Stories For Speakers And Writers

Getting What We Expect

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 19:40:00 +0000

In life we often get what we expect. If we expect something good, it has a way of showing up. If we expect something bad, it too has a way of showing up.

It reminds me of a story I heard about a wise clerk who worked at a convenience store in a small town out west.

One day, a stranger walked in, picked up some bread and milk, and made his way to the cash register.

“New to town?” the clerk asked.

“Yep. Just moved here with my family,” the stranger replied.

“Well, then let me be the first to welcome you,” the clerk offered, extending his hand.

“Thanks,” the stranger said as he shook it. “Say, what are the people like in this town?”

“Well … what were they like in the town you just left?” the clerk queried.

“Oh, they were fantastic,” the stranger replied. “Friendly, upbeat, and generous. We hated to leave.”

“I know what you mean,” the clerk nodded. “I think that’s pretty much what you’ll find here, too.”

A few days later, another stranger walked into the convenience store. Like the first, he picked up a few staples and headed to the cash register.

The same clerk asked, “New to town?”

“Yes,” the stranger mumbled. “Just arrived.”

Following the same track, the clerk smiled and extended his hand. “Let me be the first to welcome you!”

The stranger took his hand reluctantly, frowned, and quickly looked down. “So what are the people like in this town?”

“Well … what were they like in the town you lived in last?” the clerk queried.

“Not great,” he stammered. “They were cold, aloof, and selfish. We were glad to get out of there.” He looked up at the clerk.

“I know what you mean,” the clerk affirmed. “I’m afraid that’s probably what you’ll find here, too.”

If it’s true that we get what we expect, it’s worth noticing our expectations—and shifting them toward a more positive outcome.

Source: Michael Hyatt’s Blog, 12 August 2013.

PM Turns Taxi Driver to Find Out 'What People Really Think'

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 02:33:00 +0000

What do you do if you’re in a position of leadership and you want to understand what ordinary people are thinking?

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg revealed Sunday that he went undercover as a taxi driver for an afternoon, in a bid to find out voters' real concerns.

"It's important for me to hear what people really think. If there's one place where people say what they think, it's in the taxi," he said in a video posted on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The video was released while campaigning was in full swing for the September 9 general election, which Stoltenberg's ruling leftist coalition appears likely to lose, according to the latest opinion polls.

Stoltenberg wore an Oslo Taxi uniform -- complete with a badge -- one afternoon in June and picked up passengers in a black Mercedes in the Norwegian capital.

A hidden camera fitted in the cab-recorded reactions from the passengers, including one who remarked: "From this angle, he really looks like the prime minister."

An elderly woman who also recognised Stoltenberg urged him to do something about "the salaries of bosses", complaining that "they should not make millions like that".

Beyond revelations from the clients, Stoltenberg himself had one to give away, admitting to a passenger who recognised him that he had not driven in eight years.

Asked by tabloid Verdens Gang if he would like to be a taxi driver if he lost the elections, Stoltenberg said: "I think that the country and Norwegian taxi passengers are better served if I were a prime minister and not a taxi driver."

Watch the video clip with English subtitles.

Source: Norwegian PM works as taxi driver, Al Jazeera, 11 August 2013.

Image: Jens Stoltenberg (Credit)

God Refused a Science Grant

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 20:52:00 +0000

Have you heard the one about God applying for a grant from a scientific institution to study the origins of creation?

The grant was refused on three grounds:

Firstly, there was no visible evidence that God had done any work on the subject for a long time.

Secondly, no one had been able to repeat the experiment.

Thirdly, because the only records of it had not been published in any scientific journal!

Source: Eric James, A Life of Bishop John A T Robinson, 292.

Monet Forgetting Himself in the Faces of Others

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 21:43:00 +0000

Benedict Coleridge writes:

I found myself some days later at another Melbourne cultural offering — the National Gallery of Victoria's Monet exhibition. Everybody loves Monet, his work has therapeutic qualities — his waterlilies draw the world up close, enfolding the viewer in a matrix of colour and sensation.

