Out & About

Margaret Wong received a nice letter from a client about Valentine's Day.

Jack Welch at Corporate College on Quality, Leadership, and the Cleveland Elmers, Marys, and Browns.

My brother George joined a representative of our firm today at the 3^rd Annual Quality Conference at Tri-C’s Corporate College in Warrensville Hts.  Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, gave a great talk.  After being introduced by the CEO of Steris Corporation (an MWW client!), here are just some of Jack’s highlight quotes.

On the Mayor of Ft. Wayne who was presenting during the lunch hour (a great presentation itself, by the way):

“God bless him, because I don’t know how the hell you do quality control in government.”

In response to the question, how do you inspire innovation?

“Identify it, recognize it, reward it, single it out for praise, exaggerate it, create a thirst for it.”

In response to a question about loyalty to the dead weight that’s been around forever (who Jack called Elmer & Mary)

“Loyalty’s a bunch of nonsense.  People should stay with you because they want to stay with you.  Prisoners are loyal.”

On the importance of people to an organization:

“Quality at GE came from the people.  Unless you match talent with focus, save your breath….if everybody is stealing your people, that makes you a star.”

On Google:

“Google right now is total chaos.  They are just standing there waiting for the money to come in, able to innovate at will.  To deal with this, they need to put processes in place to control quality, recognizing that in those processes lie the danger of becoming a bureaucracy, which then becomes complacent, and thus vulnerable to other innovators, as happened to Microsoft.”

On Cleveland’s “gatekeepers”, or “Elmers and Marys”;

“Why would you work in a culture where you always have to bang down the door to get something done?  I hate to tell you to leave Cleveland if you can’t find a better culture here, but find it.”

On the top innovators of today:

“Apple’s Steve Jobs, and the Bank of America are doing great things, transforming their businesses every day.”

On leadership;

“Once you become a leader, it stops being about you, and now it’s about them.”

On the importance of the HR officer versus the CFO;

“If you were running the Cleveland Browns, would you want to hang around with the head of player personnel, or the the team accountant?  It’s about building a winning team, the best team wins.”

• A fundraiser for Touch of Italy Program, heard every Sunday on WELW 1330 AM from 12 to 1 pm will be taking place at Villa DiBorally in Richmond Hts. Carmelina and the Masquerade Band will perform, there will be an italian style sit down dinner, open bar, dancing door prizes and side boards. Advance ticket sales only, no sales at the door. Donation is $50 per person.

• Margaret Wong attended the Circle of 10 Reception at the Corporate College East on November 15, 2006 in which over 200 people attended.  The winner of the Circle of 10 Award was the Shaker Lakes Nature Center.  Brown Flynn (BrownFlynn.com) and Margaret have been friends for a very long time.  Their work is an inspiration to others.

        Golden Yellow Cake with Chocolate Icing  from Stefan Mayo of Pound Cakes 

          Just 4 You! (216-470-3603)

          Chicken Lidura from The Inn On Coventry (216-371-1811)

          Leaf Cookie Garnish from West Shore Career-Technical (216-529-4155)

          Pumpkin Cheesecake from West Shore Career-Technical (216-529-4155)

         Brown Sugar-Sweet Potato Tarts With Cream Cheese Glaze  from West

          Sahore Career-Technical

         WOW! Buttery Scottish Shortbread  from Wow! Cookies!, A Gorumet Cookie

          Experience, LLC (1-800-752-7949)

        Good Karma Stew  FROM Dewey's Coffee Cafe & The Popcorn Shop Factory

          (216-991-1101)

         Best Chocolate Chip Cookies from Crust And Crumbs Bakery And Cafe (216-

         881-7544)

        All Fruit Tea Scones from Emerald Necklace Inn and Tea Room (440-333-

         9100)

        Roquefort Cheesecake from Duet, Fine Catered & Prepared Foods (440-333-

         2220)

        Crabby Puffs from Cooktique Catering By Nancy (216-577-3663)

        Braciole from La Campagna (440-871-1771)

         Bacon Corn Chowder from The Harp (216-939-0200)

        Tuscan Chicken Over Polenta from Grovewood Tavern (216-531-4900)

        Extra Aged Gouda Souffle from Heinen's

        Fresh Tomato Salsa from Avi Foodsystems, Inc. (330-372-6000)

        Tapenade Pinwheel Crackers  from Two Peas In A Pod Pastry and Catering, LLC

        (216-227-9317)

        Sesame Chicken Burgers from Constantino's Market (216-344-0501)

        Grilled Ahi Tuna with Sesame Seeds and Miso Dipping Sauce  from Matsu

        Japanese Restaurant (216-767-1111)

       Chinese Noodle Salad with Chicken from Tastebuds Restaurant (216-344-

         1770)

        Citrus Vinaigrette from Saucy Bistro (440-835-3559)

        Sweet and Sour Chicken Mandarin Style from Pearl of the Orient

• Angelin Chang, Pianist, and the CSU/Cleveland Orchestra Musicians, will celebrate Mozarts 250th Birthday.  The event will be held on Tuesday, November 21 at 8:00 p.m. at Cleveland State University's Drinko Hall. 
  
  ABOUT ANGELIN CHANG:
  Angelin Chang is an internally acclaimed pianist who has performed in Europe,
  Asia, Africa and the Americas. She has had the further distinction of performing
  for the United Nations Women's Organization and the U.S. Department of State.
  
  The first American to take first prize in both piano and chamber music during
  the same year from the Paris Conservatoire, Dr. Chang was also the first
  artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center and helped develop and launch its Arts
  for Everyone initiative. Her piano teachers have included Michel Béroff, Yoheved
  Kaplinsky, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Robert McDonald, Menahem Pressler, Pia
  Sebastiani, György Sebök and Dorothy Taubman.
  
  Dr. Chang is Coordinator of Keyboard Studies, Coordinator for Chamber Music and
  Assistant Professor of Piano at Cleveland State University.
  An active chamber musician, she performs regularly with the de Pasquale String
  Quartet and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra.

• On November 8, 2006, staff writer of Margaret Wong and Assoc, Elizabeth Conway attended "World Have Your Say " at the Idea Center for a talk on why America has chosen change.  BBC had chosen Ideastream and The Idea Center as one of its United States venues for a live studio audience for the world-wide call in program World Have Your Say . Audience members joined the BBC's Ros Atkins and ideastream's Dan Moulthrop for a live broadcast of the show and experience first-hand the charm of the popular program. This event was held on November 7th and 8th in the Westfield Insurance Studio Theatre at Idea Center.

• Wade Axton, staff writer, at Margaret Wong and Assoc. attended a live BBC broadcast at WVIZ's Ideastream Idea Center.  The broadcast was worldwide.  Please see the attachment  to read further.

• On November 13, 2006 staff writer Tim Russo attended a speech by Tulane University President Scott Cowen at the Ohio Theatre on Playhouse Square.  Please see the attached .