When you don’t have all the facts…

…be very careful what you say.

When asked about Harvard professor Henry Gates’ arrest by Cambridge police, President Obama said, “I don’t have all the facts…”

Subsequent actions indicate he wishes he’d stopped there.  The rest of his answer had people taking sides on the debate over race relations in this country.  Having observed President Obama for some time now, I’ve seen the effort he puts into building bridges between competing factions in every arena in which he operates.  To lob a grenade onto an existing bridge, especially a tenuous structure like race relations in the United States, just isn’t his style.

Each of us can relate to President Obama’s faux pas this past week.  Who among us hasn’t been asked to comment on things about which we have little, if any, information?

Fortunately for us, our missteps don’t happen in front of millions of viewers.  What can we learn from the President’s comments?

Let’s begin with an exploration of why we, human beings, have this natural tendency to comment on things that we know little about.  Here are a few thoughts:

• we enjoy the fact that others value our opinion
• we don’t want to be perceived as dodging difficult issues
• we have opinions and we want to be heard

Let’s be honest, we’re flattered when others seek our opinion.  We sense that they hope to learn something from us.  Human nature being what it is, we don’t like to disappoint people who think highly of us.  So we wade (or jump headlong) into those murky waters of incomplete information.  Unfortunately, our lack of knowledge of all the facts usually prevents us from providing any real value to those who seek our opinion.

The previous scenario assumes that the other party’s interest in our opinion is genuine.  That isn’t always the case.  There are times when we feel trapped by a question.  We sense that no matter what we say, our words are going to come back to haunt us.  “No comment” is going to be as damning as whatever else we might say.  I suspect this was the position in which President Obama found himself during the press conference.

Finally, despite the fact that we don’t have complete information on the question posed, we often have thoughts on related issues and we want those opinions heard.  All too often these opinions are dismissed because they’re not relevant to the question being posed.  Not only are our efforts for naught, we risk being viewed as someone who either isn’t paying attention or is a little slow on the uptake.  Either way we lose credibility in the sight of those involved in the discussion.

So what’s the solution?  None of the outcomes in the three scenarios outlined above does us or our listeners any good.  So how do we avoid these pitfalls?

It’s counter-intuitive, but refusing to comment when you have incomplete information is the most effective way to protect yourself and others.  You’ll gain respect and enhance your credibility with those who truly value your opinion by saying “I don’t have enough information to add value to this discussion.”

You’ll also minimize the damage that those who are trying to trap you can inflict upon you.  It’s much easier to defend a claim that you’re dodging a difficult question when you can honestly say “I don’t know how I can be expected to form a judgment when I don’t have all the facts.”  Again, this kind of response enhances your credibility at a time when others seek to diminish it.

Your ideas are also likely to get a better hearing if you say “I don’t have enough information to comment on this particular situation, but I’d be happy to share my thoughts on the broader issue of…”  If the listener(s) take you up on this offer, feel free to share your thoughts with them.  If they don’t, let them continue the discussion.  Either way your integrity and credibility remain intact.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 1, Contributory Negligence, to show you how our natural human tendencies create problems for us.  I also used Step 4, See Similarities, to show how President Obama’s misstep is one that each of us has made from time to time.  Finally, I’m using Step 5, Contrarian Mindset, to show how we can protect ourselves from the dangers of incomplete information.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

Appalling Lack of Security at Federal Facilities

What’s the solution?

July 8, 2009 newscasts cited alarming examples of security breaches at Federal facilities.  One report mentioned that a guard had allowed a baby in a carriage to pass through an x-ray machine.

So what’s the solution?  The one offered was “more training.”  Please!

I offer education programs as part of my business and one of the things I’ve learned over the years is that you can’t educate people who aren’t interested.  It doesn’t take training to know that sending a child through an x-ray machine endangers the child’s health.  Nor does lack of education explain why some guards didn’t even watch the screens as bags passed through the x-ray machines.

More plausible explanations are:

• poor hiring practices
• inadequate job rotation to minimize boredom on the job
• clear expectations
• a tracking system that allows the guards to measure their successes

Training is often the scapegoat of poor performance when, in reality, there are a whole host of factors that should be considered.  Ascribing failures to poor training leads to a larger investment in training with a very low probability that you’ll get a return on that investment.  I hope that the Congressional committee investigating these failures will realize that huge sums of taxpayer money are about to be wasted on training that won’t produce the desired result.

Although it doesn’t seem that it should be, it’s apparently counter-intuitive to understand that training can’t generate interest where none exists.  If you’re experiencing poor performance and the early indications are that employees just aren’t paying attention to what they should be doing, investigate the root causes of their disinterest.  You’ll save yourself a lot of the time, energy and money that’s typically wasted on training.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 1, Contributory Negligence, to see that knee-jerk reactions to problems often lead to waste.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

As much as I believe in an eclectic education…

…sometimes gaining one is a challenge.

Over the years my attempts to broaden my education have hit a wall when it comes to poetry.  No matter how often I’ve tried I just can’t seem to get interested.  I expressed my dilemma to the members of my mastermind group, Joe High, 4th Quarter Financial Coach and Dr. Sean Lynch, Zero Balancing Chiropractic Practice,.

