Geoffrey James
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Author, Filmmaker, and Entrepreneur. Founder of Sorcerer.Net
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Articles by Geoffrey James
5 Things to Do Before You Inherit Your Parent’s House
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | RadioPublic | Stitcher | RSS The great wealth transfer of trillions of dollars in assets — approximately $72.6 trillion over the next 20 years — has begun. Among those assets are inherited properties, but it’s tough to deal with the baggage that comes with an inherited house. Pam Krueger from Wealthramp is back to go over essential questions to ask when you inherit a house.
The Top 10 Places Americans Are Traveling to This Summer
Trying to avoid other tourists, or hoping to jump on the same flight as them? Either way, we have the list you need. Google released a ranking of the most searched-for destinations on Google Flights by U.S. travelers booking trips between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2024. Take a guess at which locales ranked highest, and read on to see if you’re right. London is one of Europe’s greenest cities, with about 3,000 parks and other green spaces. Outside or inside, there’s plenty to do.
The right to be left alone
People on the Internet spend a lot of time talking about rights. Reading some of the more active social media sites can set your head swimming with discussions about women’s rights, gay rights, digital rights, privacy rights and whole other host of uses and abuses of the term “rights”. Me, I’ll settle for being left alone. I don’t want to build some kind of masculine utopia. I don’t want to see a white picket fence out the front of every house.
Calgary Surge to host Edmonton Stingers with spot in championship weekend on the line
The Calgary Surge (-175) will host the Edmonton Stingers (+125) in the western conference semi-final tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET/7:00 local at the WinSport Centre, with book teams looking to punch their ticket to Championship Weekend in Vancouver.
Edmonton Stingers Knock Off Winnipeg Sea Bears to Solidify Playoff Positioning
The Edmonton Stingers (9-11) used a 26-8 run to close out the Winnipeg Sea Bears (12-8) 98-86 in front of a record crowd at the Canada Life Centre. The win prevented the Sea Bears from clinching the number one seed in the west, and gave the Calgary Surge the top spot in the conference. It also set up a rematch between Winnipeg and Edmonton in the play-in round next week. “We’ve had issues closing games,” Edmonton head coach Jordan Baker said.
Edmonton Stingers strike back in Battle of Alberta with win over Calgary Surge
Aher Uguak’s second-half heroics helped the Edmonton Stingers (7-7) rally to a 91-83 win over the Calgary Surge (7-7) on Wednesday night. Despite scoring just three points in the first half, the forward tallied 16 in the back end of the game to help his squad get their first victory in the battle of Alberta, after being swept in their previous two matchups. He finished with a team-high 19 points on 40 per cent shooting from the field and distance.
The 1 Thing the Emotionally Intelligent Never Do. Really
By Geoffrey James, Contributing editor, Inc.com@Sales_Source Since the days of Sigmund Freud, psychologists have believed that the best way to deal with emotional trauma is catharsis. When you're really angry and you keep it bottled up, you need to vent your anger lest it explode like an overheated steam boiler. As pervasive as this concept has become in Western culture, the science says the exact opposite. Airing your grievances doesn't alleviate the anger and allow you to heal.
Science Says Your Notifications Are Literally Driving You Nuts
Here's a sad truth: Managers and workers alike often willfully ignore scientific facts because their corporate culture makes it difficult to assimilate those facts. Remote working is a case in point; scientific studies have long proved that, for most office jobs, remote working is more productive than working in a traditional office. And yet many managers are still, even after the pandemic, itching to get workers back into the rat race.
Biden's "Back to the Office" Push Is Bad News for Real Entrepreneurs
Joe Biden recently told workers that "it's time for Americans to get back to work and fill our great downtowns again." While that sounds inspirational, it's also misguided because the big revelation of the pandemic is that the centralized office no longer makes sense. Fact: most office workers are more productive when they work remotely. Over the past three decades, the computer industry has created a mobile computing infrastructure that is superior to a centralized office.
