Articles
Browse every published article connected to Jim Clemmer, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Jim Clemmer, or search within this exact expert archive.
Buried in the publicity of a nasty airline strike was a vivid example of how misdirected management's service improvement efforts can become. To improve service, the airline ordered all attendants to attend three hour "Commitment to Courtesy" classes without pay. "They told us the reason we were losing money was because we were rude to passengers," said one attendant.
"Following the path of least resistance is what makes individuals and rivers crooked. Few people drift to success."
"Ain't no use worrying about the things out of your control, because if they're out of your control, ain't no use worrying... Ain't no use worrying about things in your control, because if they're in your control, ain't no use worrying."
All organizations have access to more or less the same resources. They draw from the same pool of people in their markets or geographic areas. And they can all learn about the latest tools and techniques. Yet not all organizations perform equally. There is a huge gap between high- and ...All organizations have access to more or less the same resources. They draw from the same pool of people in their markets or geographic areas. And they can all learn about the latest tools and techniques.
"People do work for money – but they work even more for meaning in their lives. In fact, they work to have fun. Companies that ignore this fact are essentially bribing their employees and will pay the price in a lack of loyalty and commitment." - Jeffrey Pfeffer, "Six Dangerous Myths About Pay," Harvard Business Review
"The way to gain a reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." — Socrates A key element of "knowing thyself" is sorting out what's really important to you. Without a clear sense of our personal principles and priorities, it's almost impossible to bring the picture of our preferred future or vision sharply into focus. Investing time and effort to uncover and articulate our personal principles has many important benefits:
"The major difference between the most and least successful executives is the latter's lack of awareness. Successful executives are critical of their own performance. Unsuccessful executives are critical of the performance of others." — Harry Levinson, The Exceptional Executive At our youngest daughter's sixth birthday party, five-year-old Ryan hit her on the head. As Vanessa cried hysterically, I asked him to apologize. He politely refused. When I asked him why, he replied, "Mr. Clemmer, I don't apologize unless I see teeth marks or blood."
"The bedrock of character is self-discipline; the virtuous life, as philosophers since Aristotle have observed, is based on self-control. A related keystone of character is being able to motivate and guide oneself, whether in doing homework, finishing a job, or getting up in the morning. And, as we have seen, the ability to defer gratification and to control and channel one's urges to act is a basic emotional skill, one that in a former day was called will." — Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
"Before you say what you think, be sure you have." — Malcolm Forbes, past publisher of Forbes magazine Communication is both a symptom and a cause of organization performance problems. Over the years, we've heard hundreds of managers use communication as a vague catchall for every type of organization and team problem imaginable. Generally, the root cause of many "communication problems" was deeper than that.
Brian’s head was starting to throb as he scrolled through the two dozen new voice and e-mails messages on his Blackberry while walking to his cubicle. Looks like another crazy day in the hamster cage he muttered to himself as he saw his phone message light blinking frantically. Brian, age ...Brian’s head was starting to throb as he scrolled through the two dozen new voice and e-mails messages on his Blackberry while walking to his cubicle. Looks like another crazy day in the hamster cage he muttered to himself as he saw his phone message light blinking frantically.
More and more, I hear managers express frustration over the behavior of the people they lead. They complain about their failure to take initiative and responsibility, grumble about lateness to meetings or lousy teamwork. But it's so much easier to point fingers elsewhere. For when it comes to their own behavior, many of those same managers aren't acting any differently than the people they complain about.
Thinking about death can produce a passion for life. Early in my career, I was introduced to the idea of clarifying my life's purpose through contemplating my death by Charlie Jones, a personal effectiveness and leadership development author and speaker. In his book, Life is Tremendous, he wrote, "You're not ready to live your life until you know what you want written on your tombstone". That's a powerful thought! It forces you to boil away all your goals, plans, and activities to get at the core reason you exist.
"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." — Eric Hoffer, American philosopher, Reflections on the Human Condition
Ask any group of managers if they view themselves as an elite within their organization and you can be sure they will deny it. You'll hear comments such as: "I have an open-door policy" and "I take pride in always being accessible and approachable." And in most cases, these managers will really ...Ask any group of managers if they view themselves as an elite within their organization and you can be sure they will deny it. You'll hear comments such as: "I have an open-door policy" and "I take pride in always being accessible and approachable."
