President's Column
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Greg Zimmer, IADD PresidentThe following President's Columns first appeared in The Cutting Edge, the IADD's monthly magazine:
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This column first appeared in
the August, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, As many of you know, at my coronation, uh, I mean inauguration, I made the very reasonable request that I furthermore and forevermore be addressed as “Emperor of the IADD.” Some of you must have thought I was kidding, because I am still being called many less respectful, highly derogatory, and certainly more hurtful names. I hereby make a royal decree that anyone caught showing such disrespect in the future will be summarily deported and heavily fined (proceeds going to my favorite charity—Emperors Are Us). Now, let’s move on more seriously to my first “State of the Association” address. Looking back at my stated goals when I first took office, the following is a synopsis of what I proposed:
Financial As almost everyone else has over the past couple of years, we have struggled financially. As I have said before, IADD is historically a very conservative association, and we have always put funds aside for those proverbial and predictable “rainy days.” The last couple of years have been Monsoon Season and a part of those funds have been put to good use in relation to those difficult times. For example, in the period of April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010 we had initially projected a loss of approximately $140,000. I am pleased to say that our efforts toward reducing our expenditures and increasing our revenues resulted in trimming that potential loss to approximately $70,000. Obviously, this is still a significant loss, but compared to what it was threatening to be, this was a major accomplishment. By co-locating our midyear meeting in New Orleans with our good friends at FSEA, we were able to create a small financial gain, rather than the significant loss that would have been incurred under our old scenario. Most of the steps we took to become more financially sound will continue to aid us in the near and foreseeable future. We’re not yet “out of the woods,” but we are certainly strongly headed in the right direction. Membership Growth, Retention & Participation During my president-elect period, I initially headed up this major effort and was pleased to eventually be able to hand the reins over to our Vice President of Membership, Bob Pettijohn, who is working very diligently with his excellent committee to keep us on the right path. Membership totals continue to be “down,” but compared to the losses other associations have experienced in recent times, our approximate loss of 6% last year is to be applauded. Most trade associations today have lost between 25-35% of their members. In the last six months, we have made over 1,000 phone calls and almost as many emails in reference to prospecting for new members and getting former members to rejoin. We have employed a mentor program for new members, created a chapter initiative for membership and have done studies of how our current members are using and/or appreciating (or not) their IADD experience. We are working on several very promising approaches to have current members help us recruit new members. All in all, I believe our membership efforts have been excellent, and once the world gets back to normal, the positive effects of these efforts will be remarkable. Once again, I call on all of you to talk to people about joining us. PLEASE! International Activities Circumstances beyond our control delayed the start of our international focus, but our Vice President of International Activities, Peter Witzig, and his worldwide cohorts are now ready, willing and able to tackle the difficult task of getting us more involved globally and specifically to help us recruit new members from this relatively under-tapped source. One of the more recent things Peter put in motion is helping IADD to have booth space at “Competence 10” the upcoming Bobst Open House in Lausanne, Switzerland, September 22-28, 2010. My wife, the Empress Agnes, and I are going to staff the booth all day on the 22nd and 23rd. We could use some staffing help here on the other dates and if you’re interested, please let Cindy or me know. Recruiting Converters This noble goal continues to be in our sights and seemingly eluding our best efforts. Any ideas on how we might improve our efforts in this arena would be appreciated. Open Door Policy As Joe did in his presidency, I want you to know that I am totally and always open and willing to listen to what YOU, our members, want and/or need. Phone, email, and fax—I’d love to hear from you. One wish I have for the future is for me to hear more from all of you. When people tell you their thoughts and ideas, you have a much better picture of what they want from their association and potentially what to do about it. It would also make it a lot easier for me to be a great Emperor, which of course is my main goal in life. My Final Grade for the First ¾ of a Year (as voted on by the Empress and me) With a great deal of phony humility, I give myself an A++. Now, what do you think?  Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the July, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, I was born in Brooklyn and I’ve lived within an hour of New York City all my life. We go there on a regular basis to see shows or go to great restaurants, but we’d never spent a long weekend or visited it as wide-eyed tourists. So when my wife Aggie suggested we do just that for her birthday in May, I said, “why not?” and proceeded to arrange a Saturday through Tuesday mini-vacation. I found a nice hotel centrally located at 37th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, made reservations at several good restaurants, got tickets for two Broadway shows, and formulated a list of fun things we could do. We arrived at Penn Station and walked to the hotel. It wasn’t fancy, but quite nice and for NYC, reasonably priced (though the “good price” got us a not so good view). Our room was small, but clean and modern. I kept the hotel’s highly touted 20th floor rooftop bar for a later surprise. We quickly unpacked and headed out for lunch. Wandering, we discovered a quaint old-fashioned pub called The Ginger Man on 38th. They had over 60 beers on tap and we enjoyed classic NYC hot pastrami sandwiches on rye that were delicious. Aggie ordered a beer called “Delirium Tremens” (their mascot is a pink elephant), while I found a good house wine; now to walk off lunch. We headed uptown on 5th Ave. We window-shopped, watched three young street dancers who were fantastic, posed for pictures with a person dressed as the Statue of Liberty, and heard a couple of good street musicians. We played our tourist roles to the hilt, even occasionally pausing to look up at the skyscrapers. We saw Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Central Park, and much more. We had walked a couple of miles and were rewarded with painful blisters. Back to the hotel, where we changed (especially the shoes) and walked to 46th St. for an early dinner before our first Broadway show. We had a super meal (especially the steak pizziaola) at a place called Lattanzi and started to walk around the corner to “Lend Me a Tenor,” (with Anthony Lapaglia, Justin Bartha and Tony Shalub), knowing that we were early and discovering that the police had cordoned off the end of the street. This is very common in NY, so we weren’t that concerned and set off to walk around the block. We did that and cut through on Shubert’s Alley and entered our theater. Little did we know that about ½ block from where we sat, there was a car filled with explosives. We were about to become two of the many fortunate people that “survived” the fortunately inept “Time Square Bomber.” I’m very sure that all of us are very thankful he failed Bomb-Making 101. As you may have heard, one of this moron’s many errors was setting the bomb’s timer for 7AM instead of 7PM. Soon after we entered the theater, the entire area was “locked down,” and you couldn’t get in or