Time for a Bonus?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/08/campbell.economic.crisis/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Stress and a Glass of Water

A longtime friend emailed this parable, of sorts, to me and I thought it appropriate to share since, like me, many of my clients, business owners and investors, are hard-workers who tend to take their problems home with them.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water
and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 20g. to 500g.

The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes. And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,
we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, set them down and don't pick them up again until after you've rested a while."

Love Them Anyway (Mother Theresa)

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

Those Sexy Sciences!

If you've read The World is Flat and worried that we--the American people and culture--now lack serious interest and successful role models in the sciences and engineering, worry no more--help is on the way, thanks to the recession! As this BusinessWeek article explains, now that Wall Street isn't calling with six figure-starting salaries, those who have a knack for numbers are turning their interest and banking their careers on engineering and other hard sciences. America has always had the high-tech edge and this twisted turn of events does give me hope that we can reclaim or firm up our claim to that edge--at least for a while. Hopefully, students are watching and learning still!

Imponderables

By all accounts, Steve Jobs is a "control freak" at best and a "jerk" at worst, so how is it that so many "free thinkers" and "creative-types" can cherish him and his works (Apple / Macs / i-things) so much? Likewise, how can so many of those same free thinkers and creative-types reconcile their desire for freedom with a desire for "big brother" government that legislates societal change? I'm a creative-type, in many ways, and I'd love to have an iPhone but, otherwise, I just don't get it...

Please enlighten me.

尊敬

Find out what it's means to me.

This Business of Collections

The sad side of my practice involves business partner suing each other and creditors suing debtors for full and immediate repayment. I have clients on both sides and I work with each, in turn. Sometimes you can talk sense, ease troubled minds, and other times, you wind up in an exchange like this one: http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html.

My friend, Wick Sewell, read this post and commented that we should watch this funny clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AJ0SkbPxAk

No Backbone?!? Maybe Just Go Nuclear!

Gas has finally returned to pre-insanity levels and "green"-talk has already lost some currency. But I'm still working through my stack of magazines and learning with each page I turn. One of the most surprising--and inspiring--articles that I read lately was this "Oil, Gas and Wires" article in Forbes. Forbes, you say? High-dollar, white collar conservative nonsense? Irrelevant to the common man's life? Think again. 

How many times has energy (or lack of energy) crippled our economy (and our world)? Time and again, we wring our hands and wonder what to do--then trouble subsides and we do nothing. This article suggests that most, if not all, of the resources we need to meet most of our daily energy needs are already, here, in the United States. The problem is that our infrastructure for moving those resources is outdated. Rivers and lakes generate hydro-power. Wind-swept plains generate windmill power. Sun-baked deserts generate solar power. But cities on the coast and everywhere between consume.

We are immersed in new technology. How much our world has changed over the last century. We harnessed electricity, lit the skies, sent men to the moon and brought them back. But when it comes to meeting energy needs, we have not yet succeeded. We move renewable energy locally and non-renewable energy (petroleum) globally. Our energy backbone is weak and, in many places, non-existent. More than 100 years ago, Edison argued for DC power while Tesla argued for AC power. Edison said AC was dangerous but we smartly chose it anyway. Oil is dangerous today but we choose it anyway. We shouldn't.  We need of coordination and cooperation where those who can produce, do produce and sell what they produce to those who can't. Should utility companies stay regulated? Perhaps, perhaps not. If the government required minimum availability but otherwise deregulated and allowed market forces to work, what markets might open up?

Then, again, maybe we just need local, community-sized nuclear plants--you gotta love their performance specs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear-reactors-los-alamos.

What Do We Need Jobs For? / I'm A Republican

Boldly delving into politics...of possibility...about the underlying economics...I just watched the PBS segment on the market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that ensued--it was a sobering show, check it out at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/crash/. What can the government do? What should the government do? Who's proved more successful: Fed Ex or the Federal postal service? Private enterprise--small business--is and will be the key. Of particular note during the PBS show was an interview with the very influential economist John Kenneth Galbraith who described pre-Depression life as the time before government thought it could control the economy. The government and the people of those times looked to business leaders for economic control. In fact, as the program made clear, JP Morgan's intervention, alone, prevented a crash in 1907. He had done it 20 years earlier so everyone thought he could do it again--the problem in 1929, though, was that the market had grown and Morgan's influence had shrunk. If more influential business leaders had joined in the action, perhaps they would have saved the market--and softened our landing in a "not-so-great" depression?

Divine Business

I learned a most unexpected lesson in church this morning. 

The priest began by admitting that some of his brethren were content to pass the time at each mass without much ado. Everyone was obligated to be there--and so they were there, regardless of what their priest or anyone else did to make the experience good or bad--or so they seemed to think. Last Sunday, our priest ran the New York City marathon and, the night before, attended mass there at St. Patrick's Cathedral. He sat in the back and couldn't hear a word. The sound system was old and few seemed to care--they had to be there, right? Communion was not so much offered to him as it was tossed in his direction. Again, they had to be there, right? He said that he didn't agree with those brethren and parishioners who were complacent and satisfied simply since they had to be there. Our priest said that his job was (and is) to work with us and to improve our lives and send us out into the world to work with and improve the lives of others. And he has been (and still is) doing just that.

He came to our parish just over a year ago and, by his presence, stirred things up. Every Sunday and, at events in between, he asks questions, poses answers, and demands new thoughts. He is not complacent and he doesn't reply on the fact that we're obligated to attend. We may have been obligated but many of us weren't attending. When you just don't see any tangible benefit--and may even feel you are suffering a detriment in terms of lost time and malaise--it's easy to quit going and quit believing. He is not so much a firebrand as he is a catalyst. We the people of the parish fan the flames and sustain the greater goals--but he inspires us and prods us. We are much better because of him. 

As I thought about his words, his story, and these facts that coalesced in my mind, I was surprised to realize that there was a greater lesson for business underlying this "church" lesson. 

Consider the recent election: How many new voters registered? How many old voters finally returned to their polls? Regardless of whether you agree with the results, you must admire the activity--people voted. If they voted for the wrong person, you can persuade them. If they voted for the right person, you can celebrate with them. Either way, they have done something--and that is, indeed, something noteworthy.

Consider the postal service: What are your options for mailing letters to friend? Email looks like the cheapest and quickest way for some--but sometimes you really want to--or need to--say it in a letter. You can send it by the U.S. Postal Service or you can send it by UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Which one's cheaper? Which one's guaranteed to get there quicker? Which one do you choose more often? Why? Is it stellar customer service? There are real pearls at the post office (I'm pretty sure my mother is one) but sometimes it really seems like you're just a number. You're obligated to be there--if you want to mail something--because they have a government-granted monopoly.

Generally-speaking, monopolies and stagnant businesses are bad things. Why? When business is guaranteed, customer service is pointless--customer maintenance means delivering tolerable--not superior--service. So, next time you look at your customers, smile and treat them like it's a your first date (but be truthful!) because they have choices. They choose your service. Every day, though, they have more and more choices. Why stick with what you know? In the end, because you know what to expect--and you like it. Certainty and enjoyability are the reasons why we like dealing with people. The choice is yours. And theirs, too.