Category Archives: Lessons of Life

Starbucks: A Tradition in Surprising the Customer

30 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Tom Peters

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Starbucks One in Reno

The survival of any organization depends on the ability to satisfy…no, surprise the customer.  Satisfying the customer is a major challenge, but surprising the customer separates the Disney’s of the world from amusement parks.   Surprising the customer takes many forms but it all comes down to offering a value-added service or product.

Paul Kiser - CEO of 2020 Enterprise Technologies, inc.

The economic definition of value-added is the difference between the actual cost of producing a product or service and the price the customer is willing to pay. However, author/speaker/ranter extraordinaire Tom Peters uses the term value-added to describe the satisfaction a customer experiences with the product or service that exceeds their expectations.  This is a point that most organizations (for profit or not) fail to understand.

The Lesson of Starbucks
Starbucks is a good example of a company that has traditionally succeeded in giving ‘value-added’ products and service.  Many people forget that in the 1970’s and 1980’s coffee was on it’s way out.  Younger generations were choosing sweet soda drinks and mocking their parent’s addiction to coffee.

While it was Peet’s Coffee that pioneered specialty coffee in the 1960’s, it was two of Peet’s customers, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker, who started a little company called Starbucks that copied Peet’s idea of selling quality specialty coffee beans.  But Balwin and Bowker couldn’t visualize how coffee could become a new staple in a world that was done with drinking coffee.

It was Starbucks Director of Retail Operations and Marketing, Howard Schultz, that saw how coffee could establish a new market that was almost non-existent at the time.   Schultz couldn’t convince his company that a retail specialty coffee outlet (not just beans, but fresh, made-to-order coffee drinks) was realistic.

The lesson of Starbucks is that Howard Schultz could understand how a customer could love the uniqueness of providing fresh specialty coffee when no one else could.  Somehow Schultz knew that he could provide a value-added experience to his customers even before there was a market of specialty drinking customers.  Peet’s coffee didn’t get it…even the owners of Starbucks didn’t get it…but Howard got it.

So what happened?  Like in every great success story the champion quit.  Howard Schultz quit Starbucks.  He started his own specialty coffee retail outlet in 1985 using coffee beans he purchased from his former employer, and then in 1987, Schultz bought Starbucks from his former employers and the rest is…well, a lot of brewed coffee.

Customers liked Starbucks because it was different, because it was a good product, because it was convenient, because it made them feel special, but mostly because the experience of Starbucks exceeded her or his expectations.  It was a value-added product that surprised the customer…and everyone else.

Next time: What’s next for Starbucks?

A Better Parent..Not Perfect

29 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Random

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I’m a better parent…not perfect…just better.

Alexander and his plastic bead

Yesterday our son, Alexander, was supposed to be resting.  Resting is a new thing because at 4 1/2 years old he is not always able to take a nap.  When his Mom went in to check on him he was whimpering and then she saw his face covered in blood.  She called me and by the time I got there he was crying.  She asked me to get him down from his bunk bed (yes, at four he wanted to move to a big boy bed, and it had to be a bunk bed.)  I did and after several, “What happened?!?” questions, we learned that he had stuck a plastic bead up his nose.

Now if I were a young parent my next statement would be something along the lines of:

“What the Hell were you thinking!”

But I didn’t.  Instead I searched the bed to see if possibly, and mercifully, the bead was not up in his nostril, but rather was just on the bed somewhere.  After a thorough search we learned it was nowhere to be found.  The realization began to sink in that a plastic bead that he had found outside that day…after laying in the dirt for decades…was up in his sinus.  As a young parent my instinct would be off to the ER, but rather we decided to wait.  By this time he had calmed down, the bleeding had stopped, and his Mom and I decided that this was no longer an emergency.

