What do you see (30 MPG or better cars)?

As I left the gas station this afternoon a thought can to my mind. I will have to admit it was inspired the the Kia Soul commercial. The thought was if I drive from lot to lot how many models of cars can I find that get 30 plus miles to the gallon.

I had expectations of what I would find when I started but what I found actually raised a few questions like:

• Why?
  
• How can this one be and others are not?
  
• Does size have as much to do with economy as we were lead to believe?

The highest MPG I saw was a hybrid advertising almost 50.

Instead of my telling you what I concluded let me share what I found so you can tell me the patterns and notable exceptions (if any) you observe.

3 Blind Mice (What is business and the Big 3) or Lost in Space

Do you remember that nursery rhyme growing up?

Have you considered how can the blind lead the blind. If the leader has no idea where they are going then what? 

Remember the Hyundai assurance plan – loose you job they will pay for 6 months?

• Now GM is saying they will do 8
• Form is saying they will do 12
• I have to wonder what Chrysler will say 

On one level I appreciate what they are doing and yet on another I have to ask myself is this not more enabling behavior?

• Is this designed to help people or is it a race to the bottom?
• Is this the altruistic auto maker helping the consumer or another copy cat marketing plan to exploit the consumer and more cars? 

How about this for a brilliant idea – manufacture cars people want instead of making a car and convincing the consumer to by. I drive a Ford and yet many in my family on both sides were diehard GM people. Why, because of our experiences with the respective brands – I have driven GM and was not impressed with their design aesthetics back them – very clumsy.  As a business owner I remember talking with a few of my friends, fellow Dartmouth Exec Business Alum and peers joking about the fact that given a chance we could turn these companies around and yet we know they would not retain us to do so because what we would require and the changes we would make would be deemed to radical on an institutional level and radical organizational level.  Any yet I know that neither I nor my friends will get a call or an email requesting our services. 

Here is the lie that has been taught for years – the purpose of business is to make money – talk about ego and entitlement issues – WRONG!!!!!!!!!!  Want to know the purpose of business – to provide a quality good or service to the end user what enhances the value and quality of their life in such a way they are willing to pay you for it! In my prime I had almost 10 people full and part time working for me and have at times like this had to contract down to me yet never was it about what the client/customer could do for me – rather what they needed. Bottom line is this simple truth of which we lost sight – a business exists to provide a needed good or service to solve a real consumer problem. 

• With all of this is mind and looking at the current financial problems in society – what is the answer?
• Also, with the advent of the digital age and the eminent demise of the industrial age how had the business model changed?

Reciprocity and Joint Ventures

We call this so many things depending on one's regilous belief - Karma, What goes around comes around, reaping what you sow, the golden rule and yet at its core it is a simple concept - we get back for beter or worse what we give - good for good and evil for evil. The concept revolves around what some would call a comic balance - you cannot drink water from a glass until you first do the work to pick up the glass, turn on the faucet and fill it. In modern coutries this involves paying your water bill that helps to employ others who provide the water. In less developed countires digging a well and installing a pump or a pucket to houst the water up. Point is you must put in the work to get something back.

This is the nature of successful business - you provide a good or service which in turn you are compensated for your efforts - you give your time and knowledge to receive compensation.

Business Ethics and Profitability (Happy Birthday Lyn)

Before I start let me wish my sister Lyn a Happy Birthday. Family is and remains very import and so often we forget this simple truth. We also forget we care about and respect those who bring us value and what greater value is there than family? 

Would it surprise you to know that you can be ethical and successful? Would it surprise you that it is almost impossible to not be ethical and maintain long term business success. Am reflecting on a conversation with my friend and some of the things he told me on this venture we are pursuing. The long and short of it are as follows – over a 10 year period you have shown yourself to be honest, reliable, dependable and your actions align with your words. You do what you say when you say it and make no excuses and blame no one. You focus on results and remove unproductive distractions. In addition you actually do care about people. 

This causes me to wonder – with everything going on in the news and the financial meltdown when did customer service, integrity, character, and other base values become obsolete? When did we buy into you cannot be moral and ethical and run a business? When did we confuse cons and exploitation with legitimate business? 

The other day on my twitter feed I asked this simple question: “Why is it we killed Dr. King whose message at its core was here are our guiding documents we should live up to them and yet allow a man who exploited friend, family and clients out of millions and billions on a scam to roam free on the street?” 

Also I wonder why when people do exactly what they say they will do all along are they surprised? 

Just some thoughts to ponder as you watch these videos – hope they provoke some thoughts. This is the stuff my friends and family discuss often.