tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20958813423730822092024-02-18T19:19:25.176-08:00The Sky's No LimitBusiness has never changed since the days when men inhabited caves. But the way that business is done has changed. It has changed because of information and technology. No wonder we talk about it so much...Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-52421467800064234312017-03-09T03:00:00.003-08:002017-03-09T03:00:31.925-08:00The value of a name<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_58c133c07cebb5b44896765">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I took a young trader to one of the most reputable antique dealers that I know, hoping that the old dog would teach the young puppy some tricks. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> For my very first question I asked the master how important reputation is to a trader?</span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> His answer was emphatic and immediate: "You name is EVERYTHING!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I made a mental note not only of what he said, but the passionate way with which he said it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> What he said sums up what you will read in volumes of business books. Yet, it is still old news. If you read the Bible, you'd have heard that message 3,000 years ago already. Earlier than that, even, if you understand the Golden Rule:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Favour is better than silver and gold." - Proverbs 22:1.</span></div>
</div>
Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-67702645445078372022017-03-08T02:01:00.003-08:002017-03-08T02:02:55.687-08:00I bought no insurance today<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_58bfcf93920727996824751">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwAmCuVWwAlnudQqszkZNuvXtyKrswYyWCdtkN-5bO4SmZEjS9WPVu6wXXv70RhFdU8a6JG6agOiyJuUv3ktjAsox4Y3tacvPZevqIUP0dqQ4ZbqQnyDszqMahbCYEjihYbA3la-uBFc/s1600/shotgun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrwAmCuVWwAlnudQqszkZNuvXtyKrswYyWCdtkN-5bO4SmZEjS9WPVu6wXXv70RhFdU8a6JG6agOiyJuUv3ktjAsox4Y3tacvPZevqIUP0dqQ4ZbqQnyDszqMahbCYEjihYbA3la-uBFc/s400/shotgun.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I bought no insurance today.</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I received a call from a very friendly girl who asked if she could talk to me.<br /><br /> "How may I be of assistance?" I responded cheerfully<span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show">.<br /><br /> She said she knew that I was busy and didn't not want to take up too much of my time.<br /><br /> "That's all right," I said, "how can I help you?"</span></span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> She ignored my question and in stead asked me how I was doing?<br /><br /> I told her I was fine and once again asked politely what I could do for her?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> She said she wanted to discuss my financial future and wanted to know when we could set up a meeting?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> That was a bit too fast for me.I told her anyone is more than welcome to visit me, as long as they don't come to talk about insurance.<br /><br /> She asked me why, so I asked if I could tell her a story. She said yes. I told her a shortened version of my story, and to my surprise - she listened.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Many years ago, when my father was in his early thirties, an insurance salesman called at our farm. When he introduced himself and my father told him who he was, the salesman blanched. He apologized and said he was new in town, and his superiors had warned him whatever he did, not to call at the farm of Carl Labuschagne, because "that man shoots Sanlam agents..."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> My father wouldn't have shot anyone, but there was no way he was going to buy insurance from the same company again. Country folk are known to be hospitable, however, and my father was a gentleman. In stead of shooting the salesman, he invited him for tea and then to lunch. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The salesman made no sales that afternoon, but after a couple of hours of conversation, he certainly made a friend.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> There was a story behind the story, of course. Some years before that another salesman had called at our farm and convinced my father that he needed trauma insurance. Just in case he contracted a life-threatening disease which would leave his family unprovided for. My father thought it sounded like a good idea so he signed the forms and dutifully paid his premiums.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Then he was diagnosed with cancer. The most optimistic doctor of his team told him he probably had three more months to live. It was devastating news. The one thing he did not have to worry about, at least, was the financial security of his wife and small children. The insurance clearly covered cancer, and it would be more than adequate to ensure a carefree future for his family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> When he went to have the forms filled out, the district surgeon told him it was no use. He said he had a stack of claims this high, all with the same company, and all of them denied. "One way or another," he said, "they will find a way to disallow your claim. They always do."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> It was no different in our case. The assessors searched until they found in my father's pharmacy records that he had taken high blood pressure medication. Upon this discovery the claim was summarily dismissed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Fair play to the smart attorneys who write clever contracts of a kind that country farmers either do not read or do not understand. I don't know whether they were justified or not. Perhaps, in a strict legal sense, they may have been within their rights. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All I know is that it saved the company a lot money and that according to the doctor it happened every time. But I think it also cost them a lot. In money, for one thing, but also in something that was more valuable than money.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> My father told his story to many people over many years, and I'm fairly sure it left a lasting impression on existing and potential future customers. But that's now what it was about. Looking back now, I can see that there might have been an element of design involved.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Perhaps this trial was really a blessing in disguise, because now my father had the terrible knowledge that his family would not be provided for. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And so he fought with all the strength he had to stay alive. And he beat his deadly prognosis by living 27 precious extra years. Perhaps he would not have fought so hard if he had thought that his family would be financially OK after his death? Even bad things happen for good reasons sometimes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I gave the sales girl a very short overview of my story. The quietly said she understood, politely thanked me for my time and said good bye. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> I thought about it for a long time afterwords, and perhaps so did she. She had no face to me. She was just a friendly girl with a friendly voice at the far end of a copper cable. I did not want to hurt her. Another human being trying to make ends meet in our cannibalistic world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> One of the lessons that I have learned about business is that when business starts getting hot and the money is rolling very fast, it all just blurs into a whirl of numbers. It's all just about the bottom line. About saving cost, and punching profit. You forget that behind funny money there is always real people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> 27 years with cancer in the family taught me that no matter what the numbers say, business is really just about human beings. Frail, fallible people with hopes and dreams and friends and family who just want to get by as best they can. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> If we lose sight of the things that really matter in business, we lose far more than money. We lose the precious element which makes us human.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> A friend of mine who works for another big insurance company told me they have an entire department whose sole purpose is to find ways to get out of having to honour insurance claims. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">He told me how many millions they manage to save this way every year. They set goals and strive to break their own records. They are proud about what they achieve. To them it is just another game. It is all just blur of numbers. They have lost sight of what genuine business really should have been about. Long-lasting relationships with long-lasting loyalty. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> This story involves insurance, but it could have been about many other kinds of business as well. It is not about the individual case, but about the principle that it illustrates. Undermining our own humanity in an effort to maximize profit is as old as mankind itself. It can be found in law, in politics, in medicine, in education, in banking - and yes - also in insurance. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> When we are playing with money in our playpens, like toddlers in a golden sandpit, we would do well to remind ourselves that we should always handle our customers with great respect and tenderness. Their lives are far more fragile than we think. Numbers are important. But people always outweigh numbers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> For a while I felt sorry that I told my story to the young telesales girl, wondering whether perhaps I had upset her morning. I didn't mean to hurt her. But even so, perhaps it was a good thing to remind myself - more than her - that we should not hurt people in the way that we do business. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> My business partner often used to say, "birds fly, fish swim and human beings...? Humans f-e-e-l. Because that's is just what they do."</span></div>
</div>
Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-38162148501068630362016-12-20T08:12:00.002-08:002016-12-20T08:12:22.469-08:00How the unemployed stay unemployed because they do not try.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Unemployed_men_queued_outside_a_depression_soup_kitchen_opened_in_Chicago_by_Al_Capone%2C_02-1931_-_NARA_-_541927.jpg/1024px-Unemployed_men_queued_outside_a_depression_soup_kitchen_opened_in_Chicago_by_Al_Capone%2C_02-1931_-_NARA_-_541927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Unemployed_men_queued_outside_a_depression_soup_kitchen_opened_in_Chicago_by_Al_Capone%2C_02-1931_-_NARA_-_541927.jpg/1024px-Unemployed_men_queued_outside_a_depression_soup_kitchen_opened_in_Chicago_by_Al_Capone%2C_02-1931_-_NARA_-_541927.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to catch fish - maybe you need to go fishing.</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had coffee with one of the most successful businessmen that I know in our region. He told me an astonishing story about unemployment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He said he was asked to speak to a group of local people from a needy neighbourhood about the problem of local unemployment. When he arrived, there were about 50 people assembled to see what solutions he could propose.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He asked how many of them were unemployed. Virtually all hands went up. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He then asked how many of them had actually knocked on a door that week to ask for work? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No hands went up. Not a single one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He then sighed and shared with them a simple plan. He said they could all come by his office where he or his personnel would help them compile a decent curriculum vitae. With this, he said, they were to then go and knock on just one door a day for the next week - and <i>ask </i>for work. After that they could all meet again and see how things had gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the end of a week, the promised meeting took place. This time only about half of the original number was present. The rest didn't bother to show up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend then asked how many of them had succeeded in getting a job that week.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All hands went up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every <i>single </i>one, who had bothered to try, had landed a job that week!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He marveled as much at this story as I did myself. We, who are capitalists by nature, simply cannot understand how unemployment is driven by the weak desire to make decisive effort. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Afterwards it seemed a lot like fishing to me. Life has taught me that there are three kinds of fishermen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first kind of fisherman has a lot to eat because he is up early and goes home late - and puts a lot of effort into fishing, both during good times and bad times. When things go badly, he does not get overly discouraged. He simply keeps on trying until things get better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second kind of fisherman has little to eat because he only goes fishing when he feels like it, or when he has a notion that the fishing will be easy that day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The third kind of fisherman is always starving because he simply does not fish at all. He is always telling you that the fishing is poor this time of year. The weather is too bad to go out. The sea is too dangerous. Or that he has tried already and the fish did not bite then, so why should they be biting now? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He will also tell you that he doesn't have any bait, and it is too late to find some now because the tide is not right and the rocks are submerged. Often he will even not go fishing because he will tell you that the best fishing spots have already been taken by other fishermen. Sometimes he will even be resentful towards them, and blame them for his own misery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For these, and and a hundred other reasons, the starving fisherman will remain starving because he will always be able to rationalize why staying home and doing nothing is the only thing that he can do. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A wise man, who had experienced both wealth and extreme poverty, once wrote in his autobiography that when you do not have work, you already have a job: It is now your single and sole job to rise every morning and spend six days of every week from morning till night to <i>look </i>for work. That has become your job! Look for work the way you would look for treasure. Put your energy and enthusiasm into it. Fix your appearance and polish your presentation. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Do what it takes to keep doing your job of finding employment until you have employment - even if it is a bad job to start with. Even the smallest minnow can become the bait by which to catch a bigger fish later on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Become a fisherman again by spending all your waking hours by the water's side. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Image: Wikipedia.</span>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-6495528983907281042014-05-19T06:47:00.001-07:002014-05-19T08:24:10.023-07:00The shrewd negotiator and the cake seller<h3>
<i>Every businessman
knows a story like this one, for this customer is universal. And it is a story
that has almost nothing to do with selling cakes at all.</i></h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUvnYasSWze04TB7szcv9ySH6hfb24lvEHBbS3G0xjTvt3bTF9Q4xX_hk3TqKIb9-4WUZrepRjqTIMzmobM8TjqwaRE4x5WXFeLcl1y2SdzETlI4-7DRoJgb8SorNwBhT8DQwwVXaafc/s1600/250px-Pound_layer_cake%5B1%5D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhUvnYasSWze04TB7szcv9ySH6hfb24lvEHBbS3G0xjTvt3bTF9Q4xX_hk3TqKIb9-4WUZrepRjqTIMzmobM8TjqwaRE4x5WXFeLcl1y2SdzETlI4-7DRoJgb8SorNwBhT8DQwwVXaafc/s1600/250px-Pound_layer_cake%5B1%5D.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
<o:p>How it started</o:p></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day the seller of exotic cakes saw a confident customer
enter into his shop.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was told you sell the best cakes in the world,” he
announced. “Everybody around here says no cake has ever tasted as good as
yours.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Smiling at the compliment, the seller shrugged and answered,
“Even if I have to say so myself, we use only the finest ingredients. We employ
the most highly trained confectionary chefs in industry. And we do everything
with a healthy measure of extra personal attention. We go a long extra mile to
ensure that our cake remains the best the industry has ever known because this is our passion. We are here to serve the world with pride!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They do indeed look quite delightful,” the customer agreed.
