April 15th, 2009

In the last column I wrote about the National Hydrogen Association annual conference and that it was both informative and generated unprecedented attendance from the public. One of the most exciting aspects of the conference was the opportunity to drive hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, a first for me. I drove three vehicles, and the experience was, in a word spectacular.

The first vehicle was the Daimler A-Class F-Cell from Mercedes. A small, compact car, the driving experience was incredible smooth, responsive and of course very quiet as there was no motor that needed muffling. It was unnerving to accelerate with no sound. The car handling was very tight and responsive. It handled like a dream and was the most fun I have had driving a compact car.

The second car to drive was the Equinox Fuel Cell small SUV from GM. While I am not a fan of SUVs this vehicle is wonderful. I pressed ‘pedal to the metal’ and the acceleration was immediate and silent. All aspects of handling, braking and acceleration were superb. When my test drive was over, I asked to have the hood lifted so I could actually see the fuel cell. Where the engine usually is in an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), there is a fuel cell about the size of a large beverage cooler. There are many fewer moving parts than an ICE vehicle which of course will, when the vehicle goes on sale, dramatically cut down on repairs and maintenance.
Currently the Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle is on the street for demo purposes in New York, Los Angeles and Washington D.C. allowing various constituencies to get a first hand experience in driving the future. It is this vehicle, along with electric plug-ins and plug-in hybrids that should be the future of GM over the next decade. After my drive, as the car went out again on another test drive, I looked down at the exhaust pipe to see droplets of water coming out and hitting the pavement. Think about that! Water instead of exhaust, like droplets of rain, not noxious CO2 emissions!

The third car I drove was the Honda FCX Clarity. Unlike the first two vehicles, which had clear markings that they were Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars, the Honda looked like a sleek, brand new dark burgundy sedan. Inside it was a dream with unique styling, dashboard visuals and a shift mechanism that was finger tip easy to use. As with the other two vehicles, it was smooth, tight and quiet to drive. Honda has a small number of these vehicles leased to consumers at $600 per month in areas in LA where there are a few hydrogen fueling stations.

Since I drove these three cars, the Honda FCX was declared the 2009 World Green Car. The 59 international jurors also included the Mitsubishi IMiEV and the Toyota iQ as the other two finalists for the 2009 Green Car Award, but the Honda that I drove won top honors. The jurors cited the 250 mile range, 72 mpg and zero tailpipe emissions of the FCX Clarity and for taking the “bold step” of leasing it to customers in California. This award was in advance of the New York International Auto Show.
So, what and when is the future of hydrogen fuel cars in the U.S.? The problem is scale. There are not enough cars for companies to build a network of fueling stations. There are not enough fueling stations for car companies to ramp up production. Clearly what needs to happen is for the federal government to provide investment funds to trigger speed to scalability. As it did in the 1930s and 1940s with hydroelectric power with the building of dams and later in the 1950s and 1960s with the creation of the Interstate highway system the federal government needs to commit funds to help private industry develop this new form of energy and vehicular transportation.

The $10 to 30 billion needed to do this over the next 10 years is a drop in the bucket of the current bank bail out packages. These funds would go a very long way to creating non-polluting cars that would not be dependent on foreign oil. Private industry is ready to invest along side the government and is just waiting for the clear direction that this future can happen- and within the next decade. Zero emissions, high mileage. quiet efficient transportation and a dramatically increased energy source developed right here in the U.S.

What am I missing?

Just as the Obama administration has correctly identified a new smart 21st century grid and infrastructure system, they need to support this clean energy and transportation model. The electric hybrid car, the pure plug-in electric car and the hydrogen fuel cell car are the future of the car industry. Various versions of the electric cars are already on the road and will come on line with greater scale in 2010-11. The hydrogen fuel cell car can, and should be a couple of years behind in coming to scale. All of these cars have the potential for home fueling. The future of the automobile is in our hands, why wait?

Reprinted with permission from David Houle. Copyright, 2009

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Tonight, my wife and daughter were featured on Fox 4 News in Kansas City discussing my daughters arthritis and the upcoming Art for Arthritis program in which my wife and daughter are a featured artist.

