Devaluing Information”>Devaluing Information
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State as a Business: Your Dollars at Work
These articles by Peter J. Mladineo and Barbara Fox were published
in U.S. 1 Newspaper on February 18, 1998. All rights reserved.
Top Of PageTraining Characters
From Smith Barney to Bill Clinton, the issue of
character in the workplace seems to be hanging on the tip of the
tongue
of the national consciousness. Can character in the workplace be
taught?
Steven Menzel thinks so, and he is trying to make a sideline
business out of applying a little integrity to the daily grind. “I
think there are tremendous answers to many problems in the business
community right here,” he says.
Menzel, a 36-year-old former drill sergeant and father of three, is
the proprietor of Clean Right, a successful Ewing-based janitorial
firm. His recent start-up, Master Qualities, specializes in teaching
managers and employees the virtues of character (609-538-0556). The
basis of his program, called Character First, is the idea that “as
you emphasize character, skills and achievement will improve,”
he says.
This idea of training for character is derived from his experience
schooling his children at home. “My philosophy for schooling our
children is that if they have above-board character qualities and
are able to read and write well and do math they will be able to take
on any kind of job that can come their way.”
The Character First concept is the brainchild of the Character
Training
Institute in Oklahoma City (200 miles west of Little Rock, Arkansas).
This training promises to deliver “morale, productivity,
profitability,
trust, cooperation, and improvement of the communication
standard.”
At each session, one of 49 different “character qualities”
are stressed. They include truthfulness, humility, punctuality,
discretion,
gratefulness, tolerance, thriftiness, loyalty, and cautiousness. Less
obvious qualities such as meekness, deference, obedience, and love
also get emphasized.
Although he says that this program is non-religious, Menzel exhibits
the fervor and urgency of a missionary. “Truthfulness begins by
being honest with ourselves,” he says. “It’s an innate part
of our nature to desire a good reputation. It’s one of the reasons
we’re able to look people in the eye.”
What do other trainers think of his program? “I would add one
word to his list: `manipulation,'” says a corporate trainer who
wished to remain anonymous. “I personally know that if people
tried to step in and start teaching me what my values should be I
would be offended. Most people would be resentful. I have tremendous
character and you know what? Nobody taught it to me.”
It’s fine to character-train children, but trying to teach adults
good character is akin to teaching old dogs new tricks, suggests
Dennis
Hawver, president of the Hawver Group, the organizational
psychology
firm based at 2 Research Way. “Training adults on character I
would think would be tough,” says Hawver. “But what you can
do is get them to realize the limitations and some of the behaviors
associated with negative characters. Most of the evidence suggests
that character is developed well before the adult years. It can be
sensitized and it can be refined, but I don’t know if you can
significantly
change those things we call `character.’ They’re pretty deeply
embedded.”
Hawver quotes Woodrow Wilson: “If you will think about what you
ought to do for other people your character will take care of itself.
Character is a by-product, and any man who devotes himself to its
cultivation in his own case will become a selfish prig.”
But for Menzel, training for character is rooted in original sin —
proof that it should be “taught rather than caught,” he
maintains.
“I know that every heart is deceitfully wicked,” he adds.
“When you have a child, you will find out that they are born
liars.
They don’t need to be taught to lie.”
But he isn’t spiteful towards his detractors. In fact, he welcomes
them. “All good things meet great opposition,” he says. “I
am thrilled that this is meeting great opposition — now I know
I’m on the right path.”
Menzel emphatically asserts that character does not have to be
instilled
by parents. “That is part of my faith, as a Christian,” he
says. “Really the lessons I’m learning in the training of my
children.
As I train my children I see the deficiencies in my own character
that causes me to step back. I have to be sensitive.”
And despite all of the questions about its viability, Menzel’s side
project is off to a promising start. He recently got a commitment
from Atlantic Business Products, at 572 Whitehead Road, to start a
character training program there. “I clean their building,”
he says. “Now they’re going to have the man who cleans their
building
come in and teach them character.” Maybe Menzel should consider
bringing his mops to Washington.
