Rest in Peace Paul Allen

Paul Allen passed away today from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Paul is know as the co-founder of Microsoft, and may be known as the owner of sports teams Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Seahawks. He invested in real estate development, medical research, and artificial intelligence among others. He gave millions to museums, MoPOP, the Heritage Flying Museum, and other charities for the homeless.

Paul was an engineer and the son of a teacher and a librarian. He grew in the leader may of us admire and miss today. 

Paul Allen was reserved and personable. He was the boss who listened to your concerns, gave feedback or direction, then let you go do your work. He not only donated money, Paul tried to figure out what was wrong and fix it. For instance working on climate change figuring out the why the coding was wrong.

Paul also really loved music was always with his guitar. His players knew him from the sidelines and locker room. No matter how busy he was, he communicated one on one. Paul Allen is a great example to model for leadership. 

Prayers and sympathy for his family, co-workers and friends.

Developing Soft Skills

Businesses love to talk about the best leaders have soft skills. In short they work well with people to get the most out of their teams. They are often very respected and productive workers as well.

Starting out, how do you get soft skills? Where does this reputation come from? What soft skills would you like to have?

First, most people’s reactions are not about you. They think about what affects them. So do you, but you don’t think about that. When someone is losing their cool in front of you, wait until they calm down enough to talk with. Then ask questions.

The person who listens more attentively learns the most. Don’t think about what to say next when someone else is talking. What are they saying, and what is behind it? Often the most important part of the message is not said. It comes through their attitude and phasing. Ask questions about what they are saying to keep them talking.

Was very shy as a young man. Talking with young women threw me. I literally had to practice talking with people. To be less nervous, would talk with people who I did not know and could probably not help me. Often would talk with any woman of any age about any topic. When I met attractive women of datable ages, was no longer tongue-tied.

If you really want to excel with soft skills, CARE about people around you. Get your own ego out of the way. You can learn something from everyone, and you can help more people than you think. Praise people every time you see something you like. “They won’t remember what you said. They won’t forget how you made them feel.”

Study Servant Leadership. John Maxwell is my favorite author on this subject. Leaders aren’t there to make every decision. They enable their teammates to do more tasks better, and even excel at them.

I care about your success. Otherwise would I spend the time to write this? Start trying to listen to and praise people now. Does not matter how awkward it feels at first. You will start making their day and your day.

“If you could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you would not be able to sit down for six months.” - Unknown

What Brexit Means?

Unexpected social change. Britain voted to Leave the European Union. The stock markets dropped and gold went up as investors react with fear to the surprise. I am among the many who never thought this vote would happen.

The British people will go through changes. But Brussels is shocked because they thought no one wanted to upset years without war. Doesn’t everyone want our leadership and rules? No one wants overreaching rules telling us how little we can do.

The leaders of the EU do not realize their advice and interference is holding economies back. Iceland and Ireland both ignored EU edicts to follow austerity rules and raise taxes. They reorganized and their economies have recovered fairly quickly. How well are Greece and Spain doing? France’s economy is struggling, and Italy & Portugal economies are a real mess following EU advice. Germany cannot pay for all EU’s issues.

What may happen next? Britain is going to have tough negotiations. The EU leadership will want to prevent other countries from leaving. Some members may want to be more reasonable because their countries may want to leave. Netherlands is likely to have a referendum next.

Most countries will find a way to trade with Britain. Why would you not want to trade with the 5^th largest economy? Already heard proposals Britain be invited to join NAFTA.

Will there be a recession? Of course, recessions are a normal part of the economic cycle. Will it be as bad as 2008 crisis? No.

Change is a constant in life. Accept it, adjust to change, and keep enjoying life. Children still grow up and we grow a little wiser. Keep your faith. Life goes on.

Spotting Dying Businesses

Do you want to know if your company is dying? Yes for two reasons:

One, you can intervene in the issue and improve your teams results. This puts you in a leader’s role with the resulting salary.

