Planes, Pains, & Automobiles: An Uber Travel story

On Saturday afternoon I dropped Mike & Graeme at the airport in Durban and went to meet friends for coffee because I still had several hours before my 6pm fight to Cape Town. At 4:30pm I returned to the airport to catch my flight hoping to beat the rugby hordes for a decent seat. I handed in the car and reported to the airline counter to check in. The friendly ground crew looked at me quizzically when I gave my flight time and informed me that I couldn’t be flying to Cape Town because the last flight had already left. I was sure they were wrong and fortunately I had the confirmation email on my cellphone. I called up the email and proudly showed them that I did indeed have a 6pm flight booked for the 18th. The stewardess took no pleasure in informing me that the flight I had booked was for 18 July 2005 and not 18 June 2005 – I am sure that I did see a little smile at my expense.
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Resourcefulness: the new intelligence?

Confessions of a Bright Young Thing (BYT) …

1) “Aiden, please put together a Recruitment & Selection Policy for our Co”, Big Boss requests. Aiden replies, “Sure!” So Aiden promptly Googles “Recruitment & Selection Policy”, reads a few of the examples that the search identifies, then amalgamates the best of them – adding in a bit of the Co’s spicy nuances – into a pretty good document.

Lazy, or resourceful?

2) In writing a comment yesterday to Graeme’s entry on the F1 debacle, Mike Stop uses the word “Indomitable” … an intelligent word. But did he find it on the thesaurus page of www.dictionary.com or in the intro to Asterix’s comic’s … “One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the Roman invaders”?

Well-read, or resourceful?

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Flexible Work in the UK

The UK government statistics department lists information on the flexibility of the UK workforce. Here are some interesting highlights:

• Over 25% of the UK workforce “sometimes” work at home
• The number of people working in “mainly” at home accounts for 2.5% of the workforce – almost double the number who did so in 1981
• Of these, 69% are women
• People who work from home more then one day per week account for 3.5% of the workforce
• Of these, 41% have degrees as opposed to 16% in the workforce as a whole
• Overall, average pay for home workers is well above the national average
• 7% of the workforce report having no fixed place to carry out the work.

Sony Playstation / TBWA takes it to a new level

Have you seen the new Playstation adverts? You can see them on AdCritic or AdForum. Or you can watch them right off of the TBWA web site (click here) They were aparently developed in South Africa for a North American market. (click here to see article on Marketing Web)

There’s no way I can describe them to you. They’re of the kind that need to be experienced. And everything they aim to do, they do.

Why they caught my attention is because they run pretty close to the line, in an interesting conversation emerging around the world about the influence of games and their correlation to violence. Two events spring to mind: one a young guy who murdered someone aparently out of a game experience he’d had. The other, a man who murdered someone who’d stolen a sword from him. Except the sword was stolen online as part of a game, and the guy was murdered in real life for doing it.

Personally I have mixed views on ability of a game to influence, but with the conversation growing globally, Sony Playstation is choosing an interesting moment in time to release these adverts.

We wait and see

Nuf Sed

Professional or not?

Sport is a profession, is it not? By this we mean that there are people who make a living out of it – people who have studied and worked hard, who have made the sport their life’s focus, and who “sell” their time and expertise to the profession of their choice. In everything except the academic qualifications required for entry, sport is pretty much like any other profession on the planet.

Right now, there are many “interesting issues” floating around various sporting codes around the world. These issues may be instructive to the corporate world, as big companies also learn how to deal with demanding “players” (talented staff) and “fans” (empowered customers). The analogy itself is worth spending a few moments pondering, as you consider what professional sports codes must do to attract and retain both players and fans. Some of those techniques would be helpful in the corporate space, too.

But I write this blog entry just after one of the most bizarre races of Formula 1’s half century history.

