It seems I have a never-ending supply of stories from mainline companies who just can’t get their customer service act together. Here’s my reasoning for sharing them: since I try to highlight the good and innovative things companies do, it’s only appropriate that when there is a customer service failure, I call that out, as […]
Category Archives: Management
Preparing for the Worst
I attended the American Bankers Association’s Annual Conference in October in New York City. One of the sessions on the opening night was a vendor showcase, where seven presenters were each given five minutes to present their solution. There was an open bar and the session was standing room only. Now, as a professional speaker, […]
It Was My Fault and I Quit AVIS Anyway
As a frequent traveler, I get the opportunity to accumulate travel award points. This summer, while in Colorado to teach at the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Colorado, I rented a car so I could travel up to the mountains to fish and visit with friends. Since I had many American […]
What True Leadership Looks Like
On a hot and humid Saturday in Houston, Texas, I was honored to facilitate offsite strategic planning for Cy Fair Federal Credit Union. Cy Fair is a former education-based credit union, transformed into a community CU charter, but the board substantively consists of current and former educators and administrators. The CEO is Cameron Dickey, and […]
The Power of Misinformation
My wife Samantha and I arrived at the Albuquerque (ABQ) airport several hours early today. The idea was to check in our bags and then go find a place to have a nice lunch together; we were traveling to different destinations and wouldn’t see each other for several weeks. Check in went smoothly, but as […]
What Paper Towels Tell Your Employees
I recently walked into the break room at U.S. Dataworks and noticed someone had bought replacement paper towels. Based on my status of not having anything to do on my off time, along with my Sam’s Club membership, I had assumed responsibility for provision of our kitchen items. However, I had been out of town […]
What is your “Contact Us” for?
It struck me just today: why aren’t people contacting me? Here’s what I mean: over the past several weeks, I have accessed websites and entered my contact information into their “Contact Us” forms. While these forms appear in numerous designs, in essence, they all serve the same purpose: to collect the contact information from someone […]
Taking Full Responsibility
In any online system, there is always a chance there might be a break in the service. A service interruption can be related to a hardware malfunction. It can also be a software bug, or perhaps the result of malware or another cyber security event. Regardless of the source, a service interruption negatively affects the […]
How Many Bad Ideas Are You Generating?
“There are no bad ideas.” As a strategic planning facilitator, I say something similar to this at every brainstorming session. Every facilitator does—even though we all know that there are in fact bad ideas. But that label “bad idea” is a misnomer. For example, an idea may not be “bad” per se, just not right […]
To React is Human, To Respond Divine
Our natural human instinct is to react to external stimuli—what would it take for you to convert your reactions into responses? There is a huge difference between a reaction and a response. Suppose someone walks up and punches you in the arm; your reaction is to punch them back. But if you pause, even for […]