No. 10 October 2012

Researchers at the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine questioned 243 people age 100 or older. They found that centenarians tend to share certain personality traits (in addition to other factors, like genetics).

In general, these long-lived people are: “outgoing; positive-minded about other people; full of laughter, open with their emotions; conscientious and disciplined; and unlikely to obsess about anxieties or guilt.  The scientists point out that these characteristics don't necessarily represent a cause and effect relationship.”

They did notice, however, that in many cases the personality traits they observed weren't necessarily lifelong tendencies, but behaviors their subjects learned as they grew older.

Focusing on the good and not worrying about the negatives may have a very positive impact on your overall life expectancy.

Every problem does have a solution.  And sometimes those solutions turn out to be quite creative as the following story indicates:

A woman had traveled about six miles in a taxi when she discovered that she had left her wallet at home.  Realizing that she had a problem, she knew that she had to take some kind of action. So about a block short of her destination she leaned forward and told the driver:  "Stop at this hardware store. I need to buy a flashlight so I can look for the hundred dollar bill that I dropped back here."   When she came out of the hardware store, the taxi was gone.  And her “problem” was solved!

I recently returned from traveling overseas recently for a little more than three weeks with my wife.  Near the end of the trip, our small group was traveling through Estonia, ready to cross over into Russia to visit St. Petersburg for a few days.

Unlike the open and free border crossings between EU members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the crossing into Russia was met by gates and fences and a large passport control building.  We sat on our bus waiting for something to happen for about 20 minutes.  We were then instructed by the Russian border agents to remove our primary luggage from under the bus and take it into the building.  Each of us showed our passports to the single agent sitting in his passport control office.  Besides having to have a current passport, the agent was also checking to see if we each had our Russian Visa’s (the only visa needed on the entire trip.) 

Now comes the interesting part. The young lady who was our guide and translator for the entire three weeks was last in line. Once she was processed, the young Russian passport control agent asked her an enlightening question:  “Why are American’s always smiling when they have nothing to smile about?”  She responded that American’s are always happy, enjoy life, and they smile a lot naturally.

We discovered that Russians in particular, and Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians young and old alike only smile when they have something to smile about.  Throughout the trip, we realized how much the three Baltic countries and the Russian people suffered under Czarist Russia control, German control during WWII, and Soviet Union control after WWII.  Smiling was a hard thing to do for decades as hundreds of thousands of citizens were killed by the Germans and later the KGB or deported to Siberia. 

Say a prayer tonight for the souls of these brave people killed in the Baltic countries and Russia since 1919, and for the relatively peaceful lives we have lived in this great country we call the United States of America.  We are so lucky to be living here untouched by many of the cruel realities of the world.

Curtis Carlson, founder of the Carlson Companies, spent his life building great businesses. When asked what personal qualities contributed to the building of his successful empire, Curt responded, "I think my success is the result of my ability to see and to imagine how things could be.  I'm not distracted by how things are."  Don’t let “how things are today” keep you from improving and growing your business for success tomorrow.

Having a goal and the vision of what it will take to reach it are important attributes for any business owner or manager.  Share the goal and the vision with your team.  You want them to buy into the dream and to be as excited as you are about being successful and reaching your business goals.  The power of a group of people all focused on reaching the same goal is amazing.  I truly believe anything becomes possible.  Try it and see for yourself.

No. 9 September 2012

There was a recent Wall Street Journal article about computers and the algorithms that drive them invading areas of our life that might seem too personal for automation.  

Here’s a great example that you can easily relate to:  We are all familiar with the words “this call may be recorded for quality or training purposes.”  When you hear that phrase, it might also mean that your call may be monitored by a computer algorithm. 

