Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction: From Abacus to iPhone

Let's ask ourselves an honest question and try to give an honest answer.

Have we increased only our level of knowledge or truly gained in wisdom?

My feeling is that we have not truly increased our level of wisdom.

Knowledge: Range of information. Wisdom:  A wise attitude or course of action.

Remember that as children we learned to count with blocks, followed by counting on our hands, and then progressed to multiplication tables, logarithms, slide rules, calculators, and so on to computers.

Human history in computing ranges from the abacus to an iPhone.

The abacus is also called a counting frame. It is a calculating tool used primarily in Asia for performing arithmetic processes. Note that the abacus was in use centuries before the adoption of the written modern numeral system and is still widely used by merchants, traders and clerks in Asia, Africa, and other places. Surprised?

The iPhone 5 developed in the Western world is a touchscreen-based smart phone developed by Apple Inc.. It is the sixth generation of the iPhone. It is amazing how much you can do with it. But there is also a limit to what you can do with it.

Recent studies have shown that multitasking in not as effective as claimed to be. If anything, it can be counterproductive. Along the same lines, if we can push back the invasion of tech gadgets (from smart phones to computers) in our daily lives during certain periods of the day, our effectiveness has proven to increase.

Think about it! It may be wise to do so. Time to put away our tech toys, including my getting away from this computer for a little while!

The Hidden Benefits of Attending Places of Worship

After a great deal of thought several years ago, I decided to call myself a Life-Work Coach instead of the conventional Work-Life Coach. My reason may or may not be obvious to the reader. I consider life more important than work, and work as only a means to achieve the life you desire.

I realize that in this particular blog I may be stepping out into an area considered very sensitive in our society - Religion. I have been stimulated to write this piece, inspired by a recent book by Tanya Marie Luhrmann, a professor of anthropology (who also has training in psychology) at Stanford and the author of "When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship With God."

Although Luhrmann's observations and study focuses on Christian Evangelical Churches, I would venture to say that the benefits can be extrapolated to all people who attend places of worship regularly every week. What is striking is the discovery that religiosity boosts the human immune system, decreases blood pressure, and adds as much as three years to a person's life. In addition, stress was significantly decreased, and the quality of a person's relationships while interacting with other people was significantly increased.

Social support obviously has a part to play in it. At the weekly meeting of small groups, the participants talked about their lives, encouraged each other in concrete ways, and also studied their sacred books. It appears that this interaction contributed directly and indirectly to better physical and mental health. Those attending religious services regularly drank less, smoked less, used fewer recreational drugs and were less sexually promiscuous than others. They also seemed to have a stronger moral and ethical compass. 

We would be very interested in your comments.

Why I Love and Respect Peter Drucker

Peter Drucker has been my management guru for the past five decades. I was thrilled a couple of years ago when I had the good fortune to visit Claremont, California, and see Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management. Drucker passed away on November 11, 2005, at the age of 95.

Two of his concepts have had a deep impact on me. One is Effectiveness and the other is Abandonment.

Drucker says: "Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things." This concept is true for individuals as well as organizations.

Abandonment (Purposeful) is a solution which leads to effectiveness. "Choosing what not to do is a decision as strategic as its opposite." Drucker exhorts managers to quickly sever projects, policies and processes that had outlived their usefulness.

These concepts are the linchpins of excellent time management.

Any wonder why I love and respect Peter Drucker?

Respect for Various Professions in the United States

I have always been curious as to the changing degrees of respect Americans give to various professions in these United States. A typical decade will also show how the hierarchy of respect changes for various professions. Although various surveys exist, what is shown below is based on a recent Angus Reid Public Opinion poll. Some results took me by surprise! I was expecting Priests / Ministers to be No. 1!

Most respected professions are:

Farmers (93%)
Nurses (92%)
Doctors (90%)
Veterinarians (89%)
Teachers (88%)
Engineers (87%)
Scientists (87%)
Dentists (86%)
Military Officers (85%)
Architects (83%)
Police Officers (81%)
Priests / Ministers (76%)

Least respected professions are:

Business Executives (48%)
Lawyers (45%)
Car Salesmen (30%)
Politicians (20%)

What do you think? Please send us your comments and opinions.

