Comments on: The Culture of Personality

By: Adrian Rama

Adrian Rama — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:56:55 +0000

My hope is that someday we as a society and a world will move toward individual responsibility where we are compensated based on proformance and the ultimate outcome of our actions not unlike your ticket agent in the post.

By: Don Jones

Don Jones — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:49:41 +0000

You summed it up all in one phrase: “It had to do with a kind act, personality and the freedom for an employee to be a human being” My wife is a nurse and if you have had more than one experience in a medical office chances are good you have had a bad experience. Had to wait a loooooong time because they are triple book or a myriad of things but she takes it upon herself to show her fabulous personality and everyone loves her even her supervisor who occasionally reminds her of the rules but never in a serious way. The trick for her, like your ticket agent, is to do it so no one gets hurt and everyone ultimately is happy. Unfortunately some businesses don’t allow for personality as they have become over controlling because of their relentless pursuit of the perfection when perfection is not what the customer or client want at all. Perfection is boring, sterile and unimaginative. Have a magical day… NOT! Rather you go out there and beat it up, slap it down and at the end of the day put a smile on your face cause you knocked it out of the park and showed what you are really all about with PERSONALITY!!!

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:01:47 +0000

This is a great story, and like Lindy, I’m glad it has nothing to do with Southwest. Let me ask you a question … next time you fly Air Canada (presuming you are having a stressful day) and you don’t get any special treatment (but assuming your experience is at par) are you going to be dissapointed? I guess what I’m asking is, does this kind of employee empowerement scale effectivley to all employees and all interactions with customers. Not a leading question … genuinly interested in your POV.

By: John Bell

John Bell — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:04:13 +0000

@Lindy - couldn’t agree more. I think what Disney lacks (and I would argue Southwest, too) is an authentic (yes, that word) vs. staged personality.

By: Lindy Dreyer

Lindy Dreyer — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:56:45 +0000

Thank you for not giving us another Southwest story. And thank you for calling out Disney. There’s something really creepy about the cast member thing. It’s funny that we once held up Disney as the pinnacle of branding and service. But then, bell bottoms and beehives were all the rage once, too.