Summation

an entrepreneur's guide to finding a job (in BusinessWeek)

BusinessWeek just published my entrepreneurial guide to finding a job in today's tough economy.    I hope you enjoy!

how come no one wants to serve in the senate?

This year has seen more people voluntarily quitting the senate before their term runs out than any other year in recent memory.  For years people have said that being a Senator is the best job in America.  But it is obviously not the case as a whole bunch of people are leaving before their term ends.

 

Barack Obama and Joe Biden left the Senate this year.  But they, at least, had a really good excuse.  They became President and Vice President – definitely a promotion.  Hilary Clinton, too, left the Senate to become Secretary of State … also a promotion.  But a bunch of people left the Senate for lateral moves.

 

Ken Salazar left to run the Department of the Interior.  No slight to the Interior, but it doesn’t seem as impressive as the being the senior Senator from Colorado – especially one that has only had the job for four years.  And Judd Gregg from New Hampshire tried to leave the Senate to become Secretary of Commerce before having a dispute about the census.

 

And now there’s Mel Martinez from Florida.  He’s just leaving after four years for no stated reason.    

Signaling your intentions through talking about time

People are really bad judges of little time.  And they often don't signal their intentions appropriately.  My friend Alexandra Wolfe pointed this out to me recently when she noted that people always say that they are running "5 minutes late" or that they will "be there in 5 minutes."

But what does "5 minutes" actually mean?

My investigation into this mystery has led me to the following answer:  "5 minutes" means anything and nothing.

When you tell someone you will be there in "five minutes," it conveys no information.   It could mean you'll actually show up in 1 minute or mean you will be there in 25 minutes.   The person who gets the message won't know if they should eagerly await you or do a sales call.  

And, by the way, it is the same thing for "20 minutes."  no information is conveyed.  "20 minutes" could actually mean "never."

So instead of saying you'll be five minutes late ... tell people that you will be there at 5:06p.   That gives a definite time to the receiver and will ease her anxiety.  Plus, you'll be able to better signal your intentions so that they can follow you.

Also -- never say you'll do something "in a sec."   that's likely untrue.   It is possible you'll do it in 16 seconds ... but likely you'll do it some time longer in the future.  

do successful politician have more daughters?

is there a correlation with successful male politicians and having more daughters?

the last three U.S. presidents have a total of five daughters and no sons (Clinton has one daughter and George W. Bush and Obama both have two daughters).  

maybe politicians with daughters are better at empathizing with the people.  

of course, not all U.S. Presidents have mostly daughters ... but a great many do.

Of the first five U.S. presidents, only one (John Adams) had any sons.  And one of those sons (John Quincy Adams) became the sixth president.  

one possible explanation for this is that the American people have always been wary of royalty and hereditary rule.   so they were more apt to elect politicians in the the early days who did not have sons.   Some of these presidents adopted sons or had step-sons ... but the fact that they were not blood related probably soothed the consciousness of early Americans.

Reed Hastings on corp culture

Reed Hastings, NetFlix's CEO, is one of my most-admired managers.   He's extremely sharp and knows how to build a great company.   His 128 slide presentation on culture is pretty phenomenal.  I would encourage all CEOs of large and small companies to review it:

Culture

View more presentations from reed2001.

important privacy information from Google

brought to you by the Onion:

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Successful people return calls

I've found that most really successful people return calls much faster than moderately successful people.   So the question is:  are they successful because they return calls OR do they return calls because they are successful.

I'm not sure. 

But I think it is wise not to chance it.  Best bet to return calls and email quickly.  

A lot of inbound emails are for people who are trying to sell you stuff or for things you don’t want.   With those emails, my rule is that if the email is written well, takes my interests into account, and is polite and short (without big attachments), I'll email them back and at least say that I'm not interested.   That way their time can be respected and they don’t have to follow-up with me.

All people should follow this rule.

But more importantly, emails from colleagues, friends, or business acquaintances should be replied to ASAP.  If you are on a call with someone and you agree to get something to them by Wed, then you should definitely get something to them on Wed.  And if you slip, you should let them know.   And if you don’t let them know, you should at least respond to their emails asking you about why you haven't responded.   It is only courtesy.

I personally take notes on everyone I interact with on the following items:
- do they get back to me in a timely manner?
- are they on time to meetings?

For people that respect my time, I give them a star.   If that person is ever in need of anything in the future, I go out of my way to help them.   If the person does not respect my time, they get a minus sign.   I’ll be less likely to respond to help requests from those people in the future.

Being nice to those around you, especially those that are a few rungs down on the ladder, is an essential to being a good citizen.   And of the people you are dealing with, you never know who might be someone that can yield influence over you in the future ... so respect their time now.

Some thoughts on flying United

Like many people in sales, I fly a lot to visit current customers and potential customers.   I generally fly United since it has a lot of options on the routes I normally fly (and they are one of the few domestic airlines that has many direct international flights from SFO).  So a few observations on United:

 

- United has gotten a lot better.   They have a improved a lot over the last few years.   I've noticed a huge improvement in customer service, friendliness, and care.  

 

- I always buy economy class and actually like the Economy class on United (especially with the 2 inches of extra legroom in economy plus).   But I usually get upgraded (like 80% of the time) these days.   Probably the reason for getting upgraded is that no one is buying first class tickets and so the few people that buy business class tickets are getting upgraded to first.  And the routes I generally fly (like SFO to JFK) have planes with tons of business class seats (unlike the SFO-BOS routes which only have 8 business class seats and no first class seats).

