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“You will work all the time. If you’re very, very lucky you may sleep or eat.”
That’s an actual quote pulled from a review posted on Glassdoor – a site where employees and job candidates can anonymously post pros and cons about your company.
What’s that again?
Like TripAdvisor and RateMyProfessors, Glassdoor is taking advantage of the transparency revolution. It’s a database of company reviews, CEO ratings, and benefits information that lets the world know what it’s like behind the curtain of your organization – from interview to exit.
How big is it?
If you thought that Glassdoor was a small social media platform for people to complain about their jobs, think again. Launched in 2008, Glassdoor has a current valuation of $1 billion. It’s used by 34% of Fortune 500 companies, and has 30 million members from 190 countries who’ve contributed company reviews, salary reports, and photos for some 500,000 companies.
Why should I care?
In today’s market, your job prospects are making decisions about whether to work for your organization based on information provided by your current employees. This year’s Edelman Trust Barometer shows that trust has changed profoundly in the past year with “my employer” emerging as the most trusted cohort – far more than traditional authority figures. It’s part of what Bob Corlett of HR Examiner calls the Amazonification of recruiting.
What can I do about it?
First, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Transparency is here to stay. The best employers use Glassdoor as an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in the market for top talent.
Second, breathe easy. The average company rating on Glassdoor is 3.3 out of 5, and 66% are positive. Glassdoor requires reviewers to provide both pros and cons, and enforces protocols like no foul language and NO REVIEWS IN ALL CAPS.
Third, you can follow these tips to reinforce your reputation:
1. Spring for an enhanced profile. With it, you can add customized content like photos, videos, and job postings. It allows you to put your best foot forward in a way that displays your company’s culture and personality.
2. Encourage reviews. It’s better to be proactive than reactive. Ask job candidates to post a review of the interview experience. Encourage employees to write reviews when celebrating milestone anniversaries with your organization.
3. Comment. Employee and candidate reviews are considered opinion, so take them as such, and respond in a kind and genuine way. Here are some best of examples for inspiration.
4. Reflect. If you get a negative review, take some time for the sting to pass, then reflect. As leadership guru, Ken Blanchard says, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” If there is a kernel of truth in the negative comments, use this opportunity to reflect and address the underlying issue.
Finally, provide outlets for employees to vent. If they can speak up at a town hall or on a discussion board, they’ll be less likely to take out their frustrations in public.
Question: What does the concept of transparency mean to you and your organization? Is it feared or embraced?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
![7 Leadership Books to Read This Summer]()
Leadership
Looking for some titles to add to your reading list this summer? From brand new bestsellers, to stories that reveal the difference between power and true leadership in an increasingly complex, hyper-connected world, here are seven titles that are well worth picking up:
1. Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization? by Aaron Dignan
What it’s about: When fast-scaling startups and global organizations get stuck, they call Aaron Dignan. In this book, he reveals his proven approach for eliminating red tape, dissolving bureaucracy, and doing the best work of your life.
Why pick it up: To learn exactly how organizations are inventing a smarter, healthier, and more effective way to work. Not through top down mandates, but through a groundswell of autonomy, trust, and transparency.
2. The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda Gates
What it’s about: This book calls on readers to support women everywhere as a means to lift up society. Gates pulls from her lessons learned through the inspiring women she’s met on her travels with the Gates Foundation, which funds projects to reduce poverty and improve global health in the developing world.
Why pick it up: “Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page.” – Brené Brown
3. Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations by Admiral William H. McRaven
What it’s about: Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller Make Your Bed, which has sold over one million copies, Retired Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of adventure during his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America’s Special Operations Forces.
Why pick it up: For an unforgettable look back on one man’s incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to taking part in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.
4. Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup By John Carreyrou
What it’s about: The full inside story of the breathtaking rise and shocking collapse of Theranos, the one-time multibillion-dollar biotech startup founded by Elizabeth Holmes—now the subject of the HBO documentary The Inventor—by the prize-winning journalist who first broke the story and pursued it to the end.
