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Via: H&R Block

I was able to spend 20 minutes or so with UNLV head men’s basketball coach Dave Rice. Dave and I worked together in the UNLV athletic department back in the 1990s. I also worked with Dave’s wife Mindy. Dave and I were coworkers but we weren’t best buddies or anything. But getting to know him back then, he was always a great guy. As part of the support staff, Dave was always around – first one in, last one out. He was a member of our 1990

Coach Rice with my son Ryan in Wichita.

National Championship team and a beloved member of the Rebels family. Respectful of your role, personable and seemingly someone who always had time to chat. It’s no wonder why everyone who worked with us back then really liked Dave the guy as well as recognizing the fact he had a bright future as a coach.

Fast forward almost 15 years and there I was reacquainting with Dave after he landed the job most of us know he always wanted.

It was great being able to spend some time with him despite his hectic schedule. I expressed just how proud all of us UNLV and athletic department alumni were that one of our own was now the captain of our ship. As I said to him, it really feels like we’re all part of it and that’s a great feeling after the mess, at times, UNLV basketball has been.

What struck me – and I had been forewarned by mutual friends – was just how little Dave the guy had changed. He had great success in stints as an assistant at both Utah State and then BYU and developed an amazing reputation as a coach and recruiter nationally. This was why he now stood before me as the Runnin’ Rebels top dog. He worked his ass off for years to get back to where he wanted to be and it all worked out. He deserved it and got it. How often these days does that happen?

He hadn’t changed and that made me even more proud. With great success and power, some people lose their way. Not Dave. He’s the same guy and that’s why he’s successful. He appreciates history, loyalty and everyone around him. His success is our success and vice versa. There’s an incredible leadership message and lesson in all of that and we should take heed. A true measure of a man can be assessed when he reaches great success. Dave’s success at UNLV is only beginning. He’s got a lot more ahead of him and there is no doubt he’ll do it with class and a massive amount of hard work.

It’s nice to see a good guy win for once. I’m glad he’s a friend and I’m glad he’s back home where he belongs.

Thanks for being you Dave. Now, about that next National title!

The roots of the Thanksgiving holiday are religious. Despite the current cultural sparring over the role of religion in public life, then President Abraham Lincoln was clear about why he proclaimed the day a national holiday.

In his official announcement commemorating the establishment of the official holiday on October 3, 1863, Lincoln was direct:

“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Despite its religious roots, for most of us Thanksgiving isn’t a religious holiday first most of us. For those of us who do have a strong faith, we use it as another way to show our appreciation to God. For those that don’t, they celebrate it for its true Americanism and the freedom it represents.

The reason I love Thanksgiving is because it is truly American. Besides the great food, football and leisure, it celebrates family and togetherness. It’s primarily a holiday celebrated at home amongst people you love. It’s time where we enjoy a bountiful harvest before we get set for the harshness, cold and darkness of winter. It’s a time of year when we celebrate our Americanism and just how lucky we all were to be born – or had the fortune to emigrate to – the United States.

Yes there are European and Native American traditions represented even in our modern celebration of Thanksgiving. But as is with most American traditions, they are a melting pot of ancient and modern ways to bring people together to be thankful for everything in our lives.

While so much time is spent on talking about Christmas, mostly for its consumer and secular meaning, Thanksgiving remains a little more pure in my mind. It’s a bit of a rushed holiday – lying in between the growing party holiday of Halloween and the onslaught of retail season – but its perhaps the most important for us right now.

The economy, job losses, home foreclosures, and other social issues have Americans on edge. Now more than ever we need the message that Thanksgiving delivers. We need to put aside our differences and sit at the table and be thankful – even in tough times. Perhaps our current malaise is even more reason for us to celebrate its meaning.

Let us in 2011 not look back about the bad times we’ve seen or the problems we have yet to solve. Let us look forward and be thankful we have time to bring about change. We have time and have been given the opportunity to continue to join together to make our country better.

In the immortal words of W.J Cameron: “Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.”

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Enjoy the time with your family, friends and loved ones. Be renewed and let’s give thanks and work together to make things as great as they can be.

Tim Tebow bugs the sports media elite.

He annoys former NFL players and even people in his own organization.

They’re not sure about his ability to be a starting quarterback in the NFL but that’s not why they are almost openly rooting for him to fail.

The reason, in my estimation, is Tebow’s unyielding faith.

