Friday Filosophy v.09.30.2022

Friday Filosophy v.09.30.2022

David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician and lobbyist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Witney from 2001 to 2016 and leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He identifies as a one-nation conservative, and has been associated with both economically liberal and socially liberal policies.

Born in London to an upper-middle-class family, Cameron was educated at Heatherdown School, Eton College, and Brasenose College, Oxford. From 1988 to 1993 he worked at the Conservative Research Department, latterly assisting the Conservative Prime Minister John Major, before leaving politics to work for Carlton Communications in 1994. Becoming an MP in 2001, he served in the opposition shadow cabinet under Conservative leader Michael Howard, and succeeded Howard in 2005. Cameron sought to rebrand the Conservatives, embracing an increasingly socially liberal position, and introducing the “A-List” to increase the number of female and minority ethnic Conservative MPs. Following the 2010 general election, negotiations led to Cameron becoming prime minister as the head of a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats – the youngest holder of the office since the 1810s. His premiership was marked by the ongoing effects of the late-2000s financial crisis; these involved a large deficit in government finances that his government sought to reduce through austerity measures. His administration passed the Health and Social Care Act and the Welfare Reform Act, which introduced large-scale changes to healthcare and welfare. It also enforced stricter immigration policies, introduced reforms to education and oversaw the 2012 London Olympics. It privatized the Royal Mail and some other state assets, and legalized same-sex marriage in England and Wales.

Internationally, Cameron’s government intervened militarily in the First Libyan Civil War and authorized the bombing of the Islamic State. Domestically, his government oversaw the referendum on voting reform and Scottish independence referendum, both of which confirmed Cameron’s favored outcome. When the Conservatives secured an unexpected majority in the 2015 general election, he remained as prime minister, this time leading a Conservative-only government. To fulfil a manifesto pledge, he introduced a referendum on the UK’s continuing membership of the EU. Cameron supported continued membership; following the success of the Leave vote, he resigned as prime minister and was succeeded by Theresa May. Cameron has been the president of Alzheimer’s Research UK since 2017. 

Cameron has been praised for modernizing the Conservative Party and for decreasing the United Kingdom’s national deficit. However, he has been criticized for his decision to hold the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, which led to political instability in the UK during the late 2010s. He has also been accused of elitism and political opportunism. After leaving office, he was implicated in the Greensill scandal after lobbying government ministers and civil servants on behalf of Greensill Capital.

  • I believe that in life, you have to give things your best shot, do your best. You have to focus on what needs to be done, do the right thing, not the popular thing.
  • The economy is the start and end of everything. You can’t have successful education reform or any other reform if you don’t have a strong economy.
  • Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean. And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union – to secure peace – has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU, alongside NATO, who made that happen.
  • Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us – a time when we can look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead.
  • My view is, the most important thing as prime minister is trying to make the right judgments. In order to make good judgments, you need good advice; you need good principles, and you need a clear head, and you need to have a sense of equilibrium.
  • The political system is broken, the economy is broken and so is society. That is why people are so depressed about the state of our country.
  • After the Berlin Wall came down, I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.
  • If you lose control of your debt and deficit, you get massive cuts in things such as health and education. You get appalling insecurity, jobs lost, firms going overseas.
  • I was the future once.
  • I don’t just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too. So, I speak as British prime minister with a positive vision for the future of the European Union. A future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed and active part.
  • From Caesar’s legions to the Napoleonic wars. From the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the industrial revolution to the defeat of Nazism. We have helped to write European history, and Europe has helped write ours.
  • But we will say something else. That for far too long in this country, people who can work, people who are able to work, and people who choose not to work: you cannot go on claiming welfare like you are now.
  • Let me completely condemn these sickening scenes; scenes of looting, scenes of vandalism, scenes of thieving, scenes of people attacking police, of people even attacking firefighters. This is criminality pure and simple and it has to be confronted.
  • The best route out of poverty, to avoid food bank usage, is to make sure more people get a job.
  • You don’t have to be a brilliant historian to know that in Europe, messing with countries’ borders, messing with their self-determination, their ability to choose their own futures, this is extremely dangerous, and that’s why I think it is important to stand up to Putin.

The Time is Now.

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When And Where Should You Spend Money?

When And Where Should You Spend Money?

Guest writer Jennifer Albright addresses the money issue head-on by asking the question “When and Where Should You Spend Your Money?”

As a supply chain professional, I pretty much had to buy this when I saw it on the sale table at a local museum. This topic actually comes up quite often in our consulting life – advising dealers on when to cut corners and when to spend. It could be anything from office supplies to personnel to software and anything in between, the dealers we work with are constantly asking us when and where to invest their time, money, and people.

While the answers will vary from dealer to dealer depending on a number of factors – company size, years in business, geography, the commodity in question, and many others, there are a few constants that are always worth the investment.

People. 

It is always worth investing in people. Hire the best folks you can, and invest in training and development. Your people are your brand, and they will make or break your dealership. Whether someone is answering the phone, turning wrenches, selling equipment, or paying the bills, invest in your people. While salaries can take a chunk out of your operating budget, it’s a lot less expensive to pay for a highly skilled employee than to train up someone with less experience or to clean up after someone who was in over their head – and much less than the cost of turnover.

Planning 

This is another area where investment pays big dividends. Budgetary planning helps keep everything in check. We’ve worked with a number of folks who overspent in one area when they really needed investments in another and regretted it after the fact because they hadn’t taken the time to budget or plan for the expense. Facility planning, especially during times of growth, is huge. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve spoken with dealers who rushed through facility planning and had outgrown the new building before construction was even completed, or hadn’t taken the time to design the space appropriately and it didn’t fit their needs well despite appearing to be large enough on paper. Planning takes time which can be frustrating, and can seem expensive in terms of hiring design firms, financial folks, or investing in software, but it is well worth it. 

