"Counter Intuitive..." by Mitch Schneider

Counter Intuitive...

2012-01-26T10:34:00.000-08:00

I've decided to forge out in a new direction as I focus a series of blogs on consumer education. I feel a new direction should be christened with a new title, "Counter Intuitive."

Both the name and the idea came to me while trying to help someone at the service "Counter" - that's where the "Counter" came from - understand the "what" and "why" of their particular vehicle failure despite their lack of knowledge. Many times, that lack of knowledge can be surmounted by education and understanding as the majority of vehicle failures are mechanical in nature; caused by lack of maintenance, poor design or abuse. As a result, most are fairly logical and not all that difficult to understand if you understand what makes the vehicle start, stop and go down the road.

If you understand what it takes for the vehicle to go down the road, understanding why it won't isn't that much of a stretch. Understanding is where the "Intuitive" comes from.

There is another reason I've chosen to call the content shared here "Counter Intuitive" and its explanation will serve as the first of what I hope will be many such conversations.

Vehicle maintenance... or, lack there of, is one of the major causes of vehicle failure and/or poor performance and yet a week doesn't go by without a story focused on unnecessarily aggressive service intervals appearing somewhere in the media. Virtually every major 'player' in the industry, including the Automobile Club, has voiced an opinion of what an appropriate service interval should be. Many of those opinions defer to what the individual vehicle manufacturers suggest is appropriate in the Owner's Manual, which in some cases can exceed 10,000 or 15,000 miles between changes.

Contrary to what you may think, even though I'm an independent repair shop owner and have a vested interested in seeing you and your vehicles regularly and often, I don't have a problem with those who insist the old maintenance model of bringing the vehicle in every 3,000 or 4,000 miles or every three or four months is no longer necessary. But, just because I don't have a problem with it doesn't mean I agree.

What they are saying makes sense. It is intuitive - that other word again.

The quality of lubricants available today is superior to anything available in the past. Computerized Engine Management and Fuel Delivery Systems have passenger cars and trucks running cleaner and more efficiently than ever before. Consequently, there are fewer contaminants that need to be removed more often. But, there is something happening in the background, something "Counter Intuitive:" something that despite the logic goes against what you may believe and makes no practical sense.

While the vehicle manufacturers, and everyone else for that matter, insist that it is perfectly alright for you to go 10,000 miles without servicing your vehicle: without changing your oil, they will also tell you that it's perfectly alright - normal, in fact - for your new, fuel efficient, high-tech vehicle to burn a quart of oil every 850 miles to 1,200 miles.

You won't necessarily find this in your Owner's Manual, but you almost certainly will find it in the manufacturer's technical literature in the form of a Technical Service Bulletin designed to help you understand that it's OK for your new car to consume infinitely more oil than your old car consumed.

And, here is where logic and intuition can become both costly and dangerous. In an age of self-service fueling stations, hoods are rarely raised and oil is rarely checked. If you drive your vehicle for 10,000 miles you could conceivably 'burn' between eight-and-a-half to more than eleven quarts of oil.

There is only one problem. Few vehicles have more than a five or six quart crankcase capacity which would leave most vehicles dangerously low on lubricant unless or until a warning lamp alerted them to the problem!

Longer service intervals (with no one inspecting the vehicle) are good. High oil consumption is both normal and acceptable. Counter-Intuitive...

Here is a pretty dramatic example of exactly what we're talking about here... All the oil drained from two different vehicles, both of which have crankcase capacities that exceed five quarts. Just so you know, these are empty, one-quart Gatorade containers and both vehicles came in with severe driveability symptoms (rough running/poor performance) and both left with the oil changed, crankcase full and running normally!

There is a response to this conundrum that makes sense and that is embracing a new paradigm: a paradigm that suggests longer service intervals - bringing the vehicle in very 7,500 to 10,000 miles for oil service, but scheduling one or two appointments with your dealer or independent service provider purely to ensure every major system on the vehicle is operating within normal operating parameters. That way, someone, a trained professional, is looking at the vehicle to keep little problems from becoming big, ugly, expensive problems!

That's what I think... What's on your mind? If you have any questions you've always wanted to ask your automotive service professional, but were afraid - or, reluctant - to ask, this would be the ideal, non-threatening environment to share your questions and concerns!

Small Wonders....

2012-01-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

I thought this morning's sunrise was spectacular: spectacular enough to try and capture it'd... Spectacular enough to fail.

It was still worth the try even if only to slow me down enough to really appreciate its beauty and contemplate the realization that each new day brings with it a universe of endless possibilities. As someone already commented, a clean slate upon which each of us may write whatever we choose.

I think that is something worthy of a little contemplation. But, as much as I enjoyed this morning's sunrise, I was completely blown away by this evening's sunset!

It was worth a deep breath and a walk outside. It was worth taking a break even though it was clear the few minutes I spent staring at the sky would have to be made up someplace else... somehow.

Nevertheless, I think it was worth it.

Why? Because, if the sunrise is all about new beginnings the day's end should be all about reflections: reflections on what went right and what we have to be thankful for, reflections on what didn't go so well. Those things, given a second chance: a second chance we are likely to get, we could use to do things differently or to use to do different things.

I think we need to be reminded of that every once in a while. I know I do.

You see I'm the poster child for moving too fast, working too hard. I was the guy everyone talks about when they talk about the guy who was moving too fast and working too hard to smell the roses: the roses in his own back yard!

I'm starting to think that this morning's sunrise and this evening's sunset were both an integral part of that proverbial wake up call everyone is always talking about. In a way, I kind of hope so because this particular wake up call - If in fact, that's what it was - wasn't the result of a catastrophic illness or some other profound personal tragedy. I'm OK. My wife and kids are OK. Their significant others are OK. All of our friends and associates appear to be OK, and that's a lot better than just OK as far as I'm concerned!

And, I guess that's the message if there is one. Stop! Take moment... Take a breath... Take a minute to stare at the heavens or at those roses I just mentioned. We were put here for more than just work and sometimes we need to be reminded of that. We were put here to take care of ourselves and of each other. We were put here to finish the work of creation, something we cannot do if we are struggling or working all the time because there is no alternative.

So the next time you see something that makes you want to stop and say, Wow! Do it!

Marvel at small wonders. It is the sure path to greater wonders. And, tonight, before you turn the lights out, take a moment to think about a few of those small wonders: the sunrises and sunsets, someome's reassuring touch, the memory of a kind gesture, the care and concern of a good friend, and tell me that doesn't feel at least a little better.

New Daze...

2012-01-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

They say that every day is a new day...

When you've been getting up before sunrise for just about all of your adult life: when first reveille was sleeping in, that day starts pretty early.

This morning, Tuesday morning, I stopped for coffee while it was still pitch black. The only thing breaking the darkness were the street lamps and a steady stream of headlamps... That, and the distinct sound of each vehicle as it passed by in that steady stream of vehicles I mentioned just a moment ago.

There are times when I slide out of my car, walk around to the trunk to grab all the stuff I transport back and forth to the shop every day, and have to stop and stare at the sky. This morning was one of those times. It rained yesterday and after a good rain Southern California has a crisp, clear freshness I'm not sure you can experience many other places. It was so incredible I had to stop and at least try to capture the moment. It's probably the last moment filled with the same promise I'm likely to experience until tomorrow morning at about the same time... and tomorrow morning will bring with it its own different and distinct menu of possibilities.

This is one of those times I really try to force myself to realize how lucky I am to be doing what I love, with people I respect and enjoy, for people who have come to mean a great deal to me. I think that's something worthy of reflection even if only for a moment because I'm not sure there are many others who can say that and mean it. And, while there is no guarantee that today will be better than yesterday, there isn't any guarantee it will be worse...

The gift is in knowing that while we may not be able to control what happens in the course of a new day: something that too often may leave us dazed and confused, we can at least try to exert a measure of control on how we react to it.

If that's meditating you just may find me sitting cross-legged in my driveway tomorrow morning, staring at the eastern sky...

RISK...

2012-01-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

I am sitting at my desk staring at the computer and this large, daunting expanse of white confronting me as I try to create a course submission outline for a large automotive industry event in Florida, mid-March, and one of the two presentations I’ll be delivering there. The subject is “Growing Your Business By Taking Risk” and as of this moment my canvas is devoid of anything witty, clever or worthwhile.

This is one of those assignments likely to make your blood run cold: one of those, “In just a few words, please describe…” which leaves you wondering whether any of the many words at your disposal is adequate to the task at hand.

This isn’t an issue of whether or not I can capture the essence of a ninety-minute presentation on the subject of risk – that isn’t an option. It’s a matter of how well I’ll be able to do it… and, whether or not I will do both the subject and my presentation justice. You see this idea of growing anything by taking risk is kind of a non sequitur as there is risk associated with everything we do. Risk is unavoidable.

I think the problem is a profound lack of understanding regarding the concept itself combined with a failure to recognize what the opposite or absence of risk is really all about.

There are people who believe with a perfect faith that the opposite of love is hate: the substitution of loathing for endearment. Finding and substituting one powerful emotion for another, however different they might be is not the same thing as recognizing its opposite. I would suggest that the opposite of love is not hate… it is, in fact, indifference: the absence of emotion.

If this makes any sense at all, you might find yourself wondering about risk and what its opposite might be, especially since it’s unlikely we can accomplish anything at all without at least some degree of risk associated with it. Is, then, the opposite of risk, safety? Is it security? Or, is it stasis and stagnation: a slow, agonizing death by erosion or evaporation?

I’m a small business owner. I wake up every morning knowing that I will be confronted with thousands – and, that is not an exaggeration – of decisions that will effect not only me, but the people who work with me, the customers and clients I serve as well as the entire universe of vendors and other small businesses I in turn support. Every decision brings with it an entire galaxy of possibilities: a world immersed in “If this: Then that.” Every decision no matter how seemingly insignificant has a consequence: its own consequences, and the potential of its own reward.

If I recommend one outside service provider over another I have to understand that my credibility is inexorably tied to their ability to meet or exceed my client’s wants, needs and expectations.

If I choose one potential service over another: one repair path over another, I must be prepared to accept the consequences of its ability to create a lasting and positive solution to my client’s problem.

If I institute a new policy or process at work, I have to realize there is an opportunity cost associated with that decision: that whatever we do will be at the expense of all the other things that we could or might do or have done. Every dollar I spend is spent at the expense of some other initiative, equipment purchase or training opportunity; and, the choice to do nothing – the realization that inaction is, in fact, an action in and of itself – brings with it the most potentially dangerous risk of all: the risk of paralysis, the risk of becoming irrelevant.

Even as I sit here right now, I have to realize that even this exercise bears risks of its own.

After all, I could have gone to the gym this morning and left this for later and later could arrive without the opportunity to finish leaving me to live with the stress that would certainly flow out of that decision.

I could have gone to the shop to finish the paperwork I wasn’t able to finish last night, paperwork that will need to be completed by Monday morning.

I can finish up now so I can accompany my wife and join our daughter as she is fitted for her wedding gown – something I will most certainly choose to do.

Why?

Because, the risk associated with disappointing two of the most important women in my life is real and the reward for sharing a moment like that just too great…

Take That To The Bank...

2012-01-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

I went to the bank this morning. That may not sound like a big deal to most of you, but it is for me.

You see my bank is a commercial bank that doesn’t have a branch in our community yet. So, going to the bank means getting in the car, leaving the shop for almost an hour and driving to someplace someone else calls home. Aside from that, in this age of electronic credit card and check processing there isn’t cause to run to the bank every day. Not unless you’re about to run out of change, need a notary or have papers you need to sign.

In my case, I was about to run out of change this morning, I did need something notarized and there were some papers waiting for me at the bank. It was an inconvenience, certainly. But, because I don’t really leave the shop all that often I chose to look at it as an adventure… and, an adventure it turned out to be.

When I got to the bank there was a fairly long line of people waiting. They weren’t waiting for the manager to open another window. Every window was open.

They were waiting for one of the three people being helped to finish their transactions. The problem appeared to be the nature of those transactions. Each one was more complicated and convoluted than the next. The guy on the left insisted on having everything explained to him: everything, more than once and in more than one language.

I didn’t see the armored truck, but I’m sure that’s how the woman in the middle got to the bank. If she didn’t transport that much cash in an armored vehicle she was sure to be ‘packing’ or just plain foolish!

The guy on the other end just wanted to hang out or at least that’s what it looked like.

I was already looking at my watch and starting to get nervous when my turn finally came. I took my place at the window at just about the same moment the woman to my right moved up and that’s when the fireworks started. She was incensed! Livid, in fact! Using language that would have embarrassed Lenny Bruce, Andrew Dice Clay or maybe even Chris Rock.

She was somebody’s bookkeeper or personal assistant and whoever it was she worked for had left her in charge of their financial affairs which included a small personal bank account awaiting their return to California from out of state. Apparently, the account had a balance more than sufficient to sustain itself in their absence. Or, at least, it would have had someone not forgotten to “turn off” a service paid for through an automatic withdrawal: a service that really wasn’t being utilized during the owner’s absence anyway.

How do I know all this? It would have been hard for anyone with close to normal hearing standing where I was not to know the whole sordid story. The more involved in sharing her anger, the louder and more vitriolic she became until everyone in the bank had stopped to watch.

It seems everything had gone along fine until the automatic payments drained the account and the one or two small checks that were being written from it began to bounce. Because the account was not being monitored and because the mail tended to languish for extended periods of time before being opened – the bank’s charges accumulated until they exceeded what had once been the balance.

Now, the woman was trying to blame everyone in the Western World but herself for what had transpired. To compound matters, the bank branch she was raising hell in wasn’t even the branch that held the account. It was just the closest and most convenient.

It was the manager’s fault for not calling… or, maybe, the teller’s. It was ‘criminal’ for the bank to charge for handling the overdrafts or the checks or the account or anything for that matter. It was unreasonable, unfair, unrealistic… and downright un-American!

It was fascinating. Like watching a train wreck or an explosion! This woman had brought the entire bank to its knees. Everyone’s eyes were on her, including mine.

Then, she turned to me, pointed at the manager and associate she was in the process of crucifying at that moment and demanded that I tell them she was right!

I looked at my watch and realized the only way I was going to get out of that bank and back to the shop on time was going to depend upon whether or not I was willing to throw the entire branch under the bus. I thought about it for a second and realized I just couldn’t do it, especially since I couldn’t see what the bank had done wrong. So, I did the only thing I could as foolish and dangerous as it may have been. I looked her in the eye and told her I wasn’t going to tell anyone in the branch they were wrong because in my opinion, they weren’t! After all, it wasn’t their account that had been allowed to go inside out. They were merely acting as its custodian.

The question I had was where was the person responsible for that account? Where was the person managing the money?
“Where were you while all this was going on? How come you never saw the account balance drop? How come you didn’t realize you were paying for services you no longer needed? How could you have missed the bank’s notices?

Where the hell does ‘personal responsibility’ fit into your rant?”

She never answered. She just glared at me and then stormed out. I got a round of applause from the other customers and hugs from the staff, but somehow that wasn’t very satisfying.

This woman had gone on a tirade in the middle of the day in the middle of a busy bank: a busy business, just like yours or mine.

She blamed everyone else for what was wrong in the bank, with the bank and with the country, in general. She listed a dozen reasons the country is falling apart. But, she forgot the only one that matters, the one I mentioned a minute ago: personal responsibility, the willingness to accept responsibility for our own actions or our own failures to act.

What’s wrong with just about everything I can think of isn’t the country. It isn’t even our so-called leaders. It’s the people: the people who are too busy looking at everyone else for the cause of their misfortune when ultimately the responsibility is almost always their own.

You want the bank account to be there when you need it? Check up on it every once in a while.

You don’t want your checks to bounce? Make sure there is enough money in the account and open your mail every once in a while: open it and read it!

You want better government? Educate yourself about the issues and choose better leaders. Get involved.

You want your marriage or your relationships to work? Work at your marriage or your relationships.

Before starting a sentence with, “You…” Think about starting the same sentence with, “I…” and then think about what kind of a difference that might make.

I left the bank a few minutes later and made it back to the shop on time, albeit it barely.

I thought about what had just transpired all the way home thinking to myself, it doesn’t get much more complicated than taking responsibility…

And, that’s something you can take to the bank!

Three In One...

2012-01-17T22:20:00.000-08:00

I was just finishing up putting the second of this month’s webcasts to bed and decided to check my email while the program I use was doing whatever it does when it’s sewing ones and zeroes together.

