Two days ago I had to engage with the US Postal Service, and Amtrak’s call center in a single day.  It made me realize how badly labor unions have failed their missions.

The setting: A USPS office.  Nine people waiting in line, one at the counter, and a USPS “worker” behind the counter.  Its deathly quiet in here.  The clients are all either staring at their phones or staring blankly at the walls.  The “worker” behind the high counter is staring at her screen, and using a hunt & peck method of typing on the keyboard.  She has made no recognition of the people waiting in line.  She asks some muted questions of the person at the counter and she goes back to her hunt and peck attack on the keyboard.  Quietly, an old man who has not shaved in a few days, wearing an ill-fitting USPS shirt ambles up to the counter and begins the process to take his place as a second “worker” behind the too high counter.  No acknowledgement of the people waiting in line, no smile or any sort of emotion.  Just a blank state at his computer screen as he starts to re-organize the things in his workspace.

I can not stand it.  I have been in line for better than 4 minutes, the line is getting longer, it is silent as a coffin, and no one from the USPS has acknowledged the line of people (customers!) waiting to do business with the USPS.  I cut the line, leaned over the counter and spoke loudly into the vast open space behind the two counter “workers”, “IS THERE A MANAGER AVAILABLE?”.  No response from the two counter workers or from anyone else who was in the building.  I turned directly to the old man working the counter (he is still in the process of setting up his workstation), “Is there anyone I can speak to?”  He responded without making eye contact though I was a mere three feet from him, “She is still on break.”  With that I turned and left and watched with pride as a few more of the people in line left with me.

USPS employees, who are part of a very powerful union, have incredible job security and benefits.  There is no need for them to be smart, efficient, or pleasant towards clients.  The USPS still has a large portion of the physical delivery industry here in the US.  But they are dinosaurs and their unions have put their heads on the chopping blocks.  Dinosaurs because they are acting as if the world has not changed from the 1950’s.  As if tomorrow will be like today.  As if customers do not have choices.  And the unions are at fault because they used their power not to promote the best workers, but to protect the worst workers.  Job security comes from continued learning, not defending yesterday’s knowledge.  The world is not what it was and its not today what it will be tomorrow.  The only constant is change.  You can not stop change.  So if you do not willingly change yourself to go along with the change in the outside world, the outside world will leave you behind.

As the USPS union members fight the coming end to Saturday deliveries and the overtime paychecks, don’t blame the competition or the USPS management.  Blame your longtime protector the union.  Shortsighted, protective policies can work in the short run, but never in the long run.

I was just reminded of a comment I made a few years ago.  I will keep the reason why I was reminded private.  The comment itself is the takeaway.  At the time it just rolled off my tongue but the reaction I received kept it in the back of my mind for years.

Me: “I need you to pull all their trades since Monday at 10am and back into their positions as of that time.”

Employee: “I don’t really want to go through all those positions and re-create their market risk as of two days ago.  Do I really have to go through all that?”

Me: After a meaningful pause so that those around us who had heard the interaction to this point would learn the lesson, “I am sure you do not want to.  That’s why its called, ‘work’.  If you got to do whatever you wanted to do when you are here, it would be called, “play”.  But its not.  Its called, ‘work’ for a reason.”

Too many people these days spend too much time at work doing personal things.  When its time to work, line up all the items you have to do.  Do them.  See if there is more that can be done.  Do those too if possible.  Then be done.  Give yourself a small pat on the back.  Leave.  Then come back and do it again tomorrow.

So the NSA is harvesting our phone calls and e-mails and web searches.  I am not totally surprised.  But I am surprised at the reaction or rather the lack of reaction to it.  It goes to show that most Americans feel completely disassociated with government.  Americans should be (and maybe are) unhappy with this turn of events.  But even most of the educated people I know and speak to feel that there is nothing they can do about it.  Government is too far removed from my day-to-day life.  They will vote every four years but by then they will have forgotten the significant issues and instead be inundated by 30 clips that the two parties want you to focus on.  The level of disenchantment with government is embodied by the passing recently of Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey.

He passed away at age 89 as an active, elected Senator from New Jersey since 1982.  1982.  He has been in Washington as a Senator for 31 years.  Most recently re-elected in 2009 when he was 85 years old.  I mean no offense to the man because I did not know him, or know of him until his recent passing.

But it is actually possible that he was an effective representative of the citizens of New Jersey for the last few years?  He had been living in the highest of socioeconomic and political circles for three decades.  He resided in Washington DC for most of each year.  He was 80+ years old.  What did he know or understand about the plight of the poor and homeless in Camden?  Had he experienced the pain and suffering of the families of shooting victims in Newark?  When was the last time he filled his own car up at the gas pump?  Bought groceries?  Again, I do not mean to pick on someone that I do not know.  There are many in the highest level of national politics that are similar.  John Kerry of Massachusetts has never had a private sector job in his life.  He has live a life of luxury since marrying his billionaire-heiress wife.

