FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

University of Auckland Fires Professor for Angry Email

In May one of Paul Buchanan's students asked for an extension on an assignment because her father had died. Not only did Buchanan deny the request, he sent a vitriolic email.

The email stands for itself.

What is interesting in the reporting of this instance is that the New Zealand press and bloggers are implying that if the student had not been from the United Arab  Emirates  he may have been disciplined but not fired. From Scoop,the news media that says it "scooped" the story in the first place,

"Scoop understands the student was a United Arab Emirates national and in New Zealand on a student education visa. Scoop also understands the University of Auckland had received a degree of pressure from the student's family's networks that warned: should the University not act on the complaint then the UAE would send fewer students to New Zealand."

Now the  offending email.

Subject: RE: Extension Date:
Wed, 30 May 2007 19:24:20
From: Paul Buchanan
To: Student Dear xxxx:

I say this reluctantly but not so subtly: you are not suitable for a graduate degree. It does not matter if your father died or if you have a medical certificate.

I have been too nice and given you too high marks all along (at C+). I do not anticipate that you will do better in the final exercise.

You are already a day late. The extension is meaningless because you have not attended the last few classes and are the worse performer in the class. Of course by a far stretch, You will have the obiturary of your father, but even if available and the student health people might have believed you, I do not. 

You are close to failing in any event, so these sort of excuses-culturally driven and preying on some sort of Western liberal guilt-are simply lame. Prove that your father died and your were distraught and unable to complete assignments-in spite of your abysmal record to date as an underperforming and underquallifed student- and perhaps you might qualify for an extension to get a C-.

But as it stands, you will flunk since your are already a day+ late, and you trrack record is poor. By the way-are you a Hoadley student? That would explain a lot of things.

In a word: NO-I do not accept your extensuon request.

PGB Paul G Buchanan Director, New Zealand Centre for Latin American Studies (NZCLAS)

From the blog TUMEKE!

"Now Paul shouldn’t have said that, it was out of line and not fair, and certainly worth a written warning of some description from Auckland University, but seeing as the University makes over $160 million per year from foreign paying students and that the student in question is a well connected middle Eastern family with friends in high places, one can’t help but wonder if Pauls very well articulated opposition to America and America’s oil buddies in Iraq has more to do with this Character Assassination of a sacking. Funny how the University can continue to hire a climate denier like Chris de Freitas, yet one who criticizes American Foreign policy will find himself without a job for any fault."

The New Zealand Herald has a story with the headline: Palestinian link in lecturer's firing and Scoop, which says it broke the story in the first place has "testimonials" from  outraged students and former students who are voicing their support for Buchanan.

 

'His dismissal was both unjustified and undesirable. I am not writing this simply because I like the man, enjoyed his classes, or have a bizarre hatred towards international students.

His dismissal is unjustified because the email - which, yes, I have read - does not reasonably contain grounds for dismissal and because he apologised for it one day later.

It is entertaining that the apology has not received the same sort of samizdat distribution as Paul's initial email (we also have not seen the student's extension request)."

Meanwhile, Buchanan  is planning to fight his dismissal.

What do you think?  Should the University have fired Buchanan?

High School Tennis is no love match

One day you're on the team. The next day you're chosen to lead the team. As anyone who's been in that situation knows, just because you are chosen to be leader, doesn't mean that all of our co-workers will think of you as 'the leader."

It's the stuff that's made many a consultant wealthy. It reminds me when you are talking about team dysfunctionality the details often sound like high school stuff.

I've been thinking about that a lot as I've watched my 17 year old daughter transition from varsity tennis team member to Co -Captain. There are some definite bumps. Particularly with a team member who thought she should be the team captain rather than my daughter.

When Berit was chosen as co-captain of her tennis team  last spring, there was one tennis player who was visibly upset. That girl happens to be the best player on the team, and she was counting on a tradition where the best player is chosen captain.

When the team chose my daughter, they were breaking tradition. Berit is far from being the best player. She's probably one of the worst players on the varsity team. So the other girl's distress over being passed over was understandable.

From my daughter's point of view, the girl  has had plenty of time to adjust to the situation and is  now trying to usurp her authority. When the other girl  called offering to design practices ( a responsibility of the captain), Berit thanked her and declined the offer.

When  the girl  called team members to remind them to come to practice ( the job of the captain)  Berit reminded her that she had already called the girls.

And, when Berit learned that the other team member told players that she was calling to remind them about practice because Berit wasn't doing her job, Berit decided  that it was time to confront the other player.

