KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON

A lot of the news coming out of Europe is about governmental austerity cuts and reduced spending set against a backdrop, which for the automotive industry, really should be reporting a different story. 

The North American USA market is on the up, with 2 years of consecutive growth and global car manufacturing output is hitting all-time highs. This has been supported by a massive increase in manufacturer spending at this year’s Detroit Motor Show in January and at the NADA convention in Las Vegas a few weeks ago.

A closer look at the USA market shows that it is 3 million units below the average units sold annually from 1990 through 2011 (15.27 Million units), so whilst the growth of the last 2 years is welcomed, businesses really do need to KEEP CALM AND FOCUSED to best exploit the slow growth.

Which is my segue into a monologue on my favourite set of motivational posters today.

1939

I love the message that the KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON poster delivers (touted as the greatest motivational poster of all time). It sort of says to me to hold steady, keep doing what you are doing and things will work out.  

The background to it is interesting. The poster was initially produced by the British Ministry of Information in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War in Britain. The intent of the poster was to strengthen the morale of the British public in the event of a wartime disaster at a time when the country was ill prepared (which could also be said for a lot of countries and businesses faced with the continuing economic crisis of today).

The poster was from a set of three, the second being: FREEDOM IS IN PERIL DEFEND IT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT

And the third:YOUR COURAGE, YOUR CHEERFULNESS, YOUR RESOLUTION WILL BRING US VICTORY

All three posters are great messages for businesses in this new world of continual change, when the future is more difficult to read than it has been before.

The message that the second poster delivers to me is more of a timely warning; that you need to work really hard now, today, to protect the investment you and your people have put into your business and into your customers in the past. It will be you and your staffs combined and unified efforts that will protect and nurture the business in the future.  

My personal favourite is the sentiment delivered in the third poster. I think the message sums up what is really needed to succeed in business today in one sentence.

YOUR COURAGE; Have the courage to keep on doing what you are doing, have the courage to change and evolve, have the courage to do something different and have the courage and conviction to carry on.

  

YOUR CHEERFULNESS; the automotive business world has a lot to be cheerful for. The US manufacturing base could have been wiped out in 2008, it wasn’t and today it’s growing with some fantastic products coming out of Detroit. Germany has had a record manufacturing year and China is continuing to devour cars.

READING HALF 2011, HAPPY JUST TO FINISH!

HAPPY PEOPLE; I like dealing with cheerful happy people, which is the image of our industry that we should be promoting. 

             

The word CHEERFULNESS is all about optimism, and joy and FUN. We should show it, demonstrate it, live it and work it because happy employees make happy customers. That’s how excellent service is delivered.  

Steve Jobs summed business up by saying “All you need to be successful is a great product and then deliver it through excellent service”. The automotive industry has some fantastic products; it’s the excellent service bit that we can work on.

YOUR RESOLUTION; this word is about focus, determination, tenacity and persistence. Keep focused on your serving your customers as best you can, be determined to give a level of service that is second to none, have the tenacity to do every job to the best of your ability and the persistence to follow things through, every lead, every opportunity and every sale.   

The challenge that Britain faced on the eve of the Second World War was an enormous one. The challenges faced by businesses, in the age of austerity, pale into insignificance in comparison.

That the messages of 1939 still resonate so strongly today is more than just a timely coincidence. It’s direction from the past about how to move forward in the future, a message that is worth listening to.