Author Archives: Harry K. Jones

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.

Little-known Facts about Well-known Leaders – Meg Whitman

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Everyone knows the most recent headlines about our country’s greatest leaders. In this feature, we’d like to shed some light on the lesser-known facts about these folks in hopes of giving you a little greater insight as to what makes them tick.

Meg Whitman

I’ve been following the career of this charismatic leader for quite some time now. If you’re looking for a role model for your children or grandchildren, look no further. Share the details of her past and simply focus your attention to your newspaper, magazine, television or the internet to see what she’s mastering at the moment. Her bio reads like a fairy tale, and just when you think her career has peaked, she takes it to another level. Today’s average business leader, if there is such a thing, would be pleased as punch to boast of just one of her previous accomplishments. Wait until you see the entire list and you’ll see what I mean.

Why all the success? What drives this woman to unparalleled success at a time when your daily newscast reveals another leader thrown to the curb or even on his/her way to prison? Listen to her employees, associates, and competitors, and it quickly becomes blatantly obvious. Education, experience, worth ethic, focus, integrity, unlimited passion, creativity, keen judgment, listening skills, the ability to earn respect, a pioneer mindset, a respect and belief in customer feedback and the expertise to create, encourage and support community. The list goes on, but I’m sure you see why she continues to excel in everything she undertakes.

Margaret C. “Meg” Whitman has been the President and CEO of the online marketplace we know as eBay since 1998. Whitman joined eBay when the company had 29 employees and operated solely in the United States; eBay is now a global organization with over 11,600 employees.

She led the company from a few customers to nearly 50 million … revenue jumped from a few dollars to nearly $6 billion.

In addition to managing eBay, she currently serves on the Board of Directors of Procter & Gamble and Dream Works Animation. According to Forbes magazine, Whitman is currently worth an estimated $1.3 billion. She is one of only seven women to have been repeatedly ranked among the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine.

Now let’s take a look at her incomparable track record. Buckle your seatbelt … here we go.

She attended Princeton University as an undergraduate with every intention of securing a career in medicine. However, she became an economics major after a summer job selling advertising for a campus publication … obviously a major turning point. She went on to receive an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Whitman began her working career at Procter & Gamble from 1979 to 1981. It was at Procter & Gamble that she built her experience in brand management. She then spent eight years working for Bain & Company, a leading global business and strategy consulting firm, eventually becoming a vice president.

From 1989 to 1992, Whitman worked at the Walt Disney Company, where she served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Disney Consumer Products Division.

From 1992 to 1995, she served as President of the Stride Rite Corporation’s Children’s Division where she was responsible for the launch of the highly successful Munchkin baby shoe line and the repositioning of the Stride Rite brand and retail stores. She has also held the positions of executive vice president for the Keds Division and corporate vice president of strategic planning.

From 1995 to 1997, Whitman was President and CEO of FTD (Florists Transworld Delivery), the world’s largest floral products company. While at FTD, she oversaw its transition from a florist-owned association to a for-profit, privately owned company.

She then left to become the general manager of Hasbro Inc.’s Preschool Division, responsible for global management and marketing of two of the world’s best-known children’s brands, Playskool and Mr. Potato Head. During her tenure, Meg oversaw the reorganization of the Preschool Division and its resulting return to profitability.

As you can plainly see, as the corporate prodigy made her way through a series of posts at blue-chip companies, she certainly left her mark in a most positive way.

In 2005, she was interviewed by Disney’s board of directors to succeed Michael Eisner as CEO, but dropped out a week later, prompting the board to give the job to Robert Iger.

She then joined eBay and has been growing the organization at a fever pitch. I have a strange feeling she is far from slowing down.

Whitman is a multi-billionaire and one of the richest female CEOs in the world.

Whitman donated a significant sum of money to her alma mater, Princeton University, said to have totaled more than $30 million, which has allowed the construction of the university’s sixth residential college, Whitman College, opening this year.

She is married to Griffith R. Harsh IV, a neurosurgeon.

It might be interesting to keep your eye on this dynamic leader in the future. I’m certain her career and continuous success is far from finished.

