Manager’s Maxims

 

(As published in the GM Goodwrench publication, “Leadership Team” Newsletter)

By Trout Pomeroy


Preface

 

Pilfered from multiple sources including the writer’s imagination, the following phrases were intended for the edification of retail automotive managers and their horses.  Beginning in July 2007 and extending until the end of 2010, they began to flow in an informative newsletter on a monthly basis. At that point, the cumulative mass of thought exceeded 14,560 words – too many Typing Tom concluded.

And so, in an act of ever greater temerity, said-wretch did indeed pause in his seat long enough to amass the aggregate of inspirational messaging, organize it into this document and then hasten it off to a select group of professional contacts.  As a recipient of this attachment, you are hereby deemed worthy of a simple gesture of appreciation from someone who values your friendship – Mrs. Dale Evans.

Thanks to Corky Brabbs for sanctioning this pursuit of truth and to the erudite editor, Ginny Lagather, for demanding tepid Tom resist the allure of slothful endeavoring.

Final curtsies to all of you out there in Armenia, from coast to toast across the mighty United States of Redundancy, for your support of our Goodwrench publications and for enriching my existence.

No one needs to remind me I am the luckiest word thief in The Baltic Countries. I know that more than Our Miss Brooks. Being paid to interact with people of your caliber and likeable nature is an outrageously appealing proposition.  May these Maxims inspire and enlighten all of you who bring texture to my cabin on Blueberry Hill.

Rabbi Trout P. Pomeroy
Church of Perch
Armenia, Indiana
December 2010

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These maxims came from the mouths of real managers like you with whom we’ve talked. Thanks to all of you for sharing the truths of your life with us and for all the unbelievable efforts you make for your customers.

  • There are only three of us here. We all pull our weight … and our hair.  They say three people can do the work of five people better than nine people can do the work of seven people.  Of course, that says nothing about the risk of follicles.
  • Don’t tell me what you can’t do. Tell me what you can do.  This directly applies to managers. Because you lead by example you should always focus on positive action and skip all negative references.

 

  • CSI is a game that comes down to who plays it best.  We understand the irony behind this observation.  CSI is a vital indicator of how well your customers are being treated by your staff members.  Can you influence your numbers by proactive customer coaching or other methods?  Yes you can … and there isn’t anything wrong with doing so.  Just be honest and avoid playing games with anyone, especially the factory.
  • Don’t be afraid to be wrong once in awhile. Advice like this will help advance your career and can definitely save vital relationships in your life.  A wise man suggests you “take turns” being wrong.  However you approach it, there isn’t anything wrong with showing a little vulnerability.

 

  • Keep conflict away from subordinates. It’s contagious.  Parents who fight in front of their children ensure their bad habits will persist for at least one more generation.  This same maxim has everything to do with surviving with other managers, strong-headed individuals like you who will wage turf wars. Knowing you will butt heads with them, learn how to do it constructively and inconspicuously.
  • In the past customers just came to us. Now we have to earn their business everyday.  Take heart from knowing yours isn’t the only dealership in America where this truth applies.
  • Cadillac customers are easier to work with than our Chevrolet customers and are slightly more reasonable and more willing to step up for maintenance work.  Differentiating between product line and brand customers is popular sport in our industry and probably serves some purpose although practicing the Golden Rule with ALL customers remains the best course of action.

 

  • Our service consultants have their home phone numbers on their business cards.  If you think this homey touch only works in rural zip codes, think again.  The upside potential of this practice knows no boundaries.

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In the years this writer traveled the country in behalf of the former Oldsmobile Division’s service consultant programs I had the pleasure of meeting many gifted retail professionals as well as motivational experts. They included Dr. George Thompson, founder of the Verbal Judo Institute and a prominent lecturer in police academies throughout the world.
Here are some of the good doctor’s maxims:

  • Increase the amount of crap you’re able to take.  Another word for “crap” would be “input in general.”  Whatever you call it, you will be well served to elevate your accommodation quotient
  • Respond … don’t react.  Because you’re a pro and everyone else is an amateur be prepared to demonstrate your authority by listening carefully and basing your response on what you hear, not what you fear you hear.
  • Check your assumptions because of your brain damage.  As hard as it is to admit, we were all raised by brain-damaged parents. That suggests our own emotional and intellectual wiring is bound to be less than perfect. So be wary of your own prejudices and strive for objectivity.
  • Flexibility is strength.  Consider what happens during a storm to various species of trees on a shore line.  Trees that are stiff and unmovable tend to be uprooted while trees that can bend in the breeze will survive the tumult.
  • Use positive feedback when you least feel like it.  Being this adaptive takes effort, practice and discipline – all essential virtues for managers.
  • Give customers service they don’t expect and they’ll never forget it. By exceeding customer expectations you gain the ability to impact people forever.
  • Choose your words with an eye to the goal.  Considering specific phrasing before emitting key words in any dialogue helps you leverage your experience and help advance positive development.
  • If you can’t control yourself, you can’t control the event. If you can’t get your brain around that concept, take one step backward and rethink your position in the dealership hierarchy.
  • If you lose your sense of humor, you’re finished. If you don’t have a sense of humor, do everyone around you a favor and develop one.
  • Put your ego into the people you work with.  Your ego means nothing while the self confidence of your personnel means everything.
  • The most dangerous weapon you have is a cocked tongue.  The most useful weapon you have is the capacity to hold back the venom and criticism and monitor your own rhetoric.
  • Think of yourself as someone who deflects abuse for a living.  Perception is everything.
  • When your mouth opens, your ears slam shut.  When your brain opens your ignorance goes into retreat.
  • Common sense is most uncommon under pressure.  Not in your case.

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People with considerably more intelligence than the person composing this sentence uttered the following remarks, demonstrating cranial superiority and earning their way into this month’s column.

  • If you listen to the customer they will tell you everything you need to know.  But you have to listen.
  • Never violate the equity principle. Treat people equally.
  • Embrace every day as the world’s most consummate contact professional.  Build rapport with everyone you encounter, cultivate your group, keep language specific and take pride in your ability to walk the talk.
  • Exactly how NOT to create a team is to act like you’re better than anyone else.
  • Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they are useless.
  • If a man has something to gain or lose, you’ve got something to use.  Once you can hook what you want someone to do with what they can gain or lose you then have power.
  • Great communicators educate.
  • Use “self talk” to maintain presence.  Whether it’s a familiar mantra or a saying that soothes your soul, focus on your own words when the outside world tries to rain on your parade.
  • Control events and encounters instead of becoming a victim of them. Don’t let people ignite you.
  • It’s not enough to be good.  You also have to look good, sound good, smell good and believe in the complete ethos of good.  Omitting any of these “goods” is “no good.”
  • Use adrenalin, never be ruled by it.
  • Avoid put-downs. They don’t work.
  • Think of people as being flawed, not evil.  Don’t label people. Man has feet of clay.  Many people do what they do because they know not what they do.
  • Everyone has “context” for what they do. Listen to their context.
  • Maintain your professional face.

 

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Convincing others to do things they may not think they want to do requires precise communication skills and a genuine depth of human understanding.
According to noted communications specialist Dr. Mortimer J. Adler, the art of successfully interacting with others is distractingly elusive. 
Here are some “truths” Dr. Adler shared with the world:

  • People want to know who YOU are, not just your name and title but also bearing and style.
  • To move people to action you must do more than touch the mind by reaching within the psyche where true motivations reside deep in the realm of passions.
  • When failures in communication occur the fault is usually evenly divided between the speaker and the listener.
  • Men speak a diversity of tongues and minds are controlled by emotions, feelings and fears of all kinds.  Add the fact language is far from perfect and you can realize why it is almost impossible for any of us to use any words that are understood by other people in exactly the same sense in which we use them.
  • In a heart to heart talk, you have to understand yourself first.
  • One primary illusion of communication occurs when people who appear to be listening are instead merely biding their time, waiting to resume saying what they were thinking before they lost the floor to another speaker – probably you.  Adler said being able to listen well to what someone else is saying is a more important component for successful communication than is being able to use language well.  In other words, listening is harder than talking.
  • Any question that is worth asking can be rephrased many times to give different examples of the point and set up different frameworks in which to ask it.
  • The definition of peace is a situation in which men have conflicts of interests, but in which these conflicts can be settled by talk rather than by violence.

