Leading Questions

Quick Takes: Mass Media - Mass Destruction

Mitch Joel at Six Pixels of Separation ...

It is not just about the music industry. Television is feeling it. Radio is feeling it. Magazines are feeling it. Newspapers are feeling it. Movies are feeling it. Books are feeling it. Even websites and Blogs that act like mass media are feeling it too. What are they feeling?

The end (as they have known it to be).

This points to the continuing shift from communication that is information delivery to information interaction.  If you are a media company, and your audience doesn't think your opinion matters, then why listen to them.

If you are a media company and you interact with your audience, then they will point to the kinds information that they want. It's obvious still time to listen.

Read the whole post

HT: Chris Brogan

Hostmanship repost #3

This is a repost of my review of Hostmanship for the benefit of those who have found me through the Great Johnny Bunko Challenge. My 7th. lesson is Say, Thanks, Every Day. A fitting action of Hostmanship.  A portion of this review will appear each day throughout the week.
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This is the third in a series of postings on the book - Hostmanship - The art of making people feel welcome.The first posting - an introduction -can be found here, and the second on Personal Hostmanship, here.

Functional Hostmanship

Unless impossibly small, every organization is divided up into functional units. You have a sales force. There’s a fulfillment office, a HR department and a production staff. Each function has its own purpose and method for operating and measuring their performance. The leadership challenge is to avoid the silo effect, which is the fragmentation into territorial units who are protective of their turf. Unless addressed proactively an organization will devolve into separate little fiefdoms.

Gunnarsson and Blohm address this reality in what they call Functional Hostmanship. They begin by identifying the principal attitude that lies behind this destructive tendency in organizations. When people view people with "thinly veiled contempt"(their phrase) they are making a statement that their function area is all that matters in the operation of the company.  We've all either been treated to or have exhibited ourselves the condescension that one person or group has toward "them" who are not like us. When this attitude exists within an organization it is difficult for any sense of being a team to develop.

I’ve told the story before of the hosiery mill where I did a project several years ago. The mill was organized around 17 separate stages in the manufacturing of socks. Each stage was so isolated from the other stages - meaning their whole focus was on their function and their function alone - that no one in one stage knew what the stage before or after it did. This fragmentation was major factor in the eventual closing of the business.  It extended beyond the manufacturing floor to the executive suite.  In essence, everyone was there to do their own thing and receive their just compensation.

The cure for thinly veiled contempt is respect. Respect for other people, their backgrounds and the belief that everyone will make their best choice based on the situation at hand. If you look at it that way, it is easy to like other people, cherish the moment, to treat interaction with your guests as uplifting and always focus on the guest’s needs. You will clearly feel that you, your function and your organization are part of something bigger than yourselves.

The key to Functional Hostmanship is this attitude of respect. How is this done? It begins with the recognition that we each must be responsible for our own part of the organization. If we sit in judgment of others, we are in essence taking on ourselves the responsibility of knowing what is best for them to do in their function area. When we respect someone, we accept his or her responsibility for knowing what to do and doing it. Consequently, we accept our own responsibility for doing our part.  This is partly why I see Hostmanship as an ethic of responsibility.

In truth, I can’t fix anyone. That is a delusion. To think so is a denial of reality. If we are honest and objective, we have a difficult enough time changing ourselves, much less other people and whole departments with our business. But that is the attitude of thinly veiled contempt. We think we know better than them, and often we don’t. Contempt is really a clever way to avoid responsibility. When I am contemptible toward some person or department, I am really trying to avoid that functional group’s scrutiny of me and my department. As a result, we put up walls to avoid criticism. Our isolation not only keeps us from learning how to do a better job, but also hurts the company.

Gunnarsson and Blohm describe it this way.

A guest is a guest is a guest

The surest way not to misjudge a guest is never to judge anyone. What your guest chooses to wear, how she cuts her hair or who she is with is up to her. What you should be interested in is her needs. When I mentioned in the last section the ability to read a guest, I meant doing it without making value judgments. Your focus should be on the situation at hand and the function within the company the guests decided to turn to.

