Hold Your Tongue

It bewilders me some times how a few choice words either from perfect strangers or people we love can make one really angry or upset.

If people were to make better judgment calls regarding whether to say anything, what to say and how they say it, the world would undoubtedly be a more peaceful place. This is true too for all written communications (e.g. emails, social media postings, etc.). In the world of children bullying each other literally to death at school, this is clearly something that needs to be taught to both children and adults.

A piece of wonderful advice my mother had once given me is that when I’m really mad and so badly want to lash out by saying something hurtful at someone, it is best to count to 10 and try to call to calm down and avoid saying hurtful things. After all, once spoken, those very words cannot be taken back (or erased when posted online). An apology can help, but while one may be forgiven, it is difficult for anyone to forget. The damage that is done cannot be undone.

While working in hospitality, I’ve learned that a key way to quickly process what to say is to ask yourself if what you’re about to say is 1) necessary, 2) the best thing to say, and 3) the best possible way to say it. If not, hold your tongue and think it through before speaking.

Once ill-spoken, a less than desirable situation can easily explode into a problem that can become a costly mistake. Too many companies find themselves having escalating customer service issues simply because staff persons handling a situation have said the wrong thing in a panic or just to fill dead air and open up possibilities of lawsuits.

Best rule of thumb: when in doubt, hold your tongue.

It can save you a lot of trouble, heartache and money. Most of all, it can create peace. And don’t we all want world peace?

PPT – no, not that presentation software

People, Process and Technology.

Having managed staff at several firms and having worked on a start-up, I can safely say that investing in people is one of the most critical parts of running a business. Sure, you can have the best business model and concept, the best tool that you’ve built, but to scale up and create a viable, sustainably profitable business, an entrepreneur needs to build an amazing team and hire the right people (this includes outsourcing and working with agencies). After all, the business owner wants to work on their business, not in it, in order to grow it.

Many companies would not bat an eyelid when investing heavily in technology – from fast computers and servers to building web sites, tools, and applications. These are obvious investments that appear to be the foundations of a business. In order to be more efficient, all kinds of processes are put in place to streamline, improve quality and service, and enhance the bottom line. No amount of cutting edge technology or top-notch processes can be implemented successfully without the properly trained people (employees and third party providers). After all, you need the right people to consistently implement the processes (for sales, customer service, quality assurance, etc.) and effectively harness the power of the invested- technology. The lynchpin lies with the people…always the people.

Hiring employees can be a painful experience, especially when employees leave quickly or do not attain the level of excellence you expect of them after you’ve invested effort and time hiring, training, and giving them leeway to get up to speed – all during which time you have to pay them before they can contribute to a level that justifies compensating them at their pay level.

It is rather unfortunate that the leap of faith has to come almost entirely from the employer regarding an employee’s ability to produce. Yes, employees take on the risk if the company is mismanaged and goes belly-up or (especially a start-up) amounts to one the sells “vaporware”. But the real risk is borne by the employer, especially during the first 3 months of hiring a new employee. Precious time and money can be wasted with a poor hire. A good hire is a truly amazing experience for both parties. Suddenly, everything clicks and things are moving in the right direction swiftly.

During down times, firms cannot help but look to cut costs; it’s a good time to take an audit and make sure there is no waste. Some firms that can still afford to invest sometimes choose to invest heavily in technology while opting to cheapen on their human resource investment on their superstar performers. Other firms come to a screeching halt with any form of investment, and since they can’t cut back on technology they have already invested in (sunk cost), they look towards a giant chunk of most firms’ expenses – labor costs.

During challenging economic times, it is always difficult to decide if a firm still needs a sales staff the same size as during better times, or if would make sense to cut down on the headcount. Strategically, it is particularly during down times that represent the best time to step on the gas pedal to pull ahead of the competition. Realistically, would you need to the full staff to do so? If everyone on the staff has been a strong performer in their area, and the company is well-capitalized to weather the economic storm, I would say keep the team together. No matter how much you try to soothe the star performers that their job is safe, the simple act of cutting out other strong team members serves to rattle their nerves and distracts them from focusing on the task at hand. If there are any underperformers, shame on the firm for not getting rid of them any earlier; they should be left behind to begin with, the sooner the better. That would not rattle anyone, as everyone knows who is pulling the team down.

