Tapping the Stra-cheese-ic Reserve for Stinky Employee Christmas Presents
What's one Christmas "gift" you've received that turned out to be nothing but trouble?
๐ A new puppy...that immediately ate all the other presents?
๐ A promotion...that destroyed a career?
๐ Free cheese...that harmed the health of its lactose intolerant recipients?
๐ Renewable energy...that led to a cold, dark Christmas?
On today's live Christmas-themed episode of The Energy Detox, we'll string together the following topics to help you be a more conscious leader...and gift-giver:
๐ฐ The 40 year anniversary of the "Government Cheese" Program
๐ฐ Ongoing Strategic Petroleum Reserve headlines
๐ฐ The unintended consequences of renewable energy
And as always, we'll gift you 3 questions to help you (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ฐ, (๐)๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐๐๐ญ, ๐๐ง๐ (๐)๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง success:
๐ก Are you unwittingly growing a stockpile of moldy, smelly, and over-processed leadership gimmicks?
๐ก In what ways might the "gifts" you're giving your employees actually be inflicting harm?
๐ก What's one gift you can give your team that they'll actually still use a year from now?
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Hello and welcome to another Live episode of the energy detox a petroleum based blend of leadership conversations guaranteed to boost your professional and personal output by flushing away the hidden and often toxic barriers to peak performance. I'm your host, Joe Sinnott, a chemical engineer, executive coach, and 16 year energy industry veteran helping you tap into the same resources fueling today's most successful and sustainable leaders. And today we're going to talk about how some of the best leaders out there are also the best gift givers. And of course, as we approach Christmas in two days, this is a time of gift giving, in many cases, poor gift giving, giving gifts that don't really resonate with the recipient and in some cases, cause the recipient harm or angst or anxiety, or at least the desire to immediately shelve that gift or donate it or or, you know, returning to the store if possible. And obviously, from a corporate standpoint, if you have leaders that are wasting time giving gifts that really don't resonate with the intended recipients and get in some cases actually caused harm, well, you're setting yourself up for trouble. So in today's episode of the energy detox, we're going to help boost your awareness of those times where you might be giving gifts that aren't very good. And to drive today's conversation. As always, we're going to weave together some current events, some energy industry headlines, and of course, some of the things that I see in my day to day as an executive coach. And one of the biggest thing is to drive today's conversation is the fact that this month, in fact, I couldn't find an exact date this morning. But I did see one article that was dated December 23, of 1981. That discussed President Ronald Reagan's signing of a declaration or whatever it was, that basically instituted the government cheese program. And a little backstory on that if you're not familiar, essentially, in the 70s. You know, there was issues with inflation as you might be feeling right now, and, and other things going on, that led to some pretty crazy prices when it came to dairy products. So of course, the government stepped in and over time, it amassed a pretty big stockpile of cheese. And in 1981, someone came to President Reagan and say, Look, now we have millions and millions of pounds of this, you know, many cases, moldy cheese sitting around and we need to do something with it, we need to figure out what to do, we've purchased this cheese, the government owns it, and it's just going to go to waste. So what can we do to prevent again, more of this cheese from just going bad. And, you know, long story short, and led to the government cheese program where these five pound bricks of highly processed and not the the best tasting cheese was given to those who were low income who needed assistance. And again, as a means of giving them food and an environment where you had hyperinflation, food was expensive and tough to come by, for many individuals. And obviously, the intent of this was to help people but of course, the motivation behind this was to offload a bunch of extra cheese that many people had lying around. And the unintended consequences of that, besides some of the societal implications of people who felt like they were being pegged, as you know, from a socio economic standpoint as, as either being recipients of government cheese or not, again, we'll, we won't go into all those details. But from a strictly health standpoint, putting all of this cheese on the population wasn't all that good. And again, this is not a knock against dairy farmers and the cheese industry, I am pro cheese, if I need to, you know, make my claim here in this world of either being pro something or anti something, you know, God forbid, we actually just have a thoughtful middle of the ground approach. But that being said, cheese, many cases caused harm for people, not just on the long term impacts of highly processed cheese on people. But quite frankly, on the fact that a big population of those receiving this government cheese was lactose intolerant. So something like you know, 25% of America's population is lactose intolerant. And when you look at some of the groups that were the biggest recipients of this, it pushes into the 1670 percentile of those receiving this cheese whose bodies don't even want it. So that being said, there's this gift that