The big picture

by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

It’s been an interesting month for Michigan. Looking back at it and seeing the big picture, I’m not nearly as pessimistic as some have been. Painful as it may have seemed, the legislators got it done—at least the first part—and a budget crisis was averted.

I doubt that few who were involved could have done much differently. In such situations nothing gets done without a hard deadline.

Nor do I blame term limits. It’s just a matter of legislators on both sides facing difficult choices and holding out for the best solution they thought they could get.

Nothing that has happened here surprised me in the least—political tactics and strategy have not changed much in my 36 years of watching and participating in Michigan politics. Hard deadlines are sometimes the only way to get it done.

The expansion of the sales and use tax to selected services will certainly cause some dislocations—some businesses that are struggling may fail as a result.

It is good that the UAW’s GM strike was brief and resulted in what appears to be a solid, workable contract that both sides are comfortable with. No matter how much the state economy shifts, Michigan remains tightly linked to the health of the domestic auto industry—we all benefit when they do better.

With the distraction of the contract negotiations behind them, GM can concentrate on making truly competitive products again—looking ahead to what tomorrow’s consumers want and expect in their cars. I hope the same can be said of the other domestic automakers who are now embroiled in their own contract negotiations.

I want to thank one of the most important teams here at MRA: the regional marketing representatives, essentially MRA’s sales team. Growth, as any businessperson knows, is absolutely driven by sales.

In the U.S. Navy, I remember climbing down the ladder to the engine room where the engineers and firemen worked. In the engine room was a sign: “We’re the ones that make it go.”

That’s what our sales team is. They are our first impression at each business and the beginning of customer service, setting a high standard that the entire organization tries to meet or exceed in every encounter.

I appreciate all they do and sincerely thank them for their hard work. Of course, I want them to constantly improve so that from their growth the organization can grow.

One of our key board members in the 1970s was an executive at Jacobson’s. To accommodate his schedule, we held our board meetings in the evenings and started with dinner.

To keep costs down, we used disposable plates and plastic forks and knives. One evening, the caterer served stuffed pork chops, and as we ate you could hear the regular clicking of plastic cutlery snapping in two.

The next day, another board member—Don Falk, of L.H. Fields department store in Jackson—told me he would sell MRA silverware and dinnerware at cost. I laughed at the joke but also got the point. We bought from him and have been using the real stuff ever since.