Just to give a little variation for the upcoming 2008 - I thought I would adjust my "written" blog posts by having you listen to one of my audio podcasts that business folks just like you have listened to over the years.  You will hear that these are from my "Strategies For Saving Your Sanity" series.  That title has been a trademark of mine for years now and just the title alone keep businesses around the country bringing me in to talk with their employees, managers, sales people and quite frankly just about anyone working in the company. 

I leave behind audio podcasts for all of the employees in order to keep the sanity saving fires burning.  See what you think and send me a note if it rings a bell for you and it makes sense to you.....

Have a great new year!

Download bizpodcast_1.mp3

Dumb and Stupid?

I have always said that there is a difference between dumb and stupid. Dumb is not knowing what to do. Stupid is knowing the right thing to do but making the “poor choice” anyway.

The winners for the past couple of weeks are (drum roll please)……

1. NBA referee Tim Donaghy for allegedly betting on professional basketball games, being mixed up with the mob and now worried about waking up next to a horse’s head. What a disaster for sports and all the people who pursue victory with honor. Above The Rim Stupid.
2. NFL Atlanta Falcons Quarterback Michael Vick charged with dog fighting. Now this one takes the meaning of “bad to the bone” to a whole different level. I don’t know about you but just seeing the photos of those dogs that have been abused by this “sport” and the stories coming out regarding what allegedly happened make me sick. Stay tuned to see what happens when all of the evidence comes out in this case.  Sure gets you to step back and evaluate your choices you are making either on your own or on someone else's behalf. A career now literally “gone to the dogs” for reasons I will never understand. Big Time Hail Mary Stupid.
3. Hours after a 10-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, MLB Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen was chased by cops to his home, ran to a lawn chair and refusing to get up when asked to, was tasered when he kicked at officers and arrested, charged with DUI. Now here’s a guy that can use some help. Whatever happened to calling a cab or a limo when you know you’re going to drink? And what does it say about your “friends” who are hanging around with you. Bat To The Head Stupid.
4. Lindsay Lohan. Now here’s someone who I just watched on the re-run of the classic movie Parent Trap. This cute little girl that you just want to squeeze everytime you see her on camera. Now this cute older girl you just want to shake. Money, fame, treatment, treatment, most likely jail time, treatment….Holy Cow Batman Type Stupid.
5. Britney Spears. Her recent meltdown during her photo shoot with OK! Magazine sure didn’t tell us that she is getting any better. Wiping her greasy fried chicken stained hands on the dress they supplied her along with cleaning up her dogs doo doo with that same dress seals the deal with her stupidity. You Had It All Stupid.

Lots of sad stories BUT always remember that when we hear these stories they are great opportunities for us to know that we can always learn from these people “how not to be.” They are, unfortunately, teachers to all of us of the dangers of alcohol, drugs, stupid choices and hanging around stupid people who don’t really care about you.

I normally don't read all the anonymous "stories" that get sent to me via email but a buddy of mine sent me a quite interesting one that you might want to read.  It was titled "What a teacher makes" and once I read it I thought of my duct tape buddies and how the words apply to many of us in the business arena.

One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers:

"Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher, Bonnie.

Be honest. What do you make?"

Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (She paused for a second, then began...) "Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental...

You want to know what I make?" (She paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)

"I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, because we live in the United States of America .

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life.

(Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.) "Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant... You want to know what I make?

I MAKE A DIFFERENCE. What do you make?"

Say it aint so!  Have we reached the point when the people that we trust to prepare our taxes are cheaters?  Well, The Justice Department is after the Jackson Hewitt tax services for just that very thing.  They are saying that more than 70 million dollars worth of false returns were filed by the Jackson Hewitt folks.  The returns were aimed at either inflating customer refunds or reducing their tax payments.

