#Leadership : We Are Seeing The Effects Of The Minimum Wage Rise In San Francisco…As We’ve Been Saying all Long: a Rise in the Minimum Wage Really Does Destroy Jobs.

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There Really is No Free lunch. A Rise in Wages will Come Out of Either Less Labor being Employed, Lower Profit Margins (Fast Food doesn’t have those Wide enough to take the strain) or Price Increases to Consumers (Lower Sales). So, if Employers either Economize on Labor or Profits, there will be Job Losses: the Minimum Wage Rise does Reduce Employment.

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Or there is this final method: raise prices. Which also causes job losses: for the more money that consumers are spending on reasonably priced Mexican food (although now less reasonably priced Mexican food than it used to be) the less they have available to spend on other things. We might think that there could be an interesting overlap between those who consume reasonably priced Mexican food and those who frequent comic book shops for example. If the food now costs more then there might well be less being spent in the comic book shop: again, we see reductions in the number of jobs.

And just to head off at the pass one of the more insane points that people try to make. That if the workers at Chipotle are now making more money then they’ll spend more at Chipotle, and the company’s profits will rise! This doesn’t even pass the basic math test, let alone any economic one. For note above the split in revenues. About 30% of revenue is spent upon labor. The other 70% is spent upon other things, including that 30% or so on food ingredients. So, if Chipotle raises wages by $100 (just as an example) and all of those wages are then spent in the same store, it is impossible for profits to rise. Think about it for a moment: the wage bill has just gone up by $100. Revenues have just gone up by $100. But the food bill has also gone up by $30. So, the increase in costs is $130 (even in the very best, best, case) while revenues have gone up by $100. This is known to the cognoscenti as a loss, not an increase in profit.

There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Only lunches of variable cost. And if we increase the cost of one of the major inputs into such lunches then something else will give. Here, as a result of the rise in the minimum wage Chipotle has raised prices in that specific location where the minimum wage rise occurred.

 

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This doesn’t help minimum wage earners: some unknown but knowable reduction in sales of reasonably priced Mexican food will take place as a result of this price rise. Demand curves really do slope downwards. Thus some unknown but knowable number of people will not be employed to produce said food.

As we’ve been saying all along: a rise in the minimum wage really does destroy jobs.

As we keep trying to point out to people there really isn’t anything even remotely resembling a free lunch when it comes to the discussion of wages and labor. Meaning that just because well meaning liberals wave their magic wand and decree that wages will rise there will indeed be countervailing effects. And in San Francisco, where the minimum wage was recently raised we did indeed see that comic book shop insisting that it just couldn’t survive. And now we’ve another tale, this time from Chipotle. Beef prices have been rising around the country so they’ve raised the prices, around the country, of their beef products. Wages in San Francisco have been rising strongly so they’ve raised the prices of all their products in San Francisco strongly. There really is no free lunch. A rise in wages will come out of either less labor being employed, lower profit margins (and fast food doesn’t have those wide enough to take the strain) or price increases to consumers.

And it’s that last which is happening as Mark Perry points out:

• In our weekly survey of ten of Chipotle’s markets, we found the company implemented price increases in half of the surveyed markets this week—San Francisco, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, and Orlando. In most markets, the price increases have been limited to beef and average about 4% on barbacoa and steak, toward the lower end of management’s expectation for a 4% to 6% price increase on beef.

• San Francisco, however, saw across-the-board price increases averaging over 10%, including 10% increases on chicken, carnitas (pork), sofritas (tofu), and vegetarian entrees along with a 14% increase on steak and barbacoa. We believe the outsized San Francisco price hike was likely because of increased minimum wages (which rose by 14% from $10.74 per hour to $12.25 on May 1) as well as scheduled minimum wage increases in future years (to $13 next year, $14 in 2017, and $15 in 2018).

A rough guide to the finances of the fast food industry is as follows. 30% goes on wages, 30% of revenues goes on ingredients and the other 40% is everything else. Rents, advertising, capital costs and, of course, profits. Those profits are pretty low. 5% of revenues isn’t an out of order estimation of the net profit margins in the business (and, of course, that’s an average, as some locations and some whole chains lose money).

So, if we by legislative fiat raise the price of one of those inputs then something, somewhere, has to give. Those profit margins are already pretty thin and so they’re not going to be where that extra cost comes from. More than that if we reduce the returns to capital in a particular line of business then less capital will be invested in that line of business in the future. This means fewer jobs in that line of business: This is one of the ways that a rise in the minimum wage destroys jobs. Fewer will be created in the future than would have been in the absence of the rise in the minimum wage.

