One day, my husband and daughter were coming up the stairs to our front door.
She asked him "Are you happy Baba?"
He thought hmmmm why is she asking me this (she was 4 years old at the time).... but he answered...... "yes, I suppose I'm happy."
Ross, my husband is not one to make unequivocal statements.
So she said "Great! I'm happy too! Its a happy day!" and bounded up the stairs to tell me "Mama Mama, its a happy day, we're all happy!"
That was such a wonderful episode, I hope you can have one too like that.
What prompted her?
Well, if the truth be told, she got so much candy at Halloween that year, that she got to eat it one piece at a time, one day at a time. It lasted till the next Halloween, and we still had some left, that's how much candy she collected that year.
So I had said to her "If its a happy day, you can have two pieces of candy."
She is the daughter of parents who met at college in the first day of our Philosphical Logic class, both graduates with honors in Maths, therefore she is both logical and pragmatic, so she asked
"How do I know its a happy day?"
I said "If you, Baba and I are all happy, then its a happy day."
You don't have to use candy,.... but its really something wonderful to have your child ask you if you are happy.
We have never forgotten it.
So click on the link above and find out more about bringing happiness into your life.
ABOUT PERSISTENCE - JUST DO IT!
I have the following posted on the wall behind my desk, on the right of the framed poem Üpon this Gifted Age - see the June 11 2006 blogpost - and to the left of my monitor screen.
Developing Persistence
- finish a project ahead of time
- Notice your thoughts about stopping a task, and make a conscious effort to dismiss them. Focus on the task at hand.
- Find a system that works and actually use it. Begin using a time management aid of some sort (daily planner, pda)
- Set a goal and create a plan for sticking to it
- When you wake up int he morning, make a list of things that you want to get done that day that could be put off until the next day. Make sure to get them done that day.
These exercises were developed by Jonathan Haidt at the University of Virginia for working on Persistence, they are part of a longer list in an experiment he conducted to see what happened when people could choose to work on their weaknesses or strengths. You can read about the experiment (but I warn that you will enjoy it more if you are an engineer or statistician) in a paper entitled "Strengths and Weakness" at
http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/Positivepsych.html
I have copied the rest of the exercises here - I hope he doesn't mind, I think they are thought provoking. Choose one that you'd like to do. And put it up next to your computer screen. Here are his instructions - some are localized to the University of Virginia context, but I'm sure you can adapt it. You'll have to read the paper to find out the hypothesis and results of the experiment.
Jon Haidt:
You do NOT have to use these activities! You can design whatever activity you think will work for you, as long as it allows you to EMPLOY one of your strengths, or WORK ON one of your weaknesses.
1. Curiosity and Interest in the World
a. Ask question in class
b. Discover new places
c. Explore the stacks in the library; browse widely, or pick an interesting looking book each day, and spend 20 minutes skimming it.
d. Eat something new that you never otherwise would have tried
e. Go to a meeting or hear a speaker
2. Love of Learning
a. Discover one new place in C’ville every day
b. Read a newspaper other than the Cav Daily
c. Go to a professor’s office hours without a question
d. Ask a question in class
e. Go to an online search engine like Ask Jeeves-ask a question and explore sites you never otherwise would have discovered
f. Every day, read a chapter of a book that is not an assigned class text
g. Read a book about something you’ve always found intriguing but never found the time to learn more about
3. Judgment, Crit. Thinking and Open-Mindedness
a. Go to a multi-cultural group or event.
b. Play devil’s advocate and discuss an issue from the side opposite to your personal views
c. Take a hall/suitemate out to lunch who is different from you in some way.
d. Go to a different church or religious event
e. Every day, pick something you believe strongly, and think about how you might be wrong.
4. Creativity, ingenuity and originality
a. Keep a journal, work on a picture or poem
b. Submit a piece to a literary magazine or newspaper
c. Decorate a notebook or your room
d. Pick one object in your room and devise another use for it rather than its intended use
e. Find a new word everyday (perhaps at dictionary.com) and use it creatively every day.
f. Change your profile on IM daily
5. Social Intelligence
a. Meet one new person each day by approaching them
b. Go into a social situation in which you would normally feel uncomfortable and try to fit in
c. Whenever you talk with someone, try to figure out what his or her motives and concerns are.
d. Encounter someone by themselves and by being friendly, include them in your group
6. Perspective (Wisdom)
a. Get a quote a day online
b. Give advice to an upset friend
c. Think of the wisest person you know. Try to live each day as that person would live.
d. Look up prominent people in history and learn their views on important issues of their day and/or find a significant quotation that they said.
7. Valor
a. Talk in class (if you don’t normally)
b. Go against peer pressure or social norms
c. Stand up for someone even if you disagree with him/her.
d. Ask someone out or to dance
e. Introduce yourself to a stranger next to you in class
f. Speak up for an unpopular idea (if you believe in it)
8. Industry diligence and Perseverance
a. Finish work ahead of time
b. Notice your thoughts about stopping a task, and ignore them. Focus on the task at hand.
c. In class, resist daydreaming and distractions.
d. Plan ahead- use a calendar for assignments and tests.
e. Set a high goal (e.g., for exercise, or studying) and stick to it.
f. When you wake up in the morning, make a list of things that you want to get done that day that could be put off until the next day. Make sure to get them done that day.
9. Honesty, Authenticity and Genuineness
a. Refrain from telling small, white lies, to friends (including insincere compliments). If you do tell one, admit it and apologize right away.
b. Monitor yourself and make a list of every time you tell a lie, even if it is a small one. Try to make your daily list shorter every day.
c. At the end of each day, identify something you did that was attempting to impress people, or put on a show. Resolve not to do it again.
10. Zest, Enthusiasm, and Energy
a. Go out of your way to become more involved in an organization you are already a part of
b. Take up a greater interest in one of your classes, i.e. volunteer for a class activity
c. Do something because you want to, not because you are told.
d. Get a good night’s sleep and eat a good breakfast, to give yourself more energy during the day.
e. Do something physically vigorous in the morning (e.g., jog, push-ups)
11. Kindness and generosity
a. Leave a huge tip for a small check.
b. Do a random act of kindness every day (a simple, small favor). Make it anonymous if possible.
c. Be a listening ear to a friend. Ask them how their day was and actually listen to the answer before telling them about your own day.
d. Send an e-card to a different friend each day.
e. Pay the whole tab when you are out with friends.
12. Capacity to Love and be Loved
a. Tell boyfriend/girlfriend/sibling/parent that you love them
b. Send a loved one a card or e-card to say that you were thinking about him/her.
c. Give loved ones a big hug and a kiss
d. Write a nice note where someone you love will find it sometime during the day. Do this in a new place, or for a new person, every day.
13. Citizenship and Teamwork
a. Volunteer at Madison House
b. Take on added responsibility within an organization you are already a part of
c. Pick up litter that you see on the ground
d. Clean your suite, hall, or lounge (anywhere communal)
e. Organize a hall/suite dinner
f. Do your share in a group work/as a facilitator
14. Fairness Equity and Justice
a. Allow someone to speak their peace while keeping an open mind by not passing judgment
b. Stay impartial in an argument between friends despite your beliefs (be the mediator)
c. Notice when you treat someone based on a stereotype or pre-conception; resolve not to do it again.
15. Leadership
a. Organize something special for your friends or suitemates one evening.
b. Organize a study group
16. Modesty
a. Don’t talk about yourself at all for a full day.
b. Dress and act modestly, so as not to attract attention to yourself.
c. Find a way in which someone you know is better than you. Compliment him or her for it.
17. Self-Control and Self-Regulation
a. Set aside 2 hours (or other designated amount of time) and ACTUALLY study in a quiet place.
b. Work out four days a week (if you don’t already)
c. Clean or organize your room. Every day, make sure that you pick up whatever mess you made during the day.
d. Leave something unfinished on your plate that you usually regret eating afterwards.
e. When something upsets you, attempt to block it out of your mind and instead focus on the good things in your life.
f. Make a resolution to not gossip. When you feel the urge to talk about someone behind his or her back, remember your resolution and stop yourself before you talk.
g. In the evenings, make an agenda for the following day. Stick to that agenda.
h. When you get overly emotional about something, calm down and calmly consider all of the issues again.
18. Caution, Prudence and Discretion
a. During a conversation, think twice before saying anything. Weigh the probable effect of your words on others.
b. Think about the motto “Better safe than sorry” at least three times a day. Try to incorporate its meaning into your life.
c. Before you decide to do something important, reflect on it for a moment and consider if you want to live with its consequences 1 hour, 1 day, or 1 year later.
19. Forgiveness and Mercy
a. Think of someone that you found it very hard to forgive. Try to see the situation from their perspective. Then consider, if you had been the one to do the offensive act, would you have expected to be forgiven?
b. Keep a journal, and every night, describe someone who made you mad, or against whom you have a grudge. After writing about the grudge, describe why you are resistant to forgiving them. Then look at the situation from that person’s point of view, and forgive the person.
c. Make contact with someone who has made you mad in the past. Let them know that you forgive them, or just be kind to them in your conversation.
d. When someone does something that you do not understand, try to fathom his or her intentions in the actions.
20. Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
a. Go to a museum (e.g., the Bailey) and pick out a piece of artwork or a display that has aesthetic value and touches you because of its beauty.
b. Write down your thoughts about a piece of art, or something beautiful you see around grounds.
c. Take a walk with a friend and comment on something pretty that you see
d. Attend a concert and enjoy the sound for its musical value. Or pick out the most moving music you know of, and listen to it appreciatively on headphones every night. Or ask a friend to recommend the most beautiful music he or she knows.
e. Keep a journal, and every night, record something you saw during the day that struck you as extremely beautiful, or skillful.
f. Find something that makes you happy, in aesthetics or value, a physical activity or an object, and let it inspire you throughout the day.
g. Visit the Fine Arts Library and browse through the art books.
21. Gratitude
a. Keep a journal, and each night, make a list of three things that you are thankful for in life
b. Every day, thank someone for something that you might otherwise take for granted (e.g., thanking the janitor who cleans your hallways).
c. Keep a record of the number of times you use the words “thank you” in a day. Over the course of the first week, try to double the number of times that you say the words.
d. Call a parent/sibling/friend each day and thank him/her (e.g., for helping you to become who you are, or for always being there for you.)
e. Send someone a “thank you” e-greeting.
f. Leave a note on your roommate/apartment mate suitemate/hall mate that thanks them for something about them that you appreciate.
22. Hope, Optimism, and Future-Mindedness
a. Keep a journal, and every night, record a decision you made that day that will impact your life in the long run
b. When you are in a bad situation, turn it around to see the optimistic side of it. You can almost always find some good in a situation, regardless of how awful it seems at the time.
c. Make a list of bad decisions you have made. Forgive yourself and move on in life realizing that you cannot go backwards, only focus on the present and future.
d. Notice your negative thoughts. Counter them with positive thoughts.
e. Reaffirm yourself that you can and will succeed at whatever you put your mind to.
23. Spirituality and Sense of Purpose, and Faith
a. For five minutes a day, relax and think about the purpose of life, and where you fit in..
b. For five minutes a day, think about the things you can do to improve the world or your community.
c. Read a religious or spiritual book, or go to a religious service every day
d. Explore different religions. You can do this by going to a library, looking on the Internet, or asking your friends about their religions.
e. Spend a few minutes a day in meditation or prayer.
f. Invest in a book of affirmations or optimistic quotes. Read a few every day.
24. Humor and Playfulness
a. Every day, make someone smile or laugh.
b. Learn a joke and tell it to your friends.
c. Watch a funny movie or TV show.
d. Read the comics
e. Learn a magic trick and perform it for your friends
End of quote from Jon Haidt http://wsrv.clas.virginia.edu/~jdh6n/Positivepsych.html
Finally, there's an interesting class on Art Therapy being conducted this spring by Lani Geritý's class at NYU. Check out the description! Bring Art into your life and Happiness too. Persist!
http://www.lanipuppetmaker.com/cgi-bin/itsmy/go.exe?page=33&domain=1&webdir=lanipuppetmaker
Just Do It!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour - we have received the gift of the iPod
Music has come back into many more areas of my life thanks to the iPod!
Hearing more music when I'm reading or exercising, just makes me want to play more music. Its wonderful.
I've played the piano since I was six years old. Blessed with good sight reading (I can read most music and play it right away) it means I can play lots of things (without practicing) just for the pure pleasure of making music. It is such a treasured gift that makes my life rich beyond anything money can buy - the arts have so much to give us, why don't we weave it in more to our customer connections?
This poem is my inspiration....
Upon this gifted age in its dark hour
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
of facts..
They lie unquestioned, uncombined.
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom to weave it into fabric
Edna St. Vincent Millay
I'm working on a project that started on Thursday June 8 to begin to build that loom.... not for everyone or everything, but in an area that I care deeply about, health!
Hearing more music when I'm reading or exercising, just makes me want to play more music. Its wonderful.
I've played the piano since I was six years old. Blessed with good sight reading (I can read most music and play it right away) it means I can play lots of things (without practicing) just for the pure pleasure of making music. It is such a treasured gift that makes my life rich beyond anything money can buy - the arts have so much to give us, why don't we weave it in more to our customer connections?
This poem is my inspiration....
Upon this gifted age in its dark hour
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
of facts..
They lie unquestioned, uncombined.
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom to weave it into fabric
Edna St. Vincent Millay
I'm working on a project that started on Thursday June 8 to begin to build that loom.... not for everyone or everything, but in an area that I care deeply about, health!
Seven reasons why global ethics should be part of the way you communicate.
Tom Venardos is a colleague of mine at the Institute of Management Consultants and we co-authored an article back in 1998. He wrote an excellent book on Consulting Success Using Higher Performance Standards (1997).
I re-read it today and decided that it is worth reviving, so I'm posting the link above and you can read the beginning of it here to decide if you want to see the rest... if you do, click on the title above.
Seven reasons why global ethics should be part of the way you communicate.
Communication World; 8/1/1998; Fung, Mei Lin and Venardos, Thomas
Professional consultants, companies and organizations that compete internationally will undermine their long-term profitability, professional development and client business if they fail to properly address and practice global ethics. These ethics include honesty in communicating with others, respect for differences, trust that others will engage in truthful transactions, and expectations that other people will keep their word. By observing global ethics and standards, professionals demonstrate their willingness to play by international rules and develop their business potential. They also show their sound and dependable character and reputation, their accountability and predictability during business transactions, their interest in long-term relationships, their potential as leaders in the global marketplace, and the uniformity in their professional life.
Consultants who choose to ignore or downplay global ethics in their practices are negatively affecting their long-term profitability, their professional development, and client business. Practicing global ethics is a must in today's diverse and global marketplace. Furthermore, it makes good business sense. based on our international experience we will illustrate a few concrete examples of global ethical issues, personal awareness along with a life-long learning approach to show how to make consulting practices more successful.
Some of the examples will be based on experiences all consultants encounter: learning about obvious social-cultural subtleties and differences, paying attention to current changes in various societies, being sensitive to unspoken or unwritten needs of the client, and promoting goodwill through use of high standards and professional communication.
What Is Meant by Global Ethics and Standards
Global ethics and standards exist in various forms and realities. These ethics include basic human interactions: respect for differences, trust that our counterparts will work with us in a truthful manner, honesty in communication with others, and expectations that each of us will keep our word and maintain credibility. The essence of global ethics and professional standards is based on self-understanding, tolerance of differences, appreciation for the unique, and curiosity of the unknown. Without the personal quest for experiencing new frontiers, and working with other professionals who have their own perceptions of us and ours of them, our professional life would be mundane.
To read more, click on the title above.
I re-read it today and decided that it is worth reviving, so I'm posting the link above and you can read the beginning of it here to decide if you want to see the rest... if you do, click on the title above.
Seven reasons why global ethics should be part of the way you communicate.
Communication World; 8/1/1998; Fung, Mei Lin and Venardos, Thomas
Professional consultants, companies and organizations that compete internationally will undermine their long-term profitability, professional development and client business if they fail to properly address and practice global ethics. These ethics include honesty in communicating with others, respect for differences, trust that others will engage in truthful transactions, and expectations that other people will keep their word. By observing global ethics and standards, professionals demonstrate their willingness to play by international rules and develop their business potential. They also show their sound and dependable character and reputation, their accountability and predictability during business transactions, their interest in long-term relationships, their potential as leaders in the global marketplace, and the uniformity in their professional life.
Consultants who choose to ignore or downplay global ethics in their practices are negatively affecting their long-term profitability, their professional development, and client business. Practicing global ethics is a must in today's diverse and global marketplace. Furthermore, it makes good business sense. based on our international experience we will illustrate a few concrete examples of global ethical issues, personal awareness along with a life-long learning approach to show how to make consulting practices more successful.
Some of the examples will be based on experiences all consultants encounter: learning about obvious social-cultural subtleties and differences, paying attention to current changes in various societies, being sensitive to unspoken or unwritten needs of the client, and promoting goodwill through use of high standards and professional communication.
What Is Meant by Global Ethics and Standards
Global ethics and standards exist in various forms and realities. These ethics include basic human interactions: respect for differences, trust that our counterparts will work with us in a truthful manner, honesty in communication with others, and expectations that each of us will keep our word and maintain credibility. The essence of global ethics and professional standards is based on self-understanding, tolerance of differences, appreciation for the unique, and curiosity of the unknown. Without the personal quest for experiencing new frontiers, and working with other professionals who have their own perceptions of us and ours of them, our professional life would be mundane.
To read more, click on the title above.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
For Chinese Readers - Welcome to Customer Connections
For English readers, to read it in English, please click on the title of this post. Under the Chinese version, you will see the English version.
