The above quote from actress Geena Davis says it all when it comes to living a meaningful life. Taking a risk is one of the few “no lose” situations that life has to offer–if we succeed, we’re happy and excited, and if we fail, we learn from the experience which makes it much more probable that we’ll succeed the next time around. On the other hand, if we take no risks, we stop growing and life begins to pass us by–there is no more learning and no more excitement. When I find myself in a risk averse mood, I think of the following quote from Theodore Roosevelt: “Far better is it to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, for they live in that gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” It puts me back in touch with what life is all about.
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Sue, the Environmentalist
I told you about Sue Satterfield in a previous newsletter but she has been on my mind recently when I was thinking about changing the environment. Many years ago, my first wife, Ruthie and I were with Sue Satterfield and her husband Richard and after doing a safety meeting for Georgia Power in Atlanta, we decided to spend a few days with our hosts touring the beautiful foothills of Northern Georgia.
We visited the Hiawassee fairgrounds and then in the evening we attended a Country Music Festival. We guessed there were some five thousand people in the auditorium which was packed. Luckily, we found four seats together in the rear of the giant hall. As we walked into the auditorium I was hit by the hot, stale air. A group was on-stage singing their hearts out and the audience response was really flat.
Sue sat down, sniffed a bit and said out loud for all to hear, “This air is foul.” And, of course, we all agreed. “I’ll take care of that!” She said confidently. Sue stood up and went to the rear of the hall where the fellow from the Lion’s Club, the program sponsor, sat at a table. “This air is foul in here.” She said to the man.
He explained that he was alone at the desk and there was simply nothing he could do about the situation. “We’ve got to open up some of those side doors,” Sue said, and again the man said there was nothing he could do.
“I’ll take care of that!” Sue said and she walked to the rear of the hall and over to the front where they had these big doors that slid up like a garage door. She walked over to a fellow standing there and she said to him, “This air is foul in here. We’ve got to get some fresh air in here, will you hep me?” Actually she said “Will you help me,” but Sue had her own charming way of saying things. The man agreed and together they managed to swing this big door up and open it. Then he walked with her around the back on up front on the other side of the hall and together they opened up a door on that side.
Now she had a great system of cross ventilation going. It was heavenly.
Five thousand people had been sitting there suffering with the lack of oxygen and whatever elements people had sucked out of an air supply in the two days and nights of band competitions that had preceded this event: those five thousand people now began to inhale deeply.
It was like magic. The musicians on-stage began to perform better. The crowd really got into the music now and their survival was no longer in jeopardy. They all started clapping and stomping their feet and that turned out to be one of the most wonderful Country Music shows that we had attended in a long, long time.
Can you imagine five thousand people were willing to just sit there and put up with really stale air and not one of them made an effort to do anything about it. It took a :real Southern woman” named Sue.
Oh how the world needs more people like her…just one woman with some know-how and determination made the world a better place for five thousand people and she saved the concert that night.
Say Something Good
Americans…want an instant shot of pride and patriotism? Listen to The Star Spangled Banner the way it should be sung. May God bless our troops and keep them from harm, and may God Bless America.
What makes a safety program great?
I’d say, “Fresh ideas and passion.” I had two phone calls recently that reminded me of the importance of ideas. One was an idea I came up with years ago in connection with having employees sign a personal commitment to safety and to agree to positively interact with other employees if they see an unsafe act or an unsafe situation. A client had called me and said, “Art, your program worked great, now what do you have for me new this year. I suggested that he do it again and so he got out the video, showed it again to every employee and got them to sign a new commitment. This approach brought everyone new online and renewed the commitment of those already in the program. Well, the phone call was from that same client sixteen years later and he is doing the same thing each year and it works so well that he will be distributing the same booklets again this year and they now have over 2,000 employees. The other call was from a fellow in the U.K. and he bought our 101 Kit for the ideas that he might modify for his own national culture. I told him I was sending him a hundred thousand dollars worth of ideas in this Kit and, actually it proved to be worth over a half a million dollars for another client. That is what they saved in not going with another safety firms approach and what’s more, that other firm wanted a hundred thousand dollars a year just for maintenance of their program. And yes, that firm using our program does it again and again and again. Signed personal commitments by everyone in your organization can produce instant results, provided you include the commitment to positively interact with others when you witness unsafe practices. We are talking about putting every employee, including your CEO, on your safety team. Of course, perhaps it is not really worth $595 plus shipping to change your safety commitment. Act now! and we will include my comprehensive 420 page book Winning the Safety Commitment as a bonus. It is crammed full of great ideas to make your meetings better and to improve your presentation skills too. The kit includes 3 DVD’s taped at my live presentations. 3 CD’s of songs and posters you can use to create your own power point motivational tools, 3 great safety booklets and more. THIS KIT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
Points To Ponder
Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. Winston Churchill
A Little Humor
Many years ago when we first installed an answering machine in my office I discovered that most people were just like me, they hesitated to leave a message because they felt uncomfortable talking to a machine. I did a bit of experimenting and finally left the following message. “Hi there, this is Art Fettig’s chair. His answering machine is busy right now and Art is out giving speeches and writing books, but your call is really important to us. Sooo…when you here the beep start talking. Now…HERE’S THE BEEP!
People would call our office from all over the country just to hear that message and from then on most callers left a message. Use a little humor in all of your contacts with others and watch your results improve. NOW Here;s a bumper snicker. I need someone really bad…Are you really bad?
