Jack D. Deal Business and Personal Development Santa Cruz California USA 831-457-8806

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Or what?  Why hang your head?  Why get down about things you cannot control?  You cannot control the stock market, Afghanistan, the SEC, Madoff, AIG, the Yankees or the weather.  Get up and get out and do something...get a life...

What me worry?  

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No one really knows how an idea is generated.  From out of a mass of white and gray matter called the brain, an idea all of the sudden appears "out of the blue."

Spontaneous idea generation is the mother of creativity.   From the spontaneous idea arise concept, meaning, abstraction and innovation.   That Eureka! moment is so powerful a behavioral reinforcer that once experienced few motivators can pull such weight.

Even though we don't exactly know what generates the spontaneous idea we do have some understanding of what works and what doesn't.   For instance, we know that some cultures are less innovative and these cultures tend to be socially hierarchical and very rigid. 

To be a part of these rigid cultures one must give up a good portion of one's self identity.   In other words, if ma and pa tell you who you must or need to marry then your life will more or less conform to their expectations unless you rebel. 

Rebellion is much less common than imagined.   We humans are a species of sheep.  Very few of us can remove ourselves from the culture that has been ingrained in us since birth.  

One certainly has to give careful consideration to alienating one's family, friends, community and culture should one decide to be different.  

And those that create are definitely different.     

Even those that do manage to escape the rigors of a controlled society find idea generation difficult.   That is because generating ideas requires practice and practice requires failure and often ridicule.  It can also be downright frustrating. 

To be human is to be creative and most of today's creativity is tied to economics.   An idea's worth is what it can be sold for; there are so very few pure thinkers around today.    

One can also make the case that the truly creative are that way because of their obsessive interest; someone like Thomas Edison just had to know.  As neuroscience is beginning to show when one does something out of interest the whole brain dynamic changes and look what Edison accomplished. 

So, there are the two big keys that most creative people have; a mind free of rigid social controls and the unwavering desire to follow one's own interests.

But the real key to creativity and spontaneous idea generation may in fact be the links and associations that our more than 5 trillion neural connections can make if we let them.  That is the big point; if we let them.

There is credible evidence that one can plan or construct his own mind and it certainly might be possible to build in "mental best practices" with every mental game plan.  Maybe even build mental structures that create and promote more neural links.

If this appears too much like smoke and mirrors that is because it is and it may take several hundred more years for we humans to understand these mental dynamics.   What is important to remember is these dynamics aren't optional; it is how our brains are wired. 

Blame all that bad wiring on our ancestral hominids.     

While it may seem our brains are totally out of control and all is chaos that is not quite the case. Rather we must decide what we give ourselves permission to do; fortunately most of us decide not to be criminals!

In essence we must give ourselves "permission" to be creative and take advantage of our 5 trillion neural links.   That's a lot of links.  That's a lot of permutations and combinations. 

Giving oneself permission to be creative is not as easy as it may sound.  Many societies and social networks shun those that do not conform.   To be laughed at and scorned is no easy decision.  To be known as the one coming up with a stream of crazy ideas is not exactly fun either.

On a personal level one might begin to be concerned about their own mental stability when generating a steady stream of original ideas.   That is why many creative people openly admit they are "nuts".

Creativity can't be manufactured but it can be managed.     

So, cultural survival, self interest, self-permission and lots of strong neural links are requisites for creativity but are they the magic formula?  Well, yes and no. 

Yes because if these four conditions do not exist then the likelihood of creativity is diminished.   Conversely, having all four conditions met unfortunately does not insure creativity.  Too bad.

The final condition is practice.  If the innovator ceases to create then the innovation ceases.    After extended periods negative brain plasticity robs poor souls of what little creativity they may posses; once it's not used it shrivels up and melts away.

You know the type; never had an original idea in their life.   

So if you have it, practice it so you hone your skills.   You might think you are crazy and others may think you are crazy but then some thought Einstein was crazy. 

Thomas Edison was called many things besides crazy.  But both were creative because they practiced their art and continually generated ideas even though they were often "crazy ideas".     

The Theory of Relativity and the electric light were clearly innovative works that involved a great deal of creativity.   What is most interesting is considering how there might be a bit of Einstein and Edison in all of us if we just help it get out. 

Think spontaneous ideas and write them down.  Use Twitter or even the backs of napkins or envelopes.  Just remember that it's up to you to get your Einstein and Edison to bloom! 

You owe it to yourself and your society.  The bad news is so few of us can actually generate an original idea that we are overly dependent on the few that do.  

The good news is all of us have somewhere inside us that seed of creativity that is waiting to bloom.   What's not to like about that?

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Recently a start-up social marketing Silicon Valley executive was quoted as saying "If you are comfortable when you launch your site you waited too late."  

In other words, if one felt comfortable then this secure, comfortable feeling was an indication that one had fallen behind the innovation curve, a detriment to success.  The implication was that innovation is inherently a tenuous and uncertain thing and that making it into a 'comfort' thing is very bad strategy.   

Theodore Roosevelt called the comfort zone the "the Gray Twilight" and those that dwelt there "poor spirits".   They neither enjoyed much nor suffered much and in fact in his opinion they didn't really live very much either.  

If we look back to the origins of social psychology and evolutionary psychology we quickly learn that never were our ancestors in a so-called comfort zone.  Life was tough and a daily struggle for survival.  That doesn't mean there was never time to relax and enjoy...just not much time.

The most recent human evolution theories speculate that human gene mutations occurred 50,000 and a million years ago.   These mutations were important because they increased the size of the brain and cranial capacity.  

The 'purpose' of these mutations was to give our human team the survival edge; being able to think has distinct evolutionary advantages. 

The ability to think gave both the individual and the tribe the edge.  When things got difficult the thinking brain could figure out ways to find a solution.  

Our noble cousins the apes and chimpanzees could not do that or at least do it on our level.  That's why our monkey-looking ancestors are called hominid and those "other animals" are called apes.    

The net result is one species is in the zoo and the other on the outside looking in. 

The hard truth is we are not wired for comfort.   We are wired for challenge and    contrast.  Maybe feeling "comfortable in one's own skin" is not how we are wired.   Can our very own self-certainty be holding us back?

Are we mistaking self-confidence for a free and inquiring mind?   Is a free and inquiring mind, arguably our evolutionary advantage, inherently uncomfortable?

Can routine achievement and success leave one in a comfort zone that dampens both potential and true innovation?   Are free, inquiring and open minds threatened by social norms and conformity?   Do the comfort zones of achievement and success actually prevent further achievement and success? 

Does the establishment of our comfort zone make us averse to any risk that threatens our hard earned comfort zone?   Is that the real reason so many of us are resistant to fundamental change?

The concept can be expanded from individuals to tribes, communities and societies. 

Do societies eventually become self-certain and comfortable bringing about their decline?     Do societies get tired or just lazy?  

Is the concept of "resting on our laurels" simply another way of saying the comfort zone has been reached and "that's all folks?" 

Certainly Silicon Valley has proven that those living within their own comfort zones create very little and cannot compete successfully with those that do.  Without the driving edge of curiosity and an inherent disdain for the status quo comfort zone little innovation takes place. 

What if Michelangelo or Thomas Edison had stayed in their respective comfort zones?  

Interestingly a few realize this psychological nightmare and artificially construct challenges that will get them out of their comfort zone; the implication being that if they are comfortable and do nothing they will accomplish little. 

On the lower end, motivation for change occurs when one slips from the comfort zone to areas of pain, anxiety and frustration.   No motivation or change occurs until the pain threshold is passed and unfortunately the human capacity for absorbing anxiety and frustration is very high.   

Then there are others that feed on challenge, exploration and the thrill of the new.   The biggest risk they view in their lives is settling into their comfort zone 'black hole' and never being able to get out.   When they start feeling comfortable they know something is wrong.   Terribly wrong.

After a while those in their long term comfort zones have little say, learn little new and may in fact be the victims of negative brain plasticity.   Anecdotally we can see this in our everyday lives; those that camp out in their comfort zones have little thinking capacity, few ideas and not much of interest to say.    

This leads us to the distressing conclusion there is no cure for stupid.   Potential is only realized when the individual moves out of their comfort zone. 

In the end, each of us determines if there is anything good to say about being in one's own "comfort zone".   But the evidence clearly points to "comfort" as an obstacle to success.

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That's it. No more sad stories. No more long faces. We just can't take it anymore. We, the moral supporters, staff and affiliates are on strike.
 
We are on strike against doom and gloomers. We are on strike against those that continue insisting the sky is falling.

There is no joy in Mudville. Nor in Cupertino or Thousand Oaks. Let us hang our collective heads and knash our designer teeth.
 
Most employees are not happy campers. It really doesn't take much intellect to see if someone is happy and smiling or sad and frowning. It is one of the first things we learn as babies. Duh?

See for yourself in the next business you go into. Simply look and observe if the folks you see are smiling or not. Then, look at the customers present and see if they are smiling or not.

That's all the effort you need to spend in this portion of your corporate culture analysis.

Then go back to your office or the nearest coffee shop and sit down and analyze your results. Odds are if the employees are smiling, the customers are smiling. If the employees are frowning, the customers are frowning.

Some psychologists call this the mirror effect or the idea that we reflect the behaviors we observe. This is true for most monkeys and probably for most humans since we are genetically 98% alike. At least most of you are...

Imagine going into your favorite pub and the waitress has a long face. Your mind frantically searches through your cerebral database to come up with reasons for the long face.

You stall on 'bad food' and decide it is perhaps best to have a beer now and eat somewhere else later.

Somewhere else where you won't get sick like the waitress.

The truth of the matter is the waitress' four year old poured all of daddy's cement into the toilet and the sitter wants to know what to do since it is starting to harden. But that is no excuse.

You missed the special of the day, missed the winning touchdown on the widescreen and your favorite pub went bankrupt the next day because your waitress was wearing a long face and all you could think about was E. coli.

Anyway, none of it matters in a gloom and doom world.  We need to bottle and sell happiness; who would pay for doom?   You may laugh and think it's stupid and what kind of company creates and sells happiness since we can't even define it?
 
And just how does one become a joy agent?
   
Jesting aside you probably know how collective melancholy can kill your business but did you also know it eats into the neurons of your hippocampus thus explaining why all people that constantly frown are perpetual losers?
  
It's that simple: frown and your hippocampus turns to mush.  That's what we tell people.  Not all of them believe us but that's our company line. 

We also very firmly believe that if we say it enough times even we will start to believe it.
 
But the honest truth is we just don't like frowners and losers.  We strongly suggest you get them out of your workplace before they poison your whole work environment.

Send them on a business trip with a one way ticket.
 
However if you have been noticing a funny odor for the last several days you may want to check the source out. 

Most likely it will be a rotting rat inside a wall but sometimes employees have been known to pass away and not be missed for weeks.
 
Sometimes management attention span is short and they neglect to check up on their people.  It's always good to keep the thing light by using tricky campaign style buttons that say "We Check Our Employees' Oil Each and Every Day."
 
So the next time one of your customers asks "Who died?" take it as a constructive criticism and not a perverted death wish or personal grooming insult.
  
So until then, check your oil every day, keep the faith and don't forget that beautiful smile!

