Reservations for hotel rooms for the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show are off to a fast start in 2012, running 1178 room nights ahead of last year at the same time. That’s an increase of 29 percent.

“We are very pleased to see so many members of the racing industry getting an early start in reserving their hotel rooms in Orlando,” said Michelle Gallegos, housing manager. “We have hotel accommodations to suit every budget and personal preference.”

Room rates start at $69 per night. In order to keep a lid on hotel room prices, PRI room blocks are guaranteed and contracted with the lowest rate possible, beating internet and direct hotel rates.

Other benefits of booking with PRI Housing include complimentary shuttle service to the Orange County Convention Center; breakfast and free Wi-Fi at many Host Hotels; and a flexible cancellation policy, with no prepayment or service fees.

To reserve your room online, go to www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow and use the Hotel/Travel dropdown menu to click on Hotel Reservations. Or, call Michelle at 949/499-2044.

Exhibitors take note: Performance Racing Industry uses every avenue to aggressively spread the good news far and wide about all the trick new racing products being introduced at the PRI Trade Show in Orlando.

It goes far beyond the pages of PRI magazine, as the Trade Show buys media in magazines with a diverse range of readerships representing the full spectrum of motorsports.

“With the reach of PRI magazine and the 20+ additional publications in which the PRI Trade Show advertises, exhibiting companies can be confident they are working with a Trade Show team that is very aggressive in generating buyer attendance,” said Eric Jurado, PRI sales and marketing manager. “The exhibits of new racing products are the star attraction of the PRI Trade Show, and PRI 'bangs the drum' loudly everywhere to spread the news of this spectacular event.”

National Dragster, Speedway Illustrated, Sprint Car & Midget, Circle Track, Sports Car, Grassroots Motorsports, Import Tuner, Modified, Victory Lane, Dusty Times, Race Pages, Fastest Street Car, Dirtsports, Drag Boat Review, Dirt Late Model, National Kart News, National Parts Peddler, Drag Illustrated, DSport, Area Auto Racing News and other racing publications are on the PRI Trade Show advertising schedule. Few companies in racing advertise so extensively, and to such a diverse audience in racing.

Publications with readership beyond racing are also included, such as Modern Machine Shop and Engine Builder.

Altogether, the magazines represent over 400,000 impressions about the PRI Trade Show.

In addition to the print publications, PRI has an extensive advertising campaign on the Internet, including such websites as racer.com, hoseheads.com, tjslideways.com, openwheeltoday.com, thedirtrackchannel.com, machinetool.com, whowon.com and more.

For more information on the PRI Trade Show, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow/.

Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, as well as eNewsletters, have become increasingly valuable components in effectively promoting buyer attendance at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show.

“The PRI email list includes over 30,000 members of the racing industry, and we’ve worked very hard to make it a tight, accurate list,” said Andrea Brake, PRI sales and marketing manager. “Beginning in June, we’ve been sending out two eNewsletters per month that include information promoting attendance at the PRI Trade Show.”

The eNewsletters alone will result in over 100,000 impressions, per the current open rate.


On PRI’s YouTube channel, exhibitors and attendees will find interview there of both exhibitors and buyers on their PRI Trade Show experience in 2011.

“We also developed a ‘front page’ news format for the PRI Trade Show, so members of the racing business can find the latest industry news every day at www.performanceracing.com,” said Brake. “That page is double every year in unique viewers and page views. It provides news about the PRI Trade Show on a regular basis.”

For more information on the 25th Annual PRI Trade Show, which takes place November 29-December 1, 2012, in Orlando, Florida, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow/.

A shimmering golden door hides a giant corporate machine that produces the next racing star of tomorrow. Once the door is opened the legendary machine guarantees racing fame and a long money filled career. Mesmerized, parents forget the comforts of home and stand in an endless line in hopes of placing their offspring in the proficient golden gadget located near a 2.5-mile oval Florida shrine. Reputation convinces parents to try and they are certain the elusive hardware will do all of the work instantaneously transforming their child into the next racing hall of famer.