Quote of the Week
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. John Homer Miller
On July 2nd FuelMaker announced changes to its warranties. Compressors will no longer be pro-rated byhours used and the warranty will no longer cover any mileage, shipping or labor costs. New equipment will be covered for 1 year and compressors in new units will be covered for 1500 hours of operation. Rebuilt parts will be covered for 3 months and rebuilt compressors will be covered for 12 months or 1000 hours. FuelMaker will no longer include any travel, mileage, labor or shipping in the warranty coverage. All electronics modules are now increasing in price, from $153.00 to $413.00 over previous price depending on model.
FuelMaker/ IMPCO/BRC Announces Manufacturing Date
FuelMaker recently announced new production of their complete line of new fueling equipment will begin in Italy at BRC in 2010. Fuel Systems Solutions is currently setting up manufacturing for FuelMaker equipment at its subsidiary BRC in Italy and will be distributed to its USA dealer network through subsidiary IMPCO Technologiesin Detroit. FSS recently acquired FuelMaker from the bankruptcy court in Toronto, Canada
o Not Dancing in the Dark
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Never underestimate the ability of man to find a new way to do something in a little stupider manner.
Not Dancing in the Dark
Shin: device for finding furniture in the dark. I did better than that the other night. I turned off the lights in reverse order ending up in my office and then I proceeded to head back to our bedroom. I fell on my face and my glasses made a little cut on the bridge of my nose. I didn’t jump up to my feet as if nothing had happened. I lie there a minute or two reflecting on what I had just done. I wasn’t real proud of myself. After all, I have worked somehow in the safety field or on the fringes since 1948 and you would think I should know how to get to bed safely by now. Oh yeah? Never underestimate the ability of man to find a new way to do something in a little stupider manner. Why am I making this confession to you? Just to remind you that whenever you think you can predict the behavior of another fellow human being, LOOK OUT! They will fool you every time. Whenever you introduce changes be certain to stick around and see what happens.
Say Something Good
Discount coupons. Man, we have been livin’ high on the hog lately dining out with discount coupons. We had a terrific lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and the bill was just $7 for the two of us. Then we went in for a snack at Hardy’s and had two jumbo chili dogs and two double cheeseburgers plus two senior drinks for less than even I could believe. Without a coupon we dined at a cafeteria for lunch the other day and even with a big fat slice of delicious apple pie that we split we came out with most of our loot in our pocket. (The money we didn’t spend that is, not food.) There are some wonderful buys out there if you just watch for the coupons and shop wisely. Try eating like that abroad. May God bless our troops and bring them home safely and soon and may God Bless America.
Visit Our Website
I’ve been thriving since 1972 using my creativity and my speaking skills. I learned to use my creative imagination and then to implement my unique ideas creating my own corporation. My book new E-book titled Beyond Duh-Creativity in Action is now available at our website artfettig.com It might be just what you need to get started in a new era of your working life.
Check out our website at www.artfettig.com Learn about our sensational new 101 Kit that allows you to save thousands on speaker and travel fees and implement our fantastic employee positive interaction 101 program yourself. It is an instant behavior modification commitment program that gets everyone in your organization involved in safety. Remember, you have a ten day money back guarantee too. Act now. Go directly to www.artfettig.com And get your safety program cranked up to a whole new level of performance. If you have questions just call me at 800 441 7676 or e-mail me at artfettig@aol.com.
Points To Ponder
You can’t solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created the problem in the first place. Albert Einstein
A Little Humor
Since my GPS conked out I solve my getting lost by just changing my destination.
Quote of the Week
Every single life only becomes great when the individual sets upon a goal or goals which they really believe in, which they can really commit themselves to, which they can put their whole heart and soul into. Brian Tracy
Right now, nobody seems to be happy with President Obama’s proposed health care program. The doctors don’t like it because it stresses cost containment which would interfere with their individual prerogative to practice medicine the way they feel it should be practiced and it would also make it that much more difficult for them to get rich while practicing medicine. The pharmaceutical companies don’t like it because it means less profit for them. It’s the same with the hospitals. The tax payers don’t like it, because it’s going to cost them a bundle. There is, however a way to fund this expensive program that will make everyone happy-fund it with the profits from government run companies. The federal government already owns controlling interest in GM and Chrysler. Why not funnel all the profits from these two companies into the President’s health care program. The government should also get back into the banking business and funnel those profits into the health care program. It should then buy large amounts of stock in companies like Microsoft, Nordstrom, Cisco Systems, Starbuck’s, Wegmans Food Markets and funnel those profits into the President’s health care program. Pretty soon, you have enough non-tax payer money to fund a first class health care program that would make everyone happy. Citizens would have complete access to the best health care in the world; doctors would continue to maintain their independence and would be able to pursue their dreams of accumulating vast amounts of wealth. The pharmaceutical companies would continue to make money hand over fist as would the hospitals. And, all this would happen at no cost to the tax payer! What’s there not to get here?
On July 2nd FuelMaker announced changes to its warranties. Compressors will no longer be pro-rated byhours used and the warranty will no longer cover any mileage, shipping or labor costs. New equipment will be covered for 1 year and compressors in new units will be covered for 1500 hours of operation. Rebuilt parts will be covered for 3 months and rebuilt compressors will be covered for 12 months or 1000 hours. FuelMaker will no longer include any travel, mileage, labor or shipping in the warranty coverage. All electronics modules are now increasing in price, from $153.00 to $413.00 over previous price depending on model.