First is second

Posted on February 22, 2017 by David

John Adams (1735-1826)

The first was the second.

Our first Vice President became our second President. John Adams (1735-1826) served as our nation’s first Vice President. He placed second in the electoral college balloting to George Washington (34 votes vs. 69 votes). Imagine our country today if this practice was still in play!

Adams was a revolutionary leader, along with his cousin Samuel Adams. He believed in justice for all, including the British soldiers who were involved in the Boston Massacre. Eight soldiers, one officer and four civilians were tried for murder and Adams was able to secure acquittals for 6 of the soldiers.

As president, John Adams was the first to take up residence in the White House. He was the first father of a president (John Quincy Adams). Adams was also our first ambassador to Britain, an important role seeing how he was instrumental in framing the Declaration of Independence and the constitution following the war with Britain.

So being second isn’t always a bad thing. It can lead to a lot of firsts.

“Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.” John Adams

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Second in command

Posted on February 11, 2017 by David

Are these leaders overlooked?

When we think of leadership or leaders, we sometimes overlook who is second in command. Whether we are talking about a company, community organization or government, we often fail to notice the number two person.

A few years ago I wrote a series a posts on our Commander-in-Chief. This time, I thought I would introduce us to CIA – 1, the Vice Presidents.

How much do you know about them? Of course some went on to be presidents either through succession or election. We will take a look at the vice presidents. What about their leadership? What about their inspiration? What can they teach us today?

Stay tuned!

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I’ve been whining

Posted on February 6, 2017 by David

No excuses for building it this tall.

Lately, I’ve been whining a lot. I’ve been making a lot of noise because of many things: personal health, family health, work issues, losing friends, traffic, weather, leaving pickles on my chicken sandwich . . .

I wrote a post a few years ago but due to some spam and possibly a virus attached to it, I had to delete it. However, it is so fitting to my feelings today and my experiences throughout the past year. It was titled:

Excuses – Be sure to check your math

We’ve all been in these situations. Something doesn’t go right or doesn’t go the way we planned. So we go back and analyze. Did we make a mistake in the planning or in the execution? Maybe I’ve been making excuses for things that were in my control.

Mistakes are a part of the growing process. In other words, it could be totally our fault and no excuses can make the mistake go away. It is what it is.

So be sure to check your math.

Posted in Control, Excuse, Grateful, Relationship | 2 Comments

Just the basics please

Posted on October 14, 2016 by David
Certainly not perfect but they set a very high standard.

Certainly not perfect but they set a very high standard.

If you are in the widget business, are you making them or just selling them? Are you the shipper? Do you handle returns?

Are you the company that makes the boxes the widgets are shipped in?

Whatever your role may be, you should understand that the training for your job isn’t a one time thing. It’s an ongoing process of training, evaluating, retooling and retraining.

One key element of training is communicating your company’s culture. Disney is an industry leader in this area. From the design of their Casting Center, Disney establishes the importance of their culture from the beginning. They even extend the show business perception, hiring for roles in a production, not people for jobs.

So when you are hiring for your business, be up front about your heritage and traditions. Let your applicants know your values and quality standards. Empower your recruits to make a difference in the lives of your customers all while supporting your company’s culture.

“At Disney, we operate on a first-name basis. We go about our work in a businesslike way, but we feel that work can be fun and that we can all be friendly and cheerful while we are doing the things we are assigned to do. We believe that everyone in our organization is important.” Walt Disney (1901-1966)

 

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Talent vs. Effort

Posted on October 10, 2016 by David

How do we get everyone to do their best?

My blog. My rules. I use this forum for my selfish purposes. I am grateful for those of you who stop by, take a look and leave a comment. I love you no less if you don’t comment. So I’m not just fishing for feedback. It is welcomed and encouraged but not necessary. 🙂

So here goes. My apologies and prayers if any of this hits home with you.

Millenials.

What does that word mean? It gets bantered around at the water cooler and in social media circles and while waiting in line to pick up our kids after school in the carpool lot. So just who are they?

Millennials (according to millennialmarketing.com):

  • Were born between 1977 and 2000
  • Make up about 25% of the US population
  • Make approximately $1,000,000,000,000 in discretionary purchases (that’s 1 trillion)
  • 37% say they will make a purchase to support a cause even if it means paying more for an item.
  • Are 2.5x more likely to be early adopters of technology if it’s “cool”
  • 80% want to brands to entertain them, yet only 40% want to participate in their creation

So why are they getting a bad rap? Well, they show up late (if they show up at all). Constantly. They dress weird. And I know weird. They are “Entitled, lazy, narcisstic and addicted to social media” according to CNBC.

From the best of my research, I see that Walt DisneyWorld employs over 70,000 cast members in the state of Florida who fit in the above descriptoin. You don’t think they have issues with millennials? They most certainly do. But they have created and developed and evaluated and recalculated a culture that deals with the issues rather than lower their standards (a phrase I have used recently that made me shudder).

You can take the most talented person on your team and give them the greatest role in your organzation. But if they do not put forth the effort to be successful, that talent is a wasted line on a resume.

“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.” Walt Disney

Stay tuned!

Posted in Culture, Standards, Teaching, Training, Vision, Walt Disney | Comments Off on Talent vs. Effort