What is the deal with feelings of entitlement? It seems that many people from a variety of backgrounds and contexts show this personality trait.
Seems to me that entitlement overdrive can take 2 forms. One is based on historical expectation and the other is rooted in envy and resentment.
Some people feel entitled to keep getting the same level of goodies and rewards as "they have become accustomed". We see this kind of entitlement expection in the stereotypical spoiled brats of the world. This can come from the very rich or from anyone who has become accustomed to getting things that were not earned. Receiving things that were not earned is the root of the problem. A false perception of superiority builds inside the individual. Any changes that might cause a reduction in benefits is usually not welcome. This kind of entitlement complex has a historical expectation basis. Even though this variety is real, it usually only results in whining or other harmless yet crass social behaviors.
Envy and/or resentment causes some of the same symptoms. People in this camp resent not getting things that they have not earned. IOW, they see others who get benefits that they do not or perceive that they cannot ever have. This causes resentment toward those who enjoy those benefits. Envy causes them to lash out at a particular social class or society at large. This can manifest itself in physical violence or relatively harmless one-upmanship (for example, getting your friends to wait in a long line, then call you on your cell phone when they are close to the front so you can move past others who are paying the dues of waiting). Of course, this kind of behavior sidesteps the reality of earning the benefit.
The root solution to either of these manifestations of entitlement is commitment to taking what we earn and no more. We all have feelings of entitlement from time to time. When we feel this coming on we should stop and ask ourselves "have I earned this?".
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Corporate Culture
I have been spending the week starting a new job and learning the company product. Two variables that become apparent very quickly is company and customer culture.
Company culture seems to be influenced by the leadership, the people that make up the company, the particular business of the company, the level of quality of the product or service provided by the company and the customer base.
The leadership of a particular company has the largest influence on the fundamental cultural characteristics of a company. The level of open communication, trust and honesty perceived from the senior leadership is transferred and magnified across the organization. This is magnifed even moreso in a small to mid-size company. Smaller company culture can be affected to a larger degree by the individuals that make up the company. Larger companies are more affected by senior leadership, brand, history and tradition.
The level of product quality can have an extreme effect on a company culture for good or bad. For larger, successful companies this is typically a positive effect, otherwise, they might not still be in business. However, market disruption or financial challenges can tip this ingredient to one side or the other. For smaller companies, a high quality product can push morale higher, promoting a self-sustaining positive environment for future growth. A low quality product can undermine morale and create bickering and blamecasting across departments.
Even though customer culture has a uniqueness quotient between each individual company, there appears to be some common ground across customers of a particular product, especially a software or technology product. The bond that grows between users of a particular product, especially if that group is small, can affect the team culture of that user group.
Company culture seems to be influenced by the leadership, the people that make up the company, the particular business of the company, the level of quality of the product or service provided by the company and the customer base.
The leadership of a particular company has the largest influence on the fundamental cultural characteristics of a company. The level of open communication, trust and honesty perceived from the senior leadership is transferred and magnified across the organization. This is magnifed even moreso in a small to mid-size company. Smaller company culture can be affected to a larger degree by the individuals that make up the company. Larger companies are more affected by senior leadership, brand, history and tradition.
The level of product quality can have an extreme effect on a company culture for good or bad. For larger, successful companies this is typically a positive effect, otherwise, they might not still be in business. However, market disruption or financial challenges can tip this ingredient to one side or the other. For smaller companies, a high quality product can push morale higher, promoting a self-sustaining positive environment for future growth. A low quality product can undermine morale and create bickering and blamecasting across departments.
Even though customer culture has a uniqueness quotient between each individual company, there appears to be some common ground across customers of a particular product, especially a software or technology product. The bond that grows between users of a particular product, especially if that group is small, can affect the team culture of that user group.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Ticket Scalping
Scalpers are a cross between a drug dealer and a used car salesman. They have a focused swagger that gets down to business. There is a limited time to make a sale of a premium-priced product whose value is dropping by the minute once the game starts.
Why is there a market for this in the 21st century when it is so easy to get tickets online, either original or resells? There must be 3 main customer types for the scalper:
Why is there a market for this in the 21st century when it is so easy to get tickets online, either original or resells? There must be 3 main customer types for the scalper:
- Someone who has no internet access or does not know how to find tickets online
- Someone who randomly decides to try buying a scalped ticket
- Someone who loves the game of trying to get a deal even when the odds are stacked against them (unless they wait until the game is far enough along so that demand falls sharply)
I was in the category of #2 above in my visit last weekend to the University of Alabama. I really enjoyed the entertainment of offering ridiculously low prices for tickets that were overpriced to see the looks of disdain on the face of seller. It was also fun to watch the persistence of someone determined to get tickets at their price, even though they were offering $100 less than the asking price.
Eventually we gave up and went to the sports bar.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Management Wisdom
How many books of wisdom have to be written about good management practices before bad practices actually diminish in the workplace? It seems that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of books and articles readily available to anyone with even a grain of sand's interest in improving their concepts. Especially if the subject(manager) has responsibilities in the medium of the object (workplace or other environment) where motivating people, improving productivity and maintaining high morale is critical to a company's success or survival.
Even so, the same sins appear to be committed time and again both in the macro sense of high level strategic direction and corporate survival as well as in the trenches of middle management where direct interaction with individual contributors is most important. Why is this? Lack of fundamental ability or skills? Ignorance? Lack of a desire to learn? Hubris?
Two books that are very interesting on this topic include: "The Ten Commandments for Business Failure" by Donald R. Keough and, of course, "Peopleware" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. These two books explore good and bad habits for steering companies at the executive level and at the middle management level respectively.
The DeMarco book is especially applicable to the software development arena, where my primary interest lies. Keough was a C-level executive for Coca-Cola for many years and offers very interesting insights into corporate management techniques.
Even so, the same sins appear to be committed time and again both in the macro sense of high level strategic direction and corporate survival as well as in the trenches of middle management where direct interaction with individual contributors is most important. Why is this? Lack of fundamental ability or skills? Ignorance? Lack of a desire to learn? Hubris?
Two books that are very interesting on this topic include: "The Ten Commandments for Business Failure" by Donald R. Keough and, of course, "Peopleware" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. These two books explore good and bad habits for steering companies at the executive level and at the middle management level respectively.
The DeMarco book is especially applicable to the software development arena, where my primary interest lies. Keough was a C-level executive for Coca-Cola for many years and offers very interesting insights into corporate management techniques.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Using Google Services
This weekend I started moving my iLife to Google services. I have been in the backwater of technology for too long and have just recently discovered the plethora of things to play with in GoogleLand. Right now, I am like a kid in a candy store, trying to absorb everything that is available. After a short time of using gmail, docs, calendar, reading up on API capabilities and doing my first mash-up, I am impressed enough to start moving anything that makes sense to the platform. This is my first blog using blogger. I have a blog on another site that I will likely move to this one.
Since I am late to the party on this one, I am sure there is some nascent site or web platform that is cooler than Google. However, this will keep me busy for a while. I am fascinated with the Web 2.x to 3.x platform capabilities and Google seems to do an excellent job of enabling everyone to contribute to this effort. My goal is to have everything I do related to computing live in the cloud.
Since I am late to the party on this one, I am sure there is some nascent site or web platform that is cooler than Google. However, this will keep me busy for a while. I am fascinated with the Web 2.x to 3.x platform capabilities and Google seems to do an excellent job of enabling everyone to contribute to this effort. My goal is to have everything I do related to computing live in the cloud.
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