A Holiday Giving Experiment

Downtown Crossing

Every morning on my way to work, I walk through Downtown Crossing toward South Station, and every morning, I encounter a significant number of homeless men and women who have spent the night outside.  It’s heartbreaking.

As the Financial District is waking, set to get busy with another work day, so to are these men and women, set to struggle through a tough day ahead.  When I think of the challenges that I’ll encounter at work, or that I’ll encounter on any given day, knowing what they must live through puts everything (very quickly) into proper perspective.  It certainly makes you thankful for a calendar full of meetings and tight client deadlines.

That said, while I recognize their struggles and it pains me to see that such poverty is so prevalent in Boston, I’ll admit, I’ve never been particularly generous, in-person, to the homeless men and women that I encounter.  While I occasionally support organizations that provide services to the poor and homeless, such as food banks and soup kitchens, I rarely give money directly to the men and women themselves.  I don’t have any particularly strong reasoning as to why I don’t leave money, it isn’t that I’m against the practice, or think that it’s a ‘handout’ that will just be wasted on alcohol, cigarettes, or worse – drugs (though I must admit that thought does cross my mind at times).  In fact, my education in economics leads me to feel that giving money directly to the homeless is the most efficient way to help them, avoiding the middleman and enabling them to maximize their utility however they see fit, even if I might disagree with how it is ultimately spent.

Testing Assumptions

Recently, I’ve been making a conscious effort to test my deeply ingrained habits, behaviors and assumptions.  During this holiday season, I decided to test my habit of not giving directly to the homeless.

Every morning, I walk past the same woman, and every morning, she greets everyone who passes by.  She doesn’t ask for money, she just offers a simple ‘Good Morning’ and keeps an empty cup in her hand.  I return her pleasantry with a quick ‘Good Morning’ as well, but quickly pass by on my walk to work.

Last week, instead of simply passing by, I gave her a holiday greeting card that contained a Prepaid Visa Gift Card, a card that enables you to not only check the balance online, but also the transaction history.  In the card, I wished her ‘Happy Holidays’ and told her to use the gift however she wanted, spending it on whatever would make her day a bit easier or more enjoyable.

Over the past week, I’ve checked the balance of the card and have been pleased to find that she’s used all but $4.92, spending $13.37 at a CVS and $21.71 at a Tedeschi Food Shop.  I have no idea what exactly she spent the money on, but I do know that, whatever it was, she chose it, and in so doing, hopefully chose items that were exactly what she needed and wanted at the time.

While this experiment didn’t confirm or deny any stereotypes, or ‘prove’ anything necessarily, as she could very well have ‘wasted’ the gift, spending the money on junk food or cigarettes (alcohol isn’t available at either of the places she visited), but with holidays just recently behind us, I’m in an optimistic mood.  Even if that is how she chose to spend the money, that’s fine by me.  She has to deal with a lot just to get by everyday, so she’s in the best position to know what she needs and what makes her happy.

Overall, the whole ‘experiment’ has just made me more curious about the ‘homeless problem.’  In particular, how did she end up in her position?  Why does she choose to stay in the same location everyday?  What does she do at the end of the day?  Why was one of the gift card transactions made in Revere, MA when she spends (to my knowledge) all od her weekdays in Downtown Boston?

In 2013, to (hopefully) answer some of my questions concerning the ‘homeless problem’ in Boston, I plan to engage with the homeless community through volunteer work, to hear their stories, to get beyond the superficial stereotypes (hopefully disproving them) and to hopefully further test my assumptions.

If nothing else, this holiday ‘giving experiment’ has made me more conscious of how fortunate I am, reminded me of the importance of being mindful of that fact every day and encouraging me, as a result, to live my life in a more charitable way.

Living Your Vows – In Loving Memory of Emmott Lennon

‘Grandpa Mutt’

Emmott Lennon, my grandfather (affectionately called ‘Grandpa Mutt’), passed away on September 29th.

He was a good man, and as one small way to preserve his memory, I wanted to document and share the words that I offered at his burial on October 13th.