 

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As manager, you’re paid to remember as much as possible.
They told you this when you hired-in.  You’re required to be the keeper of all important facts, policies, procedures and operational standards.  According to practical theory, you’re supposed to maintain all of this in your head at all times, there to summon up when called for.
No one would dispute your need to store all of world history between your ears. Nevertheless, an emerging body of experts on the subject has stepped up to address the importance of also forgetting as much as you can, even as your brain takes in new information.
Call them the “Forget about it, get over it and move on” crowd.
From their point of view, relieving yourself of mental clutter is just as essential to clear thinking as is the retention of essential facts.
As it turns out, “forgetting is really something that most people want to run in the other direction from.”
Those are the words of Dr. Larry Dossey, a champion in the field of integrative medicine.
Forgetting is a blessing, he teaches. It relieves us of clogged mind, most of it trivia.
Alas, few cop to the importance of forgetting, somehow forgetting themselves how vital it is to maintaining sound mental health. 
Dossey, an MD, said he had to forget 99% of what he learned in medical school in order to replace it with more valuable information.
Not surprising, he is a huge advocate of the “forgive and forget” school of thought.
“If we can’t forget slights and things that happen to us, that other people do from time to time, it’s not likely that we’re going to be very forgiving,’ he teaches. “If we can’t forgive and forget in that way, our lives can be miserable. We can also wreck other people’s lives by visiting aggression and hostility on them. So a certain amount of forgetting is healthy in many, many way.”
Increasingly there is a large and emerging area of research on forgetting and forgiving. A group of people called “forgiveness researchers” found that people who cannot forgive and forget have a higher level of stress hormones most of the time.
 “This is just not good for your health,” Dossey asserts. “This is like being under constant stress all the time with resentment and anger and so on.”

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Becoming a manager was easy. Surviving as a manager can be a tad thornier.
Hanging on to your authority takes more than brute strength and intimidation. You also need grace, intelligence, common sense and enormous insight into the human condition.
Staying in charge will take all the effort you can muster.  Here are a few solid gold tips to help you keep that nice desk with a window view:
Do not be on the outlook for trouble. In this “seek and ye shall find” world we live in you constantly set the stage for whatever outcome might follow.  Anticipating winning outcomes will ensure their occurrence.
Keep usefully at work. The best way to remain indispensable is to constantly focus on the tasks at hand and to leave no margin for others to question your commitment to productivity. Because others will emulate your ways, stay riveted on the work at hand.
Have a hobby. Sages from over the ages have honored the value of cultivating personal passions in order to fill your life with meaning and happiness. A person without a hobby is like a baseball without a game – something is obviously missing.  Conversely, a manager without side interests is a poor role model and an incomplete leader.
Learn to be satisfied.  Dissatisfaction is a sign of lack of enlightenment. It is chosen behavior and is among the most insidious and self-defeating characteristics of neurotic mankind. Only you can project satisfaction and you can’t do it until you realize the importance of focusing on those life sources for which you can be grateful.
Keep on liking people.  Anything short of full-blown appreciation of every other diversely construed personality around you simply will not get the job done for managers. If success is your goal, ride the strengths and potentiality of those around you to get there.
Meet adversity valiantly.  Hard times lie ahead. Of this you can be certain. How you handle those challenges will define your managerial aptitude, today and always.
Encounter “small” problems with resolution. Your willingness to bear down on all matters will always be the trump card that will help you retain a winning hand.
Say something pleasant every time you get a chance. Try this out on the next person you encounter and see what happens.  You’re liable to spark a pleasant revolution.
Bring cheer to the present moment. A rosy countenance will serve you well in every circumstance and situation.  Activate your pleasant side and let it rule your career.

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Morning arrives, evoking concern. 
The great machine known as your dealership must reawaken from its slumber. And you as leader must once again get the juice going, just like it was yesterday afternoon when you shut it all down for a breather.
Now it’s back to the regular routine.  Large clusters of nasty challenges await you at every turn. 
Because you’re the boss, you have no choice but to take them on, one at a time or all at once, whatever the moment dictates.
This lovely scenario begs the question: How does any single mortal gather the wherewithal required to navigate the barrage of complaints, mechanical mysteries and factory-related incongruities generally associated with being a manager at an automotive dealership?
Hanging tough requires significant mental adjustment. In other words, you have to “psyche yourself” into success. 
Here are some brain tools to help you get out of the gate:
Recall your preparation – When waves of adversity build up and begin to stare you down first thing in the morning, be strong.  When you wonder if you really have what it takes to finesse such a swirling mass of problems, take heart! You among all people on the planet can handle it. Simply remind yourself of how every experience in your life up until now has prepared you for the next hurdles you face.  All of us tend to forget how well armed we are by our past accomplishments. We lose track of how all the lessons we’ve learned along the way actually give us a huge advantage in the present tense.  So take strength from the value of your deep resume and remind yourself that at this stage of your career you are truly a super-star, darling.
Accept your limitations – You can’t be Batman when your real name is Robin and you can’t solve every problem in your dealership without burning out first.  So don’t make the fatal mistake of thinking you can do it all when you can only do one thing at a time.  It’s wonderful to believe in yourself. But avoid self delusion and don’t allow your latent hero complex to drag you down.
Locate and maintain a mentor – A mentor is another person who has walked in your moccasins, mastered the trail you’re on and is now willing to share advice with you. A mentor will lift you from the isolation of management responsibilities by sharing helpful ideas, based on the mentor’s own experiences and well-earned insights.  While a mentor may not have all the answers you seek, a good one will share enough wisdom to give you the confidence you need to render decisions, pursue strategies and actuate your full potentiality.  Find a mentor, keep a mentor and value the leg-up this gives you in a leg-down world.

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One-sentence observations have the potential to change your life … and your outlook on it. Ponder these selections and consider their relevance to your life as manager.

  • An error doesn’t become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

 

  • Que sera, sera (what will be, will be.)
  • The fastest way to a man’s heart is through his rib-cage.

 

  • If at first you don’t succeed you must be human.
  • It takes two fools to fight.

 

  • Life is a series of ten-foot walls.
  • The traits we dislike in others often reflect our own perceived shortcomings.

 

  • People who live in glass houses should change their clothes in the basement.
  • Winter is the toughest season; all of the others come close.

 

  • A mistake is a chance to try harder.
  • If we hope, we cope; if we don’t, we mope.

 

  • A stitch in time is a sewing strategy.
  • Man who runs in front of car gets tired. (Man who runs behind car gets exhausted.)

 

  • Do what you can with what you have where you are.
  • If you want to be happy, act happy.

 

  • Never let yesterday’s disappointments overshadow tomorrow’s dreams.

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Perhaps you imagine a “reality” in which you function essentially as Charles Atlas.
If you do, it is highly likely you are suffering from delusion, or, worse, self deception.
For one thing, Charles Atlas doesn’t exist.  Never did, never will.
No single mortal can hold the world on his or her shoulders and keep everything in order. You need collaboration.  And if you’re the manager, your only prayer for success relies entirely on how effectively you can bring others onboard.
Let’s assume you believe you already know this. 
OK then, answer the following questions, each designed to reveal your true power-sharing nature:

  1. I accomplish tasks by taking this approach with my colleagues.

 

A – Remind them constantly of their insubordinate status.
B – Flaunt my own authority in every action, gesture and remark.
C – Ignore their input and malign their efforts to share leadership.
D – All of the above.

  1. I don’t have time to bring others onboard because…

 

A – My own insecurity prevents me from doing so.
B – I hate to share the glory.
C – I fear they all might outshine me and eventually get my job.
D – All of the above.

3. Building consensus with my colleagues is impossible due to …

A – The obvious fact none of them can function at my elevated level.
B – My awareness that only I have the innate talent required to excel.
C – The inability all managers at this store share to get owner buy-in.
D – All of the above.

