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086 Are You Wasting Your Career?

086 Are You Wasting Your Career?

According to the January 2018 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person changes jobs 10 to 15 times within their career. If you take it from that perspective, if you’re 25 years old and you are serious in your career, you still get seven chances to do something legendary in your career before you hit the big 6-0.

So in today’s episode, we ask, are you wasting your career?

Make Every Career Count

You get a very few chances to do something legendary, so make them count. Mike Maples of podcast Starting Greatness says “start or join a company worthy of your talent.” Christopher adds that a lot of people make the mistake of trying to sell themselves to a company, instead of you evaluating the potential of a company.

“Most people look at this backwards. They look at things like the salary, title, who their boss is going to be, the health care plan, vacation time, the commute. I’m not saying all those things aren’t important. They are important. I would start or suggest you start to look, ‘is this company. designing and dominating a giant space?’” – Christopher Lochhead

Work For Category Queens

Choose the best and the pioneers in their own space. That’s how you can make money out of your career. First, you get the job security and assurance that the company is here to stay. Secondly, most companies offer stock option for long term employees, which enables you to build wealth. 

“You have to ask yourself, is this company, the leadership, the founder, the CEO, the CMO, the head of sales, the head of engineering —do they have what it takes to design a legendary product company and category at the same time and become the category queen?” – Christopher Lochhead

Find Ways To Earn Horizontally 

Wise people take a job where they are getting paid to work and they convert that cash into investments. Over time they build a real nest egg. Christopher believes that it is important to find a career that enables you to gain investment opportunities. These investments can later on earn passive income for you.

“Convert sweat for cash into an investment that sweats for you.” – Christopher Lochhead

To know more if you are wasting your career, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.

He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.

Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.

In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.

He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

080 3 Ideas To Have A Legendary Marketing Career to 50 and Beyond

080 3 Ideas To Have A Legendary Marketing Career to 50 and Beyond

At a time when career uncertainty is high and the need for economic security has maybe never been higher, let’s talk about three ideas on how you can have a legendary marketing career to 50 and beyond. If you’re younger or older than 50, Chris has got some ideas for you in this episode.

Ageism In Business

During the last episode with Dave Gerhardt, CEO of Privy, there was a question that popped up around the possibility of having a career in marketing past the age 50.  Chris thinks there’s ageism in business broadly and certainly, in the tech business as well. He further shares facts from an Harvard Business Review that says, “seven out of 18 top Silicon Valley companies having a median age of 30 or younger.

“In addition, a study conducted by the San Francisco federal reserve bank showed that callback rates for jobs for older people, older applicants were much less. And with women having lower callback rates than men, additionally, more research from Stanford. The Stanford center on longevity says that, contrary to popular belief, older workers are healthy and have a strong work ethic and tend to be very loyal to their employers and are more likely to be satisfied with their jobs than their younger coworkers.” – Christopher Lochhead

If You Are Over 50

Some may claim that younger professionals have more energy to fulfill work. However, London Business School published a study which showed that people under 45 were exhausted. So now, Chris advises listeners, ages 50 and above, to become known for a niche that you own. 

“You don’t want to be just a generic marketing person. What you want to be is recognized as an expert, as a guru, as a Yoda, as a sensei in a particular type or style or approach or discipline of marketing said in a simple way, niche down.” – Christopher Lochhead

3 Ideas For Your Career

Number one, ask yourself the Seminole question, “what am I great at that few others are great at, that also delivers the most economic value.” Step two, niche down hard on that superpower skill. Third, name yourself in your niche, claim it and frame it.

“Now you know that your personal niche is working for you. You become known for a niche that you own. As that happens, as you age and, assuming you stay current, you do legendary work. You have to produce legendary results. There’s no question about it. Of course, you have to build great relationships. So you do those other smart things along with being known for a niche that you own.” – Christopher Lochhead

To know more about the 3 Ideas To Have A Legendary Marketing Career to 50 and Beyond, download and listen to this episode.

Bio:

Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.

He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.

Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.

In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.

He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.

Links:

5 Ways to Respond to Ageism in a Job Interview

Silicon Valley has an age problem

Study using fake resumes shows widespread age discrimination

When No One Retires

Our Assumptions About Old and Young Workers Are Wrong

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcast! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content.

