Cultural Offering.com

Be happy. Live near work

KH — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:44:32 GMT

Fast Company looks at how Imo offered employees money to live near the office. Why? They wanted happier employees:

"Georges’s favorite commute was to Imo’s previous office. He lived within a minute and a half’s walk to work. 'There was no worrying about when to leave in order to get there on time,' he says. 'There was one stoplight in between, and sometimes when it was red, it would take an extra 30 seconds to get to work.'"

When I travel and drive through nearby Columbus at rush hour, I always look at the drivers; they look so unhappy. I have a seven minute commute. Sometimes I don't even hear Martin Goldsmith announce the next classical music piece of XM Symphony Hall. What a crime.

Newark businesses should put together an advertising campaign built around the easy commute to work.

Russian Colours

KH — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:32:51 GMT

New album from Camille Thomas and Beatrice Berrut: A Century of Russian Colours. Buy here. Trailer here:

Cool. . .

KH — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:24:54 GMT

Very cool. Sarah Vaughan rehearsing in the recording studio. If you don't own Sarah Vaughan's At Mr. Kelly's, go buy it immediately. You will not regret the decision.

The tricorder pre-ordered

KH — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:16:51 GMT

Today I pre-ordered my Scanadu Scout personal health monitoring device. I even got the special early bird $149 price. Now I just have to wait until next year for the delivery. And I thought pre-ordering Season 4 of Justified would take awhile.

I hope. . .

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:55:39 GMT

I didn't miss it:

"One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night, or deep in sloping meadows, the feeling that every flower and leaf has just uttered something stupendously direct and important, and that we have by a prodigy of imbecility not heard or understood it. There is a certain poetic value in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things."

G.K. Chesterton

Found at The Hammock Papers.

Natural order

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:47:52 GMT

"I believe we do ourselves a injustice by not recognizing what a special place the United States is (hence my deep regard for Thomas Jefferson, et. al.) in terms of personal liberty. We do ourselves a greater injustice by not recognizing how fragile liberty is. From a historical perspective, it is not the natural order of things."

Read the rest at Anderson Layman's Blog.

I always wonder at the stake our forefathers placed in this ground.

Two prayers

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:55:23 GMT

Watch and smile ear to ear.

"I know exactly what happened here."

What's your foundation?

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:42:08 GMT

Found, like so many other amazing things, at Mme. Scherzo.

Getting things done

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:05:43 GMT

I traveled today and decided to run back through David Allen's Getting Things Done. I am guessing it was my fifth or sixth time through the book and I always pick up something new. I went searching for a chart to cover the process and found one:

The performance review

KH — Wed, 22 May 2013 01:49:12 GMT

"We met in the conference room with its breathtaking view of parking garages, and, while I was admiring the scene, Floyd handed me the damn thing and said my overall rating wasn’t just his opinion but the collective judgment of every manager in the unit. After only a glance at a couple of pages, I let him have it. My editorial skills got the highest possible marks, 5s, but right below those was a 2 and the word 'outbursts.' In the language of the Gods of Management, 'Larry must control his outbursts.' Hello? If you 'control' an 'outburst,' it isn’t an 'outburst.' It’s whining.

A second 2 caught my eye; 'Larry must work on his people skills.' 'You think everything’s fine here, don’t you. If I’d just shut up, things would be perfect.'

Floyd was quick with a 'No, no. We value your judgment and want you to point out problems but try ….'"

Read about the performance review at larrymccoyonline.

Thanks, David.

10 Things. . .

KH — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:21:21 GMT

you really should know about effective service improvement.

Thanks to Nicholas Bate for pointing me to James Lawther.

Music for a Monday - Kathy Mattea

KH — Tue, 21 May 2013 02:14:38 GMT

Kathy Mattea sings "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive". My grandfather left Cadiz alive.

Beware the out years

KH — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:47:13 GMT

I love charts like this. I could never present such an estimate.

More here.

Excerpt:

So here’s the bottom line: health care spending will likely continue to add to the overall deficit of the U.S. unless one of two things happen: 1) government and private payers simply pay less to providers or 2) providers charge less. Still, it does not alter dramatically the underlying math: health care spending is a matter of volume x price. If efforts in the ACA and private sector simply adjust what’s paid (prices) without addressing volume (utilization), deficits associated with health care spending will continue to play a greater role in the federal spending gap between revenues and expenses.

Remember one of Rumsfeld's Rules:

"Beware of the argument that 'this is a period for investment, improvements will come in the

out years.' The tension between the short term and long term can be constructive, but there

is no long term without a short term."

Triggers

KH — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:32:43 GMT

If scientists studied more important things they would look at the effects of a haircut on productivity. Next they would study human output after a shoe shine. And the creative capacity of a person smoking a fine cigar.

The ability of an individual to solve complex problems while taking a hot shower.

The negotiation skills of a person after a good cup of coffee. The effect of a glass of wine on conversation.

