Following is from a Naval Aviator. The Dude, pictured on left with Baby Boo a few years ago at the Air Force Academy, loves jets and jet noise and wants to fly.

Charmaine is not so sure.

The Air Force crashes about 75 jets in routine training accidents apart from the war zones. The Navy budgets two jet losses per carrier per deployment.

Producing a number of widows, orphans and grieving families.

Even training is dangerous.

Our cousin Will was an F-18 pilot after graduating from Harvard.

He assures us that Naval Aviation is safe.

Except when it isn't.

Subject: Oyster Here . . I Think We Need To Rig The Barricade [ To Catch This Thing ] !

Here's a personal story of an F-18 pilot's . . at o'dark thirty . . with the carrier's barrier in place. The barricade's an impressive 20 foot high stiff net, that can be stretched across the deck to ' capture ' birds during extreme emergencies.

" Oyster, here. This note is to share with you the exciting night I had the other month. So There I was .

. . manned up with pins pulled on the hot seat for a 2030 night launch on the Hornet about 500 miles north of Hawaii. I taxied off toward the carrier's island where I did a 180 and got spotted on Cat number 1. They lowered my launch bar into position and the take-off routine began. On the run-up, all systems appeared to be ' in the green.'

After waiting the requisite 5 seconds to make sure all my flight controls were OK, I turned on the exterior lights, then shifted my eyes to the catwalk to watch the deck edge dude move his head while clearing me, left and right.

With the back of my helmet, I touched the head rest for...what was coming.

The Hornet cat shot is pretty impressive. Particularly at night. As the cat fired, I clicked in both afterburners...and I am along for the ride. But just prior to the end of the stroke there's a huge flash with a simultaneous B-O-O-M ! ...

continue reading at the jump.

This article has been circulating on the web. Credit to John Howland's USNA-At-Large.

Be sure to read Your Business Blogger(R) getting bested by his pre-teen Diva. And no, this is not a case study for women in combat. Read The FireDrill: Practice Success to Avoid Failure,

Your (Army) Business Blogger[R] had no business in the cockpit. My instructor was a Vietnam vet with MigKlr license plates on his truck.

He said the F-14 was a "Man's Plane." He sounded sexist. He explained that the old-generation hydraulics required real strength -- after a couple of hours, even the manliest studs needed two hands on the stick.

No place for girls.

Or so I thought.

But I was wrong, again.

I bring the Five-kid Penta-Posse to Oceana Naval Air Station to show them how macho military men (like their father) defeated Communism.

We get invited to some F-14 training. I climb in the simulator. No photography is permitted. And a good thing, too...

Alert Readers know that the F-14 is now retired.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 3:49 PM | Permalink
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Jack and Charmaine This is wedding anniversary week in our household: We celebrate for 7 days.

Men's Health magazine reminds us why marriage works. The April issue has six compelling reasons to marry, by Anna Maltby.

Anna is a woman.

But the advice is still good,

If you are susceptible to vice, find a wife. She'll save you from yourself -- and improve your life -- in a variety of ways...

1. Increase your pay A Virginia Commonwealth University study found that married men earn 22 percent more than their similarly experienced but single colleagues.

[VCU is a terrific school located in Richmond, Virginia. Conservative. Good.]

2. Speed up your next promotion
Married men receive higher performance ratings and faster promotions than bachelors, a 2005 study of U.S. Navy officers reported.

[If the Army wanted you to have a wife, it would have issued you one, goes the old joke -- it looks like the military is a-changing its perception of the value of a helpmeet.]

3. Keep you out of trouble
According to a recent U.S. Department of Justice report, male victims of violent crime are nearly four times more likely more likely to be single than married.

[Your Business Blogger(R) has not been in a bar fight since getting married. But every few years I got to get the caps replaced on those cracked up front teeth from an altercation back in single days. And I wish that ringing in my ears would stop...]

4. Satisfy you in bed
In 2006, British researchers reviewed the sexual habits of men in 38 countries and found that in every country, married men have more sex.

[...]

5. Help you beat cancer
In a Norwegian study, divorced and never-married male cancer patients had 11 and 16 percent higher mortality rates, respectively, than married men.

[Charmaine is forever pestering me to get a(nother!) physical. Goodness, I had one back in the 90's. And the colonoscopy was her idea too. Such a pain in the ...]

6. Help you live longer
A UCLA study found that people in generally excellent health were 88 percent more likely to die over the 8-year study period if they were single.

The accountability and friendship of marriage works.

Excuse me now, I've got some yard work to do.

As one academic studying the men-marriage-maturity transformation wrote, "A rake, now out raking leaves,"

Posted at 9:03 AM | Permalink
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Writing an employee evaluation? Try these 101 helping sentences.

Academia and the Army have one thing in common.

Yes, there is something. Your Business Blogger(R) is a former Armor Cavalry Officer and is currently an Adjunct Professor of Management, so I was surprised to learn of some overlap.

The results of an employee evaluation
should never be a surprise
Courtesy: Toothpaste for DinnerPerhaps the only intersection is the willingness to share with fellow servicemen or teachers various helps needed for the efficient and effective transference of knowledge.

It is all, well, collegial. For the life of the (military) mind.

A college has two goals — the business of teaching and preparing the student for life.

An Army has two goals — the business of teaching and preparing the soldier for war.

It follows that there are the only two missions that the military should have:

1) Learning to fight and kill and break things, or

2) Fighting and killing and breaking things.

(Sounds like either a firefight or a faculty meeting…)

I recently had a client who was struggling to come up with just the right verbiage for an employee evaluation. I reminded him that this did not have to be an original work of art.

It simply had to be sincere, even if the words were lifted elsewhere. Authentic, even if borrowed.

