Business Model of Alumni Solicitation

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So picture this: A lady comes on the line who is friendly, very polished and articulate.  She peppers her remarks and queries to me with "Dr."  She conscientiously checks to make sure my contact details are accurate.  I am annoyed that for the fifth or sixth time, I find that a previous employer from eight years ago is still on their records as my work place.  This, after I've corrected it each time.  She's peddling an alumni directory, and I ask her point blank, "What is the fee for it?"  She hesitates a moment, probably not expecting me to ask so soon or so straight, and she mentions it.  When I say no, she drops down to the next lower-priced product: a CD ROM (huh, I haven't heard that in a long while).  When I say no again, she drops down yet a third time to something even lower-priced:  I don't even remember was it was, as I was, at that point, turned off. 

You see, I graduated from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and nailed down a PhD in clinical psychology.  I was out of touch with them for nearly 20 years, mainly because was abroad.  In 2012 I gave it a good year of reconnecting, but ultimately and terribly felt disappointed.  I won't unload, at least not now, my complaints about the unprofessional, unresponsive, and unsophisticated behavior I ran into, but suffice it to say that I have no intentions of reconnecting or giving back.

The context that gave rise to that sales call was this:  I received e-mails and postcards about the importance of my calling back on a toll free number.  The e-mails were official alumni business, so Gmail had no reason to flag them as promotion or spam.  Interestingly, though, the postcards came in drab yellow-brown, which made them stand out in the mail and made them look official and urgent.  It was curious that they had to verify my contact details, when they already had all of it (except for my work place).  Even the last postcard had "Final Notice" on it.

But the call made all of that clear, and I was disgusted at their backhanded effort at sales.

Business Model of Internet Connection

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Our internet connection seemed to have slowed down the last couple of weeks, so I visited the Comcast website to check not just on our account but also on speed offerings.  Within a couple of minutes, a person named "Chris" popped up in chat format.  I'm back and forth with him (maybe it's a her), and he suggests a site for checking download and upload speeds.  Apparently those speeds are right where they should be for the package we've signed up for.  So I asked if he thought the issue was more of a computer one than a connection one.  He demured, and gave me a link to their Technical Support.

While I had him on chat, I though to ask about the next increment of speed and cost, and he gave this bit to me. Then, the business model emerged: I said I had to check with my wife, before deciding on that next increment.  He asked, if my wife was here, as he would wait.  This way, he could sign us up right away.  I said, I'll have to get back to Comcast.

I read an article or two before about how internet service providers did little to upgrade the infrastructure for connections and how, it seemed, they were a veritable oligopoly.  Comcast costs so much a month for relatively little in return.  The thrust of my work, projects and networks runs via online conduits, so reliability and speed are crucial for me.  When I have persistent difficulty, it becomes accumulated frustration and time wastage.

Anyway that pop-up, unsolicited chat was a relatively new one, as far as direct sales efforts are concerned and as far as such a major company like Comcast is concerned.  The chat was actually a pleasant, helpful one, but now I am more wary, indeed informed of such tactics.

Business Model of Conference Speaking

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The way I saw, it was a win-win proposition. I was quite privileged to be invited to speak at several conferences, when I worked in Dubai, and the invitations took me from our locale and nearby Abu Dhabi, to all around the Middle East (Gulf region), and to Singapore and Cairo.

I came to learn about the business model behind the invitations:  The conference organizers thought that by having me on board, they could persuade others in the company I worked for to register.  My entry was at no charge.  There were a handful of organizers who were in regular contact with me, and for the first several engagements, there was virtually no pressure to get my colleagues to join up.

But that changed in major ways: One salesman contacted me way to frequently, and tried to strong arm me into enlisting my colleagues directly.  Another organizer invited me, but then expected me to cover travel costs.  I confronted that: I offered my expertise for free, in exchange for (a) the privilege to speak to a large audience and (b) the opportunity to give back to fellow professionals.  When I agreed to cover these costs, but then had to charge them for my expertise, this one organizer relented.

This was just one part of the business model.  Another part was to persuade firms and individuals to pony up cash for that speaking privilege.  Which was fine, really.  But quite a few of these speakers were not very good, and the majority of them were mediocre at best.  They either weren't qualified to speak, to begin with, or weren't all the motivated to research and prepare for their talk.

