As some of you may know, the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) recently announced fare hikes to ride the public transit system in Toronto. These fare hikes will come into effect at the end of January. What do you think the first thing people will do when they hear that there is a fare hike? That’s right, they will buy as many tokens or tickets as they can at the existing price. It is called hoarding by some. I call it being smart.

Do you think that this is something reasonable that the TTC should have expected? Of course it is. How could someone overlook this as a possibility? But they did. So as a temporary solution, the TTC has now enforced a rule that people can only buy 5 tokens at once to prevent hoarding. They also came out with new temporary tickets that can only be used until the end of January when the fare hike takes effect. So what is the problem? Retailers and collectors have a shortage of the temporary tickets, so people riding public transit on a regular basis cannot buy them. See this article.

The TTC developed the ticket strategy to avoid hoarding, which they estimate would have cost them $5m over two months. They call this what would have been lost revenue, but why couldn’t they have anticipated this? Why was the execution so poor? How could they not have discussed some of the scenarios that might take place when fares are raised? I have to imagine that the first thing that would come to most people’s minds is that people will try and buy a lot now at the current price to save in the future. That is not a stretch, so why is the TTC having to be so reactive?

Many organizations spend so much time reacting to what is going on around them, and focusing on head-down operational decisions, that they forget about execution. Think about how many great ideas and initiatives have failed because of poor execution. Organizations need to focus just as much on the execution as the development of the initial strategy. Execution is what gets you results. Execution is what provides a competitive advantage. Execution is what differentiates a good idea from delivered results. We need to spend more time on execution and less time reacting to every new situation that comes up.

On Tuesday, I stepped back into a building that I hadn’t stepped foot in for 3 years: Abraham Lincoln High School.

I was 20 minutes late. Figures. But my old Spanish teacher welcomed me with smiles and hugs. The walls looked newer than I imagined, the halls didn’t seem quite as big as I remembered, and standing in front of the auditorium…I wasn’t as intimidated as I was the night before, in front of my mirror. Monday night, I was struggling. I recited what Yale provided for me to say…and found myself falling asleep to my own voice. So I dug. deep. What made me believe enough to apply to Yale when I was in their shoes?

My messaged boiled down to this:

I am asking for 20 minutes of your time. Can you guys give me your attention for 20 minutes, just 20 minutes? I am going to use those 20 minutes to try to convince you of one thing: To Apply to Yale University. [long pause]
To start off, I just have one advice for you guys. This is a piece of advice that neither Mr. Graziano, Mrs. Stimmel nor Mrs. Dickey will ever ask someone to stand in front of Lincoln’s auditorium and say…and you can NOT take this advice in the context of a Casino. [pause] But my advice for you is : to Gamble. [long pause]
Applying to Yale is a gamble, and I want you to gamble. If you lose…you get a Sad, Flat envelope that says ” sorry…you’re not accepted.” And I’m going to spend the next 15 minutes telling you what happens if you win.
1. $200,000 over the next 4 years
2. all-paid-for trips in the summer, spring break, and winter break.
3. Yale on your resume, interviews everywhere
4. Join the alumni network that includes: head of PepsiCo, George Bush, John Kerry, Supreme Court Justices, past Presidents of the United States, CEOs and leaders of the top companies and organizations int the world.

Think of that Application to Yale as your ticket to all this, as the dice that you roll in this gamble…but it’s a dice that you can fix. On this application, on this dice are: Grades that you have control over, Test Scores that you can study for, Essays that you can spend months on to make perfect. You can work to fix this dice, then use it to roll once; One gamble in which u lose nothing, but you might win everything.

That’s why I worked hard, that’s why I applied.

That’s what I’m banking on will entice these students to make something of themselves. And it was wonderful. I saw students’ eyes get huge…I heard them gasp in excitement. Their eyes engaged, the silence in the room was loud, and exciting and empowering. For at least these few moments, they believed. When I named Conor who got into Yale last year, and when I stood in front of them, real and breathing, as proof that students who were once in their shoes do make it…into this ridiculous Ivy League world. For a few moments, they believed. “So, my gpa is only decent right now. but if I work really hard, and get it up, and study like you said…and work hard on my application, you’re saying I could have a chance?” asked a brown-haired kid, with his voice half-full of hope, half-full of disbelief. I could only smile and said “You’ll have the same chance I had.”