Living Your Vows

I know that Grandpa Mutt didn’t want much ‘fuss’ made over his passing, in fact, he never really wanted much attention focused on him, so I’ll keep my remarks brief.  While there is much that I could say this morning in honor and memory of Grandpa Mutt, I would like to expand on one thought in particular, a thought that has been on my mind the past few weeks.

As a newlywed, as you might expect, I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage recently.  Specifically, I’ve been thinking about the vows that we make on our wedding day.

-  For better or for worse

-  In sickness and in health

-  Until death do us part

When I reflect on this, I’m reminded that while we say these vows on one day of our lives, we need to live them each and every day of our lives.

For me, there are few better examples of living your vows than Grandpa Mutt.

With his words, he may not have been the most outwardly emotional man, but his actions spoke far louder than his words ever could.  He truly and fully lived his vows, until the very end.

He lived his vows by visiting his wife every day over the past decade, without fail, as Alzheimer’s continued to take its toll on her mind and body, talking to her, telling her stories and singing to her, even when she may have no longer known just exactly who he was.

-  That is for better or for worse

-  That is in sickness and in health

-  That is until death do us part

-  That is living your vows

-  And that is an inspiration and a model that I, and all those who are married, should aspire to in their own lives.

Thank you Grandpa Mutt for being an inspiration and for being a role model for all of us in this regard.  You’ll be sorely missed.

God bless.  Rest in peace.  We love you.

Random Acts of Kindness – Laundromats & Empanadas Edition

The Laundromat

Every Sunday, as part of our weekly routine of chores, Erica (my fiancée) and I go to the same corner laundromat in our neighborhood.

There are washing machines in our building (which we use), and dryers as well, but we found that the dryers didn’t do a great job with our clothes, so to dry our wet laundry, we take it to the laundromat.  I know, I know, sounds a bit inefficient (and it surely is), but it’s what we do and it works for us.

Thanks to calico_13 for the great picture!

Just as we’re there every Sunday afternoon, so too is the laundromat attendant.  Until reflecting on my recent post, Talk to the Janitor, my interactions with the attendant were largely superficial…just quick exchanges of pleasantries, chatting about the weather, etc.  As with the janitor (Julian), I soon realized that it was a sad state of affairs to interact with someone on a weekly basis, for several years, and to not know much about them (including their name).  So I decided to address that depressing fact…

I finally/formally introduced myself to the attendant, her name is Maria, and immediately felt much better.  Our interactions haven’t changed much since, but I feel better knowing that I’ve at least made a more personal connection.

With the holidays approaching a few weeks back, Erica and I thought it might be nice to give Maria a card.  Beyond being friendly to us, she doesn’t do anything particularly special for us, we wash and fold our own clothes; however, we thought she might enjoy receiving a small token of appreciation.  So we wrote a holiday card to Maria and included a gift card to Dunkin’ Donuts as a quick thank you.  This small expense proved to provide more value/enjoyment per dollar than most other purchases I’ve made in quite a while.

What About the Empanadas?

Maria must not get many holiday cards from customers, because she seemed a bit surprised (and very appreciative) when we gave it to her before Christmas.

When we next saw Maria, upon returning to our neighborhood after New Years, and returning to our normal weekend routine of chores, she quickly expressed her gratitude for the card and then asked for my phone number, smiling and saying that she had an idea for a surprise for me and Erica.

Her ‘surprise’ was that, as a thank you for our holiday card/gift, and as her own holiday gift to us, she wanted to make us empanadas.  I gave her my phone number and we planned a time for me to visit her apartment to pick up the empanadas later in the week.

Friday night came, and I received a call from Maria, saying that she had just finished the empanadas…they were still warm and were ready to be picked up!

After briefly chatting on the phone, I headed over to her building.  She greeted me downstairs and welcomed me to her apartment after a short trip in the elevator.

Needless to say that, after an afternoon of making empanadas, her place smelled great!

Thanks to mabel flores for the picture!

She introduced me to her husband and we all chatted for a bit.  She described the empanada recipe (tuna, onions, garlic, etc.), explained that they’re called pasteles in her native language (Cape Verdean).  We talked about her week (it had been her birthday on Tuesday) and I told her a bit more about myself (how Erica and I are getting married this summer, what we do for work).  The conversation didn’t last long and I still have a lot to learn about Maria (questions about her/her family, when she came to America), but it was great to chat with her and to make a more personal connection.

