Once you decide, when on the savanna or in the city jungle, that there is danger and you take action, that certainty is very useful. In our personal lives and in our business lives, that certainty locks us in, closes our minds, and keeps us in a box. The thing that is important to understand here is that we reach this “certainty” prematurely, before all the facts are in and considered. Ted Cadsby, corporate director, principal of TRC Consulting, calls this a “speed-accuracy tradeoff” that is no longer necessary. He says that, “. . . there is an antidote to premature certainty: Adopting a mindset of ‘provisional truth.’ ”

What “provisional truth” means is, simply put, we must think of our explanations of how things are as hypotheses, or theories which we always try to disprove. We have to look for evidence that our hypothesis or theory doesn’t “hold water” in a given situation and is therefore incomplete or perhaps even just wrong. This concept is important and we may be able to understand it at an intellectual level, yet when it comes to being skeptical of our own conclusions, assumptions and certainty, we seem to have blind spots. I know I do. And since my awareness has been raised, I am noticing this same “Neanderthal Certainty” in my fellow travelers. It takes mighty effort on my part to not only be skeptical of my own certitude but to suspend judgment for those who (it’s now so obvious to me) are trapped in their own certainty. Once we believe we have figured something out, we want it to be done. Yet, in our very high-speed and complex world, we more than ever need to embrace provisional truth.

This is not new thought in the sense that we have pretty much always expected our scientists to have skeptical, provisional truths. We want them to continue to find out how well their “theories” actually describe the material world. Yet we seem to often eschew that same method, that skeptic’s model, for ourselves and our businesses. The jump to certainty feels natural and good for us. We don’t often stop to think about this unless someone or something makes us do so.

I have often been that person who states what in reality is an opinion with such certitude that an inexperienced person would take what was said as irrefutable fact. I don’t do this on purpose. It happens because I study something that is complex and boil it down to what I think “the answer” is to “what is so” and then embrace that certainty. It’s a relief to be certain. I don’t have to deal with the “lost feeling,” or the “fear of the unknown” if I just make myself certain about the way things are.  Worse yet, it then becomes hard (impossible?) for me to see the evidence that points to there perhaps being a more complete answer or even a better answer. When I believe it I will see it – whether it’s there or not!

There are several good books that I’ve been reading to help me along with these thoughts. Brain Rules, by John Medina, The Believing Brain by Michael Shermer and Brain Bugs by Dean Buonomano. What these and other books, articles and documentaries has shown me is that truly there is no other way to make sure I continue to grow and learn than to recognize that my experience of the world is through the faulty set of senses and meaning making machinery of my brain. Socrates laid this out for us a long time ago: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” And what we now know is that when we let the brain lock itself down with certainty rather than provisional truths, then we cease to continue examining life, learning new things, seeing the material world in new more insightful ways and approaching other humans with the attitude of “I will learn from every person I meet.”

I hope I am no longer the person you meet who seems to be certain that they know the way things are. I am working to embrace the uncertainty and mystery, to live with provisional truths. I will take what I can for verified models of what is so and build on them with the understanding that they might not be perfect and could be refined. I will remember that when we were struggling for survival back thousands of years ago, an uncertain Neanderthal was a dead Neanderthal. But that today, a homo sapiens who practices certitude is a close minded homo sapiens and while s/he may not literally die from this condition will likely live an unexamined  life and s/he may make poor decisions. I get that such a life is not worth living. I also get that personally, I will not be anywhere near perfect in keeping my resolve to live with uncertainty in the big things. I will falter and slip into  the comfort zone of certainty when I shouldn’t. As long as I catch myself (or you catch me!), I will be fine. Of that I’m well, almost certain!

Someone posted a comment on the post “Fundamentals of great leadership, Part I,” that essentially said, “wondering why you aren’t still in that cushy W2 job, you will want to look back at what the Fundamental Organizing Principles (FOPs) for your venture were back when you were so. . .” and the post stopped there. The question is a really good one. I’m not sure who posted this or what they were thinking about when they wrote “for your venture back when you were so . . .” Still, the question is a good one if I assume that they mean this as a serious question and not as simply a judgment or challenge. So I will make that assumption. The comment could be from a former colleague, a boss, employee or stranger, so I can only answer the question “generically.”

