A BMW’r? For Me? OK!

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Recipe for Offending Customers

Regardless of your political leanings, no one can look at the current state of our health insurance industry and say that it is working at peak efficiency. If my recent experience is any indication, there will be a lot of people very confused and concerned about their health coverage in 2017. I am a one-person […]

If You’re in the Info Booth, Start Giving Out Advice

I was at the Detroit airport, waiting for my flight to Atlanta, looking for a place to setup my laptop. Just adjacent to the gate, there was an information booth and the counter had a nice place for my laptop. As I stood there working, I saw no one working the booth. And then it […]