There is a company called Mattersight that has developed more than five million eavesdropping algorithms that use only the words you say in a three-minute conversation to determine your personality type, what you want, and how you might be most easily and quickly satisfied by a customer service agent.  The software divides people into six sorts of personalities.  According to the WSJ article, “The next time you call, the algorithms, recognizing your phone number, will route you to an agent with a personality similar to your own, which results in calls that are half as long and reach happy resolutions 92% of the time, compared with 47% otherwise, according to an assessment of 1,500 customer service calls at Vodafone, the European telecom company.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to have to think about this for a while.  Should I like these eavesdropping algorithms that ensure my customer service experience will be superb?  Or is there something I’m not thinking about; something I should be worried about?  Let me know what you think or how you feel about this.

Earl Weaver came on board as the manager of the Baltimore Orioles in 1968.  Although he was ejected from 91 games, kicked dirt at the umpires, and had the foulest mouth in baseball, many thought he had panache and a wicked sense of humor. Here’s a great example of that humor:  “Following one altercation with an umpire, Weaver headed toward the dugout screaming, ‘I'm going to check the rule-book on that!’  When the umpire taunted, ‘Here, use mine.’  Weaver yelled back, "That's no good - I can't read Braille!”

Back in the 1950’s, my Dad would drive our family 12 to 17 hours to visit my grandfather (Mom’s Dad and extended family) at their family farm about a mile from the Hudson River in the Catskill Mountains.  In those days, Dad would throw a spare fuel pump and a water pump in the trunk in case the car broke down.  When we regularly approached a very big and very tall bridge on the route, Dad would always say “I sure hope we make it to the top because if we break down going up it’s going to be really tricky backing down this side against traffic.”  And if we did make it to the top, at least we could roll down the other side if the car broke down.  I remember our car actually breaking down or over-heating more than once going up that extremely tall bridge.  And you can imagine the adventure of having to roll backwards back down the bridge against traffic. As you’ve guessed, cars in those days were not very reliable on long trips, accounting for the 5 hour variation in our one-way yearly vacation travel time

Within a day or two of our arrival, Dad would take a bus back home by himself, a trip usually lasting 24 hours or more, leaving the car for Mom to use.  And then in a couple of weeks he would make that long bus ride back to drive us home.  Looking back, I know the sacrifice he made making that bus trip both ways, plus driving the car by himself taking the family up and back home was truly a sign of how much he loved us.  Sometimes looking back and remembering is the best way to really appreciate how lucky we were and how much we were loved growing up.

Isn’t it amazing how a timely rainfall and the resulting green grass can make us feel better overnight.  It’s a powerful antidote for what doesn’t make us feel better such as politics and news headlines. 

No. 8 August 2012

“Showrooming” is growing according to The Kiplinger Letter (Kiplinger.)  Showrooming” is when you customer uses a mobile device to comparison shop while in your store looking at the products you’re selling. 

Kiplinger says “The new norm is (called) ‘multichannel shopping.’  Your customer researches products online, has it customized and ordered on a tablet in a store with a salesperson’s help, and then has it delivered to their home.”  By 2016, Kiplinger says that “half of all consumer purchases will incorporate some online or mobile component…comparison shopping, ordering, customizing, paying.  For most retailers, both large and small, survival means embracing the model.”

One of the results of multichannel shopping will be a new emphasis on customer service, “turning in-store shopping into a pleasurable leisure activity rather than a necessary chore.  A knowledgeable sales staff that can solve problems can make the difference between profitable and broke.”  If you’re using unskilled and untrained labor in your business to sell, it may be time to rethink the effect of those people on your revenue and profitability, and to make knowledge and positive customer service the hallmark of your business.

A famous organist was performing a concert on a huge antique organ in front of a large audience. The bellows were hand pumped by a boy seated behind a screen, unseen by any in the vast auditorium. The first part of the performance went very well, and at intermission the organist took his bows as the listeners applauded enthusiastically. During the break, the musician rested in a side passageway. The boy came out to join him.

"We played well, didn't we, sir?" the boy asked.

The arrogant musician glared at him. "What do you mean, we?"

After the intermission, the organist returned to his seat to begin his next number. But as he pressed his fingers down on the keys, nothing happened. The bellows produced no wind, and so not a sound came out.

