Steve Jobs & The Legacy of Innovati...

Tweet You remember the playground tease, “when they look up _______ in the dictionary, there’s a picture of you.” What an inspiration for a legacy. Steve Jobs means many things to the world. Loved and sometimes hated, at the helm of Apple he has innovated, he has shipped on time, and he has brought amazing vision while maintaining focus to a talented company. Yesterday’s announcement that he will be stepping aside as CEO has been a lingering “when” not “if”...

Are Your Metrics Giving a Map to a Blind...

Tweet Sometimes I hear people share metrics that are like giving a map to a blind man that is lost in the desert at night. “Great we’re lost as hell, and you’ve given us no idea how to get back on track.” So, the question is how can you share information that helps people: Know the destination Measure progress toward the destination Stay on track Metrics are only helpful when they are related to your destination. In an information-rich world, it is so easy to focus on the wrong...

Cut Your Own Grass, Make a Million Bucks...

Tweet It’s Saturday morning. Lawn tractors all over the country are in high gear (except for the fact that every last blade is scorched in heat wave ’11). If you listen carefully, you can hear something over the hum of the over-horsepowered engines–it’s ideation in high gear. How many times have you heard someone say, “I had a great idea in the shower this morning” or even “when I was on the mower, I had a thought?” On the other hand, when have you heard...

Let’s Face It, You Suck...

Tweet …at something. We all do.  While we could quite possibly spend hours and blood, sweat, and tears trying to improve our weaknesses, all of that effort may move the needle, a little bit. Despite being a fierce competitor on the football field, my father had a smaller build than many of the collegiate atheletes. He always wanted to beef up his “chicken legs.” He did squats, calf raises, and lifts but his legs never seemed to get much bigger. His true, natural-born, strength was in...

The Changing Face of Marketing Firms...

Tweet A few weeks ago another partner of Bluegill and I spoke with a recent college graduate seeking one of those non-existent, executive level, no-experience, marketing jobs. She had a number of questions for us about the industry, and the opportunities that she might pursue while tracking down a job. Then she asked, “what does the agency look like in 2015?” Today, I blogged a response over on the Bluegill...

We’re All In the (Customer) Servic...

Tweet [wp_connect_like_button href="http://www.jeremyfloyd.com/?p=771" send_button="disabled" layout="standard" width="600" show_faces="enabled" verb="like" colorscheme="light" font="arial" ref="" /] Several months ago, I read Tony Hsieh’s Delivering Happiness. The words on the page were comfortable like slipping on a pair of broken-in house shoes. As I have transitioned in my career from a front-line customer contact to a consultant, I have met so many people that consider customer service to be...

Part II Tale of Two Travels...

Tweet Only one week after the American Eagle situation, I had an experience on a Delta flight from Atlanta to Knoxville that was truly remarkable. Image used via creative commons license via @kevinkluu After boarding the plane, my business partner and I were seated directly in front of the bulk head (the same seat as the other flight). The flight attendant leaned against the flight cabin door with perturbed demeanor. With each question, he would roll his eyes and say something under his breath like, “If...

Customer Service & The Tale of Two ...

Tweet We are all in the customer service business. Sometimes we don’t correctly identify our “customers,” but we are all in the customer service business nevertheless. In the course of the next three posts, I am going to tell two personal customer service stories, and in the third I’ll reflect on some of the principals that deliver a remarkable experience. First Story About three weeks ago, I was returning from Tijuana, Mexico where I spent a week with a group of about 10 guys working...

Friends Don’t Let Friends Abandon ...

Tweet Photo used under creative commons license by @lrargerich Today, I had lunch with one of my best friends, Mark Schaefer. Mark and I first met in 2008 after I direct messaged him through twitter suggesting that we meet for lunch. We met at Aubrey’s and let a lunch hour slip into the afternoon as we began telling our stories. Instantly, we were friends. Within weeks, we began working on several marketing projects together. Since then, about once a month, we meet at the home or away Aubrey’s to...

I’m Sorry....

Tweet Wow. I said it, I’m sorry. Despite a little hit to my ego and the fraction of a second it takes to type or utter these two words, it doesn’t really cost anything to say, “I’m sorry.” Not saying them, however, can cost thousands even millions of dollars, split up marriages, drive wedges in families, and result in years of litigation. It seems to me that as a culture we’ve adopted a hard stance against the two words, and when someone humbly utters them it’s...