Where is the Loyalty?

What happened to old fashioned loyalty? Are we really living in a world where it no longer matters?

We’ve heard about customer loyalty for decades.  But in the original context, the topic is about how to get customers to be loyal, returning, consistent, and committed supporters.

In the context of this writing, I am talking about the direct opposite.  What happened to the loyalty FOR the customer?  Let me share an example…..

I became an Apple product fanatic in 2007. I’ll save you the time of hearing about all the nights I spent sleeping outside the cell phone store’s from 2007 onward – just to get the iPhone early. I’ll save you having to hear that in my house there are four people and each of them have their own Apple watch, iPhone, iPad, and MacBook, and that every room in the house has an Apple TV.

The problem is that Apple has lost their loyalty to the customer.  Why should they care? If I leave them today, there are millions of other customers out there, that are as fanatical as me, who will keep them in business.

Frankly I’m disappointed.  I have four recent stories (a broken MacBook screen, an iPad that would not charge, an Apple Watch that was blamed on my child for the detached face, and an iPhone trade in that I was told would not power up – yet my son used it up until the day we mailed it in).

In each and every one of these situations – Apple assumes no ownership, no blame, no responsibility. If you have “Apple Care” then they will give you a DISCOUNT on the fixes for their malfunctioning and defective products.  If you do not, then you better be ready to pay near full price for the fixes or replacements.

What led me to write this today was the lack of compassion, the cold insensitive and uncaring attitude that Apple customer care, stores, and support has for their customers. In the early years, they NEEDED us.  The more happy customers they have, the better.  They built a dynasty. They entranced all of their customers to follow them on the technical evolution that would be what Apple is today.

I remember back in 2010 when I accidentally dropped my iPhone and, as you would expect, it landed in the perfect way that broke the screen into a million little pieces.  I took it to the Apple store, my face showing the signs of sadness as i walked up.  They looked at it, and my account, and realized how MANY products I had in my possession – and the support person said “This one is on the house” and gave me a new phone.

Those days are long gone folks.  Even with Apple Care, you have to pay a hefty price to get their broken or malfunctioning product fixed.  But most of all, there is no appreciation and response to loyalty.  As I stated earlier, I am sitting here with 25+ Apple products in my home, an Apple Credit card on my phone that I use heavily, and a reputation of being an “Apple Guy”.

But the recent in compassionate responses from Apple, and the coldness in their support has led me to believe that APPLE NO LONGER CARES IF I STICK WITH THEM OR NOT. If I stay…good.  If I go….we will find a replacement for you.

I’m saddened by this. I’m saddened that Apple has a lineup of products that fit my every need – and they all communicate together and work so elegantly for me. They are all connected, and it makes life so simple.  But God forbid that any of them have an issue – or else I will be left to pay for the fixes and the repairs.

Loyalty is ABOUT the customer, not FROM the customer.  Companies that realize that giving a few moments of attention, love, and support to your customers will pay dividends in the end.  Good companies never forget where they came from and who was there to support them when they were ‘growing up’.

I don’t feel the love Apple….  I’ve tried talking for literally hours with your support team.  I’ve tweeted to Tim Cook and your support twitter account – no one cares, no one responds.  In all four of the recent situations I have encounter, I never once asked for “full refund” or “full support”.  I only asked for SOMETHING.  Something to show you care for me as a customer.

It will never be the same – especially as long as you don’t see the value of keeping one customer happy.  I’ve been true to you Apple.  Since 2007, you’ve been the only one.

But that Samsung S20 is winking at me. Android may be in my future.  I wonder how Samsung would treat me as a customer? I wonder if they would hate to lose me if I began using their phone?  We may have to see…….

Loyalty – it’s about the customer, not the client.  Apple has forgotten the thing that got them where they are.  I’m just a number to them. Sad… I thought we had something….

My NEW BOOK is coming soon!! The website is up NOW!

Anyone that knows me has surely heard me say “I want to write a book someday”.

