Category: Communication Skills

Data, Technology, and Judgment

December 13, 2023 /

We homo sapiens seem overwhelmed by information, technology, and choices. We sadly struggle to manage the daily deluge, cycling through frustration, indignation, anger, and melancholy. A simple scan of news headlines, op-eds, and online comments can fuel a sense of despair, even on the brightest, sunniest day during this era of peak human achievement and prosperity.

Now that I’ve cleared my throat on our societal condition with a sweeping generalization, I will transition to a few practical matters intended to ground our thinking and even the score.

Data

Data, like a socket wrench, is useful if you have something to do with it. The value of data increases with a framework to apply or basic question to answer. How we collect and analyze data, and ultimately communicate results, profoundly affect understanding and insight. In The Effective Executive, the late Peter Drucker wrote about the problem of production data getting averaged out and “translated” for accountants:

“Operating people, however, usually need not the averages but the range and the extremes….”

This applies to investing, medicine, rocket science, and research. In forest economics, for example, there is no such unit as an “average timber market.” Timber markets are uniquely local, though the inputs for analyzing them, as with the ingredients for baking bread[1], are basic and known. Since having the necessary data and knowing how to apply it are two different things, we sometimes look to frameworks, models, and technologies.

Technology

Recalling what the dog said when dating the skunk, with technology “you gotta take the good with the bad.” Technology, like all things human-borne, can prove miraculous and curative or horrific and destructive. Consider technology a two-sided coin: nuclear bombs and nuclear energy; carbon emissions and carbon capture; radiation poisoning and radiation treatments. 

While technological applications support accessible education, they also facilitate misinformation conspiracies, and hate speech. In this dizzying relationship, we use technology in ways that create problems, and then we return to technology to mitigate and solve those problems. Ultimately, technology is an agnostic tool; its use and consequences depend on judgment.

Judgment

Judgment, like trust and good relationships and bonsai, takes time to nurture and develop. Mistakes are okay. Bad judgment, however, is a virus that never leaves. Bad judgment leads to bad decisions and poor results. As Jim Rohn said years ago, 

“Failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day.”

Across professions, from medicine to education to consulting, the assessment of competence, whether qualitative or quantitative, tests versions of, “Do you have the experience, knowledge, and judgment to improve the situation or help us make a better decision?” In other words, and in the end, do you know when or how to apply the information and technologies at hand?

[1] For reference: flour, yeast, water, and salt, in addition to and quoting a good forest economist friend, love. “Got to have love. Most important ingredient, Brooks.”

Keep It Simple: Another Lesson from the MIT Baseball Team

October 8, 2023 /

My Dad taught me and my brother, “There is no premium for complexity.”  He emphasized the value of keeping it simple, focusing on the most important things you can control, and getting it done. You don’t get paid more to sound like a robot or technocrat, or to add extra milestones or phases. A good plan is simple, and an effective leader or teacher communicates the plan or idea clearly and relentlessly.

Dad’s message still resonates for me in my work at Forisk. Nobody cares about the sophistication of our forest industry models or the length of our resumes if investments lose money or operations underperform.  Simple, well-executed strategies and plans “keep the cow out of the ditch” and on the road towards a pre-defined goal.

Still, most of us can recall times when a plan, approach, or strategy proved overly complex. 

Infield Equations

As a student at MIT, I played baseball for one of the most effective and important mentors in my life, Coach Fran O’Brien. My senior year, our Varsity Baseball Team won its first ever championship, set a school record for wins, and led the NCAA in fielding percentage. I wrote a book about the team called Beaverball: A Winning Season with the MIT Baseball Team, and dedicated it to Coach. However, at times, even the best of managers can overengineer a message.

Each season during spring training, Coach O’Brien reviewed our various coverages for defending bunts. These defensive schemes – which Coach named x, x-squared, y, y-squared, z, and z-squared – were devised for players comfortable with equation-filled chalkboards and electronic circuits. 

Each play designated who covered first and second base, and who would field the bunt laid down by the batter.  Sometimes the first baseman charged with the second baseman covering first; sometimes the second baseman charged and sometimes the third baseman. We reviewed these schemes each year and, frankly, I couldn’t remember them as a player and still can’t recount them accurately today. 

During my time at MIT, I can only think of one instance where Coach called on these bunt defenses in a game. It occurred during my sophomore year, and I was playing first base. I remember holding a runner on first and looking across the infield to see Coach O’Brien barking from the dugout, “Z-squared! Z-squared!” 

I looked to the other players on the infield to see if anyone else knew what to do. We all simply looked at each other, except for Peter Hinteregger at shortstop, who silently clicked into action. I shrugged and moved to cover the bunt as I normally would. Only the bunt didn’t happen – the batter squared around but did not execute – and neither did our bunt coverage. Coach didn’t look at us after the play; he turned away and looked at the ground. That’s the last and only time I remember him calling one of those plays.