My experience working with executives at all manner of companies this past decade since I left the corporate world is that only a few have consciously taken the time to understand what their FOPs are and how they use them to decide what they do in life. Some seem to “get it” but at a relatively “unconscious” level. A few have consciously gone through a process to figure out the standards by which they live and/or make choices. Further, it seems that many executives needed some sort of significant event in their life to cause them to take the time to review just what mattered to them. Sometimes it was a divorce, sometimes a serious health issue, sometimes a near death experience or serious accident that forced them to look at their own mortality. A few others, myself included, did not have a “sudden epiphany” but rather gradually came to understand that something had changed, that they were not as engaged as they used to be.

About two years before I left the corporate world, I began noticing that I was no longer focused on the business. It is likely that a combination of things caused me to get to this point. Perhaps it was the constant weekly commute from southern to northern CA. Leave on Tuesday to fly north, home on Friday; almost every work week. It could be that the company’s de-emphasis of the product line on which I was working finally made me realize that I needed to figure out what my next “gig” would be. More likely, it was a rather mundane and rather normal “mid-life crisis” that crept up and asked some not so simple questions, “What are you doing? What is your life about? How are you adding value and creating meaning?” At any rate, it became clear that it would be best for my company and for me to make sure that I did in fact figure that out and get on with whatever was to be next. The rigorous downsizing the company needed to go through was an opportunity for us both. I decided, shortly before the “reduction in force” that I was done with employment in large corporations and would create a life that would allow me to work “forever” at something that brings enjoyment and adds value. That pursuit has evolved into what I do today, and find so rewarding.

It is important to point out several things. First, there was no mismatch in “ethics” when I decided to go out on my own. That is to say, I did not suddenly wake up and think that I was being asked to do something that violated one of my FOPs. The company did not change, rather I grew and changed – I hope for the better. Second, I have absolutely only good things to say about the companies for whom I worked because without them I would not have gained the maturity and experience I need to perform as an executive leader coach – while earning a very nice living for my family along the way. I can honestly say that I enjoyed just about every day I had to go to work; even if the last couple of years were not quite as enjoyable as previous years, they were still challenging and the people with whom I worked were/are great folks.

What I came to realize is that I wanted to be more in control of making a difference and adding value “in the world.” I wanted to learn more about being people oriented rather than “thing” oriented – no small undertaking for a confirmed “nerd.” This past decade has been one of challenge, personal growth and incredible learning for me. And it is with a full measure of humility that I note several of the clients with whom I work have offered that I have been helpful to them – both in increasing their effectiveness as a leader and in enhancing their personal lives. That is incredibly rewarding to me.

So here’s the “bottom line” on all this. The commenter suggested I would want to go back and look at the FOPs for my venture. 1) I did that more than a decade ago when I left the corporate world. 2) Those values did not change, I just brought them up to a level of consciousness and evaluated them anew. 3) The companies with whom I worked did not ask me to violate those FOPs. 4) Once our children were raised and successfully out on their own (with their own FOPs!), I could change the emphasis on “how” I earned a living and lived out those FOPs. 5) My “new venture” (not so new anymore!) allows me to be more introspective, add value in a more “human focused” way, engaging others in professional positions, work in an incredibly wide variety of industries and continue to constantly grow myself. All very esoteric ideals. 6) On a more practical note; as a “boomer” it became clear to me that I was either going to have to be looking for a new employer every 24 to 36 months, and put up with the vagaries of the “job market,” or I was going to have to make my own “employment.” So here I am, and life seems to be much better than I had imagined. Still challenging of course, especially in the present economy, but then, why would I want it any other way?

As I think more about it, why would I try to avoid at least the concept of making changes for the New

Ready or not, it's 2011!

Year? There’s no good reason that jumps out at me as the appropriate answer. Instead, I am being forced to recognize that this is a logical and natural time to review what circumstances I created for myself last year and to visualize what I will intentionally live into and who I will be for the coming year. This mindset gave me a whole new view of the “Stop, Start, Continue” exercise we frequently use in business and personal productivity initiatives.

I’ve also learned, over the years, that it is best for me NOT to make too many changes at once. Since the exercise has a built in “count of three” changes to make, I’ve decided to stick to that natural format. Thus as you would expect, I’m working on one each of the “Stop, Start, Continue” categories and want to make the most impact on my productivity.

