The Center for Creative Leadership recently released a white paper called "The Leadership Gap: What you need, and don't have, when it comes to leadership talent." One of their most interesting (though unsurprising) findings from their research was "inspiring commitment" was the most needed skill among today's leaders.

I posted a story earlier this week about some frustrating experiences I had with Cox Communications. One of my main points is I had received poor service and two Cox employees had missed the opportunity to fully rectify the situation. With this in mind, I was a little surprised to see that Cox was apparently trying to reach out to me through my blog by making the following comment on my post:

Jack and Patti Phillips published a wonderful article in T&D magazine's August 2009 edition called "Measuring What Matters: How CEOs View Learning Success". The article is a well-written analysis of a survey they conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs as well as the CEOs of some large private companies. Their research reveals some interesting information about how CEOs evaluate employee development.

Cox Communications has a tagline, “Your friend in the digital age.” Yeah, some friend. If Cox is a "friend" then they are that stoner buddy who wants to move in with me, sleep on my couch, and eat all my Cheetos instead of looking for a job.

Listening skills are essential to providing great customer service. Unfortunately, many customer service representatives are not as good at listening as they might think. Sure, they can hear you, but do they understand you? Customers often convey more than one message when they make a request.

My wife, Sally, and I have just returned from our vacation in Boston. In a town not known for service, our experiences were generally terrific. Even American Airlines, which I alternate between loving and hating, treated us very well and handled a weather-related flight delay admirably. The question I always like to ask is, "What can we learn?" Here are a few of my favorite take-aways.

We've all experienced customer service so bad that its left us feeling outraged and powerless. In the 1990s I was a frequent flyer on United Airlines, but by the end of the decade they had treated me so poorly so many times I vowed never to given United Airlines any of my money ever again. The worst experience was when I tried to return home after a three week trip and my flight was cancelled due to a work slowdown initiated by United employees. I didn't receive so much as an apology.