There must be a better way!

Bearing in mind how much bad publicity Bankers and certain Newspaper Press are getting at the moment, it isn’t surprising that all of a sudden these two industries have become dirty words in this country. Whether we are talking about bonuses or excessive risk taking; both have become mired in controversy.

Just this week the banking industry has been hit by yet another big scandal, this time involving Barclays and the fixing of the LIBOR rates. I’m sure Barclays won’t be the only banks who get into hot water over this. In fact I’m willing to predict that this may go all the way up the chain of command to the Bank of England and may lead to resignations in Parliament itself.  

At the same time the practices of certain sections of our press have come into question. Their total disregard for the human being they are writing about is in my opinion immoral. When did it become ok to forsake everything for the latest scoop?

Currently all the focus is on these two industries, but I’m willing to bet that what we are currently seeing is just the tip of a very large iceberg and I’m sure that the very same practices are happening length and breath of this country in companies of all shapes and sizes. .

Before we can see lasting changes as those I’m about to propose, we will need to see a seismic shift in the thinking of every company MD/Owner. (Personally I can’t see that happening any time soon but I’m ever the optimist.)

So what is going wrong and more importantly how do we correct it?

When looking to resolve issues, my philosophy is very simple, look at the route cause and then try to plot a course to the ideal solution. In the two cases highlighted the issues seem to be threefold. 1. under trained staff. 2 Lack of leadership in middle management. 3 An insatiable appetite of the MD/Owner for profits.

There is nothing wrong with making profit, in fact that is the whole reason for being in business in the first place, but at what cost?

For a few years I worked at a large corporation and during that time, I was fortunate enough to work my way up to bottom run of the middle management ladder and the following are from my personal experience.

Staff Training.

My first job for this corporation was inbound telesales. We were taught product knowledge for a couple of weeks. Then we were shown to our desks, told our targets and then warned of the consequences of not hitting them (I’m making this sound a lot more draconian than it actually was, in fact it was very subtle but the reality was as described). We had a vast array of product portfolio and to fully understand all the products and services we sold should have taken at least three months to train (But who has that kind of budget to waste on new recruits right?) During our initial two week induction we were given only half a day of actual sales techniques training. Bearing in mind we were expected to sell products we had very little knowledge off, with little to no sales skills, is it any wonder that some resorted to unethical selling practices simply to keep their jobs? (This practice was a lot more widespread than the management would ever care to admit). I wasn’t prepared to go down this route and spent a lot of my spare time reading books, listening to tapes and checking the web for ways to improve my sales techniques. It wasn’t long before my approach made me one of the top sales people in our sector. Could you imagine if everyone had had my training? How many more units would they have sold? How much more profit would the company have made? How much more satisfied customers would they now have?

Could this be what is happening at these organisations? The frontline staff have had very little or no training, unachievable targets and the threat of the sack if they fail. Surely targets should only be set based on the individuals ability to achieve them, if you want to achieve more, then the simply answer must be to train more.

Management Training.

When I was first promoted to the position of a manager the same cycle was repeated but this time the consequences of failure were even more draconian. I was given a team of individuals to manage, given my run rates and told where to sit. That was all the training I got! I was expected to learn all the different company procedures in my own time. It soon became apparent to everyone in the office that I was out of my depth, but once again I decided to learn all of these processes in my own time and thus was able to manage one of the best teams in the organisation. My success was based on actual sales training, and regular coaching. This got me into hot water on a number of occasions as I was missing one of my targeted run rates but as I pointed out to my then very understanding  manager (Alas he was soon to move on) that his bonus depended on the units we sold and not on this particular run rate. The problem most frontline manager’s face is that they are responsible to manage teams who have little to no sales knowledge and they themselves have little to no management training. With the odds so heavily stacked against them is it any wonder that some may choose to look the other way when an individual/s in their team is/are achieving their results fraudulently? Wouldn’t it be a lot similar if managers were actually trained to do the job that they were asked to do? Could you imagine how much extra revenue you could achieve?

Middle Management Training.

