The Year That Was
Guest writer Christopher Kiely takes on the important task of the review of 2022 with his blog post: “The Year That Was.”
I was asked to write a “year in review” type reflection piece for the end of the year. As you can tell it is now past the end of 2022 and no such piece was produced. Instead, I pondered and wondered and debated and did all the usual writer’s block prolonging techniques that I have perfected over the years. If there was a market for such knowledge, I could write a book!
The problem is, I take this lesson to heart, elucidated by many but perhaps most succinctly by Buddha:
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
2022 was a challenging year for me and many of my friends and acquaintances, and unfortunately for many people I know 2023 is continuing to provide challenges even in its nascent state. Sitting around pondering the past and predicting the future are intrinsically intwined human behaviours and this time of year when our calendar flip urges us to reflect and consider past and future there is no shortage of such behaviour. There is also no shortage of depression and anxiety surrounding this time of year.
As Lao Tzu pointed out:
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
That is some of our oldest written human wisdom right there, often repeated throughout millennia. Yet we persist in our mind-wanderings into fictional futures and misrepresented pasts, ignoring the reality of the present for the dream images of the past or the imaginative dilemmas of invented futures. We have become consumed with such things in our culture. Tearing down symbols of our past while making plans and predictions about our future based on ill-conceived computational models. We spend remarkably little time in the present. Perhaps if we did, we would solve our more “present problems” such as homelessness and poverty rather than trying to right past injustices (a fool’s errand) or get to Mars in an EV spaceship (a fool’s goal).
Time is a glittering light for most of us. A shiny beacon we can hardly take our eyes off or shift our mind from. It is all around us, on our phones, on our wrists, on our walls, glowing from billboards and signalled at quarter hours by bells and cuckoos. Yet we don’t even really know what it is. We can explain it chronologically, “time is the continued sequence of existence… blahblahblah”. But where does it go when we sleep, when we no longer perceive it and its best-friend space? It becomes an illusion.
As my best-friend I never met Alan Watts points out:
“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality.”
“Out of touch with reality” is how more and more of us are beginning to see the world we live in. At least those of us that have broken away from the institutional propaganda we have been conditioned to accept as our past, present and future. These are the people I write for. Those of us that have deeply felt the absurdity of it all. This is not something you can explain or convince someone of, much like faith, proselytizing to the nonbelievers is typically futile and it requires the same “knowing as a feeling” as opposed to rational thinking, in a world where rational thought is governed by that which you perceive as part and parcel of the absurdity.
So, I don’t spend too much time recalling the past or gazing toward an uncertain future, a terrible person to ask to write a “year in review” piece. But not the worst person to provide some trite rehashed “New Year’s Wisdom” you can discard with your new gym membership in a few months? Perhaps. We’re going to give ’er a go regardless.
Living purely in the moment is a nice notion, suitable for monks and bong-smoking couch dwellers. One can disappear into such existence if one chooses a devoutly ascetic life. Most of us are not conditioned to such a lifestyle however and, illusion or not, must actively participate in time. Appointments are made, meetings scheduled, future KPIs, goals and objectives are set. We are flooded with past data, asked to recall and recollect, urged to review past earnings and performance. It is easy to lose that “infinitesimal hairline” of reality when one actively participates in the absurdity. But actively participate we should and often must!
Where then do we find the time for the present, for the moment, for the now? Remember in school when you were told not to daydream? They lied to you.
As our good friend Albert Camus counters:
“Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be and humor for what they actually are.”
Imagination allows us to escape Lao Tzu’s “anxiety” and “depression” of time. It places us in the creative now and, contrary again to what we have been taught, creativity requires no great technique beyond the ability to daydream. The institutional ideas and standards for creativity are housed in systems and techniques (music, photography, oil painting, sculpture, etc.…) that one must train and develop. To connect to the present moment, many people and organizations preach the need for meditation or “mindfulness” never confessing the difficulty or even discord some may find in the practice, especially initially. But the pay off for creativity needs no marble statue or voluminous published works, one can be the crafter of epic works in their mind, the benefit of the imagination, of the exercising of creativity is the same, regardless of tactile outcomes. And connecting to the present moment does not require the quiet undisturbed still-mindedness of a Zen master.
The mind can be allowed to wander, to question and create on its own, the need to silence it is overstated. Discovering the mind is just like your lungs, and one can actively think as they actively breath or leave both the breathing and thinking to natural impulses we don’t directly control, or understand, is the real secret to “mindfulness”. By understanding your thinking is not you and letting it flow rather than trying to cling to thoughts, one can develop a contemplative imaginative creativity that has no technique beyond the manifestations of one’s own mind and use that to manifest profound change in their lives. Getting lost in imagination, creating in your mind the things you want to see, hear, do, be; whether they are works that have associated technique or not, (this is your imagination after all and no systems or techniques are required), is a powerful place to be. In that place, a place all of us knew the directions to when we were young, lies the current moment, and as close as we get to “reality”. Love and peace are only found in this moment, there is no past or future love and peace that is real, only the love and peace of the “now” is felt. This is why they condition imagination out of us and attempt to place it behind a wall of institutionally approved techniques.
