Hi,
What are your Thanksgiving plans? I’m cooking again this year. It’s my favorite holiday, and I’m so grateful to be cooking for people I love. (I just realized how important the “for” is in this sentence 🤣.) Each year I make the tried and true favorites (pearl onions I’m looking at you but not partaking) and, also, experiment with a few dishes. This year I’m branching out to baking (I can cook, baking is a whole ‘nother story): chocolate pie with pomegranate arils and hazelnuts on top. Wish me luck, and please share what you’re grateful for that you’ll be expressing on November 24.
And BTW, there’s a theme this week, shout it out if you see it… 😊
- How do you know if the appreciation you’re showing your employees is really appreciated? Here are some answers from Harvard Business Review about what employees value and how to ensure you’re delivering.
- Twitter apparently: terminated employees via email (cold); let some workers go by accident (ouch); and realized after the terminations it needed some of those terminated workers back (oops). Seriously, this isn’t a good look. When you hear all the quiet quitting stories, and people working 2 full-time jobs unbeknownst to each employer, this is some of the disrespectful behavior driving employees to do the bare minimum and/or to reset the rules to work for them. Something’s gotta’ change, but for now, this is just plain ugly.
- Related note (theme tease…): Have you heard the one about a CEO who fired 2 engineers for each working 2 FT jobs simultaneously? You may have thought it was a slam dunk but the Internet is in a tizzy.
My POV: the world of work is changing rapidly just like the world around us. I think we need to all be more transparent and set expectations to ensure we’re all on the same page about what a company is owed by its employees and what it owes them in return. Clearly there are differences of opinion on this. Cleary…
Do Good Spotlight
🌟 One Warm Coat 🌟
“Our mission is to provide free coats to children and adults in need while promoting volunteerism and environmental sustainability.” This national nonprofit holds coat drives and donations to protect people from the cold. They repurpose used outwear to stay as sustainable as possible. We’re sure you’ll warm up to their mission. Visit their website: One Warm Coat.
Noteworthy 🖋
Marketing on a Mission
I have Randye Spina to thank for telling me about this relatively new business designation, “public-benefit corporation (PBC), or in some places it’s called “benefit corporation.” These designations are currently available in 35 US states. From Wikipedia: these business registrations are available to for-profit companies that include “positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment in addition to profit as its legally defined goals, in that the definition of ‘best interest of the corporation’ is specified to include those impacts.” For a great definition and lots of detail, check out this Wikipedia entry.
And if you are a leader of or know about a start-up or emerging PBC or B Corp in need of marketing communications consulting and related services, please check out Randye Spina’s Marketing On a Mission. They provide marketing consulting, project-based implementation, and workshops for PBC’s and B Corps.
- Citing LinkedIn job posting data, Amanda Breen says the flexible work era is on its way out. I don’t agree–the pendulum is swinging wildly in a tug of war going on about how much is enough/too much (mixing my metaphors) but here’s what Amanda Breen is thinking via Entrepreneur.
- Seriously, this article is a must It talks about data citing productivity lags since the start of the year and then goes on to talk about both sides of the coin re: exhausted employees seeing little connection to working harder and getting rewards and managers trying to establish new norms and ways to track productivity instead of activity. Activity measuring being what many relied on when everyone was physically together (facetime, looking busy). Hope this one gives you some insights and new ideas. Here’s a sampling:
“‘Managers today ‘might feel especially under the gun’ to show that employees are pulling their weight,’ said Elaine Richards, chief operating officer of software company Basecamp. But they should trust their employees to get work done in ways that fit into their lives. ‘I promise you, no CEO has ever said they’d prefer activity over results,’ Richards said. ‘The only thing productivity paranoia delivers is a lot of activity.’” And here’s the rest of the Washington Post piece by Taylor Telford.
That’s it for this week. Remember to stay focused and do your best each day—not perfection, but your best—there’s only one of you in this world and people are depending on you to bring what you got!