The Bead of Shame

At this point we began to explain to him that when things like this happen he needs to call for us rather than try to fix the problem himself…a good parent thing to say, but to a 4 1/2 year-old it was like explaining the real definition of Socialism to a member of the Tea Party.  Still, it was a better parent thing to say than sentences that began with, “Don’t you ever…”

This morning we were able to see it with the help of a..a..a nose-looker-in-thing and made a couple of attempts to suck it out with a…a…a nose-sucker-thing..I don’t know what they’re called…I’m male remember.  After no success in extracting the plastic bead we called his Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor, who, coincidently will be removing his tonsils next week.  They set up an appointment for tomorrow.  We were resigned to have to sheepishly go into the doctor’s office and try to explain why a little boy would be allowed to have a plastic bead in his possession.

Happy boy, happier parents

However, this afternoon he was ‘sniffling’ and we told him to blow his nose, lamely hoping that bead would come out and this would become a good story to tell his girlfriend when he was sixteen, when behold, the bead came out!

We are trying not to think about all the bacteria on the bead when it went up his nose, but the fact that it came out was the best news that we’ve had in a long time.  As for any four-year old girls out there who may be dating my son in twelve years, be forewarned, you’ll be hearing about the bead-up-the-nose story.

I said I was a better parent…not perfect.

Starbucks One

29 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!

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Starbucks One - Reno, NV @ Keystone & I-80

My GPS has the locations of most Starbucks stores in my area programmed in with the name and location; however, I have one store programmed in as Starbucks One.  That would be the Starbucks at Keystone and I-80 in Reno, NV.  I refer to it as my home Starbucks.  I typically spend 15 hours or more per week at that one store.  Why?

Despite that there are two other Starbucks stores closer to my home, I come to this store for one reason…the staff.  I used to split my time between several Starbucks stores and I have come to spend more time (and money) in this one location because of the people.  It’s not to say that the staff at the other stores weren’t friendly, but this staff is friendly and genuine.  They are always courteous and respectful, but they also know me as a person.  I’m not the almighty customer…I’m just Paul.  In return I try to respect that they are on the job, so I try to avoid engaging in too much conversation if they seem busy.

It is likely that part of my attachment to this location was created when one of the staff had come during her day off as a customer and we engaged in a conversation for a half an hour or more.  After that I got to know several other members of the staff and now there are very few of the day staff that I don’t at least know by name.

I have also come to appreciate the challenges faced by everyone from the Store Manager to the newest team member.  There is a special chaos caused by customer contact that occurs on a minute basis and from multiple directions.  Walk-in, drive through, noise, people spilling drinks, the occasional homeless person, keeping the tables clean, too cold, too hot,..the list of distractions goes on and on.  It is a pressure environment and I try to not contribute to the stress.

Drive Thru at Starbucks One

For me it is a no-brainer that it is the people interaction that builds customer loyalty, but I am constantly surprised by those that either don’t understand that, OR think that it can be imposed by corporate policy…”would you like fries for an addition 39 cents?”

Every time I hear a person try to up-sell me at a fast food place I can hear the voice of some Senior Vice President who sat in around a nice wooden table, saying, ..”you know, if we can just up-sell five percent of our customers we will make $2,000 per day per store!”  It all sounds great to the guy who is more concerned about the weather for his Friday golf date than treating his employee’s with respect, but annoying the customer has a greater long-term impact on profits and everyone seems to know this except the people in the Crystal Palace known as corporate headquarters.

What brought me to Starbucks were Chai Tea, brownies, and free WiFi (I have AT&T at home so it’s free for me at Starbucks).  What keeps me coming to Starbucks One are the people.

I wanted to write a blog about Re-Imagining! Starbucks in 2014, and I will in a Part II blog, but today I realized that the Starbucks won’t be around in 2014 without the people who manage the chaos and still seem to be happy that I came in today.

Thank you (in the order we met) Katie, Laura, Vicky, Stacia, Sarah, the other Katie, Kelsey, Jenna, Marissa, Khris, and the rest of the team!

