In a recent presentation someone used the tool Wordle to highlight the results of a survey. They put all of the survey comments into the tool and it puts together a word cloud with the most common words being the largest. A very cool tool.

From the Centre for Women in Business:

I have to admit that as I read the story about the Hewlett Packard CEO and his resignation over expense fraud and harassment, I was perplexed. I had often heard from people at HP that he was a really good CEO, having put HP on the right track after the Fiona years of lots of flash, and little delivery. That being said, the detractors are now coming out. Consider the story ‘Actually, Mark Hurd was a Thug’;

This guy was a thug, nicknamed Mark Turd by ex-HPites who worked directly for him — stories that have circulated in the Valley for three years. He raped HP employees (figuratively, without violating the sexual conduct code at HP) by eliminating the sixty-five year concept of profit sharing, preferring to move to obscene bonuses for himself and his five top minions — a mere $113 million payout for them in a year he chopped everyone else’s pay by 5% plus profit-sharing. These were raises for some of the five people by as much as 400% — a tidy uptick.

He was profane, a bully, autocratic, threatening, demeaning, vindictive, and rude. Blogs over the weekend by current employees said "Hooray, the tyrant is gone!" I couldn’t contain my glee on the 11pm news — best news for HP in a very long time!

The Voice of the Workplace, HP’s thirty-five year historic ‘measure’ of employee feelings (done every five years) showed in April an astonishing finding — more than two-thirds of HP’s employees would quit tomorrow if they had an equivalent job offer. Not a raise, not a promotion, simply an alternative. That number never used to be in double digits. Other companies in the Valley have reported an amazing rate of HP resumes being submitted; one large company saying, "we didn’t know they had that many people working there".

A quick web search finds an entire web site dedicated to Mark Hurd loathing. One has to wonder what he was thinking. Did he figure that he was untouchable (the Tiger Woods syndrome)? If you review the facts it remains a head scratch:

• Earned 33M in 2008.
• Married with children.
• Harassment charges filed by an ex-reality TV star.
• Harassment charges referred to during his resignation with an official explanation of $1-20k in expense fraud.

A blog at HBR suggests that it could be embarrassment (he tells more lies to cover the first), arrogance or a lack of attention to detail. I am sure that over the coming months more will come out.

What an odd story. But then again, no odder than many others such as Eliott Spitzer and countless others. A far cry from the ABB CEO who famously walked onto an airplane during dramatic corporate cutbacks and went straight to coach while his VPs sat, uncomfortably, in Business Class. Leadership by example.

Such an odd story and HP will suffer through this unfortunate crisis of character like so many other companies, and their employees have before.

I had not heard of the company Foxconn until it started to hit the press over the last few weeks, after a host of employee suicides.

More care urged for after FoxConn suicides

Some Foxconn employees get 20% pay rise

Reading the articles is a fascinating journey into China as you learn about this mammoth company that employs 800,000+ employees. The Foxconn walled city within Shenzhen (which is known as outsource city) is unbelievable, housing more than 270,000 employees with all of the city within a city services (fire, ambulance, hospital, shopping, transit).

Living in a city built by my employer is definitely a foreign concept and the scale is mindboggling.  Via.

A big day today after Microsoft’s stock continued to drop. It is exactly where it was this time last year (I know – because that is when I eliminated all Microsoft from my holdings).

According to the CBC:

That makes Apple the most valuable technology firm in the world and the second-largest publicly traded U.S. company, behind oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. Exxon has a market value of $278.6 billion.

Impressive.

A month ago I took the boys to a hockey game. While we were there I met a very interesting fellow, sitting beside me, David Ben. International lawyer who left the practice to successfully pursue his life long goal of being a magician. Thanks to his recommendation, we now have tickets to the Luminato Festival of Arts, and Mac King who is taking time out of his vacation from his Vegas show to perform (and who David endorses as amazing).

David is also into social networking and blogs. I read through a host of his posts, and found the entry on Deliberate Practice and the premise that volume of practice is not the key to success in a chosen vocation interesting.

One of my pet peeves has always been listening to people who pontificate how long they have been involved with something as if the length of time at an activity warranted respect. We’ve all heard someone – who is not particularly good at the task – state, “I’ve been doing this for thirty-five years…”

My mental response is usually, “Well, if I had been doing it for as long as you have, and was still that bad, I’d want to consider an alternative career.” 

The reason they are bad is not because they haven’t put the time in, but because they have not done ‘deliberate practice’. Tugend cites Professor Ericsson’s notion of deliberate practice: “It involves spending hours a day in a highly structured activities to improve performance and overcome weakness.”