Delay in Hiring Qualified and Proven Job Candidates

A new trend seems to have emerged in hiring qualified candidates. Companies have conducted up to seven interviews with a candidate, but have refused to make a firm offer! How sad!

The only reason I see why companies are not willing to hire permanent employees is because they fear that the economy is not as strong as it appears, and they do not want to extend full benefits.

As a career coach, the only advice I can give is that you should not place all your eggs in one basket. Continue to give interviews at other companies, but follow up patiently in the company you are interested in. Stay in the running with a cheerful and optimistic attitude and perhaps after five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten interviews, they will admire your positive attitude and offer you the job. 

MBAs Rate Top Ten Companies for Employment

Universum Communications Inc. recently surveyed MBA graduates to rate employers in terms of top ten companies they would like to work for and here are the results:

1.      Google
2.      McKinsey & Company
3.      Apple
4.      Bain  & Company
5.      The Boston Consulting Group
6.      Amazon
7.      Goldman Sachs
8.      Facebook
9       Nike
10.   J. P. Morgan

What Mr. Fred Rogers Can Teach Career Coaches

Ten years ago, Fred Rogers, an educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, and television host, died on February 27, 2003, of stomach cancer at age 74. He was the creator and host of the enduring show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for more than three decades. In every show he let the children know that he loved them for who they are.

This show was my two sons' (Norman and Dale, presently ages 37 and 33) favorite show in the eighties. My oldest son, Norman, around age two or three, refused to call me Dad for quite a while, and every evening when I came home, called me "Mr. Rogers" (something I secretly cherished!). I don't know to this day why he said that. My wife Elizabeth thinks it was because I was kind and gentle with them, and spent a lot of time with them.

Perhaps when a client comes to see a career coach, that person's ego has been badly bruised by the world. In many ways, the client is looking for unconditional love from the coach. Using this hypothesis, I want to share with you some characteristics of Mr. Rogers which we may want to emulate.

These are gentleness, sweetness, sincerity, a voice which seems to lower the anxiety
level, consistency, unconditional love, focused attention (listening), and providing a safe
haven during a counseling session.

Mr. Rogers' philosophy of the show can be summarized as follows:

- Discover something new.
- Listen to people's stories.
- Sing.
- Take your time.
- Be generous.
- Imagine.
- Feed the fish! (Don't forget the little acts of kindness!)

He encouraged the children and us to be ourselves, understand love, the challenges of inner discipline, and that we are all neighbors.

Let's pay a tribute to this great man by integrating some of Mr. Rogers' values and philosophies like non-judgmental listening and focused attention in our practice of career coaching and career counseling, and all of us, coaches and clients, will benefit from them.

Less Demand for Lawyers

In CareerQuest's Newsletter of May 2012, we had an article about demand for new lawyers. You can read it in the Newsletter Archive on CareerQuest's website, www.careerquestcentral.com.

Ethan Bronner, a journalist has written a pointed article in The New York Times of Thursday, January 31, 2013. It's title is Law Schools' Applications Fall As Costs Rise and Jobs Are Cut. Bronner goes on to say, and I quote:

"Law School applications are headed for a 30-year low, reflecting increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing student debt and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon graduation.

As of this month, there were 30,000 applicants to law schools for the fall, a 20 percent decrease from the same time last year and a 38 percent decline from 2010, according to the Law School Admission Council. Of some 200 law schools nationwide, only 4 have seen increases in applications this year. In 2004 there were 100,000 applicants to law schools; this year there are likely to be 54,000." 

CareerQuest could not agree more with the contents of this article; it is worth reading.  