But one of Monet's works stood out in a different way — the portrait of his young son Jean Monet, painted soon after his mother Camille had died. The little boy gazes at the viewer with a bewildered sadness in his eyes. It's the kind of image that draws one away from fantasy, the fantasy of strongly independent selves and Facebook visionaries and even the fantasy of Monet's garden.

In the medieval world, at least in urban settings, people living outside of the decorative centre of town wouldn't have seen much in the way of colour. But walking into a church they would have been met with the splendour of icons, rich with colour. The icons weren't just pretty, they pulled people into relationship with their subjects — you can't stand in front of an icon and not be engaged by the eyes and face. As Rowan Williams writes of Byzantine icons, 'the image gives directions, it essays a way of bringing you into a new place, a new perception'.

For me, standing in front of Jean Monet was equally engaging. One walks in from the outside world, perhaps composing a tweet, and then there is Jean Monet who just lost his mother and doesn't understand it, whose eyes speak of regret and confusion. Only a year before, Claude Monet painted a portrait of his wife lying on her deathbed. In the painting Camille Monet looks as though she is wrapped in a shroud, or covered by flowing water. Here is an image at once full of stillness but alive with motion, the body is still but life flows outwards towards the edge of the picture — it's a deeply meditative piece of art.

And it comes to mind that Monet, in a period of deep grief and loss, made what was in his career a rare decision: to paint other people. The artist forgot himself in contemplating the faces of his wife and his son, in depicting the faces of death and of incomprehension. And it struck me that we need icons like this — icons of incomprehension, reminders of the fragile self that, behind its virtual armour, is beset by doubt and demons.

Source: Benedict Coleridge, Human Faces of Monet’s Demons, Eureka Street, 8 August 2013.

Image: Portrait of Jean Monet.

Too Deep for Words or Tears

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:53:00 +0000

Bishop John A T Robinson visited a 16 year old girl dying of cancer. He and Brigie’s mother arranged a service of prayer for Brigie, and Janet the mother says it helped her understand “that peace and trust are more important than physical survival.”

What a remarkable statement of faith when your daughter is dying!

At the funeral, Bishop Robinson said, “We are here this morning…to go down, as it were, to the water-table, to resources too deep for words or for tears.”

Source: Ron N Ham, Sermons on the Distinctives of the Christian Faith, Collins Street Baptist Church, 1993, 2.

Geoff Pound

Conan O’Brien’s Advice at the Harvard Commencement

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Sun, 22 May 2011 06:34:00 +0000

Conan O’Brien returns to Harvard University to speak to the Class of 2000.

Here’s his final piece of advice:

I left the cocoon of Harvard, I left the cocoon of Saturday Night Live, I left the cocoon of the Simpsons. And each time it was bruising and tumultuous. And yet every failure was freeing, and today I’m as nostalgic for the bad as I am for the good.

So that’s what I wish for all of you—the bad as well as the good. Fall down. Make a mess. Break something occasionally. Know that your mistakes are your own unique way of getting to where you need to be. And remember that the story is never over.

Link

Read the entire speech on Al Lowe’s Humor Site.

Geoff Pound

The Courage to Search for the Secret to Life

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 09 May 2011 09:34:00 +0000

Three spirits roamed the earth who alone had the secret of life. They knew humans would soon inhabit the earth. They could not decide how to pass on the secret of life.

They finally agreed that the lesson should only be given to people with strength and courage. So they agreed to put the secret in a place which could only be reached by persons with these qualities.

One spirit suggested that it be placed on top of the highest mountain.

Another spirit said that the secret should be placed at the bottom of the deepest ocean.

But the third spirit, the wisest, disagreed. She said that the secret should be placed deep inside each human being. She knew that only the most courageous would be willing to look for it there.

Native American Story retold by Stephen Shoemaker.

Geoff Pound

Piers Morgan on Doing Your Homework and the Seven Ps

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:27:00 +0000

Toward the end of his interview with David Frost, Piers Morgan, the self confessed ‘young pup at this interviewing’, asks the master for some tips.