Concluding Thought

Sometimes, we prefer a simple restaurant menu, a basic oil change, and clear parking signage. I like recipes that start with “microwave on HIGH for 2 minutes” and avoid buying clothes with “special” washing instructions. Most of humanity prefers that we keep our message, guidance, and plans short and simple. This is true at work, at home, and on the field. 

Cybersecurity Simplified: Best Practices to Reduce Risk

September 20, 2023 /

After delivering the keynote at AgWest Farm Credit’s “2023 Forest Products Summit” in Portland, I parked myself in a seat on the side to listen and take notes during presentations on geopolitics, macroeconomics, and cybersecurity. This final talk, by Rachel Wilson, current Head of Cybersecurity for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and formerly an executive at the National Security Agency (NSA), changed the way I think about everything electronic with my team at Forisk and at home with my family.[1]

What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity refers to protecting computers, data, and networks from digital attacks that destroy intellectual property or hijack systems via ransomware. Cyber criminals use simple, easily deployed tools to acquire access and personal information. Therefore, cybersecurity starts with educating ourselves on ways to minimize the risk and implications of attacks.

The basic “tools of the trade” for bad online actors include phishing and social engineering. With phishing, fraudsters send phony but reputable seeming emails or text messages to get you to reveal personal identifiable info. Hackers throw hooks in the water and hope you bite by clicking a link or attachment that downloads malware and disables your computer or network. 

Social engineering involves techniques to manipulate you to “bite the hook”, such as creating a false sense of urgency, appealing to your good will, or leveraging your personal network. For example, hackers sometimes check social media, pluck names of friends from your network, open an email account in that person’s name, and send you a phishing email from that account. (If unsure about an email, call your friend to confirm they sent it.)

Best Practices at Work (and Home) to Reduce Risk

To protect both your personal information and your firm, consider the following:

  • Keep all operating systems patched, updated, and current. This includes your phone, laptops, iPads, and anything connected to the web. Rachel Wilson emphasized that this is by far the most important and effective thing you can do.” 
  • Back-up everything with a “1-2-3 Strategy”. This means three back-ups in two locations with one disconnected from the internet (such as a regularly updated external hard drive). 
  • Practice uploading and restoring from a backup. Train to fight. If we don’t know how to restore a backup when needed, we’re not ready.
  • Use strong passwords (and a password manager). Use long, complex passwords with capital and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. Then use a secure password manager to organize and store them. Do not keep a “Note” on your phone or computer or desk labeled “Passwords” or a simple document on your computer that lists all your passwords.
  • Use secure wireless connections. Any public Wi-Fi connection, like drinking water downstream, is free but risky.
  • Enable two-factor authentication. This also significantly increases the security on your accounts. Two-factor authentication typically requires “(1) something you know and (2) something you have.” For example, logging in requires a password (something you know), followed by you receiving a confirming text message on your phone (something you have).   
  • Check your security settings on social media. Facebook and others often change security settings, and you may not be aware of how they’ve changed. A big risk to personal information is that you have little control over what your friends share, so if you don’t want your stuff going all over the place, prevent sharing via your personal security settings.
  • At home, consider having a single, standalone device for high impact activities and business. Typically, that would be a desktop or laptop computer, and the entire family would understand that “on this machine: no social media, shopping, gaming; only banking, investing, and business.”

Interestingly, your most secure device is apparently your mobile phone, so keep that in mind if banking by phone versus computer. That said, avoid letting people know when you’re not home by posting pictures from your phone while you’re on vacation. Share those exotic pictures after you return home.

[1] This post summarizes advice from Wilson’s presentation and from materials and videos provided by AgWest (https://agwestfc.com/education-and-resources/fraud-and-security).

Four Qualities of Effective Coaches

July 30, 2023 /

A friend of mine, a former professional baseball player, recently asked, “who is the best coach you ever had?” I played multiple sports growing up and baseball in college, and this question brought back a double-header of memories, from Coach White teaching us to shoot a basketball to Coach Williams on reading the outside linebacker to Coach Farber on when to throw a “high hard one” on the mound. I also remember guidance from trusted coaches on ways to prepare, practice, lead by example, and communicate.

Later, I applied these lessons when coaching middle school basketball and little league baseball, instructing at baseball camps, and teaching workshops on “how to throw a spiral.” Currently, one of my daughters plays tennis, and this has led to dozens of conversations with tennis professionals and parents about player improvement and working with coaches.

While my experiences, studies, and watching Ted Lasso do not comprise a coaching PhD or absolute answer, I do observe qualities that consistently correspond with effective coaching, which I define as helping individuals and teams improve and achieve pre-defined goals.

Organized

Effective coaches make and implement plans. This includes daily practice plans, weekly schedules, and well-communicated priorities and objectives for the season.  All my most effective coaches, as with my best teachers and managers, were organized. All of them. 

Disorganization frustrates players and parents. It wastes time and sends the message, “well, you aren’t important enough.” With an organized coach, every day has a focus; every drill has a purpose. After any lesson or practice, you or your child should be able to answer the question, “Hey, what did you work on today?”