How a freshly starched shirt and sharply creased dress pants improve presentation skills.

Important subjects.

16 minutes

KH — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:19:04 GMT

You have a school full of children and are warned that in less than a half hour a tornado may hit your location. What do you do?

The awesome power of mother nature is a constant reminder of how small we truly are.

Prayers to the residents of Moore, Oklahoma.

A couple of adages proven through health care reform

KH — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:29:38 GMT

People are smarter than laws:

"'We wouldn't have anticipated that there'd be demand for these types of band-aid plans in 2014,' said Robert Kocher, a former White House health adviser who helped shepherd the law. 'Our expectation was that employers would offer high quality insurance.' Part of the problem: lawmakers left vague the definition of employer-sponsored coverage, opening the door to unexpected interpretations, say people involved in drafting the law."

The law of unintended consequences:

"As noted, employers are already reacting to ObamaCare. In fact, there was a huge shift to part-time employment in the fast-food industry beginning in January. The reason: ObamaCare will employ a 12-month “look back.” That is, in deciding whether a worker is full-time or part-time next January (when the mandate becomes effective) the government will look at the average weekly hours worked in the previous year.

One fast-food restaurant owner I talked with (owning 100 franchises) told me that the average workweek for their employees has been reduced to 25 hours this year–compared with 38 last year."

Parlez vous barbeque?

KH — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:17:10 GMT

Update: Chicken, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, Sweet Baby Ray's and Walkerswood Jamaican Jerk. Molson Canadian for strength. You are very welcome.

Outside

KH — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:10:22 GMT

The proper removal of rhododendron.

I spent the day outside yesterday. The weatherman called for storms, so it was a beautiful day. Flats of flowers were procured and planted, flower boxes were filled along with the odd assortment of flower pots we've collected over the years. I purchased a power washer (doesn't everyone need a power washer?) and new mower blades, tore out a tired old rhododendron, trimmed some bushes. I weeded and mowed and tinkered and puttered and did almost everything I could do to stay outside.

Nothing monumental was accomplished but maintenance and improvement was achieved. Things look a little less winter-torn now.

Tim: "Now that I'm 50, I'm greeting everyone I meet. . .because I know it irritates them."

Tim came over and smoked a cigar with me. We chatted easily and reminded ourselves that we could have had the same conversations - did have the same conversations - twenty-five years ago.

There's a story here somewhere.

The birds seemed to notice a more permanent change to warmer weather as did the squirrels and cats and few other animals going about their business in the sun. Even the smell in the air was different, shifting from the damp early spring battle for life to the reassuring warm earth and grass and floral smells.

Everything seemed nicer outside yesterday. The weatherman calls for storms today. I think I'll head back outside.

Music for a Saturday - Rod Stewart

KH — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:36:11 GMT

It was the '80's when bad videos so often accompanied good songs. Rod Stewart in the courtroom with "Love Touch":

A study in meetings

KH — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:20:50 GMT

The perfect meeting?

Execupundit offers suggestions for surviving the bad meeting. My favorite:

"Ask yourself what Theodore Roosevelt, Margaret Thatcher or Abraham Lincoln would do and act accordingly."

What I usually do:

"Excuse yourself to take a call and then don't return."

Of course, this topic always leads me to the best meetings, which are so often no meetings, but can be constructed from the following elements:

Something to Discuss - If we are just imparting information, there is no need for a meeting. If we have something to discuss - a decision to make, options to consider, actions to take - then a meeting might be in order.

A Good Agenda - For me a good agenda imparts information; it briefly lays out not just the topics but the relevant facts being considered as part of the discussion. I once started a meeting with an overview of the client's situation (which wasn't good) and had the plant manager tell me: "oh, it is going to be one of those meetings." In my mind, I failed in preparation for the meeting because I didn't make the circumstances known as part of the advance agenda. I surprised him.

The Right People - The best meeting accomplishes something, and there is no better way to accomplish something than by having the right people in the meeting. Who are the right people? People who can - and will - make decisions.

Meeting Leader - The best meetings will have someone who leads the discussion toward decisions. Someone should be in charge of the meeting. That person oversees the development of the agenda, ensures that good information is on hand, and efficiently and effectively guides participants in the room toward a conclusion. The greatest compliment I ever received from a client was from a new client who, after a two hour meeting (long by my standards) told me that the short meeting was refreshing and helpful. He explained that the previous consultants would "hold" them all day for meetings. A good meeting is not rushed but does have sense of urgency and progression to it. It respects the participants' time.

Follow-up - A good meeting will have follow-ups. They should be reviewed in the meeting and then followed up quickly.

Related posts:

Meetings like Google and Apple.
The meeting people - a business fable.
So you have to run a meeting.
One hour. . .tops.
Four lists to learn.
Signs that your meeting could be improved.
Useful meetings.
On meetings and arrival times.
How to call a meeting Deadwood style (100% NSFW because Al Swearengen is talking).