lay off 50% of your workforce.

What happened to your goals and your company’s goals in Scenario One? You probably reached many of the short term goals and are well on your way to reaching your long term goals.

Now, let’s examine what happened in Scenario Two: likely, you are far from your goals, your company is close to bankruptcy, and you are probably included in the 50% of your workforce that will soon be unemployed.

Complacency is the Enemy of Success

As leaders, we cannot count on external factors (like the economy) to always go in our favor. Anyone can manage when times are good. True leadership is often hard to spot when sales are up, profits are high and everyone is smiling.

If the recent problems in your industry have taught you nothing else, they should have displayed for you in living color the difference between the leaders and the pretenders. Now is the time to rid yourself of the pretenders: either you change the people or you change the people. Doing nothing is not an option.

Time for Change

Start by working to change the people. Identify your lowest performers, provide them with the tools and the training necessary to do their jobs, and give them firm expectations.

If this fails, then change the people.

The greatest benefit of economic crisis is the cleansing that ultimately takes place. Call it “Business Darwinism” or simply market forces at work; the fittest will survive. If you fail to change the people, you can rest assured that you will not be counted among the fittest.

Goldman “Leaders” Choose Poverty over Incarceration

Posted on November 17, 2008 by TheManager

Goldman Leaders Forgo 2008 Bonuses

In a recent email from one of our readers, we were asked to weigh in on the Goldman Sachs Group’s leadership decision to request no bonuses for the current calendar year.

What are your thoughts on the following article? How does this reflect leadership during these troubled times? – Tye Mills

(To read the article Tye mentions, follow this link.)

Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and six other top executives asked the board’s compensation committee to skip them during bonus time this year.

Pardon us if we don’t cheer.

While it is certainly admirable that these executives would take a seemingly proactive step to helping right the ship at Goldman, this decision should have come from the board (not from the executives) and should have come much sooner than November 2008. (In the nature of full disclosure, the executives likely gave up their bonuses because Attorney General Andrew Cuomo warned them last month that the bonuses might break New York State law.)

We never begrudge any executive their compensation nor any corporation their profits. This is the way our system works; and our system has worked better than any other in the history of the world. The prosperity enjoyed from Joe Six-Pack to Joe the Plumber is in large part due to the spoils enjoyed by the executives of the Fortune 500.

Take away their incentive to make money and you take away our standard of living.

Further, the seeds of destruction at corporations like Goldman and Lehman that plunged the world into economic turmoil were not planted by large bonuses. Rather, it was inattentive executives and especially their boards of directors who drove us off this cliff – while laughing and smiling all the way to the bank.

But How Will They Feed Their Families?

TheManager will not get a bonus this year, either. Not because I petitioned the board, but because my bonus is set up to pay out only when the shareholders make money. In 2008, my company’s shareholders lost quite a bit.

The removal of truly performance-based bonus pay is where most executives and boards have failed the owners of their companies; and why many of these men and women should be in jail. Leveraging your shareholders for personal gain, as Lehman has been reported to have done, by ratios of 30:1 or worse is criminal. No owner (and that’s what stockholders are) would ever agree to assume risks of this magnitude.

Before you worry about poor Lloyd and his crew, they will still receive roughly $600,000 each in base salary this year. Additionally, we can only wish that they were able to save some of their bonus from last year. (Just as the wheels of the economy were coming off in 2007, the top three executives at Goldman Sachs made more than $57 million each.)

It’s No Longer a Free Market

Companies, and especially their highly paid executives, have argued that multi-million dollar bonuses were necessary to “to attract and retain top talent.”

Top talent? By top talent, I’m hopeful you don’t mean Dick Fuld of Lehman or even Lloyd Blankfein.

Before we break our arms patting old Lloyd on the back, let’s remember that Blankfein was the CEO when Goldman posted a 70 percent drop in profits last quarter. Additionally, Blankfein was the CEO when Goldman stock plunged 69 percent this year. Doesn’t sound like bonus time to me.

In a free market, Goldman is free to pay its executives whatever they can grab. However, the market is no longer free for Goldman, Morgan Stanley and many other firms. Goldman, you see, took 10 billion of your tax dollars in the recent bailout. This makes them, in our opinion, a quasi-governmental entity. At the very least, they should be heavily regulated until we get our $10 billion back – this includes their executive compensation plans.

Back to Tye’s Question

Tye asked, “How does this reflect leadership during these troubled times?”

