Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is telling its for-hire motor carriers that if they also haul goods for Amazon.com Inc., they will have to stop doing so in return for keeping Wal-Mart business, a leading transport and logistics consultant said today.
Jindel, who made a presentation on Amazon's take-no-prisoners rise to online retail dominance, said he became aware of Wal-Mart's actions through some of his sources. A Wal-Mart spokesman would not disclose the extent of the company's outside carrier relationships. Wal-Mart is a large user of trucking services, utilizing its private fleet, dedicated contract relationships with motor carriers, and the for-hire truck network. In an e-mail, the spokesman said Wal-Mart drivers log about 700 million miles annually, but wasn't specific as to whether that included drivers working on a for-hire basis.
Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, which has badly lagged Amazon in e-commerce growth, is moving aggressively to narrow the gap. It bought fast-growing e-tailer Jet.com Inc. last August for $3.3 billion and installed Jet's founder, Marc Lore, to run its e-commerce business. Earlier this month, Wal-Mart announced it had acquired Bonobos, an upscale men's retailer, for $310 million. Bonobos, along with Modcloth, a specialty women's apparel brand acquired in March by Wal-Mart, will be overseen by Lore, who will market the clothing lines on Jet.com and the companies' own websites.
In his presentation, Jindel repeated his warning that Amazon will decimate traditional retailing unless retailers can muster adequate responses to the Seattle-based giant's encroachment. Jindel urged traditional retailers to leverage their large physical store footprints to grow their "store-to-door" models. Citing his company's data showing that Framingham, Mass.-based office superstore Staples Inc. has 1,255 stores, Cincinnati-based retailer Macy's Inc. has 823, and Wayne, N.J.-based toy retailer Toys "R" Us Inc. has 875, Jindel said that repositioning the locations as fulfillment centers will enable the retailers to provide next-day deliveries at a competitive cost, improve their product visibility processes, and handle returns more efficiently.
In a separate session, Steve Howard, president and CEO of Hialeah, Fla.-based Esquire Logistics Inc., a long-time last-mile delivery and courier company, urged retailers to partner up with home delivery companies to offer same-day or next-day services. Most retailers will offer a two- to three-day delivery window for online orders, a time frame that Howard said is no longer acceptable to meet the demands of today's consumers.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Online Education: Become a Supply Chain Leader…in Your Pajamas
A wide range of quality online education options lets you build your skill set and advance your career without leaving home – or thinking about the dress code.
When Christine Reinelt left the workforce temporarily to stay home with her two young children, she decided to use her break from paid employment to further her supply chain education. Her home in western New York isn't near an academic institution offering the instruction she wanted, so Reinelt searched for online education options. She was particularly interested in enrolling in a program that was well known among employers for providing solid supply chain education.
She found it at Pennsylvania State University, where she could ease back into the academic world by starting with the online graduate certificate in supply chain management program, a 12-credit hour program that feeds into the school's master in professional studies in supply chain management degree program.
After excelling in the program, Reinelt applied her certificate course credits to the master's program and continued on for a second year to earn a graduate degree. Now a business analyst at GE Transportation in Erie, Pennsylvania, through a contract with Paradigm Infotech Inc., Reinelt says the two-year certificate and masters program gave her the confidence she needed when she re-entered the job market after her children started school.
"I wasn't exposed to global markets in my previous position, but I am now at GE," Reinelt says. "The Penn State program prepared me for that."
Just as important are the unanticipated benefits she reaped through learning online.
"I didn't expect much teamwork and communication in an online learning environment, but I was wrong," Reinelt says. "All of it helped me become a more effective team member and collaborator. It also helped me develop analytical skills and become a more strategic thinker."
DEGREE OPTIONS
Online supply chain education is flourishing, with options ranging from one-off courses to certification programs to master's degrees. The best option for any individual depends on career goals.
