THE IDIOT TEST: SIMPLE IS BETTER

I remember years ago, shortly after I started at a technology services firm, I was asked to facilitate a meeting between our technical team and a supplier. There had been a dispute that had lingered for months, each side blaming the other, and alas no resolution. 

I am not a technical person. For me all technology is magic brought to us by fairy dust and elves. So as I sat in the meeting hearing about "scuzzies on the bus" I began wondering what do unkempt people on public transit have to do with the issue? 

The discussion became increasingly heated, so I finally stopped the conversation and said "Hey, I am not a techie, so 90% of what you have been saying is like a foreign language to me. So can both of you do me a favour and consider me the idiot in the room and bring your discussion down to layman's terms so that I can understand. Because although I am not quite getting what your saying, there seems to be some disturbance to the logic flow. So please, talk slow and clearly"

Obviously some of them thought that by making that statement I was an idiot and I believe there was a bit of eye-rolling, but they acquiesced to my request and guess what? They seemed not to be talking about the same issue, because they were wrapped up in technical lingo that masked the problem. When they brought it down to my level -- aka Technology for Dummies -- the real issue became startlingly clear and what had been a festering problem for months was solved in half an hour. 

We all have smart people in our organizations. Smart people are great, but sometimes they want to build the space shuttle, even if a scooter will do. And they like to talk in lingo, and try not to share the secret handshake. I have seen time and time again where logisticians, technical folk, engineers, lawyers etc., become so enamoured with a complicated approach that they have lost sight of what is truly important. And that is where the simpleton comes in.

Don't be worried about asking others to bring a conversation down to a "common-folk" level. It forces them out of their comfort zone, but they can learn a lot about what they are dealing with or trying to get you to commit to. If they can't talk about it in simplistic terms, then your "spidee" senses should be going off. Whether process, product design etc., you should be able to explain it to someone not in your field of endeavour. 

I have said to potential clients, as well as during interviews for corporate jobs, that the best thing I bring to the table is my ignorance of how they do things. You might not think that this gets me high up on their want to do business with or hire this person but it has worked for me. 

Note, that I said "being ignorant of how they do things", not ignorant of my subject matter expertise. Being able to go in as the three-year old child and ask "why" and then "why" and then "why" again, lifts people out of their acceptance of this is how it's done and may even lift some of them out of their "we've always done it this way" reverie.

Now if we could only fix the problem of unkempt people on the bus!

(note: I'll be away for the next week, so I won't be blogging...see you all on my return and thanks for reading my blog!)

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED ALL PERSPECTIVES?

Recently a friend of mine posted this picture on Facebook. I laughed when I saw it and sent it on to my cousin who is get married later this year. But when I looked at it again I realized it can also cause one to stop and reflect on perspective.

When faced with an issue or problem, do you just look at it from one angle, and then develop your approach with that one viewpoint? Do you consider the environment that you will be implementing your solution? Have you considered the perspectives of all the players?

I'm not suggesting analysis/paralysis here, but it is important to understand the context of  an issue.  Jimmy Cliff sings "I can see clearly now.....I can see all obstacles in my way". Can you and have you?

Inherently, I am not a patient person. I have often said whoever said patience is a virtue was probably a procrastinator. However, I do believe that taking a 360 degree look before you leap ensures a sustainable resolution to most issues and doesn't result in the need for a "do-over." 

SHOULD YOU BE WORRIED?

"I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened" ...Mark Twain

Have you worried yet today? 

Chances are you have not once, but several times, dipped your toe into the worry pool today.  And perhaps by the end of the day, you'll have worried dozens of times, about the past, about the future, about your children, your parents, and yourself. 

We would all like to worry less, but it seems that some people seem to be fuelled by worry. Unfortunately, just like the flu, worry is contagious. Worried mothers, often create anxious children; worried bosses, create a worried team; and so on. 

If you are worried at work, about what so and so is going to think or do or say, chances are you've shared those worries with your compatriots and then caused them to go down a rabbit hole that wasn't even in their realm of consideration.

I'm not a worrier. I'm not totally immune, but overall, on the spectrum of worrying, I'm at the low end. Perhaps not worrying comes with being an optimist, believing that everything will always turn out for the better. Or because I know I can't change the past, and although we all need to have  a future oriented perspective, there is no point worrying about it. I also know that I'm pretty good at crisis management, if it comes to that.

