The Exuberant Accountant - Scott Heintzelman

Ford CEO Alan Mulally: LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury Second Mile Celebration of Leadership

This past Friday evening I had the privilege of meeting and listening to the man credited with turning around both Boeing and now Ford Motor Company – Alan Mulally.  Alan came to Hershey to headline The Second Mile’s flagship fundraiser, The Celebration of Leadership dinner, and I came away very impressed with his down-to-earth nature and his humble servant leadership attitude.  Numerous times during the evening he mentioned how he was “honored to serve such an American and global icon.” 

 

There were many leadership and management lessons in what Alan shared (especially as it related to turning around a struggling global company). When Alan came to Ford three years ago, the company and the automotive industry had many challenges.  The company was hemorrhaging cash, had well over 100 makes and models competing against each other, and lacked a global corporate strategy.  Early on he knew the company needed to streamline the product line, give the consumers safe and efficient transportation and cars they want to buy, and focus on being “best in class” for each make and model they produced. This required new product development, retooling factories and most importantly, this required CASH, something Ford did not have. 

McKinley Economic Forecast by Dr. Jay Bryson

Today I attended the Harrisburg Regional Chamber’s annual economic forecast luncheon.  Dr. Jay Bryson, Director and Global Economist at Wells Fargo Bank (and a Central PA boy), was the keynote presenter. Unlike most economists, he has an amazing gift to speak in lay terms and help people understand what the numbers are saying.  Here are a few of his key points:

 

• While the fourth quarter showed a 5.7% increase in Real GDP, a large chunk of that increase came from Government Stimulus.

Speaking at Stewardship University

I have written many times about stewardship and servant leadership and really value the idea of giving back.  So, I was excited and honored when I was invited to speak at the Stewardship University.  Mennonite Mutual Aid is hosting a one day stewardship education session on March 6^th in Lancaster.  Numerous community leaders will be presenting on various topics, such as: Retirement 101, Freed-Up Financially, Missionvesting and Innovative Philanthropy.  All these sessions are geared toward helping people understand the responsibility and importance of giving (time, talents, health, money…) back to others.

I will be presenting a session titled - Differing Gifts in the Body: Managing People in Organizational Settings from a Strength-Based Perspective.

For more information on this event, speakers and topics you can check out the Stewardship University website or contact me.

Family Firms Vital to Sustainable Economy

What's so special about family business? Business is business is business, right? Isn't any business better than no business -- no matter the size, family-held or not? Do family businesses impact a local economy?  

In every measure that's significant -- from return on assets to profitability and from sales growth to return on equity -- family firms outperform non-family firms in the long run. Communities interested in preserving and growing their economies need to know that the engine of job creation and prosperity begins with family-owned firms. They play a vital part in any sustainable economy. 

Messiah College and the Soccer Program Recognized by Congress

It is not every day your alma mater gets a special recognition by Congress.  Regular readers of this blog know that I serve on the Board of Trustees for Messiah College and I am obviously very proud of the school’s many accomplishments.  It is pretty amazing that yesterday Congress took special action to recognize the school.  If you desire to watch the clip from C-Span reading the House Resolution, it is linked for your viewing pleasure.

Family Business Challenge: Attitude of Entitlement (Follow-Up)

On a recent post titled Family Business Challenge: Attitude of Entitlement, I asked people to share what they do in their family to avoid an attitude of entitlement and also what and how they are teaching the next generation to “Prepare” and to “Protect.”  The response was great and some wonderful tips and best practices were shared.

 

One of those responses came from Phil Clemens, CEO of Clemens Family Corporation (i.e. Hatfield Quality Meats) and a regular reader of The Exuberant Accountant.  I did a feature post on Phil last April which you can read by clicking this link.  Phil often speaks and coaches on family business issues and he is someone I respect tremendously.  With his permission, I share some wonderful insights from him and the Clemens Family.

  

Some of the things we do are:

House Unanimously Approves Bill to Allow Taxpayers to Claim Charitable Deduction in 2009 for Haiti Relief

The House of Representatives today unanimously passed legislation that would allow individuals who make charitable contributions to victims of the earthquake in Haiti to claim an itemized charitable deduction on their 2009 tax return instead of having to wait until next year to claim these deductions on their 2010 tax return. The legislation also includes a provision allowing those who text messaged a donation the ability to use a phone bill as proof of donation.  The donations need to be made before March 1^st, 2010. The Senate is expected to shortly approve similar legislation.

New Speaking Engagement – Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP)

The Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) recently asked me to do two presentations at their 2010 Annual Conference.  I get the opportunity to share on two topics I really enjoy. First, a keynote address on the subject of “Adding Value to your Business.” This is such an important topic and one that many business owners struggle with.  So many entrepreneurs get caught up working IN the business and not enough time ON the business. 

 

My second presentation at the conference will be to lead three separate break out sessions on “Family Business.”  This, of course, is a subject near and dear to my heart and one I have written extensively about. I will get to present my thoughts on the unique challenges faced by family business, but more importantly I get to share some ideas on how to make them stronger.  Things like the importance of Family Meetings, thinking of the business as one that is owned by a family as opposed to a family owned business, Participatory Leadership, and the value of having an Advisory Board… to name a few.

The Power of Full Engagement

I have been called the Energizer Bunny on Steroids and people often ask me, “How do you have so much energy?”  I never really thought much about it until I read The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.  The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. This is something we can control with our decisions and actions.

 

We live in the digital age and our pace is fast and relentless.  We face heavy workloads, many family responsibilities and we try to cram as much as possible into every day.  We may be wired up, but we are melting down.  Time management is no longer a solution; instead, we need to learn how to manage our energy.  As energy is the key to high performance as well as health, happiness and life balance.

 

The book outlines four key principles to increase our energy level:

Financial Freedom Seminar: Building a Personal Spending Plan

Saturday afternoon, January 30th, I will be teaching a seminar on personal financial freedom and budgeting at Country & Town Baptist Church.  For the past few years, I have been teaching a class on stewardship and financial discipline and will now be covering that material in a two-hour presentation. The course will focus on building a spending plan. We use the term spending plan as opposed to budget since most people associate negative feeling with budgets.

 

If you know of anyone who would benefit and is interested in attending this complimentary training, please contact me.