I know that sometimes I hold myself back from being fully effective since I often rely on experience to inform my response to new situations. Clearly that means that I’m letting the future outcomes be determined by the past. I’m automatically limiting new possibilities for situations when I rely so heavily on past experience. So for the first change in 2011 I intend to stop applying only past experience and trying to adapt it to the new situation. It sounds so easy. Maybe so, but I struggle with this every day. I have been trained to build on fundamental principles to solve problems. History and experience

Three personal goals for the new year.

seems like fundamental information.  Yet in our business environment and in the economy we are in new territory and it’s likely that relying on our experience will be more limiting than ever before.

A bit more challenging for me is deciding what new habit to start. I’ve decided to tackle “lightening up’! By that I mean that I tend to be “working” just about all the time. I rarely take down time, read for pleasure or enjoyment, watch movies or simply relax for a couple of hours. I seem to always have a “need” to be doing something productive. Don’t misunderstand; I don’t think I’m unhappy with how I have organized my life. It’s just a recognition that there is a bit of an imbalance. I’m sure my life partner will be interested in this particular resolve. She is always commenting on the topic.

The last New Year’s resolution is fairly easy for me. I will continue to be a “life time learner.” I love seeking knowledge and working to make a practical application from what is generally an academic endeavor or “book learning.” I am still involved with mentoring and coaching university students and I love being on campus. I enjoy the classes I am able to attend. I read incessantly. So I will continue to do all that I can to expand my knowledge.

So here I am, making resolutions about the goals to be achieved in the New Year even though I mostly do not like that process. Here’s a summary:

• Do not let the past determine the future
• Lighten up and be open to down time
• Continuous learning

The more I am able to live up to these “new” expectations of myself, the more I will be living in the present – which is all there is! I will be able to create new possibilities by not letting past experience limit my view of the situation. Success will mean I am being an effective mentor and coach to those who depend on me.

How about you and your organization? Are you clinging to old business models letting the past determine your future? Are you moving yourself and your company forward or trying to mark time while you wait for the economy to “get back to normal?” (Hint, it isn’t going back to the old way – this is it and this is perfect. We only have to see the possibilities and pursue them.)

I’ve learned that I can do without constant internet connection – since at Dad’s apartment (Rutland Place – Independent Senior Living) there isn’t any readily available. He has no use for computers, the internet or e-mail and doesn’t even want to attempt to understand “that stuff.” He marvels at what his “kids” do with all the technology, but it isn’t of any interest to him. So I’ve been able to survive with fairly lengthy stretches with only phone connectivity (hours at a time until I reached my sisters fully wired home where we’re staying).

I’ve learned that the VA has more forms than “Carter has little Liver Pills.” Despite the fact that the forms are available on “fill in pdf documents,” they are still asking for redundant information on multiple forms. I think it’s great that they have gotten to the point that they are willing to use pdf and the internet so I can find the forms, but I’m wondering about the database and why I have to keep entering the same information over and over. Especially, since we are without internet at Dad’s place, we filled the forms in by hand. The other question I have is why they need to be mailed in instead of submitted on the internet. Government moves slowly, especially when jobs might be eliminated or changed. Yet these forms gave me an excuse (why do I need one?) to ask questions of my father that I had never asked about before.

While filling out the forms, I have had the sad revelation that I was basically oblivious to what was going on in my childhood. I don’t recall almost any of what Dad shared (although he did little sharing according to the collective memories of the children) and I had to ask a whole lot of questions to fill in the many forms. Somehow, I judge that I really should have known many of the answers to questions like – in what city and state were you born, what high school did you attend, what was your mother’s maiden name (! I didn’t recall it until he told me and then realized I knew it). My wife knew more about my family than I did since she spend many hours with us as a teenager (we met in junior high school). Many men of my fathers generation shared very little and are fiercely independent. Still, my wife knew things I didn’t know because she cared and was interested in the people side of relationships – she is genuinely interested.

