How Newspapers and Manhattan House Taught Me a Business Lesson

Paperboy. (Getty Images)

Like many Americans of a certain age I had a paper route as a kid.  These days, if papers get delivered at all, it's probably by an adult driving a car, but back then it was us kids on foot or by bicycle -- or if you were lucky you got your parents to drive you.

My mother reminded me this week of a story from my paper route days.  One week I had the flu and she had to do my route, by car, no doubt.  She learned a lot about me that week, including how I avoided the houses with barking dogs (toss the paper from the curb) and why I complained about the paper route so much (it was a long route!).

One thing my mother remembered that I had forgotten was when one of my customers complained about not receiving the color supplements in her Sunday paper.  Confronted, I apparently confessed to ditching the color supplements because they made the delivery bag too heavy and slowed me down on the route.

It was all about efficiency and, I'd rationalized, people didn't need those wasteful supplements full of pleas to buy useless things.

I was wrong to alter the product in that way.  Perhaps it seemed like the right decision from a teenager's point of view -- efficiency was improved, waste reduced (sort of) -- but that was a decision I wasn't authorized to make.  I had challenged a system without really challenging it.  I had taken liberties with my assignment and had neglected to talk to my customer about my decision.  (I apologized later.)

My mistake came back to haunt me a few years later in one of my first jobs in New York City at Manhattan House Stationers on the Upper East Side.  Every Sunday morning, down in the bowels of Manhattan House, I put the Sunday papers together along with Pete, a Jamaican guitar player.  We had to make sure all the sections and supplements were there before Leo, the owner of the stationery store, inspected our work.

Then we delivered the papers throughout the entire building -- all 19-stories and 581 apartments!

What goes around comes around.

What decisions are you making in your organization that will come back to haunt your later?  What assumptions are you making about business decisions every day?  What changes are you making to your products without thinking of your customers?

Get Rid of All Energy Subsidies: The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

I was on FOX Business this morning with Stuart Varney & Co, taking about oil subsidies and arguing for a balanced use of fossil fuels and alternative energy.

Here is the video:



And here is a link if the player doesn't work in your browser: GreenSkeptic on FOX Business

How I Almost Created "The Disaster Channel"

This could have been a real disaster.

About 20 years ago, I was on the editorial staff at Viking Penguin, which as the name implies, was a merger of two venerable old publishing houses.

Our company had been bought by the international media company Pearson, which also bought the venerable old merger-house of E.P. Dutton and New American Library.  It was the early days of the consolidation of publishing.

Pearson decided to move us out of our West 23rd Street offices -- and our compatriots out of their Park Avenue location -- and into the Saatchi & Saatchi building in lower Manhattan.  It was a sleek, stark, almost sterile contrast to the rickety bookshelf-cluttered walls and creaky floors of our old building.
 
The editorial staff was starting to be trimmed and many of us could see the writing on the walls.  Of course, there were no bookshelves to clutter them up!

I started kicking around ideas with some friends about what to do next.  I felt stuck.  I had worked in publishing and printing for much of the 80s.  What else did I know?

I had a short stint as an assistant to a baker when I first moved to New York and loved baking bread.  My friend Howie said my bread was so good, I should open a bakery.  (I've told part of that story here.)

But I had another idea: "The Disaster Channel."

That's right, The Disaster Channel.  Nothing but disasters 24/7.  There was plenty of existing content (movies, documentaries, news footage) and there were new disasters all the time.  We could have "Disaster of the Week" specials, send people out with video cameras to chase tornadoes, think of the possibilities!

It wouldn't take much to start and it would certainly be a hit.  People love disasters.  It would be worth millions, billions even, I reckoned.

My friends were mortified.  "How could you live with yourself if you did that?"

"Well, if The Disaster Channel was a success, then I could do my other idea for a cable channel," I replied. "The Poetry Channel: an all-poetry cable network featuring poets and celebrities reading poems, poets being interviewed, and films about poets or based on poetry."

Call it my "Evil Plan."

Needless to say, I didn't pursue either idea.  Since that time, The Weather Channel has picked up the mantle of disaster coverage. (Someone has even done a spoof announcement of the concept here.)

Could I have sold to TWC or was my idea too early?  I'll never know.

