Fresh Perspectives

Common Sense

I have great memories of my high school graduation back in 1973.  At the time, my Dad was President of the local school board and he was one of the speakers at the ceremony.  Dad’s speech was different than the others.  He spoke about “common sense”, and talked for less than 3 minutes.  Predictably, he received a large ovation from the students, and the content of his speech was memorable.  My Dad was a no-nonsense kind of person, and when he spoke, he was always deliberate and genuine.  And that genuine nature was the basis for the ovations that day.

In today’s media-driven society, we are hard-pressed to find genuine messages.  It seems that twist and bias and spin are served up on a daily basis, and it is all too easy to accept what we see and hear as gospel.  When we rub common sense and research against media hype, things become clear.

Lately, I’ve been discussing the subject of “frivolous lawsuits” in many of my conversations.  Many of you may have heard of the woman who, while driving a motor home, engaged the cruise control, then got up and walked to the back of the vehicle to do something.  Of course, the motor home crashed.  Apparently, she filed a lawsuit against the company for not disclosing the dangers of this activity in the owner’s manual.  The legend goes on that she won a multi-million dollar settlement along with a new motor home.  I finally did the research and found this one to be the stuff of legends.  It never happened! 

Inevitably, you then hear about the McDonalds coffee lawsuit.  When you do the research the facts show it not to be all that frivolous.

Both of these stories are the kind insurance companies like to talk about.   Create a sense of urgency and paranoia in people, and they will buy more insurance so as not to become a victim of a frivolous lawsuit.  And too many times, we chose to become slaves to that line of thinking. 

My message is this….Don’t let media and industry spin invade your “common sense”.  After all, folks, we are all I this together, and our humanity is what binds us!

Story of Stuff

Garr Reynold's recently posted an article on his Presentation Zen blog that really caught my attention.  The presentation at the front end of Story of Stuff is quite compelling.  The message is great; check it out.

Johnny Bunko

I recently finished a new book by Dan Pink, the author of "A Whole New Mind".  "Johnny Bunko" is written in the Japanese comic format known as manga.  I really enjoyed this book because it explodes several misconceptions, and it is a quick, informative read.

This is one of the great ones!

Check out the Johnny Bunko blog.

Not on the Test

Check out this video by Tom Chapin about the US educational system.  It takes a serious poke at No Child Left Behind.

HOW TRUE!

Eulogy for a Friend

There are indeed some exceptional people in this world.  Those exceptional people are marked by the good they do for others.  Simply being within proximity of these exceptional people makes one feel important and worthwhile.  They truly change the world.

On January 21, 2008, the world lost a man who was a true inspiration to everyone with whom he came in contact.  He was my very close friend, Terry Golden.  I met Terry some 20 years ago and from a business standpoint, he was my client and I became a client of his.  But personally, he was much more!

Terry was many things; a decorated veteran, a faithful follower of God, a true family man and an exceptionally principled businessman.  His business was financial planning and insurance, and virtually every person in his client list eventually became a friend to him.  They gave over their hard-earned money to him with the same trust they would to a person in their own family.  He never talked about trust, he simply earned it.

The book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” tells us that principles never, ever change, and that living a principled life leads to real success.  Terry Golden was a shining example of a principled life. 

People like Terry are a gift.  I can tell you that he touched my life in a positive way, and I will never forget him.

More Misconceptions

When speaking about people with disabilities, I often hear people talk about "they" supplying things for PWD.  "They help people pay for the lift in their van" or "they help pay for assistive devices and designs" or "they help pay for wheelchairs".

I'll let you in on a little secret.  THERE IS NO THEY!  For me, independent transportation is a large financial burden.  I don't have roll-under sinks and universally designed cabinets in my home.  I can't afford it!  There is lots of adaptive equipment out there which I simply cannot afford.  There are many dis-incentives for PWD who want to work, and staying in the workforce can be a daunting task.

Example...When I get a new wheelchair, I absolutely need adaptive seating that raises the seat height in order that I can safely make lateral transfers.  Health insurance does not cover such adaptive devices; they are considered luxury items!  So I pay almost $1,000 for such adaptives.  The lift in my van requires maintenance and very expensive service.

So people with disabilities face large financial burdens.  There is help out there, but most is on a sliding scale based on income, not on family size or financial burdens already in place. 

Bottom line is this; being disabled is expensive!

Misconceptions

How many times has this happened to you?  You’re apprehensive about an event that lies ahead, something which you have never before experienced.  As the day gets closer, your apprehension rises.  You have difficulty concentrating on anything but your fear and anxiety.  Then the day comes, the event happens, and it goes much better than you anticipated.  You look back and wonder what you were so apprehensive about! 

These initial apprehension come from an intrinsic natural human reaction; fear of the unknown.

