Be self-reliant and your success is assured.

Unknown

The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Mohandas Gandhi

The time is now…..

Filosophy

WH Filosophy v-1.16

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

Helen Keller (1880–1968) American humanitarian advocate for the deaf and blind

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.

Booker T. Washington, American educator, author and political leader

Formula for success: rise early, work hard, strike oil.

J. Paul Getty, American industrialist

I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn’t know.

Mark Twain

Destruction before creation

Joseph Campbell

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.

Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist

Getting rid of a delusion makes us wiser than getting hold of a truth.

Ludwig Borne

Thanks Bill

The time is now.

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-33

Happiness is where we find it, but rarely where we seek it.

J. Petit Senn

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.

Arthur Schopenhauer

The only peace, the only security, is in fulfillment.

Henry Miller

The time is now…..

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-32

In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.

Albert Schweitzer

Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Aristotle

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.

Hannah Arendt

The time is now…..

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-31

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only journey is the journey within.

Rainer Maria Rilke

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success.

Henry Ward Beecher

The time is now…..

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-30

Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

Dwight D Eisenhower

I forgot to shake hands and be friendly. It was an important lesson about leadership.

Lee Iacocca

Great effort from great motives is the best definition of a happy life.

William Ellery Channing

The time is now…..

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-29

I believe the greater the handicap, the greater the triumph.

John H Johnson

The first requisite of success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem without growing weary.

Thomas Edison

Love your enemies because they bring out the best in you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The time is now…..

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-29

I believe the greater the handicap, the greater the triumph.

John H Johnson

The first requisite of success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem without growing weary.

Thomas Edison

Love your enemies because they bring out the best in you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

The time is now…..

Filosophy

WH Filosophy v1.15

Examine what you tolerate.

Danielle LaPorte

Be Critical, Not Cynical

Scott Belsky, founder of Behance

Thanks Bill

The time is now.

Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-28

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

Eleanor Roosevelt

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.

Epictetus

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.

William Feather

The time is now…..

TESTIMONIALS

From Paper to Glass

In a recent Podcast with Alex Schuessler, we were talking about technology and the changes that have taken place in the marketplace within our Industry. I have long used the example of the Steam Engine being replaced by the Electric Engine of how we resist changes. Yes, the tool was changed – the engine – but the methods and procedures did not change for a generation. Changing the tool was traumatic enough for the leadership of the day. They couldn’t handle that much change in their lives.

Fast forward to the current situation and the area of technology. The Large Computers arrived in larger businesses sold by consultants for the most part. Thus, a new tool was introduced to the market. We wrote everything on our usual forms and sent the “paper” documents to what was then called “Data Processing.” The information on the paper was punched onto cards. These cards were then processed through readers and then passed on to the computer for processing. The computer was then used to print a report of what was punched into the cards and processed that was sent back to the originator or the document in the first place. This was a lot of extra work. It was justified in the speed with which it could be processed once it was corrected.

The computers changed and the need for punched cards was eliminated when we had the arrival of “Computer Terminals.” This is the beginning of what Alex dubbed the “Paper to Glass” transition. It is a beautiful description of what has happened in dealer business systems, we have taken the older processes and procedures and methods of writing things on a piece of paper and instead of writing them down we have typed the information into a computer screen, from writing on a piece of paper to typing on a screen of glass. Rather a good precise description. This is exactly the same as changing the Steam Engine to an Electric Engine.

Typically, a generation is described as twenty years. With the dates of the 1960’s as the starting point for computers to the 2020’s we are talking about taking three generations to adapt and adjust or methods compared to one generation in the 1800’s. How smart do we appear to be now?

I have talked for years, perhaps decades about the three questions that a customer asks when they need to purchase parts from a dealer. Have you got it? How much is it? How long do I have to wait to get it? I believe that is very straight forward. These are the same questions I have when I want to purchase something. BUT. The first question someone asks when a customer calls into a dealer to order parts or walks into the business is never one of those three questions listed above. No, the first question we ask is “Who are you?” We need to know that because the first thing we have to enter on the glass is the customer number. It is very similar to writing the customer number of the order parts sales order form. Does that sound like progress? Or have we simply gone from paper to glass? Can’t we do better than that?

If we look at the service department, we have similar issues. We need to conduct an inspection, either with telematics and sensors or a physical inspection, to determine what is wrong. Then create a quotation, which in most cases is an estimate. Then determine the time line for the repair, establish a schedule, assign the work and complete the work to fix the problem. Of course, it is more complicated than simply finding what part is required to compete a repair but that sounds like a paper to glass transition to me. What about standard times and flat rate pricing? What about understanding objectively the technical skills of each technician and assigning someone to complete the job who has those skills?

I can go on and on in this vein.

Today we have a smaller number of DMS providers in the industry; CDK, DIS, EBS, e-emphasis, Infor, JD Edwards, Oracle, SAP, XAPT and others. (I am sure I missed a few) Each of them is based on the Paper to Glass process.

The real dilemma in all of this to me is that when you change your DMS it is not the cost of the hardware or even of the software that is the real expense. No, it is the retraining of all of your employees in the new methods that are being introduced. Then you go through the curtain on never wanting to go through that change again. It was so painful.

So, Alex called this “Paper to Glass” and he is in the Technology aspect of the industry. I think he is on to something very important and we will talk about this more as time passes.

The Time is Now.

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October 20, 2021

Today - for Friday Filosophy #2016-9 - I would like to address productivity. First is the definition. Productivity is an economic measure of output per unit of input. Inputs typically cover labor (other things as well but labor for our purpose today) while output is typically measured in revenues.

Today we are living in “The Computer Age.” How has the computer changed productivity? Is it for the better or not? A recent TED talk I saw highlighted that our world is one where it is now “Brains not Brawn” – “Ideas not Things” – “Mind not Matter.” We are also seeing a decoupling of our economy in traditional ways. Productivity increases have not translated into either more jobs or better pay. So here is our Friday Filosophy for you to contemplate. Please send me your thoughts or comments. Thanks.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Voltaire

There is no substitute for hard work.

Edison

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.

Thomas Sowell

No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.

Warren Buffett

Nine men impregnating the same woman cannot deliver a baby in a month.

Ron Slee

Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity.

Timothy Feriss

The time is now.

March 5, 2016