It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w Bezy Choston's Me Radio.
Hi, welcome back. It's great to have Matt Dulian. I'm talking to some lacrosse right now, and uh, you know, I'm gonna open it's cousin Todd's on the phone. Let's talk to cousin Todd. Cousin Todd Todd Fernard of Fernard Properties is a contributor to the show when I'm on, and he was also before I get into talking about business with him. Todd isn't from a lacrosse family as well. A great interview with me. Did you know, Andrew, you
guys went down and took Ben in the family. You guys went down to Foxborough right.
We were down in the area. There was a whole bunch of June of Uh, yeah, there was. There were a cross tournaments going on all over U. Ben caught a little bit of it. But but yeah, it's uh, this is the season, man, It's all across all the time.
Yeah, it's incredible. So anyways, I do see Ben Fernard following the footsteps of Matt Dooley. I do there similar. I can tell you that right now I'm making a prediction. No pressure on your son.
OK, Cornell, here we come, Yeah, here you come, pany exactly.
So the reason I want to talk to Todd Todd is in commercial real estate. He understands business. And one of the things I find fascinating Todd right now, because I see it with my wife and her work habage and in the company she's working with, is it was reading this article where Amazon says we want everybody in the shop. You got to be here five days a week, and then Google says, well, wait a minute, we're going to
do three out of five. I know your company is not as big as those companies, but how do you feel about that?
Oh? I feel I have a hundred feelings on this. I mean, and I don't think there's a one size fits all by any stretch here. But I mean, I'm fifty two, and I don't know. I'd rather be, you know, in the car on the road, in my home office, in the office. I get it.
Get it.
If I were twenty two, twenty four, thirty two and I was trying to really build my career and make impressions, I would think I would kind of feel like I had to be in the office. I mean, it's hard
to make a really positive impression off a ZoomBox. But yeah, it's it's a you know, we're far enough away from the pandemic that this is no longer a safety issue, but it's a way of life and as an employer, and you know, this is still an ongoing wrestling match, and so I mean, we talk about it, but it's you know, on the one hand, I understand it, and on the other hand, you know, this is it's time to go back, man, It's time to get stuff done.
And I think the world is kind of grappling with this, particularly in this country.
Okay, let me play Devil's advocate, because I don't I don't know. I don't have an opinion out of the way, because I'm just a slob that talks on the radio at night when my wife makes all the money. I'm just being truthful. So what about the argument that in order to be competitive to get quality employees, because this is Google's argument, right, Like you say, Okay, I want anybody in five days a week. I can keep an eye on people, we can generate ideas, I can have
team building, we can have team chemistry. But Google says, look, we're losing very talented people, specifically women with children, that say I want to be home two days a week to see my kids. What do you say to that?
Yeah, I say they're not wrong. That there's a quality of life element that I think COVID certainly opened our eyes to what it feels like to spend more time in and around your home and to still be productive. So it makes sense that people would feel that way. I have a twenty two year old who's headed off to New York to go work in the investment banking field.
He will be in the office every day, every day for more than twelve hours a day, and he needs that in order to make an impression, learn shadow understand the sort of the cadence of the industry. He's going to have to be in that office and he will be.
I work in an industry of real estate where you often are in the field at the property, and we've realized through COVID that if our accountants are doing what they do in putting invoices and you know, following up on payables or receivables, they can do that from a home computer and they won't miss a beat. And if it's the right person, if it's a person who you know and trust. Then have at it. You know, come into the office a couple of days a week for
someone who is more customer oriented. You know, there's a lot of industries where that just doesn't fly. It doesn't work. And so again I repeat, but it's not a one size fits all. But I I you know, I would like to see my office mates more.
But for you, like when you say that, like, what does that do for you personally?