Rotary@105: Our 1st Rotary Dropout

26 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Rotary@105

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Few Rotarians know that we marked a 105th anniversary milestone last week.  On March 23, one month after the historic first meeting, Rotary marked the 105th anniversary of its name.  It was not until the third meeting in 1905 that the original club members decided that the name would be ‘Rotary’ because the meetings were going to be ‘rotated’ among the member’s offices.  There were 15 people at that meeting including the original four.

The Original Four of Rotary

Those original four were Silvester Schiele (age 34), Paul Harris (age 36), Gustavus Loehr (age 40), and Hiram Shorey (age 42). Of the four, the oldest, Hiram Shorey would attend only two more meetings .  He did come back for a few meetings in 1906, but after the fifth meeting Hiram became the first Rotary Dropout.

Hiram Shorey: Rotary's first dropout

Why did Hiram dropout?  To me it is an interesting question.  According to an account of the first meeting all of the men were enthusiastic about the new club and he continued to attend for the next four meetings, so what changed between the first meeting and the fifth?

I don’t buy the reasons given when a Rotarian drops out.  According to Paul Harris, Hiram left Rotary, “due to circumstances beyond his control.”  Almost always the reason given is a ‘politically correct’ reason that ignores the fact that people do not normally make changes in their life based on one or two factors, but rather have multiple experiences or dissatisfiers that lead up to the change of mind.

(See my blog on Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit)

There could have been many issues that dissatisfied Hiram. The first meeting was held at Gus Loehr’s office. The second at Paul Harris’s office, and the third at Silvester Schiele’s office. According to the idea of ‘rotating’ the meetings it would have seemed likely that the fourth meeting would have been held at Hiram’s shop. Rotary history seems to skip over the fourth meeting. What we do know is that the fifth meeting (Hiram’s last) was held at a hotel and dinner was served.   Is it possible that the issue of the location of the meeting caused Hiram to rethink his enthusiasm about the club?   Did something happen at the fourth meeting that caused him to become disillusioned with Rotary? By the third meeting the club had grown to 15 members.   Did that cause Hiram to feel like Rotary wasn’t going to be small group of friends?

We will never know what dissatisfiers led to Hiram becoming Rotary’s first dropout, but there is a lesson we can take from 105 years ago.   Even people who have a strong vested interest in the club and it’s success can become disillusioned in a matter of a few meetings.   It takes extraordinary sensitivity and awareness to address dissatisfiers that may cause a member to leave the club, but it is the only way to help close the back door that members use to slip away from the club.

Ironically, Hiram’s short involvement with the club would follow him through the rest of his life.  His hometown of Litchfield, Maine has a plaque that notes he was “a Founder of Rotary.”  That is the way we all will remember him.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win


Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

Best Practices:  Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations



Best Practices: Become a Target!

24 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - CEO 2020 Enterprise Technologies

I just read Dr. Bret Simmons blog post, Give Yourself Permission to Be Excellent.  Excellence is a topic I fell in love with back in the 1980’s when Tom Peters and Robert Waterman wrote the iconic book, In Search of Excellence.   In that book I finally found someone who confirmed that business as usual is not good enough.

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman

Fortunately, the President of the hospital I worked at then had also read the same book and for two years I experienced what business could be when unleashed from the confines of the unimaginative and uncaring.   All the ‘can’t-be-done’ stupidity had to face the light of day and it didn’t fare well when the control was removed from those who saw themselves as the ‘protectors’ of traditions.   The hospital (run by a strict religious-based organization) grew and flourished under the new leadership.  The facility kept it’s core values while eliminating most of the dysfunctional ideas that held it back.

But there was a price for those who pioneered the concept of excellence over authority.   Those people came under scrutiny.   Any mistake or failure was seized as proof positive that the people involved in effort of change were flawed….not that their ideas were flawed, but that the people were.

In Dr. Bret Simmons’s Blog he talks about the risk in striving for excellence and helps us understand why ‘risk’ happens.