But what about the girl?  Are her intentions as nefarious as Berit suspects? Until Berit was told that the team member was saying disparaging things, there was that bit of doubt that maybe Berit was being overly sensitive. Maybe  Berit should have welecomed the girl's overtures and  figured out a way to make her feel valued. 

What do you say to a team member who believes the wrong person was selected for the job? How do you get them on board?  And most importantly what do you do if she continues to undermine you and tries to establish an alliance with part of the team?

Being a leader is hard work--especially when you are 17 and haven't had an real training in how to manage team members who don't want ot be team players.

  When I asked her what her strategy was going to be, she said, "I'm going to deal with her just as her boss taught her to deal with the bullies at camp, " Kill her with kindess." Then she added, " I'm going to remind her that I am the captain and she's not."

Advantage Berit. 

University of Wisconsin gets a "D" On Graduation

From a purely business perspective it was a classic case of the business (The University of Wisconsin) being completely clueless regarding the needs and desires of their customers ( parents of graduates)

Parents have one expectation at graduation. When the announcer calls their child's name they expect to see that child shaking hands and receiving their diploma. Somehow it makes spending a $100,000 on tuition, room and board and in the case of Wisconsin, beer, a little more palatable.

The folks at the University of Wisconsin had a different vision of that day...lets keep this ceremony to two hours and call the graduate's names as fast as humanly possible. Instead of thinking about their customer, their focus was on time-management.

About six years ago I was hired by the higher edcuation division of PricewaterhouseCoopers to do a video on the state of higher education. It was  great project where I got to interview thought leaders at Harvard, Yale, MIT, University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University.

Of all the things discussed in that piece, it was the remarks of the president of Tufts University that have stayed with me all these years.

"Students," he said, " want to be treated as customers."

That message hasn't made its way to Madison. The complete lack of regard for their customer's needs-- the very simple act of syncronizing a child's name to the moment they receive their diploma was completely lost on the officials at the University of Wisconsin.

We didn't care what Chef Odessa Piper had to say.We didn't care about any of the speakers. We cared about our children and seeing them for 5 seconds receiving their diploma.

That was the only thing officials of the Uniersity of Wisconsin should have cared about. They failed.

The University of Wisconsin is a huge school. There are a lot of graduates. So many that there are two separate ceremonies for undergraduates.

We had the 2pm shift. For whatever reason, The University dispensed of doing things alphabetically.

Instead,as the student's make their way to the podium, they hand their name to the announcer. The way it's supposed to work is that as the announcer says the student's name, the parents, looking at the big screen used for watch sporting events, should see their child smiling, shaking hands and receiving their diploma.

Ah Best laid plans...

it didn't happen that way because the announcer didn't quite sync up with the hand shaking thing.

It was like watching Ashley Simpson trying to lipsync the wrong song.
So, as they called Noah Freed's name, he had already received his degree and was walking off the podium. His dad, who had the camera poised to snap at just the right minute--missed the Kodak moment.

Instead, a lovely young woman was shaking hands as they called Noah's name. I'm sure her parents were about as delighted as we were.

It's not good business for the people who write checks to feel robbed. As the  Associated Press reported, graduation is expensive.

"From cap and gown rentals to printed announcements to jacked-up hotel prices, pomp and circumstance doesn't come cheap these days. Some schools even charge explicit graduation fees of up to $160. While the joy of the moment often means families and students happily fork over the money, graduation weekend can wallop the wallet one last time...Still, multiply one family's graduation expenses - roughly $1,100 in Stout's case - by the hundreds of thousands of students graduating from college in the coming weeks, and you've got one very big business. Call it the instant nostalgia industry, and graduation season is its Christmas."

All I really have to say about the University of Wisconin's performance yesterday is Ba Humbug.

This is cross-posted at Blogher

Six Degrees of Blogher aka The Busines Girl and the Sanitary Pad

Some days you just feel like you've hit the jackpot. That's exactly how I feel because I found AD ACCESS ( a project at Duke University) which I found by way of  Gingajoy where I landed by way of ZeldaFest which I  visited because of Mocha Momma which I found on Blogher.

It was this ad on Gingajoy's blog that caught my attention.  The Headline Reads "Don't Be a 'Fraid-Cat, Mother,There's No Danger."  It is an ad for Modess sanitary pads circa  the 1920s. Many of us who came of age in the 1960s have very definite memories of Modess and their every wedgy sanitary belt that used to be a real pain in the butt.

"Life is so much more fun when one is not afraid. It is her happy
courage—the zest with which she welcomes every new delightful freedom—which is
the charm of the modern girl. What mother can bear to stay in the drab
shadows of middle life when such a daughter beckons back to
youth?

