Mysteries of human behaviour

I've just returned from an interesting trip to Sept Isles and tour of the Quebec North Shore. Sept Isles is on a large circular bay protected by seven islands (surprisingly) and is a young, prosperous industrial town. Quite unremarkable as a tourist destination.

But it has one characteristic that seems to be entirely unique to the population of Sept Isles. The town has two very popular Tim Horton's coffee shops and strangers cannot help but notice that absolutely everyone takes their coffee in the familiar "roll-up-the rim" paper cup with a plastic straw! They attempt logical explanations that it keeps the coffee from spilling out the flip top opening while driving, but there is really no explanation for it becoming unique to Sept Isles.

It seems to me a useful reminder that human behaviour cannot always be explained, predicted, understood or managed. Just accept it and work with it. Like the counter staff at Tim Horton's in Sept Isles - just punch a hole in the top and give them a straw.

The relentless pursuit of knowledge

It's not trivial. One thought or idea leads to another.

I mentioned Dale Carnegie's original successful book written in 1936 and wondered if he was related to the famous American industrialist named Carnegie. Maybe he was just a lazy rich kid with the time to philosophize and write about "winning friends and influencing people". How to find out? I thought of Wikipedia, partly inspired by a recent article on Wikinomics in Canadian Business by Don Tapscott, Canadian philospher,writer and commentator on technology trends.

So I searched Google (of course) to find the Wikipedia entry and learned the following, plus a bonus marketing tip!:

Born in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, Carnegie was a poor farmer's boy, the second son of James William Carnagey and Amanda Elizabeth Harbison.[1] In his teens, though still having to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk his parents' cows, he managed to get educated at the State Teacher's College in Warrensburg. His first job after college was selling correspondence courses to ranchers; then he moved on to selling bacon, soap and lard for Armour & Company. He was successful to the point of making his sales territory, southern Omaha, the national leader for the firm.[citation needed]
Perhaps one of Carnegie’s most successful marketing moves was to change the spelling of his last name from “Carnegey” to Carnegie, at a time when Andrew Carnegie was a widely revered and recognized name.

More fascinating facts, or useless trivia. You decide.

Summertime

Two long summer weekends and two short weeks every year at the end of June. (Unique to Québec?) Followed by the so-called "construction holiday" where almost everyone leaves for the last two weeks of July. Hard to be productive with clients or any other business partners during this period.

Should be a good time for blogging, but other summer attractions have more appeal. All of which is to admit I don't have much new to say.

Some more progress on summer reading and my reviews for your consideration:

• Crime and Punishment, by Dostoevsky. A classic on my "must read" list. Written in the Russia of the 186o's and considered the original psychological murder mystery. Intriguing and very different from the modern murder mystery as it is told primarily from the point of view of the murderer.
• How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie. One of the originals (consider also Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill.) written in the 1930's and still worth a read. Not so serious or so slick as the current crop of self-help books that are so effectively mass marketed. Adds some perspective to the basic skills required to be effective in working with other people.

I've also agreed to teach two summer courses in Financial Management at Concordia so I'm reviewing the current textbook, "Principles of Corporate Finance" by Gitman and Hennessey. The principles haven't changed in the thirty years since my MBA and the first time I taught the course, but the text is well done and covers the elementary to the advanced topics.

Happy summer reading on your own list.