Harvey MacKay's Blog, page 2

Criticism Challenges Creativity

The great American filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille said, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.”

As I’ve said in the past, I always try to start each day with a healthy dose of vitamin C – Creativity. I believe that creative ideas and actions are what make life interesting.

More important than drugs and vitamins is having a thick skin and being unfazed by criticism. Even the most unstoppable ideas in history have been criticized. Here are some of the more memorable ones.

“Mr. Bell, please remove that silly toy from my office.  There is no room in the market for a telephone.”

“Watches with no hands?  You’re crazy.”

“You can’t put a crocodile on a shirt to replace the pocket.  Nobody will buy them.”

“You want to sell me a chicken recipe?  You’ll never get this idea off the ground, Colonel Sanders.”

“I’m sorry, but your ‘Gone with the Wind’ manuscript will have little public appeal.”

“How dumb do you think I am – You can’t put music on a roll of tape.” 

The history books are full of people who realized creativity begins with destroying perceived limitations and proving the skeptics wrong.

Advertising genius Alex Osborn integrated creativity with everything he did – every day. Considered the “father of brainstorming”—a term he helped coin in 1939 – Osborn devoted his life to promoting and teaching creative thinking. The fiercest enemy of creativity, he believed, was criticism: “Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud. Any of us will put out more and better ideas if our efforts are appreciated.”

Creativity doesn’t run in a straight line. It can run into roadblocks. They’re not always obvious. You may have to go around them or over them, or tunnel beneath them. But first you have to recognize them. Among the obstacles you need to steer clear of:

Excessive rationality. The creative process doesn’t always follow logical rules. It often involves looking for connections among unrelated (and sometimes contradictory) objects, goals, processes or ideas.  Excuse yourself of the need to make sense all the time and let your intuition guide you. When you stick to conventional techniques, you cannot expect unconventional results.

Obsession with size. A Big Idea is sometimes the sum of a lot of smaller ideas. Facebook began with a few hundred students at Harvard. Now it dominates the Internet in most of the world. Don’t reject a concept or approach because it doesn’t feel like an instant home run. Giant leaps usually begin with baby steps.

Need to be productive. You can’t always predict where an idea will lead, so don’t rule anything out even if it doesn’t seem immediately practical. You may be able to adapt it, or it may become useful in the future when your situation has changed.

Fear of (fill in the blank). If you’re hesitant, ask what you’re afraid of. Failure? Success? Drawing attention to yourself? Criticism? Creativity always involves an element of risk. You may not be able to make it disappear, but your fear will lose much of its power if you confront it directly.

One of the most prolific periods of creativity in history occurred during the Renaissance from the 14th – 17th centuries in Europe. According to a Huffington Post article by Anurag Harsh, people realized that creativity wasn’t some divine gift, but instead a talent that could be cultivated.   

Among his points, he said Renaissance thinkers were contrarian. They didn’t settle for the status quo, they challenged conventional wisdom and took new approaches to the world. 

In addition, they were nonconformists. They wanted to revolutionize the culture in technology, the arts and philosophy. Harsh also contends they were curious and questioned everything. They dismissed the tried and true in favor of novel ideas.

Finally, he said that instead of limiting themselves to a single area of knowledge, they connected different ways of thinking that led to advances in science, art and many other areas. 

Consider Leonardo da Vinci, the ultimate symbol of the Renaissance, who was interested in invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics,engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history and cartography. 

You may never paint a Mona Lisa or draw the Vitruvian Man, but what inspiration his creativity offers!  Start your day with a healthy dose of Vitamin C – Creativity – and watch what happens!

 

Mackay’s Moral:  Creativity, not necessity, is the true mother of invention.

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Criticism Challenges Creativity

The great American filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille said, “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” As I’ve said in the past, I always try to start each day with a healthy dose of vitamin C – Creativity. I believe that creative ideas and actions are what make life interesting. More important than drugs and […]

The post Criticism Challenges Creativity appeared first on Harvey Mackay.

Communication Need Not Be Complicated

Several years ago, a seasoned plumber wrote to the U.S. Bureau of Standards promoting a new procedure for cleaning pipes. The bureau replied: “The efficiency of the recommended solution is completely undisputed. However, there is an inherent incompatibility between the aforementioned solution and the basic chemical structures of the commonly used materials in current household and commercial pipeworks.”