It is all part of the current establishment passively working to disenchant the American public.  Get the majority of Americans to tune out the sequesters, the partisan bickering, the broad invasion of privacy.  Get us to just shrug and move on with our day-to-day life and leave the politicians to do whatever they want because we can not do anything about it.  And I am a part of that.  I may be a bit more active in the steps that I have always take to protect my privacy, but too often I shrug off what I believe to be government intrusions into my life.  We all do.  And that is the way Washington DC wants it to be.  They win when we shrug.

“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment,” George Orwell wrote in “1984.” “How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

From Pastor Martin Moeller, 1945:

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

When are we as Americans going to speak up about the continued encroachment by our government on our civil liberties?

Went back to the original blog posting by Maroun Najjar as I was closing my browser window.  Nothing special, just closing the window and thinking, Thanks for a good post, random person.  Then I saw it.  The thing in his post that hooked me in the first place.  Under the picture, the sub headline, “Sleep is the Force Multiplier.”

“Force Multiplier.”  US Green Beret’s were given that task when created by President John F Kennedy.  Derek Sivers uses that term liberally when engaged in speaking events like TED.  “Force Multiplier”.  Its what every entrepreneur with a vision needs to have, and to be able to do.  “Force Multiplier”

That term in Maroun’s post is what really hooked me.  And its a reminder of what one needs to have in the back of your mind each day if you want to operate at a higher level.  There are so many tools, communication methods, and ways to multiply one’s force.  Force Multipliers.  Make sure you are aware of what yours are and make sure you use them well.

I’m back.  Took a break.  Had a busy schedule and also lost a bit of motivation, but I am back.  The sun was up at 5:12 this morning and so was I.

I am starting to get more followers on Twitter.  I am not yet public with this blog and am not actively working to promote me, my thoughts or the projects I am working on.  But some interesting people are starting to follow me on Twitter.  Mukund Mohan (@mukundmohan) just found me and I took a look at his Twitter profile.  The most recent tweet had to do with Sleep and I followed the links.  A great posting on Sleep is found below.

View at Medium.com

The post contains valuable information that is presented in an interesting and engaging manner (customer-centric, bullet points), and has a sales slant to it.  great inbound marketing.

I’m back.  Let’s go.

I have started a few businesses in the last 6 years.  All within the Margin Trading Products industry.  I have hit a few singles and most recently a double.  I judge my results not just by financial success (or lack thereof), but also by the impact the company has on the industry.  CMAP was a leader in ushering in a deconstruction and then reconstruction of an existing industry’s business model; and a financial success.  So I am happy with the results.  I sold CMAP to a partner firm further up the value chain, I am now thinking about what is next.  I have a small stake in the acquirer and a 6 month contract to integrate, help them build upon the asset they bought, and help roll out the next generation of product they have ready to launch.  But I have been thinking about what is next for me.

As I first thought about what is next for me, I was thinking about starting another company (lots of upside but little stability or family time).  I was thinking about potential titles at corporations (stability with limited upside).  I was thinking about my family’s needs and my needs.  Then, with the help of my executive coach, I started down the path for myself that I often advise others to think about.  I often tell others that you need to make sure you are happy in your day-to-day work.  Titles and the name of the company on your resume really do not matter to you; they matter to the outside world.  And as part of career planning, one must be cognizant of titles and employer reputation.  But success at what you do is most important and you can not be truly successful if you are not happy in your role.

So I started listing the characteristics that I want to be a part of my work life:

– Flexibility of schedule.  I have a young family that both demands my time and more importantly, deserves my time.  Nothing better than coming home to the sound of running feet and hollers of, “Daddy’s Home!!”

– Impact.  I am not a good worker bee.  If I have no part of the planning process, and am then tasked to do work that has little impact on the bottom line, I am not interested.  At first this made me wary of working for a corporation.  But a little research shows that there are corporations that have the right mix of corporate DNA and structure that would allow for an external hire to be a part of dynamic teams that work on interesting projects.  And most every start up, or even funded small company  has to have impact players at every level.

– Financial Stability.  I founded one funded entity (United Global Markets) that was an important learning lesson for me.  (Details on a later post).  The other two were bootstrapped.  In truth I was so enamored of the upside that I did not do a great job playing defense and ensuring that my personal finances were in great shape.  Trouble collecting from clients in China?  Guess I do not get paid this month or next.  Need $80k worth of new servers?  Thank you, retirement fund.  So whatever my next role is, whether a corporate role, a start up of my own making, or joining an existing small company, I will ensure there is financial stability for me and my family.

