Florida May 28, 2005

We’re sitting in a coffee shop in Miramar Beach right now, drinking drinks, reading and getting our internet fix. They are playing a Grateful Dead song, which gets a big Bailey stamp of approval!

I don’t even know where to start a post about this vacation! Maybe a photo. This is right when we got to the beach for the first time, Friday morning. Ben’s belly laughter as the waves tickled his feet was reason enough for this trip. The sand on the beach is soft and white – the consistency of fresh brown sugar. It’s luxurious to walk through whether close to the water where it dissolves under your feet as the waves come in, or farther back from the water, yielding softly to each step. It’s also great for building sandcastles! The Bailey men took care of infrastructure (moats, channels and outer walls) while I worked on the architecture.

The water here is two-toned – green-blue near the shore and then bluer as it gets deeper. I’ve found it hard to comprehend the vastness of the horizon. My suburban life doesn’t give me many opportunities for limitless views, and I noticed on the first day that I was almost avoiding looking out over the water for very long. It was like I didn’t know how to process an area without boundaries. Today I made it a point to drink in the whole landscape and really think about what "infinite" means. (See if you can find the dolphin in this shot!)

Our condo is amazing! We’ve never stayed in anything that varies much from a hotel room, and vacationing in a home-like atmosphere has brought a whole new dimension to our trip. There are two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 3 tvs with dvd players and a fully equipped kitchen. After a quick trip to the grocery, we are all set up with our favorite healthy breakfasts and lunches – dinners are strictly from restaurants Our pattern these last two days has been beach in the morning, reading and playing games after lunch and then pool in the late afternoon.

We couldn’t be happier with our getaway and are looking forward to more fun and adventures!

Do Unto Users May 23, 2005

One of my favorite blogs lately is Creating Passionate Users. They continue to offer great perspectives on designing experiences (whether with products, sites, software, companies, etc.) that delight users/customers and how those experiences create loyalty and, well, passion for sharing them with others.

In a recent post, they take a look at the way companies treat employees, making a pretty strong case that the trust given (or not) to employees makes an impact on their performance. It’s really worth reading the whole thing, but here’s a tidbit:

Do employees who aren’t trusted behave as nicely to the customers as those who ARE trusted? Perhaps it’s subtle–after all, Skyler isn’t going to be rude to people regardless of the company’s policies. But still… that little drain on her personal enthusiasm while at work infuses everything she does, and that includes every interaction with customers.

What’s the pattern here? Nothing much more complicated than we tell our kids or the Bible tells us. As Woody says in Toy Story, "Play nice!" People like being treated well. When they are on the receiving end of genuine care, whether as customers or employees, they are a lot more likely to stick around.

But as simple as this thinking is, it is different from the business theory that I remember from the 90s. In the 90s it seemed to be more about what the individual could do for the company – either as an employee or a customer. Instead, with today’s marketing focus on customer evangelism, we’re seeing companies examine what they can do for individuals. We’re finding that the best way to lead, the best way to attract is to serve. Now we’re gettin’ somewhere!!

The Mother Load! May 2, 2005

While watching (well, listening) to the Today show this morning as I got ready, I saw a report that stay-at-home moms would earn an average of $131,471 if they received a paycheck.

Salary.com, which tracks what jobs pay, suggested that the annual base pay for a 40-hour stay-at-home mom’s workweek would be $43,461. Mothers would earn an additional $88,009 a year for 60 hours of overtime each week.

Read the whole story here. My grandmother earned social security credit because her role as a farmer’s wife was considered crucial to the success of that business. Managing a family today requires many of the same skills and energy as running a business – accounts receivable, accounts payable, project management, scheduling, maintenance, leadership/management, health care, etc. There are a lot of departments packed into our homes – I love that this study puts a price tag on those activities!

Something to make you laugh May 2, 2005

Yet another gem from Tony Woodlief at Sand in the Gears. In parenting, a sense of humour is a key survival skill!