by Caroline Leach | Aug 30, 2018 | Careers, Leadership, Work/Life
What 5-minute action can you take at work today that will pay huge dividends and possibly change someone’s life?
Write a thank you note.
Yup, a thank you note. It can be by email, text, card or direct message. The medium doesn’t matter. What matters is taking the time to share with a colleague what you appreciate about them.
Science says so. Gratitude research is on the rise, according to Heather Murphy reporting in The New York Times. A recent study covered in Psychological Science asked participants to “write a short ‘gratitude letter’ to a person who had affected them in some way.”
Many of the note recipients said “they were ‘ecstatic,’ scoring the happiness rating at 4 of 5. The senders typically guessed they’d evoke a 3.”
The major finding of Dr. Amit Kumar at the University of Texas at Austin? “People tend to undervalue the positive effect they can have on others for a tiny investment of time.”
Dilbert creator Scott Adams put it well in his bestseller, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life.
“Adults are starved for a kind word,” Adams wrote. “When you understand the power of honest praise (as opposed to bullshitting, flattery, and sucking up), you realize that withholding it borders on immoral. If you see something that impresses you, a decent respect to humanity insists you voice your praise.”
What else says so? My own experience.
Today is my last day at AT&T, which was DIRECTV before that. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own.) It’s been a great run at a great company, and I’m excited to move on to the next stage of my work life. But it’s bittersweet to leave an incredible group of colleagues.
When my departure note went out, I thought a few people might reach out to say farewell.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the outpouring of appreciation. And thanks. And love.
(And in the #MeToo era with so much bad behavior, I must qualify that to note what I experienced was entirely professional and fully within the bounds of respectful and appropriate workplace behavior.)
What caught me completely by surprise is a stack of now-printed emails with thanks and good wishes that I’m saving for posterity. I share a few excerpts anonymously here, with the hope the writers do not mind and that their thoughts might inspire you to thank a colleague today, and every day …
Thank you for making us smile and wanting to do our jobs. You are an amazing leader who leads by example.
I always enjoyed your leadership and especially looked up to you in so many ways, hoping that I could be half of what you are in my lifetime.
Did you hear that?! That was the sound of my heart breaking. While our work together was short lived and limited (much to my dismay), you truly made an invaluable impact and for that I thank you.
On behalf of all the people you have inspired, but are probably unaware of, thanks for all you do.
It’s been my biggest pleasure and honor to work with you.
I’m sure you don’t remember me, but you had lunch with a small group of new hires during our onboarding. We had a lovely conversation and I was so impressed and grateful for how welcoming and inclusive you were with us.
You’ve had such a profound influence on my life and I am so grateful for that.
Wow.
I had no idea.
And maybe the people you work with have no idea either … of how talented, valued and appreciated they are. So I encourage you, every day, to share your thanks with at least one person. It reminds me of what a wise colleague, Andy Bailey, always used to say – start every meeting with recognition.
Here’s my love letter to all the amazing people I’ve worked with over the years, from a real-estate developer to what became Northrop Grumman, and from to DIRECTV to AT&T …
Friends,
You are the reason I enjoy coming to work every day.
You are my “why” for being at work … the purpose that is bigger than all of us. You bring the ideas, the inspiration and the innovation that make our teams a success. You make the seemingly impossible suddenly possible. You make the workday fun, yes fun.
There’s a lot of hard work behind what you do. But you take the high road every day, making your hard work appear effortless and going above and beyond to deliver for colleagues and customers.
I have learned so much from you, whether a new skill set in a new role or a better way to lead and engage people. Maya Angelou was on to something when she said that people won’t remember what you said or did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel. You make me feel like anything is possible, that there is good in the world, and that the present and future are exciting places.
You have given me many gifts over the years. The most important ones? The feeling that I have made – and will continue to make – a difference. The knowledge that each of us leaves bigger footprints in the sands of time than we can ever know. That quite possibly is the best gift ever. It speaks to our humanity and our desire to be part of something larger than ourselves.
