Is Your Best Performer Pathological or "Driven"?

High performers are welcome in any business and people who consistently meet their performance objectives are likely to be promoted over those who don’t. Some employees are so "driven" they spend every waking moment accomplishing their career goals and soon become budding stars. Is your best performer "driven" or is there something else going on?

Driven people are highly motivated and focused on their goals. They make compromises in their life to reach those goals. There are times when they make mistakes and make a wrong choice, but ultimately they continue on the right path. They believe that through persistence and hard work they can obtain what is important to them.

Pathological workers may also show high drive toward their goals and similarly make mistakes. However, they also carry with them other traits such as hostility, risk-taking, deceitfulness, callousness, grandiosity, irresponsibility, impulsivity and manipulativeness (De Caluwei, Decuyper & De Clercq, 2013). The value of the goal succeeds other considerations in much the same was as a gambling addict can't stop gambling.

Employees who are goal driven are an asset to any organization and create high expectations for others to achieve. They raise company performance and are a positive contributor to workplace culture. They do not neglect their needs, and they concern themselves with how they achieve those goals. High ethical standards and performance can work hand-in-hand.

Workers who show pathological behavior are outside the normal and seem to put an inappropriate weight on the achievement of a particular goal. Its obtainment appears to be more of an extension of the self, and its importance is artificially raised until few things else seem to matter. People become a nuisance in the process and their input can be discarded.

“Win at all costs” pathological behavior should be discouraged in the workplace. I have seen organizations where individuals achieve their goals at the expense of the entire company. Pathological employees get promoted because they create results but also damage their teams and departments in the process. They are the chaos creators that lower departmental performance, develop toxic work environments, and increase turnover rates

Well rounded employees can put their goals in perspective of the rest of their lives and the needs of others. They understand that while their objectives are essential they must also raise the status of the group and fulfill the needs of the company. Pathological employees are incapable of such reasoning and are only loyal to themselves. Higher human performance comes with focus and drive. To those with a conscious the ends is not the only justification of the means.

De Caluwe, E. Decuyper, M. & De Clercq, B. (2013). The child behavior checklist dysregulation profile predicts adolescent DSM-% pathological personality traits in 4 years. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 22 (7).

Burritos or Bust? Eating Mexican and Eating Healthy

Burritos are one of America’s favorite foods and are part of our Mexican-American heritage. So popular, we spend $39 billion a year at 54,000 Mexican restaurants (2). The style of food is served in multiple venues like fast-food or gourmet. One can order a burrito with almost anything on it, making it versatile for different palates. Buyers beware as most restaurants serve their tasty burritos loaded with calories and saturated fat.

The typical burrito contains rice, beans, meat and sour cream that calculates to over 1,000 calories and 14-18 grams of saturated fat(2). A vegetarian one I tried a few months ago had over 1200 calories. With such high calorie and saturated fat count, fitness minded people should concern themselves with the type and kind of burrito they are ordering.

Last weekend I went out to eat with family and friends to a local Mexican establishment known for its vegan and vegetarian options. My eating habits are not vegetarian or vegan by nature, but I do believe in limiting meat consumption while increasing vegetable and fruit intake. Burritos can be tough in finding the right balance.

As everyone ordered their choice of a burrito at Rancho Cocinas in North Park, I went with a healthy burrito selection. It was made of black bean, vegetarian, little cheese, and lettuce wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. The massive burrito was less than 600 calories. That is up to half the calories of the large standard burrito.

I have always had this impression that great taste and health food simply don’t go well together. In this case, I was wrong. After sharing pieces of our burritos, it was unanimous at our table that the healthy wrap burrito was the best tasting. This shows it is possible to eat out while still maintaining your fitness goals. Simply choosing the best alternative can make a large difference between in meeting your goals or falling back into bad habits.

Online Learning Has Earned its Permanent Place in Higher Education

Online learning is now a permanent part of higher education and will continue to expand its market. The ease and convenience of online education is changing the face of colleges across the country. As a modality of learning, it allows students to connect to their class and professor at times that are more convenient for them.

Traditional education is face-to-face and requires the student to be present in order learn. This leaves out many people who balance families and careers. Besides, those who live in rural areas, or out of a university’s geographical area, will be cut off from higher education.