This year I hope you are all able to shift your focus and avoid the depression of misremembered pasts and anxiety of speculative futures to find that “infinitesimal hairline” and spend some time there each day, whether in mindfulness or imagination. The more time you spend there, and one of the reasons you were encouraged not to, the more likely you are to find that other “knowing as a feeling” that lingers around in the inner quiet creative moments of the here and now, what Charles Bukowski knew and felt when writing The Laughing Heart, and what I will share as my “rehashed wisdom” and wish for you in this New Year:
The Laughing Heart
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
Charles Bukowski – The Laughing Heart
Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.
Driving Change and Transformation in 2023
Driving Change and Transformation in 2023
For our Coaches’ Corner, Ron Slee returns to his favorite role – Coach – with “Driving Change and Transformation in 2023.”
We have seen a lot of change over the past thirty-six months. From January 2020 as the starting point the world has seen remarkable, generational, challenges. The Pandemic. Virtual Learning. Supply Change Disruptions. Wars. And much more. It really does cause a serious reflection and review of everything that we had become accustomed to in our lives.
It is really hard to put in into any kind of perspective. What is the comparison point? And now we are in another period of uncertainty. Recession or not? The consensus is predicting a recession in 2023. How do you plan for that? In the past we have become turtles We pull our head into the shell and hope everything is ok when we reappear. I don’t think that, by itself, it is a very good strategy at all.
In the midst of this we are all going through the usual planning for the coming year. Imagine that? With all this uncertainty we are making plans. It reminds me of an old expression “Life is what happens when you are planning other things.” I think that is even more pertinent now.
I was reading a study put out by a very large consulting company recently. They were addressing professional service leaders and what they were looking at in 2023 and beyond. This is the consulting worldview. They were pointing at a series of things.
Setting Sights on Growth.
This is an interesting area to consider at this point in time. GDP growth is under serious challenge in the developed world. The US, Canada and Mexico are dependent, to a very large degree, on consumer spending. The recent numbers show that consumer spending, excepting the upper 5% demographic, will be constrained. European growth with the challenges of fuel as a result of the Russia/Ukraine conflict and dependence on Russian fossil fuels will be seriously impacted. What the professional service companies are focused on is rather interesting
With the spending forecasts so gloomy I suppose we have to find work somehow. Right?
Taking On Efficiency Drivers
From my perspective this is something that should be a constant. But it isn’t. We were so caught up in our sales growth and profit growth that we just sat on our hands. Total Quality Management from the Deming days is not a generational activity. It should be constant. We lost sight of the fact that Kaizen means daily improvements. Not occasional. When it suits us.
Is there anything that you see on that list that should not be a part of each years’ activities?
Viewing Risk Differently
This is a different time. This is not the risk of a new competitor or a new product. No, it is much more serious than that. Isn’t it? Cybersecurity. Data security in the cloud. Payment processes being hacked. There are a lot of risks out there now that didn’t exist ten years ago.
What are your top three priorities to reduce risk?
Further as very high-level items
Sounding more like consultants here, aren’t they?
Digital Transformation
Finally, we get to digital transformation. The real elephant in the room. The world of today and tomorrow is driven by data analytics. Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cloud Computing are going to change everything that we currently think we know. Facts will drive us into the future with powerful computing leading the way. We have to make some serious determinations to go into this world without too much danger and damage. Market Coverage. Predictive Analytics based on purchasing patterns. We need to be alert more than ever before.
The key takeaway from surveys of mid-sized and large businesses is that innovation will be the most critical item for them.
I would submit to you that this list is one that we could use every year. We have relaxed too much in the past forty years. We have been sitting in a rocking chair enjoying our successes. Not everyone has realized that that chapter is over. Those predictable patterns are now dead and being replaced as we speak. The businesses that can adapt to this NEXT reality will be the only ones left standing this time around. Will you be one of them?
The Time is Now.
Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.
The Year That Was
The Year That Was
Guest writer Christopher Kiely takes on the important task of the review of 2022 with his blog post: “The Year That Was.”
I was asked to write a “year in review” type reflection piece for the end of the year. As you can tell it is now past the end of 2022 and no such piece was produced. Instead, I pondered and wondered and debated and did all the usual writer’s block prolonging techniques that I have perfected over the years. If there was a market for such knowledge, I could write a book!