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By chance an old friend and I crossed paths as we were waiting for an elevator.  We had always had lively discussions and both were between appointments so we struck up a conversation.
 
We updated each other on recent successes and failures--and since we'd both gone to the same University, touched briefly on the old alma mater.
 
After the pleasantries were past, we then entered into the 'important' things--the more serious things that mattered. He spoke of a friend that had gotten out of the 'rat race' for several years.
 
At that point, his old company offered his friend a 'big six-figure contract' to return and she accepted.  We were both impressed with the salary he mentioned and joked about what kind of weekly paycheck she would get.
 
We were both envious. On a whim, perhaps a whim based somewhat on envy, I asked the simple question, 'yes, but is she happy?'
 
My friend became silent.
 
No, he finally answered. She was definitely not happy. Several years before she had left her job because it was not satisfying and because at 70 plus hours a week she had no personal life.
 
She had hoped at some point to remarry but was feeling like she was married to her job and no suitor could break up the family. The big salary did not make her happy.
 
If it were not for the money, she would quit and do what she really wanted to do. But she could not do that and remained miserable.
 
We ended our conversation slapping each other on the back and saying how lucky we were to be doing what we were interested in. We agreed to talk soon but we both knew our busy schedules would not make that possible any time soon.

Our conversation had lasted a half-hour; yet, this conversation is one that has replayed in my mind many times since then. Yes, but are we happy?
 
The analytical among us would press for a definition of happy. And probably that would make a good article. But somehow the question kept coming back and back.
 
If you look in the workplace you won't see too many happy people. You see owners that hate their industry, employees and customers.
 
And employees that show up for work only to get a paycheck as they whine and complain that nothing is ever good.
 
And managers that snap at employees as if they were unruly children. Why do people stay in positions they do not like? Why don't more people do what they want?
 
The question is an intriguing one. Most of my interest has been generated by the concept that the happy worker is a more productive worker.

Make the worker happy and you make production soar. On a simplistic level this is true.
 
But it goes beyond the simplistic. The question begs us to look deeper.  This look is different for each of us so we cannot assume that what works for others will work for us.

There are no formulas or templates. And even if there were we should not trust them.
 
A friend many years back told me that we all want to live meaningful lives. Maybe a meaningful life is the key to happiness. Maybe not. That and having no regrets.

But what works for me may not work for you.
 
Many of us become obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. But this is one search you have to find for yourself. Since we spend much of our waking lives at work maybe you should ask this question at work�
 
Yes, but am I happy?

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There is an old quandary that goes something like "do you live to work or work to live?"

A typical life-work evolution may go something like this: the first choice is to work or not to work; the second choice, often years later, is to work for another or to work for oneself; finally, when income is sufficient to meet needs, does work really fit in with the rest of one's life?
 
Most people, at least those of us that do not have trust funds, have to face these questions. How we make these decisions not only influences finances but ultimately a much bigger question - is my life satisfying and meaningful?

Unfortunately many of us only ask the financial questions - how can we maximize income to increase assets? Today's younger people, at least the non-wealthy ones, see this as the primary question to be resolved.
 
The choices we make as a younger person determine the initial direction our lives take. Many younger people, especially those choosing professions, make their choices based on income and income potential. Factors such as interest are much less significant.

This is why we see so many doctors and lawyers with frowns - they did it for the money. They are not really interested in sick people or the nuances of law.
 
When we follow interests we come closer to achieving meaning and satisfaction. When we stray from interest we may find income but seldom do we find meaning and satisfaction. It may just be in our mind but isn't perception everything?
 
Some say that life is cruel, unfair and disgusting. They lead lives of "quiet desperation" and as a consequence became bitter, even though they have amassed personal wealth. On the other hand, those that have followed their interests view their lives as having great meaning and a high degree of satisfaction.
 
Sure they made mistakes and many ended up with minimal assets and a fixed low income but one can see the smiles and the contentment in their faces.
 
Personal wealth is not the main factor in their happiness. What is most important to them is they have become masters of their own fate and have not let others or social pressures lead them down paths they really did not want to go.
 
When one sees an owner, manager or an employee that really loves their work, we also see a happy human being. And almost always a highly productive, contributing individual. In evaluations and reviews contented employees usually respond that they are very interested in what they do and often find high levels of satisfaction.

When asked how they view their future they usually respond that they expect their future to be challenging and interesting. Why not?
 
When one sees owners, managers and employees that are obviously not happy it's certain the individuals are in it for the paycheck. They go to work to support themselves and their families and they go only because they have to.

They do not truly enjoy what they do, they get very little satisfaction at work and they are usually unhappy with their compensation. Because they hate what they do they always feel they cannot be paid enough. And as no surprise these individuals have very little fun in their personal lives as well.
 
Those that dislike their work tend to split their lives in segments. When they 'punch in' at work they go on the drone mode. On the other hand, those that love their work see their work and personal lives as extensions of each. They make no artificial distinction because they do not hate their work.

Because they find meaning and satisfaction in their work they often find the same in their personal lives.  As Krishnamurti noticed their lives are integrated and not fragmented.

As the pressures of work intrude more into our personal lives we need to ask some important questions: are our work/life problems caused by scheduling and time management or is our work becoming more of a distasteful, though necessary chore? Are we following our interests? Is our work life meaningful or routine?
 
We humans are complex beings. Just as our personal life influences work so too does work influence our personal life. Maybe we should not look so much to time management to balance the work-life dichotomy. Maybe we should reflect on what truly interests us.

Maybe then we will find out what really makes us tick.

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You have been there before.   You have one minute to make a big decision and that's it.  If you don't decide, you lose the opportunity.   Secretly you wish you could poke and probe a bit more to verify your gut feeling but that is not to be.  It's now or never as the song goes, come hold me tight right now or lose the opportunity forever.   

Opportunity is a passionate but fleeting lover.   Like life, one has to love the thrill more than fear the fear; going with opportunity is not always easy.   One can watch or one can participate; one can swim or one can sunbathe.  Unfortunately it's not easy because we really don't like change since it makes us shift and modify our hard earned attitudes and perceptions.

Rather than take what we are given and develop a free and inquiring mind, we often prefer the gray twilight of our own artificially constructed comfort zone.  We even become defensive about it. 

The best tactic in life and work is to latch on to your curiosity, become engaged and eliminate that insidious comfort zone altogether.   Once the lines are blurred it's not so easy to keep that house of cards standing; in fact, it's best to not build a house on false premises in the first place.  Go ahead, just jump in...   

In the abstract, one thinks the safety of the comfort zone makes all well by avoiding unnecessary risks in the scary unknown.   It's a jungle out there.  But it is human to pursue the unknown as curiosity is our nature; curiosity is in fact us.   

We inherited curiosity from the monkeys, apes and cavefolk we came from.    As the human brain mutated, one of the survival keys was curiosity which brought the great reward of knowledge to those that pursued it.   

Take yourself for example.   Don't you find it much easier when you learn about things that interest you?   Duh.   Everything you do becomes thrilling when you are excited.  Why beat your head against the wall forcing yourself to do something you don't really want to do because you feel you just have to do it?   Or even worse, someone else thinks you should do it.  Sort of sounds like going to school...

This is the fundamental key to all training and education: find out what the student is interested in and drive them to it.   Let them get engaged and stand back.   Let them jump in and absorb all they can as they hunger for more. 

Once they try the free and inquiring mind model there is no stopping them.   Once they use the right mental software they will gain the requisite skills and capabilities and will push and push and get an education even in spite of going to school.   

Perhaps the best part of jumping in is what is learned in the process or as they say in psychospeak, it's a cognitive thing.  Let's repeat that one more time: the best part of jumping in is learning from the experience. 

That's what makes a lot of inventors and innovators tick.  They get very good at jumping in.  Besides, by doing like Thomas Edison and paying particular attention to what does not work, you won't waste time retesting a failure.   This process sure must work because we all know what Edison did. 

Like Edison one must develop singularity of purpose as well as a thick skin.   All the safe and secure folks in your life will think you are crazy for leaving the tried and true for the fanciful and theoretical.   They will laugh when you fall down and smirk when you get bruised and struggle.  They will tell you curiosity killed the cat and if you aren't careful it will kill you too; it's always nice to have support from those that truly care. 

Another compelling argument for jumping in is research indicates that we may in fact learn more from our failures than our successes.   If you don't believe this is true, just remember Thomas Edison.  Somehow learning what not to do helps set the parameters and guidelines for success and what to do.   People that try get results.   People that don't try get bored and become boring. 

Research is also pointing to a profound difference in the engaged mind versus the autopilot mind.   First indications are that the not only is the neural biochemistry different but the actual neural networks can be modified and extended to adapt to our interests. 

It's called brain plasticity.  Since this is the case we might even conclude that jumping in is what we are wired to do.   Go against your curiosity and you go against your very nature.   

Perhaps the greatest advantage of being bold is that we can test and discover which of our premises are flawed or need to be reworked.   Working out any plan with flawed or weak premises is bound to produce a minimal outcome.   Edison knew that so he just kept eliminating the flaws and who can argue with Edison's results?   

So go ahead, jump in, what do you have to lose but your comfort zone.  Only you can decide if your motto is 'fear of failure or 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'.

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We do have rats at the jungle ranch. Some are big and some are small. After all, it is a ranch and it is the jungle. Most of the rats are small and could be technically called field mice; since they are small and come from the 'fields' where they live. In other words, they don't live in our palapa; they just come to visit, eat our food and make holes in our clothes.

Needless to say the wife isn't thrilled with these critters. We laugh that since these rats eat onions, tomatoes and even hot chili peppers, we should call them 'Mexican rats'. Although sometimes she doesn't see the humor in that either.

So when we went back to civilization in Bacalar, the first thing she did was go to a hardware store and buy a mousetrap. This wasn't just any mouse trap; it was the jumbo, heavy duty, reinforced, last forever type. And as the hardware clerk so articulately told us, it 's designed to catch big ones and small ones and all sizes in between. We had seen our invaders and knew they were an assortment of sizes. None of this wimpy capture them alive and release elsewhere stuff either...this trap was meant to do one thing and one thing only.

The first night nothing. Then at about 2:00 AM on the second night, we heard a loud snap and knew we had trapped our prey. We jumped up and grabbed our flashlights. To our dismay, the rat was not in the trap but several feet away and still moving. It was a big one. I took the ax and smashed its head to make sure the damage was done. No more sweet pastries for this guy.

I took the rat and threw it out in the backyard knowing that shortly nature would take its course and the ants and bugs and other critters would quickly dispose of the carcass, sort of like a critter 's Thanksgiving.

That same morning our Maya friend Poot came by and we told him about the rat. It was a great big one, we laughed. He asked where it was and he went to see for himself. He quickly found it and came back holding it up by its tail. Poot is a jungle man and takes his jungle cues from the plants and animals; though I was a bit surprised he picked up the rat.

"It 's a female," he said, "look at where it 's babies nurse." Sure enough, it was a female. The wife looked away as she doesn't like this sort of thing and would soon start feeling sorry for the hungry little rat babies. Not me.

"Where are your kittens?" Poot asked. We called them and they came playfully running over toward us. He held up the rat and they immediately started growling and showing great interest.

