WorkPuzzle

Zappos and the Pursuit of Happiness - Part 2

Yesterday, we spent some time learning about Tony Hsieh’s passion for making happiness the central focus of the Zappos culture.  The insight was gained from a recent article published in Inc. Magazine.

When companies think about happiness, particularly as it applies to employees, the attention usually shifts to perks and benefits.  Hsieh seems to know better:

“That single-minded focus on happiness has led to plenty of accolades for the company, which routinely scores high on lists of the best places to work. But Zappos's approach to workplace bliss differs significantly from that of other employee-friendly businesses.

For one thing, Zappos pays salaries that are often below market rates -- the average hourly worker makes just over $23,000 a year. Though the company covers 100 percent of health care costs, employees are not offered perks found at many companies, such as on-site child care, tuition reimbursement, and a 401(k) match.

Zappos does offer free food to its employees, but the pile of cold cuts in the small cafeteria loses its allure faster than you can say Googleplex. Instead of buying his employees' loyalty, Hsieh has managed to design a corporate culture that challenges our conception of that tired phrase.”

As Dave Mashburn often points out in his WorkPuzzle posts:  Every human wants happiness, but we’re very poor at predicting what will make happiness a reality in our own lives.  This is exactly what intrigues Hsieh:

“'I've been doing a lot of research into the science of happiness,' he says. In addition to asking everyone he meets what makes him or her happy, he has also been studying books on the subject, especially Jonathan Haidt's The Happiness Hypothesis, which uses social psychology experiments to evaluate the world's great religions and philosophies and concludes that ancient wisdom and science are both useful tools in the quest for contentment.”

So, what’s he come up with?  Hsieh has concluded that happiness comes from establishing a balance between the following four basic human needs:

1. Perceived Progress:  The perception that you’re further along today than yesterday.

2. Perceived Control:  The perception that you have a direct affect on the outcomes in your life.

3. Relatedness:  Living life in the context of meaningful relationships.

4. Connection to a Larger Vision:  Contributing to something bigger than yourself.

Hsieh admits that he doesn’t have this topic completely figured out yet:

“'I’ve got a few different frameworks and I’m just figuring out how to combine them,' he says without irony or even a smile.  ‘I think I’m pretty close.'”

I find all of this intriguing, particularly because we now have hard-core business leaders addressing issues that previously "belonged" in the realm of philosophy.  Why?  Because these issues have a direct and profound impact on performance. 

If you have the responsibility for coaching and managing others, hopefully you will feel inspired to step into Tony Hsieh's shoes, and view the vast benefits of happiness in a whole new light...

Zappos and the Pursuit of Happiness

About a year ago, I started seeing advertisements in the bottoms of the plastic bins at the security checkpoints at airports – You know, the containers that you put your shoes and other personal items in before they go through the x-ray machine?

The one advertisement that stands out in my mind from routinely using these bins, was placed by a company called Zappos. Unfortunately, the intended brand impact eluded me at the time… I had no idea that Zappos was a very large and successful online shoe retailer, hence the advertisement at the bottom of the shoe bin. How clever!

Inc. Magazine recently ran an article about Zappos that I found insightful. The Zappos story is very inspiring on its own, and worth reading from a human interest perspective. But, what caught my eye was the leadership insight of their CEO, Tony Hsieh (pronounced Shay).

Hsieh has received some media attention for the financial success of Zappos (their revenues now exceed $1 Billion per year), but most people are far more interested in the counter-intuitive way he runs the company.

What’s his secret? Happiness. Hsieh has decided to make happiness the central focus of his company:

“But Hsieh has a hard time getting excited about [the financial success of the company]. What he really cares about is making Zappos’s employees and customers feel really, really good. This is not because Hsieh is a nice guy (though he is a very nice guy), but because he has decided that his entire business revolves around one thing: happiness. Everything serves that single end. Other business innovators work with software code or circuit boards or molecular formulas. Hsieh prefers to work with something altogether more complex and volatile: human beings themselves.”

Tomorrow, I’ll discuss some of the principles that Hsieh has uncovered in making happiness the central focus of Zappos. In the meantime, try to find these shoe bin ads the next time you’re at the airport…now you know the story behind them!

What's a Friend Worth?

If you are a Recruiter or Hiring Manager, you already know that network contacts can be very valuable.  People you know become a repository for new information and new contacts.