Nearly all youngsters would be better off honing their skills at their home track, but Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne are rumored to be products of the wonderful machine. Jeff, Tony and Kasey know the golden door is a myth, yet history shows that the racing gods in Daytona Beach create new legends in lock step with the fall of an aging and once bright star.

Parents believe that when a young kid is given the key to the golden door the corporate machine can magically stamp out the next budding star of tomorrow regardless of their experience level. Many kids with whitened teeth and hair from the cover of Fashion Quarterly enter, but only one in a million emerges with the needed poise and skill of a true champion. With what seems to be an ever younger child inside, the pristine machine shakes, steams and vibrates working magic and applying mythical power to the chosen few. At last, a shot at the big time–it is all so easy, or so says the legend.

Years ago I was at my home race track in Monroe, Washington. Evergreen Speedway was located smack downtown and the grandstands doubled for racing and cow judging at the yearly fair. Richard Petty, Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough were the racing gods of the day–corporate America allowed few gods back then. Legends in the era of black and white photography earned their time in the sun with actual grit, determination and plenty of beer.

By the age of ten I had been to the Evergreen Speedway many times. My dad would load me into his Chevy van with blankets to sit on and an Igloo cooler packed with his two beers hidden under a layer of ice and our PBJ sandwiches. Dad’s van was a true California special complete with crushed velvet seats and a stereo system that could rattle the windows out of an Army tank.

Since we lived in Washington State, and not California, Dad’s ride really turned some heads. BF Goodrich T/A radials and 5 spoke mag wheels were the perfect accent to the airbrushed scallops that ran down the sides of the highly customized Chevy van. Riding to the track in style was a required part of racing back when I was ten. Minivans weren’t allowed in the parking lot then. Little did I know I was learning why people race while chatting with my dad on the 40-minute trip to Monroe.

We were regulars at Evergreen, so even at ten I knew my way around. We sat in the exact same spot every week and nobody would even think of invading our turf. Eagerly, I would lead the family to the base of the grandstands turning left to look up at our favorite spot–8 rows down from the top, 7 seats to the left of the aisle and just past the start finish line. From there we had a perfect view of turn 1.

Turn 1 was where all the action took place, and early in the year the turn 1 pond was still full–a beautiful combination of soupy water mixed with authentic northwest mud. Our bellies ached from laughter when drivers spun into the pond creating a giant brown splash. Thoughts of the billowing puff of steam filled the long Saturday night drive home with plenty of laughter. On special occasions, a rookie push truck driver would park too close to the pond and a muddy tsunami would cover his freshly waxed truck–real racing right here at home complete with material for America’s Funniest Videos.

Drivers and cars that landed in the pond were usually unharmed. The mud on their faces, a uniform dripping with puddle water, and egos that were more wet than bruised came standard with the admission price. The turn 1 puddle taught me plenty about why we race–it would just take me years to understand.

I fondly remember my favorite local drivers from back then. Real drivers that inspired me to get out of the bleachers and work on racecars were my idols. They had greasy uniforms, tussled hair and bad mustaches that would make them look more like adult film stars than racecar drivers. My visions resemble an old Elvis movie creating a dramatic contrast to modern day victory lane scenes with Kasey Kahne and his Budweiser Chevy sponsored by the Chevy Dealers in Gatorade Victory Lane at the Powerade Winners Circle celebration. Over the chaos of the celebratory noise you could hear Kasey say, “Which hat do I wear now?”

According to legend–in Kasey’s interview–he would utilize skills learned in the mythical machine. He would announce in his politically perfect voice: “I want to thank all of my sponsors, we had a really good car, the team worked super hard, the engine shop gave us a great engine and I am really proud of my team, my engineer, my PR guy, my mom and my dog.” It goes without saying that his dog is named “Impala.”

Amazing results–maybe the golden door really works! Sorry Kasey–I could have picked on anyone, but since we are both from Washington I figure you would give me one freebie or maybe you would let me off the hook because my comparison to new and old is just “one of them deals.”

