Recognizing Success: A Week of Wins, Remote Realities, and the Power of Employee Recognition in Today’s Workplace

In the ever-changing world of work, the spotlight on employee recognition is shining brighter than ever. This rings especially true in the realm of remote work, where the need for employees to feel appreciated is like the secret sauce to keeping the team happy and thriving. According to a recent survey by OnePoll on behalf of Bonusly, a whopping 46% of U.S. workers hit the exit button because they didn't feel the love at work. Talk about a wake-up call for the importance of recognition, right?

And guess what? The recognition train has been making stops at my station too! Last week brought a double dose of career awesomeness. First up, my team effort with EY (Ernst Young - our tax advisor) snagged us a shiny incentive from the tax office, giving our company a sweet tax advantage. The cherry on top? The finance management team gave me a virtual high-five in the form of the ABCD (Above and Beyond Call of Duty) Award. 

Game On: How Playing Video Games Can Boost Your Professional Skills

I had an extraordinary week with a busy agenda at work. When it came to the end of the office hour (of course, a little bit later than the official office hour), I had the “chance” to run our PS5 (not “mine” because it is originally a gift to my son) and play an online match in a Turkish League tournament in eFootball. I chose my favorite team, Beşiktaş, and lost 0-5 to Galatasaray. I accepted it as a fair result since I didn’t have the opportunity to practice for a long time, and the opponent’s team had better stats and stars than mine. Then I went to another one. This time my opponent was a different user again, with Galatasaray. The original match time ended 1-1, and in the extra time, I scored a last-minute goal. As a celebration ceremony, I chose Golazo, and I was screaming at home while enjoying the goal celebration. I went for another match, and in my third match, I played against Fenerbahçe. I started really well this time (maybe it is because of my opponent’s poor performance) and scored two early goals. Then the opponent directly quit the match, and it was officially recorded as a 3-0 win for me.

After these three matches, I shut down the PS5 and left home to hit my daily 10,000 steps target. I was feeling really good, like a derby winner pro when I started to walk down the street. That was the feeling!

This Saturday morning, while feeding myself with some Forbes articles, I came across content about game skills and careers: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcperna/2023/11/14/why-more-employers-want-to-hire-people-based-on-their-video-game-skills/?sh=4c19fbbf472e

Now, let me share my highlights from this Forbes article by Mark C. Perna.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things | Ben Horowitz

In the last days of the summer'23, I saw my colleague's (Dr. Philipp Moser) post in Linkedin about the book by Ben Horowitz: "The Hard Thing About Hard Things". It is a book with many experiences from Ben and the book brings a new perspective to you and make you learn what is going on in the top management side of the business.

Here we go with my highlights from the book:

“This the real world, homie, school finished. They done stole your dreams, you dunno who did it.” —KANYE WEST, “GORGEOUS”

From Communist to Venture Capitalist

Father turned to me and said, “Son, do you know what’s cheap?” Since I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, I replied, “No, what?” “Flowers. Flowers are really cheap. But do you know what’s expensive?” he asked. Again, I replied, “No, what?” He said, “Divorce.”

By doing everything, I would fail at the most important thing. It was the first time that I forced myself to look at the world through priorities that were not purely my own. I thought that I could pursue my career, all my interests, and build my family. More important, I always thought about myself first. When you are part of a family or part of a group, that kind of thinking can get you into trouble, and I was in deep trouble. In my mind, I was confident that I was a good person and not selfish, but my actions said otherwise. I had to stop being a boy and become a man. I had to put first things first. I had to consider the people who I cared about most before considering myself.

Until you make the effort to get to know someone or something, you don’t know anything. There are no shortcuts to curiosity.

Nine Lies About Work | Marcus Buckingham, Ashley Goodall

You crave feedback. Your organization's culture is the key to its success. Strategic planning is essential. Your competencies should be measured and your weaknesses shored up. Leadership is a thing. These may sound like basic truths of our work lives today. But actually, they're lies. As strengths guru and bestselling author Marcus Buckingham and Cisco Leadership and Team Intelligence head Ashley Goodall tell there are some big lies--distortions, faulty assumptions, wrong thinking--that we encounter every time we show up for work. Nine lies, to be exact. They cause dysfunction and frustration, ultimately resulting in workplaces that are a pale shadow of what they could be. But there are those who can get past the lies and discover what's real. These freethinking leaders recognize the power and beauty of our individual uniqueness. They know that emergent patterns are more valuable than received wisdom and that evidence is more powerful than dogma. With engaging stories and incisive analysis, the authors reveal the essential truths that such freethinking leaders will recognize immediately: that it is the strength and cohesiveness of your team, not your company's culture, that matter most; that we should focus less on top-down planning and more on giving our people reliable, real-time intelligence; that rather than trying to align people's goals we should strive to align people's sense of purpose and meaning; that people don't want constant feedback, they want helpful attention. This is the real world of work, as it is and as it should be. Nine Lies About Work reveals the few core truths that will help you show just how good you are to those who truly rely on you.