Poot laid the rat strategically between them both and they went at it. For five minutes they played tug of war while we laughed and thought it great fun. Fun for us, but something more for the kittens. Poot explained.

"If a kitten doesn't taste rat meat or learn about rats when it 's small, it won't learn at all," he stated. I've learned to pay great attention to what jungle man Poot says because he has a very different perspective on plants and animals and the environment in general. And besides he 's always right.

"It 's sad to see a cat that doesn't go after rats," he continued, "that 's what cats do. It 's their nature. If they don't learn when young, they will never learn and what 's the use of a cat that doesn't keep your palapa free from rats?" As usual, Poot had a good point.

He went on to explain how a good cat will crawl up into a thatched roof and actually hunt the critters there. Once the cat kills enough rats, the rats somehow get the message and stop coming for nightly visits or even daily visits for that matter. A good cat always beats a good mouse trap.

Later that day I pondered on Poot 's animal wisdom and wondered if his kitten and mouse lesson had other parallels, specifically human ones.

If humans don't learn life 's lessons at a young or tender age, then they too miss out. I immediately thought of all the spoiled kids that live back in Northern California and how many end up goofy and maladjusted. The truth is their parents did not give them the rat equivalent as they were growing up; instead, they got some sort of watered down substitute that left them confused, frustrated and often angry. What they really needed was a good rat.

The analogy is admittedly simplistic and not all rat deprived kittens grow up to be maladjusted and angry cats. But most do and Poot made a very good point.

So the next time you decide to 'help' your child by sheltering them from the hard and cruel world, think again. Think of the kittens and the rat and how the cat can't realize its Buddha nature unless it learns to hunt and eat rats.

Our jungle man Poot says it 's what cats are supposed to do and he 's usually right.

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Therapy should make us feel better, or at least that's the idea.  That's why it makes good sense to shoot photographs.   Photography gives us something to do, it costs little or nothing, doesn't interfere much with other activities of daily living and can even be fun.   Sometimes.

Ever notice how many mental patients carry around their therapy cameras?  It's for a good reason.   The camera makes us appear grander than we really are so it helps poor self esteem.  It also keeps us in touch with reality and away from spending too much time in places like Narnia. 

Besides, pretty colors are subjective and anything subjective stimulates human interaction.   What's pretty for me, isn't necessarily pretty for you.   It gives me validity and increases my self esteem when I can say, 'my ugly colors are every bit as ugly as your ugly colors'.  Or something like that.   And then one day you realize the colors on your jumbo laptop are prettier than those in real life, whatever that is.   What really matters now? 

Speaking of self esteem problems, they do come on with age and memory loss.   The problem with age is that one forgets just where one has been; photographs help refresh the memory.   The problem is if the photo is not identified, then it could be from anywhere or 'try real hard to remember where you have been'. 

First look at where the other or surrounding pictures are and the odds are, though there is no guarantee, they will be all from the same place.   That's using your noodle!  This works well except when you can't remember where any of them come from...then you start to wonder if you have really been to too many places after all. 

If you do decide to take up photography as therapy, be sure to take lots of pictures of those folks you cannot stand.   It will do wonders for your self esteem.  Now is the time to seek that sweet revenge that Buddha warned us about.   Shoot lots of pictures of your enemies especially when they are eating, yawning or at the tail end of a mighty guffaw.   Pick the goofiest expressions and upload them with glee.   Your close friends will whisper 'how did you get that ugly picture?' and you just simply reply 'it's knowing what you are after that really matters in the net net...'  Or something obtuse and heavy like that.

But hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves and let all the cats out of the bag, eh?   One of the most important things about being human is that we can fake ourselves out with false hopes.   It's a survival tactic and one that is sure to turn up as a future numero uno on the human genome charts; sort of express false hope mutations if you will.   

And finally, through your photo albums you can let the new you come out and blossom.   You can through your skewed and biased perceptions change the true nature of any thought or emotion evoking image.   So be it.  It is your fate.   Welcome and relish the opportunity much as you would relish the relish on your favorite hot dog.   Only you can take advantage of this opportunity; just try not to cower in fear.   Perhaps a switch in perspective is all that's really needed.   

For instance, a cool guy needs a cool photo gallery, no?   It can show the hard, tough side but also the gentle and considerate side, such as sensitive rodeo photos.   But let's face it; we love it because in the end the perspective is just all about us, no?   Beyond that, it just doesn't matter because it just doesn't.

The gods know there certainly is enough to be afraid of.   The truly scary realization is that if we are what we perceive, then as a consequence we must be what we look at.  Oh my gods, just think of it!

But keep the faith!  Good therapy spooks just enough to give you a good jolt but not to cause a complete shift in your Gestalt.   But then again, who can argue with results?   So go ahead, just shoot that photo...come on now, like Granma said it's not the time to be shy.

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

From Campeche to Chetumal is maybe three hundred miles as the crow flies.  By car it's maybe seven or eight hours depending on how one goes since there is no direct route.  That's by car.  Walking through the jungle is another story. 

At 16 Moo had heard from a cousin that Hurricane Janet was so strong it had driven a caoba wood plank nearly halfway through a Zapote tree.  On that pretext, he left from Campeche and planned to walk all the way through to Chetumal.   This was the early 1950's. 

Back then Quintana Roo wasn't even a state in Mexico and was considered pretty wide open.   In the jungle the Maya ruled and no one entered their lands without permission.   As Moo got to what is the present day town of Limones, he saw a Maya Indian on the trail ahead of him with a gun.   As he turned to look behind him, he saw another Maya with a gun was following him.   

Soon both surrounded him and motioned for him to keep going to their village deep in the jungle.   There they took him to their small village church where they had him remove his hat and shoes and pointed their guns for him to sit down.   They told him their leader or cacique would be coming soon to talk with him and he dare not move.   

Moo had two options: if the cacique allowed him to go, he could leave by the small door on the left.  If he moved or the cacique did not let him go, he would go out the door on the right, which was reserved for those going to the cemetery.   Moo didn't move. 

An hour or so later he saw the cacique enter the church and sit down in the front row.  After several minutes he turned to Moo and asked him in Maya what he was doing there.  Moo answered that he had heard about the hurricane and wanted to see for himself and maybe find some land he could work.   

The cacique asked him what he could do.   He replied tend to animals or work the fields...Maya style fields.   Most of the Yucatan peninsula is rocky and the Maya plant between the rocks.   The cacique told him to follow and he would speak to several men in the village. 

Fortunately one of the men needed some fences mended and Moo found work.   Moo's father had taught him that there is work everywhere and one just has to find it.   Moo was a hard worker.   

Moo said he never remembered a time when he didn't work.    When he was not in school he would visit with relatives and each would teach him a different job and that way he could do a good many things.  Many Mexican men leave home at a young age and set out on their own looking for work.  The advantage of having many skills served these working wanderers well as they could go into almost any town and find work. 

A number of these men ended up with businesses or ranches like Moo.   Somehow the lessons they had learned at an early age served them very well. 

A half century and 17 children later Moo sat by his roadside stand selling his coconuts.  His farm is about four square kilometers along the national highway.  He has a ranch house, a house by the side of the road and a house in Limones.   He had a house in Chetumal but gave it to his oldest daughter so all his many grandchildren could stay there when they went to school.   

Moo said because he was taught the value of work he never drank as getting drunk was not only a waste of time but a waste of the fruits of his labor.   Instead of drinking his money away, he said, he would save it and when a neighbor wanted to sell their land he would buy it, if the price was right and the land a good piece.   Over the years he built quite a ranch for himself.   

Not bad for a 16 year old out seeking his fortune.

Moo is one of those that will never retire, just work less as they approach their final years.   Unlike many first worlders that live stressed, fragmented lives and hate their work, Moo said he just felt better working until he went to bed.   His work has been his life.   

We bought some of his coconut plants to take back to our ranch as the hurricane knocked down a couple of ours.  They will grow and we will remember the chat about work and life we had with Moo one hot day along the national highway near Bacalar.

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I first became interested in productivity when I worked with a number of service businesses.   These businesses provided some form of service; autobody repair, mechanical repair, landscaping, towing and recovery, CNC machining, etc.   The basic idea was a unit of service cost so much and could be sold for so much.  The more units that were produced within a given time period, the higher the percentage of productivity. 

Those service businesses that were more productive were more profitable, successful and often had good growth potential.   Those businesses that were not productive were always having slow sales, cash flow crunches and employee problems. 

In the past 10 years productivity has become the mantra of business theorists; productive is the one word that best describes the successful company.  In time I began to look at superior productivity and performance and just what factors separated the superior from the mediocre.  As it turns out the line was much thinner than I thought. 

This is because the current emphasis on productivity centers on ways of leveraging knowledge and technology to produce more with less and repeat the process.  Those that are highly productive are often the same ones that innovate and create new methods and procedures.   This is true of computer programming as well as auto repair. 

But little attention, if any, is paid to those factors that have a direct negative effect on performance and productivity.  Could simply addressing these negative factors instantly increase performance and production? 

The answer was, surprisingly in most cases, yes.   The reason is individuals and companies develop precedent and habit over a period of time.   Many of these hastily arranged processes have flaws; the most glaring is a constant barrage of workplace interruptions. 

An automobile technician, for instance, is five times more likely to make a mistake after an interruption than at any other time.  Loss of focus translates directly into an increased error rate. 

Later I was to see the effects in the younger Silicon Valley executives and managers on Technology Drive.  Wired usually with several cell phones, they were constantly monitoring their incoming calls and calling back.   In one sense they were no longer software engineers but phone talkers. 

The 'net net' as it is called in Silicon Valley, was the focus and eventually psyches of those employees was to fracture and sometimes break.   Constant interruptions cause good, competent managers to become bundles of nerves and creative employees feel helpless as their creativity is constantly interrupted and stymied.   

The problem with phones is phone tag.  To get two people free at the same moment and connected is problematic in today's speed warped business world.   So when one looks at her cell and sees it's a call from a fellow phone tagger, the temptation is just too much to resist.   The recipient excuses herself and takes the call.  Welcome to the fragmented world.

The phone tag problem is eased somewhat by scheduled phone appointments but it adds a whole layer of complexity to the process.  At times it is necessary to speak directly in real time and a scheduled phone appointment works great.  But to be on call is a productivity nightmare. 

And that is where it's headed.  If you answer the phone at 11:00 at night, you will continue to get calls at 11:00 at night.   If your boss demands you do business at 11:00 at night hopefully it is in your job description or contract.  By fragmenting your workday you fragment your productivity and you fragment your life.

So, go ahead and kill the goose that is laying golden eggs for you: your productivity.  Take all those meaningless calls and then explain to your boss why you didn't do such a good job because you had to take all those meaningless calls.  Or something like that.  Maybe she will understand.

Or perhaps it's better to just be productive and have the boss say 'great job!'?

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Jasmine is a friend of ours we have known for many years.  When we first met her in San Francisco she seemed to go through boyfriends at the rate of at least several a year.   Sometimes she would even recycle the old ones back around. 