I gave 7 presentations like this, spoke to over 100 kids in 8 hours…gave out tons of business cards. I came back to Lincoln to inspire, to weave dreams into minds that didn’t know the possibilities…and I really hope I did.
Because I came away inspired. I came away with dreams, with more belief and more confidence in the future. If we just believed, if we just act.

Would you all agree with me that war is an ugly, but sometimes necessary thing? No SANE person ever wants to go to war. But when diplomacy fails and our national well being, safety, and security are at stake military action is sometimes necessary. When military action can no longer be avoided, for it to be truly effective it must be conducted violently and with overwhelming force to quickly defeat the enemy and make them KNOW that further resistance is futile. Contrary to what many opponents of any war believe, fewer people on both sides die if you hold to these principals. When you try to make war “nice,” as our spineless yellow bellied politicians have done, it turns into a slow war of attrition, a war of a thousand cuts. The enemy that threatened you is never defeated and will ALWAYS be a threat until they are defeated. They gain strength day after day and kill more and more of your people a few at a time.

With regard to Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other conflict in which our military is employed, just about every conservative I know, be they politician, talk show host, fellow soldier, sailor, Marine or airman, have universally held the opinion “let us win, or bring us home.” That includes me. When we went into Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a genuine military purpose and legitimate national security goal. Once the initial military victories on the ground had faded into history, the politicians got involved and began to tear down the success of our military. Especially those liberal politicians who didn’t want us to go to Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place, but who would not speak out because the POLLS said speaking out against the actions wasn’t popular. Cowards.

As each day passes, the liberals withdraw more and more support from our military men and women who are on the front lines risking and sacrificing their lives for America. The withhold money, new weapons, and reinforcements. They attack and belittle the military in the press. The two most notable examples of this are senator Harry Reid of Nevada who said the war in Iraq was lost before the surge ever began, and congressman Jack Murtha (spit) of Pennsylvania who with no proof or evidence came out publicly and loudly to proclaim that U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq were murderers and baby killers. Of course they were proven innocent, but Murtha (spit) couldn’t and still hasn’t found a microphone to say he was wrong, or that he is sorry for what he said. He calls himself a former Marine, but I assure you any REAL Marine would rather disembowel himself than shake this traitors hand.

Now we have the Obama administration about to prosecute three Navy SEALs for capturing a terrorist on the field of battle ALIVE. Keep in mind that usually SEALs don’t CAPTURE anyone. They kill them. Why are they being prosecuted? Because the terrorist, the mastermind of the abduction, torture, execution, and burning of four Blackwater agents whose bodies were then hung from a bridge, this scumbag got a bloody lip. I’m sure he wasn’t read his Miranda rights either. He should have died of acute lead poisoning. Navy “leadership,” in politically correct lock step with Obama and the liberals, tried to give these SEALs non-judicial punishment which would still effectively end their careers. Seeing the absurdity of this they exercised their option and demanded a trial by Courts Martial. God bless them.

Yesterday I heard several people who had been ardent supporters of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan say it was time to bring our troops home. Radio hosts Roger Hedgecock and Glenn Beck were two of the more notable. When our Commander-in-Chief (in this case the campaigner-in-chief) and the rest of our national command structure no longer support our military in a time of war, when they will throw our own soldiers under the bus, when they WILL NOT ALLOW OUR MILITARY TO WIN, it is time to bring them home. The lives of a million of those dirt bag, swine excrement, satanic terrorists is not worth the life of even one single American.

Bring them home. Now.
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Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

Wednesday, November 25, 2009
By Rowan Scarborough

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy’s elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral’s mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

Neal Puckett, an attorney representing McCabe, told Fox News the SEALs are being charged for allegedly giving the detainee a “punch in the gut.”

“I don’t know how they’re going to bring this detainee to the United States and give us our constitutional right to confrontation in the courtroom,” Puckett said. “But again, we have terrorists getting their constitutional rights in New York City, but I suspect that they’re going to deny these SEALs their right to confrontation in a military courtroom in Virginia.”

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

“I gave the detainee a glance over and then left,” the SEAL wrote. “I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health.”

Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of U.S. Central Command, confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that three SEALs have been charged in connection with the capture of a detainee. She said their court martial is scheduled for January.

United States Central Command declined to discuss the detainee, but a legal source told FoxNews.com that the detainee was turned over to Iraqi authorities, to whom he made the abuse complaints. He was then returned to American custody. The SEAL leader reported the charge up the chain of command, and an investigation ensued.

