Issue #58

In this issue:

Word to the Whys

We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.
Charles F. Kettering

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth —persistent, persuasive and realistic
John F. Kennedy

No man does anything from a single motive. 
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle

The cure for boredom is curiosity.  There is no cure for curiosity.
Dorothy Parker

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

To reach a port we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it. But we must not drift or lie at anchor.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Instead of studying for finals, what about just going to the Bahamas and catching some rays? Maybe you'll flunk, but you might have flunked anyway; that's my point.
Jack Handey—Author of Deep Thoughts

See Eric in Action! Click for a video preview of Eric's
dynamic, insightful presentation style.

Links of Note...

The answers are just a few clicks away...

Getting Them to Give a Damn: How to Get Your Front Line to Care About Your Bottom Line
the new book by Eric Chester reveals the management techniques that leading-edge employers are using to get these quirky, book-smart, and streetwise employees—Eric calls them 'kidployees'—to contribute in innovative and entrepreneurial ways.

Available now. Order your copy today! -more-

SHARE Whys News

Do you like what you are reading? Know someone who would enjoy receiving Whys News?

Click the link below and sign them up!

WHYS NEWS
FOR A FRIEND

Generation Why will not share their information with anyone, nor will we contact them in any way other than to send them Whys News.

My Face, My Space, Me-Oh-My!

As much as they dramatically impacted society, it took more than 50 years for both electricity and the telephone to reach 50 million users in America. It took only 16 years for the television to find its way into 50 million homes, and only 13 years for the personal computer to hit that mark.  Both the DVD player and the iPod reached the 50 million consumer mark in just five years. But MySpace.com, a social networking website targeted primarily at Gen Whys, surpassed 50 million users in its first year and is now far beyond that.

The way MySpace.com works is this: members join for free and immediately develop an online personal profile offering information about themselves, as well as photos and links to favorite music designed to announce and position themselves to their cohorts. Besides talking about themselves, members spend their time on the site visiting the pages of cyber friends, most of whom they will never actually meet in person, but want to impress nonetheless. Though the company tries to police it, there is no shortage of profanity, obscenity, and explicit pictures. After all, Gen Whys have a strong tendency to value self-expression more than self-control, and they are not going to allow something that is as important to them as their identity or personal brand to be left to chance.

It's no accident that MySpace advertises itself as "a place for friends." And this cash cow has a number of rival similar online communities for youth clamoring for a piece of the pie. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Xanga represent the perfect intersection of art, commerce and the human need to connect. Musicians, comedians and film studios use the sites to create fan bases. Marketers wanting to reach this enigmatic demographic buy space on these sites to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.

It’s hard for you and me to fathom interfacing with friends in this sort of electronic viral community and, after a few minutes on the site, you’d probably scratch your head and wonder what about it holds such appeal for young people. Outside of an occasional pen pal, we remember spending all of our social time with real human beings that we could see, hear, and touch. Many Gen Whys, on the other hand, are now making a majority of their social connections through these cyber communities and, in some cases, their cyber friends might not even actually exist and, if they do, could be very different in real life.

Part of the allure of the MySpace phenomena is that teens get to be who they want to be to their online "friends," appear as they want, post what they want and talk to whom they want, when they want to.  They get to keep their space as public, or as private, as they wish and basically be the ruler of their own online kingdom.  They are in complete control of their cyberspace world and they decide who gets in or out.

Conversely, in the workplace, they are confronted with an environment in which they are told what to do, when they have to do it, with whom they have to do it, as well as with whom they have to communicate and what words they are to use.  They have to dress the way they are told and engage in activities that they may find distasteful, boring and demeaning.

Like it or not, this is going to impact your business, if it hasn’t already. The long-term impact sites like MySpace will have on the attitudes, mores, and beliefs of your young emerging workforce are yet to be determined, but it has sparked national debate. As the Los Angeles Times puts it, sites like MySpace "are helping to spawn a generation of uninhibited liars." Business Week claims that “the MySpace generation lives comfortably in both worlds at once"—the imaginary and the real world.

