People, Purpose
Author: Sheri Nasim, President & CEO
Since publishing Work On Purpose: How to Connect Who You Are With What You Do in 2014, I have had many opportunities to speak about its principles. The book opens with a story about how something I heard on the radio one morning became a career-changing wake up call. It led me on a journey to connect with my purpose, and find work that truly makes a positive impact in the world. In closing, I challenge others to connect who they are with what they do for a living. Then I take questions. Without fail, this question is always in the top three:
You left your job in order to find work with purpose. Do you think all people who are unhappy in their jobs should look for work with a purpose like you did?
“Should I quit my job?” continues to be a burning question on the minds of many of today’s workers, especially for post-pandemic Americans. My answer? “Yes, and no.” Yes. You want want to be more than a coin-operated employee. But, if you don’t take stock of the kind of co-worker you are now and get clear about where you want to go, you could easily find yourself facing the same workday woes at your next gig that you’re facing now.
According to research from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 4 million people quit their jobs in April 2021 alone, the highest quit level since the agency began publishing these rates in December 2000. There’s no single reason for this massive shift. Millions lost their jobs due to the pandemic, many switched careers, started their own companies, or dropped out of the workforce altogether.
If you are among those considering a move, take time to reflect before you refresh your resume. To the extent that you have the locus of control, it’s your job to take ownership of who you are and what you want. Here are 3 questions you should ask yourself before you quit your job:
1. Am I Adding or Subtracting? The late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” If you’re waiting for others to solve your engagement issue, you could be waiting a really long time. Break the habit of waiting for things to change, and look for ways to add value to every interaction at work.
2. Am I Using My Skills Instead of My Strengths? Author and consultant Marcus Buckingham suggests that we have a moral duty to understand our greatest strengths because our teams should use us where we are our strongest. He notes that this is harder to do than you might think because your strengths come so easily to you that you barely recognize them. It’s entirely possible to slide into a career that matches your skillset but not your greatest strengths. Here are Buckingham’s tips to pinpoint your strengths.
3. Am I Working from a Roadmap? Many people are not. They go through their careers like passengers on a bus. Scenes fly by the windows for mile after mile. Seatmates come and go. Opportunities to get off occur at regular intervals. But the hum of the road dulls their senses, and soon they end up lost. Their personal plans and dream destinations long forgotten. Use the simple guide in Work on Purpose to create a Purpose Plan for yourself. Of course, it’s possible to find meaningful work without a Purpose Plan, just as you can get to your destination by riding a bus. But, with a plan, you are more likely to be alert and stay on your truth path.
I’m not suggesting that leaders should not take primary responsibility for creating a culture of engagement. I’m suggesting that the turbulence is likely to continue. While leaders focus on creating resilient workplaces, challenge yourself to actively look for ways to add value, know your strengths, and have a roadmap to connect who you are with what you do.
Question: What’s one thing that you can do to improve your engagement level at work?
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!
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
As of late April 2021, there were over 9 million open jobs in the U.S., a record high. Employers across the country are scrambling for ways to fill their open requisitions, just as research shows that a stunning 52% of workers plan to change jobs in 2021. While it might sound contradictory, the U.S. is experiencing higher unemployment numbers and a labor shortage with half of the current workforce on the hunt for another job.
When businesses don’t have enough employees, they’re forced to turn away jobs or shorten the hours they are open. While the pandemic had a big impact on the labor market, the workforce gap isn’t a new problem. In October of 2019, the U.S. had more open jobs than unemployed individuals. Keeping our economy growing requires that we fill these jobs. We need to remove conventional barriers that prevent people from entering the workforce and staying employed. Drawing on the latest trends in workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, here are two areas employers can focus on to help close the workforce gap.
Childcare support for working parents. When the Covid-19 pandemic removed the safety net of schooling and employee-paid childcare for working families, the damage was cataclysmic. Without a stable form of childcare as part of the business infrastructure, the world stopped working for the vast majority of employed parents. One-third of the U.S. workforce, or an estimated 50 million workers, had a child under 14 in their household in April 2020. In a follow-up survey, 26% of women who became unemployed during the pandemic said it was due to a lack of childcare. Without affordable and accessible childcare, working mothers are forced to make an unfair choice, and the economy cannot fully recover.