Youth—which will not tolerate senseless drudgery, the
slavery of old-fashioned ways. "

If you love this ad, there are about 7,000 more where this one came from.

"The Ad*Access Project, funded by the Duke Endowment "Library 2000" Fund, presents images and database information for over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955. Ad*Access concentrates on five main subject areas: Radio, Television, Transportation, Beauty and Hygiene, and World War II, providing a coherent view of a number of major campaigns and companies through images preserved in one particular advertising collection available at Duke University. The advertisements are from the J. Walter Thompson Company Competitive Advertisements Collection of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising, and Marketing History in Duke University's Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library. "

And with that I bring you another sanitary ad from the 1920's. It's headline:

"If Only I Could Tell This To Every Business Girl" 

It"In offices throughout the country-in offices all over the world-women are realizing the full value of every working day, free from problems which once retarded their progress. Kotex has not only meant new comfort and better health but it has brought a priceless mental relief.

"Are you saying you need a penis to have authority?" she asked. "Well, it helps," he deadpanned.

That exchange was part of a conversation Naomi Wolf had with Harvard professor and author Harvey Mansfield on C-Span's Book TV.The link is to the  podcast for the program, After Words---this particular interview should be available as a podcast on 3/27.

A lot of oxygen is being sucked up on Mansfield's (not his real name)book, "Manliness"  It was reviewed in the Sunday NY TIMES in which the blog, Pink  Is The New Black, "The bitchiest book review ever". His favorite excerpt from the review:

"After a section on the history of "the great explosion of manliness that took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries"(an image that gives even me, a straight man, erotic chills), it's time for Mansfield to stop preheating the oven and cook up the geese he's already got trussed and cleaned: the feminists. Remember the feminists? These would be the late Betty Friedan and the even later Simone de Beauvoir..."

Mansfield was interviewed in The New York Times Magazine by Deborah Solomon and opinions about his book are available in lots of lblogs.
According to  Technorati, as of this morning ,more than 500 blogs are either praising or scorning Mansfield's book.

Now, back to that comment about authority and penises. It came near the end of the hour when the conversation sidetracked to women and men at work.

Mansfield was saying a Manly Man looks down distainfully at women. He added, " I think they will chafe under a woman boss. Women don't inspire the same sense of authority"

Mansfield tried to explain his point that while women can act authoritatively, manly men don't see them as  having authority for the simple reason they are not men. If I'm getting his point it doesn't matter how competent, capable and hard working we are. Manly Men will never accept women in an authoritative role unless they are  manly women ( he mentioned Margaret Thatcher.)

Confused? it has to do with his definition of manly which he says,

"My quick definition is confidence in a situation of risk. A manly man has to know what he is doing."

Returning to the conversation with Wolf, Throughout the hour, Wolf attempted to refute every single point that Mansfield made. Yet, on this one, she struggled and seemed to support his point by saying,

"Women sense that men have contempt for us and think we are not as important. Women will comment that they try to make a contribution in a meeting and are ignored but when a man says the exact same thing he's recognized ( not the exact quote --I was typing as I was watching the program)"

The exchange stopped me in my tracks.Probably because it spoke a truth to me that I wish weren't true. I see it. I experience. For many years I simply wished men would grow up and get over it.

They may respect me for my talent, but what they are  really thinking is " you aren't really the boss of me."

If Mansfield is correct ( and there is a nagging part of me that believes on this he is) then despite everything we do, women can knock our heads against the wall for as long as we want...but it won't change the fundamental barrier to success in a traditional corporate environment  --men would prefer we bring them coffee then lead them.

There is a lesson in Mansfield's book. Many of us have found that trying to play in their sandbox is an excruciating experience. Because no matter how hard we work, how smart we are, how competent we are,they really don't want us there.(and there is a part of us that has realized this for a long time)

That's why there are more women starting their own businesses then men and that's why a little more than a year ago a group of women bloggers were frustrated that the men weren't recognizing and including the contribution of women bloggers.It was maddening. What was their problem?

Their problem created our opportunity --Blogher.

Note: This is cross-posted at Bogher where I am a contributing editor on Business & Careers.

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Help Ms. Jen Complete her Master's Thesis

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Feel like doing  a good deed today? Jen ,who has a blog called Black Phoebe::Ms. JEN, is working on her thesis for her master's degree and wants five minutes of your time. Here's her request:

I am currently working on my thesis for my master's degree on Moleskine to Mobile: How Creative Professionals are using the Mobile Devices.

