Tea Parties support Iranians

I'm very proud that our Fourth of July events included a moment when the hundreds who had gathered all put on green ribbons and posed for photos, to show we support the people of Iran. The Iranians deserve a voice in their government. We have not forgotten them.

Foolish Pink Prescription

Forgive me for saying -- I find this Wharton puff piece embarrassingly shallow and trite. Pink is telling groups who pay him to speak and write -- largely the education bureaucracy -- what they want to hear and want to believe.

He ignores completely the fact that education is cumulative, and that rote learning of (say) reading and math is foundational to problem-solving. My daughter is constantly being put into "teams" (mere groups) with other students to create work products, which is fine except the entire process is utterly unlike any you would see in a modern or future workplace. She ends up doing much of the work herself, and a quarter of her cohort are functionally illiterate or innumerate. (Should school teach good teamwork, or just reinvent the broken team dynamics of the worst modern workplaces?)

Pink also depends heavily on the discredited "left-right-brain" imagery from the 1980s. Modern brain science has debunked this, however it's a useful shorthand for weak thinkers, so it lives on:

Pseudoscientific exaggeration of the research

Hines (1987) states that the research on brain lateralization is valid as a research program, though commercial promoters have applied it to promote subjects and products far out of the implications of the research. For example, the implications of the research have no bearing on psychological interventions such as EMDR and neurolinguistic programming (Drenth 2003:53), brain training equipment, or management training. One explanation for why research on lateralization is so prone to exaggeration and false application is that the left-right brain dichotomy is an easy-to-understand notion, which can be oversimplified and misused for promotion in the guise of science.^[18] The research on lateralization of brain functioning is ongoing, and its implications are always tightly delineated, whereas the pseudoscientific applications are exaggerated, and applied to an extremely wide range of situations.

Once he loses his cute brain-sidedness concept, Pink is left with suggesting that modern problems and future employment will depend on soft skills, complex skills, and other things not currently taught in schools. Duh.

Pink fails to point out that ALL of the skills he pimps -- "design, storytelling, synthesis, empathy and pattern recognition" -- depend on an underlying set of basic skills (literacy, numeracy, listening skills) that ARE supposed to be taught in modern schools, and largely are not, as well as human skills (work ethic, manners, self discipline, thrift, punctuality, respect for others, or overall emotional intelligence) today taught neither in schools nor many homes.

If this is the state of the art of advanced thinking about basic education, we're in big trouble.

Obama favors outsourcing?

If one believes Steven Ballmer of Microsoft (here), Obama must want US jobs moved overseas.

Key quote: "It makes U.S. jobs more expensive [...] We’re better off taking lots of people and moving them out of the U.S. as opposed to keeping them inside the U.S."

Seems counter-intuitive for Obama to want to create US jobs, and then promote policies that reduce US jobs.

Or maybe Obama prefers government jobs.

The new MBA morality

When I read something like this -- that 20% of Harvard MBA students are signing a new "Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality" -- it simply makes me suspicious.

First, MBA students protesting that they'll be all concerned about "the common good" -- oh, and that doesn't mean they can't take big-salaried jobs -- makes me wonder if they have any concept of how the world of business works.

There are six things that must be in place -- by the government -- for the free market to work:

1. System of property rights with enforcement
2. System of contract law with enforcement
3. Ban on coercion and fraud, with enforcement
4. Prohibit trade in dangerous (i.e. poisonous, malfunctioning) products
5. Prohibit collusion and monopolistic practices by employers
6. Protect workers from unsafe working conditions

All of these are necessary. All of them come from government.

Oregon Governor would rather raise taxes than talk to Republicans

What a surreal exchange. At the City Club of Portland today I asked our Governor how it is that we're short of money, yet the state government will grow 8%, and the Democrat-controlled House has passed 20 bills that raise spending 7.5% over the previous budget.

And I asked him whether he was going to look at the Republican's alternative that suggests ways to fully fund education and public safety without raising taxes. He summarily dismissed the Republican budget, yet couldn't offer any details as to why he was dismissing it other than to call it names.

I wonder if he even read it. He came across as partisan -- as if he'd rather take a "not invented here" mind set, ignore anything that comes from the Republicans simply because he dislikes them, and if that means he enacts job-killing tax increases during a recession, he's okay with that.

