Getting to the light at the end of the tunnel, soon

Well I have decided to double up classes a the University of Phoenix to try and get to graduation sooner. I really want to get this over with at this point and if I double up a few classes I could be done by end of August. If I do not double up I would be in school through the end of November and I really want to get back to my family. The strain, of time away from the family from working one of those 60 hour a week jobs plus schooling, is really starting to show. The issue is for my family and me, I miss being with them and they feel as if I have disappeared from the planet.

I don't regret going to school, what I regret was being so stupid as a younger man and not doing it early in life. One good thing I guess is that my son has told me he does not want to wait like me and he will be going to college after high school.

My bloging will be light for the next few months but other than my friend Steven, who by the way I need to get a big apology to on another topic, I doubt my lack of blogging will be missed.

Thanks for your patience.

Eric has not left the Internet

I know I do not have many regular readers but for those that stop by on occasion, (thanks Steven) I just wanted to let you know that I am still here but completely buried by school work right now. Public Relations was an unbelievable amount of work and the Global Business Strategies class that just started is even more work.

Bare with me and as soon as possible I will once again impress you with my blog delivered thoughts.

Thanks,

Regular Guy

Character is how a company behaves when no one is blogging about it

Should a person lose the right to free speech because they are an employee of a company? How many of the wrongs in the world would have gone on forever if people were not allowed to write about them and open the world’s eyes. Another article recently from Internetweek.com discusses just how and why blogging about work is risky business. In one section the comment is made that “While some people may argue that blogging is part of our right to free speech, experts say that constitutional right doesn't protect a person from the repercussions of speaking out.” Well just what good is any right if those that disagree can take punitive actions against you? I and others have strong opinions about Cobb County wasting tax money on iBooks, should we lose our homes and be forced out of the county because of this? For those that say the government is different I would say that your employer has much more sway over your well being, and that of your family than just about any government agency.

So why then should employers be allowed to discipline employees for engaging in one of our constitutional rights?

There was a time when employees were beaten and even killed by company enforcers for speaking out publicly about cruel working conditions. Early last century there were no child labor laws and employees were used as cannon fodder for the business men of the time to become richer with no regard for anything close to human rights we take for granted today.

Employee rights in this century must start to revolve around the connected world we live in today. Opinions should not be grounds for punishment from any entity, even employers, in this day and age. Companies are fond of telling an employee how there is no cradle to grave employment today and the company does not owe the employee anything. Under these circumstances companies should no longer expect employees to be loyal and keep their opinions to themselves. As has happened in the past the laws are more than a decade behind reality.

Off-shoring, off-peopling, its all the same for business

There is a new name for automation, Off-Peopling. I actually think it is more reflective of reality and what do you ask is that reality. Simple, people being paid money to work is BAD for business. Replacing employees with cheaper employees or automation is good for business. The ultimate goal of every business is to pay $0 to produce a product that they are paid $Max for. This is how a business gets to maximum profit for shareholders which is what a business tells you they are in business to do. I suspect if this was the actual goal then a whole bunch of executives would be taking less pay and compensation to help those share holders. Any benefit shareholders get is a side effect to making executives rich. And how do they get rich, well we are right back to where we started reducing costs to $0 while maintaining the maximum prices that consumers will pay.

Wait a minute, consumers, aren't those the folks that work for companies, earn money, and buy things. Oops, Houston, we have a problem. Of course this problem is slowly happening, so slow that we still pay attention to metrics that do not reflect the problem at all. Everyone crows about how many jobs get created or are lost. What we need to think about is what is the average compensation of the jobs created versus the jobs lost (lost to where does not matter). This will show us the trend that consumers face and results in the trend businesses will see in the future. As the average family income goes down or flattens then there will be less and less income spent on all those consumer goods that companies make. Of course this is not true for those executives/boardmembers we talked about. Remember they must continue to get ever richer in order to be motivated enough to do a good job for the shareholders.