Tebow is very public about his Christianity and the fact that he puts God above all else. He’s been a very public supporter of the pro-life cause and he’s not shy to always thank Jesus in a post-game interview.

This blind faith makes some uncomfortable. This is especially true for some former players and even a former Bronco quarterback, Jake Plummer.

In an interview with a Phoenix radio station, Plummer said this of Tebow:

“”I think he’s a winner and I respect that about him,” Plummer said in an interview on XTRA Sports 910. “I think that when he accepts the fact that we know that he loves Jesus Christ, then I think I’ll like him a little better. I don’t hate him because of that, I just would rather not have to hear that every time he takes a good snap or makes a good handoff.”

Plummer’s statement, while incredibly stupid and petty, I think accurately captures a below-the-surface discomfort the secular world of media and professional sports has with Tebow the Christian. This bleeds over into the discussion about his ability. Yes, he’s not a stereotypical NFL quarterback and the jury is still out on how long he’ll last as a starter. Yet despite the legitimate questions, the media’s fascination with his perceived “eventual” failure strikes me as odd.

Plummer’s comments should be immediately dismissed. Plummer, who was an overall bust as an NFL quarterback, was charged in 1997 with felony sexual abuse when he alledgedly fondled three women in a bar and then kicked one after she refused his advances. Plummer eventually struck a plea bargain was handed two years probation as a punishment. Obviously, Plummer doesn’t lead a straight life like Tebow and it appears the success, and his faith, are too much for Plummer to deal with.

In addition to Plummer, Broncos Hall of Famer, and current club President, John Elway has also been surprisingly critical. This continued desire to see Tebow fail is palpable and the reason seems to be related to his faith.

Despite this constant barrage, Tebow continues to take the high road and respond according to his personal belief.

“”I don’t try to focus on anything that doesn’t affect me personally and how I go out there every single day. I’m just going to continue to work hard and focus on what I can control,” Tebow told ESPN.

That type of answer to these attacks on his character, and athletic ability, will only drive his detractors more crazy. It’s his unfailing belief in his religion that’s driving the secular folks crazy.

It’s terribly unfair and runs against what this nation stands for – freedom of speech and freedom to worship how you see fit. The world of sports has done a good job, usually, of steering clear from religion. Tebow makes them talk about because he talks about his faith constantly. Why would that annoy anyone. If he was talking about his money and cars, everyone would laugh and move on.
Tim Tebow’s star is bright but the mainstream media machine won’t allow it to continue. As soon as he has any adversity, they’ll be there to crush the “Jesus freak” and to malign his ability.

Knowing Tebow, that won’t bother him. He’s answering to a higher power and what the media, former players, and those people threatened by his faith, won’t get to him.

Perhaps that’s why they hate him so much. They can’t control him and that eats at them.

As a life-long San Diego Chargers fan, I can’t root for the Broncos this Sunday when Tebow makes his sixth start against my hometown team. In fact, I hope he loses.

Despite that, I can’t help but root for a man who sticks to his principles and doesn’t care if the media machine is out to get him.

Tebow is unshakable and that sits just fine with me.

On my way home from a recent convention in New Orleans, I witnessed first-hand the power of social media as a customer service tool and how it can help brands get better – fast.

I had spent the previous four days speaking to franchisees and business partners at our annual H&R Block convention. The crux of my portion of a breakout sessions was the power of social media to help businesses like ours. Since our tax professionals help millions of Americans from retail storefronts, we’re in the retail business. That’s high-touch, high-anxiety stuff, especially during the emotionally charged tax season. The airline business is much of the same. Although, I have to say, I am sure the folks at the big airlines deal with much more emotion than we do.

Part of my presentation included the story of Canadian musician Dave Carroll. Carroll had flown United Airlines and had experienced an awful customer service snafu and failed social media response from the airline. He took out his frustrations by writing a song, “United Breaks Guitars,” and filming a whimsical music video that went viral. At the writing of this post, it has over 11 Million views on Facebook. It was a disaster for United and catapulted Carroll to social media fame overnight.

As I said, the airlines have it rough. They deal in delays and disappointment every day. In today’s socially connected world, it’s dangerous and one customer can have a massive impact on an airlines image.

As I sat waiting for my American Airlines flight back to Kansas City, I noticed a group of our franchisees were sitting together just a few seats from me. They were talking about being late or such (I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop) and I shifted my attention away from them and into another conversation.

