#because when you put so much stock into Being Empathetic you risk putting yourself in a space to rationalize when you aren't empathetic...

[uncanny-tranny]

Begging people to stop seeing skills like compassion, care, kindness, empathy, patience, and whatever else less as inborn identities, but rather as skills. Essentializing "goodness" to the degree that you identify as kind rather than doing kind is going to destroy your self-image, but also what you think is kind.

[lumoshyperion]

Your thoughts on the Cursed Child giving us pure good Slytherins like Scorpius, Albus and Craig? I'm not a Slytherin myself but it's always good to see Hogwarts houses more nuance than a house being purely good or purely evil.

It's one of my favourite things about Cursed Child, honestly? It dismantles a lot of the preconceived notions about Slytherin, and it critiques Harry and his friend’s opinions on them. It takes that scene at the end of the books ("What if I am put in Slytherin?") and expands upon it.

I've already answered a question about Craig, so I'll mostly talk about Albus and Scorpius and their relationship with their house. It's interesting seeing or hearing how each actor responds in the sorting scene. Scorpius varies from annoyed, but not surprised - to happy and relieved, in Nyx's case. But Albus is always shocked. Sean changed her reaction up every time I saw her. Sometimes they were smiling. Still riding on the high of that conversation in the train carriage to Hogwarts - which made the look in their eyes at the sorting hat's decision all the more heartbreaking. And sometimes she was already terrified. Wringing her hands, her eyes darting through the audience as the hat stalls over Albus' house. And then it happens, and they go completely still with shock.

There's a lot of stock put into characters choosing their houses, but I don't think Albus or Scorpius had a choice. Albus didn't ask for Slytherin and, even if he did, how do we know that the hat would have put him there just because he asked and not because it's where he belonged? I think a lot of people used to misinterpret the traits of a Slytherin as purely bad or black and white. Ambition? Cunning? Doing anything to get what they want? Surely these aren't the traits of a good person. Surely no one that has the ability to be kind or selfless would be sorted into Slytherin.

But one of the major bullies of Scorpius and Albus is Polly Chapman, and she's in Gryffindor. Rose, also in Gryffindor, claims that she used to be best friends with Albus, but it's clear from their conversations that she doesn't talk to him anymore and that he doesn't trust her anymore. Even his older brother is a model Gryffindor student, and yet he teases Albus constantly. Something we forget is that these are all teenagers. Scorpius, Albus, and Rose are characters we first meet when they're eleven years old, and their arcs in the play end when they're fourteen. We're all still developing our sense of self at these ages. None of us knew who we were or what we wanted. We acted based on impulse and on years of influence from our parents, our family, our friends - anyone older than us who we believed must have known better.

There's something inherently flawed about putting eleven year old’s into houses that whittle them down to the most basic of traits. Because it's not as simple as that? Hermione could have been a Ravenclaw - she's got the brains for it, and the thirst for learning. But she could have been a Slytherin, too - isn't her ambition one of the first pieces of dialogue about her in the play? Craig could be a Hufflepuff. He's kind and loyal, he's quiet and shy. We see very little ambition from him in the play, although we do know that he's prefect and that he's clever enough to be able to do the Scorpion King's homework as well as his own. I think Craig is a perfect example of houses not defining a student's entire personality. He's the perfect example of how much more complex and nuanced these kids are, beyond what their houses say about them.

With Scorpius and Albus, we have a clearer idea of why they were sorted into Slytherin. We see how well Scorpius does in the other reality, concealing his true feelings and moving from each scene with such clear goals in mind and without ever faltering in his search for answers. There's something he says in the Forbidden Forest to Snape that I think sums my answer up really well - "The world changes and we change with it. I am better off in this world." Because, like it or not, he is popular in this world. He is well liked and respected in this world. He sees that and a part of him enjoys that - he and Albus even discuss it later on in the dormitory, and Scorpius reveals how much braver and stronger he feels for his experiences. But, as he goes on to say, "the world is not better. And I don't want that."

It's about the fact that, while he does enjoy being popular and respected, none of that matters because he still sees how cruel and jaded the Scorpion King is. He sees Craig cowering at the sight of him in the library and he hates it. Of course he fixes the world because he knows it can't go on like this. But he also fixes it because he looks right through the power and strength of his alternate self, and he sees a selfishness and cruelty that he cannot accept. When Sean's Albus would laugh and bring up Polly Chapman fancying Scorpius, Nyx would give the most unimpressed shrug. And then their voice would lower and their expression would darken, as they explained just how awful the Scorpion King was. How none of that popularity or respect mattered, because it concealed an evil that Scorpius hated to have found existed in himself, even in another reality.

And continuing with the theme of that scene in the dormitory, we also hear Albus dismantling his own actions that he's made up until that point. He worries that he only wanted to save Cedric to prove himself. He only put their lives on the line because he wanted to show the world that he isn’t just Harry Potter’s son. That he isn’t just a Slytherin in a family of Gryffindors - that he can be brave and heroic, too. But there are different kinds of bravery. And Albus could have done anything he wanted to remove himself from the shadow of his dad. He’s a clever kid. He’s cunning and resourceful - he’s more of a Slytherin than even Scorpius, who comes from a family of Slytherins. But instead, he overhears a grieving father begging Harry to give him his son back, and he decides to do something about it. He decides to put himself at risk, running away from school and changing time itself to save the life of a complete stranger. Because he sees the love Amos has for Cedric - the kind of love he doesn’t feel from his own dad - and instead of feeling jealous or angry, he... wants to help. He wants to do what his dad cannot and bring an old man his son back. That’s kind. That’s heroic. 

“When Amos Diggory asked for the Time-Turner my father denied they even existed. He lied to an old man who just wanted his son back - who just loved his son. And he did it because he didn’t care... because he doesn’t care. Everyone talks about all the brave things Dad did. But he made some mistakes too. Some big mistakes, in fact. I want to set one of those mistakes right. I want us to save Cedric.” - Albus, Act One Scene Three.

“I know what it is to be the spare. Your son didn’t deserve to be killed, Mr Diggory. We can help you get him back.” - Albus, Act One Scene Fourteen.

"Cedric? Your dad loves you.” “What?” “Your dad loves you. Very much. I just thought you should know that.” - Albus and Cedric, Act Three Scene Twenty. 

In the final scene, Albus talks about how he wanted Delphi killed for what she did, and he says that maybe this is his “Slytherin side”. Maybe this is what the sorting hat saw in him. Because even after everything, even after all that he experienced and all that he’s seen in both Scorpius and Craig and the other Slytherin students, he’s still held down by the misconceptions about Slytherin. And that’s so unfair? It’s unfair that children have been made to feel like this. Albus is empathetic. Scorpius is kind. Craig is loyal. But they’re put into a box that none of them asked for and that is so hard to wrap your head around at that age. Because you don’t know what you did wrong, but you do know that it must have been something because suddenly everyone treats you differently. So you try to explain it to yourself. You think of everything you’ve ever said or done in a different light. And you wonder if maybe, just maybe, you are what they say you are. And you start to doubt every part of you that’s good or kind or compassionate. And it’s something that Albus struggles with the most in the play. And I’m going to close this ask with some quotes from Draco to Harry, because I think I’ve gone on for too long and because what he said is very relevant. 

“You can’t talk to Albus. I can’t talk to Scorpius. That’s what this is about. Not about my son being evil. Because as much as you might take the word of a haughty centaur, you know the power of friendship.”

“My father thought he was protecting me. Most of the time. People say parenting is the hardest job in the world - they’re wrong - growing up is. We all just forget how hard it was. I think you have to make a choice - at a certain point - of the man you want to be. And I tell you at that time you need a parent or a friend. And if you’ve learnt to hate your parent by then and you have no friends... then you’re all alone. And being alone - that’s so hard.”

“Maybe the black cloud Bane saw was Albus’s loneliness. His pain. His hatred. Don’t lose the boy. You’ll regret it. And so will he. Because he needs you and Scorpius.”

ask me questions about year two, year three, and other things!

[ninawritesastory]

Kenny Headcanons

Since it’s Kenny’s birthday, I figured now would be as good a time as any to post some headcanons I have about him.

- Kenny has issues with financial security, so throughout middle school and high school he works three to four semi-steady sort of jobs and takes on a number of by-contract type of jobs. The semi-steady jobs are: waiter/busboy at City Wok, newspaper delivery, farmhand at Farmer Bill’s, and seasonal work picking fruit/veggies at local orchards/farms. The by-contract jobs can range from fake dating to fixing bikes to landscaping, and Kenny develops a wide and diverse skill set.

- He saves up at least half of every paycheck he gets and rotates between three separate funds: Karen’s college fund, the apartment/house fund, and his own college fund.

- Throughout college (and the rest of his life), Kenny is constantly diversifying his income sources. They range from ordinary jobs to online ventures to babysitting to stocks to eventually opening several of his own businesses (each in a different niche). He does a lot of freelance writing and journalism, and becomes pretty good with a camera in order to increase his profitability.

- Kenny spends a LOT of time on teach-yourself type websites. He watches a shit-ton of tutorials on YouTube and the like, reads every how-to book he can get his hands, and learns from observation when he can.

(Putting the rest under a read more because there are A LOT.)

- He has Dissociative Identity Disorder, and goes between three distinct main alters: there’s Kenny, Mysterion, and Princess. Normally Kenny’s the host and therefore the one fronting most of the time, with Mysterion taking over from time to time---particularly when they’re confronted with any sort of danger. Princess rarely takes control, and it’s unclear what sort of circumstances trigger her. She’s most likely to take over around Karen, though. He doesn’t have any blackout amnesia issues when he switches with Mysterion or Princess, but the memories they acquire take on a sort of third-person POV feel, kind of like Kenny’s watching them instead of physically being part of them.

- Going off that, Kenny’s system, while small, is very fluid. He’s aware of his main alters (there are a handful of lesser developed alters he’s unaware of that hold particularly traumatizing memories but they virtually never front) and most of his switches are planned. However, both Mysterion and Princess are capable of keeping certain memories from him if they deem it necessary.

- Mysterion is built largely out of Kenny’s heroic tendencies and sense of justice. He’s probably the most serious of the three, and holds the lion’s share of Kenny’s leadership skills. Princess has most of Kenny’s cunning and manipulative behaviors. If Kenny decides to use less-than-moral methods to achieve his goals, it’s highly likely that Princess will be the one to handle those situations. In a lot of ways, she’s Mysterion’s opposite. However, she also takes on a lot of Kenny’s more nurturing and empathetic feelings. 

- They are all fucking reckless as hell, but in different ways. Kenny’s reckless in that he places absolutely no value on his own life. Considering he comes back every time he dies, Kenny is willing to try a lot of dangerous stuff ranging from stupid stunts to drugs and beyond. Mysterion is constantly on his case about it, considering he was formed initially as a protector identity. Unlike Kenny, Mysterion’s recklessness is calculated: since he’s aware that death isn’t final for them, he’s willing to put himself into more danger than others and uses it to his advantage in combat. Princess’ reckless tendencies come from her empathy; she’s way more willing to take chances and risks emotionally than either Kenny or Mysterion. Anytime Kenny makes progress in his interpersonal relationships, that’s a result of her influence.

