It was a temporary fix, however, and I needed to find an optician that could fix it after my first day with my client.  Karen called around and found a LensCrafters right next to my hotel.  I dropped off my glasses on my way to dinner with members of the executive team, and came back 15 minutes later.   LensCrafters had fixed them as good as new.  I asked how much I owed them for the repair, fearing the worst, as the frames themselves cost several hundred dollars (they are such great frames that they are the second pair I’ve owned, and I’ve been wearing this style for several years).  The technician said, “no charge.”  I thanked him and he replied, “you’re welcome.  Just come back and see us the next time you need new glasses.”

You can bet I will!

Speaking of the film Cool Runnings, Jimmie Cliff and his great song,

Aneil

Other public relations mistakes — such as firing Paterno by phone, inflaming a mob of students who rioted in Happy Valley — suggest the school’s leaders acted before identifying all the stakeholders they needed to appease, said Karen Mishra, a business professor at Meredith College in Raleigh, who focuses on crisis management and is writing a book about that subject. Mishra taught at Penn State in the mid-1990s.

Erickson, the former provost who took over as Penn State president, started to remedy those early mistakes with a promise of openness and transparency and his three town hall meetings last week to answer alumni’s questions, Mishra said.

“You want to let people know, ‘We’re on top of this. Even if we don’t know everything, we’re going to get the answers quickly,’” Mishra said.

Many alumni, however, vented at Erickson about the university’s board of trustees. Erickson said Penn State is creating a website on which it will post online updates on the school’s response, including contracts for Erickson and football coaches, as well as those for outside consultants and lawyers. Those postings were supposed to come this week but are now expected next week, a spokeswoman said.

Full disclosure:  Karen and I were both business school professors at Penn State from 1992-1997, and have some dear friends who played for the football team during that period.

Aneil

My blog post title may reflect my age, but for us Boomers, Kodak really was the first Facebook.  We trusted Kodak with our precious film, and it magically turned it into keepsakes we could share with anyone around the world, albeit at the speed of an aircraft and not light.  Karen’s family took (and still takes) thousands of photos each year.  Mine took fewer, but plenty enough.  Karen and I then did the same once our children were born, filling a score of photo albums with the years and sub-years stenciled or written on the spines.  Then our habits changed.  First we requested photos to be written onto a CD, then we trusted it to the Cloud via Shutterfly, before it was called the Cloud.  Then I took great (for me) pictures of my trips to Istanbul and Punta Del Este, Uruguay using my 5 MP camera on my Blackberry Bold in 2008, and posted them to our blog without ever getting any of the pictures printed.

Where was Kodak when all of our family photography behaviors were changing?  It’s too long and painful a story to write about here, although I discuss it in my leadership development programs.  One example of the firm’s inevitable demise should suffice.  When I was a newly minted Ph.D. back in 1992, Kodak’s Imaging Division flew me up to its headquarters in Rochester to consult with them about a downsizing effort they were contemplating.  They had read my research with my colleagues Kim Cameron and Sarah Freeman at the University of Michigan on how to do downsizing effectively, achieving both bottom-line improvements while actually enabling employees to redesign their jobs so that layoffs could be minimized or even avoided altogether.

I should have known something was wrong from the moment I arrived at the headquarters.  Instead of meeting with the division president as I had been led to believe I would be doing, I spent the entire day with two employees from the organizational development staff.  Rather than seeking my help in crafting an effective downsizing strategy, they had hired me to help them craft a communications plan for a strategy the top brass had already decided upon, one which involved a lot of layoffs.  I tried my best to get them to change their minds, but even though those two employees agreed with me, they had no influence to change the strategy.  So my first big consulting engagement was a failure.  Yes, I collected a nice check for my one day’s work, but as I flew back to State College, PA where I was an assistant professor at Penn State, I knew that Kodak was embarking on the road to failure.  The destruction of a brand trusted by tens of millions, the loss of tens of thousands of jobs lost, and billions in equity gone forever would be the result of a firm that downsized rather than innovated.

For information about the bankruptcy announcement, please go to the Dealbook article.

For a timeline of the company put together by the Wall Street Journal, go here.

For a discussion in the Wall Street Journal as to whether filing for bankruptcy will save Kodak, go here.

Aneil

When a CT scan showed multiple tumors in Dawna Harwell’s pelvis, abdomen and spine in 2008, her doctors in Dallas told her she might have ovarian cancer, which can be especially deadly.

A biopsy came back with inconclusive results, and Ms. Harwell wasted no time in seeking a second opinion at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “I went through every test in the book,” says Ms. Harwell. Still, doctors couldn’t be sure what she had. Finally, she underwent a surgical procedure to diagnose her case: It wasn’t ovarian cancer after all, but a rare form of lymphoma. The 47-year-old horse trainer in Collinsville, Texas, underwent a rigorous regimen of chemotherapy that ended last spring. At her first six-month checkup in October, she received a clean bill of health.

Brandon Thibodeaux for The Wall Street JournalDawna Harwell, a horse trainer at Kyle Ranch in Whitesboro, TX

Dawna Harwell

Age: 47

Occupation: Horse trainer in Collinsville, Texas

July 2008: Diagnosed with tumors in abdomen, pelvis and spine. Ovarian cancer is suspected.

