Value

I have really been thinking about how we determine what a "value" is, or on the other hand, what makes something a good deal?  At a time when the entire world is topsy-turvy over Black Friday or Cyber Monday deals, it really makes me think. 

Added to this is a bit of information my son shared with me last week.  He told me that a large percentage of the "deals" for Black Friday were produced specifically for that day, so I'm curious if they are the same quality and attention to detail that you would get if you bought the same item produced in say - June.  There is part of me that really wonders about that, but I'm also a person who doesn't participate in the craziness of these shopping experiences either.  As my family and friends know, when I need something I will go out and buy it.  When someone tries to advertise to me, typically unless I just happen to need what is being advertised, I will talk myself out of the perceived need for the item.

So, given what I have said above, what is a "value" in my world?  I had to think about this for a while, but I have some really good examples for you.  First, there is the plumber that did work for us last week.  We bought a new stacked high efficiency washer and dryer about a year ago.  It fit into a VERY tight spot in our house.  It has already needed service twice, and then a couple of weeks ago it dumped water on the floor.  Because of all of this I decided that we would move the unit to the basement where it would be much easier to service.  In order to do that, we needed water supply and drainage hooked up in the basement, and as many of you know, I don't do plumbing work.  So, we found a person that seemed reasonable and was willing to work us in around the rest of the things that he had going on.  He came in and looked the work over and quoted us $500.  Again, for the work involved this seemed very reasonable.  The time came for him to do the work and he was on time and very positive throughout the project, and by the way, he did a superb job.  When he was all done he told us that he needed to return some things to Menard's and when he was done he would send us a bill.  The bill came in the mail and I opened it expecting to see $500.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a bill for $454.89.  In my world, that is a value.  Unasked for, not bartered for, just given because it is the right thing to do. 

I watched the complete reverse of this the other day on one of the "car/hot rod" shows.  The principals in the show were doing a complete restoration of a car for a customer and they had quoted $60,000 for the project.  At the end of the project, they were all happy with themselves when they told the customer that the price was $60,000.  Alright, they hit the number, but no big reason to be happy.  They had committed to that number.  Be under by a little bit, 500 or 750 dollars and the customer feels as though they got a bargain.  And just as a final note here, if you are in West Des Moines/Clive/Johnston and looking for plumbing work, or handyman services, a big positive shout out goes to Premiere Property Services in Clive.

Okay, example two.  Sara's birthday was this weekend and one of the things everyone wanted to do was go to the UpDown Lounge in the East Village.  I think I've mentioned this place to you before.  Vintage arcade and pinball machines, full service bar and honestly, geeks as far as the eye could see.  I was really at home in there.  Well, you talk about a value, when we got there they were running a "Buy One Get One" deal on tokens for the machines.  Ten dollars and we got eighty tokens!!!!  I will tell you with honesty, had there been a place that had done that when I was in college, I am pretty sure that I would have figured out how to take my entire paycheck in and I am relatively sure that graduation may have come with as a bit more of a challenge.  Anyway, that really seemed like a value to me.  Oh, and by the way Kansas City, I understand that UpDown is coming your way pretty soon, so be ready.

Finally today, I am going to turn this over a little bit.  Sometimes we don't see ourselves, in our roles as consumers, as having a value.  If you go to Google and ask "What is the lifetime value of a pizza customer", the first link that comes up is Putting the Service Profit Change to Work. This is a pretty good read overall, but it points out that a loyal, happy pizza customer can spend $8000 in a lifetime with a pizza place.  And that of course is an average.  Some families can spend a lot more than that.  But when you stop to buy that pizza, are you really treated like someone that will spend that kind of money there?  Typically we aren't, and typically we don't even think about it.  One of the things that I've tried to teach Andrew and Megan is to think of things at least by the year.  It isn't only $20 per month, it is $240 a year.  And we need to think of ourselves as the kind of consumers that will spend $8000 with a pizza place, or $1800 a year with our cable provider.  We are a value to the businesses that we support, and in turn they can truly provide us value at the same time.  I will spend my money with the UpDowns of the world and the Premiere Propertys -  the companies that see me as a lifetime customer and offer a value in recognition of that, even if it is only the first time that we've ever worked together.  It is fun doing business with people who think about it this way.

Have a great week.

Slumber

I have been traveling back and forth to Marshalltown for the last few weeks.  If you haven't made this drive in a while, or if you have never done it, I would really recommend it.  There are some absolutely beautiful rolling hills and valleys between here and there.  Making this drive is the thing that really got me thinking this week.