Today, I’d like to focus on a few reasons some tend to shy away from a people with disabilities (PWD).  As a disabled person myself, the reaction is something I notice.  My method of handling with this reaction is to deal with the people in a relaxed fashion.  When people realize that I share their innate humanity, their entire demeanor changes.

So I believe 2 related human reactions play a role in the way people view PWD:  1) Fear of the unknown and 2) vulnerability.  People may look at me and say “that really could happen to me”, and human reaction to the emotion involved with vulnerability is to withdraw.  The truth is this, my friends; you are indeed vulnerable; as humans, we all are!  The common bond that brings us together?  Our humanity.  With humanity comes imperfection.

As with many things in life, the unknown creates apprehension and results in misconceptions. Here are a few:

1. “Oh, you work?”  Yes I do, as do many PWD.  The percentage of PWD who don’t work is higher than among the non-disabled population.  Since the types of jobs PWD can do may be limited, it is more difficult for disabled persons to find jobs.  The fact that I use an electric wheelchair limits applicable jobs categories to non-physical work; not true for non-disabled people.  There are also a great deal of misconceptions and stereotypes about PWD that adds to this statistic.
2. “Oh, you drive too?”  Again, yes, but not true for all PWD.  Just like in everything else, each individual is different.  Having my own transportation is doable, but costly.  Adaptive equipment is very expensive to install and maintain.
3. I’ve heard people refer to me as “confined” to a wheelchair.  The truth is that the wheelchair is a freedom-giving mobility device that actually changed my life for the better!
4. People sometimes believe that someone who uses a wheelchair is “ill”.  That may or may not be true.  In my case, I’m healthier now than I was when ambulatory.  I once actually had a health care professional assume that I couldn’t be near sick people since my immune system is impaired.   That is a generality I hear often. The truth is that I haven’t had the flu in over 10 years, and I don’t get a flu shot.  The muscles in my extremities are weak.  Other than that, I’m healthy. Again, not all disabled people are “ill”.
5. Some of the most intelligent people I know are deaf or hard of hearing.  Remember that there is usually no causal relationship between the ability to communicate and brain function.  Some people also incorrectly assume mental impairment no matter what the disability.  In my case, my brain functions accelerated when I began using a wheelchair.  Prior to that time, I lived in fear.  That did limit my mental functionality!

Take the time to reflect on our commonalities rather than our differences and the world looks different.  It’s so refreshing to remove our emotional “filters” and kick away the generalities.

Remember, we are all in this together! 

New Addition!

I don't normally write personal blog posts, but I feel compelled to share with you the latest addition to our family.  His name is "Copper", and he is a 12-year old Lab/Hound mix.  Copper was brought to the local animal shelter because the owners got a new puppy, and couldn't handle Copper any more.  My wife and I saw him on the shelter's website, and his eyes captivated our hearts!  This dog is just as sweet as he looks, and he gets along well with our elderly female Doberman and the 2 cats. 

2 days after we brought him home, Copper developed some type of undiagnosed stomach illness.  He was quite ill for 2-3 days, but is beginning to regain is strength thanks to Dr. PAWS animal clinic.  We hope to give Copper a good life, and we are showering him with affection.

What amazes me though is just how cold-hearted people can be to animals.  Disposing of a dog that has been with you for 12 years is heartless and cruel.  There should be no asshole rule for animal owners!

The Pitfalls of Plastic

 

Think about this:  If you have $25,000 in credit-card debt at an interest rate of 22%, and you make only minimum payments (2.5% of the running balance), it will take you 53 years to pay that debt off.  And you will pay a total of $67,590 in interest.  That’s staggering, and it gives us an idea of the malignancy of unsecured debt.

I’ve learned the hard way, folks!  6 years ago, I found myself in poor financial condition; overextended and swimming in credit card debt.  And it didn’t happen because of over-spending or shopping addiction; rather, it happened because of outside circumstances. I was also guilty of inattention.  What got my attention was a letter from a credit card company indicating that I was in default (1 day late with the payment), and my interest rate would now be 36%!  That’s when I put together a legitimate long range plan to get my finances in order.