“And I can't wait to taste them. But how much does this one cost, for instance?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seller named his price and proudly held his cake for all
the shop to see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Oh you are <i>far </i>too expensive!” the customer cried with an expression of startled disbelief.
“If you want <i>my</i> business you’ll have
to cut your price and be realistic.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The supplier sighed as he quietly removed some chocolate and cherries from
his cake, before recalculating the the price. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Not good enough,” the customer insisted. “The seller around
the corner sells his for 20% less.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With a heavy heart the seller scraped some cream off and
took several pennies off the price. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Hmm… slightly better,” the customer grudgingly acceded. <br />
Then suddenly he thought of something.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Just put some celery on the cake, and then the deal is
yours.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seller stared at the customer for a moment of confused disbelief. .</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Nobody puts celery in a cake!” he protested cautiously. "I can do that, but I'm sure you will not like it."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To this the customer shot him an accusing look.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Who are you to tell me what I would or wouldn't like? I know more about cakes than you could possibly imagine. And most of all, I'll have you know that <i>I </i>am the customer and the customer is <i>always </i>right. Have
you never heard of such a principle, or are you still too new in business?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seller could hardly argue against that, and so with
shaking head he put some celery onto the customer’s cake. ‘The customer is
always right,’ he tried to remind himself as he reluctantly arranged the celery sticks upon the customer's cake.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though the seller knew it would taste awful, the cake
certainly looked pretty now, and the customer was quick to point it out and remind the seller that this proves how much he knows about cakes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before the seller could warn about the taste gain, however, the customer
loudly added: “If I take a dozen, you’ll have to give me volume discount, won’t
you?” <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The seller’s eyes clouded over as he realized where the
customer was going. His products were made for those with high expectations.
They also represented the lowest price that would make superior quality possible.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Unfortunately now there was no polite way to tell the customer that he
was not interested in his business anymore. With trembling hand the seller therefore
parted the layers of his cake and scraped the filling out as well. His products
were all hand-made, of course. He also knew the seller around the corner used pre-mix
ingredients and produced them on a factory production line so they could never taste the same. But price is price,
and after all, everyone understands a volume discount, don’t they? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When he was done the seller leaned towards the kitchen hatch
and asked for a dozen cakes to be brought forth. But right then an urgent hand
stopped his action.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I changed my mind,” the customer smilingly objected. “I
think I’ll take just one cake after all. Just to see what it is like before I
place a <i>real </i>order.”<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With that, he smugly laid his money on the table. He had
just succeeded in obtaining a discount on a discount, plus the volume price for
one. ‘What a shrewd negotiator am I,’ he thought as he caught sight of his own
reflection in the display shelf’s mirror. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With a startled expression the seller looked his customer in
the eye. He knew that he had lost. But he did not regret the profit that has
just evaporated. Even as he slipped the
case inside its box, he knew that he had lost the one thing that he valued more
than money – his reputation as the best confectioner of the century.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A week later the same customer looked into his store again.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’m just here to tell you,” he sourly announced, “that the your
cake really tasted awful. It was dry and flavourless, and there was
nothing in it that made it special. Also, the balance of flavours was really
very off. I don’t know what you do in your recipes, but you certainly could use
some help from someone who knows more than you about baking. Furthermore, you really would
do well to learn from your competition around the corner if you want to see how
business should be done. You should try offering some value to your customers,
you know? Walk the extra mile, sometimes. Don’t just sell a heap of sponginess.
Put some cream and cherries on top. That’s what everybody does with cakes like
these.”<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As if to punctuate his disapproval further, the customer squinted sternly, and then
summed up his protest by adding, “I don’t know what everyone was going on
about, because your cake has nothing worth recommending at all. In fact, I am
here to let you now that I will never buy another cake for you – and I’ll be
sure to tell my friends as well.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a little while the seller contemplated sadly saying
nothing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But just as the customer was about to leave his store, he
quietly asked a question: “So have you bought any of the man around the corner’s cakes lately?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The customer hesitated for a moment, and cast a frowning
look.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Of course,” he lied. “And they taste far, <i>far</i> better than
yours...”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h4>
The sequel</h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few weeks later the same customer was visiting a friend, who served
him the most amazing cake he had ever tasted. When he enquired where it came from,
he was surprised to hear that it came from the same seller whose cake he had found
so flavourless.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t know what I have such rotten luck,” he finally
declared. “Wherever I go, I always get the worst of cakes. I get the worst of
service and the most shocking consumer experiences. I guess you were just
lucky. Don’t I ever wish I had your luck in life…”<br /><br />The moral of the story? If you find a product vendor that prepares his products with the greatest care, pride and who visibly pays attention to fair pricing as well - be careful of negotiating all the value out of it. Unhappy customers are frequently those who make sure that all the cream and cherries gets scraped off before the take their purchase home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Image source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake</a> </div>
Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-89328423895988172902013-10-30T12:49:00.000-07:002013-10-30T12:49:16.005-07:00Complaining people are unhappy people<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4rpCjYTwLqTzLvw9VEXdcfYUMqW8BE1UjxSUABsvLEubO1sy6_1LHBXBqIXWtAnJ8IJsc9p9qvp7U94GRv3VPqQ4ew8t1es5VvRK-qIz72QDeWDANLnqGc7XgelGmncYhpg4s7prs5U/s1600/Wayuu_woman_with_sad_face_in_the_market_buying.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif4rpCjYTwLqTzLvw9VEXdcfYUMqW8BE1UjxSUABsvLEubO1sy6_1LHBXBqIXWtAnJ8IJsc9p9qvp7U94GRv3VPqQ4ew8t1es5VvRK-qIz72QDeWDANLnqGc7XgelGmncYhpg4s7prs5U/s320/Wayuu_woman_with_sad_face_in_the_market_buying.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<br />
Yesterday a customer rang me up to give me a very long and rather emotionally-pitched lecture. She said our service is "absolutely shocking." She said in stead of owning up we are covering up. She hinted twice that I have been lying to her. And then she urged me - as she had done on previous occasions "to seriously take a course in customer relations management."<br />
<br />
I suppose we could save money on course fees by simply following her instructions. After all, she has been telling us how we ought to run our business since before she even became a customer. Inexpensive consultancy has never been so cheap before.<br />
<br />
I don't think anyone could have pleased her anyway. But still, such calls are upsetting - especially if you yourself are a believer in high service standards.<br />
<br />
Then there came the irony. An hour later I was on the phone with another customer. She, on the other hand, kept telling me how great we were and how she would do business with nobody else and that she is always telling everyone how good we are.<br />
<br />
One service, two people, two perceptions. It is impossible, of course, that both of them can be right. So which one do you think is wrong?<br />
<br />
I walked around with that woman's conversation in my mind all day. I was searching for the fatal flaw in our service. There is always <i>something </i>that could have been done more perfectly, but that's not the main thing that I was looking for. I was looking at what the common denominator was that made this one person so desperately unhappy. Why, out of several hundred customers, should there always be two or three that are unshakably convinced that they are recipients of the worst of service? I mean, they do not make up these feelings. They really and truly <i>believe </i>what they feel is reality.<br />
