After living in my neighborhood for 13 years, my wife and I finally got to meet one neighbor we hadn’t met.  The conversation was pleasant, genuinely enjoyable and accidental as it happened by chance outside.

But at the end our neighbor who was a real estate agent said “if you ever want to sell your house, call me”.  Maybe I’m over sensitive and I am sure they did not mean anything by it but a verbal calling card about leaving the neighborhood was at the very least bad timing.

It reminds me how important it is to make people feel welcome, to generate positive vibes.  I’m not selling my house and I haven’t seen my new acquaintance since, but I’m ready to roll out the welcome mat.  Making people feel like you are excited to see them is a gift that we are all capable of giving.

The lasting power of kindness, warmth, and making someone feel truly welcome is summed up so well by Maya Angelou:  “… people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

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 Fred Smith died last week.  He conceived of and founded the overnight delivery concept that turned the shipping company into a huge success worth $5 billion to him at the time of his death.

Smith came up with the idea for FedEx in a college paper at Yale anticipating that an automate economy would need fast, reliable door-to-door package delivery services.  What an idea that now employs a half million workers and ships more than 17 million packages on average each day.

But his Yale professor was not impressed in 1965.  He only got a C for his paper.  And that’s the thing that good professors come to learn – their students know better than they do. And that’s the reason for education.  If Smith had been deterred by his middling grade, this groundbreaking idea would have died in class which is why you never let someone else grade your vision or tell you what will work or won’t work.

Grades are merely academic tools to measure learning.  David Epstein in Range said “The greatest ideas often look like failures at first — even to the smartest people in the room.”

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I was shocked, kinda, sorta, no not really when I saw that a Microsoft study showed that during business hours we get interrupted every 2 minutes by a message, notification or meeting … and meetings?  The number booked between 8-12mid is up over 16% over the previous year.  One of the biggest interrupters is meetings of which 60% are unscheduled or “as needed”.

It’s shocking – 40% are reading email at 6am, glad I’m a broadcasting night owl.  Let’s not get into how many emails we read each day – you already don’t like that number.

Gloria Mark, a leading expert on attention and digital distraction, and author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity (2023) comes to this conclusion:

“We found that people spend an average of 47% of their time on digital devices in a state of attention residue—thinking about something other than what they’re currently doing.”

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France introduced a “right to disconnect” into law in August 2016, which came into effect on January 1, 2017 – I want what they’re having.

Employers can’t punish workers for not responding to emails, calls, or texts outside of agreed working hours.  It’s not an absolute ban, but you can’t be punished for not responding.  We at NYU voluntarily try to email each other during business hours except for emergencies just as part of being considerate.

My friend, the outstanding Editor in Chief of Radio World Paul McLane puts a note at the end of some emails that says in part “while I may email you now, I do not expect a response if it is outside your working hours.”

When the French minister of education advocated for passage of this law, he said “Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash — like a dog.” 

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There’s something about ice hockey that is fascinating.  Take the newly-crowned Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers, the nastiest team in the sport.  They led the league in penalty minutes.  They intimidate the hell out of competitors and they just won their second cup in a row.

But here’s where it gets interesting – the Captain, Aleksander Barkov took possession of the cup from the commissioner but unlike last year, Barkov told his team the new players who weren’t on that championship squad would get to do the traditional skate-around first. Even (and especially) the teammates who did not get into any playoff game.

To me that is what being a captain or for that matter a leader is – inclusionary, determined, about doing the right thing.  After the newcomers went first, the rest of the team celebrated their second win.

Insisting someone else go ahead of you is the residue of leadership that inspires.

Simon Sinek, author of Leaders Eat Last says “Leadership is not about being in charge. It is about taking care of those in your charge.”

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Inner Excellence author Jim Murphy was once a baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization where he learned a lot about failure in a career cut short by vision issues:

“…my sense of worth and identity revolved around my performance, mostly my batting average. When I hit well, I walked tall and felt great. When I hit poorly, my shoulders slumped and my outlook was dark. Life was a roller coaster of emotions. I was a slave to results and it stifled my performance. I was afraid of failure and that fear kept putting my mind in the past and future”.

In other words, you perform better when your sense of self isn’t hostage to outcomes.

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Back in 2004 Good Morning America’s Dan Harris was reading a newscast when he had a panic attack on camera – he felt like he was dying in front of millions of viewers.

It may have stemmed from war zone assignments in Iraq and Afghanistan and the self-medicating that followed his depression later learning that drug use was a trigger to his panic attacks.

Today Harris is grateful for the panic attack because it exposed deeper issues he was avoiding and launched his unexpected journey into mindfulness and now like everyone else, he has a podcast – 10% Happier minus psychobabble and loaded with common sense.

He offers tiny wins—like noticing you’re being a jerk before it gets out of control. And that’s the essence of being “10% happier.”

Harris doesn’t sugarcoat his advice:  “The voice in your head is an asshole. If you don’t know that voice, it’s probably running your life.”

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My longtime and dear friend Tom Taylor is a remarkably curious guy – in fact, anything I learn that is not readily available elsewhere, I hear from Tom first.

For example, one of the many publications he scans is called HRDive.com which I ask him to peruse for me looking for just that kind of story.  This week I learned that according to software company Dayforce only 37% of workers taking a vacation in the U.S – and yes, Canada and the U.K. fully shut down from email – a number that has plummeted over the last three years.

Sad to say that is also me – maybe I’m afraid of returning to find a week’s worth of emails in a bloated inbox or maybe it’s just a habit tough to break.

Or as author Anne Lamott chides us “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

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I know I love the radio business when I look back – I was interviewed for a program director’s job by Charles Manson and no, not the infamous cult killer by the same name.

This one hired me on the spot in a face to face interview and then luckily before I moved to Chicago from Philly, I never heard from him again.  Yes, luckily.  He wouldn’t return my calls.  Legend had it that he changed the format of the radio station from progressive rock to oldies without telling his boss, the owner!  Who knew?

That was it for me – I wanted out of programming and after much thought decided to start a trade publication that would use my radio experience and journalism skills.

That sour lemon turned into the best thing that ever happened to me as I now watch so many of my brethren fight incompetent owners who have hijacked their careers and our beloved radio business.

Just when I thought all was lost, my future was found.

Life is sometimes an accident and that can be a good thing and that’s where I am on the same page with the Dalai Lama.

“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.”

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I can tell you the young people I know are running into difficulties finding their first real job post-graduation for all the reasons we all know.

There is compelling research indicating that some individuals not only survive but thrive in their careers during recessions. While economic downturns often pose challenges, they can also present unique opportunities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and long-term career growth.

Greater long-term success.

During the Great Recession of 2008, the rate of new business formation increased significantly.

A Wall Street Journal study emphasized tech startups founded during the 2007–09 recession were more likely to survive and be innovative compared to those established in more stable economic times.

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School found that employees reported higher job satisfaction during recessions suggesting that in times of economic uncertainty, individuals may value job security more and focus on the positives of their current roles, leading to increased contentment.

Uncertainty may rattle the world, but for some, it quietly sparks the grit and ingenuity that fuel lasting careers and unexpected success.

Atomic Habits author James Clear says the same thing in interviews and talks — A lot of people hit rock bottom during uncertain times. But that’s also where they find the solid ground to build something better. 

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