Which of these companies would you invest $10,000 in?

You have $10,000 to invest in one of two technology companies.

They have the exact same business model, competing against each other in the same market space.

You are looking to maximize your return on investment in two years.

The differentiation is the management team’s approach to work environment.

Company #1 is traditional

Company #1 believes in a traditional work environment. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You cannot be a minute late and the phones shut off at 5 p.m.  The employees are provided a predictable vanilla environment.

The management team is very focused on cutting costs and increasing customer pricing.

They have a worldwide customer base on a 10-year old technology platform.

Company #2 wants to slay dragons

Company #2 believes in a non-traditional work environment.

They let you bring your dog to work, park your bike indoors on the bike rack in the lobby, and have a beer tap in the kitchen.

Work hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but some show up late and some stay late.

Some work after-hours and weekends.

The phones don’t shut off; they roll over to after-hour cell phones.

The management team is very focused on retention and recruitment of the best talent they can find.

They believe the biggest dragons to be slayed are out in the marketplace.

Which company will provide you a higher return? 

Where would you put your money?

Work to change the world

I can’t say enough about this concept of recruiting great talent.

If you don’t have the right talent on the bus, then you will be beat eventually.

You might have the best widget or the biggest customer list or the coolest wizbang.

Eventually, someone else will come along with half as much money, half as many people, and less than half of your experience.

And they’ll win.

Why?

Mission over money

People love being apart of a great mission even more than making one more dollar.

In this article from Fast Company, the writer drives home the point that today’s digital talent isn’t driven by salary amounts or your employee cafeteria.

Instead, the liberators and heretics of the digital workforce are motived by the chance to change the world.

It’s a great article on what motivates some rare breed of people to innovate instead of just punch a clock.

“Why doesn’t digital talent want to work at your company? It’s not because you’re a consumer packaged goods company, rather than Google. It’s not because you’re in Ohio instead of Silicon Valley. It’s not because your salaries are too low, or because you don’t offer free food and laundry services.

It’s because you’re not providing them the right opportunity. The talent you want would be happy to work in an un-air-conditioned garage in New Mexico if it meant the chance to change the world.

This, the opportunity to do great things, to make a real difference, is what drives most digital talent--whether they’re developers, designers, producers, marketers or business folks.

Most companies don’t offer this, so they skip your company and work somewhere that’s more innovative and exciting. End of story. But the good news is that you can offer them something exciting and great. The promise of changing a giant, behind-the-times organization into an Internet-savvy business is an incredibly exciting challenge and a big way for ambitious people to make an impact.”

Read the rest of the article here

Are you unhappy in your work?

Full article-

“The study found that 70 percent of employees are now either disengaged or under engaged at their job”.

And, are you surprised? Look around you. How many of the people that you work with every day are what you would call “engaged”? Are they bringing their best? Am I? Are you?

What if we brought our best starting tomorrow, even if it was not noticed or appreciated or valued? What would it do for us as individuals?

TGIF Labor

Nameless person

nameless department

phone/email

didn’t create it

didn’t cause it

can’t cure it

This is an email signature I came across, in real life, not a Google search. “Thank God it’s Friday,” TGIF laborers.

Don’t get me wrong I love to play.  I work daily at finding new ways to live well outside of work.  And yet, it’s this kind of posture that I believe actually makes the walk from Monday morning to Friday afternoon that much longer.

I hold onto the belief that work can be fun, innovative, adventurous, challenging, rewarding, personal, and too large a part of my life to approach like this.

How about you?  Have a similar story(s)?

“You didn’t say never”

Have you ever provided a guard rail to your kids or to your employees?

But you were light on the list of bullet point rules of boundaries that are excluded?

photo by gypsybrassbands

Example- “I need you to turn this into me by Friday, every week.”

Or, “Hey son, I do not like you watching that TV show, I think there are better shows available”.

Neither of those examples provide a list of explicit bullet point adjoining rules and regulations. Right?

This week I had a situation where the response given to me for why the guard rail was crossed was, “You didn’t say Never.”  Yep.

You are right. I didn’t say, “I need you to turn this into me by Friday, every week….and NEVER be late” or “Never….watch that show”.

Who wants to be that guy?  Not me.

I prefer guard rails as fundamental boundaries but negotiation can always enter the discussion.

“Hey, I can’t make the Friday deadline…..I’ll have it to you on Monday. Is that ok?” Of course. That sounds so much better than, “Hey, I did not receive your report on Friday.” And the answer, “You didn’t say I could never be late”.

I think I’ll add this to my growing list of excuses not to EVER use.