Guest Blog Author: Michael Bowling, VP of National Sales at ContactUS
I don’t know if it was specifically planned this way or not, but if I had to come up with a personal theme for the various keynote sessions at the most recent ICMI conference in Fort Lauderdale, I would say “reflection and positivity” is a good start. At the end of the day, all of us in the room have the difficult, exciting, frustrating, fulfilling, and constantly evolving job of keeping our customers happy, even when the brands we support (and factors often outside of our control) don’t always do so. It’s easy to forget, at times, that we’re humans too, and that we need to take care of ourselves in order to get the very best out of others.
Henry Winkler (the Fonz himself) delighted the crowd, during his Keynote session, with a funny and heartfelt overview of his early years, the lucky breaks he got along the way that helped him become an actor, and with lots of personal stories about his wife, kids, dogs, and experiences throughout. He also shared, however, some dark times he has faced and, very powerfully, some things we all need to think carefully about, in order to live our best lives. For example:
- Your words are so very powerful, use them wisely! Henry was learning-challenged (and failed most of his classes) as a kid. His immigrant parents constantly called him a “dummer Hund” (dumb dog in German), he took (and repeated) Geometry 6 times before he finally passed, and he only participated in two school plays his entire school career because of grades. He was, for good reason, quite “down on himself” until an 11th Grade Teacher (Mr. Rock) said “Henry, I believe in you!” Four simple words (I believe in you) changed Henry’s whole attitude. He started to believe that he “could”, despite the obstacles, and he’s kept that positive outlook on life throughout his entire career.
- Don’t put a period on the end of a negative thought! If you finish a negative thought, it becomes a sentence. Sentences become paragraphs and paragraphs become “your story”. BREAK THE HABIT. Fill yourself and the environment with positivity, and always be willing to try anything. You don’t know if you can do something, until you try so “I’ll try” has become Henry’s personal mantra.
At age 31, well after Henry became “the Fonz” he learned he had dyslexia. However, it’s been the power of positivity that’s allowed Henry to be successful in his life. He’s now a successful author, can “fly fish” with the best of them, gives back to children’s causes with abandon and advocates, knowing how powerful words can be, that we “teach our kids to fly and meet their destiny” with words like “I believe in you” rather than “dummer Hund”. GOOD STUFF!
About CH Consulting Group
CH Consulting Group is a business management consulting company that is comprised of a nationwide team of Customer Experience Consultants who specialize in the Omni-Channel Contact Center. We are Thought Leaders from multiple industries with more than 250 years of combined industry experience and a far-reaching network of contacts in the space that can help support all our clients’ needs. We help navigate the needs of our clients with a creative, holistic and collaborative methodology, bringing a proven track record, the right tools, services, and processes to the table for both immediate value and long-term success.
About ContactUS
ContactUS Communications is a U.S. based contact center services organization supporting global brands across a variety of industries. Our highly experienced management team delivers outsourced customer care, inbound and outbound sales, customer retention and win-back programs, as well as technical support. More recently, we have launched our technologies division focused on value-added integrations to CX Cloud software providers and launching our own software solutions focused on the customer journey.