<br />
Then I remembered the story of the nun:<br />
<br />
A young nun once joined a convent which was run by a Silent Order. Upon her admission the mother superior informed her that whatever happened, not a word might be spoken within those walls, unless it was said with her permission. A year later the mother superior summoned the young nun to tell her that since her conduct had been so exemplary for a whole year, she would be permitted to speak one word.<br />
The young nun thought for a moment and then shyly said: "Cold..."<br />
The mother superior nodded sternly and then dismissed her to her room.<br />
Another year passed until again the young nun was called in and permitted to say a word.<br />
"Hungry...!" she whispered, with a desperate plea in her lonely eyes.<br />
With a disapproving frown the mother superior waved her off and shut the door.<br />
In this silent way another year slowly passed. For a third time the nun was brought before the mother superior.<br />
"In recognition of you having been here for three whole years," the mother superior sternly said, "I will now permit you to say <i>two </i>whole words. You may speak them now."<br />
The young nun hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and said: "I <i>quit!"</i><br />
For a long time the mother superior surveyed the girl before her and then sighed with resignation.<br />
"I suppose it's for the best," she said. "You've done nothing but complain ever since you came here anyway..."<br />
<br />
In my life I have known a lot of unhappy people. I have also found that unhappy people tend to be distinctly critical people. They are complaining people. They proudly approve of good service, not in a grateful manner, but merely recognizing it as being their rightful due.<br />
<br />
They energetically seek to identify deficient service, and seek to make a contribution to the advancement of civilization by highlighting it. They draw up petitions. They write letters of complaint. They phone heads of corporations to give them a motherly earful. They keep files of all their correspondence with customer complaint departments. They tell kids and young mothers how they ought to be conducting themselves. They lean across post office counters and lecture clerks about their company's policy. They are the ones that will hold up drinking glasses to the light to make sure that there are no dirt marks on them. And if their should be a single fly in a million gallons of soup, they are likely to find it. They make sure to collect all the evidence. They try to do mankind a favour by bringing it to the attention to the whole world who might not have noticed. They are, after all, the self-appointed guardians of standards and good order.<br />
<br />
It is funny how complaining people tend to be perpetual victims of plots and conspiracies, always on the receiving end of never-ending episodes of extortion and misfortune. How is it that these poor souls should always be so dreadfully misused in every way?<br />
<br />
So the nun eventually quit the convent - and I do indeed feel sorry for her. But few would argue that she was better off by doing so in any event. In my case, I politely suggested that my complaining customer might be happier by using someone else's service.<br />
<br />
"No, I have never had a problem with your product," he retorted. "It's just the shocking way that you people conduct your business..."<br />
<br />
I also sighed with silent resignation. If only our service had been worse, perhaps this customer would have quit as well. That, after all, is the kind of customer I would dearly love our opposition to have.Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-37390047277604042732012-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:002012-06-20T13:57:28.056-07:00My Amazing Note from China<br />
<h3>
<span style="background-color: white;">What a valuable lesson I learnt from a stranger through a loss making transaction</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white;">There are those that buy things and sell them at a profit.
Most of the world does business this way. They just handle inventory and make
sure that they get rewarded for the changing of hands. But then there are those
very few beautiful souls who have turned business into an art form. I came
across someone like that two days ago.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKB_CL5HES7gaR1neTN5BxTjGSUmhvFQD4QqCKBHOLLN0WpP4QYLXOGTBfSl5dgZo21cyTmBK7DbIGqfJSrNUZppzPztihDXpJSWMxzjyxLOZ1XNy-EOemtxx4QOUhmXuDaUbWAGibjwI/s1600/IMG_0313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKB_CL5HES7gaR1neTN5BxTjGSUmhvFQD4QqCKBHOLLN0WpP4QYLXOGTBfSl5dgZo21cyTmBK7DbIGqfJSrNUZppzPztihDXpJSWMxzjyxLOZ1XNy-EOemtxx4QOUhmXuDaUbWAGibjwI/s320/IMG_0313.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My pen from China - with Cindy's note</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All my friends know that I’m inordinately fond of fountain
pens. Essentially I have only used fountain pens since I was 15 years old. And
as it goes with life long passions, one always seems to be after the perfect
instrument. In this case, the perfect pen. It so happened that I chanced to
come across a nice-looking fountain pen on Ebay a while ago. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was seconds before closing time and nobody had made a bid
yet. I took a chance and entered my bid – mostly out of curiosity, I suppose.
And so it came that I bought myself a nice new fountain pen for – all of one US
cent. Yes – US$0.01 – or less than ZAR8c in our own money. When shipping cost
of US$4.98 was added, the total came to US$4.99. What could I have bought for
that kind of money in <st1:country-region w:st="on">South
Africa</st1:country-region>? A hamburger, if I was lucky. Or a
dozen free range eggs maybe. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could not believe my luck. This, for a heavy, exceedingly
well-crafted pen with a suction cartridge and a nice golden nib? Too good to be
true, you might think. Well so did I. But on Ebay a gentleman’s word is his
bond, plus my curiosity had to be satisfied. And more than anything else – a
deal is a deal. Accordingly, I paid the money and waited.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mail from <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>
normally takes about three weeks. But in this case we had a postal strike so I
knew it was going to be long – if the package arrived at all. Yet, sure enough,
two months later it was in the mail. South African Customs made me pay R15,00
for it. We all know the feeling – when
you must pay US1.88 tax for an item that cost US0.01 then there is only one way
to put it – you have just been raped by your own government. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what can you do? Caesar must also live, even if by means
of immoral gain. I therefore paid the ransom and curiously opened the package. And
there it was – not quite a <st1:place w:st="on">Mont Blanc</st1:place>, to be
sure. But still – I was exceedingly satisfied. It felt like real quality and
wrote beautifully. Now, in the world of fountain pens, each pen has a soul and
a character. Like a woman. Each one is unique in the way it handles and writes.
I thought about my new pen and decided, if this one was a woman, it would have
been Marlene Dietrich. Smooth and sophisticated right to the tip. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning I woke up in a foul mood. I was in a hurry
to tidy up before leaving for work, but just before I threw away the box that
the pen had shipped in, something caught my eye. Inside the package was a small
note – intricately folded in origami style. When I carefully unfolded it, I saw
that it was a hand written message. And there – in the neatest Western
handwriting, were the following words:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Hello dear friend.
Thank you very much for your purchase!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I’m so glad that the
item reached you finally. Hope it did not keep you waiting tooo long. Your
purchase really a big support on me and give motivation to make me keep
offering best products and service. Thank you very much again!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>If there is any
problem make you unsatisfy with the transaction please contact me and give me
chance to solve it. And if you satisfy with it please leave me positive
feedback. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Thank you very much!<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Best regards<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Cindy<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Share. Enjoy”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr01RJ1gizc9SmOCnKZaH8QPynt3pFa9M2LuRkp3MkAOsd7au768DPZROBX8xyvCHkflKXHFX6aXIZ-KpXTcfZ6AZYj26ECkyo1Dv3CRAxAT7hkqHysyzkNcw-D0Rqd8ooaGKmqJLRBWA/s1600/IMG_0317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr01RJ1gizc9SmOCnKZaH8QPynt3pFa9M2LuRkp3MkAOsd7au768DPZROBX8xyvCHkflKXHFX6aXIZ-KpXTcfZ6AZYj26ECkyo1Dv3CRAxAT7hkqHysyzkNcw-D0Rqd8ooaGKmqJLRBWA/s320/IMG_0317.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In neat Western handwriting, her words were written</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I really must say – I had been in such an annoyed mood
right up to then. But at that very moment, it felt as if the sun was shining
into Africa all the way from <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>.
