umpqua bank

Consciously creating your corporate culture: Just a frill?

              Consciously striving to create a positive corporate culture may sound like a fluffy, expensive frill.  But it brings hard-nosed, impossible-to-knock-off results.  Ask Southwest Airlines:  A host of low-cost, short-haul competitors  (Remember United’s “Ted” brand? What, you don’t?)  Those copycats are gone now: Southwest’s culture–a culture that’s impossible for

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Labor Day, customer service, and serving your employees

Labor Day is a good time to remember: you’ll never achieve great customer service without great employees – treated in the manner they deserve. There’s no shortcut here, no way to “game” this.  The overlap between the “greatest companies to work for” and the companies with the highest-rated customer service is enormous.  Container Store, Costco,

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