Harrison Law Group - February 2021

Harrison Law Group - February 2021

February 2021 The Contractor’s Advantage

HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000 [email protected]

One Project After the Next

Keeping Busy in the Winter

Every kid should get to experience a snow day. This winter, my two kids have certainly gotten that opportunity. And our dog has also discovered the joys of a snow day — and snow in general. Ruthie loves to run around in the snow, probably a little too much. She exerts so much energy that we have to call a timeout and bring her in after a while. But I’m glad we found a new way to wear her out! While we’ve had our snow days, this winter has presented us with many differences compared to past winters. Normally, our family loves to go to museums and other similar attractions during the winter months. The National Aquarium is a great example. The kids always love to visit the aquarium, along with the science center. These are great wintertime destinations because we get to spend time indoors, and the kids always love the more hands-on exhibits. Of course, that presents a problem this year. Hands-on exhibits are officially hands-off. There are just too many safety concerns to think about, so we’ve had to do other things. One of the big activities in our household is reading. Reading has generally been one of our favorite pastimes — mine especially — but we’re doing more of it. One of my favorite local bookstores closed to foot traffic for a while, so I had to make an appointment to shop. It was surreal being the only person browsing books, but it really made me feel like a VIP customer. I’m glad they found a solution to allow people into the shop — even if that meant severely limiting foot traffic.

The other big winter activity is simply walking outdoors. I love walking in the snow: The combination of the deadened sounds and the sharp cold really brings clarity to the mind. At times, it can be meditative and calming to walk through the snow. I’ve also been working on a big DIY project at home. Over the summer, I put a pea gravel patio in our backyard. It was a straightforward project that probably would have taken a good contractor a weekend to do, but I completed it in about eight weekends. Not wanting to stop there, I started a few more projects around the house. Late last year, I spruced up our basement with some new carpet and even a new wall. Now, I’m working on yet another project, this time in our dining room. We decided we wanted built-in bookshelves and cabinets in the dining room. Our dining room has become something of a schoolhouse. Because the kids do a lot of distance learning, studying, and homework there, we thought it only made sense to put in some bookshelves.

I will admit this endeavor has become more complicated than other projects I’ve taken on, but I’m getting there. I’m looking forward to wrapping it up so we can put it to good use. Then, who knows what project I’ll take on next!

Reading has generally been one of our favorite pastimes — mine especially — but we’re doing more of it."

-Jeremy Wyatt

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The COVID-19 Economy Demands Happy Employees — Even Remote Ones! It’s Not Just for Silicon Valley Anymore

You know those businesses that are just different ? Think of Costco, Vistaprint, Whole Foods, and Southwest Airlines; they are great to do business with, you can tell the people who work there are happy — and you just know they’re killing it from quarter to quarter on their earnings report. Even during COVID-19, they’ve kept on trucking. The secret they know is that one great employee equals three average employees, and it’s cheaper to pay superstars 150% or more of the average industry wage to keep them around. What would it look like if all your employees were superstars? For starters, you might have weathered the pandemic better. Those kinds of employees are flexible problem- solvers who roll with whatever is thrown their way, and they stick around through tough times. On the flip side, if you saw people quit, I doubt they were all that happy or adding value in the first place. But how do you stop other employees from following in their footsteps? To make employee transitions easier, try the open exit. Under this plan, employees notify their manager when they start looking for a new job, sometimes months in advance. This allows you to keep their schedule flexible for interviews, and they can use you as a reference. In turn, during times of turnover — like the pandemic — you’ll have 6–8 weeks to find and train their replacement,

and your business won’t be short- staffed while you ramp up a new hire. Ideally, that new person is at full capacity by the time the old employee actually walks out. It pays to show the love. That can be tricky with remote workers, but good pay is one good way to do it. Benefits are another: Resist the urge to make your remote employees contractors! But don’t neglect the small things, either. A birthday card or note of appreciation in the mail can make all the difference. It’s tempting to view the flexibility of remote work as a reward in and of itself. But do your systems allow for true flexibility, or do they keep your employees stuck at a desk or constantly on the phone? Streamlining

your business, with employee input, is something we should all be doing.

