Author: Ron Wagner

Why do leaders fail? It’s not about their intellect or job skills.

Leadership failure is rarely about intellect or ability. It’s usually deeper. It’s insecurity, mistrust, control, lack of emotional intelligence. These factors compromise them over the course of time and affect team and company. My take: 1.”Diabolical Insecurity”: Insecure leaders compensate with bravado or micromanagement or projection. “Diabolical Insecurity”, I call it. They appear decisive or […]

Marketing Misunderstood: A Real and Revealing Conversation.

Not so long ago, I presented a comprehensive, integrated sales and marketing plan to a business unit leader. The intent was to drive revenue and growth through brand building, lead generation, sales enablement, customer experience, account-based marketing, and conversion funnel analysis. The plan aligned marketing with sales and the broader business ecosystem. After my presentation, […]

Did Jaguar get it right?

There was lots of talk about the automaker’s latest ad campaign that broke in November of last year.  The commercials were edgy and invoked social and cultural themes but there’s one thing missing from the commercial: actual images of their cars. I was always taught (and believe) that advertising first and foremost needs to solve […]

Customer experience is about making promises and keeping them.

The airline industry takes a beating when it comes to customer satisfaction surveys but I have to share a great experience…an experience that set the right expectation and delivered on it. I was flying Jacksonville to Philadelphia and the flight attendant conveyed a promise and set an expectation: she said it’d be 1 hour and […]

Customer experience is everyone’s job.

I was at a Dunkin Donuts drive-thru yesterday and noticed this dashboard that tracks speed of service. I told the teen that was working the window how great the dashboard was. She said “there’s too much red and not enough green…I have some work to do.” This young lady may be earning a few bucks […]

That’s the jawn!

Your team is built with people with perspectives and backgrounds? That’s the jawn! While working in Florida, someone mocked my Philly roots by using the word “jawn”, a distinctly Philly word. There was a young man nearby who said “I can’t believe you know jawn. I thought I was the only who knew this word!”. […]

Your staff is watching…do the right things.

If you don’t think your staff is watching, listening and learning from you, think again. My 9-year-old daughter…in 2005…stitched and decorated this pillow from an old pair of my jeans that were torn and no longer of use to me…or so I thought.  At the time, the Bud Light “Leon” Commercials were trending.  Leon was […]

Don’t be the person who crushes a dream.

In 2005, I helped coach my son’s little league baseball team to the championship.  At the end of the season, a father said to me that his son wanted to quit baseball after the prior year; the coach didn’t give his son a chance, played favorites, wasn’t a very good teacher.   He said that his […]

A failed door installation re-affirmed critical business truths.

Customers have choices and they’ll choose more often than not to give their money to product and service providers who respect them, offer a great customer experience and work quickly to resolve issues that arise. I went to a local, reputable, family-owned windows and doors business to buy and install a new front storm door. […]