by Geil Browning, Emergenetics

This time of year, graduates everywhere are making the move from the institution of education to the great wide world. They're starting businesses, joining existing ones, and embarking on careers in public service. It's an exciting time when we all have the opportunity to inspire and be inspired.

I've had the honor of working with thousands of people through the years, specifically helping them find their place in the world. Each and every one of those people has imparted wisdom about life, leadership, and success to me that I could not have attained on my own.

Here are the best insights I've gathered over the years that I now share with the next generation of leaders--and everyone else seeking to find a place in life and business.

Take a good look at your selfie.

It's the selfie generation, right? But who is that in the goofy picture you just posted? The most important question anybody can ask him- or herself is, "Who am I?" What's important to you? At what do you excel? The more you're able to focus on and work within your strengths and on what gives you energy, the happier and more successful you are likely to be.

(Stay Tuned for the Series)

by Rimjhim Ray

Work-life balance is dead. Strong statement? Yes. Given that for most of the last few decades we have been fighting for the elusive balance. 8 hours office. 9 to 5. Compartmentalized personal and professional lives. Work and play did not blend. Repeating the all work and no play adage over and over again. Now, a little over a decade in the new millennium we are seeing another tectonic shift. The DNA of organizations are getting flipped. Because the millennial workforce is vastly different than what you had 20 years ago. The codified working hours, defined office spaces, strict dress codes are alien in a world where the priorities around work and life have vastly changed. And so have the work-life paradigms.

The work-life boundary is actually a mythical line. I have always found the following statement slightly odd ‘Career should not come at the expense of life’ Signifying that a career is an alien thing that happens outside of our lives. Really? Something that is about 50% of every day. Is it possible to treat the job as an unnecessary evil that pays the bills and have a blissful life generally outside of it? Separate life and career goals? No. The personal-professional dichotomy is artificial. It is all you. Your life. You can’t really come home happy if you are spending 8 miserable hours in the cubicle. And this is where I find the basic flaw in the work-life balance concepts. Switching off the phone does not make the professional life disappear. You carry the energies out. This is why your work and life should match. You cannot play a Dr Jekylly, Mr Hyde game with your two lives.

The other thing that is making work-life boundaries more ambiguous is the nature of work itself. The days of the 9 am swipe in and the 5 pm swipe out are all by over. In a fluid, digital and global world people work across timezones. From coffee shops, homes and garages. Timings have become blurred. When working in an idea economy, the work happens when the idea happens. At 5 am. Not between 9 and 5. At 12 midnight.

What then about the separate time for the things you love? In the new world, people are insisting on more than a job; they are insisting on a career they love. So there is no hard transition between the job you hate and the other life you love. Sharp at 5 when the siren blows. Also in a fluid workplace, me time and work time are fuzzy; as it should be. You cannot schedule your daughter’s PTA at 8 pm when you get home from work. You cannot schedule to deliver your first baby after work hours. The new age work rules are being built around life. To integrate. Not segregate.

As people look for purpose beyond the paycheck in their careers; choose careers and workplaces that match you. Your life. Your passions. The work-life balance is an oxymoron. It is the match that you have to find. The cultural fits. The flexibility to be you. The acceptance for aberrations. The match of purpose. The acknowledgement of individual priorities. The new corporates are being built around these principles. Because work-life balance is an oxymoron. It is the synergy that is important.

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Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader by Tanya Prive. Forbes Contributor
Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Ability to Inspire

Creating a business often involves a bit of forecasting. Especially in the beginning stages of a startup, inspiring your team to see the vision of the successes to come is vital. Make your team feel invested in the accomplishments of the company. Whether everyone owns a piece of equity, or you operate on a bonus system, generating enthusiasm for the hard work you are all putting in is so important. Being able to inspire your team is great for focusing on the future goals, but it is also important for the current issues. When you are all mired deep in work, morale is low, and energy levels are fading, recognize that everyone needs a break now and then. Acknowledge the work that everyone has dedicated and commend the team on each of their efforts. It is your job to keep spirits up, and that begins with an appreciation for the hard work.

Top 10 Qualities That Make A Great Leader by Tanya Prive. Forbes Contributor (original introduction)
Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful business venture. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the entrepreneurs. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first hire, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.

