WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE?
QUOTABLE QUOTES
LEADERSHIP LESSONS
LINCOLN'S LOG—The Last Best Hope Of Earth; Admitting He Was Wrong
FEEDBACK
MACROFORCES   Does Anyone Read Newspapers Anymore?
TRAVEL NOTES FROM A ROAD WARRIOR—New York City
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOUR PERSONAL GROWTH

QUOTABLE QUOTES
***EFFECTIVENESS
“Effectiveness is doing the right thing. Efficiency is doing the thing right.”  -- Anonymous

***HISTORY
“The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.   The only thing that changes is the names we give things.”  --Harry Truman (to author Merle Miller)

***ABRAHAM LINCOLN
“The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln.   His example is universal and will last thousands of years….He was bigger than his country—bigger than all the Presidents together…and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives.” –Leo Tolstoy, The World, New York, 1909

***GENIUS
“Genius—that immediate access to some world outside our own, that perfectly clear conviction which creates its own skill….”—Kenneth Clark, “The Genius of Aubrey Beardsley.”  1976

***JOKES
"It takes two to tell a joke.   One to tell it and one who enjoys laughter to receive it.” --Gene Griessman
(Some people do not enjoy laughter, and it is a mistake to try to tell a funny story to them.  The situation and the audience must be right for a joke to work.)

***CHANGING TIMES
"It (is) a very unwomanly thing for a gentle lady to go into a hospital of wounded men.”  U.S. Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky in 1861 commenting on the work of Florence Nightingale, the British nurse of the Crimean War. 

LEADERSHIP LESSONS
***PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST
“Among the effective executives I have known, there are extroverts and aloof men, some even morbidly shy.  Some are eccentrics, others painfully correct conformists…Some drink quite heavily, others are total abstainers.  Yet it is my observation that effective executives do have in common certain practices or habits—and practices can be learned.  One obvious practice is the conservation of time.  In a peculiar way the executive’s time is everybody else’s time but his own.  Everybody can move in on him, and usually everybody does.  He cannot shut himself off from these demands, but he must use the little time he can control to do the important things.   This is the secret of those few people who accomplish so much with so little apparent effort.”   (When Peter Drucker died in November at age 95, Fortune Magazine published in its December 12, 2005 issue excerpts from pieces the famed management consultant and author wrote for that publication.  The above quote is excerpted from Fortune Magazine.)

LINCOLN'S LOG
*** “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history.  We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.  No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us.   The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation.  We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.    Message to Congress, December 1, 1862

***”Presidents and Kings are not apt to see flaws in their own arguments, but fortunately for the Union, it had a President, at this critical juncture, who combined a logical intellect with an unselfish heart.” Frederick Seward (Frederick Seward, son of William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State, served in Washington as his father’s private secretary.   His observation was written following an early crisis during the Lincoln administration. For the full story, see Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln”:  NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005, pp. 396—401.)

FEEDBACK
***"You have touched my heart with your greatness of mind and heart”   --Linda S. Brewer, Chair, TEC; President, Nurturing Through Truth

***”You, young man, delivered a great message that we as individuals and as a country so need to hear and over and over!   Please keep it up!!!!!!!!! Dr. Dan Fischer, CEO, Ultradent.  

(When we requested permission to use Dan Fischer’s statement, this is the reply we received:  “I truly and sincerely meant to use ‘young’ for you.  I believe—and especially as I/we become older—that we really need to address each other this way and much more often.   I find the more I address ladies of all ages this way, namely as ‘young lady’ the more it puts a spark in their eye, regardless of their age.  The same works for men.   I was happy to discover you felt good/invigorated with the salutation ‘young man.’ This instantly told me something good and important about you.  I’ve come to learn that this can be a quick measuring rod of someone’s state of mind or attitude and even a quick glimpse to at least part of their character.   One of my favorite sayings, and not from me, is: ‘You are never too old to enjoy your childhood.’”)

***”On Christmas night, we viewed ‘Lincoln on Communication.’  It was excellent!  I repeat: excellent!”—Howard Mintz, teacher, Horace Mann Middle School, Miami, Florida

MACROFORCES—SOCIAL TRENDS AND THE FUTURE

***Does Anyone Read Newspapers Anymore?
It’s true that many newspapers have perished, especially afternoon dailies.  But there has been an explosion of alternate newspapers and some of the big newspapers are doing well. 

