Problem Solving: Define Problem

One mistake that people often make when they are faced with asituation is to jump straight into finding solutions, giving littlethought to defining the problem. For example, a hotel managersaw a sudden dip in occupancy rate, and asked the staff topropose “ways to increase the occupancy rate.” Everyone wentfull steam into publicity, promotional offers, events and othergimmicks. Months later,

Problem Solving: Define Problem

One mistake that people often make when they are faced with asituation is to jump straight into finding solutions, giving littlethought to defining the problem. For example, a hotel managersaw a sudden dip in occupancy rate, and asked the staff topropose “ways to increase the occupancy rate.” Everyone wentfull steam into publicity, promotional offers, events and othergimmicks. Months later,

Trust Gut Instincts and Intuition

Are decisions made by gut feelings good? Business writerMalcolm Gladwell seemed to think so. In his bestselling bookBlink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, he presentedcogent arguments on how decisions made in an instant, almostwithout thinking, stood up better than decisions made afteranalytical considerations. Dotted with examples like how afire-fighter suddenly knows when to leave a

Trust Gut Instincts and Intuition

Are decisions made by gut feelings good? Business writerMalcolm Gladwell seemed to think so. In his bestselling bookBlink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, he presentedcogent arguments on how decisions made in an instant, almostwithout thinking, stood up better than decisions made afteranalytical considerations. Dotted with examples like how afire-fighter suddenly knows when to leave a

Innovative marketing and packaging

In the business environment, there are the Davids and theGoliaths. Occasionally, we read inspiring stories about how onesmall startup company can gobble up a large share of the pieand surprise the older boys. More often than not, they are notabout David killing Goliath, but about the two of them formingstrategic alliances and capitalizing on each other's strengths. Itboils down to

Innovative marketing and packaging

In the business environment, there are the Davids and theGoliaths. Occasionally, we read inspiring stories about how onesmall startup company can gobble up a large share of the pieand surprise the older boys. More often than not, they are notabout David killing Goliath, but about the two of them formingstrategic alliances and capitalizing on each other's strengths. Itboils down to

Customer service – accept blame, own the problem

When things go wrong, as they often do, what is your firstreaction? Blame it on others. This blaming game is played evenat the highest levels in the corporate offices and in ourgovernment. When complaints arise and it is obvious that thefault lies in a certain person, he gets the whole troop of officersin the department to share the blame. It sounds unfair, but it isa useful strategy. Here,

Customer service – accept blame, own the problem

When things go wrong, as they often do, what is your firstreaction? Blame it on others. This blaming game is played evenat the highest levels in the corporate offices and in ourgovernment. When complaints arise and it is obvious that thefault lies in a certain person, he gets the whole troop of officersin the department to share the blame. It sounds unfair, but it isa useful strategy. Here,