Diamonds to You

Hi everyone:

It’s been a busy time.  I spent most of January entertaining, celebrating my birthday as well as that of several of my close friends.  In addition, I had the most interesting dinner party – with the theme being about the plight of Africa.  I showed a film called “The Devil’s Footpath” by June Arunga.   The Silicon Valley Objectivists group will be showing the film again at its meeting on Sunday, March 11th – at the Coco’s on Lawrence Xpwy. near 101 in Sunnyvale.  If any of you are interested in learning more, contact me 

So far, February has been playing catch up and preparing for the workshop Rene Martinez of Pinnacle Affirmative Action and I will be conducting on April 19th.  It’s a Thursday – so save the date – more information will follow.  I’ve included a brief blurb here and the full flyer with sign-up information will be sent to you shortly.

Increasing Organizational Effectiveness Thru Affirmative Action, Diversity and Inclusion Strategies

In today’s global economy, with people from all over the world, a range of ages, sexes and abilities, the workplace is a mosaic of cultures, styles, expectations, experiences and ways of behaving.  Firms throughout the world are discovering that the inclusion of a diverse population of employees actually contributes significantly to productivity, creativity, organizational effectiveness and “the bottom line.”

But, how do you find the best and the brightest, evaluate them properly, hire effectively, manage and retain those who are different from you?  It’s not necessarily easy since we tend to “hire in our own image” and “size people up” who are culturally more like those with whom we have been raised.

This dynamic program presented by Dr. ArLyne Diamond and Rene H. Martinez will provide Business Leaders, Hiring Managers, and Human Resource Managers with the tools they need to find, evaluate, hire, manage, and maintain the best of employees from all genders, ages, backgrounds, abilities, and beliefs.

Dial 211

United Way of Silicon Valley just went on line with the 211 Community Service Program.  By dialing 211 you will get a live operator who will help you find any non-profit community service you require.  This is great for finding housing for the homeless or elderly, treatment programs, health services, etc.  When I called the other day, I was able to talk with an operator in English or Spanish.  Soon they will be on-line with several other languages as well.  Call 211 and check it out.

CEO as Founder

A recent article in the San Jose Mercury News confirmed something I’ve been saying to my CEOs for a long time.  The founder is usually the person who brings the excitement, trust, and teams together.  Yes, of course, at some time in the growth of the company it might be important to bring in “professional management.”  BUT, does that mean that the beloved CEO-Founder has to be kicked out – or kicked upstairs.  I think not!  The professional manager could be someone reporting to this charismatic founder. 

Remember, Apple brought back Steve Jobs and Michael Dell is coming back to Dell.

Bringing Diabetes Education and Testing to India

I have a plan that I am certain will work in India and other countries – allowing “micro-industry” to flourish as well as  testing, education and emotional support in both the cities and rural areas.  I thought I had an opportunity to partner with Lifescan to create this program – but for reasons I’m not clear about, my contact person failed to follow through.  Does anyone have any contacts high up at Lifescan (Johnson & Johnson) or one of their competitors?

Reduce your Workforce and Increase your Productivity

Research shows that a decrease of 30% in the workforces of some well known huge bureaucratic companies actually increased productivity.  I believe it.  I’ve long said that I think modern managers just “throw more people at the problem” rather than hiring well, training properly, or even knowing how to manage and hold people accountable in a positive manner.

Separating the Person from the Issue
by ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D.

Why is it when we disagree with someone about an issue, other people assume we don’t like that person?  Have we become so overly careful that we are forced to play “nicey-nice” all the time?  Why is it OK to criticize the President of the United States, but not our colleagues, friends or neighbors?

More and more bad decisions are made because of the reluctance of people in meetings to assert a dissenting opinion.  Politically correct people talk about “issues” and “challenges.”  The word “problem” has become a four letter word, not to be used by those striving always to be PC.

“Yelling” I was told recently, as I raised my voice trying to stop someone from accidentally breaking something fragile, “is never appropriate.”  Of course it is, if that’s what you have to do in order to get the other person’s attention.  Krushev used a shoe!

Can you imagine our founding fathers sitting around politely nodding agreement with each other and never raising their voices?

No, hardly!  It took energy, passion, creativity, intelligence and voracious disagreement to iron out all the “issues”, raise and resolve all the disagreements, and look at the long term ramifications of each suggestion.  In the end, they carved out a document so passionate, so powerful, so thoughtful and intelligent that it has withstood the challenges of time and change.

Bob Finnochio, a business leader and Professor at Santa Clara University and I have written a much longer article on this topic, called The Tyranny of Pleasantness.  It is in final edit and will be submitted to some major management and board magazines for inclusion.  We’ll keep you posted.

