The Art of Complaining

If we called my mom right now, she’d probably say that growing up, I was a complainer. If I didn’t like where we were going, what we were doing or what we were eating, everyone was going to hear about it. Now granted this was one I was 10 (ok, when I was 15).

Why do people complain? Well for one thing, complaining makes you feel better. It allows you to vent and blow off steam. It gives you a feeling that you have control and impact on the situation. Thing thing is though, you don’t always have control. That is where we need to explore the differences between the types of complaining. In one type, complaining can be good. In the other, it’s worthless.

There are two different types of complaining:

1. Complaining about stuff you CAN control

2. Complaining about stuff you CANNOT control

Let’s break them down:

Complaining about stuff you CAN control

This can actually be a good thing. If you think there are problems or things that can be done better, speak up! Share your ideas and express your opinion. No organization can be succesful with just “yes-men”… great leaders want to be surrounded by people that will challenge them to be better and complain when things aren’t the best that they can be. 

In this scenario, we want to make sure complaining translates into creative problem solving. Identifying a problem is step 1, but you need tangible action items if you want to actually resolve that problem.

Complaining about stuff you CANNOT control

This is what I was notorious for growing up. A good example was when my dad was picking me up from school, he forgot the car rack needed to bring my bike home. As a result, I had to leave my bike at school. I was ruthless, I wouldn’t let him hear the end of it. The problem with that is that as much as I complained and made sure my dad felt stupid for what he did, I did nothing to change the situation. Complaining in that situation did nothing to remedy it… it was worthless and made me look like a jerk. 

Sometimes you are going to be in situations that suck. But complaining highlights your weakness. It shows that you are difficult and inflexible. So, even when you think it will make you feel better to start complaining about a sucky situation, consider which category it falls into. If it is something you cannot control, keep the complaints internal, and save your energy for taking action on the items that you have control over.

How I Recruit Young Talent

Any good operator spends a significant portion of their time on recruiting. Having fresh talent ready to join the team, getting university students excited about the organization and courting top notch engineers and sales people is key.

I am constantly recruiting for the NU Entrepreneurs Club, especially because at a university there is always a ton of turnover with people graduating, studying abroad, etc. Here are my best practices:

1. Everything is a recruiting exercise

That’s right, every program, speaking opportunity and question asked should be seen as a recruiting exercise. I am constantly judging and making mental notes, considering how someone I am interacting with might fit into a certain role.

At the Entrepreneurs Club, I created a program called the Marketing Marines, which is a team of freshmen and sophomores who want to get more involved in running the club, so they propose and execute on projects that they design. They team up, act as project managers, assist with marketing initiatives, and ultimately add additional value to our organization. Rohan Venkatesh and Dean Brodeur joined the program as freshmen, and just one semester later they have already been promoted to Assistant Director roles. 

2. Start early

I start recruiting for leadership roles at freshmen orientation. They haven’t matriculated yet but that doesn’t mean they don’t have potential to be the next President. 

3. Take people to lunch, and pay for it

If you think someone has potential to join your team, take them out to lunch. Have a casual conversation with them, you don’t even have to talk about work. The goal is to get a feel for them as a person. What makes them tick? What’s the probability that they are actually a serial killer? You want solid answers to all of these. At the end of lunch, don’t forget to pick up the tab. You want them to walk away feeling happy about you and your organization.

4. Sell yourself

Remember, you are pitching your organization and opportunities to new recruits just as much as they are pitching themselves as a candidate. You need to convince them that your organization will be the absolute BEST choice for them to go with for their next opportunity. Practice your pitch and have it flawless when you are out recruiting.

5. Hire interns

Interns are great because you both get to “try before you buy.” You get to see how the person interacts on your team without giving them tons of responsibility for key projects. They get to try out your organization with no commitment, knowing that they can walk away at the end of the internship. So, hire interns that you think would make great full time employees and use the internship to validate your hypothesis. If it proves true, make them an offer at the end for full time.

6. Promote from within

Some of your best talent might be already inside of the organization. Promoting from within is great, cost effective, increases team morale and is overall a good thing, provided that the talent is indeed there.

Event Planning 101

One of the biggest parts of my job at the Entrepreneurs Club is overseeing event management. At the core of our club is the Get Togethers, which attract 100+ students every week and involve a C-level executive speaking, a hands on skill building activity, networking and feeding everyone in the room a free dinner. If we measured my stress levels there would definitely be a spike on Tuesdays at 6pm. 