I took all of this in stride.  Business models are an understandable necessity for making money and earning a living.  I don't condone aggressive sales tactics or unprepared, uninspired talks, but for me it all worked out very pragmatically and enjoyably.  I sharpened my platform skills, thinking abilities, and networking tact.  It was a win-win-win proposition: that is, for the organizers, for me, and for the audience.

Mindfulness on Little Things and Daily Routines

The Core Algorithm makes sure we have a sufficient grasp of an issue or problem, before embarking on a solution.  That grasp comes not just from a focused, analytic tact, but also from an intuitive, meditative state.  It is what some of us psychologists call mindfulness.  Simply being open to whatever is going on around us and within us, staying with it, and keeping our grounding and center are all being mindful.  Ideas, insights or solutions can thus arrive in logical fashion and-or as unexpected illumination in our mind.

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I keep a lot of files and folders on my laptop, over 67,000, in fact, and I keep them well organized in my hard drives.  On occasion I decide to rename a set of files, for example, and I want to do so accurately and efficiently.  If there is a root to the new file names, I copy and paste that, then add whatever I need to add to rename them.  Sometimes I have to click three or four times on the file icon, though, in order to prompt Windows to let me rename it.  But by simply being open and reflective, I learned that by clicking the icon once, then pausing for a second, before clicking it gently a second time, worked every single time.

One time I had a plumber in the house, and he explained why our bathroom and kitchen sink pipes were plastic.  I thought that was cheap of the builder.  He said, plastic was a better material, because then we could use something like Drano to clear the drains (if blocked).  Think about it, he said, the Drano solution is kept in a plastic container, so its chemical composition is meant not to harm the plastic pipes.  Anyway, on this point, sometimes my wife or daughter will simply dispose of that little sticker (brand label) on apples right into the sink.  I've seen those stickers, and they're plastic.  Not only will they clog up the drain, and mess up our disposal appliance, but also Drano won't dissolve them.  So every time I see them, I throw them in the trash.   

For me, and maybe for you as well, daily routines are an opportunity for thinking or reflecting.  It may be something I'm working on, something I need to resolve, something I must decide on.  Or it may be nothing all that important.  But by keeping a general mindfulness, I can get things done in my head and moreover, as I noted above, discover neat, useful little things about those very routines.   

Mindfulness at Times of Stress: On the Road

The Core Algorithm makes sure we have a sufficient grasp of an issue or problem, before embarking on a solution.  That grasp comes not just from a focused, analytic tact, but also from an intuitive, meditative state.  It is what some of us psychologists call mindfulness.  Simply being open to whatever is going on around us and within us, staying with it, and keeping our grounding and center are all being mindful.  Ideas, insights or solutions can thus arrive in logical fashion and-or as unexpected illumination in our mind.

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Oh, the some of the things I've multitasked on, while driving.  I don't think I was as bad as a couple of friends I know, but there were occasions, for example, when I would text and drive.  That was before the advent of smartphones and oversized screens, that is, when I could one-hand my flip Samsung, scroll menus, and text messages.  Eating and driving was de rigueur, too, as a time saver.  In my 20s, I used to boast that I could steer the car just with my knee, so both hands were free to do what this woman in the image was doing.

Thank God I don't do these things anymore.  Texting is completely out, and I rarely answer my mobile, when driving.  I don't eat or drink in the car as a rule, except when my wife is with me and she can unwrap, hold something, and otherwise help me and help keep us safe.  Moreover, I am mindful, too, that even without doing any such distracted thing, I can be especially preoccupied under stress.  So I've nurtured the habit of quickly but calmly double-checking corners for pedestrians before turning and also the blind spot for cars before changing lanes. 

Again I am thankful that in nearly 40 years of driving, I have had only a couple of very minor mishaps on the road.  Just four actually, two in a parking lot and two in stop-and-go traffic.  Here it is a matter of blessing and mindfulness.  For while I really find driving a pleasure, the roads can be a matter of life and death.

Mindfulness at Times of Stress: At Home

The Core Algorithm makes sure we have a sufficient grasp of an issue or problem, before embarking on a solution.  That grasp comes not just from a focused, analytic tact, but also from an intuitive, meditative state.  It is what some of us psychologists call mindfulness.  Simply being open to whatever is going on around us and within us, staying with it, and keeping our grounding and center are all being mindful.  Ideas, insights or solutions can thus arrive in logical fashion and-or as unexpected illumination in our mind.

