In 2011, former US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, shared his views on the essence of leadership and boiled it down to a single word, trust. Powell began his military career in the US Army in 1958 and in 1989, was promoted to the rank of General. He concluded his military career by serving as the 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military position in the Department of Defense. As listeners of this show well know, leadership isn’t relegated to the military or government. L...
Apr 05, 2024•49 min•Season 3Ep. 30
If you’re Tony Stark hosting your own expo, a huge production, outrageous budget, and big personality as a keynote speaker is entirely expected. Attractions, autograph sessions, celebrity sightings – that’s all part of the experience. While you may not see Iron Man at an industry event, you may very well see actual celebrities (from this universe) on stage welcoming attendees. Those appearances pay into the six figures depending on the profile of the celebrity. But some industry events are diffe...
Mar 29, 2024•46 min•Season 3Ep. 29
Before Baywatch, David Hasselhoff starred in Knight Rider, a television series that featured KITT, an AI-enabled 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am that featured the iconic pulsing red scanner bar. But while Hasselhoff was the star of the show, it was Bonnie Barstow, played by Patricia McPherson, who was the brains behind KITT. As the lead design engineer for KITT’s systems, Bonnie’s character was a pioneering representation of women in STEM fields. While the names grabbing many of the headlines rel...
Mar 22, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 28
Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal as Alan Turing in the 2014 film, The Imitation Game earned him an Oscar nomination. In this scene, he describes what has become known as the Turing Test. Introduced in 1950, this test determines if a machine can exhibit intelligent behavior indistinguishable from a human. In short, its goal is to determine if a machine can think. While there are all kinds of philosophical debates about the validity of such a test, it has become ever more relevant in a world where...
Mar 15, 2024•55 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Dolly Parton is probably more associated with the 1980 film, 9 to 5, because of her hit theme song by the same name. But this scene featuring Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman captures a struggle that endures to this day – the prejudice against women in the business world. While things have changed significantly in the last four plus decades, women still face prejudice and discrimination in the workplace. Stacy Sherman is a professional speaker, advisor, LinkedIn Instructor, author, podcaster, and ...
Mar 08, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 26
The 1961 hit, Please Mr. Postman, performed by the Marvelettes, was the first #1 single for Berry Gordy’s Motown Records. It carried a plea for the Postman to deliver news from the singer’s boyfriend who was, presumably, at war. The United States Postal System pre-dates the United States of America by nearly a year. Formed July 26th, 1775 by the Second Continental Congress, today’s Postal Service operates over 30,000 post offices serving over 163 million homes and businesses. It is the largest c...
Mar 01, 2024•54 min•Season 3Ep. 25
During the Career Day episode of That 70’s Show, Michael Kelso’s father, John Kelso, tries to explain his job as a “Senior Executive Statistical Analysis Technician.” While Michael isn’t known as the brightest bulb, I think most people would struggle to clearly explain exactly what it is he does and why it’s important. In the world of Customer Service and Support, many view the Workforce Management department as similarly confusing. Like John Kelso’s job, it involves “diverse statistical informa...
Feb 23, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 24
The 1994 R.E.M. hit Star 69 referenced the access number for the “last-call return” feature of telephones in North America. The chorus repeats the phrase, “I know you called” 5 times before revealing the caller hung up but was discovered using the *69 feature. That feature, however, pre-dates the current telephony system that primarily uses VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) which allows the “spoofing” of phone numbers. In short, today, it’s hard to know who actually called. But by utilizing da...
Feb 16, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Great comedy requires keen observation and analytical skills. One of the best at observing and analyzing human behavior was George Carlin. In this bit from 1976, he takes aim at our behaviors with the telephone. Of course, telephone technology has come farther than either Alexander Graham Bell or George Carlin could have anticipated. Today, they are indeed everywhere, all the way from Orlando to Albuquerque. The kind of observation and analytical skills needed for comedy are like what’s needed t...
Feb 09, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 22
2011’s Horrible Bosses takes the idea of bad leadership to the extreme, but many people can relate to Nick’s exasperation with his horrible boss, Dave. The movie highlights three different types of horrible bosses – so horrible that their subordinates conspire to murder them. Don’t worry – it’s a comedy. The reality of having a horrible boss, however, is no comedy. Fostering great work environments by focusing on employee experience is the idea behind the podcast, Relationships at Work, hosted b...
