It's not the rats

It's not the rats you need to worry about

If you want to know if a ship is going to sink, watch what the richest passengers do.

iTunes and file sharing killed Tower Records. The key symptom: the best customers switched. Of course people who were buying 200 records a year would switch. They had the most incentive. The alternatives were cheaper and faster mostly for the heavy users.

Amazon and the Kindle have killed the bookstore. Why? Because people who buy 100 or 300 books a year are gone forever. The typical American buys just one book a year for pleasure. Those people are meaningless to a bookstore. It's the heavy users that matter, and now officially, as 2009 ends, they have abandoned the bookstore. It's over.

When law firms started switching to fax machines, Fedex realized that the cash cow part of their business (100 or 1000 or more envelopes per firm per day) was over and switched fast to packages. Good for them.

If your ship is sinking, get out now. By the time the rats start packing, it's way too late.

27 days at sea - no ports, just sailing and sailing and sailing

Jaimie touches land for the first time in 27 days:

Woody

I ran into Isosceles. He had a great idea for a new triangle!

Cuppla Quotes from some guy I know

"Luck plays a big part in business. Not having a good business is bad luck."

"Don't kid yourself. There will be pain. Isn't that encouraging?"

I see a little silhouetto of a clam...

Can you say too much? I think you can.

"He only shuts his mouth long enough to change feet."

Story Story Story

Did we forget how good it is?

Vee Dubbya Spot - The Fun Theory

Mighty Sam McLain

Health care math

If total US health care cost are 2.2 trillion (2,200,000,000,000) and there are 308 million (308,000,000) people in the US; that is $7,143 / person per year - or $595 / month / person.

If elective procedures account for 26% ($1,857), then non-elective costs become $5,286 / year - or $440 / month / person.

Keep in mind that the numbers include profit margins for health services, doctors, pharma etc. While it is a gross over-simplification, we might say that $440 / month would cover everyone for everything that is not elective. You'd have to pay for your own facelift.

Okay - now say we toss in a deductible of 15% transferring $66/ month to the actual consumers of health care. The "EE" (everyone for everything) cost goes down to $374 / month / person.

USA Today reports that the average health insurance policy (varying coverages and deductibles) is $402 / person / month.

Now, we start shifting the cost around based on risk factors and we get a range between $125 and $675 / person / month.

There you have it.

Some days are better than others

Nice stuff Louis

Nice stuff Louis C. K.

Take off

Soaring is good.
Swooping is good.
Finding a landing spot is good.

Taking off could be the best part.

Leaping priorities - the hierarchy

It looks like this:

1. Attitude
2. Approach
3. Goals
4. Strategy
5. Tactics
6. Execution

We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.

Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.

Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.

But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?

Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.

Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?

Some more questions:

• How do you deal with failure?
• When will you quit?
• How do you treat competitors?
• What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?
• What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?
• What sort of decisions do you you make when no one is looking?

Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that's what you're supposed to do. What a waste.

Isn't it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?

If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all

Godin writes

More leaping strategy

I never enjoyed listening to people who bounce along on "attitude" intentionally blind to real things. You can't just imagine your way around obstacles. If you don't have the skills, can't acquire them or don't think there will be ugly patches and times that require tough decision making (at least good guesses and the willingness to push), then your attitude is just an annoying deception.

However, when you accept that risk is a necessary part of reward and you decide that now is the time to take a leap, mustering up the confidence and determination has to include commitment. You can't be blind and stupid, but the right approach does have to come with attitude.

Even if you quake with fear, keep it to yourself. Your effectiveness as a leader (winner of others confidence and effectiveness) depends on it.

This comment from Godin is spot-on. He writes:

All the evidence I've seen shows that positive thinking and confidence improves performance. In anything.

Give someone an easy math problem, watch them get it right and then they'll do better on the ensuing standardized test than someone who just failed a difficult practice test.

No, positive thinking doesn't allow you to do anything, but it's been shown over and over again that it improves performance over negative thinking.

Key question then: why do smart people engage in negative thinking? Are they actually stupid?

The reason, I think, is that negative thinking feels good. In its own way, we believe that negative thinking works. Negative thinking feels realistic, or soothes our pain, or eases our embarrassment. Negative thinking protects us and lowers expectations.

In many ways, negative thinking is a lot more fun than positive thinking. So we do it.

If positive thinking was easy, we'd do it all the time. Compounding this difficulty is our belief that the easy thing (negative thinking) is actually appropriate, it actually works for us. The data is irrelevant. We're the exception, so we say.

Positive thinking is hard. Worth it, though.

Customer Service Expectations - The "Whatever it takes / Spare No Expense" option

The problem with customer service is not a new one. It's about balancing between serving a lot of people a little, or dropping everything to serve a few people a lot.

Getting a lot of benefit for a lot of people for not so much money isn't particularly difficult. In the chart on the left, for example, (a) represents the cost of good signage at the airport, or clearly written directions on the prescription bottle or a bit of training for your staff. It pays off. Pay a little bit and you help a lot of people to avoid hassles. The utility per person isn't huge, but you can help a lot of people at once.

