EARTH: THE ULTIMATE TERRORIST

Planet Responsible for Thousands of Deaths

It Could Happen Tomorrow is a popular show on the Weather Channel. The idea is to inform viewers how close we are to death and destruction with each passing season. Earthquakes, killer waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, cold snaps, wind shears and lightning are just some of the weapons of mass destruction available in our eco-system. Add to that the global warming and what it may do to the temperature of the oceans or better yet, how about that rogue meteor that has its sights set on Montana?
For a fascinating look into the geology, physics, meteorology, astronomy and all other physical sciences of Earth, start reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. While this is not a book that can be read in one or two sessions, it is a great book to enjoy 30 or 40 minutes at a time. The stories and interviews are very enlightening and written without all the technical jargon.
Earth and our solar system is a constant threat to all of us. Just think about how many people have died in natural disasters since Christmas 2005, when the Tsunami swamped Indonesia. The devastating earthquakes, Hurricane Katrina and the recent typhoons that hit mainland China proves there are no countries immune to Earth’s wrath.
An interesting piece of learning in Bryson’s book has to do with mankind’s history on earth. It was stated that if you stretched both of your arms out to the side to form a human “T”, the straight line from the right middle fingertip to the left middle fingertip would represent the timeline of earth. Travel from the right fingertip across the shoulders and over the top of your head and all the way to the end of the left middle fingertip. At the very end of that tip would be the history of mankind! In fact, it is best represented by taking a nail file and taking one stroke of the file to the end of the fingernail. Those tiny specs of dust are the history of mankind.
Four main points gleaned from Bryson’s book regarding the future of mankind are:
1) All life wants to be
2) Life doesn’t always want to be much
3) Life from time to time goes extinct
4) Life goes on
Looking at that list, my ideas for the lessons from Earth that can be applied to education and the workplace are:
1) Life is a struggle; get over it there are no easy shortcuts; everyone fights to survive
2) If you are in position of leadership or teaching, help those around you find meaning in work or school and reinforce the value of their efforts
3) Even though workplace is ever-changing, there’s always reasons to be hopeful for the future; we can learn new things and have a quality life
4) Teach patience and investing for the long-term (investing means more than money, for example, education)
Just like Earth, people are dynamic. Change is inevitable so adjust and look for new opportunities. If you are a coach, mentor or leader, help those around you understand change and how it may benefit them. Take the FEAR out of situations by being open and empathetic.
Did you see the wonderful movie Chicken Little? It’s not a bad idea to keep your eye on the sky. Something may be heading our way!

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

IT’S HUMAN

Natural: The Reason We Are The Way We Are

Hedonism: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life
Egoistic Hedonism: the ethical theory that achieving one's own happiness is the proper goal of all conduct

It is our basic instinct to “live for the day.” Perhaps it goes back to times when humans spent their days foraging and surviving. There were no guarantees that tomorrow would be any easier. This approach to life in the US probably ended after World War II but unfortunately still exits today throughout the world.
People are hedonistic and this attitude is natural. It is not natural to focus our brains on any thing but our daily living and entertainment needs. As a manger or teacher, you must be sensitive to the idea that “work ethic” is a daily struggle with all those around you. Hence, it is unnatural for people to “buckle down” at school or put their “nose to the grindstone” at work. To be disciplined takes energy.
That’s why it is so easy for people to watch too much TV, explore the Internet, play video games and indulge in social outlets such as bar hopping, movies and other fun stuff. People are social beings, living for the day and who want to be liked. It seems like it is always the isolated teens who go on a rampage against their classmates and teachers.
It is our nature to be self-centered. Observe an “only child” and watch how the world revolves around their being. As we grow older and can afford “toys” for our enjoyment, we can see how this self-centering matures. For example, men love to brag about their trucks or their golf game.
Mangers and teachers need to find the compromise to gain the kind of productivity or outcomes they are seeking. Students and workers go to school or work for the social aspects of the environment. At school social contacts are obvious; for work, consider office romances.
There are no easy solutions to this dilemma of how much social freedom to offer to your students or workers. If it is natural to “goof off,” how much time is appropriate? Is social time a reward for good outcomes at school or work? How tightly defined are your objectives that give people the guidelines for when the work is done and they can relax? Remember, it takes energy to remain disciplined and fight the urge to be natural.
Good leaders provide boundaries and goals. This allows students and workers to “zig-zag” through the routines of achieving the objective without going “off-course.” There’s enough physical evidence from the world of sports and physical training that shows hard work followed by relaxation or “downtime” produces greater results the next time during competition.
So teachers, leaders and managers, brighten up a little bit. Show your appreciative side with a smile, a thank-you and some empathy that life is demanding.
It could be a lot worse. We could be living in a country where people wonder if there is another meal tomorrow.