I realized something very important then. For one US cent, this surely must
have been a loss making transaction for a Chinese small business. There was no
way they could have shipped that product economically. Surely most businessmen
around the world would have sent the product with sour reluctance. Some would
even have looked for justification not to send it at all. And yet, here was one
who honoured a commitment not only with dignity, but with joyful pleasure. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How often would you encounter that in life?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In life, there are so many things we do simply because we
have to. We have to buy something and sell it at a profit in order to make a
living. We think nothing of the process, but rather treated as the necessary protocol
that we have to hurriedly follow in order to collect our money so we can spend
it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But we forget that sometimes the little things we do can
have a big effect on the lives of others. In my case, it was an event that gave
me a smile that lasted all day long. I told all my colleagues this story at
work – and showed them the note. I and then I decided to tell the world. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So every time I use this pen, I will remember among the 1
billion people who live in China – there is one person whose name is Cindy –
who has taught me something about business, and caused the sun to break through
on the other side of the world when it was just another cloudy day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I will remember Cindy – and I will remember her
business at <a href="http://stores.ebay.com/shareenjoy">http://stores.ebay.com/shareenjoy</a>
. Business is about business for the most part. Yet most of all, business is about people. We must never, ever forget that.</div>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-70109654921391848422012-05-23T10:47:00.000-07:002012-05-23T11:38:03.629-07:00"My goal is to be a rock star. And my backup to be be an astronaut"<h3>
Reality should never be be the enemy of dreams</h3>
Yesterday I stumbled across the listing of a 15 year old boy on the website of a US adoption agency. The description stated that his <i>"vocational goal is to be a rock star, but his backup plan is to be an astronaut." </i><br />
<br />
I read it again. Slowly. All night and all day long now his words have been playing over and over upon my mind. It gave me several emotions from sadness to excitement. But more than anything else I felt deeply pleased to hear those words. I recognized the language of big dreams. And the language of dreams is spoken by the rarest of men. In fact, the language of dreams is often spoken most fluently by the young. And we should listen to that voice as often as it is heard - for it is the voice that shapes the future.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Astronaut-EVA.jpg/250px-Astronaut-EVA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Astronaut-EVA.jpg/250px-Astronaut-EVA.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Once upon a time almost all of us had big dreams. Fireman, pilot or astronaut - there was a time that you and I had every conviction that this dream would become reality one day. But as the years pass, things change. Surrounded by the examples of men who have given up before reaching their goals, we start to water down our dreams. Diminishing our goals. Miniaturizing our beliefs. We grow older and more cautious. We listen with close attention to the caring voices of those who had long since abandoned their own hopes.<br />
<br />
They who show themselves so helpful to protect us against disappointment and disillusionment by cautiously reminding us to rather pick more reasonable dreams. Achievable ones. Sensible dreams that will more properly fit into the moulds of mediocrity. "Your dreams are false," they argue. "They are not real," they whisper. Those are the voices we hear the most. And in time, those are the voices we end up believing.<br />
<br />
There is a story about diamonds that I was once told. It was about a man who grew up on the border of Lesotho. Over the years, the mountain inhabitants often brought brilliant stones from the mountain streams to his family - believing that they were diamonds. His father knew that diamonds were harder than almost anything. And so, to test whether they were real or not, he used to smack them with a hammer. In this manner, without fail, every single stone was crushed to powder.<br />
<br />
Only many years later, when this boy saw some of the most exquisite diamonds in South Africa coming from those same mountains, did he realize that many of those diamonds had probably been real. For hard though they may be, even diamonds shatter between the cold steel of a hammer and the hard iron of an anvil.<br />
<br />
This to me, is how it often is when seemingly unlikely dreams are shattered beneath the deadly hammers of preconception. And so, one by one, most people end up dropping the diamonds of their dreams into the molten lava of disbelief. Just as if someone had convinced us them that they were in actual fact never real diamonds, but merely ordinary fragments of glass. I could not help but wonder how many good dreams have been lost in this way across the ages? It must be millions without number.<br />
<br />
At what point then, do most of us abandon our dreams? At what point do we believe the voices that tell us to walk away from dreams that are too big? For example, one must grant that indeed, the odds of actually becoming an astronaut are small. Some might say minuscule. I believe that the odds of becoming an astronaut are 1 in 320 million. These odds are very nearly the same as winning the California lottery.<br />
<br />
But as we all know - more new astronauts go to space every year. And <i>somebody </i>wins the lottery all the time - however small the chances. Clearly there are always those who dream about seemingly impossible things, who nevertheless still attain them in life.<br />
<br />
I know of one such man. The biggest dreamer of them all. And the owner of more diamonds than anybody who had ever lived until his time. Some thought of him as the king of diamonds. But I think of him as the king of dreams. He it was, who used to say,<i> "I measure a man by the size of his dream."</i> I would take those words seriously from a person who started with nothing and made himself into one of the richest men in the world.<br />
<i><br /></i><br />
<i>"I dream in continents,"</i> he told his friends. And that, indeed, he did. Quite literally so.<br />
<br />
To those who knew him well enough, Rhodes was a scoundrel by every unit of measure. But he also set the benchmark for marrying unlikely dreams with ultimate reality. However lacking his character might have been at times, there is a lot that we can learn from his spirit.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/CecilRhodes.jpg/170px-CecilRhodes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/CecilRhodes.jpg/170px-CecilRhodes.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cecil John Rhodes - one of the biggest and most successful dreamers who ever lived.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Like so many other great men, he had a humble origin. Cecil Rhodes began his life as the somewhat sickly son of a British parson. He came from the bottom end of a large family. He was not an overly gifted scholar. He did not really excel at sport. And even his social skills were limited, for he he had a squeaky, almost girlish voice. Neither did he come from wealth or class. In fact, his life seemed destined to mediocrity.<br />
<br />
He was already flowing into the mould of ensured social insignificance, but for one important thing that happened to him. His doctors advised him for the sake of his health to relocate to South Africa. And so it was decided to send him to the other side of the world in order to attempt to prolong his life.<br />
<br />
In 1871 he arrived in South Africa. He was, as one author described him, <i>"a tall, lanky, anaemic, fair-haired boy, shy and reserved in bearing."</i> And he was still a mere boy of only 17 years old. To all reasonable expectations, young Cecil should have had a life of perfect insignificance. In fact, the farming venture that he attempted with his brother soon turned into failure.<br />
<br />
But in this fateful decade South Africa had become the country of dreams. To dreamers and adventurers around the world, this was the land of golden opportunity. A land of mineral rushes unlike any the world had ever known. And it was one of the fewest places on earth where a <i>nobody </i>could have the hope of becoming a <i>somebody </i>with just a little bit of luck and a lot of hard work.<br />
<br />
Young Cecil's experienced many serious setbacks. But he never gave up trying. His wanderings eventually lead him to the diamond rush of Kimberley. In stead of finding rivers of diamonds here, he discovered thousands of men who already had a head start on him. Men much cleverer than he. Much older and stronger. Vastly more experienced. Far better equipped to survive and prosper in a cruel world where one man would step onto his neighbour just as sure as a hungry dog would eat another. What mattered most, however, was that Cecil had one thing that was bigger than any other man - the size of his dreams.<br />
<br />
What followed in Cecil's life reads like a story book. In his relatively short life, the unassuming boy from Hertfordshire consolidated the mad world of Kimberley into the biggest diamond company in the history of the world. He founded and directed one of the greatest gold mines on the planet - still producing gold over 120 years later. He even had a country named after him. He floated companies, founded industries, determined the course of history, and either built or destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children.<br />
<br />
He, who had no special education, went on to obtain an Oxford degree. He then became the Prime Minister of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. He became the friend of monarchs and the partner of international bankers. These achievements would have satisfied even the most ambitious men. But Rhodes' dreams were bigger yet. All of these were merely stepping stones on the way to his real dream: that of building a railway from the Cape to Cairo - and then to go on to unify the entire English-speaking world into one great empire. And after that, his dream was to unite the world under the British flag.<br />
<br />
In fact, these were not just fantasies. To Rhodes they were real. Because, as he once told his friends, his dreams are backed with plans. <i>"There is a difference,"</i> he insisted.<br />
<br />
It is an irony of history that Rhodes did not live to realize his ultimate dreams. But it did not matter. He came further than much more talented men could have reached in generations. He, who had once been given only 6 months to live, died at the age of 48. His dying words were, <i>"so little done. So much to do."</i><br />
<br />
There are many reasons why Rhodes came so far in life. But in my mind, one of the most important was the fact that he dreamed bigger than all, and remained child enough to believe in the reality of every one of his dreams.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png/170px-Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png/170px-Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mark Twain once said that where Cecil Rhodes stood in the Cape, his shadow fell across the Zambezi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rhodes had been brought up to become a parson like his father. Or a barrister, if his mother had allowed it. But destiny pointed him onto a different road. On that road, Rhodes ignored small ambitions. He paid attainable goals little attention. In stead, he chose only the biggest of dreams, and never allowed himself to be convinced that they were impossible to reach. He never tested diamonds with a hammer. He tested them with light - and if they sparkled - he kept them for his treasure.<br />
<br />
Lesser men would have kept their dreams private, for fear that others would laugh at their size. But not Rhodes. Just as he was never shy to show his treasure of diamonds, he was never shy to share his dreams with anyone would might admire their glitter. And indeed, many a friend did tell him that his dreams were unrealistic. That someone in his position had no hope of reaching them. Rhodes did not listen to small men. And he never allowed the voices of doubt to cloud the light of his dreams.<br />
<br />
And so I think back at the boy who would be a rock star. I may never meet him. But we all meet boys and girls who are like him. For my part, I choose to believe that boy will become a rock star. And if not a rock star, then an astronaut. And if not an astronaut, then I hope that he will still reach whatever dream he sets his mind to. Because dreams are the reflection of reality to those who have the faith to believe in them.<br />
<br />