I learned that this man, who was always robust, intelligent, careful and dependable was no longer robust, had grown careless and a lot less dependable even though he still maintains his intelligence for the time being. It was a shock to see the man on whom we all depended be the one depending on us. The man who seemed to have a mind like a steel trap, frequently can’t find the words he wants or remember telling that story five minutes ago. The man who was the epitome of self-discipline now cannot make himself accept limits or take medication as prescribed, etc. I could not help but see my future in my father’s present.

I learned that there are kind people in this world who will take care of those in need; Who will be patient and compassionate; who will be understanding and willing to provide tough love when necessary. I learned, from my father’s relationship with his cat, that regardless of how tough and independent you might be, you need someone to care for and someone who cares for you. I believe that without his cat my father would have died of lonesomeness years ago.

There are mentoring and leadership lessons for me in this time I’ve spent in Tennessee. Speaking for myself, I know that I have to be much more present to the people in my life. I tend to be in my own head a lot. Outward focus would have meant that I would likely have known a lot more about my father’s life than I do – I would have asked the questions much earlier than now. I will work to make sure I push on that growing edge of my life while not diminishing my joy of being alone with my own thoughts.

The compassion I see in those around my father these days (new friends and non-family members who work at the independent living facility) is not what I had thought or expected to find. It is authentically focused on my father’s best interest so it isn’t simply “helping” him out. The staff exercise tough love and therefore it isn’t always pleasant for him – he rebels, he is too independent and refuses to accept “welfare” in any form. Leaders of today, like the staff here, are not afraid to tell the truth as they see it (allowing for the fact that their view is not necessarily reality, just their reality); but they do so while authentically having the other person’s best interests at heart.

I think this trip has given me a new view on “Management By Walking Around,” and “Leading by Example.” With respect to MBWA, I would not walk the corners simply to see what’s happening with an eye towards correcting, improving or even simply trying to find someone doing something right (although I’d still do lots of that). I would take that opportunity to be authentically interested in my employees; find out something new and personal about their lives, what they are dealing with and how they are getting on. Why? Because in watching the staff at Rutland Place, observing the folks work at Southwest Airlines on the flight home and watching many of the passengers flowing through the airports at Nashville and Los Angeles I could see the difference in the way people responded when there was genuine interest and caring on their part. Things just worked better then, and seemed to me to be much more productive. Those who were only inwardly focused and self-interested did not seem to be having a particularly good day.

One big lesson for me is that I use technology and “connectivity” as a way to “stay in my head.” It can be more than that if I choose to let it be AND I will learn to not be so connected all the time. Oh, it’s easier, my PC doesn’t much care if I have it’s best interest at heart – although, being just a smidgen superstitious, I do speak nicely to it. Yes, this trip has made me rethink some of my interaction with the people around me. It has made me recognize my own mortality (that’s a good thing) and given me a new desire to up the anti on the interpersonal focus. Thank goodness for that – if I didn’t have growing edges to push on, it would all be over. How about you? How might you improve on your “outward focus” to enhance your own life and the lives of those around you? What should your employees know about you? What should you know about them? What do you want your grandchildren to know and say about you?

And I have just about always been at the bleeding edge of technology. From the time I stumbled through the wrong door at college and wound up outside the computer center (with all its punch cards, plug-wire printer boards, high-speed chain printers, and IBM 1620 – boy does that date me, eh?) to the present when I just about salivate over the latest in PCs, Smart phones, tablet computers and what’s going on over in the bio-tech field. I love it when my Scientific American and Technology Review magazines show up. So as you might guess, I have for many years had one kind of so-called smart phone or another. I even started with the old PDA that simply was a calendar/contact list/note folder and fancy calculator that synchronized (painfully) with my PIM – which has almost always been Microsoft Outlook.

My “Apple-head” friends will love this story and will believe they definitely would never have had this problem. They might be right, but who knows for sure? Anyway, I don’t have an iPhone and will not have one as long as it is tied to AT&T. In my opinion, that was a very bad decision by Apple. I almost never have a dropped call, almost never have a “dark spot” in coverage and personally have never had a bad customer experience with Verizon. I have had all of those negative things and more with AT&T, so they won’t get me back any time soon.

