“Improving Your Public Image” with Mark Furman of Tarlow Breed Hart & Rodgers

Jeffrey (1s):
Well, hello everybody. And welcome back to Radio Entrepreneurs. My name again is Jeffrey Davis, and it’s really hard to believe that it’s January, 2022, and that we’re still talking about entrepreneurship and business and how to adapt to this economy. This economy is changing at a pace. I think that really is quite unprecedented, and that’s why we like every week speaking with Mark Furman director at Tarlow Breed Hart and Rodgers. Welcome back mark, and glad to see you again,

Mark (31s):
Happy new year Jeffrey. Great to see you.

Jeffrey (34s):
Good, nice to see you obviously hope we can do it for many, many more years. Mark. What’s hot.

Mark (42s):
Well, you know, I, it’s a new year and I’ve been thinking about, you know, we’re all in business, professional service providers, manufacturers, distributors, and we’re all trying to help other people. And I was thinking about how that’s really wonderful to have that opportunity to help other people. And in addition to being a good thing to do and something that feels good, it also helps business build our, our business and our brands.

Mark (1m 29s):
So I was thinking about a case that I had years ago that I’ve tried to use as a little bit of a, something to always keep in mind. We were litigating against a fortune 100 company and they had this internal marketing report that we got our, our hands on through discovery. And they said, the report said on average, people will talk about you for 20, 28 times on average. That’s what the reports. So I always thought to myself, well, what do you want them to say?

Mark (2m 11s):
But, and I tell young lawyers who work with me and I asked them that question. And, but it’s true of every business, you know, what do you want your customers to say, Jeffrey, what do you want your clients to say? What do I want my clients to say? It’s not that Ferman doesn’t care about me from, and doesn’t return my phone calls or doesn’t respond to my emails. I’m actually going for something a little different than that. And so when they talk about you for 20 on 28 different occasions to 28 different people or more because they be talking in a group at a party, there used to be parties, Jeffery, maybe they’ll be party Sunday.

Mark (3m 6s):
Again,

Jeffrey (3m 8s):
I figure I fit into the world today because now, you know, I’m not sure I got invited to parties before and now I’m not invited to parties. So at great I fit right in

Mark (3m 19s):
Status quo, completely unaffected. So the other, you know, unrelated thing, unrelated thing is, you know, this whole pandemic thing, which is so old, you know, has me thinking about, you know, how fortunate I am and how more aware of income and acid and the quality there is. And, and you know, this last week before COVID, I would have had a fly down and with Lana, for depositions and, and then those depositions resume next week.

Mark (4m 11s):
So I’d be flying down again next on Sunday. And because of COVID, I go from my kitchen, into my office and am at the depositions all day, no air travel, no, none of all the hassles associated with it. And then there are, you know, all these people who are in a very modest amount of money who have throughout COVID been on the front lines and, you know, as part of helping people, which we’re all in business to do.

Mark (4m 53s):
I think thinking about how fortunate we are and considering how we can give back is, is really important. It’s not what I usually talk about here, Jeff, but it’s, that’s what I’m thinking about as we enter a year three of this pandemic,

Jeffrey (5m 16s):
And you made me think about a few things mark, as I hope you make a lot of people think I, you know, the first thing I did, the third thing I thought about was that I read recently that the nurses in Ontario, Canada want to go on strike because they feel that their value they’re being undervalued and they want to be paid as much as policemen police people. And you know, you’re making me think about that and how important they really are, how they are our first line defense right now, how hospitals are overrun and they’re feeling undervalued and underappreciated. And I think people need to be appreciated. And it made me think I hate to make it about me.

Jeffrey (5m 57s):
What, what I like to hear from people I work from that they say that they say about me, that I like is a lot of times people have said to me over the years and most recently through COVID, I wish I would’ve met you a few years ago. I don’t know anybody else like you, who do, who does what you do. And I think that’s important because you know, people need help making change right now. And making change is really the dominant factor in business and in life right now, and dealing and navigating and navigating that. And so trying to help people to make change, make change in my own life is important and being patient enough to understand people and what their goals are.

