Talk about promises enough, and you’ll quickly find not only do people fail to consider them, but when they do, it’s like they’re handling a bomb — something slightly unstable, out of their control, that could go off at any time. So, I’m always looking for different ways to approach promises. People...
Every week brings new stories of businesses and unhappy customers. And so this is for all the customers out there. In other words, all of us, because we’re all customers of something. And every day sees yet another story of someone wronged. People are up in arms, wrath and recrimination spilling...
Every organisation starts with a person or people. And in the early days of existence, founders (aka people who do the starting) understandably provide an outsize impact on its doing and being. Hopefully for the better, and recently, all too often for the worse. So, when it’s for the worse, can...
A friend Sue (not her real name) lives in a rental house that’s up for sale — in our overheated real estate market, it’s a common story.The landlord warned her about it late last year, so she wasn’t surprised when the real estate agent Dan (not his real name) got...
After a recent talk, an attendee came up to say thanks, and departed with the comment: “I’m off to so some of the unheroic work you mentioned.” If you’ve read anything I’ve written in the past few years, you will be familiar with the phrase. I first came across the idea...
It started with a conversation: Me: “You don’t need to exceed expectations, just do what you say.”Them: “So, under-promise and then over-deliver.”Me: “No, set expectations, whatever they are and meet them — that’s it…”I recommended they read the Harvard Business Review article ‘Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers’, and while the...
I have a confession. I’m a podcast junkie and the ‘Waking Up’ podcast with Sam Harris is among the cornucopia of series I listen to.In one episode, Harris talked to author and NY Times columnist David Brooks about his book The Road to Character, and when they delved into promises...
An organisation’s brand is a result. But what are the elements that contribute to the achievement and how do they relate to each other? These are the questions I explore every week in my writing and every day in my thinking. So, I developed a formula to answer to them. Numerous...
Wharton marketing professor Robert Meyer claims “we are absolutely living in the era of the apology”. Facebook, Uber and, more locally, banks – and more banks – have all said: “We’re sorry”. And while Meyer delves into the pros and cons of public mea culpas, focusing the conversation on the nature, timing and...
One the least explored and often overlooked element of my brand equation is promises. It starts innocently enough, “I’ll meet you at 9.00am for a coffee in the city”, which, judging by the number of times people are late for appointments, is more challenging to keep than people expect. And that’s because...