80% effective

Two weeks ago, I got my first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine so it’s now at 80% effectiveness. Two weeks from now, I’ll get my second dose of the #FauciOuchie and two weeks after that, it will be up to 90% effectiveness. While I definitely intend to get the 2nd dose, I’m now most of the way to getting its full impact.

Which makes me think about effectiveness at work. People like to talk about putting in 110% but that’s not actually possible. If someone is putting in a 40-hour work week and has a 1-hour commute each way (or their commute is just 30 minutes but they take an hour lunch break each day) that means they’re spending 50 hours of time to produce only 40 hours work. During the pandemic, a lot of companies realized that many people could be just as effective in their jobs working from remote / telecommuting.

However, remote work isn’t an option for some jobs due to the nature of the role. For example, none of my kids has the option of working remote … retail management, sheet metal workers union and working with animals don’t lend themselves to being done from a distance.

Another area dividing our nation is the challenges with internet connections. A study was released in January 2020 (before we all went on lockdown) that listed Kansas City, MO, as the #1 city for working remote, primarily due to our outstanding internet speed … thanks to Google Fiber. So, where I live puts me at an advantage but not everyone is so lucky because they don’t have a good internet connection. When my father-in-law was briefly relying on satellite for his internet, the connection was lousy at best; as soon as he switched providers (thank you AT&T) it was much better.

Some people just need to go into the office to be productive. A former co-worker once told me that she wouldn’t be able to get anything done if she worked from home. Meanwhile, my boss at the time, told me to work remote whenever I wished because I was actually more productive when I didn’t have to worry about all of the interruptions (walk-up requests) and meetings. That was even the case when my wife was in the hospital and I kept myself busy with work whenever she was sleeping but was able to be there when the doctors/nurses showed up. However, it was nice to go into the office to use my multiple screens or to have a meeting with members of Senior Management or with other members of the local team.

Of course, when I started supporting 30 markets at once, having face-to-face interaction was less common anyway and it was nice to have a hybrid arrangement where I had an office when I needed it but could also work from home in KC … or my father-in-law’s couch in Texas.

Whether the future involves me working full-time in an office, full-time remote or some hybrid, I’ll be dedicated to fully supporting my organization and its internal & external clients. I’m just not going to say I’m giving 110% because it goes against my training in statistics.

Focus on what you can control

Congratulations to Alabama and Ohio State on reaching this year’s NCAA Division 1-A (aka Football Bowl Subdivision) College Football Playoff national championship. I earned my MBA from The Ohio State University back when Kirk Herbstreit was playing QB. On Friday, Kirk got to call the game from home as Ohio State defeated Clemson (the team/school his twin sons chose over his alma matre) in a rematch of last year’s semi-final that had a different outcome.

Herbstreit tested positive for COVID-19 (and I wish him a speedy recovery, along with all those impacted by the virus) but was still able to do his job because of his team at ESPN that set up remote ops to do so. Not all positions can be done from home but if you can, be grateful and do the best that you can do.

As was reported a year ago, Kirk might have liked for his sons to follow in his footsteps and go to Ohio State but they got an offer from Dabo in 2018 (and did not get one from Urban Meyer, who was then coach at OSU) so they accepted the available opportunity and each got to play a few games.

COVID-19 has impacted people in many ways and we have to do the best we can with whatever situation we end up in. For Ohio State football, that meant watching as their conference (The B1G Ten) initially chose to not play in 2020 and later changed their mind to have a delayed start. Due to health protocols, many games were cancelled this fall; for Ohio State, they missed 3 games: two due to their opponents and one due to their own players being unavailable. That dropped them to only 5 games played (all victories) and initially looked like they might miss out on the B1G Ten championship game and/or the College Football Playoff. Neither happened as the conference changed its rules and the committee picked Ohio State to play. Some felt they weren’t qualified because of a low number of games but they played the hand that was dealt to them.

You can’t control the decisions that others make, whether it’s a business, politician, university, athlete, coach, reporter, or someone voicing their opinion about any of the decisions made by someone else. What you can control is how you act in response to the decisions other make or even in being proactive in preparing yourself for what might take place in the future. You can’t control what a virus or other illness can do but you can control what personal actions you take, although even those are limited by personal circumstances. Each person’s situation is unique and for some, it might not be realistic to stay at home because not everyone has the option to work from home and to have others make purchases on their behalf

On January 11, I’ll be rooting for Ohio State to defeat Alabama for the national championship but also to make the best of whatever situation takes place that day. Earlier that day, I’ll be participating in a Mock Interview to prepare myself for what I hope will be real interviews in the near future … whether it’s via Zoom or actually being done in an office or other public place.

In the meantime, I’ll be limiting my in-person interaction with others and wearing a mask if I have to go out in public If I have a choice between remote and in person, I’ll generally pick remote but know that’s not always going to be an option And when my turn to take the vaccine comes up, I plan to accept it.

In college, a fellow student asked our college pastor to pray for him to do well on his exam; her response was “I’ll pray and you study” for we need to play a role in our own success.

