Thank Goodness It's Monday #358

MEMORIAL DAY TAKEAWAY

FROM ANCIENT ATHENS

On Memorial Days past we’ve talked here about the domestic origins and meaning of this day of remembrance.

This year I’d like to briefly revisit the underlying significance of the commemoration on a slightly larger scale.

Set the Wayback Machine.

Destination: Ancient Greece.

Time: About 404 BCE.

Event: The Peloponnesian War.

Stay with me now. I’m not going to launch into a boring history lesson. (At least I hope not.)

Bust of Pericles bearing the inscription
"Pericles, son of Xanthippus, Athenian".
Roman copy after a Greek original
from ca. 430 BCE

On the table for TGIM purposes this Memorial Day is just a wee bit of that ancient history, a speech the preeminent Athenian historian Thucydides attributes to Pericles -- a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age.

“Golden” because: It is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural centre of the ancient Greek world. Pericles promoted the arts and literature. He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon). This project beautified the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people. Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist.

If you want many more details, read Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War 

Or –

Just read excerpts of the speech that is the object of our attention for the next few minutes.  

More specifically that speech is --

A Funeral Oration. Pericles is speaking at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War. The oration that’s cited is delivered at an annual “funeral” for those who lost their lives fighting. So it has a –

Memorial Day connection: In many respects it has much in common with the speechifying you may encounter this Memorial Day – if you allow that this Monday Holiday is more than a day off from work, a bargain sales bonanza, and cookouts and a prelude to full blown summer.

The speech begins by praising the custom of the public funeral for the war dead, but criticizes the inclusion of the speech, arguing that the "reputations of many brave men" should "not be imperiled in the mouth of a single individual.”

Sounds like something you’d expect to hear today, right? 

Next Pericles argues that the speaker of the oration has the impossible task of satisfying the associates of the dead, who would wish that their deeds be magnified, while everyone else might feel sheepish and jealous and suspect exaggeration.

Again, sentiments familiar in the modern Memorial Day address.

Next Pericles departs significantly from the example of other Athenian funeral orations and skips over the great martial achievements of Athens' past. He proposes to focus instead on "the road by which we reached our position, the form of government under which our greatness grew, and the national habits out of which it sprang".

"If we look to the laws,” he says, “they afford equal justice to all in their private differences... If a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes..."

Sound familiar? These lines form the roots of the famous modern day ideal: "Equal justice under law." And in a year of significant national-level elections, you’ll hear similar talk throughout the campaigns as well as on this Memorial Day.

Finally, Pericles links his praise of the city/state to the dead Athenians for whom he is speaking, "...for the Athens that I have celebrated is only what the heroism of these and their like have made her.”

No doubt you’ll hear such ancient and universal sentiments expressed today.

Easy-to-grasp American parallel: American Civil War scholar Garry Wills sees parallels of Pericles' funeral oration in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address – certainly a “Memorial Day” touchstone if ever there was one. 

And while it‘s uncertain to what degree Lincoln was directly influenced by Pericles' Funeral Oration, Edward Everett, who delivered a lengthy speech at the same ceremony at Gettysburg, began by describing the "Athenian example.”

In the 21^st Century: Take an additional moment this modern Memorial Day to absorb one more Periclean lesson from the Golden Age of Athens. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Official commemorations, and parades, and monuments, and speeches are all well and good. But these public, collective proclamations are not the ultimate tribute and miss the point somewhat. 

Just as our modern Memorial Day observance began with decorating the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers in the late 1860s, we must hold firmly to the understanding that, no matter who is victorious or whose cause is “right,” the ultimate sacrifice made in pursuit of sincerely held beliefs is no less painful for the living of either side.

Thucydides has Pericles remind us: 

“For this offering of their lives made in common by them all, they, each of them, individually, received that renown which never grows old; and for a sepulcher, not so much that in which their bones have been deposited, but that noblest of shrines wherein their glory is laid up to be eternally remembered upon every occasion on which deed or story shall call for its commemoration. 

“For heroes have the whole earth for their tomb; and in lands far from their own, where the column with its epitaph declares it, there is enshrined in every breast a record unwritten with no tablet to preserve it, except that of the heart.”

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: In some quiet moment today, examine your heart.  I hope this Memorial Day provides you with an opportunity to reflect on the ideas of contribution and sacrifice as well as effective ways we all can contribute to making this age a Golden Age for ourselves and our world. 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

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

P.S. Thucydides/Pericles ends the Funeral Oration: "My task is now finished. I have performed it to the best of my ability, and in word, at least, the requirements of the law are now satisfied. If deeds be in question, those who are here interred have received part of their honors already, and for the rest, their children will be brought up till manhood at the public expense: the state thus offers a valuable prize, as the garland of victory in this race of valor, for the reward both of those who have fallen and their survivors. And where the rewards for merit are greatest, there are found the best citizens. 