Thursday’s fundrasier began about 6 1/2 years ago because of a simple finger painted painting that sold for $ 700. In the last 5 years, the program has raised over $ 150,000.

On Thursday, 17 pieces of artwork created by a child with arthritis and an artists will be auctioned of to the highest bidder.

We will be there. Please join us for this great evening and awesome benefit.

For more information on the Art for Arthritis event, please check out http://artkc.kintera.org. Notecards featuring the children’s artwork will also be available for sale through the Arthritis Foundation. For more information, please call (913) 262-2233.

By Business, Keynote, and Motivational Speaker Adrian Gostick

April 13, 2009

Wells Fargo’s CEO was the first to begin to speak out against being forced to cancel recognition and incentive programs, but Texas Roadhouse’s CEO takes that argument one step further…. he REFUSED to cancel their incentive trip and masterfully articulates his decision, the metrics and ROI of the program, and the importance (and bottom-line benefits) of employee recognition-now more than ever-in this interview with CNBC.

Here’s the transcript:

Reporter: Corporate conferences are under siege.  Hundreds of companies have canceled their out of town meetings but Texas Roadhouse is bucking the trend.  With five days of lavish fun in San Francisco, they are saying it is crucial to business.
Reporter: These are my kind of people.  Here we are with G.J. Hart . . . How dare you have a good time?
G.J. Hart, President & CEO of Texas Roadhouse: Well, ya, we are going to have a good time but we are also going to be serious about what we are all about.  We are all about our people and our culture, and our people are our biggest asset that we’ve got. And this investment in our people will yield us great returns.  We have a philosophy in our company that if we take care of our people, they will take care of our guests. That is exactly why this event is important in times like this.
Reporter: So spending the money you think is a good idea.  You’re not only not sorry about it but you think it is great.
Hart: Listen, when you think about it, it is just like investing in anything.  You’ve got to give a little to get a lot.  In our mind we’ve got almost 40,000 folks out there that are doing it day in and day out and we want to recognize our front line folks from our managing partners which are single unit operators to we have our meat cutters that cut meat in every one of our restaurants to our bar tenders, the best of the best there and we absolutely think it is a great return on our investment. We’re a predominantly a company owned story . . . about 275 of our restaurants are company owned.  In the early days we did more franchising but now it is predominantly a company owned story.
Reporter: So when someone from Congress comes to you and tells you what are you doing . . . no one should be spending this money, which they have been doing to other companies, what do you say?  What are the metrics that you give them . . . look we are spending this money and here’s how it helps us.
Hart: Listen, it is one thing that we recognize, we are in the service and hospitality business. A little known fact is that 2 out of every 5 jobs in America are associated with the hospitality business.  We, in this industry are the second largest employer to the government.  So, we believe that giving back and doing these types of things makes all the sense in the world.  By the way, it’s not just about what we are doing in San Francisco to celebrate and recognize and reward our own people, we also spend a full day everywhere we go in our conferences doing humanitarian work.  We spend over a million dollars in materials and labor today around the city of San Francisco.
Reporter: What is your total spend on this?
Hart: We spend between two and two and a half million dollars but as I said just a minute ago, we spend a million dollars in labor and materials on humanitarian, but I’ll tell you something else, I’m not sure it is enough. Times like this, these are the folks that make things happen.  These are not the executives.  These are the people that running our restaurants day in and day out around America.  At the end of the day, people still want to go out to eat and we believe that if we can execute on those fundamentals of what we do, our mission statement is legendary food and legendary service, we believe that we will continue to grow and we are continuing to grow and that is what this is about.  It’s about employment growth and that is what we are all about.

Reprinted with permission from Adrian Gostick and the Carrot Guys. Copyright, 2009

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byFuturist and Keynote Speaker David Houle 

April 9th, 2009

Hydrogen has long been looked at as the ‘fuel of the future’.  The general impression is that it will be a marketplace fuel in the future but not for a decade or more.  Well, surprise, hydrogen is coming into the fuel marketplace today, albeit slowly.

Last week I attended the National Hydrogen Association annual convention in Columbia South Carolina.  In addition to delivering a short keynote address and moderating a panel, I was there to learn as much as I could about this future fuel.   I was fortunate to spend discussion time with, and listen to presentations by, some of the best and brightest from academia, corporations and governmental agencies on the subject of hydrogen.

