AchieveMax® Blog

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.

• A recent study found that about 65,000 people per year are hospitalized with lawn-mowing-related injuries.
• A regulation baseball has exactly 108 stitches.
• A typical American child spends 68 days—18% of the year—in front of a TV or computer screen.
• Babe Ruth’s salary in 1932: $80,000. Barry Bond’s in 2007: $5.5 million. Do the math.
• Best-selling car of all time: the Toyota Corolla with more than 32 million sold since 1966.
• Canned herring are called sardines because the canning process was developed in Sardinia.
• China borders 16 other countries.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Here’s another one of those unique leaders who falls into that peculiar category of “You’ve probably never heard of him but would have benefited greatly if you had!” Obviously, I just created that category, but I can think of a number of great leaders who would certainly qualify for inclusion. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why we established this particular column. We hope we can shed some light on many of these leaders who are definitely well-known and well-respected in their own circles and industries but relatively unknown by those outside of those areas.

I must admit that I would know little or nothing about Robert A. Lutz if not for my long-time relationship with Chrysler, Ford and General Motors as a trainer and consultant. It didn’t take me long to recognize the fact that he was highly respected by all three corporations and contributed greatly to each in many critical ways as well.

• He’s not only a very talented man, but he falls into many other genres as well.
• He’s a “Car Guy” through and through.
• He’s a proud former Marine fighter pilot and still lives the values he learned in the Corps.
• He’s the quintessential maverick who says what he believes rather than what he believes others want to hear.
• He’s a high achiever and very successful businessman who didn’t graduate from high school until he was 22.
• Born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1932, he’s a vegetarian who relishes a good cigar.
• He’s well-known as an avid collector of classic automobiles and military jets.
• He’s a firm believer in the balance of common sense and free-wheeling creativity, and that’s certainly a rarity in today’s world.
• He has held senior management positions in four of the world’s top car companies: Ford, General Motors, BMW, and Chrysler.
• He has a tremendous sense of humor and upbeat look on life. For instance, he often shares his “Law of Life” which he borrowed from an old Rolling Stones song which suggests: “You Can’t Always Get What You Want—But If You Try Sometime, You Just Might Find, You Get What You Need.”

Let’s take a quick overview of an incredible career.

• He was a U.S. Marine aviator from 1954 to 1959 (and remained in reserves until 1965).
• He began his automotive career in September 1963 at GM, where he held a variety of senior positions in Europe until December 1971.
• For the next three years, he served as executive vice president of sales at BMW in Munich and as a member of that company’s board of management. He’s credited in the development of the BMW 3-Series. He is one of few senior automotive executives with experience in both hemispheres and more than one major manufacturer.

Lutz joined the Ford Motor Company in 1974 where he held several senior executive positions until 1986 … Chairman of Ford of Europe, Executive Vice President of Ford International Operations, Vice President in charge of Ford Truck Operations and a member of Ford’s Board of Directors. At Ford he led the creation of the Ford Sierra, initiated development of the original Ford Explorer and spearheaded importation of models from Ford of Europe to the United States.

In 1986, Lutz moved to Chrysler Corporation as the executive initially primarily responsible for product development where he oversaw the development of the Dodge Viper, Plymouth Prowler and Chrysler LH platform automobiles; subsequently he became president and chief operating officer, and then vice chairman. In 1998, Lutz became the Chairman and CEO of Exide Technologies.

In September of 2001, Lutz returned to General Motors as Vice Chairman of Product Development. He then became an Interim President of GM Europe. Lutz has been Vice Chairman of Global Product Development of General Motors Corporation since March 2008 and serves as its Acting Chief Executive Officer of GM Europe.

Read his best-selling book GUTS, and you’ll get valuable insight into not only his rare sense of humor but also his unusual, but successful, approach to business in today’s ever-changing, chaotic and competitive environment. In this book he shares his Immutable Laws of Business. At first glance, you may think he’s way off base. After all, these laws go against everything we’ve ever been taught. However, read on to laugh, understand, and quickly agree with his philosophy.
 
LAW #1: The Customer Isn’t Always Right.
LAW #2: The Primary Purpose of Business Is Not to Make Money.
LAW #3: When Everybody Else Is Doing It, Don’t!
LAW #4: Too Much Quality Can Ruin You.
LAW #5: Financial Controls Are Bad!
LAW #6: Disruptive People Are an Asset.
LAW #7: Teamwork Isn’t Always Good.
LAW #8: When You Inherit a Really Big Rat’s Nest, Don’t Try to Lure Them out with Food. Use a Flamethrower.

