Thank Goodness It's Monday #319

WHAT IF …?

THINKING IN HYPOTHETICALS

Just suppose … Well, suppose whatever you want to suppose. 

Is that really a good idea? You can burn up a lot of time and spend a great deal of brain power running a variety of different scenes with different possibilities and different outcomes through your mind.  

And for what? At the end of any thinking-it-through process, there will be only one real outcome. Will fussing and fretting about it actually change that outcome? 

Perhaps. While, as a rule, I caution mightily against “the paralysis of analysis” – that is, getting so caught up in the details that you fail to take action – there’s a strong argument to be made that thinking in hypotheticals –

Sharpens the mind. Let’s stick to some easy-to-follow business scenarios to make the case. In almost any important business situation, there’s insight to be gained by playing the “What if …” game in your mind. 

Easy-to-grasp example: A friend is urging you to get involved – your time and your money – in a “can’t-miss” project they’re keen on. 

Sure there’s plenty of solid due-diligence to apply that will make or break your decision, but you’ll also want to take a step back and apply some --  

WHAT-IF THINKING: Ask, “What if we remove our friendship from the equation?”  Would the deal still have appeal? 

Get it? Good. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Thinking in hypotheticals focuses your thinking, sharpens your reasoning and lets you approach challenges from unusual angles.  

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: “What if …” processes are also useful when you need to assess (or reassess) how things are currently going. Especially when you find yourself at some sort of impasse, coming up with some challenging conjecture and premises from which some conclusions can be drawn can be enlightening.  

This kind of personal introspection can produce some eye-opening theories and insights that can become a solid basis for further investigation and more informed decision making. 

As we come off the vacation season in our part of the USA and prepare for the push to year end, here are a half dozen introspective hypotheticals it might be productive to ponder: 

#1: WHAT IF … you were offered your job today? Would you take it?

Despite the problematic employment situation, this is a real reality check. Any answer remotely resembling “No” should move to #1 on your Action List.  

#2: WHAT IF … you could have anybody’s job at your company? Which one would you take? 

If you’re happy where you are, good for you. If you want your boss’s job, that says something. If you want the CEO spot, that says something else. If you don’t want anyone’s job at your company, you might want to take a serious look at why you’re doing what you’re doing.

#3: WHAT IF … your pay was determined like a publicly traded stock? What price would you be quoting? 

If you’re not at an all-time high, why not? And, in a similar vein, putting aside today’s wild market fluctuations, would you be a “Buy,” “Hold, or “Sell”?

#4: WHAT IF … you could magically and painlessly eliminate your biggest flaw? Would anyone notice?

This somewhat silly premise may just help you uncover personal insecurities that do not deserve all the concern you allot to them. If you can discover that few to none of the important people in your life would much care or notice, how big a flaw can it be? 

#5: WHAT IF … you lost your biggest personal asset? Would anyone care?

This is sort of a corollary to the “flaw” hypothetical; it may be a good indicator of something you overestimate or over value. 

#6: WHAT IF … you could assemble a personal “Board of Directors” to guide and advise only you. Who would/should be on it?

Of course this hypothetical should reveal much to you about you in as much as it will also make you consider what you think this Board would be telling you.  And it’s got a huge follow-up component: How many of the people on your list are you now connecting with on a regular basis? When will you begin to take advantage of the collective wisdom of people who know and care about you? 

BONUS Hypothetical: “What if …” we call it a day for this TGIM and get down to work making a real future?

Oh, wait. That’s not conjecture. I’m getting on that right now. Hope you are, too.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  To all our East Coast friends and followers: We hope this TGIM finds you safe and sound in the wake of Hurricane Irene. Thanks for taking the time to read it.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #318

“IF YOU TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY,

YOU’RE AN IDIOT”

You might not care too much about poetry. But the latest Poet Laureate of the United States might alter your opinion slightly.

And I think he often speaks to ideas and ideals that are fundamental to the purposes of TGIM & FYI.

