Catvertising

Near the end of the year is a good time to be open to new ideas. The new year is coming. New ideas of all kinds can help flush out some of the accumulated junk from the prior year.

I won't make any comments but will just make available to you a video from an ad agency, John St, in Toronto.

I think I will use this video in some creative thinking sessions in 2012.

David Sneed

There is a common belief that compliant fire extinguishers and training in usage can substitute for fire prevention or the fire department. In a controlled environment try using a small fire extinguisher to put out a fire. It might work sometimes if you are present just when the fire starts.

Watch this one video of what can happen in just one minute. This fire starts with a Christmas tree. It could be with a candle, with a spark from welding, a battery charger, or a coffee maker.

The only real solution is in fire prevention. What is required is knowing the ways that a fire can start in a given location. Then have a fanatical attitude about controlling those circumstances.

David Sneed

Who Can Decide How to Reinvent?

My city is asking the question of whether or not to change from having a Mayor to having a City Manager. There is an acknowledgement of a problem. Unfortunately the decision will be up to the City Council. The result will be no change and no improvement.  

The republican (little r)  form of government in the United States is far better than what most countries have. A big problem though is that a body of elected officials is a bureaucracy. The first goal of any bureaucracy is to protect and perpetuate itself. Often it is blind to its shortcomings. Mistakes are ignored for the sake of the bureaucracy. 

The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote. Within the realm of Cowboy Safety the point is that there are alternatives that can do much better job. None of my alternatives will even be considered. Why? Because consideration would be an admission that the present system has flaws. Mayor or City Manager? It makes no difference because both are under the control of the City Council. 

Mayor or City Manager? How about none of the above? 

What could a City Manager do about “The Hole”  and snow removal downtown that a Mayor can’t do?

The potential lack of administrative skills of an elected mayor is true of other elected officials. This past week we saw testimony by Jon Corzine, ex-governor and ex-U.S. Senator, that as CEO of MF Global he has no idea what happened to $1.2 billion. He claimed ignorance of accounting. 

A new type of thinking is needed that is not learned in an MBA program or with experience in another city with the same problems. 

A new type of thinking is needed because the percentage of government revenue going to pensions is increasing. The WTE on December 11 told of a California teacher that retired last July at age 59 with a pension of $174,308. Millions of retirees will live to be 100. What plan is in effect for retirees collecting pensions for 40 years?

A new type of thinking is needed because Cheyenne, with 554 employees, has one employee per 100 citizens. The budget of $111 million is expense of more than $2,000 for each man, woman, and child. 

Four ideas:

1. Sell the City corporation to a private business. 

2. Merge county and city.

3. Adopt the Town Meeting form of government that has worked in New England for over 250 years. No city council or mayor. Rather than “government does everything” the citizens often choose to do things by themselves, with neighborhood groups, or with outsourcing. The citizens can change anything at any time. 

4. Create a volunteer group of citizens to look at these and other alternatives to be on a ballot.

David Sneed

Value of Time

Cowboy Safety considers the value of time. With today's technology there are very simple ways to measure the value. There are different types of time and the values of that time.

I remember the old story of the man coming down the road and he sees a farmer holding a pig up to an apple tree so that the pig can eat apples. "Doesn't it take a long time to feed your pigs that way?" The farmer replied "It does but what's time to a pig?" Make sure you know the nature of the time that you are measuring. And make sure you know the alternatives for the time.

Let's take a simple real-life example where the metric is money.

At the outset though keep in mind that you of not want to be one who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. There are plenty of times when comparisons should not be made.

Today I went to pay my county taxes. There are three choices:
1. Pay half by November 10 and the other half by May 10.
2. Pay all by December 31 and no 18% interest for a late first half.
3. Pay late and incur 18% interest.

I have meditated on the choices and I believe that it was a method set up about 30 years ago based on the values of different forms of money at that time. Obsolete but I have to live within what they offer.

Which to do? It is not as simple as whether or not there is enough cash on hand. Hopefully choice 3 does not apply. The options are worded to cause confusion between two different times and two different rates.

1. Option 1 means having half the money for six months longer than option 2.
2. Option 2 means having half the money for one and a half months.

The real issue is what is the value of half the money for four and a half months.