I was only in this post for a short time before I left to pursue my new career. However, I can tell you that this was probably the most job I have ever done. My bonus depended on managers who couldn’t manage and on sales teams who couldn’t sell! On top of this the pressure from upon high to ensure success was unbearable. Maybe given time I would have learnt new skills to help me achieve my targets, but as I say I wasn’t there long enough. However before I left I saw first hand how little regard my peers had for their teams or each other. Office politics was the order of the day. Again I’m sure this stems from a lack of knowledge of what was expected of them in their role. (Why spend time doing your job when you can spend just as much time getting a colleague into deep dodo?) It was very evident that there were only two real styles of managing at this level which were both fear and intimidation or overly friendly. Surely a few weeks of leadership training would have resulted in increased productivity and thus greater profits  

MD/Owners.

The buck must stop here! The vision, direction, and the company ethos most come from the very top. Surely it’s very simple, invest in your entire workforce and the rewards will be increased productivity, increased profits and greater customer satisfaction. However if your only concern is the bottom line and you have little or no regard for your employees or your customers then be prepared to answer awkward question ala Bob Diamond or Rupert Murdock. 

Ammo

Nothing is ever as simple as black or white!

Nothing is ever as clear cut as they first appear. Take for example a Low-Carb diet. I thought this was the answer to all my fat loss problems; but then as I started to research it more and more, I slowly start to realise that that’s only a small fraction of the overall picture.

So let’s take a look at some of the obvious myths about health that are out there at the moment.

·         Cholesterol is bad for you. Not quite, it really depends on your numbers.

·         Fat makes you fat. Well, not quite, it depends on the kind of fat you’re talking about.

·         Eat five servings of fruit everyday. Not really, everything in moderation.

·         Everything in moderation. Define moderation?

·         Drink 8 glasses of water everyday. Well, that depends on a number of factors.

·         Rice & Pasta should be staples in your diet. Depends on what your blood sugar numbers are.

·         Limit your intake of red meat. Limit it from what to what?

·         A calorie is a calorie. Well not quite, it depends on where that calorie is from and what it doesn’t to your body.

·         To lose weight just exercise more and eat less. Has that worked for you so far?

I’m sure there are a ton of other such statements out there that we readily accept as fact. My advise to you is question everything! Don’t forget there was a time what we thought the world was flat and some tribes used to worship the Sun. sounds ridiculous now but at the time to suggest otherwise was heresy.  

Let me try to illustrate to you what I mean about nothing is ever black or white.

A few years ago we wanted to get a new fitted kitchen. My wife and I visited a number of showrooms and eventually chose the design of the kitchen we both liked. The next part was to get the kitchen work tops and again after much deliberation we chose a style and material we both like. The last part was a bit tricky and that was the style, design and material of the doors. We were on a limited budget and the doors we’d seen varied in cost depending on the material used. We had three options; Medium-density fibreboard or MDF for short which was the cheapest. Vinyl wrap which was a cheap wood with a thin layer of a more expensive wood veneer wrapped around it, this was mid priced. Real wood was the most expensive. However, when we started to look at the various products, it soon became abundantly clear that some MDF doors were far more expensive than real wood! It wasn’t as clear cut as we had first assumed.

We finally opted for a mid range Vinyl wrap and are very happy with it. However, I hope that just illustrates my point that you cannot simply take things on face value.

What I’m discovering is only the very basics of the overall picture. And the more I learnt the less I seem to know, but that’s not a bad thing because as far as I’m concerned is how we learn and grow.

So over the next few days I’ll give you my thoughts on all the above health statements I’ve mentioned. I’m off for a pie and a pint!

Ammo

Health and Nutrition

Fourteen years ago I gained a few pounds and ever since I’ve been on a quest to lose that weight, very unsuccessfully I might add. So unsuccessful was this quest that I actually gained an extra few stones instead of losing the few pounds that I initially gained. (For my American friends 14 pounds equals 1 stone) I’ve been on every diet known to man/woman, you name it, and I’ve tried it. Every fad going under the sun at some point has had a friend called Ammo.  

My problem has been that initially success of these diets has not resulted in sustained long term weight loss. (When I say long term, I mean past the initial first few months).

Then last September I thought I’d cracked it when I stumbled upon Gary Taubes’ book “Why we get Fat”. In the book he totally debunks the myth that to lose weight all you need to do is diet and exercise. Although the book did more to further my knowledge on the reasons why I wasn’t losing any weight, there were still unanswered questions.

