FedEx principles

Every company has a set of guiding principles on which it’s journey is cemented. These guiding principles come from the founders. 

The author of the customer chapter has written the principles of FedEx in the book. I am adding a condensed except below: 

  1. Our People: Our people are free to express themselves- their likes and dislikes towards each other and towards the company as a whole. 
  2.  Our Service: Our on-time delivery is consistently at 95% or better regardless of the obstacles. We treat every customer contact as we want to be treated. 
  3. Our profit: The ideal station doesn’t treat profit as an end, but rather as a means to an end- a way to grow, a way to attain a higher standard of living, a way to provide more jobs- jobs that are not make-work because we want to cover every potential challenge, but rather jobs that have the challenge of life- jobs that require ideas, decisions, and actions- jobs that provide expression to each individual in each of these areas with the result being the positive feelings of a job well done. 
  4. Our workplace: The ideal station recognizes the need for cleanliness and organization to provide each individual the ability to live up to his or her potential. 
  5. Our Interface: The ideal station team members realize that their station is not an island. It is part of a system- a greater team of individuals who need certain things to do their part-on-time departures, accurate and timely reporting, attention-to-details in every step. 

customer culture system

The playbook of Frank Chamberlain as narrated by Michel Basche in his book customer culture.

Frank defined the playbook as keeping customers in the core and making organizations, employees, and stakeholders successful via these.

  1. Vision: The overriding objective(and vision) is to become profitable. We will do everything possible to become profitable. And all are responsible.
  2. Values: Integrity, honesty, openness, delegation, decentralization. 
  3. Goals: Living the values(employee), financial performance(owner), and customer satisfaction(customer).
  4. Relevance: Frank makes achieving the goals relevant to his people in the usual ways with one twist. He makes sure they are listened to and given a sense of control over their destiny.
  5. Feedback: Feedback is everywhere. Once you have established honesty and openness, everything is out there. 
  6. Accountability: People are given trust and responsibility, but they must perform. There are no excuses, and each person is held accountable. 
  7. Actions: It is clear that delegations go as far down the organization as people are ready to accept it. 

pain

No one has time to listen to your pain, hence the world you are in focus on a smile, making others feel successful. Your pain has to be cured by your self-introspection. Who knows, if the pain is our mental manifest?

As a leader, you are the therapists, parents, guide mentor. You are leading the ship, your mood, move reflects directly on your team. Hence put on a brave face and lead. There is no room for mistakes or showing your vulnerability.

In this world, we cheer for positivity, and pain gets no mention. Go to social media portals and post happy things: people will comment and like. Some whom you have never met personally and gives rats ass in reality. Social media harvests on it via clicks, likes, and pageviews.

You have to share your pain with a few, the ones who are closer to you. The ones if lived longer than you will be at your funeral. For the rest, you have to put on a big smile and keep moving. Nobody likes to be around with people who are in pain.

lyrics

Some songs have got such meaning that it shows your life’s philosophy.

YouTube algorithm played this song for me. The song is in the loop for the past few days. The song has wisdom shared by Bulleh Shah, a famous Sufi saint. One positive side of moving to Delhi and living for a decade was picking Punjabi.

वेख फरीदा मिटटी खुल्ली ( कब्र )
मिटटी उठाये मिट्टी ढुल्ली ( लाश )
मिटटी हांसे मिटटी रोवे ( इंसान )
अंत मिटटी दा मिटटी होव ( जिस्म )

वेख फरीदा
वेख फरीदा

ना कर बंदिया मेरी मेरी

ना ये तेरी ना ये मेरी

चार दिना दा दुनिया मेला

फेर मिटटी दी बन गयी ढेरी

ना कर एथा हेरा फेरी

मिटटी नाल ना धोखा कर तू

तू भी मिटटी में भी मिटटी

जात पात दी गल ना कर तू

जात भी मिटटी पात भी मिटटी

जात सिर्फ खुदा दी ऊँची

बाकी सब मिटटी मिटटी

वेख फरीदा
वेख फरीदा

वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ मन विच अन्दर वसदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ हर वेले मेनू दिसदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ कण कण दे विच बस्दा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ अक्खा दे विच मेरे वसदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ जगमग जगमग करदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ रात नु क्यों फिरदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ गल्ला कुछ कुछ करदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
ओ ना अली दा लेनदा ए
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
वे जुगनी केह्न्दी आ
चढ्दे सूरज ढलते देखे
बुझदे दिवे बलदे देखे
हीरे दा कोई मोल ना जाने
खोटे सिक्के चलदे देखे
चढ्दे सूरज ढलते देखे
बुझदे दिवे बलदे देखे
हीरे दा कोई मोल ना जाने
खोटे सिक्के चलदे देखे
जीना दा ना जग ते कोई
ओ भी पूतर पलदे देखे
उसदी रहमत दे नाल बन्दे
पानी उत्थे चलदे देखे

