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Alan C. FoxAuthor. Entrepreneur. Game-changer.
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Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Boss? Nine Tips

by Alan C. Fox 0 Comments

 

Bosses are inherently intimidating, even though most of them aren’t actually big, or bad.  Still, they are “the boss” and they have a great deal of control over your life, which can make them scary.

I met my first boss when I was eighteen. He seemed nice enough, but did expect a day’s work for a day’s pay.  I had a summer job as a stock boy in a warehouse, unpacking, stocking shelves, and filling orders.

About a month into the job, my family was leaving for an extended weekend vacation. Being so new I was afraid to ask my boss for time off, so on Friday afternoon I slipped out of the warehouse at 3:00 pm, two hours before quitting time.

Luckily, when I returned to work on Monday morning my boss was much kinder than I expected (or deserved). He did point out that “disappearing without notice” was not acceptable, but he later promoted me to running the billing machine when the regular operator left for vacation.

At age 27 I started my own law firm and have been “the boss” ever since.  But I still remember my initial fear about talking to the boss. If you share that fear I encourage you, for the sake of both your career and your company, to talk to your boss, especially if you’ve made a mistake.

As the boss I live in a bubble and seldom talk to any of our 3,000 tenants, our hundreds of suppliers, and even our seven hundred investors. So I need to receive important information and suggestions from my employees.

Several months ago, for example, two of my valued employees entered my office looking like death warmed over.  They had made a $137,000.00 mistake. I’m glad they found the courage to see me at once, because their mistake was growing by $4,000 per day, and we solved it the same afternoon.

If you find yourself in the difficult situation of having to break some bad news to your “big bad boss” here are some tips to make the experience less scary and more effective:

1.    Make a specific appointment for a five or ten minute meeting.  If I’m interested, it will be longer.

2.    Make the appointment for early in the day.  By 3:00 pm I’m tired and more likely to say “NO.”

3.    Tell me in advance what you want to talk about.  Make it as positive as you can.

4.    Suggest solutions.  By 9:00 am I have already heard about enough problems.

5.    Bring a one-page summary with you.  I can read faster than I can listen.  One week later I can read better than I can remember what you said.

6.    Thank me for my time.  We all like to be appreciated.

7.    You might practice your presentation in advance.  This will help you to be succinct.

8.    Be authentic.  People try to sell me something every day, and if I sense they are faking it I will cut them off without a second thought.  Or a second opportunity to see me.  When you are real we will connect.

9.    Remember that you are doing me a favor.  You are helping me to do my job better, and I want both you and our company to thrive.

My philosophy is that we’re all in this together.  As a boss, it’s my job to encourage my employees, to pay them fairly, and to steer clear of disasters.  It’s also my job to appreciate their candor, their courage, and their concern.

Alan

 

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Patterns Persist Because We Are Creatures of Habit

by Alan C. Fox 2 Comments

 

Whenever I visit a buffet restaurant I eat more than I had intended. This was true when I was twelve years old. It remains true today, and I’m now seventy-four.

Patterns persist.

When I hired Karen five years ago to be my assistant her references were outstanding. She was extremely personable at her interview and earned a very high score on our thirty-question logic test. There was only one item on her resume which concerned me.

“Karen, you’ve held a number of previous positions, but you have never stayed at any job for more than eighteen months. If I hire you, why should I believe that you will stay with me for more than a year and a half?”

The more things change, the more they remain the same.
—Alphonse Karr, Les Guépes

I don’t recall Karen’s answer but I did hire her, ignoring my own conviction that patterns persist. Did she stay with me for even a year and a half? Nope. After five months her ideal job came along and it was “adios” for Karen.

Patterns Persist. Persistent patterns persist persistently.

In 1991 my wife and I traveled to Hawaii to see a total eclipse of the sun. We stayed for a week at what was then the Hyatt hotel on the Kona coast. We found that the entire staff, from reception desk to bus boy, was extremely friendly and helpful. That same pattern has persisted in every Hyatt hotel we have stayed at since. Yes, patterns persist for organizations as well as individuals. A Big Mac tastes the same in San Diego or St. Louis or even Moscow.  That is why we trust (or dislike) MacDonald’s.

