Below is the entire employee handbook of the famous Nordstrom store, which speaks volumes about empowerment and teamwork by saying little:
"Welcome to Nordstrom. We're glad to have you with our company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. So our employee handbook is very simple. We have only one rule... Use good judgment in all situations. Please feel free to ask your Department Manager, Store Manager, or Human Resource office any question at any time."
Showing posts with label Speed of Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speed of Trust. Show all posts
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Credit Score: Zero
"A leader doesn't need any credit, he's getting more credit than he deserves anyway." - Robert Townsend, former CEO, Avis
A Lesson Or Two
"We all make mistakes. If you can't make mistakes, you can't make decisions. I've made a lot bigger mistakes myself." - Warren Buffett
These were the words he spoke to an executive who'd just lost the company $360 million! Two lessons leap off the page from one of the great businessmen of a generation. First, that employees must be encouraged to take action without fear (within limits, of course). Secondly, like Abraham Lincoln, the depth of forgiveness that great leaders hold in Biblical proportion, arising from their modest view of self.
These were the words he spoke to an executive who'd just lost the company $360 million! Two lessons leap off the page from one of the great businessmen of a generation. First, that employees must be encouraged to take action without fear (within limits, of course). Secondly, like Abraham Lincoln, the depth of forgiveness that great leaders hold in Biblical proportion, arising from their modest view of self.
Map Quest
"At the end of the day, people follow those who know where they're going." - Jack Trout
Still trying to figure it out, personally. Within my work responsibilities, I've got a plan. Beyond that... maybe the old adage about success being a journey and not a destination applies. My destination is freedom rather than legacy - to let my body's rhythms flow without imposition. To wake when I'm ready, sleep when I'm ready, play when I'm ready, work when I'm ready... bound only in lightest terms by the clock. My orientation will always be fairly productive, if I were lazy I doubt I'd write thousands of posts, read hundreds of books, coach teams, or serve on condominium boards. The journey of success will be to master the impulses of anger - to accept that "everything's gonna be all right," to see failure as learning and opportunity, to remember to laugh at myself, to focus on myself as an instrument in the plan of a loving God. Hopefully I'll live long enough to celebrate that accomplishment!
Still trying to figure it out, personally. Within my work responsibilities, I've got a plan. Beyond that... maybe the old adage about success being a journey and not a destination applies. My destination is freedom rather than legacy - to let my body's rhythms flow without imposition. To wake when I'm ready, sleep when I'm ready, play when I'm ready, work when I'm ready... bound only in lightest terms by the clock. My orientation will always be fairly productive, if I were lazy I doubt I'd write thousands of posts, read hundreds of books, coach teams, or serve on condominium boards. The journey of success will be to master the impulses of anger - to accept that "everything's gonna be all right," to see failure as learning and opportunity, to remember to laugh at myself, to focus on myself as an instrument in the plan of a loving God. Hopefully I'll live long enough to celebrate that accomplishment!
Tale Of Two CEOs
Compare these two management philosophies:
"Every few months, Carpenter and Evans choose a different rising star to coach. There are lunches, private meetings, occasional late-night phone calls. More important, they give the staffer feedback - direct, sustained, brutally honest: 'People don't grow if you're soft with them.'"
"John Mackey doesn't just delegate; in fact, he can seem almost diffident about his company. Asked how 140 cashiers can function as a single team... he looks like an anthropologist who has just had a student ask a great question. 'That does sound like a problem,' he says. 'A team that large could confound the basic operating principle. But I'll tell you, I don't have the faintest idea how they've solved that problem. That's not my job anymore. But call them up, ask. I guarantee they have found a solution. I'd be curious to know what it is.'"
Good? Bad? Yep. "Hard" or "soft" styles both seem very successful and fraught with flaws. There must be something deeper than style that creates harmony and ultimately better results. My theory: that winning combination of persistence and humility, devoted with focus to the common cause, whatever that cause might be.
"Every few months, Carpenter and Evans choose a different rising star to coach. There are lunches, private meetings, occasional late-night phone calls. More important, they give the staffer feedback - direct, sustained, brutally honest: 'People don't grow if you're soft with them.'"
"John Mackey doesn't just delegate; in fact, he can seem almost diffident about his company. Asked how 140 cashiers can function as a single team... he looks like an anthropologist who has just had a student ask a great question. 'That does sound like a problem,' he says. 'A team that large could confound the basic operating principle. But I'll tell you, I don't have the faintest idea how they've solved that problem. That's not my job anymore. But call them up, ask. I guarantee they have found a solution. I'd be curious to know what it is.'"
Good? Bad? Yep. "Hard" or "soft" styles both seem very successful and fraught with flaws. There must be something deeper than style that creates harmony and ultimately better results. My theory: that winning combination of persistence and humility, devoted with focus to the common cause, whatever that cause might be.
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