(b) is the higher cost of a bit of direct intervention. This is the cost of a call center or a toll free number or an information desk. You're paying more, you're helping fewer people, but you're helping them a lot.

(c) is where it gets nuts. (c) is where we are expected to spare no expense, where the CEO has to get involved because it's a journalist who's upset, or where we're busy airlifting a new unit out to a super angry customer. The cost is very high, the systems fall apart and only one person benefits.

Of course, if you're that one person, you think it's not only fair, but appropriate and right.

This "spare no expense" mantra is extremely difficult to avoid, because in any given situation, when the resources are available, your inclination is to say, "make the problem go away, spend the money!"

It's certainly possible to build a brand without going to (c) (witness the way Google almost never gets embroiled in special cases or even answers the phone--I know that they're certainly not eager to fix my imap problems), but once you've trained your customers that (c) is an option, it's awfully hard to scale back.

The reason we get trapped by (c) is that, "I'm doing the best I can" is always much easier than, "we need to be disciplined and help more people, even if that means that some special cases will fall through the cracks. The internet makes this even more difficult because people who fall through the cracks are able to amplify their complaints ever louder.

The way around it, I think, is to set expectations early and often. If you're going to give me your phone number, you better answer it. If you're going to offer a warranty, you better honor it. If you position yourself as a company with real people eager to make every single person happy--you better deliver.

No matter what, you should decide. In advance. How much do you want to spend on ad hoc emergencies, how much do you want to reserve on design and helping the masses improve their experience?

Link

Used / Pre-owned / Experienced Automobiles?

So - the used car business looks appealing. There seems to be so many ways to be "better" than the next guy. Your instincts for retailing are good. You can sell. You know how to manage the environment. Stop!

You've got half the picture in view - perhaps less than half. The most difficult part of this business is buying inventory. Oh yea - it is. Don't kid yourself. This is not for the amateur. You'll be eaten and swallowed quickly. If you're an independent (no franchise) and even if your new car franchise does light volume, you really can't trade your way to good inventory. You have to find it to buy it. You have to compete with others.

The talent for selling is important but buying is where you make money. Buying is at least half the battle. The strategies, the skills, the rigor and talent needed to be a pro are rarer and more valuable than you might think. Some may argue that this isn't the case but they would be wrong.

So - if you want to "do used", be or get a professional buyer.

Ya - scalable thoughts perhaps? Think about it

Lessons from very tiny businesses

1. Go where your customers are.

Jacquelyne runs a tiny juice company called Chakwave. I met her in Los Angeles, standing next to an organic lunch truck. Like the little birds that clean the teeth of the hippo, there's synergy here. The kind of person that visits the truck for lunch is the sort of person that would happily pay for something as wonderfully weird as her juice. And the truck owners benefit from the rolling festival farmer's market feel that comes from having a synergistic partner set up on a bridge table right next door.

2. Be micro-focused and the search engines will find you.

My friend Patti Jo is an extraordinary teacher and tutor. Her new business, The Scarsdale Tutor doesn't need many clients in order to be successful. This permits her to focus obsessively and that gets rewarded with front page results on Google. Not because she's tried to manipulate the seo (she hasn't) but because this is exactly the page you'd hope to find if you typed "scarsdale tutor" into a search engine. Could she do this nationwide? Of course not. But she doesn't want to or need to. Living on the long tail can be profitable.

3. Outlast the competition.

I was amazed at all the empty storefronts I saw in LA on my last visit. On one particular block, three or four of the ten lunch places were shut down. And the others? Doing great. That's because the remaining office workers who used to eat lunch at the shuttered places had to eat somewhere, and so the survivors watched their business grow. A war of attrition is never pretty, but if you're smart about overhead and scale, you'll win it.

4. Leverage.

Rick Toone runs a tiny guitar-making operation. His lack of scale makes it easy for him to share. When others start using his designs, he doesn't suffer (he can't make any more guitars than he already is) he benefits, because as the originator of the design, his originals become more coveted, not less valuable. He leverages his insight and shares it as a free marketing device.

5. Respond.

This is the single biggest advantage you have over the big guys. Not only are you in charge, you also answer the phone and read your email and man the desk and set the prices.

Fielding Special Requests

The bike shop is busy in June. If you bring your bike in for a tune up, it will cost $39 and take a week.

A week!

What if someone says, "I have a bike trip coming up in three days, can you do it by then?"

At most bike shops, the answer is a shrug, followed by, "I'm sorry, we're swamped."

The problem with telling people to go away is that they go away. And the problem with treating all customers the same is that customers aren't the same. They're different and they demand to be treated (and are often willing to pay) differently.

So, why not smile and say, "Oh, wow, that's a rush. We can do it, but it's expensive. It'll cost you $90. I know that's a lot, but there you go."

Outcome: Maybe they'll still leave. But maybe they'll happily pay you for the privilege of doing business with you. Why should this be your choice, not theirs?

If you do tax accounting for mid-size businesses, why not offer a special last-minute service? A service in which you process shoeboxes filled with unsorted papers? A service that costs less but happens during your slow season?

There are two really good reasons to turn down special requests:

1. because you're marketing yourself as extremely busy and perfectly willing to turn down good work.

