My two thoughts of the day:
The logic used to control the elevators in my apartment building is completely useless, however fits well with the lack of brain wave activity of the average tenant in the building... in conclusion, there is a direct proportional relationship between these two variables.
My next point has to do with the City of Montreal not understanding that automotive suspension systems are not designed to handle the unnecessary/ridiculous amount of potholes more then 2 feet in diameter and more then 6 inches deep. If I had the time and effort to waste on proving how idiotic this city is when it comes to its transportation infrastructure I would, but I'm busy doing better things with my time..... Therefore, my conclusion on this point is the same as my first; there is again a direct relation to the logic used in the control system for the elevators in my apartment building and the idiots running the city.
Overall Conclusion: There are too many lazy and as a result, idiotic people who lack being able to execute an entire thought process in Quebec, and if I may generalize a little further.... the world. When it gets to the point that the governments realize they cant support this lazy philosophy through the endless social programs any longer, life will become a survival of the fittest game.... and let me tell you, damn it feels good to be fit!
(No offense should be taken to my comment about social programs if anyone requires the assistance of them, ultimately that is what they are there for. My argument is directed to the majority of people out there that abuse the system.)
Cheers
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Just a thought on the way to pull off success!
Today’s blog… covering the things that make you think, has no topic…. Today is one of those days where nothing really has much relevance… and you think about the never ending nonsense, non stop.
No but seriously!
For some reason my mind has been stuck in a business mode more recently which is making me question the actual “mechanical engineering” part of my degree…. leaving me with one year worth of “management” education that I will base this blog on...
I’m sure glad I learned about Organizational Behaviour…. That was a value add four months of my life for sure! For those of you who don’t know what this topic covers, let me take a step back, and go over some of the concepts it enforces. Organizational Behaviour brought to my attention almost every obvious point there is to know about business. OK now that we have that out of the way, my initial “value add” comment was of the sarcastic form…ha ….. ha. Now that the jokes are out of the way, its time we touch on some of these obvious points.
So even though I was sarcastic, Org. Behaviour plays a huge role in business (and even personal) success. (hence the reason that on the cover of my text book for this course there are three zebra’s hanging out on a grassy plain in Africa?????) I guess the reason they teach this course is the fact it may not be obvious to all people. That said, much like my post about IKEA and not deserving to be a billionaire if you don’t have the ability to see a very simple business opportunity in front of your eyes, the same applies here. You don’t deserve to be successful in business if you can’t wrap your head around these few basic concepts.
TEAM: I recently gave a webinar (online seminar) discussing the importance of collaboration in a business environment…. And the reason for this is that to be competitive in today’s insanely dynamic industries you MUST bring products to market faster without sacrificing quality, cost and safety all while upholding a brand image…. THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DO ALONE FOLKS. You must trust, learn from, get advice from, and enable those who are experts in their fields, and who are responsible for making the success happen. We refer to these mentioned people as SME’s (subject matter experts) and I detest this acronym like crazy, probably because it sounds completely ridiculous… either way… it’s a globally recognized term. Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Ingvar Kamprad of IKEA (see my previous blog for this story) and one of my favourites, Richard Branson of The Virgin Group (most influential to me) did not get to where they are today by themselves. I was actually reading an article on this topic in the Melbourne airport back in September where Richard Branson was discussing his top ten pieces of advice to be successful in business. Number One was to enable and motivate those who are “making it happen for you”. I think I said enough about this.
DYNAMIC: I referred to a few things in the above paragraph that gave example of how today’s industries are operating on an International scale. One of them was SME’s… these people do not all reside in one location. To build the best team, you have to explore vast lands to discover where the talent is located. The second was that I was in the Melbourne airport reading an article on Richard Branson a few months ago. I graduated a year and a half ago and am already traveling half way around the world for work? I want to make this clear that this is not an uncommon situation. I know of many friends of mine who are young professionals, and are now traveling abroad on a regular basis because they have acquired a skill that no others have (making them subject matter experts). And this is what brings me the topic of this paragraph…. Being Dynamic…. To sum this point up, you have to be willing to adapt, travel, explore new opportunities and keep your eyes open for the next big trend with billions of dollars tied to it (on a global scale).
