Benefits of Telecommuting

Posted on August 18, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | 3 Comments

Telecommuting is becoming more and more popular, and to me, it makes a lot of sense. With the prices of gasoline hovering around $4.00 a gallon and the earth warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, telecommuting saves workers time and money and it is good for the environment as well.

I have been able to work from my home for the last couple of years for the most part, and I have been extremely productive and virtually stress free. The last job that I had to commute to was on the other side of town, and it was about 15 miles away, but the traffic made it a 30 minute drive at best, and it would often take longer than that. So I had to leave for work almost an hour before I had to be there, and I would arrive every day rather stressed out from the commute. When you’re sitting in gridlock on a freeway with several thousand of your closest friends at 7:00 a.m. you really start to question the wisdom of the “system.”

So in a very real sense I committed nine and a half to ten hours of my time a day in order to earn eight hours worth of pay. Plus, I used about a gallon of gas a day. At today’s prices, that’s an extra twenty bucks a week, plus the wear and tear on my vehicle.

Allowing people to telecommute would seem to me to be good for most companies as well. I think that happy people are more productive, and when you are working in your own surroundings you feel completely comfortable and there are no distractions. The company doesn’t have to provide you with any equipment or space. You save them money while you optimize your own ability to produce for them.

I was reading a post earlier today titled “Working From Home” on a blog called Design For Learning, and in it the author, who telecommutes, was asked by his dad how the company can keep track of what he is doing. He said they do it the same way that they did when he was sitting in the cube farm. He said “They know I’m working because I get my job done.”

He also brought up an interesting point that I have considered as well. He estimates that he used to spend at least ten percent of his time filling out task-tracking sheets and status reports to prove his level of productivity, but in fact, he could have been producing during that time instead of filling in the sheets! If you multiply that time by all of the company’s employees, that is a significant amount of lost productivity.

At the end of the day, even if you are at work and being “supervised,” nobody is watching you do what you do. It is your production that they see, so telecommuting doesn’t really change that equation to any great extent.

Another positive for the company that allows telecommuting is that people won’t leave the company because they want to move, or have to move because of a spouse’s transfer or a family matter. You can also consider talented candidates who may not live in your area. For companies that are located in less populous areas, or areas without many candidates with the right specialized qualifications, this can be a major consideration.

Personality conflicts in the workplace are avoided by telecommuting. We like to talk about “culture fit,” but it becomes much easier to attain when all that is required is productivity, professionalism, and polite communication. In a sense, progressive workplace culture should involve looking for people who are savvy and self motivated enough to do what is necessary to be a successful telecommuter. I wouldn’t want to hire someone who I couldn’t trust to work independently.

Telecommuting is the wave of the future. It is more efficient on many levels and it provides people with the freedom to live wherever they want to and work in a manner that is ideal for their particular proclivities. It’s all about results; if you can get the job done from home, why not telecommute?

           

A Few Culture Thoughts

Posted on August 15, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Health Officer (the CEO) | 1 Comment

I spend 50% of my time dealing with internal company issues - namely culture - and 50% of my dealing with external issues, like customers and vendors. Today, I feel an urge to write about company culture and how a focus on culture can go wrong…fast.

I’ve said on several ocassions that the culture I admire most is that of Goldman Sachs - it is best defined as a “culture of success”. Having interviewed and been offered a job at Goldman, I have an appreciation of the process. During the interview process, I met with 15 people, including a ’super day’ of interviews that lasted 8 hours. At the end of the day, all 15 people had to agree that I was a good fit for the company. They clearly take culture very seriously. Everyone at Goldman seems to have that weird ‘Goldman thing’ about them; humble, scarily smart, kind of reserved and team oriented. The model has certainly endured.

It is mainly a culture of performance, and that is what I believe should underlay any company. At Fit Fuel, we screen every single employee to make sure they are culture “fits” - we have margaritas for lunch as a team, BBQ together on the weekends and are like a big family, and it’s important that new team members are part of it…I’ve had to turn away many, many candidates who I really “wanted” to hire from a purely skill-set perspective, but couldn’t because they would destroy our awesome chemistry. With that said, the most important point that I’d like to make is that cultures predicated too much on “getting along” without enough of an emphasis on performance can suffer serious consequences.