My hope and prayer is that 2021 will be a safe, healthy and happy year for all of us!

Making Lemon out of Lemonade

Earlier today, I saw a post on social media by a high school friend that 2020 “has been a blessing” for him. Since my friend was able to work remotely this year, he got to spend time with his Dad between the Cancer diagnosis in February and his father’s passing earlier this week.

Between time at work and time asleep, I don’t typically get much time to see my wife. However, with working from home for most of the year, I got to spend more time than usual with my wife in 2020. Then, my job was eliminated in November. I’ve spent time on job search and keeping current with my skills and what’s going on in marketing research, data visualization and the world in general. However, even with that, I’ve still had more time than usual to spend with my wife and local family that keep our circle of contact to a minimum.

For my brother’s birthday in April, my nephew had the idea of a Zoom birthday party; I put him in touch with several of my brother’s friends, many of whom he normally would’ve only seen over the holidays (although that won’t happen this year) and they were all able to join in for the (remote) birthday celebration.

While my Mom is in a Senior Living Community, the team at McCrite has been very focused on keeping her and the other residents safe. That’s meant we couldn’t spend time visiting in her apartment; however, my brother started hosting a monthly digital family reunion (via Zoom) with her sister-in-law in Georgia, along with the kids, grandkids and great-grandchildren. So, these monthly reunions have allowed me to spend more time with those relatives than I’ve had in years past plus Mom got to see the faces of lots of children.

I have lots of contacts via LinkedIn but many have been minimal contact; that’s changed recently. After I shared that I was in the market for a new job opportunity, I’ve had friends and former co-workers reach out … with care & concern and occasionally a lead on a position or company that might be a good fit. I’ve tried to do the same, pointing out opportunities to others.

Another positive that came out of the pandemic is that companies are much more open to working remote. Therefore, in the past, my job search would have been limited to just companies/positions here in KC; now, I’m using “remote” as a geography and exploring opportunities all over; I’ve even looked at positions in Canada and England.

And I can’t have a post that mentions lemonade in the title without mentioning Alex’s Lemonade Stand; a little girl was facing Cancer years ago and started a movement to raise funds for Children’s Cancer Research to help other kids. Alex didn’t win her battle with cancer but her cause lives on. My grandson faced cancer twice and is now fortunate enough to no longer require regular testing. To learn more about my grandson and how to contribute to the cause, go here.

Finally, we’ve seen a lot of awful in terms of discrimination and race relations; let’s hope that we can learn from the terrible things that happened and actually see positive change for the future.

Bad things happen and will continue to happen. Instead of asking Why, I’m trying to look for how to turn each negative situation into an opportunity for growth, either right now or learning for the future.

Best wishes!

Church, Religion, Faith and Prayer

In this time of Quarantine, there’s been debate about whether groups should be gathering including faith communities.  I live in Kansas City, Missouri, however, the state of Kansas is only minutes away and there was a battle just before Easter when the Governor said churches shouldn’t meet in person.

Some felt that was intrusion on rights and the separation of church and state.  Others said it was a safety issue.  Some churches pointed out that the church isn’t the building but the people gathering to worship whether that’s in person or online.  However, others recognized that in some communities in particular, the human interaction is an important part of going to church rather than just the sermon and the music.

While this is a personal blog and faith is very personal, it shows up on my LinkedIn page so there’s also the business side of things.   A faith community with a building needs to figure out how to pay their utilities and pay the staff as well as how to meet the needs of its congregation.  Those in Marketing and Advertising need to understand the unique needs of this type of “business” and the messages they need to share.

Today is the National Day of Prayer so remember you don’t have to go anywhere to say a prayer and there’s plenty going on that might benefit from prayer … those on front lines in the pandemic and quarantine, those out of work, those struggling to work from home, those trying to figure out how to do home school, and those trying to make the right decisions for the communities they serve … whether that’s a city, county, state or nation.

Gratitude

This blog post was inspired by my Mom.  She likes to pick out a word (sometimes 2 or 3) and last week, she had picked the word “gratitude” to describe her attitude during the quarantine.

By the way, do you know the official animal of the quarantine?

The raccoon …

• Always wears a mask
• Frequently washes its hands
• If you “C” the alternate spelling of racoon and rotate the letters, it spells Corona

Now, back to our regular programming …

Show appreciation for others around you.

• Thanks to the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel that are protecting us.
• I appreciate folks (like Cassady McCrite and his team) that make hard decisions to protect those we love.
• Thanks to the media for keeping us informed, even when there’s conflicting reports
• I appreciate those that push back on the limits in an informed way; while I think we need to do what we can to protect our health, it’s also important to not blindly follow but make sure that the rules truly do protect us
• Thank you to those that speak out for those without a voice.
• I appreciate those that give us something to distract ourselves from all of the grave news … lately, we’ve been enjoying sports documentaries like The Last Dance (about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls) and E:60 Project 11 (about Alex Smith and his recovery from a terrible leg injury) as well as a replay of the Super Bowl.
• Finally, thank you to Mom for the reminders about what’s important and also just for being a great parent.  Happy Mother’s Day!