Ted Coiné

New Blog

2008-06-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Visit my "new" blog:

http://www.savvycapitalist.blogspot.com/

I'm going to stop posting on this blog now. See you at the Savvy Capitalist!

Business/Enlightened Self-Interest

2008-06-17T05:37:00.000-07:00

Since well before publishing my first book and turning from businessman into consultant, I've been preaching the gospel of Enlightened Self-Interest: that doing the right thing pays. With our language school, the pitch is that employers who pay for the English lessons of their workers benefit immensely through better-trained/more efficient workers whose morale and loyalty is unshakable; a greatly expanded pool of potential managers (no matter how talented you are, you can't manage if you don't speak the language), greater morale among the rest of the workers, who (a) don't feel their co-workers are talking about them in Spanish, Vietnamese, etc. and (b) love working for a company that actually cares about its people, even its lowest-wage workers; vastly-improved customer service; increased customer loyalty, because they too like buying for a company that shows it cares... The list of benefits goes on and on.

The trick here is, there's no trick. Our clients tell us these are the tangible results of our training. They pay a little (but not too little!), and benefit a lot.

That is the case with workplace ESL lessons, but the point carries over to the entire realm of enlightened management. A quick review of the companies out there that treat their people better than the market demands, that conduct themselves ethically even when no one is looking (the only legitimate test of ethics), that treat their suppliers and customers fairly rather than exploitively, that give to charities either directly or (better) through matching employee contributions - these companies perform better than their competitors.

Of all his points, the one I take most exception with is Milton Friedman's notion that there is a duality between doing the right thing for "pure" motives and doing the same exact right thing for selfish gain. Try as you might, you can't separate the two!

When I was in college studying philosophy, I came to understand the same thing regarding altruism: there is no such thing as a purely unselfish act. Even if no one else knows what you've done, and even if it harms you while helping strangers, it still benefits you in some way, at least through a feeling inside that you have done the right thing. So too with corporations: there is nothing "right" that a company can do that will not benefit that company in some way...

...although I must make clear that sometimes the right thing to do could cause the company's demise. Imagine if Phillip Morris simply stopped making cigarettes - didn't sell off its operations, just closed them. They'd go bankrupt the same day.

Some companies are inherently good; it's built into their DNA, part of their founding culture. I have to research this company better, but I think Johnson & Johnson is one such firm (either that or they've really done a great snow job!) Other companies are inherently evil and destructive, and that's also built into their DNA starting with their founders: Blackwater, Halliburton; all tobacco companies.

But the vast majority of companies are wandering around in the middle of the road, pursuing profits as best their leaders know how without bothering (or daring?) to stand for anything ethical or good. I really believe that such companies - and such leaders - need "permission" to do the right thing: that most would like to, but how can they do the right thing when they're just getting by?

One of the main functions of The Naples Institute, as I envisioned it from before I even approached Gene Landrum and Bernie Turner with the notion, is to create an authoritative, revered institution that gives business leaders that permission. An organization that teaches enlightened leadership, that publically recognizes enlightened management, and that plainly, undeniably illustrates how doing the right thing - being enlightened - serves the best interest of the individual, the leader, and the organization.

Reader, your thoughts are not only welcome, but sought after.

Education/Teach for America

2008-06-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this article by the source - The Wall Street Journal - is suspect now that Rupert "Fox & Friends" Murdoch owns it. Still, it's brilliant: this is exactly what my Naples Institute colleagues and I have been discussing.

REVIEW & OUTLOOK

Amazing Teacher Facts
June 14, 2008; Page A10

This month 3,700 recent college grads will begin Teach for America's five-week boot camp, before heading off for two-year stints at the nation's worst public schools. These young men and women were chosen from almost 25,000 applicants, hailing from our most selective colleges. Eleven per cent of Yale's senior class, 9% of Harvard's and 10% of Georgetown's applied for a job whose salary ranges from $25,000 (in rural South Dakota) to $44,000 (in New York City).
Hang on a second.

Unions keep saying the best people won't go into teaching unless we pay them what doctors and lawyers and CEOs make. Not only are Teach for America salaries significantly lower than what J.P. Morgan might offer, but these individuals go to some very rough classrooms. What's going on?

It seems that Teach for America offers smart young people something even better than money – the chance to avoid the vast education bureaucracy. Participants need only pass academic muster and attend the summer training before entering a classroom. If they took the traditional route into teaching, they would have to endure years of "education" courses to be certified.
The American Federation of Teachers commonly derides Teach for America as a "band-aid." One of its arguments is that the program only lasts two years, barely enough time, they say, to get a handle on managing a classroom. However, it turns out that two-thirds of its grads stay in the education field, sometimes as teachers, but also as principals or policy makers.
More importantly, it doesn't matter that they are only in the classroom a short time, at least according to a recent Urban Institute study. Here's the gist: "On average, high school students taught by TFA corps members performed significantly better on state-required end-of-course exams, especially in math and science, than peers taught by far more experienced instructors. The TFA teachers' effect on student achievement in core classroom subjects was nearly three times the effect of teachers with three or more years of experience."

Jane Hannaway, one of the study's co-authors, says Teach for America participants may be more motivated than their traditional teacher peers. Second, they may receive better support during their experience. But, above all, Teach for America volunteers tend to have much better academic qualifications. They come from more competitive schools and they know more about the subjects they teach. Ms. Hannaway notes, "Students are better off being exposed to teachers with a high level of skill."

The strong performance in math and science seems to confirm that the more specialized the knowledge, the more important it is that teachers be well versed in it. (Imagine that.) No amount of time in front of a classroom will make you understand advanced algebra better.

Teach for America was pleased, but not exactly shocked, by these results. "We have always been a data-driven organization," says spokesman Amy Rabinowitz. "We have a selection model we've refined over the years." The organization figures out which teachers have been most successful in improving student performance and then seeks applicants with similar qualities. "It's mostly a record of high academic achievement and leadership in extracurricular activities."

Sounds like the way the private sector hires. Don't tell the teachers unions.

End note: While the Wall St. Journal has historically always been a knee-jerk union-basher, I am union-agnostic. Nothing is truer than the old saw, "A company (or school system) that goes union deserves a union." Workers choose to join a union when they feel they need protection from their employers. And American school teachers certainly need protection from most school systems.

Still, I am firmly opposed to the position of teachers' unions that seniority, and not skill, decide issues such as pay and job security. So while I won't join the gleeful abuse being heaped out by the WSJ, I abstain with that caveat.

Capitilism 2.0

2008-06-12T07:18:00.000-07:00

A few days ago a colleague at The Naples Institute commented on the notion that the sole purpose of a business is to make money for its stockholders, who are then free to do what they like with it, including giving it to charity if they choose. That's not a new idea, of course; it is one of the tenets of Primitive Capitalism (my own term). Indeed, in a public corporation, stockholders have been known to sue management in order to compel them to maximize profits.

I don't think that choice will disappear anytime soon, and I don't think it necessarily should. I personally enjoy choice and variety in the world.

Here's the thing, though: that is becoming only one option of several in the modern economy. One thing I would really like to see happen with The Naples Institute is for us to establish ourselves as leaders in what many are calling Capitalism 2.0 - the more sophisticated view of businesses as potential instruments for positive social change as well as of profits.

Look at the "For-benefit corporation," such as Newman's Own, which is legally a for-profit company, but which gives 100% of those profits to charity. That's hundreds of millions of dollars so far. There is another for-benefit corporation, TMI, in Immokalee that I hope we get to tour at some point. Michael, Jane, and I are in the process of turning Naples Social Action.org into a for-benefit corporation. The model makes more sense to us, especially as we are not going to ask for donations to fund our operations.

Many profit-oriented companies are still agents of social responsibility. Starbucks and numerous other firms sell Fair-Trade Certified coffee. Whole Foods is very serious about its giving. And we already talked about Tithe and More (http://www.titheandmore.com/), the local real estate firm that gives 30% of its profits to charity.

Gene Landrum and I have just started a venture fund. 10% of our profits from that will go to charity. Also, the companies we create will give 10% to charity. Our first firm is already set up to do so.

The question came up at the last NI meeting, does Tithe and More benefit from its dedication to charity? Is this a marketing ploy? My answer is, (a) I'm certain it is useful to its marketing - I myself would prefer to give them my business than another realtor - but (b) it is not a ploy. I've met Bill Ventress, the broker/founder. He is a remarkable man who honestly, to his core intends to help others.

Capitalism 2.0 is all about companies doing more than just maximizing profits. It's about doing Good, with a capital G. It is also about Enlightened Self-Interest. Chew on this: overwhelmingly, the companies I am familiar with that are socially responsible are also much more competitive than their less generous competitors.

My argument for even the most Neolithic, primitive business person who wants to make money and nothing else: give. Behave ethically. It pays - in actual money.

What is Social Justice?

2008-06-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

As Dr. James R. Fisher, Jr. (http://www.peripateticphilosopher.com) points out, the purpose of a think tank is to create and disseminate original thought. As The Naples Institute is a think tank dedicated to fighting for social justice, I sent this one-question survey out to our members. I'd love to hear from you as well.

Q - In your view, what is "Social Justice?"

My own thoughts, to get your juices flowing:

I think that social justice is present in a society where everyone shares legitimately equal opportunity. If we live in a society where any child, even those born poor to the most miserable, unfit parents, has the unfettered chance to gain a top-notch education and pursue any career she chooses, then we have passed the most important litmus test of a just society. Add to that the consistently-applied, unbiased rule of law; freedom from governmental corruption; a safety net that ensures every person will not starve or suffer malnutrition, be exposed to the elements, or lack adequate health care; and that those honestly incapable of work can live free from poverty (the elderly, the truly infirm, the mentally incapable).

If our society delivers on this promise, then I view it as just - not "generous," but "fair."

I think a "generous" society is one that stunts adversity. Adversity has, throughout history, been the prime motivator for people to excel. I wouldn't want to take that benefit away from anyone.

By the way - this is from Jim's website:

Dr. Fisher is also a chartered member of THE NAPLES INSTITUTE, a leadership think tank fighting for social justice by identifying leadership problems of the world, producing new leaders, and promoting leadership consistent with its aims of social justice for all people.

I couldn't have said it as well - or as succinctly - myself.

Laptops/What the kids are actually up to

2008-06-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, so yesterday we gave laptops to a bunch of kids. What are they going to do with them, exactly?

What indeed? They are going to be tricked into learning critical reasoning skills, computer-code writing, high school math, graphic arts, coherent and interesting story-telling... we're teaching these little school kids how to actually think! Something that doesn't happen nearly often enough in today's schools.

Specifically, the kids are learning digital storytelling. The 30-hour/30-lesson Waveplace Foundation project is all focused on one end result: an animated story, created, designed, and executed entirely by the children. The teachers give them the guidance they need to manipulate the software, and they help the kids along the way if they forget something. If a child wants to try something even harder than what the course teaches - which has already happened, just in the first class - then that's great, and the teachers are there to lead them through it. The children also teach each other to a remarkable degree. I was shocked to see how helpful and kind they can be. My peers and I weren't exactly as nice to each other when I was a squirt.

Most of the learning takes the form of trial and error. For instance, my project is to take my dog Stubby surfing (she'll have a goal and some obstacles along the way, but I haven't gotten that far). I drew Stubby yesterday in Lesson 1, then learned how to make her move around the screen in Lesson 2. I wrote code, which made her complete a square, 90-degree angles included (yes, the kids are learning high school geometry!) To get Stubby to go in a triangle instead of a square, I'd have to remove one line of code (3 sides = 3 turns, not 4, of course), and I'd have to turn those 90-degree angles into 120-degree angles.

We actually did this very exercise when Tim Falconer, the founder and president of Waveplace, was here in February. 25 migrant kids from RCMA, 8- and 9-year-olds, were plugging in numbers, trying to get the cartoon to travel in a triangle. They made many mistakes, learning that it was not only okay to do so, but that it was actually a lot of fun. Then they hit upon the right numbers, and - voila! The cartoon moved the way they wanted it to.

Imagine if you will how powerful they felt at that moment! These are some of the most disenfranchised children in the entire country. But they had just learned a skill, worked diligently to figure out a problem, failed and tried and failed and tried, and finally made it - all on their own.

As I said, that's in lessons 2 and 3. They'll be doing that tomorrow. By next Monday, they'll be even further along. First, they'll learn to create art, move it, and make it look like it's actually moving - legs walking, head turning, mouth opening and closing (one project is a dinosaur eating stars, for some reason). All that's just warm-ups. Once they've mastered all that stuff, they'll outline their actual story and begin to craft it on the screen.

Can you tell I'm excited? Spend an hour with these kids, and you will be, too. You can't sufficiently express the magnitude of this project with the written word - though I dare members of the press to try!

Business & Economics/Unions

2008-06-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

My CFI friends and I are discussing unions today. Here is my take on that. Please note that my father was the personnel negotiator for two companies during two very contentious strikes in the 50's and 60's. For one of them, at Florida plants of Virginia-Carolina Chemical, he and other executives had to be helicoptered into the plant for their own safety. When not at the negotiating table, they worked the lines in order to keep the plants open.

Unions helped our nation, starting around the '30's as they began to gain traction. Somewhere around the '50's, the scale began tipping the other way in many industries. The problem today is, we're stuck with the public distaste of excessive union abuse from the 50's-80's, but legitimate need for strong unions in some fields even today.

I think it would work out a lot better if more companies were run like Nucor (a steel manufacturer). Nucor managers had to intervene for the safety of outside union organizers at one of their plants - because the workers were on the verge of physical violence! Now THAT is a company that understands Enlightened Self-Interest. By treating their people well, the people feel no need for the protection of a union.

Southwest Airlines is another famous example. They actually have MORE unions than any other airline (little-known fact), but have better labor relations - and they are singularly profitable. My pal Dr. Jody Gitell wrote a great book on the 10 reasons for that, The Southwest Airlines Way.

Neither companies nor unions are inherently good or bad. They're all just collections of individuals. It is the leaders who are good, bad, or (sometimes) indifferent.

Management whose workers choose to go union deserve a union, bottom line. I think the technical term for such managers is "knuckle-head." Currently, a large local employer is a fascinating example of this brand of leadership.

Laptops/Profusion of low-cost options

2008-06-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

This article in The Economist is very interesting.

http://www.economist.com/search/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11482468&CFID=8900042&CFTOKEN=13726689

We've been watching this issue closely. So far, the alternatives to OLPC's XO computer measure up on price or features. But that may very well change sooner, and probably will change later.

That's fine. The Waveplace courseware we're using in Immokalee and the Caribbean can be used with any computer, be it XO, Mac, or PC. So the device we use does not matter one bit.

Laptops/Tomorrow it starts!

2008-06-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how excited I am. Tomorrow, 43 fourth-grade migrant kids - the most at-risk children in our community - will each get his very own XO laptop computer, along with the first two-hour lesson in how to use it. Our Waveplace pilot will begin. (http://www.waveplace.org/)

I've been waiting four years for this. That's when I first read about the adorable little green-and-white XO, and the mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), a nonprofit spin-off of the MIT Media Lab. (http://www.laptop.org/)

For four years I've watched, waited; tried to help and been rebuffed ("We aren't set up to take donations at this point," I was told when I first reached out to OLPC all those years ago. How hard is it to open an envelope and deposit a check!?!?)

Now, it's actually going to happen. You may think I need a life, but tomorrow's event will mean more to me than my birthday. Of course, I caught the flu this year on my birthday and my family was away in Boston, but still....

Tim Falconer, the creator of Waveplace, is flying into town tonight with another of our board members and our documentarian.*

Tomorrow at 9:30, the teachers assemble to begin their training, which will cover 30 hours in the next five days. Two of the teachers are only 14 years old. The idea of teenagers stepping up to lead in this way - that's a whole new dimension that we hadn't even anticipated.

This project we're about to launch is transformative on multiple levels.

Joining us will be Valerie Alker of WGCU Radio. That is just the beginning of some outstanding media coverage which will include Wink TV, the Naples Daily News, and even National Public Radio.

This is a national news story.

At 1:00 the children will arrive for their first lesson. So will Bill Ventress, my new idol, who is funding one of the two pilots. His company, http://www.titheandmore.com/, is nothing short of inspirational. I'm sorry to gush like a school kid, but that's how I feel right now.

Of course, tomorrow is only day one of a week-long training with Tim, and a 10-week program with the kids and the teachers.

I promise to keep you posted as we go.

Oh, almost forgot: I guarantee you, we will stumble along the way. That's why this is called a pilot. It's the first time we'll have this many teachers involved, for one thing, and they have never worked as a team before. Jane, John Lawson, and I haven't worked in-person with Tim before - I hope we don't let him down, but we'll just have to see.

That's okay, though. Even with the occasional glitch, we will be learning and improving on the fly. We'll all be better for the experience.

*I'm pretty sure I made that word up, or at least that's what spell check wants me to believe. Go ahead and use it. Just give me credit if you would.

One Terrific Triathlon

2008-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Linda Gregory, my pals at The Bike Route, Bikes for Tykes, the Zonta Club, and the Red Cross, and all those who helped for pulling off yet another excellent Naples Fitness Challenge Triathlon last Sunday. It was my first triathlon in 20 years, and it was absolutely the best-run tri I've ever participated in.

Man, am I out of shape! I've put on 50 pounds since starting our first company in 2001. As the saying goes, "All work and no play makes Ted a chubby boy." A friend took a picture of me as I emerged from the water, and... oh, boy. Let me apologize right now to everyone who had to see such a sight. A fat dude in a neon Speedo... it wasn't pretty. I wasn't pretty.

Let's use this as a starting point. I've been accused of being a motivational speaker: let's see if I can motivate myself to shed some lard.

