Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Interesting Finds: May 24, 2006 PM edition

Gretchen at the Happiness Project has some excellent advice regarding how to make a good first impression. Some of the items on her list include:
  • ask questions and follow up on people's remarks; and in doing so, focus on opinions and feelings, not just facts

  • try to find common experiences or interests

  • share observations about everyday life

The rest of the list gets even better. If you've been stopping by here long enough, you may recall that this kind of "connecting" is very congruent with the things I've been preaching with regard to genuine curiosity.

There are a couple of things on Gretchen's list that push my previous observations to the next level - for example:

  • mention some vulnerabilities and laugh at yourself

  • don't dwell on the minutiae of your life, especially annoyances

  • at least at the start, focus on positive comments, not criticisms or complaints

Your next click should be to head over to Gretchen's and check out the whole list.

Though it was focused on a different topic, this list also reminds me of a conversation with a colleague of mine in the UK this week on what it takes to work effectively with business partners. Our list sounds very similar (though a lot shorter):

  • Build trust early by sharing your objectives, concerns, and vulnerabilities
  • Understand your partner's objectives, concerns, and vulnerabilities so you can support them
  • Work hard to achieve a win/win/win scenario (ideally, you win, they win, and your customers win)
  • Be prepared to share the risk with your partner - that means taking on some of their risk, not just transferring your risk to them.
  • Be prepared to share the good things, too -- revenue, glory / credit, account information, etc. -- the rewards will be far greater for you both in the long run
  • Make sure there is a long run by working hard and continuing the open communication, even when things don't go as well as expected

It's easy to hold back in relationships because we freak ourselves out with the thought of losing control, being judged, being hurt, being "tricked" or other kinds of scary things. Start by opening up and taking a few risks - nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Related:

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Tips for tippers

Tipping has got to be one of the most mysterious things for me during travel. Who do I tip? How much? It's nerve-wracking. And then, I have learned that it varies by country.

Here is my current "tip playbook" - I'd be interested to know if you have any changes, additions, comments, or different experiences to share.

Category US International Differences
Bellhop $1 per bag if they handle your luggage from your vehicle to the elevator / reception. Add $1 per bag if they take them all the way to your room. Local currency equivalent to US.
Maid / Chamber Maid Though not many people do this, I have heard that a good rule of thumb is the equivalent of $2 per day. Local currency equivalent to US.
Waiter

15-18% of bill, for good service. 20-25% for exceptional service. 10% for average service.

I also have a "rule of thumb" where I generally won't tip less than $2 for table service, regardless of how much I spend.

 Local currency equivalent to US, but gratuities / service fees are often included in the bill in some countries. Check to make sure you aren't tipping twice. When in doubt, ask them "if service is included in the total."
Shuttle Drivers

$2-3 if they are helpful. Add $1 per bag if they help with luggage.

If their shuttle service saves you cab fare, consider a $5 tip.

 Shuttles are more likely to be paid shuttles, not free shuttles. Tip equivalent to $2-3 is my rule of thumb.
Bartender A dollar per drink or %15 of the bill. Add more if they are very helpful. If it's busy, tip them anyway - they have a tough job.

Local currency equivalent to US -- generally.

However, in UK pubs with "owner/proprietors" I have had the bartender give me back my tip (on quite a number of occasions) saying things like, "I own this place - you don't need to tip me."

Taxi Typically 15% of the fare, unless they get lost or go a way that I know is unnecessarily inefficient. Then I drop to 10% or so. If I get good advice or extra help getting to an appointment where I'm running late, I may go to 20-25%.

Generally, 15% of fare in countries where tipping is customary.

When in doubt, I ask "Do you typically get tips from your fares? How much?" I find they typically fall in the 15% range.

In the UK and Holland, I have had taxi drivers tell me they usually get tipped for short fares, but not for longer ones. Not sure if this is consistent or anomalous.

Barber / Stylist Typically 15-20% of the check. I don't know - I lived in Holland for a while but I just don't remember and generally don't get my hair cut abroad.
Parking Valet $2-4 if they are retrieving your car for you. $1-2 if they are just handing you the keys. Local currency equivalent to US, from my limited experience - though I don't often valet park internationally - I tend to take taxis more often.
Shoe shine At least $2 - more if they are very helpful or do a fantastic job (I'm particular about my shoes - I had two lousy shine jobs in the Chicago airport, for example and I'll never get my shoes shined there again). Local currency equivalent to US.
That's a starter guide, with the caveat that these are based on my own experience and opinions. What about you - do you know of any additional categories, variations from my guide, etc?

I'd love to hear from you.

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What’s your monorail?

As I mentioned previously, I was in Seattle a couple of weeks ago with my family to do some sight seeing. When looking into local attractions, we'd heard about Seattle's Monorail and decided to find out more about it. However, the monorail wasn't open -- and, as we discovered, it never will be.

This was a grand idea when it began, but it became very controversial due to issues with cost, ongoing funding, and other issues. Many objections were raised, debated, and more. But the decision was made to move forward and begin building the monorail anyway.