My choice does not have to be a rational one. I'm a believer in dreams. We dreamers speak differently.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Credits: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">All images by courtesy of Wikipedia</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Astronaut image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f9/CecilRhodes.jpg/170px-CecilRhodes.jpg</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Portrait of Rhodes: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png/170px-Punch_Rhodes_Colossus.png</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rhodes the Colossus: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Astronaut-EVA.jpg/250px-Astronaut-EVA.jpg</span>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-72877679546234428012011-12-09T05:43:00.001-08:002012-05-23T11:36:00.312-07:00Do you know the amazing power of FREE?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/IdDLvdK65ag?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">A tribute to Netscape Navigator - a superior product who practically vanished in time because it did not realize the amazing power of Free</span></i></div>
<br />
Here is a story, in which the characters will only be remembered by older internet users.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, not so long ago in a world before this one, there used to be two internet browsers. One was called Internet Explorer and the other's name was Netscape Navigator. Both were required to browse the internet, and soon there was a struggle for world domination between them. That was how the world's first browser war began.<br />
<br />
As the battle raged, the creator of both browsers fought back hard and bitterly on all fronts. Netscape Navigator was often considered to be the superior of the two products, but in price and functionality the two were in a deadly race, made more difficult by the fact that the two products were roughly similar.<br />
<br />
But then one of the two contestants pulled the ultimate trick: it made its product free. The effect was that of detonating an atomic bomb on a medieval battlefield. It simply wiped out the opposition within months. Who can ever win a sales war if the opposing party is giving its product away at no charge? By the time the court cases were over, it was too late already. Internet Explorer emerged the undisputed winner, and it remains the world's dominant web browser to this day. It wasn't the better of the two products. Only its business model was. And that's all that counted.<br />
<br />
As for Netscape Navigator - when was the last you heard its name? Probably not in a long, long time...<br />
<br />
This little story already illustrates the amazing power of Free.<br />
<br />
But there are more facts to consider: How much does Google charge for a service which has streamlined the internet beyond comparison? The answer? Nothing. How much does the most popular social media service of all time - Facebook - charge for hours of entertainment? Nothing at all. The same goes for MySpace, and Twitter.<br />
<br />
Or what about one of the world's most popular email service, Gmail? And have you considered the incredible amount of content that millions of users receive via YouTube or the unbelievable magic of Google Earth and Skype? What do these companies charge for their immensely useful content? You guessed it. Nada. Zero. Zilch. One hundred percent nothing!<br />
<br />
But have the companies behind these services made millions, or even billions of dollars? The answer to that question is an unhesitating yes.<br />
<br />
So how is it possible that businesses can make oceans of money by giving things away for free?<br />
<br />
The answer to that question lies in the simply fact that they create revenues streams that accompany the main benefits that they give away for free. Historically, this kind of an economic model is rather rare. But not entirely. In a way, it as always been practised. And the proof of it can be found from any fisherman who will tell you: if need bait if you want to catch fish. You need to give in order to get. And if you want to get much, you have to be prepared to give a lot.<br />
<br />
The question then is, can you think how your business can use the amazing power of Free?<br />
<br />
Perhaps your business cannot benefit from the power of Free, but I do suspect that that kind of a business would be a very rare one indeed. It may not be practical to give away luxury cars for free, which would run on a proprietary fuel, from which the manufacturer would over time make much more money than he would ever make from mere car sales.<br />
<br />
But there is a principle involved. Can you see that at least? If you can, then you may just be holding the key to your next million - or billion.<br />
<br />
In our company's case, we deliver future technology to today's world. But in our industry, as in many others, there is also currently a war raging. It is called the "Bandwidth war." Everywhere in the world internet is getting faster and cheaper as different service providers are continuously forced to try and outdo each other in a competitive market.<br />
<br />
So we have to ask ourselves - in dealing with a commodity of constantly declining profit, what will happen when somebody figures out a way to give away bandwidth for free? Or, as often happens, at a price that is so low that it is almost free?<br />
<br />
Sometimes it is easier to predict the outcome of wars than people might think. And we believe that the outcome of his war would be something along the line of internet that costs so little that it is almost regarded as free. We are already planning of that world today. The power of Free can be your enemy or it can be the difference between owning a mill or owning a market. In the end, it is every business' own choice whether he wishes to make use of the principle of free or not. Free is fun, but it is not for the feint-hearted.<br />
<br />
I wonder how many people have ever thought about it this way.Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-30471713959199186722011-12-07T03:37:00.001-08:002014-05-19T08:18:49.708-07:00The success story of how one maths teacher changed the lives of many<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/GtLEA90URJE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>How one South African school is bringing the benefit of first class maths tuition to less sophisticated schools, using standard technology</i></div>
<br />
Nobody can deny that mathematics is a key that unlocks some of the greatest career possibilities in the world. A good mathematical grounding can literally be a ladder to sky: the better the understanding, the more rungs in your ladder. The more rungs, the higher you can climb. And the higher you can climb - the more stars you can pick from future worlds.<br />
<br />
Stars are like diamonds. And diamonds are money.<br />
<br />
So how seriously is maths taken in schools? The sad answer is - not very. Unfortunately mathematics is often regarded like taking your car for a service. It is merely the unpleasant thing you have to go through in order to get good results further down the road.<br />
<br />
Like millions of other kids around the world, I was in a good school who battled to get good maths teachers. And so for years we were taught maths by frustrated biology teachers, physical education teachers and even a language teacher. For the most part, these substitute teachers had very little love or appreciation for the beauty of mathematics, struggled to understand it themselves, and certainly did not manage to instil any kind of passion in us.<br />
<br />
It stands to good reason that as the years went by our results became less and less inspiring. By the second-last year of school our results were in tatters. We had sunk to a hopeless depth. We were tired, uninspired and despirited. Mathematics had become a slow-motion nightmare from which we saw no escape. It was a quicksand of despair which was in the process of sabotaging our career dreams.<br />
<br />
In my last exam I scored 37%. It looked hopeless.<br />
<br />
But then something changed. Only about one in 2,000 oysters contains a pearl. And among a hundred teachers, there always seems to be one that is different. In my last year it was our good fortune to end up with such a teacher. Her name was Riana van Heerden - a very small, soft-spoken woman with a soft heart and an iron will.<br />
<br />
When we walked into our classroom that first day, she told us these words that were inscribed on my mind:<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>"I know your records are dismal and that you probably have no hope of passing your final examinations. But I will make you a deal: If you do everything I say, and work very hard, then I will make sure that you will pass. </i></b><b><i>Whatever it takes, you will pass mathematics - and you will very likely do well too. But I must warn you - you will work harder than you have ever worked before in your lives."</i></b></div>
<br />
I never forgot those words. They haunted my mind for months as the last year of high school dissolved into endless nights of homework and extra classes. When the final examinations drew closer, we had done practically every exercise in the very thick standard issue maths handbook. We also did all the exercises in the old one from previous years. We had done all the exercises in all past examination papers. We did more exercises from other textbooks. And then we did some that the teacher invented herself. We did them all.<br />
<br />
By the time the final examination dawned, we were more ready for it than for any other subject in our entire lives. Every problem seemed like an old friend - we recognized its type and nature, smiled, and solved it with quiet confidence. As far as I know, we all passed mathematics with exceedingly good grades. We walked out of school with grades that yielded bursaries and unlocked careers.<br />
<br />
In one year one teacher took us from a class of spectacular losers to a class of impressive winners. Even those who had no mathematical talent at all.<br />
<br />
And she taught us a lesson which has guided and shaped my life ever since: you can achieve almost anything in life - if you are prepared to work hard. But you may just have to work a lot harder than you can possibly imagine.<br />
<br />
What this has given me over the years, is an unshakable belief that the unlikely is possible to those who believe. It is a matter of will, more than a matter of ability. It has enabled me to take on bigger challenges in life with self-confidence, because of that one lesson.<br />
<br />
But she did more than that. By giving us a solid grounding in mathematics, she made it possible for us to become what we dreamed of becoming. How many people can claim to have dramatically changed the careers and future lives of a child?<br />
<br />
This was my story. But every school has its own story. Most children still suffer with maths. And many teachers even struggle to either fully understand mathematics, or to teach it effectively and in a away that will inspire.<br />
<br />
When I was at university a professor of hydraulic engineering made us first do exercises with chemical calculations. We could not understand why we had to do chemical calculations in a first year physical engineering class. His explanation was: I want to see if you understand the principle of percentages. Not one of us did. The system was trying to build walls where there were on foundations.<br />
<br />
What the professor tried to show us, was that there are principles of mathematics upon which the entire universe is built - even life itself. If you understand the principles, then there is so much less you have to learn in life. You can figure a lot of it out yourself as you go along.<br />
<br />
I have been in technological careers all my life. I have since seen that that everything in life is underpinned by mathematics: work, business, banking, personal finances. To the extent that children are equipped with good mathematical backgrounds, their lives can improve. Poverty can become prosperity. Struggling countries can become winning nations. And ailing economies can be made robust again.<br />
<br />
But what do you do if only 1 in 100 teachers are unusually gifted in passing on the knowledge and inspiration of mathematics? The answer lies in technology. Today technology enables that one in a hundred teachers to be cloned and shared with dozens, or even hundreds of classrooms around the world. Through the use of video conferencing technology, a teacher like I had could rescue the grades, and turn around the lives of many other young minds.<br />
<br />
Fortunately that kind of technology is already in use, it is affordable, and it is effective. And companies such as ours are excited at being able to help deliver it to school and learning institutions. Because that is the way to connect this world with the future, one bit and one byte at a time. Today a child can sit in a rural farm school classroom, and ask a question to a live teacher in another city. And a hundred other scholars in five other schools can benefit from the explanation given by the teacher.<br />
<br />
With smart technology, the teacher can save the whiteboard solution with the click of a mouse, store in in the Cloud for future download, email it to her students, or let them copy it on flash disks. At home these children can replay the solution one step at a time - and refresh their minds to the logical progression of problem solving.<br />
<br />