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Social action, the Comrades, Operation Hunger, MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY and the Connection Economy

[UPDATE]Of the little of the Comrades Marathon I watched today I saw two crazies running for Operation Hunger wearing chefs hats and outfits and waving wooden spoons. 89 kilometers in that?![END UPDATE]

“30,000 children die each day of poverty. We can help to stop this.” This is the message of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY which is a “massive, concerted effort to end world poverty in a year when extraordinary and radical progress is finally possible.” I’m sure you’ve seen the “Live Strong” yellow armbands which are being sold to combat cancer? Well now you can do your bit to eradicate poverty – by wearing a white “Make Poverty History” band and by putting political pressure on our leaders.

The website at makepovertyhistory.org continues
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Parkour – new lessons

I was watching this TV programme the other day called “Jump Britain”. It was a documentary on Parkour. I didn’t know what Parkour was – I hadn’t even heard of it to be honest. Since then I’ve googled and found that it began in the 1980’s (in France) and blossomed through out the 90’s but has hit it’s peak in 2004. I’m not sure how to adequately describe Parkour (pronouced par-kor) . It is like a revolutionary version of gymnastics and acrobatics – but taken out of the traditional “gymnasium” and put into the sprawling urban environments. Actually there is a very nice summary on the South African Parkour website that does it more justice than I could. (http://www.highlanders.co.za/parkour/about/).

So what has all this got to do with business? Well, a few things struck me while I watched the program. Today’s youth is taking yesterday’s discplines and creating something new. We see this kind of revolution everyday actually – but what I don’t see is business keeping up. If I think about it – so many businesses are using the same delivery mechanisms and channels that served them well in the past because they satified consumer expectations at that point in time. But if I just look at Parkour as an example of what is energising and captivating todays market … then I see some serious gaps in the way companies are trying to do business.

Another interesting thing about Parkour is that there is a philosophy to it – which says something else to me – it says that this generation are not looking for something shallow … there needs to be something more substantial.

On this doco that I was watching, Sebastien Foucan (one of the initial French founders) said something which I thought was worth noting down at the time. He was discussing doing a jump and he said that doing a jump on your own was very different from doing the same jump with a mate. He said when you do the jump on your own you are just that little bit more afraid. He said that in Parkour you need to stop and look inside yourself and ask what is it that you are afraid of? Only then can you master the jump. Sounds to me like the kind of advice all leaders should heed.

So what’s in a name?

How would new ways to describe ‘leadership’ broaden and deepen our understanding of what leadership is?
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What is real education?

This week I have enjoyed several great conversations around leadership as I have accompanied Nick Barker to various meetings. Nick heads up the Asia Pacific Leadership Program (APLP) at the East West Center in Hawaii. Here is one memorable quote from Nick who was in turn quoting someone else. He said
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Using Blogs for R&D

Pat Misterovich is a stay-at-home Dad who uses his basement as a development lab. More and more people are doing this type of thing – they don’t need to be zillionaires, nor rich or famous. They just want to be able to pay off their homes, go on holiday once a year, feed their families and educate their children. In other words, they don’t have huge “global domination” visions. But they don’t want to work for anyone either.

In this new age of interconnectedness, and the power of inter-networking, these entrepreneurs now have more opportunity than ever before to do exactly that. Pat proves the point. He is trying to develop an MP3 player (yes, to take on the mighty iPod) – but his angle is one of design. His looks like a Pez dispenser (remember those goofy heads opening up and spitting out one sweet at a time?). His plan to have interchangeable designs. Its a passion, and its fun.

And it has a following, too. Over 1,500 people have already signed up for one via his website (probably more since he was featured in 30 May 2005 Fortune magazine), and are actually involved in development and instant feedback. How does he do it? Pat uses a blog to interact daily with his growing market network – see http://www.pezmp3.com. This solo entrepreneur might not keep Steve Jobs awake at night, but the connection economy is slowing developing momentum across every industry.

Wireless internet – recommendations?

In a few weeks time I’m off to the Berg for a bit of a holiday – but I still would like to have internet to keep on doing those vital website thingies and email and all of that (and to check I’m still alive). I know we all work virtually and many of us have wireless internet so my question is – what does the team recommend? I only need it for a few weeks and then it’s back to DSL…I’ve heard iBurst is pretty good and Telkom also offers something similar…suggestions?

