Book suggestion

A few years ago a read the classic "Raise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William L. Shirer.  It was fascinating.  It is a huge volume weighting in at 3 pounds and is 1264 pages long.  As its name and size implies it gives us great detail the Nazi regime and the leaders that brought us World War II.  It is a great but chilling read.

Based on my love of that book I recently purchased the book "Goering" by Heinrich Fraenkel.  Which as you might guess is about Hermann Goering, Adolf Hitler's right hand man.

Both books bring me to the same question.  Could this story even repeat itself again?  Could it happen in America?  I always still back on the answer of yes.  I would imagine that shocks or offends you.  But before you think of me as un-American.  Let me explain.

Germany calls itself a Christian nation.  It is the homeland of Martin Luther.

Germany was a democracy in the 1930's when Hitler took power and it still is today.

The Germany of the 1930's certainly was as diverse as the USA of today.  After reading both books you will see that it was a melting pot of sorts.

As Winston Churchill told us "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Public Foolishness

I went on a trip with my family to Kansas City this weekend to watch the Red Sox beat up on the Royals.  The two teams spilt the 2 games we went to, so the trip wasn't a complete success.

But the general public did give us several teachable moments with our kids. We saw two people vomit in public and a group of people that partied so hard they had to spend the night at our hotel.

Let me recap our young examples.

1. Guy throws up from a moving car leaving Oklahoma Joe's.  No idea why he threw up.  Could have been illness.  It was gross.
2. "Lady" throws up on silverware waiting in line for omelet.  Stays in line and has hardy breakfast.  My kids wondered why a sick person wanted to eat breakfast.
3. We rode elevator with group of people still dressed from a Saturday wedding party at 11am Sunday.  They looked like death. Talked like fools.

Because of their public displays of drunkenness and hangovers our kids were able to see first hand  that getting hammered is more likely to lead to negative consequences rather than endless fun.  (Incident #1 was just gross but set the tone for the weekend.  It didn't give us any life lessons. )

Cost Savings

Yesterday I met with Misty Lauer, Regional Administrative Manager, and she shared with me several cost saving ideas.  All of the idea were very minor.  The ideas were things like changing how we clean the office, type of paper we pay, and licenses for seldom used software products.  The sum total of her ideas totaled about $5,000 or more per year!!!

The best thing about these savings is that nobody will notice a difference.  Certainly our customers won't.

I wonder how many millions of tax dollars could be saved by the government if we told them they needed to save some money. ( I realize we need to save Trillions but every nickle counts.)

Magic Solution

On a political note, i would like to pose a question.

Let's say we could magically eliminate the federal deficit without raising taxes or cutting a single government program.  Of the 435 members of congress and 100 Senators, how many of them would be willing to make the following choice.

Balancing the federal budget but being banned from serving in future congresses.

or

Being allowed to stay in office but have the country maintain the status qua of continuing to pile up debt.

My guess is that the lips of nearly all of them would say something to the effect of "yes if we could solve this crisis I would be willing to move on and let others serve" but in truth in their hearts they would be unwilling to move on because it is power they seek rather then solutions.

Maybe I have too little faith in our elected officials.  What do you think?

Bigger than Business

Over the course of the last week I have had the chance to meet with five different individuals from four different general contracting company's that we work with in the Lincoln area.  The conversations lasted anywhere from 5 minutes longs to an entire breakfast meeting.  After reflecting back on the meetings I was hit by a very important point.

I am blessed to be apart of an industry that has many Christian men in important positions.

Each meeting consisted mainly of conversations build on issues unrelated to contracting.  We talked about family, faith, politics and many other things.  The topic of "work" came up within all of the conversations but it always played a very small part by taking a back seat to more important things in life.

I paused to reflect and it occurred to me that whenever I have visited with any of these five individuals in the past I leave the conversation glad that we talked.   They have shared insights or given recommendations for my life that have proven very useful.

I understand that each of these individuals has hired Willmar Electric in the past and if things go poorly on a project they are ready to discuss work.  But the basis for our relationship is a common faith and not a common industry.

For that I praise the Lord.

Focus on the Jungs

Recently an article in the Nebraska ABC magazine focused on the Jung family.  The Chapin family has always thought a lot Dave Jung and his entire family.  The article highlights Dave's commitment to education over several decades.

