The Advisor’s Corner

The Happiness Equation

December 2, 2019/in Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

Recently, I heard author Neil Pasricha speak. I enjoyed his comments and decided to read his book, The Happiness Equation. In the book, he sheds light on why so many people today are unhappy. Here are my takeaways, plus a few editorial comments:

The more physically active people are, the greater their general feelings of excitement and enthusiasm.
None of us can control our emotions (Editorial comment: As a very emotional person, I found this statement liberating); we can only control our reactions to our emotions.
In 1927, Paul Mazur of Lehman Brothers wrote the following in the Harvard Business Review: “We must shift America from a needs to a desires culture.” (Editorial comment: Wow, I would say Mazur got his wish!)
Men and women in Okinawa live an average of seven years longer than Americans, and have the longest disability-free life expectancy on Earth. The word “retirement” literally does not exist in the Okinawan language. Instead, the Okinawan language has the word “ikigai” (pronounced like “icky guy”), which means, “The reason you wake up in the morning.” (Editorial comment: It’s their purpose, or their “why.”)
Pasricha includes his (and also one of my) favorite quotes from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: “One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.’ ” (Editorial comment: We use this quote when we’re encouraging clients to establish a purpose, or a “why,” for their life and/or business.)
In 1889, the Germans created the concept of retirement to free up jobs for young people by paying 65-year-olds to do nothing until they died (the average life span at the time was 67). In 1880, 78 percent of American men over age 65 were still working; in 2000, 16 percent of men over age 65 were still working.
When we’re presented with too many decisions (choices), we either do nothing or do poorly. (Editorial comment: 30 years ago, I was a member of Michigan Future, a think tank, and was blessed to spend time with some really knowledgeable, futuristic business owners. Referring to the auto industry, they would say that we’re moving from mass-production to mass-customization. In other words, the customer was going to be able to design their own vehicle to suit their personal preferences. Well, we’re still a ways from that in the auto industry, but one of my biggest complaints today is that there are too many choices among relatively insignificant products. I think this creates a lot of wasted time. I’m sure I’ve just offended someone, but remember this book is about happiness.)
In 1955, the Parkinson’s Law was defined as follows: “It is a common-place observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” (Editorial comment: Here’s a practical application: Are all your major meetings routinely scheduled in one-hour blocks, or do you schedule 15- or 30-minute meetings? If you’ve accomplished the purpose of a meeting, do you adjourn the meeting early? Sadly, it wasn’t until the end of my first career that I started the practice of scheduling shorter meetings, ending meetings early, and even canceling meetings when there weren’t enough important agenda items. My partners were definitely happier!)
Multitasking is a flawed concept. (Editorial comment: Yes, you can work on two things at the same time, but you do a disservice to both. There have been numerous credible studies that have dispelled the myth of multitasking.)

I was quite surprised to discover what topics Pasricha selected to mention in a book about “happiness.” And these aren’t just his opinions, as he references many studies, researchers, and other authors’ work to support his findings.

Pasricha’s Formula for Happiness: Want Nothing + Do Anything (for others) = Have Everything.

I believe it’s very similar to Adam Grant recommending that we be Givers vs. Takers.

The Corruption of Capitalism in America

November 18, 2019/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

is the subtitle of David Stockman’s book, The Great Deformation. Some of you more seasoned readers may recall the young Grand Rapids congressman who served as President Reagan’s budget director. I remember it clearly because we lost a very senior Plante Moran staff member, who joined Stockman’s staff. Those of you who know me well have often heard me say that I’m a fan of the free market. Well, in this 700-plus-page book, Stockman rocked my world. It continued a theme in my life where I’m realizing that much of what I’ve believed to be factual may not be. Again, my seasoned readers probably get it.