However, my latest smart phone is the Blackberry Storm. I love it – when it works. Which it mostly has, up until this past Friday (8/6/2010). Some many months ago, my original BB was acting up. The screen would not always connect and I’d have to pull the battery to reboot the danged thing. Annoying. So I took it to Verizon and in typical fashion they worked hard to try and get the silly thing to fail so they could easily give me a new one. It wouldn’t fail for them, so they offered that they would give me a new one if I wanted, but unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to extend my warranty period. I took the new phone anyway. They made sure the data was backed up, deactivated the old device, activated the new device, made sure that all was working as it should and wished me a great day. And so it was. And even as I went to China with my BB, I didn’t lose connection, never lost an e-mail and had a fabulous experience with carrier and device. Until Friday.

That phone is the only phone I have. If it doesn’t work, I don’t have a “phone.” I can and do use the PC and VOIP to make calls, so I am not limited in outbound, but incoming is another problem for friends and clients. So I was pretty concerned when, after hanging up with a friend, my phone wouldn’t disconnect. It was hung up. So, on to one of the more annoying thing about this phone, to really reset it, you have to pull the battery and then wait for a very long boot cycle. It wouldn’t boot. Nothing. Not even a sign that it was alive. New battery and AC adapter didn’t help. Off to the Verizon store. But I figured it was “big bucks” time.

But no. My friends at Verizon tried everything to get that silly phone to boot up and determined it just wasn’t going to happen. So they said, “hey, nobody should have to put up with this. We have one of these in stock so we’ll just replace it for you.” Same drill as before, and I walk out of the store with a new phone, a smile and a genuine love of the good folks over there at Verizon. Happy camper.

Until I get home. Score so far? Verizon 1, BB – 0. I was feeling pretty confident that I’d be back up and running in a short time. Why? Because my life for the last 15 years or so has revolved around a Personal Information

Where do People Read their Mail?

Manager (PIM) on my PC. For the most part that has been Microsoft Outlook. And all my contacts and appointments, tasks, notes you name it, are in Outlook or on the PC. And my BB synchronizes with Outlook. So no worries, right? Well, not quite. I’ve been using Microsoft Office 2010 for many months now (full disclosure, I am a registered Microsoft Partner). And I’ve had no trouble synchronizing the BB with outlook. BUT – it turns out there’s a bit of a quirk here. The folks at RIM, for whatever unfathomable reason, have not updated their Desk Manager software to work with Office 2010. Don’t get me started. I have no idea why they have been dragging their feet on this. Outlook is still (I believe) the most used desktop e-mail client (although Gmail is catching up as being the place where folks like to go). How could RIM not be prepared for the new Outlook? Anyway, apparently, as long as one had their BB syncing with Office 2007 and then upgrade to 2010, things would continue to work – for that device and Desktop Manager configuration. So imagine my surprise when nothing would synchronize! Disaster! Hours later, after uninstalling and re-installing software, I took to the blogs and found out about this shameful laps on RIM’s part. I could have saved time if I wasn’t so damned independent and insist on “doing it myself.” Score? Verizon 1, BB 0, RIM minus 10.

The blogs save the day though, and a company whose software I’ve used before and pretty much trust. So now, there’s the round-about way to solve my problem. It’s simple (kind of). Purchase Companion Link which will talk to Desktop Manager and also talk to Outlook 2010 – they were up to speed during the beta phase. Then the DM talks to the BB so all is well. Except one thing, no amount of finagling, tweaking, registry edits, uninstalling or reinstalling would get the DM to accept the add-in from Companion Link. More hours lost.

Back to the blogs. No real help. Over to Companion Link’s website and Viola! There it is. Simple. Get Companion Link for Google which will sync my Outlook 2010 with a Google Calendar. Then Google has a free software to sync my BB with the Google Calendar – AND, it will synchronize contacts as well. Score? Verizon 1, BB 0, RIM -10, Google 1 and Companion Link 2. But security is now a big concern.

This is what I love about technology. It is an incredible time saver. Right! When it works it is, and I’m sure I’ll be fine once I get over the hump. It seems like I go through this about once or twice each year. But this year, it’s been twice in the last month. First my PC had a hardware problem that looked all the world like it was a computer virus problem – I lost a weekend there too, until I finally figured out that it HAD to be a hardware problem. This past weekend it’s the phone. But consider what this has forced me to do – put my head in the cloud.