— Peter J. Mladineo
Top Of PageReview: `Home Office Tips’
B>Meredith Gould has written a book that is
theoretically
about running an office in the home but is really about running your
life. She draws on all her own life experiences (copy editor, yoga
teacher, editor, and ad agency maven) and all her past-life contacts
for a nifty 156-page paperback “Tips for Your Home Office,”
(Storey Publishing, 1998, $14.95). Gould signs her book Sunday,
February
22, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Bookmarks in Montgomery Center, Route
206 (609-497-1655).
An alumna of Queens College with a Ph.D. in sociology from New York
University, she taught at Rutgers for 10 years, was manager of the
business humanities project at the state department of higher
education,
was vice president of account services at a Princeton-based public
relations firm, and taught yoga. In 1989 she opened her own office
in the home for market communications, freelance writing, and
editing.
She is married to Richard S. Ruch, former dean of Rider School of
Business Administration, now dean of academic affairs at DeVry
Institute
in North Brunswick.
U.S. 1 readers who remember Gould’s acerbic treatise on vegetarian
dining alternatives will recognize the breezy style that brightens
an otherwise boring list of nuts-and-bolts tips: “Remember to
get a phone with a mute button so you can tell your dog to shut up
without clients hearing you go ballistic.”
Gould also shares self-help wisdom that is useful to anyone in any
size office: “Beware of taking on someone else’s definition of
a time waster. It may be precisely the activity that keeps you
balanced
and sane.” Her caustic descriptions of P.I.T.A. (pain in the ass)
clients will resonate with anyone who has ever had a client in a
business
large or small.
Figure out how you learn, she suggests, in order to organize your
work flow.
If you’re primarily kinesthetic: “Budget daily timeto write out a “To Do” list, using writing instruments andmaterialsthat have tactile appeal. Desktop files or shallow desk trays willprobably work well for you. Print out e-mail and file the hard copy.”If you’re primarily kinesthetic, but also visual:”Considerwriting out a weekly master list of everything you need to do. Includea special section in which you list your top three goals. At the endof each week, highlight what still needs to be done, or simply copyit onto the next week’s master list. Keeping desktop files or desktrays within sight will be important for you.”If you’re primarily visual: “Post sticky notes withinformation, instructions, or tasks in your sight line and flightpath. Use colors and stickers to code what needs to be done and when.Month-at-a-glance calendars will work well for you, as will electronicsystems with lots of icons. Electronic filing systems for documentsand correspondence should help.”If you’re primarily visual, but also auditory: “Usean electronic system that allows you to add sound effects to whateveris on the screen.”If you’re primarily auditory: “Talk to yourself outloud and immediately start cultivating visual and kinestheticsensitivities!”Ruch has thought of nearly everything: what questions to askyourself before you see the copy machine salesman, whether to buyan answering machine or use monthly voice mail, and why narrow towerbookcases work better than regular kind.Of billable time, she writes: “It’s perfectly okay to chargeclientsfor the proportion of administrative time that you spend on theiraccount. The rest of the time you spend futzing around with yourbusinessyou’ll have to eat. Still, you can account for it when pricing yourprofessional services.”Remember to include in your rates, says Gould, percentage increasesfor rush jobs, client changes (after a certain point), running hitherand thither (especially if thither is far away), and late payments.”Tailor the style of your price quote to the work culture of yourcustomer. Corporations won’t wince at per diem rates and may, in fact,dismiss you as bush league if you trot out an hourly rate. Smallbusinesses,however, generally plotz when they hear the words `per diem,’preferringto pay by the hour even if the hours total up to — you guessedit — your day rate.”All the tips are nicely indexed, and the book has line drawings andboxes (quotes from other home office users and under-the-breathcommentsfrom Gould) on nearly every page.Gaps are few, but I found no major lecture of the importance ofoffsiteand onsite computer back-ups. I will bet Meredith Gould has neverlost her hard drive.