Using a low price loss leader item and training front line employees to upsell customers to a higher margin product is a practice that’s been around since Moses played goalie for the Egyptian soccer team. It’s also one of many such tactics that millennial and Gen Z-aged employees despise. Unless they’re being closely monitored by…
To keep pace with the rapidly decreasing supply of hourly workers amidst this devastating labor shortage, a growing number of fast food restaurant chains are now offering early wage paychecks and even same-day pay for part-time employees, according to this article in Bloomberg. In spite of higher salaries and the lowest unemployment in five decades,…
Immediately following the Columbine tragedy that rocked the world twenty years ago (4-20-1999), Frank DeAngelis vowed that he would remain the school’s principal until the class of first grade students in the elementary schools that fed into the high school had graduated. His goal was to prevent a mass exodus of faculty and staff and…
It’s 8:07 am in Denver and the daily newspaper “guaranteed to be delivered by 7 am” is not here. Again. And when it finally arrives, it will be thrown from the window of a hail-damaged 2006 Saturn Ion by a 30-something woman, and it will land at the edge of the curb at least 35…
For his 4th birthday, my grandson August (Auggie) was given an Echo Dot for Kids – Amazon’s Alexa for children. Even though I don’t own an Alexa or similar AI device, I thought I was somewhat familiar with what they do. Turns out, I wasn’t. I watched Auggie’s face light up when his dad finally…
When I hear the word family, beyond the mental images of my own, I can’t help but think of the Cleavers, the Bradys, the Cunninghams, and the Huxtables. Growing up, I probably spent as much time hanging out with those families as I did my own. Television families of the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s…
When the Grinch stole Christmas from all the Whos down in Whoville, he went about it with passion and fury. The scrawny-limbed hermit with a nasty attitude and a foul grimace felt like an outsider who was unappreciated by his peers, so he decided to turn the tables and ruin Christmas for the entire village.…
Walking through Denver International Airport on my way to Nashville last week, it wasn’t difficult to pick out the Southwest gates from those of all the other airlines. They were the only ones that looked like …well, like it’s late October. That’s because Southwest Airlines takes fun very seriously. They know if they promote a…
I went camping with my wife in the Colorado Rockies over the weekend. The campground was clean and pristine, particularly the public outhouses. Anyone who’s frequented campgrounds that have no running water knows how disgusting the restrooms generally are. The sign that hangs above the toilets in the two gender-neutral stalls reveals the answer to…
Ritz Carlton. Zappos. Starbucks. Nordstroms. Southwest Airlines. These iconic brands are legendary largely for the outstanding customer service they provide. That level of customer service is based upon a simple — but profound — leadership principle. And while the phrasing varies from one great organization to the next, the tenets of the principle don’t: Hire…