Here are the elements of debt reduction and re-direction that worked for me:

1. Stop adding to the debt.  You really must understand the severity of the situation and then you need the discipline to stop the negative movement.  Remember that it is just business!  Try not to be overly emotional.
2. If you are in default on a payment, try to negotiate with the credit card company to lower the rate.  That didn’t work for me, so I negotiated a line-of-credit with another company at a rate of 15% with a fixed monthly payment.  That isn’t a great rate, but better than 36%, and the reduction of this debt was fixed by a monthly payment.  I always tried to pay more each month.  To negotiate this line-of-credit, I explained my situation and strategy to the representative at that company. Credit score?  Under 600 (poor).  I was losing sleep! 
3. Cut expenses and be frugal.  Shop for sundries at the dollar store, and cut all unnecessary expenses.  Look in every area of your life to reduce expenses.
4. Try to look for new ways to increase income, and use the income to pay down debt.  Unsecured debt is more expensive than the interest earned on savings, so at this point, pay off as much as possible rather than save.
5. Try not to get discouraged when the unexpected happens.  When it does, and you don’t have the reserves to handle the situation, use the lowest interest debt instrument you can to pay for unexpected expenses.  Believe me, sometimes it looks like you are not making progress.  In the long haul, however, you are moving ahead if you stick to the plan.
6. Try to leverage the equity in your home and refinance your mortgage at a fixed rate.  Here, dealing with a well-established bank is your best bet.  Stay away from shady mortgage brokers and on-line hucksters.  I refinanced in 2004 at a rate of 5.79% for 10 years using a large and established bank.  Remember that mortgage interest is tax deductible, unsecured interest is not.
7. Again, don’t add to the debt!  As of February 2008, my credit score is 750 and climbing.  And now I am saving money.  I sleep better too!

The bottom line is this.  Getting out of unsecured debt isn’t impossible.  It takes spending discipline and a “never give up” attitude.  It is made more difficult by this superficial, media-driven, materialistic world, but the reality is that “things” never make us truly happy.  Think about just how long having the new car remains appealing; the excitement wears off in about a week! 

Here are some good links:

Credit Card Interest Calculator (my spreadsheet) (30 sec. on DSL)

National Consumer Law Center

Myvesta

Presentation Zen - Worth Waiting For!

My copy of Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds arrived on Friday.  By Saturday evening, I had finished reading it, and I took notes along the way too.  This book was worth waiting for to say the least.  If enough people read it, the world of business presentations might be revolutionized!

This is much more than a "how to do" book; it is more appropriately a "how to think" book.  The writing is excellent and the supporting visuals are elegant.  The foreword by Guy Kawasaki is unexpected and effective.

This book didn't just change the way I think about presentations, it changed the way I look at our world.  Definitely worth reading, and a great reference tool!

Ego - Where Does it Fit In?

Just check out my book list and you’ll see that I’ve spent lots of time reading all types of books on management and leadership.  The main focus of many of these books is that people are a business’s greatest asset.  The real focus of many books on management involves understanding people; what motivates them and why they behave the way they do.  So that brings me to the subject of today’s blog entry; Ego.

The fact of the matter is that our ego is a motivating factor in our lives; it’s about the view we have of ourselves, and how we believe we are perceived by others.  Our ego runs deep inside of us and it drives our relationships. 

Have you ever met someone that has an inflated ego?  Dealing with someone like that leaves us with the thought that they are selfish and uncaring about the people around them.  Then you meet others that, for whatever reasons, have a view of themselves as inferior.  That extreme self-deprecating behavior is annoying too.

So let’s try to discover what a healthy ego really is, especially in relation to leadership.

I always tell people that when they come to work, they should leave their ego at the door.  We all know, of course, that our ego is part of us; it’s an inseparable part of who we are.  The problems in organizations occur when people’s what’s in it for me (WIIFM) feelings take precedence over the purpose of the organization.  Every organization has some purpose, some mission, and some reason for doing what they do.  Defining the reason that an organization is in existence is what we call a culture. 

Building a culture that people can buy into is the challenge of every organizational leader.  When the focus of that culture is shallow, like make profits for the stockholders, employees and other stakeholders don’t feel as if their contribution is worthwhile, and those feelings of WIIFM take over.  On the other hand, when the culture is defined in terms of people first, where customers/consumers are the focus, great things can happen.  The funny thing about organizations that define themselves first by people and then by money are that they make money anyway!  Richard St. John says it best in his book Eight to be Great; “Serve others something of value, because that is the way people truly get rich”.

So, a healthy ego involves caring about yourself AND others.  And when an organizational culture is built on a mentality of service, most people step up to the challenge, and overinflated egos become less of a problem. 

It’s the challenge of all organizational leaders to build an overarching culture that compels people toward a true mentality of service.  When you create that environment, the processes and mechanics involved in the operation have meaning, and people now can associate processes with results. 

It is a formula that works!

Self-Determination

Few people know about the services offered at Centers for Independent Living (CIL’s).  I’m a board member for NEPACIL, the Northeast Pennsylvania Center for Independent Living.  My current office of president has afforded me the opportunity to do an orientation training session for new and existing members.  Of course, when you prepare this kind of work, the learning experience for the facilitator is enormous!

