The Toxic Entrepreneur

David Javitch: Employee Management
The Toxic Entrepreneur
It's time to take a hard look at yourself to see if your behaviors and attitudes are creating a toxic environment at your company.
By David Javitch
May 01, 2006


URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/employeemanagementcolumnistdavidjavitch/article159442.html

Last month, I wrote about toxic employees--those individuals who, like nasty chemicals, can be harmful and destroy almost anyone or anything they come in contact with. You may have even known this type of employee or, worse yet, may have employed one. If you're lucky, you don't have one working for you now!

But did you ever consider the fact that you could be a toxic person yourself? My guess is, it's never even crossed your mind. After all, you're the boss and you've worked hard to build a successful organization. So how could you be toxic?
It happens all the time.

But you're the boss: You call the shots, you're in charge, you sign the paychecks and employees report to you. So how could your behavior be problematic? Well, it can be problematic even if you are in charge or, more important, it can be problematic simply because you are in charge.

Whatever your management style, whatever your company size or whatever your industry, your employees want and need to admire and respect you. They want to look up to you, and often, they want to model themselves after you. However, when your behavior or attitude turns toxic, you confuse your employees, who previously looked up to you. They experience a conflict between wanting to see you as credible, trustworthy and admirable, but are actually experiencing you as negative, and counterproductive to productivity and worker satisfaction.

Clearly, you have a problem on your hands.

Remember, just because you're in charge doesn't mean you're exempt from causing problems. And your employees aren't immune from imitating your problematic behaviors and attitudes. Employees try--and often succeed--in repeating the behaviors they see, especially the behavior of their boss. If your actions or thoughts are negative and counterproductive to success, then you've created a standard, a norm and a model for others to replicate. And neither you nor your employees are immune from the virus-like spread of these behaviors and attitudes to others. Soon, the work environment becomes toxic, with productivity, profits and morale all decreasing. And you may not even know why.

The Signs of Toxicity

Often, the signs of toxicity are obvious to others but not to you. They're most likely hidden by your refusal or inability to see them. Some of the most virulent forms of this poisonous negativity include:

• Increases in turnover and/or absenteeism
• Increases in industrial accidents
• Increases in employee complaints
• Increases in your criticism of others
• Increases in your employee demands that go beyond acceptability
• Increases in your cryptic, negative or sarcastic comments
• Increases in arguments
• Decreases in productivity and profitability
• Decreases in the numbers of employees who seek out your opinion or direction
• Decreases in morale
• Decreases in your satisfaction with others
• Decreases in successes and accomplishments from both you and your employees

So what's the cure? First, take a deep breath and calm down. No one's perfect, not even the boss. Being aware of the problem is the first step toward resolving it. Second, identify the symptoms. Reread the previous list; try to add more items to it. Third, get objective feedback by confiding in a trusted friend or fellow business owner who can provide you with honest information on your behavior and attitude, without fear of reprisals for that honesty.

Fourth, identify which part of what you do is really the issue. Are you verbally critical or abusive? Are you overly impatient? Are you excessively fault finding? Do you complain too much about employees or productivity? Are you more negative with certain people, processes or events? Do you believe that people shouldn't need support or encouragement from you? Do you purposely avoid interacting with certain employees? Do you provide more negative feedback than positive to others?

Take Action

Once you've identified someone whom you can trust, whether that's a close friend, an executive coach or consultant, or another business owner you know well, here are a few steps you can take to resolve the problem:

• Discuss and share with this person exactly which behaviors or attitudes seem to at issue. Make sure you both agree on these points.
• State why you want to change or modify these behaviors.
• Identify ways or methods you can begin to transform the challenging areas. Spend a lot of time on this one because this is critical in achieving success.
• Set up a realistic timeframe to achieve your goals.
• Ascertain ways to evaluate your progress and know when you've succeeded implementing new behaviors and attitudes.
• Finally, be sure to reward yourself for your progress. Rewarding yourself will increase the probability that you'll repeat these positive behaviors.

In addition to working through the issues with your mentor, it's also important to identify a person with whom you've had difficulty because of your toxic behavior. Once you're on the path to recovery and have interacted with them again, ask them for their perception of this latest contact. Find out how they perceived the "new you." You can truly begin the process of de-toxifying when you demonstrate to that person that you honestly want feedback and that giving it in no way will result in any retribution, even if the feedback is negative. Then praise or thank them for giving you the feedback.

You'll gain brownie points with this person simply by requesting the information and then responding in a positive manner. You'll be showing yourself to be a more open person, intent on gaining information to improve your behavior. And in that way, you'll be modeling for that employee a positive behavior that hopefully they'll use with others. In one fell swoop, you'll have accomplished two goals at once. And you'll be well on your way to eliminating the toxicity in your life.

David G. Javitch, Ph.D., is Entrepreneur'com's "Employee Management" columnist and an organizational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Newton, Massachusetts. With more than 20 years of experience working with executives in various industries, he's an internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and consultant on key management and leadership issues.


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Who are ‘clever people’?

2nd Article in the Series How to Manage Clever People and grow your organization as appearing in The Times of India, Mumbai Edition, dated 7th May 2007 and originally appearing in Harvard Business Review.

Who are 'Clever People'?

ROBERT GOFFEE & GARETH JONES

Clever people are highly talented individuals with the potential to create disproportionate amounts of value from the resources that the organisation makes available to them. Clever people are not simply those with the highest IQ or the most impressive academic qualifications (although many do score highly on these two measures).

Of course, precisely what these clever people do within organisations depends on the context. In pharmaceutical companies they carry out scientific research and produce ideas for new drugs; in professional services firms they solve complex client problems; in ad agencies they understand customers, brand values and craft highly innovative communications that connect the two. Typically they are a scarce and valuable resource able to bring creativity, innovation and complex problem solving skills to all they do.

Sometimes clever people can create value more or less alone. Others are dependent on teams and yet others need the complex support systems of large organisations. Think, for example, of a research scientist working on a new cancer drug. He or she cannot work effectively without research funding and facilities such as a laboratory. Or, think of an advertising executive who needs the resources to make and broadcast a TV commercial or, increasingly, create an online marketing campaign.

The clever people we are talking about require a symbiotic relationship with an organisation. They may not always realise this fact, or be especially pleased about it, but it is true nonetheless. Herein lies a paradox that is at the heart of leading clever people. The challenge for leaders is to be the organisation of choice for these people. Fail to do so and you encourage them to walk into the open arms of your competitors.

The starting point, if you are to effectively lead clever people, is to better understand their key characteristics. Our research suggests that the key attributes of clever people are:
Their skills are not easily replicated. If they were, then they would not be the scarce resource they are.

