Then a waitress from the restaurant next door walked in and asked if she could help me.

I shared my mission - to ship a laptop to Denver.

So, she walked behind the counter, took my laptop, determined its insured shipping value, found a recycled box just the right size, packed the laptop while getting its destination and took my credit card for payment. Professional. Friendly. But still, the waitress from next door!

After the transaction I had to ask, “how does this work?”

The answer was simple enough. “It works really well! I serve tables next door as you can see. This store has only one employee, the owner. When he has to leave, I watch for customers and take care of them. I’ve been doing this for two years. I’m trained and know what I’m doing. And my boss likes being a good neighbor.”

I didn’t ask about compensation but I’m sure something agreeable has been worked out.

Here’s what I love about this arrangement: a shortage of resources opened the door to an abundance of resourcefulness.

Boundaries were crossed – a neighbor’s employee crossed over and became a very short-term temp at the business next door.

A whacky conversation must have happened – “could your waitress run my store when I’m gone?” Followed by, “that’s a crazy idea!” Followed some time later by, “I think that could work.”

And an alliance was created – retail store neighbors became creative allies…a customer continued to be served…money was made…and a laptop got shipped to Denver.

Do you think you or your employees could come up with a solution like this? Why not?

So begins hell.

Chemo. Surgery. Radiation. Mouth sores. A throat so raw you barely can swallow. Nausea so severe you cannot concentrate enough to read or even watch TV. You don’t know it at first, but you will spend the next nine months in a room trying not to throw up. The treatment will wreck your saliva glands and your taste buds and, you will lose 40 pounds.

However, you are not “just an engineer” – you are David Kelly, founder of legendary design firm IDEO and champion of design thinking. When someone like David Kelly is at his lowest and needs a reason to keep living, how does a design thinker approach this ultimate problem?

It was the thought of his 11-year-old daughter that kept Kelley fighting. “At first, you think, ‘I don’t want to miss her growing up. That’s motivating, but not that motivating. It’s when you manage to get out of yourself and start thinking of her that you get the resolve to continue. When you think, I don’t want her not to have a father - then you want to stay alive.”

That is how David Kelly designed a reason to live.

Think of the hardships, problems or business hells you are going through. Use the approach of a design thinker and look for motivation outside yourself. If you know and love “the who” of your work, you can fight through a lot of crap.

Design your reason for struggling through the hard things before you. Your colleagues, employees and community will be glad you did.

NOTE: David Kelly is currently cancer-free, energetic, and full of plans. However, every six months, he has to submit to a scan to make sure the disease has not metastasized. It’s a terrifying reminder, for all of us, that life is short.

If they did, you would feel the hard to define delight that comes when customer insight turns into customer experience due to customer focus. You would smile. You would be understood. You would feel special enough to have been the object of such attentive effort and preparation. All it takes is thought, attention and a willingness to act on what you know to be true about your client.

It’s Easy. Even a 7-year-old knows this!

Yesterday my 7-year-old grandson was asking lots of questions about football. I thought that was neat. He ended his interview with, “Who is your favorite college team?” I told him and thought nothing more about it.

Today he gave me this picture he had drawn. Look carefully and you’ll see an “N” on the player’s helmet representing the Nebraska Cornhuskers - my favorite team. How do you think I felt? You know don’t you?

Capture THAT “feeling” and make it your goal to deliver branded experiences which make each of your customers feel the way I did when he gave me this picture.

“Easy,” replied Miller. “I’ve written a great play when the people watching the characters I’ve created say to themselves, ‘My God, that’s me!’”

Likewise, you’ve created a relevant brand only when your customers think, “My God, these people really understand me!” Until they do, you are more a commodity than a brand. Don’t fool yourself into thinking your relevant when you’re not.

Get “inside the heads” of your must-have clients. What causes them pain? What gives them pleasure? What can your organization do to be more relevant to them than any of your competitors? Determine the most relevant attributes and align your organization to relentlessly deliver on them, day in and day out.

Settle for nothing less than, “My God, that’s me!”

This past weekend, Nike kicked off a new football campaign starring Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The “FATE’ campaign captures the journey of both players from their first steps to playing in the NFL.

The artistry of this ad transforms a fairly routine football occurrence into something much more. It becomes the tale of two little boys realizing their ultimate athletic potential. It’s more than one player tackling another - two stories are becoming one.

What if you look at every business transaction this way? What if you believe something bigger is taking place than “one more someone” writing a check for your product or service. Great brands do.

Great brands know their customers’ story is about to merge with theirs and they’re prepared to make the most of it. Don’t leave your customer moments of truth up to fate.

You’ve seen his mischievous grin and knowing eyes in a great many TV shows and movies but probably never caught his name. Arguably his most memorable character was that of Vizzini in the classic 1987 film, “The Princess Bride”.

More than a gifted actor, Shawn has been a playwright for over 30 years. Three of his plays have been turned into movies, the most recent being “The Fever”.

Yet, for all his success, Wallace Shawn wants new customers for his plays. And he knows exactly what these customers look like because he has seen them - buying tickets for OTHER plays.

Shawn recently went to a Naomi Klein book reading for The Shock Doctrine. There he met the exact kind of people he wants to attend his plays:

“The people in the audience were like hungry dogs being thrown meat by Naomi Klein. They were leaning forward so far they were practically on the stage. And they were responding to every word she said. And they were just very, very, very alive. I wanted to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing a play tomorrow, why don’t you all come to it, I’ll give you free tickets!’ Because I can tell you, a lot of the people who were there, I’m going to bet they go to between zero and one play a year. Closer to zero.”

I wager you’re not much different than Wallace Shawn. You’ve seen the kind of customers you want, but never at your store, entering your office or pulling into your parking lot. You’ve seen them showing off their iPhone, riding their Harley or sporting their signature Mario Batali edition Crocs.