Technology. 

There are so many choices available right now in every area of dealer business and many of them can bring efficiency and in turn savings to the dealership. If nothing else it can be a bigger challenge to weed through all of the options and decide which technology tools best fit your dealer size, complexity, and will address your biggest challenges versus chasing each shiny new tool that catches your eye. 

Priorities. 

At the end of the day, it’s about priorities and risk. Looking back at our raccoon friend Reuben in the photo, there will be times when a cheap plastic sword will serve your purposes because it’ll get the job done 90% of the time and you can have a plan B to handle exceptions. In other situations, investing in a metal sword may be the best tool for the job or the risk involved with the plastic sword failing is too great. By investing in your people, focusing on planning, and leveraging technology where it makes sense, you’ll be in a much better position to make these spend decisions effectively.

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Operating and Financial Forecasts Using Artificial Intelligence

Operating and Financial Forecasts Using Artificial Intelligence

Guest writer Steve Clegg brings technology to the table in his blog post for this week, “Operating and Financial Forecasts Using Artificial Intelligence.”

Operating and Financial Forecasts Using Artificial Intellignence

Forecasting your operating and financial results is an important part of any business. Whether you are a startup or an established company, accurate forecasting will help you make informed decisions in your day-to-day operations. 

Operating forecasts drive your financial forecasts—not the reverse—and allow you to predict key metrics like customer retention and customer transactions, resulting in reliable forecasts for revenue, expenses, and profits, so that you can take advantage of any growth opportunities as they arise. By understanding how you can improve outcomes in these areas, you create a business strategy that helps you maximize your profitability and meet the expectations and needs of your customers. With the use of Artificial Intelligence, forecasting and managing your growth is simplified.

Let’s look at some of the most important things that you need to understand about operational forecasting.

The determination of the key operating metrics that drive your financial performance is often very difficult to understand. As a result, many businesses are reactive versus proactive because of everything that can impact a business, including competition, service expectations, distance, seasonality, technology, and the economy. 

It is important to remember that successful businesses focus on what really matters. They make choices to identify who their customers are, what products and services are most profitable, and the markets and industries that make the most sense to target. With this approach you can improve your product and service offerings to exceed the expectations of your target customers. 

Identifying which customers, industries and geographic markets are important to your business is the first step in managing your future. You can then use this data to segment customers by type, provide them with the products and services that they are most likely to purchase, and deliver the customer engagement they expect. This approach will help you improve customer satisfaction and keep your customers coming back. Retained customers double their purchases every year that they stay with you.

How do you create and maintain reports that track your performance and accurately forecast your next 12 months? 

AI technology has come to the rescue. These plans can be easily created and updated using Artificial Intelligence which will provide a detailed plan to help you, identify what drives your business, and set clear goals and targets. With a clear plan and outline for how you intend to achieve your goals you can stay on track, overcome obstacles and manage your employees and resources to determine which operating, sales and marketing programs are working. AI allows you to be proactive by knowing the future versus being reactive and a victim of the past.

By using AI, you are able to make data driven decisions that are proactive, rather than emotional reactive decisions, based on misguided opinions or guesses. It also provides you with valuable feedback that you can use to measure the effectiveness of each decision and accurately forecast and improve future performance.

Tracking your operating results and forecasting them correctly is a critical step in ensuring that you meet all your operating and financial goals. 

Zintoro.com is an online artificial intelligence tool that automates forecasting and tracking of your key operating and financial metrics and determines what is really driving results by branch, department, product line and customers. Zintoro.com tracks historical results and provides 12 month rolling forecast with a >95% accuracy for forecasting your customers, transactions, and revenue.

The first step in creating a good financial forecast is to understand the key operating metrics that matter most to your customers and your organization. By constantly using these metrics, you will be able to make better business decisions that maximize your organization’s financial performance and meet the expectations of your customers. 

Let’s look at an example of a key business metric that Zintoro.com uses as the foundation for preparing an operational and financial forecast for your business: Your Customer Retention Rate

The retention rate tells you the number of customers who return to purchase your products or services over a specific period. For example, if you have a rolling 12-month retention rate of 70% this means that 70% of your customers will continue to do business with you after their first 12 months. A high retention rate indicates that your customers are happy with your products and services and will return to buy more. If you have a low retention rate this indicates that your customers are not satisfied and continue to look for alternatives to meet their needs. Understanding the retention rate can help you make important changes that improve your customers’ experience and ultimately improve their satisfaction and loyalty to your brand.

Customer retention is your primary growth engine, because each year a customer is retained their transactions and revenues will double for up to three to five years. With a successful sales and marketing program, transactions and sales will double again.

A successful financial forecast is based on your ability to retain customers, which helps you identify business opportunities, achieve your growth goals, and make smart business decisions that contribute to your overall success. The financial forecast, which is determined by your customers forecasted transactions and their retention, helps you manage your costs and avoid unexpected expenses that can negatively impact your bottom line. 

Zintoro.com automates the process and identifies your key metrics that drive your business and which customers you are at risk of losing. Stop guessing and start anticipating the future. 

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The Challenges We Face

The Challenges We Face

Today, founder Ron Slee continues our series on Lifelong Learning with this blog post: The Challenges We Face. Education should lead to learning, shouldn’t it?

You are seeing it everywhere these days. The progress that has been made in education has not been very good. Through the pandemic and all the arguments about going to school or going virtual with reading, writing and arithmetic measures are all pointing out that things are not very good.

The New York Times reporting on September 1st, 2022 that the performance of 9-year-olds in math and reading dropped to the levels from two decades ago. For the first time since the National Assessment of Educational Progress test began tracking student achievement in the 1970s, 9-year-olds lost ground in math, and scores in reading fell by the largest margin in more than 30 years.

