47 year old Susan Boyle, a name that nobody knew until 15 days ago has taken the world by storm when she decided to dream of becoming a professional singer, get on stage and perform despite knowing she was facing a hostile audience at the Britain's got Talent show.

Over 100 million views in two weeks, more clicks as the clock ticks. Yes, that is the status of Susan's video on you tube since 11th of April 2009 when her talent was first broadcast to the world.

Her plump figure, curly hair and presumably clumsy appearance was received with laughter and cynical reactions from the judges and the audience as she walked on stage. One could see contempt in that voice of Simon Cowell - one of the judges when he asked ,"What is your name darling?". Susan's response of becoming a professional singer to the likes of Elaine Paige only got more eyes rolling and frowns when she was asked "What's the dream?".

However as she started to sing "I dreamed a dream" from Les Miserables in an angelic voice as sweet as nectar from heaven, everyone at the Clyde auditorium in Glasgow Scotland was stunned, filled with remorse and felt ashamed for mocking based on her looks. Then they stood and applauded the biggest suprise that even the judges have seen in the 3 years since this show began.

Watch Susan at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY before you read further.

I choose to highlight four statements as lessons for all of us:

1. One local newspaper which I was reading yesterday had an article about Susan Boyle with the headline "Some dreams begin at forty seven".

2. I know what they were thinking, but why should it matter as long as I can sing? It’s not a beauty contest. - Susan Boyle, The Sunday Times.

3. After the performance, Amanda Holden, another Judge said, "I am so thrilled because I know that everybody was against you. I honestly think that we were all being very cynical, and I think that's the biggest wake-up call ever. And I just want to say that it was a complete privilege listening to that."

4. Walt Disney coined "Dream, dare, do" as his business philosophy and since the time his team started believing in these three words, disney has achieved unparalleled success. Susan is an example of how this is so true in any individual's life as well.

Delight yourself first, to delight people around you. Most importantly make your choice NOW!

Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

Unleash your employees creativity

I recently had a meeting with the Executive director of a potential client about helping them set up a training center and a training process for their teams. They have been in business for many years now and there has been a hollow in their employee learning and development programs. I found them candid and there was an earnest interest to get the facility up and running ASAP and offer employees the right environment to learn, perform & grow.

While we formalized on what, when and how to's of the assignment, I was also shown the space that had been identified as the training center. The room was clean and basic but the walls appeared naked. So, we spoke about decorating them with some ready made motivational stuff that include wall posters, customer service graffiti, great quotes of leaders etc. Then a flash just crossed my mind - Hang on...just as much as the owners are keen, the employees need to be involved in their own learning and development and it starts with them. So, I suggested that we talk to the employees from each department and let them unleash their creativity to decorate different sections of the wall that will provide a motivating environment for them and their co-workers. That way we could also discover some hidden talents in the form of artists, poets, interior designers and may be even to help the company in it's re branding efforts. The Management found the idea cool and hopefully it should pay off.

Pixar which is well known for making blockbuster movies like Finding Nemo and Toy Story is a great example of a company that provides a great learning and development environment. They set up what they call as Pixar University (PU). One would certainly expect them to conduct classes on movie making. They do that YES and also classes in Sculpture, drawing,singing, pottery, theatre and more.

When Randy Nelson, the Dean of PU was asked how teaching employees pottery or singing will help Pixar, he said:

We have made the leap from an idea-centered business to people-centered business.
Instead of developing ideas, we develop people
Instead of investing in ideas, we invest in people.
We are trying to create a culture of learning, filled with lifelong learners. It's no trick for talented people to be interesting, but it is a gift to be interested. We want an organization filled with interested people.

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!
Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

Formula to Success

I have been asked many a times during training sessions and in particular by the people who regard me as a Mentor about feeling demotivated on failing to achieve something. The follow up statements I am used to hearing are:

I have given it my best shot and I can't think of any better way

(or) I am lost. I don't know what to do next.

For those of you still caught up in this low morale feel, I am glad I found this video of Allan Pease who is highly regarded worldwide as a body language expert . His book titled "The definitive book on Body Language" has sold over 1 million copies and is great fun to read.

He talks about GOALS and how a 3 step formula saved his life after being diagonised of advance Prostrate cancer. With doctors confirming 98% chances he would die in 3 years, he chose to study the remaining 2% who survived and battled it out.

What I loved most is Allan deciding to write out an audacious goal without a deadline to speak at Kremlin and Vladimir Putin becoming his fan later.

