Page 235 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

226 THE REAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Lobotomy Files

Intergalactic Improvements
in Customer Phone Support
We addressed an important phone support issue using Intergalactic
Thinking. In the "farming galaxy" we used the crop-rotating model to
inspire a concept where we train only a portion of our hundreds of
phone support staff on each new consumer product release. By doing
this we lowered our training costs substantially and put a specialist
rather than a generalist on the end of the line.
Customer Service Executive
Major Computer Manufacturer
Lobotomized 1998

For more on Intergalactic Thinking, see Chapter 9.

in Minneapolis (where Fallon McElligott was getting started). “Aren’t
they the competition? Doesn’t our work have to compete for the con-
sumers’ attention against the best work coming out of the best agencies?
At the awards shows, isn’t that the competition?” The kid got me think-
ing. When our little agency in Providence made that shift in our mind-set
and we decided to compete at that level, when we decided to walk into
that room and act like we belonged there, within two years we were there.
I remember in 1984, the first time we entered Communication Arts,
one of the most prestigious award shows. We cracked the top 10 out of
over 500 entrants from around the world. I got a phone call from Dick
Coyne, the founder of Communication Arts and its editor and designer at
the time, who said, “Who are you guys and where have you been?”
Well, we’re here now. We went on to have a great run for another 10
years. We walked onto the national ad scene and acted like we
belonged there. We took Ed McMahon’s dad’s advice.
The fun postscript to this story is that, as I write this book, that
snotty-nosed kid from my creative department, David Lubars, is now
president of one of the world’s top ad agencies, Fallon McElligott in
Minneapolis. David, I’m sure, subscribes to many habits of high-
achieving people. He’s entered the international advertising arena and
made himself a part of that in no uncertain terms.
The bottom line is this: You can be inspired by anyone, draw
lessons from anywhere. And I have the utmost respect for Ed McMa-
hon for consciously picking up such a great lesson from his dad.