– Barbara FoxTop Of PageDevaluing InformationIn an Information Age, what is the value of information?Michael Lesk isn’t sure. “Part of the trouble is there isnow so much information that much of it goes ignored by default,”he says.Another part of the trouble, warns Lesk, is that very few purveyorsof information have found a way to do it profitably online. And, thefew cyberprofits that do exist are not anywhere near the size of thoseachieved in other business arenas. “The Wall Street JournalInteractiveEdition claims to be most successful website selling subscriptionsfor information,” says Lesk. “They claim to have 150,000subscribers.That is obviously very small compared with the print run” morethan 2 million.Lesk, who recently left Bellcore to be director for information andintelligent systems at the National Science Foundation in Arlington,Virginia, gives a keynote address at Rutgers University’s forum onresearch in information science on Thursday, February 20, at 1 p.m.at the SCILS building, 4 Huntington Street in New Brunswick. Call732-932-7914.Lesk started working with computers immediately upon getting a Ph.Din chemistry and physics from Harvard University in 1969. “Thefirst computer I worked on was bigger than the office I am nowin,”he says. “It cost $3 million. I was paid $1.25 an hour.”From 1969 until 1983, Lesk worked at Bell Labs in Murray Hill as acomputer science researcher, and joined Bellcore in Morristown whenit was formed in 1984. Just last month he went on leave from Bellcore,where he is manager of the computer science research group, to jointhe NSF. “This is a very important opportunity to organize whatshould be the funding of research in the U.S.,” he says. “Howdo you try to emphasize to the country the value of all the researchthat’s being done?”Lesk now concerns himself with the challenges of finding the righteconomic models for information sources. “We’re all looking forwhat is the model for a successful publisher on the Web,” he says.”Two years ago everybody said advertising, but advertising doesn’tseem to be it right now. There is no economic model. What are wesupposedto do, give away services on the Web?”But Web publishers’ problems aren’t anywhere near in scope to thoseof a library, he reports. The usefulness of libraries is quickly beingeclipsed by the ‘Net because college students are coming to rely onthe Web almost exclusively as an information dispenser. “Thereis this an attitude now, `I don’t do libraries, give me a URL,’ saysLesk. “This is surprisingly common among undergraduates.”College students may be adept at finding online information in bulk,but, Lesk laments, they are also wont to accept inferior informationsources for the respective cost savings. “A lot of undergraduatesout there using the Web would rather have junky information free thangood information for money,” he says. “What happens isuniversitieswill have to teach students how to evaluate things they see on theWeb. Libraries don’t take every book published. You’ve got to lookat what it is. You’ve got to make a judgment. That’s a skill.”The jury is still out on whether the information dispensed on theWeb is actually worth money, and if so, how much. “Most of theinformation that was traditionally sold for money is not what’s foundon the Web,” says Lesk. “The problem we have is we don’t havea useful pricing measure. But some studies indicate there is reallyvalue out there.”The dilemma facing libraries and other potential information vendorsat the moment is finding justification for charging for services thatmost people assume should be free. “I don’t know the answer butevery library says we see the demand for online catalogs and CD-ROMs.We need some economic system of charging some people something thatwould balance the accounts. So I would really like the Wall StreetJournal to strike it rich on the Web. However I haven’t yet seenthat.”– Peter J. MladineoTop Of PageJob Hunting SupportFor TechiesOpen any Help Wanteds section and you’ll see anywherefrom one to two gazillion job openings for information technologyprofessionals screaming for your attention. Hundreds of ads tell aboutastonishingly well-paid jobs for geeks the world over — fromprogramminggeeks to database geeks to networking geeks.The problem is those slots aren’t being filled. “There are nota lot of people who are technical who know how to sell themselvesproperly,” says Mike Andrus, president of Andrus Associates,a Langhorne-based IT human resources firm. “Everybody is lookingfor high tech staffing specialists.”Andrus gives a presentation on selling yourself to the IT world onWednesday, February 25, at Borders Books in Langhorne. Call215-943-6600.”Techies” in Andrus’ parlance usually don’t have an inklinghow to sell themselves. “The techies couldn’t get the jobs atone time because they hibernated and they were working on theirtechnicaland not their people skills,” he says. “The top people inthe field have a different skill set which differentiates themselves,which is they’re salable. I don’t think the technical professionalcan rely on someone else these days. They have to change the way theymarket themselves, which is professionally, like a doctor or a lawyerwould.”Andrus Associates, started in 1994, trains, certifies, and counselsIT professionals about their careers. It has recently moved to 6,000square feet at Oxford Plaza in Langhorne, and has a staff of 70.Two of the