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

JUNE THOUGHTS III

1. Stock Market Insanity

Stock market investing takes rich people and makes them wealthier. This is rule number one. Rule number two is that wealthy people let us play in their “sandbox” but we will never “own” it.
The small investor, with limited exceptions, will not earn spectacular short-term results. The stock market rewards the long-term small investor with steady returns over 20 to 30 years (this is the “sandbox”). For the majority of people in the stock market, this is your objective, not the insanity of daily and weekly speculation.
Remember when the market was “crashing” a few years ago? Wall Street brokers and pundits wondered when the Fed, then headed by Alan Greenspan, would take action and lower interest rates. Money managers fretted about when he was going to act; then he did. Managers were satisfied, temporarily, and the stock market began its slow climb back. Then the question became when will the Fed stop lowering rates? Every meeting was fronted with the concerns if it doesn’t stop soon the economy may “overheat.” Finally, the rates bottomed out at 1 percent and then the opposite arguments began. When will the Fed start raising rates? Eventually, the rates started to go up; that concern was followed by when will it end? That worry continues through today. This sequence represents the whimsy of money managers to tempt the small investor to make irrational decisions and investments. Remember: your buying and selling makes money managers rich.
There is rarely a timeframe when money mangers are happy. Why? The stock market is fueled by emotions. If various economic factors stabilize, the market settles into a trench and flattens out. This leaves pundits with little to talk about on their daily radio and TV shows. That is why you see “major” reports released every week (reports that tend to be contradicted the next week or corrected the next month).
Speaking of pundits: the financial section of a major newspapers feature the “pundit of the day,” spewing his or her advice. The majority of the time their comments are negative. It is easier for them to cover their tracks by stating the negative because if the worst case scenario doesn’t happen no one will care and their credibility is not compromised. Plus, negativity sells advertising space on TV, radio or in the newspaper. Don’t expect “rosy” comments from pundits.
The advice from this small investor is not to panic and only read the pundits for amusement. Invest for the long term and your patience will be rewarded. Just look at the stock market since the modern era began after the 1929 crash. The line steadily moves upward.
If you are not a rich person, don’t invest like one. Day trading will make your broker richer and you will be “broker.” Buying “options” sounds tempting but it is too hard to “time the market” in order to make a financial killing. That means you need to have the financial resources to invest and wait. If you have minimum resources, you will be forced out before the rewards materialize.
Remember the volatility of May 2006, and how there were 4 days of triple digit market corrections? Wealthy people made money during those corrections because they had options that “shorted the market” (meaning they “gambled” that prices would go down). Rich people have the resources to make money regardless of the market goes up or down. For the rest of us, we need the “tried and true” investing of buy low and sell high.
The first day you enter the market with a mutual fund or an indexed fund purchase, you bought “low.” Ten years from now, you’ll understand what I mean.

2. What About the American Tech Worker?

Every week you will read that another company has terminated several thousand high-tech and other workers in an effort to increase profits. These highly trained and “mobile” workers will spend the next year or more looking for work that compensates them at a level near their previous job. Most people are disappointed.
These high-tech workers don’t realize that the US Government has a program (H1-B) that allows companies to import highly trained tech workers at a fraction of the costs for a comparable American worker. Companies pay no benefits and lower wages; wages that seem like a fortune for people from a third-world country. All the talk about US Immigration reform and how Mexican workers are taking away jobs that Americans want is merely a “smoke-screen.” Americans go to college to learn to work in high-tech companies. To be replaced by a low-cost H1-B worker is the ultimate legal immigration insult.
But, that’s just the beginning. Companies are upset that the limits for H1-B visas are not being increased! For the time period beginning July 1, 2006 to June 30, 2007, the maximum number of H1-B visas has been allotted. That’s 65,000 foreign workers taking away jobs once held by under-employed and uninsured Americans.
Meanwhile, America builds fences along the Rio Grande and creates legislation that will try to eliminate the few dollars a day a Mexican worker may make picking produce.
Why hasn’t any action been taken to stop the H1-B high-tech program? It’s doubling insulting to know that tech jobs have been outsourced to other countries plus those that remain are being filled imported tech workers.
Colleges produce sufficient high-tech workers to meet American companies’ needs. Less than half of this year’s graduates will find jobs in high-tech fields. Next year, a comparable number will graduate, possibly with the prospect that even fewer jobs will be available. Colleges won’t take any accountability for this; many of these high-tech programs take 5 to 6 years to complete and have the most expensive tuitions on campus. Basically, colleges produce ready and willing workers; it’s not their problem there are no jobs.
This is America: big companies dictating who works and who doesn’t based on Wall Street earning expectations. Add to that the fantasy colleges provide that a good education yields a high paying job and you have a recipe for poverty.
The H1-B program needs to be terminated until there is sufficient evidence that American trained people have been absorbed into every possible opening and there are no more to be hired.