From our family Evergreen bleacher spot we could hear the announcer, well sort of. The thunder of the race cars muffled some of the words, but back then my hearing was not yet hampered by the 100’s of times I would be in a closed garage with unprotected ears being bombarded with 8000 RPM’s and an engine guy that said he was setting the timing. I was never sure if the timing was set correctly or if it was just the engine tuners weekly playtime.

Whenever the announcer mentioned my favorite figure eight driver I would perk right up. The loud speaker would crackle like an old scratchy LP: “….And starting on the pole–Dirty Dan the Sewer Man.” Funny how 35 years makes a reference to a sewer sound romantic.

Dan Knott was a racer. He raced for the pure fun. To him, Daytona was a post card with a white sandy beach and a bikini girl with oversize sunglasses–mythical corporate machines not required. My dad learned to be a chassis guy on Dirty Dan’s team, and in true racer tradition he passed on all his knowledge to me. Dad taught me plenty.

My Uncle Bob turned wrenches on the Sewer Man’s car, and he simply loved being around the track. Uncle Bob was a mechanic by trade. He could diagnose an engine simply by holding a screw driver over the intake–no need for one of those big fancy red boxes with a TV screen on it. Uncle Bob could simply listen to the engine and, with the experience of real grease under his fingernails, he could have you back on the road for a few bucks, a cold beer and a have a nice day smile–those were the days!

Dirty Dan had plenty of company. Ben Chandler, The Wizard, would add a certain color to the festivities, making sure everyone in Monroe had something to cheer for. Crazy Carl Zaretske would smash the gas on and off through the turns of the Evergreen Figure 8 track. Carl had his trademark driving style. Whomp, whomp, whomp–you could hear the throttle pedal go to the floor about 8 times in each and every turn. To Carl, being smooth was saved for flirting with female groupies in victory lane.

Why would Dirty Dan, Uncle Bob and my dad race so hard when the mythical golden door and corporate machine was not even on their radar? Was it the time in the shop away from real life? Maybe it was the relaxation of building a mechanical marvel–figure eight cars were pretty cool! In what other sport can you dress in tacky oil stained uniforms and be rewarded with a crazed crowd that cheers wildly at every wreck, fist fight and photo finish? Perhaps it’s the camaraderie? The junior writer from the Seattle Times would just say it was for the love of the sport–he had no idea–the night before he was covering a high school chess tournament. Being low man on the totem pole meant he did all the bottom of the barrel assignments. Journalism at its best!

Maybe we race as the universal goal of competing creates a common racers’ bond–a bond so powerful that Saturday night at the track is more important than friends, weddings, anniversaries and kids' birthdays. Respect strengthens the holding power of the Saturday night ritual, and even the toughest competitors and bitterest of rivals treasure the compelling power of the racing bond. Every true racer feels remorse, but wouldn't think of showing any sign of emotion–when their enemy’s auto show perfect machine met with an untimely concrete collision.

Racing is so unique that it has its own language–mess with us and we will fire a warning shot–fool with us and we will take off your head. True racers can spend an entire evening in the shop and speak volumes without uttering even one audible word. In a racer’s shop, there is a poetry of information that is often spoken with a single head nod, a curled eyebrow or a subtle shoulder shrug. Clattering wrenches keep rhythm with the cycle of the week–Saturday night comes each and every weekend during racing season.

Drivers too have their own silent language. Chrome horns spank the child in front of them and hand gestures wave a thousand messages to those passing by. A subtle right turn leaves a tire mark on the competitor’s door–a rubber zero clearly communicates the opinion for the duration of the night. Those who push the window too hard are given a firm squeeze into the outside wall shortening one day and lengthening six nights.

From the comfort of the crushed velvet seat in my dad's van, and the fabulous puddle in turn 1, I learned that we simply race for fun. True racers know that just having fun is reason enough to sacrifice normal behavior in exchange for another Saturday night fix. Since we are all still ten at heart, why look for the fickle and elusive golden door of corporate magic? If we want clean fun, we just need to remember Dirty Dan–he had fun–and he found gold right here at home.

