Comments for Running Long

Comment on Could This Be Trouble? by Lisa Amorao

Lisa Amorao — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:55:46 +0000

It’s fun until the lawyers get involved.

Recommendations on LinkedIn can be seen different ways. If a direct report asks for a LI recommendation, should that manager interpret it as “he/she must be looking for a job…”

Also, these testimonials are so loosely and casually given around social networking sites. The trouble, I think, isn’t in the individual who writes these casually, but in the potential employer who takes a LinkedIn recommendation in place of a thorough and formal background and reference check.

Comment on Accountabilities by lisaamorao

lisaamorao — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:03:57 +0000

I’m personally afraid of accountability based on arbitrary metrics.

Comment on Talking To Myself by lisaamorao

lisaamorao — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:00:31 +0000

So tonight, I had a load of pea salad with bacon bits, and a huge slice of pecan pie. Bloated.

Comment on Pickles and Problems by stevenranson

stevenranson — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:03:45 +0000

Agreed. Experience tells me that individuals as well as companies tend to make the process of problem solving harder than it needs to be. Even in a dining establishment that is part of a chain it should be easy to operate each location as an independant entity. Still the mentality of following the corporate directives is what drives the day.
The opportunity is for each of us to step up and treat each customer the way that we would want to be treated. Simple but hard.

Comment on Pickles and Problems by jeffreymonaghan

jeffreymonaghan — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:35:59 +0000

Steve,
I would go so far as to say a situation like your pickle problem is more telling about a company than a larger problem. Most companies fix large problems. Only the really good ones fix the smaller problems. It shows a companies mindset.

Its not everyday that you can make a customer happy simply by opening a new jar of pickles. If only it were that easy.

Comment on Must There Always Be Metrics? by steven

steven — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:24:57 +0000

Agreed. The idea of just finishing is not the mentality that is needed in a race or in business. The idea is to always challange yourself and numbers are a way to do so. For instance, there will always be recruiters or sales people of different levels of performance in any company. They will each subscribe to a different level of success. Still it is needed to push each for more than “just a finish” and that is one of the reasons that many companies will cut the lower 10%of their force each year.

The idea of just finishing is acceptable only when injury or hardship is involved otherwise we are potentilly faced with complacency……………

Comment on Must There Always Be Metrics? by Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 23:08:01 +0000

How does one measure success if it’s not defined?

It’s easy to look at numbers, but numbers can be misleading especially when times are good. During an economic upswing there might be positive numbers to look at, but can you really define that as “success” or did the business fall on your lap?

And since this is the Running Long blog, can one really claim to have successfully completed a marathon by simply crossing the finish line? Some go for first, some go for time, and then there are those who just want to finish.

Comment on Bad Luck For A Price by lisaamorao

lisaamorao — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 05:43:43 +0000

It’s unethical to receive payments for reviews, but there are so many things that come into play. The company may be an advertiser, and could threaten to pull business if the magazine publishes an unfavorable review.

Social media could definitely play a big role here, which still presents the buyer with a dilemma…do you take the community’s word or do you listen to the experts? A speaker in a recent conference I attended recently summed it up pretty well — there’s room for the crowd and there’s room for experts. Who determines value, though?

Comment on AT&T Where Are You? by AT&T Hell continues « Just Another Digerati Wannabe

AT&T Hell continues « Just Another Digerati Wannabe — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:33:00 +0000

[...] Their customer support is basically nothing but a bunch of warm bodies halfway across the world trained to ask the same questions over and over again. Their account managers are useless as they don’t even have an idea of who you are. We’ve escalated our issues to their so-called Regional Manager who promised a lot of things but we have not heard from since and guess what. She’s leaving AT&T and judging from her actions, she wasn’t planning on passing the issue along to whoever her successor might be. [...]

Comment on A Mile Is Still A Mile by lisaamorao

lisaamorao — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 17:47:09 +0000

But only the one who finishes first gets rewarded. Running all four laps to the finish is good exercise but isn’t much of an achievement. And in a race, running past the finish line to go the distance doesn’t count at all.

I say it’s the extra push, the extra effort to not just finish first, make it in good time, but also finish strong that counts most. Otherwise, you might be getting a great workout but achieve nothing (and also using that analogy depending on your physical abilities a mile might not even be a workout).

Translating it to business, nurturing relationships is great. But in my opinion it must be done as “extra effort” or the “extra push” to finish first, finish strong, and finish way ahead of the rest. The rest might “go the distance” and keep running but without the rewards of finishing first.

In the same token you can finish first, finish strong and keep running to go the distance…but there’s much to be said about conserving energy for the next race so you can do it in better time and finish stronger than the previous race.

BTW, I say Amen to your post. Just trying to live up to the “I’m always good for something” reputation.)