AchieveMax® Blog

With the Christmas season just around the corner, you might find the following info helpful in planning your monthly calendar. Use this data in plotting some get-away time with your family, sales and marketing promotions for your organizations, in-house celebrations or competition among your staff members or simply expanding your knowledge base about the festive month which brings our year to a conclusion.

• December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month.
• December is Hi Neighbor Month.
• December is National Stress Free Family Holiday Month.
• December is Read a New Book Month.
• December is Safe Toy and Gift Month.
• December is Universal Human Rights Month.
• December is Write to a Friend Month.
• December 1st is Rosa Parks Day.
• December 1st is World AIDS Day.
• December 5th is Hanukkah.
• December 7th is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
• December 21st is Winter Solstice—First Day of Winter.
• December 24th is National Egg Nog Day.
• December 25th is Christmas Day.
• December 26th - Jan. 1st is Kwanzaa.
• December 28th is National Chocolate Day.
• December 31st is New Year’s Eve.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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There has been so much said and written about the importance of leadership in this day and age. We, ourselves, do a great deal of it weekly on both our web site and blog.
 
Leadership is critical—that can’t be argued. However, not everyone can be or should be a leader. Thankfully, there is a very valuable role for those who choose not to lead or may not have the qualifications of a leader. The support of these folks is crucial to any endeavor, and they should indeed be proud of the role they play. We’ve witnessed many an organization fall by the wayside because they had far too many leaders than followers. As a result, the leaders had no one to follow them and disaster followed.
 
The following “Generational Gem” by my favorite author, “Anonymous,” illustrates the pride we should all feel in our supportive roles at work, in our family, church or community. It may also bring a smile to your face.
 
Bobby was auditioning with his classmates for a school play. His mother knew that he’d set his heart on being in the play—just like all the other children hoped too—and she feared how he would react if he was not chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, Bobby’s mother went to the school gates to meet her son. The little lad rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. “Guess what, Mum?” he shouted, and then said the words that provide a lesson to us all, “I’ve been chosen to clap and cheer.”

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: leadership, leaders

In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• As long as they’re plugged in, appliances like microwave ovens, blenders, lamps, radios and TV sets use energy even when they’re not turned on.
• A “dash” is 1/16th of a teaspoon.
• Good name for a running shoe: Nike was the Greek Goddess of Victory.
• Carpenters use square pencils so they won’t roll off roofs.
• Eldrick “Tiger” Woods is named after a Vietnamese soldier-friend of his father.
• The U.S. Postal Service processes 38 million address changes each year.
• Consider this fact the next time you have to use a public bathroom: the first stall in the row is most likely the cleanest and most likely to have toilet paper. That’s because it’s the least likely to be used.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: facts, learn, life-long learning

Last week, I spoke to you about perspective and how seldom we take the time to really think about it.

We all have our ups and downs. It’s the nature of the beast. Some days we feel as though absolutely nothing else could possibly go wrong. Who else on earth could possibly be having as bad a day? Well, the next time you find yourself entertaining such thoughts, consider the following facts, and you just might be a little more appreciative of the life you’re leading.

• This morning, if you woke up healthy, then you are happier than the 1 million people that will not survive next week.
• If you never suffered a war, the loneliness of the jail cell, the agony of torture, or hunger, you are happier than 500 million people in the world.
• If you can enter into a church (mosque) without fear of jail or death, you are happier then 3 million people in the world.
• If there is food in your fridge, you have shoes and clothes, you have a bed and a roof, you are richer then 75% of the people in the world.
• If you have a bank account, money in your wallet and some coins in the money-box, you belong to the 8% of the people on the world, who are well-to-do.
• If you read this, you are twice blessed because:
  • you aren’t one of the 200 million people that cannot read, and
  • you have a computer!

As somebody once said:
- work as if you don’t need money, 
- love as if you’ve never been hurt,
- dance, as if nobody can see you,
- sing, as if no one can hear,
- and live, as if the Earth was a heaven.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: inspiration

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This “Gem” has to be one of the most antiquated tales I can remember. In addition, I have a strange feeling it was passed on over the ages from mother to daughter rather than through the usual business network.

