He is a State Farm agent and I have had one or more cars insured with him steadily since 1985 (26 years).   When I called them, I found that State Farm had canceled my auto insurance on August 10, 2010, over nine months ago.   That would explain no bills.  I do not recall ever having received a notice or anything.  I have registered my car since then and lack of insurance didn’t come up on the computer.

IMPORTANTLY, my agent of 26 years did not call me.    WORSE, the person at this office that I did talk to informed me that State Farm could not begin the coverage again because they did not take new customers who had been uninsured for over three months, that I could apply with Progressive for six months, then come back to State Farm if I wanted.  This is despite the fact that I had spent over $70,000 in car insurance with State Farm over the 26 years just through this agent.   FAT CHANCE.

I went on line with GEICO.  Not only did they know what my existing car was automatically, they even had a car listed with me that was acquired by my ex-wife since our divorce.   I applied for insurance with GEICO, paid on line, got a certificate of insurance on line, and did it all in about 10 minutes.   I did have to wait until midnight of the day I applied (yesterday) to have the insurance in effect, but what a different experience.

Today I experienced something even more special.  I am in NYC working in my hotel room, and scheduled to checkout at noon.  Then I find that my flight is delayed until 4pm because of weather.  The desk person extended my checkout until 2pm.  Her words to me, “I am doing this because . . . because . . . well, because you are Mr. Lane.”  Is that a cool way to break a rule by exception or what?

Well consider what Muzak did years ago when they created the idea of using music in the background in the workplace.  Muzak is known as elevator music.  It even created the term “elevator music.”  Now it’s in office buildings, lobbies, restaurants, schools, etc.   And the category that resulted, Business Music, has competitors.

I assumed this category began in the 1960′s, but research showed me that it is much older than that.  The company Muzak Inc was incorporated in 1934.  This brand gained credence after a British study in 1937 showed that music increased work efficiency.  Then another study in New Jersey showed that music added in a manufacturing plant reduced absenteeism by 88%.   The brand Muzak introduced a form of franchising in 1938.  William Benton of Benton & Bowles advertising was an owner of the brand at one time.

Technology has changed but the fundamental idea is the same.  Even the Ipod owes its success to the same basic idea.  Background music increases work efficiency, whether in the hallway, at the desk, or in the gym.  What an idea to brand!

“The starting point of great success and achievement has always been the same. It is for you to dream big dreams. There is nothing more important, and nothing that works faster than for you to cast off your own limitations than for you to begin dreaming and fantasizing about the wonderful things that you can become, have, and do.”

I have given this same speech in different words so many times “after” an accomplishment.

Bill Egan, a client when he was International President of Johnson & Johnson once complained to me, “People think vision is ‘let’s go into the hair care business.’  Where is the real vision.”

We think that real vision is the ability to imagine and see in detail a scenario that has not happened yet, but theoretically could.  I believe a part missing in Bill’s comment is “bigness.”  I think in part vision is in the BIGNESS.  If one said, let’s own the hair care business, a minimum of 70%, it would be different.  In other words, is it possible that the size of a goal can actually lead one to Visionary Thinking?

For instance, the goal, “let’s invade and take over Cleveland,” would lead to visionary thinking, wouldn’t it.

Instead, in a dearth of leadership, virtually every company in America is cutting back and waiting for the worst, thereby guaranteeing its earlier arrival.  Even companies that are doing well.  Even companies that have a natural competitive edge during hard times are cutting back and passing on the opportunity to gain significant share.

Consider Walmart.  Who could be better positioned to gain from a bad economy?  Instead they have cut marketing budgets at Walmart, Sam’s and Walmart.com.  Sales are up 7% so they announced cut backs of 700 headquarters employees and a shift of some 500 IT jobs from Bentonville to India.  Can’t they see that at least 10% of American households that have never shopped at Walmart are primed to be picked off for easy trial and habit formation while times are tough.   IF I WERE LEADING WALMART, I would be on the rampage to develop new loyal customers.  Their new slogan, “Spend less, live better,” is perfect for today.

There are other businesses that should be doing the same.  OTC drugs can replace prescription medicines in some cases.  Generic drugs should be marketing heavily.  I could go on.

In fact any brand that represents a significant trade down opportunity or significant value should be pouring on the effort now.  When else will they have such an opportunity to make their point and gain share?

In the Great Depression, Herbert F. Johnson of SCJohnson Wax introduced the first self-polishing floor wax, Johnson’s Glo Coat, right into the heart of tough times.  He reasoned that American women needed relief from drudgery more than ever.  He announced to every employee that no one would be laid off as long as his family still had a cent, and shipped every account in America an introductory quantity of Johnson’s Glo Coat floor wax with a personal letter telling them that they could pay the company when they could afford to.  Legend has it that he collected every cent.  in April of 1935, he started sponsoring Fibber McGee & Molly, a major advertising committment at that time.  And Johnson’s Wax emerged as a mainstay of American companies.  THAT IS THE KIND OF LEADERSHIP TODAY NEEDS.

The media used to help too.  Today, the mass media that encouraged us through the Depression and World War II cannot seem to get past features on how to save money on coupons and how to drink cheaper coffee, constantly reminding us of how bad things are and how much worse they are going to get.

Where is the positive propaganda that in many times has forged the “can-do” attitude necessary to support the American people in their effort to pick themselves up.  Where is the Little Engine that could now that we need him so much?  Why aren’t we saying as a nation, “We know we can.  We know we can?”

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

One wolf is Evil; It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other wolf is Good; It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The young grandson thought about this for a minute or two and then asked his grandfather….. ‘Which wolf wins?’

The old Cherokee replied simply….. ‘The one you feed!

Food for Thought!

Oscar Wilde said, “Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”  Robert Greene in his classic, POWER, has a section on how to use your enemies.  I recommend it to you.

Lesson from here, if you don’t have enemies, you are probably not performing well enough.  Don’t go out and create enemies.  Just perform in an outstanding way and they will appear.

If you do have enemies, learn to use them.  As Greene can demonstrate, enemies can be more useful than friends.

A really good leader is a saint.  You do not have to be perfect.  Remember one simple thought.  A good leader is one others choose to follow.  It really is that simple.  Others either choose of their own free will to follow you, or they don’t.

The patriarch of the family gave this advice to Jimmy Smits who he has put in charge of the business. “Learn to listen. People will say, ‘I shouldn’t be telling you this. But they tell you anyway. It’s one of the most commonly used phrases.’ Know as much about everyone else’s secrets as possible, while revealing as little about your own as possible.”

This is excellent advice for competitive market intelligence as well as for organizational management intelligence. The more you know about your competitors the better. The less they know about you, the better.

The more you know about your people and your organization, the better you can manage and lead them.

I ran into an interesting quote from the Dali Lama that I think pertains not just to politics, but to business as well. “Wars arise from the failure to understand one another’s humanness. Instead of summitt meetings, why not have families meet for a picnic and get to know each other and let the children play together.”

This is profound and applies also to our activities as marketers and business leaders. When “we plan around the numbers instead of the people,” sooner or later we lose the understanding of one another’s humanness, and the business weakens. This happens externally with our customers and consumers. This happens internally with our partners and employees.

“Double-digit revenue year to year” is not vision. “Let’s go into the pet food business” is not vision. “Cleaner clothes for every famility in the World” is vision. Employees can rally around true vision. Employees cannot rally around numbers.

PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN NUMBERS because the people are the reason for the numbers.