Stay tuned.

Laptops/My $1 Wager

2008-05-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Ken doubts we can do it - he isn't very positive about Laptop South Florida, Waveplace, or OLPC.

He has a good point. Ken argues that dedicated parents produce children who do well in school and in life, and that bad parents don't: those kids are screwed, and no laptop computer or creative, challenging courseware is going to change that.

I've heard this before, and it's true - to an extent. Studies show again and again the strong correlation between parental influence and the success or failure of a child. If we want the kids to make something of their lives, we have to change the parents. Period. Until we do that, we're wasting our time and resources.

I refuse to buckle in to this line of reasoning. If the odds are drastically stacked against many poor children because their parents each work three jobs and have ten kids, or because one is gone and the other is a crack-whore, or because they simply do not value education and have subterranean expectations for their progeny... so what? Are we going to just throw these young lives away?

Perhaps we should incarcerate them all now, before they turn ten. Think of all the crimes we'd prevent.

As a moral society, and as moral individuals, we cannot give up on these children. Not even the most hopeless among them.

My near-obsession is to help the worst of the worst-off children, the ones with the crappiest parents and worst prognoses, to make it anyway. I want to make sure that they get the education they deserve, are inculcated with the values they need to prosper educationally, economically, and morally.

I take Ken's pronouncement as a challenge. So I bet him $1 that he's wrong.* We each gave a third pal, Andy, our dollar. When these fourth-graders graduate from high school Andy will award that $2 to one of us. If our 42 kids in the pilots this summer graduate at 50% or worse, as is now the case in Immokalee, Ken is up two bucks. If we beat that by at least 10%, I win.

I will win this bet.

Here's why: because it isn't up to just me. We have a terrific core of believers assembled. All sorts of talented people are lining up to help us with this project. And the kids themselves are going to run with it, too. This is far bigger than any one of us.

*I always wager $1, never more. If you've seen the movie Trading Places, you'll know what inspires this.

A Tragic Loss

2008-05-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

Mary Ann Durso, the driving force behind this nation's #1 local Habitat for Humanity organization (right here in Collier County) died yesterday.

I never met Mary Ann in person, though we've spoken on the phone several times. She was lively, gracious, and inspirational - just talking to her got me fired up to redouble my own efforts to help the community, a feeling that would stay with me for hours after I put down the phone.

I had meant to interview her, when I got around to it, as a Neapolitan of Note for our e-newsletter and for e Bella Magazine. Clearly, I'll never get around to it now. I blew my chance.

This community has lost a tremendous friend and servant to those in need. Mary Ann Durso will be sorely missed.

To read more about this remarkable lady: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/29/mary-ann-durso-collier-habitat-humanity-leader-die/

My Friends

2008-05-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

I relish the company of friends whose opinions differ from my own. I'm not being facetious. You see, I already know what I think and why. I'm much more interested in what other, possibly better-informed or more-intelligent, folks have to say.

When I'm with friends who are either more liberal or more conservative than I, or more pessimistic or cautious, for that matter, it gives me the chance to strengthen my arguments or to change my views - something I am happy to do (though that may surprise those of you who know how strongly I feel about... well, about most things.)

I had the unparallelled luck a while back to fall in with perhaps the most intelligent, informed, and delightfully quirky bunch of Friends I've ever had. These are the leaders of CFI Naples, my "philosopher's club." We break bread together once or twice a week, and talk about anything at all - many of my recent entries in this blog were inspired by live and online conversations with this crew. The discussions can range far and they can heat up pretty quickly. I enjoy every minute of each one!

If you do one thing next month, join us for the general CFI meeting/discussion on Tuesday, June 10th at 6:30 pm - more details can be found on the calendar at http://www.naplessocialaction.org/.

CFI's monthly meetings provide arguably the most lively and interesting discussion in Greater Naples. Conservatives, liberals, believers and doubters, and all in between enjoy exploring some of the day's most controversial topics in a respectful, collegial atmosphere. Check your dogma at the door but please, bring your curiosity and zeal for reason!

Laptops/Colombia

2008-05-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

From Today's Boston Globe:

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation has landed an order for 65,000 of its low-cost XO laptop computers from the state of Caldas in Colombia. The state government will take delivery of at least 15,000 machines this year, with the rest to be shipped by the end of 2009. Each laptop costs $188, making the deal worth more than $12 million. The Cambridge-based foundation sells its XO laptops mainly to governments in developing countries where they are given free to children. (Hiawatha Bray)

We're part of something huge - and it's just beginning.

Pollyanna?

2008-05-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

I hope I don't sound too much like a Pollyanna when I say that, looking back with the detachment of history, future generations may very well wonder what the American people were ever concerned about when we fretted over keeping our global prominence.

Japan scared the daylights out of us in the 80s and early 90s, but we don't utter a peep about them anymore. (Although it's interesting to note that they're still not far behind us at productivity, GDP, etc.).

Now we're just as fearful of China. On one hand, it's easy to see why, as they're growing at such a mind-boggling pace. But legions of their people still starve to death every day - starve, as in die of empty bellies! How can a nation in such straights maintain its self for long? China's competitive edge is propped up by an artificially-weakened currency and cheap labor, which is already rising in price and fueling transfer of jobs to less expensive nations such as Vietnam. And corruption is so endemic in China that it's hard to argue that they have the #1 guarantor of economic success, the rule of law.

Of course, we could also fret over the EU's new prominence if we choose. Maybe, if something happens in China's economy, that will be our next hobgoblin.

Here's the part I find fascinating about American culture, though: our entire history, about 400 years worth, is the story of simultaneous decline and rejuvenation. Yes, we have life-sapping American Idolatry, lazy, uneducated, pierced twenty-somethings, and rampant teen parenting. These factors are degenerating our society - they are, without a doubt in my mind!

But at the same time there are plenty of kids who are starting businesses, dedicating themselves to philanthropy; getting advanced degrees. I just met yesterday with a 30-year-old who, all by himself, is compensating for 20 slackers. It's hard to be a pessimist after an hour with a guy like that.

This country continually regenerates its self. America remains the most vibrant culture ever. And it will as long as enough of us care to ask the question, "Is this country in trouble?" I don't think that question will ever go away.

More on Education Reform

2008-05-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

The following is an elaboration of an entry from Tuesday, May 27th on this same topic.

My ideas for education reform are based strongly on personal experience, both as a former student and as the owner of a private language school. Here are some thoughts:

Teacher & School Quality

* As a nation, a state; a county, why would we ever even consider scrimping on education because of expense, as we do now? We don't do that with national defense! And isn't education national defense? It is our competitive edge. After our physical safety, what is more important to the life and prosperity of our republic?

* The quality of the teacher is the only thing that matters at all in education - assuming he/she isn't hobbled by arduous and bad curricula or working in an over-crowded classroom.

* Florida is ranked 35th in the nation -actually a big improvement over 48th just a few years ago. But here's my question: why aren't we copying the #1 (VA) and #2 (CT) states in every manner possible? Those states pay teachers much more than Florida, and it is very hard for even the most qualified candidates to land a position in either state.

* The PACE Center for Girls in Immokalee operates at about $10k/student, with tiny little classes, a very small student population, and kids who are admittedly the dregs of the Immokalee school system: these girls go to PACE because they have been kicked out of public school, have dropped out, or are in danger of one or both. Yet nearly all of them graduate, and most go on to college. Meanwhile, our county spends about $7,500/student, and look at the results. The drop-out rate in Immokalee is 50%. For an additional $2,500 per kid, we could have them all in PACE-like schools, county-wide.

Teacher Pay

* If you want the best teachers, you have to pay for them - same as any other career. Would you go to a surgeon who made $35,000 a year? Yes, there are some truly gifted teachers who perform their jobs despite the pay. But my ambition for our schools is to have the very-most talented graduates go first into teaching, if they can get the work; those left over will have to settle for law, medicine, business, etc. Then, two years later, 90% of these stars will go into the general work force, so those other fields will not have to suffer their absence for long.

* The going rate for ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers in Greater Boston is $15/hour (at Berlitz it's $8/hour). Coiné Language School pays $50/hour. Yes, Jane and I are do-gooders - I think that's pretty well-established. But Enlightened Self-Interest dictated this decision. It allows us to poach the very best teachers at will from the very best schools in the area (and thus in the world, as Boston is a global center for private ESL). Part of the reason we can recruit those teaching super-stars is the money, sure, but the other part is the respect that differential in pay shows these teachers. Good teachers get the results our corporate clients demand, and those clients then refer us to their peers. It's just savvy business.

Class Size

* There are courses in which knowledge can be passed down en masse, lecture-style. I honestly believe that a student will benefit more from a book and some spare time to read it. Indeed, at William & Mary a number of my professors were eminent scholars with acclaimed books and ground-breaking studies under their belts - and many of them were grossly incompetent at the art of teaching. I chose philosophy as my major because the professors taught better, plain and simple. The discipline fascinated me, sure, but so did a number of other subjects - English, history, sociology; psychology (my minor). (Side-note: W&M's philosophy department, with its talented teachers, is always ranked at or near the top nationally. Coincidence?)

* We guarantee our results at our language school - but only if the class has 8 students or fewer. This is based on my 12 years of experience with real, live classes: each time you add a student after 8, learning slows down perceptibly. So you can quote all the studies you like about class size and results, but... good luck convincing me. My opinion is based on experience and results.

Trimming Fat

* I think we have many-too-many administrators in our schools and our school systems. The money we could save by eliminating their jobs - most of which pay more than teaching posts, sadly - would make up part of the extra expenses you mention.

* One of my 11 points is on kids doing maintenance. That would save more money now paid to janitors (who, by the way, deserve thoughtful, dedicated out-placement: this is a current concern right here in our county, and I'm sympathetic to their situation).

Laptop Talk next Tuesday

2008-05-28T05:39:00.001-07:00

The story on "60 Minutes:" http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story

Join me next Tuesday, June 3 at 6:00 pm at the Naples YMCA (Pine Ridge just east of Airport Pulling Rd.). I will be leading an information session on "Laptop South Florida - What is it? and How you can get involved."

See ya there!

Ethical Investing

2008-05-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

I find this article fascinating: http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/2008/05/27/uk-teens/. This is Capitalism 2.0 in the flesh - something I didn't invent (sadly), but that I preach actively now as a business consultant. Our global economy is transforming, and I think it's a wonderful thing.

...Now let me play my own Devil's Advocate: (a) This is England. Those people still live in trees, from what I understand (never been there myself). London may be the new leader in international banking, but the rest of the UK economy has a lot to learn from ours. (b) These are teenagers. They'll out-grow it; this is just a phase. (c) They won't work for unethical companies? Good for those companies! Have you managed a person under 25 lately?

All of that is fair: the British economy doesn't exactly set our trends. Kids do indeed get more practical and less idealistic as they mature. And how much influence do you really think these kids will have on their parents' investments? But it still heartens me. It indicates a trend.

As top brass at Johnson & Johnson dubbed it in the '50s, this will motivate Enlightened Self-Interest: companies will start to cater to this trend, and the world will benefit.

Your thoughts on this matter are most appreciated. ted@naplessocialaction.org

Education/SEED

2008-05-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, that was a quick response! I shared my latest missive (below) with some friends, and one replied with the link to this editorial in The New York Times by Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat (which I highly, highly recommend).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/opinion/25friedman.html?ex=1212465600&en=773059e8f181d4ca&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Prescription for Education

2008-05-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's my abbreviated prescription for our nation's public schools:

1. Teacher starting salary $80 k.
2. Teachers are hired with the expectation that they will serve only two years. Discharge them honorably with tuition to grad school.
3. The best 10% of teachers make it past those first 2 years. That will build in experience and mentoring.
4. No education classes recognized: content or nothing.
5. Maximum class size 12 students.
6. Standardized testing: AP exams, period.
7. Mandatory daily sports.
8. Mandatory daily chores (no maintenance staff).
9. Honor system strictly enforced.
10. Maximum school size 150 students.
11. 3 Rs + E: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Entrepreneurialism. ...For EVERY kid!

As I said, that's just a start. As the saying goes, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!"

Some day soon, I'll get my hands on a charter school. Look out World!

PS - A link to the prep. school that literally changed my life. I can't stress that enough; it is impossible for me to exaggerate (try as I may). When the day comes for said charter school of my own, I plan to copy just as much as I possibly can from the Wooster School: http://www.woosterschool.org/community/commsvc.php

Laptops/Give One, Get One is back!

2008-05-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

Two important developments on the laptop story. Read the article below to learn more:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53876;_hbguid=52e1c791-3db3-4f3d-a478-0f2eade2125e

Right to Bear Arms and Shoot Our Friends

2008-05-24T05:37:00.000-07:00

Another spirited debate among the leaders of CFI Naples, which Jane calls my "Philosophy Club." Here I weigh in on the Second Amendment:

The Bill of Rights was written, it seems, with the intention of obscurity, perhaps to keep it a living document rather than a set of dictates that we genuflect to without thought. Still, the Second Amendment is particularly confounding to all of us.

There is "the right to bear arms" part, which seems clear enough until you consider which arms: all arms, including automatic weapons? Grenade launchers? Rocket launchers? Surface-to-air missiles?

Then there is the "in a well-regulated militia" phrase. Do we just ignore that part? If I buy a gun, can I declare myself a militia of one? Is a local gun club a militia? Or did the Founders perhaps mean something very well-regulated, like the National Guard? It seems that we have 50 very well-regulated militias.

Perhaps the ACLU considers the NRA to be doing a fine job of protecting our right to bear arms. As the second largest and best-funded lobby after AARP, I think that's the case.

I've got to weigh in as a moderate here, which is never very exciting. If I were the victim of a violent crime, I would want to carry a gun for my own sense of security. For that reason, I'm glad to have that right. On the other hand, if we regulated our gun position even a little bit better in this country, perhaps we'd be a lot safer. How many kids die fooling around with Dad's bed-side pistol each year? One is too many, but I think it's more than one. How many drunks kill friends with a .38-special every Saturday night at pool halls across the country?

I don't think guns are inherently dangerous. If you look at Switzerland, every single male aged 18 to about 60 is required to have a working military rifle in his home. The magazines are shrink-wrapped, though, and regular inspections ensure that anyone who opens their magazine's protective wrapping is sent to jail. Perhaps this is a closer definition of "well-regulated" than what we see in the US.

Have you seen Bowling for Columbine? The interview of Charlton Heston is... well, I'll never watch Planet of the Apes and The Ten Commandments in the same way again. It's hard to support the NRA after that scene, even if you aren't a big Michael Moore fan.

Environment

2008-05-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

I see this as a possible way out of our current oil and global-warming woes without inviting economic ruin:

(a) We have the technology today to build fuel-efficient vehicles, the (ugly little) Prius being one of many. High gas prices are inspiring more consumers to purchase compact cars (25% of new sales last month) - let's hope that trend increases. This won't hurt any auto manufacturers one bit, and no one has to pass a law - as an ardent capitalist, I love it!

I think it's in our national interest to spur this along, though. Right now, today, we could close the small truck/SUV tax loophole and set minimum fuel standards that would be rewarded with tax breaks. Thus, if you want a Prius, you save money; if you still want a Navigator, good for you - please pay Uncle Sam a $5,000 fee for this luxury.

(b) Let's try nuclear power again on a large scale. I think it beats the alternative. Hopefully, we'll develop a way to "disarm" the toxic waste later.

(c) Let's give tax incentives to those who purchase green alternatives such as "Al Gore light bulbs" for the home and office, solar panels where they make sense weather-wise, etc. etc.

(d) Let's pour tax-money and private capital into R&D for green technology. If thousands of entrepreneurs across the country are encouraged to start small companies to solve some of these environmental problems... hey, isn't that fostering the ingenuity and drive that has kept this country great for 400 years?

Instead of coercion, let's try incentive. I'll bet we'll get much farther.

By the way: A few months ago, Jeanmarie Hendry (of The Naples Institute) took me to a building site in Bonita - poor folks buying their first homes, which were "green" houses. The technology was simple, available today, and in several cases (like the smaller air-conditioning units) LESS expensive than the typical alternatives - indeed, a number of the solutions were merely in design, not materials, like running the air ducts at chest-level instead of up high where the hot air of the room & roof heats the cooled air on its way into the room. There's no reason every private builder couldn't incorporate those ideas into their new homes without losing whatever price-advantage they enjoy today. They would be prompted to do this with tax incentives. Again, let's inspire through benefits, not penalties.

Laptops/Safety

2008-05-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

The most important consideration is that we are actively working with the Sherriff's Dept. - their head of IT & cyber crimes now has one of the computers, which he is checking out - and NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) is actively engaged in this program. Amelia at NCMEC will be joining us the very first day of the program (June 9th) to certify the kids in an online safety program, and she will be back to work with us every time we have a new batch of children. Safety online comes through education, and (as a father of two young girls), that is of paramount importance.

...Along those lines, it is important to realize that many cell phones now enable Internet access. So the question isn't, "Will these children be going online?" but, "Will they know how to stay safe from predators and bullying when they do?"

Laptop Update

2008-05-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will be meeting with the principal at Lake Trafford Elementary School. Hopefully, he'll match us with a teacher who will help us in the pilots this summer, and who will be the resident Immokalee laptop specialist, on hand to coach other teachers in Immokalee going forward.

So far, here is what we have:

* Classes will be held at Beth El Assembly of God. The kids will meet 3 times a week, one hour each time, throughout the summer. There will be 2 pilots running simultaneously, each with 21 kids - one group from RCMA, the other from Lake Trafford. All are going into 4th grade. There will be 3 teachers who will be certified teacher-trainers for this program by the time the pilot ends.