August 2008: Seeking a second opinion, Ms. Harwell meets with a gynecological oncologist at MD Anderson. Results of additional tests are inconclusive, and doctors say a surgical biopsy is needed for a definitive diagnosis.

September 2008: Results of an operation and surgical biopsy rule out ovarian cancer, but confirm Stage IV follicular lymphoma.

October 2008: Ms. Harwell begins chemotherapy, which continues through April 2011.

October 2011: Her first six-month checkup shows cancer is stable with no signs of tumors.

Evidence is mounting that second opinions—particularly on radiology images and pathology slides from biopsies—can lead to significant changes in a patient’s diagnosis or in recommendations for treating a disease. Some malignancies, including lymphomas and rare cancers of the thyroid and salivary glands, are notoriously tricky to diagnose correctly; test results can be inconclusive or return false results. After a decade of annual mammograms, more than half of women will receive at least one false positive recall on a breast-cancer screening, a recent study found. And nearly half of malpractice claims at Harvard University’s medical institutions that resulted in serious patient harm or death in the past five years were diagnostic errors, according to its liability company Crico/RMF.

A good friend of ours recently was successfully treated for a rare tumor that doctors initially thought was lymphoma.  Had this person not gone to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the outcome might now have been so positive.

Aneil

In this one example, Sheldon displayed compassion for Jen.  So many employees are seeking something beyond the basics in their leaders, and showing your compassion for your employees can make all the difference between having a resigned employee and a loyal one.  This example moved us greatly, too, which is why we reached to Sheldon to see if he wanted to be profiled in our  new book.  He ultimately agreed to meet with Aneil to see if this was something he was willing to do, as he is not someone who likes to seek publicity for himself.  A one hour meeting turned into an unplanned half-day together , and he and Aneil bonded as we’ve bonded with the other leaders we’ve studied over the past two decades.  As publicity-shy as Sheldon is, he does want to tell the world about Belfor and its 6,000 employees, and so he will be joining several other great leaders in our new book.

We can’t wait to share Sheldon’s leadership journey and how he used trust to build Belfor into a truly incredible company.

-Karen and Aneil

Despite Pepsi’s move to cut costs and resurrect the Pepsi Cola brand, the board says it will stand by it’s CEO, Indra Nooyi.  It sounds as if everyone agrees that Pepsi needs to be more aggressive in advertising its flagship brand, to compete with Coke.  Once again, I don’t see a reason to layoff people to achieve that goal.  Why not enlist those employees in helping transform the company, to once again improve the profitability and market share of the Pepsi brand?

——————————–

Due to a stagnant stock price over the past three years, Pepsi feels it needs to do something to demonstrate its commitment to earnings growth and to move in a positive direction by laying of 1% of its workforce, or 4,000 people.

Why are layoffs always the first response to distress?  Pepsi has an abundance of products; maybe they have just spread themselves out to thin with their acquisitions and focus on the Frito-Lay snack division.  Plus, this focus on “better-for-you” products at the expense of good ole’ Pepsi advertising and head-to-head competition with Coke will not keep Pepsi in the top of mind with consumers.

Consumers don’t eat soda and snack food because they are good for them–they eat them because they taste good and want a snack (and not always a healthy one!).  In addition, consumers like the head-to-head competition between Coke and Pepsi; it forces them each to bring their best advertising, packaging, and new products to the table for consumers; it brings out the best in both of them.

Because of our research on downsizing, which you can download for free here, and my former work as Account Executive for the Pepsi Cola account, I don’t think downsizing is the answer.  I think that getting back to basics and remembering what makes Pepsi exciting for its consumers is what will bring that stock price back up.  When I would call on Coke, they would never utter the “P” word.  Maybe it was arrogance, or maybe it was a total devotion to dominating the market.  Maybe Pepsi needs to take on that same mind-set.

Just my two cents.

-karen

Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday it has been contacted by a “relatively small number” of consumers with questions about an unapproved fungicide the company reported finding in orange juice sold by it and competitors in the U.S.

Brazilian orange juice producers say the use of the fungicide carbendazim, which was discovered in some major U.S. orange juice brands, is widespread in Brazil, raising concerns that most deliveries to the U.S. could contain the substance. “The juice will definitely have carbendazim,” Christian Lohbauer, president of the Brazilian Association of Citrus Exporters, said earlier this week, referring to exports from the most recent crop.

Carbendazim isn’t approved for use in citrus in the U.S., but other countries allow certain levels of the substance in juice imports.

Coca-Cola’s Simply Orange and Minute Maid, along with PepsiCo Inc.’s Tropicana, are the major U.S. brands currently made in part with Brazilian orange juice. The discovery of low levels of carbendazim in U.S. orange juice stocks has prompted U.S. federal authorities to begin screening juice on supermarket shelves and roiled prices of orange-juice futures.

