I’m standing here, breathing in the final moments of the show.

Recalling the highlights, the laughter, the flubs, and the tender moments.

Reliving the looks on my actors’ faces at Intermission as I shared audience responses, technical issues, and notes regarding their projection, tone, and enunciation.

Bittersweetness washes over me, as the sounds in the room change: hammers pounding pins into flats, men hoisting the bar off the stage and back onto the floor. Brooms sweeping the floor, costumes being piled on the table, set pieces being returned to their homes in storage… and the chatter of the cast and crew as we wrap up, pack up, and clear away any trace of the production.

Strike always gets me.

It’s the completion of the circle of life of a show. We begin mostly as strangers, with a bare stage. We rehearse, almost in secret, in an upper room of the theater. It isn’t until the bulk of the set is present that we take to the stage and begin the process of bringing vitality to these two dimensional characters.

Then the lights, sound and music emerge, creating new challenges, adding new dimensions to the tapestry.

And the curtain goes up on opening night… and the friends I’ve come to know disappear as they slip deeper and deeper into their characters, becoming those people for a fortnight. Then, as quickly as they stepped into those roles, they’re stepping out again, pulling down set dressing, saying our goodbyes one last time.

It’s in this moment that I see the show’s “life” flash before my eyes – much like the flash of the camera as the show’s highlights are snapped off one after another by the photographer. I’m reminded that everything comes to an end – and in that ending, an opening is created for a new beginning.

But tonight, I enjoy the company of my cast and crew, our producer and managing partner. We celebrate a great review, the kinship of this rag tag bunch of actors, and relive some of the humorous moments of the show.

It will be a bit sad to head home tonight, and I know I’ll probably mourn this show a little. But right now, I’m just enjoying this moment, soaking in these wonderful people, this wonderful place, and all the memories we’ve created for ourselves and our audience.

We’ve touched people and changed lives. That’s something of which we can be proud.

I’m already thinking about what my next project will be, and how to make it happen faster, so I’m not living in the limbo. But for now, tonight, I’m here. Enjoying, drinking it all in, until the next circle begins.

Photo Courtesy The Weinstein Company

His is a tale of reluctant heroism at it’s finest. Here’s a guy, born into nobility, yet he’s mocked, abused, and never given his due. He comes to not only believe the hype, but also produces a physical manifestation of his “worthlessness” by way of a stammer he developed as a toddler.

He has no faith in himself, and keeps praying beyond all reason that his brother David will see the light and let go of his “fantasy” relationship with this bad influence. But David has already accepted his call to live his own life. Albert must now become King.

Enter Lionel.

A man with no credentials, save the results he’s produced for a countless number of people with “speech defects”. No alphabet soup, no royal appellation, and in fact, regarded as unworthy to serve the King once his lack of official credentials is uncovered by the “royal attendants”.

As I watched the movie, I marveled at how two men from two very opposite ends of the social spectrum should ever come together.

And then the answer came: Faith.

A wife, determined to help her husband be the best he could be, simply would not rest until she found the solution to his “problem” – even against his wishes. Money was no obstacle, so why could Albert not over come this defect? She had faith that, somewhere, there was still one more stone to overturn. She found it in Lionel.

A teacher, determined to break down the walls built by a young man to protect himself from harm, simply would not acquiesce when told that this man was of noble birth. “My house, my rules.” was Lionel’s retort. His supreme faith in his own abilities left few in a position to debate the King’s choice to have him by his side for nearly every public address His Royal Highness ever made.

A king, forced into a corner, yet understanding his pivotal role in the “life” of his country, ultimately had faith in his own voice – a voice that would  assuage the fears of a restless nation as Hitler blazed a trail closer to their shore.

A country, longing for a protector, desperate for direction and unable to take heart in themselves, hoped for the best when their newly crowned king and well-known stammerer took to the wireless for his first-ever wartime address.

I was struck by the notion that being born into royalty doesn’t automatically make you a great man. And being a great man without a royal appellation doesn’t make you any less noble. When you aspire to greatness in your work, you will catch the eye of kings.

Scripture tells us that a job well done is rewarded richly:

“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings”

It matters not your station. It matters not your situation. All that matters is your focus, your conviction, and your willingness to do what’s right, whether or not you get credit for it. Lionel could have easily slipped into obscurity as an “unqualified” humiliation, at the behest of the court, but his skill and persistence won over a doubftul King and a desperate Queen.