PROCESSES: My next point is also very important. Recently I received my ‘green belt’ certification in Six Sigma. What exactly that means doesn’t matter here… what does matter is that it brought to my attention that processes are important. Consistency in the way you execute carries a huge influence on your potential success. To ensure the quality you have guaranteed to your customers is upheld… you must be organized, with a professional attitude, ready to meet the needs of anyone. I also recently had the discussion trying to define what “best practices” are…. That’s a hard one to clearly figure out… because any company can spend thousands or even millions of dollars to determine the best way to do something (a best practice)…. And with the slightest variation to what that business does, the best practice can change on the spot. My definition of “best practice”, while taking the last sentence into account, is to discover the most efficient and cost effective way of doing “your” business and then enforcing this procedure so that its always done that way. You’ll save money, guarantee predictable results and be ready to compete in the big leagues!
COMMUNICATION: So before I bore you to death, this one is easy and can be summed up in the following sentence. Make it a round table affair, share your ideas, be willing to accept ideas from others, and use many brains to come up with the best ideas! It’s that simple!
So to conclude! Work together, adapt to the situation at hand, figure out and stick with what works best, and COMMUNICATE. These points are a few of the many ingredients in the recipe to success; in EVERYTHING you do!
This blog was less factual (not as many interesting Wikipedia facts on the topic) but since I feel my own experience in this area is becoming more complete (and the way I talk about it is almost a little bit believable) take what I say as factual….HOWEVER… take anyone’s advice at an arms length………. and let the best man (or woman) win :)
Cheers,
Cameron
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
I K E A
Well hello to all of those who are about to take 5 minutes to read this blog post.
I have decided to start a blog based on the things you see on a daily basis that make you think WTF. Since we all experience these things, sometimes multiple times a day, I figured why not share them in a way that all of us can relate to and enjoy... in a fact filled unique perspective with a little bit of sarcasm to top it off.
Now the important point about this blog which a lot of people might not consider right away is that "the things that make you think WTF" are not ALWAYS negative! (only most of the time)
And this brings me into my first blog post which is about all things IKEA.
On a daily basis I drive by one of two IKEA's located in the greater Montreal region. IKEA is owned and operated by Swedish billionaire Ingvar Kamprad... as of 2010 he is the 11th wealthiest person in the world (according to Wikipedia) with an estimated worth of 23 billion dollars. The story of this guy is incredible.... he first discovered that buying matches in bulk for nothing and selling them individually for 'a little more than nothing' was a viable business opportunity (thats a good thing because anyone who couldnt figure that out doesnt deserve to be a billionaire anyway). This endeavor continued and turned into what we all know today as the big Blue and Yellow branded enterprise known as IKEA (an acronym which means nothing to anyone as they walk through the doors only because they cant wait to get their grubby paws all over the latest IKEA designs; and not to mention catch a whiff of one of the most unique and addicting retail store smells on the planet; I personally LOVE whatever that smell is).
Now every one of us has given at least a tiny bit of thought into what we are actually buying when we are pushing that cart towards the HUGE lineups at the check-out with stacked, awkward sized cardboard boxes ready to destroy some ankles.... but what is MOST interesting is how the hell IKEA has created this brand/image of what I consider to be "consumable furniture".
Now the part that is most mind boggling is how a sea of vehicles, surrounds the IKEA building every day from sunrise to sunset. People (me included) get excited to buy "unique" but not at all unique items to fulfill IKEA's current tag line of "any space can be beautiful" (What this tag line really means is "make your place look like every other student/low to medium income/newly wed, apartment/condo/household in any greater metropolitan area"). Consumers thrive in breaking their fingers attempting to tighten every one of those 58 Allen bolts with that useless Allen key supplied with every piece of IKEA furniture available in the warehouse. Now what happens to this furniture throughout its life.... well exactly this: Within 6 months, the lack of tension created in the Allen bolt due to that crap ass Allen key everyone uses to assemble their furniture causes the bar stool, desk, lamp, bed frame, table, filing cabinet (I think you get the point) to turn into a sloppy (noisy) mess. The bolts become loose, the furniture falls apart if not maintained (most likely scenario) and people plan another trip back to IKEA (not consciously) in an attempt to have the latest contemporary look available, all without realizing their mindset when buying these things is "it'll do for the meantime until I can get some real furniture". These consumer mindsets are driven based on one reason....IKEA is so god damn cheap. Why is it cheap... I dont even need to go there.... its a bunch of laminated press board thrown into a cardboard box with very little effort also containing a page of very hazy assembly instructions (visual instructions eliminate any need for translation to all languages that the 25 different countries, IKEA has stores in, speak) I wont even take this talk about IKEA and cheap any further; other than its simply genius.
