Bryan David Falchuk's Blog: Do a Day Blog, page 4

What Jobs and Industries Will Disappear Because of Robots? How to Plan for Your Future

Elon Musk may fear A.I. will kill us all, but should you fear robots will take your job? Find out what to do to stay relevant in a new working world.

Hardly a day goes by without some news story about AI and drones, like those covering Elon Musk’s frequent warnings about the danger of AI leading us down a path that looks scarily similar to The Terminator movies.

While Elon Musk is talking about an extreme situation that may play out in the future, some people feel like it’s happening to them in a slightly different way today.

The concern is not that robots will rise up and kill us all, but that they’re already rising up and taking our jobs. I hear questions about this when I go to events in my events in my industry, insurance.

These are understandable concerns to have, but how we look at and work with the situation can make these concerns turn into opportunities–The Economist agrees with me that the choice is yours.

Specifically in insurance, there is a growing use of drones to take pictures of property that’s been damaged, for example a roof that was beaten up during a heavy storm. Those pictures would have normally been taken by a field adjuster who would go out to the site of the damage, climb a ladder onto a roof, and take photos while estimating the cost of the repair.

In auto insurance losses, people are increasingly able to use their insurer’s smart phone app to take pictures of their damaged car rather than having to take it to a body shop or have an appraiser come out to see the car in person. Not only is the photo-taking work being threatened, but AI is starting to be used to analyze the photos and estimate the cost of repair. Now you have two kinds of jobs being threatened – evidence gathering and expert interpretation of information.

If you spent your career doing these things, that can be a big threat.

Expanding out from insurance, the issue isn’t new. Factory workers have faced increased automation, warehouse employees have seen robots move into pick and pack work, and drivers for Uber and Lyft have to hear almost daily about how these companies are actively working on autonomous car technology so those very people are no longer needed. Heck, the entire auto insurance industry is being projected to vanish due to autonomous cars!

What is a hard-working human to do?

Rather than living in fear, you can take the bull by the horns, and ensure you are still relevant. The truth is, just because these technologies are new, the problem is not, and people have been employed despite technological progress.

We have dealt with technological advances changing the employment landscape for centuries. Don’t forget, when the U.S. was started, 98 percent of the population was engaged in farming. Now it’s about 2 percent. Horse-drawn carriages had an entire ecosystem of jobs around them–drivers, carriage builders and repairers, people who would look after the horses, etc–yet when cars came about, entire portions of the population weren’t suddenly and irrevocably unemployed. New jobs emerged around the new technologies replacing the old ones. That does not mean some people didn’t struggle, but it does mean that opportunity arises if you stay open to change.

Let’s look at the insurance example I mentioned above to see some specific ideas:

Learn to Fly

Instead of being the person to climb ladders and take photos, you could enroll in a drone pilot training program to get your pilot license so you can still be the one taking the photos, but without the risk of falling off a roof. And with drones, the use of photos in insurance is going to increase dramatically (for example in risk pricing and risk management), so there will be very strong demand for these skills.

Become a Teacher

If you’re the one appraising damage who fears AI taking your job, how do you think AI learns how to estimate the cost of losses? It has to be taught by analyzing what you do. That means your work is relevant today. And once the AI is up and running, its work will need to be checked, so new roles will emerge to audit the artificial adjusters, and that takes real experience and expertise–exactly what you as a seasoned professional have.

Keep Things Humming

And all those drones and AI sensors will get damaged and will need repair, or will need general maintenance. I have a robot vacuum (yes, I was happy to have that part of my ‘job’ taken by a robot), and it needs to be cleaned and have parts replaced every few months. All these pieces of expensive equipment ultimately need someone who is handy to keep it running well.

Manage What’s New

Do you manage a team of workers who may be replaced by robots of some kind? You still need people to oversee operations, manage the fleet of drones, oversee the pilots or auditors, etc.

Follow the Law

Are you an attorney who is afraid that autonomous cars willyou’re your work representing people injured in car accidents? You could start to study the emergence of issues around privacy for all the data swirling around these autonomous cars? Or how to deal with privacy infringement when a drone takes a photo of a damaged home while also capturing pictures of neighboring property? Or the new product liability issues that will arise when the provider of the technology is at fault when something goes wrong.