We kept hoping that someday she would meet Mr. Right and the musical chair boyfriend game she was playing would stop.  She would find her 'true love' and settle down so to speak.  Maybe have a kid.  As the years went by the boyfriend exchange rate slowed down and she eventually settled on one guy that would come over once a week.  That's it. 

In time I came to realize that Jasmine really didn't want to find true love and settle down.  Maybe she was just too in love with herself to share with others.  Since she flitted from guy to guy she never really had a family or 'settled down'.   In hindsight it looks as though she really didn't want to. 

James is a rather typical male.  He was married once and even had a child.   A good looking guy, he has no trouble getting a new girlfriend every month.  Sometimes two a month.  He used to brag about how I was missing out.  But it wasn't me.  Turns out it wasn't him either.  He got even more messed up by trying to constantly put on a game face.   But the truth, he admitted, was that he just couldn't stomach the commitment and responsibility anymore.   Been there, done that.   He would rather be alone than responsible. 

In California folks like Jasmine and James are everywhere.  These types of single adults find being by themselves more rewarding than being with someone they don't like and even in some cases with someone they do like.  One thing they all have in common: at one point in their lives they lived with someone they just did not like.  

If one's expectations are too high, then disappointment is sure to follow.   If you think the right person will cure all your ills and solve all your problems, then think again.  It just doesn't happen like that.

What happens, on perhaps increasingly fewer occasions, is that two people fall in love and don't have unrealistic expectations of each other.  It sounds paradoxical but if you expect less somehow it seems like more.   Sure a mate is a form of responsibility.  Mates generally tend to look out for and care for each other.  Real mates are concerned about their mates first. 

But there seems to be some sort of delicate balance between expectation and reality and sometimes the two sides can drift very far apart.   A good example is the notion that the right mate will solve everything. 

What to do?  For many it's a date and scheduled sex at a prearranged hour each week.  Do the obligatory meal and love making and kiss each other goodbye until next week.  There is no shared financial responsibility, no kids and no commitment.   No responsibility.  No problems.  

Almost.  One problem is folks like Jasmine and James find themselves less desirable as they age.  For this reason Jasmine is taking some kind of hormone youth therapy and James dyes his hair a really obvious, sickly coal black. 

Go figure.   The idea that a real person could love you and age with you and not panic when you get older is called true love.    I'm not sure what is best to call the new 'no responsibilities love' but it's definitely not true and my suspicion, while trying to be halfway non-judgmental, is that it is not love either.   

True is taking care of someone when they are sick.  True is standing by your mate when they make a mistake.  True is putting the children first because they are your children.  Together.

And so on.  I don't know how they do it.  How they maintain some sort of romantic relationship seeing their sweetheart once a week or so.   And having a prearranged agenda that is discussed and agreed upon.  Everything is planned down to the lackluster good night kiss.  Or maybe it's exciting...what do I know?  Well, you can have it. 

Jasmine and James are right in one sense though; why bother.  I would rather sit by myself than pretend I have a girlfriend when I can only see her once a week because we are afraid we will get on each other's nerves.  Or something like that. 

May as well get a dog...better company.  And definitely makes more sense...

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

People look at us rather oddly.  For some reason they cannot connect us.  If you see the two of us standing apart from each other in a group you would never match up wedding rings.   There probably aren't two people you know that are so different and most folks are surprised to see we've been married three and a half decades.  We got married as teenagers and have stay married since. 

In high stress, high production California many people don't even attempt to have a long term relationship anymore.   They are burnt.  Their expectations are so low on finding their true love that if it hit them on the head they would not recognize it.

'Gosh' folks remark, 'true and long term love just doesn't happen anymore.  And you two are so different...'

Different?  Different is an understatement. 

She paints and draws and sculpts and makes jewelry.  I write and watch ball games.  She thinks the Jets are a baseball team.  I've been an avid sports fan since I was seven and could debate Al Michaelson.

She likes girlish, frilly stuff with streaks of pink.  I like plain, simple stuff with darker blues and browns.   She is a Republican, I am a Democrat.   Sometimes.  She had seven years of formal education and I'm an Ivy Leaguer.  

She cries at any hint of emotion or even any thoughts of emotion.  I tear up only when my team lays an egg.   When she cleans up and washes dishes, she does all of them.  When it's my turn, I hide as many dirty pots and pans as I can.   When she does laundry, she folds the clothes and puts them neatly away in their corresponding drawers.  When I do laundry, I leave the clothes in the dryer. 

I'm ready to go.  She's still checking everything and making sure nothing's on or something is seriously out of place or what she might forget. 

She loves Thai and I don't.   I live in the world of business and technology and strategies.  She lives in a world of trust and relationships and family.    She doesn't want to camp out in the jungle with the jaguars and boas.  I look for mosquito netting and my Brazilian machete.   She thinks the Super Bowl is like Labor Day or Memorial Day.   I think Super Sunday is a holy day that should also be cause for us to reminisce over last season and how our bonehead team can't seem to win for losing.

She thinks Don Nelson is some singer and she doesn't know who Tom Brady is but from the name he's probably a baseball player.   Other than Emeril and Rachael Ray I don't know a single TV chef.   She's knows all the TV chefs and their philosophies and how their individual personalities contribute to their culinary art.   I take it out of the freezer and put it in the microwave. 

I think there are worse things in life than tracking in a bit of mud from the lower forty.  She doesn't.   I believe Nellie Ball and the Warriors are incredibly interesting and she thinks they play soccer. 

I can't stand Mexican soap operas and she watches one every night.  She is Mexican and I am American.  She is dark and I am white.  She is Indian and I am Gringo.  She has long, black and gray hair and I have short gray hair but none on top.   I like my coffee strong and she likes hers diluted with sugar and cream.   I like restaurant pizza and she does not. 

She likes leaving everything in neat rows and I like leaving everything in a pile.    She likes canning jams and preserves and I buy them in a jar. She tries to find some good in not so good people and I say shoot 'em.   She believes that if one is a good and decent person nothing bad will happen to them.  I believe that humans will stoop lower than any other animal on Earth. 

She is woman and I am man.  She is ma and I am pa.  She sees the longevity of an object and I see the cost of replacement.   She doesn't like beer and I think that beer and the game are sacrosanct.   She thinks food is therapy and I think beer is therapy. 

She wants to be liked and admired by her friends.  I could care less.  She thinks all men drink beer every chance they get and I say every day is game day.  

She thinks I should go through our garbage and separate all the plastic wrappers from the paper products.    I think it should all be burned.   She thinks recycling begins at home and why throw something out if you've got space to keep it.  I say those that save everything eventually run out of space.

She eats with her left hand on her lap and no elbows on the table and I eat anyway I can.   She thinks an expiration date means it's got several more years to go and I think it's the date botulism sprouts.   She likes the soft, natural light of a late afternoon sunset and I like turning on a light so I can see.   She thinks night club humor and anything not PG is not entertainment.    In my middle aged years I'll watch and laugh at just about anything.  

The fact that opposites attract is a given; north and south, ying and yang, male and female.  If this is true, and we both believe it is, then why do all these dating services try to match up attributes that are the same?   Shouldn't they be finding compatible differences?  No wonder these couples can't get along for more than a couple of days...they get bored to death!    After 'you know what' they have nothing to talk about. 

You'll have to watch that pop psych guy on TV for more insight into that one...

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 04:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

'Don't you ever say anything like that ever again,' the woman fumed, 'that's racist and we just don't appreciate such statements in front of this Board'.  The Board, by the way, was a Community Development Corporation in a depressed Latino community.  It could have been in any one of hundreds of similar communities in the U.S.

I had been addressing the Board laying out the problems that monolingual Spanish speaking immigrants have when setting up a business in the U.S.   I had given a rather detailed analysis of agrarian Mexico, upward mobility and why business success was as much a personal and cultural perspective as finances, marketing and sales.  I was somewhat knowledgeable being bilingual/bicultural and had just finished doing research on a farmworker project in Salinas, California.   

I had made the statement that folks from the great Mexican state of Michoacan were more reserved, proud and self conscious than those of us from Veracruz.  In my view this was certainly not a put down but something many Mexicans know.  It's the same as asking where the best food is in Mexico...Veracruz of course.   

I mentioned that we in Veracruz are known for singing, dancing, partying, drinking, eating, loving, laughing and in general having a good time regardless.  We really don't care if someone laughs at us because we are laughing too.   

I had actually done research with farmworkers from Michoacan showing that they felt self conscious and did not sign up for English as a Second Language (ESL) course or remedial courses in Adult Ed.   I was able to demonstrate that if a group of these farmworkers went as a group and applied at Adult Ed for a course, their sense of self consciousness would relax enough for them to enter.  Once they entered, all was fine.  But like many things in life, the first steps are the hardest ones.  Farmworkers from other Mexican states did not seem to have this problem.   

The fact that all these farmworkers were from Michoacan was missed by this well meaning Latina business woman.   What she heard was I was racially and ethnically stereotyping a group of people and that was a no-no since she had just attended a series of  minority workshops and was told everybody and everything on the planet is equal.  The same. 

Thank goodness it isn't.  Part of the reason I enjoy going to my jungle ranch in Quintana Roo is my Maya pals aren't depressed.   Even though I am clearly a foreigner we can talk and carry on as if there were no differences between us.  They may be poor but they are not collectively depressed.   If they have money they buy chicken and if they don't they hunt.  Simple.  The fact is my friend Poot is a jungle man and about as far away culturally from California as he can be, yet we are pals.  But to some if I make the statement we are different then that is construed as being racist. 

Note that I did not say one or the other was better.   In the jungle Poot can constantly point out things I can't see.  He is in his element.  But go with him to town and he quiets down and looks a bit nervous.  I'm not sure how he would react in Mountain View or Cupertino but one thing is for sure he would be as lost as me in the jungle.

So what is a stereotype?  If I meet 100 people from Michoacan, and 90 have a certain detectable character trait, is that stereotyping?   If it were just me, I might wonder.  But many other Mexicans say the very same things about Veracruzanos and Michoacanos.   Are we all wrong?  Or is perception reality...

In Northern California, especially the Bay Area, we are famous for being doom and gloomers.  The sky is falling, Cheney sold us out, and tomorrow we all die from nasty toxins.  The collective depression is clear and evident, even to those of us that live in it. 

On a recent trip to San Diego my surfing, dirt biking son had an interesting comment.  I asked him what differences he saw in Southern vs. Northern California.  'Dad', he replied immediately, 'the folks down south are so happy.   They are so busy doing things...everyone is smiling and no one talked about how lousy the world is.' 

See?  Is it just me?  You could say like father like son but is it just us?   If everyone sees it and acknowledges it is it still a stereotype or simply the truth?   

Maybe I'm all wet.  But when I can speak with someone and tell by their demeanor or outward behavior where they are from...well, that's not stereotyping, it's good people skills. I've spent a lifetime working on those skills and don't need a narrow minded board member to tell me I'm racist how can I be racist with friends like Poot? 

In the collective thinking world there are no differences...yet where we come from may in fact largely determine how we think, feel and act.  It's called culture and perception. 

And that, amigos, is no stereotype...

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Don Quixote de la Mancha was a novel published in 1605.  That was before the Jamestown Colony in Virginia and before Wall Street.  Don Quixote was a bored, destitute landowner who in his spare time read stories of knights of old and heroes and damsels in distress.  