* The "XO" laptops are made by OLPC (One Laptop Per Child), a nonprofit started by professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. They are child-sized, drop-proof, waterproof, dust-proof, have Wi-Fi that is four times better than anything we adults can buy for ourselves, and they have the only screen in existence that works well in direct sunlight. Again, we adults just can't buy that, no matter what we're willing to pay. They come with a still- and video-camera. They are theft-proof (they turn off when stolen), and even if they aren't connected to the Internet, they still instantly "mesh:" they recognize when another XO is within range, and hook up to it automatically, making collaboration a breeze. Because OLPC is a nonprofit, the computers themselves are only $220 each, including shipping. Including the training, this program costs $500 per child.

* The software (or "courseware," as it's called) that the kids will be using in class has been created by an organization out of Pennsylvania called Waveplace Foundation (http://www.waveplace.org/). I am on the board of directors. The founder and president of Waveplace, Tim Falconer, will be leading the first week of teacher-training. That is 30+ intensive hours, most of which are the 3 teachers and Tim alone, going through the entire course that the kids will be taking this summer.

* Waveplace courseware is designed to teach the kids computer skills, including writing code, graphic design, animation, and digital story-telling, among other things. The children will even be using high school geometry - yes, these are 4th graders. Waveplace lets the kids explore and learn; the teachers help them along. Rather than "drill and kill" through rote memorization, kids have fun learning. They stay engaged this way. I've seen it in action. Let me tell you, it's amazing.

* We have had two previous pilots, one on St. John (US Virgin Islands), the other in Haiti. Results were great both times, though we're confident the kids in Immokalee will do even better with their projects because of the ground laid by those first two pilots.

* Once our two pilots are done, we're ready to roll out courses to as many students as we can raise funds for. Our first priority is to bring Waveplace training and OLPC computers to all of the 4th graders in Immokalee; ultimately, every kid from kindergarten through eighth grade will go through this program and have a computer of their own, but that is going to take some serious fund raising. We will also be bringing the same opportunity to the other Title I (poor) schools throughout South Florida, as funds permit.

* Our goal is to be done within ten years. Right now, no kids have this training and these computers. Ten years from now - 2018 - every single kid in South Florida will. That is what we are doing.

Here are the organizations and people involved:

* Waveplace Foundation/Tim Falconer. www.waveplace.org

* OLPC. The computer its self is called the XO. www.laptop.org.

* One-by-One Leadership Foundation of SWFL. This is a faith-based organization that has spearheaded our fundraising, brought key players to the table... John Lawson, the executive director, is one of the true heroes of this story.

* www.NaplesSocialAction.org - that's my wife Jane and me, and our partner/technology guru Michael Junkroski, owner of www.VSM.net on Marco. I'm on the board of Waveplace. I put Tim and John together. We are running the pilots. Jane is one of the three teacher-trainers, and will manage the other teacher-trainers.

* Laptop South Florida. This is the nonprofit that we are forming to run local efforts here in this region. One-by-One is "giving birth" to our 501(c)3, i.e. helping us get established with the state and the IRS. I am building the board.

* Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA)'s Community School - the kids from our first pilot are coming from there.

* The Summer Migrant Program, headed up by Earl Wiggins - the kids from the second pilot are being funded through this project.

Other items of interest:

* There are hundreds of thousands of OLPC computers being used in third-world countries as we speak. Peru and Mexico are leading the movement with 600,000 in use or ordered.

* Our pilot begins Monday, June 9th. WGCU and NPR are both sending reporters to cover this story.

* We will have a presence at the Immokalee Kids Games on Saturday, June 14.

Venture Capitalist

2008-05-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

A friend told me today, "You don't want to deal with venture capitalists. They're not nice - they're sharks. They'll take your company from you."

"But I'm not doing business with VCs," I said. "I am a VC. And I don't want to take anyone's business away. That's hardly the point. Then we'd have to run it ourselves, and who wants that?"

Okay, that last part was a bit flip. But the truth is in there: I don't want to take people's businesses from them. I want to help quality entrepreneurs raise money, build a board; perhaps serve on the board myself, and certainly advise regardless. I want the business visionaries we support to thrive. Call me an idealist, but I want everyone to win - except the competition, of course. I'm not much interested in their winning.

My test for myself and my colleagues is, can we be highly ethical and highly successful? My bet is that it is easier to succeed on a massive scale if we are ethical.

Wanna bet against us?

Laptops / Microsoft now involved

2008-05-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

The following editorial on the computers we're using in Immokalee is from the Boston Globe.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/05/19/one_laptop_two_systems/

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this controversial move.

Background on Ted Coiné

2008-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

People can never figure out who I am or what I do for a living. My first answer is, "I'm still trying to figure that one out myself." However, I decided to include it on my blog so that at least it's out there, if someone's interested. So, for the two of you who actually read this blog:

Born in Bethlehem, PA. Grew up in sleepy, affluent Westport, CT. It’s a good place to be from. …“From” being the operative word. Just to be clear: my family was never affluent, not even in the best of times.

BA William & Mary, 1991 – Philosophy major, Psychology minor. I actually had a double major in girls and drinking, with a swimming minor.

1990-91 – Surfed full-time, bartended & waited tables part-time in CA. (It was a paperwork snafu that had me graduating a year after I left campus. I was surfing in Spain when I got the news that I might not graduate at all! We’ll save that story for another time).

1991-92 – Sales, recruiting, & management Equinox International (multi-level marketing). Developed downline of over 100 members. Thank God I didn’t make enough to keep at it!

1993-94 – Other sales positions, calling mostly on large, really, really wealthy real estate developers, institutional investors, and property management firms. From all this, I thought I hated sales; turns out, I merely hate selling the wrong things. Selling the right product can be an absolute blast!

1994-96 – Returned to bartending & waiting to pay the bills until I figured out my next step. Took numerous writing courses, wrote a few bad books and one, Powder Burn, that I’m very proud of – someday I’ll get around to publishing it. Married Jane 1996. This remains the wisest decision I’ve ever made. Jane rocks.

1997-2001 – Taught English as a Second Language (ESL) at a world-class private language school (4 years), then worked 6 months as director of a new school started by a former colleague (now defunct - the school, that is. Tim is doing well). Boston, London, and Malta are the three global centers for the private ESL industry. What luck that I fell into this career in Boston!

2001 – Started “Ted’s English School” (now Coiné Language School) in our living room. Made $10 the first month. About 2 years ago, we valued the school at $10 million. On a bad day, I might sell it for $100, but those are few now that I’m 900 miles away from daily operations. I’ve backed off selling it 3 times and counting. As an aside: this company has billion-dollar potential. EF, a privately owned competitor with an inferior product, is a $1 billion company and growing fast. I needed some time off, though. One of my mottos is, “If it isn’t fun, you’re doing it wrong.” Well, I wasn’t having fun. Meanwhile, my speaking career was taking off…

2005 – Wrote my first published book, Five-Star Customer Service. Began traveling extensively, giving one-day workshops and keynote speeches, primarily to small-medium business owners ($5-20 million) and C-level executives of larger enterprises (targeting the Fortune 100). Well-paid speakers are treated somewhat like rock-stars, which is addictive. Traveling from my family? I’m not as crazy about that, so I’ve cut back dramatically in the last year. There are many things in this life more important than money.

2006 – Moved to Naples. Unquestionably the second-best decision I have ever made. Established the Coiné Foundation (http://www.coinefoundation.org/) two weeks later, while still living in Mom’s condo.

2007 – Wrote Spoil ’Em Rotten! with Jane, also about customer service, corporate culture, and leadership. Doubled one-day fee to $10,000.

2007 – established http://www.naplessocialaction.org/ with Jane and Michael Junkroski, who has since become a close personal friend. Jane’s take? “Ted, this is the best thing you’ve ever done.” Also gathered the nucleus to create The Naples Institute (“Fighting for social justice!” http://www.institutenaples.org/), a think tank that I see as our legacy – 100 years from now, that is what we will all be remembered for. What a talented group we’ve gathered: Rita & Bernie Turner, Jim Fisher, Gene Landrum, Jeanmarie Hendry, Michael, Ilene Leff, and me! (5 of the 8 principals are professional business consultants, so we’ve also formed NI Access, the for-profit consulting sister entity of The Naples Institute.)

2007/08 – Joined the board of Waveplace Foundation (http://www.waveplace.org/), based in PA, to help bring OLPC laptop computers (http://www.laptop.org/) and education to the poorest children in the world, starting in South Florida and the Caribbean.

2008 – Still forming Laptop South Florida (LSF) with the help of my friend John Lawson at the One-by-One Leadership Foundation. LSF will be the local face of Waveplace. We’re off to a great start, with two pilots starting up in Immokalee on June 9th.

2008 – Co-founded NIA Venture Group, LLC with partner Gene Landrum (filed with the state & IRS today, May 13). Banyana/WHS is our first project – Gene is chairman of the board, I also serve on the board; Skip Muller is the CEO and founder. Mum’s the word right now, but it is destined to be a household name in a year or two.

Nonprofit Boards:
Coiné Foundation (in sleep mode at present)
Naples Social Action (More of less my full-time job for the past year)
Volunteer Collier
Cancer Alliance of Naples
Waveplace Foundation
Laptop South Florida

Committees – I can’t even remember! Let’s just say, I’ve been pretty busy in the past year or so.

Laptops / What a Week!

2008-05-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

Today's editorial in the Naples Daily News (NDN) said it better than I have been:

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/09/editorial-more-just-technology/

We've had a banner week. Some highlights:

* Last Saturday, Laptop South Florida made the front page of NDN (see below).

* Waveplace Foundation got funding for a pilot in Nicaragua.

* Wednesday, I met with two stellar elementary school teachers to interview them for our pilot in Immokalee, which will certify them to be teacher-trainers for the future: "Other Ted" and Susan. I hope to be sharing a lot more about them with you as things progress - but I don't want to get ahead of myself.

* Thursday John Lawson and I met with Earl Wiggins, who heads up the summer migrant program for the public schools in Immokalee. His boss has to sign off, but it looks like we will be doing a second, simultaneous pilot with 21 more kids this summer.

* Also Thursday, I met with John Lawson's boss, Reid Carpenter. Reid heads up the One-by-One Leadership Foundation locally and also the Leadership Foundation internationally. We had a great meeting, signed a contract of sorts spelling out our relationship, and now we can move forward with a relationship based on mutual trust and esteem. I'll admit, I was apprehensive before now about what John's board might want viz-a-viz control of Laptop South Florida. I am no longer worried in the least.

* ...And at that same meeting we added a member to the board I'm forming for LSF, Dave Hailer, a truly remarkable man who, among other endeavors, led the Peace Corps!

There's more - I haven't even mentioned Efrain until now - but I'll save it for my next posting. Here is how I'd like to finish this entry:

I am amazed and grateful that we have attracted the caliber of people we have to LSF. It's the stuff of dreams, to be able to put a team together such as ours.

We made the news!

2008-05-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/may/02/immokalee-children-get-free-laptops-education/

Today, Naples Daily News. Tomorrow, the New York Times!

All kidding aside, I think you'll agree, writer Tracy Miguel once again wrote a very good story about NSA and our endeavors.

Join us for talk on Laptops!

2008-04-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, April 30, I will be giving a presentation on Laptop South Florida. This is open to the public - no charge for admission.

5:30-6:30 PM at the Naples Regional branch of the public library (this is the one downtown).

Here is the feature on "60 Minutes" to wet your whistle: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story

A quick synopsis:

MIT computers. Waveplace Foundation teacher-training. Local implementation.

That's it! Bring your questions April 30th!

Videos of kids with their laptops

2008-04-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

The following is from Tim Falconer, president of the board of the Waveplace Foundation, which provides the educational content for the children's laptops we're bringing to Immokalee. I'm on the Waveplace board, too.

Hi everyone,

We've just posted two new videos from the St John Waveplace pilot, which concluded three weeks ago. The first shows mentoring during the pilot. The second shows students presenting their Etoys storybooks that they created during the pilot.

1) Scenes from the St John pilot (4 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=45

2) The St John Storybook Awards (8 minutes)
http://waveplace.com/locations/usvi/movie.jsp?id=44

We will be posting the actual storybooks to our website soon so you can see them for yourself.
In other news, the Haiti pilot will resume next week, since things have calmed down in Port-Au-Prince. The kids and teachers are well.

Take care,
Tim

"What are your real motives, Ted?"

2008-03-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I met with a man who is very active in the area nonprofit realm; he has founded a number of very successful nonprofits; his wife has run just one, a really, really important one, for 18 years now. These are people I admire deeply.

There was only one problem: as has sometimes happened to me since our move to Naples, he didn't know what to make of me. I get this question quite a bit: "What's in it for you?" Well, this man didn't ask me, but today I learned what I had long suspected, that he thought it. I learned that from a talk with his wife. She was kind enough to ask me outright, "Ted, what do you get out of your nonprofit work?"

I have to say, that's a really sad question to have to ask. I thought the point of charity was to benefit others, not yourself. She told me that's rare. So I wrote her an email, which you can read below.

GNL refers to Greater Naples Leadership, a group that her husband presided over and (I believe) helped found that trains affluent older folks to be active on social-sector boards. As you can read, it's a Who's Who of the nonprofit community here in Naples.

It occurred to me that perhaps I don't explain myself enough - despite my business background, I still may not toot my own horn sufficiently, so that people have no idea how I put food on the table. Oh, well. I'm a work in progress.

Dear _______,

Bob Juster's partner is Walt Burdick, also a GNL-er. We were featured in the same issue of Naples Illustrated Magazine (January); Bob's write-up said that their company in Immokalee, TMI, is a "for-benefit corporation," so I called Bob up to find out what that is. If you look at my think tank's web site (www.institutenaples.org) you'll see where we've come up with something we called a "for-profit charity." We're going to change the term to "for-benefit corporation," because it turns out that is a phrase being used on the forefront of the social sector now.

Ilene Leff, who I think you know from GNL, introduced me to a remarkable international organization she works with, www.ashoka.org out of DC. They help social entrepreneurs create organizations that are hybrid for-profit/non-profit. I didn't realize it until I studied up on Ashoka, but I guess I'm a social entrepreneur, too.

I understand your and your husband's skepticism of my motives. I'm a bleeding-heart capitalist, that's all. I think a lot of people who are good at making money find that rewarding in and of itself. They are often also motivated by the fear of not having enough. Not I. I see money as a means to two ends: financial security for my family, which doesn't require all that much cash, and charity. I'm sure I'd be Port-Royal rich by now if I cared about it more. But we're only a short walk to the beach, so we have nothing to complain about.

You folks are bleeding heart capitalists, too. Maybe you should give others more credit for being inspired as you are.

A concern: will giving laptops for free = no value for the children?

2008-03-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

The following is my reply to some concerns about Laptop South Florida raised by NI co-Founder Jim Fisher's agent, which Jim shared with me. You can pick up his points in the context of my reply.

Jim,

I agree with every word your agent says.

Another legitimate social justice advocate, the executive director of the Immokalee Foundation, had the exact same suggestion when it came to earning the computers. My partner in crime on this project, John Lawson, and I agreed immediately, and now service-for-computers is part of our strategy going forward. One project we are going to engage the children in is packaging dried meals for the hungry in Collier County and poor countries like Haiti, Nicaragua, and others. These kids will be the beneficiaries of charity, which has got to be disspiriting; but because they are going to help out others who are even less fortunate, they will feel better about themselves. This type of model is already at work with this and that program in Immokalee, and it has done wonders - I've spoken with a number of these children.

I agree with your thoughts on the lack of gumption of American kids. I was one, remember, so I know first-hand: I felt entitled. Our affluence has spoiled us, and our parents have been on a child-spoiling, character-undermining kick for two generations now. I can't imagine why it's happening, but we as a society need to start tilting the balance the other way. This same kind of thing is plaguing Japan and more recently Korea, and their kids are showing the same malaise as ours. I don't think there's an easy way around this when a society is experiencing unabated plenty. It's one reason I enjoy immigrants so much: they're the go-getters that many of us natives no longer are.

As for people making money off of charities... That sickens me. There are roughly 500 nonprofits in the Greater Naples area (too many, but at least it shows that people care). Through Naples Social Action (NSA - http://www.naplessocialaction.org/), which exists to support them all, I've met all manner of people in the charity realm. There are some groups composed of all volunteers, with literally no overhead, such as NSA and First Book. There are many thatunder-payy their skeleton-crew of a staff, supplement the staff with hardy volunteerism, and are very efficient at serving their clients, such as the Cancer Alliance of Naples and the Immokalee Foundation. There are others, many of them governmental agencies and others branches of large national or international nonprofits, where the workers seem to think, "Well, if we don't save people today, we can get to it next Monday. What's the rush?" Then there are others, such as what one person has dubbed "The Predatory Foundation," that seem to be in business to fleece well-meaning donors of their dollars without particularly serving any constituents at all. Fortunately, these are the rarest, but they're there.

When we started NSA, we decided right away that we would never charge a nonprofit for our services, because we want the money these groups raise to go to helping needy people, not us.

After operating for a year completely out of pocket, we've decided that a budget, a staff, a marketing plan, etc., could be beneficial in our efforts to help those 500 nonprofits. We have made a couple of thousand dollars so far from corporate advertising on our website. Now, we are going to throw some energy behind that, and actually raise funds that way. We are also going to break NSA off from the Coine Foundation and turn it into its own "for-benefit corporation." A for-benefit is a for-profit business that directs its profits to charity, along the lines of Newman's Own. An associate of The Naples Institute, Ilene Leff, turned me on to the idea through an international nonprofit she advises based out of DC called Ashoka (http://www.ashoka.org/). This hybrid idea will help me marry my business acumen with my urge to serve others. I'm very excited by the prospect.

