Monthly Archives: May 2009

Size Does Matter!

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I live in Michigan, and everyone in the country knows we’re struggling at the moment in a number of crucial areas.

  • Michigan has a 12% unemployment rate.
  • Michigan is second in the nation when it comes to job cuts (California is first.)
  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Michigan is losing more residents than any state in the nation.
  • If the master minds in Washington, D.C. get their way, our Big Three Automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) will soon be replaced by Tonka, Matchbox, and Hot Wheels.

Enough of all that. I’m sure I could go on and on about our challenges in the Great Lakes State, but national media outlets are doing too much of that at the moment. You seldom hear anything about why so many Michiganians (Michiganders or Michiganites) are still here and will probably never leave. I’ll skip the travelogue and get right to the point.

Size Does Matter!

It’s getting to be that time of the year again when the call of cracking bats and peanut vendors once again fill the air. Michigan also boasts several minor league baseball teams who happen to play in beautiful, state-of-the-art, high-tech, baseball stadiums.

One of those stadiums is Fifth Third Ballpark located in Comstock Park, Michigan, just north of Grand Rapids. The stadium is home to the West Michigan Whitecaps, a professional minor league baseball team and class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. It currently has a seating capacity of 11,123. Don’t forget that number.

If they have their way, the West Michigan Whitecaps may soon replace the traditional hot dogs, peanuts and beer usually found in every stadium. They’ve added a menu item they have dubbed the Fifth Third Burger. Wait a minute—this isn’t your typical burger.

It starts with an 8-inch sesame seed bun that requires 1 pound of dough and is made specially for the Whitecaps by a local baking company. Then spoon on nearly a cup of chili and place five one-third pound hamburger patties on top of that. (Get it, 5/3 pounds of beef for the Fifth Third Burger?) Add five slices of American cheese and liberal doses of salsa, nacho cheese and Fritos. Top it off with lettuce, tomato and sour cream, and you have a burger that can be sliced with a pizza cutter and feed four people for $20. Jalapeños are optional. Now consider that price tag when you remember that the stadium seats 11,123. Great financial potential!

In addition to more than 4,800 calories—potentially the most caloric item ever offered at a ballpark—the Fifth Third Burger contains nearly 300 grams of fat, 744 milligrams of cholesterol and more than 10,000 milligrams of sodium. The smell alone might be 25 calories.

The Whitecaps might want to consider the potential of offering Pepto-Bismol, Rolaids, Tums, Pepcid and Maalox at their concession stands as well. This may be the real gold mine.

Here you see the giant burger compared to a McDonald’s Cheeseburger. If a single person can consume the entire 4-pound finished product in one sitting, the team plans to give him or her a special T-shirt.

The team’s Fifth Third Burger was recently featured on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and NBC’s “The Today Show.”

Maybe this article should have been filed in our “Out-of-the-Box Thinking” category as the creative minds in Grand Rapids seem to have a knack at producing mind-boggling and stomach churning specials such as:

  • deep-fried Twinkies
  • deep-fried Pepsi
  • entire turkey drumsticks
  • frozen bananas dipped in chocolate
  • sandwiches utilizing such potential ingredients as cactus, sausage gravy, Spam, fried eggs and grape jelly. Fortunately, not all on one sandwich.

However, they’re going to have to go overboard to top the Fifth Third Burger.

What were they thinking?

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.

Wal-Mart Gets Bad Rap

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To do my job properly, I have to do a great deal of research. I read constantly—magazines, newspapers, and articles on the Internet. I watch news reports on cable and network television and have lost count of the videos I’ve researched. I listen to the radio as well as hundreds of audio tapes. I’ve been fortunate to have had conversations with board members, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CIOs, etc. I’ve also made it a point to converse with middle managers, frontline employees, vendors, and customers from a wide variety of industries. I’ve tried to remain open-minded and neutral in my research as I’ve had to investigate organizations I didn’t necessarily agree with, support or respect personally. I share this information for a valid reason.

After decades of seminars, keynotes, and consulting situations, I’ve been exposed to opinions and rationale both for and against many organizations. It appears that the more successful the organization, the greater the controversy that surrounds it. It’s happened to the greatest leaders in every industry over the years: General Motors, Boeing, GE, Microsoft, Sears, McDonald’s, Proctor and Gamble, Motorola, Harley-Davidson, 3-M, AT&T, Sony, and many, many more.

