I’ve discussed many things that annoy me from technology shortcomings, bad service and rudeness in business but today I’d like to look at someone else’s list of annoyances. Choice has aggregated a list of the top 32 things that annoy people the most. Like all lists this list is best discussed over a beer at the bar but we need to start somewhere so in rough sequential order I have picked out ones that interest me from the worst to the still bad.
1. Hidden fees and costs – this relates to the many financial institutions taking advantage of the consumer ignorance of contracts and legalese. Wouldn’t it be great if they took a leaf out of the Low Cost Carrier book and peeled back the onion of fees and made them all as obvious as paying for a meal or extra legroom on a plane?
3. Being on hold and not getting real people on the phone – What have companies got to lose, except customers? They should all take note of someone like Zappos and mirror their service mentality on companies that enjoy the customer relationship.
7. Door to door salespeople and telemarketers – I thought it was only Mormons who still did the door to door thing? The intrusion of telemarketers goes past the line of permission to interrupt and sell you things at the most inopportune times. Seth Godin has probably the best set of books and articles on permission marketing and the advantages of having your customers come to you. Check it out.
10. Nonchalant customer service – Captain bloody obvious and I don’t see how so many companies have forgotten the GFC so quickly. The Commonwealth Bank estimates it is 8 X the cost to replace a customer than to retain one. That’s easy maths in anyone’s language.
11. Erroneous bills – is this deliberate, as this annoyance keeps creeping up the list? Willful premeditated or just lazy data entry. Either way it’s enough reason to leave suppliers and look for alternatives. Again with the 8 X model.
15. Spam email – 90% of all emails sent globally are spam. With 247 billion emails sent daily, consider how much more efficiently your systems would run if they didn’t have to contend with that mountain of rubbish flying through your servers? Is it time to call someone like Symantec and have them take an electronic broom to your inbox?
18. Long queues at checkout lines – It bugs me too and I don’t know if supermarkets shouldn’t be shaped like a triangle with the pointy end at the deli and the fat end with endless checkouts? Is it a broken model? I’d like to add my own personal annoyance to this thinking and grizzle about the taxi lines at the airport. Under the taxi Nazi people are herded like sheep in ski lines. If there are 50 cabs and 50 people, I’m sure we can get ourselves organised and into those cabs in half the time it takes to wait for the official in orange to bequeath us a cab.
20. Poor service from airlines – how did this one end up so low on the list below number 4 tailgating and number 8 people coughing and not covering their mouth? Have we become so used to the bad service that it is now ubiquitous with airlines? No wonder Richard Branson keeps acquiring new customers.
29. Crying babies on planes – having already commented on this in a recent blog, it may be getting enough impetus for airlines to start thinking about family and single/couple aircraft.
30. Programming new electronic products – I have to believe this is only on the list for people who don’t know anyone under 15 years. After all the DNA of the iGeneration gives it special powers to not require manuals and intuitively work any electronic item built in the last 5 years.
32. Inaccurate weather forecasts – Huh? Is this from people without windows in their houses?
Interestingly, the majority of the annoyances on the list could be resolved with an increase in the level of customer service, engaging customers in a long term business relationship and listening to Tom Peters when he tells us the soft things ( decency, thoughtfulness, kindness, integrity, respect, appreciation, courtesy, listening ) are the new hard things.
For the full list go to Choice and see if what annoys you most, made it. http://bit.ly/ducuOc
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
What channel are you watching?
Knowledge and information has no impediments today and you can access it via a multitude of channels yet I detect a distinct lack of enthusiasm from many people who would prefer to have it all fed to them rather than experience it themselves.
What was the last book you purchased and read? It’s not a hard question and in my circle of friends and colleagues it usually elicits debate on authors and articles corresponding to their interests.
The reason I ask, I’m concerned about research coming out of the US and Australia about TV watching habits and the lack of books, fiction and nonfiction, selling. It seems we are much more involved in watching Idol and reality shows than reading a newspaper, books or even using the web to access information or read online.
