A quote to remember

Do not let others perceptions of you become true for you

Leadership

If you can inspire someone to aspire to do, to be and to become great, you are a leader. Quincy Adams

A Smile means a lot

Rainbow Creators make a huge difference, they touch people.

In service language, Mr. Sim Kay Wee, former Chairman of Service Quality and Senior VP of Singapore Airlines used to say more service does not equal to better service.
I have enjoyed travelling Emirates Airlines in the past but today was a nightmare.
They did everything to ensure I had a nightmare experience. I travelled with them London Dubai KL. Obviously I chose not to fly business but economy given the current economic climate. I realised that economy passengers are punished severely.

What they did were a few simple things?
• Forgot my lunch for 4 hours
• Served me a quarter glass of mango juice and the follow on never came
• Too busy to serve coffee
• Gave me a bag - this was meant to be service recovery - sewing kit, comb, razor, opened box of chocolates
• They had great make up and looked real pretty

What they did not do?

All the things a Rainbow Creator would have done:

• Smile
• Say Sorry
I wish they had just smiled and said sorry. That would have gone a long way.
Guess life is challenging. Customers have fw rights. Starve and then get out at the airport and buy a decent meal at Burger King.
Emirates Airlines would do wll to learn from the fast food restauarants on customer service.
I real hope they learn well and look after customers well. Otherwise they may not have many of them left.

Saudi Arabia

I have been with Dr Abdul Hai and Omar, my delightful companions in Riyadh. I have learned so much about the local culture from them.

I happened to read the Gulf News - the article Blue Sky Thinking was all about the Rainbow Creators who are introducing low cast airlines and changing the way airlines operate here.

Inclusiveness

I happened to work with a CEO of a major Insurance company in Malaysia, who happens to be a good friend too. 

His Secretary looked Chinese but the name sounded Malay. My colleague and I asked her if she was Malay and her answer shamed us. 

She responded: I am a Malaysian and a human being.

Her ability to look beyond race and at how we can promote the value of the human spirit stumped me. While she was an ethnic Malay, my colleague was Chinese and I was Indian, her ability to reflect human values even though she was young thrilled me. There is still goodness left in this world. 

She is a Rainbow Creator.

Sense of Urgency

Professor John Kotter from the Harvard Business School says while most may know that their organisations need to change, what is likely to be missing and most needed in most organisations is a real sense of urgency.

Rainbow Creators demonstarte a sense of urgency.

The change guru and author of the book Leading Change talks about the first step in his very successful eight step framework. Kotter illustrates in simple language, increasing the sense of urgency is the toughest of the eight steps. This is a book for anyone who wants to navigate the turbulent world of today. Visit www.johnkotter.com for more details.

Legacy

My friend Datuk J. L. Solomon is a great humorist. He will be speaking at the Asia HRDCongress May 11 to 13, 2009. The subject he will be speaking on "Personal Branding" is close to his heart. When I met him on Friday he said his subject will revolve around the idea: Personal Branding is about legacy not currency. Sure makes sense.