How to Criticize, and not Alienate, an Employee Original
Praising good performance is easy because everyone likes to receive compliments. But what do you do when a kick in the butt is more appropriate than a pat on the back? Here's how to do this effectively: 1. Address the problematic behavior immediately. Criticism is best given in real time or immediately after the fact. If you wait until problems fester, you only end up making those prob? lems worse, because the other person becomes accustomed to the problematic behavior.
Sorry, But Nobody Works 18 Hours a Day on Average
Several years ago, I posted what I believed was a totally uncontroversial article: Anyone Who Claims to Work 18 Hours a Day Is Either Lying or Stupid. Over the past month, though, I've been receiving panicked emails and DMs from the Philippines, where the article has become part of conversation about their presidential election. Here's a typical message: "Wondering if you are aware of Senator Imee Marcos, citing your article...
7 Reasons To Avoid Going Rural to Work From Home Original
Now that the pandemic has proven that most white collar jobs can be done remotely, many employers are considering a move to a rural area where housing is cheaper. Here are some things you might want to consider before you head to the boonies: 1. Guns. There's nothing like sitting in the sun on a deck in comfortable house in the middle of the woods with a gentle breeze carrying the sound of constant gunfire.
Keep Your Company Away From Used Car Sales Tactics
When it comes to the business of selling, I'm usually on the side of the salespeople, since they get a lot of guff. Some of the nicest people I've met are in sales. They're positive, upbeat, and truly care about their customers. That being said, there are styles of selling that are, frankly, distasteful and designed to screw as much money out of the customer as possible. And, not surprisingly, one tends to run into those irritating sales tactics when buying a used car.
The Real Reasons Facebook Tanked Original
By Geoffrey James, Contributing editor, Inc.com@Sales_Source In a recent New York Times piece, veteran Facebook watcher Mike Isaac provided "Six Reasons Meta Is in Trouble." Isaac's "reasons" are actually the results of deeper problems with the company and its products. Here's Isaac's diagnosis: User growth has hit a ceiling. Facebook lost "about half a million users over the fourth quarter from the previous quarter." Apple's changes are limiting Meta.
6 Dumb Things Sales Managers Do Way Too Much Original
By Geoffrey James, Contributing editor, Inc.com@Sales_Source I recently went car shopping, which is always a hoot for me personally because I'm always way ahead of the salesperson, since I basically know every trick in the book. In this case, my wife and I were about to leave one dealership when the salesperson brought over his sales manager to meet us.
The Open-Plan Office Is Dead. Do This Instead Original
The open-plan office is, and always was, the world's dumbest management fad. While it seemed intuitively obvious that putting everybody into one big room should increase collaboration and innovation, the reality turned out to be exactly the opposite. Once a management fad takes hold, however, it can take years and even decades for reality to intrude itself.
5 Crucial Business Lessons From the Pandemic
My old therapist used to call the obstacles that get put into our life (including my massive heart attack in 2017) as "another f****ng learning experience. There's no question that the pandemic has been an awful disaster that's damaged families, lives, businesses and economies. It's a challenge to take something this horrible and mine something useful from it, but here are five revelations that resulted from the pandemic and which will positively affect business performance: 1.
5 Books Entrepreneurs Should Read Immediately If Not Sooner
I suspect most entrepreneurs think that the Great Resignation is a fad. The truth is that workers, especially service workers, are angry. And the most angry service workers are the ones who had once had good-paying manufacturing jobs. Office workers are angry too--angry at dehumanizing office environments, corporate cultures that create burnout, and billionaires who treat people like crap. Entrepreneurs still hoping that the job market will return to "normal" are in for a big disappointment.
New Science: Drinking Coffee Might Help Save the Planet
As I've explained in many previous columns, coffee is a super-food that's full of anti-oxidants. Drinking coffee reduces risk of cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's, and many other health problems. Coffee also focuses the mind, builds comradery, and sparks creativity. There's a downside, though.
Science Just Discovered Your Brain Really Hates PowerPoint
Almost all presentations (PowerPoint or otherwise) entail a presenter talking while displaying slides full of words. The idea is that the words on the screen support the words being spoken, thereby increasing both comprehension and retention. There's only one problem: presentations decrease comprehension and retention, because the human brain is really bad at any multitasking that involves using the same part of the brain.
