Rhetoric is not leadership

Guiding business, government and the economy through these difficult times will require strong, decisive and competent leadership from all three sectors.

Unfortunately we have been getting more rhetoric than meaningful leadership.
President Obama has already been a disappointment. Aside from not being able to persuade either Washington politicians or American citizens to get with the program, he hasn't had good answers to the crisis.

Throwing more taxpayer money on the fire hasn't helped us yet and all the emphasis on dire consequences to persuade the non-believers has made us even more cautious and pessimistic that things will continue to get worse instead of better.

Real leadership means leading by example. Start getting things done differently and we'll start to follow. Artfully crafted speeches are simply not enough.

Greasy imitation

With some experience as a traveling sales rep I have learned to appreciate McDonald's egg McMuffin breakfast and Tim Horton's for coffee meetings. So I was intrigued by Tim Horton's newly announced breakfast sandwich.

An opportunity to try it come on a recent early morning flight to Toronto when I realized there would be no breakfast on Air Canada (or any other airline these days!). That's when I noticed a Tim Horton's with its new breakfast combo at only $5.06, tax included, for the egg and sausage sandwich, hash brown's and coffee. Great!

Clearly an imitation of the egg McMuffin, but Tim's version of the hash browns was even worse than McDonald's! A greasy patty of partially cooked potato and spices that looked disgusting and tasted worse. A good idea badly executed. Imitation may be the most sincere form of flattery, but it seems to me the strategy should be to improve on the original, not make the bad even worse. If you try it, skip the hash browns.

Y.C.D.B.S.O.Y.A

Some good business advice from a Canadian cabinet minister in the 1960's government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Imagine that!

I'm reading "Renegade in Power" by Peter C. Newman and he is describing the colourful George Hees who was responsible for Trade and Commerce and was determined to push Canadian businesses toward new international opportunities. He often wore a tie clip (it was the 6o's) that consisted of the letters Y.C.D.B.S.O.Y.A. Visitors to his office couldn't help notice as he fidgeted with it until they finally asked what it meant.

He would obligingly exclaim "You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Ass!" More direct than they were used to hearing form cabinet ministers, but they did remember the sentiment.

Just another reminder that we can learn from history.