The problem is, I take this lesson to heart, elucidated by many but perhaps most succinctly by Buddha:
“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
2022 was a challenging year for me and many of my friends and acquaintances, and unfortunately for many people I know 2023 is continuing to provide challenges even in its nascent state. Sitting around pondering the past and predicting the future are intrinsically intwined human behaviours and this time of year when our calendar flip urges us to reflect and consider past and future there is no shortage of such behaviour. There is also no shortage of depression and anxiety surrounding this time of year.
As Lao Tzu pointed out:
“If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
That is some of our oldest written human wisdom right there, often repeated throughout millennia. Yet we persist in our mind-wanderings into fictional futures and misrepresented pasts, ignoring the reality of the present for the dream images of the past or the imaginative dilemmas of invented futures. We have become consumed with such things in our culture. Tearing down symbols of our past while making plans and predictions about our future based on ill-conceived computational models. We spend remarkably little time in the present. Perhaps if we did, we would solve our more “present problems” such as homelessness and poverty rather than trying to right past injustices (a fool’s errand) or get to Mars in an EV spaceship (a fool’s goal).
Time is a glittering light for most of us. A shiny beacon we can hardly take our eyes off or shift our mind from. It is all around us, on our phones, on our wrists, on our walls, glowing from billboards and signalled at quarter hours by bells and cuckoos. Yet we don’t even really know what it is. We can explain it chronologically, “time is the continued sequence of existence… blahblahblah”. But where does it go when we sleep, when we no longer perceive it and its best-friend space? It becomes an illusion.
As my best-friend I never met Alan Watts points out:
“We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between a causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are therefore out of touch with reality.”
“Out of touch with reality” is how more and more of us are beginning to see the world we live in. At least those of us that have broken away from the institutional propaganda we have been conditioned to accept as our past, present and future. These are the people I write for. Those of us that have deeply felt the absurdity of it all. This is not something you can explain or convince someone of, much like faith, proselytizing to the nonbelievers is typically futile and it requires the same “knowing as a feeling” as opposed to rational thinking, in a world where rational thought is governed by that which you perceive as part and parcel of the absurdity.
So, I don’t spend too much time recalling the past or gazing toward an uncertain future, a terrible person to ask to write a “year in review” piece. But not the worst person to provide some trite rehashed “New Year’s Wisdom” you can discard with your new gym membership in a few months? Perhaps. We’re going to give ’er a go regardless.
Living purely in the moment is a nice notion, suitable for monks and bong-smoking couch dwellers. One can disappear into such existence if one chooses a devoutly ascetic life. Most of us are not conditioned to such a lifestyle however and, illusion or not, must actively participate in time. Appointments are made, meetings scheduled, future KPIs, goals and objectives are set. We are flooded with past data, asked to recall and recollect, urged to review past earnings and performance. It is easy to lose that “infinitesimal hairline” of reality when one actively participates in the absurdity. But actively participate we should and often must!
Where then do we find the time for the present, for the moment, for the now? Remember in school when you were told not to daydream? They lied to you.
As our good friend Albert Camus counters:
“Imagination offers people consolation for what they cannot be and humor for what they actually are.”
Imagination allows us to escape Lao Tzu’s “anxiety” and “depression” of time. It places us in the creative now and, contrary again to what we have been taught, creativity requires no great technique beyond the ability to daydream. The institutional ideas and standards for creativity are housed in systems and techniques (music, photography, oil painting, sculpture, etc.…) that one must train and develop. To connect to the present moment, many people and organizations preach the need for meditation or “mindfulness” never confessing the difficulty or even discord some may find in the practice, especially initially. But the pay off for creativity needs no marble statue or voluminous published works, one can be the crafter of epic works in their mind, the benefit of the imagination, of the exercising of creativity is the same, regardless of tactile outcomes. And connecting to the present moment does not require the quiet undisturbed still-mindedness of a Zen master.
The mind can be allowed to wander, to question and create on its own, the need to silence it is overstated. Discovering the mind is just like your lungs, and one can actively think as they actively breath or leave both the breathing and thinking to natural impulses we don’t directly control, or understand, is the real secret to “mindfulness”. By understanding your thinking is not you and letting it flow rather than trying to cling to thoughts, one can develop a contemplative imaginative creativity that has no technique beyond the manifestations of one’s own mind and use that to manifest profound change in their lives. Getting lost in imagination, creating in your mind the things you want to see, hear, do, be; whether they are works that have associated technique or not, (this is your imagination after all and no systems or techniques are required), is a powerful place to be. In that place, a place all of us knew the directions to when we were young, lies the current moment, and as close as we get to “reality”. Love and peace are only found in this moment, there is no past or future love and peace that is real, only the love and peace of the “now” is felt. This is why they condition imagination out of us and attempt to place it behind a wall of institutionally approved techniques.
