Chutes and Ladders – A Primer for Entrepreneurism?

Credit: Rodney Miller, Wood Innovations

I have been a student of Dan Sullivan and his Strategic Coach program for more than seven years now. I always look forward to my quarterly sessions because I always get at least one fabulous “Ah Ha” moment every time my group meets.

At my last class my coach was setting up the days agenda and related the story of playing with Chutes and Ladders with his grandson. He was reflecting on the happiness he got from watching his grandson gain so much joy from playing the game. The teachable moment for him, was the way his grandson reacted to landing on a chute that took him almost all the way back down to the start of the board.

It was a lesson on looking at the event as an opportunity versus failure. When he inquired as to why that act made him so excited, his grandson replied, “Because then I am only four places away from the ladder that will take me almost all the way to the top!”

Wow! Isn’t that a great perspective? Where in our childhood experiences do we lose that viewpoint? As a manufacturer, I see the fear of failure stifle our innovation on a regular basis. Our VP of Engineering, Ali Jabbari has a piece of paper taped up in his office window stating:

Try again
Fail again
Fail better!
Fail faster

The problem is getting the team to truly believe that it is OK to fail, and that it's actually an important part of the innovation process. Solving this challenge takes more than just posting this quote for all to see.

One thing I think all entrepreneurs have in common is that they don’t get discouraged by slipping down that chute. Like my coaches’ grandson they don’t perceive it as failure. They see it as a teachable moment and that they have the opportunity of being only four spaces away from success. They also don’t see failure as a zero sum game. Like in the game of Chutes and Ladders, even if you go down a chute, you are never taken back to the start of the game; even with failure you have still made progress.

What “chute” has actually gotten you closer to your “ladder” of success? I’d love to hear your stories. I truly believe the more we see these chutes as strategic byproducts that end up getting us to our ultimate success, we will reach company growth and innovation much faster.

Tell Me What You Want

I am honored to be serving my state and the manufacturing community with two recent appointments — CMTA Chairman and Workforce Investment Board Member. In an effort to identify the needs of industry, create career pathways that provide businesses with the skilled workforce they need, and to assist in putting unemployed and underemployed Californians back to work, Governor Brown has rebuilt and reinvigorated the state's long-neglected Workforce Investment Board (WIB). I am excited to serve on the WIB.

Those who know me or follow me through social media know how passionate I am about technical education opportunities for California's students and workforce.

The stripping of classes in our K-12 educational system that expose students to potential technical career opportunities is an embarrassment. The focus on our states’ four year colleges disenfranchises so many of our state's youths. I feel it has had a direct correlation on our dropout rate from high school. Our current dropout rate is at 23.7 percent, according to a report released in June 2012 from the California Department of Education. This reality then puts a huge burden on our community colleges that then serve the needs of these many students later trying to educate themselves in order to enter the workforce.

In June, I was elected to serve as chairman of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association (CMTA). I am so proud to be associated with this association. The staff is truly world-class and works tirelessly to defend and support manufacturing in our state. As a small manufacturer I feel that CMTA gives me a platform for my concerns to be heard. Being part of this association allows me to make an impact on the state of manufacturing in California. My desire is to see many more small manufacturers join me at the CMTA. Your membership in the CMTA does make a difference.

Our collective voice matters. The only way for us to affect a change is for us to speak up and be heard by our state politicians. So many of our politicians have never run a company and too many of them still believe that manufacturing is a dirty and unhealthy work environment for workers. They need to be educated that manufacturers provide some of the best jobs to be had in our state, and often, cutting edge environments using industry inspired innovations.

As I settle into these positions, tell me how I can help. What do you want me to champion? What do you want me to share with you through social media? I want to be confident that I am speaking for all of you who work within the manufacturing sector in California.

Focus on the Process and the Results Will Come

I am a huge fan of the Olympics. I am in awe of all the athletes and the dedication and training they put in to achieve the status of becoming an Olympian. As it turns out, this Olympics coincides with my vacation. This means I have the time to watch even MORE of the Olympics than usual.

Credit: CBS

Yesterday I was enjoying my morning coffee and watching the Olympics when on comes an interview with Kelci Bryant and Abigail Johnston, the two women who have broken the US diving drought in the Olympics and earned themselves silver medals in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard.

