24 Nov 2002 #0247.html

Board Room Wisdom

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Dear Paul and Kate, Melanie and Jared, Bridget and Justin, Sara, Ben and Sarah, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, and Matt via hardcopy,

cc: file, Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, and Maxine Shirts

Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief, thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members. Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.

"Swede Nelson (../0113.html) gave me an interesting lecture this week. It was titled `Board Room Wisdom.' The lecture was so good, I'm going to attempt to reconstruct it, and those of you who work in the business side of your professions will do good to review this every once so often.

`In Board of Director meetings a question often comes up which no one in attendance knows anything about. Then some outspoken person in the room, let's call him Charles, speaks up and within 15 minutes everyone in the room is an expert on the topic they really know nothing about. Then they leave the board meeting, and they speak of this topic as if they are experts. People hear these important people talk about these things, and this Board Room Wisdom becomes general knowledge, and accepted as fact, even if there is not one iota of basis in fact.'


As he finished, I said, `I understand. I've been there. My name is Charles.' He laughed, and told me I understood what he was attempting to teach me. He pointed out how I have a tendency to give people much more than they want. How I have so much in my mind, I start spouting, and then someone checks the spelling or the numbers, find a spelling error or a mathematical inconsistency, and throw the whole message out, because my words come across as Board Room Wisdom.

I'd ask how often you guys feel the Thoughtlets are simply Board Room Wisdom, but I probably wouldn't get any answers, so I won't ask. I guess I picked this as a topic for this week because I seem to be coming across a lot of this kind wisdom these days.

Actually, work-wise, it was a pretty good week. I met Escopeta Oil and Gas about an exploration project in the Cook Inlet of Alaska at 10:00 Monday morning. I expect them to hire me to do some data mining and integration. Sam LeRoy and Richard Nehring will both help with this. I went to a POPS luncheon at 11:30. Henry Groppe talked. Great talk. Those interested in oil prices ought to read my notes when you are down here at Christmas. Bottom line is he things we have run out of anything less than about $5.00 or $5.50 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) gas, and expects oil to hover at or above $30 per barrel. In the afternoon I met with Brad Macurda and Laura Hullman about industry training courses. For those interested in this, there are some web pages about this at www.walden3d.com/courses. Matt did the Family Home Evening, and he really is a pretty good teacher, even if he always wings his turn at the lessons.

Tuesday was spent with Basil giving presentations to ConocoPhillips, who reevaluated OPL-229. They seemed to leave very positive. It will be interesting to see if they move fast enough. In Saturday's Chronicle there was a big article about how they are going to grow the upstream side of their business. They are not going to find a better opportunity than OPL-229, and it will be interesting to see whether they choose to pursue this or not. I went out with the missionaries in the evening. We taught a third discussion to an unmarried black couple. He described himself as a thug on the street in his youth. However, they had read the Book of Mormon, had a very good spirit about them, and seem to be sincerely searching for truth. Sort of reminded me of ConocoPhillips earlier in the day. The ConocoPhillips folks were up against Board Room Wisdom about working in Nigeria and with Nigerians. The couple was up against their churches `wisdom' about Mormons, and all we represent.

Wednesday I was asked to call Jude in Nigeria. We had a good talk. I explained we had not received the payment that was due last Friday. He explained to me the bank was doing a `Round Robin,' where they sell the cash for black market Nigerian cash, then resell the Nigerian cash, and make about $1,000. per $10,000. in a couple of days. He assured me the money had been sent, and I felt his response was Board Room Wisdom. However, the money was wired from Nigeria on Thursday morning. Bet that is the first time any of you have heard of someone actually wiring money to the US from Nigeria. How many of you have got one of the Nigerian letters saying they have $24 million dollars and just need your bank account information to send it to you? Don't ever do this, as they empty your bank account. I feel like this was a major milestone. Andrea and I watched Enterprise while Matt went to Young Men's.

Thursday and Friday were a little slower. Although there is another probable interpretation project in the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Montana. This is a big area about the same size of and adjacent to Glacier National Monument on the Canadian border. This project will be done through Swede Nelson. There was a three hour presentation at II&T to the representative of a Nigerian Investor who is talking about buying a large chunk of Emerald stock. His name is Mnuna Ogunka, and his card says he works for the Department of Petroleum Resources. I was very impressed with him. It seems like Jude is hitting 100% with the Nigerians he introduces to me. They are all first class people, and I have not seen any of the scam tendencies shown in the e-mails and letters asking for help to place $24 million. I also made some progress on my book, `An Open Mind.' I've written about 50 pages so far, and I like how it is going. It will be interesting to get comments from those of you that have an interest in reading this. Also, I got a nice note from Ron Burgerner illustrating Board Room Wisdom. In this case, it was a slam against the liberals who are fighting against tax cuts because it only benefits the rich. I quote it for your benefit, and encourage you to read it a time or two until you understand it:

`This is for all those that can't understand Tax cuts, and is called the Tax Cut Parable This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Read on - it does make you think!! Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this. The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; The fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18; and the tenth man -- the richest -- would pay $59. That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement -- until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six -- the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?" The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being *paid* to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" "That's true!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" "Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!" The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They were $52 short! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. Author unknown but very wise.'