This year I hope you are all able to shift your focus and avoid the depression of misremembered pasts and anxiety of speculative futures to find that “infinitesimal hairline” and spend some time there each day, whether in mindfulness or imagination. The more time you spend there, and one of the reasons you were encouraged not to, the more likely you are to find that other “knowing as a feeling” that lingers around in the inner quiet creative moments of the here and now, what Charles Bukowski knew and felt when writing The Laughing Heart, and what I will share as my “rehashed wisdom” and wish for you in this New Year:
The Laughing Heart
your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
Charles Bukowski – The Laughing Heart
Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.
Encouraging Lifelong Learning in Your Company
Encouraging Lifelong Learning in Your Company
Guest writer Steve Johnson contributes to this week’s installment on Lifelong Learning with his blog post, “Encouraging Lifelong Learning in Your Company.”
In my last article, I said to readers, “As a final note, make continuous learning intentional and give it high priority. Continuous learning is your responsibility, not the responsibility of your company, your supervisor or anyone else. To be able to effectively manage your career, you need to plan your future, that is, identify your goals and chart your path for reaching those goals. An important part of that path is going to be continuous learning. Plan your educational future now. In doing that, we encourage you to explore educational opportunities at Learning Without Scars for high quality industry- and position-specific education.”
Given the above, the smart company will still encourage and enable lifelong learning, as it’s in their best interests as well. Another quote from my last article, “At some point in the future, you could find out that management no longer feels you are relevant to attaining the company’s goals. You could find out that the job market feels the same about your resume.” One can say essentially the same thing about a company. At some point in the future, you could find out that your customers and suppliers no longer feel you are relevant to their futures. Investments in employee lifelong learning are investments in your company’s relevance, efficiency and productivity. They are crucial in meeting your customers’ needs, leading to higher customer satisfaction and retention. They are also crucial to employee satisfaction and retention. Your investment in employees is a clear demonstration of how you value them.
Enabling lifelong learning in your company should be a part of your employee development program. If you don’t have such a program, you should invest in one. As has been said before, “What about the costs?” The usual and correct answer to that is what are the costs of not investing in employee development? Don’t know where to start? Here are some ideas.
Rule number one for such lifelong learning programs is that you have to get started at some point. I encourage you to start by doing something now. At least formulate a basic plan. Give your plan the time needed to achieve expected results. Your plan will evolve as you determine what things work best in your company and the benefits become more and more apparent. We encourage you to explore educational opportunities at Learning Without Scars for high quality industry- and position-specific education for inclusion in your lifelong learning plans.
Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
For our course lists, please click here.
Friday Filosophy v.01.06.2023
Friday Filosophy v.01.06.2023
Founder Ron Slee shares quotes from Vincent Van Gogh in Friday Filosophy v.01.06.2023.
Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of which date from the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterized by bold colors and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. Not commercially successful, he struggled with severe depression and poverty, eventually leading to his suicide at age thirty-seven.
Born into an upper-middle class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet, and thoughtful. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often traveling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a Protestant missionary in southern Belgium. He drifted in ill health and solitude before taking up painting in 1881, having moved back home with his parents. His younger brother Theo supported him financially; the two kept a long correspondence by letter. His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant laborer’s, contain few signs of the vivid color that distinguished his later work. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. As his work developed, he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. His paintings grew brighter as he developed a style that became fully realized during his stay in Arles in the South of France in 1888. During this period he broadened his subject matter to include series of olive trees, wheat fields and sunflowers.
Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions and though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed part of his own left ear. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself in the chest with a revolver, dying from his injuries two days later.
Van Gogh was commercially unsuccessful during his lifetime, and he was considered a madman and a failure. As he only became famous after his suicide, he came to be seen as a misunderstood genius in the public imagination. His reputation grew in the early 20th century as elements of his style came to be incorporated by the Fauves and German Expressionists. He attained widespread critical and commercial success over the ensuing decades, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter whose troubled personality typifies the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh’s works are among the world’s most expensive paintings to have ever sold, and his legacy is honoured by a museum in his name, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world’s largest collection of his paintings and drawings.
The Time is Now.
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Should equipment dealerships be looking to acquire rental companies?
Should equipment dealerships be looking to acquire rental companies?
Guest writer Gary Stansberry writes about an important question in his blog post this week: Should equipment dealerships be looking to acquire rental companies?
In a recent blog in this forum, I wrote about dedicating your business to rental if you are serious about having a successful rental division in your equipment dealership. That means having dedicated IT systems, facilities, equipment, and personnel focusing solely on rental. As I mentioned in that blog post, I came from an AED type dealer with a rental department. Even though we had significant rental revenues, we did not know what it meant to be a truly responsive and service-oriented rental company. It took me actually working for a dedicated rental business before I fully understood this.