Specific

Improvement, like greatness, is specific, not general or generic. Effective coaches improve the performance of athletes through sharing knowledge with concise instructions. This is about communication and the ability to demonstrate and teach specific skills and techniques. 

Expansive explanations and non-stop talking dilute, distract, and irritate. The longer a coach talks and the more suggestions they hurl during a single drill, the less they seem to know about effective teaching and how players learn and improve. As Tim Gallwey writes, in his classic The Inner Game of Tennis, effective coaching professionals understand that “…showing [is] better than telling, too much instruction worse than none…”

Effective coaches communicate and reinforce lessons with specific feedback and positively worded instructions. For example, instead of staying “stop swinging at pitches over your head” they will say “swing at pitches in the strike zone.” The brain processes these instructions, which seek a similar result, differently. This means effective coaches are also…

Self-aware

A self-aware coach understands the extent of their knowledge and the effect of their style on the individual athlete. Confident, self-aware coaches listen and observe and know what they don’t know. The best ones know when to suggest a different coach, league, or resource to help the athlete get to the “next level.”  

Both individual and team sports are cooperative endeavors involving coaches, parents, and players. Coaches don’t own their athletes and parents don’t control the lineup. The self-aware coach pre-empts conflict through organization and specific communications, not through politics or happy talk. [And the best coaches want self-awareness on the part of their parents and players, as well.]

Accountable

Effective coaches consistently hold their athletes and themselves to account. As part of being organized and specific, effective coaches clearly communicate expectations for behavior and performance at practice and when competing on the court or in the field. Then they reliably reinforce and role model these same behaviors. 

A less effective coach badmouths other coaches or talks about players and parents behind their backs. A less effective coach fails to enforce standards and expectations. If a coach has alternating “good days” and “bad days” to the extent where the team or athlete is left to wonder “what will practice be like today?” then performance, improvement, and trust suffer. 

Conclusion

While Mr. Miyagi’s “wax on, wax off” approach may resonate for some, my best coaches tended to explain up front why something was important and how it would help us improve and win. An organized and accountable coach supports athletes with specific, on-point training to improve and prepare physically, mentally, emotionally, and strategically. This, in turn, builds trust, respect, and lifelong relationships. 

Errors are Opportunities*

February 15, 2023 /

My baseball coach at MIT, Fran O’Brien, reminded us that we will all make errors. The ball will go between our legs. A pop fly will get lost in the sun and fall safely to the ground. But he did not tolerate mental errors. If you missed a sign or failed to hustle, you received a stern look and quick reprimand, and, at times, a hard seat on the bench.

Coach O’Brien’s message of personal responsibility still resonates powerfully with me when working with customers and clients. Sometimes we make mistakes. However, our success depends more on how we handle these errors and complaints then on the errors themselves. In a way, errors and slights, even if imagined or perceived, are gifts. They provide opportunities to build trust and exceed expectations. 

Years ago, I had my oil changed by a local firm in Athens, Georgia. At the end, the young technician reviewed the list of completed services, which included checking and correcting the tire pressure. I had been nearby throughout and had not seen them check the tires, so I asked to confirm if they had done this. No, they had not. It was checked on the list, but they had not actually completed this task.  

They backed my car into the service bay once again and checked the tire pressure. It was low. However, the air compressor on site did not work. I asked if they had another compressor near-by. The technician said no. I asked if he had a suggestion as to where I could fill my tires. He said, “no, but if you just drive down the road here for a while, I’m sure you will find another tire and oil change place that could do it for you.”  

So that is what I did—never to return.

I pulled into a place on Broad Street called University Car Wash. A young guy came up to my window with a clipboard. I said, “I don’t need a car wash or oil change, but may I check and adjust my tire pressure?”  

He said, “Sure” and directed me over to the service bays. He checked and adjusted each tire himself. At the end, he said, “Thank you for stopping in. Just so you know, we are having an oil change and car wash special for the rest of the summer. Next time you need an oil change, please consider us.”

This young man earned my trust, and his firm earned my business for years (until they closed 🙁 ).  I wrote his manager a note to relate this story and commend his employee.

I wrote another note, this one to the owner of the first business, to share with him my experience with his firm. Compressors break. Mistakes happen. But his firm lost my trust by misleading me, and it lost my business by failing to help me solve a simple, practical problem.

What could have happened differently? Any of several responses could have kept me loyal to that firm.

  • “I am so sorry about this. Let me help you find a service station near-by with a working compressor.”
  • “I am sorry. Perhaps my colleague or manager can help us with this.”
  • “Sir, please accept my apologies. No excuses. And please let us pay for this oil change.”

At the end of the day, customers and clients will cut you slack if you are responsive and respectful.  Customers will continue to work with you if you apologize and demonstrate awareness, humility, and ownership. Ultimately, customers can become ambassadors for your business if you help them solve their problems, even if they relate to mistakes made by your firm.

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*Part of this post appeared in an “At the Office” column I published in the Athens Banner Herald in 2008.