(This all makes sense when coming from a high priced consultant.)

Your Business Blogger(R) suggested using an old Army briefing book. Remember, it worked for Mitt Romney’s father, George W. Romney who once remarked about being “brainwashed” after a military presentation during Vietnam. It worked for him. It can work for you, too.

For your employees, I mean.

An efficiency report will comment on the employee’s commitment, attention to detail and follow-up.

The best evaluations will outline a sample example of an achievement with a department problem, a solution and the measurable result of the staffer.

One Hundred and One Helping Sentences.

USA Support Command, Saigon Regulation 672-1 Headquarters, USASUPCOM, Sgn 9 Sept 1970, G. White, Armor

[Language has been updated somewhat for our modern times.]

1. Through his untiring efforts, devotion to duty and professional knowledge, NAME has accomplished TASK which increased the effectiveness of DEPARTMENT.

2. The timely guidance he gave to all personnel ensured the maintenance of a high standard of SALES/NOUN of DEPARTMENT.

3. The outstanding record of performance by NAME is due to his attention to detail in all aspects of his duty assignments and to his desire for zero defects.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 11:54 PM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger(R): and
Your Circle of Friends When Your Business Blogger(R) served a tour of duty in government, I learned the harsh reality of what academics called "Multiple Points of Accountability."

I thought that my boss was my only constituent.

Nope. I learned that I had better pay attention to the press, to other department silos, to numerous associations (aka lobbyists), other political appointees, elected officials -- and finally: The Voters.

There is no difference between management in government and business. The basics are constant.

The first thing every manager learns is that he has multiple points of accountability. Points outside his silo.

The manager must nurture multiple points of accountability to turn these to multiple points of support.

He’s got to turn his silo into a circle -- of friends.

Watch the one minute clip and let me know what you think.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Script at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 10:35 AM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger(R) reviewing
The Manager's Formula For Success Knowledge+ Network= Success

Managers looking for a formula for success do not need complicated, expensive, pronouncements from academia* or beyond.

As Occam's Razor suggests, the simplest solution is usually correct.

See E=MC squared. Einstein simple.

Email me if you would like an expansion on the formula and the key constant, support.

Professional managers know well that Knowledge can be nil in the formula and the manager can still be successful.

The Pros know that, if given a choice between Knowing and Getting -- for example, the hiring manager evaluating a candidate for a management slot -- chooses the ability to garner support.

Even more than knowledge.

A manager can know nothing -- but as long as the net in his network is well constructed, he will not be let down.

The transcript is at the jump.

Knowledge plus Network equals Success

The Penta-Posse (-) and Einstein
at Princeton University

Monkey Business
Management

Thank you (foot)notes:

*Your Business Blogger(R) is an Adjunct Professor of Management in Business Technologies at the Northern Virginia Community College.

See: The William Oncken Corporation Announces Licensed Marketing Agreement With Management Training of DC, LLC,

Press Release: The William Oncken Corporation Announces Licensed Marketing Agreement With Management Training of DC, LLC

Dallas, Texas, July 4, 2007 – The William Oncken Corporation (WOC) is pleased to announce it has signed on Management Training of DC, LLC, (MTDC) to launch an initiative to broaden the world-wide reach of WOC’s leadership training products.

Since 1961, The William Oncken Corporation, (WOC) a management consulting company, has trained more than one million managers and leaders. WOC’s flagship seminar, Managing Management Time™, was specifically designed for those individuals in an organization who are valued as much, if not more, for their judgment and influence than for their time and personal effort.

For more on William "Bill" Oncken see bio at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 6:30 PM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger at the
Stern School of Business, NYU Solutions To Your Management Problems,
Invitation to The Harbour League Seminar-fund raiser for 26 March 2008.

You Are Invited!

60 second script.

This is Jack Yoest Your Business Blogger with Solutions to your Management Problems.

I want to invite you to a short seminar – that you won’t want to miss.

In this short two hour meeting I will talk about what management is – and what it is not.

Here are corrections to common management myths:

Management is not barking out orders.

Management by walking around -- is not management.

Management does not empower subordinates.

A Hands – on Manager is not a manager.

In our class I want to emphasis three tactics that will help change your practice of management

1 -- Discipline – As a former Armored Cavalry officer I like the Army’s definition – and it’s not what you think.

2 -- Selling – If you’ve ever carried a bag like I did as a sales guy – you know that in every transaction – especially in office politics -- someone is selling, someone is buying – and managers always get this wrong.

And finally 3rd – Stop it – Every client I’ve ever worked with – every project I’ve ever managed – we’re working too hard because we’re working on the wrong things.

Don’t make these mistakes.

Go to www.yoest.com for details and registration

Posted at 10:51 AM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger gives a five minute presentation for Managing Management Time (TM)

Are you controlling events?
Or are events controlling you?

Posted at 10:04 PM | Permalink
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Alert Readers know that the best indicator of future performance is...past performance.

Is it possible to change at the age of 60? Your Business Blogger would hope that we all would embrace continuous learning and update our skills. And to embrace truth. At whatever age.

But.

How many convictions can one man change -- all at once -- all at a mature age?

Change on Reagan?
Change on abortion?
Change on guns?
Change on homosexuals in the boyscouts?

And each of the changes of heart happens to coincide with position of the Republican conservative base?

This does not seem, as we say in academia, to be authentic.

Watch the clip: Huckabee suggests that Romney found conservative puberty at 60.

Voters should be slow to completely trust any teenager...

Thank you (foot)notes:

Full Disclosure: The wife of Your Business Blogger, Charmaine, has been a paid senior adviser to the Huckabee presidential campaign.