Tye, if this were truly a leadership move and not a classic CYA*, I would be impressed. I am not.

I would have been impressed if the leadership of Goldman Sachs had taken the long view toward building wealth for their shareholders and clients instead of focusing on their multi-million dollar paydays.

Once Goldman became a publicly traded entity in 1999 they moved the risk from themselves (the partners) to the shareholders. Without the risk, they were like drunken coeds on South Padre Island waiting for their shot on Girls Gone Wild.

Leadership is about service and sacrifice. Giving up a bonus because you’re afraid to go to jail is self preservation. Self preservation is as far from leadership as $57 million is from $600,000.

…

To read some interesting notes about the current crisis and how we really got there, check out a great article published last week by Liar’s Poker author Michael Lewis. It brings some closure to the fall of Salomon Brothers and some great insights into today’s troubles. Lewis convincingly argues that Salomon’s move from a partnership to a publicly traded corporation led to the current collapse. To read Lewis’ article, follow this link.

…

*Editor’s Note: CYA is code for “cover your ass.”

The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases

Posted on November 8, 2008 by TheManager

The 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use

From the overused to the clichéd, we are inundated on a daily basis with annoying and ridiculous business phrases from the lips of well-meaning managers.

Why so many of us, present company included, rely on the latest catch phrases or tired business jargon to relay a particular message is unclear. Whether lazy, blocked or we really think it makes us sound important, we too often reach for the prepackaged word grouping instead of constructing an original sentence.

Tired of the constant use and misuse of worthless wordings, we decided to assemble a list of formulaic business phrases still in (over)use today. Of course, simply compiling a list of the worst or most annoying business phrases was too easy – narrowing that list to just twenty-five proved to be the hard part.

To add a little complexity to this project, we decided to author a single speech using all twenty-five of the most annoying business phrases. That speech, which you are encouraged to deliver at your company’s holiday party this year, is located at the bottom of this article.

After countless hours of debate, here is our list of the 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Use. For those wishing to sound more like true leaders, we included very simple replacement expressions for each.

