Titles don't leave the legacy. People do.
And since "legacy" is a pretty heavy word, how about this: Trail of Impact. Each of us, every day, has a chance to impact others through our words and our actions. Just in the past few days, I've had these random opportunities to leave a positive trail as I interacted with:
- The Lowe's Home Improvement guy, working hard on Saturday to install our new dishwasher.
- A confused caller who mistakenly dialed our land line twice looking to buy a car we didn't have for sale.
- My wife, Karen, asking for help on a home project that I didn't know was on our agenda that day!
- The flight attendant roaming the aisle during a five hour flight, inquiring, "Coffee, anyone?" as most passengers failed to acknowledge her at all.
- The hotel trainee who took almost 20 minutes to check me in after that tiring five hour cross-country trip!
- My colleague and daughter, Kristin, as we spent a full day working on—and sometimes disagreeing about—a "QBQ! for Schools" classroom curriculum. (More on this new product soon—promise!)
In these various moments with a variety of people, I had a choice to speak and act positively or negatively. In that time—and in my wake—a trail develops; a Trail of Impact.
Now, in an everyday way, I should strive in all moments to create a positive trail simply because it's the right thing to do. But, I must admit, I've always been intensely intrigued by "vendor-customer" moments. As we say in Outstanding! 47 Ways to Make Your Organization Exceptional, it's critical that we "never forget who pays the bills." From Mitch of Husqvarna Construction Products, a reader of Outstanding!, comes this story:
John, I just had two bad travel weeks trying to get home on Fridays. Stranded by one airline the first week in Chicago, I had to buy a ticket on a different airline to get back to my family. The following Friday afternoon, after a complete fiasco with late flights and airline employees who did not care, we finally boarded the plane. Ahh, going home at last! I thought. As we were being told to raise our seat backs and tray tables, one passenger behind me was talking to her seat mate and didn't hear the instruction. Suddenly, a flight attendant loudly shouted at this customer, "I said put your seat back up!!!" Everyone within earshot seemed stunned. Fed up with lousy service in general, I stood up and said in my most commanding voice, "Excuse me!!!" I now had the attention of everyone within fifteen rows—including the just lectured passenger and the flight attendant. I turned to the woman who had been chastised and stated with a smile, "Welcome on board today and have a nice flight." Two seconds later the cabin filled with applause. Sitting down, I did my best to ignore some pretty nasty looks from the flight attendant.
By then, I was convinced that all airlines are alike and outstanding service doesn't exist anymore. Soon after, I boarded a flight expecting more of the same—but I was pleasantly surprised. The flight attendant, Christi, went above and beyond. Once in the air, after the regular delivery of pretzels and drinks (all you wanted, with no rationing), I assumed she'd take her seat to read a magazine. Instead, she joyfully traveled the aisle offering copies of puzzles and word games that she had obviously prepared before the flight. Clearly, she felt personally accountable for her guests' satisfaction on her plane. I told Christi that she was outstanding, a breath of fresh air, and the best flight attendant I'd seen in a long time. The next day I wrote a letter of praise to the airline.
As you write in Outstanding!, it's true: Customers can fire the organizations they do business with, just as they can "re-hire"—over and over—the ones they prefer. I have every intention to fly Christi's airline whenever I can!
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