About the same time Ron sent this, there was a Doonsbury Cartoon, where the liberal and the conservative are squaring off on a radio talk show. The liberal says he does not understand the big Republican win at the polls, and imparted some Board Room Wisdom stating his party needs to get back on track with prescription drugs for everyone, and a couple of other entitlement programs. The conservative simply said, `This is why the Republicans won big at the election.'

I've learned a little bit about a potential monopoly based in Vidor, Texas. Memory Melodies has a provisional patent, and so I can mention it in the Thoughtlet. They will sell cards with music chips inside of them and currently have 8 songs on chips. They get their first shipment in December and will be in business starting in January. Melanie, be careful about Board Room Wisdom, and get good advice for each stage of your new business. Remember my Board Room name is Charles.

Sara called as follow-up on a conversation we had in Austin. She expressed interest in marketing and selling Heritage Galleries On-Line (www.hgol.net), and is going to go out to New Ulm with me to talk to Ken Turner about it when she is in Houston for Thanksgiving. Remember my name is Charles when it comes to business wisdom, and so you might want to get some additional advice on this. I do think it is an opportunity with a lot of upside. And I've been proven to be too early time and time again.

Kate has been sending Journal entries out on Grant Matthew for several weeks. A few weeks ago she explained her Mom does not know how to read e-mail, and does fine with web pages. So I built a web site for Grant Matthew, and when Kate sends out a journal entry, I simply move it to the web site. This is a lot of fun for me, and it helps me feel like I'm involved with a grandchild, even if I'm a long ways away. I guess folks always like to be copied, and Kate's journal entries are a lot like my Thoughtlets. Isn't the imitation the greatest form of flattery? Anyway, for anyone interested in these, they are located at http://www.walden3d.com/GrantMatthew.

Friday night Andrea, Matt, and I went to see the new Bond movie: `Die Another Day.' I always have liked the Bond movies, even if they are a bit raunchy. This one was more like a comic book than most. I encourage each of you to go see it. I think you would all like it. There were not near as many people as when we went to `Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' last Friday night. And it was interesting how most of the attendees were older. Guess there is a different demographic for these two movies.

Between a run, choir practice, helping Andrea paint the kitchen ceiling, a trip to Katy for the Ward Activities Committee, and working on my book, there wasn't time for any Board Room Wisdom on Saturday. Today was pretty busy too. Enjoyed church, and the song the choir sang was nice. Last week I left High Priest Quorum hurt and somewhat angry. First time I ever remember those feelings from a priesthood lesson. Today it was the opposite. When we got home I finished putting the 102nd song in my notebook. This means I'm ready to start writing new songs when you all come to visit at Christmas. I still don't know if Audrey and Heather are coming. I hope you do! It was interesting to realize there are about 28 tunes that are started, with a couple of lines of a chorus or a verse, that are not included in the 102 songs in the new book. Our Home Teachers came at 4:00, and then Matt and I went Home Teaching. We had a few minutes between appointments and so Matt drove the car around the church parking lot for a while, and then he took the back way and drove all the way to Chris Schmidt's house, and then after giving the lesson back to our house. Did a really good job, for his first time to drive this far. Of course, it was with the new Saturn (0244.html), which has an automatic.

Mom sounded good, and she was happy with the flowers she received for her birthday. She did not remember getting any phone calls on her birthday. You can still call her and talk to her, and I encourage this. She is going to have an operation in the next couple of weeks. Even though it is day surgery, she will have to ride to St. George, sit up for about three hours, and then ride back to La Verkin. It will be hard for her.

In terms of next week, hopefully the Cook Inlet Project will start on Tuesday. Investor evaluators from Woodside are coming to town Wednesday through Friday to evaluate OPL-229. I might be working Thanksgiving day, and I will not know for sure until Wednesday evening. Hopefully we will present sufficient data and proof there will not be any decisions made on the basis of Board Room Wisdom."

I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. To download any of these thoughtlets go to http://www.walden3d.com/thoughtlets or e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.

With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)

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Copyright © 2002 H. Roice Nelson, Jr.