Rothacker Reviews

Sojourner Truth

Abraham Lincoln called her a hero.  The U.S. Post Office dedicated a stamp to her.  She is in the National Women's Hall of Fame and NASA named the rover used on the 1997, Mars Space Mission after her.  She was one of the United States' most influential civil rights activists.

Born into slavery in 1797, Isabella Baumfree fought against incredible odds her entire life.  Imagine a black woman in the pre Civil War days filing a lawsuit to have a son who had been sold into slavery returned to her - and winning!  While in her forties, Isabella changed her name to Sojourner Truth and toured the countryside speaking out against slavery and for the right to vote.

Sojourner's faith in God was paramount to her cause.  Said Nell Irvin Painter, author of Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol, "The most important life lesson from Sojourner is to have a strong spiritual backing.  She always felt like she had another power with her."

My brief look into Sojourner's life revealed a world of slavery not accurately depicted in the American history books, the ones found in our school system.   In, Narrative of Sojourner Truth, as told to by Sojourner and written by Olive Gilbert, Sojourner says that such atrocities that had befallen her were so horrible, she would not repeat them.  Her other motive for not repeating them was to actually protect the people and their families who had reigned down such cruelties upon her.  That Sojourner Truth possessed dignity and class is a gross understatement.

The odds stacked up against Sojourner in her quest against slavery and for women's rights were incomprehensible.  In the comfort of our Twenty-First Century lives, it's nearly impossible to make a connection to these days.  The thoughts of slavery and of no women's rights is just something we have read about in the books.  But these crimes against humanity were carried out on American soil less than one-hundred fifty years ago...and, in the case of women's rights, even less.

There are cases of crimes against humanity going on right now throughout the world.  While we are probably not in a position to carry on an all out crusade for justice, we can bring right to wrong within our own space by treating people with dignity and respect.

Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Olive Gilbert

 

A Cold Night

I stopped by the Donut Hole to grab some coffee late last night.  I overheard a young couple ask a police officer if he knew of any motels with vacancies.  He shook his head apologetically.  Their reaction told me that they had probably already been up and down the motel strip.  From their looks, I'm not sure they could afford a motel anyhow.  The woman, preganant and in her late twenties, wore a faded-out dress that fell ten inches short of her ankles, white athletic sox and black Converse tennis shoes.  Her only covering on this cold December night was a grey hooded sweat shirt.  The fellow wore old jeans, a black hooded sweat shirt with holes in it and brown sandals without socks. 

Buck, who ran a dairy farm a few miles outside of town overheard the conversation as well.  He approached them.  I couldn't hear what Buck said but I saw the couple's expression.  It was one of pure joy and relief.

I grabbed my coffee, jumped in the old Ford and fired her up.  Kicking her in neutral I took a moment to think.  There was something about Buck's gesture that went beyond profound.  I'd seen acts of kindness before, but this was somehow different.

That moment was fifty-two years ago and I remember it like yesterday.  Why shouldn't I, old dairy farmer Buck provided shelter for the weary travelers whose names were Mary and Joseph.  That following morning, Mary gave birth to the baby Jesus in Buck's cottage.

I still cannot imagine how each of the twenty or so motels on the strip turned down the couple's request for lodging.  Does it really make a difference that they didn't know the woman carried in her womb the Man who would save the world?  Would it make a difference to you?

Merry Christmas!

The Rothackers

Advertisers: Not in the Yellow Pages

We just received our brand new copy of the yellow pages.  And, like any other book sitting in my stack of books to read, I snuck a look.  There are twenty-three pages, each devoted to a separate company, filled with coupons and located in the front of the book.  Of those twenty-three companies, three specialize in clearing drains in houses.  A fourth did drains as well as other plumbing activities. 

Let me get this straight, companies actually pay for this form of advertising?

I am in the A's now and this is what I noticed.  There are approximately three pages filled with advertising agencies.  Ten agencies decided to insert (advertise) more information than their company names and phone numbers.  All ten placed info in blocks approximately 1/30th the page size. 

If advertisers do not advertise in the yellow pages, why should you?

