The dilemma of the lonely machine tool dealer is the common denominator of most businesses and occupations. The clients want to buy something tailored to their needs. The seller wants to sell them what they have, at a premium price. The tug of war today is over the cost of the tailoring. In an esoteric field like high production screw machines the value differential between the generic and the special is large because the hardware is expensive. But the expertise needed to choose and operate the unusual hardware is even scarcer, thus also very expensive. In the last five to…
Author: Lloyd Graff
Are you worried about robots? I wasn’t until I saw the video of a robot built in Pisa, Italy, that could show emotion by change in mechanical facial muscles. The face looked so real it was scary. When they perfect the synching of the voice and face we will be close to the day of the robot girlfriend. Could this be the solution to the shortage of women in China? (see below for a video) ****** My niece Joann Minerbi lives in Los Angeles and has been a graphic designer for almost 20 years. Her field has been commoditized and…
I’ve read a lot about the terrible tragedy of the boys abused by Jerry Sandusky at Penn State and the cover-up that went up to Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier, the University’s President, but today it all has a personal twist that I’d like to relate. Six weeks ago I celebrated the 50th high school reunion of my class at University High in Chicago. I got quite involved in the Internet communication in the run-up to the event, and I made it a point to meet one on one with guys I played basketball with on the team. The fellow…
Last week, as I sweltered in 100-degree weather in Chicago, it was hard to imagine that this winter I will freeze and endure blizzards. It is always hard to imagine change, even predictable change, because our brains are usually imprisoned by the sweat and chill of the moment. The same is true in business. We tend to be slaves to the moment, bending to the fear of failure when the possibility of success is just as likely if we give hope breath. July 2012. We have half a year to make things happen, but it feels like the gloomsters are…
I love sports. I loved playing them. I love watching them on TV. I love writing about sports − especially the stories that tell us about our humanity. Here are two short stories about sports and the athletes that connect with my humanity. The European Soccer Championship will be played in Kiev, Ukraine, in a few days. Germany is one of the four teams left in the competition. Seventy years ago in Kiev a different kind of soccer game was played. The German Army was occupying Ukraine − part of the Soviet Union then − and the authorities decided to…
Even though I am a 30-year-old homeowner who is financially stable and university educated, I have no health insurance. And now I’ve completely given up on the whole business. I tried for years to be a responsibly insured person and the experience was frustrating. Because I work as an independent contractor I am not offered health insurance through work, and I don’t qualify for any state assisted programs because my husband and I make too much money. I used to worry constantly when we didn’t have insurance. We listened to the horror stories in the news of people’s life savings…
I love email and Google, but I have arrived at the conclusion that for almost everything else in my modern office the computer has ruined things. I am convinced that paper records and references are more reliable and accessible than computerized data for me. Let me give an example. At Graff-Pinkert & Co., our machinery trading firm, we have long kept a card file of machines bought and sold by brand and size. Since we have sold literally thousands of screw machines in the last 70 years, we have a dramatic trove of useful information that is easily accessible to…
Noah and I recently had the opportunity to interview Mark Mohr of DMG/Mori Seiki USA and Jim King of Okuma America Corp. Both men replaced entrenched, almost iconic, leaders at their companies in Thomas R. Dillon at DMG/Mori Seiki USA and Larry Schwartz at Okuma America. Mohr came up through the ranks, while King was a corporate soldier who marched through many jobs before settling in Charlotte to be groomed for Okuma’s top job in the U.S. Both men said business was thriving and their firms had completely come back from the dark days of 2009. Their approaches to IMTS…
Tim Lincecum, the “little pitcher that could” for the San Francisco Giants, now can’t. In his last 19 starts the Giants are 3-16. His Earned Run Average this year is 6.00, which is below mediocre. And Tim, once nicknamed “The Freak” in admiration for his powerful fastball yet small frame, has gone from winning the Cy Young (best pitcher) Award his first two seasons in the Majors, to barely being the fifth best starting pitcher on the team. Tim Lincecum is in a slump. The slump and the streak are longtime interests of mine. They fascinate me because they are…
On the last blog, I mentioned that I voted for Barack Obama partly because I wanted to see a black president during my lifetime. A lot of readers were bothered by this statement, so I would like to flesh out my rationale. Over the course of 50 years, I have seen racial relationships in America gradually evolve from hatred and fear towards tolerance and acceptance on both sides. Growing up in the 1950s on the segregated Chicago’s Southside, I was on the frontlines of racial confrontation. My public grammar school drew from an affluent white area and a predominantly black…