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Family lodge is an example of geotourism
Saturday, July 21st, 2007

Growing up at my family’s fishing lodge, I had the ability to interact with customers.  We talked about many things - gardening, fishing, business, and substantive issues of the day.  It was networking person-to-person.

Places like my family’s lodge are rare.  It was built as a retirement home by my great-grandparents.  They had so many friends that wanted to get away from the city though that they had to turn it into a business.  It is extremely rural - surrounded by national forest and on a wild and scenic river.  Time stands still there in many ways.  Neighbors help each other.  Everyone knows everything about everyone else.  Masks disappear in such an environment.  Business and friendship intermingle.  I literally grew up at the lodge and customers were my mentors, teachers, suppliers, advisers, and friends.  To this day, that remains the case.  In some instances they also became neighbors, having decided that the area was extremely special.

People go to the lodge for a variety of reasons.  Some seek to fish.  The Rogue River has a reputation for being one of the finest fly fishing streams in the world.  Others want to walk.  There are several trails with varying degrees of maintenance and people can just walk on their own in many areas.  People enjoy seeing the gardens and eating fresh produce that was picked that day.  They enjoy watching wild animals in the animals’ habitats.  It is a heritage that many in the United States experienced, but many are generations removed from such a life style.  When they walk in the door at the lodge, customers are invited to make themselves at home.  Everything that we can reasonably do to accommodate the customer, is done.  Sometimes, customers have particular food preferences.  Just as those preferences would be accommodated in a family, we try to accommodate them.

Reading the newspaper this morning, I found out that there is a name for what we have been doing for roughly 70 years.  That name is geotourism.  With geotourism, the distinctiveness of the locale is emphasized and, as described above, both the tourist and the residents benefit.  That is what happened with my family business.  Customers got to step back in time.  I grew the knowledge that I needed and customers introduced a world of possibilities.  Even today, they do so.  National Geographic provided more information about geotourism.

If you are interested in staying a vacation at my family’s business, please let me know.  I am happy to talk with you about it. 

 

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Path Forward: Making the good decisions about business
Sunday, July 15th, 2007

In business and life, it is important to make the best decisions we can.  Often, we have inadequate information.  Sometimes, as our experiences grow, our perspective changes.  When that occurs, it is a good idea to take a step back and look at the options and assumptions a person has made.  Recently, that is exactly what I have done with regard to my family’s business.

LodgeFamily Business

As those of you who have been reading my blog know, my family owns a 12 room fishing lodge in Oregon. 

This lodge gave me the chance to grow up in a very rural, rugged, and beautiful place. It also gave a strong work ethic, opportunities, and experience.  

Pros and Cons

RiverFamily businesses bring their own set of opportunities and issues.  My family’s business experienced them both.

The pros (benefits) of working in a family businesses can include working with family members, spending time together, family members sharing a common interests, and emotional support for other members of the family.  In my case, working in the business gave me the chance to meet great customers (who became friends) who taught me so much about business. 

The cons (costs) of a family business can include the requirement that family members set aside personal conflicts and feelings in order to meet the needs of the business, may have perspectives about what is important, and business issues can lead to familial conflict.

RiverPerspective

The grass often looks greener on the other side of the fence.  The color of the grass depends on the lenses through which a person is looking and what matters to the person at that moment in time. 

Just like the weather in Oregon (give it a minute and it can change), so too a person’s perspective can change.  When people are just starting out, they may be driven by items at the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  As those needs are satisfied, their motivation may move up the pyramid.

Decision

Lodge viewMy father has been operating the family business for over 30 years and he wants to slow down. Beyond that, he wanted to make sure that my siblings and I had the ability to decide whether we operated the family business.

After considering all of the possibilities, I have decided to return to Oregon and to help my father operate the fishing lodge.  

My vision and plan will allow me to grow the family business while helping people build business relationships (negotiate contracts, network, resolve conflicts) and develop their business skills.

Creek

Opportunities

Need a vacation and want to go someplace quiet? 

Seeking a small meeting venue where cell phones don’t ring? 

Are you looking for practical solutions to your business puzzles that are described in any of my blogs?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, ask yourself if there is something that you think I can do to help you. 

For many of the questions, including help finding jobs, the approaches that I have used are described in this blog.  The ideas in this blog are generic, as most “free” solutions are. 