2. because you want to market yourself as someone who is a rigid artist, a stick in the mud or a crotchety perfectionist. This works great for pizza places.


Link

Group behavior

Guy #1 appears to be on his own - a guy dancing isn't all that special.
Guy #2 joins - but still not a special thing.
Guy #3 joins and very quickly (at about the one minute mark) they get attention, interest and then...
No - it's not amazing dancing. Consider the group (the rest of the crowd) and adoption behaviors. What was the point where it caught hold? It has been suggested that guy #3 is the key.

Pangea 3000

Coffee rules

When you're getting coffee from a store:

• Put the cover on so the drink hole is opposite the seem in the cup (paper cup)
• Don't use the extra sleeve

These rules will reduce dribble / splash / spill potential by greater than 70%; saving dry cleaning bills, stress, stupid stains that you wear all day and more.

I know what you're thinking - "No say". I respond with, "Say".

Also:

Put the cream in first - save a stick

Congressman's Kid won't cut it out - Onion

Congressman's Son Won't Shut The Hell Up During Hearing

Thumbprint find - Interesting

Rotten nasty crud - Even just a little...

Toxicodendron radicans (syn. Rhus toxicodendron, Rhus radicans); Poison ivy is a plant in the family Anacardiaceae. The name is sometimes spelled "Poison-ivy" in an attempt to indicate that the plant is not a true Ivy (Hedera). It is a woody vine that is well known for its ability to produce urushiol, a skin irritant that causes an itching rash for most people, technically known as urushiol-induced contact dermatitis.

Don't touch, rip out with your hands and then scratch your "howdoyodo. Don't mess. Spray Roundup or maybe sell your house and move away.

There you go.
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Augusta

The Masters happens this week. The venue (Augusta National) is beautiful on television, but in person it is shockingly gorgeous - shocking I say. It has more elevation changes than you can see on TV. The greens appear to be impossible top putt. The grounds are manicured to perfection. That much detailed grooming on a scale that large seems impossible. It must be fake - but no - it's just crazy perfect.

The top 125 - say what?

Peterson Dealerships made the Automotive News list of the top 125 Dealer Groups (#125). They sold 1,105 new vehicles and 1,110 used. They also sold 1,266 fleet units. Revenue was just over one hundred million.

The new / used ratio is a healthy 1-1. Well done. The fleet sales must have a story attached to make it interesting. Fleet is a thin-margin pain in the ass business - unless you have something clever going on. I'm sure the Petersons are good operators and since they made this list, they deserve to be pleased. Again - well done.

However...

2,200 retail units and 100m in revenue might seem like a lot, it just isn't - not for one of the top 125 "groups". These are strong single point numbers, but for one of the top 125 groups, I'm not so sure. How can these numbers earn a spot on the list?

A.) The list is hurting for submissions to be included

B.) Boch is missing, Prime is missing... Other than the tippity top, the list is irrelevant

C.) Things are really bad


The seasonally adjusted retail rate is below ten million new units. So maybe the Peterson's adjusted back to an eighteen million selling rate would throw up 2,000 new units. Still... I don't get it.

Nissan ad spoof

John McPherson cartoon in today's paper

Probably unfair, but still funny

General Electric - Go figure

The downgrade of General Electric from AAA to AA+ by Standard and Poor's was accompanied by a 13% share price bounce. This doesn't seem like a call for happiness, but wait...

Apparently, the good news is that the cut wasn't deeper. It appears that GE's new rating is still well above AA-, a level below which GE faces large cash calls.

SNL annoys Hawaii

Apparently, this was a problem for those promoting tourism in Hawaii. Let's see how long the video stays up.

Publicity, PR & Story

Most PR firms do publicity, not PR.

Publicity is the act of getting ink. Publicity is getting unpaid media to pay attention, write you up, point to you, run a picture, make a commotion. Sometimes publicity is helpful, and good publicity is always good for your ego. But it's not PR.

PR is the strategic crafting of your story. It's the focused examination of your interactions and tactics and products and pricing that, when combined, determine what and how people talk about you.

Regis McKenna was great at PR. Yes, he got Steve Jobs and the Mac on the cover of more than 30 magazines in the year it launched. That was just publicity. The real insight was crafting the story of the Mac (and yes, the story of Steve Jobs).

If you send out a boring press release, your publicity effort will probably fail, but your PR already has.

A publicity firm will tell you stories of how they got a client ink. A PR firm will talk about storytelling and being remarkable and spreading the word. They might even suggest you don't bother getting ink or issuing press releases.

In my experience, a few people have a publicity problem, but almost everyone has a PR problem. You need to solve that one first. And you probably won't accomplish that if you hire a publicity firm and don't even give them the freedom and access they need to work with you on your story.

The difference between PR and publicity

Rainy Days and Confidence

Actually, most people could use a bit of a confidence boost these days. It's seems pretty easy to dismiss most moves as a bad idea. Not much works on paper - especially if you crank in low economic expectations.

We used to say, "Hey there, how are you?"

We would get, "Good... you?"

Now we we say, "Hey there, how are you?"