Sure? So, okay, it's fine to write an email, it's fine to pick up the phone and call someone. But think about how many interesting ideas and thoughts and sort of you know, just the process of being in a space with someone and thinking out loud with them and being you know, bouncing a creative idea off or being told by someone that's a dumb idea. But but why don't you look at it this way? There are some
things that are just inherently face to face. There's also there's certain kinds of information that you know, you can I can communicate with you with my voice, and that's fine, but you know, how I hold my hands, how I sit in my chair, how I taste around, Like there's all of these methods of communication that you don't have
when you are remote. So in terms of the quality of ideas, in terms of sort of the process of being collaborative, just just being around other smart people and hearing what they're thinking and then you know, riffing with them. That is it. That is an in person thing all day long. They haven't created the virtual Maybe they have, but but you know, nothing replaces being in the same space as a person and feeling what they're feeling and talking to them about that. So I'm still in that camp.
Well, I call it like you've experienced this with me.
I I.
Hate texting. If I have to text one of the five words, I pick up the phone and I call people, which some people don't like and they find annoying. I need personal interaction. I need to talk to a voice. Texting is fine. Meet me at six. I'm fifteen minutes late. Okay, yes, it's in my cousin Brian. Same thing. I felt like, Okay, look, I'm writing a paragraph. This sucks. I'm getting on the phone. Yeah, but that but I'm but I'm a dinosaur.
No, but I mean, look, can you imagine the concept of managing a group of people and not having the ability to sit around a table to you know, talk about the day in advance or talk about the you know, what happened yesterday like it. You can only go so far. I mean, text is entirely limiting, but but the phone is has some limitations too, So you know, why would I want to be back? I look the rhythm of a work week. I like being and I like going to work. I like being around people that I work with.
I like the energy that it sort of occurs when you're in that space. And quite honestly, I love going home. I love the concept of leaving work and saying I'm now in another mode, I'm in my car, and then I'm going to be home. I mean, there are things that I don't know, we didn't give a lot of thought to before twenty twenty, where you just had a rhythm to the way the world worked and there was something about it that was you know, effective, it was
it was productive. We adapted during those couple of years at home, and then there's certain things that we kind of held on to. You know, if there are chores that I picked up, certain household chores during COVID, you can't just hand them back so I still fold the laundry, or I still unload, you know, do the dishes or whatever the things are. And so my world shifted after that, and I know a lot of peoples did too.
The one thing about it now, I'm just going to go to the other side of the argument because I see it in my house. Instead of being in the car. You're up and you're starting to work at six am. You're in your office. You're working at six am. You're not commuting. You don't have to commute home. You're in your office till seven or Sunday morning, you go down in your office and you're working, or you start doing some stuff Saturday afternoon. If you're in your office five
days a week, that probably doesn't happen. Is there an argument that can be made for that.
Yeah, there is. There is. There's the you know, for some people, that hour, hour and a half long commute three hours a day, when you combine it, it is really really unproductive. Now I would argue for some people that's like mental health one oh one to need that time to separate, But that's another issue. I do think that if everyone in the world were driven and productive and at all times you were sort of capable of
plugging in. Well, then, yeah, that's a pretty beautiful image where I can work from six to eight and I grab some breakfast, maybe get a workout, and then I can dive back into work. I can go pick the kids up at one o'clock. But then I'm diving back in. And that sounds on paper like a really brilliantly kind of laid out schedule. The reality is you work from home. There are constant you know, someone's knocking at the door,
you're on a conference call, what do you do? Kids come home, they're bored, they want to you know, what do you do? It's not as picture perfect as we'd like to believe it is. There are moments, for sure, and look, connectivity or you know, really good technology allows me to sit at my home computer and no different, I have access to every file and every sort of
ounce of technology. I can be productive. But again, I come back to sort of the notion that like the cadence of a really productive work day has morphed into something very different. And so I don't know, there are bits and pieces candidly of each that I really like and kind of respect and want, But I do believe that that we're more productive when we have a workplace and a home place, and you are, you know, engaged at work when you're at work, and then when you leave,
you know you're in another space. So I call me a dinosaur if you want, but I'm still kind of in that space.
I want to talk about the sales process because I think when I was in sales one hundred years ago, it was still an in person business. Is it's still an in person business. That's coming up next with Todd Fernard, CEO of and our Properties.
After this, it's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news.