"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow. So today is the right day to love, believe, do and mostly live"....Dalai Lama

I am always struck by people who beat themselves up about what happened yesterday and then also go on to develop all sorts of "what-if" scenarios for tomorrow. And these are usually not the "happy" what-ifs. 

We can't just live in the moment. I get that. But we can't just live in the past or future either. There needs to be a balance. And we shouldn't worry about any of it.

Perhaps, it is just that I've heard about another person, who in age is a contemporary of mine, being given just a few weeks to live. And I wonder how much time she and others who are faced with the same unexpected, early ending of life, spent worrying about the future. And now there isn't any.

Please consider the downsides of worrying. As the quote which opened this blog says most things never happen, so not only have you wasted precious time, but you also negatively affected your body physiology (as opposed to positively affecting it by smiling as noted in yesterday's blog).

I challenge you to ask yourself this one question - If today was the last day of your life, would you be happy in how you spent it?

If not, don't worry about it. Change it tomorrow.

(Note: the picture depicted above is of Worry Dolls. Guatemalan children believe that before you go to bed at night you tell one worry to each doll, put the dolls under your pillow, when you get up in the morning your worries are gone.)

JUST SMILE :)

"A smile is a facial expression formed by flexing the muscles near both ends of the mouth and by flexing muscles throughout the mouth. Among humans, it is an expression denoting pleasure, sociability, happiness, or amusement. Smiling is something that is understood by everyone despite culture, race, or religion; it is internationally known. Cross-cultural studies have shown that smiling is a means of communication throughout the world".....Wikipedia

How often do you smile during a day? And when I say smiling, I don't mean sending a smiley face icon, or an LOL or a LMAO. I mean a  real, on the face smile! Are you smiling most of the time or hardly any of the time? When you walk down the street are you smiling? When you are engaging with staff, with your boss, with a store clerk, or a barrista are you smiling? 

I would suggest that when I look at the folk on public transit, in my rear-view mirror, in the line to get coffee, it seems that many people have forgotten to smile. 

The great thing is that when you smile at others, there is a mirroring response, which most often results in other people smiling back at you and that even heightens the effect of feeling happy and joyful.

I recently read an  article by Mark Stibich PhD, that provides eight physiological reasons for smiling

1. Smiling Makes Us Attractive

We are drawn to people who smile. There is an attraction factor. We want to know a smiling person and figure out what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away -- but a smile draws them in

2. Smiling Changes Our Mood

Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There's a good chance you mood will change for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you change your mood.

3. Smiling Is Contagious

When someone is smiling they lighten up the room, change the moods of others, and make things happier. A smiling person brings happiness with them. Smile lots and you will draw people to you.

4. Smiling Relieves Stress

Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. The stress should be reduced and you'll be better able to take action.

5. Smiling Boosts Your Immune System

Smiling helps the immune system to work better. When you smile, immune function improves possibly because you are more relaxed. Prevent the flu and colds by smiling.

6. Smiling Lowers Your Blood Pressure

When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. Give it a try if you have a blood pressure monitor at home. Sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. Do you notice a difference?

7. Smiling Releases Endorphins, Natural Pain Killers and Serotonin

Studies have shown that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers, and serotonin. Together these three make us feel good. Smiling is a natural drug.

8. Smiling Lifts the Face and Makes You Look Younger

The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don't go for a face lift, just try smiling your way through the day -- you'll look younger and feel better.

 Even Nat King Cole caught onto the benefits of smiling with his iconic song "Smile":

Light up your face with gladness 

Hide every trace of sadness 

Although a tear may be ever so near 

That's the time you must keep on trying 

Smile, what's the use of crying? 

You'll find that life is still worthwhile 

If you just smile 

So give yourself a challenge today, just go out and smile. I guarantee that by this evening you will feel great and you will have also made many other people feel better. Make smiling a habit and you'll be surprised at the results!

A lot of reward for a little effort!

THE DATING GAME: DEALING WITH SEARCH FIRMS

Several people have recently lamented to me about how search firms are often quick off the mark, but once initial contact is made there is a huge gap of time before the potential candidate hears back. This seems to be consistent as to whether the individual is the search firms "preferred" candidate or whether the individual has not made it past first base, so to speak.

Every one of my corporate gigs has been obtained through a search firm. And I have dealt with the good, the bad and the ugly. 

I have experienced the hot and cold approach. You feel that you are basically in a vacuum, no information, not knowing whether things are moving ahead or not. The deadline for when the search firm said they are getting back to you is never met and emails or calls are not returned. And all of a sudden things are hot and heavy again -- let's get together, client wants to meet with you -- you get an interview and then silence again. Until the next time.

