American mathematician Norbert Wiener had a reputation for being a little absent-minded. According to one story, when his family moved to a new Massachusetts home, his wife insisted on supervising every detail of the move because she couldn’t depend on Wiener to remember the important details -- like their new address.

Wiener went to work on the day of the move with a piece of paper his wife had given him; on it was written his new address. During the course of the day, he used the paper to work out an equation and then discarded it. At the end of the day, Wiener returned home to his old address, now an empty house.

At the door, he suddenly remembered that his family had moved, but he had no idea where his new home was. Spotting a little girl riding her bike down the street, he called out, “Excuse me, I’m Professor Norbert Wiener, and I’ve just moved. Would you by any chance know what my new address is?”

The young girl replied, “Hi, Daddy! Mom said you’d forget.”

The good news is that, even if your memory is better than Professor Wiener's, it can still be improved. There are many ways that you can train yourself to have a better memory.

Like every other skill, it takes practice and a commitment to get better. Many of my friends think my memory is terrific, but they don’t know my tricks. Like most people, I forget 50 percent of what I hear within hours, so I make a point of writing things down.

I also have a special phone dictation line at my office. I can call it 24 hours a day, seven days a week and leave all sorts of messages, letters, notes and so on. And I don’t go anywhere without my iPhone, paper and pen. I am constantly writing myself notes and leaving them where I can find them. I’ve been known to put notes on my steering wheel and dash in my car, on my office chair and phone at work. I put them on the floor by my bed so I see them when I wake up in the morning, on my bathroom mirror or in my sink.

Name association is another arrow in my quiver. When I meet someone and want to remember their name, I associate names of other famous people with the same names and repeat them over and over to myself. Similarly, to help me with phone numbers, I think about how I can connect the number to a significant date or event. Repetition aids retention. I repeat things over and over, which helps me remember names, phone numbers and key statistics. Also, I’ve learned that if I write things down enough, I will remember them.

A study by UCLA researchers found that older people can improve their brain function after just 14 days of following some simple, healthy lifestyle strategies. Incorporating healthful food, physical activity, stress reduction and memory exercises seems to help improve cognitive function.

Here are some of the health strategies participants worked into their daily routines:

-- Memory exercises, such as crossword puzzles and brain teasers were worked on throughout the day.

-- Five small meals a day in order to prevent drops in blood glucose levels, because glucose is the main source of energy for the brain. Participants also ate diets rich in omega-3 fats, antioxidants and low glycemic carbohydrates like whole grains.

-- Daily relaxation exercises to prevent the release of cortisol, a hormone that can impair memory and damage memory cells.

-- Daily walks.

Up until about 10-15 years ago, it was believed that we were born with a fixed number of brain cells that eventually died out. Now scientists know that brain cells regenerate throughout our lives. And one thing seems clear: To keep the sharpest memory you can for as long as you can, get moving. Aerobically, that is. Studies have shown that people who engage in aerobic exercise perform better cognitively and show increased brain volume. In another study, participants who exercised showed lower rates of dementia. That’s because exercise actually encourages neuron generation in the part of the brain that processes memories.

Back to the absent-minded professor. Wiener once observed to a colleague, “People attach much too much importance to memory.”

“I disagree,” said his colleague.

“Disagree with what?” asked the professor.

Mackay’s Moral: Pale ink is better than the most retentive memory.

A small business owner was in trouble. She decided to call in an expert sales consultant to give her an outsider’s viewpoint. After she had gone over her plans and problems, the business owner took the consultant to a map on the wall where she had stuck brightly colored pins where she had a salesperson.

“Now,” she asked, “for a starter, what is the first thing we should do?”

“Well,” replied the consultant, “the first thing is to take those pins out of the map and stick them in the salespeople.”

Ouch! This business owner never learned the basic lesson: It’s not how many salespeople you have, it’s how many sales your people make.

At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we have a formal sales force, but I live by the motto that every employee we have is in sales. They all represent our company and impact our customers.

Sales is the lifeblood of all business. There are no companies unless someone brings in the business. So, short of sticking pins in them, how do you fire up your salespeople?

One of the most effective incentives I’ve used over the years is crisp, crunchy, crackly, cold, hard cash. Money remains a prime motivator, but there are many others.

Recognition promotes results. At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we recognize our employees with tickets for sporting events, theater, symphony concerts and dinners. We like to celebrate our employees’ accomplishments.

I make a point of recognizing people in front of their peers. Why not give others something to strive for and show them how you value good performance? Ever meet a person who didn’t like recognition? No way.

Promote successes. We have a large bell at our company, and any time we get a big order, our sales reps can’t wait to ring it loud and proud. People come out of their offices and want to know about the sale and get excited to match or better it.

Another key ingredient in motivating a sales force is learning how people want to be managed. No two people are alike. You need to get in the face of some people and give a lot of slack to others. Some like to be challenged; others are self-starters. Get in the trenches and learn more about your team’s skills.

