Jerry Roth's Blog: Jerry Roth Boss Tips
July 7, 2026
One of Your Employees Just Won the Lottery.
Will They Quit or Keep Working for You?
Barbara didn’t need to work. She and her husband had just spent their anniversary at Caesar’s Tahoe where she put 5 coins in a dollar slot machine and won a million and a half-dollar jackpot. Her husband already knew where he wanted to spend the money. She had reservations about his plans but didn’t think this was a good time to argue about money.
When I arrived at work on Monday morning, there was a photocopy of the check on top of my desk. Thinking it was a joke, I took the check into the accounting office and found her sitting in her chair, visibly shaking. The rest of the crew were snickering while trying not to look at me.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I asked, but I couldn’t help grinning.
They all looked up at once and said almost in unison, “It’s real! She really won!”
Barbara sheepishly smiled at me and nodded.
I cocked my head, lowered one eyebrow and said, “Wow, congratulations, that’s a lot of money.”
We had 150 employees at the time and Barbara was one of the newest hires. She was also one of the best. By the time she was hired, we had gotten very good at interviewing and determining who would best fit in, who would enjoy our culture, who would treat our customers the way we wanted, and who would show up for work consistently. Barbara passed with flying colors and for the last year and a half had proven to be a perfect example of our system at work.
As she told me the story of her jackpot, I was thinking how hard it would be to replace her. She finished her story with a recap of her husband’s plans. When I sensed she didn’t agree with him, I asked, “You’re not thrilled with that idea, are you?”
“No, I’m not. In fact, I was hoping you could talk to him. To us. Help us come up with a better plan. I don’t think we should spend it all at once.”
I had to admit, I was flattered. It felt good to know my people trusted me, thought I was the guy who could help them with advice for their future, not just be their boss. I said, “Sure. Of course. If you think he’ll listen. But I’m curious. Should we start looking for your replacement?”
Barbara was the standard by which good employees are measured. I naturally hoped she would stay. On the other hand, what a wonderful stroke of luck for her. How could I possibly compete with a one and half million-dollar jackpot? She would leave and I would support her decision. But I still felt a little gipped. And more than a little envious.
She surprised us all when she said, “No, I’d like to stay and keep working, if that’s Okay with you?” She actually asked me if it was Okay if she kept her job!
When I looked both confused and excited, she continued, “After I got past the initial urge to not work anymore, I realized I would miss it. I’d miss you guys; I like it here.” She admitted being excited at first and seriously thought about quitting. The only reason she could think of to quit was, she didn’t need to work. But she enjoyed coming to work. She liked working for us. She wanted to stay because it was fun and she enjoyed the people.
As her boss, I felt a sense of pride. I had worked hard to create a workplace that people wanted to come to. What better test than to have someone who’d just won a lifetime jackpot still want to come to work? It felt good.
If you are a business owner or a manager, how many people, who currently work for you, would stay if they suddenly found a fortune? On the other hand, how many do you hope would leave?
How do you determine who to hire? How do you treat them once they’re hired?
Use the comments field to share your tips on hiring and retaining employees and customers.
It took me many years, dozens of books, numerous mistakes, and several failures before I mastered the Art of Culture in Business and the simple rule that it starts at the top and rolls downhill. You, the boss, are the top. Your culture starts with you. If your people aren’t thrilled to come to work, it’s because of your culture.
Want to know how it works? I ‘ve put everything I learned into a book called “What would the boss do? Discover the secret to creating a culture where employees love to come to work — Click on the link to get the book, “What Would the Boss Do?”
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Get one for you and your boss!
Barbara didn’t need to work. She and her husband had just spent their anniversary at Caesar’s Tahoe where she put 5 coins in a dollar slot machine and won a million and a half-dollar jackpot. Her husband already knew where he wanted to spend the money. She had reservations about his plans but didn’t think this was a good time to argue about money.
When I arrived at work on Monday morning, there was a photocopy of the check on top of my desk. Thinking it was a joke, I took the check into the accounting office and found her sitting in her chair, visibly shaking. The rest of the crew were snickering while trying not to look at me.
“Okay, what’s going on?” I asked, but I couldn’t help grinning.
They all looked up at once and said almost in unison, “It’s real! She really won!”
Barbara sheepishly smiled at me and nodded.
I cocked my head, lowered one eyebrow and said, “Wow, congratulations, that’s a lot of money.”
We had 150 employees at the time and Barbara was one of the newest hires. She was also one of the best. By the time she was hired, we had gotten very good at interviewing and determining who would best fit in, who would enjoy our culture, who would treat our customers the way we wanted, and who would show up for work consistently. Barbara passed with flying colors and for the last year and a half had proven to be a perfect example of our system at work.
As she told me the story of her jackpot, I was thinking how hard it would be to replace her. She finished her story with a recap of her husband’s plans. When I sensed she didn’t agree with him, I asked, “You’re not thrilled with that idea, are you?”
“No, I’m not. In fact, I was hoping you could talk to him. To us. Help us come up with a better plan. I don’t think we should spend it all at once.”
I had to admit, I was flattered. It felt good to know my people trusted me, thought I was the guy who could help them with advice for their future, not just be their boss. I said, “Sure. Of course. If you think he’ll listen. But I’m curious. Should we start looking for your replacement?”
Barbara was the standard by which good employees are measured. I naturally hoped she would stay. On the other hand, what a wonderful stroke of luck for her. How could I possibly compete with a one and half million-dollar jackpot? She would leave and I would support her decision. But I still felt a little gipped. And more than a little envious.
She surprised us all when she said, “No, I’d like to stay and keep working, if that’s Okay with you?” She actually asked me if it was Okay if she kept her job!
When I looked both confused and excited, she continued, “After I got past the initial urge to not work anymore, I realized I would miss it. I’d miss you guys; I like it here.” She admitted being excited at first and seriously thought about quitting. The only reason she could think of to quit was, she didn’t need to work. But she enjoyed coming to work. She liked working for us. She wanted to stay because it was fun and she enjoyed the people.
As her boss, I felt a sense of pride. I had worked hard to create a workplace that people wanted to come to. What better test than to have someone who’d just won a lifetime jackpot still want to come to work? It felt good.
If you are a business owner or a manager, how many people, who currently work for you, would stay if they suddenly found a fortune? On the other hand, how many do you hope would leave?
How do you determine who to hire? How do you treat them once they’re hired?
Use the comments field to share your tips on hiring and retaining employees and customers.
It took me many years, dozens of books, numerous mistakes, and several failures before I mastered the Art of Culture in Business and the simple rule that it starts at the top and rolls downhill. You, the boss, are the top. Your culture starts with you. If your people aren’t thrilled to come to work, it’s because of your culture.
Want to know how it works? I ‘ve put everything I learned into a book called “What would the boss do? Discover the secret to creating a culture where employees love to come to work — Click on the link to get the book, “What Would the Boss Do?”
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Get one for you and your boss!
June 24, 2026
Workplace Culture Lessons From Mary Poppins and Jamed Bond.
On the cusp of my 73rd birthday, I have started reading about centenarians in the hopes of finding more secrets to share with companies that want to last a long time. My latest read comes from Dick Van Dyke who turned 100 in December of last year, 2025. He celebrated with his latest book called, 100 Rules for Living to 100.
This is not a book report on his book, even though it is a fun read for people who grew up with his tv show and his two most famous movies — Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — It is those two movies I want to talk about.
“It Doesn’t Take a Good Boss to Do Great Work,”
That’s the title of the chapter in Dick’s book that shares his opinion of the directors of each film as compared to his popular tv show director, Carl Reiner.
“Not every workplace has a Carl Reiner culture in charge, he says,” Which can make it challenging to do a good job. Robert Stevenson, the director for Mary Poppins was stiff and uninspiring in his directions to the actors. ‘Action, Cut, and Now do it again just like that,’ weren’t powerful motivating techniques.”