Bottom line? I think that helping the poor, as with parenting or any other endeavor, requires relentless diligence. The urge will always be there for people to stray, to get comfortable; to give up hope of ever making fundamental change. When nonprofit leaders lose their idealism and hope, that is when they need to retire. Please watch me carefully, and warn me if I ever start to look complacent.

OLPC - will it work?

2008-03-21T09:20:00.001-07:00

The following is from an e-conversation between me and another Founder of The Naples Institute (www.institutenaples.org). The colleague in question does not think my passion for the $200 laptop (the XO www.laptop.org) for the children of Immokalee is a good use of my efforts. I disagree. Below is my reply to his concerns.

Background: I hope this changes, but at present the makers of the XO, OLPC, will only allow one group to buy XOs for the children of America. The lucky nonprofit is the Waveplace Foundation (www.waveplace.org). I agreed to join the board of Waveplace only if we could bring XOs to the children of Immokalee.

Dear Founder,

Another Founder of The Napples Institute is dead-set against the XO as well (especially for the Third World). His pet cause is to bring basics such as wells and can openers to the poor of Nicaragua, for instance, so that they don't have to disfigure themselves using axes to open cans donated by Dole. He says the truly poor need food, clean water, inoculation, and protection from mosquitoes, not comparatively prohibitively expensive computers.

This is my take: I want him to keep on with his can openers and wells, because he's right, those folks need that. That is giving them a fish, and they're starving today, so they need a fish right away. But they also need to be taught how to fish. That's where the laptops come in.

One day every poor child in the world will have some version of the laptop that we're bringing to Immokalee - be it the "XO" made by One Laptop Per Child (www.laptop.org, an offshoot of the MIT Media Lab), or something made by a competitor. That's over 2 billion kids, so yes, it will take quite some doing. But it is happening already. It's only a matter of time, because the will is there in spades. There are currently a few hundred thousand XOs out there, almost all in the Third World. The problem is of manufacturing output, not funding, at least at this point: there is a months-long wait list. So this is going to happen whether we like it or not.

I'm focused on Immokalee in particular, and South Florida in general, because someone has to be and no one else was before I started it. We can't have kids that poor right in our midst like that - we simply cannot tolerate it, not if we want to call ourselves civilized.

I'll let someone else argue for the poor in the Caribbean and elsewhere. Our pilots in St. John and Haiti are going well, but let me focus on Immokalee. You bring up an outstanding point: the kids we're trying to help out there are a world away from my daughters here "West of (Route) 41." Our girls, like the affluent kids your wife works with, are growing up in an environment where learning, reading, challenging discussion, and - most importantly by far - expectations all lead them to a life of intellectual pursuit and achievement. Jane and I joke that if our two budding geniuses don't grow up to be professors at MIT (ironically), it's all our fault - they're headed there now, and only very bad parenting can budge them off that course.

The vast majority of kids in Immokalee have no such benefits of environment. Their parents are likely illegal immigrants, and worse, they are likely either illiterate in their first language or under-educated - I know this because we have been teaching just this type of person English and literacy for years at Coine Language School. In many cases, they don't value education; they may not even have a single book or even magazine in their home. At present, half of the kids in that town drop out of high school before they graduate; the other half don't exactly "make it," either. The expectation for any of the kids out there is so low that adults think it's praiseworthy if they merely stay out of a gang, don't get pregnant, and go into a trade - any trade, including landscaping.

These computers, coupled with the courseware and teacher-training that we will provide along with them, will work to nullify all of that negative influence in this one generation. That is what is so exciting to me. For one thing, the lessons are interactive and thrilling. Have you ever seen a 4th grader, even a nice middle-class one, sit still for 90 minutes? I've been a teacher for a dozen years now, and two weeks ago was my first time. I saw 25 migrant children sit still for that long while the Waveplace founder, Tim Falconer, led them through a fun - very fun - lesson where they learned artistic design on the computer, basic code-writing, and high school geometry. This is not exaggeration. I was right there.

You know me a bit by now: I wouldn't bother with this project were it not going to absolutely, fundamentally disrupt the status quo - in this case my favorite ax to grind, education. It is. We are destroying and rebuilding simultaneously. I thought this would happen when I first learned about the XO 4 years ago; in the past few months, with our pilots in the Islands, I heard about its actually coming to pass; in the past two weeks, I have seen it in action.

Within a very short time, beginning June first, there will be no reason left for the poorest children in America to be less well-educated than the wealthiest. Of course there will be problems and disappointments - maybe even scandal; no, certainly even scandal. But we'll trudge on regardless.

110 years ago, in 1898, children were working in mines for pennies a day. 60 years ago, in 1948, black children in one third of our nation were not allowed to use the same restrooms and water fountains or go to the same schools as whites. Today, in 2008, there are poor children across our country who have no reasonable hope of attending college if they so choose.

What will we say in 2048? In 2098? I'm incredibly optimistic.

One Laptop Per Child on 60 Minutes

2008-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

This week, my friend Tim Falconer, Founder and President of the Waveplace Foundation(http://www.waveplace.org/), joined us in Naples, Bonita, and Immokalee to help me get the ball rolling on Waveplace South Florida.

Before you continue, I suggest you watch this segment from "60 Minutes" featuring the laptops that we're bringing to our part of the state: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml?source=search_story

Now, some more details:

I'm on the board of the Waveplace Foundation. Its founder, Tim, is owner of a software design firm in Pennsylvania. I'm the only board member in Florida.

Waveplace has created curriculum and software to go with the XO laptops they feature on "60 Minutes." We provide teachers with that software and curriculum for their students, and we train teachers in how to use that software and curriculum.

We have a 10-week pilot almost wrapped-up in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Another has been underway for two weeks in Haiti. #3 will be in St. Vincent, U.S. Virgin Islands. The fourth and final pilot class will be in Immokalee, from June 1st through August 10th.

Waveplace's area of focus is the Caribbean. Tim explains the whys of that very well on the Waveplace site. When he asked me to join the board, I said, "Well, I really appreciate what you're doing, but I want to brings those computers to the kids of South Florida, particularly Immokalee, and I can't afford to be distracted from that goal. If Waveplace could include our region in its scope of endeavor, then sure, I'm in!" I made my pitch - that our economy is blighted by tourism just as are Jamaica, St. John, etc., and that Immokalee is a land-locked island. I'll share more on that at a later time.

In any event, Tim agreed, and his visit here this week confirmed his decision. We are talking about making Southwest Florida the "Caribbean" base of operations for the Waveplace Foundation. A number of factors make that attractive.

John Lawson of the One-by-One Leadership Foundation (http://www.leadershipfoundations.org/Display.asp?Page=SWFLA) has been instrumental in connecting us to the right people to discuss funding and implementation locally. He is an integral part of our leadership here in South Florida.

John is a good friend and a very good guy. (I don't share his religious agenda, however.) We featured him as a Neapolitan of Note in an early issue of our e-newsletter for Naples Social Action. You can read that issue here: http://naplessocialaction.org/Newsletters/Archive.html

We're days away from officially establishing Waveplace South Florida (which we'll tie in some way to The Naples Institute) - an independent group closely-affiliated with Tim's Waveplace Foundation. We're going to hold our first organizational meeting next week. If you're interested in participating, please contact me: ted@naplessocialaction.org.

Forbes Mag. on Capitalism 2.0

2008-02-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay, I know: Forbes Magazine doesn't even accept that Global Warming is a scientific fact; how can you take anything they say seriously? Kooky, that's how I'd have to describe Steve Forbes and his magazine. (More's the pitty: I'm a HUGE proponent of the flat tax!)

Well, that may be so. But you still may find this article on ethical companies interesting: www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0310/030.html.

(The last paragraph is a big let-down, sadly.)

Neapolitans of Note Earl & Thelma Hodges (Part I)

2008-02-29T14:48:00.000-08:00

The italicised portion of this entry was published in our e-newsletter, NSA Issue 14. Where the italics end, the unpublished portion of the story begins.

If you would like to subscribe to the NSA e-newsletter, email us at nsa@naplessocialaction.org.

Originally From: Earl - Tennessee / Thelma – Massachusetts
Neapolitans Since: 1955
Careers: Funeral Home Director / Nurse

The first thing you have to know about Earl and Thelma Hodges is, they’re good people.

They didn’t inherit a fortune or make it to the big time with an IPO. They don’t live in a castle in Port Royal, although their house is very nice. They drive a Dodge Caravan (Earl: “The stow-and-go seat sold me”), not a Rolls Royce. Themla works the cash registers most Thursdays in the White Elephant, NCH’s thrift shop (as do Ted’s Mom and stepfather). It’s Earl’s favorite place to shop. He loves the $1 name-brand shirts he often finds there.

Oh, and they have a university named after them: Hodges University, known as International College before their $12 million endowment last summer.

If any of this doesn’t add up, you haven’t been paying attention. Here’s a news flash: good things happen to good people. Specifically, if you spend your life giving more to your neighbors and community than you could ever get back, and if you build a business based on genuine relationships and personal integrity, then you, too, can give your fortune away some day.

Thelma and Earl met when they were introduced by Les and Betty Johnson in 1956 – Les was president of the Chamber of Commerce at the time. Earl was one of the few bachelors in the sleepy little fishing village of Naples; Thelma was one of the founding nurses at Naples Community Hospital. She had moved to Naples the year before from Massachusetts with her younger sister and a friend. They were staying right across an alley from Earl’s aunt and uncle. Thelma, no wilting flower, invited Earl to the Junior Women’s Club ball. There were plenty of single women in Naples at that time, but talking to Earl, it’s clear that wasn’t a distraction. “I was a bumpkin,” he says, still clearly grateful that Thelma took a liking to him 52 years ago. “I didn’t even own a watch.”

That bumpkin, mind you, had begun his business career at thirteen. Attending the funeral of a friend’s father, Earl was smitten by the hearse, and ended up talking to the undertaker through the entire service. He began working for that funeral director without pay until his one-year anniversary, when the owner handed him an envelope. Inside was one dollar. “It was okay that they didn’t pay me; I was getting an education. I was thrilled to get that dollar!”

Earl held numerous other jobs, served in the Maritime Service (the Merchant Marine) in World War II, joined the Army Reserve after the war, and served in grave registration for the Army in the Korean War.

Nothing Earl has ever done was simple, but nothing kept him from achieving his goals, either. For instance, he tried to sign up for military service during WWII, but he failed the physicals for the Marines, the Navy, the Army, and the Coast Guard, each time because he had too much protein in his urine. Undaunted, he befriended a nurse who advised him to drink lots of water before his physical, because that would dilute the protein in his system. He did, and passed the exam for the Maritime Service. He wanted to serve his country in the War, and he did. Earl Hodges doesn’t make excuses; he makes things happen.

Here’s another one. He moved to Naples, began work at Pitman’s Funeral Home, and married Thelma. It was supposed to take him four years to qualify for his own funeral director’s license, but Pitman didn’t have enough customers to qualify in one of those years (that’s how small Naples was back then), so it took him five years instead. During all that time, Earl built up a reputation around town as a man of honor, a good man who thought nothing of going the extra mile – or several extra miles – for his customers and his friends.

Finally, a funeral home operator from the Keys came to Naples with an eye toward opening a spot to compete with Pitman’s. Earl out-maneuvered the out-of-towner for the lot he was going to buy for his funeral home; he started his own business instead. “It was time,” he said. “The town was growing, and someone was going to enter the market anyway.”

Well, Mr. Pitman didn’t see it that way, so he badmouthed Earl around town – which blew up in his face, because everyone knew what a stand-up guy Earl was. Then, Pitman bought the lot south of the Hodges’ funeral home, and erected a mammoth billboard there to advertise his own business, blocking much of Earl’s visibility from the street. Again, it backfired.

“I would have gladly paid rent on that sign,” he laughs. “Folks in town thought that was unfair, so it helped us a lot.”

Says Earl, “I don’t believe in cut-throat business practices. Pitman did, and it hurt his business. A lot.”

Things got better from there. Naples grew, and with it, the Hodges’ fortunes. They ended up with a number of funeral homes, including some in other parts of the state, a memorial garden, and two crematoriums. A look at Earl’s resume shows he founded or served on the boards of a few local banks, and he and Thelma invested a bit in property, as well.

Things didn’t happen overnight for these two. They lived over their funeral home from 1960 to 1976, when they bought their current home for $156,000. (It’s worth a bit more today.) Thelma continued working up until their move. In other words, Thelma and Earl Hodges are the spitting image of Stanley and Danko’s Millionaire Next Door.

More than the business success, though, when you talk to the Hodges, you hear again and again about their involvement in philanthropy. Thelma has been active in thirteen area nonprofits; Earl, twenty-nine.

A very partial list for Thelma: she seems to have served in every officer position of the NCH Auxiliary. She has been president of the Junior Women’s Club and Visiting Nurse’s Council, and she was chairman of Bazaar Luncheons. She is presently Chairman of the Old Timers’ Association (yes, there really is an Old Timers’ Association in Naples). Every month, she and her friends still meet at the Women’s Club downtown.

Earl has served as Past President of the Naples Area Chamber of Commerce, Naples Shrine Club, United Way of Collier County (where he was also Campaign Chairman), and Collier County Junior Deputies’ League, which works with forth and fifth graders – he remains a director of this organization. He also served as Chairman of the Collier County Red Cross for ten years, and spent another ten years as president of Swamp Buggy Days, where he is Chairman Emeritus.
And there’s more… and more… for each of them. The bottom line? The Hodges aren’t just people who decided to have a university named after them. More accurately, their incredibly active civic engagement over the past fifty-plus years is why the university now bears their name. The horse came before the cart, you could say.

But we had one question that really needed answering: Why the university? With all of these great causes, why donate such a large sum to one particular organization, and why that one in particular?

“Because Terry (President Terry McMahan) broke Earl down,” Thelma quips with a sparkle in her eye that reminds us of a much, much younger version of Ted’s Grandma.
She continues, “People are very impressed with the money, but I have two jobs now because Earl gave all our money away.”

…And that about sums it up for this feature. To read more about Earl and Thelma – and there is a lot more that we mean to share about these two wonderful Neapolitans – keep opening your email from Naples Social Action. We’ll be running another feature on the Hodges soon, focusing next time on their passionate interest in their namesake, Hodges University.

"The Predatory Foundation"

2008-02-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

The following is from an email I sent to an acquaintance, in reply to her sensing I'm not fond of an organization here in Naples. I feel compelled to share this, even though I should just go for a run and burn off my bad thoughts instead. Yes, I suppose I can delight in being petty, just like anyone.

I've blocked out the name of the organization and people to which I refer, because I'm not comfortable saying bad things about others.

Hi Pal,

As for the XXXXXXX Foundation.... I try to bite my tongue and not badmouth anyone - it's been a successful strategy of mine and useful in my career, even if it's not always easy. I'll tell you, though, I genuinely believe that I'm being intentionally snubbed by __________ (their executive director) and her colleagues. Jane and I met with xxxxxxx ( a pleasant guy) and _____'s #2 (whose name escapes me) when we were first starting the Coiné Foundation about 18 months ago. Our temperaments couldn't be more different, and I think this lady decided not to be engaged with us on any level at that point. We were clearly like oil and water. I act quickly and decisively, which is how I've built the Coiné Companies and NSA in such a short time: why plod when you can gallop? Some people admire that, others don't get it - or me. I don't worry too much about the latter.

Maybe part of the problem is that we don't want to accept charity from them - NSA is completely out of pocket, and we haven't even bothered completing our 501(c)3 application, because the three of us involved don't know how to ask others for donations in any event - it would just be a waste of money and a lot of rigmarole at this point, though we're open to changing our minds at a later date. All we would want from the XXXXXXX Foundation, actually, is to help them by promoting their events through our calendar and by helping the organizations they serve. As you know from your nonprofit, we try to be useful friends to have.

I have a few friends at some of the more influential foundations and nonprofits who find them arrogant and difficult to deal with. They seem to be good at attracting affluent donors, though. Perhaps that's why one such friend has dubbed them "The Predatory Foundation," although I haven't had enough experience with them to know about that myself. All I know is that I have a strong distaste in my mouth, based on, as I said, this cold-shoulder treatment. It's gotten to the point that I find _____________ unprofessional, and I'd tell her so to her face (thus I'll write it in this email) if we ever met.

Wow, what a lot of bile! I'm sorry for sharing such poison with you.

Maybe I've just insulted your friends. If so, I apologize. And to be fair, I do have other friends who regard them highly. I think my opinion is biased by my personal experience - or should I say, lack of experience? - with them.

Enough of that! I'll be pleasant now, I promise.

Every Worker a Capitalist

2008-02-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

My friend and mentor Jim Fisher, co-Founder of The Naples Institute, shared a blog entry of his regarding Argentine workers in a balloon factory who showed up one day to discover their factory an empty shell, their jobs gone along with their bosses. Desperate for a means to feed their families, they agreed to secure funding and run the factory themselves, each an equal owner. The results, as Jim shares, are dramatic - and inspirational. (http://peripateticphilosopher.blogspot.com/2008/01/work-without-managers-argentina-style.html)

I see what those factory workers did in Argentina as Capitalism 2.0, without doubt! I have wrestled ever since my college Psychology of Organizational Development class, maybe before that, with this one question: why on earth does everyone buy into the idea that all of the workers, up to the very top, work for pay, and only the capitalist business owner gets all of the profits? Why is that okay with everyone? Why do we all buy into the idea that the owner "owns" the business, and everyone else works to make that person rich? How can he look them in the eye, knowing that this year he will make $23 million, $80 million, $200 million of personal income, whereas the folks reporting to him are stuck at $200,000, or $50,000, or $23,000? And more importantly, how can they look at him and not resent him?