Do you have a budget and need solutions that are tailored to your situation or need additional information?  If so, please send me a note at infoli@c-davisconsulting.com to see if I may be able to help you.  

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A place to get away: Rogue River
Thursday, June 21st, 2007

Technology has crashed timelines in ways that even 10 years ago would have been unthinkable. 

Often, instead of working 12 to 14 hour days, people are working 16 or 18 hour days.  At what price to health, family, and business are these hours worked?

Some brag about getting over 500 email messages per day.  Is this something to brag about?

In such an environment, it is important to take the time to slow down, to breathe, and to think.  Otherwise, people end up trying to be the fastest rat in the race.  As a friend said a couple years ago, even when one is the fastest rat in the race, one is still just a rat.  This emphasis on doing more, better, and faster causes a lot of stress for people.  In some cases, it contributes to health problems.  For others, it can lead to isolation or poor performance in business and in school.

With so much technology though, this can be difficult to take the time to slow down and to breathe.  As a result, many have to physically remove themselves from the environment in order to actually remove the telephone from their ear and the Blackberry from their hand.

Rogue RiverWhen people are trying to remove themselves from the environment, one of the most beautiful places to go is the Rogue River in Oregon.  Sure, this is my opinion. 

As it happens, a lot of people agree with me.  Every year, people sign up to win the chance to go down the Rogue River via boat.  Others hike on trails along its banks.   

Think about it.  When you are trying to decompress, is it more relaxing to listen to a cellphone and fax machine, or the lapping of water and the rustling of trees? 

The Rogue River is a National Wild and Scenic River in Oregon.  Much of the area is part of a National Forest as well. 

From time to time, it is important to take the time to “just be.”  When I feel like taking the time to just be, the Rogue River is the perfect place for me. 

Trom time to time, I will share a bit more about one of my favorite places, the Rogue River in Oregon.

For those who can’t wait, perhaps you will find the following items interesting…

Rogue River/Siskiyou National Forest

Wikipedia Rogue River

Wikipedia Crater Lake 

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Dealing with succession in a family business
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007

Succession planning is a need that many family businesses have.  Instead of dealing with the situation, many family businesses simply ignore the issue.  Speaking from experience, it can be much better to have a plan for issues like that.  When people are forced to deal with the death or serious illness of the owner of a family business, they have two choices.  Implement a plan that was created when cooler heads were talking the situation through, or simply react.  Which would you rather do?  

lodgeObviously, you know my answer.  Under stress, people can make decisions.  The decisions may be made based on pure emotion,  rather than a careful evaluation of the facts.   This is why the best decisions may not be made by people when they are under stress.

And, by the way, I don’t make my best decisions under stress.  That is why I’ve been at my family’s business (shown to the left) for the last few days ”kicking rocks around” with my family’s business.  Instead, my best decisions are made by understanding what is to be accomplished, defining goals, considering possibilities, identifying risks, and planning.  From there, it is just a matter of execution and, from time to time, revisiting the plans to be sure that they are still accurate.  Such approaches result in better outcomes, less frustration, identification of different possibilities, and a stronger understanding of all stakeholders’ goals.

A lot of people seem to think that a plan has to be very fancy.  At the end of the day, a plan can be as simple or as complex as a person wishes to make it.  Regardless of the complexity of the plan though, it really just answers eight questions which are: 

  1. Who is responsible?
  2. What is to be done?
  3. What constraints apply?
  4. When is it to be done?
  5. Where will it be done?
  6. Why is it to be done?
  7. How will it be done?
  8. How will success be determined?

Think about what would happen if business people took a minute to write down the answers to these questions.  It usually leads to stronger business relationships, better allocation of resources, and better results.  In light of this, why do people hesitate to create a succession plan for family businesses?

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The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act: A case study on the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River in Oregon - Part 1
Saturday, May 19th, 2007

by Coleen Rutledge Davis
April 27, 1990

For Public Lands Law

Preface - May 2007

As this paper was written in 1990 when I was a third year law student, parts of it are out of date and will be updated in the future. Many of the historical documents would be difficult for others to locate so, for that reason, the paper is being posted in this blog.

The postings will be made in sections. This posting is the first of six that will make up the body of the paper.

Introduction

This paper is concerned with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, 16 U.S.C. section 1271 - 1287 (1988). This statute establishes a complex and highly variable management scheme. As a consequence, this paper will rely heavily on the paplication of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (the Act) to the Rogue River. In this way, the paper will be better able to provide a general understanding of the Act.

