Irony In Motown

This is a short and simple story. Probably too simple. The moral of the story is obvious.

Who would have ever thought we’d see a strong example of LEADERSHIP coming out of Detroit of all places? I’m not disparaging the Motor City in any way. Motown has played a critical role in my life for decades. It’s just that one seldom links leadership to this particular city due to the demise of the auto industry and what we have long known as The Big Three.

Ironically, it’s one of the Big Three that is currently basking in the limelight, demonstrating what true leadership can accomplish.

Let me share a few facts that pretty much speak for themselves.

Washington provided in the vicinity of $82 billion dollars of OUR money to bail out General Motors and Chrysler last year.

Ford Motor Company refused assistance because it knew about the strings which would be attached to any government loan. It knew its hands would be tied.

The 21st Annual North American International Auto Show began this week in Detroit.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, thronged by reporters and cameras, led her entourage of a dozen members of Congress on a two-hour walk-through of the floor, squeezing onto show displays while top company officials talked up their businesses. They were there to check on OUR investment. Guess what they found?

Every year the Annual North American International Auto Show acknowledges the Best Car and the Best Truck of the Year. Seldom do both designations go to the same manufacturer. This year they did. Ford Motor Company took both honors. It took NO bailout money and yet out-performed and out-produced its two competitors that took billions from taxpayers. Think about it!

I must admit that I’ve never been fond of the Ford family and the reason is probably unfair. I’ve never approved of the way the family managed our Detroit Lions … the NFL football franchise they’ve owned far too long. It’s been a long-standing case of poor leadership.

However, Henry Ford’s great grandson William Clay (Bill) Ford has certainly gained my respect. Three years ago he stepped down as the leader of Ford Motor Company because he knew he wasn’t doing the job necessary to succeed in a very competitive, chaotic environment. That’s a tough choice to make when your name is on every building in the empire and every one of your cars in the country.

However, Ford recruited Alan Mulally, the President of Commercial Airplanes for Boeing. He chose Mulally for his reputation of being a “people person.” Ford was ridiculed by many at the time because the new President and CEO wasn’t a “car guy” and knew little of the auto industry. However, he had proven at Boeing that he knew how to lead people, and that’s what Ford was looking for. The rest of the story continues to provide a valuable lesson to anyone concerned about success.

Re-read this story with your staff and discuss the consequences for everyone involved. Then discuss how it relates to your own organization, its future and success.

I wonder if Nancy Pelosi and her Washington cronies, from both parties, know this story… probably not because the facts are on the table, not passed on under the table.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Warm Hearts, Business Smarts, or Both?

Sometimes I think people look too hard and too deep for the solution to a problem or challenge. More often than not, the resolution lies right in front of us … as evident as the nose on our face. Here’s another example taken from the headlines of today’s paper.

We all know that the airline industry is trying to cope with constant challenge and chaos from every direction. So how do they cope with this constant onslaught? They increase prices, under the guise of a bag fee, on an already heavily burdened customer base. They file for bankruptcy. They accept bailout money. They merge. They take away our pillows and peanuts. None of these ignorant strategies have come even close to a successful outcome.

However, every once in a while, you’ll find an organization that does something that seems very obvious, but apparently isn’t, which costs little or nothing, and results in indisputable success. We saw this with Southwest when it refused to charge a bag fee and enjoyed an increase in its share of the domestic market this past year by about 1%, which equated to about $100 MILLION dollars. Its competitors that introduced the aggressive bag fee lost money, market share and customer loyalty.

Now Air Tran joins Southwest in the execution of a very secretive strategy known by many as “uncommon sense.” What it did was:

  1. Very simple.
  2. Very thoughtful.
  3. Cost nothing.
  4. Brought happiness and a lasting memory to two people, their families and friends.
  5. Garnered incalculable publicity, exposure, and good will.

Take a look at the video link provided at the end of this article and you’ll see a very short, heart-warming story about a lovely couple who now have a fond airport memory they’ll never forget. Few can make that statement.

