The Sixth Sense

Why we go to the movies

I’m reading a book called ‘Story - Substance, Structure, Style, and the Substance of Screenwriting’ at the moment. It’s by a guy called Robert McKee. I’m only a few pages in, but this quote absoultely leapt out at me. Really powerful.

We go to the movies to enter a new, fascinating world, to inhabit vicariously another human being who at first seems so unlike us and yet at heart is like us, to live in a fictional reality that illuminates our daily reality. We do not wish to escape life but to find life, to use our minds in fresh, experimental ways, to flex our emotions, to enjoy, to learn, to add depth to our days.

This definitely resonates with me deeply.

What about you?

Author Interview: Joseph Michelli

As I mentioned on Tuesday, Joseph Michelli has very kindly agreed to take a few questions linked with his new book ‘The New Gold Standard’. Enjoy!

1) Thanks Joseph for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

I am an author, professional speaker, and business consultant.  I work to enhance leadership skills, customer service, and employee empowerment worldwide.

2) Your latest book is called ‘The New Gold Standard’ (published by McGraw-Hill). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.  

The book is a behind the scenes look at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.  The hotel chain began through the inspiration of Cesar Ritz more than a century ago and has maintained a legendary position in customer service excellence.  Despite its storied history, no one had been permitted to write a book about this iconic brand and fortunately I was given that opportunity. 

3) Whilst your book is presumably primarily geared to the business audience, many of my readers are involved in other social enterprises, non-profits, churches, etc. How would they benefit from the principles in The New Gold Standard?  

I have been surprised and pleased by the broad markets in which my books have gained traction.  I think principles of human service should transcend time, geographic boundaries, and even applications often narrowly prescribed to business.  A concept like “it’s not about you” which I present in The New Gold Standard, can serve as a reminder for how to build great marriages, outstanding places of worship, and dynamic community organizations.

4) Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us!

Well I know cash is tight and for many of us time is as tight - if not more so.  I think books like mine can be idea starters, prompting and inspiring people to reach for greater impact in the way they lead and serve.  I invest my time to write these books in the hope that others will invest theirs to benefit from the wisdom of tried-and-true leaders.

5) What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

Well The Sixth Sense of course….I also read the classics like Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, and Businessweek.  In fact, Businessweek has kindly done a featured video curriculum about my books and the art of customer experience creation which can found here. I also love John Maxwell’s Leadership Wired newsletter and Warren Bennis’ Leadership Excellence newsletter.

To find out more about Joseph, you can visit his website: www.josephmichelli.com.

Set the foundation

Chapter one of The New Gold Standard focusses on having a good foundation in place. It’s all about communicating core identity and culture.

Ritz-Carlton make a big deal of ensuring the mission, vision, values, are deeply embedded in all their staff. Everyone of them has a ‘credo card’ they typically carry around with them at all times. Everyone in the organisation can easily provide a clear and accurate understanding of the business’s mission and purpose.

Time is spent everyday emphasising and reorienting around the mission and culture of the organisation. This daily time provides space for repetition of values, emphasising common language, visual symbols, passing on of oral traditions (not just email), positive story-telling, and modeling by leaders.

The challenge for me reading this stuff is translating it into the volunteer context in which I primarily lead. It’s all very well spending time every day embedding the culture of the organisation, but what about when the opportunities for doing that are physically only once a week at best? And even then for only a couple of hours.

How do you go about embedding culture when there are far fewer opportunities to do it? I agree with all the things Ritz-Carlton are doing, I’m just grappling with what that might look like for us at Mosaic.

We do talk about our cultural values a lot. But I know we could do more and do better. I definitely think we need to improve our sharing or stories that positively communicate what we value. Stores (and visual images) definitely help things stick. I just need to remember to do this more!

New author interview

A few months back I included several author interviews on The Sixth Sense. I am very pleased to say that there is another one lined up which I hope to publish later this week.

Some of you who have followed my ‘blogging career’ will remember me writing about a great book I read called ‘The Starbucks Experience’ by Joseph A. Michelli. No matter what type of organisation you lead or are part of, the book was full of lots of really relevant information that is both useful and inspiring. I heartily recommended it when it first came out now and would still encourage you to read it now if you haven’t already.

Linked with this, Joseph Michelli has a new book out called ‘The New Gold Standard - 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’. I am reading through this book at the moment and will share standout thoughts and insights as I go along. If it comes even close to The Starbucks Experience, I know I’ll be taking a lot away from it.

I am very pleased to be able to say that Joseph Michelli has kindly agreed to answer a few questions about his new book. And, as I say, I hope to be posting that interview later this week. Make sure you check back.

“Just killing time”

I heard someone say they were ‘just killing time’ the other day and for some reason it was like it set alarm bells ringing in my mind. It stirred up a renewed determination to make sure that that is something that could never be said of my own life.