The author selected the Rogue River for this case study for four reasons. First, the author is familiar with the Rogue River and its administration under the Act. Second, the Rogue River has been administered under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act since the Act was passed. Third, most of the administrative materials to which the author has access relate to the Rogue River. Finally, the lobbying efforts of visitors to and residents of the Rogue River area played a large part in the passage of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

Under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the history of a river is very important in determining how the river wil be administered. For that reasn, this paper will begin by introducing the Rogue River. It will then discuss the origins of the Act, the legislative history of the Act, and important provisions of the Act. From there, the paperw ill discuss management under the Act in both general and specific terms. Finally, the paper will consider issues that arise when a river is considered for designation under the Act.

The Rogue River

The Rogue River is a rapidly flowing stream that cuts a path through southwestern Oregon as it carries waters from Crater Lake to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, the Rogue River passes through wide, open valleys, and deep narrow canyons. The River’s banks are lined with tree-covered slopes, granite cliffs, and sandy beaches. Along the Rogue River, wildlife is abundant and includes deer, black bear, beavers, otters, and Roosevelt elk. In the water, salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, and eels are found. Soaring above the River, pair of bald eagle, many blue herons, egrets, and buzzards are among the common sites.

Today, thousands of people visit the Rogue River annually. These visitors come from every state and many foreign countries. The Rogue River’s fame comes from its quality as a fishing stream, its natural scenic beauty, and its white-water boat trips.1Visitors enjoy the River in up to three ways. Some enjoy the stillness of its deep canyons followed by the rushing of water over rapids as they float down the river in rafts, kayaks, and the like. Others walk in the paths of the pioneers and Indians on trails built more than 1o0 years ago. On parts of the Rogue River, powerboats provide access for visitors who cannot otherwise see the river (and for residents lacking road access).

Commercial boating on the Rogue River has a long history. As a small child, the author heard many stories about freight being poled upstream from Gold Beach to Agness about 1900. Beginning around 1930, motors began to be used on these boats. Today, motor boats are still used to haul groceries to lodges in the Wild Section.

Motorboats have been used in guiding and tours on the Rogue River for many years. These activities began before the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed in 1968. Today, these uses continue and the public demand for these services has increased dramatically since the Rogue River was designated under the Act.

Commercial boating also involves the use of drift boats and rafts. The rafting is relatively new, but drift boats have long been used for fishing trips through the Rogue River Canyon.

The newest use of boats on the River involves the use of rafts for private purposes. The private recreational party is a development that has occurred since the 1960s. Private recreational parties are the result of increased publicity for the Rogue River, increased interest in outdoor recreation, and improvements in the quality and durability of materials used to construct the rafts.

Visitors to the Rogue Rvier see several residences from the water. Within the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River, a few small communities and several scattered lodges are located. The Agness Recreational Area provides a good example of this. The Agness Recreational Area includes the communities of both Agness and Illahe. The Area is eleven river-miles long on the Rogue River and three river-miles long on the Illinois River.

Most of the people residing in the confines of the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River are of Indian heritage. The Rogue River has a long history of Indian population. It may have been named by French fur trappers for the hostile Indians who lived along its banks.2Numerous artifacts ahve been found along the Rogue River.

In 1851, gold was discovered near the mouth of the Applegate River.3 With this discovery, minors came to the Rogue River. Although most of the river had placer mining for gold, very little evidence of that activity remains. The remaining signs consist primarily of extensive water trenches, some rusted mining equipment, and a few mining scars on the canyon walls.

Eighty-four miles of the Rogue River has been designated as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System (the System). The Rogue River is also impacted by the Wild and Scenic River designation of the Illinois River, one of its major tributaries. Other federal land management schemes are extremely important in understanding the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River. Since the Rogue River flows through Siskiyou National Forest, the management plan applicable to the forest is very important. In addition, part of the Wild Section of the Rogue River is included in the Wild Rogue Wilderness.4Aside from the management schemes developed for these resources, several species of both plants and animals are protected under the Endangered Species Act.5

Origins of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act

In 1966, there was a strong possibility that the Rogue River would cease to exist in its then-existing condition. A proposal had been made to build a hydroelectric power plant and a dam at Copper Canyon. The proposal would have converted much of the Rogue River into a lake and raised water levels approximately 600 feet over eleven miles upstream from the project. In fact, the project would have given Grants Pass pool frontage and almost all the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River would have been covered with water. 6