These organizations have received the greatest of accolades and the most diabolic and vicious criticism … often concurrently. The target for the past few years has been Wal-Mart—the largest and most successful retailer on the face of the earth.

Quick Recap

  • #2 on the Fortune 500
  • Revenues: $404 billion,165 million
  • Employees: 2,155,000
  • Total U.S. Stores – 4,259 total units
    • Wal-Mart Discount Stores (891)
    • Supercenters (2,612)
    • Sam’s Clubs (602)
    • Neighborhood Markets (150)
    • Marketside (4
  • Total International Stores: 3,629 in 14 countries
  • Total Stores: 7,888 stores

All of this comes in a mere 47 years. Wal-Mart began operations in 1962, the same year Kresge introduced K-Mart and Target stores opened their doors.
I share this data to make a point. Wal-Mart is not a fly-by-night organization. They’ve accomplished what no other retailer has even come close to achieving and reached levels that very few leaders in any field have attained. However, 90% of the information you find in the media about this Fortune 500 leader is negative. Granted, they’ve made a lot of mistakes. They, themselves, have admitted that. That happens when you’re that large and that successful. However, you seldom hear about the many positive things that could and should be said about Wal-Mart.

For instance, as economic disaster sweeps across this nation, wreaking havoc at every turn, Wal-Mart Stores is awarding about $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $934 million in bonuses, $789 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and contributions to its employee stock purchase plan. This move comes as a result of the world’s largest retailer gaining market share amid a recession! You don’t see this happening in the mortgage industry, among our largest bankers, or from any of the auto manufacturers. Note that the focus of these awards is NOT high-paid executives … it’s aimed at rewarding those hard-working employees who have created the great success currently enjoyed by this successful organization.

While it’s easy and sometimes popular to take shots at any large, successful organization like all of those named above, it might be wise to pause and recognize those who have earned their success and are willing to share it with their employees as a way of saying “thanks.”

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.

Cannibals and Administrative Professionals

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You probably never expected to see the above words in the same sentence. However, finish this article, and you’ll quickly see the obvious connection.

Last month we celebrated Administrative Professionals Day, formerly known as Secretary’s Day. This month we celebrate National Receptionists Day. These special days were set aside to recognize the work and tremendous contributions of secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals.

Having worked closely with this particular group of very talented and experienced specialists over the years, I personally feel they should be operating under a new title: “The Secret Service.” More often than not, what these talented professionals do is in the background and not completely noticeable to the rest of us. And yet, we know who really runs the business these days, now don’t we? By the way, most everyone at C-Level (CEO-CFO-COO-CIO, etc.) would agree with that statement.

“The Secret Service” are responsible for a variety of administrative and clerical duties necessary to run an organization efficiently. They serve as information and communication managers for an office; plan and schedule meetings and appointments; organize and maintain paper and electronic files; manage projects; conduct research; and disseminate information by using the telephone, mail services, Web sites, and e-mail. They also may handle travel and guest arrangements. But any administrative assistant worth his or her salt will tell you this barely scratches the surface of everything they do.

The good administrative assistant knows intimately how the office functions. While all offices look the same on the surface, each office is different, often influenced by the industry it serves. Some have a more casual chain of command, some are very formal. In the office, the experienced administrative assistant knows, for instance, which faxes are important and which are trash; what snail mail can be safely discarded; which e-mails must be forwarded to the boss, and which he or she can deal with. The administrative assistant also deals with the public in many offices and is a source of general information. He or she will also probably be responsible, at least in part, in training new office staff. She has to know how to work with a variety of office equipment, and may be experienced enough to do minor repairs.

Overworked, underpaid? Maybe, but one thing is obvious. Many of them are not given enough credit and recognition for their crucial roles in the work place. Despite this they wear smiles on their faces and carry a grim determination in their hearts to make their bosses succeed. “The Secret Service” are the heroes in the work place. Yet they don’t get the credit, thanks, praise, and devotion that they richly deserve as they take initiative to make things happen and always seem to be the “go to” person for everyone in the organization.

Here’s a Generational Gem that will explain everything:

Even Cannibals Know the Difference!

A big corporation hired several cannibals. “You are all part of our team now,” said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. “You get all the usual benefits, and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don’t eat any of the other employees.” The cannibals promised they would not.

A few weeks later the cannibals’ boss remarked, “You’re all working very hard, and I’m satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?” The cannibals all shook their heads, “No,” they said.

