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How do I keep my temper when arguing/talking to less intelligent, less informed people?

I admit it. I have a tendency to try and educate people too much. I think that we are living in exciting times and each and every person owes to himself to keep track with what is happening and... evolve really. Often times however I find myself in utterly tense situations where I feel like I am conversing with a vegetable and aggression, frustration and anger start taking over. I guess some of you have been there... you know you're right. You know all the underlying principles and theories on which you base your argument and still the person (people) just blindly refuse to even go and research the topic in question. Maybe I hang out with the wrong people or maybe I should keep it cool and not give a dime about the all-surrounding ignorance...?

EDIT: Months after posting this question I would like to clarify a few things as it seems I might have come across as bitter, arrogant and agressive to some people.

I am actually a really calm person and the feelings of frustration and passive-aggressiveness I mentioned above are feelings that I *NEVER* let out. I have never lashed out at people with whom I converse.

I am respectful to people who have their own arguments and defend their points with passion and FACTS. I (used to) get frustrated with people who are plainly uninformed and have never even cared to read up on the question at hand, blindly throwing inadequate 'lines' at me. I don't get frustrated with the people themselves, so much as their unwillingness to consider my point and research it for themselves.

And as for the "I think that we are living in exciting times and each and every person owes to himself to keep track with what is happening and... evolve really." - by 'evolve' I meant 'progress', 'grow spiritually and intellectually' and I don't see why that might be so presumptuous thing to say? To me personally it's actually counterintuitive to believe that people should have a choice 'not to evolve', given the utterly dark and depressing situation humanity has gotten itself into. I think that there is a global tendency of 'dumbing people down' and every sane and 'thinking' person should do their best to let other people know what's going on in science, politics, agriculture, technology, etc. Not for the sake of being right... simply for the sake of planting a seed of positive change.

P.S. Oh and yeah... I considered editing the original opening, but I won't do it. I was angry and affected when I was writing the initial 'question details'.

Please find answers here: https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-keep-my-temper-when-arguing-talking-to-less-intelligent-less-informed-people

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Is this a design or a reality?



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I don’t need to tell you what Black Friday is. You should know it.

It’s thought prices are slashed heavily and customers can get their dream products very cheap. This is a fallacy.

Some people even wait till Black Friday before they buy what they need. They’re in a fool’s paradise.

Online scammers can tout Black Fridays deals and take your money and run away.

Outdated and useless products that are better thrown away would be sold to you at ridiculously low prices.

Now, let’s go to reputable online retailers…

Popular online retailers (names withheld) are fooling people. Apart from aggressive marketing and spamming, they’d been selling “Black Friday” products before the real Black Friday. Scam. Does this make sense?

If they don’t want to sell a product, they put “Sold Out.” Another scam. Oju lo fi ri, ete re ko ba. This means, you see it, but you can’t taste it.

Even some of them have malfunctioning webpages – most probably programmed to behave so to preclude some people from buying.

I recorded prices of most of their popular products 3 days before the normal Black Friday, I saw that they really reduced nothing. For example:

You can get a product for N100 and sell for N150, and falsely claim you’ve put a 25% discount. You can even increase the price to N180 and lie that it now comes at 60% discount.

This is exactly what these online retailers are doing.

Let me tell you, don’t think there’s anybody who’s gone online to do business at loss. People love themselves more than they love others, and therefore, they can’t sell anything to you at loss. All the claims of price slashes are false.

Someone is selling something at normal price and with profits, and he’s claiming that he’s putting a huge slash. Look at your favorite products online, you’ll see that prices have rather gone through the roof. The business world is full of greed and lies.

Why would they take Black Friday sales to Saturday, Sunday, Cyber Monday and beyond? Why would they start selling Black Friday products 2 weeks before the real day? Why would they be telling people lies when all they want to do is to sell and make profits?

People should know that claims of price slashes also happen on important days of the year, like Christmas, Eid El Fitri, Valentine Day, etc. Besides, why should you wait for Black Fridays before you buy your things?

When you want to buy things, simply go online and look at what you want at prices you can afford. Then go buy. Don’t wait for special days. It’s all scam.

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I am a 23 year old guy and lately l am stuck with this question in my mind, wondering if I should spend more time foucing on building my skills and studying to become successful. Or Should I spend more time with friends, go to parties and spend money on vacations, in short I live the moment.


I had the same question.

Here is what I did to answer it.

I asked myself what my superpower was (we all have one, you know.)

What was it that I loved doing the most?

That thing that I could do all day without getting bored or tired?

What gives me the "where does the time go" Feeling?

To answer these questions, I took my time.

Today, I do that for a living.

It never feels like work, so I don't have to choose.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Should-I-work-harder-or-enjoy-life-more-1

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I’ve been an employer. And I’ve been an employee. And I’ve been on the board of a staffing agency and advised dozens of other companies on hires. I’ve seen every salary negotiation possible.

99.9% of hires make mistakes in the salary negotiations.

That’s perfectly fine. They have a bigger vision for their careers and they are excited about the job so the tendency is to just agree and get to work. I get it.

But nobody is offended by a good negotiation. If a company is motivated to hire you and you are motivated to work at a company, then a good discussion about the job makes everyone happier.

VERY IMPORTANT: A good salary negotiation is win-win. Both sides get more motivated. The pie gets larger.

MISTAKE #1: Having a smaller list.

It’s not just about the money. The side with the bigger list of terms wins. Because then you can give up the nickels in exchange for the dimes.

Things to be negotiated: vacation time, medical leaves, bonuses, what requirements are in place for promotions, what’s the non-compete, employee ownership (in some cases), potential profit participation, moving expenses, etc.

Again, the bigger list wins.

MISTAKE #2: Negotiating at the wrong time of day.

This is a secret weapon nobody uses.

Carl Icahn, one of the greatest negotiators in business history, has a trick. Let’s borrow his trick from him.

He schedules negotiations late in the day. Then he sleeps all day.

Every human experiences “willpower depletion”. They have the willpower to avoid cake in the morning, but they run out by evening.

If you are offered a job in the morning, say, “This is great. Let me go over it and figure out logistics and family issues and call you back later.” Then SLEEP. Then call back as late in the day as possible to negotiate.

MISTAKE #3: Thinking too short-term.

You’re not going to be there for two weeks and then quit. Ask about the long-term.

What is the potential for the company? What is the potential for someone in your division to rise up in the company? Is the company doing well?

Have a vision for your career path. This directly motivates how much money and other things you might need up front.

MISTAKE #4: Saying Yes too fast

The best negotiation I ever had was when I said, “let me think about it”. And then waiting.

And really thinking about it. Making my list. Doing due diligence. Really thinking if there are other offers. Or potential offers.

Your value on the job market works like value on every other market: supply and demand. Really determine what the supply is for your services and if you can potentially be in demand.

When you first get interest in being made an offer, you have to determine immediately what the supply is. If supply is zero, you put yourself in a bad position.

But regardless, you can act like supply is great by being patient and saying first, “Let me go over all of this. It’s a lot to take in. I’m really grateful for the offer. How about we talk in a day or so.”

Trust me: this is a scary thing to say but it has worked for me at least three different times and I was scared to death each time.

[ RELATED: Using the 5/25 Rule to Learn to Say “No” ]

MISTAKE #5: Bad Math

What are people with comparable skills making in the industry?

What monetary value do you bring to the company (really your salary should be a function of that).

If you were a freelancer or a company doing the work, what would you charge? Your salary + perks should be in the ballpark.

Prepare by doing all the math.


Please read the rest here: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/11/worst-mistakes-salary-negotiation/?utm_source=activecampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_term=salary-negotiation&utm_content=&utm_campaign=investing

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I am not well educated on Hillary’s downsides. i.e. when I see people saying “… I voted for Trump because at least it’s not Hillary”, or “I did not want Hillary in the office”.

What did Hillary do exactly that cost her the vote and the presidency? Was it solely the Benghazi and “emails”?

Answer:

Contrary to the other answers here it is very simple, and it had nothing to do with Hillary’s email escapades or Benghazi.

She didn’t listen to Bill, who is by far a better politician.

Since 1992 Democrats have held a solid "blue wall" of Great Lakes battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. In 2016 those states represented forty-six electoral votes.

The story is being told that after the Wisconsin primary Bill’s advice was, “Yah all, should be payin’ more attention to these workin’ folks.”

During the campaign, Bill Clinton felt that he was ignored by Hillary's top advisers when he urged them to make the economy the centerpiece of her campaign. He repeatedly urged them to connect with the people who had been left behind by the revolutions in technology and globalization."

Bill said that constantly attacking Trump for his defects made Hillary's staff and the media happy, but that it wasn't a message that resonated with voters, especially in the rust belt," the source explained. "Bill always campaigned as a guy who felt your pain, but Hillary came across as someone who was pissed off at her enemy [Trump], not someone who was reaching out and trying to make life better for the white working class."

Hillary’s staff laughed at him. (I’m assuming behind his back.) Trump flipped Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan—the margin of victory.

Note: After the primary Hillary never set foot in Wisconsin again.


