May 20, 2019 · 11:17 am

1,2,3

I’m back! I didn’t post anything last week because I went on my annual golf outing with my Board Of Advisors. All is well except my golf game.

I don’t know if you saw anything about a survey that was released last week. I did and I made a note to make it my first post upon my return because it makes a number of points that I think any of us could find useful in business. The survey was run by Civic Science which has been conducting online polling since 2008. It was a very simple question and the responses were astonishing, at least to me.

Should schools in America teach Arabic Numerals as part of their curriculum?

That’s the question. They surveyed over 3,600 people and over 2,000 of the respondents said “no.” That came out to 56% of respondents saying we shouldn’t teach the numerals we all use every day. Yep – those are Arabic numerals. Interesting, right? Kind of scary too because it reveals what happens when you allow yourself to answer a question based on your inherent feelings (or prejudices) without having a full understanding of the question being asked.

It wasn’t just a test of prejudice against the word “Arabic.” They also asked about teaching a Catholic priest’s theory on the origin of the universe. While obviously, it’s a much more obscure fact (the Big Bang theory was his idea), it shows once again that people will answer something without enough (or any) information based on inherent biases (53% said “no” to this, which is taught every day).

How often does that happen in your business setting? Someone starts to say something in response to a question in a meeting and suddenly it’s quite obvious that they have no idea about what they’ve been asked. It’s not just people answering the wrong question either. It’s quite possible to have an understanding of the question but no grasp of the facts required to answer it.

So here are three words (3 in Arabic numerals) to keep in mind: I don’t know. They can be hard to say, especially when you have a knee-jerk response to a question. But ask yourself if that response is based on fact or on your existing bias. You might be surprised what you’ll learn along the way as well as prevent your team from making a bad decision. Make sense?

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May 10, 2019 · 3:31 pm

Shopping At The Farmer’s Market

It’s Foodie Friday and the local farmer’s market opened up here a couple of weeks ago. Of course, the state farmer’s market is open year-round but it’s huge and a 25-minute drive. The one here in town is more intimate, less-crowded, and only 6 minutes away.

I like farmer’s markets for a few reasons. The first is that the quality of food – mostly produce – is generally higher than what you can get from the supermarket. It’s likely it was picked either that morning or the day prior. It certainly didn’t have to travel from Mexico or South America. Most importantly, these markets are inherently seasonal. You don’t get watermelons until late summer (OK, earlier here in the South) and there aren’t red things masquerading as tomatoes in March.

As a cook, the farmer’s market presents both an opportunity and a challenge, one that actually is mirrored in most businesses. The opportunity is to find ingredients that are in peak form, and because they’re plentiful, at a lower cost (that whole supply/demand thing, you know). The challenge is that to take real advantage of the market, you have to be willing to work with what’s available and that can be limiting. You might want to make a peach cobbler for dessert this week but it’s blueberry season now so that’s dessert.

Businesses face the same challenges as cooks. There is a seasonality involved in almost every business and the opportunity in season is to maximize profits. I think there’s a real opportunity outside of your prime season as well. This is when you can experiment with new products or promotions. You can look for niche audiences (what’s available!).

There’s also the challenge that my little market faces each week. It’s 15 miles from a much bigger market. How can it attract high-quality vendors and draw from surrounding communities? Obviously, most businesses face similar issues to distinguish themselves if they’re realistic about the choices consumers have these days. When I was working in TV we worried about the other networks. Broadcasters today have to consider anything with a screen as competitive.

Mostly I like farmer’s markets because they force me to be thoughtful and creative. How can I plan out a menu that’s the best within the limitations of what’s available? You might ask yourself the same thing about your business. Every business has limitations, whether financial, supply chain, or even people. How do you get the best out of what’s available?

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May 8, 2019 · 1:56 pm

Sharing Isn’t Caring

Suppose you are depressed or maybe you want to quit a bad habit – smoking, for example. Well, of course, there are apps to help you fight depression or to quit smoking. Maybe you want a discount on your car insurance so you agree to install what the industry calls a “telematics device.” As one report explained, these things report when the car was used, distance driven, and time spent driving. They also want to know how fast a driver typically drives and any incidents of hard braking, both of which are indicators that the driver takes risks and doesn’t pay attention. Finally, and perhaps most controversially, the devices can track a car’s location.

Since you’re a fairly literate person, digitally speaking, you know the apps collect some data and obviously so does a tracking device. What you don’t know is what happens to the data that the apps collect. If you go through the app’s privacy policies (you know – the thing you clicked through when you signed up), you’ll probably find that the developer might share data with third parties. And, in fact, a study just released shows that of 36 top-ranked apps for depression and smoking cessation available in public app stores, 29 transmitted data to services provided by Facebook or Google, but only 12 accurately disclosed this in a privacy policy.

Does this concern you? It should. It is not difficult at all for someone who has “non-PII” – anonymized personal information – to trace it back to a real person with a name, address, and other information. How many auto insurance companies also offer life insurance? How many share data – even anonymized data – with health insurers. And wouldn’t those health insurers love to know if you think you’re depressed, as would a life insurance company? Am I paranoid? Yes indeed, and you should be too.

As it turns out, while many of us are more wary about what companies are doing with our data, we’re still not DOING much about it. As eMarketer reports, Internet users are clearing cookies and sharing less on social media. Ad blockers continue to gain popularity. But nearly one-third of US internet users are still willing to sacrifice privacy for convenience.

Clearing cookies, using a VPN, making sure that apps don’t get permissions that they don’t need (why does a flashlight app need your contacts?), and other things can help but at the core of this issue is many companies’ philosophy to beg forgiveness than to ask permission. They have a laser-focus on making money and are woefully blind to their users’ concerns. That’s what really concerns me. You?

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