Checking your Inbox is dangerous, especially if you’re wired like I am. The risk of distraction is huge and its likelihood almost unavoidable. The number of possible paths is endless and the illusion of encountering something truly wonderful is just possible enough to draw you from that LinkedIn invitation from an old colleague to that Facebook request to be friends from someone you haven’t thought about since High School, on to that website you’ve always wanted to explore. From there, it’s down the rabbit hole to who-knows-what or where.

Consequently, I’ve taken to checking out the two or three blogs I’ve decided are ‘must reads’ first, leaving my actual emails to wait until I’ve finished everything else I really, really have to get done. I generally, check the blogs first thing in the morning and then again in the early afternoon. I check the emails after I’ve finished everything else I have to do just before it’s time to pack it all in and go to bed. So, if you email and don’t hear from me until the next morning or afternoon you now know why.

This morning, I had an early morning breakfast meeting and never got online. I’m glad I waited. Had I opened this particular blog post the meeting would have been a waste of time because the blog’s content would have left me thinking of little else.

It suggested something I’ve been thinking about for some time: one of three fundamental truths that I’ve been pondering a lot lately. The first is the difference between a project and a process and the importance of each. The second is the need to embrace and celebrate failure with just as much enthusiasm as we celebrate success and the third is the need to cultivate a clear awareness of where we are, what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, as well as the objectivity necessary to know when to walk away… from anything or everything.

The blog was powerful enough to draw me away from just about everything else I’m supposed to be doing right now because I believe all three are powerfully integrated and critical to our success.

The difference between process and programs is profound and certainly worthy of a blog post or two of its own. The fact that too many people treat them as if they were same is worthy of comment as well. The inherent problem is that both are focused on change: moving from where you are to where you want to be, accomplishing strategic goals and objectives or streamlining policies and procedures.

Recognizing there is a difference and what that difference might be is really where the confusion begins. Programs are generally short-term, have very specific and focused goals and objectives and have a finite beginning and end. They are generally limited in scope, require the participation and cooperation of others and to be successful occur within a known timeframe.

You can institute and embrace all kinds of programs: marketing programs, safety programs, performance-based compensation programs, programs, ad infinitum. There is almost certainly a program for just about everything and anything you want to improve, advance or accomplish and almost all of them have a place within the greater context of a process.

Process is all about change as well. But, its scale is greater and the one thing that differentiates it most from a program is that it has no end. Its goals are so profound, so lofty – almost unobtainable, perhaps – it is clear from the beginning, the constant work of improvement and achieving success is never really quite finished and this is where the problem resides for many of us: the inability to differentiate… That, and our unwillingness to abandon programs that haven’t worked, aren’t working and aren’t likely to work in the future.

The abandonment of programs that are unsuccessful and our ability to learn from our failures is essential to success in our industry or any other, for that matter.

Too many of us are unwilling to take whatever lessons can be harvested from the failure of a program or initiative, learn from the experience and then apply that knowledge to the next project or program. Instead, we are all too willing to sacrifice just about everything we’ve already accomplished in support of an unworthy, unreasonable or seemingly impossible task.

It’s been my contention for years that few of us ever learn anything from doing something ‘right’ the first time anyway... or, the second or third, for that matter. We don’t spend enough time thinking about what we did ‘right’ to learn anything. In fact, few of us think about how or why things went the way we think they should have gone in the first place, especially if our expectations have been met.

Most of us learn from our failures because there is generally a significant cost associated with each and every one of them, and because failure of any kind is expensive: expensive in dollars and expensive psychologically, we are loath to admit we’ve failed. We just keep crashing ourselves against the rocks trying to find that tiny and elusive passage into safe harbor of success.

So, the message is clear. We need to learn how to define a project so both its success and failure will be obvious to everyone. We need to recognize those signs most likely to identify a project when and if it has failed. We need to learn how to abandon a project when its abandonment is appropriate. And, then, we need to learn everything we can from the experience so we aren’t likely to repeat those failures again in the course of initiating our next and newest program.

In order to do any or all of that, we must also develop a keen ability to honestly judge where we are with regard to all the programs we have in place at any given moment.

No false pride. No unrealistic expectations. No self-delusions. Just the simple ability to recognize where we started, where we are going, the path we’ve chosen, the plan we have formulated, and whether or not our assumptions about any of this are in line with the realities we are experiencing and likely to result in the success we are seeking.

That may sound easier than it really is because that kind of honesty is rare, especially when it comes to something we may be passionate about, and frankly, I’m not sure we should be doing anything we’re not that passionate about, like carving four hours out of a weekend to share something like this with you.

So, there you have it, three concepts I’ve been thinking about ever since I opened my email and read the blog post: three concepts I feel are critical for us to understand, accept and react to: three concepts rolled up into one not-so-easy to implement strategy for a better tomorrow.

I feel better for having thought enough about it enough to share it, but not as good as I’ll feel if you let me know what you think and where you are: whether or not you recognize and celebrate failure, which programs and processes you are involved with, and just how far in your quest for success: your odyssey to optimize your business and/or your life, you’ve come.

In the meantime, I think I’ll finally get around to opening my Inbox.

Until next time… Stay well. Take Care. Make Money. Have Fun. And, don’t do business with anyone you don’t like. There’s probably a pretty good reason they make you uncomfortable!

Mitch

Lemme Splainit Tooya... Again!

2012-01-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve spent half the time I spend at the service counter wondering why I spend so much time at the service counter.

I know it’s an integral part of the job. And, I know I love my ‘regulars,’ the customers, clients and friends who have been coming in and coming back forever. I really do!

They make me smile and reinforce the resolve you need to do this every day, especially in this economy.

I like people… in general. And, I really do appreciate the important role we play in the lives of the people we serve. I also understand and appreciate that service is a verb as well as a calling and a privilege.

It’s the people who magically appear after a prolonged absence as if they were still coming in regularly every three or four months I find the most likely to have problems like these. It's as if they've forgotten why they came to you in the first place, how much they trusted you or the great job you did finding their problem or fixing their vehicles.

However… And, I know you’ve been waiting for the ‘however’ to appear – I don’t like or appreciate having to explain things: the same things, three or four or maybe even five times before someone at the counter ‘gets it.’ That is, if they ever ‘get it’ at all.

Now, that statement clearly needs some explanation. Or, at least, I feel it does and since I’m the one whose fingers are tap dancing all over the keyboard, I get to decide.

People who were once regular customers and for one reason or another haven’t been back because: they purchased a new car, ran into to financial difficulties, moved out of the area or decided they would like to try something else, someone new… and, then returned because that new vehicle is finally out of warranty, they are back in the ‘black’ again, moved back or realized that we look pretty good compared to a lot of the automotive service possibilities out there are always welcomed home and welcomed home as if they never left.

The people who have been everywhere else, to everyone else... and, then returned because we’re up next in the rotation are a “whole ‘nother story!”

As an example, the person responsible for this particular piece – just appeared after a two year and 20,000 mile absence. Two years ago, she came in for a problem and a cost-free general inspection. We performed the inspection, came up with the solution to her problem and solutions to at least a dozen other problems she was both aware and unaware of. She said thank you and left.

This time, she was back for a severe oil leak… and, another inspection.

I told her the inspection would have to wait a day until we cleared our schedule sufficiently to actually look at the vehicle and I told her how much it was going to cost.

“You’re going to charge me for the inspection? You didn’t charge anything last time…” She said.

“Last time you had less than a couple of thousandths of an inch of friction material left between the brake pads and the rotors. It’s 20,000 miles later and the brakes aren’t making noise. I think you may have had someone else do the brakes. You might want to ask them to look for the oil leaks for free…”

She left the vehicle…

It was assigned and the tech started the inspection with a road test. He got to the driveway, put the vehicle in reverse and slowly backed into a parking space. When he got out of the vehicle his face was ashen and he was shaking. The vehicle had no brakes. Even after pumping the pedal it would barely stop. We finished inspecting the vehicle and created an estimate for the list of problems we were able to identify, both new and those remaining from the first inspection, starting with a failed brake master and booster.

She returned to the shop that evening with a friend… her resident ‘expert.’ I told her about the oil pan gasket that was leaking, the front seal and the valve cover gaskets. I also took a minute to explain that oil leaks were like ants at a picnic: there is no such thing as just one and it was likely there would be residual oil leaks, albeit smaller ones!

I told her about everything else we had found and then I paused, took a deep breath and asked, “Is there anything special you forgot to tell us about your brakes… Like, there is a terrible hissing noise when you step on the brakes, the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor and the vehicle won’t stop…?”

“Oh, she stops… But, you do have to pump the brakes really fast and really hard. And, I guess there is that noise when you step on the brakes. But, I haven’t really paid much attention to it…”

Another deep breath, “But, it doesn’t want to stop… How and where do you drive this vehicle?”

“Just to school and back when I take the kids…”

I took another deep breath and went over the inspection and the estimate again with both the owner and her expert and then asked her what she would like us to do… She was focusing on the oil leaks when I stopped her.

“We’re not going to touch the vehicle unless we’re asked to fix the brakes first. If you want anything else done other than brakes you can take it some place else. But, you’re going to have to tow it because I won’t let anyone drive it off the lot in its present condition.

It doesn’t matter how the vehicle runs or much oil the vehicle is leaking because nobody should be driving it without brakes! None of the other problems matter either – not until you get the vehicle to stop!”

We did the brakes…

She came back the following evening to pick up the vehicle and we went over it all again – twice.

She told me how great we are and how happy she was and that she would be back to see us in a couple of months to get the rest of the work done. I smiled. That’s what she told us two years ago.

I guess we’ll have to see whether or not she makes it into that treasured group of regular customers that either returns after a short break or remains with you; or, the group that leaves to start a new cycle of visits to every other shop in town.

I’m OK either way. First, I'm OK because we were paid and paid well for both the inspection and for what we did. So, I don’t really feel too bad about what we didn’t get to do.

And, second, having to say “Lemme ‘splainit twoya… again!” may actually be a good thing. If nothing else, it helps you appreciate the clients, customers and friends for whom it isn’t necessary.

Play Date

2012-01-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

We’re just one day into the New Year and I’m behind already!

How is this possible? I haven’t had enough time to fall behind!

I feel like some of the kids I get to see at the shop, programmed so tightly they have to consult their smart phones or i-Pads to schedule a “Play Date” and then email an “Invitation to a Meeting” to their parent/chauffer to co-ordinate the logistics. They bounce around from school to gymnastics, soccer, cheer, religious studies, leadership, baseball, band, martial arts, community service and who knows what else.

Just keeping track of it all and arranging transportation is a full time job.

When I was the same age, all I had to do to schedule a “Play Date” was grab a red rubber Spaulding ball and a broken broom handle, walk down the steps of the tenement we lived in, look around, see if there was anyone else “on the street,” and if there was, shout out a, “Yo, wanna play some stick ball?” Or, handball… Or, basketball… Or, street hockey…

If there was a response, problem was solved, game on: “Play Date” scheduled…

Now, I’m starting to feel like one of those kids: max-ed out, with no time for anything, let alone fun.

That isn’t exactly true… There shouldn’t be a “starting to” in the sentence above. Crashing through this existence at warp speed constantly trying to force five quarts of life into a four-quart container isn’t exactly something I just started doing. In fact, it’s something I have more than a little experience with. You see I started pushing the envelop when it comes to getting things done when I learned how to take care of more than one car at a time on the pump island at my father’s place in Brooklyn and then reinforced those ‘skills’ on the service drive at the corner of Cloverfield Blvd. and the Santa Monica Freeway.

It was nothing to pump gas on two or three vehicles, wash the windows, check the oil… and, the tires when asked, collect and sell TBA – lots of Tires, Batteries and Accessories – without missing a beat.

After that, it was working on two or three cars at a time in “the back.”

Multiple tasks, multiple priorities: multi-tasking, before it had a name.

Now, it’s orchestrated chaos in the office and at the service counter: multiple clients, multiple technicians, multiple vendors, multiple estimates, multiple authorizations, multiple responsibilities, multiple problems and a task list that would make one of those over-programmed kids weep!

The question has to be: Is this normal? Is it healthy? Is it wise to feel like you’re a day behind the first day you’re back to work after New Year’s?

Is it wise… Is it healthy… Is it normal… And, what do you do about it if the answer to any of those questions is, No!

I’m working on that right now. I’m working on learning the skills necessary to rein things in a bit because even if it is normal… for us: normal for this industry, I don’t like it. I don’t like it for a number of reasons not the least of which is the fact it can’t be healthy and it isn’t wise… even though it almost certainly appears to be normal.

And, just for the record, just because it’s normal, doesn’t mean it’s ‘right.’

I think the root cause of it all is bad habits and a serious lack of knowledge: business management knowledge in particular.

The bucket full of bad habits all seem to relate back to trying to do everything ourselves: bad habits that are reinforced every time we trust someone else to do something, anything we finally force ourselves to give up, and then having to deal with a disappointing result and its consequences.

The lack of business management knowledge leaves too many shop owners too afraid to charge what they need to in order to make a decent living, and then finding themselves forced to do more work for less money in order to just get by, not realizing they are actually artificially suppressing the very price increases they need in order to survive.

The secret seems to be hidden somewhere in the middle of finding people you can trust and trusting the people you find…

Don’t misunderstand! They had better be the ‘right’ people: the right choices. But, the change we all need has to start somewhere and finding the right people is the best place I know to start.

As far as the automotive shop management information is concerned, there has never been more or better training and educational aids out there. All you have to do is find your well and then drink the water.

The reward? Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward not only to catching up; but, to getting a little bit ahead as well. At least, that’s the goal.

How do you know if you're getting it right?

The answer is simple… You get the time, inclination and ability to schedule a play date of your own

Thinking, Blinking, Staring, Glaring Contest

2011-11-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

The desk in my “private,” not-so-private office, faces a wall of cabinets and a small alcove. The alcove has some of my favorite books: stuff I like to read or refer to often for solace or inspiration; and a set of the latest, greatest Motor Age ASE Test Study Guides.

They sit there stoically, staring at me whenever I’m at my desk and regardless of what I’m doing. If patience is a virtue, these are the most virtuous books in the entire universe because they have been patiently waiting for me to do something with them – anything with them, in fact – for far too long.

It finally degenerated into a staring contest – the books and me – each daring the other to do something.

You probably think I’ve gone off the deep end and maybe I have. But, I’d be doing payroll or looking at my financials when all of a sudden I felt myself forced to look up only to find the books staring at me: expressionless, unemotional, and yet still casting a disapproving glance across the room. You could almost hear the,

“Hey!

Hey, you… Yeah, you…

Don’t look around! Who are you looking for; you’re the only one in here!

When are you going to quit screwing around? When are you going to get up off your butt and get yourself over here? When are you going to finally make the commitment to register and re-cert?

It’s been long enough, hasn’t it?”

Ignore it and it will go away, you say… I tried. It doesn’t work. The books kept calling to me and I kept ignoring them! Eventually, we just glared at each other… That is, until just a few hours ago. A few hours ago, the study guides took an entirely new approach. They began goading me: taunting me, trying to get inside my head.

“What are you afraid of? Don’t think you can pass the tests anymore? That’s what we’re here for – We’re here so you can not only take the tests: we’re here so you can pass them!”

“No, dammit... that’s not it at all. Even though I’m not working on cars full-time anymore, I know I can still pass the tests expressly because you’re here and able to stare at me from across the floor! I know you’re here just like I know I can use you and abuse you!

I haven’t registered for the tests because the tests are a constant reminder that I’m NOT working on cars full-time anymore. They are a constant reminder I have to work on just about everything around this place BUT cars and trucks anymore!”

And, then I realized I had stumbled upon the real reason for my angst and anxiety: the reason for my hesitation and procrastination.

So, I did the only reasonable thing left for me to do. I got up off my butt, walked across the floor, grabbed a handful of study guides and started flipping pages. Tomorrow, I’m going to go online, register for my recertification tests and then I’ll make arrangements to take them: all of them!

Oh, I’ll study first… I always do. Fear of failure is a great motivator!

But, I’ve got to tell you something. The minute I stopped staring and glaring, thinking and blinking, those study guides ceased being confrontational and became the source of great consolation and confidence.

Suddenly, they were welcome and inviting – comforting: kind of like getting together with a long lost friend. It’s a relationship I’m looking forward to rebuilding: one I can’t wait begin.

When was the last time you sat for the ASE tests? How long since you wore a Master patch or proudly hung a “CMAT” after your name?