Translation credit: Manoj Sahay

Change

Change requires commitment and belief that a user’s life will get much better with it. Our human tendency is to stick to the default. We cannot change it overnight. The change will happen if :

  • The solution is better than the existing one.  
  • The user is committed to using it.

Some other steps which will help with change come down to:

  1. Present the idea: People feel more comfortable when they are part of the change. When done with a group of people, everyone feels part of it instead of being alone.
  2. Identify the pulses: People see negatives first. It is one of the dynamics of change. Focus on positives. 
  3. Have people express their obstacles. Let users talk in “how to” instead ” you cannot”. 
  4. Work the problems together by getting ideas on how to resolve the issues. People should involve together in solving the problem.
  5. Develop next steps: Work closely, iterate, and find out the immediate pain and fix it. 
  6. Follow up: talk to the users regularly and take feedback.

Reference: customer culture by Michael Basch

Together

Since we have crossed the webinar and thought leadership around entrepreneurship during COVID19, I can write it.

This COVID19 is a test of your leadership. All your principles painted on companies’ walls in huge fonts will be tested. Everyone will look upon you: customers, investors, and team members.

Now is the time to find real team players and customers, who are with you as a team as a believer. Everything is at the test: virtue, loyalty, love, trust, empathy. One day you feel winning, another in the rubble.

As a leader, this is the best time to build for the future. You have to lead it from the front and as a root sparkle your positivity among all. It is not easy, but remember breathing is not easy either.

The belief that we are all in it together is going to differentiate your team from the rest. It is time to mold freshers and cement them for future leadership.

kid

I understand the world we are in runs on money. We have to run, crawl, sweat for it. It is not easy to earn a respectable living considering the economy and price rise.

A newborn child or a growing child needs love as much as he needs a diaper, cereal, milk, or iPad. Growing up in a toxic family where parents are drunk, fighting will create havoc on his worldview. His growth will adversely be affected.

The money you will leave for him will worth nothing because he mentally undeveloped.

Your kid needs equal love, empathy, and family conditions for his growth. He needs mother and father to get mentored from, hear lullaby before he goes off for sleep. He needs his dad as a friend who will teach him how to ride, go fishing, hunting, or mend fences.

fear

I was unaware of what fear of death could do to a relationship. I am starting to see a trend in the elderly population and taking the challenge of COVID19 together.

On other occasions, they lived on their own. Sometimes the same roof with a different ideology, viewpoints, and opinions. I am seeing change happening, couples uniting and working together, and taking precautions, taking care of each other.

Fear of death via COVID19 will foster bonding among broken relationships I had never anticipated. It is like two poles uniting, something unheard of in physics.

comfortable

How many founders build a company where employees feel part of the journey, A sort of comfort which goes beyond salary stock options. Where the employee feels he is part of building the rocket ship, his voice gets heard and where he gets love and respect.

I have seen many founders change their persona and offloading the entire culture to their subordinates and end up re-writing culture with their limitations. The organization ends up being multiple silos and everyone fighting for superiority.

The brand ends up becoming a living zombie. What kind of company are you building? One where there exists radical transparency, openness, or where everything goes to rock bottom?

An organization is not to serve the persona of a founder but a rocketship where every member plays their role.

Are you making yourself comfortable or your team comfortable or overall a comfortable organization?

shut down

Are you killing yourself with information overflow? So much so that you have forgotten about your life. Your attention span has gone to shit?
Is your brain confused with multiple things at the same time?

How do you take control of yourself and your consciousness? Is there a way to get back your lost focus?

Is a simple approach is to close your gadgets and disappear from humans around?

What is the quick way to Shut Down everything to get back finding yourself?