To summarize Allan's Formula for success:

1) Make the decision to have a clearly defined goal / goals - Decide what you want to do first and the how's will follow.

2) Have a written plan of action with deadlines - It's the difference between Millionaires and Billionaires. Have a continual list to prevent running out of what to do next when you face an obstacle with one.

3) No matter what anyone says just follow through with your goal - Everyone around you, those who love you in particular will try to stop you. They dont want to see you fail. Just go through with it.

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!

Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

Creating Magical moments

You visit a restaurant in town with your family or friends, have a nice meal and then ask for the check. The waiter brings you a black or brown leather folder containing the bill and a little comment card for you to fill about the food, ambiance and service. As you take the plastic money out of your wallet, you pass the comment card to one of the ladies around the table and ask them to fill it. You then settle the bill and leave - "Ordinary"

Most restaurants / hotels forget that settling bill is also a part of the dining experience.

Let's take the same scenario where you have just had a nice meal with family or friends and have asked for the check. How about getting a huge colourful cotton candy on your table, the smiling waiter in a nice tone says "With every check comes a cotton candy with compliments" before presenting the leather folder to you?

You can see the child in everyone popping out suddenly eager to reach out to the candy with giggles and laughter. There is so much fun around the table as you are settling the bill. Yeah, that's the magical moment which gets etched in your memory and will be talked about. - "Extraordinary"

Did it cost the restaurant a lot of money to do that? Was it asking for too much from the waiter - Not at all!

Great service organizations consistently work on these little touch points to create memorable experiences and that's what makes the best stand out from the rest.

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!

Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

The "YOU" factor - Lead change & Be Happy

Couple of days ago, I was flipping the pages of various books at the Landmark book stores in chennai when I chanced upon a "Serenity prayer". Most often when I browse the pages in this manner, words check in and check out from my mind but this one got registered and said I will never leave. Here's how it goes:

God, I pray to you to grant me 

the serenity to accept 

the things I cannot change

courage to change the

the things I can

wisdom to know the difference 

between the two.

Easier said than done I agree. Let me borrow an example from Stephen Covey's 90-10 principle of life to talk more about this;

You are having breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffe on to your business shirt. You can't change what just happened coz it's beyond your control. What happens next is determined by;

Emotional Reaction: you curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your wife and you criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish her breakfast and getting ready to go to school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles per hour in a 30 mph speed limit zone. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60.00 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minute late, you realize that you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home.rWhen you arrive home, you find a small wedge in your relationship with your wife and daughter. Why all this and why such a bad day? Is it because of the Coffee, your daughter, wife, traffic or YOU? - "You" know the answer.

(or)

Responsive action - ideally what could have and what should have happened;

coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say: “It’s okay, honey, you just need to be More careful next time.” Grabbing a towel you go upstairs and change your shirt. You grab your briefcase, and you come back down in time to look through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves. You arrive 5 minutes early a cheerfully greet the staff. Scene starts the same in both cases, ends totally different - See the difference?

You really have no control over 10% of what happens in your life. The other 90% was determined by your emotional reaction (or) Responsive action.

Now, go back to the prayer, read it again. I recommend that you in fact chant it everyday until you discover the secret formula for happiness. 

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make you choice NOW!

Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

Techie as a cabbie

How often do you come across a well groomed cab driver who will;

Smile, greet and open the door for you - Help you with your luggage when you get in and get out - Remind you to put on your seat belt for safety - Play music after checking with you (limited choice though) - Pick up a nice conversation in fluent English explaining en route attractions during a 4 hour drive - Stop for a snack at a great place recognizing need (Growling stomach) - Thank you for choosing him and hand over a business card at drop off

Perhaps you can expect the first four basic courtesies from a well trained cab driver of a 5 star hotel but certainly not in the remote parts of Maharashtra. I should say we were lucky to find SILVERA (our driver's name) on our return trip from Shirdi to Pune.

