Tag: Life MBA

  • Four Seasons Story

    Four Seasons Story

    Case 9: Four Seasons

    The Case

    The Four Seasons Hotel – How far will service take you?

    The Four Seasons hotel was started in 1960 by Isadore Sharp in Toronto, Canada and is currently ranked as one of the most luxurious hotels in the hospitality industry, receiving the highest honour of 36 five-star ratings from the Forbes Travel Guide. Today the hotel chain has over 100 hotels worldwide, with each Four Seasons hotel or resort unique to its locale and character, while retaining the common thread of unscripted, empathetic care and service of their customers.

    What this unique character of embracing the locale and culture means is that if you wake up in a Four Seasons hotel in Paris, you will feel Parisian because the staff and culture within the hotel will be Parisian. And when you arrive at the Four Seasons in India, the architecture of the hotel as you drive up as well as the staff and culture while in the hotel will portray the best of India. This ability to successfully embrace the feel of the local environment has enabled Four Seasons to obliterate a problem usually encountered when multinationals expand called NIH (Not-Invented-Here) syndrome.

    The Four Seasons have had their share of lows, especially after 9/11 when the travel industry took a hit. At that time, the hotel was confronted with the choice of dropping their prices to attract clients, which they refused to cower to, choosing rather to compete on a differentiation strategy of exceptional service instead of a cost strategy.

    First, let’s examine how this service strategy is delivered consistently, by looking at the company’s philosophy –

    1. 11 years after the company opened, the decision was made to remain a medium-sized hotel of Exceptional Quality. Quality, not necessarily size, would be the differentiator in every hotel.
    2. Offer Unparalleled Service by making service their competitive advantage. The goal is to ensure that the service experienced in the Four Seasons hotel you stay at will be the best you can experience in that city.
    3. Make their Brand name synonymous with Quality, expressed right from check-in through your entire stay and until you leave.
    4. And the last one, which I really like, probably because it’s also a pillar in my current company is The Golden Rule. This is even considered when employing staff!

    Choosing to live your life with these four tenets will definitely make you a stand-out success at home, work or the community. However, there is an added advantage in adhering to the Golden Rule, which is to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Cast your mind back to when you needed to attend a very important meeting or event – you probably took a few looks at the mirror, straightening yourself to a preconceived image in your subconscious. You had an idea of what you wanted people to see and you adjusted your outward appearance to become that person.

    Can I recommend that when you relate to people, imagine you are looking at yourself in a mirror and adjust your words, behaviour and actions to align with what you would want done to/for you? It encompasses the simple things like saying hi when you walk past someone on the streets, (if you would like someone else to say hi to you), to the big things like buying someone lunch if you would like someone at some point in time to buy you lunch too.

    Now, let’s make it even better by applying the second lesson from Four Seasons. Remember I mentioned the locale nature of their delivery, which puts into consideration the culture of the new location when determining what service looks like. I like to think of this as an attitude that puts the recipient first in service-delivery. I remember reading a book by Gary Thomas, about ‘The 5 Love Language’ and his explanation that it’s the effort or attempt to speak to the other persons love language that often improves the relationship. When you are privy to information on what makes the person in front of you valued, do that instead.

    I guess my message is simple – don’t just focus on treating people the way you want to be treated, try your best to also ensure it’s the way they enjoy being treated.

  • DISNEY Story

    DISNEY Story

    Case 8: DISNEY

    The Case

    Disney Corporation – A masterclass in Diversification

    Disney has different meanings depending on the audience in question. To some, it is a company that produces animated films, to others, a theme park, to others a large store in the middle of the mall which every child wants to visit, and every mum wants to avoid and lastly it could mean a dream cruise-liner for unforgettable family holidays. (more…)

  • NETFLIX Story

    NETFLIX Story

    Case 7: NETFLIX

    The Case

    NETFLIX – Luck or Preparedness

    Inspired by Amazon’s success in selling books online, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph decided to create a similar company and chose to distribute films. This was the beginning of NETFLIX in 1997. (more…)

  • IKEA Story

    IKEA Story

    Case 6: IKEA

    The Case

    In 1943, Ingvar Kamprad started his company, selling pens, wallets, picture frames and other such small items from his Swedish home base.
    Five years later, he introduced furniture as part of his product offering, using wood from the forest behind his house. The popularity of his products is the reason why catalogues were launched in 1948, to showcase the items of furniture Ingvar had available in his company.

