(Blogger's Note: Today we begin a new feature…daily words of wisdom from a CEO.
Each day we will begin the blog with words of wisdom that I have picked up along the way. I have received many of these over the years. When the book, Carboys and Indians is published, they will run in their entirety. Beginning today, we will just publish portions of them. A fun little game, guess when they were written. To begin we will start with very famous words of wisdom, written on July 4, 2008, and sent to little g.e.'s secretary on a national holiday.)
"The following items are not allowed for purchase. DO NOT Order them:
1. Fruits
2. Nesspresso
3. Cheese
4. Meats of any kind
5. Fruit drinks
6. M&Ms
7. Chocolates and candies unless they are specifically ordered by me
8. Potato chips
9. Add to this list
Only the following are to be ordered:
1. Cup of Noodles
2. Approved Energy bars
3. Regular coffee
4. Doritos
Friday lunches are to be restricted to $10/person. Only pizzaz to be ordered until further notice. DO NOT come to me with weekly menus."
And this guy is actually getting paid by auto dealers. No wonder the industry is in trouble....
Now on with the story…
The difference between little g.e., The Co Founder, and myself – I write press releases, realize why they are written, and don't necessarily believe them. They are written for public relation benefit. Little g.e. and The Co Founder believe them. And the brother, Sonny, begs for them. It's all part of the dog and pony show needed to raise money.
The problem of course isn't with the money raising; it's what they do with it once they raise it.
From the sounds of the words of wisdom, stated above, they should be buying stock in Doritos. They really like Doritos.
So needless to say they eventually began to believe they knew something about the auto business. Not true. If you can't market your own company, how can you have a marketing company for auto dealers? If you can't train your own sales people, how can you train those sales people at a dealership?
Fortunately, Danny Columbo knew the training techniques and when little g.e. and The Co Founder let him do his "thing" it worked. As soon as they interfered, the program hit some bumps speed bumps.
But the bumps and glitches really began to appear when the general electrified began to believe the press release written when he purchased the Michigan media company's platform that combined the two things he knew nothing about; automotive sales and newspapers.
As odd as it may seem nobody has ever seen the man read a newspaper. Now he will tell you that he read online, but that would be doubtful, because between late morning office arrivals, lunch, Toblerone chocolate, ( he didn't read the words of wisdom) and office naps little g.e. did nothing more than send out berating emails. And, words of wisdom.
But his venture into newspapers could have been his undoing. His ego was so large he once claimed "I want to be the publisher. Gotcha has always wanted to sleep with a publisher."
But in reality, publishers are pretty good guys. They eat their fair share of Doritos, but they know how to make a group of people come together, on a daily basis and produce a product that hours before didn't exist. And, they do that regularly, without much interruption.
As you can tell, the two industries that little g.e. decided to get into were both based on mass production. Rapid mass production. That made the entire triangle, newspapers, automotive companies, and Fire M a very weak proposition. Fire M could mass produce anything rapidly except emails.
The renting of the new office and the purchasing of the new company came together like bees and blossoms in spring. One day the five man group was sitting in cramped quarters in the financial district and a few days later the entire company was moving to shadows of home plate. It was ironic. The space even had two kitchens.
So it was with the promise of a new beginning, a new home, and a new company that the move came so quickly. And with the new acquisition, little g.e. pictured himself as a power-ful one. And while his vision was blurred because of the napping chocolate afternoons, he refused to increase customer service or support and instead had thoughts of a becoming a reader…
Tomorrow: The pictures of the office blessing. They'll move you…
Each day we will begin the blog with words of wisdom that I have picked up along the way. I have received many of these over the years. When the book, Carboys and Indians is published, they will run in their entirety. Beginning today, we will just publish portions of them. A fun little game, guess when they were written. To begin we will start with very famous words of wisdom, written on July 4, 2008, and sent to little g.e.'s secretary on a national holiday.)
"The following items are not allowed for purchase. DO NOT Order them:
1. Fruits
2. Nesspresso
3. Cheese
4. Meats of any kind
5. Fruit drinks
6. M&Ms
7. Chocolates and candies unless they are specifically ordered by me
8. Potato chips
9. Add to this list
Only the following are to be ordered:
1. Cup of Noodles
2. Approved Energy bars
3. Regular coffee
4. Doritos
Friday lunches are to be restricted to $10/person. Only pizzaz to be ordered until further notice. DO NOT come to me with weekly menus."
And this guy is actually getting paid by auto dealers. No wonder the industry is in trouble....
Now on with the story…
The difference between little g.e., The Co Founder, and myself – I write press releases, realize why they are written, and don't necessarily believe them. They are written for public relation benefit. Little g.e. and The Co Founder believe them. And the brother, Sonny, begs for them. It's all part of the dog and pony show needed to raise money.
The problem of course isn't with the money raising; it's what they do with it once they raise it.
From the sounds of the words of wisdom, stated above, they should be buying stock in Doritos. They really like Doritos.
So needless to say they eventually began to believe they knew something about the auto business. Not true. If you can't market your own company, how can you have a marketing company for auto dealers? If you can't train your own sales people, how can you train those sales people at a dealership?
Fortunately, Danny Columbo knew the training techniques and when little g.e. and The Co Founder let him do his "thing" it worked. As soon as they interfered, the program hit some bumps speed bumps.
But the bumps and glitches really began to appear when the general electrified began to believe the press release written when he purchased the Michigan media company's platform that combined the two things he knew nothing about; automotive sales and newspapers.
As odd as it may seem nobody has ever seen the man read a newspaper. Now he will tell you that he read online, but that would be doubtful, because between late morning office arrivals, lunch, Toblerone chocolate, ( he didn't read the words of wisdom) and office naps little g.e. did nothing more than send out berating emails. And, words of wisdom.
But his venture into newspapers could have been his undoing. His ego was so large he once claimed "I want to be the publisher. Gotcha has always wanted to sleep with a publisher."
But in reality, publishers are pretty good guys. They eat their fair share of Doritos, but they know how to make a group of people come together, on a daily basis and produce a product that hours before didn't exist. And, they do that regularly, without much interruption.
As you can tell, the two industries that little g.e. decided to get into were both based on mass production. Rapid mass production. That made the entire triangle, newspapers, automotive companies, and Fire M a very weak proposition. Fire M could mass produce anything rapidly except emails.
The renting of the new office and the purchasing of the new company came together like bees and blossoms in spring. One day the five man group was sitting in cramped quarters in the financial district and a few days later the entire company was moving to shadows of home plate. It was ironic. The space even had two kitchens.
So it was with the promise of a new beginning, a new home, and a new company that the move came so quickly. And with the new acquisition, little g.e. pictured himself as a power-ful one. And while his vision was blurred because of the napping chocolate afternoons, he refused to increase customer service or support and instead had thoughts of a becoming a reader…
Tomorrow: The pictures of the office blessing. They'll move you…
LOL I remember that shot and those days! NO MORE CHEESE PIZZA!
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