What makes this more troublesome is that “Student test scores, even starting in first, second and third grad, are really quite predictive of their success later in school, and their educational trajectories overall” said Susanna Loeb, the director of the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, which focuses on educational inequality. This holds serious implications for our society. Over the past decade or so, student scores had leveled off rather than gained, while gaps widened between low-and high-performing students.

One last comment comes from Dr. Ho, a professor of education at Harvard and an expert on education testing. He tells the story of a “decade of progress” followed by a “decade of inequality.”  He continues “Now we have our work cut out for us.” There are people now calling for a “Marshall Plan” for education. Janice K. Jackson, who led the Chicago Public Schools until last year and is currently a board member of Chiefs for Change. She is saying “no more of the arguments, and the back and forth and the vitriol and the finger pointing. Everybody should be treating this like the crisis it is.”

For some time, the world looked to America for ideas and concepts in educational success. That is no longer true, if it ever was. From the 1930’s. when the President of Harvard dramatically increased the learning options, from the basic “Science and English curriculum,” and dramatically increased the monies coming into the University, we have seen a decline in the University creation of “work ready” graduates for our society. Today we have over 11,000,000 open jobs in the USA. Companies are looking to hire 11,000,000 people. Although answering the question of how many people are unemployed is tricky to answer, Heather Long published a report in February in 2021 that provided the official number of unemployed people in the United States as 10.1 million. This from a report the Labor Department puts out every Friday. But there are other numbers to consider. Unemployment payments have been going out regularly to 20 million people. Perhaps these people are unemployable. By Colleague Ed Gordon continues to tell me that by 2030 50% of the American Workforce will not have the skills required to be employed. If he is correct, we as a society are in a very serious situation. The Challenge is Real.   

In 1965 the federal government began guaranteeing student loans provided by banks and non-profit lenders. They created a program that is now called the Federal Family Education Loan program. The American public has been bombarded for many decades that the path to success in the US is to have a University Degree. The message was very successful. In 1980 there were 3,231 higher education institutions in the United States. By 2016, that number increased by more than a third to 4,350 (how government guaranteed student loans killed the American Dream for Millions by Daniel Kowalski). According to Forbes, the average price of tuition has increased eight times faster than wages since the 1980s. In 2018 the Federal Reserve estimated that there was $1.5 trillion in unpaid student debt.

If after reading this far you don’t sense a problem then I have done a very poor job of communicating.

Career and Technical Education as we now know it has its roots in the founding of the United States. There were a series of stages through which learning progressed; The Awakening (1776–1826) which provide a right to a free public education, primarily to boys. Independent Action (1826–1876) when public education joined with the workforce to provide a continuous stream of workers for different jobs. The Vocational Education Age (1876-1936) the first manual training school, established in St Louis, Missouri, in 1879. Coming of Age (1926-1976) the first mass acceptance of career and technical training. Technical Schools are thought to produce job ready skills for work that is demand. They don’t cost nearly as much as university.

Mike Rowe says “We are lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist. That’s nuts.” Since 1980, the cost of going to college has risen by 260%. If you attend a technical college, then the cost of your entire education is the equivalent of one year at another institution. Today only 19% of college enrollees can earn their degree in four years or less. (Trade School vs College: The Big Pros and Cons for each June 24 2019 by Louise Gaille). Further, there are several trade schools operating right now in the US which offer vocational opportunities online.

An article was written in the Samuel Centre for Social Connectedness by Jeremy Monk in March of 2018. He starts the article recounting an information session at a local technical and career education center. He tells us he attended a school known for its academic rigor and high ranking. Most students laughed at the idea of attending a vocational school. A school counsellor told those going to the information session the following story.

You are rushed to the hospital one evening and told you need emergency surgery for a rare infection. The only doctor who knows how to perform this surgery is at his country house and it will take an hour for him to get to the hospital. The doctor gets in his fancy car and starts the trip. Twenty minutes into the trip something happens to his engine and his car stalls on a rural highway. The doctor calls a local mechanic who rushes over, and in a few minutes diagnoses the problem and fixes the problem. The doctor makes it to the hospital and performs the surgery successfully. The school counsellor then asks the question.

Who do you thank – The Doctor or the Mechanic?

While University education has been promoted at most levels of society career, vocational and technical education has become increasingly stigmatized. Finding for technical education programs have decreased and vocational credit offered in high schools have dropped. Career, Vocational and Technical Education has been portrayed as a Plan B, a “Silver” medal compared to a university education. Recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York showed that nearly 44 percent of recent college graduates were employed in jobs not requiring university degrees in 2016.

Germany continues to show us how to proceed. They have a greater percentage of young people opting for non-university post-secondary education. There is also much greater respect for these students. Similar social and education programs are dominant in Scandinavia. In Finland, which is often referenced as the jewel of all national education systems nearly 45% of students choose a technical path.   

The evidence is clear. The facts are compelling. Society is showing this in how the “white” collar and “blue” collar job status is viewed. This has created a social hierarchy. It isolates people and further divides us. We face some very serious challenges. Don’t forget the doctor would still be on the side of the road waiting if it had not been for the mechanic. 

The Time is Now.

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Friday Filosophy v.09.23.2022

Friday Filosophy v.09.23.2022

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2019. He announced his pending resignation on 7 July 2022 and will remain as prime minister until a new party leader is elected. He served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2016 to 2018 and as Mayor of London from 2008 to 2016. Johnson has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Uxbridge and South Ruislip since 2015, having previously been MP for Henley from 2001 to 2008.