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.

Microsoft Digs Itself a Hole

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Microsoft, the software giant, is excavating a giant pit for an underground parking garage with the capacity for some 5,000 vehicles. When finished, it will be one of the largest underground parking structures in the United States.

It will cover the equivalent of six downtown city blocks and go four stories deep. The underground garage is scheduled to be completed by mid-2008. Microsoft now has nearly 29,000 parking spaces spread across its corporate campus in Redmond.

In 2006, the company announced a three-year plan to expand the campus by about one-third, or 3.1 million square feet, at a cost of roughly $1.3 billion. Parking at Microsoft has become such a hassle that the company began offering valet service for employees working in some buildings, as a temporary measure during construction.

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.

Little-known Facts about Well-known Businesses – Procter and Gamble

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Day after day we see, hear, and use the names of leading businesses in many industries as though they were family members. In a way, I guess they really are. We use their products and services daily and have done so most of our lives … so much so that we often take them for granted and don’t realize how little we really know about them. We drive their cars, eat their food, wear their clothes, fly their airlines, stay in their hotels, rent their cars, watch their movies, and the list goes on and on. What would we do without them? Yet we know so little about them. We hope to change that with this particular feature. We’ll delve into those unknown but interesting facts about many well-known companies.

PROCTER & GAMBLE

  • Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Procter & Gamble community consists of over 135,000 employees working in more than 80 countries worldwide.
  • What began as a small, family-operated soap and candle company now provides products and services of superior quality and value to consumers in over 180 countries.
  • William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, immigrants from England and Ireland respectively, might never have even met one another if they hadn’t married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris.
  • Since both their industries used similar resources, the “Panic of 1837” caused intense competition between the two and, as a result, it led to discord within the family. Alexander Norris, their father-in-law, decided to call a meeting where he convinced his new sons-in-law to become business partners. As a result of the suggestion, a new enterprise was born in October of 1837: Procter & Gamble.
  • The company prospered during the nineteenth century. In 1859, their head count reached 80 and their sales reached one million dollars.
  • In the 1880s Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive soap that floated in water. The company called the soap IVORY. It seemed to be an instant favorite for consumers and seemed to kick off an aggressive development and marketing program that placed P & G in a leadership role for decades to come.
  • In April 2006 the company’s operations were categorized into three “Business Units” with each unit divided into “Business Segments”:
    • P & G Beauty & Health Unit (Beauty Care segment — Health Care segment)
    • P & G Household Care Unit (Pet health, snacks, and coffee segment — Baby Care and Family Care segment — Fabric Care and Home Care segment)
    • Gillette Unit (Duracell & Braun segment — Blades & Razors segment)
  • While hundreds of millions of consumers world-wide are very familiar with the many P & G brands, those same patrons may not be aware that their favorite brand belongs to the P & G family of growing products.
  • The following 21 brands have reached the level of MORE than a billion dollars in sales annually!
    (Always – Bounty – Braun – Charmin – Crest – Dawn – Downy – Duracell – Folgers – Gillette – Gillette Mach 3 – Head & Shoulders – IAMS – Olay – Oral-B – Pampers – Pantene – Pringles – Tide – Wella – Fab)
  • Procter & Gamble produces close to one hundred other very well-known products you see on your grocery shelves every day. That list would include popular staples such as Bold – Bonus – Bounce – Camay – Cascade – Charmin – Cheer – Clairol – Comet – Cover Girl – Dash – Dreft – Dryel – Febreze – Fixodent – Gaub – Gleem – Ivory – Joy – Loving Care – Luvs – Max Factor – Metamucil – Mirage – Miss Clairol – Mr. Clean – New Wave – Nice’n Easy – Noxema – NyQuil – DayQuil – Old Spice – Pepto-Bismol – Prilosec OC – Puffs – Safeguard – Scope – Secret – Sure – Swiffer – Tampex – Tempo – Thermacare – Vicks – Vidal Sassoon – Wash & Go – Whisper and Yes to name a few.