A few minutes later, a gentleman and a woman with official airport badges came over to our franchisee, Dave Pollard from Colorado, and asked if he had posted a complaint on Facebook. Admitting that he was rather embarrassed that his Facebook complaint had been responded to – in person no less – Pollard soon had an in-person apology.

But how did he get to the point that he complained on American Airlines’ Facebook page? Here’s Dave’s story in a nutshell:

“When I got there the line at the baggage drop off area was already to the end of the maze, and we got in line and started chatting,” Pollard recalled.  “After about ten minutes I noticed it was moving really slowly.  I looked at the desk area and noticed that out of the eight desks two of them had American employees, explaining why the line was moving so slowly.

“Pretty soon us and the rest of the passengers in the line started openly talking about how slow this was and what a poor initial experience this was.  After 30 minutes we were 2/3 of the way through the line.  It was so frustrating.  I was worried about how long it would take to get through TSA security after his and thought I may miss my flight home to see my kids.  My frustration level began to rise. Then (still 2/3 through) one of the two employees gets up and leaves for break or something.  WE ARE DOWN TO ONE!  This pushed me and the other passengers over the edge.  The murmur was now open hatred.  I remembered the “United Breaks a Guitar” video and thought I would Facebook this.  Then I thought I would post it on their wall!  So I did.  I said, ‘line is really long… clear past the maze… moving slow… you are understaffed…you suck.’  About 10 or 15 minutes later I got to the baggage check lady.  There was no apology, no acknowledgement that we had to wait too long… just ‘business’ and no caring.

“We checked our bags and were able to move security pretty fast.  We got to our gate and sat down.  The flight was overbooked so they had not been able to assign my seats (party of 5) at the front of the airport. We waited for the gate to open and my wife went up to get us our boarding passes and seat assignments as soon as it opened.  She came back pretty quickly with our boarding passes.  She mentioned it was weird because the representative called her by name and said ‘Oh, you are the party of five? Here are your boarding passes and seat assignments.’  Usually they are not already printed for us.  About 2 minutes later, we heard our named called over the loudspeakers asking us to come to the podium.”

It was after this uncomfortable ordeal that I started to witness how this, and American’s reaction, began to unfold.

“We didn’t provide you with great service up front, and I am here to apologize,” the representative from American (it was the AA manager at Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans) in New Orleans told Pollard.

He then went on to explain that he had added employees to the front to resolve the problem to make sure no other passengers experienced what he and his party had.

“Social media is very fast and very powerful,” the AA manager told Pollard.

Indeed.

The AA manager also went on to make sure Pollard and his party had seat assignments and boarding passes to ensure the rest of their journey was uneventful.

Once again, we see how powerful a tool social media can be to push brands like ours to ensure they help clients or guests that are perhaps having a subpar experience. Many big brands get complaints every day but few go to the extent that American did to “make it right.” In fact, Pollard didn’t mention which flight or gate he was at yet American tracked him down to “save” the situation and turn a detractor into a net promoter in how they handled it.

Pollard wasn’t turning to Facebook and a complaint for any gain. As he says:

“I didn’t want any financial refund or reward. I just wanted the airline to live up to their part, and make sure I understood they would, and let me know they understood.  They didn’t even apologize at the desk. That would have gone a long way.”

Although we see people using social media and complaints for personal gain, I believe most consumers are just like Dave. They pay for a product or service and they just want fair and equal treatment. They don’t want perks or special treatment; they just want to get home to their kids after a long week on the road.

Despite American’s early failure, the airline shows its listening and willing to do whatever it takes to solve customer issues at the time they occur. That’s impressive in my book and something we all can learn from.

As I told our franchisees : this is the first time in the history of business that we can listen to, measure, and respond to negative word of mouth as it relates to our business.  That’s an amazingly powerful tool for us to get better and to serve our customers with excellent service. No brand gets it right 100% of the time. But by listening to and responding to our customers in social media, we can hopefully win back those we may have lost for good.

Article first published as American Airlines and the Case for Social Media on Technorati.

Many times, life throws at you a situation that requires you to make an important decision. Those decisions cannot only change the course of your own life, but they sometimes can change the course of countless other lives.

84-year old legendary football coach Joe Paterno appears to have been faced with such a decision in 2002. That decision, not to report the abuse of a young child at the hands of a formal assistant football coach, to proper authorities, appears to have caught up with the man affectionately known as JoePa.

