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2004 Hopkins and Company, LLC
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Ounces of
Prevention
Sometimes the themes we develop for Executive Times appear from unlikely
places. Occasionally, some intuitive readers note our leaps and trace our lightly
traveled paths. For the less intuitive, here’s a peek behind the curtain. In
recent weeks, we’ve been barraged by the images from Abu Ghraib
and thought the obvious theme of knowing what your employees are doing seemed
incomplete. All the obvious paths have been trod: visit locations, ask
questions, assess employee concerns, and communicate mission and values
constantly and clearly. All of that got us thinking about other approaches to
prevention, including preparation. So, we noted recent stories about how some
organizations help employees avoid sickness, and how others respond to travel
trepidation. We note preparations for global changes, and career changes.
Through it all, we encourage readers to reflect on what you can do to prevent
or avoid future problems. In the next few weeks, what can you do differently
to be more prepared than you are now for likely changes? How can you improve
what you are doing to help employees be prepared for their future challenges?
How many ounces of preparation are you prepared to chug?
Fifteen new
books are rated in this issue, beginning on page 5. One business book is
rated with four stars, one debut novel with two stars, one
best seller with a DNR rating, and the remaining dozen with three stars. You
can also visit our complete 2004 bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2004books.html
and see the rating table explained as well as explore links to all 2004 book
reviews. You can also check this same bookshelf to see what other books we’re
reading or considering. Forty additional books were added to the “shelf of
possibility” during May. If there’s something missing from the bookshelf that
you think we should be considering, let us know at books@hopkinsandcompany.com.
Take two, or one, or no aspirin, and don’t
show up in the morning
Employer health care
costs have skyrocketed, and lots of changes have been implemented to mitigate
the rise in expenses. One frequent, but blunt tool has been increasing
employee co-payments for prescription drugs. We read in the Journal of the American Medical
Association (May 19) (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/291/19/2344)
that a RAND Corporation study has
concluded that employees cut back on drugs for treatment of chronic disease
by about a quarter when co-payments double. According to the study,
“significant increases in co-payments raise concern about adverse health
consequences because of the large price effects, especially among diabetic
patients.” Take less medicine, need more emergency room visits or hospital
stays, and employer costs rise. We were reminded of the expression, “There
are no solutions, only new problems.” Some employers have made exceptions to
blunt co-payment policies where drugs are required to treat chronic illness. The Wall Street Journal (May 19) (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108491551729714914,00.html)
called attention to Pitney Bowes,
which reduced co-pays for diabetic employees and saw other health costs for
those employees decline because they were no longer penalized when purchasing
medication. Sick days cost more than co-pays, and some employers are changing
policies that lead to undesirable outcomes. Other companies are exploring
additional ways to promote health. We read in The New York Times (May 23) (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/business/yourmoney/23loss.html)
that AstraZeneca International had provided cash
incentives and prizes for overweight employees to participate in group weight
loss programs in the workplace, expecting a reduction in sick days. Here’s an
excerpt from the Times article: “If
your company does not provide weight-loss benefits, this may be a great time
to suggest that it start them, said Helen
Darling, the president of the National
Business Group on Health. It represents about 205 large employers on
health care issues. And don't be shy, Ms. Darling added, whether you are
asking your employer to subsidize on-site fitness classes or to use art or
music to make the stairwells more attractive for walking. ‘There's a booming
problem when you look at the data on the cost and productivity consequences
of obesity among the working population, and it's opening up opportunities
for employees.’”
How quickly are you able to identify
unexpected and undesirable outcomes for policies you’ve implemented? How do
you measure consequences of your decisions? When you solve certain problems,
how do you go about examining changes in behavior that respond to your
solutions? What tools do you use to ensure that you don’t ignore emerging
concerns, and that you resolve problems effectively? Have you had
conversations about health issues with employees? Are there ways you can
support employee’s efforts to prevent health problems? How creative are you
prepared to be to prevent future problems?
Fasten your seatbelt
While some employees
hate to travel, especially when work demands eclipse personal commitments,
other employees love to get away from the office at any opportunity. Some
executives expect employees to drop everything and do whatever’s necessary to
get the job done. We’ve noted that when an employee has the courage to say no
to business travel, there are a variety of ways an executive can respond. The
best executives work out a compromise: flexibility on dates, method of
travel, using a different employee. Executives who ignore employee concerns
are more likely to lose the employee over an issue that can often be
resolved. We read a half-dozen examples of employees saying no to travel in an
article in The New York Times (May
18) titled, “Facing the Consequences of Not Going” (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/business/18no.html).
In the examples presented, executives unwilling to be flexible lost the
employees, and those willing to explore alternatives came to respect the
employees.
How willing are
you to listen to employee travel concerns and explore alternatives? Is there
any way that an employee’s personal commitments have an impact on your
business schedule and expectations? Are those who work for you willing to say
no to travel, or no to other expectations you have of them?
