With Apologies to Jim Collins

Let's be clear. I am a huge fan of the best-seller business book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't, by Jim Collins.

I'd like to think that I am a Hedgehog that stays busy trying to turn the company flywheel.

And I am generally good with incremental technology as a solution.

It's the whole "bus" thing that bothers me. At least part of it. The overall theme, "...get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus" is sound.

But the more I think about it (could I be a bit analytical here?), it's the visual image of the bus itself that is a bit annoying. After all, what is a bus? It's a large vehicle with many seats for passengers, and a driver.

Think about that. The passengers RIDE wherever the DRIVER is going. They do nothing to assist the driver in getting there. They RIDE.

We all know that business is a team sport. So I was thinking that in a future printing, maybe Mr. Collins might consider changing "on and off the bus" to something with a more productive image, say....a dragon boat.

You get the idea.

Your Tip So Far

I am a tipper.

I love tipping great restaurant service.  I tip my barber.  I tip the nice (and sometimes grumpy) driver that picks me in from the airport "back 40" extended parking area.  The finest shoe shine in America can be found at the Charlotte International Airport. I tip these guys.  I tip the airport restroom "attendant" that has a paper towel to hand me after I wash my hands.  If I have received great service at the local yogurt or coffee shop, even if there is no tip jar to be seen, I will ask if tipping is allowed.

Why do I do this?  Well, there are a few reasons.

First, simply stated, because I can.  I am not a wealthy man.  But I have been blessed beyond measure.  And I have seen developing countries.  I have friends in other countries, men with families a thousands of miles away that earn about $500 a month.

Second, tipping provides instant feedback to the other party.  Forget annual service reviews--receiving a handsome tip says, "I did a great job..."

Imagine if your compensation package were suddenly restructured.  Your annual "bonus" is gone.  Your company distributes some kind of coded Monopoly money to each employee to use for "tipping" internally.  You cash in your tips each payday.

From now on, anything you earn above your base salary will have to be earned through exceeding your internal customer expectations.  How might this affect us in reading and acting on email messages, returning missed phone calls, or making those commitment dates?  Would you move a little faster to get things done?

I remember reading a story some years ago about a guy that always brought an ashtray with him when we went out to eat at a restaurant.  He would place the ashtray on the table where it would be clearly seen by his waiter or waitress.  Standing behind the ashtray would be an index card that read, "Your Tip So Far."  He claimed that it was very effective.

So far as restaurants go, I don't think my waiter or waitress personally receives the benefit of the tip for good service.  I would imagine that these days, all tips are placed in a pool and shared equally among the waitstaff.  Which is similar to the bonus structure of many companies today.

I wonder if it might make a difference in productivity and perhaps job satisfaction if we could earn a little of our bonus every day, by providing superior service to our fellow team members.  I can tell you that where I work, the Administrative Professionals would be driving Teslas.

What if Clark Griswold had worked under such a program?  He and Cousin Eddy would already be living large in that new backyard pool.  
I'll get right to work on that "Office Tipping Guide."

The Secret About Secrets, or Integrity Matters

Your boss shares something with you that she or he describes as, "just between you and me," or "don't tell anyone else about this," and you think your boss is doing this because you are such a likable person.

While that may be the case, where your boss, and perhaps their boss is concerned, your career may be at a cross-road.  Integrity matters.

If your performance is graded on a periodic basis, as is the case I hope for all of us, the process used for your evaluation probably includes both specific (SMART as we would say) goals, and other softer indicators of your net value to the team.  These softer indicators might include Innovation, Teamwork, Communication, or Integrity.

In the nuclear power industry the phrase, "integrity of the reactor coolant system" is often used.  Simply stated, it means "no leaks."  Nuclear plant owners spend millions to ensure that this integrity
remains sure.

In your career, how much in salary or position are you willing to risk to 'leak' the information the boss or other leader has shared with you--just to satisy that human itch you have to share it (confidentially of course) with others?

You (and I) are often vain enough to think that the boss shared the big secret with us just because we are great people. And even further, we are foolish enough to think that even though the boss said not to, we just can't help overselves.  We rationalize it as, 'the boss just wants a controlled leak, and he chose me.'

But the reality is, you should treat every such occurrence as a test!  That's right, a test.  Many times these messages may be something relatively minor, soon to be announced to the whole department or company, and you are getting a heads up.  Other times these are matters that no one else needs to know, and it may very well be that you are being tested.  Since good rumors travel near the speed of light, it won't take long before the "rumor" makes its way back to the boss.  And the chances of you ever hearing, "that man/woman is a person of great personal integrity" is now very slim.

But let's just keep this between you and I, okay?