Intuition
When leading a team through uncharted waters, there is no roadmap on what to do. Everything is uncertain, and the higher the risk, the higher the pressure. That is where your natural intuition has to kick in. Guiding your team through the process of your day-to-day tasks can be honed down to a science. But when something unexpected occurs, or you are thrown into a new scenario, your team will look to you for guidance. Drawing on past experience is a good reflex, as is reaching out to your mentors for support. Eventually though, the tough decisions will be up to you to decide and you will need to depend on your gut instinct for answers. Learning to trust yourself is as important as your team learning to trust you.

The Elements of Enchantment

Embracing these principles and making a sincere, ongoing effort to enchant your employees has many happy side effects: you’ll continually improve as a boss, and the virtuous circle completed by you and your employees will make the world a better place. And it is important to remember that there is more to enchantment than how it applies to your employees and your relationship with them. I’ve explored the idea in greater depth in my book Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. To consistently enchant people and achieve your goals and what you want to accomplish in the world, it also takes:

1. Likability. You’re not going to be enchanted by someone you dislike.
   
   
2. Trustworthiness. If you don’t trust someone, you won’t be enchanted.
   
   
3. Preparation. You’ll enchant people with great communication and well-developed attention to detail.
   
   
4. Ability to launch. Get immersed in your cause, and get it out there. Become inspired by the actions of superstar enchanters like Virgin’s Richard Branson and Apple’s Steve Jobs.
   
   
5. Overcoming resistance. How can you enchant the influencers? People won’t automatically gravitate to your cause.
   
   
6. Endurance. Enchantment should lead to a change that lasts, not a brief interaction. People need to internalize and believe in the values of your change efforts.
   
   
7. Effective use of push technology. We are blessed with many technological tools that can further our cause and aid in creating enchantment. Using Twitter, presentations, e-mail, and the like gets your message into the world. They allow you to engage many people, fast and often.
   
   
8. Effective use of pull technology. The flip side of push technology lets you enchant through use of websites, blogs, and social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
   
   
9. Enchanting your boss. This takes a bit of a mindshift. Reorient your efforts to making your boss successful, before yourself. If you’ve properly enchanted your boss, the rewards can be plentiful.
   
   
10. Resisting enchantment when necessary. Lots of people can be enchanting, but their cause is not your cause. Sometimes you’ve got to avoid tempting situations, think long-term about your decisions, or even create a checklist of critical factors to consider before making a decision.
    
    Finally, to enchant your employees and get an even better sense of what it means to be an enchanter, create your own personal Enchantment Hall of Fame. It’s a great way to consider what enchants you, and how that can inspire you to create and further your cause. Here are some of my categories and choices: after reading them, compare and provide your own and you are well on the road to enchantment:
    
    

Most of us in corporate America are busy, functioning at warp speed and though we would love to stop and smell the roses they are more typically a blur as we hurry past.  We are constantly managed to move faster than a speeding bullet, be more powerful than a locomotive and leap tall buildings in a single bound.  We are immersed in information through training and books to help us be highly effective, retrain our brain, go beyond the idea, build our influence, move from good to great, discover our strengths , function well in teams and on it goes.  I believe all of these to be good and even powerful ideas but most of us are challenged to take the concepts and place them dynamically in our jam packed and quickening lives.  I hope you do not feel like I am “piling on” with this next suggestion but have you considered hiring a coach?  Why would you do such a thing?

“Coaches have an advantage over the participants.  They can see things objectively and make assessments which shed light on difficult situations.  Frequently, the simple act of a timely delivered; attentive question can bring amazing clarity to a challenging circumstance.  A Coach can act as the needed sounding board that helps sharpen skills, motivate and build confidence.” 

In a Global Coaching Client Study commissioned by the International Coach Federation but conducted independently by PricewaterhouseCoopers the following findings were observed:

Increased Productivity: Professional coaching maximizes potential and, therefore, unlocks latent sources of productivity.

• 70% Improved Work Performance
• 61% Improved Business Management
• 57% Improved Time Management
• 51% Improved Team Effectiveness

Positive People: Building the self-confidence of employees to face challenges is critical in meeting organizational demands.

• 80% Improved Self-Confidence
• 73% Improved Relationships
• 72% Improved Communication Skills
• 67% Improved Work/Life Balance

Return On Investment: Coaching generates learning and clarity for forward action with a commitment to measurable outcomes.

• 86% of companies say they at least made their money back

Satisfied Clients: Virtually all companies and individuals who hire a coach are satisfied.