Johnson attended Eton College and read Classics at Balliol College, Oxford. He was elected president of the Oxford Union in 1986. In 1989, he became the Brussels correspondent—and later political columnist—for The Daily Telegraph; and from 1999 to 2005 was editor of The Spectator. Following his election to parliament in 2001, Johnson was a shadow minister under Conservative leaders Michael Howard and David Cameron. In 2008, he was elected mayor of London and resigned from the House of Commons; he was re-elected as mayor in 2012. In the 2015 general election, Johnson was elected MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip. The following year, he did not seek re-election as mayor. He became a prominent figure in the successful Vote Leave campaign for Brexit in the 2016 European Union (EU) membership referendum. Theresa May appointed him foreign secretary after the referendum; he resigned the position two years later in protest to the Chequers Agreement and May’s approach to Brexit.

In 2019, Johnson was elected Leader of the Conservative Party, defeating Jeremy Hunt. He re-opened Brexit negotiations and in early September controversially prorogued Parliament; the Supreme Court later that month ruled the action unlawful. After agreeing to a revised Brexit withdrawal agreement, which replaced the Irish backstop with a new Northern Ireland Protocol, but failing to win parliamentary support for the agreement, Johnson called a snap election for December 2019 in which he led the Conservative Party to victory with 43.6 per cent of the vote, and the party’s largest seat share since 1987. On 31 January 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the EU, entering into a transition period and trade negotiations leading to the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The COVID-19 pandemic became a major issue of his premiership; the government responded by introducing various emergency powers and measures across society to mitigate the pandemic’s impact, and approved the rollout of a nationwide vaccination program.

In December 2021, a controversy known as “Partygate” began which concerned Johnson and other government officials attending social gatherings at which some attendees breached COVID-19 regulations; Johnson received a fixed penalty notice, becoming the first prime minister of the United Kingdom to be sanctioned for breaking the law while in office. The publishing of the Sue Gray report and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to a vote of confidence in his leadership among Conservative MPs. While the parliamentary Conservative Party was found to have confidence in him, the result was regarded as having left Johnson politically weakened. In July 2022, revelations over his hiring of Chris Pincher as Government Deputy Chief Whip led to a mass resignation of ministers from his government and to Johnson announcing his forthcoming resignation as party leader. He remains in office in a caretaker capacity pending a leadership election.

Johnson is a controversial figure in British politics. Supporters have praised him as humorous, witty, and entertaining, with an appeal stretching beyond traditional Conservative Party voters. Conversely, his critics have accused him of lying, elitism, cronyism and bigotry. Johnson’s political positions have sometimes been described as following one-nation conservatism, and commentators have characterized his political style as opportunistic, populist, or pragmatic. 

  • Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century, and it was called Wiff-waff! And there, I think, you have the difference between us and the rest of the world. Other nations, the French, looked at a dining table and saw an opportunity to have dinner; we looked at it and saw an opportunity to play Wiff-waff.
  • My friends, as I have discovered myself, there are no disasters, only opportunities. And, indeed, opportunities for fresh disasters.
  • My policy on cake is pro having it and pro eating it.
  • I’m in politics to change things – if possible, for the better. I was a journalist for a long time, but I had a kind of midlife crisis, and I decided I needed to do something to get on the pitch and stop endlessly kicking over other peoples’ sandcastles.
  • It is easy to make promises – it is hard work to keep them.
  • There is absolutely no one, apart from yourself, who can prevent you, in the middle of the night, from sneaking down to tidy up the edges of that hunk of cheese at the back of the fridge.
  • My speaking style was criticized by no less an authority than Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a low moment, my friends, to have my rhetorical skills denounced by a monosyllabic Austrian cyborg.
  • We cannot turn our backs on Europe. We are part of Europe.
  • I have more in common with a three-toed sloth or a one-eyed pterodactyl or a Kalamata olive than I have with Winston Churchill.
  • I used to get very, very frustrated by people being told what to do by nanny in Brussels. And I remember once I rang the official who was actually responsible for banning the prawn-cocktail-flavored crisp, which I think contained a dye called Arithrazine or something like that.
  • If we judged everybody by the stupid, unguarded things they blurt out to their nearest and dearest, then we wouldn’t ever get anywhere.
  • I’d like thousands of schools as good as the one I went to, Eton.
  • This is an absolute turning point in the story of our country because I think if we go on with being enmeshed in the E.U., it will continue to erode our democracy. That is something that worries me.

The Time is Now

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Managing for Success

Managing for Success

Guest writer Arlen Swenson takes readers through what makes or breaks a product in the market with his blog post, “Managing for Success.”

Managing for Success

Most of us look for ways to be successful in our work and business careers, but what are the basics of getting there and then exceeding and continuing with that success? In most cases it depends on your approach to each situation and whether you solicit and gain input from others. 

Certainly, you may already have good knowledge on a variety of subjects and management techniques, however it is always good to verify and insure you are up to date and aware of changes in the markets you serve and possible new areas of growth opportunities. 

Checking new areas of growth opportunities is what I call developing a Pathfinder’s Mentality. In its simplest form is having an inquisitive mind about what is happening in your business and what changes or opportunities that might be available if better understood. 

A more formal approach is forming an actual Path Finder Group charged with exploring identified business and market opportunities.  The role of the group is to investigate those opportunities to determine possible fits and what would be required to attain those opportunities. Many times, it starts with looking at a product your company already produces but is not selling at the level required or examining new end-user markets that could be available to you. 

The role of the Path Finder Group (PFG) is to study products and their use in various markets and determine what those markets are expecting of your product including comparison to existing competitive products and their strengths and weaknesses. To be accurate requires the PFG to go the field and study your product and competitive products in actual applications and hear from the voice of those users their opinion of the product’s strengths, weaknesses, and suggested improvements.   