John Kilpatrick of Duluth, Georgia, knew his girlfriend was flying home to Dallas for the holidays. Unbeknownst to Erin, John slyly booked a flight which departed just prior to hers allowing him to arrive in time to be at her gate when she landed. He planned a simple, “drop-to-one-knee” proposal. To make certain all went smoothly, John confided in and requested assistance from the Air Tran ticket agent. Before he knew it, the agent had enlisted the help of the pilot and flight attendant on Erin’s flight.

On landing in Dallas, the pilot used the plane’s PA to request that Erin remain in her seat as the rest of the plane departed into the terminal. As soon as the plane emptied, John entered, walked to Erin’s seat, knelt and proposed … obviously stunning Erin as she thought he was still back in Georgia. Erin quickly accepted John’s proposal, and they left the plane and entered the terminal where all her fellow passengers were waiting and applauding!

How thoughtful of Air Tran! No cost, little effort, great outcome! Frosting on that wedding cake for Air Tran. Great publicity all over the Internet at no cost to them whatsoever … a little polish to that image in an industry that certainly needs it … and great memories for many who will continue to talk about that experience for years to come.

Why can’t other organizations use a little “uncommon sense” from time to time? It’s not really that difficult and the results are positive for everyone involved.

Watch this video clip and you’ll see what I mean!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Culture Change a True Challenge

Well, they’re at it again at GM (Government Motors). They’re grasping for straws as they’ve apparently tried everything else. They’re obviously running out of options.

The Board of Directions announced December 2 that they were accepting the resignation of new CEO Fritz Henderson. Polite translation means they dumped him and the reason readily emerged as they stated it was unhappy with the pace of the Detroit automaker’s turnaround since emerging from bankruptcy. Ed Whitacre, the company’s chairman, takes on the role of chief executive while GM searches for a new president and CEO.

The Associated Press created major headlines claiming that “New CEO Seeks Change in Culture at GM.” Apparently Whitacre, the former CEO of AT&T, Inc., announced that GM would be required to dump its stodgy hierarchical approach to decision making. He told employees that the bureaucracy needs to end, and they can take reasonable risks without the fear of being fired. “We want you to step up. We don’t want any bureaucracy. We’re not going to make it if you won’t take a risk.”

Personally, I think he’s right on the money. Who could possibly argue with that philosophy? However, I also think GM is a little late with this revelation. I’ve been doing supervisory training for this automotive giant on and off for the past 30 years and have grown to know the culture intimately. Trying to generate a culture change at this late date will be more challenging for GM than trying to turn around the proverbial battleship in a bathtub! While it looks great in print and sounds like a sound strategy, it should have been implemented decades ago. Bureaucracy is so embedded in this culture that it has become a way of life for GM leadership as well as the front-line employees who despise it!

Is there a lesson here for us? Absolutely! In today’s chaotic and unpredictable business environment, anyone who seeks survival, success and growth had better adapt an attitude and strategy of being much more open to the fine art of risk-taking. Those who can’t or choose not to will find themselves falling behind in no uncertain terms.

Can GM pull it off in these late stages? We can only hope so at this point for the remaining 266,000 employees who remain on the payroll for the time being.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Determination Can Be the Key to Success

Henry Ford was, indeed, a very unusual man. Volumes have been written about him both pro and con. However, there one’s particular story that makes a strong case for determination and persistence. In the early 1930s. Ford was determined to create a powerful single casting V-8 engine for his cars. This was something that experts worldwide said was impossible. One could easily surmise that these declarations were a driving force to achieve Ford’s unrealistic goal.

He called together his top engineering group, explained exactly what he wanted accompanied with a deadline. In a very short time, the chief engineer shared the group’s finding with Ford. It simply couldn’t be done. Ford voiced his disappointment and proceeded to fire the engineers involved.

He promptly hired a new group of engineers, explained his goal, shared the findings of the previous team, and sent them off with high expectations. The new team of engineers soon returned to share the identical findings of the first. It simply could not be done. Again, the esteemed automaker thanked the team for their efforts, voiced his dismay, and released them from their contracts.

