atkinson advisor

Two recent natural disasters in Asia have shone spotlights on a country that is slowly loosening some media restrictions and another that still doesn’t get it.

After a May 12 earthquake killed more than 12,000 people in the Sichuan province, the Chinese government barred reporters from entering the disaster zone. Some media ignored the command and reported on the tragedy anyway. Instead of reacting harshly, China’s Propaganda Department (an ironic name) softened its stance and asked reporters to accompany rescue teams. The Chinese government’s official news agency, Xinhua, even provided regular updates on death tolls.

Contract that with Myanmar’s junta regime. After Cyclone Nargis swept through in early May, it denied access to reporters and, even worse, aid workers. When the government finally started to release death tolls, they reported much fewer than the 100,000 U.S. officials predicted, wiping away any credibility state media may have had.

Now the rest of the world is largely sympathetic to China’s plight but critical of Myanmar’s secrecy and controlling policies. The world notices when a country doesn’t seem to care about its people or reputation.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Frederick Herzberg’s Motivational Maintenance Model offer a key insight about career satisfaction.

Both theories contend that higher needs come into focus only after the lower needs have been met and that the journey of personal fulfillment increases in importance as one achieves greater levels of success.

For example, a starving man is so fixated on food that safety and security aren’t important to him. In the same way, many people become so preoccupied with salary, benefits or other factors when selecting a career that they fail to consider whether the work will ever satisfy higher needs.

Work that is not inspiring to a person will never satisfy him or her. New complaints will be constant because the person’s ladder is against the wrong wall.

The lesson: a sustainable and advancing career path ultimately comes down to whether an individual is happy with the work in and of itself.

Next time you leave a voice mail message, try moving the conversation forward. Instead of saying just “call me,” leave the information the caller requested or ask the question you need answered. Start the message with the other person’s name and leave your full name, the purpose of the call and your phone number in three minutes or less. If the information is too detailed, follow up with an e-mail.

Well-known author and leadership expert John Maxwell is fond of saying, “great leaders not only get to the top, they take people with them.”

Maxwell casts leadership in five sequential levels — position, permission, production, people development, and personhood — that build upon each other. Employees can be at different levels with the same leader. How people respond to you as a leader depends on what level leadership they are on with you.

Level 1: Position

Employees follow you because they have to: Your title

Level 2: Permission

Employees follow you because they want to: Your ability to connect and listen to them

Level 3: Production

Employees follow you because of what you’ve done for the organization: Your effectiveness and results

Level 4: People Development

Employees follow you because of what you’ve done for them: Your investment in their growth and your own

Level 5: Personhood

Employees follow you because of who you are and what you represent: Their respect for you

Maxwell suggests noting the names of each of your direct reports and examining how to get to the next level with that person.

indexed.blogspot.com

Good things can come in small packages. Blogger Jessica Hagy offers a running commentary on life using hand-drawn charts and Ven diagrams on index cards. Her observations are equal parts pointed and poignant. The blog was a nominee for last year’s Webby Awards.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink

Author Dan Pink makes a convincing case for a new way of looking at the world that leans more toward right-brained (intuitive) thinking as opposed to left-brained (logic).

The information age and the knowledge workers jobs that it created relies heavily on the left brain. Pink believes that macro factors – most notably abundance of materials goods and information, the rise of knowledge workers in Asia, and automation – are creating a new conceptual age that demands new thinking.

The following are Pink’s six key thinking skills for the new conceptual age:

1. Design — Function and form are crucial for success. See Apple vs. Microsoft.
2. Story — With Google, everybody has information on demand at their fingertips. Being able to tell good stories creates context and makes information more memorable.
3. Symphony — The ability to think holistically (right-brained) as opposed to linearly (left-brained) is necessary to manage information and relationships in an increasingly complex world.
4. Empathy — Deep relationships built on mutual understanding rather than transaction are becoming the norm.
5. Play — Enjoyment has practical applications in terms of learning new skills but also healing powers for the stress everyone feels every day.
6. Meaning — Having a purpose in life is becoming increasingly as important as what you accumulate in life.

After explaining each skill, Pink provides a portfolio of suggested activities, such as attending a storytelling festival to learn about storytelling, to develop each skill.