Innovation: The Possibilities

Did you know that before the year 2002, you were likely to have a product in your house that had not changed its packaging in over one-hundred years?  Now I'm not talking about a jar of pickles or a box of cereal.  I am talking about a product that screamed for more innovative packaging.  Screamed!

Where are our heads?

I have a very good friend whose patented invention saves hours and hours on the installation of air conditioning equipment.  Not only does it save on labor, it is a cornerstone piece in a revolutionary mindset-changing way of doing business. It can save contractors more money than they can count.  But I won't even go to this last sentence.  It's too many years past their comprehension at this time.  The problem with the invention?  Contractors won't change.  Even though their heads are bloodied from ramming them against the block wall, they refuse to pick up the laser gun and cut a neat hole through the cement.

It's a paint can man!

For over one-hundred years we've been using steel paint cans that were outrageously inefficient and messy.  Someone at Sherwin-Williams comes along and creates a plastic, easy-pour and resealable paint can that just plain makes sense. 

Vaporize resistance!

If someone actually invented this paint can twenty-years ago and it took that poor bloke this long to overcome internal resistance, then Sherwin-Williams should be splayed about the media like a Ford Pinto.  Sadly, my friend has been at war for eight years, all the time working and trying to support a family, while attempting to bring his invention to market.  Resistance seems to have gotten stronger.  Looking in from outside the industry one might say something is lacking in the product.  I strongly assure you this isn't the case! 

Imagine the possibilities!

If you are in a situation to provide a little support to someone out there trying to innovate, for heaven's sake don't fight them on it!  Imagine the possibilities that encouragement could bring to those folks who are out there looking for a better way!

Now, who out there is trying to work on an invention to allow Christmas lights to stay on your house year round - and remain invisible in the off season?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six Disciplines For Excellence

You sit upright and move closer to the edge of your seat.  Your heart starts to beat a little faster.  Your level of excitement starts to elevate.  And then your imagination kicks everything else out of your brain.  Bob's Ten Steps to Effective Management Process tour is coming to town!  Hot dog!

The excitement overtakes you.  A couple of breaths into a brown paper bag saves you from passing out.  As you take a moment to bask in your new found wonder, you look at the bookcase directly across the room.  There is Suzie's Get Motivated tape set, and Billy's Psychoanalyzing Your Staff For Dummies book, and Don's Financial Education for Harvard Dropouts DVD and workbook, and Christy's Banish Kindercare Empower Your Associates book set.  You know.  Well, you and Sally in purchasing know.  Together, both of you know that not one other person in your company knows anything about the latest and greatest business books and seminars you've collected and gone to.  And you own the company.

Six Disciplines For Excellence is a book and business methodology that focuses on a business system and its implementation.  Implementation is the stuff you do after you've read the book and gone to the seminar.  I experienced three strong reactions after reading this book.

1) The Six Discipline Methodology begs for help with facilitation.  I think this is the root of the system's success.  If you don't get help, the secret is still between you and Sally.
2) Six Disciplines For Excellence is what the E-Myth Revisited wants to be when it grows up.  The impact of this thought hit home after reading Chapter Three: Align Systems.
3) A sense for what an incredible amount of work it was that went into developing the entire system.  Author Gary Harpst founded Solomon Software in 1980, a company that specialized in business management software, and used twenty years of successful business as a foundation for his book and corporation. 

I am not going to discuss the innards of this book's content.  Instead, I will direct you to a Web site that links out to some very well written reviews of Six Disciplines For Excellence.

I look at this book as the opportunity for a glimpse into the framework of an excellent company and the opportunity to ask yourself, as a business owner, do you want your company to be excellent?  Two ultra-cool and encouraging attributes to Six Disciplines For Excellence: 

1) It is geared for small business.
2) It will work with any type of business.

One gets a peek into the system and possibilities of processes via the book's very format.  A separate chapter is dedicated to each Discipline.   Gary Harpst provides an overview, outlines a process of implementation and provides tips for implementation.  Charts and checklists reinforce a clear sense of structure.

The last thought I would like to leave you with, is what an incredible job that Skip Reardon, Director of Marketing for the Six Disciplines Corporation, does in support of the book and his company via the Be Excellent Web site.  Skip provides invaluable business information and insight as well as reinforcing lessons from the book.  Scroll through Be Excellent to find those well written book reviews that I told you about.

