Let's review Employee Christmas gifts with
the best Bang for the Buck
I got my first email of the season on Thanksgiving Night. --- “what do I recommend for employee Christmas gifts this year?” I’ve been getting that same question for more years than Santa has whiskers. It goes with the turf. I’ve been the personal advisor to America’s owners for 20 years, and before that I was a CEO and then a college professor.
Do I have a specific idea for this year? You bet I do. But I’m not your employee, so my idea of a great gift might not meet their specific needs, or yours. So instead of me telling you what to buy, let me give you a model for making that decision yourself.
Issue 1 Do you want to give a durable or consumable gift?
A Christmas ham or bottle of wine is always nice, but frankly, it’s gone after about 2 hours, then what lingers to remind them who loves and honors them? Hmmm?
Issue 2 Do you want to touch the body, mind or spirit?
A sweater (with or without the corporate logo) is a nice touch, but several world class leaders have pointed out that if you have their hearts and minds, their bodies will follow you into battle. So do you want to address their bodies? Or their hearts and minds?
Issue 3 Do you want a punch line or a story line
How many times did you watch Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life before you got tired of it? Or Ralphie’s efforts to get a Red Ryder BB gun from Santa in A Christmas Story ? Now how many times did you hear the punch line in your favorite traveling salesman joke before it got tiresome? Life is like that. It breaks down into punch lines or story lines. Which one do you think has the longer lasting impact on your employees?
I’m thinking a book might be a good gift. I could be wrong, but I think a good one beats the ham, booze and sweater on most of those criteria. If you find a better gift category than a book, for goodness sake take it. But if you don’t, I’m thinking you might appreciate some help on picking one. Let me give you a head’s up here. I’m an author myself. So I’m biased towards the ones I write. But let me take those off the table, and tell you about the books I recommend to the business owners I work with.
The E-Myth Revisited, by Michael Gerber I have every single one of my new Vistage members read this book and discuss it with their key reports. It does a marvelous job of charting out a foolproof approach to growth that keeps you from getting buried by your own success. Best of all, it tells your employees how to help you do that. Great content and an easy read. It took me 8 hours on a rainy Saturday, the first time I read it.
From Good to Great, by Jim Collins I love this book for three major reasons. First, Collins focused on long term success stories, not short term. That gave us a whole new array of all-stars to consider – arguably a much better list than the ones that show up on current magazine covers. The second big reason is Collins’ focus on the phenomena of the humble heart. The CEOs he highlighted were usually unassuming team leaders, not egotists grabbing for the lime light. I liked that. And third, the model he builds is a useful one whether you’re a shop foreman or a CFO. A lot of bang for the buck in this one.
Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, MD I love the simplicity of this one. It’s a simple message – change or die. It’s a simple delivery. Really simple. And it’s short. I mean it takes, what – 30 minutes to read. But it gives your folks a common vision, and a language with which to discuss it. So let’s see, that’s 30 minutes of their time, or hours and hours and dollars and dollars of your own resources to accomplish those same two things: vision and a sense of urgency. I dunno. Whadyathink?
And nowadays you can live within your budget because you can go with a hardback, or paperback, or ebook or audiobook. Just remember, most of your younger employees live on ebooks and audiobooks. The dead-tree books are for anyone over 68. What’s not to like?