David F. Jones Blog

Books aren’t what they used to be or are they?

Aug 9

Posted by David Jones in Learning | 1 Comment


My entire life I have loved books and reading.  I can spend hours browsing the shelves of a good bookstore.  To me there is something special about the feel and smell (if it has a leather cover) of a great book.  I have over a thousand books in my library at home that I’ve collected over the years.  Until a fewyears ago, all books were printed and sold by merchants or checked out at libraries. Technology certainly has changed how we get books and will continue to do so.  

While Amazon eBook sales now exceed hardcover sales by a ratio of 1.43 to 1, we should remember that many of those “sales” are 25-cent downloads, many of them are free, and many of them are what, if we saw them in print, could be easily be mistaken for brochures rather than honest-to-goodness books. Also, many of the books are free which drives up the numbers of sales too.

I fought buying eBooks for several years and finally gave in about a year ago.  Call me a traditionalist if you like. I didn’t think I would like reading eBooks but I must confess it’s a pretty cool way to get books.  I also download audio books and listen to then while exercising.  Here are advantages I find using ebooks via my iPad or Kindle.

1.  It’s fast and easy to use.  I have to admit it still blows my mind that I can be talking to someone at any place and any time and if they recommend a book to me that I want to read, I can electronically buy and download it in a matter of minutes.  No more running to the bookstore or library to get the book and wondering if they have it.

2.  It’s cheaper.  I like saving money and eBooks are cheaper to buy than print books.

3.  It’s portable.  I love that I can have hundreds of books with me at all times via by Kindle or iPad.  How can you beat carrying around your personal library in a digital format.

4.  You can make notes and highlights as you read.  I have always made notes and underlined key passages as I would read a book. Technology allows me to the do the same thing.  Better yet, I can search a book for key words or search my highlights.  Kindle even allows me to download all my highlights to my PC when I sync the Kindle to it.

5.  If you don’t want to read an eBook or can’t for some reason, then get an audio book and listen to it.  I’ve listened to a lot of books as I’ve exercised which makes exercising more enjoyable and is one of the few ways you can effectively multi-task.

I finally broke down before taking a week vacation at the beach and bought a Kindle.  I love my iPad.  I just wish it you could easily read a book on it in the daytime like I can on my Kindle.  Come on Apple, you can surely come up with a way to do that?

A tribute to my father – L.D. Jones (1923 – 2011)

Jul 31

Posted by David Jones in Living | 23 Comments

We are often confronted with the frailty of life.  I was sadly reminded of it over the past week.  Last week I drove to Florida to speak at a health care conference and I asked my 88 year old dad to go with me as I’ve often done over the years.  Dad loved to travel with me and he wanted to go.  On our trip, we had a great time sharing stories and memories, sitting and watching the ocean sunsets, and just spending quality time together.  A few days after returning home, he suddenly died and this week we buried him.  I not only lost my dad, but a great friend.  I had a wonderful relationship with my father and I talked to him almost everyday.  I will miss our daily calls and the times we spent together. My dad taught me many things over the years and here a a few of them.

1.  Work hard – Dad worked hard his entire life.  After serving in the Army for three years in World World II, he returned home and started farming which he did for almost 35 years.  He also bought and ran a small business from 1957 to 1978 when he retired at the age of 55.  

2.  Treat people right – Dad seemed to get along with everyone he met.  He had a warm personality and a great sense of humor.  He was a great neighbor and did everything he could to help folks in time of need.  My mother spent the last three years of her life in a nursing home.  While she was there, dad missed visiting her only two days.  He felt guilty for missing those two days even though he was sick and he made them up by going to visit her twice the following day.

3.  Serve the Lord – Dad wasn’t the type of person that talked a lot about his faith, but I saw him live it out every day by the way he treated people and served his church.  He was ready to help anyone with a need and he faithfully supported his church.

4.  Enjoy life – Dad lived a good life and enjoyed it.  He was active until the very end and didn’t look or act his age.  He was scheduled to play golf on the day of his funeral.  He enjoyed golf and pool (even at 88 few people could beat him), four years ago he bought a sports car, and he still mowed his yard and maintained a garden.

