JephMaystruck.com » Life

The Most Important Person in the World

Jeph — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:35:50 +0000

The other day I found myself in a very interesting conversation about strangers.

Her: “I always try to be as nice as possible to strangers”

Me: “Really? Why?”

Her: “Well, you never know who that person is and what if they’re the most important person in the World?”

Me: “So you assume everyone you meet/talk to is the most important person in the World?”

Her: “Precisely”

Me: I didn’t say anything just had a small explosion go off in my head.

My boss has always told me when going to a small town bar, make sure you treat the waitress like gold because she probably owns the place. I think this is a great metaphorical life lesson.

The person who I know who is the best at dealing with people does this all the time. You can see it when he talks to anyone, yes I mean anyone, he gives them the time of day, he truly cares about what they think and he makes them feel like they are the most important person in the world. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, this strategy works wonders for building your personal and professional relationships.

Where can you start? Remember peoples names more often. To anyone the most important word in the english language is his/her own name, if someone remembers it, it’s a sign of respect. Here’s a few tips on how to remember better.

If you have a story about treating a stranger really well that resulted in something amazingly spectacular I’d love to here about it in the comments below!

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The Second Annual Coveted Cup

Jeph — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 22:37:38 +0000

There’s an event that happens every July in Regina that would give Chuck Norris a boost of Testosterone.

The Coveted Cup:

20 guys, 10 teams, 3 days, 6 sports, 2 champions that get 363 days of the best bragging rights ever.

We start off the weekend with a home run derby. Second comes the beer dart tournament after a friendly BBQ. Saturday morning comes quick if you’re not prepared, 9:00am head to the beach volleyball court for some early morning two on two. Break for lunch then off to the tennis courts for a four hour long debacle, people say it’s comparable to a tournament called Wimbledon. Nicknamed “Slaughtering Saturday” because of the fierce competition endured, we wind down with good ol’ poker tournament. The final event of the weekend is out at the beautiful Dear Valley Golf Course. Oh I forgot to mention, the last placed team gets kicked out of next year’s Coveted Cup.

A portion of our entry fee goes to Kidsport, so we are giving back a little as well.

The scoring algorithm our good friend Trevor Galon came up with would rival that of university mathematician. Trevor plans the entire Coveted Cup and our hats go off to him for one of the best weekends of the year.

2010 Winners:

Home Run Derby: Baron/Badger

Beer Darts: Baron/Badger

Beach Volleyball: Bozak/Solomon

Tennis: Baron/Badger

Poker: Tran/Rink

Golf: Galon/Maystruck

Overall Champions:

Badger/Baron/Lausch*

*Lausch golfed with Badger instead of Baron.

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You can’t hide your reputation

Jeph — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:30:40 +0000

Anytime you cross someone in a bad way they will remember. Your reputation is your business. We have the ability to communicate online with thousands of people instantly, it is what those people say about you that becomes your reputation.

Humans remember the bad things much longer than the good, if you have broken someone’s trust in the past I’d suggest working on making it better soon because it’s going to take a while. Think of the last person who broke your trust, have you worked with them since? How do you feel about him/her?

Trust is a peculiar trait, difficult to earn but once trust is established amazing feats can be achieved. On the contrary, if you lose someone’s trust it is extremely difficult to earn back and you probably ruined the relationship you had with that person. In the small business landscape that Saskatchewan is, you can’t afford to break someone’s trust, word spreads too quickly.

Remember:

you can’t hide your reputation
acquiring and keeping ones’ trust will be one of the most important things you ever do in business
bad things spread much faster than good
people who really do trust you will defend your reputation as if it were their own
if your business is not based on integrity you will lose in the long run

Photo Credit: Kat Jackson

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What we take for granted

Jeph — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:28:28 +0000

Helping out at Regina’s Canada Day in Wascana Park I met a young gentlemen who was volunteering for the day. Blain, a quick-whited kid, just a bit younger than myself, had an adorable dog named Dewey with him at all times.

Just after sunset in the park, a man rushed over to Blain and I, he had a severe problem on his hands. Here is how the he started the conversation, “I have to go to the washroom but when you close the outhouse door you can’t see anything in there and the Legislative building is locked, I need to go to the washroom, what should I do?!?” Without missing a beat in a condescending tone Blain snapped, “well I could guild you!” Trying as hard as I could not to laugh at what just occurred in front of me, I helped this guy explore his washrooms options, apologized to him for not having lit outhouses, and he went on his way. It was a very interesting moment for me.

You see, Blain is blind but that doesn’t really stop him from doing anything. He can golf, get to and from places on his own (via talking GPS device), volunteers in the community and can go to the washroom in the dark on his own. Blain doesn’t complain very much and he makes the most out of life. I think if we saw the world through Blain’s eyes we wouldn’t be so quick to complain over a dark jiffy biffy.

So smile, we have it pretty good.

Photo Credit: Steven Wilde “Fireworks” from the Regina Canada Day Facebook group

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Saskatchewan Ministry of Health Misses the boat…again?

Jeph — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:31:16 +0000

In March of 2010 this was posted to the Nudge blog, explaining why social norms are a proven method to curb binge drinking among teens. The post features an advertisement from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health attempting to use guilt and shame to convince teens not to drink. The other example is from the National Institute of Social Norms campaign at Georgetown University. From this case study you can read about it’s effectiveness.

