GET HAPPY | Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday, my family and I toured the Abraham Lincoln exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and I was struck by this quote posted on the wall:

"During the drive he was so gay, that I said to him, laughingly, 'Dear husband, you almost startled me by your great cheerfulness,' he replied, 'and well I may feel so, Mary, I consider this day, the war, has come to a close'—and then added 'We must both, be more cheerful in the future—between the war and the loss of our darling Willie—we have both, been very miserable.'"

—Mary Lincoln recounting the carriage ride they took the
afternoon before attending Ford’s Theatre on April 14th, 1865

I love the implied perspective of choosing to be happy, although I'm saddened by the thought of him expressing it so close to the end of his life. When I was searching for the exact quote, I also found this one from Lincoln expressing the same concept.

"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

- Abraham Lincoln

I thought both quotes were powerful reminders for all of us to GET HAPPY, before it's too late.

SMG FORUM | Quick Overview

One of my favorite conferences for the last three years has been the annual Service Management Group Forum. It's an opportunity to listen to top-notch industry experts share their wisdom about creating the ultimate customer experience, network with other business leaders, and challenge myself to make more of an impact in my own profession. As always, I walked away with some valuable lessons and actionable ideas, and of course, this year I thought, "Hey, I could get an observation paper out of that."

But my first drafts were nothing more than boring book reports. So and so spoke, and they said, "Blah," and I thought, "Wow." It wasn't keen insights worthy of an observation paper; it was more like the dry transcript from a court reporter. So I've gone back through my notes and looked for rare ah-ha's, patterns from one presentation to the next, and points of contradiction. And that's what my next couple of posts will focus on sharing.

In the meantime, here are a few of my favorite quotes from the conference:

“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence… and having it last into your absence.”

~ Frances X. Frei

"We are striving for perfection, but we'll tolerate excellence."

~ Jeff from Chick-fil-A

"Raving fans are guests who come often, pay full price, and tell their friends."

~ Jeff from Chick-fil-A

"Human beings aren't horses"

~ Daniel Pink

"Collaboration is not a natural process. You have to demand it."

~ Jim Wright CEO of Tractor Supply Company

"The purpose of a business is to get and keep customers."

~ Peter Drucker via Jack Mackey

Measuring Learner Emotional Reactions

Campbell Soup has invested the last 2 years studying what customers want by conducting focus groups at the neurological level. Think of it as part packaging design, part consumer survey, and part "Lie to Me." After years of traditional research techniques, they came to the same conclusion as many retailers, "Buyers are liars" meaning that the answers customers gave in surveys didn't correlate to more sales.

This new scientific approach measures customer biometrics for emotional responses hoping to discover key triggers that actually translate into more soup being sold.

This innovative plan of attack got me thinking. What if you could do the same type of examination with learners in the classroom? Could you shape training and content to make it more sticky and to make learning more effective?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

• Do you think this "Neuromarketing" will lead to an increase in sales?
• Could you use the same methodology in understanding how learners take in information?
• If so, how would you structure such a study? What would you hope to learn?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.