Ellipsis Advisor

How Customer Centric are you?

Customer Experience is half heart, half science. When I was CEO of a multinational in the US, one of our cornerstone strategies was to drive a passionate culture of customer-centricity. My first step was to create a management board position – we created the Chief Customer Experience Officer. This role owned the customer experience and

The Strength of Character

I was reading a 1988 Article published by The Royal Bank of Canada in a their customer newsletter, entitled “The Strength of Character”. Made me think. Character is something that is hard to articulate. It is not reputation. Far from it. “Reputation is to a person’s character what a fun house mirror is to a

Fighting over a slice of the same pie

Competition is tough. Every day we are out there fighting for market share.It’s important; it’s about growth; it’s about success! Fighting for a larger slice of the pie; fighting for a larger share of the market as we have defined it. As we have defined it… Make sure that your team and company culture values

Guest blog – Leadership Freak

I did leadership all wrong for years. I held leadership positions without understanding effective leadership practices. My early education was in theology. Tragically, I had no training in leadership. My leadership journey includes powerful, sometimes painful, shifts in attitudes and practice. The first shift: Leaders hold spotlights rather than stand in them. I thought leaders

Move on

I was talking to a an executive who had given an important presentation and felt he had totally blown it. As we continued talking he explained all the significant changes and impact he had made up to that point. His perspective came from a place that suggested that all the good work he had done

Guest Blog – John Corlette

In Order That Evil Shall Triumph Listen to this: “In order that Evil shall triumph, it is sufficient that Good Men do nothing.” I cannot remember who said this, but I am going to say it again, and think, this time, what it means.”In order that Evil shall triumph, it is sufficient that Good Men

Empathy

Definition: understanding Synonyms: affinity, appreciation, being on same wavelength, being there for someone, communion, community of interests, compassion, comprehension, concord, insight, rapport, recognition, responsiveness, soul, sympathy, warmth Notes: empathy denotes a deep emotional understanding of another’s feelings or problems, while sympathy is more general and can apply to small annoyances or setbacks Beats the alternative!

The signals we send

I have seen quite a few appalling meeting behaviors in my time: Meeting leader starts to read the paper in the middle of a presentation – when confronted he said he had seen the material and that the presentation was for the benefit of the others. Board member regularly falls asleep during meetings – justification

Planning for the unplanned

No matter how well you plan, stuff comes up. Whether in the course of your day, or during your management meeting, unexpected stuff comes up: You need to speak with a customer An employee has an urgent issue A business priority needs your attention And yet, often we plan and schedule every last minute of

Tina Alencar – Social Entrepreneur, student, age 23: “People think to get where you want to be, you have to make sacrifices. It’s the opposite. If you do the things you like, you will get to where you want to be.”