After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, “Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?”

A hand rose hesitantly in admission. “You fool!” said the leader. “For weeks we’ve been eating managers, and no one noticed anything, but nooo, you had to go and eat someone important!”

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.

Forget Politics – Consider Leadership! What Would You Have Done?

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I don’t want to waste your time re-telling a story you’ve been recently bombarded with in all aspects of the media. Therefore, I won’t. However, there’s a valuable lesson to be learned here so I’d like to challenge you to recognize it, share it, and learn from it to avoid future distress for you and your organization. By the way, this issue has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with leadership at a variety of different levels so let’s agree NOT to point fingers at either political party or any one political figure. You’ll soon see why.

I’m certain the recent Boeing 747 New York City flyover didn’t have the impact on the majority of this country as it did on the people of Manhattan and Jersey City. Can you imagine having survived the horrific attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 9-11? Many New Yorkers have yet to recover from that nightmare. And yet, millions of New Yorkers (population: 9,428,000) were suddenly exposed to the vision of a giant Boeing 747 followed closely by two accompanying F-16 fighter jets, flying frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline near the Statue of Liberty and the previous site of the World Trade Center. What would you think at that moment? An unbelievable number of workers and residents evacuated buildings in both New York and New Jersey fearing another attack. People were running, crying, and panicking as they shouted “Run, run,” “Oh, my God,” and some expletives.

All of this you’ve heard in great detail. Let’s consider some other factors.

Why Did this Occur?

These two planes were taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot. The White House Military Office was trying to update its file photos of Air Force One and wanted shots of the plane over the New York skyline and especially the Statue of Liberty. What were they thinking? DreamWorks, Pixar Studios, Sony or a college student using software like Photoshop could have, in minutes, produced a convincing image, superimposing a shot of Air Force one over a picture of the Statue of Liberty without ever leaving the ground! By the way, this ill-fated flight cost taxpayers $328,835 … well over a quarter of a million dollars! What were they thinking?

Who Knew about It in Advance?

  • White House Military Office
  • The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
  • U.S. Air Force officials
  • Department of Defense
  • Senate’s Armed Services Committee
  • Andrews Air Force Base
  • Mayor Bloomberg’s office
  • New York Police Department
  • New York City Hall
  • The United States Park Police
  • New York state and local authorities
  • New Jersey state and local authorities

Who Had Absolutely No Advance Warning?

Nine million, four hundred twenty-eight thousand, six hundred and forty-two traumatized citizens (9,428,000)!

Consider this:

  • Browse the list of responsible organizations listed above which were aware of this scheduled flight.
  • How many positions of leadership do you think might exist within those official organizations?
  • Of that very large number of leaders, do you think someone might have thought and/or said something along the lines of: “Gee, I wonder if this is a good idea, under the circumstances?” or “Has anyone alerted the good citizens of Manhattan or Jersey City of this flight?” I’m sure you get the drift here.
  • A quick glance at that list of very professional organizations above causes one to realize how critical each is to the protection of this country. To think that not one single person considered the ramifications of such a project makes one question what other areas of leadership should we be concerned about. Again, this is far from a political situation. This is, without a doubt, a leadership and common-sense consideration. Could this type of tragic circumstance occur within your organization? Think before you speak. Shudder if you must.

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 Flip Side of Change

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We read so very often about how much and how fast things are changing. I certainly can’t disagree with that fact because I write about it on our blog, and it’s a big part of our training and keynote material.

However, there’s a flip side to this constant focus on change because there are so many facets of our life that never seem to change and probably never will. Read the following statements, and I’m certain you’ll agree with the majority of the content. In fact, you’ll probably recognize it immediately. What may very well surprise you is WHO said it and WHEN it was said! Take a look!

“What’s happening to our young people today? They disrespect their elders. They disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. What is to become of them?”
~ Plato, 427-347 B.C.

“Nothing worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.”
~ Khufu, Egyptian Pharaoh, 2560 B.C., on building the Great Pyramid

“Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, and nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.”
~ Cicero, 106-43 B.C.

“The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest, and unladylike in speech, behavior, and dress.
~ Peter the Hermit, 1050-1115 A.D.

Realizing the fact that “some things simply never change” may very well help us deal with those things that seem to change constantly. Apply both theories to challenges such as customer service, product development, marketing, advertising, employee development, etc.

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.