1871 CEO Howard Tullman Speaks on 1871 Innovation and Futureproofing at World Marketing Summit in Japan

Final 2017 DYETT High School for the Arts Entrepreneurship Class at 1871

1871 CEO Howard Tullman Speaks on Tech Trends for BSH Conference

New INC Magazine Blog by 1871 CEO Howard Tullman

The Old Office Rules No Longer Apply. Got Any New Ones?

The debate used to be about carrot or stick in coaxing performance out of your people. In a more nuanced business world, setting the tone may be as important as setting the guidelines.

By Howard Tullman

These days the old HR rules and standard practices and behaviors, which never meant much anyway in the startup world, are changing so rapidly that the management approaches and motivational strategies that used to work may or may not get the job done today. There's no longer a simple rule book that's worth anything in a world where no one knows what's politically right or wrong from day to day.  I'm not talking here about the current conversations regarding sexual abuse and harassment. Those are black and white cases of stupidity or criminality and have no place in any business. 

But when you're trying to build your company culture from scratch, along with everything else, ambiguity about how you and your team members treat each other is the last thing you can afford. Language, lectures, liquor, looking at someone the wrong way-- these are all potential land mines and I guess we're gonna need new signs saying "huggers beware" in our lounges. Thumper used to tell Bambi to say nothing if she couldn't say something nice, but the best advice today seems to be to say nothing at all if you want to stay out of trouble.

Of course, that makes it tough to run your business. So where do we go from here?

There have been debates among business consultants and corporate shrinks for centuries over whether the carrot or the stick is the most effective motivation tool. As far as I can see, the jury is still out. And it's getting more difficult all the time to determine how to move things forward without going too far. I'm talking about everything from how you talk to your team to trying to "tell it like it really is" to people inside and outside your shop. We live, increasingly, in an eggshell world and things that were common practices and words that used to be "aw shucks" are now likely to cause some awful anguish and some very unhappy people.

Part of the problem is that a lot of the effectiveness of the approach you pick depends on the particular context of your communications, the relationships between the concerned parties, and even on the type of business or industry itself. For example, we see both approaches in politics every day. One politician threatens his opposition (and even the people in his own party) with all kinds of grief and retribution-- funding new primary opponents, pushing them to vote publicly for unpopular bills or initiatives, badgering them from his bully pulpit.  Another one takes the exact opposite tack:  he'll always have your back if you're in his party,  he'll never put you between a rock and a hard place with your constituents, and he'll do everything in his power to make sure your seat is safe. As we know, keeping your seat and your job is what it's actually all about for these guys. As my old friend Bill McGowan (founder of MCI) used to say: "these guys have great loyalty to their businesses, but their number one loyalty is to their own tush." In your own case, you've got to decide what's likely to be the best way to deal with your people, your partners and vendors, and the public at large. 

It's also becoming clear that there may be significant changes in what will be effective depending on the ages of the people you're trying to influence and incentivize. We keep hearing about young people who want to work for a company with a cause; one that's more than just building the bottom line. The incentives that will matter to them and, in fact, their own goals are likely to be a lot more complicated than those of your longer-term team members. And there will be a sub-section of these newbies who haven't really decided what their own goals are or should be. That turns them into moving and very complex targets. They're clearer on what they don't want to be a part of than what's important to them, or how they plan to weigh and balance the life challenges and choices we all have to make. This is just like looking at art: easy to tell what you don't like, hard to know what's good and likely to matter over time. And if you think evaluating inanimate objects is tough, getting an accurate read on the folks who work for you makes art criticism look simple.

These days a supervisor or manager can inadvertently "disrespect" someone when he or she is only trying to suggest a better way to do their job. I say "suggest" because it seems that no one today actually gets to "tell" anyone how to do anything. Things can't be improved and businesses aren't going to get better when we spend more time tap dancing around people's feelings than we do focusing on the facts of their performance. We can't all be winners and wonders all day long. 

There's also a pretty convincing school of thought that says motivation is not something you do to people. Rather, motivation is something that comes from within them, provided that (a) you do a good job of setting the stage and creating the right environment and culture and (b) you do an even better job of not demotivating them. It's all bi-directional. As I used to tell the faculty when I ran Kendall College and Tribeca Flashpoint, it's not what you teach, but what they learn that matters. And no one learns much of anything if they don't actually care. 

I think we're at an important crossroads right now because there's no more important determinant of the likely success of a new business than the passion and the emotions of the people driving it forward. If we're all increasingly afraid of our own shadows, scared to reach out to others and share our feelings, and afraid to connect closely to the people we work with and care about, we're not going to be building the kind of businesses in the future that anyone can be proud of. 

1871, DYETT HIGH SCHOOL AND DONDA'S HOUSE WELCOME VIC MENSA FOR FIRESIDE CHAT WITH STUDENTS

When Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts was relaunched the goal was not only to introduce community focused objectives in education, but also create a hub for entrepreneurial activities for both students and young adults between 18-24 who were no longer in school or employed.

1871 CEO Howard Tullman was a formative part of the discussion surrounding these initiatives and recently introduced the team from Donda’s House to Beulah Mcloyd, Principal of Dyett. Bringing these two organizations together was important to move these certain community initiatives forward.

Donda’s House Inc. is proud to partner with Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts, a Chicago Public School in order to amplify impact & better serve South Side Artists. Most of the Donda’s House artists (roughly 90%) are from the South Side neighborhood of Chicago and they are flourishing artistically and civically. The organization has operated programming city-wide in its 4 years of existence, directly serving 500+ youth but will now anchor programming on the South Side through a partnership with Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts.

Donda’s House has operated satellite programming in a variety of locations including The ARK of St. Sabina, Harold Washington Library through the PROject US Program and Columbia College. Donda’s House will now have a stationary office & programming space while still developing Kanye West’s Childhood Home as an additional programming site and museum. Donda’s House will offer programming during the school day for students including monthly “Lunch & Learns” where students will have the opportunity to be introduced to careers in the arts. Dyett and Donda’s House are also targeting Opportunity Youth in Bronzeville and throughout the South Side during after school hours through the “Now What?” Professional Workshop Series where participants can take advantage of free workshops targeting the business of arts and skill development.

Dyett High School has a strong connection to community with state-of-the-art facilities for students. “As a Bronzeville resident, I am excited about the possibilities that this new partnership brings to the community. Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts is truly a place where arts and innovation intersect, and this partnership will amplify that fact,” says Ms. Beulah McLoyd. Dyett High School is easily accessible due its location in the Bronzeville, mid-South community.

The partnership will launch a podcast in 2018, and will operate year-round programming. “So many youth age out of programs when they turn 18, and we will be able to provide professional and artistic development in a hyper-local way to teens and young adults” says Donnie Smith, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Donda’s House. For more information about how to volunteer or support programming, please visit DondasHouseInc.org. On December 14th, Donda’s House will host a Digital Open House on Instagram beginning at 10:30 a.m.

To learn how you can volunteer, please complete a Volunteer Application here. You will be contacted within 7 business days with further details.

To make a contribution to support programming, please click here.

To contact us, please e-mail hello@dondashouseinc.org.