It’s The Next Generation of Employee, Not You

In many industries, we face the issue of an aging workforce with a lack of younger talent to step in once many of the current staff retires. This is the case in a lot of roles where people are worried about their employment being at risk from technology. What this situation means is that the nature of the employment base lends itself well to natural attrition and retirement overlapping with technological advances, so most people won’t have to feel pain from technological advances.

Skate To Where The Puck Will Be

And for people still in school or early in their careers, now is the time to think about where your career is headed, and if investing in learning how to write code or studying engineering would be wise. This is about treating your investment in your career future like that famous Wayne Gretzky quote:

“Skate to where the puck will be.”

He wasn’t called, “The Great One,” for nothing!

Broadening out from insurance, there’s a general theme you hear from experts who talk about what kinds of jobs will and won’t be threatened. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, did a really great job summing this up in his Think Big talk. He says that repetitive blue collar jobs will go away–think about automotive, textile or warehouse work. In the white collar world, it’s what he calls the, “friction of capitalism” like intermediaries, low level accountants, agents, teller, bookkeepers.

Winners, according to Kaku, will be roles where intellectual capital and flexibility are crucial. In blue collar roles, he names things like police officers, construction workers and garbage collectors as always needing to be done by people. In the white collar world, he points to jobs that require flexible intelligence and common sense. He names jobs like leaders, writers, stand up comedians and others where the human element is crucial.

While it feel harsh to some, his point is worth noting. We will move to a world of intellectual capitalism for human work across all types of jobs. Whether that means teaching the AI, piloting the drones, leading an organization or building things, there will always be jobs ideally suited to humans–no matter how good the robots get.

The point is, while your exact job may be dramatically changed or replaced by new technology, there are things you can still do around that work to stay relevant and valued

Worried You’ll Lose Your Job to a Robot? Here’s How to Keep It

Elon Musk may fear A.I. will kill us all, but should you fear robots will take your job? Find out what to do to stay relevant in a new working world.

Hardly a day goes by without some news story about AI and drones, like those covering Elon Musk’s frequent warnings about the danger of AI leading us down a path that looks scarily similar to The Terminator movies.

While Elon Musk is talking about an extreme situation that may play out in the future, some people feel like it’s happening to them in a slightly different way today.

The concern is not that robots will rise up and kill us all, but that they’re already rising up and taking our jobs. I hear questions about this when I go to events in my events in my industry, insurance.

These are understandable concerns to have, but how we look at and work with the situation can make these concerns turn into opportunities–The Economist agrees with me that the choice is yours.

Specifically in insurance, there is a growing use of drones to take pictures of property that’s been damaged, for example a roof that was beaten up during a heavy storm. Those pictures would have normally been taken by a field adjuster who would go out to the site of the damage, climb a ladder onto a roof, and take photos while estimating the cost of the repair.

In auto insurance losses, people are increasingly able to use their insurer’s smart phone app to take pictures of their damaged car rather than having to take it to a body shop or have an appraiser come out to see the car in person. Not only is the photo-taking work being threatened, but AI is starting to be used to analyze the photos and estimate the cost of repair. Now you have two kinds of jobs being threatened – evidence gathering and expert interpretation of information.

If you spent your career doing these things, that can be a big threat.

Expanding out from insurance, the issue isn’t new. Factory workers have faced increased automation, warehouse employees have seen robots move into pick and pack work, and drivers for Uber and Lyft have to hear almost daily about how these companies are actively working on autonomous car technology so those very people are no longer needed. Heck, the entire auto insurance industry is being projected to vanish due to autonomous cars!

What is a hard-working human to do?

Rather than living in fear, you can take the bull by the horns, and ensure you are still relevant. The truth is, just because these technologies are new, the problem is not, and people have been employed despite technological progress.

We have dealt with technological advances changing the employment landscape for centuries. Don’t forget, when the U.S. was started, 98 percent of the population was engaged in farming. Now it’s about 2 percent. Horse-drawn carriages had an entire ecosystem of jobs around them–drivers, carriage builders and repairers, people who would look after the horses, etc–yet when cars came about, entire portions of the population weren’t suddenly and irrevocably unemployed. New jobs emerged around the new technologies replacing the old ones. That does not mean some people didn’t struggle, but it does mean that opportunity arises if you stay open to change.

Let’s look at the insurance example I mentioned above to see some specific ideas:

Learn to Fly

Instead of being the person to climb ladders and take photos, you could enroll in a drone pilot training program to get your pilot license so you can still be the one taking the photos, but without the risk of falling off a roof. And with drones, the use of photos in insurance is going to increase dramatically (for example in risk pricing and risk management), so there will be very strong demand for these skills.