(Click here to read Dr. Simmons Blog)

Dr. Bret states that mediocrity abides by the current rules and to strive for excellence means defining new rules.  Most people wait for someone in authority to define the new rules and in most cases those in authority fear risking his or her position by breaking new ground.   Thus it takes a ‘champion’, as Tom Peters liked to call them, to step forward and make the new rules for everyone else.

However, once a person steps forward to lead the way they make themselves a target. Their peers ask, “Who are you to do this!!!” and they wait for the person to be struck down by someone in authority.  The person in authority is embarrassed that they weren’t the one who took the bold action and so is predisposed to ‘put the person in their place.’   The result is that the person who leads the way is disliked…personally…by others in the organization.

The organization that lacks great leadership destroys champions, and make no mistake it takes GREAT leadership to love a champion. Good leadership toys with champions like a cat toying with a mouse. Good leaders are entertained by champions, but once they make an error the champion is lunch.

So why take the risk?  Why not play it safe and color within the lines?   George Carlin said, “Life is what we do while we are waiting to die.” It’s a matter of choice, but one can find purpose by being a champion and that can be a great feeling!   So go ahead…put those red circles on your back and move out in front of everyone else.  They can see the target easier when you’re in front…but then they have to live with the fact that they are always behind you.

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Woe or Whoa is me

22 Monday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Rotary

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I’m almost back to normal…that is normal for me. Last week I went on a quick turnaround to Philadelphia and back. If my GPS was guiding me it would have sounded like the following:

The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA

(All times PDT) Proceed to highlighted route…(WED 10:00 AM) Arriving at Reno/Tahoe Airport…turn right and fly 800 miles to Denver International Airport…(WED 2:00 PM) Arriving at DIA…continue straight 1600 miles to Philadelphia International Airport…(WED 9:00 PM) Arriving at PIA…turn left and travel 15 miles to Radnor Hotel…(WED 10:00 PM) Arriving at Radnor Hotel….(THUR 4:00 AM) continue 2.4 miles to The American College…(THUR 2:00 PM) Return to Radnor Hotel…(FRI 1:00 AM) return to PIA…(FRI 3:20 AM) turn right and fly 2200 miles to Las Vegas, NV

Coming into Las Vegas early Friday over Lake Meade

…(FRI 9:00 AM) Arrive at LAS…(FRI 10:50 AM) turn right and fly 350 miles to Reno…(12:10 PM) Arriving at Reno…Turn left and drive 30 miles to Starbucks in North Carson City…(1:30 PM) Arriving at Starbucks…turn left and drive 3 miles to the Carson City Airport…(3:30 PM) Arriving at Carson City Airport…turn right and continue 30 miles to Reno…(5:45 PM) Arriving at home.

Over 5,000 miles in about 50 hours with only seven hours sleep (plus a couple on the plane) and I find that my IQ drops by 25%, my patience drops to zero and I still feel hung over two days later. I didn’t want to leave my room to eat or drink (there was a Starbucks across the street!) at the Radnor because I was so tired from the trip/time changes and when Friday morning’s flight left 30 minutes late, I was not a happy camper.

So why do I like traveling? I dislike the way airlines treat the customer. I often am critical of the lodging and I feel intimidated in eating by myself.

Still, I always like to travel. I think it is because I love what I get to do. I meet some very interesting people and gain new information about myself, other people, and other places. I’ll always stand ready to load up my suitcase and be off again….but for now, I’m going to get some more sleep.

Fear of Public Relations

21 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by in Crisis Management, Human Resources, Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Tom Peters

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The fog of Social Interactive Media is burning off

There are two approaches to Public Relations. The first is to live in fear of it and tremble at the prospect of screwing up. Take only measured steps that are carefully calculated and planned.

The other approach is to dive in. Risk mistakes and live and breathe being real and human.

The old school of Public Relations is the former. It is controlled by the Chain of Command. No one is authorized to speak unless cleared by multiple levels of authority and even then, to say or do anything that is nothing less than perfect is to fail. It is that Public Relations of which the world has become accustomed. Anyone who mars the perfect image risks banishment from the corporate world. Nightmare situations such as the current Toyota recalls reinforce the fear that Public Relations is a beast that must be closely guarded and heavily controlled.

