Jack Mitchell
Hug your employees. Vaccination from hard management
Reprinted with permission from Hyperion.
Published in Russian for the first time.
© John R. Mitchell, 2008
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2013
All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "Vegas-Lex"
© The electronic version of the book was prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)
This book is well complemented by:
Dream company
Kevin Cruz and Rudy Karsan
Delivering happiness
Tony Shay
Leave your mark
Blake Micosky
Zappos Rules
Joseph Micelli
Hug your customers
Jack Mitchell
To all 234 wonderful people, their spouses and families.
To all those who have worked with us since Mom and Dad opened the store doors half a century ago.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Everyone wants to be appreciated
It shocked me. I will say more, it was struck on the spot. Although something like this has happened more than once in my memory.
Not so long ago, an amazing woman came to one of our stores to get a job. Before that, she had been selling shirts and ties for several years in a large New York store and was a real star there. She worked hard and hard, never complained, and constantly stayed overtime. Customers loved her. She made very good money and often received various bonuses, also very generous.
We asked her a reasonable question: why does she want to leave New York and start working on our team in Connecticut?
The answer was very simple.
None of the employees and management of that company has ever personal, human level did not let her know that she was appreciated. Even after she sold a million dollars worth of goods in a year - and this, I note, is a lot of shirts and ties - no one, not a single person approached her and said: “Wow! Wow! You are just amazing!"
No! Never.
Maybe her boss sent her a bunch of flowers as a token of gratitude?
Not a single stunted daisy!
This was exactly what was unpleasant to her. Because of this attitude towards herself, she began to feel that her work was ... well, just work.
The woman's story once again confirmed the simple truth that I have always known: everyone wants to be appreciated!
For three generations, our family has owned a luxury clothing business for men and women, and now I am running it. We have three stores located in and around New York. I am grateful to fate that I and the team of wonderful people who work with me have the opportunity every day to personally communicate in the sales area with hundreds of customers who visit our store. I wrote a book about how my family and our employees worked with their hearts to build a business based on creating personal, human relationships that exceed customer expectations. I believe that many companies only talk about how they care about their customers, but don't really know how to show it. And I decided to tell the readers how we take care of our employees with the help of the culture of hugs created in the company.
You can hug in different ways. You can actually put a person in a tight, bear hug. But we most often use this word as a metaphor. We believe that a hug is any positive or positive action, gesture, or expression (through actions or words) that makes the relationship more personal and makes the person think, "Wow, they really care about me!"
Hugging culture is an incredibly powerful way of thinking. I remember when my kids were teenagers they dragged me to see the Star Wars movie. I still cannot distinguish Luke Skywalker from Darth Vader, but I remember how one of the heroes of the picture said the phrase "May the Force be with you." I was struck by the idea of the Force, and I began to perceive hugs and hug culture as a kind of Force.
I had no idea how readers would react to my book Hug Your Clients. Imagine my amazement when a huge number of companies: from Midas garages to Payless ShoeSource, from sporting goods manufacturer Nike to financial giant Morgan Stanley, as well as a variety of companies from Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, London, Stockholm, Rome and even, imagine, from Tallinn, Estonia - they invited me to speak to their employees, because the basic principles outlined in the book, which we follow in our Mitchells / Richards clothing stores, seemed to them significant and interesting. In 2005, our company acquired our third Marshs store on Long Island, where we have also successfully implemented our corporate hug culture.
Another fact struck me: the readers wanted to know more.
At companies all over the world, from Starbucks to small food retailers, people have repeatedly asked me the same question: "How do you hire people and how do you motivate them to keep them productive and efficient?"
I replied that we "hug our employees" and therefore we have people who work effectively and efficiently, and who also remain loyal to our company for 35 and even 45 years. And these employees don't even want to retire!
I receive tons of emails every day. Every day, on board the plane, in major stores, in banks and in real estate offices, ordinary, caring and hardworking people come up to me and say: “It seems to me that such concepts as loyalty and dedication to work have disappeared. The work has ceased to be what it used to be. "
Serving our customers at the highest level and an individual approach to each is one of the main tasks of our family. We have hugged our customers and employees since 1958, that is, since my parents Norma and Ed Mitchell founded their first store. We have never forgotten that the highest level of service can be provided only when you treat your own employees well and fairly. The highest level of customer service does not come out of a vacuum by itself - only great people can provide excellent personalized service!
