Month: March 2025

leadership dot #4567: rubble

March 21, 2025March 19, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In the movie Worth, Stanley Tucci’s character recounted what his wife told him: “Remember, you’re not the bridge.” She was referring to his effort where he dedicated two years of work and his life savings in an attempt to save a historic bridge. It failed. “The bridge is rubble, but I am not,” he recited as if a mantra.

Remembering that you aren’t the bridge is a good affirmation to repeat as needed. Our bond effort for the school district failed but we did not. This week teams will lose in the NCAA tournament but the players are not losers. Legislators unsuccessfully try to stop hurtful legislation but they are not the bill.

We often conflate our work, relationships, or projects with our identity but we are not those things. The next time something goes awry, remember that you aren’t the bridge either.

leadership dot #4566: filthy

March 20, 2025March 19, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplett1 Comment

An afternoon rain yesterday brought with it more than water. My car looks like someone melted a chocolate bar and poured it on my hood. The garbage containers and outdoor furniture were also covered in a brown layer of grime. The culprit was dust and wildfire smoke — from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas — that landed in Iowa. All that dirt was blown into the atmosphere and the jet stream brought it my way. Ugh.

As annoying as it was, it also served as a very tangible reminder that everything is connected. We may feel removed from wildfires in California, dust storms in Texas, or wars across the ocean, but the world is such that everything has implications for everyone. It happens on a small scale in organizations, too. The finance operations influence sales which affects human resources. It’s all tied together.

You may not believe that actions in Washington, Ukraine, or Texas have an impact on your daily lives, but they do. My filthy car just made the invisible linkages visible.

leadership dot #4565: quilt

March 19, 2025March 18, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

When you’re a start-up or beginning a new project, it’s analogous to making a quilt.

There are different ways to approach the work. In one scenario, you buy all the fabric and backing, cut out all the squares, set up your sewing area, and spend your time getting everything all ready to go. In another scenario, once you have the vision and the initial supplies, you begin sewing. At the end of the same increment of time, one person will have things all laid out, but the second person will have the initial rows of a sewn quilt. This allows others to see the results and get a tangible sense of what the vision will look like when it’s realized.

If you’re at the beginning stage of something new, it’s so tempting to spend all your efforts getting things in place. A more fruitful option may be to focus on one output that is important and make it visible as soon as possible. The process to get there may be messier than with the first person, but never underestimate the power of short-term results.

leadership dot #4564: awkward

March 18, 2025March 17, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

On the show Abbott Elementary, veteran teacher Mrs. Howard has to cajole the new substitute teacher into talking with the parent of a child who repeatedly comes late to class. “If you’re going to do this job, awkward conversations come with it. You need to learn to say what you need to get what you want,” she counsels him.

Howard’s advice is good for everyone, not just the new kid on the block. It may be uncomfortable to express your opinion or to request that someone alter their behavior but those conversations are precisely what help create change and provide you with the respect and resources you desire.

Awkward shouldn’t be a deal breaker. Instead, treat it as a sign that you are on the path toward saying what needs to be said.

leadership dot #4563: limited time

March 17, 2025March 13, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

One of the first food trucks in town offered hot beef and chicken sandwiches. At the time, food trucks were a novelty and the food was delicious, so it was a treat every time they were in the area. My colleagues and I were regulars at every opportunity.

Then the owners disbanded the food truck and opened two permanent locations — then closed one — and recently closed the other. It is a loss for the community.

Today — several years after their original venture — food trucks proliferate and most seem to do well. I think it’s because of the combination of scarcity and novelty. One truck comes into town every month or so and there are always lines. You need to eat there while you can because it literally won’t be there tomorrow.

A food truck has inherent urgency while a permanent restaurant must regenerate urgency on an ongoing basis. “Limited time only” is one of the oldest marketing phrases because it works.

leadership dot #4562: no llamas

March 16, 2025March 14, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

When I see signs that state the obvious, I always wonder what purpose they serve. Do the people who post them really believe that a simple sign will alter someone’s behavior?

Downtown Pittsburgh has “No Hate” signs posted throughout. Was someone planning to express hate until they saw that reminder?
Singapore has signs to discourage people from getting into fights. “A moment of anger; a lifetime of regret” (interestingly, in English). Does it stop people from throwing a punch?
Malaysia reminds people not to spit. Do you really need a sign for that?
And every women’s restroom seems to have signs pleading with people not to flush sanitary products or diapers down the toilet. It has never been acceptable to do — is a sign in every stall really necessary?