客户体验管理专栏
作者简介：冯美玲早期是CRM先锋, 曾同Tom Siebel及Marc Benioff共同就职于Oracle，后在Intel服务5年， 她擅长于“客户生命周期”管理和研究。在国际和国内的CRM及呼叫中心行业都享有极高的声誉。
专栏序语：尊敬的各位读者，非常高兴在《客户世界》同大家相识，也希望通过这个平台的月度沟通，尽我所能，让大家从中受益。要实现业务的迅速增长，业内得到验证的做法是培养忠诚的客户。因为客户感激你为他们所做出的一切，并且乐意同你沟通朝着什么方向努力他们就会更满意——牵手客户，促进业务蓬勃发展。
我尊敬的读者们，在此，我有个请求，那就是请你们做我的向导，给我提问和反馈，这能帮助我了解对于你们来讲什么是最有意义的。我讲的内容对你们是否有价值，是否是大家的兴趣所在？我最想做到的是为大家提供在“客户体验管理”方面世界前沿的最新资讯和理念，并能够解决大家在工作当中遇到的实际问题。
目前我有2个思路：1、及时分享，以图迅速提升业务；2、把一些西方的客户管理经验，介绍给中国和亚洲国家，并力求本土化。
如果你指望读完这些文章，销售业绩就能立竿见影，那可大错特错了。我上面提到的第一点，如果你是认真地考虑提高你的业绩，你就能从这篇文章学习借鉴西方的经验和想法。之后，在日积月累的实践中，将这些新的启发应用于提升客户体验，相信你的销售业绩也将与日俱增。作为客户，他们都在寻找一种更佳的体验，无论是在中国还是世界的其它角落，谁能提供最满意的体验，客户就会跟他们签单。
另外，鉴于每个月都有海量的文章和报道，我会考虑选择那些认为是符合中国的文化和价值观，可以“拿来”并能够放之于中国国情并得以广泛应用的作推荐。
讲故事在中国有很久的传统了，我在这儿也延续一下这个传统，给大家讲个３家小银行的故事。世界各地的银行都希望拥有他们最忠诚的客户，这些客户才会带给他们更多的客户，随之而来的带来更多的财富和业务。
有这样一家银行认为得到忠诚的客户要做到GST哲学（微笑和感恩）。在所有的银行，存钱的手续都是相同的，他们的自动提款机也没什么不一样，因为机器本身和软件都是从同一家供应商采购来的。只有抵押和商业贷款的业务是相对独立的，同竞争对手相比，这些业务也谈不上优或劣。
因此，这家银行认为无需从根本上做出任何改变，他们决定“我们要让我们的客户忠诚，需要让他们感觉开心，那么，要从他们一进银行的大门开始问候他们。当客户来到柜台前，我们要对他们微笑，并且如果他们办理存款业务的话，要称呼他们的名字以表示感谢。”
来到第一家银行的客户感觉到，“不错，有改观，至少他们没因为对我采用ＧＳＴ哲学而多收税（GST 在国外是国家征收的附加税），那他们对我微笑的时候，我也同样回馈以笑容。”
第二家银行更认真地考虑了如何让客户忠诚，他们想如果选择客户方便的地点提供多种银行服务的话，对客户来讲会非常便利。因此，他们在购物中心设立了分支银行，同时提供尽可能多的服务种类，包括退休计划、家庭贷款、各种抵押、存款证明等各种银行业务，从地点上他们覆盖了所有的购物中心、大型超市和商业中心等。另外，他们还投入大量的资金建设了网上银行，满足客户无需同柜面人员沟通的需求。这种自助银行的服务甚至沿用了好多年！大多数人不认识这家银行中的某个职员，他们之间的沟通主要是通过陌生的信函方式收取账单，或者该行的信用卡（即使有时他们已经申请过一张了）。 这家银行认为，我们获得的客户忠诚度，是通过对客户提供众多的便利，对于其它银行来说无法付出同样的成本来实现的。
第二家银行的客户在新网点出现的时候确实欣喜了一番，但是由于越来越多的业务可以通过网上银行实现时，许多人发现其实银行的地点并不重要了，我们可以通过网上交易，即使在家穿着睡衣也无妨。
第三家银行认为银行业务是客户信任银行的一种纽带，考虑到建立忠诚度，银行应该同客户建立起信任感。而信任的建立是需要时间的，因此，银行就他们采取的每一个行动之前，都会问这个问题“这么做会同客户建立起信任，还是反之？”，后来他们意识到：如果不了解对方的情况，要建立信任是相当难的。因为他们提供的产品如果不适合客户的话，客户就会很生气。
这三家银行中的一位副总裁同他上了年纪的寡妇母亲同住，他过世的父亲给他的母亲留下了一笔资产，供日常开销，这样老人在经济上不用依靠孩子。但是，事实上，这位老人高兴时经常给孙子们送各种各样的礼物，娃娃、自行车、国际橄榄球比赛等等。 老人的钱存在第一家银行里。有一天，银行给这位老奶奶打了个电话，“阿姨，您那么多的钱放在账上有些浪费。。”老奶奶说“浪费，怎么讲？我用这些钱来买牙膏牙刷和衣服，还有，什么时候我想看到孙子们的笑容时，我就给他们个小礼物。这不是浪费呀！”银行的女职员善意地说，“我的意思是这些钱可以变得更多，您能用赚来的钱给孙子们买更大的礼物。”这位老奶奶后来跟他们签了10年期的2万元的存单，她觉得10年里让她再挣出1、2千元钱是件乐事。但这位老奶奶已经85岁高龄，而这笔钱对她来讲，意味着她在临终前应该用它来尽情享受生活的。副总裁认为，第一家银行虽然对老人非常友善，但失去了对他们的信任，因为银行让老人买了根本不适合她的产品，而且他们从来没考虑到，“我们是一家人，现在倒好，我得来‘收拾’残局 - 我母亲的帐上没有足够的钱来保障她日后10年的日常开销。我的银行 – 上面讲到的第三家银行，决不会这样做的。”
第三家银行竭尽所能在每一次客户交互中都试图同客户建立起信任。他们所给出的每个推荐或建议，都把客户当成是自己的老母亲一样考虑周全。如果一位客户是女性或者高龄，他们受到的待遇如同对待自己的亲戚。客户开始谈论起第三家银行，“他们真的非常关心我，我的生活，他们相信帮助我能够得到最美好的生活”。。。“太棒了!”“难以相信，我和他们银行的老板没什么关系呀”这些客户开始同他们的亲戚、朋友、同事和商业网络谈论着这家银行，他们关注着健康理财的每个细节，就像个理财方面的医生定期给你检查，帮助你渡过财务上的困境，走出阴影。
之后，改革之风吹遍小镇。大国际银行（BIB）来到了镇上，带来了100多种产品和服务，在各处安装了1000多个自动提款机。第一家小银行同大国际银行相比，覆盖范围虽广，但成本上无法对抗；第二家小银行也无可挽回其命运，他们所谓的“忠诚客户”离开了他们，投向大国际银行，因为他们提供更多产品，覆盖范围也更广。
而第三家小银行呢？建立了良好的客户关系和信誉，并深深地了解他们的客户的想法。随同他们多年来一同起伏成长的客户们，早已沉浸在这家银行的温暖舒适的氛围里了。在对他们的客户的理解上，大国际银行却无法与第三家小银行比拼。
而第三家银行的客户，有着良性的财务增长，从一开始就养成了健康的理财习惯，家庭里的每一位成员都是如此，他们的客户变得越来越富有。这些客户还是保持着同第三家银行的业务关系，而且，他们也在不断地同他们富裕的朋友们游走相告着第三家银行的佳话。
好了，现在是故事的结尾。可能你觉得这个故事同西方的“三只小猪”有些雷同，3只小猪分别用草、木棍和砖建造自己的房子，狼来了摧毁了其中用草和木棍建的房子，当然，砖的房子证明是最结实的，这是一样的道理。
如果客户关系是建立在信任的基础上，而且每一次客户同你的业务上的体验应该去仔细评估，衡量一下是提高还是下降。最终，长期的忠诚是建立在信任的前提下的。短期忠诚稍纵即逝，如同草和木棍建造的房子。
如今的商战有些像救火，有时候你可能会自言自语，“我放弃为正义而救火”，因为“差不多就行了”更容易做到。记得这个故事 - 建造“砖的房子”。如果你经常被告诫，为公司利益做事情，但同时违背了客户的利益时，那么，你应该自问，是否你是在浪费着你的时间，你的热心和努力在建造着一个稻草或者木棍的房子呢？
——Mei Lin Fung（冯美玲）, 美国加州
公司的促销员
文/冯美玲 译/希曼
客户体验管理应该首先落实在“公司的促销员”身上——他们本身应该是充满热情的人群，现在需要做的是让他们充满激情地去“推广”你们的公司，不仅仅是面向他们自己的朋友和同事，而且还应该面对其他的客户！身体力行是增加客户量最有效的办法。
行动纲领: 增加客户推荐
1、找到你们“公司的促销员”
你们公司什么样的客户最有可能帮助你对外推介产品和服务呢？这些客户就是你们 “公司的促销员”。那么，如何才能找到他们呢？ 很简单，直接问他们：从0－10，选择一个数字表示你会帮助我们做对外推介的程度，数字越大表示帮我们推销的可能性越高？那些选择 9 或 10 的客户就是你要找的“公司的促销员”。
这些客户对你们的公司是非常宝贵的，不仅仅因为他们是忠诚的客户，更在于他们会帮助你开发新客户。要去找到他们喜欢你们公司的原因和他们记忆中在你们这里经历的一些美好的感受，然后你可以根据他们的这些经验和感受，进而发掘出更多的“公司的促销员”。
2、当“公司的促销员”推荐你们公司的产品和服务时，回馈给他们以最优的体验。
想方设法让那些有兴趣的客户在推介你们的产品和服务时感到简单易行，给他们提供各种相关的材料，方便传递给他们的同事和朋友；同时，也要考虑到这些材料能够提升他们个人的知名度。当这种推介成功时，要感谢你们的促销员所付出的努力，这是非常重要的。让他们感受到你们的深厚谢意，用各种具体的方式让他们感受你在聆听他们，而且在意他们所提供的一切帮助，以及让他们知道将来他们在为你们公司推介的过程中会得到的更多关注等。
3、增加“公司促销员”协助推介产品的机会
西方常用的一些方法如下：将“公司的促销员”所讲的就产品和服务的话述变成文字和电子文档，作为呈现给其他潜在客户的案例依据；在他们参加你们公司的媒体采访、会谈和介绍会时，给予他们恰当的认可，及便利的条件；邀请他们和你们最有机会的潜在客户共同参与你们举办的聚会等活动。
“公司的促销员”是最有价值的客户资产，因为他们能够帮助你们“扩大”客户群。因此，千万不要把你们的“公司的促销员”用于个人私利的目的，而应该永远出于积极的考虑： 你在要求你的“公司的促销员”所做的每一件细小的事情之前，一定要确信这样做的目的是能够为他们个人带来好处且巩固他们的声誉，你和他们之间的每一次互动本身应该即是一次良好的客户体验。
结论
要关怀好你的客户是非常不易的，但也是有所回报的。开始阶段，可以从那些对你的产品和服务非常关注的客户着手：公司的促销员！ 马上去专注于改善他们同你们公司的每一次体验吧，你们会很快发现更多的客户间的推荐，这过程当中你们始终重视这些重要客户的体验，同时也会感受到的他们对你们公司的感激之情。把这些体会应用于公司的其他客户，你们的“公司的促销员”就会源源不断。
客户体验管理专栏
作者简介：冯美玲早期是CRM先锋, 曾同Tom Siebel及Marc Benioff共同就职于Oracle，后在Intel服务5年， 她擅长于“客户生命周期”管理和研究。在国际和国内的CRM及呼叫中心行业都享有极高的声誉。
专栏序语：尊敬的各位读者，非常高兴在《客户世界》同大家相识，也希望通过这个平台的月度沟通，尽我所能，让大家从中受益。要实现业务的迅速增长，业内得到验证的做法是培养忠诚的客户。因为客户感激你为他们所做出的一切，并且乐意同你沟通朝着什么方向努力他们就会更满意——牵手客户，促进业务蓬勃发展。
我尊敬的读者们，在此，我有个请求，那就是请你们做我的向导，给我提问和反馈，这能帮助我了解对于你们来讲什么是最有意义的。我讲的内容对你们是否有价值，是否是大家的兴趣所在？我最想做到的是为大家提供在“客户体验管理”方面世界前沿的最新资讯和理念，并能够解决大家在工作当中遇到的实际问题。
目前我有2个思路：1、及时分享，以图迅速提升业务；2、把一些西方的客户管理经验，介绍给中国和亚洲国家，并力求本土化。
如果你指望读完这些文章，销售业绩就能立竿见影，那可大错特错了。我上面提到的第一点，如果你是认真地考虑提高你的业绩，你就能从这篇文章学习借鉴西方的经验和想法。之后，在日积月累的实践中，将这些新的启发应用于提升客户体验，相信你的销售业绩也将与日俱增。作为客户，他们都在寻找一种更佳的体验，无论是在中国还是世界的其它角落，谁能提供最满意的体验，客户就会跟他们签单。
另外，鉴于每个月都有海量的文章和报道，我会考虑选择那些认为是符合中国的文化和价值观，可以“拿来”并能够放之于中国国情并得以广泛应用的作推荐。
讲故事在中国有很久的传统了，我在这儿也延续一下这个传统，给大家讲个３家小银行的故事。世界各地的银行都希望拥有他们最忠诚的客户，这些客户才会带给他们更多的客户，随之而来的带来更多的财富和业务。
有这样一家银行认为得到忠诚的客户要做到GST哲学（微笑和感恩）。在所有的银行，存钱的手续都是相同的，他们的自动提款机也没什么不一样，因为机器本身和软件都是从同一家供应商采购来的。只有抵押和商业贷款的业务是相对独立的，同竞争对手相比，这些业务也谈不上优或劣。
因此，这家银行认为无需从根本上做出任何改变，他们决定“我们要让我们的客户忠诚，需要让他们感觉开心，那么，要从他们一进银行的大门开始问候他们。当客户来到柜台前，我们要对他们微笑，并且如果他们办理存款业务的话，要称呼他们的名字以表示感谢。”
来到第一家银行的客户感觉到，“不错，有改观，至少他们没因为对我采用ＧＳＴ哲学而多收税（GST 在国外是国家征收的附加税），那他们对我微笑的时候，我也同样回馈以笑容。”
第二家银行更认真地考虑了如何让客户忠诚，他们想如果选择客户方便的地点提供多种银行服务的话，对客户来讲会非常便利。因此，他们在购物中心设立了分支银行，同时提供尽可能多的服务种类，包括退休计划、家庭贷款、各种抵押、存款证明等各种银行业务，从地点上他们覆盖了所有的购物中心、大型超市和商业中心等。另外，他们还投入大量的资金建设了网上银行，满足客户无需同柜面人员沟通的需求。这种自助银行的服务甚至沿用了好多年！大多数人不认识这家银行中的某个职员，他们之间的沟通主要是通过陌生的信函方式收取账单，或者该行的信用卡（即使有时他们已经申请过一张了）。 这家银行认为，我们获得的客户忠诚度，是通过对客户提供众多的便利，对于其它银行来说无法付出同样的成本来实现的。
第二家银行的客户在新网点出现的时候确实欣喜了一番，但是由于越来越多的业务可以通过网上银行实现时，许多人发现其实银行的地点并不重要了，我们可以通过网上交易，即使在家穿着睡衣也无妨。
第三家银行认为银行业务是客户信任银行的一种纽带，考虑到建立忠诚度，银行应该同客户建立起信任感。而信任的建立是需要时间的，因此，银行就他们采取的每一个行动之前，都会问这个问题“这么做会同客户建立起信任，还是反之？”，后来他们意识到：如果不了解对方的情况，要建立信任是相当难的。因为他们提供的产品如果不适合客户的话，客户就会很生气。
这三家银行中的一位副总裁同他上了年纪的寡妇母亲同住，他过世的父亲给他的母亲留下了一笔资产，供日常开销，这样老人在经济上不用依靠孩子。但是，事实上，这位老人高兴时经常给孙子们送各种各样的礼物，娃娃、自行车、国际橄榄球比赛等等。 老人的钱存在第一家银行里。有一天，银行给这位老奶奶打了个电话，“阿姨，您那么多的钱放在账上有些浪费。。”老奶奶说“浪费，怎么讲？我用这些钱来买牙膏牙刷和衣服，还有，什么时候我想看到孙子们的笑容时，我就给他们个小礼物。这不是浪费呀！”银行的女职员善意地说，“我的意思是这些钱可以变得更多，您能用赚来的钱给孙子们买更大的礼物。”这位老奶奶后来跟他们签了10年期的2万元的存单，她觉得10年里让她再挣出1、2千元钱是件乐事。但这位老奶奶已经85岁高龄，而这笔钱对她来讲，意味着她在临终前应该用它来尽情享受生活的。副总裁认为，第一家银行虽然对老人非常友善，但失去了对他们的信任，因为银行让老人买了根本不适合她的产品，而且他们从来没考虑到，“我们是一家人，现在倒好，我得来‘收拾’残局 - 我母亲的帐上没有足够的钱来保障她日后10年的日常开销。我的银行 – 上面讲到的第三家银行，决不会这样做的。”
第三家银行竭尽所能在每一次客户交互中都试图同客户建立起信任。他们所给出的每个推荐或建议，都把客户当成是自己的老母亲一样考虑周全。如果一位客户是女性或者高龄，他们受到的待遇如同对待自己的亲戚。客户开始谈论起第三家银行，“他们真的非常关心我，我的生活，他们相信帮助我能够得到最美好的生活”。。。“太棒了!”“难以相信，我和他们银行的老板没什么关系呀”这些客户开始同他们的亲戚、朋友、同事和商业网络谈论着这家银行，他们关注着健康理财的每个细节，就像个理财方面的医生定期给你检查，帮助你渡过财务上的困境，走出阴影。
之后，改革之风吹遍小镇。大国际银行（BIB）来到了镇上，带来了100多种产品和服务，在各处安装了1000多个自动提款机。第一家小银行同大国际银行相比，覆盖范围虽广，但成本上无法对抗；第二家小银行也无可挽回其命运，他们所谓的“忠诚客户”离开了他们，投向大国际银行，因为他们提供更多产品，覆盖范围也更广。
而第三家小银行呢？建立了良好的客户关系和信誉，并深深地了解他们的客户的想法。随同他们多年来一同起伏成长的客户们，早已沉浸在这家银行的温暖舒适的氛围里了。在对他们的客户的理解上，大国际银行却无法与第三家小银行比拼。
而第三家银行的客户，有着良性的财务增长，从一开始就养成了健康的理财习惯，家庭里的每一位成员都是如此，他们的客户变得越来越富有。这些客户还是保持着同第三家银行的业务关系，而且，他们也在不断地同他们富裕的朋友们游走相告着第三家银行的佳话。
好了，现在是故事的结尾。可能你觉得这个故事同西方的“三只小猪”有些雷同，3只小猪分别用草、木棍和砖建造自己的房子，狼来了摧毁了其中用草和木棍建的房子，当然，砖的房子证明是最结实的，这是一样的道理。
如果客户关系是建立在信任的基础上，而且每一次客户同你的业务上的体验应该去仔细评估，衡量一下是提高还是下降。最终，长期的忠诚是建立在信任的前提下的。短期忠诚稍纵即逝，如同草和木棍建造的房子。
如今的商战有些像救火，有时候你可能会自言自语，“我放弃为正义而救火”，因为“差不多就行了”更容易做到。记得这个故事 - 建造“砖的房子”。如果你经常被告诫，为公司利益做事情，但同时违背了客户的利益时，那么，你应该自问，是否你是在浪费着你的时间，你的热心和努力在建造着一个稻草或者木棍的房子呢？
——Mei Lin Fung（冯美玲）, 美国加州
公司的促销员
文/冯美玲 译/希曼
客户体验管理应该首先落实在“公司的促销员”身上——他们本身应该是充满热情的人群，现在需要做的是让他们充满激情地去“推广”你们的公司，不仅仅是面向他们自己的朋友和同事，而且还应该面对其他的客户！身体力行是增加客户量最有效的办法。
行动纲领: 增加客户推荐
1、找到你们“公司的促销员”
你们公司什么样的客户最有可能帮助你对外推介产品和服务呢？这些客户就是你们 “公司的促销员”。那么，如何才能找到他们呢？ 很简单，直接问他们：从0－10，选择一个数字表示你会帮助我们做对外推介的程度，数字越大表示帮我们推销的可能性越高？那些选择 9 或 10 的客户就是你要找的“公司的促销员”。
这些客户对你们的公司是非常宝贵的，不仅仅因为他们是忠诚的客户，更在于他们会帮助你开发新客户。要去找到他们喜欢你们公司的原因和他们记忆中在你们这里经历的一些美好的感受，然后你可以根据他们的这些经验和感受，进而发掘出更多的“公司的促销员”。
2、当“公司的促销员”推荐你们公司的产品和服务时，回馈给他们以最优的体验。
想方设法让那些有兴趣的客户在推介你们的产品和服务时感到简单易行，给他们提供各种相关的材料，方便传递给他们的同事和朋友；同时，也要考虑到这些材料能够提升他们个人的知名度。当这种推介成功时，要感谢你们的促销员所付出的努力，这是非常重要的。让他们感受到你们的深厚谢意，用各种具体的方式让他们感受你在聆听他们，而且在意他们所提供的一切帮助，以及让他们知道将来他们在为你们公司推介的过程中会得到的更多关注等。
3、增加“公司促销员”协助推介产品的机会
西方常用的一些方法如下：将“公司的促销员”所讲的就产品和服务的话述变成文字和电子文档，作为呈现给其他潜在客户的案例依据；在他们参加你们公司的媒体采访、会谈和介绍会时，给予他们恰当的认可，及便利的条件；邀请他们和你们最有机会的潜在客户共同参与你们举办的聚会等活动。
“公司的促销员”是最有价值的客户资产，因为他们能够帮助你们“扩大”客户群。因此，千万不要把你们的“公司的促销员”用于个人私利的目的，而应该永远出于积极的考虑： 你在要求你的“公司的促销员”所做的每一件细小的事情之前，一定要确信这样做的目的是能够为他们个人带来好处且巩固他们的声誉，你和他们之间的每一次互动本身应该即是一次良好的客户体验。
结论
要关怀好你的客户是非常不易的，但也是有所回报的。开始阶段，可以从那些对你的产品和服务非常关注的客户着手：公司的促销员！ 马上去专注于改善他们同你们公司的每一次体验吧，你们会很快发现更多的客户间的推荐，这过程当中你们始终重视这些重要客户的体验，同时也会感受到的他们对你们公司的感激之情。把这些体会应用于公司的其他客户，你们的“公司的促销员”就会源源不断。
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Answer to How is Yes - Acting on What Matters
In evolution, they talk about the "Missing Link". For me this book by Peter Block (see www.peterblock.com for more) is a Missing Link that I have been looking for. Reading the book was a chance to literally and figuratively sit on the grass in the sun, by a stream and feel all my connections to the universe resonate:
"All nature sings and 'round me rings,
the music of the spheres."
