Strategies for College-Bound Students: Strategy #1

In July, I will be giving some talks on "Secret" strategies for college-bound students. They are not secret because of some organized conspiracy--they just are not widely known or practiced by new students.

Strategy #1: Greeting. Learn how to greet others as adults. There's no substitute, at least in the United States, for being able to walk up to a person, extend your hand, and say, "Hello, Professor/Dr./Ms./Mr. so-and-so, I'm ___ and will be in your class on differential equations." Don't, on second meetings, say "Do you remember me?" Instead, lead out again with your name, then move to some positive statement.

My own default statement is, "It's good to see you." I say it directly while looking into the eyes of the recipient. It never has failed to receive a positive response; often, the other person says, "It's good to see you, too." I don't favor, "How are you?" or "How is it going?" (I especially dislike the latter). I suppose that these questions are a matter of taste, but I still insist that statements (that don't require responses) are more reliable, more likely to put others at ease.

As a strategy, this one would be classed under the concept of Engagement. Rather than engaging an enemy though, or even an opponent, one is engaging a possible ally.

An extension of the strong physical greeting is the email greeting. One should default to "Dear ___," even in an email. Eventually, a more casual "Hello, Professor so-and-so" can work, but one should be wary of sliding too much into flabby, casual greetings. Friendly, informal even, but not flabby.

Emails will not be effective if they fail to engage properly. Before the actual greeting, one must write a targeted, clear subject line. But that is another subject.

A thought for training: One must be relentless in practicing greetings.

The Millennials and the Changing Workplace

I'm still reacting to reports on the so-called Millennials and their difficulties adjusting to workplace conventions.

There always will be some tension between conformity and the gradual change of standards (after all, our "conservative" workplace would not be recognizable to someone from the 30s, for example. Do you think that it's bad that a man can unbutton his jacket now?). What appeals to this generation is what really appeals to all young generations: the explicit invoking of strategy. Believe me, females and males equally like thinking of themselves as some sort of warriors, even if they never have seen physical combat (and the video game/movie industry has encouraged this mythology). So a company can make great headway by putting everything in terms of strategy (which is what you tend to do), rather than "values," which any younger generation is ready to reject, no matter how worthy those values seem to the oldsters.

I guess that you can tell that, when I was a college teacher, I tired of all the other teachers who moaned about their slacker students. Instead, I finally told them, they should teach students proper strategy from the beginning. The teachers needed to model excellence.

If one change is in the making, maybe it is a good one: perhaps companies should train their supervisors so that the new employees see excellence in action immediately. It's hard to believe that one should work hard when a company is filled with mid-level mediocre managers. If today's new employees more readily detect this mediocrity, then we can hardly fault them for being analytical and perceptive. But young whiners--I have no time for them.

Myths about the "Millenials"

A good friend sent me this link to a "60 Minutes" report on the so-called generation of Millenials who just now are reaching the workplace. The video and accompanying article bash this generation as having been coddled to the point that its members require that their self-esteem be boosted constantly. The complaints about these young men and women are served up in worried, outraged tones:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475200.shtml

A rather more measured piece is by Joseph Epstein in the Weekly Standard ("The Kindergarchy: Every Child a Dauphin"):

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Utilities/printer_preview.asp?idArticle=15161&R=13A93125C3

Here is my answer:

(1) Though there may be real cultural shifts at work, we should remember that such complaints go back at least to the ancient Greeks and Romans: many writers worried that the "younger generation" lacked respect and focus, and was interested only in momentary pleasures (sound familiar?). Also, it's easy to typecast a whole generation, but harder to deal with the complex reality.

(2) Human nature probably hasn't changed in thousands of years. People still react in the same ways.

(3) I have taught many, many of these Millennials, and currently tutor those who will be the post-Millenials, I suppose. I'm not nearly so negative about their demeanors.

(4) All those consultants who are described in the article are barking up the wrong tree, so to speak. Rather than worrying about the Millennials' beliefs or internal motivation, do what coaches and trainers in other disciplines have been doing for centuries: focus only on external behavior. Compliment the strong behavior (acting, speaking, writing), then correct the weak behavior by pointing to a model for the employees to emulate.

If a business asked me to talk about these new employees (which I can do as authoritatively as anyone), I would focus less on their supposed internal constitutions, and more on what they are capable of doing. Pinpoint their weaknesses, then provide concrete strategies for overcoming those weaknesses. Their managers should not compliment the person ("You are a great person, but . . . "); instead, compliment a real accomplishment, then move to the weakness. Research shows that coddling or complimenting the person directly leads to inferior performance.

But coaches always have known that.