These “hair on fire” kind of customers exist. You’ve probably been one of them. But you don’t have them as your customers. So, what are you going to do about it?

First, get real. Ask yourself the tough questions – and be honest. Are you providing a value experience which surpasses a simple transaction? Would your customers miss you if went out of business today? If not, why not?

Second, get comfortable with change. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to get the kind of customers you’ve always gotten. Agree upon the customers you must have. Find out what’s relevant to your customers and determine what needs to be different about how you present yourself to them. Bring different skills and a different attitude for customers to experience.

Third, find your fire. If your products, services and customer experience don’t thrill you, you can be certain they don’t thrill your customers. Sell yourself before you try and sell someone else. Would you stand in line for what you offer? Would you write a check for more than what your competitor charges? Would you tell the world about what you just bought in your store?

Wallace Shawn is not happy with his audience - that’s his advantage.

Your advantage is the same. Inconceivable!

Business leaders balk every time I mention “risking difference”. Finding your unique way of delivering on your brand’s promises requires moving out of the mediocre middle. For many, that’s a very scary place. Taking that leap creates an opportunity to make raving fans. Playing it safe, means many organizations are destined to languish in mediocrity.

Here, in the Greater Des Moines area, we take pride in being an insurance capital and financial center. That means avoiding risk at all costs. The ability to minimize risk gets you hired and promoted in this town. The very idea of risking the ire or indifference of potential customers in the course of building a brand can keep a business owner awake all night.

I’ll be doing my best to be the cause of some local business owners’ insomnia as they summon the courage to discover and deliver what makes their brand unique. Join me on September 18th and be part of the fun!

“My request was simple enough: Please make sure the funds from this check I’m depositing are immediately available. However, she insisted she couldn’t help me. My money would not be available until 24 hours after my check cleared.

I pulled the “loyalty card” by explaining I’d been with her bank for over 18 years –through many name changes. It was no use.

“Sorry.” she explained. “IT set the system up that way – I can’t help you.”

That started an argument. Not between the teller and me, but between the teller and her co-worker, one window down.

“I can help him!” declared the neighboring teller.

“No, you can’t!” replied “my” teller.

After a minute of increasingly heated discussion, I appointed myself the only adult in the room and inquired as to how she could help me.

“I’ll cash your check then deposit the money into your account. The funds for cash deposits are available immediately.”

So ended the argument with my need creatively solved.

This slice of 21st century customer service started me thinking how to lead employees to act like more like my creative, problem-solving teller:

Communicate a true sense of urgency to your team.
Misplaced urgency is rampant in most businesses. When leaders make procedure, technique and policy the priority they get compliant, predictable employees. That may satisfy their “elimination of variation” addiction but crucial relational outcomes may suffer – which means your customers suffer.

Train your team to “read the moment”.
Obviously my request was not the first of its kind – the first teller had addressed it before. She had been taught, and was following company policy – end of story. Wise leaders train their teams to create raving fans by shaping customer experience according to the moment and circumstances.

Nurture creative problem solving.
Many times leaders shut down creative problem solving out of fear of the unknown – trying something different than accepted company policy. Insist everyone on your team is intimately familiar with the mission and knows exactly what outcomes you expect. That’s your job.

Embrace ambiguity when it comes to the “how” of achieving success. If success involves deepening relationships with people like customers and employees, finding the creative “how” that matches the moment is a must!

I’ve written about the need for creative leadership before. Helping clients deliver uniquely relevant branded experience is what I do. This week I spoke to 50 young professionals on this very subject. They get it! I hope their bosses do.

The conventional answer, “I played center.” says so little. I’d rather tell him what I accomplished for the team - it means more.

My high school coach, in his “John Wooden-like” wisdom gave me an outcome to achieve. My position of “center” was just for the program.

We were a very short team competing against much taller teams. My assigned contribution was to get the opposing team’s center to foul out - Period. “How” was up to me.

Some of my opponents were temperamental and easy to frustrate into fouling me. Others were so confident they couldn’t wait to stuff the ball down my 5-foot, 11-inch frame every time I tried a shot - they were easy targets as well.

My position was “center” but my contribution was “strategic foul generation”.

In the business world, the word “title” is exchanged for “position”. People want to know what others do for a living - many reply with their title. But a title says so little!

In your career, it’s better to focus on the outcomes you bring to the team…

Titles do not create great brands. It’s great performances produced by people who contribute like “owners” regardless of what it says on their business cards.

For now, my grandson gets the simple answer to his question. When he’s older I’ll help him understand it’s better to know your contribution than to worry about what’s printed in “the program”.

Tags: brand ownership, basketball, position, title, outcomes

Jarell was born with severe hearing loss, but that didn’t keep him from connecting with his world. Initially he made up his own form of sign language before learning American Sign Language which he taught to his family and friends.

After graduating from Des Moines’ East High School, Jarell went looking for a job. After two trips to an east side Hy-Vee Food Store, the manager, Mike Kueny, hired Jarell to sack groceries. After bagging groceries for three years, Kueny decided to give Jarell a shot at cashier.

Seven months later, Jarell averages three positive comments to the management a week. E-mail messages commending his work arrive at corporate headquarters regularly and shoppers choose his checkout line even if it means a longer wait.

Using hand gestures, facial expressions and a poster he designed to tell patrons he cannot hear, Jarell owns his unique brand of contagious, friendly service.

Scant resources don’t keep Brand Owners from delivering on their promises. Constraints are opportunities to be creative and different while at the same time delighting customers.

Refuse to complain about what you don’t have and find your unique way of delivering on your brand promises.

Jarell owns his brand; you can too!

Tags: brand ownership, Hy-Vee, hearing impared, brand promises