Their knowledge is tacit (it is embedded in them and in their networks). If it was possible to capture their knowledge within the organisational fabric, then all that would be required would be better knowledge management systems. It isn’t.
They are smart enough to be in the right place—and they know it. They will find the organisational context where their interests will be most generously funded.

Unlike some who are driven to reach the top, they may not be hierarchically aspirational (indeed, many are resistant to the notion) but they are often organisationally savvy because they are so driven by their own obsessions. They challenge the status quo and, therefore, are often sources of creativity in organisations. This can make them uncomfortable if they feel as if they are in a subordinate role. It can also make them difficult to lead.

They are well connected to other clever people. In other words, they are plugged into highly developed knowledge networks—who they know is often as important as what they know.
But beyond these characteristics, the way to identify clever people is this: typically, they say they do not want to be led nor to lead others. This is the central paradox we referred to earlier. But in our experience, neither of their assertions is really true. They do want to be led—indeed they require leadership if they are to achieve their full potential—and they have the ability and motivation to lead others. But in both cases it is a special sort of leadership. Understanding this brand of leadership will be crucial for all who wish to succeed and lead in the clever economy.

Three Experts' Tips for Hiring, Retaining IT Staffs

September 28, 2006

By John McCormick, Baseline

When it comes to hiring and retaining IT staffs, the future doesn't look so bright. The Baby Boomers are getting ready to retire, the number of college students entering computer science has dropped 50 percent in the last five years, according to the Computer Research Association, and the need for corporate IT people is growing. In a survey of its members released last month, the Society of Information Management (SIM), an organization of CIOs, found that nearly 40 percent of the nation's information chiefs are looking to increase their staffs, while another 33 percent said they are looking to maintain their current staffing levels—which means they'll have to find people to fill the spots left by workers moving on to new jobs or retirement. It's no wonder, then, that the same SIM survey found that attracting, developing and retaining information technology talent is now the No. 2 concern of CIO’s—right after IT and business alignment. So what steps can CIOs take now to ensure they have the people they'll need in the days ahead? CIO Insight sent question by e-mail to three leading IT staffing experts. Here is the advice they sent back:

Paul J. Groce

Partner

Christian & Timbers, executive search firm

Paul Groce leads the firm's Chief Information Officer (CIO) Functional Practice, which specializes in the areas of Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Application Development, IT Operations and other information technology human capital needs. In addition to IT assignments, Paul has search/consulting experience in operations, information security, quality, business process outsourcing and inclusion/diversity focused teambuilding. He also served on sabbatical in the Office of White House Personnel in Baghdad in 2003 in support of international reconstruction efforts in Iraq.

TIPS FOR ATTRACTING IT TALENT

1. Organizations must recruit for the "CIO 2010." Many of today's older CIO’s came out of the "wiring closet," so to speak. They are savvy technologists. Tomorrow's CIO’s—CIO’s 2010—will be different. They will be tech-savvy business leaders. Current early-career IT professionals have much stronger business backgrounds than yesterday's CIO’s. Organizations must understand this shift, and put in place career opportunities and professional development plans that meet the needs of the CIO 2010. Then these organizations must clearly communicate in recruitment materials and other collateral that the organization is on the leading edge of the CIO 2010 career path development.

2. Turn your IT team into evangelists. Any CIO knows that the IT team is connected to the larger tech community. Word of mouth about the organization, management and the state of IT projects is highly influential, perhaps even more so than anything HR can say. If the IT organization is functioning well and engaged in interesting projects, the most visible and satisfied among the team should be encouraged to spread the word. Incentives, such as bonuses, should be developed to support the IT evangelists. Hesitation about encouraging IT team members to talk about the opportunities and organizations signals bigger internal issues, which must be addressed.

TIPS FOR RETAINING IT TALENT

1. To keep the best and brightest, the CIO should develop and mentor his or her own replacement. Unfortunately, CIO’s often find this extremely challenging. Some are afraid that by developing the next generation of leadership, they may be pushed out of the leadership limelight and actually watch these individuals leapfrog ahead of them and win the next stellar career opportunity. However, CIO’s who let fear rule and do not mentor and develop the "next-in-line" talent risk losing team leaders to organizations that will fill these individuals' career development needs.

2. Create cross-functional career development plans. You might be familiar with the saying "once a dishwasher, always a dishwasher." Today, we might change that to "once a tech geek, always a tech geek." And that's the mold that many early- and mid-career technology professionals are trying to break. The old IT stereotypes—that IT professionals are unable to communicate effectively with the business side or that they innovate for innovation's sake—are dying too slow a death. One way to hasten these clichés' demise is to create cross-functional career development plans. IT professionals—even those who crave to stay on the hardcore tech side—can benefit from cross-functional training and assignments. They will have a chance to see how the other half lives, create new relationships and enhance their business acumen.

3. Review your IT team member resumes annually. This is a counterintuitive approach to retention, but one that fosters trust. An effective performance review technique is to have your employees brush up their resumes every year. The employee with nothing new to add is one you need to be concerned about. The simple act of discussing resumes and sharing in an open conversation creates a level of trust that too often does not exist between managers and employees. Put the employee's career first...discuss successes and failures and areas of need. At the end of the day, if the employee is not happy or not right, help that person find something else. This technique is a proven win-win approach.

Katherine Spencer Lee

Executive Director

Robert Half Technology staffing firm

Katherine Spencer Lee has been with the company since 1995 and has more than 15 years of experience in information technology consulting services. She is a frequent public speaker and guest hosted several live events on Web sites such as Monster.com, Techtarget.com and CareerPath.com. In addition, she is currently providing career insight and advice through columns in Computerworld, CIOUpdate.com, Optimize and Certification Magazine.

TIPS FOR ATTRACTING IT TALENT

1. Offer competitive salaries and comp plans. Let's face it, money still talks. Check in with recent hires or those completing their first year and see if they feel their salaries are still competitive. Evaluate them frequently.

2. Play to your company's strengths. IT workers, like all of us, can be ego driven. If your company has an outstanding reputation for cutting-edge technology, industrial design, hip culture or an ability to draw top tech talent, play that up in the interview process. People love to know that they are going to a place that everyone else is dying to get into. But keep your sales pitch relevant: A database administrator may not be too dazzled by the fact that you have a first-rate creative team.

3. Highlight cool projects they will work on or may someday aspire to work on. If you're about to release an anticipated new application or technology, people may take less money for the opportunity to work on a true resume-builder. But be careful to keep them interested after the product/service is completed, or they'll just jump ship.

4. Emphasize the pedigree or reputation of people they will get to work with or under. Got rock stars? Then let potential employees know.

5. Look internally to your employees for referrals—good people know good people. IT is a small world and networking with your current staff and even enticing them with a referral bonus can lead to great talent.

