Jews-A-Runnin' - Peace-Is-A-Comin'

I have a deadline for this post: sundown.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these two conservative, Jewish men running up the Queens Borough Bridge on Friday, as I pedaled my way over to Manhattan. Most runners I see give no clue to their religious inclinations but these two left no doubt.

So many questions, so little time. "Where are you running to?" I asked. Heshie, the slighter gentleman on the right side of the photo answered, "Just out for our daily run. We have a family now and need to stay in shape.

"Aren't you a bit uncomfortable running in those clothes?"
Heshie's friend, Moshe who seemed a little guarded replied, "No choice, these are our clothes, for everything."
"But at least the shoes?" I tried persuading. "Can't you at least get a black pair of running shoes?"
Heshie and Moshe looked at each other and chuckled. "These shoes work just fine," Moshie said. "Besides, why should we spend money on special shoes?"

"You might get injured," I suggested.
"Why would we get injured? Our shoes have rubber soles just like your expensive, big shot running shoes," Moshe proudly countered.
They got me thinking about how many pairs of running shoes I go through in a year and that maybe I should head over to Harry's in the City and get a pair of black dress shoes with Vibram soles.
"You know," I said,"Jews really aren't known for their athletic prowess?"
"We know, we know. But we like to run."

I looked around and there was no else on the bridge but the three of us. A thought popped in my head. "What if we started a running team made up of Jews and Palestinians?" Hershie and Moshe looked at me as if I had one eye stuck in the center of my forehead. "Think about it," I said. "Running, teamwork, goal setting brings people together. Even people with huge differences. Think of the Olympics. Well, don't think of the 1972 Olympics but think of the possibilities."
Hershie stroked his beard. "Maybe. Maybe you have something."
"It could be a wonderful thing," I said with too much excitement. "Think of the marketing, the publicity. You caught my attention, didn't you?"
Hershie stopped running, took a deep breath. "Okay, maybe we'll go and look for special black running shoes and then maybe we can talk more but first we have to finish our run."
"Yes, we have to finish our run," Moshe confirmed. "You know," He leaned in closer to me and I smelled the sweat coming from his tallis. "If we have a team who would be the leader, us or them?"
I considered carefully before answering. "Think of a team as one entity or as "us" and not "them" or "others". You and they become "us" or "we.""
Hershie stroked his beard again only this time more slowly and pondered, "Hmm, interesting. But I don't think we could. We don't mix. Them and us."
I reminded them how their running brought us together on the middle of an East River bridge.

"What if?" I began. "What if..." I stopped. I know the issues, the fears, the ignorance on both 'sides' and standing there straddling by bike, talking with these two sweaty and runny-nosed Jewish men about running would have to be enough for today. Maybe I planted a seed with them or maybe upon their return home they would tell there friends and family at Temple about the guy on the bridge with the crazy idea about running as an instrument of peace. Maybe...

Hat Maker Sticks to Her Stitch

Terry Graziano is a hat designer whose work was featured in this week's issue of Time Out New York's Holiday Shopping Guide. Why should this matter to you? Because her determination, dedication and passion can be inspiration for you to go after your dreams.

It's not easy running your own business and the work never ends. but it's worth it says most entrepreneurs. When you run your own business you get to run it the way you want to and not how someone else thinks you should. With that, of course, means that you have all the responsibility but you get all the the rewards.

With years of toil, Ms. Graziano is happy to know that more people may get to see her hats and why they are unique. As she describes it, "My hats are versatile as well as eco-friendly, I use only designer mill-end surplus fabrics in luxurious textures and colors while personally handcrafting each hat with great care and attention to detail. Each hat is fully lined for comfort and durability, and they are adjustable for head size and shape to create an ideal fit. For me, it’s all about flexibility. A shirt, a skirt, a pair of pants: these can be worn many ways – why should hats be any different?"

So take your lead from this incredible designer and go after your dreams one stitch at a time.

"Sell" is Just a Four-Letter Word

Sell is just a four-letter word. So is "help".

Most people I have spoken with including sales professionals have a certain aversion to the words sell or sales. "I don't like be considered a salesman," one salesman told me. "How so?" I asked. With a crusted smile he proceeded to tell me that people including customers and potential customers, equate sales people and selling with shadiness, aggressiveness, and dishonesty. Maybe this is why so many people hate to "sell" themselves or their services. Everyone in an organization is a sales person. How many times have you heard, "As an employee you represent the company"? Or, "To acquire top talent we have to sell our company and its people."? But if sales people are one of the highest paid professionals in the world, why do so many people shy away from "selling"? Me thinks the answer lays in one's intentions.

Think and or feel the difference in intentions between "selling" and "helping". The former means to some, convincing a buyer to purchase something. The latter refers to providing assistance; to aid, to guide and support. Helping, in a sales context, provides service to what is needed and or desired. Of course, influencing can create desire.

One of the best "salesman" I knew was a man who sold insurance. Arthur knew how to help and he also provided excellent customer service. His greatest skill was listening and through listening in showed a lot of understanding. Art knew his clients very well and his clients trusted him in return. That trust allowed Art to suggest additional insurance products to his customers. The suggested products were not unreasonable or extravagant. "You never know...You have good coverage now but if you want to be on the safe side of safe consider this coverage as well," Is what Art always said when his clients would have considered additional insurance. In helping his clients Art's revenue grew along with his reputation for being a trusted adviser. Art's intentions were to sincerely help his customers feel safe and secure. It also helped that he really cared about his customers as fellow human beings.