Food and Drug Administration officials have vowed to pull juice with higher than trace elements of the potentially harmful fungicide, which is 80 parts per billion or higher. But consumer concern thus far seems muted.

representative of PepsiCo’s Tropicana unit said in an email late Thursday that the company is “testing every shipment of imported orange juice in our possession and all future shipments for this specific fungicide.”

The representative declined to comment on whether the company has found the fungicide in its Tropicana or Dole juice products, despite the fact that the Brazilian producers asserted that virtually all juice exported to the U.S. contains the substance. The representative said Tropicana is “safe,” that PepsiCo has a “food safety system designed to ensure the safety of our products,” and reiterated that the company will follow the FDA’s guidance.

Tropicana also said it is in the process of moving to use only Florida orange juice in its Tropicana Pure Premium juice. “This transition to production for Tropicana Pure Premium is well underway and will be completed by the end of the month,” the representative said in a statement.

Original Post 1-12-12:

I’ll credit my friend Dr. John Gordon for the phrase following the colon in this blog post title.  Here’s the story from today’s Wall Street Journal:

Coca-Cola Co. said it found an unapproved fungicide in orange juice made by Coke and its competitors, and alerted federal regulators that some Brazilian growers had sprayed trees with the substance.

The beverage giant, which makes Simply Orange and Minute Maid, wouldn’t say which brands had shown the fungicide. Both brands contain juice from Brazil.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday an unnamed juice company had detected low levels of the fungicide in “its and competitors currently marketed finished products.” Those products include some that were on store shelves, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg NewsCoca-Cola, which makes Minute Maid, wouldn’t say which brands had shown the fungicide.

Coca-Cola’s disclosure came after the FDA gave more details about how it is testing to block or remove any potentially contaminated orange juice from the U.S. market.

The agency said it is testing orange juice sold in supermarkets for the potentially harmful fungicide. Concern that the fungicide could damp demand for orange juice sent futures prices for the commodity plunging on Wednesday. The Environmental Protection Agency said consumption of orange juice with the fungicide at the low levels that have been reported doesn’t raise safety concerns.

Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Inc., which makes Tropicana and Dole, combined held almost a two-thirds share of the U.S. orange-juice market in the past year, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

A spokesman for PepsiCo’s Tropicana declined to comment on whether the company has found the fungicide in its products but said, “we take this matter seriously and will follow the FDA’s guidance.”

I love Coke (Diet Coke now) and orange juice, but I don’t like fungi in my drinks, period.  Let’s hope Coke does everything it can to remove the contaminated products from store shelves, and ensure that of its juice products are perfectly safe.

Aneil

When they bought their hybrid Honda Civics back in 2006, Aneil K. Mishra and Jeffrey A. Wald expected to save a lot of money on gasoline. And both men hoped that, by their examples, they would encourage more North Carolinians to buy fuel-thrifty hybrid cars.

“I felt like, as an early adopter, I was supporting the market for more energy-efficient vehicles,” Wald, 45, of Cary, said Monday.

“I wanted to be on the cutting edge,” said Mishra, 49, of Durham.

Mishra’s family also has a hybrid Toyota Camry, which has delivered better fuel economy than the Civic but is not much fun to drive, he said. If the Civic was delivering mid-40s mpg, he said, he’d consider buying another one.

Instead, he plans to sign up for the class-action settlement against Honda and wait for his $100 check. He’s checking out plans in Detroit for new clean-diesel cars.

“The hybrids just aren’t attractive to us right now,” Mishra said.

Aneil

My teenagers have been writing thank-you notes since they were born.  Yes, I signed the cards for them then.  Then, as they could draw, they would scribble something, then add their name, then a word, then a sentence, then write the whole card.  It was a gradual evolution, but I have always wanted them to understand gratitude.  If we don’t say thank-you, how can we express our gratitude and have a grateful heart?

Maybe I am old-fashioned, but I know that when I wrote thank-you notes to my co-workers when I was in sales and marketing, for a small act of kindness they did for our customers, Coke and Pepsi, they were so grateful that someone noticed their work.  I know how much my parents love getting notes from my teenagers, even the short ones they write now.  My grandmother loved my notes (thank you and otherwise) so much that my parents found a pile of them in her room after she died.

In our first book, we wrote a chapter called, “Think Thank-you”.  Being grateful also comes from a place of compassion, where you appreciate what you have and what others do for you.  One of my favorite thank-you notes I ever received was from the late Wake Forest basketball coach, Skip Prosser.  One of my students was on the basketball team and invited me to be a “guest coach” for one of the games.  It was a thrill to watch him play from the floor, sitting right behind the team.  I sent Skip a thank-you note, telling him how much it meant to include me and my family in something like that.  Skip Prosser actually sent me a thank-you note for my thank you note (!), thanking me for my teaching and service to Wake Forest University.  He was the only one to ever thank me for doing my job.

You never know how much those words will mean to someone.

-karen

From his mother, “She taught me to be grateful for my life regardless of what that entailed, and that’s directly related to the image of Christ on the cross and the example of sacrifice that he gave us. What she taught me is that the deliverance God offers you from pain is not no pain — it’s that the pain is actually a gift. What’s the option? God doesn’t really give you another choice.”

Aneil