    Due to competition from other low-priced manufacturers, the first showrooms were open in 1953. This allowed the customers to have a taste of what their furniture would look like in their homes. It’s what I call ‘experiential selling’, and is the model now used by many retailers, especially in the cosmetics industry.
    To contend with rising costs, flat packed furniture was introduced in 1956, and to appeal to people like me who would never dream of assembling flatpack furniture, IKEA now partners with TaskRabbit in the UK to assemble furniture that you purchase from them.

    Do you see a pattern in the story I just shared? It seems IKEA is a company that is quick to respond to the pain point of its customers without compromising its core values of simplicity, affordability and stylishness. The commitment to the strategizing and execution of this strategy around its customer needs is the reason, in my opinion, for IKEAs continuous growth and market appeal.
    Even now, I remember walking into IKEA a few years back and feeling comforted that there was a creche downstairs for my younger daughter and a restaurant upstairs to refuel in . Conveniences like this made the choice for me as a mum of young children to shop in IKEA

    So how does that relate to you and I as individuals?

    1. Firstly, what is your core purpose? Who were you designed to reach and what help can you offer them?
    2. Secondly, how do you consistently evolve to ensure you are positioned to serve your world better?
    3. Thirdly, are your daily decisions congruent to the needs of this target audience

    Let me share a personal example – I believe one of my core offerings to my world is to “build women to build ventures”. Yes, my eyes light up when I meet a woman with potential and who desires to explore and exploit this potential. And when I say ventures, I define it to include a family setting, a career choice and obviously businesses. I love helping women to overcome the hurdle of self-doubt and equip them with the tools to prepare her for success. In answer to Question 2, most of my decisions in personal development therefore centre around becoming more equipped to serve these women for example, I went to Etiquette school to learn social and business etiquette and went back to school after 21 years to learn theoretical frameworks for business start-ups. I’m sure you get the idea. And lastly in response to Question 3, I daily research a way to serve my audience better, from being innovative with these vlogs, to MAP Workshops, MAPTribe or MAPMe sessions.

    Today, I would like you to do the same by asking yourself those three questions above. You are here for a purpose and the world is waiting to enjoy awesomeness. So, get yourself on the program and, just like IKEA, become someone we remember and love!

  • Ebay Story

    Ebay Story

    Case 5: Ebay

    The Case

    Who would have thought a company created to allow us sell off items we no longer want would one day become one of the best-known companies in the world.

    I doubt Pierre Omidyar could have predicted this level of success, when as a 28 year old, he started a side hustle in September 1995 called AuctionWeb. Even the business model, predicated on generating revenue from sellers who list items on the site, is reputed to only have been introduced when Pierre’s internet service provider increased his monthly tariff from $30 to $250 because of the traffic on his site.

    That site, coded by Pierre himself, became known as eBay in September 1997 and today generates revenues in billions of dollars as shown in the chart below.

    Ebay Chart

    Curiosity often leads me to ask the question ‘how did the company achieve so much?’ and this drove me to investigate what eBay’s mission statement is, afterall, every good company makes strategic choices which are authentic to its mission. It is interesting to find that eBay describes its purpose as to ‘pioneer new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and inspired by opportunity’. And I agree, it really must take trust to give money to someone you’ve never met and who is, most times, not an established business structure, expecting them to honour their promise and send you the products you bought off them.

    Lest I digress, today’s focus is not on the nuances of eBays operation but on investigating the life lessons we can learn from eBay:

    1. Firstly, every successful enterprise starts with an idea that fixes a problem that irritates you. Chances are that if you need a solution to a problem, many others do too. Pierre needed a platform where he could auction used items, he fixed this and realised many of us also had that problem. Isn’t it true that the best innovations are simply ideas that solve pain points? So, your action point as you build to significance, our theme for this year in MAPHer Ltd is to jot down your pain points and then spend time brainstorming solutions to them. When you find those solutions, SHARE THEM!

    2. Talking about sharing your solution, it takes me to the second life lesson we can learn from eBay: true success only comes when it benefits others. Even now, I recollect people who have become wealthy by having an eBay shop. Many micro-preneurs have had the opportunity to advertise their wares and sell them to a wide array of customers, at minimal cost. I often talk about the LW, LF, LO framework in describing success that creates significance and personal satisfaction. Your second task is therefore to look at the luxuries you enjoy today and decide how you can better the lives of others with it. I chose to share my life hacks through vlogs and I love when I get a message telling me how beneficial it has been to others. So, what’s in your hand and how can you use it to help others be better?

    I could draw even more life lessons from eBay, but I will stick to these two for now and hope that you follow through with applying them to your life.

    I look forward to hearing your success stories. Remember, a simple idea that makes your life better can also make the lives of many others better and open the doors to abundant riches for you and your world.