The interviewer asked them incessant questions, implying that their focus was on winning a medal. After about the fourth question on this subject, Kelci responded to him by saying something to the effect that they never focused on winning the medal. She continued by saying that what they did do is focus on the process of diving well. She then said that if they worked the process hard enough the results would come.  BRAVA! I said to myself. That is one very smart young lady.

I look to my own business and I can say the very same thing. Bishop-Wisecarver helps manufacturers and automation solution providers engineer linear and rotary motion products. Our 60-plus years of engineering expertise and best practices with more than 20,000 customers enables us to understand our customers’ design and application requirements, ensuring unique solutions that ship within two to three weeks. Our customers achieve 50 percent faster time to market, up to 100 percent lower maintenance and installed costs, product differentiation and longer product life.

What is the underlying backbone to being able to deliver this level of service to our customers? Our relentless focus on process. From lean/continuous improvement to engineering, sales and technology processes, we never stop improving our internal processes.

Scott Klososky likes to say the he who has the most data wins. I would revise that to say he who has the most data and best processes wins. Because, if you don’t have great processes, then you’ll never be able to truly exploit the data to its fullest potential.

So while setting the goal is important, it’s even more important to work on your processes because that constant refinement will result in achieving the goal.

What process has generated the biggest payoff to you? I’d love to hear your stories.

It’s a Great Time to be a Female Entrepreneur!

BWC President Pamela Kan

As most of you know I am a second generation family member running Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation. My father, Bud Wisecarver, started the business decades ago. I began work here on April 1, 1991. That’s no joke — I thought it would be a temporary job but the business got into my blood and I stayed on. I became the president in May of 2000 and then I became the majority owner at the end of 2009.

Becoming a majority owner set me on my quest of becoming a WBENC certified woman owned business. This was more of an endeavor than I realized. Having more than 60 years of company history made the application process quite daunting. At times I was honestly pretty frustrated. But in the end, the process means you receive a certification that is vetted and respected.

Unfortunately I received certification just after the annual WBENC meeting last year. So I was very excited to be able to attend this year’s conference. It was held just a few weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. Anytime you put thousands of women in the same ballroom it is bound to be a good time — and it was!

Thank goodness for the first-timers orientation programs. I went to them all and I started to really see the potential and opportunities that certification provides. Selling into the supplier diversity channel is a whole other world — language, protocols and paperwork. But it is worth learning, because the opportunities to tap into the supply chain for these major corporations and government entities are extremely exciting.

The business fair was really a great experience. I got really good at pitching my company. My hat off to sales people. That is hard to do all day long! Working this channel as a manufacturer was really rewarding. There just are not a lot of us, and even fewer who are certified. I was very popular with the corporate partners in attendance. I strongly recommend that women in the manufacturing and technology sectors look at the benefits of becoming WBENC certified.

From my point of view, there is nothing but up-side potential just waiting to be tapped.

Go Out and Exercise ... Your Right to Vote

Today is the primary vote in the state of California. Since I have turned 18, no matter where I have lived, I have never missed a single vote. I am extremely passionate about people exercising their right to vote partly because of a trip to Europe I took with my mother in 1976.

Growing up, I was extremely lucky to have the experience of having students and young adults from around the world live with my family — Brazil, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Norway, Costa Rica and Iran. It was a great to hear how other people lived and thought about their countries and the USA.

In 1976, my mother and I did a tour of Europe and visited several of these visitors. In Germany we were taken to the border of East and West Germany. It was a profound and terrifying experience. 

Here is what I remember: I looked across a field that led into the forest. In the field I was told there were land mines. To my left and my right were guard towers. Each guard tower had two guards carrying rifles with scopes. Several times while standing on the West German side the guards would point their guns at us and watch us through their scopes. In front of me was a tall barbed wire fence, electrified, and every 25 to 30 feet along the top of that were motion sensitive guns. After that fence was the “free zone” of about 10 to 15 feet. Finally, closest to me, was a short chain link fence for the boarder of West Germany.

It was a life changing experience for me — to see a country literally fence its citizens in under force. I could not even image living under such conditions. I realized then that I lived in a very special country. I am not saying that the USA doesn’t make mistakes; it has and will continue to do so I am sure. But I still feel strongly that it is the greatest land of freedom and opportunity in the world.

