Holidays soon!
And oh boy, am I looking forward to them.
But I will be taking some more time off later in August.
Mainly because… I like some timeout. To sit on my own. Gather my thoughts. Reflect and review. Prepare and Ponder.
It’s good to organise everything that is in my head and put it into building blocks that can then provide the right direction and answers.
Saw today’s thought on twitter the other day.
And it was a bit of a wow moment.
I’m not going to say much about it, but read it… then read it again.
And this can apply to a number of things in life.
It’s not all about getting rich. It’s about having the ability and the time to do things whilst you have revenue generating assets.
BBC News published this article –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr5vglq04zeo
“British car and van production in the first half of this year has hit its lowest level since 1953, excluding the industry shutdown during Covid.“
What was happening back in 1953?
But let’s fast forward. It’s 2025. And British car and van production isn’t what it used to be.
We can explore why. In fact, the BBC do just that.
But here’s my take on it…..
It hasn’t happened overnight. There has been a slow and steady decline in the UK car and van production.
Yes, I know it’s cheaper to build in the far east.
Yes, I know there’s some of the latest innovation takes place in Silicon Valley, USA.
But you know what, there’s a heritage. There’s some history.
The UK has had investment when it needed. Car manufacturing by Nissan up in Sunderland. There was Honda in Swindon. Vauxhall in Luton. Ford over in Dagenham. But what changed?
Lack of recent investment and innovation.
Look over at China. The cars they’re producing. Good quality at a low cost. You’ve got the Germans who keep investing in their marques. Look over in the USA, with the likes of Tesla and others with their innovation. And what does the UK offer?
Giving EV discounts/grants is not the solution. Yes, it’ll increase sales short term, but what about long term?
We can continue to blame others. We can blame tariffs. We can blame cheap labour. We can blame whomever we want. But it comes to not enough money in the right areas and a massive lack of innovation.
What should happen?
Be proud of the marques and the British car manufacturing heritage. Invest cleverly on what the future looks like for car manufacturing. Innovate so we are world leaders in car manufacturing.
But there’s other factors that are probably making driving not as fun as it used to be.
Look at the state of the roads.
Look at the number of speed cameras (in areas where they don’t really need to be – autobahn anyone?)
Look at the cost of driving lessons.
Look how long it takes to take a driving test.
Look at the cost of cars!
Need to really deep dive into the various factors that have resulted in the UK producing a low number of cars and vans.
Recently, I needed to speak to someone at an insurance company.
As normal, I headed to their website first.
No number. There was a Q&A and a chatbot. So I entered a chat with the bot. It wasn’t the best. But what was most frustrating, was that there was no quick way to speak to a human.
I asked the bot, can I have a telephone number.
It gave me a telephone number. It left the ‘0’ from the front. Anyway, dialed the number and… nothing!
The number didn’t work!
Frustrated. I googled what the telephone number is. Within seconds, I had the telephone number. It was 0345 246 8372. The bot had the wrong number!
I get it, It’s cheaper to have a bot to help with most questions.
I get it, It’s quicker for customers sometimes, to ask a bot and get a quick pre-programmed answer.
I get it, you want customers to utilise a messaging method (they even offer whatsapp!).
But what if you want to talk to someone?
When building these bots, please please please… test!!
It took me back to when I used to lead Innovation at Coca-Cola. We used the Lean Startup principle of Build, Test and Learn. Clearly, this bot has been built… but has it been tested?
Frustrations like this, can lead to resentment. Customers will be driven to go elsewhere and you lose money.
We’re living in a world where there are different generations trying to engage with you. You have to understand that one platform does not fit all. Hybrid. Different ways to contact us. Telephone. Message. Email.
We learn from everything we do in life.
If we fail or make a mistake, we learn.
We’ve got some interns at work, and one of them asked me, what’s one of the biggest learnings I’ve had in my career. And then answer was, it was from a mistake I made.
Remember, Life is a Game.
You can’t undo what you’ve done.
But the next move can be better.
Today’s quote reminds me so much of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I remember reading about he was so frustrated on how certain things were being done in California, that he decided he’d run for Governor of California and do a better job!
You see, you have choices.
You can either sit and complain.
Or do something about it.
I’d always say… do something about it.
I promise I won’t do this that often. Moan on a Monday.
But this one, I really do have to moan about!
So recently, I thought I’d sign up for one of these insurance packs from the bank. You know the ones, where they offer you travel insurance and road side assistance all in one package. It’s like £14 per month. So I did my maths, and it works out cheaper than me having my AA (which is around £150/year) and then my family travel insurance (which is around £180/year).
So, I enroll via the bank app. But then I pause half way through the process. It asks me about additional medical needs and sends me somewhere else, where I complete that and have to pay an additional £30. That’s fine, still working out cheaper.
Pay that. And then, I thought that’s it. Process done. All complete. I have a letter come through saying I’ve paid my additional £30 and I’m insured to travel!
Woohoo!
But….
I actually wasn’t.
You see, in the process, this was another step, parallel step, that needed to be completed and I wasn’t brought back to complete the registration.
So on Friday, I rang them. Now, let me tell you – that’s not easy. Because, I spoke to 4 people. Pushed from pillar to post. One lady asking me to restart! (I did laugh, because I know in IT… we tell people with their laptops to turn it off and then on!)
Finally, got through to someone at the insurance company (not the bank), they said, you’ve paid but not completed the process. So she kindly refund my £30 and said do it all over again and make sure you do this, that and that, and wait for the green tick.
Why wasn’t I provided with this information at the start?!!
Over an hour wasted for something that should’ve been 5 minutes.
I thought in this day and age, we’d have slicker processes, identified areas where failures could occur and addressed them. Even speaking to people – help me, don’t pass me around!
And yes. It did cross my mind to put it all into chat GPT and ask it to figure out what’s happened and what I need to do.
Maybe, this could be my first and last Monday Moan… Chat GPT/AI to the rescue next time!
In life, don’t take it all so seriously. You got to have fun.
I try to instill this in everything I do. Either be it the football side of things, or work. Most of the time, you might have to be serious, have to concentrate, or really be focused on the task. And that’s absolutely fine.
But don’t forget, to have a little fun.
You’ll remember the smiles.
It can’t be helped.
Sometimes in life, we have to accept, what is going to happen, is going to happen.
Yes there are things in our control – but then there is a lot that is not in our control.
Let the things not in our control continue…
Back to one of my favourite books… Atomic Habits!
We’re nearly in the middle of the year. I’ve been looking at my habits for the year. For most of them, I’ve been consistent… like, going to the gym, drinking plenty of water and reading! (current book is Nudge).
Now, I feel weird if I miss the gym. It’s strange if I don’t pick up the book. These have well and truly become habits!
And it’s doing them repeatedly. The more we do. The more we repeat. The better we get.
