25 years of Fallon – Fallon and Barrie 2006

“Insanity is contagious.

(…) We certainly can’t explain it.

(…)

All we can do is show you the work.

After all, does anything else matter?” (Fallon and Barrie, 2006, p.11)

Titus Andronicus - Shapespeare 1994

Seems like a never ending orgy of meaningless violence. Not quite sure what to make of it.

“Titus Andronicus:

Come, come, Lavinia: look, thy foes are bound. –

Sirs. Stop their mouths, let them not speak to me;

But let them hear what fearful words I utter. –

O villains, Chiron and Demetrius!

Here stands the spring whom you have stain’d with mud;

This goodly summer with your winter mixt.

You kill’d here husband; and, for that vile fault,

Two of her brothers were condemn’d to death,

My hand cut off, and made a merry jest;

Both her sweet hands, her tongue m and that more dear

Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity,

Inhuman traitors you constrain’d and forced.

(…)

This one hand yet is left to cut your throats,

Whilst that Lavinia ‘tween her stumps doth hold

The basin that receives your guilty blood.

You know your mother means to feast with me,

And calls herself Revenge, and thinkgs me mad: -

Hark, villains! I will grind your bones to dust,

And with your blood and it I’ll make a paste;

And of the paste a coffin I will rear,

And make two pasties of your shameful heads;

And bid that strumpet, your unhallow’d dam,

Like to the earth swallow her own increase.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.163).

“Aaron:

O, why should wrath be mute , and fury dumb?

I am no baby, , that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done:

Ten thousands worse than ever yet I did

Would I perform, if I might have my will:

If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very soul.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.165).

William Shakespeare – Richard III 1994

It is a play about the race to power and how the crimes committed during that race poison everything.

“Princes have but their titles for their glories,

An outward honor for an inward toil.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.107).

“Lord Hastings: O momentary grace of mortal men,

Which we more hunt for than the grace of God!

Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks,

Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast,

Ready, with every nod, to tumble down

Into the fatal bowels of the deep.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.120).

A play as the perfect example of the self-perpetuation of violence. Violence brought Richard to the throne, but every murder is followed by another murder to eliminate another enemy or to cover up the previous murder.

“Duke of Clarence: It cannot be; for when I parted with him,

He hugg’d me in his arms, and swore, with sobs,

That he would labour my delivery.

First murderer: Why, so he doth, now he delivers thee

From this earth’s thraldom to the joys of heaven.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.109).

“King Richard:

What do I fear? There’s none else by:

Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.

Is there a murderer here? No; - yes, I am:

Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why:

Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?

Alack, I love myself. Wherefore? For any good

That I myself have done unto myself?

O, no! alas, I rather hate myself

For hateful deeds committed by myself!

I am a villain: yet I lie, I am not.

For, of thyself speak well. – fool, do not flatter.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,

And every tongue brings in a several tale

And every tale condemms me for a villain.

(…)

And if I die, no sould shall pity me:

Nay, wherefore should they, - since that I myself

Find in myself no pity to myself” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.136).

It is also full of wordplays, where the opponents use the same wordings and turn the meaning around.

“Duke of Gloster:

Here. (She spits at him) Why dost though spit at me?

Lady Anne: Would it were mortal poison. For thy sake!

Duke of Gloster: Never came poison from so sweet a place.

Lady Anne: Never hung poison on a fouler toad.

Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes.

Duke of Gloster: Thine eyes, sweet lady, have infected mine.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.101).

“Duke of Gloster: If I should be! – I rather be a pedlar:

Far be it from my heart, the thought of it!

Queen Elizabeth: As little joy may you suppose in me,

That I enjoy, being the queen thereof.

Queen Margaret (aside): As little joy enjoys the queen thereof;

For I am she, and altogether joyless.” (Shakespeare, 1994, p.104).

The Ultimate Question – Fred Reichheld 2006

“True growth – growth that occurs because their customer love doing business with them. (…) This is the only kind of growth that can be sustained over the long term.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.ix). “The foundation for good business is the ability to organize relationships into voluntary associations that are mutually beneficial and accountable for contributing productively to the surrounding community.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.176).

“Companies can increase their share for a while by buying growth, through advertising, discounting, new market programs, mergers, acquisitions, and many other means.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.177).

Bad profits: “They’re profits earned at the expense of customer relationship. Whenever a customer feels misled, mistreated, ignored, or coerced, then profits from that customer are bad. Bad profits come from unfair or misleading pricing. Bad profits arise when companies save money by delivering a lousy customer experience. Bad profits are about extracting value from customers, not creating value.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.4).

“Bad profits work much of their damage through the detractors they produce. Detractors are customers who feel badly treated by a company – so badly that they cut back on their purchases, switch to the competition if they can, and warn others to stay away from the company they feel has done them wrong. Detractors don’t show up on any organization’s balance sheet, but they cost a company far more than most of the liabilities that traditional accounting methods so carefully tally.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.6).

“The pursuit of bad profits alientates customers and demoralizes employees.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.3).

“Granted companies can always buy growth. They can encourage the hard sell and pay fat commissions to the salespeople who master it. They can discount heavily, offering temporary rebates, sales, or ‘free’ financing.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.8). “Buying growth is expensive. IT tends to create a profit squeeze, which in turn deepens a company’s addiction to bad profits.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.9).

 “A company earns good profits when it so delights its customers that they willingly come back for more.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.9). It saves cost in advertising and marketing (Reichheld, 2006, p.11). It turns existing customers into the marketing department by creating referrals (Reichheld, 2006, p.12).

The best companies “take seriously the principle pf the Golden Rule: treat others as you would want to be treated.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.x).

How to measure good profits. How to make people accountable for building good relationships with customers? “By asking that question systematically and by linking results to employee rewards, xyou can tell the difference between good profits and bad.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.18). “take the percentage of customers who are promoters (P) and subtract the percentage who are detractors (D).” (Reichheld, 2006, p.19).

“But the business goal here isn’t merely to delight customers; it’s to turn them into promoters – customers who buy more and who actively refer friends and colleagues. That’s the behaviour that contributes to growth.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.31).

“increase the percentage of promoters and decrease the percentage of detractors. These are two distinct processes that are best managed separately.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.32). “investing to delight customers other than those in the core rarely makes economic sense.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.32).

“Priority 1: Invest in your core. Sector C. “They love doing business with you. (…) remember how much additional benefit promoters bring you through referrals and positive word of mouth. These are the customers that should drive your strategic priorities.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.123). “ you might compare the percentage of capital allocated to customers or segments in sector C with the percentages targeted to customers in other sectors.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.126). “it is easier to crank up prices for loyal promoters than for other customers, divisions stretching to reach their profits goals may be tempted to take advantage of this lever.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.126). “monitor margins on core customers carefully. If margins drift upwards, either cut prices or use the margins to provide even more value to these customers.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.126).

Priority 2: Reduce bad profits: sector A “Customers in this upper-left sector don’t like doing business with you and are spreading negative word of mouth. They may defect at the first opportunity. Yet because they are profitable, you can afford to invest in solving their problems.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.127).

Priority 3: Find additional Promoters

 “Perhaps the most revolutionary idea in this book is the proposition that it is at least as important to measure the quality of relationships as it is to measure profitability.” (Reichheld, 2006, p.189)