029 Disagree and Commit

029 Disagree and Commit

Every big decision involves a group of people.and so, in business, if you’re going to do something legendary, whether its a strategy or a campaign, it will be a group decision.

In this episode, Christopher Lochhead shares why it is a legendary business trait to be able to get people to disagree and commit.

Everybody has a Marketing Opinion

Recently, Christopher had a discussion on with legendary tech executive Elisa Steele on Follow Your Different Episode 129. She talks about the power of being able to disagree and commit. She also talks about the importance of being a consensus builder.

“Getting people to disagree and commit is one of the most important skills an executive can have. Why? Because everyone has a Marketing Opinion.” – Christopher Lochhead

CMO’s get a lot of “HELP” from internal stakeholders. Debate, discussion, and disagreement are GOOD, when you are working on strategies, creative ideas, campaign ideas or category design. However, consensus is BAD.

“If everyone agrees, by definition it sucks. If someone isn’t scared, upset or at least concerned, it’s probably not legendary.” – Christopher Lochhead

How Do You Get In Front of This

Christopher advises that from the 1st meeting, tell the people involved the following:

1) we want to do something legendary

2) we want to generate legendary ideas/creative “ideation stage”

3) and when we decide, we are going to execute like “a pack of speedy, crazed wolverines:”

It is essential to lay upfront during the first meeting that the objective is not to please everybody but to create a strategic desition that will reap legendary results. It is also important to address who is the final decision maker.

Strategic Decision Over Consensus

Addressing these concerns from the very beginning will definitely receive negative responses from a lot of people, including some board members or senior executives. Christopher says that “this is okay.” We are aiming for strategic decisions, not consensus.

It would be nice to acknowledge that businesses need “feedback.” However, it would also be better to get everyone’s commitment that they will support and execute the final strategic decision. Be firm on expecting everybody to commit, even if they hate the decision or the direction taken. This trait would separate legendary leaders from the ordinary ones. 

To hear more about why it is a legendary trait to learn how to disagree and commit, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Christopher Lochhead is a #1 Apple podcaster and #1 Amazon bestselling co-author of books: Niche Down and Play Bigger.

He has been an advisor to over 50 venture-backed startups; a former three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and an entrepreneur.

Furthermore, he has been called “one of the best minds in marketing” by The Marketing Journal, a “Human Exclamation Point” by Fast Company, a “quasar” by NBA legend Bill Walton and “off-putting to some” by The Economist.

In addition, he served as a chief marketing officer of software juggernaut Mercury Interactive. Hewlett-Packard acquired the company in 2006, for $4.5 billion.

He also co-founded the marketing consulting firm LOCHHEAD; was the founding CMO of Internet consulting firm Scient, and served as head of marketing at the CRM software firm Vantive.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Lochhead on Marketing™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes! You may also subscribe to his newsletter, The Difference, for some amazing content. 

116 Dreamforce Special w/ Salesforce’s Vala Afshar

116 Dreamforce Special w/ Salesforce’s Vala Afshar

This special episode is with Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce.com Vala Afshar. Coinciding with Dreamforce Salesforce.com’s annual mega-conference in San Francisco, Vala shares with us what it’s like to be a leader in the digital media age. 

He also shares some of the key practices that have made Salesforce #1 on Forbes most innovative companies list.

Social Business Excellence

Vala is the author of The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence. He is also the co-host of DisrupTV and one of the most visible and impactful thought leaders in enterprise tech. On the side, he is a contributing writer at HuffPost, which he claims were one of his ticket for his CMO career.

I was a CMO for 4 years. Complete impostor syndrome from beginning to end because I never had Marketing experience, I never went to school to study the art and science of Marketing. My CEO called me on  a weekend saying ‘on Monday I’m gonna announce that you’re going to be the CMO.” – Vala Afshar

He narrates to Christopher how the energy and confidence that he used to have as an athlete, did not translate to who he has become as a business person. However, he got through this challenge as he had the passion to share information.

From An Introvert to a Keynote Speaker

For an introvert, Vala narrates how he spent 10 years writing codes. He was perfectly happy locked up in a cube, just writing software. He is still amazed with how he opened himself up to people and to be able to share the stage with Christopher in various events. 