I have a friend who works for a big, privately-owned company who brags about his boss's mansion where he holds the annual employee picnic. This is not unique, by any means. Doesn't that seem weird to anyone?

Apparently, just about everyone buys into the central tenet of capitalism, which hold that the capitalist takes all the risk (yes, so true, I agree), and so for his pluck he deserves all the reward.

Now, fair is fair, and any capitalist will argue that anyone can start their own business if they like; that those who do so and do it well will get rich; others will make good money, and others - losers, tools, knuckleheads - will fail ...but even the failures can try again, and again, if they don't make it the first time, so they can eventually get it right. Fair is fair. If you want to trade the immense risk and opportunity of running your own business for the illusion of "security" as an employee, good for you. We all make choices, and every day we choose to keep at what we're doing rather than striking out on our own, we are making that choice anew.

Look at me! I've just talked myself back into being a Capitalist.

Here's the thing: As I shout from the rooftops at every occasion, I am an ardent Capitalist, a proselytizer for that best of all systems. Indeed, Jane and I own 100% of two companies! One time, a few years ago, I did some quick math in my head and realized that, where before I was making $15 an hour to teach English for someone else, and when I teach a class on my own for my own business I make about $160 an hour, I made (on that day, in that quarter) over $800 an hour not teaching, but letting our talented, well-paid and respected teachers do it for me. So yes, I'm a Capitalist and glad of it!

Given all that, why would I rock this really, really personally rewarding boat?

I'm having an existential crisis, that's why. It's what philosophers-turned-businessmen do, an indulgence we try not to share with the world; I'm sure I'm poisoning my future well with this missive. Well, I've never been one to respect caution. ...Another trait that makes me a good Capitalist.

Stories like that of the Argentine factory workers, though... If we all grew up, if all of the workers in the world got the picture - that Capitalism can work for them, too - then we'd have a world-full of privately-owned (Capitalist) companies such as the balloon factory that are owned by the workers. Why not? Everyone would be a Capitalist and everyone would win, not just a tiny, tiny minority, as is the case today.

The big thing that separates me from 98% of my peers in Capitalism is that, while I very much like making money, and the more the merrier, with me it is not for the sake of either having money or of spending it on lavish stuff. I want to make millions and millions so I can give most of it away - not through hand-outs, but through savvy teach-a-man-to-fish endeavors such as improved universal education and microloans.

Marx wanted to State to own the means of production, rather than the workers. At least, that's how Communism has played out, and why it's such a dismal failure. But what if we had companies like that example in Argentina of a closed factory taken over by the workers, who become the owners? That is one of the bright faces of Capitalism 2.0. It's coming; hopefully, it will come in strength, rather than as a series of isolated flukes.

Nobody owes us a living. Adult Capitalist workers understand that, whereas workers stuck in the arrested development of childish paternalistic Primitive Capitalism bemoan their fate, complain and protest, beg our politicians for intervention and demand their unions "do something" with their employers when those companies go out of business or move operations off shore.

Let's see how many more laid-off workers of closed business units stand up and do something for themselves, just as the balloon factory workers in Argentina have. I hope this is the start of a trend.

By the way...

2008-02-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

To follow up regarding "Ted Sees Red" (below): Stephen Covey (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) and Ken Blanchard (The One-Minute Manager) are both contributing to our book, Enlightened Leadership. So things could be worse - and my head is swimming with the caliber of people I have recently (past 2+ years) found to be my peers.

Eventually, I win. Every time. I am a fierce competitor, even when there is no specific person I am vying against.

Dad is proud, on his cloud up in Heaven.

Ted sees Red

2008-02-19T14:38:00.000-08:00

Note to my Dear Readers: I say the following tongue-half-in-cheek. That's hard to convey in writing, but that is where you will find my tongue about 1/2 of the time, just so you know. I am at once laughing at myself, and dead-cold serious.

Nothing wakes me from a stupor quite so fast as a little resistance.

Here I was, wallowing in physical and mental torpor from this SARS/Bird Flu/Plague/T.B./"90-Day Cough" that I've enjoyed now since my birthday 24 days ago. I've actually been highly productive, but only in spurts, with a lot more downtime than I'm used to.

Things are going well. All of a sudden, everybody wants in on Naples Social Action in one way or another (www.naplessocialaction.org). The Naples Institute and NI Consulting are gathering a really, really powerful head of steam (www.institutenaples.org). On the surface they're going infuriatingly slowly, but I'm operating well below that surface, and I can see clearly that it's a winning idea that is already taking off - by the time The Naples Institute is a household name (at least in NPR, News Hour, and New York Times households), we'll already be out in front of the pack.

Even the NSA-CAN Ride seems off to a good start, despite my inattention. And my family is back from Boston, so all is right in the world.

So I was feeling rather... uninspired. And sick. And sluggish. And sorry for myself, cuz I have a little bitty cough. Poor, poor Ted.

Then, a sure thing turned out to need some coaxing.

In order to put our name out there, The Naples Institute is writing a book, Enlightened Leadership. We've already got an all-star cast of business authors assembled to contribute a chapter each, giving their take on what those two words mean to them. And we have an all-star editor in Ken Shelton, editor of Executive Excellence magazine and Steven Covey's ghost writer. It's a great topic, a chapter is a night's work for most authors, and proceeds are going to charity - a really great cause, namely (my favorite) One Laptop Per Child (www.waveplace.org).

So I reached out to an author who has endorsed one of my books, a friend of the family through his dad and my Dad, a bestseller whose work is right in line with this topic. And I thought, "How easy is this gonna be?"

But he hasn't said yes yet! He needs more courting!! I'm not used to this!!! People who don't matter to me don't always go along with my ideas, but when it counts, the ones I want are right there with me - proof, obviously, that great minds think alike. (ehem).

Now I feel GREAT! What cough? What general feeling of malaise? I am challenged, and my synapses are firing away at double-time.

The issue: How can we make this project more compelling? - not just to this one author; indeed, if he isn't in, that's his loss, not ours. Exactly the opposite of Groucho Marx, I would never want to join a club that wouldn't have me as a member. But how do we find each potential contributor's sweet spot, the motivator that will get them to refuse to take No (from us) as an answer? That's what has me all fired up and ready to go.

You see, that's how I work in sales; I don't actually try to "sell" at all. I like to provide something that people are dying to get for their own. When we created Coiné Language School that is exactly how we designed it: What would make companies line up to ask for our service, as opposed to (a) not having on-site language classes at all, or (b) going with another provider? We started with what they knew they wanted, and then dug deeper, looking for what they didn't even know they would want. We brought that to them, then spent years improving it. The result? A Rolls Royce for the price of a Toyota.

I can't stand to convince anyone of anything, so I crafted something that easily, really and truly effortlessly, sells itself.

I'm working on making the Enlightened Leadership project the same kind of proposition. Before we have our last author, any bestseller will be dying to get invited to participate. My compatriots and I just have to figure out what that motivation is.

Stay tuned. It's coming.

An easy "Yes" is my favorite thing in the world. But right after that, a good challenge isn't so bad, either. I feel challenged now, and I probably won't sleep much for the next few nights, till I've figured this puzzle out. But I also won't be sleepy.

Adult workers, and happy for it.

2008-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

I grew up jaded by the experience of those of my father's friends who were top executives in their 50's who, one after another, found the last 5-10 years of their careers derailed by employers who laid off, fired, or downsized them. Whatever the reason in each case - and at the time, in the 80's, that reason was often age discrimination and/or replacing a six-figure executive with a kid at half that pay grade - the result was the same: these guys had lived their lives by the lie that if you work hard, take your lumps, and pay your dues, you will be rewarded and looked after by your company.

Maybe life worked that way before this era, but that is so far a thing of the past by now, it is beyond quaint - it's just hard to imagine anyone buying it these days. Yet I think we all know plenty of people who do. It's sad, actually.

That's why I see self-employment as the only mature decision. This is not to say that one cannot work for a corporation at times in his or her career, but to risk one's livelihood and (often) sense of self worth on the caprices of others higher-up... I don't want to seem mean, but that is not a wise choice.

The bad news is, we can't act like good school kids anymore, and expect the authority figures in our lives to take care of us in exchange for our autonomy. The good news is, if we manage our own lives well, there are so many companies looking for outside "consultant" and "contractor" help to augment the in-house payroll, and there are so many opportunities for professionals to work with employers as clients instead, that I think this "bad news" is actually liberating.

I was just at lunch today with a business owner who was in sales with RCA when GE bought it. Not enjoying the GE culture, he asked his boss if he could quit, start his own company, and provide the same sales service for less money as an outsourced service provider. His boss fired him, then signed up with him as requested as his first and biggest client. Why work for the man when you can work for yourself and help the man, making more money and employing others in the process?

More on Capitalism 2.0

2008-01-29T10:24:00.000-08:00

There's a shift in how business is being done, and we're at the very start of it. Primitive Capitalism will be replaced, in a few generations, with what we at The Naples Institute have labeled Capitalism 2.0.

The idea is that profit is a vital component of business, but in the future it will only be one component of several in a company's value to stockholders, employees, customers, and the general public. The Good (with a capital G) that companies do will be just as important to our children and grandchildren as how much their stock appreciates over time - and it will indeed strongly effect the value of that stock.

Shift Happens

2008-01-24T09:07:00.000-08:00

I love the information presented in this video (below). You may hate it - I know a lot of people find quantum change scary.

Why don't I? Because the details of life may change dramatically, but the human animal remains largely the same, and that animal developed its out-sized brain specifically to master an ever-changing environment.

One lesson to learn from all this? Tell your children that learning how to learn, rather than learning a trade, is the whole point of going to school.

Enjoy! http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/shifthappens

Capitalism 2.0

2008-01-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Naples Institute is putting together its first book now, with the working title of "Enlightened Leadership." I'll share more about that as we go, but suffice it to say that one best-seller has already submitted his chapter to the editor, Ken Shelton of Executive Excellence Magazine, for review. It's damned good, too.

Here's something I shared with a couple of the contributors:

I'm already thinking of The Naples Institute's next book: "Capitalism 2.0" The premise being that there was Adam Smith/Industrial Revolution/Robber Baron "primitive capitalism," a zero-sum game, and that now - with our globally dependant trade, our corporate interdependency, our freelancing professionals, and our ever-increasing eco- and socially-conscious bent to consumerism - we're just at the periphery of something far more sophisticated, interesting... and profitable!

Don't get me wrong: very few people in business today get that, and those that are entrenched in primitive capitalism will see it as a challenge to the status quo that has worked for them all their lives. Very few would agree it's even possible, or (my least-favorite word) "realistic." But we see some hints of it, and I for one think it would be a fun challenge to paint this picture not of what is, but what may one day be.

More on Tomatoes and Justice

2008-01-16T12:15:00.001-08:00

I submit the following in response to a very well-thought-out email I received concerning our stand on the tomato pickers versus Burger King and the growers. You can infer what this man wrote in my reply:

Whether an evil such as slavery, or even "just" exploitation, is performed by whites, blacks, browns, greens, or reds, no civilized society can tolerate it. Allowing such a thing to continue demeans us all as human beings. Frederick Douglas, the escaped slave-turned-abolitionist and the conscience of our nation, said as much in his writings and speeches in the 1840s and '50s. Whether the bad guys are Anglo or fellow Latinos, what they are doing is wrong and must be stopped.

I think that if the workers of Immokalee, and Florida in general, could influence the growers who employ them, they would. I think that it is more effective for them to pressure public corporations with images to protect, and so I can't blame them for taking that tack. They are in desperate straits.

At the same time that we are trying to help the poor, possibly uneducated, probably illegal field workers in Immokalee, we are also working to provide a better education to their children so that they can grow to have choices of careers in the middle class or better. (When I say "we," I want to point out that The Naples Institute is a small part of this effort, and late to arrive).

The old style thinking, that an unfettered market will pay what supply and demand dictates, is not a workable solution in an advanced economy. The Robber Barons of the 19th and early 20th Centuries exploited their workers similarly because they could. There is clearly so much unskilled labor eager to pick tomatoes at any rate of pay that the wages will never increase if the government or customers - in this case, McDonald's, Yum! Brands, and Burger King - don't step in to help solve such problems.

Another aspect to consider is that underpaid workers harm our economy. They cannot afford to buy our products, and so do not stimulate the economy the way that middle-class workers do. For better or for worse, the US economy is dependant on the extravagant spending of its vast middle class. Low-paid workers also strain our social programs, as they require public assistance for services such as health care, and they do not pay the taxes needed to support the community. A lot of attention has been paid recently to how Wal-Mart, among other low-wage employers, is actually subsidized by taxpayers because of the services rendered versus taxes paid by employees. This is corporate welfare. I don't pay my taxes to support Wal-Mart or to support the growers in rural Florida, either.

When Henry Ford doubled the rate he was paying his workers, from $2.50/day to $5/day, his fellow capitalists called him a socialist, a class-traitor, dangerous, and deranged. The Wall Street Journal railed against him. But the result was that our nation's economy was stimulated wildly; he actually created a market for his cars among his own employees, and other businesses added to this because they were forced to raise their pay as well, creating still more consumers. He was no saint, and he raised pay to benefit his own business by attracting and keeping the best employees, not to be nice. But Henry Ford literally created the middle class and the modern economy.

I don't see any down-side to corporations paying one additional penny per pound for tomatoes. I think it's important that we keep this in perspective: what is one penny per pound, to anyone? Yet multiplied over the number of pounds the workers can pick in an hour, they are able to double their pay! It's a brilliant, simple solution to a grievous problem.

That's my take, anyway.

Is "Evil" Too Strong a Word for Business?

2008-01-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

Let me begin with praise for McDonald's and Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands. They are ethical companies.

The following article illustrates the flip-side of "Enlightened Self-Interest," the basis of everything that I teach corporate leaders. While The Naples Institute has created its Socially Conscious Enterprise certification to recognize and reward the most ethical companies in America and the world, it will also be instructive in showing, through omission, what companies are unethical.

I have railed against Reggie Brown before. I will call it like I see it: Brown, and the coalition of Florida tomato growers he speaks for, is evil. His actions and the attitude behind them directly hurt the people who work for those he represents. I invite my readers to provide another adjective that more accurately describes him.

Burger King, likewise, is reprehensible.

To put this in perspective: Taco Bell's parent company, Yum! Brands, will pay an additonal $100,000 per year for tomatoes once the deal they and McDonald's have agreed to goes into effect. I do not have a figure on Burger King, but I would wager that the sum is close.

How much has Burger King spent on lawyers and executive man-hours since this issue arose? How much will it lose from the ill-will it is creating in the public? I believe far, far more than $100,000.

Meanwhile, the workers affected currently average little over $3.00/hour (there is a loop-hole in the Federal minimum wage law specifically for agricultural pickers). As the article said, their pay will double when this $.01/pound goes into effect. Double. Yet even making twice as much as before, they will remain at a level below the Federal poverty line. Think about that.

My question, given the context - the benefit to poverty-stricken workers versus the meager expense to Burger King (and no expense whatsoever to the growers, who are merely passing through the added wage) is this: what is wrong with Reggie Brown, the Tomato Growers, and Burger King?

What is wrong with these people?

Burger King may stop buying local tomatoes
Fast-food giant threatens move as it resists efforts to increase pay for pickers by a penny a pound

Daily News staff and wire reportsTuesday, January 15, 2008

Burger King is telling suppliers it may stop buying tomatoes from Southwest Florida, where farmworkers have fought to get the second-largest hamburger chain to pay more for its produce and help boost field-worker wages, according to a letter obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers has tried for more than a year to get Burger King Corp. to join deals signed by rivals McDonald’s Corp. and Taco Bell owner Yum! Brands Inc.
Those agreements require that the companies pay a penny more per pound for the tomatoes they buy from Florida farms.

Farmers then would pass the extra money through to field workers, although the agreements are on hold after growers balked at participating this year.

Burger King has refused to join the deals and repeatedly insinuated the coalition was keeping the extra money, even after Yum! Brands and several human rights groups dismissed the allegations.

So the Miami-based chain, owned by Burger King Holdings Inc., is asking suppliers to plan for the chain to possibly buy tomatoes elsewhere.

In the Dec. 18, 2007, letter to suppliers, Burger King Vice President Steven Grover wrote: “In an effort to protect the BKC brand and supply system from disruption, we are developing contingency plans to assure our long-term supply of tomatoes.”

Grover went on to ask the suppliers to “submit contingency plans for the possibility that we would choose not to purchase tomatoes grown on farms in the Immokalee, Florida region.”
If it happens, the change would not begin until the 2008-09 season. The letter does not say whether Burger King would completely move its supply chain out of Florida.

“It’s unfortunate and unfounded when we are responsible employers paying good wages and there is no reason why anyone should not do business with the industry in Immokalee,” said Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange.
Brown said he hasn’t had any discussions with Burger King.

“We would hope that there is little or no basis for this claim,” Brown said.

Florida supplies 80 percent of the nation’s domestic fresh tomatoes between Thanksgiving and February, but the number of domestically produced winter tomatoes has declined in recent years due mostly to imports from Mexico and Canada.

Burger King spokeswoman Denise Wilson confirmed the letter’s authenticity and said the chain is always looking at contingency plans. She emphasized that Burger King buys from repackers in Immokalee, not directly from farmers there.

Coalition spokeswoman Julia Perkins called the letter “defensive and not thought out.”

She said the group’s campaign has never been limited to Immokalee but to the working conditions and pay for workers across the state.

Florida tomato pickers earn about 45 cents per 32-pound bucket. If all purchasers of Florida tomatoes agreed to the penny deal, the state’s mostly migrant farm workers would see their pay nearly double.

