Yesterday I was paying for items at a grocery store. The cashier was not rude, but she was not friendly. Everything she said was brief and without much feeling. As I picked up my bag, I noticed why: She was in the middle of a video call on her smart phone. I, the customer, was an interruption. Cell phones, and …
Common fallacies: Seeing through what’s not true (part 4–Assumptions)
Some informative new episodes related to our series on “Crucial Conversations:” This latest series focuses on “common fallacies,” arguments we make that, if you stop to think about them, just can’t be true. Identifying and naming these statements can keep you from losing focus on what truly matters. We encourage our listeners (both of you) to use these fallacies to evaluate …
Is it Judgment Day for employee engagement, too?
Last week I talked about the Customer Experience Judgment Day upon us. Maybe it’s Judgment Day for Employee Engagement, too. Today I received two emails from the same client. The first one linked to this article about how middle managers are the workers closest to burnout, because (among other things) they are translating between frontline workers and executives, two groups …
Should leaders apologize?
Perhaps you think this is a rhetorical question. Ask yourself: When was the last time I apologized to a direct report? I heard from an eyewitness of an event where a car dealer summoned every employee to the service lane. He then closed the doors and preceded to bless them out with, shall we say, harsh words. “Any questions?” he …
Customer experience? It’s Judgment Day.
I recently had a business owner, who is also a CPA, say to me, “When it’s low tide, you find out who is skinny dipping.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. In our conversation, we were talking about all the ways car dealerships have needed to prepare for times of crisis. Here are three examples. Rainy day …
Horn Sections Make Rock Better: The Impression That I Get
We have a ska bias here at Horn Sections Make Rock Better. I know two things about the Mighty Mighty Bostones: The lead singer’s gravelly voice is due to him being knifed in a bar fight (probably not true since it’s not mentioned when you search for it online) They stopped playing during festivals when girls would raise their shirts, …
Common fallacies: Seeing through what’s not true (part 3–”Statistical” errors)
Some informative new episodes related to our series on “Crucial Conversations:” This latest series focuses on “common fallacies,” arguments we make that, if you stop to think about them, just can’t be true. Identifying and naming these statements can keep you from losing focus on what truly matters. We encourage our listeners (both of you) to use these fallacies to evaluate …
Do you manage with power or with love?
There is a way of looking at the world that can severely hamper your ability to successfully navigate work life, let alone life. Its opposite can unlock new levels of not only success but fulfillment. Let me illustrate with a couple of word pictures, one true, one fairy. “What do you mean you can’t sleep?” Last spring, my eldest got …
Horn Sections Make Rock Better: Into the Mystic
Some of the best use of saxophone in the history of rock.
Common fallacies: Seeing through what’s not true (part 2–Propaganda)
Some informative new episodes related to our series on “Crucial Conversations:” This latest series focuses on “common fallacies,” arguments we make that, if you stop to think about them, just can’t be true. Identifying and naming these statements can keep you from losing focus on what truly matters. We encourage our listeners (both of you) to use these fallacies to evaluate …