Many books and training programs have other ideas on this topic. Try “Uncontainable: How Passion, Commitment, and Conscious Capitalism Built a Business Where Everyone Thrives” by Kip Tindell. I also recommend “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Passion, Profits, and Purpose” by Tony Hsieh. Finally, D.H. Hansson and Jason Fried’s “Remote: Office Not Required” is required reading for anybody doing business remotely these days. It's anyone’s guess what 2021 has in store, but no matter what it is, you can’t afford unhappy employees. Read up, and then level up your business.

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Fraser Gets Keys to the Citi The 1st Female CEO of Any Major Wall Street Bank

Since Jane Fraser, Citigroup’s former president and CEO of global consumer banking, was named the bank’s new CEO, she’s been profiled by People magazine, interviewed in Time, and discussed extensively by the news media. That makes sense: Fraser is the first female CEO of any major Wall Street bank. She’s also bringing new thinking to the sometimes stodgy industry, and those in the world of finance and business are watching her carefully, especially because Fraser will be leading the company through one of the most turbulent markets in recent years. That turbulence extends beyond the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. Last summer’s protests over racial inequities have many Americans blaming capitalism itself for injustices, and Fraser is attuned to that. “The wealth gap is disrupting society and has caused people to lose faith, and so much of the problem comes down to access,” she told Time. “The average Black family in America has just one-tenth the wealth of the average white family.” Fraser worries that the economic fallout from the pandemic could exacerbate these inequalities if not addressed. She believes that solving this dilemma starts at home. Citi recently divulged statistics regarding the pay gap between its male and female employees, and Fraser is pushing for more diversity in its workforce. Citi’s focus on elevating “the talent that exists” among women and people of color is part of what led to Fraser’s consideration as CEO. As she put it to Time, “the biggest impact we can make as a bank is through our core business capabilities.” HAVE A Laugh

And that’s an important point to make when many are doubting our system's ability to address inequality. But Fraser has always been a problem-solver. According to The Financial Brand, she led Citi’s Corporate Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions group through the 2008 financial crisis — a position enviable only for the paycheck. She moved people and assets around, freeing up smaller companies that could be sold to help make up for the losses everyone was experiencing at the time. In an interview with LinkedIn, Fraser also emphasized the importance of having a balanced life. One game-changer for her as a mother was realizing “that you can’t do everything at the level you are comfortable with.” Plus, leading a balanced life makes for “better leaders and far better professionals. You have to have the courage to say, ‘This is my path’ — and the organizations have to support it.” Clearly, this approach has taken her far. It’s taken Citi far as well. They’ve weathered the pandemic admirably, getting everybody home safe and working remotely when possible. Where others were struggling to stay afloat or make the transition, Fraser says Citi didn’t miss a beat. In fact, the pandemic has helped dramatically increase the rate of digital banking adoption by consumers and clients. Any time there’s a shakeup in a major Wall Street player, there’s potential for upheaval. Will Fraser’s appointment lead to turmoil? Or will she lead the industry into the future, addressing the needs of the public as she does? Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain: It won’t be business as usual. Handing out cards is now a well-loved Valentine’s Day tradition, but have you ever wondered why? It’s in the Cards Why Valentine’s Day Is the Ultimate Card Holiday There are legends that the originator of this holiday tradition was Saint Valentine himself. One story says that on the night before he was set to be executed, Valentine wrote a small letter to a jailer’s daughter. He ended the note with “Your Valentine.” It’s unknown whether that story is true, but to 18th century Europeans and Americans, it was inspiring! So inspiring, in fact, that the entire Valentine’s Day industry began to gain traction.

During the 1700s, it became fashionable to trade Valentine’s Day cards with a short poem or verse. The popularity of swapping cards only increased throughout the 1800s. Sometimes, people would go as far as to paint or draw spring-like images on the cards. Today, Valentine’s Day cards are an ingrained tradition, and now people can’t get enough of them!

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Jeremy Wyatt [email protected] HarrisonLawGroup.com (410) 832-0000

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Inside This Edition

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How I’ve Been Keeping Busy Throughout the Winter

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Did You Learn From the COVID-19 Economy?

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New Citi CEO Shakes Things Up What’s the Deal With Valentine’s Day Cards?

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Lockdown Ads: Have You Seen These Ones?