At 192 minutes a day watching TV, Australia still lags behind the US at 277 minutes and the UK at 225 minutes but we are doing everything we can to catch up. The web was seen as a killer for TV but at 40% of total media consumption in Australia, TV still reign’s supreme over everything including the web at 24%. Newspapers and magazines at 3% don’t even hit the radar with books not getting a mention at all. Where do we get our opinions from if not a wide choice of media information? Not from midnight to dawn infomercials that’s for sure.
Revealing statistics in the US show that of the approximately 1.2 million books published annually, 950,000 sell less than 99 copies, 200,000 sell less than 1000 copies and only 25,000 sell more than 5,000 copies. That gives us an average of 500 copies per book published and a future dominated by reality TV and talent shows.
As Seth Godin points out in a recent blog, Hal Varian at Google reports the average web user spends less than 70 seconds reading online newspapers. Do Apple and Rupert Murdoch know this? If people are not reading on their iPads, then what are they using them for? Maybe they’re watching Idol?
Access to information is unlimited nowadays but we seem to be glued to the tube making C grade personalities reality stars and perceptually dumbing down our populace. Some people call this willful ignorance and with this the deliberately uninformed become the norm.
So it remains the domain of the few to influence the many. If you keep reading, creating, influencing and using your mind then maybe, just maybe, you have a chance to bring in some from the Idol wilderness.
What was the last book you purchased and read? It’s not a hard question and in my circle of friends and colleagues it usually elicits debate on authors and articles corresponding to their interests.
The reason I ask, I’m concerned about research coming out of the US and Australia about TV watching habits and the lack of books, fiction and nonfiction, selling. It seems we are much more involved in watching Idol and reality shows than reading a newspaper, books or even using the web to access information or read online.
At 192 minutes a day watching TV, Australia still lags behind the US at 277 minutes and the UK at 225 minutes but we are doing everything we can to catch up. The web was seen as a killer for TV but at 40% of total media consumption in Australia, TV still reign’s supreme over everything including the web at 24%. Newspapers and magazines at 3% don’t even hit the radar with books not getting a mention at all. Where do we get our opinions from if not a wide choice of media information? Not from midnight to dawn infomercials that’s for sure.
Revealing statistics in the US show that of the approximately 1.2 million books published annually, 950,000 sell less than 99 copies, 200,000 sell less than 1000 copies and only 25,000 sell more than 5,000 copies. That gives us an average of 500 copies per book published and a future dominated by reality TV and talent shows.
As Seth Godin points out in a recent blog, Hal Varian at Google reports the average web user spends less than 70 seconds reading online newspapers. Do Apple and Rupert Murdoch know this? If people are not reading on their iPads, then what are they using them for? Maybe they’re watching Idol?
Access to information is unlimited nowadays but we seem to be glued to the tube making C grade personalities reality stars and perceptually dumbing down our populace. Some people call this willful ignorance and with this the deliberately uninformed become the norm.
So it remains the domain of the few to influence the many. If you keep reading, creating, influencing and using your mind then maybe, just maybe, you have a chance to bring in some from the Idol wilderness.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Who's the Boss?
Everybody works for someone, so if you had your choice and you do, who would you work for? Is it the person you work for now? Is it someone else in the company or even another company? Are they the leader you have been looking for? Do you see yourself in that corner office?
For many people bosses come and go and generally make no difference but it’s the leaders we look to and would like to work with that could make a difference in our days. Leaders rather than a manager is the thinking often documented in employee surveys.
The old saying of “management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things” rings a bell for many people and is often cited as a reason for people moving and looking to another to inspire them.
For those of you who remember Tony Danza sparing with his big shoulder padded blonde bombshell of a boss in the 80s sitcom and enjoying every minute of it, it comes as no surprise to see surveys rating the people you would really like to work for being other than ordinary but familiar.
Adecco posed the question to find out what people thought of their boss and who among the famous would make ideal bosses.
Without specific criteria and business skills required it came as no surprise Oprah was the top choice to work for. Who wouldn’t want to work for Oprah when your chances of walking away with a car or trip to Australia high on the bonus list? Truth be known, her business acumen cannot be slighted in any way as $50 million a year would attest.
President Obama was a close second but I’m sure people have not thought about the daily grind of politics and the hard stuff, like peace in the Middle East or deciding on pushing the big red button. Way at the bottom of the list were people like Simon Cowell of Idol, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Tony Hayward of the BP oil spill, all bosses seen as self interested with no employee empathy. CEOs as a rule did not fare as well in the survey as people we were familiar with, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who polled ahead of others like Jack Welch and his industry cohorts.