5.  Leave a legacy – My dad lived a life he can be proud of and he set a great example for me and my children who adored him.  They thought their granddad was a cool guy with a generous heart.  We will all miss him, but we will never forget him.

I”m very proud to be the son of L. D. Jones and I’m thankful for all the lessons he taught me.

What does success look like for your job?

Jul 22

Posted by David Jones in Success | 2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I was vacating at the beach.  I’ve used much of the down time to accelerate my reading plan.  I love reading and I typically read 20 or more books yearly.  While sitting on the beach, I have nothing to do but read so I’m working my way through the 6 or so books I’ve downloaded on my iPad and Kindle.  I just finished an interesting book by Tony Schwartz called The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working.  One comment in the book really got me thinking because it’s an idea I have thought about before. It is  ”The real measure of people’s effectiveness in an organization ought to be based on the value they create, not the number of hours they work.  That requires a relationship between consenting adults, grounded in trust, fueled by mutual respect, and regulated by periodic accountability.  Most leaders and managers we work with set clear expectations about the hours they expect their employees to work.  Very few organizations take responsibility for defining in clear and specific terms what success look like for any given job outside of sales.  The result is that employees are often uncertain what exactly is expected of them.  Too often, they default to working long hours on numerous tasks, trying to cover all the bases without necessarily doing anything that truly adds value.” 

Wow, what a powerful statement and unfortunate truth.  Too many employees are focused on activities and not accomplishment. Even if they are focused on accomplishment, the things they do accomplish may not be truly adding value.  Swartz’s statement made me consider how would I define success for my job.  Also, how would I define success for each of the team members who work for me.  More importantly, how would they define success and would I define it the the same way.  If not, we don’t have alignment nor an agreed to set of expectations all of which must be focused on adding value to the organization and ultimately to our clients.  Over the next few weeks, I plan to go through the exercise of working with each of my direct reports in determining and agreeing to what success looks like for each of their jobs.  I believe it will be one of the more important discussions I can have with my team and them with me.
How would you define success for your job?  

4 Ways to Overcome Being a Reluctant Leader

Jul 10

Posted by David Jones in Leading | No Comments

I’ve known and worked with hundreds of leaders during my career.  A number of them is what I call a reluctant leader. Because of their position, they were thrust into a leadership role whether they wanted to be or not.  Moses is a good example of a reluctant leader.  He didn’t really want to led, but God saw he had the ability and he suddenly found himself leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  If you are a reluctant leader, here are some things to consider given the importance of your role.

1. Don’t use your reluctance as an excuse or crutch not to lead.  I’ve heard many of these leaders make excuses will they aren’t comfortable leading.  One reason I often hear for not wanting to lead is they are introverted and aren’t comfortable interacting with people.  All leaders find themselves having to do things they are comfortable doing, but they know it’s part of being a leader and they force themselves to do it.  The more they do it the more comfortable they become with it. Great leaders come in are shapes, forms, and personalities.  You don’t need to be an extrovert to be an effective leader.
2.  Overcome your fears.  Oftentimes the reluctant leader is afraid he or she may fail or not do a good job of leading.  I believe most leaders are made and not born.  Leadership is a mindset and a certain set of learned behaviors.  We can learn to control our behaviors and even do things we are comfortable with or good at if we simply practice those behaviors until we master them.  For example, I know a lot of leaders who fear speaking in public – as do most people. Yet, they have learned to overcome this fear through simply doing it until they get good at it or at least comfortable at it.  Leading is no different.  You can learn to do the things that good leaders do until these behaviors become ingrained and natural for you.
3.  Realize your team needs you to lead them.  In fact , they are counting on you to lead.  It’s extremely frustrating working for a reluctant leaders who fails to lead.  I’m a firm believer that the leader is much like the governor on an engine that controls its speed.  The team will never go farther or faster than its leader.  If you don’t step up and do what you must do to lead, your entire team and organization suffers as a result.  If you don’t lead, there is a good chance those under you will not lead either.  Even worse, if you have some strong leaders under you, they will become so frustrated they will leave and find a strong leadership to work for.  If you don’t lead, your team and organization is on a path to ineffectiveness and possibly failure.
4.  Seek help to become a better leader.  I believe every leader should have a coach.  If you are a reluctant leader, it’s imperative you have a coach.  A good coach can help a reluctant leader become a strong leader by candidly pointing their strengths and weaknesses and working with the the leader to make needed behavioral changes.  As Tom Landry once said, “A coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t what to see, so you can be who you knew you could always be”.

