What Happened to Oversight?

By John Malmo

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-935529.mp3

What Happened to Oversight? By John Malmo

Memphis, TN – Nowadays, Toyota can't seem to make a car as well as they used to. Somebody did a lousy job on an oil derrick. All of a sudden, for crying out loud, you're not even sure you can trust a fried egg.

And every day, we learn the government can't locate millions, sometimes billions, of dollars appropriated for Medicare or this week's war. If you live in Memphis, it's even worse.

Our city government can't issue a correct purchase order for police cars. We buy thousands of dollars worth of mouse milk for city vehicles from a guy with a questionable past. For the sake of us all, what ever happened to oversight?

In my lifetime, it's always been government problem number one. New programs are funded easily, but there's no money for oversight. Then, everyone's surprised because we didn't get what we thought we had paid for.

Private business, in many cases, is just as bad. I learned young that you can't assume anything. You must oversee. You must measure and re-measure value. You must follow-up. If you don't allow for oversight in everything in your business, you're probably losing a lot more than the cost of oversight.

I can assure you that oversight on the front end would have been cheaper than what these problems have cost the egg industry.

John Malmo is a marketing consultant who concentrates on helping business owners grow their businesses with effective marketing. To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or ask him a direct question, go to askmalmo.com.