Seems people are still more interested in following the high profile boss to work for as long as they felt they knew them. So where does that leave your boss on the sliding scale of Oprah at the top and Simon at the bottom? Do you look to them for direction or avoid eye contact at all meetings? Do they inspire you or do you hardly notice them?
The option to choose your leader is yours alone. Make it for all the selfish reasons that will make your day worthwhile, everyday.
For many people bosses come and go and generally make no difference but it’s the leaders we look to and would like to work with that could make a difference in our days. Leaders rather than a manager is the thinking often documented in employee surveys.
The old saying of “management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things” rings a bell for many people and is often cited as a reason for people moving and looking to another to inspire them.
For those of you who remember Tony Danza sparing with his big shoulder padded blonde bombshell of a boss in the 80s sitcom and enjoying every minute of it, it comes as no surprise to see surveys rating the people you would really like to work for being other than ordinary but familiar.
Adecco posed the question to find out what people thought of their boss and who among the famous would make ideal bosses.
Without specific criteria and business skills required it came as no surprise Oprah was the top choice to work for. Who wouldn’t want to work for Oprah when your chances of walking away with a car or trip to Australia high on the bonus list? Truth be known, her business acumen cannot be slighted in any way as $50 million a year would attest.
President Obama was a close second but I’m sure people have not thought about the daily grind of politics and the hard stuff, like peace in the Middle East or deciding on pushing the big red button. Way at the bottom of the list were people like Simon Cowell of Idol, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Tony Hayward of the BP oil spill, all bosses seen as self interested with no employee empathy. CEOs as a rule did not fare as well in the survey as people we were familiar with, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who polled ahead of others like Jack Welch and his industry cohorts.
Seems people are still more interested in following the high profile boss to work for as long as they felt they knew them. So where does that leave your boss on the sliding scale of Oprah at the top and Simon at the bottom? Do you look to them for direction or avoid eye contact at all meetings? Do they inspire you or do you hardly notice them?
The option to choose your leader is yours alone. Make it for all the selfish reasons that will make your day worthwhile, everyday.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Do you make a difference?
For life and in business, that question speaks to us on many different levels. There is ego involved along with a need to be recognised, a notion of self worth for the work you provide and a feeling of having been involved in something worthwhile. So a tough question to answer honestly and often only given credence by others when you leave a place of employment.
This past week I tested the above as I accepted an offer of employment with a new company and went through the “leaving process” from my old company. The decision day was tinged with excitement and expectations for a new beginning as I accepted the new job but also involved agonising over informing my old company I was leaving. Anxiety, excitement, disappointment and relief, all rolled into one day as I roller coasted from one end of the feelings spectrum to the other.
A lot of those feelings had to do with lose ends to be tied up satisfactorily, projects to be handed over and the day to day running of my position to be given to a suitable candidate. They also had to do with whoever following doing as good a job or better and the small part of you that hopes no one can do it better than you. That becomes the crux of why so many people, me included, ride that roller coaster of emotions on leaving jobs.
Was I any good? Did I make a difference? Will they remember me? It seems it’s harder than you think to keep ego in the box and remain level and grounded.
So I was surprised a couple of days later, as I waited for the communication to be sent to all the relevant parties of my departure and still wondering about all of the above, that I had a tough reality check thrown my way. I attended the funeral of a friend and an icon in the travel industry and it quickly became apparent at how selfish I was thinking only about my “stuff” as I looked at a family who had lost their rudder in life and still found a way to move on with grace.
It was a reality interlude that put into perspective a small decision making process that happens every day as people change jobs, change houses, change partners and move on with their lives. In the end it wasn’t about me, no matter what I thought but about everyone else and how they reacted to my departure and what they perceived as my worth to them over the past few years. It’s a benchmark of worth given to you by others that you have no control over but one you need to recognise and learn from.
I will be replaced by someone who will no doubt do an even better job than I ever did and my concerns will be unfounded. Like others in the same situation, I’ll have to get over myself and look forward because if I’m honest I learn from this and work to make a difference at the new company.
