Applied leadership at JetBlue

From Lucy Garrick:

Here's an interesting example of applied leadership.
http://www.jetblue.com/about/ourcompany/promise/

This kind of response is rare from a corporation in the face of failure, and an admirable example of action learning in leadership under stressful conditions.

I would be interested in hearing any comments as to how this example enlightens that ever-recurring question:
"What does it mean to lead?"

Are you surprised at this company's response?
How does it compare to other experiences of organizaitonal failure you have had?
What does it teach you about your own leadership?
How might this example be applied your work?

To applaud or not? Why are we still asking this question?

Letting go of pretentiousness at classical music concerts has been an on-going story for over 30 years. It shouldn't be a surprise that we're still facing unexamined assumptions and habits. Or not clearly understanding the first-time buyer's experience and making the music more accessible. Culture change takes effort.

And yet we still label audience seating areas "Orchestra" when we've heard time and again the first-time buyer's confusion, "Am I really sitting with the orchestra?" Or "Second Tier" which is the third balcony in the hall.

Or "single tickets" when the first-time buyer asks, "Do I have to sit by myself?"

Or identifying composers and solosits by only their last name, as if everyone should know Plishnishkayanaka is a woman and the greatest living soprano east of the Mississippi.

Drew McManus is exploring and surveying this topic. He writes in The Partial Observer:

Among all of the contemporary forms of art, I've always felt classical music has the most potential for growth. Unfortunately, it has a nasty habit of getting in its own way by perpetuating decades old exclusive barriers.

At the same time, many classical music institutions are trying harder than ever before to consciously tear some of these barriers down. However, I find that some of these issues are so entrenched in the behavior and actions of long time classical music enthusiasts; they may not even realize they are unconsciously contributing to the problem.

Two recent events have brought this issue to the forefront in my mind.

Read Drew's article in The Partial Observer

The results are in. Check out the Applause & Pretentiousness Survey.

Read Leonard Slatkin's article "To Clap or Not to Clap?" in McManus' blog.

Valuing storytelling

The Australian consulting firm, Anecdote, is asking "When is storytelling valued within your organization?” Here are the results.

Hero stories – seen particularly for sales, customer service
Success stories
Inspirational stories
“Lessons/Learning” stories
“Who we are” stories – an embodiment of company values in action, not just espoused values
“How we got here” stories – stories exploring a companies history and foundations
“My time here” stories – provides insight into the individuals work/life history with the organization

Read more about when storytelling is valued.

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They also asked "When has storytelling been discouraged or frowned upon in organizations?” The broad themes that emerged are:

When stories are gossip
When there is a break down in trust and relationships
Where there is no time
When there are “bad news” stories
When it sounds like corporate spin

Read more about when storytelling is discouraged.

Bank as lifestyle and music producer

Umpqua isn’t just a financial institution. It’s a lifestyle. And now a music producer.

Certainly the message you would get if you were to visit the Umpqua branch in Portland’s trendy Pearl District neighborhood seems only vaguely related to the mundane business of certificates of deposit, checking accounts and loans. With free wi-fi access, Umpqua brand coffee, a spacious seating area and flat-screen television monitors, the place has been designed to suggest a stylish hotel lobby where you’re tempted to hang out (and, perhaps, read a tastefully printed brochure about certificates of deposit, checking accounts and loans). This and other Umpqua branches also serve as the setting for things like sewing groups, yoga classes and movie nights. Actually, the word “branch” is not used in Umpqua’s official internal terminology: the bank operates 127 “stores” in Oregon, California and Washington. As Lani Hayward, who oversees “creative strategies for the company,” explains, Umpqua sees itself as a retailer.

The reason for this strategy is the same one that leads companies across many sectors to play the lifestyle card: a proliferation of competitors peddling largely interchangeable wares. If a bank wants to stand out, it’s fairly difficult to do so with the financial products it offers. It can, however, differentiate the manner in which it sells and packages those products.

According to Hayward, the central idea of Umpqua’s image is “community hub.” The company trains its employees through a program offered by the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, with the goal of providing service that’s better than what you might expect from a bank. And it gives its managers the autonomy to, for example, stay open during a snowstorm if the manager thinks the customers will want that. But the community-hub notion also plays a role in the curious-sounding decision to start selling CD’s (the kind with music on them) through a program called Discover Local Music.

Read The New York Times Magazine article.

Fast Company's Customers First Awards

The winners of Fast Company's 2006 Customers First Awards transform ordinary transactions into entertaining experiences -- delighting customers and showing everyone else the way.

Check the listings in September's Fast Company.

The rage curve

The reigning rage-a-holic from Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Lewis Black looks at what drives people nuts when companies try to deliver “service.”

“The beginning of the end” of customer service, Black declares, “was when they took the simplest service of all — ‘Hi, I need a phone number’ — and put a machine in.”

Read the article in September's Fast Company.

Angry customers use web to shame firms

As angry clients increasingly turn to the Internet to settle scores, companies, independent retailers and everyday wrongdoers are learning that consumers can have the last word — and often the last laugh. The Web has turned into a place where shame and humiliation are sometimes the strongest weapons in fighting scams and unfairness.

Read the Washington Post story