Hands Off! Don’t Loot!

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Here I Raise My Ebenezer

  

Devastated Business in Ferguson, MO

One current rallying cry being used by those, like Al Sharpton, who have made a profession of fanning the flames in America’s black/white racial divide rather than building a bridge across that chasm, is “Hands Up! Don’t Shoot!” There is no legitimacy to it. It’s based on a concocted account of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.

The rallying cry that needs to be taken up instead is:

“Hands Off! Don’t Loot!”

Innocent residents and business owners in Ferguson, MO, have suffered tremendous losses at the hands of those who used Michael Brown’s death as an excuse to steal and destroy. In some cases, the losses meant the end for businesses and the livelihood they provided for owners, employees, suppliers, etc. There is nothing lacking in the legitimacy of this rallying cry. It’s based on a sad but absolutely true aspect of this matter. Continue reading →

Keeping America’s Social Fabric Intact

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HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

Securing the Legacy of the Greatest Generation – Part Four

DESPERATE NEED

In Part Three of this series, Get Out of the Villages!, I talked about Baby Boomers and others stepping up to make a positive difference with America’s kids today as a desperately needed contribution in Repairing America’s Social Fabric. Certainly, that desperate need exists in other aspects of American culture too. With this article, I want to acknowledge an instance of this job getting done through keeping America’s social fabric intact. It’s the exemplary job of role model and true American hero being done by a fellow-Baby Boomer, the leader of the Lieutenant Dan Band, Gary Sinise. Continue reading →

Get Out of The Villages!

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HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

Securing the Legacy of the Greatest Generation

- Part Three

Going Out With a Boom

Question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time. That’s the approach I’m taking in tackling the question I raised at the end of Part Two in this series – i.e. How do we go about meeting present-day challenges through reacquiring Greatest Generation values that, for the most part, are missing today?

A BETTER WAY

The “bite” I want to chew on with this article contains the values associated with how we raise our children. In Part Two of this series, I exemplified the different values that made up that part of our social fabric in the heyday of the Greatest Generation with the following overview:

“Children were raised by their families. When they got up in the morning, both Mom and Dad were there to parent them and care for them. When they went off to school, they went with kids from families in the neighborhood who knew each other. Their transportation to and from school was on foot through neighborhoods where a caring adult was present in most homes. Their teachers and other school staff knew the kids and their families. The same was true with extracurricular activities. At the end of the day, there was no warehousing of kids at a “daycare”. Babysitting was an exceptional activity, typically to afford parents a couple of hours to go out to dinner, etc. and even then, the babysitting was usually done by a relative or neighbor who knew the kids well.”

A BETTER ATTITUDE

Wow! How can we possibly reacquire a set of values like that, values that have become so very different today?! I suggest that, to find the answers related to this, we need to begin by adopting the attitude the Greatest Generation took in facing the overwhelming challenges brought on by WWII. In Part One of this series, I described this as a mindset that, unlike today, meant the average Joe or Jane lived their lives with a true other-oriented sense of community, rather than just being focused on “What’s in it for me? When our nation was threatened by the Axis nations of WWII, that mentality was evidenced through everyone putting their personal aspirations on hold for as long as was necessary to meet the crisis at hand.

That, obviously, was a winning mentality. But, perhaps, you’re thinking, “Of course, subordinating one’s own dreams was necessary to deal with the plight represented by WWII but we’re not coping with anything on a par with that today.” To that, I would say, “Really?!” Just think of the many ways, since the Greatest Generation were in their prime, in which our social fabric has unraveled, bearing tragic results on the level of the topic I focused on in Part Two of this series … School Shootings. Just looking at three of the five areas I outlined in that article, to exemplify what communities were like prior to the unraveling I mention, consider the ongoing deterioration of these things:Continue reading →

Repairing America’s Social Fabric

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HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

Securing The Legacy Of The Greatest Generation – Part Two

YESTERDAY’S SUPERIOR VALUES

In Part One of this series, I pointed out a number of values that were commonly held in the heyday of the Greatest Generation, values that are significantly different from (and I think vastly superior to) our related values today. My purpose in doing that was to explore how America would benefit through reacquiring those once-common values and applying them to our present-day challenges. With that in mind, in this article, I want to more specifically try to answer the question, “What are the problems facing us today that can be addressed in this way?” Once I’ve examined the “What?” question here, in future articles I intend to take up the question of “How?”.