What I found interesting were the comments that came out of the court documents so far. It was stated that the managers of these Jackson Hewitt services directed employees to not question or turn away customers who knowingly provided false information but instead prepare and file their tax returns. (Hey employees - you knew the right thing to do and chose to not do it.  And don't give me the "I would lose my job if I didn't do what my boss said" excuse.  You can always get another job.)

In one case, it was indicated that a barber claimed using 25,000 gallons of gas for business use.  That comes out to 1,370 traveled miles each day.  Now there's a barber who has a long commute! Again, the managers and the employees knew that this was outlandish but they went ahead and filed this barber's claim anyway. 

The court documents also stated that in some cases, managers and employees from these franchises received kickbacks from customers in exchange for filing these false claims. (Again, this was a moment that employees and managers knew right from wrong - but they chose wrong).

Now here's where the ethics lessons come in to play.  Each one of these employees and managers knew the right thing to do.  They either knew that what they were receiving from clients were inflated or falsified information or that their managers were asking them to do something that was clearly illegal.  That was the "pop quiz" moment that they failed.  They knew right from wrong and chose wrong as their option.  The managers who were asked to put pressure on their employees to drive up customer volume at the expense of accuracy and honesty knew what they were doing.  They also failed the "pop quiz" of ethical behavior.

This is just one more example that we can use to our benefit in teaching business owners, employees and managers the "right thing" to do when ethical situations might come about. 

I keep telling people about my Google Test of character. The Google Test is when people can type in your name and Google will spit out the list of choices that you have made. Would they be good choices or would they be poor choices? Would they enhance or hurt your reputation? Would they make your parents proud?

Well, in Antonella Barba’s case, the last female contestant to leave American Idol, the choices of having risque photos of her on the internet sure sent her off in a cloud of yuck. And these weren’t photos taken without her knowledge. They were posed photos. She knew what she was doing.

Now “Girls Gone Wild,” the company that had made millions selling raunchy videos has offered Barba $250,000 to appear as a spokesmodel. (Make your parents proud?) And Sugar Adult DVD’s raised another $250,000, for a cover model offer of $500,000. (Enhance or hurt your reputation?)

Here’s what Barba said when confronted with the photos: “That is not the way I want to present myself. I keep getting told no publicity is bad publicity. Yes, it’s true my name is more well-known because of it. But I’m not known for the things I want to be known for. I’d rather present myself in a more classy way.”

Well guess what sweet pea, unfortunately, we are known for our last worst act. And your last worst act is a doosy! You say you aren’t known for the things you want to be known for–yes you are. And it doesn’t fit within the definition of classy.

What a great opportunity for all of us to teach to others the value of making good choices “even” when you think others might not be watching…

To follow-up on my previous blog on the Duke Lacrosse team--you would think that we have heard everything there is to know about this case by now--but no.

The latest 60 Minutes program featured the parents of the three boys accused in the case. From this interview we hear that the DA knew 7 days before formal charges were made that there was no DNA evidence found linking the three boys charged in this case. The DA was informed of this information by the guy in charge of the lab where the evidence was analyzed. But it doesn't stop here. The guy from the lab did not indicate in his original report that there were additional stains found that are still unidentified as of yet. Can you see the problems here if you were the administrator overseeing all of this?

So now we have a DA who knew the DNA found was not linked to the boys charged and a lab guy that did not tell him about the other unknown stains. Wow! These two guys have their own ethical problems and possibly civil and criminal problems to face as time goes by.

But then on the 60 minutes program come the parents of these three boys. "Every mother of a son should be scared to death," exclaimed one of the mothers as she connected her statement to the DA taking the word of a stripper over the evidence. These parents made it clear that they are mad at the DA, mad at Duke University and mad at the President of Duke-Richard Brodhead--BUT here's my problem..why are they NOT mad as hell at the actions of their own sons? Their sons CHOSE to be at a day long, underage drinking party where strippers were hired!

When Lesley Stahl tried to get a response from them about their own son's choice to be at this party, one of the father's said "it was a mistake" and quickly used the word BUT right after that. I always inform people that everything after the word BUT is always followed up with an excuse from personal responsibility.