This graph courtesy of leftbusinessobserver.com

Businesses will not win the shell game of swapping people around for cheaper people or technology alone. Clearly the use of technology to improve productivity has always been done and I can understand that businesses continue to do this. At the same time businesses need to start to concern themselves more with how to make better use of people and help get more people employed at better wages. Most of the products purchased in the world are purchased by the middle class and poor folks. We need a healthy middle class and we need to eliminate poverty. Eliminating poverty by reducing the middle class does not help and increasing poverty to maintain the middle class also does not help. Trading the middle-class in one part of the world to help another part of the world also does no good in the long run.

Businesses must be profitable and executives must be effectively compensated while at the same time helping to grow those nice consumers that buy all their products.

43 things you want to do

43 Things is a cool site that helps you set and track things you want to do or accomplish. Certain friends of mine could really benefit from this site since they seem to have a hard time focusing on anything for long. 43 things is plenty for just about anyone and who says we can't progress on lots of goals at once :)

Another take on the elitist journalist and blogging from Halley

Halley has experienced another event where elitist journalists worry about losing their power. I posted earlier about the courts not treating bloggers the same as journalists and it seems this would make journalists very happy based on Halley's interesting interaction on the subject.

Best home made carmels in the world

The Sisters at Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey make the best home made carmels in the land. Check out their website and give their candy a try. You won't be disappointed. Hmmm, just blogging about it has my mouth watering, time for me to place another order.

Who really gets the blame the CEO or the Board?

There are many examples of companies being more interested in Wall Street than in main street in this country. Here is one persons perspective on Carly Fiorina that exemplifies this recent attitude in America. But who is really to blame for these short sighted policies. Don't most CEO's implement strategies that the board determines. Even if they do it in partnership it seems to me that boards of directors have become the hidden elitist overly greedy profit mongers of today. The likes of which had not been seen since Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller. These truly greedy individuals were willing to sacrifice everything including the lives of hundreds of human beings to become wealthier and more powerful. The good of the customer, the country and the employee did not enter into their thinking and at best any good they did was accidental. And before anyone says "What about the philanthropy of the Rockefeller Foundation" let me set you straight. That foundation along with many others, was eventually setup as a public relations initiative because people of the United States came to hate these individuals and how they succeeded on the pain and misery of others.

It is not greed by itself that is bad, we need greed to grow and prosper and few of us want to do worse financially in the future than today. What is bad is unbridled greed that is achieve at too great a price for customers, employees and ultimately stock holders. Can anyone say Enron, or WorldCom, or Martha Steward...

I suspect that real grief awaits the boards of many companies if these companies do not regain a balanced perspective on business in America and stop paying lip service to customer and employee satisfaction.

If your company is in a bad way then consider firing the board, not the CEO.

I believe bloggers are journalists in every sense of the word

The courts in California do not seem inclined to treat regular citizens that publish news and information in blogs as well as they treat journalists. I find this extremely disappointing since publishing by individuals is how journalism really got its start. Publishing has been around for thousands of years and for most of that time it has involved regular folks as much as it has involved governments or businesses or "news" organizations. Consider how Benjamin Franklin got started:

Benjamin wanted to write for the paper too, but he knew that James would never let him. After all, Benjamin was just a lowly apprentice. So Ben began writing letters at night and signing them with the name of a fictional widow, Silence Dogood. Dogood was filled with advice and very critical of the world around her, particularly concerning the issue of how women were treated. Ben would sneak the letters under the print shop door at night so no one knew who was writing the pieces. They were a smash hit, and everyone wanted to know who was the real "Silence Dogood."

Seems to me that Ben has several traits in common with bloggers of today. He was an individual who wanted to make his thoughts, opinions, and research public without fear of retribution. This describes most bloggers as well so it really confuses me why California courts might think the constitution and the law only protects "journalists".

Parents Television Council - today's fascists?

I was listening to the Bob & Tom show this morning on 96-Rock and they had a piece on censorship of television and radio. Specifically they talked about the overly zealous work by the FCC since the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction and the work of the Parents Television Council. Bob and Tom believe that the current efforts at censorship involves control of content that is fascist like and will ultimately lead to one group of people controlling what we as a society are allowed to see, read, and listen to. They sighted a case where a Buffalo TV station pulled their reading service for the blind because one 89 year old women complained about a single word from a novel read during the overnight hours.

