Flying can be a hassle and airlines seem uninterested in making it easier.  They miss so many opportunities to differentiate themselves and provide a better experience that it would seem they have no interest in doing anything other than providing a commodity. Take this example.  I was flying to the east coast from California, and, … Continue reading You can make times of struggle easier if you just care a little.

I believe that no company that makes mayonnaise has ever used their product.  If they have, do they have a magic formula for getting all of the mayo out of the jar?  Maybe you don’t have a problem with it but I struggle when I get to the end.  I simply cannot find a way … Continue reading The Customer Perspective and the Mayo Jar

David Blaine is a magician who has done amazing, death-defying things.  He was buried alive in New York City in a coffin for a week living on nothing but water. He froze himself in a block of ice for three days and three nights.  He stood on top of a hundred-foot pillar for 36 hours … Continue reading A Magic Lesson

A key to success in business or almost any organizational endeavor is alignment, and by alignment I mean everyone on the team being tuned to one objective, a common goal.  In sports, it is typically winning, and more specifically winning a championship.  I can’t imagine any sports team that wouldn’t list that as their ultimate … Continue reading Getting Your Business Aligned to the Real Business of Business.

One could say that art is, from a survival perspective, unnecessary.  I mean, if you are stuck on a mountain in a blizzard with little food or shelter, you're probably not thinking about art, yet art is what gives life most of its spice, its wonder, and its inspiration.  In the business world, there is … Continue reading Embrace the Unnecessary

I have a friend who recently had a major malfunction in his house.  His water heater stopped working dramatically in a way that could have resulted in fire but thankfully stopped short of that.  Anyway, it was still under warranty and he called the manufacturer to get a replacement. Sounds simple, right? It all started … Continue reading The Power of Certainty

We have several old clocks around our house - a collection of sorts – and most of them don’t work properly, my wife and I just like them.  Anyway, while walking through the house the other day, I passed by one of these non-working clocks and said something to my daughter that my dad used … Continue reading Learning from a Broken Clock

I often speak to people about changing the world but I usually don’t mean the big world, I mean the small world of those around us. We all have the power to positively change someone’s world and we can do it simply with words. Whatever the interaction, whether with a friend, colleague, customer, or as … Continue reading The Power of Small Words