Radio carry Tageray for Dan Ringer and WBZ Sam Metler, the moderate from the West Coast and former camp made of my guest Todd Fernard George. I said, eleven o'clock. Now Sam comes on because he believes that everybody's screwed, Republicans and Democrats, which in Los Angeles makes a public evnemy number one, so he will, Yeah, he goes after everybody. So that's coming up at eleven o'clock right here on WBC. I want to talk about the sales process. This is
something I did when I started out. I was in radio. I was working part time just and I worked in I sold bank, I sold God. Here's another connection. I sold Lauren stanchions of all things. You know. Oh, there you go, velvet ropes, velvet ropes. Woo. The mark up on that stuff was incredible. No one of those guys were rich. I Amazon's great. Like I want to buy soap, fine, I want to order some batteries, fine. I don't want
to have a car delivered to my house. Now. I'm not going to mention any company names because it works for some people and it doesn't work for others. You know, in downtown Boston, there's that big thing there on mass av I think where they they showed cars that you can buy or you can whatever. It's a thing for carv on. Like you like basing cars online. I can't buy. I have to go sit in a car. I have
to go talk to somebody. So talk about the sales process, in how you feel that that has changed, and in how it varies.
Sure, so I'll say this, I mean, technology is, it's it's everywhere, it's ubiquitous, it's all around us. It is uh, you know, and and you'd be wise to sort of figure out how to use it, of course, but for us, and we're in the business of filling space. We're in the business of creating spaces and then finding tenants to occupy those spaces. And so there are all kinds of great tech tech advancements that allow us to, you know, quickly root out every operator of this type, of this size.
Here's their name, here's their number, go talk to them. And if at that point you then sent your mass email out to them, in my opinion, you'd get absolutely nowhere that you know, then when it becomes a sales process or a pitch of sorts, that is a human that's a human endeavor. That is something where you know, tell me where, tell me.
Where to drive, or who to call.
I would much prefer to see that person and you know, face to face, talk to them, walk into their store, tell them why I think they would do better in my location than the location they're in. But but to me, sales is this art form, that is this It's this combination of you know, how do you use technology to your benefit, but then how do you then use your human skills to essentially make the sale. I think that's true.
I think that's true everywhere but I'm sure there are examples where you know it is purely a you know, you've got to you've got to send out a million emails or a million text messages or in d MS or whatever, and then that's how you create your your your sales. But I don't know. I mean to your
original question about working from home. If you're twenty four years old and you're an aggressive salesperson and you're willing to get into the office every day and get on the road and make sales calls in person, I got to believe you've got such a massive leg up on every other twenty four year old that wants to work from home for three days a week. So that's my take.
Well, I going back to my sales days. I think what technology allows you to do is that you can qualify a prospect. It's a rifle shot approach versus a what we would call like a shotgun approach. I'm sorry about the weaponryturn yeah, but you know, or a laser approach. I should say where I can look at my clients, and I could say through technology, I save time because I'll look at maybe twenty five prospects and I can look at the details of what they're doing, and I go,
you know, ten of those people, I don't have a shot. Yeah, file maybe those ten. So if I take might and use my time and hone in on those ten and go knocking on those doors, that's the way to do it.
I agree, And I think the key part of what you just said is knocking on their door, right, Like, ultimately you want to get in front of them. You want to literally shake their hand, you want to look them in the eye. You want them to feel like they know. I remember Gary Tangway, he sold me those You know that there's a point of connectivity. And then once you have that point of connectivity, now it's a relationship that Now it's your job to sort of maintain that.
And whether that means you know, cocktails on a Thursday night or a Red Sox game, or just a note checking in that there's a familiarity. You know, at the end of the day, the human aspect there is what will make the sale, you know, and look, there are people who sell widgets and whether you get that for three cents or two cents, that's that's what we'll determine.
And so you know, perhaps for that salesperson, you know, a personal relationship is a bit less important, but generally speaking, there is no substitute for ticket items.
Like if someone's coming to the hard properties and you have a space, right and lord knows, I mean, you've had to make adjustments now where well, for we were at the Lacrosse Championships, and I have seen Patriot Place change over. And I know that's that's not your your your area, that's a craft thing. But you know, I know, I remember when Patriot Pig started, where god you had what's the it.