We have seen more and more equipment dealers become interested in the rent-to-rent strategy. These dealers recognize the growing importance of the rent-to-rent model as an integral component in achieving their desired market share and brand exposure within their trade territory. In most cases, equipment dealerships do not have existing staff that have experience in a high-volume rental environment. Unless they have worked in a management role for one of the major rental companies such as United, Sunbelt or HERC, or possibly for a larger regional or independent rental company, your rental (and by rental, I mean rent-to-rent, not rental purchase) department is not likely to achieve its full potential.
Our primary business at The Stansberry Firm is selling rental businesses. Given that some dealers realize they do not have the necessary talent, systems, and expertise in-house, some are now turning to acquiring an existing rental company as a way of gaining that knowledge. In the last few years, we are now seeing a “new” type of acquirer; equipment dealerships (or their wholly owned rental subsidiaries). Often, the biggest challenge for these dealer groups is finding a rental company, especially one with multiple locations, that operates solely within their manufacturer assigned territory. A second issue is that often equipment dealers do not have the in-house capabilities to evaluate, value and/or structure a transaction to acquire a rental company.
I have recently worked with a major CAT dealer to help them acquire two dedicated rental operations to add to their expanding rent-to-rent operations. In addition, I have sold two of my rental company clients to equipment dealers that are looking at these acquisitions to lead the way to integrate the rent-to-rent philosophy into their existing operations. Although I am an acquisition specialist, I am a firm believer that your rental growth strategy should come from a combination of acquisitions and “greenfield” expansion. Most everyone I talk with in the rental industry is complaining that their two biggest challenges are equipment availability and getting good people. An acquisition is a way getting a proven rental revenue stream, rental ready equipment and rental-knowledgeable people on your team that can help strengthen your entire rental strategy.
I want to leave you with a final thought; the rental market is growing. The American Rental Association, through its ARA Rentalytics™ service, has consistently touted 2022 to be a double-digit growth year, to be followed by several more years of more modest growth. There is also a notion that the combination of inflation, rising interest rates, equipment availability and supply chain issues, in tandem with a labor shortage will cause more end users to rent equipment vs. buying equipment: i.e., an increase in rental penetration (equipment rented vs. owned by the end user). According to the ARA, rental penetration in 2019 was 56.7% and dropped to 54.5% in 2020. The last major shift in rental penetration was driven by the 2008 recession; according to the ARA rental penetration in the US was only 39.7% in 2005 steadily increasing from 2011 to the current level of 54.5%. Some industry observers believe the current market factors could drive rental penetration several points higher and possibly as high as 60% within the next 24-36 months. If potentially 60% of the equipment market is rental, why wouldn’t you be looking to grow this segment.
Gary Stansberry is the President of The Stansberry Firm, LLC and specializes in rental business sales and consulting with businesses to increase their value.
More information on the company can be found at www.thestansberryfirm.com.
Gary can be reached at (210) 797-7368 or by email at ga**@***************rm.com.
Did you enjoy this blog? Read more great blog posts here.
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How Is Your Customer Service…Meh?
How Is Your Customer Service…Meh?
Guest writer John Anderson relates his road trip experiences to readers in his blog post this week: How Is Your Customer Service…Meh? Here’s hoping your service cannot be described as “meh.”
I recently made a cross country trip in the United States, well perhaps not cross country so much as up and down. Crossing into the US at Detroit and meandering my way to the southern climes of Florida. Traveling throughout my career I learned to value “windshield time”. It was my time to solve the world issues at hand. I had little to distract me save for a chatty sales rep that was there for a ride along. This trip was a little different. Windshield time is now a mix of super productive calls, texts and emails thanks to the technology in my truck and the traditional time to stew and think deep thoughts.
On this particular trip I spent a lot of time noticing how our expectation of customer service had changed. I mean it’s changed a lot. The bar is lowered to a near subterranean level. How many times in the last year have you been surprised that someone has called you back? How many times have you been surprised by someone actually getting you an answer or making a plan or reserving a product. How many times have you made a call only to here “can you hold please.” And it’s said as a statement, not a question.
What I liked about this trip is I started to really notice when I got great customer service and when I didn’t. Surprisingly it was hard to find those instances where someone cared. It was like I was starving for a meaningful customer interaction. Had I just become a curmudgeon and gave off so much negative energy that nobody would make eye contact? I was two fuel stops, one fresh fruit stand and a rest station into my trip. I had no experience, not bad, not good, just meh. That’s it! We all accept MEH! We have come to accept if it isn’t bad, it’s just MEH! How far we have come and how low we have set our expectations from the days of Customers for Life, What Customers Crave, and Hug Your Haters (these were all bestsellers once).
