Consistency vs excellence

A lot has been written about loyalty when business comes to mind. I have always contented that if you want loyalty get the most loyal animal on the planet : A dog. Your bank manager is not a dog therefor he will not be loyal to you. Easy British logic, isn’t it ? If one and one is two then one and three is not two. Simple, hey ?


Sorry mister bankers I am picking on you again but you are unfortunately not keeping up with the times. Customer expectations are increasing exponentially. They will not tolerate anything less than Amazing !

Competitors are trying their utmost best to constantly raise customer expectations .

Banks are inwardly focussed and cost cutting is everywhere. Barclays just decided to get rid onf inhouse financial advisors because the bank got fined a huge amount of money for giving the wrong advice. So ? Just get rid of the advisors and cut down on service levels. Good solution !

They are living in a fools paradise. If I was in banking I would now cultivate this move to my advantage.

We often make the mistake of accepting that consistency and excellence are one and the same concept. You can be consistant in your bad service and this has nothing to do with excellence, unless you can claim that you are actually excellent in delivering consistently bad service.

Consistency at least (probably) might meet customer expectations. But it does not leave room for the extra mile or Amazement Why would you want to go the extra mile when your customer is happy with your consistency ? Think again ! The decade of the customer is upon you Mr Business man. Unless you find that special sparkle to lighten up your service you might shortly find that your receptionist might say to you : Sir there is someone out here that says he is a customer, what do we do with him..........?

A question for Change

Why would you want to change anything.  " If you keep on doing the same things and expect different results = that is the definition of madness !"  The original of this quote is attributed to Albert Enstein.
This implies only one thing that must happen if you expect different results : Change.  South Africans know the meaning of change (If you are not an ostrich with your head in the sand)  It is what life is all about. 
Without going into the necessity of change in more detail let us assume that One (you) (me) (whoever)
have decided to do something that needed change then the rest of this article will apply:


The 3 pillars of change (This is not the change cycle- It is to get the process going to facilitate the change)
1 Clarity of what you want to change  - What is it that you want to change ?  Your lifestyle or the car?
   Get rid of the dog or the smell ? 
2.  The tools you need to effect the change -   You want to buy a new car - cash or finance ?
     Who is going to do what - Arrange a test drive - what car are you looking at.  It is no use phoning the Mercedes Benz dealer if you want to buy a BMW.

3. Probably the most important pillar is the inner conflicts that needs to be addressed

Inner conflicts are controlled by by few very strong emotions and beliefs:
1.  The conspiracy theories, Dogmas call it what you want
There are all sorts of people with all sorts of weird ideas out there:  The internet is the devil
Facebook is bad for you.  In the near future you will have to have matric to be able to vote. The Illuminati will rule the world.  The government wants to keep us in debt.  And THOUSANDS more
There might be some truth in some of them but by far the most can be described by a very nice English
description called BS   Bullsh**.  Get these things out of your life - they influence your capability to change and hence your capability to grow.

2. The conditioning :    Everyone of us have been conditioned to the nth degree in our lives. Everyone of us have thrown off some of those conditionings but most of us are clinging to some of them for dear life.  The result : If you have to change something that is in conflict with that conditioning you can bet your life you will have a problem.  You cannot differ with your pastor - Says who? You cannot swim after eating - Yea great ! ( great BS that is)  You should start drafting a list of these and other conditions that are holding you back in life !

3.   The bad clan :  (Probably part of the conditioning - but yet a bit different - You belief this because some influential people are saying and believing it - and you are afraid to differ )
Here are some of the examples:
"Money and wealth is bad for you"
" Work on Sunday is bad"
" Butter is bad for you"
" Vegetarianism is the only healthy lifestyle- meat is bad"

Next time you hear someone saying that something is bad for you just ask a one word question: Why?
I do, but I never stay to hear the answer because I do belief in BS when I see it.

Here's to happy changing = Change your thinking and change your life.

South Africans managed to stage one of the best World cup soccer tournaments ever in the history of the game.  Yet we are seen as the most crime ridden country in the world. Crime was nowhere in sight during the games - Why ?   Because we (South Africa as whole) decided to change for that period.
So what is holding us back to let go of all our Nonsense and become the greatest nation on earth.?
Only one thing is holding us back : Our inability and unwillingness to CHANGE!

