Power Rangers or Super Sentai

The Super Sentai Series (スーパー戦隊シリーズ Sūpā Sentai Shirīzu^?) is the name given to the long running Japanese superhero team genre of shows produced by Toei Company Ltd., Toei Agency and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Super" refers to their use of mecha, and "sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or, literally, "fighting squadron" and was also a term used for Japanese squadrons in WWII). The shows are of the tokusatsu genre, featuring live action characters and colorful special effects, and are aimed mainly at children.

The US adaptation of this long running series is called Power Rangers. Just thought I would share this information for those of you who would be interested in knowing the origin of this show popular with children. Yes, I sort of like the Japanese versions of many of these shows better because the characters tend to struggle with sometimes complex issues and the message is typically always do what is right regardless of what those around you are doing but I do prefer the Kamen Rider Series over Super Sentai.

Watch Super Sentai vs. Power Rangers Anniversary Morph
Enjoy

What is Respect?

This is an abused and often misunderstood word. Often people confuse respect with conformity. Allow me to explain - too often than not when people say they respect you what they mean is the like how much to conform to their ideals and ways of doing things - they do not really accept you they in fact only appreciate the efforts you are making to please them so it is a selfish statement depending on how it is used and by whom.

What is respect then - in its simple terms it is acceptance of others and yet before a person can accept others they must be willing to make peace with and accept themselves. Allow me to use some examples:

• Did you know in many Asian cultures it is customary to use the family name first and the given name second?
• Did you know historically in European cultures the middle name was not given to you at birth but was bestowed on you based on an attribute you were thought to personify at your baptism?
• Did you know in Indian culture you tribal name was given to you after your ceremony of passing and accepted into the tribe and that to many native American is an insulting term many prefer instead to be called first people?
• Did you know that in African culture many people (like Irish clans, first people and so many others) are divided into tribes and that like European have some that are considered Royal or Noble lineage?

Now let me ask some other questions:

Do you show enough respect to learn basic words in the native languages of others if nothing else at least how to properly say the name of then country?

• Germany - Deutschland
• Brazil - Brasil
• Japan - nihon or nippon
• China - zhōng guó
• Spain - España

Well you get the idea - so here is the million dollar question - are you truly treating people with or respecting them or rather are you merely telling them conform to my expectations of you because I am selfish, opinionated, narrow and close minded to attempt to understand you?

Additionally if you make no effort to understand and respect them why are you shocked when no one reciprocates and respects you?

I will close with these thoughts:

• Respect - to hold in esteem or honor, to show regard or consideration for, to refrain from intruding upon or interfering with, to relate or have reference to.
• Conformity - compliance or acquiescence and action in accord with prevailing social standards, attitudes, practices, etc

Are you accepting them and working to understand who they are and what makes them unique and special or are you instead attempting to make others you you with accept yours as the only true and correct way or thinking, living, acting and existing?

So how does this apply to business?

• As a business owner are you listening to and accepting what your clients and customers are telling you they need or are you attempting to force them to conform you your expectations and ways of doing things then ending up disappointed when they show you neither respect or loyalty?
• Does your business exist to provide a service to your clients and customers or do you believe your clients and customers exist to service you?

In short - do you respect them?

• What do you think?

formspring.me

Which do you think is more important - big business or small business?

This is a great question. Each has its place and often because they are easier to manage and are perceived as having deeper pockets people focus on the minority (large business and corporations). Yet, truth be told the canary in the coal mine for many reasons are the various small businesses. Collectively their revenues and employment exceed those of the combined large businesses however sine their revenue to less densely aggregated thus spread over a larger demographic their do not get the attention they deserve. Further the small business owners, entrepreneur and the middle class in general are what support this country not and all of this is driven not by the corporations but rather by the consumers and customers.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

Ask me anything you are curious about that you think I can answer http://formspring.me/lspearmanii

Happy Holidays

Once again its Christmas and I was thinking what gift I can give to everyone and it dawned on me the one thing I can give is a gift so often overlooked and that is a simple thank you!

Thank you for all you have done and for your encouragement and support. Thanks to all my friends old and new. Thanks to my family who has been there consistently.

I do want to take a minute to share this thought - What is true strength. Society teaches us that the demonstrative, vocal and forceful person is truly strong. The one that takes no mess from anyone and who crushes anything and anyone who gets if their way forcing their will on the world. I would like to respectfully challenge and respectfully disagree. The truly strong person is the reserved one. The person who acts not out of anger or revenge and who refuses to let another dictate their response to a situation. The are humble and they are self controlled and often reserved.