Think Outside of the Box – We cringe even writing this one. Inarguably the very worst, most annoying business phrase of all time, Think Outside of the Box has become such an overused cliché that Taco Bell coined their own version for a national ad campaign: Think Outside the Bun. Once the likes of Taco Bell, Sears, General Motors or 7-11 latch onto a popular phrase and add it to their lexicon, that phrase has officially become a caricature of its former self. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Think Creatively.
Give 110% – Our problems with this phrase are both the impossibility of giving 110% and the sheer belief that somehow, if you could actually give 110%, that this would be good enough. Why stop at 110%? What are you, a slacker? We know Nigel Tufnel would give 111%, anyway. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Do Your Best.
Hit the Ground Running – Meant to energize a team to start work on a project immediately, this overused idiom generally has the opposite effect. Usually the person telling their team to “hit the ground running” is some do-nothing who only hits the ground running when five o’clock rolls around. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Get Started Immediately.
The 30,000-Foot View – Though not the only use or misuse of this phrase, “the 30,000-foot view” is often uttered by pompous managers who believe they see the big picture that the rest of us are somehow missing. We get it, okay, you want us to believe you’re considering every outcome of a particular decision. The origins of this phrase, which is meant to describe the view from a commercial airplane (flying at 30,000 feet), have become so misunderstood that we often hear our colleagues refer to everything from the 5,000-foot view to the 100,000-foot view – clearly different views. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: The Big Picture (we know this is also clichéd, but at least everyone will understand the meaning).
FYI – The overused acronym meaning For Your Information, has become such an annoyance to hear uttered (writing FYI is sometimes useful) that one of our editors believes FYI actually means Fornicate You, Idiot. (Of course, he replaces “fornicate” with a common expletive.) He claims that it becomes a little more palatable to hear someone say “FYI” when you think of it in his context. Like putting the words “in bed” after your read the saying from a fortune cookie, this immature habit of his works well and is quite funny. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: nothing (uttering “FYI” adds no value and does not need to be replaced – just stop saying it).
Blocking and Tackling – Whenever someone in your business skips the basics and fails, managers will often say “it’s just blocking and tackling” to signify that the simplest of tasks were not completed. Of all the overused sports analogies applied to business, this is the most annoying because it implies that blocking and tackling are easy tasks. In football blocking and tackling are the most important tasks, and not necessarily the easiest. Without blocking, the offense cannot score. Without tackling, the defense cannot stop the offense. Since we don’t actually block or tackle at work, let’s drop this silly misuse. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Primary Tasks or Basic Tasks.
800-Pound Gorilla – Used in business to mean some entity so dominating or uncontrollable (because of their power or size) that others must show respect/consideration, the term “800-pound gorilla” is so overused we feel like throwing poop. Given that the average gorilla weighs about 400 pounds (and usually likes to throw poop at zoo visitors), you can imagine the damage that an 800-pound gorilla would cause. Annoying because it is unnecessary, this phrase is so often misused (like 30,000-foot view) that we once heard “200-pound gorilla” and “1,000-pound gorilla” uttered in the same meeting – ugh! The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Industry Leader.
Throw Under the Bus – Often correctly used to describe acts of betrayal in the workplace that provide a minor advantage to the one doing the throwing: “he really threw him under the bus,” this relatively new business phrase has quickly become an annoyance by its watered-down overuse. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Sacrifice.
Rightsizing – This politically correct term for “cutting expenses” vaults into our top ten by virtue of a recent explosion in usage. The current economic climate has forced businesses to make tough decisions, and these decisions most often include expense reductions and layoffs. Managers who feel uneasy using real world terminology to describe their actions take the coward’s course and declare they are rightsizing their organizations. If it was truly “rightsizing” we were doing, then we’d be doing it during good times too, wouldn’t we? The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Downsizing (that’s if you’re afraid of the word “layoff”).
Reaching Out – This phrase is probably most annoying because it seems no one calls or emails anymore, they just reach out – its usage has certainly exploded. The image of someone reaching out to us is more than a little creepy, and yet more and more of our colleagues tell us they are “reaching out” to us – we’d prefer they just email. The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Contact.
Low-Hanging Fruit – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Easy.
Incremental Improvement – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Improvement.
My Two Cents – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: My Opinion.
Solutions Provider – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Vendor.
Bring Your “A” Game – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Arrive Prepared.
Tear Down the Silos – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Remove Barriers.
Paradigm Shift – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Fundamental Change.
Take it to the Next Level – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Improve.
Light a Fire Under Him/Her – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Motivate.
Client Engagement – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Meeting.
Take it Offline – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Discuss it Later.
At This Point in Time – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Now, Currently or Today.
Give You a Heads Up – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Provide Notice.
Synergy – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Collaboration.
Action Item – The AskTheManager replacement phrase leaders should use: Task.

As promised, here is a speech you can deliver at your holiday party this year that will surely make you sound like either the most intelligent or most pompous person in the room. Intelligence is in the ear of the receiver.

I’m reaching out to you today to thank you for helping us make 2008 a solid year for our business. Despite the economic turmoil we face at this point in time, your dedication to synergy and out of the box thinking has allowed us to make incremental improvement in our rightsizing efforts. FYI, In order for us to take it to the next level, we need everyone to hit the ground running on their ‘09 action items and give 110%. As I take a 30,000-foot view of our industry, I see competitive solutions providers who must light a fire under their teams, tear down their silos and make significant paradigm shifts if they expect to catch us, the 800-Pound Gorilla. To these companies I say, “let me give you a heads up, you’d better bring your ‘A’ game if you want to beat us.” We are the industry’s best because we are superior in every way. We are better at blocking and tackling, we are better at gathering the low hanging fruit and we are better at exceeding expectations during client engagements. If we have disagreements, we take it offline – we never throw each other under the bus. If you want my two cents, I would rather work with this group than with the finest people on earth.

Now sit back and bask in the applause.

Using The Proper Email Etiquette for Business Signatures

Posted on October 30, 2008 by TheManager

Proper Email Etiquette for Business Signatures

In response to numerous requests to a recent series of posts covering proper email etiquette, the editors of AskTheManager.com decided it was time to put to rest the question on what should be included in a business email signature.

For those of you not familiar enough with Outlook to create your own email signature – hint: we’re describing the automatic “signature” at the bottom of every email so you don’t have to type it out each time – check out the excellent tutorial from Microsoft by clicking on this link or following the directions below:

Creating a Signature for Email Messages in Microsoft Outlook

From the main Microsoft Outlook window, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
Under Compose in this message format list, click the message format that you want to use the signature with.
Under Signature, click Signatures, and then click New.
In the Enter a name for your new signature box, enter a name.
Under Choose how to create your signature, select the option you want and then click Next.
In the Signature text box, type the text you want to include in the signature.

