August 29, 2023 • 35 mins
Feliciano School of Business faculty members in the department of Information Management and Business Analytics, Dr. Mahmoud ElHussini and Dr. George Elias discuss issues and problems being faced by business professionals. On this podcast, they discuss how to start off in a new organization. Dr. Moe and Dr. George breakdown issues and problems being encountered by entrepreneurs, executives, and all levels of managers.
Co-Hosts Background:
Mahmoud (Moe) Elhussini, MS, MBA, DBA, is an Instructor Specialist at Montclair State University. He is also the president and founder of The Growth Coach Allentown - Somerville. A consulting and business coaching company. Moe has worked in data & operations management for over a decade. He then switched to business consulting, helping companies build ERP and customer interface systems. After that he transitioned into international business development, helping companies manage their internal organic growth or through mergers and strategic alliances. Moe has published a couple of handbooks, one on emotional intelligence and another on servant leadership. He is currently working on a third that revolves around overcoming sales objections. Moe has a BA in Biology from Rutgers University, an MBA in Global Management, and MS in Information Management, and a DBA in Geopolitics and Strategy. At Montclair University, Moe is part of the Information Management and Business Analytics Department. He teaches Business Decision Making, Operations Management, and Statistics in Business courses.
George Elias, Ph.D., PMP is Chief Systems Engineer for Space and Airborne Systems leading initiatives in integrated spectrum management and mission avionics at L3Harris Technologies. Additionally, Dr. Elias is as an adjunct professor at Montclair State University’s department of information management & business analytics where he teaches business operations and statistics. Dr. Elias is experienced in leading the development and production of complex hardware and software system solutions including: electronic warfare systems, communication systems, and space systems. Previously, Dr. Elias served as the Director of Capture Excellence & Business Development Operations for the Electronic Warfare Sector. As an L3Harris Technologies Certified Enterprise Capture Lead, Dr. Elias was responsible for directing large, complex pursuits across the enterprise. In addition to systems engineering and business development, Dr. Elias has held roles in finance, quality assurance, operations/manufacturing, modeling and simulation, project engineering, program management, and Internal Research and Development (IRAD). Dr. Elias has a Doctorate in Systems Engineering, a Masters Certificate in Project Management, and a Masters in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology. Additionally, Dr. Elias has a Bachelors in Computer Information Systems from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey & New Jersey Institute of Technology. Finally, Dr. Elias has a Mini-MBA from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Back to Basics.
I am Mola Hustini and I am herewith my good friend, george
Elias.
Welcome, george.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Doing great, Mo.
How are you Good to have youback in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yes, yes, I'm good, I think, yes, it's good to be
back too.
How's your summer going so far?
How's it been going?
It's been a while since wetalked.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's been a very busy summer.
A lot of good things, but verypacked.
I don't think I've had a summerpacked this much since I was in
grad school, so it's really,really, really really putting me
to task.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, I'm glad you're back, man, and I'm glad we're
catching up on our new podcasttoday.
I'm really excited about it.
What do you say, george Shall?
We continue.
I know I think the last one wedid was about interviewing the
interviewing do's and don'ts.
Where do you think we shouldtake it from here?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So, you know, I think we should skip the job
negotiation process right,Because it's so it's exciting to
get a job offer.
I want to skip that for anotherday and jump into your first
few days at work.
How that?
(01:34):
Feels, I think it's somethingthat can be exciting, but also
anxiety at the same time.
Right when you're starting anew adventure, you don't know
exactly what to expect.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I think maybe we should start.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Maybe we should even start when you're coming into a
leadership position.
Maybe you're the new boss.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay, so you're a new boss and you have a team that
reports to you that you don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think there's there'ssome like general mistakes that
that you can make.
I want to start with the firstone.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You ever had someone go?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I'm sorry to interrupt you, just so we build
the picture.
I'm going to sum it up to buildthe picture to people to kind
of like get envision what we'retalking about.
I'm new to a role as a leader.
I have a team that reports tome that I don't know.
It's a new company, so it's notlike a promotion.
I'm starting brand new and abrand new company.
There's five, 10, 15 peoplethat report to me.
(02:48):
I don't know them and I have anew boss that I report to.
It's kind of like the picturethat we're in, right, yeah, I
think we should go with that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
All right, go ahead.
So I didn't interrupt you, goahead.
What were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, no, no, that's good.
I'm glad we we set the scenegood, right.
So you know, I've seen this acouple of times.
I was wondering if you've seenit, If you ever seen that person
come in like like you're thenew boss or they're the new boss
and somehow they can't stop forAgon.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yes, absolutely.
They're bragging and they feellike they have to make changes
in the department automaticallylike part of that bragging that
they're doing that.
You know I'm here now, nomatter how good or bad what's
going on.
Let's make changes to showeverybody that I'm here.
I've seen that many, many times.
Yeah, I, what kind of braggingdo you see?
(03:42):
What kind of bragging do youusually see some place?
Give example.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I've seen bragging where it's like that they'll
talk about the degree that theyhave you know, I have some super
MBA from an Ivy League schoolor maybe they're bragging about
their past role or they were, orsometimes I've seen where they
come from that militaryexperience.
I'm a, I'm a colonel orcommander or something.
(04:09):
Blah, blah, blah.
I was ahead of this, ahead ofthat.
And it's like just you know,overwhelming, trying to tell
their team that they're asuperior human being.
You know what?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You just literally the first two seconds.
You were talking to your mindwith me of an example that I
just have to share.
Do you ever watch that showundercover boss?
Yeah, the one where a boss goesokay.
So I was watching a documentaryor I was reading a story, I
think, related to how itbackfires, and it fits in
(04:44):
perfectly with what you'retalking about.
I don't remember what company,but there was one of those.
You know people that werevisited undercover by their boss
.
They turned out to be great, sothey got all those you know.
They were rewarded properly.
They spent the next few monthsbragging about the fact that
they won and that now they're.
(05:05):
They had that superiormentality.
Long story short, they actuallyended up getting fired.
They were let go.
So, to your point, bragging isa big boo boo, not a good thing
to do, no matter what the reasonis.
If you feel like you were oneout of a hundred people that got
the job and that now you knowwhat you're, you feel like
(05:26):
you're a superman.
