Black Friday Shopping: Is It Worth It This Year?

Is Black Friday shopping worth the black eyes and runny noses? Some would say yes and some would say no.

Many stores this year are offering fantastic Black Friday Early Bird Specials.  The hard part is deciding which store you are going to wait outside until 5 a.m. for (some open as early as midnight or 3 a.m.!).

Instead, try Cyber Monday this year. For those of you that have not heard, Monday, November 29, 2010 is considered “Cyber Monday.”  This day is all about the online shopping. You no longer have to worry about the pushing and shoving or late nights (that some may enjoy!), and you can enjoy these great deals from the comfort of your own living room.

In the past, many of these deals have been as good, or even better than Black Friday deals. Stores that are participating in this year’s Cyber Monday include: Sears, WalMart, Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, Kohls, and many more!

For those of you who are interested in the online shopping festivities, you may want to consider reading Cyber Monday Deals 2010 – a DIYer’s Guide before you start your online shopping. The author refers to a great online tool called Price Grabber, www.pricegrabber.com
To get a head start on the deals, read this article: Cyber Monday 2010 Predictions: Which Deals You Should Expect, http://aol.it/glIaQQ.

Are you going shopping on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or neither, this year? What do you love and/or hate about the shopping around this time? What is this year’s “hot item” you hope to find? We would love to hear your comments!

Let’s Think Michigan First

I recently attended an event that featured Buy Michigan Now campaign founder, Lisa Diggs.  Her presentation about the efforts of the campaign seemed to gain the interest of many of the attendees in the audience that morning.  She spoke of the difficult time we’ve faced here in Michigan and how she hit a point where she realized that we can do something to fix it.

The Buy Michigan Now campaign (www.buymichigannow.com) is “dedicated to promoting the beauty, character, and commerce of Michigan and to economically revitalizing the state.”  I recommend you, as leaders of our communities, visit the site and consider the impact that “Thinking Michigan First” can have on your business as well as the economy and welfare of our state.

As Lisa mentioned, we seem to have developed a victim mentality over the last few years: a state of mind that assumes we’ve been the victim of bad politics, a broken auto industry, and other hardships.  But, it’s time to alter that mindset.  It’s time to stop waiting on the auto industry and our government to cure our troubles.  We need to make a choice to go from victims to victors. And that process starts with all of us…now!

Local entrepreneurs have started to take action.  Two college graduates recently formed Michigan Made Direct (www.michiganmadedirect.com).  Their slogan, “Hometown Favorites…One Click Away!” sums up their intentions to help stimulate interest and promote locally made and distributed products such as Detroit’s own Faygo beverages and Better Made potato chips.  Eric Finnigan, co-owner of Global Materials Management, LLC, the parent company of MichiganMadeDirect.com says:

For so long, fellow Michiganders have been forced to migrate outside of our great state to find jobs.  By leaving the place they call home behind, they are also forced to say goodbye to so many of the great products they have become accustomed to while growing up here.  MichiganMadeDirect.com was created to bridge that gap by offering Michigan originals all over the world.  It has been very special for us to be a part of the push to support our local economy and encourage all Michigan businesses interested in becoming a consignment partner to contact us at customerservice@gmm-llc.com or (877) 381-2660.

We can maintain their encouraging efforts by injecting it into our own philosophy and business practices as well.

Sure, we’ve got work to do.  But, I’m confident that if we all make a conscious effort to “Think Michigan First”, we can pull ourselves from this slump and get us back on our feet running.

“Hail! Hail! to Michigan

The leaders and best!”

Leadership Reflections

Continuing from last week’s post, I wanted to follow up with those of you who were interested in increasing your leadership qualities.

To continue your leadership reflection, there are a couple of things you can do:

In the morning you see yourself in the mirror. You ask yourself the first leadership reflection question: Why would anyone want to be led by me?

It is evening at home and you find yourself back in front of that same mirror prior to bed. You ask yourself the second reflective question: How did I lead today?

Yes, these are challenging questions. They are not always easy to ask, and usually more difficult to answer. However, if you are living your values and using and developing your strengths, you will find that you can positively answer these questions most of the time.

The time you take for reflecting will allow you to continue to walk down your leadership path and become more of a value and strength-based leader for your associates, friends and family.

Leadership will always require the “how to” aspects, but also consider how values, strengths and reflective questions can assist you in walking down your leadership path.

Let me know your thoughts.

What Are Your Values as a Leader?

Know and Live Your Values.

Think about 20 values that are important to you and record them. Identify the 10 most important from that list. then take the additional step of  identifying the top five and list them in ranking order.

Can you write a value statement that reflects how you live those values? Consider how you use and live those values in your daily leadership activities. Remember, leading occurs in your organization, but also at home, in your marriage, community organizations and church.

Once you write a thought or statement about how you are living your values, allow yourself to review it occasionally and update it. You will find this activity reinforces your value-based leadership. It also allows you to take the thoughts to a deeper and more meaningful level.

Our team utilizes a framework to identify our top values. Comment and let me know if you would like a copy.