The sooner employers treat childcare with the same seriousness as healthcare and other aspects of their business infrastructure, the faster employees can get back to full force. Childcare subsidies, flexible work schedules, remote work, and on-site or local childcare spaces are options that will not only help re-build the workforce, but provide a “sticky” benefit that fosters retention. It’s time to think creatively about ways to build the childcare infrastructure needed to support working parents.
Give second chance workers a second chance. The stigma against hiring ex-offenders is lifting. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates that 1 in 3 Americans has a criminal background. Moreover, greater than 600,000 former inmates are returning to society every year. Ex-offenders face incredible hurdles to gaining employment, the foundation of re-building a way to contribute to society after serving their sentence. According to SHRM’s Executive Director, Wendi Safstrom, the crimes that follow ex-offenders can remain with them for the rest of their lives, regardless of what they were convicted for. “People should not be penalized for mistakes made when they were decades younger,” says Safstrom.
Second-chance hiring improves efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive workforce. But we have made finding gainful employment after prison entirely too hard as attested to by Teresa Hodge in her TEDx Talk after serving a 70-month federal prison sentence for a white-collar, non-violent, first-time offense. Take the first step to giving second chance workers a second chance by visiting www.GettingTalentBacktoWork.org and pledge to consider all qualified candidates during your interview process. Review the toolkit to learn about best practices in second chance hiring, and consider finding a local nonprofit to partner with in your second chance hiring journey.
Convincing your organization to make significant changes to its recruiting and retention strategy might be the hardest part of improving your efforts to address your labor shortage. The initiatives above are not simple to implement. But, closing the workforce gap requires widening conventional practices and walking the talk on diversity, equity and inclusion.
Question: How can you use diversity, equity and inclusion to close the workforce gap?
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!
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 our 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, they’re 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 naturally allow their amygdala to take over so that they can 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 overthink.
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!
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
Two weeks ago, I met a girlfriend for a glass of wine at a beautiful restaurant in San Diego during Happy Hour. After spending more than twelve months in a state of suspended animation—limiting my social interactions to fewer than a dozen people—I felt free.
Since March of 2020, my husband and I have limited our gatherings to a small cohort of family and friends. We ran our companies from our home offices and dedicated ourselves to making sure that our teams and clients were as safe, sound, and sane as possible through a year+ of uncertainty.
Two weeks after getting my second Covid-19 vaccination, I was ready to log out of Zoom and return to non-essential activities. Back at the restaurant, my girlfriend and I caught up on our personal and professional lives, shared pictures saved on our phones, and talked about resuming travel plans. We limited ourselves to one glass of wine each, gave each other a hug, and said our goodbyes. Just two white women in designer clothes climbing back into our beautiful cars rushed to us by uniformed valet drivers.
I chose a scenic route for the 30-minute drive home and pulled up a podcast to enjoy during the trip. It was an interview with Harvard Professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed about her new book, On Juneteenth. I learned not only had Annette, four years my senior, grown up in Texas like me, but that her family had lived in Conroe, the same town that I did. Annette had even attended Anderson Elementary School, the same school where I was a student.
Much of what Annette shared brought back fond memories of my own childhood. Yet, much of what she shared was shocking. Montgomery County, of which Conroe is the county seat, was known for its cruel treatment of Black people. This was news to me. A 25-year old Black man had been burned at the stake in front of the Montgomery County courthouse in 1922. I had never heard about this before. Annette and her mother entered Sadler Clinic—the same one where my mother took me for checkups— from a separate door where they sat in a small waiting room for Blacks. Was I too absorbed in the Highlights for Children magazines to notice? When I went to the Crighton Theatre to watch The Aristocats, Annette may have been there too. If so, I learned that she would have been in the balcony with the other Black patrons.
