start me up!

Look out! It's the RenGen!

Patricia Martin has coined (or at any rate, likes to use) the term "RenGen," a condensation of "Renaissance Generation." It is her belief that humankind, or US society at any rate, is on the edge of a cultural renaissance rivaling the original, that it has been on the edge for some time now, and that our marketing, production, and business values should reflect this phenomenon. (I am not sure I agree. I am not close to it, even if it is so.)

Anyway, there is a substantial podcast interview at the DishyMix blog, and I listened to the 30-minute discussion with great interest. And I was asked to pitch a question or two for DishyMix writer Susan Bratton to toss at Martin for an answer. Here is what I came up with:

Her theories are interesting, but in my opinion, they are for the most part theories. Still, what do I know? I'm no advertising expert. Anyhow, moving into the interview...

"rengen" == "renaissance generation" --> OK.
"sponsorship marketing" == "selling sponsorships for various 'experiences'" --> OK.

I need to know the above stuff to understand what I'm hearing. So here are a few questions. Maybe you will decide one is of some value. I was greatly entertained... but I'm afraid I found myself doubting some of the assumptions she makes about what's going on in society. I am gonna think about that a while. And I'm gonna stick a thing in my own blog about the show. Very slick and professional. I'd like to be more like that when I grow up. LOL

I wonder how it is that our society can pull of a renaissance without our ability to actually produce lasting goods? We don't really do manufacturing anymore. Maybe we set up well for a renaissance otherwise, but as a society we're not making anything except trades of information. Don't we have to build? Create? Manufacture? Export?

I have to assume that "a sharp intake of fear" is not the only possible catalyst for a renaissance, because 9/11 was the most fearful moment American society has experienced in my adult life, and yet here we are still on the edge seven years later, instead of in the middle of the renaissance. What other catalysts might kick in here?

Is it really that people are expressing more? Or is it more that we KNOW they are, because of tools like YouTube that enable the self-expression to reach a wider audience? Or is it the increased ease of use of online tools, instead, perhaps, of a smarter society? Maybe all these ideas are just different points of view of the same phenomena?

What do you think of luxury brands? There seems to be no end of them. Would you classify them as "anxiety" brands? I work with underprivileged high-school kids. They tend to spend money as soon as they get it. That's why I ask.

Anyway, if I get an answer to any of these, I will expand a bit later. Cheers!

Labels: character, young entrepreneurs

posted by Ron @ 11:10 PM 1 comments

The Inspirational Words of Aunt May

I believe there’s a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady, and give up the thing we want the most.

Even our dreams.

It's from Spider-Man 2. I never, ever get tired of hearing this one. Maybe a little contrarian for an entrepreneur, though: you'd think the entrepreneur's dream is the start-up, right? But after all, we have to give up all other dreams we may have to be steady, honest and strong for the company that depends on us.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:34 PM 3 comments

Evangelicals v. Atheists

I'm willing to believe that I can learn something about life in the workplace by observing the way I am treated by evangelical Christians and atheists. My major point is this: they are polar opposites in belief but not in action.

WARNING: this is a generalization, and I'm doing it on purpose. I have run into this -- not every time -- but far too many times.

Characteristic	Evangelicals	Atheists
In treatment of others not like themselves	Hint others may have lesser souls	Hint others may have lesser minds
In dialogue with others	Won't listen; too busy praying	Won't listen; too busy scoffing
Regarding the mainstream	Believe they know best for others	Believe they should rule others
Regarding each other	Believe atheists are responsible for the moral degradation of society	Believe evangelicals are responsible for 2000 years of atrocities
Self-righteous?	Yeah, but sometimes will act humble	Yeah, and don't give a shit what you think

If you are an evangelical or an atheist and you are offended by this, you better look in the mirror. Your customers are seeing what I see.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:08 PM 2 comments

The Twix Bar Gambit

I've learned on my latest gig that it's very important not to let on to others that there's something you don't know how to do -- especially if it's something you've been HIRED to do. If you make the boss find someone else to do the current task, then why should she not find someone else to do ALL the tasks?

She says it this way: "act like you know." And I call it the Twix Bar Gambit. After all, you've seen the commercials where the guy doesn't know what to say next, so he shoves a Twix bar in his pie-hole to buy himself a minute.

If you don't know how to do it, then estimate how long it'll take you to figure out how. You are "kinda tied up" until then, you see.

I used to tell people that if they didn't KNOW the answer, they should admit it and commit to GET the answer. (This is what I was always taught to do in job interviews.) I don't say that any more. Now I tell them, just get the answer. Here are some options:

• The pure time delay. "I'm tied up just now, but I'll get back to you in ten minutes." (Or an hour. Or tomorrow.)
• The archive. "Wow, it's been a LONG time since anyone's asked me about THAT. Could you tell me more?"
• The deflection. "Isn't the issue REALLY this?" or "Couldn't you do THIS instead?"
• The volley. "When did this happen to you?" (or, how?)

So what's up here? You do have to show 'em you know what you know what you're talkin' about. And you have to know what they're talkin' about too. But you don't have to do either NOW.

Well, except in a job interview. Then you're kinda painted into a corner. :-)

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:12 PM 0 comments

Rich Barrett passes; a loss we'll feel

My good friend Rich Barrett has passed away. He was one of the foremost experts in the world on the subject of fasteners -- a subject often overlooked by engineering organizations both small and large. He deserves credit from all of us for caring about a subject so many ignore as an afterthought; a subject that, if ignored, can lead to momentous engineering failures and loss of life and property. For my money, if an engineer CAN be a hero, Rich Barrett was a hero.

I've maintained a large portion of his Fastener Design Manual on this Web site. It'll stay here until I leave TCNJ for good and all, or until Rich's family asks me to pull it down. In the meantime, there will be no answers to e-mail inquiries made to Rich. I certainly won't do it, and I never have. Dozens of engineers has written to ask Rich for free help, which he didn't have time to give during his life, and which I am neither qualified nor inclined to pitch in. It's just a book -- read it or don't, but don't bother with questions. Rich did a fine job collecting a cache of info about fasteners, but he didn't leave behind a support service. You certainly won't honor his life by asking for help now.

This is his last communication to me, dated 03.17.2007:

1. My spouse and I divorced over religious differences. She thought she was God and I didn't.
2. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
4. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
5. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
6. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me.
7. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
8. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
9. I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are just missing.
10. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
11. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
12. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
13. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
14. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
15. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
16. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
17. Wrinkled was not one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up.
18. Procrastinate Now!
19. I have a degree in Liberal Arts. Do you want fries with that?
20. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
21. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.
22. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
23. They call it PMS because Mad Cow Disease was already taken.
24. He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless DEAD.
25. A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
26. Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
27. The trouble with life is there's no background music.
28. The original point and click interface was a Smith & Wesson.
29. I smile because I don't know what the heck is going on.