The plumber wrote back saying, “Thanks, I really liked it, too.”

Within a few days, the Bureau responded with another letter: “Don’t use hydrochloric acid! It eats holes in pipes!”

Wouldn’t it have been so much easier – and less expensive – to put it simply the first time?

The word communication comes from the Latin communico, meaning share. We share ideas, thoughts, information and concerns. Communication can start friendships or make enemies.

Communication needs to be clear and understandable. Communication requires both effective sending and receiving. And if we don’t do it effectively, we have wasted our time.

Research psychologists tell us that the average one-year-old child has a three-word vocabulary. At age two, most children have a working knowledge of 272 words. A year later, that number more than triples. At age six, the average child has command of 2,562 words.

As adults, our word accumulation continues to grow but the effective use of them does not necessarily follow. We can speak up to 18,000 words each day, but that doesn’t mean those messages are clear or correctly received. In fact, words can often obscure our messages instead of clarifying them.

No one can succeed in business, or in life, for that matter, without developing good communication skills. The most basic yet crucial leadership skill is communication. It’s important to continue to evaluate your performance in these fundamental areas:

Speaking. Good verbal skills are essential. You have to be able to explain your requests and instructions, your ideas, and your strategies to people inside and outside your organization. Look for opportunities to hone your speaking skills at conferences, in meetings and among friends.

Listening. Pay attention to the people around you. Repeat and paraphrase what they say to make sure you understand – and to show that you take their opinions seriously.

Writing. The paper trail you leave tells people a lot about how clearly you think and express yourself. Don’t send even the simplest email without rereading it critically to be sure it says just what you want.

Leading meetings. You should encourage other people to share their ideas without letting discussions meander aimlessly. Sharpen your ability to keep meetings on track and elicit productive comments. Remember that every meeting should begin with a solid agenda and conclude with a commitment for action.

Resolving conflict. Conflict can be subtle, but you still must defuse it if you want things to get done. You’ll use a lot of the skills already discussed to encourage people to open up and clear the air about their disagreements.

Persuasion. The right words can stimulate agreements, offer alternate points of view, provoke thoughtful consideration and bring people around to your way of thinking. This is an especially critical skill for sales people, which is all of us in one capacity or another.

Perhaps the most helpful advice came from Peter Drucker, the late management guru, who said, “The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”

Beware of misinterpreting simple messages because of your perception of the sender’s meaning or intent. Here’s an eye-opening fact: the 500 most common words in the English language have more than 14,000 definitions. That explains a lot of why verbal interactions often create confusion and misunderstanding.

Two people meet at an art exhibition.  “What is your line of work?” asked the woman.

“I’m an artist,” came the reply.

“I’ve never met a real live artist before,” said the woman. “This is so exciting!  I’ve always wanted my portrait painted. Could you do that?”

“That’s my specialty!” the artist said.

“Wonderful!” she said. “I just have one request.  I want the painting done in the nude.”

The artist hesitated for a minute and then said, “I’ll have to get back to you.”

A few days later the artist called the potential customer to discuss the plan. “I’m willing to do the painting as you requested,” the artist said, “but I have one stipulation. I want to leave my socks on. I need somewhere to put my paint brushes.”

Mackay’s Moral:  It is wiser to choose what you say than say what you choose.

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Communication Need Not Be Complicated

Several years ago, a seasoned plumber wrote to the U.S. Bureau of Standards promoting a new procedure for cleaning pipes. The bureau replied: “The efficiency of the recommended solution is completely undisputed. However, there is an inherent incompatibility between the aforementioned solution and the basic chemical structures of the commonly used materials in current household […]

The post Communication Need Not Be Complicated appeared first on Harvey Mackay.

Conquering The Fear Of Success

A famous trapeze performer was instructing his students how to perform on the trapeze bar. After full explanations and instruction in this complicated skill, he asked them to demonstrate. 

However, one of the students, looking up at the insecure perch upon which he was expected to perform, was suddenly paralyzed with fear. He had a terrifying vision of falling to the ground and being seriously injured. Frozen with fear, he was unable to move a muscle. 

“I can’t do it! I can’t do it!” he cried.