When was the last time you were involved in an intimate relationship with our study guides?

If it’s been too long, I’ll bet your guides are staring at you just like mine were glaring at me!

Don’t start a staring contest with them. I can almost guarantee they won’t blink, at least not until long after you have. Pull them away from wherever they are, dust them off and get to work.

Go online… Get registered… Get into the books… And, then, get certified and/or recertified!

The best reason to become is still the ONLY reason: and, that is what voluntary certification says about you and your relationship to this profession… your profession… our profession.

And, Where The Hell Have You Been...

2011-11-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry...

I've been off the grid again... Sort of, but not really!

I've actually been creating and then broadcasting a thirty-minute weekly webcast since February 2, 2011, which has been gobbling up chunks of time that would have, could have and probably should have been dedicated to whatever I might have been doing here.

Well, I've changed my schedule to bi-weekly, which should give me the time I'm looking for to more or less hang out here, sharing those thoughts and reflections that probably should be reserved for a less restrictive environment - even if many of those restrictions are self-imposed. My hope is this will prove an outlet for the unabridged, uncensored reactions to our everyday experience spent toiling in the "Wonderful World of Broken Cars and Broken People." In other words, what life looks like from the other side of the service counter if you are a "civilian:" a non-professional in the automotive service industry.

Hope you like what you see...

Till then... stay well, take care, have fun, make money and try not to do business with anyone you don't like... Mitch

DEAR DANIEL & SHELLY... - Simi Valley, CA, United States, 93065 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

2011-11-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

DEAR DANIEL & SHELLY... - Simi Valley, CA, United States, 93065 - AutoPro Workshop Blog post - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

The Magic Compass: Schneider's Archive 11-16-11 - Simi Valley, CA, United States, 93065 - AutoPro Workshop Video - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

2011-11-18T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Magic Compass: Schneider's Archive 11-16-11 - Simi Valley, CA, United States, 93065 - AutoPro Workshop Video - Where Professionals Gather for Better Business

IS THIS WHERE I REPORT FOR DETENTION...

2010-05-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

The first question really ought to be, "Where the hell have you been?"

I'd certainly deserve it. After all, it's only been a month... Well, almost a month. I could share a bucket filled with excuses: "I've been busy... Had other deadlines to deal with... Had a business to run... Was busy feeling sorry for myself... Was busy feeling sorry for others!"

I could do that... All of those excuses are equally valid and pretty much useless. Sure, I've been getting up earlier and working later, I've been involved in chaos: some contrived and some visited upon me by others. But, the truth of the matter is simple enough to understand, and that is until tonight I just couldn't find the strength or the inspiration to even visit this part of my life. I've been frustrated, angry and upset and no one needs to listen to that. Or, at least that's the way I've felt up until today.

The worst part of not showing up was and still is the guilt! Even though writing a blog is elective: something you choose to do, it still brings with it a responsibility... a responsibility to communicate, and not just when you feel like it. Anyone can communicate when the mood strikes or they feel compelled to. A blog is the commitment to show up even when you don't feel like it.

In any case, I'm here now and that may just have to do. Why? Because, something miraculous just happened! Someone I haven't heard from in years, someone I have thought of often and fondly, just left a message on an earlier blog post. Someone I went to High School with and I graduated High School almost fifty years ago!

Has that happened to you yet... Someone you've thought about, wondered about, even looked for - maybe, not aggressively or in earnest. But, someone you tried to 'search' here or there without success. Suddenly, I was sitting in the Shakey's Pizza parlor that used to be at Fairfax and San Vicente (Or, was it Olympic?) waiting for all hell to break loose. I was back in High School - not among the most pleasant memories I drag around with me - and hanging out with my buddies: the Breakfast Club, our breakfast club, before there was a movie. And, maybe that's what it takes to get you writing again (Actually, I never stop writing... I just failed to stop by and write something here!).

In any case, I'm back now and ready to get back to it. To what? To the business of life and living. That's what it's all about, isn't it: What has happened in the past... What is happening right now... And, what is likely to occur in the future.

Just another way of saying the present is the past of the future, I guess.

Milestones...

2010-03-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

I just sat down to organize my thoughts and share the events of the past few days... here, as a matter of fact. I had a plan: an agenda, and then the phone rang.

I don't know about you, but I get distracted easily - there are times I don't mind. But, when time is at a premium and I have a laundry list of things to do - which is most of the time - and, Lesley is busy getting ready for the holidays with her own laundry list of things to do which often conflicts with mine (any man reading this who is married or in a committed relationship knows whose list will take precedence...), it can be a problem. Nevertheless, I answered the phone. It was our son, Ryan, who is his post-L.A. Marathon Iron Man training 'leave of absence,' at least until tomorrow. He was calling from the South Bay and you could here giggling in the background and the excitement in his voice. He had just asked his young lady to marry him...

Now, the fact that he asked couldn't have been a surprise to anyone who knows them... they've been through hell and back trying to define the nature of their relationship and having made it across the ribbon of hot coals they were forced to cross, it was a given they would be together. The surprise was the "when" and "how" of it.

Ryan is at heart a romantic of the first magnitude... In many ways, I guess I am as well. The difference is that Ryan has style. I'm not sure the same can be said for me. I've always been too busy trying to figure out how to get from here to there without destroying myself in the process: an ongoing theme throughout my life. So, where Ryan planned an incredibly clever and convoluted subterfuge in order to surprise our future daughter-in-law, I asked his mother to spend the rest of her life with me in what was, perhaps, the most lame and awkward manner on record.

After establishing a meaningful relationship over the most intense six weeks of my life, and then recognizing the thought of Lesley in school four hundred and fifty miles north of L.A. and possibly dating someone else was unbearable - I decided to act. For anyone else, that would have involved 'a plan.' Anyone who knows me... or, knew me at that time in my life, would tell you that I was absolutely incapable of formulating anything that even remotely looked like a plan, let alone disciplined enough to carry one out. Instead, I fumbled around trying to explain how I felt - something I'm still not especially good at anyway - until Lesley finally took matters into her own hands and asked me what the hell I was talking about!

I told her I didn't want her dating someone else while she was away - that I couldn't bear the thought of it. The unanswered question hanging in the air was what exactly did that mean. I fumbled around some more until it became obvious to anyone but me, that I was asking Lesley to become involved in what today would be considered a "committed relationship."

I'm not sure that I was sure what that meant as we discussed it, but I know Lesley did. I stuttered and stammered my way through asking Lesley if she wanted to "go steady," which would qualify as "World-Class Lame" by today's standards, and Lesley's only question was... "You mean for the rest of our lives?"

I didn't think about what she was asking... or, what that meant: not for a second. I answered with a "Yeah... I guess so." Or, something equally as awkward, knowing that the thought of being without her had become unthinkable. Her reply was classic, "You mean for the rest of our lives?" And, my response was equally as articulate, "Yeah... I guess so."

It wasn't especially romantic. But, in retrospect, it's pretty apparent that forty years later it was the right answer.

Now, my eldest son (only son, actually...) is engaged. He is as happy as I have ever seen him... less confused than I was when I realized that I had inadvertently asked his mother to marry me... but, happy nonetheless.

It is a milestone... both for Ryan and Stephanie, and for their respective families: and, like so many of life's milestones, it just appears as we stumble through life. There is no map. There is no accompanying set of instructions. There is no plan, at least none that anyone can depend on. Life isn't that simple. Nor, is it predictable. Most of the time, it just 'is.' All that is really important is that you mark these moments appropriately. They are a big part of who we are when they happen. But, perhaps, more important, these milestones are a bigger part of who we can become as life unfolds beyond them.

There was no one in the universe less prepared to become engaged at the end of the summer in 1968 than I was. I'm not sure there was anyone less prepared to get married a year-and-a-half later, either. But, I can also tell you without hesitation there was no one in the universe more determined to ensure that it would work once the commitment was made: that it would be 'good,' and that it would last, than I was.

And, maybe that's what milestones are all about... stopping to mark where you are when they occur, and then making a commitment to the journey that lies ahead: wherever that may take you and despite the obstacles life is likely to place in your way.

There is one other thing, I guess; something I'd like to share with both my kids and their 'significant others' as they get ready for their "next logical steps:" something I've discovered along my journey. Milestones are important for another reason. They are important because they are almost always associated with decisions: big decisions, important decisions, decisions that help define the legacy you leave for those who will follow as you move through life.

When you are young, just starting out and fighting your way through life, legacies are the last thing you are likely to think about. As you get older and receive phone calls like the one Lesley and I just received, legacies are just about all you think about...

A HEALTHY SERVING OF GOALS AND OBJECTIVES...

2010-03-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

As I've just mentioned, I just returned home from an incredible five days in Florida...

No, not on vacation, although vacation is an interesting concept. This was business: and, high-level business at that.

Have you ever tried to condense thirty hours of fast paced, very intense, high level learning in a single conversation? You know, the kind of conversation that follows one of those... "So, how was your meeting?" or, "So, what did you guys talk about?" questions. It's impossible so don't try.

Instead, I've broken it down into what I consider 'bite-size' pieces and started the process Monday morning as soon as parked my car at work. If the truth were to be told, I actually started the process during the meeting trying to determine exactly what I would be bringing home in the first place. Refined it somewhat at the airport and then a bit more Sunday evening after watching our son finish the L.A. Marathon and taking everyone: son, future daughter-in-law, daughter, future son-in-law, future daughter-in-law's best friend and one of Ryan's (son) co-workers and his wife, to lunch and then visiting my Mother on the way home...

Note to self: Celebrations are cool! Create more reasons to celebrate! We need them...

I managed to get through the mountain of paperwork that had accumulated during the week I was gone, signed the checks that needed to be signed and mailed the bills that needed to be mailed. I survived yesterday and managed to meet Frank - my Service Manager - for breakfast this morning to de-brief last week's challenges and events. In the process, we established a deeper understanding of where we are headed, what we believe it will take to get there, the role a new set of Goals & Objectives will play in creating the operating model we will need to embrace in order to "Get 'er done!" and how last week's meeting impacted all of the above.

It was a great meeting! I'm not saying that because I think Frank will stumble across this blog... I'm not even sure he's aware of it. I'm saying it because it was a great meeting.

What constitutes a great meeting? Well, the obvious answer would be great results... And, that's always the goal. But, in this case, I would define a 'great meeting' as a meeting in which ideas, information and a deeper level of communication occurred. If that definition is accurate or adequate; this was a great meeting!

It will be followed by another great meeting involving our whole team in which we - both Frank and I - will show them how all these new goals and objectives will impact all of us as a team and each of them as individuals. I'll let you know how that goes after we get everyone together.

The most interesting part of all of this is the incredible energy I brought home with me from Florida, but then again with high winds and fifty degree weather, energy is just about all I could bring home. After all, there was no sun and consequently no chance for a tan!

We've already started one exercise guaranteed to improve both our internal communications and a sense of consistency on the shop floor... I'll talk more about that later.

Right now, I'm too excited to get back to work to write anything else... I'm not sure, but I think it's a result of the healthy serving of goals and objectives Frank and I had for breakfast.

A.D.D....

2010-03-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

If I were a kid in school today there is no telling just how medicated I'd be. So medicated, the very thought scares me!

I'm sure they would try their best to muffle the chaos in my head: chaos I just couldn't wait to share with everyone in the classroom either by accident or on purpose. If I had to paint a picture of what's going in there it would have to look a little like those television editing booths they sometimes show on screen. You know, the ones with two dozen screens showing two dozen different shots of just about everything going on around you.

Well, that's pretty much the way it looks and feels to me... With a producer shouting, "Give me Two on my count: three - two - one - Now!"

I've got an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of white paper taped to the filing cabinet across from my desk with the words "STAY FOCUSED" printed in 60-point, bold type; but, it might as well say, "Pink Bunny." Or, better yet, "Squirrel!"

Between the incoming phone calls, the work I have to catch up on by close of business tomorrow, the work coming in, payroll, the constant barrage of problems, challenges, opportunities and solutions... Well, I don't stand a chance. In fact, it's a wonder I get to accomplish anything at all and I'm sure I wouldn't if it wasn't just a matter of sheer force of will.

The most terrifying part of all? I've been doing it so long that crazy seems normal: so long, I actually crave it!

In all fairness, it's a little worse because I was gone for five days and the five days I was gone were spent attending an industry conference that has me so pumped up it must look like I'm vibrating around the shop. It could have something with the "To Do" list I brought with me or the commitment I've made to continuing education and improvement. Either way, I know the people closest to me are going, "Buckle your seat belts: Here we go again!" And, they're right!

As a result of the conference, I've made the commitment to bring a number of the possibilities I was exposed to back to our shop, changes that are almost guaranteed to enhance our ability to serve our clients. In fact, I've already started implementing some of those changes.

The goals are relatively simple: expand, improve and serve.

Now, all we have to do is do it!

As the weeks and months go by I'll be bringing some of those changes here and then opening them up for discussion. If there really is anybody out there, you're more than welcome to join in.

Even if you don't join in, it should still be one hell of a wild ride: one worthy of your consideration, especially if we are successful.

I know that even though I don't know how it will end or what it has to offer, I still can't wait to get started.

Home again... Home again... Jiggety, Jigg

2010-03-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

"Honey, I'm home..."

Exhausted! But, home... And, let me tell you: There really is no place like home! And,those of you who know me realize just how long it's taken me to be able to say that and mean it.

After all, you don't just wake up one morning and decide your thirty-five year war with Southern California: Los Angeles, in particular; is over. It took two million miles of almost constant travel to finally realize that there is a reason people are still migrating here! Then, suddenly, on a Sunday afternoon flight home, I remember looking down at the L.A. skyline thinking to myself, "It's good to be home!"

Home! I'd never actually thought about Los Angeles as home before. Now, I'm thinking about coming home before I've left the house!

Even when you are having an incredible time, even when it's a conference that you've been looking forward to for a year, even when you're going to be with people you really enjoy, there is still something wonderful about your own shower, your own bed, and your own lumpy pillows that is absolutely magical!

Nevertheless, I had the opportunity to hang out with some of the very best shop owners in North America: just about all of whom are within the top 2% of the repair community both here in the United States and in Canada: the top 2%!

You know that old saying about how hard it is to soar with eagles when you work with turkeys: Well, it's just as hard to remain on the ground when you are surrounded by eagles. And, I was!

You can add to that the seven or eight speakers: one better than the other and all of them world class! You can talk about the breakout sessions, roundtables and stimulating conversations that followed. What you're left with is enough information to keep you in sensory overload until SuperConference 2011, and all of it was focused on success and serving our clients which are pretty much one in the same.

More than anything else, there is the undeniable sense of unlimited possibility you experience when you are in the presence of those who are where you strive to be!

Now, comes the hard part... picking and choosing those elements we/I want to integrate into our business: that, and finding a way to integrate it into a comprehensive, coherent business model capable of exceeding everyone's expectations, including mine.

I'll let you know who that's working for us as we move into the Spring and through the Summer. Till then, I think I'll just sit here and think about how great the trip was, what I learned, and how good it is to be home!

To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards...

2010-03-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at my desk trying to get a handle on my feelings about an impending business trip that will begin this coming Tuesday, March 16.

The problem stems from my participation in the group sponsoring the meeting itself. You see it's almost impossible to articulate or explain what the group is all about: at least, it is for me. You see it’s more than the sum of its parts. That really shouldn’t be a problem at this point as I’ve already been to a number of these conferences. Nevertheless, it still is.

I could say it’s a consulting company. After all, they do consulting. I could say it’s a ‘coaching’ company. I have a coach. I could say a lot of things about the company, but in reality it is perhaps the most important business resource I have ever found or employed.

More than that, it works! But, that hasn’t helped me to describe it to someone else or to get my arms around it on a personal level. The funniest part of it all is what is currently swirling around in my head: so strange, I’m not even sure I get it myself. What I see if I close my eyes is one of the final scenes of “The Wizard of OZ,” the Hollywood film classic.

Now, you’ve got to understand that as a kid growing up in the 50’s, “The Wizard of Oz” was magical: everything about it. Each element was indelibly etched in my memory: the subtlety of going from Black & White to Technicolor, the characters, the Wicked Witch, the Winkies, the Palace Guards, the Wizard himself, Dorothy, the special effects – which really seemed pretty special at the time, all of it.

So, in a way, my being fixated on a specific scene as I sit here and agonize over leaving shouldn’t really be all that much of a surprise, even it if is troublesome to me. Which scene… Well, the last scene in Oz, of course: the scene in which the Wizard announces he is leaving.