This list has probably been around the Internet and back. But it shows that Rich was keeping a sense of humor around until the last.

Labels: character, education, engineering, history

posted by Ron @ 9:48 PM 1 comments

I gave Dilbert a new job

I'm as big a fan of Dilbert as any geek could be.

But the close affection I had for Scott Adams' comic strip isn't the same any more, as (a) I no longer work in a cubicle, (b) I no longer work for a pointy-haired boss, (c) my co-workers aren't incompetent, and (d) we actually have a customer-service system that works, leading to relatively few headaches even when we're poorly organized. In the days when I didn't enjoy my work as I do right now, I hung Dilbert cartoons on my cube wall, as did thousands of other white-collar workers all over the USA.

But now that I don't hang the cartoons on my wall, I still have room for Dilbert-esque humor in my life. The True Tales of Induhviduals in Scott Adams' Dilbert Newsletter are, like he says, a "little ray of bitter sunshine." And I'm sensitive to other related stuff, like this note from the Dilbert Blog:

So when [Tim] Hardaway said on the radio that he hates gay people, I think he was surprised that it caused a problem. He's not good at pattern recognition. I'll bet he spent the first week of the shit storm just shaking his head and muttering, "I didn't see THAT coming."

Great sports commentary there.

I also want to mention the Despair catalog for someone who loves the sarcastic. It's a gift that keeps on giving!

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 9:14 PM 0 comments

The best online singles profile EVER!

I'm not gonna tell you where I got this, but it's hilarious. SOMEBODY out there knows how the singles Web sites really work. :-) :-) :-)

My Mother wrote this for me because I still live in her basement and she wants me to find someone new to take care of me so she can find a paying tenant. My last boyfriend ditched me because I got pregnant and asked for child support even though he never touched me. My sister wants me to pay back the money I owe her NOW, can you lend me a hundred dollars? I promise I will pay it back. My ex-husband left me for a younger woman so I dated his new wife's son and used my alimony to take him to a nice restaurant. When I get my period, I gain a little weight. And it's accumulative. I am running out of room, so please tell me now, do you still love me???

Labels: character, diversions

posted by Ron @ 5:46 PM 1 comments

The New Nigerian Scam

I was approached online by someone who named herself Stacy (artist's conception shown here), saying she was from Brooklyn, but after traveling to Nigeria her parents were killed in a car wreck, and her passport was confiscated. She claims to be 31, (incredibly) single, (even more incredibly) white, and (still more incredibly) looking for her "soulmate," who will (of course) help her return to the USA.

(I listened to this for educational purposes, being oh, so intimately acquainted with most previous incarnations of the Nigerian Scam.)

But she has major ESL issues, even for someone raised in Brooklyn. :-) :-) :-) Consider this excerpt from the "background" she sent me:

Furthermore,after the death of my parent i wish to come back to states but the people i thought they can help me denied me when i called them for help that is why i decided to used the little money they left to send myself to school of nursing where i have just finished as last two month.Now that i have finished as nurse i thought i can get job here but its a pitty that there is no job here ,then i started going to the embassyoffice just to seek for there help but there is nothing come out of all what i have been looking for, so i made up my mind to splitted the money left with me into two, i used one to pay for the hotel where i m living now cuz i have no place to stay and no one to stay with and used the rest to deposited for the flight ticket with aim that i can get job so i can pay it before i can get someone to stay with in the states but ordinary persona to stay with i mean solumate man to lean on forever .

I'm posting this as a public service: this Stacy is most likely a black Nigerian man, looking to scam stupid Americans, as did "Miriam Abacha" before him. He may also be a Muslim, though I think that's neither here nor there -- I just heard the other day that Nigeria was mostly Muslim. The difference between this scam is that it is targeted at chatters rather than e-mailers. There have, of course, been any number of other scams pointed at chat rooms and the like, but this one is aimed at those who may not only be stupid, but vulnerable as well. A word to the wise, assuming I have any readers at all, much less wise ones. LOL

Labels: character, internet

posted by Ron @ 8:13 PM 0 comments

Cell phone dos and don'ts are not enough

Small Business Magazine is one publication is but one of many publishing a list of guidelines for cell phone etiquette. That's a worthy effort, but it's just not enough. There are too many rubes out there using cell phones, and it's a good bet none of them are reading Small Business.

I propose something a bit more radical: deny service in public places to anyone using a cell phone. That includes restaurants, doctors' offices, and grocery stores. These places all deny service to anyone not wearing a shirt or shoes. Are those sins worse than a cell phone with a high-pitched beep every time its user speaks into it? I ask you.

Labels: character, office space

posted by Ron @ 10:09 PM 0 comments

Worst search engine EVER! (and also maybe the best)

Ann writes in her Blog about her favorite search engine (not Google). Pah. A paltry analysis. (No offense. :-)) I can go one better: the worst search engine EVER.

It's at my local public library. You can't use it for a search. If you enter two search terms, it will search on the first one and ignore the second, meaning it will never find anything requiring two terms (in my case, books on the #1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith). Forget that. The only terms among those which will yield any results at all are "detective" (several hundred) and "smith" (thousands). And of course, you can't page back -- the previous page is nearly always expired.

I asked the librarians about these phenomena and they told me (a) their interface to their database is different from what's presented to the customers, and (b) they can't find anything on the customers' search engine either. So. Why even bother to have it? Why not use those terminals for the Internet instead? And ask the librarian to help you find a book?

NOTE: Ann deserves credit for her analysis. (I was only kidding about the "paltry" thing.) Her favorite, GoodSearch, channels advertising dollars to charitable organizations -- Ann's favorite is Save Darfur. I just entered as a charity September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. :-)

Labels: character, internet

posted by Ron @ 11:17 PM 0 comments

A new year's day present from Rod Serling

The Sci-Fi Network is having its usual Twilight Zone marathon for New Year's Day. But I have seen the episode "He's Alive," starring a very young Dennis Hopper, for the first time. Serling's closing narration, for which he earned a bucketload of hate mail, was as follows:

Where will he go next, this phantom from another time, this resurrected ghost of a previous nightmare - Chicago; Los Angeles; Miami, Florida; Vincennes, Indiana; Syracuse, New York? Anyplace, everyplace, where there's hate, where there's prejudice, where there's bigotry. He's alive. He's alive so long as these evils exist. Remember that when he comes to your town. Remember it when you hear his voice speaking out through others. Remember it when you hear a name called, a minority attacked, any blind, unreasoning assault on a people or any human being. He's alive because through these things we keep him alive.