TIPS FOR RETAINING IT TALENT

1. Re-evaluate your compensation plans annually or even twice per year and ensure they are up to date. Our 2007 Salary Guide for IT Professionals will be released in early October and will include salary ranges for more than 60 IT positions, regional and national employment trends, management strategies and more. How do you stack up?

2. Provide professional development opportunities to retain your best people. We conducted a survey earlier this year of 1,400 CIO’s nationwide and found that 63 percent of these technology leaders were offering these types of opportunities. Firms recognize that technology workers, in particular, value ongoing educational opportunities that will enable them to keep their skills current and continue learning on the job.

3. Offer flexible schedules. Our survey found that 47 percent of the CIO’s we polled were willing to provide flexible schedules. Effective retention programs also address work-life balance and salary issues. Offering flexible schedules or telecommuting options is a cost-effective way to improve overall job satisfaction, show appreciation and build loyalty. Competitive compensation packages are equally important and demonstrate to employees that their contributions are valued.

Rick Davidson, SVP, Global CIO

Manpower employment-services Company

Rick Davidson is responsible for worldwide IT strategy and operations at Manpower. He joined the company in January 2003. Before signing on with Manpower, he worked at the Feld Group—an IT consulting company that placed temporary CIO’s—and, prior to that, he was the senior vice president and CIO at CNH Global and the vice president of global information services at Haworth Inc.

TIPS ON ATTRACTING AND RETAINING IT TALENT

Manpower has developed and refined strategies for companies to attract engage and retain quality employees, including IT professionals. The world's most populous country is faced with a talent paradox. China, despite its 1.3 billion population, is short on talent. Manpower developed its proprietary Workforce Optimization Model that is used to assist clients in recruiting and retaining permanent employees. The five strategies of this model are not only useful to employers in China, but globally, and apply across all industries and sectors.

The five strategies of Manpower's Workforce Optimization Model to improve employee attraction, engagement and retention are:

1. Create a learning organization.

2. Appoint competent leaders.

3. Establish an appropriate organization and culture.

4. Provide competitive compensation and benefits packages.

5. Select the right people.

It is vital that organizations view the five areas as a holistic, integrated solution; neglecting even one of the areas will weaken the solution considerably.

1. Create a learning organization. Fast learning for high-potential employees can be facilitated through the following channels:

• Give employees projects that go beyond their current job's responsibilities.
• Participate in global tasks to learn Western culture and business management, and broaden employees' views.
• Invite employees to present at next-level local and global management meetings

2. Appoint competent leaders.

• Appoint hands-on leaders and provide role models.
• Improve leaders' communication skills.
• Explain company strategy and link personal goals to business objectives.

3. Establish an appropriate organization and culture.

• Create a simple and "flat" management structure.
• Demonstrate the organization's values.
• Repeatedly communicate the organization's values.

4. Provide competitive compensation and benefits packages.

• Review salaries frequently.
• Expect to give bigger salary increases than in developed countries.
• Develop comprehensive packages with multiple benefits.

5. Select the right people.

• Be open and honest to candidates in interviews.
• Look for soft skills such as flexibility and adaptability.
• Find candidates who have the capacity to grow quickly.

‘All highlighting mine’- Vinod Chand

Nine Essentials of Entrepreneurship

1. It is all about hard work and applying your mind properly.
2. It needs complete dedication to your ideas and putting your best efforts into them.
3. It is going to bed thinking about the idea and waking up in the morning thinking about it.
4. It is a field where you need constant attention at every detail.
5. It is about driving yourself: If you are a professional, your boss will remind you that you are not working, if you are an entrepreneur you have to remind yourself.
6. It is about convincing other about your ideas too: You have to get the full support of your family and friends to succeed.
7. It is about networking: Being an entrepreneur also means that you have to be constantly in touch with clients, customers and business partners at close quarters.
8. It is about leadership: You should know how to be a leader and add value to the leadership with your ideas.
9. It is about confidence: You have to live with the conviction that even if things don't work out in the initial stages, later on everything will be in place and you will emerge a winner.

Best Point makers

Below the Waterline

In remarks before the Human Resources Professional Association of Ontario titled "Empowerment: Myth or Reality," Michele Darling, executive vice president, CIBC, human resources, uses an analogy to illustrate her point about allowing employees greater latitude for making decisions... and making mistakes:

"The W.L. Gore Company in the United States uses another analogy to reinforce the concept of boundaries and risk with their `Waterline Principle.'

"Imagine an organization as a ship sailing on the ocean. All of the personnel on board, in carrying out their responsibilities, are obviously cognizant that putting a hole in the side of the ship is not a desirable thing to do!

"When working above the waterline, however, making a mistake and creating a hole in the side of the ship will have no serious consequences. We'll have the time to repair the hole, learn and sail on.

"Below the waterline, an action that creates a hole could quite literally, sink us.

"I know we can all think of examples in our companies and in our careers that help illustrate the point. One of the most powerful examples I can think of is the Tylenol scare that seized the entire continent in the early 80s. The entire management team at Johnson & Johnson was clearly working at the waterline. And knowing the risks, they first consulted their company values to establish the boundary, or waterline, below which they would not work. Second, empowered teams across the organization were formed to break down the issue and contribute equally to the decision that would ultimately result in removing Tylenol from every shelf in North America.

"Ownership of the problem was broad-based, the decision was a courageous affirmation of the company's commitment to its customers and values.

"What could have been a fatal blow to the brand actually served to generate high trust in the ethics of the corporation and a gain in market share."

Expert Testimony

An example based on a novel and unexpected source with a darkly humorous twist helps to dramatize a point about progress in the reduction of auto emissions. Adding to the effectiveness are the two preceding examples involving more conventional instances that help set up the climax (from remarks titled "The Elusive Electric Vehicle," by Robert J. Eaton, chairman and chief executive officer, Chrysler Corporation, before the Comstock Club in Sacramento):

"Let me give you some idea about how far we've come in cleaning up the automobile.

"If you drove a 1995 Dodge Caravan from here to Carmel, you would put fewer smog-forming emissions into the air than if you drove a 1965 Mustang from here to the State Capitol building!

"If you drove that 1995 Caravan from here to Stockton, you would emit fewer emissions than you would if you left that 65 Mustang parked in the driveway all day long--with the engine turned off!

"And if you really want a testimonial about how clean the modern automobile is, take it from The Hemlock Society. (You know who they are, don't you?)

"In the January 1993 issue of Hemlock Quarterly, members were warned that car exhaust is no longer considered a satisfactory means of self-deliverance.

"Maybe that's why Dr. Kevorkian hasn't been in to see us about a new car lately."

