My Commentary on Commentary

With 24-hour news, 24-hour sports news, 24-hour entertainment news (is there such a thing?), the publish-your-own landscape of the internet, and the legitimization of social media and instant messaging as business tools let alone our own "personal" social networking, we all have become commentators. The commentary starts before the actual event, carries on alongside the event and lives a life of its own long after the event. The commentary can be interesting and thought-provoking. The commentary can be refreshing, funny, entertaining. But sometimes the commentary is really more than just commentary.

Commentary or Complaining?

Sometimes our comments alongside the event or afterward fact are not commentary. Instead, we are complaining. Let's be clear about what complaining is. Complaining is focused on the circumstances. Complaining takes the form of "This is hard" or "This stinks." And while those might be accurate assessments of the situation, repeated over time, they quickly become unhealthy.

Unchecked complaining goes from occasional comments to the soundtrack of that part of your life -- and a negative soundtrack at that -- to emboldening yourself in this "life is hard, this isn't fair" thinking by enlisting others in that complaining. Instead of this running commentary -- er, complaining, we need to make a choice:

• Accept the circumstance (because the good, the pay, the benefit outweighs the bad) and cut off the complaining
• Change the circumstance (the old "you are either part of the problem or part of the solution")
• Leave the circumstance (e.g., changing jobs, employers, organizations because the ups no longer outweigh the downs for you).

Commentary or Criticism?

Sometimes our comments alongside or afterward are not commentary and are not complaining. What is really going on is criticism focused on a person or a group of people.

Criticism can quickly ramp up from one-time or occasional comments (e.g., the "Can you believe this? Why don't they get it?" conversation alongside the conference call) to a low buzz (e.g., the "here we go again" IM or email conversation alongside or after the conference call or meeting) to an all-out attack (e.g., the flat-out argue like you would never argue if you were face-to-face with these people Facebook or blog post which is the modern version of talking behind someone's back at the water cooler).  

Again, instead of ongoing, escalating criticism, we need to take action in one of two directions:

• Accept the person or people and their behaviors as is ... and stop talking about it.
• Go to the person 1:1 to give him the feedback (e.g., opportunities to improve), to confront her (i.e., if the behavior is actually harmful and needs to stop) and/or to better understand where the person is coming from and what is driving the behavior.

I have been focusing on less running commentary -- whether just in my head or with others -- and an accompanying growing gentleness and commitment to invest in people by providing feedback and confronting them when necessary. I encourage you to do the same.

As you prepare for another week, step back and think through where you are carrying on a running "commentary." Ask yourself whether it is really just commentary. Is it complaining? Is it criticism? If so, stop talking about it. Do something about it or be quiet.

Your Very Own Utility Belt

It seems lame now -- and honestly it probably seemed somewhat lame then -- but there was something cool about Batman's and Robin's utility belts in that campy, 1960s, Adam West version of Batman. What tool or gadget would they pull out of their utility belt each time that would be just what was needed to avoid something dangerous (e.g., the exploding shark) or to escape the overly-complicated, criminal "genius" plan to do away with the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder? Think what would have happened if Batman and Robin always pulled out the same tool from their utility belts in response to every criminal plan. We wouldn't have had to wait to "tune in tomorrow -- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!" to find out if they would once again escape the harrowing death-trap plan of that episodes "special guest criminal." While it might be a long and weird leap from the campy, 1960s "Batman" TV series to your office, I would argue many of us are guilty of pulling out the same tool day after day, hour after hour in the work world. You know it. You love/hate it. Everyone now ... email!

Why do so many of us pull out that same over-used, email tool in 99% of the situations they face each week in the work world? After all, email isn't the only tool in our utility belts. We have many productivity tools available to us -- IM, text, OneNote, EverNote, Outlook tasks, not to mention all those other programs loaded on your laptop/tablet/phone. We have many meeting/communication tools available to us -- WebEx, Instant Meeting, Lync calls, Lync IM chats, video calls, Skype for mostly free! Email typically isn't the most efficient tool in our utility belts. We have faster tools. We have tools that do the job in less time. We have tools that are lighter weight. Email often isn't the most effective tool in our utility belts. We have tools that are more fit for purpose.

But we use email. Why?

• We use email because we are comfortable with email. After all, we have been using email for -- brace yourselves -- decades.
• We use email because we are addicted to the sense of accomplishment, of a task completed, of putting the ball in someone else's court when answering and filing or deleting email.
• We use email because it is less confrontational than an in-person meeting or a discussion over the phone.
• Finally, perhaps most annoying of all, we use email because we can include lots of people in email with -- ugh! -- Reply All (which by the way is not always a benefit or positive).  

