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Specialized Bicycles’ CEO Sinyard Apologizes, Shows Class.

December 12, 2013
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By Tom Demerly.

Specialized Bicycles' Founder and CEO Mike Sinyard personally traveled to Cochrane, Canada to delivery an apology to Cafe Roubaix founder Dan Richter.

Specialized Bicycles’ Founder and CEO Mike Sinyard personally traveled to Cochrane, Canada to delivery an apology to Cafe Roubaix founder Dan Richter.

In a widely shared story on social media from December 8, 2013, bicycle mega-brand Specialized Bicycles threatened legal action for alleged trademark infringement against small local retailer Cafe Roubaix Bicycles in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. The threat originated from concerns by Specialized Bicycles over their legally protected trademark for the word “Roubaix” when referring to specific product categories.

Social media critics, including this writer, were quick to point out what appeared at the time to be a heavy-handed approach by Specialized.

On Thursday, December 12, 2013 Specialized founder Mike Sinyard was quick to reply with a sincere apology to Cafe Roubaix Bicycles’ owner Dan Richter. In the apology, Sinyard said, “I just want to say a big apology for this whole thing that got way out of line…”

“I just want to say a big apology for this whole thing that got way out of line…” Mike Sinyard, Specialized Bicycles.

Sinyard traveled to Cochrane, Canada to deliver the apology in person at Cafe Roubaix Bicycles. In a text book example of social and business crisis management Sinyard went on to say, “I completely take full responsibility.”

Specialized Bicycles can be credited with financial support of independent bicycle dealers across the U.S. who have suffered during the recession. In several cases Specialized has provided financing, management, merchandising and inventory assistance that saved local retailers from closing. In addition Specialized Bicycles has demonstrated extensive support of social and environmental causes through their “Sustainable Innovation” initiatives that include environmental, import and workplace guidelines for corporate integrity.

Sinyard’s textbook example of crisis management establishes a new standard of corporate responsiveness and accountability in the cycling industry and cements Specialized Bicycles’ status as a leading brand in cycling.

Finally Home.

December 9, 2013
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By Tom Demerly.

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I am, finally, home.

After four laps of the globe, trips to every continent, living on three continents, six countries and five states and not even remembering everywhere I’ve been, I’m back to the place I started from, my favorite place on earth; Dearborn, Michigan in the United States. It is and always has been home. And this has been a very long trip.

I will tell you stories about beautiful beaches and exotic places, about high mountains and vast deserts, war torn countries and hopeful sunrises. Success and failure. I will bore you to tears with esoteric facts and improbable stories, all true, mind you, if modified by time and memory. But I will never tell you there is a place better than Dearborn. So I am home.

Dearborn is the hometown of Henry Ford, the place where Ford Motor Company is headquartered and a suburb of the beleaguered and rebounding City of Detroit. We have one of the largest Arab-American populations in the world outside of the Middle East. Through the dark and light of our history we’ve been known for industry, recession and racism, Orville Hubbard and Greenfield Village. We have a campus of the University of Michigan and one of the best community colleges in the country named after Henry Ford. We also design and build cars here so good that when the entire U.S. auto industry needed a government bailout, we didn’t take it. Ford stock was about a dollar a share then. Today it is sixteen times that. And climbing.

So I’m home.

I learned something about home during the time I was away. Home is made of the history you’ve lived, the people you love and who love you. It is built of the precise map of your hometown built into your head so you never need Google Maps or a GPS in your car. You know every street, alley, sidewalk, and every shortcut.

But mostly, home is friends. Friends who share your history of triumph and failure, promise and forgiveness. Home is the girl you walked to school with in 7th grade and then take on a date 37 years later. And she still looks the same to you.  Home is the place where friends give you their old furniture and know your cats’ names.

Home is where you made your mistakes, took your licks, learned your game and gone on to things you thought were bigger and better only to discover there is a world of people searching for the same thing. But never really finding it. Because it is back home.

Home is also where you discover you really aren’t all that and that you have to take all these big lessons, experiences and adventures and cram them back into a little box and get back to work. Because you are only as good as the outcome of your next game. And whatever you may or may not have accomplished out there in the big world, home doesn’t care much. Home only cares that you carry on doing the things that make made this place… home.

I am so happy to be home.

Nelson Mandela and the Human Paradox.

December 6, 2013
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By Tom Demerly.

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Activist, terrorist, president, communist, freedom fighter, humanitarian, bully, saint and sinner; human. Nelson Mandela’s dossier spans the entire spectrum of social administration and life experience.

Like any complex character, Mandela had many sides. It is tempting to remember him as a great liberator, a fighter for freedom and equality. And, while correct, this would not be a complete accounting of Nelson Mandela’s life.

Mandela won both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Order of Lenin, a seemingly paradoxical set of accolades. That fact alone attests to the complexity of his character, and his political skill. He did prison time and won the Presidency of South Africa. He once quipped to a U.S. president, “In Africa, our leaders go to jail before they become president.”