- Due to the separation between himself and his alters, Kenny doesn’t really view himself in a very positive light. In his mind, Mysterion’s the brave hero who’s done so much for the town and Princess is the intelligent, confident, caring one. He sees himself more as a bad influence and perpetual screw-up.

- Kenny and Princess are both pansexual, but Mysterion is straight. Kenny’s demiromantic and both Princess and Mysterion are aromantic. It kind of makes relationships a bit of a challenge, especially when Kenny develops a romantic attraction to another guy.

- Fucking loves 80s remixes of pop songs. His favorite is the one with Alejandro by Lady Gaga. Aside from that, Kenny’s taste in music is very eclectic.

- His fashion sense is both fucking amazing and semi-questionable at times. You can actually kind of tell who’s more in control on a particular day based on how Kenny’s dressed. If it’s a more masculine sort of outfit, that’s Mysterion; more feminine, that’s Princess; a weird mix of both, that’s Kenny. The kid will wear fishnets under ripped jeans and a croptop when left to his own devices.

- Kenny lets his hair grow out to about his collarbones. Mysterion can just put it into a ponytail and Princess is quite fond of parting it into a set of cute bushy pigtails.

- While Kenny engages in a few pseudo-relationships and some not-so-safe sex throughout his teen years, he eventually develops feelings for Butters and falls hard for him. Even though he doesn’t really know about the whole DID and alters thing, Butters is really good at picking up on the subtleties of Kenny’s switches.

- He is severely nihilistic. The constant dying-and-reviving thing has really warped his perception and value of the world.

- Kenny has a weakness for cute things. It has nothing to do with Princess, he just loves cute stuff. The kid would have eighty-seven of those phone charms shaped like food with the cute smiling faces on them if he had the money.

- He was conceived in that ritual the Cult of Cthulhu got his parents into, and he’s supposed to be a sort of portal through which Cthulhu can properly enter the mortal realm. (Kind of in the same vein as the whole Raven/Trigon thing in Teen Titans.) This would actually permanently kill Kenny. It’s supposed to come to fruition on Kenny’s 18th birthday. 

- Kenny has violet eyes as a result of Cthulhu’s interference. His eyes glow a bit in the dark and when he’s feeling intense emotion.

-Kenny has the potential to go full-on Eldritch Abomination if he’s pushed far enough.

- Despite his poor self-image, Kenny still has a firm moral compass and desire to do good. He will willingly sacrifice himself to save his friends without any influence from Mysterion. He’s very protective of the people he cares about, and places far greater value in their lives and continued survival than he does in his own. (This will continue even after the curse is broken.)

- He grows up to have a facial structure very similar to his father’s. Kenny shaves religiously in order to avoid any further resemblance to the man. (Which is kind of a shame, since he personally thinks he’d look good with a beard. But he can’t get past the strong resemblance, so no beards for him.)

- Kenny would love to be a housewife. However, an entire childhood of abject poverty has left him with a lot of mental blocks preventing him from enjoying that kind of life. Kenny needs to be bringing in a certain amount of income or he starts to get anxious.

- He loves to sing. He’ll sing pretty much anything, but only when he’s alone. People have caught him humming to himself in public, though. He has a great voice, and come middle school it becomes the music teacher’s mission to get Kenny into the choir. His range is enviable and his lung capacity is the stuff of legends.

- Kenny doesn’t play any sports in school due to the expense, but he joins a few intramural teams where the cost is much less. He really likes soccer. He also learns archery, and gets inspired by Lars Andersen, so he gets really fucking good at more medieval style archery.

- The boy never gets past 5’6’’. He doesn’t eat nearly enough or nearly well enough to gain much in the way of height. While he’s not the shortest guy in school (that would Kevin Stoley), he’s dwarfed by most of his friends. It’s a point of contention with him, and he hates when people point it out.

- Kenny and Kevin were very close when they were little, even sharing a room, but when Kenny started to die on a regular basis, Kenny was put in his own room and the two had a falling out when Kevin couldn’t remember any of his deaths. When he gets a bit older, Kenny regrets the fight and wishes he could be that close to his brother again, but instead tries to emulate that relationship with Karen.

- Kenny’s closest to his mother, and she’s his preferred parent. She’d be his go-to parent if he felt he could rely on his parents for decent advice or help. He loves her very much and wants to get her out of poverty, too. The fact that there’s not all that much he can really do to help her is a bit of a sore spot, which feeds into why he’s so focused on taking care of Karen.

- His likelihood of being killed skyrockets on his birthday. As a result, Kenny has never had a birthday party by any stretch of the phrase, he’s never received a single birthday present (although most people swear they gave him one), and he’s grown to kind of hate his birthday. He’s taken to hiding out in his room if he can manage it, but that’s not always successful.

- Kenny goes through a severe nihilistic phase in middle school (around sixth grade, actually) where he doesn’t even bother to try. He ends up borderline-failing everything and starts smoking and hanging out with the goths in order to bitch about how much life sucks. (Butters ends up getting sick of it around April of that school year and essentially manhandles Kenny back into giving a shit about school and life in general.)

- As he gets older, Kenny’s friendships start to shift. He hangs out with Stan and Kyle less and starts hanging out with Craig, Tweek, Bebe, and Red more often. (Ironically all four are the only ‘out’ kids in their class.) He drops Cartman altogether.

- Kenny and Red end up fake dating for nearly a year in order to get Red’s dad off her back. (He doesn’t take her coming out as a lesbian very well, and it’s either pretend to be straight with Kenny or try to dodge her dad’s underhanded efforts to ‘straighten her up’.) This is what spawns the whole ‘fake dating’ business Kenny ends up running throughout high school. He even starts to plan switches with Princess in order to help the guys out, too.

- Kenny has seriously considered applying to Raisins.

[sewn-cutie]

The Super Long Character Survey

RULES: repost, don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good  luck !

TAGGED: @themisfitmouse

TAGGING: If you see this consider yourself tagged.

BASICS

FULL NAME: Clementine the Rag Doll?

NICKNAMES: Clem, Clemmy

AGE: She mostly has the mindset of a 5 year old, but since she has no real age, her maturity level can go up when the situation needs it. Even then, she still views things as a small child would. Physically, Clementine has been around for quite a while. 

BIRTHDAY: She was created on August 25th.

ETHNIC GROUP: Uh…doll?

NATIONALITY:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

LANGUAGE: Mostly English, but she does understand a little bit of Latin…

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bruh she’s a little kid.

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Again, little kid who’s not really thinking about that right now.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: All aloney on her owny

CLASS: Probably lower class-ish

HOMETOWN: Basically a small forest in the middle of nowhere

CURRENT HOME: A small doll house

PROFESSION: Professional happiness provider and muffin baker!

PHYSICAL

HAIR: Brown, wavy yarn that falls past her shoulders

EYES: Light blue…but if we’re speaking naturally, they’re black.

NOSE: Small and cute

FACE: Very round and oval shape

LIPS: Naturally, she’s not suppose to have a mouth in the first place…

COMPLEXION: She’s a somewhat beige color

BLEMISHES: None

SCARS: If you look closely, you can see that she’s been stitched up a few times due to wear and tear.

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 2ft

WEIGHT: About 1 pound? Maybe less? She’s very light since she’s just a rag doll.

BUILD: Clem has the build of a typical rag doll, being with a large head, skinny arms, tear drop body, and medium size feet. 

FEATURES: Clem looks soft and extremely huggable, has large blue eyes, and is often associated with pastel colors.

ALLERGIES: None that I can think of.

USUAL HAIR STYLE: She’s almost always seen with two pigtails held together by small bows. She lets it down when she goes to bed, and sometimes holds it back with a large bow for a more formal look. She would braid it if she knew how to without getting her strands tangled. 

USUAL FACE LOOK: It’s very rare to see Clem without a smile, and her eyes are usually lit up with curiosity and wonder. She has a very friendly look overall.

USUAL CLOTHING: Clementine has many outfits to wear, but her default look is a light blue dress with short, puffy sleeves. She wears a white apron on top with ruffles on the shoulders and bottom, two red buttons on the chest, and two pockets on the skirt. Everything is tied together with a white bow in the back. She usually wears red and white stockings along with brown boots.

PSYCHOLOGY

FEARS: The dark, fire, loud noises, leaving her body

ASPIRATIONS: Clementine feels it’s her duty to make others happy. While this was just a small perk that she liked to do before, it has slowly turned into an obsession. She would drop everything, try her hardest, even put herself at risk just to make someone feel better. Even if that person is a complete stranger. She feels that someone has to stay happy and look on the bright side, and if that responsibility has to be put on her, she’ll accept it without a moment of doubt.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Caring, positive, empathetic, compassionate, determined

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Stubborn, clingy, gullible, vague, secretive

MBTI:  CAMPAIGNER (ENFP-T)

ZODIAC: Virgo

TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine

SOUL TYPE: Spiritualist

ANIMALS: Prairie Dog

VICE HABIT: She can’t be still for long.

FAITH: While she doesn’t strictly practice it, she was taught at an early stage that she has to worship a certain being...

GHOST: She defiantly believes in ghost

AFTERLIFE: For Clementine, the afterlife is...not a pretty place...

REINCARNATION: She’s not entirely sure about this one...

ALIENS: She believes there’s a princess who lives on the moon if that counts?

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Clem always takes that in a fairy-tale route. She thinks there should be a king and/or queen, princes and princesses, and all their loyal subjects.

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

SOCIOPOLITICAL  POSITION : She believes everyone deserves to be treated equally, no matter what.

EDUCATION LEVEL: She was never taught how to properly read and write. These skills weren’t considered important to her previous owner.

FAMILY

FATHER: She never had one. 

MOTHER: While her owner was caring and tried to provide a decent life, Clementine considered her more as a special friend than a mother-figure. That doesn’t mean she hasn’t slipped up a few times and called her “mommy”.

SIBLINGS: Clementine’s previous owner used magic. Anyone else that used the same type of magic were considered ‘sisters’. I don’t know if that counts. 

EXTENDED FAMILY: Again, the ‘sisters’.  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

NAME MEANING: Compassionate, gentle, merciful

HISTORICAL CONNECTION: 

Oh great spirits across the land,

All my sisters hear my pleads,

I wish to make this doll alive,

For her to talk and bring me peace.

I hope to see her walk someday,

and take my sorrows far away. 