Philip Levine – author of 20 or so collections of poems – was recently chosen as Poet Laureate #18 and comes out of a tradition that’s more in accord with folks who earn their living by the sweat of their brow than dwellers in the ivory towers of academia.

He grew up in Detroit and, before embracing poetry as a way of life, labored at what he called a succession of “stupid jobs” -- building cars in the auto industry and driving trucks.

But, although he has certifiable blue-collar credentials, as he’s said: “I’m so weary of that anti-intellectual stance … I love intelligent poetry.”

Strictly speaking, the poet laureate has few official duties. Lately, however, the laureates have worked to broaden the audience for poetry. And it sounds as if Levine will follow that line.

“I know a great many poems that I love and that most people have never heard of,” he was quoted in The New York Times as having said.

“Some of them are quite magnificent.”

He hadn’t particularly aspired to be poet laureate The Times reported, but was pleased that after a long career (he’s 83) the honor had come his way.

“How can I put it … If you take it too seriously, you’re an idiot. But if you look at the names of the others who have won it, most of them are damn good. Not all of them – I’m not going to name names – but most.

“My editor was thrilled, and my wife jumped for joy. She hasn’t done that for a while.”

TGIM Takeaway: Maybe in the heat of this August, with S&P downgrades, soaring under- and unemployment, and a lot of un-poetic blather and bluster ringing in our ears, this laureate from the industrial heartland has a poetic message that TGIM readers can connect to as never before.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Give it a try. Below, sourced from the Internet Poetry Archive is the title poem from Philip Levine’s award-winning book, What Work Is (Alfred A. Knopf, 1991).

We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is--if you're
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it's someone else's brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, "No,
we're not hiring today," for any
reason he wants. You love your brother,
now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother,
who's not beside you or behind or
ahead because he's home trying to
sleep off a miserable night shift
at Cadillac so he can get up
before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
opened your eyes wide and said those words,
and maybe kissed his cheek? You've never
done something so simple, so obvious,
not because you're too young or too dumb,
not because you're jealous or even mean
or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no,
just because you don't know what work is.

For more insight and fun and appreciation, listen to Levine introduce and read his poem, here:

I hope I love intelligent poetry. And –

I love you brother (and sister).

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  Here’s one of my favorite quotes about poetry by from one of my favorite poets and writers in general, Robert Graves (1895 – 1985): "If there's no money in poetry, neither is there poetry in money."

Thank Goodness It's Monday #317

THE SUMMER OF OUR DISCONTENT

Stealing from Shakespeare, now certainly is – according to formal polls and an informal consensus among the people I regularly converse with – “the summer of our discontent.” 

First Folio of Shakespeare's
Richard the Third
-- the opening line of which is
"Now is the winter of our discontent ..."

Economic fears are weighing heavily on Americans, with a large majority saying the United States is on the wrong track and nearly half believing the worst is yet to come. A Reuters/Ipsos poll formalized that view last Wednesday (as if we might not have known.)

The poll reflects growing anxiety about the U.S. economy and frustration with Washington after a narrowly averted government default, a credit rating downgrade by Standard & Poor's, a stock market dive and a stubbornly high jobless rate.

It concludes that 73 percent of Americans believe the United States is "off on the wrong track" with 47 percent believing “the worst is yet to come.”

On the wrong track. Yes, but … Trains on the wrong track can’t be redirected to the right track all that easily.

Perhaps, in part, because we, the semi-affluent, live in an auto-dominated, GPS-guided world of interconnected roadways we seem to have adopted the mindset that, when we miss our exit, we can easily follow mechano-voice instructions to “Reverse directions when able.”

It ain’t that easy, my friend.

And as for “What’s to come …” Waiting for “others” to take action and right things is short-sighted and will cost you dearly.

A bit of old-timey folk wisdom points out that “You can’t change the past, but you can ruin today by worrying about the future.”