Still I wonder, did I make a difference?
This past week I tested the above as I accepted an offer of employment with a new company and went through the “leaving process” from my old company. The decision day was tinged with excitement and expectations for a new beginning as I accepted the new job but also involved agonising over informing my old company I was leaving. Anxiety, excitement, disappointment and relief, all rolled into one day as I roller coasted from one end of the feelings spectrum to the other.
A lot of those feelings had to do with lose ends to be tied up satisfactorily, projects to be handed over and the day to day running of my position to be given to a suitable candidate. They also had to do with whoever following doing as good a job or better and the small part of you that hopes no one can do it better than you. That becomes the crux of why so many people, me included, ride that roller coaster of emotions on leaving jobs.
Was I any good? Did I make a difference? Will they remember me? It seems it’s harder than you think to keep ego in the box and remain level and grounded.
So I was surprised a couple of days later, as I waited for the communication to be sent to all the relevant parties of my departure and still wondering about all of the above, that I had a tough reality check thrown my way. I attended the funeral of a friend and an icon in the travel industry and it quickly became apparent at how selfish I was thinking only about my “stuff” as I looked at a family who had lost their rudder in life and still found a way to move on with grace.
It was a reality interlude that put into perspective a small decision making process that happens every day as people change jobs, change houses, change partners and move on with their lives. In the end it wasn’t about me, no matter what I thought but about everyone else and how they reacted to my departure and what they perceived as my worth to them over the past few years. It’s a benchmark of worth given to you by others that you have no control over but one you need to recognise and learn from.
I will be replaced by someone who will no doubt do an even better job than I ever did and my concerns will be unfounded. Like others in the same situation, I’ll have to get over myself and look forward because if I’m honest I learn from this and work to make a difference at the new company.
Still I wonder, did I make a difference?
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Irreplaceable.
Some months ago I was espousing the merits of the TIME mentoring program for the Travel Industry and lamenting the eventual loss of industry icons and leaders and how to replace their experience and worth to the industry.
On the weekend we lost a travel industry icon and today we say farewell to her. Ursula King was the consummate traveller who wanted to share her vision. She had specific ideas on how service should be delivered to the public in her inimitable style of grace and professionalism. She became a leader through always providing the best, sharing and not compromising on her strong views that became a benchmark for the rest of the travel industry.
It will be a full house today as an entire industry pays tribute to one of their own and the crowd will be regaled by many travel stories and highlights from a life well lived. Ursula may not have set out to influence an industry but the crowd today will differ from that thinking because she touched so many that her memory will linger like the soft summer breezes we all look for when travelling.
I will miss her.
On the weekend we lost a travel industry icon and today we say farewell to her. Ursula King was the consummate traveller who wanted to share her vision. She had specific ideas on how service should be delivered to the public in her inimitable style of grace and professionalism. She became a leader through always providing the best, sharing and not compromising on her strong views that became a benchmark for the rest of the travel industry.
It will be a full house today as an entire industry pays tribute to one of their own and the crowd will be regaled by many travel stories and highlights from a life well lived. Ursula may not have set out to influence an industry but the crowd today will differ from that thinking because she touched so many that her memory will linger like the soft summer breezes we all look for when travelling.
I will miss her.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Cat naps.
If I think back to my most creative afternoon periods, I have to go all the way back to Kindergarten. I remember the vivid colours of my finger painting and the austere straight lines of my Bauhaus influenced Lego constructions as visions of building brightly coloured houses danced in my head.
Why were those afternoons so creative and filled with energy?
Seems recent studies suggest that the forced naps we were made to take played a big role in those halcyon days of creativity and energy infused activity. There I thought it was all about the teachers nicking out for a coffee and a smoke.
The reality of the latest studies show that naps can be a powerful competitive advantage if companies would only buy into the restorative nature of the nap. The findings say it is not about the number of hours worked equaling value but rather the energy and creativity people bring to a company. A creativity and energy along with improved perception skills, reaction time and alertness born of naps taken strategically between 1pm and 3pm.
The evidence showing nappers out performing non nappers or “sleepy heads’ as we like to call them, has been researched from Harvard to Berkeley. The benefits of a 30 minute nap can be staff that are 2 to 3 times more productive in the afternoon than “sleepy heads”.