Losing weight is one thing, but does it mean you’re healthier?

Are thin people any healthier than their overweight counterparts?

My overall goal over the past few years has been to lose weight, but of late I’m not sure that really matters, what I really want is perfect health, if there is such a thing. (This latter quest has led me to some very interesting research and over the next few blogs I’d like to share that with you.)

Trawling the net for answers is quite a difficult task, especially when you only have a very vague idea of what it is you’re actually looking for. However the upside is that you do get to find out interesting information that somehow is all connected but at the time you just don’t know how.

One of the most important discoveries I’ve made is that overall health has more to do with nutrition and less to do chance.

In their book “Naked Calories” by Jayson & Mira Carlton; go to great lengths to explain the relationship between micronutrients and real health. The book goes on to pose an interesting question; could obesity be the result of malnutrition? (I’d never thought of anyone in the developed world as been affected by malnutrition.) Also could this malnutrition be the cause of some of the most debilitating diseases that are so common in today’s society. Diseases like Alzheimer’s, Cancer, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, and Arthritis to name but a few. Mira herself suffered from Osteoporosis and had the bone density of an 80 year old woman. Thankfully she was able to reverse this with good nutrition as well as additional vitamins and minerals.

Could this be true?

Is overall health as simple as eating the right micronutrients?  

What are the right micronutrients?

These are some of the questions that I’ll try to answer over the next few blogs. But I must warn you, I am no Doctor, I am no nutritionist, and I am no health guru. I’m just a simple shopkeeper who is looking to improve his own health and in so doing has come across information that is sadly lacking in the general domain. To be honest I was totally ignorant of all this until I started to seek answers for myself, and I’ve only just barely started to scratch the surface.

So if you’re interested then please look out for my next few blogs and I’ll try my best to write in words the information that is swirling around in my head.

Ammo

30th Dish Yangnyeom Tongdak from South Korea

We called it KFC, Korean Fried Chicken!

This was a great way to finish my challenge, an easy recipe that all the family loved. The hardest thing I found was getting all the ingredients together but once I had all that the rest was easy. 

Ingredients (for 3-4 servings):

3 pounds (about 1.5 kg) of chicken chunks,

salt,

ground black pepper,

potato starch powder,

flour,

sweet rice flour,

egg,

baking soda,

canola oil (or vegetable oil),

garlic,

ketchup, 

hot pepper paste,

rice syrup,

apple vinegar.

Directions:

Rinse chunks of chicken in cold water. Drain.
Add 1 ts ground black pepper and 1 ts kosher salt.

Add ½ cup potato starch powder, ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup sweet rice flour, 1 ts baking soda, and 1 egg.

Mix well by hand and completely coat the chicken.

Put 6-7 cups of canola oil in a wok or frying pan and heat it up.

After it’s heated for about 7-8 minutes, test if the oil is ready by dipping a sample chunk of chicken into the oil. If the oil bubbles, it’s the right temperature to start frying.

Fry the chicken chunks for 10 minutes over high heat.

Take them out of the oil and shake them off in a strainer. Let them sit for a few minutes.

Fry them again for another 10 minutes until all pieces look golden brown and are crunchy outside.
*tip: If your skillet is not large enough to fry all the chicken at once, divide it into batches like I do in the video.

While you are frying, you can make the sauce:

Put 1 tbs canola oil and 4 cloves of minced garlic into a heated pan,

Add 1/3 cup tomato ketchup, 1/3 cup rice syrup, ¼ cup hot pepper paste, 1 tbs apple vinegar and simmer the mixture for about about 7 minutes. Keep your heat low and be sure not to burn the sauce.

Turn off the heat and wait until the chicken is done.

Chicken is done? Then coat your chicken with the sauce:

Reheat the sauce.

Put the freshly fried chicken into the sauce and gently mix it up with a wooden spoon.

Sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds over top and serve hot or warm.

The only negative I have about this is that the hot oil splashes everywhere and there’s a lot of mess to clean up afterwards. But that’s a very small price to pay for such a delicious dish. 

We gave it 10 out of 10. (I know I was there’s no such thing as perfect but trust me this comes pretty close.)

Ammo