Red Diamonds: 'Best of' Sources' Expertise
Minimum income, the obsessed employee/co-worker and those who don't follow orders
Red Diamonds is a feature that was a section in Communication Intelligence magazine, now out of circulation, from July 2021 to May 2024.
I’m reintroducing it now, in Communication Intelligence, the newsletter.
Red Diamonds will be a feature that showcases the most illuminating quotes from sources in published articles over the last week.
I hope you enjoy it and share it.
Billionaire Warren Buffett once said that the United States needs more than a minimum wage. It needs a minimum income.
Collin Plume, the founder and CEO at Noble Gold Investments, My Digital Money and the co-owner and CEO at Guardian-HR, spoke to Communication Intelligence about it. Here’s what most stood out, the Red Diamonds:
“Every American that works 40 hours a week should be able to support themselves and live a decent life but the devil is in the ‘how.’”
“The answer is in jacking up the value of the dollar by bringing manufacturing back home, making it cheaper than imports, elevating skills of Americans and nurturing technologies,” Plume argues.
“What we need is a country that invests in our own products, works on our own products and buys our own products,” Plume continues. “That’s what will elevate the value of the dollar and our people. As a result, anyone working 40 hours will be able to afford a decent life.”
What can you do with an elite performer in your organization who is working so hard that you are concerned or afraid that they will harm themselves or others with their zeal or obsession?
“From the employer's perspective, having an employee who says 'yes' to every assignment may seem like a nice thing, and on one hand it is: the employee is obviously committed to growing in the field and is a very dedicated worker,” says Jordan Conrad, a psychotherapist, researcher and the founder and clinical director at Madison Park Psychotherapy.
“However, having an employee who says 'yes' to everything is not exercising good judgment.”
That’s not all, says Daniel Olexa, a leadership development coach and founder at Transcendent Living, where he centers his work with clients on improving communication.
“Seeing initial improvement as a validation of their process, the employee becomes emboldened and presses others to up their game. This places performance pressure on their co-workers,” he states.
“These individuals may not have the ability to perform at the expected level or may not care to. I’m particularly thinking of legacy employees here who may be very comfortable, have seen this type of behavior before and have no desire to get caught in the chaos they know will burn out like a supernova.”
“When their co-workers either do not step up or they make an attempt that falls short of the maniac’s expectations, they’re shamed for their performance and ostracized,” Olexa says.
“Where does this insight come from?” he rhetorically asks. “I’ve been that guy and I’ve been subjected to that guy.”
“Although there are a lot of benefits that can come out of a person like this, a big risk is diminishing returns,” says Kory Kogon, a senior leadership consultant and FranklinCovey’s vice president of content development. “At some point, additional effort yields smaller gains.”
Not listening and heeding what is said, whether to employees or employers, can be frustrating, troublesome, costly or worse dangerous.
“If someone thinks that the message communicated might threaten their self image and potentially take them out of their comfort zone, sometimes people react and deny processing the message altogether,” says Jasmine Bloemhof, a personal publicist and media visibility strategist.
“I think sometimes people appear to not be listening because they are stressed and overwhelmed before receiving the urgent message and their brain may literally not have the bandwidth to process something else, despite it's urgency.”
“If someone tells us that something is really important and urgent, our mind may or may not agree with that. If we don't agree that something is urgent and important, we may delay processing it, ordering it as less important and lower in our list of priorities.”
