Slow Down…or Stop?
July 21, 2010
You’d like my Uncle Lou. He’s 87 years old, intelligent, funny, and one of the best storytellers I know. In another era, he’d probably have been a professional speaker.
He’s also the last surviving member of his generation in my family, since we lost both my mother and my aunt (Lou’s wife) in the last eight months. So naturally, I try to visit him whenever I can, an event that always brings a huge smile to his face.
As always, he shares stories of the old days when he and my father (his fraternal twin) used to get into all sorts of mischief growing up in the Bronx in the 1920s and 30s. Of course, I’ve heard most of these stories at one time or another, but it’s still enormous fun to hear them again, and, specifically, to hear him tell them.
This time, though, he shared a story I’d never heard before. It seems he had been pulled over for running a stop sign some time back in 1965. Okay, he didn’t actually run the stop sign, it was more like a “rolling stop.”
In any case, he got pulled over. The officer approached the car, and asked my uncle if he realized he had run the stop sign. My uncle responded, “But I did slow down…”
At this point, the officer pulled out his “billy club” and began rapidly hitting his other hand with it. As he did this, he said to my uncle, “Imagine that’s your head I’m hitting. Do you want me to slow down…or stop?”
My uncle got the message and got away with a warning.
Sometimes, like a stop sign on the road, life sends you signals. You can ignore them, you can slow down, or you can stop and really consider what these messages are telling you. You may not get in an accident or get pulled over, but ignoring these signs often cause dire consequences.
Nothing Happens ‘Till Someone Takes Action
June 30, 2010
We had our Swimming Boot Camp class on Monday this week, and it was a tough one. A 400-yard warm-up, 300 yards of the “pull buoy” (a small flotation device you put between your knees so you’re only using your arms), four 125-yard “snakes” (swimming to the other end of the pool, then going under the lane divider to swim back in the next lane – this simulates actual race conditions for a triathlon with a pool swim), eight 25-yard sprints, and then a 100-yard cool down.
I wasn’t the fastest person in the pool by any means, but I wasn’t the slowest either – and I was able to do the whole thing.
And that’s the most important thing about this story. Because, as some of you know, the first time I attempted to actually swim laps in a pool, I got to the other end of the pool, turned around, and about halfway back to the other side, I was gasping for breath. I don’t mean I had to stop for a second, I mean I was completely winded – after only 75 yards of swimming!
It certainly wasn’t a matter of fitness – I’m in pretty good shape. It wasn’t a matter of endurance – I can bike 100 miles. It was simply a matter of technique – I had to learn to swim properly.
Now visualization is a good tool, but you can’t “visualize” something and get the same results that come from deliberate and focused effort, any more than you can “visualize” a new car and one appears in your driveway without actually going out and earning the money it takes to buy the car.
The bottom line is that despite your best intentions and best-laid plans, nothing is going to happen until you take action on these plans.
Make sure you do something every day – no matter how small – that helps you achieve your goals. When it comes to achieving success, taking action really is a “sink-or-swim” decision.
It’s the Little Things That Make a Difference
June 17, 2010
On our trip to Puerto Rico earlier this year, we had a great experience I wanted to share with you.
We had just arrived at our hotel in the Condado neighborhood after having gotten up very early to catch our flight. We arrived at the airport around 11:00 a.m., picked up our car, and got to the hotel around noon. We were very hungry by then, so we unpacked quickly and asked at the front desk for a good local place we could walk to for lunch.
The front-desk clerk pointed across the street and said that they all went to Cafe del Angel when they wanted to pick up some food. That was good enough for us!
We ordered a couple of bottles of Medalla (the local beer) and a few combination plates. The food was great, and we asked the waiter, Javier, to explain some of the traditional dishes we had on the plate.
He had been working in the restaurant industry for 20 years, and was quick to recommend some of his favorite restaurants in Old San Juan, including some he had worked at personally.
When we got the bill and gave him our credit card, he went to process the payment, and then came back to ask for our ID. Fearing that Citibank, with all good intentions, had frozen the account because of charges made outside the mainland US, we asked if there was a problem.
There wasn’t; he had just forgotten about a new policy the banks in Puerto Rico had just initiated that required an ID with all credit-card transactions. He mentioned a time when he saw another waiter in a different restaurant announce loudly that the guest’s credit card had been declined, causing major embarrassment to the cardholder.
In contrast, he told us that he preferred to lean in and whisper news like that so that only the cardholder could hear the bad news.