It reminds me of the dating scene. You know when you have a great date, you seem to click, conversation flows easily and you feel, hmmmm, maybe there is something there. And then nothing. You can find yourself looking at the phone or email and saying "Why haven't I heard anything from him/her?" So you send an email or text saying something like "Had a great time. Looking forward to our next get-together. Hope you are too!" And then again nothing. If you've emailed, you wonder whether it went into their spam folder. So perhaps you call, leave a message and then nothing. You may believe that the writing is on the wall, so you move on, only to hear back from the "date" a few weeks later, as if no time had transpired, no excuses, no indication of having received the communication and then it's "Let's get together again."

Search firms are guilty of the same transgression. And let's face it, when considering a new job, even if you have a job currently(or even worse if you don't), there is a vulnerability, because by having gone to first base, you have already in some ways put yourself into this potential new reality. To not hear back, even if it is just a "We are still in process. Will get back to you shortly" is wrong.

If the search firm believes that the candidate is not a fit, just let them know. What is wrong with saying "Hey, you know it was an OK first date, but there are others that I think have more potential in the long run." In my experience and in the experience of many others, this communication never occurs. You just have to make the assumption that not hearing back, is the same thing as saying "we've moved on."

I am a person who believes in proper etiquette and not to keep the potential candidate in the loop is unacceptable. I get it, the search firm is dealing with many clients and many candidates. Years ago it would have meant a phone call, which would be time consuming. Today? Well, it is just an email or text and you're done. A few seconds that demonstrates some consideration and professionalism. I'm not saying do this for everyone who applied for the role, but at least for those who have made it to first base -- they've taken the time out of their day to talk to you. They have shown you consideration, show some in return.

The other side of this coin, is that what goes around comes around. The very person that the search firm chose to end communication with, might very well be the person who they encounter in the future as a potential client. That's happened to me, more than once. Although there is a wonderful karmic feeling that accompanies such a situation, for me the key thing has been that the way the firm treats candidates is a reflection on me and the company that I work for. So if you can't demonstrate proper etiquette and professionalism to potential candidates  (and let's face it for many companies these candidates may also be consumers of their goods/services) then I don't want to work with you. 

And you might think that this has only happened when I haven't moved forward with a search firm. That is not the case. A few firms with whom I dealt, where I did get the role, came knocking on my door expecting to get business just because of having placed me. And I've told them that given how they treated me through the process, I could not entertain them representing me or the corporation.

At the end of the day, whether a dating scenario or a search firm dealing with candidates, the Golden Rule applies "Do unto others, as you would have done unto you." If not, karma will  not be working in your favour!

IS WORK/LIFE BALANCE REALLY AN OXYMORON?

Today I read another article about Work/Life Balance entitled How to Set Boundaries at Work wherein there is listed six questions you should ask yourself, etc. etc. etc. 

There is a whole industry which has spawned from peoples seeming inability to create this illusive balance. If you google (limiting the search to only the phrase "work/life balance") you get 30,400,000 hits. On Amazon there are over 13K books on the topic.

And I really have to question, why is this so hard? I know some people will look at this and go "man, you just don't understand!" But you know what, I do. I just clearly understand that all life is about choices and I have always chosen to have balance.

And guess what? My career had done very well, regardless.

I learned when I was in my late teens that being the "company man" and putting in inordinate amount of hours doesn't matter when a company decides your superfluous. I clearly remember when my father , an engineer, came home one Friday in April and informed us that his job had been outsourced (not a common thing in that era), and that after thirteen years of loyalty, of extra unpaid hours, he was without a job. I think that event defined me in many ways and I learned a valuable lesson. I would always do the best I could for any firm I worked for and at points in time, when a situation demanded it, put in the extra hours, but I would never let anyone for whom I worked own my soul. 

I remember years ago, when one of my team came to me and he was so overwhelmed with his work, that he wanted to just go back and work as a picker in the warehouse. He was a great employee, but him being so frazzled with a job that shouldn't have taken as much time as he was allowing it to take, surprised me. So we sat down and chatted and finally I asked him to keep a minute by minute log of everything he did. Every time he moved from one activity to another -- everything from a phone call to someone just stopping by his cube with a question etc...-- everything he would record.  I told him that we would review it after two weeks and then see where he was spending his time and was there something we could do about it. 