RSA Animate - Smile or Die

The parable of the cauliflower

I think a lot of people can relate to this. You have been trying to get some business up and running and nothing seems to be working.  You put in massive actions and efforts and still nothing happens. People will tell you what you sow you will reap. Yea right ! Of course you have to plant or sow to get fruits or veggies.
It will not just come up if there are no seeds in the ground . Nice Metaphores. It works for some people and somehow it does not do for others.

This happened to us the past year. Every thing we try just does not seem to work. And I mean we were sowing. Putting in effort. Marketing. You name it and we did it.  Ok the economy got the blame. And then some!

A few months ago my son gave me a pallet of cabbage plants. They looked a bit pathetic.  He had it for a while and did not get around to planting it.  So I took it and after about a week I thought I might just put this in the ground.  Initially it looked liked it is not going to make it. Then the rains came and suddenly a lot of leaves grew like mad.  We starting harvesting the leaves and using it in salads and cooking them. It actually tastes quite nice.  But no cabbage - just very nice leaves.

About Sunday last I was as usually walking around admiring the garden and the cabbage leaves. And then
I saw it: One of these"cabbages" had actually produced a cauliflower.  Small but it was there.  And it is growing as if is getting paid!.  None of the others have followed suit.  Just one single cauliflower!

This is the parable :  You cannot keep on sowing and planting and then nothing will happen.  For me this was the answer:  Do not give up - something big will soon happen - and it has started happening !

Keep watching this post !

The New Year

With only a few hours to go to 2011 there will be a lot of New Years resolutions and decisions  be made. Whether they will be kept is totally irrelevant as it makes the person making it feel great about what he or she is planning (or just thinking about).
The challenge of any plan,resolution, decision, call it what you will is it is of no consequence if you do not activate it.  This will only be effective if you put it in writing, put timelines on it and give it a champion. Someone who looks over your shoulder and to whom you make yourself accountable to monitor your success.

Here are a few challenges I would like to put to the readers of this little piece:

Take the challenge in 2011 to:

1. Be original.   Be the author of what you send out via email. Do not send someone else's BS on. Write your own and send it on. (Try not to write BS) Become the one other people will quote. It is not that difficult.

2.  Start your own blog.  It only takes 15 minutes to set up and it is great fun. (http://www.blogger.com/   and it is totally free!.

3.  Get going on facebook.  It is really rewarding if you know how, and totally safe if you know how.
    ( if you do not know how , ask me )

4.  Learn a new skill - it can be a hobby or it can make you money !

5.  Do something for the first time !.  Go Bungee jumping, Go skydiving, Learn to fly a microlight, Challenge 
     a friend or family member to do it with you ( Challenge me if you dare)

6. Decide to stop growing old - Growing old is in the mind - the body does it's own thing anyway!

7. Arrange a massive party for all your friends.  It is easy : Just call it a Picnic - do not do it at your home.
    Sorry to hear about the one who forgot a chair or a knife or the butter.  It is a picnic for crying out loud!

Come one people - come up with some new ideas !  Are you 63 years YOUNG or 36 years OLD ?   I know a lot of the latter and very few of the young ones.

2011 for starters

I opened "Beeld" (an Afrikaans newspaper for the English amongst us) this morning on the Internet. The First 6 articles was all about death and destruction. It could have been published the same day last year and probably the last 20 years or so. Nothing new.
I do not think the public is really into this anymore.  Is this a foreboding of what Newspapers is going to publish in 2011?  Don't they realise that positive and interesting news will also sell ?



Lets tour the world for something more interesting 
Lets see Hollywood Moves Away From Middlebrow ( New York Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/business/media/27movies.html?_r=1&hp
Midhurst's community heroes rewarded.

http://www.chichester.co.uk/news/local/midhurst_s_community_heroes_rewarded_1_2203004
(what a nice positive story)  Where are our community heroes?

Some more positive news :  The poll at Times Live asks the question : will 2011 be better than 2010?
The vote ?   67% said yes (275 votes)  not bad hey?

Do some playing around on the internet on the world's newspaper headlines. It is really a challenge to find the positiveness out there and still it looks like common folks like you and me are more positive than what we think !

Tis the time to be Merry - (and not so mild )

This time of year it everything seems to start going slower than normal.  Going on holiday early and coming back on the 3rd of December doesn't work. I am supposed to be rested and ready for the new year, but I am not.  I know it is probably only in the mind but the whole month of December lies ahead of us and everyone else is only now going on holiday.  So now I know it is a mistake to do it so early. I think I will just take it slooooower and have an extended holiday at home.  Anyone not in agreement ?  See if I care !