I am ever grateful, and I ask that you keep paying it forward.
Who has made a difference in your work life? Who will you reach out to today?
by Caroline Leach | Jan 28, 2018 | Careers, Social Media
How does a two-minute chance meeting at Starbucks turn into 100+ likes and positive interactions in social media?
When your colleague asks another colleague to take a quick picture and shares it on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook with a fun caption promoting #LifeatATT.
That person is TeNita Ballard, a passionate champion for diversity and inclusion at AT&T. We both work in Southern California, and we ran into each other at the company’s headquarters in Dallas this week. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own.)
I’ve written about TeNita before in the secret to fitting social media into your professional life. She was the first example I held up of people who are especially good at documenting the highlights of their professional lives.
She’s always looking for ways to share the public side of her work — from Chief Diversity Officer Corey Anthony’s recent visit with employee resource groups to the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute at USC.
This is all part of a strategy to simply document your day, rather than attempting to create content above and beyond what you’re already working on.
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media, articulates it well in his post, Document, don’t create. It’s an easy and authentic approach.
To get started, ask yourself a few questions …
- What are you working on that you can share publicly?
- What actions are you especially excited about?
- What information would benefit your network, promote your colleagues, and/or amplify your employer’s brand?
Many good examples of this appeared in my social media feed this month.
Fiona Carter, Chief Brand Officer at AT&T, shared a gathering of high-powered marketers convening to discuss big topics around gender equality. It highlights the company’s leadership in improving the representation of women and girls in advertising in the #SeeHer industry initiative.
Mo Katibeh, Chief Marketing Officer for AT&T Business, sparked advance interest in his presentation at the 2018 AT&T Business Leadership Kickoff meeting with a picture of his rehearsal, the group’s theme for the year and @mentions of key colleagues.
Karyn Spencer, VP of Hello Lab at AT&T, shared an interview clip at the Sundance Film Festival of the work she and colleagues have been doing, especially in the areas of inclusion and diversity.
It was one of several interviews Carrie Keagan conducted during the event, with Nicholas Bianchi posting the great news that “AT&T was the #1 mentioned brand on Twitter at Sundance.”
While I wasn’t at Sundance or the power marketers’ dinner, I felt like I was part of the experiences, thanks to my colleagues. I did get to see Mo Katibeh’s presentation, and it was well done. After coming across his post, I looked forward to seeing his talk.
To wrap up my own week back in Southern California, I hosted three students from USC Annenberg at AT&T’s El Segundo campus – Gina Wanless, Kaitlin Rhodes and Avalon Harder.
They are finishing graduate and undergraduate programs this spring. I’m excited to see the great things they’ll do next.
What you you doing this week that you can share in social media?
by Caroline Leach | Dec 31, 2017 | Careers, Learning, Social Media
Happy New Year!
Did you make any resolutions? Or set any goals?
A theme for the year can help you achieve them. What’s a theme? It’s a single word you pick to characterize the kind of year you want to have.
As you think about how you’ll build your career through social media in the coming year, the focus of this blog, a theme can help you in four ways.
Motivation. A theme is a personal rallying cry you can apply to everything you do, in social media and in real life. It can help motivate you to take small steps towards your goals, day after day.
Focus. A theme tells you what’s important. And what’s not. It helps you decide in an instant if you’re spending your time in the most important ways to you.
Integration. A theme brings everything in your life together, both professional and personal. Your actions support and build on each other in an integrated way.
Meaning. A theme gives meaning and purpose to every action you take. Your reason for choosing your theme gives you the “why” of your goals and actions.
2018 is year eight for me of having an annual theme. My latest theme came to me while participating in Seth Godin‘s online marketing seminar over the summer.
Seth is a bestselling author and entrepreneur, with an incredible blog on marketing, respect, and the way ideas spread. Everything in Seth’s course focused on his view that “marketing is about creating change.”
