Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com May 11, 2015 • Hartford Business Journal 25 BIZ BOOKS Tips to succeed in business over the long haul "T he Ultra Mindset — An Endur- ance Champion's 8 Core Prin- ciples for Success in Business, Sports and Life" by Travis Macy with John Hanc (DaCapo, $21). You need extreme focus and mental tough- ness to challenge yourself and deal with adver- sity. From running marathons in Death Valley and Antarctica, climbing the French Alps and rappelling into caverns in Asia, Macy's unique experiences helped him devel- op and hone a success mind- set. Whether you own/run a business, or are climbing a corporate ladder, his "8 Core Principles" spark inspiration: 1. "It's all good men- tal training." How you feel drives how you function. Phys- ical exercise stimulates brain regions involved with mental acuity. It also contributes to brain health by helping main- tain healthy blood pressure and weight, improving energy and lowering stress and anxiety. It keeps the heart healthy, too. If you're not exercising, start. If you are, change your routine by varying exer- cises and increasing resistance. 2. "Be a wannabe." Identify high- achievement role models. Define why you wannabe like them. Figure out what you can do to emulate them by staying in touch and picking their brains. You'll find that they've had their ups and downs — and they responded to the downs by committing to getting better "the next time." 3. "Find your carrot." Moti- vation makes things happen. Many people focus on intrinsic motivation (i.e. doing some- thing that we find enjoyable or interesting). They all too often ignore extrinsic motivation (i.e. doing something that leads to a specific outcome) — especial- ly when things don't go as planned. Identify three things you'd like to accom- plish. For each of these, complete these three comments: "I am motivated intrinsi- cally because…. But I can tell when intrin- sic motivation is tiring when…. When that happens, I could utilize extrinsic motiva- tors by telling myself…." 4. "Have an ego and use it — until it's time to put your ego aside." You have to believe in yourself. Ego, as Macy defines it, means creating accomplishment through careful, yet adaptable, planning and a healthy dose of grit. Humility plays a role is the defi- nition, too, because no one succeeds alone. 5. "Think about Your Thinking: What and Why." Employ what thinking on detail-oriented, important tasks, and why thinking on the mundane stuff (like paper- work). The why may relate to getting it done so you can get back to the important stuff. Macy points out that both what and why may exist within important tasks because details can become boring. 6. "The 4:30 a.m. rule: When you have no choice, anything is possible." By committing to timetables and deadlines, you create a commitment clock, which becomes your action-now, accountability clock. "You don't worry about whether or not you actually feel like taking action when it's time to spring into action." 7. "Bad Stories, good stories: The ones you tell yourself make all the difference." Negative thoughts produce inaction. There's always an upside when you're upside down. To regain the upside quickly, flip the script on what happened by making it into a learning experience. This gives you a new goal, which needs a new plan for achieving it. 8. "Never quit … except when you should quit." If you are doing something with your life that you don't want to do, then quit, and replace it with something you do want to do. In a sense, that isn't really quit- ting. Rather, it involves reevaluating where you are versus where you want to be. The reevaluation should be done by reviewing principles one through seven. Key takeaway: Make yourself uncomfort- able. A comfort zone quickly becomes a danger zone in which routine becomes your enemy. n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak EXPERTS CORNER Is your volunteer really an employee? By James F. Shea and Collin O'Connor Udell I f you run a not-for-profit, you may be grateful for the assistance provided by your volun- teers. Perhaps you can't imagine your organi- zation functioning without their dedicated assis- tance and you want to reward them. Or perhaps you are having trouble finding or retaining vol- unteers in the current economic climate, so you are considering offering financial or other incentives. The message from the Connecticut Appellate Court last month was "be care- ful." In CHRO v. Echo Hose Ambulance, the court considered for the first time what the word "employee" really means as it is used in the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (CFEPA). In that case, Sarah Puryear, a vol- unteer crewmember with Echo Hose Ambu- lance, was suspended and later removed from her position with the organization. She sued and brought claims of employment discrimina- tion against Echo Hose and the city of Shelton. Her complaint was dismissed on the grounds that she was a volunteer, not an employee, and was therefore outside the protections of Con- necticut's employment discrimination laws. On appeal, Puryear argued that the court applied the wrong legal test to define the term "employee" under CFEPA and that she was, in fact, employed by Echo Hose. The Connecticut Appellate Court disagreed. The Appellate Court found the statutory definition of "employee" in CFEPA, which defines employee as "any person employed by an employer," to be circular and of no help at all. Under Connecticut law, courts can look to outside sources to interpret an ambiguous term, and in the context of CFEPA, that means cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sec- ond Circuit interpret- ing CFEPA's federal counterpart, Title VII. In 1997, the Sec- ond Circuit articulat- ed the remuneration test as a preliminary way to determine whether an individual is an employee. Under this test, a volunteer can become an employee for purposes of employ- ment discrimination laws if: 1) the individual receives pay for services; or 2) the individual receives indirect but significant remuneration such as health insurance, vacation time, sick pay, life insurance or retirement benefits. In contrast, indirect but tangential remuneration will not effect such a transformation. Where should you draw the line to ensure that your vol- unteers remain volunteers and not employees? The Connecticut Appellate Court's decision in Echo Hose cited with approval a Second Cir- cuit case holding that a volunteer who was paid no salary, but received "numerous job-related benefits" such as health insurance, sick pay, vacation, disability pension, group life insur- ance, survivors' benefits, scholarships for depen- dents upon death, or other "indirect but signifi- cant remuneration" was likely an employee. In contrast, the Appellate Court cited a Second Circuit case holding that benefits in the form of clerical support, limited tax deduc- tions, and networking opportunities were not enough to transform a volunteer into an employee. It also cited a Fifth Circuit case hold- ing that a volunteer firefighter who received $2 per fire/emergency call, a life insurance policy, full firefighter's uniform and badge, firefighting and emergency response gear, and firefighting and emergency first-response training, was not an employee because those benefits did not satisfy the remuneration test. While these cases do not establish any bright lines, they provide guidance for evaluating whether your volunteers are actually employees for purpos- es of workplace discrimination laws. Because Puryear had not alleged in her complaint that she was paid for her services or that she had received indirect remunera- tion in the form of substantial benefits that were not simply incidental to her duties, she was unable to show that she was an employee rather than a volunteer and she lost her case. What is the take-away? While it may seem tempting to boost vol- unteer ranks by offering various benefits as incentives, a decision to do so should be con- sidered carefully with the assistance of coun- sel in light of this new decision. Certainly, if you are paying your volunteers for their ser- vices, there is a significant risk that they are employees of your organization. However, even in the absence of direct monetary compensation, if you are offering significant indirect benefits to your volun- teers like those described above, the Echo Hose decision should serve as a wake-up call, and those benefits should be assessed. Other- wise, with the most benign of intentions, you may transform your volunteers into employ- ees and open the door to workplace lawsuits and other unintended consequences. n James F. Shea and Collin O'Connor Udell are attorneys in the Hartford office of Jackson Lewis P.C. James F. Shea Collin O'Connor Udell ▶ ▶ Whether you own/run a business, or are climbing a corporate ladder, Travis Macy sparks inspiration. ▶ ▶ If you are paying your volunteers for their services, there is a significant risk that they are employees.

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