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Show Wednesday Campus News March 5 1997 Bosiness Stnudernts Asked to Decide: Your Soul or Your Z nz 1 4 j t Xf'.r 'ft ,, JT. ' '4s v 0 ? , " . Un Sorenson An organizations ability to create value for their customers is directly related to its core values, the president of Morton Automotive Products told business students at a lecture on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at the Bill and Vieve Gore School of Business. In contemporary business, soft elements are increasingly important if you want to stay competitive, said Fred Muscone. These elements include what the company stands for in terms of quality, value for customers ana how we take care of ourselves, our families and perhaps the next generation, he said. Muscone warned students that the ideas he presented might be interesting to some and troubling to others. His definition of what business is and what it is not, is different from conventional thinking. For example, he says, You cannot run a business for earnings. He acknowledged that Wall Street would think he was crazy for saying this. His approach is that earnings are not the cause of excellence. Earnings are the result of excellence, or doing the right things. Running a business is not managing numbers, he said, it involves flesh and blood peoples lives. Muscone said there are two kinds of thinkers: positional (structural) and capability-driven. He challenged the , audience to determine their type. He insists that the language is different for each type. Although they both use English, the words mean very different things, he said. Structural thinkers are comfortable working in companies with traditional organizations made up of departments and using a hierarchical management structure. Capability-drive- n thinkers work well in businesses that are organized product-focuse- d around processes. In an interesting side note, Muscone noted tnat every time he has been hired to turn around a company, the people he has been told to fix usually the workers or lower man- Y. "A'aM- agement) are never the problem. It is the agendas of the leaders that are tne problems. Process was heavily featured in the lecture. New business models are focusing on process as a way to stay competitive. By improving your processes, you can improve quality, cut costs and shorten time to market (lead time). Working backward from a hard element (dollars) to a soft element (process) is a dead end because it is not sustainable. It stresses existing processes, so the only way to compete is to work harder. in Jia&iextG&rJiimxr muif.ifaw t V 9 t ? v V; I Forum staff writer ICY, 4 Uvjfffjiftiffl UNFORTUNATELY, THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE ARE PUTTING TOO MANY RETIREMENT DOLLARS. See Business on page 11 dollars, you pay less in taxes now. And since earnings on your SRAs are tax deferred, your money works even harder for you. What else do SRAs offer? The investment ry year, a lot of people make a huge istake on their taxes. They wind up sending Un le Sam money they could be saving for retirem nt. before-ta- x Fortunately, thats a mistake you can annuities from avoid v ith SR As TIAA-CRESRAs not only ease your current bitt tax they offer an easy way to build retirement income especially for the "extras that your pensioi and Social Security benefits may not cover, because your contributions are made in choice, flexibility, and expertise of TIAA-CREAmericas foremost retirement organization. Ev -- tax-deferr- ed Working from the process out- ward allows business managers to look at the whole The Forum F Why write off tbe chance for a more rewarding retirement? Stop by your benefits office and find out bow or call us at 1 800 TIAA-CRESRAs can help you enjoy many happy returns. F Visit us on tbe Internet at www.tiaa-cref.or- g Ensuring the future for those who shape it. CR F lertifirAte cal 1 00 4 TIAA-CRE- F Individual am! Institutional Service Ini. Fur mure complete information, including 4uuge and expruM 6609, fur a cwrrn CftEF pfonpectu. Read the prpectu otrefully before you mve4 or eend money-- Date of tirtt ue 2fit". r difttributcd by on Love for Random Acts Week Amy Hodson Forum staff writer One of the highlights of the recent Random Acts of Kindness Week was a speech given by Stacy Bess, a homeless shelter teacher and local author. Bess, author of Nobody Dont Love Nobody, spoke about her experience as a teacher at the School With No Name in the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 12. She kept the small audience engrossed with her stories and wessons on love. She began with the story of how she became a homeless school teacher. As a recent graduate from the University of Utah, Bess, then 23, was offered the only job open in the district at the time the family shelter school. Bess told the story of her first day at work, holding class in a metal shed under a viaduct. She was introduced to a large group of homeless parents who told her that her named Alex. He had a diffimost important job was to cult time with the class rules love their children. Before he referred to as, Dont Be a she could love the children Kid Rules. Alex and Bess diffihowever, Bess had the agreed that if he made it a cult task of getting past the week without any problems in class, he could ask for anydeprivation and the filth. Bess spoke about her for- thing within reason. When mula for successful teaching. Alex finally achieved his goal, She said the foundation for he said he wanted to meet teaching is love, along with Karl Malone. Bess said she and follow-throug- would try and was surprised consistency that Malone agreed to come to Bess highlighted several the shelter school. Malone not only spoke to different children in her talk about a a the students, he invited them including story boy h. J to a game the next night and took them all Christmas shopping. He also took on Alex as a special project, inviting him to his basketball camp. Bess kept the audience captivated with the stories of children and adults who leave as suddenly as they arrive. She closed with her insight that the most important thing to do for anyone is to give them all of your wisdom, all of your knowledge and all of your love for the time you know them. fc |