“Instead of really dealing with the issues at hand, which are wages and working conditions for farm workers, they are trying to run away from dealing with them,” Perkins said. “If there weren’t any problems for wages and working conditions, there wouldn’t be any reason for them to turn elsewhere — or even look into turning elsewhere.”

Burger King does have support from the Florida tomato growers association.

Earlier this season, the group, which represents nearly all tomato farms, threatened to levy $100,000 fines on members who participated in the McDonald’s and Yum! Brand deals. As a result, no Florida farmers are participating in the deals this year.

U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent lawmaker, is scheduled to visit Immokalee Thursday and Friday to learn more about the farmworkers’ situation, which he calls “the race to the bottom,” spokesman Michael Briggs said.

A press conference is planned at noon Friday at the Coalition of Immokalee Workers office in Immokalee. [http://www.ciw-online.org/]

Certifying Ethical Companies

2008-01-14T09:14:00.000-08:00

The following is the introduction to a speech I'm giving tomorrow, entitled "The Socially Conscious Enterprise."

The day of the greedy corporation is coming to an end. Businesses across the country and in many parts of the world are coming to see that, while profits are essential to their success, profit alone does not justify an organization's existence.

Market forces are shaping this shift in corporate values. Study after study show that employees flock to companies that are morally responsible: take Google, with its motto, "Don't be evil," as an example of this movement. While many firms are fighting to attract employees of even modest skill, Google and other ethical companies have a line of highly-qualified applicants that is miles long. Clearly, we are not just working for a paycheck anymore.

To attract the highest-caliber workers, and to appeal to consumers who likewise often choose based on a company's ethics, corporations are giving more to charity, encouraging their workers to volunteer, and are even taking initiatives such as green building buying fair trade-certified goods where no law says they must.

In order to recognize companies that are doing the right thing, The Naples Institute has established a certification for what it dubs Socially Conscious Enterprises. This certification will be to philanthropy what the Good Housekeeping Seal is to quality consumer products.

To speak about Socially Conscious Enterprises, let me introduce Ted Coiné, co-founder of The Naples Institute, a think tank dedicated to fighting for social justice.

2008-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

The following is part of an ongoing dialogue I'm having with Naples Institute Co-Founder Dr. Jim Fisher. I think you can collect the gist of the preceding conversation without having to read it all. Please let me know what you think: ted@naplessocialaction.org.

Jim,

As you know, I have had the life-long pleasure of interviewing and observing leaders and people of accomplishment. What interests me the most are the folks I find who are completely self-made: people who grew up either poor or middle-class, whose family was unable to give them a single dime to get them started, and who made something of themselves from scratch. Horatio Alger types, in other words.

The reasons these people interest me most are (a) my family had trouble just making ends meet, too, and (b) the self-made person is the American Dream, a dream that I cherish as much as I love my family and my home. So every time I see proof that it is more than just a myth, as so many people will tell you today, it validates my most central beliefs and sense of self.

Last winter I had the opportunity to interview a gentleman who grew up poor and is now quite wealthy, and he's a philanthropist of some note - exactly the kind of person I most admire, especially because he prefers to give anonymously. He agreed to let me interview him only out of respect for the mutual friend who suggested it - and as long as I promised not to use his name. I told him my intention: to create a high school course and text that would show underprivileged children how to "make it" through the example of people just like them.

Let me pause here to note that this issue, the lack of even basic exposure to positive models of success, is in my estimation one of the single largest contributors to the poverty cycle and to the middle-class trap as well. (By trap, I mean that there is no financial security in being middle-class, and so it is only better than poverty as a matter of degree.) I intend for much of the fruit of The Naples Institute to be in augmenting mentoring and bringing together haves with have-nots.

Back to my tale: This man, as I said, was kind enough to give me a morning of his time, and he was happy to answer all of my questions in depth. But he told me his opinion of my ambition up-front and in no uncertain terms: he thought mine a fool's errand.

This man grew up poor during the Depression, but with a family that supported his education whole-heartedly. As with most intellectual families, dinner-table conversation was wide-ranging, informed, and often heated. He and his siblings studied in the living room after dinner, while the adults read newspapers and books. The children were expected to get top grades at school, which they did, and they were also active in working various jobs to help the family. He says the work ethic and the education-ethic were instilled in him from birth. It never occurred to him that he would not go to college, study something practical, and go on to a brilliant career in science or business (or in his case, both).

"It all starts with the family's value of education," he told me as we began. "Your course is not going to work because without parents who promote education, these kids can't make it. They don't stand a chance."

I was horrified. "This is why we're making the course," I said. "To help kids when their parents can't or won't."

"It won't work," he insisted. And that, to him, was that.

Now to your reader's critique of Geoffrey Canada's interview on Charley Rose, that he spoke for an hour about transforming American education but never once mentioned the necessary role of the family as an active participant in the education of the child. I agree, parents are vital to their children's education, and we need school systems to engage and partner with parents in every conceivable way.

But what about parents who either can't or won't help? What about the single parent who works three jobs, and rarely sees his children? What about the immigrant whose own education ended in second grade, and who cannot speak a word of English to understand her child's homework? What about the foster child whose foster parents are merely using him as a paycheck? The kids whose mother is too strung-out to care, whose brothers are dealing, whose sisters are turning tricks? The kids whose peers mock him and beat him up for owning any books at all? What about the child whose parents are uneducated, and proud of it? Who think that school is a waste of time? Or who think that a tenth-grade education is sufficient, and further schooling would be a frivolous waste of time?

Do we have to write all these kids off before they even begin first grade? Perhaps what Canada and other educational reformers are trying to do is say, "Yes, in a perfect world, parents would participate in their kids' improvement. But if we wait for the world to be perfect, we'll lose yet another generation of promising lives to the ravages of academic failure? We must do what we can do, controlling what we have control over (schools), and yes, encourage parents to join us, but not wait for them to do so."

The gentleman I interviewed thinks the fight is lost before we ever begin, and so we may as well give up now. I have a different plan. I believe that Geoffrey Canada does, as well.

From NSA issue 12/The Naples Institute

2008-01-13T12:07:00.000-08:00

What follows in italics is from the NSA e-newsletter, issue 12. When the italics end, the unpublished writing begins.

Several months ago, my friend John remarked, “You know, Ted, you need your own think tank.” It was a passing comment, but it stuck with me because I’d been thinking the same thing for a long time.

Now, what John meant was that I have a pretty fertile mind, and I could use some help getting my ideas out into the world. That was kind of him, but I had another idea entirely, one that to me was a lot more interesting.

Naples has arguably the highest concentration of leaders, past and present, of any community in America. When you think about it, we are to CEOs what Beverly Hills is to movie stars. And I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many of these people of influence. Surely there was an opportunity here to do some good.

What if we could get some of the best minds in the world together to work on some of the things that need fixing? Things like poverty and its root, lack of opportunity. Things like incompetent leadership and unenlightened management.

If nothing else, John gave a nudge to this notion of mine. It took me some more noodling, but finally I approached someone I thought would be great for this kind of endeavor: Dr. Gene Landrum. This brilliant man created Chuck E. Cheese, now a billion-dollar company, and he has been behind a number of other start-ups as well. He is author of thirteen books, most of them studies of fascinating, highly successful people. He is a professor at Hodges University and, it turns out, we share a mutual friend in Truly Nolen. With Truly’s introduction, Gene agreed to meet, and he loved the idea. Our think tank was born!

I asked Gene who else we should include, and he suggested Bernie and Rita Turner, founders of Walden University, the first “school without walls” – which currently boasts 20,000 students. Bernie leads the Naples chapter of the Center For Inquiry (CFI) here in Naples; he and Rita thought we were really onto something, too, and they happily opted in.

Now we were cooking with gas. Bernie just happens to know every intellectual ever born, and most of the earth’s people of character and merit as well. Better, each of these leaders highly respects Bernie. With a phone call, our group included Dr. Jim Fisher of Tampa, multiple bestseller and Pulitzer Prize nominee. Jim is a leadership and organizational guru, a philosopher-warrior whose mission seems to be to assail the waste and mediocrity of the status quo. Just our luck, Jim was waiting for just such an organization to come into existence – though perhaps he didn’t even realize he was waiting for it until Bernie’s call.

Another friend of the Turner’s and CFI member joined our ranks: the active, dynamic philanthropist Jeanmarie Hendry. And we rounded out our numbers with my own close personal friend, co-creator of Naples Social Action, businessman, and technology expert Michael Junkroski of Marco Island’s www.VSM.net. Our group of Founders was gathered.

I have to credit Bernie again for giving our organization its rallying cry: Fighting for Social Justice. It sums up everything we Founders believe in, everything that Jane and I have been trying to accomplish through NSA and the Coiné Foundation. I feel lucky just to be included in such a group. But I’m not just a member; probably because it was my idea, and perhaps also because I don’t sleep very much and so have some time on my hands, I find myself leading this pack of extraordinary leaders. It is a heady responsibility, one that I take quite seriously.

It has taken us a couple of months to flesh out exactly what it is we’re going to do first, and how. Indeed, we’re still tweaking parts of that, and we have agreed that the tweaking will never really end – after all, a think tank should by its nature be a dynamic and ever-evolving force force for change. But we’re finally up and running, and we’re quite proud of our first endeavors.
I hope you enjoy what you see at www.institutenaples.org. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Be the most useful person you know.

2008-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

What follows is another passage from my upcoming book, Philanthropist in Chief:

Ten years ago or more, Jane shared a line from the Dale Carnegie course she was teaching:

“Be the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.”

Those nine words have helped to change my life. No one I’ve ever met would call me timid or unenthusiastic, and I’ve always been quite positive as well. But “the most…” that’s a challenge, and I love to rise to a challenge! Way back then, Jane and I printed this affirmation up and put it on our wall.

The problem for me was that I knew Jane: how was I ever going to be more positive and enthusiastic than she? Some days I think I’ve got her beat, others I know she still kicks my butt in this regard. Perhaps over all, I can claim to be one of the two most positive and enthusiastic people I know. I could do worse, I guess.

What does that have to do with my adventures in philanthropy? Well, maybe four or five years ago, when our first business was still in its infancy, I came up with another affirmation for myself based on Dale’s advice:

“Be the most useful person you know.”

As I said, I’m a dogged competitor, and this self-challenge is something I take quite seriously. It has paid off handsomely in business. The Coiné Companies wouldn’t be where they are today without that quote.

To steal my own story from my first book, Five-Star Customer Service, I once told a client who had a special request, “My job is to make your job easier.”

He stopped dead, looked at me sincerely, and said, “You know, Ted, you may be the one person in business today who truly means that.”

So when I came to Naples and we created Naples Social Action, I made being the most useful person I knew my first priority. I’m still hard at work on it, and I think it’s really serving us well in making NSA a success.

Here is the benefit of being useful: people rely on you to solve their problems. They come to you for advice. They count on you to have the answers, the introductions; to be a resource. People think of you first when they need something. You gradually become indispensable to those who know you. And your name comes to mind right away when someone else needs something, too. Buzz starts. Strangers reach out to you for help, referred by those who know you.

“Be a resource.”

In short, being useful makes you influential. And if you want to make change happen, you cannot be too influential.

I don’t have any hidden agenda up my sleeve, and I think most people - the ones who are themselves honest - know that. I get off – I really, really find great pleasure – in people thanking me for all we’re doing to help their organization and the community. At first it embarrassed me, but I've come to appreciate it.

Just last night, I was at a public charity event. I was sitting with some friends before the show started, and a number of stars in the giving community, people whom I really, deeply admire, came up to me to thank me for the work we're doing. I got about eight days’ worth of motivation from that experience.

I like being useful for its own sake, because it makes me feel wonderful. Why else go into philanthropy?

But I’m also sowing good will for the time that I’m ready to cash it in, and I’m not afraid to share that with the public. I am helping others first, which is where you should start. But when it comes time for me to look for donors for $100 laptops for the kids in Immokalee, I’m going to ask my friends to introduce me to their friends, the donors who can make this ambitious scheme possible. If we end up starting a magazine to augment our newsletter, we’ll need capital. Again, I’ll draw on some of this good will. And I'm fine with that, because I think at this point we've earned it. We're helping others first.

Even if I'm just influencing the thoughts and actions of others, this policy of being useful will help. For instance, several of us are passionate about convincing folks that we need to invest more per child in education, and that this is one major issue they should weigh when choosing a political candidate. I want that kind of influence, because I believe – no, I am certain – that I will use this influence for Good.

No act that we take occurs in a bubble. Helping others helps you, be it in spiritual or personal fulfillment, working off bad karma, or something more material. Doing the right thing pays – it’s the underlying lesson of everything I teach executives about how they should do business.

Be the most useful person you know. That is my own personal goal. Still, I'd be honored if my readers took this up themselves and gave me a run for my money.

Public Education

2008-01-08T06:40:00.000-08:00

The following is an exchange I participated in as a member of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce's Education Committee. The positions I address are meant to reach well beyond Collier County, Florida. My comments are in italics. The questions the committee asked Dr. Puryear are bolded. Her replies are in regular type.

Dear fellow Education Committee members,

The Naples Institute is a new think tank dedicated to fighting for social justice. I am one of eight founders; our ranks include Bernie and Rita Turner, founders of Walden University, among other experts in education, business, leadership, and philanthropy.

Education reform is one of the key components to promoting social justice, and it is a cause that is central to the mission of The Naples Institute. I joined the Chamber’s Education Committee in the hopes of making a significant impact on policy here in Collier County, where my girls will go to school. I believe that we can play a powerful role in influencing the direction that our legislators, school board, and administrators take in improving the (currently poor) standard of education in our school district and, with time, in our entire state.

I have added The Naples Institute’s positions and observations below. I hope that this stimulates conversation within the Education Committee.

Finally, let me add that I am personally grateful for Dr. Puryear for taking the time to meet with us recently. I do not mean to disparage her through the following remarks. I respect her experience, professionalism, and intellect. I also understand that she is in an unenviable position with regards to her position, especially considering recent political turmoil involving the superintendents.

For more information on The Naples Institute, please visit www.institutenaples.org. Please keep in mind that we have just recently established this site, and are still adding to it and improving it.

Regards,

Ted Coiné, Founder
The Naples Institute
ted@naplessocialaction.org
239-331-2524

Dr. Rozalyne P. Puryear January 4, 2008
Responses to Questions from the
Chamber Education Committee on
November 19, 2007
1.
What have been some of the ramifications of implementing the CSR Amendment?
(CSR = Class Size Reduction, a state mandate).

a. a huge amount of funds($2.7 billion statewide) from the state level that are earmarked for more teachers to reduce class size which leaves considerable less resources for other things like salary increases, program costs, etc. (class size is NOT a major indicator of increased student achievement)

The Naples Institute is well aware of studies that report class size is not relevant to student performance. This proves Benjamin Disraeli right when he said, “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Statistics can be misused to prove any point. Not only is this premise counter-intuitive, but we find it hard to believe that any real-life teacher, parent, or student would agree with this claim.

One of the most alluring draws of private schools is the low student-teacher ratio. In my own personal experience running a for-profit, highly competitive ESL school in Massachusetts, we base our guaranteed results on a class size of no more than eight students. I challenge a public school administrator to replicate the efficiency and results of the private educational sector.

b. need for more teachers when there is a shortage of quality teachers (quality teachers ARE a major indicator of increased student achievement)

We completely agreed.

c. the sizes set by the state are unnecessarily low: K-3: 18, 4-8: 22, 9-12: 25

The Naples Institute finds this attitude appalling. Even if class size did not determine educational quality, still 18, 22, or 25 students in a classroom at any level is much too high. For school-system leadership to express the idea that it would like more students in each class than 25 is simply outrageous.

d. increased capital need for more classrooms and thus schools which in turn increases operational costs, e.g.: support staff, administrators, utilities, groundskeeping, etc.

We support dramatically higher teacher pay first; more classroom space, administrators, and grounds keeping staff all come in second to this priority. Indeed, school administration is top-heavy to begin with. Grounds can be maintained exclusively by students performing in-house community service. I attended a prep school for two years, The Wooster School in Danbury, Connecticut, that did not have a single maintenance worker of any kind. The students manage the entire campus themselves, and have since 1921. It builds character, something our children could use help with.

4. RE: Teachers’ Salaries

a. How does Collier County rank in comparison with other districts in the State?

Collier ranks as one of the highest paying districts in the state. In starting salary, Collier is also in the top paying districts. If we look at average teacher pay for 2006/07, Collier ranks #2 at $50,812 after Sarasota, followed by Monroe at $50,762.

The position of The Naples Institute is that Collier County should not compare its self to other school districts in Florida, as the entire state’s level of educational instruction is too low to be relevant in a discussion of academic excellence.

b. How does Florida rank in comparison with other states?

It is difficult to compare teachers' pay across states because average teacher pay is typically used. States/counties that hire many new teachers each year will typically have a lower average teacher pay.

We find this answer to be insufficient, and perhaps motivated by unwillingness to share the answer, which we know is below-par. Our reply to “it is difficult” is that we aren’t really interested in how difficult it is. Dr. Puryear should do her best to provide us the information we requested. This answer is a brush-off.

Perhaps the comparison – for instance, Florida ranks 32nd in pay – could include a note on the fact that the statistics are skewed because recent demographic shifts have demanded hiring of more new teachers in Florida compared to some other states, especially in the Northeast where pay is higher.

6. Are there any health curricular changes being proposed for our district?

a. The only major change would be if SB 440 gets a House companion bill and passes. This would require .5 Health Education at the High School.

