Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, once said “There is only one boss. The customer ― and he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”  That reflected Walton’s understanding that the key is to keep customers happy.  It was that kind of thinking that grew Walmart from a single department store in 1950 in Bentonville, Arkansas to 24 stores in Arkansas by 1967, and 125 stores in dozens of states with over 7,500 sales associates and $340 million in sales by 1975.  Today, of course, Walmart has 11,000 stores in 27 countries.  It started by delivering great service and low prices.  But, ironically, Walmart’s customer service has declined to the point where it now is ranked among companies known for poor service. Continue reading →

Maya Angelou once said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”  This is true in life and it is true in business.  Connecting with people on an emotional, personal level has always been the best way to win customers, keep customers and convert customers into raving fans.  But business gurus keep looking for a new approach to customer service.

In the 1980s and 90s, the focus was on customer care… showing customers how much they were valued and appreciated.  Think giveaways and concierge service.  By the 2000s, the focus shifted to customer engagement… finding new ways to connect and dialogue with customers in order to give them what they want.   Think blogs, email, live chat, mobile apps, and call-me-now.  And in the last decade, as companies gained a better understanding of the connection between brand identity and customer relationships, businesses sought to achieve customer entanglement… a mix of connection, trust and brand love.  Think corporate responsibility, social impact, social messaging, and a sense of kinship. Continue reading →

The Zellennial generation includes those born roughly between 2001 and 2016.  The oldest Zs just turned 21 this year and are legally allowed to do everything adults can do in the U.S. including drive, vote, and drink.  They are the first generation born and raised in the 21st century.  And we know most are either in college and/or starting to work.  But, if they are so young, why do we need to study them now, and how much can we really say with certainty about who they are and will become? Continue reading →

There are basically five generations alive right now.  In January 2022, the breakdown will be as follows:

Silent Generation – Born 1929-1945 (Great Depression to WWII) – ages 77-91
Boomers – Born 1946-1964 (post WWII to early 60s) – ages 57-76
Gen Xers – Born  1965-1980 (Space flight to Computer age) (Civil Rights to Computers) – ages 40-56
Millennials – Born 1981-2000 (From Computers to Y2K) – ages 22-39
Zellennials – Born 2001-2015 (9-11 to 2015 Paris Climate Agreement) – ages 6-21

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Information overload is everywhere.  Social media posts.  Radio shows.  Streaming programs.  Emails.  Newspapers and newsletters.  Podcasts.  Magazines.  Billboards.  Blogs and vlogs.  What passes for news is mostly noise, blurring the lines between editorial and advertising.  And every Tom, Dick and Harry has now jumped on the content creation bandwagon to share their own unique voice and stories to the cacophony, even if they have nothing of real value to add.  Interruptions and distractions abound.  While technology has made it easier to get work done, it has also increased the amount of venues, vehicles and virtual people competing for your attention.  Most business professionals are inundated by this “noise”… the dings, pings and pops that signal that someone has something to ask or share.   We are encouraged to “multi-task,” which is actually a fiction that the human brain cannot do.

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Time is fleeting.  Ask anyone (except perhaps someone in prison) and they are bound to agree that there is just never enough time.  Life is hectic and demands are forever increasing.  The pace of life and the demands on our time have risen exponentially.  While there are many scarce resources – money, water, arable land, metallic minerals, fish, sand, etc. – none is more finite, non-renewable and precious than time.  And, despite the multitude of time management tools proliferating in the marketplace – timers, alarms, calendars, time tracking software, organization tools, prioritization lists, etc. – time is still the hardest resource to manage because it is a perishable. After all, we cannot store or bank time. We cannot buy more of it or steal it from someone else.  And, while we all think we will get the same amount of this resource at the start of each day, there is no guarantee of that.  Every tombstone in a graveyard is a testament to that.  Some will get 24 hours today and some won’t.  And even if we do get 24 hours in a day, we can’t keep it or save it.  At best, we are forced to trade time for other things.  At worst, we fritter it away on nothing… which is the worst offense of all. Continue reading →

Currently, U.S. companies (as well as businesses in other parts of the world) are having trouble finding enough skilled labor to meet demand.  In the U.S., there are several factors contributing to a rising war for talent.  First, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.6% or 7.4 million people in October 2021. That is down considerably from the high of 14.8% at the end of the February-April 2020 recession.  While it is still about 1% higher than the 3.5% rate prior to the pandemic in February 2020, unemployment is much improved.  It is expected to get down to 3.5% by end of 2022.  People are getting back to work.  And yet there continues to be a shortage of skilled workers. Continue reading →

Why do some people and some companies do better than others?  They may start in the same place, but some thrive and grow while others stagnate or even wither.  Those that do well might think it is because they are exponentially better, smarter, or faster.  Those that don’t do well think it is because they are unlucky. They might say that “the rich get richer while the poor get poorer” and make it sound like happenstance or good fortune is the underlying cause.  But research has shown that what some think is “genius / talent” and others believe is “luck” may likely be neither.  More likely, it is just the power of accumulated advantage at work over time.  In business and life, it is invaluable to understand how and why the principle of accumulated advantage works. Continue reading →

Conflicts in the workplace are unavoidable.  If they go unacknowledged or dismissed as unimportant, conflicts can hurt morale and cause teams to become dysfunctional.  And conflict (with a boss or colleague) is a key driver of employee turnover.  But if conflicts are properly addressed, they can amplify a team’s effectiveness and solidify their unity.  When handled properly, conflicts can be harnessed for good.  Positively resolving conflict can boost team performance, increase cohesion, supercharge employee motivation, and redouble collaborative problem solving efforts.  It’s simply a matter of how conflicts are handled. Continue reading →

Conflict is unavoidable in the workplace.  It is unavoidable because wherever there are people working, there is an opportunity for friction.  If left unresolved, these conflicts can turn into complaints, resentments, and feelings of ill will.  And that can spiral into a dysfunctional (inefficient / unproductive) workplace.  When coworkers do not get along, they are more likely to have trouble being efficient, meeting deadlines, solving problems and developing innovative solutions as a team.  Collaboration requires people to be able to get along, trust and respect one another, even if they don’t always agree.  If trust and respect are undermined by unresolved conflicts, it can affect their productivity, creativity and commitment to the team. Continue reading →