The NASCAR Way

Kaitlyn Greening
ADPR 5910
Hagstrom, Robert G.. The NASCAR way: the business that drives the sport. New York: Wiley,
1998. Print.
“The NASCAR Way”
Robert G. Hagstrom’s, “The NASCAR Way,” takes an in-depth look into the business that drives the sport. From its original roots on a cow pasture in Stockbridge, Georgia, to becoming the ultimate family-owned business, NASCAR has transformed into the main course for corporate America’s appetite. Hagstrom explains the sound just as bit as powerful as the 700-horsepower v8 engine racing around the track. It is the sound of pure capitalism- the hardworking reverberation of a business. “The NASCAR Way” provides a refreshing insight into the business and investment opportunities behind stock car racing.
“The NASCAR Way” emphasizes corporate sponsorship as the backbone of the sport. As the fastest growing sport in the country, Hagstrom explains why dozen of fortune 500 companies have boarded the NASCAR bandwagon. Companies such as Tide, Gatorade, Coco-Cola, and The Cartoon Network all use NASCAR as an efficient marketing resource. Corporations are able to take the ultimate role in advertising by sponsoring a team. Cars are used as a blank canvas to solicit the corporation. Moreover, Hagstrom stresses how PepsiCo, RJR Nabisco, Unocal Oil, and Anheuser-Busch have begun renting out corporate suites during the races- not only to provide hospitality to NASCAR fans but to sell to a targeted audience.
NASCAR is a proclaimed family business, beginning with its father, “Big” Bill France. Since 1948, NASCAR has been passed down to each successor of the France name. Big Bill serves as the ultimate legacy for NASCAR, as his precedents he set are the basis for the phenomenal business success NASCAR has experienced. Hagstrom emphasizes the stable leadership of the sport. It is the leadership that allows NASCAR to possess such powerful proficiency.
After analyzing “The NASCAR Way,” the audience can assume it makes excellent observations into the world of business management. Its focus on corporate sponsorship supports the notion that corporations emphasize their name more than their actual product. Corporate sponsorship is received with gratitude, as it works in favor of both the business and the corporations. It is this sponsorship that is the most efficient tool for corporate advertising. Moreover, Bill France exemplifies the key qualities of a proficient leader. It is vision, passion, integrity, trust and a desire to keep pushing for more that contributes to NASCAR’s progress. The France family does a good job at integrating both the “leader” and the “manager” into one role. It is from the family-oriented values instilled in NASCAR. Moreover, “The NASCAR Way” greatly incorporates Elton Mayo’s idea of the Hawthorne Studies into its management. The France family gives extensive attention to all aspects of its family- crew members, office holders, the fans, etc. NASCAR also shows effective use in collaborative management. Although the sport is privately owner, the France family uses team-work to follow the theory Y axis. The members of the NASCAR team exude potential, are self-directed, and find their work enjoyable.
“The NASCAR Way” is highly recommended to be read by other students. Hagstrom surprises the reader with points that are not stressed as much as they should be when it comes to managing a business. Not only does it provide great insight into a business, but it keeps the reader engaged with interesting history and high moral values. The reader will be presently surprised about NASCAR’s lack of corruption in-part to its private ownership. It is easy to agree with its emphasis on teamwork and its strategic planning that drives the business. NASCAR shies away from Taylorism, and although many businesses apply vertical organization, NASCAR uses its horizontal organization positively.

The 10 Laws of Enduring Success - Kristy Lyons

Bartiromo, Maria, and Whitney, Catherine. The 10 Laws of Enduring Success. New York: Crown Business, 2010.