Science fiction is progressive in more ways than in its handling of technology. Guess who Serling was talking about. And remember it next time "diversity training" comes up.

Labels: character, diversions

posted by Ron @ 12:04 AM 0 comments

Drink socially and benefit?

Monster's Blog yielded this gem, which was e-mailed to me as I am on their list:

According to a Yahoo! News article citing a recent study published in the Journal of Labor Research, "drinkers earn 10 to 14 percent more than teetotalers, and...men who drink socially bring home an additional 7 percent in pay.

Sorry, Monster: it's not the drink that does it. It's the socialization. I like a good beer as much as the next guy, but if you are able to socialize in the workplace without the benefit of alcohol, you will reap the same benefit.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 6:42 PM 1 comments

Cuban's missive crisis

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined a couple hundred grand by the NBA for making comments on his blog about improving NBA officiating.

No doubt this fine is levied primarily as a cumulative response to Cuban's past comments, such as being unwilling to hire the NBA's head of officials "to manage a Dairy Queen."

But Cuban's blog comments seem both restrained and well-reasoned. Although what Cuban says about how "the best people should be on the job with the money products" is not true -- consider how seniority, for instance, affects the very concept -- he makes the point that NBA officiating is not coordinated with business efficiency in mind. (And considering how every other aspect of the sport is aligned with making money, why not this one?)

So the NBA doesn't want to hear from Cuban about this because... he owns a team? he has openly complained before? Or maybe it's more that they won't admit that nobody else is qualified to have a good idea on this point. Or maybe the NBA believes it's running its business so well that its poop doesn't even stink. Maybe. But something about those guys does stink, that's for sure. I think Cuban should be praised for standing up against it.

Labels: character, diversions

posted by Ron @ 11:36 PM 1 comments

Let's all blow our money like Tom Cruise!

There's an article here that chronicles the purchase of an ultrasound machine by Tom Cruise, to monitor the progress of Katie Holmes' baby. A local politician then initiates legislation to ban the sale of these things to private individuals. He says

If someone sees Tom Cruise buy one, they think this is the thing to do.

Yeah, boy. If Tom Cruise plops down US $200K for something he's only gonna use two or three times, I gotta do it too. Where do I sign up?

Entrepreneurs learn not to drop large amounts of money like that without a plan in place to use it. I knew a guy who put US $50K down for an industrial-strength film-processing machine to use in his retail camera business, and he never used it, ultimately unplugging it and allowing it to occupy half of his storage room. (This decision almost put him out of business. And I for one would never have missed his business if it were gone. Never did like that guy. And it's hard to get me not to like someone.)

IMET, on the other hand, put down US $50K for a powder-based rapid prototyping machine, and they love it! Their ability to quickly visualize 3D parts (and to show visualizations like this one to customers) will soon pay for itself! But unlike the "unfortunate" camera-store owner above, IMET actually has a plan. Anyone who buys a sonogram because Tom Cruise bought one doesn't have a plan, and should be spending money on ME instead of the machine. This politician doesn't have a plan either.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 8:03 PM 0 comments

My curse is upon you, doctor's answering service!

This morning I called a doctor's office about a prescription we're out of. (I know, they don't HAVE to fill it on Saturday.) The answering service's recorded message went like this:

If you are calling about referrals, scheduling appointments, or prescriptions, please press "2."

So I did.

If you are calling about referrals, scheduling appointments, or prescriptions, please call back during regular business hours.

If your doctor's office does this, may that doctor be cursed. My curse is this: the doctor will pound sand willingly.

Labels: character, diversions

posted by Ron @ 10:58 AM 0 comments

Natasha Bedingfield: preach it, sister!

It's not usually my place to promote popular culture in this blog. But every once in a while somebody does something that should encourage entrepreneurs, if not everybody. Natasha Bedingfield (pictured) gives us Unwritten, a song that does that.

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I have listened to "message music" for years and years. This song is more effective from my point of view than thousands of others recorded by people who think it's their business to spread a message. Even if it's not your style, there's a simple message that might help you face tomorrow without fear. Hear that? No fear!

Labels: character, diversions

posted by Ron @ 8:46 PM 0 comments

The motivational speaker's secret

My daytime employer hosted a seminar for faculty in which nobody named the guest speaker. I can only guess that this was because everyone in the place who was not a rookie like me knew the guy. I found out on my own later that his name is Ted Fattoross, and he's pictured here.

Now, I have to tell you that I am not normally a big fan of motivational speakers. I believe that we have to find motivation within ourselves, if we are to find it at all. This dates back to an experience I had with former Cleveland Browns player and barbeque-sauce maker Al "Bubba" Baker, who once proclaimed on his business cards that his experience on the Browns' defensive line qualified him to speak to businesses on "total quality management." I came away from that meeting thinking that speakers would say anything to get to speak to new audiences (it was just my thoughts, just or unjust). This feeling was subsequently reinforced when I got the news of the Mike Warnke fiasco. (Mike's side of the story is at this site.) Just not very good experiences with these guys in general.

Plus, I have often felt that we can only be motivated by the motivational speaker while the speaker is still THERE. Then we forget. We don't see life through the speakers' eyes. Maybe if we did, we'd be better able to remember what we've heard. It's just like anything we learn: until we do it, and teach it, we don't really know it.

But I'm gonna give Fattoross his due: he reminds us that "every day above ground is a good one." That's a good word. And I have to face the fact that if I am to teach, I must be regularly reminded of why this work is so important. And here is why:

• We battle against ignorance every day. If we falter, why should students take up arms in our place?
• Our lives are "character education" whether we believe in such a thing or not. We are constantly being read by those we stand in front of. Even after class, they read us.
• The students want to be validated. They need us for this. They need us to let them know that they are alive; that their lives matter; that they can, should, and must make a difference -- if a difference is ever to be made.

Those are good words. Sure, maybe Fattoross isn't the only guy in the world who can say them, but I was there when he did. Maybe I can pay it forward.

Oh, and here's how to reach Ted to have him speak at your school. :-)

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 5:15 PM 1 comments

When I'm sick I take it out on Trump :-)

I am SO sick today. So I decided to put something else together for Apprentice: the Musical. This one is sung to the tune of the All-American Rejects' Dirty Little Secret. It'll at least cheer ME up to do this.