Hostmanship is fixed before the guest ever arrives. It is part of the overall performance, expressed at a predetermined level in harmony with other functions and the company as a whole. In other words, the hostmanship you offer is constant as the products you sell, which in turn differ merely in terms of size, model, color, etc. The guest expects you to play your role and not break the spell.

Hostmanship is a way to bring unity and cooperation to your company. Just as personal hostmanship is integral to functional hostmanship, functional hostmanship is essential to organizational hostmanship. We’ll look at that stage of Hostmanship tomorrow.

The Relationship Factor in Johnny Bunko

After being curious about human relationships for over 30 years, I have not lost the impression that the last great untapped resource in organizations is the interaction of people.

For a moment, place yourself in an office where a sizable number of people work. Two things you'll see. One is people doing individual tasks. The second, people interacting with people. A typical work day is shifting from one to the other.

If you ask people what their job is, mostly likely they will tell you that it is the task work that they are doing.  That is how they are measured to a large degree.

The problem with this is that the quality of human interaction is a critical factor in how well businesses deal with change and economic downturns.  We don't see our relationships in this way. They tend to be treated as secondary.

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel Pink is a career guide.  However, if you read it with an eye to understanding the human interaction in it, you'll learn some other lessons as well.  This is part of the reason why I believe Saying Thanks, Every Day is the right 7th lesson for Johnny to adopt.

Johnny Bunko is an average guy who is stuck in the wrong job because he listening to well-meaning, but wrong career advice. A magical career guide named Diana appears to lead him through six lessons. There are however other people in the story who contribute in various ways toward Johnny finding his path.  With each person, he has a legitmate reason to thank them. Let's do a run down.

Diana - for her sage advice
Parents - for loving him enough to give him advice, even though it was not the best
Boss - for having high enough standards that showed Johnny that he was not suited to be an accountant
Waiter - for asking a question that led to his being given the seven magical sets of chop sticks
Carlos - for being an enthusiastic friend
Yuko - for being the skeptical friend
College counselor - for trying to give him good advice, and failing excellently.
HR hiring staffperson - for giving him the job that would lead to finding his career niche
Lakshmi - for giving him the opportunity by not totally discounting his ability to make a difference on their team
Dave - for being a friend who kept trying with him.

You may think that this is pretty superficial gratitude. And it may be. But saying thanks is not accumulative, it is transformative. You can't store it. It can only be used to take a relationship to a new depth. Then you have to say it again.

The deeper our gratitude goes and is expressed, the deeper the relationship becomes. As a result, we have people in our lives who will go the extra mile when we need them to do so.

Saying thanks every day is one way we explicitly live out lesson # 3 - It's not about you.  Remember what Diana says to Johnny?

It's not about you. It's about your customer. It's about your client. Use your strengths, yes, but remember ... you're here to serve - not to self-actualize.  This project isn't about your stupid pictures.  It's about winning BSN for Boggs.

So I don't matter at all?

Of course you matter.  But the most successful people improve their own lives by improving other's lives.  They help their customer solve it's problem. They give their client something it didn't know it was missing.  That's where they focus their energy, talent, and brainpower.

Outward, not inward.

Exactly. And you're not in this alone. Think about Lakshmi and Dave, or Carlos and Yuko. The most valuable people in any job bring out the best in others. They make their boss look good. They help their teammates succeed.  So pull your head out of your ... ego. Then sit down with Dave and get back to work.

Every interaction in a business setting is a transaction. We are exchanging ideas, collaborating to make a difference that is needed. We agree to work together. Saying thanks completes the transaction.

But the transaction is more than that it is transformative. It changes things.  When we express gratitude, we build trust. A person who is grateful for what I've done for them, is a person I trust because I understand that they see beyond their own self-interest. That is an important element in trust.

When then do we not see this?  Why do we think that it is all about us?

One reason could be that we are in the wrong place, like Johnny. We aren't doing what we are gifted to do.