While Frost gathers his words for this whipper-snapper, Morgan slips in some advice from his brother:

FROST: Where do we start? You'll know this and you'll agree with it, because you're putting it into practice. But the first thing obviously is homework, which, I mean, sounds absurdly obvious. But some people don't do much preparation.

MORGAN: My brother is a British Army colonel. They have an unofficial regimental motto called the seven Ps, which I think apply equally to interviewing, which is prior planning and preparation prevent piss poor performance.

Source: Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN, 26 April 2011.

Image: Piers Morgan.

Nelson Mandela: “There is No Time to be Bitter!”

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:16:00 +0000

David Frost, in remembering for Piers Morgan some of his favourite interviews, shares this exchange with Nelson Mandela:

“I asked Nelson Mandela, how was it that you got through 28 years, you were wrongly incarcerated, and you're not bitter? Some people said he found religion. But you're not bitter.”

“And he, instead of basking in the tribute, he said, ‘David, I would like to be bitter, but there is no time to be bitter. There is work to be done…Because that was just before the election of '93 which of course he won.”

Source: Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN, 26 April 2011.

Image: Nelson Mandela.

Desmond Tutu: ‘I’m a Prisoner of Hope’

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:06:00 +0000

David Frost, in recalling for Piers Morgan some of his most favourite interviews, recounts these memorable lines uttered by Desmond Tutu:

Frost said to the Archbishop:

“I always think of you as an optimist. And he said, I'm not an optimist, I'm a prisoner of hope.”

Source: Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN, 26 April 2011.

Image: Desmond Tutu.

Charles, Prince of Wales: ‘I’m Stuck!’

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:53:00 +0000

In the week prior to William and Kate’s marriage, David Frost recalls for Piers Morgan one of his interviews with Prince Charles:

“I said to him, you know, when I was growing up, first of all, I wanted to be a railway engine driver because when English boys are small they all want to be that, and then a footballer or whatever.”

“But in your case, that would have been pointless. Because your future was preordained, predestined, irrelevant what you wanted to be. You didn't have any choice in it at all. What sort of effect did that have?”

“And he said well, yes, he said, when I was 5 or 6, I wanted to be a railway engine driver, he said. But then one morning, it was one morning I woke up when I was 6 years old and I thought, I'm stuck.”

Source: Piers Morgan Tonight, CNN, 26 April 2011.

Image: David Frost and Prince Charles.

Chinglish by Renee Liang

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:52:00 +0000

Chinglish
Yesterday

a shop lady smiled at me
and said,
Your English is very good

her eyes crinkled
in a let's-be-nice-to-aliens way.

I wanted to say

of course it bloody is,
I was born here...

Renee Liang, New Zealand Poet.

Source
Doctor Poet, Ingenio: The University of Auckland Alumni Magazine, Spring 2010, 22-23 (Click on this link to download article about Renee Liang).

Geoff Pound

Image: Photo of Renee Liang, courtesy of Ingenio from the article cited above).

E M Forster on Keeping Proportion While Living and Dying

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:00:00 +0000

E M Forster in ‘Howards Way’ makes this intriguing comment about the death of one of the characters, Ruth Wilcox.

‘Some leave our life with tears, others with an insane frigidity; Mrs. Wilcox had taken the middle course, which only rarer natures can pursue. She had kept proportion. She had told a little of her grim secret to her friends, but not too much; she had shut up her heart—almost, but not entirely.”

“It is thus, if there is any rule, that we ought to die—neither as victim nor as fanatic, but as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering, and the shore that he must leave.”

Source (via Barrie Hibbert)
E M Forster, Howards End, Chapter 12.

Geoff Pound

Image: “But as the seafarer who can greet with an equal eye the deep that he is entering, and the shore that he must leave.” The Seafarer's Memorial, Nelson, New Zealand

The Blessings of Discomfort, Anger, Tears and Foolishness

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:43:00 +0000

This Franciscan prayer is down-to-earth, honest and counter-cultural:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

Source unknown but it comes via Michael Hyatt’s fine blog.

