The secret to a great annual review

It's review time at my company, which like at most companies means some Word docs, some introspection, and a bunch of racking your brain trying to remember what happened in May of 2012.

One secret to writing awesome self-evaluations (or other career documents) is to keep a folder in your email that I like to call props. In GMail, I tag an email for "props" when I receive congratulations from people. This year, I was able to pull up notes from important people inside and outside the company who thanked me or praised me for my work.

It's a pretty convincing way to make your case for a better raise, but even more, it's an easy way to remind yourself of the great work you do all year.

Charisma matters

Wow. The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane is a fantastic book on how to become "more influential, more persuasive, and more inspiring."

It's not fluff. Cabane has nailed both the tactics and the internal strength that charismatic people use to communicate with people. Even more, she gives the reader exercises to practice that will help build confidence and compassion. Highly recommended. 

Problems are gold

99 problems? Keep 'em coming. 

Problems are gold. Each problem in our business is a new mystery to solve and a new opportunity to serve better.

In Seth Godin's new book, The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? Seth challenges everybody to try and fail. Look for the problems, fix them, then try again and get better. Try again and get better. Try again and get better. It's the only way to ever get good enough at anything.

Seth is an instant jolt of motivation for me. If you don't want to buy the book, check out his blog.

More feedback, please

Don't be a Dick (Vermeil)

There's a persistent misunderstanding about the word "feedback." Folks think that to give feedback is to be rude, to be a mean football coach, to be constructive. 

Feedback is just evidence of what the person did. In athletics, a great tool for feedback is a stopwatch. You ran a lap–here is your time. The watch isn't judging you. It isn't being positive or negative. It's just telling you the results of your work.

In our jobs, we don't always know the results of our work. Was my presentation effective? Did I write my email well? Who the heck knows?

Giving effective feedback to direct reports is easy. It takes just three sentences. The Manager Tools guys would do it this way:

Dick Vermeil, can I give you some feedback? (Vermeil: "Yes.") OK, when you make that face, here's what happens: it makes me uncomfortable, and makes your players scared. Then, they lose lots of football games. Is there something you can do differently next time? 

Start by giving positive feedback to your best directs tomorrow.

1. Can I give you feedback?
2. When you do that awesome thing, here's what happens: [AwesomeResult] 
3. Yo, keep it up

Lean Business: Voice of the Customer

"House of Lean Production" by Pascal Dennis

Have you heard me babble on about Lean yet?


Lean thinkers seek to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. More value from fewer resources = profit! success! awesomeness!

Over the last six months, I've been studying this methodology and reading as many books as I can to see how this framework–which was born in the manufacturing context of Toyota Motors–can apply in my current work. 

One important concept that immediately comes out in Lean thinking is the voice of the customer. No matter what our role is on a team, we are producers, and we all have customers that rely on the output of what we do:

• Reports
• Written articles
• Lines of code checked
• Calls made
• Decisions made

Do we pay attention to what that customer needs? Could we serve that customer better? 

Take a few minutes and think about 1) who your customer is in your work, and 2) which producers you are a customer for. Ask your customers directly this week if there is a way your work output could be modified to make their work easier. Give a note directly to your producers, letting them know that their product could be even more valuable if it was delivered in a different way or time. 

Money Matters #1

65% of Americans don't have enough cash on hand to handle a $1,000 emergency, says Mint.com. Having cash on hand is crucial, because when you put your bad luck on a credit card, you might carry that bad luck for years. Sell stuff if you have to, but don't stop till you get to four digits.

Each vote matters

It's Primary Day in Illinois! Vote.

Why most newcomers join

Newcomers to your church or campaign are not likely to make friends with the old-timers. They are more likely to make friends with other newcomers. Who wants to hang out with the old guard?

Help new visitors or new customers or new employees socialize with each other -- they will learn the ropes from each other and stick around.

New Customers Matter

Been reading a great blog lately by Kevin Hillstrom lately called Mine That Data. Kevin is a consultant and expert in catalog marketing. This post on acquiring new customers really hit home. There are health signs for any organization. Attracting fresh blood is almost always a key one.

Each Person Matters...on Twitter?

Great post by Roger Ebert on Twitter. Twitter may not be for you, but it sure is for me.

Tips for using LinkedIn well

LinkedIn is a useful tool when looking for jobs or helping friends look for jobs. If you don't have a full profile on LinkedIn, I encourage you to set one up now. Here's why:

Many of us work as knowledge workers. It's harder to show evidence of what we've done or what our accomplishments are, since many of them seem intangible. So, we need to find a way to show more evidence of our experience and accomplishments.