This audiobook is an abridged version of Hug Your Employees. Vaccination against tough management. " Only the most important: ideas, techniques, key quotes.
Jack Mitchell is a co-owner of a large clothing sales network, Mitchell Stores, known for its high level of service. Listed by the Daily News Record as one of the Top 10 Retail Progressives. Together with his colleagues, he has created a unique corporate culture characterized by a free and happy atmosphere. His vocabulary does not include the words "subordinate" and "boss", and every employee of the company feels that he is appreciated. Jack Mitchell encourages people to take care of their employees in the form of "hugs". These can be minor signs of attention, positive actions, real hugs - anything that makes a person feel like a significant member of the team. Sometimes it is much more important than certificates and material bonuses. The culture of hugs, according to the author, is built on the basis of five principles: pride, politeness, recognition, involvement and trust. The book helps to create a pleasant and harmonious atmosphere in the team and is useful to a wide range of readers: from managers to ordinary workers.
As a reminder, this audiobook is a summary of the book Hug Your Employees. Vaccination from tough management "
Listen online to the full version of the audiobook "Summary" Hug your employees .. Download the iOS or Android apps and listen to the "Summary" Hug your employees. Vaccination from hard management »» anywhere, even without the Internet.
The principles and ideas discussed in this book are not artificially created on a boardroom board or computer screen. They were developed in practice Jack Mitchell- Co-owner and CEO of American retail clothing stores.
His vocabulary does not include the words "boss" or "subordinate." These concepts simply do not get along in the free and happy atmosphere of his organization, where each employee feels that he is truly appreciated. Little things, little courtesies, or a weekend get-together can do a lot for a company's success. Mitchell in his book "Hug Your Employees" shares his fifty years of real leadership experience and reveals the secrets of successful staff motivation.
An exclusive excerpt from the book is provided by the HR-Academy publishing house MIF.
Hugs Study Guide # 1.
Create a culture of mindfulness: To make employees feel happy and motivated, a strategy is needed to create a culture in which people enjoy each other, build positive personal relationships, and the whole company promotes the idea of humility.
Hire Nice People: Hire confident, competent and positive employees who are passionate about listening, learning, and shining, with integrity and honesty. And especially nice people. How do you recognize them? Ask yourself: would you like to sit next to them on a transatlantic flight?
Get married for life: Forget the probationary period and create a positive culture in which new hires feel comfortable, just like at home.
Know them by name and stay on top of their hobbies: managers should know 100-150, or even better 250, employees by name - those to whom you report, those who report to you, as well as those whose work is of great importance in achieving your plans.
Get closer: Hug employees in every possible way that suits their tastes. Do this consistently and sincerely. Smile, give thanks, pay for their car wash from time to time.
Have fun: Business and pleasure are linked and must be mixed, so make employees laugh and have more fun. Play poker or word games with them. Come to work and play there.
Correct the situation if the hug fails: not all hugs succeed. Do not give a bottle to a co-worker trying to stop drinking or candy to a diabetic. Watch for signals that indicate your gift was out of place. Correct the smiling situation, hug the employee again, and add another gift to make up for the initial mistake.
Maintain personal connections at all times: Ask employees to talk about everything that happens in their lives. Let these conversations focus on personal and exciting topics for the employee.
“Every time I gather my courage and sit in the dental chair, my hugging doctor Jeffrey says to his assistant:“ Thank you for coming early for our Jack. ”He says this in front of me, which further increases the meaning of praise. a real hug. ”I look into the assistant’s eyes and see him smiling.
This is a small thing, but a very pleasant little thing. And the little things that are pleasant tend to accumulate, and the enjoyment of them increases. And like most hugs, they cost nothing. We believe that cute moments like these create and strengthen some kind of bond between people. If you are understanding and respectful of what matters to those around you, you create a bond with them. And this is critical to creating a culture of mindfulness.
The fundamental point: any of your actions must be sincere. Predictable and “mechanical” expressions of gratitude, as well as carefully thought out in advance, do not work. Your non-verbal communication, body language, level of enthusiasm tell people that these are just words behind which there is nothing, and the connection with the person quickly disappears.
