Sometimes a change is good – so today’s blog post is a bit different. I’m guessing you know that Barack Obama will be publicly sworn into office today. As he begins his second term I thought it would be interesting to find out what you think the focus of his efforts should be and what [...]
You’ve measured the satisfaction level of your customers at two different times and you’ve seen the level increase. Can you conclude that you’ve been making your customers happier? It’s tempting to conclude “yes” isn’t it? But not so fast… What if, for example, business and consumer sentiment has been improving over the same period [...]
Hilary Clinton was in Dublin yesterday. She met our Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny and our President Michael D. Higgins. One of her other engagements was to give a speech at a meeting of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). According to the Irish Times, she said that “one of the [...]
Last weekend I was listening to a news item on the radio – it was about a project in Texas where music is being used to help American vets deal with their post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Basically it involves skilled singer-songwriters working 1:1 with the vets, asking the vets to relay their experiences and [...]
I recently completed a customer satisfaction project for a client – using a combination of telephone interviews and online surveys to probe what a wide variety of customers thought of my client’s offering. As I normally do in such projects, I made a series of prioritised recommendations at the report stage on what my [...]
The Irish Minister for Health is claiming that Irish hospital consultants are paid well above average compared to their international equivalents. Meanwhile the consultants say that the high salaries are necessary so as to continue to attract the high calibre people to the profession. The Minister’s perspective suggests that consultant’s salaries could be cut – [...]
I came across an article recently in which author Gianfranco Zaccai claimed he has “never seen innovation come out of a focus group“. Indeed, he claims that focus groups “kill innovation”. Strong words! I can understand where he’s coming from – creativity cannot be mandated or ordered. Is it even possible to “generate” innovative [...]
Recently I used the services of a provider. I’ll keep their identity private – but I want to make their attitude public. I got an email from them yesterday that included the following : “In the spirit of openness and desire for continuous improvement in customer service, are there a few things you can [...]
In a 1991 film “The Doctor” William Hurt played the main role – portraying a doctor whose manner towards patients left a lot to be desired! His attitude began to change however when he was diagnosed with cancer and himself became a patient. This different perspective showed him just how badly many in the [...]
Last Sunday Kilkenny won the All-Ireland Hurling Final by defeating Galway. (If you don’t know what hurling is here’s a wonderful video introduction.) The match was a replay – the original game having been drawn in a gripping encounter three weeks previously. The replay had been eagerly awaited – the majority of pundits leaning [...]