Depending on the geographical size of the product’s market and complexity may require several months of study by the PFG to develop an accurate picture of the best path to improving your product’s success in the marketplace. In the process the PFG will become experts in the product and obtain the voice of the customers using the product and developing detailed knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of both the product and markets it serves. 

Certain discovery of basic market needs that your product needs improvement on would be communicated immediately to determine if basic design changes should be made now as part of the process.  As the PFG develops its knowledge of product and market uses, actual testing of their discoveries should be field tested to determine the effectiveness of those discoveries if those discoveries would be implemented. 

This requires the PFG conduct a firsthand study of their discoveries with the product in actual use in the hands of customers.  

It requires hearing directly from the end user their recommendations and/or questions about your product and its proper application.  In other words, why should your product be selected versus a competitive choice or a different method? 

Gaining accurate data will require a formal approach to hands-on study. 

  • How does your product compare to competition such as: size, operating ease, cost effectiveness, safety, reliability, serviceability, repairability, owning/operating cost, fuel economy, meeting OSHA standards, availability of parts and repairs, return-on-investment, customer support, customer knowledge of your product, customer misconceptions about your product, competitive mis reputations about your product, customer lack of knowledge about your product and various other market considerations. 

All of this and more must be understood to determine the best steps to gain success with the product. 

The PFG is charged with finding the right path to improve the product’s success in the marketplace.  

The time to complete PFG study and recommendations may take several months and require detailed study and changes to the product or going to the market approach.  However, sometimes proper solutions found by the PFG can be quickly implemented and they are economically viable. 

At the conclusion of Path Finder’s Group’s market/product study a detailed report would be provided to management for approval of changes recommended to improve the product’s success. 

The recommendation could include moving in a different direction, changing the design of the product, changing distribution of the product, expanding the product line offering or even elimination of the product. 

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Performance vs. Potential…Is There a Difference?

Performance vs. Potential…Is There a Difference?

Our new guest writer Seth McColley is a HR professional with more than 25 years of diverse, action-packed experience across a number of industries such as telecommunications, restaurant/hospitality, distribution, software, retail and construction/heavy equipment. He has worked for some of the largest Fortune 500 companies and been able to apply those learnings to help smaller companies “level up” and grow. He understands that we are not defined by the titles we hold or our position on the organization chart, but rather our relationships and how we can serve others. In his inaugural blog post, Seth asks “Performance vs. Potential…Is There a Difference?”

Seth is a firm believer that people are any organization’s greatest asset, but employees need to be led, not managed. Our professional networks need to be cultivated, not manipulated. If we are the sum of all of our experiences, the connections we make and the relationships we build make us the incredible people that we are today and that we will become tomorrow. 

Seth launched his first podcast, “6 Degrees or Less”, in February 2019, with a sole focus on the art and power of networking, or “relationships” as he calls it. It’s connected to the idea, six degrees of separation, that every single one of us is no more than six steps away from being connected to one another. He uses this platform to help break down stereotypes and misconceptions about what networking is (and isn’t) and to help listeners improve their networking skills to build more meaningful, effective professional relationships. On each episode, guests from different backgrounds, with different dreams, and on different journeys will share their stories and lessons learned. If our network is the lifeblood of our careers, the professional connections that we make will significantly affect the impact of our careers. 

Seth is a solid ENFP (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) and his five Strengthfinders strengths are – Empathy, Adaptability, Context, Harmony and Ideation. He earned his BA in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and his MBA from the University of Phoenix in Seattle. He is actively involved with both Dallas HR and the Oklahoma City Human Resources Society (OCHRS). He currently lives in Edmond, OK with his wife and son (5), while his daughter (19) attends Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX.

Is there a difference between performance and potential? 

The answer is a resounding yes, particularly when you’re talking about talent and employee development. The mistake that many (if not most) organizations make is that they’re confusing one for the other or even worse, lumping them into the same group (and usually calling them high potential or HiPo). 

Having supported sales organizations a few different times in my career, I’ve seen this play out more times than I can count. The conversation goes something like this:

Sales Director: “I’ve got an open Sales Manager spot to fill and I think Bobby is the right guy for the job.” 

HR Manager: “Oh? Tell me more. Why do you think Bobby is a good fit for this role?”  

Sales Director: “Well, for one, he’s got the best sales numbers in the entire division! Did you take a look at the TPS reports last week? The guy’s been killing it for the last three quarters. He’s a perfect fit!” 

HR Manager: “Of course I looked at the TPS reports. I know he’s the best salesperson on your team, but what makes him the most qualified for the Sales Manager role? Has he ever led a team before? Has he ever managed anyone?” 

Sales Director: “What’s it matter? Bobby is the top salesperson on my team. He’s a natural leader!” 

Has anyone else ever had this conversation? Does this sound familiar? 

Abraham Maslow once said, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” 

One of the biggest mistakes that an organization can make, when it comes to their talent, is mistaking high potential for high performance. A blog post from Software Advice, gives managers some tools to help identify, assess and develop high potentials and high performers.  

Check this out…  

“High performers stand out in any organization. They consistently exceed expectations, and are management’s go-to people for difficult projects because they have a track record of getting the job done. They’re great at their job and take pride in their accomplishments, but may not have the potential (or the desire) to succeed in a higher-level role or to tackle more advanced work. 

High potentials are birds of a different feather. Malcolm Munro, founder and CEO and President at Boss Builders, says that “High potentials have demonstrated initial aptitude for their technical abilities and…have future potential to make a big impact.” In short, they can do more for the organization – possibly much more (with the caveat that high potentials who are consistently low performers are rarely strong candidates for management roles). 

High potentials can be difficult to identify, for two reasons.  

  • First, high performance is so blindingly easy to observe that it drowns out the less obvious attributes and behaviors that characterize high potentials–like change management or learning capabilities.
  • Second, few organizations codify the attributes and competencies they value in their ideal employees–which means that managers don’t know precisely what to look for to assess potential. 