But you shouldn’t be totally passive either. Worry; just not to distraction. Better to invest some energy today in being concerned about the future and acting now to influence it.

And, in my not particularly humble opinion, many of us mistake the increasingly popular commotion of “social networking” as “activity” when it isn’t.

• “Friending up” on Facebook isn’t the same as taking action together with a select group of those friends to make change happen.
• Linking up on LinkedIn isn’t the same as actually getting together with a select group of your business cohorts and coming up with a way to effectively do more business together.
• Tweeting or blogging or e-blasting to those who click or re-tweet or knee-jerk respond to endorse or curse a 140-character brain burp is not at all the same as open and objectively considered and discussed dialogue among interested parties.

It’s a lot like playing the lottery. As they advertise, “You gotta be in it to win it.” And being in it – the lottery or dabbling in social media -- can be fun. But the odds do not at all favor your winning or winning significantly. And if that’s the only “investment” you’re making, good luck with the future.

Win The Future! If nothing else, use the interconnectedness that personal social media makes easy to deliver content you believe valuable and will help us all get back on the right track.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Start with information. Then add insight. Sharing useful and relevant information with your social network communicates your investment in supporting those folks, rather than just promoting yourself.

Here’s my “old school” view of how the basics work:

Before the digital revolution, you could win a lot of friends in business simply by mailing an item of interest – a magazine article, an appealing cartoon, some newspaper notice – to a colleague, adding some small handwritten note that acknowledged the bond you two shared. (“Here’s an item you might have missed from my local paper about your competitor’s new Spring line. Let’s go fishing together soon.”)

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Model this behavior in the digital world. Use your social media opportunities to inform the behavior of your connections and deliver messages you believe have value. Connect the dots for them. Don’t spam.  Add value by adding your interpretation and your view of the implications for them.

Putting it together: Checking my Facebook page this morning and clicking “Most Recent,” the top 7 entries had “friends” of mine adding 108 new “friends” to their tallies.

I’ve got to suspect that all these friends aren’t going to be “bff” (Best Friends Forever.) Still I trust that most of my “business” friends in this group of 7 were thoughtful enough to take the opportunity to add some small personal comment to their click-to-friend-up.

Now, if each of those 7 +108 takes a weekly opportunity as I do to share a (I hope) value message like TGIM, won’t that help prevent “the worst” awaiting us in our future?

It’s up to us – first and foremost. And it’s in that spirit that I hope we can each proactively move forward, combining our knowhow and using our 21^st Century digital skills to share info, add insight and value to social networking to get us back on track and Win The Future.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square
Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  “Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York” was coined by Shakespeare and are the opening words of the 16^th Century play Richard III. The “sun of York” wasn't, of course, a so much a comment on English weather as a “son” pun concerning King Richard and the “discontent” was, in reality, as much about the English nation during the time of the War of Roses as with the King.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #316

MISTY MAGIC, PONY POWER

AND SALT-WATER COWBOYS

EHFTB-FTWMIH. Regular readers of TGIM and long-time friends and acquaintances of mine know that one of the personal philosophies I often spout is “Everything Happens For The Best – For Those Who Make It Happen.” (I detailed the origins most recently in TGIM #300 if you care to check it out.)

Point is: EHFTB-FTWMIH is an approach to life events that some folks find a little Pollyanna-ish … a bit simplistic … maybe too naïve for this complex and confrontational world. And even I will agree that there can be situations that appear to be far from a “For The Best” solution.

So I’m ever alert for real life stories that I think help support my position.

And today, although I’ve been enjoying a bit of vacation time-off-for-good-behavior, I’ve come across an entertaining (I hope) EHFTB-FTWMIH story worth sharing.

The story begins with a fire. Two fires, to be precise. Which occurred in the 1920s on the opposite sides of Chincoteague, Virginia (where I’m visiting with friends.)

The conflagrations burned out of control for the lack of effective firefighting equipment. Chincoteaguers were determined to not let it happen again, so a small group organized themselves into a volunteer fire company.