Yep, I’m writing this post on my Ubuntu machine (my son would be so proud), while doing my mail in Thunderbird, while keeping track of my calendar with the Lightning Add-on which synchronizes with my Google Calendar with the “Provider Add-on” and my contacts which synchronize with the Google Contacts with the Zindus add-on. All of which are based off my PC and Outlook and now sync with my BB. So while Outlook may be the “center of my Universe” for the moment, I am very much at the mercy of the cloud, Google and the clever guys who keep all this stuff in sync. I’m not as far along as some in this regard, however, even for me at this point Google handles: my voice mail, back up for e-mail, 80% of my searches, SEO, document sharing, calendar sharing, news gathering and blog reader. Yikes! They’ve got me! I wish I had chosen the red pill. I’m too far down this rabbit hole!

So now what I’m thinking is why am I doing all that stuff? Why not just move on to the cloud by ditching Outlook all together – I can use the new Windows Live Computing space for the usual office documents and can certainly migrate to another PIM. It’s pretty scary though. Office is so well integrated that I find the thought of working with all the various add-ons and then not being able to easily share with others to be a concern. However, Microsoft had better be, and I believe they are, looking at all the new ways that folks can find to connect and share. The next step for me might be to explore some more of this alternative, open source software including the work Microsoft is doing in the cloud as well.

Meanwhile, I have to get back to work. Not only have I lost the weekend, I spent time venting on this blog. I know that means I’m procrastinating for some reason. I better find out what and why. I’ll bet there’s an app for that.

—————————————————————————————-

8/11/2010 PS: As if to rub salt in the wounds, after spending additional hours cleaning up contacts so that they transfered in the manner I needed between the three applications (Outlook to Google to Blackberry) I started my PC only to find a download for the new Desktop Manager 6.0 which reportedly will now sync directly with th BB. I’m probably not going to bother since now I’m all set up for moving to an Android phone!

THE SITUATION
In Washington, DC, at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about 3 minutes:
A middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes later:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent – without exception – forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.
This experiment raised several questions:

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made, then —

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that certain pairs of physical properties, like position and momentum, cannot both be known to arbitrary precision. That is, the more precisely one property is known, the less precisely the other can be known.

To me, this simply means that I cannot overcome the effect of the observer on that being observed. The harder I work to “nail down” the so called truth with a capital “T,” the less likely I am to be open to seeing things from another point of view.

There’s a practical application of the Quantum Mechanics and an understanding of Einstein’s theories of relativity to our every day lives: the Global Positioning System. If we did not correct the GPS satellite information for the effects of special and general relativity, the system would be useless to us here on earth. On a more personal level, learning that the world isn’t necessarily as I perceive it and keeping in mind that I cannot escape the fact that I look at the world (including the “business world”) through my own filters makes me at least stop and question what I observe, believe and assume.

For most of us, the old Newtonian view of the world works quite well enough. We don’t need to take into effect quantum effects or relativity in order to function. Newtonian physics that I learned in school isn’t wrong, it’s just incomplete, it’s an approximation. If we want to venture past the normal every day life functions here on earth, or move down into the world of the atom (which we do on a regular basis – for example designing the semiconductor products that make the PC I’m using a practical tool), then someone has to take into account the more accurate view of the world.

I try to use all this as an analogy for business. As long as the market doesn’t change, or the competition doesn’t introduce some disruptive technology, I can use the “rules” I’ve developed to make decisions and strategize my next product or service innovations. At some point though, we may well have to step back, reevaluate the situation, apply some “advanced physics” and come up with new rules, policies and regulations. I think we’re living through such a time.

We misapplied a bunch of advanced math (creating CDOs), thought we new what we were doing, found out we didn’t, narrowly avoided a collapse of the man-made financial world and now must face a new understanding of “reality.” We can discuss the probabilities, statistics, derivatives and/or mathematical principles all we want; the practical results is that we created an unsustainable system. So we now must redesign that system. Wait, who’s “we?”

That would be you, the business leader. What’s wrong or incomplete about your business model? Is it possible, in light of the effects of the near financial collapse, for you to believe previous assumptions and approximations about your market realities are still true? Are your customers going to respond the same way to your products, services, brand and advertising? I’m pretty confident that things have changed significantly and that “old business models” are obsolete now. We have new information, new insights and new “realities.” So the question is – how will you adjust to the new math?

