GreatRidge Station

I don’t know who to address this to. The jolly fat man at the north pole has no stake in this discussion, and MN-DOT seems not to want to take me seriously. This, then, is my Christmas driving list.

1. I want one of those licenses that a lot of people seem to have. It allows them to run red lights (as long as no one is in the intersection), and to blow through stop signs.
2. This may be the same as item 1, but I list it separately because it might be a special certification. I want to be able to do the “no stop on right turn.” This seems to work for both lights and standing stop-signs.
3. Apparently, someone installed a Romulan Cloaking Device in my car. While I can see times where this might be handy, in my life I have no need of a stealthy getaway. Please remove it: I would prefer that other drivers could see me, and not pull out right in front of me.
4. I want the people who design drive up ATMs to realize that not everyone drives a monster truck, and therefore, not all ATMs need to be seven feet above the ground. I hate having to stand on top of my Honda Accord to see the screen.
5. I want a hovercraft. The only pain in my commute is the fact that I have to cross the river, and that means I have to sit in slow traffic, waiting to get across bridges. I either need a hovercraft, or someone needs to put up a few more bridges.

That’s it. I think my wishes are simple–at least as simple as world peace.

This is, unashamedly, my I told you so post.

A year ago, in most of my classes, and in conversations with other leaders, I made the assertion that “Best Buy is in trouble–deep trouble–and they don’t even know it.” My rationale was simple. Last Christmas, they were competing on big-ticket items, mostly televisions and surround-sound entertainment systems. The problem with that strategy was that it alienated the very market share that built the company: People interested in small-ticket electronics and media. Rather than pointing out “We’re a great place to buy that small, $20 Christmas gift,” they unintentionally sent the message, “don’t come if you don’t have a load of money and a truck to haul away your purchases.”

The leaders at Best Buy started strangling their business more than a year ago, and 2007 November sales were around $228 million. This year, they were $52 million. They might never have made up the business that they lost, but their strategy alienated their fall-back markets.

Attention, Leaders. You need to learn to read your business and your markets. The fact that I could read Best Buy’s problems a year ago suggests that this kind of thing is knowable. And if it is knowable, the leaders are accountable for it.

One of our CSF students was speaking about one of his final exams with some concern. I shared the following information with him, and thought it might be worth recounting here.

Adult life has brought a number of surprising changes in perception. The first happened when I attended our daughter’s parent-teacher conference at her school when she was in second grade. I realized then that my role had changed forever–I was no longer the kid being evaluated, but the parent being involved in our child’s education. The next happened when I was dealing with employees–hiring, reviewing, and (in one case) terminating. It was then that I realized that the employment process was as challenging for the employer as for the employee..

Now, as a college instructor, I have discovered that the same thing is true, and this is what I shared with this student. Any final project, whether it is a paper, and exam, or a presentation, is just as stressful for the instructor as it is for the student. In a very real sense, it becomes a very personal evaluation of the teacher’s ability to express his or her ideas and communicate knowledge to the students. This is why it is disheartening to an instructor when a student earns a low grade. I encouraged our student to keep this in mind, and remember that every final exam is, ultimately, a conversation with the instructor. It involves managing knowledge, ideas, and information, and presenting them in a way that demonstrates mastery of the material and respect for the instructor. By the end of a course, most of us (instructors, that is) have developed relationships with our students and frankly, we care about them.

Exams and final projects do not exist in a vacuum, but are always positioned in the social, cultural, foundational, and philosophical context of the course.  Keep this perspective in mind throughout a course, and the grades seem to follow.

This same factor applies throughout life. Most of our significant relationships–whether in the workplace, at home, in the community, at church, or anywhere else–only thrive when they are conversations. The two-way-nature of human communication is essential in nearly every aspect of our lives.