No. 11 November 2013

I read an interesting online article by Michael Schrage titled, “Time to Hang Up on Voice Mail.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve almost done that already. Who wants to leave a 90-second message after the beep, much less listen to one? We all have faster, better and friendlier ways to communicate.

Have you received a notice yet from a personal or corporate voice-mail box, warning you that messages are rarely retrieved and you would be better off sending an e-mail or text? Schrage says, “Truly productive people have effectively abandoned voice mail, preferring to visually track who’s called them on their mobiles. Irritated office workers, by contrast, despair that their desk phones can’t display who’s called and when. When that occurs, they’d be better off if office calls were forwarded to their devices with the relevant Caller IDs attached.”

“For most organizations, the only people who matter going into voice mail are customers and clients!” adds Schrage. “How smart and customer-centric is that? Not very. Nobody wants to be put in voice mail anymore, and it’s quite likely that customers and clients aren’t listening to your voice-mail messages either.”

Schrage ends with this comment, “(Do) you want to have better, faster and more responsive communications inside your organization and save some money besides? Have an online conversation about online communications – and unplug your voice-mail system. If you’ve got a problem with that, don’t bother to comment. But do feel free to call me and leave a message.”

A super container freighter measuring 1,500 feet long by 196 feet wide by 10 stories high is currently under construction. These super ships are so huge and sit so low in the water, that the Port of Rotterdam has already started redesigning and dredging their existing port, as well as modifying berthing and loading accommodations for first use in 2014. It will initially be the only port in the world capable of handling these super freighters.

Did I mention these super container ships will be able to carry 22,000 containers at a time? If you are importing bicycles and each container holds 175, the new super freighters will be able to transport 3,850,000 bicycles in one trip! If you were ordering cable set top boxes, knowing that one container will hold 6,000, you could receive 132 million of them in one shipment. Unbelievable, isn’t it?

Everyone knows that happiness is a state of mind, right? Wrong! Happiness is a state of a positive mind. Negative people can easily find faults in any happy situation, and positive people do exactly the opposite. When you have a positive outlook in life, happiness will find a way. Happiness is more of a personal choice (a statement you’ve read more than a few times in this column).

Even the most optimistic of us can find ourselves in a rut where everything seems to be going against us. But if you take a close look at yourself that very instant, don’t YOU have a lot to be grateful for? William Penn said, "The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.” When you list down all the things that you feel privileged to possess and often take for granted, you will suddenly realize and appreciate even more, what you have been blessed with. Positive thinking will turn your obstacles into opportunities.

I leave you now with Dale Carnegie’s poignant words about the power of a smile. Read and remember them.

"It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits.

"It creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in a business, and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature’s best antidote for trouble.

"Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anyone 'til it is given away. And if, in the hurly-burly bustle of today's business world, some of the people you meet should be too tired to give you a smile, may we ask you to leave one of yours?

"For nobody needs a smile so much, as those who have none left to give."