NBC is calling me
I’m the one they want to see
'Cuz I go from near to far
Make a business geek a star

Tell me of the job you walked off
And I will show you I'm not soft
This is you and me, on goes the show

I'll make you this season’s new Apprentice
(season’s new Apprentice)
Until then you can stay inside my penthouse
(don't punch holes in the walls of my new penthouse)
This season’s new Apprentice
On goes the show

Carolyn Kepcher will fight
George Ross he is on my right
Might even see Bill Rancic too
Help entrepreneurs act like fools

There's someone else that you pissed off
So I must show you I'm not soft
This is you and me, on goes the show

(repeat chorus)

When you make me tired (tired)
In the boardroom you'll cry (you'll cry)
You'll fight and scratch and lie (and lie)
You just might hear "you're fired!"

(repeat chorus)

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 9:00 PM 0 comments

Renew your commitment to customer service daily... or else!

One angry customer

• can result in the loss of thousands of dollars
• can lead to thousands if not millions in lost business revenue
• can take control of your environment
• can spoil your whole day
• can get you audited by the IRS
• can get your zoning revoked, or (if you are working from home) noticed
• can put up a Web site just to flame you
• can sue you
• can cost you your job... or at least get you reprimanded
• can ruin your reputation
• will stick out more than a hundred happy ones

...and...

• can give you a precious opportunity to go above and beyond the call of duty to please them ALL.

This weekend I'm learning that a commitment to customer service must be renewed constantly -- I'm thinking daily. Usually, I AM that angry customer, and this weekend is no exception. There are a couple of people who are about to face my wrath. But I also have dozens of customers of my own, and over the last few days I let them down. (I just learned this about five hours ago.) I thought they were the problem. After all, I'm the one with the experience, the know-how, the successful history. But that doesn't mean my poop has stopped stinking. Come Monday, I will be swallowing my pride, and renewing my commitment to customer service -- right in front of the customers. We don't all have the ability to make a play for the customers' compassion like I do, and that's probably a good thing, as I (at least) may fail. But we all have the opportunity to reexamine ourselves, and make sure we're providing the service they need.

Now, how am I going to do this? Well, it starts by asking each and every one (as opportunity permits) what they need, of the things I have the power to give them...

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 7:54 PM 3 comments

Don't let conflicts stew

I've tried to collect a summary of good information about conflict resolution as part of the Rhetoric for Engineers e-book. When I look at conflict resolution, however, it's not with the point of view of an expert, oh no. And it's not with the detachment of a scholar, either. I'm a conflict survivor.

Once, at NASA, I got into an argument with an office-mate. He was dissatisfied with the work he was doing. I tried to counsel patience. He said that the work we were doing was simplistic, compared to what could be done in our discipline. (Only what was said was a bit more crude. Do I have to describe it in more detail?) I took the remark personally. So I escalated the argument, finally saying he never did anything around there anyway.

Well, he winged his coffee mug at me. He broke a picture of my wife and me that was on my desk. (I was lucky he didn't hit me.) I marched past him, down the hall to the management office, and demanded that my boss be dragged out of a meeting to resolve this, with the co-worker close behind wanting the same thing. The boss says "what the hell is going on here?"

OK, the co-worker was suspended from work for a couple of days and made to take an anger management course. I was made to take a conflict management course. You might say I was slapped on the wrist; you might say I didn't deserve any punishment at all. But for me the bottom line was what I learned: the self-esteem of the people you work with isn't some kind of immeasurable soft quantity that you can ignore if you want to succeed as a team. People have feelings, whether we think there is room for that in the workplace or not. Big companies can afford on-site shrinks and other programs to help take care of our sensitivities; entrepreneurs can't. We have to heal the hurts ourselves.

Better not to give those hurts in the first place.

• Don't let conflicts stew inside of you, giving them a chance to grow and take shape.
• Don't assume anything done to hurt you was intentional.
• Do try to talk things out privately with those who offend you.
• Go to the boss if a private talk gets nowhere. Bosses can be experienced arbitrators.
• Remember that your co-workers were people before they were your co-workers. They may have outside factors influencing inside behavior.
• Do what Solomon says: with all your getting, get understanding. :-)

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:07 PM 0 comments

On the value of human life

We talk about human life as being priceless, and it is. But you can't run a business that way. Any business that offers products or services that are hazardous assigns a price to human life, based on the likelihood that someone will be killed or seriously injured from using these products or services, and then that assigned price is built into what we pay as customers.

You can see that if human life is treated as priceless in this context, that value has to be passed on to customers as well, meaning that we can't afford to buy or do anything. The result is that when we buy potentially hazardous products or services, no matter how unlikely death or injury may be, we are entering into an implicit agreement with the sellers on the value of human life. Including our own.

If the sellers are callous and unfeeling because they don't treat human life as priceless in their business models, then so are we, because we don't take that value into account when we decide what we are going to buy. To avoid being hypocrites ourselves, we have to hold companies blameless for assigning finite values to human life. Mother Jones magazine, while writing a fine expose on the Pinto in 1977, is guilty of this hypocrisy. Unless its staff refuses to drive cars or buy insurance.

BUT... there are other possible sins that can be committed by businesses in this relationship:

1. Assuming that we as customers care only about the best price. Specifically, we saw in the case of the Ford Pinto accidents a version of Lee Iacocca (pictured), the Hero of Chrysler in the late 80s, tell us all that "safety doesn't sell."
   
   Ford Pinto design at the time was constrained by then-Chairman Henry Ford II to no more than 2000 lbf in weight and no more than US $2000 in cost. But we will often make buying decisions for many reasons other than price, and safety surely is one of them.
2. Making a business case for design features that are known to be unsafe. Products and services sometimes have hazards built-in; that's why we have warning messages. But why would we deliberately design features that are unsafe and then push them through to the market, possibly ensuring that those features are the first things to go wrong?
   
   In the Ford Pinto case, Ford had a better gas-tank design, and decided not to use it for reasons that included an assembly line that already set up for the dangerous design.
3. Ignoring the customers -- and the media -- when things DO start to go wrong. Ford concentrated instead on the government, lobbying against relevant government safety standards for eight years. While somewhere between 500 and 900 people died needlessly, a number even greater than Ford's estimates of the loss of life they could absorb, Ford fought against the need to recall 1.5 million Pintos.

The issue is not that we place a dollar value on human life. The issues are that we don't calculate that value correctly; that we aren't willing to change that value when our mistakes are brought to light; that we instead try to pass those costs on to everyone else; that we really believe this is what our customers want us to do.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 6:07 PM 0 comments

al-Jazeera: seeking the truth?