Their ability to meet the needs of today’s consumer world wide seems to be as strong as ever. God Bless Fathers-in-Law.

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.

Little-known Facts about Well-known Leaders – Bill Gates

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Everyone knows the most recent headlines about our country’s greatest leaders. In this feature, we’d like to shed some light on the lesser-known facts about these folks in hopes of giving you a little greater insight as to what makes them tick.

Bill Gates

  • William Henry Gates was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington, USA.
  • His father William was a corporate lawyer, and his mother Mary was a schoolteacher.
  • By the age of 17, Gates had sold his first computer program, a time-tabling system for his high school, for $4,200.
  • Gates scored 1590 on his SAT standardized test. The top score for the test is 1600.
  • Gates told his university teachers he would be a millionaire by age 30. He became a billionaire at age 31.
  • While at Harvard, Gates co-wrote Altair BASIC, which became Microsoft’s (then called Micro-Soft) first product.
  • He met his wife, Melinda French, in 1987 at a Microsoft press event in Manhattan while she was a worker for the company. They would go on to get married on New Years Day in 1994.
  • In 2002, Bill Gates was considered more idolized than Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung in a poll of teenagers in Hong Kong and China. The survey was conducted by the City University of Hong Kong.
  • In 2005, Gates was honored with the title Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II of England.
  • As of the March 2007 issue of Forbes magazine, Bill Gates has been listed as Number 1 on “Forbes’ Richest People” list for 13 years in a row. His current net worth is about $56 billion.
  • Gates has recently announced that he will be reducing his involvement at Microsoft and will be devoting more time to his charity work.
  • He is currently having a building named after him at Carnegie Mellon University, called the Gates Building of Computer Science.
  • Gates is the current owner of the Codex Leicester — a 72-page collection of Leonardo da Vinci’s scientific writings. The writings are a mixture of observations on water properties, astronomy, and rocks and fossils. Gates puts the Codex on public display once a year in a different city around the world.
  • Bill Gates earns $250 every SECOND; that’s about $20 million a DAY and $7.8 billion a YEAR!
  • If he drops a thousand-dollar bill, he needn’t even bother to pick it up because in the four seconds it would take him to pick it up, he would’ve already earned it 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.

A Team with a Head Start

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Every now and then I’m blessed with a rare “psychic tap on the shoulder” to remind me why I do what I do. I got another one of those reminders this past week.

I was invited to spend a half day with 200 staff members of the Saginaw Intermediate School District – Head Start Program in Michigan. It was their last day of the school year and, rather than requesting a more celebratory fare to wind down and relax after a long, challenging year, they chose to focus on enhancing teamwork! Under the circumstances, I originally found this content choice unusual. However, I was more than happy to facilitate their very business-like request.

Head Start is a term that most of us have heard over the years but most would struggle to actually define properly. Head Start is a national child development program for children from birth to age 5. Ambitious goals include (1) enhancing children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development; (2) enabling parents to be better caregivers and teachers to their children; and (3) helping parents meet their own goals, including economic independence.

Head Start was established in 1965 to help low-income families provide their children with developmentally appropriate education, health, and social services to better prepare them to achieve in school and society. Initially, Head Start served preschool children ages 3 to 5. Early Head Start (EHS) was created in 1994 to target the needs of pregnant women, infants and toddlers, thereby fostering positive development at even earlier stages. This fantastic program has served more than 18 million children and their families. Currently, there are more than 1,500 Head Start programs and 16,000 sites nationwide. Talk about a extraordinary calling, a massive responsibility and a gratifying undertaking!

It takes a very special person to successfully pursue such lofty goals, and I feel very fortunate to have met close to 200 very devoted people who certainly meet that description.

Upon the completion of my presentation, I was delighted to witness a very obvious IRONY surface throughout the auditorium. This entire audience spent the morning interacting, laughing, taking notes, asking questions, and obviously enjoying themselves and each other as they took more notes than I can remember a group taking in a very long time. This was indeed a very strong, proud, and productive team long before I arrived. They were already practicing the majority of the tools and strategies we discussed while openly accepting new approaches to existing challenges. They were so refreshing compared to the many groups we’ve worked with that truly needed a greater focus on teamwork but denied or ignored that obvious need. These folks were already very obviously operating as a dedicated “TEAM” and yet they hungered for more information and even greater opportunities to enhance their performance together. Very exhilarating!