TODAY’S DAUNTING CHALLENGES

As I’ve considered this “What?” question, it has seemed to me that applying once-common values of the Greatest Generation might offer solutions to a broad range of present-day challenges. However, to illustrate my views on this, I’m going to focus on a single concern. It’s one that’s deeply troubling and in fact, this disturbing matter is the one that got my thinking started on this topic in the first place. It’s School Shootings. Continue reading →

Securing The Legacy Of The Greatest Generation

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HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

WHAT THEY ACHIEVED

June 6, 2014, marked the 70th anniversary of D-Day, the operation that began the Allied invasion of German-occupied Western Europe,ultimately leading to an Allied victory in WWII. Revisiting the details of this phenomenal event, again, served to remind me of the incredible accomplishments of the Greatest Generation, especially their gaining that victory in the face of overwhelmingly impossible odds. This led me to consider how we are doing with the priceless legacy we have been entrusted with through that generation’s victory and beyond that, to consider what lessons remain for us in their accomplishments that could lead to our gaining victory over today’s issues that may seem just as overwhelmingly impossible.

During the 70th anniversary celebration of D-Day, I read an awe-inspiring story entitled 93-year-old WWII Vet to Parachute into Normandy – Again. This was the story of Jim Martin who,as a private in the 101st Airborne, was one of the paratroopers dropped behind German lines in the hours before the D-Day landings. Jim determined that, to honor the 70th anniversary of D-Day, he would go back to Normandy, to parachute onto the same soil he touched seven decades before and he did just that. Reading Jim’s story provided reminders for me about the unique qualities of his generation and that brought illumination to my considering the application of those qualities in resolving the most significant challenges facing us today. Continue reading →

All Are Precious In His Sight

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HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER

  

 

LIVE IN HARMONY

This past week, I got to spend a little time with a First Grade Teacher who is also one of my very favorite people. She was teaching our class to join her class in singing and signing a song called The World Is A Rainbow. This was in preparation for an assembly that, I assumed, was related to the upcoming Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Although it would be an oversimplification (and somewhat outdated) for me to say that her purpose in this was to teach racial harmony, that was certainly a part of what she had in mind.
My first lesson in racial harmony came when I was First-Grade-aged or younger and it took place in church, not in school. Then, the song we sang was entitled Jesus Loves The Little Children. As I thought of these differences in experiences between the kids of today and the kids of my day, that led me to consider the ramifications.

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Sales Incentive Programs – Maximizing Impact

WIIFM? What’s In It For Me? That question is at the heart of the buying motive. Whether we like to admit or not, its also at the heart of human nature. That means, not only is it at the heart of the buying motive, its at the heart of the selling motive too. So, regardless of a Sales Professional’s protestations that they’re really focused on their development and mastering things like strategic/complex selling, silently, they’re asking WIIFM? I’m, certainly, like that. My business card says, “Consultative Sales Professional” and I am but put an added incentive on the table and “I’m in baby!” And I’m perfectly happy to let others know of my success in competing for incentives. Wanna see the limited edition engraved marble Inner Circle plaques I have for each of my 11 years at Minolta?!

So, all that’s necessary is to play to that human nature … when Sales aren’t where you want them, just feed the WIIFM instincts of the Sales People then sit back and wait for the results. Right?! Well, sort of. Yes, you can grow your Sales along with growing the reward for the performing Sales Person through such feeding but I think, far too often, Sales Incentive Programs miss out on growth opportunities that can be much more far reaching and have significantly greater lasting power. Here’s what I have in mind:

Not long ago, I got to work with the Direct Sales Force of a company whose products are aimed at improving Health & Fitness. I found that, in the Direct Sales environment, Sales Incentive Programs are utilized with much greater frequency than I’ve experienced in Field Sales organizations. I, also, found that, this particular company set aside a significant budget amount in order to, at Christmas, purchase and distribute gift items to lower income families in their local community … no doubt, benefiting the Health & Fitness of that community. My suggestion was to tie the Sales Incentive Programs to the programs that benefit the community. Instead of the top Sales Performers getting to go home with the latest Nintendo has to offer, why not offer them Paid Time Off to represent the company in its community service? There’s still positive impact on Sales and some immediate needs in the community are still ministered to but, in between, there’s a lot of added growth.

But, what if you’re not a large company with its own sizeable Direct Sales Force? It strikes me that, even for a small to medium sized company, a similar approach can be taken. Is there a local business organization that would be beneficial for your company to join but you’re struggling to justify the budget for membership? How about adding to the justification by using the membership as an incentive, allowing Top Performing Sales People to represent the company, as they and your company grow in the process?

So, what do you think of this approach? What’s been your most effective approach to Sales Incentive Programs? Please let me know so it can be shared with others.

Comments

sensetives Says:


September 24, 2008 at 6:18 am edit

There is (unfortenately) not just one way. My experience is that you have to make a mix to have a succesfull incentive program. Not every one gets satiesfied bij doing something for the community. Leave a choice. Because the program has to motivate every individual but not everybody has the same values.

grwiram Says:


September 24, 2008 at 6:44 am edit

Thanks for your comment. I, absolutely, agree. The suggestion I made for community service, as a reward, would work best as an option. You are right that a good program should motivate everyone involved. I just want to encourage being as creative as possible, in doing that, to maximize the resulting value.