The source said intelligence briefings provided to the SEALs stated that “Objective Amber” planned the 2004 Fallujah ambush, and “they had been tracking this guy for some time.”

The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.

The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.

Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.

The military is sensitive to charges of detainee abuse highlighted in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The Navy charged four SEALs with abuse in 2004 in connection with detainee treatment.

China loves doing executions.

Remember that Chinese tainted milk scandal? Where companies had used the industrial chemical melamine was added to watered down milk to fool protein inspectors. Well the end result was a boost in profits, 300,000 sick children because of course, melamine is known to cause kidney stones and sometimes outright kidney failure. And now  two men, Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping; deemed responsible, have also been executed by the government on charges of endangering public health and selling toxic food.

I often think about these toxic food cases that come out of China and wonder whether they’re more concerned over the actual health problems they have caused in innocents, or embarrased over being caught out. Sure the Government steps in and executes where deemed appropriate, but is it for the right reasons? Somehow, when China is concerned, I have serious doubts.

Preparation enables Peyton Manning to make what he does look easy

I’ve long been a proponent of the adage that preparation is the only things over which you have total control.  And I’m always glad to get reminders of that…from the world of sports or wherever.

I was reading Sports Illustrated’s NFL Midseason Report on an airplane the other day and smiled as I read how Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning texted Connecticut running back Donald Brown just hours after he had been drafted by the Colts:  “Meet me at the facility at 8 a.m. tomorrow.  Warmed up.  Ready to go.”

Former Colts coach Tony Dungy talked about Manning’s great season so far — despite a number of challenges — saying, “To understand why he hasn’t struggled, you have to understand the way his mind works.  It drives him every day that the offense will be better, not just as good as it was.  The new guys will fit in.  He’ll make them fit in.”

Juxtapose that with a conversation that Mike and Mike had this morning on ESPN Radio with analyst Tim Hasselbeck about Oakland QB JaMarcus Russell and his challenges.  The discussion centered on whispers around the Raiders camp that the now-benched quarterback is always “last in, first out” of meetings and practices.  He won’t put in the work necessary to prepare for the next week’s game.

There are other reasons Manning is a future hall-of-famer, but preparation can overcome many things — rookie wide receivers and running backs, injuries in many positions.  Lack of preparation just exposes you.

How have you helped yourself through preparation (or hurt yourself because you didn’t take the time)?  If you don’t know where to start to help yourself prepare more effectively, please contact me.

by Steve Barry

We are using this space as a means to answer your questions from a recent webinar we hosted on the 10 Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution.  
Here is part 3 of our answers to your questions. 
Please click here  for a recording of the webinar

Question: How do you measure alignment?

 This is a tough question to answer without knowing the context.  Alignment can be measured in lots of different ways, on macro or micro scales, depending on what you are looking at.  If you are talking about organizational alignment, it can be measured with organizational assessments.  Regardless of the content or focus of the assessment, alignment can be determined by the extent to which groups answer in the same way.  In other words, ask this question:  Are there statistical differences between groups in terms of items deemed important to the organization?

Question: Is there any reason you focused on financial and professional services organizations?

 EIU sent surveys out to its database of senior leaders, many of whom happen to work in financial and professional services.  This is beneficial for us in that several of our client organizations are in these verticals.  

Quesion: What could be the impact on the Learning & Development strategy/offering?  How should we develop leaders differently to “think and act faster” (according to clarity/unity/agility)?

 Well, for starters, there are four main leadership abilities we’ve discovered—and specific behaviors and tactics associated with each one.  This blog space is not sufficient for doing them justice.  But here is a high level overview of the four abilities: 

1) Affirm strategies.  This is the first step to take to drive speed, because people need to know where they’re going and need to be motivated to go there.  An affirmed strategy is not only correct, it’s also alive—that is, complete, clear, well communicated, and well understood by all stakeholders.

 2) Drive Initiatives.  This ability involves follow-through.  Our research shows that, after affirming the strategy, leaders cannot simply “sponsor” the initiative.  Many of the skills that support this leadership ability are project-management skills:  unfamiliar territory for many senior leaders, but territory that they need to master.

 3) Manage the Climate.  Climate is what it feels like to work in a place.  Managing climate is a matter of understanding its dimensions and the leadership tactics whose use improves it.  If you can change your organization’s climate in positive ways, you will also improve your employees’ motivation and increase speed of execution.

