joefusco

How to Give People Something They Can't Get Enough Of

Joe Fusco — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 12:00:19 +0000

Being a source of something scarce makes you valuable to the people in your life — family, friends, your employer, your community.

So, speaking of scarcity in today’s environment, here’s something very valuable you can do:

Be someone who starts and encourages upbeat conversations.

People are gloomy. The news is gloomy. The sky is falling.

Be the person in your environment who’s the optimist, who celebrates what is going well (it’s there — look for it…). Encourage people, pat them on the back.

Talk about how the world is being reinvented. Talk about all the opportunities on the other side of the anxiety and disruption. Tell funny stories. Laugh a lot.

I guarantee you will be very nearly alone in that effort. This makes you the source of something scarce. This makes you valuable, and valued, among the people you care about most.

How To Be Safe -- In Good Times or Bad -- For the Rest of Your Life

Joe Fusco — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:48:48 +0000

Great problem solvers are among the scarcest things in the world. There simply aren’t enough of them, and there never will be.

What do the laws of economics teach us about scarcity? That the things of which there are very little or never enough, but which are in great demand, are the most valuable things in the world.

If there’s anything the world needs desperately right now, it’s people who are great at solving problems. In fact, if there’s anything the world always needs, in good times and bad, it’s people who are great at solving problems — in short, who are great at what they do.

No matter what you do, you have an opportunity to be great at it — to solve the problems and challenges you encounter on a daily basis with a high level of skill, and with passion and enthusiasm as well.

Almost without exception, the people in organizational life that I encounter are feeling exceptionally insecure — worried, understandably, about their jobs. A great deal of their energy is spent fretting about their short-term professional safety and security.

I tell them that the only thing they can control — in a time when it seems so much is beyond our control — is their ability to solve problems. It’s also the only genuine source of personal security and safety.

So, put your energy into:

One. Building your problem solving skills. Learn, grow, practice, experiment. It’s the best investment you can make, in good times and in bad.

Two. Embracing the opportunities created by today’s problems. The whole world is being reinvented. It’s painful, of course, but the more innovative and clever you can be, the more adaptive you prove yourself, the better off you’ll be in the long run.

Three. Understanding the the better you and your colleagues are at solving today’s problems right now, the safer and more secure you’ll all be — personally and organizationally.

Four. Being great at helping others be great problem solvers. This is the essence of leadership.

Of course, being a great problem solver is no guarantee of personal economic security in today’s environment. Many people are suffering what is, we hope, short-term pain.

You simply have to have faith that, over the long-term, there is always a place in the world for a great problem solver.

When Clichés Collide...

Joe Fusco — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 20:20:32 +0000

Sometimes, I think folks’ mouths run about a hundred yards out in front of their brains. And our conversations are more colorful for it.

I was in a group discussion recently when someone, in pointing out a dilemma, announced that there were “two sides to the knife.”

I guess this now means that the coin cuts both ways.

Especially if the penny has been pinched.

Why My Son Should Hope Natural Selection is Just a Theory

Joe Fusco — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:43:45 +0000

In just a few days, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth will be upon us. In one of those wonderful historical coincidences, it is the same day as the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln — which, to me, is the more exciting and consequential celebration.

But I digress.

My son — 16 years old and some change — is a bright, hard-working boy who has been fortunate enough to travel to many interesting and sophisticated parts of the world. He is a member of the National Ski Patrol at Killington, trained in both rescue and outdoor emergency care, and gives his every winter weekend to the task of serving and protecting tender-footed suburbanites from Bergen County, New Jersey.

He is a thoughtful, clear-headed young man. But he had better hope the Theory of Natural Selection called in sick the other day.

We had had a significant mid-week snowstorm, and I asked the boy to park his car for the night in a parking area on our lower driveway, so our snowplow guy could easily clear our upper driveway overnight.

When he went out to his car the next morning to go to school, there was approximately 8 inches of snow around his car. Not enough to scare most folks in this neck of the woods; with good snow tires and front-wheel drive, he should be able to just drive away.