Event planning and execution is incredibly important, and most organizations need to be good at it in order to engage effectively with their customers. Here is my short list of the keys to putting on great events:

1. You need a hook

Maybe it is a high profile speaker, a fancy free dinner or a sexy venue. Either way, there needs to be something attached to the name or description of the event that immediately entices people to come. The events  that my team put on focus on the speaker as the hook. My rule of the thumb is that for every event, I need to hit all 3 of the following requirements:

• A big name speaker or company
• An impressive number to attach to that speaker
• A speaker that is high energy and knows how to give great talks

For example, “Featuring the CEO of Au Bon Pain, a $250M casual cafe chain that was named one of the healthiest restaurants in America.”

2. Logistics need to be smooth

One of the biggest mistakes folks make is underestimating the amount of little details that go into the logistics of putting on a great event. What time will the speaker arrive? Will they know how to get from the parking garage to the room? How are the chairs being set up? All of these details must be taken into account. Ideally, there should be someone on your team with a “Director of Operations” title who takes on full responsibility (with an assistant) for all of these items.

3. Timing is everything

I break events down to the minute. That means I know what is happening at 6:05 and 6:07. You need to take into account delays like people coming in late, standing up to get food, etc. Don’t underestimate these because they can add up. Before each event, I create what I call a “Logistics Schedule” that breaks down minute by minute what is happening, who is responsible for it, etc and I share it with my team. For example:

6:00 - 6:05 - Greet members - Entire team

6:05 - 6:07 - Member of the week announcement - Matt 

And so on. This way, there is never any confusion for where we are in the progress of the event or where we need to be going at any given period of time during the event.

4. You can’t do it alone

Event planning is not a one person job. If you want to do it well, it needs to be team based. That means one person is responsible for the technology/media in the room, another person gets the food, and another escorts the speaker. Make sure that everyone on the team understands exactly what their roles are and what the action items / deliverables are for them during the event.

5. A boring speaker means that YOU are boring

If your organization is putting on an event, then you and you alone are responsible for every detail, both the good and the bad, that happens at the event. If you bring in a speaker and they speak in a monotone voice, droning on about random nonsense that has nothing to do with your event, here’s what’s going to happen: the people in the audience will think to themselves, “wow, (your organization) sucks!” That’s right, they won’t say “wow, this speaker sucks!” You get blamed. This means that you need to be on top of everything that happens and exert tight control over who gets to speak to the people at your event.

6. Food is a necessity

Every good event has food, and it must be free for attendees (or at no additional cost if they paid a fee to attend the event). Few things warm the human soul more than free food. I’m not saying you need lobster… keep it simple. But feed your attendees and they will be shockingly happier. 

7. There has to be engagement

People’s attention spans are surprisingly short. Esspecially if you are targeting a younger demographic (ie people in their 20s), guess again if you think they’ll enjoy sitting through a 60 minute speaker. No way. Every good event has to be broken up into different chunks of activities.

When I plan events, I use the rule that attendees are never doing the same thing for much longer than 20 minutes. We keep it exciting and shift focus. All of our Entrepreneurs Club activities start with food and networking, then go to a hands on skill building activity, then to a speaker, then to Q&A and finally back to networking. It’s a solid framework and it works.

8. Leverage the F**k Factor

Particularly for younger audiences, people start paying a lot more attention when whoever is speaking does something that they seemingly shouldn’t. This especially holds true with dropping an occasional F-bomb to the crowd. It generally goes hand in hand with ensuring that whoever is speaking, making announcements, etc is doing it with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. 

9. I’d rather “do” than just “listen”

The best events are interactive. That means the attendees aren’t just sitting in chairs the entire time, but instead they become part of the event. Maybe they are creating some plan and pitching it to the group. Perhaps there is a competition involved where attendees break up into teams. Or maybe they just have to answer a question. Either way, people want to be involved, and it will keep their attention. Ultimately, this makes an event more fun.

10. Follow up

Think carefully about the objective of your event. Was it to sell something? Or perhaps you were driving deeper engagement with your customers? Either way, there needs to be a follow up or call to action for attendees. Maybe it is an email sent out after the event with something to check out. Either way, make sure you circle back with your attendees and get their opinions on the event. Ask them what you could have done better and thank them profusely for their feedback. 

Ownership is the Best Motivator

“It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.”

If you’re an Office Space fan, you remember this classic quote that Peter used as an explanation for why he wasn’t putting a lot of effort into his job. While the movie was dramatized, I have felt exactly what Peter has felt - a lack of interest and care for work because I didn’t feel any attachment to it. But have no fear, there are ways to instill feelings of attachment among everyone in your team through an effective company culture.