While this may be old news for you, the marketing world is just starting to study this topic.  Due to the proliferation of online social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, businesses are starting to put a monetary value on these relationships.

Business Week ran a feature article on this topic last week.  Here are some insights that I picked up:

1.  Most people have many “friends,” but few close contacts:  The average Facebook user with 500 “friends” actively follows the news of 40 of them, communicates with 20, and keeps in close contact with about 10. 

2.  People tend to group other people into one of four categories: 

(a) Closest Friends -- You trade email with these people or have other reciprocal communications.

(b) One-way Relationships -- You send email to these people or post comments on their profile pages (but they don’t respond).

(c) Just Barely in Touch -- You click on something these people post on Facebook or visit their profile page more than twice.

(d) Near Strangers -- You let these people into your network, but you really don’t know or interact with them.

3.  So far, marketers are dismal at figuring out how to manipulate these networks for profit:  It is estimated that Facebook is able to generate less than a dime per member in advertising revenue.  Yes, they have a lot of members, but the end results pale in comparison to traditional advertising venues.  In my hometown of Seattle, radio stations capture about $200M in ad revenue from a population base of $3.2M people.  That’s over $60 per person compared to Facebook’s $0.10 per member.

So, what can we learn from all of this?  First, companies are spending a lot of money trying to crack the code of social marketing.  If it all seems confusing to you, you’re not alone.  Companies like Facebook and Microsoft have bunches of PhDs working on this stuff and they can’t even figure it out! 

Second, some of the traditional techniques you’ve used for networking should not be abandoned.  Most of your results are still going to come from these techniques. 

Lastly, don’t ignore the new tools, but don’t depend on them either.  Spend your extra time endearing yourself to your close contacts rather than adding “near strangers” to your online network.

Predicting Who Will Make a Job Change

Recruiting is a time consuming process.  Nothing is more frustrating than spending time and effort pursuing a candidate who is not willing to make a change.  You not only lose the time you spent trying to dislodge someone who is stuck, but you also forfeit the opportunity of engaging someone else who might have a higher propensity to change jobs.

With the susceptibility for such waste, it makes sense to put some thought into the inclination a person has for change at an early stage in the recruiting process.

Many years ago, Steve Hieman, the co-founder of the sales training company Miller-Heiman, developed a model for thinking about change.  The model was built to help salespeople understand how decision-makers would potentially react to sales proposals.

Heiman observed that people generally fall into one of four modes depending upon their perception of reality:

1.  Growth Mode:  The perception that there is a hopeful difference between today’s reality and the potential for short-term gains.  Something needs to be done to reach the potential.

2.  Trouble Mode:  The perception that today's reality will soon deteriate.  A person in this mode has anxiety about the difficulty looming on the horizon.  Something needs to be done to avoid the trouble ahead.

3.  Even Keel Mode:  The perception that that there is no difference between today’s reality and what will actually be accomplished in the months ahead.  “Rocking the boat” is risky and unnecessary.

4.  Overconfident Mode:  The perception that growth and prosperity are inevitable.

If you think about these concepts from a recruiting perspective, the definitions apply.  Each candidate tends to have a perception of reality that matches one of these modes. 

It’s not hard to figure out a candidate’s mode during a conversation.  The questions that get a candidate to reveal his/her perception of reality are natural and easy to ask.  Once you’ve made this assessment, you have some insight into the candidate’s propensity to change.

Candidates who are in a Growth Mode or Trouble Mode have a high likelihood of making changes.   Candidates who are in an Even Keel Mode have a much lower chance of making a change.  And candidates who are Overconfident have very little chance of making a change.

In working with a candidate in your talent pipeline, those in the Growth or Trouble Mode are going to be much more open to direct conversations about making a job change.

Those who are in an Even Keel Mode will most likely need to percolate over time.  As a recruiter, staying in touch and being seen as an indirect resource is the best way to spend your time while you wait for an external event to dislodge them from the Even Keel mode.

Those who are Overconfident will not be responsive until they “crash and burn.”   It’s a waste of time to try to engage them until their arrogance causes them to enter the Trouble Mode themselves.

Try making these assessments with the people you work with this week -- See how quickly you can become adept at assessing their modes.  With this knowledge, you’ll be more focused on the activities that produce results.

5 Reasons to Keep Building Your Talent Pipeline During a Recession

Last week, I ran across an article that answers a question that we get frequently:

“Should we continue to invest in recruiting while the economy is in such bad shape?  Or, would it make more sense to pull back our efforts and concentrate on other things?”