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So, with that said, I am mindful about having drinks near my laptop.  When I am working at something, I can be so absorbed that nothing it seems can pry my concentration away.  I may be especially absentminded and distracted, especially under stress, that I am liable to knock over a drink right on my keyboard.  Thankfully that's never happened to me, but it has to my wife and it was a costly accident because her laptop was not reparable.  So I avoid having drinks nearby, or if I decide to have one, I place behind it my laptop or well off to the side.  The very need to reach for it prompts me to pay attention and thus avoid messy accidents. 

In the past, too, I found myself forgetting that I had something cook on the stove.  One time, while in Dubai, I even closed the kitchen door for some reason.  The building security came knocking on my door, because the smoke billowing from burnt rice triggered the alarm, which I didn't know.  When I saw it was the guard, I remembered instantly that I had something cooking.  Causing a fire in the kitchen is obviously a dangerous oversight, so because I can get so immersed in my work, I avoid multitasking on things that, if I forget, could be a veritable disaster.

Another time, I was quite preoccupied in taking care of my ailing elderly mother that I spilled an entire hot entree.  Typically I can grab it barehanded from the microwave, and quickly bring it to the table.  But after that spill, I make sure to use potholders and secure my grasp.  Similarly, while dropping keys is no problem, doing so with my mobile, which I do on occasion, can break the device.  It used to happen more frequently than I liked, but I've reduced it to next to nothing in recent months.    

Again stress can deepen my absorption and divert my attention, so I have to be especially mindful.  I am mindful of myself, how I am and what I am prone to, and I modify my day to day activities accordingly. 

Speaking at Conferences as Active Learning

Because of my credentials and position, I've had the privilege and pleasure of being invited to speak at several different conferences:  from Chicago and London, to Dubai and Doha, to Cairo and Singapore.  I am very glad and grateful that I enjoy speaking to people and that I am good at it.  But my joy and skill are borne from quite a lot of work.  Preparing for a half-hour talk, for example, can take me 10 hours.  In the process I learn even more about my subject matter:  from retention strategies and succession planning, to economic and psychological theory on the recession, to leadership lessons from Macbeth.

I also have the privilege of listening in on other speakers and having conversations with all sorts of attendees at the conference.  Besides the ask-listen-talk algorithm I've mentioned, learning is also about exploring, reflecting, and probing.  On a few occasions, for instance, I've created two columns on my notepad:  on the left are notes from the talk, and on the right are notes from my thoughts.  I've jotted things down on my old iPhone using its Notes application, too.  But often, while in conversation, I will simply take mental notes, which I'm actually better at than jotting things down, and then I download the stuff from memory onto journals in my laptop.

Graces and Protocol of Networking Learning

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Scenes like this were a frequent occurrence when I lived in Dubai.  I'm an extravert by nature, and I love meeting people, socializing and talking with them.  But you can be an introvert as well, and find networking a meaningful, productive event, that is, if you are interested and willing and if it can truly serve your purpose. One of my purpose was simply to learn.

I detest the practice by some colleagues, or some organizers, of exchanging as many business cards as possible.  They've even made a contest of it, and maybe it works perfectly for them.  But I prefer to have a conversation, instead.  If I leave such an event with a handful of business cards, from people I actually took the time to talk to, then that's been a successful effort.  I've been accused by some friends of spending too much time talking to one person, and truth be told there have been occasions when a colleague, new or otherwise, and I found ourselves engrossed in whatever we were talking about.

But a conversation doesn't need to take a long time: It simply has to be grounded on the ask-listen-talk algorithm I wrote about in the preceding article.  I've encountered some people who were so keen to flit around the networking hall that their eyes shifted away from me.  They barely asked, and their talk was self-centered.  More than two or three times of that, and it's "Thank you, good to meet you, see you later."   

So pay attention, and keep good eye contact.

By saying hello to people, then asking, listening and talking, I was invited to (a) give a talk on social media by two different colleagues, (b) meet with another colleague and her senior management about leadership assessment, and (c) have coffee with yet two other colleagues to talk about their international work.  All of these, in recent months of networking.  I learned what they were doing, what they were thinking about, and what they were needing, and we took it from there.