First Thing Monday #16
This week we discuss job title inflation, taking small actionable steps, and we introduce The Mailbag 🧑🏻💼🎬📬
🌄 Good morning dear readers! This week I’m traveling, so it may not be first thing Monday today, but I’m glad you’re here with us today. Hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!
☑️ FTM is a weekly newsletter that includes a recap of all the news Millennial and Gen Z leaders need to know to help make better decisions about their careers. Each issue also includes four tips for developing better relationships in your workplace. Weekly issues come out on Monday mornings!
❓ Have a work question or topics you’d like us to discuss? Drop me a line 📱 misterfantastiksubstack@gmail.com or leave us a comment below!
I’m Jon Cochran, a consumer goods executive with 15 years of experience leading sales, marketing, and product development teams and working with brands like J.Crew, Hilton, and Mattel. I want to provide resources to help you take control of your career and maximize your satisfaction in the workplace.
⏰ What to read before your first meeting:
Are Job Titles Losing Their Meaning? How Job-Title Inflation Could Damage Your Future Career (Entrepreneur): A consultant once told me to my face that I was the victim of job-title inflation. Ouch! She wasn’t wrong, though. My fave tip is that we should all use a standard job title taxonomy, like those developed by SHRM and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. No one understands what “Director of First Impressions” means!
How To Ace An Interview Question About Customer Service (Forbes): Whether you work in a service industry or not, how you interact with people is important to your success. This article offers advice for responding to the “Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult customer.” I think you could switch out “customer” with your boss, direct report, or co-worker and still learn something useful.
'We have to brag more': Branding blamed for hobbled tech investment in Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette): Pittsburgh’s made the city attractive to young start-ups. Many of those businesses, though, end up moving to bigger cities to attract larger investors, depleting the city of established local businesses. Pittsburgh says it needs to change its story to make sure start-ups know the city provides long-term support. The lesson here is that, whatever your business, if no one knows who you are or what you stand for, you aren’t saying anything.
Bosses are getting Gen Z’s skills deficit all wrong: The generation says it's hard, not soft, skills they need to learn (Fortune): The skills employers think their most junior employees need versus the ones they actually need aren’t aligning. Gen Z might have grown up with a phone in hand and a computer in the house, but that doesn’t mean they were trained to use these devices in a way that their bosses are now expecting. Hard skills training can bridge the gap between boss expectations and meeting young hires where they are when they show up for their first day.
Workers spend 11 hours crafting emails each week — Only 36% ever get read! (StudyFinds): We’ve all done it—spent entirely too long on an email to find that the person you sent it to never responded. Some of us are missing important deadlines and meetings because we don’t read our emails. There is something tedious and, dare I say, old-fashioned around how we use email today. I don’t have a clue what the solution is, but it is not another messaging service or app!
🚰 The Water Cooler
For all those who celebrate (me): 1989 (Taylor’s Version) came out last week. “Bad Blood” is a banger I missed the first time around.
New hair, new tee, new jeans, do you see? I love denim, so here’s a rundown from Vogue on what’s hot in denim this fall. My go-to style? Levis 511.
If you don’t know who Ghost-Spider is, I need you to catch up.
Have you been paying attention to Jay-Z’s interviews last week? He is really revealing more than I expected.
📖 Reflections for this week:
For yourself: I always appreciate the reminder that small, consistent efforts can lead to improvements and change over time. To that point, do you know what you want to achieve this week? Think about what you want to do this week when it comes to your professional and personal lives. What habits are you trying to cultivate? Set a clear but achievable goal this week for something important to your development. And then go do it!
For your boss: Time to ask for feedback. Schedule a meeting with your boss this week to discuss your progress, challenges, and goals. Be open about your aspirations and also open to your boss’ feedback. Their insights can be invaluable for identifying areas for growth. In this conversation, take time to understand your boss’ priorities and objectives. This helps align your work with their expectations.
For your direct report(s): How often are you meeting with your direct reports? Make sure you have one-on-one meetings on the schedule. These chats are about discussing your direct report’s progress, problems, and career aspirations. Show them you value their growth. This is also a great time for acknowledging achievements and providing constructive feedback. Frequent communication can reduce misunderstandings and build trust.
For your co-workers: Take the time to listen! As a leader, you should not be the loudest voice in every conversation. Let a co-worker tell you a story without you jumping in to relay your version of their experience. Practice active listening in these moments. Taking time for casual conversations and social interactions can lead to feeling more support and connection at work.
⚡️ And one last thing…
This week, we bring you our first Mailbag Edition of First Thing Monday. Leave us your comments below and continue to send your questions to misterfantastiksubstack@gmail.com. Remember to include “Mailbag” in the subject and if you’re okay with your letter being included in a future installment of Mailbag please indicate “OKAY TO PRINT.”
Hi Jon, I’m so glad I stumbled across your Substack. My last few bosses are much more into their phones than into engaging with me. But that doesn’t keep me from trying to engage with my direct reports. I feel self-conscious sometimes, like I’m overcompensating when I try to connect and it feels forced to me. Do you have any advice for connecting with direct reports who are your age, but with different tastes and interests? —Daniel Thornton, Durham, NC
Hi Daniel! Thank you for your kind words. Glad you’re here! I have lots to say about disengaged supervisors, but I like how you’re focused on not repeating those bad behaviors. If these folks are your direct reports, I’m assuming you know a little about them. What is your goal in “connecting” with them? If it’s just to make sure they aren’t going to quit, well, that probably does feel weird. If your desire is about understanding your people and the lives they lead, you may already be doing that and this could just be you overthinking it. Reflect on your motivation for why you want to connect, and what that means for you AND for them. Are there interactions where you don’t feel forced? What behaviors or attitudes make those interactions seem more organic? Do more of that! Good luck!
Hi Jon! We worked together in the past and I am so excited to see “First Thing Monday!” Your posts have really got me thinking about my own leadership and how I run my own small company. We love your links each week. I make sure to send your messages through the office. Do you have any podcasts you like? We’re a podcast-y team! Keep up the great work! —Julia Long, San Francisco, CA
Julia! Hiiiiii! Thank you for the love, for subscribing, for remembering me! Great to hear from you. When it comes to leadership and management, I go one of two ways: pods that can be sort of like a lecture or conversation on a specific topic, and then pods that are interviews with interesting business-y people with experience I can learn from. Brave New Work is definitely not a lecture; it’s a great conversation with folks about creating the modern workplace. Their convos are the sorts I wish I had at work. The other podcast I recommend is called Who What Wear, from
. She interviews successful women who have had two or more jobs, careers, and lives and shares their stories. Both podcasts are amazing and offer weekly episodes! My favorite episodes of each are below.
Have a great week!
Follow me on Instagram at @mistersfantastik
The article about email is chilling! I very much agree that another Slack, Teams, Beepboop chat app is not the solution. Let’s go paper memos!!!!
Brave New Work is also one I listen to weekly. They're good over there!