When I lead Kaizen and encourage others to participate and, over time, as I take a smaller role and “allow them to increase while I decrease”, I have seen people blossom.  Indeed, experiencing humans develop is a very cool thing and I’m so fortunate to have helped others grow.

I found this poster on someone’s wall.

For the record, I don’t agree with the its message.  But, the poster is an indictment of most businesses and organizations that preach one thing, but behave completely contrary to the development of the individual and team.

The poster is a satirical commentary on most businesses; a dilbert-ian commentary on what you and I experience in world of work.

What do you think?  Do you agree or disagree?  What is your experience?

I am reminded of something my older brother taught me a long time ago.  He said simply (I’m paraphrasing):

You will be financially fine if you can make people’s jobs easier or make money for a company or make things cheaper for a company.

He’s right.  All those elements add value.  I’ve chosen to expand upon what he said and share the items below as practical tips to add value.

I believe what my brother taught me is still right: if you do some of the things below really well, you will likely be always in demand and be financially just fine.

In summary,

• Increase: Revenue, Profit, Growth, Market, Share, Retention, ROA or ROI, Efficiency, Cash Flow, Visibility
• Reduce: Cost, Time/Effort, Complaints, Risk, Turnover, Conflict, Paperwork
• Improve: Productivity, Process, Service, Information, Morale, Image, Reputation, Skills, Quality, Loyalty
• Create: Strategy, System, Process, Business, Product, Service, Brand

Thanks for the inspiration.

~~~~~~~~~~

Comment by Brandon Klive on February 10, 2010 @ 2:42 pm
Religion promises eternal life and joy, but I see a lot of “evil” people that seem pretty damn happy to me. What gives?

The relationship between virtue and happiness is one of the big questions of happiness! Is it possible for an evil person to be happy? Alas, I think so. Though for many – and I hope MOST people – the tie between behaving virtuously and feeling happy is very strong.

Comment by Joseph Tibco on February 10, 2010 @ 2:48 pm
I work in a hard manufacturing environment. Yeah, people get yelled at and I’ve done some yelling myself. Given that environment, you got any tips to help my crew find some joy in their job?

Try this: Act the way you want to feel. We think we act because of the way we feel, but often we feel because of the way we act. If you act angry, you will inflame your angry feelngs. If you behave in a calm, friendly manner, you will make yourself feeling calmer and friendlier. This is an almost uncanny strategy! Try it!

Comment by Katiana Tano on February 10, 2010 @ 4:09 pm
What do you say about Happiness to someone who survived Haiti’s earthquake, destruction, loss of family, and everything else? How are Hope and Happiness related?

Hope is very important to happiness, especially when we face enormous happiness challenges.

~~~~~~~~~~

Comment by Porter on February 10, 2010 @ 12:59 pm
Hi, Gretchen -

There is a debate on whether humans are truly altruistic. What are your thoughts on altruism, and how does it relate to the feeling of happiness that we get in doing something for others.

Porter

My Second Splendid Truth is:

One of the best ways to make YOURSELF happy is to make OTHER PEOPLE happy; One of the best ways to make OTHER PEOPLE happy is to be happy YOURSELF.  These do not work in opposition, but create a virtuous circle.

Comment by Manny Osvaldo on February 10, 2010 @ 1:49 pm
I live in a humble part of Peru in South America. Why is it that poor people seem happier than people who have money? We are always smiling but rich people in Hollywood seem sad.

Actually, studies show that people who have more money are happier. Of course, a person can be happy with little money, but it does seem to help.  No studies have been done about Hollywood folks. They may be their own separate category!

Comment by Amy Wilson on February 10, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
What’s your advice for someone who has clinical depression? It seems trite to say “just be happy”.

I agree. I distinguish among happiness, unhappiness, and depression. Depression is a serious, urgent condition that requires major intervention by experts.

Comment by Naveen Patel on February 10, 2010 @ 2:11 pm

The Buddha said that we are the cause of our own suffering. Do you agree? If so, it follows that only we can make ourselves suffer less. But does “suffer less” mean the same thing as “happy”?

To be happy, in my view – and I’m not a Buddhist — it’s not enough just to experience an absence of suffering. A person must also have sources of joy, contentment, etc.  Attachment brings suffering, true, but it also brings great happiness.

He’s on shmula.com to answer your questions – on Lean Thinking, Design, Less is Less, Customer Development, and other principles he lives by and encourages others to consider in his book Rework.