Yearning for a bit more zip in his humdrum lifestyle and needing some fortune, Don Quixote dressed himself up in armor and mounted his super thin horse Rocinante and set out upon the world.   Contrasted with his chubby squire or aide Pancho Sanza and Pancho's donkey, the two cut a literary and visual image known worldwide; tall thin, Don Quixote and short, round Pancho Sanza are forever with us. 

Don Quixote represented the dreamer and Pancho Sanza the cold realist.  Together they stumbled and fumbled their way to adventure; our man Quixote fighting windmill giants and armies of sheep.   Sancho managing to just keep our man Quixote from falling in.  The figure he cuts thrusting his lance upward toward a windmill epitomizes the quest for quest's sake and the universal struggle for meaning.  Or something like that.  But just how does Don Quixote correlate to the modern day start up?    

First off many start ups are fanciful dreams, much as Don Quixote imagined windmills to be threatening giants.   Working some start-ups is the equivalent of dressing up in armor and fighting windmills.   Fed by little more than a dream and sometimes little else, those that work in these fanciful ventures will make less, work more and almost assuredly end up going to another one when this one crashes.  The danger is that once you actually do one you are hooked.  It is a well known fact there is no thrill like a start-up thrill. 

But why even try something that has a high probability of failure? 

For the experience, stupid, might be Don Quixote's reply in one of his more lucid moments.   Start ups sometimes are often made of up a handful of employees comprising the 'team'.   This team is it; management, production and marketing all in one package.   No where else other than a start up can one find that kind of experience.  Peter Drucker, perhaps the 20th century's most eloquent management theorist, made the statement that if a job isn't challenging enough and helps you develop, you should find another.    

As I look back over my career I can see that I've been involved with several dozen projects.  On some, I was the leader.  In others, a cog in the start up machine.  Each one of these projects either honed a current skill or gave me a new set of skills.  Often these skills were not apparent until after the project or even until years later. 

Of course I naively threw myself headfirst into anything I was working on.   This is what the pundits call being engaged.  Because I was engaged, I cared.  And because I cared, I was engaged.   Each project became a personal project; one that I owned and developed a strong series of emotional 'bonds' to. 

It is because of this engagement and corresponding emotional attachment that the experiences were so strong and the new skill sets so thoroughly learned.   Often my colleagues would make fun of me but I didn't care.  I was having fun at least and when I saw the dud projects they were working on I made fun right back.  It seems I was always working on something interesting, though I can't remember ever doing an exciting company manual...

My colleagues made fun of me because I wasn't making their fees.  In hindsight I wonder if there also wasn't a tinge of jealousy.  I was always so excited and upbeat and they were always so, well let's just say not very happy.  My happiest times in business were working on some absurd Don Quixote windmill project. 

And I had some real winners: online auto parts, online blue collar recruiting, farmworker cooperative, depressed area economic development, language acquisition, security and anti-theft development and so on.  Most ended up requiring original research and extensive whiteboarding.  In fact on one of these projects I whiteboarded for six straight months.  Where else could that type of experience happen? 

But start ups end.  They fold, merge, get bought out, and fade into the business sunset.  Sometimes even succeed. 

But a funny thing happened on the way to the dance.  As time went by, I put more and more of these windmills under my belt.   I didn't pay them much attention, but my skills and capabilities had taken a major step upward.   And I could tell my colleagues were right there in their comfort zone where they assured their own perpetual stagnation or Drucker's non-development.

To my surprise I had gotten better, much better, and they had not.   Where once a colleague and I had roughly the same abilities, five years of doing Quixotic projects had vaulted me way ahead.   The funny thing was I could tell and they could tell and it irritated the heck out of them.  They even stopped kidding me.  But what could I say? 

And thanks to my Quixote projects my 'traditional' projects seem to be easier too.  After one spends months attempting the impossible, a creative marketing plan or internal reorganization seems so much easier.  That's because it is. 

I don't mind that on occasion I'm still teased for being Quixote.  There are worse things.  But I will say this.  I wouldn't trade a single one of my windmills for a stack of ho-hum snoozer contracts.  Life is just too short to sleep through it...

But seriously, somebody has to keep a close eye on those windmills or they can very quickly get out of hand...

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

That's it. We've had it. No more sad stories. No more long faces. We just can't take it anymore. We, the moral supporters, staff and affiliates are on strike.  We are on strike against doom and gloomers. We are on strike against those that continue insisting the sky is falling.

There is no joy in Mudville. Nor in Cupertino or Thousand Oaks. Let us hang our collective heads and knash our designer teeth as we jog to wheat grass brunch.  How do I know there is no joy?

I go into a lot of businesses. When I walk in and see the doom and gloom I think these folks are in trouble.  They are not happy campers. I may be a smart guy but it really doesn't take much intellect to see if someone is happy and smiling or sad and frowning. It is one of the first things we learn as babies. Duh?

See for yourself in the next business you go into. Simply look and observe if the folks you see are smiling or not. Then, look at the customers present and see if they are smiling or not.

That's all the effort you need to spend in this portion of your corporate culture analysis.

Then go back to your office or the nearest coffee shop and sit down and analyze your results. Odds are if the employees are smiling, the customers are smiling. If the employees are frowning,the customers are frowning.

Some psychologists call this the mirror effect or the idea that we reflect the behaviors we observe. This is true for most monkeys and probably for most humans since we are genetically 98% alike. At least most of you are...

Imagine going into your favorite pub and the waitress has a long face. You think maybe it's you and then you realize you're not her type. Your mind frantically searches through your cerebral database to come up with reasons for the long face. You stall on 'bad food' and decide it is perhaps best to have a beer now and eat somewhere else later.

Somewhere else where you won't get sick like the waitress.

The truth of the matter is the waitress' four year old poured all of daddy's cement into the toilet and the sitter wants to know what to do since it is starting to harden. But that is no excuse for the waitress or her pub's inept management team.

You missed the special of the day, missed the winning touchdown on the widescreen and your favorite pub went bankrupt the next day all because your waitress was wearing a long face because of her maladjusted kid's antics. Go figure.

Accept no excuses for frowns. That kid will really start acting up when he goes hungry.

I am tired of going into businesses and feeling like I'm at a funeral. I refuse to weep before my time.  Therefore, we here at Deal Business Consulting http://www.jddeal.com are changing our Mission Statement to "We create Happiness and a Slice of Prosperity as Well."

That's it. That's all we do. Forget the Employee Manuals and the Compensation Plans. Forget the benefits and Paid Time Off. No more Strategic Positioning. No more loan narratives. No more cash flow projections.

Anyway, none of it matters in a gloom and doom world.

So you laugh at this and think it's stupid and think I'm stupid and what kind of company creates and sells happiness since we can't even define it. 

Hold on, amigo.  We are getting numerous service requests.  Owners are calling us up and asking us to exorcise the demons of frown from their corporate culture.  And I'm proud to say as I stand before you here today that we are proud of ourselves and are very, very, happy about that.  As well we should be.  Kudos for us. 

How does one become a real happiness change agent?  Well, I know that sooner or later all you intellectuals out there will ask that question wondering if you too could become as skilled and proficient as we are. 

The answer is no, not even close but you shouldn't let that discourage you.  It's always good to keep an upbeat attitude; it helps the smiles and smiles spread happiness.

Jesting aside you probably didn't know how your collective melancholy not only kills your business but eats into the neurons of your hippocampus thus explaining why all people that constantly frown are perpetual losers.  

It's that simple: frown and your hippocampus turns to mush.  That's what we tell our people.  I can't say they believe us, but that's our company line.  We very firmly believe that if we say it enough times even we will start to believe it.

But the honest truth is we just don't like frowners and we don't like losers.  We don't like them, we don't work with them, and we strongly suggest you get them out of your workplace before they poison your whole work environment.   And to back up what we say, we will charge you big bucks here at http://www.jddeal.com to come out to your company and tell you exactly that. 

So the next time one of your customers asks "Who died?" take it as a constructive criticism and not a perverted death wish or personal grooming insult.  

However if you have been noticing a funny odor for the last several days you may want to check the source out.  Most likely it will be a rotting rat inside a wall but sometimes employees have been known to pass away and not be missed for weeks. 

That leads us into next week's topic which is "Why You Should Check Your Employees' Oil Each and Every Day."  We'll actually be talking with an entrepreneur from upstate New York who thought his employee's bad attitude toward the company explained the employee's non-responsiveness to management threats.  Think again, bozo!      

So until then, keep the faith, no counterfeit Rolexes and don't forget that beautiful smile!

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

     The result is that many are living beyond their incomes and  have become literally slaves, with the automobile companies, clothes shops  and others owning their salaries for months ahead.   The first of the month, with its flood of unpaid bills among which a pay check all too small must be divided, is an ordeal that is creating wrinkles and gray hairs. 

     Even the purchases cannot be fully enjoyed for worrying about how they are to be paid for.  After the late installment is finally sent in, the articles are usually worn or "Mrs. Jones" has a late model that one must have in order to keep up.  What an existence!

     Yet, the system of spending ahead is continually growing in favor.  For instance, in the automobile field and current analysis shows there to be an increase in 12% in the number of motorists purchasing automobiles on the installment plan.  This increase would probably be shown in all industries whose products may be used for pleasure and purchased on the installment plan. 

     No doubt, many families are denying themselves the necessities of life that they may obtain the luxuries.   

     Too few people look ahead and provide for the future.   The nest that once retained the nest egg has been discarded for lack of use.   The probability of of a rainy day has been forgotten.   Because today the hen is laying and the sun is shining, the eggs are eaten and umbrella thrown away.   

     What is to be the ultimate result if this or the succeeding generation does not adopt a saner, sounder basis of living?   It should be recalled that all pleasure is not gained by obtaining luxuries.   They often are  a source of grief rather than joy when one cannot in reality afford them.   They give only an artificial pleasure at the most and one should pause occasionally and plan for the future.   Look ahead and avoid a possible wreck.   

from The White City Register, G.W. Musgrave Publisher, The White City, Kansas Thursday May 22, 1930 

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 09:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When owners and managers listen to me conduct an interview they are often impressed. They think I’ve got all these tricks, techniques and shortcuts to finding out what people think. When they ask me how I do it I usually answer something about doing thousands of interviews and people skills.

Few things are as important in business as people skills. Lack of people skills can cause a good business to flounder and never get off the ground. Strength in people skills can give a small market player a big market potential. People skills are sometimes thought of as the ability to get people to do what you want them to do. This is simply manipulation. Manipulation worked pretty well in the early days of the industrial revolution when employees used their bodies more than their brains. It was a simpler time when customers were less sophisticated and employees less demanding.

Business is usually a series of human contacts. Those that are skilled at human contact often get better results than those that are not. Notice the distinction in getting results and manipulating results. As the human animal evolves to a higher level of social being so too must those that deal with humans on a business basis. Dinosaurs always go extinct.

I first became truly aware of people skills in my travelling days. I usually traveled alone and as a consequence I was ‘forced’ to meet new people in new lands with sometimes a new language. After a time I began to develop a ‘traveler’s profile’: a profile of those that had traveled, often alone, that had a perception and a experience level that others did not. It was as though the travel experience could be seen in their personality.

