15 things I believe Updated for late 2018

15 things I believe Updated for late 201815 things I believe Updated for late 2018I have taught an introduction to organizational behavior class for mora than 30 years to both undergraduate and graduate students. I first taught it at The University of Michigan to undergraduates when I was a doctoral student. And Ive taught an ever-evolving version of the class almost every year since I landed at Stanford in 1983. For years, the brde day, especially the final 20 minutes or so, felt awkward and forced as I struggled to look back on what the class had learned, provide some closure, and end on an upbeat note. About 15 years ago, I experimented with an ending ritual I passed out a list of 12 things that I believe, made a brief comment about each one, and thanked the class for their efforts and for putting up with my quirks and imperfections. The list contained many opinions that were related to the class. But they also drew on other work I hadnt mentioned in class and my general perspect ive on life.It worked and it still does. The students like it and it feels authentic. Ive fiddled with different versions of this list over the years - items come and go, it gets longer and shorter, but it still feels like a useful ritual for wrapping up the class. About ten years ago, I put it on my old Work Matters blog and people seemed to like it there too I have continued to tweak the list and update the links that explain my opinions in more detail. This post offers the latest Things I Believe list. I last updated in early 2018 and was inspired to update it by the start of the 2018-2019 academic year.Last year, I updated the silly thinker picture from my old blog with a new picture of the older me sitting at the same spot, next to The Thinker at the Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden on the Stanford campus. (FYI my old Work Matters blog endures at www.bobsutton.org and my All Things Bob Sutton site is at www.bobsutton.net).As with each time Ive revised this list, doing so for ced me to think about what is important enough to remain, what I feel compelled to add, and what I best subtract to make room for new stuff (I did cheat a bit and expanded it from 14 to 15 things). Here is the current list- each but the last one has a link if you want to dig into it further. I hope you like it. And I would love to hear your reactions, suggestions, and critiques.1. Sometimes the best management is no management at all first do no harm2. The best leaders have the attitude of wisdom, the confidence to act on their convictions and the humility to keep searching for (and acting on) evidence that they are wrong.3. Indifference is as important as passion.4. The best leaders know what it feels like to work for them. They overcome the urge to focus attention on powerful superiors vorschlagher than their followers. They also resist the temptation to believe and reward those who butter them up with flattering bullsh-t (And make it safe for followers to tell them uncomfortable truths).5. Fight as if you are right listen as if you are wrong.6. Fear the clusterfk (or clusterfug)those debacles and disasters caused by a deadly brew of illusion, impatience, and incompetence that afflicts too many decision-makers, especially those in powerful, confident, and prestigious groups.7. Big teams suck.8. George Carlin was right. Too many people behave as if my sh-t is stuff, and your stuff is sh-t. It creates a lot of unnecessary friction and frustration.9. Hierarchy is good. Hierarchy is essential. And less isnt always better. Giving people orders, watching them work, and making decisions are things that ought to be done with care, caution, and compassion. But organizations and teams need hierarchy (and other bureaucratic trappings) to function.10. If you are a winner and an ahole, you are still a loser in my book because you are harming so many other people in your lust to build something, make money, or dominate that competition.11. Kurt Vonnegut was right. It is often more constructive to tell yourself I have enough than to keep asking how you can get more and more and more. I dont believe that people who die with the most money, fancy stuff, power, or prestige win the game of life.12. If you are plagued by an ahole or a pack of them make a clean getaway if you can. If you cant, develop a strategy for protecting yourself and fellow victims from the onslaught, for preserving your dignity and spirit, and for fighting back.13. Am I a success or a failure? is not a very useful question. It is better to ask what am I learning.14. Life is always going to be a bit messy, especially if you are doing something interesting and new. Try to create as much simplicity and clarity as you can, but embrace (and enjoy) the inevitable confusion and messiness too.15. Jimmy Maloney was right. Work is an overrated activity.I left this last point unexplained on my published lists and without any links until recently. Most readers got the message and only a few complained because I didnt explore any nuances or talk about who the heck Jimmy Maloney was to me. But here is the background which I always tell my class.About 20 years ago, I spent many of my weekends and vacations racing sailboats with my boyhood friend Jimmy Maloney. He had a serious and stressful job, but was making good money. He and his wife Loretta still found a lot of time to spend with each other and their three young kids. But Jimmy and Loretta felt oppressed by the rat race. And at the strangest moments 10 seconds before the start of a race, during complicated maneuvers such as tacks or jibes, or even the middle of a capsize Jimmy would start bellowing work is overrated or we are all suckers, most people wouldnt work if they had a choice. It wasnt just hollow talk. Jim and Loretta quit their jobs, sold their house, bought a sailboat, and cruised with their kids for a couple years (Loretta is a schoolteacher, and she was very disciplined about teaching each kid the mat erial required by their California school district). The family eventually landed in New Zealand, where they raised their kids. They work just enough to support a modest but healthy life. All three kids grew up to be great sailors too. In fact, their daughter Alex won a silver medal in the 2016 Olympics and their son Andy sailed on the New Zealand boat that won the Americas Cup in 2017.I like to end my class with that story because I am so focused on the workplace in my writings and research, and the students I teach at Stanford are such extreme overachievers, that it is useful to remind them (and myself), as Jimmy would put it, that work is an overrated activity.P.S. I put my final exam question on the course outline, so students know it from the first day Design the ideal organization. Use course concepts to defend your answer. The quality, range, and imagination of these papers often stuns and delights me.Thisarticlefirst appeared on LinkedIn.

