Month: November 2025

leadership dot #4797: birth dates

November 20, 2025November 19, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Many consumer databases store information about customers, including their birth dates. Companies then use this information to send marketing messages designed to feel personal because they include birthday information.

Such was the case with a birthday card my dog received from Chewy. The message was handwritten and offered a 20% discount on Birthday Shop items — very nice — only it arrived two days after Emma’s birthday. Even if it had arrived on time, the window for me to purchase special dog-themed birthday treats would have passed. It would have been more effective to have sent it to me weeks in advance with a “Emma’s birthday is coming…” message.

A company that understood birthday timing comes from JetBlue, which sent my sister an email in August, encouraging her to plan a getaway for her November birthday. It stood out from the flood of emails sent around the actual birth date and appropriately encouraged action in a timely manner.

Like any other data point, it’s how and when you use it that is key. Using it incorrectly is worse than not using it at all.

leadership dot #4796: elbow

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

While working in the garage, I tripped and received a cut right on the ball of my elbow. Due to the location of this cut, it has been difficult for it to heal fully. I keep bending that joint, leaning on it, or touching it to another surface, and the pain reverberates. It’s an outsized impact given the (lack of) size of the wound.

I think of people who have outsized impacts in an organization — either positively or negatively. Some positions are central to the action — and for those, you should invest extra resources to ensure you have the best in that role. There are others whose work is less vital to the mission and causes fewer ripple effects.

Who are your “elbow” people — those who connect to others and are involved in myriad activities and processes? It’s worth your energy and care to ensure they are operating at the highest level.

leadership dot #4795: square

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

Professional presence or gravitas is one of those things you know when you see it, but can be hard to describe. A colleague solved that problem, though, with this description: On a remote call, does their box seem larger than the others, or, conversely, does someone who lacks it always seem to have a box that’s too small?

Think about how you carry yourself in situations and whether you fill the room with energy or shrink your presence. On a remote call, are you learning forward and engaged, or meekly waiting in the background as a listener instead of a participant? Do you display initiative or wait to be told? Are you confident or unsure?

It may be hard to quantify these characteristics or to identify the traits in yourself, but the next time you are on one of those calls with Brady Bunch-like squares, pay attention to the contributions others (and yourself) make. How big does your square appear?

leadership dot #4794: blast

November 17, 2025November 14, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The drive-thru at Arby’s featured a quick mnemonic to help employees deliver good customer service in the event of a problem:

B = Believe — Don’t question, Don’t argue, Always believe the guest.
L = Listen — Give your full attention. Let the guest speak uninterrupted.
A = Apologize — Be genuinely sorry. Show sympathy and ownership to change the situation.
S = Solve — Fix the problem and go above and beyond to exceed their expectations.
T = Thank — Make the guest feel as your #1 priority. Make sure the guest is happy.

I think their BLAST model is applicable beyond fast food and can help you address most situations where someone is upset with you. The next time you’re faced with a customer with anger blasting out of their ears, give it a try and see if you can’t blast their grievance away.

leadership dot #4793: granted

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

I received an email highlighting all the changes in the latest version of the Canva design software. Instead of merely listing the new features, each was tagged with a notation that it was a “community wish” that had been granted by the developers.

I’m sure that many upgrades in other apps or software programs come about because of user requests, but it was impressive how intentional Canva was about the explicit connection between feedback and changes. It made me inclined to give them suggestions in the future, believing that they may actually take action on them. It was also a sign that the changes may actually be useful instead of updates for updates’ sake (as it feels like with other app enhancements).

If you are taking customer feedback to heart, be like Canva and let people know that you are granting their wishes!

Screenshot

leadership dot #4792: entropy

November 15, 2025November 14, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

In the lobby, there is a beautiful and prominent display of the university’s history. When it was first designed in 2019, it was current up until that time. Since then, only the new president has been added. It still has the Student of the Year from 2019, makes no mention of new buildings, and does not account for additional sports. If the new president wasn’t featured and it remained from the founding to 2019, it would make sense to me, but adding one update without others seems inconsistent.

I’ve seen other “permanent” displays that look wonderful at inception, but lose their luster when data or photos are out of date. One display features statistics of donor giving and impact from 2017. It’s so much a part of the fabric that I doubt those who work there even see it anymore, thus, never think to change it.