Nobody should excel simply because everybody likes them - though it is definitely an advantage to that individual. At Fit Fuel, we take likability as a given…people wouldn’t be here if other people didn’t like them. But at the end of the day, performance and success drive everything we do. It’s the ultimate meritocracy, and we intend to keep it that way. There is nothing more devastating to an employee to know that they got passed over for a promotion because their colleague had drinks with the supervisor a few days a week, regardless of being over bought on inventory and completely blowing a deadline.

I think one of the hardest things to manage in any culture is the balance between performance and fit, but if you assume that fit issues are vetted in the beginning and you discourage things that can doom chemistry - tons of internal personal relationships/dating, clicky drinking clubs, inter-departmental social rivalries, and employees who come to expect that they deserve a party everytime they have a good month - then you are well on your way.

We’re certainly trying to do that here, and we have Goldman Sachs quotes posted on our bulletin board to remind us of what is possible when everyone comes together and focuses on the success of the company first. That success is reinforced by our great personal relationships, but those relationships are more of a foundation than a focus. They are a foundation on which we built a culture where people know that the more they push our company forward, the more they share in our mutual success. When we refer to performance, we refer to company performance first and individual performance becomes something like a wheel on a car…and I think everybody realizes that. It is humbling to know that if a few of our key employees left, we would be in a bad position. But it’s that prospect that keeps us all focused on growing our company, growing our brand, and coming together as a team that recognizes that it is only together that we can truly accomplish great things.

           

Running as Meditation

Posted on August 15, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | 3 Comments

Our CHO (Chief Health Officer) says that he does his best thinking while running, and he routinely puts in double digit mileage in the summer heat of Las Vegas, so a whole lot of thinking gets done. I agree that running is a time for reflection, and my experience of running distances has been a lot like the practice of meditation.

If you are going to run for distance, you can’t be concerned about “getting it over with.” People who view running that way probably aren’t going to stick with it for any length of time. To enjoy running, you have to just stay in the moment and go one stride at a time. When you regulate your pace based on your heartbeat and breath, start sweating, and find your groove, it’s all on autopilot, fueled by your favorite music pouring out of your iPod and into your ears. You empty your mind and invite the ideas to come to you, and invariably, they do.

What I describe as “finding your groove” is akin to the spirit of meditation. You get in touch with your body, calmly evaluating your stride, the angle at which you are holding your arms, and the way that your feet are hitting the ground. In meditation you concentrate on your breath, and regulating your breathing is a key element to distance running. Whether you consciously realize it or not, the act of running is an attempt to balance the mind, body, and spirit, not unlike the practice of meditation.

I recently read an article entitled “The Zen of Running, and 10 Ways to Make it Work for You,” and the author says that he uses a mixture of concentration and contemplation when he is running. You focus on the mechanics of what you are doing, staying present and in the moment, and then you allow yourself to drift off mentally and get into the realm of contemplation, which is the breeding ground of ideas and solutions to challenges. And then back to the concentration, maybe a burst of speed or an uphill incline that requires more of your attention.

Sakyong Mipham Rimpoche is one of the most recognizable teachers of meditation in the Buddhist community, and he has hosted an annual retreat in Colorado called “Running With The Mind of Meditation.” Participants ranged from serious competitive runners to those with a casual interest in running, but just about everyone seemed to benefit from it a great deal.

Jon Pratt was one of the organizers of the event, and he had this to say:

“What surprises some people is that meditation is very much a body-oriented discipline. It is not about leaving your body and entering some celestial realm. It is about relating to the here and now which we experience through our five senses. So in meditation we learn to let go of our thoughts and come back to our body. Running and meditation are perhaps the most energizing and ultimately, joyful, activities in my life. Bringing them together is about as good as it gets…The practice of meditation has brought freshness into my running because when I have a meditative mind I am fully in the moment and fully in my body. I am more relaxed and more joyful. When I have this attitude every run is a new and exciting experience.”

We all know that running is good for our physical health. In fact, a Stanford study recently concluded that middle-aged runners were half as likely to die over a two decade span than non-runners. But running is also very good for your head, so lace them up, stay in the moment, put one foot in front of the other, and let the ideas fly.