There's a news network out there that claims to value truth and objectivity over "the scoop," although in some regions of the world, such as Afghanistan and Iraq, they get the scoop anyway. Am I talking about Fox News? No, it's al-Jazeera.

If I do a brief comparison between the two, the first thing I notice is: al-Jazeera doesn't tie up my computer's resources with annoying Flash animations. (Something I don't much care for from anyone.) Fox doesn't have a "code of ethics" or an "about us" linked from their home page; al-Jazeera does. Where I favor Fox is that they have room to talk about sports and entertainment of unique interest to Americans, but al-Jazeera doesn't have that in their mission -- they believe the whole world is their audience. Admittedly, to some Americans that may seem boring -- even to me when I want to read about sports.

It's fairness that grabs me about al-Jazeera. They pull no punches, whether they are talking about terrorists or the American military. To me, this is far more difficult than being fair in coverage between Democrats and Republicans, and Fox News doesn't do even this particularly well. I mean, Democrats won't shoot you if you don't give them equal time or a positive spin. (Well, not most of them, anyway.)

One place where the two organizations are closely related: they both got off the ground in 1996. That makes them both very young businesses in my view, even though news moves so fast they may be growing old. They both faced struggles from the outset -- Fox claims they started up "amidst predictions of failure" and al-Jazeera claims that their television network "sent shockwaves through the whole Arab world from its very first day on air." I could argue these two networks are both entrepreneurial in their way -- except that we know Fox's money comes from a conglomerate, and could guess that al-Jazeera gets its money from someone near a lot of oil.

I'm just saying that for my money, since I care about the whole world, and a fair spin on the news, I'd go for al-Jazeera ahead of Fox News any day.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 7:17 PM 0 comments

Performance Friction Corp. stiffs consultant!

My friend Rich Barrett did a consulting job for Performance Friction Corp. in Clover, SC. This company makes, among other things, rotors (like the one pictured) and brake calipers, especially for racing cars.

This gig called for Rich (pictured) to pass along a final report, after which he would be paid a US $600 balance. This balance Rich never saw. In short, he was stiffed. Stiffed by a company who uses the following as part of its operating principles:

Excite the customer, by exceeding their expectations, with the absolute best product, delivery, and value through a total commitment to product and process integrity. Continually improve on the execution of TS16949. No Compromises.

Notice this says nothing about the way they treat their vendors.

Rich has always been an up-front guy, one who wears his heart on his sleeve. Though he feels Performance Friction must bear responsibility for its own lack of business ethics in this case, he sees it as a sign of a larger trend:

In business, the idea now seems to be that we will cheat you in any way we can. [We] will be as crooked as [we] can get away with.

Rich also says that consultants "know each other" -- that they run pretty much in the same circles.

Consultants are entrepreneurs, small businesspeople in general, who can't always absorb a $600 loss like Rich has been able to. So I see this as a sort of plagiarism, in which Performance Friction takes ownership of work it has never done, and never paid for, and benefits from that work. It also contributes to a lessening regard for smaller entrepreneurs, while increasing its own company value just a tiny bit. And since Rich is my friend, Performance Friction, a company heretofore unknown to me, is now my enemy.

Let me ask you, officers of Performance Friction: was stiffing Rich for $600 worth it?

Labels: character, engineering

posted by Ron @ 4:37 PM 1 comments

SOME things you don't WANT to highlight on your resume!

When The Island was released this past summer, it was accompanied by the following tagline:

From the Director of Pearl Harbor and Armageddon

...which is Michael Bay (pictured, as indicated by Mr. Cranky, counting to five). Mr. Cranky describes The Island in the following manner:

Writing about an improved Michael Bay film is kind of like writing about an improved Holocaust.

But I think what really causes us to emote here are the facts that (a) Michael Bay is being advertised as the force behind The Island, and (b) they're doing it by referring to a couple of Bay's previous borderline turds. (I know -- I myself rate Armageddon as average, but my son is gently and firmly convincing me to lower my own rating.)

The lesson is simple: when you are putting out a resume, you must consider your audience first, and decide what among your accomplishments will be welcome reading in the audience's eyes. Then ditch the rest with extreme prejudice.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 8:37 AM 0 comments

Astonishing account from Hurricane Katrina aftermath eyewitnesses!

I'm going to condense this long account, attributed to Larry Bradshaw and Lorrie Beth Slonsky, a couple of paramedics who were on the scene. The entire account is quite chilling and Big Brother-ish. But the parts I'm including are confined to effects on businesses, as I see it -- consistent with the theme of this blog.

Two days after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the Walgreens store at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets remained locked. The dairy display case was clearly visible through the widows. It was [by this time] 48 hours without electricity, running water, plumbing. The milk, yogurt, and cheeses were beginning to spoil in the 90-degree heat. The owners and managers had locked up the food, water, Pampers, and prescriptions and fled the city. Outside... residents and tourists grew increasingly thirsty and hungry.

The much-promised federal, state and local aid never materialized and the windows at Walgreens gave way to the looters. There was an alternative. The cops could have broken one small window and distributed the nuts, fruit juices, and bottle water in an organized and systematic manner. But they did not. Instead they spent hours playing cat and mouse, temporarily chasing away the looters.

This bothers me: Walgreens management could not possibly have supported this strategy by police -- they were going to lose all their perishable goods anyway. There was clearly a business case for giving away the goods before the goods could spoil. If the police either had (a) solid leadership or (b) their own wits about them, they would have realized the same thing.

We were finally airlifted out of New Orleans two days ago and arrived home [Saturday]. We have yet to see any of the TV coverage or look at a newspaper. We are willing to guess that there were no video images or front-page pictures of European or affluent white tourists looting the Walgreens in the French Quarter.

Again, this is bothersome. You can't look at white people walking through flood waters and assume they're affluent. Especially when they've been photographed carrying loaves of bread that they scored from a broken store -- though admittedly, I've only seen one such photograph.

We also suspect the media will have been inundated with "hero" images of the National Guard, the troops and the police struggling to help the "victims" of the Hurricane. What you will not see, but what we witnessed, were the real heroes and sheroes of the hurricane relief effort: the working class of New Orleans. The maintenance workers who used a fork lift to carry the sick and disabled. The engineers, who rigged, nurtured and kept the generators running. The electricians who improvised thick extension cords stretching over blocks to share the little electricity we had in order to free cars stuck on rooftop parking lots. Nurses who took over for mechanical ventilators and spent many hours on end manually forcing air into the lungs of unconscious patients to keep them alive. Doormen who rescued folks stuck in elevators. Refinery workers who broke into boat yards, "stealing" boats to rescue their neighbors clinging to their roofs in flood waters. Mechanics who helped hot-wire any car that could be found to ferry people out of the city. And the food service workers who scoured the commercial kitchens improvising communal meals for hundreds of those stranded. Most of these workers had lost their homes, and had not heard from members of their families, yet they stayed and provided the only infrastructure for the 20% of New Orleans that was not under water.