out. The theater was only about one third full, even though it had been a sold out event. The show was delayed 40-minutes, and we didn’t find out until intermission that a suspicious car was causing all this commotion. When the play ended (it was totally hysterical by the way), we were questioned en masse by NYC Detectives (from the stage) and someone from the audience provided them some helpful information about the car. We were then evacuated single file through a very narrow hallway that passed through another theater and out onto an adjoining street, away from the car. Everyone was very cooperative, but obviously a little “stunned and shaken,” because by now we had heard a lot about the attempted bombing and realized what might have happened if the would-be bomber hadn’t been so apparently inept. We went directly from the theater to our hotel’s rooftop bar, which had breathtaking views of the Empire State Building. In a probably vain attempt to “lighten up” about what happened, I will tell you that, “We had a little more than usual to drink that night, but at least we didn’t get bombed!” Ha Ha! Well the rest of our trip was fantastic (if not as exciting or unnerving), and I’m sorry that the most amusing thing that happened was at the beginning of my tale, but that’s the way it was. The rest would take to long to tell about in detail, so let me just highlight it:
A long weekend in NYC is something to remember forever—and trust me, we will! Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the June, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, This month I’d like to share with you a sampling of my experiences as a third generation member of a family business. Hopefully there will be some information here that may prove useful or helpful, especially to the many people in our industry who are involved in any way with family businesses. My family and I are very proud of what we have accomplished in our 90 plus years of operation. A little history: My grandfather, Peter, founded our business as a small machine shop in NYC in the early 1900’s. Peter was a driven man with a huge work ethic and an inventive, creative mind. He soon branched out into the distribution of printing equipment and supplies and became a manufacturer of steel rules. He eventually brought in his three sons to the business—Alfred (the oldest), Edwin (my father), and Conrad (the youngest). Peter passed away in 1957. In his will, he left Alfred 40% of the business, Edwin 30%, and Conrad (who had come in later in life than the other two brothers) 25%. He asked that the brothers eventually equalize the shares between them. That request was never acted on. Before his retirement, Peter made sure that the first two sons, who both began working at the company directly after high school, started totally from the “bottom,” learning everything there was to know about the business. Conrad, as an Annapolis graduate, skipped some of the “bottom” steps and quickly specialized in sales. He eventually became a founding member of IADD and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his services. Edwin and Al concentrated on the running of the business and were very successful in their efforts. Unfortunately, there was some ongoing and sometimes disruptive friction between the three brothers, and the unequal shares were certainly a major reason. Despite the friction, the business grew and at its peak employed over 50 people and had sales all over the US and in more than 50 foreign countries. As I was growing up, it was ultimately clear and without doubt that I would enter the family business. There were some vain attempts at having me think I actually had a choice, but I knew in my heart it would really hurt my father if I didn’t follow in his footsteps. I had no problem with this, especially when I realized that the only other profession I ever had any level of interest in was law—and I am thankful now that I never became a lawyer. In 1967, having graduated from RIT with a BS degree in Graphic Arts, I began interviewing for a job outside the family business. I thought it would do me good to get a sense of the “real” or “outside” world before I came into the business, but as fate would have it, our business lost three key people in the span of six months (before and after I graduated) and it was decided that I should jump right in. In hindsight, this was probably a major mistake. I started at a salary about 25% lower than the average graduate of my class. I, like my father and oldest uncle, learned everything from the bottom up and while I never felt “above” doing anything, I questioned in my mind why I would have to spend several months being the company janitor. One thing I do know is that the several employees who remained with us for many years (some even to the point of my becoming vice president many years later) would always remember that there was never anything in the company that I hadn’t already done myself and they seemed to “honor” and respect me for that. About two years later, I began in sales and finally had my salary reasonably increased. I was fairly successful and after several years became sales manager. From this position I also learned about the other facets of management at our company and eventually went on to run our steel rule factory and earn a vice presidency. Fast-forward many years to the point where my uncles had been bought out and it was just my father and I. We didn’t always agree and butted heads quite often. However, by combining his financial and management skills with my creative and “outside the box” thinking, we made an excellent team. The business grew very well, and we were able to expand as well to create a very nice amount of savings and investments that we conservatively put aside for “rainy days” (which did come). Thank goodness for our accountant who figured out an excellent way to have the business left to my brother and sister (who had no interest in joining the company—though both were given five years after graduating to decide) and me. He used a method called recapitalization, which in over-simplified terms, assigned the entire initial value of the company to my father in preferred stock. I was then given the common stock, which was worth basically zero, but represented the future growth of the company. When the company “took off,” the entire growth of it was eventually left to me with very little tax impact. (I’m pretty sure the laws have since changed on recapitalization). My brother and sister were left one third each of the original value of the company when my father passed on. Over the years, through many ups and downs, we have provided employment to hundreds of valued employees and have successfully sold our products throughout the world. I am extremely grateful for the wonderful opportunity I was given to grow into the leadership role of our company, and I am very proud to know that, in our own small way, we were able to make a difference in the industry that we served. Family businesses have long been a vital part of this industry, and I believe they will continue to be, far into the future. I would welcome hearing your own family business experiences, especially in regard to what you might have found to be the greatest challenges or rewards you have encountered. Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the May, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, This month’s column is about “inventing.” I hope you enjoy it. Inventing for dummies (by a dummy) Believe it or not, I have probably invented well over 100 or more products (and/or ideas to use said products) over my 45 years in business, usually in the field of steel rule. Around 60 of these never saw the light of day or never went further than the idea stage, but many of the others, including several current ones, were introduced and are often being sold and used (in greatly varying quantities) all over the world. I love creating and inventing new products. It is challenging, exciting, unique, and occasionally rewarding (financially and otherwise). I tried to devise a clever acronym to help people who might want to try their hand at inventing, but the best I could come up with was SLICKTER.
