Fresh Milk from Contented Cows

 November 2011
Richard Hadden to be keynote speaker for Human Capital Forum, Santiago, Chile, Nov 23, 2011
HUMAN CAPITAL FORUM 2011.wmv
HUMAN CAPITAL FORUM 2011.wmv
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Richard Hadden

Richard Hadden

Bill Catlette

Bill Catlette

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Contented Cows Give Better Milk Both of our Contented Cows books are available for purchase on our website. Order one (or both) of the Contented Cows books, and one of us will personalize and sign it just for you. We have great volume discounts for large purchases. And yes, whether you order one copy or hundreds, we'll sign them all!

Special offer: $8 for slightly, and we do mean slightly dinged up copies of Contented Cows Give Better Milk. These are not used, but they've, well, we'll just say they've traveled the country a little bit. A great value on the first book to make the business case for a focused, fired-up, and capably led workforce.

Rebooting Leadership Rebooting Leadership is available from the publisher, Cornerstone Leadership Institute. Click the book cover to buy.

 

Featured Article: Mommas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Lawyers 

By Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden  

 

Imagine if you will what it would be like if roughly 40% of a nation's primary rule-making body were comprised of HR professionals. Or retired Air Force generals. Or any specific profession, for that matter. Just let your mind run with that for a second. Now ask yourself why we in the U.S. (and other places) should expect better than we're getting from our legislature when it's dominated by lawyers -- people, according to Thomas Jefferson, "whose trade it is to question everything, yield nothing, and talk by the hour."

 

Before the flaming begins, understand one thing - this is not an anti-lawyer piece. Those in the legal profession serve a necessary and useful purpose. Most of them, we suspect, are fine people. Some of the ones we know are. And the principle of having a nation or any large aggregation of people (like a company, for instance) bounded by laws and rules is a good thing.

 

Yet, too much of a good thing can be a problem, whether that "good thing" be principles and standards espoused by HR professionals, military officers, or lawyers. In the latter case, owing in part to the 1.1 million or so lawyers in the U.S. (and their heavy concentration in government), we have allowed the law to become too much the de facto standard for acceptable behavior. In many cases, we conclude all too quickly (conveniently, perhaps) that if something is legal, it must be okay.

 

We hear people justify their behavior, and that of others, with tired, pat phrases like "No crime was committed," "No laws were broken," and "We did nothing illegal." When you hear those words, you can be sure that somebody did something wrong.

 

But before we exalt those who simply broke no laws, let's remind ourselves that the law is hardly a lofty standard.

 

This month, playing out before our very eyes is a sad, sorry affair involving Penn State University, its legendary and now former head football coach, and behavior on the coach's part that, while within the law, was clearly not acceptable. Crimes don't have the market cornered on consequences.

 

The Penn State saga is an excellent reminder for anyone in a leadership position that compliance with the law ought to be the bare minimum standard for our decisions and behavior.

 

It's illegal in this country for employers to discriminate on the basis of, for example, race and gender. But what if it weren't illegal? It hasn't always been. Would that make it right? Or any less foolish for an employer to base hiring decisions on such irrelevant factors?

 

We all get unwelcome phone calls from telemarketers during the dinner hour. My home number is on the highly vaunted "Do Not Call" list, a list with more loopholes than are found on a legislator's Christmas list. I always ask (politely) callers from exempt charitable organizations to remove me from their lists. It's not that I don't support their cause. I just don't want to have a phone conversation about it.  

 

I'm amazed at the number of phone spammers who come back at me asserting their legal right to interrupt dinner with my family! Of course it's legal! But their disrespect of my reasonable request doesn't put one more penny in their coffers.

 

If you're a leader, tasked with doing what's best for your organization and its stakeholders, here's our advice:

  • Make compliance with the law your minimum standard of behavior. Don't break the law. But don't think you can stop there.
  • When faced with a dilemma, after answering the question, "Is it legal?", ask:
    • Is it right?
    • Does it feed, or starve, our organization's mission?
    • Is it consistent with our values?
    • Would I be proud to tell my kids, or other family members about it?

We're fond of the Danish admonishment to "beware stepping over the lowest part of the fence." Those who follow us hold us, quite rightly, to a high standard. A standard that we will do what is right even (make that especially) in the absence of an established guideline, policy, or law. That standard can indeed be a difficult one to live up to when lives, careers, and large sums of money are on the line, but that's the deal when we sign on for a role as a leader.

 


Our "People First" Survey provides a clear, actionable picture of your workforce's view of what it's like to work in your organization. That's a strong indicator of how well you're doing in getting maximum productivity and engagement from the people on your payroll. Our proprietary Employee Engagement survey has been tried, tested, and proven through more than 20 years of development and use with our clients. It tells you what's working, what's not, and how you're doing when benchmarked against more than 100,000 responses we've collected over the years. Get in touch, and let us develop a survey proposal designed especially for you.

 

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Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden
Contented Cow Partners, LLC
ContentedCows.com
904-720-0870
[email protected]
[email protected]