Source: https://www.quora.com/What-did-Hillary-do-exactly-that-cost-her-the-vote-and-presidency

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As a Brit, I’m enamored with Thanksgiving. I love the American tradition that rolls around every November when people schedule their OOOs, overeat, and contemplate—at least for a day—what they are grateful for. And I get it; it’s all about appreciating good health, friends, family, frozen yogurt—you know, the all-important blessings that truly deserve our gratitude.

But what about the other stuff? The stuff that’s less easy to talk about, or the parts of our lives we fail to see clearly because they hurt or trouble us? Our misfortunes can also be great sources of gratitude if we let them be.

Although this list might be a bit unusual, I will be thankful for the following this week:

1. Longing
I’m not a crier, but if there is a time I get emotional because I miss my dad, it’s during the holidays. My parents divorced when I was a kid, and I spent most Christmas holidays with my dad, eating roast meat and playing scrabble. I have a pang of envy whenever I see people my age or older with their fathers now. I also really miss my closest friends who live in other parts of the world. But I’ve come to realize that I’m very lucky to have had such loving relationships that cause separation to be so hard.

2. Waiting
… even if it’s just at a red light or in line at the grocery store. When I have to wait for something for a minute or two, I’ve trained myself to consider it a mental ping to take a few meditative breaths. Throughout the day, you will notice how often it happens, and you’ll (hopefully) start to find it calming versus frustrating. Now I’m happy when there are two people in front of me at the bank! Inhale, exhale, my friend.

3. Mistakes
Our mistakes can be some of our greatest teachers (think: indulging a little too much at Friendsgiving, dating a person you knew would let you down, taking that lame job you only stuck out for six months). Mistakes are the world’s best course correction, and they inspire others, because no one's perfect! Whenever you feel bad about a mistake, remember the errors that other people have made too. No one is an exception here. You’ll feel better in an instant.

4. Bills
Totally surprising, right? But think about it for a second. Bills just represent the fact that someone has provided you with something—a cell-phone connection, tax advice, some dental care—believing that you will pay them back. Trust is a beautiful thing.

5. Haters
Haters gonna hate. Critics just mean you are doing something worth criticizing. It means you are doing something. Your level of success is in direct relationship to the level of criticism you receive. So give a little thanks to those naysayers.

6. Boredom
Being bored is a total luxury. Stick with me here. Think of all of the single parents running on no sleep or students juggling multiple jobs just to stay afloat. I bet they’d love to experience just a little bit of boredom.

7. A (Minor) Illness
There's nothing like a problem with our health to kick us into sharp perspective mode in a snap. My friend was recently at the hospital with her daughter, who had a high fever. It turned out to be nothing, but I’ve never seen her so happy or relieved for health.

8. Modernity
There has never been a better time in history to be alive. Think of all of the opportunities that modern technology has given us: WiFi, Wordpress, YouTube, IVF, Seamless, Uber, you name it. As we head into 2017, know that being alive in this era is the opportunity of a lifetime.

9. Mortality
Death is life’s greatest equalizer. As the old saying goes, “Death has a 100-percent success rate.” This makes me feel more courageous when I make any important decision. Because I am aware of how fleeting life is, I want to make decisions based on creativity and love, not fear. Because life is temporary, it’s so much more important. How life affirming is that? You’ll enjoy your special day with loved ones even more when you remember this.

10. Unfair Success
We all know a “lucky” person who gets all the breaks. They are in the right place at the right time. They get promoted young, engaged first, and their jeans fit the same before and after the holidays. Whatever it is, know that what someone else has done, you can too! It’s just proof of what’s possible for all of us.

11. Your Irritating Cousin/Uncle/In-Law
A bit like boredom, irritation is actually a privilege. I love what Seth Godin says about it: “People in true distress are never irritated. Someone who is hungry or drowning or fleeing doesn't become irritated… Irritation clouds our judgment, frustrates our relationships, and gets our priorities all wrong.” If you're feeling irritated by your family this holiday, remind yourself of how fortunate you actually are.

12. Unaccomplished Dreams
Not all of our desires can manifest or arrive at once for us. Success is a moving target, as each new year naturally brings new goals and aspirations. Life is meant to be like this. We are here for the purpose of expansion. Imagine if everything you ever wanted landed in your lap right now. What then? Everyone needs something to look forward to and work toward.

What can you put through a sharper, brighter filter this week?


Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2n0dLA/:14dBnPI++:TeUqzd2-/greatist.com/live/gratitude-12-unlikely-things-to-be-grateful-for



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It seems that Google, eBay, Twitter and Facebook haven't seen the same success in China that they have in the U.S. and Europe. How's that possible? Is there a common reason?



Answer: There isn't a single common thread; the companies you name need to be looked at one at a time. Because I work for Baidu, I'll recuse myself from speaking to Google's relative lack of success, but with the caveat that I would hardly call a company that has such substantial revenue share in this market, and $300-$400 million revenues, a failure. True, they have a relatively small market share by search queries, and obviously their market share isn't anything close to what it enjoys in many other markets, but it's a whole lot better than it is in South Korea!

Let's do the rest in this order: eBay, Twitter, and Facebook.

eBay

eBay simply lost out to a scrappier competitor. Taobao, living as it was under the cash-rich wing of Alibaba, pursued a strategy that defied eBay Eachnet's Shao Igbo's famous dictum, "Free is not a business model." (Eachnet was the Shanghai-based C2C company that eBay acquired in its bid to enter China). In this case, it seems really to have been a business model. The notion that a C2C/B2C e-commerce site would do most of its revenues on advertising might have seemed preposterous five years ago, but there you are. To hear Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba, tell it, the day that eBay Eachnet decided to connect to the eBay platform was the day they sealed their fate: Ma says they popped champagne in Hangzhou that day. TJ Murphy points this out. There was a huge drop-off on eBay Eachnet after that, and they never recovered. Their aggressive roll-out of Alipay was also absolutely critical to their success. An escrow system was a smart move given the atmosphere of low-trust in online transactions. They passed eBay Eachnet in intercity transaction volume handily quite early on; eBay Eachnet was confounded by its lack of a good payment system, and most transactions were still taking place intra-city at the critical inflection point, around the summer of 2005, when Meg Whitman sensed that things were going badly wrong and spent several weeks in China trying to turn things around. I wrote about this back then when I was working for the Red Herring: http://www.redherring.com/Home/1...

An excerpt from that piece:

"Mr. Ma, 40, can’t resist the war metaphors when speaking of the struggle for China’s online auction market. He draws on the Vietnam War in particular: eBay “carpet bombs” Chinese cities with advertising, while his Taobao team “hides out in our caves” in its headquarters in Hangzhou, he says. He likens eBay’s implementation of its global technology platform in China to “trying to land advanced jets in muddy rice paddies.” And while eBay’s generals are “very good at commanding regular troops, they don’t know how to fight a guerrilla war,” says Mr. Ma. He believes the online auction giant should have taken an important page from American military history: never fight a land war in Asia."

Twitter

Twitter never really tried. They never offered a Chinese interface, and never did any marketing at all in China. Then of course they were blocked in the spring of 2009, shortly before a certain sensitive anniversary date. After the Urumqi riots that broke out on July 5 of that year, many API clients that had been usable from within China were blocked as well. Even before they were blocked, though, usage of Twitter was quite low, and clones like Fanfou, Jiwai.de, and Zuosa had already popped up and were claiming fairly hefty user numbers. Just to give you a sense for how little Twitter's founders seemed to have cared about the China market, Jack Dorsey -- appearing in March via live feed at an Asia Society event in New York, where he talked to ReadWriteWeb's Richard McManus and the artist-cum-dissident activist Ai Weiwei (probably China's most-followed Twitter user), he admitted that until just weeks before the event he hadn't even known that the site had been blocked at all.

Twitter's prospects in China are almost nil, barring a radical change to Beijing's policies. Censorship in China used to target primarily traditional Web 1.0 media sites -- CNN, BBC, New York Times -- plus the "usual suspects" of human rights or "separatist" groups' sites that had an agenda Beijing believed to be overtly hostile. But in the last two years, the focus has shifted to Web 2.0 sites, which offer the possibility of rapid dissemination of information in many-to-many networks and of course the threat of spontaneous organization. Beijing has recently made plain its fear of social media, and watches the most popular Twitter-inspired site, Sina's Weibo, very carefully. And a recent report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences singles out the final company on our list, Facebook.

Facebook

Facebook's situation is much like Twitter's: It hasn't really tried. I'm aware that there have been explorations over the China market, but nothing too serious yet. When they crowdsourced the translation of the user interface and launched a simplified Chinese version, it was only three days before Chinese ISPs (perhaps, but not with certainty, at the behest of Beijing) began blocking or partially blocking Facebook. I believe it was entirely blocked in March of 2008, around the time of the Tibetan riots in western China.

Facebook is caught very much between a rock and a hard place when it comes to China. As a highly visible company (900+ million users globally), they can't make a move without bringing down a torrent of unsolicited opinion. Facebook is a lightning rod. There are many people simply waiting for the company to fall on its face -- the same people who love to disparage any slight tweak to its design, let alone its bigger blunders like the early, premature release of Beacon.

