Ask Tammy

Dear SP,

That’s an interesting question.  There are a number of extraordinary women thought leaders in the area, but I’ve never considered whether there is a distinctly feminine perspective on innovation and leadership.  Let me offer some suggestions regarding people whose work you may enjoy exploring – I’d love to hear from you whether you find a shared point of view among their perspectives.

Lynda Gratton, a professor at London Business School (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a dear friend and frequent co-author) studies organizations that excel at innovation.  Her book Hot Spots, based in part on research that she and I conducted together on team collaboration, outlines the characteristics of teams that have that special spark of creativity and commitment.  She has written a number of other books on leadership; one of my favorite is The Democratic Organization, in which she outlines the challenges posed by today’s work environments.

Herminia Ibarra is a professor in Leadership and Learning and faculty director of the INSEAD Leadership Initiative.  She is an expert on professional and leadership development and has written a wonderful book called Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career (Harvard Business School Press, 2003) that documents how people reinvent themselves at work, as well as numerous articles on innovation, networking, career development, women’s careers and professional identity.

Teresa Amabile is a professor at Harvard Business School. Originally educated as a chemist, she investigates how life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. Originally focusing on individual creativity, her research has expanded to encompass team creativity and organizational innovation.

My first book, Third Generation R&D, focused on building innovative organizations.  Two of my recent articles, both co-authored with Lynda Gratton, address important aspects of this topic:  “What It Means to Work Here” Harvard Business Review, March 2007 and “Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams” Harvard Business Review, November 2007.

Happy reading!

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Leadership | Published: 05/14/09

Dear Mlletttle,

I’m so sorry to hear you’re having such a difficult work experience.

I can’t offer extremely specific advice based on the information you’ve provided, but let me offer some thoughts that I hope you’ll find helpful.

First, before focusing on your career, you need to consider your ethical responsibility to the company.  Depending on how serious or widespread your boss’ actions may be, it may be necessary for you to bring his actions to the attention of those higher up.  Employees who lie are never in the best long-term interests of an organization.  Certainly, someone in the financial department who lies and makes numbers up would be a very serious liability.  On the other hand, allegations of this sort are very serious.  You need to consider whether his actions are detrimental to the ethical integrity of the company and how certain you are of your views and, if appropriate, discuss your concerns with others.

Second, assuming your boss’ actions do not represent ethical violations, let’s turn to your performance review.  Most company’s processes allow the employee to add a note that expresses your own perspective.  Is that possible in your case?  Ideally, you should acknowledge that the review has been discussed with you, but also offer a short, non-emotional note that conveys your view of your performance.  Perhaps most importantly, most review processes also include an opportunity to document next steps and development plans.  This may even be an opportunity to get back on track with this boss, if possible, by outlining activities and metrics that you can both agree to.

And finally, it is probably wise to begin considering other options.  In many cases, an acquisition imposes a different culture on an organization – one that may be very different from the culture that attracted you in the first place.  At some point, it makes sense to decide whether or not this organization will be one that will engage and excite you.  If not, you owe it to yourself and to the organization, to lay the ground work for moving on – not necessarily urgently, but determination to find a work environment that works for you.

Best wishes,

Tammy

Filed under: Interactions with Your Manager | Published: 05/13/09

Dear Haitham,

Thank YOU for such a lovely and enthusiastic note.  I’m so pleased that you find the work on generational differences helpful.  I do think that we can significantly reduce any tensions among the generations if we understand the logic behind people’s actions.

And I appreciate the suggestion of Jordan.  I’ve been researching Saudi Arabia, but agree that Jordan is a wonderful example.  I’ll try to write both—and would love any insights you might share from your childhood experiences.

Thank you again.

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Information on Tammy | Published: 05/13/09

Hi Erinn,

I haven’t seen anything specific on Internet scams, but I suspect this is just the latest incarnation of older people’s susceptibility to scams of all kinds – phone, Internet, someone dressed as a repairman at the front door, and so on.  I’m afraid just as we have to help our children understand the implications of their online activity, we also need to help our older relatives – or ourselves – become increasingly savvy.

It’s clear that your mother is part of a growing trend in terms of Internet usage.  Today, women over 55 are the fastest-growing demographic group of social network users; 41% of all Boomers (men and women) have visited online social networks.  According to a 2009 Pew internet study, more than half of all Boomers are online on an average day, and more than a third go online several times a day.  Forty-one percent of Boomers say they go online just to have fun.  The NPD Group found that 61% of Boomer Internet users in the U.S. have visited sites that offer streaming or downloadable video.

There’s no turning back – it’s time for us all to learn the Internet ropes.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Warmly,

Tammy

Filed under: Comparisons Among the Generations | Published: 05/13/09

Hi Bill,

The research that I’ve done on the generations threads through a number of the books and articles I’ve written.  I’d suggest you start with Plugged In, which I wrote for members of Generation Y, but have had many older readers tell me they find very helpful in understanding Y’s’ perspectives and strengths.  I also write about these topics often in my blog “Across the Ages,” which appears weekly on Harvard Business Press’ website: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/erickson/.

“The Challenge of the Changing Workforce” is the title I frequently use for the speeches and workshops I do with senior executives.  I’ve added the slides from a session I did last fall for the Harvard Business School Reunion classes to the downloadable documents on this site, and invite you to explore that, as well.

I hope that helps.  Thank you for asking.

Best,

Tammy

Filed under: Comparisons Among the Generations | Published: 05/13/09