In the past I've talked about Spring and the way that the land comes to life.  It is a great time of the year, but this time of the year is equally awe inspiring.  In the last couple of months, the world of agriculture has been absolutely frenetic.  The level of activity has been amazing.  The season has always been this way, but with the size of the equipment in use today, it seems as though giants have taken over the state of Iowa.  Even more so if you are out at night, as much of this equipment can light up football field size patches in the fields.

I remember being in Mixed Choir in High School. When I was a freshman, I sat next to Mark Cavin, a Senior.  We had way too much fun in there, which I am sure Tom Stewart, our director would agree with.  Anyway, one day, Mark came in and sat down, obviously upset about something.  After I pushed him a little, he told me that he had been doing field work the night before, may have fallen asleep for just a moment, made a turn too wide and caught a fence. Now he was going to have to spend a bunch of time that weekend fixing fence.

This is the same way that our agricultural community goes at field work in the fall today - 100% until it is done. The other thing that I remember in those days was that only about half of the students would be in class since they were busy with their families in the fields.  It gave us "townies" a little time off as well as the teachers saw no reason to teach for only half of us.  There were a lot of study periods and movies during that couple of weeks.

Experiencing fall and the beginning of winter fill my thoughts right now.  It is almost like watching a giant recline, taking a big breath and going to sleep.  A big long slumber ... one that will last until next Spring when the whole cycle begins again.  I know there are a bunch of things that still go on, maintenance, planning, buying for the upcoming season, and of course taking care of livestock, but it still seems to me like the whole agricultural world takes a bit of a deep breath and begins a bit of a slumber.  This year, that slumber is a bit more profound as the harvest seems to have been so strong.  Everything settles in to rest in order to come alive again when it awakens. Next time you are out and about, take a look and let me know if you see what I'm seeing.

Okay, let's turn to the Toybox.  There hasn't been much slumbering out there, in fact there has been a lot going on, and I haven't yet told you about the equipment addition that I made earlier this year.  I added a wide belt sander, capable of sanding sixteen inches in a pass, 32" by flipping the piece around.  I am really not sure how I ever got by without it.  I seem to turn to it all of the time now that I have it.

Additionally, I had made the mistake earlier this year of getting rid of my truck.  After a change in employment, I found myself without easy access to a truck.  That was completely unacceptable.  So, in the last month, I fixed that by adding a 2013 F-150 to the family's fleet.  Now we are back in the position of having a vehicle for everyone, no matter how many directions we are going.  And when I need to haul something ... I can.  This is important.

Also coming together at the Toybox is a project that I've been working on for a while.  I have been forming (sounds artistic, doesn't it?) a dining room table out of recycled heart pine and walnut.  The heart pine came from a mill in Peculiar, MO that reclaims old lumber from mills and warehouses and reworks them into usable sizes.  The walnut was wood that my father had milled out of trees in the Sigourney area and they have been with me since we sold mom's house back in the late 80's.  So these things are coming together to form what I think is going to be an absolutely beautiful table, and at this point, I am very happy to announce that I think that it will actually be finished and in place for Thanksgiving which was the request of the person that I am building it for.  I have included some pictures of the pieces as they begin to come together.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I can get it all done and in place for the feast at Thanksgiving.

Buy Local

As you all know, I am an Iowa boy, born and raised. At this point, unless something drastically changes, I will probably die that way.  So, over the course of my lifetime I have watched a lot of changes throughout this state and the Midwest.  I have watched family farms get big; I have watched little old farmsteads fall to the plow - the land brought back into production, and I have watched unfounded attacks on these farms when companies attack them for being "factory farms" (yes Chipotle, I am talking to you).  But one thing I've watched and thought the most about over the years is the demise of the small town and the businesses that should be and could be thriving there.

I know that a lot of people blame the loss of business in small-town Iowa on large mass merchants coming into and taking business from older established businesses.  I really am not sure that I fully agree with that.  I will give you a couple of examples, one from years ago and one from very recently.

Many years ago, I sold lumber for a living in Des Moines.  At the time, I had a family member selling the same product in my hometown.  In fact, there were times that I would order product for min and he would pick it up, haul it to Sigourney and resell it.  Good for the American free enterprise system.  But, there was a Saturday that I happened to be home and I was sitting in his lumberyard talking (and probably drinking coffee) while he was invoicing customers.  I remember looking at an invoice that he was completing and being shocked by the fact that he was thirty to forty percent higher on the exact product that I was selling in Des Moines.  When I asked about it, he smiled and explained to me that Des Moines was 90 miles away.  Interestingly enough, a couple of years later when my Grandmother bought product for a new garage, it all came on a truck out of the Southside Payless store in Des Moines.  Even with the dollar per mile delivery fee, the local Sigourney yard wasn't willing to match the price.