Here is my challenge to you. When you get back to the office Monday, check out all the tools in your tool belt -- even some older ones like meeting in-person -- whether planned ahead or ad hoc -- or calling someone on the phone (or updated to a Lync call). Dust some of those tools off and give them a try. Go crazy and "reply" to an email with a phone call or in-person discussion. My gosh, even try using those tools that your company's processes say you should use like a risk log, an issue log, a defect tracker, the change request system. Actually think about which tool you should grab from your utility belt. Don't just grab the same old, worn-out, dulled email tool. And save yourself, those you work with and your customers from the long-running, harrowing, tune in tomorrow, tune in next week, tune in next month, tune in next year, same email-channel to see whether we can all escape the stranglehold of our inboxes and the send button. "To the Batcave!"

Career TPOV #2: It Isn't About Comfortable

Have you ever had to learn something multiple times? I am not talking about a math equation or a definition. Rather I am talking about a life or career lesson that you had to learn more than once. The second point in my Career Teachable Point of View (TPOV) is one of those lessons for me. My job and my career isn't about being comfortable. The same goes for your job and your career unless you have determined to settle in.


I have seen that lesson play out -- both in a positive and negative way -- at a few key points earlier in my career. Perhaps I will share more on those in another post. For now, let's focus on the last few months of 2010 as I was going through my latest career move -- a major move where I left a company that I had been with for a number of years. When the company offered a voluntary separation package, the element of being comfortable -- as comfortable as you can be in the corporate world these days -- was upended for me. It raised a number of questions (e.g., What was driving the company to offer this package? What follows a voluntary separation package? Should I take the package?) which forced me to move comfortable down in my priorities as I made the decision first to take the package and then to work through a career transition.

The result now a year in with a new position at a new firm is a great opportunity partnering with a major global function on a multi-year transformation initiative. I own delivery of all technology projects in one of the two largest programs within that transformation initiative. That, of course, comes with challenges. But aren't opportunity and challenge two sides of the same coin? The newness -- even a year in -- plus the program, project and organization challenges keep me learning, stretching and, honestly, uncomfortable.

Clearly comfortable remains lower on my list of priorities. As strange as it sounds, my goal is to keep it there. I recommend the same to you.

Career TPOV #1: It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will

Last August, after a number of years with the same company, I decided to take an incentive package to leave the company. I was blessed to not only have a generous payout but also to have 2-1/2 months before my last day with the company. In the job search journey that started last August and ended just weeks after my last day with that company in mid-November, I learned some things and was reminded of some others about making a change in your career, whether that change is to another company or within the same company. This post is the first in a Teachable Point of View (TPOV) series on those things.

Within a few weeks of making the decision to take the program and leave the place I had worked for 15+ years, I reached out to a co-worker -- a Product Manager who had worked for me a couple years before -- to see what his plans were for the new fiscal year and to see if/how I could help him, only to find out he was leaving. We agreed to have lunch the following Monday.

It was at that lunch, within the first five minutes of our conversation that I got the information that led to my current job as Senior IT Product Manager in the global IT organization of a Big 4 firm. I could simply wrap up this post by pointing out how I got the lead and the help that led to my new job when I thought I would be helping a co-worker. But there is more to this "It Probably Won't Come from Where You Think It Will" point.

A year ago as I considered what to pursue in the job search, I focused a lot of attention on opportunities with much smaller organizations that would have me in roles very different than what I had been doing. The newness and the unknown intrigued me. I was thinking that if I was going to make a change, it was going to be a big change. However, this journey wouldn't play out that way.

Move ahead a month or so. I remember an October 2010 phone conversation with a consultant at Right Management (http://www.right.com/) -- an organization that was very helpful to me in this career transition. As we discussed three opportunities that were in front of me, she made the analogy of of my current company at the time being a green apple and the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity at a Big 4 firm being a red apple then suggested I needed to figure out whether I even liked apples. There was no point in just trading green for red. I was going to have to really think about what I liked to do, what was a good opportunity and fit for me.

Even though I spent a lot of time thinking about, asking about, discussing, praying through and trying to get ready for a role that would be very different and would be with an organization  of a different size and shape, I was drawn to the Senior IT Product Manager opportunity. If you know me, you know that is what I chose and that I started that job with a Big 4 firm at the beginning of 2011.

Fast forward to now, early September 2011, just over a year after I made the decision to take the package and leave the company I had worked at for several years. I enjoy the new role which has forced me to learn a lot -- about the firm, the global IT organization, Global Tax (i.e., my client), the member firms around the globe, etc. -- and has taken me out of my comfort zone. This new role has also given me the opportunity to have more autonomy and to make a larger impact, aspects that had been missing for a while.