In my world I would say the company culture created by the movie’s director was less than desirable. However, since it was being produced by Walt Disney himself, Walt’s culture was able to override the director’s thus making it much easier for the crew to know what would the boss do and the film became a smash hit in 1964.
A scant 4 years later, a film written by the famous 007 author, Ian Fleming was directed by Ken Hughes who, according to Dick Van Dyke, was a “playboy vulgarian, who loathed children, trudged through the job, and freely admitted the only reason he took the job was so he could buy a Rolls Royce.” This film was produced by Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, legendary James Bond Franchise producer.
The old saw, “Is the glass half full or half empty?” Depends on who is answering, the bar owner or the customer? It’s the same with rating movies. The first and most prominent measure of a film’s success is ticket sales — how many people paid to see it? The second but equally important measurement is audience reviews — Rotten Tomatoes.
In my world, that is a classic, which comes first, the sale or the customer? And also, just like Dick’s View, the employees?
The results for Mary Poppins were ticket sales of $40 million, and a Rotten Tomato score of 97.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had sales of only $7.5 million with a Rotten Tomato score of 70.
With a budget of over $10 million, the culture of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang created a visually impressive film that was not nearly as popular.
Mary Poppins, with Walt Disney’s culture, was a fun, exciting family film created with a budget of only around $5 million.
In this comparison, the customers liked Mary Poppins more and subsequently told more people to go see it causing ticket sales to go up. Customers who saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang weren’t as thrilled with their investment and did not become evangelists for the movie.
Since both films hired the actors and the crews for their skills, talent, and personalities, both directors had the luxury of not needing to micromanage or worry much about the people. All they needed to do was focus on the budget, the scheduling, and making sure the people had the right equipment at the right time. Managing only the mechanics makes for a cold impersonal culture.
The difference between the two movies was the undercurrent of culture. Anyone who has ever been to Disneyland has experienced Walt’s Way which is quite different from 007’s way!
Why do people choose to shop at one store over another? Why do people tell their friends about movies, events, experiences they loved over those that were just OK? What do you call a company that produces OK products? A Satis-factory.
How can you turn your customers into evangelists for your business?
Find out in the book: What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
This is not a book report on his book, even though it is a fun read for people who grew up with his tv show and his two most famous movies — Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — It is those two movies I want to talk about.
“It Doesn’t Take a Good Boss to Do Great Work,”
That’s the title of the chapter in Dick’s book that shares his opinion of the directors of each film as compared to his popular tv show director, Carl Reiner.
“Not every workplace has a Carl Reiner culture in charge, he says,” Which can make it challenging to do a good job. Robert Stevenson, the director for Mary Poppins was stiff and uninspiring in his directions to the actors. ‘Action, Cut, and Now do it again just like that,’ weren’t powerful motivating techniques.”
In my world I would say the company culture created by the movie’s director was less than desirable. However, since it was being produced by Walt Disney himself, Walt’s culture was able to override the director’s thus making it much easier for the crew to know what would the boss do and the film became a smash hit in 1964.
A scant 4 years later, a film written by the famous 007 author, Ian Fleming was directed by Ken Hughes who, according to Dick Van Dyke, was a “playboy vulgarian, who loathed children, trudged through the job, and freely admitted the only reason he took the job was so he could buy a Rolls Royce.” This film was produced by Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, legendary James Bond Franchise producer.
The old saw, “Is the glass half full or half empty?” Depends on who is answering, the bar owner or the customer? It’s the same with rating movies. The first and most prominent measure of a film’s success is ticket sales — how many people paid to see it? The second but equally important measurement is audience reviews — Rotten Tomatoes.
In my world, that is a classic, which comes first, the sale or the customer? And also, just like Dick’s View, the employees?
The results for Mary Poppins were ticket sales of $40 million, and a Rotten Tomato score of 97.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had sales of only $7.5 million with a Rotten Tomato score of 70.
With a budget of over $10 million, the culture of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang created a visually impressive film that was not nearly as popular.
Mary Poppins, with Walt Disney’s culture, was a fun, exciting family film created with a budget of only around $5 million.
In this comparison, the customers liked Mary Poppins more and subsequently told more people to go see it causing ticket sales to go up. Customers who saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang weren’t as thrilled with their investment and did not become evangelists for the movie.
Since both films hired the actors and the crews for their skills, talent, and personalities, both directors had the luxury of not needing to micromanage or worry much about the people. All they needed to do was focus on the budget, the scheduling, and making sure the people had the right equipment at the right time. Managing only the mechanics makes for a cold impersonal culture.
The difference between the two movies was the undercurrent of culture. Anyone who has ever been to Disneyland has experienced Walt’s Way which is quite different from 007’s way!
Why do people choose to shop at one store over another? Why do people tell their friends about movies, events, experiences they loved over those that were just OK? What do you call a company that produces OK products? A Satis-factory.
How can you turn your customers into evangelists for your business?
Find out in the book: What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
May 25, 2026
Signs that a Workplace Might be Toxic
Toxic workplace culture costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars every year in turnover, lost productivity, and customer churn. Yet most leaders don’t know their workplace is toxic—until it’s too late.
Whether you’re a CEO, a department manager, or a frontline employee who suspects something is wrong, this guide will help you identify the warning signs, understand the root causes, and take action.
Your company culture isn’t just an HR talking point. It is your most powerful—or most destructive—marketing tool.
Recognizing the13 Signs and actively addressing them Is the simplest, least expensive thing you can do to improve morale, sales, and the customer experience.
Here are the 13 most common warning signs:
• Micromanagement — Leaders who control every decision signal they don’t trust their team.
• Employee feedback is silenced — When people can’t speak up, problems fester.
• No respect for work-life balance — Burnout becomes the norm, not the exception.
• Poor morale — Disengagement spreads like a virus across the organization.
• Fear and greed as primary motivators — Short-term pressure destroys long-term loyalty.
• Discrimination and harassment — Unchecked, these behaviors destroy trust and expose the company to serious legal risk.
• Abusive employees tolerated by management — Silence is endorsement.
• Lack of transparency and secrecy — Employees who don’t know what’s going on assume the worst.
• Elite cliques and unbridled gossip — Tribal politics divide teams and exclude talent.
• Cut-throat infighting — Competition between colleagues replaces collaboration.
• Bigotry and misogyny — Any form of systemic disrespect poisons the well for everyone.
• Disengaged employees — Gallup research shows disengagement costs U.S. companies up to $550 billion annually.
• Chronic customer complaints — When customers keep complaining, it is almost always a culture problem, not a product problem.
If you recognize even a few of these signs in your organization, keep reading. The good news: every one of them is fixable—if the person at the top decides to lead differently.
Cultural Intelligence: Why Most Leaders Don’t Know Their Culture Is Broken
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most toxic workplaces aren’t run by villains. They’re run by leaders who simply don’t know what’s happening below them.
Unless you actively seek honest feedback—and create a safe environment for employees to give it—you may never know. If you operate in secrecy, rely on fear as a motivator, or believe employees are only motivated by money, your team will tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear.
The late Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, built a decades-long career documenting the absurdities of toxic workplace culture. His strips weren’t just funny—they were painfully accurate for millions of employees who recognized their own workplaces on the page.
Toxic Workplace Culture Always Starts at the Top
Companies run by liars develop a culture of lying. Companies run by cheaters develop a culture of cheating. This isn’t a theory—it’s a pattern repeated across industries, company sizes, and decades of business history.
Culture is not a department. It is not a values poster on the break room wall. Culture is what your employees observe you doing every single day. It is what gets rewarded, what gets tolerated, and what gets punished.
