People Helping People - Make it your way of Living

People Helping People ... is whats wrong with the world's citizens these days.

It's just not happening ... people helping people anymore, that is... as people are spending all their time worrying about themselves.

OK, maybe in today's world people are just finding it difficult to put food on the table; keep the family healthy; and educate the children. But, I really believe if we could get back to our grandmother's days... when neighbors baked cookies and brought over hot meals when the neighbor was sick in bed we would find a lot more success stories in our lives.

I really don't believe I am over simplifying the issue. There are really a class of people out there that do try to be helpful to others.

Of course there are exceptions in every environment of both extremes; but, I am talking about the masses.

One such class of people are the past employees of Hewlett-Packard Company. The HP Way as it is called

My HP employee number was in the 14 thousands but my managers and some of my long time HP friends had employee numbers in the hundreds.

Back in 1976 when I joined HP, I remember clearly a conversation I had with my boss named Bill (no, not Bill Hewlett, but I knew him too), about the lack of procedure manuals. I had just come from a few year experience with the Bechtel corporation which had a procedure for everything almost. I said to my new HP boss.... I worry about re-inventing the wheel... where are the procedure manuals here at HP.

Bill said to me... there is the telephone, if you want to know something, call someone in the HP world and ask. Build that person to person relationship and don't worry about re-inventing the wheel - maybe you will re-invent it better!

He went on to say, get out of your chair (in your wall-less office) and go to the various HP sites (around the world - managing by wandering around) and see how we do things at HP and build those personal relationships. Fortunate to be at HP in these times, I visited sites from Bristol England to Malaysia and all across the USA.

Everywhere I went, I found it to be the same... People Helping People!

Yesterday, I received a voice mail from a man named John in Andover Massachusetts inquiring about my Red Bead Experiment product. Being located in Europe, I waited for morning In the USA and called the number. A really nice lady andswered the phone and when I inquired about the call the night before, she answered, yes my husband John called, because he wants to purchase your game (she was knowledgeable too).

I found her voice to be pleasant, she was polite and helpful and gave me her husbands's office number to call and even said call right away as he is in his office before an upcoming meeting. So I called immediately and John answered the phone and after I introduced my self he thanked me for the prompt return call.

He went on to ask me how I got involved in the Deming Red Bead experiment - he was actually interested in me as a person - a nice surprise I thought to myself. When I replied oh, I was at HP in 1982 when Dr. Deming was there, he replied I too was at HP in previous years.

Then it hit me! This was like the HP I spent almost 19 wonderful years at.

Nice people desiring to be polite, and helpful to each other. Wanting to care and wanting to be involved; not just, a quick how much for your product and how fast can you ship it to me.

Right away, I felt good - and my desire to to provide customer delight was at the top end of the scale.

It does work and I does not have to be only at Hewlett-Packard Company. It can be anywhere in the world (HP proved that to be true) and it can be at your company and organization. All you have to do is want it to be that way and practice being helpful to others - like the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would want others to do unto you.

There are more examples other than John; like Betty and Vern, with their low HP employee numbers less than the hundreds who are still working with me today to develop Packaged Training programs to teach others about collaborative work. And like a lady named Pat in California whom I watched and mentored from an entry level position to obtain her college dipolma. And there was Dot, who brought me flowers the day she got her promotion to be an executive assistant to an HP Vice President because I had given her one of those tough performance reviews (HP was famous for) a couple of years earlier.

This trip down memory lane is bringing a tear to my eye as I sit and give thanks to my first HP boss Bill, who taught me the core value of People Helping People.

Give it a try and stop worrying about your mean old boss - take charge of your life and do what you know in your heart you need to do. Just do it and start today!

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Dont Just Walk the Talk - Learn to Live the Talk

Author's note: The following discussion may not be complete and may include some inconsistencies. It will be reviewed, expanded on and "flushed out' over the next several days. 5 Feb 2009 -- 15:06

Reference: slide package - may be downloaded & viewed separately

I continue to be amassed at the number of management "how to" books, videos, DVDs, etc. that are sold; but, the theory published in the content seems to be still inside after the new owner has placed it down.

Why is it, that people - good and smart people - don't appear to be learning more about this theory and all the historical results that have been around for years?

Some people now say that we must "Walk the Talk"; but, my observation is that the talk... is only talk... and nothing appears to be improving.

I believe that the world's leaders, managers and individual workers have to start first with themselves. They need to internalize all this theory and make a commitment to personally perform an honest days work for a reasonable days pay. Eliminate the greed that is killing us.

In so doing, day by day, they will begin to Learn to Live the Talk and through their interactions with others both up and down the chain of command they will make a difference. Its kind of like a recipe for making cookies - there is a personal recipe for success.

To succeed in today's world, what we do must be both Green (environmental friendly) and cost improving to our business.

Purchasing however, must resist their buying habits of accepting and desiring initial lowest bid cost. Rather, we need to think a little longer term and make our buying decisions based on a more Total Cost of Ownership basis.

The theoretical costs are the summation of the various tasks that need to e accomplished, times the time it takes to perform these tasks, time the cost per unit of time to pay for the effort.

But, I suggest that this is NOT the true Total Cost of Ownership.

The Total Cost of Ownership must include the more hidden costs associated with the following three categories:

1. REWORK COSTS - If there were not good techniques and procedures used in the effort and/or if the workers were not properly trained, then you will have the opportunity to rework and do some or all of the work over again at a later date.

2. WASTED TASKS - If the required materials, supplies and labor were not at the correct place on time, then all sorts of additional costs may be incurred. Good planning is one of the most important aspects of keeping total costs low.