Another is that we are afraid, and self-centered, worried about tomorrow, and we think that I have to focus on my responsibilities to get through.

Or, we could think that it is about us, and therefore people are just objects in the way of getting what I want.

If an environment of gratitude is to develop in a business, there also has to be an atmosphere of welcome, of openness, that my gifts and talents have an opportunity to make a difference.

Lastly, we could be stuck in an organization that is poorly function. Analyze where you are with the Big 3 Impact Leadership diagrams.  Look at how thanks and welcome, gratitude and openness fit into the ideology, structure and relationships in your business. If they aren't fitting very well, then you have some indication for where to start to make changes.

Having reread Johnny Bunko to prepare this post, I'm more aware of the relationship dimension that is important to the story. I'm more convince that Saying thanks every day can create a revolution of thanks and welcome that transforms how our businesses function. It is one of the few certain keys to future success.

Please vote for Saying Thanks Every Day. Send a message to the world that gratitude and openness are the new rules of professional relationships.

Hostmanship repost #2

This is a repost of my review of Hostmanship for the benefit of those who have found me through the Great Johnny Bunko Challenge. My 7th. lesson is Say, Thanks, Every Day. A fitting action of Hostmanship.  A portion of this review will appear each day throughout the week.
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This is a serial review of the book, Hostmanship - The art of making people feel welcome - by Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm.  The first entry introduces the idea of Hostmanship and its dimensions.

This second entry focuses on the first stage of Hostmanship - Personal Hostmanship.

Having read this little book, I am left with the impression that we Americans think of business as primarily a set of tactics, strategies and tasks that we do. We are focused on activities and not so much on the inner conditions of effectiveness. Personal Hostmanship is a way to address that lack of connection to personal excellence.

For Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm, there is a distinction between hostmanship and customer service.

One of the big differences between hostmanship and a "service attitude" is the feeling that stays with you after the guest is gone.

In service, the focus is on the recipient, and we say that as long as the guest is happy you've done a good job.  In hostmanship, the focus is on the provider. Good hostmanship is something you take home, that becomes part of you. It's something that helps you to develop your personality.

This is really counter-intuitive. We have been told that the customer comes first; the customer is always right; be self-sacrificing, etc.  Hostmanship challenges these notions with the simple idea that healthy, balanced, happy people make the best hosts. This means that we each must have an eye to our own "self-care."  Of course, this idea may be a cultural distinctive of Sweden. Here in the US, we tend to think everything IS about us. Of course, this is not what they are saying.  It is about something more personally challenging that just taking care of yourself.

To have the courage to step forward requires confidence, and that can only be attained if you know yourself.  It's also one of the biggest challenges as a host.  You have to understand yourself, who you are, where you come from, your references, values, prejudices and limitations.

Read that last sentence again. That's a tall order, and quite different than simply living a stress-free, pleasure-rich life.  To achieve this level of life is to become a person of wisdom; a person of integrity; a person who is whole, complete and "together."  I'm sure that when the idea of hostmanship was introduced that it appeared to be simply a clever way to talk about customer service.  Instead it is an insightful way for one human being to make a difference in the life of another.

Professional success demands personal success.  No one can simply switch over from an uncertain, destructive personality at home to a thoughtful, caring one on the job.  In other words, the private you must be in sync with the professional you.  This requires a great deal of thought as to where you are in life and that you make the best of your opportunities.  I realize this isn't easy, and it's something you would do first and foremost to better understand yourself rather than your guests.  But personal hostmanship isn't something you can express halfway.  You have to open up and greet your guests with your entire person.  It requires that you know yourself and express any uncertainty you are feeling to the organization you work for, so that your colleagues can encourage you. They will thank you when they see the results.

Personal Hostmanship creates an environment where the guest's needs can be met.  But it doesn't stand-alone. It requires the other stages to work.

Tomorrow will look at Functional Hostmanship.

Hostmanship repost #1

This is a repost of my review of Hostmanship for the benefit of those who have found me through the  Great Johnny Bunko Challenge. My 7th. lesson is Say, Thanks, Every Day. A fitting action of Hostmanship.  A portion of this review will appear each day throughout the week.