Feb 02, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Dr. Henry Wu provides an illuminating take on the idea of perspective in 2015’s Jurassic World: “To a canary, a cat is a monster; we’re just used to being the cat.” Our perspective on just about anything is likely biased by what we’re used to. Businesses often forget the perspective of who they’re marketing to, says Mike Verret. In fact, when it comes to marketing, Mike says your message is not about your business – it should be about how your audience perceives what you do. He joins the show to...
Jan 26, 2024•44 min•Season 3Ep. 20
The British comedy, The IT Crowd, was inspired by an encounter with a PC tech with poor people skills. While IT Service Desk and IT Service Management have both changed drastically since it’s 2006 debut, the stereotype of socially inept geeks answering tech support calls lives on. But there’s a shifting of the IT Service Management landscape. The principles of Customer Experience are beginning to play a larger role within ITSM. Evidence for that is presented by today’s guest, Doug Rabold. Doug’s...
Jan 19, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 19
The 1978 film, Grease, follows the romantic journey of Danny Zuko, played by John Travolta, and Sandy Olsson, played by Olivia Newton-John. You’re The One That I Want is the theme to the denouement of the story, when both characters recognize the persona of the other and reimagine who they could be for each other. Creating a product that customers want requires understanding the various customer personas. Afterall, not every customer is looking for Greased Lightning! Jason Trujillo and Kate Komp...
Jan 12, 2024•48 min•Season 3Ep. 18
If you’ve never seen the video for Tom Petty’s 1993 hit, Mary Jane’s Last Dance, it’s a disturbing example of what can happen when an unsupervised worker with the right access goes rogue. While work from home has become increasingly popular for contact centers, agent disengagement and security concerns still linger. Jason Hiland has spent over two decades in the contact center business and is currently focused on solving these concerns. We discuss: • How work from home is unique for contact cent...
Jan 05, 2024•50 min•Season 3Ep. 17
Based on the 2006 book of the same name, the 2010 film Eat, Pray, Love follows the self-discovery journey of Liz Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts. Faced with a “now what” moment, she travels to Italy, India, and Bali. This clip illustrates a moment of realization for her about change and fear. Her resolve, however, will continually be tested, and the journey has only just begun. Kassy LaBorie recently faced a “now what” moment, herself. Over the past year, she has been on her own journey of tran...
Dec 29, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Perhaps no movie epitomizes the early 90s grunge scene quite like the 1992 film, Singles. Cameron Crowe’s second film featured a soundtrack littered with bands that would soon become household names. Soundgarden’s Birth Ritual featured the unmistakable vocals of Chris Cornell belting out the word Ritual. Rituals are a feature of every society, often linked to religions and cults. But rituals are hardly relegated to the mystical. They show up within our teams, our families, and our personal lives...
Dec 22, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 15
For most of 1981, 867-5309 would have been considered a random phone number at best. By the spring of 1982, it had become the most famous phone number in the world. Tommy Tutone’s hit even inspired a fad of people calling the number and asking for Jenny, forcing nearly one hundred people to change their phone numbers. Perhaps the second most famous number in the US began its journey to fame a few years earlier. Originally just 588-2300, the Empire Today® jingle has been around since 1977 in comm...
Dec 18, 2023•53 min•Season 3Ep. 14
In Season 8 of The Office, Andy Bernard gets creative with an employee incentive plan to drive better profitability. His points system is met with apathy until he ups the ante with some pretty bizarre and embarrassing potential rewards. In typical Andy fashion, his plan backfires spectacularly. Kory Kostecka, the Director of Workforce Solutions at Paramount Staffing, believes contact centers need to adjust to attract and retain top talent, but he wouldn’t advise using Andy’s method. Instead, he ...
Dec 08, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 13
In 1989, Roxette took the world by storm with their first hit, “The Look.” Songwriter, Per Gessle wanted the band’s 2nd album, Look Sharp, to be “a little more programmed, digital, and modern” than their first effort, Pearls of Passion, so he got a synthesizer and in the process of learning to use it, wrote “The Look.” Daniel Nilsson believes support should be “a little more programmed, digital, and modern” as well. Not only does his proactive approach to support reduce support inquires, it driv...
Dec 01, 2023•38 min•Season 3Ep. 12
The iconic 1980 Lakeside hit, Fantastic Voyage, invites listeners to leave behind the mundane and embark on a journey filled with unexpected delights. Breaking free of societal constraints and your own comfort zone has compelling rewards, but only if we’re ready to embrace the journey. Societal constraints extend to the business world, too. Quarterly earnings calls often compel business leaders to follow a path to short-term gains rather than focusing on customer-centricity and the long-term gai...