The article was written by Pedro Silva.  Silva is a Candidate Relationship Manager with JCSI, a staffing company in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Silva makes the point that the recession is being blamed for a lot of things that really have nothing to do with the economy.  It becomes justification for some people, to do nothing.

If you’re a recruiter or hiring manager, inaction now means poor results later.  Silva goes on to encourage us to continue the process of building our candidate pipelines even though times are tough: 

"Below are five powerful reasons why companies that want to come out on top will continue to develop their candidate pipeline.

1. Pipeline development is part of their growth strategy. You don’t wait until it snows to gather firewood, and these companies don’t wait until they need a hire to start identifying candidates who are equipped to be a part of their company’s success.

2. They know that long-term hiring success requires a process. It is a lot easier to keep a fire going than it is to start one, so these companies will start an ongoing dialogue with candidates with the intention of making an offer when the time is right.

3. A developed candidate pipeline removes major competition from the equation. When the time to hire arrives, these companies either have their offer prepared or they are at the top of the candidate’s mind. This reduces the chances of a salary war.

4. Having qualified candidates on hand minimizes delays in production.  A developed and managed candidate pipeline allows these companies to rebound quickly and efficiently.

5. A company that is actively recruiting is considered a strong company.  By continuing to engage prospective candidates, these companies strengthen their own company brand among others in their industry and remain aware of other trends within their market segment."

My favorite on the list is #2.  Several of our clients have cut back spending due to financial difficulties, but they've had the wisdom to keep their hiring systems active at a reduced level, rather than stopping altogether.  Restarting the fire is difficult.

The last reason, #5 on the list, also resonates with me.  Many of our clients strive to be perceived as strong and healthy by consumers.  This perception is critical to mounting their own recovery.  Recruitment advertising is a great way to help build the perception of health.  With 30% of the workforce in some mode of job search at any given time, your recruiting ads are in front of many job seekers and potential customers. 

Visibility and proactivity is key in separating yourself from your competitors.  Don’t wait for the recovery to begin…if you do, you’ll be lagging behind those who are working now.

Coaching From the Back of a Bass Boat

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of flying to Nashville with one of my sons for a fishing trip.  My brother lives about an hour’s drive north of Nashville and invited us to camp and fish with him and a friend in the Peabody Wildlife Management Area (PWMA).  The PWMA is a 60,000 acre preserve that was reclaimed after this area was strip-mined for coal in the '50s and '60s.

This trip signifies a change in the role that I have in my son’s life.  In our family, we believe that childhood can be broken into three phases:  The focus of the first phase (0-6) is keeping the child alive (two-year olds have a propensity for doing things that could result in death) and teaching them to respect authority.  The second phase (7-14) is focused on character development.  And in the third phase (15-21) the focus is on coaching the child as they “practice” real life.

For each of my kids, I plan a fun trip as they enter the third phase of their childhood.  During the trip, I talk with them about how my role is going to change to that of a coach.  It’s their job to step-up and start to use the things that they’ve been given and conceptualize a life of their own.  These have been some of the best experiences in my life.  Work is important, but to see the same principles and concepts apply to life as a whole brings a deep level of satisfaction.
 
For those of you who love fishing, I’ll throw in a few details about the trip itself.  The PMWA lakes (there are hundreds of them) contain largemouth bass, bluegill, catfish, and other warm water species.  During the two days of fishing, we caught more than 50 bass and large bluegills (1st picure).
 
In timing the trip, we attempt to fish right after the female bass finish spawning.  The female bass are larger than the males, and they don’t eat while they are spawning.  So, right after they finish spawning, they’re particularly hungry which makes the chances of catching a big fish much better.  Because it was a cool spring in this part of Kentucky, we missed this ideal timing by a week or so.

I did this same trip two years ago with my oldest son and we hit the spawning window perfectly.  During that trip, he caught an 11-pound bass from one of the PMWA lakes (2nd picture).  If you click on his picture, you'll get an enlarged version.  Don't you think HotJobs should have paid us a royality for wearing that hat?  

Defining Happiness

One of the purposes of WorkPuzzle is to facilitate a dialog concerning what makes people flourish in their work.  Typically, we address this topic from a scientific perspective.