However, it certainly proves a most valid point about our need to challenge belief systems and assumptions about many aspects of our daily lives. In fact, in reviewing this old favorite, I was reminded of a great number of pointless routines in our business world which definitely need to be questioned. See what you think.

The Ham Story

Little Jamie was watching her mother prepare a ham for dinner. Her mother cut off both ends of the ham and then then placed it into a baking pan. Jamie asked her mother why she cut off the ends before placing it in the pan. Her mother thought for a while and then said, “I’ve always done it that way—that’s how grandma always did it.”

Not satisfied with the answer, Jamie went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the ends off the ham before baking it.

Grandma thought for a while and replied, “I don’t know. I learned that from my mother. She always did it that way.”

So Jamie and Grandma went to visit Great Grandma to ask if she knew the answer. Great Grandma thought for a while, smiled and said, “Because in those days we could only afford a small pan and the ham simply wouldn’t fit without cutting off the ends.”
 
How many things are we doing in our daily routines, both business and personal, that would benefit from a quick review … just to make certain we aren’t doing those things because that’s the way we’ve always done them? You might be surprised.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: change, leadership, future leaders

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In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• Although Macy’s, Gimbel’s, and J.L. Hudsons are known for their wonderful Thanksgiving Day Parades, Gimbel’s was the first adorning the streets of Philadelphia back in 1920.
• The Pilgrims first landed at the tip of Cape Cod, in what is now known as Provincetown. They next moved on to Plymouth, Massachusetts.

• The tradition of the breaking of the wishbone represented the successful split between the Pilgrims and the religious persecution of the English crown. The person holding the larger portion of the broken wishbone was said to have one year’s good luck.
• In 1863 President Lincoln declared the last day in November to be a National Day of Thanksgiving. However it was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who encouraged Congress in 1941 to proclaim the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day.
• The pilgrims arrived in North America in December 1620.
• There are three places in the U.S. named after the tasty gobbler: Turkey, Texas; Turkey Creek, Louisiana; and Turkey, North Carolina.
• 13.7 pounds is the amount of turkey consumed by the typical American—no doubt a good bit of it at Thanksgiving time.
• 46 million turkeys will be consumed this year on Thanksgiving.
• 45 million turkeys were raised in Minnesota in 2006.  The Gopher State is tops in turkey production.
• 457 million pounds is the record held by Illinois for total U.S. pumpkin production — followed by California, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York, which produced at least 70 million pounds worth.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: facts, learn, life-long learning

In this vast world and these hurried times, it’s sometime very challenging to truly put things in perspective. I sometimes attempt to do this in hopes of making better day-to-day decisions. It usually occurs soon after returning home from one of my many road trips.

For instance, while in the midst of thousands of people in Times Square in Manhattan, I stop to think about what may be happening at that moment back in my small, quiet midwest home town. Upon returning home, I’ll relax on my deck overlooking the lake as I visualize what might be occurring at this precise instant in the heart of New York City where I was just a day earlier.

It’s difficult for anyone to realize how many people might exist in this world, how many cars are maneuvering our highways and byways at any given moment, or how many events may be taking place simultaneously around the globe.

Maybe the following data will help put things in better perspective for you. Think about it!

If the population of the Earth was reduced to that of a small town with 100 people, it would look something like this:

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (northern and southern)
8 Africans

52 women
48 men

89 heterosexuals
11 homosexuals

6 people would own 59% of the whole world wealth and all of them would be from the United States of America.

80 would have bad living conditions.

70 would be uneducated.

50 would be underfed.

1 would die.

2 would be born.

1 would have a computer.

1 (only one) will have higher education.

Kind of an eye-opener isn’t it! Think about it!

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

I recently experienced a rather rare opportunity seldom afforded to anyone. Over the many years I’ve been in this business, I must admit that there are several leaders I have admired greatly as a result of my research on their career and/or their organizations. I recently had the privilege to chat over breakfast with one of those leaders, Mary Ellen Sheets, the founder and Chair of Two Men and a Truck®.

