Who Needs Practice?

“He never practiced.”
My jaw dropped when former NBA star Trent Tucker told me that earlier this month, speaking about Michael Jordan. I met Tucker at a charity function and to spice the conversation casually asserted that I thought Jordan was overrated. Great, yes. But still overrated.
Tucker looked at me like I wasn’t worthy of even being in the conversation. He called Jordan UNDERrated even though he’s commonly regarded as the best player ever. That’s when Tucker dropped the apparent bomb: “He never practiced.” It took a moment, but then I was on track with Tucker. What he meant was that Jordan never went through the motions. Even at practice, he played like it was playoff game. His intensity is what set him apart.
I think of this now because in the wake of Allen Iverson’s trade to the Nuggets I’ve come across some old clips of interviews. He was criticized for not practicing hard; indeed, for not even showing on occasion and he just didn’t get why that was a big deal. “I’m a franchise player, and we’re talking about practice,” he said after one flap.
That’s why he’ll never be like Mike. And, by the way, the Jordan model works in all walks of life–from parenting to investing. Give it everything you’ve got. All the time. Going through the motions is a waste of everyone’s time.

Overworked? Or Do We Just Procrastinate?

This just in: according to a new survey by Deloitte & Touche, 65% of consumers still have gifts to buy this holiday season and 14% haven’t even started.
More findings:
–Consumers buying at sale price, not full price: Nearly half (47 percent) have spent half their budget on sale items. Twenty percent have bought nothing at full price.
–35% plan to buy holiday gifts between 12/26 and 12/31.
–Of those who shopped online, 19% made no purchase.
–31% feel that inventory levels weren’t sufficient for the items they wanted.
–24% expect to regift at least one gift .

Count me among that 31%. Is there anything more painful about shopping than going to the store and finding the items you want sold out? I’m not talking about hard-to-stock things like the white-hot Nintendo Wii or new Playstation from Sony. But things like cameras and dvd players and other ordinary items that are out of stock purely because management did not have a good read on its customers. You can also blame the just-in-time-inventory craze, where retailers cut their financing costs by keeping low stocks, but restocking often. They just aren’t good enough at it, and I believe the smart ones eventually learn it’s more profitable to have enough of the things you want when you want them, even if it costs a little more to keep the shelves full.

Tis the Season

With the busiest shopping days now upon us I’d like to share a wonderful memo that came my way recently. No doubt, when the final tallies are in for this year we’ll have eclipsed most consumer measures from last year. My god, bonuses on Wall Street are said to be reaching $100 million for top performers! There is something peaceful about pondering the true meaning of the season. Here is the memo, in it’s entirety:

The Holiday Season is underway and, despite all the challenges in the world, we hope and pray that its central message of “peace on earth, goodwill toward all” will resonate in the hearts of men and women of every faith worldwide. It is important to keep in mind that even though we are a nation at war and all Americans are not sharing equally in our economic well being, every recipient of this communication has a lot to be thankful for.
Consider these Census Bureau statistics:
• 20 billion letters, packages, and cards will be sent between now and December 25th. The busiest mailing day last year was December 19th, with more than twice as many cards and letters being processed on an average day;
• Retail sales in the nation’s department stores were $31.7 billion in December, 2005—a 47 percent jump from the previous month;
• In addition to 9,360 department stores, in 2004 there were 149,831 clothing stores; 10,345 hobby, toy, and game shops; 33,956 gift, novelty and souvenir shops; 22,902 sporting goods stores; 28,772 jewelry stores; and 11,218 book
stores across the nation;
• Book store sales in December increased over 98 percent over the previous month last year. Clothing stores were up 49 percent; jewelry stores 174 percent; radio, TV, and other electronics stores 54 percent; and sporting goods stores 67 percent. The numbers are expected to be much higher this year, especially given interest in flat screen televisions, SONY’s Playstation 3, and Nintendo’s Wii;
• 1.8 million people were employed in department stores in December, 2005, up by 186,400 from October;
• $19.4 billion of goods were sold through electronic shopping and mail-order houses in December, 2005, a number that will surely be eclipsed this year;
• 15,626 electronic shopping and mail-order houses were in business in 2004, employing 261,646 workers. California led the nation in the number of these establishments and their employees, with 2,322 and 30,619, respectively;
• Americans spent $485 million on Christmas trees last year. Oregon was the top state in tree sales ($126 million), followed by North Carolina, Washington, and Michigan;
• The U.S. imported $605 million in Christmas tree ornaments from China in the first eight months of the year, along with $65 million worth of Christmas trees from China during the same period;
• The U.S. imported $639 million of stuffed toys (excluding dolls) from China between January and August 2006. China also sold us $65 million of electric trains, $49 million of puzzles, $82 million of roller skates, $215 million of sports footwear, $47 million of golf equipment, and $30 million in basketballs. China even sold us more ice skates ($6.7 million) than Canada in the first eight months of 2006.

Enjoy the next few weeks, but remember that the core message of the Holiday season is peace on earth and goodwill to all who share this planet with us.