National Ask a Stupid Question Day

Now I know for sure that there is day for everything!  Who knew there’s a National Ask a Stupid Question Day?  It’s celebrated on September 28 or, if that date is a weekend like in 2019, it is officially on the last Friday of September.

Ask A Stupid Question Day was created by teachers in the 1980’s to get kids to ask more questions in school. It started in the United States, but is now celebrated in lots of other countries including India and Britain.

I have to admit that this day might have been started by those who taught me in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. As a student, I thought that it was better not to ask questions for fear of sounding stupid—and I hate the word stupid.  Now I know that was not a good learning strategy!

These days, I love asking questions, and I really love answering them.  As you may know, Cornelia Gamlem and I co-authored The Manager’s Answer Book in 2018. The tag line of that book is “Powerful Tools to Build Trust and Teams, Maximize Your Impact and Influence, and Respond to Challenges.”

In our book, we respond to questions around these topics:

• You’re a new manager, now what?
• Developing your management skills
• Building and managing your team
• Creating your personal brand
• Managing up, down, and around
• Avoiding potential land mines
• Recognizing legal pitfalls

When we were working on this book and collecting questions to answer, we never considered a question too stupid to include in our book. If something is one your mind or if there is something you don’t understand, odds are many other people have the same question and they may be like me in school—not brave enough to ask it.

So, ask as many questions you want. Don’t worry about what other people think and don’t wait until September 27, 2019 to ask them. We’d love to answer more of your questions anytime you’d like to ask.

The Manager’s Answer Book, along with our other books, is available on Amazon, at Barnes & Noble, or you can order it through your local bookstore.

How Do You Not Know This? Tips From The Manager’s Answer Book

A commentator on the news recently referred to LBJ, and quickly clarified he was not talking about LeBron James but rather the president in the 1960s. 

This brought to mind a conversation I had a few years ago with my nephew, Jim, a border-line Baby Boomer and his husband, Rich, a GenXer. Rich was telling us, “We recently watched the movie All the Way about Lyndon Baines Johnson.”  Huh, I thought.  Who refers to him as Lyndon Baines Johnson?  He’s LBJ, as in the campaign slogan All the way with LBJ. Hence the title of the movie.  “And during the movie,” Rich continued, “Jim asked me: How do you not know this?” Generational differences were clearly at work here.

Every generation brings their own points of reference into the workplace. So, it’s not that unusual to hear comments like How do you not know this? 

Manager’s Tip: How do you better understand and manage generational differences in today’s workplaces? That’s a question included in The Manager’s Answer Book and here’s some of what we have to say.

Take the time to look for the common ground. For example, for younger generations, work is not the main focus of their life and/or their identity. They are more inclined to want to have a life outside of work that is meaningful. So do the older generations, but the younger ones seem to be better at making it happen. In fact, many of the things that the younger workers want—a friendly environment, the ability to use their skills while learning something new, respect, the opportunity to help others, adequate paid time off and flexibility, health and welfare benefits, and the opportunity to do meaningful work—are things older workers wanted, but the difference is they just didn’t know they could ask for them!

Don’t let differences drive a wedge among coworkers.  Bridging the generation gap at work happens by recognizing that we are all at different stages of our lives, and possess different career aspirations and needs.  As with any diversity challenge, figuring out what’s unique brings about greater understanding and a recognition that we have more in common than we realize.  

__________

Optimism & Positive Thinking

“Optimism—It’s not just a mindset. It’s a behavior.” I saw this on a meme posted on social media. It got me thinking about several things. How do you observe optimism? How do you observe any behavior for that matter? Is it important to observe behavior?

I recently heard in a writing workshop—writing about emotions—that a significant amount of communication is transmitted through non-verbal means, such as expressions, body language or vocal tones.  So, I went on to research how you describe optimism in a character.  Here’s what I learned.

The character may display a wide grin, make joking observations, or turn away and burst out into laughter. Their speech may be bubbly, their eyes may glow, or their gestures may be animated. An optimistic character may lean in, make strong eye contact and smile a lot. 

Why is observing behavior and emotions important? Alan Alda talks about listening with eyes, ears, and feelings—or emotions—in his book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? This observation helps you relate to other people and better understand them.  

I got to test this out recently while talking with people about workplace issues.  Reading their non-verbal cues proved to be just as important as asking questions and listening to responses. Was there a disconnect between what the words they were saying and what their expressions and body language were telling me?  In one case, yes there was, which led me to explore some facts further.

On page 127 of The Manager’s Answer Book, we explain that nonverbal communication is an indicator of the effect you are having on others and whether your message is being heard and understood. More importantly it allows you to observe other people’s emotions and emotional state and to be comfortable. When you are comfortable with one another, you are able to relate to that person and track their ability to follow you. The result is that you are in sync with each other—you are communicating.

Friday, September 13, is Positive Thinking Day—a day to celebrate optimism. Show your optimism—smile, laugh, be bubbly and glow. Let those around you be comfortable so it’s easy to relate to each other. It’s a great way to build positive and respectful workplace relationships.

Read a Book Day

This Friday, September 6, is Read A Book Day. We aren’t just writers, we’re readers too. As we’ve expanded our writing horizons, we’ve attended writer’s conferences and have had the pleasure of hearing many amazing, well-known authors.

Here are some of our favorites, authors whom we’ve had the pleasure of hearing and in some cases meeting.

• David McCullough. We’ve heard him speak several times and one year ventured to the Library of Congress National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Even though it was a hot, humid day, it was a pleasure to meet him at the book signing. We both read his latest book, The Pioneers, and it’s excellent.
• David Baldacci. We heard him speak at a writer’s conference in New York City.  Who knew he was so funny and such an entertaining speaker.  His latest book is One Good Deed.
• Harlan Corbin.  When we heard him speak, we were relieved to learn that even very successful authors do multiple (pick a number) edits.  Good. It isn’t just us.  His most recent book is Run Away.
• Richard Russo.  He shared with the writers in the audience the idea they could  finish one book and then start the next book the following day. What a challenge.  Some of his books that are our favorites are The 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning Empire Falls and his latest book, The Destiny Thief.
• Hallie Ephron. Yes, Nora Ephron was her sister.  Hallie taught us that when it comes to backstory, you layer it in. If you’re not familiar with her work, pick up a copy of Careful What You Wish For.

Since we write business books, we read those as well. Some we suggest are:

• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey
• First, Break all the Rules - Marcus Buckingham
• Good to Great - Jim Collins
• Lean In - Sheryl Sandberg
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain
• Outliers - Malcolm Gladwell
• The Essays of Warren Buffett - Warren Buffett and Lawrence A. Cunningham
• Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman 
• A Curious Mind - Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman

Take some time this Friday to pick up a book.  Explore some good reads for the upcoming months.  And as you’re on that journey, we hope you’ll include one or more of our books.