I’ve been compiling notes, experiences, and events in journals and documents since at least 2002.

I’m happy to announce that I am nearing the end.  The updates to my notes and the compilation of my book chapters is taking place right this moment.  And I plan to move to publishing very soon.

The book is entitled: “The Drive-Thru Is Not Always Faster“.  It will be a leadership/motivational book, and will have experiences from my life, and a collection of chapters that share many insights, acknowledgements, and suggestions for enjoying your life!

I have created a website for the book, which can be found at:  http://www.TheDriveThruBook.com

Please check out my site and stay tuned for more updates!

How Do You Want To Be Remembered?

How many of you watched Super Bowl 50 this year?  For those that know me, I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, so I didn’t have a favorite team. To me, I was just watching the game for the love of the sport.

When the day started on Superbowl Sunday, I did not expect to learn a valuable leadership lesson from the whole event. But I did.

Two things happened on this day. And both involved interviews with the QB from each of the two teams that were playing in the Superbowl. If you’re not a football fan, the QB is the leader of the team on the field. They understand the plan for the game, and they work with the coaches to define the plays that they are going to execute in the attempt to win the game.

The first thing that I encountered was a pre-game interview with the Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning.

If you don’t know this great QB, he has the most records in football than any other in that position – just a few of the records he holds are:

• Most TD = 539
• Single season TD record: 55
• Most passing yards – season:  5,477
• Most games 300+ yds:  86
• Most passing TD in a single game:  7
• Most games with a passing rating higher than 105:    92
• Most games with a perfect passer rating of 158.3:    5
• Most seasons with 350+ completions: 9
• Most games completing 80-percent passing: 16
• Highest completion percentage in a postseason game with 450+ yards: 81.8
• Highest yards-per-game, season: 342.31
• Most seasons passing for 4,000+ yards: 14
• Most consecutive seasons with 25+ touchdowns: 16
• One of two quarterbacks to ever beat all 32 teams
• First quarterback to beat 31 franchises: 2007
• Most Games Won by a QB: tied going into the Super Bowl and got it with the win

When you see someone like this be so successful, it’s hard to believe that a person with this much success could be humble and respectful. But in this case, Peyton is one of those great players that fans of other teams hated to love. Football fans like me show their support for their team by despising the great players and star players from the other teams. But in the case of Peyton, he’s one of those players that everyone respects, regardless of their selection of a favorite team.

In a pre-game interview, Peyton was asked the following::

What would be the legacy that Peyton Manning wants to leave behind?

His answer was inspirational:

Two of the most important things to me would be that my teammates said that I was a great teammate. That’s important to me. And, I think, the coaches that I played with and I played against would say that they respected me. That would be important to me.

That’s something that my dad always told me to strive for. Earn the respect of your teammates. Earn the respect of the coaches that you played for and that you played against. So that would be the most important thing to me from a football standpoint. I’ve worked hard for that and I hope that I can maintain that and keep that in tact.

On the other team was our star Carolina QB, Cam Newton. He’s young, he’s fresh, he’s excited about football, and he has been quoted as saying that football has always been his life. While some players saw football as something they did, Cam saw football as something he ‘was’.

After the Superbowl, the media flocked to both teams. They wanted to cover the responses by both the winning and losing teams. As Cam sat in the interview, he was visibly sad, depressed, and low. When asked questions about the game he responded with:

 

• We got out played
• They just played better than us
• They made better plays than us – and that’s what it came down to
• We had opportunities – and we gave the game up
• It wasn’t anything special that the other team did
• They scored more points than us

His interview lasted only a little more than 2 minutes. Many were upset at him for how he behaved. Many were angry that he would not sit there and take the questions and give the fans (his customers) what they wanted.

I’ll be honest, my first reaction was disappointment in his behavior. How many of us get to walk out of our job when things are not going well? Have you been in a meeting where you are the center of the discussion, things were not going well that day, and you stand up, walk out without saying anything, and go home? Probably not. Yet this is the job of the players in football, and one of their stars did this very thing.