And ultimately, an entire nation would have him to thank for the voice of their “fearless” leader.

But in the annals of history, who gets the credit for the impressive speeches? Certainly not Lionel. It was the king that spoke those words into being.

Yet, it was Lionel that spoke The King’s Speech into being.

According to the film, Lionel earned high distinction for his service to the Monarchy. Not bad for an uncredentialed, yet highly skilled “speech defect” coach.

You are where you need to be right now, doing what you need to do right now. Your credentials (if you have them) are meaningless. It’s your results that people care most about. So stop worrying about what you don’t have, focus on being excellent with what you DO have.

The rest will come in time.

Watch the last 20 seconds of this clip. Thanks to Jim Palmer for sharing this video on twitter today.

If you sold shoes, would you deliver pizza to a stranger?

Chances are good, you just gave me the stink eye. I hear you. “Why would I do something so completely out of my realm of business? I sell shoes, for crying out loud!”

Tony Hsieh would disagree. He and his legendary company, Zappos, are known for extraordinary customer service. The kind of above-and-beyond “WOW” experience that has their sales numbers soaring and their repeat and referral business at roughly 75% of their total sales.

While Zappos doesn’t deliver pizza (yet), their customer service reps are more than willing to help you find the pizza parlor closest to you. Tony’s story about the rep that provided the five closest locations to a starving caller reveals the heart of what any business is really about: meeting and exceeding customer needs.

It brings to mind the scene from the 1994 version of “A Miracle on 34th Street” where Santa starts telling parents where they can buy their toys for less. One parent calls the manager aside to let him know that Santa’s willingness “to put the parent before the almighty dollar” made her a shopper for life. “I’m coming here for everything but toilet paper.” she said. The manager then devises a new ad campaign: “if we don’t have it, we’ll find it for you!”

The phones start lighting up, customer service reps are hopping, and the store is saved from the brink of bankruptcy.

Are you still shaking your head about delivering pizza?

“But that’s the movies! And Tony’s got a huge customer service operation! He’s made customer service the focal point of his business.”

Well, duh!

Your business IS serving your customer. Whatever industry you call your own, the reality is without customers, there’s no business. If you don’t serve the customers – that is, to exceed their expectations and deliver “WOW!” – you’ll probably not go out of business today, but it’s only a matter of time.

I remember when my mom first said “anything worth doing is worth doing well.” Within a week, I heard one of my teachers say “if you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?” Hearing about Zappos incredible repeat business performance put this into perspective:

“If it’s not worth doing well the first time, why do it at all?”

Scott Stratten says that he doesn’t blog on a set schedule because he doesn’t believe in “mailing in a blog post”. One of my mailing lists hears from me weekly, and another hears from me only sporadically. Why? Because I can crank out a ton of quality, helpful information on a regular basis for one group, and the other – well, I’m not going to “mail it in”.

People who follow me know I don’t have a huge following, and that’s okay, because the people I work with are leaders. They’re a certain kind of person that doesn’t want their life whitewashed or sugar coated. We’re a growing community of people that support one another, rejoice for one another, cry for one another and sometimes we even pray for one another. That’s how I roll.

It would be easy for me to charge more, stop doing stuff for free, and try to “monetize” customer service. To me, though, that’s where humanity ends and greed begins. Sometimes you help because it’s the right thing to do, not because you’re going to make a buck doing it. Sometimes you give more than you should, but that doesn’t mean you should help less in another situation to make up the difference.

Give everything you’ve got to everything you do. That’s how you deliver wow. Tony’s rep could have just hung up on the hungry pizza lady. After all, Zappos sells shoes, not pizza (yet). That rep didn’t know Tony was in the room listening to the speaker phone. Yet that rep provided excellent customer service to a woman that wasn’t even a customer.

And look how the story continues to spread. The video alone has  thousands of views.

Reality Check

You can’t deliver wow to a hundred million people when it’s just you behind the curtain. You can deliver wow to your followers, to your supporters, to your family and friends. And as your following grows, you can’t scale you, but you can scale your organization, and develop a customer service team that understands your mission, your vision, and the value of your customers. People who aren’t just looking for a job, but are looking to make a difference.

So I’m on a mission to create more “Wow!” for my peeps. I’m not sure how to do it yet, but I’m working on it.

When you’re out there making offers to your people, are you delivering products, delivering “satisfaction”, or are you delivering pizzas?