Let's just imagine they were unblocked tomorrow. If they were to enter China and willingly submit to censorship -- say, forbidding any Chinese-interface user or IP address in China from joining a pro-Tibetan independence group (of which there are tens of thousands on Facebook) -- rights groups would rake them over the coals, and Mark Zuckerberg would find himself called on the carpet before an angry U.S. Congress. But if they didn't agree to censor, they'd be blocked instantly, and their offices in China (assuming they had any) immediately shuttered.

The above answer is of course specific to companies. But even among Internet companies where censorship isn't an issue, we haven't seen any conspicuous successes, either. A dear friend of mine was once asked why it is that so many of the big-name American Internet companies hadn't really enjoyed success in China, and I think he had the right general answers. Sure, part of it is about failure to empower a local staff, or failing to localize the product adequately to suit local user tastes and habits. That's obvious. What he added, though, was really a few key points about the local competition. Local competitors are not much younger (i.e., the American companies don't exactly have decades of experience to draw on!), they're as well-funded (VC money sloshes around the China tech scene like BP oil on the Gulf Coast), and they're used to squeezing money out of relatively poor and notoriously parsimonious consumers. They're lean, scrappy, and hungry.

Sorry I went on so long. Big question, and one that deserves a thoughtful and thorough answer.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-Facebook-eBay-Twitter-and-Google-been-successful-in-China

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We talk about leadership almost ad nauseum in blog posts, workshops, seminars, keynotes, webinars, anyone who will listen to us!

We do this because leadership is often lacking in the very people who are in leadership roles. So we keep beating a dead horse, in the hopes that something sticks. If we keep talking about leadership skills they will hopefully become part of our collective consciousness.

Because the sad fact remains that many bosses and managers are not inspiring, do not effectively lead, do not create employee engagement, and all of the other positive aspects we hope to find when we go to work. Typically, as an employee, you are not in your dream job and you are working for someone you don’t find particularly inspiring. You may not even like the person as a person, never mind a leader.

There are many blog posts about knowing when it’s time to leave your job, how to nail your interview; how to create the perfect resume, what to look for in your prospective employer, but the harsh reality is we are often relegated to our jobs out of necessity. We should always strive to look for something better. I don’t advocate settling, but there will most likely be a period when you are working for someone you wish you weren’t.

So how do you keep your wits about you in this scenario without losing your mind?

Raise yourself up if no one else is. If you’re not getting the leadership you desire from your boss or manager then be your own leader. Lift yourself up. This is an opportunity to flex and develop your own skillset. Read the books and blogs on leadership to hone your leadership abilities. I recommend Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset, to cultivate a growth mindset, crucial for resilience and propelling forward in life. Vent privately if you need to, then regroup and take action. Being negative will only hurt.

Raise everyone else up too if need be. If you feel your leader is operating at a lower level don’t lower yourself. Stay at your own level and have them come up to yours…respectfully. Though your ideas and views may sound strange at first to those that don’t share them they might come around in the long run. At least they’ll have been heard. Propose the ideas that you think are the best, do your best work. Combat mediocrity with excellence. Be a part of the solution.

Recognize the lessons this person is teaching you. Listening to viewpoints you don’t share helps you move past biases and expand your mind. An undesirable leader teaches the lesson of how not to lead. Thank them (in your head) for showing you what not to do. Being able to see solutions through an optimistic lens will help you immensely throughout all areas of your life.
Be diplomatic. Eloquence is a lost art. Much like scenarios that test our patience teach us patience, scenarios that test our discretion teach us diplomacy. This hones your communication skills, which is imperative for your personal and professional life. Resist the impulse to say or do something you can’t take back. Once you’re seen as a negative influence it’s very difficult to change someone’s mind about you. Diplomacy keeps everyone’s integrity intact.

Practice empathy. When it comes down to it we’re all individuals with specific motivating factors for each of our lives. When we understand the why behind what we perceive as faulty leadership it can mitigate our frustration. There might be a very human reason for faulty leadership that elicits empathy rather than hate. We each have a past that created our core beliefs. Is yours better? For you it is. Don’t alienate yourself; ingratiate yourself, without being obsequious.

Seek counsel from other leaders. Find other business owners if possible and bounce the behavior/opinions of your leader off someone else. It’s good to know where you might be wrong and skewed in your own thinking. Seeking counsel is in fact something I routinely suggest leaders themselves do. It’s important for everyone to have checks and balances in their lives to counter our own inherent biases.

If you want to keep your job, do your job. You’ll know if being vocal about your opposing views is beneficial for you or not. Don’t be contrary for the sake of your ego. If you need your job and you’re not changing anyone’s mind then the best course of short-term action is to keep your opinions to yourself and do the job you were hired to do. Try not to burn any bridges.

Though it might not feel like much consolation in the moment, working for a leader you don’t believe in helps define your own needs and desires. It’s akin to dating in your romantic life: each relationship illuminates who you are, what you need, and what you want. So it goes with your professional life as well.

Understanding opposing viewpoints expands your consciousness, whether you like it or not. When you surround yourself with people of the same ilk, with the same beliefs, your worldview becomes narrow. Working for people that you don’t like or that make your life difficult are usually the best business lessons in life.

Leaders cultivate inclusivity. Become part of the solution, not the problem.
Source: https://www./how-work-leader-you-dont-believe-nicole-lipkin-psy-d-m-b-a-?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-104-null&midToken=AQF1ZKDGT9_qmg&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=21erxh6TdQk7w1

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Why not in Nigeria? Perhaps most of her income is from abroad.



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Rudest: I have travelled the world and I must say that Paris, France by far takes the crown in this arena. Been there three times and the experience is always the same.

Friendliest Country: Ireland


Answer: Easiest Question Ever: France, Paris specifically.

Before our trip, I made it a point to learn a few words of french, so that I could at least dignify Parisians with an effort to learn their language. I even carried around one of those little french dictionaries in stereotypical tourist fashion.

I went with an open mind but boy was I disappointed, in the people at least. I’ll give you a perfect example:

I am looking for a hotel. We are walking down the rainy streets. I step under into a store, an empty store with a bored employee.


Walking up to her, I say “Bon jour”. (it is rude not to)

She gives me a blank look.

Smiling I say “Je cherche un Four Seasons”

She stares at me pretending not to understand what I’m saying.

I try phrasing it differently and asking a different way.

Hmm, I’m pretty sure I’m saying this right.

I try again.

She keeps nodding her head in what is now obvious fake confusion.

Ok, now this girl is just being a bee, eye, tee, see, aye-ch.

But I take it.

Finally she jumps into perfect English and tells me the directions.

Exasperated, I thank her and walk out the door. But leave my good mood behind me.

She knew I was American. Between my baggy North Face jacket, beat up sneakers and too-friendly attitude, that much was glaringly obvious. Nobody looked more English-speaking than moi. Why torture me? I am doing my best.

This happened more than once, I’m sure others have had better experiences. It was a good trip overall, just had to deal with a few more bad eggs than I would have liked. It has happened when traveling here in the US too.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Which-country-is-the-rudest-friendliest-to-tourists

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I was a salesman snob.

Like many people, I always looked down on the concept of “selling.” It seemed like something lower than me.

To some extent, selling appears manipulative. You have a product and you try to portray that it has more value than it actually does. So you need to manipulate people into buying it. This seems sad, as in the book “Death of a Salesman” sort of sad.

I was wrong. And for the past 25 years, all I have been doing is selling. Selling products, selling services, selling businesses, selling myself.

Sometimes I have been manipulative. And sometimes I’ve sold things I’ve had such passion for that I practically gave them away just to get the message out.

And often, it was very much in the middle: I needed to sell something because I had to pay my bills. I wanted to make sure my family got fed.

We live in a hard world where our basic needs cost money, and as we get older we become responsible for the basic needs of others. We become adults.

None of this cheat sheet comes from a book. All of this is from my own experience. Which means it might not work for you. Which means it might go counter to the basic rules of salesmanship. I have no idea.

But I can say that over the past 25 years, I’ve sold hundreds of millions of dollars of stuff. That stuff being everything in Pandora’s box that I had to sell just to stay alive. When I thought of what worked for me, here’s what I came up with:



A) Friendship

Nobody is going to buy from someone they hate. The buyer has to like you and want to be your friend. People pay for friendship.

This sounds sort of like prostitution, and it is.

One time when I was raising money for something, the buyer was going through a business catastrophe and was worried he would go out of business. I didn’t like him but I called him every day for three months at the same time to see if he “wanted to talk” and to offer my advice on how he should deal with his situation.

I eventually raised a lot of money from him even though the first time I met him he said, “It seems like you don’t know your industry very well.”

Which just goes to show that friendship outweighs almost every other factor in selling. One time I wanted to do a website for ABC.com. How did I do it? The main decision-maker volunteered at a school in Harlem. I went up there four weeks in a row and played 20 kids simultaneously in chess. Everyone had fun. I got the website job. My competitors were all bigger, better financed, and probably better.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like either of those people personally. And eventually, I lost the business.

The only good outcomes come when both sides like each other.

Now I only do business with people I like. The fastest way to lose all your money, mutilate your heart, and then kill yourself is to work with people you don’t like. I will never do that again.

Nor do you have to, despite what you might think.