Of course, he simply assumed he was stuck. A small error in judgement — which we will excuse. But what came next boggles the mind.

He got in the car, and started the engine. Then, he put it in gear — “D” for drive. He got out of the driver’s seat and went to the back of the car.

And then he pushed.

Twenty minutes later, as I was leaving for work, I found him frantically trying to dig the car out of a snowbank. Or should I say, trying to dig the snowbank out from under the car, as the front wheels were no longer touching the ground.

I nearly lost it — not because of the car or its situation, but from the complete inability to comprehend how any human being could have thought what he did was a good idea. And, (mostly) from the fear that I and mine might have a genetic marker for “boneheadedness” and that the Theory of Natural Selection might come knocking on our door sooner rather than later.

So, happy birthday, Charles. If you don’t mind, I’ll just tell everyone he’s adopted.

Things You Can't Afford

Joe Fusco — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:57:53 +0000

It’s been a cost-cutting frenzy in the business world lately, hasn’t it?

As the leader of an organization, you may also be feeling immense pressure to scour your cash flow statements looking for opportunities to cut expenses. Remember, however, there are costs — things you can’t afford — that lurk all around you, but never show up on a spreadsheet:

people in your organization who are unwilling or unable to work collaboratively
people who are more concerned with turf-building than problem solving
people who are unwilling to build themselves, or build others around them
people who — because they’re nervous or jittery about the economy — are even more self-preserving or obsessed with their own personal agendas than usual

You really can’t afford them anymore, can you? No less than disappearing revenue or bloated expenses, these things destroy companies. Combined with today’s challenging economic environment, they’re deadly.

The best leaders in the world know that a spreadsheet or an income statement aren’t the only places to find the things his or her organization can’t afford.

He or she is relentlessly examining the organization’s culture and its people, looking for the really, really expensive things.

Ask people to change, and show them how to change. The ones that can’t, or won’t? Well, then show them the door.

How, and Who, Pixar Hires

Joe Fusco — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 12:10:52 +0000

This is an informative and thought-provoking video in which Randy Nelson, dean of Pixar University, talks about collaboration in the workplace.

Included in his message, however, are some very interesting insights into how Pixar chooses the people it ultimately hires. What struck me most: when your company is trying to innovate, or do something that hasn’t been done before, resumes are useless for finding the right people.

Whether you’re someone just starting out, or someone in the job market — or simply a leader concerned about your organization’s culture of learning, collaboration and selection, there are a lot of great lessons in this 10-minute clip.

And, of course, it’s all the more credible given Pixar’s track record.

(Hat tip: Jason Kottke)

How Sharp Are Your Depression-Era Skills?

Joe Fusco — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 21:06:29 +0000

I changed the battery in my son’s car last weekend. Man, am I pumped!

I know it doesn’t seem like much but, to a bookworm like me, flirting with the alchemy of wrenches, grease and electricity and not making a hopeless mess was a pretty big deal. So, I’m going to take a minute and celebrate. Woo-hoo.

It’s not something I do every day — in fact, the last time I did it was, let’s see…hmmm. Never. Yes, never would be the last time I changed the battery in an automobile.

In fact, I’ve never done any car repair of any type at all. Like many Americans, I find it far too complicated. A simple cost-benefit analysis leads one to the conclusion that paying someone whatever price far outweighs the hassle — and the fear — of disassembling and assembling parts of your engine only to find in the end a few extra bolts and washers left over on the garage floor.

When I was growing up, this was the kind of thing my father — and I suspect many other men — did all the time. He built our garage with the help of a friend, constructed about 40 percent of our in-ground pool, repainted at least one of our cars, and generally built, fixed, and altered things as needed. He always knew the right tool to use, too.

He did these things, I think, because he could, but also out of a sense of frugality.

Frugality existed as a core value of many, if not all, previous generations of Americans, and rarely, if at all, in the current one. I would have to admit that I place convenience and comfort far ahead of frugality in my daily life.

One result is — for me, I now realize — an unnerving lack of skills necessary to thrive or survive in a period of enforced frugality — in other words, a severe or prolonged economic meltdown in which I was personally affected.