Looking for a deep dive into a specific topic—for example, performance measures for supply chain management? Take one or two courses, and maybe earn a certificate—which isn't the same as obtaining certification. Want to boost your resume and make yourself more attractive to the job market? Enroll in a reputable certification program. Interested in moving into management? Invest in a master's degree where you will learn more about the role of multiple disciplines, from finance to marketing, in supply chain management. Each education type serves a different purpose.
Organizations including the Institute for Supply Management (ISM), the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), and APICS, say their certification through online education options demonstrate subject knowledge and career commitment. The ISM website, for example, notes that its certification tells hiring companies that employees or job candidates have "mastered critical skills and can apply them to real-world situations to achieve superior outcomes."
"Certification says something about the people who earn it," says Nichole Mumford, director of education programs and marketing communication for CSCMP, a global association for supply chain management professionals. "Employers look for these kinds of credentials."
Pat Woods, founder of SupplyChainEducation.com, which offers online training for APICS and ISM certification exams, agrees. He compares certification to a master's degree: "With certification, students learn technology and gain knowledge that's directly applicable to their jobs. Sometimes a master's program can be higher level."
In some cases, he adds, employers place more value on certification than they do on a graduate degree.
Then there's the additional money that comes with certification: Average salaries for certified supply chain professionals were 10.3 percent higher than for those without certification, according to ISM's 2017 Salary Survey.
Employers funding higher education also appreciate that online certification training is less expensive than a graduate degree, Woods adds.
Still, when combined, all three of CSCMP's SCPro certifications demonstrate a mastery of knowledge and skills similar to a master's level program. "We compare it to preparing for a bar exam or CPA testing," Mumford says.
The certificate-followed-by-master's-degree hybrid program that Reinelt enrolled in serves both needs.
"We were surprised by the interest in the certificate program," says David Huff, director of online graduate programs in supply chain management and a professor at Penn State. "It lets those with some experience move forward without getting a master's degree.
"It's the foundation, so it's more accessible," he adds. "The last 18 credits are more rigorous."
More than half of certificate program students apply to the master's program.
MASTER'S PROGRAMS DEVELOP LEADERS
One difference between online education for certifications and a master's degree is the leadership skills master's degree students develop.
"Any good supply chain master's program offers the teamwork that helps students develop leadership skills," says Huff. "For instance, our students learn how to work long distance and coordinate with teammates around the globe, all while working around their existing job commitments."
Penn State students, who also meet in person for four days during the summer after the first year, typically take one to two courses per semester and participate in three to five team projects—usually a case study—per course.
"They learn how to apply all this knowledge to their companies, and it gives them the skills to recognize opportunities and act on them," says Huff.
Tony Saracino, market development manager for the building solutions team at chemicals company BASF in northern California, is working toward an online MBA with a concentration in global supply chain management through the University of North Carolina (UNC). His coursework helps him understand other corporate functions and how they relate to his position and responsibilities.
"It's extremely important to understand other functions and speak their language, otherwise you risk making decisions in a vacuum and getting frustrated," he says.
He particularly enjoys UNC's live— "synchronous"—instruction because of the interaction with students and instructors and the opportunity to ask questions. "You can learn from someone who works at Boeing, 3M, or Procter & Gamble, who brings their own stories and experiences into the learning process," he says.
This interaction brings with it an unexpected skill: learning how to use online technology.
"When students enroll in a program like this, they're thinking more about content than technology, but from a process perspective, that's a big takeaway," says Wendell Gilland, associate professor of operations at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
The program also requires a great deal of document sharing, video conferencing, and accessing material in a technology-focused learning management system. "Students also get comfortable being on camera," adds Saracino.
WORKING THROUGH PROBLEMS
It's a similar experience at Indiana University (IU), which offers an online MBA in Supply Chain and Operations and a Master of Science in Global Supply Chain Management. The same faculty teaches both online and classroom courses, but online students have the benefit of learning how to work through problems that come naturally when collaborating with teammates in different time zones and in varying environments.
