Is Your Bullet Lead or Silver?
…”What are the early signs that a great company is headed toward mediocrity?” he asked.
The Boulder resident, who once taught at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, said the answer is chronic inconsistency.
“The mediocre are all too willing to change,” he said.
Collins insisted that organizations use empirical data to track performance, identify weaknesses and devise a plan for excellence. Then, they must stay that course.
“What you can measure you can target,” Collins said. “And what you can target you can accomplish.”
Collins told the crowd that too often companies, nonprofits and government entities search for a “silver bullet” to solve their dilemmas.
“Pick a lead bullet and polish it so it becomes silver,” he said… Denver Post article here:
Just a few days ago I posted on how to turn the present fuel pricing challenge into a tool to grow your business. I was taken by the report on this conference in Denver this morning. The speaker, Jim Collins, is known as the “Guru of Greatness”. Despite this appellation, he’s really a man obsessed with mediocrity.
Although this conference was about finding ways to house the homeless, the message is applicable to small business owners as well. If you persist in being mediocre, you’ll be homeless too.
Speed Linking on Accuracy
I posted on accuracy earlier today. here’s acouple sites that address the issue much better than I can. First, Take a Walk With GPS Note I made acouple clarifications/amplifications in the commets section.
Second, take a look at The GPS Satellite Constellation for a lot of diagrams for covergae, orbital diagrams and lists of bird actullay “on orbit”.
Just How Accurate Is GPS — Or, Perhaps, What Is Accuracy?
From time to time I get asked one of the “magic” questions: Just how accurate is GPS. The answer is easy. Normally, extremely accurate but as with any technologically advanced system, “it depends”.
In a properly designed, installed and used system there are still a number of potential sources of error:
- Ionosphere and troposphere delays — The satellite signal slows as it passes through the atmosphere. The GPS system uses a built-in model that calculates an average amount of delay to partially correct for this type of error.
- Signal multipath — This occurs when the GPS signal is reflected off objects such as tall buildings or large rock surfaces before it reaches the receiver. This increases the travel time of the signal, thereby causing errors.
- Receiver clock errors — A receiver’s built-in clock is not as accurate as the atomic clocks onboard the GPS satellites. Therefore, it may have very slight timing errors.
- Orbital errors — Also known as ephemeris errors, these are inaccuracies of the satellite’s reported location.
- Number of satellites visible — The more satellites a GPS receiver can “see,” the better the accuracy. Buildings, terrain, electronic interference, or sometimes even dense foliage can block signal reception, causing position errors or possibly no position reading at all. GPS units typically will not work indoors, underwater or underground.
- Satellite geometry/shading — This refers to the relative position of the satellites at any given time. Ideal satellite geometry exists when the satellites are located at wide angles relative to each other. Poor geometry results when the satellites are located in a line or in a tight grouping.
- Intentional degradation of the satellite signal — Selective Availability (SA) is an intentional degradation of the signal once imposed by the U.S. Department of Defense. SA was intended to prevent military adversaries from using the highly accurate GPS signals. The government turned off SA in May 2000, which significantly improved the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers.
This list courtesy of Garmin, one of the prime builders of GPS equipment and a pioneer in the industry. Much more info is available from their website. …..
To catch a thief via GPS Tracking
A missing rental truck holding artwork and antiques is located by a Denver-based company’s tracking
By Beth Potter
Denver Post Staff Writer
“Mission Impossible III” in real life: A Denver company used a satellite tracking system to help find a stolen truck in Florida filled with millions of dollars’ worth of art.
The 24-foot Budget rental truck - loaded with seven paintings by abstract expressionist Milton Avery plus sculptures and antiques - went missing April 17 while being driven from southern Florida to New York… Full Article Here:
This kind of story comes to us nearly every day now. I thought it was worth posting about since it happened right up the road from me in Denver.
Innivative Meld of Telematics, GPS Tracking and Helicopters
System Transmits Key Helicopter Performance Data to Help Ensure Safety of Military Helicopters in Flight
SO. ST. PAUL, Minn., May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Digital Angel Corporation (Amex: DOC - News), an advanced technology company in the field of rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets, announced today that its OuterLink subsidiary was honored this week by the American Helicopter Society (AHS) for OuterLink’s In-Flight Reporting System, a real-time, satellite-based data communications system being used by the U.S. Navy to help ensure the safety of its pilots, among other attributes… Full Article Here:
I posted on this very subject just a few days ago. OuterLink is a semi-big bucks company and I am not a dealer for their products, although I certainly would be. I’m glad to see a quality service being recognized. I’m also glad to see the US DoD … the ones who built and operate the GPS for us everyday, after all, getting credit for innovation.
Gas Crisis Is Good News for Fuel-Efficient Businesses
Gas prices this high for this long? It’s downright uncomfortable. In fact, it’s enough to get consumers to change their behavior. Rising prices have many consumers turning to alternatives– from car-sharing services to scooters–and entrepreneurs are reaping the rewards.Take Scott Griffith, CEO of Zipcar Inc. based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The $15 million car-sharing service lets its members reserve a car online by the hour or by the day, walk to the nearest pickup location and drive away–gas and insurance included. Currently, Zipcar operates in 29 cities and gets an average of 2,500 new members per month. Original article here:
OK, maybe I was tempted to post this because my carefully hoarded last tank of gas is getting low and my souse wants us to go shopping this afternoon. We work from home so I don’t have to fill up very often unless the business requires a trip. Or maybe I thought it was worthy of comment because I am always amazed at how well the more traditional rental car companies do when they make the process of using one of their cars so damn difficult.
Whatever the reason, today’s a good time to decide if you are going to run your business on the “glass half full” or the “glass half empty” philosophy. It is very unlikely that the price of gas or diesel is going to drop any significant amount any time soon. President Bush’s plans to rape the Strategic Reserve and to cut enough brush to make a mesquite-powered car notwithstanding. So there are two things you can do when the month’s fuel bill comes in. Make some kind of positive use out of the inevitable high costs or just pay, sulk, and suffer with smaller cash flow. Read more
How Maps Should Be — Took A While but Yahoo Does it Right
I’m sure many of my readers use one or more of the on line mapping and directions services. I have lots of personal locations stored in Yahoo Maps. I sell MapPoint integrated with a proprietary application, so I often use that as well. Lately I have spent a lot of my mapping time on maps.Google.com, often because of the integration with Google Earth.
But now I see Yahoo has raised the bar. Take a look at the new Yahoo Maps beta. Their nicest feature? Right click anywhere on the map and the context menu asks you if you wish to travel to or from your click point. Then right click at another place and the route from one point to the other will automatically be calculated and displayed. No finding addresses to type in or any other non-intuitive actions. Yahoo finally figured out that a prime purpose of mapping is to quickly plan a route.Recommended