We get, "Hang'n in there", or maybe "Okay".

"Hang'n in there" is the new "Good".

This could be the classic definition of a "Rainy Day".

I Doth Protesteth

I've been a nice man thus far. Sure I've done a little complaining, but ultimately I've demonstrated my patience and level headed thinking by staying in the market. Hey - if you run away, you lose. Odds are that in few years, patience should be rewarded. If I was on the sidelines, I would surely be motivated to buy right now. It's gotta be true.

The S&P 500 dipped below 700 today. Are you kidding me? Who would toss in the towel now? Only a silly person. I said that 300 S&P points ago.

I make my official plea, and I do it in a LOUD BARKING FASHION (as if I were an angry animal of significant size) - you get it.

"ENOUGH ALREADY. GrrrRRR!"

There... That should do it.

Thanks

Go ahead... "Go there". It's okay to play hard

GM "goes there". It started a while back and it's open season now. This sort of jab was once seen as cloe to, if not over - the line. I think it's fine, fair and a positive sign for the econmomy. Ya - I do. Go out and make youyr case. Market your stuff. Try to grab share. Be competitive. Find a way to build it better. Create a sweeter value proprosition. It's okay... go ahead. Please.

.

The Mac Craps out - but wait... You gotta love Apple

The PowerBook was behaving badly. It would just freeze or toss the spinning wheel of death an not let go. I guess that's essentially another type of freeze. Nast came more and more frequently until it finally failed to boot. I managed a backup (phew) and tried to reinstall Leopard, but it wouldn't boot. It would "KP" - Kernel Panic. Not good. I've had hard drives misbehave and then die completely. I feared this would happen again.

Apple (at the store) identified a few potential problems including hard drive, logic board, airport card... It sounded expensive. I thought about punting. Maybe I needed a new one - crap.

Nope, they have a program (as long as you haven't physically hurt your device - water etc) where they describe the behavior, send it to a tech center and they'll fix anything wrong. If it needs a drive or a board - they do it all for $310 with a 3-month warranty on everything. Why not, the parts are cheap - it's the labor. Stack the labor capacity, deliver the work to the labor efficiently, charge slightly more than the average repair and voila - sweetness.

I got it back in two days. New hard drive, new airport card, a gig of new ram and a hot rock massage. All better. Nice! Sweet!

Ahhh... let us learn something.

I use Windows and Mac computers for different things. Someday soon that will end. I'm pretty sure I could make due with an all Mac deal right now but unfortunately, I'd have to run Windows on the Mac (somewhat problematic).

You gotta love the whole Apple thing. You gotta.
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Oh GE GE GE GE Geez

At $10.95/share...

"The $1.24 dividend now delivers an 11% annual rate. They committed to paying the dividend (good thing). As long as that news doesn't change, getting paid to wait for a recovery by holding GE seems to be a splendid idea."

At $8.51/share...

The dividend gets cut by two thirds.

This should factor back to the cash position and the stock should gain something as a result, but at <$9 - big deal.

Just when I thought I was clever.

Area woman only enjoys miniaturized versions of things

MANHATTAN, KS—Though she has been known to tolerate full-sized items on occasion, local woman Barbara Elsinger, 41, can only derive pleasure from, take an interest in, and exhibit affection toward miniaturized versions of things, sources reported Tuesday.

Elsinger displays a variety of objects tiny enough to receive her affection.
A veterinary assistant who specializes in the care of toy poodles, miniature schnauzers, and dwarf hamsters, Elsinger—or Barb, as she prefers to be called—is reportedly unable to resist the charm of any object, animal, or food item rendered at a reduced scale.

"I have literally seen her squeal with joy at the sight of a cocktail weenie," said husband Bernard Elsinger, who met his wife seven years ago at his nephew's peewee-league baseball game. "I don't know what it is about smaller-than-normal stuff that she is so drawn to, but nothing makes my wife happier than experiencing something at one-quarter its usual size."

Elsinger's fascination with tiny things began when she received her first dollhouse at the age of 5. Before long she was learning the piccolo, competing in ping-pong tournaments, and asking Santa's elves for a Shetland pony each Christmas.

By age 18, she was attending a small liberal arts college, where her love for M&M Easter candies and pocket packs of facial tissue continued to grow. After graduation, she worked for a short time as a contributing editor at Reader's Digest, but soon realized her career path lay elsewhere.

She started working part time at the animal hospital in 1991.

"Oh, look at his tiny little ears!" Elsinger was overheard to exclaim when a four-week-old kitten was brought to her clinic earlier this week. "Aww, and his little coat and boots! Isn't that adorable? Hold on, I need to get a picture of this."
Reached for comment, Elsinger's mother, Danielle Millari, confirmed her daughter's passion for all things diminutive.

"As a girl, she used to wake up every morning and beg us to make her a short stack of silver-dollar pancakes," Millari said. "And I still remember the time I had to pull her, kicking and screaming, off the "It's a Small World" ride at Disney. When we got home, she spent hours crying in her tree house until we lured her down with fun-sized candy bars."