Then the organist heard a whisper from behind the screen: "Say, mister, now do you know what ‘we’ means?"

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what Peter Drucker describes as "the last of the deadly sins of business,” which he defines as "feeding problems and starving opportunities."  It’s human nature to focus on what’s going wrong and how to fix it rather than focusing on what’s going right and how to make it bigger, better and stronger.

Focusing on problems and not maximizing the potential of your opportunities can have a huge negative impact on your business results. The lesson to be learned from this Peter Drucker statement is that the squeaky wheel isn’t always the one we should automatically apply grease to. 

We had a meeting yesterday with the entire management team including a couple of new additions.  I really enjoyed listening to the give and take of the participants.  I hope the new management team members saw that everyone was willing to speak their minds in a positive way, as well as recognized that each team member has particular strengths and perspectives that complement the strengths and viewpoints of other team members.  It was a definite “wow” moment for me, that made me smile as I realized the immense amount of talent in the room who were all working together to accomplish important business goals. 

I like what Michael Jordan writes about teamwork in his book I Can't Accept Not Trying:  "There are plenty of teams in every sport that have great players and never win titles. Most of the time, those players aren't willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the team. The funny thing is, in the end, their unwillingness to sacrifice only makes individual goals more difficult to achieve. One thing I believe to the fullest is that if you think and achieve as a team, the individual accolades will take care of themselves.”  Jordan summed up the powerful results of teamwork when he said, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships."  Don’t forget that final thought.

No. 7 July 2012

Lou Holtz said many years ago that customers walking into your business have three basic questions that you have to answer for them.

The first question: “Can I trust you?”

"Without trust, there is no relationship," Lou said. "Without trust, you don't have a chance. People have to trust you. They have to trust your product."

The second question: “Are you committed to excellence?”

Lou explained that "You must send a message that you are committed to certain standards.  You must do everything to the best of your ability."

Their third question: “Do you care about me?”

Holtz said: "Do you care about me and what happens if your product doesn't do what it's intended to do?  Caring about people is not making their life easy. Caring about people is not being their friend.  Caring about people is enabling them to be successful."

“So if you always do the right thing.  If you always do the best you can with the time you have.  And if you always show people you care, the chances are that you and your business will be successful and your customers will remain loyal and true.”

It just goes to prove that doing the right thing is never the wrong thing to do.

It’s hard not to be aware of the struggles going on in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and more recently Syria.  Democratic aspirations (at least on the surface,) have caused governments to topple and people to take to the streets demonstrating at great personal risk.  The Internet (Twitter and Facebook primarily) has gained a lot of notoriety in helping facilitate these populist movements and rightfully so.

But a recent comment about the value of Facebook made by an Egyptian friend of NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman, got me thinking about Facebook’s role in these movements and in our own lives.  Friedman’s Egyptian friend said “that in the Egyptian movement that caused the overthrow of our President, Hosni Mubarak, Facebook really helped people to communicate, but not to collaborate.”  And that’s an overwhelming weakness of applications like Facebook and Twitter.

Friedman went on to say that, “No doubt Facebook helped a certain educated class of Egyptians to spread the word about the Tahrir Revolution. Ditto Twitter. But, at the end of the day, politics always comes down to two very old things: leadership and the ability to get stuff done. And when it came to those, both the Egyptian Army and the Muslim Brotherhood, two old “brick and mortar” movements, were much more adept than the Facebook generation of secular progressives and moderate Islamists — whose candidates together won more votes than Morsi and Shafik combined in the first round of voting but failed to make the runoff because they divided their votes among competing candidates who would not align.”

Does that imply, that while millions of younger generations of Americans use Facebook and Twitter to communicate, their communication is trivial and meaningless, and that no higher purpose will derive from it?  Is expecting more than just communication, too much for us to expect from Facebook and Twitter?

A king visited his dungeon once a year to talk to the prisoners there. Every year, each inmate insisted that he or she was the picture of innocence: They'd all been framed, or treated unfairly at trial, or victims of circumstances, or otherwise completely free of all guilt. Not one had a dishonest bone in their body.

