Leadership Training

Today we’re talking with Brooks Longfellow, the Vice President of Operations for KB Home’s Phoenix Division. Mr. Longfellow oversees the day to day operations of the construction and customer service departments for KB Home, a Fortune 500 home building company based in Los Angeles.

Before Longfellow joined KB Home in August of 2005, he spent 8 years with another national homebuilder where he moved up the ranks of the company from purchasing manager to vice president of construction operations. Mr. Longfellow was recognized with a performance award for customer satisfaction in 2004.

• What was it about the KB Home work environment or philosophy that made you decide to join the company?

From a personal perspective, I just found that it was a great fit in terms of both the people I met, but more importantly in regards to a common dedication to customer satisfaction. Our number one priority is to deliver a quality product to each one of our homeowners and make sure that they are 100% satisfied. That’s something that I believe heavily in, and since KB Home feels the same way, I found that very appealing when I was looking to make a career change.

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Since I’m originally from the Boston area, I still like to check out Boston.com every once in a while. They always have some fun segments or photo galleries running, and this week is no exception. In their career & job development section (co-produced by Monster.com), you’ll find a segment on favorite work films of the last twenty years:

Favorite Work Films from Boston.com/Monster.

Many of my favorites made the list, such as the Oliver Stone classic “Wall Street”, “Glengarry Glen Ross” (with Alec Baldwin delivering perhaps the greatest motivational sales pitch in cinema history), and of course “Office Space” (’I believe you have my stapler?…’)

One that I haven’t seen yet is “Swimming with Sharks”, starring Kevin Spacey. Since it has a 7.0 user rating on IMDB, and apparently focuses on ‘a Hollywood studio assistant turning the tables on his incredibly abusive producer boss’, I’m definitely adding that one to my rental list!

Is your favorite on there? Have another film you’d like to recommend? Let everyone know in the comments section!

Work Films, Boston.com, Monster

A good friend of mine works as a waitress in an upscale restaurant.  Her boss likes to employ what he calls “fresh talks” every morning, which he utilizes to help instruct and manage the staff.  On paper, it sounds like a good practice.  However, there’s one major problem; he also uses the time to point out things that people are doing wrong, and makes examples of them.

“I had a problem with a table the day before,” she lamented.  ”and went to him for help.  I’ll admit I was upset, but I knew that going to my manager for help was the right thing to do.  The next day, sure enough, he talked about a server who got ‘flustered’ by a customer, and proceeded to talk about exactly what she had done wrong in front of everyone.  

“He didn’t mention me by name, but everyone knew who he was talking about.  It was so embarrassing.  I was furious - why would he do that to me?”

I don’t have a good answer for that question, and it’s baffling to me that managers still do things like this.  Does this guy think that she’ll ever feel comfortable going back to him with a problem again?  How many employees has he lost through this kind of behavior?

“Compliment in Public, Criticize in Private” is a business basic; pure common sense.  If there’s a problem, call the employee into your office (politely and confidentially), and rationally discuss the situation. Conversely, a good deed is what should be brought up in a daily team meeting.  Positive recognition will make a person take more pride and care in their work, and it will be reflected in the courtesy they show your customers.

Incidentally, that same restaurant manager apparently spent over 2 hours last week trying to persuade a hostess that was tired of working for him not to quit.  What a stunner!  I’m sure that’s completely unrelated to the nature of those “fresh talks”…

Compliment in Public, Criticize in Private

Is it just me, or does their seem to be a growing lack of common courtesy in the business world today?  (If it’s just me, you can go ahead and say it.  I’d rather someone confront me with the fact that I may be turning into a grumpy old man…)

When I was growing up, my mother & father made sure that please and thank you were part of nearly every conversation I had with an adult.

(Fortunately for me, Barney was well after my time as a toddler…)

My parents’ lessons hold true today, and are a valuable asset when it comes to talking with other people in business environments today.

I recently started a new job, and had my first prospective client meeting just a few months ago.  When I came in for the meeting, the first thing I did was to thank the manager for her time.  I knew how busy someone in her position was, and understood that granting an outside vendor such as myself an hour of her time was extremely considerate.

After the meeting concluded, I immediately mailed her a thank you note on company stationary.  I thought about sending an email, but as Judith Bowman writes in her book Don’t Take the Last Donut:

A handwritten thank-you note on quality stationary, in professional blank ink…is the mark of respect and proper protocol.