Seeing that fence also makes me against the building of a wall/fence between the US and Mexico. Who's to say how that border gets used in the future? That is one risk I am not willing to take. There are so many other ways to deal with immigration besides building a physical barrier — but I digress.

The common excuse I hear is I don’t want to be an uninformed vote. I really don’t buy this as an excuse. There are so many resources to use now with the internet to get educated on both sides of an issue I just can’t buy that. Spend 20 minutes less on Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest and get the facts.

I am so disappointed in how few people vote in this country. A right that was so hard fought for by our founding fathers and many civil leaders in this country. A right that still today many people both male and especially female do not have in other places around the world. A right you can see people literally dying for on the evening news, yet most Americans can’t be bothered with taking a few minutes out of the lives once or twice a year to do. 

I think so much of this has to do with that fact that even though Forbes reports record holdings of passports by US citizens — now at one-third, which has doubled from 2000 — most US citizens have never really seen for themselves how much of the rest of the world lives. They do not really get what a good thing we have going here in American. They don’t understand how precious their right to vote really is in the scope of world dynamics.

As we get closer to our national elections there will be endless stories with poling numbers. I always have a hard time getting excited about anything the talking heads are predicting because how many of those people are actually going to vote? Even in the 2008 elections we only achieved a 63 percent voter rate, meaning that almost 40 percent of those who could vote did not. Shameful. 

I also hold to one rule, if you don’t vote you can’t complain around me. You have zero, zilch, zip no credibility in complaining if you did not even take the time to go and vote.

For those of you who are Californians, go vote today. If your primary is coming up, take the time to educate yourself and vote. Come November, it would be a wonderful thing for our country if we all cast our votes for those candidates and causes we believe will make our country an even better place to live.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love Supporting FIRST

Here are my top reasons for supporting FIRST® — my company has been an official program sponsor since 2007, and I recently attended the 2012 championship in St. Louis, MO with part of the BWC team.

1. Kids learn how to work productively in groups
2. Creating a functional robot from a bunch of parts is pretty darn exciting
3. Kids learn why they want to stay in school
4. STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) matters
5. Girls get a chance to get actively involved in STEM
6. Yes, girls can grow up to own and run engineering/manufacturing companies
7. Raising money for something you believe in is a great skill
8. How you play the game can be as important as winning the game — gracious professionalism
9. Being smart, creative, nerdy or geeky is cool
10. Dean Kamen is my kind of rock star!

Psst — Get the infographic my creative team made about this year's program... we've got a PDF download on our website. Check is out and let me know what you think!

[ infographic ]

We’re Fools For Being Number One

Just in time for April Fools, on April 1, the United States became the country with the highest corporate tax rate in the world. This was triggered by Japan reducing their rate. As cited by The Daily Caller, “Our top corporate tax rate has hovered at 35 percent for years. Meanwhile, other countries have gotten the message that lowering corporate taxes encourages growth. Canada has engaged in a series of cuts, ultimately reducing its corporate rate to 15 percent. Great Britain recently announced it will drop its corporate tax to 24 percent next month and then 22 percent by 2014.”

I know some of you are going to say, well what about all those big companies that pay no taxes? Well you are right. The effective tax rate for the large companies drops us to about sixth highest in the world, according to some economic pundits. The problem is that most companies are not operating like those big guys and it is the small and medium size businesses that are really the economic engine of our country. When you figure that most small business are filing as S corps, then I have heard that the effective tax rate could be as high as 50 percent.

In my state it is even worse since California is broke. There is no plan in sight to create any sort of economic development. Instead we pass the most stringent environmental laws IN THE WORLD that cost billions to California based businesses. Now we have two proposals to increase income taxes, once again, a direct hit to all those small businesses that file as S corps.

For those of you who complain about U.S. jobs moving off-shore, this tax burden is a huge part of that equation, along with the fact that US companies carry about a 20 percent regulatory cost burden above any other country in the world.

Personally, I would love to see the tax loop holes closed up and a movement toward a flatter tax rate. There is definitely a problem when I am in a meeting to discuss tax issues for small business and the two IRS representatives can’t even agree on what the tax law is or how it should be applied.

I know this is a hot topic right now, so share your creative ideas on how you would solve our country’s tax code problems and once again make us competitive with the rest of the world.