One year, the skeptical king asked the newest prisoner in the dungeon, "I suppose you're as innocent as a lamb, too?"

This man shook his head sadly and said, "No, Your Majesty. I'm a thief. I was caught fair and square, and my sentence was just."

The king blinked in surprise. "Release this man!" he proclaimed, and the thief was promptly set free.

The other prisoners began shouting. "Your Majesty, how can you do such a thing? How can you free a confessed criminal while we rot in here?"

"I'm doing you a favor," the king said. "I can't risk leaving that evil scoundrel in here to corrupt all your innocent souls, could I?"

This goes to prove once again that honesty is always the best policy.

No. 6 June 2012

Hope you’ve been appreciating this wonderful spring and summer we’re having.  Spring came early this year and appears to be sticking around, unlike 2011 when spring arrived early in March for a large part of the country and then immediately disappeared until May.  This nice warm weather is apparently influencing consumers to spend more time and money on their yards.   Demand for equipment is strong, as is service, parts and accessory sales.  Many OEM’s cannot keep up with unit demand.  Let’s all enjoy it while we can!

Have you heard about “showrooming?”  If you haven’t, you better get ready for it because it’s coming your way very soon.  And I suspect you’re not going to like it when it walks in your front door.

An April 11 Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article about “showrooming,” explained what the term means.  “’Showrooming’ is when a shopper walks into a ‘bricks and mortar’ store (it could be your store) to scope out merchandise and then ends up buying the products they have seen in the store from a rival’s website at a lower price.  ‘Showrooming’ hurts the bottom lines of traditional stores while benefitting online-only retailers such as Amazon.com which have the advantage of lower overhead costs and mostly can skirt the collection of sales taxes while often allowing customers to avoid shipping fees.  In a recent survey by ClickIQ Inc., ‘half of shoppers who buy products online first checked them out in a traditional store.’ 

What are savvy retailers doing to fight “showrooming.”   The April 11 WSJ article had these answers: “Target pushed its suppliers to offer it exclusive products not found at competitors.  Wal-Mart is emphasizing in-store pickups for online orders, many available the same day they are purchased – allowing customers to avoid shipping fees. 

Some retailers are trying apps to drive shoppers to both their stores and websites, allowing them to create shopping lists or receive daily-deal alerts and exclusive discount coupons on their phones.  Some experts think such targeted discounts, along with loyalty rewards programs, may make higher shelf prices less problematic for retailers.” 

While there will be winners and losers amongst the big retailers, so far, the OPE industry has shown that consumers will still strongly support local dealers and retailers who offer a personal positive sales and service experience and a strong appreciation for their loyal customers.

Is it true that cannibals don’t eat comedians because they taste funny?

Harvey MacKay recently told this hundred-year-old story regarding the creator of Sherlock Holmes illustrating the importance of noticing little things and knowing your audience.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was quite impressed with the observational powers of a cab driver who picked him up at the train station after a vacation in the south of France. As he stepped into the cab and put his suitcase on the seat next to him, the driver surprised him by asking him, "Where would you like to go, Mr. Doyle?"

Doyle was surprised that he knew his name, and asked whether they had ever met before. The driver said no, which prompted Doyle to ask how he knew who he was.

The driver replied, "This morning's paper had a story about you being on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who return from Marseilles always come to.

Your skin color tells me that you have been on vacation. The ink spot on your right index finger suggests to me that you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French. Adding up all those pieces of information, I deduce that you are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

"That and your name is on your suitcase."

This coming Sunday afternoon, pick yourself up out of the chair in front of your TV and take your family or some friends or just yourself for a drive through the countryside.  Take time to inhale the fresh air and see how farmer’s crops are coming along.  Stop by a river or stream and just stare at the water for a while.  Try to notice and see things all around you that you normally don’t see or look at.  Now head for home and take that nap you just earned.  You’ll feel refreshed and good about yourself.  And Monday will be just another great day.