Jeffrey (6m 39s):
So I do think you’re right. Thinking about what people say about you there at your efficacy. We talked before the show about, I told you about a person I know, and what I said about that person. And that’s, you know, it was not a positive thing and we want to have positive reputations. We want to be able to in this world make a positive contribution. I think it would make things a lot better right now. So I think you brought up a very important message and one that I think everybody should be thinking about today. What do I want people saying about me, but really what do I want to be? And in this world, how do I recraft myself or adjust myself for this world that we’re now living in?

Mark (7m 22s):
So we’re each in our lines of work are similar. Jeff, in that we each in giving advice to our clients frequently have to tell them things that are a little uncomfortable for them, things they would, they don’t necessarily like to hear, but they need to hear. And so our credibility as professionals is to tell them like, it is do it in a nice way, but guide people, whether it’s legally or in business consulting so that we can, our advice has value to them and being a yes, man, or yes, woman to clients is I certainly believe is unprofessional and not proper.

Jeffrey (8m 30s):
I agree. Yes. Manny, yes, woman. Isn’t right. We could have a discussion about the yes. Husband, a happy home, but I, you know, I agree with you. There are a lot of tough decisions we all need to make right now. And I think that’s what you’re really bringing up. And what’s our role in terms of helping people make tough decisions and making our own tough decisions. I don’t think there’s a, I know who isn’t looking in the mirror right now and also asking themselves these questions, the same questions that their clients are asking them. So this is a time to look in the mirror and ask yourself tough questions every day, thinking about these things.

Jeffrey (9m 10s):
So I appreciate the topic that you’re bringing up.

Mark (9m 13s):
So I, you know, you mentioned nurses than I was, I know a nurse who just resigned, retired, I guess who certainly two years ago had no intention of retiring now, but just the burnout over what she has experienced and dealt with over the last, the last two years. And she works in a hospital and which as you know, has been the frontline for severely sick COVID patients.

Mark (9m 59s):
And, but I think that she found, you know, the most recent period, the post-fact seen availability period, to be the most difficult because in her view, almost everybody in the ICU is unvaccinated by choice or medical, you know, some medical reason or religious region, whatever.

Mark (10m 42s):
But, you know, I think it burnt her out.

Jeffrey (10m 48s):
I think that’s an easy subject to touch and see cl before we go, I’ll touch another one other category. You know, there’s a lot of movement around the country about defunding police and new regulations over police forces. And you know, some of the police, senior police people I’ve talked to have told me that they don’t want to do arrests anymore because it’s only going to get them in trouble. So the things that they may have taken action on before for public safety, they will not take action on today and almost down to a very minute, a minor level. So figuring out how to handle these things moving forward also, I think is very important to people, you know, nurses, these people who are public servants, who are here for our public health, the police, the fire department, the nurses, the doctors, we have to understand what they’re going through and the pressure they’re under too.

Jeffrey (11m 45s):
And their responsibility has been a hundred percent for taking care of us. And we don’t want to let a few bad doctors bad, or let’s say bad police people take down the whole system. And so I think we’re here to, we’re under a great transition and we need to understand what they’re going through. They’re not happy,

Mark (12m 6s):
Right? Well, we, we live in such polarized times where we almost can agree on what day of the week it is. And it was a, I saw her on 60 minutes recently, this segment about someone who started a program where politically polar opposites have brought together for period of time in a controlled environment to talk about their lives, their beliefs. And, and it seemed like an incredible program to, you know, my view is you first have to unionize people because believe it or not, we’re all human beings.

Mark (12m 54s):
And then, and then you can have conversations. I have the same feeling about people talking to each other who are of different faith traditions. It’s a good thing. It’s not a, it’s not a bad thing.

Jeffrey (13m 13s):
And, and we’ve found over decades watching the middle east conflict, that where there is cooperation between certain moderate factions in the middle east with let’s say Israel, that it’s because they found that they had a mutually beneficial reason for working together. And I think finding, you know, points of joint need helps us all to work together. So I think you brought up a good subject. I wish you all the best for 2022. I know you’re going to be back on the show many times. If someone’s looking for you, mark, how would they find you?

Mark (13m 50s):
I can be reached at 6 1 7 2 1 8 2 0 2 5. That’s my direct line or email M Ferman, F U R M a N at T B H R dash law.

Jeffrey (14m 5s):
And remind everybody, this is Radio Entrepreneurs.