There are other characteristics that I listed, but the above are the important ones.  And how does this tie into the title of this post?

I have been approached with a number of offers of significant roles with start ups in the Margin Trading Products (“MTP”) industry.  I have been asked to be a part of start-ups entering the space with a bit of a different marketing plan (an Idea).  I have spoken with some senior bankers and brokers about creating an entity with an entirely separate focus than existing companies (a Good Idea),   But both of these projects have significant drawbacks and therefore my gut instinct is not, “Hell Yeah!!”.

And that is the final characteristic that I need in my next role.  “Hell Yeah!!”  As in, “Hell Yeah!  That is a GREAT idea.”  Or “Hell Yeah! I would absolutely kick ass in that role.”  So those projects get a “No.” from me.  And I will continue to search across my network of colleagues and friends, adversaries and clients, to find the Hell Yeah role that I need, and that we all should be striving for in our work life.  I will keep you updated but if you listen and keep your ear to the wind, you may just hear me shouting, “Hell Yeah” someday soon and you will know I found the role that is perfect for me.

I am.  Paul Krugman is a columnist from the New York Times whose Opinion pieces I often disagree with.  I believe that he often confuses fact with opinion.  However his piece from May 3 seems to be right on.  I can not find fault with it; trust me I am trying.  It has not completely changed my mind on my views of the Fed’s actions and the pending inflation, but I am more open to considering different approaches and am using Krugman’s insight in my personal analysis.  And that is why I read the opinions and analyses of those with whom I disagree but respect.

Link to the NYT piece here.

OANDA, a large but quiet presence in the Margin Trading Products (“MTP”) industry, which is primarily spot FX, CFD’s, and some growing Binary Options traffic, recently appointed a new Head of OANDA Asia Pacific.  The who and why is not what interests me; it is the location.

The MTP industry has faced a lot of regulatory headwinds in the last 8 years.  As regulations toughen in one jurisdiction (USA), brokerage firms open up in other jurisdictions with looser rules.  This had led to what I refer to as “regulatory arbitrage”, with brokerage firms spending resources to start the application process in far flung jurisdictions so they have their bases covered.  It seems that eventually the regulators in each jurisdiction realize it is tough to keep up with the operators (see previous post) and they revert to stricter regulations based on larger prior jurisdictions.

But what interested me about the OANDA press release is the location of the new appointment.  Asia Pacific is a tough region to nail down.  Lots of different cultures, active in the north and south hemisphere, language barriers, etc.  Traditionally firms would locate themselves in Tokyo (most brokerage volume in Asia Pacific region), or Hong Kong (traditional investment banking hub).  But Singapore has seen more and more firms locating there.  And recently I have been learning about Singapore’s regulations and policies.  Singapore has principals-based regulation.  And it is more centralized to the entire region of Asia Pacific.

OANDA’s decision to locate their Asia Pacific HQ there seals it for me.  Singapore is the next global destination for the MTP industry.  Expect to see many more firms registering in Singapore in the coming years.

Human flight can be achieved with gravity, a wingsuit, and an overwhelming adrenaline addiction.

Click the link to YouTube

http://bit.ly/Z3VFrL

So my most recent venture was just acquired.  The Wall Street Journal picked up the AP wire release, and our primary industry portal ran a bit more depth here.  Its a successful exit, if not a current windfall, for me.  I’ve been speaking to some friends, colleagues and associates in the last week about the process and what is next for me.

I used the term “Chief Cheerleader”  in one conversation when describing my role.  I was asked to elaborate and in the process came up with my personal job description and what I do best.  It was enlightening.  I stated, “My role is to ensure that all interested parties outside the company know of us and think highly of us.  And internally I am like an orchestra conductor; I ensure that all the different groups and teams understand how their separate projects come together, and keep them on track and target, to make the end product.”  His response was that my role is that of Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer.

So there it is.  My role.  The projects and day-to-day jobs that I am best at.  CMO & COO.  Chief Cheerleader.  This is clearly a leadership role more so than a management role, and therefore can be tough to grasp.  There is a certain amount of traditional management tasks involved such as project management, budgeting, and data analysis….lots of data analysis.  The role of Chief Cheerleader takes much from my favorite class in Babson’s MBA program, “Competitive Strategies, Competitor Analysis” (Thanks Prof. Lawlor)

I am presently working on integrating my former company and people into their new home with the acquirer.  I will work on business development and help them roll out their next generation of products and services.  But in the knowledge economy, change is the only constant.  So this is not the last role I will ever have.  And when I think about what the future may hold, I wonder what concept, idea, or company, of my own creation or that of others, will need a Chief Cheerleader.