If you have a board of directors or multiple layers of management, be warned: unless every leader shares the same core values, you will not have a consistent culture. You will have factions.
The most powerful role any business leader can hold is not CEO or COO—it is CVO: Chief Vision Officer. Your vision sets the culture. Your behavior enforces it.
Everything in Your Workplace Is Contagious—Including Culture
Courage is contagious. So is fear. Positivity is contagious. So is negativity. Enthusiasm spreads—but so does sloth. Gratitude is contagious. So is greed.
Whatever you as a leader practice, encourage, and model will eventually become your company’s culture. Your employees are watching you—not your mission statement. Not your annual review scores. You.
When your culture is healthy and consistent, every employee instinctively knows the answer to one question: “What would the boss do?”
When the answer to that question is always the right answer—honest, customer-focused, people-first—you have a culture with staying power.
Competence Over Credentials: Who Should Be Leading Your Culture?
There is a meaningful difference between someone who has read about leadership and someone who has actually led. Between someone who studied management theory and someone who has hired, fired, built teams, lost teams, and rebuilt them.
If you want your business to survive and thrive, your leadership style must shift from “I have all the answers” to “My job is to help others become their best.” That is the foundation of a culture with staying power—one that outlasts any single leader, any economic downturn, and any disruption in the market.
Why Great Business Culture Is Timeless
The principles behind a healthy workplace are not new. They were relevant 100 years ago. They are relevant today. They will be relevant 100 years from now.
What separates great companies from struggling ones is rarely their product, their technology, or their market timing. The only sustainable differentiator is culture—and culture is simply what the boss believes, what the boss practices, and what the boss preaches.
Ready to Fix Your Workplace Culture? Start Here.
If any of the 13 warning signs above hit close to home, you don’t need a consultant, a rebrand, or a new mission statement. You need a new way of thinking about leadership. What Would the Boss Do? 2.0 by Jerry Roth gives you simple, proven methods for how to Lead with Culture and Inspire by Example.
If you’re a business owner or manager: buy a copy, read it, and put it to work.
If you’re an employee who knows your boss needs it: buy a copy, read it, and give it to your boss.
For questions about any of the 13 toxic workplace issues listed above, visit whatwouldthebossdo.com and reach out directly.
Tell a friend!
Frequently Asked Questions About Toxic Workplace Culture
What are the most common signs of a toxic workplace?
The most common signs include micromanagement, silenced employee feedback, poor morale, fear-based motivation, discrimination, and chronic customer complaints. See the full list of 13 warning signs above.
Can a toxic workplace culture be fixed?
Yes—but only if the change starts at the top. Culture is a reflection of leadership. When leaders shift their mindset from profit-first to people-first, the culture follows.
What is the difference between a toxic workplace and a challenging one?
A challenging workplace pushes people to grow. A toxic workplace tears people down. The difference is leadership—specifically, whether employees feel respected, heard, and valued.
Why do employees stay in toxic workplaces?
Fear of financial insecurity, limited job options, or loyalty to colleagues often keep people in toxic environments longer than is healthy. Leaders who understand this have a greater responsibility to build cultures where people genuinely want to stay.
Jerry Roth
Tell A friend!
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Whether you’re a CEO, a department manager, or a frontline employee who suspects something is wrong, this guide will help you identify the warning signs, understand the root causes, and take action.
Your company culture isn’t just an HR talking point. It is your most powerful—or most destructive—marketing tool.
Recognizing the13 Signs and actively addressing them Is the simplest, least expensive thing you can do to improve morale, sales, and the customer experience.
Here are the 13 most common warning signs:
• Micromanagement — Leaders who control every decision signal they don’t trust their team.
• Employee feedback is silenced — When people can’t speak up, problems fester.
• No respect for work-life balance — Burnout becomes the norm, not the exception.
• Poor morale — Disengagement spreads like a virus across the organization.
• Fear and greed as primary motivators — Short-term pressure destroys long-term loyalty.
• Discrimination and harassment — Unchecked, these behaviors destroy trust and expose the company to serious legal risk.
• Abusive employees tolerated by management — Silence is endorsement.
• Lack of transparency and secrecy — Employees who don’t know what’s going on assume the worst.
• Elite cliques and unbridled gossip — Tribal politics divide teams and exclude talent.
• Cut-throat infighting — Competition between colleagues replaces collaboration.
• Bigotry and misogyny — Any form of systemic disrespect poisons the well for everyone.
• Disengaged employees — Gallup research shows disengagement costs U.S. companies up to $550 billion annually.
• Chronic customer complaints — When customers keep complaining, it is almost always a culture problem, not a product problem.
If you recognize even a few of these signs in your organization, keep reading. The good news: every one of them is fixable—if the person at the top decides to lead differently.
Cultural Intelligence: Why Most Leaders Don’t Know Their Culture Is Broken
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most toxic workplaces aren’t run by villains. They’re run by leaders who simply don’t know what’s happening below them.
Unless you actively seek honest feedback—and create a safe environment for employees to give it—you may never know. If you operate in secrecy, rely on fear as a motivator, or believe employees are only motivated by money, your team will tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to hear.
The late Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, built a decades-long career documenting the absurdities of toxic workplace culture. His strips weren’t just funny—they were painfully accurate for millions of employees who recognized their own workplaces on the page.
Toxic Workplace Culture Always Starts at the Top
Companies run by liars develop a culture of lying. Companies run by cheaters develop a culture of cheating. This isn’t a theory—it’s a pattern repeated across industries, company sizes, and decades of business history.
Culture is not a department. It is not a values poster on the break room wall. Culture is what your employees observe you doing every single day. It is what gets rewarded, what gets tolerated, and what gets punished.
If you have a board of directors or multiple layers of management, be warned: unless every leader shares the same core values, you will not have a consistent culture. You will have factions.
The most powerful role any business leader can hold is not CEO or COO—it is CVO: Chief Vision Officer. Your vision sets the culture. Your behavior enforces it.
Everything in Your Workplace Is Contagious—Including Culture
Courage is contagious. So is fear. Positivity is contagious. So is negativity. Enthusiasm spreads—but so does sloth. Gratitude is contagious. So is greed.
Whatever you as a leader practice, encourage, and model will eventually become your company’s culture. Your employees are watching you—not your mission statement. Not your annual review scores. You.
When your culture is healthy and consistent, every employee instinctively knows the answer to one question: “What would the boss do?”
When the answer to that question is always the right answer—honest, customer-focused, people-first—you have a culture with staying power.
Competence Over Credentials: Who Should Be Leading Your Culture?
There is a meaningful difference between someone who has read about leadership and someone who has actually led. Between someone who studied management theory and someone who has hired, fired, built teams, lost teams, and rebuilt them.
If you want your business to survive and thrive, your leadership style must shift from “I have all the answers” to “My job is to help others become their best.” That is the foundation of a culture with staying power—one that outlasts any single leader, any economic downturn, and any disruption in the market.
Why Great Business Culture Is Timeless
The principles behind a healthy workplace are not new. They were relevant 100 years ago. They are relevant today. They will be relevant 100 years from now.
What separates great companies from struggling ones is rarely their product, their technology, or their market timing. The only sustainable differentiator is culture—and culture is simply what the boss believes, what the boss practices, and what the boss preaches.
Ready to Fix Your Workplace Culture? Start Here.
If any of the 13 warning signs above hit close to home, you don’t need a consultant, a rebrand, or a new mission statement. You need a new way of thinking about leadership. What Would the Boss Do? 2.0 by Jerry Roth gives you simple, proven methods for how to Lead with Culture and Inspire by Example.
If you’re a business owner or manager: buy a copy, read it, and put it to work.
If you’re an employee who knows your boss needs it: buy a copy, read it, and give it to your boss.