According to sources close to Elsinger, some of her other favorite things include dioramas, petits fours, charm bracelets, those tiny soaps people leave out when they have guests, the iPod Nano, clutch purses, button noses, and individual serving-sized packets of anything.

In spite of her enthusiasm for items of limited proportion, Elsinger has complained to friends that such pleasures are "small potatoes" compared to the one thing still missing from her life. There's a tiny hole in her heart that can only be filled by a miniature version of herself: a baby. Though the 41-year-old has spent years gushing over the adorable little fingers and toes of her friends' toddlers, Elsinger and her husband have thus far been unable to conceive a child of their own—a fertility problem doctors have attributed to her abnormally large uterus.

Dow - Adjusted for inflation

Parody of Parody of Parody etc...

Aha! We're saved! Tiger Woods

Here's a chart of the S&P 500 starting the day Tiger announced he would be having surgery and wouldn't be playing... for a while.
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Today we learn the El Tigre will play in the WGC matchplay event next week. I believe this will trigger the bottom of the economic misery and clear sailing is ahead. I feel much more sure about this than I did about the idea that a portfolio of stocks with all symbols began with "Q" would make me rich in 1998. A predictiion that was unfortunately, only semi-correct.

Buffett

“We simply attempt to be fearful when others are greedy and to be greedy only when others are fearful.” Warren Buffett



It would seem that now might be a good time to conjure up some greed.

Verbose Enthusiasm

After the President's press conference, I may have received an email (sent from a certain Blackberry device), wanting an opinion on how the session went.

Not to be nitty picky, and your enthusiasm is appreciated, and it is certainly a welcomed departure from the past, and I want to listen to every word, and I'm not suggesting you're not awesome, but I'd like to offer a little criticism / advice. Again we're all rooting for you and it could be that so early in the process, you are anxious to "share". Maybe it's just me, but watch that press conference last night and you tell me. Did you give ten pound answers to two pound questions? Yaa. I think so. Most of your responses seemed excessively verbose. It's almost as if you're trying too hard. You're excited and anxious to engage a previously skeptical and disenchanted country. Love it!

The press does ask those multi-part questions that do require multi-part answers.

However, not every question requires the full monty - especially if you get rolling and don't actually give answers to the questions themselves (multi or not).

All-in-all, it was good. Who could have done better? It's a crazy deal. Most people would throw up or soil the garb in that situation. You'll get into the more direct, less voluminous response mode once you're more at ease. It's all still good. Get back in there and save the world. You can do it. You have to.

Well, anyway - it was good to hear from you... or not.
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Ultimate - The basic rules explained

GE - Bring good things - anything will do for now

Big Big Big company... Bog job... Perspective.

GE dipped below $11/share today. The $1.24 dividend now delivers an 11% annual rate. They committed to paying the dividend (good thing). As long as that news doesn't change, getting paid to wait for a recovery by holding GE seems to be a splendid idea. Schwing Batta!

Come on now... Momma needs a new pair of shoes!
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Down with the Groundhog Thing - No More Please!

The movie (with Bill Murray) was great, let's leave that as the good part.









Unfortunately, the Day, the story, the animal and the whole process is completely stupid. There - I said it. I'll go again... It's stupid and annoying. Our species should be embarrassed that this silly exercise commands so much attention.

Take Punxsutawney Phil, butcher him and serve him up for breakfast in one final ceremony. Someone might pay a lot of money (donated to charity of course) to have the honor of fatally clubbing the rodent. Perhaps a customized and fully sponsored groundhog guillotine would be the way to go.

Cheney Dunk Tank Raises $800 Billion For Nation

Story

Tuber of the week

DISC assessments and behavior profiles

The DISC assessments classify four aspects of behavior by testing a person's preferences in word associations. DISC is an acronym for:

• Dominance - relating to control, power and assertiveness


• Influence - relating to social situations and communication


• Steadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness


• Conscientiousness - relating to structure and organization

These four dimensions can be grouped in a grid with D and I sharing the top row and representing extroverted aspects of the personality, and C and S below representing introverted aspects. D and C then share the left column and represent task-focused aspects, and I and S share the right column and represent social aspects. In this matrix, the vertical dimension represents a factor of "Assertive" or "Passive", while the horizontal represents "Open" vs. "Guarded".

Dominance: People who score high in the intensity of the 'D' styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges, while low D scores are people who want to do more research before committing to a decision. High "D" people are described as demanding, forceful, egocentric, strong willed, driving, determined, ambitious, aggressive, and pioneering. Low D scores describe those who are conservative, low keyed, cooperative, calculating, undemanding, cautious, mild, agreeable, modest and peaceful.

Influence: People with High I scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. They are described as convincing, magnetic, political, enthusiastic, persuasive, warm, demonstrative, trusting, and optimistic. Those with Low I scores influence more by data and facts, and not with feelings. They are described as reflective, factual, calculating, skeptical, logical, suspicious, matter of fact, pessimistic, and critical.

Steadiness: (Originally referred to as submission by the creator of the method - Martson): People with High S styles scores want a steady pace, security, and do not like sudden change. Low S intensity scores are those who like change and variety. High S persons are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced. People with Low S scores are described as restless, demonstrative, impatient, eager, or even impulsive.

