Customer Indifference is a Real Biz Kill
What’s more toxic than incompetence? Deadlier than old technology? More surely fatal than being slow to market? It’s the remarkable indifference to customers that we all still see from some service providers, those who were nodding off during the part where the rest of us learned that that just won’t cut it anymore. Remember Eastern Airlines, […]
Are the Generations Really All That Different?
Don’t look now, but next year, Generation X turns 50. You may need a moment to process that. But it’s true. Following immediately on the heels of the boomers (those of us born between 1946 and 1964), the eldest members of the first alphabetically labeled generation are already receiving mailbox stuffing solicitations from the AARP. […]
Working With Admin. Assistants to Really Amp Your Effectiveness
With the advent of cell phones, sophisticated voice messaging systems, scheduling software, and widespread word processing capability, the footprint of administrative assistants (AA’s) in the workplace has shrunk considerably over the last dozen or so years. This has been aided and abetted by the desire to cut every last dime of assailable cost from the […]
Sometimes It IS About the Money
https://contentedcows.com/blog/item/46-sometimes-it-is-about-the-money Few issues in the domain of business are thornier, more complex, and emotion-packed than that of how much money to pay someone for the work they do. Employee compensation thrusts its tendrils into considerations no less substantial than motivation, employment law, labor unions, production, and the very profitability of the enterprise. Oh, yeah. That. Corresponding […]
Why Contingent Telecommuting is a Good Idea
Telecommuting isn’t for everyone. It may, however, be the best way to get to work for thousands of workers where I live, Jacksonville, Florida, for at least the next month or so. On Thursday, September 26, a retractable (but unretracted) crane atop the USNS 1st LT Harry L. Martin slammed into the deck of the 60-year-old John […]
Hans Tanzler: A Born Leader
We’re often asked, “Can leadership be learned? Or is it hardwired at birth?” Our answer: Yes. We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing if we didn’t really believe that leadership skills and behaviors can be taught and learned. We’ve seen proof positive of it. But, like you, we’ve also known people who just seemed to […]
Employee Engagement Fundamentals Haven’t Changed
Do you remember your first job? If you”re like roughly half of us in today”s workforce (myself included), you were most likely in your teens, and the job was part-time. And if you”re like me, while you earned a little, you learned a lot. Although participation in the youth labor force has declined steadily since […]
Managers are Appointed; Leaders are Developed
The familiar text tone from my iPhone heralded the message from my nearly 25-year-old daughter this morning: “I am officially someone”s manager now. Ahhh!” Bill and I have said to audiences for years, only half-jokingly, that most of the time, people are notified of their transition to management (usually on a Friday afternoon), in this […]
Chikin, Spice, and Authenticity
https://contentedcows.com/blog/item/24-chikin-spice-and-authenticity Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A, the Atlanta-based quick service restaurant chain, became the unwitting object of a firestorm following President and Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy’s direct answer to an interviewer’s question about his views on marriage. The interview was in the context of the ongoing national debate on same-sex marriage, spurred perhaps by contributions […]
Goal Sharing Leads to Goal Reaching
I’m a big proponent of personal growth. But when, a few months ago, my own person had grown too much, I decided to drop about 12-15 pounds, or about a stone in my wife’s British parlance. I knew that I felt, and functioned, better at 195 pounds, and so I picked that number as my […]