from JPT Group | May 2024 | Vol. 17 No. 5
Ain’t Love Grand?
It’s spring. And spring is when a young man’s (and woman’s, we presume) thoughts turn to love… or whatever passes for love these days. And what better image is there for springtime love than a couple holding hands?
Holding hands is certainly an endearing sight. Two young lovers. Two older, mature lovers. A parent and a child. It’s all so wonderful.
There are, however, times when hand holding is not all that great. What about when an employer engages a new hire for the business and the employer realizes soon on that the young, exuberant and inexperienced new employee requires a lot of hand holding to get the job done. Sometimes even to complete what were considered to be simple, ordinary, every-day tasks.
Now hand holding isn’t so special
If the employer has the time and the patience to work with that younger, enthusiastic employee, all the better. It may even pay substantial long-term benefits. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
But the work needs to be done. And it needs to be done right. And sometimes it needs to be done now! And waiting for a new employee to get up to speed may be a luxury that the employer just can’t afford.
Then again, there are alternatives. These days it’s known as outsourcing. Agency people, consultants, freelancers – all standing at the ready armed with experience and expertise to meet whatever challenges may be thrown their ways. And, they need a lot less hand holding and oversight.
“A wave creamed me the other day, so I picked myself up, emptied the sand and seaweed from my suit, laughed it off, didn't care what anyone watching thought, and plunged back in. That's what you do in business, too.”
— unknown
BUSINESS UPDATE
Workers are more satisfied with their jobs than they’ve been in nearly 40 years — at least according to The Conference Board’s annual job satisfaction report. But despite the top-line number being the highest, at almost 63 percent, since the survey’s 1987 inception, satisfaction with specific aspects of people’s jobs — including wages, benefits, workload and work-life balance — is actually dropping.
— marketplace.org
It Had to Happen
A Finnish company has launched a new blend of coffee at the Helsinki Coffee Festival called “AI-conic” that was developed by artificial intelligence (AI). The coffee combines four beans from Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia and Guatemala. AI also created the coffee package label and a detailed taste description saying “AI-conic” is “a well balanced blend of sweetness and ripe fruit.”
The company, Kaffa Roastery, Finland’s third-biggest coffee roastery, partnered with a local AI consultancy known as Elev to develop the new blend.
It’s fitting that this happened in Helsinki – the capital of the nation that consumes the most coffee in the world at 12 kilograms per capita annually, according to the International Coffee Organization.
At the festival, local coffee experts agreed that the tech-assisted blend was perfect, and there was no need for human adjustments.
From the Associated Press
“‘No work would be possible without coffee.’ They pondered the importance of coffee in silence.”
― Henning Mankell, Swedish crime writer, children's author and dramatist
A Crying Shame
For as much as they cry, newborn humans do not produce tears for at least their first month and as long as their first seven months. The average adult, on the other hand, produces between 15 and 30 gallons of tears each year. Perhaps to no one’s surprise, women cry more than men or perhaps it’s because women’s emotional tears produce a hormone that stimulates breast milk production. Men and women alike cry when slicing onions because the onions release a gas called syn-propanethial-S-oxide.
— healthline.com and others
I got it! I got it! The baseball glove was invented in Canada in 1883.
— mustdocanada.com
It’s only money. At $1.22 per gallon, bottled water costs 300 times more than tap water.
— knowledgestew.com
Odds are. An investment firm says that New York City has 349,500 millionaires – or one in every 24 residents.
— newser.com
Phony as a $3 bill. In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was established specifically to combat the counterfeiting of money.
— greatfacts.com
Brings a tear to your eye. The average American eats 20 pounds of onions per year, far behind the world-leading Libyans who consume 66.8 pounds.
— National Onion Association
Dirty business. Mustard plants are used to remove “heavy metal contaminants” from soil.
— The History Guy
Cats and a saucer of milk? In reality, cats are lactose intolerant.
— ctvsh.com
You deserve a job today. One in eight Americans has worked for McDonald's at some point in their lives.
— Inc.
The sun’ll come out… Three different teams of meteorologists predicted that the weather would be best on June 5, 6 or 7 for the D-Day invasion.
— Mental Floss
A hair-owing ordeal. A Moscow resident was recently fined and prosecuted for dyeing his hair yellow and blue, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
— OddityCentral
The Month of May
Month of the Month
We just can’t figure this out. May is Mystery Month. Maybe we’ll understand it better now since it’s also National Meditation Month. If you’re feeling a little peckish, take heart. May is simultaneously National Salad, Salsa, Strawberry and Vinegar months.
Hang on to your chapeau for today, May 15, is Straw Hat Day. And aren’t you glad you missed it. Yesterday was National Chicken Dance Day.
Question of the Month
Of the following, who makes the highest and lowest annual average salary: an NFL player, an NBA player, a Major League baseball player, a professional golfer, a Major League Soccer player, or a CEO?
They’re all out of our league. But, nonetheless…
Quote of the Month
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
— T. S. Eliot,
renowned American-British poet, playwright and literary critic
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!