No, don't go in and talk about,just like you said, the
qualifications that led you toget the job, your superior
techniques and interviewing thatmade you get the job, your
super personality.
Be modest and be humble.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, and you know, mo, I think there's a psychology
behind bragging, right?
I think when someone's bragging, they're actually trying to
take control over other people'sperception of them, right?
They're really trying to forcethat person to think highly of
(06:05):
them, and in that interaction.
It actually shows weakness andunderconfidence and your keen
usually picks up on it and theystart asking themselves why does
this person feel the need totell me all of their
qualifications?
Why are they doing that?
(06:27):
Why are they trying to make mefeel like I'm less?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, so in other words, that's a really good
point, george.
In other words, they have noother experience or talent or
expertise in showing their andwhat's the word?
I'm looking for?
Not power, but authority,proving their authority in the
(06:51):
new role that they have.
They have, no, they can't thinkof, and you would do it, except
to brag about themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, and I'll tell you kind of a funny scenario
that happened to me.
Somebody came in as anexecutive on our team years ago
and she was a bragger actually.
And the funny thing is is thatshe's saying things like I have
(07:22):
a degree from such and such aschool and I'm like, oh, so do I
.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And she says oh, and.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I have right.
And she says, oh, I had theseroles, so am I.
And then she starts saying, andone day I'm going to do my PhD.
I'm like, oh, good for you.
And then she starts asking me.
I'm like, yeah, I have a PhD.
And she's like, oh right.
So it was kind of like a funnybackfire where I could tell she
was bragging and it actually wasan interesting scenario.
(07:54):
I don't think she liked me verymuch afterwards, but it was
like what are we supposed to do?
A lie?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I know right, you're just carrying on the
conversation, you're playingalong, but you know what, george
, let's go.
I'm sorry, were you going tosay anything else?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You'll go for it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
No, okay, all right, I want to take this to a next
step.
So now you're, superman, cominginto a new role.
Now Just complicate this a bit.
Imagine, now you're coming into a role.
You were hired because thecompany in your department that
you're going to manage or leadhas a problem.
(08:33):
So you're coming in now into aproblem and you have that
mentality that I'm going to saveeverybody, right Like I'm here.
They hired me for a reason I'mthe hero.
How do you think you should?
What mindset, what state ofmind, what should you have if
(08:53):
you're coming into a departmentwhere the person you're
replacing was fired?
They were bad.
You were hired because you werethe best of the best out of 20
people that they interviewed.
What mindset should you havewhen you land in that new role?
Yeah, so, what did you not do?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No, I'm glad you said that, because I think that a
lot of executives or leaders arebrought in and are specifically
given the task to change orbuild change or be a catalyst to
change.
I think that they're oftengiven that task and I would say
the very, very last thing youshould do on your first day or
(09:43):
your first week is come into theteam and say something like I'm
here to fix you or I'm going tochange everything.
That is literally the lastthing that you should do.
And I would say I would keepthat assignment somewhat, at
least somewhat on the backburner, a little bit, not saying
(10:06):
that you shouldn't be doingwhat your supervisors tell you
to do, but I wouldn't beexplicit about it as my approach
.
I'll just give you an exampleof my approach.
I would interview my team, bothtogether and one-on-one, and I
would ask them questions likewell, what's good here, what's
(10:28):
not so good here?
If you were to change something,what would it be?
And I would gather from theteam and I might, if they're all
like super cheery positiveabout it I would say something
like my predecessor left orwhich fired why do you think
that was?
Or I might say something likejust to see if I could get them.
(10:53):
Leadership seems to have someissues with this department.
What do you think they are?
Is there something that I coulddo about it?
I would actually ask them foradvice.
I would say nine times out of10, the people that are already
in the department realize thatthere's some issue, and one or
(11:13):
two of them at least are goingto have some good suggestions on
where to start, and sometimesyou might find out that the
executive leadership perceptionor their diagnosis of what's
going on might not be all wrong,but also may not be all right
yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And, yes, I agree with you.
I agree with you and I'mthinking to confirm what you're
saying.
I actually, in my coaching withclients, I do what you're
talking about.
Sometimes, when I'm workingwith a client and I know from
working with them that they havethings that need to change, but
(11:56):
their personality or theirtendency is to not accept
somebody telling them do this.
Instead of that, sometimes theydo what you're talking about,
where, instead of saying youneed to hire four more people,
for example, I would say do youthink it would help if you
change your organization alittle bit?
Which would lead to the nextquestion Do you think it would
(12:18):
help if you hire one person?
So it's kind of like whatyou're saying I get them to say
for me what I want to say.
So it shows that we're kind oflike meeting in the middle or
that there's some kind ofconsensus, mutual agreement on
what it is that we need to do.
So, yes, sometimes posing therecommendation or plan of action
(12:39):
as questions or doing it via adialogue is sometimes more has a
bigger impact than saying we'regoing to do ABCD.
So I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I mean, you know the thing is is, if you come in with
, you know that you knowsuperior kind of stance and
you're kind of like wagging yourfinger down at your team one,
you're not going to buildrapport, your team's not going
to trust you and you know you'regoing to come down heavy-handed
and what could actually happen?
(13:18):
You might drive people away anda few of them you might say,
okay, well, you know, they werethe ones that were causing the
problems.
The issue is the wrong peoplecould get driven away and you
could be left with the peoplethat can't find an alternative
job, right, so you're stuck withthem.
And the people that were highlymobile, the people that were
(13:41):
actually getting the work doneand doing things, they're the
ones that are going to leavebecause they can't.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, yes, let me.
Let me.
Let me ask you a question,george.
I'm in my new role.
I've been there now thehoneymoon phase is over, the
first few days, and I need tostart working right.
I need to get to know what I'mdoing, what I, what I need to do
(14:14):
, and so on.
Now, keeping in mind, I have aboss and I have people that
report to me, should I or shouldI not ask a lot of questions,
and when should I ask questionsif I do?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, I think, I think that there's.
You know, like, like you'reinsinuating, there's a balance
to asking questions, right?
Because one.
You don't want to look or beperceived that you're slowing
things down and just stoppingthe conversation by asking a
bazillion questions.
But, you know.
So there's, there's a time tolet the meeting go and write
(14:57):
down your question, that thatyou have, and follow up later.
But I think it's fair to saythat when you're starting a new
position, if you really don'tunderstand something you don't
get it, you should ask, right?