If you are paying interest on a credit card or line of credit you can pay down the principal for four and a half months at whatever interest rate. Let's say it is 12% which is 1% per month. The value would be 4.5% (1% per month for 4.5 months.) That works out to $45 per thousand dollars. Not too bad.

With a comprehensive plan for how you use money the time value of money can be well worth your while. It does take some study. Someone once added to the basic idea of business and came up with:

Buy low. Sell high. Collect early. Pay late.

When I was with Litton Industries Corporate Consulting we would go into a new acquisition and make some changes. Generally these were old line family owned businesses. They would allow customers to pay slow yet on their own purchases they would be careful to take the 1% discount for payment in 10 days. We would change to enforce 30 days from customers and wait 60 days or longer to pay suppliers. Often this created enough cash to eliminate all loans.

David Sneed

Q Prime

Q Prime is a music management company that has been in operation for 30 years.

They started with no outside funding.

Rather than get cell phones they hired an assistant.

Their business model is simple:

• Keep operating costs low. "I worked out of my house for six years with a telex machine in my basement next to the washing machine."
• Diversify your revenue base
• Use your network. "But if people had thought all along that we sucked, no level of personal contact would have helped that."
• Ask colleagues to recommend recruits

The two founders, Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch, are practitioners of what is known as creative friction yet are close enough that they work together in one room and finish each other's sentences. According to industry consultant Peter Lubin, being managed by this duo is "like having an Hasidic scholar whose partner is Attila the Hun."

There are few music entrepreneurs that last. The market is too volatile. By carefully monitoring risk in both activities and operations Q Prime has survived, the two founders are multimillionaires, and they have fun doing what they like to do. 

David Sneed

Ptolemy's Map of the World

In 150, Claudius Ptolemy a Greek, made a map of the world. He attempted, as have many others, to show the world or parts of the world in a flat format. Ptolemy's projection is still in use on maps made by such esteemed organizations as the American Central Intelligence Agency. The most common map that we all know is one that really does not do that good a job. 

Called the Mercator projection it distorts land masses as the poles are approached. Greenland becomes quite large on a Mercator map. 

Maps have historically served other purposes than to express geography. Religion has been frequently used. We've all seen the maps used for advertising in a given town or city. There are subway maps that are indispensable for movement. 

Safety plans are a type of map and they often depend on specialized geographical maps. In a formal Cowboy Safety program we make a variety of customized maps maps to achieve program goals. 

In my office I have a spherical map that has the North Pole in the lower center. Kugaaruk (formerly Pelly Bay,) Nunavut, Canada is the is the center of the map. Barrow Alaska is in the lower right. This is a map that depicts the market area of the barges that traverse the Northern part of the earth. 

David Sneed

An Unpleasant Restaurant Experience

On October 15th we went to a restaurant that advertised a $4 per person discount for all- you-can-eat prime rib. We had not been to that restaurant for many years because the first time we went it was very expensive. $29 for a steak in 2003 was a bit much.

The prime rib on October 15th was out of this world. Cooked to perfection. Seasoned just right. The carver was a man who clearly knew what he was doing with the meat and with the customer.

Before leaving we met the CEO of the vertically integrated company that owns the restaurant. I don't know how the subject came up but this man had learned from my daughter what I did professionally (presumably besides eating a lot of prime rib.) He indicated a need. She told him that I would consult with him at no cost. He and I met and exchanged cards. On the way home I had already established a mental list of things that were or could be a hindrance to that restaurant. A solution plan was already in place in my mind. I had a feeling though that there was something else and that the standard solutions would not make much difference. By October 29 when I had a hankering for some good prime rib I had not yet visited with him and he had not called me to expedite. I put on my customer hat and we headed out. My wife told me that if the man was there that I should not do any business talk. As it happened he was not there.

The meal was a big disappointment. The prime rib was overcooked. All of it was medium well. It was like roast beef that might have been served in a cheap public house in a Dickens or Horatio Alger novel. It had something about it that seemed old and not just a cook who did not use a meat thermometer. We had arrived early as my wife wanted to get an end slice. We were the first customers on that rib roast. In trying to figure out what went wrong I considered the possibility that it might have been a left over from the previous Saturday night and that an attempt had been made to reheat it.

Now you already know the damage that was done. My wife said it'll be another eight years before we go back.

