Author Archive

I went to Madame Tussauds in Washington which displayed all of the Presidents. Here are some …

We were very fortunate to have our Grandmaster from Australia visit. It always amazes me to watch someone gifted in taking people from where they are to a skill level beyond what they think they could achieve in only a few hours – pure leadership.

 

In the article below, the Coastguard describes people’s at-risk behaviour as “crazy” and “human nature.” I don’t agree with the “crazy” but do agree with the “human nature.” People see very clear positive outcomes for watching a tsunami rather than the negative outcomes for missing such an extraordinary and scarce event. In addition, we see the lack of antecedent control when the consequences do not support the desired response.

So, as is often the case, the positive outcomes follow the at-risk behaviour and the negative outcomes follow the safe behaviour.

ARTICLE

Many Kiwis Ignore Tsunami Warnings

People heading to the beach to watch the tsunami are crazy, says the coastguard.

Coastguard Northern Region duty officer John Cowan, said today people heading to the beach should turn around and head the other way.

The tsunami warning for the east coast had little effect on many people on Auckland’s North Shore who continued to head to the beach and head to sea in their boats.

Two women having coffee on Milford Beach said they had a good vantage point and another woman about to head out on a walk to Takapuna Beach said she had her flippers.

However, Mr Cowan said the warning should be heeded and people should head to high ground.

“Stay away from the beaches. Don’t go out on the water and if you are already out on the water up anchor and head to deeper water at least half a mile off shore.”

Mr Cowan said many boats were ignoring the warning and heading out to sea but many people spoken to up and down the East Coast Bays on Auckland’s North Shore were unaware of the tsunami warning.

Mr Cowan said it appeared human nature was allowing people to head to the beaches for a vantage point.

Forgot I had these on my iphone. If you look closely, really really closely, you’ll see the hornets flying over us at Easter. I pulled over to grab these photos from the car.

When someone does something we want, we often explain it by saying they were using their common sense, and when they don’t, we explain it that they didn’t use their common sense. Unfortunately, when we explain behaviour because of common sense, we explain nothing.

ARTICLE

Driver lacked ‘common sense’

By SHAHRA WALSH – The Press

A Christchurch rail bridge was struck by an oversized truck yesterday, the third time in nine months.

The truck became “wedged” about 10.30am yesterday under the Martindales Rd bridge in Heathcote, causing delays for railway operators, OnTrack bridge inspector Buzz Terrey said. The bridge is on the main line from the West Coast to Port Lyttelton.

The truck had to be cut into pieces and its tyres deflated so it could be removed. .

Speed restrictions were put in place for trains using the line as engineers braced the bridge with timber. The one-lane road under the bridge will be closed for up to a week.

Terrey said $40,000 worth of repairs and reinforcement work had only recently been completed on the bridge after it was hit in December.

It was also struck by a truck in June and before that in 2004 and 2005.

The owner of the transport company involved yesterday, Philip Wareing, said the driver was not hurt, but the truck’s canopy was a “writeoff”.

“It’s just a lack of common sense; there were signs up to say [the clearance was] 3.75 metres and he’s driven long enough to know he’s four metres,” Wareing said.

Superb Leaders Communicate Superbly. This is one of the things that happens when they don’t.

ARTICLE

Chief Executives Lack Credibility – Study

By Julian Lee – The Age

An academic, a non-government organisation or a person on the street are regarded as more credible sources of information about a firm than its own chief executive, a study has found.

The picture was even worse for governments in an election year, because people were more likely to trust businessmen before politicians, the survey by public relations firm Edelman said. Only 38 per cent of high-income earners surveyed said they listened to what a firm’s most senior executive had to say when they were formulating a view on a company.

But businesses can take heart that during the last year their standing has risen – in last year’s survey the figure was only 19 per cent.

I am on the business class Amtrak heading to Rhode Island sending this from my new MacBook Air.  Some amazing scenery (so won’t stare at the screen for too much longer). As promised, photos.

I have a conference in Rhode Island so stopped off in New York for a couple of days. Will hopefully have some pics from the top of the Empire State Building in a couple of days. I went to go up tonight but it was misty so wouldn’t have seen anything.

And if you are going to buy the new Apple MacBook Air, where better than the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue.

Photos to follow . . .

In practically every organisation I visit, I observe a feedback deficit. People aren’t receiving the feedback they require. Even when management ask staff for feedback, all too often nothing comes back. For staff, this results in a perception of a lack of empowerment (“nothing I do makes a difference anyway”). Just as bad is the lack of feedback responding to customers. I wrote last week to F&P’s customer care centre to communicate my annoyance at the delay in getting my appliance fixed (given this was the second problem in less than a month. Love the appliance when it works, problem is that this is somewhat infrequent). As of 5 days later, no response. My feedback has been lost in the organisational black hole. The effect? As a customer, I now perceive the customer care (customer ignore?) centre really isn’t about caring for customers and since I have already bought the appliance there is absolutely no urgency to deal with me. You do an awful lot of harm if you actively solicit feedback, then completely ignore it – better off not even to ask for it.

So then, if you want to dramatically improve your staff’s performance and your customers’ loyalty, don’t just solicit feedback, actually listen and respond to it.