Richard Branson has introduced “restorative pods” into his Virgin Active gyms and they are proving popular among clients wanting a quick power nap during the day along with a spin class to keep mind and body in shape for the corporate tread mill. For someone of influence like Richard Branson and companies like Google who also employ the “pods”, to engage in the nap argument it bodes the question why not more companies?
Sleep researcher Mathew Walker of UC Berkeley finds, that at a neurocognitive level, a good nap can move you beyond where you were before you took the nap. The more hours we work the lesser our performance but companies still have difficulties in coming to terms with the Kindergarten model of a forced nap to restore performance.
I know on the odd occasion I fall asleep at my desk and wake up with a keyboard imprint on my cheek, the boss does not seem overly convinced I was doing it for the company’s benefit. Therein lays the conflict as companies take a dim view of a little shut eye on the company dollar. Until the “Nanna Nap” is introduced into contract EBAs, we’ll continue to ingest copious amounts of caffeine to keep us bright eyed and bushy tailed in the waning hours of the afternoon.
So as you grab a quick sandwich, don’t look down on a fellow corporate asleep on a park bench at lunch time, as they may be working on a performance advantage to make you look like a “sleepy head” in the afternoon meeting.
Why were those afternoons so creative and filled with energy?
Seems recent studies suggest that the forced naps we were made to take played a big role in those halcyon days of creativity and energy infused activity. There I thought it was all about the teachers nicking out for a coffee and a smoke.
The reality of the latest studies show that naps can be a powerful competitive advantage if companies would only buy into the restorative nature of the nap. The findings say it is not about the number of hours worked equaling value but rather the energy and creativity people bring to a company. A creativity and energy along with improved perception skills, reaction time and alertness born of naps taken strategically between 1pm and 3pm.
The evidence showing nappers out performing non nappers or “sleepy heads’ as we like to call them, has been researched from Harvard to Berkeley. The benefits of a 30 minute nap can be staff that are 2 to 3 times more productive in the afternoon than “sleepy heads”.
Richard Branson has introduced “restorative pods” into his Virgin Active gyms and they are proving popular among clients wanting a quick power nap during the day along with a spin class to keep mind and body in shape for the corporate tread mill. For someone of influence like Richard Branson and companies like Google who also employ the “pods”, to engage in the nap argument it bodes the question why not more companies?
Sleep researcher Mathew Walker of UC Berkeley finds, that at a neurocognitive level, a good nap can move you beyond where you were before you took the nap. The more hours we work the lesser our performance but companies still have difficulties in coming to terms with the Kindergarten model of a forced nap to restore performance.
I know on the odd occasion I fall asleep at my desk and wake up with a keyboard imprint on my cheek, the boss does not seem overly convinced I was doing it for the company’s benefit. Therein lays the conflict as companies take a dim view of a little shut eye on the company dollar. Until the “Nanna Nap” is introduced into contract EBAs, we’ll continue to ingest copious amounts of caffeine to keep us bright eyed and bushy tailed in the waning hours of the afternoon.
So as you grab a quick sandwich, don’t look down on a fellow corporate asleep on a park bench at lunch time, as they may be working on a performance advantage to make you look like a “sleepy head” in the afternoon meeting.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Information.
How informed do you really feel? Are you keeping up? Do you feel you need to know everything about everything because it feels like others know everything about everything?
The race to keep up with the mountains of information piling on top of you, everyday, can be challenging, can be overwhelming and can be out of control. So we end up with information about information on feeds, tweets, blogs, posts, inboxes, Bloomberg, Google, Yahoo, Bing and countless other compounding search platforms. Seems there is nothing more abundant on earth than information. I used to be amazed at guesstamets of the grains of sand on the planet but that figure pales into insignificance when talking about exabytes (1 billion GB) of knowledge and information already consumed.
At the end of 2000 UC Berkeley school of information, estimated that all the words ever spoken by human beings amounted to 5 exabytes of data. As at march 2010, 21 exabytes of data were being transferred across the internet every month. The size of the world’s digital content was approximated at 500 exabytes and expanding rapidly. By 2013 internet video will generate 18 exabytes of data per month. Who has the time to watch it all? Watch out for the next level as Zettabytes (1 billion terabytes) and Yottabytes (1 quadrillion GB) head for your suburb.
