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O P I N I O N
A simple question What can I do for you today? As it turns out, perhaps not a whole lot, but in a crunch, a little can go a long way.
I t’s a simple enough question. But how often do you actually ask it of your peers, managers, and subordinates? We’re busy people in big jobs and never have enough hours in the day to get things done. I get it. But this might be one of the more valuable business lessons I’ve learned. It’s a question that spans B2B, B2C, M&A, CSR, IT, and works 24/7: What can I do for you today?
Jay Thornton BRAND BUILDING
cut through the tunnel vision for a brief moment so I could take a breath. I looked up and said, “Coffee.” Three minutes later I had a fresh cup of joe and a new respect for the CEO. Not for the coffee, but for recognizing an issue and addressing it directly. “It’s a simple enough question. But how often do you actually ask it of your peers, managers, and subordinates?”
The first time I was asked the question, I was frantically building a website for a national client in the retail space. I hadn’t slept in about 24 hours and was up against a tight deadline that I was not going to miss. Email was spooling, voicemail was stacking up, and I was quickly developing an eye twitch. My boss walked up, recognized the gravity of the situation, and rather than ask for a status update, just looked at me and said, “What can I do for you today?” He couldn’t jump in and help build the site. Dealing with my mounting email and voicemail wouldn’t have helped, either. What made the difference at that moment was that his question
See JAY THORNTON, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER March 6, 2017, ISSUE 1190
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