Conscientious: (Compliance in Marston's time): Persons with High C styles adhere to rules, regulations, and structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. High C people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic, diplomatic, accurate, tactful. Those with Low C scores challenge the rules and want independence and are described as self-willed, stubborn, opinionated, unsystematic, arbitrary, and careless with details.

Also look at Gregorc... there are others.

With or without a strategy to create an organization in which people have jobs that fit their "way", it almost always ends up that way. However, it takes loads of time and money to weed through the process. The idea that you can discover this information through testing, and avoid having to figure it out for yourself over time, must be considered. It's a system - you gotta like systems!

The theory is neat. The test results appear to be eerily accurate, but not perfect. A profile, test or at least an awareness of personality characteristics has value.
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Jack of All Trades

Jack rhymes with hack doesn't it?

I read a piece called "What would a professional do?". It almost said what I was thinking, but not quite. He lost me. Instead, I would say...

When you're busy being a jack of all trades, you're competing against professionals. The recipient of your work doesn't care that you are also capable of doing other things. All he wants is the best he can get.

Define a pro as a specialist who does industry standard work for hire. A professional presenter, for example, could give a presentation on anything, not just the topic on which you're passionate about.

When you compete with professionals, you have a problem, because generally speaking, they're better at what they do than you are.

There are three valid ways to think your way out of this situation:

• Hire a professional.
• Be as good as a professional.
• Realize that professional-quality work is not required or available and merely come close.

The first option may require time and money you might not have, presuming that's why you didn't go that route in the first place.

The second is a smart option, particularly if you do the work often and the quality matters. Web design and selling are two examples that come to mind here. The first step to getting good is admitting that you aren't (yet.) Invest the time and become a pro if it's important. Hire a pro and pay attention. Deliver quality and pay attention until you are one yourself.

The third option is the worst idea ever. Does your customer/client/employee actually believe that they haven't been shortchanged by your amateur performance? It is costing you in ways you're not measuring because you're willfully ignoring the consequences? Think of all the sub-pro experiences you've had as a customer, instances where someone was pretending to be a chef or a bartender or a computer jock but just came up short... Were you delighted? Of course not. Don't kid yourself. Amateur work will get you amateur results.

Find out what it takes to deliver the look you require and don't settle for crap. If you make less by doing it that way, then make less. Don't let everyone see what half-baked cheesy standards you consider to be "good enough". Charge more if you have to.

There you have it.

Cuppla Woody Allens

"I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics exam; I looked into the soul of the boy sitting next to me."

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."

Amish Heater?

Does anyone really buy the "Amish Heater"that has attained the "coveted UL listing"? The scene with the two wood Amish-made mantel covers (one dark stain and one natural) strapped to the back of a horse drawn Amish wagon as it clip clops under a bridge, is quite a convincing image. The bearded Amish men tapping away with their hammers, and carefully eyeing up a board. The Amish gals with the official headgear polishing the cherished furniture. I just want to hear from someone who bought one, and is willing to admit it.

Vomity.com - New Product Announcement

Manchester, NH - In what some are saying appears to be a shift in the business model, the world's largest adjective lobbying group, Vomity.com announced today that they have scheduled the release of a new fragrance.

The CFO (Chief Fragrance Officer) was quoted as saying, "The scent - called 'Very High End Urinal Biscuit', will be sold in sets that include a cologne, a body splash, a foot cream, and an actual urinal biscuit. The products are targeted toward men (but test groups show women enjoy it as well). We think we could be on to something big. The fragrance is unmistakably familiar, yet most people have a hard time placing it. The mystery is assumed to be the key."

The Hero Song

Vomity.com announces hiring freeze

Vomity.com, the worlds largest adjective lobby group, announced that it will reduce its potential staff by up to 3,000 people. A spokesperson for Vomity.com said, "This is an unfortunate new reality for Vomity.com. The company was going to add up to 3,000 people in the next 12 - 18 months, but now that's not going to happen."

The freeze comes just as Vomity.com announced that earnings for the 4th quarter of 2008, were $.75 vs $0.40 in Q4 2007. Analysts estimates were for the company to earn $.50 for the period. The 75% increase in earnings was a pleasant surprise on Wall Street and on Main Street. The company also reported revenue of over $36 for the period. When asked to comment on the company's quarter and outlook for the future, Vomity.com issued the following statement:

"We're thrilled to report the big pop in earnings. We kept our costs in check and tried to be more efficient in every department. We took in $36 counting the $5 we found in the pocket of those jeans that I hate wearing because they fall off as I walk (I have no ass). We did not recognize the gain from the time when the guy at Subway gave us change for a twenty, when we only gave him a ten. We know we should have corrected the error and returned the money, but given the economy and the fact that the sandwich - upon closer examination in the QC operation, came up nearly an inch and a half short of the advertised 12 inches - we are keeping the money in reserve. The $.75 in earnings in directly attributable to the fact that we found that $5 in the jeans. It was a scary time. Our outlook for 2009 is cautiously optimistic. We are however, not going to hire 3,000 people. We can't pay them and we expect that will prevent us from going ahead with it. We're probably going to fold soon anyway."