As a result, most managers focus exclusively on performance, and that can be a problem. 

Truth. 

I’ve seen high performance get mistaken for high potential, firsthand, and you know what it usually equates to? 

Style over substance. 

When an employee is earmarked as “high potential” it’s often because they’re operating at such a high level at their current job. They may look the part, say the right things, and put themselves in front of the right people; it doesn’t always mean that they’re capable of doing more. Hence, style over substance. 

This is where a sound, solid talent management plan comes into play. The best organizations have people processes that include bench planning, succession planning, talent reviews and the like to help identify high performers, High Potentials, mission-critical roles, potential successors, and then create development plans to help put the right people into the right places. In future posts, I can dive deeper into the mechanics and details of where to begin when it comes to succession planning, how an organization determines which roles are “mission critical” (and why succession planning for those roles is so critical), and what it means to create bench plans and regularly update them. 

Clearly, managing and developing top talent isn’t easy. As HR professionals, the least we can do is get some practical tools into the hands of our managers and leaders so they can start understanding the difference between potential and performance. While these two are certainly related to one another, in and of themselves they are completely separate things.

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Ever Wonder?

Ever Wonder?

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In this week’s installment on Lifelong Learning, guest writer Mick Vaught challenges readers to truly assess our paradigms and pre-conceived ideas in “Ever Wonder?”

Ever wonder why we tend to remain in our comfort zone and never see a paradigm shift coming around the curve? 

One of my all-time favorite role models growing up was Stephen Covey and his book titled “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. In my opinion, this was his finest publication ever because it really changed my views on many things.  This book was a real game changer for me. Of the 7 habits he prescribed, habit number 5 “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”, was the most useful for me during my journey in the construction industry. I look back now at some of my biggest mistakes in dealing with what I thought was critical in problem solving, only to realize later that I did not understand the root cause of the various issues. 

A good example of what I’m talking about was my preconceived notion of how to correct the overwhelming problem of developing and retaining top notch service technicians. Like many well intended experts, I believed the best approach was to offer better wages and benefits than the competition with hopes that money would be the answer. What I didn’t understand was the critical needs of the service managers, technicians, and most importantly, customers. Over time, I gained a better understanding of the many issues and how to address these issues. Here are some of the initiatives I found to be most appropriate.  

Step 1:  Identify the scope of the current needs, and those in the next ten years.

  • Determine current utilization of techs based on OT and customer service response times.
  • Measure machine populations, aging of company rental fleet, trends of growth and new skills required. 
  • Determine and log the current CSA requirements and new product lines introduced or proposed for the future. 
  • Rank the current staff skill sets by determining specific strengths and weak areas and score each tech on an equal and consistent measure process. 
  • Chart the aging of current techs and estimate potential replacement cycles. 

Step 2:  Analyze the current mix of jobs, and skills required for the work. 

  • Determine % of Level 1 jobs currently being performed through work order analysis.  (Cleaning, Greasing, PM services.)
  • Determine % of Level 2 jobs requiring higher skill levels. (Inspections, Pre-deliveries, basic electrical and hydraulic repairs.)
  • Repeat same review of Level 3 jobs requiring troubleshooting, diagnostics, basic welding, major component R&I and exchange, equipment software usage and understanding. (Tech Tool, Matris, etc) This level will require factory and on-line training requirements for specific areas of knowledge. 
  • Finally, all Journeyman level jobs requiring unlimited skills to be able to perform all troubleshooting, diagnostics, major repairs, component rebuilds, welding, and complete knowledge of equipment software, fault code analysis, Tech. Tool, ,  etc. This level will require completion of all manufacturer online training modules, and attendance at numerous factory training programs. These techs should be targeted to customer jobs as a priority. 

Step 3: Rank the current service staff.

  • Create the same four tier tech classifications to match the service jobs and attempt to match the skills to the job.
    • Level 1 – Apprentice
    • Level 2 – Shop Technician *
    • Level 3 – Senior Technician *
    • Level 4 – Journeyman Technician, Shop / Field **

    *Requires supervisor sign off, and training requirements.

** Requires GM sign off and required training completion and testing. 

  • Pay levels are made consistent with Tech classifications, as an incentive to move up in classifications and knowledge. 

Step 4:  Recruitment

You now know the needs of what tech levels are required to meet the existing needs, as well as future requirements through business growth, changing technologies, retirements, and tech development and promotions. 

Recruiting Apprentices:

Today, tech school students are being drawn to the less “dirty” jobs upon graduation by trucking companies, HVAC companies, Major Rental companies, etc.  Recruitment has become very competitive and many companies start there in high school years by attending college job fairs. 

We need to be active in these recruitment sessions and offer significant incentives to draw the prospect to the construction industry.  The biggest obstacle facing a student after graduation from a tech school is the tuition debt they have incurred, and the expense of buying tools to start work. We will prepare incentives to address these two issues:

  • Tuition Reimbursement Program: 

The student would be reimbursed for his existing tuition debt over a period of employment as a technician with the company.  This four-year program would refund 25% of the student tuition expense every year, with 100% refunded after four years. It would be required that the student achieve a minimum of a Level 3 technician to qualify for 100% reimbursement. 

  • Tool allowance program:

The student would be given a basic tool set and toolbox to start his apprenticeship program. These tools would remain the property of the company until the employee has completed his Level 1 apprenticeship period and was elevated to Level 2, (Shop Tech). The tools would then become the property of the tech.  OR, an upfront $2500 tool bonus that would need to be paid back if the employee left in the first year. Further, a $1000 tool allowance will be given to the tech on an annual basis up to the Level 3 classification, and then receive the standard company tool allowance.  