“Movement is the ultimate status symbol. Movement of information. Again, in my first 40 years, if I read a book or listened to your podcast, I would just consume it and then that’s it, it stayed with me. In the last 5 or 6 years, when I learned something, I try to capture that and share.” – Vala Afshar

Salesforce Innovation

Vala quotes other professionals on why they think Salesforce is successful: it’s because of technology disruption. This disruption is in terms of ‘how do you build an ecosystem, how do you give away your time, money and profit, how do you build a company based on emerging technology and how do you create new business models.

“The 111 Philanthropic model was pretty unique and now about 10,000 companies have adopted that. The subscription model, pay as you go, that’s like the envy of most business..” – Vala Afshar

He also shares about the Salesforce module called V2mom, a mobile compatible app where employees align with the company vision, values, methods, obstacles, and measurements. 

To hear more about the best practices of Salesforce.com and leadership advice from Vala Afshar, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Vala Afshar is the Chief Digital Evangelist for Salesforce.

Afshar is the author of The Pursuit of Social Business Excellence. Afshar is also the co-host of DisrupTV, a weekly show covering the latest digital business and innovation market trends.

Links:

Twitter: @ValaAfshar

Linkedin: Vala Afshar

Salesforce Blog: Vala Afshar

HuffPost Contributor: Vala Afshar

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes! Get amazing, different stories on business, marketing, and life. Subscribe to our newsletter The Difference.

074 From Abused Child to Fierce Ph.D. w/Carolyn Colleen, PhD

From Abused Child to Fierce PhD w/Carolyn Colleen, PhD

Dr. Carolyn Colleen is a shining example of the fierce power of the human spirit in the defiance of unthinkable abuse. Join us in this riveting conversation about her incredible journey—from surviving with food stamps to gaining her Ph.D. and becoming a celebrated author. This discussion is not only about abuse—it’s about triumph—and it will impact a lot of people’s lives.

The Past Doesn’t Define The Future

Our guest today Dr. Carolyn Colleen, has a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She authored the best selling book FIERCE. On the side, she is a life and business strategist.

She is a woman who commands presence, but surprisingly has struggled so much since childhood, up until she was married.

“As my definition of love evolved, I evolved. I learned to further deepen my definition of love ⁠— how I see love in the world. I also have a deeper sense of self-love.” – Carolyn Colleen

Carolyn’s Dark Past

From the time she was four, Carolyn was sexually abused by his teenage neighbor. Unfortunately, the pattern repeated throughout her childhood, even after they relocated.

Carolyn’s mother struggled with mental health. She was a hoarder and have issues with being too trusting with strangers. Her mother provided free lodging and meal for both men and who ended up molesting both Carolyn and her sister.

“There was a time when I defined myself as being someone who was put here to be used and abused.” – Carolyn Colleen

Changing Perspective

People who have experienced trauma or who suffered PTSD may have flashbacks when exposed to a certain trigger—such as a certain sound, smell or mannerism of another person. Victims of abuse are reminded every day of their unfortunate experiences because of these triggers. 

As a victim of abuse herself, Carolyn says her perspective is different. Memories pop up daily, but what she does with it and how it affects her is different now.

She is now at peace with herself; developed a gratitude attitude and has acknowledged that her experiences made her stronger. 

“Coming from a place of trauma—physical, sexual and emotional abuse—I’ve done a lot of self-work and realize when things might trigger me and how it affects my life. As I continually grew, I realized what happened to me doesn’t define me .” – Carolyn Colleen

To hear more about the amazing journey of Carolyn, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Carolyn Colleen holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a Masters in Business with a focus in Servant Leadership from Viterbo University.

Dr. Colleen is speaker, author, and coach.

She was born and raised in the Midwestern United States. She describes herself as a FIERCE mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

Out of sheer necessity, Carolyn developed the F.I.E.R.C.E. 5 method, which helped her grow from a downtrodden, scared and ragged victim, standing in a food line at the Salvation Army, to the confident and successful person she is today, living a happy life she never realized she deserved.,

Carolyn took up the challenge of writing a book about her experiences.

Now, with her book completed, she hopes that through sharing her story she will provide others with the hope, resources, and willpower needed so that they too can live the life they deserve.

Links:

Carolyn Colleen – Website

F.I.E.R.C.E – Book

Linkedin

Instagram

We hope you enjoyed Carolyn Colleen on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, TwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes!

