There was a great article written in the Wharton Business School Blog, which talked about the newspaper industry today.  One of the comments was that if 2008 had been a “normal” year without all the financial crisis and other issues, many newspapers would not have seen 2009.  Sad?  Not really.  What has kept them afloat through all this you ask?  FUD – Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.  They have created their own version of “the sky is falling” and you better buy our paper or watch our newscast or you might miss the world coming to an end.  Another word, PANIC.  They have instilled panic in the minds of Americans to the point where commerce has ground to a halt and everyone is feeling the impact.

Is it real?  Some of it for sure – but not the majority.  For months now the papers have tried to take a simple story and turn it into something than instills FUD in people’s mind.  Why?  So that you, their readers will continue to buy their paper while they try to figure out how to keep their dinosaurs alive.  Technology has passed them by and the need for lots of information, quick and from unbiased sources has swept the world.  People want it now, in small doses and from people they feel they trust – not a reporter.

There was a great comment in the Wharton article that I wanted to share the I think sums up my perspective very nicely.  “It’s fair to say that newspapers will disappear and I don’t think we should shed that big a tear for them,” says Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader, co-director of the Wharton Interactive Media Initiative. And unlike the traumas of automobiles or real estate, the change is fundamental, not cyclical. A down economy may have sped it along, but the business model itself would have been troubled anyway. “My kids can’t imagine why anyone would read the newspaper,” Fader notes.

I couldn’t have said it better.  If you want to keep the smile on your face, hope in your mind and stay the course in what you are doing in your business with your customers and employees, STOP reading and watching the FUD – you will be much happier and the fundamentals will start to work.

Have an AWESOME day!

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Two weeks ago my mother passed away.  While it wasn’t totally unexpected, I don’t know that it is ever “expected.”  She lived a very long life and actually was in pretty good health until the last couple of months.  The reason I am telling everyone this is not to be morbid but to be celebratory.  Yes, it is times like these that we should be celebrating life, not mourning it.  Let me explain…

My mom had a life that was full of everything we all have in our lives – ups and downs.  Some things worked out and some things didn’t – just like everyone else’s life.  However, she lived to a ripe old age of 90 (I was the youngest which is why I am still in my 30′s today).  How can anyone complain that lives that long – a chance to celbrate for sure.  She didn’t get cancer or alzheimers – another reason to celebrate.  Her children were all there during her last few days to say our goodbye’s and tell her how much she meant to us – another big reason to celebrate.  And she left a living legacy in all of us that will be passed along for generations to come – definitely a reason to celebrate.

I loved my mother and for these and many more reasons, I celebrate her.  I hope all of you get a chance to celebrate your parents, spouses, children, friends and anyone else that you are close to this holiday season and every day in the future.  Life doesn’t hand out anything certain, but it gives you a chance to celebrate every day and every moment you have with your loved ones – because it can be gone in an instance.  So don’t fret and frump and mourn everything going on today – celebrate it.  For in the end, all the toys, savings accounts, stocks and myriad of other tangible things won’t mean anything.  What will be valuable are all the “celebrations” you had with everyone in your life – that is worth remembering and CELEBRATING!!

Thank you all for your wonderful messages and thoughts with regard to my mother passing away – they were much appreciated more than you think.  And my gift back to you is to remember to celebrate every moment, like RIGHT NOW, with all those that mean so much to you.  Have an awesome day, week, month, year and life!

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

Kevin is not our normal CEO and not your normal individual – only it would be great if he was.  He is a dynamic, no holds barred, free thinking and free speaking executive that is trying to ignite and change the way people think and act – I admire that and it inspires me.  He made a great quote in one of his speeches, saying, “The option to change is irrelevance.”  I love that line and will use it regularly because it is so true.

In a world where the barriers to entry are virtually gone, commoditization is at an all time high, companies are playing the “me – too” game and differentiation is a thing of the past, we need this to bring the spark back into American business.  I applaud his efforts, whether you agree with everything he does or not, at least he is out there doing something different. 

In a recent Wharton Leadership Lecture, titled, “Aiming for Blue, not Green,” he said “Passion is what matters most in business. Don’t hide your emotions. Emotions lead to action. Emotion is how you win.”  Being a “customer experience evangelist” and trying to get organizations to not just embrace and include their customers in their strategy, I want to see them passionate about their customers and doing something different.  Until an organization ”changes the game,” they will simply line up with all the others in their space and slug it out to try and not be the last one on the totem pole – what a way to live.

We need more CEO’s like Kevin that “demand” this type of change in the way we treat and interact with our customers.  This is electrifying and exhilarating and something every organization should at a minimum incorporate into their thinking when it comes to designing their customer experience.  Kevin coined a new term called “Lovemarks” in which he uses Apple as the example.  He says, “Apple is a company that has transcended being a brand, becoming a “lovemark” – a product or service that consumers revere.”  Whether you like the term or not, the intent is solid – take something you have or do and transcend your current brand or that of your competitors and make a difference.

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.

There have been a number of exciting things going on which has taken me away from my blog and over the next several weeks and months I will share more of that with you, our readers.  As you notice, I have also put a new “temporary face” on the look and feel of the blog.  I say interim as this might not last too terribly long, depending on how soon we can launch some other themes.

I am also in the midst of writing another book but can’t disclose much, if any of the details about it to you as of yet.  In fact, it is in a related yet unrelated area of what I have always been passionate about and focused on for many years – Strategy, Customers, Sales and Business Development and General Business Management.  More on that later…

Also, there will be another blog, in addition to this one that will also be launched sometime in the next few months that will start to talk about this new are of focus.  More on that a bit later as well.

So, the long and short of it is that the BLOG IS BACK and will be full of fresh new ideas, comments, articles and all the other things our readers have asked for and grown to enjoy from our Customer Experiences Blog.  Thanks for your patience and please send me your comments, ideas and suggestions on things you want to know in any of these areas.  If I don’t have the answer or any good ideas at hand, I have a very deep resource base where I can get them.  You can send any of them directly to me at: bmillet@ceinc.info and just let me know they are for the blog.

Again, thanks for your patience and LET’S GET ROLLING…

Blaine

Blaine Millet

Customer Experiences Inc.