I recently re-upped for a service I had temporarily suspended. As a good paying customer, I expected a quick email to be sufficient. Nope! The response I received put the work back on me to sign up all over again. So guess what? I am not signed up yet! And I may not be signed up tomorrow either. Make it easy for your customers to buy from you. If you make it hard, they might not bother!
My website upgrade is perched high and dry on a rock. I contacted a new, highly recommended, incredibly successful developer, at least according to his website, to see if he could ease it off the rock without undue damage and send it once again into the swift current of progress. This developer made and broke three successive promises before I even received a proposal. Web developers are notorious for being late. Breaking your own deadlines so early in the game is a deadly mistake. The proposal contained nothing but standard, mostly irrelevant content except for two introductory paragraphs indicating that the content was mostly standard and a slight reduction from their standard flat fee. This proposal, which added
Compromise seems to have acquired a bad name lately. One associated with defeat, caving in, moral defeat, etc. But compromise is what intelligent, civilized people do to find common ground and mutually acceptable solutions. It is essential to a democracy. And it is the job of our politicians, a job at which they have failed miserably as evidenced by the morning paper. Let’s hear it for compromise! Let’s listen to each other, uncover real concerns, and work for mutually acceptable solutions in our organizations, communities, and countries.
My recent business trip to the South Carolina coast featured many alligators and even more warning signs. With both in sight of my balcony, I also saw a ridiculous number of people feeding and attracting said alligators. What part of danger don’t they understand? And do the sign posters really expect compliance? People will behave as you desire only if they see the value in doing so. While WIIFM (what’s in it for me) may top the list, most people are also influenced by understanding the impact of their actions on family, friends, colleagues, the organization, the community, and beyond. This warning sign imparts none of that understanding. Those who posted it were dreaming in the fields of “if you write it, they’ll succumb.” Either that, or they think this is adequate protection from a lawsuit. Let’s listen in on the thinking of these tourists as they approach the alligators with insufficient knowledge and insufficient respect. “How dangerous are these guys? Floating lazily. Paying me no mind. Still no reaction, as I move closer. Just a bit closer and I’ll have a great photo!” Meanwhile, I am picturing eighty razor-sharp teeth leveraged by a foot of jawbone on 1,000 pounds of quick-twitch muscle. “Don’t push your luck, buddy!”
Volkmar Völzke of New Pace Consulting in Switzerland and Canada reacts to “We’ve Got to Stop Meeting Like This! 10 Surprising Reasons for Wasteful Meetings”
Having arrived early for a client meeting, I became privy to a conversation spurred by heavy resistance to changes they were trying to make. Those present proposed many ideas to reduce the resistance. Unfortunately, those ideas were of two distinct types: Changes to the goal Changes to the methods used to achieve the goal If you are struggling with implementation, whether encountering resistance or hitting other obstacles, be sure to distinguish between the ends and the means. If your goal is sound, don’t sacrifice it just because you haven’t found a suitable method for achieving it. There are always multiple paths to any destination. If your desired end point is important, stay strong and find a new path.
A friend of mine motivated to lose weight in the hopes of reducing back pain recently shared his dramatic results with others. The reactions professed predictable beliefs: He is missing out on important nutrients. He won’t keep the weight off. He should reward himself with occasional splurges. Let me point out that those quick to offer such comments:
My daughter is jumping out of an airplane tomorrow. When I first heard, I asked her what kind of training she would get. “There is no need,” she said. ‘You jump with an expert. You are never on your own. They even pull the ripcord for you. They do this all the time.” So there is no reason to worry. Right? The likelihood of a problem is tiny. They do this all the time and she is literally in the hands of experts. I woke up suddenly from a dream
There is a house down the street that the owners are renovating. They apparently have the: Desire Capability They will likely: Save money But: They will be at it many times longer than had they hired someone with the time and expertise to get the job done If that is the way you want to live, I’m all for it. However, if that is the way you run your business, think again.