MaryEllen Tribby: The Day I Went to Court (Part III)

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Last week MaryEllen told you all about the first lesson she learned during jury duty. Here is the second lesson…

Lesson #2: Attitude is everything.

After the voir dire process was complete, we were asked to step outside the courtroom so the judge and attorneys could decide on the jury. I was happy to have this opportunity to speak with my fellow potential jurors – especially the people who clearly did not want to be there.

And it appeared that those who had given answers that they knew would keep them from being picked for the jury were the same ones who did not take either their careers or relationships seriously.

“Jen” told me that she did not want to get picked for the jury because she would rather go back downstairs and watch the free movie they were showing. Then she commented that spending the day at the courthouse was better than going to work.

“Peter” told me he would rather sit around the courthouse cafeteria all day instead of spending the day with his wife.

It was amazing to me that though these people knew they would have to spend the entire day at the courthouse even if they weren’t picked for a case, they still did not want to get selected. So I pressed further to inquire about their individual careers.

Jen told me she was a marketing manager for a local research firm. (Turns out it’s a medium-sized company that I know.) She said that she liked her job okay, but her boss kept passing her up for promotions. Gee, I wonder why, Jen.

Peter was retired but he had been a print salesman back in New York (with three-hour liquid lunches). He said that in the good old days it was easy to fool his customers into paying more for his printing – even though, by his own admission, the product was not worth the price. He revealed that he would sell them “extras” he knew would make no difference to the quality of the printing job.

I finally spoke to “Karen,” a young women who was not only a hairdresser but who owned her own salon. She told me that when she received her jury duty notice, she immediately called her clients to re-schedule their appointments. She even stayed late in the evening the two weeks prior to accommodate those clients. She also told me that she had asked her husband to take a personal day off from his job so he could run the salon in her absence.

What can you learn about business from my little chats with Jen, Peter, and Karen? It’s simple.

You need to look for people like Karen for your business. People whose main priority is the customer!