Hello, please let it work.
It’s an Easter holiday 🐣, which means there are fewer London workers, but there are many tourists. To escape the crowd, I went out to eat lunch on the rooftop of my office. I finally got the advice of a friend, a consumer editor, Claer Barrett. (My goal: Please don’t reappear in the top 1 percent of Pret Sandwich buyers in my bank’s “end of the year” spending summary.
And at least the office workers get a break. For many home-based staff, lunch time is a thing of the past.
Please send me a photo of “Work Lunch”. Can I get a view of the FT? Photos, thoughts, ideas: isabel.berwick@ft.com.
Read on and find out how you can see how your leader sees the world from all perspectives. And in office therapy, you advise someone who has been hurt by a company remodeling.
Bluffing the Blind: When the Leader clearly can’t see the world 🙈
I wasn’t sure if I would mention the Blindman’s bluff (or buff – really?). This ancient game may have been cancelled from the last time I played the 70s Erm. But it remains a good rationale about how leaders are at the heart of the crowd (in this case their board and senior team), but not being able to see what’s actually going on.
Kate Lye, founder of Savoir Group, appeared in one of his recent IT films (about CEO succession plans). She continues to work with senior leaders at Goldman Sachs and other large companies to maintain her best performance. So I asked her to outline the recurring issues seen among people at the top of the organization.
Kate observes how business leaders often change with their work and the forces that come with them. “Being in that rare atmosphere changes how you see the world and how you see yourself.”
She cites the example of an outsider hired CEO who is also well known as an avid cyclist. Six months later, Kate asked how his senior team was doing.
As Kate points out, there’s a system of corporate life set up, so people try to play it to their advantage. In this example, she told him:
How can I overcome this problem? Partly by protecting yourself. Kate says, “You just can’t show that much of your own, because it’s used against you.” (So you might keep your cycling data private.) More widely she suggests, “You need people around you who view the world differently and have other experiences. You don’t have to agree with them, you need to make up and refine it yourself. You’re a bit of an echo chamber.
And finally, if you are in leadership position, Kate suggests that you force people to embrace “really high quality challenges” from those who are not afraid to tell you (this could be a coach, mentor, or brave companion). This can stop us from falling into the trap of believing that what we see is the overall truth of our organization.
Do you want more? The work of the late Daniel Kahnemann is here, particularly his theory of “everything you see.” Unless we check ourselves, we only use information that we receive immediately, without asking for more information or collecting it. (Employment interviews are a great example of Wysiati. In many cases, we make a very quick decision about the candidates for vision and are unable to consider any additional information.)
Office Therapy
Problem: We had a reorganization at work and I moved sideways to put it philanthropy. I’m still working, but now I’m not like my previous colleagues. I’m drifting away. How can I recover and move on? When you feel that you are deemed “I want it” every day, how can you continue to show up? (To be clear, some people maintained their position “status level” in Reorg.)
Isabel’s advice: Ah, this is rough. They may also experience common guilt among “survivors” when their peers are fired. My recommendation (preferably aside from taking holidays, just switch off for a week) is to read Alison Fragale’s excellent book, the favourable Badass. It’s aimed at women, but you don’t have to be a woman to feel it’s useful.
In this book, Allison outlines the differences between power and status, and the latter is much more important. Power exists when you can control what someone else cherishes. That’s why salary and promotions are required at work. Your manager has the power, and perhaps people who have maintained their “status” in this reorganization.
But it’s short-lived – a real “status” is rooted in how others view you, your personal integrity, and whether you order their respect. And you can tackle this – it’s a long-term goal. Allison’s book outlines how to become “likeable and bad” in this way.
For “On the Ground” advice, I turned to Dani Gleaveson, a coach who has worked with many people affected by the restructuring. She admits how difficult it is, but suggests that this adversity can be framed as a positive turning point. “This can be a moment when you discover your inner strength and vitality to promote your growth. Dig deep, call for the greatest energy within you, and activate it.” Good luck.
US workplace insights from charters: A challenging age for new graduates 🎓
With the US approaching the end of my college year, I asked Kevin Delaney, editor-in-chief of Charter, the future of work media and research firms, to let me know what I was hearing about the graduate recruitment market.
Kevin told me a few months ago that the outlook seems good for the roughly 2 million students preparing to graduate. Since then, it has been a roller coaster: “Unfortunate factors, including increased vigilance in employment business during the current anticipated recession and dramatic cuts in federal employment in the US — have almost shattered optimism.
Employment has been particularly lazy in industries such as consulting and finance, which traditionally scooped up many graduates. And Kevin said, “There’s another reason for young white-collar workers to worry about. Artificial intelligence is good at many tasks that are often assigned, such as customer service and basic research analysis.”
Five Top Stories from the World of Work
Interview with Roula Khalaf of Jamie Dimon Video: JPMorgan Chase CEO talks to FT’s editors about trade wars, tariffs and markets. From 29 minutes, there are some great things to tackle readers about how Dimon sees leadership and succession planning.
Tools that give AI praise promise “real” insights. AI is stepping in to help staff praise their colleagues with more finesse. Jude Webber reports on Workhuman’s continuous feedback tool. Does that take away humanity from the connections and admiration of colleagues?
The Problem of Workers Who Can’t Think for Yourself: Margaret Heffernan writes for FT about young workers who have been taught to respond to instructions, but lacks imagination and creative thinking. It strongly appeals to the revival of art subjects and creative careers.
The Pain of Doing Business with Trump: Pirita Clark outlines the remarkable respect business leaders have shown to Donald Trump and his policies until the tariff announcements sparked some pushback. And, as she shows, there is a long history of business leaders.
How Nvidia became the driving force behind the AI revolution: If you (like me) are stumped by the recent rise of Nvidia as the most valuable company in the world, this review by Tim Bradshaw of two new books from FT is a great introduction.
Words from the working IT community
Last week I highlighted Tina’s newsletter. He talks about “Jevons Paradox,” which is applied to AI. (Summary: When coal became more efficient in the 1860s, people burned even more. Like the increase in coal burning, AI efficiency and productivity is not good in itself.)
Some readers who want to remain anonymous said in their experience that “many managers seem obsessed with improving efficiency, but my point was that they can always achieve maximum efficiency, but they are ineffective (it’s very efficient to do the wrong thing!)
So, in short, “If the output focus is not set correctly, even the maximum or optimal efficiency will not achieve the greatest effect.”
“One other important word in this context is “optimal.” And let’s replace “efficiency” with “optimal effect” as optimal effectiveness is probably the best goal, and this means the greatest benefit from the smallest or optimal/most economical input. ”
I really like this. Incoming calls with optimal effectiveness🤞🏼.
Before you log off. . .
Check out the annual list of Ubers, the most common and rarest items left by car passengers. Of course, phones and wallets are the most frequently lost items, and between 11pm and midnight is the most common time when people leave their belongings. More esoteric lost assets include the Viking drink horn and urinal.
Hat tips to knowledge to include this nugget in your free daily news summary. This newsletter is a useful digest for busy people, covering news, politics, comments and pleasant quirky things.