Was just big name that in the beginning, it was just big name national retailers. They took a mall, they they've made it an outdoor mall, and that's what they did. And by the way, fifteen twenty years ago, that was good enough. That's all you had to do. But the the you know, in the world of retail, real estate or place making or call it whatever you want, it had better be the most unique, the one of a kind. You have to get off your couch to come have
this experience. And the Crafts have done a really nice job with Patriot Place. You could point at any number of you know, outdoor, interesting, compelling retail experiences, but that as you say, that's evolved wildly over the last just ten years.
Right, Well, what I noticed with the down at the Lacrosse Championships is because when I was doing the period game show, you know, you had Victoria's Secret. That was the big thing. So we're gonna put Victoria's secret whether people come in the clothing thing didn't really work. But what they have now is entertainment bars, restaurants, ice cream shots, and the place is jammed, so that yeah, you know, it's not necessarily it's not necessarily a shopping experience. It's
an entertainment experience completely. I mean, we use this term.
They're all un they've created an unamazonable experience. It is all the things that you can't get on your cell phone. Right, you can't drink a cocktail on your phone. You can't you know, go on a date. You probably can. I should take that back, but you know, you the things that are compelling enough for you to leave your couch or leave your apartment or what have you and go out that they they've all realized that, like it's it's about creating an experience or an entertainment option for people,
or several options. That's too good, too good to pass up.
I know you love clothes.
I do.
Do you have to go into a store?
I do?
I have?
I have I have to touch the sweater in the same way that you may want to, you know, feel the avocado before you pick your avocado. I mean, I actually I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I enjoy grocery shopping. I enjoy going into a store and seeing sort of what it feels like or or looks like. I'm I am. I've realized that I'm not good at five five things to return four of them. I'll buy five things and forget to return them and then be pissed off at myself for six months. So you know it it there.
I'm old school in that regard, but I actually think that even retailers are getting better at making their store experience worth going Going to it is a better experience. It's it's I mean, I think we're seeing these things innovate in front of our eyes.
I agreed, like an idiot. I sometimes on Instagram, I'll see something like a shirt, Oh I like. My wife laughs at me. Anything I buy on Instagram is always a piece of crap. Yeah, it's a piece of and I go, oh my god, what a deal. Twenty nine bucks. Yeah, because it costs five cents. You know, you still have to go grocery shopping. You still have to go buy clothes. And I do remember this, this was a while ago.
You probably know the details, but the Brighters of the right felt grocery shopping is going to become a deliverable system, right, that's what's going to happen. And yeah, I mean, well, the Amazon bought you know, Whole Foods, and they had this system, they had distribution channels, they had warehouses set up, and it failed miserably because of what you just said. Nobody wants to buy a cump quot online. How about that? Put that on a billboard.
There you go. No, no one thought you could use the word kum quote tonight, but there it is. You did. I actually think that grocery shopping not all not for everyone and not all the time. But I think there is something in our DNA that actually likes the process of picking the things and browsing and and you know, you build a list, you go in, you check off the things on the lip that there's something really.
Great about that. That's an accomplishment.
Yeah, yeah, I mean we like like many families. I mean, I think we use instacart from time to time, and it's mostly for you know, the paper towels and the tissue you know, the tissue boxes or whatever those things that are. You know, you don't need to you know what it is produce meat. You know, there's certain things that I take. I enjoy the process of going to the meat counter and picking the actual steak that we're going to have. That like, that's you know, that's just
part of the game. And if you look at how Whole Foods and many other grocers have they've created their displays knowing full well that that's part of the whole processes. You want to be wowed by the produce and wowed by the the meat counter. So I I you know, I think that grocery, the grocery world has experimented with a bunch of different concepts that you know, kind of worked for a little bit, but did not take over
the industry. And it wasn't you know that the death of retail didn't happen because of the cell phone, but people still talk about it quite a bit.
Todd, You're great. I appreciate you coming on buddy, thank you. Do you have any questions from me? No? No, no, no, okay. Anyways, Todd Fernard, CEO of Ferd Properties, I don't know if you're the CEO, you're the president, you're the boss, you're the grand poop whatever, but I but I really appreciate you coming on and Lennings a midsec to this. I'll take some calls on this and see how people feel, like do you enjoy working from home? Do you would you? Do you like going in the office?