FAVORITES

BOOK: Fairy tales, nursery rhythms, and any pop up books

MOVIE: Fantasy, adventure, musicals

5 SONGS:

-Puppet (Nomadic Bard Mix)

-Tomorrow (Annie 1999)

-In A World of My Own (Alice in Wonderland)

-The Teddy Bear’s Picnic

-So Long

DEITY: Mother of the Damned

HOLIDAY: Christmas, Valentine’s, Easter

MONTH: April showers bring May flowers

SEASON: Spring

PLACE: Anywhere that has sweets

WEATHER: Sunny and breezy

SOUND: Music box, noise makers, cats purring, toys squeaking, laugther

SCENT: Baked sweets, flowers

TASTE: Strawberry, chocolate, cinnamon and honey

FEEL: Plush toys, soft blankets, cat fur

ANIMALS: Cats, rabbits, butterflies

NUMBER: 100 of anything is good

COLOR: Pastel shades

EXTRA

TALENTS: Baking muffins

BAD AT: Cooking anything else

HOBBIES: Coloring, making crafts

TROPES: That cute kid who goes out of her way to make everyone happy. I didn’t really know what to put in for this :B

AESTHETIC TAGS: Glitter, princess, fairy tales, plushies, sweets, crayons, buttons, ribbons, cats, tea parties, flowers, pastel

GPOY QUOTES: “The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest. All because they do not wish to see anyone else suffer the way they do.”

FC INFO

MAIN FC: I don’t really do FC. Clementine being a doll is very important to her character, so I see no point. 

ALT FC:  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

OLDER FC: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

YOUNGER FC: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

GENDERBENT FC: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

VOICE CLAIM: When I was making new Clementine, I watched a lot of clips of the character Micheal from “Full House” for size reference. Now whenever Clemmy speaks, I can only hear her voice. :B

MUN QUESTIONS

Q1 : If  you  could  write  your  character  your  way  in  their  own  movie ,   what  would  it  be  called ,  what  style  would  it  be  filmed  in ,  and  what  would  it  be  about ?

A1: I don’t know about the title, but it would defiantly be in a fantasy setting. I could almost imagine a sort of Alice in Wonderland theme going on. It would be an adventure that’s for sure!

Q2 : What  would  their  soundtrack / score  sound  like ?    

A2: Whimsical, lighthearted, but also with a sense of mystery and possible danger.

Q3 : Why  did  you  start  writing  this  character ?    

A3: If we count the years, I technically started writing Clementine in 2012. I brought her to tumblr in 2013.

Q4 : What  first  attracted  you  to  this  character ?    

A4: Clementine was meant to make me feel better while I was dealing with a mental disorder. I wanted a mindset separate from mine that tells me everything will be ok, and that I shouldn’t give up. I gave this mindset a name, gave her a face, and made her a child. Children are often described as innocent and care free, traits that I lost at a very early age because of my problem. 

Q5 : Describe  the  biggest  thing  you  dislike  about  your  muse.

A5:  I guess sometimes I get frustrated with Clementine’s kindness. Being kind is a good thing, but she does it in a way where she’ll put others needs before her own, and possibly get hurt in the process. Maybe I just have a more bitter outlook on life, but I believe there are some people just not worth cheering up, and you ultimately have to look out for yourself instead of being on everyone’s case.

Q6 : What  do  you  have  in  common  with  your  muse ?    

A6:  We both try to have a positive outlook on life. I guess Clem’s just better at keeping it that way.

Q7 : How  does  your  muse  feel  about  you ?  

A7: If Clementine canonically knew me, I guess she would see me as someone who needs to be reminded to look on the bright side.

Q8 : What  characters  does  your  muse  have  interesting  interactions  with ?        

A8:  Since this Clementine is basically a reset, I can’t say much about her relationships. She’s still meeting new people at this point. However, I do know a few characters that had a strong bond with her in the old version, and we have plans to bring that back. So far, I say @sirgyrodegearloose​ and @collectorcopernicus​ we’re the two that Old!Clemmy felt closet to. They were basically family to her, and I guess it doesn’t help that these two muns were one of the first people I interacted with on Tumblr.

Q9 : What  gives  you  inspiration  to  write  your  muse ?    

A9: The most random things can get me into a Clementine-ish mood. From seeing something cute on my dash, to witnessing an event I saw that day and thinking “what would Clementine do?”

Q10 : How  long  did  this  take  you  to  complete ?    

A10: Too long.

[laurelkrugerr]

50 Things You Need to Succeed in the Perpetually Changing World of Modern Finance

The finance sector has seen huge disruptions over the past 20 years. Developments like fintech, cryptocurrencies and automation have totally changed the jobs of stockbrokers, traders, fund managers and bankers. With all the new innovations, stock traders from the 1980s might not recognize the finance industry at all today.

Authority Magazine recently ran a series called “5 Things You Need To Succeed In the Modern World Of Finance.” In the series, we interviewed C-Suite executives and principals at finance or financial services companies who spoke about what a young person who joins the new world of finance needs to succeed in this sector.

Here are some highlights of the interviews.

If you do what is right for the client, you’ll be successful! A great example of this in our business is making sure we ask a lot of questions before making recommendations. If Joe Client wants security of principal and is fearful of risk, we don’t need to recommend a mutual fund! Or, if a client needs unlimited access to funds, we won’t suggest an annuity with limited withdrawals. Also, we don’t bother a client after they leave our office! If Joan Client has said that she needs time to think, we are going to give her time to think. People don’t want or need to be harassed and bothered.

You don’t sow a seed and reap rewards immediately. Success in the finance industry depends on consistently seeing people. Most people don’t make a decision at the first appointment. So, you have to consistently keep seeing people. We refer to it as “filling the pipeline.” It is human nature to want to slack off after some big sales or successful weeks. We’ve all done it. Long-term success requires full-time work!

Handwritten thank you notes will set you apart! It is absolutely amazing the impact a hand-written note has these days! This is a lost art. People are blown away if they receive a thank-you note via the U.S. mail service. Both of us travel a lot and have used some of our pictures as the front of our thank you note cards. Clients will often times call or email us after receiving these notes saying how much they appreciate receiving them!

Being appreciative of referrals is key! In our office, we make sure Joe Client knows how much we appreciate him sending a new prospect our way. If a person comes in for appointment and says, “Joe Client gave me your name,” we automatically send Joe Client a dozen of some very delicious cookies in a tin with our logo on it. It doesn’t matter if the person referred does business with us or not. We want the client to know just how special his word-of-mouth advertising is to us!

Your success is hugely dependent on your team! Our staff has heard repeatedly, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression!” When a person walks through our door, we want our front office personnel to great them with a smile and a cheerful voice. We want them to ask if they want a cup of coffee, tea, water or a soda. We want them to engage in conversation and show them where restrooms are located. When talking on the phone, we want our staff members to “smile through the phone,” talk slowly and be cheerful. Emails should be engaging, not just the facts! And emails should always include a line about how appreciative you are of their business or the opportunity to earn their business.

There’s not just one modern finance industry. The system is so huge that people can work in different corners of finance and speak with completely different vocabularies. I work in digital assets, for example, and that’s a very new field.

Keep an eye out for those different perspectives. Today’s curio may be tomorrow’s hot investment, and you’re going to miss out if you only pay attention to your little corner. I first heard about digital assets in 2012 (but didn’t jump in until 2017), so I was able to get on board before most people.

Understand technology. You’d think this is obvious, but if it were, you wouldn’t have so many challenger banks and fintechs winning value from century-old companies. We have new tools for business, and some of the larger finance firms don’t quite know what to do with them.

Be flexible. Digital Assets Data is actually the second startup I’ve launched; I founded it after selling a previous startup. Sometimes you need  —  and the market demands  —  a change of focus and a new start.

Question. Listen to other people and to their advice, but don’t let it overrule your own insights. What works for me, or for another one of your interviewees, may not work for everyone. The world is wide, and there are many paths to success.

The first one would be resilience. Being able to bounce back and come back is one of the key things. I mentioned this jokingly with some peers that our company DealRoom should’ve gone bankrupt. The business was completely stagnant for the first five years of operations. Very few customers, very much of an uphill battle to get people to utilize a project management tool instead of Excel to manage a process. We kept pushing through even though at the time it didn’t make a lot of financial sense, but we kept pushing through. Now over the past few years we’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth where that change curve is now hitting and we’re at the very forefront of it. Through that experience I’ve learned giving up is the number one cause of failure.

I would say another important skill is being bold, and to look at that as an internal muscle you develop to have a level of discipline and risk tolerance so that you are able to do things you were otherwise uncomfortable doing and taking risks you’d otherwise be comfortable taking. I think that’s a type of mindset you develop to get better and stronger over time and really push yourself to be a bold organization.

Another important skill is being dumb. We tend to be in the marketplace, find our area of expertise, and learn with a goal of becoming an expert. Then we go to meetings and want to make a good impression, to come across like we know what we’re talking about. The value, however, is really in the conversations you have with people. By being dumb, you become more open and receptive to what others say. You really listen and learn from them. If you can, put aside all the things you know and want to impress people with (or when you’re talking to people and you’re thinking about the next thing you want to say). That’s where you can find opportunities to help others. When you focus yourself on helping others achieve their goals, that’s where you can progress a lot further.

Another skill I touched on earlier was about empathy, being really empathetic with people and making them feel felt. I think for me I learned this skill by getting into a leadership role. It’s been one of my greatest successes. This is a skill that allows you to be more versatile as a person because you’re able to connect and understand people at different levels and put yourself behind the lens of different people to see how they look at things. Oftentimes we sort of get focused on one lens and we may not be seeing the whole picture. Until you get that connected view, that full view, it’s difficult to make the right decision.

The other skill I would add is agility. Driving your organization to be agile is critical in this time. You want to develop a culture that’s very flexible, responsive, collaborative, and that continuously improves to be able to respond to a fast moving world. It starts with leadership being able to embody that kind of culture into your organization. Then from there, you have to find ways you can actually standardize it through the organization so everybody’s acting in the same way.

Test small before building big! When I was first thinking about coaching, I did not go build a webinar or fancy platform, I began by making calls to the people who had asked in the past if I could help them. I gauged their interest in a structured program and what it would look like before actually bringing it to life! Now, that same program that began with only three students is available worldwide. There’s a misconception that you have to appear “buttoned-down” and built-out to sell, when in fact, at the heart of sales, should be soul. If your soul says “this may work,” speak from it, approach those you believe could benefit and be honest. My honesty allowed me to receive the feedback of what my audience wanted, instead of building something that I thought they did.

Choose an industry that you are personally passionate about for lasting results. The passion I had for making positive, vulnerable content available in mainstream media came from my personal experience without it. Because I was driven by passion, I stuck through every iteration of the brand. Without it, the desire to walk away instead of adapt could win in times of challenges.

Money is a mindset. Having had nothing, my belief could have been that I was destined for nothing. This mentality is widely adopted (what people see now, is how people determine how they are going to feel.) The opposite mindset is what leads to abundance: How you feel, determines what you are going to see. This deep-set belief allows opportunities to arise that seemed impossible. If your mentality is that if scarcity, your surrounding s will reflect it. Start thinking abundantly!