This is the future today. And for schools to have it now is not a matter of ability. It is a matter of will. All they need to do is ask for it. It may take a little bit of work and planning. But that was the lesson after all - almost anything is possible if you are prepared to put in a bit of work.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jsiy4TxgIME?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>An example of how a maths lesson could be delivered with standard technology in use today. This is the kind of tools I wish I had when I was a kid.</i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><br /></i><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4d3zbRG9a0k?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>How British schools are outsourcing maths tuition for better results</i></div>
<br />
Further reading:<br />
<a href="http://www.childup.com/blog/south-african-teachers-face-mathematical-delirium" target="_blank">South African teachers battle to understand maths.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/ff_khan/all/1" target="_blank">How online teaching is changing lives</a>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-13647276194037893472011-12-02T04:48:00.001-08:002011-12-02T06:29:55.327-08:00How our company started: over a cup of coffee<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqdTNJOwIpHKM2_jsPimoPkWNUAAEm5LtuwuUS9huJ_W8H2_0gGyPUV3yC5cREZAYsECEQcwVjjvNPtLFObDe52UdgugWYiN_R79QMRjZCi_ONMdx5QUYuumtUK9VWMnmMbDy-qQkp3U/s1600/01122011411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisqdTNJOwIpHKM2_jsPimoPkWNUAAEm5LtuwuUS9huJ_W8H2_0gGyPUV3yC5cREZAYsECEQcwVjjvNPtLFObDe52UdgugWYiN_R79QMRjZCi_ONMdx5QUYuumtUK9VWMnmMbDy-qQkp3U/s320/01122011411.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Premium wireless telephony offers so much more than old-fashioned landlines. Here we have a webcam's live video feed streaming onto our receptionist's touch screen display on her office phone. Have you taken your phone to the Cloud yet?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
How do new business ideas start? This morning I heard the story of a multi-million dollar business that was started because a customer simply wanted to take revenge for having been humiliated. Another million dollar a year business started when someone bet a friend that he wouldn't be able to sell something useless.<br />
<br />
Our company started in a coffee shop. Visit Coloroso coffee shop in Meade Street, George - and you will always find a selection of businessmen who are meeting to discuss some idea or project. It seems there is always someone demonstrating something to a customer or a partner on an iPad, or pointing to a graph on a laptop.<br />
<br />
I had been frustrated by bad connectivity on the Garden Route for years. When I sold my previous business I was left with a few months to decide what I wanted to do next. I really did not feel like being bound to a traditional office environment again. I was looking for something new. I wanted my office to be wherever I was.<br />
<br />
But there was a problem. Connectivity in George as slow and expensive, and aside from cell phone telephony, communication was still land-based. I wanted a customer to phone a switchboard and reach me on my cell phone as a phone extension, just as if I was in the office next door. Added to that, I have always been techno-fascinated. I like information. I consume large amounts of it. I needed a next generation of connectivity. Unfortunately that kind of solution did not exist.<br />
<br />
I had been discussing this problem with everyone who had ears to listen. Even though the terms were hardly known back then, what I really wanted was cloud connectivity - and cloud-based telephony. The technology itself wasn't new. It had all been done before. Just not in our local market. I knew that if I wanted it, others would want it too. I knew it so strongly that I could not stop thinking about it.<br />
<br />
One afternoon I meet for one of our friendly technology talks with one of the most experienced brains in the local IT industry. Francois Redelinghuys had been involved in wireless communication since the early days when he pioneered a long distance wireless solution between international drilling platforms at sea. And he had by far the most knowledge and experience of wireless telephony. He was also a businessman who had an unusually good imagination.<br />
<br />
As we drank our Coloroso's superb South American coffee, we kept pouring out our frustrations.<br />
"The market is being screwed," Francois grumbled.<br />
"I know," I replied. "We all are. Why isn't somebody doing anything?"<br />
I hesitated for a while and then pitched a question that had long been on my mind.<br />
"Don't laugh now," I said, "just hear me out before you say something, even if it sounds dumb."<br />
Francois listened keenly. I still remember it well because that conversation became engraved on my mind later. I have replayed it many times since.<br />
Then I asked: "If money or regulatory restrictions were not an obstacle, what would it take to somehow uninstall and fix the internet, and then roll out something that would be of international standard?"<br />
Francois thought it over for a while, and then gave a surprising answer: "You needn't even go that far. The essentials are already in place."<br />
I smiled. Francois smiled. And then we finished our coffee.<br />
<br />
That might have been the end of that matter as many brainstorming sessions go. But ideas are like stars. Some streak through the night and leave but a brief show of light before burning out into a puff of gas. But some ideas are destined to live. They are the ones who actually reach earth and sometimes punch great big craters into the landscape. Two days later Francois called.<br />
<br />
I can still hear his voice: "I have been thinking about it. We can do it..."<br />
<br />
That is how our company started. Over a cup of coffee.<br />
<br />
Since then, we have rolled out the most sophisticated network on the Garden Route, offering by far the fastest and most stable connectivity available. And it is delivered at the lowest cost in the market. We built the business on one pivotal principle: Give the market the kind of deal and the kind of services that we would have wanted ourselves. And that has worked ever since.<br />
<br />
So where does a business that started over a cup of coffee end up one day? The sky is no limit. We are living in times of opportunity. It is a time in which the world is thirsting for ever more advanced ways to communicate and use the internet.<br />
<br />
We still brainstorm business ideas at Coloroso. And there is no doubt that coffee will continue to fuel them to higher and higher levels. Beyond the stratosphere of today's limitations lie the stars. And we aim to be among them for a long time to come.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.incomediary.com/where-14-of-the-top-internet-businesses-were-started"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Where 14 Of The Top Internet Businesses Got Started</span></a>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0103 Meade St, George 6530, South Africa-33.961372722446143 22.45880126953125-33.964665222446143 22.453865769531252 -33.958080222446142 22.463736769531248tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-39234282457519616962011-11-14T10:11:00.000-08:002011-11-14T10:20:41.231-08:00Be careful of trusting the "experts" (or should you?)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/3vrAR4lBedE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>David Freedman is interviewed on the problems with expertise, specifically in the medical field</i></div><br />
Years ago I often used to listen to the economic discussion hour on Classic FM while driving home from work. One night the presenter said something that I have remembered almost verbatim to this day:<br />
<br />
"Research has shown that the experts are wrong 70% of the time. By that measure, wouldn't it make sense to subscribe to the very best advice - and consistently do the opposite? And with that thought I bid you all good night..."<br />
<br />
Whether the statistic is correct is probably impossible to say for certain. I have lived long enough, however, to have come to see that the experts are wrong very often indeed. And that in many cases, contrarians are the ones that perform the best. They are the salmon that always swim against the stream of popular thought, of mass migration, and of accepted thinking. Those are the fish which, if not caught and eaten by bears when they clear the rapids, often tend to reach the choicest spawning grounds.<br />
<br />
In this book, <b><a href="http://www.freedman.com/p/wrong-book.html">Wrong: Why experts keep failing us - and how to know when not to trust them</a></b>, David Freedman makes some startling claims. For instance:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>He asserts that economists have found that all studies published in economics journals are likely to be wrong. </li>
<li>Similarly, he claims that tax returns that are completed privately contain far less significant errors than those prepared by professionals. </li>
<li>And about two-thirds of the findings that are published in renowned medical journals are refuted within a few years. </li>
</ul><br />
This does tend to make one think. When asked when the right time to buy is, Lord Nathan Rothschild once made this famous reply: "When there's blood in the streets." In other words, doing the exact opposite of what everybody else would be doing.<br />
<br />
I remembered this quote one day when I met a fairly young and very substantial landowner and asked him how it was that he was able to acquire such vast land holdings. He told me that when he was younger, he had a little bit of a capital surplus one season. It was around the time of South Africa's change of government in 1994 and a lot of people were selling out at rock-bottom prices in anticipation that the country would collapse.<br />
<br />
He felt that it was worth taking a chance at least once. He did not really know much about investment, but he knew that hanging on to cash was a good way of losing it. So for lack of better options he bought land. And that was when he discovered that the best time to buy was when everybody is telling you that you'd be crazy to do so. In fact, by this rule, the more your bank manager advised against it, the greater your chances might be of being right.<br />
<br />
And so it is with technology also. At <a href="http://www.cloudconnect.co.za/">www.cloudconnect.co.za</a> where we deal with future technology, we often come across customers who insist that it is dangerous to dare to break with convention. Copper cables have delivered connectivity to the world for so long, they argue, that it must be good, even though it is ridiculously expensive and the service is shockingly bad. Land-based telephony is safer because that's what everybody uses, right? And why take the risk of doing more business online? Don't you still remember the dotcom crash in the world markets just a a few years ago?<br />
<br />
How easy it is to see ghosts when one wishes to believe in them!<br />
<br />
Plentiful are the fearful, and narrow is he vision of those who do not understand the future. The truth of the matter is that the future has always been a shark's tank. But it is often no more dangerous than the deadly quicksands of long-established convention. The only difference is that by chaining oneself to old-fashioned thinking in business, death comes far more slowly. In the end, it is in most cases a completely assured end.<br />
<br />
That is not to say that one must abandon all good sense and reason. The principles of successful business and innovation have never changed since the beginning of time. The forces of economics never change. Only the application thereof. There is a very big difference, and those who do not understand it are destined to suffer an unexpected awakening.<br />
<br />
But then there is also the matter of fun. Staying within the comfort zone that is created by the presence of a large herd of old-fashioned beasts may be many things, but it certainly lacks the fun factor. Being a bold adaptor of new solutions, new thinking, new technology, new way of applying old theory - this holds an element of excitement which simply cannot be had in the mud wallows of mindless convention.<br />
<br />
In life it is a fact that anything that stops growing starts dying. Economics know that. Biologists affirm it also. Why do we so often forget it? What is it in us that makes us so desperately afraid to be contrarians? Perhaps that is why we attach such morbid value to the muttered prophecies of experts. After all, expert opinions so often support our own fears and give us all the reasons we need not to try something new.<br />
<br />
I often think of myself as a salmon. And when I do, I'm sometimes reminded of at least one expert who admitted the truth to me. It was around a campfire one night when a good friend of mine - a medical specialist - leaned over and whispered to me: "Just between me and you - we don't have a <i>cooking clue </i>what we're doing..."<br />
<br />