The instructor put his arm around the boy’s shoulder and said quietly, “Son, you can do it, and I will tell you how.”

Speaking slowly and with conviction, he said, “Throw your heart over  the bar and your body will follow.”

That is what the boy did and he turned in a performance on the bar high above the ground that surprised even him.  He was never afraid again.           

If you are human, you will feel fear, says psychologist Tara Brach, author of “Radical Acceptance.” But often what makes fear powerful is our resistance to it, such as when we brush it away as if it doesn’t really exist or pretend that we don’t feel what we really feel. Instead, Brach says, a better approach is to accept that we are feeling fear (or anger, or whatever emotion you might be struggling with) and acknowledge it. Say to yourself, “Yes, I am afraid of making a mistake at work.” Follow up with a statement to yourself such as, “I accept this fear of making mistakes.”         

That has been my mantra since I followed my dream to own a factory. I was fraught with fear of making mistakes, but somehow convinced myself that making a mistake was a temporary setback, one that I could eventually overcome.

Success usually depends on overcoming our fears: fear of taking a risk, fear of asserting yourself, fear of exposing your deepest self to other people, and ultimately, fear of failure. But for some people, the real fear is – success itself.

Have you ever thought that perhaps being afraid and uncomfortable can be a positive sign? Dr. Larina Kase, author of a piece appearing in the book “Life’s Missing Instruction Book,” by Joe Vitale, says that when you feel afraid and anxious it can be a sign that you are stretching yourself to get over your fears.

Kase also recommends that when you are feeling afraid, start the practice of doing the opposite of your instincts. This, she says, will help you start to eliminate your fear and to improve your life. Avoiding your fears, she says, is one sure way of making them grow.  And the more your discomfort grows, the more you will not live up to your potential as a human being.

Fear of failure can be crippling, but fear of success can paralyze your efforts just as severely.  Avoiding success may seem irrational, but success brings change, and change is usually threatening.  Success can bring some unsettling worries, but that is fatalistic thinking.  

I prefer to take the position that success breeds success. 

So what aspect of success are you fearful of?

Expectations of continued success? Achieving a major goal is hard work. What happens if people expect you to keep doing it indefinitely? Forget about others’ perceptions and expectations. Wouldn’t you rather they expect you to continue to be successful than a one-hit wonder?
Higher stakes? Once you’ve reached a certain pinnacle, what if others will look at you differently? They’ll expect you to continue doing higher-quality work, and you may worry that you are incapable. Instead, build on what you have learned and find ways to improve. Keep growing your skills and see how far you can really go.
More attention? People may look to you for advice or assistance once you’ve proved you can succeed. You may worry that you will lose control over your time or your privacy.  But look on the flip side: being asked to be a mentor is not only a great compliment, it is a badge of honor. Take pride in the knowledge that others look up to you because of your hard-won success.  
Making enemies? Some people delight in taking down successful people. You may worry about having to defend yourself from envious or hostile peers. Let your successes speak for you. When you keep producing, they will be exposed for what they are.

           

Mackay’s Moral:   Would you rather live in fear or bask in success?

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Conquering The Fear Of Success

A famous trapeze performer was instructing his students how to perform on the trapeze bar. After full explanations and instruction in this complicated skill, he asked them to demonstrate.  However, one of the students, looking up at the insecure perch upon which he was expected to perform, was suddenly paralyzed with fear. He had a […]

The post Conquering The Fear Of Success appeared first on Harvey Mackay.

Calm Your Emotions Before They Get Out Of Control

A young woman was waiting for her flight at a big airport, so she decided to buy a book to read and a packet of cookies to snack on.  She sat down in an armchair in a VIP lounge to relax and read in peace. A man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading.  When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought, “What nerve!  I’d like to punch him for being so rude!”

For each cookie she took, the man also took one. This infuriated her but she didn’t want to cause a scene.  When only one cookie remained, she thought to herself, “What will this rude man do now?” 

Then the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half. That was too much! She was really angry now. In a huff, she took her book, the rest of her things and stormed off to board the plane. When she sat down in her seat on the plane, she looked into her purse to take out her reading glasses, and to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched and unopened. She felt so ashamed. She realized that she was wrong.  