Six Disciplines : The company.
Six Disciplines For Excellence : The book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside Maslow's Pyramid

Somewhere between ten and fifteen years ago I reached the self-actualization level on the pyramid.  I had traveled the lower levels, building upon each to arrive at a point where I could pursue personal growth.  Then, at some point during the last ten years, the day job rusted out and the vehicle of potential was no more.  During the last few years I was definitely beyond the lower levels but not at self-actualization.  It was a weird feeling - having been there but now trapped below.

We moved to Florida in June and doubt on my pyramid status was removed.  I had no job.  I was at the bottom.  It took five months to find the right position with the right company.  I am back at the weird-feeling phase.  The vehicle-business-industry that I am in has a limited life expectancy.  On my original pyramid ascent I accomplished one level and moved to the next.  But now because I have been to all levels, I still have bits of all levels in me. 

Pyramid Guide

Fortunately for me, I have someone helping me navigate the pyramid above the safety level.  I think my main problem has been in not starting with me.  I first need to identify what I am about.  When I do, I can explore ways to see what activities-for-pay will remove the gravity holding me from my pyramid ascent.

Has anyone else experienced this up and down type of pyramid movement?

 

 

 

 

 

Advertising: Who Gets it?

In my previous post I stated that USF students get advertising.  I base my assumption on the praise that they received from Papa John's owner John Schnatter.  Schnatter was a judge in a contest that the school's Zimmerman Advertising Program held this previous semester.  The object was to create an ad campaign for Papa John's Pizza.  I also make the assumption that since the students themselves make up a large portion of Papa John's market, they have a good feel for what advertising connects with them - as the consumer.  Now, if you will kindly pardon all this assuming, let's move on.

I love advertising.  Not all of it, just the part that actually connects with the prospect/consumer.  I am one of those hombres who look at all of the ads in a newspaper or magazine.  And I love to evaluate TV commercials.  Now tighten up the circle 'round the campfire brothers and sisters, because here is the part that's going to hurt ninety-nine percent of the advertisers out there:  You have my attention.  Okay, no pain there. Please place this twig in your mouth and bite down - hard:  Your ads reinforce the calluses layered on top of my interest...the ones you place there week after week. 

One of my questions is, "Who is responsible for the ads?"  I am not from the ad industry so I don't know all of the ins and outs of the biz.  It seems to me however, there are certain folks in this equation.  The advertiser and his/her customer.  Just from simply viewing ads I can feel conflict.  The customer might think his company is superior to competition..."come to me, I am number one."  The ad people's creative types are trying to elbow in their talents.  The weak account rep gets smothered between the two.  The advertiser-owner chases some industry prize and has taken his eyes off of what is important. 

Does anyone wonder what the prospect/consumer might be thinking in the first place?  And if they do, can they address this concern without cluttering up the ad space that they have to work with?

Actually, the USF students might not have even inlcuded advertising in magazines or newspapers in their ideas - thereby drilling down to what might actually work for them as a consumer.  To "get it," the advertiser must get closer to the prospect/consumer and to that end, the USF students do get it.

You know what would really be cool?  If Papa John's worked with the ad campaign proposed by the winning team of students, measured the results and provided feedback back to the class.

 

 

 

Advertising: USF Students Get it

School Project:  Students working in teams, at the Zimmerman Advertising Program at the University of South Florida, spent  this last semester coming up with campaigns to convince consumers to buy from Papa John's Pizza.  The students pitched their ideas to a panel of judges.  One judge was Papa John's founder John Schnatter. 

"It was very humbling this morning and inspirational," Schnatter said and continued, "I'm sick that I didn't have my entire company in the back row.  It was that good."

I am thinking that Schnatter was impressed with not only the quality of the student's presentations, but also the spirit in which they were delivered.  As the owner of an organization that has no doubt run successful ad campaigns before, Schnatter recognizes these ad's potentiality. 

I wonder if the students themselves do not compromise a large portion of Papa John's target market.  If that's the case then they have a good feel for what advertising message might be effective...what might work on them.

This reminds me of what has been on my TOMA for the last few years:  Does anyone get advertising?