Luck. To be brutally honest, several of my best inventions were plain and simple blind-luck, though I would give myself credit for recognizing that the lucky occurrence could actually be used to create something very useful. I’ll give some examples later. Imagine. You can’t make anything that you can’t imagine. Truly unleashing your imagination is an absolute must. Create. After you imagine, you can often create. Enhance. Once something’s created, it may often be improved on, modified or enhanced, possibly after. Testing. Whether simple or complex, testing is the process that often tells us if the idea has merit or promise. Revising. Using the data derived from testing, we can then make single or multiple revisions to our product or idea, hopefully creating an effective final product. Back to Lady Luck. Here are some prime examples. I was out in my factory watching an operator struggling with a product set-up. In a sense, he had put some tooling in upside down and was embarrassingly trying to hide his “mistake” from me. I looked at the resultant “up side down” product and somehow liked what I saw. I cut a piece of it off, took it to be tested for cutting ability, and determined it cut with about 30% less pressure than any serrated rule we had ever seen. I had him run a few hundred feet and sent it to a local diemaker for further testing. I named it “Super Cut” and went on to sell many hundreds of thousands of feet. The operator is still trying to claim credit. Blind luck, but I had to know what I was seeing and what to do with it. Another example: I had invented a serrated product for cutting plastic films and I had it on display at a show. A guy comes over with a hunk of foam, picks up my plastic film blade, cuts his foam like a warm knife through butter and asks how long I’ve had this foam cutting blade. I look at my watch and say “Oh about 15 seconds or so.” Luck! And of course, some good marketing. We sell about $250,000 worth of this type blade every year. You might find it interesting how we made our first Microperf. We struggled for months to no avail before we luckily came up with an idea to take a very fine toothed metal file, carefully placed it on top of a standard cutting edge, and found a way to transfer the file edge pattern to the cutting edge of the rule. It worked, not perfectly, because it wasn’t totally consistent in the transfer. Then we began our revising/enhancing efforts and in a week or so, came up with our very effective, successful Invisible Microperf. We have sold several million dollars worth of this product over a 25-year period. Last “lucky” example: When we were asked to make the smallest possible notch in rotary rule, we kept shrinking it and shrinking it, and at one point making such a small notch I asked our engineer, “Do you think we need notches at all in order to effectively curve the rule?” When he said “maybe not,” I set him to eliminating the notches completely, thus creating “NoNotch” curved rule, which is now widely used in most rotary rule processors around the world. Here is a just partial list of the items or ideas I/we have invented here at Zimmer— with and without some luck:
Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the April, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, I may have to tuck away my usually hysterical sense of humor for this column, as this is indeed a serious subject. No panic, no histrionics, no exaggerations, but we need to face the cold hard fact that in the past couple of years, the economy has been the major culprit in giving our membership rolls a pretty hard kick in the pants. Despite a great deal of notable and noble efforts on the part of our Membership Committee and our IADD staff, more members than ever have said they are unable to pay dues at this time. Membership dues are our largest single source of revenue. Without a reasonable level of dues income, we cannot continue to operate effectively. It’s really as simple as that. We, your elected officers and board member and our predecessors long before us, have all recognized the importance of maintaining current members and recruiting new ones in order to continue growing and to replace those members who may leave through normal attrition or for other reasons. However, it has only been in the recent past that we have more than “redoubled” (actually more like “re-octupled”) our prior membership efforts and initiatives. Two plus years ago, we gave our then President-Elect (yours truly) the task and opportunity of heading up a permanent, dedicated Membership Committee. I had the privilege to work with many talented, willing individuals, and we set up many excellent procedures and methods designed to help us keep our current members and to recruit new ones and to always keep membership at the absolute forefront of our IADD mission. Since then, your Board also determined that we needed a Membership Vice President to specifically and solely focus on continuing and expanding our membership efforts. Bob Pettijohn of Mark-Maker was duly elected to this difficult role and a few months ago, the hand-off from myself to Bob, as the new head of membership, was a smooth and seamless one. While Bob and I would both be the first to say that the overall results of some very strong efforts have been very disappointing, we also fully recognize that without those efforts that have been made, the results would have been a great deal worse. The bottom line, though, is very simply this: we have to bring in more revenue, we need to re-engage the companies who have left the association, and we have to convince a lot more companies to join. And that’s where you come in! We need your help! So humor me, if you will. PLEASE! Stop right here for a minute and see if you can think of two non-member companies that you know of that could possibly benefit from IADD. JUST TWO! Even consider your biggest arch competitors. Remember when The Godfather said, “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer?” If you can, write them down (more than two is OK too). Now we’ll give you a choice. The Platinum Choice is for you to then contact Bob, IADD Staff or me (email addresses at the end of the column) and ask us for our new “Membership Kit,” a short series of “emailable” IADD promotional sheets. Then pick up the phone, call these two companies and briefly tell them how you have benefited from IADD and why you think they would benefit from it also. Then send them each the “kit.” In a week or so, follow up. All told, this should take about an hour or less (especially if you’re so good at it that they say “yes” immediately) Or, the Gold Choice is simply to tell Bob, staff or me the company names you have chosen; and we’ll personally be happy to do the follow-ups (hopefully with a personal introduction from you to each prospect). That would take you less than 15 minutes all told. Another thing that would be helpful, if you know anyone who has dropped membership, please keep on telling them how much we’d like to have them back. Everyone loves to feel needed. We annually offer our “IADD Corporate Leadership Program.” This “sponsorship” program is designed to create income for the association and in exchange, it offers various advantages or benefits to the program participants. This year, in light of the difficult economy, we are making some changes to the levels of participation offered and the benefits that accompany each level. For those company members who may be fortunate enough to be able to repeat their prior levels of sponsorship, we would hope that you choose to do just that. If the level needs to be adjusted downward (or upward for that matter), we would certainly understand. For those companies who have not previously participated, we are creating a ground floor level that will allow participation for as little as $100 and look forward to many new participants. Please see page 24 for details about the Leadership Program. Would you be willing to do one or more of the above to help your association? Here are some of the other steps we are currently taking (or will soon take) to help membership:
Again I ask, are you willing to do your part? Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the March, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, I'd like to give you a small sampling of what it's been like for a person of mostly German background (that would be me) to be married for almost three years to a person of 100% PURE Italian heritage (my wife Aggie). I try very hard not to "stereotype" any person or nationality, so I'll apologize in advance if some of what I relate seems to be stereotyping in any way. Maybe I can just say that quite a few of the positive traits I have seen in Aggie and her family, I have also seen in many other wonderful Italians I have come to know. OK, you've heard people kiddingly say things like, "there are two kinds of people in the world, Italians and those who wish they were." The "wishers" are sometimes called "wannabees." Aggie always says that, and she's not kidding. She really and totally believes it, especially about me. Well, I have to admit that I love a lot of things about Italians (and being married to one). Here are a few prime examples: First and always, comes the Family, or la Famiglia. No doubt, no hesitation, total and absolute! Some examples: When I see how Aggie and her four sisters take care of their aging parents, I am in awe and amazement. Her Mom has Alzheimer's, and during the week, each daughter takes daily turns looking after her and their Dad, cooking, cleaning and "nursing," with total grace and without a whimper or complaint. Or you can watch any two of the sisters argue so vehemently that you might expect to see some blows and then in five minutes they have forgotten what it is that they argued about. (If my arguments don't last at least a couple of days, I don't think they are worth having.) Or if anyone in the family says something bad about another family member and "you" (meaning mostly me) are stupid enough to repeat that bad thing, they