There you have it, a fairly tough quiz. If you answered “D” to all three questions you’re in the running for this year’s “Least Enlightened Manager” competition.
Don’t let personal limitations prevent you from building an outstanding team around you even if globe-holding runs in your family.

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As you scale new heights in your management career your sense of upside potential may blind you to a major stumbling block – plateaus.
Also known as “leveling off,” hitting a plateau is the equivalent of reaching “a flat space’ in your professional ascent.
In many cases, your ability to move continually upward within your organization will have little to do with your various competencies.  You may be the best leader, planner, listener or creative genius in the world and still see your advancement derailed.  In fact, being too good at any of those areas can actually come back to haunt you.
In a cynical twist of logic, what got you to the dance also has a sneaky way of whisking you off the dance floor, too.
“Any competency can sabotage us if we use it too much,” wrote Monci Williams in an article, “How Strength Becomes a Weakness,” that appeared in the Harvard Management Update newsletter.
Here are strategies to consider:
Expand on your core strengths. Certain competencies helped you advance in your career … this far.  But it you continue to rely on only your core attributes, you’ll risk wearing them out. Worse yet, those around you will soon realize you only run on one cylinder.
Be aware why you’re in stall mode.  To grow your career you must gain the ability to stand back, completely detached and see your professional self objectively. This is the only way for you to face the truth, accept it and begin to change your behaviors.
Make incremental adjustments.  Growth is a process.  Fix one aspect at a time and let change come slowly but surely.
Don’t let your competencies get in your way.  Remember that your core strengths if relied upon too long or over-used can become the biggest impediments to your advancement.
Move out of your comfort zone. Stretch your muscles and champion new operational arenas not typically associated with your skill sets.  Surprise yourself and others with your new-found willingness to do something completely novel (for you at least), like building consensus or drawing others to your visions.  By seeking out new competencies you’ll reveal genuine “born again’ enthusiasm that will inevitably help you avoid plateaus and reach ever-higher peaks.

 

 

Quotes to Live By

The glory is not in “never failing,” but in rising every time you fail.
Chinese proverb

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone.  Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out.
William James

We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.
John Dryden

In every business there is a constant struggle between the head and the overhead.

The art of saying appropriate words in a kindly way is one that never goes out of style, never ceases to please, and is within the reach of the humblest.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people. Give me the grace to tell them so.

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln

It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all – better for the florist and the jeweler.

There is always room at the top.

There is nothing more frightful than a bustling ignorance.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Being a woman is a terribly difficult task since it consists principally in dealing with men.

The difference between intelligence and education is that intelligence will make you a good living.
Charles F. Kettering

Luck is like fool’s gold – both hint at the real thing but in reality offer only cheap illusion.
Those who rely on luck alone are destined to watch Life’s Parade pass them by, much as those who try to sell fake gold face certain rebuke in the marketplace.
Because luck in its real essence is fleeting, fragmented and subject to eternal shortage, your best hope for achieving real success will always be rooted in earnest enterprise as opposed to wishful thinking.
Of course, a little bit of luck never hurts and often helps greatly.  But luck alone won’t get you far, not as far as you hope to travel.
Oliver Wendell Holmes nailed it: “One constant element of luck is genuine solid old Teutonic pluck.” 
Writer Jean Cocteau concurred: “A little more drive, a little more pluck, a little more work – that’s luck.”
“Luck,” in many cases, is a deceiving concept.  Observing the success of others, cynical observers may write it off to luck, as if the ardor and efforts of the achiever had no consequence in the matter.
In doing so, they ignore how hardship and privation factor into accomplishment. They skip over long days (and nights) of sheer effort expended and fail to mention what Max O’Rell called “the appointments you have never failed to keep; the trains you have never failed to catch.”
Fully stripped of its outer veneer, luck exists within the “preparation meets opportunity” paradigm.  In other words, in order for “luck” to kick in, all the pieces need to be in place. Yes, it’s more than slightly fortuitous when you meet the president’s daughter on the first day of school … at Yale University.  Still, you both need to be there.
To Voltaire, chance was a word that did not make sense. “Nothing happens without a cause,” he asserted in the eighteenth-century.
Oftentimes, the lucky hitchhiker who gets a ride is the one who shaved that day. 
How lucky was it for aspiring musicians Glenn Frey and Don Henley to meet when they both happened to be hanging out as at a prominent folk café in Los Angeles one night in the early 1970’s?
Destiny may have played a small role on that occasion. But certainly it was the true grit, perseverance and sheer willpower of these two emerging musical geniuses that set them on course to “randomly” get acquainted and eventually form the band that became known as The Eagles.
If you’re really lucky, you’ll take destiny by the horns and make good things happen the old-fashioned way: one smart step after another.

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Enter any Parts or Service Department. 
Get close to the action yet remain detached. 
Study the unfolding drama.
Focus on the individuals in this production. Keep in mind everyone in a car dealership participates in a play of sorts.  Some are actors and some are observers.
Players or payers, everyone in your building functions within the theatrical atmosphere that defines any retail business, especially a busy automobile store where heightened self-consciousness among individuals is predictably revealed as you go about your daily work.
Like it or not, eyes are on you all day long, from A.M. to P.M. 
You work in a public place. Visitors spend considerable time staring at you.
Give this serious thought -- as a frontline player in a customer-based profession, you’re more or less on stage from the time you begin your shift until it ends.
Life in the spotlight requires complete and perfect focus.
To prevail, be aware of how your job title demands exceptional presence, proficiency and awareness of how others watch your every move.
More than anyone, managers must define magnificence every single second of every single day.
You’re cut no slack in this exercise of behavioral excellence. If you can’t dance they might as well close the dance hall.
Here are a few specific tips to help enlarge your view of this subject:
You are what you project – As manager you must project the 4 C’s -- confidence, capability, calmness and composure.
You are the glue – Only you can hold this presentation together.  Gain strength from knowing how far you’ve come to attain this aura of invincibility.
Be the energy source – Leadership is about giving, teaching, and leading others in the right direction.  As the omnipotent source of knowledge and wisdom in your department you must also be a fountain of spiritual nutrition to everyone around you.
Play the part -- In our profession the essential cast of characters rarely changes.  Various people come and go. But the roles they play remain the same. You know your part.
***
You can do all of this … because you have to.  It’s too late to turn back.  Some managers will but most won’t. 
You’re in charge now. Unless you act that way someone else will happily assume control.

 

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A wise man once said the future belongs to those who can see it.
The learned source is Noel Tichy, professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Michigan and author of the book, The Leadership Engine: Winning Companies Build Leaders at Every Level.
Tichy suggested the future is what winning leadership is really all about. He said effective leaders always look ahead, in the short term and throughout their business careers.
Not everyone is equipped to watch the horizon.  Most of us have enough trouble navigating the present tense to hardly give a thought to the day after tomorrow.  Projecting considerations too far out in front challenges our intelligence quotient and threatens our current sense of balance.
And that is simply another way of saying most workers lack the overall makeup to become managers. And that is where you fit in.
Tichy posited an interesting theory about the instructional aspect of your job. To truly achieve your potential as a leader he said you must be consistently and actively involved in the education and development of all of those who follow your example.  Strong commitment is required. 
“Teaching is not a now-and-then or sideline activity,” he wrote. Rather, it needs to be HOW you lead and at the heart of everything you do.
Here is the routing of Tichy’s thoughts on the subject.
Great leaders nurture others – Seeing themselves as stewards of human capital in their companies, the best managers seek to leave a legacy of talent that can carry the company forward. This is accomplished through a ceaseless process of sharing and challenging others to evaluate daily practices and activities for clues to understanding.
To progress, you must sense the future – Superior organizations develop policies that enable their personnel to respond to customer demands today and deep into the future.
Flexibility and foresight drive the process – As manager, you must become vigilant in watching the marketplace and looking for impending changes in order for your business to continue to thrive perpetually through the months and years ahead. 
Develop an instinct to constantly look ahead – Future focus will enable you – and upcoming managers of tomorrow – to imagine and implement strategies and structures that will continuously empower your organization to respond to ever-changing customer needs.