You know?
I know in my career, my job, we, we use a lot of acronyms, like
a ton of acronyms.
(15:18):
Everything's an acronym, yeah,and, and.
When someone's you know newenroll, when, when we, when
we're talking in a meeting andthe acronyms are rolling off our
tongues and everybody in themeeting knows, except for the
new leader it's, I think it'svery fair for that new leader to
take.
What does that stand for?
What does that mean?
What does that report withthose three letters, that that
(15:39):
you're saying and peopleunderstand that.
You know we have a certainlingo at work and not everybody
gets it.
And, and, and we're.
We'll slow down and say, okay,this should this acronym, that
acronym, and we're fine withthat because we know how.
How would they know what thingsmean if they weren't there?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I agree with you.
I agree with you.
And what I, what I?
There's one, I don't want tosay exception, but there's one
thing I want to.
I want the listeners to keep inmind my humble opinion.
The way I see it, one of themain reasons a boss would hire
(16:20):
somebody to work for him or heris because they want them,
obviously, to help him.
Now, when I hire somebody, oneof the first things that I'm
looking forward to is that thatperson will take some of the
headache off of me, is going tohelp me out, right?
So, going back to what you saida few minutes ago, I think
(16:43):
there's an, or there's a very,very one should be careful when
they approach this questioningpart, especially with their boss
.
I think you should time when togo to the boss.
You should not, for example, inyour first day or two, be
(17:04):
knocking on his or her doorevery five minutes asking
questions you should think about, especially, not more with your
team, but with your boss.
You should not be I don't wantto use the word harassing, but
you should not be verycomfortable knocking on the door
every time a question comes up.
For example, if I have a bossand I have no idea about 90% of
(17:30):
what I should be doing.
For example, the thing withacronyms that you're talking
about.
Rather than every time anacronym comes up, I go and ask I
might maybe write them down,send that an email asking
somebody just tell me what theymean, right?
So this way I avoided havingthat discussion with my boss.
If there are several questionsthat come up at once, or maybe I
(17:55):
would save a bunch of questionsto go one time during the day
instead of going two, three orfour times in the day.
My point is try to bediplomatic and careful.
When you need to ask your bossquestions, don't do it where
(18:18):
you're going in every twominutes.
Don't do it where you're askingrepetitive questions, things
that he or she answered.
Be careful with your bossbecause, keep in mind again, the
main reason that boss hired youis to take away from the things
that he or she is doing and toalleviate some of the stress and
headache off of them.
(18:38):
Make sense, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, I think that if you have a legitimate question,
I think you can be clever aboutwhere you get your answers from
, and it doesn't necessarilyneed to be from your boss,
especially if you're inexecutive scenarios.
Oftentimes your supervisor mightliterally just be too busy to
(19:05):
answer every one of yourquestions.
So I would say you couldactually ask your team.
So, for instance, if youlegitimately don't understand
some process or something goingon, ask somebody in your team
that used to do it or does itsay hey, could you walk me
through it.
Or if you want to see, like youhave a manufacturing or some
(19:28):
floor or something that you do,hey, get your team to show you.
I think that's a powerful wayand it's a way of showing the
team that they have knowledgethat you don't have, which
actually shows that you care andyou're interested in what
they're doing.
(19:50):
So another thing anotherapproach that I've seen work in
some larger workplaces is if youcan find a peer of yours to
show you the ropes, becausethey'll often be processes or
things that you have to do as anemployee, and getting a peer to
(20:12):
kind of show you the ropes isanother method right.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe your supervisor all the time
which actually brings up a goodpoint.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Maybe what we should think about is and I know a lot
of companies do it if I am goingto hire somebody that
proactively I put up here, orsomebody that this new hire
person can shadow and follow fora week to a month to get to
know the job, right Part of thetraining process or under a
(20:44):
bigger umbrella maybe brings upthe point that the training,
onboarding process, orientation,is very important, so that it
helps that you know what.
Maybe, instead of I want tohire this person to start
working October 1st, it might bea good idea if I bring him in
mid-September and haven't gothrough an orientation for two
(21:04):
weeks to kind of eliminate, puthim through a process that will
eliminate a lot of the questionsthat he might face when he hits
the floor running October 1st.
Right, it kind of shows thatthis world of orientation and
training does matter.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It totally matters.
Being able to onboard you knowan employee properly, I think is
critical from a company, butfrom an employee to a new
employee perspective.
I think people need to recognizethat companies aren't perfect
and they don't necessarily doonboarding perfect and there's
(21:46):
going to be times where you'llbe a little lost and need to ask
questions, and I think you know, unfortunately, sometimes for
you to be successful at work,you need to create that
onboarding process for yourself,and some of that is asking the
right questions, building theright network, trying to be
(22:08):
creative and, you know, findthose resources and those people
that are willing to help you.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And set up your own training.
In other words, set up themeetings to train yourself on
what you need to know and whatyou need to do.
Absolutely, absolutely,absolutely.
Is it good or bad to ask yourdirect reports for advice?
Is that weak in you?
Is it a good thing or a badthing?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I think it's great.
I'll be honest with you.
I've had new supervisors for mea good couple on board and have
sat with me and said somethinglike George, what advice do you
have for me, right?
And I'll be playing with themand I take it as an opportunity
(23:03):
to tell them how to avoid somepast mistake that somebody else
did, or I'll take it as anopportunity to give them advice.
Hey, you really wanna meet suchand such a person because
they're the real moog or ashaker around here.
I mean, I'll come out with itand quite frankly, there's an
(23:27):
interesting thing that happenswhen somebody takes interest in
your thoughts, somehow you thinkmore highly of them.
So when you ask your team foradvice.
That team member probably thinksthat you're a genius, smart
person because you knew theright person to go to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, you're right.
And it builds that comfortlevel with your team that
there's this understanding.
I'm not perfect, you're notperfect, we both learn from each
other.
And also, since we did startBryce by saying that the
scenario we're talking about issomebody in a leadership
position.
Leaders should realize thattheir team especially at the
(24:08):
functional, operational levelthe ones closer to the market,
closer to the competition,closer to the customer, closer
to the client they have the bestintel, they have the best
knowledge about what's going onin the outside world, outside of
the four walls of the company.
So absolutely go and ask foradvice, go and ask for, ask
(24:30):
questions, ask what they send,get their opinions, solicit
their opinion.