Correction: It is not known if Romney has changed his position on allowing homosexual Boy Scout Masters.

Posted at 10:31 AM | Permalink
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Personnel is Policy Ronald Reagan.

Bare Knuckles and
Back Rooms
by Ed RollinsMike Huckabee is announcing today in New Hampshire that Ed Rollins will be joining Huckabee campaign. Nobody knows politics like Rollins. He is The Strategist in America who can advise on how to work with and unite social and economic conservatives.

Charmaine Yoest debates Giuliani's
Presidential positions
Credit: Peter Shinn MIke Huckabee is putting together a terrific team. (The unbiased opinion of Your Business Blogger...)

Alert Readers will remember Ed Rollins debating Charmaine on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 in November -- of 2006. This is a long campaign season.

Watch the short segment here and let me know what you think.

Ed Rollins Ed Rollins was the political advisor for Ronald Reagan in 1984. Ed Rollins is a genius who knows how to win and win big.

Our friend Rich Lowry, from National Review has endorsed another presidential candidate. Lowry tells us on Laura Ingram's talk show that Huckabee has the challenge of bringing the economic and social conservatives together. And that,

"Huckabee has been running his campaign out of his back pocket, and has done it extremely well. There's a reason, though, that serious candidates surround themselves with policy experts...."

Ed Rollins is another of the experts Huckabee has hired. This hire renders moot each of Lowery's concerns.

There was only one Ronald Reagan. We cannot bring back the Gipper, but we can bring back his winning team.

Personnel is policy.

Thank you (foot)notes: Charmaine and Ed never met during the Reagan years. Alert Readers will remember that Charmaine had the honor of working for President Reagan (in a more modest position).

The press release,

Presidential Candidate, Governor Mike Huckabee Names Ed Rollins as National Campaign Chairman

Little Rock, AR -- Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee has named Republican political strategist Ed Rollins as his National Campaign Chairman.

"I am proud to announce the addition of Ed Rollins as my National Campaign Chairman," said Governor Huckabee. "Ed is an unparalleled strategist and is well-known as the man who directed the most successful Presidential campaign in the history of the United States. Ed’s experience and track record building winning coalitions within our party bringing together social, economic and foreign-policy conservatives, and even reaching across party lines, makes him a good fit for our campaign."

Rollins served as the National Campaign Director to Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election in which Reagan won 49 states.

"I am honored to be joining Governor Huckabee’s remarkable campaign,” added Rollins. “I have always said that I want to work for candidates with convictions who can communicate those convictions. And Governor Huckabee is that candidate. He has the ability to change the political conversation in this country. Among the presidential contenders, he is also the one with the most executive experience. I look forward to working with the Governor over the coming year on the road to the White House."

Mr. Rollins served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, joining the Reagan administration as one of the President's top advisors in the role of Assistant to the President for Political and Governmental Affairs. He is currently the Chairman of the Rollins Strategy Group, a communications and crisis management firm with offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

Pro-choice Eliza, who blogs at Anderson Cooper 360 Review says,

Charmaine just flat out says Giuliani has no chance and then proceeds to twist the knife around a bit by proclaiming that with his views he should run against Hillary as a democrat.

Ronald Reagan and Charmaine

Your Business Blogger has an on-line subscription to National Review. And has been published by NRO.

I hope they will publish me again...someday.

Posted at 8:35 AM | Permalink
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Charmaine at the
New America Foundation Charmaine recently spoke at the New America Foundation on The Politics of Parental Leave. Her talk was based on her research at The University of Virginia. Her work was funded with a quarter million dollar grant from the Sloan Foundation.

Your Business Blogger found her findings most interesting. In particular, Charmaine discovered that when female academics take parental leave, women use the time off for parenting: to change diapers. Men took the time off to write a book; their wives still changed the diapers.

Who knew male academics were so...traditional?

Charmaine's topic title was, The Politics of Parental Leave: Is Paid Parental Leave an Effective Means of Promoting Gender Equity in the Workplace? From the New America Foundation website by Paul Testa, Research Associate to the Health Policy Program,

"U.S. political candidates are beginning to produce work and family policy positions in response to what most Americans feel -- that work and family balance is a major issue facing American families. Women in particular struggle with such balance and with achieving equality in the workplace. From the floors of Congress to the campaign trails Mandating paid parental leave has often been suggested as a possible solution to such struggles. But is this approach best for women as a whole?

To further this debate, Rev. David Gray, director of the Work Force and Family Program at New America Foundation welcomed Dr. Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council for a timely discussion of the politics of parental leave.

Dr. Yoest presented research from her time as the Project Director of the Family, Gender, and Tenure research project at the University of Virginia, which focused on the effectiveness of paid parental leave in academia.

...academia was “crucial case,” to assess whether paid parental leave could really level the playing field for women. “If there’s going to be any place in America where you’d expect paid leave to work, it would be in academia,” she said.

Dr. Yoest’s research centered on a survey of assistant professors with children under the age of two in tenure track positions at universities that offered paid leave policies. Her results questioned several of the traditional assumptions about paid parental leave.

Universities with paid parental leave policies did not have higher levels of female faculty and that paid parental leave policies were not associated with higher rates of promotion for women to more senior faculty positions.

In fact, Dr. Yoest argued paid leave policies may have been detrimental to leveling the playing field. The majority of leave-taking women felt they had less-time for research and writing when they returned and were more likely than their non-leave taking peers to consider dropping off the tenure track. The majority of leave-takers felt such policies made almost no difference in their efforts to receive tenure and some suggested there was a stigma associated with taking a paid leave.