But that's OK. I have learned in life it's OK to not always know what you are doing. As long as you are doing <i>something. </i>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-40320785755634822642011-11-08T09:47:00.000-08:002011-11-08T09:58:08.277-08:00Why close the doors when there are still shoppers?These are recessional times. Unique economic times in which the vast majority of businesses are desperate for more sales. And yet, sometimes I get the impression that poor sales are well-deserved. Why close shop when there are still shoppers around?<br />
<br />
I was at the local mall yesterday. The mall closes at 6 pm and I could not help but notice that at many shops the door keepers were standing by the entrances15 minutes before closing time already. Motivated and ready to slam the doors shut precisely at 6. In fact, so eager were several of these stores that they already had half their folding doors closed. This was despite the fact that the mall was still alive with shoppers.<br />
<br />
Which made me stand back and think: "And I thought times were bad...?"<br />
<br />
Possibly the mall has regulations about punctual closing of shops. Possibly the unions, overtime pay, and employee work hours had something to do with it. But that is not my main concern. My greatest concern of all is the symbolism of the act. In other words the desperate significance of the principle of minimum input. You know? The principle so popular among losers, which dictates that the best policy is to put in the smallest mount of effort, in order not to waste one's energy and risk not being rewarded for it. Who still thinks like that? Evidently many.<br />
<br />
Who can still afford in these uncertain times to say no thank you to a few extra sales? Obviously a lot of businesses.<br />
<br />
It made me think about all the stories my grandparents used to tell about the great depression. Times were so hard that my grandmother remembered collecting the sheep wool that was caught on barbed wire fences. This they carefully made up into bundles and sold to he wool merchants. No, they were no so desperate that they had to scrounge in order to live. But times were lean and wool prices were high. They simply believed in capitalizing on opportunity, even if it was small. It was a principle that they followed in life, and that principle made them prosper over time.<br />
<br />
I know it makes little sense to keep a big store open for a few bucks in extra sales. However, symbolically-speaking at least, my belief is that when times are hard I would be open for longer than the opposition. I would encourage shoppers to stay beyond regular trading hours, in stead of switching the lights off and making that dreaded announcement: "Attention all shoppers. Please note that this shop is now closed. Our regular hours are from 9 till 6 and we look forward to seeing you again tomorrow. Please be so kind as to make your way to the checkout counters now..."<br />
<br />
I don't want to come back tomorrow. I want to spend my money with you NOW!<br />
<br />
There are businesses that close up in recessions. And then there are those that emerge from it stronger. Our business involves unique technology. We provide solutions that nobody else does. We deliver it by means that few people have tried. And we continually look for even more original ways than that. We like disruptive technology and disruptive ways of sharing it with the market. We believe in being part of the latter category of businesses: those that will grow and thrive even when times are bad.<br />
<br />
When people are <i>inconvenienced </i>by the economy they will slam doors shut precisely at 6. But when they are <i>hungry </i>one day, I suspect they will close at 6:15. It will not be the act, as much as the symbolism of it that will impress me. The day I see that, I will know that the fundamental psychology of what is wrong in our economies maybe be ready to change. That will be my signal of hope.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ldxsYFRuXQ8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i>Why would stores be eager to close early when shops are closing at a rapid rate all around the world? The minimum input principle is symbolic of a cancer in the very thinking model of capitalism.</i></div>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-78759460153533803062011-11-04T08:16:00.000-07:002011-11-04T08:16:23.631-07:00When old technology must be rescued<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhintzx1LIChUuN8AOOs13GCtmz4x6Ci_HUCsNxshTFJDM1wiyJ_-jRj0Hm47lSF4iBufyG0mR5pLOkRz8jbIxOhWT23sSaAVv22BArNB13Im9IWeo7r-8xWB_mbqXr1_Fi8Bc_DiQvm94/s1600/IMG_4101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhintzx1LIChUuN8AOOs13GCtmz4x6Ci_HUCsNxshTFJDM1wiyJ_-jRj0Hm47lSF4iBufyG0mR5pLOkRz8jbIxOhWT23sSaAVv22BArNB13Im9IWeo7r-8xWB_mbqXr1_Fi8Bc_DiQvm94/s320/IMG_4101.JPG" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Old meets the new - the damaged Outeniqua Choo Tjoe railway line vanishes into the distance where the feather vapour trail of a modern jet remains. Should old technologies be so easily allowed to drown in the face of modern wonder?</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Our technical department has been working on a complicated fax solution for two days now. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep old-generation technology superimposed on new technology that has already passed beyond the event horizon of advancement.<br />
<br />
Just this morning I was thinking - "How much easier the world would run if we could just finally get rid of fax technology!" Let's face it. Faxes are expensive, hard on rain forests, difficult to archive, and awful to use. It deserves to be on the scrap heap of technology development by now.<br />
<br />
But some old technologies are priceless. They should never be allowed to fall into disuse. Steam trains is one of those. We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world. And until two years ago or so, we had been fortunate in having had one of the last remaining steam train services. The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe brought vast numbers of tourists to our region every week. And now it is gone. After catastrophic floods, the Transnet authorities deemed it too expensive to repair the damaged infrastructure. And so the biggest tourist attraction in our fragile economy was allowed to fall into sad disuse.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEdpxigfo48U5_sGl-87yyd-c5waY7NtvUS7Nj3FcD2vnXndzsJ5FBSHDBWNzx7FrxCtfb8WjEC53jBwUPmy20S-dzfRC2AMjjP9VSgPHhpbNYZ422B_1deZ8ZnXQksJwo7PNI3fedSI/s1600/IMG_4107.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCEdpxigfo48U5_sGl-87yyd-c5waY7NtvUS7Nj3FcD2vnXndzsJ5FBSHDBWNzx7FrxCtfb8WjEC53jBwUPmy20S-dzfRC2AMjjP9VSgPHhpbNYZ422B_1deZ8ZnXQksJwo7PNI3fedSI/s320/IMG_4107.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Outeniqua Choo Tjoe passed through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. But it was derailed, not so much by natural disaster, as by miniaturized thinking.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Following this, various parties, including the Western Cape provincial government under inspiration of leaders such as Minister Alan Winde, have made a valiant effort to get the Choo Tjoe running again. But as with so many other projects, the will to achieve as lost in the miniature world of the bureaucratic brains which have to make decisions.<br />
<br />
So what is it about old technology like steam trains which demands that it should continue to live while other technologies deserve to become extinct? After all, steam trains are hard on the environment, are expensive to run, and really have little place in the modern world's fast-paced transport infrastructure.<br />
<br />
The answer is a spiritual one. New technology is often aimed at providing physical comforts that are useful and needed, but make no contribution to the human soul. Steam trains, on the other hand, are like poetry to the mind. It reminds of an era when people still have time to live - not just to exist. There is something about the old-fashioned scent of coal smoke, the hoarse whet whistle before departure, and the billowing white steam clouds, that stirs the imagination.<br />
<br />
As devoted as we may be to the magic of all the iPhones and digital magic of the future, there are some technologies that will always fill our hearts long after iPhones are gone. One day when we are old, we will probably never pull and old yellowed device from a drawer of keepsakes and declare to a wide-eyed grandchild: "Look! This was still your grandpa's very first iPhone!" What we will want to do, however, is point to a yellowed picture against the wall and say, "Your grandfather rode on that old train when he was still a boy. And would you know it - that old girl is running still. All the way from George to Knysna - just like 60 years ago."<br />
<br />
Steam trains last for decades. Digital magic has a half-life shorter than a childhood fantasy. Let's do what we can to get the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe running again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ssEb3lcNyT8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">My colleague, Justin Miles shot this video of the Outeniqua Choo Tjoe during the last of her glory days on the run from George to Mossel Bay. How can we make her heart beat again?</span></i></div>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-48617410589957239622011-11-03T10:11:00.000-07:002014-05-19T11:07:27.572-07:00Paying it forward - a case study<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BD7xJ4sGQZ-IJfsEWVFl4MQ6aoJU7pQKD9KrHVXAhRwm5RmYDsR6Hc82Hf0lbbY2e5ec8_XHl89Q756GR-mwbX_-OehG1AFcS64d5B9PPCAEv0eu_ZD49XWOJhDjIeloelnOSGqovMM/s1600/09092011112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7BD7xJ4sGQZ-IJfsEWVFl4MQ6aoJU7pQKD9KrHVXAhRwm5RmYDsR6Hc82Hf0lbbY2e5ec8_XHl89Q756GR-mwbX_-OehG1AFcS64d5B9PPCAEv0eu_ZD49XWOJhDjIeloelnOSGqovMM/s320/09092011112.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium;">Touwsranten Primary School, which received free wireless broadband, thanks to a private sponsor and Digital Village</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">In a connected world our actions are often like a stone, thrown into a pond. Even very small stones will ripple across the entire surface of big bodies of water - moving reeds and floating object far away from the original source.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The same happens in our lives with many of our deeds, both the good ones, as well as the bad ones. "Playing it forward" is a term that is often used for purposefully propagating a good deed, but making sure that its effects get passed on to others, in the hope that the process will repeat.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Alongside our commercial business, we have a registered non-profit company called <a href="http://www.digitalvillage.co.za/">Digital Village</a> that is aimed at providing free internet to needy schools and community organizations. This initiative is supported by donor funding, in partnership with commercial businesses and individuals that believe in playing it forward. It is built upon the principle of public-private co-operation on a broad front.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Recently we had a project which illustrated very nicely how a good deed from the business sector played itself forward in a way which benefited more recipients than anticipated - and then returned to to the business community with interest.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Here is how it happened:<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A few months ago an international businessman who resides on the Garden Route part-time, made a donation of a large amount of excess wireless internet equipment to Digital Village. Some of this equipment was then used to provide a free internet installation to Touwsranten Primary School - a well-run, but somewhat neglected school in a rural region, just outside the small village of Hoekwil.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It was soon discovered that the<a href="http://www.sevenpasses.org.za/"> Seven Passes Initiative</a> had just recently set up a small container-based office, just a short distance away. Our commercial company had just sold two new computers to Seven Passes, but there was no connectivity. This seemed to be a vitally-important need, since Seven Passes was doing community work that nobody else does - and it has already demonstrated itself as an unusually successful partnership between local farmers and businessmen, and community leaders.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Ryan Philander, one of the management team explained that </span>the Seven Passes Initiative is a youth development and educational organisation that seeks to prevent youth involvement in crime through providing quality after school care. They do this through homework clubs and other educational activities, including sport, music and drama.<br />
<br />
Part of their association with the school lay in the fact that Seven Passes was providing computer lessons for the community in the school's computer lab - a valuable outreach gesture which benefited all parties concerned. The Initiative also works towards long-term poverty alleviation through raising the educational level of the community.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbmly4oVMrkBsmpgL6GrPlH3VE-SrQ6DxmCH3qXatGsY3s18L7MHnI-YjHyfRuGjvSzKwN94dVxOCU9Xwhs3EYnlIZAOUp-eHpa-iF72wdINF0JM5h5wOtxf5SmC36abSppiQbsZViJ4/s1600/IMG_2432.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbmly4oVMrkBsmpgL6GrPlH3VE-SrQ6DxmCH3qXatGsY3s18L7MHnI-YjHyfRuGjvSzKwN94dVxOCU9Xwhs3EYnlIZAOUp-eHpa-iF72wdINF0JM5h5wOtxf5SmC36abSppiQbsZViJ4/s320/IMG_2432.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i>The container office of the Seven Passes Initiative<br />
