Happy to Be Back Online

It's been hard for me to post over the past few weeks. In part, I've been overwhelmed with the number of emails and notes about Bill. I'll be sharing some more memories of him in this blog as it becomes appropriate. As I've said on the air, via email, and possibly to you personally, Bill's family is very appreciative of the outpouring of love and memories.

This morning at 9 a.m., I had the pleasure of working with BBC World Service. They contacted us from London last week to see if we could provide local support for interviewing Cynthia Cryder (a Carnegie Mellon grad student) about her work correlating buying patterns with moods. It was fun to work with the BBC and I was very proud that we took the time to build facilities at SLB that meet international standards. Cynthia's work is fascinating, too; you can read more about it at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=898080.

After this session was over, I turned to finalizing the next edition of The Bugler. I feel very strongly about our printed newsletter. Adults and kids enjoy the news and puzzles and it helps document our history. I get the opportunity to see people "using" The Bugler at the Children's Museum, too. There's nothing like watching a family solve the puzzles together while eating lunch in the museum cafe' or taking a break in the lobby.

I also made arrangements to send some of our wireless equipment out for servicing, take care of some financial data, and continue evaluation of a new benefits plan we hope to implement for SLB employees later this year.

I have some pretty well-developed feelings about employee relations after having worked as an editor, engineer, project manager and program manager for 25 years. One basic principle I hold is that most everyone *wants* to do a good job and for their work to matter. In my opinion, many employers do not realize this and unwittingly undermine the performance of their staff through micromanagement or outright re-doing of the work. Years ago, I worked for a very bright man who, unfortunately, had the habit of re-writing reports given to him for final review rather than provide general feedback or coaching. While in the office together one Sunday, he lamented to me that the reports that came to him for review kept getting worse and worse. My response to him was "Do you think people are even trying anymore, knowing that you're simply going to re-do it?". The fact is that his staff wanted to do a good job, but he had given them reason to lose hope, let alone even try anymore. As a result, when possible, I've always tried hard to encourage people to accomplish their work their way -- and independently -- with coaching rather than explicit directions.

I also think that it makes sense to hire people rather than "job descriptions", especially in a small entrepreneurial organization. For SLB, finding someone who "gets" what we do and who has the heart, mind and temperament for our work and atmosphere is far more important that finding someone that simply meets a skills checklist. We can always teach skills if a few are absent. But we stand little chances for success -- for us or the employee -- if we think we can change a person's temperament or basic sense of values. This is not to say that our temperament is "right" and another's is "wrong". It's just important that our sense of values and proportion are compatible.

We also look for unique fringe benefits. While exciting and rewarding, work in the nonprofit sector can be grueling. We try to compensate as best we can, but we also try to provide accommodations that work for those we hire. Some people prefer to work early in the morning, others later in the day. Some are happiest working over a long stretch (when they're "hot") and taking a few days for a break afterwards. At SLB, we have some unique demands -- being available Saturdays for example. The very least we can do is accommodate the unique needs of others, too.

I guess I'm thinking about these things as we look through our benefits and because this is expected to be another strong year of growth for SLB. Creating employment as we grow -- good employment -- is something we've been proud of and I'm hoping we'll continue.

The rest of this long day will be spent responding to emails (I'm getting behind again) and learning about a new multitrack mixer we acquired for in-school workshops (the huge manual is sitting beside me).