Journalist Carl Honore believes the Western world's emphasis on speed erodes health, productivity and quality of life. But there's a backlash brewing, as everyday people start putting the brakes on their all-too-modern lives.

These questions have no right or wrong answers, and sometimes asking the right questions is the answer, from Practical Tips for Productive Living.

Big exalted brains create big expensive solutions! Rory Sutherland says many flashy, expensive fixes are just obscuring better, simpler answers. To illustrate, he uses behavioral economics and hilarious examples.

Imagine spending $1 Billion on security for a two week event for the G8 and G20 summits in Toronto. WOW! It's absurd! OK it's an important event. But over $1 billion! Just on security! Were (are) there any other options?

It seems some progress has been made with the latest attempt at containment however, if I read things correctly the "solution" will be a "relief" well that will likely be completed in August. August? Three more months of spewing oil into the Gulf? Wow!

The G8 and G20 summits are being held in Canada this year, specifically in Toronto and cottage country a few hours north of the city. Kudos to the world leaders for taking the time for some face-to-face conversation and hopefully we will see some alignment on the critical global issues we face today. All fine and good ... however ... It's been reported that the cost of security for the event is over $1 billion. Really?

The disaster in the Gulf is terrible, horrible, and what grief and damage will be caused as the hurricane season gets underway. So many questions ...

Many years ago I penned a rant on the complexities and clutter created by exalted executives. The gist of the piece was this: Are the minds of senior managers and executives just so complex that they can no longer grasp fundamentals - the simple truths - the basics? Here's the start of a new rant - blog - series. Send your contributions if inclined.

I’ve been involved in creating customer focused cultures for many years and have seen the incredible empowering impact it can have on your front line people and on tangible business results. There is no doubt that when customer service becomes strategic for your enterprise you can win – beyond your wildest imagination. But most organizations, most of the time, don’t get it.

Not-for-Profit organizations are generally resource "challenged" even in the best of times, and the current economic climate has created many new and unique issues and opportunities. Given the pressures on funding, organization stability, sponsorship and possible increased demand for their services, not-for-profits must find ways to do more with less, and have a greater impact with less resources. This article will highlight several best strategies for not-for-profits to save IT costs and improve service in these turbulent times.

Why do so many business-critical projects, whether done in house or outsourced, fail far too often, take too long, cost too much, and fail to achieve the business value for which they were justified and designed. In this article I want to offer several approaches to improve the "conceptual" aspect of IT projects - the what and why and the business case. A little uncommon sense is in order with six things you can do to significantly improve your business case and economic justification process and ensure your projects come in on time and on budget. 

Have you slashed your IT budgets across the board indiscriminately, and suspended, delayed and limited your technology projects? You are not alone. There is no doubt that in times of uncertainty and "turbulence" you must reduce spending and get more for every dollar you spend however, consider a little “uncommon sense” to target investments in those areas that save costs without undermining capability.

There is a better way! Turbulent times call for more “uncommon sense” to target investments in those areas that save costs without undermining capability, and that can increase efficiency, improve productivity and yes, increase revenue. Consider the following principles and approach to strengthen your operations in turbulent times and emerge leaner, more resilient and more profitable.

Challenging times call for creative approaches and perhaps a little "uncommon" sense to be ready to respond to the opportunities ahead! Information Technology is a vital enabler of organization performance, and enterprises whose CFOs, CIOs, and CTOs collaborate on a more strategic and mindful approach to their IT investments today will ultimately emerge more responsive, robust, resilient, productive and profitable.

Alexander Kjerulf is the Chief Happiness Officer and author of  Happy Hour is 9 to 5. Here is an inspiring post from his web site.

According to Amy Wrzesniewski, an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale School of Management, there are three ways you can approach your work.
 

• A job - You do it for the money.
• A career - You do it to advance and get ahead.
• A calling - You do it because it gives you a sense of fulfilment.
  

Want to take a guess how the young man in the video above sees his work?

Whether you’re B2B or B2C, or just you and me or I, being “of service” starts with your intent, and you can’t fake it. Here are a few ‘take-aways’ from a session with Franklin Covey’s “Helping Clients Succeed.”
 
“You cannot not communicate your intent.”
 
So … gotta be clear and conscious about your purpose in this conversation. Are you here to sell a solution or be ‘of service?’ Perhaps you have to ‘move off of the solution’ to be able to make a valuable contribution to your client’s success.

The top four reasons for choosing a service provider.
1. Relationship, compatibility and fit
2. In-depth knowledge of the client’s business
3. Chemistry of the team
4. Technical and product expertise

Looks like they have more than a little to do about your intent and being ‘of service.’ Interesting …
 
More about Franklin Covey here -
http://www.franklincovey.com/fc/index.jsp?