Proper Etiquette for an Email Signature

Over the years we’ve seen so many bad email signatures used in business that we are compelled to help the masses create an email signature that doesn’t make them look like complete buffoons.

First, we need to explain that if you are in business and sending business related emails you MUST use an email signature. An email signature is not an option as it conveys many messages beyond your title. Not the least of which is that email signatures help recipients recall your company details and link to your website for more information.

Additionally, business people will frequently rely on an email signature for contact information. Often we find ourselves searching for the contact information of someone who corresponded with us on just a few occasions. We’ve never added this person to our Contacts list and we probably don’t intend to, but a colleague invariably asks for their contact information. If this person has included a proper email signature, we can easily cut and paste that information and forward it to our colleagues. If not, we are stuck digging through a pile of business cards.

While there are certainly variations of what should and should not be included in a proper email signature, the editors of AskTheManager.com believe the following items create the most acceptable business email signature for professionals in the new millennium:

First Name (especially used when your proper first name is commonly shortened)

Full Proper Name with Middle Initial

Title

Company

Street Address

City, State and Zip Code

Office Number

Mobile Number

Fax Number (yes, some people still send these)

Email Address

Web Address (if applicable)

Standard company disclaimer (generally in a smaller, italicized font)

Here’s a sample of what this might look like:

Bob

Robert L. Smith

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

AskTheManager.com

1234 Any Street

Anytown, IL 60601

Office: (312) 555-1212

Mobile: (630) 555-1212

Fax: (312) 555-1211

Robert_Smith@askthemanager.com

www.askthemanager.com

AskTheManager.com and its affiliates will never sell, rent, or share your email address. This email and any files transmitted with it are the confidential property of AskTheManager.com and intended solely for use by the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete all copies.

In the example above, we used “Bob” for the first name entry because “Robert” is commonly shortened to “Bob.” If you prefer to go by “Robert,” you should spell this out in the first name line. If you don’t include a first name, those who don’t know you may assume (incorrectly) that you are called “Bob.” Including “Robert” in the first name line will help you avoid making new contacts feel uncomfortable when they call you “Bob” and you correct them with “it’s Robert.”

Sincerely Closing a Business Email

Some leaders will include their standard email complimentary closing automatically above the signature, though we recommend against this for a number of reasons. Primarily, we find ourselves equally using “Sincerely,” “Thank You,” “Thanks,” “Best Regards,” “Regards,” and “Best Wishes” in the emails we send. If we chose just one of these, more than half our emails would include a clumsy close.

For example, when sending a business email to someone with whom we have a close personal relationship we find ourselves using “Thanks” for the informal email and “Best Wishes” for the more formal communication. We would never want to include either of these for a first email to someone we’re never met. In those instances we’ll use either “Sincerely” or “Best Regards.” When we correspond with someone we don’t particularly care for, or when we are forced to admonish a vendor via email (not usually recommended), we will simply end with “Regards.”

Afterthoughts on Business Email Etiquette

In what should have been expected in a Murphy’s Law sort of way, it seems the use of email stationery has increased since our August series begged the business world to discontinue this. In the past two months, more than 3% of the emails we’ve received contained some form of vicious stationery that acts like malware as it attacks the format of our responses.

Unfortunately for us, we are too kind (or too busy) to personally explain to the offenders that the use of stationery is a business faux pas – they just seem so pleased with themselves that we don’t have the heart to tell them it looks amateur and impacts our ability to properly respond.

This brings up a great leadership lesson: don’t sweat the small stuff (and don’t ever tell your administrative assistant that he/she is classless.)

New Managers – How Do You Keep From Getting Run Over?

Posted on October 6, 2008 by TheManager

New Managers – Avoiding the Inevitable Traps

AC from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (that’s in Canada for the geographically challenged leaders out there) wrote us in August for some advice on how to gain respect as a new manager. To read her original concerns and our response, please follow this link.

We were anxious about her situation, because it was so very typical of young managers tasked with leading entry-level sales reps with nothing to lose. It is much easier to lead six-figure salespeople and middle managers with skin in the game than it is to manage an immature group with too many other options.

