Oscar Winners' Impact On the U.S. Retail Industry Is More Than Red Carpet Best Dressed Fashion Knockoffs - Clues About Employee Rewards and Recognition From the Academy Awards
When the stars strutted down the red carpet of the 82nd annual Academy Awards event, the fashion police were eager to identify all the worsts that make the best dish, but the U.S. retail industry was rooting for the good taste of this year's stylists and designers. The longer the red carpet best-dressed list, the greater the impact on the post-Oscar multimillion-dollar red carpet knockoff business.
But not everything of value to the retail industry happens on the red carpet. Retailers who watch the Academy Awards and award shows like it through the eyes of a leader get clues about rewards and recognition that can benefit their retail business long after the hottest Oscar fashion knockoffs are forgotten.
The reason why 40 million people willingly watch while the film industry rewards and promotes itself is because most of us rarely experience a definitive point of recognition where dreams and accomplishments become one in the same. We don't win the recognition as the best in our job, best in our field, or best in our industry because we are rarely afforded the opportunity.
Every day there are employees in every industry who are giving the best performance of their life, without anybody even noticing, much less staging a black tie event or engraving a statue for them. Millions watch the Academy Awards because as they watch the winners get chosen and applauded, and they watch the few winners who are brave enough to deliver an acceptance speech that's not written on an index card, they get to see what ultimate recognition looks and sounds like. Consciously or unconsciously, millions of people want to feel what it feels like to be recognized as the best.
Every Oscar fan remembers the moment in 1985 when Sally Field won her second Academy Award and gushed words that would be parodied for decades to come - "You like me! You really like me!" But we've all forgotten the part of the speech that came after that. When Field said, "I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect," she was speaking for every working person everywhere. We remember that acceptance speech from the grown-up Gidget not just because it was absurdly humorous, but also because it was real. We all want to have that moment when we know with certainty that our work is respected.
One of my consulting projects was creating a 5-day customer service training program for front-line hourly employees who worked for a large national retail chain. Built into the design of the program was 30 minutes for a "graduation." I got some pushback from the company's managers for that part of the program design because some of them thought that the 30 minutes should be used for teaching, and if there was nothing left to teach, then the employees should be sent home, off the time clock.
I felt very strongly that a 40-hour training event deserved an exclamation point at the end of it, so I pushed back against the pushback and we kept the graduation ceremony.
The graduation wasn't elaborate by any standards - music out of a boom box played while individuals were called up to receive a certificate printed on a desktop printer, and a dollar store trinket. During one of these ceremonies there was a young woman - we'll call her Latoya - who came up to the front of the room, took her certificate and burst into tears. Her co-worker classmates clapped louder and she cried harder.
Then the clapping died down, but the crying didn't stop. After a very uncomfortable pause in the festivities that seemed to last about an hour, the facilitator of the program asked Latoya what the tears were about. After another protracted uncomfortable pause, Latoya gathered herself together enough to say, "I've never finished anything before in my life."
There was a lot more clapping, and a lot more crying from everyone in the room for Latoya. What we all observed that day was a moment of significance.
In that moment Latoya saw herself as more than one of the nameless undereducated employees who shuffle through life earning the minimum wages allowed by law. In that moment Latoya got the opportunity to see herself differently and from that moment she could springboard to attempting - and finishing - other things too. This was LaToya's Oscar-winning moment, hopefully the first of many.
There are obvious differences between a priceless gold-plated statuette awarded on the stage of an iconic theater in front of a global audience and a 50-cent paper certificate awarded in the front of a windowless training classroom decorated with flip chart pages. When an actor, writer, director, producer, or technical contributor is awarded an Oscar, it almost always instantly means better projects, better pay, better handlers and better treatment in the film industry. I'm pretty positive that Latoya's customer service training certificate did not yield the same instant results for her.