July 4, 1776 – A lot has changed since then

Jul 4

Posted by David Jones in Living | No Comments

Today we celebrate our nation’s 235th birthday.  I sometimes wonder what our founding fathers would think about the nation they risked everything for if they could come back to life today?  When the 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence they were taking an enormous step of faith and courage because they were publicly committing the act of treason against Britain.  Had the the new fledgling country lost the war, these men most likely would have been hanged and their families stripped of all their personal possessions.  So these brave men were risking everything they loved for something they believed in enough to possibly die for.  These patriots came from varied backgrounds ranging from lawyers to farmers.  Yet, they shared a common vision of doing what they thought was in the best interest of their country.  It seems a lot has changed since then.

I wish our politicians today had the same sense of courage and commitment shared by the signers of the Declaration of Independence. However, it seems to me that the vast majority of today’s politicians are mainly concerned about doing what’s going to get them re-elected rather than what’s best for our country regardless of the political cost to them.  Are our national leaders working hard to address our nation’s problem?.  One measure is the number of bills sent to the President for signature.  However, the number of bills coming out of Congress is often impacted by the composition and balance of Congress.  Clearly, when one party holds power in both Chambers and hence controls all the committees, it’s much easier to get bills passed than when one party isn’t in control. The last similar makeup in our current Congress was during the Reagan Administration.  Today, the 112th Congress has a 49 and 6 party seat difference in the House and Senate, respectively.  The 97th, 98th, and 99th Congress had a 50, 103, and 71 party seat difference in the House, respectively. The 97th, 98th, and 99th Senate had a 6, 8, and 8 seat party seat difference, respectively.  These three Congresses sent no fewer than 87 bills to Reagan and as many as 124 each year.
By comparison, the 112th Congress has only sent 16 bills to Obama as of May.  This congress has the lowest legislative output of any Congress at this point since the Library of Congress THOMAS legislative databank started collecting this information with the 93rd Congress.  In fact, the 112th Congress has only about 19 percent of the legislative activity of the Congress with the next lowest rate of legislative production.
On this special day, we should be thankful the United States is still the greatest country in the world.  I believe God has blessed our nation for many reasons, but as we continue to move farther and farther away from our Christian heritage, we will lose God’s blessings and favor. It’s my hope that our elected leaders will remember that they serve at our pleasure and they must start doing what is in the country’s best interest, no matter how painful and unpopular.  Now, more than ever, we need elected officials with courage and backbone who aren’t afraid to take a stand for the right things as a group of men did 235 years ago. 

Happy Birthday USA – and may God bless America.

Why you should take a vacation?

Jun 29

Posted by David Jones in Living | 2 Comments

Tanya and I are on vacation with some friends at the beach in North Carolina.   I prefer the mountains but Tanya loves the beach.   I spend a lot of my time sitting on the beach under an umbrella reading my Kindle or thinking about business or personal things I want to get done.   I also take advantage of being on vacation to pursue my passion for photography.  I get up before sunrise each morning and grab my camera and tripod ready to capture a beautiful sunrise and do the same thing at sunset.   Even if it’s not a gorgeous sunrise, I still use the time to think and reflect as I quietly greet a new day.