And more positive words!
If you want to create a personal connection, the choice of words is of the utmost importance. Using the word “colleague” (rather than “helper,” “clerk,” or even “employee”) lifts your colleagues up in their own eyes and in the eyes of those around them. It always seemed to me that "employee" and "employer" sounded too cold. We are all workers, including myself. But I want to think that I am a colleague and a business owner.
I get annoyed internally when I hear: "Jack, can I be frank with you?" Or: “To be frank, I want to tell you ...” And I often hear this kind of thing. It seems like most of the time, if not always, was not frank with me before. Instead, I use the word “be honest.” “Be honest” instead of “I want to tell you frankly.” There is a slight difference.
Another turn, which I hate very much, sounds like this. When I ask "How are you?" they answer me: "Best of all!"
It is clear that a person simply means that he feels great. Otherwise, it is somehow too similar to stupid bragging. In an atmosphere of humility and a culture of mindfulness, these things don't work. On the other hand, I myself have used the word great for a long time to represent people I want to praise or as a compliment. For example, "the great Bruce Lagerfeldt", "the beautiful Ellen Ndini" or "the beautiful TaffyParisi", "the great Beverly Martin." All this I say to the fact that the words must be sincere, and in my case everything is so. For example, I heard from Taffy that she likes it when I present her that way. Below is a list of the main positive and negative words and phrases. It's amazing how people change when you speak "positive language."
Top 5 Positive Words / Negative Words
Opportunity, Challenge / Challenge
Colleague, Hugger / Employee, Assistant, Employee
Standards, expectations / rules, regulations
Education / Training
Projects, programs / Cases, work, task
Top 5 Positive Phrases / Negative Phrases
I need your help / It's not my job, I'm busy
Let me be honest / Can I be frank?
Everything is excellent / Best of all
I like it / I like it, but ...
What do you think? / I'll do it myself
It helps a lot in communication when you speak to people in their language in the literal sense of the word. Try to say at least "Good morning" in Spanish, Greek, or Italian to your native speakers. Body language can tell as much as words, so watch yourself carefully. For example, the folded position on the chest means a defensive position, so I avoid it even when I'm cold. I was told that I do not always look people in the eyes, and I stubbornly practiced direct gaze. And I also nodded in the wrong direction - a terrible habit that I don't know where I picked up. Agreeing, I nodded from left to right, not up and down. I have deliberately fought this habit and have now practically defeated it. "
We subscribe to every principle Jack Mitchell. They are applicable to any industry and company of any size - small, medium, large, or even very large. They can be perfectly used in any country in the world and in any cultural environment. They will work in a plastic basin workshop or a watch wholesaler's office. They will work for an insurance company, a realtor or a trader. They will work for a small, family-owned company and for a multinational giant.
These principles are the main secrets of teaming people. And the team is the only thing you need. Because you cannot do it all alone. We hug you!
Learn more about the book: http://www.mann-ivanov-ferber.ru/books/mif/hug-your-people/
Jack Mitchell, the owner of a successful chain of clothing stores in the United States, does not use the words "boss" or "subordinate" in the vocabulary. These concepts simply do not get along in the free and happy atmosphere of his organization, where each employee feels that he is truly appreciated. Little things, little courtesies, or a weekend get-together can do a lot for a company's success. In this book, Mitchell shares his fifty years of real leadership experience and reveals the secrets of successful employee motivation.
Learn how to find talent, interview, and build trusting and reliable relationships within your team. And your business will only benefit from this!
Preface to Hug Your Employees
It shocked me. I will say more, it was struck on the spot. Although something like this has happened more than once in my memory.
Not so long ago, an amazing woman came to one of our stores to get a job. Before that, she had been selling shirts and ties for several years in a large New York store and was a real star there. She worked hard and hard, never complained, and constantly stayed overtime. Customers loved her. She made very good money and often received various bonuses, also very generous.
We asked her a reasonable question: why does she want to leave New York and start working on our team in Connecticut?
The answer was very simple.
None of the employees and management of that company has ever personal, human level did not let her know that she was appreciated. Even after she sold a million dollars worth of goods in a year - and this, I note, is a lot of shirts and ties - no one, not a single person approached her and said: “Wow! Wow! You are just amazing!"
