Odds n Sods
Paxing All Over The World
Yes, Ingvar Kamprad (1926-2018) was famed in this field. There was an interesting American TV series that was, I think, then also done in the UK - the CEO/MD wore a disguise and was presented to a branch as 'new recruit'. It was fascinating and, sometimes excrutiating. I should like to see every airline CEO do this - either undercover or as the KLM boss.
However, the question would be: What happens when they get back to the desk? do they just make small, local changes or do they instigate something bigger? Unfortunately, the bigger the company, the more difficult the changes become.
However, the question would be: What happens when they get back to the desk? do they just make small, local changes or do they instigate something bigger? Unfortunately, the bigger the company, the more difficult the changes become.
IKEA's founder and CEO was a legend in Sweden for his view modest spending. When IKEA took over Habitat they flew Y on SAS to LHR and got the tune and thena bus to the Habitat offices . He hails froma part of Sweden known for being careful with money. I worked there for three years and it was avery different experience to UK, CEO (VD Works Director ) in Swedish had 5 direct reports all labeled Chef/Chief and followed by the name of the divsion . Everyone in that divsion from the number 2 down (not the word they would use) to the team admin had the same title which just the name of the department so a very flat structure, our CEO also made a big point of asking questions about projects from the staff memebr dealing with ti not going up and down the org chart . Compare with UK or USA where there are numerous gradations and ever grander titles who often only speak with people of the same rank.
On a purely personal level I always felt there was a lot to be said for ',management by walking around' ie talking to people in their space not your office and getting feedback/ideas from experienced team members. I was interested to see this touted in a book by a well known succesful US CEO .
Whatever he did Kamprad was certainly hugely successful even though he remained very modest in his personal lifestyle although that isnt unique to him , flashing the cash is very un Swedish however much you have got
Going back to the KLM lady , kudos to her for doing it, I wonder if Willie Walsh ever did that at BA since he was a Airbus pilot for Aer Lingus before going into management
On a purely personal level I always felt there was a lot to be said for ',management by walking around' ie talking to people in their space not your office and getting feedback/ideas from experienced team members. I was interested to see this touted in a book by a well known succesful US CEO .
Whatever he did Kamprad was certainly hugely successful even though he remained very modest in his personal lifestyle although that isnt unique to him , flashing the cash is very un Swedish however much you have got
Going back to the KLM lady , kudos to her for doing it, I wonder if Willie Walsh ever did that at BA since he was a Airbus pilot for Aer Lingus before going into management
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Pax Britanica
I do that when visiting companies supplying products onto projects that we are involved in, and talk to people on the shop floor, and you are correct it does cause a little consternation in some businesses in UK and some in Europe and US. However I find it quite enlightening and interesting to observe and talk to the people making the products. The big gripe I have with the the UK and indeed US, is the over hype of the sales function of any business, in that they are really cosseted. For example if a sales man leaves the business they are often escorted of the premises, or put on gardening leave for a month, if that is their notice period. In contrast a Project Manager say, would always be asked to work their full period of notice, and lets not get onto the discussion of sales man / women's bonuses.
Cheers
Mr Mac
I do that when visiting companies supplying products onto projects that we are involved in, and talk to people on the shop floor, and you are correct it does cause a little consternation in some businesses in UK and some in Europe and US. However I find it quite enlightening and interesting to observe and talk to the people making the products. The big gripe I have with the the UK and indeed US, is the over hype of the sales function of any business, in that they are really cosseted. For example if a sales man leaves the business they are often escorted of the premises, or put on gardening leave for a month, if that is their notice period. In contrast a Project Manager say, would always be asked to work their full period of notice, and lets not get onto the discussion of sales man / women's bonuses.
Cheers
Mr Mac
I'd believe anything about NorthWest - the American Aeroflot..................... 
Yes, Ingvar Kamprad (1926-2018) was famed in this field. There was an interesting American TV series that was, I think, then also done in the UK - the CEO/MD wore a disguise and was presented to a branch as 'new recruit'. It was fascinating and, sometimes excrutiating. I should like to see every airline CEO do this - either undercover or as the KLM boss.
However, the question would be: What happens when they get back to the desk? do they just make small, local changes or do they instigate something bigger? Unfortunately, the bigger the company, the more difficult the changes become.
However, the question would be: What happens when they get back to the desk? do they just make small, local changes or do they instigate something bigger? Unfortunately, the bigger the company, the more difficult the changes become.
