Social Interactions 2

I like to apply the principles of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" at my job. It is easy enough and usually works out to be a positive experience. However, I had mainly only done this with customers up to this point. On Wednesday, I tried them out on one of my managers, Richard. Richard is a laid back type of manager, definitely not a gen-x manager, so I didn't worry about being too formal with him. It wasn't an incredibly exciting exchange, but I learned that he's quite the family man. Even those that he works with who aren't technically related to him have essentially become family to him.

I took the opportunity to talk to Soo, an assistant manager, also. His son is often with him at work and it almost becomes my second job to watch him sometimes. While he was packing up to leave I took some time to talk with him. We talked about his family, how long he has lived in the U.S., and I also asked about his cell phone. He owned a Blackberry like mine. Soo has also been working quite hard to make the store much more technology-based, so I would not hesitate to place him in the "early adopter" category of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle. I have seen him transform the store in very little time making everything much more efficient.

Other interactions this week included a waitress at a Japanese restaurant, my friend David whom I had not seen in several months, and my brother-in-law.

Slides

Social Interactions

This week I made a few attempts to apply the principles from "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Some of the attempts went great, others were just kind of pathetic. The first was actually quite nice. On Wednesday, I made it to the dining hall nice and early for lunch in an attempt to allow some time to talk with a cashier. I feel terrible for not remembering her name right now, but I was happy when I noticed who was at the register. I had never had any conversation beyond "how are you?" with this cashier before, but she always helped me with a big smile on her face, and always said something nice.

After finding out her name and addressing her as such, I asked her about her job and how she liked it, etc. The conversation ended within a minute or two as others began to filter in to the dining hall, but I told her how much I appreciate the job she does, and that her smile always brightens my day no matter how bad a day I may be having. She seemed to genuinely take that to heart.

I know this is supposed to be all about interactions with people working in their respective jobs, but I have found it easier and more appropriate to apply these principles while I'm working, as I work in a very service-oriented atmosphere. On approximately my second day of working at my new job (this was probably 2 months ago), I was being absent-minded and not looking out for people who may need full serve. A woman had pulled up to a full serve pump and must have been waiting for a minute or two. I received a call and was shocked by the tone of the woman on the other end.

"Yes, HELLO?! is anyone there?"

"Yes, Ma'am, how may I help you?"

"I've been waiting at this pump for TWO MINUTES! what is going on here?!"

She continued her rant, but I quickly told her I'd be out in a second and hung up the phone.

The ensuing interaction wasn't pretty. I must have told her I was "terribly sorry" over ten times, but she continued to berate me and told me she would "take care of this." I was a little shaken up after the incident, and only hoped I would not have to see her again. However, this weekend, I saw her busted up station wagon pull up. I held my breath as I walked to her car. Luckily, she didn't recognize me. As her gas was pumping I tried to make conversation.

"Hi ma'am, I feel like I've seen you around before, but never caught your name."

"Oh... it's Cindy."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Cindy, How are you doing today?"

The look on her face showed great surprise as she told me how her day had been. I took care of a few extra things on her car, and after telling her she was good to go, she offered me a tip. I told her "Oh, no please keep it. It was nice meeting you Cindy."

Her face seemed to show utter confusion as she told me I wasn't like the "others". I just chuckled and she drove off shortly afterwards. This encounter really proved to me that a few subtle changes in the way we act can completely change the outcome of any situation.

Cell Phone Assignment

My friend Christina happened to be over this weekend so I seized the opportunity to ask her about her current cell phone usage. She's had an LG Shine for a few months now and uses it to the extent of its capabilities. This includes voice calls, text messaging, taking pictures, occasional videos, and some web browsing. She was also very adamant about how helpful it was as an alarm clock as it is the only one she has. Her provider is AT&T. When I asked her what phone she would buy if money was no option, she told me she was completely content with her current phone and felt no need to buy anything fancier. I tried to tell her she needed a blackberry but she wasn't having it.

From this information, and simply knowing her, I can tell you that Christina is among the Early Majority of the Technology Adoption Life Cycle. Christina is not one to need every new new piece of technology. However, she is always quick to adapt to new technology and doesn't wait until the technology is essentially forced upon her to accept it.

Enterprise Value: Apple vs. Microsoft on IPO date(updated)

In order to calculate a company's Enterprise value on its IPO date, we must take the price per share and multiply that by the total number of shares to be outstanding. In the case of Apple, they started with a price of $22.00 per share. 54,215,332 shares were to be outstanding.

54,215,332 x $22.00= $1,192,737,304.

Therefore, Apple's Enterprise Value at the time of its public offering was $1,192,737,304

Microsoft: 24,615,113 shares x $22.00 per share= $543,732,486

In conclusion, Apple's Enterprise value was approximately 219% greater than Microsoft's at the time of its initial public offering.

