I decided a long time ago that if I were ever in charge of a group of people, I would not treat them the way that many of my bosses treated me. The early days of my career as a graphic artist were spent chained to an art table cranking out production work-as fast as my fingers could cut and paste it together. My bosses were notorious for over promising delivery dates so they could get the project. "Sure, we can have that four-color brochure for you by week's end" and it was Monday and it had to be designed, written, type spec'd and pasted together. Then proofed and corrections made before it could go to a printer. It made for some very long days and even longer nights. I would go home at 11pm and be back at 7am, pizza for lunch and dinner and no exercise or life outside of my job. I was lucky to have a 2-day weekend. And I was rarely thanked or told that I was doing a good job. The 2am press approvals didn't buy me any "trade" time either. I was expected to suck it up and come in no matter how long I had worked the day and night before. It resembled what it must have felt like to work in a sweat factory, without the heat.

Today, I get to care for the creative team here at Current and I know the time I make to say "thank you" and "great work" goes a long way. You see in the ad business, people tend to move from shop to shop. They often live in a combative environment and get fed up and move on. There's an enormous cost associated with turnover and as a business owner it is much easier to retain a great employee than train a new one. And each creative is assigned a book of business so they gather and retain quite a bit of knowledge for the clients and industries they work on. It takes a long time to get a newbie up to speed and producing work that's on target and consistent with the brand strategy.

And it's more than just expressing our appreciation. We have company lunches a few times per month, we play volleyball together, we have fun employee meetings where we play games and openly share our operating numbers so that everyone in our company knows how we are doing. We send people to seminars and classes, we pay for them to be members of clubs and networks. We participate in several Kentucky Derby Festival events like the Run for the Rosé and The Bed Races. We have "partner days" every summer where everyone is given every other Friday off so they can enjoy some 3-day weekends with their friends and families. We have fabulous prizes at our kickass Christmas party each year. We play hard-- when time allows -- because we work hard.

And how do we manage all of this and have fun too? We have a full-time traffic person and the best ad agency software system, CurrentTrack, that allows us to plan our work so people can go home at a decent hour every night and have a life balance that keeps them and their families very happy.

And when you have happy, healthy employees, the work they produce is better.

I hate this phrase. And now that I have pointed it out, you'll probably begin to notice how many folks use it. What bothers me about "no problem" is that it insinuates that whatever we were discussing WAS A PROBLEM. Let's say I am at a restaurant and the server refills my water glass -- I politely say "thank you." The response from the server is more often than not, "no problem." So does that mean it WAS A PROBLEM but they have taken care of it, so now it is not? If you're a server, it is part of your job to keep my water glass filled, so it better not be a problem. The proper response in that scenario is, "MY PLEASURE!" or "YOU'RE WELCOME." Saying "NO PROBLEM" sounds like the person is some sort of miracle worker and they made the nagging situation disappear. Makes me want to ask, "Who made you God and the master of making problems vaporize?" It contains a hint of superiority that I resent. And every time I hear it, I want to ask, "if there actually was a problem, because for some reason you just told me you solved it."

There are so many ways to answer a person when they show appreciation. Phrases like, "my pleasure, happy to help, you're welcome, you bet or anytime” (although that word gets a little vague for me) can easily replace "NO PROBLEM."

The guy shares my sentiment completely…about half way into his sermon.
http://www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/viewsermon.aspx?id=29

To make matters worse, there is a TTY Abbreviation for "NO PROBLEM" (NP). Luckily, THX (Thanks) and TY (Thank You) are also on the list so I don't have to settle for NP. I don't see one for "My Pleasure" but maybe that would be conveyed with symbols or XXX's?

The unadorned "Thanks" is another pet peeve of mine. Do you end all of your emails with this? I think people do it without thinking. When I see it I wonder what they are thanking me for. It has become a routine ending for many emails I receive. And yes, I did it myself, for a while, until I realized it had become a habit.

And while I'm on a roll, have you ever known someone who says they are "sorry" all the time? They immediately take the blame or accept responsibility when in fact it may not be necessary. It almost feels like a deflection so the "rant" won't continue. Or maybe their self-esteem is in bad shape and they're into self-punishment? Women tend to say "sorry" more than men. I think sometimes we feel intimidated into taking the blame and it's easier than standing up. "I'm sorry" should be used to show compassion or followed with asking forgiveness for something you really feel bad about.