Mr Mars Senior used to turn up from the USA, unannounced, at any hour - normally wearing a baseball cap , a windcheater jacket and old slacks. Apparently Security had a set of instructions pinned up
1. He IS the owner whatever he looks like
2. let him in and refer to him as "Mr Mars" -
3. Make sure someone goes with him - he knows the place inside out and he will head for something in the plant that he wants to investigate
4. Call these numbers - starting with the UK MD at whatever hour it is
As management dribbled in it apparently started to look like N Korea - Mars talking to the people on the machines (and operating them himself), pointedly ignoring the herd of management all following and poised with pencil and paper tot record every utterance of the Boss. The workers loved him!
On the subject of cash-splashing I asked another Swedish friend, an interpreter by professsion, what was their equivalent of "millionaire" and he was at bit of a loss and finally told me that they didn't really look at things that way.
Mr Mac
I agreew ith you about sales, if you have good prodcut anyone can sell it if you dont no one will buy . That is an oversimplificaton but there is alot of truth in it
Asturius, FYI am not Pax Boy , there is one but not me. There were a few real old school CEOs like tht in the States , the turning up early being a common factor.
Togsgr..... What you experienced was Kaffe paus , sometimes called Fica .pretty common in Sweden and a very very useful management tool for building communication and taking the pulse . They also go home on time. people will stay f there is an special project in place that needs some extra hours but regualrly working late in Sweden is seen as not being on top of your job or even worse becoming tired and making bad decsions. Also as I said they dont flash the cash , have ovr the top houses, 6 ferraris or any of those trappings. Pretty much the same in all the Nordics which I suppose is why they often end up at the top of the happiest countries to live table despite high taxes and often miserable weather - .
I agreew ith you about sales, if you have good prodcut anyone can sell it if you dont no one will buy . That is an oversimplificaton but there is alot of truth in it
Asturius, FYI am not Pax Boy , there is one but not me. There were a few real old school CEOs like tht in the States , the turning up early being a common factor.
Togsgr..... What you experienced was Kaffe paus , sometimes called Fica .pretty common in Sweden and a very very useful management tool for building communication and taking the pulse . They also go home on time. people will stay f there is an special project in place that needs some extra hours but regualrly working late in Sweden is seen as not being on top of your job or even worse becoming tired and making bad decsions. Also as I said they dont flash the cash , have ovr the top houses, 6 ferraris or any of those trappings. Pretty much the same in all the Nordics which I suppose is why they often end up at the top of the happiest countries to live table despite high taxes and often miserable weather - .
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Paxing All Over The World
Northwest Airline: What I like most about the picture is the bloke turned around with a look of "What is that ghastly noise and how do we get her to stop?"
I think the story of Mr Mars is brilliant, thanks for posting. As it happens, I was visiting the City of London yesterday and thus many memories of my time working there in an American bank. Not many managers led from the front. There was a fair amount of horse whipping from the back. Fortunately, my own manager, an American, was great and we got on very well.
In my present field - related to funerals - I see the same poor managers as in all the rest of working life. A few good ones.
I think the story of Mr Mars is brilliant, thanks for posting. As it happens, I was visiting the City of London yesterday and thus many memories of my time working there in an American bank. Not many managers led from the front. There was a fair amount of horse whipping from the back. Fortunately, my own manager, an American, was great and we got on very well.
In my present field - related to funerals - I see the same poor managers as in all the rest of working life. A few good ones.
"Couchsurfing" down under a couple of decades back I stayed with a chap who turned out to be the senior ambulance manager in the Queensland ambulance service. He said it was his habit to go and do a shift every now and then, incognito. One time he got a call which meant he needed to be somewhere in his official uniform. So he changed into it in the back of the ambulance and stepped out. The looks on the crew's faces as he came out... That's the gist of it at any rate. We'd shared a few beers by the time he told me that story.
Last edited by 25F; 7th Jun 2023 at 01:41. Reason: found out what his job title was...
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In my many decades of work experience I have found that - when a bloke gets his bum on a seat at the 'big table' he forgets everything that went before. The gripes about mgmt and the inefficient ways that the staff have to deal with, all go as he settles into the Trough.
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Some of us try to be different, but I will grant you it is hard, especially if you are promoted into an established board which will invariably be full of little cliques within it.
Mrs Mac has far more experience than me in this, but if you ask her about one of her proudest moments as a senior manager / director of a listed company it was when she got a death in service clause through in a health business she was working in, so that not just the top tier got it, but the whole company.
She subsequently received a letter from a husband who had lost his wife to cancer, and was left with two young boys to care for. He said her efforts with her board to get this through would mean they got to keep their house. The Chairman of the business grumbled about his bonus all the time this was discussed at the board. Unsurprisingly she subsequently left the business after a board re shuffle, though unfortunately the VC House backed my wife, so it cost a lot of money to get her removed. The CEO subsequently also left under some what of a cloud, but he is still out there undoubtedly, and my wife career never really looked back, and she still goes high when others go low, an aspect of her of which I am extremally proud of.