B) Saying no

If someone wants to do a big deal with you, it’s hard to say “no.” But “no” is valuable for many reasons, and one big one in particular:

Opportunity cost. Instead of pursuing something you really don’t want to do, you could free up time and energy to find something more lucrative or something you would enjoy more. Opportunity cost is the biggest cost in all of our lives. We spend it like there’s no tomorrow.

And guess what? Eventually there’s no tomorrow.

When I say “yes” to something I don’t want to do, I end up hating myself, hating the person I said “yes” to, doing a bad job, and disappointing everyone. I try really hard not to do it anymore.



C) Over-deliver

If someone pays $100 and you give that person just $100 in value, then you just failed. You’ll never sell to that person again. someone pays $100, you need to give him or her $110 worth of value.

Think of that extra $10 as going into some sort of karmic bank account that pays interest (as opposed to a U.S. bank account). That money grows and compounds.

Eventually, there’s real wealth there. And that wealth translates into the real world.

People are 3-year-olds. They like to get presents. People want to do business with people who give them presents. Over-delivering is a present. And it makes you feel good. Give and you will receive.



D) Never take “no” for an answer

This statement, which everyone knows, is usually applied incorrectly.

People think it means keep pushing and trying new things until you get a “yes.”

That’s not what it means. If you do that, you end up in the spam box. Then you end up in a coffin. In other words, you end up dead to the person you are trying to sell to.

Instead, remember point A. Be a friend. However flimsy that connection of friendship is. Follow on Twitter, follow on Facebook. Say nice things about the person to other people. Never gossip.

Do the art of the “check-in.”

Send updates after the “no” on how you are doing, on how the product or service or business or whatever is doing. Not every day. Maybe once a month. Maybe once a year. Eventually you will find the “yes” with that person. It could be, and often is, up to 20 years later.

You plant a seed and eventually the garden blooms.



Please read more of the secret here: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/06/ultimate-cheat-sheet-selling-anything/?utm_source=activecampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_term=sell-anything&utm_content=&utm_campaign=entrepreneurship


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Follow them to classes at their school.

My eldest started a habit of skipping classes. I got tired of hearing the excuses, or feigned outrage that anyone cared enough to report him absent, and so one day I took him to school- and walked in the doors right behind him. I followed him to every class, I sat in the back of each class, I stuck to him like a burr (without speaking to him- this wasn’t supposed to be social) I was right there all day long.

I didn’t tell anyone who I was, didn’t introduce myself. The Principal and teachers knew why I was there, because I’d called the Principal and got the okay, but understood this was not a social visit. The students all whispered and watched, but I ignored them and sat or walked quietly near my son in the hallways. I was just… there. Right there.

I promised him when he got home I would do it again if I heard once more that he had skipped classes. It worked- he went to class, after that.

Source: https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-effective-but-horrible-ways-to-discipline-a-teenager

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Saheed Osupa (all titles removed) is a wonderful Fuji musician and one of the most successful singers in Fuji industry.

But why does he tend to think of himself as being greater than he’s actually is? You call yourself Obanla (a great king) because someone calls himself Oga nla (great master). Does he want to equate himself with God?

He calls himself king of music, while all he can sing successfully and professionally is Fuji (only Fuji). There are many types of music and everyone has his field of expertise. Osupa’s field of specialization is Fuji music. He can’t rap, or sign reggae or pop or blues or other types of popular music worldwide, and he calls himself king of music worldwide.

Why doesn’t he call himself only king of Fuji? After all, he’s a king only among his fans. Is he the most popular musician in Japan, or Australia or Canada or Russia or the UK or Brazil? Why all this exaggeration?

PSY - Gangnam Style has gathered 2.6 billion views on Youtube.com alone. There are pop stars who’ve sold hundreds of millions of copies of albums. I’m yet to see Saheed Osupa’s video that has up to 500,000 views.

Adele is currently worth 125 million dollars. Justin Bierber is worth 200 million dollars. Beyonce is worth 450 million dollars. Elton John is now worth 320 million dollars. How much is Osupa worth? I can guarantee you that he’s not worth up to 20 million in terms of dollars; and he calls himself king of music.

Michael Jackson is called king of pop, not music, and he’s 10,000 times more successful in life and death, than Osupa. Osupa isn’t the richest Fuji musician in Nigeria, nor is he the most popular. He’s not the richest musician in Nigeria, nor is he the most popular. Why call himself king of music worldwide?

I don’t know why comparatively lower successes go into people’s head. If Pasuma is teasing him, should be tease himself? Osupa that I know used to have a wonderful voice many years ago, but now, his voice is hoarse, though he remains a wonderful Fuji singer.

He once said, “Awa kawe” (meaning “We are educated”). Who is he talking to? Perhaps he got a first degree or highest, a master’s degree. What’s the big deal in that? There are millions of degree holders in Nigeria and billions of them all over the world, and so what’s so special about his education?

Perhaps it’s because most of his fans are illiterate and semi-illiterate, and a one-eyed person is a king among the blind. That’s why being educated is a big deal to them.

Saheed Osupa is successful not because of his education, but because of his talent, persistence, endurance, innovation, prayers, efforts, luck and destiny. There are many graduates that can’t feed themselves. Founder of Vrigin Airlines, founder of Facebook, founder of Apple, aren’t graduates, nor are they illiterates. There are many hugely profitable musicians in North America and all over the world, whose successes make Saheed Osupa pale into insignificance. There are many other professionals who are also far, far richer and popular than he’s, and they’re not graduates.

I’ve come across Nigerian celebrities that don’t even know Saheed Osupa, and they don’t care who he’s.

I like some of Osupa’s songs, but when people become proud and conceited, I like to think twice. Why does he think of himself more than he really is?

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This may not be the best time for me to write on this because of misinterpretations, but I can no longer resist the push. "Husband Scarcity" has become one of the challenges faced by many young girls today. If you go to prayer houses, majority of the intentions are prayer for a life partner. And this calls for concern. Casting our minds back to the time of our mothers and grandmothers, was there really much of a "Husband Scarcity" problem?
Or, maybe there were more men than women then, or there was an adequate corresponding numbers of both genders. I don't think so.

Maybe then, the women had values and were prepared to build a home and not park into a built home. Then, once a young man comes of age and can at least feed himself and his wife, he goes out in search of a wife and the woman really appreciates him and helps him to build a future. What am I really trying to say? We created what we now see as "Husband Scarcity" for ourselves.

Today, the reverse is the case. Ask an average girl to define her dream husband; you get things like "he has to be tall, handsome, fair, and rich, own a house at least, and be presentable" and then she adds "God fearing" in order not to sound so worldly. Then, check the number of girls around you and the number of men that meet that standard, and you will see the problem. You hear girls say, "I cannot suffer in my father's house and then go and start suffering with a man." What a wonderful dream! What if from the beginning, you have everything you want and there is no suffering, and later in the marriage, the table turns around, then comes suffering?

Will you run away? No one prays for suffering, but it is good to start small and end big, than start big and end small. The problem is that the description majority of girls give of their ideal man is virtually the same. When 50 girls want the same kind of man and the man that fits what they want is just 1 man, and the man can only pick one. Then, what becomes of 49 others? They simply start lamenting of "Husband Scarcity".

Another irony of our time is that it is hard, due to the face of our economy to find a man who is of marriage age who possesses all those things these ladies want, legally (except those involved in Internet fraud); even the number of those in Internet fraud is not enough to match all those searching for already made husbands.

Let me drift away....If you look around, most of the ladies of substance, of good value and virtue, who are ready to build a home with a man who has prospects, are the ones being taken for granted because it seems like the guys do not use their head too, you come across this kind of lady and you are still waiting Keep waiting until someone serious puts a ring on her finger.

Back to the subject matter.....The easiest way to find a husband now, is to change your view of who a husband is. A husband is that man God made and then saw that it may be hard for him to really actualize his purpose for making him, without a help meet and then made the woman and gave to him, and he felt complete and fulfilled MARRIAGE IS NOT A POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAM. It is a mission of building the family of God here on earth. For those who see marriage as a way out of poverty, it is a way into bondage. Women are HOME BUILDERS, not HOME WARMERS... DON'T CONFUSE A MAN'S PATH WITH HIS DESTINY. Where he is today, may only be a route to where God has destined him to be tomorrow.

Another truth is that YOU MAY BE THE ONLY FAST MEANS TO THAT HIS DESTINATION. Join in alleviating "husband scarcity". PICK UP THE RIGHT VALUES. I am not saying that you should pick anyone that comes your way and talks of marriage, not all men are husband materials. What I am saying is that you should stop setting your standard on material acquisitions or physical appearances.

Look beyond the physical. WHAT MAKES A MAN WHO HE IS, IS NOT WHAT HE OWNS OR HOW HE LOOKS, IT IS WHAT HE IS MADE UP OF. And that which he is made of is, most times, not seen with the physical eyes, only its effects can be seen. Marriage is a permanent thing. Whatever is seen is temporal and that which is not seen is permanent.....

And to the guys, do you know that there is a dimension of favour and breakthrough in your life that can only come through marriage......just so you know....