Calamity

In remarks titled "Humor & Speeches" before the Chicago Speechwriters' Forum, speechwriter Eugene Finerman, takes listeners on a rhetorical tour highlighting the use of humor in speeches throughout history. Included in his comments is Disraeli's droll definition of a calamity:

"Disraeli's political rival and comic foil was William Gladstone. Gladstone was a man of great ability and achievements, but even Queen Victoria found him a pompous bore. To quote Disraeli, William Gladstone `has not a single redeeming defect.' This is how Disraeli distinguished between a misfortune and a calamity. `If Mr. Gladstone fell into the Thames, that would be a misfortune; if someone pulled him out, that would be a calamity.' Gladstone was to be Prime Minister for 19 years, while Disraeli stayed at `the top of the greasy pole' for only seven years. Yet, if you were to compare the space that Bartletts assigns to each, you would guess that the quotable Disraeli was the more victorious of the two. From history's perspective, he was. We remember Gladstone for being Disraeli's rival, but we remember Disraeli for himself."

Cost Cutting

"Then there is the true story of Harold Ross who began The New Yorker magazine in 1925. Mr. Ross started the magazine on a limited budget and to keep it in production had to keep a close eye on expenses. Too close, as far as the employees were concerned.

"During these lean years, he hired Dorothy Parker to do an article for the magazine, but she failed to show up for the assignment. He called her and asked why. She said, `Someone else was using the pencil.'"

On History

In "Past and Future: Some Reflections," James R. Houghton, chairman and chief executive officer of Corning Incorporated, at the time several months from retirement, addresses his last senior leadership meeting as chairman and CEO.

His remarks include a review of the company's history and observations on the future, which focus on performance, quality, and the individual. In moving from his introductory remarks to his reflections on company history, Mr. Houghton employs a number of proven devices and techniques including personal, conversational language, contrasts, paired elements, humor, and a quotation:

"Let me indulge in a little historical reflection. The record of the company has been a good one, but I want to take us back, not so much to bask in the glories of past successes, but to help set the stage for tomorrow.

"Now, it's not all that easy to learn real lessons from history-- or from historians. You remember that marvelous variation of Murphy's law, which states that the first rule of history is that `History doesn't repeat itself--historians merely repeat each other.' Or the famous Churchill quote: `History is simply one damned thing after another.'"

Affirmative Action

"An Affirmative Action official of the State of Pennsylvania wrote to a business officer of a company whose policies were being investigated: `Please send to this office a list of all your employees broken down by sex.'

"Some time later, this reply was received: `As far as we can tell, none of our employees is broken down by sex.'

"(And while none of us is broken down by sex, we are sometimes worn down by filling in all those forms....)"

Truth & Change

It is said an Eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent an aphorism to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him the words, "And this, too, shall pass away."
--Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

More Disraeli...

A novelist as well as a politician, Disraeli left us with many delightful and memorable lines, including this selection taken from his nearly three-page listing in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations:

• "I never deny; I never contradict; I sometimes forget." -- Said to Lord Esher of his relations with Queen Victoria in Elizabeth Longord Victoria R. I (1964) ch. 27
• "The right hon. Gentleman caught the Whigs bathing, and walked away with their clothes."--Speech, Hansard 28 February 1845, col. 154 (on Sir Robert Peel's abandoning protection in favour of free trade, traditionally the policy of the [Whig] opposition)
• "Never complain and never explain." In J. Morley Life of William Ewart Gladstone (1903) vol 1, p. 123. Cf. Fisher 283:5, Hubbard 353:9
• "Change is inevitable in a progressive country. Change is constant." --Speech at Edinburgh, 29 October 1867, in The Times 30 October 1867
• "An author who speaks about his own books is almost as bad as a mother who talks about her own children." --At a banquet given in Glasgow on his installation as Lord Rector, 19 November 1873, in The Times 20 November 1873
• "A sophistical rhetorician, inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbosity." --Of Gladstone, in The Times 29 July 1878
• "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." --Attributed to Disraeli in Mark Twain Autobiography (1924) vol. 1, p. 246
• "Every day when he looked into the glass, and gave the last touch to his consummate toilette, he offered his grateful thanks to Providence that his family was not unworthy of him." --Lothair (1870) ch. 1
• When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world." --Lothair (1870) ch. 28
• "Mr. Kremlin himself was distinguished for ignorance, for he had only one idea--and that was wrong." --Sybil (1845) bk. 4, ch. 5. Cf. Johnson 373:10
• "Damn your principles! Stick to your party." --Attributed to Disraeli and believed to have been said to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in E. Latham Famous Sayings and their Authors (1904) p. 11
• "Everyone likes flattery; and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel." --To Matthew Arnold, in G.E.E. Russell Collections and Recollections (1898) ch. 23

Work

In remarks titled "Value-Added Attitude & Action," William I. Gorden, professor emeritus of Organizational Communication, Kent State University, discusses ten principles dealing with adding value to what we do.

As an example of the principle of self-improvement, he mentions that he had decided to memorize more poetry and prose passages, among them selections by the Syrian poet and essayist Kahlil Gibran. The poet's inspirational insights on the nature of work quoted by Professor Gorden also restate and emphasize several of the principles mentioned earlier in his remarks:

"So a Value-Added Attitude and Action begins with you and me. What new skill, new thing, new love, or new concern will you add to your life? Lately, I've decided to increase the number of poems and prose I have memorized. For example, within this past two months I have rearranged and memorized what the author, Kahlil Gibran, had to say about work:

`....And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads
drawn from your heart, even as if your
beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in
that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and
reap the harvest with joy, even as if your
beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things that you fashion
with a breath of your own spirit.'

"Gibran tells us that work is work that makes love visible."

Job Creation & Destruction

In remarks before the Commonwealth Club of California, Tapan Munroe, Chief Economist and Manager of Economic Vitality Programs for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., uses a three-step approach to make a point about job creation.

He first quotes an authority, he then backs his initial assertion with a general statistic about job destruction and creation, and finally provides statistics from a specific year that further bolster his argument. Mr. Monroe's speech was titled "California--Transition to a New Economy":

"Stephen Davis of the University of Chicago has found from his research that large scale destruction and creation of jobs have been fairly normal for the U.S. economy. Over a typical 12-month period, 10% of manufacturing jobs disappear in a region, and do not appear at the same place in the next two years, but other jobs in a different region are created in the meantime. The year 1988 illustrates the point well.

"Nationally, there was no net change in manufacturing jobs that year--a very placid year--but what happened in reality was that 1.6 million manufacturing jobs vanished in 1988, and 1.6 million new manufacturing jobs were created in locations different from where they disappeared."

