QBQ!

It’s the Cool Managers Who Appreciate People

New at the QBQ.com store is our fun, practical, and meaningful QBQ! poster:

Ten Truths of Personal Accountability

And now, our newest blog post …

I had just finished teaching 20 of the “47 Ways to Be Exceptional” from our Outstanding! book at a cancer research hospital, when the Director of Anesthesiology asked, “How do I do some of that stuff like your manager did in the houseplant story you told?”

And I thought, Well, nice to know my content is still relevant.

You see, in the corporate world, people (Read: fad crazy executives and their HR, training, and OD departments) are always searching for the next magic solution or bolt of white lightening to fix the problems faced. It’s too bad they waste time, money, and energy chasing the latest training craze, when all they need to do is return to the fundamentals.

A few questions:

Want a stronger, more positive organizational culture? Engaged people?

Another’s Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Pollute

Disgusting! Why would anyone do such a terrible thing? How can they think it’s okay? Who are these bad people?

I bet that is your reaction to these images of garbage dumped along a winding dirt road a mile west of the Miller home in Colorado. Mine, too. And if we’re honest, our underlying thought is this:

I wouldn’t do such a thing!

In fact, 99.9% of us would never dump garbage like that. But, I am afraid that we do. We dump garbage … on people. Here’s how we might pollute the mind of another at work:

3 Excuses Accountable People Never Make

If you came of age in the 1970s like I did, you heard this all-encompassing excuse more times than you could count:

The devil made me do it!

It’s a good thing that the “me decade” with its embarrassing clothing, disco music, and blame-the-devil-for-all-things excuse is long gone, eh?

Yet, though disco may be dead, I’m not sure the whole excuse-making thing is. Ever heard stuff like this?:

Embarrassment: Bad For Me, Bad For Others

I don’t have PhD in Psychology—not anything close. What I do have is a BS in Selling. (No jokes, please.)

But allow me to practice some psychology with this statement:

The #1 reason humans lie and blame is to avoid the incredible power of … EMBARRASSMENT.

Have you ever lied?

And I don’t mean as a child.

Being Accountable: Living Above the Fray

I snapped this picture flying from Denver to Los Angeles this week. Though it appears that I was above the Colorado Rockies, or above the clouds, I was actually above the fray.

And it was wonderful to be there.

I believe in free speech and, like you, I’d defend someone’s right to speak freely even if what they say is contrary to my beliefs. But I fear that sometimes, in this great land of ours, we have taken “free speech” to an extreme place, where people—can you imagine!?!—share opinions without knowledge.

It might be best to just stay above the fray.

Here’s what I know:

Build Character: Teaching Accountability to Youth

Over five years ago, while still working as a university academic adviser, I started off my career with QBQ, Inc. as the “youth face” of the organization. (Because, well, let’s face it—between my dad and me, who’s going to connect more with Generation Y?) Using my vacation days, I’d travel to share the message of “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” with teens and college students across the country.

Here is an email I received from a student:

Accountability: Bringing a “Coach” Into My Life

Pruning – it’s a good thing!

On one of my walks that keep me from becoming a “beached whale” again, I observed this Colorado homeowner doing some serious pruning of a much-too-crowded, old grove of trees. My first thought was, That looks so much better. Wonder why he didn’t do it five years ago?

My second thought was, 1987.

That year my dad came from Ithaca, NY to visit Karen and me in Brooklyn Center, MN. On the last day of his visit, when I carried his suitcase to the car, I found him standing on our quiet street studying our modest split-level home. After a moment or two of reflection, he said, “You know, son, taking down that big pine tree would really open up your yard and let people see your nice home.”

But I love that tree! I thought.

Be Outstanding: Choose MORE Risk

Photo taken by John Miller in June 2013 three miles out of Fraser, Colorado

When I saw this sign, it occurred to me that it’s risky for snakes in the Rocky Mountains to simply cross a dirt road in search of food—but if they want to survive they’ll have to take that risk. For you and me, there is also some risk in simply living life each day. But if we want to move beyond surviving to thriving, more risk is what we’ll have to choose.

It was February of 1986 and I was leaving a secure salaried job with benefits at Cargill to sell management development systems for an unknown training firm of twelve people. Risky? Well, married with daughters, Kristin, age three, and Tara, eight months, it felt like it. But Karen and I decided I should go for it, so I called my dad to tell him of my career move and this exchange took place:

Outstanding Organizations: No Denial Allowed

“Complacency is a state of satisfaction combined with an unawareness of potential danger, and it’s often characterized by one word: smug. Outstanding organizations know that “smug” doesn’t work. They understand the need to beat back complacency again and again.” Outstanding! Chapter 43: “Stay Alarmed”

In the late 1980s, early in my career selling management training, a mentor would say this after a client meeting that didn’t go as well as I’d planned: “Remember, just because they deny they have problems doesn’t mean they don’t have any.”

Denial. It’s a dangerous place to live.

Whenever any of us on the QBQ, Inc. team comes in to teach “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” we always provide a pre-session questionnaire. Here is one of the questions we ask:

Loving What You Do!

HersonWagner Funeral Home, Ithaca, NY

While my best friend was grilling sirloins at Ponderosa Steakhouse and after I’d already tried filling “Papa,” “Mama,” and “Teen” baskets at the A&W restaurant in Ithaca, NY, I went down to Herson’s Funeral Home and asked the esteemed Mr. Matthew J. Herson himself for a job.

It was 1976 and he hired me for $3.33 an hour. I was 18 years old and not only did I find my niche, I was in my glory!

For the next four years, I did it all. No, really …

I. Did. It. All.