I’m sure a lot of people would be happy to put the Genie back in the bottle as they long for a time of certainty and clarity of knowledge bought on by a few experts. Change and risk is not what people look for and there are more people wanting to live in the suburbs of certainty than have the thrill of living in silicon valley.
Yet this race to deliver information is only just starting and we need to drive it responsibly. We consume facts like products and spew forth information that’s convenient, often without checking the validity. I had a laugh when a Fox poll identified that 20% of Americans thought Barack Obama was Muslim. Geez it sounds like he is, doesn’t it Billy Joe Bob? In 2008 America consumed information amounting to the entire country being covered in books stacked over two metres high.
That didn’t include Twitter! Interestingly the Library of Congress has decided to archive all Twitter posts since then for posterity. Anything you would like to detract knowing what you sent after those 10 beers?
You need to make sure that information works for you and not against you. Information overload can cause decision paralysis so the search for the ultimate source of validated information continues. Will we end up with a single meta search layer that filters and validates any information we search for? I’m sure the Googles of this world are working on it right now.
What can you do right now? Take time out to cope, reflect and gather your thoughts because you have a choice with this avalanche of information. Use it as a currency of knowledge to live better, prosper, give back, accomplish, pursue your passions and most important of all, live longer. You never know what you might learn tomorrow.
The race to keep up with the mountains of information piling on top of you, everyday, can be challenging, can be overwhelming and can be out of control. So we end up with information about information on feeds, tweets, blogs, posts, inboxes, Bloomberg, Google, Yahoo, Bing and countless other compounding search platforms. Seems there is nothing more abundant on earth than information. I used to be amazed at guesstamets of the grains of sand on the planet but that figure pales into insignificance when talking about exabytes (1 billion GB) of knowledge and information already consumed.
At the end of 2000 UC Berkeley school of information, estimated that all the words ever spoken by human beings amounted to 5 exabytes of data. As at march 2010, 21 exabytes of data were being transferred across the internet every month. The size of the world’s digital content was approximated at 500 exabytes and expanding rapidly. By 2013 internet video will generate 18 exabytes of data per month. Who has the time to watch it all? Watch out for the next level as Zettabytes (1 billion terabytes) and Yottabytes (1 quadrillion GB) head for your suburb.
I’m sure a lot of people would be happy to put the Genie back in the bottle as they long for a time of certainty and clarity of knowledge bought on by a few experts. Change and risk is not what people look for and there are more people wanting to live in the suburbs of certainty than have the thrill of living in silicon valley.
Yet this race to deliver information is only just starting and we need to drive it responsibly. We consume facts like products and spew forth information that’s convenient, often without checking the validity. I had a laugh when a Fox poll identified that 20% of Americans thought Barack Obama was Muslim. Geez it sounds like he is, doesn’t it Billy Joe Bob? In 2008 America consumed information amounting to the entire country being covered in books stacked over two metres high.
That didn’t include Twitter! Interestingly the Library of Congress has decided to archive all Twitter posts since then for posterity. Anything you would like to detract knowing what you sent after those 10 beers?
You need to make sure that information works for you and not against you. Information overload can cause decision paralysis so the search for the ultimate source of validated information continues. Will we end up with a single meta search layer that filters and validates any information we search for? I’m sure the Googles of this world are working on it right now.
What can you do right now? Take time out to cope, reflect and gather your thoughts because you have a choice with this avalanche of information. Use it as a currency of knowledge to live better, prosper, give back, accomplish, pursue your passions and most important of all, live longer. You never know what you might learn tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Decisions, Decisions.
We make them daily by the thousands, many without conscious thought. Your morning routine consisting of decisions borne out of routine and trial and error work to get you set for the day’s activities. Some become so ingrained that it feels uncomfortable and unnecessary to try another way, even if there was one and this is often the crutch we lean on, especially in business.
A.D.I.T.W. You’ve all heard it a million times and likely used it yourself when confronted by change and ideas not comfortable to you. We’ve “always done it this way” is the mantra of businesses that follow a long way behind the leaders. As a rule people don’t like change and a sameness everyday leads to a relaxed atmosphere in the work environment which can lead to people not making decisions at any level.