will tell you it's fine for them to say bad things about each other, but don't you dare let them hear anyone else do it. It's amazing how many times I forget this simple but important "Italian Rule." There are many more examples, but I'll end with this simple one. Italian children (I hope including my lovely young stepdaughter, Angela) are often more likely to stay in their parents' homes as they get into their mid-twenties or even thirties. The oversimplified reason? Their families treat them too well for them to want to leave. The second most important thing in most Italians' lives is eating (actually dining). "Mangia Gregorio, mangia," my mother-in-law constantly implores. Dining is a kind of secondary religion and you must be very devout and practice every single day (and I do). Things like sandwiches, hot dogs and fast food are actually seen as mortal sins! Pasta may have originally come from China, but Italians certainly have perfected it. From corkscrews (fusilli) to elephant ears (oricchiette). From A (angel hair) to Z (Ziti). There is a pasta for every occasion and palate. If any of my new Italian family (especially my father-in-law, Pasquale) doesn't get pasta on a daily (or even twice daily) basis, they have serious withdrawal symptoms (and often intense crankiness). In Pasquale's case, he would even consider temporarily disowning any of his five beautiful daughters if they deprived him of pasta for any more than a few hours. The first time I ate dinner in the in-laws' basement (most Italians I know have a full kitchen and a huge dining table in their basements) I sat down to a bowl of pasta and family-style served meatballs, short ribs and sweet and hot sausages. I ate two big bowls, a salad, dunked a few pieces of super Italian bread, drank some great red wine and sat back totally satisfied and incredibly full. Two minutes later, the six other main courses came out. Not to insult anyone, I managed to eat another two plates-full. I am happy to report that I did not (and could not) eat much dessert (il dolce). Yeah, yeah, so I have gained a few pounds since I got married. What do you think you would have done? Actually, I am almost proud to say that I've gained only six pounds total-only two pounds per year. Closely related to their love of eating, is drinking-mostly wine that is. This too should be routinely practiced (and I do). Several of my new family members make their own wine and grappa (grappa is like a mixture of kerosene and Pepto-Bismol). Homemade wine hits you harder than store bought, so you must drink it with extra caution. Pasquale gets just as mad when he doesn't have his wine, as he does when his pasta is missing. Oh my, I just realized something-I am becoming Pasquale. Oh well, I can live with that. Based on all the above, the next time someone asks me if I am a "religious" person, I will say, "Yes, I am a devout and practicing Wannabee." In closing, we at IADD could possibly learn some good lessons from my Italian friends and family. Let us continue and expand on our own love and appreciation of good food and drink (starting at the IADD Midyear Meeting in New Orleans?) and even more importantly, let us commit to consistently practice the love, respect, cooperation and forgiveness that are so often and so beautifully demonstrated in Italian families (like mine). Ciao for now, "Gregorio Wannabee" Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the February, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, This month’s column will tell you a little about a men’s organization I have belonged to for eleven years. It’s called “The ManKind Project” (MKP). It’s over 25 years old and has more than 40,000 members around the world. What I write here is designed to be a simple description of the kind of accomplishments and powerful influences that a dedicated group of motivated, like-minded people can create. I’d also like to draw a possible parallel between MKP and IADD, in showing what amazing things dynamic groups can accomplish. Through a variety of means, highlighted by a weekend training adventure, “the ManKind Project challenges each man to find and develop his own life’s mission and to live that mission fully, with the support of a powerful network of other men…working to change the world for the better” (quoted from the MKP website). That’s what I like most about MKP; it truly does challenge a man to develop a simple, powerful statement of his own mission. Imagine a global organization convincing a huge group of men to deeply think about (and hopefully commit to) their life’s mission on earth. To me that is an unbelievable accomplishment. My personal mission involves working with children. Please don’t take what I will write here as self-serving, or self-praising, as I simply want to share with you something that is very important to me. I have always been blessed with the ability to easily relate to and get along well with children of all ages. My wife Aggie would tell you that this is because I, too, am still a child (read: spoiled, 64 year old child). Possibly so, (OK, definitely so) but once a month, I get to use this ability to interact with “troubled” (often abandoned) young boys in a New Jersey, state-funded home. I bring two or three other men with me and we put on programs such as teaching how to write poetry or songs, playing board games with them, teaching how to apply for a job, reading Martin Luther King’s speeches on his birthday, recording their own songs or raps, putting on a magic show, teaching how to draw “legal” graffiti, or even getting two former NBA players to put on a basketball clinic. Most importantly, each and every month for nine years, we consistently show up and we “model” for the boys what “good” men do and how “good” men act. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing one of these kids “get” the message we are trying to deliver. That message is, “you are cared for, you really do matter.” Just recently, one of the boys said to me that he would like to do what we do when he becomes a man. What a gift that would be! I can honestly say that if it weren’t for MKP, I probably would not have found this life-changing opportunity to work with these wonderful boys. Now, just imagine our small act of service (only two hours a month) multiplied by—say 40,000 times. Wow! Now that’s some pretty powerful stuff! And believe me, the work we do totally pales in comparison to the work of many other MKP men who are also following their life’s missions. If you would like more information on MKP, just enter “mkp.org” in your browser. There is also an MKP affiliated organization for women called “The Woman Within” which you can find on the Internet too. If you’d like a copy of the “Youth Program” that I developed from our work described above, let me know and I’ll be happy to send it to you. We love to help people set up their own similar programs where they live. I recently read an article about trade associations by Ed Rigsbee in Inside Finishing magazine (see page 20 for article). He wrote that all association members need to become evangelists for their association. “You must bellow it from the rooftops—the value you receive from your membership.” Maybe that’s what I’m doing here for MKP—in describing what we/they do and how great the results can be. Rigsbee implores all association members to get more deeply committed, to increase your participation, to consistently and routinely spend time recruiting new members and to take full advantage of what your association provides to you. To me, his suggestions actually call for our watchwords of, “Commit, Unite and Grow,” so in conclusion, let us gratefully acknowledge that IADD, like MKP, is a group of dedicated, talented, and motivated people whose potential to accomplish is almost unlimited. However, we must commit to energetically multiplying our efforts toward making ourselves the best trade association we can possibly be, and we must acknowledge the need for all of us to come together (unite) and to work together, if we are to remain successful and continue to grow. Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the January, 2010 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, I’m told that many converters who are “new to IADD” may read this issue. I’d like to immediately advise you new readers of “offers” that I will make near the end of this column and now hope that you’ll actually read your way there. What follows is a mixture of “tongue in cheek” kidding and dead earnestness. I guess the “tongue” part is to show that I don’t actually take myself too seriously (or pretend to be an authority) and the earnest part is that I believe I may actually write some things in this column that you may want to take to heart. You may of course decide which is which. 2010! Now that has a nice round ring to it. I think we should call 2010, “The Year of the Recovery.” There aren’t many financial experts that are ready to announce that the worst of our economic woes are finally behind us. As a complete non-expert, I’m unburdened by such caution or lack of conviction, and feel totally free to announce, that in my opinion, we are about to embark on a very significant and prolonged period of economic recovery and growth. I think there is something to be said for simply being positive and believing that we are on our way and positively acting accordingly. Now that I have opened the floodgates on spouting my un-asked for, un-educated, possibly un-welcome opinions, I will fearlessly continue by suggesting several actions I believe we should all take, as we enter this recovery. Why should you listen to me, you may rightfully ask? Well you elected me your president didn’t you? And some of you even refer to me as your Emperor (OK, so I asked you to call me Emperor). Let’s pretend that we are a really big country instead of a medium sized trade association and simply trust me as your infallible leader to give you some very good advice. OK? A little hint here. The following pieces of advice are mostly in “earnest.”