Despite the obvious differences, though, both LaToya and Sandra Bullock have one big thing in common. After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized Sandra as the"best," forever more she will have the phrase "Academy Award-winning" in front of her name. She instantly and forever more took on a new identity. Similarly, with her graduation certificate as evidence, Latoya instantly became "the girl who can finish things." She was able to expand her own sense of identity and that is what Latoya was telling us that her tears were about.
It's not obvious in all industries where the Oscar-worthy accomplishments are found, if they exist at all. Retail leaders who aren't clear about where the award-winning performances can be found at all levels of their organization hopefully flipped channels during the Oscar telecast to get some inspiration from a CBS reality-type reality-check show called "Undercover Boss."
If you haven't seen the show yet, "Undercover Boss" follows different corporate leaders each week as they pose as a new employee in their own organization, and join the rank and file on their own front line. Even though the show is more forumlaic than raw reality, it is still obvious that the employees are clueless to the setup and the executives are authentically surprised by what they find.
In the first week President Larry O'Donnell discovers a Waste Management employee who cleans porta potties for a living with an enthusiasm that transcends the nasty duties that wait for him every day. In another episode, CEO Joe DePinto finds out that the record-breaking coffee sales at one of his 7-11 stores has nothing to do with the coffee and everything to do with a veteran hourly employee named Delores. White Castle owner Dave Rife trains under a graveyard drive-thru employee who treats customers with much more care and respect than the drunk and disorderly deserve.
There's no glitter and glamour in waste management, fast food restaurants, or convenience stores. But there are award-winning performances that are happening there every day. The employees who were impressing the plastic name tags off the undercover bosses didn't just do an exemplary job on that particular undercover day. They had been doing an exemplary job for years. So why did it take a TV show and a camera crew for their leaders to notice?
The answer to that question can be found in the entertainment industry as well. In the newest film about Sherlock Holmes, (which received two Oscar nominations), Holmes stops his sidekick Watson from impaling himself on a nearly invisible razor sharp glass sheath. When Watson realizes what Holmes saved him from, he asks Holmes incredulously, "How ever did you notice it?" Holmes replies (in classic Robert Downy Jr. deadpan style) "I saw it because I was looking for it."
The undercover bosses found award-winning employees when they put themselves in the position to look for them. Just because a leader doesn't have a systematic way to identify stellar performances doesn't mean they aren't happening. Retail managers who don't make it a priority to proactively identify the superstars at all levels of their organization and provide their employees with the opportunity to experience meaningful Oscar-winning moments are being derelict in their leadership duties.
What the gold-plated Oscar statuettes handed out each year symbolize is significance. The "best" have done significant work in a significant way that made a significant impact. It would serve American business well for managers in all industries to watch the Oscar broadcast and think about how they could bestow that kind of moment of significance on someone under their supervision.
Is there anything that anybody in any industry really wants any more than the definitive recognition that tells them they are significant?
Oscar Winners' Impact On the U.S. Retail Industry Is More Than Red Carpet Best Dressed Fashion Knockoffs - Clues About Employee Rewards and Recognition From the Academy Awards originally appeared on About.com Retail Industry on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 at 18:55:39.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
View original story : originally+saved
Feed : About.com Retail Industry
Meet Joe Tom and Van
Joe Tom and his van, originally uploaded by gurdonark.
We dined on pho and salad rolls for lunch. We stopped by a Staples to get a specialized battery, but it turnd out I had to get one later from Radio Shack. I created a three second stop-motion animation of a van rolling on a counter-top, using my little 25 dollar Sunplus camera. It took 18 photos to make a 3 second segment. The animation was pretty primitive, and the images looked best in sepia due to the camera. Still, I thought the project, saved to my flickr, was proof-of-concept. i was happy with my experiment.
I turned to the question of a leading actor. I created Joe Tom, pictured above, from some modeling clay. i already have a painted van which will be the other character in the animation, named Van. I used a better camera to create a new 3 seconds of animation. Then I recorded some narration dialogue I like the way it came out.