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Hostmanship - The art of making people feel welcome is a remarkable little book by Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm. I came upon this book reading a blog reference to it by Tom Peters. Gunnarsson and Blohm are hospitality industry veterans in Sweden whose take on customer service and leadership is refreshing.

The book provides a fresh look at customer service. I'm going to review the book here at Leading Questions in a six posting serialized version during this week. The first will be a description of what Gunnarsson and Blohm mean by Hostmanship, and then in successive days, I'll take each of the five stages and discuss them. 

What is distinctive about Hostmanship, as compared to most books on customer service, customer experience, word-of-mouth marketing or leadership, is that this is not primarily about strategies and tactics. It is about the attitude that we bring. 

This attitude is captured in a quote from the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

If we wish to succeed
in helping someone reach a particular goal
we must first find out where he is now
and start from there.
If we cannot do this,
we merely delude ourselves
into believing that we can help others.
Before we can help someone,
we must know more than he does,
but most of all,
we must understand what he understands.
If we cannot do that, our knowing more will not help.
If we nonetheless wish to show how much we know,
it is only because we are vain and arrogant,
and our true goal is to be admired,
not to help others.
All genuine helpfulness
starts with humility before we wish to help,
so we must understand
that helping
is not a wish to dominate
but a wish to serve.
If we cannot do this,
neither can we help anyone

Hostmanship is about the source of loyal customers. It is about the relationship that is established between a business and the people who benefit from that business. Hostmanship is about the kind of care that is exhibited.  Hostmanship is about making people feel welcome.  Gunnarsson and Blohm recommend stopping using the term customer and instead call them guests.  Customers buy things, guests come and should be made to feel welcome.

What does it mean to feel welcome? Here's how they portray it.

When I walk into a restaurant, there are several things that make me feel welcome:
Information - There should be a menu outside the door.
     Design - that someone cares
     Cleanliness - Everything from the hostess's blouse to crumbs swept off the floor
     Safety - If it's below ground, I want to see an emergency exit
     Greeting - Someone should notice I am there
     Attention - I don't want to sit and wait forever
     Friendliness - It doesn't hurt to smile
     Listen - I want to be heard
     Speed - Service, service, service
     Price - I don't want to be overcharged
All these things affect me before I've even eaten anything.

The difference that is created with Hostmanship is that the heart of a business is an attitude about yourself. It starts with who you are as the leader and with who your employees are, and then that attitude gets translated to the "guests."

Hostmanship is about giving.  It's about sharing a part of yourself and your knowledge. Never forgetting that people who have contacted you are an extension of yourself.  It's about understanding that, at that moment, you are an important part of her life. Not only because you have the answer to her question. You are also the person she has chosen to turn to.

Hostmanship is an art. The host is an artist.

Gunnarsson and Blohm describe this attitude in terms of six fundamentals: Interaction, The Big Picture, Dialogue, Responsibility, Consideration, and Knowledge.  Let's look at each.

Interaction: The authors convey a sense of magic in the encounters that we should have with guests. Each interaction is different.  And we need to see it that way.

When a guest appears at the door of your business, she stands before you with her entire history in tow. What you see is not just a person but also a life's worth of experience.  The question she will soon ask is a product of that experience.  My point is that each meeting is different.

Because it is different, it means that we must look at each interaction as not the same as the one before, but as the one that is taking place right now. When we treat people as guests, they cease to be customers, market segments, or bottom-line fulfillment opportunities. They aren't the next appointment, the next interruption, the next distraction.  They are people. They are not abstract objects that we just deal with. They are people who have real lives and real needs, and they've come to us to have at least one of those needs met.

The Big Picture:  We live in such a segmented, fragmented, silo'ed world. But people don't really see us that way. When a guest walks into the shop or the office, everything is a part of the whole. There is a level of integration that exists that guests sense.  If integrity is lacking, then the guests sense that too.

