Consultant/Insultant  

Ever want to throw your computer out the window?  In the past decade or so, most companies have become so technologically dependent, that when a glitch happens (i.e. the Internet’s down), managers and supervisors immediately envision Doomsday.

When we can’t access information – when the screen freezes – or – the site’s down or the networking won’t work---or the automatic stapler’s broken minutes before 75 booklets need to be stapled---- many of us have major meltdowns.

Dr Brian and I call these TIMs   (Techno-Induced Meltdowns).

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Ever loan someone your computer and when you get it back, it’s not working?

 “What did you do this time? It was working just fine before you got your hands on it. What were you thinking?”

Try getting IT to examine a problem minutes before you’re ready to go home on Friday at 5 p.m. It’s like getting a hold of the Kremlin during a Borscht festival.

Banks are different, though.

Ever go into a bank and hear the teller say, “Our computers are down”?    And every time that has happened, the tellers hardly seem upset at all. They are masters of temperament and control.  

Their words, “You’ll have to come back later,” fall off their lips, like gumdrops.

How do they do it? Doesn’t it drive banks crazy that they have to send their customers home –- empty-handed --- without the information they came there for?

What’s their secret?

Why don’t they pound their hands on desk tops like normal people? Or scream down hallways, loud enough for the HR director to hear?

Does Technology Drive You Crazy?

Join us and perhaps millions of other listeners to the Dr. Brian and Dr. Gary Insultant//Consultant Show, and discover what to do (and what not to do) when technology gets the best of us.   7 am   October 28 on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ConsultantInsultant

You come up with a great idea that you feel will enhance the work environment, maybe even save time and money!  But the supervisor doesn’t want to hear it.

“We just don’t’ do things that way, Gary.”

“You might want talk to Phil about it. I don’t have time right now.”

Or worse yet – “Whatcha been drinking, kid? A computer you could hold in your hands? That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

So many businesses lose great people because they stymie their creativity and their suggestions by belittling, ignoring, or even punishing the “idea” carriers for thinking outside the box.

Someone once said, “Ignorance is bliss,” but in business, “Ignorance is disaster.” We listen to ideas so we can grow. Otherwise, we invent our own competitors. 

My father once told me that when he worked in the upholstery business, he came home frustrated and angry not because people didn’t hear his ideas, but that they simply ignored them.”  I saw upholstery as more than just fabric. It was the environment people lived in, and I felt the company should market upholstery like you would a trip to the Bahamas. Now, my boss thought I was too young and too ignorant, and he’d sidestep my suggestions, tell me to just focus on my sales job, and then call me ‘kid.’”

So at 32 years old, my dad walked out but he took his brothers with him, and they started their own upholstery company, which turned into Riviera Convertible Sofas (with franchises all over California). The phrase “Live on the Riviera, Convertible Sofa, That is” more or less capitalized on my dad’s quest to reinvent the furniture business as a lifestyle: Come home and feel like you’re on vacation.

The upholstery company my dad worked for went out of business, and Riviera (still around today) survived as a sofa company for nearly 30 years.

What ideas are you ignoring at work?  Who are you cutting off and what does that say to your staff about your tolerance for creativity and input?

The greatest way, I think, to increase your competition, is to devalue and de-validate your employees, forcing them to express themselves in other ways.  They’ll seek revenge by stealing from you or starting their own business, neither is a good alternative to good, plain open conversation where employees feel heard, understood, and at the very least, validated.

Tune into some horror stories of people who have been ignored at work and what businesses they started on their own. It’s our pre-Halloween special on blogtalkradio.com The Consultant/Insultant Show with Dr. Brian and Dr. Gary. Wednesday October 21 at 7 a.m.

What’s the #1 story in the news today?

 “Yes, I did have relations with several women who worked on my staff,” said David Letterman on live television last Thursday, explaining that he divulged this information to jump the gun on a blackmail attempt made (allegedly) by one of NBC’s producers.

Today it was the hot topic of discussion everywhere….in board rooms, at mommy and me classes,  and  on news stations everywhere including ABC’s chat fest,  The View.

Barbara Walters, one of the hosts of The View, remained very defensive of Letterman. She reminded the audience he did this before he was married. He was single. He had relations with several women who worked for him “Where do you meet people?” she asked, implying that the workplace is often where people meet people to date.

 ON the other hand, Lisa Ling, a guest panelist, scoffed at any defense of Letterman’s ‘reckless behavior.’ “When you’re the boss,” she said, “keep your friend in your pants.”