I would love if you could take 5 mins. to fill out the following survey about your mobile usage. If you have practices and opinions that you would like to share and be on record for, please fill out your name and email and I will interview you

Take the Survey:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=557101809700

I took the survey. It does just take five minutes and I learned about some software that I need to look into --plus its motivating me to use my mobile for more creative purposes.

Opening the Johari/Nohari Window

Until yesterday I was completely oblivious to a very hot trend that seems to be making the online rounds. It's the Johari/Nohari window . The Johari focuses on positive traits. The Nohari on your weaknesses.

"A Johari window is a metaphorical tool intended to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise. Terms selected only by the participant, but not by any of their peers, are placed into the Façade quadrant, representing information about the participant of which their peers are unaware. It is then up to the participant whether or not to disclose this information.

Terms that are not selected by the participant but only by their peers are placed into the Blind Spot quadrant. These represent information of which the participant is not aware, but others are, and they can decide whether and how to inform the individual about these "blind spots"."

Like the Meyers Briggs Type Indicator, this is the kind of tool corporate teams adore.  Businesses spend tons of money to hire certified Meyers Briggs consultants to administer and analyze the results.

Forget about tapping into your budget, you just have to go to Interactive Johari and have technology do the work for you.

I found out about this trend at But wait! There's more... a blog by Canadian Leesepea who, like my friend Tyler, is a first year teacher. Coincidentally I just chatted with Tyler and will be sharing that conversation very soon.

If I understand this correctly, instead of using it for work use, the bloggers have discovered this tool and are asking readers to assess their blogging personality. I wrote about this on Blogher and heard from Divabat who shared

"I've done one - it's making the rounds on LJ.

There are a ton of traits that people see in me that I don't really notice about myself. It's been interesting."

Leesepea at But Wait! There's more... invited her readers to participate in her Johari window. When I tried to check it out I got this message.

Server Overload. Sorry, try again at a less busy time.

I guess a lot of people want to know what people really think of them. The  question I have is once you get your results ,do you take them seriously, or do you ignore what you don't like and blame it on spammers.

It's about the health Insurance, stupid

I've been struggling with the case of Ms. Michelle McCusker--the 26 year old pre kindergarten teacher who got herself fired from a Catholic School for sharing that she was pregnant and had not intention of marrying the dad.

For the past week I've tried to decide how I feel about the case. Religious rights vs. job discrimination?

On this one, I really do see both sides. I searched the blogs looking for insight and clarity...for that one post that would bring it home to me. For that post that would resonate so strongly that I could say..YES that is what I believe.

I think I found my answer.  Maybe the issue isn't as fundamental as a religious rights vs women's rights, after-all.

Maybe  it' really about practicality. The girl needs health insurance.--- It's really expensive to have a baby particularly when you are out of work and do not have health insurance.  This concept really resonated since I just got my new health insurance bill... almost $700 a month ...just for me. And, I don't have any major health issues.

I came upon this realization after reading Amy Welbourn's Open Book where she shares a time when she worked at a Catholic School that also fired an unwed pregnant teacher.

"My sense of the situation in my school is that not even the teacher in question herself really took that much issue with the letting go - and she wasn't Catholic - but what stuck in the craw was the diocese's withdrawal of her health insurance. A group of pro-lifers even went to the diocese, in the person of the Chancellor (a religious sister), and argued on the teacher's behalf. No dice. Tough. The situation was finally saved by a local pastor (priest - an old Irishman. They tend to come through.) who worked something out so she could be supported and receive health care.

Irony?

After the baby was born, she was re-hired, and taught at the school for another year. It was all very legalistic and tricky, and besides, other situations had worked themselves out. All of this before she had the good sense to get out of teaching and go into real estate, at which she has been, in the years sense, tremendously successful..."

Of course I have not personally chatted with Ms.McCusker. I do not know her motivations.

But I do understand medical bills and the need to have really good health insurance. So, if her issue is that she needs health insurance to protect the life of this unborn child, then I would be very comfortable supporting her.

And, I hope her former employer does too.

Substitute Post

My plan was to have the second installment of my Vlog today.  However, a combination of technology, life and of course time means that entry will be delayed at least 24 hours.

As to my life -- I'm moving on Saturday. 13 years in the same house and no yard sales. That's the problem with a big house. Too many places to store stuff. I have a lot of stuff that's been stored. Legos, baby beds( my youngest is 16) and file cabinets from a business that closed 10 years ago. Out of sight. Out of mind. Until you have to completely empty your house.

I had intended to use 1-800 junk to haul my stuff away but then Dean, who I hired to actually move my furniture ,asked if he could remove the junk. 