There isn’t one amongst us who hasn’t said or done something and moments later said “What a dumb, stupid thing to say or do!” We’ve all made our share of poor choices. That’s why we have flat foreheads! And many of us know others that have made even worse choices than the ones we have made. But, don’t fall into the trap of condoning the excuse of "I'm not so bad, there are others that are worse.” People of good character choose not to adopt other people’s worst behavior as a standard or norm. This mentality diminishes a person’s responsibility for being ethical and moral.

If my son Christopher was involved in this, my wife and I would have made it clear to Leslie Stahl and everyone that we're frustrated with the DA for the very same reasons they are. I'm with these parents on this one. BUT, they as parents are missing a golden opportunity to teach to everyone in this country that they should also state that they are mad as hell at their own son for not only attending this party but staying at this party knowing that strippers were there. Nothing good comes from this combination and they should have had the sense to seeit and leave. What does that decision to stay say about their son? I know that it would say a lot about Christopher to Carol and myself. And I wouldn't be mad at Duke for doing what they did with the information they had. The information that they had was that 47 players on the team attended a party that involved drinking and strippers and that a sexual assault had occurred. If Duke chose to do nothing about this and my son were on the team, I'd pull my son from the team and let Duke know that since they are giving the direct and indirect message that this behavior is tolerated that the next brochure that comes out on Duke LaCrosse ought to have photos of the party splashed all over them as a recruiting tool. And if this is to be tolerated, I say we teach it to other programs around the country and see if this raises the bar for good character or lowers it. Give me a break!

Don't forget what I have said before in this case, "Don't raise your daughters to be strippers and don't raise your sons to hire strippers!"

So what can we learn from the Duke University Lacrosse players where the charges of first-degree rape were recently dropped? And how can we apply these lessons to our own business and the people within them?

Whether you think it happened or didn't... Whether you think it's a racial incident or not... Whether you think it's blown out of proportion or not, one thing is certain - several things happened and most of them were not good. This cannot be blown off as 'Boys will be boys.' C'mon, that excuse has been used. Give me one better excuse why you can't be better than what you might be seeing around you? That’s like saying that “everyone cheats in business—it’s the only way to get ahead!" I think it’s just amazing that those that use these excuses are the ones making the poor choices and are always trying to get others to lower the bar to where they are.

The actions of these 'boys' were disgusting at best. I say “boys” because men would have known better and men would have done something to intervene. I'm not naive to think that University students will have these types of parties but has it really dropped to the level that NONE of the 47 players ever stepped up and said, "This is getting out of control - we need to stop this right now" Another thing for sure is that we can all learn that there is no good that is going to come from hiring strippers, drinking (and you know many were into drunking) and a bunch of people hanging out in a house where no one was in charge. Maybe the lesson here is "Don't raise your daughters to become strippers and don't raise your sons to hire strippers." When trouble arises, and you know it will, the stripper has no credibility and the ones who hired her don't either. Isn't that what were seeing right now?

Take this into the business world and you can see many situations where we need to step up to the plate and confront behaviors that we know are just not right. Sexual harassment, inappropriate or foul language, racial slurs, or various forms of business cheating or theft need to be confronted. Standing by and brushing it off as “business as usual” or “this is just typical around here” is just one more way that evil tries to rear it’s ugly head in an attempt to lower the bar. Once a unethical choice is made and no one confronts it, that choice sets the bar. That bar will be raised or lowered as determined by those around it.

Don’t think for a minute that the actions of these Duke Lacrosse players were their first poor choice made. We all can't be that naive. But whenever that first point occurred, where players were either saying or doing things that we all know are not right, the other people who were standing around within ear shot or eye shot had an opportunity to shut that behavior down. Unfortunately, they all failed their opportunity to pass the pop quiz of character.