It’s possible that employers will be encouraged to deploy their labor in a more productive manner as a result of the price increase. This is the same statement as fewer jobs will be created. For if I go and raise labor productivity then by definition I need less labor for any given level of output. Or of course employers could just automate the process a little more and that also means fewer jobs.

So, if employers either economize on labor or profits, there will be job losses: the minimum wage rise does reduce employment.

Or there is this final method: raise prices. Which also causes job losses: for the more money that consumers are spending on reasonably priced Mexican food (although now less reasonably priced Mexican food than it used to be) the less they have available to spend on other things. We might think that there could be an interesting overlap between those who consume reasonably priced Mexican food and those who frequent comic book shops for example. If the food now costs more then there might well be less being spent in the comic book shop: again, we see reductions in the number of jobs.

And just to head off at the pass one of the more insane points that people try to make. That if the workers at Chipotle are now making more money then they’ll spend more at Chipotle, and the company’s profits will rise! This doesn’t even pass the basic math test, let alone any economic one. For note above the split in revenues. About 30% of revenue is spent upon labor. The other 70% is spent upon other things, including that 30% or so on food ingredients. So, if Chipotle raises wages by $100 (just as an example) and all of those wages are then spent in the same store, it is impossible for profits to rise. Think about it for a moment: the wage bill has just gone up by $100. Revenues have just gone up by $100. But the food bill has also gone up by $30. So, the increase in costs is $130 (even in the very best, best, case) while revenues have gone up by $100. This is known to the cognoscenti as a loss, not an increase in profit.

There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Only lunches of variable cost. And if we increase the cost of one of the major inputs into such lunches then something else will give. Here, as a result of the rise in the minimum wage Chipotle has raised prices in that specific location where the minimum wage rise occurred.

This doesn’t help minimum wage earners: some unknown but knowable reduction in sales of reasonably priced Mexican food will take place as a result of this price rise. Demand curves really do slope downwards. Thus some unknown but knowable number of people will not be employed to produce said food.

As we’ve been saying all along: a rise in the minimum wage really does destroy jobs.

 

Forbes.com | June 7, 2015 | Tim Worstall 

#Leadership : How Extreme #Narcissism Wreaks Havoc On Your Life & What To Do About It… #Narcissists Exploits Other People to Sustain a Defensive & Idealized Self-Image.

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Surprising to Me was the Fact that I Had been Attracting Narcissists into my Life Repeatedly Throughout my 18-Year Career. I finally learned what I needed to do about it so it would never happen again.

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Have you ever seen the movie Office Space? Don't be that guy.

Have you ever seen the movie Office Space? Don’t be that guy.

From the minute I learned of something called narcissistic personality disorder during my Master’s program in marriage and family therapy, a whole lot of what had happened to me throughout my life (at the hands of toxic friends, bosses and colleagues) made a great deal more sense. As a therapist,too, I saw first-hand the crushing effects of narcissism and what it does to those in its wake. If you’ve ever been exposed to a narcissist at work, you know that the effects can be truly devastating.

Even more surprising to me was the fact that I had been attracting narcissists into my life repeatedly throughout my 18-year career. I finally learned what I needed to do about it so it would never happen again. (And here’s more about how not to get fired by one). Last year, when I wrote a LinkedIn post on the 6 Toxic Behaviors That Hold You Back: How To Recognize Them In Yourself and Change Them,and it went viral (at that time, it was the most-read piece ever on LinkedIn at 2.8 million views), the comments and responses demonstrated that people all over the world are dealing with toxicity and narcissism, and simply don’t know how to handle it.

To learn more about extreme narcissism, I was eager to connect with Dr. Joseph Burgo, a psychotherapist of 30 years and the author of the book The Narcissist You Know: Defending Yourself Against Extreme Narcissists in an All-About-Me World and Why Do I Do That? Psychological Defense Mechanisms and the Hidden Ways They Shape Our Lives. Joe’s blog, AfterPsychotherapy.com, draws more than 30,000 visits per month, and he is a regular writer and commentator for news outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and NPR and the voice behind the Psychology Today blog “Shame.”

Here’s what Joe shared about extreme narcissism, how to recognize it and deal with it:

Kathy Caprino: Joe, what contributes to the emergence of Extreme Narcissism in an individual? What happens in childhood that brings rise to it and how can parents behave differently to ensure a child grows up healthy and secure?

Joe Burgo: In my book, I explain Extreme Narcissism as a defense against core shame, defined as an internal sense of damage, defect or ugliness. Core shame takes root in the earliest months and years of life and results from gross failures in parenting and attachment: a severely depressed mother, a physically absent father, drug or alcohol abuse, violent parental discord, etc. The late British psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott talked about an innate “blueprint for normality” – an inherited expectation for what each child will encounter upon birth. When early childhood departs dramatically from that expectation, core shame is the result. It doesn’t depend upon shaming behavior from the parents but may be compounded by it.

