Whether it's cartwheeling naked across a rugby field in front of an audience of one billion (including your dad); playing eleven-minute soft rock tracks on night-shift radio as cover for some adult magazine fumblings; getting your appendix removed to avoid an English lesson; or stealing KISS's groupies and charging the champagne to Gene Simmons'...
Customer experience pioneer Jeanne Bliss shows why “Make Mom Proud” companies outperform their competition. Her 5-step guide to customer experience and culture transformation makes this achievement possible. Bliss urges companies to make business personal to earn ardent fans and admirers, by focusing on one deceptively simple question: "Would you do that to your mother?" “Make Mom Proud” companies give customers the treatment they desire, and employees the ability to deliver it. They turn “gotcha” moments into “we’ve got your back” moments by rethinking business practices, and they enable employees to be part of the solution to fix customer frustrations. Bliss scoured the marketplace seeking companies who excel at living their core values, grounded in what we all learned as kids. She offers a five-step plan for evaluating your current behaviors and implementing actions at every level of the organization. Step 1. “Be the Person I Raised You to Be” Understand how you are hiring, developing and trusting employees to bring the best version of themselves to work. Vail resorts, for example, the world's largest ski resort operator, banned the three words "Our policy is..." from their vocabulary, freeing employees to take spirited actions to deliver "the experience of a lifetime." Step 2. “Don’t Make Me Feed You Soap” Learn the eight key frustrations that bind us as customers (waiting, fear, anxiety, the black hole of no communication, etc.) and how to apply actions from companies who are delivering a seamless, frictionless and easy experience. Step 3. “Put Others Before Yourself” Determine if your focus is on helping customers achieve their goals – and evaluate how that is fueling your growth. Canada's Mayfair Diagnostics, for example, spent over a year studying the emotions of patients entering an imaging clinic, so they could redesign their welcome to deliver warmth and caring over procedure and process. The newly designed clinic achieved profitability in record time. Step 4. “Take the High Road” Learn how companies who do the right thing rise above the competition. Virgin Hotels, for example, named #1 U.S. hotel by Conde Nast Reader's Choice Awards, walked away from price gouging at the mini bar, so you'll never pay more for that Snickers bar than what you'd pay at the corner market. Step 5. “Stop the Shenanigans!” Evaluate your current company behaviors and identify the key actions that you can begin immediately. With 32 case studies and examples from more than 85 companies, this is a practical and easy to follow guide for your experience and culture transformation. Filled with comics to snapshot our experiences as customers, a “mom lens” to reflect continuously on your performance, and a “make-mom-proud-ometer” quiz – the book makes Bliss’s approach accessible and approachable. Join the movement to #MakeMomProud by applying this book across your organization. Whether you're contemplating your company's returns policy, its social media presence, or its big-picture strategy, this approach will help your company anticipate both employee and customer needs, extend patience, and show respect at all times.
Zachary's mom just up and disappeared from their home in Copper Lake, Colorado. The good news is that Zachary and his dad are trying to move on, and Falls, Connecticut is just the place for a fresh start. With the help of a new friend, Rachel, and her brother Teddy, Zachary is learning about new beginnings, the power of forgiveness, and the quirky people that make life interesting.
She will do anything to ensure her sister's safety...even marry a man she barely knows. Eliza Fairchild arrived in America from England with her sister and parents expecting to continue her sheltered, upper-class lifestyle in the new country. However, the death of her parents and the cruelty of her guardians leaves Eliza and her sister, Hannah, in a precarious situation. Thomas Flannagan has vowed never to love again after the death of his young wife shortly after their arrival in America. His need for a wife, and his desire to keep the Fairchild sisters safe motivate him to propose a marriage of convenience. Working together to create a home in the wild Kansas prairie brings Thomas and Eliza closer together, but the tender shoots of affection between them are threatened when her sister's past catches up with them. 'Wagon Train Wife' is a Christian historical novel and the first in the brand new 'Walton Valley' series.
Dust and Clay is a fiction expressed through multiple points of views and is set in rural Jamaica, where the legacy of the resisting strength of its people remains deeply rooted in the land. The Island provides a backdrop to the nuanced dialogues, its unforgettable characters and their journey along the winding and dusty roads which inevitably bring them home. Lead character Corrine MacGrady ventures away from her small and impoverished district of Longwood, to seek the promise in her studies to become a midwife. Through her empowering journey to foreign lands and back, we experience the cadence in the language of the island and the impassioned personalities of its people. This evocative story saturated with trials, pain and joy, demonstrates the destitution, fortitude and harmony that resonates within the lives and dreams of the people.