So what went wrong? Lack of consistency. A hazard of prime rib is cooking it too long. I no longer trust them with prime rib or for that matter anything. My plan of improvement would be of no value to them. They do not need more customers or anything else if they cannot deliver on the promise. If they cannot deal with properly cooking a rib roast they deserve to fail.

David Sneed

Toyota Defensive Driving Formula

Last Saturday, October 22, I had a chance to tour the Toyota Driving Expectations display at Bass Pro in Denver. There were no teen driver classes going on while I was there though I did get the teen book and the parent's book. I wish I had read the books while I was there. I was intrigued by the Defensive Driving Formula. I could not figure out the meaning and it was not in the book. This week it took a while going through folks at Toyota and at Discovery Channel to find out.  

Toyota is using an experiential approach based on "what you see is not what you get." Describing the formula is tacit knowledge best handled verbally so they only printed the formula in the books. 

"P = R (ne) T"  (I don't know how to type the not equal sign)

"Perception equals Reality that is not equal to the Truth"

According to the verbal part of the program "To achieve this requires a healthy paranoia. "

I like it! I also like the DDC-4, DDC-8 and Alive at 25 programs that the National Safety Council publishes. Those are more analytical and compliance based.

There are many folks who want all their safety served the practical approach of the Toyota way. In the business world that is a market of 27,980,000 firms. It includes entrepreneurs in Minnesota and California in our test markets who are immigrants or are the children of these immigrants. They are looking for practical approaches to safety. Contrasted with the politicized and responsibility evading safety plans of the 20,000 companies in the primary safety market! 

One application of the practical approach in driving is one I've used. If you cannot avoid being in East St Louis or Miami or so many other places, the defensive thing you do especially at night might be to kind of ignore stop signs and red lights albeit with caution. The Toyota formula, with its subjective interpretation, makes a whole lot of sense. They do call their program "real-world."

David Sneed

How Fast Is Too Fast?

Netflix today announced they are abandoning plans to rename its DVD service "Qwikster."

I like the quote from Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings. "There is a difference between moving quickly -- which Netflix has done very well for years -- and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."

So how fast is too fast?

Many firms never have to ask that question. Or maybe they do and the answer is to never move. Kodak, on the verge of bankruptcy today, was once a pioneer. As early as 1906 it ignored the Haloid Corporation that later became Xerox.

Cowboy Safety recognizes that moving fast is an essential of survival. By having adequate up to date relevant information and market knowledge a firm can move as fast as it has to move.

Sometimes it must move fast when there is a customer at the counter with a unique problem.

Netflix moved too fast because it moved without the knowledge it needed. It did not have the essential knowledge that customers value simplicity. They do not want to have two bills mean from the same company. The real problem Netflix faces is that there are other ways to get the same results. In the last few weeks Netflix has lost market share. More loss may be coming.

David Sneed

Waffle House Playbook

Waffle House restaurants have a unique approach to safety that turns a disaster into a sustainable strategy. It is their aim to be open as much as possible during power outages, storms or whatever. Waffle House spends very little on advertising but gains goodwill from their conscious efforts to stay open no matter what. When they lose gas or electricity or ice they have a shortened menu and a procedure for what to do. They also plan for how to get back fully on line.

With 1,600 restaurants over much of the mid-Atlantic, Florida and the Gulf coast Waffle house is susceptible to hurricanes and other weather problems.

The Wall Street Journal has put together a great video summary:



Other businesses with disaster plans are Lowe's, Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

Every business should have a plan in place for how to work during hurricanes and other disasters.

David Sneed

Startups

It has been said that an entrepreneur is a risk taker. It has also been often noted that those who are known as entrepreneurs are in fact not risk takers. They know what they are doing.

Marc Ringel of Floor Works in New York was an unhappy math teacher.

He had learned something about the flooring business by working in the industry for a brief period of time. Then with $145 he started his own business by partnering with existing contractors. That money went for the basic technology that he needed.

By working with his network of contractors he had no need to make initial investments in fixed costs and he had no need to fund variable costs.

Then with net revenue gained from leveraging his low-cost technology he was able to do the basics of incorporation, licensing and insuring. He added more contractors to his network. He then got his first big job on his own.

During the slow season he leveraged more low-cost technology and added painting as a product.

Ringel has been in business for a little over four years. If he continues with his start-up approach his business will continue to grow while continuing to almost eliminate risk.