So, now let's jump forward forty years.  I was in a smaller Iowa community this week, not as small as Sigourney, just not as large as Des Moines.  I've been working on cutting boards at the Toybox that I am donating to YESS (Youth and Emergency Shelter Services) for one of their fund-raisers, and needed small rubber feet to.  I remembered this just as I was passing a True Value hardware store.  Needless to say, I swung in to find what I needed.   I found what I needed - they had one on the peg. I probably would have bought two just to have an extra, but one would be enough.  I took the $3.00 item to the register and was told that I couldn't use my debit card since the actual purchase was under $10.00.  I have to wonder how many times that day that happened.  Since, I wasn't able to purchase what I wanted there, I ended up in Des Moines, at a large hardware store, buying it (and two extras since they had them) for a dollar less than I would have paid in the small community.

So what? You might ask.  I really wonder if the demise of the downtown retail areas in small communities in Iowa is because of large retailers, or because of short sightedness?  If you ever spend time in Maine, you will find that the natives there are fiercely loyal to the local merchants and not only do they not not like large chains coming in from the outside, but choose to refuse to spend their money in those box stores.  Again, I wonder what the difference is?  Is it that Mainers have taken these outsiders on directly when they entered their communities?  Rather than hoping that people would be loyal to the local merchants, have they done the right thing and made sure that there was a reason to shop locally?

When we were worked for Payless in Des Moines and new competitor opened in town, we put together a plan to show that we would never be beaten on basic items.  We matched or beat everything that this new retailer advertised, and we did not lose market share.  We gave up a little profitability, but we never lost our share of the local market.  Then, when our corporate structure told us that we couldn't do that, the minute we quit fighting, we started losing.  People went to check the new place out, and then stayed for selection and price.  We were never going to have selection, but at least we still had them on price.  The Japanese say that business is war, and I really think they may be right. The sad thing is that some of the people in our smaller communities don't understand this, or don't believe it's real.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving has become Small Business Saturday, an opportunity for people to re-discover their local small businesses. There will be a lot of promotion geared to that day all across the country. While it is great to ask customers to focus on the small businesses that live in their neighborhoods during that promotion, it is just as important ... no, it is more important for those same small businesses to consistently focus on their customers and how they shop and what makes it easy for them to buy locally, just as the big chain stores do.

Quit giving our downtowns away.  Stand up, fight, and win.

Second Degree

I don't know about you, but my world has been a whirlwind during these last few weeks.  A lot has happened really quickly and I continue to learn things throughout this process. 

As we all move through life, the people that we count on are those we keep closest to us.  They are those we count as our closest friends and our dearest confidantes.  They are the folks that support us through the tough times and tell us how wonderful we are ... all of the time.  I have leaned on these people in the last three months in ways that I can barely describe.  I will always be thankful to each and every one of them.

In the middle of everything, though, there was something else I learned.  Within this group of closest friends, and it is the same for all of us, we all have the same information.  We all  know about the same open jobs, the same opportunities, and the same things that the rest of the group knows.  I think that it is part of what makes this group really comfortable for us.  It often even seems that this kind of group has its own language.  If you doubt what I say, spend a little time around high school or college students who are close friends with each other.  You will quickly learn that they know their universe very well and those of us on the outside are barely able to understand their language, either spoken or written.

Okay, now comes the part that was most interesting for me.  It is not necessarily from within this group of our closest friends, that the most unusual, wide-ranging opportunities come from when you are in the middle of a job search.  The most interesting leads come from the friends of your friends, or maybe even one level beyond that.  Now you may ask why I think this is true.  I believe that it is because as you go out into the levels of relationship, that is the point that you find people who are operating in completely different circles.  They are just like all of the rest of us, they have friends and acquaintences that they count on, the only difference is that their sphere of influence comes from a different overlap with the person whom we know quite well.

So, through this comes the power of a tool like Linkedin.  This is a place that glories in the layers of relationships beyond our closest friends.  It is about your entire network, all of the levels and all of the things that those levels know.  I have thought about the connections that are out there, but I have not spent enough time growing those relationships.  It is something for me to work on going forward because now I understand that within these levels are found ideas that are different than those I typically find in my circle of close friends. 