Being willing to associate yourself with what you sell means to a large extent being part of a guest's experience and making the product come alive. ... What's important is to see the connection between you, the product and the company.  A trinity that in the guest's eyes is always a single entity the moment she visits your business.

Dialogue: There has been much written in the last 15 years about dialogue or in the importance of how we talk with one another.  To a great extent, dialogue is dependent, not on our ability to articulate our thoughts, but rather to listen.  To listen objectively, perceptively and non-prejudicially.

Dialogue requires the courage to see beyond prejudices and a willingness to treat guests in a friendly and personable manner. To show others who you are and offer a memorable encounter. ... Listening is much more than understanding what is said. ... In a dialogue with a guest, the "right" questions aren't always asked. But by listening, you can tell her what she hasn't yet put into words.

Responsibility: Responsibility is the initiative we take to meet our guest’s needs.  It is not simply doing what is required by the job description, but being responsible for the organization's care of the guest.

Assuming responsibility means seeing your business with guest's eyes. What's expected of you? What does your guest need?  How can you help to ensure that the guest benefits from what you do?  In short, are you taking responsibility for your guest's success?

Lying behind responsibility is a commitment or as the authors put it a promise.  The promise can be anything, but it is what you say you will provide to your guests. Here's how they see it.

"I spoke with someone at your company who told me ..."  "In the catalogue it said that it was included ..."  "I phoned before and was promised that you would ..."  "When I was here yesterday you said ..."

It's not unusual to hear such things from a guest you meet for the first time.  She carried a promise with her across the threshold and now expects you to keep it.  It might have been an ad that made the promise or maybe one of your colleagues who the day before was in a hurry to get home and went a little overboard. That doesn't really matter.  As an employee, you are responsible for the big picture and that includes promises.

What is a promise exactly?  And when is it broken? Is a room by the sea where a big tanker is docked outside blocking the view still a room with a view?  ...

When is a promise is broken and what consequences should it have?  These are two questions a responsible organization has to answer.  When I discuss this with people in the tourism industry, they usually refuse to offer any form of compensation when I mention things like ugly curtains.

Gunnarsson and Blohm see criticism as the test of this sense of ethical responsibility.  Their approach to creating opportunities for guests to tell them the truth is rather creative and insightful about human behavior.

One of the toughest challenges is finding out what your guests really think about your business.  I have a hard time believing they will tell you the whole truth even if you ask them.  That may sound cynical, but I think about myself and how I react when someone asks how I feel, how the food tastes, if I slept well, if my car is working all right, if the shoes fit, how the jacket feels, etc. I have a host of polite responses the questioner is expecting to hear.  You simply can't trust what a guest says as she is leaving or what she writes down on a slip of paper and drops in your suggestion box.

Getting to the truth takes more than that, something the guest doesn't expect. Situation where she is surprised by her feelings and eventually can't keep them to herself

They proceed to tell a story of how the common factor in repeat business was that each guest was dissatisfied at some point in their experience with the company. In one instance a mistake is made and ... well, let them tell the outcome.

We of course apologized, immediately called in housekeeping and, to make it up to them, offered to buy a round of drinks for everyone before dinner that evening. They invariably accepted.

When evening came, we brought the entire company together for a drink in a separate area next to the dining room. It was there that we had our chance. I usually began with a toast and little speech about how what had happened was my fault, and then took advantage of the next half hour of casual chatting to get to know them.  It was a half hour when I had their attention and could sell them on our hotel and town.

This formula proved so successful that we began purposefully forgetting things. ... It was a bit underhanded, I admit, but we learned that complaints could also provide an opportunity to nurture a long-term relationship.

An ethic of responsibility looks for ways to build relationships. What better way that to create opportunities for disappointment to be resolved and the host-guest relationships reconciled.

Consideration: The inclusion of the dimensions of Consideration and Responsibility is why I see Hostmanship as an ethical system for developing customer relationships, or guest relationships.  Consideration is the key to the whole Hostmanship system because it is the key to how we see the guest before us.