Robert Lutz truly believes that every organization must cultivate a “split personality,” combining common sense with freewheeling creativity. It defines the leader’s role in maintaining a healthy balance between the two. And it argues that a dynamic tension between them is the prime attribute that enables top-performing companies to introduce new products and achieve record profits.

This is a leader you’ll definitely want to learn more about. 
Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

I’m afraid I started something. By sharing these questions, 175 including today’s list, I was hoping some of our readers would start sending me some answers. Instead, I’ve been receiving additional questions from readers to add to our every-growing list. Apparently I’m not the only one that’s being driven crazy by so many questions and so few answers. Here are the latest additions. Maddening isn’t it?

• Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?
• Crime doesn’t pay … does that mean my job is a crime?
• Do prison buses have emergency exits?
• How come you can kill a deer and put it up on your wall, but it’s illegal to keep one as a pet?
• If a bouncer gets drunk, who throws him out?
• What happens to an 18-hour bra after 18 hours?
• If an escalator breaks down, does it become stairs?
• If a guy that was about to die in the electric chair had a heart attack, should they save him?
• Why does the Easter Bunny carry eggs? Rabbits don’t lay eggs.
• Why isn’t pink called light red?   
• How can something be “new” and “improved”? If it’s new, what was it improving on?
• Was the pole vault accidentally discovered by a clumsy javelin thrower?
• In some books, why do they have blank pages at the very end?
• What happened to the first 6 UPs?
• Why is an electrical outlet called an outlet when you plug things into it? Shouldn’t it be called an inlet?

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

One of the unique examples we share in our creativity seminars and keynote presentations reflects the benefits of bench marking, Japanese innovation, watermelon, and continuous learning.

Japanese designers and engineers will be the first to admit that they aren’t the most creative people on earth. However, they have long been known for their exceptional ability to improve upon products and processes invented by others. They’ve been doing just that very successfully for decades. In doing so, they’ve enhanced quality, saved time and space, made products more useful, and lowered prices … therefore making them more saleable and desirable.

Over the years they’ve done this with electronics, medicine, automobiles, optical products, and a variety of other products. They’ve become so good at innovating just about everything that they’ve apparently decided to challenge Mother Nature.

They’ve now developed a square watermelon! It’s rather interesting that those attending our seminar and keynotes more often ask “Why?” before they ask “How?” Both questions are relatively easy to answer. Let’s start with “Why?”

• There’s an obvious novelty value.
• They make a great gift—just add a ribbon and you have a home-grown gift box.
• On a more serious note, Japanese grocers have a serious space problem. They are a great deal smaller than their U.S. counterparts and must make every inch count.
• A fat, round watermelon similar to those in the U.S. takes up a lot of room in small Japanese refrigerators and often sits awkwardly on the shelf.
• The new shape allows more melons to be stacked and shipped by growers, providing greater cost-effectiveness.

As you can easily see, square watermelons make a lot of sense. Now let’s be honest. Most people, when confronted with the challenges mentioned above, would agree that square watermelons would be practical and solve a lot of problems. However, most of us would then point out that watermelons grow fat and round. End of discussion.

Apparently, the “innovative gene” within a few Japanese farmers allowed them to take a different approach. They reasoned that if grocers and shoppers wanted and need a square watermelon, they should find a way to create one. And they did.

After a great deal of research followed by much trial and error, they discovered that placing the young melons into square, tempered-glass cases while they were still on the vine forced them to take on the shape of the box. The square boxes allow sunlight to reach the melons and just happen to be the exact size of the typical Japanese refrigerator. This, of course, allows full-grown watermelons to fit conveniently and precisely onto refrigerator shelves.

Of course, there’s always a catch, and this is no exception. Each square watermelon costs about 10,000 yen—about $82 American. However, a regular watermelon in Japan will cost you anywhere from $15 to $25 each. It’s quite obvious, based on sales and continued demand, that many shoppers find this unique treat to be well worth the investment.

The lessons we can learn from this unique creation are many:

1. Never assume something can’t be accomplished. Many believed we’d never send a man into space much less land him on the moon. In fact, many people thought the Wright Brothers to to be out of their minds to consider the fact that man would ever even leave the ground. Think about it.
2. Question the things that we do on a regular basis simply because that’s the way they’ve always been done. If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll always get what we always got! … and that’s NOT what we’re looking for.
3. Think creatively. Everyone is creative, few realize it, and even fewer believe it. Research, benchmark, read, study, and ask in an effort to tap your creative juices. We have access to more information today than ever before. Place any word into Google and in a matter of seconds you will have access to more than a million references to that word. That’s just one of the many tools available to us. The catch is to use it.
4. The greatest minds throughout history have genuinely believed that there was a better way to do just about everything … and they were determined to find it. Can you say the same, or are you easily discouraged?

