I promised i was going to speak about the books i have been reading lately, so lets start with the book that has left the biggest impression on me. Broken Windows Broken Business was written by Michael Levine. The synopsis from Amazon is below
Social psychologists and law enforcement officials tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and left un- repaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken and the neighborhood will soon go downhill. According to Levine, the same theory is applicable to the world of business. Examples of this principle in action include: JetBlue, which figured out that giving fliers what they really want (leather seats, personal televisions, etc...) when they travel was the absolute key to success * Google, because of its extraordinary and reliable customer accessibility, was able to break out of the clutter of all the Internet search engines. * On the downside, McDonalds lost its edge in recent years when their "Broken Windows" of sloppy eating areas and unsanitary bathrooms began to drive customers away * Same goes for Kmart, which lost sight of its customer base by trying to go upscale. In BROKEN WINDOWS, BROKEN BUSINESS, Michael Levine offers the theory that all problems in business stem from the tiniest details and by extrapolating all the "small" remedies into a much larger plan, these items can stimulate business growth and keep customers coming back for more.

Reading the book wasn't that overwhelming at the time. My obvious reference point was my work, and we have signed up to the Broken Windows concept, it was my boss that gave me the book to read. I tried to relay what i read with what happened at my work with little success. It wasn't until after I read the book that it started to make more sense. One Sunday i took my daughter to the cinema. Instead of queueing for our tickets at the box office, we had to queue at the popcorn stand, adding 10 minutes to our wait, meaning we missed the start of the film I thought to myself. The week after I had to MOT my car. I went to a shop to buy a paper to read while i was waiting. The queue took forever, while the manager sat at an empty til doing some paperwork. Another broken window I thought. And then the list grew. I would notice more and more things that were broken windows, things that made us perceive businesses as sloppy and things that may make us choose not to use these businesses in the future. Even this morning, as I drove into work, i was sat behind a van, owned by the same company my brother works for. Now I know that this company is having major internal problems, a major broken window. But the van that i seen this morning was neat, clean, and even had the name of the company on the license plate. It also had all the usual information like the service they provided, contact details etc. Very professional i thought. I then noticed a van which had the complete opposite effect. It looked a mess, the van was dirty, the information on it was unclear, and it looked very unprofessional. The fact the driver didn't give me right of way in rush hour is beside the point. But it got me thinking of how that two vans give totally different messages to potential clients. If you had to choose a plumber, or sparky based on this criteria, and lets be honest quite often we will employ someone to do a job for us without a recommendation, then which one would you choose?
The downside of this book, is now I question nearly everything. what does the state of the pot holes in Aberdeen say about the council? What does the state of my garden say about me? everything i see or hear about, or read about is a potential broken window!! But I have also put the concept into my own life, i know what my short to medium term aim in life is, and I know how to identify the broken windows in my life, and hopefully, how to repair them!!