I didn’t ask for a follow-up time to talk, or call her to ask for the sale, I simply thanked her again for her time.  Just two days after I sent that note, she got in touch with me to talk about closing the deal.  I didn’t even need to ask for it…

So thanks again, Mom & Dad, for keeping on me about my P’s and TY’s!

business etiquette, please, thank you

“No young kid growing up ever dreams of someday becoming a businessman,” begins Patagonia founder and owner Yvon Chouinard. “I wanted to be a fur trapper when I grew up.”

And while he may have become a ‘reluctant businessman’, heading a retail company that made $270 million in revenues last year, Chouinard has stayed fiercely loyal to his first love; the great outdoors. For decades, Patagonia has been run not just as an environmentally conscious company, but as one that proactively fights to protect mother nature. Both the passion of this remarkable leader and his company are the subject of his autobiography Let My People Go Surfing.

Choinard takes us through his life’s journey, from joining the Southern California Falconry Club when he was 15, to creating his first hiking product in 1957; steel pitons (rope anchors), to the financial crisis he faced with Patagonia in 1991 that forced him to let go of 120 employees. Throughout his journey, we meet the people and events that shaped Chouinard’s life and style of management.

He also describes in detail his business philosophies. No matter if it’s product design, production, distribution, finances, or human resources, Chouinard is always asking pointed questions along the way: “Is it durable? Is it easy to care for and clean? Are we telling the entire story? Are we making this a fun place to work?” Of special note is the fact that Patagonia was one of the first companies to open an on-site corporate child care center back in 1984.

Even more notable is the initiative Chouinard co-founded in 2001 with Craig Mathews (owner of Blue Ribbon Flies in Montana), the 1% For The Planet Alliance. Each company that belongs to this group pledges to donate 1% of their sales to the preservation and restoration of the natural environment. Over 500 companies are currently part of this alliance, and the list continues to grow. Or as Chouinard states in the book’s updated preface, “And so the revolution begins!”

Book List, Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing, Patagonia, 1% For The Planet Alliance

Ian V. Ziskin is Corporate Vice President and Chief Human Resources and Administrative Officer for Northrop Grumman Corporation, a global defense and technology company with $30 billion in revenues and 122,000 employees. He has 25 years of global leadership experience in human resources, executive selection and development, organization change and effectiveness, and people-related cost management.

Mr. Ziskin has been a speaker and author in areas including acquisition integration, globalization, HR strategies and competencies and leadership/talent development. Last month, he was a participant in a panel discussion at the Milken Institute for the California State Forum “The War For Talent”.

- What has been your greatest challenge in your current role as Head of Human Resources with Northrop Grumman? How have you approached and/or conquered that challenge?

I’d say it’s been the daily challenge to strike the right balance between the decentralization that each of the eight major sectors within Northrop Grumman require in order to run effectively at the local level, versus the ‘one Northrop Grumman’ commonized approach we are striving to create. This approach includes a shared mindset and common culture, the sharing of resources and services to minimize overlaps and redundancies, and being able to present one face to our customers. Striking that balance culturally and operationally is an everyday occurrence.

The way we are approaching this challenge is through a series of organizational change and transformation initiatives that involve cross-organizational teams who are helping to plan and implement those changes. By no means have we completely conquered this challenge, but we are on the right path.

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mmmmm….forbidden donut! Well, that’s actually author Judith Bowman’s point. Her latest book focuses on the “new rules of business etiquette”, and gives professionals the tools they need to be more confident and correct in any business setting.

Here’s a review care of John Hoover, the New York Times best-selling author of How to Work for an Idiot:

“Proper business etiquette is more than making nice with people you don’t know or don’t like. Bowman demonstrates how treating other people with dignity and respect, especially in business encounters, will pay rich dividends. It’s not about you anyway. It’s about them. It takes so little to make other people more comfortable (ie: cooperative) and it means so much.”

Personally, I was able to takeaway valuable hints in every chapter; introductions, small talk, networking, attire, even travel and international etiquette. Judith even includes a handy tipping guide that can help you out in every business travel situation!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to become more polite and polished in today’s business world.

Book List, Judith Bowman, Don’t Take the Last Donut

Yesterday, Dell announced that the company would let go of 8,000 employees, or nearly 10% of their global work force.  This despite the fact their first quarter earnings were up 8% from last year.

It’s the most recent move by CEO Michael Dell on the road to recovery for the company he began  in his college dorm room.  Things have not gone well for the computer maker since Mr. Dell decided to step down from the CEO position over 3 years ago.  It lost the top spot in global PC sales to Hewlett-Packard, and U.S. sales have dropped over 15%.  In January, Michael returned to the CEO position (replacing hand picked successor Kevin Rollins) in order to personally right the ship he himself built.  It’s a script the computer industry has seen before…

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