For questions about any of the 13 toxic workplace issues listed above, visit whatwouldthebossdo.com and reach out directly.
Tell a friend!
Frequently Asked Questions About Toxic Workplace Culture
What are the most common signs of a toxic workplace?
The most common signs include micromanagement, silenced employee feedback, poor morale, fear-based motivation, discrimination, and chronic customer complaints. See the full list of 13 warning signs above.
Can a toxic workplace culture be fixed?
Yes—but only if the change starts at the top. Culture is a reflection of leadership. When leaders shift their mindset from profit-first to people-first, the culture follows.
What is the difference between a toxic workplace and a challenging one?
A challenging workplace pushes people to grow. A toxic workplace tears people down. The difference is leadership—specifically, whether employees feel respected, heard, and valued.
Why do employees stay in toxic workplaces?
Fear of financial insecurity, limited job options, or loyalty to colleagues often keep people in toxic environments longer than is healthy. Leaders who understand this have a greater responsibility to build cultures where people genuinely want to stay.
Jerry Roth
Tell A friend!
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
April 19, 2026
Are You Addicted to Social Media? Or Just Lonely?
Why would a young woman open a carton of Blue Bell Ice Cream she took out of a Wal-Mart freezer, lick all around the top of it, put the top back on and put it back in the freezer? Why would her boyfriend take a video of her doing the licking and put it on the internet? Why would a large but disconcerting number of people enjoy watching her?
Ennui:/änˈwē/ Noun; a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
Humans love to be entertained.
Of all the things we spend our money on, entertainment is right up there with Starbucks and cell-phone plans. While we need to eat every day, sleep somewhere every night, wear clothes that allow us to brave the elements and not get arrested, everything else is for our entertainment.
Since man began, he and his woman have enjoyed doing fun things. Exhilarating, scary, sexy, humorous, or intellectually challenging. You might wonder how they did all that without a phone, but they did. And they’ve always been more than willing to give up a large portion of their hard-earned money to do it.
Roman Gladiators, Greek Olympians, chariot races, human races, archery contests, wrestling, and boxing matches. Shakespearian dancers, artists, musicians, actors, court jesters, magicians, and of course, bars and pubs. Alcohol is the single most purchased enhancer of entertainment. Sometimes alcohol is the entertainment. Alcohol is older than Eve’s apple. Movies, music, sports and hobbies, game shows and reality tv, even the news channels, are all popular because they are entertaining.
And it’s not just the main players, actors, and owners that make the big bucks. There are plenty of high-paying jobs for support personnel as well. Think about a concert or a movie or a football game. Someone is responsible for advertising and someone else sells tickets. Others work the lights and maintain the facilities.
Ultimately, we wouldn’t need jobs if we didn’t need to be entertained.
Aside from the government, the entertainment industry is the biggest employer in the world. The hard-earned money that humans are willing to spend is the reason so many entertainers have more money than Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife. Every time we buy a ticket to a show or a sporting event, watch a movie or listen to a song, we’re helping them become rich and famous.
Even retail and manufacturing, also huge employers, are a big part of entertainment — the making and selling of sports equipment, musical instruments, costumes and theater supplies, hobby stuff, and all the paraphernalia necessary to be properly entertained.
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us”, Nirvana, Smells like Teen Spirit
Paradoxically, if we didn’t have entertainment, there would not be enough jobs to go around. Many more people would be unemployed if it weren’t for entertainment jobs.
Economists call the money we use to pay for our entertainment, disposable income — the money that’s left over after we’ve paid our bills. Since we can spend it on whatever we choose, I’m going to call it discretionary rather than disposable to avoid sounding so wasteful.
Discretionary money should be sacred. We must protect it and decide what will bring us the most fun for our buck.
We search for and apply for jobs that will provide us with the most discretionary income we can find. Our aspirations for advancement aren’t for more money; they’re for more entertainment. Or better entertainment. Entertainment is the reason people who get raises are still broke. This common condition is why so many people only go to work to make more money. They have no purpose in life, no reason to enjoy going to work except to make more money to buy more entertainment.
Humans also crave attention.
Everyone wants to be recognized in some way. Whether they’re trouble-making kids acting out, or high-performers achieving excellence, they’re seeking attention. They enjoy the accolades they get for the good things they accomplish as well as the scoldings they get for misbehaving. A carrot or a stick. Either way, attention is the desired result.
Andy Warhol talked about each of us having our fifteen minutes of fame. Technology has made it possible for practically anyone to become an internet star, to be an entertainer, to get attention. I think some people today are trying too hard. Maybe it’s just me.
Press enter or click to view image in full size
AI and social internet media for entertainment
JerryRoth.com
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all facilitate those who have something to share, a way to quickly and cheaply publish a post or a picture or a video. With rare exceptions, there are no controls or obstacles or rules to publish stuff, nothing to separate the good from the bad.
There is an unlimited selection of how-to videos, science experiment videos, comedies, thrilling stunts, stupid stunts, and cute animal videos. These are the good kids seeking accolades. Many go viral because there are plenty of viewers that still like the good stuff.
Humans appreciate talent and skill and will pay to be entertained by someone who has it.
What about the ice cream licker? Does she have talent or skill? If not, why have so many people rushed to watch her?
Because no one would pay to simply watch her buy the ice cream, eat it with a spoon, and dispose of the container in a trash receptacle. She knows she must shock her audience in order to appear entertaining. Like South Park, the Simpsons, Jack Ass movies, Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, anything from Seth Rogen, and all those stupid reality tv shows. Shock has become the new normal, all in the name of art.
Andy Warhol also said, “Art is anything you can get away with.”
Our need for shock shows up in the movies we watch, the video games we play, our tv dramas and sitcoms. We don’t get jolts of dopamine from watching cute and cuddly, or warm and fuzzy. We get a jolt from shock and awe and violence. We want crazy, bloody, insane, incredulous images and stories. No matter how many times or how many ways we watch a bullet enter a human body or a head bashed in, we still get a jolt, an exciting shock.
“Emotions respond to spectacle, not data.” Neal deGrasse Tyson, the science guy.
We may enjoy and even appreciate romance, charity, and good manners, but we aren’t willing to pay much for the experience of watching it online or on TV. We do, however, experience great joy from watching the misfortunes of people richer than us, or more famous, or just stupider.
Entertainment magazines and media channels are overflowing with stars and starlets, athletes and their Wags, the rich and powerful, getting divorced, having affairs, filing bankruptcy, and other personal disasters. We spend an enormous amount of time and money following them. The Germans call it, Schadenfreude.
We get an unhealthy amount of pleasure from the displeasure of others.
But all that pales when compared to school shootings.
Drive-by shootings, police ambushes, suicides by cop, and all the other outrageous acts perpetrated by people looking for their fifteen minutes of fame and attention. The amount of attention the news media gives them is directly proportionate to our desire to watch.
Our need to be entertained or get attention becomes a problem when too much of the population has too little discretionary money and too much free time. When groups of people with no money get together, the entertainment factor is minimal, and the result is usually boredom — Ennui.
Being bored leads to mayhem. Or worse. Much of the rioting and protesting throughout the world is the result of far too many young adults with no jobs, getting bored. Bored people with no jobs and no money tend to be angry. Groups of angry people with nothing to do and nowhere to do it rarely accomplish anything good.
Every parent knows that children who are entertained are easier to take care of.
They also know that children who are bored will start looking for attention and usually end up in trouble. Boredom and entertainment are two sides of the same coin. When kids get older, boredom can become dangerous.
As I said before, our need for entertainment is as old as humanity. What’s changed is the news media. All news shows are owned by profit-making media companies and the way they make that profit is by selling advertising. The more people who watch the news, the more money they can charge for ads. Media sensationalizing is what keeps us tuned in and entertained. How do they get more people to watch the news? Not with cute and cuddly.