The media says everyone has the ability to turn their TV off and control what their children see, read, and hear. I give you the fact that this is technically true what I don't believe is that enough parents actually care enough to attempt to manage this. And here is where I struggle because while I can setup the V-chip and I do monitor what my children watch, what I cannot do is go 2 houses down and do the same. That child down the block is watching MTV sexually explicit content, watching Sex-in-the-City on TBS, and then playing with my children and showing them all the cool things they have learned. And please don't tell me that what adults and children watch does not affect or influence them. Everything we see, feel, and experience influences us and not all of it for the better.

There has to be a middle ground we can get to that is reasonable in nature for both sides of this. Anything goes no-censorship is no better than the overly zealous efforts today that caused a single blind 89-year old women to impact every blind listener in Buffalo. We can't legislate morality and if we try to we do become Nazi Fascists, at the same time we do need to look for reasonable measures to help parents. I am not sure where the answer is but the direction we are headed in at the moment is not the answer as far as I am concerned.

Seth Godin wants better service, good luck

Seth in his post titled "Unusual?" wants American Express to provide better service, but will he pay for it? You see for all companies that deliver service after the sale it comes down to money, plain and simple. How can the cost of service be kept at an absolute minimum while keeping the customers minimally happy. Yes I said minimally happy. All the talk you hear about companies wanting loyal customers is not true on the service after the sale piece. American Express wants you to be loyal to their product not loyal to their company because of the great service they offer for your credit card. In Seth's case American Express feels that getting back to folks in a few days helps to keep down costs since slower email days will balance out busier email days. But of course you get those pesky customers complaining about how long it takes. You placate some of them by "setting the customers expectation". Right again, they are not interested in meeting the customers expectation for service after the sale they want to set your expectation.

To his credit Seth believes there must be a better way. And there is, it is called offshore outsourcing. You see companies can get 4+ people in India for the cost of 1 person in the states to do this kind of work. But what is even better is to get only 2 in India and allow extended response times whenever 2 is not enough. Trust me some VP somewhere has gotten a major bonus and job promotion because they cut the cost of help desk support in half for the company.

And all of this is driven by the desire to cut costs because consumers want everything at a lower cost. In fact the entire reason for companies replacing American workers where ever possible with cheaper foreign labor is to keep the costs down for American consumers. Of course the fact that the average household income is going down because replacement jobs don't pay as much is not their concern.

I laughed so hard I pissed myself!

I was recently introduced to a very funny serios of cartoons on the web. Now these cartoons are NOT politically correct and probably should be viewed from the privacy of your own home with no children around. The toons star Foamy the Squirrel and they are very creative.

These cartoons are for mature audiences only. Click here and go see for yourself. And don't say I did not warn you, this is strictly for those that are NOT easily offended by ANYTHING.

Should sentencing be easier for first time offenders?

Amazing that after only a few months in prison Martha Stewart believes that we should take it easy on nonviolent first time offenders.

To quote the article:

"The celebrity homemaker also showed a softer side, writing about the plight of some of the 1,100 other inmates. "Many of them have been here for years - devoid of care, devoid of love, devoid of family," she said, urging people to press for reforms in the sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders."

Hmmm, the CEO of Enron sure was a non-violent first time offender. I wonder how many people want to be sure that he gets love and care and family while he rots in jail for destroying peoples lives.

And what about the leaders at WorldCom, we surely want them to have love and affection all around. I know lets all line up to give them kisses and bake them an apple pie.

Hogwash, I say be overly harsh the first time and I suspect we drastically reduce the odds of a second time. Some non-violent crimes come close to being as damaging to people and society as murder.

I say we toss Martha back in for another 5 months and she can give the other ladies some care and affection. Or perhaps we send all of them along with Martha to take care of at her home for 5 months. Surely that would be enough loving care for these poor poor inmates and a real boost to the prison budget.

Barbara Joslyn a most extraordinary person!