Based on the article ‘For the Best of the Best, Determination Outweighs Nature and Nurture’ in the New York Times.

But it does not follow, Professor Ericsson said, that everyone can become great, or even really good, in a given arena. First of all, you need to have parents willing to put in an intensive amount of resources and time in helping you excel.

In fact, research has shown that most people who are really outstanding in their fields don’t come out of nowhere. Top-notch musicians are usually born into families where music plays a dominant role. The same is true with sports or any other endeavour.

In addition, by studying those who have excelled, Professor Ericsson has found that they engage in something he calls “deliberate practice.” It involves spending hours a day in highly structured activities to improve performance and overcome weaknesses.

The theory is well supported by the Outliers and the 10,000 hour rule. As someone who has not played golf much in the last 3 years and is re-engaging, it also explains why simply running to the range and hitting balls has very little impact.

Never stops amazing me, watching people flail away with no coaching. I hope they are enjoying it, because the above surmises that enjoyment will be the only benefit. It also explains why it makes me feel like I am wasting time if I am not focused on a specific skill practice. Two weeks ago was my first game, and after the game (and affiliated warm-up on the driving range and putting green), I headed straight home and started pulling out my golf books to re-read the things that had gone rusty during my 3 year hiatus. Focus …

The above also explains why my music teacher made us practice 30 minutes a day, on the lessons he dictated for the week.

Interesting reading the reviews on the new show Undercover Boss, about CEOs going undercover in their business. It doesn’t get the best reviews:

The show’s premise is that wealthy CEOs are currently out of touch with their companies and don’t understand how their decisions impact their employees’ professional and personal lives. The events on the show are clearly planned to get this point across. For example, bosses are strategically paired with employees who have sympathetic and/or distressing life stories. The show also draws specific attention to some of each company’s more inadequate corporate policies and highlights any hostile and/or sexist environments that are created when some of these policies are enforced.

I watched the first episode on Larry O’Donnell, President of Waste Management going undercover. As the review points out, they ‘happen’ to place the CEOs with people who had distressing situations (One with a missing kidney, a woman doing 3 jobs and about to lose her house, another woman who drives garbage trucks and isn’t allowed bathroom breaks).

In the end, if a few people’s lives were improved (In each case, during the debrief, the President did something for them) why not? The question is, if they went back will Larry have altered a few things personally?

Interesting premise, but not sure it will last (One was enough for me).

I enjoy reading stories of innovation and the article ‘Enriched and Famous’ is a fantastic story on business innovation. How does one change a product like an egg? It would seem impossible. But the daughter of a  Canadian farmer stumbled upon the Omega 3 innovation in Australia, and then applied a unique dose of business ingenuity:

The company that launched the omega‑3 craze in Canada was Burnbrae Farms, an egg producer near Brockville. In the 1970s and 1980s, egg producers had a major public relations problem. Cholesterol was a dirty word, and eggs contain more cholesterol than almost any other food. For the health conscious, tucking into a plate of eggs Benny seemed as foolhardy as giving a toddler a box of matches. Egg consumption in Canada dropped 35 per cent over three decades; egg farmers were struggling to make ends meet. The Hudson family, who operate Burnbrae Farms, were desperate to change the public’s perception of their product.

Margaret Hudson, the youngest daughter of the family’s patriarch, Joe, encountered her first omega-3 egg on a business trip to Australia in 1995. The trouble was, it tasted fishy (the chicken feed had been fortified with fish oil). When she returned home, she spoke to Steve Leeson, a poultry nutrition expert at the University of Guelph, who was studying the possibility of developing an enriched egg in Canada. A colleague of his, nutritional scientist Bruce Holub, had been researching the effects of omega-3-rich flaxseed on the human diet. Holub discovered flax raised levels of omega-3 in the bloodstream, which gave Leeson the idea of feeding it to chickens. Ontario egg producers and the Flax Council of Canada, along with Burnbrae, were only too happy to help fund Guelph’s studies. Later that year, Leeson published a peer-reviewed paper suggesting flax-fed chickens could produce omega‑3-enriched eggs that might reduce the risk of heart disease.

The result:

By the following spring, Burnbrae had launched its Naturegg Omega 3, and a commodity that was barely breaking even quickly became a premium product. In a 2007 report, consulting firm Deloitte referred to the transformation of “an old, ultra-generic [product] into a highly specialized and heart disease–combatting weapon” as “one of the great marketing success stories of recent Canadian business history.”