The man had shared his cookies with her willingly, while she had been very angry, thinking that he was helping himself to her cookies. And now there was no chance to explain herself, nor to apologize. 

Have you ever lost your cool and then realized later that you were in the wrong?  I’m sure that most of us have.  Let’s save ourselves some embarrassment and make sure that we are in possession of all of the facts before reacting. 

Dale Carnegie said: “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotions.” 

Actor Will Smith expanded on that and said: “Human beings are not creatures of logic; we are creatures of emotion. And we do not care what’s true. We care how it feels.”           

We all get angry at work sometimes. If your buttons get pushed, you might need to practice some relaxation techniques, so you don’t lose control. According to the American Psychological Association, a few simple relaxation tools can help calm angry feelings. They list deep breathing; choosing a calming phrase like “Relax” or “Take it easy” and then repeating it to yourself; visualizing a relaxing experience; and practicing slow, yoga-like exercises to relax your muscles and calm your nerves.

Smart people don’t let their emotions get out of control. Before exploding at work, remember this advice.

Pay attention to your behavior.  What’s your tone of voice?  What is your body language saying to the other person?  Focusing on your reactions and emotions will help you stay calm.
Watch and listen.  What do the other person’s tone and body language tell you?  Try to discern whether the other person wants something from you that he or she isn’t asking for.  For example, an employee may be afraid to challenge a manager directly.  Ask if there’s something more going on.
Stay positive.  With a deep breath or two, try to control the impulse that makes you fight back.  Try to find something positive, even just the fact that you’re gaining experience dealing with conflict.
Focus on the here and now.  Don’t bring up problems or disagreements from the past.  Stick to the present situation.  Keep words like “always” and “never’ out of the conversation – like “You’re always late to work” – to avoid blowing the argument out of proportion.
Ask yourself, “Would I rather be right or happy?”  In some cases being right may be more important, such as dealing with safety issues.  In other situations, you might be better off letting the other person win.  It’s never productive to let stubbornness get in the way of listening to another point of view.
Take responsibility for communication.  You have to clear the air – even if the other person tries to let the problem drop.  Insist on an open, honest dialogue that lets everyone express his or her needs and opinions honestly.

Mackay’s Moral:  Don’t let your emotions get the best of you; let them show the best of you.

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Advance Your Career In Every Meeting

I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve called someone and the response I received is that they are in a meeting. I often wonder if they are in a meeting to see if they should have a meeting.  

According to the MeetingKing website, in the United States alone we “enjoy” 11 million formal business meetings each day and we waste $37 billion in unnecessary meetings every year. The site also offered up these statistics:

37 percent of employee time is spent in meetings,
managers attend more than 60 meetings per month,
39 percent of meeting participants admitted to dozing off during a meeting,
over 70 percent brought other work to meetings,
an estimated 25-50 percent of meeting time is wasted.

The researchers found that the more meetings employees attended, the more exhausted they felt and the higher they perceived their workload to be. 

Meetings are a fact of life for every employee. Instead of just enduring them, learn to use meetings to your advantage. Meetings can actually be very productive if you manage them effectively. I suspect the main reason that people dread meetings is that they are not well-planned with specific goals anticipated. 

With that in mind, whoever calls the meeting must first decide what needs to be accomplished. The Monday morning sales meeting?  The Friday weekly wrap-up? Even if those are typically on the schedule, it’s still necessary to define the purpose of the meeting in one or two sentences. That way people know why they’re present, what needs to be done and how to know if the meeting is successful. 

Here is what I do:

Set an agenda. List the issues to discuss, review or decide. Your agenda should include firm starting and ending times, as well as estimates of time for each item under discussion. Time limits encourage people to be better prepared to discuss the subject at hand. They also demonstrate a respect for attendees’ other commitments. 

Start on time. Don’t wait for latecomers. If someone is late, don’t go back and review what has been covered. Show that you value the time of the people who showed up promptly. In the same vein, end the meeting as soon as you have achieved what you set out to do. 

Appoint a “referee.” The referee’s job is to keep the discussion on track and interrupt whenever the talk strays. New topics that arise should either be tabled until later or scheduled for their own meetings.      

