The Christmas “Thank You” Chronicles:
Tom’s Tweetstream

PLEASE consider this. Monday 23rd or Fri 27th or Mon 30th or Tues 31st: CALL 10-50 people to thank ’em for their support in 2013.

“Acknowledge” & “Appreciate”: The two most important words in a leader’s language. So, at year’s end work your ass off on acknowledgement/appreciation.

21 Dec/I have decided to bug you every day until New Year’s Eve to CALL 10-50 people to thank them for their support in 2013.

David Ivers: “It works well Tom! I personally delivered to the 14 people on my team a handwritten Christmas Card with a small Lindt Chocs box.”

21 Dec/Christmas gift from you today. If shopping, be especially courteous to grouches and smile at stressed-out staff even if service is sub-par.

21 Dec/Best Christmas gift I’ve heard of this year: Customer brings a cup of coffee mid-morning to our beleaguered local postal clerk.

21 Dec/If, like many of us, you’re shopping today, enjoy the madness. Engage the madness in the spirit of Christmas.

21 Dec/Saturday before Christmas. Cherish the madness. You’re only here for a little while.

21 Dec/Be present today. It’s the greatest gift you can give.

21 Dec/The worse your voice, the more vigorously you should sing the Carol. It’s about spirit, not 6-sigma quality.

21 Dec/Pop into a church and light a candle for someone sick today. (Even if you are a strict non-believer.)

21 Dec/Make those calls to thank people for their support. Promise: You will enjoy it immensely.

We all need a kick in the ass. Once you start, you’ll really get off on it.

21 Dec/John Barnes: “On your advice, I’ve been doing this for 3 years, always one of the professional highlights of the year.”

Dave Wheeler: “And spend a few words/seconds to thank your frontline team individually and personally! Cost minimal. ROI monstrous!”

21 Dec/Cost < 0 because it ends up making you feel good at least as much as the recipient!

21 Dec/Nosy me. Asked grocery checkout person how many say “Happy Holidays.” She said probably 1 in 4 or 5, “less by late afternoon.”

21 Dec/Real key is making kind comment … WITH EYE CONTACT. Otherwise the gesture is diminished by three quarters.

Trevor Gay: “Best gift I’ve had this Christmas was the chat I had with the homeless guy when I took my dog for walk today. Feel blessed.”

Monday 12/23: Go on a “Thank you” binge. DAMN IT

The degree to which the average analytically trained businessperson fails to appreciate TYP/Thank You Power is staggering/pathetic.

If you feel awkward saying “Thank you” it’s because you haven’t practiced enough.

If you feel awkward saying “Thank you,” tell the person you are thanking that you feel awkward. Zounds. The credit you will get.

Can you say “Thank you” too much? Doubtless, yes. But in the human race’s first few million years, no one has overdone it so far.

I worry about Syrian civil war & 7,999,999 other things. That people will say thank you too much didn’t make my “Top 8,000,000 Worries” list.

Steve Pfistner: “Ah, the joy of affirming another fellow humanoid.”

“Affirming another humanoid”—Love it!

Handwritten notes make me weak in the knees.

An “almost” guarantee: Even if your first “Thank yous” seem forced, the response will be so overwhelming that you’ll soon be in the groove.

At the very least, you can do a “Hey, thanks, bro, somehow we survived another year.”

Mike Ferguson: “You’re saying I have to make a call, not email, right? I thought so. Okay okay okay.”

Ever heard the phrase “Bet your sweet ass”?

Cindy Starks: “This is one of those things that I just don’t understand. I’ve tried. Why is it so hard for people to say ‘Thank You’ or ‘Thanks.'”

I am as befuddled as you are.

Drew: “The importance of ‘Thank you’ is drilled into children, yet often lost on adults. It’s something I had to relearn.”

Jeff Hathaway: “Things like ‘Thank you’ should be on the list called ‘assumptions,’ especially for leaders. Maybe why the future is brighter for Women?”

John Hinton III: ? “I always say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you.’ You never know what type of day someone is having. Best way to convey appreciation.”

John Wheaton: “#1 reason engineers leave biz is they are not appreciated.”

Damn right, John. We engineers are human, too :-)

John Wheaton: “Say [‘Thank you’] in Monday meetings. Say it on rounds. The more you say it the easier it is.”

Catherine Huggins: “Expressing thanks is just another way of acknowledging life is bigger than any one individual.”

Lisa Rokusek: “Often it takes the doing of gratitude to ignite the feeling. We can’t let a lack of feeling stop us from grateful actions.”

Lars Leafblad (Fundraiser): “The five seconds of silence I experience when I call a donor for no other reason than thank you is deafening!”

Trevor Gay: “In my experience the most well received ‘Thank you’ is one for doing your routine task.”

My version: No one ever has an “average day.” Always something worth noting.

“The Power of Thanks” well supported by science too: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/03/the-power-of-thanks/

Update:
Some (Important) Stuff

We’ve updated our recent tweetstream-based PDF. 14 January 2014, now 35 parts.

Tom Peters posted this on December 23, 2013, in Strategies.
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