By Jon Swanson Leon was the high school band director in a small town in Iowa. He started working on his Master’s degree. He figured out some research topic that sounded good, that was like all the rest of the Master’s research projects around. His adviser said, “Forget that. Everyone is doing those kinds of […]
Show the love
By Jon Swanson Nancy and I are on a blogger tour in Hampton, Iowa. A bunch of bloggers are in town to learn more about agriculture and the local community. It’s a great idea for the town and for us. On Friday night, there is a wine and cheese, star-gazing, coffee-drinking, meet and greet. With live […]
A mechanic story
Our van broke. More accurately, while taking our daughter to college, our van, loaded with her stuff, began overheating 90 minutes into the two hour drive. After stops for cooling, much fretting, some praying, and smoke coming out of the tailpipe, we got to the college, got her stuff unloaded, and parked it. After catching […]
Why the tire store upgraded their customer coffee
By Jon Swanson Being individually responsive can be challenging. We talk about the idea, but how do you specifically customize things that are not part of your core service but help create the environment? Let me give you a very concrete example. I drink coffee. Often. I like when businesses provide coffee, but shudder when […]