Still determined, Henry hired a third group of engineers and proceeded to repeat the process of explaining his high expectations and conviction to reach them.

This group was a little more intense in evaluating the “big picture.” They reviewed the consequences given to the first two groups for failing to achieve Ford’s vision, reviewed the findings of both groups, developed new approaches and possibilities and in early 1932 introduced the first powerful single casting V-8 engine to an eager automotive industry and a large audience of intrigued car buyers.

The moral of this story is quite obvious. If not for the dogged perseverance of Henry Ford and the rare ability of the third engineering group to foresee their undeniable consequences should they fail their assigned task, we might still find ourselves sitting behind a 6 cylinder vehicle today.

Do you possess that dogged determination to achieve your chosen goals? It could make all the difference. The choice is yours!

Henry Ford was well-known for his common sense philosophy. He often said: “Whether you THINK YOU CAN or think you can’t, you’re right!”

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

One Man’s Woe – Another Man’s Dough!

While the economic scene continues to be reported as bleak at best, that’s not necessarily so for everyone. Take retail for instance. The retail industry has reported more store closings from coast to coast in the past two years than ever before. However, 7-Eleven, the world’s largest chain store with 35,900 stores in 17 countries, has announced plans to open an additional 200 stores in the U.S. this year. By the way, to give an idea of how large it is—McDonald’s has only 31,062 stores.

Ironically, the two largest areas of expansion will be California (a state in financial chaos from border to border) and the New York metropolitan area (which is very competitive at all times).

One might question this growth strategy at a time when the entire country appears to have fallen victim to recessionary madness. However, consequences of this madness aren’t all negative for all parties. Falling real-estate values have made long-term leases very attractive to landlords, and many have been eager to strike bargains with 7-Eleven and other similar retailers.

While 7-Eleven actually charges more than most grocery stores, convenience obviously means even more to many consumers who try to save money by under-buying during their visits to the market. You won’t find gigantic shopping carts or massive displays of product stacked to the ceiling at a 7-Eleven … thus less impulse purchases.

7-Eleven stores are appealing to New Yorkers because its quality control ensures that the stores are clean and well-run, in stark contrast to many of the corner delis that currently function as the city’s informal food-distribution network.

7-Eleven isn’t alone in its strategy to use the recession as a tool for broadening its reach. Bargain-priced department store Kohl’s is on track to open 50 new stores next year, and Swedish fashion chain H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) says it plans to open 225 new stores this year.

Dollar General has announced plans to open 450 new stores in 35 states while Big Lots has 45 new stores on the drawing board for the coming year. The target for all of these retailers: price-conscious, bargain-hunting shoppers forced to live within a strict budget as the national media warns of greater challenges on every front.

Adversity is fertile soil for creativity and action!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Country Singer Illustrates Creativity

You may know this man as one of the nation’s most successful country music artists of the 20th century. He also enjoyed great popularity in early Rock & Roll, R & B, and Pop music. Until the year 2000, he held the record for the most Number One singles of any country act, with 55 Number One chart hits! Others know him not only as a singer and entertainer, but also as a songwriter and producer.

He will certainly hold a cherished spot in musical history with his 55 number one hits, 110 albums, record-breaking concert attendance, and countless awards in a variety of musical categories.

Although he had many hits, he’s best known for “It’s Only Make Believe” and “Hello, Darling” … two cross-over hits which are still played regularly on Oldies stations from coast to coast.

Of course, I’m talking about Harold Lloyd Jenkins who passed away in 1993 at the age of 60. Doesn’t ring a bell? If not, that’s understandable as Harold didn’t record under his real name. He didn’t think it was marketable … and he was probably right. However, he struggled to come up with what he felt would be marketable. He received many suggestions but few, if any, which he approved of.