**Current EV:

Microsoft:
$18.00(share price) x 69,413,800(total shares)= $1,249,484,400

Apple:
$91.20(share price) x 26,780,200(total shares)= $2,442,354,200

Apple's Enterprise value is approximately 195% greater than Microsoft's currently

Slide

Russell Wattenberg and his "Book Thing"- edit

I’ve always admired the man who gives a lot and asks for little in return. I don’t think an entrepreneur has to be someone who starts something with the goal of becoming wealthy. While I respect the man who is good at it, I see more in the man who chooses not to.

On the first day of class, our professor gave the assignment of finding the cheapest, yet legal, way of acquiring our necessary literature and viewings. Instantly, I was reminded of a place my sister used to take me when I was younger. The Book Thing Inc. is a non-profit organization located in Baltimore that takes donations of books and gives them all away for free, with the occasional sale of true collector’s piece (a first edition of Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea, went for $228.50 and that went to buying more books). Had I not been stuck at work during almost all of the shop’s open hours, I might have actually gone there to look for our books. Alas, I rushed to Barnes and Noble after work this week to pick up the books at retail price. However, after being reminded of The Book Thing, I set out to learn more about it. I haven’t been there in probably six or seven years.

After getting a little history on The Book Thing, I came to realize how selfless and amazing the owner and founder, Russell Wattenberg, truly is. He’ll tell you there’s some selfishness involved; he figures if more people read there will be more intelligent people to have conversations with. I guess I can accept that.

Ideas come about differently for everyone, and it is the true entrepreneur that follows that idea and makes something out of it. For Wattenberg, he says it all started when he was managing Dougherty’s Pub and a group of school teachers came in for happy hour on a Friday. He had picked up a load of books earlier in the day and still had them out in his van. He gave his keys to them and told them to "Open it up, take whatever books you need for your classes or for yourselves." The teachers were amazed at his generosity and soon afterwards people started donating boxes of books for his “book thing.” Sometimes Wattenberg would load his van full of books, drive to a local playground or bus stop, throw open his doors, and yell “Free Books!”

In 1999, Wattenberg set up a non-profit and acquired enough grant money to rent a space and pay himself a small salary. The space, which has grown from just a small basement with no heat, bathroom, or parking, to a multi-room ordeal, is now located right around Greenmount and 30th. There are no employees, but volunteers are welcome to provide help. If you get a chance, he could use the help; he spends up to a hundred hours a week there sometimes.

At the time a 2002 article was written, he estimated there were roughly 200,000 books at anytime. Pretty impressive considering none of them came out of his pocket, eh? Each week he said about 10,000 books were given away to a wide assortment of people that included university professors and homeless people. I can only guess as to the amount of books he has and gives away now. When asked what book it was he got the most, he immediately replied, “Iacocca,” the autobiography of the very successful automotive entrepreneur. I couldn’t help but be a little amused considering the circumstances.

My fellow students and I are currently reading two books designed to inform us on the principles of being successful. I searched long and hard through How to Win Friends and Influence People and Crossing the Chasm in order to find a specific principle that really defined Wattenberg. He just didn't come off as someone who tried to make people like him, they just did. Of course! Flipping back through the pages of How to Win Friends and Influence People, it was hard to find a principle that Wattenberg didn't employ. For time's sake, I'll just reference principle one: Don't criticize, condemn, or complain. Hell, I know plenty of people who probably wouldn't shut up if they were just scraping by while spending most of their waking hours putting books on shelves. Yet, Wattenberg appears to love it. He wants to spread the beauty of reading and not simply limit his companions to people just like him.

The whole idea behind Russell's creation is that it is a place for everyone. While this is certainly true, it is likely Wattenberg has a target market that he attempts to reach in one form or another. The majority of publicity that The Book Thing, Inc. receives is through online and print publications such as The Citypaper and The Baltimore Sun. These are available for free in one form or another, and while not everyone chooses to read them, it is likely the best Wattenberg can do given his monetary constraints. Through these sources, he probably aims to reach those people who have enough education to be literate, and beyond that enjoy reading on a regular basis. Word of mouth is likely the best publicity The Book Thing can get.

When looking at some statistics, it is a bit shocking how little some adults read. According to a USA Today article, one in four adults read zero books in 2006. However, excluding these people, the usual number read in a year was seven. It is also mentioned that the most avid readers are women and older people. For The Book Thing, Inc. to remain busy, it is necessary that Wattenberg reaches out to his most likely customers and have them spread the word amongst themselves.

The more I read about Russell, the more I wished I was as selfless as him. I find it unfortunate that many of these people who devote their lives to helping others often have to struggle to support themselves. Russell Wattenberg is a truly selfless entrepreneur, and I admire him greatly for that.

Information acquired from http://www.bookthing.org