People who relied on the River for their livelihood and recreation held a meeting at The Illahe Lodge, a fishing lodge owned by the author’s family. This meeting resulted in The Wild Rivers Committee of Oregon (of which the author’s grandfather was the first chairman).7 The Organization hoped to prevent the hydroelectric project by means of state legislation. When this was unsuccessful, the Organization and the Sierra Club joined forces to advocate federal legislation protecting the Rogue River. There were many amendments during the course of congressional debate, but the eventual result was the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

—–

Footnotes  for Part 1

1.  H.R. Rep. No. 1623, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 6, reprinted in 1968 U.S. CODE CONG. & ADMIN NEWS 3801, 3805.

2.  Preliminary Draft, Development and Management Plan for Implementation of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Bureau of Land Management 9 (1969).

3. See, Rogue National Wild and Scenic River - Revised Management Plan, 37 Fed. Reg. 13,408 (1972) [hereinafter Joint Management Plan].

4. Wilderness Act 16 U.S.C. sections 1131-1136 (1988).

5. Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. sections 1531-1544 (1988).

6. Telephone interview with Ernest R. Rutledge, Owner of the Illahe Lodge (Agness, Oregon) (Feb. 25, 1990).

7. OREGON GUIDES & PACKERS, INC., HUNTING AND FISHING IN OREGON, 1969 - 1970, at inside front cover (1969).

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Common sense and leadership are cures for metrics’ hell
Thursday, May 17th, 2007

Talking with friends the other day, it became apparent that there are several ways of seeing and dealing with performance measurement. 

One of the people was a troubleshooter and project manager on major construction projects before he saw that technology was going to tie the hands of the foreman on the job site. 

A second person has seen soft metrics abused and, as a result, believes that only hard metrics matter.

And, then there was me.  I had actually been evaluated on metrics in the corporate world.  Clients and my leadership agreed that I had saved $50 million USD over 5 years directly through my negotiations.  Now, I would love to have seen even 1% of that savings.  (Like that was ever going to happen!  Not.) 

What Mattered?

The contract savings sound impressive.  I did beat my goals.  My teams helped me shredded them.  You see, I didn’t care about my goals because my goals didn’t matter.  They were just numbers that made people feel they had value.  Here is what mattered in my area, and these were the things that weren’t measured by procurement or strategic sourcing:

Were employees able to do their jobs?

Were customers being treated professionally?

Were we building relationships with customers?

Were our suppliers making referrals to our company?

When employees of our suppliers were out talking to their other customers, were they thinking of business opportunities for us?

Did our customers, suppliers, shareholders, and employees love the company and see its success as critical to their own? 

In the grand scheme of things, these metrics mattered.  They just weren’t measured. Yet, these were the metrics on which I tried to help my employers compete.  And, I did it in a variety of ways such as:

Helping suppliers, customers, and employees understand what we were trying to accomplish and why it mattered.

Taking the time to listen to what people were saying, and finding ways to help, where I reasonably could do so.

Understanding what suppliers, customers, and employees were trying to accomplish; why it mattered to them;  and how they were going to measure their success.

Learning about training, and becoming a bit of an expert in that area.

Doing what was right, especially when it was hard. 

Leadership

Sure, it would have been nice if those steps were appreciated.  Many did appreciate them, by the way.  Not everyone who should have, but that is a factor outside my control.  At the end of the day though, does it matter?  There is only one person that every person has to look at in the mirror each day.  Leaders do what they believe is right because they believe it is the right thing to do. 

Sometimes, leadership means telling people things that are very unpopular.  On occasion, the things are so unpopular that people might be fired.  That is a risk that every employee takes.  Still, it is better to be fired for doing what is right than to be looking for work because a person has let the employer walk over the edge of the cliff. 

In other cases, leadership means helping others see the big picture.  In big organizations, checks and balances can lead people to see each other as enemies.  In fact, the friend may be the person who says, “no” more than the one who says “yes.”  Each person has to provide value and all roles have to contribute to organizational success. 

Leadership also means helping people learn. A friend had tried to convince me to apply for a promotion to director.  Years after we worked together, the friend said, “you know, I never realized just how important learning is to you.” Well, helping others learn is the most important job that a leader has. Bar none. Leaders have to help others develop their skills. Sometimes, that means that they have to let people make mistakes. They even have to allow people to fail. That is a tall order for anyone who is evaluated on a quarterly basis by shareholders. Can large public companies survive in an environment in which people in leadership roles are evaluated in this manner?