In truth which are you and which person do you aspire to be - the one to devalues and belittles others or works to crush them to compensate for their internal lack thus allowing others to dictate their response and by default control them or the person who composes and restrains themselves such that they decide how and what level of response (if any) is appropriate.

Which version of strength and power do you aspire toward?

PRI: Economic Security

Big Mistakes

Was listening to PRI and BBC Radio about state of the economy. Heard many things but the one that catch me off guard was Saab is shutting down. I thought to myself first Saturn now Saab.

Saturn because they could not figure out how to turn a profit in that division and Saab because no one would buy it. I thought to myself what happened and where did they possibly go wrong. It occurred to me as with most big business the confuse standardization with uniformity and in tight times they focus on the bottom line instead of innovation and customer service and in good they do not reinvest in company instead the try to maximize profits by lowering expenses and paying large bonuses.

Lets start with standardization - it is not always or simply saving money by using the same parts in everything - it is taking the best practice processes that adapting those that work in other businesses while retaining your unique characteristics.Sometimes that means using different parts but adopting the processes to assemble effectively. Nature does better when there is a diverse ecosystem so does business although limiting that is what most people do to make it easy to manage.

Lets look at innovation - how involved are the employees in the production and manufacturing and design process? How involved are the customers and clients in the design process? What about bonus structure - is it based solely on company monitary performance with no validation customer service and satisfaction levels having no impact on executive salary and do you take teh money during good times and reinvest in maintaing and upgrading infrastructure or do you spend it on excessive bonuses and large compensation?

Next lets look at company structure - is the company set up so that the focus is on producing products and services to meet and or exceed the customer's expectation or is it designed to perpetuate a system of processes that maintain the status quo?

I have other thoughts but would like to know what you think?

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 21, 2009

C.W. Copeland & Associates presents

Weekly Economic Update for the Week of December 21, 2009

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Quote of the week."Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love."- Elie Wiesel

Interesting inflation figures.November data shows a 1.8% year-over-year gain in the Consumer Price Index. That's the first positive 12-month change since February 2009. Core CPI was flat last month; it had risen for 10 straight months. The overall CPI rose 0.4% in November. Wholesale inflation (PPI) jumped by 1.8% last month, with core PPI rising 0.5%.¹

Housing starts rebound. They hit a 6-month low in October, so November's 8.9% increase was especially welcome. Building permits also increased by 6.0% from October levels.²

Fed sees no reason to raise rates.Last week, TIME's Person of the Year and his colleagues voted 10-0 to leave the benchmark interest rate alone at between 0% and 0.25%. The Federal Open Market Committee said that the key rate would remain at record lows for "an extended period" as "economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time."³

Citi, Wells Fargo will pay back Uncle Sam.The two banks will respectively repay $20 million and $25 million to the Treasury. With the Wells Fargo notice, America's largest banks have all now pledged to exit TARP. The Obama administration claims the final TARP price tag will be under $140 billion.⁴

Leading indicators up 0.9%.For the eighth month in a row, the Conference Board's index of leading indicators chalked up an advance. Economists polled by Bloomberg News had predicted a 0.7% rise.⁵

Tech stocks do well in mixed week.The NASDAQ rose 0.98% last week, pushing its YTD gain over 40%. The S&P 500 slipped 0.35% last week, while the DJIA fell 1.33%.⁶

% Change	Y-T-D	1-Yr Chg	5-Yr Avg	10-Yr Avg
DJIA	+17.69	+20.03	-0.60	-0.82
NASDAQ	+40.24	+42.47	+0.72	-4.11
S&P 500	+22.06	+24.53	-1.54	-2.24
Real Yield	12/18	1 Yr Ago	5 Yrs Ago	10 Yrs Ago
10YrTIPS	1.31%	1.85%	1.64%	4.14%

(Source: CNNMoney.com, ustreas.gov, bls.gov, 12/18/09)^7,8,9

Indices are unmanaged, do not incur fees or expenses, and cannot be

invested into directly. These returns do not include dividends.

Riddle of the week.Nancy was born in summer, yet she was born in January. How is this possible?

Contact my office or see next week's Update for the answer.

Last week's riddle: You spend 20% of the money in your wallet. Then you spend 20% of what remains in your wallet after that. You spend $72.00 total. How much money did you originally have in your wallet?

Last week's riddle answer:$200. $200 - $40 = $160, then $160 - $32 = $128.

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Regards,

C.W. Copeland
"Your Personal CFO"
404.567.3275 (cell)
www.PhDinMoney.com