• 99% “Somewhat” of “Very Satisfied” with Overall Experience
• 96% Would Repeat the Process

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Here are the ten best ways to enchant your employees:

1. Provide a MAP. You may find it counterintuitive that money is not the primary reason someone loves their job. Nonetheless, it turns out that several other factors, when taken together, are even more important. In his best-selling book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel H. Pink explains what employees really want from their employers, which can be simply stated as being given the opportunity to continually master new skills while working autonomously toward a purpose greater than themselves. This does not mean that you shouldn’t pay people adequately, but a MAP is what really leads to enchantment. And while you’ve got control over how much money you pay someone, it is also important to remember that you’ve got control over your relationships in these three areas, and how you provide opportunities within each area. The cost to you for each one can be little or nothing, with a significant payoff.

Here is a brief look at each member of this powerful trio of concepts:

1. Mastery: People innately want to get more competent at a job they do each day. They have an intrinsic need to excel and improve.
   
   
2. Autonomy: Set goals for people, give them the proper tools, and then stand back. Micromanagement erodes trust and is the enemy of autonomy.
   
   
3. Purpose: (I consider this to be the most important of the three factors, but as acronyms go, MAP works better than PAM.) Purpose is the meaning made by your organization. It’s the expression of how you are making the world a better place. Your employees want to play a daily role in how this meaning is made.
   
   2. Empower them to do the right thing. If people have the freedom to work autonomously, it demonstrates that you trust them to make the right decision on customers’ behalf. This high level of trust and empowerment will lead toward the performance of their best work. Remember that your best employees set an example for others. They want to present a sense of delight to their customers—your customers. An important factor in job satisfaction is the ability to make customers happy.
   
   If you burden people with rules and procedures designed more to prevent losses than to make gains, you’re preventing them from working in the customer’s best interest. That means disenchanted employees— and disenchanted customers. Not a good way to change the world. If your employees are empowered to do the right thing, they’ll feel good about themselves and will consistently enchant their customers.
   
   3. Judge your results and their intentions. Maybe it’s just human nature, but most managers tend to be harsher judges of their employees’ results than they are of their own results. “I really tried to meet my sales quota, but you didn’t meet yours.”(Sound familiar?) This is the opposite of what an enchanting manager does. Be a tougher judge of your results than your employees. What did you accomplish? What were your employees’ intentions?
   
   The usual way sets you up to find few faults with how you have performed, while zeroing in on shortcomings of your employees. If, over a long period of time, their results are sub-par, consider asking yourself a couple of questions: Did we make a hiring mistake? Have we made mistakes in training? Don’t give yourself the benefit of the doubt so often.
   
   4. Address your shortcomings first. Judging is one thing; fixing is another. Nobody is perfect, you included. How could you have done a better job yourself? After that soul-searching, you can start talking about employee improvement. Peter Drucker’s words have never been truer: “So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.” Selfcriticism is a powerful component of enchantment. Setting a good example is also a good source for employees to experience inspiration by your example. The idea for enchantment is to develop inspired employees, not intimidated ones. Blame yourself first and most, and see what happens.
   
   5. Suck it up. This is a phrase that is often used without considering its full meaning and implication. The Urban Dictionary provides this definition: “to endure a period of mental, physical, or emotional hardship with no complaining.” If you are driving a big and important enough cause, enduring-without-complaining is probably going to be a frequent occurrence, and something you are going to want to model for your employees.
   
   You have to show that you’ll do whatever it takes. Employees need to know that you’ll do the dirty, hard, and frustrating jobs too. That’s what great people do: employers and employees alike.
   
   6. Don’t ask employees to do the things you won’t do. If you’re not willing to fly from New York to New Delhi in coach, then don’t ask them to do it, either. Do you answer all your e-mail? Are you willing to make photocopies? How about emptying the trash can or cleaning up the occasional mess? Do you arrive in the office early and stay late? If you don’t, it’s going to be hard to ask your employees to do these things.
   
   Enchanting your employees is easier if you can develop a sense of empathy for what they do each day, and show that you are pitching in alongside them. This is a great guiding principle for your management style. It leads not only to enchantment but to increased credibility and loyalty, a priceless combination.
   
   7. Celebrate successes. When your organization scores a success, celebration is in order. Unrelenting toil in the face of success (or failure) is rarely worth the time or effort. Success as a group is unbeatable, and it is best to celebrate it as a group. You’ll want to remember this if you are trying to emphasize team achievements more than individual ones. But don’t get carried away with lavish, expensive celebrations that seem more excessive than empowering. Holding a celebration at a fancy, expensive setting, with entertainment by famous names, sends the wrong message, and it wastes money. Employees will be enchanted by celebrations that are fun and cool, not extravagant and awesome.
   
