Not a Fire Drill

A couple of weeks ago the fire alarm went off in the office. Last year when we were doing some construction, the alarm went off frequently because of electrical work being done. But we were always given warning a day ahead of time. So this time when the alarm went off I tried to remember, Did someone alert us to this? After half a minute with the alarm still blaring, I went out in the hallway to see what was going on, as did others. Then way down the hall I saw someone gesturing wildly to get out of the building. So I said to those around me, “Let’s get out.” Some started for the front door–over a hundred feet away. I redirected them to the emergency exit fifteen feet away and went with them.
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To Pack Rat or Not to Pack Rat

I was looking through my files the other day to remind myself what I had written to a correspondent three years ago. I needed to write again on the same topic, but I obviously wanted to do so in light of the full exchange. I found the copy of my letter just where it should have been, in the corporate files. What I didn’t find was my correspondent’s response. round!
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Minimizing the Annual Review Fear Factor

It’s annual review time here. We operate on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year, so this is the time each employee gets a performance review for the year. There’s always a certain amount of trepidation in anticipation of such a review–both for the employee and the supervisor. One of the best ways, I think, to minimize this on both sides is to make sure there are no surprises.

An employee should not hear about a problem or area of poor performance for the first time at an annual review. Supervisors doing their job should be giving continual feedback to employees throughout the year either at regularly scheduled meetings or on an as needed basis. As I’ve said here before, keep short accounts with folks. Don’t let something simmer and stew. Be timely. Problems that fester don’t go away. They just get worse. As Max De Pree says, a leader’s job is to define reality and say thank you. Clearly communicating problems is one way reality is defined. You don’t do any favors by being vague.

Another manager here also had a helpful suggestion when dealing with problems. He calls it making the charitable assumption. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Start by asking questions, not by making accusations. See what their perspective is first. People want to be judged by their intentions. After hearing their side, then it is appropriate that they hear your side.

Reality and charity–two good things to keep in mind together throughout the year so that the annual review is as constructive as possible for both parties.

Our Own Worst Electronic Enemies

When it comes to the digital future of publishing, we as publishers can be our own worst enemies.

Everyone seems to agree that electronic books will be a significant part of the world ahead. The only disagreement is how fast this new publishing environment will emerge and in what form. One of the major barriers to any form of digital publishing, however, are the permissions policies of publishers themselves.
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The Beautiful World of Publicity

Free is a very good price. That is one of the key advantages of publicity, as everyone in publishing knows.

Why does this work? Because, as our friend Tom Woll says in Publishing for Profit, book publishers “are information and content providers . . . [who] have the very material that these media outlets need for their own survival” (p. 207).
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Liking Grammar

There is a misconception abroad that white folk have no ethnic culture. We are, well, plain vanilla folk who lack the distinctive zest and pizazz of other groups. Not so. Here is a fun eye-opener squashing that myth which folks in publishing will no doubt especially enjoy.