David Sneed

OSHA penalties of $76,005

OSHA has cited Burris Logistics for 13 alleged serious safety and health violations at its Harrington, Del., warehouse following an investigation initiated under the agency's Site-Specific Targeting Program for industries with high injury and illness rates. Proposed penalties total $76,005.

Some of the serious violations involve exposing employees to electrical hazards due to the company's failure to properly mark voltage panel boxes, properly guard voltage junction boxes, and cover live electrical parts. Additionally, Burris Logistics failed to consult employees, including contractors, on the process hazard analysis and other elements of process safety management. The company also failed to provide appropriate process safety information; provide appropriate operating procedures regarding safe shift changes, shutting down and starting up; document that the oil drain valve for one of the process pressure vessels complied with recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices; address considerations related to fluctuations in ammonia levels; conduct inspections to maintain system mechanical integrity; implement a plan for emergencies involving a potential ammonia release; provide written procedures for employees engaged in maintenance activities; place electrical equipment in an approved location; and ensure that the ammonia machine room complied with ventilation and other safety requirements.

An other-than-serious violation, with no monetary penalty, was cited for not conducting annual hearing tests.

Safety is all too often viewed as an unnecessary expense. On the Burris website there is an obituary for their CEO who had been in the family business since age 12. There is a great deal of material about his Christianity and his faith in the Lord Jesus. The Bible tells us that "Safety is of the Lord." One cannot help but wonder why if they are Christians they are not dealing with safety. 

Overall what could motivate companies to deal with employee safety? In the long run there may be greater motivation for the employees to leave and start their own business. Though not guaranteed, smaller firms often seem to have better safety records than the larger ones where responsibility is dispersed. 

David Sneed

Missed Opportunity - Almost

My wife and I were in a certain industrial area last week. We were in my daughter's car as mine was in the shop for service. My wife asked me to check with our windshield repair place that was there to see if a crack, that was caused by hail, could be fixed. I knew it could not but asked anyway. A new windshield would be needed.

At home we looked up where we could get a replacement windshield. My windshield repair place was listed. I had not known that they also replaced windshields. I called and talked to the owner. "Why didn't you sell me a windshield?" He told me that he didn't think about it. 

Why are people today order takers? Why can't they sell? 

I did take the vehicle back to him to get a replacement. 

Missed opportunities are injuries to businesses. They can be fatal.

Today I had an issue with one supplier about $200. Nothing adverse. It was just a matter of information about who pays for it.  The company in question saw a view that  I should pay it. No problem. The relationship is not harmed. I did give him certain information that, had he been thinking, would have showed him that he was missing a great opportunity that would be worth many times the $200. Maybe I need to be more of a salesman. 

David Sneed

A Reason not to Paint a House

A Change and a Parting is a book published by the Iowa State University Press. It is a first person account of the Amana colonies that started in the mid 1800s.

The homes were unpainted for economic reasons and not religious.

According to the account of the author. "The elders (our governors) considered rebuilding to be more economical than painting since we had an abundance of free labor and free lumber but very little capital."

Extended a bit further they had no need for retail bakeries, or groceries or meat markets. And "we had no individual problems of housing, food, clothing,sickness or funeral expense, nor did we pay for education, recreation, church, nor for any part of our maintenance."

Our modern society has added costs for cell phones, internet, cable tv, car payments.

Did we go wrong somewhere?

There is much to be said for having all variable costs and no fixed costs. The idea of not painting a house is most unique. How long does a house last that is not painted? How much time and paint cost would there be during the life time of the house? Did it get repaired along the way?

With everything we do we should look at all the alternatives. A new pickup can easily cost more than $50,000. Add to that sales tax, annual ad valorem taxes and fees, and insurance. Would a succession of older vehicles, maybe even very old, be advantageous?

How much of our life is consumed earning the cost of our fixed cost items?

Cowboy Safety is a way of developing work-life balance. Traditional safety is limited to preserving our whole life at all ages. Why not consider things that "kill" part of our life somewhere in the middle?

David Sneed

Duke's Chowder House Has An Idea

Duke's Chowder House in Seattle has an idea. They have made a list of what they view as six dangers to avoid when dining out. It is clever for a number of reasons. Quite simply it is a Cowboy Safety strategy that solves a customer need in a sustainable way. These six do not apply to them. Hopefully they will continue with this idea.