Choose optimism. This is the most simple word, but the best reminder. I personally have this word written in huge letters on my desk. It’s brief but powerful. I was very pessimistic and depressed for a little bit, after losing everything in the crash. It wasn’t until I found out that one of my dearest family members was going and buying back all of my belongings for me in secret, that I began to actually feel like the luckiest person in the world. This selfless act allowed me to activate a kind of optimism I can’t explain, but it has served me tenfold. Not only does it lend to my frame of mind, which I believe is the source of our results. But, people also like to be around optimistic people! So it has affected my personal life for the better too! Just choose it.

Do not think you have to do this alone: I did and got nowhere. I was constantly thinking that I had to do everything myself, including learning new skill sets. It wasn’t until I learned the value of teamwork, that I realized what does not come naturally to me comes naturally to others. I don’t have to learn all there is to know about “doing the numbers” if I can find help from someone who knows it all! This alone was life-changing. If you’re starting out and can’t pay someone, it’s not an excuse. I had four interns working with me at the start of my brand, all because I knew what was important to them and what they liked doing, so I provided that value in exchange for the value they brought to my own brand. The world wants to help you! You just have to allow it to.

Know more than one side — become the “renaissance man,” so to speak. The financial business of today is complex and spans across society. You never know what skill or knowledge will be required in 10, 20, 30 years. For example, while in the 80s bond traders were kings, right now, they are not needed at all  —  if that skill was the only one in your resume, you would go under. Never stop expanding your horizons.

Become international. This is a key thing. Back in the day, the nobles always sent their children to spend some years abroad to learn how the world works, not just their local court. We are lucky to live in a time when this is accessible to most people. Seize this opportunity and if you can, get experience abroad

Remember that people are still key. Don’t overestimate technology — without the right people, even the best technology will not help you build a successful venture.

Don’t wait too long. It’s better to start doing than keep waiting for the perfect timing/product/presentation etc. Better do once too many. To fail is part of success.

Persistence. Remember — it takes two years (at least) to see results. Don’t hurry. Today, an average career lasts until you are 70. You have time. Be open to making mistakes — keep trying.

Learn to talk so your clients will listen and learn to listen so your clients will talk. In my years of training and working with individuals, the one thing that pushes me over the edge is when I witness someone interrupt their clients or prospects — please stop doing that. We all have, what we would like to consider, a wealth of information we want to share and wisdom we want to impart. Please be patient and let your clients and prospects finish their thoughts. I often share this story when I am trying to make the point about being patient and letting their prospects finish their thoughts. In 1869 Thomas Edison tried to sell his new invention: the stock ticker tape machine. He made an appointment to show it to the president of the Gold Indicator Company. He thought his new invention might be worth $5,000 — a lot of money in 1869. During his demonstration, the president of the company interrupted young Thomas Edison and asked him how much he wanted for it and Edison didn’t say anything. The company’s president said, “I’ll give you $25,000 for it.” Edison said nothing. “I’ll give you $30,000 for it.” Edison said nothing. “I’ll give you $35,000 for it.” Again, Edison said nothing. “I’ll give you $40,000 and that’s my final offer!” Edison said, “I’ll take it.” The gentleman was writing out the check and about to hand it to young Thomas Edison, and he said, “I was prepared to give you $50,000!” And Edison, taking the check said, “Oh yeah, I was prepared to take $5,000!” If you stop interrupting your client, you might be surprised on what you may learn.

Facts tell but stories sell. For those of us in finance, for the most part, we are left-brain analytical people, while most of our clients are right-brain picture people. We are talking in numbers, but they are thinking in pictures, and many times they don’t have a clue what we are saying. We show them the numbers but many times they can’t do simple math. This is why some marketers like grocery stores, try to confuse the purchaser. For example, for a $4 item, which is better? 45 cents off or 15 percent off? Thirty-six percent of American consumers could not do the math. When A&W wanted to compete with the McDonald’s quarter pounder, they created the one-third pound hamburger, but it wasn’t selling as well as it had anticipated even though it priced its hamburger the same as McDonald’s. Why? The average American saw the number “4” as in 1/4 was larger than the number “3” as in 1/3 and thought the A&W burger was a much worse value. Do not explain concepts in numbers but do explain them using stories.

Most people like to be taught, not told. For the people I have trained, I often tell them “your job is know what your clients know and know it well. Your job is to also know what they don’t know and know that as well!” Sometimes I will refer to this a second-level thinking. It is easy for many of us to anticipate what questions your client may throw at you. For example, as a speaker in finance and economics, I can pretty much anticipate the question about our nation’s $23 trillion (and growing) debt. When I do take Q&A, that is usually the first question that comes up. I’m curious, how do you respond? Do you say, “Oh yeah, it certainly is a problem.” Or do you make comparisons to other countries whose debt-to-GDP is even higher? Neither of those answers, and I have heard both, adequately answers the question at hand. Instead, what I do, is to ask them: “What about our nation’s assets — do you happen to know what they are worth?” This is something few people have thought about and I often get a blank stare from those asked. I will then speak to the above-ground and below-ground assets, like real estate (the government owns 28 percent of the U.S. landmass worth roughly $23 trillion) and mineral rights and energy leases (worth roughly $128 trillion). When you add up all the assets of the U.S. government, you are approaching $270 trillion. I go on to ask them, “If you were a banker and were handed a balance sheet that looked like this (we will remove some zeros for easy math), $270,000 in assets, $23,000 in debt, $3,640 in income (taxes), and a credit score nearing 825, would you make the loan? Can you see how thinking past the obvious and going a little deeper helps provide perspective and clarity?

I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most successful financial advisors in the world. One of the attributes that I have noticed is they know their best clients as well as they know their best friends. All too often, a conversation starts with, “Hi, how are you?” And the prospect will respond, “Fine, how are you?” The advisor or salesperson will answer with “fine” and then launch into “throwing up on the desk” — explaining why he or she is the perfect choice for their specific needs. I train people to ask more questions. The point I make is how can you possibly know what their needs are unless you ask? The answer is in the asking. Ask, ask, ask. If they ask you a question, then respond with, “Why do you ask?” You might be surprised to learn they will actually tell you. And then say, “Because you told me that, I recommend you do this.” I have seen this work so well so many times. I was once in a meeting when the advisor did what I suggested and learned that the prospect had three children between the ages of 25 and 32. The advisor also learned that there was a history of heart disease in their extended family- almost all of them had had heart attacks in their 30’s and 40’s. After a personal discussion about the prospect’s family, the advisor said, “Because you told me you have heart disease in your family, and because you told me you have three children, I recommend we place permanent life insurance on all of your children’s lives today, so if ever that happens to them, they won’t face the same issue you face today. For you, getting life insurance would be very expensive because your two previous heart attacks. For your children, who haven’t experienced an episode yet, the rates would be much cheaper.” The prospect agreed, introducing them to his three children. Instead of getting one new client, the advisor got four. Get to know your clients and prospects like you would get to know your best friends.

The last thing I would recommend is to make sure you are updating your sales process as much as you are keeping up to date with the products you sell. In the late ‘80s I read the book The IBM Way. What I still remember about the book is how IBM regarded everyone in its organization as a salesperson. What was true then is still true today. We are all salespeople, and nothing happens in this world until one person sells something to someone else. Early in my career I learned the sales process, feel, felt found, as in, “I know how you feel, I felt that way once, but then I found….” Then in the 90s I was taught: Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them. In the 2000’s the technique was: “Today we are going to talk about three things. The three things we are going to talk about today are… Today, we talked about three things.” Today, I have been teaching salespeople a process I call “issues, problem, solution, product.” Let me give you an example. Many people are surprised when they learn that medical malpractice is the No. 3 killer in America, right behind heart disease and cancer. Why? We go to the hospital unprepared. We don’t have our powers of attorney, our medical directives, the list of the prescription medicines we are taking, our prior medical procedures or even what our blood type is. Having this information could save precious time in case of an emergency. We also send out children off to college, and on youth mission trips or travel sporting events, without this information, and because they are now over 18, or in the eyes of the law, the “age of majority” and because of HIPPA laws, a hospital will not tell you what may be wrong in an emergency situation without the proper paperwork. On my website, markzinder.com, we provide the powers of attorneys for each of the 50 states for free. We also created ICE wallet cards and a thumb drive in the shape of a key that goes on your keychain that also has the ICE logo on it. You simply fill out the important information and in case of a real emergency, first responders have immediate access to important, lifesaving information!

A passion for finance  —  are you personally interested in it? If not, why are you doing it? Personally, my dad was an accountant and investor. He taught me to read the Wall Street Journal and understand investments at a young age. I try and teach my kids the same knowledge by encouraging them to invest some of their own money now.

Willingness to do anything  —  this business isn’t always glamourous. There are going to be late nights and early mornings. When I was starting out, I was always the last one at the office. I’d stay until 7 most nights and got to know the janitor pretty well. I’d even help him with the trash sometimes. One day he told me, “Out of all the people here, you’re the one who’s going to succeed.” I asked him why, and he said, “You’re here when I’m here, and you actually care about me.”

A passion for people  — this is a relationship business. It always has been and always will be. That’s why I’ve always been people first. And that goes for all people. Just like you need to be willing to do anything, you need to be nice to everyone, CEO to janitor. They’re all people, and they’re all important. I think some people can forget that.

Willingness to understand that you can’t control everything. You can’t control the financial market  —  we know that now more than ever. But you can control how you react to it. Straight talk is important. You have to be open and transparent with the people you’re working with. And when it comes to planning, you have to make sure you do everything you can to ensure your client’s success.

Focus on communication. You need to understand what it is your clients want to achieve. I always make sure those I work with feel heard and understood. When I write emails, I always ask them how they’re doing. I use exclamation points so they can tell I care, and I end by saying thank you, and I mean it. I also make sure whatever I write is succinct enough to be read on a phone screen without having to scroll further.

Be multidisciplinary. In addition to running my hedge fund, I also serve as the COO of Coinbase Custody, the largest cryptocurrency custodian in the world. I was introduced to Coinbase not because I was a blockchain expert, far from it  —  before Coinbase, I had to look up what a bitcoin was! But I was offered a position at this fintech unicorn because the company was looking for a lawyer in San Francisco who understood hedge funds and who is entrepreneurial. I’m probably not the only lawyer in San Francisco who runs a hedge fund, but because I have two very unique skillsets and am an entrepreneur, I stood out. I see this all the time. Coinbase recruits many engineer/MBAs because they have both technical and business skills. Specialization is good but being multidisciplinary can be very helpful in one’s career progression. It will give you the skills and experience to thrive in more situations and will underscore your adaptability to others.