Go Forward – Move Ahead.

On the morning of November 29, 2012, Performance Racing Industry delivers a truly can't-miss program.

Once again, Dave Despain presents a live version of his popular Wind Tunnel TV program that airs on Speed Channel during the Grand Opening Breakfast on opening day of the PRI Trade Show.

And joining him this year will be none other than 15-Time NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car Champion and Driver of the Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford Mustang John Force!

"The Grand Opening Breakfast is a great racing industry tradition, and we're excited to bring Dave back again. He's an outstanding motorsports journalist, and always brings out the best stories from the special guests. Add John Force to the mix, and we're really going to have some fun," said John Kilroy, producer of the PRI Trade Show.

"John Force is one of the most dominant racers in our lifetime, as well as one of the biggest personalities in the sport. He rewrote the history of NHRA racing in more ways than just his championships. He's amazing, and we're already looking forward to Thursday morning at the Show," continued Kilroy.

Over the years, such respected racing figures as Bobby Rahal, Humpy Wheeler, Dale Inman, Smokey Yunick, Jack Roush, Robert Yates and many more have participated as speakers at the Grand Opening Breakfast. It has become a treasured racing industry tradition.

The Grand Opening Breakfast begins at 8 a.m., Thursday, November 29, 2012, with doors set to open at 7 a.m. It will be held in the northwest corner of the exhibit hall that houses the PRI Trade Show. Show credentials are required for entry.

The PRI Trade Show takes place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 29-December 1, 2012, in the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Approximately 1100 industry suppliers occupying 3200 booths will exhibit the latest developments in auto racing technology before 40,000 attendees from the US and 72 countries.

The Show offers unparalleled access and exposure for racing businesspeople, including retailers of racing components, race engine builders, performance WDs, race car builders, and race track owners and operators, as well as professional race teams.

Motorsports professionals are encouraged to preregister now for credentials for the PRI Trade Show. Early registration will ensure Show materials arrive in the mail prior to your departure for Orlando.

Click here to register for the 2012 PRI Trade Show. For more information, visit the PRI Trade Show online at www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow/. 

The new High-Performance Computing & Testing Technologies Zone in the 2012 PRI Trade Show is proving to be a welcome new concept with motorsports engineering companies. 



“There is no other place that professional race teams and motorsports engineers will be able to shop so many of these race engineering and testing firms all in one place, all at one time,” said Karin Davidson, director of the PRI Trade Show. “The High-Performance Computing & Testing Technologies Zone will be one more ‘added attraction’ for this group of specialized buyers to come to Orlando.” 



Companies currently on the 2012 PRI Trade Show Floor Plan in the High-Performance Computing & Testing Technologies Zone include 7-Test Engineering, A&D Technologies, Altair, Chassisim, Function Sim, Mechanical Sim, Michelin/Laurens Proving Grounds, Morse Measurement, OptimumG and SoVA Motion.



The Zone is located in the 5700 exhibit aisle, close to the very front aisle of the Trade Show.

The Performance Racing Industry Trade Show is the world's largest annual gathering of racing professionals, with 38,000 buyers in attendance from throughout the US and 72 foreign countries. Approximately 1100 racing industry suppliers exhibit across 700,000 square feet of show space.



The 25th Annual PRI Trade Show will be held November 29–December 1, 2012, in the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Florida.

 For more information, visit www.performanceracing.com/tradeshow/.

A strong array of exhibiting companies have been plotted in the first half of 2012 for the 25th Annual PRI Trade Show, including over 130 companies that are first-time exhibitors or are returning exhibitors not on last year’s Show floor plan.

“For 25 years, the exhibiting companies have been the star attraction of the PRI Trade Show, as racing industry buyers from around the US and the world flock to Orlando to shop and buy from virtually all the major brand names in hardcore racing components,” said PRI’s Judy Kean. “It’s a very good sign for the health of the racing industry in these challenging times that the PRI Trade Show is drawing such large numbers of new racing companies and exhibitors from Shows before 2011. They value the PRI Trade Show as a key factor in kicking off their 2013 racing industry sales.”