Based on these findings, Dr. Yoest concluded that, “Paid leave may operate as a political fig leaf. The institutional results indicate that the policy by itself does not result in higher levels of achievement for women, making the use of political capital to establish the policy, a poor investment.”

[Her] provocative presentation was followed by lively round of question and answers."

The New America Foundation has professionally included a video of her 60 minute talk and an audio and her Powerpoint on their site.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Also see You Are Invited: The Politics of Parental Leave at the New America Foundation

And Charmaine's next talk, MEDIA ALERT: Charmaine at the New America Foundation debating America’s Changing Social Contract

The Effect of Parental Leave Policies

Maternity leave creates workplace debate

What Are the Benefits of Longer Maternity Leave?

House leaders seek to expand staff's parental leave, By Karissa Marcum, Chris Good contributed to this article.

Posted at 11:35 AM | Permalink
Comments (1)

Charmaine will be giving a presentation on The Politics of Parental Leave: Is Paid Parental Leave an Effective Means of Promoting Gender Equity in the Workplace? at the New America Foundation.

Start: 11/15/2007 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
at New America Foundation
1630 Connecticut Ave, NW 7th Floor
Washington, 20009


New America Foundation
From the New America Foundation web site,

U.S. political candidates are beginning to produce work and family policy positions in response to what most Americans feel - that work and family balance is a major issue facing American families. Women in particular struggle with such balance and with achieving equality in the workplace. Several bills have been introduced in Congress to mandate paid parental leave to help women achieve better balance and more equality. But is this approach best for women as a whole?

Dr. Charmaine Yoest of the Family Research Council served as the Project Director of the Family, Gender and Tenure research project at the University of Virginia. The research is the only study of its kind to examine the effectiveness of paid parental leave in the United States.

The University of Virginia

Dr. Yoest's experience as a researcher, policy advocate and mother of five give her an important perspective on this current debate. Join the New America Foundation's Workforce and Family Program for a provocative discussion on paid parental leave.

Be sure to visit and let us know what you think.

Thank you (foot)notes:

Charmaine did her dissertation on the Family Medical Leave Act, titled: Empowering Shakespeare's Sister: Parental Leave and the Level Playing Field.

More on the New America Foundation at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 10:21 PM | Permalink
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<

Monkey Business ManagementHold the date -- Friday, November 9th, 2007.

[Caution: Sales Pitch Follows...]

The William Oncken Corporation will be conducting The Managing Management Time ™ One-Day Seminar, in Arlington, Virginia.

Bill Oncken will explore the question, Can Managers Control Events?

Are you running out of time…while your staff runs out of work?

How can the leader get more discretionary management time?

If your management skills need to be sharpened -- join us for the day.

WHO Managers who need to get in control of events or to better influence results


WHY Improve managerial effectiveness


WHAT Managing Management Time™.


WHEN Friday, November 9, 2007, 8am to 5pm


WHERE 901 N. Glebe Rd, Suite 900, Arlington, VA 22203


FEE $595. Please make check payable to “The William Oncken Corporation”

The seminar is often called "The Monkey Management Class"

Thank you (foot)notes:

For more propaganda, please see Managment Training of DC, LLC.

“Life in the business world’s fast lane, for me, would be inconceivable without knowing and applying the business philosophy expressed in Monkey Business,” Richard Viguerie

"Most recommendations you get about handling management are either useless or counter-productive. But in Monkey Business you get the best advice in the universe today," Paul Weyrich

Morton Blackwell, President of The Leadership Institute, writes about Monkey Business and the seminar,

There are three types of laws.

Man-made laws, the result of human legislation, vary from place to place and time to time. Some are wise. Some are foolish. Some are destructive. Some are unworkable and can't ever be enforced. Some only apply to specific categories of people...

We can build and fly an airplane, but we'd get into big trouble if we ignored or forgot the physical laws about how gravity affects all objects.

Similarly, there's a wealth of hard-won, trial-and-error knowledge about the world of human endeavor. Some actions produce better results than others. Those who would lead others in any activity, from politics to business, should seek out and study the best sources of wisdom about what makes someone a successful leader...

Think deeply about the principles presented. Everything you hope to achieve in your current job and all future jobs may depend on your understanding and application of this wisdom.

Posted at 10:40 PM | Permalink
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When a person of note is covered by the media in Your Nation's Capital, three questions are asked by the victim:

1) Is there a picture?

2) Is it above the fold?

3) Is the story running on the weekend?

Lurita Alexis Doan If the newspaper publishes a picture of the person above the fold, then the media outlet is creating the "legs" that the story will take. The media outlet is helping to make the story, the story. And bleeding will follow. Because...

If it bleeds, it leads.

Lurita Alexis Doan, the top executive of the General Services Administration came to DC to make a difference after making a buck. In her old position running a for-profit technology company, she was most familiar with selling to the government and creating wealth and generating jobs.

She knows how to create wealth with efficient and effective management. But there was one skill set her new job in Government required that few for-profit businesses cover in management training:

Multiple points of accountability.

It was not enough for Doan to lead the billion dollar agency, manage her staff, boss and peers, and customers. She also had to manage the press, the public perception, and now, as we have all read, she must deal with the initiative-killing-congress in the person of Henry Waxman.

Representative Waxman is accusing Lurita Doan of a laundry list of offenses, but the most interesting is violating the Hatch Act.

Alert Reader Tom Commented,

Please accurately present facts, in particular the provisions of the Hatch Act. You clearly omit the prohibitions relevant to Ms. Doan's violation: that no employee may engage in political activity while on duty or in a government office. The Hatch Act prohibits far more than the 3 actions you list...

Lurita Doan's Hatch Act "violation" is no worse than driving down Constitution Avenue with a Bush bumper sticker.