Because the experience of core shame is unbearably painful, the growing child may develop a false and idealized self-image to ward it off, a “winner” self-identity meant to deny and disprove the experience of being ugly, damaged, or defective – that is, a “loser.” Defending this winner self-image often depends upon identifying someone else as the loser. Just as a comic depends upon a straight man to support his identity as the funny one, an Extreme Narcissist exploits other people as losers to carry his sense of defect or damage. My book identifies different types of Extreme Narcissism and shows how each of them exploits other people to sustain a defensive and idealized self-image.

 

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Caprino: Does being “shamed” and shaming behavior from parents contribute to narcissism? What else is involved?

Burgo: Being shamed by parents and other people compounds the agonizing experience of core shame. Some parents use their children to carry an off-loaded (and unconscious) sense of shame of their own, turning their offspring into losers and then feeling superior to them. Such children are usually crippled by this experience and never thrive.

While some people who are shamed by their parents succumb to depression and a sense of inferiority, others develop a defensive identity to ward off the shame. An idealized false self embodies that defense, where defensive character traits (contempt, blaming, self-righteousness, etc.) become embedded in the winner personality. The Extreme Narcissist feels this defensive personality as synonymous with the self and has no conscious awareness of the core shame behind it.

Narcissistic parents who are themselves invested in being perceived as winners often exploit their children for narcissistic gain, encouraging them to become winners as an extension of the parental self. (I use the example of Tiger Woods and his father Earl as an example, where a narcissistic parent nurtures a narcissistic child, both of them needing to perceive themselves as winners.) Narcissism begets narcissism.

Caprino: What are the hallmarks of it among your colleagues or peers – the top five signs?

Burgo: There’s a lot of valuable and widely repeated information available online, about how to identify narcissists, most of it tied to the DSM diagnostic criteria. My book distinguishes different types of Extreme Narcissism, each one characterized by a different prominent feature. Rather than repeating those five common signs available elsewhere, I’d like to suggest five different types of Extreme Narcissism with their prominent features:

The Bullying Narcissist
Builds up his or her self-image by persecuting you and making you feel like a loser.

The Seductive Narcissist
Makes you feel good about yourself, as if you’re a winner, in order to secure your admiration … then dumps you.

The Know-It-All Narcissist
Constantly demonstrates superior knowledge in order to make others feel ignorant, uninformed, and inferior.

The Vindictive Narcissist
When challenged or wounded, will do everything possible to destroy the perceived cause of shame.

The Addicted Narcissist
Seeks fulfillment of an idealized self through drugs, sex, or fantasy, in ways that are often invisible to outsiders.

Caprino: What are your best strategies for helping people deal with extreme narcissism in both the workplace and personal life?

Burgo: Here are strategies that I’ve found to be effective:

Don’t engage in battle.
Remember that the winner-loser dynamic is always at play in Extreme Narcissism, even if it’s not readily apparent. Because Extreme Narcissists are relentless in defending their winner self-image, you will never prevail if you fight back to prove you are actually the winner.

Do nothing that might stimulate shame.
Bear in mind that shame is always the issue, even though the Extreme Narcissist is almost always unaware of it. For this reason, be excessively cautious not to wound his or her self-esteem, even when you don’t see your comments or behavior as hurtful.

Set aside expectations of fairness and justice.
Objections such as “I didn’t mean it that way!” or “That’s not fair!” are meaningless to the Extreme Narcissist. Winning is all that matters and you need to recognize that you will never persuade the Extreme Narcissist to be reasonable.

Document everything.
Because Extreme Narcissists are often ruthless and vindictive, take every precaution to defend yourself. This often means laying the foundation for legal action that may prove necessary, including preserving emails or other written exchanges, getting witness statements, etc. The endgame often depends upon having legal proof.

Get as much distance as possible.
You will never change the Extreme Narcissist. Don’t delude yourself that you can get him or her to “see the light.” Don’t think you can save the Addicted Narcissist, or convince the Seductive Narcissist to come back.

Caprino: What happens to children of narcissists? What do they need to be aware of in themselves and why is it common that adult children of narcissists attract more narcissistic people and responses in their lives?

Burgo: The adult children of narcissistic parents are attuned to the needs and expectations of self-absorbed people because this is how they survived childhood. They learned that to be accepted (if not truly loved for who they are), they must shape their behavior/personality to meet the needs of others. As adults, they naturally fall into the same pattern with other narcissistic people because it is familiar to them. They believe such self-abnegating behavior will earn them love and acceptance. Each new relationship revives the hope that this time, at long last, someone will give them the love and full acceptance they have always longed for.

