Infinity is the division of anything by zero.

I sat unmoved after the interview completed and the sound still – I was blown away by the short but loaded insight pact in by Seth Godin.

LIGHT BULB #1 – [...]]]>

David Siteman Garland at The Rise to the Top recently interview Seth Godin about entrepreneurship, building communities, and what it means to do meaningful work.

I sat unmoved after the interview completed and the sound still – I was blown away by the short but loaded insight pact in by Seth Godin.

LIGHT BULB #1 – ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Seth distinctly compared entrepreneurs to freelancers, and if you confuse the two, meaning, you act like a freelancer but you think you’re an entrepreneur – that’s bad.

There’s nothing wrong with being a freelancer or an entrepreneur, but it could be detrimental when your actions are incongruent to your thoughts, and you don’t see the incongruence – then you’re just fooling yourself.

What is an entrepreneur? An entrepreneur works on the system (the business as a separate entity) that is bigger than the entrepreneur that even makes money while the entrepreneur is sleeping.

LIGHT BULB #2 – BUILDING COMMUNITIES

Do the work that scares you. Don’t be busy with Facebook, Twitter, and comments if it only make you “busy.” Are you really connecting with people or is your interaction just short lapse of momentary applause? People love to be busy because it feeds the resistance to do work that actually makes a difference in their community and connecting people.

LIGHT BULB #3 – DO MEANINGFUL WORK

David asked Seth about his process used to create and do work. Seth replied that his process and map should not be other’s map – it may not work for other people. The only thing in common about people who built great things is that they’ve built great things – the great things they’ve built. There aren’t any other commonalities such as their backgrounds, process, or methods.

That’s why they call it art – it’s your creation, even the process is part of your creation. Entrepreneurship is an art – what and how you do your work have yet to be defined and duplicated. The effort isn’t to be busy but doing the necessary and scary work that is productive.

Thank you David Siteman Garland. (Why do you use a middle name?)

What is entrepreneurship?

Sandy at Chase Bank is my new hero. She made a difference. She’s a linchpin.

On a Saturday afternoon I visited a Chase branch to do some typical banking, one of which was to get a service fee waived on a dormant inactive business checking account.

Maggie, my bank manager whom I have been doing [...]]]>

Sandy at Chase Bank is my new hero. She made a difference. She’s a linchpin.

On a Saturday afternoon I visited a Chase branch to do some typical banking, one of which was to get a service fee waived on a dormant inactive business checking account.

Maggie, my bank manager whom I have been doing business for a couple of years, came to greet me as I waited  After a brief exchange, she said someone would be with me and I sat down, and waited.

In a few minutes, Sandy, a bank representative, called my name and I followed her to her desk. I took a seat and explained the specific service fee that I was requesting to be waived.

I elaborated the intricacies of the problem I have with this service fee. The details aren’t really significant in this story. But as a representative, she was not authorized to make such decisions. However, she did understand my concerns.

Then I did the unexpected thing, I smiled.

I smiled because suddenly, I wanted to test out a theory – people will try to help if you are friendly, and if you are friendly, people will try their best to do the best. I wanted to test out another theory – even with all the technologies and corporate structure in institutions, people still run the world.

So I bought a couple of more minutes to sow the seeds. I asked for a copy of the disclosures that was mailed to notify me of the imminent service fee that I overlooked. I asked for a status update of all my accounts, personal and business. I wanted to remind them that I had a vested interest in my banking relationship. As Sandy was printing the copies and thoroughly summarizing my accounts, we started chatting about non-banking stuff. I found out that Sandy used to live in Montebello and has been working at WAMU for 8 years. She likes the change from WAMU to Chase because Chase offers more products.

As I reviewed the information Sandy presented me, I brought up the fee one more time. This time, she called in the manager.

So we called Maggie, the branch manager.

Maggie came and initially apologized that she couldn’t take off the fee because she would have to explain to upper management and repeated that since this was not a bank error, she was not allowed to waive the fee, not even as a courtesy. And, she further explained, since WAMU became Chase, Chase is not that lenient of waiver fees unless it is specifically a bank error.

But I smiled Maggie. I smiled because this is a by the corporate book play, and managers are instructed in black and white.

Then suddenly, Sandy, in a moment of brilliance, came up with a solution out of thin air. As the branch manager was thoroughly explaining why she couldn’t waive the fee, Sandy sat quietly, did nothing, but think.

She was thinking about a solution to help me. She was too busy thinking to tell me she couldn’t help me. She was busy thinking yes, because saying no doesn’t require too much thinking.

Saying yes requires thinking.

Sandy brilliantly connected all my banking products and linked them in a way that qualified my business checking account to meet the fine print of Chase’s policy. She also thought of a way to effectively avoid service fees on my account which meant that the charged service fee in question could be waived, as my account was indeed within the terms of the bank’s policy.

Sandy excited explained her solution to Maggie, so Maggie could justify it to upper management.

Linchpins rule the world.

Too often, customer representatives are quick to say no. Companies pay for them to do the task at hand, not to think. Then sometimes, you meet a Sandy. Sandy thinks. She wants to help the customer. She’s creative and innovative with her simple job. That makes her a linchpin – someone’s who indispensable. Creativity and innovations are not measurable like a resume, and you can’t put a price on creativity and innovations because they’re priceless. Being priceless makes you indispensable – a linchpin.