After a while, success stories begin to blend into a familiar blur. Although informative and rewarding, they often share many of the same customary elements we’ve heard time and time again.
 
This narrative is different. It has the makings of a “made-for-television fictional sit-com.” For over 25 years now, I have followed, with great interest, the growth of an organization that began with extremely humble beginnings right in my own back yard. I was recently asked to present a keynote at the annual meeting of this most unusual organization.
 
Two Men and a Truck® started in the early 1980s as a way for two brothers to make extra money while they were in high school. Brothers Brig and Jon Sorber
started helping people move people in the Lansing, Michigan, area using an old pick-up truck.
 
They had their mom, Mary Ellen Sheets, develop a logo to put in a weekly community newspaper. That same stick-men logo still appears on every truck, sign and advertisement. Obviously, the brothers did a great job, and word of their services traveled quickly. After her sons left for college, Mary Ellen kept receiving calls for their services, so in 1985 she decided to make things official by purchasing an old 14-foot moving truck for $350 and hired two movers.
 
That $350 is the only capital Sheets has ever invested in the company. Today, the company has grown to more than 1,300 trucks operating out of 201 locations in 31 states, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa! They’ve completed well over two million moves and boast a phenomenal 94% customer referral rate! Last year alone, they completed 352,292 moves systemwide.
 
Today, Two Men and a Truck® is the nation’s largest franchised local moving company. Their customers benefit from having thoroughly trained, uniformed movers who are insured and bonded to handle any home and business moving tasks.
 
The home office has changed quite a bit as well. The operation has moved from the dining room table of Sheets’s home to a state-of-the-art corporate headquarters, boasting solar power and a recently installed windmill, which will soon generate 30% of their power. Local schools will get the chance to plug in to Two Men and a Truck’s software to study wind current.
 
I recently toured this beautiful facility and was astounded at what I saw. Giant solar panels and an enormous windmill turbine can be seen as you enter the parking lot. The landscaping includes a lawn that could easily rival any golf course in the area. Entering the building, you approach a reception area surrounded by hallways lined with awards, recognition plaques and pictures as far as you can see from the lobby.
 
Before a new franchisee can open a location, he or she must come to Lansing, Michigan, and be trained for three weeks by the home office staff through Stick Men University®. Within this exquisite building is a fully furnished two-story home equipped with everything you might find in a typical moving situation. During what is called “house training,” students are taught how to maneuver, wrap, pack and load items like a grand piano, a china cabinet filled with breakables, glass tables, a washer and dryer, and a big-screen television. There’s also a bulky bedroom set and a home office. Trainees are expected to be able to recognize any possible obstacles, and empty the house as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I was then shown a truck bed (built to scale) in the training facility. Trainees must be able to fully pack the back of the truck with the items from the home. The sides of the bed are clear so trainers can make sure each item is stacked properly.
 
In a near-by classroom, fully equipped with the latest technology, franchisees are taught how to market their new business by the marketing department. They are taught about the computer systems in place by the technical staff, and they learn how to hire, manage and lead by the operations department. Stick Men University® trainers also host regional management training courses throughout the year and a two-day frontline staff conference in Lansing.
 
There are many other tools available to franchisees including detailed monthly reports, newsletters, Intranet, annual meetings, a resource library, a toll-free support line, a tradeshow booth, an in-house shop with a complete line of Two Men and a Truck® logoed clothing and professional marketing materials and a system-wide purchasing system.

While the well-known logo has remained the same over the years, the fleet has obviously been updated. That old pick-up truck logged many miles and has been transformed into a modern fleet of fully equipped vehicles serving clients across the country.
 
After extensive growth, Sheets asked her daughter, Melanie Bergeron, to assume the role of company president. Two Men and a Truck®’s long track record of aggressive growth continues under Bergeron’s progressive leadership and keen business strategies. Bergeron is now Chief Executive Officer, and her accomplishments have been showcased on the cover of Franchising World magazine and in numerous other publications, including Franchise Times.