I finished my portion of the program shortly before lunch. Two agenda items remained, and I must admit that both left me mesmerized as I watched from the back of the auditorium. Since their annual get-together last year, they’ve added close to 50 new staff members and wanted to introduce each by name and location. The first intro caught many off guard as they made the transition from program participants to aggressively vocal and supportive team members. However, they were very soon yelling, applauding, and cheering after each new introduction. At the conclusion of almost 50 introductions, one of the audience members raised her hand to make a request that brought a smile and an air of anticipation to everyone in the room. She simply pointed out that the very first introduction caught the majority of the room off guard, which resulted in that first new team member receiving less of a welcome than everyone else. She suggested the first intro be repeated. It was, and the room burst into applause and a standing ovation, which obviously thrilled the new team member. I’ve never seen anything like that. Most similar routines quickly fade into polite and redundant scattered applause after the first five or six introductions. Not so with this TEAM. Every new employee was made to feel very welcome, appreciated and supported.

After new employee recognition, each and every team member in the room was invited to the front of the room to receive a certificate of appreciation and a decorative key chain bearing the organization’s logo and motto. Here again is another ceremony that usually reaches obvious levels of boredom within minutes. This group stood up at the first offering and cheered, applauded, sang, whistled, yelled, and stomped their feet in support until every single presentation was completed. This demonstration of sincere support for everyone involved spoke volumes about the unique culture these fine folks have created and maintained. Their future success will grow as they continue to grow as a TEAM. The families they serve daily should be very grateful to have received their HEAD START from such a talented, dedicated, experienced TEAM of very special people.

I wish I could have filmed those closing moments to share with other clients. On the other hand, film would not have done them justice. Film couldn’t have captured the essence of this culture. You had to see it. You had to hear it. You had to feel it. This group truly has a HEAD START on most other teams. They are certainly to be commended, appreciated and applauded. They certainly made my day!

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 Wizard of Odds

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Odds are great that you’ve seen the movie or read the book. However, if you’ve never seen or heard of The Wizard of Oz, you may want to save some time here and simply bypass this particular article. However, you may want to pick up a copy of this classic at your local video store or just view your local TV listing as you can pretty much find it on television on some channel on any given night.

This time-honored masterpiece has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it as a very young child in 1955. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen it with friends, later with children, and even later with my grandchildren. I discovered something new every time I saw it, and it’s never grown old for me and the millions of others who have seen it.

There are so many lessons to be learned from this paragon of cinema excellence, and we can easily apply them to our families, our personal lives and/or our careers. On the other hand, I’ve lost count of those I’ve spoken to who never really never “got it” even though they loved the storyline, the characters, and the music.

I know of clients who have discussed the lessons of “Oz” as they relate to the workplace, and I’ve read about therapists who have guided families through major challenges using the many valuable messages lurking in the storyline. I even have a long-time friend and associate who built a thriving consulting business on this popular theme. For those of you with children and/or grandchildren, “Oz” affords you a fantastic opportunity to not only enjoy a very entertaining movie but to share some very precious “life lessons.”

If you think “Oz” hasn’t impacted us as a society, simply consider the number of words and phrases you hear regularly that immediately produces images of that mystical land “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”…. Kansas, tornado, Dorothy, Auntie Em, Toto, Munchkins, Wicked Witch of the West, The Wizard, ruby slippers, Glinda The Good Witch, yellow brick road, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, Brain–Heart–Courage, Emerald City, Angry Apple Trees, Deadly Poppy Fields, Flying Monkeys, “DingDong The Witch Is Dead” and the list goes on and on.