For this reason, the adult children of narcissistic parents need to be aware of the ways they will sacrifice their own needs to serve other selfish people; they need to place a value on their own needs and develop a sense of self-worth apart from the approval they constantly seek from their partners, friends, colleagues, etc.

For more information, visit Joe’s blog Shame, and his new book The Narcissist You Know. Other helpful resources include the book Shame: The Underside of Narcissism by Andrew Morrison and The Workplace Bullying Institute.

 

Forbes.com | July 6, 2015 | Kathy Caprino

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#Strategy : 5 Phrases That Signal You’re About To Make A Bad Decision…Sometimes Deep Down, we’re Aware that the Choice We’re About to Make Isn’t the Best Decision. Yet, Rather than Change Course, we Offer Excuses to Justify What we’re About to Do.

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Instead of Preventing ourselves from Heading Down the Wrong path–or Admitting we Made a Mistake–we Defensively Attempt to Rationalize our Behavior. Ultimately, we Keep Digging ourselves Deeper.

Excuses we use to justify our bad behavior.

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Although it sounds a bit ridiculous, everyone behaves impulsively, gives into immediate gratification, or overlooks risk sometimes. Here are five statements we try to use to justify our poor choices:

1. “I deserve to be happy.”

Whether someone raises an eyebrow at a friend’s latest love interest, or a business coach warns a client about taking on more debt, a reluctant listener often responds by saying, “But I deserve to be happy!” While you certainly deserve the right to pursue a happy, healthy lifestyle, this statement often gets thrown around by someone who is about to sabotage their chances of achieving long-term happiness.

When you find yourself demanding that you deserve happiness, make sure you aren’t chasing fleeting feelings of happiness. Keeping your goals and values in mind can prevent you from exchanging momentary pleasure for long-term satisfaction.

 

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2. “I’d rather beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

When we’re about the break the rules on purpose, or push the boundaries a bit too far, it’s tempting to have this mindset. But if you really believe you’re doing what’s best, why would you need to ask for forgiveness? It’s often a passive-aggressive way to avoid confrontation.
Thoughtfully consider the potential consequences of your behavior, including how it could damage a relationship, before you move forward. If you believe in something strongly enough, move forward with the confidence that there will be no need to fake an apology at a later date.

3. “You only live once.”

Ironically, YOLO is usually uttered right before someone puts their life in jeopardy. Should we really jump off this cliff into the rocky water below? YOLO. It’s also used to justify immediate gratification. Should I really eat a second piece of cake? YOLO.

A rich and full life requires a delicate balance between risk and long-term rewards. Calculate risk and take time to consider how this type of thinking could derail you over the long-term.

4. “I’m just being honest.”

Sometimes, when called out on impolite and unkind words, people claim their insensitivity stems from their desire to be truthful. And while the truth really does hurt sometimes, there’s no need to be overly harsh. Honesty doesn’t have to come at the expense of someone else’s feelings.

Before delivering criticism or negative feedback, balance your desire to be direct with the other person’s right to be treated with respect. Whether you’re masking your insecurity by putting someone else down, or you’re lashing out because you’re upset, you’re disrespectful demeanor will speak more about your character than your claims of taking the moral high ground.

5. “I don’t care what anybody thinks.”

While it’s healthy to avoid trying to please everyone, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care what anyone thinks. In fact, a complete disregard for anyone else’s feelings is usually indicative of a personality disorder. The truth is, we should care what some people think.

While there’s no need to take a poll to ensure your loved ones agree with all your decisions, if people express concerns about your decision-making, be willing to listen. Set aside your defenses and take a moment to hear about any potential pitfalls or risks you may be overlooking.

Amy Morin is a psychotherapist, keynote speaker, and the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, a bestselling book that is being translated into more than 20 languages.

 

Forbes.com | July 1, 2015 | Amy Morin

#Strategy : 4 Tough Things you Have To Do to Win at Life…Just Because Someone else Tells you That you “Should” be Doing Something Doesn’t Mean That it’s Best to Automatically Run to Do It.

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You Don’t Have to be Perfect to be Awesome. You Don’t Even Have to be Right Most of the Time.You Don’t Have to be Perfect to be Awesome. You Don’t Even Have to be Right Most of the Time.But you can’t make excuses for what you do — and you can’t avoid working incredibly hard.  Being awesome — no matter how you define that right now — is the result of tenacity, focus, and irrational belligerence.

boston marathon winner 2015

Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopa as he crosses the finish line to win the 2015 Boston Marathon.

