Citibank and Comcast demonstrate two awesome ways to fail in public

Citibank and Comcast demonstrate two awesome ways to fail in public

It’s been a rough 12 months. It’s been a rough week, if you’re anywhere in the US with weather. But you know, it’s still a good time to review your processes, because now that there is an Internet and social media, your failures are visible to everyone. Just ask Comcast and Citibank. Comcast Cares about…

A monopoly always prioritizes strategy over customers. That explains a lot.

A monopoly always prioritizes strategy over customers. That explains a lot.

The alternate title for this post was “Why things suck.” I’ve been analyzing corporate behavior for 25 years. I’ve covered Microsoft, Comcast, Facebook, sports leagues, and government. And one simple statement — monopolies prioritize strategy over customers — explains so much. Monopolies are not evil. It’s not that they don’t care. It’s just that once…

Comcast recovers nicely from a slippery situation
|

Comcast recovers nicely from a slippery situation

Everybody loves to hate Comcast, America’s biggest cable company. On Monday, in Indianapolis, its repair technicians created a situation that led to multiple car accidents, then behaved arrogantly and denied being responsible. Comcast’s response is not bad; it’s direct, personal, and promises to make things better. What happened in Indy? Several Comcast repair trucks with “cherry-pickers”…

5 bullshit things about television and the reasons behind them
|

5 bullshit things about television and the reasons behind them

I studied the television industry for more than a decade. It doesn’t work the way you think it does. Since TV is a highly visible but stodgy industry ripe for disruption, it’s a great topic for #5BullshitThings, highlighting industries that work in incomprehensible ways and why they do. I’ll explain your bloated cable bill, why TV programs…

Comcast customer service transformation, in Philadelphia Magazine
|

Comcast customer service transformation, in Philadelphia Magazine

When you read about corporate transformations, be wary. Reporters love to tell these stories, because they humanize companies. We love to read them. But they’re stories, which is not the same thing as truth. Take this article about about how Comcast is transforming its customer experience, “Comcast Knows How Much You Hate Them,” by Richard Rys, in…

Companies with a purpose

Companies with a purpose

Do your customers know who your company is? Do you? After my critique of Inovalon’s impenetrable “Who We Are” page, I began to wonder about purpose statements. My hypothesis is that companies with powerful, clear, differentiated statements about who they are have more effective employee teamwork and strong brands. Note that I don’t say that the statement causes…