This American musical fantasy film, based on the 1900 children’s fable by L. Frank Baum, was first released in 1939. It’s hard to believe it’s still so relevant today. Although the many captivating characters are loved by everyone who sees them, the actual “stars” are known by very few. Judy Garland was, of course, a superstar who brought Dorothy to life as no other actress could have done. Ray Bolger, famed dancer, was perfect for the part of the ever-nimble Scarecrow, Jack Haley replaced Buddy Ebson as the Tin Man after the future Beverly Hillbilly almost died from a poor reaction to the silver paint, which transformed him into the loveable metal woodsman, and Bert Lahr, comedian extraordinaire, made you love rather than fear the Cowardly Lion. Frank Morgan, although relatively unknown to viewers, made you believe he was the Wizard. What few “Oz” fans ever realized was the fact that Frank also played the roles of Professor Marvel, a carnival sharkster, the doorman to Emerald City, the cabby driving “the horse of a different color,” and the guard at the gate to the Wizard’s sanctuary, for a total of five different roles in the film. This group of very talented actors joined forces with a couple of unique witches and a community of Munchkins to dance and sing their way into our hearts forever.

Decades after the movie premier, the English band America attempted to explain one of the many morals of the story in their rendition of a song called “Tin Man.” They summarized the entire movie with the line: “Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have.” That line was one of two that should be shared with our children while they’re still young. The other is summarized by Dorothy’s cherished observation that “There’s no place like home!”

These messages have touched the hearts and souls of millions over the decades as demonstrated by the longevity of the music and the messages. “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” was recently featured as a final performance by an American Idol for millions of devoted fans. In 2003, New York City welcomed the debut of the box office smash “WICKED.” This Broadway favorite is the story of two girls who meet in the Land of Oz long before Dorothy dropped in. These two unlikely friends end up as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch. This spellbinding new musical was nominated for nine Tony Awards … winning three of those. There are currently five productions running — on Broadway, on a U.S. National tour, in Chicago, in L.A. and in London’s West End.

While this entertaining epic will live on forever and entertain legions of both old and new fans, it will also be a very valuable learning tool for anyone who truly examines the many treasures offered throughout the cherished storyline. Discuss them with your children and encourage them to apply them regularly as they face the challenges of growth and success. Apply them consistently within your work culture to realize the true value they offer to everyone involved.

For instance:
“Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have.”
Seek, discover, and utilize the tremendous potential we possess within our current staff members. Close the “Knowing-Doing Gap” to increase productivity without adding a single dollar to your payroll.

“There’s no place like home!”
Spotlight and share the many assets within our organization that we so often take for granted. Create an appreciation for resources and benefits we often overlook.

Like the loveable Lion, muster the courage to see and acknowledge the reality we must deal with in today’s competitive and challenging environment.
You’ll have to do it sooner or later. The sooner the better.

Emulate the tireless Tin Man by finding the heart to own your circumstances, no matter how difficult that may prove to be.
It’s not what happens to you in life … it’s how you react to it that makes the difference.

Mimic the Scarecrow, obtain the wisdom to solve any problem or overcome any obstacle that stands in your way.
Never stop learning. When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you’re rotting. Examples of each appear daily in news headlines. The choice is yours.

And, finally, imitate Dorothy and exercise the means to make things happen, allowing you to get the results you want.
Take action. Become a mono-maniac with a mission.

Do these things regularly and you’ll find the happiness and contentment you’re searching for!

And, every now and then, take the time to take in a good movie with a friend or loved one. In fact, consider The Wizard of Oz. With any luck, maybe we’ll meet someday, and we can talk about our thoughts on “Oz” … “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

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 Last Ride

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CHANGE can be difficult. We usually discuss the mechanics of change within a business context. However, when you think about it, we have to cope with change as much, if not more, within our personal lives as we do at work. In fact, we’re often challenged with a greater variety of personal changes compared to what we’re asked to deal with in the workplace.

For instance, it’s very difficult to lose an old friend. The first time it happens you’re caught totally off guard and uncertain of what to expect. As you grow older, you suddenly witness the loss of even more old friends, and you begin to question the wisdom of change. Of course, by now you realize that I’m not necessarily discussing the loss of a fellow human being. Over the years, you accumulate a variety of friends … a special song, an extraordinary vacation spot, a unique hobby, a favorite food, a distinctive odor, a body of water, or a great view. The older you get, the more you realize how special these friends are.