And finally, he says he's going to create a team of efficiency experts to help him find ways to reduce government costs... starting in July of 2009. Where was that in January 2003 when he first took office? And why wait until July of this year?

This is a shameful performance.

Profound Dishonesty at the Oregonian

Here's a stunning example of a newspaper's staff using their positions to advance their own ideology.  Compare the photos of the same event, first the Oregonian's, and next the group's own pictures.

The Oregonian's photos make it look like a few dozen people showed up -- after all, if it had been bigger, they'd have shown it, right?

In reality some 7,000 people crowded into Pioneer Square for this rally.

Regardless of your own agenda or opinion about the viewpoint of those rallying, you have to admit this is sheer bias.  Nothing else explains the poor selection of photos.  And certainly if it had been a pro-choice rally, a pro-Obama rally, or an anti-American rally, the crowd size would have been emphasized not understated.

(Oregonian writers crow that their paper's photo "helped elect Obama".)

Is it any wonder the Oregonian is not trusted?

Asking for a Testimonial

There are times when your customer is so happy, they seem to be looking for extra ways to help you. When that happens, ask them for a written testimonial. Do it in email or in a printed letter.

When I get their response, I'll rewrite their answer a bit and ask for their approval of the rewrite. Other times I'll write a draft testimonial based on the verbal praise they've already given me. I always make it clear in such cases that I want it to only say things they agree with and believe enthusiastically.

Here's a letter I sent recently. I was responding to some very strong praise I'd gotten from my client in email. Note that I simply ask for a testimonial, and offer an outline -- actually, two outlines -- for structuring the response. (This is enormously helpful to the person responding and increases both the likelihood of a positive answer and improves the quality of their response.)

Since you're being so sweet, let me ask you for a testimonial. The structure of a testimonial is often this (adapted from Kent Blumberg):

• Who are you (i.e. in what way can the reader identify with you)?

• Why did you decide to use us?
• What were your expectations, and how well did we meet them?
• What benefits did you get from working with us? (Please be as specific as you can.)
• Who should consider using us?

Here's a different outline (from Veronika Noize):

• First, why did you decide that the time was right to work with me? What situation or event prompted you to seek my help?
• Second, what specifically did we do together that resolved or improved that situation?
• And finally, what was the end result or outcome of our work together? How did you know that our work was successful?

Thank you kindly.
-Tom

That's all it took. You can do it too. And you should.

After Action Review - Oregon GOP

after_action_group
Originally uploaded by tbcox23

I recently hosted a gathering of Republican campaign managers, volunteers, and candidates to talk about our experiences in the November 2008 election.

In particular, I wanted to learn what everyone else had learned during the campaign, so we could all do a better job in the future.

I have always had good results when doing this sort of thing in the private sector, so it was no surprise that this one yielded good lessons as well.

Tom in the News

I'm getting quoted lately -- not sure why:

Forest Grove News Times
Best lines:

“I think it is a repudiation of whatever plan we thought we had before this and it’s a clear indication that we have to rebuild and rethink and take very seriously the obligation that we have now as the minority party in the state,” Cox said.

Cox hopes that the Republicans, now solidly in the minority in Salem, will focus on putting pressure on Democrats regarding tax issues.

“If you want to turn a Democrat into a vulnerable Democrat get him to vote for a bunch of tax increases in a down economy,” Cox said. “If that’s their strategy, don’t let me interrupt them.”

PolitickerOR
Best line:
“Right now, we’re losers,” Cox said. “We haven’t lost, we’re just having a bad couple of years. We behaved ourselves into a hole, and we need to behave ourselves out of it.”

WSJ Roundup: New Directions for the GOP

The ever valuable Wall Street Journal provides a set of articles suggesting ways forward for the GOP, starting with this one from Paul Ryan. Each article contains an index to all the other articles.

What Does the GOP Do Next?

• Danny Vargas: Diversity is Destiny
• Paul Ryan: Take Some Political Risks
• Henry Olsen: What Would Reagan Do?
• Peter Robinson: Put California in Play
• Richard Land: Stay Faithful to Core Values
• Michael Steele: Listen. Adapt. Be Positive.

So, which of them are right? What is the path forward for Oregon?

Your comments welcome.