I would definitely definitelydo that, not just in my first
month or day, but until I quitor move on to another role.
I would continuously alwaysseek advice, opinions, feedback
from my direct reports and theones beneath them that exist.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, moe, I think it's not that long of a
conversation, but why don't wetransition a little bit to you
know, if you're coming in as anmaybe early in career or a fresh
out of school, or you knowyou're coming in as kind of an
individual contributor, not theboss?
You're walking into the job forthe first time, you know now
(25:27):
you're really a blank slateright.
You're probably not being toldto come in fixed to team.
You're coming in there to learn.
What do you think are thebiggest mistakes that somebody
you know does when they'recoming into a job like that?
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Some of the mistakes I see, or I don't like that,
some of the things that I thinkthat could harm me.
If I get into a role like thatis if I do not get to know my
team members, my colleagues.
If I stay to myself, I comeacross as somebody that is a
loner, that does not want toknow anyone.
(26:08):
I think that could harm me,especially after everything that
we just said.
My power, my strength, mysuccess will come from my team,
not just from my boss.
So I need to get to know them.
So I think being personable,being approachable, being humble
, not trying to single yourselfout above others, is really
(26:32):
helpful when you get to that newrole.
Grabbing a coffee with somebody, bringing in a box of donuts on
your first day or second dayfor breakfast, bringing in a box
of coffee from Wawa or Dunkin'Donuts, doing those little
things that people like, thatwould make them welcome you and
(26:54):
approach you.
It's not always work.
I mean, let's be realistic.
To make people we're humanasking about my kids' soccer
team, asking about me coachingLittle League, asking about my
interests, ask others about whatthey like, so that they get to
like you.
Don't just be like good morning, did you send this email.
(27:17):
Good morning, we're going tohave a meeting today to talk
about ABC.
Right, be personable, don't betoo nosy.
Obviously don't ask questionsthat you shouldn't ask about
someone or someone's family orsomeone's private life, but open
up that dialogue with your teammembers so that you guys do
(27:38):
become, if anything, at leastcompany or work friends, not
necessarily outside of thecompany, but at least in the
company that you guys arecomfortable working and
interacting and communicatingwith each other.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, like as you're saying that, I think that
you're absolutely right.
You have to build a personalnetwork.
That's in most companies.
That's the way you get thingsdone.
I think a mistake that folksmake sometimes is one, like you
said, they may not actually dothat.
They might be kind of, like youknow, isolate themselves, and
(28:19):
that doesn't help.
The other mistake is trying toohard to make friends and doing
things that end up being morelike toxic patterns.
Like, for instance, very earlyon in your first few weeks you
participate in work gossip ortalk about somebody, or maybe
(28:42):
you overshare because you'redesperate to make a friend.
I think those are toxicpatterns.
We've all had probably a littlebit of gossip going on in the
workplace.
It's sort of like a naturalthing to do to talk about
(29:03):
colleagues or your boss orwhat's going on.
And to a certain extent, some ofthat communication I think
might be okay or tolerable, butwhen you're early in career or
early in a role, you don't knowthe politics of what's going on
and you're doing something verydangerous to start talking about
(29:25):
other people because they mayhave been around each other for
a long time and you're the newperson on the block.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's a really good point, absolutely the second.
Somebody comes to talk to meabout someone else in a non-work
related way, kind of like whatyou said, in a toxic way.
I already build the perceptionthat there's always the
(29:56):
opportunity they can do the samething about me.
People like that.
They get singled out I don'twant to say flagged or branded,
but they become known as thatperson that does that.
And I think it's just like yousaid, especially if you don't
know people and you do it earlyon, especially game people's
(30:17):
friendship or trust, highly,highly, highly probable that it
will backfire.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yeah, so I agree with you.
You know, the other mistakesthat I think some folks make
when they start a new positionis they decide that they're only
going to do what they werehired for.
And I think, you know, beinginflexible in what you do is a
(30:51):
mistake, and I would say I wouldencourage people to actually do
the opposite.
If there's things around theoffice that you see aren't being
done and they should be done,you know, I mean you can ask
permission to do it or maybe incertain cases just do it right.
And sometimes those littlethings make a huge difference
(31:14):
and you know you get recognizedas a doer, right.
So I'll just give you anexample of something I, you know
, one of the things I noticedearly on in my career is that
there's jobs for people to likeliterally approve paperwork or
approve things, and it's notnecessarily anybody's job to go
walk that piece of paper fromdesk to desk and actually push
(31:35):
things along, right.
But if you become thatproactive person and you say you
know what, it's not my job, butI'll walk it from desk A to
desk B, just so this processhappens, I think you know people
recognize that you're somebodythat's interested in getting
things done.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Absolutely, and it fits in with what we said at the
beginning.
Your boss hired you to help himor her and alleviate some of
the burden off of them.
So the more you do what youjust talked about, the better
you're going to be viewed in apositive way with your boss,
with your team Balancing it,absolutely Right.
(32:17):
Yes, if you're going tovolunteer, especially if it's
something that you're going tovolunteer with that funk anybody
the more you become experiencedin your job, the more you can
do it.
But to some extent, absolutely,I think it's the right thing to
do.
Show the positive energy, showthe willingness to help, always
offer to help.
Show that sincerity in youroffering.
(32:42):
It will never, never harm you.
It builds a good, positiveperception around you.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
No more.
We're running short on time,but I want to make one more.
One more point before we wrapit up here, and I want to bring
this up because I think thatwhen you're new and career and
you're fresh out of school, youhave a lot of fresh ideas.
You're your early career andinspired, and you might see the
(33:10):
company doing things that arethe old, stodgy way.
You might have some reallybright ideas and be enthusiastic
about it.
I would encourage folks to tryto be patient and not make too
many suggestions withoutbuilding rapport first.
Right, Like you need to buildtrust and rapport with your
(33:31):
coworkers before you starttelling them that they're doing
it all wrong and you might thinkyou're doing the right thing by
showing how smart you are, butthey're actually going to start
distrusting you because they'regoing to think, oh, this
person's a know it all and theydon't know anything because they
(33:51):
haven't been around here likeus.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yes and that's yes.
I agree 100%, and that's kindof like the quick remark I made
at the very beginning.
