Evangelist | Fast Company

Coffee Break Survey: Executive Toys 2010

BY Lynette ChiangFri Oct 1, 2010

VIDEO: Gal at ComicCon, the place where toy lovers collideThank Buddha it's Friday. A playful day, when meetings should be light 'n' easy, decisions fully reversible Monday and it's okay to occasionally flip back and forth between ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Asian American Advertising: It's Not All About Me

BY Lynette ChiangThu Sep 16, 2010

Over cold spicy eggplant and tofu noodles at Hunan, a typically cacophonous downtown Chinese eatery, Sunny explained how Asian advertising is less about the individual, more about the collective.READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Holsteins, Heroes and Heart: A Good Host Is Hard to Find

BY Lynette ChiangThu Jul 22, 2010

This week I embarked on what should be a simple task: finding a new web host. Like researching a new waterproof breathable jacket or non-stick omelette pan or taser to match your iPod nano, you trawl the Web, read the reviews, wonder which are bogus, glaze over at the offerings, wonder if you should be using Joomla or Wordpress, and if you need SSL and what is SSL anyway...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Advertising 101: The "Do I Give a ****" Test

BY Lynette ChiangWed Jul 7, 2010

"Hey, seen that latest GM ad ... ?" I'm standing in the train with weekend warriors, and the conversation is about ads. Usually seated, suited and sullen during their daily commute, today they're hanging off the pole in biking gear, ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Win, Win, Win, Win, Win - We'll Get Ourselves Out Of This Mess Yet

BY Lynette ChiangMon Jun 21, 2010

My customer evangelist radar can always detect a not-waving-drowning plea for help between syllables. The unglamorous fact of fundraising life -- unless you're Lance, Haiti+CNN, or Obama on his home run -- is actually raising the funds.READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

The 24/7 Customer Evangelist: A decade from across the dining room table

BY Lynette ChiangTue May 18, 2010

[youtube XzukIdQHTys]The final sermon: a non-sectarian evangelist puts people before the product, stories before the sell ... together, we might just make it to heaven.Last Friday was my last day as the 24/7, card-carrying Customer ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Packaging Design 101: Follow through ... with decent glue.

BY Lynette ChiangTue Feb 23, 2010

I'm on a technicality tear.My last mission was getting people to close conversations by saying "I got it".Now I'm sniffing - or rather, picking, at glue.I set out to buy a new toaster. I was hoping to make toast and get on with my ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

They Got It! PLUS: How to "fire" a customer and keep them coming back for more.

BY Lynette ChiangWed Jan 27, 2010

The stars in my Gmail are aligned ... Not only has my $29.95 been swiftly refunded in the wake of my veiled threats to mentally blow up pallets of translucent polypropylene laptop covers (see 2010: The Year of Saying: "I Got It!") but ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

2010: The Year of Saying, "I Got It"

BY Lynette ChiangThu Jan 7, 2010

UPDATE! Read the response by a Named Party to this postI'm not talking about "getting it" as in "I get that you're just not into me" or "Stay away from me - I got it."I mean, simply acknowledging that you got someone's email, ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Be social and the networking will follow.

BY Lynette ChiangThu Nov 19, 2009

Oxymoron of the week: 'Let's incorporate social networking". Just look at that sentence!Incorporate. Social. Like saying, "Let's engineer some fun." I hear this sentence uttered a lot these days, in corridors, over ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Feldenkrais: The slow road to success in the fast lane

BY Lynette ChiangWed Aug 26, 2009

I just attended an introductory workshop on the Feldenkrais Method. The movements are slow. Very slow. In a typical "lesson", you move a limb just the tiniest amount, maybe an inch or less, then move it back. Then compare how your ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Megabank Miscalculations: Still treating people like numbers after all these years

BY Lynette ChiangTue Jul 14, 2009

Last week in my post about coupon clippers I posted a photo of a sign I came across in Georgia. Once more with feeling: Smile Call customers by their names Thank them for their businessWe all recoil from cheesy and insincere ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

New York, New York: If can make it there, I'll not make it elsewhere

BY Lynette ChiangSun Mar 29, 2009

Update 8 Aug 2009: The decline of New York's garment district courtesy of the New York TimesStart spreading the news, I'm investing todayI want to be a part of it - New York, New YorkThese vulturous CEOs, are going awayBanished from ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

The Longest Line in NYC: Women for Hire Job Fair

BY Lynette ChiangWed Feb 25, 2009

We interrupt this program for a report from the cold, hard pavement outside your window. WATCH MOVIE if you can bear to ... A jobseeking friend invited me to join her at a Women for Hire Career Fair at the Sheraton New ...READ»

PAYCUT | Comment

The Recession Ripple Effect: A little pay cut goes a long way

BY Lynette ChiangTue Feb 17, 2009

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." If ever there was a time to seriously ask yourself that question, cobwebby nostalgia aside, it's now. This story: ...READ»

CHESLEY SULLENBERGER | Comment

When good news is good news: A Hudson River plane crash in a recession

BY Lynette ChiangWed Feb 11, 2009

It's been almost a month since newly wikified Chesley B. Sullenberger III (one of the guys in the attached photo, don't mind which) executed a perfect duck dive. And unless cross-haired by a man in a tweedy peaked cap, ducks always ...READ»

INAUGURATION | Comment

Obamabilia: Royalty-free "Kind Eyes" Already Stimulating the Economy

BY Lynette ChiangWed Jan 21, 2009

YOU SHOW me yours, and I'll show mine. My Obamabilia, that is. I just watched a CNN story on the Mt McKinley-sized dune of opportunistic landfill featuring Obama's face, "with kind eyes," according to an ad for ornamental plates. I ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

That Island Caretaker Job: Floating great ideas when the water's rough

BY Lynette ChiangThu Jan 15, 2009

Pictured: Why would anyone want to smurf it up on a tropical island when there's important brainstorming to do? ... you mean this is real pineapple in my pina colada? The Galfromdownunder's Submission or click ...READ»

FOODBANK | Comment

Half Price Food Before Close: Chasing the Charitable Choux

BY Lynette ChiangTue Nov 25, 2008

GOODONYA!That's Aussie for "good for you" to Joe and Chris Miller of Platteville, CO, for letting people help themselves to the leftovers on their harvested field.In a 'bring your doggy bag' of epic proportions, the invitation ...READ»

CUSTOMER | Comment

Is the Times Travel Section Tone Deaf?

BY Lynette ChiangFri Nov 21, 2008

The "Travel Winter 2008" issue of the New York Times Style Magazine features imagery of our rapidly melting polar caps. The photospread of the grand scenery is juxtaposed with luxury items such as $6845 black and white pelt of a mammal formerly known as endangered or a $3195 Chanel bag.READ»