There is no question that hydrogen is becoming and will be an integral part of our energy equation.  Right now the problem confronting this source of energy is one of scale.  Scale of production, scale of the infrastructure for distribution and scale of production of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.    It is the fuel cell car that has the highest profile in this new energy area and is also the product that consumers are most interested in, particularly due to the recent history of oil prices and the state of the automotive industry.  There were several hydrogen fuel cell cars and even a bus that were available for rides at the convention, and I will write about the wonderful experience of driving three of the cars in my next column.

What I found interesting was how much hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells are actually being used in the marketplace.  Forklift vehicles are being used by companies at their large distribution centers replacing electric battery forklifts. Companies like WalMart and Sysco are using them as the hydrogen forklifts both increase productivity and lower costs.   When such large companies, who hold efficiency and lowering costs in high regard are moving toward the use of hydrogen fuel cell forklifts it is something to note.

These hydrogen fuel cell forklifts are superior to their electric counterparts in several ways.  Unlike batteries, which decline in power through a work shift, the fuel cells are like an internal combustion engine (ICE) in that they run until empty.  This means maximum output until refueling is needed.  The refueling takes minutes rather than the hours needed to recharge batteries. In addition there is no problem with any toxic waste spillage that can sometimes be present with batteries.  Finally, as the fuel cell is producing power, the only waste or byproducts are water and some generated heat.  They are very clean. The Linde Group, clearly a leader in this industry, has been working in partnership with companies on forklifts to develop best practices in distribution centers for the past four years.  It sounds like the early discovery work is behind them and that a rapid ramp up of the customer base is at hand.

In addition to forklifts, there is a growing business in portable power units,  hydrogen production equipment and more fun, hydrogen fuel cell Segways that are in use by the Columbia S.C. police department.  The line to take a ride on these vehicles was always long.

The convention was held in Columbia S.C. in part because the city and the state are trying to take a lead in the development and use of hydrogen fuel cell technology.  What was stunning to me was that on public day, when the public could visit the convention floor and seminars for free, the convention center was overrun by people, some of whom had driven long distances, to learn more about they all clearly see as something in their future.  The excitement of the crowds about this future/present fuel was palpable and there was a clear feeling on the convention floor that we were all looking at the future.

When we reach that future on a large scale is the only question, one I will address in the next column.

Reprinted with permission from David Houle. Copyright, 2009

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FIVE STAR Business Speakers presents Leadership, Business, Keynote and Motivational Speaker Joe Calloway. Joe Calloway is a one of the America’s top Keynote, Business, Leadership and Motivational Speakers. Joe is the author of Becoming a Category of One: How Extraordinary Companies Transcend Commodity and Defy Comparison and Work Like You’re Showing Off: The Joy, Jazz, and Kick of Being Better Tomorrow Than You Were Today.

View Leadership, Business, Keynote and Motivational Speaker Joe Calloway web page to learn more about his programs.

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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

This morning a few brave souls weathered the crisp, windy Salt Lake spring weather to take a walk around our building and a few surrounding streets. Hey, it’s National Start Walking Day after all. Human Resources offered a free “casual day” to anyone who agreed to do the walk.

A few of us from the Carrot Culture department hit the pavement for a whole 8 minutes. The beauty of it is, you never know what kind LEVITY you might encounter just by getting out and exploring your local city streets. We passed a few small brick, post-war homes untouched by development and seemingly frozen in time.

One featured a USMC flag waving proudly and a curious sign posted on the house near the driveway. I have the feeling they didn’t use these euphemisms in boot camp, but I appreciate the tastefulness.

The marine that lives here clearly is showing discipline and restraint.

Reprinted with permission from Scott Christopher. Copyright, 2009

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Use these seven tips to improve your communication skills and be a better presenter

Every single time we open our mouths, we are trying to influence somebody-a boss, colleague, client, spouse, date, friend, child, parent.

In business, we may be trying to convince a banker to loan us money, a client to continue working with us or a potential customer to buy our product. In each case, the way we present our case matters. So, our results in nearly everything we do will be improved with more effective presentations.

