22Jun, 2011

Customer Service at the Highest Level? Simply Amazing!

Posted by Don
25

My friends Chris and Alice Canlis inherited a restaurant years ago that they’ve since turned over to their sons a few years ago. It’s a fine-dining restaurant in Seattle and has won many awards for food, the wine and the service. As a family, they are all about service. I’ve learned a lot from them over the years, a lot about humility, kindness, excellence and loving people through action more than words. Anyway, somebody sent me a link to an article on the Today Show’s page about an aspect of their service I found rather remarkable. It made me want to be a better, more altruistic service in my own career. Perhaps it will hold the same inspiration to you. Reprinted from The Today Show food column called “Bites.” It lives here. By Wilson Rothman My birthday tradition of the past few years has been a visit to Canlis, one of Seattle’s mainstays for celebration seekers and the well-to-do. Founded in 1950, it’s outlasted most of its competition, yet manages to stay fresh — it recently received culinary accolades in both Food & Wine and Saveur. The food is surprising and exquisite, the wine pairings are perfect. So why, whenever I describe Canlis [...]

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21Jun, 2011

Be Secretly Incredible

Posted by Don
36

My friend Bob Goff (@bobgoff) has a little saying he keeps close to his heart: Be Secretly Incredible. It’s something I think about nearly every day, but something I rarely follow through on. I put ten times the energy into being “publicly good” than I do into being “privately good.” But something in me is starting to change. Maybe it happens as we get older. Maybe we start to realize how much our early adult years have been spent projecting an image rather than establishing character, and maybe I’m in that stage where looking back on that season makes be queasy. If I were being hard on myself, I’d accuse myself of being a con artist. But that’s too hard. The truth is we all want to be perceived as hard-working, good people because those are the people who get respect. But being a hard-working, good person is, well, hard work. And the true rewards come to those who establish that kind of character for real. How much time do we spend talking about a cause vs working on behalf of a cause? How much time do we spend talking up our marriages vs loving our spouse? How much time [...]

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26May, 2011

Want to be Happy? Forgive Your Enemies.

Posted by Don
88

I confess I’m the type of person to hold a grudge. It’s not that I want power over people, which is often the motive for holding a grudge, it’s just that I want all-due glory for my suffering. What I mean is, if somebody is causing me some pain, I want them to know I am bearing it for them. For this reason, it’s hard for me to forgive my enemies. If people slam me on the internet, it’s hard to forgive. If people screw me in a business deal, it’s hard to forgive, too. And for so long it seemed there was nothing I could do about it. I knew I’d be better off to forgive, but how? What are the steps to controlling your uncontrollable emotions? I don’t fully know the answer to that question. Part of the reason it’s so hard to forgive is pride. If I forgive, it feels like I’m also saying they had the right to do me wrong. That doesn’t feel right. But it’s a real feeling. And also, if I’m having to forgive somebody who really has no idea what they did that was wrong, which is even more difficult, because you [...]

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21Apr, 2011

How to Tell a Better Story

Posted by Don
44

If you attended The Storyline Conference last year, you’ll remember Lori Ventola, our essay-contest winner who thought she’d only won a trip to Portland to attend the conference but who ended up getting a bigger surprise. Lori wrote an essay about wanting to start a tutoring program helping homeless families get their children caught up and back in school. She’d done this sort of work before, but the organization she worked with had shut down. We read through her essay and asked her to create a business plan, detailing all her needs to get the program started. We flew her out, and she was excited, hoping to learn something from the conference. At the end of the conference, though, we passed out her business plan to all the attendees and gave them each a white index card, asking them to write their name and phone number along with their profession and any other expertise Lori might be able to call them about to move forward. We also gave Lori a small check that allowed her to leave her job and start living a different story. And she’s done very well. In under a year working in Denver, she’s partnering with friends [...]

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20Apr, 2011

STOP BEING MOTIVATED BY GUILT

Posted by Don
170

Yesterday I blogged about a doctor who does amazing work around the world, work many would call a sacrifice, yet he referred to the work as “fun.” I also mentioned that because he did this work for fun and not out of guilt, he called himself the “opposite of an evangelical.” I think he was on to something, though. I think he looked at evangelicals and realized they weren’t joyful people, they were people motivated by shame and guilt. It’s a generalization, for sure, but it’s a generalization based on some accurate perceptions. I recommend making some changes, then. What I’m getting at is a shift that could add a lot of joy to your life.  What I am about to say is going to sound arrogant and lacking in heart. But I’d love for you to consider a few ideas: I did an interview today and was asked about how I make decisions regarding helping others. I told the interviewer if I encounter somebody in need but don’t feel like helping them, I usually don’t. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it? But I explained the reason I don’t is because there are plenty of people I actually do feel like [...]

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