"Nobody is the boss in that situation—it's the optimal example of a matrix organization," says Carl Briggs, clinical professor, operations and decision technologies. "It's a group of people pushed close to the edge of what they can deliver and it's all virtual—you can't just walk across the hall and talk to your teammate. This gives these students a huge advantage in today's virtual global workplace."
Students are exposed to even more when they decide for themselves which technology tools to use, according to IU Senior Lecturer Scott Dobos, who went through the online Master of Science program while employed at Pratt & Whitney before joining the faculty.
"The students don't want our structure," he says. "They figure out what works best for them. That offers another benefit—team members introduce each other to new tools they're using in their workplaces."
THE PERSONAL TOUCH
While Dobos appreciated the flexibility of online education when he was an IU graduate degree student, he particularly enjoyed the one-week in-person immersion program that starts the masters programs. "Meeting the instructors and my peers in person was valuable," he notes.
As an instructor today, he has seen how improved technology, including video conferencing, helps provide a more personalized online experience for students than he had. "When I can see their video feed and the expressions on their faces, I'm better at figuring out what's going on and the experience they are having," he says.
While faculty and students alike stress the value and flexibility of online degree programs taught by renowned faculty members, some naysayers continue to question the quality.
When someone tells Saracino that an online degree can't be as good as an in-person MBA, he has a response ready: "At my job, I work with people all over the world. We meet on the phone and via videoconferences rather than flying to meet in person every time we need to connect—just like we do in my course work.
"My education is providing the skills I need to function in a global economy," he says. "I wouldn't have the same experience sitting in a classroom for two years."
And you can do it in your pajamas.
Logistics costs fall for first time since Great Recession, new report says
Logisticians are continuing to squeeze efficiencies from the U.S. freight transportation system as total logistics costs fell for the first time in six years, an influential new report says. By John D. Schulz
June 20, 2017
Logisticians are continuing to squeeze efficiencies from the U.S. freight transportation system as total logistics costs fell for the first time in six years, an influential new report says.
U.S. business logistics costs decline for the first time since 2009 even as the booming e-commerce sector “propelled demand” for small parcel delivery services.
That’s the major takeaway from the 28th annual State of Logistics report co-developed by A.T. Kearney and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP). It was released today at the National Press Club.
Traditional transport modes – trucking, rail, water and air cargo – were challenged in 2016 by overcapacity, rate pressures and sluggish demand. But U.S. business logistics costs fell 34 basis points last year to near-record 7.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product. That is just off the record of 7.4 percent of GDP set in the Great Recession year of 2009.
By comparison in 1979, the last year before the Motor Carrier Act deregulated the interstate trucking industry, logistics costs were over 18 percent of GDP in the regulated environment.
The report entitled “Accelerating Into Uncertainty” said the logistics industry appears destined for a prolonged bout of “cognitive dissonance.” That’s because of frustration over subpar growth in overall GDP amid rising stock market, technology investments and consumer confidence data. But that uncertainty has not slowed the pace of change, the report warns.
“On the contrary, industries are churning with disruption as newcomers and incumbents vie for market share and innovation undermines old business models,” the report said before warning: “One thing is certain: ‘business as usual’ won’t return.”
U.S. business logistics costs fell 1.5 percent last year after rising at a five-year compound annual rate of 4.6 percent from 2010 to 2015, the report said. Costs fell across all three components—transportation, inventory carrying and miscellaneous costs.
“The declines reflect overcapacity, slack volumes, and rate pressures in several sectors, even as demand and prices rose in others,” the report added.
Logistics experts agreed. Marc Althen, president of Penske Logistics, struck an optimistic tone in the report.
“The good news is supply chain activity is accelerating,” Althen said in the report. “Warehousing is very active, and demand for our technological solutions is strong.”
But on the other hand, overcapacity is squeezing profit margins. Penske estimates a glut of 115,000 surplus Class 8 trucks are operating today, up from 75,000 a year ago.