 

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Extracting the pure truth of what your Consultants are really thinking (as opposed to what they might readily admit) is easier to contemplate than accomplish.  It’s one thing to talk about it but a lot harder to make it happen.
Precise questioning on your part is required to ensure you get the information you need and not some sugar-coated facsimile thereof.  To help you gain maximum insight into this somewhat dicey process we offer the following tips to help you find out what your employees honestly think:
Ask employees – As obvious as this might sound, it represents a good start.  If you didn’t ask them, you’d have to speculate.  So cut to the chase by going directly to the source. In doing so, you help set the tone for a candid exchange of thoughts.
Craft questions carefully -- Ask questions that give employees a wide-open opportunity to tell you what they really think.  Keep questions open-ended and straight to the point. Avoid what could be construed as “loaded” or manipulative questions.
Eliminate “yes or no” questions – One-word answers offer nothing of substance and superficial answers have no value when it comes to getting inside your employees’ heads in a meaningful way.  Rather than limiting responses, do all you can to encourage open-ended reactions that provide insight into thinking processes.
Don’t telegraph answers – How you frame questions and the specific words you use can evoke rote responses that rarely reflect an employee’s real thinking on an issue or subject.
Ask questions that call for detailed answers – Draw out your source by beginning the question with a general comment that acknowledges a shared reality before stating an actual inquiry.
Include yourself – Ask the employee what they think you as manager could do to improve a situation or dynamic within your business.  Be willing to listen and probe and include the employee in policy making decisions. And be ready to hear a rare variant of truth from those who respond.
Be selective with language -- According to the editors of the Practical Supervision newsletter, it takes only a moment to pause and consider your words before beginning a discussion with an employee. Consider that a moment well spent. 
“When you ask open-ended questions and carefully avoid troublesome assumptions, you will get the kind of complete information that can help you be a better supervisor,” the editors added in summary.

 

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You live or die by the telephone.  In other words, your very survival depends on your ability to leverage the potential of this wonderful talking device.
Everyone knows the most important aspect of any telephone is the ear piece.  The better you listen, the more you understand your customer’s needs, which leads to happy conclusions.
What a lot of people don’t know is the mouth piece is of equal value particularly to those seeking to maximize the communications experience.
The following guidelines have emerged over the years and been broken down into a step-by-step format.  None is of greater truth; they merely flow in sequence and have similar bearing on the science of speaking on the telephone.

Introduce your self cheerfully – Moderate the ebullience, extend the sincerity.
Be open and candid – Being up-front and honest is the only way to fly.
Be optimistic – It’s an intrinsically American trait that works wonders with all Americans.
Be humble and courteous – You’re the professional service provider so keep firmly in mind the person on the other end of your line expects full subservience from you.
Be concise – Every imaginable customer-type will appreciate brevity and succinctness in any dialogue your share.
Don’t be “ a gimmee” – Asking potential customers for anything is generally forbidden in most business cultures including ours.
Be complimentary – Skip the phoniness and go straight to what is evident.  Finding exactly what to praise in any customer encounter is essential to affecting a successful relationship.
Return the favor – Always look for ways to give back to those from who you seek service or parts business.
Send Thank You notes – A person who fails to grasp the value of a gracious Thank You note is a person who never received one them self.

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It’s time to seize on the spirit of retrospection that accompanies end-of-the-year ritual. Acting on that impulse we assembled these time-tested maxims to stir contemplation, encourage personal improvement and foster greater awareness.

Any deal that looks too good to be true probably is.  No specific source gets credit for evoking this enduring observation. It’s just one of those “earth truths” that’s crept into our lexicon over the years and become increasingly relevant as we continue to learn from experience.
When you are looking for obstacles you can’t find opportunities. Obstacles emerge at every turn. Yet their challenges often lead to fruitful adaptation.
Give so much time trying to improve yourself that you have no time to criticize others. This powerful consideration is taken from The Optimist Creed. It goes directly to the heart of leading by example.  Make no mistake about it: massive power accrues to those who incorporate this enlightened operating procedure.
The body has its own powerful allies to defend against invading foreign substances.  This theory applies to managing others and overcoming difficult personnel and business circumstances.  When the going gets tough the best strategy may be to rely on your team’s innate strengths rather than over-reacting.
Avoid extreme bending and sudden twists and turns.  If it applies to the body, it also applies to the body politic.  Jerking your team around is just as bad as jerking your body around.
If you have knowledge, let others light their candles by it. The best thing you can do to elevate the capabilities of the people you manage is to share your essence as a matter of strategy.
Your sole contribution to the sum of things is yourself.  As Joni Mitchell sang, it all comes down to you. 
Doubt whom you will but never yourself.  If you can’t believe in #1, don’t expect anyone else to do it for you.
Make all your employees feel there that there is something inside them.  Calculated and judiciously distributed positive feedback goes a long way to encouraging AND sustaining strong efforts from all team members.

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Happy New Year to all GM Goodwrench fixed operations leaders in all fifty fabulous states of mind.  Here from the top drawer of the writer’s desk are epic maxims culled from the pens – and keyboards -- of some of the world’s greatest thinkers.
Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. This simple rule dictates the investment strategies of America’s wealthiest man, Warren Buffet.
If you wait for the robins, spring will be over.  Stay ahead of season.
The less you know the more you think you know … and that’s kind of dangerous. Automotive industry guru David Cole made this remark in a recent radio interview.
Tough times don’t last forever; tough people do.  Professional basketball star Alonzo Mourning gets credit for this insight which derives from his experiences overcoming serious injuries.
Look for reasons to be hopeful everyday.  Search the full range of your personal and family sphere of awareness.  The harder you look the more reasons you’ll find for you think positive and stay strong.
No man is so good but a good woman can make him better. This classic maxim is as old as its antiquity of expression.  Not ironically, the same effect works the opposite way – good men help make good women better.
When the going gets tough, the tough go on “The Gong Show.”  While this mirthful program is no longer on television, the going still gets tough.  When it does, keep smiling.
Your employer probably puts in longer hours than you do. If you doubt this one, get out on your local freeway some morning around 5:30 A.M. and see how many high-end luxury cars are on the road.
Don’t be a quitter. Keep trying. Fate never beat a fighter yet.  Don’t be the first exception to this rule.
Strive for happiness.  Find ways to enjoy life.  Plan to do something fun once in a while so you’ll have something to look forward to.
In the long run we pay most for that which we try to get for nothing.  Stated otherwise, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Most men are believers in heredity, until the son makes a fool of himself.  And when the daughter messes up, it’s her mother’s fault.
A laugh is as necessary to a human being as sunshine to a cabbage.  As previously noted, keep smiling in 2009.

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Distractions that prevent you from functioning at your maximum level of efficiency equate to tyranny of sorts, to the extent they can overwhelm your larger needs and limit progress.
These days we hear of “the tyranny of the urgent.”  The implication is, in a world where managers are required to “put out fires” all day, every day, they end up with little or no time to attend to important activities like planning, listening and collaborating.
Seen from another perspective, if fires aren’t extinguished they have the potential to burn down the building.
Clearly then, your challenge is to integrate these counter-polar considerations.  With some understanding, you can both resist the various tyrannies of your job and still avoid the destructive flames that come from ignoring emerging disasters.
Here are strategies to help you through this conundrum:
Pause to reflect – Seize a moment when you can to shift into long-range thought.  Slow down long enough to let your imagination jump into the future tense.  Knowing such exercise is fundamental to growth, discipline yourself to build contemplative interludes into your daily routine.
Cultivate support – You’re not the only one who knows how to use a fire hose.  In fact, there may be others among your team with similarly effective trouble-shooting tools.  Find them and help them become you.  The more you relieve yourself of moment-to-moment disaster control duty, the more you can focus on the omnipotent Big Picture.
Redefine limitations – Fire-fighting isn’t for wimps.  It’s tough work that only becomes tougher if you let it.  How you perceive the difficulty of having to soothe the daily parade of converging crisis’s will ultimately define its toll on your psyche. If you perceive the deluge of events as too much to bear surely you’ll wither in the process.  Better to see yourself as the grand master since you don’t have any choice. Only in redefining your limitations can you truly tame “the tyranny of the urgent.”

