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A friend sent me a copy of a new book about basketball coach Don Meyer. Don was one of the most successful college basketball coaches of all time, apparently. It's quite a sad book—sad because of his tragic accident, but also sad because it's a vivid story about a misguided management technque.
Meyer's belief was that he could become an external compass and taskmaster to his players. By yelling louder, pushing harder and relentlessly riding his players, his plan was to generate excellence by bullying them. The hope was that over time, people would start pushing themselves, incorporating Don's voice inside their head, but in fact, this often turns out to be untrue. People can be pushed, but the minute you stop, they stop. If the habit you've taught is to achieve in order to avoid getting chewed out, once the chewing out stops, so does the achievement.
It might win basketball games, but it doesn't scale and it doesn't last. When Don left the room (or the players graduated), the team stopped winning.
A second way to manage people is to create competition. Pit people against one another and many of them will respond. Post all the grades on a test, with names, and watch people try to outdo each other next time. Promise a group of six managers that one of them will get promoted in six months and watch the energy level rise. Want to see little league players raise their game? Just let them know the playoffs are in two weeks and they're one game out of contention.
Again, there's human nature at work here, and this can work in the short run. The problem, of course, is that in every competition most competitors lose. Some people use that losing to try harder next time, but others merely give up. Worse, it's hard to create the cooperative environment that fosters creativity when everyone in the room knows that someone else is out to defeat them.
Both the first message (the bully with the heart of gold) and the second (creating scarce prizes) are based on a factory model, one of scarcity. It's my factory, my basketball, my gallery and I'm going to manipulate whatever I need to do to get the results I need. If there's only room for one winner, it seems these approaches make sense.
The third method, the one that I prefer, is to open the door. Give people a platform, not a ceiling. Set expectations, not to manipulate but to encourage. And then get out of the way, helping when asked but not yelling from the back of the bus.
When people learn to embrace achievement, they get hooked on it. Take a look at the incredible achievements the alumni of some organizations achieve after they move on. When adults (and kids) see the power of self-direction and realize the benefits of mutual support, they tend to seek it out over and over again.
In a non-factory mindset, one where many people have the opportunity to use the platform (I count the web and most of the arts in this category), there are always achievers eager to take the opportunity. No, most people can't manage themselves well enough to excel in the way you need them to, certainly not immediately. But those that can (or those that can learn to) are able to produce amazing results, far better than we ever could have bullied them into. They turn into linchpins, solving problems you didn't even realize you had. A new generation of leaders is created...
And it lasts a lifetime.
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Posted: 23 Jan 2011 09:04 PM PST The Fraternal Order of Police in Camden New Jersey proved without a shadow of a doubt, public union willingness to toss fellow officers to the dogs. In a 300-1 vote, the union rejected an offer that that would have saved 100 jobs. That offer called for three days a month of unpaid furloughs for patrol officers for six months, then one furlough day in each of the following 12 months. Please consider Camden police union rejects concession deal that could bring back 100 laid-off officers Two efforts to reverse some of the stunning police layoffs in one of America's most dangerous cities failed today.Cannibalization at its Finest That vote is one of the finest displays of union cannibalization (willingness to sacrifice junior officers for the sake of senior members) that you will ever see. The police officers do not give a damn about their fellow officers or the city itself. All that matters is the senior members "get what they have coming to them". Layoffs of Unprecedented Proportion Make for "Living Hell" Please consider Camden struggles with lack of manpower due to police, firefighter layoffs If you get into a car accident in Camden, the city's chief of police has this advice: Don't bother calling the cops unless there are injuries or blocked traffic. Likewise, don't call about vandalism. Or minor thefts.Blood? What Blood? The police union's preposterous offer was to freeze wages. Next the union whines "How much blood do you have?" as if the union was offering anything of substance in a wage freeze proposal. Assuming the officers work 20 days a month, the city was asking for a 15% pay cut for 6 months and a 5% pay cut for the following year. Does that constitute blood? I think