I was recently shocked to read of the demise of one of my very old friends … Brooklyn’s Coney Island. Yes, an amusement park. By no stretch of the imagination does this piece of real estate even resemble anything like Disney World, Cedar Point, or your favorite Six Flags location. However, it’s a refreshing alternative to today’s corporate-owned, ever-growing, high-tech, line-stretching, global enticement.

Coney Island was one of the most celebrated beach resorts in the nation at one time, and it’s still a Mecca for summer fun even today — at least for a short while. I first arrived at this poor-man’s paradise on a hot summer weekend during my first visit to New York City decades ago. After an hour subway ride from downtown Manhattan, I exited the train to discover an abundance of sun, sand and surf. The beautiful beach was free, wide, and well-groomed at that time. You could practically taste the salty Atlantic ocean lingering in the air. My first glance at that horizon filled with rides, attractions, concessions and midway games left me speechless. The world-renowned Thunderbolt roller coaster, now abandoned, towered above everything in sight.

The smell of cotton candy, Nathan’s hot dogs, giant pretzels, peanuts and popcorn … you could gain weight by simply inhaling those aromas. Fantastic. The combination of sounds included Carny barkers, children laughing, the rides themselves, and very often the live music of top entertainers from the world of Pop and Rock. The list reads like a Who’s Who of musicians; Fabian, Chubby Checker, The Shirelles, The Chiffons, Leslie Gore, The Jackson Five, Tony Bennett, Vic Damone, The Four Seasons, Bill Haley & The Comets, Bobby Rydell, Dion, Jackie Wilson, Neil Sedaka, Tony Orlando, Frankie Avalon, Little Anthony, Freddy Cannon, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Young Rascals, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Fifth Dimension and many, many more. Believe it or not, for a very small admission price, you could thrill to the live performance of six to eight top head-liners in one evening. Those were the days. The charm of Coney Island will live on in the hearts of millions.

I was stationed nearby at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and was blessed to be able to visit Coney Island on a regular basis. Later, I actually lived in Greenwich Village, which was much closer to this utopian escape. It was very special to me because it reminded me so much of home as I grew up on a lake just a stone’s throw away from a local amusement park. Of course, it was nowhere near the size of Coney Island, but it captured my heart at a very young age. Coney Island was, for a long time, my connection to home.

Today, many of the original rides have vanished and others are indeed antiquated. The area is battling back from urban blight, and investors are talking of future plans for a huge redevelopment project featuring an indoor water park, a hotel, and even a rooftop landing pad for blimps. All this would be financed by beachfront condos and several casinos. Time marches on. Change happens. It looks as though Coney Island’s last ride may very well be a bulldozer. However, regardless of what they do to that precious piece of real estate, I’ll always have the memory of so many times leaving my footprints, along with millions of others, in the glistening sands of Coney Island. Good-bye, my friend. Thanks for the memories.

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.

Sears-Kmart: Comeback or Deja Vu?

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Sears Holding Corporation, the parent of both Sears and Kmart stores, is apparently coming to life after what they admit has been two years of “lying in the weeds.” Over the past year, there have been whispers that Sears Holding Corp. was a potential bidder for everything from Home Depot Inc. to Anheuser-Busch Co. — although nothing yet has materialized.

However, they have rolled out their first major marketing campaign involving the Kmart side of the business. Maybe you’ve already seen their new mascot — a talking light bulb called “Mr. Bluelight.” Remember their old “blue light specials”? I wonder if it’s wise to move backward in order to move forward? Time will soon tell.

Sears, on the other hand, will promote their brand in commercials and ads under their new tag line: “Sears: Where it begins.” Sounds like a real barn-burner, doesn’t it? Makes you want to jump up out of your La-Z-Boy, throw the family into your car and burn rubber to get to your nearest Sears outlet, doesn’t it?

We all know that ad companies charge a fortune to come up with these ideas of “talking light bulbs” and catchy slogans such as the one mentioned above. Don’t you think a very cautious and critical public expects much more than they’re about to receive from two major organizations who were at one time the #1 and #2 retailers in the country?