First, the bad news. Mandela was a terrorist in the strictest sense of the word. He is proof that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. His reign of terror was so conspicuous that in 1965 Amnesty International refused to acknowledge Mandela as a “Prisoner of Conscience” then back-pedaled in 2006 to name him an “Ambassador of Conscience”. Mandela learned and perpetuated the African truth that, “The guys with the guns make the rules.”

But Mandela understood the ends might justify the means in the fallibility of the human experience. He knew the paradoxical meaning of “fighting for peace”. While he is best remembered for his long 27-year prison term it is important to resist romanticizing the violence he brought to bear on South Africa. The victims of his violence bled just as red as the blood coursing through the veins of those he liberated.

And therein lies the reason we should remember Mandela. He was a realist. A man at comfort with the paradoxical cruelty of the human condition. That is also part of the reason why he achieved so much.

It is up to us what we do with Mandela’s legacy and how we decide to remember him. I say we remember Mandela as a common man with titanic burdens thrust upon him. The burdens of, at first, a nation, and then all of mankind. And then we remember that Mandela did not romanticize or philosophize. He set about the untidy ditch digging that “waging peace” truly is on this earth. What made Mandela uncommon was his iron will and tireless endurance to stay the course. And be advised, if you find favor with Nelson Mandela then you ought brush up on your history of Richard Nixon and George Bush. Their dossiers could be argued as roughly analogous.

That is unequivocally part of Mandela’s worth; he verifies that the ends do, indeed, justify the means from the altitude of history.

And as we remember Mandela, we do not abandon the work for a better world, but we embrace the reality of our collective frailty. Because to embrace it is to keep it in close check.

Our Oddly Affluent “Poor”.

December 3, 2013
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By Tom Demerly.

20100617_poverty_33  Is our lower class truly poor? Or, is there a cultural shift in expectations that create a conspicuously affluent, but fundamentally impoverished lower class?

The answer points to an important idea: We need to re-orient our society to value education, initiative and personal responsibility and de-emphasize conspicuous consumption and government support of basic necessities.

The United States is in an accelerating crisis that is creating more economic distance between an affluent upper class and a growing “lower class”.

Consider these oddly disparate statistics:

  • 88% of Americans own a cell phone, with 56% owning a smart phone.[i]
  • “Nearly 90% of Americans now own a computer, MP3 player, game console, e-book reader, cell phone, or tablet computer.”[ii]
  • “95% of Americans own a car…”[iii]
  • 15.4% of people in the U.S. were uninsured [in 2012].[iv]
  • “75% of Americans don’t have enough savings to cover their bills for six months.”[v]

Our lower class is often measured by income and employment statistics. But is our lower class truly poor? Or, is a part of the current crisis a cultural shift in expectations that create a conspicuously affluent but fundamentally impoverished lower class? Does a portion of our lower class spend money on the wrong things? And, if so, how could that change?

There is an argument that the U.S. has the richest- and most underemployed- lower class in the world. Our lower class has privately owned cars, cell phones and non-utilitarian clothing but lacks education, savings and healthcare. They have some of the icing but little of the cake. As a result our society must prop up the foundation of personal financial responsibility by subsidizing necessities like food, medical care, housing, education and retirement.

By contrast Forbes reports that China’s personal savings rate is the highest in the world.[vi] One reason, according to both Forbes and the BBC, is that China subsidizes few truly useful social programs. The Chinese must fund their own retirement. China does not yet have national social security legislation.[vii] And despite numerous other Chinese social programs the emerging Chinese middle class and larger, accelerating lower class still feel the need to save money for a rainy day according to one BBC report.

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On the back of a manufacturing economy bolstered by consumers in the west, Chinese are saving more money than any nation while Americans are saving less.

This is ominous as it puts the U.S. at a strategic disadvantage to China in the economic sector. This also increases U.S. social reliance on government administration of vital programs, a paradigm that has significant risk given the federal government’s weak balance sheet. In short, it weakens our country, not only exclusively, but more dramatically in comparison to our global economic competitors.

“The Affordable Care Act doesn’t provide health care for the poor; it provides financial care for the healthcare industry.”

An additional concern about our current social and governmental direction is that programs like the Affordable Care Act don’t provide health care for the poor; it provides financial care for the healthcare industry. Unlike the federal government’s bailout of the auto industry in 2008-10 there is little provision for a return on investment or any remuneration from the ACA. Its current configuration requires the costs of administration but little revenue stream for administrators. The government becomes a billing agent for private healthcare and pharmaceuticals.

We need to change the direction of America toward valuing the things we’ve discounted over these previous two decades; access to education, quality of education, valuing teachers as pivotal contributors to our nation’s future. We need to teach and reward personal responsibility and initiative. Wealth is not measured by possessions but by capability, output and income.

An Odd Man’s Notebook on Life

November 26, 2013
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By Tom Demerly.

