Archive for category: Filosophy

Friday Filosophy v2013-06

February 8, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

It isn’t sufficient just to want – you’ve got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a think exactly right

Edward Simmons

People living deeply have no fear of death

Anais Nin

The time is now…..

WH Filosophy v1.6

February 1, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Welcome back Bill

Courage is grace under pressure.

Ernest Hemingway, Author

It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.

Roger Babson, American entrepreneur and business theorist

Well done is better than well said.

Benjamin Franklin, American inventor and statesman

Life is too short to be little.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British prime minister and writer

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy #2013-05

February 1, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

The great artist and thinker are the simplifiers.

Henri Frederic Amiel

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Mahatma Gandhi

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept responsibility for changing them.

Denis Waitley

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy #2013-04

January 25, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor.

Aristotle

However long the night, the dawn will break.

African Proverb

Courage is knowing what not to fear.

Plato

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy #2013-03

January 19, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

We can never make peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.

Dalai Lama

You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.

Mark Twain

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Mohandas Gandhi

The time is now…..

Friday Filosophy #2013-02

January 11, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.

Harold S. Geneen

If you care at all, you’ll get results. If you care enough, you’ll get incredible results.

Jim Rohn

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.

Bob Dylan

The time is now…..

CL v1.1

January 7, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

I was running through past comments and came across one from Christian Leboutin who contributed a quote that comes to us from Publilus Syrus “It is a very hard undertaking to seek to please everybody.”

This should have a corollary “If is everything is important then nothing is.”

The time is now.

Management Musings 2.3

January 4, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Let’s start a New Year – 2013 Practice. How about you take a process, any process and give it a fresh review?

Sit with your group and talk about the things that you do. Discuss them openly and without bias. Choose something that someone thinks might be done a little bit better. Have them take responsibility for a review of that process in the coming week with a report back to the group the following Friday. Then select a new one the following week and so on.

At the end of the year you will have had fifty two processes reviewed. The priority will have come from the group itself not you and one of your team members will have led the review and reported the findings back to the group. This should result in more engaged and motivated team members. They will all have their fingertprints all over everything that you do as a team.

The time is now.

Friday Filosophy 2013-01

January 4, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

Henry David Thoreau

Dreams are the touchstone of our character

Henry David Thoreau

All men who have achieved great things have been great dreamers

Orison Swett Marsden

The time is now…..

Management Musings 2.2

January 3, 2013/in Filosophy/by learningwithoutscars

There continues to be more research suggesting that incentives don’t work. This should lead us to reexamine our commission programs shouldn’t it?

Barney Frank, that once famous or infamous (your call) congressman, spoke at the Annual Awards dinner of the trade newspaper “American Banker” in 2004. He began his talk with a question “At the level of pay that those of you who run banks get, why the hell do you need a bonus to do the right thing?” Of course there was no answer given there was silence, so he continued. “Do we really have to bribe you to do you jobs?”

The same holds true for incentive programs on all manner of jobs. Are we truly trying to modify behavior with these programs or just pay more money?

I think it is time to ask some questions for instance:-

Why do we pay the same commission to equipment sales people who replace one of your brans as the commission for replacing a competitive brand?
Why do we pay a higher commission on the lowest margin products, undercarriage, as we do on the highest margin products, maintenance programs?

Just wondering why but then again that is what I do. Check out the studies and you will find that salaries are a better payment plan than commission programs.

The time is now.

TESTIMONIALS

The Top Three Heavy Equipment Jobs That No One Knows About

Guest writer Isaac Rollor is back this week with a blog post on the top three heavy equipment jobs that no one knows about - other than technicians!

Most of my blogging in the heavy equipment world focuses on issues related to heavy equipment technicians. However, recently I was speaking with an industry insider who complained that any college aged worker looking for jobs in the heavy equipment world is bombarded by marketing towards technicians and operators. There is truly little focus on filling other technically focused heavy equipment positions that are currently in high demand. This really piqued my curiosity because it’s a true statement. Open any search engine and type “Heavy Equipment Jobs” what will you find? Jobs for operators and technicians, training for operators and technicians. Millions of dollars in search engine optimization focused to make sure that anybody who wants to be around yellow iron becomes an operator or a technician.