Leadership also involves bringing people together for a common purpose. Leaders are the spokespeople and the visionaries who help people see the big picture. They, and they alone, help people create a whole that is bigger than the sum of the parts. They, and they alone, help people understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together. When self-interest encourages selfishness, leaders help people align their interests and do what is right. And, leaders like this should be found in every organization at every level. They are the glue that helps teams operate.

So, who are the participants in the discussion?  What do they do today?

Businesses

The corporate world demanded more than the three participants in the dialogue could give.  It asked us to stop leading and start following.  It asked each of us to stop caring, stop trying, and stop fighting for it.

Although each of us had happily followed for many years, we left the corporate world.  Today, one of the three operates a small family fishing lodge.  One of the three works odd jobs, from time to time.  Today, I teach part-time, am writing a book about negotiations, and have a start-up consulting business.  Three different steps on the path, a path that many have walked. Nothing especially noteworthy about any of us.

At the end of the day, the emphasis on metrics and the wrong metrics explains our actions.

Metrics

Organizations love metrics.  Revenue, headcount, budget, sick time, referrals, upselling, good jobs in eight, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, audit scores, and benchmarking are used to:

  • Define value
  • Allocate resources
  • Determine success
  • Measure relative contributions
  • Grade people and the organization

And, within limits, measuring results is a good thing.  However, there are some other sides of numbers that can cause problems for organizations.  Here are a few of the challenges with reliance on numbers:

The wrong things are being measured. 

Organizations often measure the factors that are easy to measure, rather than the metrics that matter to customers, shareholders,  employees, and the organization.

Systems for measuring “stuff” are developed before or independently from defining the vision and goals that results would be measured against.

Numbers are being given undue weight.

People are hired and told to beat metrics.  Often, these metrics have little value in terms of organizational success.

Pressure to beat prior results can lead to stress which can cause or contribute to health issues, dissatisfaction, employee turnover, and higher training costs.  

Competition among people within an organization which prevents people from working together for the good of the organization.

Perception that people who have a life away from work are not team players.

Too much emphasis placed on objective metrics, and too little emphasis placed on soft metrics, and factors which contribute to them. 

What do these metrics mean?  Should firms stop measuring results?  If not, what should they do?

Approaching metrics

Metrics are a tool and, if used wisely, metrics can provide valuable information.  On this, all three people agree. 

When metrics are being used, it is a good idea to take a structured approach to developing the metrics.

Define what is to be accomplished.

What is the vision?

How will we know that the goal has been accomplished?

What metrics will be used to define value for the organization, its employees, its customers, and its suppliers?

Why do these metrics matter?

How can these metrics be measured?

Understand why it matters. 

What are the consequences of a slight change in these metrics?

Why are these metrics important?

How will changes in the business be show up in these metrics?

Are these metrics going to lead to a better business over the short-term and the long-term?

 Decide what constitutes success and how the results will be used.

What should these metrics be?

How will the actual results be measured?  When?  By whom?

How will these metrics be used in making business decisions?

The next time someone talks about metrics, encourage them to remember common sense and to make sure they are measuring the right thing, rather than measuring things right.  Help them to be sure that they are doing what is right, rather than settling for what is easy, proven, or tried and true. 

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How can contracts help people deal with risk?
Saturday, May 12th, 2007

When Connie Customer and Sam Supplier negotiate a contract, they are uncertain about the future.  Will Connie need Sam’s services?  How often?  When?  Where? Under what circumstances? 

Connie and Sam negotiate based on what they expect to see occur.  This is a starting point for negotiations.  What else can negotiations do?

If Connie and Sam opt to do so, they have the opportunity to manage the risks.  They can do this by:

Specifying how certain issues would be resolved, if they arise

Defining the process that will be used to address issues that are not specifically addressed

Some will say that this is a waste of resources.  Such communications can help Connie and Sam:

Decide if they want to build a business relationship

Establish a shared set of expectations

Build a better business relationship

Align their respective interests

Uncertainty is inevitable.  Should negotiators bury their heads in the sand and ignore the uncertainty, or should they suggest a reasonable approach for dealing with the uncertainty?

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