Today, some managers, someleaders go into a company and
they think the best way they'regoing to show that their value
and work is if they changethings around.
Don't do that, do not go inwith the mentality that you need
to make changes and, just likeyou said, george, even if there
(34:17):
are things that need to bechanged, don't do it right away.
I agree, I agree, I agree withyou, my friend.
This was great, this was reallygood, george.
I think it was some interestingpoints that we shared and I'll
give it back to you, buddy, towrap it up.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
No, I think great conversation mode get to have
you back and doing thesepodcasts again.
It's been what a month or two,so it's nice to do this.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yes, so, anyway, go ahead.
No, no, no, go ahead.
What's going to say?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
You're good, all right.
So thank you all for listeningto this episode of back to
basics on the business edge,brought to you by Feliciano
School of Business at MontclairState University.
We hope you enjoyed thispodcast and welcome any feedback
you have for us, includingsuggestions for future topics.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Thank you, George, and thank you for all the
listeners and we will see younext time on back to basics
podcast Take care, george,awesome Take care.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
See you next time.
Hello everyone and welcome back to Back to Basics.
I am Mola Hustini and I am herewith my good friend, george
Elias.
Welcome, george.
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Doing great, Mo.
How are you Good to have youback in the country.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yes, yes, I'm good, I think, yes, it's good to be
back too.
How's your summer going so far?
How's it been going?
It's been a while since wetalked.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's been a very busy summer.
A lot of good things, but verypacked.
I don't think I've had a summerpacked this much since I was in
grad school, so it's really,really, really really putting me
to task.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Well, I'm glad you're back, man, and I'm glad we're
catching up on our new podcasttoday.
I'm really excited about it.
What do you say, george Shall?
We continue.
I know I think the last one wedid was about interviewing the
interviewing do's and don'ts.
Where do you think we shouldtake it from here?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
So, you know, I think we should skip the job
negotiation process right,Because it's so it's exciting to
get a job offer.
I want to skip that for anotherday and jump into your first
few days at work.
How that?
(01:34):
Feels, I think it's somethingthat can be exciting, but also
anxiety at the same time.
Right when you're starting anew adventure, you don't know
exactly what to expect.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I think maybe we should start.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Maybe we should even start when you're coming into a
leadership position.
Maybe you're the new boss.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Okay, so you're a new boss and you have a team that
reports to you that you don'tknow.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And I think there's there'ssome like general mistakes that
that you can make.
I want to start with the firstone.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You ever had someone go?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I'm sorry to interrupt you, just so we build
the picture.
I'm going to sum it up to buildthe picture to people to kind
of like get envision what we'retalking about.
I'm new to a role as a leader.
I have a team that reports tome that I don't know.
It's a new company, so it's notlike a promotion.
I'm starting brand new and abrand new company.
There's five, 10, 15 peoplethat report to me.
(02:48):
I don't know them and I have anew boss that I report to.
It's kind of like the picturethat we're in, right, yeah, I
think we should go with that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
All right, go ahead.
So I didn't interrupt you, goahead.
What were you going to say?
Speaker 2 (03:03):
No, no, no, that's good.
I'm glad we we set the scenegood, right.
So you know, I've seen this acouple of times.
I was wondering if you've seenit, If you ever seen that person
come in like like you're thenew boss or they're the new boss
and somehow they can't stop forAgon.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yes, absolutely.
They're bragging and they feellike they have to make changes
in the department automaticallylike part of that bragging that
they're doing that.
You know I'm here now, nomatter how good or bad what's
going on.
Let's make changes to showeverybody that I'm here.
I've seen that many, many times.
Yeah, I, what kind of braggingdo you see?
(03:42):
What kind of bragging do youusually see some place?
Give example.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I've seen bragging where it's like that they'll
talk about the degree that theyhave you know, I have some super
MBA from an Ivy League schoolor maybe they're bragging about
their past role or they were, orsometimes I've seen where they
come from that militaryexperience.
I'm a, I'm a colonel orcommander or something.
(04:09):
Blah, blah, blah.
I was ahead of this, ahead ofthat.
And it's like just you know,overwhelming, trying to tell
their team that they're asuperior human being.
You know what?
Speaker 1 (04:24):
You just literally the first two seconds.
You were talking to your mindwith me of an example that I
just have to share.
Do you ever watch that showundercover boss?
Yeah, the one where a boss goesokay.
So I was watching a documentaryor I was reading a story, I
think, related to how itbackfires, and it fits in
(04:44):
perfectly with what you'retalking about.
I don't remember what company,but there was one of those.
You know people that werevisited undercover by their boss
.
They turned out to be great, sothey got all those you know.
They were rewarded properly.
They spent the next few monthsbragging about the fact that
they won and that now they're.
(05:05):
They had that superiormentality.
Long story short, they actuallyended up getting fired.
They were let go.
So, to your point, bragging isa big boo boo, not a good thing
to do, no matter what the reasonis.
If you feel like you were oneout of a hundred people that got
the job and that now you knowwhat you're, you feel like
(05:26):
you're a superman.
No, don't go in and talk about,just like you said, the
qualifications that led you toget the job, your superior
techniques and interviewing thatmade you get the job, your
super personality.
Be modest and be humble.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yeah, and you know, mo, I think there's a psychology
behind bragging, right?
I think when someone's bragging, they're actually trying to
take control over other people'sperception of them, right?
They're really trying to forcethat person to think highly of
(06:05):
them, and in that interaction.
It actually shows weakness andunderconfidence and your keen
usually picks up on it and theystart asking themselves why does
this person feel the need totell me all of their
qualifications?
Why are they doing that?
(06:27):
Why are they trying to make mefeel like I'm less?
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, so in other words, that's a really good
point, george.
In other words, they have noother experience or talent or
expertise in showing their andwhat's the word?
I'm looking for?
Not power, but authority,proving their authority in the
(06:51):
new role that they have.
They have, no, they can't thinkof, and you would do it, except
to brag about themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, and I'll tell you kind of a funny scenario
that happened to me.
Somebody came in as anexecutive on our team years ago
and she was a bragger actually.
And the funny thing is is thatshe's saying things like I have
(07:22):
a degree from such and such aschool and I'm like, oh, so do I
.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
And she says oh, and.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
I have right.
And she says, oh, I had theseroles, so am I.
And then she starts saying, andone day I'm going to do my PhD.