I cannot repair my own car, and I cannot fix a roof on a house, nor a leak in a basement. I cannot — heaven forbid it comes to this, ever — grow or kill sufficient quantities of food to feed my entire family (let alone my voracious sixteen-year old son).

I imagine I could learn. I imagine necessity, hunger and pain would be effective, swift teachers. But, it would be nice to be able to do these things for yourself because you can — and because you never know when you might have to.

But I’m getting there. I can change the battery in a car.

"We Don't Need No Stinkin' Khakis..."

Joe Fusco — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:32:52 +0000

Imagine my surprise as I stumbled across this sign near a spectators’ area at my son’s cross-country invitational meet outside Montpelier, Vermont this weekend:

I’ve always considered New England to be an exceptionally tolerant place, so this is probably cause for concern. After all, as annoying as “those people” can be, I don’t think we need to return to America’s shameful segregationist past. Must we keep them out of our country clubs and boarding schools? Require them to ride in the back of the 5:31 to Greenwich? Deny them employment as hedge fund managers?

Anyway, I poked around a little more and, for the life of me, couldn’t find any “Keep Out Italian-Americans!!!!” signs, so, eh…no skin off my back, right?

A Focus Group for Your Face

Joe Fusco — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:02:17 +0000

As much as we wish it weren’t so — with the world being all candy canes and gum drops, after all — people make judgements about each other based solely on appearance. No, really, it’s true!

Unfortunately, before the glory of the Internet, we had no way to access in an organized and helpful manner those brutally honest judgements, allowing us to live in a cozy cocoon of (mostly) blissful ignorance.

Now there’s FaceStat.

FaceStat is like a focus group for your face, a way to understand the visceral impression the brand known as You ^TM makes on others. Marketers spend millions of dollars every day testing their products’ packaging and other visual attributes to determine what exactly attracts customers and drives purchasing decisions. Now you can do the very same thing for free!

Simply upload a photo of yourself, choose from a number of attributes that you would like people’s opinions on, such as age, intelligence, attractiveness and approachability, and within a few hours — viola! — your self-esteem is curled up in the fetal position on the floor, gasping for breath!

Allow me to demonstrate:

Just for giggles — because, you know, I really, really don’t care about this sort of thing — I uploaded this photo, which I use on this site’s About Me page:

Tell me, wise and just denizens of the Internet, what you think of this fellow. How old is he? What level of intelligence does he possess? Describe him in one word, if you would be so kind.

Here’s what the world (sigh…) thinks of me. Let’s start with a few of the one word descriptions:

“Goofy,” “poseur,” “slow,” and “gray.” Pretty darn accurate, I must admit, but the cruelest cut of all? “Clintonesque.” Ouch — I think…

How about intelligence? A small number chose “bright,” but three times as many clicked on either “dull” or “doofus.” Is it the hair? Or the heavy-lidded eyebrows? Hmmm…

As for age, most people accurately guessed somewhere in the range of 40 to 49 years (I’m 44); but there were enough guesses in the 50 to 59 range to give me pause, and enough in the 30 to 39 to give me hope — although I’m pretty sure those came from a nursing home somewhere.

Encouraging, yes?

Of course, I went back for more — this time with a secret weapon.

As tempting as it was to find a photo from, say, 1987, I uploaded this one, taken just a few days after the first picture (that’s me on the right, by the way). Again, I asked:

Describe this guy in one word.

“Cool.” “Happy.” “Honest.” “Smart.” “Upstanding.” “Stallone.”

How intelligent, pray tell?

“Bright” and “Genius” outnumbered “Dull” by four-to-one.

Well, awright!

But, alas, it’s all too obvious, isn’t it? People see me standing next to that sweet and tasty eye candy and…well, just how idiotic and repulsive can he be, right? The dude has got it goin’ on.

The lovely woman in the picture is my wife, Christine, and she competes with a very hot blonde for my attention and adrenaline. I think I’ll ask her to be my vice presidential candidate.