Well, consideration means much more than understanding how someone else feels. To me, it means seeing another person's humanity without the blinders of prejudice, and doing so with affection.

Consideration requires the host, not to treat every person alike, but every person with dignity and value. This doesn't mean that guests are always right, or nice, good, pleasant people. It just means that we don't prejudge whom they are because of some identifiable characteristic that might make treat them one or another.

Hostmanship is giving.  Considerately giving of yourself, your time, your energy and your personality.  A willingness to share the best of yourself.

Knowledge: This is not simply mastering a collection of facts. Instead it is knowing how to interpret the situation that your guest is in and apply your knowledge to their situation. This means that a host is always learning, not just more about his field, but also how to integrate that knowledge into the life experience of the guest.

As a host, you also need foresight. It might be a simple thing, like noticing the man in a shirt and sport coat handing in his key before heading out into Malmo on a January night. You know how cold it gets in Malmo in January. Or when you help two British women with theater tickets. It might be worth mentioning that the theater they are attending is quite plain compared to the City Theater. You use your knowledge of the city to steer your guests in the right direction.

A considerate host does much of this naturally.  A good host is always learning, interpreting and thinking.  The goal should be to have enough knowledge to cover all the needs of your guests, and not only as guests but as people.

This sort of knowledge also means that you are aware of the differences in cultures so that your own behavior as host does not unintentionally offend or confuse your guest.

As is seen, there is much to learning Hostmanship. It is an ethic perspective that is similar in idea and practice to Robert Greenleaf's servant leadership concept.  Both intentionally focus on others in order for greater effectiveness to be gained.

Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm divide Hostmanship into five stages of application.

Personal Hostmanship

Functional Hostmanship

Organizational Hostmanship

Destinational Hostmanship

National Hostmanship

I'll look at one of these each day this week.

Until then, you may enjoy reading this simple introduction to Hostmanship that can be downloaded from the Hostmanship site in Sweden.  Make sure you link to the English side of the website.

The Hostmanship of Saying Thanks, Every Day

In April 2007, I posted a serialized review of the book Hostmanship by Jan Gunnarsson and Olle Blohm.

The hostmanship idea is one that has provoked me to putting forth Say, Thanks, Every Day as my Johnny Bunko 7th lesson.

So, to inspire people to vote for Say Thanks Every Day, I'm going to repost the serialized version of the review. This will happen one a day for the next several days.

I welcome your comments. Thank you.

The Scene Above

I was asked about the picture in the banner above.
The shot was taken from Devil's Courthouse in the Pisgah National Forest at mile 422.4 on the Blue Ridge  Parkway.

The two peaks left and center are Sassafrass Knob (left) and Pilot Mountain (right). The saddle between them is Deep Gap where there is a trail shelter. 

This setting is on the Art Loeb Trail that extends from Cold Mountain to the Davidson River Campground.

To the left of Sassafrass Knob is Farlow Gap. A trail intersects with the Art Loeb there that descends down to the Daniel Ridge Loop Trail.  This is one of our favorite places to hike a camp.

The end of institutional convention and the beginning of the age of welcome

I know two middle school age boys who both are pre-Autistic or have Aspergers syndrome.  They live in different cities in different parts of the country.  They are different in almost every way. One is has the wildest imagination you can imagine. The other is the sweetest kid you'll ever meet.  These kids are typically viewed as "special needs" children. Based on my relationships with them, I think this is a misnomer based on institutional convention that handicaps them in ways that it shouldn't.

Each of these boys is gifted. Their gifts are different. They don't follow traditional social conventions. This does not mean that they are less that human. My life is enriched each time I am with them.  They both have gifts that makes a difference.

I've been thinking about them lately. Thinking about how their giftedness in a typical institutional setting would be missed.  They don't play by the rules. They don't color in the lines. They don't talk like everyone. They "seem" awkward, but not to themselves. They are just two boys following their separate interests. I credit their parents for maintaining such an openness to their boys. They could easily handicap them by forcing them into traditional institutional conventions.

