Monthly Archives: October 2009

Patient Lion Roars with Pride

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Wait! Don’t tune out. This article isn’t about dangerous animals, the City of Detroit, or a football team. As always, the focus is on leadership and the by-product is CLASS.

I’ve been a proud Detroit Lions football fan since I could waddle across my yard with a football under my arm. That was way back in the days that Bobby Layne led the team as quarterback as one of the last players to wear a helmet without a face guard. Today, the Lions are led by a 21-year-old young man, Matthew Stafford, with a $78 million contract, making him the highest-paid player in the team’s history.

Consider this:

  • The Lions have won just four NFL Championships in 79 years of play.
  • They have the second-longest NFL championship drought behind the Arizona Cardinals.
  • The Lions have yet to qualify for the Super Bowl.
  • The team has qualified for the playoffs only nine times in the more than 50 years and has won only one playoff game in that span.
  • The Lions hold the second longest regular season losing streak in NFL history, losing 19 straight games going all the way back to 2007.
  • The 2008 Detroit Lions became the only team in NFL history to lose all 16 regular-season games.
  • They have a rookie quarterback in Stafford and a new coach in Jim Swartz.
  • They proudly boast one of the most beautiful stadiums in the nation in Ford Field. I’ve had the privilege to speak there and a tour of this facility will leave you breathless.
  • Record-wise, the Lions have been losers for decades.

I, like so many others, have been a Lions fan through all of this tragedy.

So why my reference to CLASS? You’d better sit down. The Lions have broken that remarkable losing streak the last weekend in September by defeating the Washington Redskins 19-14.

Needless to say, the players and the fans reacted as though they had just won the Super Bowl! You couldn’t hear anything for what seemed forever. They danced, they hugged, they laughed, they screamed and sang as they relished the joy of victory!

Now the CLASS appears. The team finally made their way into the locker room. They quickly quieted down, and as a team they dropped to one knee and shared a prayer of thanks. They then decided as a team to return to the field to celebrate this unbelievable milestone. They talked, shook hands, and hugged thousands of fans who had gathered on the field. Later, they said they simply wanted to thank the most patient fans in the game of football for their loyalty and support since 2007. Will they win their next game? Will they have a winning season? Who knows? In fact, who cares? On this day, they conquered the world and nothing was more important to the Lions or their fans.

Frosting on this scrumptious cake? You bet! As thousands of proud fans finally filed out of that beautiful, state-of-the-art football stadium, you could hear a low, thunderous, but growing, two-word chant … SUPER BOWL! SUPER BOWL! SUPER BOWL! Those are true fans supporting a CLASSY football team! Losers on the field for now but winners in our hearts forever!

By the way, the Lions one-game winning streak ended the following Sunday in Chicago by a score of 48-24 … but we’ll be back!

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.

Creativity Can Be Obvious

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I’m often told how lucky I am to be able to travel as much as I do … airports, hotels, town cars, convention centers. It does sound exciting … to those who don’t have to do it every week. Trust me when I tell you how quickly the routine can grow old and tiresome!

One of the monotonous rituals a traveler must deal with involves the simple shuttle bus which takes you from your parked car to the terminal. That’s the easy part of the necessary ritual. The challenge emerges when you return from your trip … often tired, suffering jet-lag and simply wanting to return to the comfort of your home after a long and demanding trip.

In most of your larger airports, you have a choice of several places to park … each with their own fleet of shuttle buses. You’re immediately given a parking slip to tell the returning driver where your car is parked. Your job of course is keep that slip in a safe place until you return as losing it will mean cruising every aisle of the massive parking lot in search of your car. Another annoying challenge arises when you have to remember what your shuttle bus looks likes as so many of them seem to look alike. Hop the wrong bus and you add embarrassment to inconvenience!

Well, one company has obviously mastered the task of TLC (“Thinking Like the Customer”). The company calls itself The Parking Spot … an obvious reminder of where you left your car. It got even more creative customizing its shuttle bus as an obvious visual reminder for its patrons.

Each shuttle by is a rolling Parking Spot. How could you possibly NOT recognize that bus! And yet what’s more simplistic than a cluster of giant spots splattered against a bright yellow background!