The interview with Professor Gordon-Reed jarred me. I had spent much of the past several months learning about racial equity and injustice in America. After George Floyd’s murder, I published an Open Letter commitment to educate myself about the disproportionate socio-economic harm imposed on Black communities and other communities of color, to use my platform to push progress forward on inclusion and diversity, and to partner with organizations to move from protest to policy to redress racial injustice.
I made good on that commitment by reading books, watching films, writing posts and hosting wildly successful webinars on the subject. I’ve completed the pre-requisites, but all of that knowledge can fade away as soon as the world reopens. I can meet a girlfriend for a drink and be lulled back into a world that has been carefully designed to cater to my convenience —the path of willful ignorance. Or, I can sign up for the next level to close the divide. I’m committed to the latter. This week, I’m leveling up to partner with practitioners to take action, and design and deliver content to build workplaces that are inclusive for all.
Question: What are you doing to remain committed to your DEI goals as the world reopens?
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!
Book lists
“I am still learning,” is a quote attributed to Michelangelo on his 81st birthday.
Even those born with innate skills who achieve the highest levels of success in their fields can benefit from continuous development. If you’re looking for titles to add to your summer reading list to broaden yourself personally or professionally, we’ve gathered an array of new books for seasoned and emerging leaders alike.
1. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
What it’s about: Organizational psychologist Adam Grant is an expert on opening other people’s minds—and our own. As Wharton’s top-rated professor and the bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, he makes it one of his guiding principles to argue like he’s right but listen like he’s wrong. With bold ideas and rigorous evidence, he investigates how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, bring nuance to charged conversations, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners.
Why pick it up: You’ll learn how an international debate champion wins arguments, a Black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate, a vaccine whisperer convinces concerned parents to immunize their children, and coaxing Yankees fans to root for the Red Sox. Think Again reveals that we don’t have to believe everything we think or internalize everything we feel. It’s an invitation to let go of views that are no longer serving us well and prize mental flexibility over foolish consistency. If knowledge is power, knowing what we don’t know is wisdom.
2. Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein
What it’s about: Imagine that two doctors in the same city give different diagnoses to identical patients—or that two judges in the same courthouse give markedly different sentences to people who have committed the same crime. Suppose that different interviewers at the same firm make different decisions about indistinguishable job applicants—or that when a company is handling customer complaints, the resolution depends on who happens to answer the phone. Now imagine that the same doctor, the same judge, the same interviewer, or the same customer service agent makes different decisions depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. These are examples of noise: variability in judgments that should be identical.
Why pick it up: In Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein show the detrimental effects of noise in many fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic science, bail, child protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel selection. Wherever there is judgment, there is noise. Yet, most of the time, individuals and organizations alike are unaware of it. They neglect noise. With a few simple remedies, people can reduce both noise and bias, and so make far better decisions.
3. Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon In Business and Life by Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas
What it’s about: There exists a mistaken belief in today’s corporate world: that we have to be serious all the time in order to be taken seriously. But the research tells a different story: that humor can be one of the most powerful tools we have for accomplishing serious things. Studies show that humor makes us appear more competent and confident, strengthens relationships, unlocks creativity, and boosts our resilience during difficult times. Plus, it fends off a permanent and unsightly frown known as “resting boss face.” That’s why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds build levity into their organizations and lives.
Why pick it up: Aaker and Bagdonas unpack the theory and application of humor: what makes something funny and how to mine your life for material. They show how to use humor to make a strong first impression, deliver difficult feedback, persuade and motivate others, and foster cultures where levity and creativity can thrive—not to mention, how to keep it appropriate and recover if you cross a line.
4. The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis
What it’s about: The people you will meet in these pages are as fascinating as they are unexpected. A thirteen-year-old girl’s science project on transmission of an airborne pathogen develops into a very grown-up model of disease control. A local public health officer uses her worm’s-eye view to see what the CDC misses, and reveals great truths about American society. A secret team of dissenting doctors, nicknamed the Wolverines, has everything necessary to fight the pandemic: brilliant backgrounds, world class labs, prior experience with the pandemic scares of bird flu and swine flu…everything, that is, except official permission to implement their work.