I'm like, oh, good for you.
And then she starts asking me.
I'm like, yeah, I have a PhD.
And she's like, oh right.
So it was kind of like a funnybackfire where I could tell she
was bragging and it actually wasan interesting scenario.
(07:54):
I don't think she liked me verymuch afterwards, but it was
like what are we supposed to do?
A lie?
Speaker 1 (07:59):
I know right, you're just carrying on the
conversation, you're playingalong, but you know what, george
, let's go.
I'm sorry, were you going tosay anything else?
Speaker 2 (08:10):
You'll go for it.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
No, okay, all right, I want to take this to a next
step.
So now you're, superman, cominginto a new role.
Now Just complicate this a bit.
Imagine, now you're coming into a role.
You were hired because thecompany in your department that
you're going to manage or leadhas a problem.
(08:33):
So you're coming in now into aproblem and you have that
mentality that I'm going to saveeverybody, right Like I'm here.
They hired me for a reason I'mthe hero.
How do you think you should?
What mindset, what state ofmind, what should you have if
(08:53):
you're coming into a departmentwhere the person you're
replacing was fired?
They were bad.
You were hired because you werethe best of the best out of 20
people that they interviewed.
What mindset should you havewhen you land in that new role?
Yeah, so, what did you not do?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
No, I'm glad you said that, because I think that a
lot of executives or leaders arebrought in and are specifically
given the task to change orbuild change or be a catalyst to
change.
I think that they're oftengiven that task and I would say
the very, very last thing youshould do on your first day or
(09:43):
your first week is come into theteam and say something like I'm
here to fix you or I'm going tochange everything.
That is literally the lastthing that you should do.
And I would say I would keepthat assignment somewhat, at
least somewhat on the backburner, a little bit, not saying
(10:06):
that you shouldn't be doingwhat your supervisors tell you
to do, but I wouldn't beexplicit about it as my approach
.
I'll just give you an exampleof my approach.
I would interview my team, bothtogether and one-on-one, and I
would ask them questions likewell, what's good here, what's
(10:28):
not so good here?
If you were to change something,what would it be?
And I would gather from theteam and I might, if they're all
like super cheery positiveabout it I would say something
like my predecessor left orwhich fired why do you think
that was?
Or I might say something likejust to see if I could get them.
(10:53):
Leadership seems to have someissues with this department.
What do you think they are?
Is there something that I coulddo about it?
I would actually ask them foradvice.
I would say nine times out of10, the people that are already
in the department realize thatthere's some issue, and one or
(11:13):
two of them at least are goingto have some good suggestions on
where to start, and sometimesyou might find out that the
executive leadership perceptionor their diagnosis of what's
going on might not be all wrong,but also may not be all right
yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And, yes, I agree with you.
I agree with you and I'mthinking to confirm what you're
saying.
I actually, in my coaching withclients, I do what you're
talking about.
Sometimes, when I'm workingwith a client and I know from
working with them that they havethings that need to change, but
(11:56):
their personality or theirtendency is to not accept
somebody telling them do this.
Instead of that, sometimes theydo what you're talking about,
where, instead of saying youneed to hire four more people,
for example, I would say do youthink it would help if you
change your organization alittle bit?
Which would lead to the nextquestion Do you think it would
(12:18):
help if you hire one person?
So it's kind of like whatyou're saying I get them to say
for me what I want to say.
So it shows that we're kind oflike meeting in the middle or
that there's some kind ofconsensus, mutual agreement on
what it is that we need to do.
So, yes, sometimes posing therecommendation or plan of action
(12:39):
as questions or doing it via adialogue is sometimes more has a
bigger impact than saying we'regoing to do ABCD.
So I agree with you on that.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
I mean, you know the thing is is, if you come in with
, you know that you knowsuperior kind of stance and
you're kind of like wagging yourfinger down at your team one,
you're not going to buildrapport, your team's not going
to trust you and you know you'regoing to come down heavy-handed
and what could actually happen?
(13:18):
You might drive people away anda few of them you might say,
okay, well, you know, they werethe ones that were causing the
problems.
The issue is the wrong peoplecould get driven away and you
could be left with the peoplethat can't find an alternative
job, right, so you're stuck withthem.
And the people that were highlymobile, the people that were
(13:41):
actually getting the work doneand doing things, they're the
ones that are going to leavebecause they can't.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, yes, let me.
Let me.
Let me ask you a question,george.
I'm in my new role.
I've been there now thehoneymoon phase is over, the
first few days, and I need tostart working right.
I need to get to know what I'mdoing, what I, what I need to do
(14:14):
, and so on.
Now, keeping in mind, I have aboss and I have people that
report to me, should I or shouldI not ask a lot of questions,
and when should I ask questionsif I do?
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, I think, I think that there's.
You know, like, like you'reinsinuating, there's a balance
to asking questions, right?
Because one.
You don't want to look or beperceived that you're slowing
things down and just stoppingthe conversation by asking a
bazillion questions.
But, you know.
So there's, there's a time tolet the meeting go and write
(14:57):
down your question, that thatyou have, and follow up later.
But I think it's fair to saythat when you're starting a new
position, if you really don'tunderstand something you don't
get it, you should ask, right?
You know?
I know in my career, my job, we, we use a lot of acronyms, like
a ton of acronyms.
(15:18):
Everything's an acronym, yeah,and, and.
When someone's you know newenroll, when, when we, when
we're talking in a meeting andthe acronyms are rolling off our
tongues and everybody in themeeting knows, except for the
new leader it's, I think it'svery fair for that new leader to
take.
What does that stand for?
What does that mean?
What does that report withthose three letters, that that
(15:39):
you're saying and peopleunderstand that.
You know we have a certainlingo at work and not everybody
gets it.
And, and, and we're.
We'll slow down and say, okay,this should this acronym, that
acronym, and we're fine withthat because we know how.
How would they know what thingsmean if they weren't there?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I agree with you.
I agree with you.
And what I, what I?
There's one, I don't want tosay exception, but there's one
thing I want to.
I want the listeners to keep inmind my humble opinion.
The way I see it, one of themain reasons a boss would hire
(16:20):
somebody to work for him or heris because they want them,
obviously, to help him.
Now, when I hire somebody, oneof the first things that I'm
looking forward to is that thatperson will take some of the
headache off of me, is going tohelp me out, right?