I say I lean left because there are things the Government must do that we cannot do for ourselves. Unfortunately, what's described above falls on a good lefty's list. It is really nice to see engineers named among the real heroes, though, and refreshing to hear that somebody took positive action when local, state, and national government faltered.

We decided we had to save ourselves. So we pooled our money and came up with $25,000 to have ten buses come and take us out of the city. Those who did not have the requisite $45.00 for a ticket were subsidized by those who did have extra money. We waited for 48 hours for the buses, spending the last 12 hours standing outside, sharing the limited water, food, and clothes we had. We created a priority boarding area for the sick, elderly and new born babies. We waited late into the night for the "imminent" arrival of the buses. The buses never arrived. We later learned that the minute they arrived at the City limits, they were commandeered by the military.

By day 4 our hotels had run out of fuel and water. Sanitation was dangerously abysmal. As the desperation and despair increased, street crime as well as water levels began to rise. The hotels turned us out and locked their doors, telling us that the "officials" told us to report to the Convention Center to wait for more buses. As we entered the center of the city, we finally encountered the National Guard. The Guards told us we would not be allowed into the Superdome as the City's primary shelter had descended into a humanitarian and health hellhole. The guards further told us that the City's only other shelter, the Convention Center, was also descending into chaos and squalor and that the police were not allowing anyone else in. Quite naturally, we asked, "If we can't go to the only 2 shelters in the city, what was our alternative?" The guards told us that that was our problem, and no they did not have extra water to give to us. This would be the start of our numerous encounters with callous and hostile "law enforcement."

We walked to the police command center at Harrah's on Canal Street and were told the same thing, that we were on our own, and no they did not have water to give us. We now numbered several hundred. We held a mass meeting to decide a course of action. We agreed to camp outside the police command post. We would be plainly visible to the media and would constitute a highly visible embarrassment to the City officials. The police told us that we could not stay. Regardless, we began to settle in and set up camp. In short order, the police commander came across the street to address our group. He told us he had a solution: we should walk to the Pontchartrain Expressway and cross the greater New Orleans Bridge where the police had buses lined up to take us out of the City. The crowd cheered and began to move. We called everyone back and explained to the commander that there had been lots of misinformation and wrong information and was he sure that there were buses waiting for us. The commander turned to the crowd and stated emphatically, "I swear to you that the buses are there."

We organized ourselves and the 200 of us set off for the bridge with great excitement and hope. As we marched past the Convention Center, many locals saw our determined and optimistic group and asked where we were headed. We told them about the great news. Families immediately grabbed their few belongings and quickly our numbers doubled and then doubled again. Babies in strollers now joined us, people using crutches, elderly clasping walkers and others people in wheelchairs. We marched the 2-3 miles to the freeway and up the steep incline to the Bridge. It now began to pour down rain, but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.

As we approached the bridge, armed Gretna sheriffs formed a line across the foot of the bridge. Before we were close enough to speak, they began firing their weapons over our heads. This sent the crowd fleeing in various directions. As the crowd scattered and dissipated, a few of us inched forward and managed to engage some of the sheriffs in conversation. We told them of our conversation with the police commander and of the commander's assurances. The sheriffs informed us there were no buses waiting. The commander had lied to us to get us to move.

We questioned why we couldn't cross the bridge anyway, especially as there was little traffic on the 6-lane highway. They responded that the West Bank was not going to become New Orleans and there would be no Superdomes in their City. These were code words for if you are poor and black, you are not crossing the Mississippi River and you were not getting out of New Orleans.

Our small group retreated back down Highway 90 to seek shelter from the rain under an overpass. We debated our options and in the end decided to build an encampment in the middle of the Ponchartrain Expressway on the center divide, between the O'Keefe and Tchoupitoulas exits. We reasoned we would be visible to everyone, we would have some security being on an elevated freeway and we could wait and watch for the arrival of the yet to be seen buses.

All day long, we saw other families, individuals and groups make the same trip up the incline in an attempt to cross the bridge, only to be turned away. Some chased away with gunfire, others simply told no, others to be verbally berated and humiliated. Thousands of New Orleaners were prevented and prohibited from self-evacuating the City on foot.

Meanwhile, the only two City shelters sank further into squalor and disrepair. The only way across the bridge was by vehicle. We saw workers stealing trucks, buses, moving vans, semi-trucks and any car that could be hotwired. All were packed with people trying to escape the misery New Orleans had become.

Our little encampment began to blossom. Someone stole a water delivery truck and brought it up to us. Let's hear it for looting! A mile or so down the freeway, an army truck lost a couple of pallets of C-rations on a tight turn. We ferried the food back to our camp in shopping carts. Now secure with the two necessities, food and water; cooperation, community, and creativity flowered. We organized a clean up and hung garbage bags from the rebar poles. We made beds from wood pallets and cardboard. We designated a storm drain as the bathroom and the kids built an elaborate enclosure for privacy out of plastic, broken umbrellas, and other scraps. We even organized a food recycling system where individuals could swap out parts of C-rations (applesauce for babies and candies for kids!).

This was a process we saw repeatedly in the aftermath of Katrina.

When individuals had to fight to find food or water, it meant looking out for yourself only. You had to do whatever it took to find water for your kids or food for your parents. When these basic needs were met, people began to look out for each other, working together and constructing a community.

If the relief organizations had saturated the City with food and water in the first 2 or 3 days, the desperation, the frustration and the ugliness would not have set in. Flush with the necessities, we offered food and water to passing families and individuals. Many decided to stay and join us. Our encampment grew to 80 or 90 people. From a woman with a battery powered radio we learned that the media was talking about us. Up in full view on the freeway, every relief and news organizations saw us on their way into the City. Officials were being asked what they were going to do about all those families living up on the freeway? The officials responded they were going to take care of us. Some of us got a sinking feeling. "Taking care of us" had an ominous tone to it.

Unfortunately, our sinking feeling (along with the sinking City) was correct. Just as dusk set in, a Gretna Sheriff showed up, jumped out of his patrol vehicle, aimed his gun at our faces, screaming, "Get off the fucking freeway". A helicopter arrived and used the wind from its blades to blow away our flimsy structures. As we retreated, the sheriff loaded up his truck with our food and water. Once again, at gunpoint, we were forced off the freeway. All the law enforcement agencies appeared threatened when we congregated or congealed into groups of 20 or more. In every congregation of "victims" they saw "mob" or "riot". We felt safety in numbers. Our "we must stay together" was impossible because the agencies would force us into small atomized groups.