Well done Jungs.

Find the article at

http://www.newslink.com/pubs/ABCU/ABC_AITF.pdf

Collaboration

A friend of mine helped write this article for EC & M magizine.  Dave is a very wise man.  If you have a chance to read the attached article it will be a rewarding experience for you.

http://ecmweb.com/construction/collaborative_design_conversion_20110729/index.html

Mentoring

My son is entering high school next week.  5 friends of mine are in the same situation.  Our only sons are entering a new phrase of manhood.  None of us want to miss this opportunity to let our sons know that manhood isn't the same as boyhood.

As a dad I plan to turn out a man that can change a tire, fix a drain, change an outlet and grill a steak.  I don't really need help with teaching those items.  But I also want to raise a son that know how to treat a women with respect and handle peer pressure.  I could really use the help of friends that are willing to stand beside me on issues that at times even full grown men struggle with.  

Last night we got some members of the class of 2011 to sit down with our sons and talk about their high school careers.  The soon to be college freshman did us fathers of soon to be high school freshman a huge favor by taking the time to mentor our sons.  We are very grateful to Ben, Brian and Andre for their time and witness.

It is my hope that during my life I am able to serve as a mentor to others.  I don't claim that I am the example of greatness that everybody needs to follow but rather that I would prefer that others not make the same mistakes that I have made. 

My Baseball Team is Better Then yours!!

A co-worker sent me this article.  It is about two very important topics, Lean and the Boston Red Sox.  If you like either one you will likely enjoy the article and it's attachments.

Forgive me, non-baseball fans. But, it is the season.
Readers of mine know that I like baseball and find many parallels between it and lean thinking. In other words, I see a lot of good lean thinking in baseball. [See "Managing to Pitch with PDCA (Pitch-Defend-Catch-Adjust)" and "You Gotta Have Wa"]
So now I live in Cambridge, essentially part of Boston, home of the Lean Enterprise Institute. And home of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, who just hosted their rivals, the New York Yankees for a three-game series. Amidst all the media coverage was a great quote from new Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who has some interesting lean views about batting.
We know that "lean" is all about plan-do-check-act (PDCA). The challenge we all face in our everyday work is to answer the question, How do I do PDCA here, now.
I like to remind folks at every opportunity that PDCA begins with ... "P." So, you can't do PDCA without the P (and the D and the C and the A - the P alone will, of course, get you nowhere). Now, check out this observation from Adrian (forgive me Yankees fans), who has a clear plan for every at-bat:
"... even if it's the dumbest game plan in the world, at least it's a game plan, and I’m going to go to the plate and try it. I'm willing to lose with that game plan. It's a game of failure, and I understand that."
Interesting. His approach is reminiscent of Edison's great observation: "I haven't failed - I've found 10,000 things that don't work."
If baseball (and surely football or soccer is no different) can be seen as a game of failure, could that insight shed useful light on our attitude toward business? If we are focused on learning through each PDCA cycle - win, lose, or draw - then the only real failure is failure to learn. Think of your own sports analogy, but maybe business isn't so different from baseball.
John Shook
Chairman and CEO
Lean Enterprise Institute
P.S. By the way, Adrian's failure rate at batting (at getting a hit) this year is about 65%. So, he fails most of the time. And that's easily the lowest failure rate (and possibly also the highest learning rate) in Major League Baseball. (Read more about his approach in this Boston Globe article by Charles P. Pierce.)

Vacation is all I ever wanted

The Chapin family just returned from spending 8 days traveling the southeast corner of the USA.  The two words I would use to describe the trip would be fun and hot.

I enjoy spending time with my family, especially when it is just the 5 of us.  Even though we are crammed into a hotel with at least one person sleeping on the floor and we spending 47 hours in the car, we still had fun.  Ziplining, touring historical sites, manufacturing facilities and watching baseball all made it the trip one to remember.  Spending time in close quarters with loved ones helps you get to know each other better.  And we loved it.

On the other hand it was the hottest week of my life.  100 degrees, humid and sticky.  unlike anything I have ever felt before.  If you were hot in July in OK, NE or MN I would suggest you stay away from the Deep South in August. 

But now it is time to get back to work and I am looking forward to it.