In this issue:
- Take This Job and Love It!
- Startling Stat
- Quotes and Quips
- Stay Whys Website of the Month
- Whys Cracks
- Upcoming Presentations
Resources:
Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.
Alexander Smith
Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.
David McCullough
Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life.
Harvey MacKay
What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.
Julia Cameron
When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
John Ruski
Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself.
Bill Gates
He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, 'Dust to dust,' some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he told the others, 'I'll be waiting for you in heaven---with a gun.'
Jack Handey - Deep Thoughts
Stay Whys Website of the Month
Wanna know what your kids are really saying as they text and IM each other? Don’t be left clueless! Visit http://www.noslang.com and translate their terms into yours
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Links of Note...
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Take This Job and Love it …
The Link Between Romance and Committed Young Employees
Before this year is half over, my nuclear family will undergo significant expansion, as both of my daughters, Holli and Whitney, are getting married. Now, two weddings in two months can throw almost any father to the floor clutching his billfold, but the joy I feel over the addition of Jarrett and Chris to the family has taken my mind off the exorbitant costs associated with the big events. (Well, sort of, anyway.)
With great interest and fascination I’ve watched these two burgeoning romances play out since they started several years ago, and I’ve observed how Gen Whys court each other in a world that is vastly different than it was a few decades ago. Needless to say, I’ve learned a great deal about what it takes to attract, engage, and win the committed heart of a Gen Why.
Which got me thinking about how these same concepts can be applied to employment practices …
Chivalry gets noticed. At a time when common courtesy is anything but common, the simple acts of opening a door for someone else, saying “excuse me” when you sneeze, and standing when a lady enters the room resonate now more than ever. Chris and Jarrett have set themselves apart from other suitors by putting their best feet forward and by taking steps to make the loves of their lives feel honored and special.
WHYS UP – Don’t lower your standards. In fact, do the opposite—raise them. Demonstrate courtesy and class and insist that your associates do the same. As a result, you’ll distance your organization from the asleep-at-the-wheel competition that allows front-line workers to get away with just about anything they want to say, do, or wear.
Adventure scores big. Chris and Whitney rarely embark on the traditional dinner-and-a-movie date. They will, however, eat sushi on a roller coaster or grab a couple gyros and take free-fall parachute lessons in a high-speed wind tunnel. Gen Whys are drawn to unique adrenaline-filled experiences that they can tell their friends about on their MySpace pages. The more random or bizarre the activity, the greater the impact.
WHYS UP – Out with the pizza party in the back room to celebrate an employee’s birthday, and in with an after-hours squirt-gun war in the aisles set to techno music. Don’t fall into the same old company BBQ/picnic rut. Instead, take your crew on a whitewater raft trip or arrange for a dodge ball showdown with your closest competitor. Whatever the plan, never be predictable.
Keep it Real. You may be able to con a con and you can surely fool a fool, but you can no longer kid a kid. Teens and young adults today have been exploited and they’ve seen others get duped, so they aren’t going to fall for the old all this and more can be yours someday if you just do as I say company line. One night stands are easy to come by, but long-term romance and true love are borne of honor, commitment, and mutual trust.
WHYS UP – If it’s unwise to be predictable, it’s just plain stupid to be disingenuous. Gen Whys can spot a poser at fifty paces, and they’ll broadcast it to their peers when they do. Make certain that you know who your employees are as individuals and that you genuinely care about them as people first, employees second. If you want them to help you reach your goals, seriously commit to helping them achieve theirs. They won’t stick around in one-sided relationships, and they’ll give you their best only when they’re certain that you’re giving them yours.
Final Thought
If these principles work in romance, it only stands to reason that they can also be applied in the workplace. Follow these principles, and you’ll greatly improve your chances of attracting the best and the brightest Gen Whys, engaging them in your business, and getting them to commit to a long-term relationship with your organization.
American workers ages 18 – 29 that have either a tattoo or body piercing placed someplace other than in the earlobe.
American Academy of Dermatology
Kimberly-Clark has introduced a new line of toilet tissue for children. Each sheet of Cottonelle Kids has been printed with puppy paws. The children un-roll paws until they reach a puppy, then they tear off just the right amount of tissue.
This may be a short-term fix for parents. But it is just one more small step in making today’s kids dependent on external cues rather than learning to think for themselves.
I can already hear the screams of traumatized three-year-olds in the public restroom who can’t find the puppy print as they frantically unroll mounds of paper on the floor.
Whys Blog
Eric's recent blog discusses Gen Y’s unexpected response to a new tabletop touch screen. Read it here.
Upcoming Presentations...
If you're planning a meeting or conference and want to preview Eric's live presentation, here's where he'll be in the next few weeks:
| February 15 | Vancouver, WA |
| February 18 | Houston, TX |
| February 20 | San Francisco, CA |
| February 27 | Columbus, OH |
| February 28 | Phoenix, AZ |
| March 7 | Lexington, KY |
| March 8 | Dayton, OH |
| March 9 | Boise, ID |
| March 13 | Portland, OR |
| March 14 | Cincinnati, OH |
| March 20 | Perth, Australia |