Two, you can be the first to find a new company to work with.  There are advantages knowing what you have to do and having enough time to start the process before you lose your salary, or experience the heartbreak of closing a company.

What are symptoms of a dying company?

1. Not Knowing Who the Customer Is

Big companies love processes. They are good because processes build quality controls and guarantee stable returns on effort. However your customer is not your co-worker who gets handed the work after you are done. He is a partner in satisfying the real customer who chooses and pays for your product & services.

Successful companies fall in love with their customers and dive deeply into their customer’s businesses. That way the company is focus outward, not inward.

2. Not Staying Up with the Times

Stable companies often have the belief their customers won’t change. They have always bought from us and will not leave. That is not true.

Customers retire, go out of business, or die. Businesses are run by people, and people always change.

Second technology changes. Eastman Kodak did not want to kill the film business, which brought in fortunes. The marketing failure was not realizing they could make more profits licensing their technology. Do you realize they could have had a Kodak Camera in every cell phone?

3. Not Creating New Products & Services

Unless 10% to 25% of your sales are new products and services less than 5 years old, your future is looking bleak. Mature products have to fund new investments to stay successful. What percentage of your sales are new products?

4. Illegal Business Practices
Bernie Madoff Ponzi schemes.  Double sets of accounting books. Inside trading. Bribes. Stealing secrets. Drug habits.

Any one of these practices can result in jail time, customers abandoning you, and being unemployable. Time to find new work now, even with a pay cut.

Check on a regular cycle how you and your company are doing. The only constant in life is change. Make sure you are doing everything you can to adapt and thrive.

Business is Imagination

This thought is generated from columnist Leonid Bershidsky on the reasons wars will happen.  His point boils down to the reaction of governments is determined by leader’s imagination and viewpoint. Geopolitics are a major factor as well.

If you are from an honor society, you will react differently than someone born in Western Europe. The mistake most people make is thinking that rational people will all think and react alike. “Like I think” is the common answer.

We know this is not true. Asian societies look at persona interactions much differently than the individualistic United States. Look at recent reactions to news events. Inside the USA there will be dozens of different viewpoints displayed on any topic.

So how does this apply to your business? If you only sell locally to people of your background, there is probably not much effect. As soon as we start selling to other cities, states, or countries there will be differences in culture to account for. Successful international companies need to be able to adapt to diverse cultures to sell products and services.

Most companies start from a small business run by one or a few people. To grow they have to visualize and dream of ways to reach & help more people. They have to hire more people and bring them into the vision of success. Sometimes it is an outsider like Ray Croc who helped develop the McDonald brothers business.

Take a look at your thinking. Where does it need to grow?

If World Slips Toward War, Blame Leaders' Imaginations

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-02/if-world-slips-toward-war-blame-leaders-imaginations

PS - Long time reader of George Friedman and Stratfor quoted in the article. Great place for intelligence, investing, and learning about geopolitics.

Salary Bump vs. Experiences

Someone questioned which are you more interested in, a professional experience or a salary bump? Which would you like now?

Having been unemployed and entrepreneur know about being flat broke. There are times in your career where a salary and a bump can really make a difference in your life. Having enough to pay for the basics and save is absolutely essential. Life without enough is absolutely stress filled.

One concern is the lack of savings and retirement savings. Too many do not have emergency funds and tap retirement funds at great penalty. This will cost your future, and delay your ability to retire.

Too many do not put anywhere near enough into 401Ks, and there is no 100% secure way to turn savings into income. The post pension generation will have issues that the Traditional generation will not feel with their pensions.

For your career experiences (even at a low pay) do pay off in the long run. You need to have experience to move up. Classes alone do not match experience.

For a contrasting thought, Jeffrey J. Fox wrote “Always take the higher money. The more you are paid, the more responsibility and opportunities will be given to you.” In addition he points out all raises are based on percentage of your salary, so a higher starting salary benefits you over your career. See “How to Become CEO”.

We need to manage both our careers and budgets with long term planning. The reasons I live well within my means is to have flexibility to explore options when they arise.