THE REASON EMPLOYEES ARE QUI
According to a survey conducted by Randstad, 60 percent of American employees either quit or strongly considered quitting their jobs last year. That’s a number that should terrify any business owner. However, instead of panicking, consider this record-breaking moment in U.S. employment history an invitation to take a long, hard look at your organization. Are members of your team waiting for the perfect moment to bail? And if so, why? It’s not because the majority of employees are ruthless careerists or disloyal money-grubbers. If we look at Mental Health America’s 2018 Workplace Health Survey, it mostly boils down to the fact that over half of American employees feel unappreciated, unsupported, and disrespected by management. In fact, 21 percent of respondents said that instead of being paid what they deserve, they’re nickel- and-dimed when raise season arrives, and 77 percent believed that instead of being lifted up for their accomplishments, employees were forced to toil away in the corner, feeling invisible. Sadly, scarcely more than 34 percent of respondents believed they could rely on the support of their managers and colleagues.
The numbers paint a disheartening picture of the average workplace. If you’ve been a manager for a long time, it can be difficult to imagine how frustrated an undervalued member of your team can feel and how these feelings can spread throughout your organization, leaving all your employees discontented. It’s imperative to listen and respond to your employees’ concerns. It takes more than instituting an open-door policy and relaxing work requirements — two characteristics of healthy workplaces, as rated by respondents. You need to commit resources to eliminating the problem. Start with the highest-level leaders of your business. Work with them on how to interact with the rest of your team in more human, empathetic, and responsive ways. Training and assessments are a good start, but you may also need to revamp the mentality and core values of your company. In a world where finding a new job is easier than ever, managers cannot afford to ignore the needs of their employees. Evolve and acknowledge the emotions in your workplace or risk losing all that you’ve invested in your top performers.
‘Rhinoceros Success’
Scott Alexander’s Secret to Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity
“A rhinoceros charges with singleness of purpose. All energy is directed toward the attainment of one burning desire. The reason you are so dangerous is that once you set yourself charging at something, nothing can distract you.”
happy because they find balance in all six major areas of life: financial, work, physical, family, social, and spiritual.
Though it was first published in 1980, the lessons in “Rhinoceros Success” are even more relevant 40 years later. With easy access to the distractions of technology and social media, it’s even more tempting to become a cow who leisurely watches life pass them by. But this is not the path to success or happiness. As Alexander puts it, rhinoceroses find success because they “have an audacity attack every day.”
–Scott Alexander, “Rhinoceros Success”
The world is full of cows. This isn’t a knock on any person’s physical appearance or commentary on farm animals. This is a fact brought to light by Scott Alexander in his incredible book “Rhinoceros Success: The Secret to Charging Full Speed Toward Every Opportunity.”
While this book might sound like a dry mantra geared toward the alpha go-getters, Alexander knows the value of humor. His unexpected comedy serves to pepper in laughs and make his message all the more memorable. This masterful balance of self-help motivation, framed in an almost comedic narrative, is why “Rhinoceros Success” is a book for everyone. At its core, “Rhinoceros Success” is about the importance of going all-in in every area of your life. If you want something, whether it’s a happy family, better physical health, a closer spiritual connection with God, or a successful business, you have to be willing to commit entirely to your goals with no hesitation and no fear; you have to be willing to CHARGE!
It’s so easy to become complacent in life. But when we settle into routines and decide to be okay with things being “good enough,” we become cows who forever stay on the safe side of the fence. But being a cow will never get you anywhere in life. It’s only the people who find their inner rhinoceros, who see every challenge as a hurdle to break through and charge forward when they want something, who become truly successful. Though Alexander covers how to be financially sound in business, he also points out that true success isn’t measured by money. Rhinoceroses are
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