Geoff Pound

Anton Gaudi: ‘My Client is Not in a Hurry’

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 04:49:00 +0000

Pope Benedict XVI this last weekend dedicated the Sagrada Familia Church in Barcelona in the presence of Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.

Benedict praised Anton Gaudi, the original architect of this grand building, for bridging the division between human consciousness and spiritual reality, between life here and now and life eternal.

The church leader said: “Gaudi did this, not with words but with stones, lines, planes and points.”

The Sagrada Familia or ‘holy family’ church is still unfinished after more than 100 years but the completion of the interior space was the reason for this service of blessing.

Gaudi only lived to see one tower and most of one façade finished by the time he died in 1926.

He planned the church to have 18 towers—12 for each apostle, four for the evangelists, one for the Virgin Mary and the tallest tower for Jesus.

Only 8 towers have been completed and the hope is to finish the entire building by 2026, the anniversary of the death of Anton Gaudi.

Asked why it was taking so long to finish the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi replied, “My client—meaning God—is not in a hurry.”

Source
Pope Urges Spain to Shun Secularism, CNN, 7 November 2010.

Geoff Pound

Image: “He planned the church to have 18 towers—12 for each apostle, four for the evangelists, one for the Virgin Mary and the tallest tower for Jesus.”

Bannister, Landy and Santee, Training for Self-Mastery

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:58:00 +0000

Neil Bascomb has written a wonderful book called The Perfect Mile.

In it he tells the story of Roger Bannister, John Landy, and Wes Santee, three athletes who committed themselves to breaking the four-minute mile.

Bascomb writes:

All three runners endured thousands of hours of training to shape their bodies and minds. They ran more miles in a year than many of us walk in a lifetime. They spent a large part of their youth struggling for breath. They trained week after week to the point of collapse, all to shave off a second, maybe two, during a mile race—the time it takes to snap one's fingers and register the sound. There were sleepless nights and training sessions in rain, sleet, snow, and scorching heat. There were times when they wanted to go out for a beer or a date yet knew they couldn't. They understood that life was somehow different for them, that idle happiness eluded them. If they weren't training or racing or gathering the will required for these efforts, they were trying not to think about training or racing at all.

The term some have used to describe what these men were doing is self-mastery. Others prefer the word discipline. Some athletes would be happy with conditioning.

Each of them describes the attempt to push oneself beyond the ordinary and achieve something unique and extraordinarily satisfying.

Sources
Neal Bascomb, The Perfect Mile (Houghton Mifflin, 2004).
Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 129-130.

Geoff Pound

Image: Roger Bannister crossing the tape at the end of his record breaking mile run at Iffley Road, Oxford. He was the first person to run the mile in under four minutes, with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Original Publication: Aldus Disc - People & Personalities - 1353 - 12 (Photo by Norman Potter/Central Press/Getty Images)

“They trained week after week to the point of collapse, all to shave off a second, maybe two, during a mile race—the time it takes to snap one's fingers and register the sound.”

What Mandela Taught Us On Robben Island

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:44:00 +0000

Gordon MacDonald recounts:

A few years ago I had the privilege of having a personal introduction to Nelson Mandela.

It is one of the most memorable moments of my life. Not because I am a hero-worshiper, but because of the experience I had in his presence.

When he entered the room and joined one other person and myself, I felt as if I was being enveloped in a cloud of grace. The man simply projected a spiritual force that left me dumbfounded.

What Did Mandela Teach?
Years before meeting Mandela, I had interviewed a man who had been imprisoned with him on Robben Island for five years. “We had rooms [cells] next to each other,” he told me.

“What did he teach you?” I asked.

“He taught us to forgive,” came the answer. “I was a bitter young man, and Mandela picked it up immediately when we first met.

He said to me, “Son, you are of no use to our movement until you learn to forgive the white man. You can hate his cause, but you cannot hate him.”

When I was privileged to meet Nelson Mandela, I felt that gracious power that accounted for his splendid resilience. To come from twenty-seven years of imprisonment (the majority of his adulthood) and walk into the light and challenge the South African people—white and black—to forgive was the single most important thing that saved a nation from catastrophic bloodshed.

Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 129-130.

Geoff Pound

Image: “He taught us to forgive.”

Character in Motion

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 04:15:00 +0000

In his book Seizing Your Divine Moment, Erwin McManus writes of a day when he was speaking at a Christian retreat in Florida.

His family had accompanied him on the trip. "My assignment," McManus relates, "was to call several thousand singles to a life of sacrifice as we basked in soothing tranquility."

During some free time, McManus and his ten-year-old son, Aaron, took a walk along the ocean. Suddenly he noted a disabled man on crutches, struggling to make his way to the water's edge to join other bathers. But because the sand was too unstable, the man fell and was unable to get up again. McManus admits that his instinct was to turn and walk in the opposite direction.

I know this instinct. It is the part of each of us that prefers not to get involved, not to face something that could be beyond our grasp. The temptation is to freeze, ignore it, hope that someone else will step up to the situation. Something in one's character goes into neutral, and self-interest threatens to trump self-sacrifice.
Not so with McManus's boy.
“My son stopped me;” McManus says.
"I have to go help that man," the boy said.
McManus: "I could only look at him and say, "Then go help him."'

When the fallen man proved too heavy for a small boy to help, others quickly gathered around and offered the necessary strength. At first the child was distressed that he could not do it himself, but McManus said, "I explained to Aaron that his strength carried the man. It was because of him that others came to his aid."

This is character in motion, best illustrated in the instincts of a ten-year-old.

Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 60-61.

Geoff Pound

Image: “Suddenly he noted a disabled man on crutches, struggling to make his way to the water's edge to join other bathers.”

Down-to-Earth Truths in the Egyptian Desert

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:13:00 +0000

In his book Soul-Making, Allen Jones describes a visit to the Coptic Monastery of St. Macarius in the Egyptian desert.

His host, Father Jeremiah, a bearded monk of indeterminate age, filled him full of stories of the desert fathers. Like this one.

One day, it is said, Saint Macarius, among the wisest of monks, was asked by a young man, “Abba, tell us about being a monk.”

Marcarius responded, “Ah! I'm not a monk myself, but I have seen them!”

Gordon MacDonald, who recounts this story, picks up on the monk’s humility and stresses the truth that life is less about titles, roles, positions, realizations and intentions and more about becoming and letting our lives match our words.

Source
Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life (Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 59-60).

Geoff Pound

Image: Monk from the Coptic Monastery of St. Macarius in the Egyptian desert (Photo courtesy of J P Quinlan and licensed under Creative Commons).

Mid-Life Can Be a Time for Sober Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:55:00 +0000

John Dean of Watergate fame wrote:

My view [of my life] has been backward, not forward ... and I have been dwelling on the trivial, on the insignificant too much.

Time is running out and I must come to terms with my life. The days for fantasizing great achievements are gone. Ambitions and goals must be realistic if I want to avoid great disappointment at the end.

Sources
John Dean, Blind Ambition (Simon & Schuster, 1976).
Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 56.

Geoff Pound

Image: John Dean

This Extraordinary Quality of Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:14:00 +0000

Going from "kid brother" to senior statesman was an extraordinary journey for Ted Kennedy, matching the similar journeys taken by his brothers John and Robert.

All three of the Kennedy brothers who entered our national public life — meaning the three who survived World War II — demonstrated this extraordinary quality of growth, particularly after they arrived in Washington.

Too many successful politicians stop growing once they reach there, certain that they already know it all and have completed their growth within the biblical standard of "wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and Man."

But not the Kennedys, and certainly not Edward Moore Kennedy.

Ted Sorensen, Sorensen on Kennedy: The ‘Kid Brother’ Who Grew Up, Time, 26 August 2009.

Geoff Pound

Image: Ted Kennedy.

‘Finding Out What Works and What Doesn’t, What Fits the Style’

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 03:48:00 +0000

There’s an interesting insight about learning how to make your speeches work by testing them out on people and evaluating.

