Friday, June 29, 2012

Blame Never Works

Why is it always me? She/he did it, why do I get punished too? It's not fair?

Sound familiar? It should if you have kids.

At what point do we stop acting that way and accept our punishments? Looking around the world, the answer seems to be never. In fact many times reality is not as biased as our parents. Thus nowadays someone is the scapegoat while the rest are free to go about as they please.

Also not the best way to live life or manage. When you reach management your job is to keep order and happiness among the ranks. It's not an easy task. But as usual this week's parsha has a few words of wisdom for management to consider.

One incident in particular stands out this week, the infamous Moshe hits the rock story. God tells Moshe and Aaron to talk to a rock in an anthropomorphism way in 20:7-11.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
8. "Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the rock in their presence so that it will give forth its water. You shall bring forth water for them from the rock and give the congregation and their livestock to drink."
9. Moses took the staff from before the Lord as He had commanded him.
10. Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock, and he said to them, "Now listen, you rebels, can we draw water for you from this rock?"
11. Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, when an abundance of water gushed forth, and the congregation and their livestock drank.

And immediately God says Aaron you will die for this. WHAT!? And Aaron says nothing, takes off his priestly clothes and goes gently into that good night. WHAT!? My brother doesn't listen and I get punished? Yes sir.

You see Aaron was the older brother, he should have been either quicker to stop Moshe from hitting the rock or should have tried to discuss with him why that would not suffice. And so God blamed Aaron and this left Moshe all alone as the last standing leader. Perhaps for Moshe to ask for forgiveness. But Moshe really was not looking to outlast hi stay, but he really did want to get into Israel. That never happenned, God's punishment was equal for both brothers but performed in different ways.

There are times in business when we need to accept the customers decisions and no matter how they arrived at their punishment for us, we have to accept it. You can use this in business as a manager on your employees to gauge their abilities but that is not a fair test for them. In fact it may come back to hurt you. Instead recognize that although Moshe and Aaron were punished equally, in the end, they were not punished at the same moment.

Do not punish the whole team on a failure all at once or equally. the team as a whole is punished, it may get disbanded or split into new teams but the individuals get a reprieve.

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Parsha Chukat in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 19:1-22:1
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Power Struggles of Executives

You read about a CEO stepping down or retiring and the next day articles start to pop up about how the people just behind the CEO are starting to push for the role.

How often do we read about power struggles within companies between senior executives? Not as often. Perhaps the reason comes from this parsha about Korach. Korach was also a Levi, like Moshe, but he disagreed with the direction the leadership was heading. Korach, like any competitive party, gathered up some minions and formed his alliances in order to show some force behind him. Korach found 250 people to back him in his nomination.

Moshe may have not appreciated this disruption and said the next day God would choose who was with him and lead and the others would meet some demise. And yet Korach had no fear. Maybe he was an atheist or just could not accept that God was helping them, even after all he saw.

So it is in business or coaching a team, you are only as good these days as your last win or good project or stock surge but when you lose or the stock drops suddenly you are the wrong leader and usually there is an internal "leader" that just happens to know the better way. The Board may agree or not and the internal leader may find themselves on the outside. In other occasions the CEO is ousted only for the company to fall into turmoil.

Power struggles are rarely about what is good for the company but good for the upstart executive. their ego, their money, their life but rarely about the company and it's needs.

Naturally in the end the Korach rebellion was put down, literally as the Earth swallowed them up to their death. Management does not like power struggles from within and it is a sure way to find yourself axed out of a job. Don't be like Korach, advise but don't compete with management, the odds are really not in your favor.
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Parsha Korach in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 16:1-18:32
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, June 15, 2012

Crowdsourcing doesn't always work

This is the epic story of the spies who were sent to check out the land of Israel and instead of reporting that God was with them and they could do it, wimped out and said it was not possible. No faith, no guts, and no glory.

So many times in business the same thing happens. You get all the key people in the room and someone represents the minority opinion, but the majority must be right...right? What if crowdsourcing doesn't really work?

If you take the route that God knew what they would say and do, why would he ask Moshe to send the spies? If you take the route God only puts us to a test but does not know our choice, then why would he be angry that they chose poorly? The historical answer is because if they had not sent spies out and they failed to capture the land of Israel they could blame God for not sending spies. If they came back and said let's go and didn't succeed the spies didn't want to look bad. The two that said yes let's do it, Caleb and Yehoshua, would go on to represent great dynasties of their own. The others, lost in history.

