The Departed

I have been a traveling salesman for over 15 years. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area many of my commutes are accompanied by sports talk radio. As such, I was disheartened to hear that the great Ralph Barbieri was fired by his employer KNBR. In a statement he released, Ralph discussed that he arrived to work, was taken to the GM's office, was then told to hand in his keys, and to grab his belongs. He was escorted out of the building and his voicemail was immediately disabled. Standard firing procedure. But, after 28 years of service to the organization, I think Ralph deserves better.

Ralph Barberi was given the nickname 'the razor' for his edgy on-air demeanor. With this in mind, one might consider that his aggressive behavior may have worn on his employer after so many years. KNBR should have simply explained this. Now the parting of ways is mired in legal discussion that encompasses ageism and physical workplace limitations. Uncertainty breeds questions and formulates assumptions. The whole situation could have been addressed with more class on the part of the industry veteran's long time employer.

Of course, there are 2 sides to every story. Over time, the legal process will exercise itself and the real story will be reveled. So let's examine the lessons learned from this unfortunate parting of ways:
1. Performance should be measured daily
2. Animosity toward one's employer never produces results
3. Every day is Day 1
4. There is such thing as manners

Performance
Performance reviews suck! Annual reviews of performance are a legal charade to document areas and concern that will serve as defensible grounds for firing in the event that needs to happen at some point. Managers and Employees alike hate doing performance reviews. There is no dignity in telling people where they are falling short or by grading their life's work. Too much goes into a 10 hour day to quantify human effort. Ralph Barberi's firing is an advertisement for performance reviews. If you are going to shit-can someone, you better have documentation.

Ralph Barberi is a 70 year old man who has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. This is not why he was fired, but he will site the aforementioned assumed disabilities in a lawsuit, and probably win a few dollars as a parting gift.

Animosity
Tom Tolbert and Ralph Barberi had a special relationship. The 2 men separated by a few decades in age developed a camaraderie that warmed the heart. There is nothing more special than seeing people who genuinely appreciate one another...it is even better when these individuals are on seemingly separate sides of the spectrum. The 2 gentlemen lived out a Hemingway story and a Neil Young song for all to hear...every day. The only thing better than receiving sage-like advice from an elder is when this process works in reverse.

Even Tom Tolbert recognized the blessing and the curse of Ralph's strong personality. That's why he was fired. His employer simply couldn't put up with his disruptive behavior any more.

Comfort
I have been enthralled by Reid Hoffman's book, The Start-Up of You. This book is a manifesto of the entrepreneurial ethos that drives today's working world. No longer is longevity a word that encompasses greatness in the workplace. Each and every day one must recreate themselves to stay relevant. The minute you stop moving forward, you start moving backward.

Employee's know when they are under performing. At a certain point in everyone's professional life they plateau, for some it takes just a year others endure it for 30 years. When you face professional 'burn out' you are faced with 2 realities:
1. Refocus on the task at hand
2. Get a new job

In both cases the key is to find the passion in what you do and let that drive. You can ruin the job of your dreams by taking it for granted. You can also fool yourself into believing you are doing the thing you should be doing because it is convenient.

Manners
The world of work is a heartless machine. So much is involved in running a business and thousands of decisions are made every day. Some decision are made it haste and they are usually fixable. Certain decisions made in haste can be ever damaging to a company's reputation.

KNBR will not soon be forgiven for the manner in which they released Ralph Barbieri. They could have allowed him to play out his contract for another 7 months, had an on-air ceremony in his honor, and sent him on his way. This leaving a proud company alumni and a new directions for the loyal listeners of KNBR to be proud of. Regardless of reason for Ralph's dismissal, it could have been handled better. I would venture to guess that hindsight creates regret in this case.

In his famous walk to the Exit at SMI, Jerry Maguire, makes a plea for decency in the workplace. The premise of the Jerry Maguire story is finding a heart in the professional meat grinder that we submit ourselves to every day. With each day a loyal employee sees 20 years of their life dismissed in a walk to the exit. Then there are those who view every day of work as their last and perform accordingly. It is impossible to be the greatest version of yourself every single day for 20 years. We all get complacent, it's human nature.