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Random Notes and Key Things I’ve learned so Far:

1. Life:

  • Friends and community are more important than we realize. Much more.
  • My Mom was right; travel really is the most opulent luxury.
  • I am not like other people. When I try to be, I am sad and look foolish.
  • Be gentle with people- both people who are kind and people who are mean to you.
  • You will have enemies. Don’t let it bother you. If you weren’t trying, you wouldn’t be making some people mad.
  • Most people who don’t like you envy your courage and are afraid themselves.
  • Be understanding of those people, their fears are real to them.
  • Difficulty can make you a better person if you decide to let it.
  • One of the smartest people I ever met, my friend Kim, told me “successful people are usually just the last to give up.” She is right.
  • It’s true. You will fail.
  • Failure sucks.
  • Not trying is worse than failure.
  • Try again.
  • Never stop learning, never lose the “beginner’s mind”.
  • If you know you are right about something and try to convince someone, but their own beliefs prevent them from listening, don’t force it. Let them be.
  • Make good choices but do make choices. Don’t be paralyzed by indecision.
  • You think you are the only person suffering when you suffer. You aren’t.
  • You can learn a lot about a person by how they treat animals and children.
  • Two key quotes:
    • “We each create our own reality” Arthur C. Clarke.
    • “Between stimulus and response is our greatest freedom; choice.” Steven Covey.

2. Love:

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  • You are lucky if you have one true love, you will also likely lose them, but you are always better for having had them.
  • Always treasure the people who have brought true love and beauty into your life. Be a respectful friend to them forever. Revel in their new relationships and happiness. Stay friends with them unless they are cruel to you, in which case, just let them be.
  • When you truly love someone the thing you want most is for her to be happy and safe. You want that more than your selfish desire for them.
  • Have the courage to walk away from a relationship that is bad and never look back. Never be afraid to be alone.
  • It is better to be in a good relationship with yourself than a rotten one with some one else.
  • Great sex is about way more than the physical act.
  • Take a good, close look at her; she is more beautiful than you (and she) realize.
  • Beauty has almost nothing to do with looks.
  • The greatest luxury in a relationship is staying in it simply because you want to be there, no other reason.

3. The Military and Conflict:

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  • Never underestimate the human capacity for cruelty. People are the most dangerous animals.
  • There are three important truisms in the military; 1. Your training will keep you alive. 2. In the military world, your comrades are your first priority. 3. When your enemy is subdued, treat them with dignity and humanity.
  • Train relentlessly and realistically. Your training will save your life and insure the success of your mission.
  • Do not dwell on the awful things you’ve been through. Hold them at arms’ length, let them go, forgive them and yourself.
  • If you live in a safe place, protect that. It is rare on this earth.
  • Learn the skills of war, hold them as precious, but do not flaunt them or revel in them. They are an ugly but necessary set of tools.
  • When an enemy dies, do not celebrate. Instead, pray for them and ask forgiveness.
  • The least painful way to learn is from history. History is a free lesson, a way to learn from the suffering and loss of previous men. Never stop learning, studying and analyzing history; its cost was high but it is free to keep.
  • Be kind and respectful of people who have a disdain for the military.
  • Being a soldier, a guardian of peace, is one of life’s highest honors.
  • Wars fought over money, resources, politics and territory can be resolved. Wars over religion never end until one side is completely annihilated and their history erased.

4. Business and Money:

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  • See: “War and Conflict” above.
  • The Arabic proverb, “Do business as strangers, socialize as brothers” is good.
  • Pride has no place in business.
  • Trust that if you do a good job and devote yourself, you will be successful.
  • Even when (not if) you fail, if you have done the above, you have a basis for a new beginning.
  • Don’t try to bend the rules; it will bite you in the ass.
  • Your ass is going to have some tooth marks.
  • Pay yourself last.
  • Treat your employees well. Pay them first. Protect and honor them.
  • Respecting your employees as important human beings is as important as paying them, sometimes more so.
  • A harsh reality is that money does buy happiness. You can use it to help other people, keep yourself safe and healthy, travel and help animals. In the human world money is security.
  • Don’t trust banks. They are a business, a necessary tool.
  • Don’t be mean to or distrust the government or the IRS. They are people trying to do a difficult and unpopular job with few resources and huge bureaucracy. Be empathetic toward them.
  • The smarter you are the more successful you will be.
  • Learn from your mistakes. You’ll pay for them, you may as well use them.
  • Every dollar has 100 cents in it.
  • Every business is a nickel and dime business. There are no “small” losses.
  • Treat every day as your first day in business, and remember it could also be your last.
  • Failure always arrives before you think it will and is always a surprise.
  • In retrospect, failure and success both seem obvious.
  • Always call your customers “Sir” and “Ma’am”. It sets and maintains the tone of the customer/business relationship. It says you are doing business.
  • Save more money than you think you will ever need. Money is a tool.