I’m somewhat shocked that they haven’t moved sooner than this. However, after hearing their strategy, I wonder if they shouldn’t wait even longer. Maybe they should have considered a national campaign built around a competition urging smart shoppers from coast to coast to create a slogan that best describes the new mission of this potential retail giant. The grand prize: One million dollars. Sound ridiculous? Maybe not.

  • They would grab the attention of the entire nation by revealing the grand prize.
  • They would have to share their new mission so those creative shoppers would have an idea how to create the proper slogan.
  • Potential shoppers would have to pay attention to the new mission if they hoped to compete.
  • Sears Holding Corp. would be tapping the creative juices of the entire country.
  • Hundreds of thousands of potential customers would be involved in hopes of winning that money.
  • Announcing the winner nationwide would create a lot of publicity.
  • The prize money of one million dollars would be much less than the price paid to the ad company for the “talking light bulb” and the four-word slogan that leaves you wondering “Where what begins?”

Regaining credibility in the eyes of today’s shopping community is going to be a tremendous challenge for these two one-time retail giants. Things have changed drastically since Sears and Kmart towered over all other competitors … the economy, jobs, politics, gas prices, consumer mind-sets, and a whole new competitive field of very strong retailers. They simply can’t afford to come back with the same tired strategy they used before joining forces. Again, time will tell.

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.

Do You Remember?

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As a youngster, I had many heroes, idols, and role models. They included past Presidents, movie cowboys, rock singers, sports icons, astronauts, and many historical figures we read about in school. Remembering the very long list of people I looked up to during my childhood, I couldn’t help but wonder about today’s generation and who they might consider worthy of their respect and admiration. Based on what I see on TV, hear on the radio, find on the Internet, and view on magazine covers and newspapers, the list is very slim. Think about it: Rock stars on the way to rehab or prison, sports stars on drugs or in jail, politicians creating new scandals daily as they prove to be everything but leaders. I began to wonder if today’s young people had anyone left to look up to.

Then my spirit was renewed as I reviewed USA TODAY‘s most recent “Commemorative Top 25 List.” For weeks now, I’ve suggested that you check out the Monday editions of USA TODAY as they offer a different list each week to celebrate their 25th Anniversary. You can find their full-page specials in the paper or online every week from now until September.

This week’s feature focused on 25 very special people who have inspired us over the last 25 years. They made us care, cheer, and even cry. Our lives were enriched by these special people who moved us in so many ways. Most of these people were famous, but some were very ordinary folks who found themselves in extraordinary situations. Many became accidental leaders, even heroes. Most will live on in our memories forever. I’ve listed those 25 people below, but I recommend you check out the article itself for greater details as to why each is so very special. Here’s still another article in the series that is certainly worthy of a family discussion after dinner tonight. There are far too few of those taking place in this country at a time when we need them more than ever before. Why not do what you can to change that trend?

