Why "I'm Sorry" Doesn't Always Translate

In the June 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review (Page 26), professors William W. Maddux, Peter H. Kim, Tetsushi Okumura and Jeanne M. Brett share their research on how apologies are interepreted based on your country of origin. The piece highlights how Americans associate apologies with an admission of personal blame and therefore culpability in the situation for which an apology is being offered. Japanese, however, offer apologies in order to repair the damage done to a relationship even if the one offering the apology is not the person directly at fault. "Even after decades of cooperation in business and politics, America and Japan still trip over a seemingly simple concept: the apology" Neither culture appeas to fully understand what the other means or expects" write the authors. The report goes on to describe the research methodology used, the interpretations of offered apologies based on culture, and briefly touches on apologies in other cultures. The article concludes with the recommendation that managers need to be attuned to the nuances of culture that can be lost in translation in order to maximize business relationships and minimize miscommunication and misunderstandings. You can read the full article at http://hbr.org/2012/06/why-im-sorry-doesnt-always-translate/ar/1

Leave No Trace

The Boy Scouts of America are committed to training all levels of Scouts in the Leave No Trace program. The goal of this program is to instill the values of nondestructive enjoyment of nature, a very worthwhile goal for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, not just Scouts

As you can see from the picture of my daughter, however, we also need a way for nature to leave no trace on her!

Self Esteem Building Conversation...

My 5 year old daughter came to me, gave me a hug and said...

"You are the best daddy I have ever had..."
(I am the only daddy she has ever had, but I digress)

"No matter what you look like..."
(ok, I'm no Brad Pitt, but I am not the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of T
rall, either)

"But you are pretty handsome..."
(My sweet princess does have good taste)

"for yourself."
(insert sound of screeching tires, followed by the sound of my ego getting run over by a bus)

Presidential Firsts

Andrew Jackson was the first President to ride a train while in office.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first President to ride in an automobile.

Woodrow Wilson was the first President to visit Europe.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1943, was the first President to fly in an airplane. However, Teddy Roosevelt flew in a Wright Brothers bi-plane in 1910 a year after he left office.

I read two separate articles today that started me to thinking about when the first sitting president would visit Space, which led me to wonder when the first former President would. The first was about NASA pitching an extension of the Shuttle Program and the second was was about how the soon to be former President Bush wasn't sure what he was going to be doing with his time after he left office.

I nominate President George W. Bush to be the first former president to venture outside the atmosphere. Since many of NASA's facilities are located in Texas, and the Kennedy Space Center is located in Florida which was governed by his brother Jeb I think this would be a great political move. Even though he is 62, he is would not be the oldest man to go aloft and he is in excellent shape so the rigors of training for space flight should not be too strenuous. Additionally as a former fighter pilot, I imagine he would need less conditioning for flight.

I know someday, space travel will be common. Common enough for the President to hop on a ship and visit the Moon or Mars or an orbiting space station. I hope the day comes soon enough that I will be able to see it. I think sending a former president on a mission can help advance that day.

Get-It-Done Guy Action Day (Redux)

I wrote yesterday about how, despite my best intentions, my day went horribly awry and my participation in the Get-It-Done Guy's Action Day did not produce close to the results that I expected.

I am pleased to report that, I used the same framework I had established for yesterday and because I had a minimum of interruptions, I far exceeded my expectations.

Great planning makes for great production (even if it is a little late)!

Get-It-Done Guy Action Day (not!)

A lesson in the difference between busyness and productivity:

I had the honor of participating in Stever Robbins' "Get-It-Done Guy Action Day". The purpose of the action day is for a group of people to get together hourly for 5 minutes and commit to a daily goal and hourly goals.

I had a day of action planned. In the morning, I had planned to create tickets and assign work related to our ongoing lease replacement of computer hardware, and to review and update projects.

After lunch, my plan was to catch up on email and anything that came in during the morning.

The first call with Stever was at 9:00, I had to drop off early as I had an emergency call. Problems with our new video conference equipment.

Missed the 10:00 call for due to a hastily arranged conference call to discuss a software problem. Dropped off that call early because a new executive was having a PC problem. I don't do regular PC support anymore, but I do take most of the executive calls.

Missed the 11:00 call because of an impromptu meeting with our Facilities Manager and our Telephone Engineer about the new video conferencing system and upcoming moves within the building.

Left for lunch about 11:40. Ran out and got some groceries at the only Trader Joe's in the region, which is close to the office but far from home.

Back in less than an hour. Tried to eat. Network team fixed executive's issue. Went to test. Missed the 1:00 call.

Asked to meet with our CFO for software upgrade at 2:00. At 1:55 received call from an executive assistant who had a virus on her laptop. Picked up laptop and met with CFO. Missed the 2:00 call.

Cleaned off virus and updated laptop for admin. In my office at 3:00. Called in and gave update. Got support (yay!) Planned to spend next hour trying to get on track with projects (see 9:00am). Emergency call - had to drop off.

Made the 4:00 call (two in a row!) In between 3 and 4 had been called away 3 times. Now planning what work to take home to work on. Didn't make the 5:00 call as I was on the road and heading for home.

All in all, a very busy day. I am certain that I burned off at least two pounds with all the running about I did! How "productive" was I? About a 20 on a scale of 1 to 100. I did get my shopping done and I processed some leased hardware that was returned to me which I turned around quickly and returned to the leasing company.

On the busyness scale it was 100. I didn't have a free second.

What did I learn?

Having a plan for the day and for each hour is helpful. While I didn't complete much on my list of goals, they are all ready for me for tomorrow. Since they were all written down, something I don't have do every day, I had them to refer to, when I thought my day was going to settle down, so I could have gotten started instead right away instead of wasting valuable time wondering what I should be doing next. I recently made myself a similar "cheat sheet" for things around the house that I could be doing when, in a brain fog, I would rather just check Twitter and Digg!

To Stever and my fellow participants, thanks for the opportunity to take part. I hope to do it again soon, and have a day of action instead of reaction!

Kirk on Kirk

Like many Trek fans, I am looking forward to the release of the new Star Trek movie next May with a combination of both excitement and dread. J.J. Abrams has done some some very good work; Alias, The first two seasons of Lost, Fringe. He has done some not so great work; Cloverfield, the last season of Lost. The trailer looks good so far, I just hope that the trailer does not contain all of the good scenes. Most people I have spoken with feel that the trailer is inspiring them with hope for the film. There is one person however, who appears to feel differently.