Nov 24, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 11
This was the moment that Charlie showed Willy Wonka what he really valued in the 1971 classic, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, which was based on Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie, despite having secretly tried Fizzy Lifting Drinks at the behest of Grandpa Joe, valued personal integrity. It was this integrity that Willy was looking for in his successor. But there were 5 children, approximately the same age, in the running for the actual prize. Age and g...
Nov 17, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 10
While the title track of Michael Jackson’s 1988 album, Bad was full of bravado and ego, the fourth single, Man in the Mirror, was a lesson in both humility and personal responsibility. It would go on to become Jackson’s tenth #1 single. While making a change seems like a relatively simple thing to accomplish, Phil Johnson says it requires building new habits to replace your old habits, and that requires building new neural network pathways in your brain. But if we want better results, changing o...
Nov 10, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 9
In one of his final and most acclaimed roles, Heath Ledger gives some incredible advice as The Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight – value your skills. In this scene, he’s found the people who need his particular skillset – they probably can’t do the job themselves and besides, who has the time when you’ve got all that criming to do? So often in business, there are things we know need to be done but we struggle to find the time and we may not possess the skills. Paul Banks realized that content was ...
Nov 03, 2023•54 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Not every situation calls for the whole team. But even the likes of Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) and Iron Man (Tony Stark) feel it when there aren’t enough of them to handle the job, like in this scene from 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Staffing plans are important for all kinds of businesses, including, apparently, the superhero business. But in the contact center world, instead of super-soldiers, Nazis, and politicians to worry about, Workforce Management professionals must deal with ca...
Oct 27, 2023•46 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Jay-Z’s Empire State of Mind featuring Alicia Keys was a love letter to New York. It was a song that expressed how, despite its obvious flaws, the city offered things that no other city offered. New York is a place of inspiration, style, renewal, dreams, and success stories. At the same time, it can be a brutal gauntlet that pushes you to (and possibly past) your limits. As Old Blue Eyes once sang about New York, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” Cities and towns have been creatin...
Oct 20, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 6
If you’re not familiar with Grady the Badger, let me introduce you. Grady appeared in commercials for Johnson Automotive, a chain of dealerships in North Carolina, Maryland, and Florida. Grady was, uh, well, everything people hate about salespeople and then some. Pushy, obnoxious, misogynistic, condescending – you name it, Grady embodied it. In this commercial, he suggests feigning interest in potential customers to make the sale. While this tactic seems slimy when it’s merely acting, Mitch Case...
Oct 13, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Even the most exclusive organizations in the world often hire based on “gut” or “instinct” without any real data to show whether someone is a good fit for a role or not. In 1997’s Men in Black, a group of young officers, including NYPD detective and future MIB agent J (Will Smith), are submitted to a battery of tests supposedly for their "motor skills, concentration and stamina." The tests were actually designed to assess their intelligence, resourcefulness, independent thinking, relationship wi...
Oct 10, 2023•38 min
In 1992, guitarist John Frusciante left the wildly successful Red Hot Chili Peppers and spent the better part of the decade battling heroin addiction. Nearly 7 years later, he reunited with the band and it’s his unmistakable melody that introduces the Grammy-winning 1999 hit, Scar Tissue. The song delved into themes of drug addiction and the struggles to overcome it – lead singer Anthony Kiedis had been battling his own addiction as well. But Scar Tissue spoke to more than recovering drug addict...
Oct 06, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 4
WKRP in Cincinnati was a sitcom that ran from 1978 to 1982. It was a show that really focused on the relationships between the main characters on the show, all employees of a struggling AM radio station in Cincinnati that switches its format to playing rock music to stay afloat. The theme song you just heard contains the lyrics, “Baby, if you’ve ever wondered, wondered what ever became of me.” In the world of B2B, I’m sure there are a lot of customers thinking the same thing about their vendors....
Sep 29, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Hit songs sometimes take a long path to recognition. Perhaps you recognize this song as a hit by The Clash. Their 1979 punk cover version reached #24 on the Irish Singles Chart and has since appeared in blockbuster movies and video games. But the song was written by Sonny Curtis in 1958. The following year, he took over guitar for Buddy Holly in the Crickets and they recorded the song. It received very little airplay. Then, in 1965, The Bobby Fuller Four recorded this version of the song and in ...
Sep 22, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 2