068 Can Women & Men Work Together? w/ Shelly Witzke

Can Women & Men Work Together? w/ Shelly Witzke

In this episode, Shelly Witzke joins us to discuss her work relationship with men and with Lochhead in particular. They both have worked together as software salespeople and have developed a close but very professional connection. They talk about how men and women behave in the workplace pre-MeToo movement, establishing common respect for the opposite sex and the subjectivity of interpreting words and actions.    

#MeToo Movement 

In 2017, the #MeToo Movement went viral as social media users attempted to demonstrate the prevalence of sexual harassment. Different people felt strongly about the event. It gave rise to a common point of discussion in the workplace⁠—can men and women still work together?

“I feel that the common reaction of male to the #MeToo movement is, ‘Don’t even.’” – Shelly Witzke

In this interview, Shelly shares valuable insights such as: how men think differently from women; how women can protect themselves by intuitively deciphering a person’s character and how reputation and patterns of behavior towards other people are important in dealing with the opposite sex.

Respect Begets Respect

Shelly Witzke has her fair share of #MeToo stories. She says that men have also been protective of themselves in the workplace. Men nowadays consider working with women risky, even more so if work requires traveling with the opposite sex. The stories of today differ from her personal and professional stories with Lochhead, as they used to spend loads of time together. There was never a time where Shelly felt she needed to evaluate her work relationship with Christopher. He was clearly respectful of all his colleagues.

“It was obvious from your actions and words that you have utmost respect to human beings and women, no different. Perhaps that’s partly where the trust factor [came from]. Maybe it starts there, maybe it’s built there.”  – Shelly Witzke on Christopher Lochhead

Context Is Everything

Aside from a person’s reliability, one can note that the feeling of threat is highly dependent on each person. A man can utter profanity and be very vocal about his opinions. However,  because of his respectful character, he may not offend the opposite sex.

“From that perspective, it never crossed my mind that I had to guard myself or be careful. I think that’s a big part of our relationship, my feeling of safety.” – Shelly Witzke

A man and a woman can have a peaceful working relationship, just like what Shelly and Christopher have. This can be achieved if the feeling of “safety” is established from the beginning of the relationship. To hear more about how men and women can work effectively together and more relevant information from Shelly, download and listen to the episode. 

Bio:

A software rep in the ‘90’s working with accounting firms and family businesses, Shelly made a bold choice to retire at the height of her career at the age of 33.

Unwilling to continue her life as it was, she forged into the unknown frontier of being a stay at home mom to let her with business degree languish in the idyllic green hills north of Toronto. 

Humbled by parenting, she began to appreciate other moms, and now believes that parenthood forces our hand at leadership skills when we are least prepared. 

Shelly holds an honors bachelor of commerce degree from Lakehead University, and today teaches bread baking in her kitchen and in unique online experiences to bring the smell of fresh bread into every kitchen. 

Spending time with this warm hearted woman, you will crave feeling the blissful softness of proofing dough, delight in the intoxicating smell of homemade bread and learn to listen for the faint crackling of a hot crust as it starts to cool. She hopes that craving will be the beginning of a love affair with your kitchen and your life.


Links:

InsideYourCupboards.com

Linkedin.com/Shelly-Witzke

Instagram.com/insideyourcupboards

We hope you enjoyed Shelly this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitterInstagram and subscribe on iTunes

061 Happy Money w/ Ken Honda 8 Million Bestselling Author

Happy Money w/ Ken Honda 8 Million Bestselling Author Follow Your Different™ Podcast

Ken Honda has authored over 50 books and sold over 8 million of them. Today, he joins Lochhead in a riveting conversation about his latest book, Happy Money and how you can have a powerful relationship with it.

“Next time you have a hard time feeling happy about writing checks, just say, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for giving me the opportunity to bless people with my money.’” – Ken Honda

Happy Money Defined

Ken exemplifies happy money through the news he watched prior to coming on the call with Lochhead. Someone delivered a speech about taking care of all the student loans of hundreds of college graduates. Without getting anything out of it, the person was lifting this particular burden, which kills lots of people, off of these graduates’ shoulders.

“Happy money is money that makes you smile when you receive it. And also, it gives you joy when you spend it.” – Ken Honda

This is a fascinating way of thinking about money. After all, most people and authors espouse how-tos of making, saving, budgeting and other money mechanics.

Money Healer Ken Honda

Often called the money healer, Ken not only teaches financial independence. His focus also lies on how to heal one’s relationship with money. People tend to worry about it too much that they cannot have a healthy life.