For example, last year the national circulation of The New York Times rose 10 percent to 1.1 million readers.  (Local circulation, following a national trend, did fall.)  What is interesting is that the Times Company, which owns The New York Times, the Boston Globe, the International Herald Tribune, 15 regional papers, plus its Internet companies in 2004 generated about 300 million dollars of profits on $3.3 billion in revenues.  What is noteworthy is that 95 percent of the revenue came from print.   (For a full story, see The New Yorker, December 19, 2005)

Compare those numbers with those of Google whose keyword search advertising doubled in one year (Its third quarter 2005 total sales came to $1.58 billion.) 

The model for the future will probably be a repetition of the struggle between movies and television in the 1950s when it was predicted that television would lead to the demise of movies.  We now know that nothing of the kind happened.  Both have survived and have found their own function and niche in society.  Today, Internet marketing is coming down the tracks like a freight train, but print is not going away anytime soon. 

TRAVEL NOTES FROM A ROAD WARRIOR

***NEW YORK CITY
On a recent trip to the city,  I stayed at the legendary Waldorf Astoria. 

The hotel is one of America’s great brands.  And the Hilton people protect and enhance the brand.  For example, when you check into the hotel, you’ll receive a handsome catalog of branded gifts plus recipes. And even though it’s a Hilton hotel, there’s no HHonors check-in lane and the note pads in the room say Waldorf Astoria, not Hilton.  Many other companies would have put the founder’s name on the hotel.  Not Conrad Hilton.

Here’s the story. 

The great depression was not kind to Conrad Hilton.   People weren’t staying in the hotels that Hilton had acquired during the boom years of the 1920s.  By 1931 his creditors were threatening to foreclose, his laundry was in hock, and Hilton had to borrow money from a bell boy so he could eat.  That year Conrad Hilton saw a photo of the Waldorf Hotel with its 6 kitchens, 200 cooks, 500 waiters, 2000 rooms, and its private hospital and private railroad siding in the basement. 

Hilton clipped that photograph out of the magazine, and wrote across it, “The Greatest of Them All.”

“The year 1931 was “a presumptuous, an outrageous time to dream,” Hilton later wrote.   But he put the photo in his wallet, and when he had a desk again, slipped the picture under the glass top.  As he worked his way back up and acquired new bigger desks, he would slip the cherished photo under the glass. 

Eighteen years later, in October 1949, Conrad Hilton acquired the Waldorf.

That picture gave Hilton’s dream shape and substance.  It became a cue for behavior.  (Adapted from Time Tactics of Very Successful People, p. 8)

In case you’d like to have the recipe for authentic Waldorf Salad—another icon--here it is:  1 Granny Smith and 1 Red delicious apple, julienne; 3 egg yolks; 4 oz. walnut oil; 4 oz. crème fraiche; 4 oz. plain yogurt; 1.5 oz. fresh lemon juice; salt and pepper to taste; l/8 tsp. chopped black truffle; micro greens or baby lettuce; chopped candied walnuts.

Whisk yolks and walnut oil together to form a mayonnaise.  Fold in crème fraiche and yogurt.   Add lemon juice and season with salt and white pepper. Fold in apples.   Add truffles and serve on a bed of baby lettuce or greens.  (My serving of Waldorf salad was garnished with raspberries and blueberries; the recipe calls for a garnish of candied walnuts.)

***Le Perigord

One of NYC’s excellent French restaurants.  They serve a prix fixe dinner for $62, which is a great value in an expensive city.   Le Perigord does all the classics superbly.  I have never tasted better asparagus, artichoke, or roasted duck.   405 E 52^nd (near the end of 52^nd Street; 212-755-6244)

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VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOUR PERSONAL GROWTH
___Lincoln-Leadership

___Personal Productivity-Time Management

___Macroforces and Trends in American Society

___Keynote Presentation LESSONS FROM LEGENDS (Powerful stories from interview with famous high achievers)

___Executive Coaching

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