Source: https://www.facebook.com/chibus/posts/1114446035300239

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I walked up to a prostitute and had to get her to like me in about five seconds or less. I didn’t do this because I wanted to sleep with her. I did it because it was my job.

For about 2.5 years I had a job that I created for myself. I had to interview people at three in the morning on a Tuesday or Wednesday night and find out what they were up to?

Why a Tuesday or Wednesday? Because on a Saturday night I know what they are up to. They are hanging out, partying, whatever.

But if someone is out at three in the morning on a Wednesday night, there is usually a reason. And usually not a good reason.

Why three in the morning? Because I get tired and I go to sleep at 9pm. Once I was over a girlfriend’s house. She got upset at me because at three in the morning I wasn’t very excited and I couldn’t have sex with her.

So she kicked me out of bed and said, “I can go to the corner and find anyone I want. Get out of here!”

I left. And when I walked outside I was surprised how vibrant and exciting three in the morning was. There seemed to be a story, a dramatic production, playing itself out on every corner of the city.

I wanted to find out what was going on. But I was too shy. I couldn’t do it. I could only watch.

That’s when I decided to make it my job to find out.

I was a computer programmer at HBO, the television company. I pitched to them, “You need a website” (this was in 1995). And, “just like you specialize in original programming for TV, you should do original programming for the web”. I pitched a web show “III:am” about what goes on at three in the morning.

I went out every week for almost three years and interviewed thousands of people. Every week I’d take the top four interviews and put them on the web. After awhile, HBO gave me money to shoot it as a pilot so I shot a 45 minute episode.

I turned over every rock in the city. I went to every whorehouse, every underground gambling room, I went to jail, I found where all the undercover cops did their thing, I went to hotels that had no good news going on all night long.

But I was shy. How do you go up to a couple arguing in the middle of the night and interrupt them and say, “Hey, how are you guys doing?”

I’ve been chased. I’ve had bottles thrown at me. I’ve had famous actresses run screaming from me. I asked out girls the next day that I interviewed the night before.

But I was scared to death every single time the evening started and I was on the job. How was I going to find my ten interviews? How was I even going to find one?

Ask a question. People are constipated with facts. They are relieved to get rid of those facts. Ask them. “What are you guys up to tonight?”

Smile. Everyone wants a new friend. When I meet someone, the first thing I wonder is not whether or not I like them, but whether or not they like me. Smiling is the best way to let them know you like them. And be genuine about it. Fake smiles are creepy.

Listen. If someone says, “I wasn’t always using crack. But now I’m just looking for a place to live” ask them when they started using crack. Why do they like it? Do they plan on stopping? Where do they usually sleep and how come they can’t just go back there? Every time someone says anything, it’s the clothing that covers a cold secret. Dig until you find that secret because that’s the gold.

Shut down your brain. Your brain doesn’t want to talk to strangers. It wants comfort. It wants you to be safe. We have the same genes now that we had 40,000 years ago. Talking to someone outside your tribe might have gotten you killed. Hence, your brain will scream and shout and freeze you and cause you actual physical pain if you want to talk to someone new. It takes practice to ignore the brain. Curiosity somehow bypasses the brain. So if I see, for instance, two people arguing, I’ll focus on the curiosity instead of the pain that appears as I start to approach them.

Dress nice. Not in a suit. Just be clean. This seems obvious but it isn’t. I will tell you a secret. Don’t tell anyone. Sometimes I lie in the sidewalk near where I am staying and I ask people for money as they pass. 99% of the people ignore me and walk right past me. I do this to practice talking in uncomfortable situations. I’m 48 years old. I shouldn’t do this. My kids would be horrified. There’s crap and pee on the sidewalk when I lie down. But if you stand straight and dress nice and smile, people will stop and talk.

Everyone has it hard. I watched an interview show the other day. A famous newscaster was on the street interviewing people. And then sometimes she’d look at the camera and make a face because she doesn’t like who she is interviewing. I thought this was nasty and horrible. And the interviews were horrible. From the moment our feet finally leave the inside of our mother’s womb, until the day we die, life is a battle. Battles could be glorious but they can also cause much suffering. Respect everyone’s battles. Respect that everyone has it hard, or harder, than you do. Don’t fake sympathy or sincerity. People can smell that. If people feel you understand their hardships. They will like you.

Relate. One time I was interviewing a black transvestite prostitute. She told me her parents had been in jail since she was a kid and she got into trouble when she was young and raped in every juvenile detention center she was in until she was so hopeless confused as to her sexuality that she didn’t know if she was a man or a woman. And now that she is halfway in between, she was afraid to walk around during the day and have people stare at her. I had no way to relate to her at all. Nor would I give her the disrespect of feeling bad for her. She started talking about how the police were getting more aggressive. I could relate to authority sometimes preventing me from living the life I want to lead. I was able to ask her how she survived despite the police forcing her into a smaller and smaller box for her to live her life. So she talked and talked. Finally someone to talk to.

Interrupt. I do a podcast. I’ve interviewed hundreds of people. But the one hour I get to spend with that person is the only time I get to talk to them. And they often have their canned answers. You have to interrupt. I tell them, “I’m sorry but if I get insanely curious about something you say, is it ok if I interrupt?” People always say yes. When Tony Robbins says, “And then Bill Clinton called me and….” …. “Wait a second! Why is Bill Clinton calling you?” I will never ever again get a chance to ask that. So interrupt and ask when your curiosity pushes you.

Make them laugh. I give lots of talks. I want people in the audience to like me. I also used to go on lots of dates. I wanted my date to like me. Here’s what I’d do every time: watch standup comedy for several hours beforehand. This seems lame but it works. We each have mirror neurons. This means we can learn by watching. If I never climbed a ladder before but now I watch someone climb a ladder, I can now climb a ladder. If I watch standup comedy I won’t be a standup comedian but I can talk better, I can be a little funnier, I can do more things with my voice and face, I’m more at ease. This works every time and is my biggest crutch.

Be yourself. This seems like a cliche. Not because it’s so easy, but it’s so easy to say and so hard to do. How do I be myself? I try very hard not to brag. Ultimately, we are all beginners at this thing called living. I barely know how to do it. I’m a simple explorer in this dense thicket of jungle. That is who I am. People like explorers. People like wanderers.

We’re all on this journey together. And it’s such a pleasure to find someone, for even just a minute, to hold hands with and kiss.

Source: https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-make-people-like-you-in-5-minutes-or-less

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E kilo fun ko ma pa ara e o. Ayo oyoju la'kere fi se nitan.

Please take am easy ooo.


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An entrepreneur's life is full of ups and downs, it is important to not let disappointment set you off course.

Focusing on your emotional health on a daily basis can prepare you for the rough waters ahead.

Our mind is our most valuable resource, yet we take very little time to take care of it. Everyone understands the importance of being healthy, yet many of us prioritize our physical health over our mental state. We are more concerned with how we look than how our mind feels. Your mental and emotional health affects every aspect of your daily life, whether you realize it or not.

Maintaining your mental health requires a dedicated effort on a daily basis. A small amount of effort each day can reap a lifetime of rewards for your body and mind. But what about when life's waters get choppy?

For entrepreneurs, choppy waters become all too familiar. Just when you emerge to take your next gasp of air, you can get pummeled by the next wave. As a leader, the issue of stress and anxiety can quickly become systemic and poison your company.

I asked clinical psychologist, Amber Jenkins, Ph.D. for her advice on how to deal with setbacks and disappointments in order to stay mentally fit even in tough times.

"It's important to try and strike a balance between giving yourself enough space and time to feel whatever emotions are coming up and staying productive in your daily life. In tough times, we often have an urge to let go of our routines. We stop exercising, eating healthy and our sleep schedule goes out the window. We essentially stop living our lives and get stuck in our pain. So while it's important to acknowledge and validate the pain, it's also important to continue to do what you would typically do to be productive."

Dr. Jenkins also mentioned that it is imperative for us to come to terms with our own imperfections around the concept of balance. Realizing that when we are upset, normal routines may be more difficult, performance may be altered and our expectations can be lowered. The key is to find an effective balance and when we are confronted with rough waters to acknowledge them and ride the wave.

Mental and emotional health is hard to manage in a busy work environment even when the waters seem calm. The acknowledgment that perfection is not the only path to being healthy has been a key piece for me in understanding how to optimize and prioritize each day. The reality is that for many of us, work and the stress associated is not confined to our office walls and often follows us home.

One method I wanted to try was meditation. Recently Harvard neuroscientist, Sara Lazar, found that meditation was not only good for reducing stress but could also strengthen your brain. Personally, I have always been good at prioritizing exercise to relieve my stress, yet I realized that my brain never turned off.

A friend suggested I try one of the new meditation apps that cater to beginners. I found the experience easy and non intimidating. That being said, I failed 3 out of my first 10 tries, jumping up in the middle of the 10 min session because I had cleared my head enough to remember I had something else to do. Regardless, I still saw the usefulness and I started to feel the positive mental impact.

After experiencing the value of taking small steps to improve my own mental health on a routine basis, I asked Headspace CEO, Sean Brecker, how to prioritize mental health in the workplace.

