Daniel Howes of the Detroit News offers up further proof this morning that reading comprehension skills are sorely lacking in this state, and that Detroit and the pundits surrounding the Big Three will go anywhere and do anything to avoid implementing the strategies that might help turnaround the American auto industry.
Instead of listening to the words of Dan Mulhern as he talks about how successful companies like Toyota treat their employees well and therefore get results that benefit everyone, Howes would rather take this time to ignore the message and shoot the messenger in yet another desperate Detroit News attempt to attack Jennifer Granholm and protect Detroit from hearing the things it doesn't want to hear.
You know, like how to run a successful, growing company with loyal employees.
For over thirty years now the American consumer has been screaming at Detroit, and they still refuse to listen to innovation. People like Howes are the great enablers in this charade, printing reactionary editorial columns that totally miss the point of the original message in the first place.
And if the American automakers don't want to listen to the message of what makes a company a success with employees and customers alike, don't be surprised when they finally go under.
What is Michigan's first gentleman, Daniel Granholm Mulhern, thinking?
As Detroit's automakers plummet through various stages of free-fall, as home values slide, foreclosures rise and the very fabric of the state is stressed to the breaking point, he uses his weekly e-mail blast on leadership -- "Reading for Leading" -- to extol the leadership of Toyota.
In fact, is he thinking at all?
Are you, Mr. Howes?
Here is what Dan actually said is his column that puts the emphasis on people. People, after all, are what create the product. Treat your people well, and they in turn will treat you well. Easy lesson in management.
The Toyota folks and the great company folks know that “culture beats strategy” every time. They have strategies to achieve results. But they know and constantly verbalize that the only way you get results is through people. For these folks it’s not just that people are the necessary means, but that people are ends in themselves. It’s not just that the employees are there for the company’s success, but at some really deep level, they believe the company is there for the employees’ success. So they pay attention to people. They have a “what” of results they’re pursuing, but they pay primary attention to the who and to the how.
This message of quality of atmosphere for employees is somehow threatening to Detroit? Why?
Howes admits the automakers have fallen behind.
Yes, they do, witness the competitive tsunami pushing Big Detroit Auto to the brink of all it holds dear -- jobs, plants, profits, market share, its standard of living, survival -- because Detroit waited way too long to rouse itself from its self-satisfied torpor.
But do we need the first gentleman, husband of the governor who ostensibly will "go anywhere and do anything" to create jobs, opining right now on the blockbuster leadership techniques of the foreign archrival kicking Detroit's collective behind?
Yes! Yes we do! Whatever it takes to help American auto industry get back on its feet! If we can learn from the Toyotas of the world, perhaps we can pull out of this nosedive and save the jobs we have and maybe create more!
No, says the Detroit News. We refuse to listen. We attack instead.
Howes votes to continue to stick his head in the sand and take this positive message of change as a threat, typical of the behavior and attitude that has cost this state its livelihood and brought us to the brink of going under.
Answer: No, we don't, especially when there are scores of analysts, academics, journalists and average-joe consumers variously equipped to trash Detroit with impunity and exalt the virtues of all things Toyota.
So, we are to ignore that which might help stop all the "trashing" from happening? In what world does that make sense?
This next point from Mulhern sails right over Howes' head.
"Messages are complicated," he replied. "To send a message is different than to receive a message. When people are sensitive, they may not hear a message."
That's one way of putting it.
Turns out it was a great way of "putting it", as Howes goes on to prove Dan's point. He uses this opportunity to blast the Governor some more, using quotes from auto executives who won't even give their names. More "Profiles in Courage" from Detroit, hiding behind anonymous quotes as they continue to run from success.
Next comes the obligatory slam at fuel economy, even though that had nothing to do with Mulhern's writing. Why the automakers are so resistant to this concept is a mystery- whenever the price of gas goes up, people turn to fuel-efficient cars, and have been for quite some time now. Detroit could spend a little now for greater profits later, yet they still refuse to make that change that consumers are demanding.
Predictions of $3 a gallon gas prices graced the pages of the News just yesterday. If this happens, watch sales of trucks and SUVs plummet once again. How many times do we have to learn this lesson?
The employees at Ford are lining up for buyouts, and were angry that not enough were available. Does that sound like a company where employees want to stay on because success is right around the corner?
No. As long as people like Howes enable the Big Three to ignore the message of creativity and a culture of innovation, whether it be in product or people, Detroit, and Michigan behind it, will continue its slide downward.
In a world where political points are to be scored no matter what the cost, it's much easier to take a shot at the kind man who offered words of encouragement rather than to listen to those words and make the changes that ultimately help people, therefore helping companies, therefore helping our state.
We better hope Toyota builds a plant here, because if this is the way Detroit is going to react every time someone points out the obvious solutions to the problems, there isn't much hope left for the American automakers.
Shooting the messenger is not the way successful companies behave. They embrace the things that help them be successful. Detroit needs to stop over-reacting and start listening to ideas that will help them succeed.
(A personal note: I had the great fortune to meet Dan Mulhern recently. At a time when my head was in a very negative space, and I once again started to doubt my self-worth as far as blogging goes, Dan had some very kind and sincere words of gratitude for my writing last year. Because I had my defense set so high, it took about a week for them to sink in, but when they did and I realized that he had no agenda behind them- well, I believed him more than I believed anyone else, and it all became real. I finally felt like I made a difference.
Thank you, Dan, wherever you are today- and keep on writing. This world needs the positive approach that you bring to it.
And I encourage anyone who needs a uplifting word to visit Dan's blog "Reading for Leading". Although I am in no way, shape, or form, a "leader", I always find that Dan's writing can apply to most everything in life. It's a great way to pull out of the doldrums and look toward the brighter side.)