Day two had promise though. I woke at 6:00am in the RV. I was graciously provided an overnight stop at Lane’s Southern Orchards. Imagine a business that encourages you to stop overnight and use their parking lot with no obligation. I had stayed before and knew the food was good and the peach preserves were the best I ever had but it was closed because I had battled Atlanta traffic. I did call and tell them I would be late. I woke to a stellar sunrise over acres of strawberry fields and peach orchards. The cannery was already in full swing and I can’t describe how good it smelled. I had to hit the road and when I jumped in the truck, I noticed a small hand written note and a jar on my hood that said, “Sorry we missed you! Come back again soon.” My day was off to a great start and I would definitely be back. Next time I will be in early to buy lots of goodies and load up for the trip home.
Next stop was to get fuel, no easy feat when you’re dragging 42 feet behind you. My technology suggested I stop at the next exit and use BUC-EES. It also suggested I check out their restrooms. That’s the oddest recommendation I have had yet, but it was the best. I will leave it to you to discover on your own. Buc-ees is built around positive customer experiences. They greet you; they sincerely ask about your trip or what you might need. I think they have everything in the world. Its like the Walt Disney World of highway gas stations and they use every customer service trick in the book. With 40 pumps, and hundreds of parking spots there is now waiting. Need lunch or supper its already cooking. Forgot your warm clothes or a gift for the grandkids, they have it all. I encourage you to have a look on you tube as I can’t do it justice.
My point is that here I am, 2 weeks later thinking about going back to those places that gave me better than meh. Do you actively train your staff to prevent meh! Have you trained them on the fine art of conversation. Do they understand that before you can sell a lot you have to mean a lot. The bar has never been lower, all you need to do is care. People are starving for a customer experience; a good customer experience is a bonus. I have faith that humanity will return to caring about each other and enjoying each other. In the meantime, it’s just, well meh!
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Becoming a Reader #LifelongLearning
Becoming a Reader #LifelongLearning
Curriculum Designer Caroline Slee-Poulos takes us into a subject near and dear to her – Becoming a Reader – for her post in our #LifelongLearning series.
It’s a New Year! We all know what that means, don’t we? At this time, we’ve all made resolutions. We are determined. We are committed. We are going to improve ourselves.
I mean, sure, most of the resolutions people make have something to do with weight loss or fitness, but you have to consider who is writing this post. I’m a curriculum designer AND an English teacher.
There’s funny thing about reading: if you’re a reader, there’s very little that is inaccessible to you from a learning standpoint.
But there’s always a catch: you have to have a budget for books!
The Kindle, the Kobo, and the iPad have taken away the space requirements of being a reader. Although, if you’re anything like me, you like the feel and smell of printed books… Still, who can afford a bigger house just to house their books? In all seriousness, if reading is a part of your self-improvement journey in 2023, I have some very good news for you: free books!
There’s one first step to take when you have a title you know you want to read: Google it. You would be surprised how many times there is a free PDF available to you online. Most of them have been uploaded by English and History teachers for different school projects.
If, however, you have decided to start reading as a pastime, a way to de-stress, or a way to be entertained, there’s an entire website of free books – with audio – available to everyone. I use this one in my classroom, and my students use this website to choose what they would like to read. The website is esl-bits.net. On that site, you can read everything from transcripts of speeches and articles to full novels from Steven King. It’s your choice.
If you have a competitive streak, I invite you to set up a free account on Goodreads. Every year, they have reading challenges in which you can set your goal for the year. You get to set your reading goal, you pace, and it tracks your progress for you. I find it very helpful.
If you want to continue learning, reading is your entry point. If you haven’t made a resolution yet, allow me to encourage you to make becoming a reader part of your self-improvement plans.
Let’s all commit to lifelong learning together.
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Friday Filosophy v.12.30.2022
Friday Filosophy v.12.30.2022
Friday Filosophy v.12.30.2022 offers quotes and words of wisdom from Walt Disney.
Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned and nominations by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Disney was the first person to be nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.
Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to California in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. With UbIwerks, he developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, he became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio, Fantasia (both 1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950), Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Mary Poppins (1964), the last of which received five Academy Awards.
In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in July 1955 he opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney’s Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club. He was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World’s Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” (EPCOT). Disney was a heavy smoker throughout his life and died of lung cancer in December 1966 before either the park or the EPCOT project were completed.
Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked. Although there have been accusations that he was racist or antisemitic, they have been contradicted by many who knew him. Historiography of Disney has taken a variety of perspectives, ranging from views of him as a purveyor of homely patriotic values to being a representative of American imperialism. He remains an important figure in the history of animation and in the cultural history of the United States, where he is considered a national cultural icon. His film work continues to be shown and adapted, and the Disney theme parks have grown in size and number to attract visitors in several countries.