I then began to look back to the other QB, Peyton. I recalled many big games in which he lost, where he would give the media and his fans as much time as they wanted in the interviews after a game in which he lost. A few years ago, Peyton was in the Superbowl and he lost to another team, and this very thing happened.

But the story behind all of this is as follows – it took maturity and learning for a veteran like Petyon to handle the pressure, disappointment, and impact of losing a big game. Cam will learn from this loss. And hopefully he will be prepared for the interviews in the event he loses another big game.

How can we apply this to our own lives as leaders in our professional and personal lives? What is the lesson to be learned here?

The FIRST lesson is simple…

Great leaders are not defined by how they behave when things are going great. They are defined by how they handle situations when they are NOT so great.

Cam was well known for his celebrations during the game and the leadership he exhibited with a team that seemed unstoppable throughout this past year. He was always smiling, driving, motivating and giving direction to his teammates.

But when facing a team that came prepared with a strong defense that would shut down the aggressive attack of the Panthers, Cam was unable to handle it.

How many of you have had a ‘bad day’ at work in the last month? If you’re a leader, it’s so hard to keep your head up, and to motivate your team, your peers, and to keep pressing forward. But I challenge you today to keep going. There will be times when you are the only thing that will motivate someone else on your team. And being a leader is a big responsibility. But you can do it!

The SECOND lesson is about servant-leadership….

Servant leadership is an unselfish approach to leading others, giving direction, and being part of their success.

If you look at the statistics of this Superbowl, you will find that Peyton Manning did not have one of his STELLAR performances. While he holds almost every record you can imagine for a QB, it was not his performance that won the game.

It was the performance of his team as a whole. The performance of the defense that broke down the attack of the Panthers. And the performance of the players around Peyton that supported him and took his direction with unconditional trust.

You don’t have to be the star of the team. You don’t have to be the one making all of the big plays and doing all of the great work. But if you want to be a strong leader, you will find a way to drive your team with MOTIVATION, ENCOURAGEMENT, MENTORING, SUPPORT, and RESPECT.

It’s amazing how we can learn something about leadership in almost everything we do, everywhere we go, and everything we see or hear in the world. My challenge to each of you is to let LIFE teach you how to grow and become a great leader. Look around you, enjoy the times you have, and seek to find a story, an example, and a lesson from what you are experiencing.

And if you do that…you just might get that interview at the end of your career…where you can say “I am respected by my peers, my teammates, my manager, and managers on other teams”.

I wish you the best!

My Interview with Test Talks

I was given the honor and privilege to receive an interview with Joe Colantonio who has a podcast called “Test Talks”.

This interview was so much fun, and I hope you get the chance to listen to it.

If you’re in software testing, I hope it gives you some fresh new ideas and new ways of looking at things!

 

You can find the recording at this link:  TestTalks-#88

Thanks to Joe and Sauce Labs for doing this interview!

My Interview with Testing Circus

Through the many years of my career, I have been honored with requests for interviews, articles, and speaking engagements.

In December 2015, I was asked for an interview by Testing Circus.  So many great things have happened throughout my life, and I feel this interview captures not only my work within software testing, but also gives the reader some background on things that have happened to me along the way.  It also gives some insights and suggestions that I have on leadership, interviewing, growing leaders for the future, and many other great topics.

I hope that you get a chance to read it.  You can check it out at the following link:

Testing Circus Magazine – December 2015 – Interview with Mike Lyles

 

PLEASE COMMENT: Leadership – What Does It Mean To You?

I’m working on a presentation about leading the next generation.  And I want to get your inputs for this presentation.

Think of a leader that you have known in your life.  This leader can be a boss, someone at your school, someone you know, a president, a great speaker, someone from history…. basically anyone that you have witnessed as a great leader.

Now, think of what made them a great leader.  What were the 1-2 things that they did that stood out to you that made them great?  How did they interact with their followers?  How did they tell their stories and talk to the people?

I have just one request – please share your thoughts as comments to this blog.  I’d like to take your input and build it into my presentation as inputs from the community.