This is why the new world of social media terrifies the old school. The unprecedented access to expressing our individuality on Facebook, Twitter, or even our own blog is the worst possible situation for those who believe that control of the message is the alpha and omega of Public Relations. Many companies are establishing strict policies for their employees on using Facebook, blogging, and all other avenues of professional or personal expression. Most of this comes from the management attitude that employees are a necessary evil and potentially a major embarrassment to the company.

What the old school of Public Relations doesn’t understand is that social interactive media (SIM) is creating a new model of business that is being driven by a desire of the consumer to do business with real people, not corporations. In today’s interactive world the branding of the individual is now becoming a driving force to he branding of the corporation. This is 180 degrees from the mission of most Public Relation professionals in major companies and it gives indigestion to old school managers that live in fear of employee self-expression.

Re-Imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age

In 2003, Tom Peters came out with a book called Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age. If you understand that the book was published before Twitter and Facebook were available to the public, you have to wonder if Tom Peters can travel into the future and back again. Today everyone throws around the term ‘Branding’ but few know that today’s usage of the term originated from Peter’s 2003 book. On page 232 of Re-Imagine! Peters explains a new world of people who develop her or his individual brand separate from the corporate world. Now, in 2010, social interactive media has provided the vehicle for individuals to show off who they are and what they know and Peters has become the Moses of the new business world.

Like all business, the winner will always be the one who can embrace change before others. Companies that can adapt and use social interactive media to promote and showcase the quality and expertise of the individual within their ranks will have the advantage over the competition. In those companies the new role for the Public Relations professional is to help employees brand themselves instead of trying to muzzle them.

Still, the old school will loudly point out every slight misstep or mistake made by an employee that may reflect poorly on a company’s reputation. What they don’t understand is that errors make us human and that can deepen the bond between the company and the customer. An error is the opportunity to make things right and that is the key to all long-term relationships.

What’s in a Blog?

17 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Social Interactive Media (SIM)

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I wish I could Write!  I know I am ‘writing’ and I have the ability to put words together in ‘written’ form, but there is more to writing than pounding out sentences on a keyboard.  I would like to write well.  Write with the capital ‘W’ and an exclamation mark.  Write!  It takes creativity….cleverness….style.  I don’t think have any of those qualities.  Maybe that’s my problem.

Paul Kiser - Not a Write!-er

Just take ‘creativity’.  My blog title is Paul Kiser’s Blog.  That’s not creative, that’s just my name.  If anyone can be credited for creativity it is my parents.  They gave me the name and I just used it for my blog.  I can’t even credit myself for the idea to use my name.  Some guy, I think his name is Simmons[1], suggested that people should use her or his real name on websites and blogs to build credibility to his or her brand.  Once again, someone else has the ideas and I just follow along.

Some people are very creative in naming their blog.  One person titled her blog, “Queen of Spain[2].”  Now that’s impressive.  She’s not only been creative, she’s made herself royalty.  I don’t think she is even French.  I’ve read her blog and she can Write!  She talks about socks and her daughter…apparently this is stuff that women like to read because she writes for blogHer, which is another creative name.  I could name my blog blogHim, but I don’t think even men want to read my writing.  I’m not seeking pity, just noting that I don’t have the Write! stuff.

I recently read a piece in the Spirit magazine.  That’s the Southwest Airline magazine.  I think you really have to be able to Write! to be published in the magazine that can only be found in the pocket on the backside of the seat in front of you.  Anyway this guy was writing about clowns moving in next door.  It was funny and sad.  He lost his wife to the clowns.  I’m not sure why that is funny…or sad, but he made it so because he could Write!  Maybe I just need more experience with odd life experiences and then I could be creative…but maybe not.

