The best form of customer service is getting it right the first time. But as we know, that doesn’t always happen. In doing training and consulting, I get to fly all over the world. And as unbelievable as it may be, when it comes to commercial travel, sometimes things don’t go as planned. Shocking…I know. But on this particular occasion, I had to call Delta customer service to get an itinerary issue resolved. I called after hours and worked with a representative for about an hour. At the end of that time, she informs me that she can’t solve the problem because ...

Certainly success is a good thing. But that’s not to say that it doesn’t have negative consequences. (Is that a triple negative?) Anyways. In the real world, success is not always clear cut. Could we have been more successful? How might our current success impact future success? What tradeoffs did we make? In the academic world, success can easily be evaluated based on grades. I sometimes teach university classes and when I do I am always fascinated by how students evaluate their success and respond to feedback about their performance. As you can imagine, when someone gets a 100% on an assignment, ...

“Either you made a mistake or you don’t know what you’re doing. Which one is it?” One of my friends found himself on the receiving end of this question during a monthly financial meeting with the CEO, his boss, his colleagues and some of his direct reports. How do you think he felt after this incident? As you know, by now, properly delivered feedback is a great way to help keep your workforce motivated. In addition to what you say while giving feedback, how you choose to deliver feedback is also important. Constructive Feedback If it’s constructive feedback, where you ...