Friday Reflections

Survey Says!

Point to Ponder

“Get there with a smile. We are in the customer service business…We just happen to fly airplanes.” Source: Southwest Airlines Magazine September 2011.

And my experience with Southwest airline crew in a flight this week confirmed the great attitude and service stated in their mission and above quote.

Also during this same week, a colleague shared with me an experience with a bank which is on the opposite end of the one I had with Southwest.

 

Story Line courtesy of Dipankar Bose

I have an account with a large bank overseas. This bank assigns customer account representative (CAR) to each client. Last week a young man called me to do a customer satisfaction survey on my relationship with my CAR.

Survey:  Sir, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest and 10 the best, how satisfied are you with your CAR, Mr. PB?

Me: I would score him a 1.

Survey:  Sir, I’m very sorry to hear that, could you please tell me why you have scored him so low?

Me:  I haven’t had a statement from him on my investment accounts for one year. Since he was assigned as my CAR, I’ve sent him an email five times and never got one response.

Survey: I’m very sorry to hear that Sir... Please allow me to ask the next question: on a scale of 1 to 10 how effective has your CAR been in resolving your banking issues?

Me (annoyed): Given that he has never answered any email even once, what do you think my answer will be?

Survey (laughing sheepishly):  Yes sir, I understand.

Me:  I suggest you just score all other questions a 1. 

Survey: Yes sir, I understand but just one last question?     

Me: Okay

Survey: Sir, on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely would you be to recommend your CAR to other clients of our bank?

Click.

 

Reflection

What good is the ability to exceed customer expectations if it can’t be delivered consistently throughout the organization? -Walt Disney

http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2011/08/-what-good-is-the-ability-to-exceed-customer-expectations-if-it-cant-be-delivered-consistently-throu.html

The Story of Yudhisthira and His Dog

POINT TO PONDER

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.

                                                                                               -James D. Miles

STORYLINE by Rajiv Shah (Retold from the Mahabharata)

Yudhisthira finally stood at Indra's chariot. Indra loomed over Yudhisthira - a noble and skilled man - and his trusty companion, an ugly dog that had joined him one day on his trek while he was resting under a tree, alone and tired. He had lost his brothers on the journey - one by one they died - from starvation, the bone chillingly cold nights and the brutality of the heat during the day. One by one they were taken from him. It was when his last brother perished that he found himself at his lowest, under that lonely tree, when the dog appeared to him and never left.

They had been searching for Indra's chariot on that mountain to take them the final way to the gates of heaven. Yudhisthira and his brothers had heard finding this place, this paradise, would bring them peace. They were brave men and many believed they could make the journey through the treacherous mountains but in the end it was Yudhisthira alone, with his trusted dog, had made it.

Together he and the dog had passed over jagged rocks that cut them, hot sand that burned, painful thorns from unwelcoming bushes, and deep mud that threatened to suck them in and not let them go. When they found food - sometimes Yudhisthira finding it, sometimes the dog – they always shared it. When neither found food, they starved together. And as sometimes only loneliness can bring to two creatures, it brought Yudhisthira and his dog love. He trusted the dog with his life.

His dog was looking up at him and he patted his head. They had finally made it to the place they were searching, and Indra's voice bellowed out to him, “oh, you finally arrived! I have been waiting for you so long! It's a pleasure to have you here in my chariot, let's fly to heaven.”

Yudhisthira and his dog took a few steps toward the chariot when Indra raised a hand, “But... the dog can't come, look at it, it's old and thin. It's not worthy of my heaven.”

His dog stopped and Yudhisthira looked down at him. The dog laid down at Yudhisthira's side, resting its head on his cracked paws. Yudhisthira looked back up at Indra, “I'm sorry, if the dog can't come with me, we will turn around and go back now. I thank you for your invitation, but I cannot leave this animal. He has been my faithful companion during this journey.”

Yudhisthira headed back down the mountain, the long arduous path they had just come.

“Stop,” Indra cried out.

Yudhisthira turned and discovered not his dog on the ground where it had been, but the dog transformed back into its real shape: the God Dharma.

“Now you can come, this was your final test and you showed that you deserve to come with me.” Indra opened the doors to the chariot and Yudhisthira stepped in. Indra closed the door and off they went.

 

REFLECTION

The dharma, represented by the dog in this story is the representation of the only way a person can attain peace. And within this story, the path is found through righteousness not because of what Yudhisthira will attain but because of the intrinsic value of doing what was right.

This begs the question of whether we do good things because of what we feel it will bring us: appreciation or reward.

*I was inspired to focus on this story from the Mahabharata and the picture of the week after reading a moving article about a dog refusing to leave his owner, a fallen soldier. The story can be found here: 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/man-best-friend-mourns-death-175219915.html

 

 

 

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined*

POINT TO PONDER 

 “Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

                                                                                 - Steve Jobs 

STORYLINE

 

REFLECTION 

"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple."

                                                                                                            - Steve Jobs

As a tribute I wanted to “connect the dots backwards” in the unconventional life of a remarkable visionary.

Steve Jobs was born in 1955, adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs.

In 1969 meets Steve Wozniak while working over the summer at Hewlett Packard. By 1972, they are building and selling blue boxes to Berkeley students.

In 1973, Jobs attends Reed college only to drop out one semester later. He does however stick around to crash classes and credits a typeface class for his innovation of fonts on personal computers. Steve also becomes interested in eastern mysticism at this time and it is here he first experiments with drugs.

In 1974 Jobs convinces his employer at Atari to send him abroad. He is sent to Germany to work at the Atari plant there.

Afterwards he ventures to India to seek spiritual enlightenment. He does not find it there and returns to Atari.

Shortly after he ventures with his girlfriend and friend to a hippie commune in Oregon. There they fast only eating apples occasionally.

In 1975 Jobs and Wozniak start building computers in their garage.

1976, Apple Computers is incorporated.

In 1978, Jobs unveils the Apple 2 computer which is a hit. Personally, Jobs becomes a father to a daughter with ex-girlfriend Chris Ann-Brennan.

From there, the rest is history. http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/06/excellence-is-n.html

It is interesting to look at Steve Jobs' life and it's easy to say that he is an anomaly, the exception to the rule. I included some of the facts because I felt every journey, especially ones that are unconventional, often live outside the norm. I personally was surprised while doing research for this article that Jobs had done all kinds of unconventional things including dropping out of college. I highlight this not to celebrate it but to point out that every path is different, difficult and often confusing. The courage is to pursue it anyway.

Bonus: Steve explains the rule of success in this one minute video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuNQgln6TL0&feature=related

 

*Quoted from Henry David Thoreau