Wonder what that was all about?

You should have seen my face yesterday at the very moment my cell phone go flushed down the toilet into the Louisville Sewer System.

You heard me right.

Can you imagine?

Taking a poop and when I got up to leave the bathroom, my phone fell out of the case and down the toilet…..

Wow! Was I shocked..

Has anything so weird like that ever happen to you?

Wonder what that was all about?

So I lost my cell phone yesterday afternoon, and that evening, I found someone else’s cell phone. And was fortunate enough to return it safely to them.


I wonder what was going on yesterday.


Any thoughts?

What are you doing to exceed expectations?

I had the chance a few years back to host a radio talk show. It was a weekly Saturday morning get together of people who would interact with the audience sharing ideas, information and other resources.

The topics focused on building business strategies to use to create the level of success for which we are looking.

About a year and a half into the show, I realized that the demands were getting greater and that people’s expectations were becoming unfulfilled.

So I did an informal survey asking the audience to call in, send in, or just tell me, “What have you been doing to exceed people’s expectation?” The results were amazing.

After interacting with approximately 3,400 people, less than two percent could easily tell me what they do to exceed people’s expectations.

In fact, 68% of the people felt that what they were currently doing was exceeding expectations because they would receive compliments for the work performed.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Doing what is expected, doing a good job, or getting complements doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re exceeding people’s expectations. It simply means that you’re doing your job.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. If you do a good job for someone, will they always do business with you?
2. If you do a good job for someone, will they always tell others about you?

The answer to the above questions is a resounding no! Unless you’re exceeding people’s expectations in the relationships you’re developing, it is always possible for them to go elsewhere.

Here is an example from a Construction Project Manager. Let’s call him Phil. Phil is well liked and knows his job well. Whenever he has a construction project to estimate, no one seems to do a better job. He always builds the project for less then the budget allows.

Now ask yourself another question: Is Phil exceeding people’s expectations, or is he simply doing a great job? Or, from a cynical perspective, is it possible that Phil always over-budgets and just brings the project in for what it really took the company to build it?

Kind of gets you thinking, doesn’t it?

You see, even though Phil might think that he is exceeding his company’s expectations, he isn’t. He is just doing a great job and the company knows it.
In fact because Phil always comes in below budget, the company expects that Phil will do just that: come in below budget.

So what can we learn from this story? Consider this rule of thumb:

If others always expect that you’ll do a great job,
you’re probably not exceeding anyone’s expectations.
It’s when your doing things that are not expected
and doing a great job
that you’re getting closer to exceeding others expectations.

It’s About Knowing People

What I’ve grown to realize and accept over the years is this one simple fact. The more we know about people, the more likely we can help. But the real question is this: What does it take to know people? How about this for an answer: What I’ve learned from years of interaction and observation, is that it takes approximately 2000 hours to get to know anyone. To put this into perspective, let me illustrate it this way. Working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks, would be 2000 hours. Now the question, how likely is it that you will be able to devote 2000 hours in any given year to getting to know someone? In my opinion it is not likely, but should this be a goal of ours? In my world, while the number of 2000 certainly reflects one’s commitment to building the relationship, and I suggest that you start on this road, it’s also important that each and every one of us take the time to pause, and to pace ourselves on how we build our relationships.