Become a Teacher

If you’re the one appraising damage who fears AI taking your job, how do you think AI learns how to estimate the cost of losses? It has to be taught by analyzing what you do. That means your work is relevant today. And once the AI is up and running, its work will need to be checked, so new roles will emerge to audit the artificial adjusters, and that takes real experience and expertise–exactly what you as a seasoned professional have.

Keep Things Humming

And all those drones and AI sensors will get damaged and will need repair, or will need general maintenance. I have a robot vacuum (yes, I was happy to have that part of my ‘job’ taken by a robot), and it needs to be cleaned and have parts replaced every few months. All these pieces of expensive equipment ultimately need someone who is handy to keep it running well.

Manage What’s New

Do you manage a team of workers who may be replaced by robots of some kind? You still need people to oversee operations, manage the fleet of drones, oversee the pilots or auditors, etc.

Follow the Law

Are you an attorney who is afraid that autonomous cars willyou’re your work representing people injured in car accidents? You could start to study the emergence of issues around privacy for all the data swirling around these autonomous cars? Or how to deal with privacy infringement when a drone takes a photo of a damaged home while also capturing pictures of neighboring property? Or the new product liability issues that will arise when the provider of the technology is at fault when something goes wrong.

It’s The Next Generation of Employee, Not You

In many industries, we face the issue of an aging workforce with a lack of younger talent to step in once many of the current staff retires. This is the case in a lot of roles where people are worried about their employment being at risk from technology. What this situation means is that the nature of the employment base lends itself well to natural attrition and retirement overlapping with technological advances, so most people won’t have to feel pain from technological advances.

Skate To Where The Puck Will Be

And for people still in school or early in their careers, now is the time to think about where your career is headed, and if investing in learning how to write code or studying engineering would be wise. This is about treating your investment in your career future like that famous Wayne Gretzky quote:

“Skate to where the puck will be.”

He wasn’t called, “The Great One,” for nothing!

Broadening out from insurance, there’s a general theme you hear from experts who talk about what kinds of jobs will and won’t be threatened. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist, did a really great job summing this up in his Think Big talk. He says that repetitive blue collar jobs will go away–think about automotive, textile or warehouse work. In the white collar world, it’s what he calls the, “friction of capitalism” like intermediaries, low level accountants, agents, teller, bookkeepers.

Winners, according to Kaku, will be roles where intellectual capital and flexibility are crucial. In blue collar roles, he names things like police officers, construction workers and garbage collectors as always needing to be done by people. In the white collar world, he points to jobs that require flexible intelligence and common sense. He names jobs like leaders, writers, stand up comedians and others where the human element is crucial.

While it feel harsh to some, his point is worth noting. We will move to a world of intellectual capitalism for human work across all types of jobs. Whether that means teaching the AI, piloting the drones, leading an organization or building things, there will always be jobs ideally suited to humans–no matter how good the robots get.

The point is, while your exact job may be dramatically changed or replaced by new technology, there are things you can still do around that work to stay relevant and valued

The Best CEOs Use This Approach to Overcome Common Leadership Mistakes

Mindfulness can help you avoid mistakes in business so you can grab opportunity and thrive.

Mindfulness is a term that gets used a lot, and is also a central idea I use when coaching leaders. Understanding what mindfulness is about will help you see how to stay on the path to success.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, mindfulness is “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.” That last part about the moment-to-moment basis is the key — it’s about being in the present moment.

In practical terms, it means that you do not let mistakes, failures or really anything from the past take away from or overpower the moment you’re living right now. And it means that thoughts of the future — whether excitement, anxiety, fear, anticipation or something else — do not distract you from what’s happening right now.

Now let’s say you need to fix a mistake you made. You cannot expect to find the best solution if you’re busy beating yourself up and worrying. Sure, you could probably come up with a solution, but it’s not likely to be the one that would yield the best outcome because it will be tainted by these negative feelings bookending your thought process.

Mindfulness is about letting the past be the past, not focusing on what has not yet happened, and instead paying full attention to the present moment to make the best decisions you can. Mindfulness therefore optimizes the present and then strings together a series of optimized present moments to create a better total life.