"And now that you have brought to a close your lamentations for your relatives, you may depart."

Thank Goodness It's Monday #357

MAKE DECISION MAKING

AS EASY AS

“HEADS OR TAILS”

The coin toss … heads or tails … has, as we know, inherently, only two possible outcomes which are -- given a true, balanced, unbiased coin –

Equal. So “Call it!” is a generally neutral and equitable way to choose between two alternatives; a simple and impartial way of settling a dispute or deciding between two (or more, if you plan correctly) options. 

In a theoretically perfect situation, the old “heads you win/tails you lose” flip provides even odds to either choice or side. So it’s used in all manner of decision-making.

Even the coin toss has a video moment
 in John Madden Football

And even when all things are not equal -- for example, where determining who gets a perceived advantage or where other decision-making approaches might lead to an injurious struggle -- an unprejudiced coin flip is used to resolve disputes with a minimum of effort and to sidestep an otherwise difficult situation.


The historical origin of coin flipping is rooted in the interpretation of a chance outcome as the expression of Divine Will.

Is it? (Divine Will, that is.)

Not quite. (Or, at least, we can say with great certainty, not usually.)

But you can use a coin flip to perform a psychological experiment on yourself, and the result of that experiment could help you choose.

In fact, it’s a technique that’s attributed to no less a psychological authority than Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud.

(Full disclosure: I’m a bit skeptical about the attribution. I found numerous Freud references but no Sigmund-at-the-source documentation. But I’m going with it anyway.)  

How does it work? Well, once you’re down to just a couple of can’t-seem-to-decide- between-them choices, grab a coin. (Or click through below to a Coin Flipper form that allows you to flip virtual coins, the outcomes randomized by some kind of algorithmic, computer-connected, beyond-my-understanding relationship to atmospheric noise.)

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Designate one choice “Heads” … 

the other choice will be other “Tails” …

and now–

FLIP! 

The outcome? Not important.

Not important?

WTF? (What The Freud? Or … What The Flip?)

If we’re deferring our decision to the coin, how can the coin-toss outcome NOT be important?

The point of the Freudian coin toss: It’s NOT to actually determine the decision, but to force you to clarify your feelings.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Got your coin-toss answer? Now check your “gut.”

Siggie sez: Your gut reaction to that flippin’ outcome is what’s important. Like this:



Sigmund Freud
in the iconic 
  1921 Max Halberstadt
picture

         You chose “Heads” and “Heads” turn up.

                                    Alright!

     You make a spontaneous involuntary fist pump and your inner voice cheers,“Yessss!”

                 Or …

         You chose “Heads” and “Tails” turn up.

                                    Arrgh!
   Your stomach flips, your head droops, you get a sinking feeling and the idea --
                 “Maybe two out of three …”
-- flashes through your brain.

Congratulations either way: That unambiguous insight helps you come to the decision that’s right for you.

In a nutshell: Sometimes giving yourself a point to focus on brings out what you subconsciously wanted to do anyway. If you assign the decisions to the coin flip, you'll often end up making the decision you wanted to despite what the coin says.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), it’s claimed, explained…

"I did not say you should follow blindly what the coin tells you. What I want you to do is to note what the coin indicates. Then look into your own reactions.

Ask yourself: Am I pleased? Am I disappointed? That will help you to recognize how you really feel about the matter, deep down inside. With that as a basis, you’ll then be ready to make up your mind and come to the right decision.”

Of course, if you have some reservations about whether this strategy is or isn’t right for you, I say --

Go Ahead And Try It. Hey! It’s a coin toss …

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

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

P.S. In the spirit of discovering how you feel about decision alternatives via a coin toss, there's no doubt that Sigmund Freud did say, in a letter to Wilhelm Fliess dated October 15, 1897: “Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.”

Thank Goodness It's Monday #356

HOW TO “DO IT”

WHEN YOU CAN’T “JUST DO IT”

“Just Do It” -- the so-called Nike Rule.

According to the commonly accepted lore,

the Nike "swoosh'" was created

by freelance designer Carolyn Davidson,

while she was a graphic design student

at Portland State University.

Nike founder Phil Knight

was teaching accounting classes

and approached Davidson for ideas for this new brand

 for his company, Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS).

The Nike swoosh was created when Carolyn,

frustrated about not being able to create a "new" "fresh" logo,

drew a quick check on a paper.

In the spring of 1971,

Davidson presented a number of design options.  

Knight and other BRS executives ultimately selected the Swoosh.