No! Never.
Maybe her boss sent her a bunch of flowers as a token of gratitude?
Not a single stunted daisy!
This was exactly what was unpleasant to her. Because of this attitude towards herself, she began to feel that her work was ... well, just work.
The woman's story once again confirmed the simple truth that I have always known: everyone wants to be appreciated!
For three generations, our family has owned a luxury clothing business for men and women, and now I am running it. We have three stores located in and around New York. I am grateful to fate that I and the team of wonderful people who work with me have the opportunity every day to personally communicate in the sales area with hundreds of customers who visit our store. I wrote a book about how my family and our employees worked with their hearts to build a business based on creating personal, human relationships that exceed customer expectations. I believe that many companies only talk about how they care about their customers, but don't really know how to show it. And I decided to tell the readers how we take care of our employees with the help of the culture of hugs created in the company.
You can hug in different ways. You can actually put a person in a tight, bear hug. But we most often use this word as a metaphor. We believe that a hug is any positive or positive action, gesture, or expression (through actions or words) that makes the relationship more personal and makes the person think, "Wow, they really care about me!"
Hugging culture is an incredibly powerful way of thinking. I remember when my kids were teenagers they dragged me to see the Star Wars movie. I still cannot distinguish Luke Skywalker from Darth Vader, but I remember how one of the heroes of the picture said the phrase "May the Force be with you." I was struck by the idea of the Force, and I began to perceive hugs and hug culture as a kind of Force.
I had no idea how readers would react to my book Hug Your Clients. Imagine my amazement when a huge number of companies: from Midas garages to Payless ShoeSource, from sporting goods manufacturer Nike to financial giant Morgan Stanley, as well as a variety of companies from Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, London, Stockholm, Rome and even, imagine, from Tallinn, Estonia - they invited me to speak to their employees, because the basic principles outlined in the book, which we follow in our Mitchells / Richards clothing stores, seemed to them significant and interesting. In 2005, our company acquired our third Marshs store on Long Island, where we have also successfully implemented our corporate hug culture.
Another fact struck me: the readers wanted to know more.
At companies all over the world, from Starbucks to small food retailers, people have repeatedly asked me the same question: "How do you hire people and how do you motivate them to keep them productive and efficient?"
I replied that we "hug our employees" and therefore we have people who work effectively and efficiently, and who also remain loyal to our company for 35 and even 45 years. And these employees don't even want to retire!
I receive tons of emails every day. Every day, on board the plane, in major stores, in banks and in real estate offices, ordinary, caring and hardworking people come up to me and say: “It seems to me that such concepts as loyalty and dedication to work have disappeared. The work has ceased to be what it used to be. "
Serving our customers at the highest level and an individual approach to each is one of the main tasks of our family. We have hugged our customers and employees since 1958, that is, since my parents Norma and Ed Mitchell founded their first store. We have never forgotten that the highest level of service can be provided only when you treat your own employees well and fairly. The highest level of customer service does not come out of a vacuum by itself - only great people can provide excellent personalized service!
Hug your employees. Tough Management Vaccine - Jack Mitchell (download)
(introductory fragment of the book)
The full version can be bought and downloaded here - Liters
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Reprinted with permission from Hyperion.
Published in Russian for the first time.
© John R. Mitchell, 2008
© Translation into Russian, edition in Russian, design. LLC "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber", 2013
All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "Vegas-Lex"
© The electronic version of the book was prepared by Litres (www.litres.ru)
This book is well complemented by:
Dream company
Kevin Cruz and Rudy Karsan
Delivering happiness
Tony Shay
Leave your mark
Blake Micosky
Zappos Rules
Joseph Micelli
Hug your customers
Jack Mitchell
To all 234 wonderful people, their spouses and families.
To all those who have worked with us since Mom and Dad opened the store doors half a century ago.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Everyone wants to be appreciated
It shocked me. I will say more, it was struck on the spot. Although something like this has happened more than once in my memory.
Not so long ago, an amazing woman came to one of our stores to get a job. Before that, she had been selling shirts and ties for several years in a large New York store and was a real star there. She worked hard and hard, never complained, and constantly stayed overtime. Customers loved her. She made very good money and often received various bonuses, also very generous.
