Your customer’s measuring stick for efficiency may be entirely different from yours, and if you’re not aligned with your customer’s expectations, then you’re never going to meet their needs. Customer service and customer

experience should not be confused.

Remembering that all business is s...

I was in the audience when it happened.

It was 1978… Kansas City, Missouri’s Municipal Auditorium… the National FFA Convention… and, the speaker was Paul Harvey. The presentation title was, “So God Made a Farmer.”

Audio from this speech was used for the powerful Super Bowl spot for Dodge’s RAM tru...

One of the points I made in the book, “Create Distinction,” is that “best practices aren’t always ‘best’ for your organization.”

In other words, what made Starbucks distinctive can provide you with some great ideas and concepts — however, it is NOT a blueprint that you can duplicate for your organi...

If I ask you to think of affluent communities, there are some names that come to mind. One that jumps to the top of my list is Carmel, California. The entire Monterey Peninsula is nothing short of spectacular — and, in many locations in that region, it’s quite expensive and elite.

Now, imagine that...

I recently received mail that included a business card. Interested in the organization — as it is a business very similar to the one my late wife, Sheri, worked in for many years — I visited the website address listed. I noted something that really struck me…

It was the headline, “What Makes Us Dif...

When I was about 16 years old, the manager of the small-town radio station I worked for told me that we were going to be emceeing the concert of a gospel quartet. As you can imagine, to a teen unfamiliar with the group we were going to hear, it didn’t sound too appealing.

All that changed, however,...