The Tailored Idea

Build-to-suit or Settling for Low Cost Alternatives. Real estate professionals, architects, engineers, builders and owners can find themselves faced with a dilemma in an environment of economic uncertainly. It has always been true that buying exclusively based on lowest price is a dangerous way to do business. Catering to such clients can be hazardous as well. 

Consider the guy looking to buy a new suit. He enters a clothing store but he doesn’t want to spend too much money. The tailor shows him a designer brand nice suit for $400. “It is too much,” he says. Shown another suit for $200, he says, “It’s still too much money.” After several others, finally he is shown one that only costs $10. “That’s more like it!” the guy says, and tries it on. He looks in the mirror and one sleeve is about two inches shorter than the other.

“No problem,” says the tailor, “Just hunch up your right shoulder.”

So the guy hunches his right shoulder way up, and the sleeves look OK, but the lapels are crooked.

“No problem,” says the tailor, “Just stick out your left arm and cock it like a bird’s wing.”

So the guy sticks out his left arm and the lapels look OK. But then he notices that one pant leg is shorter than the other.

“Well, just keep that leg stiff,” says the tailor, “and no one will notice.”

“I’ll take it!” the guy says.

The guy leaves the tailor shop wearing the suit. Walking with his left leg stiff, one arm stuck out like a bird’s wing, and one shoulder hunched way up. Walking down the street he passes two orthopedic surgeons.”I have never seen anyone in such bad shape in my twenty-five years of practice!” says one of the doctors. “Me neither,” the other doctor says. “Nice suit, though.”

Maybe we all need to remember, even in the face of increased pressure to deliver low-cost solutions, the integrity of our collective professional lives depends on value without compromise, appropriate quality, and sustainable building that will serve well into the future. Ultimately, when someone says “Nice building!” let’s hope it is true for the intended life-cycle of the project.

Huddle Up

I gave my first tour as a docent at the Laumeier Sculpture Park this past week. I’ve been on a crash course of training of weekly meetings, internet searches and online art exploration to prepare. Art is a lifelong passion for me. Now I  am charged with sharing a little with a classroom field trip of Kindergarten kids. Big impressions can be made at such a young age. I am anxious to see if I can share some of my enthusiasm with these youngsters. The Park is 105 acres and has something like 70 major works - some part of the permanent collection, some on lone and others that are “site specific” installations that eventually erode or must be removed due to the effects to the outdoor elements. My plan was to keep is simple and hope to make an impression.  

“Okay kids. I’m Wes Morgan and I am your docent. That means I am here to introduce you to some of the art and teach you a little about this museum. It is a museum too – even though it is outside. All of the work you will see today is created by internationally acclaimed contemporary artists who have produced monumental work.” I know some of this introduction was not going to be retained. I also knew, on a glorious Spring day like this one, it would be hard to leave this place without an impression.

Ten (10) five year olds require a high energy teacher and a few extra adult supervisors to coral so the tour begins with an intro and a bit of a gameplan. “Here’s what we are going to do. I have a playbook – and like a coach or a quarterback I will let you know what we will be doing as we go. So when I ask everyone to bring it in and huddle up - that means I am going to need your attention.” It worked like a charm. Inside an hour and a half I was able to brief this group on ten remarkable works of art. They were engaged and excited.

Nikki de Saint Phalle, Ernest Trova, Judith Shea, Mark de Suvero, Alexander Liberman, Robert Chambers, Charles Ginnever etc. They won’t remember the artists’ names. But they will remember something - colors, shapes, design and how the art made them feel. That’s something.    

The Best of All Possible Worlds

I had the pleasure of joining my daughter, Lindsey, for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music production of Candide, the opera composed in 1956 by Leonard Bernstein. We made the trip from St. Louis to see her friend in one of the lead roles on Friday Night (a road trip from St. Louis – some 225 miles.) It’s a journey and a chance for quality time. 