"I don't love it," Knight told her, "but I think it will grow on me."

Davidson submitted a bill for $35 for her work.

On one hand: As students of self improvement, we can certainly endorse the underlying fundamental spirit of a procrastination-sidestepping “Just Do It” mindset.

And on the other: We must also allow that “Just Do It” is first and foremost a marketing/advertising slogan, albeit an extraordinarily successful one. Nike is the only company to win “Advertiser of the Year” twice.

So here’s the thing: In a real world decision-making process of multi-layered alternatives, an oh-so-cool “Just Do It” approach doesn’t necessarily create the best outcomes.

What does?

Ah, I’m glad you asked.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: For most real world decision-making situations we’re routinely involved in, taking time and pinpointing certain elements may greatly assist and enhance the process and yield the best outcomes.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Do not “Just Do It” and shoot from the hip. Here’s a 6-step method that’s not hard to grasp and reliably gets you closer to the time and place where you can just “Do It.”

#1: Analyze and identify the situation. Clarify the state of affairs you’re trying to resolve. 

Sometimes this step is simple.  For example, there may be a vacancy on your staff.  You want to promote one of several possible subordinates into the spot.  You have to make the decision; choose among them.

However, some situations may not be clear-cut: Say a group you have some responsibility for is doing poorly.  Before you can make a remedial decision, you have to take into consideration the circumstances, find out what’s wrong, and why it’s wrong, in order to proceed.

#2: Develop alternatives.  In every decision-requiring circumstance, there are at least two possible actions: Taking action or not taking action.  In most cases there are more. 

For instance: In remedying a vacancy in your staff you might –

► Promote the person who is most familiar with the duties of the open job.

► Set up some kind of test which will make it possible for you to grade the qualifications of the applicants for the job.

► Ask for volunteers.

► Hire from the outside.

► Leave it unfilled.

#3: Compare alternatives. There are few cases where we’d be lucky enough to have one alternative that represents the likelihood of 100% satisfaction. Usually each alternative has advantages and disadvantages. An alternative that you might prefer may be too costly; or you may lack the manpower to carry it out. Where the decision is critical, take the time to actually write out the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.

#4: Rate the risk. In decision-making, the usual scenario is one where every alternative you’re considering includes –

An uncertainty factor. Since you seldom have total information about the situation you are dealing with, you can never be sure that the decision you make will be completely satisfactory.

Accordingly, in considering alternatives, is important to rate the degree of risk each one involves. Obviously, this must be an estimate. Yet this approximation should be a part of the considerations that lead you to select the most desirable alternative.

In rating the risk, you may use percentages or any other ranking system you prefer—grading from 1 to 10, using the academic A to F rating, and so on.

#5: Select the best alternative. If the previous steps have been done carefully, it is possible that the most likely alternative becomes self evident. 

But there are other possibilities:

► No alternative is desirable. The riskiness of alternatives, for example, may properly persuade you not to take any action because no move you can think of at the time promises to be successful.

► Merge two or more alternatives. In some cases you may find that, while no single alternative provides the averages you want, combining elements of two or more provides you with the most likely plan.

► The “resources factor” may swing your decision. Alternative A may have more advantages than Alternative B. However, in carrying out Alternative B, you may have a piece of equipment that promises to save the day.  Or -- and this element is often crucial -- you may have a subordinate of outstanding caliber who will make Alternative B a much better bet because of his or her availability for this move.

While it is wise to gather information and check facts yourself, it may also be prudent to be forward looking and get additional expert opinion and project the possibilities into the future.

And keep in mind: Decision making is always an imperfect process. There will still remain some uncertainty in your attempt to pinpoint the best move. This uncertainty element can never be completely eliminated. So --

Trust yourself: In the final analysis, the usual practice is for the decision maker to select between two otherwise “even” alternatives by a hunch or intuition. Don’t underestimate the importance of your feeling. Veteran executives consider intuition a standard part of decision-making and use it when facts, logic, or systematic considerations are unavailable.

#6: Get into gear. After a decision has been made, it must be made operative.  You, your team, or a subordinate, must take on the assignment of getting the people, resources, and so on, involved in putting the decision to work.

Make it so: A decision implemented with energy and conviction can make a sizable difference in the outcome. 

It may seem like an unnecessary emphasis to make this final point at all. But the fact is, many a decision, made even after days or weeks of effort, fails to produce results. Or, the decision is followed up in such a weak fashion that -- despite its many excellences --  only mediocre results are achieved.

Your move: The manner in which a decision is communicated to the people who will be affected by it is, in itself, an important factor.  And the manner in which the assignments represented by the decision are given to the people who are to carry out the plan is a major aspect of its effectiveness.

