Hip & Sage

Real Leaders Don't Get Old

Well, we do grow physically older, but great leaders don't act old. Check out this cool post by Dan over at Great Leadership called, Leaders Don't Get Old. Here is a snippet:

When an employee comes to you with a proposal that they are excited about, don't look for all the flaws in the idea or come up with ways to make it harder to implement the idea. You should tell yourself your job as a leader is to figure out ways to make it easier to implement that idea. Try it - it's a lot harder than it sounds - and you will be amazed with the effect it has on your employees and your organization.

And thanks to Dan for including a wee bit in the post from Hip and Sage. The Tony B Story (my favorite, I think). Incidentally, at the bottom of his post, Dan lists key terms from the post. It is an interesting collection!

Labels: agism, boomers, K.D. Lang, Lisa Haneberg, Management Craft, Michael Haberman, my generation, neil young, the who, Tony Bennet

Hip and Sage Philanthropy - How to make a bigger impact by being hip. Katherine Fulton

Check out this amazing TED talk by Katherine Fulton called, "You are the future of Philanthropy." Can you help make the world a better place by being open, flexible, and hip. Yep! And the average person can make a huge difference.

Work Ethic and the Generations

My friend Randy posted this interesting question on LinkedIn:

Every week I hear the work ethic of generations criticized by those of other generations. What is your definition of work ethic? What generational differences have you observed?

And here was my response:

Randy - I think there is not one definition of work ethic any more, so perhaps the goal does not need to be wrapped up in this emotional word, "ethics." What we might think of as ethics is a totally optional preference to others and visa-versa. Perhaps we will do a better job of coming to an understanding about work expectations if the word "ethics" is nowhere in the conversation. Ethics implies right or wrong. Expectations are just that - not what's RIGHT but how I have structured the job and what I am willing to pay for.

What do you think?

Transparency - Could it be the new black?

I love this post from the HR Bartender Blog called, Truth and Transparency (hat tip to the Great Leadership blog). The topic is about our changing expectations and needs for truth in the workplace (and everywhere).

To be a hip professional, we need to have a healthy relationship with the truth, even when it hurts. Here is a snippet from the post:

Transparency implies openness, communication and personal accountability.  It’s not only telling the truth but providing access to all the data and encouraging inclusiveness in the decision making process.

Yep. Those of us who were schooled in the "need to know" ways of business need to shed that sinister skin and get naked - in a metaphorical way, of course.

If one of your points of pride is that you are in the "in-crowd" - the group that tends to know stuff, then your organization is far from transparent. Why not be the catalyst to open things up?

Being in the "in" crowd is no longer hip - strange, but true.