           

Positive Feedback

Posted on August 14, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | 1 Comment

When I think back to my childhood, I realize that for the most part, at home and at school I was always corrected and/or scolded or punished when I did something wrong, but I was rarely given praise when I did something right or well. The class as a whole is never told that they are doing a good job of staying quiet and paying attention; that is expected. But if they get distracted and start chattering or acting out in any way, they are immediately corrected. If the teachers actually praised the class for keeping themselves in order and paying attention, perhaps things would become unruly far less often.

In the workplace, if you are doing a poor job, or you need some coaching for whatever reason, of course you need to accept whatever guidance is being offered to you. But often times, you never hear a word about anything good that you are doing, but you immediately hear constructive feedback when you are doing something that is not up to par.

I was just reading a piece by F. John Reh entitled “How To Give Positive Feedback,” and I found it to be very informative and enlightening. He suggests that you should give positive feedback immediately upon recognizing that a team member is doing a good job. He also says that you should be specific about exactly what it is that you like about the person’s work. He goes on to assert that you should indeed make a big deal of it, do it often, and do it publicly, sincerely, and evenly, while considering the specific personality of the receiver.

If you want to live a fun, balanced, and healthy lifestyle, you need to stay in touch with your inner child, and as kids, we all appreciated praise and acceptance. A job well done is its own reward to a large extent, but a progressive company shouldn’t hesitate to show gratitude to its team members for their hard work and accomplishments in the company’s behalf. You are not giving away leverage by showing your appreciation to your staff. You are in fact being human.

           

Business Plan? All you need is Twitter.

Posted on August 13, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Health Officer (the CEO) | Leave a Comment

Companies: this is a relatively easy way to think about how you pitch your business or idea and whether or not you’ve refined it to the point you need to…

Can you Twitter it?

Yes, that’s 140 characters or less. Just something that came to mind when I direct messaged a friend (on Twitter) about a quirky idea that just popped into my head this morning. After dealing with a lot of VC’s (and having been one myself), I think this is a cool way to think about it.

I am looking out for the first VC shop that abandons the usual form for submitting business plans and, instead, simply accepts direct messages via twitter to their business screening guys.

           

Top 10 Reasons to Shop at Fit Fuel

Posted on August 13, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | Leave a Comment

10.) Everybody else is doing it.

9.) Girls find the silhouette in the Fit Fuel logo to be strangely attractive, in a Mr. Peanut kind of way.

8.) Your mother told you not to.

7.) To avoid looking like the “before” guy in the upper right hand corner of this page.

6.) Supplements are sexy.

5.) To reverse global warming and ensure world peace.

4.) Somebody’s gotta do it.

3.) So we have a place to play ping pong.

2.) It’s now officially an Olympic sport.

1.) To support the lavish lifestyles of Las Vegas locals sucking the marrow from the bone of life.
Fit Fuel Crew

           

Translation Fun

Posted on August 12, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Our CEO just forwarded me an email with all of these hilarious translation gaffes:

Chinglish



Check out Engrish.com, it’s a hoot!

           

Releasing Emotions

Posted on August 11, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | Leave a Comment

Most of us have heard of The Secret and the Law of Attraction, which basically states that like attracts like, so it is best to think positive thoughts and not dwell on the possibility of negative outcomes. There has been a lot written on the subject, and a lot of money made packaging and selling interpretations of the Law of Attraction by many different people in many different ways.

In matters such as these, it is best not to throw the baby out with the bath water. My son told me about a friend who was avoiding a gathering that one of his roommates was having at their house because it was going to consist of a group of Law of Attraction zealots. Among the expected attendees was a “life coach” who proudly states on his website that he feels that it is calling to transcend work and spend his time telling others how they should live their lives (for a very hefty fee).

We all know what P.T. Barnum had to say about such matters, but I think that there is definitely something to manifesting our own reality, and one thing that is not considered often enough is the need to release emotions.