The 10 Laws of Enduring Success outlines ten attributes that make an individual successful and how those laws have been demonstrated in many company leaders. Bartiromo’s ten laws include: self-knowledge, vision, initiative, courage, integrity, adaptability, humility, endurance, purpose and resilience. Self-knowledge allowed Jack Welch to successfully run General Electric because he embraced his employees’ individuality and ideas. Vision allows leaders to have the foresight to look ahead and solve the next problem that may arise. An example of initiative is William Morris, who founded Creative Artists Agency after he was a driver for Paul Kohner of The Kohner Agency. While driving Kohner, Morris would listen in on meetings and deals, and get to know many people: Morris took the initiative to learn about the workings of agency by any means. The courage chapter states that in order to be a leader one must possess courage and confidence in their decisions. People won’t follow someone who is not self-assured about what they are doing. Integrity involves keeping one’s core values front and center in the business or organization. Bollinger Insurance CEO Jack Windolf felt as if his employees were undercompensated. After receiving $500,000 in deferred compensation, he wrote a $1,000 check to each of his 454 employees. Adaptability is crucial: those most adaptable to change are the ones who survive. General Electric spends over $1 billion a year on leadership training and education for their employees. Humility is important, as there is a humanizing factor in leaders who are able to laugh at themselves. Hubris can be detrimental to a company if the leader only surrounds himself with people who always say “yes.” In terms of endurance, leaders should never demonstrate anxiety to the team. Great leaders give their followers purpose by making sure employees are healthy, creative and fulfilled. Resilience states that crises should create motivation and bring people together to work for success.

Maria Bartiromo offers a great approach to leadership. As I was reading, I came across various qualities of leaders that we named in class. While reading the section on purpose, Maslow’s hierarchy was discussed. Dr. Deepak Chopra from the Kellogg School of Management states that for a business to be successful the team should be the focus and there should not be a distinction between personal and business life. Basic needs such as survival, safely, achievement and belonging would help everyone perform at their highest potential. Bartiromo also employs a few characteristics of the learning organization theory. Two of the chapters focus solely on vision and purpose. She states that is it important for the leader to have a vision and a purpose that is shared among the team or employees, which is similar to the beliefs of this particular theory.

Without hesitation I would recommend this book to other Public Relations students. I love that Bartiromo breaks the laws of leaderships and success into ten distinct chapters that give various examples and advice from the world’s most successful individuals ranging from Oprah Winfrey, to Jack Welsh of General Electric and Condoleezza rice. Maria Bartiromo is an anchor for CNBC so many of her personal experiences relate to her job in communications. Along with this, Bartiromo relates to the college audience in many areas of the book. She describes her experiences of her job search after college offers advice about steps to obtaining your dream job. A main factor that she stresses throughout the book is that people should take money out of the equation and choose the careers and organizations that ultimately make you happy.

Delivering Happiness - Deanna Mitchell

Deanna Mitchell

Management Book Review

14 February 2012

Hsieh, Tony. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. New York: Business Plus, 2010. Print.

Main Points

Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh, provides a more personal and less instructional guide in comparison to most administrative books. Most of the topics discuss administrative ideas using real life experiences that relate to business decisions and strategy. For example, his fondness for poker taught him to continually learn by educating himself, learn by doing, learn by surrounding himself with the talented and asking questions.

A common theme seen in his career is his constant pursuit of happiness. Following college, Hsieh gained major success but often found himself unenthusiastic at his jobs (his first web project LinkExchange sold for $265 million to Microsoft) but he couldn’t find contentment. Hsieh knew there was impact to be made; but he couldn’t do it working under Microsoft.

“I had to stop chasing the money, and start chasing the passion.”

This embodies the overall message of the book. His yearning to do something larger leads the reader to his happiness framework known as “Three Types of Happiness.” This framework, adapted from Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs, is a ladder of levels of happiness - the higher the happiness is, the longer it lasts. The first step of Hsieh’s hierarchy is pleasure, which is easily acquired but hard to keep (in a business model, profits replace pleasure). Passion, the second step, is when performance meets engagement. Just as the peak of Maslow’s hierarchy is self-actualization, Hsieh proposes that the highest state of happiness is being part of something bigger than yourself - a higher purpose.

Hsieh realizes this is the business approach he unconsciously had from the beginning. He wished provide career satisfaction for himself, and happiness for his customers and employees. Of course, the book shares endless advice on management - the major foci being creating culture and customer service.

Discussion of author’s approach

Initially it seems as if Hsieh was a motivational speaker rather than a businessman. As it continues, you realize that is his business strategy - positivity. This is seen in Zappos’s key standards: improving customer service, strengthening culture, and investing in employee’s personal and professional development.

“ We thought that if we got the culture right, then building our brand to be about the very best customer service would happen naturally.”

Investing in the employees resembles Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Theory in which employees perform better when they know administration is watching. Zappos employees know administration is observing their work in order to aid employee development.

