I’m a big fan of vintage wines, vintage cars, and even old motorcycles. All these things have their own fan base, are eagerly sought out, and are often treasured by collectors. Why don’t we treat vintage people as well as fermented grape juice or an assembly of mechanical parts?
One morning this week an article in the Los Angeles Times was trumpeting the fact that “vintage motorcycles find traction in a soft economy” caught my attention. It went on to prompt an ooh from me when it mentioned a Vincent Black Shadow that sold for over $383,000 a few months ago. Knowledgeable collectors of fine wines will always snap to attention if you even mention that your cellar holds a few bottles of 1982 red Bordeaux. Right down the street from my office I can pick up a bottle of 1982 Chateau Latour for only $1,999.00! Even guitars such as the Stratocaster and Telecaster that were cranked out by Leo Fender in the 1960s are adored by collectors and change hands at many times their original cost. I probably don’t need to remind you of the cachet and value that old Duesenberg automobiles have attained. I’d say it’s a fact that people demonstrate their love of old things and with the ultimate compliment, they empty their wallets for them.
So why don’t we put more value on real, live vintage people as we do on objects of a certain age? I believe that businesses from small to very large can benefit from the knowledge and experience of people who’ve learned many of the lessons first hand. Even in the hallowed halls of youth obsessed businesses such as FaceBook, the realities of the marketplace bring comparatively vintage people to the top of the organization chart. A frequent refrain around Google, MySpace, FaceBook and other explosively growing start ups has been, “We need some adults around here.” In Detroit, which is the current battleground of business survival, the last company standing may be Ford Motor and there, Alan Mulally, the CEO, is 63 years of age.
There is money and intelligence in every age category from 18 to dead, but where you find the greatest combination of both is toward the gray haired end of the spectrum. When hundreds of ambitious aspirants line up to become “The Apprentice,” they are looking to learn from Donald Trump in America or Sir Alan Sugar in Great Britain. Yes, we know that if Trump didn’t treat his hair to a weekly chemical bath he too would probably be gray haired!
This past week I visited the Small Business Administration office in Glendale, California and was reminded about the great counseling and mentoring organization called SCORE, which was originally formed by retired executives. Their wise and experienced counsel has probably helped spawn many a business plan and helped save more than a few businesses.
I sense a rather profound shift that is lurking around the business corner based on the economic downturn that is crippling individual’s retirement plans and remaking the pension plans of big industry and even government. The trend I see is that more people are remaining active in their businesses or in the workforce for a greater number of years. I’ve talked with several skilled executives recently who took early retirement packages in their 50s and who are now looking to start or buy a business. Some of these “vintage” folks have begun selling their experience as consultants. Keeping their brains active, staying healthy, and having some money coming in are all very worthy goals.
If you have to face the unknown or a jungle full of business problems, do you want the recent MBA graduate or would you prefer someone who has learned guerilla warfare and hand to hand combat on the business battlefield? In the19th and 20th centuries, the relationship between the young trainee and the experienced hand was an honored one, but of course that was during a heavily manufacturing era when most people used their hands to craft things or guide the machines that made them. The service economy was a small part of overall business activity and the creation of purely intellectual property was even smaller.
When I was a child and wasn’t sure what many people actually did for a living, we called them, “the old folks.” After being in business for myself for over 20 years, and seeking their advice on many subjects, I’ve seen the value of “vintage people.”
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label los angeles. Show all posts
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A New Lost Generation
The traffic on Los Angeles freeways is a bit lighter these days, for at least a couple of reasons. One is that the price of gasoline is approaching that of bottled water and the other is that most schools have released their inmates. Among those folks, the college grads in particular are the most eager, enthusiastic and fearful.
Sadly, I find that too many bright young men and women are emerging from distinguished and expensive educations without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish in their lives. I’m living with this old fashioned notion that knowing what you want to do and then learning how is one of the primary purposes of a formal education. The rocketing price of oil and the roller-coaster drop in the stock market don’t bother me as much as seeing a new lost generation. American poet Gertrude Stein actually coined the expression "lost generation." Speaking to Ernest Hemingway, she said, "You are all a lost generation." The term lives on and created a mystique around the writers and artists living in Paris in the 1920s and ‘30s. They seemed to be a generation going to great lengths and distances in search of themselves. Today as a business owner I interview people for jobs from internships on up and it saddens me to often encounter men and women who seem to be in a lost generation for the 21st Century.