The Time is Now
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Friday Filosophy v.12.23.2022
Friday Filosophy v.12.23.2022
In Friday Filosophy v.12.23.2022, Ron Slee shares quotes and words of wisdom from John Rockefeller.
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time[1][2] and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York that moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder.
Rockefeller’s wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the richest person in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the United States at his peak. Oil was used throughout the country as a light source until the introduction of electricity, and as a fuel after the invention of the automobile. Furthermore, Rockefeller gained enormous influence over the railroad industry which transported his oil around the country. Standard Oil was the first great business trust in the United States. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and, through corporate and technological innovations, was instrumental in both widely disseminating and drastically reducing the production cost of oil. His company and business practices came under criticism, particularly in the writings of author Ida Tarbell.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that Standard Oil must be dismantled for violation of federal antitrust laws. It was broken up into 34 separate entities, which included companies that became ExxonMobil, Chevron Corporation, and others—some of which still have the highest level of revenue in the world. In the end it turned out that the individual segments of the company were worth more than the entire company was when it was one entity—the sum of the parts were worth more than the whole—as shares of these doubled and tripled in value in their early years. Consequently, Rockefeller became the country’s first billionaire, with a fortune worth nearly 2% of the national economy. His personal wealth was estimated in 1913 at $900 million, which was almost 3% of the US GDP of $39.1 billion that year. That was his peak net worth, and amounts to US$24.7 billion (in 2021 dollars; inflation-adjusted).
Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at Kykuit, his estate in Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy, along with other key industrialists such as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research.[10] His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm[11] and yellow fever[12] in the United States. He and Carnegie gave form and impetus through their charities to the work of Abraham Flexner, who in his essay “Medical Education in America” emphatically endowed empiricism as the basis for the US medical system of the 20th century.
Rockefeller was also the founder of the University of Chicago and Rockefeller University and funded the establishment of Central Philippine University in the Philippines. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life. For advice, he relied closely on his wife Laura Spelman Rockefeller with whom he had five children. He was a faithful congregant of the Erie Street Baptist Mission Church, taught Sunday school, and served as a trustee, clerk, and occasional janitor. Religion was a guiding force throughout his life and he believed it to be the source of his success. Rockefeller was also considered a supporter of capitalism based on a perspective of social Darwinism, and he was quoted often as saying, “The growth of a large business is merely a survival of the fittest”.
The Time is Now
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Coaches Corner v.12.22.2022
Coaches Corner v.12.22.2022
In Coaches Corner v.12.22.2022, Learning Without Scars’ guest writer Alex Kraft pays tribute to football coach Mike Leach.
R.I.P. Mike Leach
College Football coach Mike Leach sadly passed away unexpectedly this week due to a heart attack. While he’s not as widely known as the big names like Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh, and Lincoln Riley, Coach Leach has been just as influential within the world of college football. Coach Leach was in his third season at Mississippi St., but had successful stints at Washington St. (2012-2019) and Texas Tech (2000-2009). For someone who is a casual football fan, those three programs are not considered traditional “powers”. Leach built his reputation on the ‘Air Raid’ offense which is a pass happy offense predicated on spreading out a defense. There have been 12 games in NCAA history where a QB has thrown for more than 600 yards in a game, SEVEN of those 12 QBs were coached by Mike Leach. Some other career highlights include a record of 18 wins as an unranked team versus a ranked opponent and coaching Washington St. to their only 11-win season in 103 years of playing college football.
At this point, I’m sure you’re wondering, what does Mike Leach have to do with a website that bases curriculum around the heavy equipment industry? To me, there are a few parallels and lessons that can be applied in business from Mike Leach’s coaching career. First, Coach Leach was a strategic thinker. For those that aren’t familiar with the recruiting landscape in college football, Texas Tech, Washington St., and Mississippi St. don’t get ‘5 star’ recruits. Leach was always at a talent disadvantage against conference foes like USC, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, and Georgia. This is what led to the development of the ‘Air Raid’ offense. Leach knew that he couldn’t compete against the other teams playing the same style of football, with lesser talent. Acclaimed writer Micheal Lewis penned a feature for the NY Times on Mike Leach back in 2005, as Texas Tech was gaining notoriety winning games many in the college football world thought impossible. Lewis detailed Leach’s uncommon thinking around offense, comparing football to chess matched with a demolition derby. In the article, Lewis interviewed other football coaches about what they noticed was different around Leach’s approach. Former NFL head coach Jim Schwartz referenced how Leach would space out his offensive linemen, between three and six feet apart, which would result in forcing the other team’s large 330 lb. defensive linemen to travel further distances to reach Texas Tech’s quarterback, giving them more time to throw the ball. Another concept of the ‘Air Raid’ was built around removing two traditional positions, fullback and tight end that seldom touched the ball, and adding two more wide receivers. Every play routinely included five wide receivers running a variety of deep routes, which tired out the defense. Leach’s teams would train hard in the offseason to be the better conditioned team, using more plays to their advantage. The ‘Air Raid’ produced passing yard records almost every year, with different QBs, and point totals not seen before in football. One of my favorite quotes from Lewis’s article is from Coach Leach’s agent, Gary O’Hagan. O’Hagan talks about how much he’s asked about Leach by other coaches and people within the football world: “He makes them nervous; they don’t like coaching against him; they’d rather coach against another version of themselves.”