In relation to the Management Grid developed by Blacke and Mouton, Hsieh focuses too much on “concern for people” and not enough on “concern for task”. Even though Zappos’s people-focused administrative approach has been successful, the grid concludes Hsieh is a “Country Club” leader rather than a “Team Leader”.

This points out flaws within Hsieh’s unconventionally positive approach to administration. The strategy may be too optimistic and fail to foresee potential crisis in which negative action is necessary.

Recommend?

Delivering Happiness is a sufficient (I give it a “B”) learning tool for PR Administration students. Though Hsieh’s first-person approach is insightful, some may prefer more objective advice on how to successfully manage a company. Personal narrative relates the reader with the author and provides a learning opportunity through participation in his fun journey. For some it may seem difficult to filter through the personal fluff and digest the administrative tactics that led Zappos to achieving present success. I enjoyed the read and appreciate the managerial guidance Hsieh provided (especially the “Three Types of Happiness”), but it didn’t focus on administration tactics as much as I anticipated.

The Energy Bus

Kelsey Backus

February 14, 2012

Lariscy ADPR 3510

Management/Leadership Book Review

Gordon, Jon. The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy. John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2007.

“The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon “gives ten rules to fuel your life, work and team with positive energy.” Gordon uses a fictional story of a man named George who is in a rut in both life and work and needs a spark of positive energy and inspiration in order to get his life back on track. George, on the verge of losing his job and his marriage, is forced to ride the bus to work one day when his car gets a flat tire. This “energy bus,” driven by the inspirational Joy, turns out to be just what George needed.

With the help of her fellow passengers, Joy teaches George how to take control and drive his own energy bus to change his life around. The 10 rules Joy teaches George can be applied to any management or leadership situation to ensure a successful and positive experience. The rules, simple and relatively easy, are as follows:

1. You are the driver of your bus.

2. Desire, vision and focus move your bus in the right direction.

3. Fuel your ride with positive energy.

4. Invite people on your bus and share your vision for the road ahead.

5. Don’t waste your energy on those who don’t get on your bus.

6. Post a sign that says No Energy Vampires Allowed on your bus.

7. Enthusiasm attracts more passengers and energizes them during the ride.

8. Love your passengers.

9. Drive with purpose.

10. Have fun and enjoy the ride.

George illustrates the effectiveness of using these 10 rules in the work place with his team of workers working to pitch a new product to management. George struggles at first with getting his team members aboard his bus but through his perseverance and, most importantly, positive energy, he successfully becomes the driver of his own energy bus.

This strategy, focusing on the influence of positive energy on productivity and the effectiveness as a team, is a refreshing approach to management and leadership theory. We have discussed in class how effective leaders not only have organization and management skills but also must have drive, passion and charisma. George shows how important and effective a leader’s positive attitude can be by inspiring his colleagues to embody his positive energy.

It is important to lead by example, just as George does, and focus on the people you are leading. Just as Arlene Blum made decisions that, at first, her team may not have agreed upon but in the end were the best for everyone involved, George insisted on using this “energy bus” theory to compel his team to work harder, even when this meant losing a few team members. Rule number 8, love your passengers, is sometimes one of the hardest, but arguably one of the most important rules, especially when you have what Gordon refers to as “energy vampires.” Caring about you passengers’ energy proves to be a crucial strategy in successful leadership. It takes a truly effective and motivated leader to overcome these obstacles and let positive energy prevail.

I would recommend this book for other PR students, as well as anyone interested in becoming a more effective leader. Gordon’s approach to explaining this leadership strategy is both captivating and inspirational. His rags to riches approach shows that even when you feel like everything in your life is going wrong and you have no motivation or little hope, it is still possible to succeed. Sometimes all you need is a spark of inspiration and/or positive attitude to transform yourself and your life and become the driver of your own energy bus.

Erika Smith

ADPR 5910/Lariscy

February 29, 2012

Novak, David. Taking People With You. New York: Penguin Group, 2012. Print.