We chatted a bit more with Javier about things to do and places to see. He was a wealth of knowledge, and an absolute delight to talk to.
Needless to say, he got a very good tip.
In most businesses and interactions, it’s the little things that make a difference, and that people remember. A shuttle driver who’s upbeat and pleasant. A customer-service representative who really seems to care about your problem. A waiter who shares his knowledge of the area with enthusiasm.
Does your team pay attention to the little things?
For Every Headwind…
June 10, 2010
I love cycling, especially when the weather is beautiful and you get out on the country roads we have north of Raleigh. If you go out in mid May, the smell of honeysuckle and jasmine is overpowering – almost intoxicating.
That’s the good part. The more challenging part of riding on those roads is that they’re, well, hilly. And I’m not talking about pleasant rolling hills, I mean hills – long stretches that go up and up and then up some more.
Generally speaking, though, the rule that “what goes up must come down” applies on the road, and when you get to the top of the hill, there’s usually a downhill stretch you can use to recover: for every uphill, there’s a downhill…
But there is another challenge on the road that can be just as bad as a big hill: the wind. Depending on the weather conditions, you can be facing winds of over 15 mph sometimes, and despite being in an aerodynamic position, or riding in a group, the wind does take its toll.
But, you’d think that if you have a headwind in one direction, then you’d have a tailwind in the other direction: for every headwind, there’s a tailwind…
Unfortunately, as often as not, just when you get to the point on the ride where you’re going to change directions, the wind seems to shift – now coming from the opposite direction, giving you a headwind all over again for the ride back home!
The expression all cyclists know is actually this one:
For every uphill, there’s a downhill; for every headwind, there’s a…headwind!
The road itself doesn’t vary – if it increases in altitude today, it’s the same tomorrow, and the next day. The wind is another story altogether. It can be strong or weak. It can be constant or gusty. It can be consistent, or it can change direction on a moment’s notice.
In business and life, there are constants, and there are variables. The success you have depends not so much on the road you take, but rather on the way you anticipate, plan for, and adapt to the unpredictable, unforeseen, and often invisible obstacles that crop up on the way.
It’s your response to these conditions that determines whether your ride will be a good one.
Have You Ever Seen This Before?
June 1, 2010
Back in April we took a mini-vacation to Washington, DC, to celebrate Lorie’s birthday, and to get together with some very close friends – two couples we’ve known for over 25 years.
It was the week of the Cherry Blossom Festival; the weather was perfect, and the trees were in full bloom. Wanting to explore and get some exercise at the same time, we went to a bike-rental shop near the Old Post Office, and rented some “hybrid” bikes for the day.
Since Cherry Blossom Week is one of the busiest tourist weeks in DC, there was a line to rent the bikes, but nothing really inconvenient. That’s because people were starting their rides at different times in the morning, depending on when they got up and made their way out of their respective hotel rooms.
Dropping off the bikes was a different story altogether, because with the exception of a few people who returned them early, everyone else was bringing them back at the same time.
Being a “process hound,” I couldn’t help but be puzzled at the very long line of people waiting to return their bikes, take care of the paperwork, and finalize the payments.
First, you handed your bike to one of the employees who took it from you into the building. There was no receipt, no checklist to make sure you returned your helmet or lock, and no way to prove that you had actually returned the bike. An unscrupulous person could have given the bike to a friend, gone on to the long return line, and later claimed that, “I gave the bike to the guy in the shorts.” There would be no way to prove otherwise.
Okay, now on to the line. When you finally got to the counter, you gave the person your name; they went rifling through a plastic file box until they found your receipt, and then processed your payment manually; whether by cash, check, or credit card.
As I watched this, all I could think was how inefficient this was – both in terms of their staff utilization, and, more importantly, the time they were making their customers waste standing in line.
They could have completely streamlined the whole process by asking themselves the simple question, “Have I ever seen this before?” In other words, is there any other situation like this where they might have a process I could borrow, adapt, or emulate?
Think about it for a minute yourself – can you think of a business that’s similar to this? Where you rent a vehicle for a period of time, and then return it and settle your payment? Of course! The car-rental business.
The process is very simple there: you pick up the vehicle; use it; and then bring it back to the lot. But instead of making everyone stand in line (a dicey thing to ask people to do when they have flights to catch) they have an attendant with a barcode scanner who logs in the vehicle, confirms that you’d like to pay for it with the card already on file, and then prints you the receipt…all in the span of about 30 seconds.
