Archive for January, 2006
Walmart: The Best and Worst in One Visit
Walmart can be an incredibly inspiring place to visit. It’s a marvel of innovation. Beautiful if you’re into these things. It can be equally infuriating.
Today I swung by to pick up some cold medicine and a few other items, like t-shirts. Can’t wear a nice shirt without a t-shirt underneath. Call me old-fashioned.
Upon entering at about 9:00 a.m. (there are some advantages of self-employment), I was greeted by the friendly senior aged woman with the requisite gray-blue hair. “Good morning,” she said sweetly. I returned the sentiment.
Needing to return some t-shirts that did not fit, I proceeded to the returns counter. There I was greeted by the Troll of Customer Returns.
Now, I have not gone through Walmart customer service training. I imagine the focus is on efficiency foremost.…
Attention Buys Results
I have been listening extra closely to what people tell me they want to achieve while working with me. Normally, I hear things like, “I need to get out of the weeds and back to working smart, not just hard.”
Business owners in particular say things like, “business is good, but we are a bit overwhelmed.” When something isn’t what they want it to be they describe the situation in terms of too few A-level clients, too many things on their plate, “a to-do list as long as my arm,” staff turnover problems or, the classic, wrestling with alligators.
In Wobbly Company
Maaaaaaaybe 5% of all the people I talk with, executive in big organizations and owners of small businesses alike - maaaaaaaaaybe 5% of them are aware that their behavior may…
Happy New Year - Now, Go Be Amazing
Ah, yes, the time of the New Year’s Resolution. That cocktail party one-liner of intention whose life span is about equal to that of the ice cubes in your drink.
A lot has been and apparently is being written about our annual resolutions. Too darn much, if you ask me. Now, I’m all for self-improvement, of course. I make my living from it. BUT, I’m so incredibly tired of the annual rite of witnessing people set their resolutions and no less than a week or so later set right back down into the comfort of their habits, molded to their lives like an unsupportive sofa cushion sat on for the same five hours each day for ten years running. Making a resolution is easy; changing a life is much more…