The overarching concepts of CIL’s are what are known as “core services”. Those core services consist of 1) Advocacy, 2) Independent Living Skills, 3) Information and Referral and 4) Peer Counseling.  More than ½ of the employees and board members of CIL’s are disabled.  CIL’s operate under the “Consumer Directed Model”, meaning that people with disabilities (PWD) receiving services actually direct the way those services are delivered.  Funding for core services comes from the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) under the Department of Labor and Industry. 

In addition to core-funded services, CIL’s usually handle services under other government programs.  These might include the Department of Aging, Department of Human Services, Department of Public Welfare, etc.  But every program is operated under the consumer directed model, so self-determination ribbons through them all.

From my involvement in the NEPACIL, I can tell you that CIL’s cannot operate under core funding only.  So these non-profits are always looking for, and competitively bidding on, service contracts from sources outside of core funding.  And they do this while maintaining the focus on the mission of self-determination.  It is not easy.

As you can imagine, the services provided to PWD under these programs are life-enhancing and life-changing!  CIL’s facilitate community based living for PWD.  They do this utilizing “waiver” programs which, simply put, waive federal Medicaid rules so that states can redirect institutional funds to community programs.  It is a shame that federal monies for PWD are largely skewed toward institutions when community-based programs are less expensive and better for the consumer. 

The bottom line is this; CIL’s change people’s lives.   They are a very different kind of non-profit organization.  I’m proud to be part of it.

8 to be Great

I very much enjoyed Richard St. John’s book, “Stupid, Ugly, Unlucky and RICH”.  It was a best-seller in Canada, and now Richard has authored “8 to be Great”, a condensed version of his earlier work.  “8 to be Great” is a better fit to the U. S. market for that genre of books; less cost and a fairly short read.  It’s based on many interviews that Richard did with successful people from all walks of life.  The common thread among these successful people is that none of them do what they do just for the money.  They are all start with passion, and the money comes anyway.  That’s a refreshing message in our sometimes shallow, materialistic, media-driven society!

Check out his 8 to be Great blog and his short video introduction of the book.  Spike, the nice little character used before, remains in this new book.  I will be sharing “8 to be Great” with students at the career school where I work.  This is an outstanding book for everyone, but has an especially inspiring message for young people.  Richard’s style of writing is entertaining and enjoyable, and the message is significant and potentially life-changing!

The Happiness Project

I spend a good amount of time in the blogosphere through my RSS feeds.  I stumbled on a blog by Gretchen Ruben called The Happiness Project.  She also has her own website about her books, and has authored books about JFK and Winston Churchill that I will be checking out.

Gretchen is an attorney and writer who takes the time and effort to research happiness.  Her twelve commandments portray a true common-sense approach to leading a more fulfilling life.  I like her writing style, and her Saturday happiness quote is something I look forward to each week.  Gretchen is well read and down-to-earth in her approach.  Check her out!

How do we get US schools back in the game?

I’ll take the risk of sounding simplistic and say this; I believe that many of the problems with US schools can be summed up in one word, “incentive.”

Our US public schools are run by government bureaucracies that lack incentives. Anyone who has spent time dealing with a government agency knows that efficiency isn’t a priority. Why? It’s because people within government aren’t stakeholders. Their attitude is dependent on their own personal sense of service. And, if the job is done poorly, the bureaucracy continues anyway. There is no competition and no urgency toward improvement.

I believe that for our schools to compete, we need incentives, urgency, and a connection to the businesses we serve. Our schools are detached from their “customers.” As a result, we generally fail to produce people who are prepared for work. If you're a business owner, you know what I am talking about.

We operate schools on government mandates like No Child Left Behind. These mandates create negative incentives; “if you don’t do such and such, this will happen….” And the problem gets only a partial fix.

Experience has shown that mandates and curriculum changes fix the symptom, not the cause.

So what can we change about the US public school system?

In other countries, the schools are to varying degrees removed from government, and industry plays a more central role. The system creates incentives because industry is a stakeholder. It works better because there’s a connection created between the school and the “customer.” So the discipline in business and industry is reflected in schools, and better prepared workers result.

We desperately need to change the way we do it in the US!

I’ve worked many years at a school that is under a separate arm of government called career education. It’s mandated to operate with industry involvement, but remains under the control of the government bureaucrats. Since we teach job-related skills, however, the teachers aren’t the same as those working the academic side. Many career teachers are people from industry with a training background. They usually aren’t as insulated from business and industry as other teachers might be.

And even within the school bureaucracy, there are many teachers have what I call “the soul of a teacher.” They positively affect the lives of their students every day. We just need more of them, and we need incentives so that others step up. The system is the problem, not the people!

Getting industry involved won't in itself fix the school system, we know that! But I think it is a good start and would promote other incentives.

Jack Welch (CEO of GE) said “bureaucracy frustrates people, distorts their priorities, limits their dreams and turns the entire enterprise inward”. I couldn’t agree more.