Another principle of Mike Leach’s offensive system is simplicity. One might assume that an offense known for 50+ point outbursts and routine 500 yard passing games would have a huge playbook that confuses a defense. Actually, Leach’s teams thrived on the opposite. Coach was a huge proponent of having fewer plays and becoming a master at execution. His teams would run the same play from multiple different formations, but the concepts remained the same. This allowed his players to know every intricate detail and execute with precision and speed in the heat of the moment. As football fans we’ve become accustomed to the weekly sight of a football coach holding a giant laminated play sheet that looks like a Waffle House menu on the sidelines. Instead, Coach Leach was known for having a crumpled-up piece of paper in his back pocket that he would mark off his plays for the game in pencil.
If you’re a college football fan, you’ve probably seen some clips of Mike Leach interviews where he banters about which mascot would win in a hypothetical fight or what Halloween candy is overrated. Funny banter aside, Leach’s curiosity was a huge factor in his success. While attending BYU for undergrad, Leach didn’t even play football (he played Rugby)! In the NY Times article, Michael Lewis writes about Coach’s off-season habit of picking a new topic or person and learning as much as possible about it. One year it was Geronimo or Daniel Boone, the next it could be whales or Jackson Pollock the artist. While at Washington State, Leach taught a seminar titled ‘Insurgent Warfare and Football Strategies’. One of the final assignments for the class was for students to each submit 2 football plays for the coach to review. If he liked any of the plays, he would use them in a real game! Could you imagine if Nick Saban were to take play suggestions from the Alabama student body? It’s no surprise that his pursuit of learning complimented his unorthodox approach and helped his teams reach a bowl game in 19 of his 21 head coaching seasons.
How does this apply to the equipment world? First, the art of strategy. CAT dealers are like Alabama, Georgia, and Texas. Their facilities, capital, and the brand name are all the equivalent of ‘5 Star’ recruits at the big-time football programs. Therefore, it doesn’t make much sense for a Komatsu/Deere/Volvo/Sany dealer to compete against CAT using the traditional approach. If CAT dealers have more people/resources and employ an ‘old school’ business approach, competitors could use that to their advantage by embracing technology and offering a more touchless experience. Study your competitor and do the opposite. Don’t fight the battle on the same terms, that’s probably what CAT dealers want everyone to do. Like Leach’s agent says, ‘they’d rather coach against another version of themselves’, yet when you look across the industry there is no effort to carve out a unique value proposition. It’s a copycat game, when the resources aren’t the same. As for simplicity, there are very successful dealers who have a specific identity. For example, a “paving house”, where all the dealer does is focus on road products since it is a very specialized offering. Same with a compact focused dealer (Bobcat/Kubota). The opposite also proves the point, how many dealers are lackluster because they can’t both be a rental and sales dealer, or compact and heavy dealer? If you have a ton of different brands, how can you make sure you have enough trained technicians for all the product lines? Simplicity is key to excellence. Lastly, curiosity can greatly improve company culture and result in massive improvements across the organization. When other dealers are focused on ‘this is how we’ve always done it’, the pursuit of new ideas can be the driving force to taking market share and winning over new customers.
Some people may be surprised how much attention Mike Leach’s death generates, as he never won a national title or an outright conference championship. That is sadly part of the bottom-line results culture we live in today. What stands out just as much as his accomplishments is the lasting impact, he made on some of the game’s most recognizable individuals today. Players and coaches such as Lincoln Riley (USC), Patrick Mahomes, Sonny Dykes (TCU), Josh Heupel (Tennessee), and Kliff Kingsbury all have been influenced by Leach’s system. One of the lasting impacts is the change in the entire Big 12 conference, which went from an old school conservative playing style to a wide-open pass first league now known for points scored. His courage to remain true to himself and not conform, along with his unique style no doubt led to a successful career that garnered great respect from his coaching peers. I for one definitely admired his approach from afar and appreciate his contributions.
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