Smile and the World Smiles With You—Unless It’s Fake

One of our faithful Shepard Letter subscribers emailed me a story. He was at a store, and the employee was friendly and engaging. But when he saw her later—when she was off duty—she acted indifferent toward him, almost rude. She wouldn’t even smile, which made him wonder, “Shouldn’t people greet you as warmly outside of their work environment as they do while on the job?”
When you hire someone for a job, you should understand their personality. Do they come to the job with the positive attitude you want your customers to experience? Or do they have to “fake it”? The old cliché of “hire for attitude and train for skill” comes to mind, but I think it’s more than that. You do want to have someone with the right attitude, but more importantly, they need to understand and fit in with the culture and personality of your organization.
Just hours after