Currently, the PRI Trade Show floor plan holds more than 1040 racing industry suppliers as exhibitors, in over 3000 booths. The Show itself attracts 38,000 buyers from throughout the US and 72 foreign countries. The 25th Annual PRI Trade Show will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 29–December 1, in the North/South Building of the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Florida.

Kean explained that a major advantage of the Convention Center in Orlando is that the entire racing industry trade show can fit into one exhibit hall.

“The size and the design of the Convention Center provides a level playing field for all the exhibitors, as they are all in the same space. It also means that we have excellent booth locations still available.”

Booth rates have remained unchanged since 2007. A single 10x10-foot booth space is $1,700, which drops to $1,600 per booth if two or more are purchased.

“Don’t be left out of the three biggest business days in racing,” Kean advised racing companies that have not yet reserved their booth space. To reserve exhibit space, call PRI at 949/499-5413.

With tighter credit requirements, dwindling profit margins and stiff competition, inventory-based companies have less room for error when it comes to generating cash flow; for many it’s become a real question of survival.

If you’ve been in business for a couple of years or more it’s likely that you’re doing a lot right, though most small businesses according to statistics, started out with more enthusiasm than formal business training and capital. This is especially true in the racing industry.

Analogous to finding that magical racecar setup that puts you out front, positioning your business to be competitive in the market place can come down to some very subtle tweaks.

Running a successful business usually requires all hands on deck, stretched to the limit just to keep up with managing inventory, fulfilling orders and handling customer service and bookkeeping; which leaves you with little time for strategizing on ways to improve things in your operation. But keeping your business on a successful course will require some troubleshooting every so often if you are to avoid seasons of flat line performance or eventual death.

The strain from cash flow challenges can cause fear and stress that ripples through a company eating away at the confidence of its owners, employees and eventually its customers.

As business owners many of us have been there, and when it happens there are predictable reactions that usually lead to drastic cost cutting, staff layoffs and insomnia. Ironically in these situations one of the last things to come to mind is the need to stop reacting and to get control over the situation. Investing a little time in developing pre-emptive strategies can help you create conditions for achieving more consistent cash flow throughout your fiscal year.

Race product-generated cash flow has a seasonal aspect and dependent on overlapping purchase cycles for replacement parts and equipment upgrades that fill in the gaps between consumable items and maintenance parts expenditures.

Performance Tweaks:

There are three often-overlooked data resources that can greatly assist you in your ability and effort to manage your cash flow performance:
1. Current Inventory
2. Sales Records
3. Projections

You may be surprised at some of the products that are in your current inventory and the amount of money tied up in what’s on your shelves. Putting together the right mix of products, investing in the optimum quantities and ordering stock according to a planned schedule can greatly improve cash flow.

Cash flow crisis can be caused by several factors, but some of the keys to improving cash flow are as close as your customer files. You can data mine your sales records to confirm what your customers are buying, when they’re ordering and how much they spend with you. Paying attention to your customer’s purchase habits can help you determine what products to carry, how much to have on hand and when.

The sales engine is like a race motor and managing cash flow is as important as tuning the flow of fuel and exhaust; regulating the timing and volume of the money leaving your business is just as essential as what the intake does to your company’s overall cash flow performance. What you learn from analyzing your inventory and mining your records for trends will enable you to make product projections. And among other benefits, generating regular forecasts will enable you to schedule orders according to sales cycles, stagger stock deliveries for when you need them, while helping your supplier with their production planning and product availability.

This is not revolutionary news, unless you were unaware of it. Most small business owners are genuinely surprised at how little strategy and planning they have put into their own product offerings, and very few consistently do inventory forecasting or focus on making product turns to optimize cash flow.

Product Turn:

For those unfamiliar with the term “product turn”, it is simply the action of selling inventoried products to recoup the initial outlay invested to acquire the product and the additional margin made on your markup. A high turn rate keeps money moving through your accounts, which then allows you to better synchronize purchasing to the rate of your product turns, ultimately tying up less cash.