Think of all the situations leaders could avoid with a mindful approach:

Analysis Paralysis

You keep researching and analyzing a problem because of fear you are missing something, and so you never take action (and end up missing everything!) Your fear that you are missing something out there — something out in the future that is not clear to you now but might possibly be later — holds you back from moving ahead.

You do need to get your facts and analyze the situation, but staying mindful helps you recognize when you have sufficient information to act.

Failure to Execute

Your fear of making the wrong decision keeps you from making any decision…which is the wrong decision itself. The most important letter in CEO is the E because CEOs have to get things done.

To be successful in the role, you have to be ready to free yourself of the past or future to execute today. ‘Execute’ does not have to mean doing something if you actively decide not to as choosing to stay the course is an action in and of itself.

Fear of History Repeating Itself

You made a misstep before by doing X in a specific situation. It failed. Now, regardless of whether X is the right call or not, you never do it against because it failed you once.

This is like having to fire someone for performance problems, and then being afraid to hire someone in the future with the same name. It sounds silly when you put it like that, but when you are too focused on the past or future, you can make these sorts of judgment errors.

Being mindful keeps us from making decisions from a place of insecurity, as we make bad choices when they are in response to our insecurities. This is how the most successful leaders think.

It’ll take practice–but you’ll see how valuable mindfulness is. The effort is worth it.

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 23rd, 2017 .

4 Dangerous Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Goals (That Most People Overlook)

Learn the most detrimental mistakes in goal setting to make sure you set yourself up for success

There is a lot of material out there on what you need to do to set a good goal. I’ve written some of it myself. In my book, Do a Day, and in my coaching practice, I like to educate people on the common traits of unsuccessful goals. Knowing the pitfalls to avoid can help you create goals you can crush on your way to achieving your dreams.

The four mistakes to avoid when setting goals are setting goals that are:

1. Too Big

Goals that are too big can be crushing, de-motivating and even impossible. The number one New Year’s resolution is also the most common “too big” goal, and that’s to lose weight. Specifically to lose a lot of weight, such as 25, 50 or even 100 pounds or more.I know this one first hand as someone who lost about 100 pounds myself.

A goal like that is so massive, and feels so far away that it leaves you both scared by its size and detached by its distance at the same time. It simultaneously pushes you away and feels irrelevant. Instead, we need goals we can be just a bit in awe of but can also touch.

2. Too Vague

The next common mistake people make in goal-setting is that they have vague goals. People often set goals like, “get fit,” “go to the gym” or “eat better.”

Those are all good things, but let me ask you, what does “get fit” mean and how will you know when you have “gotten fit”?

Or how often do you need to “go to the gym,” because if you go just once, you’ve gone to the gym, so is the goal complete? Eat better than what? How often? How much better? And how do you define “better”?

As you can see, these goals are vague, which means you cannot tell if you are making clear progress toward achieving them, or when you are done–or even if there is such a thing as being done at all.

3. Lack Substance

Even if your goals are not vague, they can lack substance. They may not seem frivolous at the time, but in retrospect we often recognize that they were not important enough things to focus on.

Often these are fleeting or petty things, such as losing enough weight to fit into that great dress to make your ex feel jealous when you see each other at your mutual friend’s wedding. It may not be vague, but it certainly is not substantial in the grand scheme of your life.

4. Are Unenjoyable

I do not mean the key component of the goal is something that you do not get enjoyment from. I mean it is something more negative than just being the absence of joy.

This pitfall is often common to health-related goals (e.g., eating some vegetable every day that you do not enjoy, doing some physical activity you do not like or even experience pain during–running takes top honors here), but can also be for non-health goals (e.g., reading some book you do not like but feel like you should read, etc.).

First, it is masochistic to create a goal around something you really do not enjoy.

Second, how do you expect yourself to stick with a goal that requires you to do something you cannot stand? Why would you try to brute-force-suck-it-up-grin-and-bear-it your way to completion? Why not choose to build your goal around something you enjoy or at least do not despise? Dislike running and feel lots of pain when you do it? OK, there are probably 20 other exercises you can name within the next two minutes that you could do instead, and I would bet one of them brings a touch of joy (for example, common exercises I recommend for people who do not like running are dancing, jumping on a trampoline, riding a bike, lifting weights, using an elliptical or swimming).

Some people feel a need to conquer something they do not like, or to prove to themselves that they have the mental fortitude to get through something unenjoyable. That is admirable, but usually not long-term sustainable.