Your Business Blogger knows a bit about the line that separates public service as a govenment appointee receiving a government paycheck, and electioneering.

Lurita Doan has been coloring well within the lines of The Hatch Act. At least much better than Your Business Blogger.

Because, unlike Lurita Doan, I inadvertently fudged the line. At least according to the Richmond Times Dispatch.

A number of years ago I sent out an invitation to friends to attend a fund raiser, from my spacious government office. Your Business Blogger,

Used a government computer

Fund raised for a particular candidate

In an election

I goofed. As RTD's Tyler Whitley quickly wrote. But it was not above the fold, there was no picture, and the article was mid-week, but, thankfully, small. I was a dummy and got off light.

Doan is innocent and being condemned under The Hatch Act.

The Hatch Act of 1939 is arcane; difficult to understand and frightfully easy to misinterpret. Think IRS regulations.

But, there was no attempt on her part of using the agency or anything else to compel employees to do any partisan activities.

She made a statement that 6 people apparently heard and 30 people did not.

It was not her meeting, it was set up by her White House liaison and she was not aware of its contents beforehand. She readily admits she should have asked more questions. Of course, these are political appointees and they are allowed leeway in meetings at government buildings. She should have understood the nature the meeting before attending or making any statements. She has since taken steps to make sure all meetings are vetted through counsel and through her ethics staff.

No, Doan is not in violation. This is simply a witch hunt on the part of Democrats to get to the White House. And Democrats imply that only the GOP is being political. Lurita Doan has been caught in the middle of participating in this meeting and possibly making the statement on helping candidates -- remember: Doan does business, not politics. But, she certainly has not advocated or pushed the GSA employees to do anything in an election.

An election that is still a year and half away.

The issue is more than any confusion over The Hatch Act. The Democrat attack machine sees Lurita Alexis Doan as a two-fer:

1) A George Bush appointee, and

2) A business person.

The liberal media and liberal Democrats don't care for either.

Dan Gainor
Director Business and Media Institute I had lunch the other day with Dan Gainor, pictured at left, below the fold, who is the The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow and Director of the Business and Media Institute -- a part of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center. I ask him about the liberal bias -- the media bias against businessmen. "Nearly every businessman is shown by Hollywood to be a crook, or worse," says Gainor. Portraited as monsters. Or hypocrites, like, say, a church-going thief. As he writes in Bad Company: For the American Businessman, Primetime is Crimetime,

One enduring American cultural image is the man in the gray flannel suit. A businessman, with briefcase in tow and tie crisply knotted, who left the family for an honest day's work and eventually returned home worn and weary. But TV long ago abandoned that icon and replaced it with the stereotype of corporate evil.

And Democrats believing this script -- and all that flickers for truth in Hollywood -- hate Bush, hate capitalism, hate businessmen.

Lurita Alexis Doan knows how to make money in the Free Market and is on the Bush management team. Making Doan the (immediate) target.

Capitalism bested communism. But Capitalism and Business will have a bigger challenge with liberal Democrats like Henry Waxman in Congress.

Thank you (foot)notes:

See Christopher J. Dorobek's take at the jump.

See Lurita Alexis Doan: Good Management Meets Bad Politics

And How To Cut The Federal Budget at a Government Agency by Lurita Alexis Doan

Did Doan understand The Manager’s Mission? Bob Novak indicates that Doan clearly does not enjoy the support of her management molecule: Boss, Peers, Staff, Customers. See Hatch Act Hatchet Job.

Testimonial Two-Step has more on DC tactics.

Also see NewsBusters for exposing and combating liberal media bias.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 2:47 PM | Permalink
Comments (2)

Homosexuals at sea The Other Side of the Story

by Allan Slaff

On 13 June, the Wall Street Journal printed an op-ed piece by former congressman Bob Barr entitled “Don’t Ask, Who Cares” in which he argued that barring homosexuals from openly serving in the military was unfair, un-American and counterproductive. Mr. Barr writes that he has become deeply impressed with the growing weight of credible military opinion which concludes that allowing gays to serve openly in the military does not pose insurmountable problems for the good order and discipline of the services. With all due respect to the two authorities that he refers to, ex Senator Simpson and General Skalikeshveli, both of whom I greatly admire and respect, neither of them have any first hand idea of the sociological problems of going to sea in a man of war.

I strenuously disagree with Mr. Barr and his military authorities, and I would like very much to offer “The other side of the story”. Since I am a retired naval officer, I shall write to what I know well and that is going to sea in a man of war. I served in eleven ships of the Navy and had the unique honor of commanding four combatants including the heavy guided missile cruiser Albany all of which, by the way, were at the time considered among the finest combatants in the Fleet.

In a combatant ship our bluejackets are literally packed into berthing compartments, typically holding about 40 men. They are afforded minimum privacy even under the most enlightened habitability standards. As a nod for the need for some human privacy the modern enlisted bunks are fitted with a privacy curtain which they may close. Public nakedness is the reality of enlisted life in Navy ships and that pertains to the heads, and wash and shower rooms as well.

Our ships get underway for months at a time. The typical deployment when I was in the Fleet was for nine months and I understand that that is still typical. Thus, those compartments become the bluejackets’ home for very long periods of time. There is no such thing as going home ashore after your watch or if you are in a liberty section so that you may enjoy the company of your homosexual partner. There are of course occasional liberty ports but liberty for enlisted personnel usually expires in the late evening. The Fleet doesn’t even enter port for replenishment. All of that is done underway.

Now assign a few homosexuals into that living compartment when all of them including the homosexual are very young and when their hormones are at their most powerful and you have an invitation to disaster. It would be akin to inserting a few heterosexual males into an all female compartment where nakedness is a way of life and sending them off for months at a time. Impossible! And thus it would be exactly the same for the homosexual in a heterosexual male compartment.