Uh?
Six one seven, two, five four thirty. That's coming out of next Todd and Joy and I talked to you soon. Thank you, Thanks buddy Ie Todd with us here on WBZ. What do you think next? On wbz's night Side.
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
To work from home or not work from home? What do you think? You're an employee or an employer. I want to know what is on your mind about this at six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty. I think it does come down to the individual. I can tell you that my wife is a workaholic. She's up and at him at six am every day and she could be on zooms and phone calls at eight o'clock at night. She is amazing. Thank god somebody works in our house. But that's not always the case. There's a
lot to be said for camaraderie. I mean, Todd Fernard was joining us earlier. You know, there are times you feed off other employees, your co employees. I feed off them. I get ideas, I brainstorm, I get motivated. I know, I like to be around people. I do a better job of tasks when I'm around people. If it's just me in a room, I get distracted.
You know.
I started looking on Instagram. I start buying crappy stuff that falls apart three weeks later. I you know, let me get a snack. I'll be right better. Let me get a snack. You know, I would say I'm not productive at home. I need That's why I come out. I mean, I could work from I could do the show from my house for WBC. I like to come in the studio. I like to be here. I like to see the people in the studio. I like to
see the people in the newsroom. I would not be You may think I suck at this job, whatever I've heard it before. I would not be as good at this job from home. End of story period. For a while, when I was on television doing sports during the pandemic, we did the show from home on our laptops. I was not as good. Not a chance, no way. What do you think? Six one, seven, two, five, four to ten thirty. I'm gonna go to Rick and Natick. Rick's
gonna tell us what he thinks on WBC's Night Side. Hello, Rick, Hey, how you doing.
I'm sorry I didn't get your first name.
It's Gary Jilly.
Well, first of all, you have a very good boy, and you moved the show along nice and quick.
I like that, thank y.
I did commercial real estate for about twenty years. The last gentleman that you had on the guests was very knowledgeable as far as sales. I did it with other corporations, but in real estate my business. I would go out and knock on doors and walk around the property. First of a warehouse or matter fact, building, and I would take a look like there's too many cars here, or there's too many trucks backed up, or I'd speak to the warehouse manager and I'd say, what's the name of
the president here? And you know, how are you guys doing it if they said, oh my god, we're really busy, We've got to get more space. Then when I walked in, and if I got a chance to talk to the guy, I already knew they had a problem. And you know, I already had his name in those days when you walked in the secretary a lot of times but just you don't want to get rid of you. But most guys in real estate, most companies, always wanted to talk
about their real estate. And if I hadn't gone out and talked to companies every day, I never would have been as successful as I was. And I probably closed eighty percent of all the customers that I ever talked to, only because I sat down with them. And these were vice presidents and presidents and companies, and I would find out what their problem was, and then I would turn around and say, hey, here's how I can solve it. Or they would say to me, hey, what did that
building down the streets though for? Or where's the featus rate? You can get me for another fifty thousand square feet of space. But the guys in Boston that did it by the phone, they had no clue what the building looked like, what the neighborhood looked like what the guy looked like. And in the old days, sales were personal relationships that you had with people, and if you were any good at it, you had a good relationship. This idea of the computers is fined for certain things, but
I think a lot of people don't. I think they missed the real challenging fun of sales, of meeting people and getting out, being the fresh year and solving something versus sitting and looking at some they have computer eight hours a day. Just my opinion.
Well, I agree with you, and I think in the sales process you mentioned listening, and when I was in it, briefly, the best salespeople I worked with listened, and you listened, But you also read body language. Yep, you read the situation. You could see the stress on someone's face, you could get you know, you could read the subtext if you will, And it's hard to do that when you're not one
on one with a person. And like I discussed with Todd, look you're gonna buy soap online, fine, but regardless, there are still going to be a lot of reasons for one on one sales. There's no doubt about it. Rick, Thank you for the phone call. I appreciate it. Go ahead, yes, sir, it's.
Going to buy a car, you want to sit it in. If you go to buy a pair of shoes, you want to see what they feel like.
