A Week of Fishing

Today is Saturday, and since I have been posting around the end of each week, I figured I might as well throw something out here. Last weekend Liz and I ventured to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. We went last year toward the end of the season and had a wonderful time. It was the first time we had been there in quite a while and it was purely fantastic. Last weekend was opening weekend and again it was good time. We did not get into the spirit of the Renaissance to the same extent we did last year, but I still greatly enjoy a day at the Shire. It has been colder outside the past times that I’ve been there, so going to the Faire reminds me of the Fall. Now I am in the feeling of Fall, and changing leaves, and Halloween, but still a long ways off. Next time I go to the Ren Faire, I will wait until the end of the season, and I think I will enjoy it more.

Anyway, I had an odd thought about the business world this week and felt obliged to share it. You know the phrase: “Catch a man to fish, you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you’ll feed him for a lifetime.” That is a wise saying, but I believe quite the opposite is true in the business world. Allow me to explain.

I have been well known in my past 2-3 jobs as an Excel wiz. I wear that hat proudly. I greatly enjoy creating models and manipulating data to generate results viable for decision making. When I started my current job, I was introduced as the Excel expert which greatly increased my popularity. The more people I met and was friendly to, the more micro projects I got to help people work through their projects. I really enjoy that aspect of my job and that place in my career. In my past job there was one other guy in the office that was, well, almost as good as me. I moved a bit faster and knew more techniques, but he knew as well as I did how to figure things out. Namely, if he needed to create some sort of macro, you don’t have to write out the code, some one else in the world has probably created a similar macro before. We both knew this well. “I need a macro that will sort and combine 3 sheets of address data, sort by last name, and delete any duplicates.” What do you do? Google Excel + Macro + address sort + delete duplicates. Before you know it, you find somebody out there that posed a similar question, and some Excel / VBA guru that answered their question by posting code. Copy and paste the code into your work book and voila! My favorite website was called CPearson, my coworker at the time often found code on MrExel. Either way, we could generate results quickly.

To get back to my original discussion point. One day at my previous job, I had another coworker ask how I write such elaborate macros. Granted I can write my own macros these days, but none the less, I mentioned the websites that I often find this code and explained my process. The person was grateful, but I somewhat doubt she ever tried it out. None the less, the other Excel guy in the office overheard me sharing trade secrets and later pulled me aside. You can’t be telling people about those sites, if they learn how to do all the technical stuff we do, they won’t need us anymore.” He said this in a joking way, but clearly had some truth in his statement. That was over a year ago and I still think about it now and then. He made a good point, I stay busy at my job helping people with their Excel questions and creating technical models, if I shared my knowledge and people were able to do things on their own, I wouldn’t be as busy. Some may consider this terribly wrong, but in the corporate world, you have to hoard your skills to be known and prove yourself useful.

The wise saying makes sense and holds true for most settings in the world, but in business: “TEACH a man to fish, you’ll have a job for a month. CATCH a man a fish, you’ll have a job for a lifetime.

The Sweet Sounds of Risk Management

I’ve been working at my current job for 5 full months now. I have had a great deal of different experiences and have learned a lot. I am happy to say that I’ve enjoyed my job and the company that I work for. I have also been fairly certain that people around here like me and are happy with the work I’ve done. This was recently confirmed when I was offered a new position. I really didn’t see it coming. I knew our treasurer was looking to hire someone new, but didn’t really find out what position she was hiring for. Then one day, she pulled me into her office, and offered me a new job. Apparently, my boss’s boss thought I could be a good fit for what she is looking for. Though I have no experience in that particular field, I know the company well and have a good understanding of our accounting.

After a little discussion of salary and title, I accepted the offer the next day. I am now the Risk Management Coordinator. What exactly does this mean? I’m not 100% sure. I know I will be doing a lot with our insurance policy and developing a return to work program. I also know I will be reviewing claims against us, and forecasting the amount of money we need to set aside for insurance and claims. It may sound a little dull, but I think it could be fun. My new boss seams great, it is definitely a step up, and I will probably spend more time talking to people instead of plugging away at a computer.

I am excited to learn something new and gain some additional responsibility. The new position is effective immediately, so wish me luck as I dive right in. Given the topic of my new position, I felt obliged to leave the reader with this memorable Seinfeld scene.

GEORGE: Alright. Listen, I gotta get some reading done. You mind if I do this here? I can't concentrate in my apartment.

JERRY: (checking out George's textbook) Risk management?

GEORGE: Yeah. Steinbrenner wants everyone in the front office to give a lecture in their area of business expertise.

JERRY: Well what makes them think you're a risk management expert?

GEORGE: I guess it's on my resume.

…………… Later in the episode.

GEORGE: I take an eye test; I flunk it, the next thing you know I am swinging to the sweet sounds of risk management.

In Waiting

I am writing this in an airport waiting for a flight to Nashville Tennessee. I figured this would be a good way to kill time until it was time to get seated. My flight today is on Southwest airlines. Now I haven’t flown many airlines in my time, but I think Southwest is alright. There is no assigned seating, you just get a boarding position based on when you arrived at the airport. I think this is a good system. If you are picky about having a window or aisle seat, you just have to get to the airport early. If you arrive late, you are assured to land yourself a middle seat between two people, but at least you get to choose the people to sit between. Last time I flew I was one of the late comers and had to sit in the middle, but I was lucky to find a seat between two relatively skinny individuals. The thing I find funny is the people that fly together, but still refuse to sit in a middle seat. I don’t blame them, but recently I sat myself down between a father and son. Neither of them wanted to have a middle seat, so they foolishly hoped no one would sit between them. I plunked myself down, and forced them to have very little conversation. Silly people. I get to board in the middle of the pack today; perhaps I’ll score a non middle seat.

The post was made in two sections 4 days apart. On that flight, I did not end up in a middle seat, but found an aisle seat along with 2 other people in my row. It was still cramped. I think they need to make these seats a little wider. I’m not huge by any means and my shoulders travel past both sides of the seats. Anyway, I am making the 2nd part of this post on the plane on my way back from Nashville. Normally my computer would be in the overhead bin, but I scored a window seat with no middle person, so I have my bag sitting on the middle seat. Though it makes me a little queasy, I love to look out the window of a plane and see all of the clouds beneath us. As a side note, I really like that this airline still serves peanuts on its flight.

There is surely a lot I could talk about in the post with all the work I’ve been doing lately and what not, but that would take up too much of this post and no one cares all that much. I’ll get to the goods… Liz and I found out we are having a boy!!! I am so excited! There was a good part of me that was hoping to have a boy. I also really want a girl some day, but hooray for the boy and the teaching him sports, and taking him on adventures, and all of that great father / son stuff. I can’t wait!! While I was in Tennessee Liz told me I should look for something to buy him. I got so excited about that idea. When I got there, I kept an eye out, but I was working 10 hour days and had 2 hour fancy dinners to attend that cut into any time to go shopping, plus I didn’t have my own car. When we were in the airport before coming home, I did take some time to look around the gift shops. I found some things, but they were really weird, or obscenely overpriced. There actually was a baby store, but they didn’t have any Nashville clothing, just animals and inappropriate sayings like “milkaholics anonymous” or “I love boobies”. I would never buy anything like that. I found some cute onesies that said “future country music star” and “little buckaroo” I liked those a lot, especially the buckaroo, but they were $30. I wouldn’t even spend that much for a sweatshirt for myself, let alone a small piece of fabric for the baby. Am I silly for thinking that is too much to spend on a baby outfit? I don’t know. Unfortunately, I am coming home empty handed.

I believe we are beginning our decent into Baltimore, so I am going to sign off. Thanks for reading.