Inspiration Saturday

Whale Facts

Things that quite possibly only interest me....


Yeah, But They Can Afford It
New York spends $2,283 per capita on Medicaid, far more than any other state, and twice the national average, according to statistics compiled by the state budget division. Second is Rhode Island, which spends $1,659. The state also spends $14,884 per pupil on school aid, more than any other state and well above the national average of $9,138.1

Fore
Every year over 300million golf balls are lost.2

It's Not Like We Blew Up The Global Economy Or Anything
The average pay in 2009 for a Goldman Sachs employee is expected to be $700,000.3

$5 Billion is a Lot of Quarters
About 70% of laundry owners in America are single-shop operators, and 20% operate only two, limited economies of scale having discouraged the rise of dominant national chains. The coin laundry represents a $5 billion-a-year industry of about 35,000 stores.4

Notes:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/nyregion/10paterson.html?_r=1&hp
2. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/11/04/littering.golf.balls/index.html
3. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6907681.ece
4. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125728737379626349.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_smallbusiness

Technology Makes It Hard To Cheat

With the advent of video devices everywhere there's going to be a lot more documentation of bad behavior. Case in point, drafting on the bike in Ironman Florida.

To Our Veterans

Thanks

Block And Tackle

Strategy is important. You want to make sure you are going the right way.

Emotions are important. You need to work as a team to be successful.

Blocking and tackling are more important than strategy and emotions.

If you can't block and tackle, that is preform the most perfunctory of business applications, than you have an acute problem. Lack of strategy and lack of team unity are chronic problems. Chronic problems take a long time to develop into acute problems. Acute problems get noticed by others quickly because, well, they're acute.

You don't have the luxury in business to get all the strategy and organizational behavior issues hammered out before attacking the tactical, practical, issues related to the business. You have got to get after everything all at once.

Boom Goes The Dynamite

Now that's what I'm talking about....from today's WSJ.

1. The U.S. factory sector saw its best month of expansion in October since April 2006.

2. The Institute for Supply Management reported Monday that its index of manufacturing activity jumped to 55.7 last month, after standing at 52.6 in September and 52.9 in August.

In aint a recovery until we start making stuff again.

Emotions Matter

Emotions matter.

Politicians know this. The captains of the financial industry know this (I’m reading the book Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves. More on this later)

Business folks in general don’t get this.

Case in point, when I was laid off the guy that did the laying off asked if I wanted to know how he made his decision. At this point in time I was already out of a job so I figured what the heck, indulge me.

“Well,” he says. “The first thing that I did was to take out all the emotion.”

Great, I’ve got a family to feed, but I’m not sure how to do it right now and you, you’ve taken all the emotion out of everything. Hoo Rah.

Emotions matter…..which is why this is so great.


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