When I looked at his sheets after this time period it was clear that a)he was doing a lot of things that were not part of his core responsibility and b) he was constantly shifting from one thing to the other without completing tasks -- a last in, first out kind of approach. Together we categorized all his activities and then scheduled his week, in blocks of time, for all his primary and secondary activities. I also told him, it was OK to let calls go to voice mail, and to deal with these issues at the end of the day, as well as it was OK to say no.

After two weeks of following this approach, he came to me and told me that he actually had extra time now and was there something else I could have him do.

Let me give you a time stamp on the above scenario. It was the late 80's.

Fast forward 20 some years and we have chosen to lose our control over our time as a result of  technology which we allow to controls us every minute of every day.

Technology is great! It alters reality and allows the impossible to become possible! Which is also its inherent danger. Because of its benefits we are driven to overlook its liabilities.

And the reason it is easy to overlook, is because the liability is not in the technology, it is in our use of the technology.

So, the adage of “what binds you, also sets you free” is terribly relevant as we try to determine how we can get technology to assist and not detract from work-life balance.

In essence, we’ve become a society of juveniles. Partly, because we have slipped into the “I want it, I want it now and I want it all the time” mentality…because we can “get it, get it now and get it all the time.” 

In today's society patience makes you look like you’ve just stepped off the mother-ship from another planet….

The first time I remember the term instant, was when it was instant pudding in a package, where in 15 minutes you could cook and present what used to take hours and hours before consumption. Now you can go into a store and buy the pudding already finished….so we’ve moved from a definition of instant being  “soon” to “before we even know we need it."

To quote Dr. Phil…. “How’s that workin’ for ya?” 

Urgent….now there is word that is being misused…In the dictionary urgent is defined as “Compelling immediate action or attention…pressing”.

But what is not urgent these days?

People send you “urgent” emails…expecting answers within a few minutes! If it’s that urgent why not call, and actually find out whether you are in or not and deal with it!

But you know…we’ve trained others to expect immediate responses, right? We sit there and we have our computers set up so that each time a message arrives,  it signals to us…and lord, we are curious creatures and we can’t resist can we…we are in the middle of preparing or reading something of prime importance and we just have to look don’t we? And if you have a meeting in your office and the computer beeps or your wireless device vibrates…you just start sweating because you NEED TO KNOW!

What you have to ask yourself is this… “would you tolerate someone barging into your office, home, or car, every few minutes demanding immediate action or response…?”

Of course we wouldn’t! In fact, we’d probably have a few choice words, none of them particularly flattering to say about the individual….So why do we allow this to happen electronically? Makes you wonder!

I could go on about the topic of work/life balance, but at the end of the day, it is about choice, no matter what. You can change the situation, either by talking to your boss, finding a new job, or prioritizing. Try the keeping track of your time over a two week period as I did with my team member and see how much you are allowing yourself to be drawn and quartered by others, by technology etc.

I never wanted a tombstone that said "she was a helluva good worker." My legacy is my family, my friends and yes, co-workers who I hope I have had a positive influence on through the years. 

I'd like my tombstone to say "She made a positive difference to many people's lives. (and she allowed herself the time to do it.)

(note: since i wrote this 3 days ago the number of articles on a google search of work/life balance has gone up by nearly 5 million hits!)

IT'S NOT CHEATING IF IT'S LEVELLING THE PLAYING FIELD, THE CANCER MADE ME DO IT, AND LET'S NOT FORGET I'M SORRY

I just finished watching the entire Lance Armstrong interview with Oprah Winfrey. I am one of those foolish people that believed Lance Armstrong even when the USADA came out against him and he decided not to fight back. Stupidly I thought he had just gotten tired of justifying himself and so it was easier for him to give up the good fight rather and move on. To say I am disappointed is a significant understatement.

I am usually not this gullible. In fact, I consider myself to be a pretty good judge of character. I had read Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike" which detailed his courageous fight with testicular and inevitably other forms of cancer. I was inspired by his unwillingness to give in and to rage against this disease. He was in my books a hero of sorts.

And now this. I don't believe Armstrong's mea culpa. Authenticity seemed to be lacking with his statements and as well, his body language did not support his tale. During his narrative I found myself dumbfounded on a couple of occasions and rewound to ensure that I had heard his treatises correctly.

When asked by Oprah as to whether he felt or knew he was cheating he said: It's not cheating when it is levelling the playing field. Huh? So as long as everybody else is doing it then it's OK? Does this mean in business if all the vendors are offering bribes and other "incentives" to obtain business, it's OK for you to do so as well? Can you imagine standing in front of a judge and have as your defence "Well, everybody else is doing it, so even though it is against the law, I'm no worse than anybody else!" Have you ever tried using that reasoning with a police officer if stopped for speeding? "Gee, officer, I was just going as fast as everybody else." See how that works for you.