Cheers
Mr Mac
Some of us try to be different, but I will grant you it is hard, especially if you are promoted into an established board which will invariably be full of little cliques within it.
Mrs Mac has far more experience than me in this, but if you ask her about one of her proudest moments as a senior manager / director of a listed company it was when she got a death in service clause through in a health business she was working in, so that not just the top tier got it, but the whole company.
She subsequently received a letter from a husband who had lost his wife to cancer, and was left with two young boys to care for. He said her efforts with her board to get this through would mean they got to keep their house. The Chairman of the business grumbled about his bonus all the time this was discussed at the board. Unsurprisingly she subsequently left the business after a board re shuffle, though unfortunately the VC House backed my wife, so it cost a lot of money to get her removed. The CEO subsequently also left under some what of a cloud, but he is still out there undoubtedly, and my wife career never really looked back, and she still goes high when others go low, an aspect of her of which I am extremally proud of.
Cheers
Mr Mac
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I worked for a VERY paternalistic US Company in the Far East one time
They had some guys (plumbers, electricians, handy men) who wandered round fixing the office, houses, bits of kit. One day a young guy (?17?) fell through a roof and landed on his head - serious brain damage. The Company had him in the best local hospital, they flew in people from Singapore, sent copies of his xrays etc to the USA, they set up Satellite calls (and this was in early 80's) with the top brain surgeon in Dallas and the local surgeons. He was out in 3 months, pretty much 100% (but with a truly frightening scar and dint in his head) and back at work.
The important thing is not that the Company did it, but they did it without thinking, or discussing it. No-one EVER mentioned the cost He was as much one of "us" as the 10 gallon hat wearing CEO on $ millions a year. "We look after our people". As you can imagine it they had a great deal of local loyalty.
I have worked for other N American companies - including one where the CFO said, in the hearing of a whole office, " I don't care who leaves - we can pick replacements up of the street..."
One of these two companies is still in business - guess.....................
They had some guys (plumbers, electricians, handy men) who wandered round fixing the office, houses, bits of kit. One day a young guy (?17?) fell through a roof and landed on his head - serious brain damage. The Company had him in the best local hospital, they flew in people from Singapore, sent copies of his xrays etc to the USA, they set up Satellite calls (and this was in early 80's) with the top brain surgeon in Dallas and the local surgeons. He was out in 3 months, pretty much 100% (but with a truly frightening scar and dint in his head) and back at work.
The important thing is not that the Company did it, but they did it without thinking, or discussing it. No-one EVER mentioned the cost He was as much one of "us" as the 10 gallon hat wearing CEO on $ millions a year. "We look after our people". As you can imagine it they had a great deal of local loyalty.
I have worked for other N American companies - including one where the CFO said, in the hearing of a whole office, " I don't care who leaves - we can pick replacements up of the street..."
One of these two companies is still in business - guess.....................
When we got back to Luton later that day, the CEO came to see us on the flight deck. I told him about all the extra activity and extra staffing that had been going on to prepare 'his' flight. There was a pause, then he said, "Ah.........Thank you for letting me know". I wasn't trying to get anybody into trouble, but I wanted him to understand that what he saw was not representative, because if he saw a perfect flight with everything just so; he would assume that his staffing policies and Ts & Cs were good. Or even too much.
I watched or read about a factory where a company employed someone to advise on improving productivity. They took the very simple step of moving the boss's car parking spaces from just outside the staircase/lift to their offices; to another location, which meant the bosses had to walk through the factory to get there. So the bosses saw the factory and the workers every day and could pick up a sense of how things were going. And on the way they could briefly chat to the workers, who might flag up problems they wouldn't otherwise get to hear about.
Productivity improved because the bosses could see the workers and the workers saw the bosses and felt that they cared, rather than being in their office, never seen.
I also remember a program about a big shipyard in Glasgow, where back in the day, the bosses had chauffeur driven cars and wooden panelled dining rooms with silver-service meals, etc, but there was not even a canteen for the actual welders and riveters, who had to bring sandwiches to work. Industrial relations there were very poor......
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Paxing All Over The World
This is a design exercise, which they hope to get ready for production to sell. So it is sometime from service ...
Wheelchair adapting seat
Wheelchair adapting seat
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Paxing All Over The World
I did not like the sudden loud noises at the very start. Meant to catch your attention but I found it invasive. Otherwise? Very inclusive and shows the range of people involved in the work, which is good.