“Taking People With You” Book Review

Summary

                        “You can’t lead a great organization of any size without getting your people aligned, enthusiastic, and focused relentlessly on the mission.” This is just one of the many valuable lessons Taking People With You has to offer. This inspirational management book begins with a personal anecdote from the author, David Novak, demonstrating the importance of appreciating the people around you. As the chairman and CEO of Yum! Brands, the world’s largest restaurant company and owner of the brands KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell for over a decade, Novak offers his years of experience through a unique program entitled “Taking People With You”. The program, which is usually taught in seminars by Novak himself, has taken the form of a book that has received praise from CEOs, chairmen, and university deans at some of the most prestigious companies and institutions across the nation.

            Taking People With You is filled with pages of countless principles that are essential to management at all levels. Novak stresses the all-important message that managers will never make big things happen unless they learn how to get people on their side. Although the author explains how to accomplish this vital task over the course of over 200 pages, the key aspects of leadership can be easily drawn and applied to everyday life:

• ·      Get inside the heads of your people
• ·      Think big
• ·      Practice “extraordinary authenticity”
• ·      Look for good ideas in unexpected places
• ·      Choose a can-do mindset
• ·      Cheer for first downs, not just touchdowns
• ·      Get rid of cynics

Analysis

This book utilizes a hands-on approach to coaching readers on leadership and management. Throughout the book are dozens of exercises, sidebars, and diagrams in which the reader can actively engage. Also, thought-provoking quotes from important figures throughout history are inserted into key points in the book, offering the readers points of view other than just the author’s. Novak offers countless stories and examples from his own career as well as the careers of others to illustrate his points, which adds to both his credibility and the reader’s understanding of the content. The personal anecdotes that I most admire, however, are the ones in which the author demonstrates ability to recognize failures and challenges in his career and share them with his readers. He is aware that he is not a perfect leader and is constantly growing, changing, and striving to improve his performance.

            Novak utilizes aspects from several different management systems to advise other managers and leaders about what he thinks are the most effective management strategies. Specifically, elements of Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory are evident in Novak’s teachings, especially the way in which he uses motivation as a framework for gaining employees’ commitment. Furthermore, collaborative management is emphasized by Novak as a cornerstone in the promotion of a sense of unity and teamwork among managers and supervisors within an organization.

Recommendation

            I would most definitely recommend this book to public relations students.  The easy-to-read text coupled with the hands-on approach and interactive exercises provide an interested way to keep readers engages in the text. Additionally, David Novak’s career is an inspiration to both students and recent graduates; the journey from University of Missouri journalism major to becoming the chairman and CEO of a Fortune 500 company is no doubt an incredible feat. The advice and inspiration in this book is essential to the success of leaders and managers of all kinds.

Erin Peterson's Book Review of "EntreLeadership"

Erin Peterson

ADPR5910

Lariscy

March 1, 2012

Ramsey, Dave. Entreleadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches. New York: Howard, 2011. Print.

“EntreLeadership” Review

Summary:

“EntreLeadership,” by Dave Ramsey, is a very personal and innovative guide to managing any sort of business with the attitude and spirit of an “EntreLeader.” Ramsey, a successful entrepreneur who has grown his small business into a very large and profitable corporation, shares his many successes and failures associated with running his company. He teaches the reader how to embody the passion, drive, and willingness to serve others that has molded him and others into the “EntreLeaders” that they are today.

“The Lampo Group, Inc. is providing biblically based, commonsense education and empowerment which gives HOPE to everyone from the financially secure to the financially distressed,” is the mission statement with which Ramsey bases his entire business and managerial strategies. His Christian beliefs and morals are the foundation to his approach towards himself, his business employees, better known as “team members,” and his business. He then creates goals and objectives on top of the statement that guide him in working with others to achieve specific tasks throughout his day. An “EntreLeader” creates goals that epitomize the passion and ambition that he or she has for that particular business.

After Ramsey introduces the goals that he has made for his company, he then provides a guideline into every aspect of business and how these goals tie into certain decisions that he has made along the way. He shares many examples of the choices that have and haven’t worked for him and what he would have done differently. Some examples include his insight into time management, marketing, hiring, firing and how to inspire “team members” to also become “EntreLeaders.” Overall, Ramsey’s book is a very unique guide to becoming the influential and passionate leader that will motivate others to help pilot a business team into the success that was imagined in the creation of the mission statement.