Maybe now is the time to gather the team … explain how thoughtfully you and others worked your way through the 6-step decision-making process … and then exhort them to –

“Just Do It!”

That will “Do It” for this TGIM.

Let’s “Do It” again next Monday.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

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

P.S. How was “Just Do It” coined? Here’s a condensed version of the story. (Spoiler Alert: It’s not as uplifting as you might like.).

Dan Weiden, cofounder of the ad firm Weiden+Kennedy told the Ad Club of New York in 2009: W+K had just finished 8 disparate Nike commercials and Dan felt something was needed to tie them all together.

One evening, Gary Gilmore, who committed notable murders in Utah, came to mind. Gilmore had been sentenced to death by firing squad and, when asked what his last words were, he said, “Let’s do it.”

Dan found this provocative and twisted it a tad to “Just do it.”

When it was presented to creative staff in the agency, they weren’t sure about it and said, in effect, “Whatever, Dan.”

Nike was also unsure on using the line.

Here’s Dan telling the story at another time: Just Do It

Thank Goodness It's Monday #355

HOW TO LINK ISSUES

AND REACH A CONSTRUCTIVE AGREEMENT

One step at a time is generally prudent advice. However … 

“Counterwork your rivals

with diligence and dexterity,

but at the same time

with the utmost personal civility to them:

and be firm without heat.”

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 

(1694-1773)

4th Earl of Chesterfield  

gave his son that advice

in a letter dated 

26 September 1752

Linking issues during a negotiation can often get you better results than you could achieve by treating them separately, one at a time.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Linking simply means tying together an agreement on one issue to an agreement on one or more other issues. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: There a number of circumstances in which a “linking move” can improve your performance during negotiations and help you get a better deal.

Here are three simplified situations to start your mental wheels turning. 

● Linking can help you overcome areas of negotiating weakness.  Successful negotiators often link an issue on which they are weak to an issue on which they’re strong.

Example: Assume that a long-time customer is trying to negotiate a new contract with the supplier, and the seller has tried to strengthen his bargaining position by bringing up that the purchaser’s company was slow in paying the seller’s invoices over the past year.

To offset this, the purchaser might reply, “Since you’re bringing up the issue of my company’s slow payment, let’s also discuss why your company had such poor delivery performance and why there were so many backorders.”

By linking these issues, the would-be buyer moves his negotiating position from one of relative weakness to one of parity, and quite possibly to one of relative strength.

●Linking can force the opposition to deal with certain issues on your terms.  This approach was used by a woman who was being interviewed for a mid-level management position.

Case in point: She had an impressive track record, and the company made her an attractive job offer that she was eager to accept.  She knew, however, that her success with the new company would be determined, at least in part, by the operating budget she would be given to get the job done.

Rather than accept the offer an outright, she linked her acceptance of the job to the company’s acceptance of an operating budget she envisioned.  Management looked over her proposal and agreed it was reasonable. 

If she had tried to negotiate the budget after she accepted the job offer, her negotiating leverage would have been greatly diminished, and the results might not have been nearly as favorable. 

●Linking can force concessions from your opponent.  Another way of using linking strategy is to tie one issue to another, then claim that your opponent’s position on the issues, as a package, is not acceptable.

Example: A purchasing agent could say to a seller, “I can live with your payment terms, but not at that price.” If the seller wants the deal badly enough, he’ll concede on the payment terms or the price.

If, however, the seller holds firm on both issues -- but still shows signs of wanting an agreement -- the would-be dealmaker could then link a third issue to the other two and try to gain a concession.

He might say, “At that price and under those payment terms, you have to hold more inventory and I have to have faster delivery; then I might be able to agree. Is that doable?”

See the connection? Linking issues together in this manner is usually quite successful, because it provides a negotiation opponent with an opportunity to concede something and still feel good about the deal.

On the downside: Linking can also work against you. It can give your opponent an opportunity to use a minor disagreement on one piece as a means to force you to make a concession on any linked issues. If the issues aren’t linked, but are dealt with separately, an opponent can’t prevent agreement on one issue by objecting to another.

One last point: And maybe, if you’re on the verge of what you expect to be an intense negotiation, it should be --

Your first point: It’s prudent to agree that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. That way all parties can advance in a negotiation with the expectation that, when they do make or gain concessions, those accommodations will have been made in good faith and will stick.

Wouldn’t you agree? (And in a linking move, if you do agree, you may stop reading this TGIM right after the Post Script.)

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

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

P.S. “If you come to a negotiation table saying you have the final truth, that you know nothing but the truth and that is final, you will get nothing.” Finnish politician Harri Holkeri said that.