Candide is Voltaire’s magnum opus. I read it in college and am now reading it again. (Not in its original French of course.)  Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. Voltaire, through this story, ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, philosophers and optimism in general. The main character, Candide, experiences a slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire is not rejecting optimism outright but advocating an enigmatic precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the mantra of Candide’s mentor Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.”

Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal after its secretive publication in 1759. Candide, however, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it.

All that said and with all due respect to Voltaire. I count myself pretty lucky to be spending this time with my daughter in this, the best of all possible worlds. 

P.S. As a bonus - we got to see that fantastic Alexander Calder Sculpture in front of the Jacobs School of Music (shown in photo above).  

In Transition

The PGA Tour is in full swing. This past week the greatest golfers in the world visited the Tampa Bay area at the event sponsored by Transition Lenses. TV spots during the broadcast of the tournament demonstrated how a pair of glasses with Transition Lenses will adjust to light to protect your eyes and help you to see the world better – especially if you happen to be a professional golfer. The glasses automatically adjust and filter the light.
“I’m in Transition.” Is a short declaration we hear a lot lately when we participate in networking events or business social gatherings. It’s a word that quickly identifies a person exploring job opportunities and is currently unemployed or at least not fully employed. That “I’m in Transition” conversational ice-breaker will likely lead to a short summary of career achievements and perhaps a more pointed challenge to share potential connections at a target company(s).

The word is like a lot of business buzz-words and phrases that get used so frequently it almost becomes cliché. The overuse of the word is unfortunate. But for now, it solves a real problem thousands of smart and talented people have in a tough economy. It is part of a vocabulary that will hopefully begin the facilitation of personal economic rebound. It puts a harmless description on what is often a rough time for a business person.

But aren’t we all in transition? Isn’t it part of the human condition? Change is natural and should be expected. We aren’t butterflies moving from caterpillar state anticipating a total transformation in which we spread our wings and take flight? We are people living with all the ups and downs that go with a full lifetime of experiences. We need to understand that our world changes and we change over time too. We need to make adjustments in ourselves and how we view things.

Too bad the people at Transition Lenses can’t manufacture the technology that permits each and every human being to get an automatic adjustment to environment they are in so that everything seems just perfect all the time. Funny, they used to criticize people who were looking at the world through “rose colored glasses.”

Rock Soup

Maybe you have heard the story of Rock Soup. It is one of my favorites. I think it is a fitting tale for tough times about leadership and community action.

A soldier, after a bitter was returning home from war. He wandered through the cold and snow.  He was tired and starving. He came to a village, picked a house and knocked on the door. Explaining his plight, he asked for a little something to eat. The man at the door shook his head and responded that he had a family to feed. They were hungry themselves. The scene repeated house after house - the answer was the always the same.  It had been a hard winter. The villagers were all hungry.

The soldier thought, and formed a plan. He gathered some sticks and wood.  He built a campfire in the village square.  He borrowed a black iron pot which was resting against the wall of an empty blacksmith shop. He filled the pot with snow. 

Onlookers stared at him with curiosity.  The soldier then gathered some smooth, dark stones.  He inspected each closely, smelled them individually, wiped them clean, and then placed them gingerly, one by one, into the pot. The soldier then took a big wooden spoon from his knapsack and began stirring the water in the pot and occasionally taking a taste.  ''Mmmmmm,''  he finally said,  ''this is the best Rock Soup I have tasted in a long time.'' 

The villagers couldn't believe their ears. Rock Soup?  Surely he was mad! The soldier took one more taste and then said, ''This is good soup but it needs something, perhaps a carrot. Yes, that's it, a little bit of carrot would make it perfect!''  An elderly villager stepped forward, looked into the pot, paused a moment, then said, ''I think I might have a couple of carrots in my cellar, I will bring them.''  On his return the carrots were added to the Rock Soup.

