with Auren
Hoffman
Month of June,
2002
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Summation Push Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for June, 2002 This issue: * Why Reliability is the Most Important Personal Business Trait * Reverse Money Laundering, Terrorist Cells, and Hawalas * Book Review: Lincoln at Gettysburg-- The Words that Remade America by Garry Wills * Movie of the Month: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner * Reader Responses on Education (Bruno Behrend, Raul Duran, Stacey Estrella, Joe Whalen, Mike Forbes, John Duncan) * Friend of Auren: Justin Segal * Summation Push Pick Links * Hoffman Reading List -------------------------------- WHY RELIABILITY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSONAL BUSINESS TRAIT By Auren Hoffman Forget intelligence. Forget hard work. Forget office politics.
The most important trait of someone in the workplace is reliability.
Auren's definition of what it means to be "reliable":
* Consistently on-time
* Sets due dates and then gets projects done by those dates
* Does not need project reminders from others
That's it.
The secret behind reliability is that it is so easy to do -- a lot easier than working 90 hour weeks or being really intelligent. Woody Allen once said 80% of life is just showing up. He's right.
But in my life, albeit a short one thus far, I can count the number of truly reliable people that I've met on my fingers ... maybe even on just one hand. Why is that?
Business schools should stress the value of reliability -- it is the best indicator on productivity. All companies should interview for it -- ask the right questions and design the best tests to screen for those individuals.
I'd also venture to say that one rarely sees a resume of a reliable person -- because reliable people are horded by their bosses. If I ever left BridgePath (that will never happen), there are a few people I'd be sure to take with me wherever I went. Reliable people make the boss look great and they are PRIZED.
(Are you reliable? Write auren@summation.net) -------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- REVERSE MONEY LAUNDERING, TERRORIST CELLS, AND HAWALAS
Money Laundering (old): Reverse Money Laundering (new): Since September 11, there has been a lot of talk about hawalas -- a network of individuals used to transfer money -- generally over long distances. Hawalas are kind of like a Western Union -- but they rely on trusted individuals and they generally take a smaller fee (see Time Magazine article: http://www.time.com/time/world/printout/0,8816,178227,00.html).
The U.S. Government has tried to crack down on hawalas (see testimony of Deputy Treasury Secretary Ken Dam to the Senate Banking Committee: http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/02012905.htm) -- but they are extremely difficult to regulate because they are so informal. Until legitimate wire services (like Western Union) are cheaper than hawalas, informal networks will be the dominant form of small money transfers in the Third World.
Now we should remember that most money transported through hawalas is legitimate (mostly expatriates sending money back to their families). Wells Fargo, in the mid-1800's, even acted as a hawala.
Another method of reverse money laundering is through using credit cards. A man in Brooklyn who is sympathetic with the Hezbollah could buy a nice rug from an Internet site in Yemen with his credit card for $5000. The rug will either never be delivered or a cheaper rug will be sent instead. Now the man has given money to an illegal terrorist group -- but he still has plausible deniability (and potentially has financed his giving through Citigroup or another credit provider). This type of reverse money laundering is nearly impossible to stop.
Terrorists might also use the Internet and services like PayPal to channel money. Though PayPal has lots of safeguards, many of the less-known payments sites do not. Wiring money through the Internet is a lot easier than Western Union because you do not have to physically pick up the cash from a Western Union branch.
(Write your thoughts? Write auren@summation.net) --------------------------------
Useless Fact:
"All U.S Presidents have worn glasses, some of them just didn't like to be seen with them in public. Lyndon B. Johnson was the first president of the United States to wear contact lenses."
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BOOK REVIEW: Lincoln at Gettysburg -- The Words that Remade America
by Garry Wills This is an extremely interesting essay on Lincoln, slavery, the 1800s in America, the Civil War, and all the influencers at that time. It is incredibly rich and full of new items for me. I listened to the unabridged booms on tape that was read by the author. Wills has a great storytelling voice that resonates well -- I'm sure he is a terrific lecturer.
More at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671867423/qid=1019261870/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_7_1/104-3678519-1454306
(To see more book reviews, check out the Hoffman Reading List at http://www.summation.net/reading.html) ----------------------------------------------------
MOVIE OF THE MONTH:
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner -- This was a delightful and uplifting movie filmed in 1967. It discusses the sensitive topic (especially in 1967!) of inter-racial marriage. Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy (his last film), and Katharine Houghton star. I highly recommend it.
More info at: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/GuessWhosComingtoDinner-1009009/preview.php
-------------------------------- The objective of Summation is to READER RESPONSES AND OPINIONS NOTE: We got a ton of responses to last month's article on Spain (see http://www.summation.net/Push0205.html).