The Experience Economy

We, at TomorrowToday.biz like to call it “The Connection Economy”. Others refer to it as the experience economy or the relationship economy or the dream society. Read a great blog about our move to experiences at Creating Passionate Users.

It starts like this: “In the 20th century, we transitioned from an industrial economy to an information economy. Now, in the early part of the 21st century, we are transitioning again – this time into an experience economy. Experience is driven by information, but pure information is no longer good enough – now we need something interesting to happen with all that information.”

In a world where you and your competitors are selling the same stuff to the same people at the same price, distributing through the same channels and advertising in the same media, and even swapping staff every few years, why should anyone buy from you? Why should anyone work for you? Less and less, its about WHAT you sell, and more and more its about WHO you are and HOW you sell. The latter of these is the “experience” economy. But the combination is the “connection” you create. Its you and me. And its its as much about “and” as it is about “you” and “me”. This applies to every company in every industry around the world.

Best Employers for People Over 50

The AARP (American Association of Retired People) lists some of the best companies to work for, if you’re over 50 – companies who do an excellent job of attracting and retaining “bright old things”. In a world where we tend to discard experience (and wisdom), this isn’t a bad idea. Check out the full list here.

For a taster, consider the following:

# Volkswagen of America administers a flexible-spending program that allows employees to allocate $5,000 in pre-tax earnings annually into elder-care accounts.

# Hoffmann-LaRoche runs an on-site “temp agency” that places retired employees in short-term job openings. The program is designed “to meet the personal work/life needs of retirees,” while taking advantage of “a wealth of experience that new entrants do not have.”

# Pitney Bowes, along with several other companies on the list, makes special accommodations for employees with age-related health problems. In one typical instance, a Pitney Bowes worker who developed a chronic heart condition received training so that he could move from a physically strenuous position to a desk job that called for computer skills.

# Principal Financial Group, rather than focusing most of its training efforts on new hires and young employees as most companies do, offers lifelong learning, emphasizing leadership development for workers over 50.

The Design of Innovation

A new book (released today, not yet available online) from industrial design expert Craig Vogel says companies must continually adapt their products if they are to compete. Read an interview with the author at Inc.com’s blog here.

Design is absolutely critical these days. In a world where you cannot really differentiate on the basis of quality, product, price, position, and all the other usual “P’s” of marketing theory, two key differentiators are WHO you are, and design. Daniel Pink, in “A Whole New Mind” (but online at Amazon.com or Kalahari.net) says that the new MBA is the MFA. The “Master of Fine Arts”. We’ll soon be looking for these in large numbers, he argues.

Diversity tints new kind of generation gap

USAToday reported today on the results of the US Census Bureau population estimates released today (OK, all those “today’s” is a bit about showing off the power of blogging…). But, the interesting headline was about generational differences being significant. Again, showing off, I suppose, if I say, “DUH”.

They said: “Generational differences highlighted in Census Bureau population estimates released today add complexity to everything from politics to marketing. Even segments of society that once seemed homogeneous are far more difficult to define today…. a generation gap is unfolding in the USA — young Americans are far more ethnically and racially diverse than their elders. That diversity is reflected in everything from elections to advertising.” Check out their report here.

Check out our information on the generation gap.

The thing with airlines …

I recently had the misfortune of flying from NZ to the UK. I say misfortune only because it’s something like a 30 hour trip – in Economy class. (enough said)
Sadly things went progressively down hill when Air Malaysia annouced (2 hours past the specified boarding time, and well after everyone had checked in and cleared customs) that a part was missing and therefore the aircraft would not be flying. And no – they didn’t know when the new part would be arriving exactly. (Why they hadn’t spotted that a part was missing earlier is anyones guess.)
As you can imagine – chaos ensued as 300 odd people, all flying via KL with onward connecting flights, approached the customer services desk in some kind of mass stampede. And at this point I must admit I had an enormous amount of sympathy for those poor soles having to bear the brunt of customer outrage!
The thing is – we ALL have some horrible airline story to tell. So this is nothing new. And that’s exactly the point! Why are the airlines not learning these lessons? You would think that by now there would be a well formulated and slick plan that they would naturally fall back on in events like this? But no .. it was just all chaos and confusion.
And the thing that made it worse is that I had to phone them to find out what had happened with my connecting flight. It was as if they didn’t care at all. I wonder if this is how they treat all their customers – or just those in economy class?
It’s not the delays that really bothered me in the end … but how they treated me.

