Not much effect from Cristobal in Nags Head.  Another pretty day for the ocean.

I have to share the note below.  It's great to work with people that get the whole idea that helping people on their vacation is good long term business, and a lot of fun, too.  We've got people that understand the idea of customer service, and enjoy it.


"Jenny received a call last week from a lady desperate to find out “who rents ‘Martini”.  This is a house directly across from NH Fishing Pier and after her calling multiple other companies and everyone telling her the same thing “we don’t rent it, I can’t help you”, Jenny said “I know exactly the house you are talking about, let me drive by and see whose sign is on it.”  When she called the lady back to tell her the disappointing news that NO ONE rents that house the woman went on and on about how helpful she was and she couldn’t believe she would actually do that on her own time, “Village is where I will rent in the future.”

 

Thanks Jenny!!!  A perfect example of “extra mile” that makes Bob Oakes smileJ

 

Maggie Sexton

Rental Manager, Nags Head

Village Realty

        

Most of us make mistakes - it's human nature.  Since I am theoretically in charge of my organization, when I make mistakes, they are usually larger than normal.  This gives me a certain tolerance for other members of our organization, because I've either already made that mistake, or mine cost me a whole lot more money.

I read an interesting blog piece from Seth Godin (author of The Long Tail, and a couple more good books).  He was talking about system failures, mistakes that resound across a whole organization.  (the piece is here - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/what-do-you-do.html)

He makes a good point about judging an organization by how well it corrects its mistakes.  It's an old struggle between the dynamic and the static - the static process has to have a mechanism for change when it stops working.  I tend to divide mistakes into human error and system error.  Human mistakes are normal, and kind of hard to eliminate - people just aren't perfect.  The system mistake, however, is a problem with the way the system is setup, and it leads to similar mistakes because similar situations occur.  These kind of mistakes seem harder to correct.  One of the best speakers I have heard was Horst Schultze (spelling?), the VP for Ritz Carlton.  He was talking about an elevator availability problem, and traced the cause of the problem back to a decision that he made to buy less than the recommended amount of towels when opening his hotel.  Our goal is to identify these type of problems, and make the changes that need to be made, as soon as possible.  Of course, the hard part is to predict what effect the change you make will have on the other parts of the organization.  The law of unintended consequences is alive and well, but it seems to me that you're still better off changing than standing still.

A brief gripe on the end of this entry.  I was a bit shocked to read that the Governor of North Carolina's wife received an 88% raise, from $90,000 to $170,000.  This was not for a new position, just increased responsibilities.  No matter how well the job has been done, it's hard to justify.  It seems to go with the several out of the country trips, the helicoptor transportation for the Easleys, and the arrogance the Governor displays in ordering the elimination of public record e-mails.  The appearance stinks, it looks like the taxpayers are just making sure that the Easleys have a comfortable retirement.  The feeling of entitlement to public money is one of the worst symptoms of a long career of being employed by the State.  North Carolina deserves better.

  

        

I've been fascinated with this plant since I moved to Nags Head.  It grows within 100 yards of the ocean, so it's salt tolerant as it can be.  You don't see a whole lot of it around - an exception is the historic district homes in the heart of Nags Head.

From Wiki:

The Sea holly (biological binomial term: Eryngium maritimum) is a species of Eryngium in the plant family Apiaceae and native to most European coastlines. The protected dune plant grows to a height of 20 to 60cm and although widespread it is considered endangered. So, for instance, in Germany its occurrence has been greatly reduced throughout and has become extinct in some regions.

In Elizabethan times in England, these were believed to a strong aphrodisiac. They are named in a speech by Falstaff:

“	"Let the sky rain potatoes; let it thunder to the tune of Green-sleeves, hail kissing-comfits and snow eringoes [sea-holly], let there come a tempest of provocation..."	”
—Falstaff, Act 5, scene v, "The Merry Wives of Windsor", William Shakespeare

        

I subscribe to about 20 RSS feeds, and read a number of these blogs pretty regularly.  Along with my local favorites, View from the Ridge and OBX Republic, The Four Factors of Leadership comes up with some gems.

The link below goes to a brief but excellent article on circling back.  I have called this closing the loop, and it's a critical part of leading I believe, but something I don't do as well as I should.  Enjoy!

http://daverendall.typepad.com/fourfactors/2008/05/circling-back.html

        

        

        

I had the chance to listen to a speaker sponsored by the Park Service on Ocracoke this spring.  I wrote an article, but lost it to some glitch.  This is a remnant that I found.

The couple had been responding to marine mammal strandings for the past 20 years, and spoke to the frequency of stranding of various species.  They closed with the right whales.  Right whales were named because they were the "right" whale, easy to hunt.  The theory is that there is a secondary calving location just offshore of Ocracoke.

Each of the approximately 400 right whales that remain can be identified by their unique markings.

http://www.rightwhaleweb.org/identification.html



http://seamap.env.duke.edu/

        

This appears to be the real thing - no guarantees on the web.

There's a lot to say on this topic.  I think our current immigration laws are broken, resulting in an impossibly difficult path to citizenship.  Make it difficult, but possible.  The people I've met want a better life for their family, and have an admirable work and family ethic.  Their kids speak English well, and that's the real perspective.

http://immigrationmexicanamerican.blogspot.com/2008/02/special-message-from-guest-blogger.html

Disclosure: I've given a couple of hundred dollars to the Obama campaign.

        

These little balls with a spongy texture were on the beach at the sound in Nags Head.
















And a great blue heron at Nags Head Golf Links.

        

March 16
Annual Kelly's Restaurant and Tavern's St. Patrick's Day Parade
North Carolina's largest St. Patrick's Day Parade. Beach Road MP 12 - 10.5, Nags Head. 1:00 pm. Rain or Shine. For more information please call (252) 441-4116 or visit kellysrestaurant.com

A Nags Head tradition, courtesy of Mike Kelly and his hard working staff and volunteers.  There's a lot of logistics, but a great family event.  Families line the Beach Road on a Sunday afternoon in March, and the parade is a hoot!

Thanks, Mike, for the parade, and the OBX Marathon, and the Outer Banks Community Foundation,www.obcf.org, golf tournament - pretty work!