Paid to be dumb

"Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.” Murphy’s Laws on Technology

So, the big news currently revolves around the merger of Northwest and Delta. They are two old, big, recognized air carriers who have been bleeding money for decades. So now they’re going to take their corporate stupidity and join them together. Any 5th grader should be able to figure out the outcome of this one.

I remember when I was working in Chicago but still living in Michigan. I called Northwest and inquired into pre-buying multiple tickets for a set price. At the time (pre-911) tickets between Detroit and Chicago went for about $100 bought in advance and $250 bought the day of departure. I offered to buy 50 (essentially a years worth) for a preset price somewhere in between the two prices. All I really wanted was to not have to pay the change fee ($100) when I had to change my flight days. The response? “We don’t have a program like that”. OK, so I worked my way up the chain with the same response. So here’s someone TRYING to give them money and they “don’t have a program for that”.

Doomed!

So now I’m listening to all these “experts” talk about how bad this merger will be. Bad for, pick one: the economy, the employees, the passengers, global warming, ED, whatever.

I'm listening to industry experts, economic experts, transportation experts and, of course, politicians blather on and on about how BAD this merger will be for ______. It’s amazing to me how so many allegedly intelligent people can sound so dumb. One of two things, either many of these experts are really dumb or they’re being paid to be dumb. That is, someone with a special interest is paying them to pitch a viewpoint. I’d like to think it’s the latter, because if there really are that many people roaming around being paid mega bucks to be an “expert” or being paid mega bucks to be in office (yeah, I really believe most public servants make a lot of money to think a certain way) who really are as dumb as they sound then we really are all doomed. “Doomed, as doomed as doomed can be”.

I don’t know much, but let me tell you what I do know. Any space, once void, will be filled. I’ve watched this phenomenon happen over and over again in the technology world. Two giant companies will merge, the “experts” will predict doom for the customers and low and behold some new startup will come along and offer a better solution, with better service for a better price.

Happens every time. Will happen again this time.

Just shoot me

There's something intrinsically therapeutic about choosing to spend your time in a wide, open park- like setting that non-golfers can never truly understand. Charles Rosin

I try to keep this site as neutral as possible when it comes to race, religion, sexual preference or gender. However, the first part of this one will speak primarily to men. Others will have to derive their own analogy to fit.

I love to play golf but when it comes to watching golf I limit it mainly to The Masters, The British Open, and any tournament played on a course I’ve been privileged enough to have played. Otherwise I use golf like baseball, for napping.

While watching The Masters my dear wife decided to become interested in competitive, televised golf….for an hour. “Who’s ahead?”, “Where’s Tiger?”, “Why is -2 better than +2?”, “Why is that guy spending so much time looking at his ball?”, “This is stupid!”.

*sigh*

I know, I know. What a great opportunity to interest your wife in one of your hobbies, to spend some time together explaining something you understand to someone who doesn’t, yada yada. The great thing about watching golf is you don’t have to actually watch it, you can sort of hang around doing other things (like writing this blog). So when someone asks you a detailed question about something they just observed on the TV there’s a good chance your answer is “Uh, what?” Then they try to explain what they saw, but without being able to interpret it correctly and then, the whole conversation becomes a stressed, tense, marital experience. So much for a relaxing weekend afternoon.

That was Saturday. Today, on Masters Sunday, I’m going to put this damned PC away, we’re going to cook food together, have our kids over for dinner, and I’m going to watch The Masters with my wife instead of in spite of her.

You see, resistance to concentrating time and attention at home will directly correspond to the same trait at work with colleagues. Both are wrong and both are risky.

Rolodex Man

“Actions lie louder than words.” Carolyn Wells

I was helping a friend and ex-colleague by being a professional reference for a potential new employer. At least I hope I was helping.

Anyway, he finished First Runner Up to a person who “had a better Rolodex” in the area of M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions). Interesting this person who scored the job came from a company that had just filed for Chapter 7. That is, they went bankrupt. Seems to me a person with a great M&A rolodex could have brokered a deal to sell the company and prevent the doors from closing. I’m sure there’s more to the story, but it makes you go “Hmmmm”.

Having a rolodex is a funny term, especially since most people under the age of 50 have probably never used, hell, seen one. But the meaning is clear. It’s someone who knows and has the ability to contact large numbers of people who can help move business.

For me it’s also become a giant flashing yellow light. It has been my experience that anyone who touts their rolodex is immediately suspect. This is because I have been disappointed and frustrated multiple times by these alleged rainmakers.

In my “You can’t fix stupid” blog from January 11th I refer to a situation I was in that couldn’t be fixed. My big flashing light that I saw, understood, but continued to try to fix, was when given two choices for a head of sales the owner took the name-dropping, rolodex-waving, flashy young dude whose reference list included a relative and a girl friend over the understated, highly professional, middle-aged person whose reference list included a collection of C-level people who bought millions of dollars from him over the years but without any recognized names.

I, of all people, value a great network but only when it includes real people not just names and numbers.

Hiring people is the most critically important yet most neglected part of running a business. Good ones make you rich and successful and bad ones make you poor and bitter. Yet we choose people with less intensity than we pick fruit at a market.

I recently read a Fortune Magazine article about Target Corporation and how the CEO personally interviews the people in the top 600 positions of the company. Any way you do the math that is a large chuck of time. But maybe there’s reasons they’re one of the most successful companies around.