Job Recruiting Is Getting More Like Tinder Every Day
If you're a hiring manager, you've probably had a promising job candidate suddenly stop answering your calls, texts and email. As early as 2019, more than four out of five companies have been ghosted by a job candidate at least once. The behavior stems from the world of online dating, where ghosting is de-facto and pain-free (for the ghoster) way to say: "I'm not interested." Since job hunting, like hooking up, now takes place primarily online, it's only logical there's crossover behavior.
12 Timeless Ways to Be a Better Boss in 2022
Over the years, I've worked with dozens of managers and interviewed hundreds more. As I consider how they approach their jobs and how they characterize their successes, I've noticed they tend to adhere to the following rules: 1. Manage individuals, not numbers Conventional business thinking is that what's important is slicing and dicing the numbers, putting the numbers into graphs, and talking about where the numbers are and where they ought to be.
Best News of 2021: Coffee Is Incredibly Good for You
The year 2021 will be remembered as the year where scientists proved beyond all doubt that drinking coffee regularly has undeniable health benefits. That's important, because it isn't as if there weren't previous indications that this might be the case. For example, a meta-analysis of 127 studies conducted in 2017 revealed that daily drinking two to four 8-ounce cups of coffee decreases risk of cancer bly 20 percent, Type 2 diabetes by 30 percent, and Parkinson's by 30 percent.
The 7 Epic Brand Disasters of 2021
In a year where the news cycle spanned an insurrection to a resurgent pandemic, you'd think that corporate scandals and disasters would remain back page news. But you'd think wrong because 2021 was a banner year for the kind of events that give nightmares to PR professionals. Here's my top 10 list: 1.
These 'I'm on Vacation' Auto-Replies Are True Power Moves Original
Scrooge famously said that Christmas is "a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December!" Now, if Crachit had merely requested that he not work on Xmas, there'd be no pocket-picking. Scrooge was complaining about Paid Time Off (PTO). Since then, the concept of Paid Time Off (for office workers at least) has increasingly come to mean: Work extra long hours before PTO to fill in for your absence. Be on call and available for "emergencies" while taking PTO.
17 Quotes From a Business Book That Sells for $48,000 per Copy Original
Looking for a great Xmas present for a fellow entrepreneur who's also made it big? How about a first edition of Security Analysis: Principles and Techniques by Benjamin Graham and David L. Dodd? AbeBooks (the mecca of book collectors) recently sold one for $29,000. But, don't worry, you can still pick up a signed first edition for only $48,000.
CLUBHOUSE: Essay: How to Write a Novel.
A worry-free, stress-free, practically thought-free method of writing. Perfect for an old guy like me. Might work for you, too. OBIR: Occasional Biased and Ignorant Reviews reflecting this reader’s opinion. HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL Premise: That I know how to write a science fiction novel. Article: Darn silly idea. Me? A critic? What do critics know about writing novels? “Almost nothing,” most authors would argue, basing their opinion on the reviews of their works that have come their way. They have a point.
Positive Thinking Is Toxic Unless You Do This
When I was in college I went to a concert thrown by a commune that lived in the middle of a desert. While the band was playing, I observed five children, probably between three and seven years old, dancing on a tin roof about 20 feet off the ground. And by dancing, I mean jumping around like they were in a bouncy house, with no guardrails and no adult supervision. Horrified, I found one of the adult residents and pointed out that the situation was dangerous.
Jeff Bezos, Cheapskate
Jeff Bezos recently attended a gala for the Baby 2 Baby charity founded in honor of Kobe Bryant's widow. According to an account in the Daily Beast, Bezos kept silent during the donation request, until another attendee donated $1 million, at which point Bezos threw in $500,000. While the Daily Beast characterized that as a "substantial sum," his donation produced an audible groan, ostensibly because the amount seemed small next to the $1 million that had just been donated.