I recently learned about a man named Lester Levenson who developed a technique back in the fifties to release emotions that he had been holding onto all of his life. He didn’t do it so that he could sell it to anyone; he was already a very wealthy man. But he had been sent home to die after having been told by doctors that he had just a few weeks to live after suffering his second heart attack. He set his formidable mind (he was a physicist and engineer) on trying to pinpoint the internal causes of his ill health rather than obsessing on adding to his material wealth.

To make a long story short, he realized many things, but the biggest thing was that he was fiercely clinging to a set of emotions that he equated with being “Lester.” He realized that he was capable of releasing these emotions, and then corresponding positive emotions would replace them. Many would say there you have it, that’s what the Law of Attraction is about. But it’s not. It doesn’t stop there. Lester realized that you needed to release the positive emotions as well and enter a state of mind that he called “hootlessness,” when you simply don’t care about your “stories,” the experiences and emotions that you identify with as being your personal identity.

Lester lived for many years after his discovery, and when I heard about all of this, it made sense to me. Most of us feel as though emotions are good, especially positive ones, but they take up space, as it were, and inhibit the free flow of energy that enables us to manifest more and more fresh experiences in our lives. When you consciously release these emotions, you find yourself entering into more peaceful and placid states of mind, ridding yourself of this internal chatter and emotional clinging so the universe can do its work and elegantly coalesce around your perspective in a manner that is aligned with your stated intentions.

Is any of this stuff true? If I felt as though it was, I would release that feeling. And if I felt that it wasn’t, I would release that as well. Get the idea?

           

Putting Things Into Perspective

Posted on August 11, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Health Officer (the CEO) | Leave a Comment

I’m lucky to have the best friends in the world. This blog post basically consists of a screenshot from part of a Skype chat with a friend who moved to China from Buffalo, NY and started a business from scratch. Aside from managing to be both a savvy business owner and world backpacker, he has always realized what’s most important in life, and I consider him part of my “Board of Advisors” (for life, not Fit Fuel).

Sometimes, I need a little nudge to remind myself of what I have and where I am going, and I’d like to share this snippet of a conversation with you all because I think it sums things up beautifully. I haven’t had a wink of sleep since I read it and wouldn’t be surprised if that lasts into tonight. Not surprisingly, I still managed to run 10 miles this morning, mainly on adrenaline. Good music and endorphins help me think…it’s when almost every good idea for Fit Fuel is born.

I hope everyone has someone who brings out the best in them and encourages them to pursue things they are passionate about.

Ben Skype Conversation

           

Working and Playing

Posted on August 8, 2008 
Filed Under Chief Blogging Officer | Leave a Comment

I think that it is safe to say that we like to work hard and play hard here at Fit Fuel, and I think that any healthy lifestyle has to include copious quantities of all things fun. To be truly healthy you need to stay up and be happy, and working out hard and often is the way to be able to enjoy your indulgences and still stay fit.

I eat a healthy diet for the most part, but every now and then I stray and throw something into my face that isn’t especially good for me. But what I do as an antidote is up my calorie burning the next day, and I’m back to square one. Putting in a couple of extra miles or taking a long swim is fun too, so I get to enjoy the calories, and enjoy taking them off.

One thing that is very important is beer. I highly recommend that you make beer drinking a top priority, especially during the summer….and winter….and spring….and yes, a nice cold one goes down well on a brisk autumn evening as well. There is a saying that is attributed to Benjamin Franklin: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” I couldn’t agree more, and while we’re on the subject of Franklins, winning ten or twenty of those playing poker (while drinking beer, of course) makes you pretty happy as well.

Beer is crucial, but tequila, though optional, is highly recommended. Good tequila is best, but in a pinch any tequila will do, especially if you are making margaritas. Do not order your margaritas without salt. Do make sure that there is at least two (2) shots of tequila in your margarita, and don’t be afraid to tipple a Corona between sips of your margarita. Should an agave worm become available, do eat it without compunction, and make no plans before 10:00 a.m. the following morning.

Being committed to living a healthy lifestyle is great, and we are all about helping people to do just that. Having a hearty appetite for food, drinks, and fun is at the center of a healthy lifestyle from our perspective, and balancing indulgence with exercise and good foundational nutritional habits is the way to have your cake and eat it too.

           

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