Shares of http://www.vomity.com/, were down way way more than 20% in after hours trading.

Some trivial stuff... Sorry

Sorry to dish up some trivial things - as if most things aren't...

Coffee is good stuff. Not Dunkin Donuts coffee, or flavored concoctions with syrup, whipped cream and drizzled - a.k.a. "girly coffee". , but coffee coffee. Dunkin Donuts coffee doesn't count. They sell a ton of it though - so maybe it's tamed down (weak) enough to appeal to those who have not acquired the taste for real coffee. Get yourself an espresso type coffee from Starbucks or another similar effort.

Diamonds are silly. I get the scarcity thing, but is that really the case? Are they so stunning that that they are worth the price? I mean - can you really appreciate the brilliance without whipping out your jeweler's magnifying device? Do you need one to demonstrate how much you love someone? I've got your
three-month's salary right here (groin grab).


Larry Bird was awesome. Too bad some of you yutes didn't see it on a regular basis. Everyone looks good in highlight reels, but this guy was clutch and played a game much bigger than his natural ability. I bring it up only because people forget.

Cut the crap with the ridiculous base. I'm sure I've whined about this before, but what's with the super-loud base speakers in your car? That's just not good, not good at all. Since I feel it way over here, sitting right inside that car - you must be in severe pain. What are you thinking? Is that supposed to be cool? Maybe it is and I'm missing something. If you're reading this - good, because I'm sure if I complained verbally, you wouldn't be able to hear me. Geez...

Sorry.

Grasshopper 1-18-09

Read a good one this morning...

"Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can't cross a chasm in two small steps."

Of course, the chasm situation doesn't come up that often. We have bridges, or perhaps helicopters. In the event a chasm must be crossed and there are no bridges or copters, one should consider any previous chasm jumping distance experience. If no previous distances are available, it might be wise to take a few practice leaps on solid ground and gather a little data. Call me crazy. What's the worst that could happen? I guess that depends on the depth and surface qualities of the actual chasm. For example a faceplant into jagged rock, followed by anything more than 15 or 20 feet of "plummeting", is worth more con-points than a soft grassy ditch type of chasm (also known as a rift). Push the depth to 50 or 100 feet and we have a new game. We'll have to consider the prize that apparently can only be secured on the other side. Can we convince the object of our desire to jump to our side? If - in the final analysis we decide that leaping the chasm is the way to go, get a running start.

.

Jake Delhomme Throws Keys To Wrong Valet

CHARLOTTE, NC—Claiming that he felt "rushed," Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme failed to connect on a 5-foot pass to his Capital Grille restaurant valet Sunday, instead sending his car keys into the hands of the wrong parking attendant. "It's frustrating, because I knew as soon as I let go of the keys that the throw was off target," said Delhomme, adding that he should not have been throwing off his back foot. "I don't want to make excuses, but I may have injured my throwing hand on the sharp edge of a key while I was in the pocket. Hopefully, I can watch film from the valet's security camera and correct that next time." Once inside the restaurant, Delhomme fumbled a steaming hot dinner roll, kicked it across the dining room while trying to pick it up, and was blocked into a side table by a busboy, who eventually recovered the baked good.

Thanks BBWAA members... Rice gets his due!

As campaigned for by many (like Ruben), including me (See: previous post) - Jim Rice was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today by the BBWAA. Thanks to all those who finally (after 15 years) did the right thing.

Congratulations to Jim "Ed" Rice.

Here is the press release from the BBWAA:


HENDERSON AND RICE ELECTED TO THE HALL OF FAME
For release Monday, January 12, 2009

Rickey Henderson, baseball's all-time stolen bases and runs scored leader, and power-hitting outfielder Jim Rice were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America in balloting verified by Ernst & Young. They will be inducted into the Hall July 26 at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Henderson and Rice will be honored along with former Yankees and Indians second baseman Joe Gordon, who was elected last month by the Veterans Committee. The July 26 Induction Ceremony will also include the presentation of the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting to Tony Kubek and the J.G. Taylor Spink Award for baseball writing to Nick Peters.

In the BBWAA election, 539 ballots, including two blanks, were cast by members with 10 or more consecutive years of service. Players must be named on 75 percent of ballots submitted to be elected. This year, 405 votes were required. Twenty-seven votes were needed to stay on the ballot.

Henderson was listed on 511 ballots (94.8%) to win election in his first year on the ballot. He becomes the 44th player to be elected by the BBWAA in his first year eligible.

Rice was listed on 412 ballots (76.4%) in his 15th and final time on the BBWAA ballot. He becomes the third player elected by the BBWAA in his final year of eligibility, following Red Ruffing (1967) and Ralph Kiner (1975). Rice received seven votes more than the minimum needed for election.

This marks the 24th time the BBWAA has elected two Hall of Famers in the same year. The two new Hall of Famers bring to 289 the number of elected members of the Hall. Of that total, 202 are former major league players, of which 108 have been through the BBWAA ballot. Henderson and Rice are the 20th and 21st left fielders elected and the first since Carl Yastrzemski in 1989. No other position had gone longer without a new Hall of Famer.