Keep and send minutes. Someone other than the meeting organizer should take notes on the meeting. These minutes should record who attended, what was discussed, any agreements that were reached and all time and action items that were assigned – and who is responsible for them. That insures that those who attended all have the same information. Minutes can be as simple as bullet points, assignments and timelines. Distribute minutes within 24 hours. Those are the meeting planner’s duties. Those who attend have some responsibilities too. Instead of whining about yet another meeting biting into your day, approach it with an attitude that this is an opportunity to shine.          

Be prepared. Study the agenda or talk to the meeting leader to find out what will be covered. Spend time getting up to speed so you can anticipate where the discussion will lead, and get some ideas of your own ready to present. 

Keep things simple. Don’t try to impress people with your vocabulary, or bore people to tears with long-winded sentences.  Make your points quickly and succinctly, backing them up with evidence as necessary. Everyone will appreciate your efforts to keep the meeting moving forward.

Ask questions. Look for opportunities to ask pertinent questions that demonstrate your expertise: “Have you considered this approach?” Don’t overdo it, though. You don’t want to be seen as a pest who has to talk to be noticed. 

Collaborate. Don’t obsess about your own ideas. Listen to what other people have to say and build on their thoughts. Acknowledge that you’re leapfrogging off someone else’s contribution so no one thinks you’re trying to hog the spotlight or steal the credit. If the meeting time doesn’t allow for serious brainstorming, ask if another session might be scheduled.

Volunteer. Be willing to implement the ideas and solutions that come out of the meeting, even if they’re not your own. You’ll get a reputation as someone people can depend on to get things done.

 

Mackay’s Moral:   Don’t waste your time in meetings – make it matter!

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Mistakes Are Opportunities To Learn

A young vice president was appointed by the board of directors of a bank to replace the retiring president and founder. With fear and trepidation, he made an appointment to visit with the seasoned retiree to seek his advice.

“Mr. Clark, I need your counsel. How can I possibly be successful in this job?”

The elderly man leaned forward in his chair. “Young man,” he growled, “these two words are the key to your success – RIGHT DECISIONS!”

“Thank you, sir. But how can I make sure I am making right decisions?”

“Experience. Experience will insure you make right decisions.”

A long silence followed. “That is helpful,” said the young executive, “but how do I get the right experience?”

The elderly man stood, looked him directly in the eye, smiled and responded, “WRONG DECISIONS.”

This retiring president admitted to making mistakes and learned from them. I’ve discovered that the biggest mistake people can make is to be afraid to make one, and perhaps the next biggest is to be afraid to admit having made one.

If you make a mistake, ’fess up. Most of the time people respect those who take responsibility for their own mistakes. Regardless, you will be better off admitting it than spending considerably more energy trying to avoid the subject. Everyone makes mistakes, after all, and if you take the time to learn from what went wrong, you’ll be a lot less likely to make the same mistake again.

Be accountable. No one likes doing business with someone who makes excuses. If you don’t accept responsibility for the mistakes you make, you’ll lose customers and the trust and respect of employees.

As Winston Churchill said, “If you simply take up the attitude of defending a mistake, there will be no hope of improvement.”

Don’t waste time pretending you’ve still got a chance at success when your plans are crumbling around you. You’ve got to be hard-nosed about deciding where to put your resources, and cold-blooded about pulling the plug on projects and goals that aren’t working out.

Even geniuses must admit mistakes: Thomas Edison once spent more than $2 million on an invention that proved useless. In today’s dollars, we’re talking about serious money!

Also, don’t downplay negative results. Some people try to act as if their failures are no big deal. Don’t lose hope or abandon your efforts, but be open about your feelings with yourself and other people.

Author Mortimer Feinberg illustrated that point: “When John Kennedy lost a bid for the Democratic vice presidential nomination in 1956 to Estes Kefauver, he didn’t quit. He said, ‘Okay, now we know the mistakes we made; we know what we have to do to win.  In 1960 we’ll go for the big job.’ The rest is history.”

Once you make a mistake and admit it, move on. Beating yourself up publicly or privately doesn’t do much good. You need to keep your focus and not get distracted when things go wrong. The great Babe Ruth held the record of 714 career home runs for years, but he also held the record for strikeouts at 1,330. Would he have been so successful if he had focused on the strikeouts every time he was up to bat?