Which brings us back to the ice cream licker.
As I write this, in a different case, a mother has been arrested for posting a video of her daughter licking all the tongue depressors in the jar at her doctor’s office. Apparently, there are laws against spreading your diseased spit to the rest of the community. By the time you read this, the ice cream licker should also be behind bars.
But why didn’t the mother stop her child? Why did the ice cream licker ignore the laws? The rules of society? Why did they feel they had our permission to post a video of their bad behavior?
The possibility of jail-time is no longer a deterrent thanks to liberal judges returning criminals back out in the world instead of into a jail cell. In ancient times, punishment was doled out in public, in the town square for all to watch. The executioner, the gallows, the guillotine, stoning, and caning, all performed for huge crowds looking to be entertained. Many people are enjoying the police taking on antifa and other organized protesters because it not only is entertaining with its shock value, but it’s also Schadenfreude.
Today, the need for attention and entertainment is evidently greater than the fear of arrest. The answer to the problem lies within that last sentence. Instead of putting kids in jail, can we find constructive ways to entertain them? Can we invent or create ways to allow them to be productive rather than destructive?
President Trump seems to think so.
Even during the cave dwellers days, villages have known that culture starts at the top. Each generation learns from the ones before them. Kids learn from both instruction and observation. When the elders act like punks, the kids observe. When the boss acts like an ass, the employees observe. When the government acts like criminals, the citizens observe. When the church misbehaves, the parishioners observe.
But most importantly, when bad behavior does not have swift and immediate painful consequences, that is also observed.
It starts at the top. Whether you are the boss, the parent, the teacher, the coach, the preacher, a friend, a sibling, or a neighbor.
Are you the example we would want our kids to follow? If you’re the boss, What Would the Boss Do?
Tell A Friend!
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Ennui:/änˈwē/ Noun; a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement.
Humans love to be entertained.
Of all the things we spend our money on, entertainment is right up there with Starbucks and cell-phone plans. While we need to eat every day, sleep somewhere every night, wear clothes that allow us to brave the elements and not get arrested, everything else is for our entertainment.
Since man began, he and his woman have enjoyed doing fun things. Exhilarating, scary, sexy, humorous, or intellectually challenging. You might wonder how they did all that without a phone, but they did. And they’ve always been more than willing to give up a large portion of their hard-earned money to do it.
Roman Gladiators, Greek Olympians, chariot races, human races, archery contests, wrestling, and boxing matches. Shakespearian dancers, artists, musicians, actors, court jesters, magicians, and of course, bars and pubs. Alcohol is the single most purchased enhancer of entertainment. Sometimes alcohol is the entertainment. Alcohol is older than Eve’s apple. Movies, music, sports and hobbies, game shows and reality tv, even the news channels, are all popular because they are entertaining.
And it’s not just the main players, actors, and owners that make the big bucks. There are plenty of high-paying jobs for support personnel as well. Think about a concert or a movie or a football game. Someone is responsible for advertising and someone else sells tickets. Others work the lights and maintain the facilities.
Ultimately, we wouldn’t need jobs if we didn’t need to be entertained.
Aside from the government, the entertainment industry is the biggest employer in the world. The hard-earned money that humans are willing to spend is the reason so many entertainers have more money than Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife. Every time we buy a ticket to a show or a sporting event, watch a movie or listen to a song, we’re helping them become rich and famous.
Even retail and manufacturing, also huge employers, are a big part of entertainment — the making and selling of sports equipment, musical instruments, costumes and theater supplies, hobby stuff, and all the paraphernalia necessary to be properly entertained.
“With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us”, Nirvana, Smells like Teen Spirit
Paradoxically, if we didn’t have entertainment, there would not be enough jobs to go around. Many more people would be unemployed if it weren’t for entertainment jobs.
Economists call the money we use to pay for our entertainment, disposable income — the money that’s left over after we’ve paid our bills. Since we can spend it on whatever we choose, I’m going to call it discretionary rather than disposable to avoid sounding so wasteful.
Discretionary money should be sacred. We must protect it and decide what will bring us the most fun for our buck.
We search for and apply for jobs that will provide us with the most discretionary income we can find. Our aspirations for advancement aren’t for more money; they’re for more entertainment. Or better entertainment. Entertainment is the reason people who get raises are still broke. This common condition is why so many people only go to work to make more money. They have no purpose in life, no reason to enjoy going to work except to make more money to buy more entertainment.
Humans also crave attention.
Everyone wants to be recognized in some way. Whether they’re trouble-making kids acting out, or high-performers achieving excellence, they’re seeking attention. They enjoy the accolades they get for the good things they accomplish as well as the scoldings they get for misbehaving. A carrot or a stick. Either way, attention is the desired result.
Andy Warhol talked about each of us having our fifteen minutes of fame. Technology has made it possible for practically anyone to become an internet star, to be an entertainer, to get attention. I think some people today are trying too hard. Maybe it’s just me.
Press enter or click to view image in full size
AI and social internet media for entertainment
JerryRoth.com
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, all facilitate those who have something to share, a way to quickly and cheaply publish a post or a picture or a video. With rare exceptions, there are no controls or obstacles or rules to publish stuff, nothing to separate the good from the bad.
There is an unlimited selection of how-to videos, science experiment videos, comedies, thrilling stunts, stupid stunts, and cute animal videos. These are the good kids seeking accolades. Many go viral because there are plenty of viewers that still like the good stuff.
Humans appreciate talent and skill and will pay to be entertained by someone who has it.
What about the ice cream licker? Does she have talent or skill? If not, why have so many people rushed to watch her?
Because no one would pay to simply watch her buy the ice cream, eat it with a spoon, and dispose of the container in a trash receptacle. She knows she must shock her audience in order to appear entertaining. Like South Park, the Simpsons, Jack Ass movies, Howard Stern, Jerry Springer, anything from Seth Rogen, and all those stupid reality tv shows. Shock has become the new normal, all in the name of art.
Andy Warhol also said, “Art is anything you can get away with.”
Our need for shock shows up in the movies we watch, the video games we play, our tv dramas and sitcoms. We don’t get jolts of dopamine from watching cute and cuddly, or warm and fuzzy. We get a jolt from shock and awe and violence. We want crazy, bloody, insane, incredulous images and stories. No matter how many times or how many ways we watch a bullet enter a human body or a head bashed in, we still get a jolt, an exciting shock.
“Emotions respond to spectacle, not data.” Neal deGrasse Tyson, the science guy.
We may enjoy and even appreciate romance, charity, and good manners, but we aren’t willing to pay much for the experience of watching it online or on TV. We do, however, experience great joy from watching the misfortunes of people richer than us, or more famous, or just stupider.
Entertainment magazines and media channels are overflowing with stars and starlets, athletes and their Wags, the rich and powerful, getting divorced, having affairs, filing bankruptcy, and other personal disasters. We spend an enormous amount of time and money following them. The Germans call it, Schadenfreude.
We get an unhealthy amount of pleasure from the displeasure of others.
But all that pales when compared to school shootings.
Drive-by shootings, police ambushes, suicides by cop, and all the other outrageous acts perpetrated by people looking for their fifteen minutes of fame and attention. The amount of attention the news media gives them is directly proportionate to our desire to watch.
Our need to be entertained or get attention becomes a problem when too much of the population has too little discretionary money and too much free time. When groups of people with no money get together, the entertainment factor is minimal, and the result is usually boredom — Ennui.
Being bored leads to mayhem. Or worse. Much of the rioting and protesting throughout the world is the result of far too many young adults with no jobs, getting bored. Bored people with no jobs and no money tend to be angry. Groups of angry people with nothing to do and nowhere to do it rarely accomplish anything good.