From the sound of it, AC is doing the right things (and doing them right):

I just wanted to update you… I have taken all your insight straight to the bank. For 5 of the last 6 weeks, our store has been number one of the 58 stores coast to coast. I am constantly trying to reinvent ways of being organized and efficient…

That’s outstanding news, AC. For anyone who doesn’t understand the first rule of business, it is to make money for the owners of the company. AC’s store is clearly performing at the highest level for sales and she is continuing to look for ways to improve. Obviously, there are good things to come for AC in her management career.

While it can be said that Sales Cures All Ills, issues remain in AC’s store. AC could not get her team to complete a fairly simple task of keeping 12 clientele books updated, so she reduced the workload to a single book, expecting her team to relish in the efficiency and simplicity of the plan. As AC soon learns, no good deed goes unpunished.

My attempt blew up in my face. I can honestly say that it hit the fan that day, and people were up in arms. They had reacted as if I killed their dog. This change has created a catastrophe of tension within the store, and it feels like a junior high clique. I have never used my position to do whatever I want; I have goals and have always lent an ear to those who have an opinion, because I respect the opinion of my associates.

So, sales are good, but small changes create chaos. Moreover, it seems that the team does not appreciate AC.

These associates have taken advantage of the good grace and now feel the need to tell me how to do my job. I would be more than welcome to negative or positive feedback as long as it’s not a complaint session and a positive outcome could be reached. Such is not the case, fingers would rather be pointed than solutions found. These associates only seem to appreciate me as long as I am accommodating their every whim: letting them leave early and paying them for the rest of their time; letting them take coffee breaks and extended lunches; and having all their requested days off met while still trying to accommodate their need for hours. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am a pushover, and perhaps have created a beast that I no longer want to feed.

AC, you’re not a pushover. You’ve made some great decisions (or your store would not have been number one for 5 of the last 6 weeks), though you have hit some inevitable roadblocks for new managers. I’m hopeful that these past two months have helped you understand that employees are never satisfied.

Employees Want Everything

It’s really a true statement that your employees want everything. An immature workforce, as is typical in a mall clothing store, is never satisfied. Give them an extra ten-minute break, and they’ll want twenty. Let them go home at 4:30, and they’ll want to leave at 4. Give them a $100 raise, and they’ll want $200. They will never be satisfied.

I’ve always said that if you gave an immature workforce the right to sit at home and watch TV and still earn the same amount of pay, they’d complain about when the checks arrived. They will never be satisfied.

Say it with me: They will never be satisfied. No matter what you give, they’ll always want more. They’re too immature to understand the needs of the business. If they could understand this, they’d attempt to balance their wants with the company’s needs – they won’t. Since they will never be satisfied, it’s time to stop giving. You can still reward, but you want to learn the difference between favors that gain nothing for the store and rewards that drive results.

I thought that there was a good work environment and that everyone was getting along, when in fact there was so much two-facedness going on that I was oblivious to. I can’t fix a problem I don’t know about. I’ve always been an honest person and I can own up to my faults. How do I fix this issue and establish myself rather then have people run me over?

Just like with small children, it is important to set the boundaries and limits for your team. Don’t stick anything in the electrical outlets. Don’t cross the street without looking both ways. Don’t touch the stove.

With entry-level workers, you have to expect that all of them will eventually leave for one reason or another, so don’t be afraid to allow some of them to depart right now. Set the limits on what is acceptable behavior, the length of the coffee breaks, quitting time and the schedule. Explain that you will be flexible so long as they are flexible and the store is meeting its goals.

For those who want to grow with the company, they’ll get this right away and they’ll perform. For those who are just too immature to help the company reach its goals, they’ll find something else to do. (Of course, they’ll be unsatisfied at their next job, too.)

Be Fair – Great Leaders Always Are

Let them know that if they need special consideration (e.g., they want to go home early or get a certain day off), that you’re a fair person who’ll work with those who are willing to work with you.

Let them know that your only job is to help them be successful, and that you have a primary goal to make this a fun place to work. Of course, it won’t be fun for anyone if you don’t meet your objectives. They can help you meet those objectives or they can find somewhere else to work.

Explain that while this may sound harsh, the economy we’re faced with today does not reward poor performing groups, although those who like being on the number one team have nothing to worry about.

Find an External Enemy

Sales is a competition and good salespeople are very competitive. Right now, it sounds like the enemy of the salespeople is their manager. You need to turn this around. Give them a new enemy to focus on: the other fifty-seven stores in your company.