Thanks in advance for your inputs and comments!

12 Rules of Success from Steve Jobs

Anyone that knows me understands that I have quoted Steve Jobs many times in my leadership coaching, mentoring, speaking, and training.  I was fortunate to find an article which listed 12 rules of success that he had claimed years ago.  I wanted to share these 12 rules with my readers and followers….

Rule #01: Do what you love to do. Find your true passion. Make a difference. The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Rule #02: Be different. Think different. Better to be a pirate than to join the navy.

Rule #03: Do your best at every job. Don’t sleep! Success generates more success so be hungry for it. Hire good people with a passion for excellence.

Rule #04: Perform SWOT analysis. As soon as you join/start a company, make a list of strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your company on a piece of paper. Don’t hesitate to throw bad apples out of the company.

Rule #05: Be entrepreneurial. Look for the next big thing. Find a set of ideas that need to be acted upon quickly and decisively and jump through that window. Sometimes the first step is the hardest one. Just take it. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

Rule #06: Start small, think big. Don’t worry about too many things at once. Take a handful of simple things to begin with, and then progress to more complex ones. Think about not just tomorrow, but the future. Put a ding in the universe.

Rule #07: Strive to become a market leader. Own and control the primary technology in everything you do. If there’s a better technology available, use it regardless of whether or not anyone else is using it. Be the first, and make it an industry standard.

Rule #08: People judge you by your performance, so focus on the outcome. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. Advertise. If they don’t know about it, they won’t buy your product. Pay attention to design. We made the buttons on the screen look so good you’ll want to lick them. Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

Rule #09: Ask for feedback from people with diverse backgrounds. Each one will tell you one useful thing. If you’re at the top of the chain, sometimes people won’t give you honest feedback because they’re afraid. In this case, disguise yourself, or get feedback from other sources. Focus on those who will use your product – listen to your customers first.

Rule #10: Innovate. Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower. Delegate. Let other top executives do 50% of your routine work to be able to spend 50% your time on the new stuff. Say no to 1,000 things to make sure you don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. Concentrate on really important creations and radical innovation. Hire people who want to make the best things in the world. You need a very product-oriented culture, even in a technology company. Lots of companies have tons of great engineers and smart people. But ultimately, there needs to be some gravitational force that pulls it all together.

Rule #11: Learn from failures. Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.

Rule #12: Learn continually. There’s always “one more thing” to learn.
Cross-pollinate ideas with others both within and outside your company. Learn from customers, competitors and partners. If you partner with someone whom you don’t like, learn to like them – praise them and benefit from them. Learn to criticize your enemies openly, but honestly.

I hope you enjoy these, and I hope also that you are already following some of these rules in your life.  I wish you all much success and that you reach all of your goals!

Source of information: http://www.businessbrief.com/apple-ceo-steve-jobs-12-rules-of-success/

The Joy of Speaking

I have been speaking at conferences and events for several years now.  But this past week (Aug 4-6, 2015) was an awesome experience.

I was honored to be invited to speak at two conferences during the same week.  At both of the conferences, I shared my topic “Visual Testing: It’s Not What You Look At, It’s What You See”.  In this topic, we reviewed how that our eyes sometimes see something that our brains do not notice.  Many times these things are right in front of your face, yet you don’t see it.  We talked about how the brain works, and how that testers can improve their skills by noticing their “Inattentional Blindness”.

I started my week in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the CAST 2015 conference.  After speaking there on Wednesday, August 5, I then jumped on a plane and headed to Washington, DC, where I would then speak at the Agile 2015 conference on Thursday, August 6.

If you’re interested in what I was speaking, you can view the slides on slideshare at the following link:

My Visual Testing Slides – at Slideshare

I hope you get a chance to look at pictures that I took from the conference.  They can be found at my Facebook page below:

My Facebook Page – Conference Pictures

Follow my Facebook page at: Mike Lyles Business Facebook Page

Follow me on Twitter at: Mike Lyles on Twitter

Check out my Facebook Page!