To be honest, this is something that was never obvious to me, though it should have been. As a subject matter expert, I always knew that there was opportunity beyond working as a technician. I didn’t promote these opportunities because I was busy making sure every knew how great being a technician is. To investigate the matter, I called up a college aged family friend who is currently considering a career at the OEM dealer level. I was quite sure that even though I had never evangelized opportunities beyond being a technician, people must know that other opportunities exist beyond the role of technician. Surely, they did, right?! My assumptions fell flat when my contact couldn’t name any other position beyond “master technician.” When I pressed him for more detail he said, “I guess a technician could work for the parts department or maybe move into sales.” No mention of the service department, no mention of failure analysis, no mention of remarketing……. because he didn’t know. No one ever told him that there were many other jobs that a highly technical heavy equipment expert could move into during a career in the industry.

As I thought more deeply about this, I realized that for many years I was like a doctor who was prescribing a particular medication because there was currently a surplus of that medication. Okay, so that’s a little over top but it makes my point. Just because there is a massive need for technicians doesn’t mean that everyone who shows interest in heavy equipment is a good fit to be technician, even if they have the aptitude or ability.

Right now, there are a lot of talented people who think that technicians and heavy equipment operators are the only positions in high demand with the heavy equipment industry. I still think that being a technician or operator is a distinguished career choice, but I would also like to offer up my top three job title picks for 2023 not including technician or operator.

Product Support Manager:

As a Product Support Manager, you will collaborate with multiple teams to deliver the best possible experience to the end user of your OEM’s product. This position can be found at the manufacturer or dealer level. Many Product Support Mangers were technicians prior to taking on this position. Having a technical background is greatly beneficial because in this role you will be guiding warranty repairs, serving as the subject matter expert for failure analysis questions and directing teams from service, parts, sales, and warranty to get a customer’s machine running again. One of the great parts about the role is that you get to travel and see a lot of interesting construction, forestry, and mine sites. All this travel requires a 4x4 vehicle and it is customary for most employers to provide you with a company vehicle.

Here are the typical qualifications/requirements for this role:

Work independently.

Possess basic mechanical skills for equipment setup and operation.

Equipment sales experience.

Effective communication and people skills.

Excellent customer service skills.

Excellent computer skills.

Expected travel within the area of responsibility, minimum of 50% of the time.

Parts Sales and Service Representative

As a Parts Sales and Service Representative you will be responsible for forecasting the parts and service that a fleet of machines will need over its lifetime and then building a strong relationship with your customers so that they buy parts from you and set up service contracts with your dealer or manufacturer. Having a technical background is always helpful when working in this position. This experience will help you connect with your customers. The parts sales and service representative (PSSTR) can work at the manufacturing level or dealer level. The PSSR will frequently bridge the gap between the service department and sales department. A lot of times the PSSR spends more time with the customer than the salesperson who sold them the fleet of machines in the beginning.

Here are the typical qualifications/requirements for this role:

Previous customer service experience.

Certification in office management, or related programs is beneficial.

Communicate effectively with customers and internal team members.

Travel if required.

Demonstrate aptitude for problem-solving.

Initiative-taking; adaptable to change with strong organizational skills.

Purposeful and able to work both independently and within a team.

Fluent in computer literacy. Proficiency in Microsoft Office and a DMS system experience.

Candidate must be detailed orientated and have an important level of accuracy, able to adapt to a challenging environment.

Technical Trainer

As a technical trainer you will be responsible for training technicians and service personnel to troubleshoot, diagnose and repair equipment. This position isn’t a good fit for anyone with stage fright. It’s common to have 10-15 highly technical learners in your classroom ready to learn about a new product/technology. This is a highly visible role, and this position is available at the dealer and manufacturer level. As a technical trainer you will typically work for the training department, but you will frequently work with the service department, publication department and warranty department to develop content and deliver content.

