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This & That

A Yen for Egg Rolls

Do the recipes they serve at your local Chinese restaurant really come from China? Don't bet on it. Here are a few food facts to munch on.

• During the Gold Rush of 1849, one merchant who set up shop in San Francisco was a Chinese American named Norman Asing. He opened a restaurant called, "The Macao and Woo-sung" and charged $1 for an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. It was the first Chinese restaurant in the United States.
• Chinese cooks learned how to modify their dishes to make them more palatable to a wider American audience. The result was Chinese-American cuisine, food that looked and tasted "Chinese," but was actually invented in the U.S. and was unknown in China.
• Chop Suey. In 1850 a bunch of hungry miners busted their way into a chow-chow late at night and demanded to be fed. The chef just stirred all the table scraps and leftovers he could find into a big mess and served it. The miners loved it. When they asked what it was, the chef replied, "chop sui," which means "garbage bits" in Cantonese. The dish remained virtually unheard of in China until after world War II. Today, it's advertised there as American cuisine.

Source: The B.R. Institute Reader,The B.R. Institute, PO Box 1117, Ashland, OR 97520

Focus on an available engineer: This engineer has five solid years of experience developing engineering solutions in C, C++, Delphi, Visual Basic, and Intel x86 Assembly Language. He has a BS in Physics and a Masters Degree in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Minnesota. His Masters Degree project was in Numerical Algorithms.

Ways to Involve Participants

Try one or more of these methods to keep interest high in your training sessions:

• Start off by asking participants to list what they consider the five best practices for the training topic. Have them huddle with three other people to exchange ideas. Payoff: They'll get new ideas and earn credit for having some of their own. And you'll deter any know-it-alls in the group
• Give participants three minutes to write down everything they can think of about the training topic. Have them share two points they've noted with the group. Then tell them you'll return to those points later to see what effect the training has had on their thinking.
• Ask participants to form small groups and come up with the worst-and the best-examples of the training topic that they've seen or heard about. Then have each group present its examples and discuss them.
• Work with participants to develop a "Top 10" list. For example, the list might cover the traits needed to succeed or the skills for effective teamwork. Try to get them to come up with 10 or 15. Then have them put their "Top 10" in priority order.

Source: Peggy Morrow, writing in Houston Business Journal, American City Business Journals Inc., 1 West Loop S., Ste. 650, Houston, TX 77027.

Could You Lead Others?

Determine your leadership potential by answering "Yes" if a sentence describes you and "No" if it doesn't.

1. I hesitate to share ideas with my co-workers because I want credit for my work.
2. I'm always strapped for time, but I easily leap from one task to another even if I don't finish every one.
3. When I disagree with team members in a meeting, I don't hesitate to tell them.
4. I often follow advice from my co-workers even when it goes against what I think is right.
5. I'm optimistic that things will always work out. But I'm willing to accept any negative consequences of my decisions and choices.

Answers: l. If you said "Yes," you'd probably have trouble trusting those you would lead. 2. A "Yes" here labels you as probably too impulsive to lead as well as you could. 3. You're probably too aggressive if you said "Yes" to this one, and that could limit your effectiveness. 4. A "Yes" here means you defer too easily to what others tell you, and that could make you a weak leader. 5. If you said "Yes" to this one, you have at least two important leadership traits: self-confidence and courage.

Note: We realize that you could exhibit one or more of the traits in 1-4 and still succeed as a leader. But we believe your chances are better if you don't.

Source: Communication Briefings, September 1998, Financial Times Professional Inc., 1101 King St., Ste. 110, Alexandria, VA 22314.