Trucking, which hauls about 75 percent of goods by value in the U.S., continued to struggling with overcapacity in 2016, especially in the $270 billion truckload sector.
TL costs fell 1.6 percent last year, even as its five-year compound growth rate rose 4.3 percent from 2010 to 2015. The smaller $58 billion LTL sector, by comparison, enjoyed 0.5 percent rise last year even as its five-year CAGR fell 1.2 percent. The $268 billion private trucking market costs rose 0.7 percent as its five-year CAGR was up 5.7 percent, the report said.
Overall motor carrier costs fell 0.4 percent last year as five-year growth rates were up 4.3 percent. The trucking industry was estimated to be $595 billion of the total $894 billion transport market that includes $73 billion in pipeline and water.
Parcel carriers, namely UPS, FedEx and U.S. Postal Service, fared the best while riding the e-commerce wave. Parcel costs rose 10 percent in the $86 billion sector as five-year CAGR was 6.4 percent.
Transportation professionals of all political stripes are urging Washington not to risk anything close to a trade war even as politicians threaten to renegotiate the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Transport pros are saying that technological change will drive the new supply chains of the future across all borders regardless of mode.
“The demands on this new dynamic supply chain must be met with the promise of adoption and integration of technologies that bring us new efficiencies and value to the supply chain,” YRC Worldwide CEO James Welch says in the report. “It’s up to all of us to make it happen.”
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Amazon Prime Wardrobe lets you try on and return clothes free
Amazon’s latest perk for Prime members could make us more stylish by letting us buy everything that catches our eye and return what doesn’t fit. Today Amazon revealed Amazon Prime Wardrobe, which is currently in beta, but you can sign up to be notified when it launches.
First you pick at least three items, and up to 15, from more than a million Amazon Fashion options, including clothes, shoes and accessories for kids and adults, to fill your Prime Wardrobe box with no upfront cost. Brands available include Calvin Klein, Levi’s, Adidas, Theory, Timex, Lacoste and more.
Once the Amazon Prime Wardrobe box arrives, you can try on the clothes for up to seven days. Then you either schedule a free pick-up or drop the resealable box with its pre-paid shipping label at a nearby UPS to return whatever you don’t want. Keep three or four items from the box and get 10 percent off everything, or keep five or more for 20 percent off. You only pay for what you keep, with no charge upfront. Amazon Prime Wardrobe is free for Prime members with no extra fees.
Amazon emailed us a scant statement, noting “today Amazon Fashion announced Prime Wardrobe, a new way to shop for fashion at Amazon, where you can try things before you buy them.”
By taking the hassle and regret out of returns for clothing, the same way Zappos did before it bought it, Amazon could make people much more comfortable pulling the trigger on an online apparel purchase. Pick well and you get a bonus discount. But pick poorly and… no big deal. The move could be quite lucrative for Amazon, as apparel’s share of all digital spend has grown for the past three years straight, from 15.4 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2016, according to comScore.
Amazon Prime Wardrobe is similar to Stitch Fix and some other fashion delivery services where you get shipped a box of clothing you don’t choose. That’s more targeted at people who don’t like shopping, especially men. But Wardrobe lets you pick and choose what you want rather than receiving a random grab bag. Perhaps if Wardrobe tests well, Amazon would consider acquiring Stitch Fix, Trunk Club or another boxed fashion delivery service to instantly boost its scale.
The speed and simplicity of Prime Wardrobe could be its biggest selling point. If you want the clothes for a special occasion, you can be confident Amazon will get them to you in time, and you won’t have to fiddle with getting a box and shipping label if you want to send something back. That friction can often cause people to keep items they don’t want, or dissuade people from buying clothes online in the first place.
Amazon eliminating these troubles could remove one of the last big selling points for brick-and-mortar retailers. And because you can return misbuys, Prime Wardrobe could make it more comfortable purchasing through voice commands to Amazon Alexa.
