Recent Feedback From Alan Mulally & The NYC Sanitation Dept.

One of my recent closing messages was titled: Lessons I Learned From Alan Mulally. My friend Brian Huth the General Manager of Five Star Ford in Dallas sent that message to Mr. Mulally, the former CEO of Ford Motor Company. If you missed that closing message, you can read it here:

Read "Lessons I Learned From Alan Mulally" →

Here was the nice email from Alan:

Hello Brian and Jerry!!

Thank you so much for your wonderful notes and thoughts from two of my most special and fun “Working Together”™ leaders and friends!

: )))

And thank you so much Jerry for your wonderful “Working Together”™ article!

: )))

Please find attached my current Our “Working Together”™ Leadership and Management System summary interview that I continue to use to teach and coach leaders and their teams!

Also, please find attached a few of the so many wonderful books and articles in the first attachment, like yours Jerry, that everyone loves to study as they implement Our “Working Together”™!

: )))

Thank you so much Brian and Jerry for your Our “Working Together” leadership to live to serve humanity with love and humility to create value, growth and happiness for all!

Respect, appreciate and love you!

: )))

Alan

QUICK SHIFTS

Then I had this article last Friday to lead off my Quick Shifts:

The Rats Are Winning the Urban Planning Debate. New York City is moving ahead with a plan to replace thousands of curbside parking spaces with large garbage containers as part of its effort to get trash bags off sidewalks and reduce the city’s rat problem. City officials estimate nearly 30,000 parking spaces could eventually disappear to make room for the new “Empire Bins,” arguing it’s a worthwhile tradeoff for cleaner streets and fewer rodents. Drivers, unsurprisingly, aren’t thrilled, especially in neighborhoods where parking is already treated like an Olympic event. Supporters point to cleaner sidewalks and improved sanitation, while critics see one more reason to circle the block for another 20 minutes looking for a place to park. The takeaway is simple: New York has officially decided that garbage deserves a guaranteed parking space before your car does. Somewhere, a rat is celebrating while a driver is still looking for an opening.

That prompted the New York City Sanitation Press Secretary to reach out to me:

Mr. Reynolds,

Thank you for your shout out to our ongoing work to get all trash bags off New York City streets and into sealed containers. But can you explain why any rat would celebrate this? These containers are taking away the all-you-can-eat buffet of trash bags that rats used to feast on. Our streets and sidewalks are cleaner, and rat sightings are way, way down. We’d love it if you could explain (or change) those lines. And please drop us a note at pressoffice@dsny.nyc.gov any time. Thank you!

Vincent Gragnani, Press Secretary, NYC Department of Sanitation

I explained that Quick Shifts was a funny, quirky, feature each week about cars that I tried to put a funny spin on. I offered to remove the article if it offended the NYC Department of Transportation. Mr. Gragnani replied with:

Good morning Jerry,

Thanks for the quick response.

We just wanted to be clear that NYC rats have nothing to celebrate these days, given that these bins take away their all-you-can-eat buffet of trash bags on the street.

As I said initially, we do appreciate the shout out – and the comical spin here. I shared the blurb across the Department early this morning.

I am happy that I could bring a little joy to the good folks in New York City.