Your business, however, exists in the real world. And you want everyone on your payroll to have their hearts and minds firmly planted in that reality, not virtual reality. Although you cannot control what your young employees do on their free time, how you manage them after they punch-in will determine whether they are going to produce the results you expect.

3 + 2 = Results
Below are three considerations to help you remain connected to the MySpace boom, and two leverage points that will help you use this tool to your advantage.

Connection Considerations
1. Tell the Truth In your effort to lure them, break through to them, motivate them, or hang on to them, whatever you do—don’t deceive them! If you want them to take you seriously, you must be totally straightforward and honest. From the moment you meet, instill in them the confidence that, in what can be a deceptive world, they can always count on you to deliver the truth. Nothing will win their respect and admiration like honesty. Because they find it so rarely, truth works like a magnet to attract Gen Whys and helps you to earn their unshakable confidence and trust. It’s also critical for you to insist on their honesty. Early on, set an expectation that they are in a truth zone, and that no form of dishonesty will be tolerated by any employee—or manager—at any time for any reason.

2. Appeal to their desire to be a part of a community. When you and I got our first jobs, our managers went out of their way to avoid hiring our friends, as they insisted we keep focused on work. Today, studies prove young workers are more creative and productive – and less likely to turn over – when they have friends as coworkers.  This does not mean you have to relax restrictions on the non-business use of cell phones and turn your back to horseplay in the workplace. But provide an environment that encourages laughter and peer interaction, and you’ll experience greater employee retention and improved results as your Gen Whys will realize that they need look no further than the four walls of your business for community and connection.

3. Don’t make them look bad to their peers. Anything short of praise said to them or about them should always be handled in private. Generation Why values their reputation, factual or self-exaggerated, more than almost anything else, and they will not allow themselves to be scolded, chided, or demeaned in any way when another Gen Why is within earshot. If reprimanding them is in order, quietly and discreetly get them away from their peers before disciplining them. Never use them as the butt of one of your jokes—even if you mean no real harm, or as an example of the wrong way to do something when training other workers. Go out of your way to help them preserve the image they want to project and you’ll find how quickly they bond with you.

Leverage Points
1. Consider posting a company profile.  MySpace provides a free venue for companies to introduce themselves to their more than 83 million users, so why not hop on board? You can build the profile yourself, or use the team at MySpace to build one for you (for a fee). This can help you create a buzz for your products and services, build brand loyalty, and/or engage young prospective employees in a preliminary dialogue.
You know what they say, “If you can’t beat ‘em…”

2. Screen prospective applicants.  You know what your GenWhy candidates told you about themselves on your standard application and in the interview.  Want to know how they represent themselves to the rest of world? Visit their online profiles on these social networking sites and you may gain some important insights. This could serve as a very valuable tool in helping you determine how someone might fit into your organization.

Why's Cracks – No more teachers, no more books...

Remember walking through the stacks in the library at college? Today's students may not. According to a recently concluded study of research habits conducted by the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia University, which surveyed 1,233 students across the country, electronic resources have become the main tool for information gathering among undergraduates. The study confirms a trend librarians have observed: people are using online search sites not to supplement research libraries but to replace them. Find a wireless connection…save a tree!

Spotlight on Multi-Whys Clients

The following is a partial list of clients we’d like to sincerely thank for inviting Eric back again and again to present for management conferences and annual meetings. (The number in the parentheses denotes how many times Eric has presented for each.)

• Harley-Davidson (3)
• Einstein Bros. Bagels (2)
• Wells Fargo (7)
• Hy-Vee Supermarkets (5)
• Round Table Pizza (2)
• Mimis Café (2)
• CITGO (2)
• Society for Human Resource Management (6)
• Applebee’s (3)
• Corinthian Colleges (2)

Recent Rave Review

"I cannot in recent memory think of another presentation so well organized, prepared, and delivered.  I believe your content will have a lasting impact on Applebee's."
Lloyd L. Hill, Chairman and CEO, Applebee’s