Technology and disruption. Technology is changing (and in some cases, disrupting) the world of finance, and people entering the finance industry would be well-served to consider fintech jobs in addition to roles at traditional financial firms. Take investment management as an example. With the rise of discount brokerages, people stopped calling stock brokers and just accessed brokerages from the internet. While people still used investment advisors, the rise of robo-advisors like Personal Capital, Wealthfront and Betterment are casting doubt as to whether millennials will still want to talk to a traditional advisor when they need financial advice. If you’re getting out of college and want to go into the finance industry, learn about software and product development in addition to business and corporate finance. Doing this will maximize your job opportunities.

People skills. People’s attention spans are getting shorter. With the widespread popularity of text messaging, Slack, Twitter, it’s possible to get a lot of work done without seeing somebody face-to-face, or even speaking with them. Social, persuasion, and leadership skills have become even more important, especially if you want to become a manager. Fewer and fewer younger workers excel in this area. If you do, it will set you up for success. If you have emotional intelligence, it’s highly sought after it  —  leverage it! At Coinbase and other leading fintech companies clear communication is a core value and those who excel are able to articulate complex ideas clearly, persuasively and succinctly.

Understanding generations. Millennials make up a large percentage of the workforce in tech and finance, but GenX-ers and Baby Boomers still run the show. It’s important to understand the perspective of your boss. For example, a study by the Education Advisory Board found that millennials change jobs up to 20 times in their careers, more than twice as frequently as Baby Boomers. Another difference is that millennials prioritize being a good parent, having a successful marriage and generally helping others over work-related priorities. On the other hand, many Gen-X and Baby Boomers value sacrifice and putting work first. There’s no “right” answer, but if you’re joining a finance firm, there’s a good chance your boss may not be a millennial, and it will serve you well to understand their perspective in order to better achieve alignment.

Brands are changing but old isn’t necessarily bad. Sometimes there’s a human tendency to assume everything new is better. Progress and change are good, but it pays to remember to learn from the lessons of others and not to say “out with the old” too quickly. Robinhood is disrupting the online brokerage industry, but in just the last few weeks, its new systems have crashed multiple times, depriving their customers of liquidity just when they needed it. Robinhood could have learned a thing or two from “old guard” brokerage firms about platform stability and redundancy. Another amazing development is the crypto currencies. Many blockchain tokens show promise of potentially revolutionizing the finance industry, but they can be complicated and are relatively untested. Until just a few weeks ago, it was assumed that crypto would be a “safe-haven asset” — however it collapsed along with the stock market. With anything new, there is automatically so much that is unknown. Reinvent the world, but remember to learn from the past and to stay humble.

The first and most important thing you should know is how are you going to make money on the customer base you paid for. Many fintech startups succeed in gaining a large customer base and great market cap, but not many discover how to make a good LTV/CAC ratio, create lifetime value and achieve profitability.

The second thing is to discover a unique competitive advantage that would be hard to break. In the finance sector, consumers were historically sticky and loyal to their banks until challenger banks came on the scene. Loyalty is hard to build and even harder to break. But once broken, it is increasingly hard to build again, so once they learn how to switch to other banks, consumers won’t stop changing to a better or cheaper alternative.

Third is to cope with the dilemma to become a fully licensed bank or stay unlicensed. A license can kill your identity and competitive advantage to act fast, but I do believe it’s the only way to make money long term. Financial institutions are two-sided marketplaces of money, which is the essence of a bank’s business, but to become a marketplace, one should acquire a license  —  even if it means losing velocity.

The fourth thing is being a truly global player: Banking is a hyperlocal business with regulatory barriers that can also be hyperlocal, and to become a truly global FI player is a huge challenge

Last and not least, the tech giants (Alibaba, Amazon, Google and Facebook) are just a step away from entering into full-scale banking, with some of them already testing the waters. When they come full speed into this space, it will become a huge challenge for both old-timers and newcomers.

The five most important areas to be familiar with are investment consulting, wealth enhancement, wealth transfer, wealth protection and charitable gifting.

In the area of investment consulting, entrepreneurs should be looking for advisers who tightly integrate their investment process to minimize taxes. I had a client who was a tool-and-die manufacturer with a mid-sized company who came to me just to have his tax return prepared. Unfortunately, I had to break the news to him that he owed $130,000 in federal taxes. This was because his advisor had been very active in buying and selling tech stocks. While on the surface, it looked like this client was making significant gains in his portfolio, the truth is, they were all short-term capital gains, which were taxed as ordinary income. If the client had been able to hold on to his gains for more than a year, he would have been taxed at a lower rate. Meanwhile, I’m sure his advisor was making plenty in commissions for all of the stocks he had been buying and selling!

Wealth enhancement is something that’s more complex than having just an investment strategy. For example, many entrepreneurs tend to separate their work life from their personal life when it comes to creating wealth. But what if you thought about it more broadly? Instead of compartmentalizing your finances, what if you could invest through a pretax retirement plan to shelter that money and leverage it now, while you’re in a higher tax bracket? Then you could take it out in the future at a lower tax rate. Successful wealth enhancement is about being proactive and giving increased consideration to federal, state and payroll taxes all the time instead of just at the end of the quarter or the end of the year. It’s also about knowing how to use retirement accounts in relationship to what you earn.

Wealth transfer involves managing your wealth so you can transfer those assets to an heir or your favorite charity when you die or become incapacitated. I had two clients, for example, who died of cancer some years back. One, Gary, owned a small frozen food business. After he was diagnosed with colon cancer at 52, he passed away within a year. He had no life or disability insurance and had used the majority of his retirement account to start his business. So when he died, his wife had to sell their house to pay off debt  —  but the worst part was that the home was only in Gary’s name, so his wife had to go through probate, which was an expensive hassle for her. Now, let me tell you about David, who was also diagnosed with colon cancer around the same time as Gary. This story has a much happier ending, because David had created a solid wealth transfer plan. He owned a business, a home and several rental properties. In addition, he had a large 401(k), IRAs and other investment accounts, as well as a trust, a disability policy and life insurance. Before David died, he also put his family farm into a sub-trust for his family, so they were able to use the income from the farm right away after David passed away. Which situation would you rather be in?

Wealth protection is having the right kind of insurance to protect what’s yours. Now, I see a lot of entrepreneurs who buy insurance products that are also investment products, such as variable universal life insurance. I personally believe insurance products are too expensive to be used as investment products, because they have additive costs and a legal contract. A better way, in my opinion, would be to purchase insurance specifically for asset protection and risk reduction as it relates to long-term care, disability or life circumstances, such as a succession plan. Before you buy a policy, be sure to consider whether there’s a less costly solution that would provide the same coverage.

Finally, if you want to make a difference in your community, one way to accomplish that is through charitable gifting. Charitable gifting is more than just giving money to a good cause, however. I’ll give you an example. I had a husband and wife client who owned their own company and wound up merging their business with a publicly held company. After the merger, they received $400,000 in combined wages plus $1 million in stock options. Both of those would have been taxed as ordinary income at a time when the couple was in the highest federal and state tax brackets. We created a plan for them to gift 7,119 shares of stock with a transferred cost basis of $1 per share (anything above the basis would be taxed at capital gains rates). This generated $420,000 in charitable deductions which offset the income that the stock options generated. By doing that and some additional planning, we were able to save that couple more than $145,000 in taxes.

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source http://www.scpie.org/50-things-you-need-to-succeed-in-the-perpetually-changing-world-of-modern-finance/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/06/50-things-you-need-to-succeed-in.html

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New top story from Time: Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor Talks Equality, The Economy, and Why Leaders Wear Masks

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview below was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, June 14; to receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEO’s and business decision makers, click here.)

As the United States—and the world—continues to reckon with systemic racial injustice, David Taylor, CEO of the $67 billion multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, acknowledges that “it’s time for action.” As a start, P&G announced in early June that it was launching a “Take On Race” fund to support organizations pursuing equality: the company made an initial $5 million contribution. More work, however, lies ahead. “Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized,” says Taylor. “This simply won’t work.”

On the sales front P&G, in its 183rd year, is one of the rare companies thriving in the pandemic. Quarantined consumers have been stocking up on P&G products like Pampers, Mr. Clean and Charmin. P&G has also adjusted its plans to meet emerging COVID-19 needs. Early on in the crisis, for example, a team at a P&G facility in Boston figured out that the plastic in Gillette packaging could be used to make face shields for health care workers. “We don’t make face shields,” says Taylor. “But they said, ‘We can. We could repurpose this, change this, work with somebody here’ and now we’re going to ship 300,000 of them by the middle of June.”

With sanitizer in short supply, a P&G plant in Lima, Ohio, repurposed some of its perfume-making equipment for detergents and fabric softeners. “They got the World Health Organization formula and then within days were making sanitizer in 55-gallon barrels,” says Taylor. The company is now pumping out 45,000 liters of sanitizer a week. “We’re not selling any of it,” he says. “We’re giving it away, or we’re using it in our plants and our operations to stay safe.”

Taylor, a Charlotte, N.C., native, has spent his entire career at P&G—he started in 1980 out as a production manager in North Carolina plant that made adult diapers. He recently joined TIME for a video conversation from his home office in Cincinnati: he outlined P&G’s response to the unrest engulfing the country, shared concerns about new COVID-19 outbreaks, and talked about how he stays energized. (Hint: running up and down stairs between meetings helps.)

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(This interview with Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor has been condensed and edited for clarity).

How do you lead a massive organization through what the country is going through right now?

It’s important, as a leader, to connect personally, meaningfully and empathetically with all employees. It’s also a time for action. Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work. The change we need is broad and deep and requires us all to be active—as friends and colleagues, and as allies and advocates.

Specifically, what is P&G doing internally?

We have and will continue to build a diverse employee and leadership base to reflect the consumers we serve, and foster an inclusive, respectful, welcoming and affirming culture. We are ensuring we view our business practices through an equality lens. We are also continuing to create safe spaces for dialogue within P&G, living our values, and demonstrating our humanity.

And what is the company doing externally?

It’s important that we step up to help create the world in which we want to live. So, P&G and our brands are stepping up our ongoing efforts to advance equality for all people, and especially, right now, for Black Americans who face racism and bias. We established the P&G “Take On Race” fund with an initial contribution of $5 million to help fuel organizations that fight for justice, advance economic opportunity, enable greater access to education and health care and make our communities more equitable.

What have you communicated to your workforce this week?

This is an important moment for listening, empathy and action. I reached to P&G people not only as a leader, but also as a concerned citizen, father and husband—reinforcing my personal continued commitment to equality and justice and to affirm P&G increased efforts in this area.

Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work.We know that our success is grounded in the success of our employees, consumers and communities. All of them.

Shifting to the pandemic, do you have concerns about a second wave?