1) Don’t go anywhere that has farmed salmon.
Farming salmon requires dumping antibiotics and unnatural foods into our waterways; this pollutes the water used by native species and exposes wild salmon populations to infections and extra competition. The farmed salmon excrete a lot of wastes from their pens, further polluting the water. 

2) Don’t eat Chowder unless it is all natural.
Almost every Chowder has sodium nitrite which is highly carcinogenic or tripolyphosphate. The name alone will scare you.

3) Don’t eat beef unless it is natural.
Most beef is filled with antibiotics and growth hormones, dangerous chemicals that should not wind up in your body.

4) Don’t go anywhere where they have transfats.
They are unnatural. Pure chemistry and usually found in oils for French fries, coatings and sauces. 

5) Don’t go anywhere where the people are unfriendly.

It’s dangerous for your mental and emotional health.

6) Don’t go anywhere where the food has no flavor.
It’s astounding how many restaurants forget to put all natural herbs and spices along with fresh and nutritious food. This could ruin your whole night.
 

When you are in Seattle I highly recommend you give them a try. The best bargais are at either of their happy hours.

David Sneed

Pancake Days

As a part of the Cheyenne Frontier Days, there are three mornings when a free pancake breakfast is served by the Kiwanis Club and other volunteers. Completely free. Donations are not requested.

In 2011, 27,267 people were served. That's an average of 4,545 people per hour and more than 75 per minute. Pancakes (how many do you want?) put on the plate by a server, syrup poured by another server, ham put on the plate by another server, napkins passed out by another server, coffee, milk or water poured by other servers. Refills if you want. The line is long yet moves rapidly. There are bands, speakers, performers, church people giving out Bibles and bottles of water to those in line and other folks with some ad handouts. Great camaraderie and order. No one butts in line.

All of this tells us something.

Not many businesses are serving 75 people per minute. Usually not even 1 a minute. Why are there slow-moving lines everywhere to get served food or whatever? Why is there a wait even when there are no other customers?  I see so many events where there is only a certain amount of customer face time. Sales are lost because the event is over before the people can be served. At how many restaurants can a diner have the opportunity to buy a second drink. Not just an unhappy patron but the loss of an 85% margin? More than $5 on a cocktail and a $1 or more tip.

There is tremendous demand for most goods and services. Being able to solve the time problem is key to success. There are a variety of time issues in every business. Buy a membership and look how long it takes to get a membership card. It takes less than  30 seconds to key in a name and address, print a card and mail it. Why does it take two months? There are lead times. Turnaround times. All kinds of times.

The Cowboy Safety approach allows you to deal with times and solves the related problems.

David Sneed

Wyoming as a Case Study

In the Bible we find that God took a small group of people, starting with Abraham, and created a case study for us to learn about him. The Jews were a brand new culture to be descended from Abraham who came from Ur of the Chaldees. God even had them start out fresh in a new location in the desert. Abraham had a chance to  set up in the developed area near the Dead Sea yet he gave that to Lot.

The Old Testament provides a history of where the Jews did right and where they did wrong. All aspects of human nature are covered. Over several thousand years we can see cause and effect of obeying or of disobeying God's laws, many of which are vital to sustainable business.

Since sustainable business is a goal of Cowboy Safety, the Laws of God are fundamentals.

Wyoming is a case study on its own. The history of Wyoming includes cowboys, indians, ranchers, miners, mountain men and travelers along the trails, the railroads and today the highways. The population even today is low and the land area is huge.

While the Wyoming story is not in the Bible, it has a good start in  Owen Wister's book The Virginian. If you have seen the movie or the tv shows you have seen the wrong story. By all means read the book. It is the quintessential book on equality and on the good and evil in mankind. I won an contest in High School for an essay titled "What Makes a Man the Best?" based on the character of the nameless black cowboy called The Virginian. Wyoming has the distinction of being the first government in the world to allow women to vote.  At the time of Wyoming statehood, that distinction was not an asset.

J C Penney started his first store in Kemmerer Wyoming. The old Jay Em ranch was a model for how business should be run for efficiency. The smallest population county in the state, with 2,200 population yet with a land area bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island put together, has developed an excellent on-line K-12 education program. In the next few months the world's largest computer will be functional just outside of Cheyenne near a wind farm and a Wal-Mart distribution center. That computer center is in Wyoming because of cheap reliable electricity, fiber optics and a state government that can make an investment to create new high-paying jobs and to attract ancillary businesses.