Then when I entered social work and counseling it became apparent that some of my colleagues and coworkers possessed highly developed people skills. They seemed to be able to ‘read’ people with the greatest of ease – almost as second nature. They had the ability to speak with someone for several minutes and come away with a very accurate impression of that individual. Yet they were not psychoanalysts or psychologists. Professional ‘mind people’ may take years to gain understanding of a psyche.

How did these non-professionals do it? Were they born with this aptitude or did they develop this skill? Why did some of my most intelligent colleagues have the least developed people skills?

To get some answers I began to play a game that I still continue today. In a crowd – it doesn’t matter where – I would see individuals and guess what they were like without speaking to them. I would notice mannerisms, expressions, how they related to others around them and so on. As my skills sharpened I began to look at people skills in greater depth. Some keys that I found were:

1. Interest. Those with highly developed people skills are interested in people.
2. Curiosity. To develop people skills one has to pursue the human animal in its habitat. That means finding out why people perceive and act the way they do. This is easier than it sounds – I get bored thinking too much about myself.
3. Objectivity. My travels taught me the ‘simplest’ person can come up with the greatest insight. We all take our perceptions and prejudices to the dance – those that have highly developed people skills recognize their weaknesses and check them at the door. (Mine are beautiful young women who feel the world owes them for being so beautiful and arrogant men that have nothing to be arrogant about.)
4. Practice. Like any skill people skills can be sharpened. This means working and living with high human contact.
5. Observant. The nuances of the human psyche are many. In a one-hour interview with thousands of spoken words there may be one or two key phrases. Key phrases and expressions often provide a window to the individual. Those that aren’t looking, don’t notice or are lazy do not pick up the subtleties.
6. Transposition. Those that have great people skills can put themselves in others’ shoes. The ability to look through someone else’s eyes is pivotal. This is sometimes called understanding.
7. General knowledge. Those with people skills know a lot about what humans do and experience. This enables them to relate to people on many different levels. This ability extends to being able to relate to many different types of people.
8. Focus. This involves listening, watching and taking in all the cues we humans are capable of giving out.
9. Awareness of differences and similarities. It seems the more we are alike the more different we are. Or vice-versa?
10. Ambiguity is part of the human condition and those with people skills understand this. People are not all black and white. There are many shaded areas and to understand humans is to understand the shades of perception. Those with developed people skills do not attempt to ‘force’ people into well-defined categories.
11. The Big Picture. To really understand a person we must look at their experiences over a lifetime. Cause and effect is not always easily discernible – the skilled people person looks at patterns over a lifetime.

It is generally assumed that people skills beyond courtesy and politeness cannot be taught. This is only partially true. People skills cannot be taught quickly. People skills must be honed over many, many years. Experience, focus and interest are three key dynamics. As more business processes like technology become standardized the prediction is that people skills will play an even larger role in tomorrow’s business environment. Those businesses that demonstrate a high level of people skills will have a definite competitive advantage.

Jack D. Deal

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     I thought back over my many years and realized the years were filled with jerks.   There was the guy that was upset when I caught him going through my mail.   There was the female executive that bad mouthed me behind my back.   There was a release prisoner working on our shift that purposely kept us from getting production bonuses.   I can think of dozens and dozens of jerks that have blessed my life with their irritating presence. 

     Young, old.  Black, white.  Smart, stupid.  Male, female.  It seems there are jerks of every shade...a sort of jerk diversity.   Maybe there's a gene or some sort of complex...

      There's the guy who steals the waitresses tip and a woman who makes business promises she never intends to keep.   And then a relative's friend that turned on him when he saw he could take advantage...jerks  make lousy friends and even lousier relatives.   

     There's the partner that rats out his partners when things don't go his way.   The woman that sleeps with her brother-in-law.    The child that steals from her parents.    The woman that destroys her ex-husband's business for revenge even though her kids suffer.   The sensitive phony that secretly revels in others misery. 

     The leader that steals from his followers.   The customer that asks many questions and never buys.   The customer that asks many questions and then buys somewhere else if it's cheaper.   The woman with a baby that cuts in line because she is in a hurry.   The 'good friend' that charges full retail when you patronize her business.   

     The young woman that feels the world owes her everything because she is pretty.   The young man who is presumptuous because he is young.   The fool that has it all and doesn't know it.   The neurotic who spends most of his day trying to convince himself and others that he has always made the right decisions...every single time.   

     The progressive liberal that is as prejudiced as the reactionaries he hates.   The mother that uses her children to get what she  wants.   The father that reluctantly spends time with his children.   The father that avoids child support and thinks he is being thrifty. 

      The politician that cares more for himself than his constituents.    The neighbor that is always bragging about their new junk.    The homeowner that won't shut up about cabinets and tile grout.   The businessman that always inflates his sales in an attempt to impress.   The liar that can concoct a good one no matter what the subject...hey, it's a skill that takes decades to  develop!    

     The art expert that once took a junior college class on drawing.   The blonde, blue-eyed Anglo that thinks anything else is less.   The religious bigot that informs you will be going to hell because you don't believe what she does.    The socialite that always looks away when speaking to you.   

     The antiques dealer that promotes a reproduction as an original.   The webmaster that steals your articles and puts their name on it.    The employee that tells her boss whatever the boss wants to hear.   The boss that sees employees as costs.   

     The waitress that forgets to tell you today's special is out because she is on her cell with her boyfriend.    The parents that see their children as lifestyle inhibitors.   The assistant manager that lets you know just what a powerful authority figure he really is.    The advertising salesman that tells you how many people will hear your ad but not how many will buy your product.   

     And of course the list can go on and on but that would take years.   Suffice it to say that jerks can be found where people are found.   

    And finally getting back to my jerk colleague.   I saw him the other day at a meeting and he was clearly avoiding me.   He must have felt like some kid that was caught and being punished.   I'm curious to see how many months and years will go by before he speaks to me again.   Maybe never.   I won't mind.  I can't think of a single jerk whose company I miss...it's always a happy occasion when jerks say good-bye. 

    After knowing so many jerks from so many walks of life I finally came up with the big insight: being a jerk is it's own reward.   The jerks don't know it but it makes me feel better...

Jack D. Deal

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As the nature of our lives evolves and changes we are constantly looking for ways to improve our creativity and production. This is not a new challenge but one that has taken a sudden sense of urgency, especially in the modern business world. One of the strategies for doing this is to step out of our daily routines, block out the world and focus on our 'inner selves'. 'Getting away from it all' has taken on new meaning and relevance in our stress-filled hurried lives.

The quest for human potential has been going on for 'eons'. Some argue that Cro-Magnon people isolated themselves from their outside world by entering caves and eventually producing pre-historic cave art. The great religious leaders often promoted meditation and introspection as a means of gaining greater understanding and ultimately arriving at a higher level of potential and production.

Today we try to get away to isolated vacation spots, stress-reducing spas and use New and Old Age methods of turning off the outside world. The premise is that by shutting down the barrage of outside stimuli we can allow ourselves to develop internally. And of course in the Modern Era we use technology to help us with our quest.

One such technological innovation is the flotation tank. No one knows when the idea for sensory reduction started but the first scientific experiments began in the early 1950s. The original premise was that by shutting down outside stimuli one could shut down brain function. The initial surprise was that the brain did not shut down but instead became more active in different ways.

A flotation tank has been described as a portable closet turned on its side and filled with about ten inches of concentrated Epsom salts dissolved in water. The typical tank will have between 800 and 1000 pounds of concentrated Epsom. Newer tanks have an air supply and a temperature regulator that keeps the solution a constant 93.5 degrees F. or skin temperature and a door that essentially shuts out all light. Earplugs are often worn and most tanks have very little or 'no' sound.

The floater enters the tank, closes the door and with it blocks out most external stimuli. The floating experience comes close to no gravity -- one floats and physically cannot sink in the tank. There are no rules -- no set procedures, no instructions, no agenda. Each floater takes into the tank what they bring with themselves. Some meditate, others work on business problems, and others let their minds go and try to enter a creative state. Many, though not all, go into a brainwave state known as the 'theta zone' -- a brainwave pattern similar to sleep. There are no drugs, massages, or therapy processes. In short, there is no intervention of any kind -- only the floater and the tank.

"Floaters" report many different types of experiences and many of these experiences are perceived as profound. I recently conducted a series of interviews with floaters and was told the following: A systems analyst uses the tank to reduce stress and become 'less of an nerd'; a research scientist visualizes molecules and protein structures; a banker uses the tank to work on difficult projects by isolating each component of a project and visualizing how these components can come together. Athletes use floating for optimal performance, visualization and injury healing. Doctors and chiropractors recommend floating as a way to reduce pain, especially back pain. Psychologists recommend floating as a way to reduce levels of depression. Writers and inventors use floating as a way to create and innovate. Why does floating work? There are a number of theories: the anti-gravity effect, the increase of left brain activity as right brain activity is decreased, endorphin production, integration of the primitive and modern brain layers, brain waves (theta), biofeedback and homeostasis of the human brain.

But most floaters do not care so much how it works but that it works. They report that old ways of thinking simply 'melt away' and do not have to be 'strategically broken down'. They report a greater sense of well being and an enhanced sense of creativity and innovation. Many report that floating has significantly changed their lives. The effects can last for days, weeks, years or a lifetime.

As a matter of curiosity I tried floating. The immediate effect I noted was a sense of well being that lasted for weeks. I cannot say whether is was cause and effect, but after floating regularly for several months, I started a new business venture that I had been contemplating for over a year. As a true skeptic I cannot say what is going on but I can say that something is going on. My wild guess is that it has something to do with endorphin production but admittedly that is a wild guess.

For those of us that constantly deal with human potential in the workplace we cannot ignore the human mind. Although we do not fully understand how the mind works, we do know some of the basics. We now know that constant stimuli bombardment can lead to high levels of stress, which in turn can cause mental and physical maladies. These maladies can lead to lower production and a reduced potential.

The Brave New World of the future may not have our minds hooked up to stimuli producing machines. The Brave New World may have us float in a tank and 'regress' to some primordial state where we can shut out the modern world and realize ourselves and our own potential.

In a true sense

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 05:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

     The next day I received a rather surprising e-mail.  He stated he had been working in his field for almost 10 years and was having to struggle.  He added that he really did not appreciate some 'clown' like me writing about something I did not know about and 'taking his material.'   He specifically gave reference to copyright, trademark and patent infringement.  He specifically stated that this would include concepts and ideas and added that 'if I even thought about using one of his ideas' there would be consequences. 

     I had to read the e-mail several times.  The most obvious message was that he had spent a lot of time on something that he had received very little compensation for.  Maybe it was sour grapes that my business had become successful and his had not...Maybe it was the fact that I had a number of my articles published that aroused a twisted form of jealousy... Maybe it was he had grown bitter and cynical in a world that he was finding more and more difficult to do business in.   Maybe he had become a true jerk and was just showing his colors. 

     After several days I went back and reread the e-mail.  I ignored the pettiness and anger and another message began to emerge: a knowledge/ideas paradox.  My friend felt that if he hoarded his knowledge and ideas he would somehow get a financial reward.  On a certain simplistic level it made sense; he had worked hard for many years and did not want to give his work away.  He perceived that by giving it away he would lose it. 