We have become so restricted because of money issues. Ken took up the mission to help people be free of these constraints.

Everyone Has Money Wounds

In Happy Money, Ken writes about money wounds. This less than positive relationship with money stems from the simple truth that we all are frustrated with money in one way or another. And by all, he means not just the financially challenged people who have a hard time making ends meet.

Middle class people manage to make ends meet, but barely. Meanwhile, those in upper middle class feel disadvantaged and feel the need to work hard to graduate, land a job and pay back their loans. And the wealthy people feel some kind of guilt about sitting at the top.

“If you can somehow heal your money wounds and transform your relationship with money, you can then be happy forever. It takes a little practice, but not too much.” – Ken Honda

To hear more about bettering your relationship with money from Ken, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Ken Honda is a bestselling author of self-development books in Japan, where he has sold more than eight million books since 2001.

While his financial expertise comes from owning and managing several businesses, his writings bridge the topics of finance and self-help, focusing on creating and generating personal wealth and happiness through deeper self-honesty.

He is the first person from Japan to be voted into the Transformational Leadership Council.

Fluent in Japanese and English, he has lived in Boston and currently resides in Tokyo.

Links:

KenHonda.com

Simon and Shuster – Happy Money

Goodreads – Happy Money

We hope you enjoyed Ken Honda on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

059 Bill Walton NBA Legend, The Power of A Positive Life

Bill Walton NBA Legend, The Power of A Positive Life Follow Your Different™ Podcast

In celebration of the NBA finals, we’re releasing a special re-issue of an episode with the legendary Bill Walton. Originally aired in February 2018, let us revisit this conversation full of Bill’s enthusiastic view of life through its many ups and downs.

“When you wanna get someplace, you have to have the dream. And then you have to have a teacher, somebody who has been where you wanna go because the surest way to find out how get there first is to talk to somebody who’s on their way back.” – Bill Walton

More Failures than Greatness

A lot of life’s greatest lessons come mostly from failures, Bill says. Sure, he has lived more than 60 years and has been part of some true greatness. Even then, he still felt cursed with his lifelong speech impediment and eventual injury.

“My life has been defined by meteoric rises to the top from [when I was] really young and then incredible crashes to the bottom all caused by orthopedic health crises.” – Bill Walton

In the course of those 60 and some years, Bill has completely changed as a human being.

Enjoying Life Including Change

After reading Lochhead’s Play Bigger, he came to realize the importance of willingness to embrace change. It is, after all, one of the things that athletics prepares you for. In life, things go wrong and things collapse and we need to get ready when they do.

To aid in his positivity-driven life, Bill lives by Coach John Wooden’s 2 sets of 3. Never lie, never cheat, never steal; don’t whine, don’t complain, don’t make excuses. Embracing change means embracing and working around what life serves you.

“When I see these guys whining, when I see these guys complaining and making excuses, I always tell them, ‘Look, I’ll listen to your problems one time. But from here on out, I wanna hear a plan on your path forward.’” – Bill Walton

Secrets to Get Someplace

Bill shares that he always tries to be a dreamer to get somewhere in life. He has learned to keep dreaming from the greatest influences in his life. In a world that tries to send him in other directions, he always turns to those who love to read, who dare to dream.

The second key ingredient? A teacher who can show him the way.

To hear more about Bill’s secrets to positivity and its fruits, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

In 1997, Bill Walton was selected as one of the NBA’s Fifty Greatest Players of all Time.

He’s an Emmy award-winning broadcaster and Forbes calls him one of the top 10 pundits in America.

In 2009, Walton was named one of the top 50 sports broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Association.

In June 21, 2001, Bill was named as the inaugural inductee into the Grateful Dead Hall of Honor.

Bill is the bestselling author of “Back From The Dead” and a highly entertaining and engaging keynote speaker.

Links:

BillWalton.com

Twitter

Instagram

NBA Profile

ESPN Biography

We hope you enjoyed Bill Walton on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on FacebookTwitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!

056 It’s The Manager w/ Jim Harter

It’s The Manager w/ Jim Harter Follow Your Different™ Podcast

According to Gallup’s management practice Chief Scientist Jim Harter, the productivity of people at work has been increasing… but at a declining rate. More concerning is how only 34% of American workers and two-thirds of managers are engaged at work.