As Mr. Barr correctly points out, the homosexual has as fine an intellect as the heterosexual. They thus eventually and inevitably they will be advanced in rating. As petty officers they will be in a position of powerful authority over men of lesser rating and thus in a position to exert exquisite sexual pressure on their subordinates.

For these very apparent sociological reasons it would be a disaster to change the present policy. It would reap havoc on the fighting efficiency of the Fleet and good order and discipline so necessary in a man of war. It just cannot happen.

Allan Slaff

Thank you (foot)notes:

Allan Slaff submitted this letter to the editors of The Wall Street Journal.

Credit to John Howland at USNA At Large.

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Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink
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Tomorrow, Tuesday 22 May, Charmaine will be on MSNBC to debate parental leave. Alert Readers will remember that this was the subject of her doctoral dissertation. Hit times will be 9:30 and 10:00 in the morning. Please tune in and let us know what you think.

Barry Lynn
Americans United for the
Separation of Church and State Charmaine Yoest, appeared on MSNBC on May 17th, 2007 to discuss a move in Texas to encourage marriage counseling for couples seeking a marriage license. She was up against Rev. Barry Lynn. Forgive the click thru on the Family Research Council site.

Being a good spouse.

And again here Should the Government Interfere with Marriage?

The third segment pits Charmaine up against our libertarian friends at the CATO Institute, David Boaz, Executive Vice President.

Posted at 7:31 PM | Permalink
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Start Up Spark has the Carnival of the Entrepreneurs #22.

See the 3rd edition of the Carnival of Wealth Building

Birth of Your Home Office, Blog Carnival #4 is at Home Office Women.

Verve Coaching, Revolutionary Thinking, Cutting-Edge Training, and Expert Advice for people and organizations, has the Carnival of Powerful Living - May 21st, 2007

Get some history at the 2nd Carnival of Principled Government, Axioms of a Free Society.

Posted at 8:02 AM | Permalink
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Evil HR Lady has answers for human resource management,

Mistakes can lead to success...
Really.

"Why am I evil? Well, I'm not, but that's the perception of all of us in HR. Need to fire someone? Come to HR. Need to explain to someone why, even after working their rear end off all year, that their annual increase is 2.7%? Come to HR. Need to come up with new mountains of paperwork? Come to HR. So, come join me on the Evil Side. Oh, and send me your HR questions."

See her edits and editorials at Carnival of Human Resources #5, and be sure to read Delegation as a Leadership Style, From Susan M. Heathfield, and her Tips for Effective Delegation. With good advice. If every manager delegated properly and treated his desk like a pyramid, Your Business Blogger would have fewer clients.

Or maybe all managers should be sociopaths.

See The Carnival of Australia and learn what ANZAC Day is. Aussies are allies.

And bookmark The Integrative Stream, who is hosting the Carnival of the Capitalists. (I will 'roll 'em, as soon as the Panzer Commander unlocks by blogroll...) William Crawford has,

been a software developer, a manager, a Chief Technology Officer and an author of books about enterprise computing. In 2006-2007, I spent a year working on Healthcare Information Technology policy issues at the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in the Office of Policy at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the largest healthcare payor in the world.

Right now I’m focused on industry liaision activities for the Harvard Medical School Center for Biomedical Informatiocs, and am an MBA candidate at the Sloan School of Management at MIT. I’m also an SM candidate in the MIT Biomedical Enterprise Program, which focuses on bringing together management and scientific professionals to create innovative biomedical businesses. You can never have too many graduate degrees.

And while at the Carnival visit Wayne Hurlbert, who reminds us in Preventing mistakes: Creativity to the rescue

"All business owners and managers make mistakes. In fact, if no mistakes are made, nothing is being done in the business at all. Literally.

Fear that one's mistakes leads to immediate dismissal simply locks down the company. No one will suggest any new ideas, and will revert to covering the backs and keeping their heads down. Entrepreneurs should welcome innovation and fresh, creative ideas. Forward thinkers and innovators should be rewarded and encouraged to seek new solutions to the organization's problems. Mistakes will be made. The key is to keep the errors small, and to learn from the experience."

Wayne gets it right, as usual. Benefit from his wisdom, which is interesting, since he makes few mistakes. Read him.

I usually recognize a mistake... the second time I make it.

Posted at 11:03 AM | Permalink
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FOX News Charmaine recently appeared on FOX News Sunday to discuss the data and wisdom and public policy of day care.

She is debating a professional who loves day care.

Charmaine reviews the data that confirms the mother's intuition that the more time a mother spends with her child, the better the child will be. The better the world will be.

Moms know best. Who knew?

Child care liberal feminist activists take the other side. So that women can make money. Because money, to feminists, is the most important thing in the world...besides sex. And power.

(Money, Sex, Power. Liberal feminists would do well to remember a Democratic President who warned against this trifecta: Harry Truman.

Three things ruin a man

power, money, and women.

I never wanted power.

I never had any money,

and the only woman in my life is up at the house right now.

He also dropped the Atomic Bomb...my kind of guy.)

Anyway. Charmaine's short clip is available here. Please forgive the extra click thru on the Family Research Council site.

Thank you (foot)notes:

See: Emptying the Nest: Does Day Care Work?

Lauren Bacall and Harry Truman
As a child, Truman would wake at 5am to practice Chopin.
The piano player can get the girl, as I tell my sons,
Practice chop-sticks and get the chicks. Also see: Women's Work: A journalist warns women that once they leave the career track, they may never get back on, in The Washington Post.

