Hey homeboys…We are only human after all…

Excellence – we seek it. We demand excellence. We admire excellence in various parts of human culture – sport, art, music, research, and innovation, etc.

I am a big believer that if you don’t aim for excellence, if you don’t push yourself, then you cannot improve in your career, in your life, as a person, etc.

But the vast majority of people do not ever achieve the heights of excellence. There are very few young men and women that move onto the professional ranks in their chosen sport each year. There can only be one “top student” in each class. There is only one of so many that can win first prize in advertising, new product development, song of the year, etc.

So why try?

Why don’t I just get a job where the toughest thing I do all day is ask “do you want fries with your order?” With great respect for those that choose to work in service industries.

Because I would disappoint the memory of my Dad and Mom. They wanted the best for us kids. Just as I want the best for my kids and grandson.

But Dad really knew that the best for me was not to hand it to me. I had work to do.

And yes, I grumbled and got mad at times.

Pops was right, though. I got better.

This is why I enjoy collaborating with my clients – seeing them put in the demanding work and then seeing the delight on their faces when they stretch and achieve their goals. When they strive for excellence. And they support their people to do their best every day. Knowing that they might not have the absolute best team, but they have a really darn good one. And everyone shows up every day to do their best.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

And legendary basketball coach John Wooden said, among other gems, “Success is never final, failure is never fatal, and it’s courage that counts.”

And he also said “The best competition I have is against myself, to become better.

And yet, this is what is so perplexing to me. Why are there so many examples of leaders, companies, athletes, etc. that appear to give up and throw in the towel? We can talk about mental toughness and resilience, and I would agree a lack of these is a big cause of the problem.

And there is help for people through therapists, life coaches, business coaches, support structures like EAP, family, faith leaders, friends, etc.

Some people don’t ask. Is it pride or is their ego getting in the way?

Some people take out their frustration on others as bullies (they are cowards) or criminals.

Others turn to addiction as a means of escape from the pressure to be excellent.

A big culprit is that we hold the wrong people up as symbols of excellence. It is simple math that not everyone in the world can be number one in the categories I mentioned above.

But there is a need for a ton of fantastic people to be the best doctor they can be to treat patients and find cures for deadly disease.

And there is a need for people that care about our children that want to teach and help the youth be prepared to take advantage of their talent and combine it with strong effort.

There is a need for business leaders to set the example of doing their best each day, and then being grateful for the total team results.

The human spirit will die out and we will be nothing if we do not keep trying to do better each day.

Stop whining about your work, your life, your situation…everybody has a story. Let’s put our collective strengths together and achieve excellence for our family, our community, our city, province, and country.

And if we stumble, we start by picking ourselves up and then we pick up each other.

We are only human after all.

Take it from Father G and his homeboys

Outsourcing your brand – food delivery failures

We have not used food delivery services in Winnipeg for delivery. I have gift cards and we have always picked up the food.

Why, Tim? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

Well, it does not because when I pick it up, I know for certain that my food is picked up on time and returned home in a sealed thermal bag.

I have yet to see a delivery driver zip up their bags, even in winter! Anywhere!

My wife has the same observation.

I was in Fargo working with a client. I ordered a small pizza and salad for dinner. When the order arrived, I received a text so I could go to the lobby to pick up my food. It was a GrubHub driver.

It was not in a thermal bag.  The pizza was not hot.

Two days later I wanted to order from Buffalo Wild Wings. My order did not go through, so I called. The employee said that I had to use a service like GrubHub because the store did not do delivery.

So, I ordered from another restaurant that did deliver. Except it was not the restaurant that delivered, it was DoorDash.

Pasta and a garden salad with ranch dressing on the side. When the driver brought it to my room, he was friendly enough. And of course, the order was not in a thermal bag, so my pasta was cool. The worst issue was they did not provide the utensils that clearly showed on my order slip. I texted the driver who said he is just the driver and did not pack it. I would have to contact DoorDash for reimbursement. Except that the utensils were noted as no charge on the order. So, I used the lid from my salad dressing as a utensil and it worked OK.

My point to these examples is that I have diminished confidence in the restaurants and the quality of their food as a result of the poor delivery experience.

I understand why these services are used, especially during the COVID lockdowns, but you have now lost control of “the last mile” of customer contact. The poor job of controlling the quality of the food is the responsibility of the delivery service, BUT, it is the restaurant’s responsibility to ensure they have good partners. Otherwise, I have a poor opinion of your restaurant and the quality of your food.

I have heard from a couple of local Winnipeg restaurants that the delivery company fees range from 20 to 24%. I cannot confirm this, but this is unbelievable if true. Even if it is only 15 to 20% that seems exorbitant. The restaurant has to recover these fees by increasing their prices to customers. And then they might be priced out of people’s wallets.

Do you outsource anything? If so, what is your control to ensure consistency of your brand delivered by your representative? Partners can be a powerful ally when managed correctly – like one of your own employees. This is a lesson I learned working at the YM-YWCA many years ago when I gained understanding that their volunteers are managed like paid staff. They are hired, developed, and fired when they do not rep the brand. The model works well.

As we head into winter, and nasty weather that makes it tough to go out to a restaurant, I am so happy I can cook and super lucky to have a wife that is a terrific cook!

Dining in works just fine and no worries about my food getting cold.

Studying human behaviour: lessons from George of the Jungle

I am amazed that more people don’t have injuries like broken noses or twisted ankles by walking into a light standard or tripping off a curve while looking at their mobile phone.

It is stunning to see how many people are clueless about their surroundings and the potential danger that might arise from their lack of awareness. There are others that are oblivious to where they are. For example, mothers and fathers that are on their phone, walking with their kids on the way to school and not talking to their kids. Folks at the off leash dog park with their attention on their phone, not on their dog, and not even a good morning when you pass them.

Am I being overly critical? Likely…

The point of this observation is that we have suddenly all become “doctors on call.” This is the phrase that our family uses when we see average folks whip out their mobile in the middle of a mall, parking lot, or busy street.

Seriously, what can be so important on your Facebook feed or Instagram account that you become a menace to others with your lack of awareness of your surroundings? While not directly affecting me in most situations, I still see far too many drivers with their eyes down on their phone while driving – even on the highway!!!

People, it can wait!!!

There are implications for business, and especially marketers, to understand this behaviour. For instance:

• How can your digital ad grab someone’s attention when attention spans are so fleeting on mobile phones?
• How many people are using ad blockers?
• How fast is the use of ad blockers increasing? (Sidebar: if my class responses are any indication, ad blocker use is much higher than reported)
• How many serious injuries will it take before people become human again?

Sorry everyone, you are not that important, and I really don’t care that you whip out your phone halfway across the street to seem important look at a post and then stumble on the curb on the other side.

So, what to do as a marketer?

Get off your phone and study people using theirs while wandering around. Try and talk to them to find out what they are doing. In other words, get off your phone/computer and study real people. The actions of real people created the data you are looking at.

Become human marketers, not digital marketers.

Or you might be like George of the Jungle and end up hitting that tree…Ouch!