Dear Detroit!
There is still time for you to get back into the game. With the way Toyota has handled the recalls-well it supports the notion you still have legs ! With innovative engineering and the "Buy America" attitude well this could be the road back to recovery! It is a small opening, and worth making the effort to see if the Big Three can become players again.
This has been a heck of a week. Please allow me to detail what has taken place with my Toyota Avalon and Toyota over the past two weeks. Last week I was to travel to Milwaukee Wednesday afternoon January 27, for business. I had read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times Tuesday morning about the possible recall due to stuck accelerators. I called my area Toyota dealership Tuesday evening about 6:10 after I heard on NBC nightly news other issues were coming to the fore and a recall would be given shortly. I called the head service technician, Eric and asked him if the car was safe to drive to Milwaukee as I was taking a colleague. He replied, “No problem, you have a better chance of winning the Powerball than anything happening with your car." I then asked what the next steps were. He said Toyota would be contacting me and it was a “software” problem with the car and of course the media was blowing it all out of proportion. He went on to say that the claims were completely unfounded. I asked just in case my accelerator did get stuck what the appropriate action was. His response was “Tap the brake” and never a word of putting the car in neutral. Ah, what credibility from Smart Motors in Madison, WI.
Of course the story unfolded from there. I came back from my trip - nothing happened and then called on Wednesday to get an oil change. I talked to Eric who said they were booked for the full service oil change, and to try the Quick Service, and then I mentioned I had not heard anything about my car. He ran my VIM number through and said my Toyota was not on the list. He said I did not need to bring it in and my car was okay. I happened to have extra time from work and decided go to the Toyota Quick Lub at which time a young man waited on me and look up by Vim number. He replied to me “Your car is on the list and Toyota should be contacting you. You can also call this number to make an appointment.- something that Eric never did. I then called Eric back Thursday – in fact twice and no one returned my call. Finally Friday morning I received a call from Eric. “ ah yes you are now on the list and your car needs to come in and oh by the way the thing I told you about the software –well that is not true.
As you can see I have had nothing but misinformation from Toyota. They have lost credibility in my eyes and Detroit take note. You have an in to make a comeback here. Toyota’s brand is built on total quality control and the ability to have excellent trust with the customer. I doubt I will every buy another Toyota.
This has been way over the top for me. Thank you Eric and Smart Motors for not only not being truthful to be, but basically making up whatever you could to appease the customer. However this customer is a professor and understands the marketing and customer process. Shame on you!
Here we are approaching the end of January… and almost a full month into 2010. Over the holiday I received the book National Parks written by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. This book details the journey of how our national park system came into existence. It has also been aired on PBS in a several part beautiful visual story of one of America’s greatest treasure; our natural surroundings. After reading the book I reflected upon what makes America so precious and our national parks certainly are part of that magic. I highly recommend you read the book or watch the series.
Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story about the new tablet device from Apple. The Journal suggested Apple CEO Steve Jobs bets the tablet will "reshape businesses like textbooks, newspapers and television much the way his iPod revamped the music industry".
Apple is said to be in talks with numerous content companies, such as CBS, Walt Disney, Electronics Arts, New York Times, McGraw Hill, and others to provide fee based content.Apple has pitched the device to the education market, and believes the device can be used to easily share information with others. Former executives at textbook publishers Cengage Learning and Pearson Education have been hired and given the mission to drive the growth of Apple’s online education store.
This could revolutionize the education field as we know it today. Exciting times ahead and tumultuous change for higher education!
I have been reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb who has discussed in great length about
predictability and exploring how we can/cannot prepare ourselves for
the future. This book is reflective of Thomas Kuhn in his well
cited publication of how new paradigms are introduced into society;
thus making way for change and how we think about truth. Kuhn (1962)
in his controversial book spoke to the issue of the establishment
surrounding and protecting bodies of knowledge. In reality, according
to Taleb, that position becomes a defensive posture and one not open
to radical change. Bill Gates of Microsoft was ridiculed for having
the vision of a computer on every desktop, while IBM could only
envision main frames. Gates made a conscious decision to imagine the
possibilities. Richard Feynman in his now infamous challenge in 1959
at Cal-Tech questioned the possibility of writing the entire 24
volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica on the head of a pin. This is
known today as the emerging markets of nanotechnology. These men
reflect the improbability that Taleb so adeptly describes.
Taleb (2007) concludes the first part of his book by suggesting man stays with the
comfortable and project on the future from that vantage point. In
addition our lens is blurred by our frame of reference, thus not
allowing us a clear picture of what might be. History at times has
hidden behind a curtain of probability, yet when we dig deep we see
that history has been full of surprises that no one could have
predicted. Finally we support our thoughts on a few well known and
cited sources, thus reinforcing the comfortable thinking. The Black
Swan theory is about improbability, unlikely events, and circumstances
that we as individuals can leverage or just let pass by never to be
utilized. Taleb has suggested two major factors as stumbling
blocks to the black swan scenarios; that of confirmation bias and that
of narrative fallacy.
The philosopher Eric Hoffer (1973) perhaps said it best, "In a time of
drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned
usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer
exists"(p.22).
Think about this in your professional experiences. Have you been
lulled in a "group think" thus shutting out the possibilities? Are
those most resistant to change doing the same?
Recently, I had the opportunity to hear Bill McKibben speak in Madison, Wisconsin. I had used one of his books Our Post Human Future in a class I taught at Illinois Institute of Technology on emerging technologies, but had not really had the time to delve into the context from which he has written. I have just finished reading four of his works; Hope Human and Wild, The Age of Missing Information, Deep Economy, and finally The Comforting Whirlwind after hearing him talk about his latest book, Deep Economy. How would I characterize this author? The one common thread that appeared to connect with me in each of his books is his love of nature and how we as human beings enjoy something special with that connect. While we surge ahead with economic greed and consumerism, Bill McKibben suggests that we are losing something very valuable ; our connection to nature. He goes on to suggest that each time we distance ourselves from arrears like; how food is produced, decline of appreciation of the beauty and majesty all around us, and respect for nature; we are doomed. Man has the inevitable idea that he can control nature and bend nature to his will.
(more…)
Sunday, April 22, 207 I will be attending Earth Day here in Madison Wisconsin. Sonya Newenhouse, Ph.D. and President of Madison Environmental Group is hosting an open house which will feature full circle furniture, envrionmentally friendly architects, Community Car, learning more about green, and the opportunity to meet like minds.
(more…)
Joel Rogers of the Apollo Alliance spoke the last week in March about How Global Warming Can Save Democracy. A most interesting conversation about how our problems could provide the incentive for Americans to act on the local level to move forward issues of sustainability.
Jane Goodall The Woman Who Redefined Man by Dale Peterson is a book that delves into man and his relationship with animals through an extraordinary individual named Jane Goodall. It is a riveting account of her natural connection with the native animals of Africa and her lifetime devotion to a better understanding of their uniqueness. It also follows her journey with the novel techniques she engaged to become truly communicative with the chimps. The book details her disappointment and hurt from the scientific community not accepting her unorthodox field methodologies.
The novel reveal Jane’s special relationship with not only the chimps, but many species of animal life and how she came to believe we are connected in many more ways than we had imagined. It is a book about a strong willed personality convicted by her sense of compassion and understanding of the animal kingdom.
