From Joe Calloway: Scout is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He teaches three great lessons: Be glad to see everybody. Scout breaks out into massive and enthusiastic tail wagging no matter who comes around. Certainly [...]
The names that regularly appear at the top of every list for amazing customer experiences and service are familiar: USAA, Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Publix, and Zappos. And sadly, so are names that appear at or near [...]
From Randy Pennington: We fired the service that had done all of our lawn care, landscaping, tree trimming, and holiday lights for 17 years. There wasn’t one single incident that caused us to leave. It [...]
If you aren't satisfied with the way your career is progressing, you are not alone. Most of your friends and colleagues share your frustration and even the ones who like their jobs want to do [...]
It is time to face the truth. The riots in Baltimore and elsewhere should have been anticipated and could have been avoided. They occurred because we – the American people – abdicated our leadership responsibilities [...]
Businesses want people to be creative and unique in order to help them be different and distinctive. But is that always the best approach? Viewers of Katy Perry’s halftime show at the 2015 Super Bowl [...]
A prospect recently asked my fee for a one-hour speech. Their response to my answer was, “I thought plumbers and electricians were expensive.” With absolutely no disrespect to those who work in the trades, my [...]
Change, disruption, and uncertainty are hot topics for today’s corporate and association meetings. This is the second time around for change as the topic de jour. Back in the 1990’s, the message was “Change is [...]
This is the first reader question we have answered in the Five Friends blog. It seems many want to know how we all got started in this business and we are happy to share that [...]
Billy Crystal gave voice to what we all have felt: “Change is so hard.” Change, by definition, causes at least some level of discomfort. If it happens easily and overnight, it isn’t really change. That [...]
What does the future look like? It is difficult to be 100 percent certain, but here are six trends that I believe will be a big part of our lives and work going forward: Customer [...]
From Mark Sanborn: The biggest challenge businesses will face in the next five years is meeting increasing customer expectations. There is a current dilemma that will only get worse: the more you do for customers, [...]
Leadership is about the ability to influence others – nothing more and nothing less. It has less to do with position and is more about credibility, trust, and bringing out the best in yourself and [...]
From Larry Winget: If you have lousy employees, it’s because you are a lousy employer. Your employees will be no better than you ar Fix yourself first. Your employees only reflect back to you who [...]
Would you walk away from a job while you are at the top of your game? Would you give up a nightly platform that makes you the highest paid television host in the world plus [...]