So far, so good. But not yet the stuff of a EHFTB-FTMIH-worthy narrative.

The challenge for this not-so-prosperous Delmarva Peninsula seafood harvesting and chicken-raising community was how to pay for the firefighting equipment they needed.

Make-It-Happen thinking to the rescue. Someone suggested auctioning the wild horses that grazed on nearby Assateague Island.

Legend claimed that the sturdy-but-small “ponies” were descendents of wild mustangs who swam to shore after a Spanish galleon sunk off the coast. The less imaginative (and current-day genetic testing) say their origins trace back to 1600s when early island settlers turned their herds loose to graze on the island tax-free.

Either way, the pony roundup and auction idea proved to have the makings of –

A winner. In 1925 Pony Penning Day and an Auction was born and the tradition continues each July. Run by Chincoteague firemen turned “Salt Water Cowboys,” the herd is rounded up and, on slack tide, they swim across the channel between the islands. The foals are auctioned off to keep the herd at an eco-sensitive size of 150 horses and to fill the “I wanna pony” dream of kids of all ages.

Sound somewhat familiar? Well, the 80+ year celebration routinely makes international headlines. And in 1947 a version of the story won a permanent place in children’s literature when author Marguerite Henry penned the now-beloved classic Misty of Chincoteague which later made it to the big screen and led to a second book featuring Misty’s foal Stormy.

Happens-for-the-best Pony Power. This year more than 25,000 turned out for swim day. In all, 68 foals were sold at the auction for an average price of $1,378 each, earning $93,725 for the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company, according to an unofficial tally.

Salt-water cowboys and Chincoteague ponies 2011

While still maintaining a substantial bay-related oyster, crab and such community, tourism is the core of the island’s life.

Travel related websites rate Chincoteague/Assateague as one of the Top 10 beach destinations. Misty’s footprints are memorialized under the old movie house marquee. The ranch where she frolicked is a mini museum and she’s “preserved” there with Stormy. (There’s a swell spirit-of-P.T. Barnum sign out front that, to draw in passers-by, reads “See the real Misty” – sidestepping the reality that, were she alive, she’d nearly be ready to collect Social Security.) Old time bay men sell old duck-hunting decoys for thousands of dollars and newly-carved works for considerable sums.

EHFTB-FTWMIH. By the way, back in 1925 the Chincoteague volunteer firemen got their equipment after the first pony penning: a 750-gallon American La France pumper with 2000 feet of hose. And there has never been a catastrophic fire on Chincoteague since.

TGIM Takeaway: As I’ve said before, you must take action for anything to turn out “For The Best.” You must be ever alert for opportunities to triumph in the face of adversity.

And it’s not easy. You can’t be a passive bystander. You must be constantly and consistently preparing for the future. And when challenges arise you must rally that preparation and confront them. It isn’t enough to want the best. Continually challenge yourself to know what you’re going to do to get to where you want to be. Effort makes achievement.

Although it worked for the Chincoteaguers --

Don't horse around. Make the effort. Make It Happen – for the best.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  The local Delmarva paper has 2011 auction details and appealing “I finally got my pony” stories HERE

Thank Goodness It's Monday #315

“ARE YOU NUTS?”

THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS

Questions are key in getting to the point and then moving forward in almost any of life’s transactions.

Indeed, without questions there would be little give and take; few clues about how to move ahead in personal or professional exchanges – especially in dealings that require some level of negotiation.

It pretty much boils down to Q&A.

At their heart, most negotiations are really little more than a series of questions … discussions about questions … and, lastly, answers to questions. So …

The questions that are asked determine the course of the negotiations.

• Good questions can steer the course of the negotiations in the right direction.
• Poorly formulated or misdirected questions can do irreparable damage to your outcome.

TGIM Takeaway: Careful negotiators consider their questioning strategy and plan at least some of their more important questions in advance.