Now here’s my offer to any non-member converter who has read this far (God Bless You). Send me an email saying how much you enjoyed my column. For that simple white lie, I will send you a code that will entitle you to ask one free question of our super TechTeam™ panel of experts. That could be invaluable to you. Lastly, if any reader joins IADD within the next month and mentions the codeword “Emperor,” I will custom- write 3 Zimmericks (my world famous limericks) for you and 2 people of your choosing. OK 2010—we’re ready—let’s see what you’ve got! Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the December, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, With all the obvious and justifiable concerns being expressed about today’s economy, you may be wondering how the IADD is faring in comparison to other companies and organizations. Well, the “not so good” news is that we, like almost everyone else I know, have suffered our fair share of financial woes in the past year or so. A piece of very good news is that the IADD has historically been a very conservative organization and we firmly believe in the old adage, “always save for a rainy day.” Therefore, we have a reasonable level of financial reserves that our prior leaders had wisely put aside. Please know that your entire leadership body is fully committed to reversing the current trend of dipping into those hard-earned reserves and we assure you that significant, positive progress is being made in that vein. These steps include: naming finance as the number one priority in the recently drafted Performance Plan of our CEO Cindy Crouse, a thorough examination of all of our expenditures, reduction of IADD staff and other staff expenses, several new membership initiatives, new methods to sell our IADD products and services, re-evaluation of all our meetings and their profitability, continued growth of Odyssey and much, much more. However, additional steps still need to be taken. Our CEO, Cindy Crouse, gave a very inspirational address at our recent Annual Meeting in Savannah (see below). The topic was “Why I Love This Recession.” Cindy spoke of many positive things that can and often do occur as a result of difficult, negative times such as these. This was not your “rose colored glasses,” but rather, it showed what often happens when committed, talented people are faced with negative conditions and challenges. When we do come out of this recession, Cindy and I completely agree that we will be an association that is more effective, even better equipped to listen to its members, leaner, more responsive, more aware, more flexible, more imaginative and creative, and lastly, more stable. The various pains we will have gone through to achieve this turnaround will mostly be gone, but the positive results will remain. So, what can you do to help ensure that we will win this battle? To borrow from an old but still valuable idea, if each of you would commit to reaching out to at least five companies that you feel could benefit from IADD membership, we will supply you with brief “sales kits” that will provide the necessary membership information. We think this could result in some serious new increases in our membership. I have found that most companies professionally approached in this manner are actually very appreciative of someone who brings them the opportunity to receive all the benefits IADD provides. I also offer my personal services and or Bob Pettijohn’s services (as current Membership Vice President) to any of you who might like some help to “close” any company you feel just needs a little “push.” Additionally, if you would consider setting up your sales force and or customer service people with IADD membership information to show your accounts or prospects, we are currently field testing a couple of exciting new methods to do this. If you’re interested further in this approach, please contact me about it. Another excellent, simple way you can help your association is to consider making a gift of either our services or our publications and DVDs to your selected customers/prospects. From as little as <$10 for selected technical publications, up to our Training Guide for Bending Steel Rule at $150, these gifts will be greatly appreciated and very useful. Other items we offer include: an annual subscription to our popular 4-color magazine, The Cutting Edge ($49), industry Safety Manual ($98), a listing in our Used Equipment Marketplace ($15-$75), numerous publications ($10-$112) and assorted DVDs ($$40-$60). We can even arrange for your customer to be able to ask a “free” technical question of our famous TechTeam.™ You may recall from my first column, the three new association watchwords of “Commit, Unite, and Grow” that I put forward. Let’s begin simply with the first watchword, “commit.” As your President, I am willing commit to dealing with these difficult times in a diligent and prudent manner, thereby making the IADD an even more stable organization in the future. Right now, YOU are one of the missing ingredients in our recovery formula. Can I count on your assistance in this difficult time? Please call or email me to discuss this further. Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in the November, 2009 issue
of The Cutting Edge Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, Commit, Unite and Grow. I’d like to use my first “President’s Message,” to tell you a little about myself, my “cabinet/support staff” and my plans and goals for IADD under my presidency. To those of you who know me, I ask for your indulgence as I “boringly” repeat things that you already know all too well. I also implore you not to expose any possible exaggerations, or embellishments you may think you see here. A brief history of Greg Zimmer:
Weaknesses (far from a complete list):
Seriously, as I begin my presidency, I am well aware of the very high standards that have been set by our last three presidents: Joe Adkison, Dan Johnson and Eddie Mucci Jr. I salute all our past presidents here, but I am more able to particularly recognize the three most recent presidents because I have had the opportunity and pleasure to know them on a personal level and have seen that they have each set a standard of hard work and accomplishment that will be extremely difficult to approach or match. I can only assure you that I will use their high levels of achievement as a target and a goal and a constant challenge to myself. Employing the new watchwords of “Commit, Unite and Grow,” here are some of the major goals I have for my presidency:
I look forward to being your President. Greg Zimmer, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the October, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, Past Presidents have told me that the two years of the term just fly by. For you guys, I can tell you as you all well know, there is no way to explain that except to say I now understand. The two years keep you so busy and so excited, and all of a sudden they are over. Starting back with Rex Williams, then into Kenny Holliday’s presidency, we often discussed how nice it would be to have our magazine, The Cutting Edge, a professional looking four-color magazine. Realizing it would take extreme energy and resources, we worked very hard at it through Clint Medlock, Eddie Mucci Jr., and Dan Johnson’s presidencies. I would like to thank our past five presidents for all of their hard work and support to me as it happened; our four-color edition came to fruition on my watch. I would like to thank all present and previous Board members. Their hard work is what brought us here today, supporting our Strategic Vision. Many of our initiatives will flow over into the years to come, which is as it should be. We are still on top of our Strategic Vision, more narrowly defined as our Strategy Blast, which is our road map into the future. I was so lucky to be able to listen in on over a hundred conference calls. What a team of volunteers we have sharing their energy on Fireside Calls, Finance, Safety, Membership, Chapters, TechTeam,™ and of course Odyssey, which was again an amazing two-year adventure, and yet Clint Medlock’s 2001 vision and journey of Odyssey continues. I’ll see you in Nashville, TN, USA in 2011. At this year’s Odyssey, I was given the honor to cut the ribbon opening the Technology Hall beginning our program and closing our successful program by presenting to Kevin Carey the IADD Lifetime Achievement Award. I was fortunate to acknowledge two emerging leaders by presenting Natalie Pepper and Shaun Larson with our Presidential Award. In both instances, my criteria were to recognize their willingness to teach, lead and share. I was able to present two amazing well deserved PEAK Awards to Mark Baril and Eddie Mucci Jr. Our TechTeam continues to be a shining star for the IADD, as well as a revenue generator, spreading knowledge throughout