Anyway, back to the taxes. It turns out, I’m not the only one who thinks that we are pretty spoiled in this country. Over at USA Today, Rich Benjamin admits to really being proud to pay his taxes. And he points out that Americans are really not overtaxed at all compared to most of our industrialized partners.

America’s overall effective federal tax rate, or the percentage of income that households fork over — in the form of individual, corporate, payroll and excise taxes — was 20.7% in 2006, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office’s most recent calculation (2009). The lowest-earning fifth of Americans paid roughly 4.3% of their income in federal taxes, the middle fifth 14.2% and the top fifth 25.8%. Today these rates are lower for every income bracket, except the richest fifth, than in 1982, when President Reagan‘s first historic massive tax cuts went into effect. For all the recent grief doled on Uncle Sam, federal tax rates have remained remarkably flat, or often declined, over the past 30 years.

Moreover, taxes on the average single worker— including personal income taxes and employer-paid taxes on the worker’s behalf — are lower in the USA than in any G-8 democracy (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom), except for Japan, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a non-partisan international organization that supports democracy and free markets.

Looking at federal tax rates over time, or comparing America with its closest competitors, our federal income taxes cannot plausibly be called “too high.”

So I’m not the only one thinking that there is a whole lot of complaining about the wrong thing. No doubt, the purists are on to something when they talk about not letting government grow any more than is absolutely necessary. They don’t like the interference in their lives and I admit to having some of that concern myself. But reality according to the Congressional Budget Office, the taxes we pay overall are not out of line. Taxes may be too low in this country if you want to compare to other industrialized nations. On the other hand, I’m not at all excited about the waste that government represents either.

So what drives all this TEA Party thing anyway? It seems to me that if they stay focused on the tax angle, the TEA Party folks are open to the being branded as greedy and less than patriotic. They don’t want to pay their fair share for what our democracy has decided it wants for government services and want to force their views/values on the rest of the country. After all, we do live in a democracy and we do have to accept what the majority chooses – whether it’s what we agree with or not. Yet I sympathize with the concept of small government, that is, government not being involved in my personal life and only marginally involved with the regulation of business. So I’m thinking that they aught to focus on small and efficient government rather than on the taxes. I’d be willing to pay more taxes for fewer government employees and more sensible regulation. The real tax issue, it seems to me, is with the state government. Living in California, I can say that direct democracy (in the form of referendums) is a disaster and that the state budget has far more effect on business and personal life than the federal government the TEA Party folks keep railing about.

Personally, I’d like to see us all pay a lot more attention to state government, work to make government at all levels more effective, and once again be proud to pay our taxes rather than grumble about it all the time. We have to keep in mind that we may find ourselves in the minority on a few issues, and that’s the way democracy works. There is always a minority that has to comply with the majority wishes.

All we do is ask them if they would be open to discussing a potential career opportunity. Virtually 95% of the time the employee replies, “Yes.” Why would anyone not want to know what is going on in the market, have a discussion around their career or just get a feel for current compensation ranges? Even if they are completely happy in their current position, this is good stuff to know.

The important, and I believe the most relevant question is,” Why, out of the 95% that are open to discussing career opportunities, do roughly 10% indicate that they are happy with their job, and although it sounds like a good opportunity, they aren’t interested in pursuing it further?”

What do these 10% have that the other 90% don’t? That is something a recruiter has nothing to do with. They generally have four things, 1) they are learning in their current position, 2) they feel they are having some impact on the company, 3) they are growing, and 4) they respect their boss. When these four things are part of a person’s job, the best recruiter can’t get them to move.

An example of this recently happened. I was jointly interviewing candidates with one of my clients. At dinner one night, my client started asking me about the job market, “Is it picking up?” and “Are any particular industries hiring?” He mentioned that he thought the market was getting better because in the last couple of months he had been contacted a couple of times by recruiters for potential opportunities. Like most, he listened to what they had to say, but in both instances he thanked the recruiter for the call and flatly turn them down.

Why, I asked?