Recruiting Senior and Journeyman Technicians:

The needs of these techs are different.  They are looking for job security, good pay, good benefits, a clean, safe workplace, nice field trucks, and more quality in the job.  To draw these potential techs to leave their current employment and join our team is more difficult, complicated, and costly. 

  • Address their concerns: 

Recruitment in regions where work opportunities are transitioning, can appeal to the job security concern. For example, the coal fields of KY and WV offer little job security at this time, and in the future. These techs are looking for what they are going to do going forward.  You can offer job security with the vibrant growing markets. You need to heavily advertise in all transitioning areas. 

  • Provide a safe, clean and modern workplace.  It is important that the facilities and shops be kept clean and updated, along with providing the tools necessary to do their jobs. Service trucks are very important to field technicians that view these vehicles as their homes on wheels. This is a very big consideration for a field tech to join your team from another company. 
  • Provide excellent training opportunities.  No tech wants to get to a job and not know what to do. Offering year-round training sessions online and at the manufacturer is a big draw for those who do not have it now. You need to market and sell that. 
  • Have specific guidelines in place to include relocation expenses, temporary housing, storage, and relocation assistance services, as required. 
  • Offer all techs an annual tool allowance, boot allowance, and specialized skills training, such as welding, MSHA certifications, etc. 

Overview:

The company will need to have a structured, consistent approach to the recruit process that will provide for the needed demand in the years to come, and fill the vacancies created by tech aging and retirement.

Balancing the tech skill levels to the work difficulty levels is difficult, but provides the best profitability to the service department, and the best customer support to the end users. 

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Friday Filosophy v.09.16.2022

Friday Filosophy v.09.16.2022

Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair KG (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labor Party from 1994 to 2007. On his resignation he was appointed Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a diplomatic post which he held until 2015. He has been the executive chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change since 2016. As prime minister, many of his policies reflected a centrist “Third Way” political philosophy. He is the only living former Labor leader to have led the party to a general election victory, and one of only two in history to form three majority governments, the other being Harold Wilson.

Blair was born in Edinburgh. After attending the independent school Fettes College, he studied law at St John’s College, Oxford, and became a barrister. He became involved in Labor politics and was elected Member of Parliament for Sedgefield in 1983. He supported moving the party to the center of British politics in an attempt to help it win power (it had been out of government since 1979). He was appointed to the party’s frontbench in 1988 and became shadow home secretary in 1992. He became Leader of the Opposition on his election as Labor Party leader in 1994, following the sudden death of his predecessor, John Smith.

Under Blair, the party used the phrase “New Labor” to distance itself from previous Labor politics and the traditional idea of socialism. Despite opposition from Labor’s left-wing, he abolished Clause IV, the party’s formal commitment to the nationalization of the economy, weakened trade union influence in the party, and committed to the free market and the European Union. In 1997, the Labor Party won its largest landslide general election victory in its history. Blair became the country’s youngest leader since 1812 and remains the party’s longest-serving occupant of the office. Labor won two more general elections under his leadership—in 2001, in which it won another landslide victory (albeit with the lowest turnout since 1918), and in 2005, with a substantially reduced majority. He resigned as prime minister and Labor Party leader in 2007 and was succeeded by Gordon Brown, who had been his chancellor of the Exchequer since 1997. The fraught relationship between Blair and Brown has been the subject of much controversy and speculation since 1994.

Blair’s governments enacted constitutional reforms, removing most hereditary peers from the House of Lords, while also establishing the UK’s Supreme Court and reforming the office of lord chancellor (thereby separating judicial powers from the legislative and executive branches). His government held referendums in which Scottish and Welsh electorates voted in favor of devolved administration, paving the way for the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in 1999. He was also involved in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. His time in office occurred during a period of continued economic growth, but this became increasingly dependent on mounting debt. In 1997, his government gave the Bank of England powers to set interest rates autonomously, and he later oversaw a large increase in public spending, especially in healthcare and education. He championed multiculturalism and, between 1997 and 2007, immigration rose considerably, especially after his government welcomed immigration from the new EU member states in 2004. This provided a cheap and flexible labor supply but also fueled Euroscepticism, especially among some of his party’s core voters. His other social policies were generally progressive; he introduced the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, the Human Rights Act 1998, and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and in 2004 allowed gay couples to enter into civil partnerships. He declared himself “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” and oversaw increasing incarceration rates and new anti-social behavior legislation, despite contradictory evidence about the change in crime rates.

Blair oversaw British interventions in Kosovo (1999) and Sierra Leone (2000), which were generally perceived as successful. During the War on Terror, he supported the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration and ensured that the British Armed Forces participated in the War in Afghanistan from 2001, and more controversially the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Blair argued that the Saddam Hussein regime possessed an active weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, but no stockpiles of WMDs or an active WMD program were ever found in Iraq. The Iraq War became increasingly unpopular among the British public, and he was criticized by opponents and (in 2016) the Iraq Inquiry for waging an unjustified and unnecessary invasion. He was in office when the 7/7 bombings took place (2005) and introduced a range of anti-terror legislation. His legacy remains controversial, not least because of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Despite his electoral successes and reforms, he has also been criticized for his relationship with the media, centralization of executive powers, and aspects of his social and economic policies.

  • Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing.
  • The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes.
  • Education is the best economic policy there is.
  • Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.
  • Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of government, and I will lead it as a party of government.
  • The purpose of terrorism lies not just in the violent act itself. It is in producing terror. It sets out to inflame, to divide, to produce consequences which they then use to justify further terror.
  • By nature, I am a unifier. I am a builder of consensus. I don’t believe in sloppy compromise. But I do believe in bringing people together.
  • Whatever the dangers of the action we take, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater.
  • I think the journey for a politician goes from wanting to please all the people all the time, to a political leader that realises in the end his responsibility is to decide. And when he decides, he divides.
  • You know, one of the things I’ve learnt since coming out of office is how much easier it is to give the advice than take the decision. I mean, you know, it’s tough.