In the pandemonium of having our camp raided and destroyed, we scattered once again. Reduced to a small group of 8 people, in the dark, we sought refuge in an abandoned school bus, under the freeway on Cilo Street. We were hiding from possible criminal elements but equally and definitely, we were hiding from the police and sheriffs with their martial law, curfew and shoot-to-kill policies.

Shouldn't we feel safer with the police around? Aren't they there "to protect and to serve?" Aren't they trained to "deal with people's problems every day? (Those were the words a local policeman once used to describe himself to me.) And isn't that the role New York cops played on 9/11? So what the bloody h*ll is going on here?

The next days, our group of 8 walked most of the day, made contact with New Orleans Fire Department and were eventually airlifted out by an urban search and rescue team. We were dropped off near the airport and managed to catch a ride with the National Guard. The two young guardsmen apologized for the limited response of the Louisiana guards. They explained that a large section of their unit was in Iraq and that meant they were shorthanded and were unable to complete all the tasks they were assigned.

Yes, we have heard this one before. And although I oppose the war, I am not willing to blame President Bush for not ending the war on the spot to bring the Guards back and clean up New Orleans. What I blame President Bush for is doing photo-ops in New Orleans and pretending things are going just fine.

We arrived at the airport on the day a massive airlift had begun. The airport had become another Superdome. We 8 were caught in a press of humanity as flights were delayed for several hours while George Bush landed briefly at the airport for a photo op. After being evacuated on a Coast Guard cargo plane, we arrived in San Antonio, Texas.

There the humiliation and dehumanization of the official relief effort continued. We were placed on buses and driven to a large field where we were forced to sit for hours and hours. Some of the buses did not have air-conditioners. In the dark, hundreds if us were forced to share two filthy overflowing porta-potties. Those who managed to make it out with any possessions (often a few belongings in tattered plastic bags) we were subjected to two different dog-sniffing searches.

I wonder what for? Is this a Homeland Security thing? Are they searching for evidence of Al-Qaeda activity here?

Most of us had not eaten all day because our C-rations had been confiscated at the airport because the rations set off the metal detectors. Yet, no food had been provided to the men, women, children, elderly, disabled as they sat for hours waiting to be "medically screened" to make sure we were not carrying any communicable diseases.

This official treatment was in sharp contrast to the warm, heart-felt reception given to us by the ordinary Texans. We saw one airline worker give her shoes to someone who was barefoot. Strangers on the street offered us money and toiletries with words of welcome. Throughout, the official relief effort was callous, inept, and racist. There was more suffering than need be. Lives were lost that did not need to be lost.

This account strikes me as evidence that entrepreneurs cannot depend on the government to protect their persons, much less their personal or business assets, in the event of a disaster. I believe that even 9/11 taught us that small businesses need disaster plans as much as large ones do. Assuming we can afford the money or time it takes to put such plans together.

But having made that point for the sake of blog consistency, let me say that I can hardly wait for the book to come out that carries this account. It's not gonna be just a best-seller; it'll be more like legendary. I may never look at law enforcement without skepticism again, after reading this.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 11:15 PM 0 comments

I've been scoffing at "Corporate Social Responsibility!"

One thing we have to remember about "corporate social responsibility" -- it's no replacement for our personal responsibility.

I'm the kind of person who will give something to, or do something for the poor, but who hopes that I will not have to actually deal directly with those people. It's almost like what they have is catching -- and having "caught" whatever it is a couple of times during my life, I'm not interested in catching it again. So lemme give the pocket change or the used clothing or the canned goods, and lemme walk away. Don't let me become caught up in the plight of the poor, or those down on their luck.

And you know what? Others around me are just like me, to varying degrees. When somebody is out of work, we send 'em ads and ask 'em if they've sent resumes here or there -- we do this once or twice -- and then we're out of stuff to say. When somebody is bereaved, we tell 'em we're sorry, maybe even make a covered dish for the wake, offer to "help any way we can," and then leave 'em in bereft silence. It's just our way: we have big hearts but those hearts are seldom touched.

I loved The Corporation, but it had this negative effect: in getting me pissed off at what companies do to show they don't really care about human needs, the video got me to take my attention off myself, and the fact that I don't really care either. At least, not enough to have a changed heart.

Here's why I'm saying all this: entrepreneurs need to understand that changing the world isn't gonna happen when we shine bright lights on dark enterprises, if we won't allow those lights to shine on our own untouched hearts as well.

What does an entrepreneur do to show social responsibility? Loaded question. And there are lots of great organizations, like this one out there who can tell you more than I can. But here are general principles:

• Make sure your employees sleep well at night, knowing what they're contributing to.
• Make sure what you make now isn't going to leave behind a world of trouble later.
• Don't just throw money; take ownership of a problem. Get involved in the solution.
• Don't try to heal the whole world; one problem is good for a start.
• The law says you have to put your shareholders first; make them part of your solution.

Oh, yeah: I really am just thinking out loud here. I gotta get myself straightened out before I can really think about you.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:06 PM 0 comments

Ethnic media: Valuing diversity meets business imperative!

When I wrote this article on diversity in my e-book on Rhetoric, some of the information may already have been dated -- though it was one of the most well-researched articles I took on. I was the product of corporate diversity training that was mandatory but that had no identity, no connection to a business imperative.

I have long since believed that the business imperative is there. But this article in the Washington Post on ethnic media is a strong confirmation. Consider just a few tidbits:

• [There is] an estimate that less than four percent of all advertising dollars are invested in ethnic media. [But] one out of every four adults are reached by ethnic media.
• The U.S. Census Bureau announced that half of America's 41.3 million Hispanics are under age 27, and that [birth rate outpaces immigration rate].
• Twenty percent of purchasers of Mercedes, BMWs and Acuras are Asian.
• [An Indian media story indicated that] McDonald's french fries contain animal flavoring, which led some vegetarian Hindus to file a lawsuit.

This is to say that white [or even white and black!], Republican or Democrat, business or media organizations can now overlook other people groups only at their own peril.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 12:46 PM 0 comments

McKaig's "Open Letter to Employers"

I confess that I've read this letter on Angie McKaig's site before. But why not take a minute to sound off on it?

