When dogs attack: Three life lessons
Here are Mike’s stories (in an 11 minute speech) of two “dangerous” encounters with dogs and the three things he learnt.
One dog was called Fluffy, the other Tyson.
He learnt three key lessons for life & work & conflict:
- The importance of using #LocalKnowledge;
- Being careful about “losing it” and letting the “red mist” of aggression descend; and
- How looks can deceive.
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Mike Barnato 
Whilst your 3 lessons from encounters with dogs are useful there are more lessons applicable to life that can be gained from your encounters:
1)Never Assume or Presume-Verify
These are never to assume that what you are being told about a situation or animal is accurate and take steps to verify with intelligent questions what the true situation is.
The answers have to be quickly evaluated and the person giving the answers observed closely if they are strangers or you are in that person’s environment for the first time.
2)Observe Aggressively and Unobtrusovely
When you are in a strange or unfamiliar area ,avoid public houses that advertise football on wide screen televisions,have dirty curtains or windows or have a seedy and downmarket appearance.
3)Apply the Favourite Aunt and Loved One Test
The test is a simple one,would you be happy taking your wife,daughter,favourite aunt or mother there assuming these last people are alive?
If from external observation the clientele look as seedy as the public house as they enter it then don’t go in and if the test I have described gives you a feeling of dread or unease then do not go in.
Remain a safe distance away in your car and make sure you have water and refreshment with you,that the car is locked and that you are in security camera range so that if someone does bother you,they can be identified from the CCTV footage.
4)Complete Your Business Quickly/Be On Your Guard
If you ever go into a strange establishment which does not meet the test avoid discussions with the clientele,order your crisps and drink and make sure you have a wall behind you and have worked out how to leave swiftly and quietly.
Be civil to the barman,manager,or proprietor but do not sound too relaxed,then finish your refreshment and leave.
5)Read and Relax in Safe Surroundings
Save your reading of newspapers,reports,e-mails ,smartphones and tablet devices for upmarket hotels,your club,and good coffee shops full of middle class people and students.
6)Learn from Walking Speeds and Shopping Bags
With businesses I follow a maxim taught to me in America by my late father in law which is to observe how quickly people walk and time them and near shopping centres to observe how many people out of 10 carry shopping bags that do not contain distress purchases like food(people have to eat).
Whatever speed people walk at to get from a car park into their place of work that is less than 4mph(the speed of Ghurka’s on a fast march) then that is the amount of lost profit and the room for improvement in a business.
Thus a 2.5 mph walk(the speed of a Royal Marine marching on a long trek with a backpack and rifle or a policeman walking his beat(rare these days) means a potential room for improvement of 40%.
I have tested this over 24 years in different consulting engagements(65 in all since the 1990’s) and within 5% either way after looking at the accounts and completing rigourous business and PESTEL analysis it is accurate.
Sometimes I will sit over a mile away if a hill overlooks the client’s premises and observe staff coming to work very early in the morning through high powered Zeiss binoculars which I use for motor racing and for those times when I attend Ladies Day at Royal Ascot.
7)Learn More from How People Walk especially about Morale/Prosperity in that area
I look at how they(the employees) walk(willingly,reluctantly,with purpose,aimlessly ,upright,stooped) and from that alone I can assess morale before I have even got to the car park.
Then when the client or prospective client bangs on about how wonderful morale is in the business I know how far apart he/she is from reality and what might need to be done to ameliorate the situation.
It also tells me what coaching activities need to be performed and by whom based on the level of perceptiveness or otherwise which the prospective client or client ,demonstrates.
The observation of the speed of people walking and carrying expensive non discretionary purchases is a good guide to the levels of prosperity in the area,(busy ,productive people walk quickly) and people with too much time on their hands,the unemployed and the feckless walk aimlessly and very slowly and cannot afford very much.
8)Learn More about how people think–Shoes and Hands
In terms of observation look closely at people’s shoes and look for signs of wear at the heel which shows ill temper and lack of personal discipline especially if there is aged dirt and no attempt at polishing or cleaning.
Also look at people’s hands and fingernails whilst listening for the things they miss out of sentences to determine where they are really coming from
JOHN A GELMINI
March 31, 2018 at 8:46 pm
Thanks John.
There are some really interesting practical points about awareness & attention here.
I guess points 1-5 are mostly about personal safety and 6-8 about productivity, prosperity & personality.
Really interesting – thanks again.
Mike Barnato
April 1, 2018 at 6:01 pm
Mike – I have had similar experiences with dogs, the most recent while on holiday when I was bitten by a small dog (no blood but severe bruising) after going to help a lost soul. The lesson being not to ignore even small innocent looking dogs or the quite one at the back of the workshop..
As a child growing up in the blitz ravaged east end of London, I was often confronted by lone dogs wandering the streets and not knowing whether they were friend or foe. The lesson for me was to manage my fears by proceeding on my course either by trying to stear clear or just keep on walking and not running. In a professional sense as a consultant this probably equates to working at the edge of one’s comfort zone.
jeffrey herman
April 1, 2018 at 5:48 pm
Thanks Jeff for some very interesting comments. I was struck also by the phrase “managing your fears”. I guess the worst thing you can do with a potentially dangerous dog is to run..
Mike Barnato
April 1, 2018 at 5:53 pm