"Employees around the world break up their busy days by spending ten minutes on social media, but that's like eating chocolate cake in the middle of a triathlon: good, but not good for you. Stress decreases and happiness improves when we rest the mind with wellness breaks; small efforts, such as going on walks outside, meditating between meetings, or even making a sandwich in the office helps calm and reset the mind."

Experts agree that prioritizing mental health on a daily basis is key to preparing yourself for life's choppy waters. Small efforts each day can have a big impact. When you do get thrown off course, balance being productive with acknowledgment of your own feelings and discomfort.

Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2ZnQMA/:WpxrT0hR:bga6nw!V/www.inc.com/anne-gherini/experts-say-how-to-stay-emotionally-healthy-in-tough-times.html

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This is why. I was lucky enough to get upgraded from economy comfort to first/business class on a flight from London Heathrow to JFK. The flight took about 6-8 hours, but it felt like only one.

Here's what it's like to be in first class: they treat you very well, by giving you a lot of things (food, drinks etc.).

The next part is the food. Instead of cheap packaged food, they give you prepared meals with several courses. There's also dessert, something lacking in economy. For dessert, you can order a sundae if that's what you want. Even if you ask for simple "nuts," you get a small bowl of assorted nuts delivered straight to your seat. There also a lot bigger chance of finding interesting/famous people in first class, as they generally act better due to better seating.

Though, most people opt for first class for one reason. Sleep. Sleeping is a lot easier in first class than it is in coach. The seats almost always go into an 180-degree position, making overnight and long flights a breeze.

This experience definitely influenced me to fly first class more often and try to get the first class as much as possible. Especially if I fly overnight.

So yeah, first class is awesome and definitely worth it. It's only really worth it if you are so rich, that there's no difference to your bank account if you fly coach or first class.

There is also a story of a rich person talking to a boy (can help you with the above text).

The boy said, "How much money do you need to afford the yacht?"

The man replied, "Enough that the amount of money that you have is so much, that it's insignificant whether you spend it on a yacht or a Ferrari," Meaning that to fly first class all the time, or have a private jet, you should have so much money, that to buy/upkeep it, doesn't that matter to you.

Another thing to note, that you should pay attention to the certain airlines and the price as there are airlines that have subpar first class while there are those that are extremely good, but costs a lot of money.

You should also look at the comments as there are some good stories, such as Huzaifa Saeed, Rosalind Winter, and Dudley Brooks comments.


Source: https://www.quora.com/What-makes-flying-first-class-worth-it

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Job interviews often lead to wrong hiring decisions.

If you were to interview a baseball player, you would not ask him how he holds the bat, and how far apart he keeps his feet. Yet, these are the kind of questions people get asked on the interviews - theoretical.

Problems:

1) There is almost no correlation between theoretical questions and on the job performance.

2) Hiring managers are overly confident that they can determine personality and cultural fit based based on a 30-60 mins interview. All they are really able to determine how well one acted on their specific interview.

Even scientist-experts in such matters as human behavior and cultural fitness require long observations and extensive testing - and even they will tell you that they are often wrong.

Candidates who perform best with such questions are simply able to give us answers we want to hear.

3) In technical professions managers confuse communication skills with technical abilities and knowledge. That is, some of the best developers I knew did not have good communication skills.

4) This is the age of an empowerment and collaboration where individual performance becomes less important. Individual performance still matters, but the collaboration does not get enough focus on the interviews.

5) Many highly qualified people do not perform well in a setting of an interview.

6) Many times I hired people who could not answer any of my questions, and they all did very well. I saw a potential in each one of them. See my related article - Hire people who FAIL interviews.

I am not for abolishing interviews altogether. I am for completely overhauling the process.

Suggestions:

1) For senior candidates reverse the process, let them interview you and then produce a plan for the next 30-90-180 days - if they are being considered for a management position.

If they are a technical person - let them produce a diagram. Let them point out to you problems and alternatives with your set-up.

You should allow them to question you over email as a homework. I do not believe in limiting interactions to short periods of time during an interview. That's not how we work. Why should interview be any different ?

2) In fact, do it for other candidates as well - let them interview you, and see what kind of questions they ask and how quickly they can ascertain how things work in your organisation.

Focus your attention on the potential of the candidate to come up to speed fast.

Some of that will be evident from the questions they ask you and conclusions they draw. Some will be evident from the resume - what was the speed with each they applied a newly acquired skill to a real project.

3) Abolish a long sequence of short interviews with lots of people interviewing a candidate.

Interviewing is not speed dating.

The expectation that your interviewers can form a qualified opinion based on 30 mins interviews is very flawed. Even a skill can not be verified that quickly - unless you are hiring burger flippers.

But more importantly, you are looking for a potential in a candidate - not just skills.

4) Give strong preference to practical questions. Ask the candidate to write a little project plan, or a piece of computer code, or make a sales call to one of your employees. Or something like that:


5) Abolish cultural fit and personality type questions. Unless of course we want to stack up our ranks with people who give us answers we want to hear.

Cultural fit is important but - firstly -it is impossible to determine based on a short interaction. Secondly, even if it was possible to measure, it totally discounts the candidate's ability to adopt to a new culture.

6) A little secret to my career success. I always hired people who were smarter than me. In my case finding such people was very easy.

Do not be afraid to hire overqualified people either. You want the best.

7) Above all, please give everyone a chance. Please, please do not set your selection criteria too narrow.


Source: https://www./interviews-waste-time-oleg-vishnepolsky?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-237-null&midToken=AQF1ZKDGT9_qmg&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=3dByAFPrqobnw1


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Congratulations!


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I am a Democrat. To be honest, I am really partially pissed off at Hillary Clinton, thinking of the possibility that this reckless actions on email servers, might lose the election to Donald Trump. How could she be that reckless? Why did she delete those emails? Do we need to worry?

Do you have a grandmother? Do you have a granny who is (a) smart but (b) not very good with computers? If so imagine that your granny was Hillary Clinton who is (a) smart and (b) not very good with computers. And here is an approximate timeline of what she did:

Granny becomes Secretary of State.
Granny asks the State Department for a Blackberry that can access both her personal emails and her work emails because she doesn’t want to have to juggle devices. The State Department rebuffs her and Hillary Clinton says she’ll try another way to the CIO - this is recorded.

The CIO is informed and his main job is to keep everyone including his bosses in compliance. The CIO fails and at this point it is the CIO’s responsibility.
Granny goes to the NSA and asks for a blackberry like Obama’s. This is actually a far more complex request and they turn her down.

Granny asks her friend Colin [Powell] (who used to do that job) what he did about unclassified emails. Colin Powell tells her that he exclusively used AoL - and gives her advice about how he deleted everything so it couldn’t be officially recorded that she ignores. (This might be step 2 or 3 rather than 4 - I don’t know the precise timeline)
Colin Powell later tries to knife her - in response the Democratic Party releases email documentation of this.

Following Colin’s advice about using personal emails Granny goes to the people running her husband’s emails and asks them if they can set up a Blackberry for her. They say they can and do. (They aren’t actually very good, so don’t keep the accounts separate).
To Granny there is little difference between this and AoL (and frankly the differences are in her favour IMO).

Granny uses the Clinton Email accounts for four years as Secretary of State. She doesn’t email many people but there is no attempt to disguise she is using a personal account. She does nothing to hide the domain name for example - and never ever sends a personal email from a State Department account.

After Granny stops being Secretary of State she is asked for all her emails from the State Department because of records acts. She asks her lawyers to sort through them, separating personal from work, and turns them over.

The lawyers do a less than perfect job because they don’t go much past the headers.
After her lawyers have, they think, turned over all her work emails Granny decides she doesn’t need to keep old personal emails for more than 60 days. But only after she believes that the State Department have all her personal emails because a team of highly paid lawyers have told her they have done exactly that.

The person at her webhosting company forgets to implement this. In a panic six months later he uses BleachBit to cover up his own mistake.

That is all documented. Where do you think Granny has been especially reckless? Where do you think that it appears she had something to hide?

Instead what happened is that after eight separate investigations the Republican fishing expedition that is the Perpetual Benghazi Investigation (something they have admitted was a political hit) realise that a ninth investigation will be no more pointful than the unprecedented previous eight (more time and money has been wasted by the GOP investigating Benghazi than was for 9/11) so look for something else to attack her with. So they move on to her emails.

They then fail to get her on the initial charge that it’s illegal to have personal server. So what they get her on is that in any functioning department a few people are going to mistakenly send her classified information into an email account that should not receive it. Especially including people like the journalist Sydney Blumenthal sending her links to CNN Reports that discuss sensitive matters - but who never was a State Department employee. By the standards of Comey if CNN were talking about drone strikes that would have been TS-SCI information in her personal email despite it having been reported and broadcast all over CNN and there having been no spill.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Does-Hillary-Clinton-really-have-something-to-hide

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I’ve been monitoring the U.S. general elections every 4 years and I’m amazed that thugs don’t intimidate people during elections in America.

In Nigeria, thugs kill people during elections. They snatch ballot boxes. They carry out instructions from their bosses to do things that would disorganized electoral processes and give them unfair advantages. Even with all these things, security personnel are often around, doing almost nothing.

But situation in the U.S.A, Britain and other advanced countries isn’t like that. Elections are always free and fair in those countries. Thugs don’t interfere during elections.