Ask yourself the following question: “What today is impossible to do in your business … but, if it could be done, would fundamentally change what you do? Remember that what is impossible TODAY may very well be the NORM of tomorrow. And don’t hesitate as those who think it cannot be done will find themselves getting out of the way of those who are doing it!

Napoleon Hill once said: “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!” I’m quite certain he was talking about square watermelon! Don’t you?

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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.

• Americans generate an extra five million tons of trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
• Americans spend about $430 billion a year trying to lose weight.
• Americans today eat 17.3 billion quarts of popcorn a year. The average American eats about 68 quarts.
• An average chicken-plucking machine can pluck a whole chicken in 14 seconds.
• An average lawn has six grass plants per square inch. That’s 850 per square foot—which can contain as many as 3,000 individual blades of grass.
• A single bale of cotton will yield 215 pairs of jeans.
• A recent survey revealed that 80% of Super Bowl viewers watch just for the commercials.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

There’s been a tremendous information infusion by the media on the subject of the current financial crisis facing our country at the moment. It’s all over the radio, television, magazines, newspapers, and Internet. However, I think it’s quite obvious that they’ve missed the boat … as usual. We’re not facing a financial crisis—we’re facing an obvious leadership crisis.

Morgan Stanley, AIG, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, and Freddie
Mac have dominated headlines for weeks now as they’ve lost billions of
dollars while providing golden parachutes worth millions to their leadership.
That’s a pretty nice reward for destroying a company and putting thousands of
employees out of work. CNN and Fox News both reported that President Bush’s most recent decision to assist these financial giants in their effort to stay afloat could very easily reach the trillion dollar mark!

What’s happened to the one time belief, respect, and practice of such things as a mission statement, vision statement, code of ethics, beliefs and values, code of conduct, and integrity? For instance, I did a little research and discovered the following information:
        
Lehman Brothers Mission Statement
“We are One Firm … defined by our unwavering commitment to our clients, our shareholders, and each other. Our mission is to build unwavering partnerships with and value for our clients, through the knowledge, creativity, and dedication of our people, leading to superior returns for our shareholders.”

Ouch!

AIG Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
It consists of 20 paragraphs for its executive staff.  Its six corporate values include respect, integrity and customer focus.

Merrill Lynch Code of Ethics
It consists of 12 long paragraphs.

Fannie Mae Code of Conduct
It consists of 26 long paragraphs.

Freddie Mac Mission Statement
It consists of six long paragraphs.

Morgan Stanley Code of Ethics and Business Conduct
It consists of 50 long paragraphs.

Now think about the concepts of walking the talk, closing the knowing-doing gap, and practicing what you preach the next time your organization discusses the need to conduct business in an ethical manner. It may sound like propaganda to some, and it may be ignored by others … like those once respectable, once successful organizations listed above. To avoid those deadly consequences, rethink the importance of walking the talk.
Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

I must admit that I’ve gained a whole new respect for an organization that we, as customers, may be guilty of having taken for granted. It’s UPS—the United Parcel Service. When we hear the name, most of us think of big brown trucks in traffic, three simple letters, and package delivery. It’s really so much more than that. I doubt that many of us associate UPS with terms such as creativity, logistics, technology, technical repair and configuration; supply chain design and planning; international trade management, and customs brokerage. Our bad. There’s a lot we don’t know about this cutting-edge organization. For instance, were you aware of the following facts?

• UPS is 101 years old.
• It was founded in Seattle, with world headquarters in Atlanta.
• UPS has 425,300 employees worldwide (358,000 in the U.S.).
• 4 billion packages and documents were delivered last year.
• 15.8 million packages and documents were delivered daily last year.
• 2.3 million packages and documents are delivered daily by air.
• 1.9 million international packages and documents are delivered daily.
• The service area includes more than 200 countries and territories; every address in North America and Europe.
• 7.9 million customers are served daily (1.8 million pick-up, 6.1 million delivery).
• There are an average of 18.5 million daily on-line tracking requests at UPS.com.
• Retail access can be found at: The UPS Store® (4,647 locations), Mail Boxes Etc.® (1,306 locations); 1,000 UPS customers centers, 17,000 authorized outlets, and 40,000 UPS drop boxes.
• There are 1,801 operating facilities.
• UPS has a delivery fleet of 93,637 package cars, vans, tractors and motorcycles, including 2,218 alternative-fuel vehicles.
• UPS has a jet aircraft fleet of 268, the 9th largest airline in the world.
• It has 311 chartered aircraft.
• The daily flight segment includes 1,130 domestic and 796 international.
• UPS serves 424 domestic airports and 389 international airports.
• UPS air hubs are located in Louisville, Kentucky; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Dallas, Texas; Ontario, Canada; Rockford, Illinois; Columbia, South Carolina; Hartford, Connecticut; Miami, Florida; Cologne/Bonn, Germany; Taipei, Taiwan; Pampanga, Philippines; Hong Kong, Singapore; and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
• There are 1,033 facilities in more than 120 countries, occupying 38 million square feet.
• UPS is the leading provider of less-than-truckload services coast-to-coast with 6,353 tractors; 21,818 trailers, and 215+ service centers.