Hey, I ran it by the focus group.

From His Upcoming Book: Steve Rizzo and I Talk About Life, Leadership

Joe Fusco — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:00:47 +0000

Steve Rizzo is an author (Becoming a Humor Being) and motivational speaker whose early career was as a nationally-known stand-up comedian, touring with Jerry Seinfeld, Drew Carey and others; over the years, he’s appeared on Showtime, The Comedy Channel, and Fox Television’s Comedy Strip Live. He’s also served as a consultant to MSNBC and the Oprah and Friends radio network.

Steve’s next book, due out in 2009, is Rizzo’s Heroes: Leadership Secrets from Around the World.

For some baffling, godforsaken reason, he decided he wanted to interview me for the book and an accompanying audio/CD project. Yeah, I know, go figure.

Anyhow, the audio interview is now available on Steve’s website. We chat about the role fun and passion play in success and happiness at work and life, and I attempt a lame joke or two. You may find my thoughts mildly interesting. Or incredibly annoying.

To listen, simply follow this link:

Steve Rizzo Interview with Joe Fusco

Coincidentally, Steve was profiled and interviewed on CNBC last week (The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch) with Erin Brockovich and Paul Stanley of KISS fame; all three were voted “Least Likely to Succeed” in high school, but are now obviously enjoying successful careers.

Involving moi in your book project, however…c’mon, just how bright can he really be?

Ooops! Your Pusillus Animus Is Showing

Joe Fusco — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:24:26 +0000

I subscribe to Dictionary.com’s “Word of the Day” because, as the folks at the Reader’s Digest used to say, it pays to enrich your word power.

Each daily email features a word, ranging from those we use every day to, more often than not, those that only the biggest boobs among us work hard to slip into normal conversation — say, like deipnosophist. Along with a definition, or definitions, and some examples of usage, you can learn the origin of the word.

It is this latter feature that interests me the most. First, it is fascinating to see that no language is an island, and English in particular has been pollinated with ideas, concepts and words from Greek to Old Norse.

Second, every language has its own DNA visible through its origins, and is itself a form of DNA woven through our culture and history — in many ways, forming the building blocks of who we are and how we think. Sometimes the origin of a word, which often exposes the thought processes of the ancients who developed it, is more enlightening and meaningful than the word we are left with today.

Pusillanimous, which flitted into my inbox a few days ago, is one of those words.

It means “cowardly” or “lacking in courage or conviction.” But, as you can see, it is not a word most of us trot out on a daily basis.

Instead, the origin of the word is a more beautiful, elegantly simple definition of the concept of cowardice. It comes from two Latin words — pusillus, meaning “very small, or tiny;” and animus, meaning “soul.”

“Tiny soul.” Doesn’t that perfectly illuminate what a lack of courage truly is?

The Blonde Loosens Up a Bit

Joe Fusco — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:42:28 +0000

I had to take Her Majesty the Hotness to the dealer for service last week. She had developed this annoying little habit of pulling sharply to the right at high RPMs when the accelerator was punched, and then lurching back to the left when stepping off the accelerator. Pretty disconcerting at, ahem, 100 miles per hour.

I braced for the worst.

The verdict? Turns out the right rear tire was just a few pounds of pressure less than the left rear tire. Apparently, in high-torque, high-revving (and, apparently high-strung and temperamental) rear-wheel drive autos, this minor pressure difference affects performance significantly. In Formula One and NASCAR vehicles, it often sends them into the wall.

Well, at least I was out only thirty bucks. Good girl…

We did get a little bit of a surprise, however.

When shipped from the factory, temporary spacers are installed in the springs of the car’s suspension to avoid wear-and-tear during transit. Babycakes never had her’s removed by the original dealer!

The car was always exceptionally stiff, which I always ascribed to the intentional design and engineering of her species as a torsionally rigid street racer built to hold fast turns and curves tight. But she was always particularly teeth-rattling on rough roads and railroad crossings, and just a few hours in the cockpit left you exhausted with the beginnings of a headache.

Now we know why.