the government is pushing on people that, again, their bodies didn't necessarily need or want, although again, the intent was obviously good. And again, we can take this strategic cheese reserve and obviously turn to headlines from a month ago where the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was there. And again, what was the intention? The intention was to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help people out to do good things? And of course, what did we find that in some cases, it had the opposite impact? It actually led to higher oil prices. It Actually, you know, led to, perhaps a decrease in production from some, you know, companies who would have otherwise produced and what happens when you decrease production will prices go up. And again, it wasn't as big of a release, I don't even know if they've actually released the barrels yet, I think it was just the, you know, the intent to release them at some point. But needless to say, there was a lot of discussion about the unintended consequences of that gift, if you will, that was being given to the American public. And the other thing that we're going to weave together or string together here to force in as many cheese puns as possible, is, of course, the push, if you will, towards renewables, again, the best of intentions, most cases may be for those who are pushing renewables on the population, but lots of unintended consequences. And the idea that the government can, you know, pump billions of dollars into the renewable industry, again, as a way to move forward, if you will, and to to do something positive for the United States citizens and for the for the world as a whole, again, on its surface, you might think is a good thing. But when you dig into the details, again, there are lots of unintended consequences that a fast push in a non thoughtful push towards renewables too fast too soon, could of course, lead to uncertainty and in turn, more power outages, or higher prices, and unreliable power grids and all those types of things that, again, might not have been exactly what the gift giver in many cases the United States government had in mind. So we take these three, again, potentially positive things, the Gift of free cheese, the the gift of releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or the gift of again, pushing renewables on a population. And we need to look at it holistically and realize that in some cases, these gifts are not really all they're cracked out, to cracked up to be. And so this brings us finally, to you as a leader, and one of the things that you're doing as a leader, that might seem good to you, that might seem like you're you're giving of yourself, or you're giving up your company's resources. But at the end of the day, the recipients in many cases, your employees or other stakeholders really don't want what you're offering. Or in some cases, they might think they want what you're offering, but they don't even realize the negative long term impacts that they're gonna have much like, you know, five pounds of processed cheese coursing through your veins at any given time is going to have on your health and well being. So with that, we'll jump into the first of three questions today. And the first question is, are you unwittingly growing a stockpile of moldy, smelly and over processed leadership gimmicks, because for many leaders, again, who quite frankly, think they're doing a good job and think that they have everybody on board, and maybe recognize that there's some problems here and there, but overall feel like they're they're giving of themselves, and they're bringing people on board, and they're, they're generating positive morale and all of these type of things. The reality is that, again, and this is stemming, not just from anything that you can read on the internet, but from my own conversations and 360 degree conversations with people are giving true feedback about their leaders, the reality is, in many cases, leaders don't realize that what they're giving and what they're shelling out, really isn't having an impact. And again, some cases could be causing harm. And that particularly impacts those leaders of oil and gas companies who are going through lots of ups and downs, right? I mean, we live in a volatile industry, right? There's lots of ups and downs. And in many cases, leaders go back to the same, you know, tricks and gimmicks that they've been doing all along. And, and again, this applies at any level of an organization. And quite frankly, it applies to many mid level managers who have seen some of these gimmicks and tricks over time. And you know, that's their default to they're not necessarily thinking of innovative ways to connect with their people and to give of themselves and to give people what they need to grow and advance and develop. And case in point. What's one of the default gifts that you think you can give somebody? Well, again, how about, you know, a bonus Right? Or free lunch in the workroom? All good things, right? The things that you think people want? But the reality is, are those things actually getting stale? Now, again, the gift of money is never stale. I think that's probably the universal gift that anybody can give. But the reality is, are you having the same conversations with people the same high level conversations? Or do you think that you're a good leader? Just because you get a group of employees together once a month or even once a week and have lunch? Is there a chance that that's not actually what they want? Are you putting together Christmas parties or holiday parties that again, aren't what people actually want? They, you know, they're looking for something