“Our contract of carriage, that you agreed to when buying your ticket, allows us to remove, cancel, or change a seat assignment at any time for any reason.”  Those were the first words I heard from United’s empathy and customer-experience challenged customer service agent. I had just asked him why my son’s seat assignment “disappeared”… (read more)

There is no better indicator of reality than reality. At one time, that statement wasn’t particularly controversial. In fact, it was hard to get people to trust data. But times have changed.  Now data rules. When reality contradicts the data, people seem to side with the data.  That’s a problem.  Data are not reality.  Neither… (read more)

Good news! Christmas is a tiny bit less expensive this year – at least if you are buying the “traditional” gifts. The 2019 PNC Christmas Price index puts the price of purchasing all of the gifts for each day of the twelve days of Christmas at $170,298.03 (about $400 down from last year). Holiday time can be expensive… (read more)

“Why should I present data that don’t support my argument?” I get this question a lot. Many people believe that presenting the other side of the argument will weaken theirs. In my experience, presenting the counterpoint actually strengthens your argument.  It also helps build your credibility. There are four reasons that presenting the counter argument… (read more)

“We have to reduce costs. Please let me know you revised budget for the current year by next week.” That was the one of the first things I heard in my new role as Chief Learning Officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center several years ago. It was my first meeting as a member of… (read more)

A company was struggling with high operating costs. A quick review revealed that payroll costs were a key factor. Further review showed that the company was experiencing consistently high overtime. The company’s leadership asked a team of managers to come up with some possible solutions to the cost problem. Here is what they came up with: ·     Reduce… (read more)

With Hurricane Dorian in the news, I thought it might be a good time to repost this article. It provides a great illustration of aligning data and decisions. And, to the people in the Caribbean and Southeastern United States, my thoughts are with you. I hope you remain safe during this difficult storm. Original Article:… (read more)

If you’re like most people, you probably get a lot of reports each week.  And, also like most people, you spend a lot of time reading through them.  Many people tell me that they spend way too much time browsing reports. This wastes time and delays decision making. It’s important to be strategic when looking… (read more)

What’s the first thing that you do when you see a “background” section in a presentation or communication? If you’re like many people, you probably said, “Ignore it”. If it’s during a presentation, you probably also let out a loud sigh and slouch in your chair a bit! Yet, I’d bet that you provide “background” in… (read more)