Why I put Immigrant on my resume

Why I put Immigrant on my resumeWhy I put Immigrant on my resumeIn April 2014, standing in my mothers living room in suburban Virginia, I kept trying to take slow breaths, be calm, and stop my mind from racing. I would have called it a panic attack but it went on for months. To a lesser extent, its dragged on for years. I welches overwhelmed by the feeling that I had next to no control. The plans I had for my life, my hopes and dreams, were all in the hands of a bureaucrat somewhere I would never meet who was ready to dictate what would happen with my life over the incorrect use of a stamp.I was applying for a long-term visa in the country that had become my home. This whole experience may not be typical for someone with a white middle-class background like myself. But, as it progressed, I came to realize that lack of control and anxiety was a part of who I am.I am an immigrant*.*To be clear, that means I am not an expat (a word we should really stop using).That may sound obvious to some, but for someone who grew up in the United States surrounded by immigrants from all over the world, it felt strange to turn a word so synonymous with other back on myself. But after spending nearly my entire adult life outside of the US, theres no denying that being an immigrant has become at the core of my identity. I am neither here nor there, a foreigner to some extent no matter where I am in the world.Searching for an Identity and a CareerBut my identity wasnt my only concern at the time. I had spent my entire career working to become an academic historian. However, with the future of academia not looking bright, I decided I had to start over. This brought up the question, what skills did I have?When I put together a resume, my academic performance was impressive, but it wasnt clear what practical skills I had. In spite of this, I managed to get a job as a writer. Over two years of working, my skillset slowly came through and I realized where my strengths lay. Unsurprisingl y, they largely stemmed from the defining experience of my adult life being an immigrant. I realized I couldSolve problems while communicating through language barriers to do things like figure out what time buses leave or decipher how to pay a water bill.Perceive the subtle contextual differences between cultures. For example, why a joke is funny to one culture and not another or how small changes in how something is worded changes how its understood.Adapt to ever-changing situations comfortably.Have enough patience to spend months and years going through bureaucratic processes and handle the emotional uncertainty that comes with them.These are skills I use at my job every day. But selling them, and myself, to an employer need to go beyond simply listing them as skills. By putting them in context, both my skills and myself become more three dimensional and compelling. So instead of binnenseeing adaptable they see Ive lived, worked, and studied in three countries. Instead of I know how to plan and adapt to complex situations, they see Ive mastered the intricate bureaucracy of the visa application process.Related articlesWhat did Microsofts Marketing Manager learn from 3 strengths you can develop only by switching jobsWhat does yur day look like? Share with us and winThe Moment I RealizedWhen I first encountered s resume builder, I spent quite a while adapting the simple Word doc Id been using for years. During that process, I spent a significant amount of time just considering what my accomplishments were, and what experiences defined me. That is when it all really came together. I clicked on the Experience section, where one would normally put a list of jobs, and typed the word Immigrant.I smiled and exhaled as a sense of calmness came over me. Yes, I was an immigrant. Yes, that belonged on my resume. In this moment, it became clear that my resume was about more than getting that next job, it was about personal reflection.Frankly, I want resumes and the jobs they get us to be more about who we are beyond simply what it is we do at work (here are some good examples). But making that change isnt going to happen overnight. We all need to consider the relationship between our identities and careers and let that reflect in how we present ourselves in the office and on the page. If youve had your own experience, Id love to hear about it. You can post about it in the comments or email me at eric.com.