Does this answer satisfy any other member of the committee? It does not tell us the changes to be included in said bill. And is “.5” one-half of a year? That is also completely obscure.

RE: Funds for Teachers’ Salaries

a. Can the district receive funds from an outside agency to use for raises for teachers?

i. The district can receive funds from outside agencies for raises; however, unless the funds are available from the same source in subsequent years that would possibly worsen the situation in the years to follow.

We concur. It is important that any funding source that we establish include this consideration in its plan. (This notion was one that I suggested at the meeting as a way of circumventing the state's and county's reluctance to pay teachers more.)

"Philanthropist in Chief" - my new book

2007-12-31T08:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't been writing this blog lately because I've been distracted by life. For one, I've spent a lot of time managing our business in Boston, which usually runs its self, but for Christmas this year the language school decided to throw several monkey wrenches at us simultaneously. Running a company from 900 miles away isn't as fun as you'd think.

For another, Naples Social Action keeps taking more and more of my time - which I love, so that is in no way a complaint. And there's the Naples Institute, which is time-consuming as we put it together - but also enjoyable.

...And, I started a new book a week ago (Xmas day). It is about my adventures in philanthropy since September of last year, though some of the tale predates that.

I'll share a bit with you. Here's the first installment:

Philanthropist in Chief
Forward

When my Mom and Dad were newlyweds living in Richmond, Virginia in the early 1950s, they taught Sunday school at the Unitarian church, the only integrated church in the city.

All of their students were white but one, Julian. The entire South was still segregated at that time, which meant that any trip the Coinés took their class on would involve searching for black restrooms for Julian, black water fountains, and as for meals… they would all have to be picnics, as blacks, even little boys, were not allowed in white restaurants.

So Marion and Steve did the only option they saw: all of their field trips in those years were to Washington, DC, about two hours away. Our nation’s capital was not segregated.

They never made a big deal of this when we were kids, but my sisters and I sometimes asked our parents how they withstood life in the South in the Forties, Fifties, and early Sixties. This was the time that Senator Trent Lot’s idol, Strom Thurmond, ran for President on a segregationist platform, remember.

They did not own a car for several years just out of college. Because Mom and Dad had to take the bus to work every day; they tacitly participated in the segregation of public transportation that would eventually inspire the weary Rosa Parks to refuse to vacate her seat for a white passenger.

Michelle, Ahndi, and I knew our parents were people of strong conviction, and we had trouble matching our image of them to Southern life pre-Civil Rights. That is when they would bring up Julian and their Sunday school class. It wasn’t much, they admitted, but it was their little way of trying to make the world a better place. I disagree that it wasn’t much. It was more than almost anyone else in their city did at that time. I’m proud of them.

Perhaps you’ll keep this story in mind as you read the rest of this book. I hear from an awful lot of friends, mostly the older ones, those of the Depression and World War II generation, that our culture is in crisis; that our world is sliding fast down the slope to self-destruction.

I’m not going to fight that sentiment too much. Their thought has a lot of merit. But please, think of Richmond in the Fifties and Richmond today. We’ve made progress from the “good old days.”

The world is a better place today than it has ever been in the history of mankind. We’ve got a long, long way to go before it’s perfect, I concede. But we’re on a roll. People care – a lot of people care an awful lot. Our collective human conscience is more vibrant and Good than it has ever been.

In many ways, we in the present are building on the Good works of the past. In others, there is something new afoot, a democratization of philanthropy that is unique to our time.

Let’s keep it going. Let’s add some fuel to this warming fire.

***

My wife, Jane, our daughters Ayla and Maryn, and I want to make the world a better place, too. Thus this book. If I can inspire my readers to pitch in just a bit, in any way that makes sense to them, then my hours at the keyboard will be well-spent.

This isn’t a reading book. I hope you make it a doing book. Read it and do – something, anything, that promotes Good in the world.

One Laptop Per Child... again

2007-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

The following is excerpted from an email exchange with a very good friend who is a very good person. We just don't see eye to eye on my favorite charity. Below, first comes his email, then my reply:

Ted,

This is a man I SELDOM agree with, but in this instance, he is right on the money, as far as I'm concerned: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227850,00.asp

I was told the same thing by everyone I visited in Central America--both by the aid organizations and by the people. Computers are THE LAST thing on their minds, they want food, and even better, a way to cook and prepare the food without burning their limbs or chopping them off (Del Monte sent truckloads of fruit cocktail as aid relief, but forgot to send can openers so people could actually EAT the fruit cocktail--so what happened? Everyone's trying to open the can with a Machete, or a gun, or a rock--so the rate of cuts, bruises, limbs being cut off increased dramatically).Dvorak is right--we need to get these people the BASICS and moreover the ability to CREATE the basics on their own. OLPC is a stupid, stupid idea, completely driven by corporate greed (although they DID manage to come up with a nifty little computer).

My reply:

How do you really feel about OLPC? Don't hold back! :)

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I think that writer's a little bombastic: I wonder what he's done to help the poor, including providing food, fresh water, or can openers.

I'm with you that OXs alone aren't going to save the poor. If we could only do one thing to help that 1/3 in deepest poverty, I think I might vote for digging wells for safe drinking water. I'm also completely swept up with Kids Against Hunger. Wanna join me for 2 hours next Sat.? It's truly the coolest thing I've ever done for other people (sex and surfing are both cooler, but less selfless). For ten cents, a person can eat a meal that Jane, the girls, and I actually enjoy. And the local group has packaged up and shipped close to 1 million meals since August. I think we may break that mark this Sat.

As for OLPC... it's like a football game. We have to do a holding pattern, which is basic survival: water, food, medicine, shelter. Basic survival is a basic human right, and haves are morally obligated to provide it for have nots. I truly believe that we have no choice in the matter, morally.

But we also have to fight the causes of poverty, or we're never going to end it, and we'll just end up with more people who need us each day, month, and year, and we'll never catch up, and more and more will die. I think efforts like Heifer Int'l (www.heifer.org), microcredit, and OLPC are all awesome because they give people a way out of poverty.

Here's another point I'd like to make. Why deride any charitable effort? So few people do anything at all to help anybody, and most who do something do very little. So many who do give write checks to their churches, the #1 beneficiaries of giving - which is fine, we do too, but we don't exactly lavish a fortune on our church - our church doesn't need it as much as kids in Immokalee and Haiti do. So as I've said before, you buy Central Americans can openers, I'll buy them laptops, and together we'll change their lives.

Last thing, I promise. Jane and I own this half-finished online ESL school that our company designed a few years ago under speculation for a big employer who scrapped the whole project - big mistake, cost us a few hundred thousand dollars; live & learn. But the idea all along was to sell its use to employers and wealthy foreigners who could afford it, and give its use away free to those who could not. (One reason of many that we won't vote for Romney is that we offered its use up free to every kid in Massachusetts, and his office completely dropped that ball. Similar story with Negroponte, so I'm not his biggest fan, either.) Well, we don't even care too much about charging for its use anymore; we just want to give its use away to kids who could benefit from it - after all, it's just collecting dust in cyberspace. And it's designed to teach folks who (a) are 100% illiterate, and (b) can't even say "hello" in English.

Bottom line? With OXs, kids anywhere can learn English, the international language of business and science. They can join the industrialized world. Farmers and craftsmen can sell their products to a global audience, something many are already doing with satellite phones - this will just make that easier.

I could go on all day. Suffice it to say, I'm a die-hard OLPC fan, even if the ultimate technology comes from Intel or elsewhere.

Ted

Buy this book - right now!

2007-11-27T08:46:00.000-08:00

Drop everything and read this book: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-2688644-5444609?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=entrepreneurial+genius&x=16&y=15

(If you're at all interested in business, that is).

I highly enjoyed the first two books of Gene Landrum's that I read. Entrepreneurial Genius, though, is absolutely brilliant!

An Odd Thing

2007-11-26T13:19:00.001-08:00

This seemed strange to me until I finally figured it out, so it's sure to sound odd to you as well.

Of all of my professional endeavors - Coine Language School, invention of the Coine Method, Coine Training, our two books, my speaking fee and the audience reactions I draw - Naples Social Action is what I'm proudest of.

An online calendar and e-newsletter! Go figure.

Well, I finally figured it out. NSA isn't for me - not at all. It doesn't pay my bills, it isn't helping me build a career... it's really just a hobby effected by gamma rays and grown way bigger than I ever dreamed (and it's only started!).

The descendant of Puritans, guilt is just a fact of my life. I feel I have to make a positive contribution to society, just because.

And you know what? If I am run over by a bus later today as I cross the street, I will know that I've worked hard and well to create something that can change our community - and other communities nationwide - for years after I'm gone. No matter what else happens in my life, I started www.NaplesSocialAction.org, and in so doing I made a difference for the better.

That's why it makes me proud. Now I get it.

What to do?

2007-11-26T12:47:00.000-08:00

(I've got to be vague so as not to tip my hat as to the subject of this rant - for which I apologize.)

There's an organization in town, a nonprofit, whose mission is one of the most vital to our entire community. The only problem is, its executive director seems to be a well-meaning flake who is impeding its success, and its board.... Oh, boy.

I witnessed a recent interview with the current president of the board: he quite literally has no idea about some of the most important accomplishments and upcoming campaigns of his organization. I'm not exaggerating; he couldn't name them or give any specifics. I was embarrassed for him, but it didn't seem he knew enough to be embarrassed himself.

Then I broke bread with the incoming president and another board member - two very nice junior executives with no real business acumen and no vision for the organization. I know this may sound odd coming from a guy who's only 40 - they may very well be my age, and they're certainly close to it in any event - but they were like two kids playing at businessman (and -woman).

Basically, this organization is not doing much toward realizing its mission because of incompetent leadership, and that does not look to change in the near future.

What it seems will happen is that this nonprofit will continue to fail to serve the community very effectively - and that's a big problem, because the work that it could do under different leaders could transform our county and beyond.

(I hope I didn't give anything away.)

Dear readers, the leadership of your organization is by far the most important aspect of its success. The leaders name the direction, set the pace, instill the culture.... They are only the beginning, but they are the necessary beginning.

The board of directors is your organization's most important body. In a nonprofit, they are the executive director's boss; in a business, they are the CEO's boss.

Then comes that leader, the titular head of the endeavor. With the wrong person at the helm, all is lost - or, almost as bad, little is gained.

I understand that Naples is small and the pickings are therefore slim when it comes to nonprofit directors. but please, do yourself a favor - whether you are local (to Naples) or anywhere on earth - choose only the highest-caliber people you can to run your board. Better to have a board of three superstars than of twelve dodos.

Then - and this is your sacred charge - rid yourself of your CEO, president, exec., or whoever your leader is if that person is not top-notch. You have to. Do it!

If they're nice, or well-connected, or talk a good game? Tough for you. Do it!

Finally, in order to find the right replacement, pay at least a slight bit above the going rate. Contrary to popular belief, we humans do not work for money; but pay is a sign of respect from the organization to the individual. And, when it comes to low-paying fields such as most of the nonprofit realm, pay does matter, because your people cannot concentrate on their work if they are distracted by their bills.

Yes, even if you're a nonprofit, pay well.

Do it. Your organization's success depends on it.

About Homer

2007-11-14T06:50:00.001-08:00

My sister teaches Chaucer to her remedial-level high school students. She was teacher of the year in North Carolina, and was nominated for a Golden apple here in Naples, but declined because she feels that kind of thing is a distraction from her work - the process of being a candidate is arduous, something the Education Foundation and the media don't bother to highlight.

Yes, I'm proud of my sister.

But Golden Apples aren't my point. Chaucer is. There are two ways to look at this. One, a common response, is "Chaucer! That intellectual stuff is a luxury these potential drop-outs can't afford! They need basic skills, not Classics."

That's a bit knee-jerk to me. Here's the less common (in the derogatory sense of that word), more informed view: She does teach basic skills. Her students study Chaucer, and they learn to write papers, just like every other high school kid. They improve their reading, just like every other high school kid. Most importantly by far, they learn to think "critically," which means "for themselves."

I read a comment by an Oxford professor which you'll either love or hate: "The only thing an Oxford student can expect to take away from his four years with us is, when someone is selling him a line of bull, he'll be able to tell." (It's been a while since I read that. I hope I remembered the quote accurately; fortunately, I know I mastered the sentiment because, well, I too attained a liberal arts education).

Our mission in education is to teach our students to think for themselves. Problem-solving is something that they can use throughout their lives, no matter what situation they find themselves in. Whether it's Chaucer or Dick and Jane, if it helps them toward the goal of free thinking (because you are not free if you cannot think for yourself) then it is beneficial.

So why Chaucer? Call me an intellectual snob - it's been done - but I think it's of value for our culture to share common touchstones such as the Classics. When I read the writings of John Adams and he refers to Greek Myth or quotes Shakespeare, it helps me to catch the reference.

Mastering tough material is also something students can be proud of. I got an A in Ms Symington's history class in 10th grade. I'm really proud of that, because she made me sweat blood out of my eyes in order to achieve that grade. We want our students to feel proud of themselves? Let's challenge them. When a ghetto kid grows up in a house that literally has no reading material, not even magazines, and he aces his term paper on Milton, or Chaucer, or Plato... that can change a life.

Who says that kid isn't up to the same challenges as the kids in the AP class? My sister helps her students prove that they are, and she's been doing it for about fifteen years now - that's thousands of "dead-enders." After a few victories with this one special teacher, suddenly life isn't such a dead end.

FCAT me? No! FCAT you!

2007-11-14T06:15:00.001-08:00

I'm not a big fan of standardized testing in general, or of tests like the MCAS and FCAT in particular (for those out of state, these are tests that all students in Massachusetts and Florida, respectively, must take in order to graduate from high school.)

One reason I oppose these tests is that I have never met a teacher who thinks they are beneficial. I know hundreds and hundreds of teachers.

Whether you're with me or not, you should enjoy today's story in the Naples Daily News about a cheeky little middle-schooler who turned the tables on school administrators: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/nov/13/elementary_school_girl_turns_testing_tables_adults/

The spirit behind the FCAT and its ilk is laudable: we as a nation are failing way too many of our students, and we have to raise the standard of education across the board in some way that is actually measurable. There are too many kids graduating from high school still illiterate, both in the narrow sense of the word - they can't read or write - and in the broader sense of knowing very little that we would expect a citizen to know. "Japan? Isn't that in Boston?" is the title of one of my favorite Russell Baker essays. It speaks for much that is wrong with American education. (Actually, Japan is in the Porter Square neighborhood of Cambridge).

Alright, so eliminating the FCAT will leave us where we were before, unable to measure our students, and by inference our teachers and our schools.

...If only it were that simple-minded. I mean simple.

How do we accredit colleges and universities? How do we rank them? Because ours are the best in the world - at least, that's what students, parents, and employers world-wide believe. So if our colleges are so good... can't we measure our k-12's by a similar yardstick?

Rather than distract teachers and students with lessons that teach how to take the FCAT, how about if our society gets back to educational basics: all kids will learn at least basic math, science, the classics (Homer, Shakespeare, Swift, Dickens, Hemingway...), history, and geography. Have you taken classes in the above? Have you passed? Then you're on your way to the next grade.

How well are our schools doing? Let's see... what kind of colleges are the kids getting into? How many are opting out of college? How many are dropping out before they even graduate? There. That's your test for schools - and by inference, of educators.

Life isn't as complicated as we make it. One way we can simplify things is with smaller classes, smaller schools, and smaller school systems. When our school system has 35,000 kids (Collier County) or 80,000 (Lee County), then a 5%, 10%, 40% dropout rate becomes just that - a percentage, a "rate." I have an alternative yardstick for you: If one kids drops out of school before graduation, or fails to go on to college, that is one life forever limited.

Imagine, my upper-middle-class or affluent readers, if one of your - what, 2.1? - children dropped out of school at 16. Wouldn't you drop everything to turn her life around? But when 900 sophomores don't make it to their junior year, that's just a number to us. Statistics put the numb in numbers. These are children. These are people. Citizens. Workers. Voters. Can we afford even one failure?

I've been called an idealist. Thank you.

I've heard, even from friends with the best of intentions, that we will never end poverty, never educate everyone on the scale I suggest.

You know what? That's none of my business. If you think it can't be done, tell someone who cares.

Let's do it. That's my answer. We'll let possibility worry about itself. All sorts of things are impossible until you try.

Fixing Our Schools

2007-11-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

Although I'm writing on the quality of schools in Collier County, Florida, I think every school system across the country would be wise to follow this advice. Right now, only a few school systems and a few states even bother to strive to be among the best. Nothing would make me happier than for every district and every state to compete for number one. Only then will American education achieve the level that every child deserves.

Without further ado, here is where I'm coming from regarding public school education:

1. The #1 factor that effects home value is the quality of the area's public schools. Also, employers who provide high-wage jobs prefer excellent schools, because that is what high-quality employees demand. So if we are ever to strengthen our local economy, we have to make substantial changes in our schools.

2. As a county (and a state) we need to change our goals and focus so that we can make Collier County one of the top 10 school systems in the nation. Florida as a state is currently ranked 35 out of 50, I believe. So if the state says we should zig, my vote will be for us to zag.

3. Northern Virginia has the top public schools in the country. We should find out what they are doing and emulate them.

4. Small classes promote learning, and large classes hinder it. We should aim for 12 students in a class, or perhaps 16 maximum. My sister is a local teacher, and one of her class has 30 students. That's simply unacceptable.

This isn't just an idea I came up with off the top of my head, by the way. It is how we have made Coine Language School (www.coinelanguage.com) #1 in quality and results in its field. We strongly encourage our clients to have classes of 8 students, and we guarantee our results if they comply.