 4) Cultivate Experience.  Like solar, wind, and water power, experience is everywhere—and it’s rarely captured and put to good use.  Many leaders don’t know how to cultivate the experience of their employees and colleagues—how to capture it, make it visible, refine it, and harness it so that it becomes a powerful driver of results.

 For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

And this…it just seems so obviously screwy. The BBC reports:

More than 300,000 other infants were made ill from milk powder contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were the only people to have been executed, court officials said.

Nineteen other people were sentenced to prison terms for their roles in the scandal.

Zhang Yujun was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means, for selling more than 770 tonnes of the tainted milk powder from July 2007 to August 2008, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Geng Jinping, who managed a milk production centre, was convicted of supplying milk containing melamine to the now-bankrupt Sanlu Group.

Okay… not that anyone should be executed, but doesn’t it seem odd that whatever the hell happens, China seems to just hold one or two people responsible? They always seem to find a fall guy or two — never too many — and then move on, as if justice has been served, as if people way higher up the chain aren’t profiting from things like the tainted/fake drugs they export, for which China executed one guy in 2007.

Problem solved, right? Wrong-o. The Guardian reported at the start of 2009:

Counterfeiting gangs based in China are producing sophisticated copies of the world’s bestselling pharmaceuticals. In 2008 an estimated 8m of these potentially deadly pills found their way to NHS patients. The health of millions of people is at risk (…)

So vast is the scale of the threat from fake medicines that public confidence in the NHS could be “completely undermined”, according to legal experts. Health officials also warn that the health of millions of Britons is potentially at risk.

The toy executive they were going to place all the blame for the tainted toys on took the pre-emptive step of hanging himself last in 2007, and yup, they’re still recalling tainted toys all over the world.

So, what are the chances that the tainted milk issue is over, and that they two guys who were killed were the ones who were really the brains behind the operation?

China has executed the two responsible for the tainted milk affair that killed six children.

Daisy and Ermintrude were shot at dawn after admitting a binge drinking session involving 12 bottles of Jack Daniels which resulted in the poisoning of their milk offering the following morning. Daisy had told the authorities that it was ‘a hen night that got out of hand.’  Three hens were sentenced to life imprisonment.

The execution has once again led western countries to question the country’s moo-man rights policies.

My companion snapping a shot of the executed men

Microphone in hand to catch the full sound of the gunshots, I watched the first victim crumple on the ground. Fear was etched across the face of the second as he looked from his friend’s slumped body to the executioner. His body jerked awkwardly as he attempted to face the man who was about to kill him.

After he had dispatched the two policemen, the insurgent leader turned back to our camera, still intently trained on him. He held aloft the detonators connected to explosives – explosives tightly bound to two more local policemen.

A stark warning was issued: “If Nato attack our position I will blow these men up and myself with them.”

I asked him if anything could be done to save the lives of these unwilling human timebombs. I felt sick with fear for them – this man had already dispatched two others in front of us – their only crime was to uphold the local rule of law.

“These men are traitors. They have collaborated with the infidels. They will die no matter what,” came the harsh reply.

Safe and unthreatened, we returned to our transport – we were being used to deliver a message and to inspire fear in the local population.

Back at the Nato base where we have been embedded with the troops there is a dispute. Should we broadcast the horrific images of two men being put to death? I argue that we shouldn’t but my companion feels the images are so powerful that we must.

A problem – there’s no audio. We don’t have the words of the militia leader. It makes our editorial decision for us – we show the images but with a voice-over – hopefully our package is more than just propaganda. The escalation in violence and the threat of retaliation that the local people live with is our justification for the sensational images.

The piece goes out and I hear back from military officials – they thought the guys wrapped in explosives were suicide bombers – when they attack they will now try to rescue these men. So the attack is to go ahead and we are to join them…

Night has fallen, it’s dark and there is surprisingly little noise as the line of soldiers makes it’s way across the heath towards the insurgent stronghold. The sky is clear and I am seeing the stars for the first time since I moved to the UK. We stop to regroup before the assault begins and I see a shooting star so bright that I think it’s a flare for a moment…

Troop-sergeant Seacroft is our minder. He is in command of the attack and so he stays to the rear unless there are casualties at which point he reassures me “I will hand you over to someone else and deal with that situation.”

