Weirdos in the Workplace!©
The New Normal...Thriving in The Age of the Individual
~Is body odor protected by freedom of religion?
~Which bathroom should a trans-sexual use?
~May an employee moonlight as a stripper?
~What if someone wears the same suit to work every day?
~Is it sexual harassment if I like it and take advantage of it?
Based on John Putzier’s newest book, “Weirdos in the
Workplace. The New Normal...Thriving in The Age of the Individual (Financial
Times Prentice Hall) this program answers these and many other thorny questions
with astounding
clarity and perhaps some controversy. From the bizarre to the brazen, there
isn’t a workplace challenge that John Putzier hasn’t seen or solved.
What ever happened to the good old days, when people looked and acted normal,
came to work every day, didn't rock the boat, and stayed until retirement?
In a nutshell, the workplace is a microcosm of society, and the weirder society
gets, the weirder the workplace gets. We have gone from the Age of the Organization
Man (50-60’s) to the Age of Diversity (70’s-80’s) to the
Age of the New Economy (90’s) and are racing full speed into the Age
of the Individual (right now). Whoever said “there is no 'I' in team,” didn’t
seem to notice that “there ain’t no ‘We’ either!” From “An
Army of One” to reality and survivalTV, to professional sports, to politics,
it’s the individual that reigns supreme.
Weirdisms for Thriving in The Age of the Individual:
- As goes the world, so goes the workplace.
- All workers are not created equal (nor should they be treated as such).
- Discrimination is good; Discrimination is right; Discrimination is necessary (based on value).
- The only “normal” people are the ones you don’t really know yet (everyone’s a potential weirdo).
- The more weirdos you hire, the fewer you have (perception is reality; weird can be the norm).
The first step to capitalize on this phenomena is to recognize when weirdness
is rooted in genius and rare talent, or when it’s just plain gross
and goofy. Weirdness rooted in genius should be rewarded and encouraged,
while
those whose weirdness adds nothing of value need not be tolerated. There
is a fine line between pushing the limits and going overboard, and this
book tells you exactly where that is.
Think about it! What high-tech company wouldn’t offer every stock
option it had for the next Einstein? What record label wouldn’t pay
millions to sign the next Elvis? What art school wouldn’t give its
left ear for the next Van Gogh? But would they know how to deal with them
once they had
them? All weirdos in their own right, but whose contributions to the
world
have been awesome.
Then there are the others. Those whose weirdness is just a drain and a distraction,
and for the most part, do not have to be treated “equally.” In
our hyper-politically-correct world of fairness and equality, we end up punishing
winners, rewarding losers and institutionalizing mediocrity.
You will leave this session with practical tools for diagnosing any workplace
behavioral challenge, and learn when and how to intervene. You will also learn
what makes high-performing weirdos tick, and how to create a culture full of
them.
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