 

You have to think for yourself.

Just because someone else tells you that you “should” be doing something doesn’t mean that it’s best to automatically run to do it.

Just because a guru who made some money some time ago tells you “a quick and easy way” to be financially independent doesn’t mean that you can reproduce the karmic results you’re hearing about.

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Most of the time it won’t work.

The truth about being awesome is that most of what you think will work or used to work probably won’t work for you getting to where you want to be.

You’re different from everyone else in thousands of complex but distinct ways. You have different skills, goals, passions, strengths, and weaknesses.

You’re you. They’re them.

Being awesome isn’t something that you can manufacture simply because you follow a series of steps that work the first time you try them.

You have to be invested in what you really want. You have to care so deeply that your bones ache when you feel like you aren’t making progress.

Try. Try. And try again.

That’s the real secret to being awesome.

And one that you can get started on right now.

http://danwaldschmidt.com/2015/07/attitude/the-truth-about-being-awesome#ixzz3f17gJEHr

#Strategy : How America Became Exceptional…Just as the Foresight of our Predecessors had far Reaching Consequences, so Do the Ones we Make Today. We Should Endeavor to Make Wise Ones.

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What Made America Great was the Choices we Made. While the Rest of the World Clung to Class & Caste, we Chose to Offer Hope & Opportunity. When Europe descended into death and destruction, we chose to be a beacon for those who wanted a better life. Within our borders, desperation was transformed into hope, which unlocked ingenuity, industry and prosperity.

In 1929, just before the stock market crash, Louis Bamberger and his sister, Caroline Bamberger Fuld, sold their department store in Newark to R.H. Macy and Company for $25 million. Grateful to the people of Newark for their support, they planned to endow a medical college in that city.

Yet when they approached Abraham Flexner, the foremost authority on higher education at the time, he pointed out there was little point in building a medical school just across the river from Manhattan, where there was no shortage of medical talent. Instead, he asked the Bambergers to think more ambitiously.

What he had in mind was a place unlike any the world had ever seen, the Institute for Advanced Study. It was to be an academic institution without classrooms or laboratories, but would host some of the world’s greatest minds in an idyllic setting where their genius could roam free. As it turned out, it was an idea that would have great impact on America and the world.

The Great European Brain Drain

No event can be separated from its historical context and the Institute was no different. Just as the idea was taking shape, things for Jews were becoming difficult in Europe. The Bambergers, with their longstanding devotion to Jewish causes combined with the also Jewish Flexner’s academic reputation, would be an ideal conduit top scientists.

Their first efforts succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. On a trip to Caltech in 1932, Flexner met with Albert Einstein. As it turned out, his timing was fortuitous as there was growing hostility to Einstein and his “Jewish physics” in Germany. A group of Aryan scientists had just published a book denouncing him and he had decided to leave Europe.

 

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Einstein’s arrival at the Institute soon attracted others. The influential Hermann Weyl, whose wife was Jewish, came in 1933, as did John von Neumann, the Hungarian Polymath, also born Jewish. In 1935, Wolfgang Pauli came too. As the trickle of great minds became a flood, America was quickly amassing the greatest collection of talent the world has ever known.

As events would have it, this unusual band of refugees fleeing persecution would arrive just in time to not only alter the course of the war that was to come, but to change the fate of their adopted country.

America’s New Immigrants Help To Win The War

In 1939, another emigre, Leo Szilard, went to see Einstein. Szilard, who had helped develop the idea of a nuclear chain reaction, realized that the process could be used to make a bomb of unimaginable power and that Germany was probably already working on one. Together with fellow Hungarians Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller, he drafted a letter to President Roosevelt.

Normally, a letter from some immigrant scientists would not reach the President’s desk, but Einstein’s signature carried a lot of weight. The President ordered the idea studied and determined that it required action. As luck would have it, an engineer from MIT, named Vannevar Bush, was also in the process of selling Roosevelt an idea.

Bush’s brainchild was the OSRD (Office of Scientific Research and Development), which would capitalize on America’s newfound talent to conduct scientific research to support the war effort. Bush would run it and report only to the President. His proposal was approved and given almost unlimited resources and funding.

The OSRD was an unparalleled success. In addition to the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb, it also developed a number of other innovations that contributed greatly to the war effort, including the proximity fuze and radar. Perhaps most importantly, it forever changed how science was funded and undertaken in the United States.

The Post-War Boom In Science And Innovation

As the war drew to a close, President Roosevelt asked Bush to write a report about how to organize future funding for science. That report, called Science, The Endless Frontier, was presented to Truman in 1945. It proposed the formation of a new government agency to direct government funds for basic research.