There are seven keys to delivering a presentation that will more effectively drive results for you:

1. Get clear on their goal, not just yours – Why should someone listen to you? It’s not because you have a cool idea, product or service. It’s because of what your cool idea, product or service will do for them.
2. Be professional in your appearance – If you’re a banker and someone wants to borrow $100,000 to start a business but they come in unshaven and unkempt, how likely are you to invest in them? Make sure you are always dressed at least one level above your prospect.
3. Practice, practice, practice – We all know how to get to Carnegie Hall, but how often do we actually practice what we’re going to say to people?
4. Authenticity - The thing everyone looks for these days is to connect with a real person. Don’t be a robot. Make your message personal. Tell stories that connect with your prospects emotionally, and be prepared to provide the facts behind those stories. At the end of the day, people buy from those who they believe in.
5. Be aware of your surroundings – If you want to have an intimate discussion about job performance or your relationship, don’t go to your local sports bar. Pick a quiet place. If you want to celebrate something, pull everyone together to make sure they can all participate in an environment conducive to having fun. Control your environment as much as you can, because that is part of your message.
6. Technology - Technology is typically a poor communications tool. E-mail doesn’t provide context, and meaning can easily be misunderstood. No message can be effectively communicated with only PowerPoint slides or a Webinar. Technology can be great as a support to the message. With PowerPoint, stick with one or two words per slide and pictures only. Never have your entire presentation on slides. You are supposed to know what you’re talking about without the slides. If your product is technology-related, then of course it should be used in the presentation. Just don’t overlook the importance of the person you’re trying to sell to.
7. Personal connection – We’ve all heard it a million times: all things being equal, people do business with people they like. This isn’t just about knowing how to connect with people across the gender divide or across different personality or culture profiles. If you want to connect with people, a foundational ability is required. That foundation is in who we are, not what we do, or even what we can bring to them. Rather than always looking at what we can get from others, what if we truly focused on how we can help them? When you have that attitude, it comes through in a powerful way.

We could all spend a little more time on our “to-be” list, rather than our to-do list. Be a person of great integrity and character with a real desire to help others, and that will make the biggest difference in your communications.

In personal and business relationships, how you say something is often as important (and sometimes more important) than what you say. Use these seven keys to improve your presentation skills and connect with your various audiences.

by David Houle

The automotive industry of the 21st century is making promises and delivering on them. As I wrote in a column four months ago, if the federal government is thinking about spending tens of billions to prop up the remnants of last century’s automotive industry, it should also spend billions to support the innovative auto industry of this century. Our investments should be towards birthing the future, not just on keeping the dying on life support.

In recent emails, Elon Musk, the visionary entrepreneur and founder of Tesla Motors wrote about the progress his company has made at it looks to the future. In early March Tesla sold its 250th roadster. The purchaser writes about it here with wonder and pride. Tesla is now manufacturing 20 roadsters a week and will shortly increase to 30 a week. It has a paid waiting list of 1,000 which means that it is sold out through October. This comes at a time when the Big Three are still trying to get 2008 model cars off their lots.Granted, the Tesla Roadster is a car that costs a bit more than $100,000, has two seats and goes from 0-60mph in less than 4 seconds. The good news is that Tesla last week unveiled the Model S, a sedan that they say will seat 7 and will get 300 miles per electric charge. I am not sure about the size of those 7 people, but the Model S is a beautiful car. Orders are being taken now with a delivery date of 2011, at a price, factoring in a federal tax credit, of $49,900.

Tesla has done a magnificent job of creating brand awareness. Whenever I give a speech and talk about the coming electric age of the automobile there are always several people in the audience that know about the Tesla Roadster. It has become the raised bar of electric cars. Hats off to Musk and the entire company for showing the way toward the Age of the Electric Car, albeit at the high end of the market.

