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to To The Point list To the Point/February/2005 • It’s worth reviewing your job application forms. Improper questions and statements can increase the risk of liability for claims of discrimination or invasion of privacy. Pitfalls you want to avoid include questions about:
Questions asked on an application form should not be repeated during an interview. • The new pajama game. Just when you think you have heard it all, along comes something totally new and different. Maybe that’s what makes the free market system so exciting. Well, here’s the latest. Taking a hint from the fact that the cereal shelves are perhaps the largest single category display in today’s supermarket, a new business is born. It’s called Cereality and it’s counting on nostalgia to sell. Offering 30 brands of cereal and dozens of toppings, the first Cereality store at Arizona State University was so successful, stores are open in Chicago and Philadelphia and 15 more are on the way. Yes, the employees are dressed in pajamas. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it. Pass the Wheaties! • 24/7 Claims Line. We have just installed a 24/7 Claims Line to assist Mosinee Insurance customers, particularly nights and weekends. This is not a recording. You will always speak to a competent insurance professional. Claims can still be reported to us during office hours, of course. • Web site offers helpful information. We believe an insurance Web site should be a source of helpful information, not an ad for an insurance agency, so we’ve been working on our site for a long time. We now invite you visit to www.mosineeins.com and add it to your favorites list. The site includes access to insurance forms and allows our customers to download forms instantly. In addition, you will see several specialty “mini-sites,” including Workers’ Compensation, Health and Fitness Centers and Innkeepers (soon to go live). Our site is a “work-in-progress” and we invite you to suggest any additions you consider helpful. • Watch out for insurance scams. It seems as if there are always people ready to take advantage of the public, including businesses. Here are several current insurance-related scams:
• Don’t blink Blink is the latest book to grab the attention of millions. The subtitle makes clear the reason for its popularity: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Reading those words makes it clear that author Malcolm Gladwell (who also wrote the Tipping Point, another book that went off the charts) has another winner on his hands. And why not? He builds the case that our brains are wired in such a way that we are capable of making valid decisions in two seconds if we just would learn from the experience of others. As someone has noted, “It [Blink] says that a snap judgment is often smarter than a considered one.” If that isn’t a winning idea, I’ve never heard one! The appeal is powerful and persuasive. There’s no need to question, doubt, research, think, evaluate and test ideas. We can cut through that cumbersome, time-consuming, arduous process and come up with the right answer instantly. Anyone who has attended any type of meeting—business or otherwise—in the last week has seen the “two second” analysis become the basis for launching new initiatives. Blink makes us feel good, and that’s the problem. Making decisions isn’t about feeling good; there’s too much of that. Blink leads us to the erroneous, but tremendously appealing conclusion that anything difficult to attain is unnecessary, a waste of time. The fact of the matter is that we all can come up with instant ideas that turn out to be stupid, impractical, useless and even dangerous. It’s doesn’t take any time to do it, either. Just two seconds. Sincerely,  Tom Helbach Back to To The Point list |
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