our industry. For the TechTeam, we witnessed a seamless transition from Mark Baril over into the leadership of Jeremy Guest as we added new members. I would like to first thank my sweet wife Dee who refreshes me daily. Her help and support was vital to my term as President. I could not have done this without her help. I would also like to thank my partner Dick Appleton and all of my family at ADKO in Fort Smith, AR, for supporting me on this opportunity. Without their help, my presidency would not have been possible. I would also like to recognize our Annual Meeting Task Force Chairs, Natalie Pepper, Shaun Larson and Kim Moravec who worked with Cindy developing a new look at how we presented our annual meeting programs. I would like to make a very special acknowledgment to the IT genius of Ron Crouse. He helped me monthly. All of our website functions, Odyssey registration and server communication success stems often from the challenges laid down by our CEO Cindy Crouse, standing over his shoulder making subtle comments. The next day he has loaded new software like an army supply sergeant coming up with supplies out of who knows where and he comes through for us every time. In many of our board meetings in the past five years, we have discussed enhancements to our website. We wanted it to be an interactive tool and thanks to Cindy and Ron, our website now explodes on screen to the curious visitor and presents a solid snapshot of our Association. Current and archived information is quickly available, and all of the technical excitement from TechTeam that our industry craves. We should all be proud of our website. I go to the website often and I strongly encourage everyone to do so. It has been a valuable link for me to stay connected to our Association, our people and our industry. Our IADD staff worked very hard in the background but in fact came to the forefront. I received many compliments on them as members came to know them on first name basis. I would like to thank our world class staff in Crystal Lake, IL: Jill May, Peggy Odle, Janet Clay and Mike Vanderspool for their exceptional service. Our Board is loaded with talent. I was able to communicate frequently with our members, encouraging participation and bringing in fresh blood with new ideas. At the lead of our incoming President Greg Zimmer, we will now be bringing on two new function-based Vice President’s positions heading up our membership and international activities. We are locked and loaded. The sky is the limit. Where will our imagination take us? Where will we be in 5 years? I have had the honor and privilege to work with Cindy Crouse. I could not have done this without her. It goes without saying that she is the CEO, the Cheerleader, and the Lifeblood of the IADD. She was always able to discuss with me more than one outcome to consider. I would follow her into a dogfight any day of the week. She is tough as nails. Many of you will agree that she works in a tough environment and industry. She is faced with many challenges daily striving to efficiently run our Association. Many of you know that you could line up ten people and get ten different opinions. Many of you know that she has to make difficult and forward thinking decisions daily. How does she do it? In my mind I have likened her to the bearings on a wheel to keep our Association running smoothly and efficiently. I want you all to know that I LOVED serving as your president. I learned and gained a lot more from the experience than I put into it. I will also help Greg Zimmer in anyway possible. Greg just could not wait. He jump-started and now has our Incoming Vice President-Membership Bob Pettijohn on “the fast track” mode. We have created some energy preparing for our new Vice President-International position. We have reinvigorated our safety program as Ken Smott is now our new Safety Committee Chair. When Dan Johnson handed me the gavel two years ago, I asked for your support. I wanted to enhance our Chapter presence. We have added Chapters, interest and meetings. We made them fun, while keeping them educational. I pledged that I would do my very best to make the best decisions and lead this Association with a listening ear, promoting fairness, openness, mentoring, and education throughout the ranks. Participating in over a hundred conference calls was my way of keeping a finger on the pulse of our Association, I said that I would give of my time, talents and energy and do my very best to lead our Association. I leave knowing that I left it all out there and I did do my very best. I loved being your President. I will never have this same feeling again. It is time for me to move aside and I am OK with that. Thank you for letting me serve as your President.  Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the September, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, In many parts of my world, summer is at an end. It is back to school, back to work, back to basics. For me, it is a comfortable time. I tend to like structure; I like to have a plan. I like to know my options in advance. I like to anticipate problems or obstacles so I can have a plan to work around them. No troubles, no worries. How about you? Where is your comfort zone? Knowing that life is full of surprises and full of interruptions, I like to keep them to a minimum. Those of you on the other side of the fence will welcome these changes and you may be able to seize new opportunities, open new doors, and reinvent yourself. It makes you move outside of your comfort zone. Trying new things helps us all grow, learn, and share. My chance to be your President has helped me grow, learn, and share. They say true growth happens when you venture out of your comfort zone. What a ride this has been for me. We have had tremendous growth in our lives. We have had a tremendous bump in the road with our economy. Living through this bump in the road brought difficult challenges to everyone on this earth. How could we have planned ahead for such a struggle? Understanding how this all happened is important so that it may not impact us again. Reducing future impact is an ongoing concern for our economists. How we will proceed in this economy is the question for most of us. We are in real time. We are in the “Now.” How do we proceed? We can not stop our yearning for a better world. My parents wanted better opportunities for me and that is how we proceeded with our life. I want better opportunities for my daughters. I am happy that they are gainfully employed in careers that they like. We all need to teach by example and ask them to do the same. And so, “Life” goes on. Learn, teach, grow, and share. Please continue your hard work seizing new opportunities for the health and longevity of our industry. Venture out of your comfort zone. Take a new look at old things. New products, processes, tools, and materials are introduced to us every day to help us convert them into a better industry and a better world. Take these tools, convert them into something new, and you will be rewarded. This also parallels in life and business. And—you knew this was coming—it parallels in our Association. Hard at work in our Association is a very unselfish volunteer Board of Directors. We have 12 Directors, 6 Vice Presidents, our Immediate Past President Dan Johnson, our President Elect Greg Zimmer, Our Secretary/Treasurer, Natalie Pepper and me, your President. We are hard at work in concert with Cindy Crouse and her world class staff at the IADD Headquarters in Crystal Lake, IL, USA. Call on any of us with your ideas. We want to listen to you. We want to help you. We want, need, and appreciate your input. I am asking all of our Board as well as our entire membership to venture out of their comfort zone; consider and introduce new ideas as we move closer to our 2009 Annual Meeting to be held in Savannah, GA, USA on October, 1-3, 2009. We often ask, “What do people want?” It’s all too easy to just say more of the same. What if we try something different? We are truly interested in providing you with exceptional service as we continue our quest to be “the definitive resource in the diecutting and diemaking industry.” On our plate, we have many new initiatives to work through. We have a new vision for the thrust of our International Activities Committee and our Membership Committee. We have new points to ponder with our Safety Committee and our Recommended Specifications Committee. We will discuss the future of the Braille Initiative as well as a recap of our Odyssey 2009 success, moving toward our 2011 program. We have a great Annual Meeting program planned for you featuring excellent speakers in a workshop sharing how to prevail in our tough economy. We will also have a business meeting for the whole membership. We will conduct our nomination process for Board positions. Please make your plans to attend this meeting