It comes from a New York Article that pays tribute to the speech writer of J. F. Kennedy, Theodore C. Sorensen:

“It was only after we had crisscrossed the country and began to build support at the grass roots, largely unrecognized in Washington, where Kennedy was dismissed as being too young, too Catholic, too little known, too inexperienced,” Mr. Sorensen said in the interview.

In those travels, Mr. Sorensen found his own voice as well as Kennedy’s. “Everything evolved during those three-plus years that we were traveling the country together,” he said. “He became a much better speaker. I became much more equipped to write speeches for him. Day after day after day after day, he’s up there on the platform speaking, and I’m sitting in the audience listening, and I find out what works and what doesn’t, what fits his style.”

Source
Theodore C Sorensen, 82, Kennedy Counselor Dies, New York Times, 31 October 2010.

Geoff Pound

Image: JFK and Theodore C Sorensen: “I find out what works and what doesn’t, what fits his style.”

Celebrating the Last Spike

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 06:27:00 +0000

Stephen Ambrose's book Nothing Like It in the World tells the story of the building of the transcontinental railroad in America.

"The railroad took brains, muscle, and sweat in quantities and scope never before put into a single project," Ambrose wrote in his eminently readable history lesson.

Early in the story, Ambrose describes the moment when construction was to begin and certain California people decided that there ought to be a great ceremony. A host of dignitaries were invited to gather at the place where the first rail was to be laid.

One of those invited was Collis Huntington, perhaps the railroad's most important West Coast backer in California. But he declined, saying:

"If you want to jubiliate [celebrate] over driving the first spike, go ahead and do it. I don't. Those mountains over there look too ugly. We may fail, and if we do, I want to have as few people know it as we can ...Anybody can drive the first spike, but there are months of labor and unrest between the first and the last spike." (Emphasis mine)

Huntington was not romanced by first spikes, by premature celebration. It was the last spike in the process that grabbed his attention. Everything in between the first and last spike was his big picture, and until the picture was all filled in, he wasn't celebrating.

When construction of the railroad was finally completed in May of 1869, a last spike, a golden one at that, was pounded into place, and two locomotives (one from the east; the other from the west) moved forward until they touched.

A telegram was sent to President Ulysses S. Grant: "Sir: we have the honor to report that the last rail is laid, the last spike is driven, the Pacific Railroad is finished."

"The last rail is laid, the last spike is driven" (emphasis mine). Now maybe Collis Huntington had something to celebrate.

Gordon MacDonald, A Resilient Life, Nelson Books: Nashville, 2004, 43.

Geoff Pound

Image: “When construction of the railroad was finally completed in May of 1869…”

Short, Sweet and Sufficient

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 05:03:00 +0000

Nordstrom. Inc. is an upscale department store chain in the USA that sells shoes, clothing, accessories, handbags and the like.

For years, Nordstrom’s Employee Handbook was a single 5×8” gray card containing these 75 words:

Welcome to Nordstrom
We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them.

Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use best judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules.

Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time.

During this time, Nordstrom had the highest sales per square foot performance in the retail industry – by almost double.

Founder of the business, Swedish immigrant, John Nordstrom, seemed to instill an uncomplicated approach that was short, sweet and sufficient.

Source
Nordstrom, Wikipedia via Signal v Noise.

Geoff Pound
Contact Geoff Pound on Facebook, Twitter or on email at geoffpound(at)gmail.com

Image: Nordstrom's Flagship Store in Seattle, Washington

Act Medium

noreply@blogger.com (Geoff Pound) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:31:00 +0000

The children worked long and hard on their little cardboard shack.

It was to be a special spot---a clubhouse, where they could meet together, play, and have fun.

Since a clubhouse has to have rules, they came up with three:

Nobody act big.
Nobody act small.
Everybody act medium.

Just "act medium." Believable. Honest, human, thoughtful, and down to earth. Regardless of your elevated position or high pile of honors or row of degrees or endless list of achievements, just stay real.

Source
Charles P Swindoll, Insight for Living, 29 October 2010.

Geoff Pound