On this episode, he touches on the topic of bosses versus coaches, workplace engagement, people efficiency, and a lot more.

“I want my job to kind of reflect who I am, match my identity… I don’t want my manager to just be an expert on my weakness, I want them to be an expert on my strengths.” – Jim Harter

Changes in Workplace Productivity

The numbers Jim and his teammates have tracked for a while hint on how workplace productivity trends upward, albeit slowly. The figures clearly tell of a room for growth for most organizations.

Workplaces are changing tremendously, and this creates an even bigger burden on leaders. These changes include the massive increases in diversity, technology, remote work, among other things. Needless to say, all these factors affect productivity.

Theory and Practice of Management

There is also the dissonance between the science and practice of management. Leveraging the science is one area for improvement of working environments, and more so its application in practice.

“We’ve seen that the practice of management hasn’t kept up with the science of management. The science of management has advanced significantly in recent decades but the practice of management hasn’t.” – Jim Harter

One such example is how the new workforce has evolved and now ask for a coach, not a boss. Therefore, one of the more critical things organizations need to be thinking about is moving from a culture of boss to coach. This ultimately relates to leaders asking for a change of culture to match the changing workforce.

People Efficiency is the Future

Jim says leaders need to keep up with the changes to both the workforce and the science of management. That is, they need to shift the focus from process efficiency to people efficiency.

“People efficiency is getting people into roles where they know what’s expected of them, where they have clear expectations, where they’re coached on an ongoing basis to do what they do best, to use their strengths.” – Jim Harter

In flexible and remote working environments that are more common nowadays, it becomes even more important to be purposeful about three things. First, there is setting expectations, and then continually touching base with people. Lastly, a workplace needs to be of high trust and accountability.

To hear more about strength-based environments, extrinsic versus intrinsic motivations and more from Jim, download and listen to the episode.

Bio:

Jim Harter, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist for Gallup’s workplace management practice.

He is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller 12: The Elements of Great Managing, an exploration of the 12 crucial elements for creating and harnessing employee engagement.

Dr. Harter’s book, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements, is based on a global study of what differentiates people who are thriving from those who are not.

His research is featured in First, Break All the Rules, and he contributed the foreword to Gallup’s new edition of this groundbreaking bestseller.

Dr. Harter is the primary researcher and author of the first large-scale, multi-organization study to investigate the relationships between work-unit employee engagement and business results.

Updated periodically, this study currently covers 82,000 business units and includes 1.8 million employees in 230 organizations, across 49 industries and in 73 countries.

His work has appeared in many publications, including Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and TIME Magazine, and in academic articles and book chapters.

Dr. Harter received his doctorate in psychological and cultural studies in quantitative and qualitative methods from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).

Book Overview:

IT’S THE MANAGER

Today’s decline in global productivity has every business leader scrambling to break through with one failed strategy after another.

But the real strategy is already right in front of them. It’s the manager.  

In fact, there is no better investment a company can make in its future growth than updating their management playbook to align with today’s very different values and realities.

Based on the largest study of its kind (37.2 million people surveyed) as well as Gallup data from more than 30 years of U.S. and global workplace tracking, including interviews of employees and managers across 160 countries, IT’S THE MANAGER (Gallup Press; May 7, 2019; ISBN: 9781595622242; $34.00) by Chief Scientist for Gallup’s workplace management practice, Jim Harter, Ph.D. with Chairman and CEO of Gallup, Jim Clifton, and is the definitive up-to-date guide to what really works in management today.

IT’S THE MANAGER explores 52 game-changing insights including how to:

  • Adapt organizations and cultures to rapid change and new workplace demands
  • Meet the challenges of managing remote employees, a diverse workforce, gig workers and the rise of artificial intelligence
  • Attract, hire, onboard and retain the best employees to make your organization one of the most desired places to work for current and future stars.
  • Transform your managers into coaches who inspire, communicate frequently and develop employee strengths.

The manager has been brushed aside as a middleman that is no longer needed in business today, but Gallup’s data supports a radical claim: that managers should be the cornerstone of every company strategy.

When you build great managers you will experience organic revenue and profit growth, and you will give every employee what they most want today: a great job and a great life.

Links:

LinkedIn

Gallup – It’s The Manager

Gallup.com

Amazon – It’s The Manager

We hope you enjoyed Jim Harter on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!