Several decades ago I was flattered to be asked to speak a graduating senior high school class for the first time. Of course I was nervous about choosing a topic, writing the speech and practicing until it seemed almost spontaneous. Within the first few minutes I dropped a grenade into the proceedings by telling them that despite their bright eyes, eager smiles, loving parents and fresh diplomas, the hard statistics told an awful story about their prospects. The numbers predicted that about fifty years from their graduation date, out of one hundred students, one of them would be very rich, four would be financially independent, five would still be working and fifty four would be practically broke. You may have noticed that there are thirty-six unaccounted for. The prognosticators said that institutions and death would claim that group. Today, the numbers may be a bit more favorable thanks to 401-K programs and other forced savings vehicles.
If I was delivering a speech today to a graduating class, I’d say that I was privileged to begin my professional life during the century that clearly belonged to America and that they are starting their journey in a century that will belong to other world powers. America’s greatness was based on: a very good education system, a competitive economy and vibrant, diverse population. They worked, sacrificed and endured many hardships for the sake of a greater good. Today’s youngsters often feel entitled to the rewards they’ve seen others enjoy without taking into account what went into those benefits. There are rules to meaningful accomplishment and if you don’t know the rules or want to ignore them, you are truly lost.
Education is one of my passions and I view it as a lifelong process. For example, when I received my private pilot license decades ago, the instructor reminded me that it really was just a license to learn. I spend most of my time in a world populated by experienced functional adults, people with goals and pretty clear values, folks who accept the responsibilities of family and community. In an effort to give their children “something better,” too many unearned gifts have robbed them of the knowledge that striving is a big part of the joy of living and the key to great accomplishment. Many of the fresh faced flock of graduates are surprised to learn that business is as exacting as athletics when it comes to determining who gets to stand on the top step of the podium. Of course, those bright and eager graduates don’t have to remain lost because the knowledge and sparkling example are all around us. They have access to written history, mentor bosses and world-wide connectivity. The realities may not match their graduation day expectations, but in that reality there is a beacon of hope.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Sadly, I find that too many bright young men and women are emerging from distinguished and expensive educations without a clear idea of what they want to accomplish in their lives. I’m living with this old fashioned notion that knowing what you want to do and then learning how is one of the primary purposes of a formal education. The rocketing price of oil and the roller-coaster drop in the stock market don’t bother me as much as seeing a new lost generation. American poet Gertrude Stein actually coined the expression "lost generation." Speaking to Ernest Hemingway, she said, "You are all a lost generation." The term lives on and created a mystique around the writers and artists living in Paris in the 1920s and ‘30s. They seemed to be a generation going to great lengths and distances in search of themselves. Today as a business owner I interview people for jobs from internships on up and it saddens me to often encounter men and women who seem to be in a lost generation for the 21st Century.
Several decades ago I was flattered to be asked to speak a graduating senior high school class for the first time. Of course I was nervous about choosing a topic, writing the speech and practicing until it seemed almost spontaneous. Within the first few minutes I dropped a grenade into the proceedings by telling them that despite their bright eyes, eager smiles, loving parents and fresh diplomas, the hard statistics told an awful story about their prospects. The numbers predicted that about fifty years from their graduation date, out of one hundred students, one of them would be very rich, four would be financially independent, five would still be working and fifty four would be practically broke. You may have noticed that there are thirty-six unaccounted for. The prognosticators said that institutions and death would claim that group. Today, the numbers may be a bit more favorable thanks to 401-K programs and other forced savings vehicles.
If I was delivering a speech today to a graduating class, I’d say that I was privileged to begin my professional life during the century that clearly belonged to America and that they are starting their journey in a century that will belong to other world powers. America’s greatness was based on: a very good education system, a competitive economy and vibrant, diverse population. They worked, sacrificed and endured many hardships for the sake of a greater good. Today’s youngsters often feel entitled to the rewards they’ve seen others enjoy without taking into account what went into those benefits. There are rules to meaningful accomplishment and if you don’t know the rules or want to ignore them, you are truly lost.