Analysis:

Many of the strategies within “EntreLeadership” reflect a combination of management theories. Ramsey’s insistence on working with and inspiring others reflect the basics behind theories such as collaborative management, the human relations movement and the Hawthorne studies. A profound idea embedded within each of these theories is the belief that employees are actually humans and should be treated as such. A leader must work together with his or her team members, bring out their inner creativity and drive, and work collaboratively in pursuing a common goal.

On a more specific level, one of Ramsey’s more significant leadership guidelines from a public relations perspective includes “The Map to the Party: Grasping the Undeniable Relationship Between Great Communication and Great Companies.” The section outlines how an “EntreLeader” actually inspires his business team members in communicating his vision, passion and drive with them in everything from office memos to annual reports. This section is very important to a PR professional because it includes how a leader communicates inspiration internally to the employees as well as externally to the customers. If “EntreLeaders” and PR professionals consistently embody and communicate the ideals behind “EntreLeadership,” then team members and customers will follow.

Recommendation:

Overall, although the book didn’t exactly teach me how to lead and was very redundant in its reminders about how “EntreLeaders” inspire others, it did convince me of the importance of a positive attitude. It proved to me that a team is much stronger when every member is passionate about the work. A business is more successful when the customers actually believe in the product or service. A PR professional must be able to embrace and communicate the spirit of “EntreLeadership” to become more inspirational and effective in his or her work. Therefore, I definitely recommend Ramsey’s book. I believe that it is an important perspective to consider in today’s world of continuously changing business models, new modes of communication and the growing necessity to be constantly innovating and open to new ideas.

Brooke Hrouda Book Review

Michelli, Joseph A., The Starbucks Experience. New York. McGraw Hill, 2006. Print.

The Starbucks Experience

Starbucks is the largest chain of coffee shops in the world. There are now more than 11,000 outlets in 37 countries, and five new shops start pouring coffee every day. Joseph Michelli, the book's author, was granted unlimited access to the inside workings of the company and used his findings to write his book, The Starbucks Experience.

His inquiry exposed a company unlike any other and helped to divulge why the company was and continues to be so successful. According to Michelli, there are three main emphases that make the company what it is. What he discovered is that all employees, whether in a top management position or in a part time after school job, are offered a stake in the company. On top of that, Starbucks goes to extra lengths to train their staff to be skilled in not only the company culture but also to be happy in their work. They believe that job satisfaction translates into happy customer relations. In fact, Starbucks spends more money on training than on advertising. Each staff member is trained to give the customer a personalized experience and to understand that no two customers are alike.

The third main emphasis of the book is the most pivotal aspect of the company's success: that Starbucks follows five main principles. They include: make it your own, everything matters, surprise and delight, embrace resistance, and leave your mark. Starbucks wants to give each customer his own experience, emphasize that every detail matters in achieving a competitive advantage, supply a consistent product to the customer's delight, grow stronger from resistance in the community, and be socially conscientious.

The Starbucks Experience shows readers how employee motivation, excellent customer
service and satisfaction, and community involvement build a great company. Starbucks could be said to follow a TQM system. Their main focus is on serving quality products while still maintaining good customer relations. Also, like Follett's collaborative management system, they believe in working “with” one another instead of “over” one another, and have a real focus on teams to develop their company. Starbucks gives each employee an opportunity to have a stake in the company. Think of the management grid. Starbucks employees mark high on both axes of the grid. They have both concern for people (Y-axis) and concern for the task (X-task). Their company follows the policies of the human relations movement because of its main concern with employees and customers.

Perhaps all this is embedded in the company culture. Because Starbucks spends such large amounts of money on training instead of advertising, their employees not only learn but also embody its principles. The company states that it tries to do two things every day, share a great cup of coffee with friends and make the world a better place. This approach by the Starbucks company, including their involvement in the community, helps to put Starbucks in a good light among the people. Over all, their system appears to work in a way that many other company's do not and helps to make them the success they are today.

All in all, I would recommend this book to both young and adult readers alike. Whether or not one likes coffee, the Starbucks management system is one unlike any other and has helped to make them the global powerhouse they are today. Their success is unmistakeable, and it is embedded in their business principles and their culture. Their five principles and ability to include their staff and customers is a system that should be reflected in every company and ones everyday life.