I saw a woman today ringing her bell for Salvation Army holiday collections – mostly what I noticed was her big yawn and the fact that she was texting while ringing her bell.
She’s just doing a job. But you’re not.
If you’re not fully invested, we aren’t invested at all.
Say you need to make a big change.
If that’s the case (and it isn’t always the case, but sometimes it is) then what? Once you know you need to make a major change, once you decide that what you’ve been doing isn’t enough to get you where you need to go, do you assume that the road to get there is going to be as smooth as the one you’ve been on?
It’s somewhere you haven’t gone before, right? That makes it unexplored territory.
Rocky roads are bumpy, uncomfortable to ride on, and they have no road signs. So things might be a little unpleasant along the way. You’ll crash into each other some. And all of a sudden it’s up to you, not the road, to figure out after the first few miles if you’re going in the right direction or if, in fact, you’ve veered off the path and are headed in the wrong direction.
But turning around because the road is rocky – because the new behaviors and tactics feel uncomfortable or awkward; because it doesn’t work right the first time; because it’s not the way you’re used to doing things – that’s a non-starter. Because that will get you back on the path you were on, and you’ve already seen where that leads – it’s not the right destination, right?
It’s not always better to veer off course, but when you decide to do it, be prepared for the bumpy right, tell people what to expect going in, and commit to staying on the path (even if you change tactics along the way) for long enough to figure out if you are in fact heading in the right direction.
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You don’t need it when people are cheering you on, when sales are piling up, when the press is pounding down your door, when you’re getting praise and are in the limelight.
You do if you ever want to get there.
: : : : : : : : : : : To thank someone in a way that touches and moves them, you have to feel real gratitude.
To be outstanding at customer service, you have to want to make your customers love your product (not just be “satisfied”).
To have employees who consistently make the right decisions, they have to care about the brand, the company, and its success.
Faking it only gets you so far.
To give yourself over totally to something, you have to care.
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