That approach almost always leads to failure since it’s very hard to keep doing that which we do not enjoy. And when you do not enjoy an activity, inactivity becomes an obvious and enjoyable alternative that many people end up choosing.

Avoiding these four common traits of unsuccessful goals can help you achieve what you set out to conquer in life, and I’m betting you will enjoy the journey much more.

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 16th, 2017 .

Avoid The Four Pitfalls of Goal Setting So You Can Succeed

Learn the most detrimental mistakes in goal setting to make sure you set yourself up for success

There is a lot of material out there on what you need to do to set a good goal. I’ve written some of it myself. In my book, Do a Day, and in my coaching practice, I like to educate people on the common traits of unsuccessful goals. Knowing the pitfalls to avoid can help you create goals you can crush on your way to achieving your dreams.

The four mistakes to avoid when setting goals are setting goals that are:

1. Too Big

Goals that are too big can be crushing, de-motivating and even impossible. The number one New Year’s resolution is also the most common “too big” goal, and that’s to lose weight. Specifically to lose a lot of weight, such as 25, 50 or even 100 pounds or more.I know this one first hand as someone who lost about 100 pounds myself.

A goal like that is so massive, and feels so far away that it leaves you both scared by its size and detached by its distance at the same time. It simultaneously pushes you away and feels irrelevant. Instead, we need goals we can be just a bit in awe of but can also touch.

2. Too Vague

The next common mistake people make in goal-setting is that they have vague goals. People often set goals like, “get fit,” “go to the gym” or “eat better.”

Those are all good things, but let me ask you, what does “get fit” mean and how will you know when you have “gotten fit”?

Or how often do you need to “go to the gym,” because if you go just once, you’ve gone to the gym, so is the goal complete? Eat better than what? How often? How much better? And how do you define “better”?

As you can see, these goals are vague, which means you cannot tell if you are making clear progress toward achieving them, or when you are done–or even if there is such a thing as being done at all.

3. Lack Substance

Even if your goals are not vague, they can lack substance. They may not seem frivolous at the time, but in retrospect we often recognize that they were not important enough things to focus on.

Often these are fleeting or petty things, such as losing enough weight to fit into that great dress to make your ex feel jealous when you see each other at your mutual friend’s wedding. It may not be vague, but it certainly is not substantial in the grand scheme of your life.

4. Are Unenjoyable

I do not mean the key component of the goal is something that you do not get enjoyment from. I mean it is something more negative than just being the absence of joy.

This pitfall is often common to health-related goals (e.g., eating some vegetable every day that you do not enjoy, doing some physical activity you do not like or even experience pain during–running takes top honors here), but can also be for non-health goals (e.g., reading some book you do not like but feel like you should read, etc.).

First, it is masochistic to create a goal around something you really do not enjoy.

Second, how do you expect yourself to stick with a goal that requires you to do something you cannot stand? Why would you try to brute-force-suck-it-up-grin-and-bear-it your way to completion? Why not choose to build your goal around something you enjoy or at least do not despise? Dislike running and feel lots of pain when you do it? OK, there are probably 20 other exercises you can name within the next two minutes that you could do instead, and I would bet one of them brings a touch of joy (for example, common exercises I recommend for people who do not like running are dancing, jumping on a trampoline, riding a bike, lifting weights, using an elliptical or swimming).

Some people feel a need to conquer something they do not like, or to prove to themselves that they have the mental fortitude to get through something unenjoyable. That is admirable, but usually not long-term sustainable.

That approach almost always leads to failure since it’s very hard to keep doing that which we do not enjoy. And when you do not enjoy an activity, inactivity becomes an obvious and enjoyable alternative that many people end up choosing.

Avoiding these four common traits of unsuccessful goals can help you achieve what you set out to conquer in life, and I’m betting you will enjoy the journey much more.

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 16th, 2017 .

Warren Buffett’s Success Isn’t Just Due to His Money Skills–It’s Because He Stays Calm

How Warren Buffett consistently finds success regardless of the ups and downs of the world.

Let’s talk about Buddhism. Buddhism is about letting go of attachment to behaviors, people, situation, things–all of it. Good or bad, mean or nice–none of it matters.

Instead, Buddhists use mindfulness to focus on the here and now, and live focused on the idea that everyone ultimately seeks to be happy, and we should support that quest for all being. So what does that have to do with business, let alone Warren Buffett?