Not only do consumers pay $1.25 or so more for omega-3 eggs, we buy them more often than any other type of specialty egg. Omega-3 egg sales—12 per cent of the retail market share—are second only to classic white. Loblaws’ PC-brand omega-3 eggs are the store’s best-selling private label product in the store—ahead of even the Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Enjoy the entire article here. A motivating story … when it does not seem like innovation is possible, think again.

New Years. That day of reflection for many and a time when fitness equipment and gym memberships soar. Jim Collins, of ‘Good to Great’ fame, has a very interesting approach to New Year’s resolutions, he calls it his ‘stop doing’ list:

The start of the New Year is a perfect time to start a stop doing list and to make this the cornerstone of your New Year resolutions, be it for your company, your family or yourself. It also is a perfect time to clarify your three circles, mirroring at a personal level the three questions asked by Smith:

1) What are you deeply passionate about?
2) What are you are genetically encoded for — what activities do you feel just "made to do"?
3) What makes economic sense — what can you make a living at?

Those fortunate enough to find or create a practical intersection of the three circles have the basis for a great work life.

Think of the three circles as a personal guidance mechanism. As you navigate the twists and turns of a chaotic world, it acts like a compass. Am I on target? Do I need to adjust left, up, down, right? If you make an inventory of your activities today, what percentage of your time falls outside the three circles?

If it is more than 50%, then the stop doing list might be your most important tool. The question is: Will you accept good as good enough, or do you have the courage to sell the mills?

You can read the entire article here. It is an interesting point of view. Personally, I do not start the year with a resolution list. I simply reflect on my goals and make adjustments – which is an ongoing process, not marked by any point in the calendar.

That being said, I like the stop doing list idea as part of that non-stop review and reflection process.

2010 is going to be great. Have a Happy New Year.

There are lots of posts on PowerPoint. How not to use it. How it is abused. How it is the root of all evil in the business world. That being said, it is amazing to see it integrated into the schools, where the kids are expected (In grade 5 and up) to do PowerPoint for their class projects. It is not going away.

It is a much different world than what I remember as a kid. PowerPoint, access to the internet and colour laser printers at home lead to dramatically different presentations. For me, it was a pair of scissors, the National Geographic and Time magazine pile, the library and our much cherished, very expensive set of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

In our house, PowerPoint has morphed from a business tool to a source of entertainment. The boys have always enjoyed doing Lego movies, and now they enjoy doing PowerPoint. It is fascinating to watch. They create a slide, then copy it and alter, copy and alter, slowly creating a stop motion video. I watch and think, I use to do that with a bunch of paper … and then would flip it to watch the items move. How 1930s …

Why do I mention PowerPoint and randomly post? Because of this video, which hit my inbox the other day. Corporate presenters beware …

I just read a great article by Harvey Mackay, with a story about Socrates:

One day in ancient Greece an acquaintance met the great philosopher Socrates and said,

"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple Filter?"

"That’s right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…"

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"

"No, on the contrary…"

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?"

You can read the full article here.

It reminds me of a piece of advice that someone told me or I read in the past, it was quite simple. When someone comes to you and complains about another person or talks about that person, your answer should always be simple and to the point:

‘Wow. What did he (the person being discussed) say when you told him/her?’

In other words, if you have something to say, say it to the person who can benefit the most – the person you are talking about.

A great thought for anyone getting ‘too big for their britches’:

‘The graveyard is full of indispensible men’

David Peterson, former Premier of Ontario while on the CBC.

Now that business is getting into a rhythm for myself and my team, I have started implementing ‘Getting Things Done’ rigour. This includes working offline, ensuring that the ‘new email notification’ pop-up in Outlook is disabled and not allowing the whims of others to dictate where my time is invested.

For those who have not read it, every business person who works in today’s connected world should  It is transformational (but difficult to keep implemented). That being said, it has helped me massively over the last 5 years.

‘The winds and the waves are always on the sides of the ablest navigators’    Edward Gibbon

‘Rule your mind, or it will rule you’  Horace.

While on vacation a few weeks ago I read a lot less than I usually do, only 2 books (The Reapers, John Connolly and Ready for Anything, David Allen).and a few of the usual magazines (Harvard Business Review, Harvard Management Update, Selling and Men’s Health).

The David Allen book is a good (not great) light read. A few highlights for me:

• ‘Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials’   Lin Yutang

It is so hard to leave things undone.