Had you asked me a year ago what I would be doing now, my answer wouldn't have matched this. The lead, the help and this opportunity all came from people and places I wouldn't have expected. It doesn't look like I thought it would then. But I am grateful for the opportunity and how it came to me even though it definitely did not come from where I thought it would.

So be open in career moves. Don't think you have it figured out. Look to other places. Listen to people. And watch for something different than what you have pictured now.

Bridge Out

As of a few weeks ago, the Madison Street bridge I often cross on my 5-minute walk from Union Station to the Deloitte Chicago office is closed. So now I have to go south one street and cross at Monroe. I often took that route before the Madison Street bridge was closed. It is basically the same distance. So what is the big deal? (After all, I am blogging about it.)

The big deal is that many people -- if you have walked through the Chicago Loop during rush hour you have an idea how many -- normally take that Madison Street bridge over to Wacker or crossed Madison to head north. Now all those people have no choice but to re-route to one of basically three remaining alternatives (i.e., the afore-mentioned cutover to Monroe Street, going west to Canal Street or going into Union Station and out Adams Street). So everything is slowed down. And there is a lot more foot traffic squeezed into the same area.

So how does this apply to anything other than my now slightly more than 5-minute walk? A preferred and oft-taken option is off the table for a few months. It won't do me or anyone else any good to grumble about it, wish it were still there or whatever. The Madison Street bridge option isn't an option. All of us commuters have to choose from the still available options. There is a very real constraint that we can do nothing about. We have zero control over that. Remember this principle on your projects. Don't be the team member -- or worse yet the team leader -- wasting time and energy talking about an option that is no longer an option, "fighting" a pointless battle you cannot win. Move on. Or else you risk coloring much of the project team and the project itself with negativity.

But remember that many of these constraints are time-boxed. Eventually the Madison Street bridge will be open again. And I for one will move right back to that option as one of my preferred routes.

When a bridge is out, adapt. No whining! But pay attention to the signs for when that new and improved bridge will be ready for traffic again. I recommend flexibility mixed with reality -- both for your projects and for your commute.

Bike Messenger/Project Manager

Would a bike messenger make a good project manager? I don't think so. Let me tell you why.

At the end of a work day last winter, as I was headed to Union Station (http://www.chicagounionstation.com) to catch the train home, I was almost taken out by a bike messenger who ran a red light as I crossed Wacker Drive. After thanking God that there was no collision -- we both would have lost big time -- I thought about an application in project management.

Sometimes in our efforts to deliver a project on-time, we can get into a bit of a heads-down, blinders-on, singular focus. And while some of that might be needed on a project, it can be dangerous. If project leaders and team members are not regularly looking around and thinking through issues and risks inside and outside the project, the chance for a delay, a negative quality impact, a budget hit, etc. increases. Worse yet, what if more than one project takes the heads-down, not looking around approach? There may be a big collision coming that could impact multiple projects.

Straight-ahead speed is not the only thing needed to deliver a project. Make sure you are looking around, checking the mirrors for others. Keep your eyes up for yellow lights, let alone red lights. And heed them. Have your project team members do the same. Help them to do so. Otherwise you could be the bike messenger -- er, project manager -- speeding for that last delivery of the day, going through a red light and taking yourself and others out, because you assumed everyone would see you and your "obviously the most important of all" delivery coming.

One final point. Whether you are a former bike messenger wanting to move into a project manager position or vice versa, I recommend you think twice before including that experience on your resume.

Take the Spork in the Road

Former New York Yankees and New York Mets player, manager and coach, Yogi Berra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra), is known for his outrageous quotes. Yogi once said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." While you struggle through thinking what Yogi might have meant, let's talk about decision making.

A fork in the road usually means a choice between going left or going right. Sometimes the decision is obvious and easy. Sometimes the decision takes more analysis. For those bigger, far-reaching decisions, get appropriate counsel. (As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 24:6, "... in abundance of counselors, there is victory.") Sometimes both left and right are good decisions. Here is the thing. When you come to a fork in the road, you have to make a decision and act on it. Because, as my senior pastor, James MacDonald (http://jamesmacdonald.com/), said in a sermon a while back, "Not making a decision about something you need to make a decision about is making a decision." Analysis paralysis is a decision. It is not a good decision, but it is a decision.


So as you approach a fork in the road, avoid analysis paralysis. Instead think through and discuss the pros and cons of going left versus going right, make a decision and move with appropriate speed down that path. If you get down that path and realize going right would have been better than going left as you did, admit the error, learn from it, course correct and keep moving. Remember no decision is a decision. See there is some bit of wisdom in what Yogi Berra said about taking the fork in the road.


On a somewhat related note, if you ever come to a spork (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork) in the road, follow Yogi Berra's advice completely. Take it. Sporks are great. More on that another time.