not. However, letting 100 officers go is certainly blood on the union's hands. The firefighters union "negotiation" went even worse. They demanded small wage increases. Both unions had the gall to run fear-mongering campaigns. Of course fear-mongering is standard public union operating procedure. The sad irony is that money to fear-monger comes straight from the taxpayers. Mayor Accuses Police and Fire Unions of Fear-Mongering Judge Declines to Intervene Fortunately a New Jersey judge declined to intervene. A New Jersey judge won't force Camden to bring back 167 police officers who were laid off Monday and Tuesday. The layoffs reduced the size of the police force by nearly half in a city that regularly ranks as one of the nation's most dangerous.Camden is Bankrupt On the surface, it is hard to understand the city's tactics here. Camden should have outsourced the entire police operation to the county sheriffs' association. I have not seen an instance yet where that action would not have saved money. The real problem however, is Camden is bankrupt. It should declare bankruptcy. In bankruptcy court the union could then see what their salary and pension contract are worth. Beneath the surface, the most likely explanation is the mayor might have to relinquish control of the city. Governor Chris Christie should ask for a law to allow bankruptcy be imposed on a city, whether the city likes it or not. As with Detroit, only bankruptcy can save what remains of Camden, and Camden is clearly bankrupt. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Timothy Geithner Meets Vladimir Lenin Stage II; Accounting Rule Changes at the Fed will Mask Losses Posted: 23 Jan 2011 01:53 PM PST Many people have taken notice of changes slipped into the Fed's balance sheet reporting rules that will allegedly shield the Fed from devastating losses. Please consider Accounting Tweak Could Save Fed From Losses. Concerns that the Federal Reserve could suffer losses on its massive bond holdings may have driven the central bank to adopt a little-noticed accounting change with huge implications: it makes insolvency much less likely.Two Distinct Issues Going forward, there are two key issues here (not counting losses with TARP), and none of the articles circulating properly explains either them, or when the real damage occurred.
Losses on Treasures as Interest Rates Rise It is a simple statement of fact that there will be no losses on treasuries if the Fed hold the treasuries to term, which I believe is their intent. Note that the Fed concentrates purchases in the 3-7 year range, making it a relatively easy matter to hold those securities to term. Moreover, if the economic recovery does not satisfy the Fed it can simply enter a program whereby it replaces expiring treasuries with new purchases. Should the Fed embark upon such a plan, it will offer an excuse that it is not expanding its balance sheet further. I do not agree at all with the Fed's balance sheet expansion, I simply point out the risk of losses on treasuries is a theoretical issue, not a practical one. Losses on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Assets The accounting rule change will also allow the Fed to hide losses on MBS garbage on its balance sheet. Those toxic assets have a much longer duration. Can the Fed get rid of them for no losses? The answer is yes, but it has nothing to do with accounting rule changes. The damage was done in late 2009 by Congress. Timothy Geithner Meets Vladimir Lenin Please consider John Hussman's January 4, 2010 article Timothy Geithner Meets Vladimir Lenin "The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency."Accounting Rule Change Footnotes From that perspective, and it's a proper one, these accounting rule changes are nothing but a tiny historical footnote on damage long ago done by Congress ceding power, knowingly or unknowingly to the Fed. Fed Uncertainty Principle Yet Again Clever readers will note this as a part of my Fed Uncertainty Principle. Uncertainty Principle Corollary Number Two:That was written April 3, 2008, long before the Fed started usurping powers the constitution grants Congress. Taxpayers are now on the hook for these losses, and the accounting rule change is a mere reflection of that fact. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Sunday Funnies 2011-01-23 Student Loans; Solar Energy Madness in Europe Posted: 23 Jan 2011 10:50 AM PST Reflections on a Wise College Major For more on the student loan scam, please see Budget Deficit Accounting Fraud and the Off-Balance-Sheet Student Loan Scam; Time to Scrap Entire Student Loan Program Solar Energy Madness in Europe In an effort to spur solar energy in France, Germany, Spain and other European countries, bureaucratic dunces decided to pay as much as 10 times market rates for those supplying energy to the power grid. In response, farmers in France have started building "barns" that serve no other purpose than a place to put solar panels. Supermarkets put solar panels on their roofs and unused sections of parking lots. It has been a boom to solar panel makers (China), but it is costing costing the French power company Electricite de France SA more than a billion euros ($1.3 billion) a year to meet government mandated pledges to accept solar energy from those supplying the grid. At the end of 2010, EDF received 3,000 applications a day to connect panels to the grid. In 2008, the number of applications was 7,100 for the entire year. The results should have been easy to predict in advance, but you can never explain anything to economic illiterates interfering in the free markets hoping to make things better. They never do. Please consider EDF's Solar 'Time Bomb' Will Tick On After France Pops Bubble France's solar power boom that's led to farmers building unneeded barns just to cover them in panels is costing Electricite de France SA more than a billion euros ($1.3 billion) a year as it meets state pledges to pay above-market prices for renewable energy.Politicians Never See It Coming "We just didn't see it coming," French lawmaker Francois-Michel Gonnot said of the boom. "What's in the pipeline this year is unimaginable. Farmers were being told they could put panels on hangars and get rid of their cows." Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Jim Rogers Calls for $200 Oil, Remains Bullish on the Yuan; Limiting Factors Rogers Misses Posted: 23 Jan 2011 02:41 AM PST Jim Rogers says oil will hit $200. Please consider this audio interview with Justin Rowlatt at the Business Daily. Here is a partial transcript from the BBC. Justin Rowlatt: Do you really believe the Chinese boom can continue, because lots of people are saying there are all sorts of asset price bubbles that are going to trip the Chinese up in the coming years?Limiting Factors Rogers Misses Not many people have investment timelines of a decade. Moreover, there are a lot of things that can happen along the way. If oil were to drop to $60 and stay there for a number of years I would not want to be in it praying for $200 at some time in the future. Rogers compares China to the US but fails to point point out (figure out), that one reason the US was able to grow fast was cheap oil prices. Other factors supportive of growth are strong personal property rights and a rule of law. From my point of view, peak oil is a limiting constraint on the China's growth. Thus, on a fundamental basis, the higher oil and commodity prices go, the less bullish one should be on China. Near-term Rogers clearly misses property bubbles and rampant unsustainable credit growth, over three times China's GDP growth. When that credit bubble pops, and China's property bubble with it, the Yuan will likely take a plunge as well. For now, I side with Jim Chanos, a China bear in this debate. Please see "Consensus Nonsense"; Is the Yuan Undervalued? Who Wins a Currency War? for additional details. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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It's a lot easier for an organization to adopt new words than it is to actually change anything.
Real change is uncomfortable. If it's not feeling that way, you've probably just adopted new words.
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Posted: 22 Jan 2011 02:04 PM PST Inquiring minds have been wondering why the federal debt has been rising far faster than cumulative federal deficits. The short answer is off-balance-sheet scams like student loans and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "assets". A complete explanation comes from WC Varones in his post Mystery solved: the difference between the deficit and the increase in national debt The ex-Wall Street types at ZeroHedge chewed on this but couldn't come up with a good explanation. Karl Denninger called it crooked accounting, but couldn't pinpoint the fraud. B-Daddy at the Liberator Today noticed the same thing and didn't have an answer. Then I threw the question over to the academics at Econbrowser:Student Loan ScamIf it's such a simple accounting identity, would you please reconcile the $1.9 trillion and $1.65 trillion debt increases in FY 09 and FY 10 with the alleged deficits of $1.4 trillion and $1.3 trillion for the same fiscal years?None of the academics among the bloggers and commenters at Econbrowser could answer the question, until Menzie Chinn found an expert who could. Thanks WC, I had been wondering that myself. Let's dig into Table S-14 (page 55 - PDF page 65) and look at projections for "Guaranteed Loan Accounts" under the general heading of "Debt Held by the Public Net of Financial Assets". Using Data from the Table S-14 I made this chart of student loan projections. Student Loan Projections 2009-2020 in $Billions Time to Scrap Entire Student Loan Program That debt is government (taxpayer) guaranteed. It is one of the primary things fueling the ever-rising cost of higher education. Amazingly students scream for more aid, and Obama want to give it to them, even though the debt destroys millions of lives in the process. I propose the entire student loan program be scrapped. Much of that alleged "aid" goes straight to corrupt institutions like the University of Phoenix which charges exorbitant amounts for fluff degrees leaving students trapped as debt slaves for the rest of their lives. For more on the University of Phoenix and other collegiate scams, please consider ...