At the other end of the spectrum, Tata Motors announced their $2,000 Nano car last week. Years ago I wrote a column about Tata and its plan to build the compressed air car. This car shows how narrow the definition of the automobile has been, that of being only an internal combustion vehicle using gasoline. The Tata Nano, known to be in the works for a couple of years is the cheapest car in the world. The initial market focus is the millions of people in developing countries that have, up to now, been only able to afford motorbikes. Ironically, the fuel efficient Nano, with an internal combustion engine, give off fewer emissions than most motorbikes. If the car sells well, Tata intends to expand the market for the Nano beyond India, to Europe, and even the U.S. Let’s see, do I want a flat screen TV or a car?

We must all remember that the non- energy efficient internal combustion cars were invented last century. While the companies that make them are moving quickly to make them smaller and more efficient they still are the descendants of a century old technology that is now slowly giving way to the cars of the 21st century, our collective future. In the next two columns I will write about all that I have learned this week concerning hydrogen cars which along with electric cars, represent our collective automotive future

Reprinted with permission from David Houle. Copyright, 2009

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How Integrity Lifts Companies Above the Competition?

April 02, 2009

The data shows that sometimes this week, nearly half of all businesspeople in North America will lie to a client, to a boss or to an employee. A recent survey of 13,000 employees reveals that fewer than two out of five (39 percent) say they trust senior management at U.S. companies. This economic collapse and the resulting lack of trust has left us edgy, nervous, suspicious, unsatisfied and searching.

A few years ago I wrote The Integrity Advantage with Harvard Business School researcher Dana Telford because after thousands of hours of interviews with executives and employees, I realized that it doesn’t matter what you do for a living – a used-car salesman or a Fortune 100 executive – or where you do it. The difference is how you do it: with integrity or without.

An advantage is gained when you have something that others lack. Today, as a surprising number of corporate leaders have abdicated the moral high ground in pursuit of money and power, individuals who maintained their integrity have a distinct business advantage. They realize that integrity works.

“Integrity absolutely pays,” Shelly Lazarus, retired chairman and CEO of Ogilvy Mather Worldwide, told us. “If you are going to run an organization of people, you have to instill and inspire in people a sense of belief in what the company stands for. There has to be consistency in behavior and outlook. To gain the belief and loyalty of a group of people, there has to be a core set of principles that one is true to. Otherwise, it’s very hard to build a bond with your people.”

And it all starts with a company’s top leaders.

“It’s got to start at the top,” said Lazarus. “If we’ve learned anything from this current round of revelations, it’s that if the people at the top aren’t committed to integrity, if they don’t live their own values and the values of the company, there’s no hope.”

Ethical people come from different places, enjoy different things and have different strengths (and weaknesses, too).

That said, they are the same in some very critical ways. Among the most fascinating is the ability of people of integrity to finding the “white” when others see “gray.” In other words, they are committed to finding the right way when it may not seem at first clear.

The key word here is commitment.

But that takes time. And time is money. And, in business, money is everything, right? So we try to pacify our instincts by telling ourselves, “Hey, no one will ever know,” or “I’m just doing what management would want me to do,” or “I’ll do it differently next time.” When you hear yourself saying these things, it’s a red flag. Stop. Slow down. Take a second look.

“You have to put some effort into reflection,” said Harvard ethics researcher Joe Badaracco told us. “The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, a genuine philosopher-king by any standard, tried once a day to put down all his many cares and burdens and create what he called a ‘space of quiet.’ The idea is to slow down enough to get a feeling for what your intuitions may be telling you.”

Sounding out those intuitions with a mentor – someone you trust and admire – is the next step. Sometimes good people can make judgment errors. It’s not a question of morality; they just make a mistake. So whenever there’s a close call, seek advice, get a second set of eyes and ears.

There’s no doubt, integrity is a hard climb, a constant uphill battle. But the benefits are real. Your customers will trust you. Your employees will demonstrate greater commitment. And your bottom line will show it. And – perhaps most importantly – at the end of the day, you’ll sleep better.

May you enjoy the journey.

Reprinted with permission from Chester Elton and the Carrot Guys. Copyright, 2009

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Written by Jeff Thredgold, CSP, President, Thredgold Economic Associates

Take a peek at the two charts below. The first illustrates annual budget deficits during most of the past 40 years in actual dollars. The second chart identifies annual budget deficits as they compared to the size of the enormous American economy, arguably the more important measure.