3. CHANGES in MIND - If expectations for the end result of the effort were not clearly and measurably communicated to all parties associated with performing the work, then there is a high potential that the completed work will not meet the expectations of the requester. Good clear communication techniques and easy to understand, measurable expectations are also most important in successful low cost results.

Some studies have found that these three types of hidden costs may account for 25% or more of the Total Cost of Ownership over the life of the effort.

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The Master Reset Button of Life has been pushed

Aren't the daily new Headlines depressing these days?

One after another, job loss, profit declines, bad food recalls, scams, suicides; it goes on and on!

Are you like me - beginning to find a common thread through all these or at least the majority of these headlines?

GREED

Yes, its greed at its worst!

And maybe a good dose of stupidity.

I used to call it a lack of common sense; but, now it's simply stupidity and lack of concern for others including family, friends, co-workers and so on.



What happened?

Did I grow up in some sort of shell and all this has been happening this much for years?

Or has mankind lost its way?

I am passed being shocked and dismayed.

Anyone have any ideas or thoughts on this?

Anyone have any suggestions on what or how we change the course of this supertanker to destruction?

What is it going to take before people wake up an see the root cause of the problem?

I know, I have lots of questions and not many ideas or answers.

But, I believe it is time for all of us to wake up and "get back to the basics".

Get back to those Saturday afternoon chats with your grandmother or Uncle we had when we were small children and think about the lessons of treating others with respect and not to be too greedy along the path of life.

The "Master Reset Button" of life as we know it is now being pushed and we have the opportunity to come back a better person, and a better world.

How about it?

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Twitter - a technology to experiment with

Its been a year now since I first logged into theis new site Twitter. Really not impressed at first so simply ignored Twitter since.

However, It has managed to stick around and more and more people are beginning to talk about their Tweets, and it is not something to eat.

So perhaps we should reconsider and take another look.

This I have done this weekend and I still am not a real believe of any significient value but have decided to give it another try anyway.

Check it out and consider following my Tweety messages fom one of my sites:

www.twitter.com/livethetalk/

www.twitter.com/redbeadinfo/

www.twitter.com/healthylinen/

www.twitter.com/rigarooster/


The TWEET messages have also been embeded in my BLOG sites

I will do my best to make a TWEET every other day or so with some profound statement of some sort.

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Please let me know what you thing... is there any value?

Workplace Tragidity something we need to consider carefully

It is with great hesitation that I post this at this time. But after very careful thought, I believe I should go ahead and make the post.

The "Master Reset Button" is being pushed on our World As we knew it and that will create I am sure more of the very sad events like what occured in Santa Clara, California, this past Friday, 14 November 2008.

The newspaper headlines reads:
Suspected gunman arrested in 3 deaths at Santa Clara chip startup

Apparently a small company terminated the employment of an employee and a few hours later the employee came back to the work office and killed three of the senior managers of the company.

A very sad day for the company, the employees families; associates and the other employees at the company.

The world has changed and we need to be aware of what is happening and change how we approach our lives, our jobs and our relationships.

Life is way too short and special for this type of tragidity to occur. We must - all of us - look deeply inside of us and look for ways to change our way of life and avoid at all costs a repeat of this tragidity.

I am sure that it will happen again and again somewhere in the world. But we need to do everything in our power to try and prevent it from happening.

In the meantime, take stock of your personal mental condition and seek help if you feel you need it.

Reach out to others if you can and be a shoulder for others in need to talk to.

But, be careful and not allow yourself to be in a position as these unfortunate people were in Santa Clara, California, this past Friday afternoon.

It should not have happened; it may have been preventable - who knows - but it did happen.

All we can do now is to take action to reach out and try to avoid future situations that lead to this type of unfortunate event.

Again my deepest of sympathies to all that were affected in this Santa Clara situation.

There was one post that I read on the Internet website that I felt summed up how I personally feel about there the world has come. That is whay I "checked out" of the Silicon Valley rat race in 1999.

Now I realize, why I did, and why I can never return to that way of life again.

Mike Johnson, an American living in Europe, with a new lifestyle


Please take a moment and read this ladies comment:
A very sad but true comment from a posting

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Santa-Clara-Work-Place-Shooting-Leaves-Three-Dead.html?corder=reverse&pg=4#comments

My Husband was CEO of a rather well known SV co. We had our multi million dollar home and lifestyle, a fat portfolio and life was great. Five years ago the company was bought out, but part of the negotiations was extending my husband's contract 5 years. Our lifestyle remained the same. However I watched my husband get more stressed as each year passed. We never discussed it. Late August he came home and told me he had to let go 3/4 of the workforce...it made the news. He was heartbroken as it was a close knit group he considered them alll family. Then he was told AFTER he did this company's dirty work that his services were no longer needed when his contract expired Oct 31st. He still reported to work each day even though he did absolutely nothing for 2 months. The writing was on the wall....Karma? No the fat days were just over. He has no job, he's 58, all the toys, house everything is gone, the portfolio worth nothing. It occurred to me hearing this last night how lucky I am that at least we still have each other. It is not just the blue collar people. It is the way this world works now. GREED & POWER, we are ALL guilty of wanting it all. I do not care what country we are from what color are skin is. This whole planet needs a wake up call, but that will never ever happen. What happened yesterday is a sad commentary of what we have all become, puppets. ...


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Yes We Can America - Hope and Change

Yes We Can - by working smarter - not the same old ways cause permanent change to how America responds to the issues. Its time for something different as the past 20 years or so has been full of too many special interests and GREED has been the trademark.

Its time for all of us to do our part, share and work together to change how we think; how we manage; and how we lead.

I promise to do my part. How about you?


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Lets heal America and return it to the people

It's time for new leadership





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