Lest you think I am advocating callousness – let me repeat here an article I wrote and published some time ago:

Sticks ‘N’ Stones Will Break My Bones But Words Will Break My Heart
By ArLyne M. Diamond, Ph.D.

Remember the old children’s retort, “sticks ‘n’ stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me”?  Children would chant it in an attempt to deal with the pain of insults, slurs, teasing and other verbal taunts.

Did it work?  A little bit.

Acts of bravado do indeed make us feel a little better about ourselves, but, and this is a very important but, they never do erase the pain and humiliation we experience when others call us names or say bad things about “our kind”.

In this age of expediency, pragmatism, and political-correctness, we seem to have lost some important social truths!  It is hurtful to say things about a person – or parts of their anatomy – or a group of people, that leave them embarrassed, humiliated, or diminished in any way.  Although beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, insults are in the ear of the receiver.

So, if the other person, or group of people, believes a particular word or phrase or symbol to be ugly, demeaning, threatening, or insulting, it is!  It is, because it is to them.

The bottom line is:  If you don’t intend to hurt others, please pay attention to and respect the requests of the groups or individuals who ask us not to use fertain descriptors or symbols.

Reprinted from Diamond Associate’s
The Wise Old Owl’s Workplace Wanderings
October 31, 1993

Workshops and Speeches

CSIX
My most recent talk with this group I called:  Humility Doesn’t Work Nor Does “It’s Not Us, It’s Them.”   CSIX, as I’ve mentioned before is this fabulous all volunteer organization which helps those currently out of work.  They’ve helped over 4,000 people thus far. I am Chair of their Advisory Board and speak to the group often.  in the near future I will be offering their members a workshop called Hands on Help, which will be about Professional Image, Interviewing and Resume Writing

Samsung
IT Consultants Achieve Great Customer Satisfaction by Listening, Communicating, Persuading and Negotiating.  This is the title of a workshop I just offered a group of IT consultants at Samsung.  It was customized, as are all my workshops, for their specific needs.  Internal Customer Service requires as much understanding and training as does external Customer Service.  If you’d like to provide your staff with a similar workshop, please contact me.

Craig Nathanson, The Vocational Coach
Craig had me as a guest on his tele-seminar on February 15th.  He believes that all people, but particularly those over 40, should follow their passion.  His coaching work helps others get from where they are today – to where they would love to be.  He and I talked about my background in business, psychology, education, and now management consulting.  He’s a great interviewer and the conversation flowed.  Craig is sending me a CD, so if anyone wants to have a copy, get in touch with me and you can have it for a nominal cost (I need to learn about the “going” rates.)  Craig can be reached at:  www.thevocationalcoach.com.

 

Recent Publications

• Workplace Conflict Resolution:  What’s Creating Workplace Conflict and 9 Easy Ways to Resolve It appeared in Impact Articles:  The Business and Coaching Network on January 26, 2007   With my permission, this article will also appear in a series of newsletters created and marketed by Haley Marketing Group to their staffing industry clients.
• “Improving Customer Service:
  How to Improve Customer Service and Get Thousands of New Customers to Flock"
  will appear in the online magazine, Customer Service Managers.

My two published books are available at www.ProductivePublications.com.

• Training Your Board of Directors:
  A Manual for the CEOs, Board Members, Administrators and Executives of Corporations, Associations, Non-Profit and Religious Organizations
• The “Please” and “Thank You” of Fundraising for Non-Profits:
  Fifteen Essential Ingredients for Success

Letters from our Readers

We received a lovely letter from Ken Schmahl, the Chairman of A. Schmahl Science Workshop.  He loved the guest article written by Jay Pinson and offered some very thoughtful ideas about the need to improve math and science in American schools.  If you want the complete text of his letter, let me know.

An Event to Attend

Engineers Week Banquet, featuring T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor as its keynote speaker will be held on February 22nd.  The SVEC will honor several outstanding individuals for their remarkable contributions by welcoming them into its Hall of Fame.  The banquet will also feature a distinguished keynote speaker and award scholarships for academic excellence. 
Tickets can be obtained at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/9497. 
The cost of an individual ticket is $85 and a table of ten is being sold at $850.00.    For more information, please contact Elise Engelhardt at Engelhardt1@att.net.

So, how can I help you?

My clients are so good to me! Here’s something another client said about me:

ArLyne’s instinctive ability to very quickly understand the crux of the issues that management has either overlooked or not acknowledged has set her apart from the majority of consultants with whom I have worked over the last 20 years.
    – George Cameron, SamTrans Chief Administrative Officer

Let me be your Aufin—your advisor to Kings.

ArLyne Diamond, Ph.D
ArLyne@DiamondAssociates.net