Continue to train and educate your sales team. You don’t learn everything in school -- you learn all your life. I’m a big believer in continuous education. If one of our people learns a new sales technique, we ask them to share it with the team so we can all benefit.

We’re always brainstorming and experimenting. Sometimes things don’t work out, and sometimes they do. You can’t punish people for making mistakes, as long as they don’t make the same mistake three times.

Finally, you must allow your sales force to focus on selling. Let them do what they do best and help them in any way possible with great marketing materials. Lighten their load by requiring them to fill out fewer reports or work flexible schedules to meet their customers’ needs.

Columnist Ben Holden tells the story of a newly hired traveling salesman named Gooch who wrote his first report to the home office. It stunned the brass in the sales department because it was obvious the new man was illiterate. He wrote:

Dear Bos: I have seen this outfit which ain’t never bot a dimes worth of nothing from us, and I sole them a couple hunerd thousand dollars of guds. I am now going to Chicawgo.”

Before Gooch could be given the heave-ho by the sales manager, this letter came from Chicago: “I cum hear and sole them haff a millyon.”

Fearful what would happen if he did or did not fire the Gooch, the sales manager dumped the problem on the president. The following morning, both letters were posted on the bulletin board with the following memo from the president:

“To All Salespeople: We ben spending two much time trying to spel instead of trying to sel. Let’s watch those sails. I want everybody shud reed these leters from Gooch, who is on the rode doin a grate job for us, and you shud go out and do like he done.”

Mackay’s Moral: Do a sales job on your sales force to promote stellar sales.

It is no secret that I love to play golf. And it’s no secret that I have conducted a lot of business on the golf course. Perhaps the worst-kept secret of all is that I have learned a lot during rounds of golf, particularly during a very memorable recent game.

My golf partner last week was the very delightful Harold Smith, who with his brother-in-law, Don Mains, co-owned a chain of 65 Tradehome Shoes stores throughout the Upper Midwest. He’s been retired for some time now, and plays golf whenever he can.

A friend suggested I invite him to join me for nine holes, and he happily accepted. On the first hole, Harold two-putted from 70 feet. On the second hole, he got down in two from off the green. I won’t bore you with the rest of the scorecard; suffice it to say, it was a great game that I will likely never forget.

Did I mention that he is 100 years old?

Harold expressed his gratitude for the invitation, because as he told me, all his friends have died. Our conversation exposed many commonalities: our alma mater (University of Minnesota), our love for sports and many friends in common. But I was particularly interested in his business philosophy, which we also share.

The Tradehome business model is rooted in customer service and employee recognition. Their business grew at a rate of two to three stores a year. They made sure stores were performing well before expanding further. They took their time to hire the best people for each store.

Each store had five to 10 employees who had the opportunity to work their way up. Store managers concentrated on promoting from within, never going outside to hire. In the small cities where they were located, the store managers got to know the local kids so that they knew whom to hire.

An employee profit-sharing plan was started in 1955. Some employees had as much as $800,000 in their plans when they retired. Harold said the plan was a great way to retain employees.

Customer service is a hallmark of Tradehome stores. No one likes to be ignored, he said, so he told employees to focus on everyone who walked into their stores within seconds. He and his brother-in-law worked hard to stay ahead of their customers, understanding that they needed to watch the trends on the coasts that would make it to the Midwest.

They considered themselves creative marketers, offering services such as polishing customers’ shoes when they walked into the stores. They offered a liberal return policy with no questions asked. They would exchange shoes purchased from a competitor, noting that people would forget where they bought them. That didn’t matter, they reasoned, because customers would come to their stores to buy because of their service and price.

When it was time to retire in 1999, they didn’t want to sell to a conglomerate that would fire many of the employees. Instead, they sold the company to nine key employees at a much lower price to make sure they wouldn’t have to lay off people. Loyalty to Smith and Mains was foremost.

But life wasn’t all business. Family, faith and sharing their wealth were also priorities.

Harold and his late wife, Mickey, loved to travel and were especially interested in visiting places of Jewish interest. They collected Jewish artifacts from all over the world, including antique Hebrew Bibles and Torahs.

Eventually, through a friend, they connected with the renowned Minneapolis Institute of Art. The director expressed interest in their collection and his desire to establish a Judaic gallery. He also explained the funding that it would require. That meeting led to the couple donating much of their collection and the funding to support the Harold and Mickey Smith Gallery of Jewish Art and Culture. The gallery is one of only two of its kind in the country.

We covered a lot of ground that day, and not just on the golf course. You could say the game was simply a delivery method for this wealth of information. And Harold saved his best gems of wisdom for last: his secrets for a long life!

-- Positive attitude toward life.

-- Have good genes.

-- Don’t abuse your body.

-- Always eat healthy.

-- Exercise often.

-- Get plenty of sleep ... don’t cheat on sleep.

-- Keep your mind active and stress down.

-- You have to be lucky.

Mackay’s Moral: When you have the chance to golf with a centenarian, the score isn’t as important as the lessons learned.