Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Animals, Sumo, Rockband and SWOT

Lots to talk about today. First, Frontier was great today. On time, even early, their employees were very helpful and could not have ask more. I have not flown them that I can remember. They had Direct TV at each seat (You could watch live TV or movies)seats were spacious and stewards were very professional. Their slogan was "A whole other animal" http://www.frontierairlines.com Each plane had an animal on the tail. I believe the one I rode on had Penguins. Great over all customer experience. I know when I have a choice in the future, I will look for Frontier.

Then came the rental car area at the airport. Now granted, I did not have reservations. So I prefer Avis, I have their gold card. Hertz was right next door. Avis had about 5 people in line to Hertz's zero. The line was going slow. About the time I started to look at moving to Hertz, 4 other attendants came in and I had a car instantly. Again, great customer experience.

Next, I went to see Mike from Syand. We had a good lunch and we made a lot of progress on some of the Managed service offerings we have been developing. I look forward to finishing these projects. Thanks Mike for lunch.

Then I went to visit Erik at Success. Erik had a concussion. The details were a bit fuzzy, but it involved sumo suites and getting beat down. I guess those helmets are not as padded as they looked. Erik showed me around his facility where in one room they were hooking up the XBOX to the projector and setting up Rock Band. I do not want to imply that they do no work. Rather opposite. I have never seen a more fun, creative and loyal group than Erik's. Sure they do play, but it was clear that work was getting done and well. Sometimes in today's corporate world this fun can be lost.

So what are the lessons I learned today?
1. You can set up programs, create slogans. But ultimately the people make the difference.
2. Having fun in the work place is important for productivity, and long term job satisfaction.
3. Wear football helmet when sumo wrestling.

No comments: