Meetings, and Mirrors, and Men With… Trash?

I’d like to have money. And I’d like to be a good writer. These two can come together, and I hope they will, but if that’s too adorable, I’d rather have money.
—Dorothy Parker

Dear readers and friends, crowd around the table. Having you join our luncheon once again is every bit as fine as getting a check in the mail! I’ve invited new friends and old to share their fresh perspective. I hope you’ll enjoy getting to know them—leave them a comment, and come on back to share your thoughts around the Maximum Customer Experience Round Table!

As the bartender clinks cool cubes into your glass, let us open the Round Table with the hilarious How to Be Miserable at A Daring Adventure, a video post from Tim Brownson that’s already as classic as a Whisky Sour.

It’s always the quiet ones… At Noisy Decent Graphics, Ben Terrett’s What Brands Can Learn From Euronews is a quiet post with solid thought (please, what is this logo all about?), good comments, and super links if you want to dive deeper into the troubles with fancy-schmancy brand redesign. The Big Boys don’t always get it right just because they’re Big.

For many of you, writing a blog may be part of your business plan, but are patience and gratitude? Though I don’t usually blog about blogging here, I’m lucky to have friends who do. This week James Chartrand made a simple musical metaphor into a comfort, a conversation-starter, and an opportunity to get silly that Mrs. Parker would have loved. Are You Struggling Over a Small Readership at Men With Pens. Savor this one.

If you recognized yourself or your staff in #3 on yesterday’s 10 Things I Hate post, then you must read Seth Godin’s Getting Serious About Your Meeting Problem. Pass the link on, print it out and send it via interoffice mail, or skywrite the URL above the CEO’s building. If you’re the CEO, this is a great place to begin your crusade to end waste. (I have to tell you, Seth: Here at the MCE Round Table, there’ll be no egg timers.)

As I prepared to give away books to loyal readers of MCE last week, I was in a tizzy trying to pick only the most essential, MCE-relevant reads. One book that just missed the cut was Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein. From a link on the Nudge blog comes this Good Morning America segment: Can a Nudge Change Behavior Patterns? This is a hidden-camera experiment you have to see to believe.

Ted Mininni’s One Man’s Trash at TheDieline.com is not just a story about an artist Dorothy Parker and her witty friends would have loved to discuss, but it’s also the most entertaining business model I’ve heard of in a long time. Justin Gignac’s creativity is a kick in the pants, just right for rolling out the door of the Algonquin after a leisurely meal of food-for-thought.

Hopefully you’ve been nudged to take a spin with some of these hidden delights. Let’s do lunch again soon!

Love ‘em? Hate ‘em? Learn something fantastic as you clicked around? Think I missed the best one of the week? Please share in the comments!

 

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

If you’re going to write, don’t pretend to write down. It’s going to be the best you can do, and it’s the fact that it’s the best you can do that kills you.
—Dorothy Parker

 

Previously, Mrs. Erickson and the Vision Circle (that’s you) entertained:

Announcing the Round Table

Commandos, Tweets, The Onion, and Google—Yes!

Tell Me a Story…

Your Big Mouth and Other Biting (Wit)

Post to Twitter Tweet This!