5. As a nation, we pay our teachers much too little; even more so as a state. We have to radically improve teacher pay, and also expect our teachers to be of the highest caliber - the sharpest minds in our society. Another radical idea, but right now we are living with the alternative.

Options for the Poor

2007-11-08T11:58:00.000-08:00

I believe in giving people opportunity. If they want to remain what we consider poor, who are we to say they can't? There are nomads today who know they can move to cities if they want, Indians who can move off of their reservations, etc. Indeed, while people have been moving from the farm to the city en masse since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, obviously there are those who have chosen all along to stay behind - and more power to them.

But I want to make sure those who choose "progress" and those who choose to live as they always have both have the opportunity to earn a fair wage, wherever they work. That they are free from coercive sex in order to keep their jobs. That they have access to credit (more in one moment). That they are educated in quality schools, so that they can make these decisions in an informed manner - we have folks here in the US who don't have that luxury right now. I want to make sure that, no matter what their choices, parents do not have to watch their children die of starvation; that adults do not have to die of old age at 50, exhausted from a life of toil with no alternative available.

I've taught English to so many people here from other countries (78 to date), from all walks of life. Some of them are short because they did not have proper nutrition as children. Some of them are illiterate because they were pulled from school to work the farm when they were 8. Some of them were raped by Coyotes along their journey here, often within ear-shot or even sight of their family (usually it is our female teachers, and not I, who learn of that). I taught a great group of Vietnamese who were so desperate to escape Vietnam in 1980 that they fled by sea, over 400 of them, and were stranded on an island with no food or fresh water. Before the UN, led by an American, showed up to rescue them, half of their shipmates had died. Half.

I want to help make sure that kind of option is not attractive to anyone.

As for micro credit, Muhammad Yunnis's book, "Banker to the Poor," has probably impacted me more than any book I've ever read. He showed me that one person who simply will not be patient or understanding, who acts as quickly as he thinks, can fundamentally change the world. While most of us are talking - what is micro credit? Does it work? Is it even desirable? - he and legions of disciples are making our questions moot. We don't have to believe; we can just sit back and see for ourselves, or do nothing: we can choose to get out of the way in my father's favorite adage, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

I want to lead, because I think there are aspects of education that we can spread as Dr. Yunnis has spread micro credit. I feel beyond fortunate for the talented others, like you, who also want to lead in that regard.

Gap: Above & Beyond; fixing an error

2007-11-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Here is my take on the following child-labor story: (1) The Gap dropped the ball in allowing this situation to happen in the first place, after touting its moral standards as it has. There's egg on their face.

(2) The Gap is now doing the right thing. Redemption is possible in business.

(3) Over-all, The Gap is to be highly commended for setting a higher standard than required by law, or even by the dictates of the market. Who would you rather buy from, Gap with child-free labor, or another retailer whose clothing is in question? Who would you rather work for?

(4) A new standard has been set. Other retailers who don't follow Gap's example now will look morally suspect.

Doing the right thing pays. There's no getting around that.

The following is from our friends at the Institute for Global Ethics (www.globalethics.org)

The Gap Retail Chain Launches Movement to Combat Child Labor

Action follows series of reports claiming the giant clothing retailer, which has positioned itself as one of the most ethical U.S. companies, subcontracted to a New Delhi sweatshop that employed workers as young as 10

SAN FRANCISCO Clothing retailer Gap, Inc., is drawing up a pledge to label its products "sweatshop free," a move that is believed to be one of the largest commitments by a major retailer to end child labor, reports the U.K. Guardian.

The initiative follows newspaper reports claiming that one of the firm's largest Indian suppliers subcontracted to employers using children as young as 10 to make garments.

According to the Guardian, Gap's plan includes labeling its garments so that consumers can directly track online where the clothing was made.

Gap has recalled clothing traced back to a supplier whose subcontractor allegedly employed children in an embroidery unit in New Delhi, according to a report from the Times of India.
The San Francisco-based retailer says it will meet with 200 suppliers in India to reinforce a zero-tolerance policy on child labor, reports San Francisco television station KPIX.

According to an analysis from the Economist, since the beginning of the decade Gap has positioned itself as one of the world's most ethical retailers, enforcing strict codes on working conditions and severing ties with factories that do not meet its standards.

The Economist piece notes that "policing contractors and subcontractors in faraway places is not easy. A big proportion of the company's clothes are made in India, which has become the world's capital of child labor. Of the estimated 218 million laborers worldwide who are younger than 14, some 40-50 million are in India, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency, and they account for around 20 percent of the country's GDP. Gap says it employs 90 people across the globe to supervise compliance with its rules."

Governments often are reluctant to draw attention to the problem, adds the Economist. India's commerce minister last week suggested that stories about child labor were being used to justify protectionism.

Still, critics interviewed for the analysis maintain that if firms are able to effectively monitor the quality of their products, they should be able to police their production.

"UnAmerican"

2007-11-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

You know, I spend so much of my time surrounded by positive, constructive, kind-hearted people that I easily forget that there remains true evil in the world - and some of it runs agribusiness right here in Southwest Florida.

I think the only thing unAmerican is the fact that Reggie Brown is not in jail. ...But I'll let you decide for yourself. Please read this article from the Naples Daily News on resistance to paying workers an extra one cent per pound for tomatoes picked. (Please keep in mind as you read that the purchasers have agreed to pay that increase; all growers will be doing is passing the penny through from the customer to the laborer.)

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/nov/06/deal_pay_more_tomato_pickers_question_after_florid/?breaking_news

Herb Kelleher, Approachable Leader

2007-11-06T16:07:00.000-08:00

How approachable are you as a leader? Here is a quote about Herb Kelleher, the iconic force behind Southwest Airlines - the only airline profitable every year after its first, 36 years ago.

A pilot reports, "I can call Herb today. You don't just call and say there's a problem. He'll say, "Think about it and tell me the solution that you think will work." He has an open door policy. I can call him almost 24 hours a day. If it's an emergency, he will call back in 15 minutes. He is one of the inspirations for this company. He's the guiding light. He listens to everybody. He's unbelievable when it comes to personal etiquette. If you've got a problem, he cares."

Herb Kelleher is a phenomenal leader, and his company is incredibly successful. Coincidence? Or imperative?

I highly recommend the book where I found this quote, The Southwest Airlines Way by Jodi Gittell, head of Brandies University's MBA program. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/002-2106831-1004812?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+southwest+airlines+way&x=16&y=15.

(Interesting note: Did you notice how Kelleher forces his people to develop their problem-solving skills by asking them their advice? A leader who is accessible and comes up with the solutions is not going to have much time for more than putting out fires, and his company will not grow all that far. In this example we see that yes, he is thoroughly accessible and he cares, but as you'll read, he does not dole out solutions. His people think for themselves, and that means they don't have to call him all that often to bail them out.

When you shop Amazon through http://www.naplessocialaction.com/, including through the link above, Amazon will donate up to 8% to NSA. Thank you for your support!

Leadership and Character

2007-11-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

"Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow your every move." - Lee Iaccoca

When it comes to judging our leaders, we people aren't nearly as stupid as we look. (Well, let's keep politics out of this discussion for now).

We look at our leader's actions. If they do not match his words, then we lose respect and trust. Without those, a leader can only lead by coercion (with threat of unemployment if we do not obey, for example). Many leaders continue at their posts for many years without trust or respect, ruling instead by coercion - but when you lose the hearts of your followers, you will not get their best efforts; instead, they'll do only what is required to keep getting that paycheck. Your leadership effectiveness suffers drastically.

I know a CEO whose organization looks to be going union. I'll write more about that in the future. For now, let me say that I also know quite a number of his employees, from top to bottom in his company.

Why are they choosing to unionize? One piece of the puzzle is this: he reduced employee pay dramatically and laid off a large number of his workers, claiming that the business was in dire financial straits. His remaining staff is now suffering because they are under-staffed, forcing them to serve frustrated customers with below-par resources.

This CEO successfully turned his organization around - so successfully that his board awarded him and his top leaders generous bonuses... which they accepted.

On the one hand, one can argue that if your board offers you a bonus, you should take it! Why would someone turn down money?

On the other hand, I'd argue that if pleading poor and slashing employee payroll gets you that bonus, then you have no business taking it.

If your coffers are empty, they're empty, and concessions are reasonable to demand. But if those coffers subsequently fill up enough for your bonus, then they should be full enough to pay your remaining staff on par with their previous level, too. Isn't that reasonable? Is that too idealistic?

Leaders deserve a bonus for performance, and integral to that performance is making sure that the employees are taken care of first. Morale, though harder to measure than net operating income, is no less important a yardstick of successful leadership.

Let's compare this to Lee Iaccoca at the helm of Chrysler in its direst days. He went hat-in-hand to ask Congress for a bail-out, to prevent his company from going out of business. To prove his commitment and contrition, he accepted only $1 as salary until the company was able to repay its debts.

His board would surely have paid him handsomely, as the leader and eventual savior of their company. But he wouldn't have it - once Chrysler was financially healthy, Iaccoca was paid quite well for his work. But not until it was fixed.

Lee Iaccoca didn't ask anyone what he should do about his pay; he knew what the right thing was, and he did it.

Let me restate my conviction: leadership is character. A true leader, a person of character, is rare indeed - and worth paying a fortune. This CEO is not.

Why join Toastmasters?

2007-10-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

Are you familiar with Toastmasters? If not, I highly recommend that you check it out with an eye toward joining a club (www.toastmasters.org). TM is an international speakers' club; everyone involved joins to improve their speaking skills, though their reasons for doing so may vary. Both of my parents were Toastmasters; my father used his TM skills in work on a daily basis, and he swore by it.

Here is my take on TM as an employer and consultant to employers, as well as a professional speaker who used to really, really stink at giving even just a 5-minute speech:

"Why participate in Toastmasters?"

1. Self-confidence. Mastering an audience's emotions and interest during a speech will leave you feeling like superman for a couple of weeks. Those will be very productive weeks at work. Your boss, clients, and prospects will all notice the difference, and they will like what they see.

2. Resume. I tell every employer I work with to strongly encourage TM participation among their up-and-coming leaders. Nothing will develop you professionally like being an accomplished public speaker. Employers nationwide - actually, worldwide - agree with me when hiring and promoting. So I didn't make this up.

3. Getting rich, living like a rock star. There's always the chance you can turn your TM experience, coupled with your professional knowledge, into paid speaking gigs, TV appearances... Let me tell you from experience, from the first time you get paid two month's salary for giving a one-hour talk, your life will never be the same. Staying in four- and five-star hotels, having 60-year old CEOs ask you for advice... it's addictive.

I started TM when I was 37 or 38, and it's transformed my career. If I had known the benefits, I would have joined a club while still in college.

3 Local "Dropout Factories"

2007-10-31T06:18:00.001-07:00

Shocking: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/oct/31/three_collier_high_schools_considered_dropout_fact/?breaking_news.

Here is my take on education in Greater Naples, and actually in every town, city, county, and state in the country: if we are not actively, vibrantly competing to be among the nation's top ten school districts, and top three states, in education, then we need to reevaluate our priorities and our leadership.

Doing okay isn't okay, it's a failure of our commitment to our children. Doing well isn't nearly good enough. Either we're vying for #1 or we're not. And if we aren't, why aren't we?

A Leader's Job

2007-10-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

The #1 job of a leader is to develop leaders.

Jack Welch is arguably the most important business leader of the 20th - and early 21st - Century. In his twenty-year tenure at the helm of GE, he mentored and developed 550 leaders, many of whom went on to run other highly successful multinational corporations.

A leader is only as good as the leaders he develops. How good are the leaders who report to you, or who have moved on to lead another department or company or organization?

Jack and Suzy Welch's Winning is one of my all-time favorite books; I liked it so much that, with his permission, I quote Mr. Welch twice for chapter headings of my own book, Five-Star Customer Service.

To buy Winning through Amazon.com, click here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-8134969-0366836?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=winning&x=14&y=15

Use the link above, and Amazon will donate up to 8% of your purchase price to www.NaplesSocialAction.org. Thanks!

If you read just one book this month...

2007-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

If you have ever worked with others or if you know a person who has, you owe it to yourself to read Robert Cialindi's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion."

To buy it on Amazon.com, click here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-0020555-3331171?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Influence%3A+the+power+of+persuasion&Go.x=8&Go.y=10

I can't say it enough: We are all teachers. We are all in sales. We are all in customer service. So read this book. It will help you at work, as a volunteer, and at play.

Use the link above, and Amazon will donate up to 8% of your purchase price to http://www.naplessocialaction.org/. We could use the help!

On Character

2007-10-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

"Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without strategy." - General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Personally, I am of the "Great Man" (and Woman) theory of leadership - that history is a chronicle of the acts of individuals. Not everyone believes that - there are those who claim that outcomes would happen regardless of who is at the helm. I think that's an interesting view, but my observations lead me to disagree.

So if leaders are so important, let me argue that it is vitally important for us to develop leaders of character. We shouldn't just strive to create good leaders; we must work tirelessly to create and support leaders who are Good.

Because you read my blog, you're getting this several weeks before our press release: some world-class leaders and I are forming a think tank dedicated to developing leaders who will advance social justice in all fields of endeavor, wherever they lead others. Introducing The Naples Institute. I'll flesh it out more in future blog entries.

Back to Schwarzkopf's comment on character.

If you strip down every last aspect of who you are, like peeling layers off an onion, what will you finally be left with? I am a businessman, but that is a surface trait; when I'm at the beach with my girls I'm not playing businessman, but I am still "me." I am a charity organizer, but again that is not who I am, distilled to its essence: that's more an outward manifestation of who I am. I am an author - but I'm still Ted even if I never write again. I'm a resident of Naples; where you live colors your experiences, but it likely doesn't define you as a person.

Residence, race, education, resume, marital status.... all layers that can be peeled away. Ultimately, who are you underneath it all?

If you're really like an onion, then there will be nothing there at the end - you have no core, nothing solid that in the end truly is the essence of You. That is lack of character, and I pity you. The character Kurtz in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness was such a leader: he was phenomenally charismatic, and he led like few people can. Yet he stood for absolutely nothing, which led to his demise.

What is left within you after all of your outer traits are stripped away? Are you an empty onion, or is there a kernel of bare essence there? What I hope you will find is that deep down inside, after everything else is removed, your answer is that you are a Good person. Chances are if you're reading this blog, then you've found me through your interest in customer service or philanthropy. It's rare to find someone with those interests who is not Good. Thankfully, then, I'm preaching to the choir.

Still, I've found that even Good people today need permission to be Good. I can't tell you the number of business leaders I've met who want to do the right thing - if it's expedient, if "all things are equal" (which they never are); if it doesn't harm the bottom line.

The Naples Institute will give that permission. It is my personal belief that doing the right thing - in business, politics, interpersonal relationships, recreation; at all times - is beneficial to a person and an organization. And not just to one's spiritual sense; I mean that Good actions are rewarded tangibly. Executives at Johnson & Johnson coined the term Enlightened Self-Interest way back in the 1950's, and it's a powerfully compelling axiom. Doing Good is good for you. Your business grows. Your children love you better and obey you more readily. You attract more praise, more positive attention. People cut you breaks when things go badly. For completely selfish reasons, do the right thing. It pays handsome dividends.

Now, here's why we want our leaders to see themselves as fundamentally Good.

Our self-image determines our actions. People who see themselves as devoted parents will lay down their lives if necessary to protect their children. People who see themselves as loyal followers will sometimes do morally questionable acts in service to their leader. Those who see themselves as unredeemed can be relied on to stand for nothing; their own self-loathing will lead them to destructive, and self-destructive, acts again and again.

We want a judge who sees herself as Just, because we know she will guide our trial objectively even if the outcomes goes against her personal preference. We want a boss who sees himself as Supportive because our career is in his hands. We want our teachers and coaches to see themselves as Devoted to our success; their own self-definition will dictate that they do their jobs well.

When a person sees herself as morally Good, that will guide all of her decisions. We humans crave meaning in our lives, and our internal narrative has to make sense to us, or it will nag at us until we get back in alignment with it, or until it drives us to ruin.

The Naples Institute will turn out highly effective leaders - good leaders - who are Good people. We will be able to rely on these people to do the right things. That will benefit us all.

Welcome to my new blog!

2007-10-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

For those few of you who’ve been with me for a while, that phrase is nothing new. This is actually blog #6 for me, though to be fair to myself a couple of the previous ones have died off, replaced by newer iterations of themselves. You see, I love to build things, but destroying and rebuilding is part of the creative process. You don’t get innovation without continual tinkering.

Basically, these previous blogs of mine have two themes: business (most notably customer service), and philanthropy. I’ve kept the two separate, thinking that my business audience wants to learn how to run their companies more successfully and doesn't want any touchy-feely claptrap, while my philanthropic audience wants to save the world, and doesn’t care about business (much as I’d argue both opinions are naïve).

Maybe that was right, and you’d like these worlds to stay distinct. Please email me to share your thoughts (ted@naplessocialaction.org).

Meanwhile, I’ve decided to combine everything I have to say into one venue because, well, I’ve been feeling rather schizophrenic with my interests divided this way. Also, both my business and nonprofit endeavors are expanding dramatically in scope, as you’ll soon read. I don't want to start another blog or two for those topics, so... time to consolidate.

If you’d like to check out a couple of my older blogs, here you go:

http://www.giveinnaples.blogspot.com/ (philanthropy)
http://www.spoilemrotten.blogspot.com/ (customer service)
http://www.naplesresource.blogspot.com/ (customer service)

Hope to see you back here soon! I’ve got some very exciting projects I’m working on – stuff that makes everything I’ve done in the past 40 years seem like a warm-up. But I guess that's what experience is, isn't it? Practice for your next time at bat.