Tag Archives: life

January 4, 2013 · 10:55 am

The Equipment

For our first Foodie Friday post of the year let’s talk about kitchen equipment.

VIKING STOVE

(Photo credit: CRYROLFE)

I’m very fortunate to cook in a kitchen that’s equipped with just about every tool for which a cook can ask. Some of these things are designed for a specific purpose (boning knife), some are improvements over an existing tool (a Microplane vs. a box grater) and some are just silly (cherry pitter).  The appliances are the highest grade of equipment available to a home cook.  When friends or family come over I can usually serve them something which they enjoy and of which I’m proud.

Sometimes, however, I cook elsewhere.  The stove is usually electric, the oven temp is often off, the knives may be dull or only serrated and small, the pans might be flimsy.  The expectation from those folks whom I’ve served before and for whom I’m cooking now is that they’ll get the same sort of meal they received from my own kitchen.  Frankly, that’s the expectation I have too.  Which is the business point.

We can’t blame the equipment.  How many writers don’t write because they lack screenplay software?  How many times have you heard a budding director say they’ll make their movie when they get better equipment?  Can’t exercise because there’s no gym?  What about in business – would you accept a subordinate’s excuse that they couldn’t complete an assignment because their computer failed?  As a consumer, are you mollified when a restaurant fails to honor your reservation because “the system is down?”

Part of being good at what we do in business is accepting responsibility and not allowing impediments to become excuses.  I’m embarrassed when I serve what I deem to be less than my best meal even if I’m cooking in a strange kitchen with rudimentary tools.  I’m sure most of you feel the same way.  Yet we often don’t translate that into our business lives nor enforce it as a standard on our teams.  We can’t blame the equipment – we play the hand we’re dealt.  The test is to see who can produce consistently great work in any environment.  Even if it lacks a cherry pitter!

You with me on this?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under food, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , , ,

December 31, 2012 · 10:56 am

The Most Important Thing I Learned This Year

Sometimes things that are very personal can also be important to a much wider sphere. Today is one of those things, I hope, and it’s a good one with which to end 2012.
As my brother lay dying a month or so ago, he said something that really stuck. He had a very rare form of cancer, one which even if it had been caught very early might not have been curable. While Mike was never one for much (if any) self-pity, on this occasion he indulged himself just a bit. What he had to say was a very important thing for your business life and that’s what I’d like to share.

“Why didn’t I take a day off and go to the doctor? Why didn’t I tell a client I can’t meet? Why did I keep going to the office?”

He knew – long before it was obvious to any of the rest of us – that something was wrong yet he felt a responsibility to his job and to his clients to put them first.  Obviously, I’m a big believer in that – I write often about a customer-centric focus.  However, what I learned this year was that if you’re going to serve your clients well you also need to be in sound enough shape physically and mentally to do so.  That requires that we take some time away.  Shut down the email, turn off the cellphone.  Go play a video game or golf or cook or read a non-business book.  Treat yourself as you would a client – they deserve some focused, uninterrupted time and so do you.

As I said, even if he had gone to the doctor the outcome might have been the same.  What might not have been, however, was how he used the time he had left and how he was treated to determine that time.  Mike’s lesson wasn’t exactly something I learned for the first time this year but this time it’s stuck.  I hope he can help it stick with you as well.

Enjoy a day or two off – on to a great 2013!

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , , ,

December 17, 2012 · 1:48 pm

Learning From Hospice

I’ve written many times here on the screed about customer-focused business behavior. I want to tell you about several professionals who exemplify what I think is the ultimate in customer focus.  These are the people who provide hospice and palliative care.  While it may sound a little cold to look at what they do as a business (and it’s a lot more than that, I know), there are a few really important things we can learn from them.

First, we often focus on the lifetime value of a customer and we prioritize the kind of service we deliver predicated on that.  After all, the new customer who walks in to take advantage of a GroupOn offer is very different from the loyal customer who comes in once a week.  How do you prioritize your customers when the entire reason you’re there is that you’re going to lose them in the near future?  The answer is to do it as they do – deliver an incredibly high standard of service to everyone, looking at them as if they’ll be customers for life.

We all have customers who are demanding.  Imagine a customer who can’t do much of anything for themselves.  While we might talk about our jobs as 24/7 situations, very few of us actually live with our customers.  These folks do, and they are on duty 24 hours a day for several days at a time.   That might make anyone a little cranky, but part of the job is maintaining a positive attitude in the face of a lot of negativity (terminal illnesses tend to breed bad vibes…).  Something to consider, perhaps, the next time we have a 30 minute meeting with an unhappy client or a customer rep who needs to engage an angry consumer on the telephone for an hour?

I can list a bunch of other comparisons here but the entire point is to change your perspective a bit as mine was changed over the last few months.  A family member was fortunate (strange word to use when anyone needs this) to have had some excellent care from professionals providing hospice and palliative services.  The way they went about their jobs, even when their customer was grumpy and difficult – was inspiring.  It opened my eyes and hopefully I can pass that along.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , ,