The character limit on YouTube says I talk too much, but the words were requested, so here they are (link to this article posted instead)...

Here's the video (I hope). I most admire Simon for being Simon. A more genuine person you'll not find, speaking as a human in every episode:

At the end Simon asks for veiwer feedback. Yours truely had some of that laying around, but couldn't squeeze it into the YouTubes. He then realised, part of being genuine is standing by your words... so James is delivering this to his masses:

I would highly recommend lifting your noses from the writings of others, and developing your own thoughts based on what you (should already) know about your people/business.

Start with knowing your own back yard & “family”. Get to know your people. How else will you know how to interact with them? The book based alternative is to try make them see things your way (according to the $29.95 “expert” you just finished reading). I liken this to a girlfriend saying "but I can change him!"… and we all know how that ends, right? Many businesses (perhaps a majority) have at some point looked to a coach, a book, or a course, and come away from that with a new arsenal of catch phrases & "fun techniques”. Some tips can be quite useful, but your people see through it instantly, and disengage just as quickly.

Your people came to work to earn a living (because that’s the real purpose of jobs btw) not to have you tell them they’re “broken” and need “fixing”. There’s only 2 ways it will go if you ignore that: 1) They resist, and hard, or; 2) They play along for a few weeks to keep the boss happy and fit in, just in case there’s a raise in it, before slipping right back to base nature.

There’s the third option actually, still employed by the bigger guys: Keep forcing it down your peoples throats regardless of feedback, tell everyone (in passive aggressive tones) that you’re not meeting expected outcomes because “some people” aren’t engaging in your core values, then give them written warnings for failure to comply. I guess it does work for the military, where your first warning is gun fire.

Being human means just that: Be human. Talk to your people, get to know their interests and what gets them excited. Let them hang pictures of LOLcats on the wall if it cheers them up. The Government already gave everyone rules to work with, so why create more? Not only will you discover the strengths most hide (and be able to play to them), but high morale will always trump the $29.95 expert.

PS This is a true story. The names staff, and workforce, have been replaced with “people” to protect the innocent.

PPS I had this conversation with a friend of my fathers when I was 14. He ignored the petulant youth, read a book, and promptly dropped 13% in productivity, and lost 4 staff. Just sayin ;)

PPPS This post lacks original thought for a reason... it's common sense.