Bruno Behrend remarks:
"Spain will cease to exist as 'Spain' into the next century. One does not have to be a Buchananite xenophobe to recognize this. Perhaps their Happiness per [capita] is due to such low 'capita', and not from a surplus in 'happiness.'"
... and Rual Duran writes:
"I think your observations on the state of IT in Spain are extensible to the rest of the Spanish-speaking world (probably as an extension of Spanish culture). I am a native speaker of Spanish and I realized some of the differences (or absences) in the business vocabulary last week, when I stayed up until 3am trying to translate my resume as a Software Engineer Manager from English into Spanish.
"'Responsabilidad' is a close match for Accountability, but as you might guess, it actually means 'Responsibility', which has a slightly different connotation. The one that I found difficult to translate is 'Deadline'. What an extreme word the English language has for this concept! We have nothing like that in Spanish, certainly, nobody thinks they will DIE if they won't deliver a project exactly on time.
"I agree with the HPC [happiness per capita] numbers, and I would hope this country learned something from Spain, and in general from the rest of the Latin world, were we do value family, well being, and joy for life, more than perceived achievements monetarily or status-wise."
... and Stacey Estrella chimes in:
"Spain is a lovely country. And the Spanish have mastered the ability to prosper while also enjoying life, living in the moment. It's a refreshing change to dot.com mania that plagued our culture before the bust....."
... and Joe Whalen from Flake-Wilkerson Market Insights comments:
"Unlike much of the rest of Europe, restrooms are both clean and free in Spain."
On "Should Board Members be Term Limited?," Mike Forbes writes:
"Term limits are unnecessary as a rule. If a voter doesn't like the way something is being done they should vote their representative out of office. That's why Man invented the ballot box. Similarly, a voter should not be prevented from voting for the person of his or her choice for any reason (barring criminal behavior), much less because a representative has done such a good job they have managed to please constituents long enough to have provoke some knee-jerk, intellectually-bankrupt response from our society's populist elements.
"In the case of a company, the shareholders can vote to replace an Eisner or a Gates if they want to/have the votes; but why should they be forced to do so if they are happy with the executive. If an investor doesn't like the way a company is being run and the exec is also the majority shareholder then they can always vote the old fashioned way- with their feet and their pocketbook; invest elsewhere.
"This one is right up there with the time you suggested the Internet banks build brick-and-mortar locations."
And John Duncan writes:
"The lesson of Enron is that outside board representation should be strengthened, not weakened. The board represents shareholder value whereas management represents their own strategy. Management's strategy and shareholder value can diverge, as they did in the Enron case."
(Write Auren your thoughts: auren@summation.net)
-------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- FRIENDS OF AUREN [this section updates you an interesting person
that is a member of Auren Inc] Justin Segal I got to know Justin about a year ago -- which is a long time in San Francisco. At the time he was the Founder and Director of Start-up Services for Startups Inc. He has since left that company and moved back to his real-estate roots founding Core Group Properties.
Justin previously founded Stemmons Software, a developer of financial accounting solutions for the real estate industry. Justin also co-founded Boxer Property Management Corporation, a national leader in the small- and medium-sized tenant sector, with over 4,000 tenants in over 4.5 million square feet. Justin graduated cum laude from both the NYU School of Law and the University of Pennsylvania.
Last month (April 20) Justin was married to Jennie Gillary.
Visit Justin's Ryze page: http://www.ryze.org/view.php?who=justinsegal
See past profiled Friends of Auren at: http://www.summation.net/friends.html
-------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- THIS WEEK'S SUMMATION PUSH PICK LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK: * Mollyguard.com (http://www.mollyguard.com) -- site allows you to sell tickets for events and process all payments via PayPal.
* PHP.net (http://www.php.net) -- I've recently been programming in PHP. It is extremely easy to use and this site has been a good resource.
* Get Business Cards (http://www.vistaprint.com) -- if you are an out-of-work dot-commer -- get free (or inexpensive) business cards at this site.
* RSVP for the Party of the Decade (http://evite.citysearch.com/GGParty@eudoramail.com/2011Party) -- taking place on Nov 11, 2011.
*How to sell via e-mail (from the book "21st Century Selling") (http://www.summation.net/emailselling.html)
*What am I reading? The Hoffman Reading List (http://www.summation.net/reading.html)
NOTE: Auren Hoffman works for BridgePath.com but the opinions expressed
herein are solely those of Mr. Hoffman. NOTE: You may reprint in full or in part (for
free) with permission from author. Auren Hoffman's bio can be found at:
(http://www.summation.net/hoffman.html)
------------------------------------
Comments: E-mail:
auren@summation.net
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