The Advisor’s Corner

Setting the Table

January 21, 2019/in Extraordinary Customer/Client Service/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher - Doescher Advisors

If any family members or good friends were to come to me and say they want to open a restaurant, I would beg them to pick another business. But Danny Meyer, owner of the Union Square Cafe in Manhattan and author of Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, has somehow survived — and even thrived — in one of the most competitive markets in the world. Recently I had the pleasure of hearing him speak, which provided some insight into his success.

I believe many of his philosophies, some of which are listed below, apply to all of us in business. As always, I will offer some editorial comments:

Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple and it’s that hard.
Hospitality is the foundation of Meyer’s business philosophy. Virtually nothing else is as important as how one is made to feel in any business transaction.
Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of Meyer’s success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes the recipient feel. (Editorial comment: In the past, I’ve shared David Maister’s famous concept of the difference between quality service and quality work.)
Meyer credits several mentors for his success. (Editorial comment: Who are your mentors? The older I get, the more I am reminded of the impact made by those who mentored me, including my dad. I find myself quoting my dad, a career postal worker, more than ever.)
Invest in your community. A business that understands how powerful it is to create wealth for the community stands a much higher chance of creating wealth for its own investors. (Editorial comment: As I’ve learned, investment in the community is also very important to your team members, especially those under 30.)
Meyer has a list of traits he looks for in his managers, and it includes an infectious attitude, self-awareness, patience and tough love, and not feeling threatened by others.
Meyer provides a great list of trust versus fear, including empowering v. ruling, giving v. selfishness, listening v. telling, and hopeful v. cynical.

When I heard Meyer speak, the comment that impacted me the most was related to his 5-step plan for addressing mistakes with a customer: Awareness, Acknowledgement, Apology, Action and Additional Generosity. It was this last step that really resonated with me. Meyer instructs his team to do something special for a guest whose experience has been less than stellar, such as offering them an extra dessert or even a complimentary meal, depending on how bad the mistake was. In my experience, this is where many of us fall short. We may already have lost money on the transaction, so giving more away isn’t natural — but I think Meyer is on to something.

Especially in today’s tech-dominated world, I strongly believe businesses that are able to provide a personal touch have a major competitive advantage. As an example, I have a client who recently purchased a pontoon boat, and he received a phone call from the owner of the boat manufacturer. How do you think he felt? How many other potential boat-buyers has he told — and will he tell — about his experience? Better yet, this client started calling his own customers, which has led to great success.

Alive at Work

January 7, 2019/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher - Doescher Advisors

Really, is that possible? To be alive at work? I know lots of business owners who wish their associates would share more ideas and be more creative. In fact, I’ve probably felt that way over the years myself. In his book, Alive at Work, author Daniel Cable offers some suggestions for those of us who want to love what we do.

Before I get to the main subject, I’d like to offer an observation. Let me start with a story. Probably 20 years ago, I had the privilege of hearing the famous MIT economist, Lester Thurow, speak at an executive forum. He said something that day that I’ve never forgotten. He stated that he’s often asked how he predicts the future. To answer those questions, he said he merely looks at what’s already happening, and then extrapolates into the future.

I’ve noticed in the past year or two that many of the “business” books I read make reference to the brain and how it functions. Cable, for example, quotes Gallup research that I’ve mentioned before, indicating that 80 percent of workers don’t feel they can be their best at work and 70 percent say they aren’t engaged at work. According to Cable, the reason for those numbers is the fact that many organizations are deactivating the part of the employee’s brain called the “seeking system,” which controls an employee’s drive and motivation. He suggests that the opposite of the seeking system is the “fear system,” which was created by the Industrial Revolution and is a result of the Command & Control approach to management. Cable goes on to say that when the seeking system is triggered, rather than the fear system, the chemical dopamine is released and employees experience an urge to explore, understand and contribute.

I’m going to stop there, but suffice it to say that treating your associates one way shuts them down and treating them another way causes greater engagement and excitement. Once again, I’m stepping outside of my area of expertise, but I personally experienced what Cable refers to as the “seeking system” and the related dopamine for most of my 40-year career at Plante Moran.

Cable also offers some great examples of companies that have embraced the seeking system approach. I’ve talked about many of these types of behaviors before, but I had no idea that doing the right thing can cause a positive reaction in the brain.

If you’re interested in this subject, I would recommend Cable’s book.

To close, I’m going to provide this quote from the book: “To prompt employees’ curiosity and learning through experimentation, a leader can start with the humble purpose of serving others and being open to learning from employees. When leaders express feelings of uncertainty and humility, and share their own developmental journeys, they end up encouraging a learning mindset in others.”

As I’ve mentioned before, my mentor, Ken Kunkel, has modeled this for the almost 50 years that I’ve known him, and he continues to have a positive impact on the world today.

The Stack 9 Hard Questions

December 3, 2018/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher - Doescher Advisors

In my last post, I summarized highlights from The Great Game of Business, written by business owner Jack Stack. In this post, I’ve listed nine tough rhetorical questions that remind me of Marcus Buckingham’s 12 (now 8) Questions. Here goes:

What are you personally giving to the people you manage?
Do you spend as much time thinking about your team as you spend thinking about customers?
Do you share your problems, or do you keep them to yourself?
Do you, yourself, operate with an open book? Do you let your people know everything that you know?
Are you getting the benefit of your team’s intelligence, or do you still think you’re responsible for coming up with the answers on your own?
Do your people know what to do without being told, or do they wait to get a list from you? Is everybody working toward the same goal? Does everybody know what it is? Do you let people figure out the best way to get there?
Do you know what gets your people angriest? Have you ever asked them about their frustrations and their fears? What keeps them awake at night?
Have you talked to your team about your own fears and frustrations? Can you let down your guard enough to do that? Are you willing to make yourself vulnerable? Do you have enough self-confidence to take the risk to be transparent with them?
Most important, if the answer to any of these questions is no, do you really want to change?

I’m guessing Marcus Buckingham would love this list.

Consider doing a self-assessment first. Then, have your leadership team members complete a self-assessment, followed by a company assessment.

For those of you who are nervous, I’ll quote my dad once again: “It is what it is.” Take the risk and, if you’re not where you could be, do something about it.

Setting the Table

Alive at Work

The Stack 9 Hard Questions

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