Why don’t thugs mess up with the U.S. presidential elections, and other elections? Why do citizens of those countries see their voting privilege as a treasure, a valuable thing, while Nigerians don’t value their ability to vote?

Unlike Nigeria, why don’t thugs mess up with elections in the United States? When will Nigeria be free of thugs?

Neteller here: www..com.ng

Since there is no mechanism in the USA to stop President Trump from launching a nuke, what is the chance of it happening?

There is a mechanism. He can't do it by himself. It requires the approval of another person, usually the Secretary of Defense, who holds a second and equally necessary set of codes. Also, the president doesn't personally launch them. The military might disobey the order if it constituted a war crime, such as striking first on a civilian population.

Another answer: Based on past history there is about an 8.3% chance of President Trump launching a nuke.

How do I get to that figure? Well only 12 U.S. Presidents have had the capability to launch a nuclear attack. 1 U.S. President has exercised that power.

Of course, if we start taking into account the total number of world leaders who have had the power to personally launch a nuclear attack then the probability is much more difficult to calculate. With 7 other nations admitting to hold nuclear weapons (Russia, China, France, UK, Pakistan, India & North Korea) and 1 nation unilaterally recognised to hold them (Israel) and South Africa who have held them but have now decommisioned them. Several NATO countries share weapons but one assumes that they are not under control of a single person.

So if we take 8 other countries who have had on average 8 leaders each ( I suspect the US policy of 8 year maximum terms give the US a higher than average number of leaders) then we get 76 leaders who could have launched nukes and still only 1 who has used them in anger.

So we are down to about a 1.3% chance of Trump being the next leader to kick things off.

Source: https://www.quora.com/Since-there-is-no-mechanism-in-the-USA-to-stop-President-Trump-from-launching-a-nuke-what-is-the-chance-of-it-happening

Neteller here: www..com.ng

Because success starts not only with what you do, but what you believe.

We all define success differently. We all should define success differently, and here's why.)

Yet at the same time, highly successful people do share a number of common traits and attitudes. Successful people are willing to face vulnerability, emotional ups and downs, and the risk of public and private failure.

They want to succeed on their terms -- and they aren't willing to accept a cap on their success.

Here are nine ways to know you have what it takes to be successful:

1. You enjoy succeeding through others.
Talent is obviously important, but the ability to work together, check egos at the door, and make individual sacrifices when necessary is the only way any team succeeds.

That spirit can exist only when it comes from the top.

And that's why successful people focus on the individual rather than the position, the team rather than the hierarchy, and most important, gaining happiness and success from the happiness and success of others.

2. You don't make choices -- you create choices.
Most people simply choose from column A or column B. People on the path to success often skim through A and B and then create their own column C.

As Jon Burgstone says:

"Every time you want to make any important decision, there are two possible courses of action. You can look at the array of choices that present themselves, pick the best available option, and try to make it fit.

"Or, you can do what the true entrepreneur does: Figure out the best conceivable option and then make it available."

And that's why entrepreneurs often accomplish the inconceivable -- because to successful people, that word truly doesn't mean what everyone else thinks it means.

3. The voice in your head is louder than every other voice you hear.
Others may doubt. Others may criticize. Others may judge and disparage and disapprove.

You don't care. You see all those opinions for what they are: not right, not wrong, just data. So you sift through that data for the actual nuggets you can use. The rest you ignore.

Why? You may respect the opinions of others but you believe in your ideas, your abilities, your will and perseverance and dedication. You believe in yourself.

And that makes you want to live your life your way ... and not anyone else's way.

4. You believe that how you play the game really is more important than whether you win or lose.

If you're on the path to success, you'd rather fail on your own terms than succeed on someone else's. You'd rather reach for your own future than have your future lie in someone else's hands. You feel it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Sure, you want to win. You're driven to win. But you want to change the rules, create your own playing field, and win the game you want to play -- because winning a game in a way you're forced to play would still feel like losing.

5. You don't need to be disciplined, because you can't wait to do all the things that bring you closer to achieving your goals.
Discipline often boils down to finding a way to do the things you need to do. Successful people can't wait to do the things they need to do. They have goals and dreams, and they know every task they complete takes them one step closer to achieving those goals and dreams.

That's why people on the path to success can have fun performing even the most mundane tasks. When there's a clear line of sight between what you do and where you want to go, work is no longer just work. Work is exciting. Work is fulfilling.

Work, when it's meaningful and fulfilling, is living. And that's why ...

6. You don't want to simply gain a skill and then live a routine.
Some people work to gain a skill or achieve a position so they can relax, comfortable in their abilities and knowledge. They've worked hard and they're content. (That's not a bad thing; everyone's definition of success should be different.)

People on the path to success hate the contentment an acquired skill brings. They hate the comfort an achievement affords. They see acquired skills as a foundation for acquiring more skills. They see achievements as platforms for further achievement.

In short, they pay their dues and they want to pay more dues. They look at themselves in the mirror and think, "OK ... but what have you done for me lately?"

And then they go out and do more.

7. You're a fan of other successful people.
Working for a corporation is often a zero-sum game, because personal success usually comes at the expense of others. If you get promoted, someone else does not. If you get an opportunity, someone else does not.

That's why, in a corporate setting, it's really hard not to begrudge the success of others -- it's hard to be genuinely happy for a co-worker when you're disappointed.

On the other hand, successful people -- especially successful entrepreneurs -- love when others succeed. They know the pie is big enough for everyone. (Forget the current pie; they're out there trying to make new pies.)

Successful people see the success of others as exciting and inspirational... and as validation that creativity and hard work do pay off.

8. You're willing to start a movement of one.
We all like to belong, to feel we're kindred spirits, and that's why some ideas quickly gain a following and why great ideas can become movements.

Joining a crowd is awesome. But every movement starts with one person who dares to stand up, alone, unprotected, and vulnerable, and be different: to say what others aren't saying, to do what others aren't doing -- to take a chance and accept the consequences.

What makes people on the path to success so willing to take that risk?

9. You think, "Why not me?"
Regardless of the pursuit, success is difficult to achieve. That's why we all fail sometimes. And when we do, it's easy to decide events were outside our control. It's easy to feel depressed and wonder, "Why don't I ever get the opportunities other people get?" or "Why aren't my friends more supportive?" or "Why can't I catch a break?"

In short, it's easy to think, "Why me?"

Truly successful people ask a different question: "Why not me?"

That's why an entrepreneur will open a restaurant in the same location where other restaurants have failed: "They didn't succeed, but why not me?" That's why entrepreneurs will start a software company with nothing but an idea: "They may have deeper pockets and a major market share, but why not me?"

People on the path to wealth don't assume successful people possess special talents or a gift from the startup gods. They see successful people and think, "That's awesome ... and if she can do that, why not me?"

Good question: Why not you?

If you think about it, there is no real answer, because when you're truly willing not just to dream big but also to try incredibly hard, there are no reasons you can't succeed -- at least no reasons that matter to you.


Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1kjVwl/:XK1NeDVo:WG-nGPxy/www.inc.com/jeff-haden/9-uncommon-signs-you-will-be-more-successful-than-most-people.html

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What Happens When You Decide To Change

"Here's something I struggle with though..."

People hate you. First. And you feel uncomfortable, scared, stuck, different.

Why do people hate you? I'll just give you some examples.


A) They hate your new opinions

I wrote my opinion on why kids should not go to college.

How I think college is a waste of four years, a waste of a ton of money, and there are so many more exciting things to do in today's day and age.

This is just an opinion. If opinions were laws then we'd all be dead by now. I tell people, do what you want, this is just my opinion.

My own daughters are grappling with their decisions about college. I will offer them good alternatives. But still, they will be adults. So we'll see.

But one friend of mine, who went to an Ivy League school, has a great job, and won the Pulitzer Prize, stopped speaking to me.

Her last message to me was when she got her job – "I never would have gotten this job if I didn't go to X".

Which is true. The job she has is known for hiring people from high-end schools. Whether or not this is a good or bad thing, I have no opinion.

But I loved her. And she stopped talking to me and I miss her.



2. I wrote an article where I stated I could never justify sending my two daughters to a war.

There are no conditions at all where I would send my daughters to war. Zero.

One friend of mine stopped speaking to me. We had been close friends for 23 years. We had worked together. We had really been in the trenches together. If we were in the same town, we'd live together.

I noticed he had stopped speaking to me. So I called him. "Hey, what's up?"

He said, "You're for slavery. I can't speak to you anymore."

I said, "What!? Why would you say that. Of course I am not for slavery."

He said, "If you are against all wars then you are against the Civil War and I am obviously darker than you so you then approve of me being a slave."

I said, "That is ridiculous. Instead of not speaking to me, why didn't you just call me and ask me if I want you to be a slave. Or better yet, why not just assume after 20 years of knowing me that I would not approve of slavery."

"But what about the Civil War. Read X, Y, and Z." He named various history books.

I said, "I promise to read the books. But I still would never send my daughters to a war. I would go to the war instead of them. But little kids, and anyone under the age of 25 is a little kid, should not shoot at other little kids. They are innocents."

"Well," he said, "I guess this is the last time we talk."

And it was.