The Parking Spot is the leading near-airport parking company in the United States, getting its start at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental airport. Since then, The Parking Spot has grown to 19 locations at 12 airports serving 10 metropolitan areas. It enjoys a solid, loyal customer base and much of it can be attributed to its creative approach to a mundane service!

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.

Correction and Request!

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We recently introduced another category to our growing blog content. In that opening article, we shared some interesting data on the origin of organization and product names such as 7-11, Adidas, Caterpillar, Pepsi and Skype.

In listing some of Pepsi’s products, we included Fanta and Sprite in that list. I’m certain Coca Cola didn’t appreciate that error as it takes great pride in boasting both brands as coveted members of its family.

We wouldn’t have realized our mistake if it hadn’t been quickly pointed out by several of our subscribers and regular readers. I’d like to point out that we made that misprint purposely to see if anyone would catch it. I’d like to point that out, but it wouldn’t be true. I simply failed to double-check my source. Congratulations to Dee Brown who was the first person to provide this feedback for us. Although she’s one of our favorite subscribers, she did have an edge over everyone else as she is an Executive Assistant and therefore thoroughly trained for spotting such errors! We’d like to express our deep appreciation for your contribution, Dee, by sending you a check for $10,000. We’d like to. However, I’m afraid you’re going to have to settle for our sincere thanks.

On a serious note, I wanted to share this situation with all of our readers to encourage you to continue to provide your feedback to us. We love hearing from you whether you’re spell-checking, fact-checking, contradicting our commentary, agreeing with our views, or simply sharing your own take on a particular issue. Receiving your feedback, in any form, makes our efforts more than worthwhile. We appreciate the many notes we’ve thus far received from so many of you and encourage others to do the same.

If you haven’t yet subscribed to our daily offering, you can do so by simply providing your e-mail address at the top left-hand side of this page. We’d love to have you join our growing family! Thanks again and we hope to hear from you very soon!

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 Nation’s Future Is in Good Hands

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The Jerry Lewis Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy Telethon has been on the air for 44 years. I vividly remember watching it with my parents decades ago as it was somewhat of a family tradition. Years later, I remember continuing this emotional tradition with my own children. One year I even had the privilege of hosting several television remote segments of the telethon from a 24-hour marathon at our local Marriott hotel.

This year I had occasion to watch a great deal of the telethon as I worked on a project in my home office. As always, there was an abundance of talent offering a variety of entertainment in an effort to raise funds for “Jerry’s Kids.”

Due to my focus on the computer, most of the telethon was little more than background noise which served to keep me awake as the hours began to mount. Suddenly, a sound emerged from my TV which simply couldn’t be ignored. I quickly glanced at the screen to see four young girls singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” I was instantly mesmerized by their performance. Obviously, the live audience in Las Vegas felt the same way as they gave this group a standing ovation for several minutes.

The name of the group was The Cactus Cuties, and they certainly were! The four young ladies hail from Lubbock, Texas, where they got their start at the Cactus Theater. A large number of young talented kids have been performing there since 1994. The original Cactus Cuties came together in 2001 and consisted of seven talented youngsters between the ages of four and seven. None of the four existing “Cuties” on this year’s telethon was in that original group.

Today, even at this young age, these “Cuties” generate a beautiful harmony and charismatic presence that have led them to evolve into seasoned veterans. Many of their songs can be seen on YouTube and their arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” garnered five million hits in only three months, touching hearts all over the world. In addition to the telethon, they have been featured on The 700 Club, numerous NBA, MLB, and NFL games, and many high-profile military events. In December of 2008, they received an invitation from The White House to appear before President and Mrs. Bush.

At one time, there were as many as 19 Cactus Cuties, but through the years for various reasons, the group has evolved and been molded into the existing four members, Baylee Barrett (age 14), Andi Kitten (age 12), Blaire Elbert (age 12), and Madeline Powell (age 9). These four girls have been members of the Cactus Cuties for just shy of six years.

In a society which forbids our children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school, these youngsters are instilling a pride and feeling of patriotism in the hearts of millions of Americans … something which has been so obviously lacking in our current chaotic environment.

I watch their performance and feel secure that our future is in good hands. At the same time, I feel enormous guilt at the burden placed on their generation by the greed and stupidity of ours. Watch this short video of an earlier performance when there were five members, and if you don’t experience a lump in your throat, a tear in your eye, or a flutter in your heart—seek help immediately!

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.