The road is paved with ideas -- good, bad, and disastrous.

Why You Need a Brad Marchand In Your Company

Marchand Takes Ville Leino Into the Boards.

Brad Marchand is a pest.

Watching the Bruins-Flyers Playoff Game last night I couldn't help focusing on the scrappy little forward in black and gold.

Thirty seconds into the game, Marchand banked a shot off the boards behind the Flyers net that Zdeno Chara cranked from the left circle over the shoulder of goalie Brian Boucher.

Then Marchand was crashing into players along the boards, some with 3-4-5 inches on him. Like a mosquito he buzzed around, bothering any Flyers who got near the puck.

"It was one of those games I was angry the whole time, and my emotions kind of get the best of me, just running around trying to kill guys," Marchand said.

Marchand is an agitator, stirring and shaking things up on the ice.  Annoying his opponents.  Sometimes he got knocked down; sometimes he knocked the big guys down. 

I counted seven hits, most of which left Flyers on the ice.  He was a little erratic at times, but totally focused on helping the Bruins win.

Agitators are good for companies and organizations.  They aren't always appreciated.  Without them, however, organizations can be stagnant and stuck. 

Who are the agitators in your company?  Do you recognize or appreciate what they are doing and why?  How can you use their energy to advance your cause or company's goals?

How My Readers Saved My Blog

Image by Affendaddy via Flickr
Yesterday I froze when faced with the blank page of this blog.  How could I write something that would compete for readers with the news of the day -- that Osama bin Laden was dead?

I put out a call to my readers.  Basically, to paraphrase The Clash song, should I stay or should I go?

My readers saved my blog.

Some of you offered comments; others sent me emails or tweets.  One reader who sent an email pretty much sealed it for me,

"You are far to important to stop doing what you are doing. You are in shock right now, so the best thing to do is to let some time pass, then dust yourself off and get back to what you do best. (Just like the firemen of NYC.) 

Coffee, core exercises and dog walks in the woods sounds like a cure to most anything.  Enjoy and don’t forget that we need you!"

How could I not write after getting such a note?  Thank you, dear readers.

Over at my poetry blog I've got a quote from Walter Lowenfels that has always served as a reminder: "One reader is a miracle; two, a mass movement."

My readers have spoken.  I will not remain silent.

How Osama Bin Laden Killed My Blog

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeOsama bin Laden killed my blog.

Yes, he did.  From the dead. I did everything right this morning.  Drank three cups of coffee (not tea, because three cups of tea is now tainted).  Walked my dog in the woods.  Did my core exercises.  Showered.  Got dressed.  Sat down at the computer...

...and my fingers froze.  What the hell was I going to write about?  I had no ideas.  None.  Zippo.  The latest potential IPO?  A conference I recently attended?  My thoughts on venture capital and cleantech?  Why conservatives have abandoned conservation?

Stumped.  I was completely stumped.

Aw, just shake it off, you haven't posted in a week and a half, your muscle just isn't working. You'll get it back.  Get up and have another cup of coffee, walk around, meditate. Do something.  

How was I going to compete with the death of Osama bin Laden?  And how was I going to write something that anyone would want to read in the wake of all the news of Obama bagging Osama? 
 
During last night's remarkable news, I thought of my friend Barbara, whose apartment was in the shadow of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.  I'll never forget trying to find her on that day almost ten years ago to make sure she was safe.  She was safe, but shaken.

Her life was irrevocably changed that day, as were the lives of many -- of all of us, really.  I reached out to Barbara and found her on her way to New York City from Baltimore, where she now lives. 

But even writing about that seemed half-cooked, uninspired.

Then I thought, maybe I'm really stumped.  After over six years of writing this blog, I'm literally stumped.  It's not writer's block, that I can write through.  No, this feels worse than writer's block.  What's the purpose of a blog that can't compete with a major world event?

Like many things in my life, this blog feels like it's at a crossroads.

I'm in need of a serious rethink and I need your help.

Where does The Green Skeptic go from here?  Where do you want to see it go from here?  What do you want to hear about from me?  What do you want more of or less of?  Would you rather I just retire this blog and move on to other things?

Here's your chance, send me your thought in the comments here or via email (greenskeptic[at]gmail[dot]com.

I want to hear from you.