I’m a big proponent of vacations and taking time to get away from work.  I expect all of my direct reports to take their vacation (its part of their Management Accountability Plan) because everyone needs to get away from work and recharge their batteries.  I’m not impressed by anyone who can’t find time to take vacation because they are too busy.  If they can’t plan their vacation and take it, why should I expect they can plan our business and execute it either?  I occasionally hear people brag about how much vacation they left on the table.  I not only question their priorities, but their IQ.

On average Americans now fail to use 439 million paid vacation days each year.  In 2008, one-third of Americans said they intended to take no vacation at all.  Another 33 percent planned a vacation of seven days or less.  Only 14 percent scheduled a vacation of at least two weeks during 2008.  Not taking vacations has serious health risks and other consequences.  In one study, 750 women with no previous heart disease were tracked over 20 years.  Those who took the fewest vacations proved to be twice as likely to get a heart attack as those who took the most vacations.  Additionally, those who regularly took vacations were half as likely to be depressed.  There is also accumulating evidence that job performance itself is closely correlated with vacation time.

If you do find that you have to spend some time working while on vacation, here are three suggestions on helping keep your vacation – a vacation.

  1. Limit the amount of time each day you plan on doing work and stick to it. 
  2. Get up early and do your work so it doesn’t cut into family time.
  3. Use work time to work “on” the business, not just “in” the business.

I think I will head out to the beach and work on my tan.

Outlaw Gang trip 11

Jun 27

Posted by David Jones in Living | No Comments

Over a decade ago two great friends, Jim Lackey and Coleman Boyd, and I decided we should take a week long motorcycle trip together.  We had been doing local rides for several years but none of us had ever taken a long motorcycle trip.  We decided to ride to some of the famous Wild West outlaw sites in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.  We visited the boyhood home of Jessie and Frank James along with several of their reputed hideouts and sites of some of their infamous bank robberies.   We visited Coffeyville, Kansas where the Dalton gang attempted a daring daylight robbery of the town bank and most of the gang was gunned down by angry townspeople as they tried to escape.  We saw numerous other sites and had a great trip; so much so that we decided to do it every year.

A few weeks we completed our 11th annual ride.  The second year we added Jim’s brother Doug to form our own Outlaw Gang.  Well, that is what we like to call ourselves, but Wild Hogs in closer to the truth.  To date, our gang has been to almost 30 states and ridden over 20,000 miles.  During our trips, we’ve shared a lot of great times, seen some amazing places, eaten too much food, and had more than our share of good laughs.   This year we rode to the Panhandle of Florida and played beach bums for a couple of days in a beautiful condo in Gulf Shores.  On the way down, we stopped at Barber’s Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds, Alabama just a few miles east of Birmingham.  Every motorcycle enthusiast should visit this amazing place.  We were blown away by it.  Barber’s is beautifully designed with almost 400 motorcycles on display covering the last 100 years of production.  We could have spent an entire day touring the place.  We also visited Tuskegee University and Moton Field where the Tuskegee Airmen trained during World War II.  The Tuskegee Airmen were an amazing and courageous group of black men who overcame many stereotypes to successfully serve their country as brave and highly successful pilots during the war.  Tuskegee University was special to me because George Washington Carver was one of my childhood heroes.  Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee’s first President and founder, recruited Carver to the Institute as it was called then to head up the Agriculture Department.  It was there that Carver became most famous for his work with the peanut and sweet potato.  Carver was an educator, scientist, inventor, artist, and teacher to name just a few of his many interests and talents.  He spent 47 years working at Tuskegee while remaining a humble person who eschewed fame and fortune to dedicate his life to helping others.

I have no idea where trip 12 next year will take us, but I look forward to spending more time with great friends, further exploring our great country, and having fun together.  Coleman you can’t retire from riding Harley’s yet, we’re counting on you to go with us until you turn at least 80 years old in 2012 and then you can aim for 90.