     I decided not to write my friend a nasty e-mail reply, not even something slightly sarcastic.  I will thank him for his honesty and concern and wish him good luck.  He needs it...

Jack D. Deal

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Recently I needed some work done by a colleague of mine. I had done a lot of pro bono or free work for him and now I needed him to do some work for me. When the job was completed he presented me with a full retail bill. The work he did was what he had promised -- but nothing more. He had returned my favors by making me pay full price. After paying I began to wonder -- was I missing something here? About a week later another colleague asked me to do some pro bono work. As I had some extra time, I did it. Several days later he called me saying he wanted to refer one of his clients to me. His client was a computer programming company that had management issues and he did not feel competent to do the work since he was a systems integrator. He also stated he wanted a percentage of my fee as compensation. After our conversation I began to wonder -- was I missing something here? These two individuals are not dummies. They both are intelligent and educated. They both run moderately successful businesses. And maybe that's the key -- moderately successful. They must treat their customers, employees and vendors just like they treated me -- squeezing down to the last nickel. Perhaps they viewed me as super successful since I tend to not get worked up over relatively small amounts of money. I also noticed that these two individuals had something in common: they worry all the time. They worry if they're busy or if they're slow. They worry if the vendors are charging too much or too little. They worry if it's tax time or if it's not. They worry that each nickel in assets they own is threatened. They worry if they aren't worried! This oddity struck me and it kept my focus when I met them next. With each they were clenching their teeth, telling me how busy yet how bad things were, worried that they were not being as successful as they really should be. The smiles were forced and the voice strained. Then it all began to make sense. They did not see that by taking advantage of me I might not be as willing to help them the next time they had their hand out. Not only that, if they were to get in a real bind -- which they will -- they may not be able to count on my ability to tell them what they should do. Or help them at all! These two are not evil or even bad. They are actually decent people that have somehow lost control of that which made them decent. They have traded their basic understanding of business dynamics for a transitory figure that temporarily pops up under the net profit column. Their philosophy has become simple if not simplistic -- 'If it does not bring swift and significant gain it really does not matter.' And for business people that is sad. We who do not have the security of getting a hand out must rely on the strength of the relationships we can forge in the dog-eat-dog world of uncensored competition. We love the hunt but we know we can so easily be hunted as well. Perhaps it is just such a fear that makes my two colleagues oblivious to decency. So now I take deep breath when I think of these two. I hope they find some degree of happiness in the midst of all their anxiety. If the ulcers don't get them then the coronaries will. I am proud to say that despite it all I really bear no ongoing resentment. Fortunately they need me a lot more than I need them. Thankfully the cost-benefit imbalance was not that significant and in a real sense I certainly did get my money's worth. These are two individuals that I might have been convinced to help out in a larger context. Learning bad lessons can certainly be cost effective in the long run by avoiding the bigger mistakes. And I truly hope they are happy. Hopefully the tag of 'moderately successful' will not be too painful. As hard as they work and as much as they worry they deserve all the happiness and success they can get!

Jack D. Deal

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      I’m a welder, inventor and artist, Felipe explains, and I built this contraption some five years ago to take my family camping. I have six kids and staying in hotels and eating out can be very expensive, so I decided to build in all the comforts of home.

      I had never seen anything like his odd structure. It was sort of like a fold out tent that attaches to the back of his pick-up truck. It was obviously custom made by someone that had some unique ideas.

      They say we Mexicans don’t design well or at all, he laughed, we just add on whatever we need. Look at our cities and houses; we just keep adding on whichever way we find most convenient. That is in our nature and our blood so to speak…you Gringos plan and design and draw up plans…we get a little money in our pockets, buy what we need and stick it on. Do you see what I mean?

      I nodded my head in agreement. I could tell Felipe had thought about a lot more than just camping.

      So I took aluminum tubing and made a fold out tent, he continues, so that it would fit various ways on the back of my pick up. I designed a stove and icebox and even the cooking utensils, he said holding up a type of frying pan wok, this is made out of a tractor plowing implement. I also carry my metal and welding tools in the side box as well…one never knows when a job might come along, he laughs.

      Children are that way too, he continues, most are build haphazardly with no design and the results are obvious. We send them to school and expect the teachers and government to teach them what they need to know. Many end up a mess. I didn’t want that for my kids, he added, pointing to his children fixing a meal.

      They do all the cooking, he laughed, and they better get it right or papa gets upset. One thing I can’t stand is poorly prepared food. One can make a good meal out of the simplest ingredients…if there is desire and one is not lazy. Besides, it’s good for them to do things…so many kids these days are helpless, no?

      I nodded my head as I thought of the affluent California kids that cannot cook or even wash there own clothes. They could use several weeks on the road with Felipe and Manuela.

      And today’s kids are stupid, he said, because we parents fail them. We bring them into the world and are too busy and lazy to educate them properly…show them things and expose them to the world so they can be independent when they leave. Look at all the social problems that come from the home, no amigo? How about some soup?

      Sure, I agree nodding my head. This is one guy it’s hard to disagree with.

      We have a small house outside of Guadalajara, he continued, and that is where I do most of my art work. I contract outside welding jobs for money…last month I made over 35,000 pesos and spent almost none of it. I save my money and when we have enough saved up, we hit the road…just like the gypsies. And like the gypsies, we camp and fix our own meals. The kids see the world, learn to take care of themselves and get exposed to people like you, he laughs, we make our money last so we can stay out longer. When we run out, we go back home, although sometimes I can get jobs here and there. The kids work too and all of them know how to use tools and weld…

      What about school? I ask.

      What about it? he answers, they take books with them and study several hours a day, which is more than the average student does. My oldest son is in medical school, my second is in vet school and my daughter is studying to be a music teacher. Not bad, eh amigo? All will be fine though I do worry about the youngest boy, he added, he’s more of a rebel than artist…he’s only 12 but is beginning to act and think on his own and I’m not sure where he will end up…maybe travel.

      He motioned for the boy to come and sit with us and introduced him as Enrique.

      When did you first start traveling, amigo, Felipe asks me.

      When I was 17, I answered. First short trips and then longer ones…when I was 18 I went to Europe.

      That must have been fun, said Enrique, did you have much money?

      Very little, I answered, I took a backpack and hitchhiked and took cheap public transportation. I learned more that way and by traveling alone. Especially languages…I used to speak French and German too…but I haven’t followed up on those, I laughed.

      Felipe asked me a whole series of travel questions and then questions about my life and work in California. Enrique was listening intently. His sister called out that the soup was ready and he jumped up to help serve. Someone not only taught these kids the work ethic but manners as well…

      He seems intelligent and fine to me, I tell Felipe.

      A little like you Gringo, he laughs, I just hope he gets a little older before hitting the road, he added, I just hope he will be able to take care of himself.

Jack D. Deal

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      I sit down at the kitchen table and Mildred tells me about all her relatives that are in the United States; a brother in LA, an uncle somewhere in Florida and a cousin in Midland, Texas. She shows me a package she received from a Christian group out of North Carolina called True Samaritans. Each of her children received a package through her church and each kid was thrilled with what they got. They even got checks but the checks were personal checks from a couple in Oregon and she was not able to cash them.

      It’s not that Juan and Mildred are poor; quite the contrary. Licho suggested I speak with Juan because his story is somewhat unusual. Just then Juan walks in and I like him immediately; he is friendly with a personable nature -- one whose people skills have been developed to a very high level. Also well developed sense of humor. He laughs and makes jokes and pokes fun at Mildred, who has to be at least 20 years younger than him. They have four children. Licho told me I should get Juan to tell his story so I work into it…

      Juan grew up on a ranch outside of Guanajuato, Guanajuato. I have been through that region and know some of these areas are very poor; the land being dry and barren and there being little economic base. It must have been much poorer forty years ago. Juan came from a poor family and at an early age his mother would take him to the markets with her to resell vegetables. It was there that Juan got his first lessons in selling…

      When he was fourteen, he saved up for six months and bought a large box of balloons and went to sell them in Guanajuato. From there he was hooked and no more selling vegetables. He would buy the balloons at a large discount direct from a distributor. At first the balloon business was good but then it tapered off as the balloons became less of a novelty and the market saturated, so to speak.

      He then went to Leon and stayed there for two months and later to San Miguel de Allende. And then to Durango, Guadalajara and Puebla. In those days he went by train as he could carry large boxes. He would stay in each town for two or three months, rent a room and sell at the local market or tianguis. As he got older, he went to Tijuana, Cd. Juarez and Vera Cruz. Eventually he went to Merida and Chetumal.

      At Chetumal business stayed strong and he met a man that offered to sell him some unusual earrings made in Guatemala. The earrings sold so well, he stopped selling balloons. Each day when he opened he would draw a small crowd making the other vendors jealous. One day the local Chamber of Commerce president asked him to move to another town. Juan was surprised but said he was doing nothing illegal and refused to move and besides, he had a right to earn a living. The next day he was arrested and put in jail. The following day he was released because there were no charges…and he was back on the street selling again. He noticed a for sale sign on a store across the street. He went across and inquired how much.

      The elderly owner told him forty thousand pesos. Juan said he didn’t have that much money but could pay a certain amount each week. The owner had seen Juan work from early morning until past dark and knew he was a hard worker. The owner agreed to sell to Juan.

      Juan gave the man fifty pesos and moved in. Juan began by paying the man five pesos a week and over a period of time; he upped the figure to ten and then twenty pesos and so on. Juan did not even keep track of how much he paid. One day the man gave him the papers and said he had paid off the store and it was his.

      Since Juan now had more room, he started selling other items besides earrings. He started carrying hardware items such as nails and hammers and paint brushes. One day a man walked into the store and asked him if he would like to become the distributor for a new paint company. The man had seen Juan work and how he treated his customers and picked Juan out of all the other merchants in town. But Juan wasn’t interested. The next day the man came back and again Juan refused. The third day the man returned and Juan agreed to carry the paint products. From there, his business began to grow quickly.

      There was a much better margin in selling cans of paint than earrings or paint brushes. Juan’s business began to flourish and he hired an employee. He also stopped selling earrings. He kept all of his figures on paper and each night he would go home with money in his pocket. He saved his money and put it in the bank. Juan did not go to the cantina nor spend his money on women; his mother had taught him to fear God and that drink was the ruin of many a man, a lesson Juan did not forget.

      One day a customer told Juan that a store on the next block was for sale so Juan went to inquire about it. Two days later, he bought it. He called his brother back in Guanajuato and two weeks later the brother arrived and opened a hardware store. Six months later Juan bought another store and called his other brother who came and opened up a construction supply store. A year later Juan bought another store across town and opened a second paint store. As the exclusive distributor, folks had to buy their paint from him.

      He continued buying more properties and got married when he was in his early forties. He now has 25 employees and owns several dozen properties and it all started with learning how to sell from his mother, working hard and being attuned to any opportunities that would come his way. Juan is a simple man and keeps all his business dealings on pieces of paper and in his head. And he still continues to make money and work from dawn until night. He is truly a rags to riches story and a job creator…another reason Mexico will always remain the land of private enterprise and the land of the entrepreneur.

