from JPT Group | November 2024 | Vol. 17 No. 11
Not Now. I’m busy.
Now that the 2024 presidential election is over… OK. Enough of that.
Let’s get down to work… and work… and work. Or, can we? Can you? Presumably the concept has always been around but in recent decades the idea of “multi-tasking” has assumed a new role in the workplace, in the home and in society in general.
But is it a good thing? Like the election campaign just passed, viewpoints abound from across all spectrums. Here, the old adage may be right: ask 100 different people, get 100 different answers.
The National Center for Biotechnical Information covers a lot of ground on the subject – from all perspectives. The website, CareerTrend, extolls its benefits. The University of Southern California makes a case against it.
Proponents claim that multi-tasking can increase productivity and efficiency while enhancing skills development. Detractors point to reduced quality and increased stress. Others are more focused on the scientific and psychological impacts while still others are more locked in on how the rapid development of technology has increased the emphasis on productivity and multi-tasking. CareerTrend points out that more and more job descriptions are actually requiring multi-tasking as a job requirement.
At the end of the day, not surprisingly, it all comes down to the individual. Can some people successfully pull it off? There is evidence for that. Can it hurt productivity and increase stress? Guess what. There is evidence for that too. Is it more popular in some cultures and among some populations and less in others? Yes, again.
We’ll leave it up to you. After all, we’ve got other things to do.
“When one has much to put in them, a day has a hundred pockets.”
— Friedrich Nietzche,
German classical scholar, philosopher and critic
BUSINESS UPDATE
No More Blue Light Specials
Kmart, which once operated around 2,300 locations in the U.S. in the early 1990s, closed its last full-size store in Bridgehampton, New York in October. There is a smaller Kmart store at Kendale Lakes Plaza in Miami which will become the last one remaining in the U.S. The parent company, Transformco, filed for bankruptcy in 2002, merged with Sears a few years later and filed for bankruptcy again in 2018.
The first Kmart opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan.
Source: Fox Business
Can You Hear Me Now?
It shouldn’t come as a shocker that we’re not talking about the Verizon commericial. (Although we must admit, it was a memorable campaign.) Our attention, however, is directed directly at the often-overlooked act of actual listening.
So much attention is focused on communication these days… and rightfully so. But an essential element in the communication process is listening. Recently, the Harvard Business School released the findings from a major study on AI’s impact on communication. The bottom line? AI can help leaders communicate, but it can't make employees listen.
The Center for Creative Leadership claims that as individuals become better listeners, they also become better leaders. The University of Chicago adds that, when examining the communication process, listening is “the least understood and most important of these competencies.”
So, how does one become a better listener? To no one’s surprise, suggestions abound. From Harvard to Fast Company, advice includes: listen to learn, not to be polite; downplay your own agenda; ask more questions; and, wait until the other person is done talking before you respond.
If you feel like you’ve learned something here, you were probably listening.
"Listen with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.”
— Stephen Covey,
American educator, author, businessman and speaker
KEEPERS
Now that the dust has begun to settle around the 2024 presidential election, it’s time to take a look back to a simpler, less volatile time. The year was 1956 and election history was made in American households. Two women, presidential nominee surrogates Eleanor Roosevelt (for the Democrats) and Margaret Chase Smith (for the Republicans,) appeared on television to debate the merits of their respective parties. The first (and only) all-female presidential debate.
— Mental Floss
Sign of the times. Sign language isn’t universal. There are around 300 different sign languages in use around the world.
— iflscience.com
I’d rather be in Philadelphia. There are real towns in Arizona named “Nothing” and “Why.” Don’t ask.
— Wikipedia
One gold watch, please. Some 43.5 percent of full-time U.S. workers don’t participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, while 49.9 percent don’t work for employers that match their contributions.
— Economic Innovation Group
A rose by any other name… Google’s original name was “BackRub.”
— Interesting Facts
Oh yeah? U.S. Senate Rule XIX, which dates back to 1902, states that U.S. senators cannot insult their colleagues.
— Mental Floss
Holy guacamole! The avocado supplies 27 percent of your daily requirement of fiber and has more potassium than bananas.
— uselessdaily.com
So sad. Productivity declines related to depression and anxiety cost the world economy about $1 trillion annually.
— Entrepreneur
Want fries with that? More than 3.6 million Americans are currently working as fast food and counter workers.
— U.S. Department of Labor
Anyone there? The three least visited U.S. national parks are all in Alaska. The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve has least number of visitors – less than 10,000 per year.
— oddee.com
Cock-a-doodle doofus. A French couple is being sued by a neighbor because their rooster crows too loudly.
— OddityCentral
The Month of November
Month of the Month
November has a real link to the past since it’s Historic Bridge Awareness Month. If you’re feeling good, it might be because it’s National Gratitude Month. Feeling listless? Blame National Impotency Month. The whole country?
If you feel like you’re going around in circles today, could be because November 15 is America Recycles Day. If you’re in need of something to recycle, today is also National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day.
Question of the Month
Why is There a Pom-Pom On Top of Winter Hats?
There’s more than grey matter under that hat.
Quote of the Month
“You can use all the quantitative data you can get, but you still have to distrust it and use your own intelligence and judgment.”
— Alvin Toffler, an American writer,
futurist and businessman
Get a Headstart
If you have ever thought about including a newsletter in your marketing communications toolkit, before you begin, download our free digital booklet – Getting Started with Your Newsletter – to get some basic questions answered as well as a little inspiration to nudge you forward. Be sure to check out “Something Special” at the end. Download your copy.
A Gridiron MBA?
Maybe that’s not possible, but there is much you can learn about business from football in the book, Hard Hitting Lessons. The subtitle says it all, “Some not-so-obvious business lessons learned from playing football.”
Get your copy here!