Post the sales results of every store, every week. Highlight where your store is on the list and where the five or six geographically closest stores rank. Celebrate (by congratulating and thanking your team) whenever you are ahead of the others, and ask for suggestions (from your team) when you are not. When your team is focused on beating the snot out of the other fifty-seven stores, you’ll be amazed at how the petty issues of the past seem to go away.

Leadership and Impartiality – AskTheManager

Posted on September 21, 2008 by TheManager

Leadership and Impartiality

Of all the leadership development lessons we can learn from the 2008 Presidential Elections, there is probably none so clear as how the lack of impartiality equates to poor leadership.

Interestingly, these lessons are not learned so much from the candidates –Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin most certainly lost their ability to remain neutral on any subject once they acquired their party’s nomination – as much as we can learn them from the media.

Not surprisingly, Rush Limbaugh leads the partisan bandwagon with his usual far-right banter, though he is more an actor playing a part than true political spokesman for either side. What is interesting about the 2008 Presidential Election is the utter inundation of left leaning liberals in the media who will stop at nothing to smear McCain and (especially) Palin without regard to their duties as journalists.

No single “journalist” – not Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or even Dan Rather – has ever gone so far over the line as MSNBC’s Keith Obermann. Obermann has literally redefined partisan journalism like no man or woman before him could ever dream of doing. Obermann has single-handedly moved the editors at AskTheManager.com from “undecided” to clearly in the McCain/Palin camp. We will, it seems, be voting for the Republicans in the November 4 election thanks to Keith Obermann.

What is most glaring about Obermann and his merry band (including some truly atrocious mud-slinging masculine woman whom we’ve never bothered to learn her name) is their unbelievable lack of humility as they pull Sarah Palin and John McCain through scrutiny that, while may be deserved, is more than 1,000 times the scrutiny they gave to Obama’s Reverend Wright controversy or Biden’s alleged plagiarism (not to mention a few hundred other inconsistencies and issues with the Obama/Biden ticket).

Where is the Leadership Lesson?

There is a leadership lesson here, and that is that impartiality can blind someone so much so that they begin to lose their focus on the goal. The goal of the Presidency is to better the United States of America, and the goal of the fourth estate (i.e., the press) is to impartially hold these leaders accountable.

Somewhere between his highly entertaining “Worst Person in the World” rants and his days at ESPN, Obermann stopped being an impartial reporter of the truth and became nothing more than a caricature of all that is wrong with the media today. He is so comically absurd that he makes Limbaugh seem like a serious journalist. He has moved so far into Obama’s camp that Michelle Obama should be concerned about whether he is sharing Barack’s bed.

When a leader does what Obermann has done, he or she no longer can decide what is best for their company. They fall into a fog of certainty that does not allow them to see the world as others see it.

A true leader can put aside their ego and their personal goals for the needs of the company and their team. They strive to see the world as it is, not as how they see it. Obermann, unlike anything that Limbaugh has ever attempted, has become a dog so rabid that he needs to be put down. There seems to be no cure for the Obermannia that runs amok on MSNBC today.

The good news is that we can all learn from Keith Obermann. While the editors of AskTheManager.com are all in agreement that we once loved Obermann as an anchor on Sports Center, he has become a buffoon of late, and we need to rethink how we interact with others based on his antics.

As leaders, we need to remember that the more we are certain of something, the more we need to check our opinions and look to others for guidance. True leaders know that when something is “common sense” and a “no brainer” they might be best served if they investigate a little further and get the input of others before taking their company or their country down a given path.

Obermann and his ilk seem to forget that their goal is to inform the public. Obermann, like Limbaugh, underestimates his listeners and assumes everyone will just follow blindly. The truth is that voters have brains and we tend to use them. We liked Obermann before this election, though we will make our own decisions, thank you.

Leaders Need to Lead, Not Preach

True leaders let those closest to the customer make the decisions. They lead, they don’t preach.

While the press will always have their slant, business leaders need to ensure that they are getting the facts, making decisions and moving their companies forward without involving their own feelings, beliefs or (especially) egos. It is critical that leaders in the new millennium make strong decisions based on what will drive the desired results and not what they feel will move their own agenda.

Clearly, Keith Obermann has forgotten what the goal of the press truly is, and because of this, he has become a bad joke. Business leaders should learn from this and ask themselves if, perhaps, they’ve become a joke.