All-In Person of the Weekend: 

Alonzo Mourning, former NBA star for the Miami Heat stopped busy Miami traffic Friday (March 25, 2011). He jumped out of his SUV, stood in the road and stopped traffic, while a wheelchair-bound pedestrian made it to the median. After making sure the citizen was safe, Mourning headed to his SUV to the sound of cheering fans! Way to go Alonzo! 

Alonzo Mourning All-In Story 

All-Out Person of the Weekend:

Also on Friday, it was reported that Ina Garten, the Food Network's "Barefoot Contessa" turned down a request from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She was contacted about a six-year-old boy suffering from leukemia who wanted to cook with her, and she denied the request. Apparently her reps said something to the effect of her being unable to meet every person who wants to meet her.

A Business Insider story quotes Garten's rep saying,"despite her demanding schedule, [Ina] participates and helps as many organizations as she can throughout the year, helping children and adults like Enzo with life threatening and compromising illnesses."

Sure, she is busy! But, is this really about being busy? Or, is is about being generous, kind, and humble?

Don't worry about the little boy. He's decided to swim with dolphins and is already taking the necessary lessons to make that wish come true. 

Barefoot Contessa Shuns Make-A-Wish

Reader Query...

What do you think about the Barefoot Contessa turning down the wish? 

Understandable--she's busy! Or, Rude--get over yourself!

A mouse can bring you the world

Through a few clicks of a mouse, you can connect with people from all over the world. You can connect with family you only see every few years, industry experts you've admired for years, politicians you love to hate, people who share your love of football, reading, yoga, or Star Wars. You can connect with like-minded souls who inform, inspire, and influence you daily.

Here's a Twitter video that explains it all. Enjoy!

Reader Query...
What has been your experience? Have you connected with people met online? Have virtual friends turned in to real-life friends, business colleagues, clients?

Loyalty is a two-way street

Loyalty is a two-way street, and it begins with the organization’s treatment of the employees when they join. The organization sets the tone for the relationship, and Human Resources (HR) is most often serving as the organization’s representative in setting the tone.

HR is the early link between the new person and the organization. As such, it is HR’s responsibility to set a positive tone for the relationship. It is HR’s job to get the employee to fall in love with the company through the interview process and upon starting their career there.

But, don't put the whole burden on HR's shoulders.

It is often HR’s job to help initiate a successful relationship between the new person and her manager; however, building a bond between the organization and employee rests primarily with the hiring manager.

It is widely known, thanks to Marcus Buckingham’s studies revealed in his book First Break all the Rules, that people join companies for the type of work, opportunities, leadership, and benefits. But, they leave because of the daily interaction with their immediate manager. 

The immediate manager and teammates impact how engaged new people are, how productive they are, and how long they stay that way. You can get them started on the right foot by implementing a professional New Employee Orientation (NEO).

Most organizations do not have money or time for on-the-job initiations of new employees.  Budgets are way too tight for that! They need people to get up to speed quickly. 

Companies need the benefits of a professional NEO, as explained below.

1.  Decreased turnover

2. Faster contribution time for the new person

3. Decreased disruption for coworkers and managers of new person

4. Realistic understanding and expectations of the new job

5. Reduction of mistakes made my new people and those teaching them

6. Increased pride in the new company and its leaders

7. Increased engagement

8. Increased tenure with the organization

It takes more than Human Resources to bring new people on board effectively and to build employee loyalty. The immediate teammates, coworkers, and managers have more long-term impact than HR. Extend your NEO beyond the required HR-related information to build relationships, loyalty, and results.

Reader Query...
What have you found most useful in NEOs you've experienced as the new person or manager?

Just doing their jobs

Every employee faces emergencies. Some of them are life-threatening, most are not. Some risk loss of money and markets, many do not. Some workplace emergencies are caused by natural disasters. Others are caused by people  under-performing or over-reacting.

The difference between companies who thrive after emergencies and others is often how its people respond to emergencies.

Think about your typical responses and reactions when faced with a crisis.

When faced with life-threatening emergencies, what do you do? When faced with an emergency in which your organization could lose money or market position, what do you do? When faced with minor inconveniences, what do you do?

A few examples...
In a financial services office, a financial adviser slammed his office door and threw his laptop when the market closed down recently. At an advertising agency, the creative director yelled at the account services manager when the client delayed the project again. At a restaurant yesterday, I noticed someone yelling at the host for taking too long to seat his group.

My first thought yesterday was that the restaurant patron obviously would not do well in a crisis. The others probably would not either. They can't handle themselves professionally, or even kindly, in the less-than-life-threatening situations they were in; therefore, they probably cannot control their emotions when faced with a real crisis at work or in life.

Thankfully those people not one of the 180 in Japan risking their lives confronting the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

There are 180 people whose jobs it was to stay behind when the rest of the plant, and nearby town, evacuated. These people are highly skilled and thoroughly trained nuclear scientists, engineers, and operators. They knew in training that it would be their jobs to stay behind to prevent, manage, and combat a disaster such as what they are facing today.

The 180 are being hailed as heroes in Japan and around the world. In their culture, they are just doing their jobs.

In American culture, would we consider putting our lives on the line for coworkers part of our jobs? Oh, sure, the military does. But, what about the rest of us? Would you risk your life to save your boss? Department admin? Sales team? Accounting department? It takes a special person to be willing to do that.

Maybe the rest of us could simply include being more patient, responsive, proactive, and positive with our coworkers as just doing our jobs. Patient, responsive, proactive, positive people are quite rare in workplaces today. It takes a special person to be willing to be those things every day. We could take a lesson from the 180 Japanese heroes to make being selfless just part of our jobs.

(Information from www.CNN.com)