Both charts make it painfully clear that the new course of American government is indeed scary.

It wasn’t all that long ago that investors and the media complained of deficits run by the previous Administration, following four years of actual budget surpluses late in the Clinton era (kind of hard to believe now). Concerns at that time centered around the irresponsibility of running $150 billion – $400 billion deficits…and the impact that such deficits would have upon our children and grandchildren……As the saying goes, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet

A New Flavor
President Obama and the Democratic leadership in the Congress are aggressively putting their stamp on Washington D.C. and the nation. The long-desired Democratic wish list of more and more government; more control and greater spending for health care; more money for education; greater power for labor unions; more funding for alternative energy; costly penalties for carbon emission; and “punishing” those successful Americans who happen to make more than $200,000 annually ($250,000 for joint incomes) with higher taxes on income, capital gains, and dividends is on the drawing board.

Much of the above plan is largely based upon the desirability of income redistribution, rather than incentives to create new income. The wish list, combined with the enormous costs of bailouts and financial market stabilization, has pushed projected budget deficits to dizzying levels. They are simply too much.

Even Greater Deficits
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, actually under control of the Democratic Congress, released its estimates of impending budget deficits on March 20. The CBO estimates suggest that deficits during the next 10 years will be 33% higher ($2.3 trillion, or $2,300,000,000,000 MORE) than what the new Administration’s deficit projections indicate.

Based on current CBO estimates, the cumulative deficit would be $9.3 trillion from 2010 to 2019, or nearly $1,000,000,000,000 annually. The total would more than double the national debt in the hands of the public, taking it from the current $6.7 trillion to $17 trillion. The Obama deficits would exceed the total accumulation of debt during ALL prior presidents, again an unacceptable development.

Lousy Inheritance
To be fair, this Administration inherited an economic and financial mess from its predecessor. The budget deficit this fiscal year would still have been at least $1.2 trillion – $1.5 trillion, roughly triple the prior record deficit set last year.

Given one more year in power, for example, the Bush Administration and a Democratic Congress would have passed a stimulus program, although its composition would have been structured more to tax and economic incentives and less toward social engineering. The deficit next year would have been enormous.

However, projected deficits in coming years are more than twice what they would have been if the new President had merely stuck with the current spending and taxation proposals left by the Bush Administration (CNSNews.com).

Guns vs. Butter
There is an old adage used by economists and the media about “guns vs. butter.” The adage suggested that in the old days of the 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, an Administration had a choice between spending a limited number of dollars on either the military or on social programs.

The Johnson Administration of the mid-1960s broke this relationship by seeking funding for BOTH an expansion of American military involvement in Vietnam AND money for a massive expansion of social programs for the nation’s less fortunate, known as “guns and butter.” Perhaps we should now talk of “guns AND butter AND everything else.”

It’s no secret that the Republicans have made themselves largely irrelevant in Washington, mostly by shooting themselves in the foot when they had Congressional control for 12 years until the 2006 elections. They allowed government spending and earmarks to move to much higher levels.

The interesting development in Washington is that more conservative members of the Democratic majority are being heard. They are suggesting that the Administration slow down, focus on economic and financial stabilization, and keep spending and deficits from exploding to unfathomable levels. The President and the liberal Democratic leadership will have to show some fiscal restraint in order to get those politicians onboard.

Financial market players and economists are not all that concerned about a nearly $2 trillion budget deficit this fiscal year. They largely recognize that the alternative to massive government spending and financial stabilization would be an even more painful downward spiral for the domestic and global economy.

Anxiety is focused much more on 2010, 2011, and beyond. We simply cannot run such massive annual budget deficits and expect anything but weak and impaired U.S. economic performance in coming years, while handing an unwieldy and unpayable bill to younger generations.

The government will spend roughly two dollars this year for each it takes in. Next year the relationship will be to spend three dollars and bring in two (USA TODAY).

Budget deficits during the past 40 years were manageable. Proposed budget deficits are not.

Reprinted with permission from the “Tea Leaf” by Jeff Thredgold. Copyright, 2009, Thredgold Economic Associates, LLC. To subscribe to Jeff’s free weekly email update, visit www.thredgold.com.”

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