(Time to read this Blog is about 4 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking or smiling:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“Our staff know stuff and they hate it when we don’t ask. When we don’t ask, they assume that we don’t care. And, if we don’t care, why should they? When we listen to our staff, two wonderful things happen. First, we learn from them …and, second, we honour them. Both are important.”
…Donald Cooper.
- Quick Biz Tip:
Stop lying to us!
I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject of lying. What I’ve figured out is that there are two types of liars. There are the ‘delusional liars’ and the ‘completely aware’ liars’. The ‘delusional liars’ are so narcissistic, so removed from reality, that they actually believe that their lies are the truth.
The ‘completely aware’ liars, on the other hand, know that their lies are lies, but they tell them anyway to convince others of something, for financial gain, or to make themselves appear to be exceptional.
We see political liars everywhere…but we have lots of liars in business too. Some of them may be ‘delusional liars’, but my guess is that most liars in business are ‘completely aware liars’. Way too many businesses are making false claims to mislead or manipulate us. There’s false advertising, phoney performance or quality claims, fake discounts, ‘bait and switch’, small print, hidden charges and delivery dates they know they can’t meet. The list is endless.
My advice…stop it. Stop it all now! Commit to creating an extraordinary business by doing the right thing extraordinarily well.
- Fun ‘Trade War Facts’. Virtually every country on earth subsidizes their farmers. The highest farm subsidies, as a % of the value of farm production, are in Norway, Switzerland and Iceland with average subsidies of about 65% to 75% of the value of farm production. In Japan and Korea, farm subsidies are 60% to 65% of the value of production.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is forecast to pay American farmers $44.3 billion in direct government payments this year, up 45% from 2025. Much of that subsidy money goes to America’s Dairy Farmers. Economists estimate that these support payments are equivalent to 45% of the U.S. cost of milk production.
Canada does not provide direct production subsidies to dairy farmers. Instead, the industry is stabilized by ‘supply management’ where farmers control production to match demand and charge prices that reflect their costs. Otherwise, they would be put out of business by highly subsidized milk and dairy products from America.
Tariff-Free Access: The U.S. is granted tariff-free access for limited quantities of fluid milk, cheese, cream, butter and other dairy products, roughly equivalent to 3.5% of Canada’s domestic dairy market.
Over-Quota Tariffs: Once these specific volume caps are reached, additional imports are hit with heavy tariffs to limit market disruption for Canadian farmers. By the way, the U.S. has similar limits and tariffs on foreign dairy imports from all countries.
The US Government has claimed that Canada charges US dairy producers a tariff of 250% to 400%. In reality, some US dairy products carry an import duty of 7.5%, if they are ‘within access commitment,’ meaning the items do not exceed the agreed-upon cap. To date, no U.S. dairy products, imported into Canada, have been subjected to those higher tariffs.
The value of American dairy exports to Canada since CUSMA came into effect in 2020 has increased by almost 50%, totalling more than US$1 billion last year…nearly triple what Canada sold to the U.S. in 2024.
The world’s most expensive office chair. The ‘Aresline Xten’ office chair, designed by the famous Italian automotive firm Pininfarina, can cost more than $1.5 million US, depending on custom materials used.
The business question for you is. ‘What exclusive product, service or experience can you create that will increase revenue and elevate your brand?
- Fun answers to questions you never cared about. Why 30% of all English words have their root in the French language. Answer: After the French-speaking Normans defeated English King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, French was the official language of the English Court for 330 years. This is why about 30% of all English words, like restaurant, menu, evidence and ballet have their root in French words.
- AI update. 100 huge, driverless AI powered dump trucks operate 24 hours a day in an open pit coal mine in north-east China. 300 more of these trucks are on order. The trucks are produced by Huawei, the giant Chinese technology firm that first became famous for it cell phones. From cell phones to giant driverless dump trucks…talk about reinventing yourself!
Shameless promotion:
Here’s a recent client quote:
“Donald, you stole the show with our Dealers, staff and suppliers! You went above and beyond any speaker we’ve ever worked with.”
If you or your Industry Association have a Conference coming up in the next
12 months, perhaps we should talk. As a thought-leader on management, marketing, staff engagement, value delivery and profitability, I deliver bottom-line business insights and Management Implementation Tools that inform, focus, energize, engage and inspire.
I’m easy to reach at donald@donaldcooper.com
Now, to this week’s important topic…
How many people are you trying to manage?
Following a presentation to furniture retailers on, “The 8 essential steps to finding, leading & keeping a top-performing team.”, I received an email from one attendee saying, “Great ideas Donald…however, with tracking and dealing with every single employee (about 45 people) while running the business and making and implementing other business decisions, where do I find the time?” …signed, Margaret.
I was astounded. How could anyone believe that they can effectively manage 45 people? So, I emailed her back with a few questions. From her reply I discovered that Margaret is physically and mentally exhausted and taking anxiety medication. Sales are down, employee turnover is way up…and the ones who are leaving are the top performers.
A question I love to ask business owners and managers, “Does your business model serve your life model?” And, sadly, the answer is often, “Not even close!”
So, I replied to her, “Margaret, you’re absolutely correct. Nobody can effectively manage, train, develop, challenge, inspire, mentor, support, measure performance for and reward 45 people. It’s killing you and the business. That’s why you must create a management structure in your business. For example, you should have:
- an office & accounting manager,
- a marketing, advertising and social media manager,
- a store sales manager,
- a warehouse and delivery (logistics) manager…and,
- a combined buyer and merchandising manager.
These 5 people will report directly to you. Your job is to hire, develop, mentor, lead, challenge, inspire and manage them and they, in turn, will hire, develop and manage their specific team to deliver agreed performance commitments.”
Margaret emailed back, “Thanks Donald, you’re right. It’s so obvious, so simple…I guess that’s why you get the big bucks. 😊“
So, are you trying to manage too many people? It’s generally thought that 6 to 8 is the absolute limit. If your number is higher than that, what structure will you create to spread the load and grow your best people so that they can help you grow the business and your bottom line?
That’s it for this week…
Live brilliantly and be kind to each other!
Donald Cooper
