I was driving home from hot yoga on Sunday morning and I passed a billboard from a regional bank that is not doing so well these days. In my humble opinion they made some poor choices. Their stock is now… a bit low. And their employees seem to have lost that swing in their step. I imagine shareholder meetings aren’t very friendly.

Anyway this billboard proclaims in typical bank speak: Time to Talk to our Business Experts.

Hmmm.

Well it crossed my mind that a better, more honest set of words might simply be:

We’re sorry.

Now I know there are most likely all sorts of lawyers that would say never, ever admit guilt. But sometimes, and I know this from personal and professional experience the phrase “I’m sorry” — if it’s spoken from the heart — can be remarkably powerful. And it can move a relationship forward.

Years ago we went to a new business meeting and shared an idea (not our normal style to jump in with random ideas, but hey we were young and starry eyed). Anyway this meeting was with a very large company that had done some really stupid things to hang on to customers. You know like making it hard to cancel your service that you really no longer needed or loved. And they were stunned at our notion to simply say: We’re sorry.

Didn’t drink our kool-aid at all. Oh well. Have to say for the record that I have never been so certain in my life that the strategy would have worked. And would have helped them as a company. Trust me they really needed to say sorry and mean it. Guess that’s why we didn’t get the gig.

I got an email recently from a friend and it was just one line. My favorite emails are often just one liners.

All it said was this:

I am so sorry.

I kept it. And I read it whenever I need it. It was just a rather simple little goof up he was apologizing for – but he really meant it. And that touched me on a level that I can’t explain. I kept it not because I wanted to hear him say it over and over again, but I kept it and I re-read it because I want to remember the power of that one simple phrase.

When has a simple apology completely changed your mind about a situation or a company? Come on its Tuesday. Share with me. I’m not writing these blogs just to hear myself talk.

BTW – this post pretty much sums up how I feel about the Domino’s thingy. It was just an ad campaign.

You have to mean it for it to be powerful.

Photo via Clif Wright Photography via Flickr altered by Justin Gammon.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the Edelman Trust Barometer. And I’m a little late to the party. I love David Armano’s post from about a month ago. Smart guy. Here’s one of the most thought provoking points he makes:

Who are our friends that we have chosen not to hide in Facebook—who are the people whose phone calls we take and whose e-mails we read right away? It’s an important question. If there is a company that has totally nailed the algorithm in this, I’d invest in it because I think there is a future in understanding in depth how people separate signal from noise and who truly influences their behavior from consideration to point of action.

Hhhmmmm.

Like Armamo, I approach things rather intuitively so this is a bit of a zag.

Here are two really compelling lines I took away from Richard Edelman’s executive summary:

Trust has emerged as a new line of business - one to be developed and delivered.

Now is the time for business to prove its commitment to profit — and purpose.

Amen Brother!

We work with companies to help them find the passion conversation, not the product conversation in an effort to ignite a movement, create company growth and spark innovation.

I personally believe the shared passion between a company’s employees and customers are where a genuine sense of purpose can be found.

According to recent Gallup Poll data, 73% of employed Americans are not psychologically connected to their work. They show up but are not passionate.

That stat is mind numbing to me.

I can’t imagine a life where I’m not passionate about what I do. Can’t imagine life without purpose. So helping your employees find purpose and passion — and drawing them closer and more connected to your customers is a big part of your organization’s story.

And another thing — shared passion and purpose absolutely create feelings of trust, openness and transparency. I know that to be truth.

So it’s about freakin’ time for businesses to get serious, get this stuff under their fingernails and see it as part of the work they do in the world.

And that’s what I have to say about that.

Now your turn…GO.

Photo via flickr via Carolina

I make decisions daily. We all do.

Big ones and little ones.

We are often in meetings where we ask our clients to make really important decisions, often as a group. Yesterday I sat in on a meeting with a new client who flew in for a presentation. And there was a decision that needed to be made quickly. A lot of the solutions we presented felt right to them. So the team did one of my absolute favorite things to do in a meeting.

We passed out the orange index cards.

And said.” Before we discuss this any further. Write down your gut reaction. We won’t hold you to it, but it’s very helpful.’

Cordell reminded me of some research that says your gut is often your better decision maker. Love it when science backs up my gut.

From an article in New Scientist:

It turns out that because our emotions emerge from our unconscious mind, from our internal supercomputer, they tend to reflect more information than our rational mind.

Pretty cool. Huh?

I am making a ton of decisions for Brains on Fire these days. Business is good and we are moving fast. It is an exciting and encouraging time.

I put off a decision recently that I knew I should make — in order to gather more information. And it turned out I flat out should have trusted my gut. I didn’t need fact to validate my gut. Not at all.

Gut instinct is powerful.

Has there ever been a time when you trusted your gut and it let you down? Mine has worked every single time.

“If you had to choose social media* or 100% engaged employees for your brand, which would you choose?”

I recently asked that on Twitter and the responses were pretty interesting. The question forces a choice, which many of the people who responded had a hard time making. One person even called it down-right ’silly.’ Generally, people wanted both - engaged employees who use social media. Fair enough, but not a singular answer the question begs.

If you’re having a hard time with the answer, this might be a good gut-check.

You see, the answer gets at a deeper question - what is the most valuable asset that your business has?

We’re not denying that social media can have massive influence for a brand, or even that it can add to a brand’s bottom line if wielded correctly. But I am saying that we would bet on a business with engaged employees and no communication through social media over a business with mountains of online ‘influence’ any day of the week.

Why?

It’s pretty simple: one of the foundations of a good business is an amazing customer experience. And employees provide that experience to customers. And 100% engaged, passionate employees do that in a way that turns customers into loyal fans. So if we had to choose between an online communication tool and people who’s hearts beat to turn customers into loyal fans, the choice is clear.

Photo of Alexis’ super cool boots (I have boot envy) via The Doddfather

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.”

A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

We all seem to have that instinctive thought, the same feeling as Edward Bear that there has to be a better way. When I’m standing in line at the DMV for 45 minutes, on hold with the phone company with the fourth representative…you bet I’m thinking there has to be a better way. Yet, I still stand in line, stay on hold and in essence keep bump, bump, bumping along.

And as a result, I have been asking myself how we can challenge ourselves (as an industry, society, culture) to walk down the stairs instead of bumping along to avoid the headache that Edward Bear has?

Take the time to explore.

Explore new options to solve problems, explore new problems that need to be solved, JUST EXPLORE. The best part about exploring is that you don’t have an end destination and end up somewhere you never knew existed. Some might define exploring as another way of “getting lost”, but when was the last time you got lost and didn’t learn something new?

Help turn bump, bump, bumping into…upright movement.