This week I’m 25

Not me personally, although some do say I look younger than my years. No? 😉 This week, my company Michael Heppell Ltd, is 25 years old. On 1st October 1998, Zoom – the Creative Consultancy was born. Yep, I was Zoom 12 years before Eric Yuan started his Zoom. I even had the domain name […][...]

Learning is boring

The challenge with a lot of learning is the lessons are just too long, too impractical and too boring. There’s a whole bunch of research that shows how tired brains start to switch off long before teachers realise they’ve lost their class. That’s why short, powerful, exciting messages are much better. And I can prove […][...]

What’s happening to customer service?

It was just 10ml. A teaspoon of fizz. A moment to shine! Made dull by a poor customer service experience.   Our small town has a beautifully refurbished hotel. Like many businesses, they didn’t think anything about spending £100k on the bar and yet 10p on training the staff who are working in it. This […][...]

A robot wrote this

I, like many people, have been playing with the latest Artificial Intelligence programmes that were launched late last year. Already LinkedIn posts, tweets and other social media communications are being written by computers. Very clever computers. But are they any good? I thought it might be fun to go head-to-head with openai.com and see what […][...]

Three Routes To Mastery  

If it’s important enough.     And if you’re prepared to do what’s necessary.     Then mastery can be an appealing place.     But what makes a Master?    Natural Talent  Some (very few) are born with it. Top sports stars have the physical attributes to be the best – it’s in their DNA.     Some […][...]

Words Change Worlds

I was asked during an interview, ‘What’s the one thing that changed your life?’   It’s one of those questions that could have multiple answers.   My mind whirred.   Meeting my wife? Being given the opportunity to do the job I love? Having kids?   They’re all in the mix.     But the answer I gave was deciding […][...]

What is the best?

What is the best?    Best before is a guide rather than instruction – agree?    I can remember my best gig, but I don’t know if the band thought it was theirs.     The best book I’ve ever read… changes.    Best x in y is a big claim.  That doesn’t stop many businesses […][...]

What Is Time Horizon?

And why is it important?  A time horizon, also known as a planning horizon, is a fixed point of time in the future at which point certain processes will be evaluated or assumed to end. Thanks, Wikipedia*.  *Do you remember when we used to quote the Oxford English dictionary?    Time Horizon  It’s really just a fancy […][...]

What Happened To 5 Star Service?

What Happened To 5 Star Service? Regular readers know I love brilliant customer service.   I wrote a book on it.  I’ve trained over 100,000 people on how to deliver it.  I’ve consulted with some of the best organisations in the world on how to create it.  And you know how much I avoid negativity.  But…  […][...]

Pick a card

As soon as you hear those words you know what’s coming. Whether it’s a youngster performing a simple trick through to the restaurant table professional who is about to blow your mind between courses, the set-up is the same. It’s reassuring, but what makes ‘Pick a card work’ is the opportunity to create a surprise. […][...]

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