Archive for the ‘Nerd-dom’ Category

A Toast To Walhonkey’s Man Upstairs

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

I’ve just finished reading Sam Walton: Made In America, which I purchased at Goodwill for $1. Let me tell you – BEST BUCK I’VE EVER SPENT. I literally couldn’t put it down. Perhaps that makes me pathetic, or perhaps that makes me my father’s daughter.

Say what you will about the fall of Wal-Mart, it’s trade practices or ethics, while Walton was at the helm, great things were accomplished, and he was one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century. The book gave me incredible insight into his personality and management style, much of which I believe is due great respect.

A compilation of a few quotes from the book that struck me. It may be lengthy, but well worth your time.

On incentivizing employees and creating repeat customers:

The more you share profits with your associates – whether it’s in salaries or incentives or bonuses or stock discounts – the more profit will accrue to the company. Why? Because the way management treats the associates is exactly how the associates will then treat the customers. And if the associates treat the customers well, the customers will return again and again, and that is where the real profit in this business lies, not in trying to drag strangers into your stores for one time purchases based on splashy sales or expensive advertising.

On the adverse effects of unions, and the benefits of strong communication and adept management:

But historically, as unions have developed in this country, they have mostly just been divisive. They have put management on one side of the fence, employees on the other, and themselves in the middle as almost a separate business, one that depends on division between the other two camps. And divisiveness, by breaking down direct communication, makes it harder to take care of customers, to be competitive, and to gain market share.

On the other hand, let me say this: anytime we have ever had real trouble or the serious possibility of a union coming into the company, it has been because management has failed, because we have not listened to our associates, or because we have mistreated them. I think anytime the employees at a company say they need a union, it’s because management has done a lousy job of managing and working with their people. Usually, it’s directly traceable to what’s going on at the line supervisor level – something stupid that some supervisor does, or something good he or she doesn’t do.

On businesses resting on their laurels:

If American business is going to prevail, and be competitive, we’re going to have to get accustomed to the idea that business conditions change, and that survivors have to adapt to those changing conditions. Business is a competitive endeavor, and job security lasts only as long as the customer is satisfied. Nobody owes anybody else a living.

Many people in this business are still trying to charge whatever the traffic will bear, and they’re simply on the wrong track. I’ll tell you this: those companies out there who aren’t thinking about the customer and focusing on the customer’s interest are just going to get lost in the shuffle- if they haven’t already. Those who get greedy are going to get left in the dust.

On ethical free markets:

You start with a given: free enterprise is the engine of our society; communism is pretty much down the drain and proven so; and there doesn’t appear to be anything else that can compare to a free society based on a market economy. Nothing can touch that system – not unless leadership and management get selfish or lazy. In the future, free enterprise is going to have to be done well – which means it benefits the workers, the stockholders, the communities, and, of course, management, which must adopt a philosophy of servant leadership.

Recently, I don’t think there’s any doubt that a lot of American management has bent over too far toward taking care of itself first, and worrying about everybody else later. The Japanese are right on this point: you can’t create a team spirit when the situation is so one sided, when management gets so much and workers get so little of the pie. Some of these salaries I see out there are completely out of line, and everybody knows it. It’s obvious that most companies would be much better served by basing managers’ pay on the performance of the company or return on investment to the shareholders or some yardstick which clearly takes into account how well they’re doing their job. And the formula has to make sure that profits are divided fairly among workers, management, and stockholders, according to their contributions and risks. At Wal-Mart we’ve always paid our executives less than industry standards, sometimes maybe too much less. But we’ve always rewarded them with stock bonuses and other incentives related directly to the performance of the company. It’s no coincidence that the company has done really well, and so have they.

Now this is just incredible. Note that Walton wrote the book in 1992 – YEARS before the collapse of the American auto industry. His foresight was truly tremendous:

Our auto industry doesn’t play on level ground. But I don’t think we should counter with protectionism because it doesn’t address the real problem: the quality of our product doesn’t compete with that of the Japanese, whether we want to admit it or not. The challenge is a great one for management. What they have to do is build a partnership with their people.

