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Vol. 25, No. 10 • October, 2007
You can find this newsletter and some past issues on the web @ www.Freeman-Spicer.com
Management..................... In sports, you always know how you are performing. That ruthless honesty is often missing in business. Managers do not always tell subordinates how they think they’re doing. They fail to praise subordinates when they do well. But more significantly, they fail to correct someone who’s messed up. Why? A lot of bosses don’t like confrontation. Personally, I think it’s more nurturing to confront an errant subordinate. Without it, neither of you can move forward. You can confront with humor or sarcasm or unbridled anger. But the net result is that, as boss, you’ve established a standard and informed them that they’ve fallen short so they can do something about it. If you don’t call the penalties, who will? (Never Wrestle With A Pig)
Never Go Shopping Hungry .................... Impulse buying at the checkout counter may not add much to your shopping tab. But your waistline’s a different matter. As part of an independent study, IHL Consulting Group, a research and advisory firm in Franklin, Tenn., recently polled 1,000 adult shoppers nationwide on the items they grab while waiting in the cashier’s line - everything from high-calorie chocolates and snacks to no-calorie purchases like water, magazines, and batteries. Taking into account the caloric count of items typically found on those shelves, the researchers then equated each item with 200 calories - a conservative figure, they say. Here’s the skinny: The items women typically buy from checkout displays add up to about 14,300 calories every year - enough to pack about four pounds onto the average American woman, using the standard conversion of 3,500 calories to one pound. The average man buys about 11,100 calories annually at checkout - enough to gain about three pounds. And males under 25, who are the biggest consumers of impulse calories, pick up enough snacks to add eight pounds. The most tempting items? For women under 25, it’s nonchocolate candies. For all other women, it’s chocolate - the favorite of men in all age groups as well. (Sonal Rupani in BusinessWeek)
Vegas....................... What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens in the privacy of your home may very well be broadcast on your kid’s MySpace page. Moms and dads are discovering that their children are spilling some fairly embarrassing info, running the gamut from unflattering portraits and pointed criticism to intimate secrets, confidential business information and allegations of misdeeds. And true or not, the words can have consequences. Web postings offer everyone from your boss to the police an unauthorized window into your life. And it appears that few parents have a clue what’s being said or posted online. (Smart Money)
“Growing old is like being penalized for a crime you haven’t committed.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” Julia Child
Access Denied ................................. Broadband service is available worldwide, but it’s beyond most people’s budget. Handing out $100 laptops to kids in rural African villages is great, but it won’t bridge the digital divide. That’s because it’s so hard to find reasonably priced, high-speed Web access. Only about 3 percent of the world’s population has broadband, and prices vary widely. In Japan, DSL or Cable averages 6 cents per 100 Kbps, with users typically paying 0.002 percent of their monthly salary for high-speed access. But in Kenya, that same hookup speed costs $86.11 - nearly twice the average monthly income. Here’s a list of some costs around the world:
United States - $0.49 / 100 Kbps - The nearly 60 million broadband subscribers in the US typically pay 0.01 percent of their average monthly salary for a connection.
Bolivia - $39.06 / 100 Kbps - There are only about 11,000 broadband customers there, but each forks over nearly half of the average monthly wage to get online.
Nicaragua - $14.65 / 100 Kbps - No wonder this Central American country has only 6,600 high-speed customers - access costs a fifth of the average monthly paycheck.
Netherlands - $0.14 / 100 Kbps - Tiptoe through the tulips and you’ll find 4.1 million broadband customers enjoying some of the lowest prices on the planet.
Mozambique - $361.83 / 100 Kbps - The nation’s civil war is long over, but a high-speed connection costs as much as a private army: 1,400 times the average monthly wage.
Kazakhstan - $52.68 / 100 Kbsp - The broadband prices, it’s nice? Not so much. The 2,000 Kazakhstani users must sacrifice one-fifth of the average monthly salary for access.
Saudi Arabia - $571.82 / 100 Kbps - Expect to shell out 58 percent of the average monthly salary for DSL. Not surprisingly, only about 0.1 percent of the population has a connection.
Pakistan - $106.98 / 100 Kbps - Local bloggers incensed over President Pervez Musharraf’s support of the US must pay nearly twice the average income to have their say.