Best Companies to Work for in Natural Science

Universum Communications Inc. recently asked 60,000 undergraduate students on the brink of graduation to provide employer rankings in terms of companies they would like to work for in Natural Science. The top ten are:

1.    National Institutes of Health
2.    Mayo Clinic
3.    Centers for Disease Control
4.    American Cancer Society
5.    Walt Disney
6.    Peace Corps
7.    Environmental Protection Agency
8.    Google
9.    National Aeronautics and Space Administration
10.  Apple

Well, in a future blog we will let you know the top 10 companies favored by MBAs. Stay tuned!

Best Companies to Work for in Information Technology

Universum Communications Inc. recently asked 60,000 undergraduate students on the brink of graduation to provide employer rankings in terms of companies they would like to work for in Information Technology. The top ten are:

1.   Google
2.   Microsoft
3.   Apple
4.   Facebook
5.   IBM
6.   Amazon
7.   Intel
8.   Electronic Arts
9.   Walt Disney
10. Sony

Well, in a future blog we will let you know the top 10 in Natural Science. Stay tuned! 

Best Companies to Work for in Engineering

Universum Communications Inc. recently asked 60,000 undergraduate students on the brink of graduation to provide employer rankings in terms of companies they would like to work for in Engineering. The top ten are:

1.   NASA
2.   Boeing
3.   Lockheed Martin Corporation
4.   Google
5.   General Electric
6.   Apple
7.   U.S. Department of Energy
8.   Exxon Mobil Corporation
9.   Walt Disney Company
10. BMW

In future blogs we will let you know the top 10 in Information Technology, and Natural Science. Stay tuned!

Is a Law School Worth the Money?

I had expressed in my May 2012 CareerQuest newsletter (which can be seen in the Newsletter Archive on my website, www.careerquestcentral.com ), that you need to tread cautiously before you choose law as your profession. I had made eight different key points for evaluation.

Here is a differing viewpoint and I respectfully present it here. In The New York Times of Thursday, November 29, 2012, Lawrence E. Mitchell, Dean of Case Western Reserve University's Law School, defends law education and its usefulness in society. His central thought is: Stop the relentless attacks. There are jobs, and they pay well.

You be the judge in your very own case.    

Best Companies to Work for in Business

Universum Communications Inc. recently asked 60,000 undergraduate students on the brink of graduation to provide employer rankings in terms of companies they would like to work for in Business. The top ten are:

1.   Google
2.   Apple
3.   Walt Disney Company
4.   Ernst & Young
5.   Deloitte
6.   J. P. Morgan
7.   Nike
8.   PwC
9.   Goldman Sachs
10. KPMG LLP

In future blogs we will let you know the top 10 in Engineering, Information Technology, and Natural Science. Stay tuned!   

Wishing You a Happy Holiday Season!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Proud Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year from CareerQuest!

Blessed Beyond Measure

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or the pang of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can worship without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married, you are very rare, even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you can hold someone's hand, hug them or even touch them on the shoulder, you are blessed because in a world that is dying from lack of touch, you can offer a healing embrace.

If you can read this message, you have just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and furthermore, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

Have a pleasant and productive day, count your blessings (not just at Thanksgiving but all year long), and pass this along to remind everyone else how blessed we all are.


Author unknown (Text slightly modified by Don Sutaria)

Angels in America

A True Thanksgiving Story—1963

On Thanksgiving Day, 1963, an international student was in an empty dormitory room at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas. He had arrived just a few weeks ago from Bombay, India, to pursue a Master's degree in Engineering. He had no idea that the USA practically shuts down at Thanksgiving, especially a town of 2,000 people. There is absolutely no place to eat, even if you have the money. Even the Student Union with its vending machines was locked up. He had stayed behind to get an early start on his thesis.

The only thing he had in his room were two small boxes of individual portion cereals he had saved from his breakfast about a week ago, since meals were provided in the dormitory.

What a dilemma! The campus was deserted. If hunger would make him feel faint, what should he do? Knock on the doors of local houses and beg for food?!