Last week, I ran across the transcript of a speech given by Dr. Charles Murray at the 2009 Irving Kristol Lecture in Washington DC.  Dr. Murray is a social scientist and author who is most famously known for his controversial book, The Bell Curve (1994),that discusses the role of intelligence (IQ) in American Culture.

Recently, Dr. Murray has been studying happiness.  He approaches the topic from a government/public policy perspective, and much of what he says is probably beyond the interest of the general public.  You’re welcome to read the whole speech, but I thought it would be helpful to highlight a couple of passages that would liven our WorkPuzzle discussion.

1.  Dr. Murray does a great job of defining happiness:

“I start from this premise:  A human life can have transcendent meaning, with transcendence defined either by one of the world's great religions or one of the world's great secular philosophies.  If transcendence is too big a word, let me put it another way:  I suspect that almost all of you agree that the phrase "a life well-lived" has meaning.  That's the phrase I'll use from now on.

And since happiness is a word that gets thrown around too casually, the phrase I'll use from now on is "deep satisfactions."  I'm talking about the kinds of things that we look back upon when we reach old age and let us decide that we can be proud of who we have been and what we have done.  Or not.

To become a source of deep satisfaction, a human activity has to meet some stringent requirements.  It has to have been important (we don't get deep satisfaction from trivial things).  You have to have put a lot of effort into it (hence the cliché "nothing worth having comes easily").  And you have to have been responsible for the consequences.”

2.  Dr. Murray identifies the arenas in life where happiness are derived:

“There aren't many activities in life that can satisfy those three requirements.  Having been a good parent.  That qualifies.  A good marriage.  That qualifies.  Having been a good neighbor and good friend to those whose lives intersected with yours.  That qualifies.  And having been really good at something--good at something that drew the most from your abilities.  That qualifies.

Let me put it formally:  If we ask what are the institutions through which human beings achieve deep satisfactions in life, the answer is that there are just four:  family, community, vocation, and faith.  Two clarifications:  "Community" can embrace people who are scattered geographically.  "Vocation" can include avocations or causes.

It is not necessary for any individual to make use of all four institutions, nor do I array them in a hierarchy.  I merely assert that these four are all there are.  The stuff of life--the elemental events surrounding birth, death, raising children, fulfilling one's personal potential, dealing with adversity, intimate relationships--coping with life as it exists around us in all its richness--occurs within those four institutions.”

If you have the responsibility of coaching someone, these definitions can be very helpful in coming to a common understanding concerning the nature of happiness in a person’s life.  It is also useful  to have a framework for positioning work (vocation) among the other significant areas from which happiness can be derived.

Navy SEALs Have a "Growth Mindset"

My 14-year old son has a strong interest in the Navy SEALs.  He has read several books about this elite group of warriors and recently wrote a school paper describing their training methodologies.

I read last Friday’s WorkPuzzle article on the “growth mindset” to our family at the breakfast table.  It was an appropriate topic since we often discuss the importance of working hard and improving our abilities.

Upon hearing about the “growth mindset,” my son immediately piped up and said:

“Dad, this is a core principle of Navy SEAL training!  In order to acquire the abilities necessary to be a SEAL, a person must consistently be taken to the edge of their abilities - This makes a person feel like they are going to die.  At this point, those who believe that they can improve, push forward in the training.  Those who don’t have this belief, will voluntarily quit or Drop on Request (DOR).”

This is consistent with what the statistics show:

“SEAL training and duty is voluntary….  Classes typically lose around 70-80% of their trainees - either due to DORs or injuries sustained during training.  The Navy will not release exact numbers, either percentages or raw figures, of the attrition rate for BUD/S…

There is no way to predict what percentage of trainees will DOR during BUD/S.  SEAL instructors say that in every class, approximately 10 percent of the students do not have the physical ability to complete the training, and another 10-15 percent will make it through unless they sustain a serious physical injury.  The other 75-80 percent is "up for grabs."  During one BUD/S class, no one completed the six-month program!”

To make the numbers easy, let’s suppose a class consisted of ten people.  About three of the ten will be disqualified due to physical limitations (injury or lack of ability), and another three will make it through the training and become SEALS.

Why don’t the other four trainees make it?   Because of what is going on inside their mind.  It is not a direct physical limitation, but a mental limitation.  It is a belief that their abilities have reached an upper limit and they can no longer grow to meet the next challenge.  The “growth mindset” is part of what equips a person to see beyond the pain and persevere.