What's right and wrong doesn't change just because others are doing it. Lance Armstrong was not doping because of some noble cause which would perhaps provide some justification for throwing ethics to the wind. He did it for himself and only for himself. His need to win and show himself to be better than anyone else is not remotely a justification for cheating. And let's get this straight -- it was not levelling the playing field. It was out and out cheating on a grand scale.

Which brings me to his statements about winning at all cost. This is where he felt perhaps he should be absolved because the cancer made him do it. For those of you who saw the interview, this was the point in time when you could have picked my jaw up off the floor. He said that he wasn't a jerk or a bully prior to the cancer (although anecdotes from others say differently) and he didn't have the attitude of win at all costs prior to the cancer. So ergo, if he didn't have the cancer he wouldn't have proceeded down the path he had. But here's the rub. He was doping prior to having the cancer and about a few minutes before this bizarre revelation he had said that he was always a fighter, relentless and ruthless. So, please, if you are going to try to rationalize your ethical breach, can you remember back a few minutes, because you have to string your lies together to give them any veracity.

As far as I am concerned Lance Armstrong is a classical narcissist (Narcissism is a generalized personality trait characterized by egotism, vanity, conceit, or selfishness....Wikipedia) and as much as I would wish there is redemption for this type of personality, I am sorry to report there is not, when it is as extreme as witnessed during his attempt at absolution.

I am reading a book right now called the "Wisdom of Psychopaths" by Kevin Dutton, so maybe I'm a little jaded right now. But what I continually see is this absolute disregard for the truth and ethical behaviour that makes you sometimes wonder if you are the only one who believes in doing the right thing. Recently in Toronto, we've had the Director of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) resign because he plagiarized in an article he wrote and now it seems that he plagiarized his way to his career, including in his PhD thesis. 

I feel that Lance Armstrong did not need an Oprah interview. He should have gone on the Dr. Phil show, where Dr. Phil would have said "What were you thinking?"Well, Lance, you obviously weren't thinking and you deserve every sanction you get. No excuses, rationalizations or redemption for you. Sorry just doesn't cut it!

TWISTING UNDER THE BIG TOP

This week Cirque du Soleil announced that they were laying off 400 employees, which considering their unprecedented success for almost 25 years has come as somewhat of a shock. Unfortunately this is again a cautionary tale for firms that begin to believe that they live in a fairy tale, and that no matter what, they will continue to live happily ever after.

The Cirque spin doctors are twisting themselves in pretzel formation, just like the performers in their shows, so as to provide the media with a rational for their financial health. 

Some of the reasons (or as I wrote in a previous blog Excuses Masquerading as Reasons) 

• The strength of the Canadian dollar. But this is not new news, so why would they continue to expand and not revisit their assumptions on a continual basis, or at least have contingencies based on various scenarios? It seems that 95% of it's expenses are in Canada, while 95% of revenues come from outside of Canada, ergo the problem, according to them, but this has been their situation for many years...so again why is this a surprise to them?

• Their next statement quite honestly floored me. Their spokesperson said "This is not a revenue issue, it is an expense issue." Huh? Isn't that like saying that it isn't a car issue, it is an engine issue? 

To consider that revenues and expense live in separate universes seems to me to be a fantasy worthy of the Cirque group. Have they not been looking at their expense base? Expenses become an issue when companies have had lax controls, but also when they have continued growing with nary a concern over the cost of the expansion because their expectation is that the revenue will come, regardless and offset the expense base. It is corporate arrogance which we have seen happen time and time again (Read The Danger of Innovative Arrogance) and the end is not pretty.

Cirque has become to believe that audiences will buy expensive tickets to no matter what type of programming they put out. Please understand, I have enjoyed most of the Cirque shows that I've seen (mostly in Las Vegas), however, when they put out the show Delirium in 2006, I stopped going. This latter show was a frenzy of disjointed performances, which did not lead to anything and certainly was not worth the money spent. There have been several attempts to get into new markets and with new type of shows, but several of these attempts have failed, or at least not had the run that would result in the expenses being offset by the revenues (Banana Shpeel, Zed, Zaia, Viva Elvis and Iris).