   8. Get a devil’s advocate. This is a term that lots of people toss around, without knowing its original meaning. For hundreds of years, the Catholic Church appointed advocates (called advocatus diaboli) who argued against candidates for sainthood. Consider using a similar approach in how your organization canonizes decisions, the kind that may be difficult and costly to undo later. A practice such as this improves the way your organization functions and works toward its goals, especially lofty ones. In turn, it makes life better for your employees and enchants them in the process. If employees do get disenchanted, they can talk to the devil’s advocate and know that rocking the boat is really OK.
   
   9. Show some love. Michael Lopp, in his book Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager, contends that the three crucial words during the recruitment process are “We want you.” This recognition is relevant not only during the recruiting phase but every day on the job. Make sure you enchant your employees by making it plain that they’re wanted today, and they’ll be wanted tomorrow. Suppose that you think that because we are in an era of high unemployment, you can scale back wooing and enchanting your employees. This is a mistake, not only on principle, but because truly great people are always in short supply. Woo them or lose them.
   
   10. Use money sparingly. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pay people fairly and well. However, money can be the enemy of enchantment. What is their true motivation? Are your employees working hard because of a paycheck or because they really believe in what your organization produces?
   
   The great people will be capable of finding more meaningful work elsewhere, maybe even at higher pay. If money is your sole source of enchantment, you’re in trouble. You can even think of your regular employees in the same light as your volunteers: they have nonfinancial needs that you must meet, and they can walk out the door at any time. Take care to consider how well they are managed on a consistent basis. Give them clear, helpful feedback. Provide proper recognition for their work and efforts. Make them feel appreciated.
   by Guy Kawasaki
   

Leadership Is Influence

Years ago I was headed into a meeting with our CEO after having been tipped off by my direct  "boss" that the meeting was about "yours truly" and the need to increase my sales. There were 5 of us in the meeting including my boss, our software developer and one owner who was on the phone.   The meeting began with updates from everyone with again, "yours truly" going last.  The CEO prefaced my remarks by saying "it seems that the only problem we are having is sales" and then gave me a chance to reply.  The answer that I was to give was clearly in my mind pre-defined and obvious, "Yes, that is correct.  The only problem we are having is I am not selling enough. Yada. Yada. Yada...I'll redouble my efforts." 

Having been blessed with an alert that the meeting was coming I took a little time to prepare and used my PPO approach to such conversations.  That is, I thought through my Purpose, Process and the Outcomes I wanted to create for the meeting.  I committed to myself that I would not leave the meeting without saying 3 things all of which were related to the fact that I had deals signed and in hand that had not been delivered on time. When it  came my time to speak I respectfully pushed back, gave my facts and expressed my unwillingness to sell more when we were unable to deliver what we had "on time".  I thought continuing this process was harmful for both mine  and the company's reputation in the market place.  The CEO confirmed the facts I was communicating were true and it  was clear to me that she was a bit frustrated that the meeting had not gone as she wanted.  I sensed frustration and frustration with me.  The meeting ended with our team being assigned the task to resolve the delivery and sales issues. 

I would want you to know that this chief officer was a real class act and one of the "good guys".  I like her.  Later that same day I received an Instant Message to come down to her office when I got a break.  I did.  She said, "No one talks to me the way you did today...not even the other owners."  "What do you mean?" I queried.  "Well, typically I make my case and people recommit to whatever I have asked them to do and we move on. I was not expecting a reasoned disagreement and reply from you." 

"May I be so bold as to tell you 'why'?" I replied.  "Sure."  "You are not easy to disagree with", I reasoned, "and even when people do disagree they likely do not voice it to you.  Our meeting was intimidating to me and I wanted  to give you the answer you wanted so we could all leave quickly and fairly unscathed. But, we would have been back in 4 weeks having the same conversation again but this time you would have been angrier.  That would have been unfair to everyone in the room." 

Our Team's Response

1. Clear Goals: We focused on the results we were trying to achieve and added  a non-"pie in the sky" timeline for delivery.
2. Frequent Measurement: We answered, "What can we do NOW to get deals delivered the quickest so that they show up in our revenue the earliest?"  We met every Monday and Friday to discuss progress and next steps.
3. Consistent Progress.