"Be brave enough to live creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilde ess of your intuition. You cannot get there by bus, only by hard work, risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing. What you will discover will be wonderful; yourself." — Alan Alda, Actor, Writer and Director I once heard ballet dancer Karen Kain reflecting on how lucky she felt to have become a dancer, since it was this life's work that had allowed her to "find her voice" – to express what was truly inside herself.
"Above all, we know that an entrepreneurial strategy has more chance of success the more it starts with the users — their utilities, their values, their realities ... the test of an innovation is always what it does for the user...it is by no means hunch or gamble. But it is also not precisely science. Rather, it is judgment." — Peter Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
"The self-explorer, whether he wants to or not, becomes the explorer of everything else. He learns to see himself, but suddenly, provided he was honest, all the rest appears, and it is as rich as he was, and, as a final crowning, richer." — Elias Canetti, The Secret Heart of the Clock. Austrian novelist, philosopher
"...At one point, I had an extraordinarily difficult boss, who could literally drive you into tears. And it was easy to convince yourself to allow the fear that naturally arose to, if not paralyze you, certainly greatly restrict what you did, and the risks you were willing to take. And I think coming to grips with that was not an easy one...I decided life was too short to hide in the corner and worry about this guy. And I also decided that I was right, and he wasn't." — John Kotter, Leadership Author and Harvard Business School Professor
Despite all the proclamations, catchy advertising slogans, and customer service publicity, service levels have improved only marginally in the last few years. As Harvard Business School professor, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, puts it "Despite the recent media coronation of King Customer, many customers will remain commoners... most businesses today say that they serve customers. In reality, they serve themselves."
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference." — Elie Wiesel, French-American writer and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize ..."The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
At my youngest daughter's sixth birthday party, a five-year-old boy hit her on the head. Asked to apologize, he politely refused: "Mr. Clemmer, I don't apologize unless I see teeth marks or blood." Many managers don't realize the problems they're creating unless they see the teeth marks or blood on those with whom they work. The most insensitive managers are those who lack good feedback systems and refuse to seek input on how to improve their own performance.
There is no objective reality. We don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. Sean was filling out a university questionnaire to help determine roommate compatibility. Beside the questions, "Do you make your bed every day?" and "Do you consider yourself a neat person?" he checked "Yes." Later his mother reviewed the questionnaire. Knowing those answers were far from the truth, she asked Sean why he'd lied. "What do you expect me to do," he retorted. "I don't want to get stuck living with some slob!"
"A parrot talks much but flies little." — Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer On the one hand, some people who fail to grow the distance do but don't think. They are like the hyperactive entrepreneur who burst into a travel agent's office and urgently demanded a ticket. "Where do you want to go?" the agent asked him. "I don't care," he breathlessly retorted. "Just give me a ticket! I've got business everywhere!"
"The man who gets the most satisfactory results is not always the man with the most brilliant single mind, but rather the man who can best coordinate the brains and talents of his associates." — Sir William Alton Jones, 18th Century English Philologist and Jurist
Imagine a team meeting around a conference-room table. They are reviewing progress and making plans. Charts are reviewed, slides are projected, documents are handed out, and calculations are made. Now imagine that standing in the middle of the conference-room table is a great big moose.
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction." — E. F. Schumacher, 20th century German economist and conservationist
"We found that there was a cause-and-effect relationship between the two; that it was impossible to maintain a loyal customer base without a base of loyal employees; and that the best employees prefer to work for companies that deliver the kind of superior value that builds customer loyalty... building loyalty has in fact become the acid test of leadership." — Frederick Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect and Loyalty Rules
"Our passion for productivity increasingly depends upon the productivity of our passions. We can't divorce commitment and caring from efficiency and effectiveness." — Michael Schrage, co-director of MIT Media Labs' e-market initiative and author of Serious Play What gets people really ..."Our passion for productivity increasingly depends upon the productivity of our passions. We can't divorce commitment and caring from efficiency and effectiveness." — Michael Schrage, co-director of MIT Media Labs' e-market initiative and author of Serious Play
"Oh, the holiness of always being the injured party. The historically oppressed can find not only sanctity but safety in the state of victimization. When access to a better life has been denied often enough, and successfully enough, one can use the rejection as an excuse to cease all efforts." — Maya Angelou, American author, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
"Order and simplification are the first steps toward the mastery of a subject." — Thomas Mann, early 20th century German novelist and essayist Once a management team has established a change and improvement plan, there are many ways to help everyone in the organization understand what's going on and why. These include one-on-one discussions, group presentations, workshops or seminars, videos, printed materials, and the like.