Sean said “Why don’t you try it in small increments – 10 to 15 minutes at a time?”  Don’t you hate it when people feed your own advice back to you?

I took his advice, went to the library and chose two poetry books, one on Haiku and one based on the Blues.  While I did get some enjoyment from both, I still wasn’t a raving fan.  Then I say Bill Moyer’s interview of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, W.S. Merwin, on PBS.  I found Merwin’s comments inspiring and suddenly found myself at the computer writing a poem.  Here’s the result.

Reflecting on Time

What a wondrous invention, time
A mirror wrought by the soul

Filled with joy and sadness
Confidence and fear
Anticipation and relief
It’s a reflection of me

Who am I?
Time will tell
Whether slow or fleet
It’s a reflection of me

When time moves as a gentle stream
Slowly to the sea
I know great confidence and joy
It’s a reflection of me

A new rain swells the stream
It’s banks under pressure
So like times of fear
It’s a reflection of me

The mighty river’s plodding style
Like times of sadness and loss
Or childish anticipation of the man of the North
It’s a reflection of me

As the raging flood subsides
So does the passage of time
As relief replaces fear
It’s a reflection of me

Who am I?
Time will tell
Whether slow or fleet
It’s a reflection of me

And if I don’t like it’s tale?
I’ll choose another
For you see
Time is a reflection of me

Why am I sharing this poem with you?  Because I overlooked the fact that, in gaining an eclectic education, doing is just as educational as studying.  We’ve been conditioned to view education as classroom training, reading, studying a new topic or watching Nova and Discovery.

It’s counter-intuitive, but any activity in which we engage has an educational aspect to it. If we don’t enjoy the studying, we always have the option of doing.

You’ll be relieved to know that I do not envision writing a book of poetry any more than I would display my amateur attempts at pencil sketches.  Yet I’ve learned from both of these experiences and will, from time to time, engage in them as a way of continuing my eclectic education.  I encourage you to do the same.  Begin doing things that you’d never imagined or only given a passing thought to.  Do them for the sheer joy of doing.  For the joy lies not in the greatness of the result, but in the experience itself.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 1, Contributory Negligence, and the advice of some dear friends, to understand why I was struggling to enjoy poetry’s benefits.  Step 4, Seeing Similarities, helped me see that poetry, like some other art forms, afford me greater satisfaction and a better learning experience when I engage in the activity than when I just read about it.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

Are newspapers really becoming passé?

If so, what lessons can we learn from their apparent demise?

A few weeks ago National Public Radio hosted a panel of journalists and journalism academicians to discuss the plight of the newspaper.  Most of the panelists expressed concern that readers aren’t aware of what they were giving up by not supporting newspapers.

In particular, the panelists are concerned that the public doesn’t realize that they are:

• sacrificing accuracy in reporting
• losing access to local news

The panelists saw the loss of accuracy as a byproduct of lost revenues which means that there are fewer reporters available to check the facts on the stories they cover.  The same lost revenues also result in fewer reporters available for local news coverage.  In both instances the panelists believed the public to be naive in its understanding of what it is truly giving up.

Unfortunately I was in my car driving to an appointment when I heard this discussion.  I would have loved to addressed this panel.  Here are the questions I would have asked:

• How important is fact checking when sensationalism is your primary goal?
• Where exactly does one find this “local coverage” on important issues?

My experience has been that, while newspapers may report facts, they put such a spin on them that the facts get overlooked by the readers.

I remember one particularly vivid example during the height of the economic meltdown when headlines stated that Sony’s earnings were down 56%.  While the facts were accurate, these headlines were designed to fuel the fear that readers were already experiencing.  It would have been just as easy to say, “despite a 56% decline in earnings, Sony remains profitable and is generating positive cash flow.”

Newspaper people tell us that sensationalism sells – that’s what the market wants.  Please don’t tell me that the readers cited above really wanted to experience more fear than they already were.  I haven’t seen any indications that we, as a society, have become masochistic.  Nor does the decline in newspaper revenues substantiate their claim that sensationalism sells.

Let’s shift our attention to the local news coverage we’re foregoing.  I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell you how many hours I spend trying to find background information on candidates and issues in local elections.  That information certainly is not available in my local newspapers.  More importantly, this isn’t a recent phenomenon.  I’ve been voting for four decades and I can never recall a time when the information I sought was readily available in the newspaper or, if I did find it, that I didn’t feel that the newspaper was pushing its own agenda.

So what’s the message for you.  If your customers are abandoning you, stop bemoaning their naiveté and start listening to them.  They’ll tell you what you need to know if they think you’ll actually change your way of doing business.  It’s counter-intuitive, but, when you’re losing business it’s not the customer who is naive, it’s you.  You’re in denial and you need to take a long, hard look at what your doing and why it’s so objectionable to your customers.  If you don’t, your business will go the way of the newspaper.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog Step 1, Contributory Negligence, was used to help you see how costly ignoring your contribution to the problem can be when you ignore the market’s messages.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.