Misunderstanding

In remarks titled "Old Lessons, New Perspectives: Moving Toward a Global Mindset," Wiley Bourne, vice chairman and executive vice president, Eastman Chemical Company, outlines "some of the lessons we are learning at Eastman as we put new plants and people around the world."

One lesson has to do with communication..."that talk is sometimes NOT cheap. It can cost you in terms if credibility." In establishing that point in the minds of listeners at the Fourth Annual East West Conference, Mr. Bourne turns to a short, graphic anecdote:

"But first, let's talk about the conflict between trying to broadly communicate in advance what you plan and hope to do, versus the reality of what later turns out to be feasible. Often this is only a matter of things taking longer than you had hoped, but until you actually do what you have promised, your credibility is open to question.

"This reminds me of the story of the fellow who came to work one day with a black eye. His friend asked, `What happened to you!' And the fellow said, `I misunderstood my wife. I stood up when she said shut up!'

"Well, that's what can happen when you misunderstand or misread a situation. You can end up with a black eye, and in a real sense, that's what was happening to our credibility, both with our employees and in certain influential circles abroad, when we first started our globalization efforts."

Some of the Best Closings for Speeches

It's Up To You

In remarks titled "The Brewing Industry: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," Thomas Koehler, vice president--sales, Miller Brewing Company, has discussed issues facing the industry and has urged members of his audience at the convention of the Malt Beverage Distributors Association of Pennsylvania to take an active role in waging a battle for their industry. His closing relies on an inspirational fable that reinforces his theme of involvement:

"I would conclude with a story that applies to all of us in this industry.

"In ancient times there was a philosopher who had many disciples. One day a cynical young man decided to humiliate him by asking him a question he couldn't possibly answer correctly.

"The cynic put a recently hatched chick in the palm of his hand and asked the philosopher, in front of a large audience, whether what he had in his hand was dead or alive. His intention, if the philosopher said `alive,' was to crush the chick to death and show the master to be wrong. If the philosopher said `dead,' then he planned to let the chick live--to prove the great man wrong.

"In response to the question, the philosopher looked the cynic in the eye, smiled, and calmly replied: `The answer, my son, lies in your hands.'

"Well, like that young man, the future of our industry lies in our hands. Our actions over the next few years will determine whether the brewing industry--as we know it today--will be alive. . . and will thrive. . . or only a memory."
(4753)

Prospects & Customers

In remarks before a GM Women's Club Annual Meeting, then-GM vice president and group executive Edward P. Czapor discusses the importance of customer focus in the quality equation. An anecdote on the treatment of customers closes his remarks:

"I'd like to close with a story that talks about customers and how they're treated.

"A woman shows up at the gates of heaven and St. Peter informs her that, according to schedule, she was ten years too early and would have to return to earth until her appointed time. She greeted that news with mixed emotions, but since she was already at the Pearly Gates, she asked St. Peter if she might just have a quick peek at heaven.

"St. Peter said, `O.K.' and let her in. She looked around and saw people sitting on clouds playing golden harps. This wasn't exactly her vision of heaven, but it was rather peaceful.

"Reflecting on what she'd seen, she then asked if she might also take a look at hell before going back to earth. St. Peter was somewhat taken aback, but nevertheless buzzed the devil on the intercom. Receiving an affirmative answer, our friend quickly descended to the nether region and was met by the devil, who took her over to a door which he opened.

"The scene was magnificent. There before her was a tropical island; warm breezes; beautiful sunset; people surfing, dancing on the beaches, and generally having a grand time.

"With that, our friend was sent back to earth. Sure enough, ten years later to the day, she died and was back at the Pearly Gates where St. Peter welcomed her, gave her a golden harp and assigned her to Cloud Number 1368, `just down the third row there on the left.'

"At this point, the deceased inquired if she might elect to go to hell instead of heaven. While St. Peter was surprised and disappointed by this request he nevertheless granted it. Upon her arrival in hell, the devil quickly escorted her over to the door and again opened it. This time, however, the scene was different. There, in full view, was the inferno--people tied to trees, cries of anguish, animals biting at their legs, snakes slithering everywhere.

"Our friend turned to the devil and said, `Wait a minute. Ten years ago, when I was here, this was an absolute paradise. This is awful now--not at all what I expected. What happened?'

"The devil replied, `Ah, my friend, ten years ago you were a prospect. Today, you're a customer.'

"I hope at General Motors once people are customers, we still treat them like prospects.

"Thank you and good evening."

Inspiration & Refreshment

"If I've gotten my message across, it's my hope that some of you will leave here inspired. . . and the rest of you will at least wake up refreshed."

The Politician's Prayer

"Finally, as a former government official, let me leave you with the politician's prayer: `Dear Lord, please make my words sweet and gentle because tomorrow I may have to eat them.'"

Career Planning

In remarks titled "Career Strategies for Corporate Communicators," John R. Luecke, independent public relations counselor, has discussed the need for career planning, especially in light of the external threats that have taken their toll on public relations staffs.

In his closing, Luecke uses two short, apt quotations--one serious from a famous literary figure, the other humorous, drawing from the comic strip character, Pogo. A short toast concludes the speech by driving home the point that corporate communication and public relations professionals must take responsibility for their own career planning:

"Let me close now with three quotes which I think capture something of this whole subject of career planning. The first is from T.S. Eliot. I doubt that he engaged in much formal career planning, but he did leave us with this warning: `If you haven't the strength to impose your own terms on life, then you must accept the terms it offers you.' Not bad, T.S. Here's something from another literary figure, Pogo. Now Pogo is a comic strip character who's no longer in print. He's best known for reminding us that we are our own worst enemies. In another particularly lucid moment Pogo realized that `we are confronted with insurmountable opportunities'. I like to think of career planning that way. And finally, here's a traditional toast which seems only too appropriate. It goes: `Drink not to my past, which is weak and indefensible. Nor to my present which is not above reproach. But let us drink to our futures which, thank God, are immaculate.'"

Regulatory Decisiveness

A baseball analogy and an anecdote were used by Wayne Brunetti of the Florida Power & Light Company to make a memorable point about his company's expectations from regulatory decision-makers:

"I've made a number of references to the game of baseball today. It is, after all, that time of year when the boys of summer reappear on the playing fields of America much to the delight of baseball fans everywhere.

"In closing, let me return to the suggestion that regulators are very much like umpires--that, in general, after everything is said and done, the final decision is theirs to make.

"The importance of that role is perhaps best illustrated by the story of the three umpires who found themselves comparing notes on their profession.

"The first umpire said, `There are balls and there are strikes, and we call them as they are.'

"The second one disagreed slightly. He said, `There are balls and there are strikes, but we call them as we see them.' "The third umpire said they were both wrong. `There are balls and there are strikes,' he agreed, `But they ain't nothing until we call them!'