 

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Good listening requires more than clean ears. 
Even among those who consider themselves exceptional listeners there’s usually plenty of margin for improving precise skills.
Bottom-line: It is one thing to hear and another thing to really hear what others say.
Managers seeking an edge should be aware of common shortcomings that prevent casual listeners from picking up on customer’s verbal cues.
Ask if any of these listening flaws apply to you.

  • You’re inclined to agree with what you hear in order to avoid conflict.
  • You refer what you hear to your own experiences.
  • You change the subject before fully hearing out the other person.
  • Instead of focusing on the words you hear, you try to read the speaker’s mind.
  • Even though you hear what is being said you belittle or categorize it.
  • You hear only what you want to hear, not all that is said.
  • As you listen you also allow your mind to drift off to another place.

If any of those flaws apply to your listening style, listen-up! There’s still time in your management career for you to make the necessary adjustments that will enable you to elevate your listening skills.
Good Listeners
Good listeners practice “active listening.” They make it their sole priority to learn as much from the other person as possible, without regard to their own thoughts.  With pure discovery as the absolute goal, active listening leads to fascinating insights and results.
Good listeners make the world go ‘round. They appreciate the rich potential of pealing off the proverbial onion layers of the other person’s mind and luxuriating in the revelations that lie within.
Good listeners make great managers.  The two go together like biscuits and gravy.  Professional pride drives the process of evolving from being a fairly decent listener to emerging as the best listener in your building.
Good listeners adhere to these guidelines:

  • Ask people to restate what they say.
  • Follow up on what you hear.
  • Solicit additional examples, analogies and illustrations of the original statement.
  • Convey a “Tell Me More” attitude.

 

 

 

 

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Managers aren’t born as managers.  Your eventual capacity to provide leadership derives from the guidance you gain along the way. Certain command principles exist as precepts of professionalism, including those in this column.
Let these general rules of action guide your career as a leader of others.  They derive from a multiple of sources and speak directly to your manager’s mindset.

  • The aim of internal training should be to teach the consultant to think, not what to think. 

  • Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.

  • Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure there is one rascal less in the world. 

  • Nothing is easier than fault finding; no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character are required to set up in the grumbling business.

  • It is wrong to assume that men of immense wealth are always happy. Similarly, it is just as foolhardy to assume managers can always manage.

  • People who think they can run the earth should begin with a small garden.

  • If we are to enjoy life, now is the time – not tomorrow, nor next year, nor in some future life after we have died.  Today should always be our most important day and it only follows that managers are morally required to infuse similar awareness in those they seek to manage. 

  • A dominant criterion of any manager’s emotional maturity is the capacity to relate to other people in a consistent manner with mutual satisfaction and helpfulness.

  • The greatest test of courage on the earth for managers and those who follow them into battle is to bear defeat without losing heart.

  • The greatest of faults … is to be conscious of none.

  • As a peacemaker a leader has a superior opportunity of being a good man. Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.

 

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Too much of it wrecks everything.  Too little of it is even more destructive.
Sooner or later, all managers must come to grips with how to leverage the precious element known as recognition to help lift everyone’s professionalism.
In the book, “101 Recognition Secrets: Tools for Motivating and Recognizing Today’s Workforce,” author Rosalind Jeffries offers a mix of “cheap and easy ways” to give employees what they crave – individual attention.  Here are highlights:
Elevate recognition within your work culture – One good method would be to establish Recognition Week – an annual event designated specifically to honor employees for their hard work and extra efforts.  The possibilities are unlimited.  In most cases, you would kick this idea around in manager’s meetings and develop programs that impact the larger dealership population as well as your own department’s staff.
Cite individual accomplishments in group format – Managers are encouraged to monitor employee’s exceptional moments of hospitality and subsequently share accounts of these moments in staff meetings. Not only can you dole out praise, when earned, you can also help educate the larger group by citing positive anecdotes.  Once everyone figures out how you’re watching and leveraging moments of truth as learning elements, the more they’ll seek to step up their own efforts.
Encourage staff members to celebrate colleague’s shining moments – Jeffries suggests managers allow time during meetings to let employees share with each other examples of their ongoing success with customers and within the organization. The more attention you draw to positive behavior and winning strategies, the more you help reinforce creative, proactive thinking within all members of your group.
Champion job-sharing – When possible let employees switch jobs with one another, for an hour, a day or a week. This makes life more interesting for everyone and draws attention to the glories incumbent within all individual tasks. There is something uniquely enlightening about assuming another person’s job to the extent doing so vivifies its integrity and overall importance within the larger organization’s working order.
Try the traveling trophy method – A case can be made in behalf of the idea of purchasing a worthy trophy that would travel each month to a deserving department within your dealership.  The symbolic value of such a gesture has the potential to inspire, motivate and eventually hike everyone’s overall performance.
Allocate recognition according to actuality – Giving positive strokes to negative folks may be the least desirable of all managerial practices. The last thing you want to do is encourage poor performance or behavior.  With that in mind, save the recognition for those who deserve it … then watch as all employees take note of how you handle the “recognition piece” and increase their own efforts in order to participate in the happy ritual.

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Some formulations of word and thought resonate so fully they enter into the vernacular becoming beacons of inspiration.  Central to the lasting nature of certain expressions is the link they establish between effort and achievement. To help elevate your effectiveness as managers we gathered this sampling of all-time great heavy-weight maxims for your consideration.
Success is the ability to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill’s forceful observation supports the notion that failure is intrinsic to existence and the nature of our recovery from it ultimately defines us.
Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.  This powerful thought is attributed to the eternally profound source, “Anonymous.”  Whoever said it, they certainly captured the implication of what any of us does with our mouth muscles.
Success is when you get what you want. Happiness is when you want what you get. Chalk that observation up to good-old “Anonymous” as well. Consider it one of the most helpful insights any of us could possibly take to heart. Between these two truths exists the essence of existence.
The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of work. So said Sarah Bolton summing up succinctly what some of us spend our entire lives trying to figure out. Managers have an innate understanding of this principle; your job is to fully convey this truth to subordinates and consistently lead by example.
The only way to have a friend is to be one.  Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke volumes when he uttered those 11 words.  By “being what you expect” you realize personal fulfillment AND ensure group improvement.  Emerson’s attribution is all about skipping “the talk” and relying instead on “walking the walk.”
Nothing is really “work”unless you would rather be doing something else.  James Barrie put all enterprise into perspective with this comment.  Work is only as onerous as we choose to make it.
The trouble with opportunity is that it is always disguised as hard work.  Thanks again to “Anonymous” for leaving us with an important reminder. The trick is to remove drudgery from the equation and see legitimate effort for what it really is: the glory of life.
Preoccupation with possession, more than anything else prevents men from living freely and nobly.  Bertrand Russell’s clarifying remark speaks to the importance of the non-material aspects of our lives. Beyond owning anything – or anyone, for that matter – our best hope for self actualization exists in the means of our existence.
Art is long, life short; judgment difficult, opportunity transient.  German philosopher Johann Wolfgang vonGoethe – considered to be one of the most important thinkers in Western culture -- covered all the bases in this distinctive take on life. Managers should take heart from this validation of the difficulty of judgment and benefit from contemplating its emphasis on the fleeting nature of opportunity.