I understand that this industry has all kinds of problems we haven’t seen in ours. I know that US auto workers make $22 an hour versus $16 in Japan, and that Mexican auto workers earn much less. I’m not saying I could solve all these problems, but I’d love to have the fun of trying to take a unionized company today and sell its people on the idea of having to be competitive globally – whether it was in autos, or steel, or electronics. I’d love a chance at that, the pleasure of seeing if they could be motivated into a team that would share in all the company’s success – and still have a union. It would take a powerful lot of persuading to pull this off, but I guarantee that it could be accomplished by somebody obsessed and persistent enough. But if American management is going to say to their workers that we’re all in this together, they’re going to have to stop this foolishness of paying themselves $3 million and $4 million bonuses every year and riding around everywhere in limos and corporate jets like they’re so much better than everybody else.

I’m not saying every company should necessarily be as chintzy as Wal-Mart. Everybody’s not in the discount business, consumed by trying to save every possible dollar for their customers. But I wonder if a lot of these companies wouldn’t do just as well if their executives lived a little more like real folks. A lot of people think it’s crazy of me to fly coach whenever I go on a commercial flight, and maybe I do overdo it a little bit. But I feel like it’s up to me as a leader to set an example. It’s not fair for me to ride one way and ask everybody else to ride another way. The minute you do that, you start building resentment and your whole team idea starts to strain at the seams.

All in all I found Sam Walton to be an inspirational business figure who worked harder than most people, and tried to run an ethical business. I’m glad Sam’s not around to see what his companies are up to these days…

I Love You THIS Much

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I was going to hoard this opportunity to myself because I love gadgets but refuse to spend lots of money on them. But I decided I’d do the  nice thing for both of us and link you to the Acer Timeline Review & Giveaway. I’ve never owned an Acer – I’m a Dell kinda girl and I always thought Acer to be a bit ghetto. But I’d love the opportunity to be proven wrong. (I’m embracing that attitude a lot these days!)

So go check it out for your chance to win a new Acer laptop.

My two suggestions for Oprah’s book club

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

We ran out to get groceries last night and decided to swing in to our local Goodwill on the way – Matt to check out books for sale, and I to look at table lamps. (Really? Table lamps? Ok, interesting confession.) I eventually wandered over to the book aisle to find Matt browsing Sci Fi and decided to take a look around myself.

Let me just say that this Goodwill has a SWEET selection. Chances are, if you can’t find what you’re looking for at our very comprehensive library, you will most likely be able to find it at our local Goodwill.

From Daily Daguerreotype

I walked away with these two classics. I felt, in light of the recent unfortunate news regarding GM, that I should see what Jack Welch had to say… and I want it straight, Jack. Straight from the gut.

Sam Walton was a last minute find, and you should have seen the crap that the cashier put me through. Ok, dude. So I’m excited to read a book about Sam Walton. YOU’RE A CASHIER AT GOODWILL. Nuf said.

Damn Yankees!

Friday, May 29th, 2009

It is such a pleasure reading the things my sister writes. She is a beautiful writer, and prose matters so much to her. As a going away gift, she tucked her copy of “Gone With The Wind” into a basket with the Jack Daniels, some collard greens, and a subscription to Southern Living, and lovingly sent us on our way. It was the book that made me tear up.

Gina said that I needed to re-read the American classic, and with it all of my pre-conceived notions about people south of the Mason-Dixon line would be shattered. And boy, was she right.

I’m 474 pages into it and CANNOT PUT IT DOWN. I have such a major crush on Rhett Butler that Matt is starting to sneer at the very mention of his name. He’ll walk into the living room and glance over at me with piles of unfolded laundry to my right and left, nose buried in the book.

“What crazy antic is Captain Butler up to now? Raping and pillaging?”