Posted at 7:36 AM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger once partnered with a former McKinsey Consultant, a brilliant mind with a Ph.D. in Math from Columbia. I once wondered aloud why McKinsey, indeed all big business seemed to be confused conservatives.

If you are in business, doing business, creating wealth -- you must be a Calvin Coolidge conservative GOP'er. Right?

"Silly knave," says my elder, better business partner. "Businesses always start out conservative -- but turn liberal as they get bigger." Then he launches into correlations and matrixes and standard deviations, proof theorems for the evolution from small government business conservative to big government business liberal elite.

Someone should write a book, I thought. And warn us.

Someone has.

Tim Carey has written the Big Ripoff.

Tim Carney

Tim's thesis is that Big Business actually embraces and welcomes Big Government regulation to install barriers to entry to hinder smaller competitors.

Big Government has become the enabler of, and provided of a competitive advantage for Big Business.

Liberal elites in business are more interested in protecting a current position than in encouraging innovation, especially if the new ideas come from outside the company. (Goodness, Big Business doesn't care for innovation inside their companies.)

And like true progressives these days, the author, the topic, the debate is blasting at the Conservative Political Action Conference. CPAC 2007 in Your Nation's Capital.

CPAC 2007

Big Ripoff
by Tim Carney
Published by Wiley

Tim was a panelist at CPAC debating America's Business Elites -- Do They Really Believe in Free Enterprise.

After Tim's compelling presentation, it is clear that Big Business Elites are not good for business.

Posted at 4:47 PM | Permalink
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Your Business Blogger
at Stern Business School, NYUYour Business Blogger teaches management training. But there is no need to sit in my class, just visit An Interview with an Honest Manager.

To be a great manager, you must be a sociopath. Yes, The Devil Wears Prada. And ask Hugh MacLeod.

Let me know if you have ever had such an Honest Boss.

(Please, no hate mail...especially if you worked for me.)

Thank you (foot)notes:

From Hanan Levin at growabrain. Bookmark him -- He is everyone's favorite liberal.

Posted at 9:08 PM | Permalink
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Mitt Romney Charmaine will be on NBC News Tonight to discuss the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.

Hit time is 7pm for Washington, DC. Check local listings.

The true measure of a leader is what he says, of course. But also what he does and who he hires.

As Ronald Reagan said, Personnel is Policy.

Who would Romney hire?

Ronald Reagan and Charmaine

Thank you (foot)notes:

Full Disclosure: Charmaine served as a political appointee in the Reagan administration.

Posted at 2:57 PM | Permalink
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The late Les Aspin
Father of
Don't Ask; Don't Tell Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, often shortened to Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) is one of the most confusing and contentious regulations defining the ban on homosexuals in the military.

Today's underlying basis for the ban on homosexuals was outlined in 1982. Later, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin in 1993, during the Clinton administration, confirmed and repeated earlier findings that,

homosexuality is incompatible with military service.

The Department of Defense Directive, 1332.14, 28 January 1982, said,

The presence of such [homosexual] members adversely affects the ability of the Military Services to maintain discipline, good order, and morale; to foster mutual trust and confidence among service members; to ensure the integrity of the system of rank and command; to facilitate assignment and worldwide deployment of service members who frequently must live and work under close conditions affording minimal privacy; to recruit and retain members of the Military Services; to maintain the public acceptability of military service; and to prevent breaches of security.

The difference between the homosexual ban cited in 1982 and in 1993 is that the current policy restricts asking recruits or active duty service members about their sexual preferences.

The DADT regulations are enforceable, but they are not Federal law.

Clinton’s DADT policy is a set of campaign-promised regulations that confuse the meaning of the exclusion law. And it causes more problems that it attempts to solve.

Hilary Rodham Clinton, then-President Al Gore and President Clinton have admitted that DADT was a failure.

The DADT regulations should be repealed.

The homosexual exclusion law should remain.

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Your Business Blogger is a former Army Captain in combat arms and is proud to serve as the Vice President for the Center for Military Readiness.

Stanford has links.

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Posted at 7:10 PM | Permalink
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Work hard, nose to the grindstone, work long hours -- and you will succeed.

This is a lie.

Further,

Mae West Everyone does it. And no one seems to want to stop.

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful, said Mae West.

Or is it?

An unusual trend among working people, is that people love to work and spend a lot of hours at the work they love. Every small business owner I have ever advised worked non-stop. And perhaps complained. And then would ask me about that work-family balance nonsense. But soon would excuse herself to answer an important cell call. (There are no unimportant cell phone calls.)

Non-stop work is bad for your health and bad for your productivity.

Studies show that working 21 continuous hours has the same effect as being drunk. Yes -- working too much is a real high.

Among industrialized nations, none work more hours than the US of A. The two-martini lunch has been replaced with jolts of caffeine; to stay awake. Americans don't drink to escape from work and sleep; we remain at work awake and become drunk. Intoxicated with labor. Starbucks has replaced Archie's Bar.

And no one works harder or more hours than the boss. And you, the small business owner, will openly admit to working harder and more hours than any one.

Martyr.

(No one likes martyrs, that's why they killed so many of them.)

Your Business Blogger would suggest that business productivity and employee health can be improved by working fewer hours.

Heresy.

I know. I wouldn't want to stop either. But I have a trick. An answer to those 60-hour work weeks.

Put those hours into 6 days; not 7. Take a day off. Yes, yes, one whole day.

Stay with me now. Businesses actually have this as policy.

Chick-fil-A, with 1,250 restaurants and sales of almost $2 billion, takes a day off: closing up on Sundays.

Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, made the decision to close on Sunday in 1946 when he opened his original restaurant...in Hapeville, Georgia. He has often shared that his decision was as much practical as spiritual. Operating a 24-hour a day business left him exhausted. Being closed on Sunday allowed him time to recover physically, emotionally and spiritually...

It doesn't have to be a Saturday or a Sunday. When I was working restaurants I took Tuesdays off. It matters not the day.

But pick a day. Then don't work it.

Many business owners have pestered Your Business Blogger for a set of rules on what is work or not. Because work and play are the same for all North Americans. My only suggestion for your weekly day off:

Be Unproductive.

Chick-Fil-A
Family Friendly Leave productivity and production and whatever work is to the other six days. On that one special day: give it a rest.

Oddly, I would suggest no prohibition on exercise. We should sweat on our day of relaxation. (This is America.) Sweating and exercise are acceptable unless your day job is in the NBA or the Golf Pro Tour.

And to make sure it works, find a friend who will hold you accountable. Which you should be doing for business, anyway.

Be accountable to your private board of directors or mentor. Or better: spend the day with kith and kin. You will be more productive -- in work and perhaps, in your marriage.

So. To be more productive. Do nothing, one day a week.

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Thank you (foot)notes:

Chick-fil-A was just recognized by the Family Research Council for a family friendly; marriage friendly workplace. More at the jump.

Continue Reading »

Posted at 10:54 PM | Permalink
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Truth
Sculpture by
Gianlorenzo Bernini
1652 An ancient Jewish Proverb goes He that covers his sins shall not prosper. There seems to be a disturbing trend that hiring managers are facing: job candidates who lie.

Director Mitch, The Window Manager, one of the best business blogs in the business, had a reader in a job interview with a dilemma:

How should a job candidate handle embarrassing, possibly unethical questions from a hiring authority?

He gives three interesting options. "I see the hiring process as a battle with HR and will use any means, fair or unfair, to trip them up," says Mitch. That's because he views questions about why any employee who left a previous job as "unethical" to begin with. So Mitch asserts that an unethical question does not deserve an ethical answer.

Your Business Blogger is not so sure.

I once asked my favorite management guru, Bill Oncken, about the challenge of dealing with supervisors who cross ethical lines from right to wrong. His wise advice was to separate, or fire, or not hire, or run away from any hint of a lack of character.

Only deal with people with integrity, says Oncken; who is filthy rich and never married with no hungry kids who need shoes and private schools. (His hobby is skydiving -- out of boredom, I believe.)

But as the Window Manager outlines, sometimes you really, really need the job.

We've all been there. Sometimes we rationalize that ". . .the HR kumquat is a jerk who didn't ask a fair question, or a legal question, . . . and no one will ever find out if there's fudging on the job application. Evil deserves contempt. (Anti) Personnel departments don't actually add value to a company, anyway." Or so the thought goes.

When faced with an unethical boss or an unethical hiring manager, Bill Oncken, author of Managing Management Time, suggests leaving immediately. Even when the hit hurts your wallet.

"Sometimes," Oncken says, "You have to finance your integrity."

And this requires monetary as well as emotional maturity that not all of us possess.

I would not recommend lying as a response to any question, no matter how awful or illegal the interrogation. But Mitch does suggest humor or a superlative as a possible way out of troubling questions. As in "I took time off to train for my ascent of Everest." Or something like that.

Humor is a dodge that Your Business Blogger used to use. My heartfelt response to questions about my misspent youth is, I'm not responsible for anything that happened during the Nixon Administration.

If humor or deflection does not work -- that last sentence never worked for me -- brutal truth might be necessary.

Years ago, I was once fired by a company - twice - in the same month, both times by fax, the insulting medium of the day. I would always reveal this firing whenever asked. I would explain that it was the dangerous downside of working for thinly capitalized companies in trouble. And my explanation had the added benefit of being true.

I would always get the hard stuff out of the way soonest. I would put it all on the table. Just as sales pro's know: Whoever raises the objection, owns the objection. And get the "no's" out early.

On my hiring travels as interviewer and --ee, I've learned that there are two kinds of problems: big and small.

Many small problems perhaps can be side-stepped - without being untruthful, like my little incident deep in North Carolina. (Hint: Never throw drink bottles from a '57 Chevy at high speed.)

Early in my career, whenever that "Were you ever arrested?" silly question would come up, I would always write in NA. Drag racing on the interstate highway system was truly "Not Applicable" to the entry level sales job I was hunting. And if any explanation was required, I wanted to do it in person, rather than be eliminated by rote in HR. A face-to-face sales presentation has the highest close rate.

Fortunately, I don't have big problems, like a felony conviction, but the terminations come close. I have been fired more times than any single reader of this reputable blog. Goodness, I'll bet I've been fired more than ALL you readers combined, including Rush Limbaugh.

But there is hope for big problems on this side of eternity: Find a Friend. Any real position or client these days will be 1) A created position, 2) In high technology and 3) With someone you know.

Clients and projects and employment come these days through a network of friends and contacts. Who love you.

Like I do.

And that's no lie.

To thine own self be true,
and it must follow,
as the night the day,
thou canst not then be false to any man. Shakespeare.

So. When to lie? Let slip a little fib?

Never.

Don't bear false witness -- even about yourself.

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Thank you (foot)notes:

It is not known if Rush Limbaugh actually reads this blog.

Posted at 3:09 PM | Permalink
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An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest said Ben Franklin. And sometimes learning a skill will pay off in ways unintended and unanticipated.

My favorite interview question is to ask candidates what their high school dream was. What did they want to do, what did they want to be. The best candidates -- by that I mean the most contented candidates, have a thread in their lives of what they wanted to do back then and what they are doing today.

An expert interviewer, like Your humble Business Blogger, can discern the contentment and