Lives of Indelible Impact

  1. 9/11 heroes … passengers, police officers, firefighters, citizens, medical personnel, etc.
  2. Nelson Mandela … South African President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, activist.
  3. Princess Diana … the “people’s princess.”
  4. Space shuttle Challenger astronauts … seven who died in 1986.
  5. Lance Armstrong … seven-time winner of the Tour de France.
  6. Christopher and Dana Reeve … Superman and his Lois Lane who lobbied for spinal cord injuries.
  7. Pope John Paul II … first Polish Pope who crusaded for many causes.
  8. Ryan White … HIV victim who became a positive symbol of the illness worldwide. Died at 13 from a blood product used to treat his hemophilla.
  9. Man at Tiananmen Square … Unarmed, he stood down tanks at pro-democracy protests in China.
  10. Mother Teresa … Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun who touched the world.
  11. Oprah Winfrey … from poverty to riches, her own TV show, books, movies, and TV studio.
  12. Terry Schiavo … whose controversial death prompted greater use of living wills.
  13. Michael J. Fox … TV and movie star who started a foundation to lobby for more research on Parkinson’s disease and embryonic stem cells.
  14. Arthur Ashe … African American who won three Grand Slam titles in the white world of tennis. Spoke for AIDS sufferers worldwide. Finally died of AIDS from bad blood transfusion.
  15. U.S. Women’s Soccer Team (1999) … won World Cup title on U.S. soil, energizing girls in sports.
  16. Megan Kanka and Jessica Lunsford …whose tragic deaths led to Congress passing laws that require sex offenders to be registered.
  17. Mattie Stepanek … spokesperson for Muscular Dystrophy who started writing poetry at three and died at 13 after publishing five books, three of which were best sellers.
  18. Bono … U2 lead singer and activist for Africa, trade, debt relief, and AIDS awareness.
  19. Pat Tillman … who gave up a multimillion dollar pro football contract to join the Army after 9/11. Died in combat after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  20. Muhammad Ali … Three-time World Heavyweight Champion. Suffering from Parkinson’s, he champions humanitarian causes such as poverty relief and hunger.
  21. Steve Irwin … The Crocodile Hunter from Australia who starred on TV and in movies.
  22. Jessica McClure … Fell into a well at 18 months. Freed from an 8-inch-wide-pipe by rescuers after 58 hours.
  23. “Baby M” … first child of a surrogate mother. Legal battle ensued. Today a college student.
  24. Matthew Shepard … gay 21-year-old college student who died of a hate crime in 1998.
  25. Elian Gonzalez … 5 year old who escaped Cuba and survived on an inner tube to reach the U.S.

Your children and grandchildren will probably hear little or nothing about these people who contributed to our history in many different ways. Take a minute and tell them what you remember about each situation.

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.

Money Mania!

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If you’re an average American today, you know money doesn’t stay in our pockets very long. It’s gone before we know it. Money is also one of those many, many things we take for granted every day. As a result, we actually know very little about it. Let me bring you up to date on what you’ve been missing.

The life span of the average one-dollar bill is only 18 months. Most one-hundred-dollar bills remain in circulation for nine years.

The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing makes $696 million a day!

It’s illegal for U.S. currency to have the portrait of a living person.

Between the Fort Worth, Texas, and the Washington D.C. facilities, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing uses about 18 tons of ink per day.

The only woman ever depicted on United States paper currency was first lady Martha Washington, on a silver certificate.

Afraid of ending up with counterfeit money? Fear not! Only 0.01% of the $750 billion in circulation is actually counterfeit.

Currency is printed on cotton, not paper.

If we laid each current U.S. bill printed side by side, they would stretch around the earth’s equator about 24 times.

Contrary to popular belief, pennies contain only 2.5% copper — they are mostly made from zinc.

There are five million millionaires in the U.S.

The ridges on the sides of some coins have a name — reeding or milling.

People used to save their cash in kitchen jars made of a clay called pygg, and people called them pygg jars. Later they became known as piggy banks and were made in the shape of pigs.

There is about 500 billion of U.S. currency in circulation and most of it is held outside of the United States?

There are only nine engravers in the whole U.S. who do all the engraving for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

All engraving plates used by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, have been engraved in reverse.

If your money is mutilated and if you can account for 51% of your bill, the Office of Currency Standards in Washington, D.C. will gladly replace your money.

It only costs 4.1 cents to make a $1 bill. It costs the same thing to make a $100 bill.

In the early 1900s, you could return dirty money to Washington to be cleaned. If the bill was in good shape, they would wash it, iron it, and reissue it.

When bills finally wear out, they are sent back to the Federal Reserve Banks where a machine sorts out the good, the bad, and the counterfeit. The counterfeit bills are sent to the Secret Service. The worn-out bills are pulverized and buried. They used to burn old bills, but because of the lead in the ink, they are now buried.

Prior to using paper money, Americans used buckskins for money. This is where we get the term “bucks.”

There are 4 automobiles and 11 light posts on the back of the $10 bill.

If you use a magnifying glass, you can see Abraham Lincoln sitting at the
Lincoln Memorial on the back of a penny.

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.