The Oracle of Omaha, as he’s called, takes a very particular approach to business and life. He’s famous for his modesty. He’s lived in the same home (largely the way it was when he bought it) since 1956, drives a modest car he keeps for years at a time, and, while he doesn’t dress like a pauper, he’s not one for the most expensive garments custom-made for him whenever fashions change.

He’s famous in his investment approach as he takes a buy-and-hold view when investing in or outright buying a business. He is also generally held as a nice person where others at his level are often known for their temper and ruthlessness. He’s not interested in making short-term decisions in life or business, and that is why he’s so successful.

Like Buddhists, Warren Buffett is not preoccupied with quick gains and appearances. He is not focused on outdoing others. He is focused on doing well, and seeking out others who wish to ultimately do well. Past mistakes need not dictate current actions beyond taking a lesson from them, adjusting your approach as needed, and moving forward.

A story of success and a story of failure help illustrate the point. Buffett had a “value investing” approach, which he learned at business school at Columbia University from the approach’s father, Benjamin Graham. He bought Berkshire Hathaway, a dying textile mill, because it fit the mold of a value investment: something you buy because it has good management and fundamentals, but is trading at a big discount and makes for a good flip.

Staying anchored in the past would have meant that, despite the business actually being revived during Buffett’s ownership, he would just sell it for a respectable profit. Instead, he detached from his past, looked at the present situation free of any anchors into historic approaches, and held the company, turning it into the investment vehicle we know today as one of the most powerful businesses in the world.

On the failure side, he had bought a Baltimore-based department store called Hochschild Kohn. It didn’t play out as he hoped, and he famously wrote about it to investors in his 1989 letter to shareholders, saying he was lucky to sell it for about what he’d paid for it. The lesson here is that he didn’t let this failure stop him from doing future deals, whether in retail or not. Let’s not forget that he owns shares of Apple, who has become one of the biggest retailers (on top of being one of the largest tech companies).

His ability to stay grounded in the current moment without attachment to the past or desire for the future is at the heart of his success. It allowed him to sit on the sidelines in the 1990s while other investors poured money into dot-com start ups and proclaimed he was an investor whose time had passed because he would not join the party. We all know how that played out. He stayed true to his frugal, calm, grounded approach while others saw dollar signs and exit strategies that ultimately did not materialize.

You could say it is really just that he makes smart investment decisions and has a great nose to sniff out the best deals. That is true, but it goes beyond that to how he stays stable, calm and focused without getting caught in the excitement and emotion that whips other investors around. It does not mean he only wins (like with Hochschild Kohn), but it does mean he wins overall.

Hearing him speak, it is pretty clear he’s genuinely happy. And it is pretty clear he seeks this for others (he said so himself). Taking a Buddhist approach to business can help you to not only be happy, but to succeed.

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 9th, 2017 .

Warren Buffett’s Calm Approach Is Almost Buddhist–and It’s a Surprising Part of His Success

How Warren Buffett consistently finds success regardless of the ups and downs of the world.

Let’s talk about Buddhism. Buddhism is about letting go of attachment to behaviors, people, situation, things–all of it. Good or bad, mean or nice–none of it matters.

Instead, Buddhists use mindfulness to focus on the here and now, and live focused on the idea that everyone ultimately seeks to be happy, and we should support that quest for all being. So what does that have to do with business, let alone Warren Buffett?

The Oracle of Omaha, as he’s called, takes a very particular approach to business and life. He’s famous for his modesty. He’s lived in the same home (largely the way it was when he bought it) since 1956, drives a modest car he keeps for years at a time, and, while he doesn’t dress like a pauper, he’s not one for the most expensive garments custom-made for him whenever fashions change.

He’s famous in his investment approach as he takes a buy-and-hold view when investing in or outright buying a business. He is also generally held as a nice person where others at his level are often known for their temper and ruthlessness. He’s not interested in making short-term decisions in life or business, and that is why he’s so successful.

Like Buddhists, Warren Buffett is not preoccupied with quick gains and appearances. He is not focused on outdoing others. He is focused on doing well, and seeking out others who wish to ultimately do well. Past mistakes need not dictate current actions beyond taking a lesson from them, adjusting your approach as needed, and moving forward.

A story of success and a story of failure help illustrate the point. Buffett had a “value investing” approach, which he learned at business school at Columbia University from the approach’s father, Benjamin Graham. He bought Berkshire Hathaway, a dying textile mill, because it fit the mold of a value investment: something you buy because it has good management and fundamentals, but is trading at a big discount and makes for a good flip.