So, going back to what you saida few minutes ago, I think
(16:43):
there's an, or there's a very,very one should be careful when
they approach this questioningpart, especially with their boss
.
I think you should time when togo to the boss.
You should not, for example, inyour first day or two, be
(17:04):
knocking on his or her doorevery five minutes asking
questions you should think about, especially, not more with your
team, but with your boss.
You should not be I don't wantto use the word harassing, but
you should not be verycomfortable knocking on the door
every time a question comes up.
For example, if I have a bossand I have no idea about 90% of
(17:30):
what I should be doing.
For example, the thing withacronyms that you're talking
about.
Rather than every time anacronym comes up, I go and ask I
might maybe write them down,send that an email asking
somebody just tell me what theymean, right?
So this way I avoided havingthat discussion with my boss.
If there are several questionsthat come up at once, or maybe I
(17:55):
would save a bunch of questionsto go one time during the day
instead of going two, three orfour times in the day.
My point is try to bediplomatic and careful.
When you need to ask your bossquestions, don't do it where
(18:18):
you're going in every twominutes.
Don't do it where you're askingrepetitive questions, things
that he or she answered.
Be careful with your bossbecause, keep in mind again, the
main reason that boss hired youis to take away from the things
that he or she is doing and toalleviate some of the stress and
headache off of them.
(18:38):
Make sense, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Yeah, I think that if you have a legitimate question,
I think you can be clever aboutwhere you get your answers from
, and it doesn't necessarilyneed to be from your boss,
especially if you're inexecutive scenarios.
Oftentimes your supervisor mightliterally just be too busy to
(19:05):
answer every one of yourquestions.
So I would say you couldactually ask your team.
So, for instance, if youlegitimately don't understand
some process or something goingon, ask somebody in your team
that used to do it or does itsay hey, could you walk me
through it.
Or if you want to see, like youhave a manufacturing or some
(19:28):
floor or something that you do,hey, get your team to show you.
I think that's a powerful wayand it's a way of showing the
team that they have knowledgethat you don't have, which
actually shows that you care andyou're interested in what
they're doing.
(19:50):
So another thing anotherapproach that I've seen work in
some larger workplaces is if youcan find a peer of yours to
show you the ropes, becausethey'll often be processes or
things that you have to do as anemployee, and getting a peer to
(20:12):
kind of show you the ropes isanother method right.
It doesn't necessarily have tobe your supervisor all the time
which actually brings up a goodpoint.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Maybe what we should think about is and I know a lot
of companies do it if I am goingto hire somebody that
proactively I put up here, orsomebody that this new hire
person can shadow and follow fora week to a month to get to
know the job, right Part of thetraining process or under a
(20:44):
bigger umbrella maybe brings upthe point that the training,
onboarding process, orientation,is very important, so that it
helps that you know what.
Maybe, instead of I want tohire this person to start
working October 1st, it might bea good idea if I bring him in
mid-September and haven't gothrough an orientation for two
(21:04):
weeks to kind of eliminate, puthim through a process that will
eliminate a lot of the questionsthat he might face when he hits
the floor running October 1st.
Right, it kind of shows thatthis world of orientation and
training does matter.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
It totally matters.
Being able to onboard you knowan employee properly, I think is
critical from a company, butfrom an employee to a new
employee perspective.
I think people need to recognizethat companies aren't perfect
and they don't necessarily doonboarding perfect and there's
(21:46):
going to be times where you'llbe a little lost and need to ask
questions, and I think you know, unfortunately, sometimes for
you to be successful at work,you need to create that
onboarding process for yourself,and some of that is asking the
right questions, building theright network, trying to be
(22:08):
creative and, you know, findthose resources and those people
that are willing to help you.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
And set up your own training.
In other words, set up themeetings to train yourself on
what you need to know and whatyou need to do.
Absolutely, absolutely,absolutely.
Is it good or bad to ask yourdirect reports for advice?
Is that weak in you?
Is it a good thing or a badthing?
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I think it's great.
I'll be honest with you.
I've had new supervisors for mea good couple on board and have
sat with me and said somethinglike George, what advice do you
have for me, right?
And I'll be playing with themand I take it as an opportunity
(23:03):
to tell them how to avoid somepast mistake that somebody else
did, or I'll take it as anopportunity to give them advice.
Hey, you really wanna meet suchand such a person because
they're the real moog or ashaker around here.
I mean, I'll come out with itand quite frankly, there's an
(23:27):
interesting thing that happenswhen somebody takes interest in
your thoughts, somehow you thinkmore highly of them.
So when you ask your team foradvice.
That team member probably thinksthat you're a genius, smart
person because you knew theright person to go to.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Yeah, you're right.
And it builds that comfortlevel with your team that
there's this understanding.
I'm not perfect, you're notperfect, we both learn from each
other.
And also, since we did startBryce by saying that the
scenario we're talking about issomebody in a leadership
position.
Leaders should realize thattheir team especially at the
(24:08):
functional, operational levelthe ones closer to the market,
closer to the competition,closer to the customer, closer
to the client they have the bestintel, they have the best
knowledge about what's going onin the outside world, outside of
the four walls of the company.
So absolutely go and ask foradvice, go and ask for, ask
(24:30):
questions, ask what they send,get their opinions, solicit
their opinion.
I would definitely definitelydo that, not just in my first
month or day, but until I quitor move on to another role.
I would continuously alwaysseek advice, opinions, feedback
from my direct reports and theones beneath them that exist.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yeah, moe, I think it's not that long of a
conversation, but why don't wetransition a little bit to you
know, if you're coming in as anmaybe early in career or a fresh
out of school, or you knowyou're coming in as kind of an
individual contributor, not theboss?
You're walking into the job forthe first time, you know now
(25:27):
you're really a blank slateright.
You're probably not being toldto come in fixed to team.
You're coming in there to learn.
What do you think are thebiggest mistakes that somebody
you know does when they'recoming into a job like that?
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Some of the mistakes I see, or I don't like that,
some of the things that I thinkthat could harm me.
If I get into a role like thatis if I do not get to know my
team members, my colleagues.
If I stay to myself, I comeacross as somebody that is a
loner, that does not want toknow anyone.
(26:08):
I think that could harm me,especially after everything that
we just said.