 

- the plugs in business class can power something small (like an ipod) but quickly shut down when one plugs a laptop into them.   They should change this.

 

- there is no internet on united.   And I like it that way.  

 

- in business class, they offer movie players since the seats are not outfitted with media centers.   This is a good idea.  Of course, I have never actually gotten a media player as I find planes awesome for actually getting work done (no interruptions).

 

- the speakers on United are really loud.   They might want to lower the volume a bit.   When the captain talks, he takes half my ear drum with him.

 

- the food (in business class) is actually good.   And they often serve heated nuts as a snack (they are delicious).

 

- because I never buy business class tickets, I never get upgraded to first.   But a business class ticket was bought for me on route from Tokyo to SFO and I got upgraded to first class (my 1st time on united).   Wow, first class was awesome.  The bed was incredibly comfortable.   Of course, I don't really remember most of it because I was sound asleep.

 

- one thing united could do better: when you check-in online or at the kiosks, they try to upsell you to buy miles.  And it is not a good deal ... one would have to be pretty stupid to buy the miles.  And after the 40th time of not taking the offer, you'd think they would wise up and realize I was getting annoyed with the offer and just not show it anymore (or at least show a more appropriate offer).  I've tried to find the option to stop getting these offers but could not figure out how to do it online (any suggestions would be welcome).

 

- they send flight reminders a week before the flight.  That might be good for people who fly every few months, but when you fly almost every week it can be really confusing what flight they are reminding you of.   They should have an easy way of turning those reminders off without turning off the check-in reminder (I'm sure there is a way to do it, but it is not user friendly).

 

- they should personalize the trip more.  Like "Mr. Hoffman, hope you have a good flight to New York today.   And I saw that you went to Japan last week.  I love Tokyo.   How was your flight?"  

 

- in the United P.S. business class cabin, there is only one bathroom.   And there is 26 business class passengers and at least 2 flight crew using that bathroom.   So it is pretty much always full (especially during busy times).   I don’t know what the solution to this is but the crew might want to recognize this and selective escort people to use the first class bathroom when it is available.

 

- every once in a while, I like to take a quick weekend vacation.   It would be helpful to get from United a list of all direct flights from SFO so I can easily sort out where I'd like to go.   Maybe they publish this, but I have not been able to find it.  

 

Overall -- I'm a big fan of United.   I'm sure there are many other ways they can improve but I think they are trying and I applaud them for it. 

 

 

child care in San Francisco needs help

Many working parents in San Francisco have to move for one simple reason: they cannot find child care.   In the most liberal city in America, getting your kid into a child care program takes nepotism, bribery, some luck, and a whole lot of headache.

One friend of mine has been on the waitlist at five different locations for over a year.   And they put their current odds of getting into a program at less than 10%.   It is a shame.  

not knowing anything about caring for children (i'm still struggling with caring for my plants), it seems like there is a big business opporetunity to provide affordable, yet quality, childcare for working parents.

best birthday present ever -- dina kaplan and how she contacted barry schwartz -- and thoughts on gifting

If you know me and you've sat down with me for over a few hours, inevitably you'll hear about the Paradox of Choice.  The book, by author Barry Schwartz, was recommended to me a few years ago by Esther Dyson ... it is a great book with many non-obvious thoughts.   I've since read many articles and papers by Schwartz who I think is one of the most interesting minds I have come across.   While I don’t always agree with him, he always makes me think.

 

Fast forward to April this year when I got an email from Dina Kaplan.  That, in itself, isn’t big news ... Dina is a dear friend of mine who I talk to regularly.   But the content was interesting ... Dina had gotten me a unique birthday present ... a lunch with Barry Schwartz.  

 

Before last week, I had never met Professor Schwartz but constantly talked about his work.   I assumed Dina (who is the most connected person I know) knew Schwartz and called in a favor to have him go to lunch with me.   What I only found out later is that she cold emailed him, told him I was a big fan, and convinced him to have lunch with me.

 

Well last week Schwartz and I sat down for a great lunch.   I was like a kid in the candy store peppering him with questions, asking him about his theories (many of which had to do with hiring and motivating employees ... something I am very focused on right now), and hearing his thoughts about families.  

 

It turns out that it was, by far, the best birthday present I have ever received.   And it set a new standard for giving gifts.  

 

Gifting can be really powerful if it is super personalized.  And the best gift isn't a thing, it is an experience.   And it isn’t the dollar amount you spend on someone (at least it shouldn't be), but the thought and effort.  

 

Dina did a few things that earn her the gold medal in gift giving:

 

1. she thought a lot about the recipient.   99.9% of people would not appreciate a gift of lunch with a random professor from Swarthmore College ... so it was obvious the gift was targeted to me.

 

2. she did her research.  She dug up Schwartz's email address ... she thought of a clever pitch ... and she convinced him to go to lunch with me.

 

3. she was persistent.   Who knows how many people she contacted.   Maybe Schwartz was the first person she contacted but maybe he was the tenth.

 

If gifting is an art and a science, then Dina Kaplan wins its Nobel Prize.   Thank you Dina!