The conventional incentive rewards the individual...usually with something monetary. Like so many things, incentives have evolved and become more complicated than a simple financial incentive. Not everyone is money motivated. A personal example: As long as I am earning what I need, money is not a motivator for me. I am, instead, motivated by discovery and [...]
I love the story of two little boys fighting over the last piece of cake. Mom comes into the kitchen as they are pushing and shoving and with "Solomon - like" wisdom says, "Johnny, Billy, there is enough for both of you. Johnny I want you to cut the cake into two pieces and Billy [...]
Sociologists have discovered there is a saying in every culture that is best illustrated by the title to this article (which is the Chinese version). Basically, it refers to the lowly peasant who works hard to break out of the rice paddy life by starting a business which he then passes on to his heirs. [...]
We live in a litigious society. More and more practitioners are ending up in lawsuits. Often it isn't really their fault. Lawyers will tell you to make sure you always CYA! Richard Callahan, former funeral home owner and funeral director has spent the last 20 years of his career as an Expert Witness in a [...]
Most of us know that success requires that we spend, at least, some time working "on" our business instead of "in" our business. Yet, in practice, we find this piece of essential wisdom to be nothing more than a tired cliche'. Having spent the bulk of my career studying funeral practitioners and all of my [...]
Many years ago I fell prey to a "woe-is-me" episode. A friend made an offhand comment that changed my life direction and I want to share it with you. But, first, let me say that his comment really offended me. That's a true friend...someone who tells you what you NEED to hear regardless of how it [...]
The prevailing culture in funeral service is Passive Aggressive. I have talked about the "ten call man" before and how that person subversively undermines a business. But, unwittingly, owners and staff can undermine themselves. Here are 5 ways you can commit "self-sabotage." Never permit short cuts. It's necessary to establish procedures and rules to avoid [...]
Some years ago a study was conducted. A group of people were divided into "tappers" and "listeners". The tappers were asked to pick a popular tune and tap it out and the listeners were asked to identify it. The study found that the "tappers" predicted that the listeners got it right at least 50% of [...]
Every once in a while you run across something that is so sound that you can't improve on it. This advice from Daniel Pink is one of those. Watch this 81 second video and you will see what I mean.
I like the approach demonstrated in the attached picture. My friend, David Storke, shows this wicker green burial casket on top of his rental. He tells me that he no longer has any trouble explaining "combustible" caskets to his families, the wicker casket is a great conversation piece (he has sold 2 for "green" burial) [...]