Speaking of airlines, is there some FAA rule that their names cannot be creative.  I thought my blog name lacked style, but I’m a genius compared to the guys who named the airlines.  United, which is not a very creative name to start with, named their low-cost service…uhmm…Ted.  Wow, some guy took the last three letters of United and came up with ‘Ted’.  I’m not sure who to feel sorry for, the guy who came up with the name, or the Board of Directors at United who approved the idea.  I would give them style points even if they just used the first three letters of United.  Uni Airlines sounds a lot better than Ted Airlines.  I’m betting that the vacuum of ideas at United headquarters requires that all office chairs come with oxygen tanks attached.

But why am I picking on United.  Southwest, Delta, American are not names that inspire the imagination.  At least Virgin Airlines stepped out of the box and came up with a name that brings a smile to a man’s face…no offense to blogHer, but if you had called it blogVirgin I’m sure men would read it regardless of the subject matter.

I’ll continue to write and hope that someday I can learn how to Write!, but for now I’ll stick to calling my blog Paul Kiser’s Blog.  It’s not creative, but it’s better than calling it TedBlog.

[1] Dr. Bret Simmons, Professor, College of Business, University of Nevada.  www.bretlsimmons.com

[2] Erin Kotecki Vest.  www.queenofspainblog.com She can Write!.

Passionate People Can Save a City

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Tom Peters

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Rick Parr: A Force of Nature

Last night I sat in a back room of a restaurant in downtown Reno (that shall remain nameless) at the Rotary Club of Reno New Generations meeting.  The restaurant had decided to pack the back room with patrons who were not part of the meeting and who seemed to be oblivious that someone was trying to speak to the group. Despite all of this distraction the club members were focused on the man standing up.  To everyone it was apparent that this man was passionate about his job and all the noise around him didn’t keep him from making it clear that he loves what he does.

The man is Rick Parr and he is Passionate about his ball club. Rick is the General Manager of the Reno Aces and last year the new Triple A team came to Reno and erased all doubt of whether this town could support the Arizona Diamondbacks ‘farm’ team.

Rick Parr - General Manager of the Reno Aces

The Reno Aces exceeded all expectations for a first year club with a season attendance approaching 500,000 fans.  But that achievement was nothing compared to what happened during the first four months of 2009.

On February 1st of last year the ballpark looked more like the first phase of a major construction project rather than a state-of-the-art baseball stadium only 10 weeks away from the first pitch of the first home game.  But on April 17th all, and I mean all, were amazed.  For anyone who was paying attention it was a miracle.

Rick doesn’t look like he has 30 years in baseball management.  When you talk to him about the Reno Aces he sounds like the person who was just hired to take a job that he has dreamed of all his life.  He loves baseball and he loves his team.  You get the sense that the miracle of last year’s opening day was due in large part to the force a nature known as Rick Parr.

But Rick’s passion doesn’t stop with baseball.  He is passionate about redeveloping downtown.  Like Denver’s Coors Field, the new Reno Aces Stadium is located in an area that has had little economic benefit to the city in recent history and like the Colorado Rockies, the Reno Aces are bringing in people and new development to revitalize the downtown area.

Rick has only been in Reno for 18 months, but as the designated hitter for the Front Office he taking the vision of the team owners, Jerry and Stuart Katzoff, and bringing home a Re-Imagined* downtown that offers more attractions than just a baseball team.  This year the Aces will open up the next phase of new dining and shopping with the Freight House District’s first retail offerings.  There is no doubt that this area will become a ‘Mecca’ for tourists and local citizens, bringing new jobs and revenue for local businesses and to the City of Reno.

Even before the completion of the full Freight House District retail project it is obvious that the Reno Aces have changed Reno for good.  Rick would probably be the first to credit the work of many others for the success, but there is one common factor in all that is happening in the downtown area and that is the passion of Rick Parr.

Rick is a great example of how one person can change a city by having passion and vision.  Peter Drucker wrote, “Wherever you find something getting done, you find a monomaniac with a mission.”  Rick Parr is Reno’s newest monomaniac.  Just in time!

(*Re-Imagine! is a 2003 book by Tom Peters about rethinking business in a new world.)