My power, my strength, mysuccess will come from my team,
not just from my boss.
So I need to get to know them.
So I think being personable,being approachable, being humble
, not trying to single yourselfout above others, is really
(26:32):
helpful when you get to that newrole.
Grabbing a coffee with somebody, bringing in a box of donuts on
your first day or second dayfor breakfast, bringing in a box
of coffee from Wawa or Dunkin'Donuts, doing those little
things that people like, thatwould make them welcome you and
(26:54):
approach you.
It's not always work.
I mean, let's be realistic.
To make people we're humanasking about my kids' soccer
team, asking about me coachingLittle League, asking about my
interests, ask others about whatthey like, so that they get to
like you.
Don't just be like good morning, did you send this email.
(27:17):
Good morning, we're going tohave a meeting today to talk
about ABC.
Right, be personable, don't betoo nosy.
Obviously don't ask questionsthat you shouldn't ask about
someone or someone's family orsomeone's private life, but open
up that dialogue with your teammembers so that you guys do
(27:38):
become, if anything, at leastcompany or work friends, not
necessarily outside of thecompany, but at least in the
company that you guys arecomfortable working and
interacting and communicatingwith each other.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
You know, like as you're saying that, I think that
you're absolutely right.
You have to build a personalnetwork.
That's in most companies.
That's the way you get thingsdone.
I think a mistake that folksmake sometimes is one, like you
said, they may not actually dothat.
They might be kind of, like youknow, isolate themselves, and
(28:19):
that doesn't help.
The other mistake is trying toohard to make friends and doing
things that end up being morelike toxic patterns.
Like, for instance, very earlyon in your first few weeks you
participate in work gossip ortalk about somebody, or maybe
(28:42):
you overshare because you'redesperate to make a friend.
I think those are toxicpatterns.
We've all had probably a littlebit of gossip going on in the
workplace.
It's sort of like a naturalthing to do to talk about
(29:03):
colleagues or your boss orwhat's going on.
And to a certain extent, some ofthat communication I think
might be okay or tolerable, butwhen you're early in career or
early in a role, you don't knowthe politics of what's going on
and you're doing something verydangerous to start talking about
(29:25):
other people because they mayhave been around each other for
a long time and you're the newperson on the block.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That's a really good point, absolutely the second.
Somebody comes to talk to meabout someone else in a non-work
related way, kind of like whatyou said, in a toxic way.
I already build the perceptionthat there's always the
(29:56):
opportunity they can do the samething about me.
People like that.
They get singled out I don'twant to say flagged or branded,
but they become known as thatperson that does that.
And I think it's just like yousaid, especially if you don't
know people and you do it earlyon, especially game people's
(30:17):
friendship or trust, highly,highly, highly probable that it
will backfire.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yeah, so I agree with you.
You know, the other mistakesthat I think some folks make
when they start a new positionis they decide that they're only
going to do what they werehired for.
And I think, you know, beinginflexible in what you do is a
(30:51):
mistake, and I would say I wouldencourage people to actually do
the opposite.
If there's things around theoffice that you see aren't being
done and they should be done,you know, I mean you can ask
permission to do it or maybe incertain cases just do it right.
And sometimes those littlethings make a huge difference
(31:14):
and you know you get recognizedas a doer, right.
So I'll just give you anexample of something I, you know
, one of the things I noticedearly on in my career is that
there's jobs for people to likeliterally approve paperwork or
approve things, and it's notnecessarily anybody's job to go
walk that piece of paper fromdesk to desk and actually push
(31:35):
things along, right.
But if you become thatproactive person and you say you
know what, it's not my job, butI'll walk it from desk A to
desk B, just so this processhappens, I think you know people
recognize that you're somebodythat's interested in getting
things done.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Absolutely, and it fits in with what we said at the
beginning.
Your boss hired you to help himor her and alleviate some of
the burden off of them.
So the more you do what youjust talked about, the better
you're going to be viewed in apositive way with your boss,
with your team Balancing it,absolutely Right.
(32:17):
Yes, if you're going tovolunteer, especially if it's
something that you're going tovolunteer with that funk anybody
the more you become experiencedin your job, the more you can
do it.
But to some extent, absolutely,I think it's the right thing to
do.
Show the positive energy, showthe willingness to help, always
offer to help.
Show that sincerity in youroffering.
(32:42):
It will never, never harm you.
It builds a good, positiveperception around you.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
No more.
We're running short on time,but I want to make one more.
One more point before we wrapit up here, and I want to bring
this up because I think thatwhen you're new and career and
you're fresh out of school, youhave a lot of fresh ideas.
You're your early career andinspired, and you might see the
(33:10):
company doing things that arethe old, stodgy way.
You might have some reallybright ideas and be enthusiastic
about it.
I would encourage folks to tryto be patient and not make too
many suggestions withoutbuilding rapport first.
Right, Like you need to buildtrust and rapport with your
(33:31):
coworkers before you starttelling them that they're doing
it all wrong and you might thinkyou're doing the right thing by
showing how smart you are, butthey're actually going to start
distrusting you because they'regoing to think, oh, this
person's a know it all and theydon't know anything because they
(33:51):
haven't been around here likeus.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Yes and that's yes.
I agree 100%, and that's kindof like the quick remark I made
at the very beginning.
Today, some managers, someleaders go into a company and
they think the best way they'regoing to show that their value
and work is if they changethings around.
Don't do that, do not go inwith the mentality that you need
to make changes and, just likeyou said, george, even if there
(34:17):
are things that need to bechanged, don't do it right away.
I agree, I agree, I agree withyou, my friend.
This was great, this was reallygood, george.
I think it was some interestingpoints that we shared and I'll
give it back to you, buddy, towrap it up.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
No, I think great conversation mode get to have
you back and doing thesepodcasts again.
It's been what a month or two,so it's nice to do this.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
Yes, so, anyway, go ahead.
No, no, no, go ahead.
What's going to say?
Speaker 2 (34:55):
You're good, all right.
So thank you all for listeningto this episode of back to
basics on the business edge,brought to you by Feliciano
School of Business at MontclairState University.
We hope you enjoyed thispodcast and welcome any feedback
you have for us, includingsuggestions for future topics.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Thank you, George, and thank you for all the
listeners and we will see younext time on back to basics
podcast Take care, george,awesome Take care.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
See you next time.
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