This is what it looks and feels like:

LAP DISSOLVE TO:

Ext. Public Square, Emerald City -- LS -- The Wizard and Dorothy in the

basket of balloon -- Tin Man, Scarecrow and Lion standing on platform with

them -- people of Oz grouped about them -- the Wizard speaks to them as

the CAMERA MOVES forward -- the people cheer --

WIZARD

Good people of Oz, this is positively the

finest exhibition ever to be shown --

(stammers)

-- yes -- well -- be that as it may -- I,

your Wizard par ardua ad alta, am about to

embark upon a hazardous and technically

unexplainable journey into the outer

stratosphere.

MCS -- Wizard and Dorothy in the basket -- the Wizard speaks to the crowd

o.s. -- CAMERA PANS to left to enter the Tin Man and Scarecrow, then PANS

right as the Wizard points to the Lion --

WIZARD

To confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob

with my brother wizards...

Well, I guess if I really had to explain where I was going and what I will be doing to anyone interested enough to ask, that is precisely what I’d have to say: I’m going to confer, converse, and otherwise hob-nob with my brother wizards…

Why? Well, because that’s what Wizards do!

All kidding aside, that’s pretty much it! I’m going to spend the next few days with a fairly large group of very forward thinking, extremely committed, very involved, automotive service professionals absolutely focused on just about one thing and one thing only: improving their businesses so they can deliver the best quality products and services they are capable of in ways almost guaranteed to delight their/our clients.

The agenda is packed with classes, programs, speakers and discussions all designed to make me… make us… even better at what we do, and that is serve you.

Despite the density and richness of the program and the fact that it goes from early in the morning until late at night, I think I’m going to at least try to drop you a line from the meeting. But, for now, I’m going to have to click my heels together three times and say, “There’s no place like Oz! There’s no place like Oz!”

I'll Have a Pittsburgh Cheese Steak & an Iron City Beer...

2010-03-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

There’s only one thing I can think of that’s worse than being in your car and on your way to the airport at three-thirty in the morning for a six a.m. flight and that is finding yourself in a hotel shuttle van on your way back to the airport at four o'clock in the morning for a six o’clock flight home some forty-nine hours later.

The six o’clock flight home isn’t the bad part… It’s the traveling in general, the airports and the traffic (Yes! There IStraffic on the 405… even at three-thirty in the morning!). It’s the rush hour traffic you fly into regardless of where you go, especially if where you go is due East and the two or three hours you add to your trip almost certainly ensures you’ll be stopping more than going in the stop-and-go traffic you are certain to encounter. It’s eating alone and being ‘up’ and ready for an eight-thirty keynote followed by a three-hour seminar four hours later. Did I mention the eating alone? And, it’s changing planes or worse yet terminals in Chicago or Dallas.

And… and… and…

The only thing that can make any of it worthwhile: the leaving your home and your life and your business, are the people you meet and the natural beauty that you find yourself immersed in regardless of where you go so long as you allow that beauty to wash over you. That, and the intrinsic beauty of the people you meet every time you venture out into the world and the impact each of them can have on you… if you let them touch your life… And, especially if they allow you to touch theirs.
I left the shop for an association meeting and trade show in Pittsburgh this past Friday. Truth be told, I didn’t want to.

I know… I know… Then, why did you go?

Well, it wasn’t the meeting or the city or even the fact that it’s still winter there. Or, the fact they've had more snow than anyone should ever have to deal with. There was just too much going on here: too much going on at the shop, and I was having too much fun doing it to want to go anywhere. But, they asked and I accepted.

So, I got up at three o’clock Friday morning and was on the road by three-thirty. I went over my notes for Saturday’s keynote in the air. I went over the slides for the seminar I was presenting later on that afternoon. I thought about the internal struggle I am currently confronting as I try to figure out how to break up my marketing budget: how much for acquisition, how much for retention and how much for loyalty and reward. And, then I started to think about how fortunate I am: how privileged.

I was asked… I was asked to share my experience, my knowledge, my life, with some of the most incredible people in the world: the folks who do what I do... automotive service professionals, like me.

They wanted to hear what I had to say. They were gracious and generous and attentive: grateful that I’d come so far to be with them. But, the real truth is I’m the one who was really grateful. You see, I’ve yet to go anywhere and speak to any group where I didn’t come home enriched by the experience. So, if it sounds like I was whining about the opportunity to get up that early, I’m not. Not, really… I love what I do and I love the people I do it for. In fact, it’s pretty much what I’ve got written down on the little piece of paper I keep in my wallet:

To enrich the lives of those I serve, moving them toward the success that is so elusive in our industry, by sharing my personal knowledge and experience.

In the end, Pittsburgh was wonderful because the people were wonderful (The food wasn’t half-bad either! Especially, that Iron City cheese steak with the coleslaw and French fries built in washed down with some Iron City beer!).

So, it’s a pretty good bet you'll be reading about my getting up before dawn to share what I’ve learned and where I’ve been with another group of shop owners long before I’ve had the chance to process how much I’ve learned and how much my life has been enriched by the last group of shop owners I just left.

Car Tunes...

2010-03-02T22:19:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been tough...

The shop has been busy. We had my wife's aunt staying with us. I finally managed to overcome my own personal nemesis and Achilles Tendon since childhood, Bronchitis - again. And, I haven't been able to work out - in the pool or otherwise, since the last time I wrote about it here.

All in all, this is not the optimum scenario for me or anyone else, for that matter.

I think that's why no one seemed to understand why I would wake up early... really, early... this past Sunday morning to drive the seventy-plus miles to Santa Barbara for a shop management seminar when that's the same kind of thing I've been presenting for more than twenty-five years.

I don't blame them! At first, I couldn't understand it myself. Nevertheless, I was driven - figuratively speaking, of course - to do exactly that!

So, after a quick stop at Java Johnny's - purveyor of the world's most exquisite (and, powerful) coffee - for a "special" and a large coffee with a double-shot... Hey! It's a long drive and the Corvette isn't the only thing that requires "High Octane" fuel! - Bob Seger, Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews and John Mayer found ourselves on the "Old Road" to Highway 126, and then the 101 Freeway to the Fess Parker Inn to listen to my friend, Ken Brookings, hold forth.

It would be hard to describe just how beautiful it was taking the "Old Road" to Ventura and then heading North on the 101. So, I'm not going to try...

I'll show you instead. The picture quality isn't what I'd hoped it might be. But, then again, trying to achieve great picture quality while rocketing along at seventy-four or seventy-six mile per hour may not be a realistic goal. Especially, when you're the only one in the vehicle! And, I wasn't able to catch the waves crashing over the rocks on to the southbound lanes like I wanted to... So, you'll just have to take my word for it. But, it was magnificent, nevertheless!

Regardless, I made it to the seminar venue with just enough time to watch the para-gliders do their thing (Sorry, too busy watching and enjoying to think about more pictures...) and park myself for more than four hours of great information, stimulating conversation and a spectacular lunch.

It's interesting to see how others react to a morning spent like this: Why did you go? Didn't you have anything else to do? What in the world could possibly be worth that kind of a drive? Or, my personal favorite: I thought you already knew all that stuff!

The fact of the matter is: Information is power! There isn't anything I wanted to do more than I wanted to go and sit and learn that morning! Hanging out with smart people and listening to what they have to say was well worth the drive! And, yes: I do know all that stuff already! But, as you learn and grow, everything you read or hear or experience impacts you in new and different ways and on formerly unexplored levels based on all the new information you processed. Consequently, the morning was glorious!

Almost as glorious as the ride home listening to the car's tunes and thinking about all the great stuff I just learned for the first time all over again!

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE…

2010-02-24T22:02:00.000-08:00

I was sitting at my desk in my office at the shop a couple of hours ago starring at the little red knobs on the file cabinet drawers. That was just about all I was capable of at that particular moment.

Trying to figure out where the time had gone seemed pointless: it was gone. And, that is saying a lot since I started working on today more than an hour earlier than usual, and usual is lot earlier than most folks start their days.

I went to bed early enough, and slept well for the few hours I slept… But, I found myself stretching to get a decent view of the clock on my wife’s night table just so I could figure out how much rest I could still get in if – and, that turned out to be a mighty big ‘if’ – I could just fall back to sleep. The problem was I couldn’t.

In reality, the problem really wasn’t falling back to sleep: the problem was the million and one things – the million and one, really bizarre and odd things, that play across the screen stretched across the inside of your eyelids when your eyes are closed and you are trying to fool yourself into believing you really can fall back to sleep!

I don’t know about you, but I think about the strangest stuff imaginable! And, there is no rhyme or reason to it; is there?

I go from thinking about what I want to do with the outside of the building at work, to designing a new customer satisfaction survey mirror hanger; from the skill sets I will need to look for in our next new-hire, to getting ready for the speaking engagement I have in Pittsburgh at the end of next week; from what to do about the ‘bump steer’ I’m suddenly experiencing in my car, to the book I just finished…

There is this raging river of thoughts and ideas running through my head leading to an Angel’s Falls drop: but, instead of forming some kind of an idea ‘pool’ at the bottom and then gently flowing off, these thoughts and ideas start bouncing around like a thousand SuperBalls dropped from the roof of the Empire State Building.

They bounce high… They bounce hard… They bounce in just about every conceivable direction! And, some of them are pretty damned scary!

The only thing that saved me this morning was that book I just finished. It helped me understand where, at least, some of this internal dialogue was coming from and the sinister nature of its intent.

The book was Linchpin, by Seth Godin. And, if you haven’t read it, you need to!

No, I don’t care what your interests are – this is a critically important book, regardless.

It’s about human nature and the nature of being human, as much as anything else. And, aside from the fact that it is beautifully written, it helped me understand and confront a demon I’ve been battling for most of my life – that little voice inside your head narrating the images moving across that screen inside your head I was just talking about.

Its formal name is Amygdala, but Godin refers to it simply as the “Lizard Brain.” The amygdale is our ‘first’ brain: our prehistoric, pre-evolutionary brain. Its concerns are more basic than basic: food, sex, fight and flight. It’s the self-talk that isn’t just satisfied to scream out for you to be careful – it is the voice inside your head that will not allow you to take any risk at all!

Before reading Linchpin I didn’t know what the voice was, nor did I understand what mischief it is always up to. After, Linchpin: I understand enough about what it is and what it’s up to, to challenge it!

I’m sure I’ll be writing about both this book, and another Godin book, Tribes, over the next few weeks. After all, they are all I can think about when I’m not thinking about all this other weird stuff!

In the meantime, I think I’ll lie down, close my eyes and try not to think about anything, for at least for a little while!

A Difficult Day...

2010-02-21T19:17:00.001-08:00

Today was a difficult day... Actually, it wasn't today... as in: Sunday the 21st. Today was a difficult day as in: Thursday, February 17th - that's when I started writing this and the fact that it took four days to get it down on paper might suggest just how difficult it was!

Not for any special reason. Just, because...

It started out that way, and once begun, I guess there was just no way to effectively turn things around. Another day of re-acting, rather than acting.

I'm not a big fan of days that begin this way. They result in far too much philosophical reflection as far as I'm concerned. And, realistically, I would rather be "doing" than "thinking" anyway!

There was no indication I would be sailing with the "Tidy Bowl Man" when I awoke this morning. In fact, I felt pretty good. So good, I decided to dine out for breakfast and a turkey sausage and egg soufflé at Panera sounded absolutely wonderful. Those of you who might be following this blog already know that eating breakfast out was a family ritual for more than thirty-eight years. It was the best way my father could find to keep the family in our family business, and it worked. However, since I'm the only Schneider at Schneider's Automotive these days, dining out has lost a lot of its significance and consequently, its appeal.

Instead of anxiously looking forward to the sense of community breakfast provided first thing each morning, I find myself eating out when being alone and reflecting on the last few days or planning for the next seems somehow necessary or more important than working out or sleeping in.

This morning was one of those "reflective" mornings... At least, it did until I found someone from the original breakfast club sitting down at my booth.

Please don’t misunderstand! I like this person. I really do! I just didn’t want company THIS particular morning and things just naturally seemed to go to hell from there. She can be a bit negative at times: Why am I doing this? I hate it! I want to retire… NOW!

That kind of negativity can be contagious and this morning, I caught it!

After arriving at work there were problems with suppliers, customers, equipment and technicians… just about my whole universe when you think about it. Even one of the dogs was limping when I got in: an open sore on his right front paw which meant an unscheduled trip to the Vet.

There was a time when me at the nexus of all of these things coming together would have been more than enough send me into the bathroom for a serious attempt to drown myself in the toilet, but the way things were going I was pretty sure it would just back up, and…

I think you get the visual.

That being said, I’m not the same person I was a number of years ago when my reaction would have been less than mature, or adult, or even appropriate.

Now, I just try to back up a little and reflect… Reflect on what just happened... Reflect on why it may have happened… Reflect on the role I may have played in causing it to happen… You get the idea.

Instead of internalizing everything, I try to back away at least a little and process it all with an: “Isn’t that fascinating…” Or, two. You would be surprised how much of a difference not taking these kinds of problems personally can really make on your day, especially when they seem to be occurring minute-by-minute and with frightening regularity.

What makes it all worse is being a professional technician by trade. I’ve spent my life ‘fixing’ stuff and problems like these fall into the “This needs fixing NOW!” bucket. The only problem is that not everything in the bucket can be fixed right now… As a matter of fact, not all the broken things you are likely to encounter can be fixed at all; At least, not by you!

You see, if it wasn’t ‘yours’ to break, it isn’t likely you’re going to be able to ‘fix’ it: I mean, really fix it! You may find a work around or two, but “Fixed?” I don’t think so! The people who broke it are going to have to fix it – and, that’s only fair.

And, the minute you begin to realize that a day that started out to be difficult can get a whole lot easier… And, it did!

0:Dark:Thirty

2010-02-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Old habits really do die hard... Like getting up long before the Sun decides to shake off the night's comforting darkness. Or, getting home long after the Sun has gone to bed itself.

That's been my routine for so long I can't remember a different time. It started on Saturday mornings with my Dad. Up at four o'clock in the morning, dressed and out before four-thirty, fishing on the sand at Jones Beach on Long Island, on the road and at work in Bensonhurst before seven. After we moved to California and found ourselves - me included, this time - back in the automotive service business in a 24-hour service station in Santa Monica, the cycle of short - very short - nights and long days returned. Only, there really aren't any 'set' hours in a 24-hour service station. At least, there weren't when we first opened in 1966.

We would go to work early and leave whenever we were done, regardless of the hour. Add the occasional "missed shift," where someone fails to show up and you find yourself working twenty hours and not just the 'normal' ten, and the boundaries between work and life began to evaporate, and not so slowly.

Years ago, my father determined that the day went more smoothly if we started it with breakfast: sort of like easing into the pool slowly, rather than just throwing yourself headlong into the icy water. Subsequently, breakfast became a ritual - even when no one was talking to each other!

There was a simple and inherent wisdom in that when you think about it. Even when we were at war with each other and not speaking - which didn't happen often, but did happen - someone would ultimately have to say, "Please pass the salt..." And, the fire that fuels most family feuds would ultimately die out.

This 'tradition' of early morning breakfasts continued for the better part of forty years, through countless restaurants and greasy-spoon breakfast emporiums. It transcended family battles, good times and bad, here in Simi and before that, in Santa Monica, and it served our family well.

Now, that I'm the only Schneider still standing at Schneider's Automotive, it is a tradition or habit or whatever it is, still.

I'm up before six, regardless... Regardless, of whether it is Monday morning with a 'solid' day on the books or Saturday when I could actually 'sleep in.' But, there are differences... With the exception of one or two of the regular places we ate for years where a basic breakfast club formed - and, even that's not the same when you find yourself sitting by yourself in a booth that once accommodated four or five - eating alone is different: not the same.

I still get up early... too early, probably. And, I still eat breakfast... albeit, a protein shake or a bowl of oatmeal. But, I find myself dining alone for the most part.

I still leave the house in the dark and most nights won't return until long after the Sun has gone down. But, now, I head straight to work after fixing breakfast and try to get as much paperwork and planning done before the phones start ringing and the people start coming in.

You would be surprised at just how much you can get accomplished - how much more you can get accomplished - without interruption: without distraction!

And, that's what I've been doing for the past hour or so: that is, of course, with the exception of chatting with you.