Henderson, 50, is Major League Baseball's career leader in stolen bases (1,406) and runs scored (2,295) and is second all-time in walks (2,190). He was named to 10 All-Star teams and was the 1990 American League Most Valuable Player with the Oakland A's, with whom he won a World Series title in 1989. Henderson, who played for nine teams over 25 big league seasons, also won a World Series ring in 1993 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. He holds the Major League Baseball record for steals in a season with 130, which he set in 1982 with the A's, and he holds the big league record of 81 home runs leading off games. Henderson received the 13th-highest voting percentage ever, finishing right behind Babe Ruth (95.1%) and just ahead of Willie Mays (94.7%)

Rice, 55, spent his entire 16-year big league career with the Boston Red Sox. The 1978 American League Most Valuable Player finished in the top five of the AL MVP voting five other times, finishing second to teammate Fred Lynn in the 1975 AL Rookie of the Year voting. He led the AL in homers three times, hit .300-or-better seven times and was selected to eight All-Star Games. He is the only player in history to post three straight seasons of 35-plus home runs and 200-plus hits. He finished his career with a .298 batting average, 382 home runs and 1,451 RBIs.

Andre Dawson (361 votes, 67% and Bert Blyleven (338 votes, 62.7%) were the only other players listed on more than half of the ballots. Rounding out the top 10 were: Lee Smith (240 votes, 44.5%); Jack Morris (237 votes, 44.0%); Tommy John (171 votes, 31.6%); Tim Raines (122 votes, 22.6%); Mark McGwire (118 votes, 21.9%); and Alan Trammell (94 votes, 17.4%).
Players remain on the ballot for up to 15 years provided they receive at least five percent of the vote. Players who will return to the ballot next year include: Dawson, Blyleven, Smith, Morris, Raines, McGwire, Trammell, Dave Parker, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy and Harold Baines.
Tommy John, who received 31.7% of the vote in his 15th-and-final year of BBWAA ballot eligibility, will be eligible for Veterans Committee consideration in the fall of 2010.

Of the 10 newcomers to the ballot, Henderson was elected and nine others did not receive sufficient support of five percent or more to stay on the ballot.

The vote: Rickey Henderson 511 (94.8%); Jim Rice 412 (76.4%); Andre Dawson 361 (67.0%); Bert Blyleven 338 (62.7%); Lee Smith 240 (44.5%); Jack Morris 237 (44.0%); Tommy John 171 (31.7%); Tim Raines 122 (22.6%); Mark McGwire 118 (21.9%); Alan Trammell 94 (17.4%); Dave Parker 81 (15.0%); Don Mattingly 64 (11.9%); Dale Murphy 62 (11.5%); Harold Baines 32 (5.9%); Mark Grace 22 (4.1%); David Cone 21 (3.9%); Matt Williams 7 (1.3%); Mo Vaughn 6 (1.1%); Jay Bell 2 (0.4%); Jesse Orosco 1 (0.2%); Ron Gant 0; Dan Plesac 0; Greg Vaughn 0.

Local Search

No say... Say.

Local 1: 15 miles

Local 2: 25 miles

Local 3: 50 miles

Local 4: 100 miles
Local 5: There is no Local 5

Thanks for coming.

I don't get it.

Don't get what?

The Local this and that thing.

Oh that, right. These are search definitions.

...and?

The results are completly based on relevancy and geography with no regard for page views. Cool huh?

...ahhh ya. Okay then.

Thanks for coming.

4 Hat Logic

Four men are buried in sand in a straight line so that they can only look straight ahead, as shown above.

The first man, on the left, is facing an opaque barrier separating him from the other three; he can't see anyone and no one can see him.

The others, all facing the barrier from the right side, can not see behind themselves.

Each can only see the back of the head(s) of any men in front of him. None can see his own hat.

They all know that: 1) there are two black and two white hats distributed among them.

Unless one of them can correctly identify the color of the hat he is wearing, they are about to be shot; a wrong guess will produce the same result. They are not allowed to communicate with each other in any way.

Who works out what color hat he is wearing and, of course, how?

Good ditty worth clarifying

Pretty good ditty. "Is Everything Okay?"

Seth writes:
Is everything okay?

Unless you work in a nuclear power plant, the answer is certainly no (and if you work there, I hope the answer is yes.)

No, everything is not okay. Not in a growing organization. Not if your company is making change happen, or dealing with customers. How could it be?

And yet, that's what so many managers focus on. How to make everything okay. We spend so much time smoothing things out, we lose the opportunity for change, or for texture or creativity.

Instead of working so hard to make everything okay, perhaps it is more helpful to work hard at living with a world that rarely is.

I would add that while some chaos exists in spite of rigorous efforts to gain control, if we let control slip completely off the priority list, we would soon see flames. Keeping that in mind, Seth's point is a good one. Not everything is "controlable".

Know what should be okay and what you're willing to allow not to be okay - and why. That's fine.

Ad dollars

If we knew that an advertising dollar would deliver a return on investment, and that we could manage the activity without bursting into flames, we would spend all that we could. Wouldn't we? Oh yea.