Why pick it up: Michael Lewis is not shy about calling these people heroes for their refusal to follow directives that they know to be based on misinformation and bad science. Even the internet, as crucial as it is to their exchange of ideas, poses a risk to them. They never know for sure who else might be listening in.
5. Dear Bob . . . Bob Hope’s Wartime Correspondence with the G.I.s of World War II by Martha Bolton and Linda Hope
What it’s about: For five decades, comedian, actor, singer, dancer, and entertainer Bob Hope (1903–2003) traveled the world performing before American and Allied troops and putting on morale-boosting USO shows. Dear Bob tells the story of Hope’s remarkable service to the fighting men and women of World War II, collecting personal letters, postcards, packages, and more sent back and forth among Hope and the troops and their loved ones back home.
Soldiers, nurses, wives, and parents shared their innermost thoughts, swapped jokes, and commiserated with the “G.I.s’ best friend” about war, sacrifice, lonely days, and worrisome, silent nights. The Entertainer of the Century performed for millions of soldiers in person, in films, and over the radio. He visited them in the hospitals and became not just a pal but their link to home.
Why pick it up: This unforgettable collection of letters and images, many of which remained in Hope’s personal files throughout his life and now reside at the Library of Congress, capture a personal side of both writer and recipient in a very special and often-emotional way. This volume heralds the voices of those servicemen and women and will remind you of the sacrifices made by the Silent Generation—some of whom you may still be lucky enough to have among your workforce.
6. Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
What it’s about: Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure.
Expanding on her original New Yorker piece, Adichie shares how this loss shook her to her core. She writes about being one of the millions of people grieving this year; about the familial and cultural dimensions of grief and also about the loneliness and anger that are unavoidable in it. With signature precision of language, and glittering, devastating detail on the page—and never without touches of rich, honest humor—Adichie weaves together her own experience of her father’s death with threads of his life story, from his remarkable survival during the Biafran war, through a long career as a statistics professor, into the days of the pandemic in which he’d stay connected with his children and grandchildren over video chat from the family home in Abba, Nigeria.
Why pick it up: In the compact format of We Should All Be Feminists and Dear Ijeawele, Adichie delivers a gem of a book—a book that fundamentally connects us to one another as it probes one of the most universal human experiences. Notes on Grief is a book for this moment—a work readers will treasure and share now more than ever—and yet will prove durable and timeless, an indispensable addition to Adichie’s canon.
7. Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything by BJ Fogg, PhD
What it’s about: A habit expert from Stanford University shares his breakthrough method for building habits quickly and easily. With Tiny Habits you’ll increase productivity by tapping into positive emotions to create a happier and healthier life. Dr. Fogg’s new and extremely practical method picks up where Atomic Habits left off.
Why pick it up: Based on twenty years of research and Fogg’s experience coaching more than 40,000 people, Tiny Habits cracks the code of habit formation. With breakthrough discoveries in every chapter, you’ll learn the simplest proven ways to transform your life. Fogg shows you how to feel good about your successes instead of bad about your failures.
8. The Best of Outside: The First 20 Years by the Editors of Outside Magazine
What it’s about: The man-eating proclivities of Komodo dragons. The complicated art of being a cowgirl. A picaresque ramble with a merry band of tree-cleaners. The big wave crusaders of the world’s best surfers. For the past twenty years, Outside magazine has set the standard for original and engaging reports on travel, adventure, sports, and the environment. Its 30 articles from the eponymous magazine’s 1977-1997 heyday showcase some of the best adventure writers, literary journalists and essayists of the 20th century.
Why pick it up: The Best of Outside represents the finest the award-winning magazine has to offer: thirty stories that range from high action to high comedy. Whether it’s Jonathan Raban sailing the open sea, Susan Orlean celebrating Spain’s first female bullfighter, or Jim Harrison taking the wheel on a cross-country road trip, each piece can be characterized in a word: unforgettable. Commemorating Outside magazine’s twentieth anniversary, this book is one of the most entertaining and provocative anthologies of the decade.
Question: What books are on your reading list this summer?
Download the infographic 8 Books for Your 2021 Summer Reading List and enjoy your summer reading!
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!