"In addressing the regulatory decision-makers of tomorrow, the electric utility industry would ask only that their calls be made with the greatest of deliberation and the greatest of care... for in many respects, our nation's energy future will depend on the outcome of those calls."

A Conspiracy of Silence

An Oscar Wilde anecdote succeeds as a closing both for its humor and the sense of finality in its last 10 single syllable words (from remarks at the 104th Annual Commencement at the Catholic University of America by Monsignor Robert Paul Mohan, a CUA professor emeritus of philosophy):

"And finally: Oscar Wilde was once approached by the most boring man in England who asked him: `There is a conspiracy of silence against me. What ought I to do?' And Wilde said: `Join it.'"

Quality with a Passion

Florida Power & Light president Marshall McDonald says there is a revival of quality in America for three key reasons. The first is consumer demand for it. The second is the belief that America"may find itself positioned on the bottom shelf of the worldmarket" if it does not get its quality act together. The third is an emerging corporate culture that is being" built around such terms as `company-wide quality management' or `total quality control.'"

Mr. McDonald discusses his company's Quality Improvement Program (QIP), which concentrates on the customer; utilizes the PDCA cycle (planning, doing, checking, acting); and teaches employees how to manage by fact. He says that Florida Power & Light's QIP is viewed as a triangle of three separate parts that include quality improvement teams, policy development, and quality in daily life which focuses on the customer and customer satisfaction. Mr. McDonald, whose remarks were delivered before the Philadelphia Area Council for Excellence, closes on anemphatic, passionate note with three inspirational quotations that epitomize his dedication to total quality:

"I've spoken at great length today about quality in the workplace, but what about quality in a broader sense? Does our commitment to excellence end when we walk out the office door? "I believe that question was answered many years ago by the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. He put the pursuit of quality in perspective when he said: `The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence.' "Some of today's generation might not be familiar with Vince Lombardi. They'd be more likely to listen to someone like Mike Ditka, the coach of the Chicago Bears. A few months ago, Ditka was inducted into the national Football League Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech were these words: `Excellence in football and excellence in life. . . is bred when men recognize opportunity and pursue it with passion.'

"We all face magnificent opportunities every day of our lives. Sometimes these opportunities can be brilliantly disguised as impossible situations, but the opportunities are always there. .. and it's up to each of us to pursue them.

"I believe our quality improvement program helps enable our employees to recognize opportunities--opportunities that they have pursued with great passion.

"A famous author once wrote that `It's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.'

"In closing, let me wish nothing but the best for each of you. .. and thank you for your patient attention this morning."

The Impossible

The ever-paradoxical Casey Stengel is called on for a touch of closing humor which lightens a call for social, economic, and educational transformation by Joseph T. Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of TRW Inc., in remarks titled "The American Dream: From Rhetoric to Reality," before the Economic Club of Detroit:

"In concluding, and looking at all that must be done, it is easy to understand why so many have avoided for so long the confrontations and efforts necessary to pull it off. The time is long past due, however, and we must take it out of the `too hard' box and get going.

"Indeed, it reminds me of that great aphorism from Casey Stengel: `They say it can't be done, but sometimes that doesn't always work.'

"Thank you."

The Tyranny of the Or

Intriguing phrases from a recent management book serve as the basis for a memorable contrast in an inspirational closing by Northwestern Mutual Life president James D. Ericson. Mr. Ericson's remarks, titled "Going for Growth," were presented at the company's western regional meeting:

"There's a recent book called Built to Last published by the Stanford Business School. The book describes what separates truly great all-time companies--or visionaries--from respectable also-rans.

"The authors focus on one clear difference. `Visionary companies,' they say, `do not oppress themselves with the Tyranny of the Or.' The Tyranny of the Or. Let me explain how a little word like or can be a tyrant.

"The tyranny of the or moves people to believe that things must be one way or another... but never both. I'm sure you've heard people talk like this. They say--we can either be conservative or bold. We can work for purpose or profit. We can be a low-cost producer or offer a high-quality product.

"But then there are visionary companies. They don't believe in such restrictions. Visionary companies embrace The Genius of the And. Just what is the genius of the and?

"As the authors write, `A visionary company works to preserve its core ideology and encourage vigorous change. It does both... at the same time... all the time.

"So how does this apply to us? My friends, Northwestern Mutual is a visionary company. Our tradition, our record, and our current position qualify us to make this claim.

"You and I are in the very position that many business pundits claim is unattainable. Look at what they say! They say that no company--no company--can be a low-cost leader and still have the following--the highest-quality product, the finest distribution system and the best service. Yet we offer all four, at the same time, all the time.

"Low-cost leader... highest-quality product... finest sales force... and superior service. This is our genius of the and.

"I believe this. I know you do, too. Our magic is believing... believing that we will enjoy lasting quality... and strong, healthy and sustained growth. My friends, I can assure you-- quality and growth are in our future. Quality and growth begin with you."

Hard Work & Greatness

Inspirational verse from Longfellow made for a memorable closing in remarks from former British Petroleum chairman Robert B. Horton to a graduating class:

"I congratulate you all on your achievement and I also congratulate your parents and your families and all who have supported you during these years of hard work.

"And I also welcome you to the world of a different sort of work- -for that is the destination of many of you.

"Don't be downhearted if, in the coming years, your reach occasionally exceeds your grasp. Martin Luther King used to quote from Longfellow--I like it and you may too:

`The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.'

"May I wish all of you graduating today great good fortune in the journey ahead."

Presidential Persuasion

The Brigance Forum is an annual public lecture in memory of Wabash College teacher and scholar, William Norwood Brigance. The 1993 address, presented by Charles J. Stewart, head of the Department of Communication at Purdue and a scholar of American protest rhetoric and the rhetoric of social movements, dealt with how American Presidents justify military actions.

In his remarks, Professor Stewart looks at Kennedy's speech on "The Cuban Missile Crisis," Johnson's "Gulf of Tonkin Incident," Nixon's "Invasion of Cambodia," Reagan's "Bombing of Libya," and Bush's "War in the Gulf" and considers how each President portrayed "their decisions as desirable, obligatory, and admirable to gain our acceptance and our support."

Among the passages Dr. Stewart quotes is one from what is arguably the best speech from the Bush presidency and which relies on repetition and good guy/bad guy contrasts for its power:

"While the world waited, Saddam sought to add to the chemical weapons arsenal he now possessed, an infinitely more dangerous weapon of mass destruction--a nuclear weapon. And while the world waited, while the world talked peace and withdrawal, Saddam Hussein dug in and moved massive forces into Kuwait.

"While the world waited, while Saddam stalled, more damage was being done to the fragile economies of the Third World, emerging democracies of Eastern Europe, to the entire world, including to our own economy.