Is it a paradox? The great acceleration to a self service economy via mobile and the web and the growing need for more full service experts at the same time? Perhaps it’s just a new model of service that employs the latest technology and good old-fashioned face-to-face great service.

It is so much easier today to gather information, compare alternatives, understand the differences, and truly appreciate the value you offer via the web, and that enables me as the customer to better make informed decisions – and that’s a wow! As a service provider, have you got your multi-channel service delivery act together?

In an earlier post – Self-limiting Service Disabilities – I recapped my adventure scoping out wheelchair access and the service delivery I encountered. My web search led me to an expert provider that responded the same day by email, and as well by phone – with a face-to-face on-site meeting the next day. And yes we did the deal three days later after a little due diligence with the associated electrical work.

Lessons learned (and values re-enforced)
 
Respond quickly in kind, and then promptly by voice with a view to meet face-to-face. Be an expert, provide information, offer great value, be accessible, follow-up and care – the deal is there.

If you need help with that please visit High Performance Retail .

I love Jack Mitchell’s two “hug” books - Hug Your Customers and his latest - Hug Your Employees.

If you’re a ‘hugger’ you might enjoy this video on YouTube.

In their book Made To Stick, brothers Chip and Dan Heath make the case for six factors (in combination) making the difference between what’s memorable and what isn’t.

Their six factors are:

1. Simplicity (any idea over one is too many)

2. Unexpectedness (a surprise grabs our attention)

3. Concreteness (the more dimensions of details the more hooks our minds use to create a memory)
 
4. Credibility (even untrue stories don’t stick unless there’s a hint of truth, such as beware of what’s too good to be true in the urban legend that opens the book)
 
5. Incite Emotions in Listeners (we remember emotional experiences much more than anything else; we care more about individuals than groups; and we care about things that reflect our identities)
 
6. Combine Messages in Stories (information is more memorable and meaningful in a story form)

SOURCE: The book Made To Stick, and Donald Mitchell’s Amazon review of the book

Jeanne Bliss has written an excellent “change this” manifesto!
 
“Companies need to toss out everything they think about customer surveys and do a reality check of what they’ve actually done with the years of data they’ve compiled. They need to compare their effort spent capitulating and hand-waving about how bad the scores are with how much of an effort they’ve made actually doing something about what they heard from customers. And they need to get real…and evaluate if any substantive change has actually taken place as a result. Then they need to STOP and DO something different.”

Her manifesto is here -
http://www.customerbliss.com/press/ChangeThisManifesto.pdf
Enjoy!

Create the context in which your employees care about providing sincere, honest, friendly, knowledgeable service, and wowing your customers.

Eric Fraterman has a story to share:

You are asking for examples of unusual and surprising service for a book. How about postal service? It may seem an oxymoron…

I am constantly amazed at how much opportunity is left on the table just due to the self-limiting perceptions of what individuals and their organizations can and cannot do to serve their customers. And clearly, the self-limiting service disabilities reflect the opportunity horizon, scope, values and vision of those who lead the organization. Here is a story of my recent adventure in wheelchair access for a residence.

1001 Ways to Wow Your Customers was created to invite and share “stories” of great customer service. “Stories” are the medium to best describe “what great performance looks like” and “feels like” and customer service stories can entertain, illuminate and inspire. We’ve moved from a space on “Blogspot” to a WordPress home at www.refresher.com and have now captured the work in the first volume as an eBook here - http://www.refresher.com/wowyourcustomers/ . It's available free with your subscription to The CEO Refresher.

Volume two is underway and we will record the stories and articles in this category on The Mindful Network. Send your stories to the contact email on this page - http://www.refresher.com/ceorefreshercontact.html
Thank you and enjoy!

Ring in the New Year with great expectations and positive intentions. Expect More From 2008 - 53 Strategies for Success from Leading Experts in Personal and Professional Development is an excellent e-book and it's free! Thank you Anne Riches for sharing. You can read or download Expect More from 2008 here - www.refresher.com/ExpectMoreFrom2008-AnneRiches.pdf

The groundbreaking methodology Six Sigma changed the face of manufacturing quality. Now, Human Sigma is poised to do the same for sales and service.

Avil Beckford has written two excellent books that will inspire you to grow personally and professionally. Tales of People Who Get It and Journey to Getting It are based on 34 fascinating interviews. The author has provided sample chapters of each as a gift to you at this wonderful time of the year.

Here is a wonderfully comforting and inspiring video featuring the song Turning by Suzanne Ciani from her CD Pure Romance. Enjoy!