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As a business owner, you know what it’s like to lie awake at 2 a.m. Maybe it has happened when you are excited and full of new ideas for your business. More often, it’s because you are worried about issues you will face the next day. Sometimes, it’s because you just woke up with the solution to a problem. I’ve experienced all those emotions about my businesses over the years. Awake at 2 o’clock? is where I share them with you, and hopefully help with answers that will let you sleep.
John F. Dini, CExP, CEPA
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Small business owners are the Hunters of the 21st century. We are 3% of the US population, and yet we create over half of all American jobs. As Hunters, we may not be inclined to manage by the numbers or stick to systems. Are you a Hunter or a Farmer?
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How prepared are you to exit your company?
The Assessment breaks down the four major categories of exit readiness; Finance, Planning, Operations and Revenue/Profit.
Tag Archives: politics
Is “Follow Your Passion” Really Bad Advice?
It’s graduation season, and honored guests clutching honorary degrees are speechifying at commencements all around the country. In a recent story on National Public Radio, quotes from celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Bloomberg all included the same … Continue reading
5 Responses to Is “Follow Your Passion” Really Bad Advice?
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Healthcare Reform: Managing What You Measure
The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) expanded health coverage to millions of people. It did little or nothing to control costs, and is just the tip of the iceberg in improving the quality of care. Think about how you select your … Continue reading
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An Independent Look at the Election
The biggest disappointment of last Tuesday’s election, as I opined in an article by the San Antonio Express News, is that on Wednesday the national political landscape still looked a lot like it did on Monday. I tried to write … Continue reading
2 Responses to An Independent Look at the Election
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In Wisconsin and many other states the GOP got re-elected partially because of the redistricting (read “gerrymandering”) they did. The Dems would have done the same to their benefit if they had been in power.
I think another factor affecting both parties in the state (local) elections is the familiarity the public has with their incumbants. In some cases its “even though he/she votes the party line” they are “nice guys”. In others it’s “the devil we know is probably better than the devil we haven’t gotten to know”.
I think the concusion I have reached from the above and from what you have written and the obvious power of the corporations and their lobbyists (as well as labor and its lobbyists) is that we live in an ungovernable country. I hope your conclusion (election of courageous statesmen and women, comes to pass….but with the cost of campaigns and the need to depend on large donors remains and grows….I don’t know how that will happen. Or whether a public that thinks only in black and whites would accept them
Cleo and I just returned from a European trip including Greece. People we talked with referred to the disenchanted students and others being satisfied for the present with expressing themselves through graffiti and mostly peacful demonstrations against their incompetent and corrupt government officals. They fear for when that will not be enough.
Here at home I fear for the same, as the gap between the haves and have nots grows so fast and far…and the feeling of helplessness and frustration grows among just about everyone.
So, Mrs. Lincoln, other than the shotting….how was the play? -
Unfortunately, “neither” party dared take on the banks, the large corporate givers and the unions; those that sponsor most electiced officials for their own gain. While those outside this inbred system are beginning to be heard, it will take a monumental effort to successfully challenge the current way of doing business and return to a heathly, more balanced approach to our economy and the people they serve.
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Atlas Shrugged and the Imperial Presidency
“Atlas Shrugged – Part II” was released on Friday. Those of you who read this column regularly know that I’m a fan of Ayn Rand, although I place myself far short of devout Objectivism. I’ve sported “Who is John Galt?” license plate … Continue reading
One Response to Atlas Shrugged and the Imperial Presidency
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Government is a business, albeit a monopoly on certain items like defense but it too has all the charateristics of an operating business. No surprise if it should also devour competition to be the sole provider.
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Employee Motivation: The Effect of the Economy
In 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered his “Crisis of Confidence” speech, commonly referred to as his “Malaise Speech” although he never actually used that word. To a country reeling from stagflation and an oil crisis, it was an additional blow to … Continue reading
Brilliantly put. It is exactly the same in the UK. Graduates with no experience of the real world assuming because they have a degree employers will welcome them and throw money at them. We have all time highs in numbers of graduates but the majority of degrees are in media studies and the like that are of little use to the average SME who will have to invest considerable sums of money to train them and educate them in what business really needs.