Five Ways to Improve your Healthcare Hiring Process

Five Ways to Improve your Healthcare Hiring ProcessFive Ways to Improve your Healthcare Hiring ProcessFive Ways to Improve your Healthcare Hiring Process BoernerShifting reimbursements. Readmission penalties. Thirty million patients newly insured under healthcare reform. The looming retirement of millions of Baby Boomers. Put together, its a recipe for an especially challenging healthcare hiring process.Here are five ways to hone your hiring practices for healthcare hiring, both today and in the future.Hire a Team PlayerThe bulletin board behind Eileen Rowlands office at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City lists at least a dozen councils her nurses can join. Rowland, HHSs director of nurse recruitment, uses the list as a kollektivwork test for job candidates.I point at it and say, Can you imagine yourself on one of these councils? she says. Some people are genuinely excited. Others, you can tell they dont give a hoot. If they dont care, this isnt the right place for them.Wi th the rise of coordinated care, healthcare organizations are reorienting towardrecruiting team players and that means the hiring process has to target technically adept candidates who also have soft skills communication skills, an ability to work with different personalities and group problem solving skills.Rowland recommends that once you vet a candidate, get specific about their team player experience Have they been part of teams in their current jobs? What roles did they play? How did they contribute to a hospital initiative or project?And she asks these follow-up interview questions Were they involved in sports? Its not that someone who hasnt played sports cant be a good team member, she says. But when youre looking at new grads, looking to see what group activities people are part of is always a good idea.Interview SmartlyIf youre taking a team approach, it makes sense to bring the team into the hiring process as well, says David Twitchell, co-director of HR for Rutland dezent ral Medical Center in Vermont.This serves two purposes careful vetting of new hires and employee engagement.Be sure to include at least one person in the interview process who will be the new hires coworker, as well as someone on a different hospital team with whom the hire may have to coordinate care. Hiring managers and supervisors should also be given a shot to vet the candidate.These can be done over multiple interviews, but too arduous a hiring process can backfire, leaving the candidate with a bad impression of the company and ultimately damage the companys reputation among job seekers.The only exception to this, says Esther Cuno, recruiting manager for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, is executive leadership. Its often hard to get all the players for those positions together at once, necessitating multiple visits.Otherwise, says Rowland, try to confine the interviews to one visit, if possible.Good people wont linger on the market even in this economy, she says. I dont want t o give the candidate an opportunity to meet another recruiter because I couldnt get it done today.Create a Consistent Interview ProcessCuno has heard it over and over again A hiring manager will tell her, I thought he would do so well. He really gelled with the team. He had a great personality. But its not working out.You absolutely can get blinded by personality in interviews, she says.The key to avoiding that, she says, is to be prepared and consistent. Strong personalities can pull interviewers off track, leaving them to realize later that they didnt get all the information they need to determine whether the candidate could succeed in the job.If youre consistent and ask everyone the same interview questions, youll be better able to weed out candidates who interview well but may not serve your organizational mission.Hire Tech Savvy CandidatesThe emergence of electronic medical records has added a new layer of vetting to Twitchells hiring processes.You have to make sure candidates are computer literate and savvy, says Twitchell, also leader of the Society for Human Resources Managements HR Disciplines Expertise Panel.Ever since we went to electronic medical records two years ago, weve done an assessment across our organization internally, to see where we had to develop opportunities to coach current staff. New staff must already have the skills.The good news is that many candidates are HITECH savvy so much so that in the tech-savvy Pacific Northwest, Cuno considers it a core function. Rowland verifies that people have experience with the programs they use and, in the end, tests candidates tech skills to provide an extra layer of protection.Invest in Your StaffIts been proven over and over again that employees accept or decline an offer based in large part on the employee benefits offered. That will become more important as newly-insured patients guarantees flood the system.One of our current challenges is forecasting in advance of actual needs, Cuno says.In order to really plan for the future, its important to recruit at all different experience levels, so you dont have a huge wave of retirements and a huge wave of change.So take your recruiting further. Cuno plans to expand recruitment beyond the region this year and target candidates nationally. Shes also exploring new internship programs, residency and preceptor programs, and is looking outside the oncology field for potential hires.Shes also looking for better ways to provide employee training and advancement for their current staff. Rowland even brings continuing healthcare education on campus for staff convenience.While such investment can be expensive, Cuno says, so is hiring the wrong person.Read moreEngage New Nursing Graduates for Future Hiring NeedsIT Staffing for Healthcare Recruiting for HITECH Retaining Healthcare Professionals with Education Benefits