Think carefully before creating any display that showcases materials that will be there over the long term. Time often flies by more quickly than the curators account for, and no one is tasked with updating responsibilities. Soon, the message sent from the display is entropy rather than information.

leadership dot #4791: control it

November 14, 2025November 13, 2025by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

The ability to be a leader at work starts with your calendar. It’s advice I have given to several of my coachees as pushback to their excuses about not having time to do the things those in supervisory roles should do.

In my experience, a key to success is controlling your calendar. YOU put your priorities on there first — everything from board meetings to 1:1s with staff. YOU block out the time you know you will need for administrative functions: prep time for big meetings/events, catchup time after being gone for conferences or PTO, and time to think. You claim vacation and R&R time while the future months have free blocks for it. If a standing meeting typically goes long, be realistic and block out that “long” time instead of getting behind.

If you allow it, your calendar will be cluttered with non-essential meetings instead of time for strategy. Your calendar drives your day so YOU sit in the driver’s seat before ceding control of it to others who see open slots on your calendar and fill them.

Vigorously and intentionally own your calendar in ways that allow you time to lead.

leadership dot #4790: continuous

November 13, 2025March 4, 2026by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

There are some investments that are one-and-done: you pay once and no further payouts are required. Others, though, require ongoing expenses and should be considered when making the initial purchase, even though people don’t always think that far ahead.

Examples:

Buying a couch vs. buying a house
Placing a bench vs. installing a sidewalk that needs to be shoveled
Buying new tires vs. purchasing a car
Paving an entrance vs. providing landscaping that needs tending
Going on a trip vs. buying a boat
Buying new equipment vs. hiring someone
Fostering a pet vs. adopting one

I’m acutely aware of the expenses involved in the latter, as my dog requires ACL surgery. Let’s just say that with the pre-surgery bloodwork and sedation x-rays, the surgery itself, the medications, and the post-surgery physical therapy, it’s not cheap. Did I think about any of these expenses when I decided to bring home that cute bundle of fur eight years ago? I did not.

While you may not be able to accurately predict what future investments will be required, it’s wise to consider what kind of purchase you’re making before you make it. Calculate not only the initial cost but also factor in your ability to provide additional resources in the future.

leadership dot #4789: error message

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

Early bird readers may have noticed that yesterday’s dot was delayed. It’s because when I went to publish it on Monday, I received a message: “The editor has encountered an unexpected error.” Not what you want to see!

So, I contacted my friend who knows WordPress, and he tried to troubleshoot to no avail. Finally, I contacted WordPress support and had a lovely chat with a “Happiness Engineer.” Through him, I learned that it was related to a recent update to the WP editor, and there is “currently a known conflict between this new version of the editor and some plugins.” The Engineer disabled my plugin and, wa-la, everything worked as it should.

While I was grateful for the quick response and easy fix, if this was a “known conflict,” why was it only known to them and not to the customers? I spent time trying to resolve it and went back multiple times attempting to post. My friend wasted time on Monday and Tuesday working on it. Why didn’t the Happiness Engineer send out a message to everyone before?

If you are doing work that causes a disruption, take care to notify those you know will obviously be affected. Send out alerts when a road will be under construction, a business will be closed, or a piece of software will be unavailable. You can engineer a lot more happiness by being proactive instead of reactive.

leadership dot #4788: close

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

Many years ago, an advertisement for the Gateway Arch proclaimed, “You can’t see it from your car.” Of course, you could see it, but what the promotion was pointing out was that you couldn’t fully grasp the magnitude of the monument from far away; rather, you needed to be next to it to fully embrace its scale.

I was reminded of this when I was doing candidate literature drop in one of our poorer neighborhoods. I’ve driven through there many times, but never walked the area and went up to houses. In doing so, I was able to see the poverty in a new way – crumbling steps that were precarious to climb, porches filled to the brim with hoarding, overgrown yards, and houses in serious need of repair. It gave a new perspective on the needs and the reasons why they opposed any tax increase, even for a good cause.

It’s easy to sit in an office and look at data, but it’s far better to experience your customers firsthand. Get out of your car!