Why pick it up: “The story is even crazier than I expected, and I found myself unable to put it down once I started. This book has everything: elaborate scams, corporate intrigue, magazine cover stories, ruined family relationships, and the demise of a company once valued at nearly $10 billion.” — Bill Gates
5. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
What it’s about: David Epstein, author of the New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, studied the world’s most successful athletes, artists, musicians, inventors, forecasters and scientists. He discovered that in most fields—especially those that are complex and unpredictable—generalists, not specialists, are primed to excel. While computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive.
Why pick it up: Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency to prepare the workforce for jobs in a complex, interconnected, rapidly changing world.
6. Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall
What it’s about: Strengths guru and bestselling author Marcus Buckingham and Cisco Leadership and Team Intelligence head Ashley Goodall show in this provocative, inspiring book, there are some big lies—distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking—that we encounter every time we show up for work. Nine lies, to be exact. They cause dysfunction and frustration, ultimately resulting in workplaces that are a pale shadow of what they could be.
Why pick it up: Nine Lies About Work reveals the few core truths that will help you show just how good you are to those who truly rely on you.
7. It’s the Manager: Gallup finds the quality of managers and team leaders is the single biggest factor in your organization’s long-term success by John Clifton and Jim Harter
What it’s about: While the world’s workplace has been going through extraordinary historical change, the practice of management has been stuck in time for more than 30 years. The new workforce—especially younger generations—wants their work to have deep mission and purpose, and they don’t want old-style command-and-control bosses. They want coaches who inspire them, communicate with them frequently and develop their strengths.
Why pick it up: Packed with 52 discoveries from Gallup’s largest study on the future of work, It’s the Manager shows leaders how to adapt their organizations to rapid change, ranging from new workplace demands to managing remote employees, a diverse workforce, the rise of artificial intelligence, gig workers, and attracting—keeping—today’s best employees.
Some of the principles in these books are about new ways to approach today’s leadership issues. Others can give you the inspiration you need to tackle your greatest challenges of 2019.
Question: What leadership books would you recommend reading this summer?
Download our infographic with descriptions of these great summer books. Happy reading!
Leadership
Father’s Day is coming up on Sunday. This is an excellent opportunity to show appreciation for the men in the world who take the role of dad to the next level. Here are five leadership lessons we can learn from the endearing dads of the world.
1. Be okay with not always being in charge. Having children teaches you to let go of thinking that you’re in control. According to Freud, infants are all id. The id is the impulsive part of our psyche which responds directly and immediately to the instincts. Babies demand to have their needs met, and now. They don’t care how much money you make or how many people report to you. Dads humble themselves before their newborn infants and marvel at how their new baby dominates the household. LaGuardia Cross documents this power struggle in an interview with his 3-month old daughter in New Father Chronicles.
2. Show your team what fun looks like. A 2019 study published by the University of California Riverside looked at the emotional health of 18,000 people and compared traits like well-being, happiness, episodes of depression, and stress. The conclusion? Dads, more often than moms, report playing with their children while providing care. When dads put down their work and engage with their children in play, their signaling that the world is full of adventure and work/life balance is important for mental and physical health. No one can introduce those adventures to a child better than dads like the ones in this video showing awesome dads raising awesome kids.
3. Trust your instincts. Of course, adventure comes with some inherent danger. Dads who play with their children also keep their radar open to save the day while their children explore the boundaries of their physical abilities. When kids start to take a tumble, dads are awesome at letting their amygdala take over to respond just in the nick of time. The amygdala is the part of our brains in charge of reacting to danger. Dads at play with their children instinctively save the day when there’s no time to debate.
