Monthly Archives: January 2008

VETTE-tacular vs. Feasible

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Every now and then I come across something that simply doesn’t make any sense at all. I can deal with that. After all, that’s life. What really bothers me is the fact that I seem to be the only one who doesn’t get it. Everyone else will see it, hear it or read it and never say a word. I don’t understand that.

For instance, General Motors just shared an unusual announcement with the world. It was in all the newspapers and magazines, on TV and radio, and, of course, all over the Internet. Everyone on earth seemed to accept it at face value, and I still don’t understand it. Let me share the news with you and see what you think. However, before doing that, please consider the following facts.

  1. More Horsepower = greater amount of gas guzzled.
  2. The average speed limit in the United States is somewhere between 55 and 70 miles per hour.
  3. Considering today’s economy, money is somewhat tight for the average American.

Now consider GM’s latest news release. The fastest, most powerful and most expensive Chevy Corvette ever will roar to life at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month. Boasting a 620-plus horsepower V8 engine, a speedometer that tops out at around 220 mph and a price expected to be around $100,000, the 2009 Corvette ZR1 is being marketed as the ultimate Corvette.

Now review the three facts I shared earlier as you attempt to answer the following questions:

  1. Can anyone afford the gas required to operate this monster?
  2. Where will you drive this Vette at 220 miles per hour?
  3. Who can afford a car payment equivalent to a house payment?
  4. How many of those “supercars” do you think they’ll sell?
  5. Is it just me?

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.

If the Horse Is Dead: Dismount!

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In an effort to catch up on my business reading over the holidays, I came across six articles by six noted business writers in six different magazines all focused on the same subject. While each author approached the subject in his/her own distinctive style, the shared focus was obvious.

The message was simple yet direct. As the new year gears up, organizations need to get serious about identifying stumbling blocks, sacred cows, and/or dead horses and waste no time in the elimination of each. The sooner this is done, the sooner focus can be placed on more productive and profitable targets.

Organizations no longer have the luxury to allow these “dead horses” to weigh them down in their journey to success. We have too long focused on reasons to avoid confronting these issues rather than dealing with them and moving on.

Step I

Identify your “dead horse.” Is it a negative person who we’ve tolerated far too long? Is it a policy, procedure, or guideline that no longer makes sense or maybe even offends our clients or employees? Is it a technology issue, product or service concern, or maybe a communication challenge? Focus to identify and clarify.

Step II

Take action to deal with the problem!

I found it interesting that so many experienced writers chose to focus on the same challenge. There must be an emerging trend which indicates that problem avoidance is an obvious deterrent to productivity. However, this is not exactly a new inclination. It’s been around for centuries as the following generational gem reflects. The obvious difference arises in the fact that today’s consequences are much more devastating as a result of the economy, increased global competition, technology, politics, etc. We can no longer take this challenge lightly.

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.”

In contrast, here’s how many in today’s business environment respond when they find out their “horse” is dead:

  1. Say things like, “This is the way we always have ridden the horse.”
  2. Appoint a committee to study the horse.
  3. Buy a stronger whip.
  4. Change riders.
  5. Arrange to visit other locations to see how they ride dead horses.
  6. Raise the standards for riding dead horses.
  7. Appoint a triage team to revive the dead horse.
  8. Create a training session to increase our riding ability.
  9. Compare the state of dead horses in today’s business environment.
  10. Change your definitions or rules by declaring, “This horse is not dead.”
  11. Hire outside consultants to ride the dead horse.
  12. Harness several dead horses together to increase speed and pulling power.
  13. Declare that “No horse is too dead to beat.”
  14. Provide additional incentive funding (more sticks – more carrots) to increase the horse’s performance.
  15. Do a case-study to see if competitors can ride it cheaper.
  16. Purchase a software package or institute a new program to make dead horses run faster.
  17. Declare that the horse is “better, faster, and cheaper” dead.
  18. Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses.
  19. Revisit the performance requirements for dead horses.
  20. Downsize the dead horse.
  21. Reassign fault to the dead horse’s last rider.
  22. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.
  23. Shorten the track.
  24. Declare the dead horse was “one of the leading horses” in its day.
  25. Establish benchmarks for industry dead horse leaders.
  26. Gather other dead animals and announce a new diversity program.
  27. Put together a spiffy PowerPoint presentation to get planners to double the dead horse R & D budget.
  28. Get the dead horse a web site!

The analogies to business are readily apparent, and so true. Too often we are focused on everything but the dead horse, and we forget what it takes to win the race! Dismount today!

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.

Business Briefs – January 2008

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Female CEOs Thrive

Female CEOs running major U.S. corporations grew from nine to a record 12 in 2007. While that’s only 2.4% of the Fortune 500, one trend is developing that might suggest that women are going mainstream. For the second year in a row, the stock performance of women-led companies mirrored that of companies run by men. By the way, these women-led companies are far from small unknown organizations. That impressive list includes Xerox, eBay, Archer Daniels Midland, Rite Aid, Avon Products, PepsiCo, Safeco, Sara Lee, WellPoint, TJX Cos. and Western Union.

