In general, “the rules” fall into two categories. “For our safety,” or “for gain.” By “for gain,” I mean for a company’s gain – i.e., “We can’t give out more than one sample because we’ll lose money.” In general, the rules make sense. Except for the TSA. Their rules never make sense. But – Part of succeeding in business has to involve knowing when the bend, or even break the rules. There will never be a rule that can be designed for every single situation without fail. Every situation is different, and anyone in charge of enforcing the rules needs to understand that. No business will thrive (or even survive) if they don’t know when to bend or break a [...]

I’ve said it before – We don’t currently live in a world that regularly expects excellent customer service. In fact, with each passing generation, the customer service bar is actually lowered a bit more. Example: In the 50s, you’d drive into a gas station, and four uniformed attendants would rush over, each handling a different chore, from checking your oil, to pumping your gas, to cleaning your windows, and other basic automobile tasks. It was simply what was done. Can you imagine that? Four guys, waiting for you to drive in, and actually running to service you? I was driving to Atlantic City last week to give a speech, and stopped in to get gas. Because New Jersey is one [...]

I was born and raised in Manhattan. As such, I have a built-in situational awareness barometer that helps keep me safe. It’s a sixth sense that city-kids have. We just “know” when things aren’t right. If we listen to our gut, we can stay out of trouble almost 100% of the time. However, I grew up in the 80s, when New York City didn’t have the same “Sex and the City” siren’s call that it has now. In the past ten years, I’ve seen more people come to NYC without a clue in their heads – Doing the most irresponsible stuff known to man (or woman.) Taking the subway home at 2am, drunk off their ass. Pulling out their $600 [...]

I’m sitting on CO/UA 1755 from EWR to PBI this morning, and in the seat next to me is a 25-year old, heading down to Palm Beach for a Jewelry convention. Nice enough kid. We start talking. He mentions that he’s just met someone about eight weeks ago and really likes her. Then he says something that jolts me out of my “casual chat” comfort zone. “You’re married, and obviously older. Can I ask you some advice?” *Blink.* I wanted to say “first piece of advice, you little shit, is to not call out the fact that I’m “obviously” older.” But I let it go. He wanted advice on how to deal with this new girl in his life. It [...]

Instead of resolutions, I’m creating a list of things I’d like to see happen in 2012. Some are industry in nature, some professional, some personal. I encourage you to add yours in the comments, and check back occasionally throughout the year to see how we’re doing. 1) May 2012 be the year that passive aggressive status updates cease. It’d be so nice to see a status update from someone that simply says “I’m pissed off, I need to blow off some steam,” as opposed to “I wish that I lived in a world where people kept their promises and didn’t lie to get what they wanted while other people were left hoping that happens.” Passive-agressiveness helps no one. Don’t be [...]