Business decisions are best made with relevant information and data appropriate to the situation, yet emotions, often illogical, play such a large part that we need to understand why we sometimes play it safe.
An interesting study of New York City cabs pointed out obvious decisions to be made for better work practices but change was not forthcoming for a number of reasons with one particular illogical emotion overriding that decision process.
Cabbies have a daily target to aim for and when they reach that target they go home. Makes sense so far. On the slow days they have to work longer hours to reach the target before they go home. On the busy days they hit the target early and go home early. Thousands of cabbies work that way and they can usually work out in the first hour or so whether they will have a slow or busy day.
Then the logical question is asked, why not work longer on the busy days or even normal hours to earn more and go home early on the slow days?
The perception or potential for loss seems to override the decision making process and logic behind better work practice decisions. They will work longer hours on the slow days to not miss out rather than extra hours on the busy days to earn more. Before you point out the clear logic consider that you likely fit into this goofy thinking in decisions you’ve made in the past.
Fear of loss, decision making has been used successfully by many companies and in travel the best examples come from frequent flyer programs. This is a prime example of where people are prepared to buy extra and sometime unnecessary trips to keep up their points balance and maintain their status rating. Fear of losing points is a powerful emotion, often stronger than the logic that says the trip you just bought was worth more than your current points balance.
Decisions based on potential loss have been ingrained since our ancestors decided to start farming and leave hunting behind, for that “bird in the hand” was worth more than the potential of ending up with no birds in the bush.
Yet great business leaders take a chance on loss because the prize or gain can be so much more fulfilling than standing still or working in that “comfort zone”. How often have you used that phrase to describe your business environment? It’s a fear of loss phrase. Get rid of it.
Some decisions are easy, toast or cereal but the big ones not so. Be motivated by gain, by accomplishments, by how much you’ve already succeeded in life. It’s never as bad as you think.
Go ahead; make your day.
A.D.I.T.W. You’ve all heard it a million times and likely used it yourself when confronted by change and ideas not comfortable to you. We’ve “always done it this way” is the mantra of businesses that follow a long way behind the leaders. As a rule people don’t like change and a sameness everyday leads to a relaxed atmosphere in the work environment which can lead to people not making decisions at any level.
Business decisions are best made with relevant information and data appropriate to the situation, yet emotions, often illogical, play such a large part that we need to understand why we sometimes play it safe.
An interesting study of New York City cabs pointed out obvious decisions to be made for better work practices but change was not forthcoming for a number of reasons with one particular illogical emotion overriding that decision process.
Cabbies have a daily target to aim for and when they reach that target they go home. Makes sense so far. On the slow days they have to work longer hours to reach the target before they go home. On the busy days they hit the target early and go home early. Thousands of cabbies work that way and they can usually work out in the first hour or so whether they will have a slow or busy day.
Then the logical question is asked, why not work longer on the busy days or even normal hours to earn more and go home early on the slow days?
The perception or potential for loss seems to override the decision making process and logic behind better work practice decisions. They will work longer hours on the slow days to not miss out rather than extra hours on the busy days to earn more. Before you point out the clear logic consider that you likely fit into this goofy thinking in decisions you’ve made in the past.
Fear of loss, decision making has been used successfully by many companies and in travel the best examples come from frequent flyer programs. This is a prime example of where people are prepared to buy extra and sometime unnecessary trips to keep up their points balance and maintain their status rating. Fear of losing points is a powerful emotion, often stronger than the logic that says the trip you just bought was worth more than your current points balance.
Decisions based on potential loss have been ingrained since our ancestors decided to start farming and leave hunting behind, for that “bird in the hand” was worth more than the potential of ending up with no birds in the bush.
Yet great business leaders take a chance on loss because the prize or gain can be so much more fulfilling than standing still or working in that “comfort zone”. How often have you used that phrase to describe your business environment? It’s a fear of loss phrase. Get rid of it.
Some decisions are easy, toast or cereal but the big ones not so. Be motivated by gain, by accomplishments, by how much you’ve already succeeded in life. It’s never as bad as you think.
Go ahead; make your day.
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