I've done the deposit. Finished signing the payroll checks. Planned for the rest of the week, more or less. Worked on our marketing plan for the coming year. Thought about the conference call I have scheduled for later on this morning to identify training for the Industry, big "I," conference scheduled for this coming October. Finished up my notes for the presentation I will deliver in Santa Barbara later on this evening. And, still managed to reflect on breakfast with my Mom, Dad and whoever else dropped by.

Not a bad morning when you think about it. Especially, when you consider that it began at 0:Dark:Thirty in the morning...

A RELUCTANT TOURIST…

2010-02-13T22:29:00.000-08:00

We just returned home from a day out…

We left the house at about ten this morning and pulled into the driveway just after eight: a ten hour day spent wandering up and down the Coast of California.

My wife’s aunt flew in from New Jersey last Tuesday – a good week to get out of the snow and cold – and today, Saturday, was the first full day I got to participate in the sightseeing.

Of course, that was after awakening at 0:Dark:Thirty for breakfast, coffee – Java Johnny’s for some ‘real’ coffee: an espresso double-shot to get the day crank-started simply referred to by all as the “Special – to the shop for some paperwork, and then home again to begin the rest of the day!

The rest of the day started with a trip to the wine country just above Santa Barbara: the area around Los Olivos and Santa Ynez (remember the movie Sideways?). It’s what the cowboys would call a “’fer piece” from here, especially when there was a difference of opinion swirling around how to get there. I kind of remembered driving there years ago – more years ago than I can remember – through Buellton (Anderson Pea Soup?) and Solvang (Danish anything…): up the 101 Freeway to the 246 and then over. My wife insisted that we had already passed the 246 by the time we got to California 154 (we hadn’t, but I couldn’t convince her) – the route that takes you through the Los Padres National Forest and past Lake Cachuma: what I would call “the back way.”

I tried to suggest – I’m not sure convince would be the right word to use in this particular instance – that my way would be shorter and faster, but she was sure the “my way” option was literally behind us. Consequently, we got to see both the forest and the lake, which wasn’t really such a bad thing considering this was one of those magnificent February California afternoons that sets folks on the East Coast still reeling from the record snow falls to thinking about why they are living there instead of here. Or, at least, it should!

After the heavy rains we’ve had just recently everything was Technicolor perfect. The ride, even going the long way: maybe, especially because we went the long way, was breathtaking.

We stumbled upon a great little restaurant in Los Olivos: Patrick’s Side Street Café, had a great Pinot Noir, then took in the Santa Ynez Valley, made it to Solvang, Buellton and then Santa Barbara. We left Santa Barbara and worked our way through the hills of Montecito back to the freeway, through Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and then ‘Home again, Home again: Jiggety, Jig.’

It would probably be safe to say that my wife’s aunt was blown away by the raw beauty of this part of California. If she wasn’t, she sure should have been because I was and I’ve lived here for the better part of forty-eight years!

The only thing I could think of was that this truly is the Golden State… and, the poppies aren’t even in bloom yet!

Well, that’s not altogether true. That wasn’t the only thing I was thinking of. I was thinking of the fact that I really didn’t want to go – “other things to do” and all the other stuff we use to rationalize wrong decisions like that. But, I went anyway and became a reluctant tourist of sorts: and, in the process realized that having people come from someplace else, forcing you to show them the host of wonders we take for granted because we live here and it’s easy – the ‘we’ being just about every one of us regardless of where we live and what those wonders are – is a wonderful thing!

It’s a wonderful thing because there is great beauty everywhere that seems somehow even more delicious when confronted with it, even reluctantly: especially, when you recognize and appreciate the wonder in watching hawks circle over head waiting for their lunch to begin, the stillness of a mountain lake or the sun setting on the Pacific.

Today was one of those days I was really glad my father came home after being trapped in Brooklyn for five days during the Winter of 1962, and very quietly mentioned that we would be in California by mid-August… Certainly, a lot happier than I remember being then!

I'm Sick and Sick Sucks!

2010-02-13T08:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sick!

Not the kind of sick that sends you sprinting into the arms of a psychiatrist, although I know a number of people who would argue that's exactly where I belong.

And, who knows: in the end they could be right! Aside from that, who am I to argue! Especially, when the numbers suggest that one out of every four people is nuts. Think about that for a moment: one out of four! If that really is the case, you need to think about your three best friends. Do they seem normal? Are they OK? If they do, and if they are: chances are you're "the One!"

But, even that's OK. Because, I for one, think 'normal' is more than a little over rated!

I'm talking about 'sick' as in infirmed. You know, head stuffed up, runny nose, chest congestion, head ache, and on and on and on! the kind of sick that makes you look terrible and feel worse, the kind of sick you won't do anything about because you think it's 'just a cold' and going to go away any minute. That's the kind of sick I'm talking about...

When it became apparent the symptoms were getting worse and not better, I began to think it might not be a cold after all: I decided it had to be the flu! But, which one...

Was it the 'normal,' run of the mill kind of influenza that's currently making its rounds? Or, could it be something more exotic? After all, I did fly to Philadelphia and back. I was in an airplane: an aluminum alloy germ factory, for more than ten hours! The temperature change was violent: seventy degrees here, twenty-five there. In fact, I just missed the almost three feet of snow they just experienced!

And, what about that weird guy in seat just behind me... the one hacking up a lung all the way to Los Angeles! He didn't look like he was from either Philadelphia or L.A. In fact, he didn't look or sound like he was from anywhere on this side of the world.

He looked like a carrier, if I ever saw one: the kind of guy who wouldn't miss an opportunity to kiss a pig!
Or, that woman... the one just across from me, the one with the little kid who kept sneezing. Or, the flight attendant with the runny nose.

That was just a week ago, and now I'm the one sneezing: the one coughing, the one with the runny nose.
I let this run its course for last couple of days hoping against hope I would turn the corner and start to feel better. I took my vitamins, downed my supplements, drank my orange juice: all to no avail. So, this afternoon I went to the doctor only to find out that what thought was a cold in the beginning, and the flu in the end: was really bronchitis coupled with a sinus infection complicated by a very, very sore throat!
The doctor told me to go home and get into bed... I told her that she's been reading too much fiction! I can't. I don't have that luxury. And, I'm not sure I would go home and get into bed even if I could. I know there are plenty of things you can do in bed when you're feeling OK. But, what is there to do in bed besides sleep WHEN YOU ARE FEELING LOUSY!

And, that's not the worst of it! Being sick is annoying and downright inconvenient! I want to go to the "Y" and swim. I can't - partially, because I know I'll sink to the bottom of the pool and drown the way I feel right now. And, partially, because I don't want to be the guy responsible for getting half the people in the pool sick: the one responsible for the next pandemic!

I want to get back to my martial arts training. But, I can't, pretty much for the same reasons. I have all kinds of other things to do. But, I can't. For the most part, because I've got nothing left by the time I get home from the shop at night.

So, if you come to the shop tomorrow don't shake my hand. If you do, ask for the Purell. It's waiting for both of us just behind where I sit. I'll understand. In the meantime, I'm going to take the bag full of medication the doc prescribed for me and get into bed because I'm sick and sick sucks, and the only thing I feel like doing is sleep...

Teach A Man (Or, A Woman...) To Fish....

2010-02-08T22:05:00.000-08:00

I wrote this for my other blog and finished it just a few minutes ago. After reading it through a second time I kind of think it belongs here to... So, here it is.

I love to teach...

Well, that's not actually one hundred percent accurate. What I really love is to help people. And, the way I do that, and have done it in the past, is by sharing what I know and what I have learned over the years.

I do it at the service counter with our clients every day. Or, at least I try to.

I do it through the columns I contribute to the magazines I write for and through the books I've written... Or, at least I try to.

I do it in seminar work I've done and the keynotes I've delivered... And, yes, you guessed it: Or, at least I try to.

And, I've done it with just about everyone that's ever worked here. In fact, I don't think there is anyone who has ever worked here for either my father or myself who hasn't learned something: something about themselves, or something about their profession while in our care and custody.

Sharing what you've learned and what you know is powerful. The exchange that takes places changes both the teacher and the student for ever in profound and powerful ways neither is likely to understand. At least, not while it's happening. But, the foundation for those changes is poured when the first gift of knowledge is offered.

It's fascinating, really. One moment your content with everything you know. And, the next you are confronted with something new: something that can and will change you forever.

Why? How?

Because, no matter how hard you try or how much you resist, you really can't isolate yourself from experience or ideas if or when they are properly, or effectively, or dramatically, or passionately, presented. You can disagree. You can try to ignore what you have been exposed to. You can fight to remain static: unmoved. But, even the act of any of those actions (or,non-actions) is a direct result of the new knowledge you have gained.

The more 'new things' you've tried, the more experiences you've had, and the more mistakes you've made: the more you have to offer those around you. When you've been as successful as I have at any or all of the above, you have a lot to offer! And, offer it you must...

That's what we're doing right now at the shop. We're sharing what we - all of us - have learned over the years with two young entry-level people and it's more fun and more rewarding than ought to be legal. What makes it even better is the raw energy and enthusiasm they bring to the workplace - the curiosity and the questions - the constant attention they require - and the thought and consideration that has to go into every response.

Teaching makes the teacher(s) sharper: better, in almost every way, just for that reason... If you care.
When a new-hire asks you what you're doing or why you're doing it a certain way, you are forced to you to look at everything you do with a critical eye.

Why do we do this? Because, that's the way we've always done it?

Why do we do it this way and not that? Do we recognize the choices available to us, or are we lost in the subtle sameness and comfort of the familiar?

When asked about hiring practices an old friend would simply say: "Hire for attitude. Train for ability. You can train someone to deliver great customer service - But, you can't train them to want to!"

That kind of says it all, doesn't it.

Well, the two people we're working with are filled with attitude. Not the kind of edgy, in-your-face attitude that you see on the street or in the movies: the kind that makes you want to show up early so you don't miss anything! And, that kind of enthusiasm and attitude is contagious. It filled the shop today and had just about everyone smiling. I can't say that it will last. Or, how long everyone will be riding this 'high.' But, I can promise we'll do everything we can to keep it going because it just plain feels like the right thing to do!

It feels great to share that knowledge - and, in our shop that knowledge totals well over a hundred years! And, it feels better to watch the changes that are taking place: the changes I spoke about earlier, transform these kids.

It's the ultimate: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for one day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!"

We're teaching a couple of young kids just starting out how to fish: we're teaching them how to fish smart, how to fish efficiently and how to fish intelligently. And, in the process, we are becoming better fishermen ourselves.

Guilt By Association...

2010-02-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

I feel guilty... almost, like I was cheating on a friend. I should have checked in Friday night or, certainly, some time on Saturday: Maybe, even this morning. But, I definitely feel like I should have checked in...

What does that feel like? Well, it kind of feels like 'playing hookie.' (Does anyone still call it that? Has that expression been lost somehow, like so many of the other expressions I grew up with: A victim of "generational context?"). Whatever it is: it feels like you really should be somewhere else, doing something else... that you're not!

Now, the entire weekend has gotten away from me and I feel as if I've been untrue somehow. Trying to rationalize it all, I know I shouldn't feel this way. After all, it's not like I spent the weekend in bed or sprawled out on the couch. I didn't! I swear it!

In fact, I didn't even get to watch the whole Super Bowl: just the first Quarter - which I watched while visiting my Mother; and, then the last two Quarters and the end of the game, at home. I was driving home while the Second Quarter - Perhaps, the best Quarter, if you are a Saints fan - was being played.

To some degree, at least: that's the heart of the problem! I'm always running somewhere to do something: something, it seems, I absolutely must do - and, generally, for someone else and not me!

Do I have to tell you how frustrating that can be? I didn't think so! Especially, when you start off exhausted most Friday nights. That exhaustion is almost always the result of a fifty-five or sixty hour work week: and, that's just the hours spent at work Monday through Friday. It doesn't count all the 'stuff' you have to... Or, at least, I have to do on the weekends in order to stay current. I think that's what makes it so hard. You come home completely "torched" Friday after work and then you find yourself desperately trying to cram five quarts of everything into a one gallon container for the rest of the weekend.

The cold hard truth is; it won't fit... At least, not without making a mess!

So, it was off to the shop Saturday morning for at least a couple of 'quiet' hours: productive hours. Home for some errands... Swimming at the "Y" for me!

Did I mention that I started swimming. I wanted to say: Did I mention that I started swimming again, but the fact of the matter is... what I was doing before wasn't really swimming. It was more like not drowning than it was like swimming! Now, I'm actually trying to teach myself how to move through the water as effectively (and, gracefully) as I can while expending as little energy as possible. That means learning how to breathe as well as the other, more technical elements of swimming like proper kicking, arm movements, body position, et al. And, Saturday was the best time in the water I've had so far!

I didn't get as tired as fast as I have in the past. I was able to keep my heart from exploding. I did more laps with more different strokes - I wonder if that's where the expression came from? And, I wasn't as sore this morning. Consequently, I'll be there again tomorrow morning before the sun gets up!

After the pool, it was off to volunteer at an event where my wife works. And, then, out with some of the other volunteers afterward.

I know there was other stuff... But, to tell you the truth, there was so much of it I can't remember what it was!

Today was more of the same. Only we managed to visit my mother some fifteen or twenty miles away, ran some more errands, got some more work done, watched a little football, and did some more work.

Now, I'm finally checking in again.

Outside of going to the "Y," I can honestly say that nothing I did was for me. At least, not in the sense that it was only for me. In fact, just about everything I did was done for some other person or organization.

I'd like to make the argument that it shouldn't be that way, but I can't. Although, I'm not sure how much rest I really allowed myself, everything I did felt 'right' somehow. Everything I did, albeit, for someone or something else - needed to be done. So, I guess it's a good kind of exhaustion: the kind that helps heal the world... And, that really does make it OK. At least, it does for me.

And, if I am guilty of trying to do too much, it's a kind of guilt by association, I suppose. Guilty of doing too much of the right kind of things, things that really do need to get done... And, guilty of associating with the right kind of people, the kind of people who do the right kinds of things because they are the right things to do.

Now, it's off to bed... and, finally, some rest!

ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!

2010-02-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

I hate to keep whining about traveling, but it’s been a while since I’ve found myself a prisoner of the airlines; my time and my life in the hands of a TSA agent who decided I appear to be more of a menace than the scowling, beady-eyed Mullah with no visible body hair going through the line just ahead of me. Maybe, I’ve lost it… Maybe, the blessed interval in between flying fifty to a hundred thousand miles a year and the more than a year and a half I took off was enough to dull the pain and allow the horrid memories to evaporate. But, it just seemed harder somehow this last trip.

Maybe, it was the early morning flight: one leaving, and this morning’s absurdly early flight home (Yes, I was the one who made the reservations so I really don't have anyone else to blame.). Or, it could have been the different nature of the engagements altogether. Who knows…

Normally, I fly on Fridays to present a six or seven hour seminar on Saturday (during the day), have dinner and then head home early Sunday morning. I know – I spend more time on the road, at the airport and in the air than wherever it is I’m working and for the most part, I was OK with that. It was the compromise I decided I could live with between helping other shop owners avoid the same mistakes I’ve made over all these many years and “sticking close to the knitting” with regard to my own automotive service business. And, for a very long time it proved to be a good model.

This time I flew out early Monday morning to be in the Greater Philadelphia area for an hour-long presentation Tuesday evening; repeated again the following night, a couple of hours down (Or, was it ‘up?’) the Interstate, in another community; followed by a long drive to the airport; and, a ‘first flight’ out this morning.

Normally, I wouldn’t complain. Especially, since both presentations were received very well by capacity crowds of shop owners who were dialed in and right there with me both nights! I was happy… REALLY happy! My host was happy… The shop owners seemed happy… Everyone was happy...

But, right now, I’m sitting here at forty thousand feet, traveling at over five hundred miles an hour, wondering why I did it and whether or not I should even consider doing it again.

It could have been all the “stuff” I left on my desk in the rush to get out Monday morning, like the laptop's charger and the USB tether for my Blackberry that I found myself searching for frantically Tuesday morning. All of which I had to replace almost instantly (Let's hear it for the Best Buy just down the road from the hotel!)!

That was the bad news. The good news is that after purchasing a universal assortment of each accessory I can now charge any… And, I mean any… laptop computer made by any manufacturer in the known universe and connect to and transfer data to or from any phone or PDA made today – If we’re traveling together the next time you’re out and you need either, just let me know!

It could have been finding the only Starbucks I have ever patronized that DIDN’T have WiFi available and then struggling to find a location that did.