Prime Wardrobe aligns well with the Amazon Echo Look that takes full-length photos of you to review your day’s clothing choices and uses the Amazon StyleCheck app feature to have AI score your fashion decisions. Prime Wardrobe also could mesh with the Amazon Fashion vertical that features upscale clothing.
A decade ago, Jeff Bezos said “In order to be a $200 billion company we’ve got to learn how to sell clothes and food.” While it’s far surpassed that mark already, nailing the clothing e-commerce experience could further expand Amazon’s empire. Plus, now it has all those Whole Foods stores where it could sell clothing, too.
The One Sales Step that Most Sales People Miss
Here is the hidden sales step that most sales people miss, many times costing them the sale when their buyer gets cold feet.
By David Finkel
Co-author, 'Scale: Seven Proven Principles to Grow Your Business and Get Your Life Back'@DavidFinkel
CREDIT: Getty Images
You've likely had this experience. You just closed the deal. You and your team are sharing hi-fives around the office. You're mentally counting your profit on the deal and the thrill of the new customer you've brought on... then you get that email canceling the deal.
What happened? You likely missed a key step in any sales process - the post sell step.
After you close a sale, you've got to make sure you help your buyer feel great about their purchase. Human beings tend to second guess themselves. By carefully structuring in a systematic post sell step into your sales process you'll keep your clients feeling great about their decision working with you.
A solid post sell step accomplishes the following 4 things:
Establish that they bought in a way that taps into the power of consistency and commitment.
Help them feel great about their decision.
Preempt any reoccurring buyer's remorse issues for your business.
Clarify next steps so you can reduce any uncertainty or anxiety.
Here are seven simple things we've encourage many of our business coaching program clients to add into their sales system that you can use to solidify your post sell system:
Congratulate them on their smart move. ("Tim, you made the right choice...")
Model a high level of excitement for them.
Ask them for referrals (if they have just given you two referrals that is a very powerful consistency and commitment step)
Reduce their anxiety by letting them know exactly what happens now and make sure you meet all your commitments, especially in the early stages of the sale.
Ask them, now that it's over, what was the biggest thing that tipped the scale and prompted them to make the decision to own your product or service.
Give them a parting gift which taps into the powerful social influencer of "reciprocity".
Send them a hand written thank you card. Old school, yet still very classy.
By strategically and systematically building in a "post sale" step into your sales process you'll keep more of the business you would have otherwise lost through buyer's remorse.
If you enjoyed the ideas I shared, then I encourage you to download a free copy of my newest book, Build a Business, Not a Job. Click here for full details and to get your complimentary copy.
The End of Car Ownership
Ride sharing and self-driving vehicles will redefine our relationship with cars. Auto makers and startups are already gearing up for the change.
For auto giants, the new ownership models—whether for traditional cars or self-driving ones—constitute a major threat.ILLUSTRATION:R. KIKUO JOHNSON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Cars are going to undergo a lot of changes in the coming years.
One of the biggest: You probably won’t own one.
Thanks to ride sharing and the looming introduction of self-driving vehicles, the entire model of car ownership is being upended—and very soon may not look anything like it has for the past century.
Drivers, for instance, may no longer be drivers, relying instead on hailing a driverless car on demand, and if they do decide to buy, they will likely share the vehicle—by renting it out to other people when it isn’t in use.
Auto makers, meanwhile, already are looking for ways to sustain their business as fewer people make a long-term commitment to a car.
And startups will spring up to develop services that this new ownership model demands—perhaps even create whole new industries around self-driving cars and ride sharing.
Here’s a look at the changes to come, and what they mean.
Drivers: No more permanent arrangements
Car ownership, for a long time, has symbolized freedom and independence. But in the future, it may be akin to owning a horse today—a rare luxury.
