The Art of Decision Making

Back in 1920’s the life expectancy for a U.S. Mail pilot was a mere four years. Flying in bad weather was proving to be detrimental to a pilot. In fact, of the first forty U.S. Mail pilots, thirty-one died carrying the mail. Something had to be done to change the attitude of the people who were making the “DECISION” of when a pilot should fly. The pilots worked out a deal with their field managers. They said they would fly in bad weather if the field manager would be willing to get in the co-pilot’s seat and take-off and fly once around the airfield and then come back and land. If the weather was so bad, that the field manager was too scared to comply with that rule, then the pilot would not take-off. The year this rule was made, 1922, U.S. Mail pilots had zero fatalities.

Great Questions Lead to Great Opportunities

Many companies were started because someone asked an innocent question. The invention of the Polaroid Instamatic Camera was triggered by a question. The three-year-old daughter of the inventor, Edwin H. Land, asked her father after he took her photo, “Why do we have to wait for the picture, Daddy?”

Pay Attention to “7”

The number “7” is used, referenced and associated with a lot of things. There are the 7 wonders of the ancient world, 7 continents, 7 seas, 7 colors of the rainbow, 7 notes on the diatonic musical scale, Snow White had 7 dwarfs, three 7’s is a winning hand (Blackjack), three 7’s on a slot machine hits the jackpot, and there is the 7th inning stretch in baseball. You also have the 7-year itch in marriage, 7 letters in the Roman Numeral system, and 7 deadly sins: greed, gluttony, pride, lust, sloth, envy, and wrath

Why Experience the Pain

Life is too short to learn and experience it ALL yourself. Success comes to those who seek knowledge/ADVICE and apply it. For you advice givers out there, remember this: 1) a good example has more value than advice. 2) never give another person advice that you wouldn’t be willing to take.

Corporate Survival

The problem with most companies today is their employees see the people walking into their place of business or ordering on-line as JUST ANOTHER CUSTOMER. Companies forget how excited they were the day they had their first customer. After years of success, customers are taken for granted. Most of the people working for them weren’t around when they had their first customer. Most employees don’t really give much thought to the fact that customers pay their salaries along with paying for everything else.

One Word You Need to Ensure Your Success

In between the business methodologies of Total Quality Management to Business Process Reengineering (BPR), from Six Sigma to Lean Sigma, don't lose sight of some good “Old Words;” service, trust, respect, loyalty, diligence, fairness, and integrity will serve you well in your career. Those “Old Words” should never be overlooked in our quest for the latest and greatest technological business tool or management book.