Spoof adverts are adverts too

The point of an advert is to call attention to your brand/product, and inspire potential customers to part with some of their cash – in your favour. Many advertising campaigns around the world are spoofed – meaning that third parties take the brand campaign concept and use it to poke fun at the brand itself. Some of these spoofs develop a life of their own. Budweiser’s legendary “wazzup” campaign produced more spoofs than actual adverts. A little known fact, though, is that Budweiser actually funded some of the spoofsters, helping them to create a legend.

Ikea have done something similar with their “Elite Designers Against IKEA“.

But, now, in South Africa, we have some real fun. ABSA, the biggest retail banker in the country, has a new (fairly pretentious) campaign, in which breathy individuals exclaim that ABSA is “my rock”, “my hope”, “my future”, “my open road”. Well, a new series of spoof ads doing the rounds takes pot shots at ABSA, with pay off lines like: ABSA is “my elbow”, “my erectile dysfunction”, “my gay brother”, “my ringworm”, and the pay off line is: “My bank is… stoopid”.

Should ABSA respond? Methinks not. When Laugh It Off (a t-shirt manufacturer with spoof lines) took a potshot at FNB (another retail banker), the bank smiled and ordered a whole pile for their staff casual days. Other companies targetted by Laugh It Off didn’t (laugh it off, I mean) and took them to court. Laugh It Off hung tough, and in the Constitutional Court were recently awarded their right to freedom of expression.

For more on this story from Marketing Web guru, Kim Penstone, click here.

11 Steps to a Better Brain

The New Scientist of 28 May 2005, lists 11 ways in which you can boost brain performance and/or slow the effects of ageing on your grey matter. See the full story here. In short, they are:

• Smart drugs – drugs that increase awareness, decrease need for sleep, etc
• Food for thought – certain food types stimulate alertness, especially by releasing certain vitamins and compounds
• The Mozart Effect – maybe the most controversial, but certain music enahcnes brain activity in vital cortexes of the brain
• Bionic Brains – implants ahead
• Gainful employment – use it, or lose it – we’re beginning to understand that the brain has RAM, too
• Memory marvels – using memory techniques – not just for super IQ’s
• Sleep on it – allowing your brain a chance to organise, file and process can lead to great results
• Body and mind – get your body in shape, it is your brain’s home
• Nuns on a run – researching the unnatural longevity and alertness of the School Sisters of Notre Dame on Good Counsel Hill
• Attention seeking – focus is critical
• Positive feedback – just tell your brain its great, and it will be

A “postmodern business model”

In Inc.com, June 2005, (page 24), the heading “Franchising Franchising” seemed a strange one to me. At first, I thought it was just a cool design heading for the Franchising section. But the sub-title really got my attention. “Introducing the first postmodern business model”. A meta-model. A group of investors have banded together to seek out business opportunities that have franchise potential. They purchase the rights to the franchise opportunity, then sell the franchises and provide ongoing support as if they were the franchise principals. The founders get paid royalties, the franchise franchisers get royalties and fees.

Its the entrepreneurs equivalent of hedge funds and derivative investments. It could be very clever in the future, or it could sink a few entrepreneurs who chase the big bucks now, but sell their futures short.

My Money is on MySpace.com

I remember the first day I heard a CD. Alan Parsons Project, ‘Eye in the Sky’. Wow! I never believed music could sound that good!!

How the music industry has changed over the last 20 years – it is truly incredible. But the ‘new kid on the block’ that, I along with many others believe, will transform the music industry for ever is www.MySpace.com.

Millions of people have created their own home pages through MySpace. Reading the pages is like getting caught up in Big Brother. Or, as Brian Carley (an avid user) says, “Its kind of like watching a train wreck. You can’t look away.�

Nice.