When you try a restaurant for the first time and are met with poor service and mediocre food, do you go back? I don’t. I assume that the pattern will persist, and I’m almost always right in this assumption.

Nothing is stronger than habit.
—Ovid, Ars Amatoria

A friend of mine, Steve, badgered me for years to invest money with him to speculate in Treasury bill futures. He was convinced he could triple my investment.  Of course, he needed my stake because he had previously lost all of his own money doing exactly the same thing. I agreed to open an account for $30,000 and split the profit or loss with Steve. It was a rousing ride, but in less than three months he lost half of my original capital. I grabbed back the $15,000 that remained, and haven’t touched the commodities market since.

What are the lessons here?

1. Recognize your own patterns and expect them to persist. If you like the pattern, embrace it. If you dislike the consequences of the pattern either avoid the area entirely (I will never speculate in the commodities market again), work around it (eat in a restaurant which has no buffet), or intentionally try to change it (use a different approach, or People Tool, than you have in the past).

2. Recognize the patterns of behavior in others. Expect those patterns to persist. On your 25th wedding anniversary your husband will probably still refuse to ask for directions when you get lost. Ask my wife.

3. Recognize the patterns of an institution or marketplace. Expect those patterns to persist. If you are interviewing for a job with a company which experiences high employee turnover, don’t expect to be with them    for very long.

Patterns Persist. Persistent patterns persist persistently.  Believe it.  Or, if you don’t believe it, you might be continuing a pattern which will continue to return the favor and disappoint you yet again.

Alan

 

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I Always Want the Best for You

by Alan C. Fox 4 Comments

 

I always want the best for you, even if what you want for yourself may not ultimately be the best for me.

Ellie was one of the best secretaries I ever had. She was the only one who knew how to use our IBM MT/ST (Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typewriter) which was a very early version of an electronic word processor. Her successors never got the hang of it.  And neither did I. One Saturday morning I tried it out.  My project was to “self-address” twelve envelopes for the U.S. Post Office so they would return to me twelve stamped “first day covers” for the first moon landing on July 20, 1969.  I spent three hours addressing those twelve envelopes.  Many more than twelve envelopes ended up in the wastebasket.

Ellie told me that she wanted to be an attorney.  I encouraged her to go to law school, which she did. After becoming an attorney she worked in the office of my former law partner. Several years later she returned to my company as our general counsel.  Ellie is still an investor (she might very well be reading this blog at the same time that you are).

Another long-term employee, Jeanne, began working with me in 1969.  She was actually my second choice.  Thank goodness she was still available after I fired my first choice less than two weeks into the job (My record in hiring has since improved, but it will never be perfect).

Jeanne expressed interest in becoming an interior designer and I encouraged her to go into that field.  After several years of study she obtained the appropriate credential, and eventually opened her own successful practice.  After fifteen years in business for herself, possibly tired of swimming upstream as an entrepreneur must, she returned to work with me

I could share many other examples, but my point is this:  I always want the best for you, even if what you want for yourself may not ultimately be the best for me.

I encouraged my six children, when they were young teenagers, to gain business experience by working in my office.  Imagine the shock of a caller who heard an adolescent male voice answering, “Good morning.  ACF Property Management.  To whom may I address your call?” That was my son Steven, who today is a professor at the U.S.C. School of Medicine.  My other children are a tenured professor at U.C.L.A., a trial attorney in Palo Alto, a yoga teacher (with an MBA) in Boulder, Colorado, the assistant executive director of a mindfulness center, and a linguist, soon to enroll in a San Diego acupuncture school.  I have encouraged each of them to find their own niche in life, and I believe they have.

I also want to help you attain the best life for yourself – and here are several reasons why:

  1. I am thrilled when I believe that I have helped someone I care for discover a better life.
  2. When you are happy, I am happy.  Our relationship, for as long as it may last, will be more fulfilling for both of us.
  3. It’s the right thing to do.  I refer potential clients to another investment company when I feel that would be a better “fit” for their needs.
  4. I like to “pay it forward.”

I am grateful to my parents and to so many teachers, employers, and friends along the way who have encouraged me to find my own niche.  Thankfully, today my niche is writing, a role I thoroughly enjoy.  I truly hope that you have all the encouragement and support you need to pursue whatever it is in life that will leave you as happy as you can possibly be.

Alan

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