The key is ownership. I care about my stuff a lot more than I care about yours. And the same goes for every other human being on this planet. When my parents spent money on dinner, I didn’t look too closely at the prices on the menu. But suddenly when it is my money… well hold up on that $25 entree! That’s basic human nature: we care the most about our stuff.

So if that is true, what if we can make it so work is owned by the person doing it? As a leader, there are a lot of effective ways to give your team members ownership over their work:

1. Ask for input and ideas

Instead of force feeding your team ideas or tasks, ask them what they think the organization needs and how they would execute a plan. I bet they come up with something similar to what you already thought of, but the difference is that they feel like they invented it, and thus it is theirs.

2. Assign project leads

Give junior team members lead roles on less important projects. This gives them the opportunity to show you what they are capable of and make real decisions. If they fail, who cares… it wasn’t an important project and it is an excellent learning opportunity for them. They probably won’t make the same mistake next time.

3. Always give credit

If someone on your team does a great job on a project, tell everyone. Publicly congratulate them. It should never be a mystery whether someone did well or messed up. Make it abundantly clear either way.

4. Call out mistakes

It’s a lot more painful when I make a mistake and know I am ultimately responsible for it. Make sure that you team owns their mistakes just as much as their successes. Every mistake is a learning opportunity. 

I execute all of those 4 points regularly with my team at the Entrepreneurs Club. As a result, I am thrilled to have a team of happy, committed, hard working and passionate student leaders.

Can you Read? Technical and Financial Literacy

2 Things Business Students Must Know

Managers in today’s economy cannot just be good at one thing. On the contrary, they need to have an exposure to almost every facet of the business that they are managing if they are to succeed. Does that mean you have to be a network engineer in order to run Cisco Systems, or a chef in order to run Nabisco? Certainly not. However, it’s tough to manage what you don’t know. Last year in the NU Entrepreneurs Club, I was the Director of our Startup Challenge, the largest division of the club. This year as President, I manage that Director, and 23 others. I know what they have to deal with because I did it myself before.

I believe that for any business-oriented student graduating today, in addition to whatever your major concentration is in business, you need to be literate in two key areas: technology and money. A lack of understanding of either is a gaping failure point for an organization. Let’s look at each one:

Technical Literacy

This means that you can talk the tech talk. Do you have to be the CTO? No. But, you need to understand the language, the acronyms and the terms that engineers use. You need to be comfortable speaking to engineers and have a solid understanding of how they think and how they work. You should be able to approximate about how long a technical project will take, and about how much it will cost. Advantages:

• Earn respect from the engineering team… engineers want to see business people who at least have the desire to understand tech
• Pay the right price for tech projects because you understand what it takes to complete them
• Gain opportunities to leverage technology that you understand to increase efficiency and reduce costs in your business

Financial Literacy

A balance sheet can be confusing. Do you know how to calculate comprehensive income or loss? Your company just bought a new server - how should we deal with the cost of that asset and how should we depreciate it? These are questions that should not be reserved for just your CFO or Controller. Advantages:

• Ability to talk to finance and accounting teams and understand their needs 
• Insight to know when there is a financial problem in your company, not enough cash flow, etc.
• Skills to review a company’s financial statements before your join the team to ensure it is in good fiscal health

Ready to become technically and financially literate? Great! Here are the action items:

• Consider concentrations in school like MIS
• Learn how to program (use Codecademy)
• Use a service like Mint.com to keep careful track of your personal funds
• Take a few accounting electives (especially managerial / cost accounting)

Dealing with Differences… in a Tent

I just returned from a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains where my friend from Duke and I camped for 4 days in the gracious mountains of Tennessee. No internet, no cell phone, and sadly, no showers. Of course aside from roasting marshmallows and hiking, there were some strong learning moments.

After spending 96 hours straight with this friend, we realized that we had quite a bit of conflicts in our value systems. Bluntly, I thought a lot of what he did was absolutely ridiculous, and he felt the same way about me. We each wanted the other to conform and do things “my way.”

After some arguing, I learned a very important lesson: what you think may make perfect sense in your mind, but someone else will look at it completely differently. While we may truly believe that our way is the right way, it is ineffective to tirelessly argue with others to change their ways. In fact, it just upsets and insults them.

Instead, I found it was much more effective to simply respect each others differences. Compromising and trying new things is a must, and doing so confirms what a person’s true passions and values are. We each watched and listened to each other, ultimately taking away new perspectives. In doing something like this, some people may end up adjusting their values by their own choice based on observations - this is the key!

Bottom Line:

Everyday, we encounter differences in values, principles and passions. Instead of always arguing with people to change, it is so much more effective to respect each others differences, learn from them and ultimately grow from understanding them.