If I would wish anything more broadly for society is to not dismiss this if you don’t have it or know somebody that has it. Because it is a very transmissible disease. And when you’re outside your home, just be conscious that even if you’re not wearing a mask, the risk of you infecting somebody, if you’re asymptomatic, is real. I am concerned when you see the things that you see on TV. Many, just out of frustration of being cooped up, may put their guard down. And the risk is that we start to get the seesaw. We get better, then worse. Better, then worse. And certainly, for the health of all citizens, and all people, I hope people take it very seriously.

P&G has manufactured millions of masks during the pandemic. What do you think of the President’s actions relative to masks?

What I will say is I do believe that leaders need to role model the desired behavior. So when I’m out at the grocery store, always a mask. P&G people, they recognize that role modeling matters because others look to what leaders do. And so that’s why in our plants, our plant leaders should wear masks. It’s important for all of us to recognize that people will look to others for signs of what’s the best behavior. I’ll leave it at that.

Let’s get the toilet paper questions out of the way. On March 12th, toilet paper sales increased by more than 700% year-over-year, making it the top-selling product in the country for the day. Why toilet paper?

It goes back to a very simple thing, which is if there’s uncertainty ahead and you’re not sure you’re going to be able to go to a store, think of any product in your home that if you didn’t have would be a problem. If you don’t have certain things, there’s a good alternative. But when you get to basic care of yourself, there’s not a lot of substitutes for toilet paper. What would you do for three or four days without toilet paper?

So this was a demand surge, not a supply issue? For the record, there is no shortage.

Absolutely. Supply has actually been fine. Supply is up. It’s largely over now, but there was a short-term spike where people started hoarding and stocking up. If you buy a three-month’s supply then all of a sudden the shelves get bare.

I understand that it’s a surprisingly complex product to manufacture.

We have a proprietary process that we developed many years ago that gives you the softness and strength that you want in Charmin. It’s a wet strength so that it does its job, but then it dissolves so that it can go down the toilet. And Bounty is a product that if you’ve ever gotten it wet, it doesn’t fall apart. So it’s got absorption, but it doesn’t fall apart when wet. So it’s a different technology. It is high-speed, very technical manufacturing. The technicians and managers that run it are very, very skilled.

Has this experience changed your view about “just-in-time” inventories and how much cushion needs to be built into the system?

Not largely. I’ve been with P&G 40 years and I’ve seen maybe a couple of these over four decades. So, the risk in over-rotating back to big inventories is you tie up a lot of assets and there’s inefficiency there for the whole system.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

What other products that you make are seeing strong demand?

There’s a long list of things. Anything that deals with personal or family safety, we’re seeing spike. We’ve seen Mr. Clean do well. Even things like sleep aids, ZzzQuil, because people are at home and there’s the stresses of all of this. That category is growing faster than it was before.

What about razors and razor blades and shaving cream?

That category has been negatively impacted. And it’s because people when they’re at home, you’ll generally see less shaving. If you normally shave each day before you go to work, you may say ‘I’ll do it every two or three days.

What is your personal outlook for the economy?

I’m not an economist, but I do believe that it’s going to be a difficult period until we get to the vaccine. And even then, the vaccine may or may not be one that’s always effective. Certainly, my hope is for the fastest recovery. My belief is that we’ll be in a bumpy period for a number of months until we get probably into early ’21.

Your facilities are deemed essential and are operating at full capacity. How are you operating safely?

For the plants we’re operating, and our distribution centers, and our offices, we’ve learned from our experiences in China and in Italy, early on, when it was very bad there, in both those places, that we have to be very disciplined. When you come in at the door, temperature checks. If there’s any issue there, stay at home and get checked out. If you don’t feel well, stay at home. If you’re in a high-risk group and uncomfortable, stay home. If you have a comorbidity that causes you to be concerned, stay home, and we have very good plans and benefits to take care of people.

Then, if you clear the temperature check, you have to have a mask on; we have masks available for our people in plants. And then once you’ve cleared temperature checks and you have your mask, then we’ve gone to social distancing throughout our buildings.

China is your second largest market: Are you worried about the U.S.-China relationship?

Certainly. I think it would be very bad for the U.S. and for China and for the world, for the two largest economies to decouple and not have free and open trade. The rhetoric that we see at times is very concerning. My hope is, and I don’t have perfect knowledge, my hope is that there are behind the scenes, thoughtful, respectful dialogue, and negotiations going on. I do believe change needs to take place on some of the things like intellectual property rights. We’ve seen progress. And we believe dialogue and negotiation is much better than decoupling.

Hunger is an issue you’re passionate about. Why can’t the richest country in the world, our country, feed all of its citizens?

I spent eight years on the board of Feeding America. And it’s one of the questions, frankly, and one of the challenges we put forth to both lawmakers and to a number of other donor companies to say we collectively can do better. I don’t know the latest numbers, but over 15 million children are food insecure. There’s a lot of food that’s not harvested because there’s not a way to get it from the field to a person that’s hungry. There’s not an economic model. And those are the kind of things that Feeding America is working on addressing. There’s a food system for all of us with money. There needs to be a food system for those that for a period of time are unable to care for themselves, and that’s what the food system that Feeding America and the food banks are working on.

What was your first job at P&G?

My career is atypical. I started as a shift manufacturing manager in Greenville, North Carolina on one of our paper businesses. I worked there for five years. There were really powerful career journey learnings to work in a manufacturing environment, on shift. On third shift, nobody cares what degree you have. They care whether you can get that line back up. And it was just amazing to see the way the team would come together when you valued each other for what you can do. Not for what title you may have or what degree you may have.

What did the plant make?

The brand was Attends, we don’t have it any more, and it was for adult incontinence. So it was a big diaper. A mega-Pampers, if you will. An adult diaper.

What is the least favorite part of your CEO job?

It’s big meetings, lots of people and lots of Powerpoint. And then people feel they have to share everything they know. I’m really not interested in being presented to a lot. I’m not wild about sitting down, review, review, review. What I want to do is talk to people and add value where I can. The other thing that does happen at times in big companies is there’s a lot of filtering. And I really value when you go to a plant, or to a sales office, or to an R&D Center, talking to the person that’s closest to the consumer or the customer as opposed to going through something that may have been filtered and vetted too much for alignment.

Where do you feel you really add value?

What I don’t believe is in micromanaging. My job is not to manage. It’s to lead.

There’s two or three things that I think are most important, where I can add value because the people that run the businesses do a great job: On talent, to make sure we have the right people in a team that works together. And it’s probably one of the things I put the most energy into everywhere I’ve been in my career. I believe so much that when you have a diverse team with a lot of different experiences, and different nationalities, genders, and, it’s critically important, and you create the environment — the inclusion — where they truly feel they can come as themselves and speak truth to power.

And one of the reasons I’ve been successful is not because I have the answers. I’ve learned many years ago, I don’t have to know the answer. I don’t have to be right. I have to get the right thing done. Many people try to be right. I just need to ensure the right thing gets done. And it’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.

It’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.The second is a focused, clear, understandable strategy. When we don’t perform well, it’s not that we don’t have good people. It is for whatever reason, either our strategy is not focused, which we’ve had cases in our company where we tried to chase too many objectives, too many mouths to feed, or we created a structure that inhibited people’s creativity and capability to contribute.

Any lessons that you picked up from mentors?

I want to be present for everybody I meet with. For somebody coming in, often it’s a big deal. Even though it’s just David, it’s still the CEO of P&G. And part of what you want to do is to be fully present. I’ve learned that from some of the great leaders that I’ve worked with in the past on how great I felt when I met with them. And they actually have seemed like they paid attention to me, and listened.

You have a lot on your plate: Any time management tips?

I generally focus less on time management. I believe — and I learned this from a course I went to many years ago — in energy management. If you’ve got the energy, you’ll make good use of your time. So that’s where you get up, wake on time every day. Drink a ton of water. And if you get a little bit tired in the day, especially with jet lag, run up and down stairs, and you’re back on again. Anything that kicks your heart rate up to keep your cognitive facilities clicking is going to help.

You run up and down stairs between meetings?

Oh yeah, I’ll do that often. My office is on the 11th floor of the building. The cafeteria is on the 5th floor. I haven’t used the elevator, I can’t remember the last time, to go to lunch. I run down 6 stories, get your lunch. Run up 6 stories, and then it sets you up for the afternoon.

  TAYLOR’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

AUTHOR: David Baldacci.

APP: Both the app and device would be the Fitbit because it’s the way I help keep myself (healthy). I’ve got it on right now, and I make sure I get my 10,000 steps. I almost always get my 70,000 by the end of the week. If I had to do a ton on the weekend, then it’s the way I keep myself honest.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2MU2Wx9

[itsfinancethings]

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview below was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, June 14; to receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEO’s and business decision makers, click here.)

As the United States—and the world—continues to reckon with systemic racial injustice, David Taylor, CEO of the $67 billion multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, acknowledges that “it’s time for action.” As a start, P&G announced in early June that it was launching a “Take On Race” fund to support organizations pursuing equality: the company made an initial $5 million contribution. More work, however, lies ahead. “Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized,” says Taylor. “This simply won’t work.”

On the sales front P&G, in its 183rd year, is one of the rare companies thriving in the pandemic. Quarantined consumers have been stocking up on P&G products like Pampers, Mr. Clean and Charmin. P&G has also adjusted its plans to meet emerging COVID-19 needs. Early on in the crisis, for example, a team at a P&G facility in Boston figured out that the plastic in Gillette packaging could be used to make face shields for health care workers. “We don’t make face shields,” says Taylor. “But they said, ‘We can. We could repurpose this, change this, work with somebody here’ and now we’re going to ship 300,000 of them by the middle of June.”

With sanitizer in short supply, a P&G plant in Lima, Ohio, repurposed some of its perfume-making equipment for detergents and fabric softeners. “They got the World Health Organization formula and then within days were making sanitizer in 55-gallon barrels,” says Taylor. The company is now pumping out 45,000 liters of sanitizer a week. “We’re not selling any of it,” he says. “We’re giving it away, or we’re using it in our plants and our operations to stay safe.”

Taylor, a Charlotte, N.C., native, has spent his entire career at P&G—he started in 1980 out as a production manager in North Carolina plant that made adult diapers. He recently joined TIME for a video conversation from his home office in Cincinnati: he outlined P&G’s response to the unrest engulfing the country, shared concerns about new COVID-19 outbreaks, and talked about how he stays energized. (Hint: running up and down stairs between meetings helps.)

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

(This interview with Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor has been condensed and edited for clarity).

How do you lead a massive organization through what the country is going through right now?

It’s important, as a leader, to connect personally, meaningfully and empathetically with all employees. It’s also a time for action. Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work. The change we need is broad and deep and requires us all to be active—as friends and colleagues, and as allies and advocates.

Specifically, what is P&G doing internally?

We have and will continue to build a diverse employee and leadership base to reflect the consumers we serve, and foster an inclusive, respectful, welcoming and affirming culture. We are ensuring we view our business practices through an equality lens. We are also continuing to create safe spaces for dialogue within P&G, living our values, and demonstrating our humanity.