I would leave you with this question:
If Ralph Barberi really loved his job and his employer would it have ended in the way it did?

If the answer to this question is "no" then it seems the parting of ways will ultimately be best for everyone involved.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr Seuss

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave

i-consider

You will find success when you learn to say "I" less!

A while back a team of several people presented a major proposal to a large corporation. In debriefing, our team lead went on and on about what she did to impress the client. She continually said "I did a really great job showing them....I told them exactly....blaw, blaw, blaw...". We won the deal and at some point our team lead was promoted. Proof that God does not understand the corporate world. In the court of the opinion of her peers the damage was done. Months of preparation by several people was reduced to an insecure young lady trying to prove herself worthy of a seat at the table with the big boys. The rest of us just wanted to put together a great strategy for our client. We went on working with the corporation we presented to and warned them with the aforementioned team lead was coming to town. While she attempted to impress them with another powerpoint we texted each other from across the table with eyes rolling. When the client (now our friends) laughed at my texts the team lead thought they were smiling with astonishment of her professionalism. What a Dum Dum!

I must admit that there are times when I have acted out of character professionally. I went out of my way to prove myself worthy of greater responsibility. I had side bar conversations with Senior Managers bringing to their attention my latest contributions. I look back on that point of my career with disdain. I simply didn't understand the image I was projecting. I was too naive to recognize my selfishness. My bravado projected insecurity.....not confidence. Over time, I grew up.

We all have milestones in our personal development. This is actually a critical part of our professional development. For some it comes from losing a big deal, others lose a job, and there are those who learn from winning. For me, the transition was very subtle. I saw people acting the way I had and I came to understand the inelegance of my former self.

There are 3 things to consider in consideration of others:
Stop saying "I"
Be humble in victory and accountable in defeat
Learn to blow off the unimportant

There is no "I" in R.e.s.p.e.c.t
I once worked with a man who was unable to delegate. He felt out-of-control if he passed anything along to his "lesser" colleagues. He really cared a lot....but he came off as mistrusting. As if to say, you are going to screw this up, so I'll work twice as hard. We heard the story of the team lead who took credit for her team's hard work. I told you of my shameless self-promotion. All of these people are well-intentioned but terribly presented. We often get so focused on the final score that we neglect the style in which we play the game.

Your boss will fire you tomorrow if someone better comes along. The company you work for could close their doors tomorrow. You will, however, always have a reputation among your peers. Your peers are the people who you see in the grocery store and at the kid's soccer games. When you lose your job, you will most likely look to your peers for support. The same people you see on the way up, you will see on the way down.

The Humility of Accountability
I love hearing post-game interviews with players who compliment their team. Interviews are stupid...we all saw the game, we know what happened. So those who take their moment on TV to compliment their peers are admirable. No one enjoys someone who brags when they win, no one wants to hear excuses from those who have lost.

It is best to be Humble in victory and Accountable in defeat.

Ignore It...
I remember being really upset about something incredibly unimportant. Someone had let the team down and had tried to pass the blame on others. Nothing upsets me more than lack of accountability masked in unilateral communication. After complaining like a little girl for 10 minutes, I asked my boss how he was able to endure such incompetence day in and day out. To which he replied, "I ignore it"!

From that point on, I learned not to take the mundane elements too seriously. I learned that everyone knows when the ball is dropped and attempting to save face is a natural human reaction. I learned to give people the benefit of the doubt when they fail and they will do the same for you. Yes, you too will fail!

No one is perfect yet we all need to approach life with the proper degree of confidence. We cannot go through each day second guessing ourselves. We have to make decisions and be confident in them....and when we fail we have to own it. A whole bunch of talk does not make one confident but the inability to express oneself is worse. We have to learn to pick our battles and to always present ourselves in a nature that is respected by others.

Years from now the team lead I mentioned above will deliver a pizza to my house....and because I'm a nice guy, I will tip her an extra buck. It is in those moments that the selfishness of poor personal promotion comes back to haunt us. In fact, the best personal promotion is no personal promotion.

Don't Forget to Remember!

Dave