For a bit of a taste, here's an excerpt of an interview with Block by the Executive Director of Staff Development, the whole interview can be read by clicking on the title link above). The subtitles are directly from the article in the Journal of Staff Development, written by Dennis Sparks.
Intrinsic motivation
JSD: Something else you discussed in your book may also help explain the problem. "(T)he whole idea that bosses should motivate their people ties us all in knots," you wrote. "Instead, bring your employees together and stimulate the right conversation. This is an important role for any boss--to support the communal pursuit of what matters. Let this be motivation enough."
Block: I think the idea that bosses will motivate employees is a mistake. It's more important to ask what motivates us than to wonder what motivates others. For me what is motivating is intimacy, full self-expression, idealism, and people talking about their experience with others listening deeply to what they are saying. This releases enormous energy. It's interesting that at meetings or learning events people often display far more energy during the breaks. I want that type of energy to be the norm when we work together.
A life worth living
JSD: There's a clue to how that energy is generated in your views about the power of creating. You wrote, "As soon as I begin to discuss what I want to create, I am in the position of cause, not effect." Later you write, "Citizenship means that I act as if this larger place were mine to create, while the conventional wisdom is that I cannot have responsibility without authority. That is a tired idea. ... I can participate in creating something I do not control."
Block: That's an argument against the conventional wisdom. Creativity is an expression of our freedom, and it gives us a reason for being alive. Most people say they are not responsible for their work because they do not control it. I'm trying to push back on that by saying it's a defense against being responsible, against being accountable for the well-being of the whole.
I believe I can care for anything I choose to care for, and I'm not limited by my position. For instance, I can leave this room and walk out into my neighborhood and invest my energy in things that matter to me. Will I affect change? I don't know. Will I be acknowledged and rewarded and appreciated for what I do? I don't know. But that's just a barter mentality, a view that I should only invest in things from which I reap a return. The world is more than economics.
We are human beings who can invest in what matters to us. It is possible through my language and commitments to create a world that matters to me. Out of that comes a sense of having lived a life worth living. It also means I don't have to wait to do something that matters.
Activism breeds strength
JSD: You've written about the social nature of transformation. "All learning is social," you say. "It is with our peers that we will ultimately find our voice and change our world. It is in community that our lives are transformed. Small groups can change the world."
Block: I don't accept the view that it is only great men and women who truly make a difference in the world. Where does that leave the rest of us? Establishing a community around us can have tremendous impact on our emotional and physical health and on our capacity to perform. Strong communities with high rates of civic engagement have healthier children. Being activists in the world, feeling that we are not alone in the world, knowing that we have something to offer the world, is good for our communities as well as ourselves.
This book has so much for CRM practitioners and people who are working on developing relationships. It reminded me of the different roles that are necessary to develop customer relationships with value and integrity.
The engineer - sort out the HOW (feedback loops)
The economist - work out the MONEY (who pays what to whom and why)
The artist - imagine the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE as a LifeCycle (anticipating, welcoming, engaging, culminating, extending the relationship)
The social architect - design the ECOSYSTEM
Read this book.
The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block.
Here's the Amazon link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576752712/002-3621004-8380051?v=glance&n=283155
"All nature sings and 'round me rings,
the music of the spheres."
For a bit of a taste, here's an excerpt of an interview with Block by the Executive Director of Staff Development, the whole interview can be read by clicking on the title link above). The subtitles are directly from the article in the Journal of Staff Development, written by Dennis Sparks.
Intrinsic motivation
JSD: Something else you discussed in your book may also help explain the problem. "(T)he whole idea that bosses should motivate their people ties us all in knots," you wrote. "Instead, bring your employees together and stimulate the right conversation. This is an important role for any boss--to support the communal pursuit of what matters. Let this be motivation enough."
Block: I think the idea that bosses will motivate employees is a mistake. It's more important to ask what motivates us than to wonder what motivates others. For me what is motivating is intimacy, full self-expression, idealism, and people talking about their experience with others listening deeply to what they are saying. This releases enormous energy. It's interesting that at meetings or learning events people often display far more energy during the breaks. I want that type of energy to be the norm when we work together.
A life worth living
JSD: There's a clue to how that energy is generated in your views about the power of creating. You wrote, "As soon as I begin to discuss what I want to create, I am in the position of cause, not effect." Later you write, "Citizenship means that I act as if this larger place were mine to create, while the conventional wisdom is that I cannot have responsibility without authority. That is a tired idea. ... I can participate in creating something I do not control."
Block: That's an argument against the conventional wisdom. Creativity is an expression of our freedom, and it gives us a reason for being alive. Most people say they are not responsible for their work because they do not control it. I'm trying to push back on that by saying it's a defense against being responsible, against being accountable for the well-being of the whole.
I believe I can care for anything I choose to care for, and I'm not limited by my position. For instance, I can leave this room and walk out into my neighborhood and invest my energy in things that matter to me. Will I affect change? I don't know. Will I be acknowledged and rewarded and appreciated for what I do? I don't know. But that's just a barter mentality, a view that I should only invest in things from which I reap a return. The world is more than economics.
We are human beings who can invest in what matters to us. It is possible through my language and commitments to create a world that matters to me. Out of that comes a sense of having lived a life worth living. It also means I don't have to wait to do something that matters.
Activism breeds strength
JSD: You've written about the social nature of transformation. "All learning is social," you say. "It is with our peers that we will ultimately find our voice and change our world. It is in community that our lives are transformed. Small groups can change the world."
Block: I don't accept the view that it is only great men and women who truly make a difference in the world. Where does that leave the rest of us? Establishing a community around us can have tremendous impact on our emotional and physical health and on our capacity to perform. Strong communities with high rates of civic engagement have healthier children. Being activists in the world, feeling that we are not alone in the world, knowing that we have something to offer the world, is good for our communities as well as ourselves.
This book has so much for CRM practitioners and people who are working on developing relationships. It reminded me of the different roles that are necessary to develop customer relationships with value and integrity.
The engineer - sort out the HOW (feedback loops)
The economist - work out the MONEY (who pays what to whom and why)
The artist - imagine the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE as a LifeCycle (anticipating, welcoming, engaging, culminating, extending the relationship)
The social architect - design the ECOSYSTEM
Read this book.
The Answer to How is Yes by Peter Block.
Here's the Amazon link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1576752712/002-3621004-8380051?v=glance&n=283155
Saturday, May 20, 2006
The very best of Tom Siebel - a memoir
Tom Siebel interviewed me for a job working for him in August 1988. A headhunter set up the interview. Apparently he had interviewed many people and none fit the bill for what he wanted in a Division Controller for the Direct Marketing Division. Well that's because he expected a weird combination of skills. Finance, Marketing, Sales, Software, Good people skills and a propensity for risk-taking.
It was a pivotal hour in my life to interview with him. He talked about what he wanted to do: REALLY make it possible for technology to transform sales and marketing. A vision of the future where technology could support the prima donnas of sales in a way that was completely supportive of the quirks of the individual salesperson.
My most recent work at Intel up to that point had been as the alpha user for the Intel Distribution Marketing System - which involved setting up the Intel methodology of forecasting for distribution sales out and bookings. Stagger charts, Actuals vs Forecast variance analysis, rigorous accountability for making projections and tying them to what actually happened.
Tom's boss was head of US Sales, Gary Kennedy who had been an ex-Intel guy. In a way, it was a marriage made in heaven, I was perfectly matched to what he needed. What he wanted to do was make into reality what he had been selling to Oracle customers: The ability of the relational database to truly transform business practice in sales and marketing to support customers in a way they had never before experienced or imagined.
When he told me his vision, I could see that it involved taking what I had just done at Intel and applying it to direct B2B sales - an extraordinary exciting vision.
That was the beginning of the best working experience I ever had, the two years working for Tom Siebel - and the skunkworks project that Kevin Kraemer and I kicked off in September 1988. Oracle MIS told Tom it was impossible, fergedaboutit.
Tom set me, his Division Controller and Kevin Kraemer, the top pre-sales technical guy in the group on moonlighting to create the first integrated sales and marketing application, OASIS, which was the genesis of the CRM industry.
Direct Marketing Division spawned two billionaires so far: Tom Siebel and Vinny Smith, and transformed software sales and marketing, making telemarketing and telesales the most critical sales function for all software companies. People who worked for DMD - Direct Marketing Division and who had used OASIS - the Oracle Automated Sales Information System, were recruited by software companies in order to replicate the "Oracle Sales Model". The next potential billionaire of course is Marc Benioff who took over from Tom when he left Oracle.
The very best of Tom Siebel is shown in his commencement address at the University of Illinois Champagne Urbana where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. Tom's speech is below.
University of Illinois-Urbana Commencement Address
Thomas M. Siebel
14 May 2006
President White, Chancellor Herman, members of the faculty, graduates, ladies and gentlemen,
I'm profoundly grateful and touched by the distinction and honor and great compliment accorded me by the University of Illinois. I am overwhelmed, as a matter of fact.
In this important place, on this important day, and in this very wonderful assembly, it is a tremendously impressive thing to an individual in my position.
I want to join with your families in congratulations for your accomplishments. And I want to talk about what happens next.
I want to talk to you about some decisions that you will have to make. I want to talk to you about what you can expect and opportunities that you are likely to encounter. I want to talk about making a difference. About leaving the world a better place than you found it.
There is a story attributed to the notorious oil magnate, John Paul Getty, Sr. When asked about the keys to success by a young intern, he explained that there were three such essential elements.
First, get a great education. Attend the best schools. Study hard. Be prepared. Become an honor roll student.
Secondly, work hard. Be the first to show up for work. Be the last to leave. Work weekends. Nights. Always do your best. Be a top performer.
The third key to success --- and most importantly -- find oil.
There is some truth in this story.
Think for a moment about the immense opportunities that are before each and every one of you. Your productive careers will span the next six decades.
Six decades.
Think about it. Six decades.
In the next six decades the body of scientific knowledge as we know it will increase by a factor of three or more. You will have the privilege of participating in that phenomenon. Many of you will participate significantly in some of the most exciting developments in the history of mankind.
Some of you will discover cures for cancer. Some will perfect the hydrogen fuel cell. Some of you will control influenza pandemic. Some will lead the colonization of outer space. Some will create new companies. Make new products. Create Jobs. Develop new food sources. Foster Prosperity. Husband Peace.
The world will be a better, healthier, happier place for what you will do.
Those of you who take this route will make sacrifices. Lots of sacrifices.
You have all studied history. Think back upon those individuals who have made a difference. Really made a difference.
Think about it. Think about Winston Churchill, Michelangelo, Louis Pasteur. Think about Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton, Johannes Gutenberg, Steve Jobs. Think about Sally Ride and Margaret Thatcher. Think about Martin Luther and Martin Luther King
You have all studied these people. These great leaders are representative of that group who collectively articulated those concepts and principles, the sum of which constitute our perception of the universe, as we know it.
Those great people brought us gravity, electricity, germ theory. They invented the printing press, movable type, the Internet, the Basilica, the public library, the modern university. They created nations, our religions, and democracy. They discovered outer space. And they brought us the very concepts of individual liberty and human dignity.
These people changed the world, each of them. Collectively, they, and their like, conceived of the world, as we understand it today. Let’s look upon this group and see what they had in the way of common traits.
How about education? Some were exceptionally well educated. Some were mediocre students. Many were uneducated.
Work ethic. In general, these people were driven. They were focused. They got up earlier. They worked longer. They were tireless. Some were out there. Eccentric. Almost maniacal. Some were troubled.
They all achieved – and they all achieved at great personal cost.
In addition to amazing work ethics, it seems that these people were unusually sensitive to what was going on around them. They heard things that other people could not hear. They saw things that others could not see.
You might call it vision. A moment of clarity. Insight. Inspiration.
Whatever you call it, at one or more moments in their lives, they saw something. Something different. And they were able to recognize that it was different. That is was potentially important. And they did not let the moment go unnoticed. They did something with it.
Be sensitive to that moment.
It will happen to you.
Do not let it go unnoticed.
So we have a group of mixed education.
Tireless work ethic.
Great vision.
Perhaps most importantly however, they also were very, very lucky – each and every one.
Now don’t discount luck. It will be a critical component of your success. Some people say you make your own luck. There is clearly some truth to that. These concepts of work ethic, vision, and luck seem to be interrelated.
Take Tiger Woods, for example.
Work ethic. He is arguably one of the hardest working, best-prepared athletes in sport. His physical conditioning and practice regimens are second to none.
How about vision? Well, Tiger Woods can see every shot before he takes it. He can see the launch angle. The trajectory. The landing, the bounce, and the roll. He can literally see it every time before he takes a swing. Think about that.
And luck? Well, let’s just say it might not be entirely a coincidence that he seems to get more lucky bounces than any person in golf.
There is most certainly truth to the idea that you make your own luck. I encourage you to be very alert to what is going on around you. Let’s explore this luck thing a little bit further.
There will be some moments in your life when the stars simply seem to align. You will flip a coin 10 times in a row – and it will come up heads every time. You will look up and you will notice that the wind has been at your back every day for a week.
Be ready for that moment. It will happen to you. Some of you will recognize it and know it for what it is…great, good fortune.
Some of you will be preoccupied with matters of the moment to notice. Perhaps stress or simply the distractions of daily life will get in the way. Others will see it for what it is.
There will be such moments in your life. Seize that moment. That is the start of the next company. The cure for cancer. The hydrogen fuel cell. The next great thing.
There is clearly a non-rational process at the heart of such ideas. It’s an idea. It’s a vision. It’s a feeling. It is something that you know to be true. Take it and run with it.
Take it. When it happens, take it and run with it. Run with it. Don’t listen to all the naysayers. The experts. The authority figures. They will stand in line to tell you your idea is impractical, impossible, unrealistic. Don’t listen to them. You know it to be true.
This is the opportunity you have been waiting for. This is what you are here to do. Don’t take no for an answer. Make it happen
Let’s switch gears for a moment from the sublime to the mundane and talk about getting started. How do you get started? What do you do now?
Many of you have not yet figured out what you want to do for a living. Don’t feel bad. Most people don’t. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left college. My first job out of undergraduate school was working as a cowboy on a ranch in Idaho. From there, I became a laborer on a construction site in Sun Valley. I managed a shovel.
How do you get started? First thing, you need to get a job. How do you do that? I guess there are a couple of ways. A common route is to get as many interviews as you can, until someone offers you a job. And then you take it and make the best of it. I do not recommend that route.
My suggestion to you is that you find an industry that you find interesting. Say biotech. Or travel. Perhaps entertainment. Communications. Aerospace. Automotives. Within that industry identify a high quality company that you would like to work for. Located in a place that you would like to live.
And then get hired there. Learn everything you can about the company. Study it on the Internet. Read its annual reports. Become an expert. And then figure out how to get a job there. Any job. It doesn’t matter.
Write the CEO. Write the VP of Engineering.
Get yourself an interview and explain that you want to work for that company – no other company -- and you are willing to take any job to get started.
Get a job in the mailroom. The help desk. The front desk. Customer service. Don’t worry about the salary or the title. Just get a job. After you get in the door, then the rest is up to you. Make it happen.
One closing thought. I want to talk about ethics.
Today is Mother’s Day -- a most appropriate day to talk about ethics.
Ethics. You will have the opportunity to cross the line every day of your lives, every day of your professional careers. In little ways. In big ways.
Some opportunities will be more tempting than others. Some will seem inconsequential. Some will appear common practice.
Here’s a litmus test that you can use.
What would your mother think?
What would she say if you told her about it?
If you use that test to gauge your behavior, you will do the right thing.
That’s it. Thank you, merciful God; we’ve reached the end of the speech!
But for you, it is just the beginning.
Work Hard.
Be attentive.
Always be watching for that lucky moment.
Good luck to you all.
And, most importantly, have fun.
Make it look easy.
Smile a lot.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Tom Siebel - Thank you for transforming my life and lifting my sights to what is possible when people embrace "Sheer Arrogance".
It was a pivotal hour in my life to interview with him. He talked about what he wanted to do: REALLY make it possible for technology to transform sales and marketing. A vision of the future where technology could support the prima donnas of sales in a way that was completely supportive of the quirks of the individual salesperson.
My most recent work at Intel up to that point had been as the alpha user for the Intel Distribution Marketing System - which involved setting up the Intel methodology of forecasting for distribution sales out and bookings. Stagger charts, Actuals vs Forecast variance analysis, rigorous accountability for making projections and tying them to what actually happened.
Tom's boss was head of US Sales, Gary Kennedy who had been an ex-Intel guy. In a way, it was a marriage made in heaven, I was perfectly matched to what he needed. What he wanted to do was make into reality what he had been selling to Oracle customers: The ability of the relational database to truly transform business practice in sales and marketing to support customers in a way they had never before experienced or imagined.
When he told me his vision, I could see that it involved taking what I had just done at Intel and applying it to direct B2B sales - an extraordinary exciting vision.
That was the beginning of the best working experience I ever had, the two years working for Tom Siebel - and the skunkworks project that Kevin Kraemer and I kicked off in September 1988. Oracle MIS told Tom it was impossible, fergedaboutit.
Tom set me, his Division Controller and Kevin Kraemer, the top pre-sales technical guy in the group on moonlighting to create the first integrated sales and marketing application, OASIS, which was the genesis of the CRM industry.
Direct Marketing Division spawned two billionaires so far: Tom Siebel and Vinny Smith, and transformed software sales and marketing, making telemarketing and telesales the most critical sales function for all software companies. People who worked for DMD - Direct Marketing Division and who had used OASIS - the Oracle Automated Sales Information System, were recruited by software companies in order to replicate the "Oracle Sales Model". The next potential billionaire of course is Marc Benioff who took over from Tom when he left Oracle.
The very best of Tom Siebel is shown in his commencement address at the University of Illinois Champagne Urbana where he was awarded an honorary doctorate. Tom's speech is below.
University of Illinois-Urbana Commencement Address
Thomas M. Siebel
14 May 2006
President White, Chancellor Herman, members of the faculty, graduates, ladies and gentlemen,
I'm profoundly grateful and touched by the distinction and honor and great compliment accorded me by the University of Illinois. I am overwhelmed, as a matter of fact.
In this important place, on this important day, and in this very wonderful assembly, it is a tremendously impressive thing to an individual in my position.
I want to join with your families in congratulations for your accomplishments. And I want to talk about what happens next.
I want to talk to you about some decisions that you will have to make. I want to talk to you about what you can expect and opportunities that you are likely to encounter. I want to talk about making a difference. About leaving the world a better place than you found it.
