Look at what Apple did to Sony. Sony got complacent.
Remember this phrase: “If you don’t innovate, you evaporate.” You must invest. You must keep an eye on the little things.
Every Saturday, I trundle around our venues taking hundreds of photos.
I watch our teams and eagerly look for broken windows. There are always so many little idiosyncrasies that give me the heebie-jeebies.
Growth has caused some of our standards to slip - it’s my job to point that out constantly.
I sometimes pinch myself with the sheer size of what we’ve become.
I have to report it and tell my teams, "we must do better".
We can’t allow sloppy standards - people will stop coming.
Then, we can’t pay wages and invest.
Then, we’re done.
This week, I saw a new member of one of our teams not in uniform. I was furious: "How could we let that happen?"
Excuseitis came in on why it happened. “It was a new member of staff, and we hadn’t had time to sort things out.”
No, no, no. This is so bad.
This tiny little broken window, if not fixed, leads to a blown-off roof and water flooding in. They start so small and then explode in enormity.
Too many broken windows lead to even bigger damage and even more sloppy standards. Your people will just accept sloppy.
The above is a little thing that will cost us nothing. These trivial things don’t immediately cause losses, but too many can make a difference.
Yes, do the big stuff: the refurbishment, the investments, the technological innovation. But nothing impresses a customer like knowing their name and how they have their tea before they ask.
The little things are hard to keep an eye on as you grow - but if you create a system to do this, you’ll win the day.
James Sinclair
Look at what Apple did to Sony. Sony got complacent.
Remember this phrase: “If you don’t innovate, you evaporate.”
You must invest. You must keep an eye on the little things.
Every Saturday, I trundle around our venues taking hundreds of photos.
I watch our teams and eagerly look for broken windows. There are always so many little idiosyncrasies that give me the heebie-jeebies.
Growth has caused some of our standards to slip - it’s my job to point that out constantly.
I sometimes pinch myself with the sheer size of what we’ve become.
I have to report it and tell my teams, "we must do better".
We can’t allow sloppy standards - people will stop coming.
Then, we can’t pay wages and invest.
Then, we’re done.
This week, I saw a new member of one of our teams not in uniform. I was furious: "How could we let that happen?"
Excuseitis came in on why it happened. “It was a new member of staff, and we hadn’t had time to sort things out.”
No, no, no.
This is so bad.
This tiny little broken window, if not fixed, leads to a blown-off roof and water flooding in. They start so small and then explode in enormity.
Too many broken windows lead to even bigger damage and even more sloppy standards. Your people will just accept sloppy.
The above is a little thing that will cost us nothing. These trivial things don’t immediately cause losses, but too many can make a difference.
Yes, do the big stuff: the refurbishment, the investments, the technological innovation. But nothing impresses a customer like knowing their name and how they have their tea before they ask.
The little things are hard to keep an eye on as you grow - but if you create a system to do this, you’ll win the day.
- James
1 year ago | [YT] | 63