Staying anchored in the past would have meant that, despite the business actually being revived during Buffett’s ownership, he would just sell it for a respectable profit. Instead, he detached from his past, looked at the present situation free of any anchors into historic approaches, and held the company, turning it into the investment vehicle we know today as one of the most powerful businesses in the world.

On the failure side, he had bought a Baltimore-based department store called Hochschild Kohn. It didn’t play out as he hoped, and he famously wrote about it to investors in his 1989 letter to shareholders, saying he was lucky to sell it for about what he’d paid for it. The lesson here is that he didn’t let this failure stop him from doing future deals, whether in retail or not. Let’s not forget that he owns shares of Apple, who has become one of the biggest retailers (on top of being one of the largest tech companies).

His ability to stay grounded in the current moment without attachment to the past or desire for the future is at the heart of his success. It allowed him to sit on the sidelines in the 1990s while other investors poured money into dot-com start ups and proclaimed he was an investor whose time had passed because he would not join the party. We all know how that played out. He stayed true to his frugal, calm, grounded approach while others saw dollar signs and exit strategies that ultimately did not materialize.

You could say it is really just that he makes smart investment decisions and has a great nose to sniff out the best deals. That is true, but it goes beyond that to how he stays stable, calm and focused without getting caught in the excitement and emotion that whips other investors around. It does not mean he only wins (like with Hochschild Kohn), but it does mean he wins overall.

Hearing him speak, it is pretty clear he’s genuinely happy. And it is pretty clear he seeks this for others (he said so himself). Taking a Buddhist approach to business can help you to not only be happy, but to succeed.

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 9th, 2017 .

Watch Me on Unbreakable Success

Watch the interview I did on the Unbreakable Success podcast with Aaron Keith Hawkins…raw, uncut, behind the scenes! This is one of my favorite connections with one of my new favorite people. Special discount offer in the episode, so be sure to watch to get $4 off Do a Day!

I Spent 1 Year Working for a Terrible Boss. It Taught Me a Lot About Leadership

Despite all you may be subjected to, there is real value in working for a bad boss if you want to become a great one.

Once upon a time, I had a bad boss. A terrible boss. An insecure, mean, vengeful boss. She liked to drop offensive and demeaning comments to cut you, knowing you could not really say anything back to her since you know she will go straight to the CEO to discuss your insubordination.

She played odd political games, like sending her minions around to plant information to see if these fake rumors would spread so she could tell if someone was loyal or not. Or she would ask you questions tied to these rumors to see if you would tell her what you’re hearing or keep the information to yourself and keep her in the dark.

She was not very good at it, so it was easy to tell what was going on, but it was exhausting at best, and incredibly destructive and wasteful at worst.

One particularly hilarious (in a bad way) incident involved her coming to my office while I was on a conference call, holding my latest expense report in her hand, and mouthing the words, “Come see me in my office right now.”

I excused myself from my call, and walked down to her office. I popped in and said, “Hi. You wanted to see me?” To which she quickly said while shaking her head disapprovingly with her eyes closed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Confused, I said, “Oh, didn’t you just stop by with my expense report?”

She replied, “I did no such thing. I haven’t seen you all week. But speaking of your expense report, what are you doing?”

I had expensed my cell phone bill, as I was supposed to do, for the amount of the bill. The company allowed up to a certain amount to be reimbursed, and I put in for less than that since the bill wasn’t as high as that limit.

Therein was the source of her displeasure with me. She insisted we were supposed to just put in the maximum amount, and since I didn’t, I was forcing her and the entire Finance department to waste their time reading over my bill. So, to be clear, I was ‘bad’ because I did not unnecessarily expense roughly $30 I did not spend on the company’s behalf. Aside from what I’m pretty sure is a violation of tax laws, I would have been stealing from the company. Shame on me for not breaking tax laws or stealing, right?

She had done two things in this example.

First, the whole, “I haven’t seen you even though I was literally just at your door 23 seconds ago,” game was meant to mess with my head and make me question whether I was losing it.

Second, the expense issue, if you can call it that, was meant to show me who was in charge–even on the most mundane of things (and even if she insisted on doing the wrong things!).

But what do I know?

Well, I know a lot from having to deal with her, and I use it every day as a senior executive responsible for a large staff.