As an aside, when I suggested this to the manager on duty, she mumbled something about how much something like that would cost, and said to send her some information.
I didn’t bother to follow up with her, because (1) she was going to be more concerned with what it cost instead of total return on investment, (2) she didn’t seem to understand that the current situation was problematic, and (3) she lacked the imagination to see something that was working in a “parallel” industry could be adapted to her own.
When faced with a problem, the first thing you should ask yourself is “Where have I seen this before?” There’s rarely a need to start from scratch and “reinvent the wheel” – someone has been there before you, faced a similar issue, and discovered a solution you can use.
A little research, a little initiative, and a little imagination can go a long way towards getting you the results you want!
Have a Process, But Have a Brain…
May 27, 2010
We recently attended the grand opening of the new building recently completed for a local art museum. This was a major undertaking for them, taking several years to complete.
The celebration was a two-day event held over the weekend, with bands, hands-on exhibits, and food, in addition to all the new art being displayed. It happened to be a particularly hot day, so we naturally brought our water bottles with us. And everything was fine until we actually walked in to see the new building.
One of the guards stopped us as we walked in; pointed at my empty water bottle, and said, “Sorry, you can’t bring that in here.” Since the bottle was clearly empty, I was curious as to why. This was our conversation…
Me: Oh, I understand that we can’t bring in food or drinks, but this bottle is empty.
Guard: It doesn’t matter, you can’t bring it in.
Me: Can I ask why?
Guard: Because that’s the rule.
Me: Sorry, I wasn’t clear – why is that the rule?
Guard: Because it’s an “object” and it could damage the exhibits.
Me: But that woman is carrying a very large bag over her shoulder that could do more damage.
Guard: Bags are allowed; bottles aren’t.
Me: But you didn’t search her bag – she could have three full bottles of water in there!
Guard: We don’t search bags.
Me: And that guy is pushing a very large stroller with kids swinging all over it near the exhibits.
Guard: Children are allowed.
Me: So these things – all more potentially dangerous are allowed in and an empty bottle is not?
Guard: Yes sir.
Sometimes when you come face to face with an immovable object, it’s best to move on and deal with it later. “Later” came about a week later when I called the director of operations of the museum and explained the situation to him. To his credit, he was appalled, and apologized for the guard being overzealous and putting a damper on our visit to the museum.
Then he said words that were like music to my ears: “Yeah, sometimes these people get so caught up in the procedures that they forget to use their brains.”
Processes are important, but when the process just doesn’t make sense, you have to question it, review it, and make the changes necessary to produce the desired outcome without causing unnecessary conflict.
Take a look at your processes – are they delivering what you want them to?
The “Bagel Philosopher”
May 19, 2010
Last week, I told you about the guy in the bagel shop who came up with a simple but elegant process to nearly double the throughput at the store. What I didn’t mention is that he was also a philosopher of sorts – a keen observer of life from behind the counter. Let me explain…
In case you missed last weeks’ issue, here’s a quick summary: before the server behind the counter puts the cream cheese on the current customer’s bagel, he takes the next customer’s order. Since most people like their bagels toasted, he cuts the next person’s bagel, puts it in the toaster, and then completes the first customer’s bagel.
By doing this, he avoids making everyone wait – including himself – while the bagel makes its way through the conveyor on the toaster.
I immediately recognized this as brilliant – in the same way I’m always impressed when the banquet people at a hotel actually pull the tables away from the wall – allowing people to access the food from both sides of the buffet table.
When I complimented him on this process, I also observed that it really only worked if everyone wanted the bagel toasted. He said, “Yeah, that’s kind of important, but it’s kind of like life – everything usually works out at the end of the day.”
As I listened to those words, it occurred to me how they weren’t limited to preparing bagels, but, in fact, they applied to most aspects of life. Virtually every day we face challenges – some minor, some more serious, and some on a level that they can bring everything to a grinding halt.
What I’ve noticed is that in most cases, ultimately things do work out okay – it just doesn’t seem like it at the time. Or, in the words of the bagel guy, “Everything usually works out at the end of the day.”
That’s true. It’s just that sometimes it’s a really long day.
So the next time you find yourself faced with an overwhelming obstacle, try not to let the sheer enormity of it defeat you. Rather, try to find a solution; work at it one step at a time; and remember that most things do eventually work themselves out.
Two for One!