It’s so easy to drift through life merely existing. Getting up, going to work, coming home, slumping in front of the tv, going to bed. It amazes me for how many people that description IS their life. There is no purpose. No passion. They are, literally, just killing time. 

This got me thinking. What are some ways to help protect ourselves from a life that is nothing more than just killing time? Are there things we can do to make sure we are truly living and not just existing?

And, not only this, but when do we lose it? You look at students full of passion, looking to do something amazing with their life and yet, for so many, a few years down the line and they’re just killing time. Going through the motions. Climbing up the various life ladders (career, property, etc.) that supposedly define success. What goes wrong? When do we stop being fully alive?

What do you think?

What makes the Olympics so magical?

I’ve been thinking about this question today. What is it about the Olympics that sets it apart from any other sporting event? Sport is typically enjoyed by a select group of people. But the Olympics brings in viewers who’d never venture near a game of football or rugby. Why is this?

I loved it that the start of the Premier League season was completely overshadowed by the Olympics. The over paid footballers relegated off the front and back pages of the the newspapers as British Olympians made all the headlines.

It is amazing how you get sucked into the Olympics. You switch it on and you nearly switch over as it’s some random sport you don’t know anything about. And yet, before you know it, you’re screaming at the tele, desperately urging your team on. I love it!

The Olympics is able to bring out the absolute best of the athletes. World records crumble every time. People put their bodies on the line like never before. It’s puts the football world cup to shame on that front.

What about you? What makes the Olympics so magical for you? (If it does, of course!)

What would you do with 10 million?

My friend Ryan asked me this question last week. After an initial, highly practical answer about getting it into a high interest savings account(!), I started to explore the things that I’d do if I suddenly had 10 million.

Specifically, we talked about the things that we’d change or quit. Interestingly we both were very similar in that neither of us would pack everything in and start to do something totally different. Instead we’d look to use the money to add momentum to the things that we’re already starting to do.

It was quite encouraging really. Especially as we both knew lots of people who would be desperate to change things if they had the money. It struck us that we should orientate our lives around the things we’re passionate about regardless of money. Why wait for a lottery moment? 

It’s amazing how many people settle for a safe existence that all too often is soooo mundane. We do the job we do because it’s safe. It’ll pay the bills. You can tell these people a mile off. Their life is all about existing. But they are not truly alive.

I would rather do things that cause me to be fully alive even if it means there is less money. I wouldn’t trade having a life orientated around stuff I love and enjoy and am passionate about for anything. 10 million wouldn’t change me; it’d add momentum to the things I’m already doing and building my life around.

Don’t get me wrong. There are some things that I would change. Things that facilitate me getting to do what I love which aren’t things I actually love in and of themselves. But the key is, as I see it at least, looking to live lives that are orientated towards the things we love and are passionate about and which play to our strengths and talents.

What do you think?

Snakes and ladders

 I was chatting with a friend last night who introduced what I thought was a great metaphor for so many people’s lives. He was describing his own life and saying how it felt that whilst so many of his friends were making progress in their lives, he always seems to end up back where he started. ‘It’s like playing snakes and ladders’, he said. ‘I make a whole load of steps forward and, whoosh, I land on a snake and I’m right back where I started’. 

I wonder how many of us having the same feeling. Everything seems to be going well. We’re moving forward, making progress and then WHAM, it’s back to square one again. 

This all got me thinking that there are some people who seem to be ’snakes and ladders’ people. That really is the story of their lives. What sucks some people into this kind of life? And why do others manage to avoid it?

Any thoughts?!

Last chance to get into www.triiibes.com

The last chance to join Seth Godin’s www.triiibes.com will be August 10th.

If you want to be part of this before is fully opened to the public in October then jump over to Seth’s blog post explaining what you need to do.

Maybe see you in there!

Connecting with students

I’ve been working over the weekend on an idea for connecting with students in Sheffield. There are over 50,000 students at the two main universities and it is definitely a group of people we want to serve and impact.

We are looking to create some movement around two different areas really:

1. Gallup StrengthsFinder
2. Vox Sheffield

We really want to get the Gallup StrengthsFinder tool out to as many students as possible. It is such a helpful tool for understanding ourselves better and figuring out how we can play to our strengths.

And with Vox Sheffield, we’d love to create a student stream to this. Vox Sheffield is a movement we have set up to showcase creativity in Sheffield and work together to create a better world.

Our intention is to try and connect with 10 to 12 key students who we’ll invest in with a view to them becoming the catalysts that make this idea a reality.

I am confident about every stage of this apart from the first really. And that is the key to it all: connecting with the right students to lead this. We don’t really have many natural links into the universities at this stage and so I’m looking to come up with creative ways to try and attract the right kind of people.

Should be fun!