and be part of this important process. This is a very good opportunity for you to be a part of how our Association will proceed immediately and into the future. Thank you for this opportunity once again to visit with you and share some of my thoughts. Try to do something nice for someone this week without letting them know it was you that did it. This will bring you great joy. Try it. I will talk with you again next month. Thank you, Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the August, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, By the time this President’s message gets to you, it will be over two months since the conclusion of our very successful IADD•FSEA Odyssey in Atlanta, GA, USA. Our Odyssey triumphed over specific and particular challenges. This year’s rather daunting economic and industry pressures, coupled with concerns about health pandemics, were on everyone’s mind. It required exhibitors and attendees alike to take a leap of faith in supporting the show. These tough economic times could not damper our spirits. Our Odyssey Co-Chairs Eddie Mucci Jr. and Clint Medlock (both Odyssey veterans) led us on an enduring and incredible journey. Obviously it paid off, as the show closed amidst high praise and general optimism that Odyssey will be a catalyst for both industry change and future economic recovery. Odyssey helped the attendees develop their near and long term roadmaps for the future. Exhibitors were pleased to meet so many potential customers, and a large segment of the equipment displayed in the Technology Hall and Techshop™ was sold and is on its way to new owners. Odyssey 2009 featured 8 hands-on Techshop and 18 classroom sessions, plus 6 New Products & Processes Showcases. The 943 people registered, who represented 20 different countries, filled 700 session seats and 152 showcase seats. They were able to visit and explore 91 exhibiting companies in 167 booths. During Odyssey, the IADD unveiled its new Can-Am Braille Standard, developed in cooperation with the Braille Authority of North America, and Kevin J. Carey of DieInfo was presented the IADD Lifetime Achievement Award. I personally enjoyed my experiences at this year’s Odyssey. I was able to attend every Techshop program, two of the classroom programs and I was lucky enough to present the New Products & Processes Showcase Program for Diemakers each of the three days. On one day, it just hit me as I was announcing the 11 companies that I had conducted business with each and every company there. I could not mistake their smiles as I introduced each company with a personal slant on how we were able to benefit one another. How did this happen? They are all members of the IADD. For the past 25 years, and for some fewer, we have come together in meetings and events to network our companies as well as our personal lives. It just cannot get any better than that. It’s great to conduct business with people you know and trust. Odyssey is very important to the IADD. And the IADD is very important to Odyssey. Both entities run transparent as we share our assets. We are the definitive industry resource in the diecutting and diemaking world. Article IV of our constitution states that: “The (IADD) believes that business and professional men and women within the same sphere of interest should join together since certain goals can be achieved more easily and fully through group action rather than by individual action.” Just to add to that, remember, “All of us are smarter than one of us.” Odyssey Joe is in my heart forever. I am glad that I got a chance to experience this. We brought in new members and they will get a chance to see how this all works. They will be the leaders of our industry in due time. It was a multi-million dollar educational extravaganza, which has always been our goal. In these tight times, some people were not able to attend. It was probably a missed opportunity for them, but they can pick back up when their station in life or their desire allows. For those who attended, it was a great educational opportunity. Odyssey was best summed up by one of the planners who said, “Not only do people come to the show to look and buy, they come there to dream. Of course dreams are no good without action, but I believe that anyone still in business today would have to be both a dreamer and a person of action. Odyssey planted a lot of dreams in the minds of attendees; just think what that will do for our industry now and in the future.” Have a great summer, be safe and I will speak to you again next month. Check up on a relative or an old friend. Call or visit a potential member and ask them to join. Our IADD networking is extensive. Call Cindy, Jill, Mike or Peggy at our IADD Headquarters. Call me if I can be of any assistance to you. Thank you, Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the July, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, We are nearing our end of summer and I have heard many favorable comments that lead me to believe that we are heading out of our difficult times. We all hear many things and it allows us to form our own thoughts. What will be your gauge to determine your progress? I have said many times that we are buyers and we are sellers. When we make a sale, we then promise a customer that we will deliver. This starts our wheels in motion. We will probably need raw materials, supplies or products to begin the process. We then become buyers and place an order. We will convert them into what we will sell to our customer and hope that this cycle repeats again and again. If we repeat this cycle many times at a faster pace, would it give us more confidence to increase our buying and selling? It seems easy to get mixed up in the process. At this time, are you buying or selling? Or are you doing both? We are all consumers; we are all buyers. The main thing that we are hoping for is that the fruits of our labor will net us a little left over in the process and we call this a profit. We cannot repeat the process very many times if we don’t make a profit. On every sale, a favorable gain must take place for both buyer and seller if true success and forward motion is to occur. Our creative genius is at work and we are trying to create a better product. New products and processes are being introduced almost daily as we look for ways to compete. We all need for our customer’s problems and pains to go away. This helps us to get more orders. More orders, faster and faster. Can you see the momentum gaining energy and speed? It becomes very hard for me to ask our world to become consumers again, as some will tell you that overconsuming is what got us into this mess. Many of us have made cutbacks. If you listen to all of the daily news, you may come to believe that financial institutions and real estate transactions pulled a very big chunk out of our economy. And then poor decisions on top of even poorer decisions started the inevitable bust. What I would hope for is that we continue our buying and to buy smartly. Reinvigorate your buyer/seller activities and be smart about it. I am not willing to place major blame on our industry and make the same comparisons outlined by our economists as the reasoning for our poor economy. We are way outside of pointing at member companies as greedy and making excessive profits. Can you think of anyone in our industry making excessive profits? I believe that many in our industry maintained a strong stewardship of smart buying and selling. We were caught in a difficult cycle. Not to cry of being helpless victims, I am just simply saying that we are not far away from bringing back some more comfortable times and growth in our industry. Being consumers means that we will buy products. Many times products are placed in shipping components for shipping. Many of us create shipping components, packaging supplies, corrugated boxes, and folding cartons. Many of us supply the raw materials to support our industry. Many raw materials are further processed by converting machines that are well known in our industry. I often say we are in an industry that is not severely affected by a recession. People need our products. At the first part of my message, I asked how you might gauge your position in these difficult times. Have you had it that bad? Are things looking up for you? If you are having problems, have you made business decisions to keep your company on the leading edge? Make a commitment to do your very best every day. Your hard work will pay off. One of the business decisions we made at our company was to stay the course and continue networking within the IADD membership. All of our knowledge was made easy to obtain, and we were able to stay knowledgeable of raw materials, new products and processes. We did not sit still and hope that things got better. We tried new things and made some progress. We were able to communicate with