The list is long of people who have from the early days come to Wyoming for a fresh start. The frontier is still open for opportunity in Wyoming. Energy companies try out new ideas in Wyoming before doing it elsewhere. Cowboy Safety draws from real things happening in Wyoming whether retail, customer service, manufacturing, distribution or agriculture.

Cowboy Safety not only develops applications but has customized tours of firms in Wyoming doing those very things.

David Sneed

The Great Bicycle-Airplane Race of 2011

In a race between an airplane and bicyclists, the bicycles won!

The 405 in Los Angeles was closed the weekend of July 15, 2011 for the demolition of a bridge overpass. What was described as Carmageddon turned out to not be so bad. People had plenty of notice to plan their weekend travel needs.

Jet Blue had a great PR idea for the weekend. They had four flights between Burbank CA and Long Beach CA for a fare of $4.00 with an upgrade for $1.00 to give more leg room. The distance is just under 40 miles. The 600 seats were sold out in two hours.

Some bicyclists proposed a race.  The start point was an intersection in North Hollywood close to the Burbank airport. The end point was the Aquarium in Long Beach. The bicyclists made it in an hour and thirty-four minutes.

Flying is not just air time. The man who was to fly had to drive from the intersection in North Hollywood to the airport, arrive the required hour in advance, fly, then get from the airport to the aquarium.

There are other elements to flying than airtime. I learned to fly with the idea of getting an airplane. It made sense financially and for improved time for my travels. What finally killed the idea was (1) what will I do when I land especially at small airports at night and (2) what about thunderstorms affecting my plans?

One time I did a the car part of a car-airplane race and almost won. A friend of mine needed a car brought back from Newport Rhode Island to his home in Gloucester Massachusetts. We flew in his V Tail Bonanza to Newport and went to lunch with the man who had been using the car. I dropped my friend off at the airport and on my own decided that I would try to beat him back. He would have to walk to his airplane and go through the pre-trip and FAA procedure to be able to take off. At the other end he would have to land at Beverly, the closest airport, tie down, and then drive the remaining distance home. When I got to his home, he was sitting in the living room with a beer looking as if he had been there all afternoon. Later his wife told me that he had just come into the house when I came into the driveway.

I have found that on a flight of less than 900 miles I can  get there quicker by driving. Kansas City for sure because of the distance into the city from the airport. Even more time is gained when there is the consideration of schedules and advance ticket purchases. Driving also allows more flexibility in leaving and return times and dates.

With everything we do, both program and process, we need to consider all factors. We may think of like cycles of products but we need to consider use cycles. Just with hand tools how many times do we misuse tools when we do not have the correct one at hand?

For the great bicycle race, did we establish the viability of bikes in LA or the non-viability of flights of short distance? Or both?

David Sneed

A Car Insurance Claim Problem

In Cheyenne WY there was a severe hail storm on July 12, 2011. There was roof and window damage on homes and other buildings. Vehicles and airplanes had body damage.

I knew that there would be trouble getting through by phone so I went to my agent's office to make a claim. For the vehicle claim I was told to go get an estimate. I did so. When I returned to the agent's office I was told to keep it until the adjuster called. "We have a lot of claims and we could lose the estimate." In some further questioning I learned that the procedure they were using would be:

1. Get an estimate.
2. Wait for adjuster to call. Telephone tag will be involved for sure.
3. The adjuster will need to have the estimate on the computer.
4. I will have to take the estimate to the agent's office.
5. The estimate will be entered to the computer.
6. The adjuster will have to later go look for the estimate.
7. The adjuster will call after he sees the estimate. Telephone tag will be involved for sure.

For customer service and for minimizing claim handling cost the agent's office should be able to keep a  file of claims and a file of estimates. An unintended consequence of their procedure is that the policyholder will subconsciously wonder if documentation is frequently lost and that requested policy changes and other activity might also be lost. At renewal time there may be a move to another carrier.

I will stay with that carrier and agent for my personal vehicles. Yes there is this claim pain  that I wish was not there but my overall value is worth it.