But the key thing about MySpace.com is that it was started around music. That is still the main driver. Bands advertise new material, tour dates are posted there, fan information, music samples, direct contact with artists and a whole lot more. The key thing is that ‘the middleman’ is being cut out through MySpace.com. And record companies are fast picking up on this. Corgan Holt, Director for New Media at Interscope Geffen A&M has said, “Now that MySpace is here, bands don’t necessarily need a label to be heard.”

Of course, other internet companies are trying to catch up – Yahoo! 360 and MSN’s Spaces are two such examples.

But the truth is, MySpace.com won’t rely on big money to stay ahead of the business. What makes it so cool is that the personality of each member really comes through. You can upload tons of photos, music, videos, blogs, links to others and so much more. MySpace.com is a truly ‘relational’ space in a way that I have never experienced before. I would bet my last dollar that this relationality will help it survive the efforts of larger competitors to overtake it.

Money is not everything. Relationship counts. That is the message of www.MySpace.com. It’s an exciting space. Check it out…

More reasons to blog

BusinessWeek’s Blogspotting regularly features stories of how companies are using blogs to their advantage. In our consulting with clients, there is a massive increase in interest in using blogs. At one level, there should be a business case for this, and its great to get examples of companies using blogs successfully.

For example, Ice.com, the online jewelry merchant, now has three blogs (here, here, and here) that are driving an amazing amount of traffic and sales to its main site. “We get thousands of leads a week from our blogs,” CEO Shmuel Gniwisch told BusinessWeek. The blogs are clearly marketing tools (rather than “real” blogs), but they’re working for the company with an average $200 spend per customer.

But even if corprate blogs are not so obviously linked to a sales drive, they can still be useful. And we need to be careful of overly focusing on a quick, easy, obvious “return to bottom line” business case for them.

Does your phone have a business case? How about your toilets? Or your carpark? What’s the business model for your Executive canteen? Do you refuse to buy furniture unless you can find a way to make money out of it? Blogs’ key value may be indirect, but that doesn’t mean they’re worthless. They can be valuable for all sorts of “soft” reasons, as well as “hard” ones. And, of course, “the soft issues are the hard issues” these days. Blogs are here to stay – don’t write them off before you try them.

Leadership in India

The Indian Financial Express reports today on research just completed by a consortium headed Hay and including some Harvard Business School academics. They were attempting to find out if there were any uniquenesses in the running of a successful Indian business. Read the full story here.

They identified four specific competencies common to all the successful Indian CEOs they profiled:

“The study concluded that while Indian CEOs compared favourably with their counterparts globally, there are some unique qualities such as single-minded focus on growth, adapting technologies to suit Indian conditions and a strong and consistent concern for the welfare of the country as a whole.” They were surprised at how much Indian business leaders adapted foreign models and methods for the Indian environment, as well as how concerned they were for the general welfare of India as a nation.

I would guess that other strong emerging nations, such as China, Brazil, and South Africa, would share similar qualities in their leaders.

Reverse Mentoring

Every Monday morning, my 92 grandmother sits down at her computer and bangs out an email to all her children (2), grandchildren (7 + 6 in laws) and great-grandchildren (6 at last count), as well as a few nieces and nephews and their kids and grandkids. The whole family responds to her, as the matriarch, returning emails, sending digital pictures (which she prints and frames) and generally digitally interacting with her and each other. If she can do it, anyone can.

The use of technology is no longer an optional extra in the world. Everyone has to be able to use technology to a reasonable level. And being old (or “nearing retirement” is no excuse). Hey, if a seven year old can do it, how difficult is it anyway?

Jack Welch, the legendary CE of General Electric, had this problem a few years ago when the Internet, cellphones and email hit companies. He solved it by insisting on a programme of reverse mentoring. Simply put, he required all his older managers and executive team to meet regularly, one-on-one, with 20-something staff members, with the express goal of the younger person teaching the older person how to use the emerging technologies. They discovered that there was much more value than simply technology training in these relationships – but that’s a different story, for another time.

