As an avid movie watcher, I have had my share of instances where Blockbuster forgot to unlock a DVD case for me. Now, I don’t know about you, but the only thing more frustrating than taking out a bad movie, is taking out a bad movie that you can’t even watch – because it’s case is locked. After the last time this happened, I figured out a way to open it with a corkscrew (desperation breeds ingenuity).

I was reading through Automotive News last week and they were profiling a very successful dealer group owner named Rick Hendrick. He managed to build up a dealer empire of 60 dealerships, 80 franchises, and over $4.3 billion in revenue last year. But the path to there has been filled with hardship, including: a plane accident killing his son and several relatives, a felony fraud conviction, and leukemia.

How did he manage, despite all of the challenges, to build up one of the largest dealer groups in America today? Rick swears by his 10 Keys to Success:

I know what you did last week (assuming you don’t live under a rock). If you were one of the millions who watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday, you more than likely were wondering what some advertisers must have been thinking (ahem, SalesGenie) to run a certain ad.

Well, your humble host wondered the same thing, and set out to find the truth about what a company can expect out of a Super Bowl appearance. Interestingly, once a company advertises on the Super Bowl, they find it very hard to do without it the next year. It’s almost like a drug habit. Partially because they become part of the tradition of that memorable time (think Bud Light ads), and partially because they want to believe their investment the previous year was a wise one.

The Super Bowl was a great game, but, given my profession, I paid a bit more attention to the ads, seen by over 97.5 million fans- the most ever. You may recall my review of Super Bowl 2007 Ads last year. 30 second spots cost about 7% more this year, averaging $2.7 million a piece. Overall, I think last year was a better year for the ads, and I was actually a bit disappointed with some companies this year. Which ads succeeded, and whose flopped? I tell all, below.

A while back, I covered the three rules of recovery customer service, which a company should use when they have messed up. Sadly, very few stores keep to them, and consequently lose a lot of longtime customers over rather trivial incidents. Just the other day, I had an opportunity to revisit that idea at ShopRite.

I went into ShopRite, my favorite supermarket, to go food shopping. Walking around, I noticed a price label for 32 oz. of Norwegian Salmon that was surprising – $2.99 (after Price Plus card discount). Excited, since this item usually costs $20.53 for just one pound, I looked around for the right package, only to find that none existed. It was then that I realized they made a labeling error, and guessed that all of them were bought up already by someone with a sharp eye.

Back in the good old days way before I was born, people were fairly self-sustaining. They planted their own food, made their own clothes, and had a wide range of daily tasks just to survive. While life in those days certainly was harder, I believe it also led people to develop greater confidence and happiness. In contrast, the modern workplace is all about compartmentalizing, specializing, and repeating.

People are Special

One of the things that sets humans aside from other animals is our unrelenting interest in novelty, and learning. Indeed, one of the best ways to keep our brains sharp is by challenging it with crossword puzzles, “brain games”, and constantly demanding new solutions from our brain.

Usually, people just wait to be promoted, or move to a higher position at a different company when they want to move up in their career. A few days ago, a friend of mine told me about his new (creative) attempt to move up the corporate ladder at his company. What he did was create a brand new job description for the job he wanted to do for the company. That’s right – he created his own title, essential job functions, listed the needed relevant skills, and made his own compensation figures. He then handed it right in to the boss.

Sometime around June this year, Social networking sites (such as Facebook.com and Myspace.com) experienced a huge boost in visitors. However, if you really look at when the social networking sites started spreading like wildfire, it was around 4 years ago, and mostly in the college-age segment. Now, four years later, there is some evidence America is tired of social networking, or at the very least, social networking with no particular end goal.

My friend Jay White, who runs the large and well-known DumbLittleMan blog, has graciously asked me to guest post on his blog, which is a “tips for life” type of blog.

My post was put up there today, and I figured I’d pass along the link to anyone who doesn’t mind reading my work off-site:

• Keep Your Day Super Productive
  

I believe Staples made an error of omission. Their old slogan “Staples, yeah, we’ve got that” seems to be missing a crucial last part and so does their new slogan “that was easy”. Today I ran into a Staples in Manhattan to buy some RAM for a computer, and had a very odd shopping experience.