Order of Magnitude CEOs

Worry Not, Plan & Do (your math homework)

Like most children these days, my older daughter Sarah has plenty of activities during the week.  Ranging from tennis to ballet to soccer to girl scouts with religious school thrown in.  A couple of Tuesday’s back she went straight from her 4:45pm ballet class to her 6pm soccer game while having to change in the minivan (I can only speculate, as I was not there).  She had math homework due the next day, which she had not yet done.  Was she worried, nope, and neither was I.

The reason Sarah was not worried is because of a simple practice we initiated a few months earlier.  Whenever Sarah has something she has to do that could possibly weigh on a 3^rd grader’s mind, like her math homework, she either does it right then and there, or with my wife’s or my help, we pick a time to get it done later.

“Sarah, have you done your math homework yet?”

“No, not yet Dad.”

“OK, it’s 5:30pm, what time will you start it by?”

“Is 7pm good Dad?”

“Sure Sarah.”

This particular night we both forgot about it until around 7:15pm, when I remembered first.

“Sarah, it’s 7:15pm,” Sarah immediately stopped what she was doing and went to the table to do her work.

Before we initiated this practice, Sarah (and me) would worry about getting an activity done, or worse it would be a verbal “fight.”

“Not now Dad, I am doing blah blah blah or when blah blah blah is over.”

Now, it’s no more worrying or thinking about what needs to get done, just planning and doing.

And because she is selecting the time, there is a much higher likelihood that the activity gets done.

Interested in eliminating worrying in your business, start by planning and doing:

Thinking about a major hiring decision at 1am in the morning – write down when you will make a decision and go back to bed.

Wondering how you are going to do the 100 items on your to do list – allocate time in your calendar to spend time on the most important items and then forget about the items on the list until the day/time you set.

Concerned about a difficult and urgent conversation with a client – Select the next available free time to make the call and get it done.

Worry Less, Plan and Do - You’ll be amazed at how much more you get done and how much better you feel.

Details Matter - Why It's Important to Not Have Cracked Paint in your Store Window (and for Your Children to say Excuse Me and Brush their Teeth Before Going to Bed)

Early last week I walked by the Wall Street location of Canali, a boutique Italian fashion brand for men.  I noticed cracked paint along the sides of the store window and snapped the picture you see here.  I wasn’t sure why at the time, but something really bothered me about the cracked paint that was so visible outside their store.

A few days later it hit me while having dinner and then movie night with my family.

“What?” my daughter Sarah said as my wife asked her to pass a napkin during the family dinner.

“Sarah, we say excuse me to each other,” I immediately said to her.

“It’s OK Jeff, it’s just us, it’s not like she said WHAT in a rude or fresh way to me, she just said What,” my wife Michelle joined in.

And Michelle was right that Sarah had not said “What” in an impolite way, she just hadn’t heard the request.

“I understand Michelle, the reason we want Sarah to say ‘excuse me’ with us is so when she is at a friend’s house, and the Mom asks her what she would like to drink, Sarah doesn’t say ‘what’ but ‘excuse me.’”  Once she thought about it, Michelle immediately agreed, and we moved on to other dinner topics. 

Later that evening, my younger daughter Grace looked very tired after movie night as she went upstairs.  I walked into her room and her pajamas were already on. 

“Did you brush your teeth yet Grace?” I asked Grace.

Grace thought about saying yes but she knew from past experience that I would make her breathe in my face.  Without saying a word, Grace immediately got out of her bed, brushed her teeth, and not more than three minutes later, she was back in bed and asleep.

Missing one day of brushing her teeth would not have mattered at all as far as the long-term health of Grace’s teeth but it is very easy to see how one missed day, leads to another missed day, which leads to a completely different pattern of taking care of one’s teeth over a lifetime.

As I watched Grace lay in bed with her freshly brushed teeth, my mind drifted back to the store window of Canali.  I have no idea how they are doing as a company but I do know that over time unless they do something about the “cracked paint” in their windows it is clear that Canali will have the equivalent of their employees saying “what” instead of “excuse me” and that not “brushing their teeth before going to bed” will start to be acceptable if it is not already in their culture.  

Details matter in building a great company and it’s best to get them right as early in your journey as possible.

My First Day as Coach Jeff - Don't Get Too Smart to Forget that You Don't Know What You Don't Know

My town’s recreational soccer league started on Saturday.  I had signed up both my daughters and offered to be an assistant coach.

When the assignments and schedules came out I ended up as the co-coach for my younger daughter’s (Grace’s) team, since there weren’t enough volunteer coaches. When the other co-coach’s daughter opted out of playing soccer this year, I ended up as Coach Jeff.  The only problem is that both my daughters’ games started at the same time, 10:15AM.

Since it was the first game of the season and I had the scheduling issue, I arrived early with my daughters so I could bring my older daughter, Sarah, to her field and then head to the field where I would coach Grace’s team.  While I was dropping off Sarah, one of the other Dad’s came up to me and asked if I was the Coach.  I let him know that I was not the coach of this team.  He then asked me about the soccer program in the town.  He briefly explained that his daughter was just beginning 4^th grade and this was the first time she had joined a league in the town. I guessed that since his daughter was in 4^th grade and they had not yet participated in a town league before, that they were new in town. I then proceeded to tell him the benefits of the league. 

“And finally, best of all, it is a great way for the girls in our school (I named the local public school) to get to know each other outside of school.  I am sure that is important for somebody new in town.”

After my long soliloquy, the man finally replied, “Coach, we are not new in town, my daughter just goes to a private school. We have been in this town for years.”

When recruiting or motivating staff, meeting prospects, or structuring a deal, don’t get too smart so that you forget that you don’t know what you don’t know.

A tale of two dry cleaners – How is your Client Experience different than your Competitors’?

Roughly a year ago, I switched dry cleaners.  I was very happy with my current dry cleaner, but, a new dry cleaner opened near the train station stop that I take from NJ to NY, with a 40% off promotion, so I decided to try them.    I got into a routine and started to use them, although I noticed that the 40% off was not as great of a bargain as it first appeared to me since they had a much higher list price (although, I never checked).  They were convenient and I got into a habit.

A little while ago, after picking up my dry cleaning, I noticed a missing button on one of my dress shirts.  The next time I brought my clothes to the dry cleaner, I pointed out this problem to the person behind the counter. I didn’t think much of it, until she objected, “we did not do this!”  I replied, the button was fine before and I haven’t worn it since I picked up my clothing last week.   She agreed to take care of it but when I got the receipt I noticed a $2 charge.

“I thought we agreed it was your issue, why would you charge me $2?”  She just shrugged her shoulders in a nonverbal way to say “It is only $2, why are you making this a big deal.”

I agreed with her shrug but in my head I was thinking, “How would you treat me if I had a really big issue like I had with my previous dry cleaner,” as I gathered my clothes and immediately drove to my old dry cleaner.

As I was driving, I thought some more about what happened three or four years ago at my old dry cleaner, when I really did have a big problem.    Somehow, the son of the owner had their dry cleaning truck stolen, which happened to contain about a half dozen of my dress shirts.

How did the owner handle the issue?  He asked me to tell him the replacement cost and paid it without questioning me or even asking for a receipt for the shirts.  I remembered that incident as I drove directly back to my old dry cleaner and chatted with the son as I gave him my clothes.

He immediately knew my name, I gave him my clothes, I did not even ask for a receipt. 

“Your clothes will be ready Monday after 5pm Mr. Silbert.  Good to have you back.”

“Thanks Steve,” I replied.

It felt good to be home again and boy did I feel foolish for straying.

What have you done to make your client experience different than your competitors’?