Legend has it that he decided to let fate settle his dilemma. He stood before a wall map of the United States, closed his eyes, and tossed two darts at random. One landed on Twitty, Texas, while the other sought out Conway, Arkansas. At that moment, Conway Twitty was born, and that unique name went on to find its coveted place in music history.

Creativity at its best can sometimes be random. Dare to give it a shot!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

New Feature – University of Real Life

I’m constantly amazed at the fact that someone will make an enormous investment of time and money to obtain a college education but then refuse to take advantage of the many valuable lessons we find in real life almost daily!

Don’t misunderstand … I value and respect a college education and recommend it to everyone who wants to be successful in today’s competitive, chaotic environment. However, consider the monumental investment.

I recently read an article that the average annual price for a college education, tuition and fees, at an average private four-year school has reached close to $35,000! Of course, that means about $140,000 for a basic four-year degree. Or does it?

Another article in the Boston Globe describes what it calls “the four-year college myth,” the idealized view that college students graduate from high school and go directly to a college campus, study full-time, and finish in four years. The author of that article states that his rough calculations using federal data would indicate that fewer than 10 percent of adults who have a Bachelor’s degree earned that degree in four years or less. Roughly 85% of today’s college students are older, work, and often study part-time. In short, we’re looking at an even greater stake of both time and money. However, you can’t argue the potential value of that education.

Consider the advantages of earning that college degree AND then continuing to invest in life-long learning by merely tapping the potential we so often take for granted … that of radio, television, books, magazines, newspapers, and the ever-growing power of the Internet. Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, says: “Never before in the history of the planet have so many people—on their own—had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people.”

However, having the ability doesn’t necessarily mean we take advantage of it. Again, we face the challenge of closing the knowing-doing gap. It’s really quite simple to continue our journey of life-long learning—it takes nothing more than an effort to observe what’s happening around us. Using today’s many technologies, simply look, listen, search, observe and evaluate daily occurrences in search of the lessons so often available to us. Invest the time and effort and the benefits will soon become quite evident.

In this new blog feature, we’ll be sharing many of the life lessons that occur daily but are often missed by those who don’t have the time, energy, or desire to seek them out. It is our hope that you’ll find value that can be utilized to solve problems, increase productivity and profitability, and simply enhance your continuous effort to succeed.

Another Example from Wal-Mart

Well, Wal-Mart has done it again. Many will simply overlook this valuable lesson because they disapprove of Wal-Mart. I’ve seen it happen with Bill Gates, General Motors, Jack Welch, IBM and the list goes on and on. Previous history, personal dislike, poor decisions … these are just some of the reasons why people make the decision to ignore a valuable lesson, a good example, creativity, or innovation as it emerges in world of business. We must set aside personal feelings and maintain an open mind as we search for life’s lessons.

Let’s look closer at what Wal-Mart has come up with this time.

The world’s #1 retailer is testing a new concept to add to its U.S. portfolio—a Hispanic-oriented grocery store designed to tap into this potentially lucrative and ever-growing market segment.

Wal-Mart is calling it Supermercado de Walmart, and it recently opened a store in Phoenix after successfully launching a store in Houston in late April. However, Wal-Mart is entering an intensely competitive marketplace. Hispanics, frequent grocery shoppers, carry with them an estimated $1 trillion in buying power, and Wal-Mart competitors have already noticed that spending power.

“It’s an evolution of what we’ve been doing,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Wyatt-Moore said, noting that Wal-Mart already operates about 500 stores in areas with large Hispanic populations.

Inside the brightly colored 39,000-square-foot store, a well-stocked produce section has mangoes, limes and papayas displayed in bins. The meat market has tripe and pigs feet.

Traditional Hispanic fare can be had at a small eating area, where tacos and tortas can be bought and chicken mole is a specialty. A seating area with a salsa bar is close by. Signs are in English and Spanish, and customers shop amid a background of Hispanic music coming over the speaker system.

The growth of the Hispanic population has been headlining our newspapers and newscasts for the past several years. How many companies have put forth an effort to capitalize on that growing market segment? This is a prime example of why Wal-Mart continues to grow, succeed, and profit at a time when so many others suffer or even become distinct. Wal-Mart continues to find a need and fill it!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Employee Suggestion Programs Obsolete?