Along the way, the funding situation got worse, and things stalled. The city of Seattle withdrew its support for the monorail system and, while they couldn't stop the project, they made it impossible to continue by refusing to make municipal land available to the monorail project.. As a result, the project was left with only a plan for the "Green Line" which never really got off the ground. Ironically, this reminds me of the Simpsons episode, "Marge vs. the Monorail."

It's easy to make jokes about things like this, but I think most of us have "monorail projects" in our lives:

  • Projects that sounded great at the start, but never got completed
  • Projects that ended up "costing" more than you intended and, therefore, became unsupportable
  • Projects that required cooperation from others that never materialized

I've got plenty of examples of these in my life, for sure. But what do you do about these projects? While we can learn a lot from the failure of the Seattle Monorail project, I think they also provide a good example of how to wind things down. Their project site now shows that they are now in the process of an orderly shutdown - something I'm not always good at when my projects fail.

What about you -- any monorails in your life? What have you learned from them?

By the way - the picture above is not a picture of the doomed Seattle monorail project - it's actually of a section of the Seattle Center Monorail, built in 1962 for the Seattle World's Fair. Even though this monorail was closed for repairs when we visited, it is supposed to open again in the future.

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The Effect of a Leader, Starbucks style

Last weekend, my family and I spent the weekend in Seattle for my son's birthday, and one of the main things he wanted to do was have coffee in the first Starbucks (we are "coffee people" - a combination of our Cajun heritage and Pacific Northwest residency, I think).

The first Starbucks is located in Pike's Place Market along the Seattle waterfront, and the store was opened in 1971. When we walked in, I was struck by the fact that it really doesn't "feel" like the Starbucks I know and love. Sure, there are similarities, but this "version 1.0" of Starbucks has a different ambience. For example, there are no comfy couches (not really any place to sit, for that matter), and it's a lot darker (both in lighting and décor). The similarities? The menu is the same, and all that Starbucks gear you can buy (mugs, coffee makers, etc.)

What was intriguing to me is was how much the "zen" of Starbucks has changed since 1971, and how much it hasn't.

What's the same?

  • The friendliness of the baristas, the terminology, and the excellent coffee are just like any Starbucks I've visited just about anywhere in the world.

What's different?

  • Starbucks v1.0 doesn't feel like the "lifestyle store" you commonly associate with the Starbucks name. It's not as warm, welcoming, or inviting and doesn't feel like quite so much like someplace you'd go to hang out with your friends.

And yet -- this is the place it all started.

What can we learn from this?

In addition to the Venti Sugar-free Vanilla Latte I bought, here is what I took away from the experience:

  • Focus - stay true to your core
    • I love that Starbucks has kept true to their roots of coffee, tea, and spices as the center of their business. No matter how they change, it's still about the coffee, tea, and spices.
  • Re-invent
    • There is a binder in the first Starbucks that shows some of the changes over the last 35 years (yes - Starbucks has been around for 35 years!) and they've not been shy about re-inventing themselves.
  • Innovate
    • Starbucks clearly has the passion to continue innovating around a tiny set of ingredients. Who'd have thought there would be so many ways to dress up a cup of coffee?
  • Evolve
    • Starbucks took the core attraction of its business and has continued to evolve and extend itself to connect emotions and intrinsic value with its core products.
  • Involve
    • From coffee products for the home, to music, and now movies and crossword puzzles, Starbucks is increasingly reaching beyond its walls and creating a sense of community.

Lessons for life, business, and global domination. All from a cup of coffee.

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Out of sight - out of your mind?

I have been working on a wide variety of projects lately, and keeping track of the details and status of them all has been a bit nerve-wracking. Putting them on project lists helped a lot with what to do, but I still found myself searching for status information such as:

  • What have I done on this already?
  • Who am I waiting to hear back from?
  • What's left to do?
  • What's in process but not complete?
  • etc.

Managing this with context lists in the "GTD way" wasn't quite cutting it for me (or maybe I'm doing it wrong). I found myself going to multiple lists very frequently to try to get a holistic picture of where each of my projects stood. To solve this, I turned to my old pal Mind Manager to help me create a "status map."

My "real" status map has too much work-related information that I can't share publicly, so I have mocked up an example of one here. For each project, I map out things such as:

  • Desired outcomes
  • Research
  • Next actions
  • Other
  • Completed actions
  • Waiting for
  • Calls to make
  • To be done

You can (obviously) customize this in any way you'd like. I find that I can keep multiple projects current on my status map (I currently have 4 major "domains" of activity on my map - 3 for work, 1 for home). When I have status meetings, I can print a particular "branch" of the map if the status meeting is about a particular project, or I can print the whole map (I use 11" x 17" paper for better readability). I print the whole map (with the "Home" branch collapsed) when I go into one-on-one meetings with my boss, so I can take him through what I'm working on and where things stand.

As we go through the project review, I write on the printed copy of the map and re-integrate my notes back into my Mind Map later.

This is working pretty well for me, and makes it a bit easier to keep the plates spinning without letting any of them drop.

Here is another mocked-up section of a project to give you an idea the kinds of things that might be in some of the buckets (you can click to zoom in).

If you want to see a blurry, unreadable, zoomed out picture of my real map you can see it here, just for grins.

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