While I live like “OMG if 'it' doesn’t happen now, 'it' will never happen”, life really doesn’t work that way. Life happens, emerges, operates and occurs along a continuum.

 

The Big Three showed up in Washington D.C. late last week fully intending, with hands open, to get ‘theirs’. What an incredulous experience then to realize that just showing up doesn’t carry the day. I mean, it certainly did in Field of Dreams. That Kevin Costner just built a damn baseball stadium and next thing you know, cars were lined up in traffic jams from all over the plantetary system to see a bunch of dead players go 9 innings in what-had-been-a wheat field in Kansas. Was it Kansas? (I could Google that, but it’s so much more fun to guess.) 

So, showing up isn’t all it takes, right? That’s nice, but what is my point? Ah…the continuum of life and life’s events; back to that.

 In 1980, Chrysler was on the verge of bankruptcy. They received a ginormous financial bump from Uncle Sam, kept the same management team in tact, and made not one change to the benefit program or the union contract. What did change? The size of their billfold, for starters.  And, product innovation moved to the backseat while the US auto market share decreased from 75% to 48% today.  

Why does one “B” word have such appeal and the other leaves us skittish?  BAILOUT vs. BANKCRUPCY

Companies have gone into bankrupcy and have survived and thrived while many others have not. Bankruptcy - and the getting through it - demands a certain type of integrity, new thinking, creative dialogs, transformative actions leading to new results, as well as relentless stamina. This rigorous mindset is usually not executed by the folks who are currently running the company. (Chrysler, Ford and GM will need to implement one, if not all, of the above aspects to get some if not all of the allocated $25 billion.)

Fast forward from 1980 to November 2008. After arriving at the nation’s capital in their corporate jets, which was such spicy fodder for the politicians and the media, they got their proverbial balls busted. Showing up produced nothing.

 

Women-Drivers had our Board meeting on the same exact day last week. Be sure - all companies, all workers, all management and all levels - need to better craft and draft a compelling story of actionable, accountable results.

 

Let’s see what happens when the gang gets back together on December 8th. Let the c-o-n-t-i-n-u-u-m continue.

 

Drive your bargain,

Anne

Every day I am alive is a good day. I certainly don’t know what the alternative holds, but I do enjoy and live a full life. So, while each day is great, it occurs to me that these days are ExtraOrdinary.

 

• After 250 years as a country, the American public, in all of our glory, voted for a black President. Naysayers up until November 4th said it would never happen. Yet, white, black, Hispanic, and all other colors in our 50 states voted as a majority. Not even our European friends – not the likes of the English, the Irish nor the Italians have done that. ExtraOrdinary.

 

• Graciousness and generosity came from each of the candidates to each other at the end of the race – McCain to Obama, Obama to McCain. And, from Bush to Obama. At the end of the day the party lines were put aside and each recognized and acknowledged each other. All men rose to the occasion. Amen and ExtraOrdinary.

 

• Effective January, 2009, an African American president and his family will be living in the White House built by slaves in another century. Ironic and ExtraOrdinary.

 

• There will be between 4,000,000 – 5,000,000 fewer new cars purchased this year. The credit crunch, unemployment rising rates, and the price of gasoline through the first 3 quarters of the year, has had a tremendous effect on the car industry. ExtraOrdinary.

 

• $25 billion is now allocated to the big three (3) automakers. NADA is feverishly asserting that some of that money must be distributed to the dealer network… over 60 dealers closed their doors in September – that’s two a day. Recently, a Hyundai dealer from Washington, DC told me that the credit scores required to buy car as so high, heck, even I couldn’t purchase one! But if you can -  it is truly a great time to buy a car. Deals, Rebates, Employee Pricing. Like really – like Now. ExtraOrdinary.

• Is it not ironic that the price of gas dropped over 40% in a matter of months -- just as the financial and auto crisis occurred? Wow, there is a very fine and correlated line between supply and demand, huh Exxon? ExtraOrdinary.

 

• Ever notice how much we Americans love our cars? Almost as much as we love our football! In fact, when we go to the NFL games that cost individuals hundreds of dollars for seats  to actually sit in to watch the contest – ever notice how many “fans” never even get to the game? They are out in the parking lot; hanging near the cars, with the food and the beverage inside the cars. We gather around the cars, when its cold we even get inside the vehicles. And, while we say it’s about the camaraderie and filling of the bellies, I assert it’s all about the cars. ExtraOrdinary.

Drive Your Bargain,

Anne