Since my student activities days, I have been obsessive about taking down advertisements and paper signs for out-of-date events. It was drilled into me that those are just clutter and detract from people paying attention to the real information. I feel the same way about obvious signs — posting about no hate, spitting, fighting, or flushing seems to obfuscate the legitimate signs that share pertinent information.

I am reminded of a concert we hosted where there were so many “no” signs (no drinks, no cameras, no recording, etc.) that our cheeky graphic artist created a “no llamas” sign to complete the set. I always think of that when I see signs that seem to state the obvious. Before you post about behavior as intuitive as “no llamas”, consider whether a sign will truly impact the outcome or just clutter the landscape.

leadership dot #4561: inauthentic

March 15, 2025March 13, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

My friend received a solicitation in the mail that was designed to look like a handwritten letter. It was personalized with his name, type of vehicle, and location, presumably to make it feel like a friend was writing you.

It was even very well done (the same letter looked different in different words like actual handwriting would), but it is just one more example of fakeness. So much is meant to look like something that it isn’t. Wouldn’t it be better if someone just mailed an ad or was upfront that this was a sales pitch instead of positioning it as a friendly chat?

The currency of the day is authenticity. You’ll get ahead by being unequivocal about who you are and what you’re up to rather than trying to appear as something else.

Thanks, Curt!

leadership dot #4560: slighted

March 14, 2025March 12, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

My friends and I have a monthly lunch at a local pizza place that sells pie by the slice. When we arrived during the prime lunch hour (noon), there weren’t enough slices made to serve us. The clerk apologized by saying they had received a big order and the pizzas for in-person wouldn’t be ready for about 20 minutes.

Fortunately, it was a social lunch and we all had time to wait but it was another example of external orders taking precedence over those who want to be served in person. At other restaurants, orders on the app are made while people are forced to wait in line. Businesses answer calls instead of tending to those in front of them. Staff are dedicated to personal shopping or delivering drive-up orders instead of working at registers for those in the store.

If you opt to operate a multi-channel business, you need to provide the resources to serve each of those components separately. Giving priority to only one piece of the pie isn’t enough.

leadership dot #4559: feels

March 13, 2025March 12, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

An interesting observation was made in an online comment among the many posts about Southwest Airlines’ “bags no longer fly free” policy change. One commenter noted that because of how the tax code is structured, even if Southwest lowers its fare and collects the same total, it will be taxed less on the fees and come out ahead. (In other words, a $300 fare is taxed higher than a $270 fare + a $30 bag fee).

That math may work out in their favor tax-wise, but it doesn’t take into account how it feels to a customer. A $300 fare and free bags feels better than $270+$30. BOGO sales are so popular because one free product feels better than two at half-price. Car rebates help the buyer feel like they got a deal. JCPenney learned the hard way that customers feel like they are getting a better price with coupons instead of routine discounts.

The tax code may appeal to the logical bottom line, but the emotional component of a transaction feels richer in the long term.

leadership dot #4558: USP

March 12, 2025March 11, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

If you know anything about marketing, you’ve heard about a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) — that component of your service or product that separates you from all your competitors. Southwest Airlines has benefitted from its USP of free baggage — one of the few carriers to still offer the perk. Until now. The airline announced that beginning May 28, that wildly popular feature is going away for all except those who purchase business class tickets.

I remember then-CEO Gary Kelly giving “an unambiguous thumbs down to the idea. We will not charge for bags,” he said. And ditto for change fees. “SWA would lose a billion dollars if we started doing those things.” That was in 2015, but a new CEO and new decade have obviously ushered in a different philosophy. Southwest recently changed its seating practices away from open seating and now is adding on fees and several other restrictions, making it even more like every other carrier.

Being unique or on the fringe is a scary place to be. It’s far more comfortable to gravitate toward the middle and be like everyone else. But the whole point of a USP is to make yourself different from others in your market, to embrace that difference, and to leverage it. Southwest certainly did that with its heavily promoted “bags fly free” benefit but it sold its soul. Good luck competing instead with the Universal Selling Proposition of lowest price.