Dean has now been here three days. I  originally estimated between the attic, the basement and the garage , that  it would take 2 people about 4-6 hours to clear everything.

When I hired Dean, I made some assumptions:Dean would bring a helper. Dean would have a truck.

Dean works solo. Dean doesn't have a truck. Dean doesn't have an SUV . Dean doesn't even have a van. He uses the back of his car to haul stuff - It's kind of like a hatch back.

His routine on Day One was to fill up the car and then leave--for long periods of time. two hours to be exact.

Then he'd come back ( but how much time does it take to fill up a hatch back?) then he would leave for one or two hours- visiting the thrift shops or wherever he's taking the trash.

This was a bit disconcerting since I had agreed to pay Dean on an hourly basis. On Day Two I met with Dean to have a critical conversation. First I wanted to get a handle on how much time he had spent and how much more time it would take to complete the job.

Dean's timekeeping and mine for day one didn't jive. I thought he had put in  6 hours. He said 10.

We're now working on a flat fee.

Besides the fact that he left two windows open in the attic  overnight and somehow I found the first mouse I ever had in this house since he's been around, I am confident that by the end of the week, Dean will have the job done and he will find someone to buy my washer, dryer and 53 inch TV. The good news is that no birds or bats decided to visit through the open window. I am grateful.

So while Dean has been in the garage, I have been in my kitchen. Just me, the bubble wrap, boxes, duct tape and packing tape. Did I mention I'm not having any fun?

Since I still have 6 days to complete my task, I was determined to successfully edit my next installment of My American Office. For the first installment I had used PowerDirector 4. While it received superior ratings from the folks who do that sort of stuff, I didn't feel at one with this software and after a miserable three hours on the help line ( I did have to pay about $30.00 to make that call) , I asked for and received a refund.

Next I tried working on Microsoft Movie Maker which I liked except I couldn't figure out how to to a PIP...that's picture in a picture , sometimes referred to as an overlay and back in the day when I actually worked in TV we called them cover footage.

So after purchasing an $8 plug in which I thought would solve the problem, I finally determined that Microsoft Movie Maker wasn't as robust a software as I would like. I surrendered and purchased VideoStudio9.  I downloaded it yesterday morning... it took over an hour.

For the most part it's going great. I really am enjoying it. I just have one itty bitty problem. I can't figure out how to rearrange the order of the clips. Once I do, it should only take another hour or so and I'll be done.I am hoping that you can rearrange the order. I will be very cranky if you can't.

However, thiere is another problem that may be itty bitty but could actually be profound. I think my computer may have an allergy to VideoStudio 9. It's frozen twice since I've installed it.  When it comes to computers I have always taken the attitude that it takes three events to start a trend . So far I'm in the safety zone.

If the third freeze occurs I'll be forced to call technical support. But the thought of spending three hours talking on the phone to a techie actually makes me look longingly at my boxes, bubble wrap and tape gun.

Thoughts on Tyler

After reading one of the entries about Tyler's transition from corporate America to the classroom, Tess sent me this email. Tess has been in the education system of a major school district for over 15 years. She is an assistant principal.

I asked if I could share this on the blog. I have edited certain parts that could identify where Tess works. Like Tyler, Tess is not her real name. We are using a pseudonym so she won't lose her job.

Tess's thoughts:.

It is so difficult to read about Tyler and not think "you only THINK you know what is coming." Systems are wonderful and do work and make life a lot easier ... but ... (you knew one was coming) wait until they go change the curriculum and all of your plans are now trash. The systems, however, (I do admit) will mostly endure if they are solid. I so wish Tyler luck and I so envy him as the new teacher who can easily look at our world and see what is wrong and how it should be better. After a while it the only way I can see the problems is through the eyes of our new staff. They bring an outlook and an energy that is unmatched and when the older staff allow it to penetrate it is a wonderful thing to behold. (I specify "new" instead of young because anyone new to teaching brings that kind of energy (unless they were looking for an "easy"job).)

This year's innovations/ennervations by new staff: a revitalization of the library with contests designed to get kids reading more, an upsurge in email use among the "older" staff, new classes designed around where the kids interests bisect the staff's interest (History of our city , History through Film and Latin American Studies -- very relevant for a school that has 65% of it's population hailing from Latin America).

-- TESS

[Types of problems that seem "normal" to me(now) ... the light in my office that just periodically turns off -- and then turns on again 10 minutes later and cannot be fixed ... too many staff who need offices and not enough offices for those who need them ... too many waterbugs and mice ... and those are ones that I can admit to!]