Lo and behold, about 9:00 a.m. there was a knock on his door. A local college senior, John Buzenberg, was going from dormitory to dormitory, knocking on every door to ensure that the stranded international students had a place to eat the Thanksgiving turkey. When he had finished, he had gathered up no less than 12 students from Nigeria, Taiwan, China, India, Pakistan, Holland, and several other countries. He would not take no for an answer. At about 12:00 noon he had brought his family station wagon several times and taken all the invitees to his home in the same town, less than five miles away.

A big Thanksgiving feast was spread at long makeshift tables to accommodate about 20 family members and 12 or so students. The festivities went on until 8:00 p.m. when John drove all the students back to their dormitory rooms.

Do you believe in Angels, God's Secret Messengers? I for one, do! In case you haven't guessed as yet, the name of the stranded student was Don Sutaria.

Pass It On.

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A True Thanksgiving Story—1998

Dear reader, after the 1963 Thanksgiving story fast forward to 1998, Thanksgiving eve.

My son Dale, who was 19 at that time, was studying at Parsons School of Design (The New School University) in New York City. He asked his mom Elizabeth and I if he could bring a guest home for Thanksgiving dinner. His mom and I said yes without hesitation. He explained to us immediately afterwards that his name was Jimmy Smith, and he was a homeless alcoholic. Dale had befriended him because he slept on the steps of his dormitory all year round.

Our answer was still yes. I am sure Dale was testing mom and dad to see if they were going to live up to their set of values. Our motivation was also a message given by a great man from Galilee many years ago, which I do not fully claim to understand or always follow: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers, you did for me."

Dale and Jimmy arrived from New York on a bus and we picked them up in Union, New Jersey, on Thanksgiving eve. There were no major surprises. Jimmy was reasonably sober but had a faint odor of alcohol in his breath. He probably had not shaved, showered or washed his clothes for a number of days. After giving him a good Thanksgiving meal to eat, the next order of priority was a shower and clean clothes.

We had set up his bed on the convertible sofa in our living room. He was thrilled by the quietness and peace in the suburbs where he did not have to sleep in the street, clutching his belongings. He claimed that his father used to be a police officer in Madison, New Jersey. He also had a twin brother with some mental disabilities, who was living as a homeless person in New York. He spent the entire evening talking with us, until very late at night, conveying his gratitude.

He had forgotten what it was like to sleep in a normal bed. When he woke up the next morning, he said he slept like he had not slept in years. He wanted to return to New York on Thanksgiving day, so my wife drove him back. A few days later we got a report from our son Dale that Jimmy had sobered up for good, straightened out his life, got a job in road construction, and with the help of a social worker, was living in a studio apartment on his own, in Manhattan.

I don't think there is such a big deal to this true story. An act of kindness done to me in 1963 was just passed on to another human being in 1998, coincidentally enough at Thanksgiving!

Holiday Job Hunting

Lest we forget, please do not slow down in your job hunt and networking during this holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year; if anything, accelerate your search!

Note that other job hunters have temporarily dropped out of the race for two months which gives you a statistical advantage to win or bag your trophy—a desirable job.

Contrary to what the world thinks, my opinion, which bears out in practice, is this: Executives in positions with power to hire you are generally traveling less during this period. A holiday spirit prevails, and there is a greater mood of courtesy and charity. Managers have more time to talk with you and are relaxed. Budgets are also being prepared for the upcoming new year, which might enable them to slot you in.

The seeds you have sown in November and December may bear fruit in January. You may surprise yourself by being delivered a belated holiday gift—a new job—in the size, style and color you always wanted!

Activity versus Accomplishment

                                   Activity versus Accomplishment

During the early part of my career, I had a boss, Bob, who kept a thread-bare unimpressive office but was very effective in getting work done. At the same time he maintained good human relationships, even in a factory with a very strong union. I admired him a lot. One day I asked him the secret of his success.

Here is what he said to me, "Don, never confuse Activity for Accomplishment. Also, Under Promise and Over Deliver." Wow, what a great philosophy! I have tried to think about it frequently over the years and tried to follow the dictum as best as I could.

