Good customer service requires more than just nice phone manners. I had a customer service need today. I called the company, whom we’ll call Canadian Mozy, and got a very nice young man named “Johnny.” He seemed to have a genuine American accent, clearly understood my...
Business
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The future of social media: pay content, gossip management
I'm Twittering today. And I'm Facebooking. And I'm blogging. And I'm writing my newsletter and my podcast. In pursuit of building my so-called personal brand, I'm getting my name out there and sharing my brilliance with the world. Once I get some decent lighting, 2010...
Are people good or bad? It’s literally a self-fulfilling expectation.
I've noticed that underlying a lot of political discussions is a fundamental belief about human nature. Some people believe people are fundamentally self-interested. They won't work unless paid, and helping the downtrodden is something one does to impress one's...
Richard St. John’s TED Talk on Success. Is it nothing but delusion?
I was just watching a TED talk by Richard St. John on the 8 Rules of Success. Richard interviewed 500 TED attendees to distill down eight principles. His recommendations are depressingly trite: have passion, work hard, yada, yada, yada. You can see the talk here:...
Can a corporation be “entrepreneurial?”
A friend of mine posted a Facebook entry saying his 30,000+ person company is encouraging people to be entrepreneurial. I replied with a remark that I couldn't imagine a less likely place to find entrepreneurial behavior. Much to my surprise, he was surprised that I...
My psyche was just hijacked by a sweet sounding, marketing demoness!
I just received a voicemail from an amazingly sincere, genuine-sounding coaching "guru." She went on and on about how she wants to give back to me and show her tremendous appreciation. All I have to do is visit her web page for details. I visited. It turned out to be...
One Price Doesn't Fit All
But offering lots of options can destroy the buying experience. I’m flying this morning. More accurately, I’m waiting in line after line after line at the airport. Once, I needed my boarding pass. Then I needed my boarding pass and driver’s license. Now, I need my...
Stephen Wolfram’s “Alpha” isn’t a Google killer; they’re in different businesses.
My friend Bob Kerns blogged about Stephen Wolfram's "Alpha" project. The project aims to take on Google by creating a web-retrieval engine that can answer specific factual questions directly. Type in, "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" and it will go...
Cause and Effect in Current Events
Don't be surprised when you get the expected result. Stupidity is running rampant, world wide. It’s frustrating, because the mistakes aren’t rocket science. They’re really simple stuff. People forget their actions have consequences. Let’s explore some cause/effect you...
A modest proposal for rescuing the auto industry
You know, I just can't help feeling outrage, depression, and cynicism at the Big Three auto companies asking for a taxpayer bailout. Twenty years ago, we read cases in business school about how American auto manufacturers had already fallen behind foreign imports in...