Ride sharing as we know it will grow in popularity as people get even more comfortable with the sharing economy, and more people migrate to dense cities where owning a car is a burden. One-quarter of miles driven in the U.S. may be through shared, self-driving vehicles by 2030, according to an estimate by Boston Consulting Group.
And the business of ride sharing may take on some new forms.
Startups such as Los Angeles-based Faraday Future envision selling subscriptions to a vehicle—for instance, allowing people to use it for a certain number of hours a day, on a regular schedule for a fixed price. So, people who need a vehicle for a few hours daily to attend meetings or make deliveries could subscribe and avoid having to summon on-demand rides every day (and potentially paying a lot more).
Other companies are experimenting with the idea of allowing drivers to access more than just one kind of vehicle through a subscription—so, a driver might choose a compact model one day but a minivan another day if she needed more passenger space.
“By 2022, 2023, the majority of transportation in urban cities with temperate weather will be on demand, shared and likely autonomous,” says Aarjav Trivedi, chief executive of Ridecell, a San Francisco company that provides the back-end software for car sharing.
Even people who do end up buying a car may come to see it as a short-term arrangement—and a source of income.
Chief Executive Elon Musk has hinted that he’s preparing to create a network of Tesla owners that could rent out their self-driving cars to make money. Already, some drivers are testing this idea using other services that let them market their cars, something like Airbnb rentals on wheels.
Take Jeff Cohen, who works for an electric-vehicle-charging company. His wife balked at his desire to buy the Model S sedan, whichTeslaInc. typically sells for about $100,000.
He persuaded her to allow him to buy a Tesla if he would in turn rent it out on a site called Turo. Doing so—at $189 a day—almost covered the cost of the entire monthly loan payment while giving him the ability to drive the electric car around Atlanta when not in service, he says. “It allowed me to get the car,” says Mr. Cohen, 58 years old. “We weren’t in agreement that we could get a car like this without some way to fund it.”
Turo, which had more than three million people sign up for the service through the end of May, says Teslas, along with BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars are among the more popular searched vehicles on the site.
“A lot of people are realizing that the car is no longer just a cost—it’s an asset,” says Andre Haddad, Turo’s chief executive.
Of course, the biggest obstacle to many of the changes may be the most simple: People have to be willing to give up the idea of owning their car—something that has been culturally ingrained over many decades.
What’s more, under this vision, car buyers won’t just give up the idea of sole ownership. They may also give up the idea of sitting behind the wheel by using autonomous vehicles.
They will have a powerful incentive to do so. A study by Deloitte Consulting, for example, estimates that the cost of personal car ownership is on average 97 cents a mile today but could drop by two-thirds in a world of shared, self-driving vehicles—a tipping point that could usher the technology into daily life for many people. In cities, the idea will be even more appealing, because it takes away the unpleasant sides of ownership, such as parking and negotiating traffic jams.
Companies are already looking at how to market vehicles to overcome some of the possible psychological resistance to nonownership. Waymo, the self-driving tech unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc., has begun public trials of self-driving minivans in Phoenix for select users, with the eventual goal of testing them with hundreds of families.
The goal is a better understanding how to make such a service appealing enough to take the place of a family car.
“We’re really experimenting here with how far our users can go in terms of using a service like this one to replace their own personal transportation,” says John Krafcik, head of Waymo and a former automotive-industry executive.
Big auto makers: Making peace with on-demand services
For auto giants, the new ownership models—whether for traditional cars or self-driving ones—constitute a major threat.
As a result of both driverless cars and fleets of robot taxis, sales of conventionally purchased automobiles may likely drop. What’s more, because autonomous cars will likely be designed to be on the road longer with easily upgradable or replaceable parts, the results could be devastating to auto makers that have built businesses around two-car households buying new vehicles regularly. Currently, cars get replaced every 60 months on average, according to Experian.
“It may become more like the airline business where we see jets that have been in service for 50 years,” says Chris Ballinger, chief financial officer and head of mobility services at the Toyota Research Institute. “Now I don’t think a car will be in service for 50 years but I’m saying it may move in that direction…with tens of millions of miles and decades of service.”
In response, some car companies are trying to meet that threat head-on, by experimenting with different ownership models.
One plan to get drivers to buy a vehicle of their own is to help owners rent out their vehicles, as they would in Mr. Musk’s planned network of Tesla owners. Toyota’s Lexus brand is testing payment plans that let people subsidize the purchase of pricey cars by renting them through a service called Getaround. The hope is that young buyers, who have been eschewing traditional ownership but are still attracted to luxury nameplates, will grab the chance to afford fancy cars on Corolla budgets. BMW , meanwhile, is experimenting with shared rides through its Reachnow service. Members can get access to a fleet of BMW vehicles—and Minis, in some areas—that they pick up as needed and can drop off anywhere when they’re done. General MotorsCo. , the largest U.S. auto maker by sales, seems to be hedging all bets. The company acquired an autonomous-car tech startup called Cruise Automation last year in a deal with a potential value of more than $1 billion. It also invested $500 million in ride-share company Lyft, as well as starting a car-sharing service of its own called Maven.
Meanwhile, it’s offering Cadillac customers the ability to subscribe to ownership, letting them use a vehicle for a month at a flat fee.
New businesses: Helping to power a new industry
The advent of self-driving cars will give people more free time while in the vehicle. And that will create new opportunities for car makers and others to make money.
Autonomous vehicles could ultimately free up more than 250 million hours of consumers’ commuting time a year, unlocking a new so-called passenger economy, according to IntelCorp. , which is trying to provide the computing power behind self-driving software.
The chip maker released a study in June that estimates as much as $800 billion could be generated by 2035 by this passenger economy, while as much as $7 trillion could be in play by 2050.
All of which might explain why new entrants to transportation, such as AppleInc.,Amazon.comInc. and Samsung Electronics Co., are exploring the field. Apple in April, for example, became licensed to test-drive autonomous vehicles on California roadways.
This could lead to a turn away from using the exterior of the vehicle as a selling point and focusing on making the interior as comfortable and loaded with features as possible.
In some cases, that means turning cars into living rooms on wheels: Harman International Industries Inc., the auto-parts supplier acquired by Samsung for $8 billion, demonstrated in Las Vegas earlier this year a vision of a car that replaces a vehicle’s windows with video screens that create a wraparound movie theater inside the cabin.
Design firms will also cook up features designed to ease people into the practice of sharing rides regularly. IDEO, the design firm that came up with Apple’s first computer mouse, has released a vision of autonomous vehicles designed to accommodate strangers who end up riding together.
One central feature is “pods”—seats that can be adjusted to block a passenger from the view of the others—and there are areas in the vehicle that allow them to lock items while other people use the car.
Other companies are working on ways to make cars recognize passengers’ digital profiles and become more responsive to their needs. That might involve things such as reminding someone that a calendar appointment is coming up, and nudging them to leave earlier that day, or giving advice on places to eat along their route or ways to shop online while in traffic.
Zoox, a startup valued at more than $1.5 billion, is working on designing a robot taxi that takes the entire riding experience into consideration, co-founder Timothy Kentley-Klay said last year.
Although he didn’t go into details on the so-called mobility service’s features, Mr. Kentley-Klay said that such a vehicle would be “smart enough to understand its environment, but importantly, it’s also smart enough to understand you, where you need to be, what you want to do in the vehicle and how you want to move around the city.”
Existing industries may change to support an autonomous, shared future. For instance, the alcohol industry might see a rise in drinks consumed weekly with customers not having to worry about driving home, says a Morgan Stanley report by analyst Adam Jonas. He estimates the $1.5 trillion annual market might expand by $250 billion due to autonomous vehicles.
One industry that knows cars very well—dealerships—may also adjust to fit the changing times: Managing autonomous car fleets may be a new line of business. Toyota’s Mr. Ballinger noted that auto makers’ finance arms largely finance local franchise dealers’ inventories, called floor plans.