Reno Aces website is at http://www.renoaces.com.

Training for the Worst Case Scenario

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Crisis Management, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Violence in the Workplace

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Tomorrow I fly to Philadelphia to put 26 Master’s degree students in a worst case scenario.  I’ve been doing this for over 10 years with Dr. Larry Barton, who is an expert in Crisis Management and Violence in the Workplace issues.  Dr. Barton and I have worked together for Disney, ABC, ESPN, Target, Nike, Merck, and several other companies.

Larry Barton - Crisis Management Expert (www.larrybarton.com)

Dr. Barton has written several books and has an endless number of case studies of workplace violence.  As the expert, he organizes the seminars and is the instructor.  I try to make it real.

In each case my job is to give the person or team the worst case scenario.  Sometimes I am the troubled employee that is ready to commit a violent act and take them with me.  Sometimes I am one of two ’employees’ that are in conflict the Threat Assessment Team has to figure out who is stalking whom.

In Philadelphia I get to do the fun role.  I am the CEO who has just taken over a company and the students, (all of them have jobs in the real world), have to interview with me to keep their job.  At the end of the day we debrief and I let them know who goes, who stays, and why.  I try to make the scenario as real as possible.  To do that I have to create a back story in my mind of what type of person my character is, his management style, what he values, and what he dislikes.

Like all worst case scenarios, the students are never told in advance what they will be undergoing.  It is safe to say if you’re in a seminar with Dr. Barton and I walk in, the day is going to be stressful.  It used to be stressful for me also, but I have gotten to a comfort level with challenging people in an educational setting.

Paul Kiser

As a potential violent employee I control the situation, which is similar to real life, but I always hope that I truly am the worst case they will ever experience in simulation or in real life.  The goal of the seminar is to help the participants recognize a problem and deal with it before it becomes a crisis.

As the take-over CEO I ask the probing questions, but the student must present themselves in a manner that they feel will help preserve his or her job….or not.  I always try to keep the scenario positive and give the students reasons to want to stay with the new company, but in order to keep it real I let them know that my expectations will not be the same that they had with their old company.  I have had situations where the student didn’t even care if they kept their real-life job, so pretending to keep a job in a simulated environment was impossible for them.

The interesting thing about the exercise is that I get to know the students as real people and often I find myself wishing that I would have the opportunity to work with them in a non-simulated environment.  Going through a stressful situation brings people closer, just like real life.

Breakthrough Training Radio Appearance

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Information Technology, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM)

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Jeffrey Benjamin Motivates

This is an interview segment (about 6 mins.) on Jeffrey Benjamin’s (Breakthrough Training) radio show  on Reno 99.1 FM on Sunday, March 14, 2010.  Jeffrey is a motivational (kick you in the butt) consultant/speaker.  I talked about my company and Rotary.

Breakthrough Radio Interview

Weather (or Whether) Report

11 Thursday Mar 2010

Posted by in Lessons of Life, Management Practices

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Today was sunny with blue skies. Average temperature for today is 56F (13C) degrees. Unfortunately, despite a brilliant sun all day, the high temperature was 13F degrees below that average and we had fresh snow on the ground this morning. For some the unseasonable cold might make one believe that Winter was never going to end.

Any other day the Sun would have bumped us up over 60F (15C) degrees, but today arctic air won. I am convinced within a few days or so the Sun will bring us back to normal, maybe even higher than normal.

Whether it is the weather or life in general, it is easy for people to become discouraged. I am no stranger to falling into the trap of negative thinking, especially when it comes to the weather. I grumble about the cold, the short days, the snow, the lack of snow, almost anything. I should live at a lower latitude, but I’m not sure it would help my attitude.

March Sun

Burning off the Fog

The problem is that unhappiness spreads like an infection and unhappy people do stupid things. Last week I heard a speaker talk about wacky laws and how the wackiest laws are a reaction to some event.