Take a moment to think about your own job. Various studies have shown that on the average a white-collared worker is effective about 55% of the time. The most effective ones reach about 70%. What it translates to is that there is always a better way of doing something and it is our responsibility to find it. This was also the motto of the inventor, Thomas Alva Edison.

Unfortunately, in many unenlightened companies, face time is rewarded, instead of accomplishments. This is, of course, a carryover from the industrial age mentality of production lines.

Perhaps the legal profession is most guilty of perpetuating the activity concept by resorting to billing by the hour. However, this concept is slowly changing by clients' insistence on fixed-price contracts.

Visibility of an individual may cause an illusion of high accomplishments. Nothing can be further from the truth. Time and again, surveys of high level managers have shown that individuals who are seen in the office a lot, including early mornings, late evenings and weekends are considered highly dependable, reliable, committed and dedicated, regardless of true and meaningful accomplishments! Face time has been confused for effectiveness, a sad state of affairs.

If you want to increase your effectiveness, you may have to learn to limit the number and duration of meetings, reduce unnecessary reading by selecting only the relevant portions, and even write faster for the first complete draft. If this makes sense to you try to take a first humble step. 

Tyranny of the Urgent!

Perhaps you have heard the saying: If you need something important to be done, give it to the busiest person and they will get it done! There is a lot of truth in it.

Have you ever wished for a thirty-hour day? Surely this extra time would relieve the tremendous pressure under which we live. Our lives leave a trail of unfinished tasks. Unanswered letters, unvisited friends, unwritten articles, and unread books haunt quiet moments when we stop to evaluate. We desperately need relief.

But would a thirty-hour day really solve the problem? Wouldn’t we soon be just as frustrated as we are now with our twenty-four hour allotment? A mother’s work is never finished, and neither is that of any manager, student, teacher, clergy, counselor, or anyone else we know. Nor will the passage of time help us catch up. Children grow in number and age to require more of our time. Greater experience brings more exacting assignments. So we find ourselves working more and enjoying it less.

When we stop to evaluate, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. Hard work does not hurt us. We all know what it is to go full speed for long hours, totally involved in an important task. The resulting weariness is matched by a sense of achievement and joy. Not hard work, but doubt and misgiving produce anxiety as we review a month or year and become oppressed by the pile of unfinished tasks. We sense demands have driven us onto the reef of frustration. We confess, quite apart from our sins, “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.”

Several years ago an experienced manager said to me, “Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.” He didn’t realize how hard his maxim hit. It often returns to haunt and rebuke me by raising the critical problem of priorities.

We live in constant tension between the urgent and the important. The problem is that the important task rarely must be done today, or even this week. The urgent task calls for instant action – endless demands pressure every hour and day.

A person’s home is no longer a castle; it is no longer a place away from urgent tasks because the cellphone, home telephone, and the computer breach the walls with imperious demands. The momentary appeal of these tasks seems irresistible and important, and they devour our energy. But in the light of time’s perspective their deceptive prominence fades; with a sense of loss we recall the important tasks pushed aside. We realize we’ve become slaves to the “tyranny of the urgent.”


( Concepts from the books Tyranny of the Urgent and Freedom from Tyranny of the Urgent by Dr. Charles E. Hummel.)

Strange Interview Questions Demand Strange Answers

I have been noticing a peculiar trend in the interview process since 9/11/2001. Candidates are being asked weird and wacky questions. These are not parlor games; the ulterior motive is to gain clues to your personality. They are designed to see how you demonstrate courage under fire or grace under pressure. Try to answer these six sample questions:
     1.  If you were reborn, what animal would you like to be?
     2.  What would you like to see in your obituary?
     3.  What is your philosophy of life?
     4.  Which person do you admire most?
     5.  If you just won a $20 million lottery, what would you do with your life?
     6.  Is your Mom or Dad your favorite?
There are no right or wrong answers. Be careful in answering questions related to your beliefs on religion, politics, sex and money.

[ Want to explore this topic further? Then look in Chapter 17 in my book: Career And Life Counseling From The Heart, in which you will find three dozen strange interview questions. Buy the Book. ]