Listening to our customers is a key to organizational success but listening too well can be dangerous. I’ve learned to listen enough to tailor our strengths to address customer needs but not so well to become all things to all people. It is a thick, not a fine line to me.
Our website’s March article of the month features a wonderful story about a social enterprise named First Book. Their organization provides tens of millions of books a year to the underserved by taking contributions from publishers and then charging modest shipping charges to send them on to qualified organizations. First Book makes enough from modest shipping charges to keep the organization going and growing.
I asked the business owner who was lamenting the challenges of being an entrepreneur, "Who decides what you do in a day?". He answered, "me, of course".
Raising Canes of Ohio (our partnerships restaurant company) is approaching 1,000 employees. At that size, I find it cool that our son, Timmy, its founder still does many exit and stay interviews with its crew members and managers.
I’ve never knowingly had my IQ tested but I’m pretty sure they did it in grade school because my teachers constantly told me that my grades were far below what my intelligence tests predicted. I was apparently a slacker before the word was coined.
Marshall McLuhan was a brilliant professor who coined the phrase “the medium is the message”.
A SEA Change is a profound or notable transformation. The SEA Change happening in Columbus, Ohio will be showcased in the form of a festival. There will be two back-to-back days focused on the raising up of Social Businesses into the consciousness of Ohio.
One of the guys I respect most, David Camiener, has taught me a lot since we met in a peer group (Vistage) in 1995. I’m still learning one of the best lessons ever.
Several times a year, my son, Tim, and friend, Brian Bowers, and I speak to business management classes at Ohio State. Among the topics most discussed is managing people.