Why does your boss do it to you when they know what the outcome should be, I mean, what the outcome they want should be? The boss has their own way of getting information and they test you all the time. Have faith in your convictions and take a stand but belief in your leader is paramount to success.

Belief in the herd thinking may not lead to success. So be careful out there and think for yourself because maybe it is you being tested.
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Parsha Shelach in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 13:1-15:41
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, June 8, 2012

How to Handle Complaints

Imagine you are walking through the desert and you ran out of food and possibly water. You also have no idea how far you are from civilization.
What do you think about? Do you pray to God to help you or think, just around the next mountain will be water or a village?
Do you blame yourself? Your tour guide, if you had one or the leader of your trip? Where do you start? How do you end?

Now think about the same scenario where you are working with or for a company and you do not have the tools to get your project or work accomplished. You find yourself in a situation that seems hopeless or limiting and you may long for a previous company or project.

What do you do? You go to your management and ask for help. Naturally. But sometimes it doesn't always come out in the best way. Sometimes your needs can be construed as complaints. And so it was when part of the people came to Moshe and complained (11:4-6):
4. But the multitude among them began to have strong cravings. Then even the children of Israel once again began to cry, and they said, "Who will feed us meat?
5. We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
6. But now, our bodies are dried out, for there is nothing at all; we have nothing but manna to look at."
Notice the split from the initial issue, meat and how that winnowed down to garlic and finally "just the manna". Keep in mind the manna was from god and could taste like anything you want.

So what were they really bothered by? The lack of meat? They were in the desert after all and in previous parshas we read about the sacrifices and animals...where did those all go? They never left, but this group of people would never be happy. If they were not going to be happy with manna, they would never be happy.

The journey in life and work is to move forward, look behind to learn what you need going forward. In keeping with my work life where I deal with competitive issues, the last point made is usually the main point. In this case, the manna which was unexciting perhaps to see, but so excellent to taste, seems to be the whole point of the problem. Here they are in the desert, sand everywhere, each day, so far for 2 years (out of 40) and not much changes and even the food looks the same everyday.

If you do not make the effort in business to provide new ideas, you may start hearing from others that they want the old ways or are bored. If you are constantly changing it makes it harder for people to long for the old ways. In response God says I will give them so much food/meat it will come out of their ears, probably literally, this is God after all. Perhaps not the best answer, but then God really is only addressing those that complained. Does the squeaky wheel get the grease? Sometimes not for the best.

God comes out angry, as would any manager, but not across the board, only to those that failed in their tasks or expectations. Recognize that those who raise issues need to be addressed properly, sometimes sternly and to everyone else you need to communicate what changes will take place.Be social, but be responsible as well to your organization and family.

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Parsha Behaalotecha in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 8:1-12:16
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom

Friday, June 1, 2012

Abstaining from Bad Business

This week the Torah discusses the Nazir. The person that decides to fore-go wine, vinegar, grapes and no hair cuts or shaving. Why would a person do this? What does this have to do with business?

Someone may choose the life of a Nazir as a tribute to God. Perhaps out of penance. The Prophets discuss how Samuel's mother cried to God for a baby and he would become a Nazir and live with the priests. And he became the one of the greatest prophets and leaders.

The devotion to keep up on the path of the Nazir shows dedication but also reveals a clear state of view for the individual. The path forward is never easy, having a clear purpose will lead you to greater things.

When you started out in business, you probably took any client you could until you realized you had a great business and were able to focus your opportunities. Defining the clients you wish to seek out and maintaining that perspective is what makes good companies become great ones. Choosing to eschew bad clients is just as important as finding the best employees.

Bad business and clients will bring you away from your core competence just as the Nazir views wine as a diversion from the true path they seek with God. Stay clean and follow the rules but the Torah reminds us not everyone is on the same wave length and for some the more defined relationships bring more benefit.

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Parsha Naso in the book of Bamidbar, Numbers 4:21-7:89
It is said that the Torah or Bible could be interpreted in over 70 ways. More likely these days 100's of ways. In light of this idea, I am writing some posts that bring a business sense to what we can learn on a weekly basis. Enjoy, Shabbat Shalom