Every parent knows that children who are entertained are easier to take care of.
They also know that children who are bored will start looking for attention and usually end up in trouble. Boredom and entertainment are two sides of the same coin. When kids get older, boredom can become dangerous.
As I said before, our need for entertainment is as old as humanity. What’s changed is the news media. All news shows are owned by profit-making media companies and the way they make that profit is by selling advertising. The more people who watch the news, the more money they can charge for ads. Media sensationalizing is what keeps us tuned in and entertained. How do they get more people to watch the news? Not with cute and cuddly.
Which brings us back to the ice cream licker.
As I write this, in a different case, a mother has been arrested for posting a video of her daughter licking all the tongue depressors in the jar at her doctor’s office. Apparently, there are laws against spreading your diseased spit to the rest of the community. By the time you read this, the ice cream licker should also be behind bars.
But why didn’t the mother stop her child? Why did the ice cream licker ignore the laws? The rules of society? Why did they feel they had our permission to post a video of their bad behavior?
The possibility of jail-time is no longer a deterrent thanks to liberal judges returning criminals back out in the world instead of into a jail cell. In ancient times, punishment was doled out in public, in the town square for all to watch. The executioner, the gallows, the guillotine, stoning, and caning, all performed for huge crowds looking to be entertained. Many people are enjoying the police taking on antifa and other organized protesters because it not only is entertaining with its shock value, but it’s also Schadenfreude.
Today, the need for attention and entertainment is evidently greater than the fear of arrest. The answer to the problem lies within that last sentence. Instead of putting kids in jail, can we find constructive ways to entertain them? Can we invent or create ways to allow them to be productive rather than destructive?
President Trump seems to think so.
Even during the cave dwellers days, villages have known that culture starts at the top. Each generation learns from the ones before them. Kids learn from both instruction and observation. When the elders act like punks, the kids observe. When the boss acts like an ass, the employees observe. When the government acts like criminals, the citizens observe. When the church misbehaves, the parishioners observe.
But most importantly, when bad behavior does not have swift and immediate painful consequences, that is also observed.
It starts at the top. Whether you are the boss, the parent, the teacher, the coach, the preacher, a friend, a sibling, or a neighbor.
Are you the example we would want our kids to follow? If you’re the boss, What Would the Boss Do?
Tell A Friend!
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
April 9, 2026
Business and the Game of Chess
“I am willing to take life as a game of chess in which the first rules are not open to discussion. No one asks why the knight is allowed his eccentric hop. He just is.”
— W. Somerset Maugham
In business, the first rules are; you must provide a product or service that people are willing to pay for, and second; you must make a profit doing it. Everything else depends on how popular you become.
If it works, you will need to hire people to help. It’s at that moment you need to decide what your culture is going to be. Your new hire will quickly learn What Would the Boss Do? Your challenge moving forward will be to keep that culture and pass it on to every new hire. This will be easier to accomplish if you only hire people who believe in your culture.
If it works really well, you’ll be hiring a bunch of people.
I like to use the game of chess as a business analogy and have on many occasions said things like, “Business is just like chess. You just keep moving people around until you win.”
But that’s too simple. The truth is you can’t just move people around. You need to move them where they can do the most good. Or more specifically, you have to find the individuals who have the talents that match the job at hand. If you’ve been paying attention, you should already have a clue which talents each employee has.
The difference between business and chess is when you first start out in chess, you get all the pieces. In business, you only get you and anyone you hire in the beginning. As the game progresses, you will lose some pieces in chess, but in business you will gain some. The challenge is not to gain a mass of the same pieces or more pieces than you need.
Chess is played as a long game — always looking 3 or 4 moves ahead. Your business should be, too.
You also need to decide if you’re playing offensively or defensively. If you are not on the offense, you’ll start to look at your people (pieces) with an eye for restrictions. You are so focused on playing defensively that you only see what a piece can’t do! A rook can only move one way. It can’t move any other way. A knight can only move in an L shape (the eccentric hop). A bishop can only move diagonally and only on its own color.
Whatever you need done, you’ll need to find the person that can do it even if it’s not their job. You need to look for someone on your team who can do what you want.
If you’re playing and you’re winning, you start to look for talents, not restrictions. You move people because the way they can move is beneficial to your strategy, to your game. You will need to hire using the same strategy. You do not want a board with nothing but pawns but you also don’t want a company with nothing but queens — superstars.
And if you don’t play chess then use something else, sports, music, anything. If you’re the coach and you ask the center to play quarterback, how successful will you be? If you ask the drummer to play lead guitar, how good will the band sound? That’s what happens when you are playing defense; you’re looking for somebody that can do what needs to be done.
When hiring, many managers look at resumes searching for people who have experience or schooling that matches what they think they need for the job. Anyone without experience or diplomas gets rejected before they even get to meet you. When you believe those are restrictions, You risk passing up on people with talents that are not exactly what you think you want.
For example; an applicant with food server experience may be the best customer service rep you have ever had. Customer experience and bedside manner are transferable people skills. Education and actual experience in the position you want to fill are usually irrelevant.
Unfortunately, the current AI robot screening programs cannot do that, it requires a real and really competent person to dive deeper into the applicant’s back story. Done correctly, you will find people with the right personality, attitude, goals and desires that match the culture you want and the talents that are needed to help you grow with as few headaches as possible.
This holds true for almost any position. The person answering the phone does not need to have phone experience, just a friendly, eager attitude. The sales force does not need to have experience selling, they just need to care more about the customer than their commission. Even the CEO does not need to have CEO experience, but they do need to have better-than-average people skills, time management skills, math skills, etc.
In the game of chess, there is a rule that says if any pawn can make it across the board to the other side, it can become anything it chooses — a rook, a bishop, a knight, even a queen.
If you hire those people and help them excel in their individual roles, they will then be able to show other new hires and pretty soon it will be commonplace! You won’t even break a sweat it will be so easy! Your people will know for a fact What the Boss Would Do.
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Tell A Friend!
— W. Somerset Maugham
In business, the first rules are; you must provide a product or service that people are willing to pay for, and second; you must make a profit doing it. Everything else depends on how popular you become.
If it works, you will need to hire people to help. It’s at that moment you need to decide what your culture is going to be. Your new hire will quickly learn What Would the Boss Do? Your challenge moving forward will be to keep that culture and pass it on to every new hire. This will be easier to accomplish if you only hire people who believe in your culture.
If it works really well, you’ll be hiring a bunch of people.
I like to use the game of chess as a business analogy and have on many occasions said things like, “Business is just like chess. You just keep moving people around until you win.”
But that’s too simple. The truth is you can’t just move people around. You need to move them where they can do the most good. Or more specifically, you have to find the individuals who have the talents that match the job at hand. If you’ve been paying attention, you should already have a clue which talents each employee has.
The difference between business and chess is when you first start out in chess, you get all the pieces. In business, you only get you and anyone you hire in the beginning. As the game progresses, you will lose some pieces in chess, but in business you will gain some. The challenge is not to gain a mass of the same pieces or more pieces than you need.
Chess is played as a long game — always looking 3 or 4 moves ahead. Your business should be, too.
You also need to decide if you’re playing offensively or defensively. If you are not on the offense, you’ll start to look at your people (pieces) with an eye for restrictions. You are so focused on playing defensively that you only see what a piece can’t do! A rook can only move one way. It can’t move any other way. A knight can only move in an L shape (the eccentric hop). A bishop can only move diagonally and only on its own color.
Whatever you need done, you’ll need to find the person that can do it even if it’s not their job. You need to look for someone on your team who can do what you want.
If you’re playing and you’re winning, you start to look for talents, not restrictions. You move people because the way they can move is beneficial to your strategy, to your game. You will need to hire using the same strategy. You do not want a board with nothing but pawns but you also don’t want a company with nothing but queens — superstars.