Since student debt cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, and since universities get paid by the government, the universities (even legitimate ones) do not care how many lives they destroy. The way to end the madness is to phase out all student loans over the next 3 years, immediately halting all new loans to freshmen. If colleges want to lend directly to students, nothing stops them. However, those debts should not be guaranteed by taxpayers. The second thing we need to do is accredit far more online colleges. There is no reason legitimate courses cannot be offered over the internet at amazingly low prices. These actions would quickly pop the bubble in higher education costs and make college affordable for nearly everyone without putting taxpayers at risk. In the meantime, all off-balance-sheet debt needs to be properly accounted for in budget deficit projections, not hidden in places like Table S-14 where it took an army of people to figure out what was happening. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
"Imagine There's No T-Bonds - It's Easy If You Try" Posted: 22 Jan 2011 11:28 AM PST In "World Comes Together to Save the Euro" I posted a video Beatles' tribute to the idea "Come Together". In response, reader "Spiral" wrote sent in some lyrics that he wrote. The first is to the tune of "Come Together" the second to the tune of John Lennon's "Imagine". I heavily modified the version of "Imagine" he sent in, but the first is entirely his. "Come Together" (buy bonds from me) Here come the issue You get 3 percent coupon You get at deep discount You got 30 yr window You got debt as far as the eye can see You don't get yo money back ain't nothin' be free Come together right now Buy from me ------------------------------------- We sell to China We sell mucho Ja-pan We sell fo Russian Rub-ble Hey this ain't no Bub-ble There ain't no Asian Contagion you see But this far in the hole ain't no place to be Come together right now Buy from me ----------------------------------- We on a roller coaster With some Wall Street cracker He got all our dough & our futures blacker He say one fo all & all fo ME He will cheat you till you all the way down on yo knee Come together right now Buy from me............. "Imagine" Imagine no Bernanke It's easy if you try. No Fed-hell below us, Bills not to the sky. Imagine all the people, With no debt to pay. Imagine there's no T-bonds, It isn't hard to do. No Federal Reserve notes, And no T-Bills too. Imagine real money, Spendable today You may say I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us For a solid gold backed buck Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
Illinois Comptroller Says Stack of Unpaid Bills will Soon Double Despite Tax Increase Posted: 22 Jan 2011 04:31 AM PST Illinois is so far behind paying bills that the comptroller says unpaid bills will soon double despite tax increase. Please consider Illinois Statehouse News Old overdue bills still an issue for Illinois The state's stack of unpaid bills will soon double despite an income tax increase, according to state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.If Republicans want concessions, I have one in mind: Make Illinois a right to work state, killing all prevailing wage laws along with it. Mike "Mish" Shedlock http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List Mike "Mish" Shedlock is a registered investment advisor representative for SitkaPacific Capital Management. Sitka Pacific is an asset management firm whose goal is strong performance and low volatility, regardless of market direction. Visit http://www.sitkapacific.com/account_management.html to learn more about wealth management and capital preservation strategies of Sitka Pacific. |
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