"While the world waited, Saddam Hussein met every overture of peace with open contempt. While the world prayed for peace, Saddam prepared for war."

Also included is the closing from Kennedy's missile crisis speech which is a study in the power of antithesis, in the forms of [this] but [that] and not [this] but [that]:

"The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are; but it is one of the most consistent with our character and our courage as a nation and our commitments around the world. The cost of freedom is always high--but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and this is the path of surrender or submission.

"Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right--not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved. Thank you, and good night."

Sit Down & Be Quiet

In remarks at the Blandin Foundation Leadership Conference in Brainerd, Minnesota, Win Borden, president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, has discussed the public's frustration with education and business over quality; what the business community expects from education; what education should expect from business in return; and several other issues like educational spending, merit pay for teachers, a longer school year, and discipline that education and business must face together.

In concluding what has been a wide-ranging discussion of a serious topic, Borden chooses to close on a lighter note. He uses two humorous references to public speaking, one of which is self-directed:

"I'm looking at my watch and remembering what Muriel Humphrey told her late husband, Senator Hubert Humphrey, after a particularly windy speech. She said: `Hubert, you don't have to be eternal to be immortal.' "My son's the world's happiest little first grader. He loves to talk talk talk. One day he came home with a note from his teacher. She's wonderful and she's had all our kids in her class. The note was addressed to my wife. It said: DEAR BETTY, YOUR SON AND YOUR HUSBAND HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. NEITHER ONE OF THEM KNOWS WHEN TO SIT DOWN AND BE QUIET. "Now I'm going to take her advice. Thank you very much."

Waste & Consequences

Stephen M. Wolf, chairman and president of UAL Corporation and United Airlines, discusses a number of serious wastes in our society that are "sapping our national strength and lessening our ability to face the challenge of the next decade and the next century." He cites our education system, crime, lessening work ethic, a legal system that encourages costly litigation, and a financial system whose integrity is being questioned as primary examples of how we are wasting our human and other resources.

In his closing, Wolf uses a quotation from a famous author that epitomizes his theme:

"I don't have any magic solutions. But I do have at least a cautious optimism that good sense will prevail--that people who genuinely care about the future of this country increasingly will see that we are not a collection of feuding tribes, each concerned only with its own narrow agenda. We want the same things: economic opportunity and a continuing improvement in our quality of life.

"We cannot get them if we continue wasting much of our potential strength. Losing a young person to drugs or illiteracy is far more costly than losing a business deal. Wasting talent on a labor/management war is far more expensive to both sides than can be measured in dollars alone.

"The author Robert Louis Stevenson once said that `everybody, sooner or later, sits down to a banquet of consequences.' In my view, the most serious consequences in the 1990s and beyond will result less from the obvious dangers than from the more subtle one of wasted opportunities.

"Waste is a luxury we cannot afford. With the help of U.S. business, it need not prevent us from making the 1990s a time of promise."

Best Quotations

A Thousand `Moments of Truth'
"The current ferment over quality and productivity in higher education may have as much to do with the level of integrity and caring exemplified in the daily behavior of those holding learning climates in trust as with our ability to design systems of quality assurance. Thus, we must look `beyond systems' to the principles and standards manifested in the behavior of faculty and administrators who give voice and meaning to our institutions. The cause of quality may be advanced or damaged in a thousand `moments of truth' occurring in our colleges and universities every day, in the daily exchanges between faculty/administrators and students."

Civil Institutions
"Tocqueville, the French aristocrat who so wisely observed and wrote about the new American republic early in the 19th century, noted that we did not have the traditional European aristocracy to check the power of the state (or sovereign). Instead, America had a tradition of civil institutions such as churches, lodges, labor unions, chambers of commerce, business associations and political parties, all of which served to limit government which has, as its natural tendency, to grow and take power from the people."

Competence
"Irony is for sophomores and the tragic view of life is only for adolescents. How precious it is that we live at all! And work is what we do with our lives. Until the end, there is always something productive we can do. The daily test for every one of us is: Did we do what we chose to do as well as we could? Competence is the ethical content of work. The ethical person is conscientious--you do whatever you do to the best of your ability and sensitivity."


Death by Misprint
"And the people who don't have the benefit of your counsel... who are trying to do it themselves... who are planning their financial futures alone... would be wise to remember what Mark Twain said about the perils of self-diagnosis. `You should always be careful when reading books about health,' he said. `Otherwise, you might die of a misprint.'
"For the more fortunate people... your clients and policy owners... we would do well to follow the advice of a man who was less famous than Mark Twain... but no less wise.
"David Burpee used a simple philosophy to turn his family's seed business into a household name. `I always try to remember,' he said, `that people really aren't interested in my seeds. They're interested in their gardens, their tomatoes and their lawns.'
"If people were really interested in buying policies... I guarantee you that we'd be in the catalog business."
High Tech Ice Fishing
"Customers are of course king whenever the competition gets intense. And today, they're demanding, and getting, new capabilities that are allowing them to live as people have never lived before.
"You may have read newspaper reports a while ago about a Norwegian by the name of Jans Amgust.
"Jans decided to go ice fishing in an ocean inlet near Oslo. He walked out on the ice, drilled his hole, and settled down. It took him a while before he noticed that the patch of ice he was sitting on had broken away and was drifting off into the North Sea.
"But don't worry about Jans. He whipped out his cellular phone, called the nearest fire department, and the Norwegian Royal Coast Guard rescued him within 30 minutes--along with his sled.
"Advanced communications technologies are often life-savers. But, day to day, consumers are leading such complex lives that they look mainly to communications as a way to simplify. And their communications providers are scrambling to meet their expectations."

Horse Selling & Mergers
"I also pointed out that deals often look more exciting from the outside. We had a story about this back in Iowa. It seems a man found that his horse was ailing. So he took the horse to the vet and asked--`Can you help me? Sometimes my horse walks fine. But other times, he limps.' The vet looked at the horse and said, `Yes... I think I can help you. When he's walking fine... sell him.'
"That's a good thing to remember anytime. It's a good thing to remember in the merger market. The buyer must always beware.

How to Protect Your Technology
"What is the point of trying to protect existing technology? For the most part, it is a rapidly-wasting asset, a perishable commodity. As Roger Bateille, of Airbus, has said: `The only way to protect your technology is to move very, very fast.'"

Measuring the Right Things
"It is sometimes said that what gets measured is what gets managed. Unfortunately, in our industry, we have been in the habit of measuring some of the wrong things. I still hear people talk about the need for reducing overhead rates. Why? This is a ratio of direct to indirect costs. Theoretically, through increased use of automation in the building of increasingly complex structures, you could drive the overhead rate up to near-infinity, while continuing to drive down unit costs.
"In the battle for affordability, it is unit costs... and life-cycles costs... that count. And to focus on those costs we have to design and build with a three-dimensional view of the optimal total cost structure.
"There are three keys to the mint of increased productivity in manufacturing. One is better tools. Another is better processes. And the third is trained, empowered, and motivated people."


