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He Saved Me!
/in Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom DoescherTom Doescher
As he often did (with my blanket permission) my brother Uncle Dan said, “Are you surprised? You have been abusing your body for decades – 6 years playing football, wrestling, long distance running, slalom water skiing, squash, aerobics, racquet ball, singles tennis 3 times per week, double black diamond skiing, and never stretching.” Actually, today I say that I have been a committed gym rat since 7th grade. I am one of the few people who actually love to work out.
He would give me several different exercises to perform on my own in the gym. Every few weeks, he would change my routine. Over time, I began to feel more flexible and stronger. But I still had pain. One day I saw Mike in the gym and said, “I believe you are an honest man, but do you really think this pain is going to go away?” To which Mike responded, “Well, it took you 6 decades to create the pain, it is not going to go away over the weekend” (Actually, he said it much nicer than that, as he always does.) More time of new routines with Mike went by and pretty regular time spent in the gym, and finally over 3 years later, I was indeed pain free. Hooray!!!
Now in my 8th decade, I am running 12 miles per week (negotiated with Mike who is not a big fan of running), 3 times per week performing a Mike gym routine, and more recently playing tennis twice per week. I am not bragging; I am just trying to give you hope. By the way, I did not say I was breaking any speed records, and a few weeks ago a woman who was speed walking on the track where I run in the winter lapped me. Pretty humbling.
Mike likes to say, “I don’t care what you call it – pain, ache, soreness, discomfort, hurt, sting, throbbing, twinge, tenderness, agony, redness, burn, or whatever, don’t ignore it.” In all my athletic endeavors over the decades, I do not recall, any coach, mentor, parent, or whomever suggesting I ignore the pain. But I did and it caught up with me eventually.
So, I do not believe in almost 300 blog posts that I have ever done a commercial, but here goes. If you live in northern Oakland, Genesee, or Livingston County, I would highly recommend making an appointment with Mike O’Hara by email at [email protected] or cell phone – 810-569-1022.
One last story: Uncle Dan and I were talking one day. He casually mentioned that he had scheduled knee surgery. As you know, we were very close, and this shocked me. To say he was in great physical condition is a huge understatement. I begged him to go see Mike and he did. Mike gave him three specific exercises for his knee issue and in three months, Uncle Dan was pain free without surgery. I am not making this up. Call Mike.
Scary Smart
/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom DoescherTom Doescher
I then searched for other podcasts and found this interview with Mo Gawdat, former chief business officer of Google (X): (View Interview), and listened to it three times. Then I purchased his book, “Scary Smart: The Future of Artificial Intelligence and How You Can Save Our World,” which was published in 2021. I would highly recommend listening to this podcast and, if you want more, then purchasing his book.
To whet your appetite, I’ll make a few comments:
There will be many amazing medical discoveries as a result of AI, but Gawdat also warns us that the “Bad Guys” will be equipped to inflict damage.
At a minimum, you should be aware of recent AI developments and have it on your long list of issues that will — and already are — potentially affecting your business.
A Great Place to Work “For All”
/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom DoescherTom Doescher
“A Great Place to Work for All” could hardly be more timely. When I ask clients and other business owners what their most significant business problem is today, nine times out of 10, their response is that it’s getting qualified people to join their company. After two decades of managing the Fortune List, Bush and his team at Great Place decided to dig deeper into their findings to determine whether there was any disparity in the answers in four employee categories: Job Level (executives vs. line workers); Generational (baby boomers vs. millennials); Gender; and Racial/Ethnic Groups. It may be surprising, but it turns out that even the greatest companies have employees who rate their experiences differently. For example, executives rate the company higher than line workers.
One of the reasons I like Great Place is that they correlate all their findings to financial results — stock value is analyzed for public companies, and revenue growth is considered for all companies. They take into account the size of the gap between executives’ and line workers’ job satisfaction, and look at whether the companies with the smallest gap outperform those with larger gaps financially. (Yes, they do.)
As I read Bush’s book, I had flashbacks to Frank Moran speaking to the entire firm at our annual conference and praising Arne, a second-career office assistant/Jack of all trades, and Joanne, the switchboard operator. He talked about how Arne had done something to serve the rest of our team, and made the connection between that and how Frank thought we should take care of our clients. When it came to Joanne, he told us that she was often the first Plante Moran team member with whom clients, prospective clients, and referral sources would interact. Then he reminded us that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. How do you think the rest of the administrative/support staff felt when Frank told these stories? He was doing what Bush recommends in his book.
An example of executives being out of touch occurred years ago when I learned that senior executives at Detroit-based auto companies parked their vehicles in a separate parking structure from the rest of the employees. During the day, auto mechanics would routinely check out the execs’ vehicles and fix any problems. At the end of the day, the executives would return to their vehicles and drive them home. Surprisingly (yeah, right), their vehicles never had any problems.
How aware are you of the daily struggles of your line workers? Do you interact with the team members on the lower rungs of the ladder, or do you have a system to get reliable feedback from them? I could say more, but I think you get the point.
One last story, and then I’ll stop preaching. I was with my millennial-aged son the other day; he’s an extremely successful, hard-working business owner who serves his clients like Frank Moran would. I can’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but he blurted out, “Dad, I’m not like you. I have a lot of other interests besides my business that I want to pursue.” It got me thinking. My own son, of whom I’m very proud, may not rate my business experience as highly as I would.
Hopefully, these last few stories have whet your appetite to read “A Great Place to Work for All” by Michael Bush. I truly believe that he and his team have unearthed some valuable nuggets, and by adopting their recommendations you just may be able to find and retain the employees you desperately need to serve your customers.