Like most, his answer had nothing to do with compensation. He commented, “I enjoy what I’m doing. I have a great boss and most of all I’m challenged.” Then he added, “When I stop being challenged it is time to move on.” In fact, prior to being promoted to his current position he was looking. If his current position had not come open he would have left the company.

As he explained it, “My last boss treated me like a step child (I used step child. His word did start with an S). The position had lost its challenges, the job was the job, and that was all there was to it.” His boss was rarely around to support him and he was doing the same thing this year as he had done the last three years. Boredom and lack of respect for his boss had set in. The good news was that he worked for an excellent company. BTW, he has been with this company for 12 years and in his current position for 4 years.

This is a classic example of how one employee went from engaging recruiters to telling them, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

We realize that not every company has the ability to promote someone or move them to another position in order to retain them. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of things a company can do to help their best talent feel challenged, feel that they are learning, and be respected by their boss. This can happen in just about any sized company.

The best recruiter couldn’t “steal” this person. It all had to do with the job and the person’s boss. The vast majority of people leave because they lose respect for their boss. The best selling book, First Break All The Rules, validates this. This book should be required reading for all managers, regardless of how many years they’ve been a manager. As recruiters for the last 30 years, my partner Barry Deutsch and I, can also validate this is clearly the number one reason candidates tell us they are open to talking about a new position.

To help companies and hiring managers identify some of the things that managers can do to retain their best talent we have put together for you to download our 8 Level Retention Matrix. This matrix will help you identify whether or not your managers are doing what it takes to retain your best talent.

If your managers do some, or most of these, you won’t lose your talent to a recruiter. Your competition will.

You can also download for free our most popular chapter on sourcing top talent from our best-selling book, You’re NOT The Person I Hired. CLICK HERE to download your free chapter.

I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Brad Remillard

I admire the companies for whom I have worked that have gone out of their way to make sure that they did everything possible to help their employees be productive and happy. They provided training. They moved people from one place to another. They provided internal mentors or professional coaches to both high performing employees and those who needed to “push on some growing edges” for the sake of their career. But what I and others appreciated the most was that they also were willing to set some goals and if they were not reached, the employee was dismissed, compassionately.

I have found that this view of “tough love” approach to employees is particularly difficult in small businesses. In many small businesses, employees are like family, except they get a salary and benefits instead of an allowance! The problem is that we should never hire someone we cannot fire, and family members, real or adopted, are extremely difficult to let go. Now is the time, however, to really pay attention to and begin action on shaping your corporate culture to be one based on performance, consistency and fairness – at all levels.

I know that many of us have been forced to “cut to the bone” during this recession. You may well believe that there is no room for more cuts, and perhaps you are correct. That does not mean, however, that your culture is one that will support an understanding of performance, consistency and fairness going forward. All your executives, managers and employees know that you were “forced to downsize” in order to stay alive. They will not see your actions as being performance based so much as needing to cut costs, unless you truly did reduce your workforce based on performance. Perhaps you used the seniority or LIFO (last in, first out) method to make your decisions. If so, your employees do not believe that their performance will influence their employment with you – so no loyalty either.

If you believe you have really made the reductions in force using performance as the main criteria, then you don’t have a problem. If, however, you were not consistent and fair in how you reduced your workforce, then you will have a very difficult time as the economy turns around and people are willing to change jobs. Many of us are dealing with workers who are sticking with us, even though they are not particularly happy, because they know they do not want to be “on the street with a resume” at this point. They feel overworked, burned out and in need of something exciting to pick up their spirits. How will you keep the good employees, the ones that are most productive?

I recommend two things that are a bit counter intuitive. First, be ruthless in getting your employees to stop doing things they and you can do without. Stop making that report you’ve always looked at but on which you base no business decisions. There are likely many other tasks with which you can do without. Unburden your employees by making sure that no expendable or marginal tasks are continued. Nice to have no longer cuts it.

Second, and more on topic, begin now carefully, consistently and fairly evaluating employees for performance and how well they adopt to change (like letting go of tasks). You must not allow poor performers to stay in the organization or you will totally demoralize your whole workforce. I’ve said before that there are many good employees, excellent employees who are either available now or because their present employer is not as enlightened as you will be available if they know you are prepared to bring them on board. It is a good time to build a winning team comprising your best players and the best players who have yet to be hired.