Where's Your Inspiration?

Greetings Fleet Professionals!

For the past two days we've been "enjoying" a wet Spring snowstorm that is accumulating in increments of feet rather than inches in my driveway right now. Living in Colorado is certainly part of what inspires me - especially when we go from several days of 60 and 70 degree weather to this kind of storm in just a matter of a day!

But living in Colorado is only part of my inspiration. Like many of you, I am inspired by my kids (well, some of the time anyway), my family and friends, church and my work. Of course then there are the books I choose to read. I'm one of those guys that reads a couple at a time, usually one for strictly entertainment and another for the inspirational piece. That one will be something about business, marketing or a self improvement topic. Check out my reading lists on LinkedIn and Facebook if you're curious.

Now April is a huge month for inspiration - or at least it is for me. We started April with Spring Break this year. That meant our first camping trip of the season. We had planned on traveling to Moab,UT, but the mountain weather didn't cooperate so we went to plan B: The Grand Canyon! This is nature at it's best and it just doesn't get more inspiring than this.

But wait - April has much more to offer in the way of inspiration!

There's lots of news on the domestic auto manufacturers this month. Chrysler and Fiat look like a lock, and a new restructured GM looks like it's going to be down to three nameplates with or without a bankruptcy filing. Definitely "not your father's GM". We've got many e-newsletters out there that are doing a great job of keeping us informed, almost on an hourly basis (it seems) on the fast breaking changes. One of these e-newsletters has just been through a radical refacing. Automotive Digest has always done a commendable job of reporting the latest news in a executive brief. Now their video features take front and center and the news is broken into feature areas. If you haven't reviewed it yet you should. And if you aren't subscribing you are missing out on an important source of information. You can find it at http://www.automotivedigest.com/.

Some of your best opportunities for inspiration come at the end of April this year! The largest fleet event in our industry is coming up next weekend - NAFA's annual I&E in New Orleans. I hear from NAFA's staff that they're expecting a good turn out and you can't beat the location! I know from attending many of these events over the years (this will be my 23rd NAFA conference) that there will be many exceptional opportunities to hone your skills. Sure it's not cheap, but when you add up the educational sessions, the networking opportunities and the largest exposition in the industry, how can you avoid not going back to your office with at least one idea that will enhance the way you operate?

Yes, April is an inspiring month. In these tough times we can all use a bit of this kind of inspiration!

Until, next time, keep your chin up and please let me know what you think! Cheers!