All posts by steve@kerrzone.com

Grumpy Old Men

There is a common stereo type that applies to old males.  Resulting from some commonly observed behaviour of old people who are just tired, impatient, annoyed and aggravated after years of dealing with people.

The men are often called grumpy old men.  Various research over the last 5 years shows that more men suffer from ‘Grumpy Old Man’ syndrome when they hit 70.

There are good reasons to believe this to be the case. Seventy is an age when men may become more aware of their own mortality as they see friends and loved ones pass on.

It’s A Stereotype!

Although there might be some scientific basis for old men to be grumpy, actually each individual controls their own behaviour.   So personally I choose if I want to be grumpy.

Of course occassionally I do choose that course.

For males of advanced age, your perspective on the years of annoyance and aggrevation of dealing with others can be controlled.  Remember, yuo do not need to act grumpy, it is a choice.

Act Naturally

One thing I have noticed that age does remove some of the natural politness filters we employ.  I guess after years of suffering the foibles of others without saying what you really think, there can come a time when enough is enough.

You could argue this honesty is refreshing but unfortunately it can also make you appear grumpy.

Inspiration

Simply put, inspiration is the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.  For me, inspiration hit  almost two years ago when I was inspired to write a blog.

I acted on that  inspiration (as regular readers know) and four or five time a week I post about a top of mind topic.  These are selected at random and derived from, well, anywhere and everywhere.

More specifically, anywhere and everywhere could be the result of discussions with friends, colleagues or acquaintances.  It could be from news or other communication sources like web or social media.  It be from dreams, hallucinations and so on.

And the posts continue

The results of inspiration are not always successful, and sometimes we choose not to act on our inspiration.  When the action derived from the inspiration does work a great feeling of accomplisment can result.

Some personal filtering is helpful to avoid acting every time inspiration hits you.  My own experience has been the best and most effective inspirations are not the ones I seek or urge onto myself but rather those that are simply organic in nature.

Desired Outcome – Personal Satisfaction

Ultimately when you act on an inspiration both the acting on what inspired you and the end results will be satisfying more often than not.  Occassionally it might make sense to ignore a sudden unbidden inspiration  but as a general rule acting on your inspirations will be a good thing.

 

The Robots Among Us

Several years ago Google developed humanoid robots with embedded artificial intelligence.  The exterior skin and mechanical movements were so realistic they appeared fully human.

Google has kept extremely tight security on this project and have been able to successfully keep it secret from the general populous. This has enabled the to run a pilot without interference.

Google Support and Sales Reps

Gradually google introduced their andriods into the Google work force hiring them as sales and tech support representatives.  Only a small limited cadre of Google insiders know of this pilots existence.

Amazingly, none of the robots have been identified as such.  So far everyone they interact with, whether inside Google or external is unaware they are actually working with an artificial being.

The Resistance

A small group of humans have become aware of Googles experment but remain underground out of the public view out of fear for there own saftey.  Google is not ready for the world to know how technologically advanced they have begun.

The small group that is aware of the robots among us have developed special tools, worn as wrist watches that detect the prescence of the artificial beings.

This helps make sure those in the know don’t share inappropriate information giving away the fact they are aware of the robots among us, putting themselves in danger.

Fantasy

Is this post real or fantasy?  Hmmm.

Maybe you should test that next person you meet with probing questions, study their emotions.  Can you tell if they are born or built?

Managing Investment Risk

When you invest your money the basic objective is to get the highest return with the lowest potential you will not get all or even worse, any, of your investment back.

Risk Aversion Basics

The number of processes and techniques to avoid loosing money while maximizing return is virtually impossible to list.  New methods pop up every day.

I am referring to things like laddered bond etfs indexed to central bank rates when giraffes dance in Africa.   For me, the best place to start is simple and basic.

Weird esoteric investments and associated practices have their place but these are contextual.  If you are a day trader, a bank or a fund manager, things like covered calls, long puts or rate swaps might appeal.

For the average retail investor there are much simpler and possibly more effective approaches to consider first.

Top Three Risk Mitigators

1) Do the research – If you are struggling to understand how an investment works, stop.  Only invest in things you personally fully understand how the returns or losses occur.

2) Leverage Asset Classes – There are three basic asset classes.  Balance the assets within your investment portfolio according to your willingness to take losses while seeking high returns.

Cash – things like GIC’s, savings accounts, paper money under the mattress.  These investments typically have the lowest return and the highest likelyhood at a minimum you will get your original investment back. Cash and savings accounts are typically very liquid.

Fixed Income – things like Government and Corporate bonds the inestments are usually granted a higher priority in terms of security in event of bankruptcy and will pay regular income (monthly, yearly, etc)

Equities – This type of investment is the least secure but can offer the opportunity for the higest return.

