This is my first podcast. And hopefully, my worst. I was going to write up something fun and interesting, but now I’m just tired and lazy. So I thought I’d just copy and paste the notes I put into Evernote to guide the podcast. So below is the raw notes I had put together before the podcast. I edited some – but not a lot. This should give you an idea of what is in the podcast.

  • Welcome
  • Podcasts are hot – read somewhere had to do with cars/bluetooth – download and listen on way to work
  • How long? 25.2 minutes the length of time for the average commute
  • What is the podcast plan? Monthly? Maybe. Not sure. depends on how much information is new each month. Unlike Rush we don’t really have a daily news cycle… not sure if we have a news cycle at all.
  • Topics that will be covered:
    • Employee engagement
    • Recognition
    • Rewards
    • Incentives
    • Communications
    • Being a good manager aka – being a good human being
  • That’s where we (I) will focus – being a good human being is now the critical skill set for business.
  • And I will steal shamelessly from other types of podcasts and shows – I don’t have a staff of writers to come up with stuff so I’m just gonna grab and go.

The Edge.org

  • Edge.org was launched in 1996 as the online version of “The Reality Club” and as a living document on the Web to display the activities of “The Third Culture”.
  • The Reality Club was an informal gathering of intellectuals who met from 1981 to 1996 in Chinese restaurants, artist lofts, investment banking firms, ballrooms, museums, living rooms and elsewhere. Reality Club members presented their work with the understanding that they will be challenged. The hallmark of The Reality club has been rigorous and sometimes impolite (but not ad hominem) discourse. The motto of the Club was inspired by the late artist-philosopher James Lee Byars:
    • To arrive at the edge of the world’s knowledge, seek out the most complex and sophisticated minds, put them in a room together, and have them ask each other the questions they are asking themselves.
  • The Edge.org does a list of ideas that must die… the ideas I think must die…
    • Maslow as an employee engagement tool
    • Professors are always right – goes for celebrities too… Jim Carey graduation – follow your dream?

Engagement and ROI…

  • Just don’t care…
  • Telephone? ROI?
  • Biggest barrier to engagement is math – finance and logic.
  • Engagement is a foundational element
  • Do you do an ROI on benefits?
  • Not adding more but the mere fact of having them? Of course not. You just do…
  • what about water fountains, bathrooms, etc? Who does the ROI on those? No body that’s who.
  • What if I could prove that treating people like crap would drive positive ROI would you do it?
  • The logic of ROI suggests you should remove engagement activities until the ROI equation stops making sense. That doesn’t happen does it?
  • Quit worrying about ROI – worry about ROConnection…
  • ROI on other relationships – wife? kids – heck – kids is the most negative financial ROI but Emotional ROI off the charts.
  • Wrap and go … see ya next time I think I have something to add…