BBC News carried a story two weeks ago about Chris Wertheim, a dyslexic man, now in his late 60s. He had taught himself to read at age 25, and now had signed up for the Sixty Plus Intergenerational Computer Project in Kensington and Chelsea in London, which pairs teenagers with older people teaching them computer skills one-on-one in their own homes. It has been a brilliant success.

Just like in companies, the success is not just older folk who are computer literate, but younger folk who develop life skills and worldviews as they interact with the wisdom of the older generation. This should be done in more communities. And in more companies.

Read more about reverse mentoring:

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If I Ruled the World

So there I was, two days ago, at the airport standing in a queue waiting to check in for a flight to go to my house in Northern Ireland. And what a queue it was! This particular airline had about 15 check-in desks – flights to European and UK destinations – the length of the Concourse. But it was ‘rush hour’ and there was no way to work a way through the crowds.

I queued for 30 minutes at the check-in desk marked ‘All UK Flights’.

Eventually I got to the front. Here is the conversation that ensued.

“Good morning, sir�
“Good morning�
“Where are you flying to today, sir?�
“Belfast�
“Ah, you are in the wrong queue. This queue is for UK flights only.�
“Er…Belfast is in the UK. It’s in Northern Ireland�
“Yes, sir, I know�
“So, this is the queue for ‘All UK Flights’. Belfast is in the UK.�
“Well, it’s not in the UK for the purposes of our company, sir.�
“Pardon?�

“Belfast is not in the UK as far as we are concerned, sir�
“What?�
“That’s right, sir. You will need to join the queue at Check-in Desk 44�
“OK, let me get this straight. Your company has chosen to re-write the political and geographic map of the United Kingdom so that it can get its queue system sorted?�
“I’m sorry, sir. It’s the rules.�

I won’t bore you with the rest of the conversation. Needless to say, I was pretty confident of my stance, since I had done my PhD in 17th-century British history; I searched my memory but was fairly sure that, at no time in British history, was a clause drawn up stating that businesses could unilaterally decide to ignore one nation state for administrative tidiness and staffing situations. The UK is the UK. I stood my ground and, somewhat forcefully, made my point with the weight of history behind me.

Recognising that the CEO would probably have to call a national Referendum to re-inforce his position (and no one in Europe wants to follow that course of action right now!), the airline capitulated and I was allowed to check-in at that desk.

But I thought it was an interesting stance to take. A company feels that, quite literally, the world should change its way of being to accommodate its business practices. Most companies, in the 21st-century are waking up to the fact that it is they, not the rest of the world, who need to be flexible to survive.

I hope that this particular airline learns this before July. Why? Because I will be there, in the ‘All UK Flights’ queue once more – but this time to make a political point, standing in solidarity with my Northern Irish comrades! I’ll let you know how I get on…

A Virtual Champagne Moment

May was a great month for our company. We broke through a psychological income barrier and set a new monthly record. These are the types of things that should be celebrated in companies – but how do you do that in a virtual environment? This is one of the downsides of working in a virtual company.

What we ended up doing was transferring an amount of money into each person’s bank account (including some of our favourite suppliers and associates – all those who had contributed during May), instructing them to find a few friends and go out and celebrate on our behalf. There is something fun about that, and I think it has achieved the purpose of an organisational celebration, but maybe there are other things we could have done (or could still do). Any ideas?

Final thought: I console myself with the thought that most “normal” corporations do not have the celebrations at all anyway, so are still one step ahead.

How not to treat your loyal customers

I am sitting in the lounge at Port Elizabeth airport, waiting for the 17h50 flight to Johannesburg. It is an SAA flight. I arrived at the lounge at 14h15, and was informed that because I had bought an X class ticket, they could not move me to an earlier flight, and that I would have to go on the flight on which I was booked.

