Today I learned a new word, not sure if it’s American or English (forgot to check that aspect in the dictionary). The word is “preposterous”, and what it means is described by the following situation:

A 400-Dollar-per-hour ant writing an explanatory e-mail to a VP for obtaining approval to take a 200 Dollar flight, which was already approved (by a lower rank in the food chain), booked, and paid. All this caused by a change in the travel policy, effective immediately, which requires such approval level for all air travel.

That sounds pretty funny in the ears of somebody running global operations, with colleagues travelling daily. Especially, if that person most of the time gets travel expenses reimbursed by his clients. I can’t disclose the other cost cutting means announced today by my employer, but they sound similarly effective. Off course I’m aware of the tough economic times. But I wasn’t aware that the liquid assets of the small software company which pays for my office space, and partially contributes to my livelihood, would be so close to bankruptcy that they would need to enforce such audacious action.

This is not my first encounter with adverse economics. What I had learned in the past: Keeping your best and brightest should be one of the core leadership tasks in any downturn, and the tactics to be used are – amongst others - individual, ad hoc rewards, promotions where the business requires it, bonuses based on superior performance, etc. This is basic stuff on management excellence. Insensible cost cutting across everything and everybody does definitely not fall into that category: F- for the executive who executed on this idea, and let-go the person who came-up with the idea in the first place. In the case of AIG the Obama administration understood the problem and it’s implications, and I guess even the USMC would have handled such a matter more sensibly as the controllers of this tiny software house. Interesting thought: Maybe my sponsoring company should hire General Petraeus, instead of adding more expertise form a low-budget retailer; but, unfortunately, I guess they couldn’t afford his salary anyway.

Bean counters running a company seems to be a déjà vu: In one of my previous life’s the CFO of an innovative high-tech company, at which I spent some time, was promoted to become CEO. During his tenure he dried-out research, shut-down innovation labs developing next generation products, scaled-down the sales force, sidelined the middle management who understood the business, and, once everything was messed-up, finally hired Carly Fiorina as his successor … the rest is already history.

Enough ranting. I’m just wondering, how many GMs and VPs we’ll need to add for handling the travel approval process. And I wonder what to do with the approval now received from my VP (who doesn’t seem to have anything else to do either). Maybe I should frame it, and post it on my cubicle wall, for scaring the s**t out of any visitors.

We’ll see. The way I read it, is that – after the first round of lay-offs – some clever guys came-up with the bright idea to upset as many people as possible, encouraging to leave on their own, thus saving tons of “restructuring cost”. Sweet idea.

If you don’t know what to do on a lazy Sunday in Phoenix (and have a car), here’s a suggestion:

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=34.793991~-111.870274&style=r&lvl=8&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&rtp=pos.33.5092670830031_-112.036917931464_2101%20E%20Camelback%20Rd%2C%20Phoenix%2C%20AZ_Courtyard-Camelback_(602)%20955-5200~pos.34.4002411582994_-112.232157931731_near%209954%20SR-69%2C%20Mayer%2C%20Arizona%2086333%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.643392269744_-112.314612252832_near%208631%20E%20Dreamy%20Draw%20Way%2C%20Prescott%20Valley%2C%20Arizona%2086314%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.7553401711321_-112.118637931576_near%20Street%2C%20Clarkdale%2C%20Arizona%2086324%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.7715011588086_-112.055834474699_near%20790%20Main%20St%2C%20Clarkdale%2C%20Arizona%2086324%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.7399700476543_-112.009155956117_11%20N%20Main%20St%2C%20Cottonwood%2C%20AZ%2086326-6972__~pos.34.8709004182043_-111.767939165662_near%20Forest%20View%20Tr%2C%20Sedona%2C%20Arizona%2086336%2C%20United%20States__~pos.35.2278110359778_-111.659522869217_near%202984%20N%20Fort%20Valley%20Rd%2C%20Flagstaff%2C%20AZ%2086001-8310__~pos.35.6063453574847_-112.04771595617_near%20US-180%2C%20Williams%2C%20Arizona%2086046%2C%20United%20States__~pos.36.0569493087201_-112.136409783452_near%20Village%20Loop%20Rd%2C%20Arizona%2086023%2C%20United%20States__~pos.35.8557707899256_-111.434287313353_near%20Navahopi%20Rd%2C%20Cameron%2C%20Arizona%2086020%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.6526752327197_-111.758573733551_near%20Beaver%20Creek%20Rd%2C%20Rimrock%2C%20Arizona%2086335%2C%20United%20States__~pos.34.6115604178485_-111.839200400328_near%20Montezuma%20Castle%20Rd%2C%20Camp%20Verde%2C%20Arizona%2086322%2C%20United%20States__~pos.33.5084697990514_-112.036700153685_near%20Street%2C%20Phoenix%2C%20Arizona%2085016%2C%20United%20States__&rtop=0~0~0&encType=1

“Like a well-crafted Greek tragedy, we know that all cannot end well for our hero and heroine. Yet we recognize the opportunity for true love, the inevitable presence of human error, and the cruel realities of consequence. We are spectators separated from our protagonists by only a few feet and watch helplessly as they fall inevitably into the traps set for them. We are all-knowing and powerless.” (Peter Boal, Director’s notebook to Swan Lake)

The weather report for the rest of the day, according to NCWN: Thunder, lightning, hail, and wet snow. This is not funny, and continues the trend of this winter – too cold, too wet.

Cherry blossom is delayed, cherries will not be available July 4th.