It’s not about doing better at what others are doing, it’s doing what others aren’t doing at all. That makes a difference. That makes you a linchpin and Sandy is a linchpin.

Photo: Flickr

Feminism is an old word. The concept is no stranger to us. Every one of us has been influenced whether indirectly or directly by this movement that started in the mid 1800’s. When Hilary Clinton ran for the presidency in this last election, she broke 18 millions [...]]]>

My name is Thanh and I’m a recovering…feminist.

Feminism is an old word. The concept is no stranger to us. Every one of us has been influenced whether indirectly or directly by this movement that started in the mid 1800’s. When Hilary Clinton ran for the presidency in this last election, she broke 18 millions cracks in the glass ceiling with 18 million Americans who supported her presidential bid. That was the biggest moment of what the feminist movement was all about: women power.

The feminist movement was and still is very strong in our society today. From it, I like many other women, became exceedingly independent and believed that I also have the same, if not more, capacity than my male classmates or colleagues.

Women today have conquered many obstacles and sit on any panel or board in any business, academic, or social institutions that was once only reserved for men. Gloria Steinem and her foremothers have done women great justice in fighting for opportunities and equality by turning walls into doors and walkways. And it is something that no women, including myself, must take for granted.

But I’m afraid, that in some ways, women have. There are some things that society did not foresee and bargained for in the rise of the modern feminists. And so we must take a moment to reassess the effects of the feminist movement because there are great loses that affect those who have no voice or choice in it all.

However great a woman’s accomplishment is in business, in her profession, like Carly Fiorina of HP or Marissa Mayer of Google or any other working or executive moms, you can’t deny the children of these powerful women who were raised in day orphanages they call day care. For every promotion a mother achieves in corporate America, one more infant is sacrificed to be in the care of by strangers, by day caregivers, for those 18 million cracks. Newborns as early as days and weeks old enter day cares because women are eager to go back to work because they have something to prove. And she doesn’t need a day off, she’s all powerful. She doesn’t need to bond with her child or show feminine emotions; she’s a feminist, equal to all men.

Single women, like me, enjoy our independence and opportunities. But I think the rules change when a woman’s decision affects other people. So mothers need to revaluate the real application of women power and the feminist movement.

Because god forbid a modern woman today to keep a marriage together and the household intact so kids grow up in a loving family instead of broken homes. She’s a feminist. She has rights and power afforded to her by her foremothers. What about her feelings and her needs? And everything that she’s ever wanted to be, do, and have? Well, she can do anything, can’t she? The feminist movement said so. Or is it a case of power abuse? For every woman powerful roar at the cost of another human being, she takes the feminist movement for granted. She sacrifices her children, her husband, and her family, and ultimately society. We know this because children reflect the values in our society. When girls trade in their self worth for temporary self esteem, society loses. When boys are raised as males and not as men, society loses. We need mothers, not executive working child bearers. We need homes, not houses.

And although I believe that a woman can have it all, it comes with a price. A price I’m beginning to see is too high to continue to pay for self indulgence: marriage, commitment, children, family, social values, moral responsibility. They’re sacrificed in the name of the feminist movement. Women win when we can make our own choices based on our own agenda, not on someone else’s agenda. The feminist movement gave women choices and that’s power, but empowerment comes from not having to prove anything to anyone.

In reassessing feminism, feminism is a single women’s game not a wife or mother’s game. Wives and mothers have greater callings than try to break household items like glass ceilings.

I had to call a plumber out to snake a clog from the kitchen. He quoted me $55, good price (a home warranty would have charged me the same), but when he came, he "added on" $10 for another action of opening the pipes underneath the sink. I could have argued with him or [...]]]>

I had to call a plumber out to snake a clog from the kitchen. He quoted me $55, good price (a home warranty would have charged me the same), but when he came, he "added on" $10 for another action of opening the pipes underneath the sink. I could have argued with him or call out another plumber, get another quote, etc. but I didn’t. He seemed like a nice guy and it’s only $10.

His gave me an explanation but when I watched him do the job, I saw that he only snaked the clog from the outside and he could have just let the water drain through the pipes without having to open up the pipes underneath the sink. I realized that he didn’t need to open the pipes underneath the sink.  I could have argued with him and showed that he didn’t need to take another action besides what he was supposed to do, snaking it out from the outside, and the sink would drain without opening up the pipes underneath the sink, all for $10, but I didn’t. He seemed like a nice young guy, 27. In fact, after he was done, I even paid him extra because he did a good job and because it was raining outside and he was all wet from the job.

He even confirmed my assumption by explaining to me that the next time I get this kind of clog, all I would need to do is open the opening from the outside and the water from the sink would drain, obviously not needing to open the pipes underneath the sink to drain the excess water.

Later, I thought whether he up-sold me intentionally just for $10, or whether he felt bad for his business practice since I "tipped" him even after his ridiculous explanation.

This is not to say that I’m perfect, because I am not. If my assumption is true, technically, I just bought the plumber’s character for $10. Regardless, I didn’t keep it and gave it back with goodwill because I had seen through him and I know. I know and keep my own ego in check, because I learned that the person who loses is the person that sold out – not the person who overpaid or got scammed. I’m not here to preach about karma or bad business practice, but point out that it’s about self-ignorance.

When people sell out for any amount of money, they put a price on their self-worth, and that is always a losing battle.

Instead of a pot of gold, I rather find character at the end the rainbow.

Photo: Eyes Closed