Anyway, she rides like a different car — softer, sweeter and more liquid — yet still aggressively edgy and stiff where it counts, which is in the frame, not the suspension.

In return, last night she gave me one of those happy-to-be-alive-aren’t-I-lucky-to-live-in-Vermont evenings. Clear and crisp, where every color seems more vivid, the air more nourishing, and your fellow humans less annoying than usual. We made a loop around Lake Dunmore and then straight home.

Tonight, she gets a bath.

Does This Make Me A Jolly Good Fellow?

Joe Fusco — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:18:46 +0000

I’ve been sitting on some personal news, but I think I’d like to share it now.

About three months ago, I was asked to serve as a fellow of the Bell Leadership Institute in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. For me this is the equivalent, if I were ten years old, of being asked to join the New York Yankees. I am the first person to be asked to serve the Institute in this capacity.

I was given this honor directly by Dr. Gerald Bell, a world-class thinker, writer and teacher on the subject of individual and organizational leadership mastery. He has helped hundreds of thousands of business and organizational leaders around the world become not only better, more effective human beings, but to make the lives of those around them better and more productive as well. Meeting and learning from him has been one of the greatest blessings of my personal and professional life.

For me, the great thrill is the opportunity to work simultaneously in two capacities — first, in my current position as an executive engaged in the daily lives and challenges of working managers. And second, being able to work and learn from Dr. Bell, developing both a deeper understanding of great leadership, and the ability to teach, coach, encourage and build great leaders.

A Few Minutes With...An Old Friend

Joe Fusco — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:45:03 +0000

Brian Miller (in photo, on left) is my oldest friend. That is, my friendship with him is the longest and most sustained such relationship of my entire life. We’ve been friends since the end of junior high school; as we both realized recently, we first met thirty years ago this spring.

Being friends with Brian was, and is, effortless. He was a good kid, and is a good man. Optimistic, steadfast, easy-going and unflappable, he was the perfect complement to the overly serious, moody introvert I was always in danger of becoming.

One of the best, most uplifting days of my recent roadtrip was being able to visit Brian and his family in northern Maryland for the better part of an afternoon and evening. We hadn’t seen each other in a few years but, within minutes, it was as if only a few days had passed.

We sat in his family room, and reconstructed the beginnings of our friendship, why we’ve been able to sustain it, and what we’d do differently if we were seventeen years old again (um…not quite as pathetic as it sounds. Really).

The conversation, below, is in .mp3 format.

Meandering...

Joe Fusco — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:51:10 +0000

When I travel, I have one goal that pre-empts everything else — efficiency.

In other words, how can I cover the most ground in the shortest distance and time possible. Of course, this leaves no time for collecting the experiences of travel. There is a starting point and an ending point. There is nothing in the middle — no lingering, no exploring, no surprises. In fact, half the fun is getting there sooner than the GPS predicted.

So when I set off from Vermont en route to Chapel Hill, N.C. with the idea that the blonde and I would “meander” I had my doubts that I would be able to resist the “beeline” impulse and, instead, actually relax and enjoy a trip planned around “whatever,” “wherever,” and “whenever.”

Surprisingly, it’s worked. Instead of looking for the straightest line, I’ve found some great roads and breathtaking scenery. And a confused wrong turn taken in a downpour becomes simply another enjoyable route to the same destination. The contrast is stark. When I joined an interstate for a brief 70-mile leg, it was like landing on another planet, its inhabitants obsessed with speed, seemingly panicking at their lack of margin. It was unnerving.

I’m enjoying myself. I’ve reconnected with an old friend and reminisced about the origins and sustainability of our friendship over three decades. I’ve been reminded that this is still a very rural, untouched country. I’ve spent an afternoon on a college campus chatting with students and faculty, feeling every one of my forty-four years. I’ve given myself margin, and not just in time, but in spirit and experience as well.

I also realized that my car is not the delicate flower I tell myself she is, and that she’ll be okay in all kinds of weather.

And, even though it rained all day yesterday, it wasn’t so bad — I came this close to Intercourse…Pennsylvania.