Naomi Karten's Blog

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Naomi Karten's Blog

Naomi Karten has always been fascinated by human behavior. In this blog, she focuses on observations, thoughts, ideas, and the wisdom of others as it concerns people and how they function (or don’t), particularly in organizations.

No Thanks

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by Naomi Karten

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Sep 1 2009 - 9:58pm

This title has two meanings. One is "no, thanks" as in "No, thanks; no more pizza." The other is "no thanks," as in you did someone a big favor and received in return not a single thank you. It's this second meaning I'm writing about. In my blog post, The Power of a Thank You, I commented on how good it feels to be thanked. To which I now add, preferably sooner rather than much, much later - or...

Fire Hydrant Lessons in Communication

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by Naomi Karten

Aug 20 2009 - 9:36pm

A while ago we got a notice that the town would be installing a fire hydrant near our house. OK, fine. Weeks went by with no information about when it would happen. Then one Wednesday my husband was outside and saw a guy doing some marking and measuring. They started chatting. The guy said they'd be doing the installation two days later, on Friday. And almost as an afterthought, he mentioned that...

Path-ological alternatives

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by Naomi Karten

Aug 6 2009 - 1:16pm

In my July 7th post, titled A Customer Service Win-Win-Win-Win-Win, I described a shopping experience that could have resulted in frustration, but instead had a speedy, straightforward and altogether satisfying outcome.

I'm Right, I'm Right, I'm Right! (And You're Not)

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by Naomi Karten

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Jul 28 2009 - 3:55pm

I came across an important observation on anger that I wanted to mention because it relates to my previous blog, in which I offered some thoughts regarding my StickyMinds column, What To Do When Anger Strikes. In a comment on emotions in Chip and Dan Heath's excellent book, Made to Stick, they point out that when you're angry, you become more certain about your judgments. When you're angry, you...

Managing Your Anger Management

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by Naomi Karten

Jul 23 2009 - 7:16pm

I was surprised last week when I received several email messages thanking me for my article, What To Do When Anger Strikes. I appreciated receiving these messages, but I was confused. This article was a StickyMinds featured article in 2005, so how did people come to be reading it now?The mystery resolved itself a few days later when I noticed that a link to this article was included in a...

A Customer Service Win-win-win-win-win

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by Naomi Karten

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Jul 7 2009 - 10:24pm

While shopping at Target last week, I found an item I wanted that was $6.24, marked down to $5.09. At the checkout, the item scanned as $6.24. I told the cashier the item was on sale and should have rung up as $5.09.What do you suppose she did? Did she (1) tell me I was wrong, since it scanned at $6.24? (2) send me back to double check the price? (3) call over a coworker to go verify the price? (...

We Have Revised Our Gibberish to Serve You Better

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by Naomi Karten

Jun 30 2009 - 8:32pm

I'm always amused when I receive a bill that's accompanied by an insert that reads, "We have redesigned our bill to serve you better." Typically, following this heart-warming message is an explanation of how to read the redesigned bill. But if the bill has been redesigned to serve me better, shouldn't I be able to figure it out without a cheat sheet? Or is the purpose of the new design not to...

Brand Names, Peanut Butter, Beer, and You

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by Naomi Karten

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Jun 22 2009 - 10:06pm

People tend to view brand names they're familiar with more favorably than brand names they're not, and that finding could be important for you and your work.

Are you set in your ways?

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by Naomi Karten

Jun 12 2009 - 6:10pm

Do you ever do things the same old way because that's how you learned to do them - even when there's a simpler or more efficient way? In his ultra-fascinating book, Why We Make Mistakes, Joseph Hallinan describes how easily this can happen.He reports the following research. In one experiment, researchers gave people the following challenge, using 3 jars of water:

The Power of a Thank You

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by Naomi Karten

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Jun 4 2009 - 10:11pm

Being thanked feels good. I was reminded of this a few days ago. I had sent a donation to a non-profit organization. To my surprise, someone from the organization called to say thank you. I've received form letter thank you's from charity organizations before, but never a thank you phone call.A cynical sort might say, "So what if they called? Donations are down, and they're doing anything they...