There are many who would agree with the title of this article. There are as many, if not more, who would disagree. Let’s re-frame the question. Do employee suggestion programs work, or do they not work! The answer is YES.

Maybe we should re-frame the answer as well. It’s not the suggestion programs which work or don’t work. It’s the organization using such programs which fails or succeeds.

While many companies have discontinued formal suggestion programs for a variety of reasons, other organizations have reported extraordinary success by tapping the capabilities of their work force.

We’ve had the opportunity to witness first hand the true impact of an effective suggestion program working with various chapters of the Employee Involvement Association (EIA) across the country. As a result of what we’ve seen first hand, we’ve decided to share examples of employee contributions, the impact on organizations, and tips and tools to create, support and strengthen internal programs.

Let’s start by examining some history.

The idea of workplace suggestions began 288 years ago in Japan. You’d think we would have fine-tuned this powerful force by now, wouldn’t you? Well, some have and those particular groups have benefited beyond all expectations. However, here we are almost 300 years later, and only 3% of U.S companies have effective suggestion programs. Everyone talks about them. Few produce results. Sounds like a classic example of “the knowing-doing gap.”

Sharing the results of a survey conducted by “Office Team,” USA Today says: “Only 38% of working men and women feel their managers are willing to listen to new ideas and suggestions for improvement.” True or not, that perception will hinder any efforts to create, support, and benefit from any suggestion program efforts.

However, the 3% that have established effective suggestion programs have certainly achieved a return on their investment far beyond the time and effort involved.

Let’s examine a few examples of those that swear by suggestions programs.

  • Harley-Davidson saved $3,000,000 in 30 days!
  • The U.S. Army got 530 ideas in three weeks!
  • Holly Farms identified $1,000,000 in savings!
  • Eaton Corp. gained 944 ideas from 113 people reaching 100% participation!
  • Parker Hannifin Corp. got 499 ideas from 103 employees!
  • National Semiconductor saved $3,600,000 using a suggestion campaign!
  • The U.S. Park Service made more than 12,000 suggestions with an approval rate of 75%!

Employees Buy an Airplane with Savings

One of the biggest success stories relating to employee suggestions comes from American Airlines (AA) in Fort Worth, Texas. AA ran a year-long suggestion program called “IdeAAs in Flight.” At the end of the year, it purchased a $50.3 million Boeing 757 with the money it saved from the employee suggestion program. AA receives an estimated $55 million a year from its employee suggestion program and reinvests $15 million back into the employees suggestion program.

A Gamble Pays Off

Randy White, an employee of Oregon State Lottery, submitted a suggestion to his manager after finding a solution to upgrade video-lottery terminal equipment so the equipment would accept the new currency issued that year. Randy recommended replacing 2,500 components in terminals at $12.50 each, compared to the manufacturer’s proposal of $450 per terminal. Randy saved the State of Oregon $1,200,672 (one million, two hundred thousand, six hundred and seventy-two dollars) and was awarded $5,000.

Quick Turnaround

Heartland Foods, a Minnesota turkey processor, received 49 ideas from employees in the first four months of a suggestion program. After implementing just 20 of those ideas, the company saved $40,000 in the first year.

Overwhelming Response

W.R. Grace, a specialty chemical manufacturer in Atlanta, saw its suggestion program generate 1,800 ideas from just 55 employees. It implemented more than half of them for a total savings of $125,000.

Shocking ROI

When South Carolina Electric and Gas set up a suggestion program, employees submitted 130 ideas during the first nine months. One of those ideas paid for the program tenfold.

Your organization has a source of talent that’s waiting to be tapped for new ideas. Employees are that source. Get out there and get inside their heads. Set up a suggestion program and tackle it with the same planning and dedication you would expend on any other major project. If you offer enough recognition and set up the right environment, the results will amaze you.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.