Mark Miller is back with another great book. This new one is called Uncommon Greatness: Five Fundamentals to Transform Your Leadership, and it is, like the last several books of his, not a fable but rather a straightforward non-fiction business book focused on how to become a leader people want to follow. For many, this … Continue reading Book review: Uncommon Greatness by Mark Miller

Why do you want to grow your business? Is it to create more wealth or to create more value? Growing to create more wealth is about you. Growing to create more value is about others. For the former, you’re on your own. For the latter, others will help you. “Growth is a result, not a … Continue reading Why grow?

I was once talking to a young man who was having relationship issues. Knowing I had been married for over 30 years, I think he believed I was some sort of expert. Well, expert, I am not, but I have been working at it for quite a while. During our conversation, he asked me a … Continue reading Don’t wait for love, be it.

Do you do anything when you receive good service? I usually tell the server that they are doing a great job and I appreciate it. I love to see people smile.  It’s not just those receiving who want to feel good, those delivering deserve it too. Don’t skimp on kindness. ==> If you liked this … Continue reading If you can be kind, be kind

As things get more automated and complicated, customer service is increasingly becoming a hot commodity. People want someone to sort it all out for them. If you can fix it, make it easier, do the work for them, they will pay more for it …and return if you do it well. The problem is that … Continue reading RIP Excellence

There are three types of employees. The disengaged, indifferent ones, the minimally-engaged, compliant ones, and the fully-engaged, committed ones. The indifferent have to be told what to do, the compliant do what they know to do, and the committed take initiative, create art, and move things. The indifferent are there for themselves. The compliant are … Continue reading There are three types of employees, but only one will get you where you want to go.

Customer service departments—a name I abhor, but that’s for another post—need to stop measuring. Putting rules—they're actually limits—around call times and setting goals for the number of tickets handled does not help customers, it just turns them into faceless numbers. Customers are not problems, they are people with problems. Making them into a number on … Continue reading Some measures are just bad for business.

Can good customer service make up for a mediocre product? Not totally, but to an extent, yes. Take restaurants for example, I go to some places whose food is not as good as others. Why? Because they know me and treat me like a long-lost relative. That kind of hospitality makes the food better than … Continue reading Your Product Is More Than the Thing

Here's how to make this new year a great one. Get out of your skin, see others as people like you, and choose to be helpful. Do work that makes a difference by making lives better. Find your voice. Use that voice. Be a force. The world needs you. Go. Do. Some. Good! ==> If … Continue reading Happy New Year!

Out with the old, in with the new. That seems to be the sentiment for New Year’s celebrations. But what is the new? What new thing are you going to do? What opportunities are out there for a new year? And maybe the best question is, what is out there that you have put off … Continue reading Get Going.