When Policy Trumps Practice

It doesn't happen often, and thankfully when it does...it usually gets corrected.  When policy trumping practice doesn't get corrected, it's a pretty poor reflection on a companies pulse of what the customer wants and needs.

As many of you know, I have two young daughters.  Having young kids (obviously) comes with some challenging situations.  One example of this that we (specifically my wife) has to deal with on a regular basis is the art of grocery shopping.  Juggling a crying baby with a 2-year old that wants to run up and down the aisles while avoiding oncoming shoppers is in fact challenging to say the least.

Recently, my wife told me that she was switching grocery stores.  Knowing how much she loved the one she shopped at...I asked her why she had made this decision (expecting it to be product based or the distance she had to travel to get there).  I was incorrect, as she informed me it was much more simple: They changed their grocery carts from being able to hold 2-kids down to a smaller 1-child cart. 

WOW.

Being that we are not the only family in Oakville with 2 young children, I am sure this decision was not an isolated incident.  Surely someone at a boardroom table at head office had this idea (most likely not having young children) in an effort to cut costs in making smaller carts and reduce the space of carts in the aisles.

Unfortunately, this decision has alienated any shopper with 2 children.  Sobey's, Loblaws, Longo's...they all have 2-child carts...so maybe at the outset, this cost-cutting measure was deemed a competitive advantage.  Also unfortunate, loyal business is now leaving for the competitor in a VERY tight-margin business...and all because a policy enacted miles away didn't take into consideration the needs of customers.

Lesson learned: Every business decision has a downside, if you don't understand it...you cannot mitigate it.

Techno Treats

What kind of self-professed Apple fanatic would I be without talking about some Apple products?!

I wanted to write a quick blurb on the iPad.

I own the iPad "1".  I don't fully grasp why Apple does these 0.5 updates (i.e mini hardware updates that allow them to come out with a new product with barely any innovation), but alas, the ipad 2 came out with it's double camera, and USB port.  I am still a fan of the iPad, despite being a pretty large critic right from the get-go. 

Here's some things that work for me:

1. Portability.  It's small...seriously.  I have a hard-shell black leather case on mine and when I take it our of my brief case and place it on the boardroom table, many people think it's just a moleskin.  I can take it everywhere, and as I have the 3G version, it allows me most of the conveniences of a laptop with some having limited functionality.

2. It's fun.  I mess around on my iPhone when I'm bored, waiting, or just looking to kill some time.  One of the great things (and a frequent joke) is that the iPad really is a big iPhone...but better.  With full access to the App Store...the Birds in "Angry Birds" are just a little angrier...and I like that.

3. It's functional.  I have written a speech, countless emails, done presentations, taken notes, surfed the web, etc, etc.  Although it doesn't have the full functionality of a computer (I can't use Photoshop, and typing is just not as easy), it does allow me to use most of the tools I need when I'm on the go.

4. The kids love it.  For all of the above reasons..it's great with kids.  We take it on the road, on the plane or just around the house.  I have movies, games and books for the girls on it and we can use it to keep them occupied when needed.

All in all, it was a great buy, and I have found great use for it.  Here's a few quick reasons why you SHOULDN'T buy one:

- You don't travel and work at a desk all day
- You don't have kids
- You are a graphic designer or your work relies heavily on media design and editing
- You think it's dumb

A Culture of Entitlement

Oh the irony in this picture...

Here's a fact: People are increasingly growing a sense of entitlement. Things like better/faster service, cheaper pricing with higher quality...it's a complete disconnect from reality.

I was talking with my mother-in-love the other day about the how food has changed, and specifically the anomaly of the "home cooked meal."  She told me that she was talking with another family member about how back in the day the idea of food bought for the store was a rarity and truly "amazing" and how we have flipped that to now be that a home cooked meal is equally amazing.

So what does that have to due with entitlement?  Well...a lot!  Home cooked meals are not as prevalent nowadays because it takes a long time.  Look at something as "simple" as lasagna.  All the steps involved...it's a tedious process.  Why do that when I can (for cheaper) buy one already made?  Here's the issue...somewhere along the way, the convenience of having everything at our finger tips and removing the "labour of love" behind cooking...we have turned even something as simple as cooking into an entitled right.  Stores like Whole Foods make a mint off of this change.  "Quality" food hot and ready for you (all the love, none of the work...yea right!).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not on the "everybody runs to fast and we all need to slow down and sing some Earth Wind & Fire and things will be fixed...DOUBLE yea right!)

My point is this: You're not that big a deal.  Trust me.  There's people smarter, bigger, richer, nicer, taller, better-looking, and that care more about the things that you think you care a lot about.  I'm guilty, you're guilty...fact is, we have grown this crazy thought that the world revolves around us (I still wonder if I'm Truman, and you are all paid to hand around).  Running in and out of meetings, living off of Google Calendar, it's an epidemic that for the most part, has not been diagnosed.

In 20 years, my daughters won't remember that I only bought them organic winter coats from some ritzy story or that they had every Veggie Tales movie ever made.  They WILL remember that daddy had the best bed-time stories, and that time that I loved them more than I loved playing Madden on my PS3.  I don't want my kids to feel entitled to anything.  I don't want to feel like I'm entitled to anything...especially because at the end of the day...I'm really only entitled to one thing...