Education is one of my passions and I view it as a lifelong process. For example, when I received my private pilot license decades ago, the instructor reminded me that it really was just a license to learn. I spend most of my time in a world populated by experienced functional adults, people with goals and pretty clear values, folks who accept the responsibilities of family and community. In an effort to give their children “something better,” too many unearned gifts have robbed them of the knowledge that striving is a big part of the joy of living and the key to great accomplishment. Many of the fresh faced flock of graduates are surprised to learn that business is as exacting as athletics when it comes to determining who gets to stand on the top step of the podium. Of course, those bright and eager graduates don’t have to remain lost because the knowledge and sparkling example are all around us. They have access to written history, mentor bosses and world-wide connectivity. The realities may not match their graduation day expectations, but in that reality there is a beacon of hope.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
Everybody's Cheese is Moving
Events of the past several days in Los Angeles solidified some thoughts I’ve been nursing for several years now. So many things on the business and economic landscape are changing, and most of us aren’t sure where they are headed. All we know is that insecurity and the unhappiness that breeds are top-of-mind feelings for a lot of people right now.
In the past I’ve written that the decades long super consumer era that America has known is coming to an end and we saw an example of that during the holiday shopping season. Also, I had fun a couple of years ago analyzing the importance of the best selling business tome, “Who Moved My Cheese?” The story of Who Moved My Cheese? was created by Dr. Spencer Johnson to help him deal with a difficult change in his life. It showed him how to take his changing situation seriously, but not take himself so seriously. Through waves of downsizing, rightsizing and workforce reductions, the book became a best seller and a favorite in corporate America.
Let’s get back to the weekend event. On Saturday, my lady and I went to a favorite restaurant (Orso) in west Los Angeles that is usually buzzing and crowded. By the fashionable weekend dining hour of 8pm, the place was only about 40% occupied. The owner let us know that they were being adversely affected by the Writers Guild of America strike that is beginning to get a little gray at the temples after two months. There have been thousands of layoffs, and ancillary small businesses have been suffering as the film/TV production money spigot is only dribbling these days. Normally on this past weekend, there would have been parties and smiles everywhere because of the Golden Globe Awards. Instead, the caterers, limo companies and party planners were probably eating pizza while dreaming of last year’s caviar bashes.
You see, each group and business category has to learn that its cheese is not exempt from the forces that will cause it to move. Very old cheese or newly formed curd gets the same treatment. Just look at the 100-year-old automotive businesses in our country. Every U.S. automaker is weighted down with legacy expenditures to employees that were promised during their sunny business climate of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The writers who supply most theatrical film and scripted network TV with words haven’t yet absorbed the fact that their turn at torture may be coming soon. They are locked in a tussle over future residual payments for their work in new media and that may be the battlefield. Many of these men and women are somewhere between bright and brilliant with ideas and words but they often miss a fundamental tenet of the capitalist system. That obvious rule is that the person taking the greatest risk usually gains the greatest rewards when a venture is successful. Not only that, but they get to write most of the rules on how the largesse is doled out. The money and the cheese move in lock step.
The decades old fundamental system of residual payments to writers may be in jeopardy. We all have a natural inclination to want things to remain as they were if it was fun, easy and rewarding. I’m fond of saying that yes, the truth will set you free, but first it may kick your butt. In every business, there are structural changes emerging and some are much less than pleasant. Some of those people manning the writer’s picket lines are smarter and more visionary than others and they should see this with an entrepreneurial eye. That may mean creating content directly for online distribution and bypassing networks, studios and other gatekeepers. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the opportunities presented by the new digital world?
The writers aren’t the only creative artists whose cheese is strapping on roller skates. I noticed today that EMI, the legendary music company that brought The Beatles to the world is laying off up to one third of its 6,000 employees because consumers aren’t buying recorded music in the same way as they were just three years ago. Of course, newspaper circulation in the United States has been skiing down Mount Everest for years. There won’t likely be any pickets in either of these cases and no cries by newspaper writers that they are entitled to continuing payments for an article they wrote years ago. In Hollywood the sacred cow of residual payments is an endangered species that will prompt many more fights between the artists and money interests.
