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The opposite of honesty isn’t lying. It’s omitting. Instead of saying how we really feel, we say nothing. Instead of telling the truth, we tell ourselves to keep quiet. And the result is very dangerous form of dishonesty. For most of my life, I was an omitter: Happy to share my feelings when asked, but hesitant to volunteer my feelings the rest of the time. I had girlfriends who…

Wow is the distance between expectation and experience. And the bigger we make that gap, the bigger impact we have. In the service world, when our interactions are over the top for no good reason, when we deliver so much wow that clients have no choice but to tell their friends, people love us forever. Even if it’s as simple as sending a text message to someone who took…

Success doesn’t just breed success – it breeds expectation. “I’ve seen your trick, what’s next?” That’s what our audiences demand. That’s what keeps them coming back for more. Which, from the standpoint of productivity, is great. People’s craving for novelty is a helpful probe to keep us relevant and keep us on top of our creative game. It reminds us that we should always throw a few new songs…

I come from a long line of merchandisers. Every generation of my family, going back to The Great Depression, was in the business of promoting and selling their wares. Shoes, hard lines, cookware, apparel, gifts, closeouts, discount goods, problem inventories, they’ve peddled it all. So when I started own company ten years ago, I followed suit. The only difference was, my product was intangible. As a writer, publisher, performer…

LET ME ASK YA THIS… What are you the answer to? LET ME SUGGEST THIS… For the list called, “62 Types of Questions and Why They Work,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free! * * * * Scott Ginsberg That Guy with the Nametag Writing, Publishing, Performing, Consulting [email protected] Never the same speech twice. Customized for your audience. Impossible to walk away uninspired….

I’ve always been told that art should speak for itself. That our job is to do the work, the work’s job is to speak for the work, and any attempt to make grand claims about what the work is, what it’s supposed to do or what people should think about it, is bad form.                                                             And yet, every time I go to an art museum, watch a documentary or…

Every one of my nametags is handwritten. People assume they’re printed because they all look the same, but I assure them that I personally write every single one. And not just because I’m an anal retentive obsessive compulsive control freak. There is a method behind the madness. My brand is done by hand. By writing the nametags myself, I inject soul into my conversations. I give my values a…

When we work for someone else, the question that rules our world is: “Who’s going to let me?” When we work for ourselves, the question that rules our world is: “Who’s going to stop me?” That’s the draw. That’s the biggest advantage to self-employment. That’s why forty-one million people in this country work for themselves. It’s not a financial thing — it’s a freedom thing. Freedom in a physical…

We can love what we do, but we can’t fall in love with what we do. That type of attachment will be the end of us. Nothing against love, but when we’re smitten by our own enterprise, hopelessly enchanted by our own work, the blinders of the heart obstruct the vision of the brand. And like Narcissus, infatuated with our own reflection, we can’t see what’s obvious, practical and…

Nobody knows how to be good customer anymore. We’ve learned everything there is to know about acting hospitable, establishing comfort, building trust, anticipating needs, communicating messages, creating memories, fixing problems, managing interactions, exceeding expectations, collecting feedback, extending generosity and earning loyalty. But when the tables are turned, when we’re the ones being served, we suck. Entitlement trumps respect, impatience trumps appreciation, rudeness trumps understanding and greed trumps civility. Who…