Russia - $28.13 / 100 Kbps - The 1.6 million users who may want to stream President Putin’s latest Judo moves surrendered 8 percent of the average pay for the privilege.
South Korea - $0.08 / 100 Kbps - South Korea boasts 12.2 million broadband users, some of the world’s highest speeds, and low prices, second only to Japan. (Wired Magazine)
Abusing a Speakerphone.................... can quickly earn you a reputation as an ignoramus.
• Use the speakerphone feature only during multiperson meetings or when your hands are occupied on a task.
• Always use the handset to initiate a call or answer a ringing phone.
• Before you put someone on speaker, explain why you need to do so and tell them exactly who is in the room.
• Apologize for using the speakerphone; people really do mind.
• Direct your attention to the phone, not a passing airplane; people can tell.
• Don’t gesture wildly or tap your ring on the desk to emphasize points. You’ll look and sound like a fool.
• End the call with the handset, always.
It’s simple courtesy. (Men’s Health)
“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” Bill Gates, 1981
“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Recording Co. Rejecting the Beatles, 1962
The Psychiatrist and the Proctologist ...... Tow doctors opened an office in a small town and put up a sign reading: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors. The town council was not happy with the sign, so the doctors changed it to read: Schizoids and Hemorrhoids. This was not acceptable either, so in an effort to satisfy the council, they changed the sign to: Catatonics and High Colonics. No go. Next, they tried: Manic Depressives and Anal Retentive. Thumbs down again. Then came: Minds and Behinds. Still no good. Another attempt resulted in: Lost Souls and Butt Holes. Unacceptable again, so they tried: Analysis and Anal Cysts. Not a chance. Nuts and Butts? No way, Freaks and Cheeks? Still no go. Loons and Moons? Forget it. Almost at their wit’s end, the doctors finally came up with: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones, Odds and Ends. Everyone loved it. (Scheu)
Mystery Spending is “Out of Control” ............. Have you ever withdrawn $60 from the ATM on Monday, only to find your wallet empty by Friday, with nothing to show for it? You’re not alone. Nearly half of Americans say they lose track of about a third of their cash in a typical week, a new survey by Visa has found. Men under age 35 are the worst at monitoring spending, failing to account for more than $3,000 a year on average. About 20 percent of respondents confessed to misplacing more than $25 in cash per week and said their mystery spending is “out of control,” while 62 percent said small cash purchases make it difficult to track spending. Where do all those dollars go? The most common responses were a night on the town, grocery shopping, family outings, and shopping during a sale or with friends. The random telephone survey was conducted in May and included more than 2,000 adults. (Chicago Tribune)
Organic Chemistry ................ The boom in restaurants serving local organic produce has come with an unexpected downside: more bugs in your food. Without pesticides to deter them, aphids, ladybugs, caterpillars and beetles are tagging along on the journey from farm to kitchen to dinner table with greater frequency. But the reactions among diners are as diverse as the critters they’re finding on their plates. Some are furious, of course, especially considering they’re already paying more for organic food - but a surprising number, restaurateurs say, are cheered. To those customers, such uninvited guests are proof that the produce really is fresh and pesticide-free. “I, for one, would much prefer a bug on my plate to pesticide in my bloodstream,” says Ben Long, a communications consultant and foodie from Kalispell, Mont. Sometimes it’s more than just a bug. When Richard Samaniego, chef at California’s Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, opened a box of organic lettuce last year, a frog jumped out. “It was a good thing I found it before we started chopping,” he jokes. And before his guests started eating. (Julie Scelfo in Newsweek)
Planning Sessions ................. If you sit in almost any planning session in any business, you quickly recognize that unless some company renegade argues against it, the purpose of that meeting is simple: “Let’s look at what we did last year, and do 15% better.” Fifteen percent works just fine - for a time. That time comes when some other company comes along and does business 100 percent differently. If you are in an industry with good margins, that enterprising company will come along, and when it does, it will make your nights very long. The erosion in many industries started in planning sessions at which everyone looked around and said, How can we do it 15 percent better? Don’t just think better: Think different.
(Selling The Invisible)
Sincerely,
Edward C. Levy
President
Freeman-Spicer Financial Services
316 South Eddy Street, P.O. Box 1238, South Bend, IN 46624
(V) 574.234.0069 or 800.526.6753 / (F) 574.234.6414 / surekey@aol.com
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