Barbara Joslyn is an actress in England that is a friend of mine from years back. Babs and I worked together on a knowledge management project for our company. A few years ago she decided to give up the corporate life and pursue a career in acting. I wish I had her kind of guts to just give up everything and start in a new direction. She is a wonderful person and a great actress. Some day I know she will make it big because she has a great personality and great capabilities. At her web site you can hear some of her voice work and read her diary about the acting gigs she has been involved in. She reminds me of Grace Kelley and Audrey Hepburn. While I did not know these actors personally I do think Barbara has both their looks and their positive approach to life. Someday I know I will be watching the Emmy’s or the Oscar’s and will see Barbara Joslyn picking up an award.

New Jersey SPCA needs a better cause to fight

So I am catching up on Halley's Comment this morning and find myself reading an article about road kill candy that will stop production because of the New Jersey society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. It seems these folks believe that roadkill shaped candy will encourage children to be cruel to animals. Oh PAAALEEEEAASEE! Does having stuffed animals cause children to want to gut little animals and stuff them with foam? Does biting the heads off of gummi worms make kids run into the back yard looking for fresh victims? And just why are children in New Jersey driving Mac trucks around looking for wildlife to run over.

Children are cruel because they are raised to be cruel by uncaring parents that fail to teach right from wrong. By parents that don't even know who their kids play with let alone perhaps check up on them to see what they are doing. And what about parents that even after the kid is caught act as if their little angel could not be that bad. Even Jeffrey Dahmer's mom said after his conviction that he was a good boy. Despite the fact that he was cruel to animals through most of his childhood. And no, Jeffrey did not have road kill gummi's as a child.

Do laptops belong in schools? Cobb County thinks so

A county in Georgia is struggling with the concept of providing laptops to every student and teacher in middle school and high school. Teachers and students are for the concept while parents and residents have concerns. First is the fact that residents were asked to approve a special options sales tax based on a set of spending criteria that DID NOT include laptops for all. Laptops for teachers was one of the spending items in the tax but not the 63,000 iBook lease that is now proposed to by the laptop for all concept.

For myself I think the school district is making two mistakes. The first is doing this for all 63,000 at once. Big mistake, no matter what the experience elsewhere or what experience Apple has in this there could be very harsh and expensive lessons for Cobb County to learn. Starting out at one school for a year or starting with 6 graders only and learning from that experience would seem to me to be a better approach. Always do your own pilot of something this significant, never assume the other organizations pilot project covered everything you need to know and experience.

The second big mistake is the use of Apple equipment. Now before you start flaming me I am not an anti-Apple person. I love Apple, love their products and respect them as a supplier of technology. The reason I see this as a mistake is because a very significant percentage of the population has experience with wintel products and they could use this experience to help the children. A parent that has a PC and been using it with their kid for a few years can help when the kid runs into trouble. With an Apple all the parent can do is throw up their arms and call tech support. The other reason is that except for a few niche industries it is extremely likely that these kids will be using Wintel technology in the jobs they get. Of course the idea that Apple is starting a grass roots affinity for their products in this initiative is quite obvious to me as well.

I certainly believe that our educational systems need to make this move to technology. My own experience at learning online with the University of Phoenix has certainly convinced me this is the right move for our county to make. Unfortunately I think the one big bang approach is going to be a very costly lesson. On the upside this may help me to justify a cool PowerBook for myself so I can help my son :)

Is the plight of Mojtaba and Arash really that important?

I am not sure who decided that the blogging community should take up the cause of Mojtaba and Arash, but I do know no one asked me. See the BBC article if you want the full story. It somewhat surprises me that we should care about two repressed individuals while America is berated globally for caring about hundreds of thousands of repressed people in Afghanistan and Iraq. Caring about repressed people is important to me. The difference is I understand that if we wait for diplomacy to work on every case for too long that we all to often end up creating another Hitler for the world to deal with. I do not advocate shooting first and talking later but neither do I advocate starting to talk if I am not prepared to go all the way in resolving the issue. How far are the individuals who started this willing to go in the cause of these two people.