Store Closings Sadden Santa

Macy’s Department Stores, of “Miracle on 34th Street” fame, announced they will close nine stores that employ a total of about 900 people. The affected locations are located in Indiana, Ohio, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Utah and Texas. Impacted employees will be offered positions in nearby stores where possible. It said employees laid off in the process would be provided severance benefits and outplacement assistance. Macy’s has faced disappointing sales and resistance from shoppers in some markets where the Macy’s name replaced local favorites it absorbed as part of its acquisition of May department stores. Macy’s operates more than 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Airplane Crashes Decline

An independent watchdog group recently announced that 2007 saw the lowest number of crashes in 44 years. Could it possibly be due to the fact that so many flights never left the ground? There were 136 serious accidents worldwide in 2007, the fewest since 1963. 965 people died in crashes last year—a 25% drop from 2006.

Recession Worries Continue to Grow

Factories produced less, saw their orders decline and cut workers as manufacturing activity in December was the slowest since 2003. Manufacturing accounts for about 12% of the U.S. economy and one out of every 10 jobs.

Oil Continues to Flow—Upwards

The price of oil hit $100 a barrel in commodities trading last week for the first time in history. Travel organization AAA issued a warning that “record high prices will be paid by consumers for gasoline in the coming year.” That news was especially unsettling since fuel prices typically don’t start their seasonal climb until spring.

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.

Jumpstart 2008 – Success Begins Now

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Well, it’s that time of the year again. Following the exhaustion of the “Boo Day / Turkey Day / and Christmas B-L-U-R,” which began in the much warmer weeks of October and finally came to a close just days ago … we must now gear up for the new year and the annual opportunity for renewal, redemption, and a personal revival.

To maximize this opportunity, we’d like to invite you to revisit the “Resources” category of our blog where you’ll find 30 features that may be very helpful in assisting you as you face the many obvious challenges of the coming year.

You’ll find several web sites profiled here that will prove tremendously advantageous in your ongoing search for detailed, instantaneous information to assist you in your critical decision making. Web sites such as Lucky 7, So You Wanna, J.D. Power, and GetOrganizedNow will save you a great deal of time and energy, which can obviously be instrumental to your success during what promises to be a very challenging year.

Our “Resources” category will also offer you tips on creating successful meetings, banquets and luncheons; how to read 52 books in the coming year without turning a single page; and how to organize both your business and personal lives in ways you’ve never imagined!

You’ll also enjoy reading profiles on several magazines that continually provide you with cutting edge tips, tools, strategies, and insights that will keep you a step ahead of the competition. These magazines should definitely be on your reading list at a time when we seem to have less and less opportunity to read. This dilemma inspired us to develop our “Resources” category, and we certainly encourage you to take advantage of the many references listed there. Work smarter rather than harder to make the coming year the very best yet for you, your family, and your organization!

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.

The Monk and the Travelers

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They say a person can pretty much determine their own attitude or outlook on life. Many dispute that fact as they feel circumstances determine those critical factors. A quick journey back to your high school days or even as recent as a previous job and you can probably recall a number of instances that may better clarify this age-old dispute. Simply take a moment to visualize two contrasting personalities who were somewhat consistent in their views of people, places, policies or politics. Take the role of the non-judgmental monk in the following scenario and see which side of the dispute you may favor as you determine which village you seek.

One day a traveler was walking along a road on his journey from one village to another. As he walked he noticed a monk tending the ground in the fields beside the road. The monk said “Good day” to the traveler, and the traveler nodded to the monk. The traveler then turned to the monk and said, “Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

“Not at all,” replied the monk.

“I am traveling from the village in the mountains to the village in the valley, and I was wondering if you knew what it is like in the village in the valley?”

“Tell me,” said the monk, “what was your experience of the village in the mountains?”

“Dreadful,” replied the traveler. “To be honest I am glad to be away from there. I found the people most un-welcoming. When I first arrived I was greeted coldly. I was never made to feel part of the village no matter how hard I tried. The villagers keep very much to themselves, they don’t take kindly to strangers. So tell me, what can I expect in the village in the valley?”

“I am sorry to tell you,” said the monk, “but I think your experience will be much the same there.”

The traveler hung his head despondently and walked on.

A few months later another traveler was journeying down the same road, and he also came upon the monk.

“Good day,” said the traveler.

“Good day,” said the monk.

“How are you?” asked the traveler.

“I’m well,” replied the monk. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to the village in the valley,” replied the traveler. “Do you know what it is like?”

“I do,” replied the monk. “But first tell me—where have you come from?”

“I’ve come from the village in the mountains.”

“And how was that?”

“It was a wonderful experience. I would have stayed if I could, but I am committed to traveling on. I felt as though I was a member of the family in the village. The elders gave me much advice, the children laughed and joked with me, and people were generally kind and generous. I am sad to have left there. It will always hold special memories for me. And what of the village in the valley?” he asked again.

“I think you will find it much the same,” replied the monk. “Good day to you.”

“Good day and thank you,” the traveler replied, smiled and journeyed on.

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.