4. Yank the tooth. Change can be scary. Whether you’re unsure that a product is ready to launch or fear the pain of losing a baby tooth, sometimes you need a push. Dads are geniuses at finding creative ways to distract kids from the fears that come with growing up. They show kids that fear and change are normal, and that you can control your fear to achieve results like this father/daughter duo who enlisted the help of a squirrel to deal with a dangling tooth.
5. Talk it out. At the end of the day, children want to know that you are interested in their thoughts. No matter how stressful your day was, your children want you to know about their day too. According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, children make 700 new connections every second until they reach the age of 3. Those connections help children to acquire the social, physical, emotional and cognitive skills needed to navigate life’s experiences. When dads sit down at the end of the day to chat about the world with their children, they acknowledge the importance of their child’s opinions, and show respect for their ideas, like in this video of a dad having a conversation with his babbling toddler.
Happy early Father’s Day to all the dads who help to grow the future leaders of the world.
Question: What leadership lessons can you draw from dads?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
People
For the past two years, a person I’ll call Andie has been working on a special project for the CEO. With a small team reporting to her, Andie opened three new offices around the world and more than doubled the company’s workforce. The work was grueling, but Andie believed that the CEO would recognize her contribution and reward her with advancement. When the project closed last month, Andie was told that she’s no longer reporting to the CEO and her staff would be reassigned. She was also told that it’s not personal, but simply a reorganization. Andie feels like she’s been benched from the “A” team. Now, she’s wondering if she should update her resume, or accept her new role.
Reassignments like Andie’s can be disheartening and even humiliating. Even if she was told that the decision to reassign herself and her staff was not personal, she certainly was personally impacted. When she turned to us for advice, our answer boiled down to one fundamental question that Andie needed to ask herself — “Am I going to let my feelings about this change poison my attitude at work, or am I going to learn from it?”
Organizations are complicated. Realistically, a CEO can effectively lead only a limited number of people. As the company grows, so will reporting structures. What’s also a reality is that the longer you work, the more likely you are to face these career-shifting situations. It won’t hurt any less, but the sooner you can pivot from the hurt to deciding how you are going to make the best of this in a way that is true to who you are, what you care about, and where you want to go, the better.
Here are three suggestions we gave Andie for how to handle her reassignment:
1. Get closure.
You stated that your role for the past two years was a special project. That implies that it was a not a full-time position, but a project with a limited life span. You also stated that you helped open three new global locations and more than doubled the workforce. If you are unclear about whether or not the project was a success, you should ask to meet with someone, if not the CEO directly, who can give you clarity and closure.
2. Get clear about your why.
Take some time to reflect on why you accepted the position with this organization in the first place. Were you excited about the mission of the company and the impact it can have on the world? If so, this could be an excellent opportunity for you to explore more ways to use your talents to help the organization achieve its mission. Every organization needs people who can be “A” team players at every level. Use this chance to gut check yourself about your values, and whether you believe the mission is more important than your position.
3. If you must exit, do it with honor.
This is not the time to turn your hurt into toxicity by complaining about being treated unfairly, or slogging into the office feeling like you’re working with less important people. If you decide to stay, then give it 110% effort. If you cannot, give it 100% while you carefully search for a position with an organization whose mission is one that you would gladly contribute to, regardless of position. Titles come and go, but purpose-driven work will give you staying power.
Question: Have you experienced a reassignment from the CEO’s team during your career? How did you handle it?
Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, subscribe to receive CEE News!
Letter from the Founder
Welcome to the forty-sixth issue of CEE News!
Okay people. Summer is officially here. We’re in month six of 2019. If you haven’t already taken time off this year, it’s time to do so. Research shows that pushing away from work results in greater professional success and improves happiness at work and home.
What’s more, medical studies have found that overwork can lead to sleep deprivation, heart disease and increased risk of stroke. Whereas taking even a short vacation, can lead to measurable improvements.
In a 2017 study by Project: Time Off, 95% of people surveyed claimed that using their paid time off was very important. Yet 55% of Americans had unused vacation days, or 705 million unused vacation days. (more…)