Toward the end of the class, a book arrived in the mail. It was called Footprints on the Moon, with a cover photo of Neil Armstrong. One of the sections was called “Buzzer Management.”
Parts of it went as follows:
“I started the quiz team at my high school. Alas, I didn’t do so well at the tryouts, so I ended up as the coach, but we still made it to the finals.
It took me 30 years to figure out the secret of getting in ahead of the others who also knew the answer (because the right answer is no good if someone else gets the buzz):
You need to press the buzzer before you know the answer.
As soon as you realize that you might be able to identify the answer by the time you’re asked, buzz.
Between the time you buzz and the time you’re supposed to speak, the answer will come to you. And if it doesn’t, the penalty for being wrong is small compared to the opportunity to get it right.
What separates this approach from mere recklessness is the experience of discovering (in the right situation) that buzzing makes your work better, that buzzing helps you dig deeper, that buzzing inspires you.
The act of buzzing leads to leaping, and leaping leads to great work.”
As soon as I read it, I knew my next theme had to be BUZZING. I have a habit of holding back, of waiting for perfection. And in that waiting, the world rushes by. Faster and faster, with each passing day.
It’s not comfortable, buzzing in before I’ve completely formulated my thought. But it’s exactly the reminder I need to weigh in and share my point of view. Sooner rather than later. And even if it’s not perfect.
Not in a reckless way. But in a faster way. In social media for career building, the topic of this blog, it’s still important to to keep it “light, bright and polite” in the words of Josh Ochs.
My theme gives me the extra nudge to keep learning and experimenting, while continuing to be positive and constructive in my approach to social media.
Other years’ themes have come in different ways.
Last December our family went to Disneyland over the holidays. It was crowded. Wait times were long. Our family of four ended up making it on only four rides. Yes, I calculated the per-ride cost, but I’ll spare you the painful details.
Because there was a big upside. One of the rides inspired my theme. We ended up in the front row of Soarin’ Around the World. We had a bird’s-eye view of some of the most beautiful scenes on the planet.
And there was my theme – SOARING. All of the definitions worked: to fly or glide at a great height, to rise or ascend to a height, and to rise or aspire to a higher or more exalted level.
I’m happy to say that my theme inspired and focused my efforts. It helped me to achieve several personal and professional goals during the year.
What first prompted me to choose a theme word was a particularly intense work project in 2010. I poured significant energy into designing and delivering a first-ever, week-long leadership development program for my employer. I put my heart and soul into it, giving it the energy and attention it needed to be successful.
But in the process, I seriously neglected myself. My life had become to full. It was like an overstuffed closet. As a result, I made several changes to my life in 2011.
It began by thinning my calendar of commitments, letting the clock run out on too many community activities. Next I brought thinning to my stuff, clearing out clutter and saying farewell to things I no longer needed. Then I applied thinning to myself, focusing on better nutrition and exercise, ultimately becoming a lifetime member of Weight Watchers.
My theme word was THINNING. Often we need to let go of the old to create space for the new. That’s what my theme word did for me that year. It opened up the space I needed to achieve new goals. The next year my theme word naturally evolved to BUILDING.
It wasn’t until after I stumbled upon the idea of a theme word on my own that I realized others promote this practice too.
Best-selling author Gretchen Rubin wrote A Fun Way to Shape the New Year: Pick a One-Word Theme. And nutrition professional Melinda Johnson says to Try a New Year’s Theme Instead of a Resolution.
As you build your career through social media in the coming year, a theme can focus and inspire your efforts. Beyond that, it can be a rallying cry for everything you do.
I’m excited to see what the act of buzzing will bring. As a start, it will free me from always thinking I already have to have the answer. In today’s world, we’re all seekers, looking for the answer amidst constant change. That makes experimenting, testing and iterating more important than ever before.
What’s your theme for 2018?
Friends,
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