Funeral Words

Leadership

In doing some marketing research for my funeral home I came across the following quote attributed to the current CEO of Northwestern Mutual Life.

"At the heart of everything we do is our mission to provide financial protection for people, and help them achieve financial security. Our work is about humanity at its most emotional level."  (emphasis added)

—Chief Executive Officer, Edward J. Zore

Sounds like someone who should speak at a funeral service meeting or convention. That's the kind of business leader we ought to meet and emulate.

Have a fabulous week,

BT

Great Quote

From my new favorite book Made to Stick.

"If a message can't be used (by someone else) to make predictions or decisions, it is without value, no matter how accurate or comprehensive it is." 

That's why so many corporate mission statements (including the one I just wrote) do not work. Needless to say, I have started re-working mine immediately.

Van Pine Quote

“The meaning of life and death is different...Many funerals in the past were to recognize that which never could be, because it was the death of a child. And today, we’re recognizing that which was.” -- Vanderlyn Pine

100 years ago, funeral homes buried THREE TIMES AS MANY CHILDREN under the age of 14, as adults over the age of 65. No wonder the customs need to change.

Read More at: Funeral Wire -- Death by the Numbers

Quote of the Day

Oliver Wendell Holms

“Happiness consists in activity. It is a running stream, not a stagnant pool.”

Quote of the Day

From Benjamin Franklin:

"He that lives upon hope, will die fasting."

Worried about cremation??? Don't hope that some miracle will come along. It won't!! No amount of advertising or wishful thinking will turn this tide. We need new ideas, new business models, new possibilities, and LOTS of new innovations--game changing innovations.

It will take Thomas Edison like persistence (1000 "failures" to learn the secret of the light bulb but how many millions, billions, perhaps trillions of lightbulbs have come out of those relative few lessons way back then?) to learn all we need to learn to find our way into the future.

Have you tried ANYTHING new today!!! How about this week!!! If not, you are not "failing" fast enough to learn the lessons you really need to learn.

BT

Quote of the Day

Friedrich Nietzsche

"What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome."

New Poem--The Mourner's Gift

Some of you know that I write poetry in my spare time. This piece I jotted down back in the summer and have only recently added the background image. Keep in mind this piece has a copyright on it. If you have interest in having copies for distribution in your business, drop me an email and we I can put something together for you.

Click on the picture for a larger image.

Quotes of the Day!!

If you have any curiosity about the future of the economy or society or both, check out FirstMatter.com .  Smart people with a unique outlook on the world of business and a head for spotting trends early. We in funeral service have not had to worry about that stuff in the past but hey, our world is changing more and more quickly. Trends can catch us napping too.

Just as a reminder, here's a couple of quotes to keep you thinking.

It is not the strongest of species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change.
-- Charles Darwin

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.
-- Cowboy Poetry

Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.
-- Benjamin Franklin

From TomPeters.com

This quote from TomPeters.com is HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't miss this.

Slogan from the Godless Chinese....

This banner, in Chinese, hangs in each room of the Hua Xin Li Dress Co., Ltd., amidst the Rongcheng Industry Zone, 100 miles from Beijing:

"THE CUSTOMER IS GOD AND THE MARKET DECIDES EVERYTHING"

(I think GM ought to order a few of these—we know the price would be right—for its Detroit HQ.)

Great Quotes #2

"I believe that most important thing that any adult can do for a child, any leader can do for his or her people, any product can do for its owner, any event can do for its audience, is to inspire them."

Kevin Roberts in Lovemarks p. 99

We as an profession must blast that word "inspire" into our vocabulary! Funerals, each and every one, must aspire to inspire or why are we getting out of bed in the morning?  BT