Are you spending time trying to figure out the Millennials on your team?  Many of the Baby Boomers in leadership are convinced Millennials just won’t stay loyal to one employer for long.  I’ve believed for a long time that generalizing about generations is just too easy and relieves us of any responsibility to work on methods to improve retention.

Chason Hecht, CEO of leading employee retention consulting firm Retensa (www.retensa.com) as quoted in the May 2017 Journal of Accountancy (yes I still read it!) sees things differently also – “There’s very little evidence that Millennials lack loyalty.  What they lack is a tolerance for boredom, discontentment and disengagement, for feeling disconnected from their peers, community, and society.” He makes a compelling case that it’s not just Millennials who feel this way but in fact all generations of employees are more likely to leave work they find unsatisfying. Add to this an improving economy, employees of every age being better connected and more likely to become aware of a new opportunity (read LinkedIn), and that same increased connectivity allowing someone to get a more accurate picture of a potential new employer and the result is more professionals of every generation willing to take the risk of leaving.

Remember – We’re ALL Millennials!

OK, you’re expecting some praise for Duke basketball from a closet Dukie. Sorry, while I don’t hate Christian Laettner, I do not like Duke basketball.

J. B. Duke, the Duke who the university and Duke Energy is named for knew in the late 1800’s that the business success that would propel him to incredible wealth and subsequent philanthropy was all about the people. This quote from one of his biographies “Bold Entrepreneur” by Robert F. Durden summarizes it very well: “one of the most important keys, or secrets, to Duke’s remarkable career: he was an extremely keen judge of men and of their character and ability. Moreover, when he spotted someone whose talent he respected and whom he judged to be reliable and trustworthy, he treated them fairly, respectfully, and generously……J.B. Duke’s success in enterprises owed a great deal to highly talented people who worked with and for him, and who generally remained loyally with him throughout their careers.”

The second directive to the assembled pre-teens at the first Monday caddy school was to “shut up!”  I mistakenly thought our caddymaster Pat Higgins meant that only for when we were on the course with our assigned loop.  I learned (not too painfully because I had three older brothers caddying) that it was even more important in the caddy yard and around the caddy shack. Someone once asked me “if you could give your early professional self two words of advice what would they be?”  My answer without hesitation – “shut up.”

I was told I was a pretty smart kid but early in my career I couldn’t stop trying to show that I was the smartest guy in the room.  It wasn’t usually with my superiors as I guess I viewed them as the “golfers I was caddying for” but it was with my co-workers, fellow caddies if you will. I was 10 years into my professional career and in my second tour of public accounting before a partner in a law firm who our firm shared a client with told me (politely) to shut up again.  I was in mid-sentence of telling him how I was going to present information at a meeting he had called with the four owners of this client when he said “actually you don’t need to be prepared to say anything. If there is a question I believe you should answer I’ll ask you, so just know your material.”  I was really perturbed on the inside but in short order I understood what a blessing it was to hear that “Shut Up” lesson again.

Just a reminder to ask good questions and listen carefully to the responses before being the one with all the answers.  My lesson came from Michael J. Burke, Sr. who at the time was Managing Partner of the Keating Muething & Klekamp Law Firm.  Mike passed away far too soon in December 2001 and I’m certain I’m not the only one who is carrying important lessons they learned from him.

With Thanksgiving over and another year end on the horizon it is natural to reflect on what we learned this year and how we will apply those lessons to perform and perhaps even behave better in the future. I thought you would enjoy some of these life lessons.

Thomas Friedman, best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times was also a caddie and says his most valuable life lessons were learned on the golf course over a span of 13 years and hundreds of rounds. At the Chick Evans Centenary Celebration held on June 27, 2016 he was inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame. Please click on the link below to read an edited version of his speech focused on life lessons he learned as a caddie.

http://magazine.wgaesf.org/summer2016#&pageSet=3

You will see the article is from the Summer 2016 issue of the Western Golf Association, Evans Scholars Magazine. Please click on the Evans Scholar shield on the right side of the article to learn how you can make more life lessons and Evans Scholarships possible.

I’m also interested in what your enduring life lessons have been and where you learned them so please reply to bill@nulljohnsonresources.com and let me know.

People, Go Figure!

You would think with the market so tight for quality employees that new employers would be more careful. Here are two recent candidate horror stories.

Jay is a young go-getter and former college athlete hired for a new business development role after several rounds of interviewing.  Six weeks later he is referred by a friend and is curious about how bad it might look if he leaves his new employer so soon.  His problem started with – the first day he reported his new boss had the day off and no one seemed to know he was coming.  No big deal, everyone is entitled to a scheduling snafu!  Problem is on Day 2 his new boss was no better prepared with a plan for his onboarding and it hadn’t been any better in the weeks that followed.  Better yet he was getting funny looks from people because he “wasn’t producing.”

John met with me after a full year of bad behavior by his boss.  He was hired for his development potential and well-developed skills with various technologies, despite having had zero experience with the type of financial analysis they would be asking him to do.  Day 1 Monday – really no kidding – his boss briefly outlined the real estate investment proposal they were considering and put him to work on it with a deadline of Wednesday at noon.  John followed old write-ups to produce his analysis but when asking questions for guidance was met with “I’m too busy.”  Wednesday at 12:30 John’s boss invited him to his office and his sole piece of feedback was “this is c**p, get back to work.”  To John’s credit he is a quick study and he had become a darn good real estate analyst in the space of a year but his boss’ manner of coaching and mentoring hadn’t improved at all.  He was only too happy to take my call and meet with me.  I’m happy to report he’s enjoying the beginning of an excellent career with a client of mine!