3. Quote

To think is to differ. ---Clarence Darrow

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

JUNE MUSINGS, II

1. What’s a Sherpa?

Across the Internet, the word Sherpa is appearing and I’m sure it is creating much head scratching. According to Webster, Sherpa is: "a member of a Tibetan people living on the high southern slopes of the Himalayas in eastern Nepal who provide support for foreign trekkers and mountain climbers." Basically, you need to focus on the last part of the definition, providing support.
Hence, someone or some organization using the word Sherpa is referring to guiding you through a process or acting as a mentor. Now you have a new title to use: instead of Mr. Jones you can be Sherpa Jones!

2. Technology and Dull Kids

Ah, the old days when parents complained that their teenagers spent all their free time on the phone talking with friends. Talk, talk, talk and the conversations went on for hours (and that’s after seeing these kids all day in school). When the cell phone came along, it seemed like the talking would be a 24 x 7 non-stop event.
But, skip ahead to the IM age. That’s “instant messaging” for those of you unfamiliar with the tech jargon. Now, kids can type out cryptic messages on tiny keypads that defy parents' aging hands saddled with lessening motor skills.
They type a few characters and hit send. Get a reply and respond again. And the cycle goes on becoming more cryptic and at the same time more detailed with each passing cycle.
Studying kids with this IM behavior is leading educators to ask if students will suffer from a lack of spontaneity. Conversations on a phone require thinking on your feet and responding appropriately and in “real time.” IM allows you to take as much time as necessary and answer when ready or once you have the “right” answer.
While one may argue that it is good to stop and think about your responses before typing them for the world to see, the “real world” will expect you to think on your feet. Furthermore, what you say should have add clarity and meaning to the situation. You just can’t say “Ah, fudge” And walk away.
And for those who may counter with the notion that cryptic typing will enhance writing skills, that’s a big stretch. Only a small percentage of people have any idea what these kids are writing. Writing is intended to use language skills and be understood by a majority of people. IM is too cryptic to be used in business or academia.
The other concern I have is self-imposed isolationism that IM will encourage. Millions of teenagers will sit in their room and type out messages by the dozens to the legions of other shut-ins across the community. Not only will these teens become pasty white and de-conditioned, but they also will find it more difficult to deal with people. The workplace will become one large cubicle of people who want to be left alone with their IM.

3. The Poor Benefit With College Degree

Well in case Einstein missed this one, there’s some documentation that shows low-income people with college degrees will at least earn above the line of poverty. According to The Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania, 5 years after graduation from higher education, students from low-income families were doing as well as their peers from wealthier backgrounds. The researchers measured benchmarks as employment, salaries, home-buying and voter registration and found that over 86 percent of low income students were earning over $40K. The figure was 90 percent for higher income students.
Of course what the researchers left out was the total debt both income classes of students acquired in earning their college degree. With less financial help available to low-income students, they need to borrow more money to finish college. Wealthier students have less worry about paying back their student loans as their parents provided personal savings to get them started. For many students, college debt is tough to overcome and declaring bankruptcy is not an option.
Earning power is important and college does offer a few more opportunities to people than high school degrees alone. But, it would be a mistake to hype this study as a “way out” for low-income students. First, less than 30 percent of all college graduates are being hired in their fields; in the world of networking for high paying jobs, the wealthy have a clear advantage. Second, the researchers most likely counted professional athletes, a working class that is disproportionately represented from the poor. One pro contract of $50 to $80 million will help raise the averages of all graduates classified as low-income. That much money being earned by one person can certainly draw more people earning less than $40K into the average.
To be sure, higher education deserves increased public and private support as long as that generosity is passed on to deserving students. If higher education wants to champion the end of poverty, then college and universities need to graduate low-income students with virtually no debt.