We’re held back from the front as the troops rush through the trees in which the militia have their stronghold. They’re quickly spotted by the sentries and we can see the bright bursts of gunfire. Two loud explosions momentarily drown out the sounds of the battle – I know whose sad demise the sound marks…

Seacroft is on the move, low and quick. We struggle to follow through the vegetation, unused to jogging in body armour and helmets. We’ve smeared our faces with camouflage paint but my impractical navy and cream rain jacket practically glows in the inky atmosphere.

Our helpful minder explains that the two groups are attacking from different sides but have arranged their angles so that they are not shooting across at each other. We’re moving left towards the main force but we venture a little too far toward the centre – the point where the insurgents are still in control, the troops have not come this far yet.

An ‘enemy combatant’ jumps out of the trees ahead and lets off a quick burst of gunfire. A few feet ahead of us the troop sergeant falls to the ground and we, the four ‘impartial’ media professionals fall victim to the same hail of bullets. As I slide to the ground the shadows above brighten as light from a flare brings the foliage into relief…

…

Or that is what would have happened if this had not simply been a training exercise – for the young officers of the Royal Marines and equally for us journalism students.

We continued on with Troop-sergeant Seacroft until he reached the casualties. Men who had been picked by the supervisor of the exercise to play ‘almost dead or wounded’. At this point however we had been showered with blank rounds several times over and our valient troop-sergeant was declared dead.

Chaos ensued for the next 30 minutes until the insurgent threat had been eliminated. It was now time for me to enjoy myself and bother the poor guys trying to reorganise themselves with an endless stream of questions. ‘How many have been killed?’ ‘Did you take any militia captive?’ and so on.

We were on our way back – the ‘tactical’ route i.e. not straight – we had stopped to allow the brass time to discuss and plan what to do and how to get home. I wrangled an interview with our miraculously regenerated troop-sergeant but his brother-in-arms decided I had asked too many questions. I was roughly grabbed by the arm and pulled away. “He’s very busy and he doesn’t have time to answer your questions now!”

The fun continued back at the base.

Two huge explosions not far from the camp resulted in a scrabble to investigate. I bagged an interview with the commander of the base. A few questions in I get a gem of a quote. “These kind of occurrences will happen in the early stages of an invasion,” said troop sergeant for Nato headquarters 2nd Lieutenant Perks.

It was just a slip of the tongue and he quickly corrected himself but I couldn’t help the smirk and he gave me a look that said ‘Damn, you caught me’.

Hard at work

Being embedded with the military was an amazing experience. The fictional country the soldiers were dealing with unsurprisingly had several similarities with the situation in Afghanistan. Though it was always clearly an exercise rather than the real thing, it was important and simple enough to take it seriously. Many of the men involved had already been to Afghanistan and Iraq. Most of the ones who haven’t already been have signed up to go when they graduate (in two weeks).

I talked to as many soldiers as I could during the two days to try and understand why they sign up for this. One of the most interesting conversations I had was with one of the training officers on our way back from the chaotic attack.

He made the point that there is a new generation of soldiers now – they knew the UK was at war when they signed up and they knew what kind of war it was. He had decided to join the marines when he was 17. He was 15 when Nato invaded Afghanistan.

We lay on the ground during a break in the march and watched a shooting star. We didn’t know that we were watching the Leonid meteor shower. He promised to let me try on his kit when we got back to base to feel the weight of what they have to carry.

But when we got back I was busy chasing interviews and writing stories.

I couldn’t see his face in the dark so I didn’t know which one he was. He has signed up to go to Afghanistan as soon as he passes out. By now, he’ll know if he’s being granted his wish.

A desicion of  execution for 6 children was given by Sudan Court. Because of the participation to an armed attack at Hartum where is the capital of Sudan.

Children Representative of  United Nations Secretary,Radhika Coomaraswamy explained that, 6 children are waiting for the execution.  Coomaraswamy told that, these people are children and approved by  international agencies though Sudan Military Court accepted them as teenagers.

Secretary of Minister of Foreign Affairs explained that, Children can not be executed, if any  Sudan court accepts  their childrenship, execution desicion will be cancelled .

دیده بان حقوق بشر امروز از دولت ایران خواست که فورا سه حکم اعدام برنامه ریزی شده برای سه نفری که به انجام عمل همجنس گرایی در زمانی که زیر هجده سال داشتند متهم هستند را متوقف کند.