Though initially I was overawed by Silvera's customer service skills and professionalism, it did not take me too long to find out that he owned not just this Chevrolet Tavera but 17 more similar ones. He was replacing one of his drivers that day who had applied for a day's leave. I have read about a General Manager of a hotel wearing the bell boys' uniform for a day but I had never heard of a travel company owner (18 vehicles) acting as a driver. So, naturally I took advantage of our driving time to get an interview done and have published the summary;

me: It's just a day's leave requested by your driver and yet you to choose make this 8 hour trip (to & fro) - Is it about money?
Silvera (SIL): It's not just about money, yes I certainly lose about 4000 Rs/- in case I happen to park the vehicle in the garage but driving is my passion. When there is an opportunity like this I seize it to:
(a) Lead by example - It shows my drivers how much I value their job and the business itself.
(b) Interact with my customers and get direct feedback
(c) Experience what my drivers go through and I could relate with challenges they face while driving.
(d) Meet my business partners across the state (Tie-up's with travel agencies - talks about his lunch with the one at Shirdi that afternoon).

me: do you have any business rules or philosophy?
SIL: Customers are really everything to the business" and hence I believe in providing them "Safety, Comfort and Service". His business cards reads that!

me: how do you recruit your drivers?
SIL: Mostly references from my team or known contacts, but the basic must haves are a Valid license, min 5 years experience on road (for knowledge of routes within the state) - I verify this. Basic english is an advantage but it's hard to find.

me: How do you ensure your drivers provide the same experience to Customers as you have given us?
SIL: I train, talk to them and convince them that customers will be happy to pay for Safety, comfort and Service. They are getting better everyday and I can see that. Though I may not be able to guarantee the same level of service at this stage, I am striving to achieve that.

me: How do you handle customer complaints?
SIL: I take them very seriously. Infact my drivers know that if I get any speeding complaints from the customers, that will be their last day at work. Safety stands at "Position 1" amongst our beliefs and I cannot compromise on that (he jokes about Anthony, one of his drivers who has got a couple of driving too slow complaints on the highway).

me: How long have you been in this business and what is your long term plan?
SIL: 6 months since I started off and I wish to own a few VOLVO buses and may be even challenge NEETA Volvo (which has the biggest market in Maharashtra) in the future.

me: Only 6 months, so what have you been doing all this while?
SIL: I am a SAP Consultant and continue to work for a SEI-CMM Level 4 IT Company. I have been an IT professional for 13 years and decided to start my own business. I have always been fond of vehicles and even as early as school/college days I would drive heavy trucks. Right now, I am on notice period and ready to take on rental car full time. I have managed it over the last 6 months simply from home with mobile phones and with the hep of a director-partner who is a retired military professional.

For that surprise news - "Techie as a Cabbie", we had to stop for refreshments and take a breath of fresh air. The journey after that was equally impressive and touching in a way when I got to learn about situations and challenges he has had to deal with in his personal life and keep his dream going.

I recently read about how visionary companies have become successful from the book "built to last" by Jim collins where he writes about leaders of these companies having BHAG"s - Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Let me cite an example from the same book to quickly tell you about BHAG's. In 1890's, City Bank (as Citicorp was then named) was an unspectacular regionanl bank with only a president, a cashier and a handful of employees. Yet president James Stillman set the almost ludicrous (but certainly stimulating) aim "to become a great national bank" and IT DID BECOME ONE.

I could see Stillman's confidence and commitment in Silvera when he spoke about owning Volvo's and perhaps challenge NEETA travels.

To know more about Silvera's business or to utilize his services if you are in Pune, log on to: www.virgotransline.com.

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!

meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

We are not parcels!

It's a little more than 2 hours since I reached home tired after 3 days of hectic travel to Pune and Shirdi. My body calls for the hibernation mode, while the mind insits on blogging at least one of our travel experiences that ranged from disasters, disappointments to delight. If you belong to the service industry, I am sure you would know that customers often share bitter experiences more to the world than good ones. For the moment, I will go with these statistics;

We had booked our flight tickets (Chennai-Pune-Chennai) through a popular travel website and expected everything to be smooth. The turbulence that started on the flight to Pune decided to be our travel partner. Wow - When it rains...it does POUR".

I have to respect my body's request and stick to writing only about the airline service today, but I promise to blog the other experiences, the delights in particular over the next week.

During the onward journey from Pune to Shirdi, my brother-in-law (BIL) got a call from the airline saying our return flight at 18:45 hrs for Sunday was cancelled due to a technical snag and that they had rebooked us on a flight leaving Pune at 13:30 hours. It did not fit our original plan according to which we were scheduled to drive down from Shirdi on Sunday morning. A five hour travel to Pune means, we were running the risk of missing the plane.

When my BIL explained the scenario and that we prefer an evening flight, he was advised that there was a flight at 17:45 hrs from Pune that will reach Chennai at 20:30 hours via Mumbai. We did not hesitate, think any further and accepted it. A little later an SMS beeps on my BIL's phone with the message that our flight will reach Chennai at 23:35 hours. We called them back to realize that the verbal communication about the arrival time in Chennai was indeed wrong. My BIL once again patiently spoke about our situation plus my health condition to another Customer Service representative (CSR2) which does not allow such tedious travel and asked for alternative.