Example: Let’s say you decide to start the selling season by stocking up on a 100 'widgets' and your purchase is influenced because they are usually in high demand and your supplier gives you a 5% price break at 100 units for a net cost of $195 per unit. So your outlay for the widgets is $19,500 and by year’s end you sell out of them with at a 40% markup over the regular wholesale price recouping your original $19,500 plus an additional $8,000 in gross profit. Hey, nothing wrong with that, $8,000 in gross profit generated from a $19,500 investment.

Hold on. If instead you passed on the 5% incentive, invested only $10,000 for 50 units, sold them out and purchased 50 more, by year’s end after selling out of the second batch you will have grossed $7,000 with the same 40% markup by essentially recycling the initial $10,000, thanks to the product turn.

This little tweak just helped you avoid tying up almost another $10k, while helping minimize the potential for excess inventory depreciating on your shelves. Be careful here. Note I have used “markup percentage” and “gross profit” to express my example, not to be confused with margin percentage, which is another article topic in itself.

Forming Your Own Product Strategy:

In addition to your bread and butter stock, it’s important to identify and categorize which seasonal products sell-through and at what time of year, and determine which ones are year-round producers. Along the way keep your eye open for a product or line that is hot or has potential to be a winner that you may be able to get exclusively.

Once you’ve identified, ranked and categorized these products you can start formulating your strategy to put together your best selection of products. With serious effort you will be able to establish a product mix that is designed to sell- through, with help from performers that come into play when other products slack off. And if you are disciplined to look beyond short discounts and can determine more efficient quantities to purchase with the goal of completing inventory turns you can improve cash flow even more.

Steps to Create a Better Product Mix:

1.    Start by setting a goal to improve your product buys. Set a little time aside each day for data mining your customer records. Delegate this as a group task where more than one person can contribute their opinion to help determine what inventory warrants investment, when and in what quantities.

2.    Scrutinize inventory sell-through records to identify products that have unjustly tied up cash by turning slow. And look for products that can replace poor performers based on what the market tells you.

3.    Avoid ordering products just because you can get a “good deal” on them, though you may be conceivably saving over what you used to pay for the stock, you may have to hang onto it and eventually discount the savings away.

4.    Purchase products that turn faster with higher sell-through potential (even if they have lower margins) to ensure that customers who visit your store don’t leave empty handed.

5.    Order good seasonal sellers to purposely bolster sales during specific periods when your sales have traditionally slumped.

6.    Be on the look out for that big demand product that hasn’t been picked up by everyone in your area. Having some degree of exclusivity on high demand items can help raise your bottom line.

Remember, winning teams seldom come together by chance. Take the time to use your staffing, insight and your historical data to establish a winning product mix. The better your product mix the higher the sell-through rate resulting in more frequent product turns. Smarter inventory purchases coupled with more frequent product turns will result in improved cash flow.

Company leaders sometimes believe that hiding on Earth there is a magic bullet manager that will come in and fix every ill with a single shot. Magically, all of the things we want done are beamed into the company just by hiring a mythical outside expert. Imaginations dream of the hired gun with a quick trigger fix. It seems we can value the opinion of people we barely know more than people we work with everyday? Familiarity can diminish respect for those that we rely upon most?  If the mythical magic bullet employee does exist, my question for you is; what is their name, when do they start and how much do I have to pay them?

I think the concept of magic employees is a breakdown in the managerial process and should be relabeled as mental laziness. A belief in magic managers is wishful thinking. Daydreaming about magic can be an excuse manager’s use when they avoid communication with the great people that reality presents every day. Spells and wands can be left to Harry Potter. We managers are responsible for cultivating the best from our group.

Organizations succeed by building a bank of people that know how to meet the challenges of their respective market nuances.  As leaders, our business will thrive if we can extract the contributions of our team members as we grow. True success depends on utilizing our people to their fullest potential. We all have hidden gems in our grasp, but we do need a clear mind to identify potential.