May 14, 2010
A few days ago, I stopped by our local Bruegger’s Bagel shop to pick up some breakfast on my way into the office.
A big fan of process and efficiency, I couldn’t help but notice the actions of an employee I hadn’t seen there before.
He called up the first customer and asked her what she wanted. “Whole wheat, toasted, with light cream cheese,” she said. He dutifully selected the bagel from the bin, sliced it in half, and put it into the toaster – an industrial model that took the bagel halves on a conveyor to be toasted, and then, about 30 seconds later, dropped them through a chute onto the counter.
But rather than wait idly by as the bagel was toasted, he did something so simple and obvious that it was almost elegant in its correctness: he asked the next customer for her order. Since she also wanted her bagel toasted, he cut hers, and put it behind the other one on the conveyor.
No sooner had he done this than the first bagel dropped down; he applied the cream cheese, wrapped it up, and handed it to the customer. He then took the next customer’s order, cut that bagel, and put it in the toaster – just in time for the second person’s bagel to exit the toaster.
Now I know I’m easily amused, but in a week where incompetence seemed to be attacking me from every corner, this was like a ray of sunshine. By taking a simple and obvious step, he was able to nearly double the throughput of the bagel shop – preparing two bagels in the time it normally took to make just one – especially important as the morning crowd starts arriving and the lines became longer.
Are there any obvious steps you can take to streamline your own business?
Why Are They All the Same?
May 6, 2010
On our recent trip to Puerto Rico, we had the opportunity to taste some of the local food. Actually, we tasted a lot of local food, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed.
One unexpected surprise was the abundance of kiosks – small stands selling different types of homemade specialties, including pastelillos, piononos, arepas rellanas, alcapurrias, and pinchones.
On our way back to San Juan from the east coast of the island, we passed a long row of about 60 different kiosks – these weren’t free-standing, but rather were more like stalls in a long strip-mall kind of setup. They ran the full range from nice to ramshackle, but the food we tried at several of them was fantastic.
The problem was that in most cases, the items on display were virtually identical from one vendor to the next. As we walked from one stall to the next, we both had the reaction: it all looks pretty much the same, so how do we know which ones to buy?
When it came down to making a decision, we bought the ones that had the fillings we were interested in. If one vendor didn’t have that one ready, we went to the next one.
This may work for street vendors, but it’s a death sentence for you in your business. If people perceive what you offer as completely interchangeable with other companies’ offerings, then you’re playing the commodity game – a very dangerous place to be.
Make sure you offer something truly unique, and make sure that you position yourself that way.
Work As a Team!
April 21, 2010
We were in Puerto Rico last week for a program, and took a few extra days to enjoy the island and have a mini vacation (one of the benefits of having both kids out of the house).
Wanting to try something different, and on the recommendation of one of our clients, we took a day trip to the island of Culebra, about 17 miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland. The beaches are beautiful, and with very little effort, you can find your own private area to relax in.
We wanted to get in some snorkeling, and since we also enjoy kayaking, we found the best of both worlds in a company called Kayaking Puerto Rico. They offered a package where we could kayak out to some secluded reefs; they would anchor the kayaks, and we could snorkel to our hearts’ content.
There were plenty of things to see including tropical fish, different types of coral, spiny urchins, lobsters, starfish, and rays.
But some of the real fun took place when we headed back to the shore for a break and some snacks. We were among the last kayaks to get untied from the anchored boat, but we were determined to be the first back to shore (this was our workout for the day, after all).
So, working together, paddling first on the left, then on the right, then on the left, then on the right, we passed the first kayak. Then the second. Then the third. In all honesty, it wasn’t incredibly difficult for two reasons. First, we’ve kayaked before, and knew what we were doing.
But second, and more importantly, most of the other people were not working together. One was paddling left while the other was going right. They were completely out of sync in their rhythm. Some of them were literally going in circles and crashing onto other boats!
So with our heart rate up and our arms and shoulders aching, we passed the remainder of the kayaks, and got to shore first. We were sitting on the bench enjoying our snacks as the other boats came in – some of them ten minutes later.
(If you want to see us in our kayak, just click here – but be warned, this isn’t what we looked like when we were actually moving – we were trying to pose for the camera in this picture!)
Some of the other kayakers were bigger and stronger than us, but that didn’t matter – what was important was working together, having proper form, and executing according to plan.
You may not be on a kayak in the ocean, but good teamwork is essential in anything you do.