Once I begin to assimilate these new and fresh ideas from the extended network, I need to come back to my closest friends, who will help me think through what to do with them.  Well, that is what I have been thinking about this week.  I really need to figure out the best way to ask all of these smart, interconnected people questions so that I start with the widest range of possible solutions to the things that I face.

How about the Toybox?  Well, I am up to my armpits in projects.  First, there is a bunch of work we are doing for YESS for their upcoming Human Foosball tournament.  Oh, and by the way, if you have not yet signed up, there are still just a few slots open for your team and it should really be a good time.  Lets all work to make Max's event a monstrous success.  Then, I finally got the call that the lumber is ready for Terri's table.  This needs to be done for Thanksgiving.  Wow, that is really just around the corner.  We will just have to see what is possible.  You all know of course that I want this to be beautiful.  Then after that I have cutting boards to do for YESS and some for a curling bonspeil in Maine.  Looks to me like sleep may truly be optional between here and the end of the year.  Actually though, I am very excited about all of the work.  Keep your fingers crossed that I get it all done.

Have a GREAT week

Law of the Lid

As you know, I start thinking about things and then later in the week you all get to go through the thought process with me. This week I've been thinking about the Law of the Lid.  I know you can go out and Google this, but I'm going to explain what this means to me. My understanding is this: It is impossible for an organization to surpass the level of the leader.

So, if you have an organization that is led by a person that is a 6 on a scale of 10, the law would tell you that the organization will never be any more than a 6.  I have to tell you, I spent my early management years not truly believing this.

What changed?  When I was at Payless, we had a store in the region that just couldn't gain any traction.  The manager was a nice enough person and we had "stacked" the team in there with some of the best people that we had in the region.  And still, the store would not flourish.  After many visits and a great deal of angst, we decided that the problem was with the manager.  Not that he was bad, he was just not the best.  One of the best indicators of this was that in the middle of everything else, we lost a really top-notch assistant manager there for no real reason.  He just wanted to go to a different store.  We made the decision to change out the manager in that store and almost overnight, the everything changed. Customers seemed to appear from nowhere and the sales accelerated to a level not before known.

A couple of weeks ago, Fred Hoiberg, Iowa State's head coach spoke to our Rotary.  He was very interesting and a good story teller as well.  The story that went the farthest with me, though, was about when his years as a professional basketball player.  He told about a year that the team struggled, winning barely half of their games.  The coach had been a task master, focusing on the little things, even when things went well.  The following year, the only thing that changed was the head coach.  The new coach took the position that the players were professionals and should go out and do their job. Guess what? The team won virtually all of their games that year. 

With this background, what have I really been thinking about this week?  I wonder if the Law of the Lid applies to our educational system?  And even more than that, does it apply in a couple of ways.  First, is our system putting people in charge that limit the degree that an individual school, and therefore the children in the school can be successful?  It seems to me that in education, the people that come to the most senior levels of the organization are there only based upon seniority.  I wonder if this is best for the students, or is it applying a "lid"?

The second thing that I wonder is if things like "common core curriculum" and "No child left behind" are adding a lid.  Are we limiting the children that can truly fly based upon the way our system works?  I completely agree with everything that these programs are trying to accomplish, but I wonder if we are actually pulling the group down?  So, when we teach or train to the "lowest common denominator," are we limiting the way that the rest of the group can soar?  I have spoken here of education, but we see this in business all of the time in the way that we bring employees up to speed on a new procedure, or roll out a new program.  The odds are that there are people in the affected group that could do more with the new training than ever imaginable, but because we are teaching and training in such a way that a lid is applied, we will never see it.  I really wonder what would happen if we took the position that we were managing professionals and that they know the right thing to do.  Just like the team that Coach Hoiberg played on, the results could amaze.

Well, that is probably enough from me today.  I certainly don't have all, or maybe any, of the answers.  It seems to me like it is time to get smart people around a table and decide what the right thing to do is, and then get out there and do it.  I can tell you that from my perspective, I want to be able to work with and hire people that are elevens on a ten scale.  That is the way that you really move a team forward.  Make sure that your lid is never an obstacle.  And, if the time ever comes when you recognize that you are in the way of your team, figure out how to make a lateral move and get out of their way.  I know that I never want to be "the lid."

Have a great week.

Crystal Bullet

As it does in so many weeks, this topic has floated around in my head all week long, and then, just so the world reminds me that this is really what I wanted to talk about, out of the clear blue sky, the person who taught me this concept called this morning. Thanks Gene for the call and the push to action.