Cirque needs to do some navel gazing to determine the best approach to the market place. The need to constantly grow is sometimes a distraction to quality. And I believe that is the issue with Cirque. If they had managed growth more effectively, with a keen eye to bottom-line (and not just the top-line revenue), they could have avoided the current layoffs.

Maybe I'm new, but I have never understood the need to grow, grow, grow. This seems to be a market fuelled expectation, that growth will continue, forever. Not only is this not realistic, but it can be damaging.  Sticking to the core, and having a solid, bottom-line rich company, with astute growth expectations, and innovative approaches, would be my preference. A comparable scenario is the unending expectation that in a career you keep going up, and up, and up. The problem is that a)there are only so many "up" jobs and b) not everyone is equipped to be in a leadership role. Too many people have been terminated due to the fact that the corporation promoted them, because of prior excellent performance, to a job which they are not competent to handle.

I truly hope that Cirque finds their way out of this. It is a great Canadian success story and too many of these have spectacularly spiralled downward.

Cirque du Soleil should stop clowning around and making excuses. There is no magic wand to get them out of this situation. It is proper, realistic strategy in today's marketplace that they now need.

BRAND AND CUSTOMER DELIGHT: A COMPANY THAT UNDERSTANDS

Those of you who follow this blog know that I have in the past ranted about poor customer service and how companies are just interested in getting your money and then basically you are on your own (Read It's not policy and other ways to ensure customer disservice and The Incredible Shrinking Customer Service). So it is only fair that when I encounter good customer service that I need to give it equal time.

Many companies don't understand that when their product fails, that the customer is not the one that needs to explain why the product isn't as good as it was purported to be. I have dealt with poor quality products over the years, and when requesting that a firm stands behind their product I am left to felt like I'm in an interrogation room, with a spotlight shining in my eyes, needing to justify that I didn't do something to make the product fail.

So was not the case with Ralph Lauren. I had bought some lovely Sateen, 500 thread count sheets some 6 months ago when I moved into my new place. I loved the feel of these sheets and at my age, I could wake up in the morning and I didn't have those deep grooves in my face that made me look like a wrinkle puppy for half the day. However, after six months there were these tears (that's "tair" not "teer") that appeared on the bottom sheet. Short of a tiger sneaking into my bed at night there was no real explanation for this except a quality glitch.

As it had been six months, I no longer had my receipt from the store I had bought it from, but none the less tried to determine if they would take it back, which understandably, but unfortunately they did not. I did however wonder what they thought I had been doing on these sheets to make them tear so!

So I emailed Ralph Lauren through their online store. I indicated that I hoped that they would forward my issue to whoever could help, as I was in Canada and had not bought this through their online presence. I explained in my email the issue, and that these sheets had gentle use, that is I sleep on my own, I did not have long toe nails, nor finger nails, no clawed animals were lurking to tear up the sheets when I wasn't looking and there were no monkeys jumping on the bed (you will only understand the reference to the latter if you have children and know the rhyme).

Within twenty-four hours I had an email response from Ralph Lauren, wherein they asked me for a little further information about the sheets ( I sent a picture of the tag). Another email came back within an hour, saying that this information would be forwarded to a product specialist for review. A further two days resulted in a product specialist getting back to me, saying that because I was in Canada, they were forwarding to a contact in Customer Relations and that he would get contact me, which he did within a day. A request for a photo of the sheet issue (he said usually they ask for the product back, but as I was in Canada that a picture would suffice). He forwarded the picture to his quality assurance group and within another day a resolution, as QA indicated it was a product integrity problem.

And the resolution way exceeded my expectations. I had spent $150 on these sheets, the dollar value which I had shared with Ralph Lauren. Not only are they refunding the $150, but an additional $30 is being added on to ensure that any bank or other charges are not at my expense.

Time from original email to resolution January 4th to January 10th. Along the way, each individual noted that Ralph Lauren stands behind their brand and that my satisfaction was their top concern. And they demonstrated this in spades.

The difference between Ralph Lauren and most other companies is that many say that they stand behind their product and that they focus on customer satisfaction, yet then  they  make you feel like a criminal when you complain. Ralph Lauren took full ownership of the issue and ensured customer delight!

Am I going to buy Ralph Lauren product again...you betcha! I already have new Ralph Lauren sheets adorning my bed. Because I don't need to worry if there is an issue with a product. 

So kudos to Ralph Lauren for understanding that brand is more than putting a logo on a product. It is ensuring that each and every customer is satisfied and thereby becomes a periphery sales person of that brand. You can be assured that I am one of those periphery sales people now!!