Home grown employees, on our team roller coaster, have felt the winds of challenge through the ups and downs on the ride of business momentum that winning groups create. Momentum carries us to growth and impactful leaders provide the seat belt that binds potential leaders on a common path to sustainable growth. Engaging people, so they can enjoy the ride of change, comes from ensuring that the twists and turns result in creative energy that is rewarding. Stagnation and predictability are found on straight roads that present a never changing horizon. Roller coasters are fun as long as we fill the rails with adrenaline producing goals. Abrupt changes in course create uncomfortable thrashing in our buildings causing the creative process to empty into the porcelain porthole of waste.

The goal isn’t to say that information from outside of your organization is not valuable – of course it is – I always learn when I get out of the house and absorb information from the world around me. It is the application of gained knowledge that we need to utilize with care. The ideal is guided towards understanding that your own trusted staff can glean information from the big place we call earth based on their own initiative. People, at the point of attack, are 100% immersed in their tasks. Managers walk by and get a sniff of the important details.  If a staff member is capable of asking questions that are tailored to address a challenge within your business, you then have a scenario where existing payroll vaults you ahead. The danger lies in paying “outside” experts to analyze problems without utilizing the “inside” knowledge held within your bank of trusted and informed employees.

If you hire a so called expert to perform a duty that can be handled with existing resources, you risk alienating valuable employees. Continuous lack of faith in quality team members causes them to jump off your roller coaster at the first point of negative inertia. Are you better off bringing in magic through the front door if reality is performing an escaping act through the back alley?  By allowing existing personnel to research magic on their own, you provide a platform that builds obstacle demolition habits from within. Investment in such in house training creates problem solving skills that can be repeated as challenges arise. Management time spent explaining problems to an outsider can often be better utilized to cultivate investigation skills within your organization.  Management time will be more effective by trusting real people that you already know. Baseball teams spend a ton on farm systems. Why bet your cash farm on free agents when you can harvest talent with your secret mix of empowering fertilizer?

Outsiders need a tour of the plant, a company history lesson and they need to understand the challenges in proper context. Outsiders have zero idea that we small companies have learned to do much with little. Tight budgets and groups of employees that perform multiple roles are the norm in small business. Outsiders have a way of spending first and blowing smoke about uniformed potential benefits later. “Build it and they will come” can be restated as “trust your talent and they will shock you with a palace for your stadium”. Why buy outside when your existing talent will have fun growing. Learn from outsiders and learn well. Believe and trust “your” team.

Top employees enjoy new projects – if your employees see an outsider botching a project, that in house staff views as being within their skill level, moral is dinged and expenses for your magic expert have a detrimental impact on your bottom line. Expertise is formed through knowing the questions to ask and considering the big picture. In house employees need not know all – they do need to have the confidence to get on the path of discovery. Supportive management, that cultivates an environment of learning, encourages people to move forward without being paralyzed by the fear of mistakes. The best leaders simply are not afraid to be wrong. Hey, we all like perfection, but the true art of growth comes from empowering employees to get more done without worrying about setbacks. Talent fixes their errors quickly. Managers that sit on the fence tossing out criticism, simply fill the path to prosperity with potholes of resentment.

Managers that teach employees invest in productive decision makers that take personal ownership. Fear of mistakes is replaced with the confidence of self corrective action. Any small business owner has made more mistakes than their employees will ever make – yet, with no one yelling at us leader types we always figure out how evolve past our failures. Potential flourishes when trust in an individual’s self imposed expectations is exceeded and precedes the awareness of management. Come on, just admit that you are busy and the combined resources around you simply know more about the day in and day out details than you do – let ‘em go and they will grow.

Minimal supervision will limit monetary losses in small business – it is not like we have traders at a bank that can lose 2 billion due to being greedy or having a fat thumb. Most likely, those traders have fat heads. Small company employees carry your baby more carefully than they would hold their own. Good management comes with the internal commitment to identify employees that want more. Good managers direct employees that are “willing” to be wrong onto the path towards prosperity. A person with a Sarah Palin clothing budget, standing at a podium might have something valuable to add to your organization, but they might simply be a high paid consultant that does not grasp the depth of issues that  known and trusted employees live through every minute.