I would love to conclude and tell you that this was a great success story.  For me personally, it was.  I risked my job to be honest and forthright about our division's challenges.  I earned self-respect as I spoke bravely to power and even realized that I had an ability to influence and create the outcomes I wanted.  However and ultimately, our progress was still thought to have been "too slow" and people lost their jobs over time including me.  Frankly, I don't know if it was "too slow" or not.  I know it was too slow for those in power. Yet, I see those times as a great learning experience, am proud of the effort that was made and the things that were accomplished.  I am stronger as a result of these interactions and as a great plus, I am still friends with all of those people.

Hey...life is here to teach us.  Enjoy the journey!

Benefits of Gratitude Series
Benefits of Gratitude (1): Savoring Life’s Good Times
Benefits of Gratitude (2): Builds Self-Esteem
Benefits of Gratitude (3): Helps Us Deal With Stress And Trauma
Benefits of Gratitude (4): Encourages Good & Giving Behavior
Benefits of Gratitude (5): Builds and Strengthens Relationships
Benefits of Gratitude (6): Inhibits Keeping Up With The Joneses
Benefits of Gratitude (7): Deters All Negative Emotion
Benefits of Gratitude (8): Keeps You from Taking Good Things For Granted

Emory Healthcare hosted this year's AAHAM Spring Conference held at Emory University's Glenn Auditorium. Kevin McDaniel, Chief Strategist with WindRiver Strategies, closed out the healthcare seminar presenting his very popular keynote address, "You've Been Upgraded". 

Taylor Williams, Director of Patient Financial Services remarked, "Kevin McDaniel's enthusiasm as a presenter and mentality towards life is infectious. It is very evident that he loves what he does and captures the crowd with every point. You leave his presentation with a different perspective on how the art of choice drives your happiness in both your professional and personal lives. I’ve been upgraded!”

The American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management (AAHAM) is the premier professional organization in healthcare administrative management.  AAHAM's mission is to provide education, certification, networking, and advocacy for healthcare revenue cycle professionals.

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The second article is a recent study by Yoon Jik Cho and James Perry. The authors analyzed real-world data from a representative sample of over 200,000 U.S. public sector employees. The results showed that employee engagement levels were three times more strongly related to intrinsic than extrinsic motives, but that both motives tend to cancel each other out. In other words, when employees have little interest in external rewards, their intrinsic motivation has a substantial positive effect on their engagement levels. However, when employees are focused on external rewards, the effects of intrinsic motives on engagement are significantly diminished.

This means that employees who are intrinsically motivated are three times more engaged than employees who are extrinsically motivated (such as by money). Quite simply, you’re more likely to like your job if you focus on the work itself, and less likely to enjoy it if you’re focused on money. This finding was true even at low salary levels (remember, as per Gallup and Judge et al, there’s no correlation between engagement and salary levels). Now, a skeptic might ask if this is just a correlation showing that people who don’t like their jobs have nothing to think about other than the money. This is hard to test. Yes, that could be one reason; another could be that people who focus too much on money are preventing themselves from enjoying their jobs.

Money Motivated Series
Does Money Really Affect Motivation? (1)
Does Money Really Affect Motivation? (2)
Does Money Really Affect Motivation? (3)

This research also begs the question: Is this a money-focused, engagement-eroding mindset one that employees can change? Or is does it reflect an innate mindset — some people happen to be more focused on extrinsic rewards, while others are more focused on the task itself? We don’t know. But my guess is that which you’re focused on depends mostly on the match between your interests and skills and the tasks you’ve been given. And in theory, your mindset should be malleable — the brain is remarkably plastic. We can try to teach people that if they focus on the task itself and try to identify positive aspects of the process, they will enjoy it more than if they are just focused on the consequences (rewards) of performing the task. The analogy here is that it’s much more motivating to go for a run because it’s fun than because I must get fit or lose some weight.

Related Articles
Creating a Workforce That Willingly, Wholeheartedly and Happily Chooses Effectiveness (Part 1)
Creating a Workforce: Understanding the World’s Only Two Psychologies  (Part 2)
Creating a Workforce: Tap Into Employee Strengths to Be A Better Manager Now (Part 3a)
Creating a Workforce: Tap Into Employee Strengths to Be A Better Manager Now (Practical Thoughts) (Part 3b) 
Creating a Workforce: Psychology 2: Choice…Increasing Productivity through Choice and Collaboration (Part  4a)
Creating a Workforce: Psychology 2: Choice…Increasing Productivity through Choice and Collaboration (Part  4b)
Creating a Workforce: Leadership Management Versus Boss Management  (Part 5 and Series Conclusion)

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