• ‘All intellectual improvements arise from leisure’ Samuel Johnson.

This struck me as a great insight. That leisure time, just clearing the mind, often leads to the best of innovations (which is why it is always good to have a pen at hand!)

• ‘The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war’  Asian proverb.

This quote could be the introduction to First 90 Days. Prepare while you can, because when that new opportunity hits, time will disappear.

A few good thoughts.

At a recent conference, I watched a presentation on disruption in the market by Atan Burrows from the agency Tequila. In the presentation he presented 3 ‘rules’ for disruptive thinking:

1. NEVER ATTEMPT TO PREDICT THE FUTURE – BEHIND EVERY MEDIOCRE STRATEGY THERE IS A FALSE ASSUMPTION
2. YOU CAN NEVER PLAN FOR THE FUTURE IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE NOT PREPARED FOR
3. YOU CANNOT OUTPERFORM A MARKETPLACE IF YOU ADHERE TO ITS CONVENTIONS

He showed this video to demonstrate point 3. It demonstrates the point very well.

So in the end, we all must ask ourselves: In this new economy, how are we going to be different to thrive? Interesting times.

A couple weeks ago I churned through an easy read by Richard Templar, The Rules of Work. Written in a conversational style, filled with anecdotes and very simple – conventional business wisdom, although I don’t agree with everything in there (he is a little too calculating). A book I would definitely recommend to graduates and younger staff members, or to a few who have forgotten some of the basics.

I am now whipping through The Rules of Management (sense a theme?). I love Rule No. 4 on meetings:

To be effective you shouldn’t allow anyone to reminisce, ramble, rabbit on, refuse to shut up or relax. Keep ‘em moving fast and get them out of the door as soon as you can.

You don’t do ‘any other business’ – ever. If it’s that important it should be on the agenda. If it isn’t, then it shouldn’t be there at all. ‘Any other business’ is invariably someone trying to get something over on someone else.

Hold all meetings at the end of the day rather than at the beginning. Everyone’s anxious to be off home and it keeps meeting shorter; at the beginning of the day everyone has ages to digress and chat.

… Useful tip – never schedule meetings to begin exactly on the hour, always say 3:10 rather than 3 o’clock.

The end of day idea is brilliant (for large meetings) and the 3:10 feature is one that I wish was in Outlook. How is it possible for me to be on time when I am back to back in the calendar? If Outlook had a feature defaulting to 50 minute meetings it would make a world of difference.

PS: I also read David Allen’s Ready for Anything while on vacation and was quite disappointed. Hundreds of pages of ‘buy into Getting Things Done and you will be more successful’. Got it, believe in GTD, use GTD, didn’t need to read 52 reasons of why I should continue to use it.

In days not long past, building a product required a lot of capital. The story of James Dyson and his quest to make the best vacuum cleaner at great cost, personal risk and debt being one of many.

Wired had an interesting article in their January edition that goes through sites that allow you to leverage their facilities and designers to mock-up a product:

Whipping up production-ready furniture and laser-cut tchotchkes has always been a cinch on custom-fab site Ponoko.com—for those who know their way around apps like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW. But what if you’re like us — heavy on the ideas, light on the CAD skills? Our DIY dreams die on the napkins we draw them on. Luckily Ponoko recently launched a service just for us. It lets creative types submit concepts to be mocked up by actual designers (if your brain wave is deemed worthy). You can then sell your built-to-order product on the site, CafePress-style. We decided to give it a try, requesting a few items we wish were on the market.

Sites like Ponoko and CafePress-style allow you to quickly mock up a working product at a low cost. One of the 4Ps just got a lot more accessible.

This quote was just forwarded to me and it warrants posting:

"Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."

Karl Marx, 1867

Via Tom Peters:

Don’t think of our current economic crisis as a recession. Instead, think of it as a recalibration.

Everything is different now.

If you think of it as a recession, you may be tempted to "hunker down" and wait for the economy to cycle back.

If you think of it as a recalibration, you will be motivated to focus on what you have to do differently, since everything is different now.

The way your business generates results is different, now.

Your customers think differently, now.

Your customers care about different things, now.

Your customers act differently, now.

Your customers may actually be different people, now.

Customers aren’t disposable anymore; more than ever, you have to create sustainable customer relationships.

Everything is different now.

So true…

We live in a new world. As the article ‘The New Reality: Constant Disruption’ points out:

The world is moving so fast that even the short term seems long. Writing his Financial Times column The Long View on a recent Friday morning, John Authors observed that, "as far as many traders across the world are concerned, a ‘long view’… is anything that goes much past Sunday evening."