A selection process not based on actual skill or ability is bad news for the economy. Employers require highly skilled employees who continually update their knowledge to stay competitive with the market. Those who are most likely to capitalize on higher education are left out of the mix.

Online education will likely continue to grow and become a standard, possibly superseding tradition modalities, as a delivery channel for teaching and learning. Professors and students are becoming familiar with online education and are likely to adopt more of it in the future, (Mbuva, 2014).

There is also an additional cost benefit. State budgets are getting squeezed and colleges are running in the red. Online education may continue to become a popular method of reducing campus costs and lowering overall operating costs.

Universities will continue to look toward for-profit, online models, to cut costs; even if they continue to lobby against competitive higher education ideologies. They don’t really have much of a choice. Most avenues of increasing wealth have dried up and cutting heavily will lower the quality of programs.

Virtual classrooms lower costs and expand a university's customer base. Land based colleges will maintain their prestige but will need to augment with hybrid, and/or fully online programs. They will seek to expand their offerings to support a growing need for higher education.

Online education is here to stay and it will continue to be adopted by institutions. It reduces costs and fits the needs of students. Professors and students are becoming accustomed to the online process and will seek its convenience in selecting future programs. As market factors adjust, online education may find itself a hot commodity.

Mbuva, J. (2014). Online education: progress and prospects.   Journal of Business & Educational Leadership, 5 (1).

Today is International Yoga Day

Yoga is an ancient practice that is at least 5,000 years old. Today marks the first International Yoga Day where millions of people will practice yoga across the globe for a day of health and peace. It was an event called by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. Some have criticized the politicization of yoga, but the overall idea could be a good one if it takes on the right objectives.
 Considering that 75% of people in the U.S. are overweight or obese and people have become decensitized to violence a little yoga won't hurt anyone. As a nation we are becoming globalized and engaging in a practice that connects us to the rest of the world in our desire to be of good mind and body is positive. 

Yoga is a practice that is part spritual and part physical. Depending on the type of yoga one practices they can expect to increase focus, reduce stress, improve flexibility and strengthen their muscles. Each person moves through a sequence of actions that speed up the heart and stretch the body. With the right kind of breathing it is possible to slow down and reduce stress. 

By some estimates yoga is practiced by 10% of the country (1). Whether a political stunt, a fitness routine, or part of a meditation program the benefits of yoga are helpful to people's lives. As more people practice the ancient method it is hoped that they will be more reflective of their behavior while improving on their health. Today, Yoga events are planned around the world from New York to San Diego. 

The Nature of Values and Authority-Beyond Metrics

Authority is accompanied  with power, and this can be an irresistible aphrodisiac. It is so intoxicating that people continually seek to gain higher levels of authority through wealth, social position, and power accumulation. Positions of power should come with responsibility, and those who do not have the right kind of values should not be entrusted to direct others. People in power positions set the standards for others and can have an enormous impact on acceptable behaviors among their charges.

A study focusing on disengagement theory found that managers who pushed others to engage in misreporting had a direct impact on the moral performance of their subordinates (Mayhew & Murphy, 2014). Supervisor requests were met with willing subordinates who misreported more, rationalized their unethical behavior and didn't feel that bad about it.

Immoral bosses changed the perspective of their subordinates to the point where they no longer could have any remorse. As unethical behavior becomes embedded into the organizational culture, it creates expectations. For those who “play by the rules,” it can seem like an unfair disadvantage.

Performance metrics becomes to define the individual. Companies that do not concern themselves with how these metrics were achieved will find themselves engage in more immoral activities. Whether the metric is associated with sales or production, the result should include an expectation of ethical behavior in its achievement.

All organizations, whether public or private, should seek to recruit and develop authority figures with moral sentiments. When tough decisions need to be made it is those with an internal moral compass who can make the right choices while those who are self-seeking and need external gratification will be more likely to support unethical behavior. The values of the authority figure will soon spread to their subordinates and create a new way competing.

Mayhew, B. & Murphy, P. (2014). The impact of authority on reporting behavior, rationalization and affect. Contemporary Accounting Research, 31 (2).