4. Wow!

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.

--- George Bernard Shaw

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE

JUNE MUSINGS

1. Met Any Arrogant Smart People Lately?

I support people working to be as smart as they can be. I admire those who can retain information; trivia is always fun to hear. I would like to see opportunities for education abound in every neighborhood and for people of all ages to attend classes wherever and whenever they want to. And, I am really impressed with those people who are two-sided thinkers, like designers and artists.
Then there’s the “harrumph” types that roll their head back and look down at you through those half-glasses perched on the tip on their nose. It can be a man or woman; both are known to take such a posture. It’s a clear sign that their knowledge trumps your knowledge. These people are Truman Capote arrogant.
I knew such a person years ago. He was a brilliant cardiovascular surgeon that believed so strongly in his abilities that everyone else was a mere peasant. He not only enjoyed rolling his head back, but he added the extra touch of flinging his tie over his shoulder to emphasize his superiority. It was like Superman standing defiantly by the American flag.
At first glance you would just stay away from this fellow. But it was amusing that he took this superiority posture even though the majority of people were taller than him! And his “hissy-fits” were truly funny. Once, he jumped on top a counter and slowly turned 360 degrees yelling “fools, fools fools, I’m surrounded by fools.” (It’s hard to make that kind of stuff up!)
The really amazing thing was when you worked to get to know him. What everyone interpreted as arrogance was his insecurity in a field that demands perfection. Underneath was a deeply dedicated man who was very sensitive to the needs of his patients and their families. He wanted everything to be perfect because he wanted them to have a full life. Once you got to know this man, you understood his eccentricities were not grandstanding but a real concern for achieving quality outcomes.
I had a chance to work beside this surgeon for about 8 years. I found him to be generous, dedicated and funny. But, he still had those times when Superman would re-appear. Unfortunately, medicine lost a great surgeon when he died a few years ago.
Maybe we need to “tickle” a few more of our arrogant acquaintances and get them to laugh. If we don’t get arrested for assault, maybe we will have an interesting and good friend.

2. Boom, Boom, Boom Out Go the Lights!

Now there’s a great party song. Add “Shout” and a keg of beer disappears in a heartbeat. Actually in this case the “Boom” refers to the advancing age of the baby boom generation that will be retiring by the millions over the next few years.
I saw a great descriptive term for this onslaught of retirees: the “Silver Tsunami.” The very phrase conjures up images of a huge tidal wave of people rushing to the bank to cash their pension checks!
The 20th century produced several laws that created the notion of a “Great Society.” FDR pushed through Social Security to protect the elderly from poverty. LBJ pushed through Medicare to keep the elderly healthy. Both programs, called entitlements, seemed like a great idea when people barely lived past 70 years old. No problem paying for such a short period called the “golden years.” Alas, times have changed.
George Burns commented that he was hoping to make it to 100. He reasoned that not many people die after 100.
Joe DiMaggio, the great baseball player, retired from the game in 1952, the same year I was born. As long as he lived, DiMaggio never worked in my life (except for a stint as “Mr. Coffee”). I suspect that many people will live long after 70, meaning that their children will be near retirement before their parents die. I guess it is conceivable that there may be a time when there will be more retired people than people working or in school. It may even end up that there will only be two types of people: retired and those in school.
Like most people in their fifties, I am looking forward to retiring when I’m 80. That way, I may not have to stand in line so long!

3. A TV Recommendation

I like TV, especially sports. But I also know that a person who watches more than 35 hours of TV per week makes 50 percent less income per year than those who watch less than 35 hours of TV per week. Here’s a tip, tape (yes, I’m old fashioned) your favorite shows and watch them later. You skip through the commercials and other stuff and see your program the way it should be watched uninterrupted (almost).
Here’s a show I recommend you tape: the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. This guy is really funny and in my opinion has the best monologue on TV. Plus, he does a credible job with his interviews. So, “sit back and take a load off” with TV’s Craig Ferguson. You’ll like it. And besides, anyone who works that hard that late at night needs you to tune in at least once a week!

GROWTH <> LEADERSHIP <> EXCELLENCE