Humans don’t do their best work when they are unhappy, and now there are a lot of unhappy people. People are out of work, money is tight, and it’s still Winter. Unfortunately, right now a lot of people are making decisions and this is not the best ‘season’ to make those decisions. The truth is we have a lot to be happy about. A year ago it looked like there was no bottom to the economy, jobs were being slashed at historic rates, and the financial earthquake was rocking the entire world. Things are a thousand times better now, but we still have a lot of discouraged people and I don’t really understand why. Spring is already here and Summer will follow, but we are still reacting to last year’s disaster.

My four year-old boy likes Curious George on PBS. I find it amusing that some of the greatest disasters in the life of the “Man in the Yellow Hat” are preceded by him saying, “Be a good little monkey.” One can question the wisdom of the man in yellow when he leaves Curious George alone for long periods, but you have to admire his ability to keep a positive attitude even in the face of constant monkey-caused disasters.

A lesson for us all.

Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit

21 Sunday Feb 2010

Posted by in Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Employee Retention, Human Resources, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Retention, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] Skype: kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Why Did John Quit?
In my years in management, human resources, and service club involvement I have watched many people leave organizations and periodically someone in the organization starts throwing around the ‘R’ word: Retention. What follows are committee meetings, calls for surveys, and finger-pointing. The search usually turns up discovery of a plausible single cause for the problem based upon limited evidence, followed by a shrug of shoulders because the alledged cause is almost always determined to be a reason that is out of control of the organization.

Finding the real reason for attrition for any organization is elusive because there is almost never just one reason for someone to quit. The decision to quit is typically after the person has accumulated multiple ‘dissatisfiers‘ or negative experiences that finally caused the person to make a change by leaving. Dissatisfiers can be issues about pay, benefits, or other tangible reasons; however, most negative experiences are intangible acts that weaken (or fail to strengthen) a person’s perception of belonging to the organization.

A Dissatisfier may be something small, like a person not getting thanked for his or her contribution to a special project, or something more significant, like a lack of a desired promotion. As each Dissatisfier is added the person gets closer to the decision that the organization is not meeting his or her needs.

While a group or organization may be unaware of their actions that cause a Dissatisfier for an individual, people often consciously use Dissatisfiers to drive away a member or employee from a group because it is a subtle form of discrimination that is difficult to detect and easy to blame the victim as being overly sensitive. We learn this tactic at a young age and often as a byproduct of sibling rivalry when one child torments another by subtlety annoying them until they react violently. In adults, the behavior is rarely as overt, nor does it result in violence, but can be very effective in weeding out diversity in the group.

When the Dissatisfiers are not the result of a conscious effort against a person, but rather the failure to include the person, the result can be the same. Over time the person may ultimately decide to quit for a better opportunity, or, in the case of a volunteer organization, leave for no other opportunity.

The Perfect Environment to Study Dissatisfiers
Volunteer organizations are an ideal environment to study the effect of Dissatisfiers because the issue of compensation and/or benefits (tangible rewards) can be ruled out as factors for attrition. While some may conclude that because there is no tangible rewards for a volunteer, his or her involvement is tenuous all the time; however, often an individual has a deeper commitment to a volunteer organization simply because they are involved for more meaningful reasons. That reason may be as simple as wanting to be a part of an organization that seeks to do good, but for many people who need is often more powerful than monetary gain.

Members of a volunteer organization should feel that the work they perform not only gives them a sense of accomplishment; but also gives them a sense  of worth, belonging (or friendship) and pride. For a member to leave that organization means that the group failed to provide or connect the member to the key rewards of volunteer service. Attrition in a volunteer organization is often blamed on a single external factor (a bad economy) or the person (not in the organization for the right reasons) rather than examine the Dissatisfiers that they might have been able to address that would have retained that member.

To improve retention organizations need to stop looking for the single factor for attrition, and start looking for the list of Dissatisfiers that led to the decision to quit. In volunteer organizations, a member’s involvement is to fill a need of belonging and attrition can only be attributed to internal Dissatisfiers, not external factors.

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