Driving Ettiquette or Thanks Mr. Mammon

Mr. Mammon was my high school driving instructor. He was also the wrestling coach, but that’s not important right now. Coach Mammon reminded us that, when driving, we were in command of a 3000 pound piece of metal full of flammable materials and that it might be important to keep that in mind as you’re driving amongst hundreds of other 3000 pound pieces of metal full of flammable materials at speeds of 65 to 80 miles an hour. He taught us that you have to know what’s going on around you at all times. Check the rearview and side mirrors frequently, check your blind spots, drive with patience and good manners and, by all means communicate. Use your turn signals when making turns or changing lanes.

Hmmmmm. It seems to me that there are tons of life lessons to be learned from that, especially if you’re in business. We need to know what’s going on around us at all times. What’s changing, what are other similar businesses doing? Is it time to change lanes? But most importantly, we need to communicate. We need to let employees and customers alike know where we’re going and how we’re going to get there. For many, that communication will be a mix of internal meetings and external advertising, but for all the message must be clear, concise and consistent. Ahh, the three "c’s" of communication.

So, the next time you’re overwhelmed by the fact that you’ve maneuvering your business through heavy traffic, just remember to check your mirrors, manage with patience and good manners and, by all means, communicate.
Now, Mr. Mammon also taught us that the most important aspect of driving is to "Maintain the Steady Flow of Traffic". I’ll let you know when I come up with a business analogy for that one.

Now get right back to having fun, and we’ll leave the mic on for ya.