The same day of the Nudge blog post, Advertising Age published this article on a study done at Northwestern University. Using guilt or shame can actually influence the intended audience to take part in more of that behavior, says Kellogg marketing professor Nidhi Agrawal; ”People who are already feeling guilt or shame resort to something called “defensive processing” when confronted with more of either, and tend to disassociate themselves with whatever they are being shown in order to lessen those emotions.”

It didn’t bother me much knowing that the Ministry of Health did that one set of ads, but to my astonishment they are producing more and now short videos too? The new campaign is titled: “What else got wasted?” Well it appears your marketing budget was.

Just because you “think” it’ll be an effective campaign doesn’t make it true, the proof is in the research and there is plenty out there.

Please, comments are welcome.

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You can always re-take a class…

Jeph — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:13:18 +0000

When I finish my degree the incoming URBSS asked me to speak to them about what to expect being on the society. I didn’t know exactly what I was going to say when I agreed to it, but the final message I gave has stuck with me and I feel myself repeating it more and more to students. That message?

You can always retake a class but you can never retake a party.

You’re probably thinking I was a party animal, who went to EVERY party Derek Wu hosted, that didn’t care about his grades and just had fun. You’re right, but there is something peculiar about people who have a lot of fun. They meet people, the interact a lot more, they learn how to talk to people, no, they learn how to engage people. There’s no class that teaches how to communicate with other people, that one your left to learn on your own.

In twenty years time you’re not going to recall how AMAZING a particular study session was but you may, just maybe, look at some old Facebook pictures and chuckle to yourself about how much fun you had.

Yes life does have a destination but it’s the journey that makes it all worth it.

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Speed Networking for Young Professionals

Jeph — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:30:34 +0000

Much like speed dating, the sensation of 2008, speed networking will give you the tools to hop out of that comfort zone and start meeting people faster than ever before. Think you cant’ do it? Well with that attitude you won’t.

Lets experiment if you will, 30 of us meet up one night, hopefully we’re all on Twitter so we can connect afterwords. The goal? To create mutually beneficial relationships with people we can assist in there work or life. How does this occur? Well you have to meet them of course, talk to them, find out what gets them going in the morning. What is their passion? Ever met someone who has the same mindset? Have you ever wanted to?

Once you graduate University there are not a lot of events that bring people together, I have not heard of anything like this in the city, maybe it’s about time we started?

I think it would be fun, when great minds get together strange things happen. So would you come? What’s the worst that could happen? You miss Dancing with the Stars one night?

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31 books you need to read

Jeph — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:38:39 +0000

31 books you need to read on the topics of entrepreneurship, creativity, psychology of advertising, strategy, motivational, psychology, sociology & economics, new media and general business. Let me know what you think and add one in the comments if I missed one.

Entrepreneurship:

Creativity:

Psychology of Advertising:

Strategy:

Motivational:

Psychology, Sociology & Economics:

New Media:

General Business:

Again, if there are any you think should be on the list please comment below and leave the link.

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Marketing Yourself in Awkward Situations

Jeph — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:47:42 +0000

Yeah we get it, everything we do is marketing ourselves yadda yadda yadda. But what do you do in awkward situations where there is a bit of tension built up? You know, those situations where it could end up good or bad? How do you get the other person on your side and trusting you?

Joke around with them. Humor relaxes people and says “hey, I’m not nearly as bad as you think I am”.

Example 1: I play hockey, I usually hate refs in hockey, I usually yell at refs in hockey, not this time. For the first time ever in my life that I can remember, while sitting in the penalty box, quite angry at the ref to say the least, he made a joke about what I did to get the penalty. I had no choice to laugh and to start liking him.

Example 2: The Pastor at my church has a great sense of humor, after the service you can’t help but smile and laugh with him while he makes his remarks as everyone is leaving the sanctuary. You feel a different connection with him because he makes you laugh.

You don’t have to be a comedic sensation, that’s not what I’m after, but if you can smile and make a comment that gets a laugh out of me, we’re already connecting on a different level. A more humorous, enjoyable, trusting level.

Photo Credit: Michael Grunow

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The Complaining Generation

Jeph — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:46:18 +0000

Recently I have been asking a lot of people how they like their job and it didn’t surprise me that the vast majority said they were unsatisfied. The more I asked, poked and prodded about their career, the more positive it became. Then it dawned on me, sure there are some better careers than others, but our generation enjoys complaining. Let me explain.

If you have what most people would call a “boring” job (accounting, office job, the majority of the crown corporations) you probably have great security and make an above average wage. You complain about how board you are at work because they block you from using Facebook and Twitter but your paid four weeks of holidays and have “earned days off” so it’s worth it for now.

If you have what most people would call an “amazing” job (entrepreneur, creative director, manager at a small company) you probably have great flexibility and actually enjoy the majority of the work. You complain about how you’re underpaid and how it must be nice to collect a check every two weeks. You struggle but your passionate and an office job just isn’t your style.

So why must we always complain? Our generation is never satisfied, we want the greener grass and the internet has only made it easier to see the grass, touch it, tweet about it and then determine if we like it or not. Is their a solution? It’s an opinion so let me know if you disagree.

You need to stop comparing yourself to others. If you tell me how much money you make it’s because your job sucks and thats the only good thing about it, save it, I don’t care. Instead of comparing and complaining ever try making your job better? Possibly making work “fun” for a change? I know sounds weird doesn’t it.

Finally, I think managers in general need training on the “generation Y” employee; their expectations, their motivations and what they want out of life. Complaining gets you no where, start thinking of innovative solutions to making your job better, what have got to lose?

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