Don’t change what you can’t. When I first joined a past company I was sitting in with the senior executives discussing the long term IT strategic plan. I told them that if key executives kept throwing products in the short term forecast without warning, the IT system does not “fix” the multiple disruptions to the supply chain. Your IT system is only as good as what you decide to drop in it. I knew I couldn’t change those high level decisions. The best thing I could do was provide the best IT tool to smooth the supply plan. These days I see new people join the company with the intention of changing the world until a VP squashes them like a bug. They finally begin to understand WHAT THEY CAN CHANGE and who HOLDS THE REAL POWER. Do you spend time trying to change what you can’t or do you change or influence what you can?
Hire excellent IT people. I have seen incompetent IT people hired. In this age of Information Technology you need people that are extremely IT savvy, have critical thinking skills and are able to be major influencers in the company. Instead I still see people that are hired because they are cheap, without key IT skills, are insecure and angry (lack people skills), and can’t critical think themselves out of paper bag. Please don’t be afraid to hire and pay for great IT people, because those incompetent ones piss us ALL off until WE leave the company. One other thing. Just because a person has advanced degrees doesn’t mean they will be a fabulous manager. Sometimes they get their fancy new title, never develop their employees and only make sure they are seen in all the “important” meetings.
Treat others as you would like to treated. If you call a meeting please show up on time or show up at all. If you are talking to me please stop looking and answering your Iphone or Blackberry. Please don’t ignore my emails when I am trying to help you. Please bring an agenda and follow up on that agenda if you call a meeting. How would you like it if I did this to you and treated you with blatant disrespect? Would you like that? Would you? I didn’t think so. Wake up.
Nothing is given to you. I’ve had to march into offices and literally yell at people to get a promotion (it didn’t always work lol ). Don’t ever think you will be given a promotion based on all the exceptional work you do. Your boss WILL hire his buddy over you (even if his buddy is a bungling fool). Your dream job will NOT be posted, but secretly given to someone behind your back. You will have to fight and claw your way up. To make your battle easier, advertise your best skills, line up with politically smart associates and work really, really hard.
Don’t think you can do it all. I’ve seen plenty of people that want to be involved in everything. They believe they can do it ALL. They don’t always like team work. They take on tons of work. They also gossip and negatively judge coworkers behind their backs. They tell their boss how talented they are compared to their co-workers. I’ve known people that treat me like their best friend to my face and continuously back stab me behind my back. These people want it ALL. You can’t do it all. If you want to succeed you need to allow your coworkers to do what they do best. Major projects require multiple skill sets. Stop thinking you can do it all. You can’t. Share the glory. Teamwork prevails.
I’m speaking at the 2013 SCM conference in Las Vegas at the Mirage ….come join me! It will be a blast.