My friend queenseye will kindly do the score for the short film i intend to make.
The next scene will involve the van on a desert road. I have green clay with which to make cactus. I want this scene to be at least 20 seconds long, so I will have to design an interesting road.
This should take me a month or two , but it will be an interesting project.
View original story : originally+saved
Feed : Robert
Peter Durward Harris gave 5 stars to: Pop Goes the Weasel
Peter Durward Harris reviewed:Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes by Albert Jack
Humpty Dumpty was a weapon of mass destruction, March 10, 2010 This is one of two rival British publications about the origins of nursery rhymes that appeared in 2008. I bought this one first, then realized that it would make sense to buy the other, Hey diddle diddle, and compare them. The immediate difference is in the price, this one being the more expensive but covering many more rhymes and doing so in more detail. However, there are some things in Hey diddle diddle that the author of this book missed out.
In this book, the author sometimes failed to establish clearly the origins of some of them, offering conflicting theories and suggesting the one that is likeliest to be true. However, he has no doubt that Humpty Dumpty was originally a cannon that sat in a church tower during the English Civil War. The cannon was very effective at protecting the royalist stronghold of Colchester until one day when the republicans managed to bring down the entire church tower. So Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again. The question of the origin of the name is not answered, nor even asked in this book, but the author explains why Humpty Dumpty is now portrayed as an egg; this was the way he was portrayed in Alice through the looking glass, and the image has stuck. The rival publication Hey diddle diddle suggests that Humpty Dumpty was originally a name given to an obese person.
Elsewhere in the book, the author has unearthed plenty of old rhymes and attempts to explain their origins. The text for each rhyme is given in full, which is just as well because I don't recognize a lot of them and even those that I do recognize contain verses that I don`t remember. While most of them are indeed nursery rhymes, I'm not sure if all of them are; Red sky at night (a farming rhyme not included in the rival book) is certainly old, but is it really a nursery rhyme?
One rhyme that is of uncertain origin is Hey diddle diddle! This piece of apparent nonsense could have been about the circumstances surrounding the accession of Richard III to the English throne in 1485, while another theory is based on Elizabeth I and her courtiers, but the author prefers a third theory, that it was written as an educational rhyme to help teach children astronomy. A theory not discussed in this book, but in the rival book that uses this rhyme as its title , suggests that the rhyme may be based on a pub crawl and points to the names of public houses, all of which existed in the eighteenth century, along a road between Macclesfield and Buxton in England.
I'd heard, long before this book was published, that disease (perhaps the Black Plague of the 1340`s) inspired Ring-a-ring o' roses. After explaining why this would seem plausible, the author systematically takes apart that theory. Apparently, the rhyme was first published in Britain in 1881 and made no mention of sneezing. The text was changed a few times before the version we are all familiar with became standard. The rival book doesn't mention the publication date or the published text; the author apparently happy to accept conventional wisdom that the rhyme is about a plague.
One rhyme that I don't recall but may have heard during my childhood is The lion and the unicorn, not covered in the rival book, which is apparently about England (the lion) fighting Scotland (the unicorn) at Culloden in 1745. Another rhyme that originated in Anglo-Scottish rivalry is There was a crooked man, which is set in the 1640's during the reign of Charles I. Ultimately, the Scots and the English all lived together in their little crooked house (Britain), though it has always been a somewhat uneasy relationship.
Some of the famous rhymes have more verses than most people are familiar with. There are actually five verses to Little Bo Peep, but I wonder how many people remember the entire rhyme? This particular rhyme apparently has its origins in smuggling, with Little Bo Peep being the customs officers, the sheep being the smugglers and the tails being the contraband. Both books agree on this one. Several locations in St Leonard's (on the Sussex coast near Hastings) carry the Bo Peep name.