Brig and Jon Sorber returned to their Lansing roots in the mid-1990s to team up with their mom and older sister. Brig Sorber is the president, and Jon Sorber serves as executive vice president and franchisee for the Lansing and Grand Rapids, Michigan, locations. Both also serve on the Board of Directors.

During our short breakfast chat prior to the annual meeting, Sheets spoke proudly of her organization, staff, franchisees, and continued growth. It was quite obvious why she has been so successful. Over the years, she has been honored with many national and international awards—far too many to be listed here. Prior to my keynote address, Sheets spoke briefly to those who had gathered for the two-day annual event. She articulated the importance of teamwork, training, customer service, quality and pride. There was absolutely no doubt that she spoke from her heart and her audience appreciated her message. She was certainly a tough act to follow.

Upon completion of my keynote presentation, I was presented with a beautiful Collector’s Edition replica of an official Two Men and a Truck® moving van, which is currently occupying a position of honor in my office trophy case.

Everything about this organization reflects success. From The Grandma Rule® and mission statement to their core purpose and core values, expectations and purpose are indeed obvious. Mary Ellen Sheets is a very humble leader who has obviously established “leadership” as a family tradition!

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

The old “Theory X and Theory Y” concept has been with us since 1960 when Douglas McGregor wrote his best seller The Human Side of Enterprise in which he proposed two theories by which to view employee motivation.

In the spirit of our “Generational Gems,” we offer the following anecdote for your consideration. You may want to read it a couple of times for clarification. Your first inclination may very well be to laugh it off as ridiculous … thinking nothing like this could ever really occur. Yet, the more you think about it, the more you may realize that this kind of thinking isn’t quite as far fetched as first thought.
Author John Gardner points out that “Most ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own defects.” I’m sorry to report that this observation may very well apply to a constantly growing number of organizations in today’s chaotic environment!

Does this kind of thinking exist within your current culture? Don’t dismiss it too lightly. We see examples of it every day in newspaper and business magazines. Don’t let it happen to you.

The boards of the two fiercely competitive companies decided to organize a rowing match to challenge each other’s organizational and sporting abilities. The first company was strongly “theory X”: ruthless, autocratic, zero staff empowerment, etc. The second company was more “theory Y”: a culture of developing people, devolved responsibility and decision-making.

Race day arrived. The “Y” company’s boat appeared from the boathouse first, with its crew: eight rowers and a helmsman (the cox). Next followed the “X” company boat and its crew—eight helmsmen and a single rower.

Not surprisingly the “Y” company’s boat won an easy victory.

The next day the “X” company board of directors held an inquest with the crew, to review what had been learned from the embarrassing defeat, which might be of benefit to the organization as a whole, and any future re-match.

After a long and wearing meeting, the “X” company board finally came to their decision. They concluded that the rower should be replaced immediately because clearly he had not listened well enough to the instructions he’d been given.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: change, leadership, future leaders

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In the spirit of C.A.N.I. (Continuous And Never-ending Improvement), here are this week’s new facts—one for each day of your coming week. Pass them on to others to keep the spirit alive or invite your friends and family to visit our blog where they can also view previous entries.

• The leading cause of poisoning for children under the age of six is liquid dish soap.
• Boxer Mike Tyson once owned a house that had 38 bathrooms.
• Tarzana, California, is where Edgar Rich Burroughs lived when he wrote jungle adventure stories featuring a main character called … Tarzan.
• Know the difference between mayonnaise and Miracle Whip? Miracle Whip is mayonnaise with corn syrup and sugar added.
• Scientists have determined that having guilt feelings may actually damage your immune system.
• Reflected sunlight from the moon gets to the Earth in about 1.5 seconds.
• A1 steak sauce contains raisins.

Harry K. Jones is a professional speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed keynote presentations, seminars, and consulting services. Harry has appeared all over North America addressing topics such as change, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork and time management for a number of industries, including education, financial, government, healthcare, hospitality, and manufacturing. For more information, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Technorati Tags: facts, learn, life-long learning