Chip R. Bell's Blog, page 24
March 17, 2014
Stardust, Shamrocks and Innovative Service
Saint Patrick’s Day is a day we honor everything Irish, including the country. There is an old Irish song that contains inspiring lyrics for innovative service. It is the romantic story of how Ireland got its name. “A Little Bit of Heaven” was written by Keirn Brennan and Ernest Ball at the turn of the century and contains the following chorus:
Sure, a little bit of heaven fell from out the sky one day
And nestled on the ocean in a spot so far away
And when the angels found it sure it looked so...
March 14, 2014
Lessons in Protégé Power: Get Your Feet Wet Without Drowning
Welcome to the second post in theProtégé Power series. If you missed last week, you’ll want to catch up by reading this. If you’re caught up, let’s get to it!When we left off from our last post, Sage was saying to you, the protégé. . .
SAGE: “Remember the other part . . . YOU have a responsibility to Dale. Now, go ahead and talk about it!”
YOU: “Oh, and Dale . . . there is one other goal I have for this experience. I want to do everything I can to make this a great mentoring experience for you....
March 11, 2014
The Jewel of Spirit
Joule is a measure of energy. The Joule is a place of happy energy. The luxurious ultra-modern boutique hotel in downtown Dallas has made happy energy (the Chinese call it “chi”) its main attraction physically, emotionally and spiritually. There are many reasons the hotel has earned its five-star distinction!
Arrive at the front door of The Joule and an upbeat doorman escorts you to the front desk where he introduces you to the clerk rather than announcing you. It is the kind of hosting in whi...
March 7, 2014
Lessons In Protégé Power: Calming Your Anxious Heart
Being a protégé can make you feel anxious. You are essentially admitting you do not know stuff you need someone to help teach you. And, if that relationship with a mentor is a new one, it can double the apprehension. Being vulnerable in front of a stranger is not exactly exciting work.
Lessons on how to manage your anxiety are presented below in a unique script-like format. When you read it, you will be in the position of the protégé in a story that traces the unfolding of a mentoring relation...
March 4, 2014
The Customer as a Hummingbird
Hummingbirds are unique birds. One came in my yard the other day and went straight for a large purple iris. I watched it hover, advance, back up and quickly move to another flower. It seemed in a hurry…maybe fickle. It was very picky in the flowers it chose to shop for nectar. I did a bit of research. Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly backward for any distance; few birds can hover. They have the highest metabolism of any animal on the planet. And, they are serious consumers—ten time...
February 28, 2014
The Innovative Customer Mentor
“Act wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity,” wrote Paul in his letter to the church at Colossae, a city near what is now Eskihisar, Turkey. “Your speech should always be gracious and sprinkled with insight so that you may know how to respond to every person.” The wisdom from Colossians 4: 5-6 (Common English Version) provides great council to a service provider wishing to be a customer mentor.
“Act wisely toward outsiders…” was Paul’s version of Empathy. Learning is a doo...
February 25, 2014
The Music Plays Me
It was an amazing concert…at a huge, elegant bar in Panama. A banking client had invited my business partner and me to hear the great Salinas perform. The Argentine performer is renowned in the jazz guitar world. It was noisy when he walked onto the stage. But as his classical guitar began, the bar became a musical cathedral. Bartenders stopped making drinks and waitresses halted their movement all totally memorized by his amazing performance. Most everyone was fighting back the tears.
After r...
February 21, 2014
Innovation as the Pursuit of Wholeness
Tom Edison’s well-known clever line about how he discovered the incandescent light, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”tells us a lot about the nature of innovation, especially innovative service. Being correct can be the enemy of being effective. It is captured in the proverb, “to be a great cobbler, you must fall in love with leather.” Innovation is about the pursuit of the wholeness of an idea, product or in the case of customer service, the wholeness of a rela...
February 18, 2014
Innovative Service: What Great Leaders Actually Do
Take a look at a short list of renowned service innovators: Despite a Yale professor’s admonition that there was little practical about his theory, Fred Smith put his “C–” paper into operation and founded Federal Express (now FedEx). Michael Dell transformed a computer assembly business he operated out of his University of Texas dorm room into Dell Computer. Wall Street laughed at Jeff Bezos for thinking an on-line bookstore would work. Like the bumblebee ignoring the fact that (aerodynamical...
February 14, 2014
The Customer as Valentine: Deliver Old-Fashioned Service
Every small town in America has a Buster. Let me tell you about a real Buster I knew. He sold Grit newspapers on Main Street and knew the birthday of everyone in town. He worked part-time as a stocker at the local feed store, the watering hole for the agricultural community, and was famous for his random acts of delight. And, when you met Buster on the street, he greeted you with your whole name, always with “Mr,” “Mrs.” or “Miss” in front of it—“Good morning, Miss Nancy Rainey”—no matter you...