About influencing: Influencing and selling are two different things. You can't sell if you don't first create desire. What is desirable to one customer may not be desirable to another. Unless you understand what motivates a customer you won't be able to influence them to trust and purchase your products and services. So, think about making a "helping" call instead of a "sales" call. Consider your intentions before you make that call. Your sales revenue, referrals, and reputation and standing within your industry and community will increase ten-fold.

Art retired a very rich man.

Twenty-Two Miles of Resistance

What or why do we get up everyday, bathe, eat breakfast and go to work? What causes us to continually move forward? Is it in our DNA? Or, is it deeper that our genetic makeup?

When asked the above questions others have answered, "What's the alternative?" They got me there. So, I guess that's why I kept putting one foot in front of the other on a recent long and uncomfortable twenty-two mile training run. Even though the views of the newly landscaped Randall's Island are spectacular and the fall bloom of Central Park magnificent, I just couldn't get out of the question, "Why am I doing this?" (Resistance possibly?) Besides the obvious that I committed to run the NYC and Philadelphia marathons with two friends and that I like my runner's waist line, I was focused on the question of who has more courage, the finisher or the quitter: the survivor or the felo-de-se? I think that it takes a lot of courage to get up everyday and continue on in the face of adversity especially, in today's political and economic climates. So too does it take courage to move through debilitating depression and anxiety which, causes some to think and feel that the best option is to stop keeping on.

I do have mild irritation over the industrialized world's mantra of work hard, amass more. The empty and commercial driven "just do it's" and the get aggressive corporate messages. (Try "assertive" instead of aggressive.)

I can't tell you exactly why I keep on keepin' on. One of the reasons is the post run benefits. After an ice bath, stretching and a power plate of pasta, I sit and wait for the wonderful calming endorphins to kick in where I enter into the world of Bliss. These free wheeling, natural chemicals make me feel like I'm floating on a Whitman "greenshine" pool in a rubber raft without a care in the world. And I guess, this is why I do it six days per week. Do I have courage or is it to keep the scary mooglies at bay? I don't know. I do know that there is something that keeps us humans moving forward, striving and driving and whether it's self-preservation or fear of the "alternative" I'm going to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

First Day of Work & We've Thrown You a Party

Imagine, it's your first day on the new job. You're not expecting much but are hoping that the new firm gives you a warmer welcome than your last. (The desk they assigned you came complete with a half-filled cup of curdled coffee, a greasy computer keyboard and a chair with a wobbly leg.) You've been down the on-boarding road before, attended the mandatory and boring orientations and each time you've hoped for a sincere appreciation for committing valuable time, energy, and creativity to the "man".

Maybe the "man" should take his cue from an elementary school in Connecticut. On the first day of every school year, this particular school throws a welcoming party for its students. Balloons are released, music is pumped through loud speakers and the teachers meet and greet each and every student. (At one job, I was met with jeers and groans when I offered my hand to my over-stressed new colleagues.) Wouldn't that be something if you were met on your first day at the office with balloons as part of the welcome package?

Employees need, yes need to feel valued and first impressions are lasting impressions. If the attitude at the organization is, "you're lucky to have a job, get to work" think of the quality of work the new hire is going to produce. There are many ways to steal from an organization and resentment creates more theft of productivity and profitability than anything else. Sure, maybe your company gives out pens, coffee cups and memo pads with their logo imprinted but what's behind the toys? What's the intention of the gifts? Do they come with a "we're really glad that you decided to come and be a part of our team"? Or, are they just give-aways
that everyone gets?

There are businesses that get it right. They do on-boarding really well and I certainly want to know if yours is one of those businesses. Unfortunately, they seem to be the exception not the norm. When the economy turns around and the ratio to hire moves above the unemployment rate, workers will expect a little bit more on their first day than an electric pencil sharpener.

No Legs and The Food Stinks

No buttocks, no legs, no problem. Except for the food.

Meet Jose R. who's missing a body from the waist down. I met him last year on Roosevelt Island where I offered him a "push'. On his permanent gurney, (he can't turn over nor sit up.) Jose wheels himself around the island for exercise and a way to break the tedium of hospital life. I ran into Jose today outside a bodega where he was hoping that some kind soul would buy him a turkey sandwich on rye with mustard and lettuce. I asked him if the hospital where he lives feeds him and he said he can't eat "that stuff" anymore. "I'm sick of it. Would you please buy me a sandwich?"

This is the third time we've shared more than salutations and I've never heard Jose complain about anything until now. No legs, no buttocks and all he can find to complain about is institutional food? I don't know but if it were me on that stain soaked gurney I'd have a whole lot more to wail about than beige hospital food. Maybe that's why our paths crossed today. Maybe the Universe or the Grand Station Master heard my pitiful grips and said, 'you think you got problems, check this guy out, again.' It's true, I do need to be reminded from time-to-time. Not often but now and then. We forget sometimes just how good we have it and then a Jose rolls by to snap us out of our mournful abyss.

After I gave him a dollar towards his sandwich, Jose said, "Cheer up, it's a beautiful day."

Run NYC Marathon Free!

Achilles Track Club is looking for walking guides for the NYC Marathon!

Looking for guides who are willing to commit to 7.5+ hours. I still need about 5-7 people to assist our early start athletes who will be doing that time and longer. Send in a guide application ASAP to my email. Here is the direct link to the guide application.

In addition, Achilles needs volunteers for the NYC Marathon weekend to help at Expo, Start Line, and Finish line. If you are interested or know anyone who may want to help, please email rkoplin@achillesinternational.org Here is the breakdown: Thurs. Oct 29th- Expo 10am-8pm Friday Oct 30th-Expo 10am-8pm Sat Oct 31st -Expo 9am-5pm Sunday Nov 1- ALLL DAY need about 15 volunteers for Start and 50 volunteers for the finish.

Hope to see you on the bridge!