Empathy. Essentially it means walking in someone else’s shoes and feeling their feelings. But what if I’ve never climbed a mountain? What if I’ve never been in the hospital? What about things I can never experience, like, in the case of men, pregnancy for example? All good questions and where empathy is difficult. How do … Continue reading Empathy. The help we need today.

To your organization, is service an annoyance that you have to have or is it a value add that you want to have? To many, service is a department that they have to have so that customers have someone to call when there’s a problem. So, companies have to find people with nice dispositions who … Continue reading Service: annoyance or value add?

Why? Why should creating a tribe be a priority for business people? A tribe is a community of people who come together with a common interest, purpose, mission, vision, and belief, you get the picture. And if you’re in business, think of the consequences of that. Imagine you have a large group of people who … Continue reading You should be creating a tribe.

One is reactive. This type waits for someone to reach out with a problem. It waits for customers to put in effort. And given that, it is only partly helpful. The other approach is proactive which means it does things to ensure there are no problems to start with. Products are constantly tested to ensure … Continue reading There are two approaches to service.

We need leaders. The world has changed dramatically in the last few months and big change has implications. Fear for one. A lot of people are afraid of what’s next and, in some cases, what’s right now. Change has implications and we need leaders to show the way to something better – at least I … Continue reading We need leaders.

WARNING: This is a bit of a rant but I had to say it. Casablanca. In my humble opinion, it is one of the best films ever made. It has it all, love, war, drama, tears, joy, and yes, even lessons for us. It was on TV the other night and I was fortunate to … Continue reading When putting your people last is a good thing.

The organizations that thrive coming out of the pandemic will be the ones that don’t rely on top-down management to move forward. They’ll be the ones who can innovate, and innovation doesn’t come from control, it comes from freedom. Top-downers want control, they want a measured response that isn’t risky and has guarantees. They like … Continue reading A pandemic lesson. More freedom, less control.

Things are going to come back to something resembling ‘normal,’ and when they do, most of our businesses are going to get a big surprise, particularly the so-called ‘service’ industries like restaurants, hotels, and event production. People have been quarantined, separated, and unable to be together so getting out and doing things is going to … Continue reading As things ramp back up, don’t dismiss relationship skills.

Everyone is clambering to know what the “new normal” will look like. The problem is, no one can possibly know. However, the one thing we do know is what has been. We do have history to review. What I am getting at is this. While the future is uncertain (it always has been by the … Continue reading What’s next?

I have been reading a lot of blogs and articles and attending webinars and other online events to stay tuned in to what’s happening in the world of work during the recent pandemic and one thing I have seen a lot of is an emphasis on simply connecting with customers rather than selling to them. … Continue reading Connecting instead of selling. Has its time come?