And what is the company doing externally?

It’s important that we step up to help create the world in which we want to live. So, P&G and our brands are stepping up our ongoing efforts to advance equality for all people, and especially, right now, for Black Americans who face racism and bias. We established the P&G “Take On Race” fund with an initial contribution of $5 million to help fuel organizations that fight for justice, advance economic opportunity, enable greater access to education and health care and make our communities more equitable.

What have you communicated to your workforce this week?

This is an important moment for listening, empathy and action. I reached to P&G people not only as a leader, but also as a concerned citizen, father and husband—reinforcing my personal continued commitment to equality and justice and to affirm P&G increased efforts in this area.

Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work.We know that our success is grounded in the success of our employees, consumers and communities. All of them.

Shifting to the pandemic, do you have concerns about a second wave?

If I would wish anything more broadly for society is to not dismiss this if you don’t have it or know somebody that has it. Because it is a very transmissible disease. And when you’re outside your home, just be conscious that even if you’re not wearing a mask, the risk of you infecting somebody, if you’re asymptomatic, is real. I am concerned when you see the things that you see on TV. Many, just out of frustration of being cooped up, may put their guard down. And the risk is that we start to get the seesaw. We get better, then worse. Better, then worse. And certainly, for the health of all citizens, and all people, I hope people take it very seriously.

P&G has manufactured millions of masks during the pandemic. What do you think of the President’s actions relative to masks?

What I will say is I do believe that leaders need to role model the desired behavior. So when I’m out at the grocery store, always a mask. P&G people, they recognize that role modeling matters because others look to what leaders do. And so that’s why in our plants, our plant leaders should wear masks. It’s important for all of us to recognize that people will look to others for signs of what’s the best behavior. I’ll leave it at that.

Let’s get the toilet paper questions out of the way. On March 12th, toilet paper sales increased by more than 700% year-over-year, making it the top-selling product in the country for the day. Why toilet paper?

It goes back to a very simple thing, which is if there’s uncertainty ahead and you’re not sure you’re going to be able to go to a store, think of any product in your home that if you didn’t have would be a problem. If you don’t have certain things, there’s a good alternative. But when you get to basic care of yourself, there’s not a lot of substitutes for toilet paper. What would you do for three or four days without toilet paper?

So this was a demand surge, not a supply issue? For the record, there is no shortage.

Absolutely. Supply has actually been fine. Supply is up. It’s largely over now, but there was a short-term spike where people started hoarding and stocking up. If you buy a three-month’s supply then all of a sudden the shelves get bare.

I understand that it’s a surprisingly complex product to manufacture.

We have a proprietary process that we developed many years ago that gives you the softness and strength that you want in Charmin. It’s a wet strength so that it does its job, but then it dissolves so that it can go down the toilet. And Bounty is a product that if you’ve ever gotten it wet, it doesn’t fall apart. So it’s got absorption, but it doesn’t fall apart when wet. So it’s a different technology. It is high-speed, very technical manufacturing. The technicians and managers that run it are very, very skilled.

Has this experience changed your view about “just-in-time” inventories and how much cushion needs to be built into the system?

Not largely. I’ve been with P&G 40 years and I’ve seen maybe a couple of these over four decades. So, the risk in over-rotating back to big inventories is you tie up a lot of assets and there’s inefficiency there for the whole system.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

What other products that you make are seeing strong demand?

There’s a long list of things. Anything that deals with personal or family safety, we’re seeing spike. We’ve seen Mr. Clean do well. Even things like sleep aids, ZzzQuil, because people are at home and there’s the stresses of all of this. That category is growing faster than it was before.

What about razors and razor blades and shaving cream?

That category has been negatively impacted. And it’s because people when they’re at home, you’ll generally see less shaving. If you normally shave each day before you go to work, you may say ‘I’ll do it every two or three days.

What is your personal outlook for the economy?

I’m not an economist, but I do believe that it’s going to be a difficult period until we get to the vaccine. And even then, the vaccine may or may not be one that’s always effective. Certainly, my hope is for the fastest recovery. My belief is that we’ll be in a bumpy period for a number of months until we get probably into early ’21.

Your facilities are deemed essential and are operating at full capacity. How are you operating safely?

For the plants we’re operating, and our distribution centers, and our offices, we’ve learned from our experiences in China and in Italy, early on, when it was very bad there, in both those places, that we have to be very disciplined. When you come in at the door, temperature checks. If there’s any issue there, stay at home and get checked out. If you don’t feel well, stay at home. If you’re in a high-risk group and uncomfortable, stay home. If you have a comorbidity that causes you to be concerned, stay home, and we have very good plans and benefits to take care of people.

Then, if you clear the temperature check, you have to have a mask on; we have masks available for our people in plants. And then once you’ve cleared temperature checks and you have your mask, then we’ve gone to social distancing throughout our buildings.

China is your second largest market: Are you worried about the U.S.-China relationship?

Certainly. I think it would be very bad for the U.S. and for China and for the world, for the two largest economies to decouple and not have free and open trade. The rhetoric that we see at times is very concerning. My hope is, and I don’t have perfect knowledge, my hope is that there are behind the scenes, thoughtful, respectful dialogue, and negotiations going on. I do believe change needs to take place on some of the things like intellectual property rights. We’ve seen progress. And we believe dialogue and negotiation is much better than decoupling.

Hunger is an issue you’re passionate about. Why can’t the richest country in the world, our country, feed all of its citizens?

I spent eight years on the board of Feeding America. And it’s one of the questions, frankly, and one of the challenges we put forth to both lawmakers and to a number of other donor companies to say we collectively can do better. I don’t know the latest numbers, but over 15 million children are food insecure. There’s a lot of food that’s not harvested because there’s not a way to get it from the field to a person that’s hungry. There’s not an economic model. And those are the kind of things that Feeding America is working on addressing. There’s a food system for all of us with money. There needs to be a food system for those that for a period of time are unable to care for themselves, and that’s what the food system that Feeding America and the food banks are working on.

What was your first job at P&G?

My career is atypical. I started as a shift manufacturing manager in Greenville, North Carolina on one of our paper businesses. I worked there for five years. There were really powerful career journey learnings to work in a manufacturing environment, on shift. On third shift, nobody cares what degree you have. They care whether you can get that line back up. And it was just amazing to see the way the team would come together when you valued each other for what you can do. Not for what title you may have or what degree you may have.

What did the plant make?

The brand was Attends, we don’t have it any more, and it was for adult incontinence. So it was a big diaper. A mega-Pampers, if you will. An adult diaper.

What is the least favorite part of your CEO job?

It’s big meetings, lots of people and lots of Powerpoint. And then people feel they have to share everything they know. I’m really not interested in being presented to a lot. I’m not wild about sitting down, review, review, review. What I want to do is talk to people and add value where I can. The other thing that does happen at times in big companies is there’s a lot of filtering. And I really value when you go to a plant, or to a sales office, or to an R&D Center, talking to the person that’s closest to the consumer or the customer as opposed to going through something that may have been filtered and vetted too much for alignment.

Where do you feel you really add value?

What I don’t believe is in micromanaging. My job is not to manage. It’s to lead.

There’s two or three things that I think are most important, where I can add value because the people that run the businesses do a great job: On talent, to make sure we have the right people in a team that works together. And it’s probably one of the things I put the most energy into everywhere I’ve been in my career. I believe so much that when you have a diverse team with a lot of different experiences, and different nationalities, genders, and, it’s critically important, and you create the environment — the inclusion — where they truly feel they can come as themselves and speak truth to power.

And one of the reasons I’ve been successful is not because I have the answers. I’ve learned many years ago, I don’t have to know the answer. I don’t have to be right. I have to get the right thing done. Many people try to be right. I just need to ensure the right thing gets done. And it’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.

It’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.The second is a focused, clear, understandable strategy. When we don’t perform well, it’s not that we don’t have good people. It is for whatever reason, either our strategy is not focused, which we’ve had cases in our company where we tried to chase too many objectives, too many mouths to feed, or we created a structure that inhibited people’s creativity and capability to contribute.

Any lessons that you picked up from mentors?

I want to be present for everybody I meet with. For somebody coming in, often it’s a big deal. Even though it’s just David, it’s still the CEO of P&G. And part of what you want to do is to be fully present. I’ve learned that from some of the great leaders that I’ve worked with in the past on how great I felt when I met with them. And they actually have seemed like they paid attention to me, and listened.

You have a lot on your plate: Any time management tips?

I generally focus less on time management. I believe — and I learned this from a course I went to many years ago — in energy management. If you’ve got the energy, you’ll make good use of your time. So that’s where you get up, wake on time every day. Drink a ton of water. And if you get a little bit tired in the day, especially with jet lag, run up and down stairs, and you’re back on again. Anything that kicks your heart rate up to keep your cognitive facilities clicking is going to help.

You run up and down stairs between meetings?

Oh yeah, I’ll do that often. My office is on the 11th floor of the building. The cafeteria is on the 5th floor. I haven’t used the elevator, I can’t remember the last time, to go to lunch. I run down 6 stories, get your lunch. Run up 6 stories, and then it sets you up for the afternoon.

  TAYLOR’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

AUTHOR: David Baldacci.

APP: Both the app and device would be the Fitbit because it’s the way I help keep myself (healthy). I’ve got it on right now, and I make sure I get my 10,000 steps. I almost always get my 70,000 by the end of the week. If I had to do a ton on the weekend, then it’s the way I keep myself honest.

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

[newstechreviews]

(Miss this week’s The Leadership Brief? This interview below was delivered to the inbox of Leadership Brief subscribers on Sunday morning, June 14; to receive weekly emails of conversations with the world’s top CEO’s and business decision makers, click here.)

As the United States—and the world—continues to reckon with systemic racial injustice, David Taylor, CEO of the $67 billion multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble, acknowledges that “it’s time for action.” As a start, P&G announced in early June that it was launching a “Take On Race” fund to support organizations pursuing equality: the company made an initial $5 million contribution. More work, however, lies ahead. “Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized,” says Taylor. “This simply won’t work.”

On the sales front P&G, in its 183rd year, is one of the rare companies thriving in the pandemic. Quarantined consumers have been stocking up on P&G products like Pampers, Mr. Clean and Charmin. P&G has also adjusted its plans to meet emerging COVID-19 needs. Early on in the crisis, for example, a team at a P&G facility in Boston figured out that the plastic in Gillette packaging could be used to make face shields for health care workers. “We don’t make face shields,” says Taylor. “But they said, ‘We can. We could repurpose this, change this, work with somebody here’ and now we’re going to ship 300,000 of them by the middle of June.”

With sanitizer in short supply, a P&G plant in Lima, Ohio, repurposed some of its perfume-making equipment for detergents and fabric softeners. “They got the World Health Organization formula and then within days were making sanitizer in 55-gallon barrels,” says Taylor. The company is now pumping out 45,000 liters of sanitizer a week. “We’re not selling any of it,” he says. “We’re giving it away, or we’re using it in our plants and our operations to stay safe.”