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Magnificent maxims rise above the din of common conversation and carve permanent places in our minds.  Their insights offer instruction on our selves and on others we seek to influence and understand.  In the spirit of leveraging the best thinking of some of the best thinkers among us, here is this month’s brief compendium of deep truths that apply to both leadership and life.
The only thing I rise to is a challenge; the only thing I succumb to is temptation. The element of this comment that earns it ongoing consideration is the universality of John P. Grier’s admission, which says as much about challenge as it does temptation.
You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own facts.  This far-sighted observation attaches to no particular source.  It endures merely on the basis of its eternal wisdom. The capacity to distinguish between fact and opinion is integral to your ability to run the railroad.
The search for blame is always successful. Robert Half nailed it fairly directly in this hard-to-ignore gem.
Sometimes you have to be silent in order to be heard.  Attributed to Wilma Askinas, this one-sentence earth-truth belongs in a jar on everyone’s shelf.
All men are liable to error; and most are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it. There we go with temptation again, thanks to the immortal John Locke whose words to managers could just as easily apply to those we aspire to lead.  Mistakes happen.  We all know that.  Understanding their nature expands our ability to maximize failure, build upon it and move on to happy ever-after.
We never failed to fail it was the easiest thing to do.  Songwriter Stephen Stills penned these words and sang them with partners David Crosby and Graham Nash, presenting a precious gift to all music-lovers … and deep thinkers.
Fun is when you enjoy what you’re doing; work is when you’d rather be doing something else.  Or, so said Art Buck, putting into perspective the degree to which wise men and women might take it upon our selves to artfully blend both work and fun, effectively blurring the line that might separate the two.

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The prolific and popular novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) said the purpose of his novels was “to catch people before they become generals and presidents and so forth and poison their minds with humanity.” Vonnegut left behind a large body of brilliant work and an abundance of insightful and instructive maxims worthy of consideration. Here is a collection of Vonnegut gems:

  • Vanity rather than wisdom determines how the world is run.

  • The secret to success in every human endeavor is total concentration. Ask any great athlete.

  • Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be.

  • Be aware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before.

  • If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

  • People have to talk about something just to keep their voice-boxes in working order so they’ll have good voice-boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.

  • There’s only one rule I know of … you’ve got to be kind.

  • It’s too easy, when alive, to make perfectly horrible mistakes.

  • Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.

  • We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane.

  • History is merely a list of surprises.  It can only prepare us to be surprised again.

  • Time is liquid. One moment is no more important than any other and all moments quickly run away.

  • We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

  • We are impossibly conceited animals, and actually dumb as heck … ask anybody. Dogs and cats are smarter than we are.

  • There is no order in the world around us; we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.

  • So it goes.

 

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These maxims offer incisive behavioral perspective of our species. They also delve into the ethos of management as exemplified in enlightened leadership. 
Elaboration isn’t required in this presentation of persistent truths.  Serious contemplation should suffice to fuse these insights into your management style.
Each enduring, they derive from John Bartlett’s collection of passages, phrases and proverbs, “Familiar Quotations.”

It is easier to speak not a word at all than to speak more words than we should.  Thomas Kempis.

Comparisons are odious. John Fortescue. (also attributed to Christopher Marlowe.)

A hard beginning makes a good ending.  John Heywood.

The finest edge is made with the blunt whetstone.  John Lyly.

For a man by nothing is so well betrayed as by his manners.  Edmund Spenser.

He is well paid that is well satisfied. William Shakespeare.

Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall. Francis Bacon.

What can’t be cured must be endured.  Robert Burton.

Good words are worth much, and cost little.  George Herbert.

Men are but children of a larger growth.  John Dryden.

No man was ever written out of reputation but by himself.  Richard Bentley.

They never taste who always drink; they always talk who never think.  Matthew Prior.

’Tis an old maxim in the schools, that flattery’s the food of fools; yet now and then your men of wit will condescend to take a bit.  Jonathon Swift.

A man should always consider how much he has more than he wants, and how much more unhappy he might be than he really is. Joseph Addison.

That action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers.  Francis Hutcheson.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.. Benjamin Franklin

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Samuel Johnson.

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Culled over a life of contemplation (and literary larceny) these thoughts offer insights for managers and those they seek to manage.  Where possible, we include attribution.  Otherwise these beauties derive from the realm of the unknown … but speak to the here-and-now.
You can't create customer needs. You can do your best -- and be seen to be doing your best -- to meet them.
Whatever you are by nature, keep to it. Never desert your line of talent.  Be what nature intended for you and you will succeed.  Sydney Smith
Management is the process of trying to make others bend to our will.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Thoreau
Leadership is setting an example that other people want to follow.
All ideas come from information. Genius is the inspired use of information. Xerox ad.
Hope is that we might learn to lead rather than manage.

Keep a clean head and carry a light-bulb.  Bob Dylan
Old age can perform like a bank account, compounding interest on sufficient deposits of happy memories; running red ink on miserly contributions. Travis Charbeneau
Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends. Life is too short in both good moments and good friends. Appreciate them while you have them.
Some people live so intensely they never die to the extent the force of their example carries on even after they’re technically no longer alive.
Nothing is as contagious as enthusiasm. Truth accomplishes no victories without it.
It takes far less courage to maintain your convictions than to reexamine them periodically and to change them if conditions call for it.
Virtue is intrinsically less interesting than vice.  Molly Ivins.
There’s always room at the top.
Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
Don’t sweat the petty things. Don’t pet the sweaty things. George Carlin
The Gods have feet of clay.
We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere. Tim McGraw
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Nearly 25-years of close observation of leading GM retail fixed operations leaders have opened my eyes to what strike me as real secrets of management success.  Here is some of what I’ve seen:

Contemplation precedes action.  An era of talk is typically followed by an era of events.  Before enacting new policies or strategies, managers with moxie indulge in deliberation, dialing-in other managers, colleagues and even customers before daring to embrace new practices.

Regress begets progress.  We’ve all heard of the concept of “one step backwards, two steps forward.”  Getting ahead often requires first some kind of subtle retreat.  As the old saying goes, “A few conquer by fighting, but it is well to remember that more battles are won by submitting.”

Victory and defeat are interchangeable. It was Wellington who said, “Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won.”  Rather than seeing life as a simple matter of winners and losers, mature managers rise above common perception and realize effort, honesty and true ardor are the true indicators of success and “win-win” solutions the goal.

Leadership entails latency.  Gaining the respect and allegiance of those you intend to lead requires keeping your head down and avoiding controversy. Maintaining a low profile actually helps you gain the best opportunity to excel.  Remember that the more you are talked about, the less powerful you are. So, be large by being small, in perception at least.

Balance equates to stability.  Former technicians make great service and parts managers.  But only if they gain balance by developing the additional skills required for success as a department manager. Ultimately, the best managers develop proportionate abilities in managing staff, handling customers, working with other managers and operating profitably. Only by excelling in each of the four categories can any manager survive for more than a few months in our demanding business.

Believe in yourself. If you don’t maintain a slightly inflated sense of your own abilities, no one else will either.  Conceit doesn’t factor in to this equation.  It’s not about false aggrandizement; it’s about the fact for a person to achieve all that is demanded of them, they must regard them self as greater than they are.  Go for it!

Identity exists in the ordinary.  Consistency is everything when it comes to defining your management style. Pascal said the strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.  Steady-Eddie managers coax the best efforts from those around them by merely staying in the middle of the field and continually moving the ball down the field toward the goal line.

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Each of us defines our own success. Since it’s up to us to establish the meaning of success in our lives, some examination of the subject is required.
Turns out, the more scrutiny applied to comprehending success, the more ambiguity surrounds it.
Acknowledging this, we offer these maxims to help sharpen your perceptions of this universal aspiration. May these thoughts fill your sails with insight and help to advance your career.

  • You can’t climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets.  Anonymous.

 

  • Success is failure turned inside out. It may be near when it seems so far. So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit.  It’s when things seem worse that you must not quit. Unknown.

  • Whether you think you can or think you can’t – you’re right.  Henry Ford.

 

  • In order to succeed we must first believe that we can.  Michael Korda.

  • Success is not measured by what you’ve done compared to others, but compared to what you’re capable of doing.  Zig Ziglar.

 

  • To measure up to all that is demanded of him, a man must overestimate his capacities. Goethe.

  • The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be in continual fear you will make one. E. Hubbard.

 

  • The secret of success in life is known only to those who have not succeeded. Collins.