There is a story attributed to the notorious oil magnate, John Paul Getty, Sr. When asked about the keys to success by a young intern, he explained that there were three such essential elements.
First, get a great education. Attend the best schools. Study hard. Be prepared. Become an honor roll student.
Secondly, work hard. Be the first to show up for work. Be the last to leave. Work weekends. Nights. Always do your best. Be a top performer.
The third key to success --- and most importantly -- find oil.
There is some truth in this story.
Think for a moment about the immense opportunities that are before each and every one of you. Your productive careers will span the next six decades.
Six decades.
Think about it. Six decades.
In the next six decades the body of scientific knowledge as we know it will increase by a factor of three or more. You will have the privilege of participating in that phenomenon. Many of you will participate significantly in some of the most exciting developments in the history of mankind.
Some of you will discover cures for cancer. Some will perfect the hydrogen fuel cell. Some of you will control influenza pandemic. Some will lead the colonization of outer space. Some will create new companies. Make new products. Create Jobs. Develop new food sources. Foster Prosperity. Husband Peace.
The world will be a better, healthier, happier place for what you will do.
Those of you who take this route will make sacrifices. Lots of sacrifices.
You have all studied history. Think back upon those individuals who have made a difference. Really made a difference.
Think about it. Think about Winston Churchill, Michelangelo, Louis Pasteur. Think about Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton, Johannes Gutenberg, Steve Jobs. Think about Sally Ride and Margaret Thatcher. Think about Martin Luther and Martin Luther King
You have all studied these people. These great leaders are representative of that group who collectively articulated those concepts and principles, the sum of which constitute our perception of the universe, as we know it.
Those great people brought us gravity, electricity, germ theory. They invented the printing press, movable type, the Internet, the Basilica, the public library, the modern university. They created nations, our religions, and democracy. They discovered outer space. And they brought us the very concepts of individual liberty and human dignity.
These people changed the world, each of them. Collectively, they, and their like, conceived of the world, as we understand it today. Let’s look upon this group and see what they had in the way of common traits.
How about education? Some were exceptionally well educated. Some were mediocre students. Many were uneducated.
Work ethic. In general, these people were driven. They were focused. They got up earlier. They worked longer. They were tireless. Some were out there. Eccentric. Almost maniacal. Some were troubled.
They all achieved – and they all achieved at great personal cost.
In addition to amazing work ethics, it seems that these people were unusually sensitive to what was going on around them. They heard things that other people could not hear. They saw things that others could not see.
You might call it vision. A moment of clarity. Insight. Inspiration.
Whatever you call it, at one or more moments in their lives, they saw something. Something different. And they were able to recognize that it was different. That is was potentially important. And they did not let the moment go unnoticed. They did something with it.
Be sensitive to that moment.
It will happen to you.
Do not let it go unnoticed.
So we have a group of mixed education.
Tireless work ethic.
Great vision.
Perhaps most importantly however, they also were very, very lucky – each and every one.
Now don’t discount luck. It will be a critical component of your success. Some people say you make your own luck. There is clearly some truth to that. These concepts of work ethic, vision, and luck seem to be interrelated.
Take Tiger Woods, for example.
Work ethic. He is arguably one of the hardest working, best-prepared athletes in sport. His physical conditioning and practice regimens are second to none.
How about vision? Well, Tiger Woods can see every shot before he takes it. He can see the launch angle. The trajectory. The landing, the bounce, and the roll. He can literally see it every time before he takes a swing. Think about that.
And luck? Well, let’s just say it might not be entirely a coincidence that he seems to get more lucky bounces than any person in golf.
There is most certainly truth to the idea that you make your own luck. I encourage you to be very alert to what is going on around you. Let’s explore this luck thing a little bit further.
There will be some moments in your life when the stars simply seem to align. You will flip a coin 10 times in a row – and it will come up heads every time. You will look up and you will notice that the wind has been at your back every day for a week.
Be ready for that moment. It will happen to you. Some of you will recognize it and know it for what it is…great, good fortune.
Some of you will be preoccupied with matters of the moment to notice. Perhaps stress or simply the distractions of daily life will get in the way. Others will see it for what it is.
There will be such moments in your life. Seize that moment. That is the start of the next company. The cure for cancer. The hydrogen fuel cell. The next great thing.
There is clearly a non-rational process at the heart of such ideas. It’s an idea. It’s a vision. It’s a feeling. It is something that you know to be true. Take it and run with it.
Take it. When it happens, take it and run with it. Run with it. Don’t listen to all the naysayers. The experts. The authority figures. They will stand in line to tell you your idea is impractical, impossible, unrealistic. Don’t listen to them. You know it to be true.
This is the opportunity you have been waiting for. This is what you are here to do. Don’t take no for an answer. Make it happen
Let’s switch gears for a moment from the sublime to the mundane and talk about getting started. How do you get started? What do you do now?
Many of you have not yet figured out what you want to do for a living. Don’t feel bad. Most people don’t. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left college. My first job out of undergraduate school was working as a cowboy on a ranch in Idaho. From there, I became a laborer on a construction site in Sun Valley. I managed a shovel.
How do you get started? First thing, you need to get a job. How do you do that? I guess there are a couple of ways. A common route is to get as many interviews as you can, until someone offers you a job. And then you take it and make the best of it. I do not recommend that route.
My suggestion to you is that you find an industry that you find interesting. Say biotech. Or travel. Perhaps entertainment. Communications. Aerospace. Automotives. Within that industry identify a high quality company that you would like to work for. Located in a place that you would like to live.
And then get hired there. Learn everything you can about the company. Study it on the Internet. Read its annual reports. Become an expert. And then figure out how to get a job there. Any job. It doesn’t matter.
Write the CEO. Write the VP of Engineering.
Get yourself an interview and explain that you want to work for that company – no other company -- and you are willing to take any job to get started.
Get a job in the mailroom. The help desk. The front desk. Customer service. Don’t worry about the salary or the title. Just get a job. After you get in the door, then the rest is up to you. Make it happen.
One closing thought. I want to talk about ethics.
Today is Mother’s Day -- a most appropriate day to talk about ethics.
Ethics. You will have the opportunity to cross the line every day of your lives, every day of your professional careers. In little ways. In big ways.
Some opportunities will be more tempting than others. Some will seem inconsequential. Some will appear common practice.
Here’s a litmus test that you can use.
What would your mother think?
What would she say if you told her about it?
If you use that test to gauge your behavior, you will do the right thing.
That’s it. Thank you, merciful God; we’ve reached the end of the speech!
But for you, it is just the beginning.
Work Hard.
Be attentive.
Always be watching for that lucky moment.
Good luck to you all.
And, most importantly, have fun.
Make it look easy.
Smile a lot.
I thank you for your kind attention.
Tom Siebel - Thank you for transforming my life and lifting my sights to what is possible when people embrace "Sheer Arrogance".
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Singapore eGovernment Customer Service: Pushing the Envelope
Pretty hot off the "internet" press.... here's a quick read on how the Singapore government may be one of the top CRM pioneers. I can't believe how much my editor at CRMGuru, Gwynne improved the article from the piece I gave her initially. She's amazing! Thank you Gwynne!!!
May 1, 2006
Who Says Government Doesn't Benefit From CRM?
Singapore Pushes the Customer Service Envelope
By Mei Lin Fung, MLF Associates
Darius Cheung dreaded getting a business license because of all the bureaucracy he anticipated. Because it was his first time applying for a license for a new business in Singapore, he needed some personal guidance and advice, so he went in person to the business license department, all the while fearing massive paperwork and long waits. He was in for a surprise.
"All I had to do was go to a one-stop center and I got it done over the counter, contrary to what some people told me before about the multitude of forms and different counters," Cheung said. "I experienced a much smoother company registration process than I expected. Everything was done at one agency within an hour." He paid slightly more than S$300 (roughly equivalent to $200 in U.S. currency) for the business license. Only a few years ago, the same service would have been at least $1,200 in Singapore currency with the queues and papers Cheung dreaded.
The difference stems from Singapore's eGovernment Action Plan, (eGAP I and eGAP II) begun in 2000, to integrate government across all agencies, creating a one-stop government shop. Today, 1,600 e-services are available through eCitizen, the front face of the government for citizens and businesses. Access is through a special identification card called SingPass.
Total service delivery
A private-sector business license service-DP Bureau-was there for Cheung, as part of the latest innovation in the eGovernment Action Plan: Public-Private-People integration. The goal of 3Pi, as it is known, is to offer "total service delivery." That links in the government's Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) to the privately operated DP Bureau.
In the first year of operation, 22,000 companies filed for business licenses using OBLS, winning the 2005 United Nations Public Service award for the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in Government.
So, is CRM necessary in government? My answer is a resounding YES! Why should this kind of elegant streamlining that leads to improving quality, cost-effectiveness and customer service be confined to the private sector?
As I wrote in my 2004 CRMGuru.com article, "Looking for True E-Government? Singapore Gets It Right," many government web sites are simply static holding places, rather than interactive delivery mechanisms. Instead of providing full-service facilities online, all too often government web sites merely offer visitors a page with a telephone number, instructions about a manual service or a PDF form that needs to be downloaded, printed out, completed by hand and mailed in the old-fashioned way. Although national and regional governments are improving, with more offering links
to publications and databases, they have a long way to go, according to Inside Politics' report, Global E-Government, 2004.
But Singapore is showing what is possible. The January 2005 Leadership in Customer Service: New Expectations, New Experiences, Accenture's sixth annual global report on government service delivery, found that 65 percent of people in Singapore rated the job the government is doing in eG vernment as "good" or "excellent," the highest among the 22 countries surveyed.
Singapore, which tied for third place, behind Canada and the United States, in Accenture's study, has aimed at a broad multi-channel delivery of government services via counter, self-help kiosks, the Internet, mobile phone and intermediaries and 1,000 self-service terminals at 36 agency sites-as well as the use of new tools such as online polls and customer e-ratings, to get feedback and customer insight.
Behind the scenes
Singapore has spent $2.8 billion in Singapore dollars (1.75 billion in U.S. dollars) since 2000, to achieve this. A service-wide technical architecture provides a framework of standards, policies and guidelines, building in interoperability at the infrastructure layer. Building blocks let agencies develop, deploy and interoperate e-services with common features such as user interface, the transactional flow logic, database support, security and encryption and payment services.
Commercial CRM systems were used only at the periphery for such things as email management and frequently asked questions. The bulk of the spending was on consulting with stakeholders, developing customer-centric design processes, application system development, extensive user testing and evolving a set of key performance indicators (KPIs). The implementation went on in parallel with the rollout of the Balanced Scorecard in the Singapore public service. The benefit to customers and employees and the need to create opportunities to learn were explicitly balanced against financial KPIs.
"Start with the user in mind," exhorted Raymond Lim Siang Keat, second minister for finance in Singapore's prime minister's office. That directive has resulted in 75 percent of the eligible population having transacted electronically with the government at least once. A network of 42 eCitizen Help service locations helps those without Internet access or expertise.
Attention to customer service may explain why hit rates for the eCitzen portal increased from 240,000 per month in 2001 to about 14.4 million hits per month in 2003.
Just as commercial businesses benefit from a focus on the customer, so the business of government-including planning; permit processing; delivering health and social services; and tax-collecting-can benefit from well-designed customer-centric business processes and technology. Granted Singapore, with a population of 4 million, is a small country that can turn on a dime, relatively speaking, but there are CRM lessons that more populated countries and local governments, and even businesses in the private sector could be alerted to.
In 2004, when Singapore was in the midst of its eGovernment initiative, Singapore Minister of Finance Lee Hsien Loong, who was then deputy prime minister and is now the prime minister, spoke at the Managing for Excellence Forum on eGovernment. He urged government agencies to re-engineer their individual backend processes to provide more customer-centric services. He said that agencies "must strive to make
things as convenient as possible to the customers, rather than make things easy for themselves." Ultimately, Lee said, it is "not about IT but about changing the approach to government."
Now if you substitute the word, "business," for "government" in his comments, isn't that what we've been saying about CRM since the beginning?
As for Cheung? Keep an eye out for his mobile applications start-up company, Tencube.
Have license. Will grow!
Reprinted with permission from www.CRMGuru.com
http://crmguru.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/crmguru.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1705
May 1, 2006
Who Says Government Doesn't Benefit From CRM?
Singapore Pushes the Customer Service Envelope
By Mei Lin Fung, MLF Associates
Darius Cheung dreaded getting a business license because of all the bureaucracy he anticipated. Because it was his first time applying for a license for a new business in Singapore, he needed some personal guidance and advice, so he went in person to the business license department, all the while fearing massive paperwork and long waits. He was in for a surprise.
"All I had to do was go to a one-stop center and I got it done over the counter, contrary to what some people told me before about the multitude of forms and different counters," Cheung said. "I experienced a much smoother company registration process than I expected. Everything was done at one agency within an hour." He paid slightly more than S$300 (roughly equivalent to $200 in U.S. currency) for the business license. Only a few years ago, the same service would have been at least $1,200 in Singapore currency with the queues and papers Cheung dreaded.
The difference stems from Singapore's eGovernment Action Plan, (eGAP I and eGAP II) begun in 2000, to integrate government across all agencies, creating a one-stop government shop. Today, 1,600 e-services are available through eCitizen, the front face of the government for citizens and businesses. Access is through a special identification card called SingPass.
Total service delivery
A private-sector business license service-DP Bureau-was there for Cheung, as part of the latest innovation in the eGovernment Action Plan: Public-Private-People integration. The goal of 3Pi, as it is known, is to offer "total service delivery." That links in the government's Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) to the privately operated DP Bureau.
In the first year of operation, 22,000 companies filed for business licenses using OBLS, winning the 2005 United Nations Public Service award for the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in Government.
So, is CRM necessary in government? My answer is a resounding YES! Why should this kind of elegant streamlining that leads to improving quality, cost-effectiveness and customer service be confined to the private sector?
As I wrote in my 2004 CRMGuru.com article, "Looking for True E-Government? Singapore Gets It Right," many government web sites are simply static holding places, rather than interactive delivery mechanisms. Instead of providing full-service facilities online, all too often government web sites merely offer visitors a page with a telephone number, instructions about a manual service or a PDF form that needs to be downloaded, printed out, completed by hand and mailed in the old-fashioned way. Although national and regional governments are improving, with more offering links
to publications and databases, they have a long way to go, according to Inside Politics' report, Global E-Government, 2004.
But Singapore is showing what is possible. The January 2005 Leadership in Customer Service: New Expectations, New Experiences, Accenture's sixth annual global report on government service delivery, found that 65 percent of people in Singapore rated the job the government is doing in eG vernment as "good" or "excellent," the highest among the 22 countries surveyed.
Singapore, which tied for third place, behind Canada and the United States, in Accenture's study, has aimed at a broad multi-channel delivery of government services via counter, self-help kiosks, the Internet, mobile phone and intermediaries and 1,000 self-service terminals at 36 agency sites-as well as the use of new tools such as online polls and customer e-ratings, to get feedback and customer insight.
Behind the scenes
Singapore has spent $2.8 billion in Singapore dollars (1.75 billion in U.S. dollars) since 2000, to achieve this. A service-wide technical architecture provides a framework of standards, policies and guidelines, building in interoperability at the infrastructure layer. Building blocks let agencies develop, deploy and interoperate e-services with common features such as user interface, the transactional flow logic, database support, security and encryption and payment services.
Commercial CRM systems were used only at the periphery for such things as email management and frequently asked questions. The bulk of the spending was on consulting with stakeholders, developing customer-centric design processes, application system development, extensive user testing and evolving a set of key performance indicators (KPIs). The implementation went on in parallel with the rollout of the Balanced Scorecard in the Singapore public service. The benefit to customers and employees and the need to create opportunities to learn were explicitly balanced against financial KPIs.
"Start with the user in mind," exhorted Raymond Lim Siang Keat, second minister for finance in Singapore's prime minister's office. That directive has resulted in 75 percent of the eligible population having transacted electronically with the government at least once. A network of 42 eCitizen Help service locations helps those without Internet access or expertise.
Attention to customer service may explain why hit rates for the eCitzen portal increased from 240,000 per month in 2001 to about 14.4 million hits per month in 2003.
Just as commercial businesses benefit from a focus on the customer, so the business of government-including planning; permit processing; delivering health and social services; and tax-collecting-can benefit from well-designed customer-centric business processes and technology. Granted Singapore, with a population of 4 million, is a small country that can turn on a dime, relatively speaking, but there are CRM lessons that more populated countries and local governments, and even businesses in the private sector could be alerted to.
In 2004, when Singapore was in the midst of its eGovernment initiative, Singapore Minister of Finance Lee Hsien Loong, who was then deputy prime minister and is now the prime minister, spoke at the Managing for Excellence Forum on eGovernment. He urged government agencies to re-engineer their individual backend processes to provide more customer-centric services. He said that agencies "must strive to make
things as convenient as possible to the customers, rather than make things easy for themselves." Ultimately, Lee said, it is "not about IT but about changing the approach to government."
Now if you substitute the word, "business," for "government" in his comments, isn't that what we've been saying about CRM since the beginning?
As for Cheung? Keep an eye out for his mobile applications start-up company, Tencube.
Have license. Will grow!
Reprinted with permission from www.CRMGuru.com
http://crmguru.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/crmguru.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1705
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Douglas Engelbart's Norweigian Cousin Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
This blog is really for Engelbart afficionados. Click on the title for more about Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson from Oslo University.
I was recently reminded of the impact of Doug Engelbart's ARC Lab (Augmentation Research Center at SRI in the 60's and 70's) when John Markoff of the New York Times wrote about a high school student who had hung out at Doug's lab. Geoff Goodfellow came up with the idea of wireless email years and years before Blackberry and others. Doug's lab was the 2nd note on the ARPANET and as a result, no doubt, Geoff Goodfellow's inspiration is embedded in the core of the Internet in a protocol number '99' set aside for wireless email. http://www.wirelessmuse.com/winternet/2006/04/new_york_times_.html
But of course it was not in a vacuum, the intellectual ferment of the ARC lab, I'm sure had something to do with it.
Doug recently took me out for a birthday breakfast, thank you Doug! And we talked about his famous Norweigian Nobel-prize winning, writer of the lyrics of the Norweigian national anthem, ancestral cousin Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. I'd always felt that there was somewhere that Doug's "one-of-a-kind" way of thinking had emerged, and reading about Bjørnson made me realize that some of it was in his genes.
BJØRNSTJERNE BJØRNSON (1832 - 1910) www.gonorway.no/go/bjoernson.html and Douglas Carl
Engelbart (1925 -
www.adam.cheyer.com/misc.html
Douglas Engelbart's ancestor was first cousin to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, a Norweigian who was the third person awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903. I've tried to insert their mid-life photos side by side (the links are there if this doesn't work in your browser) - there is some resemblance!
It's interesting to see strands of Doug's thought "preceded" by the works of his distinguished ancestor.... the idealistic spirit, international efforts. The idea of "crop rotation" where Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson alternated between heroic sagas and peasant stories, is also reminiscent of Doug's "two-faceted" way of working, which is alternate between wanting to collaborate and really wanting to work on his own, in his own way; and to wanting to involve people and augment humanity, while working with computers to do this.
Click on the title to link to the description of , by Professor Edvard Beyer, who is professor of Nordic literature at the University of Oslo. I've reproduced below an extract that 1 particularly liked because it reminds me a lot of how Engelbart's mind works, in describing the sagas and stories of the Nobel-prize winning Bjørnson.
" a restrained power, an unquenchable urge for adventure, talents in search of a goal, stubborn pride and a shy taciturnity, which keeps others at arm´s length."
