Term of the day: GmbH

I have seen companies like Bosch officially listed as "Robert Bosch, GmbH" and always wondered about the GmbH on the end. I have seen Inc, LLC, PC, B-Corp, etc and know what those mean but couldn't figure out what the GmbH could possibly mean. I just didn't care enough to look it up until today. And now you too can be a little bit smarter:

In Germany, there are two types of companies: publicly traded and privately held.
The acronym 'GmbH', which is written after the name of the company, designates a company as private in Germany. The letters stand for Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung which, translated literally, means a 'company with limited liability'. GmbH companies are incorporated and, as such, are legal entities unto themselves. These companies must have a minimum of two partners and may be, but do not have to be, owned by a public company.

-Investopedia accessed on 15 Mar 2017: http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/05/051305.asp

And knowing is half the battle.

Innovative Thinking

We had an interesting discussion in my class tonight for “Innovative Business Thinking.” The discussion turned to whether people can learn to be creative and innovative thinkers, or if some people just have “it” and some don’t. Our instructor’s point was that in his work as an executive consultant and coach, he had seen people who were normally stoic and “un-innovative” surprise people with a creative burst. .

One person who had no artistic experience suddenly took up a paint brush and created an impressive work of art. Another person was straight-laced all year round, but at Halloween became very expressive and regularly won awards for his Halloween costumes. .

The point our instructor made is that some people may have a larger measure of creativity, and some people may be naturally innovative, but much of it has to do with our comfort level. He said that we tend to fall on the creative or conformist side depending on where we find safety. .

If we could never feel safe as a conformist, and find that our weirdness leads to better poetry or music, then we will tend to feel safer as an innovative person. On the other hand, if our creative thinking never led to a feeling of safety, we would tend to flee to conformity. .

The implication is that the enemy of innovation is fear. If people are afraid of the consequences of innovative thinking, then they will avoid it. Many of us have seen figures of authority squash good ideas because the innovativeness threatened their empire. We have also seen people stick their neck out with a crazy idea and get laughed at, ensuring that they would never voice their thoughts again. .

Eventually, this kind of despotism will scare people into policing their own innovative thoughts. Out of fear, we will proactively prevent creative thinking and make sure that our thoughts conform to the perceived standard. .

If your team needs a new idea, then give them freedom. Allow failure, encourage crazy ideas, and forget about measuring productivity for a second. We fail to plan and fail to brainstorm because we fear it will waste valuable time. .

There are two possible perceptions. Perhaps your lose two hours that you could have spent making a few thousand dollars. On the other hand, you may invest two hours leading to the million dollar idea. .

Every time you “sacrifice” productivity for creative thinking and brainstorming sessions, you will be building up your team’s innovative abilities. You will raise their natural ability to think creatively, and you will raise the odds of hitting on the big ideas.

The Post to End the Silence

I have been busy. My life is evolving. I am re-evaluating what is important. I am finding more time with the kids and myself, less time for work, blog, and yardwork. I am very happy; I am proud if this change. I am satisfied with the direction I am taking.

The blog is not going away at this time. I still see its usefulness to me as a journal to develop my thoughts with, a tool to track my thought-life over time, and a method of sharing myself with the world--whether they like it or not. I am not as inspired as of late to write about anything. I actually have three drafts that I have not published because I started with something to say but couldn't complete the thought concisely.

I would like to find a way to shorten my posts more. That will be a great benefit from this blog if it teaches me to write more concisely. I will work here on my communication skills; getting my point accross before the other person passes out or clicks onto the "Next Blog" button.

I wrapped up an 8-week class at the Community College, which occupied some time. I am hot and heavy to achieve my CCNA certification, so that occupies a lot of time. My daughter is beginning to discover how enriching books can be, and we are spending a lot of time together reading--that is the best part of my life right now. I also have a lot going on at work to keep me out of trouble. Altogether, life is busy but not to a stressful level. It is a near-perfect level of accomplishment, activity, and stimulation.

In November, I will sell my soul to the corporate devil and begin my MBA program at Baker University. I have already applied and been accepted, it is just a matter of when classes begin. I have put the M.A. of International Studies from KU on hold; for several reasons I determined that this was not the best time to pursue that option. The Baker MBA should be more useful in my immediate future and it will develop my Graduate-level study and research skills for future use. In addition, I think it will affect my family and current job less, which is very important at this point.

I hope to finish my CCNA certification by November. If not, I really need to finish it this year; I am very close to achieving it and it will reap immediate benefits at work. That certification has been on my "to-do" list for seven years, though I have often considered it more of a dream than a goal. Right now, it is a "must-have". If I can check off both the degree and the certification in one year, then 2008 is gonna be unimaginable.

An update on my Organizational Challenge with myself. My office at home and work are improved. My garage is functional. My basement is useful for workouts (and yes, I am using it sometimes.) My van remains highly organized, and trash remains only in the trash-can.

In other words, I have achieved a new standard. I have plenty of room for improvement, but I cannot believe that I used to be such a filthy pig. I am now very careful about my van. My desk at work and home has a tendency to get cluttered still, but that is temporary and I am still much better off now than I was 3 months ago. It is amazing what a little medicine and understanding can do to transform a life.

I am still thinking about Corporate Social Responsibility on a regular basis, and I plan on using this blog to talk more about it. I hope that I can apply my growing understanding of CSR to my MBA studies and perhaps find a way carve my own niche in this field.

Again, I do not know how to conclude here. I am determined to post something on this blog, even if the conclusion is a clunky, sudden halt. Therefore, here it is: the final period at the end of the sentence that concludes my blogging silence.