When I was in training, doing a lot of stand up presentation, I anguished over the fact that at the end of any presentation I knew there were people who just didn't get it.  You could tell by the look in their eyes and the questions they asked that they weren't there yet.  On the other hand, you could also tell when someone had that moment of clarity when they not only understood the concept, but owned it in a way they could use it back on the job.  I once asked Gene (my boss at the time) about this because he had done the job a lot longer than me. He explained to me this way: When you are teaching or training, you are "shooting" the person with the information that you want them to understand, embrace, and ultimately use.  Sometimes, they aren't ready to learn and the information just goes right on through (yes - in one ear and out the other).  But sometimes you have the crystal bullet.  You present the information just right, and they're ready to receive. It goes in, bounces around, and sticks.  You have true teaching at that point.

This concept has been part of my understanding for the better part of 25 years, and there have been moments when it has come back loud and clear.  There have also been times that I seemed to let it slip from my consciousness. But it's always been there.  And, as those of you that follow my blog know, I was thinking about it earlier this week, and I have continued to think about it.  This morning just helped to push me over the edge, in two ways.  The first was Gene.  The second was an acquaintance at Rotary.

After our meeting this morning, I sat down with someone that I have been trying for over a month to find time to speak with.  The problem has been completely mine.  I needed to reschedule each and every time and Jennifer has been generous enough to go along with all of these changes.  Anyway, the conversation was good this morning, covering the various corners of our collective worlds. And as happens so often, we discovered that we are connected in a very close and direct way.  This time it was through my niece, Mattia.  I never expected that one, but in the middle of the conversation we found it. 

Anyway, the crystal bullet in the conversation was about how we are all so interconnected.  The way that we know each other and the way that we all connect over time and distance.  It was a good conversation and Jennifer spoke to me about going through her career search and that found her current position through people she knew.  It completely reaffirmed for me the fact that getting to know people and allowing them to get to know me is the best way to live.

Then, after the chance to connect and have a cup of coffee, I came home to a call from the person who taught me about all of this so many years ago.  On top of that, he wanted to tell me that another mutual friend of ours, someone I've worked for in the past, has just bought a company up here. Well, at least the company that he works for has, and they will be looking for some good folks in this part of the world.  I hope this will be an opportunity to begin paying back all of the kindness that I have received in the last month.  I'm sure there is an opportunity to partner here and help good people strengthen a good company.

Finally today, just a note from the Toybox.  I have started work on a dining room table that I am crafting for some friends and am very excited the project is starting to come together.  I roughed out the legs on the lathe last weekend and will be working to finished shaping them over the next few days.  Then, hopefully, the company that has sold me the distressed heart pine, will finish their part, so I can begin work in earnest on the top.  They want the table by Thanksgiving. I'd have a lot to be thankful for that day if the table is done and in place.  More fun and pictures to come.  After that, I have some pieces to complete for a Curling Bonspiel in Maine, and I need to get some items ready for YESS for one of their fund raisers.  Lots going on here.

Have a great weekend.  We will talk next week.

A HA Moment

This isn't my regular (mostly) weekly post, just something I had to share while it was still on my mind.

In the last couple of days, I truly had something strike me that others have been trying to tell me for years.  I guess the timing and personal inclination were just right.  I just had to share this with all of you.

Yesterday I had a breakfast meeting with a gentleman who is a career coach.  One of our mutual connections suggested that it would be a good idea and also joined us to make the introduction. It was a good meeting. 

In the middle of the conversation, he suggested that I should be journaling throughout the career search that I find myself in.  People have told me for years that I need to do this and I've regularly ignored that recommendation.  But on this morning, in this conversation, I finally asked why he felt it was important and he gave me a great explanation.  He pointed out that people process thousands of words about multiple topics mentally, but when you write, you have to slow down and focus. It naturally causes you to go deeper in your thought process.  That made sense to me. After all these years, it finally makes sense and I had something concrete to hang on to.  Fascinating.

Fast forward to this morning and in the middle of a whole different conversation with a friend, all I can think about is that he should be writing and then using that platform as an entry into the world of professional speaking.  And, at the same time (you know - the mind can capture thousands of words about multiple topics - that's what I was doing) I also considered why I wouldn't entertain the same idea somewhere along the line, so maybe there will be a book from me somewhere in the not horribly distant future.

Anyway, just thinking today and needed to share.  More later in the week.