</i></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">The problem was that the Seven Passes office did not have line of sight to any wireless internet repeaters on a sponsored network. But the container could just barely see the Touwsranten school, where a a Digital Village installation was about to be scheduled. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Accordingly</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">, it was decided to set up the Touwsranten school as a community internet hotspot, as well as wireless internet repeater. From there the signal could then be relayed to Seven Passes, and from there the new computers could be connected.<br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">This was done with more sponsored equipment, and soon Seven Passes was sailing on the digital stream to the future. A good deed had now been played forward twice.<br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But this is not where it ended.<br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A few days later, it was determined that the wife of a local farm manager had found an opportunity to do accounting work for a local dairy. The problem was that she would have to work from home, and she had no connectivity. Chances of obtaining connectivity at this particular site looked exceedingly bad. But then someone remembered the new repeater at Touwsranten school.<br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">A signal test quickly revealed that the Touwsranten repeater could reach the farm manager's house. A commercial company then sponsored the farm manager's installation, and in so doing, played it forward a third time.<br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">This meant that a housewife with limited income was now empowered to run her own little accounting business from home. In a region that is particularly burdened with high unemployment, this seemed like a very welcome opportunity indeed.<br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">In the process it also benefited the dairy. It found itself in a position to get an affordable accountancy service close to its offices, which was also a way for them to make a contribution to local job creation. Yet, there was still one more surprise waiting. A few days after the final installation had been made, it became apparent that the dairy in question also happened to be one of the valued supporters of the Seven Passes </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Initiative</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">.<br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">And so the kind support of a local agri business, played itself forward in a full circle to return some benefit to the originator.<br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">In a perfect world, it seems that playing forward goodness would always be a </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">boomerang</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"> effect that would return positive results to the benefactor. This does not always happen, but when it does, these are the kind of events that make all the hard work that goes into Digital Village seem so much more worthwhile.<br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">As it turned out, a multitude of people received benefit from this one project - and the effect is still continuing to expand. Digital Village has since entered into a memorandum of understand with the Seven Passes Initiative and will continue to work their new partners to play it forward as far as the ripples can possibly go.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Playing it forward is one of the most satisfying endeavours of life. All it takes, is a little work and a lot of will.</span>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-90388074081569639012011-11-03T07:54:00.000-07:002011-11-03T08:15:14.401-07:00Use mistakes to build a ladder to the starsA colleague recently admitted to me that she had made a small mistake in dealing with an important customer. I just smiled and shrugged: "Welcome to the my world!"<br />
<br />
I have done many things right in life and I have made hundreds and thousands of mistakes. We all do. Somehow, though, it is curious how we tend to remember our mistakes longer than our successes. The fact is that we often learn more from our mistakes than from our successes, and so our mistakes tend to become our most important investments in many cases.<br />
<br />
A lot of the time we fear make a mistake so much that we don't even bother trying. And so the ships of our dreams are sunk before we've even left the harbour. Not by the storms of life and the icebergs of unforeseen disaster, but by the slow yet certain decay of shipworm, mildew and woodrot.<br />
<br />
In my case, I have always said that my mistakes have been like rungs in a ladder. Afterwards, by standing on each of them, I was able to climb just a little bit higher. And so, by nailing my mistakes between the paralleled beams of our lives we can climb right up to the stars in time.<br />
<br />
There is just one very important provision - the ladder of our mistakes must always be used for climbing up - not down!<br />
<br />
Yesterday we were speaking about the mistakes we have made in business. Being in the field of future technology, it goes without saying that we also sometimes make mistakes. New discoveries are never made without breaking a few test tubes, burning out some fuses, or perhaps setting your coat on fire. And occasionally it creates embarrassment with a customer. However, there are customers who realize this and work through growth phases as a team.<br />
<br />
We have a list of these customers and have found that invariably they become counted among our friends. When a customer has become a friend, he becomes a partner. And partners are loyal beyond the ordinary. This is what separates ordinary suppliers from the extraordinary - the ability to turn customers into partners. Making some mistakes along the way is just the price of a purchasing new friendships.<br />
<br />
<i>"A man's errors are the portals of his discovery." - James Joyce (novelist)</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://2.gvt0.com/vi/_NbQ5SIgfDY/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_NbQ5SIgfDY&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_NbQ5SIgfDY&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div><i>Mistakes should ideally be kept as small as possible - Some mistakes can be rungs in the ladder to the stars. But others can be a trapdoor to a dungeon of doom.</i>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-20213731382463358832011-11-02T10:09:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:09:19.302-07:00Business Fears Change More Than It Fears Failure<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">As a provider of future technology solutions I learnt that business fears change more than it fears failure. </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Among the majority of today's cavemen, even the big hunters will often view the new fire and say: "This looks like it could burn one's hands. I won't use it. I will rather eat my grubs raw." And so they continue eating raw grubs for weeks, months or years, until one day the mouth-watering scent of barbecues from the caves around them will convince them that fire is safe after all. Ultimately all cavemen learn to use fire, or die. The difference is just that those who are slow at adopting fire eat cold grubs a lot longer.</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">If it was just a matter of eating cold grubs, the story might have been merely ironic. But it is more serious than that. Fire means the difference between survival and extinction when winter comes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: left;"> </span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Why is technological extinction so popular among today's cavemen? </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">We constantly see new technology becoming available at a costs that are entirely feasible. New imaginative ways of financing are presented. Special offers are made available. And yet, many users still shrink away from new technology, thinking that if they haven't seen their neighbours use it, it would be too great a risk to take the leap. There is an old adage that grub-eaters wear like a badge: "If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is." Experienced grub-eaters are well-skilled at thinking of myriads of sound facts to support this supposition. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">However, what grub-eaters forget is that 80% of the things that people fear, never happen. And most of the remaining 20% are not as bad as one would have expected either. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Futurists predict that VOIP telephony will replace cable telephones. But many users still look on it as black magic. Cloud computing is expected to be the standard of the future. But grub-eaters continue to cling to terrestrial architecture because on the ground it feels safe. Everywhere big cavemen with small brains continue to clutch at yesterday's magic. They are careful to put thick bars before the windows of the jail cells of their minds. The reality is that in most cases, yesterday's magic is the most dangerous of all. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">I have always found myself among early adopters of technology. When tractors became available, my family wasted no time to exchange oxen for tractors. They prospered hugely. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">We were the first in the district to have cell phones. The neighbours asked us what we could possibly want them for. Today everyone has cell phones and all the farmers have tractors. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">In business, we looked at how we thought our products would look 15 years from now - and then we invented the technology that would make them look like that. We built solutions to problems that did not even exist yet. In information technology, we predicted what the market would want 10 years from now - and we set about delivering it today. Not only did it make us successful, but it also made life a lot more fun. Scary perhaps, but exciting. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">To be slow at adopting life-changing new technologies is dangerous and foolish. In business it is too expensive and too difficult to chase the market and run up to it from behind. Your best chance lies in predicting where it will go, and then ambushing so that it will run straight into your arms. Early adopters of technology are ambushers of the market. High speed broadband, cloud technology, teleconferencing solutions, e-commerce and next generation video surveillance are all elements of the very near future. And all of it is available today already at a cost that is achievable.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">In the study of top business leaders, it soon becomes plain that the best among them are all early adaptors of technology. They think differently. That is what places business leaders at the top of the food chain. How many businesses are still stuck with yesterday's connectivity, yesterday's landline-based telephones and yesterday's way of running their operations? </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Will you be roasting meat while your neighbours are eating grubs? If you have found fire, never let go of it</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">. After all, technology is the fire that lights up the world.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HuvpuwW9qM8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"><br />
</span></div>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095881342373082209.post-944866691909249152011-10-31T07:49:00.000-07:002011-10-31T07:49:17.071-07:00Will your business exist when the future hits you?"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change." Charles Darwin never said that, as is commonly believed. But the words are true.<br />
<br />
Three events revolutionized the world like on other event in history: The first coming of Jesus Christ, the invention of Gutenberg's printing press and... can you guess what the third one was? The internet, of course.<br />
<br />
This amazing clip opens a window that make us rethink everything we believe about the future. Why did I go from printing to publishing and then on to internet technology?<br />
<br />
Our company exists because of what this clip contains. Will your job or business exist despite what this clips shows? Think carefully before you answer.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/jp_oyHY5bug/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jp_oyHY5bug&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jp_oyHY5bug&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>Herman Labuschagnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16726122666429523661noreply@blogger.com0