  • A wise man knows everything; a shrewd one, everybody. Anonymous

 

  • One must be a god to be able to tell successes from failures without making a mistake. Chekhov.

  • Success has always been a good liar.  Nietzsche.

 

  • Failure is success if we learn from it.  Malcolm Forbes.

  • Success doesn’t come to you … you go to it.  Marva Collins.

 

  • True success entails knowing when to end the column.  Trout Pomeroy

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Happy New Year to America's premier fixed operations managers. 
In 2010 let your voice be heard.
What you say defines you, followed immediately by how you say it.  One logically follows the other.
Leadership is largely vocal. You can't control the moment using smoke signals.
Among all the useful tidbits floating around the cyber world, one recent item caught the attention of several readers and eventually reached the desk of this writer.
The subject is "Talking Your Way to Better Service."
Many essential themes flow through the words in this powerful message. They apply to the complicated flow of human discourse and mechanical perplexity in which most managers seek to succeed.
In this column, we repeat the primary message.  Its beauty lies in simplicity of expression. 
In this statement, 10 words are cited as "most important" in the hierarchy of customer focus.  They are:

The 10 most important words to say:
I apologize for our mistake. Let me make it right.
The nine most important words to say:
Thank you for your business. Please come back again.
The eight most important words to say:
I'm not sure, but I will find out.
The seven most important words to say:
What else can I do for you?
The six most important words to say:
What is most convenient for you?
The five most important words to say:
How may I serve you?
The four most important words to say:
How did we do?
The three most important words to say:
Glad you're here!
The two most important words to say:
Thank you.
The #1 important word to say:
Yes.

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Insight derives from many diverse sources, from the pens of imminent writers, popular humorists and multi-various cultural observers.
That a simple expression containing only a few words can attain luminosity and indefinitely brighten skies of awareness is surely among the miracles of existence. 
May this collection of instructive axioms help light your way.

Negativity is corrosive.
-- Message spotted on the bulletin board of the kitchen at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas

You don’t need the mind of Socrates or the strength of Hercules you just need to know what to do.
-- Joseph L. Harris, former auditor general of the City of Detroit

We have to do the best we are capable of. This is our sacred human responsibility.
-- Albert Einstein

Although your customers won't love you if you give bad service, your competitors will!
-- Old salesman’s slogan

The best leader is the one who has the sense to surround his or herself with winning people.
-- Common motivational theme

Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion; you must set yourself on fire first.
-- Reggie Leach

Credibility is the only thing you have. If people don’t believe you, you have nothing left and you might as well be publishing flyers for the circus.
-- Neil Shine, former Detroit Free Press publisher

Service is just a day-in, day-out, ongoing, never-ending, unremitting, compassionate type of activity.

  • Leon Gorman

Boldness becomes rarer, the higher the rank.
-- Carl von Clausewitz

I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.

  • Ashleigh Brilliant

I have always observed that to succeed in the world, one should seem a fool but be wise.

  • Montesquieu


 
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Words of Early Leaders

Instructive expressions from America’s earliest leaders resonated in their time and now. 
Here’s a brief compendium of thought deriving from the astute minds of some of our Founding Fathers and others of their era. May the wisdom of their words help guide your actions.

I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire – conscience.
George Washington (1732-1799) 1st President of U.S.

Plough deep while sluggards sleep.

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

It is hard for an empty sack to stand upright.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Author, inventor, postmaster, statesman

All men who have power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.

Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.

If men were angels no government would be necessary.

Philosophy is common sense with big words.

James Madison (1751-1836) 4th President of U.S.

I consider education to be the soul of the Republic.

Those who own the country ought to govern it.

John Jay (1745-1829) 1st Chief Justice of the U.S.

A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.

Power over a man’s subsistence amounts to power over his will.

Man is a reasoning rather than reasonable animal.

Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything.
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) 1st Secretary of the Treasury

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English author

He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.

Edmund Burke (1729-1784) Anglo-Irish statesman

What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value.

Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Author, pamphleteer, inventor

When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.

Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations.

If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained?  Those by death are few, by resignation, none.

Thomas Jefferson – (1743-1826) 1st Secretary of State; 3rd President of U.S.

Thank your forefathers! Think of your prosperity!

John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) 6th President of U.S.

 

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Certain “sayings” say it all.  Here are some of this writer’s favorite instructive passages:

Liberty means responsibility.  That is why most men dread it.

Shaw

The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are as clever as he.

Krause

The more you are talked about, the less powerful you are.

Benjamin Disraeli

The most important power we have is the power to help select the lens through which we see reality.
David Brooks – Op-edit columnist in “The New York Times”

Bad things don’t affect us as profoundly as we expect them to.  That’s true of good things, too. We adapt very quickly to either.
Daniel Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness.”

If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow water.

Bulgarian proverb

There is a need in the human psyche for significance.  If you want to motivate your people (or yourself for that matter), find the significance in what you do.  Without motivated people and a vision of significance, you will end up running a sweat shop; the choice is yours, not theirs. When you find the significant meaning in what you do, your people will find the motivation to do what needs to be done!
Bob Ayer, professional speaker, trainer and consultant.

Success generally depends upon knowing how long it takes to succeed.

Montesquieu

The strength of a man’s virtue should not be measured by his special exertions, but by his habitual acts.

Pascal

Three brothers invented what became today’s automotive air-conditioning systems.  When they sold their patent to a leading manufacturing firm, they agreed their names would be left off the devices.  Nevertheless, on today’s systems their names endure – NORM, HI and MAX.
Joke on the internet.

Hope is not a policy.

Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State – 1997-2001

General Motors pays more taxes, employs more workers, has more domestic plants, supports more families, retirees and their dependents, and has a higher overall domestic parts content than the foreign competition – hands down. GM also spends over $1,500 per automobile just to provide health care to their employees, retirees and their dependents.  By comparison, Toyota and Honda spend only a few hundred dollars per automobile.

Roger Simmermaker, internet blogger whose GM commentary was widely distributed.  (For more information, contact “How Americans Can Buy American,” P.O. Box 780839, Orlando, FL 32878-0839.)

The more sweat on the training field, the less blood on the battlefield.

Col. David Hackworth, late military leader and commentator

 

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Instant Wisdom

By the time most of us gain a degree of wisdom it’s often too late to apply such useful knowledge to the events of our life.  And so it is we offer up to youthful GM retail fixed operations managers this healthy plate of insight.

Only when we know little do we know anything; doubt grows with knowledge.
Johann Wolfgan von Goethe – German writer

The wise man does at once what a fool does eventually.
Baltasar Gracian – Baroque prose writer

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.
Arthur Schopenhauer – German philosopher

Every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority.
T.H. Huxley – English biologist

What is now proved was once only imagined.
William Blake – English poet-painter

It is the triumph of reason to get on well with those who possess none.
Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire – French writer

No wise man ever wished to be younger.
Jonathon Swift – Irish satirist

The man who was too old to learn was probably always too old to learn.
Henry Haskins – American writer

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
George Santayana – Spanish philosopher

Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as including our own.
George Christopher Lichtenberg – Spanish writer

To live in the future is a contradiction in terms. The future is dead, in the perfectly definite sense that it is not alive.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton – English writer

 

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Instructions for Life

Whoever came up with the following ideas had a good handle on the fundamentals of existence.  And although this collection of insight lacks a known author, its solid wisdom bears repeating.

  • Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

  • When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

  • Follow the three R’s:

Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.

  • Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a stroke of luck.

  • Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

  • Don’t let a little dispute ruin a great friendship.

  • When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

  • Spend some time alone.

  • Open your arms to change but don’t let go of your values.

  • Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

  • Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

  • A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.  Do all you can to create a tranquil, harmonious home.

  • In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

  • Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.

  • Be gentle with the earth.

  • Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

  • Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

  • Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

  • Call your mother.

  • Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

 

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Artful Aphorisms

Expressions that capture great insight in a few simple words of wisdom are called aphorisms.
By definition, an aphorism is a general truth expressed pithily and making a wise, often ironic, comment on human behavior. Not to be confused with an argument or explanation, aphorisms are assertions meant to illumine and instruct.
Here are a few of our favorites:

Success is relative. It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.
T. S. Eliot Anglo -- American poet (1888-1965)

None but a fool is always right.
Anonymous

Everybody wants to be somebody; nobody wants to grow.
Johann Wofgang von Goethe – German writer (1749-1832)

Chance does nothing that has not been prepared beforehand.
Alexis deTocqueville – French political thinker (1805-1859)

Adversity introduces a man to himself.
Anonymous

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one.
Elbert Hubbard – American writer (1856-1915)

We boil at different degrees.
Ralph Waldo Emerson – American essayist (1803-1882)

A fool is his own informer.
Yiddish proverb

Experience is not what happens to a man.  It is what a man does with what happens to him.
Aldous Huxley – English writer (1894-1963)

Only our concept of time makes it possible for us to speak of the Day of Judgement by that name; in reality it is a summary court in perpetual session.
Franz Kafka – German writer (1883-1924)

The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.
Swedish proverb

Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions form insufficient premises.
Samuel Butler (II) -- Victorian author (1835-1902)

Monkeys are superior to men in this: when a monkey looks in a mirror, he sees a monkey.
Malcolm de Chazal -- Mauritian (French) writer (1902-1981)

Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way.
Sir Francis Bacon – English philosopher (1561-1626)

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A story going around describes an automotive retail manager who gains direction  studying choice quotations.  Seems this manager is so enamored of Plato he’s lost track of all be-backs.
If this person is you, here are more select morsels from the archives of reality to inform your journey.

When you’re through learning, you’re through.
John Wooden, former UCLA basketball coach

The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.

Albert Einstein

Treat each event discreetly. Every encounter is unique.
Dr. George Thompson, founder, The Verbal Judo Institute

Blaming and accusing leads to anger and resentment.
John Gottman, professor of psychology at University of Washington in Seattle

Don’t argue with teenagers unless the issue involves safety or values.
Nancy Samalin, director of Parent Guidance Workshops

There is some genius in all of us – if we are open to it.

Todd Siler, PhD, inventor, writer, corporate consultant

Tension is the enemy of clear thinking.
Martin Groder, MD, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Creativity doesn’t belong solely to artists, writers and musicians. We are all creative, and we all have the potential to be more creative than we are now.

Dan Wakefield, novelist, journalist and screen writer

Thank people when they least expect to be thanked.

Kim Anderson, communications specialist

If you’re looking for a potential manager among your employees, ask yourself if the employee regularly works on things that most affect the bottom line.  If so, the employee already has an important management trait – knowing how to set priorities that mesh with the organization’s goals.
Jacquelyn Lynn, writing in Entrepreneur

Force yourself to speak slowly when a stressful situation rattles your employees. Your speech rate will calm them because they’ll think, “The boss isn’t upset, so why should we be?”
Julius E. Eitington, writing in The Winning Manager.

Successful leaders are accessible and friendly – and they solicit opinion from colleagues.
Edward Betof, writing in Just Promoted!

People who provide superior service do so because their managers focus on solving problems – not on assessing blame or disciplining employees.
Canadian Business Review, cited in Behavioral Sciences Newsletter.

There is less to fear from outside competition than from inside inefficiency, discourtesy and bad service.
Anonymous

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Some of the most clarifying “sayings” surface from the common vernacular of periodicals, popular literature and even inside fortune cookies.  In this case, you don’t have to order-out for chicken fried rice to savor these chosen morsels of insight.

Trust is earned by many deeds.

Chinese proverb

A bore deprives you of your solitude while denying you company.

Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (1664-1718) literary figure and jurist

It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most.
~James C. Penney – American entrepreneur (1875-1971)

All generalities are false.

Anonymous

I might be crazy but I’m not dumb.
David Crosby – contemporary artist

The best way to get even is to forget.

Anonymous

If a thing goes without saying let it.
Anonymous

The road to success has many tempting parking places.

Message in chiropractor’s office

The largest room is room for improvement.

Anonymous

Excuses usually satisfy only those who use them.

Anonymous

All rising to great place is by a winding stair.

Sir Francis Bacon – English philospher (1561-1626)

Truth is the safest lie.

Yiddish proverb

He who can lick can bite.
French proverb

Success generally depends upon knowing how long it takes to succeed.

Charles-Louis Montesquieu – French social commentator (1689-1755)

For a man to achieve all that is demanded of him he must regard himself as greater than he is.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – German writer (1749-1832)

Earning scores well over Zone average on Question 13 of the GM Service Satisfaction Survey all starts with quality information from customers. Our technicians continually train our service consultants as to what questions to ask customers.  Technicians also accompany customers on test drives and ask customers questions about customer concerns the consultant may not have thought of.  All successful repairs start with great communication.

Service director at leading Midwest GM retail point

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Simple Instructions

Great thinkers from time immemorial left an enormous legacy for modern-day professionals.  Their gift to us comes in the form of concise instructions that have the potential to illuminate our way and guide our manners and priorities.  May this month’s nuggets of thought help elevate your effectiveness in managing both your personnel and personality.

Be willing to step out and do things that you have never done before.  It is not enough to simply exist.  It is always better to try and fail than not to try at all.
Robert A. Rohm, Ph.D. – Founder of Personality Insights, Inc.

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time.
Dean Acheson – (1893-1971) American statesman

Every noble work is at first impossible.
Thomas Carlyle – (1795-1881) Scottish historian

Find a job that you like and you add five days to every week.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr. – Author of  “Life’s Little Instructions Book”

Nothing will work unless you do.
Maya Angelou – American autobiographer

By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.
Robert Frost – (1874-1963) – American poet

Don’t let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.
Colin Powell – American statesman

Effective leadership is putting things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
Stephen Covey –Author of  “The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People”

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Steve Jobs – American business magnate and inventor

It’s easy to make a buck.  It’s a lot harder to make a difference.
Tom Brokaw – American journalist and author

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln – (1809-1865) 16th American president

Nothing so conclusively proves a man’s ability to lead others as what he does from day to day to lead himself.
Thomas A. Watson – (1874-1956) Former president of International Business Machines (IBM)

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Happiness, success and enlightenment are worthy destinations on the road of life.
As manager, your position infers additional responsibility … to embody perfection and magnify it to those who look to you for positive example.
In that spirit, may these year-end maxims sharpen your focus and help you achieve greater leadership ability.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

John W. Gardner (1912-2002) American author, statesman

They succeed because they think they can.

Virgil (70 BC-19 BCE) Classical Roman poet

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1802-1882) American philosopher

Chance favors the prepared.

Chinese proverb

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
(1910-2010) Former UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden

Think deeply, speak gently, love much, laugh often, work hared, give freely, pay promptly and be kind.

Author unknown

What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1988) American journalist/author

The significant challenges we face cannot be resolved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German theoretical physicist

To know that you do not know is best.
Chinese proverb

Hope is the thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Barack Obama II - President of the United States

Some men are born with greatness, some men achieve greatness, and some men have greatness thrust upon them.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) English poet and playwright

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Anonymous

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At the end 2010 the editors of the “Leadership Team” newsletter concluded the “Manager’s Maxims” concept had run its logical course.  With that decision, this writer agreed all good things must come to an end, and so concluded this sequence.  Left in his notebook for potential future use he found the following quotations.  He shares them now with you and wishes you an edified day and an enlightened future.

 

Final gasps

 

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Thoreau

I believe a self-righteous liberal or a conservative with a cause is more dangerous than a Hell’s Angel with an attitude.
Andy Rooney

If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need.
Cicero

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

You must be the change you hope to see in the world.
Gandhi

Nothing will work unless you do.
Maya Angelo

Life is change growth is optional.  Choose wisely.
Helen Kaiser Clark

In most instances all an argument means is that two people are present.

Close enough is good enough.

The adverb signifies failure to find the right verb; the adjective failure to find the right noun.

I am nobody, and nobody is perfect; therefor I am perfect.

 
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