And if you don’t play chess then use something else, sports, music, anything. If you’re the coach and you ask the center to play quarterback, how successful will you be? If you ask the drummer to play lead guitar, how good will the band sound? That’s what happens when you are playing defense; you’re looking for somebody that can do what needs to be done.
When hiring, many managers look at resumes searching for people who have experience or schooling that matches what they think they need for the job. Anyone without experience or diplomas gets rejected before they even get to meet you. When you believe those are restrictions, You risk passing up on people with talents that are not exactly what you think you want.
For example; an applicant with food server experience may be the best customer service rep you have ever had. Customer experience and bedside manner are transferable people skills. Education and actual experience in the position you want to fill are usually irrelevant.
Unfortunately, the current AI robot screening programs cannot do that, it requires a real and really competent person to dive deeper into the applicant’s back story. Done correctly, you will find people with the right personality, attitude, goals and desires that match the culture you want and the talents that are needed to help you grow with as few headaches as possible.
This holds true for almost any position. The person answering the phone does not need to have phone experience, just a friendly, eager attitude. The sales force does not need to have experience selling, they just need to care more about the customer than their commission. Even the CEO does not need to have CEO experience, but they do need to have better-than-average people skills, time management skills, math skills, etc.
In the game of chess, there is a rule that says if any pawn can make it across the board to the other side, it can become anything it chooses — a rook, a bishop, a knight, even a queen.
If you hire those people and help them excel in their individual roles, they will then be able to show other new hires and pretty soon it will be commonplace! You won’t even break a sweat it will be so easy! Your people will know for a fact What the Boss Would Do.
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Tell A Friend!
The Art of Learning
“The illiterate of the future will not be the people who cannot read.
They will be the people who cannot learn.” — Alvin Toffler
There is nothing greater than watching something grow. A plant, a child, a business. Seeing it learn and mature and progress is better than any pat on the back. No awards are necessary when you see the fruits of your labor unfold before your eyes.
My 13-year-old granddaughter is the poster child for people who learn a little bit and are suddenly the smartest people in the room. She had recently learned how to make blueberry pancakes and every day for several days, we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast.
One day, as she was cooking blueberry pancakes yet again, I watched as she flipped one and then pressed it down with the spatula, flattening the fluff out of the flapjack.
I said, “You did a perfect job mixing all the ingredients. You patiently waited for the bubbles to form before you flipped it over. And then you smashed all the bubbles with the spatula. You’re not supposed to smash the bubbles.”
She argued as only a teenage girl can, “I know how to make pancakes. And I always smash them. And they are always perfect. Everybody loves them.”
Since this child isn’t my first rodeo, I did not respond in kind. I simply agreed that they did indeed taste good and we thoroughly enjoyed having her make them for us.
I had learned early in my life to never criticize the chef before you have eaten.
A few days later, when she was helping her friend cook breakfast — blueberry pancakes — as they watched the edges turn golden and the center fill with bubbles, her friend flipped her first pancake. And my granddaughter sternly told her not to smash it!
She said, “It will pop all the bubbles.”
“Personally, I am always ready to learn. Although I am not always ready to be taught.” — Winston Churchill
In business, politics, and life, most of what we’ve learned we learned from someone else. But did we learn the best way? Did we learn the right way? Is it possible what we think we know could be wrong? Or at least skewed?
A story to make a point:
A husband plans to spend the day training the dog to do its business outside.
His wife tells him Good Luck and leaves for work.
The husband feeds the dog Ex-Lax to speed up the training process. Once it poops, the husband sticks its nose in it and tosses it out the window.
After repeating this regimen all afternoon, the husband relaxes in his recliner with a beer.
When his wife comes home and sees him in the chair, she asks, “How did the dog training go?”
The husband proudly says, “Great! Now, it poops on the floor, sticks its nose in it, and jumps out the window.”
One of the first signs of trouble I look for in a business is the people saying,
“That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
In politics you hear, “I’m a Democrat because my parents are Democrats.”
In life, we say, “That’s how I was raised. My daddy always said…”
To help people in their change process, I use this story:
A recently married young couple are in the kitchen baking their first ham.
The wife starts to prepare the ham for the oven and promptly slices off both ends.
The husband asks, “Why did you cut the ends off?”
“Because,” answers the wife, “My Mom always cut the ends off.”
Curious, they call Mom to find out why and she responds, “I don’t know, my Mom always cut the ends off.”
Even more curious, they call grandma and she says, “Because when I was your age, the ovens were too small for the whole ham.”
Ignoring the “sexist” roles of the story’s protagonists, it’s easy to see how things change and how we might need to change, too.
Change is hard. Admitting you are wrong is sometimes harder.
If you want to be a leader, a parent, a politician, or just a good person, you need to adopt one simple philosophy — The act of asking yourself, “What if I’m wrong?” Or the converse, “What if they’re right?” Followed up with, “How do you know?”
Now you have the makings of a discussion as opposed to an argument. People usually argue to win, but smart people argue to learn.
“I never lose. I either win or I learn.” — Nelson Mandela
In my youth, several eons ago, long before Google, Wikipedia, and CNN, we learned from our elders, books, and touching the hot stove. Kids today think if they find it on the interweb, TikTok, or Instagram, it must be true.
That’s too bad because learning is the same as it was even when Ardi and Lucy were raising their kids millions of years ago. Every child starts out a blank slate, a sponge. Once their eyes open, they become a DVR, soaking up data and storing it in their own personal cloud — their brain.
Soon they learn a rudimentary language and can start processing the data in their brain cloud. In most countries, this first language is “NO!” or “Don’t do that”. Those are the phrases they hear most often because their elders are teaching them what not to do at the same time they are supposed to be teaching them what to do.
This campfire story telling approach to learning is still used millions of years later, even by Millennials.
Then there is book-learning, which was not as prominent in the caveman era but became very popular with my generation. People who have earned their intelligence, record it onto the pages of books, and we read them to our kids. This opened the door for many entertaining styles of teaching and is still popular today.
Unfortunately, what we read nowadays is not always intelligent. The internet is full of “content”. Any marketing student can tell you that “Content is king”. The 2016 and now 2020 Presidential elections have taught us that the King is not always right, some of that content is crap.
Also, if you spend all day reading only what you agree with, how can you possibly have an intelligent discussion? And even worse, if you don’t read at all, how can you have any kind of discussion?
“An expert is a fella who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.” — Harry Truman
Ignorant people are not stupid, they just haven’t learned. Stupid people are those who refuse to learn. We all know people who, no matter what the subject, think they are an expert. We also know people who say or do things without any knowledge whatsoever.
If you learn nothing else from this post, you must learn to know the difference and never take advice from those people. Or hire them. Or let them date your daughter.
“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” — Gloria Steinem
Last but probably the most important, is the hot-stove method. Sometimes called “experience” or “School of Hard Knocks”, this is the style that seems to prevail in most businesses and governments. You can recognize it by the number of times you hear the phrase, “We tried that before and it didn’t work” and its cousin, “You can’t do that”.
In summary, there are three kinds of men:
1. The ones that learn from observation.
2. The ones who learn from reading.
3. And the rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
Women can’t pee on the fence which is why they do better in school.
Experience is what we as parents, the elders, are supposed to be handing down to the next generation. But what if we grew up surrounded by “experts” and never bothered to learn for ourselves? What if all our peers said, “It’s okay, everybody does it.”?
Many times, our influencers are woefully ignorant or misguided. In 21st Century capitalism, as depicted on Netflix, YouTube, and advertising, making money is Job One. The more money you make, the more power you have.
