S&MM SoundOff

Drucker's Legacy

When the father of modern management, Peter Drucker, died last month, it got me thinking—who were some of the best managers I’ve worked for, and what kinds of lessons have I taken from them?

I realized there wasn’t one single manager who rose above the fray for me; rather, all the good managers I’ve had seemed to share certain traits—and all the bad managers I’ve had demonstrated the opposite of those traits. I always valued bosses who gave me the freedom to make decisions (and mistakes); shielded me from upper management’s stupid ideas and unrealistic expectations; asked me for feedback (even when I didn’t really have any); and gave me a lot of personal space to work the way I felt comfortable, even if it was vastly different from their style.

I’ve also noticed that good managers tended to have good managers themselves; employee satisfaction always seemed to trickle down. One of the worst work-study jobs I had in college was in an academic office. The professor in charge was never really around, but his aura still pervaded the workplace; he was extremely critical of his staff, so my boss was always on edge. I was always aware of the fact that she was unhappy (especially the day I walked in and found her crying at her desk because of a comment he’d made).

My personal experiences proved to me the power of Drucker’s ideas, which have permeated our culture so much so that good managers still embody his principles whether or not they’re aware of it. After all, Drucker advocated worker empowerment and decentralized decision making back when employees were still viewed as cogs in a machine.

Who are the best managers you’ve worked for, and what management lessons have you taken from them?

E-Mail: Now and Forever?

I read an opinion piece last Friday where the author opined that e-mail was at a tipping point. She believed that problems like spam, phishing, and viruses devalue e-mail because they make it hard for recipients to know which e-mail was legitimate. In fact, she cited a survey that said respondents could correctly identify fraudulent e-mails 82 percent of the time— but on the flip side, they could only identify legitimate e-mails 52 percent of the time. As a result this has raised skepticism about e-mail use in general, in her opinion, and if industry standards on protecting e-mail are not put in place, the medium will be seriously impacted.

While I agree that there should definitely be industry standards in place for e-mail so that spam and phishing are not proliferating our inboxes, I don’t believe that users will ever want to give up on e-mail. They have accepted spam and phishing as part of their daily routine, and I think people accept the fact that there is a chance their e-mail may not be opened because of spam. I’ll even go so far to say that even if there isn’t much done in the way of standards put in place, people will still use e-mail because we have become very dependent on it as a primary form of contact. Just look at CAN-SPAM Act—has that really done much to curb spam? I haven’t seen a difference in my inbox.

Do you think e-mail will go the way of the Sony Betamax because of spam, phishing, and viruses? What do you think the government and/or companies can do to curb spam and phishing?

For tips on how to avoid phishing and other hazards Read our feature: Top Tech Scams for 2005

Bonus Humbug

I guess Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well in Corporate America. According to a recent survey, 59 percent of companies say they won’t be giving out holiday bonuses of any form this year, and of those who are giving them out, only 13 percent will give cash.

There are two things that jumped out at me when I read these survey results. One was that it’s a great thing that companies who are giving bonuses are getting more creative and giving out diverse gifts such as food, gift certificates or the popular gift cards. But the more glaring issue to me is eliminating the holiday bonus altogether.

I’m going to give these managers the benefit of the doubt and assume they worried that if the gift wasn't going to be substantial, then it wasn't worth giving, period. Well that’s wrong!

Case in point; My staff and I have been working really hard lately and we know we aren’t getting a holiday bonus, but our manager treated us to a long, well-deserved lunch out. We didn’t talk about business either—we just had time to catch up, which we rarely have time to do anymore. It wasn’t a Tiffany pen, but it made our day—and that goes a long way.

Motivating your staff is always important but around the holidays it takes on another level. It keeps people smiling and builds loyalty to your company. So instead of pooh-poohing gifts altogether because you can’t afford large cash gifts, why not be a rebel and get creative? Send their families fruit baskets. Get a new parent a gift card to Babies "R" Us. Give a golf enthusiast a free game. In the end, if a manager is truly great, he or she will know the little things that will keep a smile on the team’s faces come holiday time.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Several weeks ago, Neil French, a prominent advertising executive at WPP Group, stepped down after making controversial remarks about women in the industry.

Here’s what ABC news reported:

"Women do not make it to the top because they don't deserve to," Mr. French was quoted as saying. He reportedly also described women as "a group that will inevitably wimp out and go suckle something," and said motherhood makes women "wimp out."

I was shocked by his comments. Mr. French is an old relic of a bygone era. Or is it not bygone? Is he speaking for the majority of the corporate elite?

Women have shown they are capable of bringing home the bacon, frying it, and feeding it to their families. It is a challenge for many women (and men) who decide to juggle family and career. I believe those choices need to be respected and heralded, and not undervalued by those who don’t understand the struggle.

Do you agree with Mr. French's assessment? Why don’t many women make it to the top of the business world? Are you struggling to balance work and family?

For more reading, check out S&MM’s finding balance section.

Sex and the Salesperson

This morning on The Today show, Matt Lauer and Donny Deutsch were discussing whether it was ethical to take clients to strip clubs in hopes of closing a deal. This came up in light of the story about American Express suing for charges made in 2003 by the CEO of the company Savvis at the New York Strip club Scores. Apparently the CEO had gone there with three business acquaintances and racked up a $241,000 bill.

Sales & Marketing Management did a story 10 years ago about the rising number of business deals being brokered at strip clubs. Back then it was 49 percent of male sales managers and salespeople who entertained clients at topless bars. Apparently not much has changed.

As a woman I feel that a topless bar is no place to conduct any type of business transaction. Even if it is just entertaining a client apart from business. Would women be expected to take female clients to male strip clubs? I hardly think that would be appropriate or tolerated. Anyone care to counter my point?

Do you think  it is ethical to do business in a strip club? Do you think it harms a company’s image or is it an accepted practice?