Similar to other interviews we’ve held on shmula.com ^{[1, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15]}, please ask your question in the comment section below.  I’ll publish his responses to your questions in succeeding blog posts.  I’ll close the comment section on March 5, 2010.

Thank you, Jason.

To the readers: Ask away . . .

List of Essays in Rework

First

• The new reality

Takedowns

• Ignore the real world
• Learning from mistakes is overrated
• Planning is guessing
• Why grow?
• Workaholism
• Enough with “entrepreneurs”

Go

• Make a dent in the universe
• Scratch your own itch
• Start making something
• No time is no excuse
• Draw a line in the sand
• Mission statement impossible
• Outside money is Plan Z
• You need less than you think
• Start a business, not a start-up
• Building to flip is building to flop
• Less mass

Progress

• Embrace constraints
• Build half, not half-ass
• Start at the epicenter
• Ignore the details early on
• Making the call is making progress
• Be a curator
• Throw less at the problem
• Focus on what won’t change
• Tone is in your fingers
• Sell your by-products
• Launch now

Productivity

• Illusions of agreement
• Reasons to quit
• Interruption is the enemy of productivity
• Meetings are toxic
• Good enough is fine
• Quick wins
• Don’t be a hero
• Go to sleep
• Your estimates suck
• Long lists don’t get done
• Make tiny decisions

Competitors

• Don’t copy
• Decommoditize your product
• Pick a fight
• Underdo your competition
• Who cares what they’re doing?

Evolution

• Say no by default
• Let your customers outgrow you
• Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority
• Be at-home good
• Don’t write it down

Promotion

• Welcome obscurity
• Build an audience
• Out-teach your competition
• Emulate chefs
• Go behind the scenes
• Nobody likes plastic flowers
• Press releases are spam
• Forget about the Wall Street Journal
• Drug dealers get it right
• Marketing is not a department
• The myth of the overnight sensation

Hiring

• Do it yourself first
• Hire when it hurts
• Pass on great people
• Strangers at a cocktail party
• Resumes are ridiculous
• Years of irrelevance
• Forget about formal education
• Everybody works
• Hire managers of one
• Hire great writers
• The best are everywhere
• Test-drive employees

Damage control

• Own your bad news
• Speed changes everything
• How to say you’re sorry
• Put everyone on the front lines
• Take a deep breath

Culture

• You don’t create a culture
• Decisions are temporary
• Skip the rock stars
• They’re not thirteen
• Send people home at 5:00
• Don’t scar on the first cut
• Sound like you
• Four-letter words
• ASAP is poison

Conclusion

• Inspiration is perishable

Resources

• About 37signals
• 37signals products

Early Reviews of Rework

“If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I’m investing in REWORK every time. A must read for every entrepreneur.” -Mark Cuban, co-founder HDNet, owner of the Dallas Mavericks

“This book will make you uncomfortable.

Depending on what you do all day, it might make you extremely uncomfortable.

That’s a very good thing, because you deserve it. We all do.

Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they’ve demonstrated that the regular way isn’t necessarily the right way. They just don’t say it, they do it. And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect.

This book is short, fast, sharp and ready to make a difference. It takes no prisoners, spares no quarter and gives you no place to hide, all at the same time.

There, my review is almost as long as the first chapter of the book. I can’t imagine what possible excuse you can dream up for not buying this book for every single person you work with, right now.

Stop reading the review. Buy the book.” -Seth Godin

“The wisdom in these pages is edgy yet simple, straightforward, and proven. Read this book multiple times to help give you the courage you need to get out there and make something great.” -Tony Hsieh, CEO, of Zappos.com

“The clarity, even genius, of REWORK actually brought me to near-tears on several occasions.” -Tom Peters, New York Times bestselling author of IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE

“There’s no jargon or filler here — just hundreds of brilliantly simple rules for success. REWORK is required reading for anyone tired of business platitudes.” -Chris Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of THE LONG TAIL

“The authors live by the credo ‘keep it simple, stupid’ and REWORK possesses the same intelligence — and irreverence — of that simple adage.” -John Maeda, President RISD, author of THE LAWS OF SIMPLICITY

“The brilliance of REWORK is that it inspires you to rethink everything you thought you knew about strategy, customers, and getting things done.” -William C. Taylor, founder FAST COMPANY magazine