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Level With Me: Always Clarify the Scope of a Project! Well, That Was Fast Advertising in the Time of COVID-19

Almost a year ago, most of the United States entered a period of lockdown in an attempt to thwart the spread of COVID-19. For marketers facing an economic crisis, this presented a conundrum unlike any they’d seen before. On the one hand, it was likely that spending would drop, although the increase in nationwide unemployment payouts helped mitigate that. On the other hand, they now had a “captive audience” like never before, with people streaming movies and television from home at a record rate. The lifestyles of those consumers had changed dramatically — could advertisers meet the challenge?

in several large American cities, but it had yet to crack the national market. As their ads put it, they wanted to be a coast-to-coast solution for new car sales, and our newly confined circumstances meant many more Americans were interested in Carvana than before. The company dumped money into its streaming ads, and the results speak for themselves: Bottoming at $30 million in March, their stock was valued at more than $200 million just a few months later. Some advertisers settled for merely reflecting the new norms of remote life and work in their advertising, with mixed results. If we weren’t tired of the Zoom-focused Progressive ads featuring Flo and cohorts back in spring 2020, we’ve surely grown tired of their hard-to-parse antics by now. No matter who’s doing the advertising, studies done as early as April 2020 found that many consumers were tired

of being reminded of the pandemic every time they sat down to watch TV. With national anxiety at an all- time high and mental illness spiking during the pandemic, that’s no surprise. People didn’t want to face the reality of the virus every 10 minutes due to advertisements. On the other hand, some businesses were just hampered by circumstance. Carnival and Norwegian Cruise lines both ran aground with their streaming ads focused on spring and summer getaways. These seemed especially tone-deaf given that cruise ships made headlines at the time as vectors for massive COVID-19 spread. But the true loser of 2020 advertising was Corona beer. The poor beverage company never stood a chance.

They certainly tried.

For retailer Carvana, the virus was almost a boon. The Tempe, Arizona- based auto seller had already gained fame for its “car vending machines”

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Level With

Me By JeremyWyatt

Always Clarify the Scope of a Project!

Put it in the contract!

Last year, a local developer built a series of town houses. Behind one of the rows of town houses was an incline. After construction was complete, the incline began to collapse, putting the town houses at serious risk. The hill was shearing away in a direct path toward the new homes. This left a lot of people scratching their heads. How could something like this happen in the first place? There were three engineers on the project — surely one of these engineers would have caught such an obvious fault? Or someone could have at least designed or modified the hill in order to prevent this kind of shearing, right? The answer, of course, is yes. Someone could have . But no one did. And there was one simple reason: It was not included in the scope of the project. It wasn’t in a contract, and no one was explicitly asked to assess the safety of the hill behind these homes. So, it was never looked at.

From a professional’s standpoint, someone should have looked at the incline, regardless of whether or not it was discussed in a contract, but that didn’t happen. This type of oversight happens far more frequently than it should (it should never happen). This is a prime example of why it’s so crucial to clarify the scope of a project. It’s important to make sure that everyone on a project, contracted or otherwise, is 100% clear on the scope of the job they have been hired to perform. Otherwise, there may be gaps, and something crucial may be overlooked, such as the hill.

In clarifying the scope of a project within a contract, three things should happen:

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or group. It shouldn’t be relevant to just the engineers on the project but also to everyone with duties on the project.

It starts with utmost clarity.

Everyone on the project should have written instructions on what is supposed to be done. The more precise those instructions, the less likely something will be missed. It might seem like overkill, but if everything is set out piece by piece, you will not end up with a costly mistake to fix later on. There needs to be a meeting of the minds. Clarity also depends on people reading the contract from front to back. Everyone should be on the same page as to what the contract spells out. If there is something they don’t understand, they should reach out to the general contractor or someone in the know for clarity. No one should be making assumptions. The scope should be easy to understand. Expanding on #2, the scope of the project should be fully comprehensible. This goes beyond clarifying what needs to be done; each element of the job should be clear to each person

It also comes down to one final point: Always read your contract carefully!

If you have questions or concerns about a contract or you want to make sure a contract is up to standard, call me at (410) 842-0145 or email me at [email protected]. I’m here to answer your

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questions and resolve your concerns so you never have to make assumptions. You deserve clarity on any project you may be taking on.

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-Jeremy Wyatt

[email protected]

www.HarrisonLawGroup.com

(410) 832-0000