And that’s --

Not as easy as it sounds. When you’re negotiating, you have to consider how the information each question is supposed to glean will advance your cause. You also have to think of the best way to formulate those questions to get an answers that are both meaningful and useful.

And sometimes it’s not very straightforward. Sometimes you must lead up to the question – and the answer/outcome – that you really want with a series of smaller, less-probing inquiries.  

So, perhaps obviously, the timing of questions is also important. 

Q: Is all this “question planning” really necessary?

A: It is when a negotiable outcome is at stake.  

Antennas up! When they’re trying to strike a deal, people don’t like to answer questions they suspect may compromise the favorable aspects of their outcome. In such a situation your counterpart is particularly alert – as you are – to the idea that most questions have the goal of improving the asker’s position in the negotiation. 

True, many questions concern matters of fact. And, in general, facts are not negotiable. But opinions based on them may well be. So, given the propensity to be defensive in negotiations, unless the facts requested are fairly harmless, a skilled negotiator is inclined to resist a direct answer.  

► Other questions confirm facts. For example, you may wish to ask some technical questions – not strictly because you want the answers, but to test the opponent’s technical knowledge about the subject of the negotiation.  

Likewise some negotiators ask questions to which they already know the answers just to confirm the honesty or veracity of the opponent. 

► Of course there are some questions your counterparts may be glad to answer because it appears to build or support their position –  

Or so they think. Such answers may reveal more than just the facts.  

Case in point: Suppose you, as a skilled and disciplined asker of questions, can safely assume you have greater industry knowledge than the question answerer. Although the answerer expounds at length on how well-run their operation is because of all the great things they do, you may spot useful opportunities to compare what you need against what’s being offered. 

► Questions can also be used to make proposals. Such “questions” begin with phrases such as “Would you consider …” or “Suppose we were to ….” 

A proposal in this form usually requires some kind of answer before moving on, and that very often gets the opposition to start thinking in a more focused way.  

Heads up: This is a good place to apply the idea of not taking “no” for an answer. If the response comes back essentially negative, you may want to rephrase the question and present it again before altering your position. 

► Some negotiators use questions the way a fisherman casts a net in open waters. By doing this they expect to catch certain information, but also anticipate an interesting and valuable mix in the haul. Example: “What do you think some of the problems are?”  

Responding to such queries provides opponents with the opportunity to introduce their own opinions. And a great deal can be gleaned by listening to those opinions which, in turn, may raise some new, more pointed questions.  

► Questions can also be hostile – perhaps intentionally.  

Are you reading this TGIM in part because the headline asked – 

“Are you nuts?”

Even if you’re a loyal reader and are inclined to check this out no matter what the headline, you’ll probably concede that the confrontational “Are you nuts?”  focused your attention. Questions such as this are sometimes used by skilled negotiators to move things off dead center. 

But watch this: Play the Hostile Q card, or the provocative, indignant one (“What the…. do you mean by that?”) with care.  

Tone of voice and spirited language can, even mistakenly, seem to introduce a personal element into the mix. And when things “get personal,” questions rarely get a very good response. Worse, they may serve to spread parties further apart and lengthen the entire process. So unless you’re actually looking for a fight, keep such challenges forthright and friendly in tone. 

►Finally, some questions are designed to close a discussion or negotiating session altogether.  

Typical closing questions: “So you think we’ve got a deal here?”… “Ready to sign on the dotted line?”… “Haven’t you got everything you’ve been asking for?”  Or “Aren’t you about ready to wrap it up?” 

One caution here: Asking a closing question, especially of the “wrap up” type, too early can signal that you are the one in a hurry to settle and so the other person may simply decide to let you make all the remaining concessions.  

Of course, such questions can also be a smooth segue into closing an August–in-NJ TGIM –

“Don’t you think?”  

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com   

P.S.  “Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.” That cautionary quote about using questions effectively is attributed to President Ronald Reagan (1911 – 2004) prior to a press conference.