IKEA products, despite size, color (black brown dominates all others), shape, and whichever awkwardly pronounced Swedish style label they have, are nothing more than a bunch of "it'll do for now products" which the IKEA company has generated based off of buying for nothing and selling for cheap. Anyways.... there is a whole lot more to the IKEA story than that, however I figured it would be interesting to share some of the thoughts that run through my head (not necessarily in the same order you read here) everyday when I drive by; that make me think WTF.... in this case "WTF why couldnt that be me".
Cheers for now,
Cameron Mackey
I have decided to start a blog based on the things you see on a daily basis that make you think WTF. Since we all experience these things, sometimes multiple times a day, I figured why not share them in a way that all of us can relate to and enjoy... in a fact filled unique perspective with a little bit of sarcasm to top it off.
Now the important point about this blog which a lot of people might not consider right away is that "the things that make you think WTF" are not ALWAYS negative! (only most of the time)
And this brings me into my first blog post which is about all things IKEA.
On a daily basis I drive by one of two IKEA's located in the greater Montreal region. IKEA is owned and operated by Swedish billionaire Ingvar Kamprad... as of 2010 he is the 11th wealthiest person in the world (according to Wikipedia) with an estimated worth of 23 billion dollars. The story of this guy is incredible.... he first discovered that buying matches in bulk for nothing and selling them individually for 'a little more than nothing' was a viable business opportunity (thats a good thing because anyone who couldnt figure that out doesnt deserve to be a billionaire anyway). This endeavor continued and turned into what we all know today as the big Blue and Yellow branded enterprise known as IKEA (an acronym which means nothing to anyone as they walk through the doors only because they cant wait to get their grubby paws all over the latest IKEA designs; and not to mention catch a whiff of one of the most unique and addicting retail store smells on the planet; I personally LOVE whatever that smell is).
Now every one of us has given at least a tiny bit of thought into what we are actually buying when we are pushing that cart towards the HUGE lineups at the check-out with stacked, awkward sized cardboard boxes ready to destroy some ankles.... but what is MOST interesting is how the hell IKEA has created this brand/image of what I consider to be "consumable furniture".
Now the part that is most mind boggling is how a sea of vehicles, surrounds the IKEA building every day from sunrise to sunset. People (me included) get excited to buy "unique" but not at all unique items to fulfill IKEA's current tag line of "any space can be beautiful" (What this tag line really means is "make your place look like every other student/low to medium income/newly wed, apartment/condo/household in any greater metropolitan area"). Consumers thrive in breaking their fingers attempting to tighten every one of those 58 Allen bolts with that useless Allen key supplied with every piece of IKEA furniture available in the warehouse. Now what happens to this furniture throughout its life.... well exactly this: Within 6 months, the lack of tension created in the Allen bolt due to that crap ass Allen key everyone uses to assemble their furniture causes the bar stool, desk, lamp, bed frame, table, filing cabinet (I think you get the point) to turn into a sloppy (noisy) mess. The bolts become loose, the furniture falls apart if not maintained (most likely scenario) and people plan another trip back to IKEA (not consciously) in an attempt to have the latest contemporary look available, all without realizing their mindset when buying these things is "it'll do for the meantime until I can get some real furniture". These consumer mindsets are driven based on one reason....IKEA is so god damn cheap. Why is it cheap... I dont even need to go there.... its a bunch of laminated press board thrown into a cardboard box with very little effort also containing a page of very hazy assembly instructions (visual instructions eliminate any need for translation to all languages that the 25 different countries, IKEA has stores in, speak) I wont even take this talk about IKEA and cheap any further; other than its simply genius.
IKEA products, despite size, color (black brown dominates all others), shape, and whichever awkwardly pronounced Swedish style label they have, are nothing more than a bunch of "it'll do for now products" which the IKEA company has generated based off of buying for nothing and selling for cheap. Anyways.... there is a whole lot more to the IKEA story than that, however I figured it would be interesting to share some of the thoughts that run through my head (not necessarily in the same order you read here) everyday when I drive by; that make me think WTF.... in this case "WTF why couldnt that be me".
Cheers for now,
Cameron Mackey
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