And though ABC admitted to having no formal dating policy, the network does enforce a very stringent sexual harassment policy, and this scandal has – at least so far- not entered into that territory.

.                                                                  .  .  .

My immediate impression is that reckless sexual behavior always creates havoc in the workplace.

Though Letterman may survive this, who knows where this case may go? A former intern of the show may now claim she was overlooked and disregarded because she didn’t have sex with him. And viewers may form an unfavorable impression on Letterman that may lead to cancellation of advertisers, lower viewership, and even (God forbid) the end of the Letterman Show.

Sex in 2009 Corporate America may have changed slightly over the past twenty years: We’re now not only scared of herpes, AIDS and other diseases, but sexual harassment law suits are prevalent and expensive, decimating profits and ruining careers.

But besides that – the issues are always the same. If you have sex with someone at work, who is married – what are you thinking? Inevitably, it breaks up marriages. If the relationship is between the boss and the secretary or workers from different hierarchies and departments – it affects hiring practices.  Will one give the other a break? Will there be repercussions when the relationship dissolves?  Can I depend on a letter of recommendation if I no longer have sex with you?

“It’s a real mess,” declares one therapist I spoke to. “More times it’s simply libido gone wild. Most times it involves a man who simply doesn’t have the ability to control his private parts. And when it’s the reverse--- the woman going after the man – even in 2009--such goings on create tension, initiate gossip, stall productivity, and engender a variety of small talk and games that can end careers. It’s simply not worth it.”

So how does one deal with unwanted advances? If you notice people at work forming a relationship, what do you do? What if it affects your workload?  Your morale? Your productivity? Your future?

Tune into blog talk radio as Dr. Gary and Dr. Brian address your concerns, questions, and issues regarding the big elephant in the workplace: SEX!   

What’s the #1 story in the news today?

 “Yes, I did have relations with several women who worked on my staff,” said David Letterman on live television last Thursday, explaining that he divulged this information to jump the gun on a blackmail attempt made (allegedly) by one of NBC’s producers.

Today it was the hot topic of discussion everywhere….in board rooms, at mommy and me classes,  and  on news stations everywhere including ABC’s chat fest,  The View.

Barbara Walters, one of the hosts of The View, remained very defensive of Letterman. She reminded the audience he did this before he was married. He was single. He had relations with several women who worked for him “Where do you meet people?” she asked, implying that the workplace is often where people meet people to date.

 ON the other hand, Lisa Ling, a guest panelist, scoffed at any defense of Letterman’s ‘reckless behavior.’ “When you’re the boss,” she said, “keep your friend in your pants.”

And though ABC admitted to having no formal dating policy, the network does enforce a very stringent sexual harassment policy, and this scandal has – at least so far- not entered into that territory.

.                                                                  .  .  .

My immediate impression is that reckless sexual behavior always creates havoc in the workplace.

Though Letterman may survive this, who knows where this case may go? A former intern of the show may now claim she was overlooked and disregarded because she didn’t have sex with him. And viewers may form an unfavorable impression on Letterman that may lead to cancellation of advertisers, lower viewership, and even (God forbid) the end of the Letterman Show.

Sex in 2009 Corporate America may have changed slightly over the past twenty years: We’re now not only scared of herpes, AIDS and other diseases, but sexual harassment law suits are prevalent and expensive, decimating profits and ruining careers.

But besides that – the issues are always the same. If you have sex with someone at work, who is married – what are you thinking? Inevitably, it breaks up marriages. If the relationship is between the boss and the secretary or workers from different hierarchies and departments – it affects hiring practices.  Will one give the other a break? Will there be repercussions when the relationship dissolves?  Can I depend on a letter of recommendation if I no longer have sex with you?

“It’s a real mess,” declares one therapist I spoke to. “More times it’s simply libido gone wild. Most times it involves a man who simply doesn’t have the ability to control his private parts. And when it’s the reverse--- the woman going after the man – even in 2009--such goings on create tension, initiate gossip, stall productivity, and engender a variety of small talk and games that can end careers. It’s simply not worth it.”

So how does one deal with unwanted advances? If you notice people at work forming a relationship, what do you do? What if it affects your workload?  Your morale? Your productivity? Your future?

Tune into blog talk radio as Dr. Gary and Dr. Brian address your concerns, questions, and issues regarding the big elephant in the workplace: SEX!