It could have been the long drive back to the airport hotel, followed by a mid-night treasure hunt for someplace to purchase fuel Wednesday night instead of frantically searching for a gas station at 0:Dark:Thirty in the morning (translate 0:Dark:Thirty as in before 5:00 A.M.) which somehow led me to the Sports Complex five times no matter where I went or where I tried to go!

After this experience I can tell you one thing for certain: there isn’t a hell of a lot going on at the Sports Complex at mid-night!

It could have been getting pulled out of the security line… again!

Whatever it was, it has gotten harder. It is more difficult. And, it isn’t as ‘pleasant:’ if pleasant is a term you could ever use to describe business travel, as it once was.

Nevertheless, despite all my bitching and moaning, I probably will do it again – maybe, not as much. And, maybe, not as often – but, I will find myself headed to the airport too early or coming home too late, or going back to work at the shop too tired, from a trip very much like this one because I love the teaching/sharing/interacting part of what I do. I love the shop owners I do it for as well. They are a very special group: another ‘endangered species’ on the verge of extinction that has no idea how much trouble they are in or the dangers they are facing.

What I really love and appreciate are the companies that host presentations like these regardless of who the presenters might be or what they might be presenting. They take profit dollars out of their own pocket to ensure their customers get the education and training they need even when those very same customers don’t necessarily understand how important it is or much they need it.

I’ll probably do it again because I’m addicted to the sparkling moment of awareness that occurs every so often: the light that goes on in the eyes of someone sitting three rows in front of you on the right. Or, the guy on the left in the back that is struggling to get every word down on paper because he knows that there is something in there that has the potential to change his life. Or, the shop owner and his thirteen-year-old daughter who is desperately trying to figure out how to get the help he needs before he burns out, implodes or self-destructs.

How can you not go out when you feel you have something to offer?

Despite all the pain and inconvenience, I wouldn’t believe me if I said this was the last time. I know my wife won't.

So, I guess the real question is why should anyone else believe me?

On Being Alone Together

2010-02-02T06:10:00.001-08:00

How many of you like… I mean, really LIKE traveling on business?

That’s what I thought! It's like asking how many of you like to sleep alone… Or, eat alone… Or, sit in a room filled with strangers… alone.

I know I don’t like it: like, as in relish or look forward to.

The airlines have taken the joy and excitement – Well, maybe not the excitement! – out of flying anywhere. After all, half the time you won’t know whether or not you’re actually going to get where you are going until you arrive at the airport and find out whether or not your flight has been cancelled or how long it's been delayed. Even when everything goes smoothly you can be reasonably certain you’ll be press-fit between two individuals, who like everything else in our society, have been super-sized. Or, you are wedged up against the window. Or, you wind up sitting on the aisle getting your foot, knee, shoulder or elbow bruised and bloodied every time the food cart moves up or down because the aisles are too narrow because the seats are too damned close together. GRRRRRRRRRR!

Add to that the screaming infants, 4^th grade field trip classes or being forced to sit next to the ‘goat herder’ and his family, and you have an experience everyone could live very nicely without!

How many of you have ever wondered about the safety announcements. I mean, really: how many people are there in the world who have never fastened a seat belt before… But, after the last few trips, I’m willing to bet there are lots of people who have never flown before. In fact, I’ll bet there are lots of people flying who have never been in the company of civilized human beings before. If they have, they sure act like they haven't!

Now, I am just sitting here in a hotel room just outside Philadelphia waiting for an 11:00 A.M. conference call to come through. After that, it’s lunch with a shop owner who will be attending the meeting I’ll keynote later on this evening, and then back to the hotel. Following that, it’s “Lather, Rinse, Repeat!”

The same thing tomorrow evening: An instant replay in a different community.

I know… I know… Quite whining! If you don’t like it: Don’t do it!

Great advice! But, there is a problem. While I can’t stand traveling for all the reasons identified above, I do love helping other shop owners. And, one of the most effective ways to help them is to be where they are: to be up close and personal. So, every so often I find myself sitting alone in a hotel room waiting: waiting to eat, waiting to be picked up, waiting to present, or just waiting to come home.

The only thing that makes any of it worthwhile is knowing there will be someone there this evening who really needs to hear what I have to say: who really wants to hear what anyone speaking directly to them has to say.

They need to know they are not alone and that’s why I do it, even if it means sitting here alone to get it done...

That Was Then... This Is Now...

2010-02-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

I think I'm finally starting to find a way into 2010.

I don't want to seem impatient. After all, it's only January 7th. But, I think I'm starting to find a rhythm: my rhythm. The problem is, I'm not altogether comfortable with exactly how that rhythm feels yet. It's a work/life balance 'thing' I'm just going to have work my way through. The problem is, working my way through it is complicated given the nature of everything I do.

Because of everything I do, I made a concerted effort to shed responsibilities: to simplify my life, both at home and at work. I was successful, although that success did not come without at least

Last year was difficult for me and just about everyone I know. Nevertheless, we all managed to get through it somehow. That actually sounds easier than it was. We have an automotive service business and despite what the pundits suggest: life can't be good for me and the people who work with me if it isn't good for the people we serve

In many ways, it feels like it's going to be an extension of 2009 - And, that's OK. We made it through 2009 and that wasn't

Setting The Table...

2010-01-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

I just returned home from dinner at the end of what seems like a marathon Anniversary Weekend. Yesterday, we celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary with a very small group of our most intimate friends. It was a very special luncheon made even more special by our kids who put the whole thing together.

One of oldest and closest friends taught me that "Friends are the family you get to choose..." and this was a very special "family" occasion.

This evening, we had dinner with our kids and our daughters "young man." In a toast, my wife put it together better than I ever could... Here's what she said... "Yesterday afternoon we had lunch with the friends who have become our family... And, this evening we get to have dinner with our family - who have become friends!" Wow!

But, believe it or not, that isn't what I'm writing about.

I'm writing about this evening's dinner experience which was incredible in every respect. It was made even more special... at least, for me, because I am in the middle of Danny Meyer's, Setting The Table - a book about restaurants and what he likes to call, "gracious hospitality."

If you don't know who Danny Meyer is I'll do my best to help you understand. But, let's just say it would be worth a trip to New York and an evening or afternoon spent dining at one of his many restaurants to truly understand. I had the privilege of experiencing "gracious hospitality" at two of his restaurants and believe me, it's an experience you want to repeat!

It's really all about picking the right people: people who want to shine... people who want to create great art in the kitchen and deliver the gift of great service at the table.

We had a Danny Meyer experience in Westlake this evening at Tuscany. We had some of the best food we've had outside Manhattan and the best service we've ever had anywhere. It wasn't inexpensive - But, I didn't expect it to be inexpensive. However, it didn't leave you questioning the value of what was received either. Our server shared the menu with artful enthusiasm and actually persuaded my son NOT to have something on the menu because as he put it, "It's the worst thing on the menu!" The young man who helped my son select the wine was equally as honest and enthusiastic... They knew their products and they understood their clientele. The service was attentive without being overbearing. In other words, it was elegant!

What else can you say about a dinner at a restaurant like this other than that it was expensive... and, worth every penny! All you can say is that it helped make a special event even more special.

We have a service business that you would think has virtually nothing to do with serving fine food. We service and maintain automobiles and trucks. And, yet, there is a lot to be learned from a Danny Meyer experience regardless of where you experience it. There was a great deal of energy and effort apparent in the training invested in the staff. There was enthusiasm, pride and excitement. There was a definite desire to ensure a powerful and positive experience. And, it was obvious the goal was to have you return as soon as possible, and to have you share a great experience with your friends, family members and colleagues.

All I can say is that it worked! And, that I'll take this experience back to the shop with me and try to help our people understand the importance of understanding, practicing and delivering "gracious hospitality" in every interaction we have with our customers, clients and friends with the same powerful goals in mind...

Life Is What Happens...

2010-01-28T22:44:00.000-08:00

Do you know what happens when you've had a difficult week, you're up later than would be considered prudent, you're really tired; and, angry just in general - you hit the wrong combination of keys on the keyboard and the five or six hundred "perfect" words you've just written disappear just as the software decides to "SAVE NOW!"

Do you know what's even worse? How about trying to reconstruct or, better yet, remember; what you've just written! Bet you can't do it... I know I couldn't: not last night, not this morning, not this afternoon.

Now, we're another day deeper into the first month of the second decade of the 21st Century and I still can't remember. Although, I'm sure it had something to do with doing too many things at the same time, being up later than would or should be considered prudent, being really tired... Especially, when there is a full moon to contend with!

Essentially, that's the problem. I start each day with a list of things to do - if you asked my wife, she would tell you that my problems begin with that list, because it is unreasonably ambitious. I go over the list in my head trying to ensure it is, in fact, reasonable: reasonable, as in possible. I write everything down. And, then I head for work with every intention of working my way through the list: every intention of following the plan. But, I never do...

It's not that I don't try. I try very damned hard most of the time; sometimes when I don't really feel like trying. And, there are days I get closer to successfully working my way through that list than others. But, to tell you the truth I'm not sure I've ever actually gotten through a whole one. At least, it's been long enough so I can't remember finishing if I did.

Someone with the brains G-d gave a duck would think about building a shorter list: a list not quite so ambitious. But, I guess I don't qualify. The best part of the whole story is the fact I've actually managed to 'shed' a number of responsibilities and was actually looking forward to living with fewer "To Do's." But, 'stuff' keeps bubbling up through the floor until my socks get wet and I find myself adding more stuff to an already impossible list.

When things begin to fall apart, as they often do I can hear my Grandmother laughing in the background. Her favorite saying, although it loses something in translation, was: "Man plans, and G-d laughs..."

John Lennon said it another way in "Baby Boy:" "Life is what happens when you're making other plans..." I think he should have said, "making ANY plans!"

I'm starting to think it's just plain futile.

Oh, and before you suggest it's just a matter of organization - I'm not sure it is. In fact, I have a row of books on time management - although, I've never understood why they call it that. You can't manage time... It won't cooperate. All you can hope to do is manage yourself - in time. Consequently, it should be called "Personal Management." In any case, I've got a library full of books on the subject filled with systems and suggestions galore. I know how to prioritize. I know how to attack the most difficult tasks first. I get it! The problem is dealing with other people whose priorities, wants, needs and expectations differ from my own. Throw in a service business: a retail service business, and you know that my plans are subject to change at any moment based upon someone else's needs or wants.

When you own and operate an automotive service business someone else's crisis does justify an emergency in your world!

So, I wake up, plan the day, make my lists and try to force the day to comply... at least, a little.

I make my plans and life happens. I make my plans... and, G-d laughs.

Let's see, what was it I had to get done tomorrow morning...

An Un-Happy, Happy Ending...

2010-01-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to make the pool tomorrow morning and I'm bummed... Yep! Words I thought I'd never hear, let alone utter. But, it's the truth. I got a call from the accountant at a consulting/coaching company I work with and the only time we can 'meet:' he's in Maryland, is tomorrow morning at just about the time I would be climbing out of the pool... And, that stinks!

Not as much as the Tiger Balm... But, it still stinks!

Now, I've got to figure out how I'm going to get that time in the water back or what I can substitute that will make me feel as good when I'm done. I could go to Krav tomorrow night. That would certainly be a test of the shoulder/elbow issues I've been dealing with. But, I'm not sure I want to know how that particular test will be graded. And, besides, the last time I was in this kind of pain I worked too hard, injured myself too deeply and stayed away far too long.

The way things look right now, it's going to probably move in the direction of acupuncture and a good, deep tissue massage - great place in Simi for both, by the way.

It will almost certainly guarantee a 'happy ending.' But, it's just as certain it won't be the kind of 'happy ending' you're probably thinking of right now!

Now, it's a shower, a couple of pain relievers, a few hours sleep; only to wake up in order to drown myself in numbers instead of water...

Tiger Balmy...

2010-01-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well, if you've been following this series of posts you know I've been struggling with my swimming and a reinforced, reinvigorated commitment to 'wellness'... not necessarily in that order. Despite the desire to do more or better, I've been dealing with a body that seems more interested in going home or to bed than in going to the next level.

I haven't let that or the aches and pains slow me down or stop me... At least, not yet. Instead, I dragged myself out of bed in what felt like the middle of the night to be in the water and ready to swim at 6:00 A.M. If the number of headlights and tail lights on the road at that hour are any indication of the number of people up and about, I can tell you with absolute certainty there aren't many people up and about at that hour!

Nevertheless, I was... And, I was in the water warming up before Jessica - the Master Class coach - arrived on the scene.

Again, that sounds easier than it was. As certain as I am that there were few others up and about, at or before 6:00 A.M., who were not coming home or heading to a workplace somewhere: I am equally as certain, the one place in the world your body does NOT want to be is submerged! I am also pretty sure the reason fish don't hate swimming as much as I do is because they don't have shoulders or elbows, hips or knees! Shoulders, hips, knees and elbows can and often do get sore...

Does anyone out there actually know if fish can get sore? It would be reassuring as hell to know!

I did six or eight laps of various different strokes before Jessica realized there was someone in the water she didn't know and a lot more after she did. I learned a lot for a first class. I learned that I have a 'natural' breast stroke (It was news to me too...). I learned that you can - with an emphasis on 'you' so far - swim while practicing "bi-lateral" breathing: you can alternate breathes from one side of your body to the other, which actually seemed to work better for me than breathing only on one side. I also learned you don't have to breathe once every three or four strokes: but, that you still have to breathe! I learned that I have no endurance, at least not yet. Which was disappointing. And, that I still get winded much too easily... Even more disappointing.

Did mention that I've only been in the water eight or ten times and that I'm terribly impatient; or, have you already figured that out.

The good news was finishing more laps and more different strokes than I have ever - emphasis on: ever - completed in my life and I didn't drown, as evidenced by my typing this message some twelve hours later!

I should be back in the water Wednesday morning... Maybe, even tomorrow morning depending upon when I get done tonight and how my right elbow and shoulder are feeling. If I don't go to the "Y" to swim tomorrow morning I'll probably return to Krav (Krav Maga) tomorrow night. My thinking is, as long as my shoulder and elbow hurt anyway; why not.

Oh... And, if you read the last post: applying Tiger Balm before you get into bed at night is something you really shouldn't do unless you're sleeping alone. If you aren't sleeping alone, it isn't something you ought to do without first asking your significant other if that would be OK. If you don't heed my advice, it is almost certain you will be back in the water again, a lot sooner than you thought you would... Not at the "Y" and in the pool, but back in your bathroom and in the shower!

If you're lucky, any remnant of the "Eau de Tiger Balm" will find its way down the drain. And, you may find your way off the couch!

Everyone Back In The Pool

2010-01-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

I went back to the pool again late Saturday afternoon. It was wonderful!

Well, almost wonderful... I went to swim, and the pool was wonderful. In fact, with the exception of a few little ones and their respective parents, I had an Olympic-size pool just about all to myself.

The part that wasn't so wonderful was the 'getting older' part of working out. It's that; "Eighteen-Year-Old Brain: Sixty-Three Year-Old Body" stuff again.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I haven't been to the gym in a while and when I was going I wasn't swimming.

How long is "a while?" Let's just leave it at "a while," and move on. You can fill in the blank if necessary. However long it's been, it's been too long and now I'm doing something I've never done before and my body is crying, "Foul!" as a result.

So, tomorrow morning I'll be at the "Y" before it opens to take a class. What kind of a class? A swimming class so I can move from something that must look almost like drowning, to something that looks almost like swimming. I've decided I have to become more comfortable in the water... which is hard to do when the water is one of those places you are the most uncomfortable. I'm going because Saturday's sojourn at the pool was a definite improvement over my previous attempts at drowning. And, it was an improvement because I stopped trying to muscle my way through the swimming and slowed everything down to a "crawl," if you'll pardon the pun.

I focused on the obvious skills: floating, breathing, relaxing in a foreign environment and just moving through the water. Instead of trying to cover as much distance as quickly as I could, I keep things under control and focused on 'smooth' instead: no thrashing, no splashing, no gasping and no trying to breathe water! And, to tell you the truth, it actually worked... a little. I didn't run out of air as often. I didn't get as tired. My heart didn't try to explode out of my chest, and as a result I felt a hell of a lot better when it was time to get out of the pool.

Why swimming, if it's so uncomfortable; so unnatural?

Because...