CEOs Should Think Twice Before Becoming a Brand Mascot
Ever since Lee Iacocca touted Chrysler's comeback on national television in the 1980s, CEOs have appearing as the spokesperson for their company or product. A few are good at it; most are merely bland; some are truly heinous. In high tech, the gold standard for CEO public ambassadorship is Steve Jobs, who was naturally gifted and able to create his famous "reality distortion field" to make the press believe that they were always seeing much more than met their eye.
Musk, Bezos, Gates, and Buffet Had This When They Were Young
Much has been written about the success secrets of billionaires. They work hard, work long hours, take risks, get up before the crack of dawn, etc., etc. However, as good as that advice might be, there are plenty of folk who work hard and long but are barely surviving. So what, then, is the root of the success of these admittedly unusual business people. Well, it turns out they all came from what any reasonable person would identify as highly privileged backgrounds.
3 Time-Honored Sales Tactics that No Longer Work
The pandemic has changed our society and culture so much that several tried-and-true sales techniques are now not just ineffective but downright stupid. To wit: 1. Glad-handing Pre-pandemic sales people used personal contact (a firm handshake, wining and dining, etc.) to build customer relationships. Now that it looks likely we'll be living with some form of Covid for the next few years (and maybe forever), a winning face-to-face personality will get you absolutely nowhere.
How to Get Remote Workers to Want to Return to the Office
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary recently complained on Real-Time with Bill Maher that some of his most valuable employees have decided they'd rather quit than resume commuting to the office. That's true of about half of U.S. workers, according to Bloomberg. While O'Leary seemed to be taking this new attitude in stride, some CEOs aren't happy with the change.
If You're Older Than Gen-Z, You're Driving the Wrong Way
If you've noticed that since Covid people are driving more recklessly, you're not alone. According to a study quoted in Fast Company: "People are driving over 100 miles per hour 20 percent more often than pre-Covid-19. And accidents, when they do occur, are happening at faster speeds--a full 50 percent faster than usual." What I've noticed is not just more speeders, but also more tailgating.
Big Tech Should Stay Out of Public Education
A New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof a few months ago bemoaned that America's children test lower academically than children of other wealthy countries. This utterly unoriginal observation elicited an extremely common response: that the solution is more technology. "Even out here in Silicon Valley, public schools are oblivious to the needs of the new economy. And this is not a 'lack of money' issue.
Blue Origin's Defense of Its "Toxic" Culture Was Absurdly Awful
Like most other geeks, I enjoyed William Shatner's trip into space and have to give Jeff Bezos kudos for finding an excellent way to promote space tourism. That stunt aside, though, Blue Origin's public image has been taking some hits. The most poignant was Elon Musk's one emoji tweet (a #2 ribbon) to celebrate BO's maiden launch, but that's nothing compared to the expose that recently appeared in the Washington Post.
The Facebook Re-brand Will Be an Epic Fail
Well, after numerous rumors the change was impending, Facebook has launched a new umbrella company/brand name "Meta." The change is being positioned as a way to expand the company beyond social media, it would be very strange indeed if Zuck weren't hoping a re-brand might lessen the heat of the companies historically horrible publicity. The problem with umbrella brands, and rebranding in general, is that re-branding is almost always a pointless waste of time.
5 Things Managers Should Stop Doing, Like, Yesterday
Epidemics and pandemics have historically created labor unrest, followed by a rewriting of the employer-employee relationship. The Black Death, for example, resulted in higher wages, contributing to the end of the serfdom system. Similarly the labor movement took off after the 1918 "Spanish" Flu. The Covid pandemic is no exception.
5 Under-the-Radar Ways to Raise Your Prices
I've written a lot about pricing over the years, I recent got a request to explain how a company can raise prices without seeming to do so. My first reaction was that I would prefer not to popularize such methods, but on second thought, I figured it was a public service to warn people about how they're being secretly short-changed. A word of warning: it's almost always a bad idea to pull a fast one on your customers, unless they are gullible and stupid.