The job ad she writes about it is why Nick Corcadilos encourages us to take our job destiny in our own hands. Neither headhunters nor human resources people know what the h*ll they are doing, when it comes to identifying technical skill. Only those of us who possess these skills can accurately judge which can be applied to what job. Unfortunately, it's the clueless people who have responsibility for making the placements. I say this is unfortunate because there is plenty for them to do without having to embarrass themselves by creating job ads that require five years of experience in some software program that didn't exist three years ago. (I've seen this, more than once.)

And double unfortunately, no "open letter" to the people who write these ads will change their behavior. They do not see themselves in the examples; they don't consider the possibility that our complaints are aimed at them.

Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

I'm not saying McKaig is teaching pigs to sing. I am saying she wrote the article more to vent her own spleen than to serve the rest of humanity. Nothing wrong with that. :-)

Piggy courtesy of Animal Vet Center.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 9:47 AM 0 comments

Please, Politician, give me a reason to believe in you!

Congressman Rush Holt, who represents my district, has this to say in his most recent e-mail newsletter:

May 1–8 is Cover the Uninsured Week, a time of advocacy for accessible and affordable health insurance in all sectors of society. I am pleased to have recently joined my colleague, U.S. Representative John Barrow (D-GA) as an original cosponsor of the Small Business Health Promotion Act. This bill seeks to help small businesses afford insurance for their employees by offering a tax credit equal to 50% of the employer's total cost of health insurance. I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass this legislation and continue to expand health coverage for underinsured segments of our society.

His argument is that small businesses are largely responsible for what job growth there is in the USA, and said growth can be hampered by the cost of health insurance. I buy into this argument and wish Congressman Holt the best of luck with this initiative. And I am not easily convinced by political arguments. :-)

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:08 PM 1 comments

Conservative dress part two: the racial minorities' quandary

The Philadelphia Eagles Radio Network was sued by a former salesman, and lost, because the Network hands out copies of John Molloy's book New Dress for Success to its employees, suggesting how they ought to dress. An Associated Press report says the book advises readers not to wear Afros or African-style clothing.

That the book advises readers to dress conservatively is not in doubt. Most reviewers don't even doubt that the book is at times out of date -- there are many reviews at amazon.com mentioning this. But this book is used by many, many human resources people as THE guideline for dress for interviews, sales, and (sometimes) even in the office. And what is interesting about this particular case is that multiple opinions racial minorities hold about this issue are being played off against one another -- and most of us don't know it's happening.

Consider this excerpt from an article Calvin Bruce wrote in the Black Collegian, which was reprinted in the online Wall Street Journal:

Many African-American collegians face a quandary when deciding how ethnocentric their personal wardrobe and image should be. But, a good school of thought is that ambitious, young minorities should emulate the advice of widely read author John Molloy. Mincing no words, his specific advice to minorities is to blend in with their corporate surroundings and forego ethnocentric individuality in favor of adopting the standardized corporate look that has passed the test of time, regardless of industry or profession. In a word, this is the "navy pinstripe and beige overcoat" image that has defined generations of career-minded professionals. In short, you should certainly be yourself, but by all means fit in where you want to launch your career as a budding professional. The rest will take care of itself.

Are guys like Bruce fueling discrimination lawsuits by buying into Molloy's advice? Stay tuned.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 11:24 AM 0 comments

Conservative dress for interviews

I have a reason for leaning on this subject other than the obvious one. But here we go anyway: collegegrad.com appears to see interviewing as a choice of two options:

1. Dress conservatively, because you want interviewers to listen to you.
2. Dress as you like, because you are a college student.

Never mind that the real world is not black and white like that. It's multiple shades of gray. I usually dress in "business casual" myself, but my reason is this: I can't afford to buy a new suit right now. Not unless one of the people I interview with is guaranteed to hire me. Then I can consider it an investment. But you and I know that interviewers will make no such guarantee, and I have been excluded from consideration for every flimsy excuse in the book. (Not because I'm that bad; because I have participated in literally hundreds of interviews.) Lack of a black suit that fits well is, to me, just another flimsy excuse. It'll sound like I'm whining, but I just feel I'm too old -- and definitely too experienced -- to play this game of surface impressions.

Having said that, it appears that interviewers dressed worse than I am are excluding me for just that reason. (I'm trying out for teaching jobs right now -- teachers are almost always "business casual.") So I am going to recommit to the dark suit. I still have a gray one, that doesn't fit well. But it's still nearly new.

I'm still perplexed. Can the people doing the hiring really want someone less experienced, and less well-prepared, but who dresses better? It certainly looks that way, because the Web sites even write about shoes. On the same page, collegegrad.com says this about shoes:

Many have said that you can judge a person by their shoes. You will find that many ex-military officers (many of whom have found their way into management positions in corporate America) are especially aware of a person's shoes.

So it's not really about any particular SKILL that military people hold. It's about the attention they pay to their shoes. That explains Kelly Perdew and all his fans.

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 10:16 AM 0 comments

The Simon Cowell short course on Professional Rejection

Simon Cowell (pictured) is the "bad cop" among the triad of judges on American Idol, and there's really no need to go into his background, which speaks for itself, or what people think of him, since they speak for themselves. :-)

But I have noticed an eerie similarity -- between the reactions of really bad Idol contestants to Simon's rejection of the notion that they have talent, and the reactions we have when we are rejected in a professional context (e.g. fired, laid off, not hired, denied grants, promotion, tenure, etc. etc. etc.). If you can avoid reacting the same way as the strange people who turn up on Idol, then I hereby decree that you have the attitude of a professional. You avoid the following:

• "Are you serious?"
• "I mean, I know I'm not the best singer ever, but I think I'm pretty good..."
• "My friends all think I'm great!"
• "Maybe if I could sing something different... Could I sing something different?"
• "What have YOU ever done, anyway?" [to Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul]
• "My face will be on the cover of every magazine in the world, including People's Sexiest People Alive!"
• "I'll be making platinum albums when you and your children are lost to the dust of history!"

So you see the spectrum of reactions moves from shock to disappointment to disbelief to pettiness to downright megalomania...

Labels: character

posted by Ron @ 8:22 AM 0 comments

Online Bhopal Memorial

As I said earlier, I missed the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. But I sent this note to colleagues at TCNJ as an online memorial.

December 3 was the 20th anniversary of the worst industrial accident in the history of the world. It went largely unmarked on the TCNJ campus, but that was my fault. I wanted to do something but got caught up in grading and last-minute work. So I'm providing this little synopsis as a means of seeding a kind of online memorial.

As of December, 1984, there was in India a type of aphid (pictured) that destroys crops as completely as anything could:

• it sucks out the sap;
• it poisons the plant with its saliva;
• it