“You’re never ever stuck unless you choose to think, act or feel stuck”

Don’t ever give up ought to be printed on your forehead. The reason is that the most successful people are the ones who choose to not give up. They hang in there. They persevere. They keep on looking for the good even in the negative. In fact, they know down deep that almost nothing is as good or as bad as it first appears.

Losing the big account, going through difficult contract negations, dealing with strikes, downsizing or change in company management and direction are examples of frustrating events. The key is that they are all just "events." These events are not the end of the world. They might be frustrating to different degrees but you will not die from going through any one of them.

One of the secrets of success during these tough times is learning to turn all experiences into building blocks. Asking yourself what you are learning from each and every one of these events will keep you focused on the positive and not the negative. You will also be teaching and modeling to everyone you come in contact with to never give up when problems arise. They will also see in your that in tough times you can make the right choice to turn the event into a learning opportunity.

Now don't get me wrong, losing the big account or downsizing is frustrating. But it’s not the end of the world. It is just an event. Sure you might be depressed, angry or miserable. You can choose depressed or angry behavior all day long and be miserable about the event. You can even take it out on others around you and even the dog at home. But guess what? Once you come out of your chosen funk--you quickly find out that depressed turned into depressing. Anger turned into angering. Miserable turned into miserabling. The "ing" denotes action and a "choice" we make.

I hope you noticed I said "chosen funk." The reason is that successful people know that they choose funk and that they have the power to turn funk into something else with the next choice on "their part." It has nothing to do with the "event" that has already happened. Go beyond others and choose to make the event an opportunity to learn. You have the power of choice.

Little things mean a lot. When it comes to customer service the little extras can go a long way.

A simple example is DHL – the package delivery company. DHL recently launched an aggressive marketing campaign as an alternative to FedEx and UPS. Well, a business associate of mine works out of his home, and is used to getting priority packages on almost a daily basis. One day, as he was leaving his home for an appointment, he noticed a new package resting on a small table on his front porch. But, what really caught his eye was the newspaper that was underneath the package. That same newspaper was lying in his driveway just ten minutes earlier. That’s right – the DHL guy brought the newspaper up to the door with the package. Now for some of you, this may sound trivial – however, I’ve heard my friend tell no less than 4 other business people about that story. And he’s always quick to point out – FedEX and UPS never did that!

Now, I want you to step back and think about what you just read here. Here's an example given to me from my business associate and passed on to you. There are thousands who read these blogs and by reading this one, DHL just got some great press, do you agree? DHL just picked up a valuable endorsement from a simple act of thoughtfulness by one of their employees. And isn't the true test of your character based on the simple things you do in life EVEN when you might not think others are watching?

Now I don't know if this is taught at DHL or not. And I don't even know who this guy is. But what I do know is that this is a great example of what we should be teaching and reinforcing in our companies. Reaching certain levels of sales awards are a part of every body's company BUT I truly believe if we reward these people for doing the right thing and emphasize it throughout our companies, then everyone will see that "character in action is expected here." You reward these choices and sales will go up because customer service comes right from the heart. And when it comes to customer service - even the smallest thing can reap big benefits.

We’ve all heard of final exams. But when it comes to character, the final exam will take care of itself based on how you do on the “pop quizzes.” The pop quizzes are when you have to make a decision right now. The pop quizzes are when nobody might be around to judge you. The pop quizzes are the true test of your character. Let’s look at an example of a pop quiz:

It’s late at night. You pull into a parking space and you hit the car next to you. You get out and see that there is clearly damage done to both cars. You look around and no one is watching. What do you think most people would do? What would you do?

Now I want you to think about something. How would a person’s answer to this question tell us something about their work ethic? Would you trust them more or less based on the answer they gave?

Can you see how some people might just poo poo this pop quiz and say that their answer really doesn’t say much about their work ethic? Can you see how some might want to try and convince you and others that their answer is just “situational?”

360 degree character is making the right choices in all areas of your life. In fact, think of it this way, would you want to date, marry, hire and be around a 360 degree character person or a 180 degree character person?