As a Service Desk (“Help Desk”) Manager, a key measurement of success is your ability to provide solutions to your customers during the initial call. And as much as you want this to always happen there are a lot of cases where a ticket has to be logged and worked later after doing research and/or by a person of special expertise.

Unfortunately I have been to my share of funerals since then. And I have observed that people who pass on are really wonderful people. So I ask, why do we have to wait until people are gone to recognize how special they really are? The answer is we don’t.

Keeping a cool head during conflict can sometimes be difficult. Especially when it is perceived as or becomes personal. If you think there is a good chance there could be unhealthy conflict, here are a few basic tips that have worked for me.

Last night we went as a family to watch a Major League soccer game. The team we were cheering for won the game in the 93rd minute! It was a thriller. But what wasn’t so thrilling was the language used by the two “early twenty somethings” behind us. While no “F” bombs were dropped (thank goodness), the language that was used was offensive, and especially offensive to two parents trying to enjoy the game with their four little boys (ages 15, 12, 9 and 7). The offensive language fortunately stopped after both my wife and myself stared them down in disgust.