Beware of claiming full responsibility, Part One

We all admire the courageous soul who steps and takes full responsibility for not only his actions, but the actions of others. It makes for great drama, it's impressive and sometimes it is indeed, the admirable, proper thing to do. But often, it is not smart, especially in business.

If a supplier takes full responsibility for a problem that the customer has primarily created, the customer will be happy and will share that with her superiors. The sad thing about this is that admission will take on a life of its own and will become reality: the supplier screwed up and did a sub-par job. That may be all it takes for the supplier to be fired. So much for for being courageous and taking full responsibility.

Perhaps the toughest and truly the most courageous thing to do is to be accurate in that situation. With great respect to the customer, communicate what role they played in this issue and of course, what role the supplier played. The truth requires real courage and sensitivity.

Being accurate and respectful is not as dramatic, but who needs more drama?

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Exposure

As things change, as opportunities arise, as new products are created, as new stores are opened, as new employees are hired, as new competitors appear, as new expectations are presented:

We are exposed. For good, or not so good.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/

Cheers

It costs a little more to do the remarkable or the memorable. But it is almost always worth it. For this year's LaBov & Beyond Christmas Party, we are serving LaBov & Beyond branded wine, with custom labels created by our team. We worked in conjunction with a fantastic winery and my favorite wine maven, Deborah Serval, who was a great help.

We named the wines after the five locations we have:

Rocky Mountain Riesling (Colorado)
Sonoran Last Sirah (Arizona)
Speedway Viognier (Indianapolis, IN)
Mad Tony Merlot (honoring Mad Anthony Wayne, the namesake of Fort Wayne, IN )
Motor City Cab (Detroit)

It was a true team effort and it will reap benefits as we ordered enough wines to share throughout the next year with clients, employees and friends. It's inspirational, it supports our brand and it's fun. What else matters?

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond
http://www.labov.com/