LinkedIn allows you to describe your full career history and to focus on your accomplishments. You have space to tell stories about your achievements. You can include links to your writing. You can go into detail about the sales you've closed, the money you've saved, and the lives you've changed.

The other important piece of evidence you can show is a recommendation. Each person you've worked with matters when you're looking for a job, because their testimony means something to the people in their network. And the testimony you give about your colleagues says something about you: you are the type of person who is confident enough to share praise about other people and will vouch for others.

Finally, you can keep tabs on your high school and college friends and see what it is they're doing for a living and a career. Catching up is now easy! 

Teammates matter

For the first time since I was in middle school, I got to be part of an actual soccer team. It was a team at my work, playing weekly games at one of the city parks. Soccer is my favorite sport to watch, and while I felt very out of shape, I had an absolute blast getting back on the field.

Our team won quite a few games, and made it to the finals in the playoffs. But what was most impressive to me was that everybody played, everybody had a chance to contribute, and we all became friends during the 8 weeks together.

The next season starts in just a few weeks! What are you playing this fall?

Does each social media platform matter?

I guess we'll find out.
plus.google.com

EPM, social media, and small talk

It's been a busy winter and spring for me, as I have changed jobs twice since Christmas. My new role at Grubhub.com started just a few weeks ago, and as I run into people at parties, I'm amazed at how easy it is to talk about these changes. Thanks to Linkedin and Facebook, my friends and family already know the basics. It makes small talk so much easier when we meet in person, because we have ideas about what to ask the other person and go deeper in the story.

Announcing my job change on Linkedin and starting to connect with new colleagues helps a lot too - I can find out some of the basics of my coworkers and they can find out more about me, which helps us find things we have in common.

Here's a newsflash: people care about you. Tell them what's up.

Celebrities matter too

I had a chance recently to have coffee with the author of one of my favorite books. It made my day. And he invited me!

Several months ago, I read the book Predictable Success by Les McKeown after hearing Les on a podcast I liked. I found the book very helpful, and thought it did a good job of explaining some of the situations my organization was facing.

I don't know why I did it, but I found his email address in the back of the book and wrote him to thank him for writing it and how his book had helped me understand my job better. He wrote me back hours later - thanking me for reading it and asking me to stay in touch! Months later, when he came to Chicago for a consulting appointment, we met for coffee.

As I get to know more writers, musicians, comedians. programmers and other creators/creatives, I'm finding that all of them, no matter how famous we might think they are, crave feedback from real people, and they appreciate it.  Twitter is the perfect example of this  - I've received replies from several people I would consider celebrities. Their jobs may seem mysterious, but it's all just work, and they like for it to be appreciated.

So, email your favorite author, or send a tweet to your favorite band. They'll appreciate it.

EPM Tip: Show up to parties

Want to make someone’s day? Show up to their party.

Even if you can only stay for 30 minutes.

Even if you have four other things to do that night.

Even if you are not close friends.

Even if you don’t feel like going out.

Inviting people to a party is risky, because if folks don't show up, it feels like being rejected. When you show up to a party, say hi, and eat some food, you are being kind at a time when it matters a whole lot. 

EPM and 1,000 true fans

1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly

It would be criminal to write a blog called Each Person Matters without going back to the article "1,000 True Fans" by Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine.

In the digital age, we talk a lot about the "long tail" of a distribution - the seemingly infinite number of people, products, books or songs that we can now access thanks to the internet. The digital jukebox at the bar now has 100,000 songs in it, instead of just 50 CD's. Justin Bieber can have millions of followers on Twitter, and each those people can follow millions of other people.

But, if you're a singer, a painter, or own a small business, how does this help you make a living? 1,000,000 Facebook fans would be great to have, but you can't eat a wall post and Retweets don't pay the rent.

Kelly's argument is that each person matters, but you can only guarantee making a living as a creative or entrepreneur if you have some number of dedicated followers who are True Fans.

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

If you estimate that a True Fan will spend $100 on your art or product per year, all it takes is 1,000 True Fans to earn a living. How many do you have?

Dots on a map

The NY Times has a fantastic new tool that plots demographic census data from 2005-2009, down to the tract level. Fascinating.

Does each animal matter?

I don't know if I am really ready to ask, address or answer that question, but I figured if I titled my blog this, I can't avoid it. I recently read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

The book doesn't judge people for what they eat, but it does an amazing job of addressing our emotional connection to food, particularly to Thanksgiving turkey. Highly recommended.

Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use, and the regular exercise of choosing kindness over cruelty would change us. 
----Jonathan Safran Foer

Contact tracking system

I've struggled for a long time to figure out how to keep track of my personal and professional contacts so I can keep in touch with them better. This is a quick description of how I do it at the moment, which seems to be working well.

1. Google Doc
Column A and B - Name - Columns for First and Last so I can sort easily

Column C - Priority - Based on Keith Ferrazzi's A/B/C guidance, I enter the frequency (in weeks) that they should be contacted. For A  contacts, it's 2, 6 for B and 12 for C.

Column D - Last Contact Date - I update this every day or two when I have had an interaction with people.

Column E - Next Contact Due - =Column D + 7*(Column C)

Column F - Overdue? if(Column E > Today's Date,1,0)

Format Column F to turn yellow if the value is 1.

Column G - Mention - here I put a note about whatever I need to mention or ask about next time.

2. iPhone - I save this page as a bookmark on my homepage so I can update info on the train or look for people who are overdue. Quick comment on Facebook or Twitter, invite to coffee, comment on their blog, etc. and I'm done.

People in the future matter

Library of Congress Photo, 1939

A friend pointed out to me this photo set from Flickr of color photos from Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s. I always think of those decades as black and white, since nearly all movies and photos from that era are black and white.

But they weren't. The railyard this guy worked on 70 years ago was in color, just like the office I work in is. The railway tracks he helped to maintain are still here.


It is easy to assume that our neighborhoods and our city exist for us, or maybe our children. But the buildings we build and the choices we make last for generations. 

Matt Yglesias, one of my favorite political writers, writes today about how people resist change in their neighborhoods: opposing tall buildings, new apartments, parks or churches. We are always biased toward keeping things the way they are. Thank goodness we don't always succeed.

Ebert on loneliness

Roger Ebert says more profound things about loneliness and why people matter in this one article than I have in a year of having this blog. Please read it.

Update: The follow up is amazing, as well. 

The next generation matters

This post by my friend Matt got me thinking about the Millennial generation, those young adults who grew up in the age of the internet and are causing a lot of change in some of our oldest institutions.

In the church, this is of particular interest - the Pew Forum found that Millennials are interested in God but not so much in the church. If your business model depends on the next generation joining your church, this is not good news!

Matt's answer makes a whole lot of sense to me: the kids these days want their lives to have meaning. So churches, businesses and non-profits are on notice: if they don't find meaning in your committee meetings, your worship service, your products, your stories or your relationships, they will walk out the door, eyes glued to their phone on the way out. Who can blame them?

Politics should be about people

I used to work in campaign politics. It's a tough business. My old boss lost his third straight run for Congress this week, which was heartbreaking. I know him and his family well now, and I can't imagine sacrificing so much.

Since public policy, government funding and even the power of the sword are at stake in our democratic elections, there's a lot of pressure to win.

When I worked on campaigns, it seemed like I could never raise enough money, call in enough favors, meet enough goals or work enough hours. This led me to lose friendships and treat people (and myself) poorly.

So, whether you're happy or sad about the results this week, give a kind thought to all the "hacks" who can finally get some sleep, at least until the next race begins.

Road Trip Lessons

Last week, I took a long road trip to visit the pastor and leaders at a growing church. They had asked for help with how to revamp some of their media and communications tactics.

I asked them to start by introducing themselves and saying what they liked so much about that congregation. Then, we discussed what a typical Sunday morning is like and what the rest of the week looks like. We then talked about two groups of people: Visitors and Members. My question was: If you divide the week into Sunday morning and "not Sunday morning," what messages do you want to deliver to these people?

We came up with some good ideas:

Members on Sunday morning
enjoy time with your friends here
be welcoming to visitors
recharge here so you can serve during the week

Visitors on Sunday morning
You are welcome here
We are warm people
There are people like you here

Members during the week
Find opportunities to serve
Bring friends on Sunday
Find opportunities to learn

Visitors during the week
Check us out

For each of these points, we came up with some ideas for tactics: email newsletter (members during the week), better website (visitors), using the video screen before worship to promote prayer and spiritual focus (for everybody on Sunday), quarterly mailing to focus on the next season of events (everybody). The group was receptive, and there was no need to have the print vs. new media scuffle that always seems to come up. Instead, we focused on what messages we wanted to deliver and how we might do them.

These house calls are quickly becoming my favorite part of my work – consulting with organizations who are doing good work and trying to reach more and more people.