Bush’s work led to the formation of a variety of agencies, including the NSF (National Science Foundation), NIH (National Institutes of Health) and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Like the OSRD, in time this new funding architecture became critical to America’s technological leadership.

The NSF has funded innovations such as barcode scanners and next generation materials. NIH backed the Human Genome Project as well as research that has led to many of our most important cures. DARPA, quite famously, invented the Internet and GPS. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without the breakthroughs that these programs developed.

And there is nowhere that the exceptional American approach has been more successful than in information technology.

The Dawn Of The Digital Age

The first digital computer was not, as many believe, invented in the United States, but in Britain’s own World War II skunk works, Bletchley Park. Unfortunately, Churchill ordered the machine destroyed at the end of the war in the name of national security.

To compound the error, further work was cordoned off in an obscure government lab and Alan Turing, the British mathematical genius who pioneered the field of digital technology, killed himself after enduring untenable persecution for being a homosexual. That, in a nutshell, was what killed the British technology industry.

Things went much differently in the US. John von Neumann, one of the immigrants who fled anti-semitism in Europe, developed a new model, partly based on the British version, at the Institute for Advanced Study. Further, unlike in Britain, this work was done openly and the design of the IAS machine was shared widely.

Today, virtually every digital device in the world is based on the von Neumann architecture and America dominates the global market for digital technology, estimated to be worth nearly $4 trillion a year. We are also leaders in every other advanced area conceivable, from medical research to nanotechnology to energy.

Throughout our history it has been our openness—to new people as well as new ideas—that made it all happen.

The New American Exceptionalism

Today, America remains exceptional, but for far different reasons. We are, for example, the only advanced country where a majority of the population does not accept evolution. Instead of prizing immigrants for their energy and ingenuity, we call them rapists and drug trafficking migrants with calves the size of cantaloupes.

Our politicians, looking to pander to the lowest common denominator, score cheap political points by waging a war on science. Perhaps not surprisingly, we are losing our lead. The epicenter of physics has shifted to Europe, where they discovered the Higgs boson at the massive particle accelerator at CERN (we defunded ours). A rising China, similar to America a century ago, is poised to assume leadership.

What made America great was the choices we made. While the rest of the world clung to class and caste, we chose to offer hope and opportunity. When Europe descended into death and destruction, we chose to be a beacon for those who wanted a better life. Within our borders, desperation was transformed into hope, which unlocked ingenuity, industry and prosperity.

The truth is that America as an exceptional nation is not a birthright to gloat upon, but a legacy to be lived up to—and lately we’ve been failing miserably. The open, inviting country that we once were is quickly disappearing into a bacchanalia of ignorance, superstition, and selfishness.

Just as the foresight of our predecessors had far reaching consequences, so do the ones we make today. We should endeavor to make wise ones.
Greg Satell is a US based business consultant. You can find his blog at DigitalTonto.com and follow him on Twitter @DigitalTonto

 

Forbes.com | July 4, 2015 | Greg Satell

#Leadership : Why Mean People Still Get Ahead at Work…The Crueler he (my Boss) Behaved, the More they Seemed to Follow him Around with Puppy-Dog Eyes.

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Years ago, I worked alongside a man who was a real tyrant.  He would bark orders at his direct reports, and they would practically jump out of their shoes to do as he asked.

business suit

Cruel leaders may only seem well-liked.

The crueler he behaved, the more they seemed to follow him around with puppy-dog eyes. It almost seemed like they loved him.

I felt sorry for them and angry at the same time. I did not understand why they would not stand up to their awful boss.

Was I missing something there?

I often wonder what inspires people to follow leaders like that boss, despite all the mistreatment. Are they incredibly charismatic? Is there a softer side that only some people can see?

Not usually. Here are the real reasons that a cruel leader seems to get all the love:

Fear

By all appearances, the department seems to be running smoothly. Everyone appears to be getting along just fine and doing their work, but it is just a cover.

His employees are afraid to challenge him, and so they keep their true feelings to themselves. This fear causes them to keep their heads down and not make any waves.

No complaints

No one is complaining, so everything appears to be okay. However, the absence of friendly gossip indicates that something is amiss. Co-workers are not confiding in each other because they know he will somehow find out, and then what? This fear of unknown consequences forces employees to keep the abusive behavior to themselves.

 

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Work happens

His department works and just gets by because they have learned that bad things happen when they miss the mark. They are afraid to fail — knowing from experience that they will be singled out and shamed for falling short of their goals.

The respect that cruel leaders seem to earn is only an illusion.

Cruel leaders do not really get all the love. It only appears that way. Under the surface, they are despised by everyone.