I could never buy a car online. People do it. I know people do it. I can't do it. Not a chance, not a chance.
But I'd like to tell you more often.
Rick, I appreciate the phone call. Six one, seven, ten thirty is the number here on WBZ. That's good to Jim all the way to Kansas City, Jim, thanks for listening on WBZ get any.
Thanks for filling in for Dan.
Thanks buddy.
So they say ninety percent of what's communicated is nonverbal.
Right right, right right.
So here, I am a guy, so twelve hour credit hours past an associate degree from a community college. And so I know I'm not the only one that thought of this, but I see the solution is you just tell people that don't want to come into work every day. Look, we think you're be twenty percent more effective if you do come into work every day. So to come into work every day, we'll pay you X plus twenty and if you don't, we'll pay you X and I kind of know people a little bit, and you know what
walks and you know what dots? Right, yeah, money, Yeah, So but there must be some part of the equation that I'm missing, because otherwise I'm sure other people have thought of this.
Well, you know, it's interesting. I had lunch with my neighbor Bill Reich, who has been in business for thirty five years, and we were talking about this, and he's big on being in the office, and his feeling was, if you want to work nine to two and then go home, fine, you're gonna get paid from nine to two. He's exactly what you say. But his feeling was that's where ideas come from. There's also a team bonding aspect when you're working for a company, and I did feel
this when I was in sales. I worked for a company that is no longer a business call I don't think it is called Moorice Bluid, and I made long time friendships there with people people that I still talk to today. And you know, the sales guys, you know, or working with the production people. We would go out in the field and we would make deals and you come back and you talk to the production people. This is what we need to do. You work with the installers.
There is a camaraderie element to it where you're working as a team, and that can work. That can be beneficial. That gets people pumped up, That gets people feeling that they're involved in something that they're appreciated. Because I'll tell you something, Jim, most of the people want to do a good job. I still believe that, and they just have to be recognized and they need to be patted
on the back a little bit. Now, some people need a kick in the gass, but I think most people need it, and it's tough to give them that pad on the back digitally.
You know.
You know when the boss walks in, it says, good job. That is a month worth of currency. Okay, there's something to that, you know. In my opinion, there is something to that, you know what I think. The exception I do feel, Jim, is that like Google. I see where Google's coming from, and I think you have to do it on a case by case basis. If you have an employee that is a star that produces no matter where they're located. If they're at home, they get it done,
if they're at work, they get it done. For whatever reason, they want to work Fridays from home, but they continue to produce and you may lose that person. Then you say, all right, you're good, we can do that now if somebody.
Else, Okay, The way I think I would do that is instead of saying if you stay home, you're going to get X minus twenty, I would say you're still going to get your X, but if you come in you'll get X plus ten. You'll get X plus twenty.
Yeah. But let me ask you this though.
If you tell if you tell them you're going to get X minus twenty, then they might leave or they might be repeated elsewhere. But if you still if you tell them, look, you're productive. We know you're productive. You're still going to get your X. But if you're willing to come into work those extra two days a week, then we'll give you X plus twenty, X plus ten, X plus thirty, whatever you know, and just let them make the decision.
But then you're giving the people a bonus just for showing up. It's a unique idea.
Well, it's not for showing up, it's because they're more productive when they show up. We've already just okay, I got to go.
No, no, no, no, thanks to I appreciate the call. I don't disagree with you, but thank you.
I know I know you don't.
I don't disagree. But if you got to go, that's cool. It's certainly a viable alternative. Appreciate it, Jim, It's a viable There are situations where you could lose a good part. You know, even if you give them the twenty percent, if you say you're going to make twenty percent. Last if you work from home, you could lose some good people. Let's say, well, I'm going to go to work somewhere else. I think you have to look at at a case
by case basis. But I think what we are learning overall, and what companies are learning overall, is that you're more productive and you're stimulated when you're with other people. That's the bottom line. That's how I feel. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty. Maybe you disagree. What do you guys think? Coming up at eleven o'clock, my buddy the freak from the left Coast, the California Moderate, which makes him a Republican nosed Neck of the woods, Sam Medler At eleven on WBZ.