I worked for one of the big three TV networks in the 1980s when they didn’t fully recognize or respect the fact that cable TV was about to change their business lives. Now, the Internet is guaranteeing there will be further radical change in how content is made, marketed and distributed. While writers and other “creatives” are lamenting their state of affairs, the TV networks and studios themselves are trying to figure out how to chase the cheese. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Those are the words of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
In the past I’ve written that the decades long super consumer era that America has known is coming to an end and we saw an example of that during the holiday shopping season. Also, I had fun a couple of years ago analyzing the importance of the best selling business tome, “Who Moved My Cheese?” The story of Who Moved My Cheese? was created by Dr. Spencer Johnson to help him deal with a difficult change in his life. It showed him how to take his changing situation seriously, but not take himself so seriously. Through waves of downsizing, rightsizing and workforce reductions, the book became a best seller and a favorite in corporate America.
Let’s get back to the weekend event. On Saturday, my lady and I went to a favorite restaurant (Orso) in west Los Angeles that is usually buzzing and crowded. By the fashionable weekend dining hour of 8pm, the place was only about 40% occupied. The owner let us know that they were being adversely affected by the Writers Guild of America strike that is beginning to get a little gray at the temples after two months. There have been thousands of layoffs, and ancillary small businesses have been suffering as the film/TV production money spigot is only dribbling these days. Normally on this past weekend, there would have been parties and smiles everywhere because of the Golden Globe Awards. Instead, the caterers, limo companies and party planners were probably eating pizza while dreaming of last year’s caviar bashes.
You see, each group and business category has to learn that its cheese is not exempt from the forces that will cause it to move. Very old cheese or newly formed curd gets the same treatment. Just look at the 100-year-old automotive businesses in our country. Every U.S. automaker is weighted down with legacy expenditures to employees that were promised during their sunny business climate of the 1950s and ‘60s.
The writers who supply most theatrical film and scripted network TV with words haven’t yet absorbed the fact that their turn at torture may be coming soon. They are locked in a tussle over future residual payments for their work in new media and that may be the battlefield. Many of these men and women are somewhere between bright and brilliant with ideas and words but they often miss a fundamental tenet of the capitalist system. That obvious rule is that the person taking the greatest risk usually gains the greatest rewards when a venture is successful. Not only that, but they get to write most of the rules on how the largesse is doled out. The money and the cheese move in lock step.
The decades old fundamental system of residual payments to writers may be in jeopardy. We all have a natural inclination to want things to remain as they were if it was fun, easy and rewarding. I’m fond of saying that yes, the truth will set you free, but first it may kick your butt. In every business, there are structural changes emerging and some are much less than pleasant. Some of those people manning the writer’s picket lines are smarter and more visionary than others and they should see this with an entrepreneurial eye. That may mean creating content directly for online distribution and bypassing networks, studios and other gatekeepers. Isn’t that supposed to be one of the opportunities presented by the new digital world?
The writers aren’t the only creative artists whose cheese is strapping on roller skates. I noticed today that EMI, the legendary music company that brought The Beatles to the world is laying off up to one third of its 6,000 employees because consumers aren’t buying recorded music in the same way as they were just three years ago. Of course, newspaper circulation in the United States has been skiing down Mount Everest for years. There won’t likely be any pickets in either of these cases and no cries by newspaper writers that they are entitled to continuing payments for an article they wrote years ago. In Hollywood the sacred cow of residual payments is an endangered species that will prompt many more fights between the artists and money interests.
I worked for one of the big three TV networks in the 1980s when they didn’t fully recognize or respect the fact that cable TV was about to change their business lives. Now, the Internet is guaranteeing there will be further radical change in how content is made, marketed and distributed. While writers and other “creatives” are lamenting their state of affairs, the TV networks and studios themselves are trying to figure out how to chase the cheese. There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Those are the words of Niccolo Machiavelli.
Be sure to check out www.MakingItTV.com for a comprehensive collection of resources for entrepreneurial thinkers and small business including streaming video, articles, events & workshops, entrepreneur confessions, Q&A, and more!
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