My Pleasure…

June 30, 2010
I have the pleasure from time to time with my work to stay at a truly world class hotel. Recently, I was again honoured to stay there for a week while I was working. And, I believe that I can sum up their success in 2 words…. My Pleasure. Why do these 2 words, that every employee uses all the time, make them a success? For a number of reasons that I think that we can apply to our own work and frankly, our own lives.

First, it is their pleasure. What I mean is that they are taking ownership and defining that they are the owners of your impression of the hotel. Second, they not only say that it is there pleasure, but, they also believe it. Each and every person, truly enjoys being there for you in whatever role they play. For most of us, we don’t believe this. And, in fact, we can even become suspicious of people who truly enjoy their work. But, here, everyone feeds off the energy of the other employees and their guests. Do they sometimes have down times? Yes, but is that there default standard? No.

My Pleasure is the foundation of their customer service success. And, their customer service success is the foundation of their differentiation and of their business success.

It’s a great lesson for everyone. How can we make our work… My Pleasure.

Let me know about your thoughts and how you make what you do… Your Pleasure.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Invictus… The Power of Forgiveness

June 29, 2010
I had the opportunity to watch the movie Invictus the other day. It is the true story based on the South African Rugby team as they try to win the 1995 World Cup of Rugby to gain the honour of their country, the host nation.

For me, there were 2 great lessons. One, is the undervalued and underappreciated virtue of forgiveness. I think that many or even most people thought that South Africa could not go through the process of reconcilitation. But, in the end, they did and it was the right thing to do. Did it resolve all of there problems, no. But, it certainly put them in a better position than they would have been in any other case. Forgiveness can help heal and unlock a lot of hidden hurt that we experience.

The second lesson was the power of aspiration. If you don’t aspire to be greater today than you were the day before, you are certainly not going to be on the road to being all that you can be. And, this rugby team truly aspired to be more than they were, more than others thought they could be and even more than they thought they could be themselves.

As many of you will agree, a movie or a story has the wonderful ability to create inspiration and aspiration. I would suggest that this is one of those stories.

What stories, movies, songs, or books have been inspirational to you?

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Posted by Paul Frazer

The Eyes Have It

June 8, 2010

This weekend was a great experiment for me in terms of the power of the eyes.

Captain Jo's Breast Friends

Captain Jo's Breast Friends With My Wife Taking The Photo

I was honoured to be a part of my wife’s challenge to walk 60 kilometres as part of the weekend to end all women’s cancers. The role that my 3 sons and I played was the same as last year — to be the best road team out there. We were there to support my wife’s team – Captain Jo’s Breast Friends. So, what did we do? We followed all the teams. We had supplies for them if they needed it. But, the most important role that we could play was to support all the walkers on their personal journey over the 2 days.

So, what do you do to support people who are often doing something that is pretty amazing and something that many have never done before in their life. We provided music – upbeat music to give them a lift. There is something very powerful about music and how it can support the human condition – the human soul. We also clapped. We cheered. We shouted.

The most important thing that we could do is to be there for each and every person individually. To make them feel like we were there for them and only them. I found that the best way to do this was to do something that will come as no surprise…. to look at each person, to look into their eyes and to give them as personal a message as possible. It might have been that we were proud of them, that they were doing very well, that this was the toughest hill on the circuit, that they looked really good, that it was amazing that they were still smiling. It didn’t really matter as long as it fit as best as possible with them. And, like I mentioned the most important part was to look into their eyes.

Looking into their eyes, reinforced our sincerity, it gave them a sense of trust that we were truly there for them. Having eye contact meant that for that brief fleeting moment, you were sharing in their personal journey, their personal triumph in some cases. Eye contact is so important to us as human beings.

We did that last year and people remembered us. And, again this year, we made a real difference. It was an amazing experience for me, and it so dramatically reinforced what’s really important and what’s important about the human condition. People who never thought they could accomplish this big goal were able to make it and we were there for them and with them.

My challenge to you is to go out and discover how you can support people who are testing and exploring their limits. You will grow in the experience.

And, tell us all about your experience… we can’t wait to hear your stories.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

Get Away to Go Home

June 6, 2010

Sometimes, you just need to get away to be able to go home. What does that mean? Well, sometimes if you spend too much time at home, you will find that you lose yourself. You lose who you are and what’s important to you.

And, to regain that sense of who you are, sometimes the only thing that you can do is to get away. This might mean that you need a vacation, sometime it might mean that you need to work in a different place. It all depends but it will usually mean that you have a physical change from what you are used to.

This physical change means that you are able to jar your senses and to be able to re-normalize your perceptions of who you are and what’s important to you. And, that’s the irony, when you need to go away just to be more comfortable with going home. More comfortable with who you are and where you’re going.

So, next time you’re challenged because you’re feeling stale, try going away, literally! And then, tell us about your experience.

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Posted by Paul Frazer

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