I was recently reminded of the impact of Doug Engelbart's ARC Lab (Augmentation Research Center at SRI in the 60's and 70's) when John Markoff of the New York Times wrote about a high school student who had hung out at Doug's lab. Geoff Goodfellow came up with the idea of wireless email years and years before Blackberry and others. Doug's lab was the 2nd note on the ARPANET and as a result, no doubt, Geoff Goodfellow's inspiration is embedded in the core of the Internet in a protocol number '99' set aside for wireless email. http://www.wirelessmuse.com/winternet/2006/04/new_york_times_.html
But of course it was not in a vacuum, the intellectual ferment of the ARC lab, I'm sure had something to do with it.
Doug recently took me out for a birthday breakfast, thank you Doug! And we talked about his famous Norweigian Nobel-prize winning, writer of the lyrics of the Norweigian national anthem, ancestral cousin Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. I'd always felt that there was somewhere that Doug's "one-of-a-kind" way of thinking had emerged, and reading about Bjørnson made me realize that some of it was in his genes.
BJØRNSTJERNE BJØRNSON (1832 - 1910) www.gonorway.no/
Engelbart (1925 -
www.adam.cheyer.com/
Douglas Engelbart's ancestor was first cousin to Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, a Norweigian who was the third person awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903. I've tried to insert their mid-life photos side by side (the links are there if this doesn't work in your browser) - there is some resemblance!
It's interesting to see strands of Doug's thought "preceded" by the works of his distinguished ancestor.... the idealistic spirit, international efforts. The idea of "crop rotation" where Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson alternated between heroic sagas and peasant stories, is also reminiscent of Doug's "two-faceted" way of working, which is alternate between wanting to collaborate and really wanting to work on his own, in his own way; and to wanting to involve people and augment humanity, while working with computers to do this.
Click on the title to link to the description of , by Professor Edvard Beyer, who is professor of Nordic literature at the University of Oslo. I've reproduced below an extract that 1 particularly liked because it reminds me a lot of how Engelbart's mind works, in describing the sagas and stories of the Nobel-prize winning Bjørnson.
" a restrained power, an unquenchable urge for adventure, talents in search of a goal, stubborn pride and a shy taciturnity, which keeps others at arm´s length."
Monday, April 24, 2006
As a sculpture is hidden in a rough piece of stone
For some months now, I see myself as a work-in-progress - its a great way to get out of the perfectionism trap that I allowed to encircle me from my very young days
I'm sculpting my life each day, each hour a chance to chip away, to uncover something I care about
So today is something special, because someone has seen enough of the rough hewn stone that is my life to date, and can glimpse some of what I hope to be, to do, to contribute.
It means a lot to me to be seen as I would hope to be - even if I am far from complete - the sculpture is emerging.
Thank you to a wonderful human being Paul Greenberg http://www.the56group.typepad.com for being the best cheer leader who has just told the world what he sees when he looks at me! And listen out for Paul's Route 56 Podcasts - thinking fun inspiring, that's Paul.
PS - Just started reading Math and Mona Lisa by Bulent Atalay about Leonardo Da Vinci. The book reminded me of Michelangelo being the one who said that the sculpture is already there in the stone. Atalay said, for the scientist, the scientific law is already there in the data, waiting to be discovered.
Atalay is a Renaissance person, who sees in both art and science, that the human imagination is vital to seeing-it- when-others-don't and working to uncover it so others can see it too.
I'm sculpting my life each day, each hour a chance to chip away, to uncover something I care about
So today is something special, because someone has seen enough of the rough hewn stone that is my life to date, and can glimpse some of what I hope to be, to do, to contribute.
It means a lot to me to be seen as I would hope to be - even if I am far from complete - the sculpture is emerging.
Thank you to a wonderful human being Paul Greenberg http://www.the56group.typepad.com for being the best cheer leader who has just told the world what he sees when he looks at me! And listen out for Paul's Route 56 Podcasts - thinking fun inspiring, that's Paul.
PS - Just started reading Math and Mona Lisa by Bulent Atalay about Leonardo Da Vinci. The book reminded me of Michelangelo being the one who said that the sculpture is already there in the stone. Atalay said, for the scientist, the scientific law is already there in the data, waiting to be discovered.
Atalay is a Renaissance person, who sees in both art and science, that the human imagination is vital to seeing-it- when-others-don't and working to uncover it so others can see it too.
Friday, April 14, 2006
We have so much to learn from Healthcare
In February I attended a Healthcare IT conference in San Diego.
25,000 delegates, 900 exhibitors.
The buzz was that one exhibitor spent $1M on its booth at the show.
Clearly healthcare IT is a very rich field.
Yet amongst all the many tracks, workshops, exhibitors and speakers I found one person who stood out head and shoulders above the rest as the future of Healthcare IT
Dr. Joel Berman - a physician in Concord New Hampshire.
He talked about how the doctors in his practice came to accelerate improvements in care for their patients with diabetes.
His story is a story about what it takes to lead the human changes in order to take advantage of technology.
How the doctors had to deal with an existential crisis of what it meant to be doctors. How using the computer help them focus on what it was that they as human beings brought to the doctor/patient relationship.
We have so much to learn from the thoughtful doctors who are faced with the huge challenge of embracing electronic medical records EMR or electronic health records EHR - this dictate has come from the top down in order to control healthcare costs, all medical institutions know they will be required to have EMR/EHR to support their practice.
I hope you'll click on the title link and read the interview with this thoughtful humane and dedicated doctor.
And if you read Chinese, the article in Chinese is at http://www.greaterchinacrm.org:8080/gb/content_details.jsp?contentid=2036&subjectid=107
25,000 delegates, 900 exhibitors.
The buzz was that one exhibitor spent $1M on its booth at the show.
Clearly healthcare IT is a very rich field.
Yet amongst all the many tracks, workshops, exhibitors and speakers I found one person who stood out head and shoulders above the rest as the future of Healthcare IT
Dr. Joel Berman - a physician in Concord New Hampshire.
He talked about how the doctors in his practice came to accelerate improvements in care for their patients with diabetes.
His story is a story about what it takes to lead the human changes in order to take advantage of technology.
How the doctors had to deal with an existential crisis of what it meant to be doctors. How using the computer help them focus on what it was that they as human beings brought to the doctor/patient relationship.
We have so much to learn from the thoughtful doctors who are faced with the huge challenge of embracing electronic medical records EMR or electronic health records EHR - this dictate has come from the top down in order to control healthcare costs, all medical institutions know they will be required to have EMR/EHR to support their practice.
I hope you'll click on the title link and read the interview with this thoughtful humane and dedicated doctor.
And if you read Chinese, the article in Chinese is at http://www.greaterchinacrm.org:8080/gb/content_details.jsp?contentid=2036&subjectid=107
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Today's Topic is Trust
Anne Obarski writes in The Side Road, that earning customer trust is the only way to win and keep customers. She's right. But that doesn't stop people taking a disastrous short cut: Winning customers only to lose their trust later and lose their business right after that.
The unfortunate thing is that organizations are not consciously trying to lose their customers trust. The sad thing is that its done without knowing. They do it when they are paying attention to other things, like trying to make a profit this year or next.
I recently wrote a couple of articles about Healthcare Customer Relationship Management and Customer Service in Healthcare. I learned that keeping trust with patients and customers is what its all about in Healthcare. I'll take the medicine, change my diet, do the exercise, because I trust that you tell me that this is what I need to do to improve my health. If I don't trust, then I won't do, and the treatment won't work.
The Values-Driven Consumer - this is one of the 7 trends identified in MegaTrends 2010 by Patricia Aberdene. I appreciate learning about it from Mark Silver's newsletter, www.heartofbusiness.com Here's my insight, businesses and customers are looking for trusted relationships, in reaction to unprofitable, dissatisfying relationships that emerge when customers and businesses are driven purely by financial considerations.
I love Trader Joes. Its a grocery store, there are two branches within 2 miles of my house and I go to each one at least once a week, sometimes more. I trust their food selection - mostly its yummy, it offers healthy choices, and its not a huge zoo. They have filtered down their selection to the things that are really likely to appeal to me. How did they build my trust? Well, I first heard that they are "cut price gourmet". At first I still went regularly to a supermarket. But as Trader Joe's selection expanded to include more day to day stuff, like fresh fruit and veggies and cereal and bread, it became unnecessary to go to a supermarket anymore. And they offer little sampling cups of coffee in the store, which is a nice touch that I really appreciate. And once in a while, I'll buy a fragrant bunch of oriental lilies for the dining table as a visual and perfuming treat.
I am driven by financial considerations, but I also like convenience, a discriminating selection that meets my tastes and needs, nearby parking and friendly people with viviid personalities at the checkout who always ask me "Did you find everything you need?". I really feel like I am doing business with People, not an abstract entity. People that I could trust if I was caught in an earthquake with. (This is quite a consideration in California, where the Big One is now past due)
There's a flip side of the coin. What do customers do that show businesses that they can trust them? Well, the obvious one is "Have a Good Credit Record", paying your bills. If we as customers want businesses to respect us as individuals, then we should respect businesses and their right to run their businesses to meet their goals. We need to appreciate those who go out of their way to help us, not just take it for granted. We are not monarchs or aristocrats, no one on earth was put here to serve us, and when something special is done for us, it is appropriate and necessary for us to respond in acknowledgement.
Trust is a Two-Way Track.
Trusted businesses will get more business.
Trusted customers will get more satisfaction from their business relationships.
The unfortunate thing is that organizations are not consciously trying to lose their customers trust. The sad thing is that its done without knowing. They do it when they are paying attention to other things, like trying to make a profit this year or next.
I recently wrote a couple of articles about Healthcare Customer Relationship Management and Customer Service in Healthcare. I learned that keeping trust with patients and customers is what its all about in Healthcare. I'll take the medicine, change my diet, do the exercise, because I trust that you tell me that this is what I need to do to improve my health. If I don't trust, then I won't do, and the treatment won't work.
The Values-Driven Consumer - this is one of the 7 trends identified in MegaTrends 2010 by Patricia Aberdene. I appreciate learning about it from Mark Silver's newsletter, www.heartofbusiness.com Here's my insight, businesses and customers are looking for trusted relationships, in reaction to unprofitable, dissatisfying relationships that emerge when customers and businesses are driven purely by financial considerations.
I love Trader Joes. Its a grocery store, there are two branches within 2 miles of my house and I go to each one at least once a week, sometimes more. I trust their food selection - mostly its yummy, it offers healthy choices, and its not a huge zoo. They have filtered down their selection to the things that are really likely to appeal to me. How did they build my trust? Well, I first heard that they are "cut price gourmet". At first I still went regularly to a supermarket. But as Trader Joe's selection expanded to include more day to day stuff, like fresh fruit and veggies and cereal and bread, it became unnecessary to go to a supermarket anymore. And they offer little sampling cups of coffee in the store, which is a nice touch that I really appreciate. And once in a while, I'll buy a fragrant bunch of oriental lilies for the dining table as a visual and perfuming treat.
I am driven by financial considerations, but I also like convenience, a discriminating selection that meets my tastes and needs, nearby parking and friendly people with viviid personalities at the checkout who always ask me "Did you find everything you need?". I really feel like I am doing business with People, not an abstract entity. People that I could trust if I was caught in an earthquake with. (This is quite a consideration in California, where the Big One is now past due)
There's a flip side of the coin. What do customers do that show businesses that they can trust them? Well, the obvious one is "Have a Good Credit Record", paying your bills. If we as customers want businesses to respect us as individuals, then we should respect businesses and their right to run their businesses to meet their goals. We need to appreciate those who go out of their way to help us, not just take it for granted. We are not monarchs or aristocrats, no one on earth was put here to serve us, and when something special is done for us, it is appropriate and necessary for us to respond in acknowledgement.
Trust is a Two-Way Track.
Trusted businesses will get more business.
Trusted customers will get more satisfaction from their business relationships.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Getting Better at Getting Better
There's a great description of what Doug Engelbart has been been trying to do all his life. Along with being a muse and mentor to many, he's devoted his life to how do we get better at getting better. Adele Goldberg, co-inventor of one of the first object oriented languages, Smalltalk has worked with Doug when she was active in the ACM - Association for Computing Machinery, and helped publish his papers back in 1993. Later in 2002, she wrote this about what he has been saying for 53 years. I really like it, its framed on the wall behind my computer monitor, and today is your lucky day, because I'm sharing it with you. I think its great.
We need to improve how we work together
And we all know that this is true:
The best way to improve is to find others who are improving,
and copy them!
The next best way to improve is to find others who also want to improve,
and work together.
Improvement is:
Process
and Tools
and Learning-oriented
and can be done outside protected business interests.
There are GREAT examples of improvement
Where communities formed from a grass roots need to get help,
and an individual desire to give help....Open Source
The results are tools
and better human communications
That benefit everyone
We NEED to get more results like these into our organizations
and our government
We can speed up our efforts by taking a meta approach.
We need to learn how in setting up the meta world
We can ENCOURAGE!
OBSERVE!
and LEARN from the individual customizations of the ideas.
We need to help people/organizations form communities
Whose purpose is:
- To get help and give help
- To Invent and Use Tools
- Better Communications
YEP, well said Adele!
CRM and Communities will increasingly overlap in the future:
It's a new paradigm that can take us away from the grinding cost-cutting that's prevalent.
Focusing us on finding new ways to improve the value that businesses and customers, governments and citizens can create together for each other.
We need to improve how we work together
And we all know that this is true:
The best way to improve is to find others who are improving,
and copy them!
The next best way to improve is to find others who also want to improve,
and work together.
Improvement is:
Process
and Tools
and Learning-oriented
and can be done outside protected business interests.
There are GREAT examples of improvement
Where communities formed from a grass roots need to get help,
and an individual desire to give help....Open Source
The results are tools
and better human communications
That benefit everyone
We NEED to get more results like these into our organizations
and our government
We can speed up our efforts by taking a meta approach.
We need to learn how in setting up the meta world
We can ENCOURAGE!
OBSERVE!
and LEARN from the individual customizations of the ideas.
We need to help people/organizations form communities
Whose purpose is:
- To get help and give help
- To Invent and Use Tools
- Better Communications
YEP, well said Adele!
CRM and Communities will increasingly overlap in the future:
It's a new paradigm that can take us away from the grinding cost-cutting that's prevalent.
Focusing us on finding new ways to improve the value that businesses and customers, governments and citizens can create together for each other.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Caring is Profitable - the Johnson and Johnson Credo
I was reminded today of an article that I wrote "pre-blog" which means a lot to me. So I'm sharing parts of it with you. Click on the title above to see the full article.
Here's a quiz:
1. Name the major pharmaceutical companies with almost always positive earnings results over the past five years
2. Name the major pharmaceutical companies that have beaten the US stock market (Dow Jones, NASDAQ, S&P 500) over the last five years
3. Name the major pharmaceutical companies that have increased the amount of their dividend payments to their shareholders over the last year, a time of tremendous chaos for the pharmaceutical industry
4. Name the one company that appears on all three lists.
Have you guessed?
Johnson and Johnson has a Credo, a set of guiding principles that has steered them since 1943. The Credo puts customers first and shareholders last and the business has thrived, here's how it starts:
"Our first responsibility is to the doctors
nurses and patients to mothers and fathers and all others
who use our products and services."
In developing their products for the Diabetes Market, Johnson and Johnson studied the effects of diabetes in a Native American community called Whirling Thunder. They did not focus on just the use of their products, they looked at the lives of those suffering from the disease, Johnson and Johnson looked at how to prevent the disease, sponsoring community programs to reduce the death rate from the disease.....
Johnson and Johnson is a leading provider of Diabetes products. Within a face to face setting inside a Diabetes community, the business learned how to recommend practices, services and products that helped them help themselves, building on their own strengths and culture. These learnings became available for incorporating in a diabetes website. They developed a program called One-Touch Gold which will be launched in fall 2005. Some other companies might call it a Loyalty program. Many loyalty programs are developed which start by asking "What is good for our company?" Guided by their Credo, Johnson and Johnson started first with the question "What is good for our customers?" They build Deep Customer Loyalty.....
The latest buzzword in CRM is Community. One problem is that few people know what that means, and how it helps business make money. The Credo has guided Johnson and Johnson to experiment with online healthcare community building. Research has shown that online support groups for people with a major disease like Breast Cancer can be very effective in providing useful information and friends and counsel for victims of the disease and their families.....
The Credo guides J&J's innovations in online community building for acquiring customers. By experimenting with the idea: "Ask not what the Community can do for J&J, but ask what J&J can do for the Community", they can test the business hypothesis - is this a good investment for the company. Using Customer Lifetime Value J&J will be able to determine how much they can and should invest in the community in order to increase customer lifetime value of their customers and prospects.
Our Credo
We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients,
to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.
In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality.
We must constantly strive to reduce our costs
in order to maintain reasonable prices.
Customers' orders must be serviced promptly and accurately.
Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity
to make a fair profit.
We are responsible to our employees,
the men and women who work with us throughout the world.
Everyone must be considered as an individual.
We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit.
They must have a sense of security in their jobs.
Compensation must be fair and adequate,
and working conditions clean, orderly and safe.
We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill
their family responsibilities.
Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints.
There must be equal opportunity for employment, development
and advancement for those qualified.
We must provide competent management,
and their actions must be just and ethical.
We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work
and to the world community as well.
We must be good citizens - support good works and charities
and bear our fair share of taxes.
We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education.
We must maintain in good order
the property we are privileged to use,
protecting the environment and natural resources.
Our final responsibility is to our stockholders.
Business must make a sound profit.
We must experiment with new ideas.
Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed
and mistakes paid for.
New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided
and new products launched.
Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times.
When we operate according to these principles,
the stockholders should realize a fair return.
"When we operate according to these principles,
the stockholders should realize a fair return."
In the Spring and Autumn Analects, Confucius laid out a set of simple principles which defined the relationship between people, their families, their government and their society.
Johnson & Johnson has succeeded over many years by following the simple set of principles laid out by their founder that defines the relationships between the business and customers, their communities and their shareholders. Guided by the Credo, Johnson and Johnson have a history of long term success in business profitability and built the most powerful brand in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Maybe we can learn something here about what makes CRM successful.
Here's a quiz:
1. Name the major pharmaceutical companies with almost always positive earnings results over the past five years
2. Name the major pharmaceutical companies that have beaten the US stock market (Dow Jones, NASDAQ, S&P 500) over the last five years
3. Name the major pharmaceutical companies that have increased the amount of their dividend payments to their shareholders over the last year, a time of tremendous chaos for the pharmaceutical industry
4. Name the one company that appears on all three lists.
Have you guessed?
Johnson and Johnson has a Credo, a set of guiding principles that has steered them since 1943. The Credo puts customers first and shareholders last and the business has thrived, here's how it starts:
"Our first responsibility is to the doctors
nurses and patients to mothers and fathers and all others
who use our products and services."
In developing their products for the Diabetes Market, Johnson and Johnson studied the effects of diabetes in a Native American community called Whirling Thunder. They did not focus on just the use of their products, they looked at the lives of those suffering from the disease, Johnson and Johnson looked at how to prevent the disease, sponsoring community programs to reduce the death rate from the disease.....
Johnson and Johnson is a leading provider of Diabetes products. Within a face to face setting inside a Diabetes community, the business learned how to recommend practices, services and products that helped them help themselves, building on their own strengths and culture. These learnings became available for incorporating in a diabetes website. They developed a program called One-Touch Gold which will be launched in fall 2005. Some other companies might call it a Loyalty program. Many loyalty programs are developed which start by asking "What is good for our company?" Guided by their Credo, Johnson and Johnson started first with the question "What is good for our customers?" They build Deep Customer Loyalty.....
The latest buzzword in CRM is Community. One problem is that few people know what that means, and how it helps business make money. The Credo has guided Johnson and Johnson to experiment with online healthcare community building. Research has shown that online support groups for people with a major disease like Breast Cancer can be very effective in providing useful information and friends and counsel for victims of the disease and their families.....