These are interesting financial and political times. But one thing is for sure, the new US leader is working to act decisively, already ordering the dismantling of CIA prisons and Gitmo. A Harvard article provides insight into Obama in the article ‘How to Communicate like Barak Obama’;

• Challenge: Yes we can was his campaign slogan.
• Question: Hear all sides of the issue.
• Be real: Most evidenced by his letter to his daughters.
• Decide: Be decisive.
• Inspire: Absolutely.

Press on.

There are a lot things going on in the world right now. Obama’s inauguration (a great speech), the crazy financial situation around the world and people experiencing highs and lows. I found this article from John Maxwell’s leadership newsletter particularly interesting. It puts into perspective that old adage that ‘money does not buy happiness’, something many people will need to remember over the coming period.

Distraught over massive financial losses incurred during the past year, Adolf Merckle scrawled a suicide note to his family and wandered out the door into a dark, wintry night. He made his way for the railway where he stood by the tracks and waited in the cold. Spotting the headlight of an oncoming railcar, he threw himself under the train and took leave of this world.

As tragic as the suicide was, it would not have received worldwide press apart from one shocking fact: Adolf Merckle was valued at 9.2 billion dollars, ranking 94th on Forbes 2008 list of the world’s richest persons.

It can be hard to fathom the extent of Mr. Merckle’s wealth, a billion dollars being such a staggering sum. Think of it this way, 9,000 people could each win a million dollars in the lottery, pool their money together, and still have less money than Mr. Merckle was worth. Or, the entire nation of Haiti (8.5 million people) could work for two and a half years without accumulating income equal to Mr. Merckle’s portfolio.

The author provides two pieces of advice; remember to thank people for their great work (because it can just get so busy that we forget) and avoid selective hearing – continue to appraise the situation and adjust. He closes with one last line:

Like a mountaineer, you may be enduring a rocky, uphill stretch. If so, keep fighting to gain perspective. Hard work and persistence seldom go unrewarded, and they often carry you to a glorious destination.

So true, PRESS ON.

Funny how one thing leads to another. This blog entry and video lead me to the Discovery Channel video of an Asteroid hitting the earth:

A hundred years ago a large meteor exploded ten kilometres above the Earth’s surface in Tunguska, obliterating 830 square miles of woods. It was the largest impact in recent history, but nothing compared to this.

The meteor—or comet fragment—was only a few tens of meters in diameter, according to modern estimates based on its 15 megatons energy blast. This 3D simulation, however, shows what something like Apophis will do if it hit Earth. I saw a while ago on the web, but now it is available in glorious HD, so you can see all the gritty-nitty detail of good old planet Earth getting completely obliterated.

A small meteor hitting and obliterating 830 square miles is alarming. Edmonton just had a meteor hit in full view. I wonder how big it was?

Of course, if you are a Darwin fan (sorry, I am a Creation guy), then you will think this is par for the course. After all, Darwin fans think things will continue to evolve (Super cool video, but can anyone know what these people are selling?)

As I walked around Paris and reflected on the ‘consumer’ experience in the UK, I came upon an economic stimulus idea for the European Union. I like to call it ‘The 21st Century European Retailing Stimulus Package’.

In what many would consider a radical move for Europe, my program calls for:

• Shops opening in the evening during the week. That means no more closing the shops down at 5 pm. (or 4 pm. depending on your location). That means that on a Friday night, you would actually be able to go to the book store or buy a coffee in the evening. I remember this summer walking in Edinburgh on a Thursday night at 7:30p.m. with the streets packed and not a single store open (not even a pharmacy – which is what I needed).
• Shops open on the weekends (many don’t).

This will lead to:

• More jobs (more retail hours = more jobs).
• Increased customer satisfaction (With the radical idea of retail hours being tailored to the customer’s availability). Although, this depends on whether or not the 16 year old sitting on their butt behind the till at the Waitrose watching me pack my own groceries is also taught to get off his/her butt and help me.
• My ability to enter a retailer during the week and avoid the weekend rush.

Now, I know that many will be offended by this idea. What about the worker? Why do we need to be more materialistic? We don’t want to be like North America? Hold on a minute, they will say, you must remember that bad customer service is part of the European culture –

Or as a Brit said to me at a New Years eve party ‘I quite like the shops in Windsor’ (Note: I agree – it is just that they are open for such a short period every day!).

I built a diagram to describe it for Parliament ….