See, if your leadership abilities are worth a damn, you make good hiring decisions. If you do that, you have capable people who can at least do the job you hired them for–including making calls about what to expense or not–and likely things beyond that. And if you don’t make good hiring decisions, you can tell from honest interaction and evaluation of how your people perform. You do not need to resort to trickery, mental games or demeaning people to expose their issues.

If they do have performance issues, being mean, dishonest or unfair certainly will not help them do better or grow. It might make them want to leave so you do not have to deal with their performance issues, but that isn’t really being a leader, now is it?

Now, I’m being a bit provocative here. Of course I did not need to work for this person to know that this behavior was wrong. But there is a difference between theory and learning things first hand. I would never have done these types of things to anyone I work with, but I certainly understand at a much deeper level what it would feel like for an employee I did this to. And that is quite a powerful teacher.

I hope you never have to learn this lesson first hand. If you do, at least keep track of the stories–they can be hilarious memories once you are safely working for someone else!

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 1st, 2017 .

What Having a Terrible Boss Taught Me to Be a Better Leader

Despite all you may be subjected to, there is real value in working for a bad boss if you want to become a great one.

Once upon a time, I had a bad boss. A terrible boss. An insecure, mean, vengeful boss. She liked to drop offensive and demeaning comments to cut you, knowing you could not really say anything back to her since you know she will go straight to the CEO to discuss your insubordination.

She played odd political games, like sending her minions around to plant information to see if these fake rumors would spread so she could tell if someone was loyal or not. Or she would ask you questions tied to these rumors to see if you would tell her what you’re hearing or keep the information to yourself and keep her in the dark.

She was not very good at it, so it was easy to tell what was going on, but it was exhausting at best, and incredibly destructive and wasteful at worst.

One particularly hilarious (in a bad way) incident involved her coming to my office while I was on a conference call, holding my latest expense report in her hand, and mouthing the words, “Come see me in my office right now.”

I excused myself from my call, and walked down to her office. I popped in and said, “Hi. You wanted to see me?” To which she quickly said while shaking her head disapprovingly with her eyes closed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Confused, I said, “Oh, didn’t you just stop by with my expense report?”

She replied, “I did no such thing. I haven’t seen you all week. But speaking of your expense report, what are you doing?”

I had expensed my cell phone bill, as I was supposed to do, for the amount of the bill. The company allowed up to a certain amount to be reimbursed, and I put in for less than that since the bill wasn’t as high as that limit.

Therein was the source of her displeasure with me. She insisted we were supposed to just put in the maximum amount, and since I didn’t, I was forcing her and the entire Finance department to waste their time reading over my bill. So, to be clear, I was ‘bad’ because I did not unnecessarily expense roughly $30 I did not spend on the company’s behalf. Aside from what I’m pretty sure is a violation of tax laws, I would have been stealing from the company. Shame on me for not breaking tax laws or stealing, right?

She had done two things in this example.

First, the whole, “I haven’t seen you even though I was literally just at your door 23 seconds ago,” game was meant to mess with my head and make me question whether I was losing it.

Second, the expense issue, if you can call it that, was meant to show me who was in charge–even on the most mundane of things (and even if she insisted on doing the wrong things!).

But what do I know?

Well, I know a lot from having to deal with her, and I use it every day as a senior executive responsible for a large staff.

See, if your leadership abilities are worth a damn, you make good hiring decisions. If you do that, you have capable people who can at least do the job you hired them for–including making calls about what to expense or not–and likely things beyond that. And if you don’t make good hiring decisions, you can tell from honest interaction and evaluation of how your people perform. You do not need to resort to trickery, mental games or demeaning people to expose their issues.

If they do have performance issues, being mean, dishonest or unfair certainly will not help them do better or grow. It might make them want to leave so you do not have to deal with their performance issues, but that isn’t really being a leader, now is it?

Now, I’m being a bit provocative here. Of course I did not need to work for this person to know that this behavior was wrong. But there is a difference between theory and learning things first hand. I would never have done these types of things to anyone I work with, but I certainly understand at a much deeper level what it would feel like for an employee I did this to. And that is quite a powerful teacher.

I hope you never have to learn this lesson first hand. If you do, at least keep track of the stories–they can be hilarious memories once you are safely working for someone else!

This post is inspired by my best-selling book, “Do a Day: How to Live a Better Life Every Day” available in print, eBook and audio book formats . It originally appeared in my  Inc.com column on August 1st, 2017 .