Because it is uncomfortable and unnatural; at least it is to me. I'm doing it because I don't want to do it. And, because I know the results will be more than worth the effort if I prevail. If I can manage to stay with it, my endurance and stamina will increase as well as my overall fitness. I know this to be true because I can see the difference it's made in my son's Tri training and the training he is doing for the Iron Man he's enrolled to participate in.

All I have to do is work my way through the injuries, the pain and the discomfort. That takes a lot of positive self-talk and the encouragement of friends and family: and, a healthy sense of humor. I'm working on the self-talk and my son is both a great example and a wonderful cheerleader. The sense of humor part seems to be taking care of itself and we'll have to wait and see how or if the rest of the family signs on.

In the meantime, I've got to get ready for tomorrow morning and that means a hot shower, ice on my elbow and shoulder, followed by a little Tiger Balm on both.

I'm not exactly sure how the Tiger Balm rub down is going to go, however. It may turn out to be part of the sense of humor and the being able to laugh at yourself you really need to get through something like this, especially after a long absence.

I was applying some Tiger Balm in the locker room after my shower and before I got dressed on Saturday when one of those 'little ones' I referred to a minute ago, turned in my direction and said, "Yuch! What is that, and why does it smell so bad? That stuff is really strong! "

I told him it was Tiger Balm... And, that I was using it because I was sore.

Do you know what happened next? He looked at his Dad, and then at me, and said, "Mister, I been to the Zoo and I seen the Tigers... And, know what! None of 'em smelled anything like that!"

I'm going to shut down, take a shower and apply some Tiger Balm to my elbow and shoulder before I go to bed... and, and wait to hear what my wife has to say about the stuff. I'm not sure, but I'll bet it won't be as funny!

As Good As It Gets

2010-01-20T21:49:00.001-08:00

I’m not sure if there has ever been an industry more poised or ready for great change than the automotive aftermarket as it currently exists. While a great deal of technology has found its way into the everyday operations of most of the business concerns operating within the aftermarket you would be hard pressed to call any of them ‘innovative.’ The model is, if nothing else, traditional in both its construction; and, ultimately, its execution.

Business is being done largely as business has always been done for the last hundred years.

Certainly, there have been changes. Instead of looking up parts applications in a physical catalogue and then writing an order by hand… Or, accepting a motorist’s vehicle for service; writing and entering customer information on the work order by hand; looking up both labor and parts in physical books, guides, manuals and catalogues; and, then finishing the process manually: you can accomplish virtually every operational step online and by computer. But, exactly what has changed?

We are doing the same kinds of things the same kinds of ways… Perhaps, a little faster: Perhaps, more accurately: Perhaps, more clearly: Perhaps, accompanied by easier lookup, documentation and retrieval: Perhaps, with the aid of digital image here and there.

But, exactly what has changed?

There is no argument: the computer has made all of our lives easier... and, faster. But, many of the same tasks are still being accomplished much the same way as they have always been accomplished.

The question isn’t whether or not automation is a major contributor to gains in productivity. It is.

The question is, or at least should be: Is what we are doing, or the way we are doing it the most effective, most efficient way to serve the needs of our customers? Or, perhaps, more to the point: Is there another way, a better way, a different approach altogether?

After forty-four years in the business, all these enhancements look like variations on a central theme to me. These variations can be beautiful, but I can’t help but think it may be time for a new ‘musical score,’ a new piece of music altogether.

The problem as I see it is one of imagination. We can’t conceive of something new and different while continuing to embrace what is old, comfortable and familiar. Most of all, it may not be reasonable to ask the industry to reinvent itself while still invested in the current paradigm. Ultimately, both the answer and the pressure to change must to come from the motoring public. It must come from the person burdened with the care and custody of the vehicle because that’s whose wants, needs and expectations we must exceed in order to achieve any measure of success: it will have to be aligned and consistent with the vehicle owner’s life and life style choices.

We (the industry) keep offering you (the motoring public) service options that we choose based upon what we think you may want or need from us.

We keep asking ourselves: Will this work? Is it acceptable? Is it adequate? When the question should really be: What is optimum?

So, I present you with that question: What is optimum? What is it you want, need or expect from us? How would you like those products and services delivered?

If you are a vehicle owner; a member of the motoring public: What do you like about the current model? And, what would you change if you could?

If you are reading this and you are a member of the manufacturing or distribution communities, I’d like to ask you the very same questions. And, if you are a member of the service industry, what do you think about all this? Are things ‘good’ just the way they are? Is this as good as it gets? Or, could things be better?

Better for you… Better for me… Better for your clients.

Complacency...

2010-01-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

There are few things in the world that get me crazier than average. Average drives me nuts!

No one I know strives to be average, at least no one I actually want to know or continue to have a relationship with.

Striving to be average is all about giving up, coasting, taking the easy way out, accepting 'good enough' as good enough. It's about complacency... accepting things as they are because doing nothing is less complicated and takes far less energy than doing anything.

I'm not talking about someone who is trying the best they can but can't prevail because of circumstance, limited opportunity or limited ability. I'm not talking about the people who can't do any better or try any harder... By definition, they are trying as hard as they can to be the best they can be; to do the best they are capable of doing.

I'm talking about the people who could make a difference, who could do better: but, after careful consideration, choose not to. Generally, at the risk of putting themselves or someone close to them in danger of some sort. They would rather work at 'getting by,' than work at getting better. And, I think what bothers me most of all about this social or cultural phenomenon is that it seems to be growing.

People come by the shop to take an order or solicit our business either representing themselves or other companies and they just barely manage to follow the script as if showing up was enough. They don't bring anything of value to the relationship, they don't create anything of consequence, they don't move information up or down the pipeline. Hell, sometimes they don't even say Hello!

I can't live like that. I don't think I would even if I could: could, as in allowed. I'm not wired that way and neither are any of the people I work with. They are constantly trying to learn more, get better, accomplish something significant, overcome obstacles, attain success. Now, they may choose to define success a little differently than the majority might define it. Their success isn't always about 'stuff' or money. More often than not, it's about that feeling of satisfaction that can only come from doing something extraordinary. And, extraordinary rarely occurs without a serious compliment of exertion.

I think the answer is not only simple, it's obvious. This level of performance - Or, perhaps, more appropriately - this level of non-performance, should no longer be accepted as adequate by anyone anywhere anymore. Complacency should be banished, and its practicioners and advocates no longer tolerated or accepted.

I think I'm going to give it a try... And, the sign at the driveway will read: Average No Longer Tolerated Here!

It Sounds Easier Than It Was...

2010-01-17T22:10:00.000-08:00

It's been an interesting weekend following an even more interesting week.

I guess in a way all my weeks and weekends are like that.

At work, we managed to 'clear the lot' after a busy week yet again. That's our term for completing... and, delivering, all the work in the shop. No one would be walking or struggling to make alternative arrangements for transportation because we were unable to meet or exceed wants, needs or expectations: that's a pretty big deal in my world.

Big enough for me to follow that statement with an: "It sounds easier than it is!"

The week itself included interviewing prospective job applicants; beating my way through a marketing campaign, that like bread dough with too much yeast - kept oozing out of the pan; and, just about losing it with an outside sales representative who has been serving our account for more than twenty years and through two different suppliers.

It also included the completion of two difficult... No, let me re-phrase that: Impossible! diagnostic problems that we were finally able to put to bed. The sense of accomplishment... and, relief is more than words alone can describe! And, I started working out again... in the pool, at the local "Y."

That's a really big deal, especially for me. It's that Newton/Inertia thing: A body at rest tends to stay at rest! Yadda, yadda, yadda...

I didn't make it back to the studio that night as I had planned. But, I hadn't planned to knot up a muscle in my calf either. The studio (Krav Maga) will have to wait for this coming Tuesday morning or evening. I did, however, make it back to the pool at the "Y" for some laps with my son Saturday afternoon after going to the shop, filling up the car, getting a hair cut, having brunch with my daughter and visiting my Mom at the Jewish Home for the Aging, where she currently resides.

There is something very special about doing things like that with your child or children, especially if it includes visiting a parent or parents: something profoundly inter-generational. So, if there are any fathers (Or, mothers....) out there reading this with adolescent, or even adult children; I highly recommend doing something - anything - with your kids. It's time well spent and something really special!

Ryan and I trained in Chinese Kenpo and tested for our Brown Belts together...That too, sounds easier than it was! But, it was an incredible experience that would be hard to duplicate and harder to explain.

Currently, Ryan is training for an Iron Man in Arizona this coming November. His drive, discipline and determination are inspiring and motivated me to get off my butt. That would have probably been enough, in and of itself. But, having him guide me in the pool yesterday with form and fitness pointers was especially 'sweet.' It builds a kind of closeness I've rarely seen shared by other parents and children I've watched over the years and would be one of those things the MasterCard commercials would suggest are: Priceless.

I started today with a trip to the shop and normal weekend regimen of paperwork that I finished just before beginning this entry: four hours of payroll, metrics, documentation and planning. In between starting and finishing, we had lunch and went to the Annenberg photography exhibit in Century City with some close friends - very cool place, very cool exhibit of sports photography. I highly recommend it!

Oh, and did I mention the book I just started reading that I am now more than half way through? If I didn't, brace yourself! I'm going to be talking about it a lot over the next few weeks! The book is thoughtful, provocative and full of insights into both our culture and current economic situation. More than that, it offers a way to overcome it all.

I think there are times when it's all about cramming five quarts of whatever substance you would like to visualize into a four quart container! Impossible? I don't think so. And, if you don't believe it can be done, call me... Or, better yet, come down and I'll show you how it's done!

Now, it's off to bed so I can get up an hour earlier than I normally would to be at the "Y" when it opens. I didn't manage to drown myself last Tuesday and did lots better on Saturday thanks to my son's coaching. The water is calling me and like Ryan, my goal is to do just a little bit better with everything I do every time I do it! You can't do that without showing up!

TPMS

2010-01-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

I just got off the phone following a twenty minute interview conducted by a Vice President at one of the nation's (The "world's," actually...) largest and most respected public relations companies. The interview was focused on our experience with TMPS - I know, it sounds like the interview was all about really 'cranky' tires. But, it was really about what you know about these highly sophisticated Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems and how what you know impacts what we do in the field: "We" being the repair community.

To tell you the truth, while interesting from a philosophical or theoretical point of view, or on the basis of the marketing program it will ultimately generate - there was nothing all that extraordinary about the interview with one small exception, and that exception was a sliver of insight I was able to garner, a glimpse of what success in our relationship should really be all about... from your perspective: the only perspective that matters.

If my experience has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that the only way you can make anything automotive 'relevant' to a vehicle owner is to demonstrate that it is 'meaningful.' The interview I just completed helped me clarify that; perhaps, even quantify it more than anything I've ever done: especially, when it comes to anything even remotely 'technical.'

It's really all a matter of three questions, maybe four. The first question should be the most obvious: What does 'it,' whatever 'it' might be, mean? And, that should translate to: What does it mean... to me! How will it impact me: economically, from the standpoint of safety, as a matter of inconvenience, et al.

If this is relating to a warning lamp, noise or a potential mechanical problem, the second question is or should be: How will I know? That question is really all about how to tell if there is something going wrong before it actually fails and really goes wrong.

The third question is really a two part question: What do I do about 'it:' whatever 'it' might be? And/or, what do I do to avoid 'it' altogether.

The fourth questionis, if there really is a fourth question, is: How will all or any of this impact me (meaning you)?

I'll be exploring these and other questions over the next month or so if for no other reason than to help me find better, more appropriate, more meaningful, more relevant ways to help you.

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to let me know. Like the computer in your car or truck, this will work better if the communication is bi-directional. But, we can talk about that later!

Have A Good Day!

2010-01-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

How many times a day do you do you catch yourself directing someone you know or perhaps even a few people you don't, to "Have a good day!"

It's become a reflex, hasn't it... A smile. A wave. And, a friendly, thoughtless edict.

Meaningless.

What does it mean when something becomes meaningless, especially if it is a 'something' you yourself are guilty of doing countless times a day! I know I just said it a few hours ago when the last person to pick up a vehicle before we closed paid their bill and started toward the door: "Thank You. Have a good day!"

Absurd!

No matter how you determine what a 'normal' day is, at 6:15 in the evening that day is just about over. There certainly isn't a lot of time left for something 'good' to happen. So, why bother suggesting it?

I could understand wishing someone a "good day" if we could all agree on what a good day looked or felt like. But, that hasn't happened... Has it? If it has, I must have missed it and I don't think I did. And, if that's the case, now might be a good time for us to give it a shot. What have we got to lose? Directing someone to have a great day would certainly be a lot more meaningful if everyone could agree on what it really meant to have one.

My son called this morning after he ran in the rain for an hour-and-a-half, and with his best John Wayne, declared that "A day without training is like a day without sunshine, Pilgrim!"

Does that mean a day with training is a "good day," or at least the start of one? I'll bet it does.

If you are in business, is a good day a profitable day: a day where you have somehow managed to make a little more than you spent? It certainly would be "good day" in this economy! Is it enough to define a "good day" simply as one that hasn't managed to become a bad one? What do you think? I've experienced more than my share of days like that: days where just having nothing bad happen looked and felt pretty damned good by the end of the day! But, is that really enough?

I'll bet most of us have had enough bad days to recognize a good one if we came across one. It would probably have a lot more to do with content than with meaningless activity. It would be filled with more laughter than tears, more satisfaction than frustration. I'm sure there would be a sense of service thrown in for good measure. There would be at least a little appreciation, some recognition and maybe even the sense you actually managed to accomplish something that day floating around as well.

Maybe, that's what we're really trying to say. And, if it is, then we should just say what we mean...

Thank you! And, have a meaningful day! Thank you! And, have a rewarding day! Have a day filled with satisfaction and accomplishment, a day filled with love and respect! Have a day filled with people who make you laugh and smile, people you are genuinely glad to see and be around!

Now, that would be a "great day," wouldn't it! And, if you think about it, I'll bet it was!

Drowning In Your Sorrows...

2010-01-12T18:39:00.000-08:00

If you ever want to know just how out of shape you are just head for the pool. I don't mean one of those rinky-dink pools in a backyard somewhere. I'm talking about a serious pool. One of those fifteen or twenty-five-yarders! Then, dement yourself into believing you can actually do laps: as in more than one.

If you really want to torment yourself, meet one of your clients there... someone you've known for decades, someone who can swim laps until you get tired of watching, and then get in the water with him! Oh, and then break your glasses just to add insult to injury.

That's what I did this morning and despite the fact that I am sore: my body, and bruised: my ego, I'll probably do it again tomorrow morning because I'm certain there can be only one of two possible outcomes. Either I will drown and have nothing to worry about. Or, I will eventually build up enough stamina (and, wind) to get better. Now, before I go any further, I don't have any illusions about what 'better' means. To me, it means just a hair better than today. No unrealistic expectations here, just a profound respect for my son who managed to swim intervals for twenty-five hundred yards the other day.

I'll do it because I really liked the way I felt after I got out of the pool. Particularly, the fact that no one had to pull me off the bottom. Although, my body was sore and my lungs were burning - I felt pretty good: good because the endorphins were lying to my central nervous system and good because I actually dragged myself out of bed at 0:Dark:30 in the morning and was at the "Y" at 5:50 A.M., ten minutes before they opened. Now, all I've got to do is create a string of mornings like this.

My attitude is simple... If the kid can do it: I can do it. And, if it isn't this it will be something else. In fact, I think I'll go home and change and head for Krav tonight just to see if I can survive that... again!

Life Cycling...

2010-01-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

I know I've mentioned that my son is a triathelete currently training for an ironman. A lot of that training is cycling related and much of that training has to do with spin classes.

I've been working out for years, but sadly I have to admit I've never taken a spin class. I probably will at some point as my son has just about convinced me it is essential if I ever get serious about straddling a bicycle again.

I just got home from visiting our local hospital. I was visiting a friend of my Mom's who is in the Intensive Care Unit. I could tell you just how special this lady is: how strong, how good, how grounded... I could tell you how good she was to my mother, or how nice it was to have her here for the holidays for the few years they lived in the same retirement community, but I'm not sure that is central to what I need to share here.

You see she is in "transition," the current medical euphemism for "checking out," heading to that "Big Garage in the Sky," or just plain dieing.

This lady was diagnosed with stomach cancer a little over a year ago and at eighty-nine decided against conventional treatment. Her rationale was simple: quality over quantity. For the most part, it was a great choice. Health-wise, the last year was a good one overall. Now, however, the consequences of that decision had become clear. The family decided to honor her wishes and withhold "heroic measures."