Here are the typical qualifications/requirements for this role:

Must have a high school diploma at a minimum, BS or BA degree preferred. Minimum of five (5) years of industry experience or equivalent experience in the areas of Adult Education, Training and/or Continuing Education.

Previous training with College/Technical School programs and courses supportive of proficiency in mechanical aspects of construction/mining equipment preferred. Prominent level of technical knowledge, competency, and aptitude on construction/mining equipment that includes but is not limited to repair experience/knowledge, with on-the-job training/experience with great emphasis on machine troubleshooting. High degree of industry knowledge relative to best practices with training development and delivery.

Well versed in training curriculum design and development. Experienced with presentation, classroom, and material preparation skills. Should be intimately familiar with Instructional design as well familiar with best practice teaching methods.

Excellent computer and software skills pertaining to business systems, training development and training delivery required. Proficient in the use of Power Point, Excel, and Word. Preference of knowledge concerning media development software products utilized in course ware development. Capable of assimilating into or learning any software application needed to perform development and delivery of training programs.

High degree of motivation, creativity, innovation as well accept empowerment to ensure training classes are best practice, productive and training results are recognized as a “value add” to the participants and to their customers.

Excellent classroom presentation skills, demonstrating outstanding classroom and shop demonstration/instruction technique.

Ability to understand and support company training strategy.

Ability to think outside of the box, challenge the status quo and encourage continuous improvement with all training classes.

Establish effective relationships throughout the organization. Ability to be objective, show and foster respect for all individuals, and ability to foster collaboration among team members to create a positive work environment.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills required to communicate with all levels of the organization both internally and externally. Ability to convey sensitivity to others and share appropriate information to resolve issues (inside & outside the organization) cooperatively and fairly. Demonstrated ability to be adaptable and receive constructive criticism and modify behavior as a result.

Set ambitious standards of performance and deliver work products and service to meet or exceed quality/quantity standards.

All these jobs are currently in high demand. It’s hard-to-find people with the skillset necessary to perform these roles at a level of excellence, but anyone who has a passion for heavy equipment can excel in these positions. If you would like to learn more about these positions, I encourage you to visit OEM websites and search for these titles. The big three heavy equipment manufactures will have immediate openings for these positions. If you want to discuss these roles in more detail, please email me directly at isaac.rollor@gmail.com and I am happy to point you in the right direction.

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August 8, 2023

People...

Guest writer Andy Fanter returns tonight with a blog about people...not to worry, it's a good thing. Connections and relationships with people matter, at work or outside of it.

Back in 2018 I hunted with a friend who manages thousands of acres for non-resident landowners. This involves mowing, planting food plots, building duck and deer blinds, airport transportation, caring for homes clients buy in area. My friend needed a strong number two, and I convinced him to hire a friend in the business that was looking to make a move. This year, my friend fired my friend---not surprised the guy he hired is good with people and good with the field work, and my friend hiring was more interested in “ labor” not a leader. I had not talked to my “ hired friend “ since 2020, but when his wife texted me the news that he was fired last week---I responded, “ Can I fix it? “ I was willing to make a two-hour drive to see if I could repair it—the consultant in me. My skilled friend already has another management job, so my offer was not needed.

Last week had me driving to take care of some business. I passed a recent ex-client headquarters enroute, but coming back I was passing it at 10 minutes before noon. I know my ex-client pretty well, we are even friends, I stopped and asked the front desk if he was around. She said “maybe,” and a successful hunt for him started. She was shocked that I just took a chance to see if he was around, but I have known this person 25 years. My friend was happy to see me, bought lunch, and our business relationship mended. We got caught up on 18 months of news. Some may know the name of the client---yes, we are both Gen X and more than a little opinionated!

Well great Andy---there are three people on earth who do not use a cuss word before your name….what does this have to do with construction machinery business and dealers? Never get too big, too mad, or too distant to try and help people. I say it often; the toughest clients to get are the ones you lost. But have you tried getting them back?

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September 18, 2024