The next time you see one of those big brown trucks on the road or a bermuda-clad delivery person hustling a package to a customer, you’ll know a little bit more about the organization behind what you see. You might be interested in knowing that this is one of the most creative and innovative businesses in the world. Check out Make the Right Turn to Save Gas and Don’t Underestimate UPS for a few shocking examples.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Over the past few years of doing research for our creativity seminars and keynote presentations, I’ve been forced to broaden my horizons and open my mind to accept just about anything. For instance, there was a time when you might have had a problem trying to convince me that the following examples actually exist:

• Square watermelons
• Solar-powered talking tombstones
• Undersea community resorts
• 747 limos on the freeway
• 7-story corporate headquarters shaped like a picnic basket
• Indoor ski resort in the desert
• Billboards in the sand at the beach
• Napping modules in the workplace
• Caffeine-enhanced bath soap
• Tracking pizza online … and the list goes on.

The latest addition to this unusual list is “Dinner in the Sky” … the latest must-have dining experience for the Uber rich. It’s exactly what the title infers, a restaurant in the sky. Visualize the perfect dinner party with 21 of your best friends and/or family members. Your party is gathered around a 30 by 16 foot 11,000 lb. (5 ½ ton) table, securely strapped into your seats with a four-point harness, and then elevated more than 150 feet in the air by a gigantic crane. There’s nothing between you and the ground other than the seat you’re strapped into and a small platform to support your feet.

The large oval table accommodates 22 people in addition to the three staff members, two world-class chefs and a waiter, in the kitchen located in the center of this unique creation. To add to your experience, the giant oval slowly revolves 180 degrees. If the rotation and the breathtaking scenery isn’t enough, you can invest a little more to include a second crane with platform—or more if desired—such as music, product introduction, etc. to heighten your magical moment. However, you can forget about chatting with your associates as the winds at 150 feet make quiet conversation near impossible.

Like any other luxury today, you have additional options available as well. If you choose, you can have Breakfast in the Sky, Lunch in the Sky, Cocktails in the Sky or even a business meeting in the sky … the only limit to the eight-hour experience is your imagination! You can even go up after dark as the platform is very well-illuminated.

Of course, there has to be a down side, and that would be the price. $15,000 for a three-hour session! That does not include electricity or catering, so this is clearly an experience reserved for the filthy rich. However, the concept is certainly catching on. It originally started in Austria and now has licensees in 16 countries! If you’d like to see some breathtaking pictures of this unique concept, go to this link or this link for the video.

Let’s hope your safety harness prevents your experience from being The Last Supper and my only recommendation … be sure to hit the bathroom BEFORE you lift off.
Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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 UN estimates each square mile of ocean contains over 46,000 bits of floating plastic.
• A bar of gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
• A chameleon’s tongue is twice the length of its body.
• A coffee tree yields about one pound of coffee in a year.
• A cow spends 18 hours of every day chewing.
• A house in the U.S. catches on fire every 45 seconds.
• Actor John Wayne made more than 200 movies.

Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

It’s quite obvious that we, as a nation, are exposed to more stressful situations today than at any time in recent history. At the same time, we have more information and coping strategies available to us as well. However, availability means nothing. Utilization means everything. It’s that knowing-doing gap all over again.

William James (1842-1910), the American philosopher and psychologist known as “the father of American psychology,” once shared this wise observation: “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.”

The true challenge, of course, is to make that choice. History reveals countless scenarios where a choice would have made all of the difference and yet no choice was made. Choosing not to choose is a choice! 

It’s also quite obvious that the more information you have at your disposal, the wiser the choice you will make. Consider this shocking fact: “A weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in 17th century England.”

Thomas L. Friedman, author of the best-selling The World Is Flat, states that “Never before in the history of the planet have so many people—on their own—had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people.”

While both of these observations are indeed encouraging to our effort to combat the many stresses we face today, the fact remains that we, as individuals and organizations, must exert the effort to seek out, absorb, and apply this necessary information. More than ever before we must research, read, benchmark, seek mentors, ask and observe. Everyone has equal access … not everyone pursues it. The responsibility is yours.
Harry K. Jones is a professional, motivational 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 on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.