Some context:

• I booked this flight 3 days ago, and thought that I might have an opportunity to get home earlier. But all the “full economy” tickets (usually at about R 1,700) were sold out. So, I bought a “normal economy” ticket instead (the only option available) for about R 980. Even if the more expensive option had been available I would not have bought it.
• I am a Gold card frequent flier. More than that – I am an economy class gold card frequent flier. In other words, I have reached 50,000 miles while flying cattle class – which is a lot tougher than doing two international business class legs (and a lot more profitable to the airline as well). I fly (on average) 2 to 3 times every week. I usually go SAA because they’re finally as cheap (sometimes cheaper) than the no frills-no fuss airlines, and have better schedules. AND they have more options in case of days like today.

It is now just after 16h00, and I am watching an SAA flight to Joburg take off. There are some empty seats on that flight, but here I sit in the lounge waiting for the 17h50 because no-one at SAA in this whole entire airport has the authority to override the system and get me home earlier. You can imagine how much I am loving this!!! You can imagine how my love for this airline, its company, and its employees is just growing with each passing minute!!!

Why the hell is there no-one here who can make a customer happy? Why is the best I can get sympathetic smiles from the SAA counter staff as they say, “we know, its a stupid rule!” Followed by a shrug of the shoulders and “there’s nothing we can do”. Does SAA prefer to employ automatons? Does it require its staff to have frontal lobotomies to work here? Why would any sane person choose to stick it out in such a stupid company?

This is no way to attract and retain Bright Young Things as either customers or staff.

There is probably a very good reason for not allowing the cheapest economy class tickets to be transferred. I am guessing it goes like this: If you buy an off peak ticket (say, for example, the last flight out at night) and get a really, really good price. You know that you’ll be leaving earlier during a peak time, but you buy the later, cheaper ticket and just arrive at the airport and ask them to put you on an earlier flight. So, you beat the system… OK, nice scenario. But I bought a ticket on the peak time flight, and wanted to move to an earlier one that was before the peak. I also have clearly not abused the system (if they cared to look, they have the records of the last 100 flights I have made with them – in the past year!!! – and they can check my ‘abuse rating’ – can’t they? Can they remember me). I also clearly wasn’t messing around – I was FOUR HOURS early!!!!!

But, no. Because they don’t trust their front line staff to think or use intitiative, they seriously upset a valuable and loyal customer. They get me home late to my family and my girls. I am NOT HAPPY!

Let me stop now before all the swear words I am thinking spill out onto the page. SAA, SORT YOURSELVES OUT!!! Join the real world of the connection economy, and start treating your customers like they’re valuable (in fact, do your best to amaze us), and give your staff the freedom to help you do this.

Unintended consequences

This past week our company has been involved at an HR expo. Most of the exhibitors are training providers, with specialist (and generalist) training programmes and products. Its not really our space (we focus in on strategic consulting, with a futurist bent), but it was an opportunity we didn’t want to pass up.

Anyway, I overheard a very distubring conversation in the aisles on Wednesday….

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Shape the future – do whatever it takes

It is a great battle cry – shape the future – do whatever it takes. It was the rally call from a conference I have just attended where I was invited to present ‘Savvy Leadership: leadership for the 21st Century’. As I looked over the sea of faces I detected an interesting mix of emotions…
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True Confessions

I have spent the day at a Tom Peter’s seminar (I am sure you will be hearing more of that in my blogs over the next few days – weeks/years). He gave me a lot to think about, but one of the most important personal things to happen today is that he has enabled me to come clean about a dark moment in my past.
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An Experience of Worship

As I write this, I am sitting in a Cathedral. An act of worship is going on all around me.

Isn’t it a bit disrespectful for me to be blogging when worship is happening? No – because writing this blog is part of that worship.

I entered the Cathedral through the large doors at the front, walking into the expansive Nave where a couple of hundred worshippers were already busy in activity. Too busy to notice me but I didn’t mind because they were already enraptured in their Moment.

I looked around and took in the many brightly coloured icons around the walls, enticing me into a deeper experience through sensuality. I mingled with the congregation, standing alongside them as they worshipped. For a few moments, I became engrossed in their activities, the Observer becoming Participant through that very act itself. I soon decided, however, to become more actively involved in the worship itself.

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