The Credo guides J&J's innovations in online community building for acquiring customers. By experimenting with the idea: "Ask not what the Community can do for J&J, but ask what J&J can do for the Community", they can test the business hypothesis - is this a good investment for the company. Using Customer Lifetime Value J&J will be able to determine how much they can and should invest in the community in order to increase customer lifetime value of their customers and prospects.
Our Credo
We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients,
to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services.
In meeting their needs everything we do must be of high quality.
We must constantly strive to reduce our costs
in order to maintain reasonable prices.
Customers' orders must be serviced promptly and accurately.
Our suppliers and distributors must have an opportunity
to make a fair profit.
We are responsible to our employees,
the men and women who work with us throughout the world.
Everyone must be considered as an individual.
We must respect their dignity and recognize their merit.
They must have a sense of security in their jobs.
Compensation must be fair and adequate,
and working conditions clean, orderly and safe.
We must be mindful of ways to help our employees fulfill
their family responsibilities.
Employees must feel free to make suggestions and complaints.
There must be equal opportunity for employment, development
and advancement for those qualified.
We must provide competent management,
and their actions must be just and ethical.
We are responsible to the communities in which we live and work
and to the world community as well.
We must be good citizens - support good works and charities
and bear our fair share of taxes.
We must encourage civic improvements and better health and education.
We must maintain in good order
the property we are privileged to use,
protecting the environment and natural resources.
Our final responsibility is to our stockholders.
Business must make a sound profit.
We must experiment with new ideas.
Research must be carried on, innovative programs developed
and mistakes paid for.
New equipment must be purchased, new facilities provided
and new products launched.
Reserves must be created to provide for adverse times.
When we operate according to these principles,
the stockholders should realize a fair return.
"When we operate according to these principles,
the stockholders should realize a fair return."
In the Spring and Autumn Analects, Confucius laid out a set of simple principles which defined the relationship between people, their families, their government and their society.
Johnson & Johnson has succeeded over many years by following the simple set of principles laid out by their founder that defines the relationships between the business and customers, their communities and their shareholders. Guided by the Credo, Johnson and Johnson have a history of long term success in business profitability and built the most powerful brand in the Pharmaceutical industry.
Maybe we can learn something here about what makes CRM successful.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Going the Extra Mile for Service - in Singapore
I got a glimpse of how a country might set about improving service during a recent visit to Singapore with Paul Greenberg.
Gosh, he's a trooper. Just there for 6 days, we visited with many people all around Singapore, talking about Customers, Citizens and their relationships to the organizations of business and government. Read all about it in his blog of January 30th. He made an impression in Singapore, very generously sharing his expertise. And Singapore made an impression on him.
The word Trust came up a lot in those conversations. How to build relationships through service and developing trust. Yesterday, Social Customer Manifesto author, Chris Carfi pointed me at Christopher Allen's blog on the concept of Progressive Trust,
http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/08/progressive_tru.html
Neat stuff. Now let's link Customer Experience Management with the concept of Progressive Trust and we'll really be talking!
Gosh, he's a trooper. Just there for 6 days, we visited with many people all around Singapore, talking about Customers, Citizens and their relationships to the organizations of business and government. Read all about it in his blog of January 30th. He made an impression in Singapore, very generously sharing his expertise. And Singapore made an impression on him.
The word Trust came up a lot in those conversations. How to build relationships through service and developing trust. Yesterday, Social Customer Manifesto author, Chris Carfi pointed me at Christopher Allen's blog on the concept of Progressive Trust,
http://www.lifewithalacrity.com/2004/08/progressive_tru.html
Neat stuff. Now let's link Customer Experience Management with the concept of Progressive Trust and we'll really be talking!
Singapore National Service Excellence Initiative
Paul Greenberg is a trooper. For 6 days, we visited with people all over Singapore, talking about CRM and Service Excellence. He made an impression, generously sharing his expertise, and Singapore made an impression on him, see his January 30th blog at http://www.the56group.typepad.com/.
In fact, it was so hectic, I am only just back to my blog. I salute him for having written about it so quickly. I was celebrating Chinese New Year!
Singapore is taking very seriously how to smooth the transition to the Service Economy. The National initiative on Service Excellence is a great start. Read more about it at http://www.the56group.typepad.com/ Paul's January 30th 2006 entry. Yes, it was quite a trip!
In fact, it was so hectic, I am only just back to my blog. I salute him for having written about it so quickly. I was celebrating Chinese New Year!
Singapore is taking very seriously how to smooth the transition to the Service Economy. The National initiative on Service Excellence is a great start. Read more about it at http://www.the56group.typepad.com/ Paul's January 30th 2006 entry. Yes, it was quite a trip!
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Prediction for 2006 - Contact Centers will Come of Age
When you start talking about Customers - which part of your company has the most contact with customers? Its time they come into their own: Contact Centers
If you've been around children, you'll know the story about the ugly duckling who came of age and found he was a swan. That's a lot like call centers. In the next year, you're going to see a shift in call centers as businesses recognize that the longtime ugly ducks are emerging as beautiful swans.
As the April 2005 edition of The McKinseyQuarterly put it, call centers are strategic assets, "among the most underused of all corporate assets."
...... click on this blog post title for the rest of the story
If you've been around children, you'll know the story about the ugly duckling who came of age and found he was a swan. That's a lot like call centers. In the next year, you're going to see a shift in call centers as businesses recognize that the longtime ugly ducks are emerging as beautiful swans.
As the April 2005 edition of The McKinseyQuarterly put it, call centers are strategic assets, "among the most underused of all corporate assets."
...... click on this blog post title for the rest of the story
Customer Service and Customer Health: Is the Customer Always Right?
Happy New Year!
Lately I have been thinking about this question posed to me by a senior Customer Relationship executive at a major Asian bank.
"What do you do when a customer's complaint is unreasonable, I mean really unreasonable? You can't always say, the customer is always right."
Funnily enough, I found the way to resolve this dilemma is to inquire
What is the bank in business for?
Beyond just making money of course.
Because that doesn't get you that far, you make money by taking it from customers.
And they give it to you because they value something you are offering them in exchange. What is it that banks offer that is most valuable to their customers?
In the realm of services that banks provide, the most valuable to customers are those that support their financial well-being.
If we say that banks are in business to support the financial well-being of their customers : individual households or businesses, then service excellence can be measured in terms of how well banking services support customer's financial health.
So when complaints come, they can be resolved by the principle of financial health:
Does the service improve financial health or not?
When new services are considered they can be guided by this principle as well, so that customers don't feel that banks are only working to the bank's own interest.
The principle of financial health of customers provides a common goal for both customers and their banks.
And offers banks a great way to position their services to their customers through the various stages of development of their businesses and households.
Thought for 2006: The year for Servicing Customer Well-being
Lately I have been thinking about this question posed to me by a senior Customer Relationship executive at a major Asian bank.
"What do you do when a customer's complaint is unreasonable, I mean really unreasonable? You can't always say, the customer is always right."
Funnily enough, I found the way to resolve this dilemma is to inquire
What is the bank in business for?
Beyond just making money of course.
Because that doesn't get you that far, you make money by taking it from customers.
And they give it to you because they value something you are offering them in exchange. What is it that banks offer that is most valuable to their customers?
In the realm of services that banks provide, the most valuable to customers are those that support their financial well-being.
If we say that banks are in business to support the financial well-being of their customers : individual households or businesses, then service excellence can be measured in terms of how well banking services support customer's financial health.
So when complaints come, they can be resolved by the principle of financial health:
Does the service improve financial health or not?
When new services are considered they can be guided by this principle as well, so that customers don't feel that banks are only working to the bank's own interest.
The principle of financial health of customers provides a common goal for both customers and their banks.
And offers banks a great way to position their services to their customers through the various stages of development of their businesses and households.
Thought for 2006: The year for Servicing Customer Well-being
Sunday, December 04, 2005
are you a fox or a hedgehog? A hare brain or tortoise mind?
It turns out that "people who make prediction their business—people who appear as experts on television, get quoted in newspaper articles, advise governments and businesses, and participate in punditry roundtables—are no better than the rest of us."
"Think for yourself" is the lesson of the review by Louis Menand in the New Yorker magazine, of Philip Tetlock’s new book, “Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?” (Princeton; $35.
Psychologists have tested and found that people who have one big idea are most likely to embrace information that supports it and severely question information that does not. When it works it pays off big. E.g, Winston Churchill was right about Hitler. But his idea about Indian independence was wrong. He's remembered for being right about Hitler. Tetlock calls this type of expert the "Hedgehog".
The other type of expert is more likely to be right, because they look for evidence and correct as they go, they are not "stuck" on one idea. It looks to me like more evidence for using the Scientific Method: Make a hypothesis, test it, and make a new model that takes the latest information into account. The beauty of this is the speed of learning: The fox dashes ahead to take into account the very latest information, is more likely to believe that their point of view needs to be modified.
But its not enough to be a fox.
In September, I attended a talk by the actor and comedian, John Cleese. He spoke about Hare Brains and Tortoise Minds. It was a profound talk to a group of people who have been battered into thinking that cost savings are the only path to profit - Contact Center Directors. It advocated thinking of new ways to connect with customers, and shifting beyond cost savings to revenue generation.
Hare brains are very logical and rational - making constant refinements, they are very effective when things are pretty well understood. Ideal for cost savings.
Tortoise minds look deeper into their unconscious, rely more on intuition. They are more likely to achieve breakthrough thinking. In the area of working with people, in the arts, in business, in customer relationships, the easy things have been done, the Hare Brains have taken care of the obvious cost savings. Its the turn of the tortoise minds to develop the breakthroughs in service excellence which then can be refined to be delivered cost effectively by the hare brains.
The next step, to achieve breakthroughs in delivering customer value and delighting customers requires tortoise mind, and opening up to what might work.
(Of course this is a very superficial summary of what was a hilarious and wonderful talk - if anyone wants to see my notes, let me know and I'll send you a copy.)
So is the path to customer connection that of the FOX? with a Tortoise Mind?
The Fox is critical to link to Tortoise Mind - Learning is essential to guide intuition and insight in customer relations and service excellence.
"Think for yourself" is the lesson of the review by Louis Menand in the New Yorker magazine, of Philip Tetlock’s new book, “Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?” (Princeton; $35.
Psychologists have tested and found that people who have one big idea are most likely to embrace information that supports it and severely question information that does not. When it works it pays off big. E.g, Winston Churchill was right about Hitler. But his idea about Indian independence was wrong. He's remembered for being right about Hitler. Tetlock calls this type of expert the "Hedgehog".
The other type of expert is more likely to be right, because they look for evidence and correct as they go, they are not "stuck" on one idea. It looks to me like more evidence for using the Scientific Method: Make a hypothesis, test it, and make a new model that takes the latest information into account. The beauty of this is the speed of learning: The fox dashes ahead to take into account the very latest information, is more likely to believe that their point of view needs to be modified.
But its not enough to be a fox.
In September, I attended a talk by the actor and comedian, John Cleese. He spoke about Hare Brains and Tortoise Minds. It was a profound talk to a group of people who have been battered into thinking that cost savings are the only path to profit - Contact Center Directors. It advocated thinking of new ways to connect with customers, and shifting beyond cost savings to revenue generation.
Hare brains are very logical and rational - making constant refinements, they are very effective when things are pretty well understood. Ideal for cost savings.
Tortoise minds look deeper into their unconscious, rely more on intuition. They are more likely to achieve breakthrough thinking. In the area of working with people, in the arts, in business, in customer relationships, the easy things have been done, the Hare Brains have taken care of the obvious cost savings. Its the turn of the tortoise minds to develop the breakthroughs in service excellence which then can be refined to be delivered cost effectively by the hare brains.
The next step, to achieve breakthroughs in delivering customer value and delighting customers requires tortoise mind, and opening up to what might work.
(Of course this is a very superficial summary of what was a hilarious and wonderful talk - if anyone wants to see my notes, let me know and I'll send you a copy.)
So is the path to customer connection that of the FOX? with a Tortoise Mind?
The Fox is critical to link to Tortoise Mind - Learning is essential to guide intuition and insight in customer relations and service excellence.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Trolling the CRM blog world... .
Found something I like:
"Don't blame CRM for your Customer Service Failures" by Rashid Khan of Ultimus.
The title caught my eye, and I very much agree with his first thesis:
"For years enterprises have tried to combat customer service issues with technology. For example, often organizations do not have a central location to keep all of a customer's data. The customer's e-mail requests are stored in one location while records of phone conversations are located someplace else. When this happens the call center manager approaches the IT manager and says, "We need a database". The IT manager then researches the latest in knowledge-bases and buys the technology that will best fit the current architecture.
After spending quite a bit of time and money getting this knowledge-base up and running, the system still doesn't seem to run smoothly. Data is not inputted regularly so the information in the knowledge-base is often stale, incomplete or inaccurate. The Call Center manager then goes back to the IT manager and complains that the customer relationship management (CRM) solution is not working properly. To which the IT manager protests that the technology is working fine, but it is the fault of the agents for not using it properly. The ensuing result of the project is another piece of technology not being used to the best of its ability and the gap between IT and the business user is driven further apart."
But I must take issue with his simple solution: "process planning and automation".
Customer Service is a human interchange, an interchange between people. YES, process planning and automation can help the interchange be more "productive", but it requires the human touch to make it more meaningful and memorable.
CRM, in fact technology of any kind, should augment our ability to fulfil the human desire to connect with each other and create value together through the connection.
For a customer, the ideal company to do business with is one that is designed exactly to fulfil the customer's needs.
With technology, we are getting closer to this ideal, but first we have to understand very well the range of experiences, services and products the business can deliver, and how to organize all of these so that each individual customer gets just the experience that is relevant, timely, memorable and personally valuable.
Process planning and automation is just part of the solution.
I do like Rashid Khan's blog of Nov 22, and just wanted to add the essential "human touch" After all, what is the good of "cheaper better faster" if there is no human meaning and human value involved?
"Don't blame CRM for your Customer Service Failures" by Rashid Khan of Ultimus.
The title caught my eye, and I very much agree with his first thesis:
"For years enterprises have tried to combat customer service issues with technology. For example, often organizations do not have a central location to keep all of a customer's data. The customer's e-mail requests are stored in one location while records of phone conversations are located someplace else. When this happens the call center manager approaches the IT manager and says, "We need a database". The IT manager then researches the latest in knowledge-bases and buys the technology that will best fit the current architecture.
After spending quite a bit of time and money getting this knowledge-base up and running, the system still doesn't seem to run smoothly. Data is not inputted regularly so the information in the knowledge-base is often stale, incomplete or inaccurate. The Call Center manager then goes back to the IT manager and complains that the customer relationship management (CRM) solution is not working properly. To which the IT manager protests that the technology is working fine, but it is the fault of the agents for not using it properly. The ensuing result of the project is another piece of technology not being used to the best of its ability and the gap between IT and the business user is driven further apart."
But I must take issue with his simple solution: "process planning and automation".
Customer Service is a human interchange, an interchange between people. YES, process planning and automation can help the interchange be more "productive", but it requires the human touch to make it more meaningful and memorable.
CRM, in fact technology of any kind, should augment our ability to fulfil the human desire to connect with each other and create value together through the connection.
For a customer, the ideal company to do business with is one that is designed exactly to fulfil the customer's needs.
With technology, we are getting closer to this ideal, but first we have to understand very well the range of experiences, services and products the business can deliver, and how to organize all of these so that each individual customer gets just the experience that is relevant, timely, memorable and personally valuable.
Process planning and automation is just part of the solution.
I do like Rashid Khan's blog of Nov 22, and just wanted to add the essential "human touch" After all, what is the good of "cheaper better faster" if there is no human meaning and human value involved?
Winners of the Best CRM Blogs: Paul Greenberg and Chris Carfi
Back blogging again! I'm inspired to write by Paul Greenberg's winning of the SearchCRM Best CRM Blog award. He won it with Chris Carfi author of The Social Customer Manifesto. Congratulations Paul and Chris!
Just returned from Singapore last week. The trip had two focusing themes:
BizARTS and Service Excellence. Both relevant to CRM.
BizARTS is the name of the new venture being launched by Min Lee, Singapore's prodigy violinist, just returned from studying in the US and amazingly, very interested in contributing to the community she grew up in. She believes Arts IS Life. I'm involved because I see business has so much to learn from the arts in the specific area of delivering Customer Experences!
Service Excellence is the Singapore National Initiative launched in October to increase the level of service in Singapore. Clearly its part of a long term push within the country to transform into a Service Economy. I'm thrilled that they are taking the long view and seeing that a gracious society is essential to having an attractive economically vibrant service economy, knowledge economy.
The Experience Economy is coming!
Just returned from Singapore last week. The trip had two focusing themes:
BizARTS and Service Excellence. Both relevant to CRM.
BizARTS is the name of the new venture being launched by Min Lee, Singapore's prodigy violinist, just returned from studying in the US and amazingly, very interested in contributing to the community she grew up in. She believes Arts IS Life. I'm involved because I see business has so much to learn from the arts in the specific area of delivering Customer Experences!
Service Excellence is the Singapore National Initiative launched in October to increase the level of service in Singapore. Clearly its part of a long term push within the country to transform into a Service Economy. I'm thrilled that they are taking the long view and seeing that a gracious society is essential to having an attractive economically vibrant service economy, knowledge economy.
The Experience Economy is coming!
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Connecting the Arts and Business
The Arts are supported by the wealthy, many of the top business people in any society
Today Arts activities and events are valuable networking opportunities for doing Business
The UK has set up a whole organization called Arts and Business (see link) just to get more happening, for example: to create partnerships so that business is supporting the arts and gets something directly out of that support, e.g. publicity, goodwill, community building, employees volunteering and feeling good about it
What other Arts Business win/win connections might there be?
On the site, I found this article:
http://www.aandb.org.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,5,448,470
CREATIVITY CRISIS LEAVES UK BUSINESS AT A DISADVANTAGE
Some extracts -
* UK businesses are facing aa shortage of creativity skills at senior levels
* 60% of FTSE 500 companies now require their CEOs to have creative skills
* 48% require creative skills of their Sales Directors
* Businesses in the FTSE 500 see creativity skills as one of the main engines to business success, and seek creative people to join their Boards of Directors
* Reasons for 86% of board candidates failing to meet this criteria are
· A lack of creative mentors and suitable training (36%)
· A dull and unexciting physical work environment (27%)
· Work ethos, where the atmosphere and working practices are not conducive to the development of creativity skills (23%)
· Lack of training in general education (14%)
According to Arts & Business CEO Colin Tweedy:
"The arts are a good place to start and have a unique ability to inspire individuals to think and act differently and to increase levels of creativity and innovation. It can start by inviting a poet to speak about creative writing to developing a more complex arts access and development programme.....If businesses are to overcome the creativity skills deficit, then all that is required now is actual engagement with a primary source of creativity - the arts."
And how does this Connect to Customers?
Creating Customer Experience requires much more than mundane transaction completion - the aesthetics taught by being involved with ART, provide valuable insight into what it takes to develop with Customers authentic emotional impact and emotional connection - some call it Brand Loyalty - so that Customers feel good about doing Business with your company.
Just look at the success of the Apple iPOD and the new Nano - aesthetic creativity inside!
We have moved well beyond supplying the basics, customers want more and will pay for more:
style! design! coolness!
Today Arts activities and events are valuable networking opportunities for doing Business
The UK has set up a whole organization called Arts and Business (see link) just to get more happening, for example: to create partnerships so that business is supporting the arts and gets something directly out of that support, e.g. publicity, goodwill, community building, employees volunteering and feeling good about it
What other Arts Business win/win connections might there be?
