What you can do for your country

Jimmy Hoffa Act II

The media is quickly covering for Jimmy Hoffa's speech this weekend in which he made various attacks on the right, finishing his diatribe with the phrase "Let's take these sons of bitches out".  If you literally read his speech, which Media Matters was quick to cover, it suggests he was talking about using the elections to remove the tea party influence.  Media Matters and MSM seem to ignore some other context:

• This was a White House event, not a political rally 
• The White house chose to have Hoffa at the event, an event held on labor day to celebrate all workers.  Union labor represents only 11.9% of the US labor force.  
• Labor day was created a peaceful acknowledgement of labor after the violence of the Pullman Strike, which was the first time Labor showed that it could bring the national economy to a standstill.  The effect of the ensuing violence that precipitated from the presence of federal troops, was a dramatic capitulation by business, elevating the power of Unions in an attempt to mitigate future violence.  But Labor learned that violence pays, as long as you publicly support the democratic process
• Jimmy Hoffa's father life story *Hoffa" chronicled his use of a range of violent and non-violent tools to gain power.

Jimmy Hoffa lives in the shadow of past actions by Unions, the Teamsters, and his father.  Though his speech may have included all the words needed to suggest non violence, his rhetoric motivates his supporters to take action.  It is not clear why the teamsters have permanently hitched their wagon to a President that has delivered higher unemployment for union members, but its best to evaluate Hoffa's speech in a broader context.  Just as the Pullman strike accelerated the growth of unions and the progressive movement, I suspect political strategists understand the historical power of violence and its benefit in increasing minority power.  Unions and progressives know how to use this power effectively, even if it means temporarily they need to take some losses through violence.

 

 

We the People: President Obama's Suggestion Box Leadership

If you are a student of quality systems, you know employee suggestion systems help.  If you are improving quality, detecting problems on a production line, fixing customer service, etc., getting feedback from customers and employees with direct insight makes a great deal sense.

It seems the President of the United States thinks that the way to fix the economy is to have the equivalent of a suggestion box.  He first tried something called Idea storm to have people propose and rank new ideas for his administration.  He keeps going to town halls (cover for campaign stops) to "Listen to the people" but spends most of the time talking.  His newest tool is "We the People", to have citizens develop petitions for government action.

Suggestion systems are fine if you want to improve service or quality.  Open Innovation and ideation are ok tools if you actually have a team that can implement successfully in your market.  Open Innovation, often associated with ideation, is not really about "Ideas" but about working with partners in novel ways to  resolve problems in the market place.  Open Innovation is not a random process of gathering suggestions.  The President's team should read books by Henry Chesbrough and Clay Christensen.  Or maybe go take some classes at MIT.

Ideas are a dime a dozens.  Solutions are the result of leadership and vision.  The President is mistaken to think that leadership comes from a suggestion box.  Success in leadership and innovation comes from setting an objective, advocating a position, convincing people that your ideas are valuable, and securing their support.  The best leaders do with even with their opposition.

It really does not matter if the President does or does not get along with Congress.  If he wants to practice "Open Innovation" he needs to engage business and investors.  He should not listen to GE.  GE knows how to run a multi billion dollar established entity.  GE innovates buy buying companies, not creating new markets.  Young firms find new markets, create new value propositions, and drive economic growth.  Economic growth creates jobs.  The President should engage with these innovators, Congress, regulators, et. al. in the following way:

1. Ask innovators "What can we do to make your job easier" - this should include eliminating regulations, changing programs, etc
2. Listen
3. Ask innovators "How do our current programs and policies help/hurt your efforts"
4. Listen
5. Then discuss why its hard for government to do what these innovators want, discuss alternatives, and construct an alternative approach that best meets the needs of the innovators and government.

I call this process NOT (A vs. B) BUT C.  The notion is that its easier for opposing parties to agree on a common but different solution.  In which version C contains that which can be resolved from option A and B. 

That aside, the best idea is to just decrease the size of government so that entrepreneurs don't have to come up with ideas to help the government make our lives more difficult.  After all we are a country based on the concept of personal liberty, not central control.

Buy American, Unless You are Secretary of Labor

In a show of support for American workers, Hilda Solis the US labor Secretary, traded in her black limousine for a Chevy Equinox.  Its not clear why the Secretary of Labor even has a Limousine, but that is a separate issue.  Shortly after talking up her new purchase, it was discovered the Chevy Equinox is assembled in Canada.  It did not take long for her staff to track down that some portion of the parts in a Chevy are actually made in the United States, which is a miraculous save of here diligent staff (who likely have GM on speed dial given how the administration basically controls GM).

So, with new information in hand, Solis spokesperson Carl Fillichio changed the story (politicians call this a Pivot) to explain how great it is that our dynamic economy builds such a great vehicle using the best talents of an open market.

“Modern automobile manufacturing is a global industry and General Motors is a company whose reach extends far beyond the boundaries of the United States. Cars assembled here in the U.S. are made from globally sourced parts, just as cars assembled in other countries utilize parts made in America. Not only is the Equinox the second fastest selling SUV in America—a good sign for the overall health of the U.S. auto industry—66 percent of its parts were made in America. That’s up from about 50 percent just a few years ago.”

The problem is "Buy American".  The $787B in the stimulus finding had a clause that said all the projects funded had to use parts certified as American sourced.  In the grand scheme of things, who cares how this applies to Mrs. Solis's Chevy Equinox.  What is important is that a large fraction of the $787B "Must have" stimulus was held up as contractors went through extensive verification that the parts they were using in infrastructure, weatherizing, clean tech, etc all came from American manufactures, American plants and American labor.

Stimulus was a bad idea.  It took on $787B in debt for projects that only temporary funded a screwed up economy, making things worse.  The further hypocrisy of "Buy American" makes it worse. The President and Congress insisted that the "Must spend" dollars had to be injected in the economy right away, but only if American parts are used.  Contractors spent time and money to keep the left's political base on board.  The left needs to decided whether stimulus spending was critical or not, but putting your foot on the gas (stimulus) while pressing the brakes (buy American) does no one any good.