I want to buy an iPad, can you help me?

So, the school our kids go to is having a big fundraising event in March and we want to donate an iPad to help the school raise money.

Last year, our son, Jack, helped raise over $1,000 by selling buttons that people bought in hopes of winning a flatscreen TV.  This year, we thought it would be great to have an even more special product, an iPad, so Aneil and I wanted to donate the iPad because we are grateful for everything Lansing Christian School has done for Maggie and Jack while we have lived in Michigan.

So, I went to Best Buy last night to buy the iPad, and after playing with the iPad for almost 15 minutes, no one came to help me.  There was no one even in the vicinity of where I was looking at this iPad, which was right near the other Apple products.  As I was leaving, someone asked if I needed help, but we had warm food in the car and had already waited long enough, so I said I’d be back.  As I left, I asked for the store manager’s name.  It is Dan.

Today, Aneil decided to call Dan to let him know that he was on his way, after I was unable to get any help last night.  The first time Aneil called Best Buy, no one answered–the call just rang and rang.  The second time he called, someone answered and said they would try to find Dan and the call got disconnected.  The third time, Aneil called, he was told that Dan was gone and would not be back until Thursday.

Then, I called Best Buy corporate customer service to see if they could help.  A polite person answered and said she would get someone to help me place my order online.  I told her that my problem was that I needed help with the Okemos, Michigan store.  She said I needed to talk to someone in customer relations.  When she transferred me, an automated voice asked me for my purchase order number and my zip code.  That is when I hung up.  All I wanted was a person to talk to, to tell my story to, and I got a robot.

So, our dilemma is this.  We wanted to buy the iPad now to give it to the school so that they can get it ready for the auction and fundraising event that will be held on March 18th.  Should we wait until Thursday when Dan the manager is back?  Should we order it directly from Apple?  What would you do?  Needless to say, trust with Best Buy is low.

-karen

Bob got rid of ties, too…

We like Bob, as you can tell from our blog and our book.  We have learned so much from him about leadership and really admire who he is.  It is neat to see that Bob is an innovator, too.  First, Bob gets rid of reserved parking spots decades before it is fashionable to do so, and now we find out that others are following Bob’s lead in getting rid of their ties, too!

We learned about no ties during our first visit to the GM Parma, Ohio plant.  We were there to interview Bob and his employees for a case study we wanted to write about how Bob had transformed his failing plant into a thriving one, due to his ability to build trust with his 5,000 employees.  We arrived at the plant in our suits, but met Bob wearing a sweater.  You can bet that on our next trip to Parma, we did not wear our suits–we wore sweaters, too.  We got the message quickly that there was no need for false formality to separate one set of folks from others.  Everyone did important work at Parma and Bob wanted to make sure that everyone felt comfortable.

Bob eventually moved from sweaters to windjackets.  We loved to give him the gift of a windjacket from the school we were teaching.  I know Bob has a windjacket from Wake Forest and this reminds me that we need to get him one from MSU, too!  After all, he is an MSU alum.

-karen

Bob got rid of executive parking spots a long time ago…

In the latest issue of Bloomberg Businessweek (that is still a mouthful!), there is an article about organizations who are eliminating reserved parking spots and the angst it causes some executives.  I was intrigued to read that even Joe Paterno, at 84, does not have a reserved parking spot at Penn State.  But then, again, after living in State College for five years and learning about the culture he has built (through my son’s godfather, Matt, who played for Paterno), I am not surprised.  None of the Penn State football players have their names on their jerseys so why would Paterno request a parking spot for himself?  No reserved parking seems like JoePa.

One of the leaders in our book, Bob Lintz, got rid of executive parking at the General Motors Parma, Ohio plant a long time ago.  Along with ties and the executive dining room, he realized that those barriers did not create a cohesive and trusting culture, but destroyed it.  He believed in it so strongly, that when he had knee surgery, it took a lot of convincing for him to take advantage of a parking spot closer to this plant so that he would not have to hobble a long way when he was recovering.  His employees respected him enough to want to give him that–not because he demanded it or claimed it for himself, but because they thought he deserved it.

-karen

Great example of renew yourself regularly…

As I was reading Bloomberg Businessweek this morning, I came across an article about Panera Bread and its CEO, Ron Shaich.  I just taught a Panera case in my undergrad marketing strategy class and the case came with a video of Shaich–I was very impressed with him in the video–one of his employees talked about how he had built a culture of trust down to the store level.

In this article, he reinforces the importance of renewing yourself regularly, which we discuss in our book.  He said that he makes his best decisions while he is on vacation, including the decision he made to focus his energies on Panera away from AuBon Pain.

It is a good reminder that we all need to get away from the details of work to focus on the big picture.

-karen

What is Your Burning Platform? Nokia has identified its own.

If I had a dollar for each time one of my students or clients used the phrase “burning platform,” I’d be writing this blog from the Caribbean.  Well, from today’s Wall Street Journal comes Nokia’s CEO and his efforts to communicate an urgent need for transformation change to his employees:

Just days before Nokia Corp. Chief Executive Stephen Elop is to reveal his plan for turning around the ailing handset maker, an internal memo penned by the executive describes a company besieged on all sides by competitors and in desperate need of a huge transformation.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Nokia chief Stephen Elop, pictured in September.

Comparing Nokia to a man standing on a burning oil platform who jumps into icy waters to escape the flames, Mr. Elop says dramatic action is needed to reverse a decline that has left the Finnish company “years behind” the competition.

The complete text of Stephen Elop’s memo can be found here, and it’s quite compelling.  Does your company need or have a burning platform, and if so, do your colleagues understand it?

Aneil

As reported in the AtlanticWire.com, here are what some others have to say about Elop’s message.

Trust an academic? Who would have thought?!

The annual Edelman Trust Barometer is out, and while it will take us awhile to wade through the entire thing (it is definitely worth your time), I thought I’d share one interesting nugget: An academic turns out to be one of the most credible sources of information about a company from the public’s perspective. (Click the image for a higher-res picture.)

This means that when someone is looking for information about a company, compared to a CEO or someone else inside the company, academics fare the best in terms of being a credible or trusted expert.

It used to be that we trusted each other more than we trusted advertisers, CEOs or even academics.  Now, however, we have less trust in each other.  Steve Rubel, SVP of Edelman, wonders if it is because we have become too familiar with each other on Facebook.  That would mean that we don’t trust the many friends we are trying to accumulate?

How do you feel about this?  Do you trust someone like yourself more or less than a year ago?  Do you trust academics?  CEOs?

-karen

Here’s another nugget, courtesy of Karen’s assistant, Aneil:

Psychedelic Silence

We are bombarded by noises everywhere these days, and I hate it most when I travel by plane, and can’t easily control my environment.  I’m bombarded with noises from televisions blaring every few feet, constant P.A. announcements, travelers talking incessantly on their cell phones, and P.A. systems inside planes that are antiquated even inside brand new planes.

That’s why I was delighted to find out a small way to reduce the noise, at least at the Detroit Metro Airport, and I’ve uploaded a YouTube video that shows how:

I travel through this tunnel between Terminal A and Terminals B and C many times each year. At first I found it interesting. Now I find it simply annoying, especially after a long trip. If you want to know how to turn off the lights and sounds temporarily, this video shows you how to do so. The button to turn them off is located on the wall on the right hand side before each tunnel entrance. The signs are not easily visible, so until I saw someone else turn them off yesterday, I didn’t know this was an option.

Aneil

P.S.  I still need to watch the film with Tim Robbins about a man’s efforts to eliminate the incessant noise that’s all around us.  What’s the name of it, and is it any good?