Iran exports around 2.6 million bbl/d, with major customers including Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Europe. Here are the countries that are supporting the oppression of these two individuals in Iran. Ironically China is another repressive country mentioned in the BBC article. Will bloggers in these countries stop purchasing oil products from Iran? As much as people might think that words have power the reality is the power of words pales in comparison to the power of money. Will the French companies that make profits from selling food to Iran do anything about this? That is the power of money, the power to eliminate oppression or the power to keep oppressors in place.

If bloggers really want to make a difference then find out what companies in your country do business with Iran and stop doing business with those companies. Write them and let them know you will no longer purchase their products and that you will be using your blog to get others to do the same.

GE felt this sort of heat and is taking the right steps

Honestly I want people everywhere to have the freedom to speak out and peacefully work toward change and I certainly would like to see truly oppressed individuals freed. Having a nice banner and a few words on my blog is a nice start but I doubt it is really enough.

Conversing with Pam Brill

Pam Brill left a very insightful comment for me about the underlying cause of both dysfunctional corporations and verbal abuse issues in school. We exchanged emails about the comment and it turns out that Pam is the author of "The Winners Way" and she was kind enough to send me a short PDF brochure with more details. Having read the brochure I found one very critical take away that I really believe is at the heart of both problems I have blogged about. To quote the brochure "put it all together to engage hearts and minds-your own and others". In my experience people spend to much time either ignoring the heart component completely or let the heart component completely rule their lives. From Pams' perspective the 3 A's, Attitude, Activation, and Attention must be balanced appropriately to the situation in order to better manage behaviors, feelings, thoughts, and ultimately the actions we take. For more details about this please visit Pam's web site "In The Zone". Very interesting reading.

This regular guy believes that most of what plagues us as individuals and even organizations boils down to beliefs which influence our attitudes and this cascades through behaviors, feelings, and our internal thinking. If we believe a change is bad then we find ways to make it so and act to further this belief. The same is true if we believe a change is good, we embrace it and act in ways that cause the change to succeed. Beliefs do not only come from the heart or the mind but are rooted in both domains. Balancing these two is not easy but it can be done as long as we choose to try. Or as my friend Steven would tell me, "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try". There are many ways to look at this concept, LifeTraks is another organization that has a spin on this concept, but all of them seem rooted in our beliefs. Beliefs about us, about our situation, or about life at any given moment. Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing.

You know your company is dysfunctional when...

Halley on her blog points to an article on dysfunctional companies that, while not all encompassing, is potentially a real eye opener for some executive level folks at many companies. The article only goes over 3 signs of a dysfunctional company, none of which speak to the morale of employees in general.

What does it say about corporate America when even the signs of being dysfunctional only concern themselves with CEO's and high ranking executives. It should not be news to anyone that people make up most companies and you can tell a great deal about the health of company by understanding how the employees feel and act in regards to their job and company. My thought is by the time the top level executives realize they are dysfunctional, the rest of the company is a walking zombie at best.

The number of dysfunctional companies seems to have grown in recent years with many famous debacles behind us like Enron, WorldCom, and even good old Fannie Mae. When companies ejected the concept of employee-employer loyalty in the 80's I think they removed a foundational relationship component that helped companies to remain functional. There were certainly problems even with this relationship but I believe more people were looking out for the good of the company as much as for their own good. Today people only look out for themselves because many companies have made it clear they are not looking out for the employees.

Why is verbal abuse so common in school today?

Verbal abuse seems to be very prevalent in our school systems today. Overweight children are mercilessly teased until they snap and kill their abusers. Verbal abuse occurs in many situations where the children are different from each other in any one of a hundred ways. How have we managed to allow or cause our children to revert to such behavior. Is it a parents lack of attention, is it the media our children are exposed to today, or is it just the nature of humans during development to act in beastly ways like wolves vying for dominance and position in the pack.

What ever the source of the behavior one thing is very, very clear. Too many children do not understand how wrong and destructive this behavior is to others and eventually themselves. This behavioral ignorance continues to perpetuate itself and creates more abusers every day. And it seems to me that the level of abuse continues to get more evil and destructive every year.