You're on Night Side with Dan ray On WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Welcome back. Six one, seven, two, five, four thirty is the telephone number here on wbc UH. Sam Medler joins us. Coming up in just a few minutes at eleven o'clock, and we're going to talk about We'll talk about everything. I love to talk about everything with Sammy, Uh, but get into what's going on in Washington, and I have to be honest with you. Where the hell are we at?
Wait a minute, the terriffs in or out the court said no, but then they said yes, and it's like it's mind numbing, and then it's just I gotta figure this out. But Samuel sent me straight in that situation. Now, Elon Musk, He's gone, you know something. You don't really last long with President Trump, do you. I mean, if you're in if you're with his if you're with him, your shelf life is about a half a year. Then he gets tired with you, he gets bored, he talks
to you aside. Oh my word, it's just bananas. It's absolutely bananas. Back to the work thing that we were discussing. I think it's a way to energize people. I think it's a way to build camaraderie. I do think, however, that there are companies that have to make allowances. For example, if you have a greatmployee they're going to leave, they say, I need to work it. You have to make exceptions to the rule, and if people don't like that, you
just say, look too bad. If you are as valuable as that person and you wanted that situation, I would give it to you. But you don't work as hard, you're not as smart, you don't mean as much to the company. That's one of the problems I do think with America here as I get on a soapbox, is we need to generalize everything. Everybody needs to be treated the same. No, you don't you be you're You should be treated on the value that you bring to the situation. That's how we built the damn place.
You know.
It goes back to the everybody plays scenario. No, everybody doesn't play. Now. I don't know how this works with labor laws. Of course, I'm talking out of my butt as usual. But if you have a company of two hundred people, why do you have to say, Okay, here's the situation. If you want to go home on Friday, you can no it's a merit based situation. If I think is the boss that you can handle the responsibility of working from home, then you can work from home.
If you are as productive working from home on Friday as you are in the office, fine, But if I don't think you will be, you don't get to do it. And then what would happen with that person, man or woman? Whatever? Would they go cry? Would they say it's not fair, No, it's fair. It's based on your evaluation as an employee. Now,
if you're working internationally, now here's another situation. If you're working for a company that is all over the world and you go into an office and in the office you're on zooms all day because you're talking to people in Florida, or you're talking to people in China, or you're talking to people on the West Coast or in katman Do or the Galapa Ghost wherever, really matter, where you are probably not. I don't think it does. I don't think it does. Also, human contact makes you smarter.
You can read all you want, you can listen to podcasts all you want, but human interaction makes you smarter because you're observing human behavior, you're observing how the world works. You're getting the subtext. What is the person really saying to you. You don't get that in an email. We've seen people get pissed off. I've had people get pissed off at me because I've sent an email and I go, what are you talking about? I go, relaxed, He I didn't.
You can't detect tone in an email. You can't detect body language in an email, but you can in an interaction. How do you generate ideas? Can you brainstorm digitally? Eh? Maybe on a zoom. Maybe if you're in different parts of the country. But if you're on the fifth floor and the other person's on the third floor and you're competing, you're talking on a zoom. That's ridiculous. That's just lazy. Get your ass out of the chair and go one
on one. I don't think it's so much that companies feel that we need to keep an eye on people. I think they feel that human interaction generates ideas and generates productivity. Here's the basis of an idea. I think we should do this. That person says, well, what about if we try that? How about if we add on to that. You can't do that on an email. You can't do it on a text? Can you do it on a zoom? Maybe? Maybe? And I think that's what companies are finding out. Plus, isn't it more fun to
be with people? Oh? By the isn't it more enjoyable to come in and do a radio show with Rob Brooks on the other side of the glass, to see Dan in the newsroom, to come in and see people. Isn't it more enjoyable?
Yes?
Plus than you can gossip. I mean really, when it comes to working from home, I gotta tell you, the office gossip has probably gone down greatly. I love office gossip the best. Who's sleeping She's sleeping with him? Get out? Reason number one on the Tangue lists to return to work five days a week. Office gossip. Sam Metler, The moderate freak from the West Coast Next on WBZ