“It may be a variation of that model where we continue to finance the floor plan, only the floor plan now isn’t an inventory of cars ready for sale but an inventory of cars going around providing services—maintained and managed by the dealer or somebody like the dealer,” Mr. Ballinger says.
For all the speculation about big changes on the way, and plans to meet those changes, it’s important to remember that drivers may want to hang onto some form of ownership even if others are more convenient and cost-effective.
Mr. Cohen, after spending about two years renting out his Model S on Turo, has begun to wind down that effort.
“At almost exactly the second anniversary of that note, I paid off my Tesla,” he says. He’s keeping an eye on Tesla’s ambitions for renting out autonomous vehicles, though he is dubious about giving up the thrill of driving. “For me, autonomous driving is not something I am looking forward to,” he said, “but I can tell you that my 25-year-old son and recent UVA Law School graduate certainly is.”
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
A Stanford Psychologist Says This Is the Best Way to Praise Employees (Yet Most Bosses Don't)
When you're praising an employee, the easiest thing to say can be the worst thing to say.
Three basic truths: Praising peoplemotivates them. Praising people encourages them. Praising people inspires them to even greater heights.
Impossible to argue with those statements?
Maybe not.
Depending on the approach you take, praising an employee -- or praising anyone -- can actually have the opposite effect. The difference lies in whether we assume skill is based on innate ability or on hard work and effort.
Put another way, are people born with certain talents, or can talent be developed? (I definitely think talent, even exceptional talent, can be developed.)
According to research on achievement and success by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, people tend to embrace one of two mental approaches to talent:
Fixed mindset: The belief that intelligence, ability, and skill are inborn and relatively fixed--we "have" what we were born with. People with a fixed mindset typically say things like "I'm just not that smart" or "Math is not my thing."
Growth mindset: The belief that intelligence, ability, and skill can be developed through effort--we are what we work to become. People with a growth mindset typically say things like "With a little more time, I'll get it" or "That's OK. I'll give it another try."
That difference in perspective can be molded by the kind of praise we receive, and that often starts when we're kids. For example, say you are praised in one of these ways:
"Wow, you figured that out so fast. You are so smart!"
"Wow, you are amazing. You got an A without studying!"
Sounds great, right? The problem is that other messages hide inside those statements:
"If I don't figure things out really quickly... I must not be very smart."
"If I do have to study... I must not be amazing."
The result of those messages is a fixed mindset: We start to assume we are what we are. Then, when the going gets tough and we struggle, we feel helpless because we think what we "are" isn't good enough.
And when we think that... we stop trying.
When you praise employees only for achievements -- or criticize employees for short-term failures -- you help create a fixed mindset environment. In time, employees see every mistake as a failure. They see a lack of immediate results as a failure. In time, they can lose motivation and even stop trying.
After all, why try when trying won't matter?
Fortunately, there's another way: Make sure you focus on praising effort and application, too:
"Great job! I can tell you put a lot of time into that. Here are a couple of things you can work on to help you do even ever next time."
"Great work! You finished that much more quickly than the last time. Thanks for working so hard to get it done."
The difference? You still praise results... but you praise results that are based on the premise of effort, and not on an assumption of innate talent or skill.
By praising effort, you help create an environment where employees feel anything is possible -- all they have to do is keep trying.
The same principle applies to how you encourage employees. Don't say, "I know you'll get this; you're really smart." "You're really smart" assumes an innate quality the employee either has or does not have.
Instead, say, "I have faith in you. You're a hard worker. I've never seen you give up. I know you'll get this."
To consistently improve employee performance, build a work environment with a growth mindset. Not only will your team's skills improve, but your employees will also be more willing to take more risks.
When failure is seen as a step on the road to eventual achievement, risks are no longer something to avoid. Risk, and occasional failure, will simply be expected steps along the way toward success.
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