While some of these rhymes were inspired by royalty, |playing cards actually inspired The queen of hearts, not covered in the rival book, which is the one rhyme you would assume to be about royalty. Among the other rhymes included here, you'll find Baa baa black sheep, Bobby Shafto, Ding dong bell, Georgie Porgie, Goosie goosie gander, Grand old Duke of York, Here we go round the mulberry bush, Hickory dickory dock, Hot cross buns, House that Jack built, Jack and Jill, Jack be nimble, Jack Sprat, Ladybird ladybird, Little Bo Peep, Little Boy Blue, Little Jack Horner, Little Miss Muffett, Little Polly Flinders, Little Tommy Tucker, London Bridge is falling down, London's burning, Lucy Lockett, Mary had a little lamb, Mary Mary quite contrary, Monday's child, Old King Cole, Old Mother Hubbard, Oranges and lemons, Owl and the pussycat, Polly put the kettle on, Pop goes the weasel, Pussy cat pussy cat, Rain rain go away, Remember remember the fifth of November, Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, Rock a bye baby, Rub a dub dub, See saw Margery Daw, Simple Simon, Sing a song of sixpence, Solomon Grundy, There was a little girl, There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, Three blind mice, Tom Tom the piper's son, Twinkle twinkle little star,0 Wee Willie Winkie and some others that I haven't mentioned.
Although not included here, the rival book Hey diddle diddle includes Hark hark the dogs do bark, A wise old owl, Christmas is coming and Doctor Foster. If you want to know the origins of those four poems, you'll need that book; however, if you only want to buy one book, remember that this one contains far more rhymes overall.
Towards the end of the book, the author stretches the boundaries of the book further by including eleven traditional songs and anthems (Amazing grace, God save the queen, Good King Wenceslas, The hokey cokey, I saw three ships, Jerusalem, The miller of Dee, Skye boat song, Star spangled banner, Swing low sweet chariot, Yankee doodle dandy). Of course, I love this section even though it's not strictly within the scope of the book, but I wish the author had left them out and saved them for a whole book about the origins of traditional songs. Given that he only selected eleven, The miller of Dee (a song I don't remember hearing) seems out of place in the company of the other, much better known songs.
This is a fascinating book and, unless you know the origins of the rhymes already (and I`ve spoiled it for you in some cases), there are very few of them that you are likely to correctly guess. Meanwhile, the true origins give you little glimpses into British history in a much more entertaining way than your average history book could ever do. It's not quite all British (there's at least one American rhyme here - There was a little girl), while the French are also represented, but it is mostly British. Nevertheless, if you're familiar with some of these rhymes, or even if you're interested in the history of the British royal family (the inspiration for so many rhymes), you'll find plenty to amuse you here. If you only want one book, this is worth the extra cost compared to Hey diddle diddle .
View original story : originally+saved
Feed : Peter Durward Harris' Customer Reviews
Streetcar USA building to become Royal Oak bistro
The home of Streetcar USA is about to become a space for a new restaurant in downtown Royal Oak.
The
specialty auto-technology firm is moving to new office space in
Southfield so the owner, Michael Chetcuti, who is also principal of
Streetcar USA, can open the space up to a full-service bistro within
the next 6-8 months.
"The dramatic proportions of the space
lends itself to a restaurant or entertainment venue," Chetcuti says.
"We have rented it out so many times to bridal showers and parties over
the last three years."
That's how long ago Chetcuti saved what was often considered an
obsolete building. He put his automotive firm on the main floor and his
wine shop in the basement. Before that it had been a vacant structure
on Main Street just south of the railroad tracks.
The 4,000-square-foot St. Clair Edison building,
711 S. Main St, is 104 years old, making it one of Royal Oak's oldest.
It originally served as a power generating plant for streetcars, and
later as a warehouse.
Source: Michael Chetcuti, principal of Streetcar USA
Writer: Jon Zemke
View original story : originally+saved
Feed : metromode - Development News