“NO! It’s those DAMN YANKEES who are doing all the raping and pillaging! There was NO NEED for them to burn everything in sight… to steal food from all of the women and children! They went absolutely overboard and had no right to do these horrible things just to get their point across! Scarlett is a changed woman now… a changed and hardened woman forever and it’s all because of US!”

Matt, rolling his eyes, “I’m off to get a water ice at Ritas. Do you want me to get you anything?”

“Yeah, how bout that yummy chocolate custard and gelato thing they have? Thanks, babe.”

The least we could have done when we burned down their plantations was replace them with a reputable gelato chain!

Monday Morning Product Placement: Dell Inspiron 1525

Monday, December 8th, 2008

For years now, my family members have come to me for computer recommendations because I am, theoretically, the most tech-savvy member of my family. Most of the guys that I dated are laughing as they read this because they were all varying levels of Mr. Built My Own Computer, and they saw me as the Idiotic Techless Wonder. Yet another reason that marrying Matt was good for my self image.

At any rate, I’m going to go ahead and write a blog post about my recent purchase of a Dell Inspiron 1525, really, for my own laziness – so the next time I get an email asking for a computer suggestion I can merely point them to this blog post and be magically done.

Now, this laptop is the first computer I’ve purchased since Janet, the thing I put together from mangled computer parts 5 years ago. Always an early adopter of technological ideas but a late adopter of hardware that I am expected to purchase with my own bank account, I put this buy off until the very last minute.

A few things you should know, first being that I’m a PC user. I think Macs are great, but see paragraph above regarding how I spend my own money, and Macs are not worth the money you pour into them. Piggybacking on that thought, I’m a big fan of Dell’s refurbished machines because, like a used car, you can get a lot of bang for your buck if you’re willing to accept the fact that someone else owned this beauty before you.

In this case, I had to buy my Inspiron new to use a gift card I acquired from cashing in my credit card points, essentially slashing the cost of the computer in half. Otherwise, I would have bought refurbished. I had also recommended this laptop to my Dad who purchased it about a month before me and so far has really enjoyed it himself. So I wanted to make sure I had made a good recommendation.

Here are the specs on my particular machine, so if you want something that is good and fast and will last you 4-5 years (assuming you’re a standard user who wants to edit photos, use a word processor, surf YouTube, and check your Gmail), I think you’ll be more than satisfied with a machine with similar power.

  • Intel Pentium Dual T3200 processor @ 2 GHz
  • 3 GB Memory

All the rest is just details. As for Vista, a lot of annoying things there, but the new 2007 Excel is completely worth all of the annoying bugs in the rest of the operating system. You will be amazed by all the new shortcuts.

Now that I’ve moved into my Inspiron, I’m undergoing the process of wiping down Janet and installing Xubuntu. I’ve been wanting to play around with a Linux-only system for a while and, by my calculations, have about 5 more years to get used to Linux before purchasing my next Linux-only machine.

Best wishes with your computer-buying!

P.S. If you want to go with a little less power for a little less cash try the one I recommended for my sister – same model of Inspiron but with 2 GB memory. So far she seems to be enjoying it as well.

P.S.S. I believe I gave a recommendation to Big Ma that wound up being a catastrophe. Could you give us a Consumer Report on that one, Big Ma?

P.S.S.S. Back in the day when I was working in the IT department of a really great company that seriously gave their employees the best tools for the job, I was hooked up with a beautiful XPS M1530 that was great for running the entire Adobe Suite all at once. If you’re doing a lot of multimedia all at once, I highly highly recommend this machine.

Yet again, Chad saves the day

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

A big warm and wet thanks to Chad for fixing the sidebar bug in IE. Way back in 2002, he sat me down in a computer lab and taught me HTML. He is also responsible for my affection towards the following bands:

  • Hall and Oates
  • Gorillaz
  • Radiohead
  • Chemical Brothers
  • And Supreme Beings of Leisure.

Clearly, I owe him a lot. Tonight, we toast our ginger ale to you, Chad.