We're all going to check out eventually. That's about the only thing we can be sure of. How we do it, however, is a choice we can make if we take the initiative have the courage to follow through. After leaving the hospital, it occurred to me that we should probably train for this just as much and just as hard as we would if we were running a marathon or preparing for an ironman. From where I'm sitting, it like takes at least the same courage, discipline and determination.

So, maybe there ought to be a "Life-Cycling Class" just like there is a "Spin-Cycling Class:" something to prepare your mind, your body and your spirit for perhaps the most difficult test of all. It wouldn't necessarily have to focused on just the 'bad' stuff either. It could help us train for births and confirmations, Communions and Bar Mitzvahs, weddings and even divorces, if necessary. And, it could certainly help us prepare for the hollow, empty, difficult moments when we realize that either we or someone we care deeply about is moving to the next level.

I think my mother's friend took such a class... She confided to a mutual friend that her mother had told her that if you lived a good life you would probably have a good death.

Maybe we should all start training now...

Re-dedication, But To What...

2010-01-09T09:03:00.001-08:00

I just got moving and I'm already tired...

Not from anything I've done; the most exhausting thing I've done this morning is eat some oatmeal, fire up the computer... and, then read my son's blog (theironmadman.blogspot.com). Just following his regimen on the blog as a voyeur is enough to wipe anyone out.

Although we talk about it a lot, I'm still not sure how he's doing it. I just know he is, and I am in awe... And, a little embarrassed. I haven't worked out in months: a combination of the demands of owning your own business, industry responsibilities associated with the writing I do and the normal kinds of family "stuff" most of us have had to deal with from time to time.

It's easy not to do something. The universe and all the laws of physics are calling at you to remain at rest and depending upon how creative you are, excuses abound almost everywhere! Ask me, I'm an expert (When I want or need to be!).

Not working out and then getting angry, frustrated, upset, guilt-ridden or agitated about it is at the very least counter-productive. It accomplishes nothing. In fact, all it really does is drive you deeper the kind of unpleasant blue funk most of us are all too familiar with. Nevertheless, it's something I think most of us have been guilty of at some point in our lives. Right now, I keep trying to figure out why I'm not more motivated than I am.

It's not like I hate working out. Depending upon the nature of the working out, I'm one of those people who actually enjoys it.

Don't get me wrong, I hate getting up early and going to the gym! I don't generally turn in until my wife has had a chance to to spend a little time with Fritz Coleman, the late night, Channel 4 weather-guy, in Los Angeles. So, five-thirty comes along 'mighty quick.' And, working out after work - which feels too much like working out too often, is even more difficult. But, once I'm there doing whatever it is I'm doing for me, I really enjoy it. That's why it bothers me that I'm having so much trouble making it happen. The only thing I can think of is the absence of community.

I know, right about now you're going, "What? What the hell is he talking about?" But, think about it for a minute. Don't you find that most of the things you really enjoy doing, especially those things that involve significant effort: physical, mental or emotional, involve a core group of people you really enjoy being with? A community of sorts... Don't you feel a sense of responsibility to these other folks that helps drive you? And, don't a lot of them seem to feel the same way about you?

Every time I've been involved in something where there has been this sense of community: someone to call just to make sure everything was OK when you didn't show up that morning, someone to push you farther than you knew you were capable of going, someone to convince you that you could do something (like my son's ironman preparation) everyone else was sure was impossible, you made the commitment and got it done.

I had that level of commitment... and, community, all the years I made it to the gym before five-thirty in the morning and started my day pushing more weight around than I ever thought I could. I had it at every martial arts studio I've ever attended, when the people and the program were "right." And, I guess I am desperately searching for it right now. Which, I'm sorry to say, demands that I stop writing, get dressed and get moving. Because, the one thing I am sure of is that I'm not going to find what I'm looking for here!

T'was the night before Christmas... Or, was that the night before New Year's?

2010-01-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

I feel as if I've been unfaithful... hanging out someplace else with someone else when I should have been here all along.

I have an excuse, though! Lots of them, actually. There are always excuses!

Last week was the week of New Year's Eve: the week before New Year's Eve, and it was a tough week. It always is. I was on deadline for the publishing company I write for...

Have I mentioned that I write before? Well, I do... In addition to my responsibilities running our automotive service business - I'm a professional automotive repair technician and that's where the "Captain CarFix" comes from: an old CB Radio Handle, I am also a Senior Contributing Editor for Babcox Publications: the leading publisher in the automotive service aftermarket. Being "on" deadline is all about the eighteen hundred words I must stitch together for one publication and the five (never just five...) hundred to eight hundred words I have to put together for another every month.

It's a lot to do and the magazines come first.

There was a lot to do at the shop as well. The holidays are no holiday for us! Not in the automotive service business. All most people care about is our having their vehicle ready when promised, which can loosely be translated as before we close for the holiday. That would be OK if everyone understood the role they must play if that is to happen successfully.

Unfortunately, everyone - translate as: motorists - waits until the last possible moment to bring their vehicles in and then can't understand why or how that might be contributing to the system breaking down. Our goal has always been to "clear the lot" at week's end. We don't want anyone walking or without transportation if we can avoid it, and avoiding it generally results in a Herculean effort toward the end of the week.

Holiday weeks are almost always short weeks: think stuffing five quarts of anything in a four quart container!

Two holiday weeks back to back are brutal: mind numbing! And, that's why I've been elsewhere doing other things... or, more appropriately, doing no-things!

I'd love to say I'm back, fully recovered; but, I'm not! The fact that I am back at all will just have to be enough. In the meantime, I'll be thinking about you. Hope you'll be doing the same.

Wrecking Yard...

2009-12-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

I visited my mother earlier this evening. It was the second time in two days, although it was the first and only time in those two visits I really got to have any interaction with her.

Unfortunately, when my wife and I got there yesterday she was asleep. Asleep, as in: out of it, mouth open, heavy breathing, asleep.

It was frustrating to say the least. It takes a while to get there depending upon the traffic and the "prize" is being there with her: being there for her... The secondary prize is having her care-givers and nurses always wondering who will show up and when.

You see, my mother is in a skilled nursing/assisted living facility in the San Fernando Valley. The very best facility of its kind, as far as that goes. But, that doesn't mean having her there is any easier. The problem is, she has Alzheimer's and the kind of speech aphasia that generally accompanies it, which means that at this point there is no alternative.

If you've been through anything like this... and, too many of you have; you know exactly what I'm talking about. The difficulties associated with dealing with this condition are difficult enough. So is the level of care necessary, especially because my mother cannot communicate on her own behalf. It takes a lot of care and an almost mystical kind of intuition, the kind of second sight that generally comes with constant companionship. The level of care in the current facility is incredibly good. But, it still isn't the one-on-one care we're used to.

Consequently, separation brings with it a fairly high level of anxiety. That, coupled with a technician's sensitivities (always wanting to "fix" things...) make visiting as close to emotional suicide as you can get and still remain functional. I can't tell you what it feels like to get off the second floor elevator and see the patients stacked in front of the nursing station like the rows of used up and broken cars I'm used to seeing in a wrecking yard.

In a way, I guess this is a fitting metaphor. Everyone there has certainly seen better days. Almost all are pretty well used up. And, it would be safe to say, the majority certainly aren't 'running right.' So, we do the same thing with our elderly that we do with all things no longer useful in our culture: we discard it. We segregate it. We remove it. We eliminate it and limit its ability to distract or depress us.

If that seems harsh I apologize. But, you'll have to prove to me that I'm wrong. Even though I'd like to believe I'm the exception to the rule, my mother is there because I can't care for her at home. I have neither the training, nor the specialized equipment. I don't have easy access to the medical technology necessary to ensure her comfort or health either. And, I don't have the resources to pay for any of that kind of care around the clock. Consequently, I'm trapped.

The fact that I was business partners and best friends with my mother and father for more years than I've been married and I've been married for forty years doesn't help. It just sharpens the edge on the responsibility I feel so deeply every day. So, this is the best of all possible solutions - barring, of course, a complete and totally impossible recovery - in the worst of all possible scenarios...

What does it mean? Nothing, really... It doesn't change a thing. I'm still going to visit and she will still be waiting... kind of like that proud old sedan I saw at the 'yard' the other day: a remnant of gentler times and a more elegant era, when people were more important than things, and all things weren't 'instant' and disposable.'

Picture This...

2009-12-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

I find myself in the interesting position of having two blogs - count 'em: two! While not being exactly sure what to do with either.

What I find most interesting about all this is the more I write, the more I want or need to write: which is interesting for someone who never kept a "journal" outside the columns I've written which chronicle the past twenty-five years of both my personal and professional lives.

Now, I find myself agonizing over where to place what I've written - whether it 'belongs' on the SchneidersAuto.Net site, or here on the CaptainCarFix.blogspot.com site. I know... Ridiculous! Especially, when no one is following either! But, "agonize" I will, nevertheless.

I will probably consolidate both into one and then proceed from there... In the meantime, here is something I've just posted on the Schneider's site along with some interesting images of a time gone by. They have a lot to do with me, my Dad, our shop and another era... What they really have to do with are roots: roots that go deep and way back: back to the early 50's and earlier... to four cent a gallon gasoline in a Jewish/Italian neighborhood in Bensonhurst.

***

I don't fancy myself one of those individuals who likes to drown themselves in things nostalgic. It seems like there are far too many things to occupy one's self with in the present to want to dwell in the past.

However, having said that, there are times when it does seem appropriate to take a few minutes to look back, if for no other reason than to see how far you've come. I'm not sure you can, or even should schedule moments like these; it seems to me they would certainly lose a little something if you did. But, every once in awhile something happens that triggers whatever portion of the brain given over to warehousing important memories like these and these multi-dimensional images explode like the cloth-covered, spring loaded, snakes in a circus act.

That's what happened to me late last week while I was going through one of the cabinets at the shop trying to 'make room,' a very weak euphemism for cleaning things up and throwing things out, and came across a folder filled with a number of black & white photos of our Grand Opening, thirty years ago: February 1, 1980.

The rush of memories was overwhelming. So was the sense of loss brought on by the number of people who are no longer with us, not the least of whom is my father. But, as easy as it would have been for that sense of loss to get me down, it didn't...

Why? Because, there is a lot of history packed into those thirty years: social, cultural, political and personal history. There are values deeply embedded in our company that reflect who my father was and what was important to him: the way he lived his life both personally and professionally.

I'd like to share some of these with you over the next few weeks and months as I reflect on where we are and where we are going. I think they are important not only from their 'historical perspective,' with regard to our company... because they tell the story of how got here. I think they are important culturally, so we don't lose our way as we close the book on the first decade of the 21st Century.

THE WORLD BETWIXT AND BETWEEN...

2009-12-22T22:07:00.000-08:00

I spend a lot of time in the uncomfortable world that exists between the real and the ideal… a world suspended somewhere between imagination and experience. Perhaps, too much time if I made the choice to honestly assess where I am and what I am doing at any given moment during the day or at night.

That isn’t to say I’m an escapist or that I’m not tethered tightly to the real world. I am definitely not an escapist. I’m not running away from reality. I’m just trying to bend it a little. And, yes, I am tethered to the real world: tightly tethered! But, that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about ways that world could be or should be, either. Frankly, I think we should all be doing a lot more of that kind of thinking.

I'm a realist: a pragmatist. I have to be. I work on automobiles and trucks: or, at least, I did for most of my adult life. Now, I run an automotive repair shop... Or, it runs me! I have employees. I have responsibilities. I have kids: grown kids, but still my kids, nevertheless.

I am a senior contributing editor with two deadlines a month. In other words, I have all the real world anyone could want... or, handle. Maybe that's why I am continually drawn to the world of "Could Be" or "Should Be:" a world of theory, a world of supposition and conjecture.

So, you won't hear me complaining a lot. Nor, would I expect anyone to listen if I did. This is where I choose to live.

It is a world of books and magazines and articles and lectures and seminars, written and presented by a host of individuals, most of whom I’m not sure I agree with all the time: hence, the discomfort.

Why do it if it makes you uncomfortable? Well, because… Because, it forces me to think and by thinking I improve the quality of my living: the quality of my life, despite the discomfort. In other words, most of the time it is time well spent and proves more than worth it!

And, the pain? Well, the pain comes from continually trying to move the needle, raise the bar, in my industry: the automotive service industry. The pain comes from continually trying to explain the inexplicable to a motoring public with little patience and less interest; from trying to improve the current reality of shop owners and technicians in a culture that does not appreciate the important role we play in ensuring personal mobility and freedom, and reinforces the fact that I am still here, still alive…

Living between the real and the ideal does something else for me, I guess. It just about guarantees that I will never have to wonder about my existence… The pain is a constant reminder I'm still here, and the other side of that pain; the satisfaction and the joy experienced when you are successful and someone who has read what you have written, listened to what you have said, thought about what you have suggested, joins you in the world betwixt and between because they realize as you do, it is the bridge between the past and the present: a bridge between the present and the future! And, you realize, you finally have a little company!

Because It Gives Me Peace...

2009-12-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'm relatively new to this 'Blogging' stuff.

I tried my hand at it in August... unsuccessfully.

I really didn't have a handle on what it was supposed to be all about, but that didn't stop me. Although, it probably should have. I was subsequently inspired to try again by my son who is more or less keeping an electronic journal of his preparation for the 2010 Tempe Ironman event, Seth Godin and Tom Peters.

Reading my son's blog (theironmadman.blogspot.com) and becoming addicted to Seth Godin's have helped me to understand that there is no right or wrong way to go about this which has in turn quieted my perfectionist neuroses to a manageable level: You know, that not so small voice that demands everything you do is done flawlessly lest someone find out you are somehow less than you appear to be... somehow less than you think they might think you are.

Did I just say that out loud?

The result of of this exploration has me taking another run at it, first on my company's website: schneidersauto.net, and then again here. Realistically, I haven't decided if the content will be the same, similar or different. You know, one focused on our automotive service business, the automotive aftermarket, broken cars and broken people: more or less the heart and soul of the columns I have written to the industry for the past twenty-five years, and my 'other life...' the one that begins and ends on the other side of the driveway at 607 E. Los Angeles Avenue; a world of family, friends, kids and community.

Realistically, it isn't all that easy to separate the two. I lean toward obsessive/compulsive behavior... a lot. And, tend to carry my professional life home with me every night and every weekend mixed in with the stack of papers and folders I drag back and forth every night. In fact, I'm sitting here right now bracketed by one of the 6 1/2" x 9" spiral notebooks I've started carrying everywhere on the left pull-out writing surface of my desk, and that five-inch stack of papers and folders I just mentioned, crying out for attention on my right.

It's Sunday and I just finished watching a digital recording of the The Sunday Morning Show, something that has more or less become a ritual around here: a recording because I refuse to get up at "0:Dark:thirty" in the morning to watch it when it actually airs, and a ritual because it is something that both my wife and I take great pleasure in doing together.

The motivation for this post is something that was said upon the conclusion of this week's episode and my subsequent response. After my wife and I finished talking about what we had just finished watching, I got up and started toward my office. She asked where I was going and I told her, although there aren't all that many choices in the small, 4-bedroom tract house referred to with love as "the Baronial Estate," purchased new thirty-six years ago.

She asked me why... And, I told her I was heading to my office to write. After all, that's what writers do.

She asked me why... And, without a second thought, I replied... "Because it gives me peace!" And, at that moment I achieved a blinding insight into something a dear friend and client said to me more years ago than I care to remember... "Work is prayer..."

Suddenly, I realized that work is prayer and that the purpose of prayer is to elevate; to communicate with powers in the universe greater than one's self. And, that through this dialogue we can achieve peace - Or, at least, I can: if not on demand, then, at least, at times! And, even though I may be writing about something that happened in the "real" world, the world in which I struggle to confront every day - the very act of writing about it transforms whatever it was that happened into something somehow more objective: something, somehow less personal and subjective. And, there is a very real kind of peace to be found in that simple transformation. There is a very real peace to be found in moving from the direct to the indirect...

So, in a way, my ultimate reason for my return to blogging is somewhat selfish: it is at least in part a search for the kind of peace most of us are probably struggling to find. In another, it is totally altruistic: altruistic in the sense I hope that by sharing my search with you, you may discover a door or a window leading to the kind of peace you are struggling to find.

Who knows... We may even find what we are looking for together. But, right now, it's time to pray: time to work for the peace I seek! In other words, I have a deadline to meet...

More later...