3) Balance the Sector – all investments fit into some category.  For example real estate, transportation, financial and so on.  Overweighting your investment in one sector or another can be profitable but also exposes a greater risk in the event that sector comes under stress.  An example of this was financial investments in mortgages  suffered as a whole in 2008 due to the crash in the real estate market.

Starting with these three simple to understand concepts can lead you to more advanced concepts, however, understanding the basics will lay a foundation for trying the more complex in the future.

 

What is Retirement?

Typically we would say retirement is a point where a person ceases employment completely.  This is differernt from ceasing employment voluntarily (quitting) or involuntarily (fired or laid off).

Of course, we often think of employment as the condition of having paid work.  So if you do volunteer work or focus on raising children or other ways of spending your time, other than paid employment, with no intention of ever taking up paid employment; are you retired?

Out of Retirement

If you cease employment completely (so you are “retired”) but decide to take up employment again at a later time, are you “unretired” or just employed again.  Or is the paid work called your retirement job?

That is, you retired and elected to receive a pension.  You then seek and gain employment and so have two incomes – one income for doing nothing and paid employment.

Why Retire?

Interestingly many cases of working in retirement have little to do with monetary status (although some do). Studies have shown after a lifetime of focusing on participating in paid employment, stopping suddenly can effect a big psychological impact, a negative one.

Suddenly stopping your paid employment has been  shown to be a statistically valid causal factor in early demise.

Working in paid employment or unpaid employment (e.g. volunteering) provides a purpose .  Leisure activies, technically not classified as work also provide a purpose.

In considering retirement, it is important to remember the key factor is not always financial.  Although it is nice not to worry about income, the psychological impacts of not having a purpose or objective could be deadly.

 

Changing Approach

Sometimes we get stuck on a path .  Our personal values and experiences drive our behaviours and changing course can be one of the most difficult tasks you will encounter.

A foundational trait of strong leaders is the practice of empathy.  This is not simply the ability to understand and share the feelings of others but in the context of leadership it is the ability to leverage that understanding.  To change approach accordingly.

Collaborating

Your own preconceived understanding of how to act is often very difficult to alter but doing so has a high likelyhood of leading to the best path to achieving a goal.

Recognizing the wants and needs of others, understanding how they are feeling and using your analysis of this information together with your own thoughts will most likely result in better outcomes.

My Way

Practicing empathy requires openness on your part.  That is receptivity to others ideas and ways of thinking.  Ultimately the key value to this approach is the ability to accept that your way is not neccessarily always the best.

Your Way

Acceptance that other better approaches exist is fundemental to creating a culture of openness.  The result will be higher group performance as the strengths and weaknesses of everyone are blended together.

It is an old saying, but carries a lot of wisdom, “the sum of the whole is far more powerful than each of the individual parts alone”.

 

 

Listen to the Music #11

On Oct 25th I started a post series that would be about the 37 live rock concerts I have attended in my life so far.

Over time, I am listing the next three best. Ten posts so far covered the top thirty (listed below), today’s covers thirty one to three and I am almost at the end.

Just a reminder; 1) Paul McCartney, 2) Led Zeppelin, 3) Elton John 4)Alice Cooper 5) Al Stewart 6) Queen 7) Bee Gees 8) Deep Purple 9) James Taylor 10)Blue Oyster Cult, 11)Johnny Winter, 12) Uriah Heep 13) The Monkees. 14) 1910 Fruitgum Company 15) Allman Brothers Band 16) Kansas 17) Styx 18) Wishbone Ash 19) Trooper 20) Brave Belt 21) Nazareth 22)BTO 23)Peter Gabriel 24) Bad Company 25) Paul Rogers 26) Jethro Tull, 27) Lady Gaga 28) Jeff Healey 29) Roger Waters 30)Procul Harum

And todays artists;

31) Bon Jovi – I joined my daughter and her friends in attending Bon Jovi.  Talk about energy.  Stand up and shout, I am alive.  Great tunes, fabulous hooks and really easy lyrics.  A real treat for me to be able to attend with one of my children and both had maximum enjoyment (new kids on the block this was not).

32) Maddonna – I saw Maddona in Edmonton as well just a couple of years back.  It was after I had seen Lady Gaga.  I would have said a more spectacular show was not possible and I would have been wrong.  No matter how often I hear it, like a Virgin is always a great song.

33) Harry Belafonte – Some University friends persuaded me to go to a Harry Belafonte concert many years ago at Vancouvers Queen Elizabeth theatre.  I thought I would be mildly entertained, I did enjoy a number of his songs that I had heard listening to my parents records but it wasn’t a rock concert.  Iwas blown away.  Harry B. is probably without exception the best entertainer I have every seen.  Polished but spontaneous this shows stands out in my memory.