Winter is over, here’s the proof: 74 degrees, no clouds, roads crowded by Harleys and convertibles, girls wearing tank tops. What else would you need for enjoying life?

Ok, there are a few things, so let’s start with the first one: Eating and drinking, ideally while sitting out there in the sun.

The restaurant in my club is not up-to-date with my plans, and now, after noon, they’re only prepared to serve me breakfast. Sorry Sir, lunch only starts at 1:30 pm. Oh well , Ma’am, somebody who got up at 6:30 a.m. may be starved by then. And after a two-hour workout I’m ready for lots of protein, ideally in the form of a steak. Bad luck.

Today is the first day in this year during which I’ve not been working, so I’m not in the mood to accept any detours from my route to having fun. Any annoyances therefore are to be removed in a split second: Beaming to the Purple Cafe, a great place to start-off the fun part of Sunday. Beacon-wrapped scallops, and … no Filet Mignon. Sorry, Sir, didn’t you read the fine print in the Menu? Entrees only after 4 p.m.

Ok, I give-up. And I start to understand what’s wrong with this country, and what works well in Asia: NO doesn’t exist in certain cultures. Not being able to get what I wanted to order fro the menu – twice – was a strange experience. Having lived in Germany I’m used to these kind of incidents, but here? Strange. Wasn’t this supposed to be a customer-driven, service-oriented culture?

But there’s still an upside: Sunday’s special gives you half-off for the specially advertised bottles, and this great American Claret immediately wipes-out any grievances.

Whatever went wrong today, the Interlude compensates for everything.

Now let’s focus on the other fun thing that ensures survival of mankind …

The major cultural difference between Germans and Americans seems to be their attitude to pragmatism: Think, then do, or do, and then figure out why it happened. That’s pretty philosophical, so let’s take a real-word example: As a typical German (with a minor in organizational theory) I highly appreciated the approach taken by my employer – analyzing the business architecture, and then define a new organizational structure. But then the American executives seemed to have a better idea. Dumping all the complicated analysis stuff, redefining a new organizational structure, and then letting people figure out what they’re supposed to do, seemed to be a much more pragmatic approach. The new structure hasn’t been fully disclosed, or even communicated, but I guess it will evolve naturally into something similar to Ellin Beltz’s crystalline structure of the pure elemental sample of Administrontium (atomic mass 312).

Obviously the massive structure of Administrontium will be superior to the equally massive Administratium (originally described by William DeBuvitz). This theory is based on the observed different ratio of morons vs. mesons in the two elements, resulting in a less toxic impact productive reactions of the new structure.

While Administratium was the first winner of the prestigious Ig Nobel Prize, it’s fair to assume that Administrontium is the real commercial winner. And similar to that minor difference, our new organizational structure will help us to be much more successful, instead of just being more effective.

April Fool’s Day is an easy date to remember for me: It’s now 366 days since I relocated to the Pacific Northwest. Time for a personal summary, biased by an incident earlier today.

When small-talking to friends, colleagues, or neighbors, or other people  who are aware of my move, I often have to answer the same set of questions, with some variations depending on where the other party originates from:

• When do you plan to return? Typically asked by European colleagues, especially Germans. Answer: I would start evaluating this idea when somebody offers me an opportunity to allow me achieving my lifetime goals.
• How is your wife integrating and adapting? Typically asked by male American colleagues. Answer: No, I’m not going to introduce you to her.
• How do you adapt to the weather? Typically asked by non-native females, either born in California, or Florida. Answer, depending on some private evaluations of the lady asking: Yes, I’d surely accompany you to one of the beautiful beaches. Or: Of course I’ll take your husband to Home Depot, so that you could chat with my wife.
• Will you go skiing, hiking, or sailing on the week-end? Typically native outdoor enthusiasts. Answer: Don’t know, and don’t care - let’s do all three on Saturday.

Interesting stereotypes. Today unfortunately reminded me that nobody ever asked me a question that’s becoming more and more important to me: How do you survive the reckless automobilists? Hardly, I must admit. This morning I had to give away the fourth of my new nine lives. Honestly: Four near-kills within a year is a lot. And if I had only one wish to change something in this part of the world, I would articulate the following wish: Improve pedestrian safety; ban everybody from the streets who has not obtained a driver’s license from a country where they educate and certify people on how to drive a car safely (e. g. Switzerland); and deport everybody who drives without such a license to the Îles du Salut. Btw, the chance to win a $50 gift card at myR-Trip does not compensate for the risk of being run-over by a car. I just read on a lawyer’s site, that “In the United States an average of 1,000 innocent pedestrians are injured every day by negligent drivers of motor vehicles.” and: “In 2004, nearly 5,900 pedestrians were killed in traffic-related accidents.” According to another source, in 2007 a pedestrian in the USA is mowed down by a car every 8 minutes. And 4,654 fatalities in that year sound like an improvement to the 2004 data. Is that good or bad, compared to 10,000 annual fatal injuries in Europe, or 40,000 road mishaps in India? But wait - there’s also one thing which I would definitely not change here: People are extremely nice and polite. That’s true even for negligent drivers, after they just tried to kill you.

Everybody loves the breath-taking scenery, and everybody hates traffic. Most people are liberal, yet offer you to participate in the community, and the cultural diversity is amazing. I like these people, feel like being one of them, and I love this place. And with the housing market having dropped by some 25%, life even seems to become affordable - at least as long as you still have a job and don’t own a house.

This is a very nice place to live, and The Seattle Times has a great resource for obtaining more impressions about the daily living in PNW. Enjoy – and let me move forward to get some work done.