interesting things to notice about efficiency and speed
Notice here is that as we go from one car to the next, to the next, we are adding power for acceleration, the next car has more power and a lighter engine and more streamlined body. The third car is the fastest and has a body that is shaped to deal with the opposing forces of parasite drag. Each car starting from left to right has its
own set of limitations and problems. In addition to their change in shape, they become lighter and more efficient. What you can see is that their frame is designed to handle air more efficiently. What you cannot see is every internal part is designed to eliminate wasted energy and produce a faster result.
This same principle also applies to Finance. Everyone is at different levels, and wherever you are, we will plan together how to get you to the next level faster
What We learn from General George S. Patton
Fondation Pescatore
Luxembourg City, Luxemborg
December 23, 1944
9:00 am
George S. Patton takes off his helmet as he enters the century – old Catholic Chapel. Patton kneels, unfolding the prayer he has written for this occasion, and bows his head.
“Sir, This is Patton talking. The past 14 days have been straight hell. Rain, snow, more rain, more snow – and I am beginning to wonder what’s going on in Your headquarters. Whose side are you on anyway?”
Patton faces the daunting challenge of attacking on icy roads in thick snow, with little air cover. British commander, Field Marshall Bernard Law and other British authorities are quietly mocking Patton’s advance.
“For 3 years my chaplains have been telling me that this is a religious war. This they tell me, is the Crusades all over again, excepts that we’re riding tanks instead of chargers. They insist that we are here to annihilate the Germans and the godless Hitler so that religious freedom may return to Europe. Up until now I have gone along with them, for You have given us your unreserved cooperation. Clear skies and calm sea in Africa made the landings highly successful and helped us to eliminate Rommel. Sicily was comparatively easy and You supplied excellent weather for the armored dash across France, the greatest military victory that You have thus far allowed me. You have often given me excellent guidance in difficult command situations and You have led German units into traps that made their elimination fairly simple.”
“But now You have changed horses midstream. You seem to have given von Runstedt every break in the book, and frankly, he’s beating the hell out of us. My army is neither trained nor equipped for winter warfare. And as You know, this weather is more suitable for Eskimos than for southern cavalrymen. “
“But now , Sir, I cant help but feel that I have offended You in some way. That suddenly You have lost all sympathy for our cause. That You are throwing in with von Runstedt and his paper-hanging God [Hitler]. You know without telling You that our situation is desperate. Sure, I can tell my staff that everything is going according to plan, but there’s no use telling You that my 101st Airborne is holding out against tremendous odds in Bastogne, and that this continual storm is making it impossible to supply them even from the air. I’ve sent Hugh Gaffey, one of my ablest generals, with his 4th Armored Division, north toward that all-important road center to relieve the encircled garrison and he’s finding Your weather more difficult than he is the Krauts.”
“I don’t like to complain unreasonably, but my soldiers from Meuse to Echternach are suffering tortures of the damned. Today I visited several hospitals, all full of frostbite cases and the wounded are dying in the fields because they cannot be brought back for medical care.”
“Damn it Sir, I can’t fight a shadow! Without Your cooperation from a weather standpoint, I am deprived of accurate disposition of the German armies and how in the hell can I be intelligent in my attack? All of this probably sounds unreasonable to You, but I have lost all patience with Your chaplains who insist that this is a typical Ardennes winter, and that I must have faith.
“Faith and patience be damned! You have just got to make up Your mind whose side you are on. You must come to my assistance, so that I may dispatch the entire German Army as a birthday present to your Prince of Peace.
“Sir, I have never been an unreasonable man; I am not going to ask You to do the impossible. I do not even insist upon a miracle, for all I request is four days of clear weather.
“Give me four days so that my planes can fly, so that my fighter bombers can bomb and strafe, so that my reconnaissance may pick out targets for my magnificent artillery. Give me four days of sunshine to dry this blasted mud, so that my tanks roll, so that ammunition and rations may be taken to my hungry, ill equipped infantry. I need these four days to send von Rundstedt and his godless army to their Valhalla. I am sick of this unnecessary butchering of American youth, and in exchange for four days of fighting weather, I will deliver You enough Krauts to keep Your bookkeepers months behind in their work.
“Amen”
The German advance stalled on Christmas Eve 1944. The Germans overran their supply lines. And without ammunition and gasoline, they were unable to wage an offensive campaign. The continued progress of Patton and his Third Army eventually spelled doom for Operation Watch on the Rhine. Thus ended the last great German attack on the western Front.
The morning of December 27 1944 George Patton once again walks to the front of the small Catholic chapel and drops to his knees in prayer.
“Sir, this is Patton again, “ he begins with an air of contrition, “And I beg to report complete progress. Sir, it seems to me that You have been much better informed about the situation than I was, because it was that awful weather which I cursed You so much which made it possible for the German army to commit suicide. That, Sir, was a brilliant military move, and I bow humbly to Your supreme Genius.
“Amen”
a desire to do right, by Herb Kelleher
“What drives me is doing what’s right by other people – and to serve them with excellence, and its just a question of satisfying my own internal need for excellence and to serve people well. And it doesn’t matter what you are doing, it could be very inconsequential, but if you are trying to improve their lives, if you are trying to help them even psychologically, you work as hard as you can in order to accomplish that. That’s driven by an inner need to help people and to do it in a very worthwhile way. And leadership consists of that. People say they don’t have a passion for what they do for yourself, but I’ll stay up for 48 hours in a row trying to get something right for somebody else, and if you have that passion to be a servant, everything you do is infused with passion.”