Here is how they handled it;

1. They said there was no other flights for that day in the evening and nothing much could be done. Our flight had unfortunately been xxld for security reasons (Now it's not a technical snag).
2. When my BIL complained, a third CSR suggested a low cost alternative airline well known for delayed take offs & cancellations though we had paid full. We were absolutely irritated.
3. Our plea to escalate the issue brought the CSR1 back online arguing that he had conveyed 23:35 verbally with the "I am right, you're WRONG" attitude. His atrocious tone of voice triggered my BIL's emotions, the result of which spontaneously came the words - "We are not parcels" for you to decide our itinerary plan and send an SMS anyway you please.
4. The last straw came when this CSR asked my BIL in a seemingly frustrated tone "What do you want me to do now?". We frankly told him that we could not tolerate him anymore and to put us on to a Manager/Supervisor.
5. We had another acting Supervisor who could not make any decision either and kept apologizing for her colleagues behavior which was not helping us. She was requested to find a solution and revert. We did not hear from them again.
6. Imagine, all this was happening at full time outgoing roaming charges applicable to my BIL.

We had to finally compromise on our travel, arrive a day earlier to Pune and then take the flight back on Sunday afternoon. Luckily, the CSR4 whom we spoke to after adjusting our itinerary was proactive, understood what we had been through, handled our call professionally, offered a tele-check in and took our preferences. This was the only person in the Customer Service of such a well known airline who reflected "Responsibility" and delivered what was promised.

Talk of Clear communication, Empowerment, Responsibility from the other CSR's / Supervisors - It was a sheer disappointment!

The very fact that I have not mentioned the name of the airline means that my perception unlike most customers does not change by one bad experience, especially after having used their service in the past. The CSR4 and Cabin crew service still made up for the mess created by the other team members.

Let me conclude with one of my favorite quote's by Maya Angelou';
People will forget what you said,
People will forget what you did but,
People will never forget how you made them feel!

Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!

Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com

Little things to create "Impact" forever

Staff Cafeteria, locker rooms, employee notice boards often carry posters that say "Customer is the King/Queen" and "Customers pay your salaries" & many more. Many organizations put up these colorful words with the hope of reminding their employees that business does not exist without customers. Unfortunately, the employees treat these statements rhetoric and pay little attention to them.

One way to emphasize and engage employees to provide excellent customer service is for business leaders and managers to keep their eyes and ears open, recognize employees for every little act that created an impact. Let me highlight a couple of such subtle but caring service actions;

A letter received by the Ritz Carlton President Simon Cooper said "One of your employees and I got into an elevator in your hotel. I pushed the sixth floor button and he pressed none. Instead of getting off with me on the 6th floor, your Gentleman simply said, "Have a nice day". Upon exiting the elevator, I asked "Where are you going? Aren't you getting off here? The employee replied, "No, I am going back down to the 5th floor." The guest goes on to say that he couldn't believe that the "Ladies and Gentleman" at the Ritz hotels put their guests needs above their own even in such little things.

I read Brad Montgomery's (Motivational humorist) experience at Starbucks in the book written by Jo Michelli. It's a quick little act but Brad remembers to narrate it and that's what matters. Here's what Jo writes, "According to Brad, "I was chatting with the woman behind the counter at Starbucks. She was a fun person with a big smile. When she returned my credit card after settling the bill, she held it out for me to take it back. But here was the great part: when I grabbed it, she did not let go. I pulled but she hung on. I looked up and met her eyes and bingo! A huge smile was on her face. She was doing it. She was using that tiny bit of humor on the job to inject a playful moment into that day". She just created a magical moment to last forever.

If you are a manager, encourage your team members by telling them such stories to start and they will soon begin to display similar acts on the job automatically. Get them to feel proud to share how they created the "IMPACT" for the day.

You may create customers - it will will be difficult to keep them, unless your employees engage in building relationships. What's important to understand is that one does not necessarily have to always go the extra mile or do something out of this world to produce these "Magical Moments".

Finally, I will not feel convinced having made my point if I fail to include Barbara Glanz's "Johnny the bagger" story. It's a true customer service story to prove that employees at any level, any job can create lasting impressions by providing "Simple & Straight from the heart" service.

Johnny chose to make an "impact". Be a Johnny from today!


Delight yourself first to delight people around you. Most importantly, make your choice NOW!


Meet me at: www.gettingtodelight.com