Cruel leaders inspire hatred, not love, precisely because they are completely focused on themselves and use others to get what they want. They take what could be a great opportunity to inspire others to be great, and they squander it by being ruthless.

Have you known a cruel leader? 

Read the original article on Aha!. Copyright 2015. Follow Aha! on Twitter.

http://blog.aha.io/index.php/why-cruel-leaders-get-all-the-love/#ixzz3eOy2yOGJ

#Leadership : These 32 Business Clichés Need to Die…If You’re the One Doing It, Know that Abusing Clichés can Seriously Undermine your Credibility. Here is a List of Overused Business Expressions & the Reasons they Should be Put to Rest Once & for All.

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When you Hear a Business Contact Using yet Another Cliché, What’s the First Thing that Comes to Mind? For me, it’s like fingernails on a chalkboard. Sure, there are times when using a cliché makes sense. When a person uses one after another, or the context is clearly not right, it’s super annoying. If you’re the one doing it, know that abusing clichés can seriously undermine your credibility.

 

Image: Getty 

Here is a list of overused business expressions and the reasons they should be put to rest once and for all.

1. To be honest

Wait, you weren’t being honest until now?

2. It is what it is

Yes, that’s true. It definitely “is what it is.” But the question is, what is it?

3. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid

Why not? It’s been one of my favorite beverages for years.

 

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4. With all due respect

Anytime a person starts a sentence with this, the person is about to disrespect you.

5. Let’s see if we have the bandwidth

This typically means the person doesn’t have the bandwidth. It’s a stall tactic.

6. The fact of the matter is

This basically says, “What you’ve presented until now was not fact and I’m about to correct you.”

7. Break down silos

Are we talking about business or farming?

8. Paradigm shift

Big words don’t impress me. Just say “change.

9. To be fair

I hope you are being fair. It’s only fair.

10. Let’s get disruptive

You’re edgy and trendy; we get it.

11. Going forward

Do you ever go backward in business? I sure hope not.

12. Touch base

Touch base, reach out, get in touch. The list goes on and on. Just use the wordcontact.

13. Push the envelope

The last time I pushed the envelope, it ended up in the mailbox.

14. In the pipeline

I can’t put it in the pipeline, because I don’t even know what the pipeline is.

15. Leverage our assets

Do you mean “our” assets or “my” assets?

16. Let’s take this offline

We can take it offline, but the conversation is going to be pretty much the same.

17. Low-hanging fruit

Someone who is talking about low-hanging fruit may not have much experience “reaching for the stars” (pun intended).

18. Move the needle

Everybody wants to “move the needle,” but without actionable advice this is a waste.

19. Think outside the box

If someone tells you to think outside the box, chances are that person has never done it.

20. Get granular

You mean specific? Why don’t you just say “specific”?

21. This really has legs

It may have legs, but who knows how fast those legs can run?

22. Raise the bar

Raise the bar, reach for the top, eye on the prize. They are all the same, and none of them mean much.

23. Run it up the flagpole

What are you going to do once it gets to the top?

24. Ducks in a row

Do we really need to bring these cute animals into our business conversation?

25. Synergize

A Stephen Covey term that has been abused, time and time again.

26. Loop back/circle back

So, we’re going to talk about this later, then…

27. 360-degree thinking

This one has never really made sense to me.

28. My door is open

Your door is open, except when it’s actually closed.

29. Eat your own dog food

I don’t want to eat anybody’s dog food. Period.

30. Best of breed

Are you meeting with the Westminster Kennel Club? No? Didn’t think so.

31. Let’s take a deep dive

This was the “cool” thing to say five years ago. Now it’s played out to the max.

32. Pick your brain

Translation: I want to know what you know and am too lazy to look it up myself.

Which clichés really make you grind your teeth? Sound off in the comments!

 

Inc.com – May 4, 2015 – 

BY LARRY KIM

Founder and CTO, WordStream

#Strategy : Losing Sleep? Your Wallet Is To Blame…84% Feel That They are Not in Control of their Current Financial Situation. Nearly 75% of All Adults are Losing Sleep Over Some Sort of Money Woe.

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“I Think Part of the Challenge is There Hasn’t Been Real Growth in Incomes, The Cost of Groceries, Cost of Healthcare, etc, Those Kinds of Expenses have a Normal Inflationary Increase, But I Don’t Think Wage Increases have Kept in Line.” (Indeed, while the U.S. job market has been adding jobs in recent months, wage growth has been tepid, to say the least.) – Greg Ward, a Certified Financial planner & Financial Finesse’s Think Tank Director,

62% of Americans are losing sleep over money woes.

