January 27, 2005

Surprise

Johnnie Moore

I’m Johnnie Moore, and I help people work better together

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Surprise

I worked for a guy who ran an exclusive foofy, insanely expensive health club. He took 100% of what should have been (back then when Ads were King) his advertising budget, and instead put ALL of it into a monthly “member surprise” budget. Nobody ever knew what was going to happen. You’d be in an aerobics class with 100 people (it was a big place), and as you walked out, suddenly there were carts loaded up with bowls of frozen yogurt and a toppings bar. You’re in the weight room when the employees start walking through handing out exclusive t-shirts, always with his logo, and always with a fun quote, that you knew would never appear on a t-shirt again. Members collected these things like rare beanie babies. The late-night exercise classes were the hardest to fill, but he would take the worst time slot and make it interesting… the 9 PM folks might walk out of class only to be handed a wine cooler or even a relaxation CD.

I’ll have whatever she’s having.

Waterfalls and chaos

I linked to this paper on wicked problems the other day and Chris Corrigan commented “there’s a lot in that paper eh?”. Which is true.

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The volatile chemistry of trust

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Surprise

Johnnie Moore

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