Making Mistakes

When your action or judgment is misguided or wrong we call that a mistake.  Regardless of the magnitude or visibility, acting or deciding wrongly is a mistake.

Of course, the outcomes and consequences of the mistake might not be in accordance with the type or level of the error.  That is to say a small error could have serious consequences.

And the Oscar goes to……..

Last Sunday was an obvious case where a small slip has disasterous results.  A accountant who works for PWC (Price Waterhouse Coopers) gave the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty on Sunday.

This minor slip resulted in the wrong movie being given the best picture Oscar for a brief two and a half minutes.  More than long enough to create a massive, even monumental fuss.

Fate Intervenes

Warren got the wrong envelope with the wrong contents and under usual circumstances, you would expect he would recognize the winners card was incorrect and stop the train before the crash.

To be fair, Mr. Beatty is 79 and was slowly working through his mind  the puzzle of the strange winners card .  Faye Dunaway, his co star in the 1968 Oscar Best Picture nominated movie “Bonnie and Clyde” , was the co-presenter.

Unfortunately, the relationship between Faye and Warren was a little acromonious.  In particular she is known to have little patience with his slow considered approach.

So Faye, loosing patience with Warrens slow progress, snapped the card from Warren , glanced at it, and read the wrong winner.  And so the error that began with the wrong envelope was exposed.

Fortunately!

In this case the impact is large but certainly not irrepairable, after all  the winning movie was recognized.

I am a little sad for the PWC accountant who will probably bear the brunt of consequences  but really to some extent was only a victim of circumstance.

The never ending quest for balance

Basically our daily lives are filled with a series of behaviors ( and the associated actions).  That is, what  we do results in outcomes, that is why we do it.

The outcomes are either satisfying or not.  Very simplistically stated, we do stuff to cause stuff and then we die.  (We may die because thats the natural outcome of the stuff we do, but that is a different deep  conversation).

Sounds boring

We do stuff that causes stuff to happen over and over.  On the surface it seems repetitive and unmotivating, why bother?  The key to managing the outcomes in a fun and motivating way is  through the practice of balance.

This requires analysis and planning.  Balancing the things you do to achieve better results more efficiently can be invigorating.  It puts a lot of spice into your activities.

How does it work?

Practicing balance is the process of determining how much time, effort and what kind of time and effort is best used to achieve the result you seek.

For example you need groceries because you are hungry.   You are low on funds so you will need to balance what kind of food you buy against what you can afford, yet still satisfy your hunger.

You are hungry now but you need to balance speed ( by car -low on gas) with walking ( slower but definately better on gas).

These simple examples highlight the competing choices we encounter all day as we figure out if we should do this or do that or some combination.

Frequently we need to balance the options carefully to attain the best result.  The simple emotional approach to resolve the need directly is often not the best.  Take your time, plan it out, incorporate balance.

For example, building on the above scenario,   you are hungry so  drive to the store intending to buy what you want.  Unfortunately you may run out of gas or money so can’t afford what you want and end up still hungry.

Remember, things are not always as straightforward as they initially appear and a considered balanced approach might not only be more satisfying, but could also achieve a better result.

 

Adversarial Conduct

Adversarial discussions are characterized by conflict or opposition and lurking  beneath the covers, probably some hostility.  Too often, these conversations stem from assumptions of intention.

It may start with some innocent questions for clarification.  The other stakeholder assumes you are against what they are trying to achieve and the adversarial dance begins.

Sadly!

A simple misinterpretation of intentions can derail a potential productive interaction which should have gold at the end of the rainbow.  Even clarifying intentions often won’t put it back on track.

Sadly this type of behavior occurs regularly in most organizations.  It is of course exacerbated by cultural bias, but it is not unusual to see the dance occur, regardless of culture.

To my amusement, often I observe  those who are actually in violent agreement (based on what they are saying) but appear to be just the opposite (i.e., violent disagreement).

Just Listen

The root cause of this type of adversarial discussions lies with  misunderstood intentions.  These stem from listening skills.  That is not just hearing the words but rather the message.

For me as I watch the head butting, or even when I am the object of head butting it never ceases to amaze how agreement is manipulated into disagreement.

Don’t Get Hooked

The way out of these situations is to ensure you are not “hooked” by the others.  That is often the intention of the other party.  They believe if they can just get the hook firmly embedded in your throat they can hall you in.

Unfortunately the result is usually dissatisfaction to all which is of course really unfortunate since the whole situation was actually on the brink of a great collaboration.

Ah, to behave like a human – we are just animals after all.