new and current suppliers providing new products and creative ideas. We saw this as money well spent. Stay the course as I do and see positive signs. I can assure you that your Association is still here working every day for you. We will soon have new members and some new ideas regarding our Safety Committee. Our new International Vice President Thas embraced a bold undertaking to implement our international activities strategy. Our Odyssey Task Force has met several times via conference call for an event that is still over 20 months away. Our Membership Committee continues to amaze me with their efforts. We continue to recruit and bring in new members with fresh blood and new ideas. I continue to encourage everyone to visit our website often at www.iadd.org, You will be surprised with how it continues to change and all it has to offer. Cindy Crouse and all of our IADD staff—Mike Vanderspool, Jill May and Peggy Odle—are at your service. Please call them with any questions. I will visit with you again next month. Please remember to be safe. Help a friend or relative with gifts of your time and energy. You will be rewarded in ways you may not have even thought of or expected. Thank you, Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the June, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, Can you believe that we are half way through our year already? This year is flying by, and we may be able to peek over the horizon to see better days ahead. We have snapped back from all previous downturns in our economy, so there is every reason to believe that we will again prevail. I went online to study the word “prevail” as I liked the word but I needed to make sure that it would fit. Prevail means to gain an advantage, be victorious; triumph, often over or against all odds. I also learned that it means to produce or achieve the desired effect, be effective, succeed. Yep, that’s my new word. It’s an optimistic word, and as your President, optimism is what I want to spread. I have had many people tell me that reading “From the President” each month is just like sitting across the table talking to me. Think about it—this conversation only slightly differs from conversations that many of you have every day with many of those around you. For all of you reading this, just think how lucky we are. We have so much to be happy about. Whatever hurdles we face, we will meet them head on and we will prevail. Our life’s lessons in the 20th and now the 21st Century have stood us well to triumph against all odds. If all of this is acceptable to you, then we can simply discount all of the media blitz and naysayers and start out each and every day full of confidence and energy. Take your energy and use it positively and do not waste a single moment on the negative. Redevelop and nurture all of your relationships, both personal and professional. Mingle with like minded people and try to convey this confidence to your customers. Let them know that you are available to help them. Then do it. I am of a mindset that positive customer confidence and relationships will prevail in our future and commodity pricing will have to take a backseat in our mix. Our industry is poised for a return to exceptional service and quality. Pricing will be very important but it will be our responsibility to show our customers that price and value can run along different scales. It is imperative that we do our homework to create the definition of value and convince our customers that we are the right choice to deliver it. Simply stated, you can buy a can of green beans with its commodity type package and pricing. You may find after your purchase that all you got was stems, ends, and pieces that made you gag. Or you could get the reputable Trusted Brand and know that you received a better value. This makes your purchasing decision one based on obtaining true value, and not just the lowest price. The Trusted Brand prevailed. To be fair to all, in rare cases the lower priced item may be the choice you will have to make, but my point is to ask you to make an informed decision and clearly understand price and value. Are you able to provide exceptional service and quality to your customer? Can you convincingly explain why you are the better choice? Then, can you deliver what you promised? If you do, then you will have your best foot forward and you will prevail. Our Association and all of our volunteers are working hard to deliver exceptional value to the membership. We are faced with like obstacles and we meet them head on. We need not waste a single moment in the negative. We are here for you and want to continue to provide true value for your membership. Call us with any ideas you may have. Thank you for this opportunity for me to visit with you. My reward for this chance is a renewed spirit of optimism. It really is just a mindset and a decision we all make to be pessimistic and fail or optimistic and prevail. My Granny Kate used to tell me that “most of the things we worry about never really happen.” It’s food for thought. Worry can drain your energy. We will visit again next month. Call me if I can help you. Thank you, Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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This column first appeared in
the May, 2009 issue of The Cutting Edge JoeAdkison, IADD President |
| Dear Friends, My thoughts this month push me to exhibit some strong leadership and get everyone moving in the right direction. So, keep your head up, take a deep breath, think and act smart, and start moving in the right direction. For anyone lucky enough to read the book "The Greatest Generation Ever" by TomBrokaw, one could realize that although history and world conditions created many hazards, their future was determined by how they handled the hand they were dealt. Brokaw’s heartfelt explanation conveys how people persevered being products of The Great Depression entering into a world war where many countries were angry with one another and how they lived through it. Brokaw said that our world was ripped to shreds, and they rebuilt our world facing almost insurmountable odds. Think about the very year you were born. What were the conditions at that time? As yougrew up, was your glass half empty or was it half full? There is no doubt that anyone could ponder times were tough or times were easy. I have had people tell me, “I made moneywhen it was easy to make money.” I have hadpeople tell me, “Wow, when I first got started things were tough all over.” So, how do yousee times right now? For those who made money, where is it now? For those who did not, how did they make it to this spot in time? You may have heard people say “When one door closes, another door opens,” “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” “Act enthusiastic and you will be enthusiastic.” Are you starting to feel better yet? Are we moving in the right direction? The point to ponder is, no matter when you decide to get into the mix, there will be challenges and there will be opportunities. If you started a new business today there would be plenty of both. If you bought a new pieceof equipment, you could ponder, yes, there will be costs, but will they offset the benefits. I would invite all of you to think back on why you made your decisions of the past. Take responsibility and make some of those same decisions once again. Does my decision allow me an opportunity to get one step ahead of my competition? Does it allow me an opportunity to provide exceptional service and quality to my customer? Does it allow me to be more productive by reducing my cost and making me more desirable to my customers? All of these thoughts were pondered by successful companies in our industry in the past and they were pondered each and every year since then. I would like to add, is it fair? My message this month is full of question marks. I am hoping that all of these questions will get you proactive and reinvigorated to do something rather than nothing. A decision is better than no decision. Yes, conditions are different now. They will be different next year. How are we going to think like the Greatest Generation Ever and get going in the right direction? They rebuilt our world after living through massive problems.They used individual responsibility knowing that they had to first depend on self while sharing in a teamwork effort. We are no different. Make no mistake, we have problems now. We will rebuild our economy and be back firmly on the right path. I am very confident that we will make them proud of us and we will do a very good job. I feel better already,do you? I will speak with you again next month. Please work safely and make your actions fair and honorable. Share something useful witha friend. Call me if I can help you in any way. Thank you, Joe Adkison, IADD President |
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