The problems start when kids are taught that some jobs are “better” than others. When the elders all say, “Go to college, get a good job”, they are not talking about plumbers or welders or maids, they’re talking about doctors and lawyers and computer geeks. Or worse, movie stars and athletes.
What this educational style has done puts a negative stigma on the idea that if you work at McDonald’s, you must be an uneducated, lazy, ne’er-do-well. If you get your hands dirty with real dirt, you must be an ignorant imbecile. With the worst being, if you don’t lie, cheat, and steal, you’re doing it wrong.
A man named John Gardner had this to say about that:
“We must learn to honor excellence in every socially acceptable human activity — and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity — and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity — will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
So, if you are living in a place where you feel oppressed or embarrassed, if you feel like your freedoms are being taken away and you’re being intimidated by ignorant experts, remember this:
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” — BB King
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
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They will be the people who cannot learn.” — Alvin Toffler
There is nothing greater than watching something grow. A plant, a child, a business. Seeing it learn and mature and progress is better than any pat on the back. No awards are necessary when you see the fruits of your labor unfold before your eyes.
My 13-year-old granddaughter is the poster child for people who learn a little bit and are suddenly the smartest people in the room. She had recently learned how to make blueberry pancakes and every day for several days, we had blueberry pancakes for breakfast.
One day, as she was cooking blueberry pancakes yet again, I watched as she flipped one and then pressed it down with the spatula, flattening the fluff out of the flapjack.
I said, “You did a perfect job mixing all the ingredients. You patiently waited for the bubbles to form before you flipped it over. And then you smashed all the bubbles with the spatula. You’re not supposed to smash the bubbles.”
She argued as only a teenage girl can, “I know how to make pancakes. And I always smash them. And they are always perfect. Everybody loves them.”
Since this child isn’t my first rodeo, I did not respond in kind. I simply agreed that they did indeed taste good and we thoroughly enjoyed having her make them for us.
I had learned early in my life to never criticize the chef before you have eaten.
A few days later, when she was helping her friend cook breakfast — blueberry pancakes — as they watched the edges turn golden and the center fill with bubbles, her friend flipped her first pancake. And my granddaughter sternly told her not to smash it!
She said, “It will pop all the bubbles.”
“Personally, I am always ready to learn. Although I am not always ready to be taught.” — Winston Churchill
In business, politics, and life, most of what we’ve learned we learned from someone else. But did we learn the best way? Did we learn the right way? Is it possible what we think we know could be wrong? Or at least skewed?
A story to make a point:
A husband plans to spend the day training the dog to do its business outside.
His wife tells him Good Luck and leaves for work.
The husband feeds the dog Ex-Lax to speed up the training process. Once it poops, the husband sticks its nose in it and tosses it out the window.
After repeating this regimen all afternoon, the husband relaxes in his recliner with a beer.
When his wife comes home and sees him in the chair, she asks, “How did the dog training go?”
The husband proudly says, “Great! Now, it poops on the floor, sticks its nose in it, and jumps out the window.”
One of the first signs of trouble I look for in a business is the people saying,
“That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
In politics you hear, “I’m a Democrat because my parents are Democrats.”
In life, we say, “That’s how I was raised. My daddy always said…”
To help people in their change process, I use this story:
A recently married young couple are in the kitchen baking their first ham.
The wife starts to prepare the ham for the oven and promptly slices off both ends.
The husband asks, “Why did you cut the ends off?”
“Because,” answers the wife, “My Mom always cut the ends off.”
Curious, they call Mom to find out why and she responds, “I don’t know, my Mom always cut the ends off.”
Even more curious, they call grandma and she says, “Because when I was your age, the ovens were too small for the whole ham.”
Ignoring the “sexist” roles of the story’s protagonists, it’s easy to see how things change and how we might need to change, too.
Change is hard. Admitting you are wrong is sometimes harder.
If you want to be a leader, a parent, a politician, or just a good person, you need to adopt one simple philosophy — The act of asking yourself, “What if I’m wrong?” Or the converse, “What if they’re right?” Followed up with, “How do you know?”
Now you have the makings of a discussion as opposed to an argument. People usually argue to win, but smart people argue to learn.
“I never lose. I either win or I learn.” — Nelson Mandela
In my youth, several eons ago, long before Google, Wikipedia, and CNN, we learned from our elders, books, and touching the hot stove. Kids today think if they find it on the interweb, TikTok, or Instagram, it must be true.
That’s too bad because learning is the same as it was even when Ardi and Lucy were raising their kids millions of years ago. Every child starts out a blank slate, a sponge. Once their eyes open, they become a DVR, soaking up data and storing it in their own personal cloud — their brain.
Soon they learn a rudimentary language and can start processing the data in their brain cloud. In most countries, this first language is “NO!” or “Don’t do that”. Those are the phrases they hear most often because their elders are teaching them what not to do at the same time they are supposed to be teaching them what to do.
This campfire story telling approach to learning is still used millions of years later, even by Millennials.
Then there is book-learning, which was not as prominent in the caveman era but became very popular with my generation. People who have earned their intelligence, record it onto the pages of books, and we read them to our kids. This opened the door for many entertaining styles of teaching and is still popular today.
Unfortunately, what we read nowadays is not always intelligent. The internet is full of “content”. Any marketing student can tell you that “Content is king”. The 2016 and now 2020 Presidential elections have taught us that the King is not always right, some of that content is crap.
Also, if you spend all day reading only what you agree with, how can you possibly have an intelligent discussion? And even worse, if you don’t read at all, how can you have any kind of discussion?
“An expert is a fella who is afraid to learn anything new because then he wouldn’t be an expert anymore.” — Harry Truman
Ignorant people are not stupid, they just haven’t learned. Stupid people are those who refuse to learn. We all know people who, no matter what the subject, think they are an expert. We also know people who say or do things without any knowledge whatsoever.
If you learn nothing else from this post, you must learn to know the difference and never take advice from those people. Or hire them. Or let them date your daughter.
“The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.” — Gloria Steinem
Last but probably the most important, is the hot-stove method. Sometimes called “experience” or “School of Hard Knocks”, this is the style that seems to prevail in most businesses and governments. You can recognize it by the number of times you hear the phrase, “We tried that before and it didn’t work” and its cousin, “You can’t do that”.
In summary, there are three kinds of men:
1. The ones that learn from observation.
2. The ones who learn from reading.
3. And the rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.
Women can’t pee on the fence which is why they do better in school.
Experience is what we as parents, the elders, are supposed to be handing down to the next generation. But what if we grew up surrounded by “experts” and never bothered to learn for ourselves? What if all our peers said, “It’s okay, everybody does it.”?
Many times, our influencers are woefully ignorant or misguided. In 21st Century capitalism, as depicted on Netflix, YouTube, and advertising, making money is Job One. The more money you make, the more power you have.
The problems start when kids are taught that some jobs are “better” than others. When the elders all say, “Go to college, get a good job”, they are not talking about plumbers or welders or maids, they’re talking about doctors and lawyers and computer geeks. Or worse, movie stars and athletes.
What this educational style has done puts a negative stigma on the idea that if you work at McDonald’s, you must be an uneducated, lazy, ne’er-do-well. If you get your hands dirty with real dirt, you must be an ignorant imbecile. With the worst being, if you don’t lie, cheat, and steal, you’re doing it wrong.
A man named John Gardner had this to say about that:
“We must learn to honor excellence in every socially acceptable human activity — and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity — and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity — will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”
So, if you are living in a place where you feel oppressed or embarrassed, if you feel like your freedoms are being taken away and you’re being intimidated by ignorant experts, remember this:
“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” — BB King
What Would the Boss Do? 2.0
Tell A Friend!
Jerry Roth Boss Tips
Company Culture, like all cultures, is the heart of the company and is cultivated by the heart of the leader, the Boss.
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