I want to make everyone aware of an upcoming radio show with one of the most interesting business authors I have spoken with in a while. His name is James Hemerling and his book is called GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything. Hemerling states that the old global business model (centralized, top-down, process-driven, with influence running from West to East) will recede, perhaps vanish. It is inadequate for a world in which every global company will be forced to compete: in every market, with everyone, from everywhere, all the time, for resources and market share. Unlike developed-market leaders, emerging-market challengers have evolved new management and governance structures that are ideally suited to this new competitive landscape. And it has enabled them to undercut, outthink, outwork, out-innovate, and generally outfox some of the biggest, most powerful names in global industry. What are these upstart challengers doing? And how are they winning?
Imagine companies that: -Innovate at the rate of one new product development every 12 hours. -Give up the notion of "headquarters" in a drive toward global expansion. -Do away with titles and committees in an effort to improve staff development. -Expand into 50 countries by satisfying global demand that no one else could see - at the lowest, cheapest end of the market. -Hire thousands of people to staff assembly lines, instead of automating, to be more efficient, flexible, and profitable. -Achieve such high efficiency that they can give away 60% of their services and still make a profit. -Retrain workers by the tens of thousands to build a world-class capability, in less than a decade.
Listen to my interview with Hemerling at 4pm Pacific on July 11, 2008.
Have you seen the news? It must be KILLING the media-moguls to be reporting something positive. I'll bet they're getting physically ill just hearing about it themselves. Instead of seeing our first quarter of negative growth which would be sign of an impending recession, what do we see? POSITIVE GROWTH!! That's right, the Commerce Department today (Wednesday April 30, 2008) reported that gross domestic product or GDP expanded at a 0.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, matching the fourth quarter's advance and handily topping a forecast for 0.2 percent growth in an advance poll of economists by Reuters. Not only that but personal consumption expenditures rose at a 2.2 percent rate after increasing 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter. This indicates that people are still buying stuff and are confident about the economy. Awe too bad predictors of doom, the economy isn't collapsing. My plea to entrepreneurs, who literally DRIVE this economy - STOP watching the news, STOP reading the paper, STOP exposing yourself to all the negative propaganda. START educating yourself, START believing in a promising outcome, and CONTINUE taking constructive action. This will have a positive impact on your personal economy and the entire economic structure.
I remember my 1966 Mustang. I sold it for $600 in 1976 before going to grad school and I’m still kicking myself over that! Everyone loved Ford in those days. But it’s not easy to believe in Ford these days. The auto giant has lost over $15 billion, closed factories, shed tens of thousands of jobs, sold-off Jaguar, Land Rover and given-up the No. 2 position in sales to Toyota!
Their new Chief Marketing Officer, James Farley, formerly with Toyota was rehearsing for his speech to dealers, stockholders and company leaders. As the lights dimmed, Mr. Farley didn’t calmly announce his future plans or quote statistics. Instead, he spoke from the heart, revealing a depth of passion for Ford that turned the room dead silent. He became swept up in the emotional power of the moment. “I believe, in many ways, the future of Ford is the future of our country,” he said. “The work here is simply more important than the work I was doing at Toyota.” When he finished, the dealers rose for a standing ovation that left Mr. Farley momentarily stunned. After the applause died down, he savored the reaction. They were waiting for someone to believe in.
Computers, automation and mobile connectedness has had a strange impact on people today. It has caused a desensitization of emotional response. We want to quantify and analyze everything. It is draining the passion and heart from all that we do. I would like to encourage business leaders today to let their true emotions show. Cry real tears, quake with true laughter and shake with anger if you must. Don’t downplay the power of REAL EMOTION. Your team is depending on your genuine emotional display to motivate them. It is the fuel for their continued belief and a precursor to talking action!
This is an interesting time. The recent layoff of 80,000 American workers has resulted in all of the financial gurus spouting their drivel about the global economic crisis we are facing. I have even heard some say we are entering another depression. Just a few days ago I appeared on FOX TV and discussed this with business expert Neil Cavuto. He asked me how I thought this was affecting small business owners and what they could do about it. My comments were that maybe we should put some of these gurus on the firing line of small businesses and see how they do. Their demise would be quick and final. Because as I told Mr. Cavuto, the most important asset that entrepreneurs have today is their attitude. Without a positive attitude we are doomed regardless of how well or how poorly the economy is doing. Many of us perhaps have heard the Serenity Prayer - "We must accept the things we cannot change, have the courage to change the things we can, and wisdom to know the difference." Surely we cannot individually change the economy but collectively it is certainly possible. We can do this by focusing on the critical business issues at hand like, delivering a higher level of customer satisfaction, creative product development and line extensions, smart financial management, getting longer terms on payables, building customer loyalty programs and penetrating new markets. We do have the ability to turn this economy around but we must first look in the mirror and begin the change within. Do you have the courage to take that challenge? I sure hope so. All of our jobs might depend on it.
I have nothing but respect for the TSA. That's right, while everyone else would like to ring their necks, I truely respect the position these poor agents are in. It's no win! If they uphold the stupid policies thay are bound to, they are hated and reviled by most travelers. On the other hand if they become lax or let travelers slide, their job is at risk and they are threatening national security. That being said I finally was able to get several TSA agents to agree that thier policies were idiotic. As you may be aware travelers can only carry with them small bottles of liquid in containers less than 3.5ozs. Unfortunately this rule slipped by us and we actually tried to take a container of liquid through security which was apparently 6.25ozs. We were stopped and told this is not allowed. So we took our carry on out of the security area and tranfered the liquid into ANOTHER caontainer so that we now had TWO 3.5oz containers of liquid. This seemed to be OK with TSA and proceeded onto the flight. On the way out of security, the agent stopped me and appologized for the "stupid rule."
Do you have any stupid rules in your company that your employees may be appologizing for? If so, admit it now and get it changed before ot impacts your brand, customer perception and employee loyalty!
Last week, while on vacation I received the very tragic and shocking news of the death of Tom Kiblen, Sponsor for Dale Carnegie here in Southern California. Tom was just 52 years old and in far better health than most 40 year-olds so that fact the he could just expire after a tennis game was a shocking reminder of the tenuous grip that we all have on life. He was large in stature (over 6’2”) but his heart was bigger. It will take quite a bit to fill those shoes. But most of all Tom was a mentor to me and a host of others. He once told me the job of a leader is to place the needs of those who look-up to us above the needs of ourselves. Tom certainly did this. He led by example and he was the first to demonstrate what could be done if we would just make a commitment and follow-through. As we walk on without Tom we sense that we have lost a good man; we say farewell just a little too soon. Our sentiments and loving good-byes assist us in accepting the truth that death is oh so real! We are somewhat shaken because only yesterday we were enjoying pleasant conversation together. But let it be the time that we say to ourselves, “We need to walk in bigger shoes and lead and mentor those who are depending on us.”
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