“Two fierce young people battle a fiery landscape and vicious foes in a race for freedom. I was glued to my seat!” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Tamora Pierce In the Alskad Empire, nearly all are born with a twin, two halves to form one whole…yet some face the world alone. The singleborn A rare few are singleborn in each generation, and therefore given the right to rule by the gods and goddesses. Bo Trousillion is one of these few, born into the royal line and destined to rule. Though he has been chosen to succeed his great-aunt, Queen Runa, as the leader of the Alskad Empire, Bo has never felt equal to the grand future before him. The diminished When one twin dies, the other usually follows, unable to face the world without their other half. Those who survive are considered diminished, doomed to succumb to the violent grief that inevitably destroys everyone whose twin has died. Such is the fate of Vi Abernathy, whose twin sister died in infancy. Raised by the anchorites of the temple after her family cast her off, Vi has spent her whole life scheming for a way to escape and live out what’s left of her life in peace. As their sixteenth birthdays approach, Bo and Vi face very different futures—one a life of luxury as the heir to the throne, the other years of backbreaking work as a temple servant. But a long-held secret and the fate of the empire are destined to bring them together in a way they never could have imagined. “With a splash of swoony romance and a thrilling conclusion, readers will be clamoring for the sequel.” —Zoraida Córdova, award-winning author of Labyrinth Lost and The Vicious Deep trilogy “Bo and Vi are fierce, complex characters, and I couldn’t devour their story fast enough!” —Amy Tintera, New York Times bestselling author of Ruined “This daring novel challenges the status quo beautifully.” —Natalie C. Parker, author of Beware the Wild
According to Scottish legend, the kelpie, a magical sea creature, grants good fortune to the Isle of Caransay upon finding a bride on the sea rock. When Meg MacNeill spends one night on that rugged rock as local tradition demands, a handsome man emerges from the sea--and passion takes its course. Legend fulfilled, the mysterious man disappears. Seven years later, Dougal Stewart, engineer and deep sea diver, returns to the Caransay to build a lighthouse on the very rock where he washed ashore--but Baroness Strathlin is determined to stop construction. Little does Dougal realize that the barefoot island beauty he often meets is not only the mysterious baroness herself, but the girl he once loved that memorable night--and the fair-haired boy with her is his own son. REVIEWS: "An exquisite and magical Highland romance." ~Booklist, *starred review "Magic, myth and history blend to perfection.... King is a master storyteller." ~Romantic Times Book Club THE SCOTTISH LAIRDS, in series order Taming the Heiress Waking the Princess Kissing the Countess THE CELTIC NIGHTS, in series order The Stone Maiden The Swan Maiden The Sword Maiden Laird of the Wind THE BORDER ROGUES, in series order The Raven's Wish The Raven's Moon The Heather Moon OTHER TITLES by Susan King The Black Thorne's Rose
Kidnap in the Highlands! The morn of her wedding, Arabella Cameron is filled with dread. But if marrying a man she doesn't love will end the feud between the Cameron and Mackintosh clans, she will do her duty. That is until outlaw Brodie Mackintosh arrives in her bedchamber and steals her away to the mountains! Brodie knows Arabella has every reason to hate him, but a forbidden kiss soon makes these sworn enemies question everything. And when Arabella's intended reclaims her, Brodie must fight with all his strength to make her his once more! A Highland Feuding Rival clans, forbidden love
Harlequin® Romance brings you four new titles for one great price, available now! Experience the rush of falling in love! This Harlequin® Romance box set includes: #4535 STEPPING INTO THE PRINCE’S WORLD by Marion Lennox Caretaker Claire Tremaine finds a handsome soldier shipwrecked on her shores, and is soon won over by his kindness and kisses. But when she learns he’s the royal prince of Marétal, she'scertain they can't be together! That is, until Prince Raoul whisks her off to his royal palace! #4536 UNVEILING THE BRIDESMAIDby Jessica Gilmore New York artist Gael is convinced that love is a sham. But after spending time with shy Hope McKenzie, who has thrown herself into planning her sister’s wedding, he begins to wonder if this beautiful bridesmaid is what he’s been missing all along… #4537 THE CEO’S SURPRISE FAMILY by Teresa Carpenter When CEO Jethro Calder discovers he is a father, he doesn't believe he can be the parent his daughter needs. But to ensure that Lexi Malone—the woman caring for his daughter—is, he invites her to stay, and soon finds that happy families do exist! #4538 THE BILLIONAIRE FROM HER PAST by Leah Ashton Mila Molyneux always harboured a secret crush on childhood friend Sebastian Fyfe, until he married another woman! When she meets him years later—now widowed and as gorgeous as ever—she finds their connection is still strong… Will this reunion be Mila’s opportunity to tell Seb she wants more than friendship?