I would liken a strong team to that of an amazing basketball team. Even a superstar performer like Michael Jordan had to have other team players step in for a while – he could not carry the team the entire duration of the game. The same goes for business. Support staff tends to get the target on their backs for the axe but superstar people can quickly lose their star power when they have to do work that does not play to their strengths and serves to de-motivate them.

If you have the right people, then even with a cut-back on technology, they can still be creative and inventive with new processes to do more with less, think outside the box, and push the envelope with the current available technology. When this happens, the team really comes together and bonds at a whole new level. It’s a beautiful thing when a great team puts their minds towards a common goal. Amazing things happen and a wonderful camaraderie is formed, which serves to strengthen the team and the organization.

Earning your keep is commendable, but giving is more valuable

Employees are paid to do their job. Those who perform that job well, and even exceeding well, are highly commendable. They are earning their keep. And though their results may be excellent, they may not yet earn the super star tag as a MVP employee. A highly valued employee is a person who not only earns but gives. The most valued employee is one who not only gives but also produces outstanding results – this is a super star or MVP employee.

For example, the employee who does a very good job within the typical 9am to 5pm time frame may be providing the employer a good return on investment (ROI) for what the employee is paid. No doubt, the employee has earned that pay. Contrast that with the employee who, on their own accord, decides to give to the employer a little more by way of working during lunch to move projects forward a little faster or helping answer customer inquiries after hours, is clearly a more valued employee who should also produce a higher ROI as a result.

While working late or additional hours may not be requested by the employer (as they may not feel the urgency sufficiently to pay overtime or to request such favors), the above-and-beyond actions by the employee is certainly noticed and puts them closer to the super star category of an employee-giver rather than an employee-earner. These people tend to be rewarded by getting advanced faster and higher within any firm they work at. They are not clock-watchers who bolt out at 5pm on the dot. The employee-giver is a company’s de facto candidate for a MVP.

Not all employee-givers are super star MVPs, however. For example, staying late because you are a slow or ineffective worker is hardly considered employee-giving because work quality is effectively sub-par, and the employee is simply staying late to catch up to par. The effective employee who outperforms others and also an employee-giver, is what puts them in the super star category.

In some ways, one could say this is one of the reasons why family and friends have a much different and often higher perceived relationship value than co-workers, bosses and employees. Friends and family give, they don’t earn. That’s why we care for and about them. Employees, volunteers, and effective networkers who give, get care and concern. It seems calculating, but it's human nature to value such relationships higher.

(Early) Retirement? No thanks.

It seems to be a dream for many to retire early. That certainly would be a financial accomplishment. For a time, I embraced this notion and goal. You would think that as one ages, one would tire of working and truly look forward to some rest and relaxation in his/her retirement years. The odd thing is that as I age, I am beginning to relish the thought of not needing to retire, if I can help it.

Vacations are nice, but a permanent long-term vacation is frankly a bit boring for me. There’s only so much lounging around that I can do before feeling ansy. The quest to keep busy and plugged into society burns strongly within me. I’m not sure if that flame will ever die just because I’m older. Sure, I could keep busy playing tennis or drinking wine, but business (profit or not-for-profit) is my passion.

Maybe the urge to relax will take over after a certain age, especially if plagued by illness, but if I’m otherwise mentally and physically sound, I wonder if taking a permanent vacation is my cup-of-tea. Both my grandfathers owned and worked in their businesses without seeing retirement. Not for lack of financial wealth, but for a passion for business, I’m guessing. I can’t say I know either well enough to know this for a fact, but I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Is it entirely necessary to take on that kind of stress, say past age 70 or even 80 (like my grandfathers)? What about just volunteering somewhere and lending my business experience as a consultant pro bono or otherwise? That only sounds partially fulfilling to me, only because when you don’t take the risk (as most consultants don’t – they get paid for their time whether or not their advice is any good…at best they get a sweetener for being successful, but they hardly get penalized to a point of real pain like a business owner would), you don’t have “skin in the game” and you lack that fighter X-factor injected into the winning equation.