Taylor, a Charlotte, N.C., native, has spent his entire career at P&G—he started in 1980 out as a production manager in North Carolina plant that made adult diapers. He recently joined TIME for a video conversation from his home office in Cincinnati: he outlined P&G’s response to the unrest engulfing the country, shared concerns about new COVID-19 outbreaks, and talked about how he stays energized. (Hint: running up and down stairs between meetings helps.)

Subscribe to The Leadership Brief by clicking here.

(This interview with Procter & Gamble CEO David Taylor has been condensed and edited for clarity).

How do you lead a massive organization through what the country is going through right now?

It’s important, as a leader, to connect personally, meaningfully and empathetically with all employees. It’s also a time for action. Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work. The change we need is broad and deep and requires us all to be active—as friends and colleagues, and as allies and advocates.

Specifically, what is P&G doing internally?

We have and will continue to build a diverse employee and leadership base to reflect the consumers we serve, and foster an inclusive, respectful, welcoming and affirming culture. We are ensuring we view our business practices through an equality lens. We are also continuing to create safe spaces for dialogue within P&G, living our values, and demonstrating our humanity.

And what is the company doing externally?

It’s important that we step up to help create the world in which we want to live. So, P&G and our brands are stepping up our ongoing efforts to advance equality for all people, and especially, right now, for Black Americans who face racism and bias. We established the P&G “Take On Race” fund with an initial contribution of $5 million to help fuel organizations that fight for justice, advance economic opportunity, enable greater access to education and health care and make our communities more equitable.

What have you communicated to your workforce this week?

This is an important moment for listening, empathy and action. I reached to P&G people not only as a leader, but also as a concerned citizen, father and husband—reinforcing my personal continued commitment to equality and justice and to affirm P&G increased efforts in this area.

Far too often, the burden of seeking equality rests on the shoulders of those most marginalized. This simply won’t work.We know that our success is grounded in the success of our employees, consumers and communities. All of them.

Shifting to the pandemic, do you have concerns about a second wave?

If I would wish anything more broadly for society is to not dismiss this if you don’t have it or know somebody that has it. Because it is a very transmissible disease. And when you’re outside your home, just be conscious that even if you’re not wearing a mask, the risk of you infecting somebody, if you’re asymptomatic, is real. I am concerned when you see the things that you see on TV. Many, just out of frustration of being cooped up, may put their guard down. And the risk is that we start to get the seesaw. We get better, then worse. Better, then worse. And certainly, for the health of all citizens, and all people, I hope people take it very seriously.

P&G has manufactured millions of masks during the pandemic. What do you think of the President’s actions relative to masks?

What I will say is I do believe that leaders need to role model the desired behavior. So when I’m out at the grocery store, always a mask. P&G people, they recognize that role modeling matters because others look to what leaders do. And so that’s why in our plants, our plant leaders should wear masks. It’s important for all of us to recognize that people will look to others for signs of what’s the best behavior. I’ll leave it at that.

Let’s get the toilet paper questions out of the way. On March 12th, toilet paper sales increased by more than 700% year-over-year, making it the top-selling product in the country for the day. Why toilet paper?

It goes back to a very simple thing, which is if there’s uncertainty ahead and you’re not sure you’re going to be able to go to a store, think of any product in your home that if you didn’t have would be a problem. If you don’t have certain things, there’s a good alternative. But when you get to basic care of yourself, there’s not a lot of substitutes for toilet paper. What would you do for three or four days without toilet paper?

So this was a demand surge, not a supply issue? For the record, there is no shortage.

Absolutely. Supply has actually been fine. Supply is up. It’s largely over now, but there was a short-term spike where people started hoarding and stocking up. If you buy a three-month’s supply then all of a sudden the shelves get bare.

I understand that it’s a surprisingly complex product to manufacture.

We have a proprietary process that we developed many years ago that gives you the softness and strength that you want in Charmin. It’s a wet strength so that it does its job, but then it dissolves so that it can go down the toilet. And Bounty is a product that if you’ve ever gotten it wet, it doesn’t fall apart. So it’s got absorption, but it doesn’t fall apart when wet. So it’s a different technology. It is high-speed, very technical manufacturing. The technicians and managers that run it are very, very skilled.

Has this experience changed your view about “just-in-time” inventories and how much cushion needs to be built into the system?

Not largely. I’ve been with P&G 40 years and I’ve seen maybe a couple of these over four decades. So, the risk in over-rotating back to big inventories is you tie up a lot of assets and there’s inefficiency there for the whole system.

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What other products that you make are seeing strong demand?

There’s a long list of things. Anything that deals with personal or family safety, we’re seeing spike. We’ve seen Mr. Clean do well. Even things like sleep aids, ZzzQuil, because people are at home and there’s the stresses of all of this. That category is growing faster than it was before.

What about razors and razor blades and shaving cream?

That category has been negatively impacted. And it’s because people when they’re at home, you’ll generally see less shaving. If you normally shave each day before you go to work, you may say ‘I’ll do it every two or three days.

What is your personal outlook for the economy?

I’m not an economist, but I do believe that it’s going to be a difficult period until we get to the vaccine. And even then, the vaccine may or may not be one that’s always effective. Certainly, my hope is for the fastest recovery. My belief is that we’ll be in a bumpy period for a number of months until we get probably into early ’21.

Your facilities are deemed essential and are operating at full capacity. How are you operating safely?

For the plants we’re operating, and our distribution centers, and our offices, we’ve learned from our experiences in China and in Italy, early on, when it was very bad there, in both those places, that we have to be very disciplined. When you come in at the door, temperature checks. If there’s any issue there, stay at home and get checked out. If you don’t feel well, stay at home. If you’re in a high-risk group and uncomfortable, stay home. If you have a comorbidity that causes you to be concerned, stay home, and we have very good plans and benefits to take care of people.

Then, if you clear the temperature check, you have to have a mask on; we have masks available for our people in plants. And then once you’ve cleared temperature checks and you have your mask, then we’ve gone to social distancing throughout our buildings.

China is your second largest market: Are you worried about the U.S.-China relationship?

Certainly. I think it would be very bad for the U.S. and for China and for the world, for the two largest economies to decouple and not have free and open trade. The rhetoric that we see at times is very concerning. My hope is, and I don’t have perfect knowledge, my hope is that there are behind the scenes, thoughtful, respectful dialogue, and negotiations going on. I do believe change needs to take place on some of the things like intellectual property rights. We’ve seen progress. And we believe dialogue and negotiation is much better than decoupling.

Hunger is an issue you’re passionate about. Why can’t the richest country in the world, our country, feed all of its citizens?

I spent eight years on the board of Feeding America. And it’s one of the questions, frankly, and one of the challenges we put forth to both lawmakers and to a number of other donor companies to say we collectively can do better. I don’t know the latest numbers, but over 15 million children are food insecure. There’s a lot of food that’s not harvested because there’s not a way to get it from the field to a person that’s hungry. There’s not an economic model. And those are the kind of things that Feeding America is working on addressing. There’s a food system for all of us with money. There needs to be a food system for those that for a period of time are unable to care for themselves, and that’s what the food system that Feeding America and the food banks are working on.

What was your first job at P&G?

My career is atypical. I started as a shift manufacturing manager in Greenville, North Carolina on one of our paper businesses. I worked there for five years. There were really powerful career journey learnings to work in a manufacturing environment, on shift. On third shift, nobody cares what degree you have. They care whether you can get that line back up. And it was just amazing to see the way the team would come together when you valued each other for what you can do. Not for what title you may have or what degree you may have.

What did the plant make?

The brand was Attends, we don’t have it any more, and it was for adult incontinence. So it was a big diaper. A mega-Pampers, if you will. An adult diaper.

What is the least favorite part of your CEO job?

It’s big meetings, lots of people and lots of Powerpoint. And then people feel they have to share everything they know. I’m really not interested in being presented to a lot. I’m not wild about sitting down, review, review, review. What I want to do is talk to people and add value where I can. The other thing that does happen at times in big companies is there’s a lot of filtering. And I really value when you go to a plant, or to a sales office, or to an R&D Center, talking to the person that’s closest to the consumer or the customer as opposed to going through something that may have been filtered and vetted too much for alignment.

Where do you feel you really add value?

What I don’t believe is in micromanaging. My job is not to manage. It’s to lead.

There’s two or three things that I think are most important, where I can add value because the people that run the businesses do a great job: On talent, to make sure we have the right people in a team that works together. And it’s probably one of the things I put the most energy into everywhere I’ve been in my career. I believe so much that when you have a diverse team with a lot of different experiences, and different nationalities, genders, and, it’s critically important, and you create the environment — the inclusion — where they truly feel they can come as themselves and speak truth to power.

And one of the reasons I’ve been successful is not because I have the answers. I’ve learned many years ago, I don’t have to know the answer. I don’t have to be right. I have to get the right thing done. Many people try to be right. I just need to ensure the right thing gets done. And it’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.

It’s a powerful thing to believe that not one of us is smarter than all of us.The second is a focused, clear, understandable strategy. When we don’t perform well, it’s not that we don’t have good people. It is for whatever reason, either our strategy is not focused, which we’ve had cases in our company where we tried to chase too many objectives, too many mouths to feed, or we created a structure that inhibited people’s creativity and capability to contribute.

Any lessons that you picked up from mentors?

I want to be present for everybody I meet with. For somebody coming in, often it’s a big deal. Even though it’s just David, it’s still the CEO of P&G. And part of what you want to do is to be fully present. I’ve learned that from some of the great leaders that I’ve worked with in the past on how great I felt when I met with them. And they actually have seemed like they paid attention to me, and listened.

You have a lot on your plate: Any time management tips?

I generally focus less on time management. I believe — and I learned this from a course I went to many years ago — in energy management. If you’ve got the energy, you’ll make good use of your time. So that’s where you get up, wake on time every day. Drink a ton of water. And if you get a little bit tired in the day, especially with jet lag, run up and down stairs, and you’re back on again. Anything that kicks your heart rate up to keep your cognitive facilities clicking is going to help.

You run up and down stairs between meetings?

Oh yeah, I’ll do that often. My office is on the 11th floor of the building. The cafeteria is on the 5th floor. I haven’t used the elevator, I can’t remember the last time, to go to lunch. I run down 6 stories, get your lunch. Run up 6 stories, and then it sets you up for the afternoon.

  TAYLOR’S FAVORITES

BUSINESS BOOK: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

AUTHOR: David Baldacci.

APP: Both the app and device would be the Fitbit because it’s the way I help keep myself (healthy). I’ve got it on right now, and I make sure I get my 10,000 steps. I almost always get my 70,000 by the end of the week. If I had to do a ton on the weekend, then it’s the way I keep myself honest.

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