Archives for Leadership

And they make good shoes as well

I am writing an article for an association magazine and recall seeing a set of rules that came from Nike in the 1980’s.  Referred to at the time as an escaped email from within Nike it outlined 10 Principles that supposedly represented the dogma and maxims of Nike as they went out and competed in the market in the early days of their existance.  In searching through the Internet, I had a hard time finding them.  Finally I resorted to calling Nike’s PR arm in New York City.  Leaving a message I thought, “well, they will never call back .
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Professionalism is Catchy

I work with lot of colleges and universities.  Several years ago I did some strategic planning for one group of post secondary schools which eventually lead to being asked by a lot of different education institutions to conduct Strategic Planning, Sales Training, Marketing & Branding classes and workshops. Recently Kent State University started asking me to help some of their internal customers as well as external clients with various projects. I have come away from these experiences with a new found respect for the professionalism of some of the Kent State people.  These are warm, intelligent and yet very progressive
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IKEA – Which is Swedish for "Great Customer Experience" – big grin

One quarter TRILLION catalogs a year and over 600,000,000 customers makes IKEA of Sweden big.  But not so big that they can’t pay attention to customers. Recently I was eating lunch with family in one of their stores (the famous Swedish Meat Balls with mashed potatoes.)   I noticed a young man a few feet away from me with his back turned toward me.  He walked away and there was a Microwave.  Right in the middle of the cafeteria.  A microwave.  How many restaurants would even consider allow YOU, the lowly customer, the choice of reheating your food when it
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Baby Boomers Start to Lose to Gen Y

Bryan Badger is THE honcho at Hot Pockets.   For two years he has been the CEO in Colorado.  In our conversation he pointed out that his sales track the economy.  As it goes south, his sales go north. The really cool stuff he is doing has to do with the culture there at Hot Pockets.  The average age of his employees is about 32 years of age, so he had to change the culture to cater to the younger audience.  Some of his ideas are so simple that they are brilliant. Guitar Hero for lunch.  That’s right.  There are times
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When Doctors Give Bad Service . . . YOU DIE!

There is a large medical care organization who approached me about working with their leadership.  A proposal was created and then, when my phone calls were not returned I got the message . . . “thanks, but no thanks.” Now I am OK with that.  If you get 100% of all the business you are shooting at then you are either priced too low, or you are lying. But then I got thinking.  If an organization who has the lives of their customers literally in their hands . . . does not have enough professionalism and follow up to call
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Paul Newman whoops up on James Bond

Maybe it is the blue eyes. The Customer Experience is so dependent on the dedication of those who deliver it. In a recent interview with Daniel Craig, the newest in the James Bond stars, he was reflecting back on some of his previous films.  He was talking about working with Paul Newman in the 2002 film Road to Perdition. “The best thing I can say about Paul Newman was he worried about his craft and about what he was doing.  He talked it through, and when he got it right it pleased him and when he got it wrong it
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Revenge is Sweet when it is served up cold – Respect for People Catches Up

It was 2001 and the economy was in a tail spin.  I was my third year working for an I.T. company located in the Cleveland area.  My sales growth was only up 96% over the previous year . . . which was up over 230% over the previous year . . . which was up over 330% over the year before I arrived. But the main product lines of the I.T. company were DOWN 6%.  So guess who got the axe?  The guy that was robbing all the resources, attention, focus. After my “Reduction in Force” I did a slow
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Listening to the Customer – The Secret At DeWALT and Black & Decker

Having heard him speak before, I was somewhat hesitant to go.  Previously he was less than electrifying.  But this time he was different.  He was talking about something that he had a passion about.    Last night we got to listen to Nolan Archibold, the CEO of Black & Decker.  He told the story of being a self conscious student who was oozing self doubts and insecurities while attending Harvard Business School.  Later he found out that 80% of those who were at school had the same challenges.  Each found themselves wondering why they were in this prestigious school and
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