We asked her a reasonable question: why does she want to leave New York and start working on our team in Connecticut?
The answer was very simple.
None of the employees and management of that company has ever personal, human level did not let her know that she was appreciated. Even after she sold a million dollars worth of goods in a year - and this, I note, is a lot of shirts and ties - no one, not a single person approached her and said: “Wow! Wow! You are just amazing!"
No! Never.
Maybe her boss sent her a bunch of flowers as a token of gratitude?
Not a single stunted daisy!
This was exactly what was unpleasant to her. Because of this attitude towards herself, she began to feel that her work was ... well, just work.
The woman's story once again confirmed the simple truth that I have always known: everyone wants to be appreciated!
For three generations, our family has owned a luxury clothing business for men and women, and now I am running it. We have three stores located in and around New York. I am grateful to fate that I and the team of wonderful people who work with me have the opportunity every day to personally communicate in the sales area with hundreds of customers who visit our store. I wrote a book about how my family and our employees worked with their hearts to build a business based on creating personal, human relationships that exceed customer expectations. I believe that many companies only talk about how they care about their customers, but don't really know how to show it. And I decided to tell the readers how we take care of our employees with the help of the culture of hugs created in the company.
You can hug in different ways. You can actually put a person in a tight, bear hug. But we most often use this word as a metaphor. We believe that a hug is any positive or positive action, gesture, or expression (through actions or words) that makes the relationship more personal and makes the person think, "Wow, they really care about me!"
Hugging culture is an incredibly powerful way of thinking. I remember when my kids were teenagers they dragged me to see the Star Wars movie. I still cannot distinguish Luke Skywalker from Darth Vader, but I remember how one of the heroes of the picture said the phrase "May the Force be with you." I was struck by the idea of the Force, and I began to perceive hugs and hug culture as a kind of Force.
I had no idea how readers would react to my book Hug Your Clients. Imagine my amazement when a huge number of companies: from Midas garages to Payless ShoeSource, from sporting goods manufacturer Nike to financial giant Morgan Stanley, as well as a variety of companies from Denver, Kansas City, Las Vegas, London, Stockholm, Rome and even, imagine, from Tallinn, Estonia - they invited me to speak to their employees, because the basic principles outlined in the book, which we follow in our Mitchells / Richards clothing stores, seemed to them significant and interesting. In 2005, our company acquired our third Marshs store on Long Island, where we have also successfully implemented our corporate hug culture.
Another fact struck me: the readers wanted to know more.
At companies all over the world, from Starbucks to small food retailers, people have repeatedly asked me the same question: "How do you hire people and how do you motivate them to keep them productive and efficient?"
I replied that we "hug our employees" and therefore we have people who work effectively and efficiently, and who also remain loyal to our company for 35 and even 45 years. And these employees don't even want to retire!
I receive tons of emails every day. Every day, on board the plane, in major stores, in banks and in real estate offices, ordinary, caring and hardworking people come up to me and say: “It seems to me that such concepts as loyalty and dedication to work have disappeared. The work has ceased to be what it used to be. "
Serving our customers at the highest level and an individual approach to each is one of the main tasks of our family. We have hugged our customers and employees since 1958, that is, since my parents Norma and Ed Mitchell founded their first store. We have never forgotten that the highest level of service can be provided only when you treat your own employees well and fairly. The highest level of customer service does not come out of a vacuum by itself - only great people can provide excellent personalized service!
We deliberately refer to our employees as “colleagues”, “comrades” and “partners”. Why? Because we value them so much that we do not want to use words that have a somewhat derogatory connotation, such as "employee", "personnel", and in no case such as "employee" or "service". We really like to call our employees "hugs" because they are the ones who literally and figuratively hug our customers.
If the employees are very happy, then the customers are also very happy. Research results prove this convincingly in theory, and the success of our stores confirms in practice. However, you must admit that quite often, when buying clothes (or, say, an accordion), you come across disgruntled sellers. Often times you see people who are irritated and gloomy. They themselves are treated badly, so they themselves do not treat you, their customers, in the best way. And sometimes, even worse, they just don’t notice you and don’t provide any help!
