Thanksgiving.  Gratitude.  Isn’t it wonderful that we have a holiday dedicated to it?  What if you spent a little time every day being thankful?  Think about how your workplace would be transformed if you took an extra minute to thank your team for a job well-done, or called a customer to express your gratitude for their business.

We spend so much time strategizing, planning, and executing in the workplace, we often forget to reflect on our successes and the people who got us there.  As we enter this season of Thanksgiving I … read more

As you may know from my earlier post, I’m in the market for baby gear. I’ve been shopping, and reading, and researching. Like anyone, my thoughts about certain products are formed by what my friends have told me and what I have read, but more importantly, what’s familiar. Brands whose names I recognize are more appealing to me. Graco, for example, is a very “safe” brand — they’ve been around forever, and I see the logo everywhere I go.

BUT… I found a stroller, made by a brand I’d never heard of before, which … read more

We have a Konica Minolta printer at our office.  It is a really nice printer, and usually, we have no problems with it.  However, Konica’s customer service always leaves something to be desired.  Whether it’s the accounting department messing up our invoicing, or our rep not showing up when he is scheduled, or Konica sending us copious amounts of unwanted toner (and then billing us for it), it seems like there’s always something. The thought of calling them sends chills up my spine and can actually ruin an otherwise perfect day.  In one of … read more

I recently had to make a pitch to a perspective client on our capabilities. I felt we were positioned well to win the business: good past performance, shared corporate values, and a genuine interest in seeing this organization succeed. Out of character for us, and for some strange reason, I focused my presentation on why we where qualified to compete for the business and everything I could say about us.

The long and short of it is that we were not awarded the contract. To make it worse, we were told that we lost it because it seemed … read more

2-5….the bottom of the NFC East.  It’s been a long time since the Redskins have been at their prime.  I’m not a big fan of the Washington Redskins (go Pack!), but if my limited research is right, it looks to me like they haven’t won a Super Bowl since 1992.

If you think of the Redskins franchise as a product, you might wonder how a company with such a poor product performance continues to generate brand loyalty, yet there’s still a waiting list for tickets.  So what … read more