Well, everyone is doing it – so I have to join in – I’m finishing the decade with 10 top ten lists – today, I’m reminiscing on the best gigs I saw during the decade:
A crisp cold Sunday morning here in Maidenhead, with only a few days to go until Christmas – time for some inspiration – first up, some beautiful music from Yael Naim, a track called The Only One with a video made by Readymade FC. And then onwards and upwards with some inspirational links.
Letters of Note – such a simple concept, reprinting some fantastic letters from brilliant (and sometimes ordinary) writers. My particular favourite (which draws me back time after time) is this masterpiece from JD Salinger – which could very be my favourite letter of all time.
As the year and the decade comes to an end – there will be thousands of top-10 lists (indeed this blog will have some – starting tomorrow) – but the authority on compiling the music lists has to be largehearted boy who puts together massive lists of the end of year (and decade) charts. I find these places great resources to find out about music I may have missed.
“Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” – Jack Kerouac
When I think of all the high achievers I admire, one of the things they have in common is that they are authentic. The quality that makes them trustworthy and genuine is plain to see. Even if you don’t agree with every action, their authenticity allows you to make a judgement based on their intentions as well as the outcomes.
Sunday afternoon inspiration this week – I’ve been out Clay Shooting, and back home to the comfort of a warm house with lovely smells from the kitchen. Time for some Sunday inspiration, which this week I will suggest an accompaniment from Mott the Hoople – Sea Diver, a beautiful song, head over to You Tube, start this up and then come back for a couple of nice inspirational links.
Famous Actors in Famous Roles - great photography, and in some cases some very subtle triggers of the original movie role. I love this photoset of great actors reminding you of the roles that made them famous.
I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion." – Muhammad Ali
As Nicholas Bate said this week – for phenomenal success you need persistence. Always be improving yourself and your chances of success in whatever you choose, can only grow.
I confess, I do not believe in time. – Vladimir Nabokov
I’m slowly coming to the conclusion that time management is a myth – task management is where we should be focused. Validating the task, planning the task and executing the task – if it’s righteous, then it doesn’t matter how long it takes.
Focus on whether the task is the right thing to do – not how long it will take.
Once again – its a number of very small touches that make great customer service. I recently upgraded from Sky to Sky HD – the experience was completely pain-free, but really enhanced by a number of very small touches along the way:
I booked the service by phone and got queued for getting an appointment – when it was my time, Sky emailed and texted me to let me know I could book online, I even got one month free for using the online channel.
The engineer was booked for Sunday between 12-5, but the day before he phoned to confirm and narrowed the time down to between 12 and 2 – meaning I could plan activities for later in the day – he arrived at 12.45.
The engineer was polite, quick and even offered to wear overshoes as it was raining outside, but the icing on the cake was when he left a small card with his cellphone number for 30 day DIRECT support with him rather than going back through a call center.
All installed in 5 days from first call to fully working, great quality product backed by decent service. Would I recommend Sky HD? Damn right I would.
The genius marketers at Ikea have put together an amazing campaign to advertise a new store opening in Malmo.
They created a Facebook account in the name of the store manager, uploaded 12 showroom photographs, and ran a competition for ‘friends’, to tag themselves on a photograph and win the item they tagged.
Its a great idea that spread like wild fire – you can watch a full explanation on video here:
Matt Rutherford is passionate about creating excellent service and support experiences.
Matt is currently part of the team bringing support for Microsoft Online Services (BPOS etc) to the world.
Matt also loves music, movies and design - and can be found Clay Pigeon Shooting at the weekend - and blogging about shooting at the ShootClay website.
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