                 Let the debate begin.

A word of wisdom which seems particularly appropriate considering the current economic climate AND the fact that the holidays are upon us, from one of my favourite business authors, Richard Abraham:

According to James Fowler, Ph.D. and Nicholas Christakis, MD, Ph.D., not only is happiness absolutely contagious, it spreads beyond direct contact between two people to "infect" each person’s social network to several degrees beyond first contact.  Put another way:

• "The happiness of an immediate social contact increased an individual’s chances of becoming happy by 15%."

• "The happiness of a second-degree contact, such as the (immediate contact’s) spouse or friend, increased that person’s likelihood of becoming happy by 10%."

• "The happiness of a third-degree contact . . . or the friend of a friend of a friend, increased the likelihood of becoming happy by 6%."

In the article ‘Peace’ by Justin Pinkerman (As highlighted in John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired eLetter), he makes a similar point under the greater lesson of what we can do as leaders to help people through this tough time:

Let in ……

The loved ones in your life. Laugh together, cry together, share stories from the year. Take joy in being with the friends and family who care about you most. Now is not the time to barricade yourself in the office to plan for 2009. Pause, reflect, and be reminded of what matters most on this earth – relationships.

So true. Optimism, happiness, a positive outlook, remembering what is important, family and a ‘CAN DO’ attitude (both personally and professionally), they all have an impact on those around you both at work and at home. A great piece of advice to carry us into the holidays.

Merry Christmas (or as the Brits say ‘Happy Christmas!’).

Was reading a leadership newsletter from Paul Sloane and he pointed to an amazing ‘balancing act’ with a management metaphor buried in there somewhere.

The stock market was buoyed today by news that the US government appears to be set for another mammoth bailout. What the heck? The deficit is already running near a trillion, what is another $15B or $25B between friends?

We have all heard about the fiasco of AIG getting $80B and still blowing $500K on a weekend event. But that is topped by the story of the big 3 automaker CEOs flying into Washington to ask for $25B on their corporate jets.

"There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses," Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

"It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious."

He added, "couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it."

You can watch it here. How much does it cost?

Wagoner’s private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class.

Ford CEO Mulally’s corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally’s family lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him there and back on weekends.

Only 1 CEO (Chrysler) has put forward that he would take a $1 salary to stay on. The good thing? These guys have learned their lesson! After being beaten, GM has agreed to sell ‘most’ of their corporate jets and then decided to join Ford and sell them all.

What is even more interesting to me is the fact that there seemed to be less pushback on the $800B financial services buyout than on the $25B automaker buyout. Congress is really making a stink about the auto buyout. Maybe they are all invested in Citi?

I wonder if China is planning on bailing out any of the 67,000 factories that have closed across China over the year? The workers of one factory were asking for 2 months back wages … about $440 each.

Last night I heard an interesting perspective on what we face in business over the coming months, a great opportunity to learn. The business leader said that we will learn hard lessons but at the end of it we will know our business better than we did, we will implement changes that we might not have done and we will come out stronger.

A good perspective. There is a lot of opportunity to learn ahead.

It is interesting to live through the downturn and watch the different business reactions. This weekend I had a conversation with a CEO of a billion dollar company and he had just banned all ‘non-customer facing’ travel (a common step). The cascading impact or ‘snowball’ effect of companies tightening their belts is not hard to fathom:

• Company puts in tight travel controls reducing airline, hotel, car rental and restaurant expenditures
• These businesses buy less consumable product to support their business (oil, paper, sundries, etc.)
• Commodity or primary industries see their businesses reduce revenue resulting in their tightening belts

A big circle of cascading impact. In the US, a high profile example is Circuit City and their recent announcement to close 155 stores due to poor consumer demand. A oft quoted McGraw-Hill article about recessions and marketing spend make the case for not cutting in key areas – one being advertising:

In a study of U.S. recessions, McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that business-to-business Firms that Maintained or Increased their Advertising Expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession Averaged Significantly Higher Sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased advertising. By 1985, sales of companies that were Aggressive Recession Advertisers had Risen 256% over those that didn’t keep up their advertising.

It would appear that for companies with deep pockets, the downturn represents opportunity. They just need to seize the opportunity ….

On the broader topic of leading through a downturn, a Marcus Buckingham quote was sent to me this week which summarizes it well, "What sets real leaders apart is their ability to turn people’s legitimate anxiety about the future into confidence. They do that by showing people vividly what the future is going to look like.”