Blogs

There is an upside to rising oil prices. People are thinking about conservation (I'm writing a story this month about Pat Egan of Select Security buying 13 new fuel efficient trucks that get double the gas mileage of his previous vehicles); they're using public transportation, and best of all, they're even riding bikes. I was listening to an NPR story yesterday about efforts in Portland, Oregon to expand the network of bike paths/lanes and making biking to work safer, and more convenient. Click here to listen to the story. Six percent of Portland residents commute to work and the number of bikers has doubled since 2001, this story said. This is nice, you say, but what does this have to do with security? Well I'm wondering if any of you are biking to work? Encouraging your employees to bike? Supporting efforts in your community to build bike paths or set aside bike lanes? In Portland, authorities said they're emulating the bike-friendly culture found in many European cities. American cities and employers could definitely take a cue from them on this. All new employees at Axis Communications are given a bike. (At least at their Lund, Sweden HQ; not sure if the employees in Chelmsford, Mass., get bikes as well?) I was in Lund and Copenhagen last year for an Axis event and I was struck by the number of people—old and young—riding bikes at all hours. In both cities, bikes, cars and pedestrians all coexisted effortlessly. (see photo above) It's healthy, it's green, and there's another benefit to this pro-biking culture: I didn't see anyone in Lund or Copenhagen who was overweight.

I'm waiting to hear back from the press person at the Chicago Fire Protection Bureau about the eight fire inspectors who are in deep trouble for working on weekends. Here's a Chicago Tribune story , but it doesn't give much detail. Seems these inspectors were coming in on weekends to test sprinkler systems in several of this city's big buildings. They were paid by building owners to do this, that report said, instead of by the fire department. (The report does not say how much they were paid.) Building owners were doing this because it's more convenient for them. Apparently, testing involves taking the water pressure away from the building, and that's something owners want to avoid during the work week.

Want to inspire your employees to sell more security systems? Make more killer business deals? According to this Boston Globe story , upping your charisma quotient could help. What makes a person charismatic? Yale professor Joseph Roach said it’s the "effortless embodiment of contradictory qualities simultaneously: strength and vulnerability, innocence and experience, and singularity and typicality among them." The story says people like Oprah Winfrey; Abraham Lincoln, Lady Diana, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama have got it. OK, so how do you become more charismatic? Well, the Globe story is long on observation and short on instruction, but it does include a consultant’s ideas on how to convey strength and warmth, which he says is key: "Strength is conveyed primarily with posture and gestures … Good, erect posture is strong. Holding one's hands palms up and facing away is weak, as are ‘self-comforting’ gestures, like rubbing one's arm. Warmth is conveyed mostly by a genuine smile (in which the eye muscles smile in addition to the mouth muscles); but one must not smile in a way that undermines strength.” Got it? Palms down, smile, no arm rubbing. Let me know how it works.

Is this Tennessee alarm company engaging in deceptive sales tactics? Can you tell who the alarm company is? "The Alarm Company"--that's their name--of Cordova, Tenn., says they're not trying to make anyone think that they're ADT when they sell their wares door-to-door, according to this story A sales rep from The Alarm Company said he knocks on doors that have ADT signs out front, and uses this sales pitch: "We're with The Alarm Company. We saw your ADT sign and decided to stop by to offer you an upgrade to your coverage that will protect your windows." The sales rep says people have been confused before, but he's not trying to confuse them. You see, he doesn't tell customers that he's from ADT; he tells people he's from The Alarm Company. Does this guy's sales pitch remind anyone else of Abbott & Costello's "Who's on first?" routine? Here's a reminder of how that went: This is not the first time there have been complaints about The Alarm Company. The Mid South Better Business Bureau lists the company as unsatisfactory. I blogged about this company, which is owned by Tom Brady, on May 2 when a local TV station pulled a Mike Wallace on them. ADT says it's looking into the complaints. Meanwhile, the Abbott and Costello sales guy told The Tuskegee News: "The hardest thing about my job right now is gaining somebody's trust."