“I’m sorry, that’s all I can do.”

When you say “That’s all I can do”, do you really mean “That’s all I’m required to do”? Don’t aspire to the minimum necessary.

Not aspiring to the minimum necessary is how great businesses like Zappos build unbeatable reputations for customer service. But it’s pretty applicable in everyday life as well.

It’s not about what you “can” do, or what you “must” do – the answer is going to be in what you actually do.

Photo by Sudiono Muji.

Grow your own: data fluency in your team

“You want to cultivate internal capability, not just hire it” – Michael Schrage in HBR on data fluency in a team.

You don’t want the “analytics person” to be the only one on the team who speaks the language.

Stop Searching for That Elusive Data Scientist

Respond and care

Two underrated actions/abilities that will take you very far in business, just as in life: responsiveness and caring.
Did you let someone know you heard them?
And does it matter to you that there’s a problem to be solved?
Say yes to both.

Is it more important to trust or to be trusted?

Yesterday I was puzzling out a tough problem and I called two close friends to help me work it through – which they did.

It was a really nice feeling to know I could call on these resources and that I could trust in what I would receive, and feeling that emotion yet again when the problem was lessened reinforced my trust.

Later that night, one of my friends called me for help on a knotty professional problem of her own. Being able to help, and being trusted in my ability to contribute, meant so much more to me than any help I had gotten earlier.

This applies to brands, products, and services as well as to people and resources. We place a lot of value in having systems around us that we can trust. But we must place an even great value on being trustworthy, and valuable, in the minds and hearts of others.