Monopoly & Grove's Law
"Price/performance doubles every 12-18 months--known as `Moore's Law' after Intel founder Gordon Moore. Today's most complex chips pack 5 to 7 million transistors on a chip the size of a thumbnail. Texas Instruments recently announced technology to pack 125 million transistors onto a single chip. Tomorrow's chips will power such applications as voice recognition, two-way TV, video on demand, etc. No end in sight!
"The second factor is the continued expansion in communications bandwidth. It is not as dramatic as advances in chip technology due to historical monopolies in telephony. In fact, a corollary to Moore's Law is `Grove's Law' dubbed by Andy Grove, Intel's CEO. `Grove's Law': While microchip price/performance doubles every 12-18 months, telecommunications bandwidth doubles every 100 years!
"But with deregulation and technology advances, that's changing. New communications technologies such as ISDN, SONET, ATM, etc., are opening up lines for true, global electronic commerce."

Obedience to the Unenforceable
"The challenge to you then is to save our culture, no small task. We can't look for government to marshall our resources or lead us as was done in the great wars. We can only restrain it from doing no more (or hopefully less) harm. The great battlefield of this next war is in our homes, schools, and our neighborhoods. This is a battle for hearts and minds and our weapons are our ideas, virtues, and values. Lord Moulton, a noted English judge spoke on what he called `the domain of obedience to the unenforceable.' While it may include moral duty, social responsibility, and proper behavior, it extends beyond them to cover `all cases of doing right where there is no one to make you do it but yourself.' This challenge, this war, is in short a spiritual battle and first we need to win the warfare with ourselves, then we can be examples for others."

Original Thinking
"Everything has been thought of before, but the problem is to think of it again." --Attributed to Goethe

Property Rights
"A second protection against politicalization and the danger it poses to both the legal order and the moral order is the regime of property rights and economic liberty. This is so for two reasons. To the extent that property rights are secure and strongly guarded, a whole range of human activity is put beyond the power of politics. Thus, fundamental decisions in these areas are no longer the concern of contending factions and competing moralities. Economic and societal life is not turned into ideological warfare.
"The other important check property rights place upon politicalization is that they force individuals to exercise personal responsibility. When individuals bear the immediate consequences of their actions, for good or ill, they are overwhelmingly more considered, rational, and informed than when these actions are of a political or public sort. People are very careful about imposing their values on others when there is a personal cost to such conduct."
Redefining Distance
"Technology's power to redefine ethical distance is not confined to individuals. It also applies to corporations, countries, and cultures. We're quickly reaching the point where technology really will permit the development of virtual corporations. A company may physically be located in one country. But it will be able to carry out many of its functions in distant locations via telephone and computer screen. To quote The Economist, `Services as diverse as designing an engine, monitoring a security camera, selling insurance or running a secretarial paging service will become as easily exportable as car parts or refrigerators.' This is already happening. For example, the back office functions of Swissair and British Airways are now located in India. Heating, lighting, elevators and security operations in office buildings in Pacific Rim countries are monitored from Perth, Australia."

Responsibility & Will Power
"As responsibility is passed to your hands, it will not do, as you live the rest of your life, to assume that someone else will bear the major burdens, that someone else will demonstrate the key convictions, that someone else will run for office, that someone else will take care of the poor, that someone else will visit the sick, protect civil rights, enforce the law, preserve culture, transmit value, maintain civilization, and defend freedom.
"You must never forget that what you do not value will not be valued, that what you do not remember will not be remembered, that what you do not change will not be changed, that what you do not do will not be done. You can, if you will, craft a society whose leaders, business and political, are less obsessed with the need for money. It is not really a question of what to do but simply the will to do it. The great New York Yankee pitcher, Lefty Gomez, said this: `If you don't throw it, they can't hit it.'"

Smart Maps
"Already, you can get a GPS (Global Positioning System) in your car, and it will show you where you are on a map and plot routes. But it won't give you any information about what's going on around you. That's what's going to be different in ten years. We'll be combining GPS with the traffic management infrastructure to help manage traffic flow. So, your dashboard map will show you where traffic problems are, and it will plot the best route around them.
"We'll also be using global positioning systems to help stop crime by giving us the power to monitor the location of our cars and other valuables. And we'll be able to follow the exact location of our most precious valuable, our children, as they walk home from school, for instance."
The Global Brand
"The truth is that there are very few truly global food or beverage brands, such that the product is named the same, and tastes exactly the same, all around the world. An exhaustive study by Young & Rubicam concluded that of 6,200 brands from all over the world, only one maintained an identical product and image--and that was, if you haven't already guessed, Coca-Cola.


The Tricks to Success
"Someone once asked James Lofton, wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills, what tricks he used to achieve success and Lofton replied, `One trick is to work harder than the other guy. The second trick, always hustle. Third trick, study and know what you're doing. Fourth trick, always be prepared. Fifth, never give up. Those are my tricks.'"

Throwing Away Assets
"By the year 2000, the typical Fortune 500 company will have over 400 trillion characters of electronic data in its databases. This data represents a gold mine of information--about customer buying patterns, preferences, and interests.
"But the fact is, while most organizations are active users of information technology... they are not actively using their information assets. The average organization discards 85% of data that it collects on a daily basis.
"This is my central point today. In underutilizing information, we are literally throwing away what is perhaps our most important asset for enhancing our competitiveness now and in the next millennium."
Trade Opportunities
"Or as we consider what we do so well in America, keep in mind:
• That fewer than half the population of the world, about three billion people, have ever placed a phone call,
• At the most, 50 percent enjoy daily access to electric power,
• And that fewer than 11 percent of the world's people have ever owned a car. In fact, if the auto ownership in China, now about two cars per thousand people, were to come up only to the level of Rumania that would equal a market expansion of 60 million more autos."

U.S. Product Liability
"Let me share with you the specific impact of product liability posted on the World Wide Web site of one of our competitors, DuPont. Regarding the issue of product liability, DuPont states:
"Product liability is largely a U.S. problem for DuPont. The company has fewer than 20 lawsuits outside the U.S., but nearly 5,000 personal injury lawsuits in the U.S. In 1995, slightly more than half of the company's sales came from outside the U.S.; however, 95 percent of DuPont's legal costs are incurred in the U.S."
Wishful Thinking
"This might be called the `Field of Dreams' assumption: `If you build the network, they will come.' Our experience to date suggests something a bit less encouraging."