3. I've even had death threats because...I wrote a book.

In my book I write about things I see happening today...about a paradigm shift in America, and some people can't handle it.

I've had many people who can't handle these dramatic changes tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. And then, death threats.

Usually these people are frustrated because they've spent so much time and money following a dream that simply no longer exists.

As I see it, America's institutions are desperate and broke. They are doing whatever they can to pay their employees less money.

But on the bright side, they are also losing their power to make choices over you. They have much less say about where you work. What you do. Who gets money for a business. Whose ideas get heard or published.

The world is changing very fast and for many it's scary.

I was terrified too.

But what I've figured out and learned over the past decade will be extremely useful to just about anyone… people looking for a job, a career change, people who want to work for themselves, people who want to pursue a life dream, people who are retired or looking to retire soon.

In short: I've already helped over 30,000 others like you. And now I want to help you too...click here.

I haven't had a traditional job or a fixed salary in nearly a decade, and I've found dozens of ways to make extraordinary amounts of money, doing things I love.

Here's something I struggle with though. Even though I have found success I don't like to talk about it that much.

Which brings me to my next point...


B) They hate your success

Presumably when you go on the path of change, you are attempting to improve yourself in various ways.

Michelangelo says about his great sculpture "David": Every block of stone has a sculpture in it and it is the job of the sculptor to find it.

When we are adults, we are like that block. We have to chip away at the programming of our parents, peers, education, government, cultural inhibitions – everything that told we were "not good enough."

The sculpture inside is the real you. The authentic you.

If you take any successful habit, and simply practice that habit for a few minutes a day, you will change. You will become more successful.

You can try and see. Let's pick a random habit. Hmmm…. do an act of kindness each day. Or be grateful each day.

As one reporter said to me, "Don't these things seem trivial?"

"Yes!" I said. It's not like I'm charging $10,000 to say something so simplistic.

The reporter seemed disappointed. As if wisdom should have complexity.

The whole idea of wisdom (I suspect) is that the simpler the better.

In any case, try that habit every day for a month. 100% chance you will feel more content in your life, and chances are the results will be more success.

Here's another trivial one: write down ten ideas a day to improve your idea muscle.

Eventually, some idea will latch onto your head and you won't be able to shake it. You will wake up in the night thinking of it. You will wake up in the morning with ideas expanding it.

You will spend your day figuring out how to execute it. And you will think of more ideas and reach out to more people and your life will be scattered with moments of immense well-being as you pursue this dream.

Anyway, try it.

My point is: I did this and then it worked and there are always people who enjoyed your failure, but can't stand to see you in a different phase of life.

It's like someone who likes you with long hair but refuses to talk to you if you shave your head.

By the way, it's not the neighbor down the street who hates you for success.

They couldn't care less.

It's often your closest family members, friends, colleagues, professors, and so on. Not all of them. Some of them.

They will latch onto one wrong thing you do and say, "I never want to deal with you again."

A few IMPORTANT tips:
You can't ask "Why?" because they will never tell you.
You can't argue.

You must never contact the person again. They are gone and any contact will only bring you down.


C) More people love you

99.99% of people are what I call "civilians". They live the civilian life. I have no complaints against them. Often I am jealous of them.

They go to work. They have their families. They argue politics or sports of whatever. Sometimes heatedly.

They live the lives that would make their families and colleagues and schools and governments proud.

They often dress in a uniform. Like a suit. They take the train at the same time each day. They go to sleep at the same time.

Our genes right now are the same as they were 40,000 years ago. But there's no evidence that humans had schedules where they did the same things at the same times 40,000 years ago.

We didn't evolve into standardization.

We were forced there by the demands of both the industrial revolution (which required factory workers to be assimilated into the same replaceable humans) and the machines of war, which require everyone to march in place to the melodies of John Phillip Sousa.

Once you remove yourself from this standardization, you are not a civilian anymore.

You are an explorer. A wanderer.

The explorer can fail. The wanderer can get lost. The exile can get lonely.

But the world suddenly becomes much larger. The comfort zone expands into the much bigger curiosity zone.

And the people who are no longer civilians turn out to be a much bigger group than you thought. And you will embrace them and say, "I feel good to be here."

This will happen when you change. This will happen when you begin your change.

But it's not really about change. And it's not about finding who you really are.

It's about getting more lost than ever.

Source: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2016/11/happens-decide-change/?utm_source=activecampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_term=happens-change&utm_content=&utm_campaign=impression

Neteller here: www..com.ng

As someone who has been very public in my support of Hillary Clinton. I will exercise my 2nd Amendment rights and purchase a gun and get a Concealed Weapons Permit - the first firearm I will have owned in the twenty years since I retired from the U. S. Army and gave all my personal firearms to family members who live in Northwestern Colorado (living in isolated rural areas, primarily on horse ranches, and often hunting deer for meat, they have more need for firearms than I do living in a suburb of Boston. The only hunting I do is hunting for things in the aisles of the nearby supermarket).

Some of those who have already send me death threats because of my publicly expressed contempt for their Beloved Leader, Donald Trump, might attempt to carry them out and I intend to live until my 90th birthday - at which time I hope to be shot by a jealous husband who finds me in bed with his wife.

I don’t plan on leaving earlier than then.

Source: https://www.quora.com/How-will-Hillary-Clinton-and-her-supporters-react-if-she-loses-the-election

Neteller here: www..com.ng

Congratulations! I wish you nothing but the best in life.



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Aside from the President, who is the most powerful individual in the United States government?

Arguably, the second most powerful individual in the US government is Janet Yellen. Most average people don’t know who she is. CNN has referred to her as the most powerful woman in the world.

She is the Chair of the Federal Reserve, the central banking system of the United States. There is no individual with more singular influence on our entire financial system - both in the US and internationally. Markets can rise and fall and entire industries reshuffle strategies based on interpretations of what this person says in testimony to Congress.


Source: https://www.quora.com/Aside-from-the-President-who-is-the-most-powerful-individual-in-the-United-States-government

Neteller here: www..com.ng

No flattery here: GTBank is one of the best banks on Nigeria. They got excellent services and many millions of customers. Really, they’re making profits.

I’ve accounts with this bank (and as well as with other banks). But there is a reason why I can’t recommend GTbank again, in spite of their excellent services.

They got too many crowds (customers). This isn’t even an issue. The issue is that they’ve failed to create new branches to accommodate the crowds. Part of the worst affected areas are Sango Otta and Ifo areas. Imagine, there’s only one main branch there, and the other branch is just an e-center.

No matter what you do online, some issues would still take you to your branch. Now imagine, you queue for hours before you enter. Anytime you get there, the front of the bank looks like they’re doing revivals.

If you enter the banking hall, it’s just like Idumota markets. You see angry customers shouting and swearing oaths. If you have anything to and you enter there, forget about it, because, unless you want to leave the bank without doing anything, it would take some hours before you can be attended to.

The population explosions of that area is greater than what GTBank admin can imagine. After Joju in Sango, you can’t see any other GTBank main branch again until your get to far, far, far away Ewekoro, around Lafarge factory. Imagine!

Millions upon millions of people are living in those areas, though some of them may be working in Lagos. Why can’t GTBank have another branch at Iyana Ilogbo, or Owode, or Ifo, or Onihale or Papa? Why? Numerous people come from those areas to bank at Sango branch, thus causing the “Night of Bliss” or “Shiloh” or “Holy Ghost Service” we experiences at the branch.

Isn’t GTBank making profits again from customers? Are they blind? What are their managers looking at? Are they satisfied with the ordeal their customers are passing thru? What’s wrong with GTBank? Can’t they create more branches, or at least, one more branch along Sango Ifo road?

If you’ve more customers, then create more branches. But instead of doing this, banks like to work their staff to death, giving one person jobs of 10 persons, and paying them a salary of one person (and of course, with no job security).

And they’re looking for more customers, while they can’t handle the ones they currently have. And you’ll even see them dancing beside roads to attract new customers. When did GTBank become like this?

If I recommend GTBank to people, it’s like I’m pushing them to have nasty experiences.

Neteller here: www..com.ng

I wonder why some people die suddenly. They collapse and they die.

It’s often said: “And that person wasn’t even sick before he died.” It’s often said: “He/she didn’t give any signs that something was wrong with him/her.”

In my neighborhood, one elderly man who wasn’t that old, collapsed on a Saturday on his way back home. Another one collapsed and died when he wanted to get some dishes for food.

When they collapse, they may be rushed to hospitals and given some treatment, but usually, they die the same day.

One woman whose husband was incapacitated was struggling very hard to build a house, neglecting her health. She succeeded in completing the house. 8 days later, she collapsed and died while coming home from a faraway workplace.

People want to achieve things in life. “Build a house.” Build a house.” That’s one of the religions in Nigeria. They run the rat race and neglect their health.

One man collapsed last week, while he was holding a meeting with his vulcanisers members. He died that day. He was buried in his house. He was around 50 years old.

Do you remember that a former coach of Super Eagles also collapsed and died?

What are the causes of people collapsing to die? Why? What are the preventive measures that can be put in place to avoid this? Are there any warning signals for potential victims?

Please, could anyone help us with genuine answers?

Neteller here: www..com.ng