Bottom line, think about what comes out of your mouth. And if Luke calls me "dude" one more time I am going to cover his workspace with post it notes when he's not around.

I have come to the conclusion that most of us accept average, and even poor, service.

How many times have you had an issue during a meal dining out and not bothered to complain or correct the issue? Maybe you don’t want to be any trouble. Perhaps you fear the cook will put a little “something” on your re-cook and the thought of that compels you to settle for what has been placed in front of you. And even on the way out of the restaurant, if the hostess asks if everything was O.K., you say “just fine” and leave it at that because you believe they won’t/can’t do anything about it anyway.

We market Tumbleweed and one of our successful efforts for 2007/08 was our idea to create TellTumbleweed where the customer can share their dining experience, good or bad. It has been amazing the response we continue to receive. We ran a series of ads featuring the CEO asking folks to “try” the restaurant and let him know how things went. His genuine interest in the customers’ experiences brought people back in who may have “given up”. Some folks reported they had never even tried the place and because of the commercial, they went there for the first time. Others used the site to vent about an over seasoned steak or a less than WOW server. And Tumbleweed responded to each and every one of the comments posted to the site, carrying the message to the area directors, store managers, operations and the employees. It was a level of accountability that made me feel great about marketing our client.

The worst thing a business can do is spend money on a great ad campaign, get the folks in the door and then fail to deliver fantastic product and service. Nothing travels faster than a bad experience. The old adage is that you’ll tell ten people about the bad time and 2-3 if it was a great time.
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As I continue to think about the place I would like to create for all of us to come to work each day-it occurred to me that having a dog around would add yet another bit of character to our already "colorful" environment. I read that having pets around help keep blood pressure low and productivity high.

And in our line of work, anything healthy that can lower stress and make us laugh from time to time -- and doesn't involve alcohol or illegal drugs -- is worth a try. So, MONA (who was an anniversary gift in November) started working at CurrentMarketing at 7 weeks old. And she was a hit from the moment she joined our team.

MONA is a GoldenDoodle, one of those "designer" dogs with a Standard Poodle as her father and a Golden Retriever as her mum. Her paws are ginormous and so we're guessing she will get to 60-70lbs. She doesn't shed much at all-just some light fuzz.

And the fact that she is hypo-allergenic makes her an even more attractive office mate. Here is another article talking about how pets in the office are coming back in vogue.

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When I tell people that my husband and I work together I often get this reaction:

"I could never work with my spouse!" And for me, I can’t imagine a day NOT working with my spouse. It feels strange when he is out of town or out of the office for a day. We work independently and in different areas of the agency and so we’re not "on top" of each other every moment of every day. Typically, we see each other in a meeting or two during the day, try to grab a quick lunch together and that’s about it, except for a break here and there to touch base on something personal.

In my previous marriage I didn’t have someone I could share my marketing passion with and it meant a lot of silence at the end of the day. My mind would race with ideas and I had no one to bounce them off. You see in this business, you’re almost always "working" because just moving through life means being bombarded with tons of messages and images. I’m always processing information and looking for new ways to reach people, observing how something is portrayed and produced. And my best friend happens to be my partner "in life" so we’re always sharing information about the latest communications technology, media we experience (a bad commercial -- and good ones, too), etc.

I love working with my spouse and I love this business. The only time we silence the work chatter is while on vacation. And we go far, far away so we can’t be reached or found.

Fortune Small Business recently released a set of short bios on working couples here.

It's the moment you've all been waiting for...the first-ever Hyperbole XLII (that's pronounced "Hype-r-bowl")!

We were so overwhelmed with members of our team who have opinions about last night's Big Game and the advertising that blanketed its action-packed air time, that we decided to give you a little taste below. Just click on the quotes to see the complete repertoire of our awe-inspiring ruminations!

"The one that really stuck out for me was the AMP commercial. It was ..."

"In a nutshell, this year's spots made me want to get an Audi R8, see Iron Man and Semi-Pro, still not want ..."

"And I honestly can't take another ad featuring babies and animals with CGI lips ..."