The job market is showing signs of improvement, gas prices are down and the market is still in its bull run. Yet despite this relatively rosy environment, Americans are seriously stressed about money. 84% feel that they are not in control of their current financial situation. Nearly 75% of all adults are losing sleep over some sort of money woe. And 69% of younger adults would give up the internet for one month just to get $1,000.

These statistics come courtesy of three new studies, all released this week, that looked at the state of savings, spending, and financial stress in the U.S. All three studies found that while Americans aren’t totally floundering when it comes to managing their household finances, they’re feeling under-confident and over-stressed when it comes to what’s in (or, in some cases, not in) their wallets.

The first study, released by Capital One 360 on Tuesday, revealed that 54% of Americans Feel Happy When They Save Money, Yet 36% of Respondents told Capital One that their income is Not High Enough to Allow for Saving. It was Capital One that also discovered that a whopping 69% of young adults (ages 18 to 24, roughly) would give up their home internet connection for a month in exchange for a $1,000 deposit into their savings account.

A second study, released on Wednesday by financial education company Financial Finesse, both echoed many of Capital One’s findings and provided a deeper look at certain segments of Americans — particularly, low-to-moderate income Women who Have Kids under the age of 18. 85% of this group, Financial Finesse found, are experiencing high or overwhelming levels of financial stress.

 

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“I Think Part of the Challenge is There Hasn’t Been Real Growth in Incomes,” Greg Ward, a certified financial planner and Financial Finesse’s Think Tank director, said in a recent phone interview. “The Cost of Groceries, Cost of Healthcare, etc, Those Kinds of Expenses have a Normal Inflationary Increase, But I Don’t Think Wage Increases have Kept in Line.” (Indeed, while the U.S. job market has been adding jobs in recent months, wage growth has been tepid, to say the least.)

Interestingly, while 84% of respondents told Financial Finesse that they feel like their financial situation is out of control, one segment of adults feel perfectly cool, calm and collected when it comes to their money: men under 30. Twenty-six percent of this group told Financial Finesse that they have no financial stress whatsoever, with 84% reporting they have a handle on cash flow (compared to 66% of women under 30 who say the same), 69% saying they feel comfortable with their debt (compared to 51% of women under 30 who feel comfortable with their debt), and 46% feeling confident about their investment decisions — double the proportion of women under 30 who would say the same thing.

But just because men under 30 say everything with their money is hunky-dory doesn’t mean that that they’re financial whiz kids.

“Remember, stress is self reported, and these individuals could have the same financial challenges [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][as others], but it doesn’t necessarily translate into the same levels of self reported stress,” Ward noted. In other words, it’s a matter of perspective. One person with a $7,500 student loan at a 4.66% interest rate might feel terrible with that debt on their personal balance sheet, while another person with that exact same loan might easily think, “Yay! That’s my only debt and it’s at a relatively low interest rate; I’m doing great!”

(It also might be the innocence of youth speaking: a recent study from financial planning firm LearnVest revealed that our financial confidence is high when we’re in our 20s but starts to sink when we hit our 30s and bottoms out by our 40s.)

A third study, out Thursday morning from CreditCards.com, confirms that Millennial men are in the minority when it comes to feelings of financial contentment. And in fact, not only do most Americans feel uneasy about their finances, money is keeping lots of people up at night: CreditCards.com reports that 62% of adults are losing sleep over at least one financial problem. This is seven points lower than in June 2009, the last time the poll was conducted, but it’s still higher than the 56% who reported money-induced insomnia in 2007.

Retirement is, currently, the biggest culprit of lost sleep, with 40% of all adults saying that insecurity over the size of their nestegg keeps them up at night occasionally; among adults ages 50 to 64, that number is 50%. But gaining on retirement’s lead is stress of education expenses: 31% of all adults report losing sleep over the idea of paying for educational expenses, either their own or someone else’s; among adults ages 18 to 29, that number jumps to 50%.

“The biggest change over the past eight years has been the steady increase in the number of people losing sleep over educational expenses,” Matt Schulz, CreditCards.com’s senior industry analyst, said in a statement accompanying the study. “That’s the only one of the five categories that has gotten worse since the Great Recession. Unless something slows the rapid rise in college costs, this could soon be Americans’ biggest financial fear.”

While stress in general is neither healthy nor fun (and tips on reducing financially-induced stress can be found here), Financial Finesse’s Ward says that, at the end of the day, a little bit of uneasiness might actually be a good thing.

“Having no stress is not necessarily an ideal situation. My house might not be on fire, but there might be a fire in the bathroom — something little that could become bigger later on,” he says. “If you say, ‘I don’t have a care in the world,’ there might be a reality check that needs to occur.”

 

Forbes.com | 6-25-15 | Maggie McGrath 

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