else, something, something different something out of the box? And quite frankly, when you're engaging with people, or when you're sending out messages or your corporate emails or, again, your corporate Christmas presents? Are people sick of it? Is that actually what they want? Or do they want something different, they want some measure of some cases, you know, personal time and attention from you that if you're able to give, you'd be better off giving that than again, going and going to the well and doing what your company or you have been doing for the last five or 10 years. So again, somewhat of an open ended question here. But ask yourself, you know, have you been giving the same gift figuratively or literally year after year after year to your employees? And if so, how could you shake things up? and start with, of course, what is it that they're looking for? What is it that's driving them? You know, what is it that's actually going to improve their not just life, but of course, their ability to move and progress through your organization? Which brings us to the next question, which is, in what ways might the gift that you're giving your employees actually negatively harm them? How could it be inflicting harm, how could actually be stifling their growth and development? And some of these might not be obvious for you, but if come up, again, in conversations that I have in the people that I work with, and one of those is a promotion, right? Is there any bigger gift that you could give somebody this time of years, we had, you know, two days from into Christmas here, then a promotion, a raise and increase in responsibilities, a new title? Again, in many cases, it's tough to see the immediate hormone that right, especially for the individual who's getting that promotion. But the reality is, in some cases, again, unfortunately, in cases that I've dealt with now, as a coach, it has led to a decrease in that person standing within a company. In some cases, the leaders who promoted an individual and again, thinking of one in particular, those leaders actually turned the other direction, were almost embarrassed by the fact that they gave this person a promotion, and in turn, had to basically put all the blame on that person, as if he didn't live up to the expectations that were set, or that he had, you know, been doing up until the time he got a promotion. But in reality, and digging through, you know, the story, not just getting it firsthand, from the person who was negatively impacted, but from others were who were involved. Again, it was a mistake, this person didn't need to be promoted, didn't necessarily want to be promoted. But again, it seemed like something that was logical, he was put in a position to plug a hole, if you will, in your organization, it seemed like a win win for everybody. And at the end of the day, it actually caused him harm because he was essentially set up to fail and wasn't given his support. So again, what kind of gift was that? Now, again, that's on the extreme. And this person now basically has, you know, a black eye, if you will, and is now trying to transition to a new job at a new company. But again, the company that he's coming from, and some of the again, well, we'll spare you all the details there. But needless to say, this really put him in a tricky position. This wasn't the gift that he wanted. And again, I've seen this all the time thinking that a promotion is a logical step for somebody, it's a logical gift, it's something that they want. But in the day, it actually causes more harm than good. And again, moving, maybe away from that sort of not so positive story, we can revisit what we talked about at the opening the free cheese, right, the free cheese that the government gave away 40 years ago, and continues to amass and stockpile to this day, I believe, as of 2019. And doing some research this morning, the US government owned 1.4 billion pounds of cheese, which, again, is mind boggling. But nevertheless, that free cheese again, as we said at the opening, also had negative impacts, it caused harm, right? It impacted the heart, you know, huge number of recipients who are lactose intolerant, you know, it wasn't the healthiest product either. So, again, free gift, seemingly good gift that caused harm, same to again with renewables, pushing renewables and giving people the gift of renewable energy, if you will, and, you know, sounds good. There are positives, there's no doubt there's positives. But what harm might you be inflicting, unwittingly upon those who are receiving it? In the case of renewables, again, many cases, we're talking about less reliability, if you no longer have the backup of reliable natural gas and coal powered, you know, power generation, if you will. So again, ask yourself, are you giving people a gift that is really going to allow them to be happy and flourish and grow and develop? Or might you actually be better off with some gifts that again, in some cases, like coal, might be dirty and might have a you know, bad reputation these days, but is at least reliable, and can actually generate the power and the the energy that people need to move forward? So with that, we'll move on to the third and final question today, which is, what is one gift that you can give your team that they'll actually still use a year from now? And, again, that's always a big debate, right? You know, you can give somebody flowers but they're dead in a week. And again, there's there's a time and a place for a short live gift. In fact, in many ways, at least now you know, having you know, for young kids and, and all of the quite frankly, the crap that comes into our house for holidays and for birthdays, we actually like consumables, it's nice to have things that are only going to last a couple of days, or that they can eat as long as it's not just a big bag of candy or, you know, one of our children for his birthday, I got a couple so bombs where you can he can throw in it turns the water different colors and does different things. But the beauty of that is that it's gone. We don't have to shift it around and move it around and store it and figure out do we need to donate it or you know,