Maria certainly didn’t have to make me and Erica those pasteles, we certainly weren’t expecting anything in return for our card, but our random act of kindness brought about another…to both of our delights.

The pasteles were delicious and I’ll think of them fondly for years to come, as a reminder of the importance, value and fun that can come from expressing and cultivating gratitude in our lives through random acts of kindness…

Your thoughts?  Do you have any stories to share about recent random acts of kindness?

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There’s No Recipe for Success (or is there?) – Life Lessons from Holiday Pie Making with Mim

In addition to my love of writing, I love to cook.

Most of the time, I focus on the savory…and leave baking to the professionals like my mother (whose cookies/brownies are second to none).  However, on certain occasions (like Christmas), I bake pies.  Apple pie is my specialty I suppose and it’s also my favorite to eat.

Though I make the filling ‘from scratch,’ I usually rely on a packaged/pre-made crust.  While the crust is easy to make (or simply unroll) and is consistently tasty and flaky, like any good pie crust should be…I’ve always envied the ‘from scratch’ crusts that Mim prepares every year at Christmas.

Thanks to abyssalmissile for the photo!

Note:  ‘Mim’ isn’t a ‘Mom’ typo in this blog post.  Mim is my grandmother and is short for Mimere, a name which is a nod to her French Canadian roots.

Mim makes pie crust the old-fashioned way, from scratch, with little more than flour, water, shortening and salt…and the results are always outstanding!

We were fortunate enough to have Mim join us again for Christmas this year, so I took advantage of the time together to observe her in her element, making crusts for our holiday pies, to see what I could learn.

Hint:  I learned a lot more than just how to make a great pie crust…

There’s No Recipe for Success

Mim doesn’t use a recipe to make her pie crust, she doesn’t need one.  Instead, she relies on how the dough looks and feels at any given time in the process.  As a relatively novice home cook, I find this to be amazing.  I’m a very detail-oriented person who values clear directions, instructions and plans…so for me, working without a recipe is very difficult.

How can you ensure a great, consistent result if the process isn’t the same each time?

Trust Your Instinct and Experience

With 75+ years of pie-making experience, Mim doesn’t need a recipe anymore.  The process is pretty much second nature at this point, so instead of following a recipe, she makes the crust by look and feel.  While the inputs and process might change a bit each time, the quality of the output never does!

In fact, I learned that since conditions change (e.g., temperature, humidity, etc.), if Mim did follow the same recipe each time, the quality of the end product would likely suffer.

Mim has long known something that I very much need to learn…

Be Adaptable, Flexible and Open to Change

So what if the dough looks too sticky?  Add flour and knead it some more!

So what if the dough is too dry?  Add some more water!

I like the structure that a recipe provides because it enables me to work through a clear set of steps along the way.  While I tried to capture a ‘recipe’ for Mim’s pie crust this Christmas, I failed…and she regularly reminded me that a recipe wouldn’t do me any good…because it changes every time!

Don’t Rush

Because I can be a bit impatient from time to time, I want the ability to readily make Mim’s pie crust now…fast forwarding through the small part of the story where 75+ years of practice is required!

With that, of all that I learned from Mim that day, the biggest lesson for me was, don’t rush.  Don’t just focus on the end result, enjoy the process and recognize that no matter how good the recipe, there are no substitutes for the most important ingredients…patience, practice and love.

Thanks Mim for being a living lesson for me this Christmas!

Love,

Geoff

Happy (Much Belated) New Year! Back to Work and Back to the Blog

Happy (Much Belated) New Year!

Note:  I had intended to share this post much earlier in January, but as it so often does, life managed to get in the way of my planned blogging schedule…

Hope that you all had a very enjoyable, relaxing holiday season spent with family/friends and that your 2012 is off to a great start.

For me, the holiday season provided a great opportunity to relax, unplug and recharge (strange how we have to ‘unplug’ in order to ‘recharge’ in today’s digital world…exactly the opposite of our gadgets).  The break from work also gave me time to reflect on 2011 and to plan my goals for 2012.