But really, if I were to be lucky enough to win, say, $300 million in the lottery, would I really still be working? Yes, in a foundation probably instead. And after a traveling around the world for maybe a year or so. I can’t imagine doing nothing for a longer period of time. So there, it’s in writing. You can hold me to it…when I win the lottery.

Finding real food

“I only want to eat real food!” I proclaimed, as I marched down the supermarket aisle with my husband, “No processed foods for us.” I felt good about myself as I picked up items such as fresh vegetables for our consumption.

Then, I saw a television documentary about how almost all of our foods are genetically engineered – from seemingly innocuous vegetables such as corn to protein-rich soy beans to the cattle of cows. These scientific advances were touted to help farmers reduce crop loss from insects, enable foods to stay fresh longer and even boost the levels of valued vitamins and minerals in these foods.

All of this technology sounds pretty good, and the FDA says that the food remains “substantially” the same. If there's one take-away I've learned from my Chemistry class at school way-back-when, it's that it only takes an atom or different combination of the same atoms to change the entire nature of a molecule. Plus, the FDA has been known to make mistakes (after all, humans are not infallible) and it does remain to be seen what kind of consequences we will see decades down the road from ingesting these effectively artificial “biotech” foods for long periods of time.

It is virtually impossible for consumers to find any information in the aisle displays that the corn they are buying by the dozen during the summer for a BBQ is genetically-engineered. These disclaimers and notices are not seen anywhere in the fresh food section or even on the boxes of processed foods. It would be nice if there is at least a disclaimer somewhere so that consumers are more aware and can make their own choices.

Speaking of choices, do we have any? Where is one to look for “real, non-Franken food”? A trip to the farmer’s market or growing this from scratch yourself is not a sure-fire way at all – this stuff can be engineered in the seed itself! Here’s a link I found that could help:
http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Genetically-Modified-Foods

But this means having food that perishes faster, has less nutrients, and are higher in cost as these farmers may see crop loss and price accordingly. Is it worth it to try to avoid genetically-modified foods? After all, I'm not looking to live till I'm 120! But I'd like to live well enough to enjoy my life and not be burdened by poor health.

I suppose it’s too soon to tell, but my suspicion is that the health consequences could be even most costly from long-term consumption of such non-natural products. History seems to show that humans, though highly innovative and ingenious, have a knack of making technological advances that changes the balance of our planet and our bodies. And we never seem to realize the gravity of these consequences till it’s much later down the road. Hopefully, these consequences are reversible.

Musings on Music

Music is such a marvelous thing. It is incredibly amazing how we can hear 3 musical notes, and determine if the mood conveyed is onerous, majestic, whimsical, or pensive. That’s one of the reasons why I love Broadway shows. It combines music, spoken word, dancing and acting all in one huge entertaining package.

It would be fascinating if I had a posse of musicians who would automatically play something apropos based on whatever I say or do. The closest thing in “every day life” in this regard is possibly when Dave Letterman or Jay Leno are doing one of their monologues (which is ultimately staged) or chatting with a guest. But even so, it would add so much more emphasis if appropriate music was playing in the background when I am delivering a poignant speech at a wedding and then perhaps drums would sound when I delivered a humorous punch line.

Eureka! I need my own traveling DJ/band! Any volunteers?

Trapped in your own body

The importance of maintaining the physical body is more crucial than I had ever imagined. There was a piece of news I heard some weeks ago about a person who was considered a vegetable for numerous years turned out to be fully cognizant the entire time but simply had no ability to move a single muscle in his body to communicate with anyone. How frustrating that must be!

Can you imagine having all the of normal brain power we currently do but not being able to bat an eyelid, speak, move a finger or any other part of your body? This highlights the fact that our only means of communications currently is purely physical. Without it, we cannot participate in society in any way, no matter how smart we are or how much initiative we might possess.

This mind-boggling information just blows my mind! Now, more than ever, I am committed to doing what is necessary to keep fit. Without a healthy body, there is not much I can do to enjoy life, interact with others, or contribute to society.