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Generosity Without Money

Since writing Junkyard Wisdom I’m often asked a simple question about generosity: how can we be generous without a lot of money?

Plenty of people think generosity is mostly about giving money away to worthy causes. It’s about sponsoring a child, supporting a youth sports league, contributing to the arts, etc.

Other people think generosity is about giving your time. Volunteering at a homeless shelter or tutoring a struggling student, for instance.

Both definitions are legitimate — we need people who give generous of their time and treasure.

But a lot of people overlook valuable assets in their generosity toolbox: …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Nobody Cares if You’re the Smartest Person in the Room

Many years ago, I joined a board of directors for a reasonably large organization. It was an honor to be invited, and I wanted to help the organization in the best possible way. As the board discussions covered finance, marketing, staff compensation, and any number of other issues, I did my best to offer my thoughts on all the subjects.

Perhaps I wanted to do a bit too much, though. After one particularly long conversation about a new campaign launch, one of the longest-serving board members, who was a good 20 years older than me, pulled me aside. He asked …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Celebrating Abelardo

It was nearly 20-years ago when Goble Properties acquired Hopyard Village in Pleasanton. Along with the property came the perpetually smiling maintenance man, Abelardo. Always willing to take on any challenge, eager to learn, and ready to break into song when he wasn’t making small talk, Abelardo has been one of our most popular employees.

So when we found out he was just one history test away from becoming a US citizen, we knew we had to throw a party to celebrate. After daily jokes about his knowledge of Bunker Hill or how many justices sit on the Supreme Court, …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

Ignore the Naysayers

Some of the best business advice I’ve been given is, “Ignore the naysayers.” The naysayers are the folks who are ALWAYS negative.

Most of us have an internal pendulum of confidence and fear. Our fear dreads failure, is unsure of the future, and hates risk. When naysayers talk, our fear is inflamed.

Naysayers point out the reasons to not make a business decision, and fear makes the reasons seem foreboding: the timing isn’t right, tough times ahead, not enough information, too risky, it won’t work, you can’t afford it.

Sometimes those warnings are reasonable and even accurate. There’s nothing wrong …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

What’s the Worst Business Decision You Ever Made?

What’s the worst business or job related decision you ever made?

If you hesitate and can’t think of the answer right away, then here’s some advice: figure it out fast. Be completely honest with yourself.

Not understanding your poor decisions results in repeating them. You might repeat them even if you fully understand them, but you’ll at least have a chance of avoiding them if you are honest with yourself.

I like using the who, what, where, when, and why process. The who is obvious (it’s you, because you made the mistake). The what is a little tougher because, if …

Junkyard Management, Junkyard Wisdom Book,

Why Aren’t the Rich More Generous?

Recently read that the wealthiest Americans — those in the top 20% of income earners — give an average of 1.3% of their income to charity. By contrast, those in the lowest 20% of income earners give 3.2% of their income to charity.

How does that make any sense? Well it doesn’t, actually, but there are two theories attempting to explain it. And I’ll add a third minor theory.

The first theory is that the rich are just greedy and don’t want to give up their money. Paul Piff, a psychologist at UC Berkeley, told New York magazine, “…the …

Junkyard Management, Junkyard Wisdom Book,

Solutions of Privilege

Several years ago I wrote a post about the problems of privilege. These are problems that become evident when people complain about meaningless things — my new iPhone is now outdated, the waiter didn’t bring us water when we asked, or I can’t get the dog groomer appointment at a certain time. Problems like these can be irritating, but they don’t exist if you aren’t privileged enough to own an iPhone, dine at a restaurant, or pay somebody to wash your dog.

I call these issues “POP” for problems of privilege. I’m guilty of being so self-absorbed I get …

Goble Properties, Junkyard Management,

We Could Always Rely on Phyllis

Last week Goble Properties sold Perez Business Park in Cathedral City. It brings an end to a great experience operating the property. Perez was the perfect property type for Goble Properties: all small units, occupied by small businesses, mostly locally owned, and deeply connected to the community.

One significant downside is it means our long time manager, Phyllis, will be retiring at the end of this week. Well, retiring in the sense she won’t have a full-time job in property management. Something tells me she’s going to be an incredible volunteer for several amazing nonprofit organizations. I can’t wait to …