If you have the responsibility of coaching and managing those on your team, then it is likely that many of them are stuck in the belief that they have reached the limits of their abilities.  Help them see that their abilities can grow as their challenges grow.  Like the SEALs, some of them may grow into doing things they never thought possible.

What Can Salmon Fishing Teach Us About Recruiting? Part 2

Yesterday, we talked about how effective salmon fishing from anchor can be on rivers like the Columbia.   Although this type of fishing often results in catching large, beautiful fish, it is quite boring and many people do not care for these techniques.

To contrast, let me share the type of fishing my sons and I enjoy.  In Washington State, there are more than 2,500 lakes that are above 2,500 foot elevation.  These “alpine lakes” have trout populations and can only be reached by hiking mountain trails for several miles.

Because the lakes are iced-over for about 9 months of the year, the trout have a short period of time to eat as much as possible.    These fish will pretty much eat anything that moves!   With a fly rod and a couple of enticing imitation bugs, we can catch a lot of fish.  This is exciting fishing because it is visual—you can often see the trout take the fly right before you set the hook.

The problem with this type of fishing is that these fish are small.  Most of the trout are only 9 to 12 inches long and weigh less than a pound.  The Salmon caught on the Columbia using the anchor fishing techniques are quite large; they are over 25 inches long and typically weigh 10 pounds or more.

So, how does this apply to recruiting?  The secret of salmon fishing from anchor is executing a well-designed and tested system.  Eric Linde concludes his video by stating:

“This type of fishing is not difficult, and you will catch fish if you follow the system that I’ve described in this video.   The variables are not that complex.  Just follow the system, and you’ll be successful.”

The same is true for recruiting.   The people who you’d most like to recruit (the big fish) are focused on doing their job and will not pay much attention to your recruiting efforts.    There is often very little feedback offered as you try to interact with these candidates. 

Success happens when you’re in the right place at the right time.   When a candidate gets upset by something in their current job and decides to leave their organization, they typically move to an organization that has systematically built trust and credibility with them over time.  In essence, the successful hiring manager has their lure 18 inches off the bottom, right in front of the fish’s nose when they decide to make a move.

Why don’t people execute recruiting systems like this?  Because, as my son said, “This is the most boring kind of fishing I could imagine.” 

What we’d rather do is fish the alpine lakes.  It is much more exciting to talk with people who are desperate to talk with us.  And it’s emotionally gratifying to see people “take the bait” and listen to everything we say with excitement and interest.  

If you’re fishing for enjoyment, it makes sense to gravitate towards the activities that are most self-fulfilling.  If your livelihood depends upon catching big fish; it is foolish to let yourself be distracted by self-gratifying activities.   It’s better to do the work of a boring system that produces results.

What Can Salmon Fishing Teach Us About Recruiting?

Last week, we spent some time talking about the importance of developing and implementing a strategy for recruiting.  More specifically, we zeroed in on the necessity for the first-level hiring managers to execute consistently.  

Over the weekend, I was feeling under the weather.  I’m not sure whether it was allergies or baseball fatigue (I have four sons playing baseball on four different teams this spring).  Probably a little of both.    The downtime allowed me to do something I don’t normally do—lay on the couch and watch a video.  The video handy was an instructional video on that my 14-year old had borrowed from the library on salmon and steelhead fishing.    I’m sure he picked up this video with the same anticipation that I had when I saw it laying next to the television.  “I’m going to learn the secrets of catching the really big, tough-to-catch fish.”  We were both quite surprised.

The video was produced by Eric Linde.  He is a professional fishing guide on the Columbia River.  The video was not disappointing from a visual perspective.  The Columbia River   Gorge is one of the most beautiful places in the United States.  And, the results were quite remarkable.  Linde knows how to catch these incredibly large fish as they make their way up the Columbia River to spawn.

What surprised me was the comment  my son made after we finished watching:  “Dad, that looks like the most boring type of fishing I could possibly imagine!”

It’s true.  In this type of angling, the objective is to get your lure directly in front of a fish that really has very little interest in eating.  At this stage in their development, the fish are primarily focused on spawning.  So, unless you put something in front of their nose that is particularly annoying, the fish swim past without taking notice.

All this activity happens 18 inches off the bottom of a river that is 20 feet deep and moving very fast.  You can’t see any of the activity with your eyes.    You have to use your other senses to be successful, and a secret that was covered in the video.  This secret not only applies to salmon fishing, but it also applies to recruiting top talent.  More about this, tomorrow.