Samantha was talking to her neighbor who was moving out of town and asked him what he’ll miss most when he moves. He answered, “I know it sounds funny, but one of the things I’m going to really miss is my mail lady. She’s just awesome!” Since this wasn’t anything like the answer she was […]
Archive | Encouragement
Life and Death Leadership
Is tearing up a bird’s nest an act of cruelty or kindness? Last year my wife and I noticed a couple of birds flying up to the dryer exhaust vent above the kitchen window. My wife correctly guessed that they were building a nest so I went outside to check it out. After I came […]
Customer Service for Breakfast
For just a moment, forget about productivity. Forget about making your company more money. Forget getting a better performance review. To me, good customer service isn’t really about any of those things. To me, providing good customer service is about the person that I want to be. Think about the last time you were provided […]
The Power of Vision
As I drove away from Holland, Michigan, I knew I might be in real trouble. I had read about blizzards and seen them on TV plenty of times, but I had never experienced one firsthand. Driving east on I-196, I could see the dim outline of dark shapes punctuating the whiteness on either side of […]
The Cadillac Man’s Christmas Gift
In the early seventies, it seemed almost every kid rode their bike to school. I remember standing in the front of my elementary school staring at the bike rack loaded with well over 100 bicycles of every type imaginable. Some kids were lucky enough to have new bikes with banana seats and monkey handle bars. […]
But Don’t Take My Word For It
I could sit here and tell you about how much fun we have at my events, or I could step away from the microphone and let my clients have their say!
Real Heroes Don’t Wear Spandex
There have been five live-action iterations of Batman in my lifetime. 1] 1960’s Batman, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson pretty much just sat around Wayne Manor all day until they got a call on the red Bat-Phone from Commissioner Gordon. Then they slid down the bat pole and somewhere […]
What if Your Customer Has a Point After All?
Sometime back in the early seventies, I was getting in our family car in a Kmart parking lot when I looked down and found a badly weathered eight-track tape (ask your mom) on the ground next to the car. The tape was in bad shape but closer inspection revealed that it was The Turtles’ Greatest […]
Handle the Heat Like George Clooney (Director’s Cut: longer article)
With a little prodding, you can get my friend John Hicks to talk about the time he got to act in the Coen brothers’ classic movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” After John saw their first movie he was hooked, so when he learned they were shooting a movie practically in his backyard, he rushed […]
Confessions of an Unsuccessful Liar
When I was seven years old, my parents entertained some friends who had just gotten back from vacationing in Hawaii. Back in those days, it was much more uncommon for people to travel to far away exotic locations, so my parents’ friends were showing off their pictures and souvenirs while my parents ooh-ed and aah-ed. […]