Harley Lovegrove is an interim manager, specializing on change management assignments for large multi-national companies. He is one of the founding partners of The Bayard Partnership and author of the book 'Making a Difference' which was also published in Dutch, under the title: 'Maak het Verschil'
He formed his first company in 1978 at the age of 21 and has since taken up numerous interim management posts, working for a variety of businesses from high technology and software to petrochemical, transport, mobile telecommunications and apparel.
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- Good Project Managers are hard to find!
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A good deed every day?
I was just polishing off the final preparations for my Arctic Circle motorcycle trip when I received an email from the hotel owner of where I was planning to stay. She had previously written to warn me that service will be close to nil as it is 'Mid-Summer night', Finland's main holiday of the year. I was already prepared to do my own thing, g, possibly fixing up my own supper on the BBQ in the hotel grounds, when she invited me and my companion to join her and her family for the celebrations at their Summer residence.
This act of kindness took me by surprise and it got me thinking… When was the last time I performed an act of kindness towards a customer or colleague? A sensitive act of kindness, carried out completely without the intention of expecting something back in return?
I am not advocating that we should all start giving away products and services for free and risking our bottom line profitability, but going that ‘extra mile’ to ensure customer satisfaction is something that is sadly all too lacking, especially in these recessionary times. Everybody, it seems, wants something for nothing.
When I was a child I was taught that every boy should do ‘a good deed’ everyday. My parents even used to sometimes ask me what my good deed was (to be honest more often than not I could not remember so I just used to make one up; ‘helping an elderly lady cross the road’ always seemed to be effective usually earning me an extra large helping of pudding and the affection of my Grandmother, should she be in earshot!
So this week I am advocating that we should all actively seek out to do good deeds towards our customers or colleagues everyday. These need to be done with sincerity, after all doing good deeds should not be a goal or a task but simply a way of life, and in my experience, one always tends to get back much more than one gives, so even our shareholders shouldn’t object!
Just after my new ‘www.HarleyLovegrove.com’ website was launched in the summer of last year a person I respect very much pointed out that its look and feel did not match my blog or my newsletter, so here I am today with a brand new website and blog! You might like to check out some of the new features, such as my personal bookshop of recommended books by clicking on my book of the month?
Your feedback is more than welcome, in fact it could be your first good deed of the day if you have not done one already! ;-)
Have a good week,
Harley
Comments
Very clean design indeed! Like it a lot!
Fully agree on the good deeds. Still have one to do today, but the day ain't over yet...
Thanks for the compliments everyone, my support team have done a great job with integrating the Newsletter, blog and website into one domain. A special thanks goes out to Arne, Liesbeth and Tamara.
I am just glad everyone seems to like it!
Still looking for my good deed of the day for today, but I am sure it will come! The only use of an umbrella in Belgium right now is for shade. My solar panels are producing electricity like crazy, the meter is spinning backwards - soon I'll be down to zero ;-)
Hi Harley,
I think beeing invited by a family to their celebrities is something very special. I had just an experience with a carpenter when my gutter was stuffed-up(?) on a friday afternoon during a heavy rain shower. One wall was getting wet from the inside and I called *the* carpenter in town that is usually called on such ocasssions. I was told that it was friday afternoon -- a fact I already was aware of -- and that maybe someone would be available at some time.
As the wallpaper began to blister, my wife took the yellow pages an picked (don't now why, maybe female intuition ;-) the last company (starting with "W") in the list and called them. We were told that the team by chance was working in our neighbourhood and would be notified to have a look at our roof before returning for their weekend. When they arrived (the owner and an employee) they pulled out two buckets of moss and dirt (it's an old house). When asked for the bill, we were told: "It's okay." Of course I gave them some money.
I don't want to dig to deep in the intentions and the helpfulness of these men, but fact is: you are about the 10th person I tell this story and if I ever need a new roof in the next years, which is not unlikely, guess whom I will call?
Bert
P.s.:
I like the new design as well, It looks very smart and professional. The old design was a bit old-fashioned an would have been more suitable for a student newspaper back in the nineties :-)
Love the picture and new format - very stylish! And as for the good deed, I completely agree, it's the little things that matter the most (and an umbrella is always welcomed!).
Harley, It looks good, fresh with focus on content. I just remember the situation with the umbrella. You might see it as a good deed to cary un umbrella when walking with a lday in case it starts raining but the lady might see it differently.
That is probably where no good deed goes unpunished comes from.
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