Business courses not relevant in high school?

Now, I am officially worried about the future of our country.

The superintendent of the Holley, New York school district has proposed elimination of the business department. He did not replace the retiring department chair two years ago and now is firing the remaining two teachers. It appears that he feels that business is not a relevant enough field for the high school students of Holley, so he moving to eliminate it.

If I lived in that district, I would move.

Business skills not relevant in today’s world? What?! Is this guy living in some sort of fairytale bubble? Or does he just have an ax to grind? Maybe he failed Business 101 in college and is now getting even? I really can’t understand his thinking; and I am a pretty empathetic guy! While many high schools and colleges are adding more business/entrepreneurial courses, This superintendent has decided to move Holley’s core curriculum back to the 1950’s.

Don’t get me wrong, science, math, English and social studies certainly still have their place in today’s high school line-up, but so does businesses! Business and entrepreneursism are among America’s last unique competitive advantages. We certainly don’t make much anymore in our country. But at least we can still run the company and then work with the rest of the world to create the product.

I don’t know about you but I haven’t used too many of my high school trigonometry skills lately, nor have I dissected any frogs. What I have used is my public speaking skills, business writing and other business skills that I learned in high school and college.

Even if a student doesn’t enter directly into the business world, the thought process that business classes can create is extremely valuable. For instance, scientists are at an advantage if they can figure out how to bring their research to benefit the masses. This is usually done through a…..come on, say it with me….. A BUSINESS!

This superintendent is putting Holley, NY high school students at a great disadvantage to compete in the real world. I am surprised the parents in the district are not revolting. In my opinion, the school board should remove him and put in place a superintendent who is forward thinking and cares more about the skills that Holley, NY graduates will bring forth to the world.

TOP 10 Tips To Make Money In A Recession

Tips from friend and former COO of 1-800-Got-Junk Cameron Herold:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1F9u3sPep4

Ultimate Customer Service

We lease our company laptops from Dell Computer and have been very happy with them; as of until last week. Jan Resch, Next Step’s VP of Finance and HR got a semi-harassing call from a Dell customer service about our monthly lease bill.

He asked why it hadn’t been paid yet and wanted her to pay it over the phone to avoid collections. Collections?!

Here’s the rub; it wasn’t even due yet! The rep called on the 11th and the bill was due on the 15th. Also keep in mind; we have never been late with Dell. Our credit is perfect with them. Jan told the pit bull that the check was in the mail and she would not make the payment over the phone.

You would think that was the end of the story, right? Wrong. He called again this Monday, the 16th. Apparently, the check did not arrive yet. Maybe the Rochester to Austin route is slow lately?

This type of behavior led me to believe that either Dell is desperate for money or they have a really bad customer service rep. My hunch was the latter.

I am friends with Verne Harnish, the founder of EO – Entrepreneurs Organization (http://www.eonetwork.org/) and he now runs Gazelles (http://www.gazelles.com/). Michael Dell was one of the first EO members and Verne has remained friends with him.

Verne has always talked about how Michael is obsessive about customer service so I thought I would share this story with him. I encouraged him to pass on the experience to Michael himself because I thought he’d like to know. Most good entrepreneurs want to know about the good, bad and the ugly.

This type of feedback is always good to hear because a company can spend all the marketing dollars in the world, but it only takes one bad service experience to wipe out millions dollars worth of advertising.

So I shared my story with Verne yesterday. Guess what? This afternoon, I got a call from a woman named Carrie Perkins. She told me that Michael Dell heard my story and wanted her to call me as soon as possible.

*tear*

Ok, I’ll continue. Yes, I was touched, amazed, thrilled and many, many other awesome adjectives.

Carrie was a true pro. She has my account pulled up on her computer and could see that I have been a good customer for years. She could also see who this “harassing” rep was.

I had Jan come in and re-tell the experience. Carrie listened intently, made no excuses and apologized many times. She explained that this was not their policy and that this will be a “training experience” for the customer service rep in question. I hope “training experience” is not internal lingo for a firing because I believe everyone deserves a second chance!

Carrie continued to wow us and left us with her e-mail address and direct phone line. She said we can call her anytime about anything and she’ll get right back to us.

Talk about turning a negative into a positive.

Carrie, please know that I love you.

And I am love with Dell Computers again too.

Ten Thoughts For Business Leaders in 2009

Ten Thoughts For Business Leaders in 2009
by Jack Smith (WPO St. Louis) of Collaborative Strategies, Inc.

1. Face, understand, and share the brutal facts (including the realistic worse case).

2. Be bold, (i.e., wake up every morning and ask: What is the boldest, most aggressive action and/or decision I could make today?).

3. Focus, protect, and plan around your strengths (e.g., key people, capabilities, and customers).

4. Prune everything that is weak, marginal, or unprofitable.

5. Have a six month supply of cash on hand or in clear view (at a minimum).

6. Raise and/or reset your expectations of employees and suppliers (e.g., hours worked, breadth/depth of responsibility, performance metrics, terms, etc.). Note: Use these difficult times to re-orientate your thinking and make your business stronger.

7. Communicate with and inspire/energize your people and your customers (e.g., positive recognition costs nothing and your ability to help absorb anxiety is greater than you think). Note: Get out of your office and on the phone!

8. Don’t think you have to go through it all alone. Most of the very successful CEO’s I know place considerable importance on having people outside of the firm that they can confide in.

9. Know that the years 2011, 2012, and beyond are likely to be some of the best years yet for your business in terms of growth and profitability (if you manage effectively in 2009).

10. Money has never been and will never determine who you are. You are…how you treat your family, friends, employees, business relationships, and what you do for charity, community, and our country.

Listen to WHAM Saturday at 10am!

Tune in every Saturday morning at 10 am -- on WHAM 1180 AM-- for Eyes on the Future, a live, hour-long call-in show about working together to strengthen the area's economy and keep local business growing.

This Saturday (3/7), the show should be especially entertaining. That's right, I'll be on the show!

We'll be discussing how to start/maintain a business and what an entrepreneur should be thinking about during tough economic times.

The show will also stream live on WHAM's website, www.wham1180.com.