Phil Gerbyshak & I

Phil Gerbyshak & I Originally uploaded by shersteve What defines a great vacation? For me: 1 - some time reading (in this case on the plane) 2 - some time writing (here and elsewhere, of course!) 3 - some time with family (my brother Bob's in this case) 4 - some exercise (how about those long walks, Lisa?) 5 - exploring new places (Milwaukee, WI) 6 - meeting good friends (Phil Gerbyshak and his wife, Kim in this case) Yes, Phil and I got to take the "blog off the blog" again when we managed to rendezvous with his wife at Alterra's along the Milwaukee waterfront on Sunday. There was some trepidation about taking my wife, brother and his wife to meet with Phil and his wife; but I already knew enough of Phil that I KNEW it was going to be a good time. As short as the time was together, there were very little breaks in the conversation as we discussed gardening, solved half the world's problems, and oh, yes spent a little time talking about blogging and this Web 2.0 thing. Making connections, extending the relationships, sharing and exploring, all goodness. Kim and Phil, thanks for taking time from your Sunday to meet with us. It was a pleasure!

Hospitality ... is a dialogue

Understanding the distinction between service and hospitality has been at the foundation of our success. Service is the technical delivery of a product. Hospitality is how the delivery of that product makes its recipients feel. Service is a monologue--- we decide how we want to do things and set our own standards for service. Hospitality, on the other hand, is a dialogue. To be on a guest's side requires listening to that person with every sense, and following up with a thoughtful, gracious, appropriate response. It takes both great service and great hospitality to rise to the top. From Danny Meyer's Setting the Table

Rapid Fire Learning - May 2007

Another month slips from us this year. Five down, seven remain. Taking stock of the learnings with a few days left this month I find: Good customer service is still possible Good news can be found Franklin took one step towards self-sufficiency but the road ahead is still fraught with troubles Surprise, I am not alone in believing in life, long learning Danny Meyer's "always be collecting the dots" What have you learned this month? Share it here in a comment, or write about it on your blog and trackback to Terry Starbucker's posting on Joyful, Jubilant Learning.