“You can buy a man’s time, you can buy a man’s physical presence at a given place; you can even buy a measured number of skilled muscular motions per hour or day. But you cannot buy enthusiasm; you cannot buy initiative; you cannot buy loyalty; you cannot buy the devotion of hearts, minds and souls. You have to earn these things … It is ironic that Americans —the most advanced people technically, mechanically and industrially—should have waited until a comparatively recent period to inquire into the most promising single source of productivity: namely, the human will to work. It is hopeful, on the other hand, that the search is now under way.”

Clarence Francis — Chairman, General Foods

If you haven’t heard of Francis lately, it’s not because General Foods isn’t important. It’s because Francis spoke these words shortly after World War II. In 1952, Time Magazine ran an article on “human resources” which followed the Francis quote by saying, “In that search, at midcentury, lies the finest hope and promise of the Capitalist Revolution.”

How are that hope and promise holding out, 58 years later? While it may be the case that many people understand Francis’s idea better now than they did in 1952, we are a long way from everybody knowing it, and yet farther from everybody doing it.

See the whole Time article here: A New Art Brings a Revolution to Industry: Human Relations.

“Loose Hands Hold More Cookies”.

I got this from my high school friend Chapman Godbey, currently a Commander in the US Naval Service. He had offered (via Facebook) to a friend who is new at managing corporate staff. I suspect that Chap is an excellent leader.

For more Chap-flavored wisdom, see here for his Navy Times piece on adopting technology. I think he needs to write a book or two.

If you tell your staff exactly how do to their jobs, you stifle your company on every front. Your staff won’t have a reason to think, grow or contribute. They won’t have a reason to create or explore new ways to work better. Your organization will get smarter only as fast as you get smarter, instead of getting smarter through the growth of all your staff. You will spend much of your time teaching details and correcting “errors”, rather than using your time to think or create. And any staff with real potential will soon leave for employment that will better reward their brains and energy.

Yes, your staff need the benefit of your experience (if you’ve got it). Yes, your staff need to know their goals (whether it’s a sales guy who needs to create $1 million in net revenue in 2010, or the office administrator who needs to re-do your 80’s-era lobby). Yes, your staff need to know constraints (whether it’s “your sales territory is North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and never lie to a prospect” or “Your decorating budget is $5,000 and let me see the furniture you choose for one final look before you buy it. Feel free to spend less.”) But after you give them what they need to know, get out of their way and let them use their smarts and inspiration to create some value on their own.

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*I can’t remember where I first learned this concept, but I owe that author a debt. Please let me know if you have the original quote and source.

I remember the story of two Zen monks, both prodigious smokers. Concerned about the question of smoking during their prayer time, they agreed to consult their superiors. While one received a stern reprimand from his abbot, the other was given a pat of encouragement. The unlucky one, greatly puzzled, asked his friend exactly how he had framed his question. “I asked,” the second monk replied, “whether it was permissible to pray while smoking.”

- Jean Kinkead Martine, “Working for a Living”

We often get the message that work isn’t meant to make us smile, that making the world a better place is something we do on our own time, and that if we’re having fun we shouldn’t expect to get paid. These messages are deeply wired into our culture and it’s hard to just yank them out. Martine’s story provides a means to short the circuit.

Of course our clients and customers will demand that we provide them with value before they provide us with money. But if we choose our work well, we can provide value while also doing good and having fun. And the great thing is that if we choose very well, the cycle just feeds itself.

Berkshire Hathaway is the big exception at No. 13. Holy ugliness, Buffetman! That is one wretched website, but it’s attached to some beautiful smarts that are the only thing that count in his world.

Just for grins, do read the Message from Warren Buffet:”Fine jewelry, watches and giftware will almost certainly cost you less at Borsheim’s.”

One of Ted Williams’ principles of hitting was that an average hitter swinging at a good pitch to hit is better than a great hitter swinging at a bad pitch to hit.

– Reggie Jackson in Sixty Feet, Six Inches, by Bob Gibson and Reggie Jackson (2009)

One of my former clients had an above-average sales staff who were prone to chasing after clients who weren’t a proper fit. The mis-fits would be harder to sell to, and harder to make a profit from if they did make the sale. My client’s CEO wasn’t a baseball fan, so he used a different analogy: “Our target clients are horses. We have to quit chasing zebras.”

In a remarkable display of interest, 200 readers completed the survey within the first 24 hours. That’s 200 readers out of a typical 1,000 readers per day. Twenty percent. By the time we closed the survey, we had more than 250 responses, which adds up to more than 40 hours of effort donated by readers to the news blog they love.

Do your customers have that kind of stake in your business? Yes, you can entice them with a small prize. But from reading the hundreds of long text responses to our survey questions, it’s clear that the respondents really wanted to share.

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We used SurveyGizmo.com. It’s free for short surveys with fewer than 250 respondents. We paid $19 for a month’s worth of surveys with up to 1,000 total responses.

I mentioned this to a friend some 25 years ago when we were in high school. Coincidentally, he was my first Quaker friend, and the Quakers know something about quiet.

Many entrepreneurs get energized by the noise and bustle of each workday. What more might they find if they also put some quiet into each workday?

With this new client, I can now count four current clients who pay their invoices within ~48 hours of receipt. At least three of these clients describe themselves as “conservative” with their money. At least one refuses to carry business debt. All are privately owned.

If they treat their vendors this well, can you imagine how well they treat their customers?

Discipline is remembering what you want.
Discipline is remembering what you want.
Discipline is remembering what you want.

And, of course, doing what it takes to get what you want.