Punching out.

I've finally put down Alex Frankel’s ‘Punching in…’

(that's not Alex in the picture)

For front and back of house tales from UPS, Enterprise, Gap, Starbucks, Apple – it makes for an interesting, enjoyable and worthwhile read.

I’m not going to attempt a robust review of the book, but a couple of things popped out. In all of Alex’s roles, he was providing a service, he was (occasionally) creating a product but it was at UPS that he felt most at home.

“UPS was the only workplace where I felt as if I was actually learning a craft and helping shape the final product, instead of acting the part of a craftsman. UPS was the company that had best married back end technology with what I came to think of as the company’s human front end.”

Clearly this speaks to Alex’s personal aptitude, as I’m sure there are as many hard working coworkers who feel as engaged in their roles as there are disenfranchised. So Human Resourcing, recruitment - is of utmost importance and so are the strategic people frameworks we create.

I’m also intrigued by the potentially phoney ‘act’ that we require of many providing service on the font line. Can we really, really expect authenticity when we implicitly understand that for many (most?) employees, it’s all just an act?

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