On the site, I found this article:
http://www.aandb.org.uk/render.aspx?siteID=1&navIDs=1,5,448,470
CREATIVITY CRISIS LEAVES UK BUSINESS AT A DISADVANTAGE
Some extracts -
* UK businesses are facing aa shortage of creativity skills at senior levels
* 60% of FTSE 500 companies now require their CEOs to have creative skills
* 48% require creative skills of their Sales Directors
* Businesses in the FTSE 500 see creativity skills as one of the main engines to business success, and seek creative people to join their Boards of Directors
* Reasons for 86% of board candidates failing to meet this criteria are
· A lack of creative mentors and suitable training (36%)
· A dull and unexciting physical work environment (27%)
· Work ethos, where the atmosphere and working practices are not conducive to the development of creativity skills (23%)
· Lack of training in general education (14%)
According to Arts & Business CEO Colin Tweedy:
"The arts are a good place to start and have a unique ability to inspire individuals to think and act differently and to increase levels of creativity and innovation. It can start by inviting a poet to speak about creative writing to developing a more complex arts access and development programme.....If businesses are to overcome the creativity skills deficit, then all that is required now is actual engagement with a primary source of creativity - the arts."
And how does this Connect to Customers?
Creating Customer Experience requires much more than mundane transaction completion - the aesthetics taught by being involved with ART, provide valuable insight into what it takes to develop with Customers authentic emotional impact and emotional connection - some call it Brand Loyalty - so that Customers feel good about doing Business with your company.
Just look at the success of the Apple iPOD and the new Nano - aesthetic creativity inside!
We have moved well beyond supplying the basics, customers want more and will pay for more:
style! design! coolness!
Friday, September 09, 2005
Its the Customers Stupid
Tom Peter's blog - well I just found it, what can I say?
I like it a lot when he says in his August 25 2005 blog "Black Dogs, Loved Ones, etc" :
It's the People, stupid! It's the Customers, stupid!
My great friend Warren Bennis said, "The best thing a leader can do for a Great Group is to allow its members to discover their greatness."
My late colleague Boyd Clarke added, "I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to its employees."
End of quote from Peter's blog.
I'm downloading Tom Peter's ePaper on PSF - the Professional Service Firm
114 pages, free at www.ChangeThis.com listed under September 7
Tons of very useful papers about the new Customer Economy
I found out about Tom Peter's blog from http://zane.typepad.com/ : Zane's blog
And got to Zane's blog from
www.heartofbusiness.com
where Mark Silver is doing well by doing good.
He's combining the Karma bank and the Money bank and creating $ocial Capital:
"When you want to make a difference and you need to make a profit"
And how did I find Mark Silver's site? Because I was looking for a new domain name....
I like it a lot when he says in his August 25 2005 blog "Black Dogs, Loved Ones, etc" :
It's the People, stupid! It's the Customers, stupid!
My great friend Warren Bennis said, "The best thing a leader can do for a Great Group is to allow its members to discover their greatness."
My late colleague Boyd Clarke added, "I have always believed that the purpose of the corporation is to be a blessing to its employees."
End of quote from Peter's blog.
I'm downloading Tom Peter's ePaper on PSF - the Professional Service Firm
114 pages, free at www.ChangeThis.com listed under September 7
Tons of very useful papers about the new Customer Economy
I found out about Tom Peter's blog from http://zane.typepad.com/ : Zane's blog
And got to Zane's blog from
www.heartofbusiness.com
where Mark Silver is doing well by doing good.
He's combining the Karma bank and the Money bank and creating $ocial Capital:
"When you want to make a difference and you need to make a profit"
And how did I find Mark Silver's site? Because I was looking for a new domain name....
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Social Customer Manifesto
My post today acknowledges and recognizes an important contribution by Christopher Carfi
The Social Customer Manifesto
* I want to have a say.
* I don't want to do business with idiots.
* I want to know when something is wrong, and what you're going to do to fix it.
* I want to help shape things that I'll find useful.
* I want to connect with others who are working on similar problems.
* I don't want to be called by another salesperson. Ever. (Unless they have something useful. Then I want it yesterday.)
* I want to buy things on my schedule, not yours. I don't care if it's the end of your quarter.
* I want to know your selling process.
* I want to tell you when you're screwing up. Conversely, I'm happy to tell you the things that you are doing well. I may even tell you what your competitors are doing.
* I want to do business with companies that act in a transparent and ethical manner.
* I want to know what's next. We're in partnership…where should we go?
Sounds like a Customer Manifesto to me!
Now if this is the Customer Manifesto - what is the business manifesto?
And in the light of the National Katrina Disaster on many fronts (hurricane, flood, loss of NOLA, government's contract with citizens) - what is the government manifesto?
The Social Customer Manifesto
* I want to have a say.
* I don't want to do business with idiots.
* I want to know when something is wrong, and what you're going to do to fix it.
* I want to help shape things that I'll find useful.
* I want to connect with others who are working on similar problems.
* I don't want to be called by another salesperson. Ever. (Unless they have something useful. Then I want it yesterday.)
* I want to buy things on my schedule, not yours. I don't care if it's the end of your quarter.
* I want to know your selling process.
* I want to tell you when you're screwing up. Conversely, I'm happy to tell you the things that you are doing well. I may even tell you what your competitors are doing.
* I want to do business with companies that act in a transparent and ethical manner.
* I want to know what's next. We're in partnership…where should we go?
Sounds like a Customer Manifesto to me!
Now if this is the Customer Manifesto - what is the business manifesto?
And in the light of the National Katrina Disaster on many fronts (hurricane, flood, loss of NOLA, government's contract with citizens) - what is the government manifesto?
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Blogs Customers et al
Just today, I met David through the Blogging Loom who writes:
"I believe in constant pursuit. When it's done without fearlessness and with a desire to embrace the unknown, the walls that have been created between the world and ourselves naturally dissolve."
I'm honored to meet you!
"Blogging Loom" comes from Edna St Vincent Millay's poem fragment:
Upon this gifted age, in this dark hour,
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
Of facts... they lie unquestioned, uncombined
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom
To weave it into fabric...
The Blogging Loom is slowly evolving into existence.
And that the nature of business is slowly but surely changing.
Businesses don't like it when their employees Blog about their company.
Why?
Because that's the truest "Buyers Guide" that there is.
And the Blogging Loom makes it possible for all to see how the Sausages are made inside the Sausage Factory.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't
Customer Relationships will never be the same after the blogging loom hits mainstream
"I believe in constant pursuit. When it's done without fearlessness and with a desire to embrace the unknown, the walls that have been created between the world and ourselves naturally dissolve."
I'm honored to meet you!
"Blogging Loom" comes from Edna St Vincent Millay's poem fragment:
Upon this gifted age, in this dark hour,
Rains from the sky a meteoric shower
Of facts... they lie unquestioned, uncombined
Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill
Is daily spun, but there exists no loom
To weave it into fabric...
The Blogging Loom is slowly evolving into existence.
And that the nature of business is slowly but surely changing.
Businesses don't like it when their employees Blog about their company.
Why?
Because that's the truest "Buyers Guide" that there is.
And the Blogging Loom makes it possible for all to see how the Sausages are made inside the Sausage Factory.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't
Customer Relationships will never be the same after the blogging loom hits mainstream
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Pharmaceutical Mission Impossible
Deliver customer satisfaction and make a profit ? Who?s really able to do it? Have you guessed? Johnson and Johnson is delivering customer satisfaction and making a consistent profit. It is not Mission Impossible....
The Johnson and Johnson Credo is legendary in the pharmaceutical industry.
It is a model for good CRM practice.
I love it!
I wrote this article for Greater China CRM and suddenly realized that the J&J Credo was a somewhat like the Spring and Autumn Analects - the records by the students of Confucius on his thoughts about the relationship between people, families, community and emperor. Defining the values of key relationship has provides strong guidelines for one of the longest ongoing cultures in the world: China.
Perhaps it also accounts for Johnson and Johnson's steady success over the years.
The Johnson and Johnson Credo is legendary in the pharmaceutical industry.
It is a model for good CRM practice.
I love it!
I wrote this article for Greater China CRM and suddenly realized that the J&J Credo was a somewhat like the Spring and Autumn Analects - the records by the students of Confucius on his thoughts about the relationship between people, families, community and emperor. Defining the values of key relationship has provides strong guidelines for one of the longest ongoing cultures in the world: China.
Perhaps it also accounts for Johnson and Johnson's steady success over the years.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Customer Lifetime Value article at CRMGuru
A long time ago, in 1998, Linda Sharpe and I gave a talk in Silicon Valley about Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) that drew a record crowd to the Marketing Special Interest Group of the Software Development Forum www.sdforum.org
Since then, my understanding continues to evolve.
Customer Lifetime Value is a great way to understand how valuable your customers are as Assets.... read my latest article just up at www.crmguru.com to find out more
Since then, my understanding continues to evolve.
Customer Lifetime Value is a great way to understand how valuable your customers are as Assets.... read my latest article just up at www.crmguru.com to find out more
Friday, July 01, 2005
The 5 Kernels of Corn - Truly Deeply Madly Valuing People
This was triggered by an article and response in the Singapore Straits Times.
Poet and Economic Development Board director Koh Buck Song wrote an article in the Straits Times June 22, 2005 about innovation in social development. “The key is to see it through”.
Joyce Tan Swee Yee won the award for Outstanding Social Worker Merit Award for 2004. Mr. Koh touched on issues she has worked all her life on. So she wrote a reply which was published in the Straits Times Jun 27 in which she said
“Unless we truly, deeply, madly value the individual citizen, there can be no true, long-lasting social development.”
Yesterday, my friend Hung Nguyen told me a story about a wealthy Asian patriarch, and I have very slightly adapted it below:
The illustrious and prosperous gentleman of the East had 5 sons, each with a family of his own. To whom would he would leave the bulk of his wealth.
In those days, it was the practice to give control of the wealth to the woman of the family. So he needed to decide which of his daughters-in-law would be the best.
He decided to test them over five years in this way, giving each daughter-in-law 5 kernels of corn and telling them he was going away and would return in five years.
The first thought he was a crazy old man, probably going senile and threw them away.
The second thought the 5 kernels must be very special, probably magical and so thought to capture those magical powers by eating the corn.
The third thought that these were given to her for safe keeping and she put them in a very special box that would protect them and put the box in a vault.
The fourth wanted to be innovative and ground the kernels into flour, and started looking for great recipes that would maximize the impact of that tiny amount of corn flour.
The fifth decided that the best thing to do would be to plant the corn.
So she prepared a planting bed and watched over the corn.
They grew tall and beautiful, and she harvested the corn, keeping some to plant for the next season, doing this for each of the five years.
The old man returned, and asked what had happened to the corn he had given his daughters in law
The first said “What corn?”
The second said “They weren’t magic, I ate them and nothing happened.”
The third said “Here they are, EXACTLY the way you gave them to me.”
The fourth said “I found this world-class recipe for those kernels and here is the exquisite morsel I made from the corn”
The fifth said “Come with me to the back of the house”, in front of them, spreading as far as they could see were rows and rows of maize plants, green and lush, waving gently in the slight breeze.
The old man knew he had found the right person to inherit his wealth.
In his article, Koh Buck Song gives his view of the major obstacles to following through on social development innovation. I read it as meaning that it is the lack of follow through that results in the inability to harvest sustainably from efforts at social development.
For me, focusing on the follow through is like trying to work out how the first four daughters-in-law can follow through to maximize the impact of their five kernel’s of corn. Five is Five and stays five. (even when innovatively cooked into a worldclass recipe for eating)
It was the fifth daughter who saw the potential of the kernels of corn and nurtured them, who saw the kernels grow and multiply. Five becomes 100’s becomes 1000’s and keeps on going…
All the training and innovation will come to naught as with the first 4 daughters-in-law.
The individual citizen is like the corn kernel – all the potential is there – in each person.
Accepting all the possibilities and nurturing them to fruition, harvest and re-seeding is a joyful process.
The key is to Truly, Madly, Deeply Value the individual citizen.
What if we change citizen to customer? How would you read the story?
Poet and Economic Development Board director Koh Buck Song wrote an article in the Straits Times June 22, 2005 about innovation in social development. “The key is to see it through”.
Joyce Tan Swee Yee won the award for Outstanding Social Worker Merit Award for 2004. Mr. Koh touched on issues she has worked all her life on. So she wrote a reply which was published in the Straits Times Jun 27 in which she said
“Unless we truly, deeply, madly value the individual citizen, there can be no true, long-lasting social development.”
Yesterday, my friend Hung Nguyen told me a story about a wealthy Asian patriarch, and I have very slightly adapted it below:
The illustrious and prosperous gentleman of the East had 5 sons, each with a family of his own. To whom would he would leave the bulk of his wealth.
In those days, it was the practice to give control of the wealth to the woman of the family. So he needed to decide which of his daughters-in-law would be the best.
He decided to test them over five years in this way, giving each daughter-in-law 5 kernels of corn and telling them he was going away and would return in five years.
The first thought he was a crazy old man, probably going senile and threw them away.
The second thought the 5 kernels must be very special, probably magical and so thought to capture those magical powers by eating the corn.
The third thought that these were given to her for safe keeping and she put them in a very special box that would protect them and put the box in a vault.
The fourth wanted to be innovative and ground the kernels into flour, and started looking for great recipes that would maximize the impact of that tiny amount of corn flour.
The fifth decided that the best thing to do would be to plant the corn.
So she prepared a planting bed and watched over the corn.
They grew tall and beautiful, and she harvested the corn, keeping some to plant for the next season, doing this for each of the five years.
The old man returned, and asked what had happened to the corn he had given his daughters in law
The first said “What corn?”
The second said “They weren’t magic, I ate them and nothing happened.”
The third said “Here they are, EXACTLY the way you gave them to me.”
The fourth said “I found this world-class recipe for those kernels and here is the exquisite morsel I made from the corn”
The fifth said “Come with me to the back of the house”, in front of them, spreading as far as they could see were rows and rows of maize plants, green and lush, waving gently in the slight breeze.
The old man knew he had found the right person to inherit his wealth.
In his article, Koh Buck Song gives his view of the major obstacles to following through on social development innovation. I read it as meaning that it is the lack of follow through that results in the inability to harvest sustainably from efforts at social development.
For me, focusing on the follow through is like trying to work out how the first four daughters-in-law can follow through to maximize the impact of their five kernel’s of corn. Five is Five and stays five. (even when innovatively cooked into a worldclass recipe for eating)
It was the fifth daughter who saw the potential of the kernels of corn and nurtured them, who saw the kernels grow and multiply. Five becomes 100’s becomes 1000’s and keeps on going…
All the training and innovation will come to naught as with the first 4 daughters-in-law.
The individual citizen is like the corn kernel – all the potential is there – in each person.
Accepting all the possibilities and nurturing them to fruition, harvest and re-seeding is a joyful process.
The key is to Truly, Madly, Deeply Value the individual citizen.
What if we change citizen to customer? How would you read the story?
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Wednesday Night at PARC: Together Again
Last night was an amazing experience. John Markoff's new book "What the Dormouse Said" has stirred up a lot of memories and passion of the early days of personal computing. At the (formerly known as Xerox) Palo Alto Research Center Auditorium, a crowd gathered that may never get together in one room again. Many people from the book just turned up - it was a combination of holding the event at PARC and also seeing that some of their friends would be there on the panel: Bill Duvall, Lee Felsenstein, Larry Tesler, Dennis Allison.
It all started the day before, Tuesday morning, when Pam Cleveland from the Computer History Museum sent a note from the SD Forum organizer, Sandy Rockowitz inviting Doug Engelbart to attend. I'd been Doug's business partner for a couple years in 2002-2003 and we still get together to eat salmon together about once a month. Doug was open to doing it and so by 6 pm we were rolling up Coyote Hill Road towards PARC.
First we see Adele Goldberg speaking on her cell phone, then on the way up from the parking lot, Harvey Lehtman comes up to say hi to Doug. As we go in, people who know him or have heard of him come up for Doug's autograph - it's not easy for him to write these days, so those who got Doug's autographs are lucky!
Dan Gillmor, well known as the San Jose Mercury Technology Columnist introduced John Markoff, saying lots of normal nice things. Most memorably, that John was responsible for the most Holy Crap moments, when late in the publishing cycle, they'd see the latest article by Markoff and found they the local Silicon Valley paper been scooped again by the New York Times. As of May 13, Dan has landed in www.Bayosphere.com - a place for citizen journalism.
John Markoff talks and shows photos of folks - young, beautiful, handsome, intense from the '60's. Gosh, many of them sporting really large beards! He said, quoting someone, he felt as if he was giving a lecture on Catholic Theology in front of a group of Popes..... Technology happens through the prism of Culture and Economics, that the 1960's is echoing in the politics of today.
Ted Nelson, the "Don Quixote" of modern computing has not been widely known outside of computing circles. The book is about the People of that age, stories that must be set down before they are forgotten. John told how he'd met Ted at Doug's 79th birthday party and with no preamble Ted said (something like) "I can conclusively prove I invented backlink".
The 2 myths of the personal computer:
1. Two Steves and a garage (Jobs and Wozniak and the Apple computer)
2. Alan Kay in the early 70's.
Markoff has written a Revisionist history about the fact that the ideas that mattered more than this were created at two labs: Doug's at SRI - the Augmented Human Intellect (later known as Augmented Research Center - ARC) and John McCarthy's Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) at opposite sides of the Stanford Campus. The ideas were synthesized at Xerox and then went out to the computer hobbyists.
He's saying that the context and milieu of the times - psychedelic sociology, not psychology were responsible for what emerged. In the collision of the sub groups - Grateful Dead, People's Computer Company, the Microprocessor - something happened. The licensing of the transistor at nominal fee was the key to the emergence of Silicon Valley, together with Xerox's decision to not enforce their patent ownership of the LCD, spread the technology widely. Sutherland's Sketchpad and Link were precursors. It was this moment that the universal media machine combined with the idea of computing which up to then had been for numerical analysis.
Within a circle of 5 miles around Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park - it all happened, and not by any coincidence, John Markoff himself grew up.
As the second node on the Internet (ARPANET as it was known then), Doug's NLS (oNLSystem) was the killer app that allowed people to send messages, communicate, access information on remote computers. Before that moment, computing were not seen as intuitive.
McCarthy's AI Lab was on Arastradero road. John McCarthy was Father of Time Sharing. My partner RC was McCarthy's PhD student in the mid 80's and caught up with Les Earnest who was also there at the event. When RC told Les about working at Cisco, Les reminisced with stories about Len Bozak who had worked at SAIL before leaving to found Cisco.
Markoff said he'd noticed that the ones whose ideas had lasted, were the ones who realized that Scaling made a difference. That Doug had satisfied himself that computers would be able to scale down in size and increase in computing power to be able to augment human capability. That others who's concepts took root similarly were able to project trends.
Later when the panelists spoke, Larry Tesler talked about discovering the power of personal printing in this way: That in order to get student leaflets produced for a protest at Stanford, they'd made them in the basement at SAIL. Later he and others were talking and extrapolating what this meant to have anyone be able to print whatever they wanted.... anyway, they kept going and by the end of the conversation, they realized that the Soviet Union would fall. They wondered who they should tell? So they talked some more and decided they shouldn't tell anyone because otherwise the Soviet Union would take steps. So they kept quiet, and the Soviet Union fell.
Up to that point, computers had been used for numerical analysis. The political and social environment in the 60's and 70's provided the spark to shift out of numbers and into human stuff - Augmentation and AI.
Lee Felsenstein said it was not about counter culture, at least not in his circles, it was about the "Revolt against Institutions" - which in some way has it s roots back to the beginning of the Republic. That was the Zeitgeist. Free Speech, Community, Convivial Technology, Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich.
Dennis Allison founded the People's Computing Company, and produced the Computer Music Journal and Dr. Dobb's Journal (among others). The Learning Exchange, Community memory, community search and access to knowledge.
Just behind us I saw in the audience Butler Lampson, Bob Taylor - characters in this book and also in the book about JR Licklider, the Dream Machine. In front of us Ann Duvall and Markoff's wife, Leslie. Some, no many of the people who care about Doug.