I once met an executive who proudly described his approach to recognizing employees' work as "management by exception." "If you haven't heard from me, that's a good sign," he explained. "That means I think you're doing just fine. I only deal with the exceptions. I look for problems and people that need correcting. Those are what I jump on." This is one of three common approaches I see managers take in recognizing people. Unfortunately, variations on management by exception are also the leading causes of the demoralization and fear rampant in many organizations.
We will all eventually die. The real tragedy is failing to fully live. Too many people are having "near-life experiences." • "How many people work for your company?" "Oh, about half." • "I think you're confusing me with someone who cares." • "The most dangerous place in this organization is at the exit door around quitting time. You'll get trampled." • "Working is like a nightmare. I'd like to get out of it, but I need the sleep." • "I used up all my sick days, so I phoned in dead." • "I've developed a new philosophy, I only dread one day at a time."r
"You can buy a man's time; you can buy his physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of his skilled muscular motions per hour. But you cannot buy enthusiasm...you cannot buy loyalty... you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds, or souls. You must earn these." — Clarence Francis, Chairman of General Foods During the 1950s
As Mark Twain once remarked about the weather, there's a lot of talk about vision, but very few managers really do anything about it. Visioning is sometimes an innate natural skill just like leadership sometimes is. And the moon sometimes blocks out the sun - but none occur very often. Most people have had to consciously and with great effort continually work to strengthen their visioning. Visionary leaders are seldom born that way (how many of those birth announcements have you seen lately?). Nor are they necessarily charismatic. They have had to work at making visioning habitual.
"Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time." - Chinese proverb Twenty years ago I came across a story (I don't know who wrote it) that illustrates the deadly power of the Victimitis Virus (the poor-little-helpless-me syndrome). Whenever I catch myself pointing "out there" to explain my poor performance, I pull out this story and read it again. I have since used it with many groups to make the same point. The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs
Like improvement efforts, effective reward and recognition is an integrated process, not a bolt-on program. Since you can't make your team or organization into something different than you, it has to start with you. Whose needs are your recognition and reward systems designed to serve? What are ...Like improvement efforts, effective reward and recognition is an integrated process, not a bolt-on program. Since you can't make your team or organization into something different than you, it has to start with you.
"Success is every minute you live. It's the process of living. It's stopping for the moments of beauty, of pleasure; the moments of peace. Success is not a destination that you ever reach. Success is the quality of the journey." — Jennifer James, Success is the Quality of Your Journey
"Now, more than ever, management is a balancing act — the juggling of contradictions to try to get the best of attractive but opposing alte atives. Order is a temporary illusion, strategy a moving target. Leaders cannot impose authority on a world of constant motion; they can only hope to steer some of that action toward productive ends." — Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor, consultant, and author
"No men can act with effect who do not act in concert; no men can act in concert who do not act with confidence; no men can act with confidence who are not bound together with common opinions, common affections, and common interests." — Edmund Burke, 18th-Century British Statesman
"The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between the feeble and the powerful, between the great and the insignificant is energy-invincible determination — a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. This quality will do anything that can be done in this world." — Sir Thomas Buxton
"Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then to help orchestrate the energy of those around you." — Peter Drucker, professor and author of dozens of books on economics, management, and leadership
"The process of spiritual growth is an effortful and difficult one. This is because it is conducted against a natural resistance, against a natural inclination to keep things the way they were, to cling to the old maps and old ways of doing things, to take the easy path." — M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled
I've recently bought a computer system, taken my family to a theme park and flown on an airline that were all rated tops in their fields for service. They had won awards and were widely cited as leading examples of service quality in action. I ended up being disappointed. Not that the service was bad - compared with others in their industries, they were clearly better. But I had expected much more.
"Do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test." — William James, Habit
"I could never believe that Providence had sent a few men into the world ready booted and spurred to ride, and millions ready saddled and bridled to be ridden." — Seventeenth-Century British Soldier Richard Rumbold's final words on the scaffold before he was hanged. Quoted by Thomas Jefferson in his Reflections on the Underlying Principles in the American Declaration of Independence.
"To double your success rate, double your failure rate." — Tom Watson, Sr., founder of IBMnnIn a small pub in the highlands of Scotland, a group of fishermen gathered one afternoon to swap tales over a round of ale. One of them stretched his arms apart to show the big one that got away. At that very point, a waitress walked past carrying a tray of full ale glasses. The fisherman's wild gestures sent the tray smashing against the wall. The dark brew splashed on the white