Collaborative Weight Loss

Apr 29

Posted by David Jones in Living | 2 Comments

It seems like the vast majority of Americans struggle with weight management.  I’m no exception.  Earlier this year, I lost about 25 pounds using a weight loss program that was supervised by a doctor.  I was eating a restricted number of calories each day as well as limiting the amount of carbs I could consume.  I had to track everything I ate and drank along with any exercise in a journal which was reviewed by nutritionists weekly during my visits to the clinic.  The process worked well for me, but I’ve gained around 5 pounds since stopping the program.  Largely, due to the fact that I’m no longer exercising because I’ve been struggling horribly with allergies this Spring.

This week an acquaintance of mine shared his collaborative logging approach to weight management.  I found it interesting given my fascination with technology.  For the last few months, he has been engaged in a personal learning experiment to look at the impact of collaborative logging on his own wellness.  He worked with a doctor who specializes in lifestyle medicine and developed an exercise and nutrition approach that would work for him.  The new dimension was the use of a collaborative logging system – where he entered, in real time, everything that he ate and all of his exercise.  He could do this from his smartphone, iPad or PC and it is then viewed by a doctor and nutritionist, who give him very regular feedback and suggestions.  He said it has been fascinating to see how it has helped him to modify his own behavior.  Being a numbers person, he said it is like a personal Profit/Loss statement, with a Board of Advisors, watching on.  He is now several inches slimmer and several dozen pounds lighter – and feels great.  He used fatsecret.com but there are many other online logging systems. 

One of the on-line logging systems I personally like is “Lose It”.   I recently read on Michael Hyatt’s blog he successfully used the same application to help him lose weight.  I think this collaborative logging approach will become more popular with both doctors and patients.  It’s much easier, faster, and I hope cheaper, than going to a clinic every week to accomplish the same thing.  I find that in losing weight, like most other things in life, we are much more successful when we have a goal and plan in place and someone is holding us accountable for our performance.

The Entrepreneur Creed

Apr 19

Posted by David Jones in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I saw this picture when touring the Walmart museum.  I gather Sam Walton developed the creed that follows:

I do not choose to be a common person.
It is my right to be uncommon — if I can.
I seek opportunity — not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk,
to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence:
the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade my freedom for beneficence
nor my dignity for a handout.
I will never cower before any earthly master
nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and
unafraid: to think and act for myself,
to enjoy the benefit of my creations
and to face the world boldly and say:
this, with God’s help I have done.
All this is what it means to be an entrepreneur. 

I do not choose to be a common person.
It is my right to be uncommon — if I can.
I seek opportunity — not security.
I do not wish to be a kept citizen,
humbled and dulled by having the state look after me.
I want to take the calculated risk,
to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed.
I refuse to barter incentive for a dole;
I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence:
the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of Utopia.
I will not trade my freedom for beneficence
nor my dignity for a handout.
I will never cower before any earthly master
nor bend to any threat.
It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and
unafraid: to think and act for myself,
to enjoy the benefit of my creations
and to face the world boldly and say:
this, with God’s help I have done.
All this is what it means to be an entrepreneur.

Sam Walton and his 10 rules

Apr 12

Posted by David Jones in Leadership, Uncategorized | No Comments

A week ago I was in Bentonville, Arkansas for a business meeting.   I had some extra time so I toured the Walmart museum in downtown Bentonville.  The museum contains the history of the company, major milestones, Walton’s old Ford pickup truck, his office, and a ton of interesting items and information.  I’m still amazed how Sam Walton turned a Ben Franklin Five and Dime store in a small rural town in Northwest Arkansas into the largest retailer in the world.  In the process, he became the wealthiest person in the world.  At one point, his net worth was greater than that of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.  Yet, he continued to live in a relatively modest home and drive an old Ford truck.  When you drive by Wal-Mart’s headquarters, it’s an unimpressive two story brick building that looks more like a book depository than headquarters to the largest company in the U.S..  For years, people asked Walton how he made the company so successful.  Finally, when he wrote his book Made In America in 1992, he penned what is known as Sam’s 10 Rules For Building a Business.  Here is one of his rules.

Rule 1: Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work. I don’t know if you’re born with this kind of passion, or if you can learn it. But I do know you need it. If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you — like a fever.

Have you committed to your business? 

I will share more of his rules in future blogs.