Here are a few of my thoughts:

First of all, this could be a college-level economics textbook; it pushed me to the limits of my personal knowledge.
Stockman has an enormous vocabulary or a Ph.D.-level thesaurus.
Best I can tell, he isn’t aligned with either the Democratic or Republican party.
The interconnections between the big banks and investment banks and our government are spooky. Just one example: How did Hank Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO, happen to be available to serve as the Secretary of the Treasury just as the Great Recession began? Patriotism?

Learnings from Stockman:

He provides a fairly detailed history of 20th and 21st century U.S. economics, with relevant details about countries like China and Japan.
He explains and provides details about the Keynesian monetary theory and application, and gives his views about its negative impact over the past 50 years.
As a capitalist, he is opposed to deficit spending and would say that Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush significantly increased the federal deficits to an alarming level.
He reminds us that President Eisenhower warned the nation that we must guard against the influence of the military-industrial complex.
President Eisenhower reduced the defense budget and did not reduce taxes against his party’s wishes.
Based on their actions and policies, both political parties support Big Government.
According to Stockman, who was in the Reagan White House, the trickle-down theory of economics, or the Laffer curve, did not and does not work.
He provides some very interesting, detailed insights regarding the causes for and the remedies of the Great Recession.
He is a true capitalist and his criticisms in the book are of crony capitalism, where the government intercedes in the free market on behalf of a special group, like bailing out Wall Street or the auto industry. He believes the Republican Party has really drifted away from true free market capitalism, and his book provides many solid examples to support his view.

As I’ve already stated, over the years I’ve made assumptions that later turned out to be myths. Throughout this book, I once again felt that way. If you consider yourself a capitalist/free market person, I would highly recommend you take the time to read it. Unfortunately, politics have twisted some truths to fit positions or platforms.

Closing comment: For any automotive suppliers who are reading this blog, yes, this is the same guy who created, founded, presided over as CEO, and took Collins & Aikman bankrupt, and he also covers that in the book. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with his lack of remorse for his failure.

Another Employee Retention Idea

November 4, 2019/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

In the August 27, 2019, issue of Inc. magazine, Bill Gates is quoted as saying the most important perk companies can give their employees is “flexible work arrangements” (FWA). The article goes on to report on a new Harvard Business School study that says companies that let their employees “work from anywhere” and work “whenever they want” wind up with employees who are more loyal, more productive, and cost less.

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

I can feel the cynical pushback from some of you, but bear with me. The starting point for any policy would have to be to include guidelines for “who” and “when” employees would qualify for FWA. Examples of exclusions that I can think of would be: office receptionists, those whose work is performed at the clients’/customers’ place of business, and those who are on teams that continually collaborate, to name a few.

Probably one of the challenges of adopting an FWA would be allowing some employees to have this perk, while denying it to others. Obviously, whatever you do has to be a win-win. I know a young market research professional who started at her employer’s Detroit headquarters, but after a year asked if she could work remotely from Colorado. Today, she works remotely from the East Coast.

At my former firm, Tailored Work Arrangements (TWA) have been ragingly successful for years — and the firm has been able to retain very talented professionals. My all-time favorite TWA is an amazing story. A young tax partner and her husband had adopted an infant daughter and, as time went by, she asked if she could reduce her work hours to spend more time with her daughter. The firm gladly agreed. Then she asked if she could work part-time, and the firm gladly agreed. She was a very valuable professional in a highly specialized area of tax. Sadly for us, she eventually decided to resign from the partnership and stay home full-time. A couple of firm partners continued to stay in touch with her, and even had her perform some contract work in her unique specialty area. As her daughter grew up and went to college, she was excited to rejoin the firm as a non-partner. After several years, she was asked if she would like to become a partner again, and she said yes. She went through the partner selection process, and once again was offered a partnership. As a matter of fact, she’s the only person, in the 90-year history of the firm, to have been promoted to partner twice.

In this competitive world, I happen to agree with Bill Gates; I believe companies that figure out ways to accommodate employees’ special needs will be the winners in the long run.

The Happiness Equation

Tom Doescher

The Corruption of Capitalism in America

Tom Doescher

Another Employee Retention Idea

Tom Doescher

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