Tag Archives: life lessons

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 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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May 3, 2019 · 2:54 pm

Balsamico And Business

The question, this Foodie Friday, is have you ever had true balsamic vinegar? Not the junk they sell at the supermarket that’s probably made outside of Italy, but true balsamic vinegar that bears a D.O.P. stamp, a European Union certification that guarantees an ingredient’s quality, production, and place of origin. In the case of balsamic, it must be made in Reggio Emilia and Modena, Italy, using traditional methods, and production is overseen from beginning to end by a special certification agency.

I won’t go into detail about the process, but the key takeaway for today is that it takes a long time to make. Like a dozen years or more. Every step of the way, the amount of vinegar in the barrels is reduced as the product concentrates. You need to take the long view of what the business will be if you’re going to start producing this stuff! It requires patience, resilience, capital, commitment, and much more.

The same can be said about a winery. Planting vines, getting them to produce, bottling and aging all take time. You need to think long-term. I think the same sort of thinking is involved when you go to make some dishes. Great barbecue takes a long time. So does a great Bolognese Sauce (even with a pressure cooker – believe me, I’ve tried!).

Whether it’s Balsamico or business, there are no short cuts. Great things take time, generally more than we’d like. As we often see in today’s world, moving fast and breaking things often results in a disaster even as the company expands rapidly. The fall is often as fast as the rise.

Maybe my thinking is more tortoise than hare, but I’m a believer in taking the time to get things right. I play the long game. As with balsamico, you need to commit to the process, as do all the stakeholders. There’s a reason the good vinegar sells for $200 an ounce, and once you’ve experienced it you’ll understand the difference between it and the $16 bottle you get at the supermarket. Greatness takes time, both in the barrel and in business, right?

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