My company vehicles are with an insurer that can handle a claim anywhere in the country quickly. Since those vehicles could be anywhere that is an important factor. That carrier does not require estimates. Their adjusters do the estimates, issue a check that day and if there should be a problem with actual cost they can deal with it separately. From all that I have read they actually end up paying  a little more than the actual cost. That carrier costs more for coverage but their emphasis is on a good claims experience.

David Sneed

Barbershop Lifesaver

In the movie High Plains Drifter Clint Eastwood plays the nameless cowboy who is one of the origins of the term Cowboy Safety.

He has arrived in town and goes to the saloon. Local residents at the bar do not welcome this newcomer. Who he is and what he knows are of no value to them.

He goes to the barber shop for a shave. He is in the chair and shaving cream is on his face. The men at the bar come in with evil intentions. The nameless cowboy is saved because he has a loaded handgun in his lap and he knows how to use it.

We wonder today why we have so many safety and security lapses when we spend large amounts of money and time on "safety." What is it spent on? To provide repetitive and     redundant "safety training."

If the High Plains Drifter based his safety on that he would have died in the barber shop. A stack of training cards from classes given by people with no experience would not have saved him.

David Sneed

Slow Speed Crash

On Wednesday June 29, 2011, my son Joshua was driving a Salvation Army mini-van at about 23 mph on a three lane one way street in San Diego. Speed limit 25 mph. He was passing a vehicle in the middle lane that was from South Dakota that was traveling about 15 mph. Behind that vehicle was a police car.

The driver of the vehicle he was passing, the one in the middle lane, decided to make a left turn. A crash occurred. It was a fender bender. Both vehicles could drive from the scene. My son received a bruise from his seat belt and has twice been to the Emergency room with back pains. He has been given some palliative care but not much can be done as a cure. It will require six or more weeks of natural healing. An X ray determined no spinal damage.

The other driver immediately claimed fault. He had thought it was a two way street and with nothing coming felt he could make a left turn.

There are several points here to consider.

1. Slow speed may make us careless about what could happen.

2. An out of state plate could be a clue to someone becoming disoriented.

3. The slow speed of the other vehicle could be a clue of disorientation.

4. When passing there are blind spots that must be cleared. Although in this case the other driver was only thinking of oncoming traffic.

5. I don't know the cost of his hospital and doctor visits. Many, if not most, policies only have $5,000 per person for medical care. These days who knows what the emergency room visits can cost. In his case workers' comp comes into effect since he was on duty in a company vehicle.

6. Back pain for even six weeks is not so much fun. Yet slow speed crashes can cause injury. 23 miles per hour is 35 feet per second. Imagine the sudden stop from even that speed.

David Sneed

Hampstead Theatre and Propeller

There are three reasons to go to Hampstead in North London. The tube stop stairway is 320 steps so there is a challenging walk "because it is there." The KFC makes chicken the way it used to be made with plenty of salt and MSG. And there is Hampstead Theatre. Actually there are plenty of other reasons.  

Edward Hall is the artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre and the artistic Director of Propeller the all male travelling Shakespeare ensemble. At Hampstead Theatre he does at least 10 new shows a year. At Propeller there are multiple Shakespeare productions.  

At end end of June and into July 2011 Hampstead Theatre has Propeller doing Comedy of Errors and Richard III on alternate nights. Entertainment is the first and foremost goal. "Tales of discord in perfect harmony" is what one reviewer has said. 

Hampstead Theatre and Propeller are two distinctly different organizations that are both models of how any business should work today. 

In general both have a clear cut customer target, an efficient and effective business model, sustainable resources for new products and empowerment to create unique experiences. 

 

Hampstead Theatre is a small, 325 seat, venue in a good location near the underground public transportation. There are elevators and so there is no need to walk the 320 steps! The neighborhood is safe. Refreshments and other conveniences abound. The specialty is new productions. 

Propeller can operate anywhere as it is a traveling group. The idea of all male is consistent with early Shakespeare groups. Fixed costs are low. The costumes may  often be contemporary and the stage design minimal.  

 

I could be totally wrong but it is my guess is that Hall does not attend any strategic planning or business meetings of either organization. Both companies are non-hierarchial and succeed with siloing. Everyone has the same vision and mission yet work separately. Hall is able to concentrate 100% on the development not only of new plays but new actors and directors.   

Look at their websites and their press. Come on! You could be just as memorable.