The Time is Now.

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Are you afraid of your dealer business system?

Are you afraid of your dealer business system?

Guest writer Chris Kohart Tackles our reluctance to update the software systems we use in “Are you afraid of your dealer business system?”

Dealerships invest heavily in people and the infrastructure to support the business, so why do so many dealers still utilize antiquated software solutions to manage their operations? Many deployed these “state of the art” business systems more than 25 years ago and still support their operations on these outdated platforms. Technology has transformed our business in many areas, from how our customers want to do business with us to telematics. What makes us believe a 25+-year-old business solution enables us to keep even or get ahead?  Thinking about changes, what was state-of-the-art business technology like in the late 1990s?   Here’s a short list that comes to mind:

  1. Personal Digital Assistants – remember the Palm Pilot?
  2. CD-ROM – remember when they were state of the art for data storage?
  3. Dial-up connectivity –internet access or point-to-point communication with your OEM?
  4. Fax machines – great for expediting signed documents, but remember those 100-line parts orders?
  5. Desktop CRT monitors – mine took up 1/3 of my desk space, and I’m convinced that’s what caused me to start wearing reading glasses

I guess that, excluding a few fax machines still in service, all the above have long been retired from your business and home.  Since software and hardware are many generations ahead of the 1990s, why is your dealership still relying on 25+-year-old first-generation software to operate?  Some dealers probably still remember the pain of training the entire dealership on how to use the system and the extremely high hardware and software costs.  Many of these dealerships are still maintaining nightly or weekly tape backups.  Perhaps it is easier to muddle along using the same solution (quick fact: most of these older “legacy” systems are on life support, and there has been no new development for years).  Think about that every time your dealership pays your vendor’s software license and support invoices.  Most legacy dealer software providers have been sold or merged a few times and probably don’t resemble the company you started doing business with. The newer consolidated entities are trying to maintain the dealers that have not joined modern times by developing middleware that allows the 25+-year-old legacy system to communicate with more modern graphical user interface (GUI) solutions.  It looks great in a PowerPoint sales presentation, but for those utilizing these tools, everyone experiences issues with two or more disparate solutions trying to communicate in real time.  Latency, loss, or corruption of data are prime examples.  Many dealers deploying this hybrid approach experience employee and customer frustration, increased license and operating costs and decreased operational efficiency.  Why would a dealer principal subject themselves, their employees, and their valued customers to this?  

The top reason: is fear of digital transformation. How many ERP projects fail? On average, 55 to 75%.  That’s a scary number, and I understand why it keeps many from moving their dealerships to modern times.  Let’s flip the averages above – why do 25 to 45% succeed?  Three reasons: people, process, and planning.  Let’s briefly break these three down:

People:

We all run lean; it’s the nature of our high dollar – low margin business.  The senior management team must make in the very early stages that your best people (senior, middle-management, and junior) be assigned.  Depending on the size and complexity of your dealership, some individuals will be assigned full-time for the duration while others will be part-time.  Most dealerships should be able to find a balance of experienced forward-looking thought leaders to participate part-time during the project.  The input, guidance, and deep understanding of your dealership’s functional (and cross-functional) areas will be a critical factor in your success.  Please ensure these individuals have your unqualified support and are provided with backup in their departments so staff and business operations don’t suffer.

Process:

Virtually no digital transformation project will be successful without going through the tedious and critically necessary task of mapping every process from levels one through five.  Don’t be surprised if you identify hundreds of processes throughout the dealership; the depth and quality of your process mapping will significantly affect your success or failure.  You will also be able to identify processes solely required by your 25+-year-old system that add no value to your operations; reviewing these processes will allow your team to map processes that make business sense instead of processes created to satisfy the requirements of the software. When you have completed your process mapping and reviews, you have a roadmap for the minimum requirements of a more modern dealer business solution.

Planning:

As mentioned in a previous article, the more steps you take upfront, the more successful your project will be.  Here are a few very high-level areas that you must consider early:

 

  • Perform a complete audit of your current business systems.  This includes your legacy solution and anything else, right down to excel or extensions written in-house, payroll processing, HR management, etc.  Don’t be surprised if your list exceeds 50 disparate solutions; it’s pretty common.  You will most likely discover software being used within the dealership that you’re unaware of.
    • Map every solution to the business area(s) it supports and understand why it is being used.  Is it mission-critical, or did someone start using it, unaware there was a better way within an existing solution?  The more granular your team is in this area, the better.
  • Create a functional requirements document.  Using the above audit, identify your business functions that are not currently being supported (possibly equipment yard management, key reporting metrics and BI, the share of customer wallet) and begin recording this information.
  • Talk to your peers– what are they using, and how does it support their operations?  The goal is to identify those who have made a successful journey and are now running their business without feeling software-based operational or growth constraints.
  • Talk to your OEMs – what dealer business system software do they support in communication (equipment, parts, service) and their sub-functions? 

Once you’ve completed the above, you can evaluate the various solutions providers – many excellent, technologically current dealer business systems are available today.  Take the time to review all of them and weigh the benefits and pitfalls of each solution.  While the ROI may be nebulous, you can take measures to validate many of the productivity and time savings you will gain, not to mention deploying a modern, user (and customer) friendly business system that will continue to update as technology advances. 

Suppose you’re concerned about organizational depth or team availability to carry all of this out internally. In that case, it makes sense to bring in an outside consultant who understands the industry, dealer software, and how to integrate successfully.  It’s a small investment in the success of your project and, ultimately, your dealership’s long-term viability. 

Considering this, why would any dealership still deploy 25+-year-old software to run their business?

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