Today, I felt it was time to separate my personal Facebook page from my future writing, speaking, and other adventures of life.

If you are a follower of me here on my blog, and you have Facebook, i invite you to check out my new Facebook page!

https://www.facebook.com/mikelylesbusiness

Thank you for following my blog!  Without each and every one of you, I could not pursue my goals!

Keep Smiling!

New Year’s Resolution Time! 2015 is My Big Year!

It’s that time of year, when folks start thinking about New Year’s Resolutions.  I’ve laughed at how so many of us will make promises on January 1 that we soon fail to complete.  Many of our commitments are lost by the end of January.  it’s a known fact that gyms get the most applications for new membership in the first week of January.  And then people go for some time and eventually let it drop off of their schedule.  People will start a diet, and many will lose a few pounds, only to give up when they step out of the diet to eat something that is not good for them.  People set goals to accomplish their lifelong dreams, only to give up after just a few months of moving in that direction.

I can’t say too many negative things about this, because I, too, have been one of these people.  I have planned to grow faster, do more, accomplish more, set major goals for the year, only to find that I fall short.

But in 2015, this is about to change.  I know that my diet needs to change and I need to become more healthy.  That is a goal I will set on January 1 and i will be firm on making this happen.  But this is only a minor part of what 2015 has in store for me.  I plan to reach out to schools and other institutions to look for opportunities to speak on leadership, and to begin coaching people on the things that made me successful in my life, as well as lessons learned which I can share to help others avoid the same roadblocks and obstacles that I encountered through my life.

But 2015 brings something new for Mike Lyles —- I have aspired to write a book for so many years.  And I have kept notes, articles, thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and guidelines in a journal for more years than I can remember.  I am pulling all of the things together and in 2015, I will be planning to publish a book.  And I hope you, my followers, will be interested in reading my thoughts and being part of this journey with me.  I have read so many books as well as experienced so many things in my life that I feel the book will have something that everyone can relate to, regardless of whether they are a computer geek like me, or whether they like leadership and management coaching.  I want this book to be something that touches everyone in some way and gives them something to use practically in their lives.  Keep your eyes open.  2015 is the year of the Lyles Book!

There are so many other things I plan to do in 2015.  The list is too long to share in a single blog.  But I can assure you that as I check off the long list of goals for my 2015, that the world around me will be changed!  No time for procrastination anymore!

So what’s your plan for 2015?  Have you already started thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2015?  Have you procrastinated in 2014? 2013?  Years before?  We are not getting any younger, and life is not slowing down to give us more time to complete what we want to do.  Look around you and examine what you do each day.  Are you wasting your time doing things that have no value to your life, and your message to the world?  Make a list of things you want to accomplish in 2015.  Prioritize that list.  Look at the first two items on that list, and break those items down into tasks that you can do every day to move you in the direction of completing the goal.  You will be surprised what you can accomplish if you give even 10 minutes a day to your goals.  Tell those that are close to you about your goals.  Tell them when you plan to complete them.  And tell them to help you be disciplined.  Sometimes a word of encouragement will help you to stay on track.  It’s human nature to want to keep those people that are important to you happy.  So if you have someone watching your goals, you are less likely to procrastinate.  Make it a team event!

Always remember the words of Steve Jobs, who said:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.”

2015 should be the year of “Never, never, never give up!” (quote from Winston Churchill).  Make it year that you look back on and say that this was the year you turned your life around in the most positive direction!   One small goal that you complete today may result in an amazing impact to your life in 2015 and beyond.  Never underestimate how important what you do every day will do to move you closer to your goals in life.

And if you’re reading this and saying “I don’t have goals” – then today is the day you need to set at least TWO.  Get them on paper and get started on them.  What is your purpose in life?  What do you want to leave as your legacy?  It’s been said that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.  Make the best of this life.  Set your goals.  Go after them.  And let’s celebrate 2015 a year from now!

Get ready for my book!  It’s coming my friends!