While I’ll describe these goals/resolutions in further detail in upcoming posts, I’ll quickly share that I’ve most recently been focused on passing Part II of the CMA Exam (the final section).  As a result of this focus and dedication of time/energy, it’s been a while since I last posted.  With the studying now behind me (I took the Exam on January 7th and will know the result in early March), and with getting back into my work routine, I’m looking forward to getting back to the blog and to continuing to share my writing…hopefully with more frequency than last year and hopefully with a growing audience.

Looking forward to an exciting year ahead!

Geoff

Balancing Comprehensiveness and Comprehensibility

I enjoy writing.

This statement likely doesn’t come as much of a surprise, seeing as I started, and have attempted to maintain, a blog since the beginning of the year (with mixed success).

Given my choice of profession, it is very fortunate that I enjoy writing, as the activity consumes most of my waking hours, sending/replying to emails, drafting reports, preparing presentations, etc.  It is also fortunate that I am at least somewhat talented in this area, or so I’ve been told.  Of course, this is not to suggest that I don’t have room to grow, as there is certainly ample opportunity for that.

In fact, despite regularly receiving positive feedback on my writing, this is also where I receive the majority of my constructive/developmental feedback, and it usually focuses squarely on the balance I’ve highlighted in the title of this post…balancing comprehensiveness with comprehensibility.

At first glance, the two terms seem similar enough.  However, while they sure look and sound somewhat similar, they are very much different.

• To be comprehensive means to be ‘complete, including nearly all elements or aspects of something.’
• To be comprehensible is to be ‘readily understood, intelligible.’

I’d suggest that my strength is the former, with the latter being a primary opportunity for development.  Improving on this point is enormously important, as in the business world, clear/concise/impactful (read comprehensible) content is highly prized.

In my effort to be comprehensive, comprehensibility often suffers, with the impact/message getting buried in the (very thorough) details.

To increase the impact of my writing, I’ve started focusing first on being comprehensible, ensuring that my most key findings or action items are clearly articulated and presented.

This last point, to me, is an important one.  The content alone, and the way it is written…no matter how comprehensive or comprehensible, isn’t the sole driver of how the information is received and processed.  Detailed (comprehensive) data, if presented properly, can be very much comprehensible (e.g., graphs, bulleted lists, bolded text, etc.)…just watch any TED Talk (or this one in particular).

Now that I more fully appreciate this point, I’ve started to see comprehensiveness and comprehensibility as less of polar opposites, and more as characteristics which can (and should) coexist.

From a Lean perspective, while it is possible to be both comprehensive and comprehensible (and we should strive for this), recognize that the customer (your reader) should outline the requirements for the work product and that their value definition should drive your approach, nothing more/nothing less!

In closing, I’d like to share a few quotes from men much smarter than me who were able to articulate this point in far fewer words.  Certainly more comprehensible, without sacrificing any comprehensiveness in my view either…an impressive accomplishment that I’ll continue to strive for going forward!

• “Brevity is the soul of wit.”                                                                       William Shakespeare                                                                              (Polonius, Hamlet, Act 2 / Scene 2, 86-92)
• “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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Welcome myflexibleplencil Readers

Greetings!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I’m very excited to have the opportunity to share my writing with the community of readers over at myflexiblepencil in October and November.

Beginning today, October 10th, and running through November 11th, David Kasprzak (creator/editor/author of myflexiblepencil) will be sharing a series of my guest posts…posts from the archives that I wanted to share with a broader audience.

myflexiblepencil Guest Post Schedule

Monday, October 10th

Wednesday, October 19th

Thursday, October 27th

Thursday, November 3rd

Friday, November 11th

The guest posts will cover a number of topics, but largely align with what David blogs about regularly: Lean Principles, Project Management, Professional Development and Work/Life Balance (or Work/Life Synthesis as David describes it).

Unlike David, who maintains a very active blog and has built a strong community of readers, I’m not nearly as active on my blog as I’d like to be; however, I look forward to continuing to share my thoughts (albeit sporadically) with you all concerning the lessons of business that I find can be applied to our own lives, from Personal Finance to Personal/Professional Development.

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I welcome and look forward to your comments!