things “techies” have had trouble with in the past,are communication and appearance, Andrus reports. “You shouldappear professional,” he says. For him, “professional”doesn’t have too complex a connotation: he defines it as “lookingthe part.”The best way to improve your communication with potential employersis to make your resume stand out. To do this, Andrus recommendsincludinga summary. Use lots of adjectives about your vision of your career,list your work ethics, and your career goals there. “They aredifferentiators,” he says. “When I see a beautiful resumewith a lot of differentiators, I say, `Get this guy in here.'”Also important to geek job seekers is knowing the hot skills dujour. Currently, Microsoft NT has pretty much replaced Novell asthe operating system of choice, says Andrus. “And Oracle is realbig. Certifications are where it’s at now.”Top Of PageRainbow ChamberRecently subsumed by the Mercer County Chamber, theMetropolitan Trenton African American Chamber will be honoring blackexecutives of corporate America on Thursday, February 19, 5 to 8 p.m.at Maxine’s at 120 South Warren Street. Call 609-393-5933. This listof honorees includes Larry Daniels of the Hyatt Regency, EdHill of Janssen Pharmaceutica, Dorinda Jenkins-Glover ofSummit Bank, Preston Pinkette III, of PNC Bank, Shirley M.Ward of PSE&G, and Steve Young of Merrill Lynch.Seizing on a desire to bring all of the county’s chambers under oneroof, the Mercer Chamber has made the MTAAC one of its divisions.Other divisions include the Lawrence, Hamilton, West Windsor, Ewing,and Trenton chambers. County officials are also trying to snatch upthe Korean American Business Association, the Latino Chamber, andMercer County Business Association (formerly the Mercer County BlackBusiness Association).Top Of PageHighway PlanningThe League of Women Voters of the Princeton Area willhold a road issues forum on Thursday, February 26, at 7:30 p.m. inthe Woodrow Wilson School on the university campus. JackClaffey,associate executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional PlanningCommission, will discuss “Best Kept Secrets of RegionalTransportationPlanning.””It seems that not a week goes by in this area without atransportationissue in the news,” says Peggy Kilmer, the league’stransportationdirector. “The Millstone Bypass, truck traffic, and S92 are themajor topics, but the league wants the public to learn who the keyplayers are and how to navigate through the transportation maze.”Established in 1965, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission(DVRPC) provides comprehensive, coordinated planning for the orderlygrowth and development of the New Jersey-Pennsylvania bi-state region.As an interstate, intercounty, and intercity agency, DVRPC adviseson regional policy and capital funding issues concerningtransportation,economic development, environmental concerns, and land use. DVRPCaims to foster cooperation among member governments and agencies,private sector organizations, and the public. It works closely withstate departments of transportation, community affairs, andenvironmentalprotection; the federal government; and regional transportationproviders.The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, multi-issue, politicalorganization. Membership is open to all citizens of voting age, maleand female. The Princeton Area League has members from Princeton,Montgomery, West Windsor, Plainsboro, and South Brunswick. Forinformationcall 609-252-1864 or 609-683-8075.Top Of PageCorporate AngelsB>Summit Bank staffers are volunteer tutors andmentors for 20 sixth graders from Trenton’s Hedgepeth Williams MiddleSchool as part of a Kids Intervention with Kids in Schools programrun by the Children’s Home Society. The bank buses the children tothe Carnegie Center for weekly Monday tutoring sessions, and bankstaffers have raised funds for special trips to the Liberty ScienceCenter and other field trips.Tutors working on homework assignments and academic areas and discussvocations in banking and finance. “Students are helped to planfor their future and to develop sophisticated skills to prepare forhigh-tech, high-skill employment,” says Steve Matthews ofSummit Bank. For information on how to establish a tutoring programat your work site call Mike Whartenby at 609-987-3558.In 1992 when William Holman, a regular user of thebusinessdepartment of the Trenton Public Library, died, he left $36,000to the library. “He amassed a sizeable fortune,” saysRobertE. Coumbe , library director, “and we think it may have beenthrough his judicious use of the library’s business information. Theolder members of the staff remember him as a quite frequent browserthrough investment information.” Others who have profited fromuse of a public library, Coumbe suggests, would do well to share theirwealth in a similar fashion. “Any kind of wealth shared with apublic library shares with all citizens.”Next StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