Despite all of the accolades for a coaching career built on tradition and a winning football program, it appears Paterno, when faced with a decision that was life-altering, punted and in the end showed a streak of cowardice. A lack of personal integrity that now will cost him his job and tarnish his legacy forever.

As a parent of a son of the same age of the child allegedly abused at the hand of former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, I am disgusted and downright outraged at how little Paterno feels responsible.

The gist of his story: a graduate assistant caught Sandusky molesting the boy in a locker room at Penn State. He then reported it to Paterno who then told Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley, who has since been indicted and fired, about the incident. It was then covered up.

The fact that Paterno felt his responsibility ended at telling his superior at the university of the abuse is laughable. My first call wouldn’t have been to the athletic director, it would have been to the police.  Paterno’s decision was irresponsible, selfish and he should be fired immediately.

Reports out of College Station say the university is working on an “exit” for Paterno.

Are you kidding me?

This man, who is allegedly complicit in the sexual abuse of a young boy, doesn’t deserve a damn thing. Paterno, no matter how much he’s done over the course of his long and illustrious career, does not deserve some hero’s exit. In fact, he deserves what other men who show a lack of courage and ethics in a situation like that get: a quick kick to the street.

There is no arguing it. Paterno is a disgrace and will now be remembered not for the kids he mentored or coached in football and in life. Instead, he’ll be known for the one time a child needed his help and he failed to act.

It’s all so repulsive Penn State needs to end it now.

Paterno must be fired now. Penn State will forever be tarnished as an institution of higher education if it doesn’t do what needs to be done. It failed to do the right thing in 2002 and, so far, it’s failing again.

Over the past five years, most of us have had to do battle with cross-functional groups internally, and agency partners externally, who either feel threatened or just don’t have enough knowledge of the space to be proficient. Their fear of the communications and marketing revolution left many of us exhausted and bleeding.

Yet today I feel as though we’re getting past that. Perhaps with a change of scenery (I recently joined H&R Block), the healing can begin in my world.  Today I feel comfortably aligned with all internal and external business partners. That’s the first time in years I’ve felt a level of comfort like that. The folks inside get it, and want to learn and help us win. Our agency partners are past trying to prove they can do everything and instead collaborate openly with our internal and external teams. That’s refreshing and a great sign for all social strategists.

How is your organization progressing? Do you feel you’ve cleared those first groups of hurdles?

For me, those hurdles have mostly been cleared. I feel like it’s time to sprint and my legs feel good. I’m ready to race.

Despite this, I am asked to speak as part of online – and offline – social media and social business events. I am flattered my track record and previous (and current work) experience makes people want to talk to me. Not only that, I really love what I do so talking to people about social business – not in theory but in practice – is something I enjoy doing. I also think it’s great for my employer as we get to talk about everything we’re doing to engage and ignite engagement in social for H&R Block.

One of the challenges I always face before I speak on a panel or present a case study is maintain my “real” personality. When you do these things, sometimes you can get caught up in the materials and forget to be yourself. Sure, it’s easy to interact with folks via social but it’s quite different doing it in person.

Me, I thrive on speaking in the public forum. I’m very comfortable with the success my teams and I have had over the years and I love teaching. When I attend an event and speak on a panel, as I will next week in New York, I thrive on the conversation. Despite being a digital native and a gadget freak, nothing gets my juices flowing like speaking in public and interactive with a group.

The challenge I’ve found with events is most presenters don’t feel comfortable and often, I believe, don’t allow themselves to be, well, themselves.

Because the rise of social business is a sort of modern-day gold rush, there are lots of charlatans and a folks on the circuit who don’t act themselves. They’re putting on an act.

That’s unfortunate because I run into lots of great business folks that are just want to learn how to use this great information revolution to help themselves do their job better. Those that don’t actually give them simple and actionable ways to go do just that.

There are some better-known speakers like Jason Falls who does a great job of staying true to himself and presenting his information in a way that’s digestible by social professionals at any level. He’s true to himself and people can feel that.

All of these conferences and shows where social business strategists, thought leaders and “experts” speak – we have a responsibility to not just highlight our own accomplishments, but instead help others succeed.

Are we doing that enough?

I will stay true to myself. I’m not an A-lister in the world of social media speaking, and that’s just fine. If I can help one person do their job better and prove out the power of social business, then I’ve done what I set out to do.

It’s the professional classroom so I take it personally.