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sneakily get rid of it or throw it out or whatever the case might be. consumables can be nice, short lived gifts can be nice, they can provide a boost and then again, when they're done, they're done. But the question for you is, especially from an employee standpoint, yes, they might like the the fruit basket that you send them or, or whatever the case might be, but What is it that you can gift them, that is actually going to continue helping them grow and develop and flourish, and that they're actually still going to want to use a year from now? And again, it's an open ended question for you, I certainly have some ideas of my own and things that have worked in the past. But I think that's the mindset that you want to have. And keep in mind that it's probably a little late for you in your company to, to shift gears in terms of what you're giving to people. But what is it? And again, in many cases, certainly this is coming from, from a selfish standpoint, it is the gift of development and coaching. But going back to, you know, the first question today, not the standard list of development, you know, resources and the standard list of leadership courses and tips and tricks and books and, you know, short lived, speaking engagements and all these different things that again, you know, provide some value, but what's the type of gift that's going to keep on giving, you know, that's gonna keep on producing results. And again, selfishly, in many cases, coaching, right, it's giving somebody the gift that they can continue to draw on throughout the year, and sort of those short bursts much like again, that the short bursts that candy or flowers or some other, you know, consumable gift is going to have, but also having the ability to grow and develop and build a stronger foundation for themselves as they flourish. And again, it doesn't have to be coaching. But there's other avenues that you can do to give to people to give people access to that can help them grow and develop and not just have something that they're going to toss in the trash or want to return or in some cases that's actually inflicting harm upon them. Because the reality is that again, I don't know the the full figures for the projection of gift giving this holiday season. But from a corporate standpoint, companies are spending 10s of billions of dollars, there's some estimates out there, I think Deloitte had a study a couple years ago that said something like $46 billion is being spent on leadership development programs, and trainings, and all of these types of things. And while in some cases, the return on investment for those things is pretty clear. And you can track it, in many cases. And I don't want to say the majority of cases, but will suffice to say, in far too many cases, the ROI is really not there, people aren't getting their bang for their buck, it is just some sort of transient check the box kind of thing to in some cases, make companies feel like they're, again investing in their people. But the reality is, those investments aren't, you know, any better than a block of cheese that's gonna grow mold, or gonna, you know, clog your arteries, or whatever the case might be. It's no better than gifting somebody a new puppy that in turn winds up eating all the other presidents or you know, making a mess all over the place and taking over a family and a not so good way. So ask yourself, are you gifting people things that are actually going to help them that they actually want to receive and that is going to generate excitement? Or you gifting them the same stale, moldy stinky gifts that you've been given before? Are you giving them things that might actually inflict harm and induce extra stress upon your employees? Or again, are you giving people things that are going to help them help them enjoy their careers, their time with you and company and have them coming to work virtually or in person more motivated to produce better results, more consistent results and more sustainable results for you as a leader, for your team, for your organization, and for all of your stakeholders, whoever they may be. And so with that, as always, I appreciate your time and attention tuning into the energy detox, hopefully some of these tips and tricks and importantly, these questions help you think through your ability to give gifts not just here, as we again are two days away from Christmas, but throughout the year. So as you share of yourself as you share your company's resources, ask these questions again, revisit them to make sure that you are not just a good leader and a good manager, but a good gift giver who's giving people the things that again, they need to grow and develop and flourish. So with that, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas. Again, thank you for tuning in. I look forward to future episodes here kicking back up next week after Christmas. And until then have a safe, relaxing, enjoyable Christmas. And I hope that the gifts that you receive are a little bit better than you know some of the ones that we talked about today. So with that, take care and have an excellent rest of your day.