David Sneed

Cowboy Safety Cases

The intent here is to give some real cases. I have an accumulation going back many years and also that are current. I've been getting them sorted out in the last few days.

Case studies can be most helpful.

David Sneed

Colorado Shakespeare Festival has $950,000 shortfall

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival at the University of Colorado in Boulder Colorado is an example of a long time organization meeting the needs of a niche market in both customers and people resources. It ran into problems when it forgot it's mission.

Brittany Anas, Staff Writer at the Boulder Daily Camera, on June 20, 2011 did a concise summary of what had happened. In the three year period from 2007 to 2009 expenses exceeded revenue by $950,000. The Festival broke even in 2010. According to Festival officials it is on track to break even in 2011 and to pay back $50,000 of the amount that has been covered by emergency funds.

This is a most important case for anyone in a niche business. Since everyone today should be in a niche business this case applies to almost everyone in business.

Many Shakespeare festivals are diversifying to other types of productions. Why are they doing this? According to the news story, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival did this to boost sales, help attract youth, and build revenue. The claim was that this did not happen because of the economy. Why did it take three years to determine that? A private business could well have gone under by then. The revenue of the Shakespeare Festival is about $1.4 million. A loss of $950,000 could well consume all of the profit and cash flow and make a business unable to borrow money.

According to Todd Gleeson, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, expenses met the target but revenues did not. The solution has included cutting expenses and a new executive board has been formed to give more oversight. No longer will shows run concurrently. Season length last year was shortened though this year the season has been  lengthened. "A couple weeks longer than last year." This year there are only about 130 summer employees instead of the usual 170. Apparently revenue increases are not expected.

In examining this case there are other questions.

1. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival has been running for 50 years and "grew out of the desire of students and faculty in the English department who wanted to experience Shakespeare not only as literature to be read, but as a performing art." Before making a fundamental change to its mission with new products was there much soul-searching? Is it possible that the failure to meet revenue expectations was because the loyal customer base wanted Shakespeare and not Christmas Carol? Did it want summer theatre outdoors or a holiday production indoors?

2. Does the Colorado Shakespeare Festival have some special expertise that would qualify it to move into other types of productions?

3. Is there a business need to add non-Shakespeare productions? There are plenty of other theatres in the area.

4. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival has a number of full time year round staff. That means a high fixed cost. A business today needs to lower or eliminate fixed costs. Does the Colorado Shakespeare Festival need to consider why it needs year round staff and other Shakespeare Festivals and other seasonal theatre companies do not?

5. Did no one at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival or the University of Colorado know about the recession for three full years? Early in 2007 it was well known. It is vital that a business understand its environment. Even if we do not understand why the plight of Greece is so important world-wide we do need to know that there is universal agreement that a Greek debt default can have worldwide impact. What about here at home? The U.S. Government is borrowing 42 cents out of every dollar it spends. The deficit is expected to be at lest $1.4 trillion per year for years to come. We should all learn what we must do to sustain our businesses.

6. The Colorado Shakespeare Festival has been bringing in expensive directors from out of state and out of the country. This year one is coming from Russia. That increases variable costs. Many if not most college based Shakespeare Festivals have students and local people as actors and directors.

7. Is the recession to blame? During the same time period that the Colorado Shakespeare Festival had a revenue shortfall of $950,000 a dinner theatre in the same market area started, built a multi-million dollar building and is doing well. It keeps adding show dates because it has sell out crowds.

This case is most important as we consider our missions, our fixed costs, our variable costs and our economic environment. We need to make sure we know if the economic environment has an effect or if that is an excuse. Since economic environment has so many uncertainties a sustainable business should always have a plan for the worst.

What are some recommendations?

1. Examine the Shakespeare market. It has been around for 400 years. It is done everywhere even by non Shakespeare Festival theatre companies. Have a creative team that can look at new ways of presenting Shakespeare. Theatre for a New Audience in New York has been doing some great things and at lower costs for stage design with minimalism. Maybe concentrate on summer theatre.

2. Develop a better way of tracking knowing financial projections.

3. Develop a way of knowing the effect of the economy on revenues.

4. Use more students and local talent rather than out of state and out of country. Implement new techniques of co-employment as private business is doing.

5. Cut back on year round employees.

6. Last but not least get out of the insanity mode of believing that doing things the same way as in the past will give different results.


David Sneed