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The Talent Code

 Management/coaching, a fantastic appreciation of failure. In the Epilogue of the book, Daniel Coyle references the Toyota management style, the example he gives in so many words a manager who came into a meeting bragging about all of the great things he'd accomplished. The response of the rest of the group was we hired you because you are a good manager; now, what's going wrong so we can fix it. In corporate America, schools in just about every aspect of life could learn from this. I specifically recall in my annual reviews that I didn't do a good enough job "tooting my horn." I struggled with these annual reviews, and I mean, I loathed them! Didn't matter what company or what job; even when I had a manager that I really respected, the annual reviews were a "check the box" made everyone feel uncomfortable, lie a little, shift a little, and everyone saw through it all, at least I did, and I assumed they did too! Granted, society has turned these annual reviews into your time to "ask" as an employee, you are meant to have your boss' ear, and you can go for that promotion, go for that ______. And I guess in utopia, maybe that's the case, not that I've ever seen nor heard of, but let's keep on keeping on the ridiculousness! So back to the point, addressing small fires or even sparks is a fantastic way of preventing a major catastrophe. And that very small implementation might just be the cultural key to success. That is, quit sugar coating shit, nip everything in the bud, no matter how small/insignificant, I had a coworker who, when she presented, she got all sing-song, like a kindergarten teacher, ebbing a flowing her voice to maintain attention, distracting at best and downright condescending at worst. That needed to be fixed from day one, but the culture of the company I was at, was very protective, don't call anything out if it could ruffle the feathers of anyone. So all would just applaud and, oohs and ahhs, then behind closed doors, everyone would agree, terrible, condescending, and what did she say anyway? 


(Same as last thing, meant to be published 1/10, just seeing it now 5/23 so I'll just post it)

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