These boys and their parents represent to me the future of organizations. Instead of requiring gifted people to follow convention, we should welcome them to contribute their gifts. Creating a welcoming environment for people to give is an essential task of every leader in the 21st century.

This is a huge dilemma for organizational leaders who find themselves managing institutional convention instead of enabling the giftedness of their people. I know this sounds a bit idealistic. It is not.  It is simply a reflection on the reality of our time that institutions that do not change, do not surivive.

It is why I'm excited about the future. This recession is going to purge a lot of that institutional convention out of the organizational system of the world. We are in the mess we are in because leaders followed convention instead of opened up their businesses to the gifts of their people.  When greed for money and power take over, the ability of an organization to thrive in hard times is severely constrained.

As I've thought through the implications of my Johnny Bunko Challenge 7th lesson of Say, Thanks, Every Day, I've come realize that saying thanks and making welcome are ways we open ourselves up to others. This is what leaders must do. We must open ourselves up to people whose gifts are not conventional but are needed. Being open does not mean being open-headed. It simply means that leaders must create an environment where the gifts of people are coordinated for the benefit of the organization. We are move facilitators now than directors.

Let the Age of Welcome begin. Create a Revolution of Thanks and Welcome in your business today.  And when the economy returns to a robust state, and it will, those businesses that have embrace the giftedness of their people will lead their industries in new era of growth.

Quick Takes: Now More Than Ever

If you've been reading here for the past couple weeks, you'll know that I'm a finalist in the Johnny Bunko Challenge. My 7th lesson, Say, Thanks, Every Day, has become a lens through which I see everything, especially in a time of economic recession.

Bill Taylor, of Mavericks at Work fame, writes an important article about how we should approach this economic challenge.

As the business environment gets tougher, meaner, more unforgiving, customers are going to get even more selective about whom they do business with. And what's more important, in a world of shrinking demand, smaller margins, and scarce resources, than the depth and quality of your connections with customers? Now more than ever, companies and their leaders have to figure out how to stand out from the crowd, how to stand for something special, how to offer a positive alternative to the status quo. Customers want to do business with companies that share their values -- and customers look to how organizations behave in dark times as a test of their values and character.

I've been thinking a lot of about this for sometime, and if you been reading here, you'll know that the relationships that we have with clients and customers is a recurring theme for me.

Now, more than ever is the time to focus on strengthening our relationships, and peoples' trust and confidence in us.

Let me give you one example of a thought process that I am going through right now. Over the next two months, I have some travel to do. I would typically take a plane to all these places. Travel, spend a day or two, return home.

I'm considering doing a road trip instead. I'd stop and see people along the way. Making a personal, face-to-face connection is better than sending an email. If I decide do this, I'll travel from Western North Carolina to New Orleans, to a couple cities in Mississippi, to Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee and then home. Coordinating this trip with various meetings is the challenge. I'm realizing that what is important is the relationship with clinents, colleagues and friends. I want to strengthen these relationships, for when we begin to come out of this recession, and funds for projects become available, we'll be ready to go to work with energy and commitment.

Bill Taylor asks, "If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would really miss you and why?"

How would you answer his question?

Let me be real direct here.  Companies won't miss you, people will miss you. People. Your staff, vendors and customers. They will miss you if you have not established a relationship with them that makes a difference.

Creating a revolution of thanks and welcome in our businesses fosters an environment of trust and confidence.

If people have no real feelings for you, then they really don't have a strong sense of whether they should trust you, or have confidence that your business can help them through these difficult times. Establish those relationships, and I'm confident that when the economy improves those business that have survived will be there for you.

Right now, within the next 30 minutes, connect with someone, and tell them thanks. Do it and you'll immediately begin to discover a resource for your business that has been latent and waiting to be used.

Say, thanks, every day. Thank you for voting, also.

Say Thanks, Everyday - Spread the Gratitude

Vote for Say, Thanks, Every Day in the Great Johnny Bunko Challenge.
When you do you are sending a message of gratitude to the world. Help create a revolution in thanks and welcome today.
Thanks very much.