The Most Important Thing to Know About Work When You're 22
My editor asked me to come up with a list of things that people should know when they're 22, which is shorthand for being just out of college. I thought about this for a long time and I'm convinced there's one piece of wisdom that I consider essential: Never work long hours for anybody except yourself. I can understand putting in long hours if you're building a business or doing something that you truly love (in which case, it's not really work).
This Crazy Catalog Makes You Want to Start a New Business
There are very few publications that you can open to any page and find something interesting. If you're an entrepreneur, the fabled Uline catalog is definitely one of those publications. At 795 pages (excluding index), and printed in full color on glossy paper, it weighs almost as much as my cat.
This Short Book Makes You Smarter Than 99 Percent of the Population
One of the most neglected skills in the business world is the ability to apply formal logic to arguments made in boardrooms and conference rooms. And that's a shame because formal logic can prevent companies from following strategies and tactics that are untethered from reality. Schools and colleges no longer teach formal logic, as evidenced by the huge number of people who espouse conspiracy theories (all of which fall apart when subjected to formal logic).
Another Reason Vaccine Mandates Are Good for Business
Insisting that your employees to get vaccinated makes a lot of sense on a "keeping the workplace healthy" basis. A vaccinated workforce makes it less likely that key personnel will be sidelined (or die) as a result of a easily-avoided serious illness. There is another reason, though, that it makes good business sense to insist that your employees get vaccinated. It winnows out those employees who are likely to make bad business decisions.
The 11 Worst Business Ideas of the Past 40 Years
The business world has its fair share of bad ideas and dumb fads, but here are the 11 that I think are by far the most egregiously stupid: 1. The Open-Plan Office It seemed like a win-win-win. Employees would be able to build more of a community, ideas would be communicated faster, and the offices would have a smaller, and therefore cheaper, footprint. In fact, it was lose-lose-lose.
9 Massively Annoying Things People Say In Meetings
One of the extremely small number of silver linings that resulted from the pandemic is that we were freed from having to attend boring in-person meetings. I'm not saying that Zoom meetings are all that much better, but in case you forgot how irritating it is to be trapped in a conference room, here are some commonly uttered phrases that, if you're like me, will raise your hackles. 1.
7 Books to Make You Laugh During the Imminent Apocalypse
Entire regions in the world are on fire, the pandemic is coming back like gangbusters, and Jeff Bezos flew a giant penis to the edge of space, all of which are legendary signs and portents that the end of the world is nigh. Thus, rather than recommending the obligatory best business books of the year, I thought I'd suggest some lighter reading, so we can all die laughing. Here are my top 7 picks: 7.
9 Customer Service Phrases That Should Be Retired Immediately
I was recently on hold for customer service for a big website, and the more I listened to their prerecorded messages, the more I realized that the standard customer service on-hold verbiage is weasel wording of the worst stripe. Here are the nine worst offenders and what they really mean: 1. "For your convenience ... " Translation: "We are going to greatly inconvenience you in order to increase our profit margins by having you wait." 2.
Dude, Where is My Driverless Car?
For the past decade or so, we've been warned that driverless cars will change the world of transportation. This is all egregious nonsense. All that's been achieved, or is likely to be achieved any time soon, is something more akin to enhanced cruise control rather than anything resembling true driverlessness. Today's "autopilot" (a term that only Tesla uses) it's really only practical in places where traffic is extremely predictable such as highways.
I've Gone Viral in 4 Different Markets. Here's How to Do It
Everyone on the Internet wants to go viral. In this column, I explain exactly how how I've done this in four different markets over 15 years. I define "going viral" as creating content that cumulatively gets more than 1 million views in a month or a single piece of content that gets over 1 million views in a year. Here are my four projects that qualify: Borg War. While I am primarily a journalist, I am an animation hobbyist.
Please, Be Kind to Customer Service
Last week, I flew cross-country (twice) on my first business trip since the onset of the pandemic. As usual, I went with JetBlue, because I've had generally good experiences with them and that's where I bank my frequent flyer miles. I think it's fair to say that I did not have a positive customer experience. Obviously, a key part of any travel itinerary is getting to and from the airport. In the case of my return trip, a friend volunteered to drive me.
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