I traveled to Austin for a consulting engagement and arrived at AVIS Preferred to pick up my rental car. Normally, my name is on the Preferred board, where you can just find your name, identify the space in which your car is waiting, and off you go. Every now and then, however, I find my […]
Category Archives: Anchor Management
Innovative Thinking and… CDs?
I work primarily with financial institutions, which are nothing if not bound by tradition. The basics of banking have remained virtually unchanged in the last 50 years. As I speak on innovation at many of the nation’s state banking associations, I am insistent that bankers must change their thinking about their products and services and […]
How to Not Get Run Over By a Tank – From Tradition to ExoMorphosis
I was recently talking with David Frankil, President of the NJ Credit Union League. We were chatting about a keynote which I’ll be doing for him in March at the CU Reality Check. I was talking about innovation and my drive to get financial executives to “think about how they think.” Since financial institutions are […]
Strategic Planning and Cutting up the Last Donut
I walked into church yesterday and immediately went to get a cup of Beanery coffee. As I was pouring my cup, I noticed a box of donuts on the counter with a partial donut and a knife inside it. My assumption is that this box was full at the time it was placed on the […]
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
You’ve seen this a hundred times, in a service manual or textbook – a blank page. Only, it’s not really blank. On it are these words: “This Page Intentionally Left Blank.” I recently got a letter from an insurance company. In the envelope, there were two pages. One of them was a letter that had information […]
Getting Screws Without Getting Screwed
A small project required me to make a trip to the hardware store for some special screws. Instead of going to one of the big-box stores, I went to a local hardware store that I frequent, called Miller Hardware. While their total inventory doesn’t match that of their much larger competitors, I have yet to […]
Fortune Favors those who Act
I probably have no bigger fan (and critic) than my mom. Although she devours every single blog post, article or news of my speaking or consulting, she will still call me out when she feels it most warranted, and I am amazed at both her energy and passion. Just recently, she sent me a message […]
Choice Architecture and the Eye Doctor
I got a call from my eye doctor’s office that went something like this: Me: Hello? Eye Office: Hi, this is Cindy from The Eye Office. Your eye doctor, Dr. Smith, is reducing his office hours. You have an appointment scheduled for January 30th and as he will not be in during that day, he […]
Siri, I apologize…
We jump to conclusions based on incomplete information and when we overreact, our words and actions can cause real harm. I was ending a meeting in the Buckhead area of Atlanta and had a meeting up in Norcross, Northeast of Buckhead. Since I travel in this area frequently, I am relatively familiar with navigating the various […]
Getting Fondue in Switzerland — It’s Harder Than You Think!
This year on November 28th, my wife and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary. We celebrated, as we always do, having fondue at The Melting Pot. In this case, we were in Tallahassee, Florida. We prefer the traditional cheese fondue and love getting the veggies, dark bread, and our absolute favorite, tart green apple pieces. […]