Again the soldier continued to stir and taste and stir and taste. ''This is pretty good Rock Soup, the carrots made it better, but it is still missing something.  Perhaps a few onions would make it even better.''  Just as the soldier said this a few villagers scurried off.  Upon their return, the soldier was given more than a few onions. Into the pot went the onions.

Again the soldier continued to stir and taste and stir and taste. ''This is very good Rock Soup, the carrots and onions made it better, but it is still missing something.  Perhaps a few potatoes would make it even better.''  The ever-steaming brew by now was starting to smell delicious.  A good number of villagers bustled off.  Upon their return, the soldier was presented with a potatoes enough to fill the pot. 

As he let it simmer, others brought bits of this and that to add flavor.  Tasting it one more time, he exclaimed it was ''Perfect!''  Soon everyone in the town was able to enjoy a bowl of this wonderful soup. All of the villagers proclaimed: “It was the best Rock Soup they had ever eaten!”

So, what do you do?

There is a Chevy Truck TV commercial that opens with a shot of the truck in a guy’s driveway. The commercial cuts to a neighborhood social situation when the question is posed: So what do you do? The commercial then treats us to several quick cuts of the guy with his truck as he does some construction related job, helps someone move furniture, drives kids to school and does yardwork/ landscaping. The spot cuts back to him as he can’t fully answer the question. He just kind of sighs. (Because he does a lot and apparently he is not the kind of guy who brags about his J-O-B.)   

That question is very interesting. Most of us when asked are quick to provide a short answer that might include a job, title or general profession. Many these days are struggling with a delicate way to advise that they are “in transition” and looking for a career opportunity. (Well shoot, aren’t we all IN TRANSITION?) Business coaches often encourage people to fine-tune their “elevator speech” so they can quickly identify who they are what their ideal prospect/opportunity might look like.

Personal branding is important as you leverage the “conversation” in social media. The theory is that people are in fact brands. People need to be true to their brand and deliver on the brand promise. In this way one can improve chances of winning in the game of networking. It is often said that people do business with people; and they prefer to do business with people they know, like and trust. Your personal brand becomes part of the answer to the question: So, what do you do?

A little food for thought: No matter what you do for a living - you are a human being. Have a little self-respect and make an effort to respect those other human beings on the planet Earth with you. We all have worth that is so much more that the somewhat unfair and arbitrary paycheck or commission or fee for a product and/or service.     

Remember: You are who you are, not what you do!

A Few Things I miss.

Sadly, it seems boomers (like me) are shying away from those markers that date them for fear of hurting their own marketability. I get it. You want to be with it and on trend. You don’t want your age to have an impact on your chances for career opportunities. Still, you shouldn’t be ashamed to admit that you miss some of the simple things that used to be so ubiquitous in our every day lives.

While you were out – Those stacks of pink messages that used to be on your desk after you were out of the office. I miss them. They were the reason you needed to get back to work. Those telephone calls could be returned in a civilized 24 hours or so. You had a little time to think before responding.

The Daily Newspaper – News delivered to your doorstep in the morning. You could absorb relevant news at the start of the day over a healthy breakfast. Too bad the daily newspaper and that ritual reading is fading fast.  

Reception Areas – Sure they still exist now but not in the same way. The receptionist was the nerve-center of the company. This individual was almost always a female. She was the voice, eyes and ears of the company. She was Vice President of First Impressions.

Someone answering the phone – The phone rings and no-one answers. You are forced to listen to prompts and enter your choice by pressing the number that corresponds most closely to your reason for calling. You are a number in the queue.

 

Dressing for Success – It started with casual Fridays and turned into a complete collapse of business dress. My Dad used to say you should dress each day so that you could be anywhere and not be inappropriate. That’s harder to do now. The rules are more subtle.

9 to 5 – I like what I do. Don’t get me wrong. I am thinking about business, projects and planning 24/7 but that work-life balance is in jeopardy now more than ever. You have to set aside time for our friends and family. If you are lucky, you can enjoy work associates and colleagues but you gotta turn off the switch and let your batteries recharge.

What do you miss?