Buffalo’s healthy diet: curried
wings
Back when Horace Greeley provided his advice, “Go
West, young man” in an editorial in his New
York Tribune in 1865, he was encouraging workers to join the expansion of
the American frontiers, and many of his readers accurately understood that
one of the locations he meant was Buffalo, New York, a place none of us today
would consider “west.” For a hundred years that city tamed its part of the
frontier and grew, but it has been shrinking in population for the past fifty
years. Following the collapse of the steel industry in the 1970s, jobs were
lost and a variety of schemes to attract new jobs have failed. We read in The Wall Street Journal (May 24) (http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108535507400819107,00.html)
that global transformations are playing out in Buffalo as it tries two related strategies.
It’s developed a booming call center business that competes with the centers
outsourced to India.
According to the Journal, “Buffalo
is trying to attract the kinds of call-center jobs in which knowledge of
American culture is important, such as handling complicated insurance claims.
India's
cost advantage fades if a Buffalonian can handle a
Blue Cross claim faster than a Bangalorian-and
without complaints.” Concurrently, Buffalo is
courting Indian investment in Buffalo,
to offset criticism that American jobs are not being created by Indian
companies. Tata Consultancy Services will be hiring
software specialists to test software on local supercomputers. Our favorite
quote came from a local professor, responding to anti-Buffalo snobbery coming
from Americans, but not Indians: “If you think Buffalo
is a dirty place, spend a few days in Calcutta.”
What strategies have brought
you to where you are now, and what different strategies
will take you and your organization to where you need to be next? What
mutually beneficial opportunities exist for you and potential partners? How
quickly will you need to adapt to changing situations? Are you ready for
change? When transformations are taking place, what are you doing to prevent
harm to you and to your organization? What are you doing to exploit
opportunities?
High speed on-ramps to the
workplace
There
are huge potential pools of workers who have been out of the job market totally,
and some organizations are finding ways to accelerate the ability of those
potential workers to re-enter the workplace. We read in The Wall Street Journal (May 6) (http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB108379263901403093,00.html)
that there are so many mothers returning to work that a host of employment
consultants have emerged to help these women prepare to re-enter the job
market through seminars, resume help and support groups. A dozen large
employers and law firms formed a group called “Hidden Brain Drain” earlier
this year to brainstorm “strategies for creating ‘on-ramps’ for women seeking
to get back in the labor force.” These employers see the unrealized value in
these high-potential women and want to be sure that their companies become
desirable places for those women to work. We learned about another segment of
potential workers that have difficulty in re-entering the job market:
convicted felons. As we went to press, the City of Chicago
approved one of two proposed locations for an urban Wal-Mart store. Community hearings about the proposed stores
called attention to the need for hundreds of jobs in the communities the
stores would serve. Some community members wanted the company to make a
commitment to hire ex-cons, the segment of the community with the highest
unemployment rate. No commitment was made.
How does your organization
pursue high-potential employees? What changes do you need to make in your
workplace to ease the transition for those high-potential workers? Have your competitors positioned themselves
more favorably than your organization to those potential workers? Do you know
what they are doing to attract these workers? Do the on-ramps to your organization
have potholes that need repair? How can you make those ramps smooth and safe?
Follow-up
Here are
selected updates on stories covered in prior issues of Executive
Times:
Ø
We
forecast in the January 2004
issue of Executive Times that
while we didn’t have a clue what Richard
Strong was thinking when he engaged in short trading in his own account
at Strong Financial Corporation, we
predicted that his name would not be on the door of the company much longer.
In recent days, Strong announced the sale of the Company to Wells Fargo for a fraction of its
worth just months ago. In a statement which accompanied the revelation of the
$60 million fine he was paying for the $600,000 in illegal gains he made,
Strong apologized saying, in part, “Throughout my career, I have considered
it to be my sacred duty to protect my investors; and yet in a particular and
persistent way I let them down. In previous years, I frequently traded the
shares of the Strong funds, at the same time that the advice which we gave
our investors was to do the opposite and to hold their shares for the long
term. My personal behavior in this regard was wrong and at odds with the
obligations I owed my shareholders, and for this I am deeply sorry.”
Ø
In
the May
2003 issue of Executive Times
we called attention to some lawsuits accusing Marriott Corporation of conflict of interest in managing hotels
for others. Readers interested in learning more about the business approaches
of Marriott should be sure to read the cover story (http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2004/0510/066.html)
in the May 10 issues of Forbes,
titled, “Soft Pillows and Sharp Elbows.”
Legacy
Hard choices
As the forth generation
family member to lead the Johnson
family of companies, Samuel C. Johnson
grew the business forty fold during his tenure, becoming a billionaire in the
process. Along the way, he made some hard choices that are models of ideal
executive behavior. In the 1970s, he cost the company millions by removed
chlorofluorocarbon propellants from the company's products years before the
government required it. He left the Johnson board in 2000, confident that the
company was in good (family) hands, allowing for an effective transition. In
an hour-long memoir film in 2001, he disclosed two aspects of his life that
influenced others in powerful ways: “For a long time I couldn't admit that my
father was not around enough of the time that I needed him. I guess my
biggest doubt about my father was whether he loved me as much as the
company.” Sam didn’t repeat that problem, but he did repeat another: his
mother’s alcoholism. After family intervention in 1993, he checked himself
into a treatment program in 1993 and got that monkey off his back. Sam
Johnson’s took a simple approach to environmental issues: do the right thing.