Dealing Lightning with Both Hands - that was the description of Doug up on stage at the 1968 demo http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/MouseSitePg1.html - Lee Felsenstein said that he'd heard about it 3rd hand and it made a huge impression on him, the vision of what computers could do - so completely different from anything. It was in the air - Andy van Dam and Ted Nelson (inventor of hypertext) had begun working on a system with similar characteristics and couldn't believe they'd been scooped not just in the idea but in the implementation.
Larry Tesler talked about "Questioning Everything". That whatever was there had to be challenged. He also told the story of calling Microsoft Tech Support in the very early days and being helped by Bill Gates.
Someone asked what are people on the panel finding interesting these days:
Markoff - file to file sharing lawsuit is in the news these days. But Peer to Peer sharing is moving below file level granularity... he expects a peer to peer application explosion - its all about sharing information - harks back to his earlier comment about NLS being the 'net's Killer App. Another thing, the massively single player game - SPORE - individuals create content, their content together makes for a complex world, a Multi-Verse (multiple universe) - a platform for sharing user generated information (my addition - that interacts, ie, acts on the information shared). Conflating (melding, fusing) Open Source, Content Sharing, Software Sharing.
Larry Tesler, Lee Felsenstein and Dennis Allison spoke about how much further computing had to go in enhancing education. Dennis believes children should learning programming. Larry said that the unsolved problem in computing is effective education. Lee said he's been working on the bicycle powered computer for schools.
Doug had been talking about the book for weeks. In fact he'd attended two other book tour sessions with John Markoff. He'd been telling me that there were things he'd wanted to say about the counter culture but not been able to before. So Ann Duvall got the mike and asked him a question: Tonight a young man came up and said he'd just seen the 1968 demo, and he saw things there that people still don't have today. Almost 40 years later, that demo is still amazing people and causing them to think about computers in new ways. Share your thoughts Doug.
Doug stood up from his aisle seat: There's a group of people running a conference in Copenhagen "reboot" - and they want to reboot. So they asked me to talk with them after they show that 1968 video. In preparation for that today, I watched the whole 90 minutes again, which I haven't seen for a long time.
I was stimulated by the book, it made me think about countercultures - it made me think about paradigm shifts among people involved that were quite different from those described in the book. Besides the revolutionary 60's spirit. For instance, personal computing vs personal computer - we had considerably more power back in the 70's via personal computing using NLS/Augment. Yet we went down the personal computer path, even though it took decades for the personal computer to catch up with what we had in the 60's and early 70's.
(Note from Mei Lin - if Larry Tesler had worked at Doug's ARC lab instead of McCarthy's SAIL lab, would he have accepted sharing computer resources? Larry said last night, he couldn't stand getting a message like, your 3 second program will take 2 weeks to run. Les Ernest stood up from the audience and said, you would rather boot up your personal computer and have it take 10 minutes than wait a few seconds to log on to SAIL. Larry said, at least its deterministic, and I could go get a cup of coffee. Someone I forget who, said, its just normal Territorial instinct to want your own access to power with no in-betweens.)
The other thing I wanted to bring up is that we focused on capabilities - we had the feeling that there were signficant potential increaases in capability - that pursuing those was very important and that exploration of how to attain these increases was very limited by the other current of the times: That things should be easy to learn.
My view has been and still is:
First find out how much capability to achieve and only then ask if the price of learning to achieve that level of capability is too high.
Definitely not arbitrarily setting limits on how easy to learn it must be.
We haven't done this in the past. If we did, we'd all be riding tricycles because bicycles are too hard to learn to ride. (MLF - not to mention learning to drive!)
One thing Doug did not get to last night was a third point: The perspective of computing supporting groups instead of computing supporting individuals - Doug thought about saying "We had email in 1970, collaboration in group was common, software code could be accessed and worked on by anyone, we could edit code and run it in the same window. Capability in PC's didn't have spreadsheets, file sharing systems where you could access information at very granular (word, character) levels
The clash in culture between office automation vs personal computing made a real difference in how things evolved. The difference in goal between Artifical Intelligence and Augmented Intelligence also had profound effects which we live with today. How we can boost the humans capabilities? The cultures were quite different. John wrote about some differences in culture, Doug would like to see someone writing a book about these specific culture differences - because we are still not done with increasing human capability.:
Samuel Hahn asked the last question of the evening - it was already 10 pm, 1 hour over the scheduled end.
"The technology is much more advanced now. So is the time ripe for Doug's quest to focus technology on Augmenting Human capability?"
Answer - was it Felsenstein and/or Tesler: The momentum and energy are slowly building. No one knows when the critical mass with be reached. The bubble of interest and available technology is continuing to grow.
Paraphrasing Markoff "sometimes it can take decades, even when all the pieces seem to be in place, for something to hit. I can't predict."
It was really a great night for Doug, he was happy to see everyone again and glad to be still around to remind everyone of how much work there still is to be done.
Tom Foremski felt the passion too, read his article on the event at
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/06/a_tribute_to_on.php
It all started the day before, Tuesday morning, when Pam Cleveland from the Computer History Museum sent a note from the SD Forum organizer, Sandy Rockowitz inviting Doug Engelbart to attend. I'd been Doug's business partner for a couple years in 2002-2003 and we still get together to eat salmon together about once a month. Doug was open to doing it and so by 6 pm we were rolling up Coyote Hill Road towards PARC.
First we see Adele Goldberg speaking on her cell phone, then on the way up from the parking lot, Harvey Lehtman comes up to say hi to Doug. As we go in, people who know him or have heard of him come up for Doug's autograph - it's not easy for him to write these days, so those who got Doug's autographs are lucky!
Dan Gillmor, well known as the San Jose Mercury Technology Columnist introduced John Markoff, saying lots of normal nice things. Most memorably, that John was responsible for the most Holy Crap moments, when late in the publishing cycle, they'd see the latest article by Markoff and found they the local Silicon Valley paper been scooped again by the New York Times. As of May 13, Dan has landed in www.Bayosphere.com - a place for citizen journalism.
John Markoff talks and shows photos of folks - young, beautiful, handsome, intense from the '60's. Gosh, many of them sporting really large beards! He said, quoting someone, he felt as if he was giving a lecture on Catholic Theology in front of a group of Popes..... Technology happens through the prism of Culture and Economics, that the 1960's is echoing in the politics of today.
Ted Nelson, the "Don Quixote" of modern computing has not been widely known outside of computing circles. The book is about the People of that age, stories that must be set down before they are forgotten. John told how he'd met Ted at Doug's 79th birthday party and with no preamble Ted said (something like) "I can conclusively prove I invented backlink".
The 2 myths of the personal computer:
1. Two Steves and a garage (Jobs and Wozniak and the Apple computer)
2. Alan Kay in the early 70's.
Markoff has written a Revisionist history about the fact that the ideas that mattered more than this were created at two labs: Doug's at SRI - the Augmented Human Intellect (later known as Augmented Research Center - ARC) and John McCarthy's Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL) at opposite sides of the Stanford Campus. The ideas were synthesized at Xerox and then went out to the computer hobbyists.
He's saying that the context and milieu of the times - psychedelic sociology, not psychology were responsible for what emerged. In the collision of the sub groups - Grateful Dead, People's Computer Company, the Microprocessor - something happened. The licensing of the transistor at nominal fee was the key to the emergence of Silicon Valley, together with Xerox's decision to not enforce their patent ownership of the LCD, spread the technology widely. Sutherland's Sketchpad and Link were precursors. It was this moment that the universal media machine combined with the idea of computing which up to then had been for numerical analysis.
Within a circle of 5 miles around Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park - it all happened, and not by any coincidence, John Markoff himself grew up.
As the second node on the Internet (ARPANET as it was known then), Doug's NLS (oNLSystem) was the killer app that allowed people to send messages, communicate, access information on remote computers. Before that moment, computing were not seen as intuitive.
McCarthy's AI Lab was on Arastradero road. John McCarthy was Father of Time Sharing. My partner RC was McCarthy's PhD student in the mid 80's and caught up with Les Earnest who was also there at the event. When RC told Les about working at Cisco, Les reminisced with stories about Len Bozak who had worked at SAIL before leaving to found Cisco.
Markoff said he'd noticed that the ones whose ideas had lasted, were the ones who realized that Scaling made a difference. That Doug had satisfied himself that computers would be able to scale down in size and increase in computing power to be able to augment human capability. That others who's concepts took root similarly were able to project trends.
Later when the panelists spoke, Larry Tesler talked about discovering the power of personal printing in this way: That in order to get student leaflets produced for a protest at Stanford, they'd made them in the basement at SAIL. Later he and others were talking and extrapolating what this meant to have anyone be able to print whatever they wanted.... anyway, they kept going and by the end of the conversation, they realized that the Soviet Union would fall. They wondered who they should tell? So they talked some more and decided they shouldn't tell anyone because otherwise the Soviet Union would take steps. So they kept quiet, and the Soviet Union fell.
Up to that point, computers had been used for numerical analysis. The political and social environment in the 60's and 70's provided the spark to shift out of numbers and into human stuff - Augmentation and AI.
Lee Felsenstein said it was not about counter culture, at least not in his circles, it was about the "Revolt against Institutions" - which in some way has it s roots back to the beginning of the Republic. That was the Zeitgeist. Free Speech, Community, Convivial Technology, Deschooling Society, Ivan Illich.
Dennis Allison founded the People's Computing Company, and produced the Computer Music Journal and Dr. Dobb's Journal (among others). The Learning Exchange, Community memory, community search and access to knowledge.
Just behind us I saw in the audience Butler Lampson, Bob Taylor - characters in this book and also in the book about JR Licklider, the Dream Machine. In front of us Ann Duvall and Markoff's wife, Leslie. Some, no many of the people who care about Doug.
Dealing Lightning with Both Hands - that was the description of Doug up on stage at the 1968 demo http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/MouseSitePg1.html - Lee Felsenstein said that he'd heard about it 3rd hand and it made a huge impression on him, the vision of what computers could do - so completely different from anything. It was in the air - Andy van Dam and Ted Nelson (inventor of hypertext) had begun working on a system with similar characteristics and couldn't believe they'd been scooped not just in the idea but in the implementation.
Larry Tesler talked about "Questioning Everything". That whatever was there had to be challenged. He also told the story of calling Microsoft Tech Support in the very early days and being helped by Bill Gates.
Someone asked what are people on the panel finding interesting these days:
Markoff - file to file sharing lawsuit is in the news these days. But Peer to Peer sharing is moving below file level granularity... he expects a peer to peer application explosion - its all about sharing information - harks back to his earlier comment about NLS being the 'net's Killer App. Another thing, the massively single player game - SPORE - individuals create content, their content together makes for a complex world, a Multi-Verse (multiple universe) - a platform for sharing user generated information (my addition - that interacts, ie, acts on the information shared). Conflating (melding, fusing) Open Source, Content Sharing, Software Sharing.
Larry Tesler, Lee Felsenstein and Dennis Allison spoke about how much further computing had to go in enhancing education. Dennis believes children should learning programming. Larry said that the unsolved problem in computing is effective education. Lee said he's been working on the bicycle powered computer for schools.
Doug had been talking about the book for weeks. In fact he'd attended two other book tour sessions with John Markoff. He'd been telling me that there were things he'd wanted to say about the counter culture but not been able to before. So Ann Duvall got the mike and asked him a question: Tonight a young man came up and said he'd just seen the 1968 demo, and he saw things there that people still don't have today. Almost 40 years later, that demo is still amazing people and causing them to think about computers in new ways. Share your thoughts Doug.
Doug stood up from his aisle seat: There's a group of people running a conference in Copenhagen "reboot" - and they want to reboot. So they asked me to talk with them after they show that 1968 video. In preparation for that today, I watched the whole 90 minutes again, which I haven't seen for a long time.
I was stimulated by the book, it made me think about countercultures - it made me think about paradigm shifts among people involved that were quite different from those described in the book. Besides the revolutionary 60's spirit. For instance, personal computing vs personal computer - we had considerably more power back in the 70's via personal computing using NLS/Augment. Yet we went down the personal computer path, even though it took decades for the personal computer to catch up with what we had in the 60's and early 70's.
(Note from Mei Lin - if Larry Tesler had worked at Doug's ARC lab instead of McCarthy's SAIL lab, would he have accepted sharing computer resources? Larry said last night, he couldn't stand getting a message like, your 3 second program will take 2 weeks to run. Les Ernest stood up from the audience and said, you would rather boot up your personal computer and have it take 10 minutes than wait a few seconds to log on to SAIL. Larry said, at least its deterministic, and I could go get a cup of coffee. Someone I forget who, said, its just normal Territorial instinct to want your own access to power with no in-betweens.)
The other thing I wanted to bring up is that we focused on capabilities - we had the feeling that there were signficant potential increaases in capability - that pursuing those was very important and that exploration of how to attain these increases was very limited by the other current of the times: That things should be easy to learn.
My view has been and still is:
First find out how much capability to achieve and only then ask if the price of learning to achieve that level of capability is too high.
Definitely not arbitrarily setting limits on how easy to learn it must be.
We haven't done this in the past. If we did, we'd all be riding tricycles because bicycles are too hard to learn to ride. (MLF - not to mention learning to drive!)
One thing Doug did not get to last night was a third point: The perspective of computing supporting groups instead of computing supporting individuals - Doug thought about saying "We had email in 1970, collaboration in group was common, software code could be accessed and worked on by anyone, we could edit code and run it in the same window. Capability in PC's didn't have spreadsheets, file sharing systems where you could access information at very granular (word, character) levels
The clash in culture between office automation vs personal computing made a real difference in how things evolved. The difference in goal between Artifical Intelligence and Augmented Intelligence also had profound effects which we live with today. How we can boost the humans capabilities? The cultures were quite different. John wrote about some differences in culture, Doug would like to see someone writing a book about these specific culture differences - because we are still not done with increasing human capability.:
Samuel Hahn asked the last question of the evening - it was already 10 pm, 1 hour over the scheduled end.
"The technology is much more advanced now. So is the time ripe for Doug's quest to focus technology on Augmenting Human capability?"
Answer - was it Felsenstein and/or Tesler: The momentum and energy are slowly building. No one knows when the critical mass with be reached. The bubble of interest and available technology is continuing to grow.
Paraphrasing Markoff "sometimes it can take decades, even when all the pieces seem to be in place, for something to hit. I can't predict."
It was really a great night for Doug, he was happy to see everyone again and glad to be still around to remind everyone of how much work there still is to be done.
Tom Foremski felt the passion too, read his article on the event at
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2005/06/a_tribute_to_on.php
Friday, June 03, 2005
Friday Light Musings - for movie buffs mostly....
My favorite movie-watching companion, RC and I recently watched the movie "The Hustler". Paul Newman's role is Fast Eddie the pool-playing conman - great pool-playing with the Minnesota Fats character (reminded me of my mis-spent youth. Just for fun a digression: My first job was as an assembler programmer for Shell Australia. I worked in the DataCenter in Doncaster and next to our cafeteria, we had a pool room. We played pool everyday after lunch. Ahhh those were the days.)
The Hustler is really a classic. A few weeks later we watched The Color of Money - in that movie, the new kid pool-player is Tom Cruise, with Paul Newman playing Fast Eddie 20 years later, who takes the kid pool player up to the big time. Afterwards, RC said "What about a double bill starting with The Color of Money with Collateral?" That got me thinking. Tom Cruise is called Vince/Vincent in both movies. That can't be a coincidence (or can it? :')
So then, I thought, how about a Trilogy with The Hustler. The Color of Money. Collateral?
Then after I watched Star Wars Episode III, the parallels jumped out and begged to be blogged.
Fast Eddie and Minnesota Fats - what else? Obiwan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Tom Cruise as Vince in the Color of Money - Anakin Skywalker
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral - Darth Vader
Neat huh?
Looks like the same tension plays out between the Force and the Dark Side in many stories.
So what's the connection with Customer Connect?
Well first, this blog was named Customer Connect before I realized that Diamler Chrysler uses this name for their customer program. So for the record, I have no connection with Diamler Chrysler or their customer program whatsoever.
After seeing Star Wars Episode III I went to see the documentary Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Now that is a really scary movie! The people in Enron really seemed to believe that the whole point of business was making money and nothing else mattered. They seemed to have been seduced by the Dark Side. The Force was not with them. Sidebar: There's an interesting article The Biggest Contract on the changing identity of business in the Economist last week by McKinsey & Company's Managing Director, Ian Davis. (Yoda?) http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4008642
They certainly did not care about customers. Especially the customers of electricity over here in California. The Enron documentary brought back into vivid recollection those days in California of power shortages and blackouts. I lived through several of those blackouts and there's nothing like a blackout to remind one of how powerless as a customer you are. Pun intended!
When you are seduced by the Dark Side, you think it is just what you want that matters, everything else is out there to be "used" to get your goal.
In unenlightened Customer Relationship Management, many of the tools and techniques are geared to what our business wants and what our business needs. What is the return on investment to us, the business who is doing the selling? Me Me Me ! What about Me?
See the problem with this picture? In enlightened CRM, we use and seek tools that are geared to matching what customers need with what our best skills and capabilities can deliver.
See Kim and Mauborgne's "Blue Ocean Strategy" - a whole book on new approaches. http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kim_blue_ocean_strategy.html
Steer clear of the tempting but dangerous Territory on the Dark Side. Remember Enron.
The Force is with the Customer.
May the Force be with you.
The Hustler is really a classic. A few weeks later we watched The Color of Money - in that movie, the new kid pool-player is Tom Cruise, with Paul Newman playing Fast Eddie 20 years later, who takes the kid pool player up to the big time. Afterwards, RC said "What about a double bill starting with The Color of Money with Collateral?" That got me thinking. Tom Cruise is called Vince/Vincent in both movies. That can't be a coincidence (or can it? :')
So then, I thought, how about a Trilogy with The Hustler. The Color of Money. Collateral?
Then after I watched Star Wars Episode III, the parallels jumped out and begged to be blogged.
Fast Eddie and Minnesota Fats - what else? Obiwan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn.
Tom Cruise as Vince in the Color of Money - Anakin Skywalker
Tom Cruise as Vincent in Collateral - Darth Vader
Neat huh?
Looks like the same tension plays out between the Force and the Dark Side in many stories.
So what's the connection with Customer Connect?
Well first, this blog was named Customer Connect before I realized that Diamler Chrysler uses this name for their customer program. So for the record, I have no connection with Diamler Chrysler or their customer program whatsoever.
After seeing Star Wars Episode III I went to see the documentary Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room.
Now that is a really scary movie! The people in Enron really seemed to believe that the whole point of business was making money and nothing else mattered. They seemed to have been seduced by the Dark Side. The Force was not with them. Sidebar: There's an interesting article The Biggest Contract on the changing identity of business in the Economist last week by McKinsey & Company's Managing Director, Ian Davis. (Yoda?) http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4008642
They certainly did not care about customers. Especially the customers of electricity over here in California. The Enron documentary brought back into vivid recollection those days in California of power shortages and blackouts. I lived through several of those blackouts and there's nothing like a blackout to remind one of how powerless as a customer you are. Pun intended!
When you are seduced by the Dark Side, you think it is just what you want that matters, everything else is out there to be "used" to get your goal.
In unenlightened Customer Relationship Management, many of the tools and techniques are geared to what our business wants and what our business needs. What is the return on investment to us, the business who is doing the selling? Me Me Me ! What about Me?
See the problem with this picture? In enlightened CRM, we use and seek tools that are geared to matching what customers need with what our best skills and capabilities can deliver.
See Kim and Mauborgne's "Blue Ocean Strategy" - a whole book on new approaches. http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_kim_blue_ocean_strategy.html
Steer clear of the tempting but dangerous Territory on the Dark Side. Remember Enron.
The Force is with the Customer.
May the Force be with you.
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