Archive for October, 2011

Will Apple Make the Cut From “Good to Great”?

Posted: October 22, 2011 in Brain Droppings, Employee Relations, Pop Culture
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One of my favorite reads is Jim Collin’s look at how good businesses become great businesses.

In Built to Last, Collins uses a series of case studies and research data to highlight leadership criteria which appear to help companies achieve longstanding success. Collins points out that among companies in business 100 years or more, their success, in part, can be attributed to a company CEO who toils away behind the scenes and trains a successor who does likewise.

It appears the “celebrity” CEO, one who is highly visible and largely in it for his/her own notoriety can be the cause of the organization’s downfall when they leave. Upon their departure, the relationships they established evaporate and nobody is left behind to pick up where the previous management left off. One example of a celebrity CEO is Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca. During his reign in the 1980s, the names Chrysler and Iacocca were nearly synonymous.

In the case of Apple, Jobs was a celebrity. His face graced the cover of magazines in life and death. He packed annual meetings where people fought for seats in his audience. People wanted to be in his sphere of influence.

But we really have a hard time gauging the strength of the succession plan for the company he founded and which consumed almost every waking minute he had. Jobs didn’t plan on dying when he did. And while I didn’t know him, I suspect I know leaders like him. They have a bit of an invincibility complex. Apple was Jobs company. He planned on living a long time and providing guidance to his company – his reason for living. In the end, that attitude could be the very downfall of the organization. Let’s hope that Jobs’ successor is toiling quietly away somewhere, working on Apple’s next big thing. It’ll be a tough act to follow.

Nonprofit Selection for Corporate Philanthropic Efforts Requires Careful Thought on the Part of Business Leaders

Posted: October 16, 2011 in Nonprofit
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I’ve been critical of the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Awareness campaign for some time. It’s not so much the campaign itself as it is the companies that jump on its bandwagon, rolling out a slew of pink ribbon adorned products in the name of raising awareness and funds. These relationships can appear insincere. Customers and clients can perceive that the business is only trying to appear to have a community conscious and make a buck or two with promotional merchandise. After all, heart disease remains the leading killer of women in the US. Cancer ranks in the top ten, but not exclusively breast cancer.

So as a business owner or manager truly interested in doing a greater good, how do you select an organization with which to partner?

  • Poll your employees and customers. Ask them which charitable organizations are important to them? Which do they personally support? Why?
  • Ask yourself and your management team, what organizations does it make sense for our business to team with? There are tens of thousands of excellent charitable organizations that are highly underpublicized, yet make significant contributions to the lives of even more people every day.
  • Given what your business does, ask, can we provide a product or service which will benefit the charitable organization? For example, if you sell skis, a winter coat drive would not be seen as a stretch. A coat drive would fall in the scope of your business. Likewise, Verizon Wireless collects phones through it’s HopeLine(R) program and donates them to organizations which serve survivors of domestic violence. A logical fit for a provider of wireless phones.
  • Identify and share personal stories that connect to the nonprofits you are considering, even looking to these personal stories first for inspiration. A personal connection underscores a businesses commitment to a cause and can help make other company employees even more passionate about the cause you’ve decided to get behind.

It doesn’t add any credibility to your company when asked,” Why does your company support WXYZ nonprofit?” and senior executives respond with, “It seemed like as good a group as any.”

Does your company support the American Red Cross because an employee’s mother has been suffering from a rare, and not often discussed, blood disease? Is the mother willing to share her story to help people understand the need for research, how the group helped her and demonstrate that the work of the American Red Cross deserves her support? Has a co-worker struggled with Diabetes and colleagues have first hand experience with how it has impacted his life? Tell these stories.

At the end of the day, you may decide the best place to direct the efforts of your businesses philanthropic efforts is at a campaign like the Pink Ribbon campaign. That’s okay. Do your research and feel that you can make a difference in the nonprofit partner you select- for the right reasons and not just because it’s fashionable.

Years of Customer Loyalty Can Be Ruined in a Matter of Minutes

Posted: October 15, 2011 in Brain Droppings, Retail
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The car I drive has sensitive tires to say the very least. During the past five years, I’ve returned to the same place time and time again — often joking with the manager that all the new tires and rims I was buying would put his kids through college.

I defended people who avoided going to the particular chain.

But in an instant, all of their previous good work was lost. A few months back, I had the shop order a cap for my tire. They lost the order and put it on for no charge.

Inconvenient, yes. It happens. I’d get over it.

With a busy week coming up, I made time today to get my brakes done.  Headed back to the local shop and checked the vehicle in before 10:30 am.

Couple of hours, I was told.

At 1:30 pm, I decided to take myself to a movie. My vehicle was next in line….and yes they promised to call me.

So you can imagine my surprise when at 4:00 pm the movie ended and I hadn’t heard from them.

I gave them a call from the theater before I set off on foot to make my way back to the garage.

Guess what? My lucky day. My vehicle was next to be serviced!

I expressed my disappoint and was met with “Sorry.” Did I still want them to look at it? They wouldn’t have time to do the work though.

ABSOLUTELY NOT, I said. Put the car back together.

My heart sank. Was this how you respond to a repeat customer? Or any customer for that matter?

I had made it clear that I was waiting for the vehicle. Had I known they couldn’t squeeze it in, I would have rented a vehicle or gone somewhere else.

When I returned about 4:15 pm, I discovered they had lifted the car up to take a look….against my wishes.

Oh. So I didn’t want them to look?

Keep in mind I had no other vehicle, they closed at 5 pm and now the rental places were closed.

As my colleagues and I sometimes say, I took a lap.

They brought the car down. The assistant manager walked silently over to me and handed me my keys.

And that was that.

Sadly, I’ve recommended this place, defended them and shot out positive tweets when they did some thing right.

Today they wasted SIX HOURS of time I did not have because they couldn’t communicate with me, or provide realustic wait times.

That’s a lot of billable time I lost today.

Worse yet, I feel let down.

Does anybody know a good mechanic?