Johnson became a model for eco-efficiency, and promoted sustainable
development globally. A longtime contributor to Cornell, home of the S.C.
Johnson School of Business, here’s what he said when he made a gift there in
2003: “When we set aside the obvious business benefits of being an
environmentally responsible company, we are left with the simple human truth
that we cannot lead lives of dignity and worth when the natural resources
that sustain us are threatened or destroyed.” Johnson’s life of dignity and
worth ended in late May, but his legacy continues, in the hands of a family
formed by his values.
Latest Books
Read and Reviewed:
(Note: readers of the web version of Executive Times
can click on the book covers to order copies directly from amazon.com. When you order through these links, Hopkins
& Company receives a small payment from amazon.com. Click on the title to read the review or
visit our 2004 bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2004books.html).
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Title (Link to
Review)
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Author
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Rating
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Review Summary
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Purchase
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The
Art of Mending
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Berg,
Elizabeth
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•••
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Forgiveness. Beneath a
bucolic domestic life can reside painful memories and scars. In this novel,
Berg explores sibling differences, abuse and repressed memories, along with
the journey toward forgiveness.
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Against
All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror
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Clarke,
Richard A.
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•••
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Service. Compelling
personal account by career civil servant on his area of specialization:
terrorism. Too soon for history, personal perspectives add to the record,
recognizing the biases that come with personal involvement.
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Blindsided
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Cohen,
Richard M.
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•••
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Coping. Well-written
memoir of three decades of struggling with multiple sclerosis followed by
colon cancer, while coping as a worker, husband and parent. A story of
courage and hope, helpful to all readers coping with life’s challenges.
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Ask
Me Anything
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Delbanco, Francesca
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••
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Dear. Debut novel
describes advice columnist’s coming of age in NYC. Readers of chick lit
will especially enjoy this for erratic moments of fine writing.
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Inside
Hitler’s Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich
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Fest,
Joachim C.
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•••
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Caveman. Prominent historian
distills hundreds of sources of information to provide tightly written
account of Hitler’s last days.
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The
Anatomy of Hope: How People Prevail in the Face of Illness
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Groopman, Jerome E.
|
•••
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Scientific. Three
approaches: Dr. Groopman’s patients’ stories; his
own debilitating back injury; and how science is learning more about
mind-body connections. Realistic hope can help us live longer and better.
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The Present:
The Gift That Makes You Happy and Successful At Work and In Life
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Johnson,
Spencer
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DNR
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Carpe Today. You have better ways to spend
your time than spending even an hour reading another simplistic message
from this popular writer. It’s mostly about “now,” except when about
“then,” or about a gift. Take a pass.
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But
Come Ye Back: A Novel in Stories
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Lordan, Beth
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•••
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Lovely. Novel in stories
captures Ohio couple who retires to Ireland and
continues to change and grow with all the complexity of mature marriages
and long-intertwined lives.
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Mosque
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Macaulay,
David
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•••
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Pillars. Whether or not
you read Macaulay’s earlier books, including: Castle, Cathedral, City, Mill, and Pyramid, you’re likely to observe and to learn something new
in this latest book.
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The
Full Cupboard of Life
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McCall
Smith, Alexander
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•••
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Teatime. Fifth in the No.
1 Ladies Detective series set in Botswana, in which an African
Miss Marple explores the meaning of lives and
relationships, in which a cup of tea is always the start of a solution to
problems.
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The
Five Paths to Persuasion: Identifying and Influencing the Five Styles of
Today’s Decisions Makers
|
Miller,
Robert B. and Gary A. Williams
|
••••
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Dialogue. Authors used
data and examples to synthesis executive decision making styles to five,
and present practical and useful ways to target presentations in ways most
likely to lead to success for each style.
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Cork Boat
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Pollack,
John
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•••
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Sails. Funny and poignant
tale of the author’s dream and execution of building a boat made from the corks
of wine bottles. Relationships and community are built along with the boat.
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Mr.
Golightly’s Holiday
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Vickers,
Salley
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•••
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Respite. Great
descriptive language, imaginative characters, literary references and wit
combine to provide ideal vacation reading. Worth re-reading once Mr Golightly’s identity is
recognized.
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I’m
With Stupid
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Weingarten,
Gene and Gina Barreca
|
•••
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Hilarious. Subtitle tells
it all: One Man. One Woman. 10,000 Years of Misunderstanding Between the
Sexes Cleared Right Up. At times, you’ll laugh out loud. Often, you’ll read
sections aloud to someone of the other gender.
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Plan
of Attack
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Woodward,
Bob
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•••
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Sources. Fast reading
inside view of how Bush administration developed policies on Iraq, thanks to
the confidence more than 75 sources placed in Woodward who makes this
account read as if he were inside every room of the White House.
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