Above all, don’t blame others. Focus on solving problems, not finding someone or something to blame. Good managers (and employees) analyze what they did wrong and learn from it. When you take this tack with yourself, your employees will be encouraged to learn to look objectively at their own performance.

Remember the old proverb: stumbling is not falling. And falling does not have to mean failing. Most important, failure is not final.

Christopher Columbus made the mother of all mistakes. When he set out in 1492 on his first trans-Atlantic voyage, he announced that he was going west to get to the east. He had plenty of skeptics, but refused to be deterred

Other explorers had preceded his arrival in North America, but perhaps his biggest mistake was that Columbus never admitted that he had reached a continent previously unknown to Europeans, rather than the East Indies for which he had set course. Columbus always insisted that the lands that he visited during those voyages were part of the Asian continent. While not without controversy, Columbus’ “mistake” changed the course of Western history. Your mistakes will not likely have that kind of impact. Keep your mistakes in perspective so you can react to them appropriately.

 

Mackay’s Moral:   Mistakes can be steppingstones to success.

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Help People With Street Smarts

“If you were to go around asking people what would make them happier, you’d get answers like ‘A new car. A bigger house. A raise in pay. Winning the lottery.’ Very few would say, ‘A chance to help people.’ And yet that is what brings about the most happiness of all.”

I wish I would have said that, but the late comedian George Burns did. Still, that’s how I’ve felt all my life.  And I am a very happy guy.

I love sharing what I have learned over my lifetime of business and community involvement.  That has been my motivation for writing what turned out to be seven “New York Times” bestselling self-help business books, speaking to audiences on six continents and writing this nationally syndicated column for the last 24 years.

Over the years, our sales force at MackayMitchell Envelope Company has questioned me about sharing my secrets, be it the Mackay 66 Customer Profile, sales techniques or networking secrets. My response is simple. I’d rather share, especially since only a small percentage of people take action and use my street smarts learned from many years of business. I’m even willing to let the competition in on a few of my techniques. Many have thanked me for it.

Much of what I have to offer is not the kind of information that business schools teach.  I call them “street smarts,” and I’ve shared many in past columns.  Here are a few more ideas to consider:

Idea #1:  When you are calling someone who has an assistant, take the time to talk to that person and get to know them. If a spouse answers at home, extend the same courtesy to show them they are important to you as well. And if you must make a business call to the home, be sure to ask if it’s a convenient time. Home time is sacred, so limit those calls to emergencies unless it’s prearranged.

Next idea:  Stay in the moment. This is a lesson I learned firsthand from Goldie Hawn, who also wrote about it in her book “10 Mindful Minutes.” She says it’s important “to learn how to concentrate, so that we’ll become aware of when we’ve lost focus and be able to maintain our attention for longer periods of time.” That is all-star advice for our busy lives full of distractions.

Next idea:  The single most powerful tool for winning a negotiation is the ability to get up from the table and walk away WITHOUT a deal. Deals seldom get worse when you walk away … but they often get a lot better.

Years ago I was honored with being the leader of a trade delegation to China. I had been warned by a grizzly old seasoned veteran who had traveled to China 50 times and had done lots of negotiations with them. He warned me that the Chinese would be tough negotiators and that I needed to insist that they honor contracts.

After five days of our tour, his warning came true. They exorbitantly charged us for travel and hotel … much more than the contract allowed. I immediately called a summit meeting with the two top Chinese officials traveling with us. I stated my case, but they held firm. I immediately got up, shook their hands and said we would be going back to the States in the morning.

After dinner that evening, I returned to my hotel room to find a note that they had changed their minds and would honor the terms of our contract.

Next idea:  Knowledge is power. It’s not just what you know, but when you know it.

Next idea:  If you ever lend money to a friend, never, never do it without a certified statement from their accountant and possibly putting it in their will. I’m not talking about a few bucks, of course, but a significant loan.Then repayment is understood and there will be no surprises. It’s a business deal, after all, and it can save a friendship.

Last idea:  Every person you sit next to at an event or on a plane, the person on your left or right … introduce yourself. Do not judge a book by its cover. To many people under the age of 35, I am an old geezer, so I often make the first contact to put them at ease. It’s surprising how much you have in common with people you thought were strangers.

           

Mackay’s Moral:   When you help others, you are also helping yourself.

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