Habit Changing

How many of you heard the story this morning about marketing for success by changing a behavior and making it habit-forming? It was called “The Power of Habit” and was broadcast on NPR.

The first example was the development of Pepsodent toothpaste. In the early 1900’s people didn’t brush their teeth. The creator marketed his toothpaste as a way to get rid of the film on people’s teeth. The reward was a beautiful smile and a tingling, fresh feeling. Obviously, he was successful in creating a new habit!
The second example has more relevance to public works – striving for a high performance organization. He told a story about Alcoa. A new CEO takes over at a time when the relationship between managers and employees is very strained – 15,000 employees had recently gone on strike. The expectation was that the new CEO would come in and focus on profits and making employees work harder. But instead, he focused on worker safety. He found a way to increase efficiencies by having managers and employees work together to identify bad practices, implement changes which created more efficient processes, improved quality and, for Alcoa, higher profits. New habits created a higher performing workforce.
I think the story is relevant. Maybe by focusing on changing the bad habits we have in our organizations, we could develop a lasting, higher performing organization?

$20/gallon!

I recently received a link to an article about an author who is predicting the impacts of rising gas prices. Christopher Steiner wrote a book called “$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better” and spoke in Orlando recently sharing his theories with planners in central Florida. At first glance, I thought “this will never happen!” On second thought, that is probably what our parents would have said when gas was $0.25/gal.
I suspect that not many folks would agree with him based solely on their perception of what the book may talk about. If you go to his website, he has an interactive timeline that predicts the impacts of the price per gallon, starting at $6/gal and ending at $20/gal, which I find interesting and thought provoking.

We plan for transportation improvements, looking out 20-30 years, and often base our projections based on historic trends. Should we assume that the trends will continue as they have historically grown or should we include a “gas price” factor to better predict future traffic volumes?  Do you think the price per gallon will have these positive impacts?  How should we be planning for the future?

Super Bowl Monday – a “Giant” of a game!

Just to be perfectly clear, I am a Giants fan, and not just last night. I remember going to a game (a long time ago as a Red Bank Regional high school student, in Red Bank, NJ ) and sitting with the high school band in the end zone on folding chairs (we were the half time show, just like Madonna!).
We all tend to use sports analogies to help clarify our stories. So as I was driving to work this morning, I was thinking about how I could relate the Giants WIN to public works. (Did I tell you I was a Giants fan?) I thought about how the Giants were average mid-season (7-7) and successfully won every game since – they must have refocused and made commitments to each other on the team to strive for success. I thought about the game last night – Eli’s focus on the goal, systematically making progress down the field; or Eli’s mistakes, taking two time-outs as he was running out of time between play; or the Manningham’s miraculous catch on third down to keep the drive alive, his effort to control the ball and keep his feet in bounds. How can I relate this to our work as public works professionals?
I am sure I could, but I won’t. I will just bask in the glory! Go G-Men!!!!!

A Precious Resource – what is our duty?

I received my copy of the February issue of the Reporter yesterday. This issue focuses on water and I want to thank the Water Resources Technical Committee for the great content.
Each morning, I cross the James River. It really is a beautiful site. I can tell when the river is running high and when the flow is low. The James is the source of water for communities all along its banks, a total of 350 miles through the heart of Virginia.
We talk about fuel conservation all the times. Our need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, changing our travel patterns to conserve fuel. buying alternative fuel vehicles. It seems however, that the only time we hear about water conservation is when we are in draught conditions.
A number of years ago when the Atlanta area was faced with major draught conditions, mandatory water conservation measures were put in place. Users ultimately developed water conservation habits, which actually continued even after water supplies were replenished. Sounds great! The unexpected consequence was that the water utility budgeted for a normal year of water distribution. Revenues were low since users were continuing these new habits to conserve water.
The tag line on the Reporter is “Public Works: Guardians of one of our most precious resources…. Water”. Maybe as the guardians, we should learn from advocates for fuel conservation and focus efforts on promoting the establishment of habits to conserve this precious resource, even if it is at the expense of our utility budgets.