We have the same ‘Follow Your Passion’ message across here and a dumbing down of standards where school children and college graduates are not allowed to fail. They have no idea what failure means or how to deal with it and are now facing it. Many sadly are being woken up with a jolt and big debts for a degree that isn’t worth anything.
On top of that many SME’s and bigger businesses have job vacancies we can’t fill because the applicants have little to offer and expect too much.
I need to take a deep breath before replying because there is some truth in what your are saying, but there is also fault to the logic. It might just be the title that rubs me wrong.
We have had trouble hiring recently. There are literally a hundred or more applicants for each position, and few are actually qualified. However, these aren’t even for entry level jobs – we are requiring a minimum of 3-5 years of experience for most positions, and they STILL aren’t qualified. I think that this is because most SMBs can’t or don’t provide proper entry level training. My own management team even came to the realization that we were not in a position to hire recent grads, due to a combination of our lack of internal training resources and the cost/lack of availability of those resources externally. So my business is admittedly perpetuating the problem. So on the point at colleges aren’t preparing students adequately, I agree, but I think both colleges and businesses need to adjust.
Now on to the point about passion. When I was headed to college, my dad pulled me aside and asked what I wanted to study. A straight A student, I replied, “a doctor or lawyer, and I’m leaning toward law.” I’ve never seen such a look of disappointment on his face. To everyone, including myself, I was an artist. I had always loved art and excelled at it in school and in competitions. He asked why I didn’t plan on studying art and my response what that my art teachers warned us not to wind up as “starving artists”. One of my favorite teachers recommended that I study business if I wanted to be an artist. My dad was then disappointed in my teachers and mentors. He hauled me over to the early-stage dial up Internet access that we had at home and managed to find a really cool chart showing income ranges for various professions. He showed me very wealthy and very poor salaries for each position. And then he asked, “where are you going to fall on this spectrum if you are doodling in the margins of your law books? Are you going to be one of the greatest lawyers?” He was right. I was meant to study art. I have an older brother who is a journalist. We have both “made it” in or professions and are at the top of our income categories, and I am thankful to my father for being so supportive of our dreams.
I don’t believe that passion and entry level job preparedness should be inextricably linked in this discussion. I can’t give up on the idea of self-actualization, but maybe those dreams do need to be tempered with encouragement to pursue a double major or minor in something that will help with the first few years out of college. If I had received a business degree, it certainly would have made entry level job searches less painful, and would have benefitted me in my role as a business owner. Maybe in 1996 that wasn’t as crucial as today. I think the caution is: let’s not overly stifle the passions of an entire generation and wind up with a well-trained entry level, and later, horribly mediocre working class.
Of course we haven’t stopped needing artists, or journalists, or philosophers. I think “follow your passion” has been overused to the point where kids leaving for college just pick their favorite extracurricular activity or high school class and choose that as a “profession.” If you love philosophy, or art, or music, then by all means go for it. But “love” means you read about it on your own, practice it instead of going out on Friday night, and focus your decision making in higher education on schools where those who excel at it go. You don’t pick a mediocre course load at a local diploma mill and think that six years later you’ve earned the right to a job. One major problem is that there is no vetting process. A basketball player finds out whether he can make the grade at each point of passage. If he is passionate, he may still play basketball for a Division III school and enjoy it, but he doesn’t think that’s going to put him in the NBA. Unfortunately, there is no vetting process for philosophers until much later, when they can’t get a job.
I encouraged both of my children to find work they were passionate about. Both found desired career paths in their senior year of high school, both went on to college and graduated within their chose fields. My Occupational Therapist, immediately employed after college worked two different positions (clinic based & home health) prior to finding, four years and a marriage later, her passion as a neo-natal OT. My Film Editor, living at home worked contract jobs throughout Texas, worked in a warehouse, odd jobs and faithfully made monthly payments on his student loans, while living at home. Two years & 5 months elapsed until he found a full time editing position.
My point in all this is following a passion has to be balanced/realistic and adaptive. Following one’s passion is not bad advice. It just needs to be balanced with the individual’s commitment (true passion, not a passing fancy) and their resources to stay the course and adapt.
A wise man once said “I think owning a business is the most interesting thing you can do.” That sounds like passion to me. As does “Awake at two o’clock.” And since when is entrepreneurship a profession with a strong, predictable income stream? Sounds like lots of people following their passions.