      Later that night Juan took me to see his stores and we stopped at a café and had coffee. He wanted Angelica and I to stay longer but I said we had to leave in the morning. He said he had to leave very early in the morning but wished me luck. He said he likes Americans and likes their work ethic and business skills. He offered me a job but I declined, saying I already had my own company and I wouldn’t be very good at running paint stores anyway…. He laughed and said he was getting too old to work so hard and was looking for someone to take over. I could make a lot of money and expand the business up to the Riviera Maya. And if I ever changed my mind…

      I laughed and told him I had just come from there and had my fill of sun, sand and Germans. But I appreciated the offer. 

Jack D. Deal

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

      The red tacos are typical of Monterrey and I’ve only had them here. The taco shells are fried first in a type of red chile to make the taco shells red – hence the name. Shredded cabbage, a type of slightly mashed potato and diced tomatoes were added as filling. That’s it. A hot red sauce could be added to taste. Five tacos make an order or orden. Cueritos or pickled pork finds were added to the side. Very tasty on a cold, rainy day. Better than the expensive Rey de Cabrito we went to yesterday.

      The owner said they have grown to 16 stands scattered throughout metropolitan Monterrey. When they first started growing they opened a sit-down restaurant but nobody went. They shut it down and went back to the street stands. They have grown steadily ever since. Had they stayed with the restaurant they would have failed. Such is sales and marketing…

      We spend the afternoon immersed in Mexican politics, history and socioeconomics. We spend a lot of time on topics such as willingness to improve one’s life and the affect that has on poverty. At one point I come to a realization and ask him bluntly: you were born poor, no?

      He smiles and pats me on the shoulder. Not many can pick that up about me, amigo, he says…I congratulate you.

      He was one of 14 children. His father had worked on the railroad during the Revolution as a fireman stoking the engine next to the engineer. When one faction took over, they would kill everyone they encountered. That was the nature of the Revolution. What saved his father was that the engineer and fireman were essential to running the train. Without them the new faction could not use the railroad. The railroad was the only way to transport troops and arms other than walking or on horseback.

      Under Carranza they sent my father to work in a munitions plant in Piedras Negras, he said. When a new faction won, they started killing everyone in the plant. My father and his friend dressed as women and escaped to the bridge. They shot at them on the bridge but still my dad managed to escape. He stayed in Eagle Pass for six years. I was born in Monterrey.

      Back then it was customary, he said, if a child had been good the whole week and not misbehaved and done their homework, they would get something like ten centavos allowance on Sunday. Once I saved my Sunday allowance for four straight Sundays and bought five newspapers. I sold them and the next week bought eight and then twelve and so on. They didn’t deliver papers back then so I developed a regular clientele; I figured it was better to have regular customers than hawk the papers on the street corners.

      Then I sold candy in the movie theaters. Back then they didn’t have concession stands so kids would walk up and down the aisles during the movie selling candy. At the end of the movie they would count what each kid sold and give us a percentage.

      There were 30 kids in my sixth grade class. At the end of the year the teacher told five of us we should continue in school and the rest should go to work since they would be wasting their parent’s money. I was ecstatic because I wanted to become a doctor.

      I asked him about the other 25 kids and did they stay in poverty. Most likely, he answered. He lost contact with them.

      I then asked him what his family thought about all this and he shook his head. They don’t really know, he said, because I’ve never talked about it. Why should I bother them with the problems I had in my youth?

      Of course, I thought, that’s why he knows so much about poverty and the socioeconomic classes. At some point in his life, he’s lived in most of them.

      Let’s not dwell on my past, amigo; we have much more interesting things to talk about, he said.

      Maybe. But I keep wondering how a few always manage to rise above the chains of poverty and reach heights that many born in better circumstances cannot reach. The affluent California kids are a good example…and I ask him why.

      There is a certain hunger, amigo, he answers. It’s not a hunger of the stomach but maybe of the spirit or soul. This hunger creates a drive and ambition that can sometimes do some incredible things. I wish I could tell you how to develop or create it and we both could become super rich, he laughs.

      Right, I laugh back. A lot of my work in business and management has been about how to unlock potential and create a superior level of productivity and innovation in a mediocre world. I reach in my wallet and pull out a tattered page with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, one of my very favorite quotes.

      “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, then to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

      I tell him I used to have nightmares about that gray twilight.

      Ah, but that is your reward as an adventurer, he says, you will never have to live there because you are always on what you call your edge.

      Well, maybe. I think of all the sad folks I’ve met over the years including those that ‘had it made’. I never envied their status or sadness or their gray twilight.

      You have that hunger, amigo, he says, like me and for that we both should thank God.

      I will, I laugh, the next time I get to church…

Jack D. Deal

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 05:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently I needed some work done by a colleague of mine. I had done a lot of pro bono or free work for him and now I needed him to do some work for me. When the job was completed he presented me with a full retail bill. The work he did was what he had promised -- but nothing more. He had returned my favors by making me pay full price. After paying I began to wonder -- was I missing something here?

About a week later another colleague asked me to do some pro bono work. As I had some extra time, I did it. Several days later he called me saying he wanted to refer one of his clients to me. His client was a computer programming company that had management issues and he did not feel competent to do the work since he was a systems integrator. He also stated he wanted a percentage of my fee as compensation. After our conversation I began to wonder -- was I missing something here?

These two individuals are not dummies. They both are intelligent and educated. They both run moderately successful businesses. And maybe that's the key -- moderately successful. They must treat their customers, employees and vendors just like they treated me -- squeezing down to the last nickel. Perhaps they viewed me as super successful since I tend to not get worked up over relatively small amounts of money. I also noticed that these two individuals had something in common: they worry all the time.

They worry if they're busy or if they're slow. They worry if the vendors are charging too much or too little. They worry if it's tax time or if it's not. They worry that each nickel in assets they own is threatened. They worry if they aren't worried!

This oddity struck me and it kept my focus when I met them next. With each they were clenching their teeth, telling me how busy yet how bad things were, worried that they were not being as successful as they really should be. The smiles were forced and the voice strained.

Then it all began to make sense. They did not see that by taking advantage of me I might not be as willing to help them the next time they had their hand out. Not only that, if they were to get in a real bind -- which they will -- they may not be able to count on my ability to tell them what they should do. Or help them at all!

These two are not evil or even bad. They are actually decent people that have somehow lost control of that which made them decent. They have traded their basic understanding of business dynamics for a transitory figure that temporarily pops up under the net profit column. Their philosophy has become simple if not simplistic -- 'If it does not bring swift and significant gain it really does not matter.'

And for business people that is sad. We who do not have the security of getting a hand out must rely on the strength of the relationships we can forge in the dog-eat-dog world of uncensored competition. We love the hunt but we know we can so easily be hunted as well. Perhaps it is just such a fear that makes my two colleagues oblivious to decency.

So now I take deep breath when I think of these two. I hope they find some degree of happiness in the midst of all their anxiety. If the ulcers don't get them then the coronaries will.

I am proud to say that despite it all I really bear no ongoing resentment. Fortunately they need me a lot more than I need them. Thankfully the cost-benefit imbalance was not that significant and in a real sense I certainly did get my money's worth. These are two individuals that I might have been convinced to help out in a larger context. Learning bad lessons can certainly be cost effective in the long run by avoiding the bigger mistakes.

And I truly hope they are happy. Hopefully the tag of 'moderately successful' will not be too painful. As hard as they work and as much as they worry they deserve all the happiness and success they can get!

Jack D. Deal

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Peter Drucker, arguably the most knowledgeable management expert on earth, made the following statement: "The single greatest challenge facing managers in the developed countries of the world is to raise the productivity of knowledge and service workers. This challenge, which will dominate the management agenda for several decades, will ultimately determine the competitive performance of companies."

In other words, Drucker is saying that knowledge, service and skill may not be enough - the key is how to transform these aptitudes and skills into production. In recent years management students have attributed a strong influence on superior performance to what may loosely be called 'personal balance'. The premise is those owners, managers and employees with personal balance in their lives are more productive. The implication is that if an individual has their personal life under a certain degree of 'control', it allows them to be optimally effective in the workplace. The flip side of the equation is the workplace allows employees to, in the vernacular, 'have a life'.

Accurately defining personal balance is about as easy as defining attitude or personality. In the Silicon Valley area where I live personal balance means successfully juggling home and work. As with any balancing act there are two sides of the equation. The simplest way to view this is a personal life and work life.

For example, on the personal side, if a manager or employee is a severe alcoholic then the alcohol will eventually effect work performance. Hangovers, the urge for a drink, memory loss, etc., will all contribute to a reduced performance. Given enough drink and enough time, brain function will be impaired. Drinking on the job will be a probable result if treatment is not sought. Most of us have seen the devastating effects of alcohol and intuitively know something is very wrong with the individual. Obviously the personal balance is out of whack and productivity diminished.

Another example... on the work side, some managers and employees can be classified as 'workaholics'. The implication is they come early, stay late and if given the keys may in fact be found at work anytime. Workaholics feel their self worth is defined by work. (How many of us describe ourselves as the work we do? "I am a lawyer, teacher, business consultant.") When work is badly skewed in one's life then the balance goes awry. When we look at workaholics we often find miserable personal lives - hence the individual's perception they are their work. Their personal life is miserable and they often do not want to go home. If the work allows them to afford a bigger house then it often comes at the expense of a broken home.

Alcoholism and workaholism are extremes but they help us get a sense of what is balance. Unless you are a workaholic or alcoholic it is easy to see and understand these extremes - don't work too much and don't drink too much. If only personal balance were that easy.

Unfortunately it is not. We are complex beings with complex sets of attitudes and behaviors. This diversity is the spice of life but it also makes living complex and at times a priorities juggling act. While we can say that too much alcohol and too much work are obvious negatives, we run into gray areas quickly once we get beyond the obvious.

Unfortunately there is no easy way - others may give their input but they cannot ultimately know 'what makes us tick'. And since we are complex individuals we cannot just copy what others do. It does not work. For instance, some people like to go to work, punch a clock, do a repetitive task, punch a clock and go home. Many employees - perhaps more than we think - feel this way. Others need a sense of satisfaction, challenge and accomplishment. The Yerkes psychological study showed that many people need an 'edge', something that stimulates and challenges.

The key is understanding your own dynamics and developing your own personal balance. For instance, some of my personal balance dynamics are: work early, work hard, go for what is challenging, create and innovate, accomplish difficult goals and learn at every possible moment. I like to quit mid to late afternoon, go home, be with my family and forget work as much as possible. Take at least one day a week off and go hiking, watch a movie, eat out, etc. These are my dynamics. When I noticed several months back that my balance was still out of whack I took a vacation.

Is my balance perfect? Of course not. Does it work for me? Usually. I remain highly productive with a satisfying personal life.

Will my formula work for you? Probably not. But like Drucker said if you are responsible for the competitive performance of your company you have to be interested in raising productivity. Once you have figured out your own personal balance you will notice a positive change. If you are managing others, encourage them to do the same.

The productivity and future of your company may well depend on it!

Jack D. Deal

Posted by Jack D. Deal at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)