I think, at times, we managers need to be reminded of the knowledge and dedication that is contained in our employee bank.  My thought is to suggest that too often we take our existing in house knowledge base for granted. In our effort to come up with the next best thing, we sometimes forget that we have great resources right in our organization. Our resources already have the fundamental foundation of understanding that is directly connected to our specific daily operations.

A case in point, Facebook was cultivated into a giant entity by a guy that doesn’t even need a razor. Sure, he had an idea and good timing, but are you thinking he is the smartest person on the planet? I will bet your small company has a number people right now that could make better high level decisions than Zuckerberg. For all of the incredible brain power at Facebook, let us be reminded of how our stock market guru’s and bank housing experts have done such a fine job of totally kicking the biggest company in the world, known as the USA, right in the arse. My guess is that Mr./Ms. Magic is a well dressed person that was standing behind a podium. ZZ Top has a better grasp on decision making than that well dressed “person”.  The magic IPO group totally mutilated what in house talent understood – meetings not required!

When I make a mistake as a manager, and I have made an unbelievable amount of mistakes, I simply figure out how to reduce exposure to the problem and make the best of a bad situation. Of course if an employee were to make the exact same mistake as their leaders make then why is it “off with their heads”. How come employees face more pressure than company owners when it comes to decision making?  Can you accept the mistakes of your team in exchange for the power created by truly leveraging the knowledge you already own? Hit the “Like” button above if you agree!

Perhaps we manager types should adjust and simply view everyone as equals performing different roles. Instead of sitting on the fence criticizing, we can take our efforts and train talent how to minimize losses quickly? We can train valued employees about a quality decision making process. Small companies quickly remove truly bad employees so that management is swift. I suggest that we get out of the way of our future leaders. Remove the threat of a hatchet and replace it with faith held in the self imposed expectations of your core group. Believe in your team and they will pull your seat belt on when you are too busy to do it for yourself.
 
If you buy into the simple assessment that you generally have good people, then it makes sense to listen to them and take action based on their suggestions. Where do the best ideas come from?  Do they come from the Ivory Tower or from the dedicated employees that face challenges on a continuous basis every day? At times, we as managers take our “great” and “star” employees for granted and we certainly should fix that mindset without delay.

An existing employee could present an idea that passes by without fanfare yet we hear the same concept from an outsider and somehow we give this unknown magician instant credibility? Stick a stranger in front of a podium and our ears are wide open? We sometimes devalue the brilliant ideas of people we know. Somehow, we give an outsider instant credibility when their thoughts are generated without the benefit of understanding our specific market niche. What if we just look for great ideas and value them on merit verses on their source? Through familiarity we can miss good ideas and concepts. My proposal is to consider ideas from your team as if they were presented by someone famous and powerful. Danger lies in giving outsiders artificial credibility. Our goal is to give good ideas legs. Ideas deserve traction regardless of the source.
 
Certainly, there are times when we need to bring in outside horsepower and add new knowledge. My concept does not challenge the need to add specific or new talent. Believing in magic bullets by hiring a mythical know it all manager comes at a cost that could take years to return. Listen to familiar faces with the same open ears given to outsiders and magic manifested in our imagination will open the real door at the entrance of our business.

If leadership truly believes in people, then the creative firepower of employees can be focused from equal ground. The magic comes from the barrage of ideas precisely aimed at the desired target. With practice, the entire organization elevates performance. Clear goals steady a confident aim and inspire a decisive trigger. Support from leaders unleashes the shared voices of execution.  All voices are heard and the entire operation fires eagerly at will.  

In August, racing industry members including car builders, race teams, engine builders and more are invited to a special Manufacturers Luncheon being organized by Performance Racing Industry and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa.

The luncheon takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2012, on the second floor of the Hall of Fame facility.

Last year's luncheon was a resounding success with 75 industry VIPs in attendance, and this year's promises even more excitement.

For additional information or to RSVP, email PRI's Jeff Swoboda at jeffs@performanceracing.com.